The reflection stared at Raia with wide eyes when it saw his reaction. Raia was smiling, and he seemed so excited.
'So weird,' he complained.
Raia then fell into a deep thought and asked, "Also, why do most of those monsters choose to chase after me or hunt me?" Raia's face became serious with a hint of curiosity.
The reflection became serious as well.
"It is because you have something they want," the reflection answered.
"What is it?" Raia asked.
"Your True Origin," the reflection said briefly.
Raia's eyes opened wide. He was shocked. He was scared too when he heard that, but what overpowered the most was the fact that he was blessed with powers.
"You mean I have superpowers now?!" he reacted in an ecstatic tone.
The reflection looked at Raia judgmentally. "What is wrong with you?! There's a catastrophic event happening right now, people are dying, your life is in danger, and all you care about is that you have powers?!"
"Well, I'm sorry. It's not like superpowers are very common in this world. I mean, it's something that every person wishes they had. It's like we are finally living in the fantasy I was hoping for. So let me be," Raia rebutted.
"By the way… what's my superpower?" Raia then followed it up with a question while giggling excitedly.
The reflection sighed, a signal of giving up. He just found Raia too weird.
"Each living thing with a True Origin is granted a superpower that is only unique to it. I don't know also what the reason for that is, but it just happens randomly. You asked me earlier about who I am. Well, I can answer it now. I am your True Origin. Your 'superpower.' Your Inner Self."
Raia stared at the reflection blankly.
"Oh, Inner Self… what do you do exactly?" Raia smiled forcefully, trying to hide his disappointment.
"I… can give you information… and warn you about some things…," said the reflection, unsure too of what his purpose is.
"Lame." Raia blurted his intrusive thought out accidentally.
"What?" The reflection looked at Raia with a stupefied expression. He felt angry and embarrassed at the same time and couldn't help but shower Raia with profanities.
"You know what? F*ck you! You ungrateful, son of a b*tch! I helped you f*ckng survive yesterday and this is how you repay me? H*ll nah! I'm more useful than you f*ck*ng think, you piece of sh*t! M********r!"
Raia was dumbfounded by the reaction of the reflection. He felt bad though because, just as what the reflection said, it did save him from countless near-death experiences yesterday.
"I— I'm sorry, okay. I'm really sorry. I just thought I'd be getting a very awesome power like controlling fire or telekinesis or healing, or maybe a system like in the novels or comics I've read before," Raia explained and apologized.
"Well, tough luck, birdbrain. I am your superpower. Plus, those things are weak anyway, with obvious weaknesses. I'm the most lethal of them all. Because no one will know I exist. I hold a lot of information that is needed for your survival, and because you made me mad, I'm not going to answer any questions at the moment," the reflection said with a red face, and the mirror suddenly rippled like water. The reflection in the mirror turned back to normal and showed Raia's awful look.
His uniform was rugged and covered with dirt and blood. There were also a lot of cuts and bruises all over his body. He looked like a mess.
"Well… fine. I'm sorry, okay. I have so many questions to ask. Hello?"
With no answer from his Inner Self, Raia sighed in defeat.
Raia went out of the school's restroom. He climbed up to the 3rd floor and went inside his classroom. Among the rummage, he found his bag still intact and in good condition. He opened it and found an extra t-shirt inside. He changed his clothes immediately. He then looked around, searching for his phone with a dragon-patterned design on its phone casing. Before he was attacked by the Giant Worm, he forgot to bring his phone with him, and Raia thinks it's a good thing that he didn't, since it would've definitely broken after all those crashes he took.
After lifting a dead body up, which he found amazing, since he never thought he could lift a body with one hand, minus the fact that it's a dead body. Before the catastrophe, it was even hard for him to lift 10 kilograms of rice with one hand. Yes, he was pathetic.
He found his phone underneath it. He used his dirty uniform to wipe off any blood and material from the screen. He tried turning it on, and fortunately, it was still working. He looked at the power percentage and felt devastated as it was on its last 8 percent.
He turned it off to conserve its power and went outside. From the third floor, he could see smoke and torn-down buildings. Everything looked awful.
The city that Raia grew up in was small yet one of the most beautiful ones in the province. Its people were kind, and the economy was in the process of developing. Full of vibrancy, trees, and commercial buildings where people worked.
But now, looking at the scenery in the first light of the morning, made him think, 'It's all gone.'
Raia took a deep breath and sucked it all up. He knew that it was not the right time to be depressed, and the most important thing now was to survive.
Just as he was trying to comfort himself, he heard someone crying for help.
"HELP! PLEASE, HELP ME!" A woman's cry echoed on the empty street.
Without delay, just like natural instinct, Raia jumped out of the building without considering that he was almost 12 meters high from the ground.
Surprisingly, he survived the fall. Just like the heroes in action movies, he landed in a very dramatic way, one knee down, one foot planted, hand touching the ground, and his head tilted slightly up. He stood up and started smiling happily.
"I've always wanted to do that."
He ran towards where the voice came from and saw a woman trapped inside a white car. She looked like she was in her mid-20s. Her clothes resembled the uniform of someone working in City Hall. Raia stopped in his tracks, sensing something didn't feel right.
'Good thing you stopped. You would've become food,' Inner Self said.
Raia felt happy when his Inner Self finally spoke again.
"She doesn't seem locked inside the car. I can see that it's ajar," Raia said suspiciously. "Hello, do you need help, ma'am?" Raia asked, just to make sure.
"Yes! I need help, I'm trapped and I can't breathe!" said the woman very convincingly. But Raia didn't buy it. Instead, he looked wary. He could see that the woman didn't move her mouth at all!
She just kept looking at Raia with red eyes.
'You need to get out of here, now!' Inner Self warned immediately.
Raia was a person who used common sense, and he didn't even stay a little bit, he jumped away from the area. He managed to leap 8 meters away and saw people coming out from the rubble. The woman came out of the car too aggressively. The door of the car flew off like it had been kicked from the inside.
The people had red eyes as well, just like the woman in the car. On their backs, there was a lotus-like flower emerging.
'They've been parasitized. It looks like there's a monster here that has a True Origin and the power to parasitize humans,' Inner Self said.
Raia looked at the parasitized people, they were a mix of civilians and government workers.
"Can we do something to help them?" Raia couldn't help but ask. He really wanted to help those people.
'That True Origin holder is currently dangerous. You can't do anything yet to kill it.'
"Said my most lethal power," Raia said sarcastically.
Inner Self snickered, "If you want to die, go ahead. But I'm telling you, you need more counts of those three Origins to defeat that monster. You are out of its league. So, if you want to become monster food, be my guest!"
Raia didn't argue anymore and ran in another direction.
'If I were you, I would start finding the shelter in this city. There will be armed forces there that can help you and keep you safe for the meantime,' Inner Self calmed down and suggested the next destination for Raia.
"Nope. I need to find my family first. I need to know if they're okay," Raia said seriously. He just remembered now his family at home. He sped up, worry in his eyes.