Paragon

by Riley Tune

  “We’re not far from Purgatory, but if we walked you know how late to class we’d be? Plus, I don’t feel like hearing Professor Santos’s lecture about how being on time is a major part of the internships.”

  I didn’t respond. She had a point, but I just waited for her to say what I knew was coming. “Flying however-” There it was. “Could get us there just in time.”

  While I could fly on my own, I was able to fly other people along with me, if I created a force field around myself.

  Somehow, likely due to me getting a twisted mix of my parents’ powers, I could control the gravity inside of the personal force fields I created. It put a strain on my body and made me hungry like you wouldn’t believe but still, I could do it.

  Jen extended her hand out and grabbed mine. “Come on bro, put your big boy pants on and get moving,” she said as she adjusted her cap on her head and grinned at me. I drew my hand back as if I wanted to hit her with it, and then grabbed her outstretched hand once more.

  Instantly, my force field sprang to life. A pale blue circle of swirling energy that surrounded us both. Force fields were rare for Icons, but with my small spaces issues, I would have traded it for normal invulnerability any day of the week. I could have made it smaller, but I could already feel myself beginning to sweat. I allowed it to grow a little larger than normal.

  I still hated being inside it, but at least now it wasn’t so cramped. “You ready?” I asked her as I gripped her hand tightly. She nodded as she held the box containing Danielle’s watch close to her stomach.

  “Don’t drop that while we’re up there.” I said to her as I eyed the box. Jen shrugged her shoulders as she looked down at the box, too. “It would just land inside the force field anyway.” She spun the box around and looked at the bottom of it. “Looks sturdy too. Only a fifty- fifty chance it would even break. I’m willing to take those odds.” She said as she grinned.

  I didn’t respond.

  “I’m just joking.” Jen said. “I won’t drop the stupid, expensive watch for your villain girlfriend. Now can we get going?”

  Nodding, I took a deep breath and in the blink of an eye we exploded into the air, and made our way to the school, leaving a faint blue trail behind us .

  CHAPTER 2

  PURGATORY ACADEMY

  T

  here are few feelings in this world that can compare to flying. Outside of kissing Danielle, to me, nothing else even comes close. In honesty, it’s probably my favorite power out of the four I possess.

  Flying was freedom. Unmatched, uncontrolled, freedom. I just loved it. From zooming between clouds, to soaring over the city and watching the people below. It was like flying gave me entry to a special world in the sky that only few had access to.

  Well, that last part wasn’t totally true. Actually, many Icons could fly, in some form or another. Every form just wasn’t as great. Some Icons had wings like angels that allowed them to fly with moderate speed. While other Icons could hover, but that was it. To a Void, I mean normal person, hovering is great. To an Icon, though, hovering sucked.

  Imagine being able to lift yourself off the ground. For a second you feel that elusive power of flying, and then you realize you can only just drift along, maybe a few feet off the ground. Basically, useless. Many an Icon that could hover, usually kept that power to themselves, and hopefully had a better power in their arsenal.

  Then you have some Icons that can actually fly, but only at speeds that they could run if they were on the ground. That’s not great by any means, but it’s a damn bit better than hovering.

  Finally, there’s supreme flight. That’s what I could do. With supreme flight, an Icon could will themselves to fly as quick as they wanted. As long as your body held up, you could just keep going along.

  “You okay over there?” I asked as I glanced to Jen. She smiled and gave me a wink up as I expanded my force field a little more. Making it almost the length of a bus. I could tolerate it better now.

  Jen loved flying. She always voiced how she wished it was one of her powers, but it just wasn't in her cards. I got lucky. Like Jen, both of my parents were Icons, but one was able to control gravity. Icon powers don’t always get passed down, but once in a while, a distorted version of a parent's power was given to their offspring.

  Jen on the other hand, had two Icon parents, but neither could do anything close to flying. Her father was the Icon known as Life-Life. He wielded the power of healing. Allowing him to heal others at will, while her mother had powers of the techy variety.

  Jen’s powers weren’t bad, but as in many parts of life, we often want what we can’t or didn’t have, and for Jen that was flight. Lucky for her, she grew up with a guy who could fly, and didn’t mind zooming her around when he was able.

  I began to slow down some to just enjoy the moment up here, if only for a second. From here I could see almost all of the city. Atlas City had two districts. The Diamond and Ebony Districts.

  The Diamond District, where Jen and I lived, could be seen from here. It was the part of the city that never went dark. From here it looked like a dome of yellow energy pulsated and covered half of the city. Even when it should have been night time, it was still pretty bright out and you could see stars showering across the sky almost non- stop. This district was also home to many of the heroes of Atlas City, and the base location for many of its supergroups.

  I shifted my glance from the dome of yellow to the contrasting dark purple dome beside it. This was the Ebony District, a direct contrast to the Diamond District in almost every way. In the Ebony District, there was eternal darkness. No matter the time of day or night, it was always dark.

  Naturally, crime was a little higher in Ebony District, and more villains, including my girlfriend, called it home. Having these two districts created a bonus third district of sorts. We called it the Abyss. A very small area where the two major districts touched each other, and formed a literal gray zone. An area where virtually nobody lived, or would even cross through. It was a place of gloom on the level which even the Ebony District couldn’t match.

  Now, the clear divide of night and day in Atlas City was the result of two extremely well- known Icons, respectfully named Diamond and Ebony. They, along with their sister Flora, were mythical in nature, and were often referred to as The High Trinity.

  They were also said to be the only triplet Icons known to exist. While Diamond and Ebony projected their inner powers of night and day on the city, Flora gave life to it. Trees, grass, and flowers, could all survive in almost any weather because of her.

  According to stories, these three were old, I mean very old. Over two hundred years old, if you believed the text books. Because their primary powers were connected directly to the earth, they seemed very long lived. The text also goes on to say that these three were also the younger siblings to Atlas himself, one of the first documented Icons.

  Naturally, none of this has been proven, but that’s what the books say, and that’s what's taught in Purgatory. Even though they are supposed to still be alive today, nobody even knows what Diamond, Ebony, or Flora looked like, or if they even exist. To Icons, they were the equivalent of fairy tales.

  “There it is,” Jen said as she pointed down. Her words interrupted my thoughts as I gazed upon the city below us.

  Yep, there it was. Coming into our view as I began to descend, into the bright dome that was the Diamond District was Purgatory Academy. The world's leading school in Icon development. Icons essentially, went to school like normal people, with minor changes.

  For one, as I already mentioned, we didn’t get up as early because our classes started at eleven and ended at four. We only went to school from the ages of five to seventeen, and along with basic skills like math or science, we also learned about Icon history, and the powers we each possessed.

  Purgatory Academy was the school to go to if you were an Icon. There were other schools around the country for Icons, and some were
rather good, but not as good as Purgatory. Most people there had to have either, a connection to somebody famous, extreme wealth, or something else that set them apart.

  In our case, Jen’s dad was our in. Not only was he an Icon, but he belonged to the world's leading supergroup, The Imperial Lords. This alone was enough to gain entry. Even if I wasn’t raised by Jen’s dad, I’d still likely have ended up in Purgatory.

  I still had four powers, and by Icon standards that was unheard of, and on paper, that alone was a signal that I could do great things, if I decided to. That was the sort of thing that Purgatory thrived on and the heads of the school would have been eager to grant me admission, regardless of my heritage.

  I decreased my speed as we began our descent . The school was becoming easier to see now as we got closer.

  The campus surrounding the center building was huge. It almost looked like one of those college campuses that Voids went to. The campus had four buildings. The main center building where all the primary education took place, the library, a power training facility, and of course, a world- class cafeteria with almost any food you could want.

  Each building was connected by adjoining glass walkways and from the sky almost looked like a giant- sized baseball diamond, complete with plenty of grass fields for lounging on between classes, and a water feature made in the shape of the school's initials.

  Jen and I landed on the steps to the main building. What stood in front of us, directly in front of the school, was a statue of an Icon that I, for lack of a better word, hated. I could feel my jaw clench just by looking at it.

  His name was Flex, and at only nineteen he had set himself apart as one of the leading heroes of the future. He had a damn statue already for Atlas’ sake.

  His powers were as impressive as the feats had had done to display them. He, like me, could fly at supreme speeds, but that was where our similarities stopped.

  He also had growing invulnerability. I say growing, because invulnerability, was one of the few powers that got stronger as an Icon aged. Flex got his powers at age twelve so it had already matured a good bit. Now, at nineteen, virtually no bullet, knife, or fire could harm him, but wasn’t immune to all forms of damage.

  Finally, he had supreme strength. A power that I wished I had. Don’t get me wrong, I’m pretty strong too, and strength was my fourth power, but I only have enhanced strength. Powers usually vary in levels. Enhanced, super, and then the final tier of supreme.

  So, while I could lift a car over my head with ease and hurl it about a hundred feet, Flex could catch a falling plane out of the sky, and then hurl it to the moon. See the difference?

  With his powerset he was a natural fit for the Imperial Lords, and is slated to be the next hero to take over after Mr. Impervious decides to hang up his cape.

  The statue was awarded to Flex, just under a year ago while he saved most of the lives in the school. A plane was actually falling out of the sky, and headed directly for Purgatory Academy.

  Several Icons in the school could have come together to save the day, but no. Instead they all looked to Flex. Their heroic mascot. While Flex didn’t actually catch the plane, and hurl it to the moon, he did snatch it out of the sky as if it was a falling ball and placed it in a safe area, saving not only the people in the school, but those on the plane as well.

  He did all of this on his internship and set himself up for stardom. The world loved Flex, but to me, he was the same old asshat that had picked on me in Purgatory, that eventually led to a showdown between us both that destroyed three classrooms, and put a teacher in the hospital next door that was specially made for Icons.

  “You can stand here and glare at this statue of rippling Icon eye candy if you want to,” Oh, yeah, Jen had a thing for Flex. “But I’m going to class before the bell rings.” she darted off into the building, as I resisted the urge to hit this statue with my Impact Blast.

  I walked by the statue, waved an offensive hand gesture to it, and headed to the main building. While the campus had some of the best financial backers in the world, and cutting- edge technology, the building itself looked like some old castle.

  Complete with the pointy roofs, creepy windows, and everything. If there was ever a building that needed an upgrade, this was it.

  While Jen rushed to class, I rushed to my locker to put Danielle’s watch away for safekeeping. I grimaced at the amount of papers splattered on the walls. The hallway was covered from top to bottom with posters about the two major events coming up.

  One was a concert by a famous artist who was an Atlas City native, who went by the name Young Pyro, and the other was for the end of school year’s dance.

  Both events I planned to attend. Danielle had said no about coming to the dance with me, but I’m thinking an expensive watch she wanted could maybe change her mind.

  I got the books I needed for class, and then slammed the door to my locker. I checked the huge clock in the hallway. “Still got two minutes before the bell rings,” I said to myself as I smiled. Naturally, at that moment, the damn bell rings.

  “Stupid slow clock,” I said as I dashed up the hallway.

  It would have been faster to fly to up the hallway, but use of powers was strictly forbidden inside of Purgatory. A rule I utterly broke when I got into a fight with Flex. A fight people still talk about to this day, might I add.

  I came to my class door and looked inside. Everybody was listening as if they actually cared what Professor Santos had to say. Jen was sitting in her desk, directly beside my empty one.

  She glanced up and stuck her tongue out at me. The girl sitting in front of her looked my way, and rolled her eyes as she removed a pill bottle from her bag. I was already spoken for but still, this girl was extremely cute. No, not cute. Puppies were cute, newborn babies with big cheeks were cute, this girl was gorgeous.

  She looked back down to her paper, and then to me again. This time she actually glared at me and for a second, I could see the mist tendrils forming around her fingertips, causing frost to appear around the pen she was holding.

  Her name was Zeva Greene. She had a pretty standard power set. Ice manipulation combined with x-ray, and enhanced vision. All of which ranked on a super level. She was also the little sister of Flex, which probably was the reason she couldn’t stand me.

  Remember that fight I said people still talked about? Yeah, she wasn't a fan of it at all. Well screw her, and her trash talking brother. Even if she did look like a goddess.

  Professor Santos continued to speak, oblivious to me lurking at the door. He was an odd- looking man. He was about six feet tall, three hundred pounds, with buzz cut red hair, and some of the palest skin I’ve ever seen in my life.

  Before I could figure out if I wanted to enter the class or just skip it for the day, Professor Santos, while standing in the same spot, spun his entire upper body around to face me. Maybe he wasn’t oblivious to my presence after all.

  Professor Santos, had elastic powers. Making him able to stretch his body in almost any manner. So, despite, his obese appearance, he was pretty limber.

  He motioned his hand for me to come in, and I did so, shutting the door hard behind me. No need to be cautious of the noise now anyway. “Nice of you to join us, Mr. Monroe.” I gave him a slight nod. A nod that he responded to with a smug grin that looked forced.

  “I was just about to talk to the class about the internships, and their auditions. Considering your,” he paused for a moment. “Less than desirable parents, this could be a topic you may want to pay attention to. Perhaps the greater Icon community will stop calling you an abomination, and start seeing you as a hero.”

  Jen took in a deep breath beside me. I usually had no problem with Professor Santos, but it was widely known that he hated me. Apparently, back in the day, he had a thing for my mother, before my father swept her off her feet, and took her away from him.

  Literally, my father ran by when Santos and my mom were on a date and sn
atched her away from him. What started out as a feud for my parents eventually, became something more. Santos, apparently was still bitter.

  “Powers aside, Mr. Monroe, the faculty here at the academy have faith that you will become something great. I, myself, am not so sure.” Some of the students in the class laughed.

  This seemed to fuel Santos and made him laugh under his breath. “Now, let’s discuss your auditions. Listen closely, because everything you’ve learned up to this point has prepared you. Will you walk, fly, superspeed, or teleport down the path of greatness?”

  Professor Santos looked at Zeva as he said this. Zeva came from what was called pure-stock. Meaning every single member of her family had powers. Not a single void on the family tree. “Or will you go on to become infamous,” he said as he looked at me.

  I could have avoided his gaze, but what would be the fun in that? I looked back at him, smiled, and then put my head on my desk. Professor Santos huffed, and then stopped looking in my direction.

  I exhaled. The disturbing part was that I had still had no idea which path I was going to choose when this was all over. On the bright side, I still had some time. I just had to tolerate Santos a little longer. A few more days and this would be over. I’ll be on my internship, and headed for my destiny. One way, or another.

  CHAPTER 3

  MY TEACHER’S AN ASSHOLE

  P

  rofessor Santos paused for a second and took a few sips of his morning coffee. I could have used some coffee myself. I wasn’t tired, but I could still feel the cold chill that Zeva was giving off, and warm coffee would take a little of the edge off.

  I leaned up in my chair. “Do you mind? It’s freezing in here.” I whispered to her. She acted like she didn’t hear me, as she popped a pill in her mouth. She took those damn vitamins once every hour or so. She was incredibly fit, so whatever they were, they were working. Maybe I should get myself some of those.