Chapter 2: Hard Open (Part Two)

Rubbing his eyes, blinking multiple times, nothing Vex did could make the strange golden box disappear.

 

[ Congratulations! The Hand of Fate has selected you as one of its chosen! ]

[ Will you accept? ]

[ Yes / No ]

 

'Did I eat more of Monty's special bread by accident?'  Vex thought to himself, mentally sighing as he thought back to the last time he accidentally ate some of his roommates 'party bread'. 'Yeah, never again'

Swiping his hand through the box seemed to do nothing but draw a few stares from his classmates, yet thankfully, most of them were still glued to the strange man's video. 

However, his will to have his vision freed from the strange glowing box seemed to transmit, as it vanished as quickly as it appeared. Testing out his newfound schizophrenia, Vex took a few seconds to make the golden screen appear and disappear with his mind. 

'Okay, no one else can see this thing, it can be controlled by my mind, and it claims I was chosen by something. Yep. I've officially lost it.' Vex thought, once again mentally sighing and looking back down at his phone, only to see the video end and the symbol disappear from his phone. 

Surprisingly, nothing immediately happened. The classroom seemed to be frozen, stunned by the many revelations contained within the video. 

"I- ah- uh- shall we return to the lecture?" Professor Trilan asked, looking out into his still frozen class of students. 

"Y-yeah." One student muttered, refusing to take in any of the information the video provided. 

That was before the unthinkable, and unbelievable happened. 

James Olsten, a bright young mind positioned two seats from Vex, began to scream first in pain, and then in horror, as his body slowly began to change. His skin turned into a violent shade of violet, horns grew from his head, and his hair began to shift from blonde to a deep red. 

After thirty seconds, the transformation was over, leaving the entire room, James included, completely stunned and silent. 

"MONSTER!" Someone yelled as the class erupted into a panic. Not that they were necessarily wrong given the circumstances, but harsh.

Students and professors alike sprinted out of the classroom, desperate to get away from their now horned and red-skinned former classmate. All but one, habitually curious, and utterly bored with life, Vex Ziad. 

"James?" He asked, tentatively, ready to book it if his old friend responded wrong.

"Henry? You didn't run?" James replied in a frightened tone, flinching at his now slightly deeper voice. 

"Man I stopped going by my middle name two years ago, how do you still mess that up?" Vex Henry Ziad said, chuckling in hopes to cut the tension and inching closer to his friend. Vex and James had gone to the same high school, getting closer in college since they only knew each other.

"Sorry, it's weird to call someone a different name after so many years, you get it," James said, slowly bringing his hands away from his face and looking at his new body for the first time since he began transforming.  "I guess I really am a monster."

"No, you're still James Olsten, the caffeine addict. Just red now." Vex said, steeling his nerves and asking the real question he stayed behind for. "Say, before that, uh, happened. Did you perchance see a box with text in front of you?"

Immediately, James's head snapped in Vex's direction, a look of understanding washing over his face. 

"You saw it too! So I'm not crazy!" James said, sighing in apparent relief as he got up and began to approach his comrade in understanding. 

"No, I didn't see yours. I saw one of my own, what did yours say?" Vex asked, happy that the tension was fading and his friend was still under there. His exterior may be unsettling, but the fact his insides weren't any more demonic than usual made Vex let down his guard. 

"Mine said, 'The Ruler of Flames recognizes your blood as his own. Do you wish to reclaim your birthright?' Kinda cringe, but after what the robed guy said, I instinctively wanted to press yes." James said, trying to scratch the back of his head, only to jab his hand on his own sharp horn. 

You are reading story Rise of The Emperor at novel35.com

'Man, I'd hate to have horns.' "That, actually makes a lot of sense. Try to focus and pull up the screen again and see what happens?" Vex asked. 'Maybe there's a manual or a 'you're a demon now!' introduction letter.'

"Holy shit your right! Another screen comes up with a ton of stuff on it! Do yours and see what happens!" James said excitedly, happy to have another person experiencing the same thing he was. 

Focusing a bit, Vex resummoned the gilded screen and read its contents out to his strange red friend. 

 

[ Congratulations! The Hand of Fate has selected you as one of its chosen! ]

[ Will you accept? ]

[ Yes / No ]

 

"Okay, that sounds WAY cooler. You were chosen instead of supposedly being born into it like me." James said, yet before the two could continue the conversation, they heard a familiarly terrifying sound. The sound of heavy boot marches. 

'Fuck! I didn't expect the professor to call in Enforcers! But why are they already here? Enforcers are slow as snails to any non-government building.'

Unbeknownst to Vex, Enforcers were being deployed all over the nation to quell distress and protect the few remaining public figures. Apparently, higher-level law enforcement was not on the list of people the robed man considered important.

Enforcers were the strong arm of the law, freaks of nature nurtured by the government to quell riots and disrupt gangs. They were relatively new aspects of control, only really being trained after the annexation of Canada to stop protests, but they quickly became the local government's favorite tools. 

"Fuck, follow me!" Vex yelled, dismissing his screen and grabbing his red friend by the arm, pulling him through the back exit of the classroom. If his screen made him change in any physical way, he didn't want it to affect his ability to run from the law. 

Running through the veritable maze of hallways that made up his college campus was easy enough since most people were either also running or distracted in some other way from some other strange phenomenon. 

After five minutes of running, Vex and James burst into the parking lot and sprinted towards Vex's car, a clapped-out Chevy Camaro. Jumping into the driver's seat, Vex turned the ignition and took off towards the exit. 

"I understand my need to run, but what about you? What about your scholarship?" James asked, injecting a bit of life into Vex's long dull heart. His friend still cared and even remembered his scholarship.

"Dude, you just turned into, that, the whole school is panicking and there are Enforcers kicking down doors. If everything that purple-robed weirdo said was true, the world is different now. Fuck the scholarship, I need to get home and think." Vex replied, stepping on the gas and shooting past the local sheriff going nearly twice the speed limit. 

The ten-minute drive quickly turned into a five-minute real-life survival game as Vex and James sped through main roads and back roads alike, never slowing down nor stopping at petty things such as stop signs or red lights. 

Thankfully, no one got hurt, no one important at least, as Vex and James peeled into Vex's driveway. Stepping out of the Camaro, Vex looked around the shanty-town he lived in with pride. Baker Street was a community built and run independently, as the richest among the community had at most two thousand dollars to his name. 

In fact, Vex only got his hands on his Camaro through a lucky gambling streak, with the grand prize being his now precious car. 

"Honey, I'm home!" Vex called out, slightly out of breath after running up to the second floor of the apartment complex. 

"Thank fuck! I thought the Enforcers at campus got to you." Monty, Vex's roommate said as she stepped out of the kitchen holding a shiny and sharp knife. "WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT!"

"Oh, this is James. He's red now." Vex replied with deadpan sarcasm, his specialty. Well, one of his specialties. 

"Hey, Monty." James waved sheepishly, gingerly closing the door behind him.

'This is gonna be fun.' Vex thought, as immediately Monty began the onslaught of questions. 

You can find story with these keywords: Rise of The Emperor, Read Rise of The Emperor, Rise of The Emperor novel, Rise of The Emperor book, Rise of The Emperor story, Rise of The Emperor full, Rise of The Emperor Latest Chapter