1 Chapter 1: Caught off Guard

Chase was the type of young adult who liked the things the way they were.

That is, if everything wasn't perfect in America, things were OK, and it was a free country, right? He was pretty basic looking, besides for his beautiful silky looking, marble white hair.

Chase Larson woke up from a wonderful dream with the golden sunlight streaming through his half-open metallic blinds. He arose from his soft cotton mattress and his comfy silver sheets. Chase blinked, studying his bare room. A grey wooden desk, a bookshelf, and a dresser, that was all there was to see. It was lit by striped light coming from the blinds. He rose from his bed and went to his door and opened it touching the small, cold, silver handle, hesitating to unlock it for a brief moment. He turned it counterclockwise and pushed the modern glass door out of his way. Chase walked down the hall and began to walk down the stairs slowly, the grey sky faintly speckled with stars he saw from his windows. He felt the uncomfortable rug under his feet. He was stopped in his tracks by the doorbell ringing, and he flinched to the sound. He rushed to the doorway to unlock the door. Outside there was a girl about 5'4 feet tall wearing a light grey hoodie, like the dawn clouds in the sky. "Morning Chase, it's been a while." She said briskly.

Chase was pretty confused, having a girl Chase supposedly met just show up at his door to greet him one Saturday morning. She randomly leaned in and pushed her way inside sitting down on the silky brown couch. It was cold there, he wished he could walk by the grey, steel fireplace to warm up, but the stranger brushed off the dust on the block-like coffee table, nearly hitting the decorative green peonies and books stacked in a neat pile, "I'd like to ask you something, Chase."

"Hm?" Chase questioned. Why wouldn't you just text me? He thought, thinking about it before she spoke again.

"I wanted to know if you would like to do something great. Like in an adventure anime that you would watch." Emily said. Wait, what type of adventure? He wasn't exactly sure about that, but he then replied,

"I don't know, sure," he said, trying to swallow the unconfident tone in his voice.

"Hey, uh, so I've gotta do something and it might surprise you, so… sorry in advance." she said, but then spoke again, "And, I'm sorry if this makes it awkward." Chase was quite confused but soon his confusion became

Emily leaned in, her breath was audible and her face came closer and closer to Chase's. She became closer and shared a kiss with him. He felt a sensation he had never felt before, not love but a feeling of being enlightened.

Emily then strayed away from him awkwardly and spoke forward, "It's done, you now have unmatched strength on my level, and now I will join you on your journey."

"I, uh, well, let's just say that I don't know how to feel about this," Chase commented. He blinked, not sure what exactly happened at that moment in time. She barked an amused laugh, but wait, journey? Was he leading it himself? What did he just get himself into?

They both stared at each other for a few seconds before Emily walked out of the door to gather the rest of the group. (Had Emily mentioned a group? Chase wasn't certain.) Chase got up off the couch and then it hit him like a brick: He had to do whatever he agreed to subconsciously when Emily was there. He didn't know why, exactly, but he felt like he knew just then without knowing. He stepped out and suddenly a honey bee flew around his face, he darted away as a small group of bees swarmed around him. He had seemed to be more agile, to an extreme extent. Chase thought it was this "power" Emily had given him. He was able to leap over his fence with ease. He settled onto the grass in front of his house, which was wet with morning dew. He ran across the street with the others, then dodge a car completely with a special sense along with increased speed. The car honked with frustration, and then he was on the other side of the street. He also had this feeling like Chase knew where Emily's location was at every moment. It was almost after dawn, the orange, gold, and yellow light pouring from the sun, illuminating the neighborhood's houses.

He decided to just go inside an isolated shed where the group was leading him. Chase was not exactly sure why (he wasn't sure what was exactly going on at all for that matter.) He walked in as the group sat down on a long grey sectional sofa that was torn and ripped, and turned on the tv to check out what's on the news while having a nice cold cup of cold brew coffee. He was surprised that TV even worked. Chase grabbed the bright red-mug to the left of him off a small table that had a coaster on it. Chase slid over to a coffee roaster that was on a heavily dusty table in the corner- it was a shiny sleek black as he popped in a cup of black coffee powder. He swiped at a coffee boiler and poured water into it, then turned it on to have it brewed.

He waited a while before it was done, making a somewhat satisfying beeping noise. He grabbed the coffee boiler and poured it into the mug along with some coffee creamer.

He turned around to sit with Emily and three other girls- Mia Adams, Ruby Suzuki, and Halee Ito. It was kind of odd being the only guy here, Chase thought, tapping his foot awkwardly as he took a large sip of his coffee. Emily took a deep breath before she spoke, "Alright everybody, This is the new member of our team: Chase Larson."

"Nice to meet you, Chase," Ruby said, "I'm Ruby Suzuki. That's Halee, and that's Mia." She said, pointing at the two other girls and adjusting her dark heather grey hoodie.

"Nice to meet you," Chase replied, grinning at Ruby, "Well… Now that we're here why don't we play a game to break the ice?" Chase said, ignoring the two other girls' dirty looks that he didn't greet them both. The light in the center of the ceiling flickered, bouncing off the pale dusty walls. Chase glanced over at his coffee, then looked back at the group.

"That sounds like a great idea!" Emily replied blindly, "What game Chase?"

Simple," He responded, grinning, "Poker… Five-card draw to be exact."

"I accept your challenge, Chase." Halee said, "I'll deal."

The room felt very chill with a kind of vibe that could only be described as a stressful-calm feeling."Now put in your antes."

Chase said.

"We don't have any money." The girls said in unison as the light flickered again, and Chase laid down a deck of cards on the black, old coffee table. They exchanged confused glances.

"I guess we will have to bet in another way," Mia said.

"Oh, I know," Mia paused for a moment, then continued, " If you didn't know, everyone who has an alliance with Emily can control people with their powers with side effects and risks."

Chase didn't like the sound of that thought. Everyone was confused yet intrigued by the idea and it was settled. Little did anyone know Chase has had the power to dilate luck to do whatever he wanted. He suddenly picked up his cards with a blank expression. Everyone else had terrible poker faces and Chase could tell exactly what everyone was thinking since he also could read facial expressions very well. He didn't trade in any cards where the others were trading three cards each. He channeled his luck powers. It finally came down to the last second where it was time to lay down their cards: "3...2...1...GO!" Chase said suddenly through the stillness. They all played down their cards on the coffee table. And the room went silent, A Royal Flush. (Where you lay down all Ace King Queen Jack and ten cards all of the same suit.) Chase had laid down a royal flush and won by a longshot.

"What!" Ruby yelled defiantly, "There is no chance that you can lay that down with such ease. That's a one in 600 thousand chance!" All the girls stared at him with both awe and surprise. Raised eyebrows and awestruck expressions to be exact.

Little did they know that Chase had been practicing for years along with the fact that he dilated his luck to his favor. Chase stood up an evil look in his eye, as he darted up and activated the curse not knowing even what it was at the moment.

"Wait!" Emily said, "This doesn't work how you'd think. This takes your subconscious desires and then transmits them to the person as long as they are related." She got louder as she got more panicked, "The side effects are even worse than the curse, with the effects ranging from worsened versions of the desire or even instant death. Please! You're not experienced to be using this ye-"

There was a flash of white light as Chase looked around, It was eerily confusing, nothing happened. They all stood there for a moment,

"Nothing happened?" Emily said in disbelief, although they felt different. They just sighed and picked up the cards and continued up to Chase's room, they were too tired to go anywhere else and everyone including Chase knew that he couldn't remember anything that happened that night.

They just laid down wherever they wanted and were open. Chase was in his bed as usual and the others fell asleep instantly, but instead of falling asleep quickly he laid awake, This was going to be a great adventure he thought.