Chapter 2

“Well, that’s no good.” A voice said in the darkness. Dan’s eyes blinked and as he looked around all he saw was darkness. “You were supposed to die.” The voice continued, making a clicking sound with its tongue as the unseen speaker continued. “No one is supposed to survive the truck method.” More clicking as Dan spun around. He was floating in a black nothingness. Where was he? What was going on? And more importantly, who was talking.

“Hello?” He said aloud. His voice echoed into the darkness. Surely he was dreaming.

“Ah well,” The voice continued, apparently either unable to hear Dan’s voice, or uncaring. “The power transfer still occurred, so there isn’t anything we can do about this. At the very least,” the voice chuckled, “this should prove quite amusing.”

“What’s going on? Who are you?” Dan tried again. Silence answered. “Is this a dream?” A white light started to appear in the darkness, and with it, Dan felt a stinging pain begin to rise up in the back of his head. Suddenly, pain began to rush through all of his body, as if he’d been hit by a…truck. Oh, right.

“Hopefully he makes the best of his new powers…if they don’t drive him mad first.” The voice was fading as it spoke. “What system was it that transferred into him again?” The voice was barely audible, and whoever it was talking to, Dan couldn’t hear the response. The white light intensified, and as it did, so too did the pain in his body. Every ounce of him ached, and his head throbbed something intense. He closed his eyes against the pain, hoping it would go away. Instead, it intensified. Ever part of him screamed out. He screamed out-

*******

“Daniel.” His father’s voice was filled with concern, and Dan turned his head in the direction of the voice, his eyes opening slowly. He was lying in a hospital bed, his mind groggy. The world around him was fuzzy, as he tried to take everything in. There was an IV set up beside him, the beeping of various monitors, and his entire body still hurt. However, he was pretty sure nothing was broken. Which was lucky. Still, his head was throbbing intensely, and he remembered, for a moment, the hard smack of his head on the ground. Seriously, how stupid had he been, running across the road like that. He could have been killed.

“Oh thank God you’re awake.” His father continued. Dan’s eyes focused on his dad. He was sitting there in his military uniform, his eyes red, tear streaks evident on his face. That was weird, his dad never cried. “I was so worried when I got the call. Seriously, what were you doing running out into the street? You could have been killed.” I just thought that. Dan chuckled aloud, the effort causing his mind to throb.

“I, I’m sorry.” He said slowly. The pain in his head was intensifying, and he could feel it roiling towards his eyes. His vision hadn’t cleared up either. Had it been damaged in the accident? “Wasn’t thinking.” He continued. Dan closed his eyes tightly.

“Well, I’m just glad you came to. They were worried you might not wake up. They said the first 24 hours were going to be extremely crucial.” His father shook his head. “I don’t know what I would have done if you didn’t wake up.”

Dan shook his head slowly, trying to reassure his dad, and sort out his mind. Not only was his head throbbing something fierce, but his entire body was tingling now. It wasn’t an actual pain, just an…extremely uncomfortable experience. He opened his eyes again, and blinked a few times. What the hell?

Above his father’s head, words floated. Matthew Meadows. That was strange. He stared at the name, and it seemed to glow. A second later, a stream of information appeared before him.

Matthew Meadows

Age- 45

Relation- Father

Occupation- Captain, USN

More Details? Y/N

Dan shook his head. The prompt went away, but the name stayed floating above his father’s head.

“Daniel, are you okay?” His father’s voice was filled with concern. “You know what…I’m going to go get a nurse.” He stood up, and without another word left the room. The moment he did, the lights in the room seemed to completely dim. As they did, a figure appeared in the corner of the room. A man, dressed in a pin stripe suit of green and gold, holding a cane, grinning wider than a human should be able to.

“Greeting Danny,” He started, “I can call you Danny, yeah?” Before Dan could respond, the strange man continued. “Doesn’t matter, won’t be here long.” He chuckled. Above his head, all Dan could see was ???.

“Yeah, your powers won’t work on me. That wouldn’t be very wise of us, would it. To give you powers that let you discern who and what we are.” He laughed again. “I’ll keep this short and sweet Danny. First, you may call me Syn. It’s short, it’s simple, and it’s easy to say.” He laughed. “Which I found was always important dealing with humans.”

“Second, as to what’s going on.” The voice, was definitely the voice he’d heard in the darkness before he awoke. “You were selected to receive special powers, and be transported to another world, in order to try and save it. A world, where you could be a hero.” Syn laughed. “Sadly, you didn’t die. So you weren’t transferred. Accidents, they happen you know.”

Dan opened his mouth to respond, but Syn continued, pointing his cane toward Dan as he spoke. “Still, part of the process worked. You received the powers, but to a lesser degree. After all, the powers are unique to the world that the chosen one inhabits. And…since this is plain old boring Earth…well, your powers are much less spiffy.”

Syn shrugged. “Still, they’ll give you an edge, so to say, in this world. And well since it’s our fault…you get to keep them. Go wild and have fun with them. I know the boys and I back at the office are looking forward to seeing what exactly you do with these powers.” He laughed even more.

“But enough about that.” He cut in, just as Dan was about to speak. “I’m sure you’re wondering what your powers are.” Dan shook his head…knowing he wasn’t likely to get a word in with Syn.

“Good, good.” Syn smiled. “Sometimes, the people go crazy, and just completely reject everything we say as we try and explain all of this. Though…I guess learning you’ve died is usually pretty hard to swallow. Since you didn’t die…all you have to worry about is having new powers. And, the one thing Earth has going for it…even with how boring and mundane it is, is that its people at least seem to be growing more accepting of the idea of people getting powers. Gotta love the media.” He set his cane into the ground and folded both his hands on it. “Man, you really need to stop interrupting and getting me off track.”

Syn cleared his throat. “Your powers are pretty simple. Let’s see…” He paused, “You ever played games like the Sims? Or maybe those Elder Scrolls games? Or-“

“Yes,” Dan managed to get out, finally. As he spoke, Syn’s smile widened once more, showing unnaturally white teeth, as his emerald green eyes shone eerily bright.

“Good, makes this a lot easier on me. Man, this is really going to be fun to watch. Any who, more or less, your powers are going to be like a mixture from those. From now on, you’re going to be able to see information on everyone, and even yourself. Depending on the situation, you will of course have differing amounts of information available to you. Some things need to be unlocked, after all. But still, you’ll be able to gather data on people, and see everything eventually ranging from their names, their age, sexual orientation, likes, dislikes…you name it.”

Syn took a quick breath and continued. “On top of that, you’ll be able to see their skills and traits. Normally, much cooler in other worlds with like, magic and whatnot. But here, I guess… you get to see just how strong people are, how smart they are, or how good they may be at a sport. Let’s see,” He paused for a moment, as if thinking. “For instance, you’ll be able to see just how good that Peter kid is at Tennis. And spoiler alert buddy, he’s really good. He’s got all his techniques above level 70 already…At 17 that’s really impressive, and I see him going far.”

“Level 70…” Dan muttered. In the elder scrolls games, you could level skills up to 100. He knew that much.

“Yeah, peaks at 100. Doing a task gives you experience towards the next level…you know, typical game style stuff.”

Sounds from outside the room could be heard, as footsteps neared. Dan figured his father had gone and gotten the nurse.

“Right, I’m out of time for now. Figure that was a good enough introduction to all of this anyways. Any questions before I go?” Syn glanced between Dan, and the door. “You’ve got about a minute.”

Dan’s mind raced. Surely this couldn’t be real. But, as Syn had said…it wasn’t a concept he was unfamiliar with. He’d seen it in movies, and anime, and even read stories about such things. Just…the fact it was happening to him, seemed unreal.

“45 seconds.” Syn made that clicking sound with his tongue.

“How do I see my stats?” Dan asked quickly.

“Easy, focus on yourself, and say or think ‘stats. 30 seconds.”

“How do I get in contact with you again?” That seemed important. Usually, you wanted to be able to contact whoever it was that had given you powers…

“I’ll be in touch. Time’s up.” Syn tipped his hat towards Dan, and his chuckling was all Dan could hear as the man faded away. A moment later, his father stepped into the room along with the nurse. And just as Syn had told him…he could see not only his father’s name, but the nurses as well. If he wasn’t dreaming, or hallucinating from some powerful pain drugs…his life was really about to change. As the nurse walked in, asking him a couple of questions, testing his pain levels, his cognitive ability, and so on, his mind drifted. He answered the questions mindless, as he thought about the potential for whatever this new power was. And then, a thought occurred to him. Just as the nurse finished checking up on him, and telling his father he would likely be able to be discharged the next day, Dan waited, patiently. He waited patiently as his dad asked him more questions, until finally, his father left him alone as well, promising to come back with some pizza so he wouldn’t have to deal with hospital food.

And, as his father left, he let out a relieved sigh, and steadied himself. Because now that his father, and the nurse were gone, he could do what he’d wanted to do ever since Syn left. The thing that was always the most important in a situation like this. And something he’d be lying he wasn’t curious about. After all, he had to wonder, if these were his powers…how in depth did they go?

“Stats.” He said aloud softly. It was time to see just what all his new ‘powers’ entailed.