บท 2: Prologue 2 - The Asheborn Massacre

The MagLev car was pulling up slowly behind an unsuspecting Zeel and his mother Clara.

Normally, crime was impossible on earth during the 40th century but with enough connections, and an Anti-Derilium EMP strong enough to damage nearby sensors, anything was possible.

Kidnapping was rare but not unheard of, but today was completely different because of the two people targeted.

This specific Anti-Derilium EMP housed nuclear and quantum processes to ensure that there was no escape for Zeel and his mother Clara.

Suddenly, Clara held Zeel in her arms as silver balls floated behind her, bending her knees she launched Zeel and herself a couple of meters into the air.

All nearby sensors were damaged, so the gravity reverted to a thousand times its usual Newtons. Still, the silver-balls were still a threat to the kidnappers.

Of course, the silver-balls were an invention specific to The Crawford's household.

Clara did several acrobatic movements in the air to avoid ionic beams and with a wave of her hands, the several silver balls shot at the nearby MagLev car.

The balls turned into several discs and sliced cleanly through the car as if dissecting a human skin with a scalpel.

After many back-and-forths, with the disadvantage of Zeel in her arms, Clara dashed towards the remaining attackers intending to break through and give Zeel a chance to escape no matter how small.

However, before she could complete the action, a high-pitched noise rang through the desolate streets as Clara's and Zeel's bodies were instantly paralyzed.

The unique frequency was amped up to match the biological markers present within The Crawford's Household bloodline. Clara's eyes grew dim at that realization. It seems someone within the family had betrayed them.

Clara and Zeel's bodies were tossed into a car that came closer as the battle ended. Clara and Zeel were in and out of consciousness for the next couple of minutes, or at least that was what Clara wanted the kidnappers to think.

"She was a feisty one, huh? Just like they warned us about?" The first guy said.

"Are you sure we can kidnap a Crawford without paying the price?" The second guy asked nervously.

The first guy shrugged "Nobody would mess with the Crawford without a guarantee and we have a guarantee from the Asheborns. We aren't Homo-Superiors anyway, they won't be able to find us,"

After that brief conversation, that was overheard by Zeel and Clara alike, the car drove for about 15 minutes alternating between making dimensional shifts, and linear relativistic beamings.

Though any idiot could tell that the two men were just traveling in circles to confuse Clara. Clara found it stupid that they would try such useless tricks against a Homo-Superior.

Soon, the car came to a stop. Clara and Zeel were dragged out of the car by the two men.

Two more men were a couple of steps ahead, but unlike the two men who kidnapped them, the other two seemed wealthy and extremely refined, with one being a bit chubby.

In situations like these, it was easy to tell that chubby either meant lecherous or the one in charge, sometimes both.

"Asheborns huh?" Clara said loudly hoping for Zeel to pay careful attention.

"So what? You're going to be sold?" both kidnappers smirked rubbing their hands together in anticipation of the upcoming payday.

Favors from Homo-Superiors were known to be priceless things in other Universes.

"You're going to be dead before you can enjoy it," Clara whispered as she pointed out something peculiar "See those transparent earphones? They were made to block out sounds at such high frequencies they could cause internal hemorrhaging. We are useful to them so I'm not scared but can you say the same?"

This statement caused both men to hesitate briefly.

Still, released Clara's restraints as instructed.

This was all Clara needed to disarm the ionic-beamer from the waist of one kidnapper, as the other reached for his ionic beamer.

Zeel jumped into action at this moment, kicking the kidnapper's knee cap causing it to shatter with unique advantages as a Homo-Superior.

Quickly the situation evolved into a five-way beamer pointing scenario.

Jalon Asheborn was the first to lower his ionic-beamer as he began trash-talking Clara with a disgusting lusty look on his face.

"Clara oh baby. Those Eutopian-African roots do you really well. I can't wait to get all up in that!"

"shut up!" The Head of the Asheborns house said and then continued "Clara, you know you can't escape anywhere. This place is a technology-free zone, and if you do anything untoward then your child will pay for it,"

Hearing that Zeel could be implicated if she attempted an escape, Clara stopped planning to escape and instead turned the ionic-beamer towards her head.

"How important am I to you? Pretty fuckable right? The nanites have an order to decompose and implode my body upon death. So try to harm me or my son and we can all go together," Clara spouted viciously.

Of course, Clara was bluffing, the nanites in her body would implode, taking almost half of the continent alongside it.

Luckily, Clara had disabled the function while talking since that would mean Zeel would also die alongside her. Zeel was an awkward child, but Clara still had too much to make up for.

"You're bluffing I dare you to fire the beamer," The head of the Asheborn's said teasingly as Jalon hesitated to speak.

Ultimately, Jalon decided not to interrupt his father. Clara looked towards Zeel and whispered a soft phrase.

Zeel's eyes were confused temporarily but soon regained clarity.

Clara was not afraid to die, but at this point either she or Zeel were expendable. Clara correctly surmised that she had to be dead for Zeel to stand a chance.

*click*

"The beamer has no energy remaining," said the Asheborn's head as he walked towards the group with steady steps.

Still, Clara did not panic and instead wore a peaceful smile on her face.

*prrr*

Suddenly, Clara fell to the ground, a clear beam mark apparent at the base of her skull. That would immediately reduce a normal Homo-Superior's brain into jelly. Luckily, Clara was a Crawford and not any ordinary Homo-Superior.

She would still die, either way, it would just be a little while longer.

The Asheborn's Head turned his head in a mechanic manner. There stood Zeel with an Ionic-Beamer in his hand.

The Kidnappers were clearly lax in their duties if a child could get access to such a dangerous weapon.

"Fuck, get her body in stasis pods before it completely loses functions," The Asheborn's head commanded as he proceeded to knock out the shocked Zeel with a wave of his hand.

The Asheborns quickly fled the scene, but not before vaporizing both Kidnappers.

Time Skip 5 years

Zeel woke up in the morning and did his usual routine: scan the room, look for traps, test the water, test the food... basically, every precaution one could take to survive.

Every morning zeel would look at his reflection floating mirror and recall all the atrocities he had committed at the training camp.

Zeel realized at the moment he shot his mother, he felt … nothing…

The only thought in his head was 'I don't want to die here. I am expendable. I need to get rid of the competition'.

Shaking his head to get rid of the wayward thoughts, Zeel then proceeded to replay the last five years in his mind – all the bad things he had done, he had experienced so much that his mentality had warped to an unredeemable point.

Even if he lacked emotions, at least with his mother, he had clearly defined morals.

However, after these five years, he was unsure of what was right and wrong anymore. The only thing driving him was the will to stay alive – something even INT could not suppress.

The past five years were constant hell for all those involved. Everyone struggled for survival daily, receiving training at the behest of the Asheborns, but the training camp was clearly bigger than just The Asheborn house.

Today, his training would be completed with a final mission. Though, this specific mission was only approved due to heavy manipulation on Zeel's part.

After the kidnapping, The Asheborn head quickly realized that Zeel was a blank slate and would do anything to survive. It was the kid's only remaining instinct after all the experiments.

The Crawford's had really sent him a golden goose that laid diamond eggs.

How lucky were the Asheborns to find such a diamond in the rough?

With his extremely rational mind, Zeel found it easy to cope with the trauma, but some memories were so gruesome and unwanted that he found himself unconsciously suppressing them.

The most painful of the memories were not distinguishable from his everyday activities. That was the extent of Zeel's emotional unavailability.

"Zeel,"

"Yes, Teacher?"

"You know you're burning?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're on fire Zeel and when you find out what I mean, I just hope you'll have someone to hold you through the burning flames as my wife did for me so long ago,"

"I don't understand but thanks, teacher!" Zeel said with a 90-degree bow.

"Okay, I am ready now!"

*Bang*

The graduation ceremony, the murder of the teacher who has been with you for the past five years.

The father figure, the caretaker, the only person you were allowed to form a strong attachment with over your five years in Hell.

Zeel put a beamer through his teacher's skull with no change in his facial expressions.

Still, he knew something in him was broken that day.

For the first time ever, Zeel felt sick in his stomach. Despite having killed a lot of people over the past five years – guilty, innocent, children, wives, entire families, but for some reason, this time felt a bit different, a bit distasteful.

Unaware to Zeel, the INT in his system over the years had slowly begun to lose synchronicity with his body structure. Possibly, the side-effect or side-benefit of Tom and Clara's repeated experiments during his early years.

Later that day- Asheborn Family House

"How is the boy?" asked the family head, Greg Asheborn.

Over the years, Greg had taken a particular interest in Zeel's growth. This year, he had finally gotten through the restrictions that stopped him from requesting a mission of the boy.

"He is currently outside. Cuffed and ready to be transported inside," the secretary replied respectfully.

"The boy is nothing if not rational. I suspect he would kill his own family without blinking an eye now and in the past just like he did with his mother. Un-cuff him and bring him in. This is a Technology-free zone. We are all powerless here,"

"Okay, Sir. Bring him in!" yelled the Secretary.

"Yes!" The soldier near the door replied.

Zeel walked in with his usual stoic look. The aching feeling in his stomach was slowly growing, but not enough to cause any concerns.

After taking a glance around, Zeel focused his attention on the Asheborn Family Head.

"Welcome, Zeel! Today I wanna gift you something that was passed down in each generation of my family," Greg said looking at Zeel expectantly.

The Crawford Family had been suppressing The Asheborn's intensely since the incident five years ago. Currently, the Council kept The Crawford Family at bay, but that would not last forever.

Greg thought it was time to cash-in on his redemption plan as he passed a case over the desk to Zeel.

Zeel opened the case to see a G18 handgun with gold plating. He frowned with confusion. 'Guns' were antiquated tools that Homo-Superiors no longer used. Guns were inefficient and weak.

However, the red glow of the bullets instantly drew Zeel's attention.

Picking up the gun, Zeel familiarized himself with the gun.

However, the moment Zeel touched the bullets, something deep within him snapped.

Within Zeel's body, the INT was instantly expelled. Everyone in the room watched confused as dust particles fell from Zeel's body.

Then, for a brief moment, a weak emotion skittered across Zeel's subconscious – Revenge.

To Zeel, who had not experienced emotions for his entire life, having suddenly felt revenge was akin to the gospel.

It was something he never experienced before, and he felt the need to indulge in the feeling.

Maybe now was his time to become whole?

"This is the gun you're going to use to go after your family, just like you did with your mother. The bullets are made from an old, extremely rare meteorite called 'God Syphon' since it was believed to take the power away from evil gods in the past. It can penetrate any known energy fields on The Homo-Superior Planet, " Greg bragged with a fanatical look in his eyes.

However, the next event left both Greg and the secretary completely shocked.

Zeel loaded the cartridge and aimed straight at the Asheborn's Family Head and fired.

Everyone in the 40th century had an invisible shielding in front of their bodies, but the bullets passed through the shielding like a knife cutting butter.

What proceeded next was an absolute massacre.

Zeel held the gun at a 90-degree angle, shooting Greg between the brows while simultaneously kicking back hitting the knee of the secretary.

*crunch*

The secretary fell to the ground. Zeel jumped towards the secretary, performing an overarm throw that guided both of them towards the ground.

The secretary was situated on top of Zeel after the throw.

Almost on cue, the door opens with guards rush in, firing ionic-beamers towards Zeel and the downed Secretary.

Using the Secretary's body as cover, Zeel used this opportunity to fire continuously with utmost precision until all guards are slumped down with blood spurting from their heads. The unique bullets impressed Zeel to no end.

Discarding the roasted secretary, Zeel proceeded to explore the house one layer at a time, killing anything that moves from humans to Karmantians, to 5th Dimensional Dogs.

At one point, Zeel met a child and mother duo hiding in a closet.

For some reason, he felt his hand refuse to point the gun at the pair, allowing the mother and child to rush for the exit door.

However, rationality won with his unconscious action of shooting both in the back of their heads.

Feeling his hand a bit, Zeel muttered "Weird, my hand almost stopped itself,"

Zeel continued his massacre until every Asheborn on the property was killed. It was ironic considering The Asheborn's were the ones that blocked all technology in the nearby environment.

Everyone knows that a Homo-Superior is nothing without their Technology.