Awakening

[Calculating the level of Mana on the planet.]

[Sufficient Mana level detected. Jurisdiction over planet Earth confirmed.]

[Initialising the Awakening process.]

Adam was slowly returning from the depths of oblivion when the alien words resounded in his mind. They materialized as a string of words and a pleasant, androgynous voice speaking directly in his head at the same time.

[Greetings inhabitants of planet Earth. As of now, the Ouroboros System was granted the highest jurisdiction over your insignificant little world. Rejoice, for this is an opportunity for you to witness and grasp the true power! Struggle with all your strength! Die with no regrets! And finally, seize your destiny!]

[ Commencing the Awakening process … Awakening successful.]

A sudden jolt of pain ran through Adam, inflaming all of his nerves. After the pain disappeared, his body and mind were overwhelmed with new and unknown sensations.

It was as if some kind of new sense was awakened within him. One that he couldn't control just like a newborn child.

[Sufficient Mana affinity confirmed. Subject eligible for a Legacy detected.]

[Drawing a random Legacy from the available pool.]

Strange words appeared again and Adam found himself transported to an empty white plane that stretched as far as he could see.

A single red drop of liquid was hovering right before his eyes. It moved suddenly when he focused on it and merged with his body.

[Legacy of Blood assimilated. New Skill acquired: Blood Manipulation. Status Window adjusted accordingly.]

There was only darkness again and Adam realized that his eyes had been shut tight all this time.

Adam opened his eyes carefully and slowly rose from the ground. The pain that he had felt before was gone, and as far as he could tell there was nothing wrong with his body. The strange tide of stimuli he had felt before decreased, and turned into a shimmer at the back of his mind.

Nevertheless, Adam struggled to understand what exactly had happened. The arcane messages, the pain, the strange sensations he had felt, he wanted to believe that it was just a side effect of some trauma he endured during the Impact.

It felt too real to be a mere illusion though. This thought made Adam anxious because its implications were dire. Adam couldn't do anything about it though, so he decided to focus on the important things.

He somehow had to reach his family.

Adam took a deep breath and looked around him, concentrating on his surroundings.

The market was no more, as the stalls had been destroyed by the shockwave. Bodies littered the square. Adam noticed some people moving among the rubbles. There weren't many of them though. Less than half of those present before the Impact survived. The rest was eerily still.

He looked higher and saw multiple billows of smoke rising over the buildings.

After confirming there was no immediate danger, Adam took out his cell phone to try reaching Carol again.

The phone didn't work, however. It wasn't damaged in any visible way, but the screen remained black no matter what Adam did.

He quickly gave up on it and smoothed his jacket nervously. The other survivors slowly gathered at the other side of the square but Adam didn't intend to join them.

He had to acquire some means of transportation and get home. The first thing he thought about was his car.

He recalled what the situation on the streets had been before the Impact and decided that trying to drive through the town wasn't feasible.

The other option was to use the public transportation or reach the highway and catch a ride there.

He recalled the basic layout of the town and set the rough route he had to take. He would reach the railway station in the southwestern part of the town and check if the train system was still operational. If not, he could reach the highway easily from there. Not wanting to waste any more time Adam walked out of the square.

Just as he left, one of the seemingly dead bodies lying around the market twitched slightly.

Adam entered a narrow street after leaving the market. He saw more bodies while he was moving through the alley, this time from up close. There were a few corpses with obvious wounds, mainly from the shattered glass that had fallen on the street.

The view was gruesome and Adam felt sickened as he was walking past them. Most of the bodies didn't have any visible marks though. Adam crouched beside one of these.

It was a body of a young woman. She was lying in the middle of the street, with no glass nor blood around her. She wasn't breathing though, her skin was deathly pale, with unnaturally engorged and blackened veins snaking just under it. The cause of her death eluded Adam.

He didn't believe she died just from the shockwave. "I would be dead too if that was the cause," he wondered silently. He inevitably came back to the mysterious messages from before. "Could this voice be responsible for her death?

It didn't make any sense but Adam couldn't think of anything else. He got up and turned away from the woman.

Adam managed to take just a few steps before he heard a low growl coming from behind. He looked at the woman again. She was sitting on the ground, her whole body twitching slightly. She slowly turned her head in his direction.

Adam saw her eyes and backed away in terror. They were filled with primal rage and hunger so powerful that it made Adam flinch.

"Impossible! She was dead!" Was the only thought that ran through his mind before the woman jumped to her feet and charged at Adam.

He stumbled and fell on his back as he tried to dodge her mad attack. He grabbed something blindly with his hand and then the monster was upon him.

Her face was just a few centimeters from his throat, blocked by the arm Adam had managed to rise before she lunged at him. Her jaws snapped powerfully and her nails tore through his clothes and dug deep into his shoulders.

The woman trembled, black blood spilling from her mouth. Adam through her to the side and saw that the thing he had grabbed before was a long shard of glass. It was embedded deep in the middle of her chest now.

The same black, thick blood bubbled and welled up around it.

Adam jumped away from the woman and she in turn shrieked weakly and rolled on her stomach. She crawled after Adam, dragging her limp legs behind her and leaving a trail of blood on the ground.

He put even more distance between them and stared at the woman.

She seemed to be weakening with her every move, and when she reached Adam she finally grew still again.

[Congratulations! You have slain your first Tainted.] As the ethereal message popped in his mind, a stream of white mist, composed of barely visible motes of pure light, rose from the corpse and merged with Adam.

[You gained a level.]

His mind gave in at this moment. Adam fell to his knees and retched violently.

Thoughts churned chaotically in his head, every one of them demanding his attention.

"The woman was dead and then alive again. She was crazy. She attacked him and tried to kill him. He killed her. He killed another human being. He committed a murder. He didn't have another choice. It was an act of self-defense. The messages were back," Adam was overwhelmed.

He was panting heavily and his heart desperately wanted to jump out of his chest.

A sting of pain finally brought Adam some clarity. He looked at his hand and saw a long wound riddled with small pieces of glass going through his palm. Adam focused on the pain and forced the image of the dead woman from his mind for now.

He slowly removed the glass from his wound and took off his torn jacket. There were red spots on it, marking the places where the woman pierced his skin. The cuts weren't life-threatening though and Adam decided to deal with them later.

He stared as his blood mixed with that of the woman and flowed freely down his injured hand. The new sense that had awoken inside him during the Impact reacted violently to this sight. The crimson liquid was calling to him and something inside Adam desperately wanted to answer.

The trance he had entered was interrupted when Adam heard multiple screams coming from the market and the buildings around him. He turned his head and saw that the other bodies lying on the street started twitching just like the woman before.

Adam jumped to his feet and ran away without thinking. He stopped a few blocks away after he made sure that no one was following him and there were no bodies in his vicinity. The images of the woman, the fight, and the twitching bodies returned once again.

He didn't panic this time though. Adam was thinking about his family. They were in mortal danger. He had to get back to them no matter what.