1 ... and then darkness

***

Humans are creatures of habits who posses an insatiable desire to seek familiarity. This often leads them into the unfamiliar and turbulent waters of love.

Love is like a flame, it radiates beauty and life if controlled and harnessed properly. Left unchecked it leaves behind a pile of shattered hearts.

The remnants of love are a painful lesson, depression, occasional suicidal intentions and a broken heart.

Who then needs love?

***

The sky was grey and the sun had been hiding all day. It was high noon yet without a watch one would have guessed it was dusk. Silence characterised the occasion and sorrow filled the air, slowly saturating it.

Everyone was melancholic, everyone was sad. Their sorrow wasn't for the deceased, it wasn't for the departed. It was for the kid she left behind.

Jack Dixon was the victim, he had always been. He lost his father three years ago and now it was his mother. A normal child would have cried but not Jack. He wasnt normal, that's what he had been told almost all his life time.

He watched as his mother was slowly laid to rest in the ground, gradually swallowed into the abyss, never to be seen again by human eyes.

"He's quite an unusual child." Commented a red haired man.

"Sad not unusual." Replied a beautiful woman clad in black besides him.

"I knew his father." The man said randomly after a while.

"Yeah we all knew his father." The woman replied flatly. The woman sported a full head of white but mind you she wasn't old, she was barely in her twenties.

The man had tried to engage in small talk but he wasn't getting anywhere. Their acquaintance was meant to be formal but the man being attracted to anything in a skirt couldn't help but attempt to make it less formal than it was.

They both found themselves at the funerals for their own personal reasons, each representing a different group. Each had crossed path with Jack's parents at a point in time and thier life had been irrevocably changed afterwards as a result.

Jack was young, he was but an eight year old, yet he clearly comprehended the situation. This wasn't his first experience with the loss of a loved one and he trusted it wasnt going to be his last.

Emotions surged within him, a tumultuous mix. He wasn't sure how he felt, but he knew that among countless cacophony of emotions raging and clashing inside him pain was the most dominant.

'Love was the root of all pain.' That was his conclusion and he was convinced that had it not not been for love, he wouldnt have felt any pain.

Jack found himself repeating one phrase throughout the funeral.

"Who needs love?"

***

The government made efforts to secure a guardian for Jack even going as far as trying to get him into a foster home.

"Keeping me here against my wish is a crime, you know that right...officer?" Was his reply when he was forced out of his home.

Jack proved to be self sufficient. His academic performance was surprisingly impressive but not on par with that of those called genius. Jack was determined to frustrate and shun any guardian assigned to him. Finally at the age of twelve the government left him to his shenanigans.

They had far more pressing issues.

***

"Hand over the cash you piece of shit." Spat a fairly muscular boy, his face filled with rage.

"No l won't." replied a calm voice belonging to a lanky black haired boy.

The latter was none other than our protagonist, Jack. The bully raised his fist menacingly, threatening to drive it through Jack's mouth. Jack stood, posed ready for battle, his fists protecting his already badly bruised and blistered face.

"You seem to have grown a nice pair of balls, huh?. Well fuck it." The bully hissed in anger and lunged at Jack. Jack braced himself preparing for a sidestep but before he could even react the bully was on him wreathed in flames that gave a ghastly pink glow from head to toe and struck Jack with an uppercut.

Jack staggered but didnt fall. 'Fuck.' He muttered under his breath stepping back in order to prevent a follow up attack. He was unnervingly calm for some one who was losing.

Jack had been this for a long time, slowly bidding his time for three years. A moment to enact revenge.

Wrong.

It was all wrong everything that was happening was all wrong. Jack had been carefully watching the bully for over three years, he knew him like the back of his palm, so how could he have missed this.

He knew the bully's attack pattern, fight style, every trump card the bully had and he had placed measures to counter them effectively and efficiently. How did he manage to miss that the boy possessed a crystal? This was bad. At this rate he would be beaten to mincemeat.

"Not bad for an F-class piece of shit. " the bully said, his voice strained. He-the bully- proceeded to gather flames into his palm forming a ball of highly compressed fire-a bomb.

He lunged at Jack once again at a slightly inhuman speed for his age and size, this time not with a fist but with an outstretched palm, far more deadlier than the fist which lossened one of his teeth.

Time seemed to slow down and the flame was mere centimetres from Jack's face, its heat getting more intense with every passing millisecond.

He closed his eyes as he felt threatened, his heart ached with an intense and sharp pain pumping furiously and threatening to explode.

'Bad, bad.' Jack thought. He had to remain calm at all cost and control his heart if not he would get pretty fucked.

Jack grimaced his face contorting into an unsightly visage, half expecting his heart to explode and half expecting his face to be consumed and mauled by the pink flames.

The flames never came and his heart never exploded.

'Shit, shit, shit...' he cursed, sweat dripping down his chin.

He had managed to calm his haert at the last moment but at what cost. He was so flustered as to what could have stopped the flames.

Jack slowly opened his eyes expexcting and dreading to see a bloody and gruesome scene before him. He opened his eyes and saw a figure between he and the bully.

"Scram you punk." The figure said in the coldest and deadliest voice Jack had ever heard. He was spooked but his facial expression didn't betray him. The bully runned as far away as his teenage feet could get him.

Jack took note of the figure who was rather familiar and sighed internally.

"Aiden are you alright?, Did he hurt you badly?" asked the man worried. The man before him happened to be his neighbour who also happened to be a cop.

"Yeah." Jack muttered and walked away.

'What? Is the 'Yeah' for the first question or it was for the second one.'

Anyone would have presumed Jack had a foul behaviour but Leo knew better infact it was quite surprising how Jack was able to cope with this while still remaining considerably nice.

Jack walked away like he had been doing all his life. He had been walking away from everything and everyone, and where did that leave him?, it left him cold, detached and lonely at the very bottom. Jack was angry, he hated everyone, everything and more so he hated this world. Funny enough the world hated him back.

Jack sighed as he walked down the alley preceeding to his original location. He entered a shop and a salesgirl greeted him with a warm yet fake smile.

"What can I get for you?" She asked so politely Jack almost fell for her trick.

"I would like to purchase a Xeron crystal." Jack said calm and indifferent.

"Hey kid, I ain't got time for jokes and pranks..."

Pausing for a while before she added, most probably because of Jacks serious expression.

"...you got that kind of money."

"Yeah." He said struggling to keep emotions out of his voice. "I would like to purchase the highest crystal my money can get me."

"Ok bring your hand here and press it against the sensor, I need to check your ID and byt account."

Jack complied and put his lower wrist to the sensor, almost a second later his information popped on the holographic screen before the girl and he saw his name, although backwards and inverted.

'Aiden Smith'

"So Aiden you care to explain how you came into such a huge amount?, Hope it's clean?"

"Yeah, its from inheritance so its clean."

"Ok... hmm... unfortunately you would only be able to get a 30% pure Xeron crystal and a packet of dissolver to go along with it."

"Yeah I'll take it."

The salesgirl was a little puzzled, why would anyone want a 30% pure Xeron crystal when there was PHI ? After all they were not know for their effectiveness. She could only speculate he was using it for some kind of illicit activity, maybe thats how he came into possession of such a huge sum.

Xeron was a synthetic compound containing traces of antimatter and other unidentified quantum particles. When consumed it was known to grant otherworldly powers, modifying the human body in ways science could not explain.

It was like lightning during the stone age. Man knew it would strike and that it was real. However they had no way to concretely explain the phenomenon or control it-it was just common knowledge.

No one knew the outcome of Xeron but all they knew was that it would grant you power.

***

Jack wore a subtle smile as he left the shop on his way home, passing through the neighborhood he had grown up and created countless memories, yet he knew that this neighborhood would slowly fade into a memory itself.

Eventually, he reached his apartment, a two-bedroom unit left to him by his parents. The government was covering the rent, for reasons he couldn't quite pin down. He could only assume that his mother and father had done something significant during the First Itonian War.

Jack had spent a total of 1,050,000 bytes on the crystal, and it's dissolver. The expense tore a giant hole in his pocket but he didn't mind. It was an investment worth the risk. At the very least it would elevate his standing in the power hierarchy. He had just burnt through about half of his life savings !nd he was hoping that this desi ion would one day save his life.

Jack looked in the mirror and winced at his reflection. The bully had done a real number on him. Such an unexpected turn of events.

'Kekeke' he chuckled at his own bad luck. Well, that was for another day for now he needed to tend to his wounds before infection set in.

Ever since the first Itonian War, humanity's once-beautiful habitat had become home to strange and bizarre diseases. Some killed within seconds, while others tormented their victims for weeks, months or even years.

Jack hurried down the hallway toward his room, sparing a glance at his parents room a strong and sudden wave of nostalgia wash over him. The last time he had been in that room was four years ago-around the time he last had a guardian.

"Meow " his cat, Cat meowed. Jack bent down giving ot a quick pat and a stroke. Cat purred happily.

Jack entered his bathroom and popped some antibiotics and painkillers into his mouth. He discarded his shirt into a corner. His bony frame, especially the spine was visible, though he was not undernourished. That was simply his natural build.

Tall and lanky, he flaunted a thick mane of straight black hair and had mud brown eyes that matched his tanned skin. His eyes remained a mystery to most, mesmerizing and enigmatic, some claimed he could peer directly into a person's soul when he slightly lowered his gaze at them.

Orhers believed his eyes concealed a hidden pain, the result of losing his parents.

Jack had stopped bleeding and the pain had subsided, in maybe six hours or so he would be as good as new, all thanks to modern technology.

He exited his room and made his way to the kitchen. Jack set down the items he had just purchased-a Xeron crystal and a packet of dissolver-and retrieved a glass.

Jack ripped open the packet and poured its contents into the glass. He dipped his finger in and brought it to his tongue. It tasted like strawberry-flavored toothpaste, with a lingering alcoholic aftertaste.

Jack dropped the Xeron crystal into the dissolver, and an effervescent reaction began. Jack felt a surge of nervousness. He instinctively sent his thumb to rub around a ring on his index finger, the only memento he had left to remind him of his mother.

Jack sluggishly made his way back to the bathroom and enjoyed a warm and relaxing shower. The jet shower was delightful and Jack found himself spending more time in the bathroom than intended.

Jack strolled lazily to the kitchen afterward, his excitement growing as he saw the glass containing the solution that would grant him power. He paused took in a deep breath, he lifted the glass cup and stared at the bottom to make sure everything was dissolved. In one swift move he downed the in a few large gulps.

'Huh?' Jack stood puzzled examining himself and wondering when the Xeron reaction would kick in.

'This may take a while, it's probably because of the low purity'

Suddenly, Jack felt a severe pain pierce his heart, his vision blurred and his knees buckled under his own weight.

The world seemed to be playing tricks with him, the kitchen floor seemed to tilt and ripple. The tiles rushed up to meet him...

...and then darkness.

************************************************

(AN)Well this is my first story so things may be a little bumpy along the road but bear with me.

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