CHAPTER 4 - The Gem Awakens
'So this is death. It's not too bad, minus the pain from the gun.'Kael lay staring at the bleak sky overhead. His vision blurred with static light, bleaching his sight. The gaping hole inside his chest gushed out, staining the cold, hard floor in its red hue.
Kael, with his bloodied hands, reached for his chest, laying it upon the hole. The warm blood made him truly accept that this was his end.
BA-DUMP
It was a beat. Not the beat of his heart, Kael had already confirmed it was blown out of his body, but despite this, Kael could feel another beat, soft and weak, but he felt it within himself. "Ha…ha..Why am I hallucinating a heartbeat? It's fine to die…" Kael couldn't complete before his eyes closed under the weight.
As he awoke, the radiant sunlight shone down upon him, forcing his eyes to look away from it. The smell of the grass, the calm peace that filled him within, made him realise where he was.
This was where he grew up, in a small town, the only child of a small family. Life there was with its own inconveniences and problems, but Kael preferred these days to any other. It was a point in his life when he was truly happy.
A man, gruff and a face worn down by time's decay, approached the green field. "Hey, son. Aren't you coming in?" Kael turned abruptly to the voice, familiarity swelling through his eyes, yet briddled with emotions. "Dad…"
He ran into his embrace. "Oh…what has gotten into you, Kael?" His father's rough hands patted him behind, a familiar pattern as he remembered. "Just..let me stay for a bit.." Kael's words choked with emotions that he barely bottled up within.
"Alright, my boy." His father rested, allowed Kael to rest within his embrace, before finally falling to sleep. "It's been hard, right? It's okay to take a break sometimes, but you mustn't let the weight of the world topple you. It's fine to rest, but remember to always get back up and continue your journey."
[Unidentified source of energy detected. Planet Box is initiating the start-up sequence.]
[Collecting energy from the source. Energy has been deemed acceptable and sufficient]
[Starting all systems. Reactivating and executing the main objective "Heir of Terra"]
His body, which had seemingly lost all sign of life, began to beat again, not with a heart but instead with something different. His eyes opened, and his pupils were dyed a blue colour.
[System rebooted. Scanning for dangers against the host's life]
[Hostile lifeforms have been identified and marked. Proceeding to purge the dangers]
The voice that sounded from Kael's body wasn't his voice, but something more ancient, with a robotic yet alive feel to it. His body soon disappeared, and in a blink, he appeared in front of the team. It took less than a second for "Kael" to make that distance.
[Scanning unidentified lifeforms through database]
[No recorded species have been found. Cataloging new species, code name - LF-219, no species name yet]
The team members quickly took out their guns and positioned them straight for the individual they confirmed to be dead. The panic and confusion were etched on their frightened faces.
Aghast with dread, one of the team members whispered to his captain, still placing his hands over the now hulking figure of Kael and his chest still stained with his blood.
"What the fuck is that, captain?! I thought we killed him!" The fear in his voice towered beyond any fear or respect he had for the captain. "I don't know, but I'm sure it'll go down if we riddle his body with bullets". He was a smart and decisive captain, but sometimes, running away from the unknown is a good idea.
With his hand raised as a signal, the rest of his team opened fire on Kael, who weirdly stood inside the hail of gunfire without moving an inch. After some minutes of constant fire, the team stopped firing.
The barrels of their guns were smoking from the intense heat. The smell of gunpowder and burn permeated the pier. Traces of stray bullets were lodged on the container aside and on the floor, while the used casings of the bullets formed a pile beside the gunmen.
As the smoke and dust cleared, Kael stood within the bullets, his torn away but not a single scratch on his skin. His muscles arched and fit compactedly with each other, highlighting his figure.
[Multiple projectiles that have been identified as weapons do not affect the host.]
[Experimentation complete. Executing the threats to the host]
Kael's blue eyes pulsed rhythmically as he levitated a few feet off the ground. His figure cast a shadow as the dread covered the faces of the men. It was at this moment that they realized they had messed with something different. Something unique and something higher.
"Fuck. We messed with a god…" The leader said as he was blown off by the intense giant beam from Kael's hand. [Presumed leader of the lifeform threat has been eliminated]
The rest of the team, seeing what just happened, began to flee for fear of their lives. The flying being travelled and arrived at the top of another individual as he delivered a great punch to his chest, as his body went limp and fell to the cold ground.
Just like that, "Kael" made quick work of the team and stood in the air, his upper body opened wide to the world. [Threats have been taken care of. Rebuilding damaged body with The Archive]
Kael's body landed on the floor as it started to fix itself while also being reinforced. Kael's dark hair grew rapidly as his body was reformed and reforged. After that task was completed, he stood up and walked next to the gem, which fell on the ground. "Kael" picked it and absorbed the energy stored within, found the other box and absorbed the rest of the energy it contained, leaving behind one.
The body sat on the ground, his back resting on one of the containers as the strange voice sounded from his mouth again. [Relinquishing authority back to the host]
The blue eyes of Kael faded back to their original colors as his body lay limp beside the container.