Chapter 22: Hello Peter

Peter stood pressed against the wall of the sturdiest building he could find, the only one still intact after the initial rumbling of the earth and watched, He would have been scared but his father was here and as long as his father was around everyone would be safe.

His father had told him to stay out as he tried to help people out of a rapidly crumbing building, even on his day off, a first responder was still a first responder, He'd promise to take peter to the amusement park as reward for his good report card and they had been on their way when the world started sounding like his belly after a few hours without a snack. Evan Halsen was a hero in the eyes of all, Selfless talent, made to help whoever needed him and he was really good at it, Fires, earthquakes, random bar fights He always came back without a scratch and a fun story to tell.

As the last family ran out of the building he quickly shifted and began running back to Peter, The usual look of unwarranted hope in his eyes as he jogged to where Peter was, A smile curved Peters lips and expanded into a wide grin as he waved his father over, Evan turned his jog to a sprint wanting to get to his son as soon as possible, he crossed the bikers path a few feet away from the building and in an instant he was gone, It wasn't done by any reckless thing he did trying to say people, It wasn't getting trapped in a collapsing building, or choking on smoke in a burning house—it was something simple, a rare tool of fate, Debris.

A large chunk of the building fell over and without even a chance to escape, Evan Halsen took his last breath.

Peter stood blankly, Unable to understand what had just happened, he walked towards the pile of rubble, his father's hand stretched out of it, intact, unbruised but blood poured from underneath the rubble.

“Dad?Dad?” His voice was quiet as he held unto his father's arm, It no longer had the warmth. “Get up dad.” A plea as tears blurred his vision. “Get Up!!” A shriveling scream.

Loud footsteps sounded behind him, shaking the earth, the pebbles around him jumped and scattered with every step taken till it stopped, He turned his head to look at the source and tears immediately stared pouring out of his eyes, It was the most hideous thing he'd ever seen, Head as large as it's torso, Freakishly long upper limbs that dragged on the tarred floor and shorter slender legs that somehow carried it's weight, There was no face just inhumane, blood stained teeth that matched it's pale blue skin. It stood behind him, doing nothing but standing, Peter crippled by fear of the beast was unable to move till it's body shifted like there was a computer glitch and with amazing speed it's arm lifted and swung to Peter who gripped onto his father's cold arm and screamed.

“HELLPP!!”

Like an angel passing, heavy breeze blew past him with such intensity that it almost lifted him off the ground as a figure ran past him, jumped into the air and bullet descending, threw a golden covered fist into the top of the beast head, blood liquid splattered everywhere, painting his surroundings, followed by the limp fall of it's dead body. Peter stared at the figure who had just saved him, what looked like steam actively leaving his body as he took in raggedy breath after breath, his shoulder heaved, his scattered brown hair blew in the chaotic wind and his eyes glowed with golden radiance. The figure turned to Peter, right hand painted by the beast blood and began walking towards him, when he got to Peter he crouched down so they could be on eye level.

“Hey, I'm Rylan what's your name?” Rylan said with a tired smile curving his lips.

1 HOUR EARLIER

Rylan was swated into a building by the beast, his body acting as it's final demolisher, bringing the barely stable structure to the ground, He felt nauseous, only being able to kill one beast simply because he caught it off guard, He looked again and his stomach churned, the beast that had been showing level three in the border now had level one as their designation, Was this some kind of sick joke.

\[Strength: 15\]

\[Agility: 17\]

\[Intelligence: 20\]

No more resonance, no more logout option, a proof of the world he now lived in. He'd hoped that becoming a vessel would have given him some kind of boost but he was wrong, his stats remained the same and as impressive as they were it somehow wasn't enough to allow him handle a level one with ease.

He rose from the rubble and stepped out of the wrecked remains of the mini mart, he closed his eyes and again tried to focus on using the ability Daragura had passed onto him but he felt nothing, but the bland familiar feeling of disappointment. The beast swung again this time he dodged, sliding under it's arm, picking up a pole from the floor, he attempted to use it as a weapon but it just held unto it and flung him aside, His body crashed into another building, knocking out the air from him.

\[-5 HP\]

\[HP 65/100\]

He was thankful to both Daragura and Vrey, the pain they had inflicted unto him over and over again had toughened him up and made him a little more resistant to pain that would have sent him wiggling to the floor, but he couldn't keep this up if not he'd meet a very early grave, Maybe the ability Daragura passed on to him wasn't active yet and he hadn't met the conditions needed to unlock it. He rose again, power or not, he needed to leave this place alive and to do that he'd need to beat the beast infront of him. It was a simple command his mind relayed to his body, Move and without warning the mothlight activated, he was on the other side of the beast in an instant, it turned and swung at him but suddenly, it's movement looked slow, he moved through it's attack and delivered a blow straight into it's stomach, the resistance was almost non existent as the impact from his fist sent the beast flying and crashing through a building.

\[Level one Morph Defeated \]

\[Exp +1\]

Blue blood covered his hand but he could only focus on his new tattoos that now had a golden glow, like a fire was lit under his skin both in visuals and the way it felt causing him to fall to his knees and grit his teeth in pain, similar to Daragura's first attack he couldn't think through the pain then a notification popped up.

\[Mothlight Activated\]