3 - The Strong(1)

[15 Days earlier; 13:17 Turin Italy]

Lele was walking home from high school.

Most people would have never guessed his age correctly because he possessed incredible physical talent. Even though he was still in full puberty he already hit 185 cm towering on almost everyone of the same age. His body was well developed; Anyone could tell at a first glance that under his orange t-shirt was hiding chiseled muscles. Funnily enough his face was still the one of a kid. Lele had a round friendly face with dark brown eyes and hair. Not a single facial hair could be seen, his skin was smooth as the one of a baby which created a huge contrast with his large shoulders and towering figure.

Lele was part of the track-and-field team, but he didn't take part in any race. Why? Well, because he did it for fun, Lele wasn't a competitive individual. Still, his body couldn't be achieved by exercising just for 'fun'. In short he was intrinsically talented in sports.

The real activity that thrilled Lele was the study of history, in fact he was currently watching a video about Napoleon.

All of a sudden Lele felt incredibly hot, startled he put his phone in his pocket and checked his surroundings.

The street was filled with students that just came out from school, quickly he noticed that something was off. In the midst of murmur a few students were glowing in different colors.

'I must be seeing things.'

Lele squeezed his eyes a few times, but…

'They really are glowing wtf?'

He looked to his exposed forearms. They were enveloped in yellow light. After a few seconds the hot feeling and the glowing light disappeared.

'What just happened?'

Everyone on the street was confusedly looking at each other. No one wanted to bring-up the topic in fear of all being just the fruit of their imagination.

A student finally broke the ice: "What the heck was that?"

In an instant the weird atmosphere disappeared and everyone started talking loudly. The students started posting on the internet frantically looking for any information about the event they just witnessed.

Lele quickly sent a message to his grandparents telling them that he couldn't go home for lunch. He decided to go to his best friend's house in the hope of learning something by confronting eachother.

Usually the normal reaction of a teenager would be to call their parents, but this group of friends was rather unusual, no one fitted with the people of their age each and everyone of them had something peculiar. Therefore during the years they grew a bond as strong as family.

Lele started running however… The world around him appeared blurry. 'It's like being in a car' he thought.

As a matter of fact the teenager wasn't just fast, even if his pacing felt similar to light jogging he was actually moving at around 30 km/h.

Unable to properly control his speed he slowed down and started walking 'What the hell? That was crazy!'.

After a few minutes, Lele turned a corner and a strange phenomenon unfolded in front of his eyes. A small rift not larger than a fist could be seen floating 1 meter from the ground. It was similar to a cracked mirror. 'I shouldn't touch this. Better take some pictures as proof.' Lele picked-up his phone, he barely took a step forward in order to get a clearer image, but he suddenly felt a strong force pulling him and he was swirled inside the rift.

Lele's senses started at full throttle, almost suffering from a panic attack. After all he was still a 15 years old kid that got caught-up with something he didn't even understand.

"Huff, huff, huff." <Smack> Lele slapped his cheeks.

"Calm down, No panicking mama raised no bitch."

After a few deep breaths he finally settled down and started to look around.

Lele seemed to be in a forest. Before he could think about his situation, he heard a loud howl. Thanks to his enhanced senses he instinctively looked to his right. 10 m away near a tree he could see a wolf. Even with a quick glance the creature looked nothing like an ordinary animal. In terms of height the head of the beast almost reached Lele's chin.

The wolf jaw opened in a growl revealing a set of razor sharp teeth. Panicking once again, Lele started Running away as fast as he could, his heart beating like crazy.

'Shit, Shit, Shit what the heck is that? I'm sure that wolves aren't supposed to be that big!'

Before he could notice a different wolf was standing in front of him.

'I will not be able to stop in time!' Lele let out a terrified scream and closed his eyes as he crashed into the wolf.

<BOOOOOOOOOM!>

Things didn't go as he expected. Lele felt a warm liquid coating him, he slowly opened his eyes only to see that the wolf was reduced to a puddle of blood. Pieces of meat were scattered on the tree in front of him.

Usually anyone would feel repulsed by such a sight, but the mixture of adrenaline and fear that Lele was experiencing combined with the shock of facing a life and death situation for the first time was clearing his mind from similar thoughts. Instead his brain was filled by his survival instincts.

Before he could take a breath to realize what happened 3, no 5 more wolves surrounded him. It was a kill or be killed situation. Lele drunk on adrenaline shouted

"COME AT ME!"

The closest wolf to his left jumped with his fangs wide open. All of a sudden it was as if time slowed down several times.

'I can clearly see the beast, it's incredibly slow. It feels very similar to the few times I got in the zone while training, just amplified by a hundred times.'

Lele retracted his arm mustered all his strength and punched the wolf landing a body shot. When his fist made contact with the creature it instantly raptured its skin and pierced through side to side.

The rest of the pack was now intimidated by the prey they aimed to hunt. The terrifying silhouette of Lele covered in blood and their dead comrade still hanging on his right arm made the surviving wolves sprint away in fear.

"This time I'm the one doing the hunting!"

Lele started running, catching up to them in the blink of an eye. Then he interlocked hands forming a fist and swung downward hitting the head of one of the beasts crushing its skull killing it on the spot. Immediately after he kicked a wolf on his left, smashing it into another pack member, sending them flying.

The two poor creature's inertia was stopped by a massive tree. The trunk shattered and started collapsing on its side.

Lele turned his head right expecting to see the last wolf, however there was nothing in sight.

'I'm sure of it, there should be one more.'

After a few seconds of nerve-racking silence Lele was alerted by his primal senses.

'BEHIND ME!'

In a fluid motion Lele rotated his body, slapping the wolf already leaping through the air. The slap was violent enough to cleanly break the creature's neck.

"Huff, Huff"

Lele was breathing heavily not due his stamina, but because of the huge amount of stress he just went through.

<Ripple>

A familiar rift appeared in front of him.

'I just hope this is what I think it is.'

This time he intentionally plunged his arm towards the fracture.

A teen completely covered in blood appeared in the middle of a street under the shocked gaze of the passers-by.