Mogul vs. Remnants Pt. VII: A New Beginning

Chapter 79 (Remnant 5)

"Wake up. Tom."

Sam was knocking on my door. Chrissake. Time for school. I checked the clock. 6:30am. End me.

I struggled out of bed and changed out of my clothes, went to take a shower, you know, the daily grind. I don't know about you, but I tend to sweat a lot. Sleeping without clothes on, yes, I'm looking at you, Americans, seems weird for me. Like the clothes I wore going to bed were literally drenched. If I went in without clothes, I couldn't even imagine how bad the mattress and sheets would end up looking like.

I got dressed and noticed Sam had already prepared breakfast.

"Make some for me?" I asked.

Sam looked at me, as he ate the rest of the toast. "Nope. Let's go."

Sam and I walked to the bus stop. Another boring ass day. Boring ass degree, and boring ass life. Part of me wanted something to happen. Like... I don't know. An alien invasion. End of the world. Anything. This place sucked. This life sucked.

"Did you finish the assignment?" Sam asked me, as he shouldered his backpack.

My heart stopped. "There was an assignment?!"

Sam rolled his eyes. "Dude, you had over a week to work on it."

"Shieeeet..." I muttered. I completely forgot about it. Sam and I were classmates, studying Sciences in Uni. I roomed with him in our basement suite because my parents told me to move the hell out. Said I was too dependent on them. Well, they could screw right off. They weren't even my real parents.

As for why I'm studying Sciences, my parents told me to go and make something worth of myself, since I spent my high school days munching on chips and watching TV. So I did what everybody else in my grade did, and applied to Science to become a doctor. My grades weren't too great. But I'm sure it'll work out... somehow.

We walked to the bus stop. "When's the assignment due?"

Sam facepalmed. "It was due this morning, Tom."

"Oh. Well shit."

"Tom, this is like the third assignment you missed. You already failed the midterm. If you keep this up, you're gonna have to retake the course again."

The bus finally arrived, as he and I scanned our passes and sat on the seat. Someone caught my eye. She had green frizzy hair, and a really cute face. Damn. But it wasn't just that. It was her eyes. Green, bright green. Was it contacts?

Sam caught me staring. "Give it up, Tom. She probably has a boyfriend."

"You don't know that."

"What makes you think she's going to say yes to you."

"I'm charming. And I'm a college student. Chicks dig guys with money."

"Yeah. A failing college student."

"Shut up. I'm not a try hard like you, getting A+'s all over the board."

We sat in a seat in front of her, obviously. Sam wasn't too thrilled about it. I had to impress her, so I began talking to Sam about the assignment details.

"Hey, so if we do a phase shift like this, it should give the correct waveform right?"

"Uh... the due date is already passed dude."

"Well, I just wanna make sure I know my stuff. And with Beer's Law and the Eigenvalues giving the Eigenfunctions-"

Sam stared at me. "The hell are you even saying? None of that is related, you're just spouting random bullshit."

I punched him in the arm. "Ow! What the hell, Tom?"

I leaned in and whispered at him. "Dude, come on. Work with me. She needs to see how smart I am."

"But... you're not."

"Please man. Come on."

"At least make your convos make sense. Beer's Law has nothing to do with Eigenvalues. And Eigenvalues don't make Eigenfunctions you idiot. It's just a scalar."

"Ah.. I see!" I said. I glanced behind me, and the girl was inspecting me with those same piercing eyes. Damn! It was working!

We finally got to the bus stop. I looked behind me, and realized the girl had also got off, walking into the distance. Dammit. Well, I guess maybe next time. We walked to lecture, where I opened up my laptop and watched youtube the whole class. Sam gave me an annoyed look.

This continued throughout the day, as we finally finished classes and went back to the bus. Sam stopped. "Tom, I'm gonna go to the library to finish up my lab report. I'll see you back at the house."

"Cool. Catch you later."

I walked to the bus stop alone. It was night time. Yeah. I had classes from 8am to 7pm. It's actually not so bad, since there were breaks in between. But going home in the dark was shit. I didn't know what to do tonight. There was a lab report due, but it wasn't due till next week... so it wasn't technically due now. No need to work on it now. Too stressful ya' know? Probably might just hit up some Champions of Terra or something.

I continued walking, when suddenly, something caught my eye. A really really large man. My heart stopped. Was I hallucinating? The man had glowing red eyes. And he was... huge. Like steroid jacked huge. 7 foot tall, and everything. He glared at me sinisterly.

Yeah. Nope. I walked faster and faster back to the bus stop. At late hours like this, the last thing I needed was to get mugged.

I finally got home. Thank god. That guy was giving me all the creeps. I opened the fridge and found a block of cheese. I stuffed it into my mouth. Good dinner. I went to my room and fired up my PC and received a notification. Mom. Great.

I called her, and her face appeared on the screen.

"Thomas King. Why did you not answer my calls?" She asked.

Going into full name. That wasn't good.

"Just got busy with classes, you know? Been a long day. Workin hard and stuff."

"Oh yeah? What's this about a missing assignment then? I saw your email."

My ears turned pink. Mom had access to my email. She knew if I was missing an assignment.

"Oh, I submitted it. It's probably just a glitch."

My mom looked stern. "Thomas, this isn't a matter of me being mad. If you refuse to work hard, you won't graduate and you won't get a job. Do you want to end up unemployed and homeless?"

I clenched my fist. All calls always ended up like this. She was onto me like a damn FBI agent. I hated her. I hated my life, being forced into this by my parents. I hated school, but I was enrolled anyway.

"Look, mom. I'll just study really hard in my finals. It's like 50% anyway. It'll cover everything up."

"And if you fail the finals?"

"It won't happen."

"It will happen. You're useless, your habits are terrible. I guarantee you, you won't pass your finals like this."

"Oh, well look at the time. It's getting late. Gonna hit the bed!" I said, inching my cursor to the end call button. I was clenching my fist so hard my knuckles turned white. I wasn't useless. I just was living a life I didn't want. Why couldn't anyone understand that?

I ended the call and lay in my bed, staring at the ceiling. My life was so shit. I didn't have any friends. No girlfriend. No supportive parents. I was failing all my classes, and my roommate was passing everything, as if he was just simply better than me in anything. I was unfit, from my diet of chips, and 7up all thought out high school.

If I could just... reset the board. Maybe I could have lived my life as a hero or something. I hated who I was. This life I was given, it was so trash.

I got up from the bed. I couldn't sleep. I drank a lot of coffee in the afternoon because I was falling asleep in Chemistry. The professor was trash. I went up to the mirror, looking at my face. I was so ugly. My hair was a mess. And I had an odor problem.

I thought back to that cute girl I saw in the bus.

What makes you think she's going to say yes to you.

I gripped the counter, as I glared at my reflection. He was right. Why would she say yes to me? I was a loser.

"This is unfair." I muttered. "So unfair."

I looked at the trashcan. The dance. Sam already had a date with his girlfriend. And he wanted me to go, giving me the invitation. My vision turned red with rage. It was so easy for him. He was good looking. He was in the wrestling team. He had top grades and a girl who was studying medicine. A loving supporting family. Everything was going well for him. And then there was me.

He could never understand how I felt. I was ugly, stupid, had no friends. Hell, I don't even know my real parents. In fact I don't even know my past. I can't even remember anything from before high school. My step parents told me it was because I had below average memory. Meaning I couldn't remember as much stuff as a normal person.

I closed my eyes as tears ran down my face.

"Why..." I muttered.

"WHY AM I SO PATHETIC!" I screamed at my reflection.

"WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY!" I slammed my fists against the counter as hard as I could. Of course, I was weak as hell, and ended up hurting my wrists.

I got up and sighed. There was nothing I could do. Just another mental breakdown as usual. I looked back at my reflection. My pathetic self. In my pathetic and boring mundane life. I went back to my room to sleep early. It was 9pm, but I didn't feel like gaming tonight. I was shit in Champions of Terra anyway.

Chapter 80 (Remnant 5)

I woke up in the middle of the night. Dammit. Sleeping early never worked for me. I would just end up waking up in the middle of the night and being unable to go back to sleep. Well. Here's to another day of falling asleep in classes.

I got up from my bed and walked to the bathroom to take a leak. I looked at the invitation again. My heart rate went up as I became angry. I finished up, and took the slip of paper. I walked to my room and took a bunch of textbooks. They were needed for me to do my readings, but screw them. I was going to fail my classes anyway. I couldn't take it anymore.

I opened the door and walked to the backyard and threw the textbooks and dance invitation on the ground. I went back to the kitchen and took a lighter.

I went outside and glared at the textbooks, lighting the lighter as I glared at the pile of crap.

"This ain't my life. I hate it. You guys put me through all this shit. I get it. I'm a loser. I'm stupid and I'm not going to be worth anything to this world. I have nothing to offer." I grumbled.

I fumbled with the lighter, and suddenly I dropped it, clumsily. It fell into the gutter.

"SHIT!" I shouted. Dammit. The lighter. Ugh.

I looked back at the textbooks. How was it that even trying to burn this crap away I would end up dropping the lighter.

"Fate, why you have to do this to me?! I don't WANT to live this life! Why can't you see this!" I shouted at the sky.

"I... I don't want this! I want to be someone better! But NOT LIKE THIS!"

It started to rain, as I felt the raindrops on my glasses. "Damn you! Damn you weather!" I angrily raised my hand to the sky.

I looked at the pile of textbooks, which became soaked with rainwater. I became angrier and angrier the more I looked at it. Sticking from within one of the gaps of the two textbooks, was the red invitation.

My vision turned red with rage.

"You stupid piece of..." I growled, as I held out my hand, imagining everything being squished together into a single ball. I wanted it all to be lumped together, so I could throw it at the moon. This stuff... pissed me off.

I thought about Mom and Dad being disappointed in me, calling me a loser.

I thought about all the girls who rejected me, because I was ugly and I stank.

I thought about how Sam would always see himself as superior to me.

I thought about everything single time I would check my grades on the websites and seeing the class average a solid 20% higher than mine.

This ends...

"This ends NOW." I shouted, as I felt something in me snap. Suddenly, all the textbooks, to my disbelief, scrunched up, bending, ripping, and crushing together, wrapping into a ball. The ball became smaller and smaller, as it glowed green.

"Wha... what?"

I looked down at my body. I was... glowing green. What the hell was happening, what was this?!

I lifted my hand, and the textbook ball raised into the air. I steadily lowered in, imagining the ball suspended. It did exactly what I told it to. I willed it to slam into the ground, and suddenly, the ball smashed into the concrete road.

SMASH

I stared at the crater I had created.

"No... no way..." My look of surprise turned into a laugh.

"Ha...hahahaha. HAHAHA!" I... I knew it. I knew my life wasn't shit. I really was special.

I looked at the bricks and iron pipes that lay on the ground in the construction zone in the far end of our block. I looked at them and concentrated, as they all began to glow green. Lifting into the air, and bending it.

No... No way. Even iron?! Was there... could I lift something heavier? Maybe myself?

I concentrated on lifting myself, and before I knew it, I was levitating. I felt... free.

"This... this is amazing!" I cried, as tears of joy ran down my face.

"Up... higher... HIGHER!" I shouted, as I shot to the skies, the city becoming a mere splotch of tiny buildings. I laughed in excitement as I soared the skies. I heard that air got thinner the higher up you were, but I was breathing normally. In fact, I didn't feel cold. The green glow... it was like it was giving me protection.

I flew all across the sky.

"YAHOOOOOOO!!!" I shouted.

"I'm free!!! FREE!!!!" As I flew faster and faster. I was a shooting comet, soaring through buildings in the night sky, then at the cliffs. I levitated in front of a large rock formation.

"Could I..." I held out my hand, and the entire freaking mountain lifted, glowing green. "NO WAY!" I shouted, hysterically.

This... this had to be a dream.

I lifted a piece of rock. If it was, I would wake up, if this hit me in the head. I willed it to shape itself into a club, and bonked myself over the head. The rock broke from contact from my green aura. Oops.

I willed the aura to turn off on my body, and made the club tinier, and bonked myself over the head. I fell backwards.

"Ouch!"

This... this wasn't a dream. This was real.

"I can't believe it..."

"I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!" I shouted at the sky. "THANK YOU! THANK YOUUUU!!!" I cried in joy. My life... my life had changed forever.

Chapter 81 (Remnant 5)

"Dude, you look like shit. Did you even sleep last night?"

I struggled to pick up the coffee pot. I spent the whole night screwing around with my powers that I didn't even realize I was far from home. I had to GPS my way back, and by the time I got home, I was too excited to sleep. Ended up with only an hour.

"Yeah... a bit."

We walked to the bus stop.

"Uh... Tom? You okay buddy?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're smiling... like really weirdly. You're not thinking perverted thoughts about that girl are you?"

"Nah. The hell. No way." I said, as we boarded the bus. I looked around, and scanned the bus, and found the girl, sitting in the same spot. I cheerfully sat at the seat in front of her.

Sam shook his head. "Dude, you keep doing this, she's going to be on to you."

"Who cares. I'm feeling unstoppable today."