7 First Meeting

The numerous times Zel have had to experience a dream sequence could be counted to a several tens. The reason for this is that whenever he experienced one, he wouldn't be able to access it again for a few days. He never really got to count how long the exact cool down is but he knew there was one. He always woke up tired and restless but since the adrenaline from 'dying' always cancelled that out, he didn't get to note it down until after a few more dreams.

The first thing Zel does whenever he enters the dream is to establish the fact that it is a dream. There are two differences with the dream world and the tangible world. The first is that his couch disappears when he goes to the dream world and he always wakes up in his bed. The second is that whenever he wakes up in the dream world, he feels so saturated of energy that gradually levels out as he lives on.

Zel has acquired a habit of trying out new things to do whenever he dreamed. The good thing about having lifetimes to waste is time is not a factor to consider anymore. He has already tried mastering different martial arts.

He had practiced boxing in a lifetime before and even went on to be a professional boxer, though he never really fought against the big shots since his talent was average, the training he had done for tens of years were now ingrained in him and it supported him a lot in his other dreams. The fact that he could learn to defend himself and fight with many styles of combat has not only proven itself to be healthy for his mental wellness but also a great boon for showing off.

The more dreams he spent on training and honing his body, the better he got. Last time he tried mastering kung fu to prepare for this lifetime. His goal this time was to master gun fu, or at least learn to do it properly. The thought of being John W*ck was still lingering in his mind, so much so that he didn't even bother to call back Karl to check up on whether he went back home safely or check up on Emilia to set up another meeting.

He headed directly to the nearby gym where his trusty friend Max works. Max has been his go-to guy for training because the man was a walking calling card for people who dabble in some extreme hobbies. This time, he was going to urge the man if he knew someone who can teach him gun fu and of course he did.

Max's gym was called The Golden Dumbbells, named solely because he wanted people to regard exercise as the way to obtain the most valuable treasure you can get, a healthy body. The man was born to a family of gym junkies. Their whole lineage practically meets the gym every day, and Max was the one who inherited their father's gym.

Zel walked into the gym wearing his training wear, black shorts and pale sleeveless shirt that showed off his biceps. He didn't even go to the receptionist and went straight to Max's personal office that was only open to his trainees' that he chose to discipline himself. It was there that Zel knocked on the door and he heard Max sigh audibly and opened the door himself.

"Dude, I already told you that you should just follow your routine. You are well on your way to attaining that peak, so you really shouldn't do this kung fu shit. You're wasting your time in that thing."

An exhausted looking Max answered the door. His coffee on the desk was still warm, seemingly untouched yet. The whole room was crammed full of things fitness related, with some medals for marathons being displayed on glass cabinets.

"Don't be like that Max, kung fu has done a lot for me. I could even do a wall run now, want to see?"

Without waiting for Max's answer, Zel turned around and ran towards the wall opposite of Max's office door and just when he was close to slamming right towards the wall, he raised his right foot and proceeded to hike all the way to the ceiling like someone straight out of a movie.

"Whoa! Hahaha, that's some shit right there!"

Zel fell with a flip when he reached the ceiling and smiled from the compliment. His roaring fan suddenly stopped clapping though and was staring directly at where Zel performed his stunt and the cheery face turned weird.

"You did all that from a few weeks of kung fu class? Were you some kind of kung fu genius or something? I've met a few people there, and most of them can't even balance on a piece of wood much less do that."

"Depends on what kind you're into I guess, I just felt a knack for it and did it after watching my master do it." Zel shrugged off the question and went on to invite Max out for breakfast to which the latter agreed. They went to the nearby cafe that served the best coffee for cheap in the block and ordered a few snacks to munch on.

"So, what's the new thing?"

"What new thing?" Zel pretended not to comprehend what he was talking about, offering only a gentle smile.

"Really? After you asked me about how to surf, I knew you were someone that couldn't stick to one hobby for so long. Seeing that stunt you pulled earlier, I know you want to do something else now."

"Oh, ah, hahaha... Yeah, about that." Zel took a sip while trying to find the words but eventually concluded that Max wouldn't really mind since they were good friends by this point.

"I need to ask you for a recommendation."

"Recommendation for what?" Max was also now pretending not to recognize what he was talking about, revenge was something he loved to do. But the following words of Zel nonetheless made him realize Zel wasn't kidding.

"I want to learn about gun fu, from Teddy, the guy you talked about last week?"

"Teddy? You think that the guy takes in people just because of my recommendation? That guy-"

"I'll get you three gold members if you help me out."

"Deal! I'm sure Teddy would be delighted if I send you to him. Guy's been asking me for a referral after all."

Zel went ahead and paid for the breakfast, claiming it was thanks for the favor. Teddy Cruise was someone that could be considered a 'Grandmaster' of gun fu after all, teaching some of the most influential actors in the business and was formerly a head instructor for the marines back in the day.

A few gold memberships was more than enough of a bargain to get the chance to learn from the guy.

Zel headed back home after getting Max to promise him with a meeting with Teddy. Before he got back home though, he received a text from his younger sister that made him reroute to head towards his parent's house instead.

"Big brother, Mom and Dad are fighting again."

"You stay put, I'll be over in a few." Zel couldn't help but sigh when he thought about his parents. The fact that they stopped fighting for a few months now and even opened up a family diner so that his father would stop going abroad to work made him think the bad times were over.

'I'm getting so tired of this bullshit.'

He headed back home to obtain a change of clothes and to bring his car so that he would get there faster. He texted Karl and Emilia to ask them how they were doing and remembered Tina as well so he texted her too.

'Wouldn't be right to just text Emilia, Tina might feel like I'm just using her to get to Emilia. I really do need more female friends.'

As he headed to his parent's house, he couldn't resist but ponder what his subsequent plans were for Emilia. The thought of not having her with him in his life after being with her for the last couple lifetimes was excruciating to think about.

He has been so far in his thoughts that he realized he had stopped the car belatedly and was now right in front of the house. He took out his messenger bag from the passenger seat and went out of the car while sighing to himself.

'Why did I bring this with me?I don't think my family would be better if I bring this out.'

The habits he had so desperately tried to overcome were gradually sinking their way back. His thoughts were becoming bleak, at least with regards to his parents. He shook his head and walked towards the door when he felt a chilling gaze coming from somewhere and couldn't help but look towards the direction it was coming from.

'Who?' An instinct that was honed from his numerous lifetimes, Zel thought he felt a predatory gaze approaching from the house two streets away from his parent's house. No, he knew there was someone there because a silhouette of a person who did not bother hiding themselves was standing right there.

He wanted to get things straight with them, but he couldn't delay his parent's matter for something like that. Hence, he resisted the temptation to talk to the guy and opened the door instead.

He didn't see the man who was looking at him had a grin on his face while he licked his lips and cackling to himself when he saw that Zel entered the house.

"Happy Birthday!"

"Happy Birthday big brother!"

"Happy Birthday son!"

"Happy Birthday Zel!"

Friends and family greeted Zel a happy birthday while he merely stared at his sister quizzically. The stare was returned with a shy chuckle that eventually turned to a laughter that was hidden behind a box she was holding. Thinking that she was acting all along, he couldn't help but laugh at the situation while allowing a sigh of relief come over him.

"Hey Zel! Blow your candles and make a wish!"Zel saw that Karl was in fact among them, with Rick, Mandy and Jerald with him while his family was taking pictures and holding the cake for him was his mother. He couldn't help but bestow a smile to his mother and finally blew the candles while closing his eyes.

"Yeah!!! What's the wish?" One of Zel's younger sisters who was only 12 years old came over to urge him for his wish. His other younger sister couldn't help but bonk her on the head a little to show her that there was no need.

"Ow, that hurts big sister! Mom! Big sister is hurting me!" Mae caressed her throbbing head as Marie wasn't exactly being light with her touch.

"No, I didn't! Marie's lying again."

"I did not!" A look of injustice was marked on Mae's now teary-eyed face. She was about to get revenge herself when she overheard their mother call them out.

"Quiet now Mae!"

"Haha, look you made mom angry." Marie was laughing at her sister when she felt someone bonk her head and couldn't help but caress her head. Right now the two sisters were clutching their heads exactly the same.

"You too Marie"

"Haha!" Zel was now feeling he made the right choice this time so he would do it again when he returns. A decision he would typically determine after thinking hard and long but this moment was something he wouldn't trade for the world.

Taking the time to attend to everyone in the party, he felt his body feel lighter than he ordinarily did. There was a peculiar feeling like his body was losing energy fast and he asked for some time out and left to the front yard to get some fresh air. It was then that the predatory gaze came over him again, this time however, it was more intense.

'Not good!' Zel ducked and rolled forward without warning as a sound of something moving swiftly was heard from above. It was a steel pipe that glowed red and the man holding it was the same guy he saw earlier.

He was a stocky man with jet-black hair that was cut in a military style where there is little to no hair left while he wore a pair of odd brown pants that looked more like military grade armor than anything while a black hoodie that concealed his face when he saw him earlier covered his upper body. He flashed a hungry grin while staring at Zel who hurriedly took a stance after getting up.

"What the hell! Who the fuck are you?"

"So, you're the anomaly? I'm going to get so many points from getting you done in!"

Zel didn't obtain the response he was asking for, instead, the steel pipe was thrown his way so fast that he didn't see when he flung it. The commendable thing was that his body, not his mind, reacted fast and he leaped to the side without allowing the man cast off his line of sight.

"Oh hoho, seems like you at least know how to move. But if all you can do is jump like a monkey, you won't get away from me anomaly!" The man took off his jacket to reveal that he was wearing a long sleeve shirt, and a leather vest with pockets on its front and sides. He leaped forward while a pair of knives were produced from somewhere Zel couldn't see.

They were as long as his forearm which caused more than a little confusion to Zel as he wondered where he acquired them from, but the murderous gaze of the man made him never leave focus on the most urgent thing, which was to survive!

'His arms are shorter than mine, but the knives make it hard to fight up close barehanded. The most appropriate thing to do would be to run, but I can't tell if he's faster than me.'

His body was restlessly moving, knowing his opponent might throw the knives at him like he did the steel pipes. It was a stalemate for a few seconds until Zel got distracted for a moment. The knives the man had were now glowing the same red that the steel pipe was. The same time it did, the man tried to close in the distance between them which were only a few meters.

At the same time the man jumped over to stab him, Zel turned and jumped forward to the place the steel pipe landed. He hurriedly tried pulling it out from the soft ground it rested on but slipped because of the grass and heard the sound of cloth getting ripped behind him. The moment he held the pipe, he swung it towards his back while he landed on his back from the momentum of the knife hitting the pipe.

"Tsss." A grating noise of metal burning up was heard, and Zel couldn't help but tremble. The scorching heat was spreading from the point of contact between the pipe and the knife towards the part of the pipe that his hands were holding, and he couldn't help but want to hurl it away.

"Fucking!" Zel moved his right foot towards the chest of the man who was pushing his weight to the fallen Zel and flew back just a little that the pipe and the pair of knives it was holding back were separated and Zel threw the now two small pipes that broke off from the previously long pipe to the man.

"Bang. Ding."

One of the pipes knocked the man on his head while the other was parried by one of the knives. The man was now bleeding from the wound on his head, but his face displayed one of schadenfreude as he let go of one of the knives and it disappeared into thin air.

"You sure possess some skills, was that part of the skill set you got? I never thought that anomalies got access to the system too, but how does having your back cut open feel like I wonder?"

It was only at this moment that the scorching pain that came from his back was registered in Zel's mind and his face flushed red because of it. He started to sweat from his forehead which cause one of his eyes to close while the other one kept on staring at the man who was now cackling to himself in some sick pleasure.

"Don't worry about your family, the only one I want is you. Either you come with me, and I let you live for a little while more or you resist and die here anyway and I dunno, maybe I'll take care of your family too?"

"..."

"The little doll inside was quite the beauty too, why don't I play with her for a while after I slaughter you?"

"Hmm!?" Knowing the wound on his back was going to be a bother, Zel tried to calm himself down to slow down the blood flow. But those words from the man seemed to make it impossible for Zel to calm down, not only because they were terrible. No, the most awful part was he could actually do it. Therefore, he had to do something, ANYTHING to restrain him.

It was at this moment that he did something that the man never expected. Zel grasped something out of his bag and directed it towards the man. The man stopped his laugh and looked at Zel seriously, his previously mischievous face now turned stoic while the unusual knife that vanished once more appeared on his hand while he raised the other to what looked like a blocking stance with one knife over the other in front of his head.

"Why the hell are you doing this? What the heck is an anomaly?"

"Oh, could it be you didn't think about your strange abilities? I don't really know what it could be, but I think you have an idea. Did you think that ability was free? Something you can use without having any drawbacks? You anomalies make things a whole lot harder for us Rankers! I never thought that anomalies got access to the system too, but how does having your back cut open feel like I wonder?"

"Why do I have to be killed? Why can't you just ask me to stop using my ability?"

"Ask? What fun is that?" The man took to his laughter again as Zel saw his arms were now shaking from excitement. The red eyes of the man were like two suns that were blinding him with a red glow.

"If I do that, then I don't get a reward now do I? Who would want such a thankless jo-"

"Bang. Fucking anoma-"

"Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. Tssk."

Zel emptied the whole clip on the man when he saw an opening as the guy was just about to laugh once more. Though Zel did care about why he was doing what he did, the most fundamental thing was to restrain him. The pain on his back was instantly gone, replaced by a feeling of something heavy being taken off.

"Oh my God! Zel!"

"Son!"

"Big brother!"

Zel's family came to his side and he saw that they were all confused and afraid. Perceiving those many gunshots captured their attention, and the fact that it seemed so close made it all the more worrisome until they realized that Zel was outside!

"Hello, 911, please send help. We need an ambulance on 321 Baker Street on Linewoods Village. A person has been shot and needs help! Please! Send help quickly!" Karl was calling for help with relatively tranquil voice, but the same voice seemed to be breaking down towards the end.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, please, please, no, please, god, no!" Mel was looking at her little boy and couldn't help but feel the world hated her. She had done her best but why was she being punished like this over and over again?

"Hey buddy, hang in there ok? Help is on the way. You just take a deep breath ok?" Zel's older sister, Melba grasped his hand and tried to detect his pulse as she imparted him instructions to help prolong his life. But the slowly dying out pulse made her heart clench together.

"What do we d-d-do? Why is there blood? I-I mean.. Huuu." Marie was panicking while looking for something, anything to help her big brother.

"Sniff. Sniff." Mae was merely holding her brother's clothes while jerking it as if not wanting to let him go.

Zel never had a lifetime when he saw these people panic like this. Though he knew every dream would mean him dying, there was never a time when he died from something like this. It was always him dying instantly from sleep or a disease when he was old he never got to see reactions like this.

In a way, he felt it was worth dying now that he finally knows. Knowing he had people who care. He was able to bestow them a smile, one last time.

But the moment he felt his eye lids get heavy, a voice called out to him. It was a pleasant feminine voice but the words she said didn't quite register properly in his head.

(Welcome to the System Master!

I finally found you!)

"Who the hell?"

After his small cry, Zel lost consciousness in the arms of his wailing father while his family tried waking him up. And yet, the eyes had shut forever.