Thunder Struck!

It was a warm sunny day, there was no breeze so the air lay heavy in patches and light blinded the darkened corner's from view and painted the world in it's orange glow. The peak's of Novum Aurora's skyscraper's and tower's that pierced up into the cloud's beyond could be seen with the eye off in the vague distance from a quiet little suburb only a mile or so down a sloping hill, nestled between great Oak's and Redwood's. So undisturbed, it seemed. Nothing stirred at this moment in time, it was around midday, most of the people that lived here were off working in the city beyond leaving this quaint little place almost deserted and silent. Everything was motionless until suddenly through the nearby tree's something rushed passed at great speed, darting from tree to tree, the blurred outline of the person doing it was all that was left behind. In a clearing some few hundred feet away, the figure stopped and rested and let the warmth off the sun above work through the muscle's as it came to a halt and sat on the lush dark green grass below them.

A man sat on the grass, a blank expression across his face, panting from the run before hand. He lay back and spread himself out over the softness below and exhaled sharply, wriggling his arms and shoulders, trying to free up the tension in his muscle's after his big run. He had been running for the last hour an a half, in these woods, no one bothered him or even seemed to notice he was even there in the first place. He wished for a calm breeze right now to just gently blow over his body, his sore, tired and tender muscle could do with a break but the heat wasn't all that bad after all. He felt the moist droplets of sweat flowing softly down the curve's of his skin, patting and dabbing at his forehead he wiped his brow and once more spread out flat and began to slow his breathing, first breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth till his breathing became steady once more. He gained his breathe and slowly rose from the ground and once again stood up, surveying all that was around him, all the sounds around him where so loud, so clear, here it was beautiful.

Even in the quiet of the forest there are so many unheard noise to human ear, it is like another layer shrouded by the constant droning of the human world, you could almost believe there was something beneath it all, a level of sound, a world of life hidden in plain view. Buried. It was covered over and forgotten by human's, concerned only with themselves and their own little "world", it was in the layer between the human ear and that of animal that Travis belonged to. Travis stood in this forest, he could hear the creaking tree slowly bend, even the grasses constant cycles spurring it to growth, such a minute noise but yet Travis' ears could pick it up. In fact there was so much noise in every day life, the white noise that falls flat on human ears, now so immune to it with modern technological advancements. Travis liked the natural world, it's noises were pleasant, here he could hear squirrels climbing or the birds perched in the tree's, all the noises of life where in his ears, they were gentle noises, kind to the ear. Unlike back home, the sound of the coffee machine on standby, draining the energy from the socket in such a small fraction but yet the noise was a constant groaning off uncomfortable proportions.

Electrical noises had no beauty in them, they buzzed, groaned, choked and stifled above all other noises, blotting them out as the moon blankets the sun at the time of the eclipse. There was a nearby stream that trickled past the thorn bush's nearby, flowing endlessly to it's final destination, it would be only background noise to the human ear but to Travis it was more like a waterfall, his ear's were so sharp he could pick out noises from up to a mile away given the right wind conditions and position of himself. It had taken him a long time to get a hold on things, after all it was just two years since he had been an everyday normal kid, then a young man and suddenly, here he was, thousands of miles away in a foreign land, pushed out like an old cow sent to pasture. He did like his new home, it was comfortable and the area was great, less electrical, less human. Here natural order reigned in it's own silence but part of him still longed for the life he had only a short while ago. There was his career as an Olympic sprinter, his exquisite penthouse apartment in the greatest area back home. His family was there, his old friends and even... Natasha. Things he could no longer have, his newfound curse had brought all those things to an end so swiftly.

Visions of that day burned most clearly in his mind beyond anything else. It had all started out so perfectly, the air was warm and calm as it was right now, he felt like he was gliding over the ground below his feet, his muscle's rippled from the power of his stride, each foot thumping the AstroTurf with his own sheer force. Even he could feel the power of his stride, both pride and respect for himself bristled through him. His inside's mirrored the heat around him, he was so worked up into a frenzy there was a heat like a furnace coming from him, he had made it half way round the track in only a few short seconds, the first few seemed to almost disappear, as it had never even happened but just as quickly as these seconds had flew past it all came to an abrupt end, suddenly the screaming fan's around him got louder and louder till it deafened him. His ear's rang with sounds old and new and before he knew it, the light in his eye's dimmed and died, like the last embers of a fire as they choked their last breathe before giving way to nothingness. The world seemed to almost whitewash itself out, first to grey, blurring the lines until it all became white and faded to nothing until his eye's glazed over for the last time, his world turned black and his pupils turned white.

The light would never again be restored to his eye's, like the fire that flickers in the wind, fading quickly then snuffed out entirely. Pain was the only thing that greeted him next. Marcus, another runner built as strong as Travis himself had picked up his pace as he saw his chance, thinking that Travis had faltered he rushed forward trying to pass him on his right side then suddenly from the corner of his eye's he saw something slam into him hard and fast. The two men collided, tangling themselves up upon each other's flailing limbs. Travis banged his knee hard and Marcus twisted his arm in the mess, both felt the pain but the only thing that hurt was their pride as they fell in front of all the world's nations on live Television, they had lost and in doing so, they felt the burden of the loss for their own country. There was little to nothing he could do about the loss now, he was eventually escorted of the track when someone in the front row started shouting what Travis could only assume was "help". He was led of the track and immediately had his eye's tested, it was conclusive that his eye's had shutdown completely. He was left alone for a few moments to take it all in, when they returned he had smashed and broken anything that had gotten in his path and he had to be bandaged up as he had cuts and bruises to his arm's and leg's. The doctor never reported this to his family.

At first, he couldn't make out anything. His eye's only seen a blank slate from end to end, total darkness was to be the only thing that greeted him but it would not last this way for long. He couldn't quite understand it but he began to see bit's and pieces of the world around him, everything was still black but he could see the outline of the room he was in every time he took a step or two, like something suddenly painted over the dark night and cast a white piercing light along the lines of each individual surface around him. He knew this wasn't normal so he asked the doctor was it possible there was something else going on with his eyes and would he check it again. The doctor only told him he was still totally blind. Travis didn't wish to make a scene so he waited till his parents came to him and he was taken home that day at what he could only describe as his lowest point to date in his life. He spent many days after that trying to piece together what was going on with himself, soon he began to notice the more noise was around him the more he felt he could actually see the world around him. He spent many hours creating sound to pinpoint locations and quickly he had sketched out a new image of the room he was staying in, able to navigate the whole room without fault after a few goes. Starting out he couldn't hold the new vision for long, he kept trying and over the course of month's he was able to create a constant visual through noise but along the way he had to make many mistakes to teach him the right way of things before he could go out in the open world to apply it to his life.

His hearing began to get stronger and stronger with each passing day, occasionally he would pass out and be found on the floor by his parents, the noise was so loud and so powerful at times he wouldn't be able to control himself and the sensory overload simply shut his functions down. It was a learning curve, as soon he was learning how to block out certain noises and to control the volume he heard from the world around him. It wasn't always easy, his parents would constantly keep an eye on him, between losing his sight and passing out he had worried his family and they had begun to tighten the net around him and he began to feel trapped living with them. Soon he found the attention so unwanted that he used his newfound ability to pinpoint the area around him, then he would go for walks on his own not far from his house, sometimes he would walk down the streets he used to when he could see and he could hardly tell the difference. Noise was the key, the more noise he could hear, the more he could pinpoint everything now, he could see people, how tall or small they were, fat or thin was even outlined, every noise bounced off everyone and cast their own echoed shadow. Things truly had changed, he no longer lived that life now either.

He snapped back to the real world around him and left his old memories behind as the sound of snapping twigs could be heard not far of, the sound was more natural than man-made so he originally thought it was perhaps a deer or rabbit just creeping past to see what had invaded their territory. It had wandered close, close enough for Travis to get a vague outline of whatever it was, the outline was deceiving and Travis remained motionless for the moment as he couldn't tell whether he was in trouble with the local wildlife or something else was seemingly running their eyes over him. The force that moved through the woods was neither bird, beast, man or machine. An organic mass, flesh toned, covered and dripping with blood and filth as it trailed itself along the earth below. Travis grew uncomfortable, if it was an animal it would of already made it's move as the seconds ticked past and still nothing happened, there was a feint stench in the air but his dulled sense of smell and taste allowed this warning sign to go undetected. His discomfort was what spurred him into action as anger and intrigue coursed through him for the interruption to his until recently, undisturbed walk in the woods. He pushed himself to his feet with lightning quick speed, his muscle's pushing off the ground hard, calling out to the creature he asked
"Hello? Who's there... I'm blind... you couldn't help me out could you?" He said timidly, he wasn't sure what was going to happen next but he figured it would be better to play the blind card before things got out of hand.

There was only silence from the creature until a moment later there was a gurgling of blood and bile, instantly the aura around the creature turned from docile to aggressive, it's legs slapped the ground hard with each step making it easy for Travis' ear's to pick up the incoming threat, storming towards him, he swiftly rolled out of the way and moved behind the bloody mess. He now could see much more clearly through his eyes, whatever it was that was standing near him was humanoid in shape and appearance but there was subtle differences, one leg was twice the size of the other, almost like two feet had tried to grow in the place off just one but no arms which had blurred the outline he had gotten the first time. The head seemed almost broken out of place, hanging off slightly to the right but yet this thing simply kept going, it seemed to blindly every few seconds charge in his general direction, until suddenly out of nowhere arms that Travis had never seen before grabbed him, he had moved deliberately a few paces to the left from what he saw with his eyes as a fat blob on legs, which now had two arms wrapped firmly round the wrist of his left arm which was the side he stood closest to this thing. He squirmed but there was an unnatural strength behind the force grabbing him, without thinking his instinct for survival kicked in and swiftly he summoned a audio kinetic mass of energy in his free hand, as soon as the energy was charged and ready he slammed it into the face of his attacker with as much force as he could muster. The hands grabbing him let go and the mass fell to the ground, still gurgling and convulsing.

Travis quickly moved over the top of his attacker, he was curious but fearful it would get back up and attack him again. What the hell could it be, what has no arms one minute, then the next suddenly starts grabbing you with such force? He could feel the heat on his arm were the creature had grabbed him, he had received friction burn from the force with which it had held him only moments ago. There was a gurgling, then a cough. Spluttering and spitting, the flesh wriggled for a moment before a woman's scream sprang from the quivering lips of the mess below, then seconds later it had vaulted up, trying to claw at Travis that had stood above it. Travis had watched, first in shock and then in disgust as he heard the abomination change and contort, it looked like it was in agony and the scream pierced his ear's, causing him to lose his foot momentarily. He rebalanced and as soon as he did he could sense the movement in the ground of the impending attack, he was prepared this time, his stance was one of control, lingering above his opponent he had the higher ground and was willing to strike. He screamed loud, the shrillness causing a blowback effect against his opponent pinning it back to the ground before it had time to land a successful hit. Travis no longer planned to play as the lost little blind man he had started off with. Summoning the energy he required from the noise he had generated with his shock-blast and the natural noise around him, he charged both hands with kinetic energy once more and swiftly both hands rammed downwards.

A splatter then a bursting noise echoed from the corpse below as it now lay motionless below. After landing his two hit's he could sense there was already many cut's and scrap's along the torso and face of whatever it was he had just killed. He slowly staggered back and a few steps later he fell on his ass. Confused and disgusted at the feeling of the warm blood trickling down his hands, his mind racing as to what was going on. He had to find the nearby stream and clean himself up, no one could see him covered in blood like this. He left the clearing rapidly, sprinting as hard and fast towards the stream as he could. Plunging into the water hard he scrubbed himself down, making sure to rub hard on his clothes to remove any other stains he couldn't see. How had things gotten so out of hand, earlier on that day he had been just some blind guy with a curse to be blinded and robbed of his dreams. As he finished bathing in the lake, he started to head for home, knowing his way back having been here a few times before. He was just about to enter the tree's when another rustling could be heard. Clearly human, running away now, back towards the town but fast, almost unnaturally. Travis sprinted as hard as he could following the sound through tree and bush. Pelting down after whatever it was that had seen him or been watching him he was always still lagging behind, who else was this fast? Finally Travis tracked him to a roadway and there the trail went cold. The road headed into the City of Novum Aurora, he had two problems now.

Someone had saw him murder that...thing, human or not there was blood on his hands and even more unnerving, the person who saw him had already made there escape, where they a passer-by or did they send that creature to kill Travis in the woods? Most likely Travis believed whoever sent that creature had been watching, who else would of been in the woods at that time of day, only when Travis had gotten close to it did it make it's escape. If this person did send that creature they could come back to try and finish the job next time. Travis had the strangest feeling that he wasn't alone in the world anymore, there were more people like him, different... Cursed. It seemed Travis had only one option, he was headed into the city. There were questions that needed answers and they would only be found in the one place he was hoping he wouldn't have to go.