Gaining Power

31st December 2019, it was New-Year's Eve. People were busy pledging their New-Year resolutions while they chatted about the place they wanted to party for the night and welcome the arrival of a new year.

龍

Hotels, bars, shopping malls, etc. each place suitable for a public gathering had advertised about a myriad of festivities including lavish discounts to spike the interest of the youngsters who made the bulk of partiers.

On a spacious garden that was frequented by love-birds, a man kneeled on the soft trimmed grass that danced according to the wind's tunes as he opened a delicately engraved box and revealed an expensive diamond ring to the woman in front of him.

"Camila, will you marry me?" The man's eyes shone with excitement, anticipation, fear, and various other emotions as he presented the ring to the woman who he had pursued for more than 2 years.

The encounter that began with a curt rejection followed by chance encounters that created their friendship until eventually, love sparked between them. The man had struggled through numerous difficulties until he could finally capture the heart of his girlfriend.

After being in a relationship as lovers for more than 2 years, he had finally arrived at this point where he had gathered enough courage to propose her.

"Vote for the skill that you feel is the best weapon for humanity?" The woman he proposed to had a vacant expression as she stared in front of her in a daze while mumbling something incomprehensible.

"What did you say?" Failing to see the expected reaction from his lover, the man felt like a boulder had smashed his heart into pulp. It was then that he noticed a screen of light had manifested in front of him from thin air.

Shocked, the man stumbled back and fell on his butt when he found out that the screen of light maintained a steady distance of a foot from his face no matter how much he moved.

When he tried to touch it, his hands passed right through the screen. There was a row of text that materialised on the screen that further sent his emotions into a spiral.

"Vote for the skill that you feel is the best weapon for humanity? C-Camila, did you see it too?" The man craned his neck to face his lover who had mumbled the exact same line as the one displayed on his screen.

"The same thing is displayed before me too; what should we do now?" Camila, the person in question wasn't much better off than him. Her mind too was in a state of mess as she stared at the screen of light whose sudden appearance had broken off her long-awaited proposal.

"Did you see it?"

"You mean you can see it too?"

"Scary right?"

"No wonder, haha. Shall we go to a hotel for dinner?"

The sharp ears of Camila caught hold of similar conversations that took place between other couples around them.

The screen of light that hovered in front of her face materialised another row of characters the moment her gaze was focused on it as if it had sensed her intention.

"Sword, Virus, Gun, Poison, Acid, and Grenade," Camila scoured through the six options presented before her when her gaze landed on the man who proposed her. He was gazing into the void as a small devilish grin was plastered onto his face.

The man was already submerged in his wild fantasies and had totally forgotten about his earlier proposal. He always had a thing for the supernatural since childhood; now that such a scene was presented before his very eyes, it would have been strange if the man could maintain his calm.

Camila hurriedly brought out her phone before dialling the number of her best friend as she stealthily retraced her steps until she was out of his sights. The man was so absorbed into his fantasies that he hadn't noticed her retreat.

"Camila!" A voice exploded on the other side of the phone, "I was getting worried, which option did you choose?"

"I didn't, anyway, I'm sending you my location through GPS. Come find me in the nearest cafe,"

"Don't worry; your big sis will be there soon,"

"Hurry," Camila urged her friend once again as she cut the call; she could listen to all the noises her friend made while in a hurry to search for her car keys just before the call ended.

10 minutes later, the door to the coffee shop opened as a beautiful lady walked in. From the clothes she wore to the polish on her nails, everything about her screamed fashion as she walked with pompadour towards a certain seat in the cafe.

Spanning 6 feet tall, with long attractive legs, a slender hip, and a well-developed bust, the lady was quite a head-turner as even the women in the cafe couldn't help but steal glances at her.

"Did I make you wait for long?" The woman removed her shades and flashed a bright smile at Camila.

"I almost peed in nervousness you know," Camila complained as she jumped into the embrace of her best friend.

"There, there; while en route to this cafe, I inquired some details with my contacts. It seems that everyone witnessed a screen of light pop up in front of their faces," Luciana rubbed her hands on her friend's back in order to console her tensed nerves.

After a long round of discussion, Camila made her decision and picked 'Gun'. Immediately, the screen that hovered in front of her vanished.

Camila waved her hand in the place the screen had hovered till now and felt nothing amiss. It felt like a huge piece of rock was lifted off her chest as she gazed at her friend who in talks with one of her contacts. She was trying to glean more information about this phenomenon from all across the country.

"How was it?" Camila asked her friend the moment she ended the call with disappointment.

"There's not much to find out in such a short time frame," Luciana replied as she stretched her arms and yawned.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot about it. What happened to your lover? Didn't that guy finally gain enough courage to propose you?" Luciana inquired as she ordered the waitress for two cups of tea and some desserts.

"The old master here can brew one of the best tea in this city," Luciana said as she waved her hand to an old man who was resting behind a counter. Upon spotting her, the old man waved back with a smile and entered into the kitchen to personally brew tea for the two of them.

A couple of minutes later, the waitress brought two cups of tea along with some desserts and arranged them on the table. While she was doing so, she stole a few glances at Luciana who was oblivious to her gaze.

After the waitress went away, Camila took a sip of the refreshing tea and told Luciana about how the long-awaited proposal was interrupted by the screen of light.

"That poor dude. May his poor soul rest in peace," Luciana brought her palms together in prayer and cackled in laughter as she thought about the crestfallen dude who might not recover from the blow for the next few months.

"It's not as you think," Camila pouted and began making fun of Luciana's weird hairstyle in retaliation.

60 minutes after the screen had first appeared; it once again materialised in the air and sported a series of rows of characters.

<Sword: 14.39%>

<Virus: 2.91%>

<Gun: 23.76%>

<Poison: 17.65%>

<Acid: 19.84%>

<Grenade: 21.45%>

<Total number of votes= 6,89,61,52,149>

<Skill of the Human Race: Gun>

<Beginning Extraction>

Camila fainted as a white film of light wrapped around her. The others who were in the cafe too experienced the same situation. As the film of white light enveloped them, they immediately fainted with not a single soul managing to mount even the slightest resistance.

After the light had enveloped their bodies, all of the older people in the cafe just disappeared from their previous spots as if they had been teleported, while a small shiny gem began to take shape within each film of light for the younger ones.

It took a few minutes for the small gem to form upon which it hovered in the air in silence. Immediately, the film of light morphed into thin ribbons that wrapped around the gem and brought it towards the stomach region of Camila.

The moment the film of light morphed into ribbons, the eyes of Camila shot open only to gaze at the sight of a small gem that was around a centimetre in dimension get stitched to her bellybutton.

"Aaarrrgghhh," Veins popped on her neck as Camila screamed in pain. She hit her hands towards the white ribbons and found to her horror that her hands just passed through it as if it was a mere illusion, but the pain she was experiencing in her stomach region was real.

How would it feel to stitch a piece of stone on human skin? Camila was experiencing it in full glory. Upon craning her neck to look forward, she noticed that her friend too was suffering from the same plight who now had her face covered with sweat and tears.

10 seconds after the white ribbon began to stitch the gem on her bellybutton; Camila felt her pain ease up the moment a white beam of light wash over her body.

She immediately sat up and inspected her stomach region to find a small yellow gem that was in the region of her bellybutton as if it had existed there since birth. The yellow gem felt soft to the touch but at the same felt like it was harder than Diamond.

She saw other people in the cafe touch their stomach regions and inspect the foreign entity that had appeared there just like her.

"Don't you feel strange? Doesn't this cafe suddenly feel vacant?" Her attention was brought back to her friend who gazed at the many seats in the cafe that were now vacant.

Another screen materialised before Camila as a new row of characters appeared on it.

<Existing weapons will be sealed>

<The 7-Way Racial War will begin in 60 minutes. All the best!>

At the next moment, bright curtains of light rose all over the world.

望子成龍