Noah awoke the next morning with stiff joints, which were aching from a night of sleeping restlessly against the wall. He had woken up multiple times due to nightmares of soulless. He wiped broken glass out of his way as he kneeled tentatively to peek out of the shattered bedroom window through a gap in the pulled curtains. He could see that the sky was now completely obscured by clouds, which appeared as if they were on fire. Neither the alien spaceship nor the sun could be seen through the thick layer of clouds, which caused everything to appear lit with a sepia hue.

While Noah was looking out the window, he noticed more than a dozen prismatic beams of light piercing through the clouds to shine down onto the ground in various locations. He assumed that the mysterious beams of light originated from the strange spaceship floating in the damaged city's stratosphere.

I should go and look at what those lights are pointing at. I may be able to find other people there.

The closest beam of light to him seemed to be close to the city harbour. It should only take him about an hour to travel on foot.

He noticed as he was walking that he felt a lot lighter for some reason. He hadn't had a chance to investigate what happened after the pulse event until now.

The air felt different. It was multiple times thicker than before but didn't impede movement. It was the opposite, the air felt as if it supported his weight and aided in movement. There was also strange energy in the air, which felt like static against Noah's skin. Additionally, the air smelt fresh as if all the pollution was gone like he was standing on a remote mountain top far from human civilization. But the most unusual thing was that he felt stronger and more agile than before the pulse event happened.

What's going on, have those aliens started to terraform the planet? Are the soulless supposed to wipe us all out? But that doesn't seem to make any sense. Why would they give us these superpowers to fight them?

"Wait a minute, the System called this training district: Earth, does that mean they're going to use us as a training ground for the aliens?" Noah muttered to himself.

Noah was fully engrossed in his musings. All of a sudden, a severed head bounced across his path. The mutilated head rolled to a stop at his feet. He froze in panic before scanning around the area surrounding him suspiciously. All Noah could see was debris along with abandoned cars and the decapitated head rocking gently with its tongue lolling out from its slack jaw in front of him.

He was startled from staring into the lifeless black eyes of the twisted visage of the head, which had once belonged to a soulless, by a woman's voice appearing behind him.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed? Any random soulless or mutated animal could have jumped you before you could even blink with how carelessly you're walking down the street, idiot. You'd almost think you were out for a stroll instead of in the middle of the apocalypse."

Noah quickly turned around to find an attractive young blonde woman in her late teens wearing tight black jeans and a white loose off the shoulder top sitting on the roof of an abandoned white unmarked van less than a few meters away from him. He was so distracted by his thoughts while he was walking that he didn't even notice her until her dramatic entrance caught his attention.

The girl was theatrically using a large bloodied hunting knife to pick her nails with false bravado. The blade was covered in intricate patterns that seemed to faintly catch the light in a slightly purple hue. Noah assumed the blood on it belonged to the severed head blocking his path behind him.

"Well, it hasn't got me killed yet," Noah retorted.

"You must be pretty confident in yourself or just stupid to blatantly walk down the middle of the street. Do you not want to live anymore?"

"I'll let you take your pick. If you don't mind, I'll be on my way and leave you to whatever it is that you were doing. Goodbye"

Noah turned around before continuing to walk the way he had initially been heading while remaining alert in case the young woman decided to ambush him.

"Wait, Mister Hero. I know where you're going. Are you planning on heading to that beam of light by the harbour all by yourself?" The girl hurriedly stopped Noah from leaving.

"I can tell you that you'll find a bunch of soulless in your way in a block or two if you keep walking the way you're going. I can show you a better way, but it'll cost you," the young woman called out to him.

"Cost me? I haven't got anything except the clothes on my back. Money seems kind of useless now. What if you lead me into a trap?" Noah turned back to face the young woman as he replied.

"Why would I need to lead you into a trap? I could have killed you before you even knew that I was here," the young woman scoffed at him.

"I haven't decided what it'll cost you yet. Just consider it as owing me a favour."

Noah considered it for a short while. His primary purpose in heading towards the beam of light was to find other people anyway. So this could count as a mission accomplished.

"Alright. Then lead the way."

The young woman stopped playing with the knife as she put it away in a sheath hanging off her waist with excitement. As the girl noticed her reaction to Noah's acceptance, she quickly composed herself as she dusted herself off before hopping down from the van's roof. Before the girl hit the ground, Noah saw a deep pink-glow appear on the exposed skin of her chest before she suddenly vanished.

"Okay, Mister Hero. Do you have a name?" The young woman's voice breathed into Noah's ear, startling him.

"I'm Noah. You're definitely an ability-user," Noah gulped as he recovered from what he just witnessed.

"Very observant of you. I'm Rachel, pleased to make your acquaintance," Rachel replied in amusement after seeing his reaction.

Rachel leaned forward playfully as she held out her hand for Noah to shake while she drummed her fingers on the knife handle with her other hand.

"What is that ability you just used? If you don't mind me asking," Noah asked as he accepted the offered hand.

"I do mind you asking. Just remember that I can kill you before you can even blink if you try anything funny. Got it?" Rachel puffed her impressive chest out as she bragged.

"Alright then, suit yourself. I was just curious. Lead the way," Noah answered.