New World, New Food Chain

The eyes of one Alex Mercer opened only to see the canopy of a forest, his 'body' ached begging to be treated. Despite the demands of his body he stood up, he tried to recollect what happened hours ago but nothing came out of his mind, all he remembered was a bright light then he was lying down on the ground.

"Remembering what happened can wait, what I need right now is information on where I am," he thought.

Redirecting most of the virus on his ears he listened to the nearest sounds of population. After a few minutes of waiting he finally heard a soft sound of horseshoes striking on the ground, using his superhuman senses he discovered the direction of the horse. He sprinted.

It wasn't long until he reached his target, unfortunately though when he reached his destination he only spotted something peculiar; it was huge, bigger than any infected he had seen in the streets of New York City, it had six legs and a large thorax, when it realized It was being watched it turned around and spotted Alex, it had unusual mandibles that folded inwards unlike that of an ant where its mandibles were like pincers, its six eye balls focused on the hooded virus and presumed it as prey.

It was about to find out who the real predator was.

It charged while Alex seemed content to stay still, when the giant bug was mere meters from him did he make his move, with a sudden burst of speed he launched himself towards said bug, he lifted a fist and socked it right as the mandibles opened, the mandibles were easily torn off from the bug's jaw, it gave a loud cry of pain only for it to be cut when three steel-like claws penetrated it from beneath its face. It didn't take long for the bug to die but Mercer wanted some biomass so he started to consume the bug.

Black and crimson tendrils extended from his back as it engulfed the bug fully, the size of the engulfment slowly shrank and after mere seconds the tendrils retracted back, where the giant bug was no more as it became part of the virus known as Alex Mercer. He was about to leave when a new sound graced his ears. Turning around he saw the source, the food of the bug was still breathing, it didn't take a doctor to know that the man was already dead but still trying to live, unfortunately one cannot simply live when their lower body was torn from them.

Alex didn't pity the man, after all he wasn't strong enough to defend himself so it was to be expected – in a food chain only the strongest live and Alex was confident that he was on the peak of it. He was about to leave when a thought crossed his mind, he needed information and the half of a man behind him could give it to him. With a new-found purpose he approached the man and prepared to listen to his last words, while meaningless he can always tell the nature of a person when Death's finally knocking on their door.

"T-take…my…riches…they're yours…now…" he said weakly.

"What's your name?' he asked.

"Fa-Fadore… Ansvheil,"

While the name is unusual he didn't judge, deciding that now was the time he gently grabbed the man's head with both of his hands and consumed the man.

Alex looked out of the window of the inn he had been using for the past six months. After consuming Fardore Ansvheil did he finally realize where he was, he really couldn't believe it but he had to come to terms that he was in a new world now. A world that's underdeveloped to a factor of ten and the existence of magic.

Magic

Back in his world, magic was nothing but a hoax, an illusion that tricked the eye making you believe the impossible is possible, in this world though it was real, how did he know? Fardore Ansvheil was apparently adept in the arts of magic, after consuming him he too learned the basics of magic but he didn't find the time to practice it, after all he was already powerful that much he can admit. While adding some magic in his arsenal could prove useful there was one thing he required: a wand. It was why today was the day that he would be looking for a shop that sells his wants using the money that Fardore Ansvheil had on his person.

Aside from magic he also obtained more knowledge of the new world and one thing piqued his interest: The Silhouette Knights. From the information he gathered by consuming the burglars that lurk the streets in the middle of the night, these Knights were some kind of military that defends the kingdom of Fremmevilla, said country is where he's residing currently, from the creatures everyone calls "demon beasts".

He has seen some of these creatures and maybe he would give them some merit. Then again, the infection that spread through New York was more dangerous than these demon beasts, hell even Blackwatch couldn't even contain Redlight, the only way managed to even dent the infection was dropping a nuclear ordinance on the city. Even then it still continued to spread. He was really fortunate he survived that nuclear explosion.

He walked out of his room and down the lobby, he spotted the receptionist and greeted her with a short nod, she smiled back and gave a sweet 'good morning'. He stepped out of the inn and walked down the street in hopes to find a shop that was selling wands.

After a gruelling seven hours of finding a shop that sells the cursed stick he finally bought one and was half tempted to snap the piece of twig in two just to spite it. Looking up he could already see the moon reach its peak, retracing back his steps to his inn he started to lose himself in his thoughts.

After walking for a few minutes, he heard screams not far from where he was. Assuming it was another burglar he followed the voice, it appeared that those voices that he was hearing were children. His walking turned to a jog as he hurried. Turning from another corner the voices were now loud that he didn't need superhuman senses to hear it. Rounding in an alleyway he finally reached his destination.

A bulky man was carrying a young girl with black hair on his shoulder while dragging a young boy with the same hair colour by the hair down the alley. The you boy seemed to be struggling as he tried to force the man's hand to open yet with no good yield.

"Hey," said loud enough.

The man stopped and turned around to look at Alex. He gave a menacing grin as he dropped the girl and threw the young boy on the side of the wall of a building.

"Well, look what we have here… trying to play hero eh?" he said as he slowly pulled out a knife.

He slowly approached the man when he suddenly heard three more footsteps behind him. He gave an internal sigh at the stupid cliché that he pulled himself in. Using his senses, he evaluated the men behind him, while these four won't be able to do any harm to him, he still wanted to keep his abilities in check as he doesn't want some crazy rumour circulating about him. He demanded for the man to let the children go only for the four to laugh at him.

"How about this kid… why don't you try and take them," he said.

"Suit yourself," Alex said.

They stood there for a few more seconds before one of the three behind him charged at him. One tried to punch him only for Mercer to dodge the attack with a sidestep, he countered by kneeing the man's stomach hard enough for him to be put on his knees. Two and Three attacked together, one of them unsheathed their sword while the other pulled out two daggers. Two went for a decapitation attack while Three jumped up with the knives ready to plunge deep into the virus.

Alex jumped forward dodging the swords and perfectly timed a high kick right at Three's head. Three dropped like a sack while Two pressed his attack with a stab, he sidestepped it only to feel something stab from his back.

"Ha, nice try hero! Unfortunately, we bad guys win," he bulky man said as he twisted the knife inside him. At the same time the sword carrier stabbed this weapon and penetrated through his being.

Both men tried to pull their weapons out of him, only to find out that they're stuck on Mercer. The cocky attitude turned to confusion as they tried again only to yield the same result.

"You're wasting my time," Alex said.

He grabbed the bulky man by the front of his face and began to lift him up as if he was a feather. Said man tried to free himself by pulling the hand away from his face. Mercer's face turned to a scowl, it was then and there he decided that enough was enough. After all, playing with your food is bad table manners.

Using his super strength, he crushed the man's head like a pulp. Two reeled back at what happened only for Alex to suddenly appear in front of his face. His hands shifted to his claws, Two's eyes widened in fear when he finally realized how badly he screwed but he didn't have time to apologize to him when Alex suddenly grabbed his throat with a free hand and sliced his lowed body in half. His intestines fell to the ground as the man became limp. The one he kneed was crawling away from him hoping to escape unseen.

Alex casually walked to the crawler. He raised a foot and stomped, the sound of the spine breaking reverberated in the alley while the man gave loud shriek. Alex silenced this by shoving the claws from the back of his head. Finally, he killed the unconscious kidnapper with a simple neck break.

He breathed in and out, this repetition calmed him down. After finally calming down he unleashed his tendrils and began consuming the corpses. The sound of something falling made itself know to the virus' ears. He turned to find the two victims attempting to escape him. The girl had a look of fear as their eyes met. The young boy stepped in front of the girl with open arms in an attempt to use himself as a shield. Once the final bodies merged with him he approached the children.

"S-stay back monster!" he said with his trembling voice.

Frankly Mercer could careless about these children but for some reason he couldn't and he intended to find out why. His hand wrapped itself on the boy's throat as he lifted him up.

"No! Please let Kid go!" The girl said.

He looked at the girl with cold eyes, she flinched under his gaze. Just as she was recomposing herself Alex's other hand wrapped on her throat too. The two tried to free themselves but to know avail, Tendrils sprouted from his back doubling their efforts to free themselves. The tendrils gently touched their foreheads then emitted a pulse that they didn't feel but Alex could.

He was faked a shock then he purposefully dropped both siblings. The pulse's objective was to find scan the human body and see if their genes were compatible with Blacklight, after all it's a new world, he was curious about whether Blacklight can be spread; he was glad because these twins are "compatible". With this revelation he had a new objective: gain allies. These two would pull him back for a while but with proper training they would be a great help. The only problem would be convincing these two to join his side.

"You're both like me…" Alex lied.

"W-what?" the one named Kid said.

"You're both like me… a virus…"

"That's impossible! We'll never be a monster like you!" Kid said standing up and took a defiant pose.

Alex frowned this isn't how he wanted this conversation to continue. He needed them to side with him, a more hands down convincing is required. He shifted his arms into claws which made the twins reel back.

"Yes, you are… I can tell why but not here, go to the Grand Inn near the centre of this town and I'll explain it there," Alex said before jumping upwards to reach the roof and leaving the twins to their devices.

The twins could only look up with interest and fear as the monster disappeared. Adeltrud and Archid fell to their knees as they both gave a sigh of relief.

"W-what was that about? "You're like me?"' Adeltrud asked her twin.

"I don't know… for now lets just keep running before someone comes here,"

The receptionist of the Great Inn gave off a bored sigh, nothing seems to be happening currently. While business wise it's bad she didn't care. She wasn't paid to care anyways. The sun had reached its peak and right now it's the hottest time of the year. In her mind she started to go on a tangent on why the uniform must be so tight and other things that are currently bothering her.

"U-um, excuse me?"

Her thoughts were grinded to a halt when two young kids were standing in front of the counter. Setting up her practiced smile she greeted the kids. She asked about the reason why they're in the Inn.

"We wanted to talk to a man… he said that he would tell us about something important," she said shyly.

The receptionist gave a nod, "And may you describe this man?"

"Um… he wore some kind of black vest and a weird symbol on the back of his clothes,"

"I believe I know who you are talking about,"

This time it was the boy's turn to speak, "Can you take us to him?"

"I'd be glad to,"

The three left the lobby and went to the desired room, she gave three knocks. When no one responded the receptionist did it again only for the door to be swung open. Alex Mercer looked at the receptionist and the two children he wanted to meet.

"You're here. Good, I'll take them from your hands," He said politely.

The receptionist gave a light bow before leaving Alex with the twins. He gestures for them to on the bed to which they complied. Alex stood behind the window that was adjacent to the bed. The room was silent for a moment before Archid spoke.

"Um… thank you for saving us last night," he said while he dipped his head in embarrassment.

"Think nothing of it, if you have some questions now it the time to ask them before we go on the real thing,"

"Before that would mind telling us your name? You never told us last night," Adeltrud said.

Alex spoke, first he gave his name then began to tell them what he is. He didn't know why he did this. Why was he spilling his entire backstory to a bunch of kids? He told them who he was before he became Blacklight, how he became the virus and how he tore through an entire city just to search for one man. Of course, he wasn't dumb he had already altered the story to make it fit in this world that he came to. Eventually the story ended and by then the sun was already setting.

"How can we tell that we are like you?" Archid asked.

"Remember those tendrils that touched you?"

They nodded.

"They gave out a pulse that went through your whole body, it told me everything. That's how I know,"

"If were like you then why can't we use our powers?"

"Because they're not activated yet,"

"Activated?" Adeltrud asked.

"In order to activate the Blacklight that's residing inside you, you would need a large amount of stimulation,"

"What kind of stimulation,"

"Anything, pleasure, fear, anger, pain. I unlocked mine when a knight stabbed through me,"

Of course, Alex was lying this whole time, in truth the kids were never "compatible" to begin with, Blacklight can infect whatever it wants. What matters is if the body would accept the virus. If it accepts them then they too would turn like him but if it didn't then they become an infected.

"Could you unlock our Blacklight for us?" Adeltrud asked.

"Why? It's a burden,"

"Last night we were unable to do anything, with Blacklight we can protect each other!" Archid said.

"The process would be painful you know," he said bluntly.

"If Blacklight could help us survive impalement then it's a small price to pay," they both said together in unison.

Alex pretended to think about it. "Fine, but you'll need me to help you get used to it once the virus settles in your body,"

He talked them through the process of "activating" their Blacklight. He told them they need to be calm and whatever they feel should be normal as the virus is taking its time "activating". Finally, they started. Alex shifted his finger to a small knife which he's going to use to cut a small section of the arm, after that he would use a small tendril to inject the virus in them. After that it's all up to them.

The entire procedure went off without a hitch and the virus settled nicely in the twins. Right now, both of them are laying on the bed asleep, every now and then a tendril would show itself on their backs but the interval was far in between.

With this Alex will now have to train them on how to become apex predators.

I hope you guys liked this one. Its just a small thing that came in my mind. Please do note that I haven't played [Prototype] yet but I have played the sequel. Most of the time I'll be using my knowledge on the second game so please don't be mad at me. Aside from that please tell me your opinion about this chapter as I would really like to make this into a series. All I really need is your support. I guess that's all there is to say, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter!

Peace~