Random guy with Random powers

by Mr_Perlimpinpin

Chapter 1 : Tempting the Universe

*DrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnggggCLONG*

"Shut up you hell-coming diabolical device" my voice resounded in my apartment.

"*yawn* the sun just set up, another good day is up~" I sang as I was getting out of my bed.

Hello everyone, you probably don't know me and I don't know you either so here's who I am: Jack Stanford, the one and only. 23 years, single, live in New York, US, Like cats and video games, a student in engineering, and that's pretty much everything.
There's not much to say about me aside from that. I'm just a normal man who lives his life, nothing ever happens to me, and even if this is a quite boring life, I know it's suicide to tempt the Universe on that. Also, I made a break from my studies for a week to take a little rest, play with my friends, and all that sort of thing. I'm not poor nor rich but I've got what I need so I don't stress myself, It's not like I'm going to be suddenly robbed or something.

Anyway, after taking a shower and peacefully eating my breakfast, which is just some cereal and water (I'm not a big eater), I sat at my desk and turned on my computer to see the last news of the infinite chaos and mayhem that is the internet.

"So... no new interesting video from YouTube... some cool fanfiction...*sigh* well nothing really interesting, let's just continue playing Orc must die 2, nothing better to do".

I don't consider myself a nerd but video games are surely one of the best inventions of mankind. I never found anything more entertaining than playing some video games, especially with my bros (my friends, but we called ourselves bros after playing Broforce together).
Well, there isn't something else more interesting and you know what we say, time flies when you have fun. Well, this is quite accurate because at the moment I decided that I was finally too bored of playing the same game to continue, it was already 11 AM.
So I decided to turn off my computer and go for a walk outside. That could be strange to say but it makes me feel good to walk for some time, to stop thinking about anything and just walk. Maybe I would end up seeing something interesting, I don't really know.

As I walked into the city, I decided to simply let my eyes stare at nothing and everything. But there are not many interesting things outside either. In fact, I just realized how much my life was boring, how this whole world is boring. I mean there's plenty of interesting things to do like, say... umm... I don't know in fact, I don't like sports, my friends are all occupied and I don't know what I could play on my computer. So yeah I'm bored and walking is just a manner for me to find something interesting, but no chance yet.
Maybe I will travel to another country, see the world and... Ah who am I kidding I don't give a fuck about the rest of the world because I'm already good in my country and I hope it will remain calm.
Pfffff even though I don't want to tempt the Universe, there are some moments when I really want something to happen.

"*sigh* nothing, nothing, aaaaannd nothing surprisingly." Yeah, I'm quite sarcastic sometimes. Anyone would be at this point.

As I walked toward a small park, I spotted some sort of... lottery?

"And now what is that?" I asked myself.

I quietly walked toward it and after some approach, I found out that it was indeed a lottery. Which I was quite surprised because usually there's absolutely nothing here. In fact, there was no one here except for me which is also surprising because there are always some rubes around things like that, but to tempt chance is worst than tempting the Universe.

As I approached it further, the vendor looked at me with a smile. For some reason, I suddenly felt like I was a microbe looked at through a microscope. It didn't help that the vendor's face felt... hard to look at, as if my brain couldn't really understand what I was looking at.

"Hello mister, would you like to buy a ticket? It's 20 cents each." the vendor asked me.

"yeah sure why not, Anything to make my life more interesting" I said as I give the money without paying attention.

She chuckled a little "I know the feeling. But don't worry, if you win, your life will get much more interesting" she responded with a smile that seemed, unnatural.

I shrugged and decided to head back home, I didn't really want to continue walking and I was a little curious to see what I could win... if I won of course, like I say tempting chance is worst than tempting the Universe.

Upon entering my apartment, I first decided to eat something. So I put my things down and went to cook a little. Steak and potato, simple but effective.
After eating and washing the dishes, I put out my ticket and read the description.

"Scratch the area to see if you win! An incredible journey to the border of your imagination for the winner!" I read.

'well here goes nothing'. I thought before scratching the designated area.

"*sigh* like I thought it's a...WIN?!" I shouted as I saw the "win" scribed on the scratched area.

"Wow...I mean, YEAH I WON! But what do I won exactly?" I say to no one in particular as I read again the description.

And just to answer my question, I suddenly felt really heavy and began falling down to the floor.

"what...is...happening?" I said before blacking out completely.

"Hey, you're with me?" I heard from next to me.

'What's happening? Who's with me?' I thought as I slowly began regaining consciousness.

"Who...who's there?" I asked with difficulty.

"Ah you're awake, good now get up, I need to talk to you" the voice, which seemed feminine, ordered me.

Without a real choice, I decided to do exactly that and got up. After clearing my eyes I could finally see who was talking to me.

And I was not ready.

Looking at me with amusement was a pale lady with dark hair, wearing a purple robe. But what really stood out on her was HER EYES, red with a yellow sclera. Now that's something you don't see all the time.

"Wu-What happened to your eyes?" I asked quite frightened.

She rolled the said eyes before responding "It's my natural look dummy, but I'm not here to talk about me, I'm here for you." She responded.

I blinked as I didn't really understand what she meant by that. That's when I suddenly noticed I was not in my apartment anymore, but inside some sort of big empty theater, behind the scenes more precisely.

"Where am I" I asked.

"I will get to it, but first let's make the presentation okay. You're Jack Stanford right?"

"Ye-Yeah but how-"

"I'm Eris, Goddess of Chaos, nice to meet you."

My brain stopped completely when I heard that. She was... Eris... the Goddess of Chaos...?

"WHAT?!" I shouted in confusion.

"Yeah I know, it's incredible and you think it's all a dream, and you're in the hospital after having some sort of sudden coma or something but listen: this is real, you're not dreaming, dead or anything." she said.

I pinched the ridge of my nose to help me think of something to say or do but the only thing I got was a headache and more confusion. The worst is that I was actually believing her because it's too realistic and bizarre at the same time to be a dream. So I not only tempted chance but also the Universe?! I'm screwed.

"Okay now listen" she said "I brought you here because you won the lottery, that means you are now my champion for a game I invented, If you don't want to have anything to do with that, you have the right to refuse and go on with you're life, it's your choice"

Really now? I can choose? Well, I think it's time for a little brainstorming:
so a goddess of chaos just chooses me as her champion for a game she created, considering the implication it will certainly be something big but if I don't want to tempt the Universe even more I can simply refuse and return to my life. My boring... lame... life...

"You knew that I would want something like that to happen huh?" I say bluntly.

"Haven't heard what I said earlier? I know the feeling." She responded.

"Wait you were the vendor?!"

"Of course. How would I choose correctly my champion if I can't see him." She said with a smile.

"Okay okay I accept the offer, so what's the game?" I ask.

"Well, follow me."

She led me to the scene, where in its center I could see a big, strange machine that looked like a giant penny machine, with five gray buttons on it and a lever on the left. There were also five keys below each button.

"Now listen, the game is simple: this giant machine will give you random superpowers, you can have a maximum of five of them, if you choose to have fewer you will have more chance to get more powerful abilities. After you've got your powers I will send you to another universe where you will do pretty much everything you want. That's all." She explained to me.

"Uh uh..." I responded, not sure where this was going.

I sighed in resignation before advancing toward the machine. Guessing the keys serves to choose the number of powers, I decided to turn only three of them because five powers won't be very useful if all of them are meh at best.
After turning the keys, a green light appeared on the corresponding buttons and the signs began to roll at a very high pace, preventing me from seeing anything on them.

"Well, here goes nothing." I said to myself.

I quickly pressed all buttons, and immediately their corresponding signs stopped, showing the result.

- Metal mimicry.

- Auto-reflex.

- Gamma radiation manipulation.

"Here you go" Eris said happily "Not bad, not bad at all, now push the lever."

I did as she said, pushing the lever, and a strange mechanical noise came from the machine. After it suddenly stopped, a drawer opened in front of me, inside was a lonely golden gel capsule. I rose an eyebrow and took it.

"I need to swallow that?" I ask.

"Yep, go on!" she responded.

'Okay, Here I go.' I thought before swallowing the capsule.

The second I felt it entering my stomach, I immediately started passing out... again. Seriously why does it have to be like that? *Sigh* I knew I shouldn't have tempted the Universe.

Comments

[Hairy Rainbowish Thingy]

so i see you're back to this story.
good

[Mr_Perlimpinpin]

7338759 Well I got a sudden burst of will yesterday so...