(Being Editied)Oracle: Ring Of Fire 1: MORNINGSTAR (BxB)

one

“Boss, please.” Greg was overworking me, and I wished that I could get at least a five minute break, but god be damned, he just wouldn’t budge. “I've been working my ass off for the past four days, living off of coffee and granola bars. Can’t someone else do this for a bit? I’m scared I'll pass out!”
Greg sighed, but said fine, “You can get a 3 week break to get back into it, I know you’ve been feeling off… I’m strict, you know, not cruel!” I thanked him, and headed out the door. It was mid-may, and I was done with everything.
I pulled out my phone, and dialled. “Ty, hey I’m off early.”  He sighed, and chuckled. “I’ll be there in a few minutes, Sam.” He hung up, and like he said, pulled up after a few minutes.
“Thanks, Ty.” I said as I hopped in his truck. We were driving for a couple blocks when Ty slammed on the breaks. “What hap-” I cut myself off. I heard screaming. With a look of mutual understanding, we both got out of the truck and dashed towards the direction of the screaming. I had 911 ready to dial, but needed to see what was happening before jumping to conclusions.
I tripped over a hose on the way and Ty stopped to help me. “Shit! No, No, go see what’s happening I can catch up!” He reluctantly nodded, and sprinted towards the sound. I got up, and noticed that my phone was broken, the screen shattered. “Shit…” I muttered to myself but left it there as I ran towards the sound.
When I got there the screaming was gone. There was a dead body curled up on top of  a pentagram, blood spattered everywhere. My breath quickened.
“What are you doing here?” A gruff, hoarse voice sounded from behind us. I flipped around to see an older man, his hair white, his eyes a shocking blue. “W-we- we heard screaming…” I backed away, scared. Was this man responsible for this?
“You shouldn’t be here.” His voice was firm, filled with disgust. “What the fuck were you doing?!”  Ty’s anger spilled over. “Who are you?!” The man chuckled. “That’s for me to know, and you not to, hm?”
Ty scowled, but said nothing. The man moved towards me, and I paced backwards quickly. I tripped, and managed to scuffle back more until i felt a wet, hot, and sticky substance underneath my hand.
I immediately turned to look at my hand and screamed. Blood. I slipped and felt a searing pain all over my body. Screaming In pain, I heard many things, Ty shouting at the man, who was saying nothing, but  I heard the grin on his face. I heard the wisps of the breeze and the flutter of birds in the wind. It was peaceful, the pain now numb and my mind drifting off.
Was I dying?  Dying was peaceful, that was for sure. I felt the cold shock of water, and arms around my waist and neck. Was I being carried? It didn’t matter anymore as I drifted off into unconsciousness.

The sounds of flame woke me. Trying to sit up, I was eased back down. “Hey, hey hey… Take it easy!” I heard a soft, deep voice, sounding annoyed, spoke to me. “Where am I?” I grunted as I eased myself to a sitting position. I couldn’t see anything but I could hear everything. Distant Yowls of entertainment and fear. A horror movie of some kind was playing. I thought.
Fire crackling on  smooth stone, a fire pit, I presume. Clacking as people bussled by on their way to work. I was in a city. “You’re In hell.” the voice said. I stifled a chuckle. “Hell? Is this town really that bad?” My vision started to clear as the film of black that covered my vision faded.
The sky was a deep mandarin, With touches of scarlet as the horizon came into view. The streets were made of brimstone, but otherwise it was just like normal. The people were chatting in the streets, and people walked from street to street, cars stuck in light traffic as lunch hour approached.
Wait, I was indoors, so how did I know this? As if he’d read my mind, he replied with, “You are the chosen one, you have been gifted powers that even I don’t know the full extent of.
Before I could say anything else, he flicked his middle finger on my forehead and I jolted back to the real world. A large splatter of a dark and viscous liquid evacuated my lungs. This wasn’t blood, it was an inky black and faded into the shadows.
Audio faded back to my ears, Ty was yelling at the man, who was saying nothing, still with a grin. I sat up, and felt peeling from underneath me. Grimacing, I stood the rest of the way up. A voice circulated around my head.
Kill him! NOW! I let instinct take over, a film of red fading into my vision as I readied myself to pounce. My eyes narrowed as I aimed where I would strike. I pounced from the pentagram, and he was killed swiftly with a breaking bite to the neck.
The red in my vision faded, the killer instinct replaced with shock. I spat out blood as I screamed. “WHAT THE FUCK DID I JUST DO?!” I felt hot tears stream down my face, and Ty was just standing there in shock.
I let instinct take over once more, and felt hot asphalt on my hands and feet as I was on all fours. I pelted down towards the lake and prepared myself to jump. I looked down, and saw Jet black paws instead of hands.
Shock rushed over me. Did I die? Am I possessing something? I let questions rush over my mind as I heard the voice once again. Jump.
Immediately, Instinct took over and I jumped into the cold water without a second thought.
I felt warm though. Hot, even. Burning. Searing. I felt what were paws split back into hands, back into feet. My body contorting back into a humanoid form. It was painful, yet peaceful.
I emerged from the water, gasping for air. I had to go back to where Ty was. I swam back to the shore, and heard the voice again. Think of your animalistic traits, and you will shift. It started.  You’ll be faster.
Think about  your human body and you will return. I did what the voice said and felt a searing heat spread throughout my body, and I fell back onto the paws of the beast that channelled through my veins, but I was faster. A hell of a lot faster.
I pounded across the road as I dashed back to where Ty was, hoping he was still there. I found him crying over the pentagram. I Padded over to him and looked at the pentagram.
There I lie, mutilated. I wanted to push the body out of the way and shift back, show him that I'm okay but something stopped me. I didn’t want to ruin the moment, and get him asking questions I didn’t know the answer to.
I jumped to the roof with a mighty leap and watched from above. I sat down,  silently thanking the voice in my head for guiding me through this. But I needed to know more. I needed to know what I was. How this happened.
Think of being nothing. The voice said, suddenly. I listened, and I looked down at my paws to see them fading. I was invisible. I hopped down and nosed his phone over to him. “Call an ambulance…” I whispered to him before hopping back up to the roof.
He dialled emergency services, and waited at the wall, tears streaming down his face. When the ambulance arrived, I hopped into the back along with Ty and my old body, and curled up.
“I’m his older brother…” he cried into his sweater sleeve. “I was supposed to protect him…”  I felt my mind cloud.  This is MY fault… I thought. You’re fine though, right? The voice said suddenly. I will place you back in your human form once you reach the hospital. You will show him that you’re fine.
“How…?” I asked, muttering to the voice but it was gone. “Oh… you’re no help…” I muttered. I will be, my little Newt… Just wait and see. ‘Newt’ I liked the sound of that… The ambulance doors opened, and me, Ty, and… my body… entered the emergency room.
I felt arms around my chest, mainly my ribs. “I told you I'd help…” The voice whispered to me. But the voice was no longer in my head, no. It was behind me. I looked behind me, to the doctor that was carrying me and couldn’t help but blush…
Oh… OH… I thought, speechless. “I’ll explain later, Newt.” He told me. He’d set me down, and I curled up on the floor, drifting off to sleep.
I awoke, what seemed like a moment later on the hospital bed. “Samuel N. Brooks…” I heard my name, though warily. “Fourteen, Son To Elijah and Morgan Brooks…”
I groaned. “What happened…” I said In a weak voice. Was that all a dream?  “No.” the voice said. “Ah… Typhet, dear, I told you he’d be fine…” The familiar voice coaxed my brother, who sounded happy. “Sammy!” He called out. “Hey..” I said, though weakly. “Careful.” The doctor warned. “He’s still weak.” He looked at me with curious eyes and turned back to Ty. “I’ll watch over him, now Typhet… Unfortunately, visiting hours ended three of them ago…”
“He’s my brother! I have to stay!” He objected. “And I'm his doctor…” ‘doc’ said calmly. “I’ll keep him safe.” Ty looked reluctant, but agreed and left the room. The doctor waited a few moments before I said something.
“So, you said you would explain, doc?” I asked. “It’s Luec…” He replied, with a sigh. “I don’t know how much I should tell you… But then again…” He looked at me. “I need you to trust me, so I’ll tell you everything.”
“Luec is my name, but it’s short for Lucifer.” he started. Like the devil? I asked myself, but said nothing. “Yes,” he replied. “Like the devil.”
“We have a psychic link, you and I… you’re the subject of… a prophecy that’s a long time coming.”  I was sceptical for a moment, then remembered exactly what I could do. “Me and God… the christian one… are siblings, and she’d put me in charge of hell.”
“Though,” and he turned to face me. “It’s ruined my reputation.” he chuckled. “I’m not evil, evil is what I punish, and there’s a huge evil on the horizon.”  He looked at me. “So, Samuel, once you recover you will help to defeat the first wave of evil that comes.” He told me.
“And… this is why you’ve given me these powers?” I asked. He nodded. “I’ll have you start training tomorrow, the wounds will heal and you’ll be feeling much better, Newt.” He said.
“So, get some sleep and you’ll be discharged tomorrow morning.” he walked over. “Goodnight Newt.” he said before ruffling my hair and walking out of the room.
Goodnight, Luec. I drifted off to sleep, thinking about what the hell just had happened to me.

Morning brought grogginess, but I was feeling much better. “Is anyone here?” I asked the room, not wanting to sit up yet. “I am, you’re getting discharged today, It was all just shock…” a nurse said to me. “But you have to be careful for a few days yet, you’re still a little weak.”
“Thanks…” I mumbled as he left the room. Over the radio placed next to my bed, he added: “And you can get up, too.” Taking his advice, I got up from the bed and unhooked the wires. There was a bag in the room with clothes for me to wear. I slipped the hospital gown off, and slipped the tee and shorts on in place of it.
“Right…” I said, mostly to myself. “Where to go now…?”  Exiting the room, I saw the halls of the facility, almost endless in nature. I was looking for the bathroom, though not exactly sure where It would be.
Deciding to return to the room I was occupying, I figured that I would be discharged soon enough to find it later… And I didn’t want to get In trouble for being out of the room without permission. “Right…” I heard someone outside of the room start speaking.
Pricking my ears, I listened into the conversation. “Samuel N. Brooks…” so it’s about me…  I thought, tuning in completely. “He’s an interesting subject…”
“Shattered skeletal system recovered overnight… it’s odd, yet interesting… We’ll call him in for some tests later on, but for now, we’ll just have to discharge him.” Tests?  “What kind of tests, though?” Leuc sounded… worried?
“Simple bloodwork to start off with, though we may issue a replacement for a bone, so we can do tests on the bone itself.”
Huh… I thought, tuning my ears back from the conversation. I heard the door open and turned my head towards it. “So, Sam… Everything’s in order, though your healing was miraculously quick!” information I already know… I thought. ”So we may still have to do tests… blood work… bone marrow testing… et cetera.” I nodded. “I’ve heard…”
“Right…” He sounded exhausted. “Well, Let’s get you discharged because my shift ends soon and I want to go home.” bluntly honest, huh… I shook my head mentally. Not my problem, just let me out of here.
I followed the doctor until he checked me out. Leuc was walking to his truck. Coming?  I heard him ask through my head you have a lot more to explain, I told him. He’d nod but I hopped into his passenger seat nevertheless. The other doctor hopped into the backseat.
There was an awkward silence until the backseat doctor spoke up. “So boss, what exactly is the plan with him?” He’d nod to me. Leuc answered simply. “There is no plan, we need to keep him safe” he said, quite bluntly. That’s Jackson… blunt, but reliable. I heard Luec tell me through my head.
Noted.Though the truck ride, things became less awkward as the time ticked by. “So, then…” Leuc was telling me, “He let his dog off the leash, and I was fed up with him… yeah he keeps that dog on the leash now.” I chuckled. “I’ll bet….” Suddenly, Leuc stopped driving and parked the truck. “So, where are we?” I asked, curious more than anything.
“My place, your house isn’t that far from here, I think, so you can visit any time.” Leuc told me. Noted.
I said my goodbyes for now and started the walk home.  Grabbing my phone from my jacket pocket, I dialled for TY. “Hey,” I started when he picked up. “Are you discharged yet?” he asked, still groggily. “Yeah, sorry for waking you up.”
“Walking home, they just said to take it easy, it’s not too far i’ll be there in a sec.” I said, smoothly. “You sure?” he asked. “I can give you a ride.”
“Nah,” I replied. “I’m a few blocks away, anyways I'll be there soon. Is Dad home?”
“Yeah.”
“Then ask him if he can start on breakfast, please. See you in a bit, Ty.”
“Kay.” He hung up and I continued walking to the house.