Death Won't Stop Me

What a weird feeling.

Beads of sweat were continuously forming and falling from Jon's forehead as he recalled that frightening feeling of thousands upon thousands of needles pricking him all at the same time.

"It didn't feel like a dream." He said as he raised both his hands and formed fists as he looked at them. For some reason, he felt like his grip was a little stronger than what it normally is.

After musing for a bit, he stood up from the bed and went to the fridge. He took one can of soda and went to his bathroom. He held it forward and positioned it with the tub right underneath. He then tried to gently squeeze the can. To his dismay, nothing happened as he looked dumbly at the can for a while.

"Heh.. Figures. Who am I kidding anyway? It's not like I could suddenly grow stronger after a dream." He disappointedly said. But then, his eyes suddenly lit up as he thought of something and he held the can forward again but now, he held it with both hands. This time, he put in more force as he squeezed the can. The can blew up in front of him with the soda inside splashing everywhere in the bathroom. Even he was wet all over with the soda.

"I did get stronger! Not as much as I thought, but I really did!" He shouted in his mind as his eyes were quaking with joy from what he found out.

"Now what was that dream? It felt so real, I keep feeling that it's not as simple as it seems." He pondered to himself. 

"Is it one of those things where it only happens when I sleep?" Amidst his musings, he turned his head to the mirror and saw his face was dripping wet. "Oh, right! Better take a bath before anything else."

***

In one of the tall skyscrapers in the middle of the city, standing on the rooftop while overlooking the city, manager Kent was looking at the buzzing people everywhere in the city with his hands on his pockets and one foot on the ledge of the rooftop. To his side was Ana sitting near the ledge with her head buried in between her knees.

"Hah.." Kent sighed heavily as he broke the silence. "I can't believe that guy evolved to level two. A strong level two at that. I can't personally get involved on this mission. I'm sorry sis. I can only cover for you, but you have to finish this quickly. You have two years, three at most. Any more and the higher ups will notice."

"Thank you big brother." Ana said while looking depressed.

"Don't be sad. I've managed to pull some strings and got you some useful things." A backpack suddenly materialized in his hand as he reached it out to Ana.

"There's a containment bottle for level ten and below, an energy reader, traction shoes, enhancer gloves and a few bottles of spiritual liquids." Kent explained as Ana received the bag.

"Spiritual liquid!" Ana was shocked. 

In the deepest part of the spirit world, there is a huge lake managed by level eight managers and up. That lake is a concentration of spiritual liquids. Spiritual liquids are another type of naturally formed spiritual energy. When consumed, a mouthful would give the same amount of energy as a month's worth of manual absorption. They are formed in the deepest part of the spirit world where the spiritual energy are abundant. They normally manifests as a dew in the air and accumulates more energy as time passes by. When a dew absorbs enough and grows into droplets, they fall by themselves into the lake like rain. But the downside is that, its manifestation takes up to ten years which makes the spiritual liquid very valuable. It is usually only bestowed to guides as rewards for large contributions or from completing hard missions.

And inside the bag were no less than seven bottles! This was enough to get to level four or five within a few months at least. Her big brother really dotes on her. She knows it's not as simple as pulling a few strings to get this much spirit liquid. There is a chance that her big brother might be in trouble when he gets back.

"It's not what you think. I traded a lot of contribution points for the liquid, the other goodies I got from cashing in some favors owed to me. So relax!" Kent laughingly explained to her as if he knows what she was thinking.

"But still.. Those points was from working for a really long time big brother. I don't feel right taking these." She tried to return the bottles.

"Just use them Ana. Repay me by proving those old farts up there that you're not a pity case. That you're the better talent in this family." Kent seriously said, looking at Ana lovingly.

"I won't be able to see you this next few years. Take good care of yourself, Ana. I wish for your success." He added as he turned around and waved to her as he was walking towards the door of the rooftop.

She was really touched as she was looking at her big brother's broad back. She felt a warm current in her heart as tears formed on the corners of her eyes. She knows it's gonna be hard on her big brother because of the things he gave her. Determination flashed in her eyes as she wiped the forming tears and shouted to her brother : "Stop trying to act cool! Girls don't fall for that anymore!"

Kent suddenly tripped when he was near the door. He turned to her and shouted back : "You!.. Do your job properly this time!"

"Heh." She laughed a little as she stuck out her tongue towards her brother.

Kent stormed out towards the door, but as he went in, a satisfied smile formed on his face.

***

The high noon sun's bright rays were lighting inside Jon's apartment as he was sitting on his bed in a meditating position while closing his eyes. He learned earlier that the dream last night really wasn't a dream at all. He learned that if he concentrates, his vision returns to the same one as last night. He could see inside his body, the seed, the vortex and the vague shadow swimming inside the seed.

At this time he was controlling his seed's speed to the point where the energies he absorbs don't go over the limit to what his pores could handle. It took him a few hours to get it right, nearly passing out from the pain his trials made. He also learned that from the white energies that the vortex spits out to his seed, ninety percent of it were siphoned by the shadow inside leaving only the rest for his seed's nourishment.

He was curious and at the same time, afraid of what might be inside his body. His curiosity was towards why would another living entity be inside his seed. But he was afraid of when or if it gets out, what would happen to him?

But he felt that it was a little ways off from happening, he decided to put it in the back of his mind for now. He decided to just go with the flow for now and continue absorbing energies from around him.

When he felt that it was enough for now, he decided to go out looking for a job again since now there won't be any hindrances in his interviews in case he was received by a woman again. As he opened his eyes, he was shocked to see that the bright sun hanging in the sky when he started was already replaced by the moonlight shining from his window.

"What the?!" He looked at the time as he saw that had been meditating for almost eight hours and he has wasted a day. His shock hasn't even subsided yet when he felt an intense grumbling sensation on his stomach.

"Considering I only ate breakfast before I started, a hot meal is way past my due." He laughingly said to himself as he got up from the bed and went out for food.

***

"Three people were found today inside an abandoned factory near Blue city in a comatose state. The authorities are baffled on what could have caused this as it was determined that all three lost consciousness within the same hour at least. Back to you..."

"In other news.."

Jon's attention was aroused by the news that was being aired on the tv as he was eating inside a restaurant.

"That's probably that ghost." Eddie's figure suddenly resurfaced in his mind as he thought about the news.

"Ana." Then his train of thought changed to the girl who was the cause of all this and was doing her best to fix it. "I hope she's alright. I wonder if she has already captured that ghost yet."

"Based on her current track record though, maybe she's already rolling on the ground crying because of another failure. Haha."

***

"Achoo!" Ana suddenly sneezed as she was roaming around inside the abandoned factory that was in the news a while ago. She was dressed as a city cop right now, pretending to help the authorities as she was doing an investigation of her own.

"Am I getting sick?.. That stupid brother of mine better not be talking behind my back." She thought to herself while narrowing her eyes and pouting a little.

In the spirit world. Inside manager Kent's office.

There were currently two big stacks of papers on both sides of his table while he was busy working on another paper.

His whole body suddenly shivered and his spine felt a tingling cold sensation. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead. He looked up, confused.

"Why do I feel like something scary is heading my way? What a weird feeling."