State of Indiana, Hawkins...
The wind blew through the skies, as if it were singing. The clouds followed the rhythm of the wind, and the grass followed the rhythm of the sound, moving violently across the ground.
At the Hawkins National Laboratory facility, a base of illegal experiments resided in this quiet town, disguised as nothing more than a Department of Energy facility.
But in truth, children with psychic and telekinetic abilities were frequently tested, meant to become weapons of killing.
January 3rd, 1979... Hawkins Laboratory.
Inside a room with the number 10 written on the door, a child who appeared to be 7 years old was waking up.
He had his hair almost completely shaved.
His skin, smooth and dark, resembled the polished tone of brown jasper.
His nose was short and narrow. His eyebrows, thick, stretched almost to the corners of his eyes.
His eyes were completely black, as if they housed a black hole within them, transmitting a sense of absolute indifference toward the world around him.
One could say he was a handsome boy.
He wore a typical hospital robe, white, marked by grayish stains.
"Shit, I can't believe I actually ended up here..." the boy who had just woken up thought.
2 hours and 30 minutes earlier...
In a completely dark place, a 16-year-old teenager looked from side to side, as if he were lost.
"Where am I!?" He shouted into the void.
"Hello, Jhonatan." A calming voice made itself heard.
Jhonatan was startled by the sudden voice, took two steps back, tripped, and fell onto the dark floor filled with water.
"Who are you... and why did you bring me here!?"
"Me? I am the supreme being. I control matter and antimatter. I am what you call God." The voice became hoarse as it spoke.
"Huh!? God really exists!?"
Jhonatan showed an expression of disbelief, unsure whether to believe everything the voice was saying.
"If you are God, what do you want with me...?" Suspicious, Jhonatan asked.
"I want you to go to the world of Stranger Things and defeat the evil that resides there." The voice paused, as if thinking, then spoke again. "That is, of course, if you want to. If you don't... I will send you to my material plane of rest and let your soul rest eternally there, with my other worshippers, and I will choose another individual."
"No! I want to." Jhonatan said quickly.
He knew that it was not yet his time to die and, after all, the world of Stranger Things was dangerous, but to Jhonatan, it was fascinating.
"Alright." The voice sounded as if it approved of his choice.
"Here is a roulette and a character creation system."
As the voice spoke, a roulette object appeared in front of Jhonatan, along with a navy-blue panel, displaying a white, bald figure with no distinguishable features.
On the roulette, several things were written, such as: progressive super strength, progressive intelligence, partial control over the Upside Down, progressive domination over the creations of the Upside Down, telekinesis and telepathy along with the Void and progressive psychometry, progressive control of magnetism, progressive creation of sound waves, progressive mind control...
Many and many abilities appeared on the roulette.
"What is this roulette for?" Jhonatan asked, confused.
"This is a roulette for you to gain abilities in Stranger Things, completely random. You might gain Eleven's powers, you might also gain the ability to control water, or even transform into stone and stay without moving, eating, or relieving yourself for days." The voice calmly explained to Jhonatan.
"..."
'Isn't that ability kind of useless? And if I end up getting that, won't I just be a pig going to slaughter?' he questioned the intentions of that God in his own mind.
'Forget it. I already accepted. There's no turning back now.'
Jhonatan approached the character creation system and, with a serious expression, began his creation.
He was taking it more seriously than usual. Apparently, he didn't want to be ugly...
2 hours later...
"Done, finally, my masterpiece!" Jhonatan shouted, looking satisfied at the blue screen.
"You are quite shallow, aren't you?" the voice questioned Jhonatan's vanity.
"Hey, don't start with that. Beauty can also be considered a skill... between feeding a cute kitten and an ugly frog, who would a young lady or an old woman feed?" Jhonatan made a serious face and questioned the divine being.
"You are right. All non-transcended sentient beings are like that." The voice affirmed.
Jhonatan didn't quite understand what the voice meant by that statement, but he didn't care.
He now turned his eyes to the main dish, the skill roulette. That would decide whether he would have an easy life or a difficult one in the supernatural world.
Even if he tried to live a normal life with a shitty ability, his mission was, inevitably, to save this world, so he would always be involved with the supernatural, regardless of the ability...
That was why he was so apprehensive. He didn't want to get the ability to turn into a "car engine." It wasn't a joke; that really existed on the roulette.
Jhonatan approached the roulette, firmly grabbed the iron bar used to spin it, and, apparently without much effort, the huge roulette began to spin...
Tick, tick, tick...
Loud, consecutive sounds came from the roulette. After some time, the sound gradually diminished.
Slow sounds came from the roulette as Jhonatan watched it slide across the floor. The roulette slowly passed to the next option, hovering 5 centimeters above the ground. It slowly came to a stop.
Jhonatan knelt on the floor, closed his eyes when he saw it, and began to pray to God out loud.
"Oh my God, help me!!"
"..."
"I'm right here, man..." the voice said while watching the strange human pray.
As if he were deaf, the human continued praying, saying, "Help me, Jesus Christ!"
'How audacious, praying to another God right in front of me...' the voice thought silently in the void.
It was unclear whether it was due to Jhonatan's prayer or pure luck, but with the roulette's last remaining strength, it slowly moved forward and landed on the next ability.
Progressive telekinesis and telepathy, along with a Void capable of expanding and evolving, with psychometry also capable of progression.
Jhonatan slowly opened his eyes and, when he saw it, thanked Jesus Christ seven times and rolled on the ground in happiness.
"I knew it, I knew I could believe, my God!"
"..."
"Seriously, get out of here." The voice, no longer with its usual calming tone, said.
Upon hearing that, Jhonatan instantly lost consciousness and only regained it some time later, waking up in Room Number Ten.
"Damn Brenner, I knew that the moment I gained telekinesis abilities I would end up here..." Jhonatan looked visibly upset and even seemed cute, with his little 7-year-old face.
"How does this guy discover the powers of these children?" Jhonatan wondered.
He then decided to retrieve the memories of the body he had entered.
Jhonatan closed his eyes, still lying down, and with great effort used psychometry on himself, managing to enter his own memories.
He quickly found the moment when he was discovered by Brenner, realizing that the former occupant of this body was not very intelligent.
After all, at the age of 6, he had used telekinesis to remove a damn cat stuck in a tree, right in front of half of the elementary school children.
While watching the memories, he felt a sense of exhaustion and weakness and quickly interrupted the psychometry.
When he opened his eyes, his vision was blurry, his breathing rapid, and his body was releasing excessive cold sweat.
'It seems forcing the mind of a 7-year-old body isn't a good idea...' Jhon thought with a smile on his small face.
Quickly, his expression turned serious as he remembered the massacre by the damn Vecna, which was probably not far from happening.
He looked at the door and saw the number Ten written on it.
"Since I'm Number Ten and I'm 7 years old, Eleven must also be 7, and the massacre only happens when she's 8." Slowly, he placed his small hand on his chin, closed his eyes, and thought, 'How can I escape from here or even prevent Eleven from freeing Vecna?'
"Since the children are generally peaceful, security isn't that strong, and I can use the same place Vecna showed Eleven to escape."
"I don't think it would be very smart to try to keep Eleven away from Vecna and end up being marked by him right from the start."
'That would be certain death...' As he thought about it, a shiver ran down Jhon's spine.
"Number Ten, get up, breakfast time." A rough voice came from outside the room.
"I'm coming." Jhon replied.
He got out of bed, still somewhat tired, and approached the door as he slowly opened it.
As he stepped out, he saw a fat man, the same one who had knocked on his door, now knocking on Eleven's door.
Jhon looked to the sides and ahead. He saw many doors, from 2 to 18, but at no point did he see the former Ten; his existence had likely been overwritten by his own.
Some children had already stepped out, while others were still being awakened by the guards.
And Eleven finally came out of her room. Her cute, chubby little face was still half-asleep.
'Looks like the show failed to convey all of Eleven's beauty. She's much cuter than in the series.' Jhon thought silently as he watched Eleven leave her room.
After the guards woke all the numbered children, they guided everyone into a single-file line according to their numbers. Number 2 was at the front and Number 18 at the back.
"Why do you talk so little?" Jhon turned his head, walking sideways, as he met Eleven's eyes.
Eleven, apparently surprised, looked at Jhon without knowing what to say, and remained silent.
'That was embarrassing. I was completely ignored...' Jhon thought.
"It's not that I'm quiet, it's just that I don't know how to approach people." She said timidly.
Jhon, who had already been turning his head away, upon hearing Eleven speak, turned his eyes back toward her.
"If that's the case, why don't we become friends?" Jhon asked cheerfully.
"Friends? What are 'friends'?" She looked surprised and asked seriously.
'That's right, I forgot she grew up inside this laboratory...'
"Well, friends are people who share happiness, sadness, and good moments together. Friends are always together and, most importantly, never lie to each other."
"Being friends sounds nice! Do you really want to be my friend?" Eleven's eyes sparkled as she asked Jhon.
"Of course. Not to brag, but I'm a great friend!" Jhon said confidently, trying not to sound weird.
Seeing Ten's odd behavior, Eleven let out a small giggle, apparently amused after a long time.
"Alright, kids, we're here! Each of you grab as many snack bags as you want, just don't waste food. Do the same as always."
After the guard's instruction, the line dispersed and everyone went to get their breakfast, some in groups, others alone.
Jhon approached Eleven, who was slightly smaller than him, and pulled her by the hand toward where the snacks were.
"Let's eat, Eleven." Jhon said as he grabbed three snack bags for himself.
"You're going to eat all of that!?" Eleven was surprised.
The snacks weren't considered large, but for a 7-year-old child, eating just one was equivalent to several hours without needing food.
"Of course. If you want to grow strong, you need to eat a lot!" Jhon replied, showing off his thin little arm as if it were a huge muscle.
"I want to grow strong too!"
Eleven fell for Jhon's persuasion and grabbed two snack bags.
"Then let's eat."
After breakfast, the children were taken to the training room, which was also the area where they usually played.
Alongside Eleven, Jhon began testing his abilities.
As expected, Eleven was terrible in every possible way. That wasn't surprising, since it was shown in the series.
But what was a bit surprising was that he was terrible too.
He could lift some heavy objects, but his control over telekinesis was awful; almost always, the object went too far to the sides and never where he focused.
But he didn't worry. After all, he could progressively improve his abilities, just like it said on the roulette. In a few years, lifting several tons with precision wouldn't be impossible.