1 The Past
"HEY BRIAN, WAKE UP!!! IT'S YOUR BIG DAY!!!! Probably as big as it can get! Hahaha!" A shout rattled the four walls of the attic in which our protagonist, Brian Wolf, was located.
It was his sister, Charlotte, whom he loved the most in the world, probably because she was the only one he loved in the world.
It was just that sometimes she could get a bit noisy, yelling out here and there, pressuring him to do everything now or faster, as elder sisters do. But then again, she had to didn't she, to keep the Wolf family on its feet.
Mr. and Mrs. Wolf, Brian and Charlotte's mum and dad, died when Brian was only 4, leaving his sister supporting the family when she was only 15. The only memory he had of them was his last time seeing them.
Someone had broken into the house. His mum, a beautiful maiden despite her age, handed him a necklace, tears streaming down her face. "Be safe," she wailed, "Find our body if we're alive, find our corpse if we're not."
At this moment Brian's dad, a stoic man, classic military-like toned and muscular body, rushed into the room. "Come," he said to his wife, "we need to leave." Then he turned to Brian and his sister, who were both hidden in a small inconspicuous cupboard, and said, "Live for us. You will be strong. I know you will. Haha, it's in your genes. Now goodbye, hope we see you again."
No matter how tough a man is, leaving your family and ripping away your own flesh and blood is not easy. A small crystalline tear was gleaming in the sunlight at the corner of his eye.
He quickly turned away and wiped it before anyone could see it. At least he thought no one could see it. Brian, due to the angle he was facing, saw it all. But he didn't understand this scene until much later.
"Goodbye," they said in unison.
Just then, a large bulky figure burst into the room, followed by a couple of weird men in robes. These men only had one thing in common, they had a snake wrapped around a hyena tattooed onto their wrists and lower arms.
His mum and dad obviously wouldn't just go with them, so they put up a fight. His mum, beautiful as ever, even with tears in her eyes, started blinking around the place. Blinking as in teleporting, not as in the thing you do with your eyes. Though, she might have been blinking with her eyes, who knew. Her eyes.
This skill till this day was still quite weird to Brian. He thought it was a combination of both categories, Body Strengthening as well as External Force. But of course, currently, he was still a pleb at the bottom of the food chain, unknowing of the secrets of the world, or worlds, in this case.
*Wink* *Wink* *Nudge* *Nudge* he's gonna get secret powers.
Anyway, back to his memory. His dad, as coolly, is that a word? Hmmm....
A better way to say this was that his dad, the total boss that he was, bulked himself up, like the Hulk from movies back in the Days of Depression, except his dad turned grey, and he didn't actually have the somehow always purple pants that the Hulk had. He was a literally massive grey monster rampaging through the house. This scene, if seen by someone who did not understand the situation, would have been easily misinterpreted as a monster escaping and destroying a house. That's just how ferocious he was.
Anyhow, back to the main topic. His dad's skill was obviously a body enhancement, as it made him bulk, and go super saiyan, or at least something similar. Honestly, his dad's ability wasn't this simple, but what do you know, Brian was still too dumb to understand this.
Let us all bow our heads to all those dumb protagonists out there, as without them I would not have enough conflict to write about. Teehee.
Wow, this story keeps on going off-track. So, once again, back to the main point. His dad and mum resist. They get beat up by some cool transformation skills used by the "hyena" group, who all became hyenas somehow. Once again, our dumb protagonist did not realise the problem.
THEY ALL HAD THE SAME FRICKING SKILL.
Did he realise that maybe, just maybe, people could change skills, using some secret forbidden method?
NO.
Like the stupid, idiotic protagonist he is, he didn't. Geez.
And once again, we are off-track.
So, where were we, for like the hundredth time. Ah yes. His mum and dad were defeated and they were taken away.
Living out their lives by faking their parent's identities, the two siblings, mainly the intelligent elder sister, since our protagonist is dumb as f***, and also because he was only 4, but still, main point was he is dumb as f***, survived on minimal money, with only slight room for luxuries like salt and chocolate.
Thank god for the elder sister, without her there would be no plot development at all. Past me wouldn't have even gotten out of the house, much less cause others to nervously sleep in their's.
And so, these two siblings, living out a semi-good life, held onto the only thing they could use to remember their parents, the necklace around Mr. Dumb Protagonist's neck.
Okay, I need to get this straight, I'm actually really smart now, like now, now, in the future, when I'm writing this. But seriously, I feel mad at myself whenever I think of how dumb I was back in the day.
Thank god for my elder sister, I love her to death. If only... Never mind. That's later down the line.
Back to the story line, the fang on the necklace was from a mutated wolf, from another world, probably, as most things were nowadays. It was sort of like everything read 'made in China' back in the Days of Depression.
This fang was coated with jade, which was carved with such intricacy and detail. This necklace would be worth a lot. Like, enough for the siblings to live a comfortable life in a state-of-the-art 24th century home for the rest of their lives.
But he would not sell this necklace. He could not sell it. This necklace held too much sentimental value for the both of them, and may be the key to finding their parents and reuniting with them, gathering around to eat together for dinner. That was Charlotte's dream. A very simple, yet in Brian's
eyes profound one.
It would also have been his, if not for the fact that he already had one, to create the strongest world of alliance of worlds ever known and to keep it stable for generations to come.
The siblings could not think of the second half of their mother's speech, "...find my corpse if we're not", and constantly reminded themselves that their parents wouldn't die. That they couldn't die.
"HURRY UP!!!" Brian's sister shouted once again.
"Yes, yes, coming," Brian hastily replied.
Today was the day. The day he would test for his own skill. The skill that, hopefully, would make him able to find his mum and dad, and accomplish his own dream.
Charlotte, using her ever-so-handy telekinesis, was preparing breakfast for the lazy, dumb, stupid, ignorant- sorry, no cursing at myself, I do not have problems, okay let's go again- the spirited young Brian. Yeah, no, I can't do that. Just thinking about it makes me want to vomit.
So, Charlotte, with her ever-so-handy telekinesis, prepared the scrumptious breakfast for Brian, who was speedily getting changed, getting prepared for his skill-check.
This was a memorable day for all. One that would be praised by the"Wolf army" and it's allies. But also, one that would be hated by all those killed and suppressed by our main character. "Why did you come out of that rural country home in you sh***y Indonesia. If not, we would have been so happy. Alas... Let's not talk about it. Just thinking about it makes me sad and miserable", that sort of thing.
This future debate by the world powers of their feelings about Brian couldn't really be seen in this scene that took place in most families of the area, as the city of Bridney was just not big enough to get a skill palace, which was what the NWC (New World Coalition) called the place where people get their skills checked.
After a rushed breakfast and one or two "Are you sure you packed everything?"'s from Charlotte, our protagonist Brian set off on his adventure, not knowing a single thing about the world outside.
---
At this moment, at the destination of Brian, an old man, hair and beard white as snow, opened his eyes.
"Destiny is coming to me. It seems I'm intertwined with this figure! Come, come with all you've got. Destiny, old friend, let's see what you can spring at this old man. Haha."
