A lot of people ask about what makes a genius person a true genius. And as for the answer to this question, all have their own opinions.
RING! HONK! HUSH!
"Of course, a person's own hard work is everything, Bullshit." This was the opinion of Ray Hyster, 15, and a genius himself.
"No one really cares about a genius. Everybody thinks we have an attitude, the world is at our feet and blah blah blah. No one realizes how boring life is for us." Ray was a very special individual among the pretty normal humans. Born with the ability of photographic memory, his school life never had a problem.
"Boring studies, no interesting games....." Ray walked on a normal street by the road. The world was as normal as it had ever been. 2 at the clock. The city bustled with car honks more than visible people. Bland black, white and grey colors everywhere. As if the world was depraved of its colors.
"Hey, Ray. You up for game plaza? It's Saturday, don't say no!" A friend of Ray called out to him on the other side of the street, going in the opposite direction.
"[][][][]"( I'm busy today.) Ray sign languaged him. This guy was one of many friends in his class. Typically speaking, all of his class were friends. On the surface, that is.
"Guessed so. This nerd of a genius." The guy whispered to himself.
"He must be cursing me. Guess so. After all I only accepted his invitation only once two years ago. I really wish to experience fantasy adventures like the one in Bunny eating squirrel's light novel."
Ray pondered over the story he had read a few weeks ago for quite a long time. He would imagine himself as the protagonist, do sword play, learn everything and become omniscient.
"But how does it differ anyway? Being omniscient and omnipotent is again very boring. Nothing to do except to see over my pawns. I think I get how Hilda felt."
That story could not leave Ray's minds. The words floated in his mind in full 3D thanks to his photographic memory.
"If only I could do something more entertaining. Something where real hard work matters and the desperation. That desperation hah."
"Breaking news!"
"Huh?" The news channel at the nearby T.V. store caught Ray's attention. The people started to crowd in front of it.
"The report by the commitee of the greatest scientists of the century has just come out. The groundbreaking change in weather and climate across the globe has finally received its answer in this report." The news reporter shouted at her voice. Her expression and tone sounded like that of a soldier out on a battle.
"Really, these news reporters never learn. Their channel has become entertainment channels for the public. Everything for the TRP, huh?"
"The report states the sudden appearance of a mysterious energy around the entire Earth. Perhaps, it's some kind of a signal."
"There they go again." Ray escaped form the crowd of the people and resumed his way to home.
"This mysterious energy has been present since last one week...." The sound from the news kept diminishing. The crowd started to name it as the End of the World.
"Just look at their bravery. Openly spreading wrong and over exaggerated information."
"Hah!" Ray sighed.
" Looking at the hopeless people who do nothing but put all their faith into that one being that might not even exist."
"Even if it does, the connection is one way. Only our prayers reach them, but their voice doesn't." Ray was fed up of his monotonous life and people. People naming coincidences as the miracle of God is something that he heard of everyday.
"What's happen-"
"Where did he go just no-"
"Hey-"
"Oi-"
"H-"
The sudden change in atmosphere caught Ray's attention. A few cars nearby crashed, some peoples whispers silenced midway.
"What's happening now?" Ray turned around only to see people disapperaing into midair, their movement as if being sucked into the sky above.
"Wha-" Ray disappeared too.
~~15 years later~~
The evening sky, once painted in hues of crimson and gold, now lay in ruin- torn apart by a gaping wound of darkness. A river of shifting, otherworldly essence coursed through the rift, its waters defying reality itself.
"Insatiable."
From this abyssal cascade, a figure descended- neither falling nor floating, but simply existing in a way that the mortal mind could barely comprehend.
"Human greed knows no bounds," this said figure, molded after the shape of a human male emitted divine energy, Orvasis. The immense pressure from him far exceeded any other, the beings of Eldorra had ever experienced. Unfortunately, none were alive by then. "and in doing so, they drag everything around them into the mess they've created."
The vast pile of corpses lay beneath the foothold of this Godly figure. Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Giants and Dragons all alike. The blood drenched land depicted a darker shade of the crimson sky. And the sky continued to be consumed into darkness.
STOMP!
"!!!" A sword aimed at Orvasis broke midair after coming into contact with his aura.
"So there's still one alive....and a human at that." Orvasis moved himself to face the human. His expression changed immediately after his eyes fell on the human.
"Y..You," Orvasis looked at Ray.
"God's really existed?....hahahaha..turns out I was the fool all the while. Even so, did the people's prayers didn't suffice-"
THUMP! THUMP!
Ray's heart pounded against his chest, not from fear. As if the earlier pressure wasn't enough, the pressure after Orvasis closed distance with Ray made him suffocate. The pain of his insides being torn apart was excruciating. "Hahahha..."
Orvasis noticed the strange familiar energy coming from Ray.
BLEGGHHH!
"Why is this shitty bastard laughing now?"
Ray spurted blood everywhere. Blood dripped off of his eyes and nose.
"That bitch, she had it all planned before her death, huh." Orvasis laughed loudly. The shock waves from his laugh teared Ray's ear drums over and over.
THUMP! THUMP!
"This wasn't the kind of adventure I wished for. Sigh*...When did everything start to go wrong?" Ray asked himself barely tugging on to his diminishing life.
In the year 2015, the whole of the population on earth mysteriously disappeared. Instead, only a tiny percentage of them were teleported into another world along with other mystical species. This world was later found to be called as Eldorra, a world where a species called Neohumans once lived and only their achievements which they built over decades lies here.
"Hahahahaha" Orvasis's laugh slowly changed its tone eventually coming to a standstill with seriousness. "If only your species hadn't involved them into all those messes and instead focused on their own development, my plan would have been successful and you all wouldn't have to face such a pathetic death.
"Just looking at his silent laughing face pisses me off." Ray couldn't hear anything and understood nothing. He looked back at his miserable life.
"Really, having a photographic memory can be such a big pain in the ass." Ray's ability almost became a curse for him. While his photographic memory helped him greatly on earth with his studies, this unique ability became an execrate for him on Eldorra. Replaying the deaths of his loved ones again and again was no less than a torture.
"This damn Orvasis. If only I was strong enough, I would beat him over and over. Did I go too far? If I just had some talent for magic, I swear I wouldn't have lived such a miserable life."
".....ou." Ray could barely open his mouth to speak.
"Huh? Did you say something?" Ray's soft whisper couldn't get through Orvasis clearly.
"FUCK YOU!"
"..."
"..." Ray's anger was dedicated not only at Orvasis but towards the world as well. He had no worries now.
That's right. Ray had no worries left with him at all for all of them had already perished. From his lover who showed him the beauty of the world after being abandoned by it, to his master who showered him with a new path to walk.
"Just when I decided to follow the path my master showed me, this Godly piece of shit appeared and destroyed everything."
"Hahahahahahahah, you even have the same annoying and bold tongue as her," Orvasis was once again reminded of his ugly past. His initial funny calmness now turned into rage. "I know right, I will absorb you too."
SLAM! CRASH!
Orvasis threw Ray with immense force. Ray grazed against the ground facing an almost fatal impact on his body and lost throughout.
"..." Rays arms and legs burst open. His eyes devoid of color.
"Hahahah...looks like he's gone mad."
THUMP! THUMP!
His heart beat fell at an alarming rate.
"Is this the scene before dying? Sorry for being a coward through and through, Master and Irene." Ray's mind flashbacked on all of the memories of his life recorded as a video tape in his mind.
GRABB!
"HAHAHAHHAH, I love to see eyes filled with despair." Orvasis mistook lifelessness of Ray as despair. He took hold of Ray by his neck with a large hand made of divine energy.
THUMP!
"Krgh!!" It felt as if Ray was leaving his own body. Specks of light flowed towards his neck from all over his body and finally collected into a concentrated ball of energy-his soul was being extracted by Orvasis.
"Now, let's become one."
"What's this bastard planning? Looking at his laugh, is he a pervert?"
Even though Ray's surface thoughts sounded calm and regretful, he was burning deep inside with rage and guilt. Not being talented enough? Not getting a chance? Being restricted by his conditions? THOSE WERE ALL EXCUSES.
[ NOTIFICATION
**THE FRAGMENT OF ??? HAS HEARD THE DESPERATION OF RAY HYSTER.]
A voice echoed through Ray's mind.
"It was quiet until a moment ago. What's this sound now?"
[ NOTIFICATION
THE FRAGMENT OF ??? IS PROTECTING RAY HYSTER'S SOUL.]
The same voice echoed through Ray's mind once again.
"Huh?...No, not again...." Orvasis sensed the change inside Ray. Orvasis tried to speed up but failed. The soul extraction reverted with Ray's soul going back inside him.
"What's happening? Wasn't I going to die at this pervert's hands?"
SHIIIINNNGGGG!
A bright white light, almost blinding emerged from within Ray. It enveloped and engulfed everything around it.
"NOOOOOOYOUBASTAR-" Orvasis cried desperately filled with rage more than ever.
. . . . . . . . .
"...."
A space devoid of everything, shrouded only in darkness. It was deafening quiet and eerie. In such a place floated Ray's body.
"Where is this? Is this afterlife? Did I die?"
Ray was reminded of everything that happened with him and the mysterious light at the end.
[ NOTIFICATION!
THE FRAGMENT OF ??? HAS DECIDED TO CHOOSE RAY HYSTER AS THE 'PLAYER'. WILL YOU ACCEPT?
YES/NO?]
A familiar voice echoed through Ray's ears, no, rather his mind. He couldn't move anything on his body nor did he feel anything. He didn't know what was happening with him. As people said, Ray had believed this place to be the afterlife.
"Is this not the afterlife? And what does it mean by player?"
Ray caught himself in a number of questions. Though his instincts, seasoned over numerous life and death situations, told him to be safe, Ray was told not to accept anything which was suspicious.
[ NOTIFICATION
LACK OF RESPONSE DETECTED. THE SYSTEM WILL FORCEFULLY CHOOSE RAY HYSTER AS THE 'PLAYER'.]
"EH?"
[ NOTIFICATION
CONGRATULATIONS, YOU'VE BEEN CHOSEN AS THE 'PLAYER'.]
[ NOTIFICATION
YOU HAVE GAINED THE WORLD'S APPROVAL.]
[ NOTIFICATION
YOU HAVE GAINED THE AUTHORITY TO 'REGRESS'. YOU WILL BE FORCEFULLY REGRESSED.]
"What is all this now? And Regress...is this what I think it is?"
Ray was dumbfounded. He had absolutely no idea of what was happening with him. Though, 'regress' caught his attention, it was overshadowed by the sudden pull he started to experience.
[ NOTIFICATION
COMMENCING REGRESSION...]
SWIRR!
"Fuck! Something's sucking me. Whatever is going on, it's very rudeeeeee!!"
A white hole appeared in this space shrouded in darkness. And Ray was being pulled in it.
Its force gradually increased until it sucked in Ray wholly.
[ NOTIFICATION
THE PLAYER RAY HYSTER HAS SUCCESSFULLY REGRESSED. GOOD LUCK ON YOUR ADVENTURE.]
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