Chapter 0.5

On a rooftop a dozen stories above the streets below, a beaten and bruised pair of siblings clung to each other out of worry and fear. The nearby river wind only served to bring a greater chill to their already shaken bodies.

"Adrian, it's okay, there's nothing to worry about, the police will be here shortly"

The female spoke, with a voice that clearly felt forced yet encouragingly calming.

Adrian shivered once more in response to her words. He felt soothed yet simmeringly frustrated. In this bleak situation where he himself should taking care of his elder sister, he only felt weakness in his bones. The fear in his eyes was distinctively deeper than whatever bruises and cuts could cause him. Unaware of this, his sister comfortably patted his hair and blew at the light cut on his forehead, as if her little effort could 'blow' at least some of his pain away.

"Adrian, do you hear that? the sirens close by, we can get home soon"

Taking her words into his heart, Adrian's breathing slowed and paced steadily once more. He gave a tight hug to his sister to reassure her that he was fine. Now that his mind was clear, he began to think of what would happen next, yet as if to mock his fluctuating mindset the next event immediately began.

*BANG*

The rooftop door smashed into the connected wall before toppling over. Before the siblings could comprehend how much force that action would take, a large tank-top-wearing, bulky man came striding out carelessly lifting what the pair of siblings wanted yet, hated to see the most.

"John!"

Adrian held her waist tightly to stop her from scrambling away. A figure, bleeding from head, torso, arms, and every place visible was tossed in front of them. His wounds were not deep, yet seemed to be made viscously as to create the most sickening image. John... Adrian lamented as his arms loosened.

"JOHN!"

Alyssa cried while kneeling and holding her partner's face. It pained Adrian to look so, he glared at the large man ominously standing a few meters away, scrambling his mind to figure a way through this situation.

The buff and bald man chuckled. His two goons stood behind him, faces visibly beaten.

"Where's the other guy?" Adrian asked, baldy's face immediately switched to a fierce glare.

"Your amateurish kick crippled him and you have the nerve to ask where he is!?... Too bad for you, we'll be taking compensation now" His body suddenly launched towards Adrian, easily clutching his collar.

Adrian tried once and twice to punch the arm away, but when his accumulated fatigue set in, his arms naturally fell powerlessly. 'Your underling got what he deserved for hurting my sister!' his mouth wanted to cry, though his rationality held him back.

*Clang!*

The Baldy's superhuman strength was witnessed as a part of the rooftop railing was torn off as if he was uprooting carrots. Adrian dangled from his arm above nothing but the street below. The wind whistled as he felt the night air clearer than any other time in his life.

"I'll ask you a question now, and if you get it wrong my arm may loosen up a bit... you get it?" Baldy sneered, forcing Adrian to nod and agree to his game.

"Whose goon did you hit?"

"Yo...urs" Adrian struggled to say.

"Where did you hit him?" Baldy continued.

"Spi..ne, *gasp* his spine" Adrian's collar was suffocating him.

"Now where do you want to be hit?" The gangster finally bared his fangs.

All of a sudden, Baldy raised his eyebrows and swung his free arm backward, gripping onto someone else. "Mmph!" Alyssa struggled in his claw grip.

"Did your family descend from assassins?" He mocked "You saved your sister by attacking sneakily and now she tried to do the same, though... young lady you should really think things through before doing something like that. Your brother's life is totally in my control. If I was distracted, what do you think could have happened"

"Well now that we've come to this point, why not join in the game as well, sister? You can have the next question since you interrupted" He held Alyssa next to her brother.

Baldy's eyes showed devilish joy as if he was the host of a punishing game show. No one else seemed to cherish the atmosphere, so Baldy roughly exhaled and continued.

"Young lady, here's the question, in 5 seconds someone will fall to their death" Baldy took a breath.

Adrian's eyes flashed as he realized it was another demented word game. Rather than a prediction, what he wanted was for her to choose who would die. Adrian was sincerely angered because he knew there was only one answer his sister would give. "Who-" Without a second gone past *phleh* spit fell on the big man's face "F**k you, kill me if you dare a**h***" Alyssa screamed. Unfortunately, her provocation was lost on the Baldy and in fact made him determined to see her despairing face.

"Uh oh, that is the wrong answer" He snickered "As a result, you have lost a life"

All color left Alyssa's face as she turned to see Baldy's hand loosening on her younger brother's clothing. "ADRIAN!" she reached out to thin air. "Ladies and gentlemen, that's all we have time for today" Baldy laughed, throwing the one person left onto the floor beside him.

As he fell, the last thing Adrian saw was the large man smoothly disappear from the edge of the rooftop and immediately after, he heard the sound of footsteps and "Police!" shouted.

---

The shiny windows reflected Adrian's falling figure. Time seemed to slow as he took in the view of the city lights by the river while looking at the mirrored Adrian. His face in the reflection was serene as if this outcome was not the best but, acceptable. He was about a quarter of the way down and Adrian thought he still had plenty of time to reflect on his life while time was moving this way.

[ .....Bzzzzz System Protocol 817261 Initialized ]

But something unexpected appeared in his vision and as a result, time flowed properly once again.

[ Emergency detected | Low power state: On ]

[ Emergency detected | Low power state: Off ]

[ Host safeguard available procedures: 0 (506718 unavailable) ]

[ Alert! Insufficient energy! Is instance a properly verified object? ]

[ Initializing co-routine | Argument 817261 | Starting boot procedure ]

[ Dimension found | Setting current coordinates as {world anchor} | Beginning transteleportation ]

Messages rained down, overwhelming Adrian, the sound of wind faded and a flash of white light took away his consciousness.