Chapter 6: Awakening

Emory walked home feeling very excited to the point he almost began skipping, humming a tune and swaying his body slightly to the beat. He was very happy about the job he just landed, even if the interview was not exactly what he expected he still got a job at the end. But still the events of the day still felt very out of the ordinary none the least, from the overnight transformation to finding out he has an all-knowing mythical existence dwelling in him, but so far so good right? Emory thought, he had gained a lot from it in just one night, he felt goosebumps appearing on his body just thinking about what might come next.

"I feel like I'm forgetting something, something important" Emory slowed down trying to remember what exactly skipped his mind. He suddenly palmed his own forehead, making an audible sound of skin slapping eachother. "How could I forget. I got a job and I don't even know how much I'll be earning and when to clock in, we didn't even talk about shifts!!" Emory said loudly, drawing suspecting glances and looks from the surrounding bystanders.

"I'll just get there immediately after school, haha" he said between short awkward laughs

Feeling embarrassed because of his public 'announcement' Emory picked up his pace, continuing his journey home as it was already quite dark.

"It's awfully quiet around here today, that's strange" said Emory as he approached a dark alley. The alley was a shortcut to his house he discovered when he chased a cat that had grabbed his wallet, well it wasn't much of a real chase, more like a fast walk chase since the cat in question was down to three legs and he was no runner too due to his previous medical state and ever since that day he passed the alley and also fed the cat on his way home.

But now, neither the cat nor the homeless man Dale that lives around the alley was no where to be seen, it was too strange but Emory decided not to read into it too much but he was still on guard regardless, he felt exposed and open. As he approached the turn that would lead him out of the alley and into his house street, two dark figures came into sight they looked like dogs, really big dogs.

"Um hello?" Emory called out to the figures as he slowly stepped forward hoping to get a closer look but he didn't get a response, he picked up a stone and threw it at the figures hoping they were actually dogs and that would scare them away but the figures just stood there.

The figures stood so still that they could be mistaken for statues, except statues don't make growling noises. As the growls and snarls of the figures became louder, Emory decided it was better to head back and take the normal route to his house. As he turned around, he was met with a another dark figure of similar shape to the previous two.

"What the actual fuck is going on?" Emory said as he backed up against a wall, he was trapped between the figures and they didn't seem like they were friendly, they didn't even seem like they wanted to rob him. Emory could feel it instinctively, like some sort of lingering indescribable emotion. He knew it, he knew what they wanted and he could not give it up, because what they wanted was his life.

He picked up a brick, it was the closest thing he had to a weapon. He had made up his mind, he was going to bash the head of the lone figure with the brick and make a run for it. Emory summed up his courage, driving away all thoughts of fear from his mind.

"You want me, come get me you bastard!" He said to the lone figure but all he got from the creature was a louder growl.

Emory charged towards the creature with a simple plan in mind "Throw the brick and the creature and run away while it's distracted". As he drew closer to the creature he extended his arm backwards, planted his feet on the ground and using his whole body weight and strength, he launched the brick towards the creature but something unexpected happened, the brick broke apart on its way to the creature.

"Huh?" Emory looked at his arm, the crumbled brick and then at the creature. Emory's eyes widened as he watched the creature stand up on two feet and take on a humanoid form, in doing so the creature grew twice as big, almost eight feet tall or perhaps that was it's original size. Emory looked behind him and saw the other two creatures do the same and as if they were being controlled, the creatures started charging at him in sync.

"Well damn" said Emory as he traced his eyes around the alley, searching for an escape route, fighting these creatures was out of options for him, he soon found his escape path in the form of a open window, but it wasn't going to come easy. The window was on the second floor of a building, there was no way he would reach that height without something to act as an aid to boost him up and that was when Emory spotted a ladder conveniently lying right next to the trash can beside him.He had his plan ready.

As soon as the creatures got close enough, Emory slid the ladder over to the base of his escape route and rolled out of harm's way, evading the massive arms that swung down at him. The creatures missed him and their arms came crashing down on the wall he rested on, leaving a large crater where his head would have been if he didn't move away in time.

Emory stared at the unnatural scene in front of him, but he soon snapped out of his daze when the creatures abruptly turned their heads towards him, staring him down with an expression he could not describe. Emory quickly grabbed the ladder and propped it on the wall but the creatures relentless in their pursuit came charging at him again, he was already halfway up the ladder when one of the creatures broke the ladder in half and he came crashing right down, so much for his escape plan. Emory was now surrounded by the three huge creatures, the clouds soon exposed the moonlight and a nightly glow washed over the alley, illuminating it in the process. Emory could now clearly see the beasts, they were slender and deformed as if they were some mutated lab experiments and the most shocking thing about the reveal was that the where the creatures should have had their faces, where blank! No faces at all like an incomplete drawing.

"The hell?! why are you even after me?! Who the fuck actually are you people?" Emory yelled at the creatures in frustration but was only replied with growling sounds.

"Fall..en" Emory unconsciously muttered " Huh? Fallen? Why did I say that?"

Boom!

A fist came crashing down and just barely missed Emory. Faced with no way out and no options left, Emory raised his fist and assumed a boxing stance"Come at me then, you faceless bastards" Emory said, he had made up his mind to fight the creatures. Emory had no idea where this confident feeling he had was coming from, the logical thing to do in the situation was to run away but that was hopeless, the creatures had already demonstrated speeds that could already be deemed unnatural.

And like gears in a clock, something clicked in Emory's head, the creatures were fast but he was still able to dodge them, that implied that the were at least relative in speed and thus a sliver of hope arose within the boy.

The first attack came from his left side, Emory could see the attack coming, he could dodge it!. He leaped to the side but was immediately met with another attack and this time he wasn't able to react quick enough and got sent crashing into a wall. Emory emerged from the rubble and dust, his head bleeding, he coughed a few times and tried to regain his composure but was soon met with another attack from above, he could see the attack coming and was ready to dodge when a huge mass slammed into him from his side, it was the second creature's doing, not giving him time to recover the third creature took a huge leap and landed directly on Emory with its full weight. This caused the boy to cough out dangerous amounts of blood.

Emory laid there on the ground limbs bent in direction they weren't supposed to be able to go, covered in blood unable to move, he had a multiple broken bones, internal damage. He was about to die, Emory's life flashed before his eyes, incomplete memories of his father, memories of his mother crying after receiving the news of his death, memories of himself not being able to do what the other kids his age were doing due to his weak body, memories of his unimpressive and sad life rushed through his head. But in all those moments there was always a constant, someone who remained with him throughout his mundane existence; his mother Mirianne and in the that moment Emory thought to himself "If I were to die here, I would have no regrets despite the life I've lived, in fact you would be offering me a clean slate to start over in another life if it exists….but what would become of the one I leave behind, the one who would have nothing left if i no longer lived. She would be thrown into utter despair and I can not have that!"

Suddenly Emory's body began to heat up, sending a warm feeling around his body, his veins flowing with something other than just blood, something more, something that felt familiar yet otherly strange to him. Emory's bloodshot eyes lit up with a silvery hue, he felt his original strength returning to him as well as new found additional strength and his body began to heal from cell to tissue to organs and bones.

"Ae…ther" Emory muttered to himself

Emory could see the simultaneous attack coming from the three creatures, the creatures movement became clearer and slower to him. He threw a punch and landed a hit straight to the jaw of the first creature, Emory could feel the impact of skin and bones mesh together under the power of his fist, and the creature got sent flying backwards into a trash bin, it groaned in pain and did not look like it would be getting up anytime soon.

Emory looked at his bloodied fist in awe and surprised at his own strength.

"Haha. This day just keeps getting stranger and stranger. Come at me" Emory motioned for the other two creatures to come. The creatures who paused for a bit came charging more fiercely than before, Emory dodged the first one by sliding between its legs, as he did he grabbed one of the legs of the creature and swung the creature towards the other beast as it came charging, the two creatures crashed against each other and then into a wall.

Not giving them time to recuperate, Emory took a piece of the broken ladder and proceeded to emotionlessly beat down on the first creature he had sent flying continuously, until he couldn't feel any resistance. He pointed the bloodied piece of metal at the two remaining creatures

"You're next. Now come here" he said coldly

The creatures roared angrily at Emory and began charging at him but it soon stopped dead in its tracks and looked at Emory or so it seemed. The creatures were looking way beyond Emory as they sensed a terrifying presence, the creatures spotted a figure in a trench coat standing at the top of a building blocks away and immediately retreated with a whimper. Emory looked confused as he could not tell why the creature had a change of attitude middway, he could not see what the creature saw, he could not see the man who watched the events of the alley with his pure blue eyes and he could not feel the sheer amount of strength the man had.

"So it still works but its not as effective as it used to be" said Micheal, his hands on his chin as if in thought. The moonlight washed over his figure, revealing his golden blonde hair and it reflected off his ocean blue eyes as the winds blew softly through his hair. His coat waving with the rhythm of the wind.

"And the kid did way better than I expected" he looked at Emory, closed his eyes vanished like he was never there to begin with.

As confused as Emory was, he was also relieved, because he didn't know if he could actually kill the last creature. Although he had his new found strength, he felt very tired. Emory limped as he continued his journey home, as he approached the end of the alley a horrific site met him. It was the homeless man Dale…the top part of him at least. The man had been ripped in two, and he had a brick lodged into half of his face, his bottom half was no where in sight.

Emory closed his eyes and walked home with mixed feelings. One one hand he had this new mysterious strength and on the other hand a life was lost because of him. Despite the events that happened, that night Emory slept like a baby.