“Class, I would like to introduce a new student today. He recently moved here, and is currently living with his uncle in the apartment building across the street, and I would like you all to make him feel welcome. Jack, would you please stand?”

A tall, beautiful teacher with long blond hair stood in front of a gathering of approximately twenty young children, their ages all around nine or ten years of age. The early morning sun shone through the window, and provided the primary light that illuminated their faces as they all turned to look at the back of the class, their attention drawn to the one that stuck out.

Slowly, with an expressionless face, a young boy about the same age as the other children stood, his chair audibly sliding back in response. Silence dominated the room as the entire audience awaited the dark-haired boy’s introduction, but none came. Several seconds passed as the boy scanned his surroundings, studying each face with an apathetic look that hid none of his obvious disinterest in them. To their disappointment, he sat down without saying a word, and the children began to whisper their theories back and forth amongst each other with not-so-hushed tones.

“Thank you, Jack. Now, please open your math books to page thirty-five...”

Seeing the boy’s shyness, the teacher regained the attention of the group before quickly attempted to redirect their attention to a less pleasant subject. Moans resounded as books clattered heavily on the children’s desks and pages flipped as the children dramatically expressed their displeasure with the dreaded subject. The teacher looked around the class to make sure everyone was doing as they were told when she noticed one of the girls noticing the new boy, a young girl with short brown hair and deep blue eyes.

The teacher smiled to herself as she decided to play the matchmaker, and ignite a flame between two children that may even grow up to get married in the future. She giggled inwardly at the thought of being the one that initiated this love, then raised her hand to catch the girl’s attention.

“It seems Jack doesn’t have his books yet... um, Jenny, would you mind sharing yours with him?”

The girl’s eyes lit up, and she nodded enthusiastically while collecting her book, papers, and a pencil, moving quickly in Jack’s direction.

‘This is good. If nothing else, she can at least be his first friend in this new school. Jenny’s a good girl anyway, though she is rather possessive with her things, and doesn’t deal well with other children. All she needs is someone her age that has the patience to see her good side, and they will have an invaluable friendship that will survive the test of time. Or fall desperately in love...’

However, the teacher couldn’t deceive herself for long, and her real intentions leaked through her thoughts as she blushed, thinking it would have been nice to have a teacher like herself as a child.

The boy watched the girl name Jenny approach him, dragging a chair loudly behind her with her left hand while clutching various items in her right as she passed down the isle. Some of the children around her cast odd looks of pity in the boy’s direction, and Jack responded with a curious gaze of his own, uneasiness washing over him. His questions were soon answered as her cute smile melted away, quickly being replaced with a sadistic look that sent chills down the boy’s back despite his high mental tolerance. Jenny arrived on the left side of his desk, a seat up along side him, and sitting down heavily as she plopped her supplies down on his desk.

“Don’t worry, I don’t bite!”

She announced cutely, before leaning in close, looking deep into his eyes as if trying to force her soul into his, the corners of her mouth turned upwards as her glee became more evident.

“What I do is sooo much worse than biting.”

She whispered a continuation to her previous statement as the boy simply watched without giving any sort of reaction. Jack had no intention of indulging in her sick game or entertaining her with fun reactions, and decided to take all of her crap as if nothing happened.

‘I’m sure she’ll get bored eventually.’

A bright pink blur flew down the street, the force of the resulting wind tearing up the asphalt and mangling storefronts as vehicles along with many civilians were thrown up and away to their deaths. The blur landed, burying itself into the ground and sending shrapnel shooting out in every direction, causing even more damage to it’s surroundings. Panic ensued as people ran in every direction in an attempt to escape from the scene in front of them while a tattered figure fought for it’s consciousness in the pits left by the blur.

(Get up! You have to get up!)

Ellis screamed in Jack’s mind as he tried to pull himself to his feet, feeling his ribs click and snap with each shallow breath and filling his lungs with fire. The college freshman succeeded in sitting upright on his knees, looking around at the confusion in a dazed state, while searching for the invaluable people he left behind. His vision shaky and blurred, he saw his attacker closing in on him, walking calmly while holding his hands up in front of him as he marveling at his own power.

“Power, Jack. All you need is power. With that, the rest comes naturally, whether it’s given to you, or taken by force.”

The voice was familiar, but Jack couldn’t identify it, instead focusing on regaining his strength sooner rather than later. Jack could feel his body healing, the superficial wounds already gone, but the bones are going to take quite a bit of time before they would be able to fully recover. Jack knew his attacker would most likely not wait for him to heal completely, but the dark-haired god-to-be had to at least stall the man in front of him until he was well enough to make an escape.

“Wh-... ha...”

Jack tried to respond, but the air escaped him before he was able to form a full word, and was only able to mutter incoherently in a barely audible voice. He wavered, the effort of attempting to speak causing the world around him to vibrate and spin, while the force of his own gravity pinned him in place. He could do nothing but stare at the figure advancing in his direction as green orbs twisting an churning in the air around the attacker, pulling in and swallowing everything around it, and a leaving nothing behind.

“I was blessed. I now have the power of a god under my control... and all I had to do was kill you.”

Jack’s vision was starting to clear as his body rapidly repaired itself, and his breaths became more even as his plan began to take shape. Slowly, subtly, Jack released his magic into the air around him, coating his surroundings in the invisible energy as he prepared to escape.

“Well, you and that wraith guy. I guess I can count those three beautiful girls as the spoils of war, though. It shouldn’t take long for them to forget about you, since they were only attracted to your power.”

Jack froze. His eyes frantically searching his surroundings for the girls, but still unable to find them.

‘What did he do!? Where are they!?’

Fury whipped around inside him, but his energy gave out, and the anger settled in the pit of his stomach slowed before mutating into dread. If he didn’t do something soon, he was going to lose everything he held dear to him, condemning the only people that had ever shown any genuine concern for his well-being to a hellish fate.

‘This asshole is going to die.’

(Jack, calm down.)

‘I’m going to kill him.’

(You have to run, Jack! Don’t do something stupid! He’s stronger than the wraith!)

Jack ignored Ellis’s plea, his mind focused solely on protecting his friends at all costs. The magic he had released began to move, swirling and spinning around him as it quickly picked up speed in reaction to his emotions. Jack let out a ragged sigh, his head hanging down limply as his strength was depleted from the effort of staying conscious.

‘Ellis, I’m sorry.’

The air whipped around the boy, pink streaks of light occasionally sparking out from inside the orb forming around him.

(You don’t have t-)

‘Yes, I do. There is no way I can outrun this guy. You said it yourself, he’s stronger than the wraith.’

Jack’s body lifted from it’s previous position on the ground, the wind around him now so intense it was reducing his immediate surroundings into rubble, and adding it to the sphere around him. Thin pink threads stretched from his shoulders to the back of his head, tightening as they pulled his limp head up to face his opponent.

‘I can run... or I can fight. Either way, things aren’t going to end well for me, but I can at least put on a show and buy the girl‘ s a few extra seconds to escape. That’s why I’m sorry.’

The man across from Jack was obscured by the orb, which was now at it’s peak in terms of speed and power, turning a dark brown color with thin pink coursing through it. Jack’s left arm ignited, burning what remained of his shirt away as thin pink bolts fired out in random directions, striking the internal surface of the sphere. A long, pink rope emerged from his right index finger, flames flickering along it’s surface as the whip drifted in the air as if weightless.

‘I’m sorry that I won’t be able to fulfill my promise.’

(Promise?)

The orb exploded, sending out a deafening shockwave that caught Jack’s new foe off guard, causing him to habitually raise his hands to protect his ears. Instantly, a bolt of pink lightning, and a flaming dark hot pink whip were flying straight at the face of the attacker with deadly precision.

The man vanished from Jack’s sight, reappearing just in front of the boy with a wicked smile displayed on his face as the attacks harmlessly struck the ground with a resounding boom. To his surprise, the man’s face was very familiar to him, recognizing the face as someone Jack knew from a previous encounter. A wicked smile split the man’s face as he saw Jack’s recognition turn into confusion, genuine glee reflected in his green eyes.

“Not so tough now, are you, Jack? I bet you’ve never even seen power like mine before in your miserable life.”

Jack’s magic dissipated, and he limply began falling toward the ground, but was caught by the neck, the familiar figure cutting off his airway as the boy dangled several feet above the ground. The sun was high overhead, clear skies and beautiful weather heavily contrasting with the scene unfolding below it.

“You don’t deserve this power.”

With that, the man twisted his entire body around, squeezing so tight Jack heard something in his neck crack as darkness threatened his vision, and flung the boy off towards the mountains in the distance. Jack could no longer breathe, and his entire body was unresponsive as the ground drew near, his impending fate approaching quickly as he saw his life flash before his eyes. His thoughts turned to Jenny, Ellis, Val, and even Fae as he futilely fought to free himself from the painful restraints of his broken body.

(Jack.)

Ellis’s voice was as clear as day, her voice cracking with fear and sadness as Jack fell to what would be his death.

(I-)

Something collided with him, interrupting Ellis, and severing Jack’s last thread of consciousness, forcefully pulling him into the darkness that awaited.

Fae had disappeared the moment Jack had, leaving Jenny and Val standing alone, confusion dominating their minds as they searched for the boy.

The street had exploded earlier, everything around them being torn up and thrown around, as they stood, safely enveloped in a pink light that vaporized the rubble heading in their direction. The girls had been confused for a while, but a series of distant explosions made them assume Jack had been somehow pulled into a fight.

They began running in pursuit of the sounds, noticing a small dot flying off to their right, crossing the sky at a ridiculous speed. Dismissing negative thoughts of what that dot might be, they continued, moving slightly faster than before with a certain sense of urgency now reflected on their face.

“What if-“

“Don’t think about it, just run.”

Val began to speak what they were both thinking, but Jenny abruptly silenced her, not wanting to hear it said out loud. They slowed, the terrain becoming more littered with vehicles, rubble, and dead bodies they had to maneuver around. The silence continued, the fight clearly over now, and all the girls could do was hope Jack was the victor, and this had been nothing but a weak creature that was no match for him. However, from the amount of damage done in the area around them, that was most likely not the case.

“Ahh... there you are.”

A green mist drifted down in front of them, thousands of tiny particles swirling around as if caught in some sort of odd air current. The mist froze, then flew together, instantly materializing into a man in his early twenties with strange green eyes and a greedy smile. He stood in front of them, rubbing his hands together as dark green particles barely visible to the naked eye detached from him, then disappeared into nothing.

“I’ve been looking for you.”