“I ain’t no Elemental.”
Maggie shakes her head sighing, “Here we go again…”
Though Anaar was aware of the situation, he had not been exposed to it nearly as much as Maggie. Seeking to give her a break, he took the lead in responding to Dan.
“I still don’t understand how you have placed a stigma on being an Elemental, but whatever. There is nothing wrong with being an Elemental.
“I hate all dem fuckers! Water fucks me up, fire fucks me up, even them damn Terrynets be messin’ me up! Fuck ‘em all! I’m a Controller!”
“Whatever makes you happy Dan.”
Anaar was relieved the conversation was over, as it was just in time for them to reach the destination he had been moving toward. When he stopped abruptly, everyone looked at him with curiosity as he shook his head with disapproval. Stefani was the only other who recognized what was happening, thanks to her keeping her senses enhanced.
“Thom… If you are going to plan an ambush, the very least you could do is actually make sure you are hidden! I can see your leg! It may be as big as a tree trunk, but it doesn’t look like one!”
The nearby brush began to rustle as number of hushed voices accompanied by what sounded like sounded like slaps emerged from it.
“Way to fuck it up Thom!”
“I told you I thought I was too big to be in here! If you would have let me be on the other side we would have never been found out!”
“Umm, guys… What are we going to do? We don’t have the element of surprise anymore.”
“Fuck if I know! Ask Thom! It is all his fault!”
Thom then came sprawling out of the brush, just barely catching himself from the hard shove. One by one the others step out, each looking more pitiful than the last. Though everyone else wore expressions of hopelessness or worry, Thom had a bashful look that was strange for someone so large.
“Hey… hey Stef. I guess you are doing pretty good this time eh? Congrats.”
The small woman next to him glares, eyes red with fury, then punches him. “Now of all times?! I’m telling Raynelle that you are cheating on her! Or at least trying to!”
Stefani’s eyes go wide, then she smiles like an angel at Thom. “Oh! So you and Raynelle are dating? I love that for you! You really deserve someone! You are like a giant teddy bear!”
Thom’s face turns red from Stefani’s compliment, but then turns white as he realizes what she was responding to. “No! No, wait! I’m not dating her! Don’t think that! We only fucked like once, and I was so shitfaced I barely remember it!”
Unfortunately for him, the attempt to explain the situation only made Stefani’s face contort, indicating it had the opposite effect he intended. “I… see… Well, best of luck to you regardless.”
As Thom began to sulk, the fiery woman next to him stood up straight, placing her hands on her hips. She pointed at Anaar as the others cowered behind her. “Anaar against all of us. None of us have any fancy powers like you, so you can’t use any of those either. No blowing off limbs or none of that shit. If we beat you, you let us go.”
Maggie began to laugh raucously. “You think you are in the position to set condit-”
Anaar stopped her as he gazed at his opponents up and down. “Two Titans, two Synestates, and one Juggernaut. Seems a bit unfair don’t you think?”
The woman grumbles for a moment then sighs. “Fine, you are right. You can have the singer with you too.”
Anaar cocks his head to the side in confusion. “Oh! This is embarrassing. I apologize for the misunderstanding. I meant unfair for you! I’ll tell you what, since there are five of you, I promise not to attack for five minutes. One for each person you have.”
The woman clenches her fist as she begins to turn red. “Fuck you for underestimating us! But I see what you are doing! This is so you can use your powers!”
Anaar raises his hand, “No explosions, you have my word.”
One of the other men standing in the back refused to miss out on such a grand opportunity. He immediately drew his rifle and began firing. The action caught everyone by surprise, his own teammates more than anyone else. Without moving from his position, Anaar wiggled and bent, his body shifting to allow the bullets to miss him by the tiniest of margins. Showing his quick reflexes, Dan was able to get a barrier up in time to prevent injury to the rest of them. The three stepped back, distancing themselves from the impending fight.
Both the Titans and the Juggernaut chose to hang back and discharge their firearms as well, in fear they might be hit by a stray bullet from one of the Synestates. Though they had a visual Synestate that was an excellent shot, they were not as confident in the marksmanship of the audial Synestate. With the bullets continuing to miss Anaar with the smallest of margins, the team shifted to melee weapons to allow the Juggernaut and the Titans to do what they did best.
Because they were friends, Anaar was quite familiar with the level of Thom’s ability. Being one of the few people on campus that rivaled him in height, it was almost inhuman how he dwarfed him in girth. Thom had spent his entire life building his body to be as strong as possible so he could compliment his resilience. He was capable of contending with the top ranking Titans of the senior class, with even more power thanks to his training.
Gauntlets ready, Thom threw wild haymakers from the front, while the Juggernaut did her best to slip quietly behind. As the four opponents did everything to overwhelm him with numbers, keeping his attention focused on Thom, the Juggernaut was quietly biding her time. She knew he would not have the stamina nor resilience they had, so it was only a matter of wearing him down so she could finish him off.
Anaar ducked below a punch, flowing into a sidestep of rapier thrust. He had never come across someone with a piercing weapon, but it was clear its range was deceptive, despite the jabs being easy to strafe. Again and again, blows continued to miss, some with such small margin it left the attacker confused why there was no feedback from what was sure to be a successful strike. Once the Juggernaut became bored of waiting, she dove in, the weight of her blows being felt as they assaulted the air.
Being stationary proved to be monotonous, so instead, Anaar began feats of dodging by way of grand acrobatics. From kicking off trees, to somersaults and flips. Though the two Titans were still going strong, they Synestates and Juggernaut had slowed considerably, the strain of the efforts apparent. In a flash of non-verbal communication, the Juggernaut, the clear leader, signaled for everyone to flee, just as their five minutes were almost up. With most of them exhausted, and no damage inflicted to Anaar, they knew there was no chance of winning the fight.
This was all in the realm of Anaar’s expectations, because he had been purposely maneuvering in a way that gave them only one true avenue to escape, which meant they would all be grouped together. Being true to his word, he waited until the second five minutes had elapsed to strike back.
The first and easiest were the two Synestates. With no additional stamina, and no enhanced combat abilities, their feeble attempts to run were met by the two of them being grabbed, and having their heads rammed into one another. They both collapsed to the ground immediately, with no chance of waking up any time soon. Being alone and the fastest of the bunch, Anaar chased down the Juggernaut, something she had expected. Wheeling into a standing roundhouse as he descended upon her, there was a sickening crack as bone protruded from the leg that she struck him with.
Screaming in unfathomable agony, Anaar watched the woman for a moment, flailing on the ground, before deciding there was no need for anything else while he had two more to dispose of. Though a Titan, Anaar was keenly aware the other man did not come close to rivaling Thom’s strength, therefore he figured his tossing the man through a number of large trees would be enough to incapacitate him.
It was when he caught up to Thom and began pummeling him, his monstrous strength shattering bones throughout his body as if he were one of the Synestates, that he looked down upon the pitiful man who had n
o chance to retaliate and gasped in horror at what he had done. Though he may have been an opponent, Thom was also a friend, and the treatment he had received at the hands of Anaar was crueler than if he was a sworn enemy.
“doN’t StoP! FINIsh IT! You haVe DoNe SO wElL!”
Anaar shook his head vigorously, slapping his face a few times, causing himself to emerge from what felt like a haze. When his eyes felt clear for the first time in a while, he became acutely aware of the state Thom was in. He then realized it would be more accurate to say he was always aware, he had only just begun to care about it. Trying his best to make sure he did not overdo it and cause suspicion, he healed Thom enough for him to be in no real danger, but his state being convincing to anyone who was watching or came upon him. He trudged back to his friends, his stomach feeling uneasy.
When he reached them, he stood silently before them for a while, the air heavy with tension before finally speaking. “Has my behavior been odd lately? Like I have been a real asshole?”
The three of them looked at one another before looking back to him with incredulous expressions and shouting in unison.
“Yes!”
Though he had his suspicions, Anaar had not expected the others to not only be so passionate about their response, but also be of one accord. He was about to open his mouth to explain what he had been feeling, when Maggie exploded all at once.
“You can’t be serious right now! I have been trying to give you the benefit of the doubt, but you have been like this for about two or three weeks! It started off mild, but soon the things you said and did, even to me or Phavian were just on another level! It was like were dealing with another person! Phave said that if he didn’t know any better, he’d swear he was dating your brother rather than you! I mean, look at what you did to the Forest zone! And you just toyed with these people like a cat does a dead mouse, even though Thom is our friend!”
Anaar had been listening with embarrassment until something Maggie said clicked. He was now sure he had been hearing something that felt like a voice in his head. It only seemed to appear when he was hesitating in what he was doing. It was in those moments that he had these potent moments of clarity. When he looked back on the past month, he realized much of it was a blur.
“I don’t really remember what has even happened to me these last weeks. I presume it is similar to what people experience when they are drunk. They know they did something, but the details of it are unclear. Based on what you all are saying, it seems I have investigation and likely some explaining to do.”
Stefani pushed past the still glowering Maggie and Dan to hug Anaar tightly. “Thank god you are back.”
Maggie looks to Stefani confused. “What are you talking about Stef?”
“I don’t know how to put it, but something in his voice feels right again. Even just hugging him like this feels right. Warm and comforting, though slightly awkward.”
Anaar was not sure how he felt about the slightly awkward part, but he did not doubt Stefani’s assessment. Not only did he feel different, or better yet normal, but he knew that Stefani was extremely perceptive to these sorts of matters. Sighing as he hugged Stefani back, he pulled away from her to address them all.
“I’m going to need some time to piece everything together, but for now, let me just say I’m sorry for anything I might have done recently to hurt or offend you. We will talk about this in more depth once I know more, and we are not being watched by a million cameras.”
The three others nodded, all silently agreeing that Anaar’s attitude did seem much more consistent with the person they had come to know, and headed off toward their next destination. After a period of silent travel, Dan began showing extreme discomfort and annoyance. Finally he appeared to be at his limit, causing him to stop abruptly, flailing his arms around manically.
“I cain’t take dis shit no more! How much longer we gone be walkin’? Where we even goin?! Is we ever gone make it to da city?! I’m bout to go see how much longer we got!”
A slew of papers comes spilling forth from his holsters, weaving themselves to formulate what looked to be a large bird of prey. The bird took flight, with Dan grabbing hold of the two taloned feet, it carrying him high into the sky with it. Once he had cleared the canopy of the trees, he almost immediately made his decent to the others, a look of annoyance on his face.
“Man… I wasted all that energy and we right next to da city. We prolly got like five more minutes walkin’ dat way.”
Anaar smiles at Dan, walking over to clasp his shoulder. “I could have told you that if you would have taken a moment to ask, but good job doing recon nonetheless. It seems your constructs are coming along very nicely. You were able to create something quite functional and aesthetically accurate in no time at all. Your control isn’t even bad.”
Dan slightly blushes as he beams with pride. “You see dat, right?! It done took me a long time to get this sucker right, but I’m really glad I put in all the work.”
Anaar smiles broadly at Dan as he showered him with more praise. All at once he remembered something relating to the topic at hand.
“Oh! I have a new construct too! Not sure where I came up with the idea, but the little guy is so cute and helpful!”
In a burst of heat, the small dragonling of living flame flickered into existence before them. Being about half the size of Dan’s large bird, it did a playful twirl in the air as its tiny wings flapped. Despite it being made of fire, it looked as detailed and corporeal as any other animal, the dancing reds, oranges, and yellows doing their job to give detail to the creature. Anaar was smiling happily as he displayed the little marvel, only to realize everyone else was screaming.
Stefani and Maggie were both dancing around as certain places on their body had burst into flames. Dan completely ignored the flames on his body, transfixed in misery that the glorious bird he was so proud of had almost immediately incinerated when the fiery creature emerged. The waves of blistering heat had begun affecting their ability to breathe, and the three were sweating profusely.
With the flora around him becoming charred, and various things having been ignited, Anaar sealed the dragonling with a barrier to prevent its ambient heat from affecting the area. The relief from this action was instantaneous, Dan, Stefani, and Maggie all collapsing to the ground as the heat abated. Looking around to make sure all the flames in the area were extinguished, he plopped to the ground to check on everyone.
“Are you all alright? What is wrong? I did not expect such a reaction from you all.”
Maggie claws her way up, lunging at Anaar who made an effort to actively fall so she would not crash into the immovable wall he had become. Sitting atop him, she swatted at him in annoyance, her face drenched in sweat and covered with loose wisps of hair that had become stuck and matted to her face.
“What is WRONG with you?! You are literally the reason people don’t let kids play with matches! Why are you trying to kill us all, AND burn down ANOTHER section of forest?!”
She continued swatting at him with no effect as Stefani and Dan both came to their senses. Stefani was the calmest of all, despite the unpleasant situation, while Dan was face down, sweat dripping from it into the piles of ashes on the ground as he mourned his bird. Finally tired of Maggie’s futile assault, Anaar stood up with her still clinging to him and swatting, then plucked her off, placing her on the ground next to him.
“I am so sorry about that. I didn’t expect all of this to happen. I think that it is the same strength as it was before, but like I said, things are a bit of a haze right now. It felt like just pushing a button, so I think it is like I saved it mentally for later. Who knew he would give off that much heat by simply existing? I’ll make sure to keep him shielded going forward.”
Everyone looked over at the creature that was about the size of a small dog, as it scratched around in the scorched ground before it. Seemingly sensing all the attention on it, the dragonling looked up, somehow sensing that outside of Anaar, Stefani w
as the friendliest towards it. Fluttering up just in front of her, it began to nuzzle her face, it even having a tiny flickering tongue that caressed it. Stefani squealed and giggled, reaching out to allow it to float down into her cupped arms.
“Oh my gosh! This is the most adorable thing ever when it isn’t trying to barbecue me! It is strangely light, almost as if I am holding nothing, but I can feel it clearly! How is this even possible?”
“Well, the gasses in the reaction fueling it are almost impossibly condensed, which gives its misleading feeling of being of being corporeal. What you are truly making contact with is the flexible coating on it that keeps the heat in so it won’t burn everything down by just existing.”
Though Maggie was still not appreciative of the sudden onslaught of heat, she walked over and rubbed the creature’s head. It began flapping its wings and trembling in delight, arcing its head as if it were cooing, but it had no vocal cords.
“What would happen if it didn’t have the coating?”
“You would be at best pulling back a roasted stump right now.”
Maggie jumped with shock, quickly pulling her hand away, which appeared to displease the familiar as it began what looked like sulking. Dan had finally pulled himself from his memorial to take his first close examination of the creature. Upon inspecting and poking it which elicited a quick nip from it, Dan looked to Anaar with questions in his eyes, though his face contorted into anger.
“Why yo little monster had to kill my bird?! Ain’t they supposed to get along, or be friends or some shit?!”
“Sorry about that Dan, he’s kind of a new addition. He isn’t even blue, so I don’t know why he burns so hot, even in a passive state.”
“Wut the color got to do with it?”
“You can usually get an indication as to the intensity of the flame by its color. A blue-violet flame is going to be the hottest visible flame. Of course it can get higher but then it would be outside of the visible spectrum. My guess is due to its immense density, that even at a lower temperature, it gives the effect of an energy output far greater.”
Revelations (Song of Sophangence Book 4) Page 31
