Of all the possible powers I could have, I picked the pragmatic choice. It’s the power to possess other people’s bodies and minds. Through this power, all of the people I choose and those that stand against me would be powerless as I overtake their will. This power is a gateway through other powers. I don’t want to limit myself with one power, I wanted to try them all.
I chose the possession power and had my mind transported to this virtual world.
~~~
The view fades to black. I tried to move but I found myself unable. I could not move because there was nothing to move. I have no limbs, not a body for that matter. All I have is my senses as the surroundings shifted to another place.
The night is dark, and the moon and stars lay hidden behind a thick blanket of growling clouds. Thunders roared. The smell of salt hangs in the air.
The sound of footsteps banged on metal scaffoldings. A man enshrouded in darkness jumped from roof to room. On his hand is a satchel filled with glinting gemstones with a supernatural green glow. Behind, another person is chasing the man. However, this man has a colorful display of costume that lay discordant with the dark buildings around us. A red cape fluttered on his back, and the graze of his rubber boots squeaked at the moist rooftop floors.
“Give back the gemstones, thief!” the hero’s booming voice said.
“Or what? Going to throw me to jail Mr. Superhero?” The thief replied.
“Well, yes. That’s what heroes do.”
“Then you got to catch me first!”
The thief entered a skylight. The hero followed behind by stretching his arm five times his body length and rappelling himself closer.
The vision changed inside the building, where large lidless vats of green viscous goo lay bubbling. I have no nose and yet, my nasal cavity is burning from the melting plastic smell. Those are not plastic, however, but something far toxic and dangerous.
The thief ran on a catwalk directly above one of the vats. The hero’s torso stretched in front of him, blocking his only path forward. The thief looked behind, but the hero’s legs blocked his way.
“Go the easy way man. Leave the gemstone and you’ll be out of prison before you know it. 50 years tops.” The hero smirked.
“Don’t jest with me. I ain’t going back to prison, you hear!?”
Seeing no other way out, the thief put his attention to a nearby catwalk. He grabbed the railings and launched himself. Just as he did, the hero stretched his arm and grabbed the thief by the ankle. The thief was erratic and tried to break free from the hero’s grasp, but this only served to tangle the two in a knot. The unfolding events happened too quickly. The thought of anchoring himself in the catwalk lapsed on the hero’s find.
The two screaming men plunged into the vats below. As their bodies melted one with the acrid goo, the gemstones glowed brighter than the chemical concoction and floated in the air. In a mixture of science and magic, the thief and the hero’s body were melded and made into something the same and something new.
That cutscene ended and that is where I come in.
My eyes opened to see myself near to death, lying breathless in the walls of this factory. Sunlight and sunspecks filtered down from the windows and rested on my melting face. I know I am dying, and yet, in the premises of my mind, I knew what I had to do.
I moved by crawling on the floor. It should be painful but I think all of my nerves are fried from melting in that goo.
The factory workers have recently come in, judging by the sound of starting machinery and murmurs of the workers. I turned one corner and found a lone overweight factory worker. He’s dressed in a wifebeater, a pair of jeans, and a hard hat on his head. He barely had a reaction when I jumped onto him, and crawled on every orifice on his face. He tried to scream but his throat was filled by my viscous goop.
A momentary loss of consciousness. Darkness. Then there was light. I’m alive.
This time, I was rid of my burning skin. But actually, this is not my skin at all. This was the skin of the worker I invaded. Not only that, the body I’m in is his. I’m a factory worker. I possessed his body just as the power I chose.
Despite the attention of my fellow workers, I immediately ran out of the factory as fast as these overweight legs could take me. I was sweating hard and panting like a pig when I reached a desolate alleyway. On this alley, there’s a broken mirror where I could see the sheer difference in my reflection. My skin is pasty white and dotted with circular marks born from working in toxic environments. I have a beard but it is scarcely prepped. There are bags under my eyes, and the taste of sauteed onions lingers in my mouth.
This body is nothing but disgusting. But the thought of experiencing something strange, something different from the norm, amused me.
I closed my eyes and focused on the creature deep inside this body - me. In a flash, this body desiccated like a dried mummy as I absorbed this body’s lifeforce and bodily fluids. I used them to replenish my original form in this virtual world. Then at once, this body exploded into a million fleshy pieces. I would rise from the carnage, dressed in a suit made up of my stretched skin.
In the bloody reflection, the face between the thief and the man stared back. My hair is neon green, and so do my eyes. I swear if I viewed it in the right direction and light, they glowed. My chin is strong and the shape of my eyes is sharp. There are heroics in the look but one cannot deny the underlying villainy.