Chapter Six - Of Monsters and Men
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It has been over four days that have passed since the attack in the woods, and Rezzie had not been far from Nesha's side since. Ever since he brought him back home, he felt guilty for letting him get killed out there. In more ways than one, he felt more responsible for him now than ever. His parents respected his decision to stick with Nesha. And so Rezzie stood leaning against his friend's bedroom wall, looking at his hands and contemplating what has unfolded.

The official story, the one that Rezzie told under duress to the mortified household, was that Nesha was knocked out by a falling tree branch and Rezzie had to carry him back home. While they were certainly upset that he was hurt, they appreciated what Rezzie did. With no money to take Nesha to the hospital nor health insurance that would cover him, Lee's only option was to keep a close eye on his son round the clock until he wakes up.

And then there was the unofficial story. The truth.

With a swirling motion, Rezzie formed a tiny sphere of spiraling orange light in his open hands. The glow of light illuminated the room in an aurora. In a moment of desperation, he had somehow awoken powers inside of himself. He wasn't focused on testing the physical enhancements that came with it, as he was playing around with the more energy-based aspects of them. The only thing that he could go on physically was that he was now strong enough to pick up and hold a 200-pound man two feet off the ground by his face with one hand with no difficulty, and durable enough for a lead pipe to snap like a pencil against his body. Not only that, the injuries that he had sustained healed over by themselves so cleanly to the point where it was if he was never hurt at all.

For the energy abilities that he acquired, he only played around with it to see what he could do. So far he can control small amounts of this light and make either wisps or form it into an orb. He didn't dare to try and practice around anyone to avoid attracting attention to himself. So he mainly used them when he was by himself or when he knew he was absolutely safe.

Rezzie recognized some problems that came with these new developments. With these new gains, there were also drawbacks that came along with it. For starters, his hearing had become unbalanced and distorted. He could barely hear if the tone of sound was low, but when it was high it was so overwhelming to the point where it caused him immense agony. He was by no measure eager to find out how far to take this weakness.

The next was the more emotional aspects of his drawbacks. he found that some of his emotions have become more withdrawn and drowned out. Rezzie also saw that when he used his powers, his mind knew exactly what to do and his body followed through. When he was beaten and broken Randall, he felt nothing then and still felt nothing now. There was no doubt, no fear, and no uncertainty to any of his thoughts or actions.

His thoughts drifted back to that night. he recalled the voice within the black void that called out ot him. If what he experienced and what the voice said was true, then Rezzie had sacrificed Randall to bring back Nesha from the dead. he wasn't sure how he knew how to do it, only that he did. He would never forget the image of Randall being disintegrated into those fleeting sparks of light, screaming and begging for mercy. Rezzie wondered what else he had to sacrifice when he awoken his powers.

Before he could take the time to ponder on the matter, he was startled to hear Nesha's groaning as he woke from his slumber. He quickly collapsed the ball of energy in his hands into nothing, the light that illuminated from it vanished along with it. Rezzie felt that the last thing that he would want Nesha to see was him flaunting his new powers, much less him revealing that he had any at all. As much as he would hate having to do it, he would have no choice but to lie to his friend about the matter.

Nesha's eyes groggily opened, "Damn..."
"Save your strength, Nesha," Rezzie said as he placed a hand on his shoulder, "you've been out for the past couple of days now."
"Wait, what happened...?" Nesha asked, "I don't even remember how I got home..."
Rezzie sighed, internally relieved, "you got injured out in the park when we split up after the moving job," Rezzie explained as he knelled down next to the bed, "when I changed my mind and went after you, I saw you knocked out on the road under a broken tree branch. I brought you back here."
"I see," Nesha chuckled at the answer, "I bet my dad wasn't too happy about that, huh?"
"Of course not. He's been worried sick about you this whole time. You should go see him now that you're up," Rezzie rose to his feet and stepped away from the bed, "can you stand on your own, or do you need help?"
"I think I got it."

Nesha struggled to get out of bed, his movements strained and disoriented, From Rezzie's perspective, he could understand if Nesha still had some atrophy in his muscles after being asleep for two days straight. Grunting, Nesha slipped out of the covers and rose to his feet, stretching his arms out to get the stiffness out. The sound of joints popping in his harms and back could be lightly heard in their eardrums.

"Seems like you can handle things on your own from here. I'm gonna head home," Rezzie opened the door, then turned back to Nesha, "Look, Nesha, I'm glad that you're all right. Try to take better care of yourself."
"I will, Rezzie. Thanks," Nesha nodded, "you, too."

Taking a short bow, Rezzie put on his sunglasses, turned around, and promptly exited the house through the front door. As he headed down the street, he was contemplating exactly what to do. he had no odd jobs lined up for the rest of the week. He didn't have any pressing need to be home, either. Looking up at the rising sun in the sky, he realized that it was still morning and that there was plenty of time in the day left. Rezzie felt that he should take his abilities for a test drive and see what they can do.

However, his problem with that was that he had nowhere that he could train and and practice his new abilities to their fullest. Thinking for a moment of finding the right place, he remembered an abandoned, run-down temple out on the outskirts of the Capitol. While it was certainly not a safe place for people to be, none of those people had powers. Rezzie wasn't sure if it was overconfidence, but he didn't feel deterred from the idea.

As he was about to walk back home to grab his bike, a thought occurred in his mind. If his physical strength had been augmented, then maybe the same could be said about his running speed, as well. Disregarding the bike altogether, he turned down the street and took off down the road with a light jog. After every minute, he transitioned into a run as his sneakers beat against the asphalt. To his shock, he found that he was easily moving as fast as he was if he were to fully exert himself on his bike if he were going downhill on a steep slope.

While he was going down the street, a passing black sport scar slowed down equal to Rezzie's pace. The driver, hidden inside dark-tinted windows, honked the horn at Rezzie as he ran. While he certainly noticed this, he didn't feel in the mood to mess around with the driver, so he ran faster in order to speed ahead of it. The sports car sped up as well, making sure that Rezzie wouldn't be able to shake him off.

At that point, Rezzie was getting annoyed with the driver. Transitioning into a full sprint, he barreled forward and sped right past the driver. Each step he took lightly dented the concrete as his velocity kicked up residual dust and pebbles in his wake. Unfortunately for Rezzie, the vehicle was going at full throttle as it roared next to him at the same speed he was going. Looking forward, Rezzie saw an intersection coming up ahead, with their lane stopped on a red light. The traffic in front of them was bustling as dozens of vehicles were passing through the perpendicular street.

The driver of the sports car was forced to slam on the brakes as hard as possible, causing it to screech violently along the pavement, leaving thick skid marks from where the tires locked up, before stopping just in front of the crosswalk at the intersection. Rezzie, on the other hand, didn't stop like the driver did. With his eyes glowing with an orange light underneath his sunglasses, he continued sprinting up to the intersection with an idea cooking in his head.

Crouching down low, he kicked off the road into a jump with enough force to shatter the pavement beneath his shoes. Rezzie was launched several meters in to the air, over the traffic lights and across the intersection. As he looked down in order to spot his landing, he could see the flow of traffic whistling underneath his feet. The sight caught his attention for a split second as the allure of cars speeding underneath him amazed him.

As he touched back down on the other side of the intersection, the pavement cracked underneath his feet from the impact of the landing. When it was all said and done, the light in his eyes flickered away and returned the hue of his eyes back to their dark brown color. Standing upright, he looked across the intersection and locked his eyes with the sports car. He was sure that the driver of the car was bewildered at what Rezzie did.

That was when he realized his mistake. In his attempt to keep himself under the radar, he instead got caught up in the exhilaration of the moment, and wound up exposing himself with a matter of seconds. It would be one thing if it were behind closed doors, but he did it out in public for everyone to see. Rezzie felt his gut tighten a bit as he felt a mixture of panic and embarrassment come over him.

"Well, so much for discretion," Rezzie sighed to himself quietly, accepting his mistake, "I better get a move on before I screw up any further."

Deciding not to stick around a second, Rezzie tucked tail and fled from the intersection at what he knew was a normal speed for the average person. Ducking through nearby streets, he opted to weave off the main road into the more out-of-view areas of the city. After a few minutes of running, Rezzie stopped to look around if anyone in particular was eyeing him. Luckily for him, nobody was out of their houses at the moment to pay any sort of attention to him. Feeling confident that he was in the clear, Rezzie continued to make his way towards his supposed location.

After a couple hours of running, Rezzie finally reached the front entrance of the temple ruins. Normally, he would've arrived there much sooner at his pace if he had kept to the main roads and highways. However, since he didn't want to be spotted, he had to duck and weave through all of the back roads in a convoluted route to avoid attention. But what really caught Rezzie's attention was the fact that he didn't even feel the least bit tired after running almost fifteen miles nonstop without rest. On the contrary, it felt like he was more energized than when he left Nesha's house.

Deciding to get away from the outside air for a while, Rezzie opted to enter the temple ruins. At a closer look, one could tell that this place of worship was, at one point, one of the most beautiful structures in the Capitol, perhaps even in the entire world. One could imagine how full of life and faith that this temple held in its walls. But now that those days have long since passed, the stone has eroded away at the mercy of nature. The wooden furniture and pews have been sundered and devoured to pieces by termites and decay. All that was able to withstand the power of nature was the bronze statue of an angel praying to the skies above.

Rezzie was no man of faith or religion in any regard, despite knowing that the Gods exist. He has seen their mark, their history was well-documented in the history of the world. But despite that, he had an appreciation for the concept of it all; what messages it wrought, what lessons that it taught, and what hope that it brought. However, as time passed into the modern era, the world turned its back on faith, and abandoned hope. And in its place, the people chose to embrace depravity, decadence, and despair. Rezzie saw this even as a boy when he first arrived in the Capitol all those years ago. The ruined temple, in Rezzie's eyes, stood as a testament to the rejection of the light.

As the young man delved further into the temple, he noticed a group of four men huddled around one of the walls, their backs were turned to him as they were spray painting graffiti artwork all over it. Judging by the youthful appearance, their precise matching crimson and black attire - a red tank-top, black jeans with red and black sneakers - as well as the artwork of black storm clouds storming red lightning down from above, Rezzie deduced that they were part of a gang that resided among this part of the city, one that he knew nothing about. And considering their age, they were likely young upstarts trying to make a name for themselves in the Capitol.

While Rezzie shook his head and disregarded their activities, he continued towards the altar towards the bronze angel statue. However, the sound of his footsteps alerted the gang members from their artwork of his presence. The first gangster had very dark brown skin with his short, curly hair dyed a blood red color. The second gangster was a tall white man who was completely bald with scars all over his scalp. The third gangster was as dark as the first one, but was actually shorter than Rezzie while having black sunglasses covering his eyes. The fourth gangster, the one who was doing the majority of the spray painting, was a very large, muscular man with light brown skin with his long black hair braided into dreadlocks.

"Hey, who the fuck is this guy?" the first gangster asked, pointing in Rezzie's direction with a look of confusion on his face.
"Nah, man, he look like some random civvy," the third gangster shrugged, "he's young, but he looks like he's got money. Should we jump him?"
"Ehh, there's something off about him," the second gangster seemed to be more observant in comparison to the rest of his friends, "but I'll leave it up to you, boss."
"...yeah, let's get him," the fourth gangster, appearing to be their boss, declared to his gang.

While the four put down down their spray cans and approached Rezzie, the young man was none the wiser to what they were saying, despite the gang speaking out load among themselves. Staring at the angel statue, he noticed numerous details about her figure that he didn't notice at first form a distance. To start, the female angel had long, pointed ears akin to elves of fantasy novels, long hair that flowed down to her waist, a short dress that was made for mobility, and wielded a long staff with an orb on the end. On the statue's plinth, a plaque was melded into it that was covered in moss.

Wiping some of it away with the back of his hand, Rezzie carefully read the worn text as well as he could, "'In her honor we give grace to the Overseer, Lady Cermiya, the vigil guardian of the light of the world'," Rezzie read in a whisper to himself.
"Hey, kid, what'cha doin' on our turf?" Rezzie turned around to see the four gangsters now standing about fifteen feet away from him, the voice of their boss spat at him, "this belongs to the Blood Rain, you got no call being up in here."
"My bad, man," Rezzie looked back up at the statue, "it seems that I've come to the wrong place. Don't mind me, I'll be out of your hair right now."
"Oh, you'll be gettin' out of our hair, all right," the boss's subordinates pulled out pistols out from under their shirts and pointed them at Rezzie, "AFTER you hand over your wallet."

Rezzie's eyes widened in surprise as he found himself in a very compromising position. The sound of a gun being cocked would stop a person in their tracks, and Rez was no exception. While he wasn't sure about the full extent of his new superpowers, he knew about the full extent of firearms. After spending his prepubescent years around firearms in the Ancient Forest as a hunter, he was aware of how dangerous firearms could be. And now he's staring down the barrels of three pistols from some very unscrupulous men. His only option now was to cooperate and hope for the best.

"Okay, okay, I'll give it up," Rezzie pulled out his identification, put it in his pocket, and tossed the wallet over to the gangsters, "you can have the wallet and what's inside, but I'm keeping my ID."
The second gangster opened the wallet, and his face turned into one of frustration and rage, "man, what the fuck? There's only five bucks in here!"
"You think this is a joke?" the boss clenched his fists in rage at the new turn of events.
"Not really, no," Rezzie answered, ending with a nervous chuckle.
"That's it, air out this motherfucker!"
"Whoa, wait! WAIT!"

The sound of gunfire echoed through the church as the three gangsters unloaded their clips into Rezzie. The high-pitched noises coming from the weapons, combined with the terror flowing through Rezzie, caused the young man to close his eyes and scream in agony as he clutched his ears to block out the noise as best as he could. It felt so horrible that Rezzie thought his head was going to explode right then and there. By the time the gunfire had ended, Rezzie was left staggered and panting in place as he looked at the gangsters in front of him.

The gangsters were left stunned and dumbstruck after they have emptied their clips into their intended victim. Rezzie's tank top was completely shredded apart from where the bullets had hit. His shades were broken and had fell onto the floor in pieces. However, to everyone's amazement, there wasn't so much as a mark or blemish on Rezzie's body. As the gangsters dropped their weapons in shock, Rezzie went to scoop up a handful of bullets that were on the floor and examined them. He was mildly disturbed that he couldn't even feel them when they were fired at his body.

"What the hell?" Rezzie looked the bullets with confusion before turning back to the gangsters, "you tried to kill me!"
"Whoa, what the fuck!?" the second gangster stepped away, horrified, "this dude's some kind of monster!"
"Yo, I'm bouncin' out of here. Y'all are on your own!" The first gangster immediately tucked tail and ran.
"Whoa, wait for me!" the second and third gangster were following right alongside the second, leaving their boss alone in the wind.
"What the-where the fuck are y'all going? Get back here, you fuckin' pussies!" the boss screamed at his fleeing subordinates.

Before they could get halfway across the church, Rezzie's face became deadpan and void of emotion as his eyes glowed with an orange light. Clenching the bullets in his hand, he cocked his arm back and threw the bullets as hard as he could at the fleeing gangsters. While the boss, who hasn't moved an inch, ducked down instinctively, the other three were not so lucky. Each of the gangsters was perforated by the barrage of bullets as they punctured their torsos. The second and third gangster were killed instantly as their bodies crashed into the ruined pews in twisted, bloody heaps. The first, the one who was the farthest away, got clipped in his legs, causing him to tumble to the ground, screaming in pain. Being unable to run, the first gangster was forced to resort to crawling away on all fours, his mangled legs limply being drug behind him.

The gang leader rose to his feet and turned back to the sight of his crew being reduced to a bloody mess before facing Rezzie once more. The young man tore off his ruined tank top and left it on the floor along with the bullets and slowly walked towards the boss with an expressionless look on his face. Rezzie could see it in the man's eyes: doubt, confusion, the beginnings of fear. The gang leader had no doubt fought many people in his life, his physique was a testament of his strength and his experience. But not once had he ever had to fight a monster before.

"You fuck...I'll fucking kill you!" the boss growled in anger.
"Then come," Rezzie's voice came out hoarse and demonic, "fight me. Fight me and die."

The gang leader rushed at Rezzie, screaming to hype himself up, as if sound could defeat this monster where gunfire could not, and threw a wild right haymaker at Rezzie's head. The young superhuman didn't even move or dodge as the blow struck his head with no affect to him. As the blow connected, the gang leader reeled back, holding his hand and howling in pain. The fist was broken with the bones splintering through the knuckles and the back of his hand.

Before the gang leader could react further, Rezzie made his move. Surging his right arm with a glowing orange light, he rushed forward at the gang leader and unleashed a lariat at his torso. The gang leader couldn't even react in time as the lariat cleaved his body cleanly in half above the solar plexus, lopping off his right arm above the elbow, and sent his upper half of his body hurdling through the air. Similar to what he did to Randall days earlier, there was no blood, only the smell of burnt, cauterized flesh. As the upper torso hit the floor below, the gang leader managed to give a look of horror and amazement before he silently died looking at the rest of his body crumpled twenty feet in front of him.

As Rezzie extinguished the orange light emanating from his arm, he picked up his wallet off the ground and put it back in his pocket before walking over to the temple entrance to the last remaining gangster, who had just reached the archway entrance of the temple. As Rezzie reached him, he grabbed onto the gangster's leg and begn to drag him away towards the altar. As the gangster was drug along the corpses of his comrades, he tried to fight to break away, but Rezzie had a vice grip on his leg and the gangster couldn't break away free no matter how hard he tried.

"Please...please don't kill me," the first gangster began to sob as tried to aimlessly fight against Rezzie's strength.
"Oh shut the fuck up," Rezzie snarled as he dragged the gangster in front of the statue of Lady Cermiya, "at least die with some dignity."
"This isn't f-f-fair..."
"I'm sorry, did you just say 'FAIR'!?" Rezzie shouted in anger as he flung the gangster at the plinth, blood soaking the plaque, "what would you know about 'fair'? You all had no qualms about gunning me down four on one when you thought I was just some average joe! Does that sound 'fair' to you!?"
"W...what?" the gangster couldn't come up with anything to say to Rezzie's question and was left stammering.
"If you're going to try and kill me, that is your choice and yours alone. But you have to be prepared to die yourself. THAT is 'fair'," as the realization dawned on the gangster, Rezzie knew that the end was nigh as his eyes glowed with orange light, "do you understand now? YOU DESERVE THIS!"
"No, wait! NO!"

Rezzie closed his hand around the face of the gangster and started to surge the light into his body. The body of the gangster began to glow with light as it began disintegrating from being cooked alive from the inside. His eyeballs glowed with orange light as the smelled of ash and burnt blood and meat filled the air. By the time Rezzie was done, the gangster was reduced to a blackened, charred husk of a man as his torso was caved in, kicking up ashes into the air.

Rezzie looked down at the corpse as the light faded from his body. This was the second time now that he had smote another human being, this time out of his desire to take life as opposed to saving life. Looking down at his hands, he was astounded at how easy it was to commit those atrocities. What was worse that he felt absolutely nothing after doing it. Not disgust, not fear, not horror, nothing. After staring at the husk for a few more seconds, he looked up at the bronze statue of Lady Cermiya as the sunlight of high noon came through the holes of the ceiling and shone down on the statue.

"'In her honor we give grace to the Overseer, Lady Cermiya, the vigil guardian of the light of the world'," Rezzie quoted aloud, his voice echoing through the silence.

Giving a bow to the statue, Rezzie walked out through the front entrance of the temple, and exited the ruins and left it in such a state. He knew that the police weren't likely to come to such a place as violence was inherently common in the outskirts of the city, especially gun violence. Part of him wasn't sure if he even cared if he ever got caught, and that was what disturbed him the most. Blending in casually with the crowds who were completely ignorant to the events inside the temple, he made his way deeper into the city and back to his home.