Michael Grant, 26 years old, unmarried, no children. Reading the dossier in the police station deep into the night, surrounded by pitch-black darkness, I stared at the photo of a young guy. An ordinary brunette with brown eyes, short haircut, and a somewhat goofy smile. He worked at the local factory, just a regular guy who decided to swim where he shouldn't have. The official conclusion in the police dossier: missing, possibly drowned. No one would even bother looking for this Michael—his parents were dead, no siblings, no other relatives in town either. Brightburn was a small town where everyone somehow, however vaguely, knew each other. Michael's friends searched for him for two or three days, then gave up. It's a shame, but no one would allocate rescuers or specialized search teams to find a grown man. If it had been a child, say, my age—of course they would. But like this—just one stroke of the pen, and that's it. Gone and gone, maybe he left town—who knows?
Alright. Hearing footsteps coming from the staircase and seeing the duty officer approaching through the wall, I opened the window and flew up to the roof, closing it behind me. The dossier was back in its place, and no one noticed my intrusion. Fingerprints didn't worry me much. No traces, no suspicions—I hadn't even stepped foot on the floor of the archive room. A kid couldn't climb to the second floor, scaling a fence and walls without ledges, right? That's what I think too. And the cameras simply couldn't catch me.
Hearing the click of the doors and a quick inspection of the room by a heavyset man, I gazed thoughtfully at the Moon. I'd sat there once, looking down at Earth, but I didn't particularly like it. Too quiet, too empty. Rising and flying a bit above the clouds so no one would spot me, I sped toward Michael's house. The address in the dossier indicated he lived on the outskirts of town. I needed to pick up the trail. The hunt would begin tomorrow night, but for now, the rattling dawn wouldn't let me move freely through the city.
Quickly covering the distance to Michael's house, I saw from above a typical single-story cheap house. Housing in this town was already dirt-cheap, but what I saw was the lowest of the low. Peeling walls and an unkempt lawn. The neighboring houses weren't in great shape either, but at least they were maintained. I flew over this house, feeling every flaw grow sharper in my eyes, every misplaced speck catching my attention. The peeling walls looked exhausted, like old wounds that hadn't gotten proper care. The lawn out front resembled an abandoned patch of land more than a place to relax. I looked at it from above, sensing how even the gloomiest scenes lost their weight from this height. These houses were part of a town where time seemed to have frozen, indifferent to what once was. Compared to my house on the farm—night and day. Still, Kyle was good in that regard and kept his property in solid shape.
While no one had yet left for work, I dropped below the fence line to avoid being seen. I ended up behind the house. Everything was just as dirty, and it was clear Michael hadn't bothered taking the trash to the bin by the road. Alright, I carefully kicked aside the garbage near the back door to clear a path and tugged the handle. Of course, it was locked. With force? I pulled again, but careful not to break it, then simply used a laser from one eye to melt the mechanism without touching the outer layer. Controlling my powers like that didn't come easily at first, but it was great practice for patience. Gently turning the handle, I opened the door.
Phew, what a stench. The first breath, with my senses picking up the full spectrum of the house's contents, was a real test for my nose. Not breathing through my mouth or nose, I moved through the hallway, peeking into rooms. Kitchen, living room, bathroom—I needed the bedroom. Surprisingly, the house was relatively clean despite the smell of dirty laundry and rotting food. Oh, there's the bedroom. Just what I needed.
I didn't step inside the house, unwilling to leave traces, and flying helped with that. So, opening the bedroom door, I surveyed it from the height of my former stature. A mirror, a desk with a fancy computer, a bed, and a wardrobe. The last one was exactly what I needed.
Opening the wardrobe doors, I looked around and spotted some jacket. It'll do. Taking it, I caught Michael's scent and sniffed. Yep, I had the trail. The ability to track by smell, like a dog, was one of the first skills I'd mastered. In my line of work, tracking a target was priority one, and my new abilities in this life had seriously upgraded my professional skills. If only I could find a rifle—though with my eyes, bullets weren't necessary.
Alright, closing the wardrobe's small doors, I glanced at the computer. If I were dirtier in that sense, I'd take the gear, but a dead man's stuff wasn't for me.
Darting out of Michael's house at speed, leaping over fences and making sure no one saw me, I raced to my place to stash the item somewhere nearby. I'd follow the trail at night. Surveying the town hadn't yielded anything useful. Nothing but sewers and filth. The rivers and reservoirs showed nothing unusual either. So, the only option left was to follow the scent. Maybe it'd lead me to the target I was after.
---
I felt the thick aroma of apples hanging in the air—the harvest was already gathered, rejected fruit lay on the ground, giving off a scent from their bruised sides. A freshly mown meadow served as a harmonious backdrop to the smell. Far from here, but still beautiful. I walked down the street, paying no mind to the surroundings, just dodging people. After school, telling my parents I'd go hang out and wouldn't be home, they sensibly allowed me what they thought were childish games. Giving me some money for whatever, they insisted I be back no later than nine. The sky overhead was lilac, and in the west, above the mountains, it glowed orange. The town was leaning into sunset, and Michael's scent, which I lazily followed while munching on crab-flavored chips, led me toward an old sewer not far from town. Spending all day at school focusing on it had ticked me off, so I decided to at least dull that nasty mix of sweat and cheap cologne. The chips helped a bit, and as I strolled along the sidewalk, I savored the warm air brushing through my hair.
About ten minutes later, as people thinned out and the town sank into darkness, the unlit road became one a little boy shouldn't be walking on.
"Well, who do we have here…" And when a figure in a black mask stepped out from the shadows of an alley—hood hiding his head, black coat covering his whole body—it wasn't a surprise, but an expected event. Strange to find such people in a town like this, but alas, he wouldn't get the chance to do anything and couldn't have.
"You're just the guy I need." Tossing the empty chip bag, I grabbed the hand he reached toward me, broke it, and muffled his scream with force, dragging him into the dark. The flailing body stared wide-eyed in pain. "Tell me, pal. What rumors are floating around?"
My eyes glowed red, and he screamed harder, struggling to break free. Something about a demon, maybe? Funny—he didn't seem bothered by what he'd planned to do to a kid. How quickly we turn pious.
Nine minutes of questioning and one more to carefully burn the body, and I stepped out of the alley to continue on. Holding the huge guy against a wall five meters up with one hand, he sang fast. Michael wasn't the first to vanish near a body of water. For months, rumors had been swirling from different parts of town. Homeless folks, people without friends or family, those with no one to turn to. The authorities and police ignored such disappearances, but the underbelly of the population talked about it. And this dead pervert, who'd already raped two lost souls like me, was part of that underbelly too.
So, learning of ten disappearances, I moved on. The creep's ashes had already scattered, and I didn't care if he had anyone close to him. His own fault. I'd wanted to break every bone in his body and leave him there as a lesson, but I reconsidered. Too much attention I didn't need.
Another ten minutes, and I reached a grate blocking the passage from above but not below, where the sewer water flowed. The descent was steep, and few people even knew about spots like this. Normal folks don't wander into places like this under dim moonlight. The scent led here, but diving into that dark pool wasn't appealing. So, carefully bending the metal grate open, I slipped into the dark corridor. The smell pulled me deeper, though my vision showed few traces. Floating slowly in the air, standing upright, I spotted just one old shoe print, about size 35, long faded but caught by my eyes. Nothing else. Let's see what's ahead—already, I could sense a heavy stench of something like blood, meat, and something unusual. I'd never smelled anything like it. Interesting.
---
Flying slowly so my steps wouldn't echo, I found myself in the sewer proper. Instantly, I felt the thick dampness seep into every cell of my body, especially filling my lungs, as if the air itself was soaked in something misty and wet. My heightened senses caught everything. Remnants of old pipes and metal structures loomed around, like abandoned skeletons from the days when this all mattered. Dark stains, something like mold, clung to the walls, and it felt like just yesterday workers bustled here—now only echoes bounced off bare, empty stone. The dark, unlit corridor, three hundred meters long, led me to a vast chamber with multiple passages. Water flowed through channels, sinking deep below by the looks of it. The dark corners were coated in gray patches, as if the darkness itself was trying to seep into the cracks, corroding anything alive that might've once been here. I felt this all-consuming darkness swallowing me, making me feel more alien with every step in this forgotten place. There was something eerily unsettling about how the sound of my flight seemed to vanish into the air, dissolving in the massive space devoid of people or life. I touched the cold walls, feeling their texture like ancient records left centuries ago. But that was just my imagination, I shook my head.
Old, unlit, and unmaintained for years, this sewer stank of everything dirty in this town. The smell permeated everything, practically imprinting itself in my nostrils. Scanning the upper level with x-ray vision and the rooms leading nowhere, I saw nothing. Water, filth, mold, and emptiness. But the smell—you can't fool that. Someone had killed here or brought bodies. Imperceptible to humans, the scent was like a beacon in the dark, guiding me where to fly. It led to a passage ending in a dead end. Not bothering to move closer, I just looked with my eyes and spotted bones. Human bones, gnawed clean, as if by a beast with big, sharp teeth. The marks on them suggested whatever did this was pretty damn big. Unnaturally big. No natural predator that could do this and hide the bones in a nook like that existed. This was something intelligent. An intelligent cannibal that fed on people. Flying up to the ceiling, I hid in the shadows. I'd wait an hour. Tori and Kyle, from the sounds of it, were dancing to some music and cooking dinner—pasta, I think. If the culprit didn't show up in that time, I'd come back tomorrow or at night.
Thirty minutes later, the water in the sewer channels trembled, and at a speed a mere fraction of mine but still impressive, a figure burst out. Huge, bulging with muscles, nearly two meters tall, bald at first glance—but in truth, some kind of amphibian. Lowering my gaze from the bald head, I saw slanted, fish-like eyes, huge and empty, dirty yellow skin, and fins at its throat. Its torso was relatively small but muscular. The arms and legs, massive compared to its chest, had webbing, likely for swimming. It was male, judging by the genitals and its naked body. But what caught my attention was what it held in its left hand. Dragging a kid no older than me by the scruff, it carried him like trash toward the bone pile. The creature's teeth were huge, and it was clear who'd been eating people around here.
Snorting, I noticed its slightly elongated ears twitch as if they'd caught my sound. It tossed the boy into the water and tried to leap after him, but who'd let it? In an instant, I was beside it, clamping its throat in a vise with my right hand. Hands that could crush the toughest things on this planet to dust held this amphibious freak as I hurled it against the wall. Grabbing the kid's hand, I pulled him onto the ledge—let him rest there. The creature's body left a dent in the wall higher up, and sucking air through its huge lips, it took a step toward me.
The monster, coming to, opened its mouth and shot a stream of water at my face. Then it blinked stupidly with those dull eyes, like it saw something unreal.
"Water? Seriously?" My hand spun in circles, clearing the moisture from the creature's mouth and whipping up a tornado that slammed into its chest. It crashed into the wall again and stayed there this time.
It got me after all, I thought, glancing at my shirt, now slightly damp. Looking around for any surprises, I eyed the two unconscious figures: the boy and the fish-man. Now what to do with these guys?
---
Hands crossed thoughtfully, I stared at the wriggling cannibal and pondered. After safely dropping the kid off at the police station, I clapped loudly, creating a sound strong enough to ring in people's ears nearby. I rose and watched to make sure they took him. Sure enough, the cops, rushing out of the building in a panic, spotted the boy lying on the road—still alive, just out from lack of air—and took him in. My client awaited me. Bound with twenty steel cables I'd scavenged from a construction site in another town, this slimy monster weakly struggled to break free. A weird trait of this thing—it secreted slime from its skin pores, slippery and gross in my hands. But I managed to drag this wonder far into the mountains, where no one lived or wandered. With some effort, I hauled it into a cave at 900 meters up and shoved the unconscious amphibian inside, sealing it with a massive rock I hoped it couldn't move. The steel cables, rated for 5,880 kg with a 10 mm diameter, held the creature. And now, the next day after school, I flew back, watching it and wondering how to understand it.
It tried to communicate something with its slobbering lips once it realized it couldn't snap the cables. But honestly, I didn't get it at all. I spoke English, my native tongue. With the new brain I'd been born with in this world, learning other languages was a breeze. I knew all the major world languages—Chinese, Spanish, Hindi, Arabic, Bengali, Portuguese, Russian, Japanese, Javanese—at a level good enough for complex stuff. I also knew the language of the planet Taora, though I hadn't learned it—I just knew it somehow. But here? Just clicks and noises, like it wasn't even from this planet. Hmm… what if?
I'd long wanted to move my ship, doubting its safety in a regular barn cellar. I'd built a stone decoy replacement ages ago. Sneaking it out under cover of night worked, and now it sat proudly in the cave. Took a whole day, but it was worth it. Now I felt my most precious things were hidden from prying eyes. I'd love to make a base no human could reach, but I didn't have any ideas yet. The Arctic? Too obvious—anyone who remembers Superman comics would check there first. Everest? Maybe closer, but I wasn't sure yet.
Reconfiguring the ship's systems had stalled—I didn't grasp some of the alien tech, and progress was slow. Human tech, sadly, couldn't help me dissect the alien craft, no matter how I'd fantasized about it. But I didn't despair; I didn't really need the thing. It was just a handy tool, nothing more. Relying on external gadgets with a body like mine would be dumb.
Activating the ship with a touch, I skipped the usual spiel about world domination and said, "Can you analyze an unknown language and translate it?" The question fit—I hoped to learn something from this guy's mouth. I was curious where he'd come from, especially right where I lived. In twelve years on this planet, I hadn't noticed any oddities or news like this. A normal planet, like my last life. No superheroes, Gothams, or Wakandas. Yet here, right under my nose, pops up this comic-book-esque freak. A grim comic, at that.
"Yes, Soldier. Provide a sample." A sample, huh? Glancing at the fish-man, who'd given up and was silently staring at the wall, I approached and gently poked his eye. He screeched again in his tongue, and a red beam from the ship shot into his mouth. Good thing it didn't hurt him—just startled him—and he kept yelling. "Analysis-Analysis-Analysis…"
Five minutes in, realizing this'd take a while, I climbed out of the long, dead-end cave and sealed it with the same huge rock. The monster shouted something after me, but I ignored it. I wasn't leaving food for this guy on principle—no pity here. Once I got what I wanted, I'd send this thing to the Sun. Let it sunbathe for all the people it ate.
Well, glancing at the Sun sinking below the horizon, I decided to head back. It was almost five p.m., so I shot into the sky toward home. In an instant, I felt the world's weight lift off me. Earth, with its mundane limits, fell far below, like I wasn't human but something free, unbound by gravity. At first, there's no noise, no air resistance—just lightness, near weightlessness, as if I were part of the wind.
My body surged with incredible energy, a fire pulsing through every nerve. My fingers clenched, my chest expanding in aching fullness. In that moment, I just was—airflow fused with the sky, the world, the very space. I moved faster than people could notice, faster than anything on this planet. A glance below, and the world opened like an endless ocean. Buildings, houses, cars—all turned into tiny toys. Familiar sights now felt alien, distant. Everything I knew, all boundaries, vanished as if they'd never been. The wind hissed in my ears, and I, a superbeing, tore into the sky, soaring upward. The sky stretched endlessly around me. With every move, it revealed its vast expanse, like I was a breath of air finally finding its place in this massive space. I was in it, and it was in me. In this flight, everything existed. I became part of the sky, the stars. My muscles, brimming with unearthly strength, felt no strain, no fatigue—just forward motion. Time lost meaning. I sped through clouds that parted before me like living beings, offering coolness and light. I felt their softness against my skin, like they wanted to catch me, but I was higher, faster. Brushing them gently, leaving dampness on my fingers, they drifted on their path, and I on mine.
Then I looked toward the horizon. The Sun, a giant golden bowl, pierced everything with its light, casting stunning reflections on the clouds, wrapping me in warmth and boundless radiance. I hadn't enjoyed our star like this in a while, but flying always felt unique. Special.
Tori's makingJonah making lasagna tonight, right? Awesome. Licking my lips, I sped up for a quick trip home. The sonic booms from breaking multiple barriers echoed behind me as I raced back. For her lasagna, I'd even kill.