Epoch of Desolation

The silence was deafening.

Rain felt like a lot of time had passed, still he was yet to hear any crash or thuds—or even growls.

Was the Jaguar yet to break out?

He couldn’t believe that was the case, and as such was getting somewhat fearful that it might have already escaped in some other way. Maybe it was even stealthily finding its way towards him at this very moment with that mutated wits it had been given.

There was also the unease he had been tainted with, one which stemmed from the possibility of many of such similar beasts also residing in the hospital, and their attention being drawn by all the prior noise he had made during his escape from his initial location.

Who knew, possibly those ones were sniffing him out as well—all mutated?

A shiver coursed through Rain’s body. He couldn’t fathom taking several of them on.

Only one was already forcing him to stress his weak body and use all of his brain power, he did not want to consider what a whole pack of them would cause.

Rain wrapped his arms around his stomach, the fluttery, empty feeling there made him nauseous. He looked down at it, unable to see it but able to picture it. Flesh caved in so much that the ribs above it were almost like a large triangular crown. It would have been a blue sight, he thought.

His arms tightened around his stomach as the questions wandering into his head intensified.

What’s even up with my situation? How come I’m all alone in a dark and empty hospital? He breathed out a soft sigh. And how come a Jaguar is in here with me?

Rain wanted to scratch his head in frustration, but he was too tired to even do that. He kept asking himself the same questions over and over again. It was getting quite annoying, or rather…

Not knowing anything… that is what is annoying. It’s dark and painful. It feels like I’m stuck in a small container—a container I can’t escape from. He gritted his teeth. What in the world is going on, with my surroundings, and with me? How did I live before now? What was I doing before now? Having to search for these answers—Why do I have to search for what used to be mine?

From putting two and two together, the situation, the messages he had seen, Rain was a hundred percent sure that what was transpiring currently wasn’t the norm. His humane instinct told him that it wasn’t the norm.

Perilously journeying through a dark hallway alone while looking over his shoulders to avoid being attacked from behind; stumbling occasionally; hitting his toes against metals and boxes; being randomly startled senseless whenever he saw an unusual lot of golden-yellow eyes appearing in the dark for a second—of course they hadn’t been real, but the jump scare came nonetheless; how could any of that have been the norm?

It wasn’t pretty, that much was obvious. The near death scenario he was in wasn’t pretty.

Could he really survive?

All of a sudden, Rain’s ears cried out in pain. He’d slapped both his cheeks.

Wake up! He shouted at himself. There was no could. He had to.

Although, the more time passed as he sat in silence, the more his courage and confidence in surviving faltered.

The silence was finally getting to his head now—almost.

He could not let that happen, so he decided to quickly calm his raging heart and mind by shifting his focus onto something else. And what better than the mysterious pulsing light that could possibly have a bit of answers to what the hell was going on?

Besides, when danger was nigh he would know. After all, he had devised a makeshift alarm mechanism. It was a rather simple one, not perfect in any way, but it should work—he hoped. He was not a hundred percent sure.

What Rain had done was strip himself naked to place his patient gown discreetly on the cushion of the lounge he had arrived at through his voyage. His intention was for the Jaguar to be attracted to that location because of his smell, and then, whether it snuck upon his gown or pounced on it, the fire extinguisher he had set in place would be knocked down to the floor, alerting him.

But again, that Jaguar’s wits was apparently mutated—enhanced. Would such a simple trick work? It was not like his patient’s gown took away the scent that was on his own body. The Jaguar would definitely notice the scent coming from two different positions, and, obviously, the one coming from his body would be the stronger one. It would be able to discern which was the decoy that way.

The only alternative Rain had was to mask his body’s scent by using something stronger. But where was he to get something of such a caliber?

Rain sighed as he sent a hand toward the other fire extinguisher he had kept to protect himself. This was all he could depend on now.

He was cradled under a reception desk, but it felt as though he was seated naked in the center of the hallway for him to be found out by those hunting amber eyes he could not get out of his head.

Well, he actually was naked, seated on a dirty marble floor without any piece of fabric over his buttocks to boot. But that was hardly the point. The point was that being alone made him feel… unsafe.

The silence grew loud once again as his thoughts died down, and then Rain wished for the indistinct pulsing blue and purple light in his peripheral vision to once again take center stage.

The light obeyed without delay, and recognizable words reappeared.

[Side Plot]

A Mutated Jaguar has appeared, and it holds animosity towards you. Survive.

Oh, I will, Rain uttered in his head. I will. Then he thought of the first words which had appeared after he’d awoken, making it clear to the current ones before his eyes that he did not wish for their company anymore.

Unlike before, they heeded, shifting ethereally into new but familiar words.

[Side Character Rain Leclair, a Division is yet to be selected]...

[Proceed to select Division?]...

Proceed… Rain answered the question he had been asked with a drop of his shoulders, and a different set of words manifested.

Sure, he was ignorant of what was going on so on the outside it would not seem like a good idea to play along, but that ignorance of his was all the more reason for him to do just that.

Fighting against the reality of his situation would not grant him answers, exploring it would.

[Divisions available for Side Character Rain Leclair as a Lightweight]:

[Elementalist Division]: The elements of the world are all controllable, but that depends on if you want to hold their reins.

[Rogue Division]: Stealth and trickery entices you, a world where you are no longer the prey but the predator. Such a world exists, and it awaits you.

[Saint Division]: Extravagance is rarely your forte, but perfection is. A fighter you believe you are? Then skills fit for such are yours for the taking.

[Make your choice Side Character Rain Leclair]...

That was easy for whatever was the source of the words to say, but for Rain it wasn’t.

His gut was telling him that the choice would be irreversible once he’d made it, sticking with him all through the rest of his life.

He didn’t know what the pulsing light was, or where it had come from, but what he did know, and was pretty much obvious, was that it was a part of him now. And since that was the case, he was not willing to make any wrong decisions that would come around to bite him in his currently naked behind.

Rain carefully pored over each word in his sight again and again and again.

If what he was reading was not some sort of jape, then when he chose a Division he would be granted some type of ability that was related to it. Again, like a game.

Rain’s breath shook as he realized something.

He would be granted an ability? Then he might be able to finally stand a chance against the Jaguar. His survival wouldn’t be so far fetched any longer.

Every Division seems to have a perk I would not want to let go though. Why do they all look so good and beneficial in their own ways?

Rain was torn. So he decided to read through them one last time, but with a different outlook: Which would be of the most use to him at this moment and in the long run no matter what situation he found himself in?

The Elementalist Division offered abilities based on each of the elements of the world, Rain figured. He had an inkling that those elements meant the likes of fire, water, air, and earth, maybe even more.

Being able to take control of such things didn’t sound so bad; the problem lay in ‘how?’

Would it be wise of him to risk it? Was he going to be able to wield all the elements or just one? Should he just go ahead and select the Division then slowly figure out how to make use of the powers of the element or elements he would be offered? Was he even blessed with such a liberty? And also, how dangerous would it be to be able to control things such as that? Surely, there was no way he would be granted powers without there being some sort of risk to them, right?

The questions were too great. And when he thought about the potential hazards that could arise from tampering with something like fire, Rain shuddered rather erratically—almost as though he had been spooked. It was like a casket was suddenly opened up and an overwhelming plague of nightmares were released from it into his mind.

He was instantly displeased with the notion of controlling fire.

At that moment, the Elementalist Division had some sort of repulsive feel to it. Rain shifted his attention away from it.

As for the Rogue Division, it almost felt like it had been specially crafted for him due to his situation. If he had stealth and trickery he could go head to head with the Jaguar that was supposedly hunting him, perhaps even defeat it at its own game.

But… that was a big perhaps.

This Division seemed like it was solely focused on the art of stealth, therefore, if it was impossible to sneak up on someone or something then it was practically useless. At least that was what he’d gotten from the Division’s definition. It might not be so, but he could not risk confirming that. He needed to be sure to make a choice. And in that regard, his gut was not leaning towards this Division.

That left him with the last of his options. The Saint Division.

‘Extravagance is rarely your forte, but perfection is. A fighter you believe you are? Then skills fit for such are yours for the taking’.

Rain was drawn to the words before his eyes far quicker than when he had been reading through the previous two, even during his previous read-throughs.

Being a fighter meant a person was potent in the skills of attacking and defending, right? Then considering the little knowledge he had of what had happened to the world and what dangers might be lurking within it, wouldn’t this be the perfect Division for him to select?

It did not seem to have the risk of the Elementalist Division, and it was not single-faced like the Rogue Division.

A fighter would be able to defend and protect themself far better than an Elementalist and a Rogue, since that was their whole forte—going by what he understood from the words before his eyes—and the skills to do such was what he needed the most. If picking this Division would grant him that, then he saw no reason to hesitate, besides the fact that fighters excelled in close range battles; in other words, he would be butting heads with danger quite often in order to damage his opponents.

Well, it’s not like keeping myself far away from danger would change anything much if that danger keeps coming after me, right? I’d rather be able to defend myself in close range, than be unable to at a distance.

Rain closed his eyes, took in a deep breath, and heaved out an exhale.

He’d thought it through. This had to be his best choice—it had to.

His eyes opened, and they were placed on the last Division on the listing.

Saint Division…