1 1. Dev (Hello new power)
As the sun was setting and day slowly became night, a boy could be seen wandering the halls of the public library. One couldn't see his face covered by his giant hood but could always see the shine in his eyes when he read a book. He was always in the library during any given time. It started as a hobby but overtime his visits became more frequent, now this is where he spent most of his days.
He had read almost every book there was within the five levels of this giant library but he hadn't had enough, he wanted more. He yearned for stories and knowledge it didn't matter what it was, it could be medical books or even books about heroes, he would read everything and absorb every word and book he could get his hands on. Looking for more to read he wandered through the library. He searched for something else to read to sate his hunger, from shelf to shelf he prowled like a panther eyeing his prey not letting a single thing out of his sight.
As he wandered he found a section of the library he hadn't seen before, on the fifth level at the back and darkest part of the library was a section of dusty books. The section he arrived at was called [rejects], each book that was there were determined to have no use or weren't relevant anymore. However to Jun En this was a treasure trove. Why didn't he notice this before?
He quietly sat down on the ground and started grabbing every book from the reject section reading it at a speed that was not humanely possible. He absorbed the information and satires that were there. By the end he had finished reading most of the books in the section. Wondering what else to do he got up to look for more books in the [reject] section. As he searched he found a book hiding at the back of the dark and dusty shelf at the furthest corner of the section, difficult to notice with the naked eye. A glint of a shining dark purple and silver hue slowly shined from the book and at that moment he heard a voice.
"Do you want power?"
What was that…
"Do you want more stories"
"Do you want the freedom to not be shackled by society to be able to just do what you want?"
What the banana was this thing talking about? Sure I like freedom but I just want to stop being so bored, there is nothing interesting in normal life only stories give me sustenance but it's not enough. Besides I still have to take care of my family I'm not sure I have time.
As if knowing what he thought the voice spoke again
"I'll give it to, your life will never be boring again, and you'll have the power to keep your family safe at the same time"
"Do you accept?"
Ho. At that moment despite the largely sketchy origins at the voice hearing the a grin appeared on his face, on one hand this could implicate him negatively, on the other hand if he got involved interesting things may happen. Beyond that he could better protect and help his family. After some consideration Jun En replied.
Give it to me
He felt trapped in his daily life he never could understand why he was so average he wanted more for his family for himself he wanted freedom to move to climb. He wanted stimulation to his boring existence, but he wanted to be able to protect and support his family in the case his parents couldn't work anymore as well.
He looked at the glint once again, the book hidden behind countless others was now pulsating, with each pulse his heart beat louder and louder.
"Let's make a deal kid"
The sinister voice whispered words that made him grin even more. He reach his hand to the back of his book shelf.
Let's
The book disappeared the moment he touched it turning into a cloud of dust. The dust made contact with his sin and started seeping into his skin.
His eyes started to change as it became a dark purple hue before changing colours to a silver hue then back to brown.
"Hello contractor you can call me Dev, the devourer"
It was already 6pm the library was almost closing down.
Ah crap I gotta get back home before my mother nags at me. Jun En ran out of the library weaving through tables and shelfs in order to find the most optimal path out.
"Jun En stop running in the library and even if you are going to do so do so quietly" said the librarian with a smile.
*****
The librarian's name Abel, he knew Jun En well as he often frequented the library. The boy always came and spend the whole day reading books and stories from sunrise till sun down. While most people played games nowadays Jun En still loved reading more than anything else.
Abel recalled that day when he first met Jun En. He asked why he always set in the middle of a pile of books and read. He never went out with friends nor played games nor even read comics he just read books.
"Because there is a freedom in reading books don't you think?"
That was the response Abel got from boy. The boy wasn't much he had average looks, he stood to 182 cm a little shorter than Abel. Had jet black hair and always came in to the library wearing a hoody some long jogging pants and sneakers. To be honest he had terrible fashion sense.
What fascinated Abel was the child's fascination of books and stories. At first he thought the child was just looking for stories cause he didn't have a strong story of his own seeking power hopelessly.
However the more he watched the more he could that Jun En just loved stories there was nothing to it he wasn't obsessing over power he just loved books and stories.
*sigh* you don't see kids like that anymore. No one understands the true essence of stories or books, nowadays kids just use them for power.
*****
Jun En ran out the main glass door of the Library.
Ok calm down, it's 6:05pm if I run to the flight-way and assuming I make it on time I can get on by give or take 6:10. From there it's a 30 minute ride plus a 15 minute walk back home. I would be back home by 6:55 but if I run I'm sure I can cut that down by 7 minutes.
Jun En kneeled down re-tied his shoelaces and put on his hood. He looked at his watched as the seconds ticked by.
Tick, tick, tick
He launched off dashing as hard as he could weaving through the crowd of moving pedestrians. Left, right and left again he quickly shifted his wait to move faster and cut down the time it takes to turn.
As he ran he saw the stairs upwards to the flight-way. Despite not being special Jun En had decently good eyesight, or so he thought. It was more of a combination of average eyesight and guessing far away signs.
As he ran up the stairs he tried to make up the time to arrival on the sign at the top of the long fight of stairs.
Now that is either an 8 or 3. So 8 minutes or 3 minutes till the flight train arrives. Well I'm not going to take any chances let's go.
He dashed upwards the stairs with all his strength however despite his burst of speed from the library to the stairs of the flight train station he had horrible stamina.
By the time he was halfway up the stair he was breathing so heavily and panting that people who saw just stared in pity.
Ah crap maybe I should have exercised more often. He saw the flight train arriving and ran even harder. His legs and mussels tensed up and his sweat dripped off his face.
*pant**pant**pant*
I made it yes woooo
He threw his arms in the air, but as his did so the doors to the flight train started too close.
O nononono wait
Jun En dashed towards the train and turned to his side attempting to squeeze himself between the doors.
*dush*
The doors came to a close and Jun En made however his hoody started to show sweat stains and his breathing got heavier.
Ahhhh I did it
He checked his watch 6:11 good enough.
As he stumbled in the flight train completely drained he found a seat next to the window and sat down.
Outside he could see everything the whole city
"Pono" the city known as the city of truth. The city or the whole world had advanced by leaps and bounds in technology. The year was 2155. Flying cars were now a reality however they resembled more of moving ovals with useless circles for wheels more than anything else. The creators wanted to keep the aesthetic of cars and left the "wheels" on.
The flight-train was also another example of this technological advancement. As the name suggest it basically looked like a flying train or a very long subway train moving through the sky like a noodle. Using advanced electromagnetic technology, which essentially allowed the train to move freely in the air within the confines of the city of course.
People no longer depended on gas as they have found a new source of renewable energy, and this was due to stories too.
The discovery of stories had changed the world technological advancements grew and with the world entered a new age. Everything became digital and more complex.
Stories or the new power they granted became the foundation for anything and everything in the world.
Now what were stories, well stories were well stories. It was a mystical power that came out of nowhere. Stories were imbued with power and granted people such power, some became smarter other became stronger, among these stories legendary stories existed as well and came to grant even greater power.
Stories were either earned, created or inherited. Depending on the story the power of a story or the power granted by a story could fit certain situations. Stories of great inventors were passed down to their descendants creating unprecedented technological advancements in travel creating the flight train and flying cars. Other stories led to technological improvements.
This lead to humanity's advancements in basically everything. However with the sudden appearance of the power of stories came the regs. Regs were beings and beasts that not much was known about, they were thought to be driven to destroy humanity and consume everything in their path. Nobody knew where they came from nor their reason, but it seemed as if they were sent to balance the sudden power that humanity was gifted with.
Of course despite that humanity learnt to fight back and harness the power of stories. Cities built walls and forcefields to keep out Regs and sent out teams of tellers to hunt Regs. Tellers were people who had stories which were stronger than the norm and could easily defeat regs.
While stories became more commonplace a new type of unspoken divide took place. As more stories appeared, the variety of abilities or powers one could posses started to increase however this started to cause a divide within society as well. Stories would be deemed as either useful or useless, dividing society to two groups Powers and Zeros. Powers were those deemed to be Useful while Zeros were people with stories which were deemed as useless or less useful to society.
Jun En was the latter of the bunch. Despite this he didn't care while people got more useful stories he remained the same with or without. Of course he did yearn to be like a main protagonist in the countless stories he read, but it was fine. He loved stories as it was and he was okay with his life. However if he ever got the chance to become the protagonist to grow stronger he would still take it. It would much better living his current life.
Much much better.
