*Level Up* *Select a new Feat*

[Awareness]

-Be more aware of your surroundings, understand your environment and exercise control over the six mortal senses.

[Killer's Instinct]

-It comes second nature to you, the look in a man's eyes. With a glance you can read his glazed eyes like an open book, see the solitude in them. That man won't be missed.

[Unarmed Proficiency]

-The use of the limbs is near limitless, allowing a combat style that exercises great control over the opponent, and to dispatch with the least use of force.

...

This...

It seemed like a certain tabletop RPG he enjoyed playing with his friends for a while when they were meant to be studying in the library.

Sure, right away he could tell a few differences from it, such as the selection of feats or the fact that one didn't gain a level simply by waking up in the middle of a forest.

Wait...

Maybe this was some sort of character creation, were he rolled for his initial stats and chose his class?

No, then he would have chosen his class or rolled his stats first, not jumped straight to choosing his feats.

What the hell were these feats anyways, was he some sort of Dark Monk?

Before Adam could continue with his soliloquy a rustle in the ferns nearby the clearing broke his concentration.

...

Well, it did a bit more than break his concentration.

It scared the living hell out of him.

Two beady eyes curiously looking at him from the ferns.

...

A bloody possum.

Then it sort of hit him.

Sure, he was probably in a reserve or something, but he was in a forest, in the middle of the night.

Should he call triple zero?

Should he implement his survival training from cadets and establish a survival shelter?

All of a sudden the familiar blue gums seemed ever so slightly less familiar, and every bit more threatening.

This wasn't some normal and safe forest.

It was an Australian forest.

Sure it was probably in the middle of suburbia but there were probably a couple dozen species of lethal spiders.

Just because someone lives in Australia doesn't mean they have to understand their own ecosystem after all.

Then from somewhere in the darkness he saw a light.

A bright blue radiance, a flashlight.

Hence from the ferns stepped forth a man.

A kindly looking middle-aged man.

A holstered gun by his side.

Bright blue uniform under a black tactical vest with a walkie talkie attached to it.

It's a cop.

"Adam Freeman is it?" The police officer had a raspy, almost grating voice which contradicted his kind looking visage.

Adam was still in a state of surrealism so he just slowly nodded dumbly.

The police officer let out a deep sigh and pressed a button on his walkie-talkie.

"Officer Harvey here, I got the kid. Over."

Officer Harvey received a reply. However, Adam couldn't make out what was being said as the signal was slightly distorted, but that didn't seem to matter too much to the policeman.

"Acknowledged. Out."

Then Officer Harvey turned to look at him and sported the kind of smile you could only find on your favourite uncle.

"You're safe now."

"Um, What."

Adam couldn't help it. First he wakes up, fantasizes about some blue boxes and gets saved by Aussie Uncle Sam here.

What is even happening?

After briefly explaining to Officer Harvey how he woke up in the middle of the forest, of course omitting any of the details on that blue box business, he finally got some light shed on the situation.

"I see, well you see mate. You've been missing for the last week and your last seen location is 20km's from here. You vanished without a trace and if we hadn't found you today we would have declared you dead."

"Wait, where are we?"

"We are at Ku-rin-gai."

Adam sucked in a breath. Ku-ring-gai national park wasn't exceptionally far away, but it was quite big, not exactly your neighbourhood vegetation.

"Now Adam, are you positive you have no idea how you got here? Anything after you were on the train back home?"

"No."

"Well, there's nothing for it. Looks like a kidnapping to me, albeit a strange one. Adam are you allergic to nuts?"

"No..."

"Well then, here take this, you must be famished. Although it seems your kidnappers must have fed you, since you'd be dead if you had gone almost a week without food or water."

Officer Harvey gave Adam a nut bar, then they started making their way back to the police station.

Outside the forest was the highway, with a couple unmanned police vehicles parked on the verge.

"Carl, you're gonna have to take a ride back with Tony, I'm taking the kid to the police station." Officer Harvey spoke into his walkie talkie.

Officer Harvey moved to the door by the backseat and gestured towards it to Adam.

...

On their way back Adam got to see more of the Australian bush, tall eucalyptus trees, towering cliffs and one wallaby off the verge.

"Officer Harvey, has anything been happening during the week I was gone?"

By this point other cars started to be seen in the highway.

"Well, there's this event that people are calling the Second Renaissance. Some people are starting to get these blue boxes start to appear in their vision. Although right now only a few people have gotten them, these people are starting to show extraordinary abilities."

Unbeknownst to Officer Harvey, Adam slightly shifted from his seat when he mentioned the 'Second Renaissance' and his pupils constricted when he mentioned 'blue boxes'. Only to focus sharply when he mentioned 'extraordinary powers'.

The rest of the car trip continued without conversation.

The car had reached the police station and Officer Harvey parked in one of the many parking spaces available in the front.

Adam was about to get out of the car when Officer Harvey put a hand on his shoulder and stopped him. Turning around, Adam was met with his resting face, the look of someone asking their last question.

"Adam. Before you go, you wouldn't happen to know anyone called Sarah would you?"

"No... Why?" Adam slowly replied, puzzled by the question out of the blue.

Officer Harvey looked as if he was evaluating Adam for a second, performing a judgment. His eyes imperceptibly flashed with a hint of something.

"No... nothing. Just that a homicide case happened on the same night as your disappearance. I was wondering if maybe the cases were linked. As in the perpetrator may be related to the victims. Well, just stay safe Adam, let's go in."

Just like that Officer Harvey left the car. Leaving Adam to stand dumbfounded for a while.

What did he get involved with?

Homicide?

Adam felt cold sweat stick to the back of his neck, thinking about how close he was to dying.

Death.

It made Adam shudder at the mere thought of how close he was to being sent there.

...

Once in the police station he had to wait for his mother to arrive before being interviewed on the case and providing an official statement to the police.

"Thank you for your time Mrs Freeman, you might receive calls from us in the coming days in relation to the case."

"No thank you Officer Schmidt, without you I wouldn't have ever seen my son again."

That was my mother. The one that fit the perfect image of a mother finally reunited with her son after a period of turmoil.

Shortly after they made their way back to the car. Her mothers tears meticulously cleaned with an impeccable napkin she always carried with her.

The trip home was silent, not a word was said to one another, in stark contrast to the warm and loving woman in the police station, this one was about as talkative as a man hanging from the gallows, about as warm too.

They got home and his mother immediately went upstairs, probably to work from home. The living room was impeccable, except when he got to his room. It looked exactly as he left it as, a disaster, and it had stayed like that for the last week.

Tired Adam went downstairs to get something to eat. Looking in the fridge there were only cans upon cans of iced coffee.

'What a surprise." He thought in a mental monotone tone.

What did he expect, some prepared dinner for the son that had been a victim of kidnapping for the past week?

Was it even dinner time?

Looking up to the clock he saw the time.

4am.

'Well that explains why a certain someone doesn't feel very talkative.' He mused.

'Not that it would have been any different.'

'After all, it's always the same.'

...

Adam sat outside a bench by a convenience store. He was eating a prepared sandwich allong with a 'Monster' energy drink.

Normally at this hour he would be asleep. It was winter right now so the sun wouldn't rise for another few hours.

However he just woke up a couple hours ago from some sort of kidnapper induced coma. That and his unhealthy gusto for energy drinks were probably contributing towards his eerie amount of energy at this ungodly hour.

Well, might as well get on with something he has procrastinated for long enough.

*Level Up* *Select a new Feat*

[Awareness]

-Be more aware of your surroundings, understand your environment and exercise control over the six mortal senses.

[Killer's Instinct]

-It comes second nature to you, the look in a man's eyes. With a glance you can read his glazed eyes like an open book, see the solitude in them. That man won't be missed.

[Unarmed Proficiency]

-The use of the limbs is near limitless, allowing a combat style that exercises great control over the opponent, and to dispatch with the least use of force.

It had sort of disappeared when he didn't focus on it however as soon as he thought about it he saw the blue boxes again.

'Well, no use thinking about the why, might as well choose one.'

[Killer's Instinct] was immediately crossed off the list, that left it between [Awareness] and [Unarmed Proficiency].

'Wait a second, six senses?'

It was most probably curiosity about this 'sixth sense' that made him pick [Awareness].

*New Feat Acquired*

[Awareness]

-Be more aware of your surroundings, understand your environment and exercise control over the six mortal sense.

Almost instantly Adam felt an acute headache. He felt completely cut off from his senses, he couldn't detect anything. Not even his self. He only had a vague sensation of consciousness, his awareness of his existence.

Adam didn't know how long this absolute blindness lasted for since he had no measure to tell time. It could have been a mere instant or an entire century.

However at some point he focused on his feeling of himself. His awareness of the self. Slowly, but surely it started expanding.

He could 'sense' the bench he was sitting on. Then he could detect the sandwich and his spilled energy drink on the pavement before him. Then, all of a sudden his senses awoke.

If a scientist were to ask him what the big bang looked like. He would reply that it was an explosion of colour, an explosion of existence. Concepts such as time, perception and life conceived for the first time.

This was what was happening to Adam right now. A blindness conceived from the splendour of a new perspective.

Adam checked out his body.

He found that he could see further, much, much further.

When someone hears about how eagles have extremely good vision, they simply accept it. Unable to understand however what it would feel like to see a small mouse from a distance measured in kilometres. Now Adam understood.

Before, the sky looked bleak, with nary a star to be seen. However now, it was an explosion of small, bright, lights.

He also found he could smell many things now. Smells he had never detected before. It felt almost as if before his nose was blocked by a 40 degree fever, however now it completely healthy.

All of his senses were now incomparable to how they were before. If this was a Chinese novel, the difference would be described as between Heaven and Earth.

He also tried out his 'sixth sense'.

A tinging feeling spread out from the centre of his body. A wave of sensation spread out from him.

He found he could make out the shape of objects using this method. However these were inanimate objects.

Then Adam turned to look to his right, there was a possum there, hiding in the bush.

Adam slowly guided his 'sixth sense' towards the possum, to see what would happen.

'Of course, Adam would regret that later on.'

As soon as his 'sixth sense' made contact with the possum, Adam was filled with all sorts of information.

An image of a small nest with baby possums in it being groomed by their mother.

An image of the mother possum lying on the pavement, her skull split open by a human's stick.

An image of flight, running away from a terrifying feline.

An image of hiding within the bush, seeing a human collapsed upon a bench, Adam.

Adam felt all sorts of emotions through this bond.

Fear, Insecurity, Shock.

If Adam felt them, he would have been scared no doubt, however this was different.

It was like he was feeling them through a television screen, much like how one watches a war documentary, numbed to the horrors of war through the glass screen.

However, all those sensations were the least of Adams problems. Along with the sensations Adam felt a strong desire.

A desire to feed on those emotions, a desire to twist this being psychologically.

Henceforth, it felt like Adam's body went on auto-pilot. Acting upon instinct, with his consciousness simply laying back to enjoy the show.

Firstly his 'hand' morphed into some sort of whisk made of transparent, long white tendrils.

Then the tendrils slowly made their way to the possum, which was completely frozen in fear.

As soon as the tendrils made contact, Adam began to understand the emotions of the possum. He relished in them.

He twisted the possum's fear into a deep seated hatred. The possum visually began to struggle, it's eyes became bloodshot.

After a few minutes the blood vessels started bursting.

Adam slowly put down the possum with what was now his normal hand.

Looking at what was before him, he could see the bloated corpse of something.

It's head had twisted and it's hands had morphed into multiple limbs.

Sickly green blood was slowly oozing out of it's open mouth.

Adam looked at it's eyes. They were entirely black with a green pupil, the same sickly green he had seen in it's blood.

On the reflection of it's eyes he could see his face. Or lack thereof a face in fact.

He was still himself, however for his face there was a lack of distinguishing features, just a blank slate of white skin.

What had he become?

Almost as if on cue, the blue boxes appeared.

Name: Adam Freeman (???) Race: Human (Lesser Monster) Alignment: Lawful Neutral (Chaotic Evil) Class Level: N/A (???)

Strength: 9 (18)

Dexterity: 11 (22)

Constitution: 10 (19)

Wisdom: 11 (10)

Intelligence: 12 (25)

Charisma: 8 (4)

Spells:

[Nightmare Absorbtion]

Skills:

[Awareness]

Chat Window:

Admin: Adam Freeman has connected