章 2: The Chosen One
Alex floated in a murky haze of darkness. He felt like he was asleep, wading around in a hazy dream. He looked down at his body, and all he could see was a silhouette of faint darkness surrounded further by shadows all around him.
Though, as time passed, Alex noted he was in a room. A large, circular room of stone marked with countless sigils everywhere, though with how murky everything was, he could barely make anything out.
It looked like he was in some kind of ancient temple, though to which mythology it belonged to, it was hard to tell with how dark it was. What he could make out though was at the center of the room, there arose a statue, a shrine, maybe, shaped into the image of a six armed humanoid with horns on its head and each of its hands holding weapons from antiquity.
Alex could make out the hazy image of a sword, but the other weapons were too blurry to see.
A groan from Alex's side drew his attention. He widened his eyes in surprise.
Six other figures floated beside him, all neatly arranged in a perfect line, and Alex could make them out as the darkened silhouettes of the mages.
Then, a gut-wrenching feeling welled up inside Alex, and he felt chills run across his back.
A figure of darkness manifested in front of them.
Humanoid in shape, but far larger than any human.
A…a giant, maybe? The shadow thing looked almost three meters tall, but giants were powerful monsters.
Belonged to Grade 3 Rifts at the very least. If a giant was here, then everyone was dead. No question about it.
The humanoid stepped forwards, and each of his steps were heavy, letting out rumbles that spelled out nothing but death.
Alex tried to move but found he could not. He was suspended in the air, and so were the other mages.
The giant hunched down and inspected a mage on the opposite end from where Alex was. The giant was perfectly featureless, almost like a mannequin of shadow. Extremely eerie. The mere sight of it made shivers crawl down Alex's spine.
The giant put a hand to its chin of solidified darkness in a thinker's pose. It was staring down at Ivan's frozen figure.
"Hmm. This one is trash." The giant waved its great hand, and Ivan's shadowy figure dissolved away. "Next."
The giant looked down at the handsome mage that had tried to 'help' Alex. "More trash. Maybe even worse than the other one. Off you go."
The giant slammed a fist down onto the mage's head, and his form broke apart and dissolved at contact, like he was made of sand and a strong wind had scattered him apart.
Alex could do nothing but try to squirm and escape inevitable death, but invisible forces held him.
The way the giant was inspecting the mages, Alex would be last, and if it was looking for potential, probably magical potential, because that was all anyone or anything cared about in this world, then Alex had zero hope of surviving.
Was he truly going to die here?
Leaving his sister behind to die alone in a hospital bed surrounded by strangers?
Without having accomplished anything?
"A little better," said the giant as it put its featureless, mannequin like face close to one of the women mages. Her head tilted backwards slightly in fear, but whatever force was holding down Alex was holding her down too. "But too weak willed. Pathetic."
The giant shrugged, and the woman's figure dissolved too.
"So much reliance on magic, all of you," said the giant as it stepped back with a sigh. "That makes you weak. And I thought I had attracted a worthy group.
Well, time to cut my losses and count quick."
The giant sped through the inspection now, tapping the next mage on the head and uttering a single word. "Garbage."
Another head tapped; another figure dissolved. "Bigger garbage."
Then, the giant came upon Tom. "Biggest piece of garbage I've seen in a while. Complete devotion to magic all the while still being weak.
Out of my damn sight, gramps."
The giant flicked Tom's head and shattered his figure too.
"And then there was one," said the giant as he finally came upon Alex.
"Tra-," began the giant before he suddenly stopped, his hand mere inches away from Alex's head. "Oh? Now look at you?"
The giant looked Alex up and down. "Nevermind what I was going to say. You are perfect. Excellent base material.
Huh, almost like you were- whatever. I don't have time to sweat the details, and if someone like you is going to fall into my lap, then I'll take it."
The giant pulled one of its arms back, and then smashed it into Alex's chest. He felt excruciating pain shoot throughout his body, burning and making white flash into his vision where there was nothing but darkness all around him.
Alex felt the sensation of something moving in his chest, around his heart, and then his consciousness began to fade. Thankfully, the pain quickly numbed away into dull throbs.
His head slumped forwards as he lost energy and consciousness.
The giant leaned its sizable head forwards and spoke into Alex's ear.
"Sorry about the pain. Part of the process, but it'll be worth it if everything goes right.
Congratulations, kid. You're now a Host, and I've got great expectations for ya.
Now, goodnight, Chosen One."
Alex fell unconscious.
週次パワーステータス
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