Genesis

The alarm blared incessantly, a piercing reminder that another gruelling day awaited. Alex groaned, swatting at the nightstand until his hand found the snooze button. Rolling over, he buried his face in the pillow, contemplating the possibility of another ten minutes of peace. These thoughts, however, soon dissipated when he recalled the day's agenda. Meetings, reports, and more meetings. Whilst dull, he couldn't afford to be late. As an analyst at a mid-tier tech firm in San Francisco, his life had settled into a rhythm of mundane predictability.

Lugging himself out of bed, Alex lumbered to the bathroom. Pausing to glance at the mirror, taking stock of his dishevelled brown hair and groggy green eyes staring back at him. Rubbing his face as the shower gained some modicum of heat, his gaze dropped to the bathroom counter, where the bottle of fish oil tablets. He shook one out and swallowed it dry. An attempt to mitigate some of his back pain accumulated from years of sitting at a desk.

Once out of the shower and sufficiently satisfied from an admittedly meagre breakfast, Alex set out for what was sure to be a tedious day.

And tedious it was, but that was the work. Alex did hope that this wasn't the extent to which his life would be. He dreamt of more for himself yet saw no path to achieving it.

Returning home, he set the TV onto the local news channel to provide something to listen to while cooking.

"More and more outbreaks and incidents of people with powers have been reported all over the world as of late. They are sparking fears as well as questions about the future of law and order with more and more super-powered individuals roaming the streets"

Just as he was about to sit and eat, Alex discovered he could no longer move his legs. Looking down, he discovered that there was a rock climbing its way up to his torso. Panicking, he tried to break it with anything he could reach, the plate in his hand, the pan on the counter, even the spatula inside the pan. However, none of these proved effective and he could only wait as he was consumed by the cocoon, his eyesight going dark.

'Fuck. What a shit way to go' was the last thought that passed through Alex's mind.

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*Crack*

*Crack*

Light started to pour into Alex's eyes once more. After what felt like an eternity, sight returned to him. Slowly, he began to regain movement, first in his eyes, which darted around the room, still panic-stricken from the trauma of his sudden crystallization.

As the cocoon crumbled, Alex collapsed onto the floor, his body drenched in sweat. He took a moment to catch his breath, then patted himself down, discovering nothing outwardly wrong, he endeavoured to figure out what had happened to him after addressing some immediate concerns.

Reaching for his phone, he was shocked to find that a week had passed while he was confined. Multiple missed calls and texts from coworkers and his boss filled the screen, their messages evolving from concern to frustration, and finally, to his termination for failing to show up at work.

"Well… could be worse," Alex muttered, recalling his last day spent in useless meetings. The experience, though harrowing, illuminated the pointless direction his life had taken in recent years. With no real friends and his parents recently deceased, he had thrown himself into work, finding little motivation to do anything else.

This near-death experience jolted him out of the downward spiral he was on. Alex made an internal commitment to seek a more rewarding path than merely maximizing shareholder value. It was time to find a purpose that truly mattered.

Slowly, realisation dawned upon him that the most likely scenario that had occurred would be the awakening of some type of super-human ability, and that he could no longer be a normal human being.

Having become … something … more.

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Weeks later, after many failed attempts at moving objects with his mind and trying to fly, Alex had run out of ideas as to what his power might be.

While chopping some onions for his dinner one day, he had missed with the knife and slices his finger. Wincing, he rushed to the sink to try and clean the cut before applying treating it.

However, before he could even reach for the box of first-aid, the feeling of the cut had disappeared. Looking at his finger once more, Alex was stunned to discover that it had already healed, with not even a scar remaining.

"What…" he mumbled

"ARE"

"YOU"

"FUCKING"

"KIDDING"

"OF ALL THE POWERS TO GAIN, I GET THIS BULLSHIT." Alex raged. "NO LIGHTNING OR FLIGHT FOR ME. NO… I GET THE DREAM POWER OF MASOCHISTS. PERFECT… JUST PERFECT"

After a few more minutes of anger, and a regaining of some peace to his apartment. Alex resigned himself to the fact that he couldn't change his fate.