°°° The Unraveling III °°° -The Green Therapeutic Company- "My name is Gerald Greene. "Nice to meet you, Andrew," the man introduced himself with a smile. "Is that supposed to make me impressed?" Andrew quizzed himself internally but nodded "same" in reply. "How are you feeling?" "Is there anything I can get you?" Gerald Greene asked with his smile still on. "No, nothing. Thanks." Andrew folded his hands. "Are sure? "Because I personally bought you some... "Can we just get this over with?" Andrew interrupted him with a stoic expression. Gerald’s face twitched at Andrew’s rejection of his approach, but then he smiled as he realized what a breakthrough that was. He had managed to identify something that would help him further. He nodded with a smile and asked with a deep voice that suited his structure well. "Why are you here, Andrew?" Andrew looked at him with an angry expression but said nothing. Seeing that they weren’t going anywhere, Gerald shook his head slo
°°° The Unraveling IV °°° • Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • -Walker Residence- It had been exactly one week since Kate had awoken, but she was still under medical supervision in the hospital. Being a fragile case, the doctors weren’t willing to take too much of a risk. This was partly because she was their colleague, but mostly because the virus had yet to be fully understood. They saw her not just as a patient but as a very valuable test subject. They had contacted more experienced and trained professionals in the field of viruses. Though they hadn’t made an official announcement to the general public, And seeing as it was a privately owned establishment, the government would not be hearing of it anytime soon. This was in line with Kate’s desire. She knew that should the government get involved, she would become a lab rat, buttered up with promises or threats. Even Crest Care Management was already taking similar actions. She didn’t have to pay for any treatment from
°°° Lords and Vessels °°° -Unknown Location- In a dimly lit, large, and spacious room without any windows or doors in sight, a long bronze table stood. With ten sturdy-looking, wooden high-back chairs on the left and right sides of the table—five per side—and another wooden high-back chair at the tail end of the table, The chair at the head of the table was made of bronze, like the table. It had an octopus engraved into it on the back rest and was the only chair with an armrest. A cloaked figure stood behind the bronze head chair. His hooded cloak covered his face as he looked straight at the chair at the tail end of the table. The room was quite dark, with the twelve flickering candle sticks on the table—one in front of each chair—and the twenty-four candle sticks on the floor, two behind each chair—two meters away from the chairs—as the only lights holding back the darkness. With the flickering candle light, the outline of two other figures, one on each side of t
°°° Therapy Session °°° • Vancouver, Canada • -The Green Therapeutic Company- On Thursday morning, as early as eight, Jason and his brother, Andrew, were dropped off at the Green Therapeutic Company by their father. Andrew had a session with Gerald Greene, a two-hour therapy session that was going to cost them five hundred dollars per hour. And these sessions were to be held twice a week, every Tuesday and Thursday. Due to his job, Dan had dropped them off three hours earlier than he should have. The therapy session was scheduled for eleven to one, but Ann wasn’t feeling too great that morning, so driving was not an option this time. And with Jason not yet used to the city, Ann was against having them board a taxi to the company. By the time the session was over, Ann predicted she would have been done with the hospital, so she would be coming to pick them up. It was thirty minutes past twelve, and Jason sat outside Mr. Gerald Greene’s office. Andrew had
°°° Subtle Interference °°° • South Oakland, Pittsburgh, PA • -Lower-class condo- The Domain of the Warriors tournament had recently opened this zone in Pittsburgh. South Oakland was the site of choice, and as a neighborhood that is home to three universities, museums, and hospitals, as well as an abundance of shopping, restaurants, and recreational activities, it was deemed quite perfect as it was sure to draw the attention of the younger adults, increasing the fame and popularity of the tournament with a steady pace. The higher-ups of the tournament had built a stadium in Central Oakland, Pittsburgh, and had bought three condominiums for the participants that qualified, one for each class, each two blocks away from the last. Sean was in the lower-class condominium, as he was graded in the lower nine. He had a three-bedroom house to himself and his coach, Carlos Wilson. They had converted the third room to the living room, and the living room had become a tempor
°°° Breaking the Rules°°° • Lower-class condos • -Lower Nine- In the quarters tagged "Lower Nine," the present participant with the Lower Nine ranking, Sean Walker, sat in the bedroom turned living room, watching a series of videos of combat techniques for his fighting style, Muay Thai. Carlos had been making him do this even before he arrived in Pittsburgh. His phone was filled with almost every document, app, and video they could find on Muay Thai. This was Sean’s best fighting style, and Carlos was beating it into perfection. Carlos’s strategy was simple. Don’t fight to win; fight to survive. Although this had cost Sean a number of bruises and a swollen eye, it was actually effective. By watching these videos, Sean was able to understand how to finish off his opponents. He would keep on the defense, with all the ending techniques replaying in his mind. After watching them over and over again, he could remember the criteria for most of those techniques to be pull
°°° Blood Order °°° • Central City, Philadelphia • In a white mansion with two SUVs parked outside, a couple of men sat down on the sofas in the living room, occupying all the available sofas. One chubby African American man in a black tux with gold jewelry adorning his ears, nose, neck, and wrists This was the head of the Red Wing, Wade Wallet, popularly known as "The Wall." He was the superior Boris Romanoff, head of the Orange Wing, to whom a secondary wing was to report. Of course, Boris disliked the term "Orange-Wing." In fact, the entire idea of meshing colors with the word "wing" was terrible and lazy work as far as he was concerned, but it made identification and recollection of which Wing was which much easier. Wade Waller had come to express his anger at the whole situation. The weapons and cash they had lost were going to shake the financial stability of the Tertiary Wings, and maybe one or two Secondary Wings will be affected too, but the White
°°° Surprise Gone Wrong °°° • Kingsley Street, Northwest Philadelphia • -Colonel William’s Residence- Sitting at the dining table for lunch, Karen seemed a bit distracted, lost in her thoughts. She could see what was going on in front of her, but she was hardly conscious of it. "You know, you shouldn’t think too much, Karen." "It'll get you looking like me at thirty," Kelly tapped Karen out of her thoughts and said with a chuckle. "Me? "I'm not thinking," Karen shrugged as her mind tried to adjust itself. "Mmm hmm, I believe you," Kelly chuckled and walked to the kitchen. "When did you learn sarcasm?" Karen chuckled as she carried her plate of potato fries and egg sauce to the kitchen. She had barely touched a third of it. "I have always been sarcastic," Kelly laughed. "I just chose not to really use it on you." "Because you loved me?" Karen feigned a puppy face. "Loved you? "You weren’t old enough, in my books, to be receiving sarcastic replies." "And now I am?"
I would like to use this medium to honestly appreciate you for reading till the end, thanks a ton.I really had a hard time working this book till the end, it had a lot of twists and turns that I hadn't expected. With every research I made throughout the course of writing this piece, I kept seeing ways it could have been better, but despite the imperfection, you remained in the journey till now, thanks a bunch.I would also like to thank my grammar and punctuation editor 'Miracle Mgbe'. It was a crash program, editing over one hundred chapters in five days, thanks a lot.To everyone that supported this book with their reviews and comments, thanks a ton, for those who just added it to their library, thanks a ton, for those who just opened it to get a better look at the book cover, thanks a lot too lol.Anyways, book two is already in the works, I can't promise a release date as I would like to perform as much research as possible, but I will say this, "Bloody Horizon; Gods Amongst Us" w
°°° New Frontier °°° • Unknown Dimension • In a realm of pure terror, a hellscape unlike anything movies have made as their depiction of "hellish," a place where the laws of nature were twisted and contorted and reality itself was a malleable thing, the silhouette of a humanoid figure clad in a flowing robe walked. The realm was dark and foreboding, with twisted spires of obsidian jutting up from the ground, casting deep shadows across the landscape. The sky was a sickly orange hue, with no discernible source of light, and the air was thick with the stench of sulfur and brimstone. As the silhouette ventured deeper into the realm, the very fabric of reality began to warp and twist. The ground churned and groaned beneath his feet, as if trying to swallow him whole. Rivers of molten lava flowed freely, and great pillars of flame shot up from the ground at random intervals. A being sat in the center of this hellish expanse.Its presence carried immense power and chaos. It was surround
°°° Back In Control °°° The day was overcast and somber as people gathered at the cemetery to bid farewell to Carlos Wilson and Colonel Jennifer Moretti. It had been two weeks since the “Heart of Mexico” event, as the world has named it. Sean had made a remarkable recovery and was there, accompanied by his mother, Kate. Sarah, Malone, and a few other auto shop employees were also present. ColonelWilliams had come along with Karen, and May, the Colonel’s daughter, had come to pay their respects. Everyone lived in denial of what they knew to be true for the first few days following the Heart of Mexico event.Carlos had gone to Mexico to try and make some investments, and Colonel Jennifer had said she was going to have a get-together with some friends from the academy. Everyone wanted to believe that they had left Mexico in time, or at least that they weren’t within the range of the damage, but after the first few days, they knew the duo hadn’t escaped. Their hope for the next few
°°° Power of a God °°° • Dark World • Sitting in the blue-hued spotlight, Colonel Jennifer tended to her legs, awaiting her fate. Being in the Dark World was her safest bet; even if Carlos were to kill Oracle Janice like the Mother Omega had hinted, she figured there was no way he could figure out how to get there, and if he did, the odds were that the Mother Omega would not permit a stranger into the Dark World. But like before, she couldn’t be more wrong. A bright light appeared behind her, and she turned around eagerly, hoping it was a Silvered Sister, but when she saw it was blue, she hoped with all her might that it was Oracle Janice, but looking up, all her hopes were crushed. Standing in the light away from her was a starkly naked Carlos Wilson. “Killed by a naked man,” were the first words that escaped her lips as she shook her head and turned away from him. Carlos looked at himself and realized that he was actually naked. He'd been naked so much that day that he'd grow
°°° Heart of Mexico °°° • Mexico City, Mexico In the city, now made into a crater, there was nothing but silence and flames, but in the midst of the rubble, a boulder was “driving” itself through the rumbles, keeping to the shadows as it navigated the city. It kept moving until it arrived at the epicenter of the explosion. After a couple seconds, the boulder rumbled silently, and then it split apart from top to bottom, revealing two people. They both looked like they had been through hell, especially the bald African American, who needed to be supported by his partner. Blue and Madera slowly walked closer to the spot that was the source of the blast and halted, looking at it for a while. In front of them was the lifeless corpse of their organization's most powerful entity, in a constricting position. “He tried to save her in the end?” Blue muttered in a low and solemn tone. "Nothing remained of her blue, nothing," Madera said, her voice cracking."Why... why was she cursed in su
°°° Theories, Speculations, Facts, 2 °°° • Mexico City • The entire city was still up in flames, at least everything that survived the crushing force of the explosion. The explosion had brought down planes all over the country. The city was every teenager’s vision of the apocalypse and more. The spectacular glory of Mexico was now nothing but history, quite literally, as it would make history as the “World's Largest Crater." The entire city, over 500 square miles of land mass, is now the world’s largest "sinkhole." Colonel Jennifer, dressed in tattered black clothes, hovered above the radiation-filled city.The oracles that were supposed to assist her within and around the city were all within her range of power. Despite the fact that they had been there longer, she had not heard of any of the oracles being promoted.They were all still at mountain level. She had suffered some internal and external injuries as a result of being caught in the fading waves of the explosion's destructiv
°°°Theories, Speculations Facts°°° • Mexico City, Mexico • In the once busy and bustling city of Mexico, there was nothing in sight except death and destruction. The atmosphere was calm and serene, but the reason for this serenity was nothing The sound of the whirring blades of the “Blistering Truth” news helicopter invades the silence, bringing noise to the ears of the dead once again. The channel is a privately owned network dedicated to telling truths that other news stations aren’t permitted to tell. The camera pans over the site of the explosion, which was literally the entire city, but upon deeper analysis, the epicenter was discovered. It was around the city’s cathedral. The aerial view reveals a massive crater in the place of what used to be a tourist attraction, the Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral. The crater was several thousand meters in diameter and several meters deep, with debris scattered for miles around. The reporter’s helicopter hovers over the scene, safely
°°° Clash of Power °°° • Guerrero Landfill, Mexico Dirt and dust filled the atmosphere as both men collided, releasing wave after wave of timber-cracking shockwaves as they met themselves, fist for fist, kick for kick, until a blow to the abdomen sent him rolling into a rock, cracking it open. Blue huffed as he tried to catch his breath, struggling to push himself off the ground. “I was expecting that by now you would have been wise enough to know that going for head to head combat against me would be futile,” Carlos chuckled, and he began stalkily walking towards the struggling bald man. “If you had used your ability to manipulate the earth to create an armor, this fight would have been less damaging for you,” Carlos chuckled, but then his grin vanished as he suddenly felt a sinister, rage-consuming presence beside him. His eyeballs turned reflexively to take a glance, and standing beside him was the red-headed lady, Madera. “THOOM!!!” Dust filled the area as she slammed her
°°° The date before death °°° • Somewhere under Mexico "I never thought these tunnels would end," Cardinal Es chuckled as they exited the tunnel, which had shrunk so much that only one person could walk comfortably in it. They had arrived at a sort of underground bunker, just as the higher-ups had told them they would find. "Heh, Madera would be so pissed if she realized she took the wrong tunnel," he laughed as he walked towards the bunker's door. Five meters away from the door, he suddenly collides with an invisible wall and is pushed back a few feet. "Anything less, and I'd have been disappointed," Cardinal Es chuckled, taking a stance. “I really don't think you should be attacking a reflection force field,” Red called out, but Cardinal Es either didn’t hear in time or he didn’t care altogether, as he threw a punch at the force field. THOOM!!! An explosive shockwave cut through the air in the wake of his punch, and as expected, the force field absorbed and redirected the fo