“Do you like getting into trouble, or are you just crazy?” Charly asked in a whisper as we followed the now empty tunnel.
“Both,” I replied with a grin, “You do not have to follow me if you are worried about our parents. Just wait at the entrance and tell them you could not stop me.”
“Letting you go alone would get me into more trouble than this will,” Charly hissed, “Why could I not just have a normal sister? Go play with dolls and wear pretty dresses. Talk about boys you like. Instead, here we are running headfirst into a bandit den.”
“Normal is boring. This is much more fun.”
“Wren is right. This is so exciting!” Donte exclaimed, barely managing to keep his voice down, “It is like we are heroes from legend, fighting evil and upholding justice.”
I failed to stifle a laugh, remembering how scared Donte had been when we did a similar thing, breaking into a noble’s house.
As we walked down the dim path, we came to a crossroads. Charly and Donte both looked to me to see which way we should go.
“It looks like most of the soldiers went straight, and only small units split off to the left and right,” I said, looking at the trails left in centuries of dust build-up, “let’s go right. I have a feeling that way will be much more interesting.”
“I have the feeling your idea of interesting is a room full of bandits,” Charly mumbled.
I did not reply, just smiled brightly. He was not wrong.
Following the path, we arrived at a partially open door. Shouting and sounds of clashing steel echoed from the room beyond.
“Ready your crossbow Charly,” I said, moving closer to the door.
Charly nodded silently, hands shaking as he gripped the wood tightly. I saw Donte pull out a small dagger from who knows where. I could see a fury burning in his eyes as he stared at the door. Unlike Charly, his hands were completely steady. This was his chance for revenge.
I pushed open the door to see a room filled with crates and boxes. It seemed we stumbled upon a storage room. In the center of the room was a confrontation between two groups of guards. I could see captain Kadmos having a standoff with a guard with a gold insignia on his chest. The insignia of a commander, but the only commanders that were supposed to be here were my parents.
“Well, that explains how they were getting the drug past the guards so easily,” I whispered.
The commander opened his mouth to speak, addressing Kadmos as an inferior officer. “You should stand down captain. You do not know what you are dealing with.”
“Why don’t you tell me,” Kadmos replied, raising his weapon, “From where I am standing it looks like you have been poisoning our city for profit!”
“You have always been so naive Kadmos. You would think someone who grew up in the slums would be able to see the advantages of what we are doing here. Imagine it! An entire army of innate talents. With that kind of power, we would be unstoppable. The free cities could become the next great empire.”
“All the people in quarantine, the citizens you turned into monsters, what about them?” Kadmos shouted.
“A necessary sacrifice. We had to study the effects of the drugs on real people after all. I could not trust that witch’s words blindly. So, what if a few people die. The experiment was an astounding success!”
“You call all of this a success?”
“You do not understand how the rest of us feel Kadmos. You could never understand! Watching others wielding incredible powers, while no matter how much you train, hope, and pray, you are left with nothing. Now we have leveled the playing field. The world is ours. You can either accept it and join us or die like the slum rat you are.”
Kadmos’s eyes lit up as he charged at the captain.
“Death it is.” He sighed. The commander pressed down on the insignia of his armor. Amber lines began to glow, as a light shined from the cracks in his armor. The commander’s eyes began to glow with a bright amber shine.
Kadmos’s charge was stopped dead in his tracks as he was forced to the ground, unable to resist. The nearby soldiers were also forced to the ground. Even from where we watched, I could feel his power. My body grew heavy and it was all I could do not to lay flat on the ground like the guards. It felt like someone had tied invisible weights to my arms and legs. Even my hair felt like a sheet of iron. I cursed as I realized what I was up against. This was a gravity talent.
The commander laughed, overjoyed at the easy success. He placed his foot on Kadmos’s back. Kadmos tried to struggle, but he could barely move. His own armor had become the weapon keeping him down.
“You see, this, this is the power I should have always had! All my life this is all I ever wanted, and now it is mine.”
Kadmos growled, forcing himself to move in the increased gravity. “You idiot! You are going to turn yourself into a monster just like everyone else.”
The commander laughed, kicking Kadmos in the head. Blood poured from the open wound created by the steel-toed boot.
“That only happens to those stupid enough to eat it. When liquified and spread in contact with the skin, our miracle has far fewer side effects. Though you are somewhat right. I cannot use it more than once a week or I will become no different than our test subjects.”
I shook my head at the commander’s ignorance. If it was that easy to deal with the side effects of lot twenty-three the divisions would have used it years ago. It was only a matter of time before he fell sick just like everyone else. All he was doing was prolonging the inevitable.
“Charly, are you going to shoot him, or are we just going to listen to him ramble for the next hour.”
“I- I…” Charly stuttered. His hands shook as he held the crossbow. He was sweating and panting heavily.
I realized the problem immediately and cursed myself for my own stupidity. Charly had never seen real combat. Before I could say anything though, I heard a yell from my other side.
A massive burst of wind threw Charly and me to the ground. Donte rocketed out of the hallway, propelled by his innate talent. He was practically flying as he recklessly dashed towards the commander.
The commander was taken by surprise at Donte’s sudden appearance. He stumbled backwards, and even lost control of his talent as his focus slipped. Donte raised his dagger high and struck down with all of his might.
Unfortunately, the commander was well trained. Surprise was not enough for him to get hit by such a wild and telegraphed blow. He raised his arm to meet Donte’s swing. The metal bracers he wore easily blocked the cheap dagger. Before Donte could recover, the commander grabbed hold of him.
Donte was thrown to the ground. His head slammed into the rock floor with a sickening crack. In a single moment, he was out cold, unconscious, and heavily injured.
I cursed as I rushed forward before the commander could do any more damage. I drew my own dagger and it lit up as I activated its crystal.
Kadmos also lunged at the commander. Now that the gravity was back to normal, he would not miss this opportunity.
The commander’s eyes glowed up as we both charged him. Knowing what was about to happen, I threw my dagger high into the air. The dagger arched high, nearly touching the ceiling above the commander’s head.
Before either of us could reach the commander, the high gravity descended on us. Kadmos and his soldiers were once again forced to the ground in an instant. I tripped and fell as the gravity hit me mid-step.
The dagger I threw was also affected by the increased gravity. It rocketed down in a flash, a barely visible blur the moment the gravity increased. The closer the dagger got to the commander, the higher the gravity.
There was a sound of a high-pitched screech as the dagger easily tore through the armor. Blood sprayed across the room as an arm fell to the floor.
I cursed my aim. If it had been a little more to the left, I could have finished him in a single blow.
A moment of silence filled the room. The commander stared dully at the arm lying on the ground as he failed to register what had happened. The shock of the injury had not yet transferred the pain. Clutching his bloody shoulder, the commander screamed.
It was a scream of both rage and fear. The gravity in the room swelled with his emotions. I was forced completely to the ground, unable to move. Even breathing was nearly impossible. My vision began to dim. My body could not handle this kind of force.
“I am going to kill you!” The commander shouted. The anguish in his voice echoed through the chamber.
The commander drew his sword. I cursed that my blade had not severed his dominant hand. Unable to move, all I could do is watch as the man approached. Pure killing intent radiated with every step.
Bystanders or not, it was time to let Nox do his thing. The nearby soldiers learning my secret was better than dying. I was about to reach out to Nox with my mind when a bright, red bolt slammed into the commander’s chest.
The commander’s armor did nothing to protect him from the following explosion. He was nearly vaporized as blood and charred pieces of body scattered throughout the room. He never even had a moment to react. In an instant, the commander was no more.
“I won’t let you hurt my sister!” I heard Charly shout.
With the death of the commander, the gravity in the room returned to normal. Kadmos took this opportunity and quickly subdued the remaining soldiers that served under the commander. Luckily, none of them seemed to have the special armor he had. They had no innate talents, and the shock from their commander’s death made them easy to subdue.
Standing, I checked on Donte first. I felt his pulse and examined his head. He was breathing and did not seem seriously injured, though he would definitely have a headache as bad as mine for the next few days. He would live. I grabbed a nearby cloth and placed it under his head, careful not to move him too much. Until he woke up, I wanted to be cautious.
Charly was suffering from a different kind of injury. He had slumped to the ground and was staring at the bits of scattered flesh with an empty gaze. Knowing what he was going through, I sat beside him and placed my arm around his shoulders.
“Thank you for saving me,” I whispered, hugging him tightly.
Charly did not respond at first. It was only after a long moment of silence that he spoke. “I… I killed him. Just like that? One second he was there and now he is…”
“Everywhere,” I said with a chuckle.
“This is not a joke!” Charly shouted, pushing me away from him, “Why could you not just listen to our parents and stay put. A man is dead because of what we… I did.”
“If it makes you feel any better, he was probably already dead. He would have collapsed from blood loss in a couple minutes after losing that arm. With how far we are from town, he would not survive the journey unless there is someone here with an innate talent for healing.”
“How can you be so calm about this?”
“Would you rather he killed me, Donte, or Kadmos and his soldiers?” I said, crossing my arms.
“No, but…”
“Then stop crying and face facts. He was a bad man. He wanted to kill us and many others. Now, he is dead, and the world is better for it.”
Charly grew silent. I knew there was nothing I could do to force this. He would have to face it on his own. The first time I killed I had not done any better than he did. I could only hope he would not take it out on himself and move forward better than I did.
“Do you like getting into trouble, or are you just crazy?” Charly asked in a whisper as we followed the now empty tunnel.
“Both,” I replied with a grin, “You do not have to follow me if you are worried about our parents. Just wait at the entrance and tell them you could not stop me.”
“Letting you go alone would get me into more trouble than this will,” Charly hissed, “Why could I not just have a normal sister? Go play with dolls and wear pretty dresses. Talk about boys you like. Instead, here we are running headfirst into a bandit den.”
“Normal is boring. This is much more fun.”
“Wren is right. This is so exciting!” Donte exclaimed, barely managing to keep his voice down, “It is like we are heroes from legend, fighting evil and upholding justice.”
I failed to stifle a laugh, remembering how scared Donte had been when we did a similar thing, breaking into a noble’s house.
As we walked down the dim path, we came to a crossroads. Charly and Donte both looked to me to see which way we should go.
“It looks like most of the soldiers went straight, and only small units split off to the left and right,” I said, looking at the trails left in centuries of dust build-up, “let’s go right. I have a feeling that way will be much more interesting.”
“I have the feeling your idea of interesting is a room full of bandits,” Charly mumbled.
I did not reply, just smiled brightly. He was not wrong.
Following the path, we arrived at a partially open door. Shouting and sounds of clashing steel echoed from the room beyond.
“Ready your crossbow Charly,” I said, moving closer to the door.
Charly nodded silently, hands shaking as he gripped the wood tightly. I saw Donte pull out a small dagger from who knows where. I could see a fury burning in his eyes as he stared at the door. Unlike Charly, his hands were completely steady. This was his chance for revenge.
I pushed open the door to see a room filled with crates and boxes. It seemed we stumbled upon a storage room. In the center of the room was a confrontation between two groups of guards. I could see captain Kadmos having a standoff with a guard with a gold insignia on his chest. The insignia of a commander, but the only commanders that were supposed to be here were my parents.
“Well, that explains how they were getting the drug past the guards so easily,” I whispered.
The commander opened his mouth to speak, addressing Kadmos as an inferior officer. “You should stand down captain. You do not know what you are dealing with.”
“Why don’t you tell me,” Kadmos replied, raising his weapon, “From where I am standing it looks like you have been poisoning our city for profit!”
“You have always been so naive Kadmos. You would think someone who grew up in the slums would be able to see the advantages of what we are doing here. Imagine it! An entire army of innate talents. With that kind of power, we would be unstoppable. The free cities could become the next great empire.”
“All the people in quarantine, the citizens you turned into monsters, what about them?” Kadmos shouted.
“A necessary sacrifice. We had to study the effects of the drugs on real people after all. I could not trust that witch’s words blindly. So, what if a few people die. The experiment was an astounding success!”
“You call all of this a success?”
“You do not understand how the rest of us feel Kadmos. You could never understand! Watching others wielding incredible powers, while no matter how much you train, hope, and pray, you are left with nothing. Now we have leveled the playing field. The world is ours. You can either accept it and join us or die like the slum rat you are.”
Kadmos’s eyes lit up as he charged at the captain.
“Death it is.” He sighed. The commander pressed down on the insignia of his armor. Amber lines began to glow, as a light shined from the cracks in his armor. The commander’s eyes began to glow with a bright amber shine.
Kadmos’s charge was stopped dead in his tracks as he was forced to the ground, unable to resist. The nearby soldiers were also forced to the ground. Even from where we watched, I could feel his power. My body grew heavy and it was all I could do not to lay flat on the ground like the guards. It felt like someone had tied invisible weights to my arms and legs. Even my hair felt like a sheet of iron. I cursed as I realized what I was up against. This was a gravity talent.
The commander laughed, overjoyed at the easy success. He placed his foot on Kadmos’s back. Kadmos tried to struggle, but he could barely move. His own armor had become the weapon keeping him down.
“You see, this, this is the power I should have always had! All my life this is all I ever wanted, and now it is mine.”
Kadmos growled, forcing himself to move in the increased gravity. “You idiot! You are going to turn yourself into a monster just like everyone else.”
The commander laughed, kicking Kadmos in the head. Blood poured from the open wound created by the steel-toed boot.
“That only happens to those stupid enough to eat it. When liquified and spread in contact with the skin, our miracle has far fewer side effects. Though you are somewhat right. I cannot use it more than once a week or I will become no different than our test subjects.”
I shook my head at the commander’s ignorance. If it was that easy to deal with the side effects of lot twenty-three the divisions would have used it years ago. It was only a matter of time before he fell sick just like everyone else. All he was doing was prolonging the inevitable.
“Charly, are you going to shoot him, or are we just going to listen to him ramble for the next hour.”
“I- I…” Charly stuttered. His hands shook as he held the crossbow. He was sweating and panting heavily.
I realized the problem immediately and cursed myself for my own stupidity. Charly had never seen real combat. Before I could say anything though, I heard a yell from my other side.
A massive burst of wind threw Charly and me to the ground. Donte rocketed out of the hallway, propelled by his innate talent. He was practically flying as he recklessly dashed towards the commander.
The commander was taken by surprise at Donte’s sudden appearance. He stumbled backwards, and even lost control of his talent as his focus slipped. Donte raised his dagger high and struck down with all of his might.
Unfortunately, the commander was well trained. Surprise was not enough for him to get hit by such a wild and telegraphed blow. He raised his arm to meet Donte’s swing. The metal bracers he wore easily blocked the cheap dagger. Before Donte could recover, the commander grabbed hold of him.
Donte was thrown to the ground. His head slammed into the rock floor with a sickening crack. In a single moment, he was out cold, unconscious, and heavily injured.
I cursed as I rushed forward before the commander could do any more damage. I drew my own dagger and it lit up as I activated its crystal.
Kadmos also lunged at the commander. Now that the gravity was back to normal, he would not miss this opportunity.
The commander’s eyes glowed up as we both charged him. Knowing what was about to happen, I threw my dagger high into the air. The dagger arched high, nearly touching the ceiling above the commander’s head.
Before either of us could reach the commander, the high gravity descended on us. Kadmos and his soldiers were once again forced to the ground in an instant. I tripped and fell as the gravity hit me mid-step.
The dagger I threw was also affected by the increased gravity. It rocketed down in a flash, a barely visible blur the moment the gravity increased. The closer the dagger got to the commander, the higher the gravity.
There was a sound of a high-pitched screech as the dagger easily tore through the armor. Blood sprayed across the room as an arm fell to the floor.
I cursed my aim. If it had been a little more to the left, I could have finished him in a single blow.
A moment of silence filled the room. The commander stared dully at the arm lying on the ground as he failed to register what had happened. The shock of the injury had not yet transferred the pain. Clutching his bloody shoulder, the commander screamed.
It was a scream of both rage and fear. The gravity in the room swelled with his emotions. I was forced completely to the ground, unable to move. Even breathing was nearly impossible. My vision began to dim. My body could not handle this kind of force.
“I am going to kill you!” The commander shouted. The anguish in his voice echoed through the chamber.
The commander drew his sword. I cursed that my blade had not severed his dominant hand. Unable to move, all I could do is watch as the man approached. Pure killing intent radiated with every step.
Bystanders or not, it was time to let Nox do his thing. The nearby soldiers learning my secret was better than dying. I was about to reach out to Nox with my mind when a bright, red bolt slammed into the commander’s chest.
The commander’s armor did nothing to protect him from the following explosion. He was nearly vaporized as blood and charred pieces of body scattered throughout the room. He never even had a moment to react. In an instant, the commander was no more.
“I won’t let you hurt my sister!” I heard Charly shout.
With the death of the commander, the gravity in the room returned to normal. Kadmos took this opportunity and quickly subdued the remaining soldiers that served under the commander. Luckily, none of them seemed to have the special armor he had. They had no innate talents, and the shock from their commander’s death made them easy to subdue.
Standing, I checked on Donte first. I felt his pulse and examined his head. He was breathing and did not seem seriously injured, though he would definitely have a headache as bad as mine for the next few days. He would live. I grabbed a nearby cloth and placed it under his head, careful not to move him too much. Until he woke up, I wanted to be cautious.
Charly was suffering from a different kind of injury. He had slumped to the ground and was staring at the bits of scattered flesh with an empty gaze. Knowing what he was going through, I sat beside him and placed my arm around his shoulders.
“Thank you for saving me,” I whispered, hugging him tightly.
Charly did not respond at first. It was only after a long moment of silence that he spoke. “I… I killed him. Just like that? One second he was there and now he is…”
“Everywhere,” I said with a chuckle.
“This is not a joke!” Charly shouted, pushing me away from him, “Why could you not just listen to our parents and stay put. A man is dead because of what we… I did.”
“If it makes you feel any better, he was probably already dead. He would have collapsed from blood loss in a couple minutes after losing that arm. With how far we are from town, he would not survive the journey unless there is someone here with an innate talent for healing.”
“How can you be so calm about this?”
“Would you rather he killed me, Donte, or Kadmos and his soldiers?” I said, crossing my arms.
“No, but…”
“Then stop crying and face facts. He was a bad man. He wanted to kill us and many others. Now, he is dead, and the world is better for it.”
Charly grew silent. I knew there was nothing I could do to force this. He would have to face it on his own. The first time I killed I had not done any better than he did. I could only hope he would not take it out on himself and move forward better than I did.
