Chương 16: Super

June's friend made eye contact with June. Normally June likes to sneak around and spook his friends from time to time, but he forgot that his appearance changed. His friend was religious; he wasn't zealous like June's family, but he maintained a firm grip on his belief. He was a tall man, around six feet tall; he wasn't by any means a beanstalk. His shoulders were wide, his legs were fairly lanky, his skin was a light brown, and his hair was short, curly, and a faded black.

"Fin" His friend Fin's eyes widened. June could smell terror; he forgot his voice had carried his will, and his appearance became something new.

"Fin, it's me, June." Regardless, Fin still took a step back; from his perspective, two glowing golden eyes that stood nearly at his eye level spoke to him from the darkness. There were no lights on this trail; the only people were cyclists who would zoom by on racing bikes. And as far as Fin knew, he had just met a real monster. June walked out of the forest, a twig caught on his deep onyx hair.

"It's me, dude." Fin shakily raised his finger towards June.

"M-monster, where is June?" Fin Shakely presented his crucifix in Junes direction, trying to banish the harrowing voice. June turned his flashlight on; he had left his phone at home. Since there's a tracker on that, this was the first time in his life that he snuck out, after all.

"Follow me. People keep on giving me scared looks, so I went into the forest, and I did want to spook you, but that's besides the point; I need some help." Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings. Fin let out a gulp; he himself was surprised that he gulped given his situation. June lightly tossed the flashlight to Fin. Fin gracelessly caught it, nearly dropping it, and he shined the light on June.

June shielded his eyes, but he stayed still to let his friend study his new look.

"Is that really you? Why do you look like that? What's wrong with your voice?" June looked at him for a moment.

"Let's walk deeper into the forest; I'll try to explain it." The forest was less of a forest and more of a clump of trees that separated the bluffs and the bike lanes.

"Basically, I started having weird dreams; I got powers in that dream after killing a monster, and now I look different. I go there whenever I sleep." Fin looked at him incredulously.

"Powers? Why do you sound like that?" June didn't say anything for a couple seconds.

"The people there said I was something called a Dreamer; my body was reformed, to put it plainly, as were my vocal cords and my brain too, actually; it hurt like hell."

"I got a couple traits from the reformation, night vision and the ability to bend reality; that one's a work in progress, though. I can smell better, see better, and feel better." Fin looked at June for a minute.

"Anything else?" Actually no, why did you call me? June found a tree that had fallen down and sat on it.

"I felt like I should tell someone, and you do the biology stuff; maybe you could figure out why or even how these powers work or something. Also, it would be helpful for someone to help me with some tests." Fin waited for a moment, feeling his way around, before sitting on the fallen stump; unlike June, he was fully blind in the dark with the exception of his flashlight.

"Tests?" June inhaled the clear air and listened to the water kiss the shore before receding.

"Yeah, I got stronger, faster too. I could probably jump as high as some of these trees if I really strained myself; I could probably also rip them out of the ground too... I broke my old phone while handling it a few days ago. I haven't adjusted fully to it yet. It's lucky that I broke an item instead of a person." The waves sounded louder, and the silence between them felt even more deafening.

June was starting to wonder if he had made a mistake by telling someone about his situation, but at the same time he was a bit relieved; he needed to fix this before someone noticed. He was better than he had ever been, but this sudden leap in looks, voice, and height would be hard to believe if he just said he was trying a new skincare routine, and that was the least of his problems; he could accidentally kill someone or total a car with a small movement.

This wasn't even his full ability; he was weaker in the waking world than the Nightrealm. His body wasn't natural anymore; it was superhuman. Fin sat and thought about it too.

"I think the lab at my school stays open during the break."

"For now, since this is a good environment, let's test your physical ability."