The awakening

Jacoby barely slept that night.

The black liquid he blasted from his hand had stained part of his bedroom wall. He spent nearly an hour wiping it away with tissues and a towel, afraid his parents would notice in the morning. Even after cleaning, a faint dark smear remained.

He sat on the edge of his bed, staring at his hands.

“What… is happening to me?”

The memory of the pink parasite entering his body replayed in his mind again and again. Every time he thought about it, his stomach twisted with anxiety.

But something else was there too.

A strange warmth deep in his chest.

It wasn’t painful. It felt… powerful.

Jacoby slowly lifted his right hand.

“Okay… maybe that was just stress,” he whispered to himself.

He focused hard.

Nothing happened.

He sighed in relief.

“Good… maybe I imagined—”

Suddenly a thin stream of black liquid shot from his fingertips, splashing onto the floor.

Jacoby yelped and jumped back.

“WHAT?!”

The liquid wriggled slightly before turning still like spilled ink.

Jacoby’s heart pounded.

He crouched down carefully, poking the strange substance with a pencil.

It didn’t feel like water.

It was thicker… almost alive.

He quickly wiped it up again before anyone could see.

“I definitely didn’t imagine that…”

For the next hour, Jacoby experimented quietly.

He tried focusing again.

Sometimes nothing happened.

But sometimes—

Small bursts of the strange black liquid shot from his hands.

Each time, he felt that same warm energy inside his chest.

Eventually he stopped, exhausted.

“What am I supposed to do with this…?”

⸻

The next morning felt strange.

Jacoby didn’t have to go to school because of his suspension.

Normally that would’ve felt relaxing, but today he felt restless.

Without his phone, the house felt silent.

He couldn’t check TikTok.

He couldn’t text Matthew.

That thought hurt the most.

Matthew would definitely be worried.

Jacoby sat on the floor of his room, hugging his knees.

“I wish I could tell him what happened…”

His stomach suddenly pulsed with a strange sensation.

Not pain.

More like… energy moving.

Then something unexpected happened.

Inside his mind, he heard a faint voice.

Soft.

Ancient.

Calm.

“Child…”

Jacoby froze.

He looked around the room.

“Hello?”

No one was there.

The voice echoed again, quieter but clearer.

“You carry my light.”

Jacoby’s heart began racing again.

“Who said that?!”

Silence.

Then a sudden flash filled his vision.

For just a second, Jacoby saw something impossible.

A glowing figure surrounded by brilliant sunlight.

Long flowing hair.

Radiant warmth.

A presence that felt powerful beyond imagination.

Then the image vanished.

Jacoby gasped and grabbed his head.

“What… was that?”

The warmth in his chest grew stronger.

He stood up suddenly, overwhelmed.

His hands began glowing faintly with dark energy.

“Okay… okay… calm down…”

He tried to breathe slowly.

But the energy surged again.

BOOM.

Another burst of black liquid blasted from his palm and splattered against his bedroom door.

Jacoby stared at it in shock.

This power was growing.

And he had no idea how to control it.

⸻

Later that afternoon, Jacoby quietly slipped out of the house again.

He needed fresh air.

The woods where the meteor crashed were still on his mind.

Maybe if he returned there, he could figure out what happened.

The forest was quiet when he arrived.

The crater where the meteor landed was still there, though smaller now.

Smoke had faded, but the ground was still scorched.

Jacoby stepped carefully toward it.

“Whatever that thing was…” he muttered, “it changed me.”

Suddenly his chest pulsed again.

Stronger this time.

The strange voice returned.

“You are my vessel.”

Jacoby froze.

“What does that mean?”

The warmth spread through his body like sunlight.

“You will carry my power.”

Jacoby looked down at his hands.

The black liquid slowly formed around his fingers again, swirling like living ink.

A mix of fear and amazement filled his mind.

“I… have powers.”

For the first time since the bullying, since the suspension, since everything fell apart…

Jacoby felt something different.

Not weakness.

Not fear.

But strength.

And somewhere deep inside him, the ancient power of Amaterasu was beginning to awaken.

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