The evening sky was filled with a chaotic amalgamation shades of every kind, the choking smell of smoke blocking daylight and bringing upon darkness across the landscape. Bright flames cackled into fierce infernos as crows took flight to scavenge their next meal, picking at bits of meat from fallen humans, most charred beyond recognisable degree.
Chaos was loomed all around, leaving behind an aftermath of perpetual destruction. A kid knelt on the ground, eyes fixated on the environment in shock as his beacon of golden wings illuminated brightly, his mind finally returning to reality. Epiphany dawned on him, eventually discovering the sins he had committed. The home he was once in, now dissipated to ashes, along with his beloved parents.
The kid looked at his own bloodstained hands that trembled like a bunch of leaves in a storm. With widened eyes, his mind slowly deprived itself of sanity as his sense of self trinkled away into a descending ring of torment.
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Henry started himself awake with a gasp, shaken up from his own slumber, heaving and drenched in cold sweat. It took a moment for him to finally drink in his existence, looking around the area to find him in a familiar white space. An infirmary, silent with only the whistling of the air-conditioner keeping the room cool. The afternoon sun shone into the windows of the room, greeting Henry with it's blinding rays.
Henry placed a hand on his forehead, cringing at the mild headache before shaking his head slowly to brush it off, letting out a heavy sigh as he slowly sat up from the bed. He felt his body sore and stiff from not moving for so long.
How long was he asleep? Two days? Three days? It felt like a long while.
"You're finally awake."
A voice caused Henry to look up. His brown eyes met Jae's, who entered the room with a grateful smile. Henry smiled weakly at his presence.
"I guess so." He croaked, his throat also dry. "How long was I gone?"
"Three days."
"Three... days?"
"Yup. Kevin brought you to the infirmary, then left without saying anything. When the doctors checked, your body seemed to be in extreme stress and your magical energy was unstable." Jae raised his hands and points to his wrist. "That's why you are wearing those bracelets, for now. Its a safety measure. Sir Von Caelus will think of something better for you soon."
Henry lifted up his hands to look at the pair of braces wrapped on both of his wrists. It is not just a bracelet, but magical suppressors built to not overload one's usage of magic, keeping it to a controlled level.
Jae continued, "it is also found that you have been suppressing your magic, so your body can no longer hold it. Which was what causes the issues you have been experiencing. Think of it like a hatchling trying to break out of an egg. Your body is that egg, and that hidden power of yours wants to break out."
Henry's expression turned to confusion, which prompted for Jae to look at him intently.
"Do you know... you are a Chimera?" Jae's tone changed, speaking slowly and seriously, as though his words struck true. Yet there was not just the deep concern, but confusion in his own sense at his former mentee's puzzled look.
"I am a what?" Henry asked back, unable to process the speculation.
"Your power isn't just x-ray vision, Henry. Can't you recall having more than one?"
Henry's mind went blank. Unable to remember any events, but all he received were flashbacks of a burnt cityscape, witnessing a barren wasteland full of ashes. Yet none of him is a Chimera.
Henry shook his head, gripping his blanket. His past was empty, unable to recall his childhood. As if wiped from his mind leaving behind vague breadcrumb trails for his fractured mind to solve.
"I can't remember." Was all the young man could answer.
Once discharged from his stay, Henry was still not allowed to be on duty for a few days, so he decided to head home and relieve his mind from his personal issues. Entering the basement parking lot of the headquarters, Henry went over to his bright red bike. A striking model that seemed to resemble a epic sports bike from the latest release, polished and well taken care off as the chromium paint reflected the bright lights of the car park. Once the engine roared, Henry zoomed out of the underground hold, his skin glowed with the golden rays of the sun, reminding him of the days lost to him.
Henry immediately turned his head when he sensed something amiss, seeing a distorted space nearby. The empty space then violently ripped open by the time his sight caught it, revealing a portal as some sort of unidentified creature flew through. It looked liked a giant, angelical white skinned centaur wrapped in shining golden armor, with it's gray emotionless face a marvelous beauty that seemed to belong from those angelic or demonic statues you would see in churches, adorned with golden lights and bright angelic halos, and wings shining in pure white. A being so odd to look at, yet for some reason, the energy being radiated felt so familiar as if he had fought it before. Henry sped up his bike as he cursed under his breath, the creature locked its eyes on the first bunch of humans it saw. A bunch of portals opened up, firing a bright beam towards a direction close to Henry, causing explosions and strong winds as screams of terror were heard.
"I just got this bitch repaired last week." Henry hissed.
Turning up the speed of his bike further, Henry drove towards the creature. As the speed exceeded the maximum, He swerved and drove through a flyover road barrier, raising his bike to perform a wheelie and flying off the road he was on. Henry let go of his bike, jumping off with a flip, leaving the bike to fly and crash into the creature, causing it to let out a mechanical loud shriek. The bike exploded into flames upon impact, damaging the creature exponentially. As Henry fell through the air from the height, his mind raced to think of an idea. He has no weapons and the drop will be fatal. So, his eyes rapidly looked about his surroundings, until he remembered the weapons and shield his mind had summon each time he feels vulnerable.
He just needed to utilise that same energy again.
Henry closed his eyes, and the noises of the world eased, as though time stood in a standstill. The wind became soft and gently carried him. For a moment, Henry heard a distant voice, calling him from behind. A voice so familiar but so childlike, yet resembling his own. He turned his head slightly to find the source, finding a child that shared a face he found familiar in childhood reflection, facing him with a blank stare.
Then the void consumed him, leaving nothing but himself and the child. A younger version of himself.
"Do you want to die?" The child asked.
It was merely an easy question, one that can just be answered by a simple yes or no. Yet answering it seems to carry a heavy burden of consequences.
But Henry already knew this. "No."
"Then what are you waiting for?"
Connecting his senses to his hidden powers to gain control, Henry's chest ripped through and let out a golden glow. The suppressors on his wrists also began to act up, though Henry's eyes are more focused on the strange golden glow emitting from his chest. His eyes widened when he felt energy coursing through his veins, a great amount of power surpassing every inch of his body, awakened after it had long been abandoned. He heard random whispers in his mind, random blurry flashbacks flashing in his mind in which he was unsure of. But that is not his priority to know, at least not right now.
The space soon fades away like falling feathers with Henry returning to reality, still rapidly falling from the sky. Henry furrowed his brows and extended his arms forward, his hands emitting the same golden glow as gold and sharp fairy-like wings sprouted from his back, shining like an angel's halo, halting his fall.
Again, the same voice continued, "go ahead and tear the fabric of reality."
After all this time, the power lost to him has now returned to his owner. His long forgotten power— Space time Manipulation. The powerful ability to be able to shift space into what you want. A power so powerful but needed great understanding to utilise its full potential.
Henry smirked to himself as his eyes also turned yellow, mixing in his x-ray vision for the best spot to attack.
Small metal pieces appeared out of thin air, eventually forming into a large cannon in front of Henry, aimed directly at the creature. The creature shrieked in anger, firing a bright beam towards Henry, threatened. Without hesitation, Henry fired the cannon, releasing a huge output of an energy beam, colliding with the creature's beam and causing a shockwave. The beams fought to surpass one another, but Henry increased the output, cutting through the blast and shot through the creature, blowing even more pieces of it. An explosion occured as the beam hit the ground, smoke rising up and limiting the visibility. Henry glided himself safely to the ground, his wings and cannon dissipating into thin air, breathing heavily when he noticed how much energy his powers took.
"This thing isn't in EIRENE's database..." Henry muttered to himself.
The agency took notes of varied species of hostile animals, from giant winter wolves to creatures blending in as trees, with notes of its attack and defences, and even origins all written by their research scout team. With this, enforcers will know how to react when they encounter such an animal during their missions. Even if it seems that all species were written, some are not researched nor seen, especially if they do not belong to this world.
The creature had already seemed weakened from the impact. Making use of the chance, Henry had to finish it now before more damage could be done.
Henry took a deep breath as he readied himself. He began running to a certain direction as a purple lance materialised in one hand. Despite just embracing a power he did not know he had, it felt like he had used it before, letting his instincts and knowledge aid his battle. All he needs to get used to is his heightened senses.
The creature's beam trailed behind Henry while he continued to run. Seizing a chance, Henry leapt from the ground and lifted his lance up, drawing in power his arm and weapon. With enough strength, Henry threw the lance towards the creature's face, directly hitting an eye that let out a loud agonising scream, causing Henry to cover his ears in return. Light appeared from every crevice of the creature's body, later exploding, blood and bits of organs scattered all over the floor and staining Henry slightly.
A sigh of relief escaped Henry's lips, eyes closed for a bit to relax and catch his breath. "That wasn't so bad." He whispered to himself.
Just then, as though the first creature was not enough of trouble, Henry picked up even more odd noises. The young man looked up, seeing four more rifts opening up the sky into a portal, the same creatures of angelical centaur-like appearance flying in. Hovering in the air, they released a loud monstrous screech. Henry stared in horror, eyes widened in shock as bright beams appeared and cut through the towns, destroying everthing in its wake. Suddenly Henry felt himself dropping through the ground as if it was liquid, his vision immediately going dark before eventually realising he was still wide awake and held on by the leg with a tight grip, dragging about in a dark endless void of nothingness. Henry then felt himself being thrown up that he yelled, entering reality again until he saw a female figure in a lengthy black dress and long red hair zipped past him, the fragrance of roses filling his nose. Henry fell to the ground with a grunt, but not before seeing another laser beam shot from behind, shooting straight at a smaller angelical creature nearby that it screamed and exploded.
A figure jumped in front of henry. Dressed in steampunk clothing, they wore a hat that should belong back in the Victorian era. They wore a brown long coat with giant collars that covered their inner gray high neck shirt. The longcoat's collar even had cloth that draped around the shoulders. Their left hand seemed to be wearing some sort of gauntlet, while the other did not. Their dark brown trousers had a bunch of belts wrapped on one side of the thighs, strapping a dagger. Finishing off, they wore light brown boots of uneven sizes, short and long, wrapped with some sort of belt straps.
The person chuckled, taking a glance towards Henry. Their blonde hair was long and flowy, and they have icy blue eyes that compliments their hair. They smirked, turning their body to properly face Henry.
"Hope that shot didn't scare ya, big guy." The figure greeted him.
"If it's not Alexis." Henry greeted back as he stood.
"And if it's not the handsome captain of E1~" Alexis replied in a singsong voice. "Stay put, will ya? We'll settle this."
Henry has always known Alexis to be flirtatious. But despite such behaviour, their eyes always laid on someone else.
Alexis winked and ran away out of view with two floating cannons following behind them like little drones. Henry saw the dark figure in red hair again, slashing the creatures with ease just by swinging her scythe. And then a hooded figure appeared with a sword engulfed with red flames slashing through a creature in half, and then what seems to be Kevin, kicking a creature to the ground and throwing his machete to its face until it exploded.
Once until every last one is exterminated, the situation finally calmed. The woman in the black dress turned to approach Henry, looking at him with piercing red eyes.
There were white laces on the hem of the dress, and there was a long slit near the right side of the hem, reaching close to the thighs. It is more for mobility, yet still looking graceful as ever.
The rest of the team members all stood near the woman, all eyes focused on Henry.
Henry gulped a lump in his throat. "You guys... Y'all don't have to stare at me like that. Especially you, Scarlet. Your gaze is too intense."
Alexis laughed. "Scared of Leora's glare?"
Leora Scarlet. Henry knew her as a leader of squad E2, the squad Henry is currently facing right now. Henry is the leader of his squad, E1, both sharing the same goal of exterminating target groups that are involved in violent crimes. But for now, E2 is more involved in such tasks while E1 has to slow down and find leading clues to solve current unexplained events.
Henry ignored Alexis, focusing his gaze back onto Leora's eyes. Both seem to share the same thoughts. Henry turned serious. "You knew too, didn't you?"
Leora nodded her head in agreement. "They aren't regulars."
"We need to be prepared. I do not feel good about this." Henry looked towards the sky, towards the areas the creatures had emerged from earlier. "They all seem to appear from the sky. I do not know where they came from, though. But they feel familiar."
Leora only nodded her head again and turned around. She already took mental notes of the creatures, so the next best thing is to pick up the fallen remnants and have them sent for investigation.
"We'll take it from here. You stay put until help arrives."
What was supposed to be a day where Henry can put his mind off and relax, became a day where weird shit keeps on happening, keeping him involved. From murderous anonymous spies to screaming angelical centaurs, maybe the worse truly has yet to come. Or maybe... some events could be connected. One way or another.