Chapter 3: Demons and Gods my arse
Chapter 3: Demons and Gods my arse
Jin slept for a few hours, still experiencing pain to some degree. He was tired only because of the insane day he had.
Everything that had transpired was still fresh on his mind like a sprouting spring upon the hills.
He got up at Midnight. He perched at the edge of his bed, wiping his weary face. His hair was quite messy as it would usually be; with curly jet black strands poking out from everywhere.
His room that remained mostly dark was rather small. His medium-sized bed, and his midrange Computer setup took up most of the floor’s area.
He had to occupy the room on the first floor, given that he was crippled, and could not climb staircases.
He heaved as he sat on his wheelchair. He deliberately rolled over to his white computer desk, and sat on his chair. The setup consisted of two monitors, speakers, and some other peripherals.
He decided to do some research on the ‘Loki Successor System’ thing. Because out of all the things he went through yesterday, nothing confused him more than the hovering screen, and the strange troll woman in the hijab who had violently shaken his hand.
Put simply, that whole scenario made him confused as fuck.
After about an hour of research later, he realized that his efforts to find something related to his problem were to no avail—it was beginning to look quite fruitless to him already.
There were a few sites that included some of the keywords he inputted into Google’s search-engine. But ‘Loki’ was the main sole word found in these sites, given that it was the name of a well-known Norse God.
After constant attempts, Jin started taking the asking of assistance into account. He was considering whether he should ask Tristan, or not.
Tristan was the most tech savvy person Jin knew. Hacking into stuff was just as easy as stealing candy from three-year-olds for him.
Tristan’s life was mostly on the computer. He didn’t really show up at school as much as even the delinquents. For instance, he didn’t show up on the last day of school for his last test.
“It’s almost two in the morning. That’s way past Tristan’s scum-watching time. I wonder if he’ll be on his computer now….”
Ultimately, Jin contacted him via a special app. Within seconds alone—Tristan answered the call.
“Hello? Is this Jin?”
“Yeah, it’s Jin.”
“Alright, buddy. Lemme just quickly close this tab so you don’t hear what I don’t want you to hear.”
“Ah, okay,” drawled Jin, rolling his eyes.
“Alright. I’m good now. So…why’d you call? I haven’t spoken to you since the Dryads attacked the city.”
“I called for your help. And the only reason why we haven’t spoken was because you weren’t showing up at school, and you weren’t picking up on Dobby’s calls either.”
“Fuck Dobby, man.”
“I know you guys got beef, and whatever, but that’s not why I called … just so you know.”
“Then why’d you call? To duo up in GRIM with me or something?”
“No, I already told you guys that I don’t play GRIM anymore. I called to ask about that insane search engine you use to cheat when we’re given online exams.”
“Oh! You mean Super Search?”
“Yeah, that’s the one. How do I get access to it on my computer?”
“You can’t.”
“What’d you mean?”
“You can’t get access to the engine because it’s been taken down recently. But I can get it for you.”
***
Jin got access to the search engine ‘Super Search’, and he was able to get better results within seconds of switching to it. The search engine was practically everything the name implied, and more.
After using it, Jin made up his mind to never use any other search engine ever again in his lifetime.
He saw exactly why the engine was taken down. The engine was essentially taken down in that it was a hacker’s tool, which hackers used to private and deleted information.
Thanks to the power of this incredible search engine, Jin was able to stumble across many deleted sites. All of which he couldn’t open.
He tried to use the ‘Site copier’ tool that allowed a user to save copies of a site, but it didn’t work on the sites that were already taken down.
The tool ceased to function because Jin was required to manually save the taken-down sites beforehand.
“Damnit!”
***
Jin later found an interesting website that was only posted sixteen minutes ago.
His heart crashed into his chest, provided that the site included his searched keywords, ‘Successor System’ in the exact order as he typed them. It was only missing the word, ‘Loki’.
Anxiously, he pressed an index finger down on the left button of his white computer mouse, and was abruptly taken to the site after hearing a click.
Most anxious click of his life.
The first paragraph of the site was, ‘Dear Citizens, we are at danger! The Gods are returning—all of them! People will be bestowed with new powers because of divine assets these Gods sent down to our world!’.
The blog was nearly one hundred thousand words long. Jin was able to read and take in a lot of information while reading it. But only five minutes in, the site suddenly started loading.
It automatically refreshed itself, and continued loading for over ten minutes. After the said ten minutes, it was displayed to Jin that the site was no longer available.
Riled by this upsetting fact, Jin cursed as he grimaced at the screen. He was vexed because he had not used Super Search’s copy tool to save the site, and read it in a file form even after it was taken down.
He was just far too engrossed by the strange words of the blog that he had forgotten entirely about the copier tool.
What he had learned from reading a small fraction of the site was that the author had re-uploaded it over two thousand times, and even paid thousands of dollars to advertise it globally.
That is to say, the writer was incredibly dedicated to getting his words divulged to the world.
Jin was mainly confused. What confused him the most was the fact that the writer repetitively wrote about Demons making a grand rise, and wreaking havoc to the world with the power of the Gods’ assets.
Most of this sounded like so much hogwash in Jin’s ears that he literally scoffed aloud a few times.
“Yeah, that was interesting and all. But Demons and Gods my arse.”
“The Government took out every single hostile race that they saw as a threat to peace. The blog’s been posted sixteen minutes ago, but it has to be written in the medieval times or something.”
“If Succubi were wiped out,” he scoffed, “then why would the Demons be spared?”
He wasn’t even convinced that there were Greek Gods in the first place to begin with. And it was scientifically proven that the Demon race was radically wiped out by the Government for ensurance of interracial peace.
Needless to say, Jin relied heavily on Scientifically proven information despite living amidst a world of fantastical creatures.
It wasn’t true that he didn’t believe the site entirely, but it was certainly correct that he found certain facets of it ridiculous.
After all, he was merely human. And humans only believe in what their own eyes could see.
Overwhelmed, he decided to go back to sleep to make his bewilderment dissipate again until the next day.
***
Jin had been awoken by his loud, defected alarm clock. He bolted upright, and sat on the edge of his bed. Gently, he rubbed his morning eyes a bit while sitting.
“Stupid alarm clock,” he uttered, peering at the alarm clock with a countenance that hinted at the intensity of his adhorrence.
He continued looking daggers at the alarm clock, as if it were a human he had extreme resentment for. He sat there, with tensed muscles.
While sitting he couldn’t bear how cold his room was. His air conditioner was on all night, and so, the room was extremely cold.
He thought he would freeze should he keep the air-conditioner on. So he turned it off.
His wheelchair was beside his bed. He brought it towards him, and in doing so, he felt something.
He furrowed his brows in confusion. He sat still—not making a move. He became seemingly paralyzed in seconds.
After remotely recovering, he slowly looked down at his legs while still sitting. Roving at his legs, he kept his eyes gaped.
Then, he slowly tried moving the lower parts of the legs—the parts that he could not normally move.
Essentially, he was only able to extend his legs, but not move them as you would to walk. So Jin became dumbfounded after seeing his legs move as per his conscious volition.
He then moved his legs again.
His heart started thumping relentlessly against his chest. With widened eyes, he started raising up from the bed, standing slowly. He stood still for a while, and then decided to try taking one step forward.
“Okay, Jin. It’s worth the shot—I’ve got nothing to worry about if I fail,” he consoled himself, taking a deep breath after speaking.
He then slowly took one step forward, and was able to do so without collapsing. He tittered a bit, given that he had just taken his first step in six years.
Quickly and excitedly, he amped himself up for more steps forward. He moved his legs forward in turn—one after the other, moving his body.
“I’m walking!”
“I’m walking!” He shouted.
When suddenly, he collapsed, crashing to the ground, and stirring up a pot of loud ruckus in his room. His grandmother would usually be up at this time already, so he knew he had drawn her attention to himself.
After getting back up to his knees, he heard his Grandmother say, “Jin? What’s going on in there?!”
“Ohh, it’s nothing Grandma! I just uh…dropped my wheelchair. I’m fine though, I didn’t get hurt.”
“Okay. Since you’re up, come for some early breakfast, okay?!”
“Okay, I’ll be there in a minute!”
He stood and took a few steps again. He had fallen quite a number of times, as he was getting back in the groove of walking again.
He sat at the edge of his bed, asking, “How in the world am I even doing this?”
When suddenly a screen manifested before him as if to answer his question.
[You have slept for 10+ hours, all injuries have been healed]