MULTIVERSE OF TALENTS

Adam was so shocked that he hadn't even had time to process what was happening when he felt someone push him from behind.

"Whoop!"

He was falling from the top balcony of his hotel booked room, and he could see the ground getting closer and closer. He had no time to think, no time to plan, no time to react. All he could do was fall.

As he fell, a thousand questions raced through his mind. Who had pushed him? How had they gotten into his hotel room? And why had they done it?

But he had no time to ponder these questions, because he was plummeting towards the ground at a terrifying speed. He was certain that he was going to be seriously injured, or worse, die!

As he plummeted towards the ground, he heard the horn of a truck blaring nearby.

"Pum! Pum!!"

He thought it might be a mirage, a hallucination brought on by the fear and confusion of the moment. But as he fell closer to the ground, the sound grew louder.

He was suddenly struck by a horrifying realization - he was going to be hit by the truck.

He tried to brace himself for the impact, but it was too late. The truck hit him, sending him flying through the air.

"Bam,"

"Crash!"

The crash was like an explosion. A terrible, deafening sound that pierced through Adam's skull, followed by a wave of pain so intense that he couldn't even think.

The next thing he knew, he was lying on the ground, unable to move.

He could hear the faint sound of sirens approaching, but everything else was a blur. He had no idea what was happening.

The siren grew louder and louder, reaching a deafening pitch that made his ears ring. He tried to block out the sound, but it was impossible.

With a tremendous effort, he forced his eyes open, only to see a blinding white light.

As the blaring sound of the horn filled his ears, he suddenly realized that he was unimaginably not in some terrible accident, but in a classroom, surrounded by students.

A teacher was holding a megaphone, and she was staring at him with an expression of exasperation.

It was obvious that he had fallen asleep during class, and she was trying to wake him up.

Embarrassed and confused, he sat up in his chair, trying to regain his composure. The other students snickered, and he felt his face turn red with shame.

'How did I get here?' He thought to himself as he couldn't help but look around.

He tried to make sense of his situation, but it was impossible. How had he gotten from the scene of a car crash to a classroom?

He searched his memory, trying to find an answer, but it was like a thick fog had descended over his mind.

"ADAMAX!" The lady teacher yelled, her face turning red with anger. But Adam could only stare at her, puzzled.

Adam studied the woman carefully, trying to make sense of what was happening. She looked to be around his age - early thirties, if not less, yet she was treating him like a child.

"Whose name are you calling like that?! Stop yelling and my name is Adam!" Adam yelled back in an attempt to scare her with his accustomed gruff baritone voice but what came out of his throat was a tiny voice of a kid ranging from 10 years old to 15.

What?!

The other students gaped in shock as Adam raised his voice to the teacher. Adam, for his part, was too confused to think clearly. His mind was reeling with questions: 'Am I a child now?' 'How is this even possible?'

The concept of reincarnation and rebirth was not new to Adam. He had heard of such things before, but he had always dismissed them as mere fantasy. 'Maybe I died and came back again in another person's body - a kid's body at that,' he finally concluded.

The teacher stood before Adam, one hand on her hip and the other clutching a megaphone. With a shrill voice, she yelled, "Detention room, now!"

With a defiant step, Adam walked out of the classroom. His heart was pounding, but he was determined to get answers to his questions.

Moreover, he couldn't stay in that classroom any longer. He needed to process what had happened, and maybe the detention room would be the perfect place to do that.

As Adam walked down the hallway, he saw a metallic door with the words "Detention Room" etched into the surface.

"I've found you," he said, his voice barely above a whisper.

Ah! As Adam reached for the doorknob, he realized he had left his school bag behind. But he didn't turn back to retrieve it. Instead, he turned the knob and pushed the door open with a bit more force than necessary.

The detention room was unlike any other classroom he had seen. There were no desks or chairs, just an empty space with a few students scattered around.

Some of the students sat cross-legged on the floor, while others paced around the room. One student was talking to the wall, as if there was someone there listening. The whole scene was what he'd call weird.

Wait, what!

'This can't be real,' Adam thought to himself, taking in the cold and sterile environment of the detention room. It looked more like a jail cell than a classroom, and the students seemed to be trapped in some sort of limbo.

They all looked strangely out of place, almost as if they had been plucked from another time and place and deposited here.

Almost everything was made of metal with no way to escape and the lack of windows made the room feel claustrophobic.

"And this is called the detention room?" Adam was dumbfounded, he could barely stop the urge of opening his mouth agape.

Adam looked around at the other kids in the room. Most of them were around 10-15 years old, which meant that he must be the same age.

He treaded lightly, not wanting to attract any unwanted attention from the other kids.

"These kids could be dangerous," he thought to himself. They all looked so strange, their eyes blank and their expressions unreadable.

Adam spotted a girl sitting in the corner, her hair streaked with vibrant rainbow colors. Well, he thought she might be of help to him seeing as she was the only calmly seated one.

He walked over and sat down next to her, trying to appear as non-threatening as possible. "Hi," he said, his voice sounding childish as before.

Adam's thirty years of experience gave him the confidence to start a conversation with anyone, regardless of age or gender. So even though he was a bit nervous, he wasn't worried about his ability to communicate.

He cleared his throat and tried again, this time making his voice sound young and friendly.

"Hey," he said, "I like your hair. The colors are really cool." He hoped that complimenting her would help him to make a connection, and maybe even get some answers.

Adam was taken aback by the girl's harsh response. "Don't talk to me!" she snapped, her voice filled with anger.

Despite the girl's gruff shunning, Adam didn't give up. "I'm Adam..." he remembered the teacher called him Adamax, that must be his name. 'What a weird name though,' "I'm Adamax," he said to the girl.

The girl stood up, her sudden movement startling Adam, and he rose to his feet, heart pounding.

The next thing she did was worth crying at. She yelled, "I said, don't talk to me!!"

As Adamax struggled to understand why the girl's words suddenly sounded like an echo, he felt a force blow him up like an explosion, sending him flying backwards.

He hit the metallic wall with a resounding crash, and then crumpled to the floor, gasping for air. For a moment, he lay there, dazed and in pain.

What just happened?!

{If you find any issues in this chapter, please reach out to the author ^⁠_⁠^}

Adam hit the ground with a thud, his stomach taking the brunt of the impact. Confusion clouded his mind as he struggled to understand what had just happened.

How had the girl managed to throw him across the room without even getting close to him? But with just the words she had spoken - but how was that possible? It didn't make any sense.

Adam lifted his head from the floor, squinting up at the girl who loomed over him. Behind her, a bunch of teenage kids from the detention room had gathered, an angle of 180 degrees, like points on a compass, surrounding him on all sides.

As he lay on the floor, Adam's head was spinning from the impact of the throw. His eyes were heavy, and it took all his effort to keep them open. But he knew he had to see what was happening around him, no matter how much it hurt.

As he blinked, his vision came into focus, revealing a scene unlike anything he had ever seen before.

As his vision cleared, Adam noticed that the students' eyes were glowing with otherworldly colors. Some were crimson red, others were a shiny emerald green, and others were the icy blue of a winter sky.

A few had eyes that were completely white, while others had beady black eyes that glittered like gemstones. It was as if they were becoming something other than human, something supernatural and terrifying.

'This isn't earth at all,' he came to a conclusion inwardly.

Adam swallowed hard as the students began to close in to him and began doing stranger things.

The student with the red eyes held out his hand, and a flame burst forth from his palm. It danced and flickered in the air, a living thing that seemed to have a mind of its own.

Adam could feel the heat from the flame, even from several feet away. The student's eyes glowed with a fierce intensity, and Adam could sense the malice behind them.

"How dare you speak to Talia even when she said you shouldn't?! You don't belong here," the fire boy growled, his face contorted with rage.

The flames from his hand crackled and snapped, and Adam could feel the heat on his skin. He knew he had to do something, but he was frozen with fear.

"Ah! It's hot!" Adam cried out, his voice filled with panic.

The other kids began to laugh, their faces twisted into cruel grins.

"He hasn't even touched you with it, and you're already whining," sneered one of the students, his voice filled with contempt.

The others laughed and nodded in agreement.

Adam didn't have time to ponder on the person who made that ridiculous statement. His focus was on the flame, which was getting closer and closer to his face.

He was so scared that he could feel his heart pounding in his chest, and he could feel his little hands shaking. Worst of all, he felt an undeniable wetness in his pants, and he knew that he had lost control of his body.

'Yeah, I'm an adult and so what?' Adam thought to himself.

'It's not like anyone here knows that. Besides, it's perfectly natural to be afraid of fire, especially when it's coming straight for you. And besides, I'm in a child's body, so it's perfectly understandable that I had pee on myself out of fear.'

He tried to convince himself that he wasn't pathetic.

Messing up himself had not gone unnoticed. "Eww! Did that loser just wet himself?" cried one of the students, her voice filled with disgust.

The others joined in, pointing and laughing at Adam.

He felt like he wanted to disappear, to fade away into nothingness. He had never felt so humiliated in his life.

The other students recoiled in disgust, their faces wrinkling in revulsion. They backed away from Adam as if he was a plague, their eyes filled with contempt.

"What do you expect from Adamax, the one with the most useless talent in all of Ulaetsria?" sneered the fire boy.

With a swagger, he - the fire boy, sauntered out of the detention room, followed by the rest of the students.

The door slammed shut behind them, and Adam was left alone in the cold and sterile room. The silence was deafening, and he could feel the shame and humiliation weighing on his shoulders.

He was conflicted. How did he get here into this strange world of unearthly beings?

"Hey, sweetie," a gentle, feminine voice called out. Adam's head snapped up, and he saw a woman standing in the doorway.

It was a lady, a pretty one at that. She was dressed in a simple white dress, and her hair was pulled back in a neat bun. She just seemed like a young mother and true it, she was.

"Honey, mommy came to pick you up. Did those kids bully you again?" She asked, squatting down to little Adam's level.

Adam looked up at the woman, his eyes filling with tears. He felt like a failure in his own world, and now it seemed like he was a failure in this world too. Why did he have to be the butt of everyone's jokes? He felt like he would never escape the taunts and the teasing, no matter where he went.

"What did they mean by 'useless talent'?" He asked, his voice trembling slightly.

He wanted to sound inquisitive rather, a sorrowful childish voice about to burst in a loud cry sounded so pitiful.

The woman wrapped her arms around Adam and pulled him close to her chest, gently running her fingers through his hair. "There's no need to cry, sweetie," she muttered.

As Adam leaned against the woman's chest and feeling her subtle, plump flesh, he felt a blush creep up his face. "Damn it," he cursed himself inwardly. "This is so embarrassing!"

Hurriedly, Adam extricated himself from the woman's embrace. He rose to his feet, his face burning with embarrassment.

He tried to appear composed and dignified, but he knew he must look like a total mess.

"Ehem!"

He cleared his throat, trying to hide his unease.

"Haha!" The lady laughed. "Don't tell me you are shy, Adamax?" She said mockingly, laughing as well.

Of course he was shy! He was a grown man, after all, and it was a bit awkward to be in such close proximity to a woman's chest.

But more than that, he was a man of principle, and he felt a little bit guilty about the situation. He may have looked small and childlike, taking the appearance of a teenager on the outside, but inside, he had the soul of a man.

The lady stood up, wiping a tear from her eye as she continued to giggle. "You used to love cuddling," she teased.

'Well, no longer,' Adam thought, but he didn't have the courage to say it out loud.

He was beginning to realize that his body and mind were not in sync. His mind was that of an adult, but his body was that of a child, and it sometimes acted on its own, as if it had a mind of its own.

Peeing on himself, wanting to cry when the body came in contact with its mama... That wasn't him, it was the body.

It wasn't him who peed his pants or who wanted to cry when the body was held close by the woman. The more he thought about it, the more it felt like he was a passenger in his child's body, with no control over what it did or how it behaved.

'I need to gain control of this body,' Adam thought to himself. 'I need to teach it who's in charge.'

Adam's thoughts were interrupted by the woman's voice. "Come on, let's go home. I've got a surprise for you." Her words pulled him back to the present moment.

"Oh?" Adam's voice betrayed his excitement, even though he was trying to remain calm and collected. But he could feel the body's reaction, the giddiness and excitement that it was expressing without his permission.

{If you find any issues in this chapter, please reach out to the author ^⁠_⁠^}

On the way home, his eyes were heavy with exhaustion. His head lolled against his mother's shoulder, and he couldn't even see the streets outside of the school.

He was caught in a hazy daze, too tired to even be aware of his surroundings.

It wasn't a willing sleep though, his mother had done something to him, causing him to fall into a deep sleep the moment they left the school. He was completely unaware of what was happening as his mother carried him home, his body limp and heavy in her arms.

The woman was certainly strong, both physically and powerfully. She was as powerful as any of the others, her skill unearthly and almost supernatural.

"Look, I got this for you," she said, and placed a white notepad in his hands.

As soon as they entered the house, Adamax woke up with a start. He looked around in confusion, and it slowly dawned on him that he hadn't seen the outside world at all - not the sky, not the plants, not even the people.

He had been asleep the entire time, and he hadn't even realized it.

Though his mind was new to this body and environment, his soul had quickly adapted to the change.

For the first time since his rebirth, he felt a sense of peace and calm. No more confusing and terrifying events, no more unknown forces pulling him in different directions. Just him and his mother.

Adamax's eyes fell on the notepad in his hand, his brow furrowing in confusion. It was short but bulky, unlike any notepad he had ever seen before.

"This is the surprise you have for me? A notepad?" Adamax said, a hint of disappointment in his voice. He couldn't help but feel let down - he had been expecting something more exciting.

"I know you like notepads," she said with a mischievous smile. She ran her fingers through his hair, just as one might pet a cat.

As much as Adam felt annoyed by this woman's constant pampering, he knew that she was only doing what she normally did to her son.

She truly believed that he was her son, and he couldn't bring himself to take that away from her. So he allowed her to pet him and fuss over him, even if he secretly wished she would stop.

"Now, off to your room. I'd call you down when dinner is ready," the woman said, patting him on the head.

She turned and walked away, her back straight and her steps firm. It was clear that she had no doubts about who he was.

Adamax couldn't help but roll his eyes as the woman walked away. She was nothing like his real mother, who had never shown him such affection or care.

Was this woman simply too good to be true, or was there something else going on? A part of him wondered if there was an ulterior motive behind her behavior.

With a sigh, Adamax muttered to himself, "Oh well," and looked around the room, trying to distract himself from his thoughts.

As Adamax scanned the house, his eyes fell on the ascending staircase. He reasoned that it must lead to the second floor, and the kid's room must be there.

He was, after all, inhabiting the kid's body, and it only made sense that his room would be on the upper level.

Adamax was curious. Not only did he want to know more about the kid he was inhabiting, but he also wanted to know more about this strange world he found himself in.

He felt that the key to understanding everything lay in learning more about the kid.

When Adamax reached the top of the stairs, he spotted a nameplate beside a door. "Adamax 001" was engraved on the metal plate.

"Obviously the kid's room," Adamax whispered to himself, his tiny voice hoarse.

Adamax was about to knock, when he realized that the room now belonged to him. He pushed the door open and stepped inside.

He looked around, his eyes taking in the space. "Hmm, neat," he said, his voice flat.

At first, Adam had braced himself for something strange and otherworldly, given his experience so far in this mysterious world.

But as he surveyed the room, he realized that it was as ordinary and mundane as any other bedroom. The only question was: Was that a good thing, or a bad thing, in a world of extraordinary things?

The room was as neat as a pin.

"At least it's a normal room in this crazy place," Adamax said with a chuckle, sitting down on the bed. He shook his head, finding it all a bit absurd.

A normal bedroom in a world that was anything but normal - the irony was not lost on him.

Adamax found the room uninteresting, so he didn't bother to snoop around. He left the room and descended the stairs.

As Adamax descended the stairs, the sounds of revelry became evident. He could hear laughter and conversation, a sense of merriment in the air. What was going on down there? He couldn't help but wonder.

With his curiosity piqued, he made his way to the source of the noise.

When Adamax reached the living room, he stopped in his tracks. It was no longer the living room he had seen before. Instead, it had transformed into a midnight porch, lit by the soft glow of the moon. There was no sign of the previous room, as if it had never existed.

Adamax wasn't surprised by this transformation. After all, he knew that he was not on Earth anymore. In this new world, anything was possible - anything could happen at any time, to anyone and anywhere.

Adam sighed, scanning the crowd for his "mother" in this strange world.

The porch was bustling with activity, people moving about and chatting animatedly. It was as if a party were taking place. Adam felt overwhelmed by the noise and the sheer number of people.

"How'd they all get here in a few minutes?"

"Raar!"

Suddenly, a roaring fire lit up the corner of the porch, its blazing light illuminating the area. It was as if a massive fire propeller had been ignited, the flames dancing and crackling.

The heat was intense, and the crowd around the fire was cheering and shouting in excitement.

Despite the heat and the deafening noise, Adamax couldn't help but be drawn to the commotion. He wondered why the crowd seemed excited instead of afraid.

After pushing his way through the crowd, Adamax finally reached the source of the commotion.

And there, to his utter disbelief, he saw his "mother" in this world. She was playing with the roaring fire, manipulating it as if it were putty.

Adam's mind reeled as he watched the scene before him. "How is this possible?" he wondered aloud.

Then, he watched in horror as his "mother" opened her mouth and spewed a torrent of fire, just like a dragon.

The crowd went wild, cheering and clapping at the spectacle. It was as if this were the most normal thing in the world.

"What the hell is happening?" Adamax blurted out, unable to contain his shock and confusion.

He couldn't wrap his mind around the sight of his "mother" manipulating fire like it was nothing. It was too surreal, too impossible.

A small girl standing next to Adamax piped up, her voice filled with wonder. "Your mother is so cool! She can make roasts and bake bread with her fire-breathing talent," she said, her eyes shining with admiration. "I wish I was a firebreather too."

"Fire-breathing? But that's impossible!" Adamax thought to himself, feeling a sense of cognitive dissonance. "Is this a cartoon or something?"

Looking at the little girl who seemed to be the only person in this world to answer his questions, he asked. "Where is this place?"

The cheerful little girl laughed and then replied. "Ulaetsria, of course."

"Ulaetsria." The name Ulaetsria seemed vaguely familiar, as if he had heard or read it somewhere before. But where? He wracked his brain, trying to recall any relevant information.

"It's nice to meet you," the girl said with a bright smile. "My name is Zaylane, and I'm a bone cracker!" She offered him her hand, but Adam was too stunned at her boldness to respond.

Adamax forced a smile, not wanting to upset the little girl. "What a cute and sweet girl you are," he said, his voice sounding a bit strained.

Internally, he was far from comfortable with the girl's self-proclaimed title of "bone cracker".

Slowly, he stretched out his hand and gingerly took the girl's tiny hand in his own. The moment their hands touched, there was a loud CRACK!

Adamax's eyes widened in horror as he realized that the sound had come from his hand. A searing pain shot through his arm and he felt his knees go weak. Then, everything went black.

The girl giggled at Adamax's reaction. To her, it was just a normal handshake. But her small hand held an extraordinary power, one that could break bones in a simple contact.

She found the whole situation rather amusing.

The girl's handshake had broken Adamax's palm bones, and the pain was so intense that he couldn't take it for even a second.

He blacked out, collapsing to the floor. The girl watched, still giggling, completely unbothered by the whole thing.

{If you find any issues in this chapter, please reach out to the author ^⁠_⁠^}