Fantasy, Adventure, Magical Realism

    Dante ran through the woods, sweat dripping into his eyes. The fire tattoo on his bicep burned and he shivered, despite the warm night. He could still feel the sting of the tattoo gun on his skin, which drew the tattoo that branded him as part of his family: the Fire family. The angry crowd roared behind him, and he ran faster. His mind flashed back to a week earlier, at his best friend Michael's funeral. Michael was dead because of the tattoo. Dante bolted through the bushes and spotted a small hut with candles burning in it. The yelling behind him got louder and he ran faster. He stumbled up the stairs and banged on the door with his fist, shaking from the adrenaline. The door opened and Dante dived inside. The door shut with a definitive snap.

    The crowd outside thundered past, barely glancing at the hut. Dante looked up and saw an old woman, who was staring at him. She wore long sleeves and a large hat, which Dante thought was weird for such a warm night. The old woman's name was Rachel, a widow who lived alone. Dante hastily tried to explain, but Rachel just shook her head and told him to sit at the table. Dante obeyed and Rachel told him that she knew what had happened with Michael. She also told him that if Dante wanted to overthrow the Higher Powers, he would have to destroy the System. Rachel instructs Dante to kill the 54th Rabbit, a sacred animal, so that she could use the blood to destroy the System. 

    Dante sets out to kill the 54th Rabbit, tripping over branches until he finds one. Swiftly, he uses his tattoo and tendrils of fire erupt from his fingertips, shooting towards the rabbit. After it is killed, Dante returns to Rachel who is waiting for him. But when Dante climbs the steps, he realizes something is wrong. Rachel removes her hat, and he recognizes that she is the famous Highest Power, who is in control of the System. She tries to kill him with two sharp knives, but Dante dodges and attacks with more fire. She deflects the flames and charges towards him. Dante tries to use his powers again but finds that it has a cooldown.  With no other choice, Dante runs, ducking as she throws one of her knives at him.

    Later, back in the forest, he realizes that in order to overthrow Rachel, he has to infiltrate the System. With a plan in mind, he falls asleep under the stars. When he wakes up the next morning, he walks back to the city, his heart thumping in anticipation. He is a fugitive now, so he must stay hidden. He pulls his hood over his head, and stuffs his hands deep into his pockets, blending in with the other citizens around him. He looks up, gazing at the tall metal tower that is the System. If Dante wants to kill Rachel, he'll have to get inside. He decides to just go for it, strutting up to the door like he's done it a million times. It's locked, but he sees a person wearing black armor emblazoned with a red symbol and recognizes the man as a guard.

    Swiftly, Dante quietly sneaks up behind him and presses his hand to the guard's back. He instructs the guard to not move and covers the guard's mouth with his hand. Dante leads the guard behind a rock and tells him to hand over his keycard. The guard obeys after a few seconds of hesitation. Dante then ties up the guard with a rope from the guard's kit and stuffs a piece of cloth in his mouth. Leaving the guard, Dante quickly walks back to the door and swipes the keycard, which makes a beep and a greenlight flashes. He's in.

    Dante sneaks through the halls, using the keycard to look in different doors, trying to find the main control room. He opens a door to a room filled with tattoo guns, and he shivers, trying not to think about his own tattoo. Finally, Dante finds the master control room and gazes at the huge monitors that show the citizens of the city from different angles. He's trying to take it all in when he notices an adjacent room with the door open. Curious, he investigates and stops dead in his tracks. Thousands of 54th Rabbits are in cages and next to them are tanks full of a red gas, like the color of blood. Quickly, he reads the label, and 2 words pop out to him: LOWERS IQ. Dante realizes why the 54th Rabbit is sacred: their blood is used to make a gas that lowers the IQ of anyone who breathes it. His mind flashes back to a rumor he'd heard months ago. His best friend Michael had told him that the Higher Powers had mutated genetics, which is why they were so powerful. 

    Now, Dante realizes his friend had been right. The Higher Powers had nutated genetics that made them unaffected by the gas. Disgusted, Dante quickly rushes to the cages and frees the rabbits, who bolt out of the room. Dante turns to the Master Controls and uses the keycard to switch the GAS button to OFF.  As he watched on the monitors, the change was instant. The citizens began the wake up; their IQs returning to normal. However, after a few minutes, everything changes. People go from confused to angry. They start blaming and fighting each other with their various tattoos. Dante's family and the Water family clash and the gusts of wind from the Air family get sucked in by the Vortex family. 

    Dante's heart sinks as he sees Rachel hobbling through the crowds, trying to get people's attention. Hurriedly, he turns up the volume on the screens and holds his breath. Rachel's shrill voice comes through, very clearly blaming Dante for the gas and manipulation. The crowd goes wild and becomes even more worked up. Rachel can't get their attention anymore. Deciding to end it, Dante bolts back through the door and backtracks through the halls until he bursts outside. Filled with courage, he asks a middle-aged man from Air family to lift him up to the top of the bronze statue, which stood proudly in the center of the square. The man obliges and a strong gust of air lifts Dante to the top of the statue. 

    People below stop to watch in amazement and wonder as Dante turns to the System tower and holds out his hands. Huge tongues of fire and lava erupt from his fingertips and quickly engulfs the System in flames, sending it crashing and burning (literally) to the ground. The crowd roars in appreciation, but no one screams louder than Rachel. The crowd turns to her and suddenly, she faces thousands of angry, confused, and powerful people. She turns and hobbles away as the crowd rejoices, chanting Dante's name. But he's not done. Not yet.

    He slides down the bronze statue and bolts after Rachel, knowing that if she got away, there was a very real chance of history repeating itself. He follows her into a deserted park, shouting her name. She turns and draws her knives. She prepares to throw them at Dante, who has completely forgotten about his tattoo cooldown, when a sharp crack fills the air. Dante doesn't even see it: one second Rachel is upright, and the next she is on the ground, as stiff as a board. Her eyes are glassy and wide, with no life in them anymore. Dante knows she is dead without checking. He notices that she is no longer wearing the long sleeves, baring her arms. Curiously, his eyes drift to her forearm and his blood runs cold. On her wrist, plain as day, is a fire tattoo, just like his. Dante knows it, but he doesn't want to believe it. Rachel was part of his family. She was his grandmother.