by R. J. Batla
All four of us said, “No!” at the same time. This brought a chuckle from Royn and a disappointed look from Katy.
There were too many to count, and we all started pointing and talking at the same time. After a minute, Royn said, “Enough! Each of you pick one, state your reasoning, then everyone will vote. Go.”
Everyone did. Katy picked pink, Gilmer a red one for fire, Anton a dark brown one for Earth, and Leona picked a yellow. Mine was last. It was green and brown, evenly cut on the diagonal.
“I picked this one because you three—” I pointed to Katy, Gilmer, and Anton, “—have brown eyes, and this green matches L…the other two of us have green eyes.”
I won.
Katy looked at Leona and smirked, as Royn said, “Finally! Ten of these, barkeep.”
He handed two to each of us, our unit number appearing at the top. “Touch those to each of your shoulders and they’ll orient themselves. They’ll stick unless you pull them off, then they’ll come off easily. You can slap them on the next outfit. Don’t let me catch you without them from now on. Follow me.” He led us to one of the areas with five white circles drawn in the grass, each touching two others on the edges, leaving a little space in the middle. He stopped, turned around, and said, “Day One – Powers. How many of you have tried to use them already?”
All five of us slowly raised our hands.
Royn nodded. “And how many got it to work?”
All hands stayed down.
“I figured as much. You couldn’t use your powers because, while they have been Awakened, you don’t know yet how to access that power. It’s like finding the door without having a key. This morning we’ll remedy that. Now stand still and clear your mind of all thought.”
I kept thinking about not thinking. Needed to clear myself of thought. No thought. No thought.
WHAM! A blast of sound and compressed air knocked us all on our backs, but that wasn’t the worst. I felt like my insides were on fire, a trail being blazed from my navel to my brain, like a worm gnashing and gnawing its way through me. “W-what’s…happening…” I managed to get out.
“I flipped the switch,” Royn said, walking around us with his hands behind his head. “In this place, being startled as such, effectively turns on your powers. Some of the Quantum powers are always on, like Leona’s Guide, Katy’s Speed, or Jay’s Strength, and each of you will have to learn to control those on a daily basis.”
The burning slowed to a simmer, and I dragged myself to a sitting position along with the others.
Royn continued, “We’ll run through the Six Powers shortly, getting your elemental powers working, and then we’ll test the three rarer ones of Jayton’s. Now get up.”
We obliged, and he showed us how to use our bodies to guide our powers, enhancing each element with a motion or a gesture. After he declared us “ready,” he said, “And don’t forget: you could be summoned to receive your weapons at any time from now on. The different weapons masters are keeping an eye on you, and they’ll each pick who can come to their shop to procure their weapons and when. One of the greatest honors of a Ranger is the day he or she receives their unique weapon.”
Well, now I couldn’t wait for that – some awesome sword that could do all this cool stuff…
“Jayton,” he said, interrupting my day dream, “time to see what the fuss is about.”
Royn threw me a rock. “Change that to water. Go.”
Say what now?
“Um…sir, I don’t really know how to do that?”
Royn rolled his eyes. “Concentrate. Determine what properties you want the rock to take on – in this case water. Visualize it, then push your power behind it, and your powers will make it reality.”
Seemed simple enough. Think about it. I concentrated. Got nothing. So I concentrated again. Nothing. I concentrated even harder, and finally I could sense, well, all the parts of the rock. They were rigid. Sturdy. Stiff. Strong.
With water, all those little parts needed to flow. The links between all the little pieces of rock were slowly becoming visible to me, like tiny spider webs between the little pieces of stone. I willed them to change, to loosen their bonds, to change their composition and become water.
And you know what happened? They obeyed! As soon as I thought it, really pressed energy behind it, the stone changed, becoming a puddle of clear water that ran out of my palm.
I’ll be damned. “I can’t believe it worked.” This was incredible. “So, can I just create anything out of nothing?”
“Creation Ex nilhio? Out of nothing? Negative. That’s God’s power and God’s alone. The demons don’t even have creative powers. You’re just manipulating what’s there, using the laws of nature to shift matter from one form to another.”
Looking up at Royn, I nodded.
“You can do it with any element and convert it to another. Now we’re gonna get dangerous. Everyone step back.” They obeyed. Royn threw a bucket out in front of me, pointed at it, and walked up to me. Whispering in my ear, so only I could hear it, he said, “Try to send your energy out again, but this time, concentrate on destruction. Darkness. Elimination. Erasing. And direct a tiny stream at the bucket. Tiny, you got it?” I nodded. “Go on then.”
Obeying, instantly a steady stream of black spherical energy emitted from my hand and I became angry. Really angry. At everything and nothing at the same time. Wrongness pushed at my head, my mind growing darker and darker. The best way I could describe it would be like a drug slowly influencing your brain until it was totally in control, and I was a completely a new person. A bad person.
Scowling, I destroyed the bucket, reducing it to ashes.
But the energy kept coming, the darkness would not be denied – it wanted death, destruction, chaos. And I liked it. Nothing could stop me. Everything would yield, everything would –
“Stop, Jayton.”
What? Someone dared to tell me what to do, they –
Another part of my brain clicked. White reached into the darkness, which fought back against the light.
“Jay, that’s enough.” Suddenly I knew it was Royn, the fog in my head returned to normal, and I stopped the flow of energy with a great deal of effort.
The bucket was nonexistent. So was a six-foot hole around it. And I was exhausted.
Royn whispered, “That’s why it’s so dangerous. It’s impossible to control if you let it consume you. We’ll work on it, but for now try to refrain from using the power – agreed?”
“Absolutely,” I said. “That person…what it made me feel…how I thought – that’s not me. I don’t like…feeling like that.” I shivered. My whole body shook like a dog after it stretches. That power gave me the heebies.
“Understood.” Then louder to everyone, Royn said, “All right, now you know what it does, why it’s dangerous. But Jay can control it. We won’t be using that power in training, but everyone here needed to know what it can do, to be prepared.”
My friends nodded. I hung my head, ashamed. That was…not right, is all I could say. I hesitated to say evil, but it wasn’t good, that was for sure. A lingering feeling stirred in my belly, the wrongness settling there.
I heard Royn say, “Gilmer, hand me that sword off the rack.” Gilmer obliged, and Royn threw it to me, drawing his own. The sword felt funny in my hand, like it didn’t like being there – didn’t fit. “OK, now for the fun part – Jay, concentrate on a spot right between your eyes. Then have at thee!”
With a battle cry, he attacked.
Chapter 11
Oh crap. Um, OK, OK…. Concentrating like he said, nothing happened. I blocked his first attack by luck.
“Harder!” Royn screamed.
So I tried harder, squinting my eyes and pressing my forehead with my hand. Then a hammer slammed me right between my eyes. At least, that’s what it felt like. I staggered back, and when I opened my eyes, everything was in various shades of white and gray. I felt relaxed, peaceful. My friends, their hands over their mouth
s, stood off to the side. Why were they staring?
“On guard, Jay!” I heard, turning back to Royn, who was swinging his sword at me again. Except it was glowing yellow, energy pulsing through and around the blade, serving both as a protective covering and enhancing its striking capability.
High block with sword, I heard in my head and my sword hand obliged, blocking his attack, my sword energized seemingly by itself. He immediately tried to stab under it, and I heard, Flat block down and to the side, to which my body automatically complied. Again and again, Royn attacked, and I heard the voice each time and followed the directions. Even though my fighting experience was severely lacking, I just knew what to do, where to move, how to react.
The attacks came faster, then Royn jumped back and punched with his right hand. Fireball – human drill, I heard, then pointed my toes and spun, sinking into the dirt. I felt the fire roar above my head, and then thrusted myself out of the hole I’d created.
Rock throw – transition and water shot, I heard, stepping to the side, catching the rock that Royn had thrown, spun to the right, and threw a transitioned ball of water at his body, which he dodged. I think he smiled, but I wasn’t sure.
The power flowing through me was incredible – I could see everything, and the voice in my head reacted so fast, I didn’t even have to think, just do. I was pulling moves I had never even heard of, let alone performed. I sent a slice of air at him, turned the ground beneath him to water, shot three energy blasts from three different angles at the same time – all kinds of stuff. It didn’t feel like any time at all, but suddenly, I was breathing hard. Our blades met in blurs of motion, the yellow energy of each colliding in showers of sparks each time they met. My reactions slowed. I was barely dodging, barely able to move fast enough, when I heard, Kick to the chest, spin right. But my body was too slow. The kick landed, sending me flat on my back.
Sheathing his sword, Royn bent to help me up, and I was surprised to see that he too was breathing hard. “Great job. Concentrate on the same spot to shut it off.”
I did, and color vision swam back, dizzying me as I stood, and I almost fell over. Holy crap, it felt like I’d run a marathon. Muscles spasmed, my head ached, and I was overcome with nausea and weakness.
Royn steadied me, and asked, “Voice or visual?” Supporting my weight, throwing my arm over his shoulder, he walked to the others, a surprising distance away.
“Voice,” I managed to get out, rubbing my forehead. How did he know?
“OK – it doesn’t matter, but some Ignis users get visual references, others hear the voice as you experienced. Head back over to the others.”
Man my head hurt! I rubbed my eyes, which also ached, and opened them to find a huge crowd had gathered around our little area.
“Show’s over folks – move along!” Royn shouted, and the crowd dispersed slowly, murmuring and casting glances my way.
“I think that will be enough, gentleman.” A big man in a black duster stepped from the shadows and advanced on our group, a curved black dagger drawn at his side. “Jayton Baird, per the agreement reached in Bayou Vista, I have witnessed the loss of control of your Morsenube powers and hereby –”
“Excuse me,” Royn said, “but I believe you’re mistaken.”
The man’s eyes narrowed. “I’m an executioner, sir. I don’t make mistakes. Clearly under the law book –”
“Clearly, you need to read the law book again. Section ten, subsection eight, heading three, paragraph B – all Rangers must use their powers at least once in order to know what they can and cannot do. This law supersedes any other decision or rule made by any other governing body.” Royn crossed his arms and stepped in front of me. “Plus, he did not lose control, as witnessed by everyone here, and per your orders, he must lose control and be a danger to life around him. Was that how it went down, Executioner?”
He grunted, sheathed his dagger which pulsed with a dark light, and pulled out a large book. Rifling through it, he ran his finger down the page, his lips moving. “Damn,” he said, slapping the book shut. “You’re off the hook this time, Morsenube, on a technicality. But be warned: I’m watching, and I won’t let you be a danger to anyone. No hard feelings, just doing my job.” He leaned in close to me, eyes shaded. “And I take my job very seriously. I will enforce the law to its fullest extent. So you’d better watch yourself.” With a swish of his coat, he turned on his heel and stomped away, melting into the shadows.
“Well, that was weird,” I said.
“Hmph. Now we know who you’re dealing with. A stickler for the rules, even more so than most executioners. You’re going to have to be careful, Jayton,” Royn said, both of us turning to walk back to the rest of the team.
“Who was that?” Anton asked.
“My executioner.”
“Well who cares,” Gilmer said. “Did you see how Jay fought? That was incredible!”
“Really?”
“Yes,” Leona said, “it looked like you’d been training for years.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, like you’d done this before a thousand times,” Katy chimed in.
Anton had his arms crossed, rubbing the stubble on his chin. “How long do you think that went on?”
“Oh, I don’t know, five minutes?”
They exchanged a knowing look before Anton said, “Try thirty.” Thirty minutes? No wonder I was so tired! “In no time, you attracted a crowd, including the dude in the black coat, then they were coming in droves. I bet there were over five hundred people around here by the time it was over.”
I was floored. “Why?”
“They wanted to see the Ignis in action,” Royn answered from behind me. “You knew it was powerful; so did they. They wanted to see what it could do and you didn’t disappoint. You also discovered its weakness, yes?”
“I’m assuming it uses power too fast.”
“That’s right – it uses so much energy that you’ll exhaust yourself if you’re not careful. It seems your reserves are substantial, Jayton – you should have lasted only five minutes before being exhausted. And you lasted thirty – that’s a good sign,” Royn said. “We’ll get more advanced as we go, and you’ll learn to use several powers at once. Can anyone tell me something from watching Jay and I spar?”
Leona piped up. “When you used your powers, you moved your body as well, like a punch or a kick as you threw a fireball.”
“Superb, Leona. That’s right – your powers will respond better if you use a body motion in combination. A fire blast from a stationary hand is one thing – but shift your weight and punch forward at the same time – it allows the energy to flow easier and results in a more powerful strike. Anyone else?”
“Your swords were glowing,” Gilmer said.
“Nice, Gilmer. You can wrap objects, weapons, or others in your energy. Those with Energy powers can supercharge this, but anyone can do it. It makes the weapon more powerful – a sword able to cut through stone and steel, an axe able to fell a tree in one swipe, etcetera. Anything else?”
“Even though Jay had the Ignis, he still lost.”
“Thanks, Katy,” I said, elbowing her.
“Well, you did!”
“Very good, Katy. Just having a high-level power doesn’t mean all your battles will be easy. Jay, you’ll be training mostly without using the Ignis, so when you do use it, you will see a big difference – I doubt I’ll be able to beat you next time. But we’ll see. Anton or Jay?”
Anton spoke before I could. “I was happy. Excited. Felt like I could conquer the world while you two were going at it.”
Royn pointed a finger at Anton. “And that is the true power of the Ignis – the inspiration it gives others. Had we been in an actual fight, everyone on the same side as Jay would receive a boost of energy, of positivity, and would fight better, longer, harder. It only extends a hundred yards or so in every direction, but it’s amazing what an Ignis user can inspire in his team. Truly amazing. But you will see that. Ja
y?”
“I have more of a question – is that OK?” He nodded. “What happens if you run out of energy?”
Everyone looked at me. “I’m tired. So tired that I’m barely able to stand. Since using the Ignis requires so much energy, I wanted to know what would happen if I used too much? And how will I know I’m running low?”
“Well, first off, your powers will get weaker. They’re like a muscle – the more you work it out, the stronger it gets, the longer it takes to tire. But eventually it will tire, and you’ll get slower. Eventually, they won’t work at all. And if you keep trying, you use up all your energy – all your life force. Then you’ll die.”
We all gulped. So this was serious. Deathly serious.
“Well don’t just stand there, get back at it!” Royn said, motioning everyone away and grabbing me by the arm as the others walked away. “Jayton, I didn’t want to say this in front of the others, but when you fought, you were only on the defensive. Never attacking.”
“Yes, sir, that’s because you never let me; you were pressing too hard the whole time.”
Royn shook his head. “No. I left you plenty of openings. If you’d wanted to attack, you could have.”
“Well, sir, you see…”
“Jayton, you’ve got a good heart and a kind soul.” Royn put a hand on both shoulders and stared straight in my eyes. “You’re going to have to get over that. What you’re doing is war, boy. Kill or be killed. Especially if…never mind. Join your team.”
Royn pushed us for the rest of the day. I honestly didn’t know how I made it through; after using the Ignis I was wiped out. Royn drilled us until everyone was dragging their arms and legs as much as I was.
“All right,” Royn said. “Same time tomorrow, same place. Tomorrow is physical training. Get a good night’s sleep.” He checked his badge. “It’s half past six in the evening. The rest of the day is yours. Good job today.” He turned on his heel and walked away.
We followed Leona’s directions to the cafeteria. There weren’t too many people there this time. We caught a few whispers again, but this time they seemed to have a different tone – curious, cautious. My friends talked about their powers, how excited they were, how fun it was to use them, and the anticipation of tomorrow. I didn’t talk much – I was too tired.
