Chapter 2

Ethan stared at the two men infront him. "We're here to ask you some questions," Zeke repeated again. The two safety officers were there to inquire about the accident he had on the construction site. "So tell us what happened exactly," Zeke said as his partner took out a notebook and a pen to take notes. They both stared at him, waiting patiently for him to speak. Ethan's gaze drifted from Zeke's stern expression to his partner's pen, and he felt a shiver run down his spine.

 He could recall every detail of that fateful day on the construction site - the sound of the crane malfunctioned so they closed from work early that day. He was the last to leave since he was in charge of taking care of the equipment. He was on his way home when out of nowhere, he felt the searing pain as an object pierced his chest. He was impaled with the rod from behind so he couldn't see the face of his attacker. 

"I don't remember," Ethan said calmly, his voice sounding almost nonchalant. Zeke's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean you don't remember?" Zeke asked, his tone firm but laced with a hint of skepticism. Ethan shrugged, "It's all a blur. I was stabbed from behind. I didn't see who did it." The two safety officers exchanged a dubious glance.

"Look kid, we're only trying to help..." Zeke said before he was cut off by the voice of another presence in the room.

"Or you're just trying to find out if he saw who did it so you can know how to deal with the situation." Hartley accused them.

"That's not what this is about," Zeke's partner said.

"Oh really, then I suppose that the check in your pocket isn't for him?" She said, She could see right through them, Literally. She had an ability that gave her an array of different visions, making her an exceptional doctor. Zeke chuckled under his breath. This caught everyone off guard.

 "Well since you've seen through our act no need to put on this facade any longer," He said. He brought out the check from his shirt pocket and handed it to Ethan. The boy hesitated, but he took it from him. He looked at it and the check was valued for five thousand dollars. That was miles above his pay.

"Take it, keep your mouth shut and stay away from work. You're officially relieved" Zeke said. He didn't even wait for the boy to respond before he looked at his partner and signaled for them to take their leave. Hartley glared at them as they walked out of the ward. 

"Scum," Hartley practically spat out the word. Then she walked over to Ethan's bed. "You're either pretty dumb or stupid," she said to him. Ethan raised an eyebrow at her and said, "doesn't dumb and stupid mean the same thing?". "You shouldn't have taken the check," she said bluntly. "And why is that?" he asked, "You're just playing to their tone." Ethan didn't understand why the woman was making a fuss about it. He was the one who got stabbed, not her.

"Well…, it's my business, and it's not like I had any other choices, this money will help me take care of myself before I can find another job," he paused, " If I can find another job".

The woman just stood there looking at him. She had nothing to say, realizing he had a point. His file had stated that he didn't have any parents or family members that would even come and claim his corpse when he had supposedly died.

 Then silence took over for a while before Hartley continued. 

"Well we did all the tests but unfortunately we didn't really find anything. It's still very bizarre. You're the first regenerative type to come back from the dead". "But the good news is we'll be able to discharge you soon, but you will have to keep visiting the hospital for more check ups". 

He nodded and laid back. There was a lot on his mind and he felt tired. Hartley left to allow him to rest. She felt sorry for him. He was all alone, and he was a low ranking nobody. Ethan's eyes grew heavy and he slowly drifted off to sleep.

Ethan was in the car driving home with his parents. They had been called by the school again because he had gotten into a fight. It wasn't the first time. He was a troublesome kid and would get into fights often and he was usually the one picking the fights, and he picked them with those who had strong abilities. 

 Many years ago, a portal was found in Shibuya, Japan. It was closely monitored and researched, then they started to pop up in various places all over the world at random. At first it didn't seem to pose any threat and the United Nations were relaxed about it then suddenly people began to develop strange abilities out of the blue. After the government did some digging they found out that the portals emitted a type of radiation that affected human physiology. This was a big change and people were scared at first but rapidly almost of the first year almost 50% of the world population had manifested abilities. 

Then suddenly after the outworlders emerged from the portals. They were conquerors who took over planets and galaxies. They called themselves the Nexarions. They were a fearsome race that hailed from the galaxy Nexaira. They ravaged the planet and left it in ruins. Until what was left of the world decided to join forces and fight the alien threat. Those who had powers fought earnestly and managed to drive the threat of the earth. But they vowed to return. Then the EDC was formed, the Earth Defense Coalition. To train those with abilities to prepare for the next war against the Nexarians.

Ethan's parents exchanged a worried glance as they drove home from the school meeting. "Ethan, we need to talk about your behavior," his mother said, her voice laced with concern. "You can't keep getting into fights, especially with people who have abilities. You're putting yourself at risk." 

Ethan had his head down and remained silent. "Why do you even pick flights with them? It doesn't make sense" his father said.

His mother let out a sigh before saying, "apparently he heard somewhere that in order to manifest your ability you have to push your limits or something like that". 

"Well that's stupid, what if you die before you can even manifest." His father scoffed. 

His father looked at him through the rear view mirror and said . "Ethan, look at me", Ethan finally raised his head to look at his dad through the mirror. "You're an amazing kid, and we love you no matter what, powers or no. But we need to find a way to channel your energy and passion into something positive. You can't just keep getting into fights, we don't want you getting hurt. Just have patience. I have a feeling that one of these days you'll get it".

Ethan nodded, feeling a weight lift off his shoulders. "I'll try, Dad. I promise."

As they approached an intersection, his mother spoke up, "We love you, Ethan. And we're here to support you, no matter what."

But before they could continue the conversation, a car ran the red light and slammed into theirs. Ethan's world went dark.

When he came to, he was lying on the pavement, his head throbbing. He tried to get up but something was wrong. He couldn't feel his legs. He managed to raise his head only to find his legs in a broken mess, they looked like the legs of a doll. He screamed in horror calling out for his parents. But they didn't answer. The car was twisted and mangled, and Ethan's heart sank as he saw the still forms of his mother and father inside.

He didn't want to believe it. It wasn't true, he told himself, his eyes fixed on the wreckage, his mind reeling with the realization that he was alone. The only sound was the creaking of the car and his own ragged breathing. He got on his stomach and tried crawling over to the wreckage but the pain he felt when he tried to move was unbearable. 

Nevertheless he still pushed through, fighting the pain biting down on his lips to keep himself from screaming out to agony. Tears dripped down the side of his face. Suddenly he felt a certain warmth surrounding his body. The lingering pain was starting to fade away, he could feel his legs again and it was not the sensation of pain.

He turned his head and looked back at his legs and they looked as good as new. He had finally manifested an ability but at the cost of everything 

Ethan's world had been forever changed in an instant, leaving him with the weight of his guilt and the memory of that heartfelt conversation, now silenced by tragedy.

Ethan's eyes opened from his sleep, waking him up from what was more of a memory than a dream. The first thing he saw was the system window. 

[1 new quest] 

He sat up on the bed. "New quest?," he stared at the system window with drowsy eyes. He let out a large yawn. All he did was think about the quest and it took him to the quest section. He didn't need to use any sort of voice command or wave his hands in the air like one would do with holographic images and the likes. All he had to do was think about it and it was done at the speed of thought.

[New quest : 12 labors of Hercules]

He paused for a brief moment then checked the info.

[ Labor 1: slay the Nemean lion]

[Labor 2: slay the Lernaean]

[Labor 3: capture the Ceryneian hind]

Labor 4: capture the Erymanthian boar]

...

The system listed all 12 labors and Ethan stared at the screen with a look of disbelief in his eyes. "What the hell, I can't do all this, forget it". He was always the type to evade anything that was physically tasking, even at work. He'd rather just sleep all day and slack off. He dismissed the window and decided he would just take a nap. He turned to lay on his side and closed his eyes. He opened them and he saw the window before him again.

"I said I'm not doing it" he growled "I died once, I'm not so keen on doing it again" he dismissed the window again and decided to take his nap. Little did he know that he couldn't refuse the quest. There was a timer he hadn't taken note of and the timer was at three seconds. Immediately the timer hit zero the window popped up again, making Ethan open his eyes in aggression. 

[Quest has begun]

And before he knew it a bright light shone around him enveloping him and he vanished.