Year: 4/19/2567
Time: 8:15
Beep...Beep...Beep...Beep...Beep...Beep
Ugh, another morning, another terrible headache. It happens to you every morning like clockwork, and Asprin seems to be getting less and less effective. As you contemplate about the throbbing pain in your head, your room **shakes** as a car drives above you.
You curse, as the pain in your head intensifies. You look around the room, wanting to vent your frustrations at something. However, you're alone.
No use in complaining at this point, might as well get on with your morning routine. You bruh your teeth and get [[//dressed//->kitchen]].You enter the kitchen. You are greeted by the rumbling of another car.
You see your older sister Thea preparing breakfast, the scent of bacon and eggs wafting from her pan.
"Morning, bed-head," she says
[["Morning...]]
[[Glare at her]]"Did you sleep well? I heard an awful lot of screaming last night," she says as she plates the food.
She brings the food over to the table, placing it at both ends of the table. She goes back to the kitchen to grab her coffee and sits down.
[[//"I'm fine, just had another nightmare last night. I dreamt that I caused the Below to collapse, killing mom, dad, and you in the process."//->Eat]]"Intimidating people will only get you so far," she says without looking up at me.
She plates the food and brings it to the table. She takes off her patch-work apron and sits at the table.
"Heard an awful lot of screaming last night, what's that about?" she askes.
[[//"...I had a pretty bad dream last night, saw that I set the Above on fire and burnt everything I cared about to ashes."//->Eat]]Thea gazes me with her *olive green eyes*. Their dull sheen inscepting me. "Have you looked closely in the mirror lately?"
She pulls out a pocket mirror and hands it to me.
You open the mirror and [[look.]]Staring back are two *light magenta eyes*, the dim light of kitchen causing them to glimmer. You gasp, wondering for how long the mutations have been active.
You look back at Thea, her hand over her mouth, contemplating.
"Have you been experiencing any weird outbursts in power lately?" you repsond with a no. "It's going to be very risky with eyes like those. You'll draw more attention to yourself if go to the Above." She thinks for a bit longer, "I don't it's safe for you to walk around looking like that, you should stay down here for the next couple of months."
The idea of being cramped down in the Below for multiple months is quiet unappealing, you begin thinking of ways to convince Thea that you'll be able to handle [[yourself]].Thea maintains eye contact with you, waiting for a response.
[["I'll just move wear a pair of shades that cover my eyes."]]
[["Fine I'll stay down here, but you're gonna I'm gonna make you regret that decision.]]You finish your meal and head out. As you leave the house, another car races by above you, causing the street to **shake**.
You make your way through the streets of neon lights, run down houses, and squatters. Many people greet you as you pass by them, some merely saying hello, some thanking you for helping them out. A group of children run past you, chasing after each other in what you assume is a game of tag. They were wearing diiferent clothes, however the thing they had in common was how dirty the clothes were.
After walking past a group of elders playing cards, you arrive at one of the entrances to the Above. You hear sound of voices and sirens on the other side.
You put on a pair of black shades and [[proceed]].On the other side, you emerge in an empty alleyway, trash littered on both sides of the road. You walk out the alleyway and are met by bright neon signs and the bustling road of a cyberpunk city.
You walk into the street and merge with the flow of pedestrians.
[[Go to the bar.]]
[[Swing by the arcade.]]
[[Pick up the list of groceries Thea gave you a week ago.]]You arrive at *HAVΣN*, the few establishments in this futrusitic hellscape that still serves Eve customers.
You enter the bar and sit at the counter. There are very people at the bar, the bartender comes over.
"What drink would you like sir?"
[["I want a Scathing Moon."]]
[["Give me a Waning Twighlight."]]
[["I could go for a Pale Star."]]You arrive the Nexus arcade. Though they serve Eve customers, arguments and fights often occur between humans and Eves.
You enter the arcade, there very few people using the machines. Which game would you like to play?.
[[//A first person shooter.//->shooter]]
[[A race game.]]
[[Dancing game.]]On your way to the grocery store you pass by some alleyways and see a few homeless huddled by the walls. You try not to stare.
One notices you, it was an Eve. An elderly man with *dull yellow eyes*, wrapped in a black ratty blanket. He hobbles his way towards you, his hands cupped.
"Spare change sir?" he askes.
[[Give him our money.]]
[[Pretend you didn't hear anything and walk away.]]The bartender nods and moves to make your drink. After a few minutes, he returns with a crimson red drink in a short wine class.
"Your Scathing Moon sir," and places the drink in front of you.
You hesitate for a moment, but then begin to sip it. The drink burns as it goes down and is a bit sour. The drink has a strong taste of alcohol.
As you attempt to down the beverage before you, you turn your attention to the [[t.v.]] behind you."Understood," says the bartender and goes to prepare your drink. After a moment, the bartender comes back with a tall glass full of a sparkling drink colored like twilight.
"Your Waning Twlight sir," he says as he places the drink on the counter.
You marvel at the color of the beverage for a moment, then begin to sip it. It's sweet as it goes, you could barely taste the alchol content in this drink.
As you slowly sip on your drink, you look at the [[//screen//->t.v.]] that sits above you."Right away sir," the bartender turns away and begins mixing your drink. He soon returns with a pale yellow drink in a mimosa glass.
"Here is your Pale Star sir," he says as he places the drink in front you.
You thank the bartender and sip your drink. The drink tastes just right, the perfect blend of sweet and sour and has the just the right amount of alcohol.
As you happily enjoy your beverage, you look at the the [[//television//->t.v.]] nestled in the wall behind you.*Bang* *Bang* *Bang*
Headshot after headshot your pixel perfect crosshair placement nails all the enemies on the screen, not a single one escapes your magenta wrath.
You prepare to move on to the next machine, but you overhear a dispute occuring on the aisle of machines next to you.
The ruckus was caused by a human in a gray hoodie and a tall Eve with *crimson red eyes* in a leather jacket similar to yours. They stare each other down while their respective posses cheer their boss on.
[[You should try to observe them from where you are.]]You move to a closer aracade machine, eavesdropping on their conversation while pretending to play a game.
"Back off of our turf sewer rat, crawl back to the Below where you belong," shouted the human. His posse cheering on his statement.
"Big words coming from such a little man," retroted the Eve.
"At least I don't stink from spending so much time swimming in crap," snarked the human, the posses let out the steretypical "OOOOOHHHHH" sound.
What's that little man? I couldn't hear you from down there," the Eve said while cupping his hand to his ear.
"You heard me of has all that time in the sewer clogged your ear with crap?" said the human with a smirk. Seriously does this guy have any other insults?
The Eve, seemingly irritated by the lack of any good insults, balls his hand up in a [[fist]].She scoffs at your remark, trying to call your bluff.
"Oh yea? What exactly are you going to do little man?" she says with a smirk. You retaliate by telling her that you'll continually pester her with questions about every single action she takes until she breaks.
Thea's eyes widen for a moment, seemingly threatened by the prospect of being stuck in a perpetual game of twenty questions. You believe you've won this fight until she speaks.
"As horrible as that sounds, I'd rather deal with questions than a missing person's case," she says rubbing the sides of her head. You pout, disatisfied at your loss. No use in crying now though, might as well finish your [[breakfast]].They contemplates your proposal for a moment.
"Fine, that works I guess, stay safe, out there," she says reluctantly. "But don't expect me to bail you out if get into trouble."
You know she's only saying that to be mean, but you're still happy that she greenlit your plans. You to proceed to eat your meals in [[silence]].After finishing your meal, you leave the house, giving Thea a low grunt when she tells you to stay safe in the Below.
You take a look at the streets of the Below. A roofed over ceiling with cars that always drive by, neon lights that serving as light sources, and an unkept street filled with pot holes and trash. You sigh, well time to think of a place to be at.
[[Swing by Liz's house.]]
[[Ignore Thea and go to the Above regardless.]]
[[Visit the "Black Market".]]The arrive at the shack that is Liz's home. To be frank though, all the houses in the below look like this so there's nothing new. You go up to the door to knock, however the front door swings open. Liz was dressed and waiting for you, a duffle bag in her hand.
"Hey there stranger," Liz said with a smile. "I hope you're ready because today we're going to flavor time at mach speed."
You have a bad feeling in the bottom of your stomach, but there's no going back now. Liz steps out of her house and [[takes]] the lead. You step out the Below and breathe the tainted air of the Above. You wonder what you'll do in your time up here.
Before you have a chance to decide, a burlap sack is thrown over you and you're knocked unconscious. It's as Thea warned you, an Eve with pretty eyes and brimming with power is a target for a lot of shady smugglers in the city. You're wehereabouts are unknown, and Thea now has to live with guilt of not properly protecting you.
[[//Play again?//->Hide Out]]On your way to the market, you walk across a newspaper. The words are barely legible to the amount of the time it's been exposed, however you can make out the "Eve mutants have finally been moved to the Below after twenty years of resistence."
You remember the scene the newspaper describes. You were merely seven when your family was ripped from the home in the Above, and forced to live in the Below. You remember your parents coming home less frequently, then not coming back at all. You remember the nights you spent crying, huddled by Thea's side.
You ball your hands up in a fist, but [[//continue//->Be more cautious, this means more than being arrested.]] moving.You look over to the source of the noise, and see two drunken customers yelling at each other. One appears to be human, while one appears to be an Eve with yellow eyes.
"You heard me," exclaims the Eve "I can't stand people like you walking around the street , acting like you're better than us. The governor's afraid of people like us so they put us down. The Eves should do more than just protest, we need a **REVOLUTION**."
"As if. Freaks like you don't have a place in this world, you get that? You weirdos are nothing but a byproduct of genetic mutations. We humans have normal healthy DNA, so of course we're better than you!" retorts the human. The two grab each other by the collar, and begin exchanging punches. The fight gets so bad that the two end up on the flooring, still slugging it out. The bartender attempts to break up the fight but is unsuccesful. You've seen enough of this so you leave your money on the counter and head [[out]].As the you exit the building, something flies towards you and nails you to the ground. It's the bar-tender, he seems to have been through out the store.
He apologizes the helps you back up, however before you could properly stand, an explosion erupts from the bar. It blows the windows and doors clean off, smoke eminating from the openings. You and bar-tender look at each other in complete shock Pedestrians passing by are also in [[shock]].As the siren blares and the bar-tender tells the first responders the evenst that transpired, everyone else moves on as if nothing happens.
As you stand there, awaiting for the officals to record your testimony, you think to yourself that these events happen all the time. What you just saw merely reinforces your previous thoughts. Protests are useless, Eves have never gotten along with humans, and humans have hated Eves for being mutations. Everyone is shocked by the initial impact, but everything goes back to the way it was in an instant. That's the type of city you live in after.
[[//Play Again?//->Hide Out]]It's playing a news headline about current events.
"Turmoil grips the streets of Neo Haven City as another Eve protest occurs at the city square. Though the Eves promised that this protest will be strictly peaceful, the protest eventually devolved into a full scale riot, with intervention from the city's police force being necessary. The casualties are still being assessed. Per usual, the cause of the protest was over the second-class citizenship of the Eves. Governor Norman has stated that he has opened his door to negotiation on multiple occasions, however the Eve only react with violence. More on the story as it develops..."
After that you just began zoning out, seeing as the rest doesn't interest you. As you finish your beverage, you contemplate on how futile these protests are. They've been occurring for over thirty years now, but nothing significant has been done.
You lose yourself in your own thoughts, staring at your empty glass, when a [[commotion]] in the bar catches your attention.*VROOOOOOOOOOMMMMM*
You zoom past the compeitition, the A.I.s controlling the other drivers could barely keep up with you when your at mach speed.
You proceed to place something else, when a commotion caught your attention.
It was a group of Eves and humans staring down each other. The humans are led by a teenager in a gray hoodie. The Eves crowded behind a taller one with a black leather jack at *crimson red eyes*.
[[You should try to observe them from where you are.]]*Great!* *Excellent!* *Outstanding!* *Godlike!*
Tile after tile after tile, nothing escaped your high-precision reflexes and reaction. You score SS on all the songs that you choose.
You decide to take a short break afterwards, since all the that dancing is unsurprisingly tiring. You walk over to the vending machine to buy a drink. While getting your soda, your attention is caught by two groups staring down at each other.
One group was a group of humans standing behind a taller one in a grey hoodie. The other was a posse of Eves surrounding a tall Eve possessing a black leather jacket and *crimson red eyes*.
[[You should try to observe them from where you are.]]Immediately a fist fight breaks out between the Eve and the human. The two taking turns punching each other, while their respective posses cheered them on. Eventually the human pulls out a pocket knife, and begins thrusting it at the Eve. The Eve attempts to dodge the strikes, but ended up being cut multiple times.
The Eve, tired of dodging, lets out a burst of flames from his hands. The human dodges, but is shocked by the chain of events.
"Wait, wait, that's illegal, you can't just use your powers like that," the human says, his voice trembling in fear.
"To hell with that, all that matters right now it burning you to a crisp," he Eve says cracking his knuckles. He continues spraying his fire throughout the arcade, attempting to catch the fleeing human.
At this point, the entire arcade is ablaze. People, both human and Eve are running for their lives. Some make it out of the door, including the store owner. You make a mad dash for the [[exit]].Before you can reach the door, one the support beams from the ceiling comes crashing down, blocking the exit. You manage to dodge the burning beam, but now you're trapped. You begin to contemplate your next move, when you another cracking sound, this time an even bigger comes crashing down, giving you little to no time to react.
Panic locks your body into place, you [[brace]] yourself.Though you expected yourself to be crushed, miraculously, you find yourself unscathed. You look up, the falling beam is frozen in place, surrounded by a *magenta* light and floating shapes that continuously break and form You look around you and realize everything is glowing the same color.
Time then seems to move backwards. The pillar restores itself to the ceiling, the block on the door undoes itself, and the flames return to the Eve's hand.
Everything was set back to what it was before the fight broke out. You are the only thing displaced, still sitting in front the exit, dazed.
The police then bust through the door, pointing their guns at the group. They demand everyone to put their hands in the air. They hand-cuffed everyone on the premises, including you, and escort you out of the [[arcade]].They cram you and all the other Eves in a cell, all of you are wearing power-nullifying braces. The humans were detained, but they were merely lectured and let off with a light slap on a wrist. The cell is a melody of complaints, telling the police sitting at a nearby desk to free us.
"Quiet all of you, or no dinner tonight!" shouted the officer. You sit there, wondering how long you'll be here for, and what will Thea think about your sudden disappearence.
None sooner then when you finish that thought, Thea busts through the door.
"There you are you little runt!" she shouts. The guard stands up and points the gun at Thea.
"Hands up, I don't know who you are, but you're not-" before he could finish his sentence, Thea stares at him, her eyes glowing *green*. He drops the gun and slumps over.
"Get up and unlock the door and grab the kid with the * light magenta* eyes," the man stands up, a blank expression plastered over his face and his eyes are glowing green. He clumisly walks over the opens door, grabbing me by the [[arm]].He takes you out of the cell, closing and locking it when you're out.
"Now undo his cuffs," the police takes his key and undoes your restraints. Thea then comes up and grabs you by the arm.
"We're leaving and we're going to have a talk when we get home," as we leave the other Eves in the cell protest, wanting to be released as well. "QUIET!" shouts they, her eyes glow again. Silence consumes the Eve as they all slump over. Thea trembles, her knees almost giving away. You help her back up and walk her out of the police station.
On the way out, you see other police officers, their eyes glowing green and blank expression over their faces.
After exiting the station, Thea slumps into an alley way and throws [[up]].
"Damn, never had to use my ability that many times in a row," she says in between hurls.You want to help Thea, you place your hand over her back. She glows *magenta* for a moment, shapes breaking and forming over her. She stops vomiting. When she stops throwing up, however you slump to your knees, feeling a fatigue come over you.
"What just happened?" Thea askes shocked. You explain how the arcade was intially on fire, and how the same thing happened. Thea looks over at you, a light smile comes over her face. You both know what this means. The hallmark of an Eve is to have their powers manifest. It's the reason why humans fear you. What you do with that newfound abilities you have now is up to you.
"Come on, let's get moving slowpoke," Thea helps you up as you two return to the Below.
[[//Play Again?//->Hide Out?]]Without telling you where you're heading, Liz takes you to the Above and into a series of winding alleways. The alleyways then leads out to tall building, several armed guards surround the building. Knowing Liz, you're a bit concerned about what's about to transpire, you ask her what she's planning.
"Well last time we messed around with polic officer, so I asked my what's a step up from that? This was what I came up with, if we manage to pull this off, we're gonna get so much street cred," she said, anxiously awaiting for my response. She's correct, if succeed in pulling this prank off, you'll increase your reputation in the Below by tenfold. On the other hand, if you screw up and get caught it's game over.
[[Throw caution to the wind and live for once.]]After telling Liz you're in, she smiles and pulls out two uniforms from the duffle bag. You ask her how she managed to get her hands on them.
"I had a friend with a fabrication ability make it for me," she said nonchalantly. Wait, that's illegal. As you ponder the legal logistics of being able to forge military uniform, Liz has already changed into her uniform. "Well slowpoke, you're just gonna sit there or we gonna do this?"
You push aside your moral gymnastics and change into the uniforms. You two emerge from the alleyway and [[approach]] the building.
"Follow my lead," Liz says confidently.The black market are rows of vendors selling items that are deemed illegal for Eves to have. Most of the itmes were luxury goods that the Above only manufactures for themselves.
You by stands selling designer clothing and funiture. Some are selling luury foods that only the rich can afford. Some are selling pharmaceutical drugs only found in the Above. Many people recognize you, as you frequent the market, and you've helped out many of the store owners with errands.
You stop buy a stand selling clothes, wanting a pick out a snazy new jacket for yourself when the ground begins to the rumble. Normally, the ground quakes when a car drives above the Below, however this vibration is far more intense.
From one end of the black market, you see a massive black military van pull up, and several armed guards [[filing]] out.You're stopped by one of the armed guards.
"I'll have to see your identitification cards," the guard said sternly
"Oh my card," Liz pretends to search her body. "Sorry man, I must left in my other pants."
You swear that was the dumbest excuse that anyone can come up in a situation like this, and it was evident that it was very ineffective. The guard points his gun at us and tells us to point our hands in the air as he calls for back up.
"Well looks like the cat's outta the bag," Liz's eyes starting glowing *purple*, and she breathes a purple mist into the guard's face . The guard is initally confused, but then he drops his gun and begins raving like a lunatic. The guard is running around in circles laughing and screaming. The sight was quite funny to watch until more guards [[show]] up.Liz inhales and then exhales out an even bigger breath. All the guards begin doing various random actions. Some drop to ground laughing, some just stand there dazed, others are trying to tag with one another. The whole scene sends Liz to hysterics.
"This has got to be the motherload of pranks, we're gonna be famous after this," Liz says as she laughs. A siren goes off in the building, and more guards appear. Liz tries to use her ability for the third time, but the guards this time are wearing gas masks. You didn't think they'd catch on this quickly.
"Put your hands up and get on your knees," the guards command. Liz proceeds to do the opposite and make a run for it, you follow. You think to yourself how you should've just stayed behind and watch from afar, but there's no time for regrets now. The guards fan out and shoot at us. The miss intially, but as they increase their numbers. More and more bullets come flying, and when you turn around to look whether they're pursuing or not, you see one bullet come straight for your face. You panic as there's very little [[time]] to dodge. The bullet reaches is an inch from your face before it's stopped, a *light magenta* hue surrounding the bullet. In fact all the bullets and the guards have that same hue around them, shapes are breaking and forming in the air around them. Liz is also visibly shocked by the scene.
Then the bullets flying backs, eventualy flying back into the gun they came from. The guards all begin walking backwards and filing back into the building. When all the guards return inside. You look and Liz look at each other dumbstruck.
"What was that about?" Liz asked, scratching her head. You tell her how you have no idea yourself. "Dude Theo, I think that was your mutation [[kicking]] in. You told me that you've been getting strange dreams right."Liz's explanantion seems sound enough. You feel a strong fatigue coming over you. Liz catches you before you fall, and helps you back up.
"Yo dude, I don't know what just happened, but it was awesome. Imagine all the things we can get away with that power," Liz says smiling.
Liz is right, given your newfound powers who knows what shenanigans you two will get yourselves into. Then again, you two don't know any better. For thirty years the Eve have been treated like a band of misfits and rejects. Shunnned from society because of how different you all are. It's only natural for people like you to cause trouble. As a means of getting back at the world.
[[//Play Again?//->Hide Out]].Without warning the guards begin to tear down the Black Market. They drag store owners out of their stands and set the stands on fire. They round out store owners, and hold them all at gunpoint. Many of the Eves attempt to use their abilities to impede to guards, but they do absolutely nothing to the armor the guards are wearing.
Chaos consumed the market, all the while a guard with a megaphone repeats, "This is the New Neo military force. I accordance to the Eve laws placed in 2557, all are under arrest. Reistance is futile."
A guard close by is having a struggle with an elderly woman with *bright silver* eyes. The guard is holding onto a cash box, while the older lady is trying to wrestle it out of his hands.
"Please, this is all I have, don't take it away," the guard gives no response. He removes the woman's grip on the box and [[points]] his gun at the older woman and fires.Given how you've helped these people before you spring into action. You jump in between the guard and the woman.
"Theo what are you doing?" the elderly Eve screams. As the bullet hits you in the chest. The pain is sharp and intense, it's unlike anything you've felt before. You slump over the older woman as she screams your name, blood runs from the wound and your mouth.
"What a waste," the guard says and prepares for a second shot. As the bullet leaves the gun, a *light magenta* hue consumes everything around you. Shapes begin breaking and forming in the air.
The bullet flies back into the gun, and bullet embedded in your chest returns to the gun as well. The guard and elderly Eve are [[shocked]] by this.Time begins to flow backwards. As the fire leaves the shops and shops repair themselves. The guards all begin to shudder, as their armor loosens. Some of their helmets fall off, revealing a fae that's growing younger and younger as the minutes go buy.
The other people of the Black Market pick up on what's happening and begin assualting the guards. The guards, given how you they're now aging backwards, are putting up less of a fight.
By the end of it all, the people of the Below have rounded the former guards up and gave them a good beating. While your wounds have healed, you feel dreadfully [[tired]] and still in the arms of the elderly woman."Rest now Theo, you've been a grate help to us once again," said the woman. The people of the Black Market begin to chant your name.
You've always helped these people out, today will was no different. However now you have a newfound strength by your side. It's this power that has cause humans to fear you for the past thirty years. They use scare tactics to in order to keep you guys in check. However, now with this strength and the support of the Below you can keep the Below safe. And who knows, you might even start a revolution.
[[//Play Again?//->Hide Out]]Double-click this passage to edit it.