Chosen By The System To Play God

Chapter Nine

Adrian's head banged loud at the urgency of the situation. He had to save Ricardo's sister again? He already saved her life last night? Why was her life already in danger again? Now he had to abandon the search for his father?

"It is your choice, Adrian. Do you want to continue with the filler mission, or you would like to take on this one instead? You have four minutes left."

He really wanted to find out about his father, but the thought of Lyana dying after what he went through last night to save her was not good. He needed to save her again. Afterall he could come back and do this later.

"Wh... Where is she? At the hospital?"

The map appeared.

"No, Adrian. She appears to be in a vehicle on her way home from the hospital. For some reason, she was discharged today under untold circumstances."

Adrian checked the map. Lyana's vehicle was driving across the Stephanie Lane Bridge Pass. That was way on the other side of town, there was no way he could get there in four minutes.

"But I can't make it..." He whispered.

"Yes, you can." The system responded. "All you have to do is to use your character points."

His character points? Those things which he had no idea what they were?

He had ten points as shown on the screen. Making use of his mind to control a cursor on the screen, he chose to use one of them.

A variety of options came up before him. It was a list of abilities.

"These abilities are in relevance to the problem at hand. You have to choose one."

The first thing he saw was speed. He had chosen that before he saw teleportation, time freeze and flight.

"Congratulations! You have been granted the character of a speedster for this mission."

A wave of fresh energy swept through his body and mind. It felt electric.

"Wait... Does this mean??"

"Yes, Adrian. You can now travel at the blistering speed of light."

"You have got to be kidding me!"

Adrian carried his legs, they went faster than his eyes could capture. Soon the houses around him flew behind, the trees and the cars started to disappear in the blink of an eye. The moving vehicles looked still, and the time on the screen counted down really slowly.

"Two minutes left!"

Time was no longer a problem. He was running as fast as Barry Allen. There was no doubt he would make it.

"There she is!"

He sighted her vehicle driving away. With reinvigorated strength, Adrian raced at her and stopped a few yards in front of the car, forcing it to screech to a halt.

"Who is this mad man?" The man driving the car was furious. "Are you crazy? Do you have a death wish?"

"You have to exit the vehicle!" Adrian warned, certain the danger was part of the car somehow. It was the latest Luxury SUV in town, but there was something strange about it according to his eyes. It was coloured in blinking red. Adrian didn't understand the meaning of this but he was sure the system was telling him something.

"I think you want to exit this world, you nobody! How dare you interrupt lady Lyana's journey?!" The driver was on his way out now and was charging towards Adrian.

"Wait!" The back door opened and a face popped up through the cracks. It was more beautiful than how Adrian remembered it from the hospital.

"I know you." Lyana came out with the kind of expression which exposed her struggle in trying to remember whom Adrian was.

"Miss Lyana, please don't go any close to this pauper. He might be a criminal here to put you in danger. Please return to the car and let me deal with this."

She didn't listen. Closer and closer she came till they were just a heavy breathe apart. The time on the screen counted down into seconds.

"I remember..." She said finally, raising her fingers towards his face. "You are the man from the hospital... I saw your face when I woke up..."

"ADRIAN, YOU HAVE FIVE SECONDS! TAKE HER TO SAFETY!"

A reflex surge of power rose in his veins. He held her tight and ran as fast as he could away from the car.

5... 4... 3... 2... 1...

Boom!

A terrible wind blew at them from behind.

He stopped and they turned around to behold the burning SUV as some of it's parts still flew around in the air.

"What...?" Her face was filled with immense fear.

"There was a bomb on your car." Adrian explained, only just realizing himself.

"You... You saved my life... Again..."

It seemed like she was going to cry as she threw her arms around him. It was a warm hug. He didn't remember having one of those ever since he said goodbye to his foster mother in the village three years ago.

Adrian always had a certain impression of the Rodriguez family. Wealthy, pompous and proud, never appreciative of others no matter what and always ready to step on the lower class. He experienced that himself when he was very young. Ricardo and his step mother, Matilda had only proved his sentiments right the night before. But it seemed Lyana was a different person.

"Lucas..." She sobbed, referring to her driver. Adrian couldn't save him. He felt bad knowing Lucas is probably burning to ashes at the moment.

"Do not worry, Adrian. He was never a good person. LUCAS VASQUEZ WAS THE ONE WHO PLANTED THE BOMB IN THE FIRST PLACE."

Adrian was agape at this piece of information, but chose not to inform her. Afterall, the man was now dead.

A fleet of luxurious cars swam towards them from afar with dangerous speed, sirens blasting the evening alive. Police cars, ambulances, the fire department and some exquisite private vehicles all flashed the evening into brightness, surrounding them.

A car stopped by their side and a familiar man came running.

"Miss Lyana! Are you alright?"

James Halton held Lyana by the shoulders and checked her for injuries.

"I'm fine, James. But Lucas..."

James Halton shut his eyes close in a brief grief of Lucas Vasquez. Adrian was tempted again to tell them Vasquez was a traitor but he persisted.

"This man here saved my life a second time." Lyana pointed Adrian out.

James Halton turned to notice him.

"Mr Adrian Blood?! What can I say? You just saved my life as well. If anything had happened to Miss, I would blame myself forever for allowing her travel on her own. Thank you one more time. We surely owe you a lot right now."

"You are welcome, Mr Halton. I just happened to be passing by." Adrian waved it aside.

James Halton was going to walk away but then he stopped and turned around.

"How did you know about the bomb? Not even my highly trained men could detect it before Miss Lyana would travel in the vehicle. That is a great failure on our part. You seem to be better skilled than us and I would be happy to learn from you."

Adrian could not tell him that he was informed by a magical system. Of course James Halton would not believe that he could see into secrets and predict the future. It was all crazy.

"Let us just say... I was lucky."

"Luck?" James Halton smirked. "You see, Mr Blood. Here's one thing about me: I don't believe in luck. Or is there something you don't want to reveal?"

It looked like he was getting suspicions now. Adrian couldn't stand there for any more minute.