I wake up in a dimly lit room, lying on a stiff, but still comfortable bed. Gazing around the room I see my clothes, gun, and flashlight piled on top of a table in the far corner with a lamp providing the only light to the room. There is a door directly on the opposite wall, slightly ajar; at least I'm not being held captive, I hope. My head, light, I try to figure out what happened and why I am here. I last remember talking to Rachel about the car that ran...my thoughts trail off. It takes a few minutes of lying in silence and eventually the haze in my head clears up and I can finally muster up the energy to sit up.
A woman walks in from the door where the lights from outside the room shine in like a pair of headlights shining at me causing me to wince. My memories of what happened are returning to me. "You're the one who tried to tell me revenge wasn't the answer, I don't think I got your name, or rather any of your names." She turns on the light to the room and faces me, "Yes, my name is Moira Harlan. You've been out for quite some time after your little display." Recalling now what I did, "Oh, yeah, is the other guy okay? I didn't think I could punch that hard." Moira, ignoring my question, "That is why you're here. Our observer, Amanda, has been keeping an eye on you and we are impressed with what we see."
Impressed, what does that mean? I slouch my head down, "I'm just a measley engineer, what is that supposed to mean?" Excitedly, she begins, "You are what we like to call an Awaken. People like us, we have to study and practice for years to get magic down but you-" I interrupt her: "Magic? no this isn't...no...I'm dead aren't I...or maybe I'm dreaming...did I fall asleep...Did...." Another woman interjects as she enters the room, "We all had to learn our magic, but people like you, Awaken, have innate abilities that manifest in events of trying to save someone, being hurt by someone, or in your case, a traumatic experience. I'm Amanda Forsyth and I have the ability to view other's auras and intentions, that is how we knew about your revenge, and how I know that you are extremely powerful."
Well that is something I've never been called before: powerful. I still feel like I'm in a dream. I can't shake this achiness and a feeling like something is not right, maybe different. It is a hard feeling to explain, but one thing is certain: I will have my revenge. I speak up, "So what do you know about the people who killed my family?" The third of the group appears in between Moira and Amanda and says, "Woah there tiger, let's not get carried away, you got a lot of explaining to do first." "Me?!?!?" I exclaim, "How are you not injured?" The man, I now know as John Carano bellows out a hearty laugh and says, "One of my main abilities, I can speed the healing process of my body. We'll have time to talk about our powers in time, but for now we need to figure out yours." Moira steps forward, "We are going to put you through some tests."
Tests? What am I, some guinea pig? Perhaps a rat to put in a maze to see how I do? I interrupt now, my thoughts, and speak: "Who the hell are you? Are YOU the one's responsible? Responsible for my heartache, my pain, my anguish...my...my...my wife." I trail off in tears. John breaks my sobbing with "No, but we will help you find them." Why? Why would they help me, I'm nobody. As if to answer my internal thoughts (Can she read my mind?) Moira chimes in: "Your wife isn't the only victim, there is a group targeting people like you to try and get them to..." she pauses as if to chose her words correctly, "release their powers. Once they do that, they try to recruit them. That is why we need to test you. These are powerful people, and you need to be ready to face them, and we can't face them on our own, but with an Awaken on our side, I'm sure we can bring them down."
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After getting dressed and eating some food Moira had brought me, I exited the room to see a large warehouse with targets set up, ropes hanging from the ceiling, large ramps, it appeared to be an amalgamation of a skate park, shooting range, and part of a course ripped straight from a Ninja Warrior episode. To my left were multiple punching bags and weights. "Welcome to our training yard," John said, after letting me take it all in before continuing, "Magic allows us various levels of strength and agility, the amount of such based on our own abilities. Some can use their abilities to further increase that." I speak up, "That's all well and good, but I'm not magical, I'm nobody." Moira and John turn their head to face each other for what seems like forever before Amanda chimes in, "John and Moira don't have my power of vision, but I saw your body flash with power while observing you last night, your aura is extremely bright, you have great power. In fact, you are the only Awaken that I've seen."
Last night...Through all of the new sensory inputs and the confusion of an unknown place, I never thought about what happened, "About last night, how...how did I get here? I mean, I punched John, broke his ribs and then...nothing, I don't remember anything past that..." I trail off. Moira nods and let's out a small laugh, "He really did a number on you, didn't he John, it took you all night to heal." John raised his voice in defense, "You're the telekinetic of the group, you could have stopped him." I raise my voice to overpower the two arguing, "Excuse me, someone want to tell me what's going on?!?" Moira turns respectfully, "When someone first opens their magic up, it can be taxing on the body, you passed out due to the intense exertion it had on your body. Honestly, you could turn out to be quite powerful, that is why we have the training yard open to your disposal, run the courses and try to use your magic."
How the hell am I supposed to know how to use my magic? Do I really have magic? I want to leave, but I have to know what's going on; how they know about me, what they know about my family's killer. As these thoughts started racing in my head, the anger, vengeance, and determination filled my body. Amanda quickly puts a hand on my shoulder, "Brian, calm." John walks over and asks what was happening. Amanda continues, "His aura flared up intensely. Brighter and more concentrated than any I've ever seen." John slaps me on the back and says, "Alright then, get to it!" I guess I'll have to go along with this to get my answers. I run to the side of the course where a large wall sits before me. 15 feet tall, how am I supposed to get up there. Moira shouts, "Just think about what you want to happen, and let the magic provide the way. Magic is about thought and intention, concentrate enough and you can do it."
Right, intention, I intend to leap above this wall.
I brace myself down before trying with all my might to try and see how far up the wall I can go, hoping it somehow works. As I leap, I feel energy course through my body; it centered around my chest before jettisoning down through my legs and to the tips of my toes as I release off of the ground. To my surprise, I leap not only to the top of the wall, but to the top of the warehouse. In a moment of fear and surprise, I grasp one of the beams that hold the roof up above. I glance down at the course below and then to the group off to the side. It seems they are just as surprised as I was. "Umm..guys, what just happened? Can you maybe, I don't know, help me?" With those words, Amanda yells, "We can't go that high, you'll have to jump, but make sure to brace yourself, remember, with intention."
Intentions, right, I've gotten this far, brace myself....here goes.
I swing myself towards a mat on the side and release towards it, but in a bout of using too much magic, once again, I swing myself further than I intended. I think about bracing, and as my legs land on the ground, I felt the magic doing nearly the exact opposite as when I leapt up. The magic burrowed into my heels and then as I impacted the ground, I felt it release up my body in an attempt to slow down the energy of my fall through my body, but I didn't use it enough and the sound of cracking bone reverberated through the warehouse. I yell as I grasp my leg. John runs over towards me, but before he gets to me, I think about his power of healing, and I try it.
Intention, right?
I push my thoughts to my leg and attempt to, I guess, think about it being healed? In that moment I feel the same magical energy course through my throbbing leg. The pain begins to lessen almost instantly as it feels like tiny insects are pulling everything back together within my leg. By the time John reaches me, my leg no longer hurts and I begin to stand up. John looks at me in sheer wonder and amazement, " How is that possible? It takes me nearly an hour to heal broken bone, you just did it in mere seconds?" The same face that showed wonder, now slowly shifted into fear and shock. "You're too powerful, even for an Awaken." I scan the faces of Moira and Amanda who have now arrived beside John, now on his knees. Moira, is intrigued and nearly salivating, while Amanda is holding her head, focusing her eyes on my leg. "So," Amanda speaks up, "it appears that healing is a power of yours, aside from the super strength and enhanced agility." I then focus my thoughts on the magic that Amanda uses.
Intentions.
How would I even see something that isn't physically there? How can I see magic? Maybe...I think about souls, spirits, angels...nothing. Let's try thinking about my own magic and trying to perceive it. Then maybe... as the thoughts cross my mind, I feel the power suffuse through my whole body, like it is coursing through my veins. Amanda, gasps, and I break my concentration. "Can you see auras?" she asks. "No, only mine. I tried looking at yours, but it didn't work." I say, disappointed. I glance over at John who is looking at Moira, then to Amanda. His eyes seemed to ask how it was all possible. Perhaps I am the mind reader, "I don't know how I'm doing all of this. It just seems to come naturally, like I am learning how to ride a bike again; I know what I want to happen, and my body tries to do it. The magic, I guess, just flows through my body in a way to make it possible." John opens his mouth to speak, but Moira immediately begins, "That is the base of using magic, but for someone to just simply pick it up like that, and with that amount of power..." she trails off. "Well," I say, "Shall we continue my...trials?" John and Moira both nod in unison.
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I approach the rope wondering what magic could be used for this. It's cords, coiling up to the ceiling, it's braids, thick and strong enough to hold quite a few tons. I grasp the rope, tightly, my hands barely big enough to hold it. I focus on my arms, and try to pull myself up. I feel as the magic fills the muscles of my arms, coursing throughout, but find myself only jumping up the rope partially. Amanda yells from across the warehouse, "nice jump!" I jump down and go for another go to her surprise. After my jump from earlier, I know I can do better than that.
Remember. Intentions.
I fill my muscles with magic again, this time with more ease than before. I think about my legs before and how someone jumps, I am basically doing the opposite to climb up, instead of pushing and separating my legs, I'm bringing my arms together. I then concentrate on the ends of my muscles against each wrist and the other ends on my shoulders. I look at my aura and attempt to channel the two ends in a loop.
Yes.
I then brace myself on the rope. With my arms coursing with power, I pull the magic back into each end, and like a rubber band, my shoulders lift into my wrists, and like a slingshot, I fly to the top of the rope. I'm really getting into this. I slide back down the rope, and approach Amanda. I wonder if that is how she sees auras, by touching theirs with her own. I didn't think I could bring the magic out of my body, but clearly I can. "I want to try something. You saw what I did with my arms, yes?" Amanda, clearing her throat as to stir off the awe and confusion, "Ah, um, yes, I did, it's quite..." I cut her off, "Do you trust me?" Amanda, steps back for a moment but readies herself for whatever I might have planned. I face her, and focus my thoughts on the magic, I still don't know how to go about this, but I can still try. I first try focusing my magic to my eyes like before. Amanda flinches as I feel my eyes shine with magic; I think I see something. If I can just...Just as I begin to think the words, the magic shoots out of my eyes and envelops all that I see. My magic touches her body. At first, simply resting on her, but then, penetrates to find the magic within. Her aura is bright, but soft with a tint of an iridescent blue as it flickers with power.
I turn to face Moira and John, but before I do, I see an eerie, black cloud in the shadows, somehow darker than the shadows themselves. "Amanda." I say, moving my eyes towards the dark cloud. She turns slowly towards John as if to converse with him, and glances to where I was directing her. She then seems to put out a pulse of energy to Moira and John and they turn to face the shadows. The cloud then takes shape as it exits the shadows. It proceeds to run away, but I leap towards the being, which appears to be just a man. He struggles under my weight and without thinking, I begin to crush his torso causing his breathing to become laboured (and given his gasps, quite painful as well.) Moira calls out to me to let him go, and I release him, letting him crumble to the ground. John walks over to him and begins to heal him, transferring magic into his body.
With my focus, I watch as the magic wraps around his ribs and pulls them away from the lungs allowing him to breath. John stands up, "He should be stable now, but he'll need a couple of days of healing to get back to normal, unless, Brian, you could..." NO, not until you tell me who he is and what just happened. The man on the ground gets up slowly: "I should have known you'd try something," letting out a painful chuckle, "The name is Kelly Lynch, but these lot call me Kel, I'm the...leader of this group of misfits." Then why did you run? Amanda runs up to Kel and slaps him hard across the face, "Why were you hiding like a creep like that?!?" she yells to the point of her face turning red. Kel, laughs, "Look at your face, red as a tomato, Amanda, so cute," he continues to speak to me as she storms off towards the back of the warehouse, "I'm surprised you are picking up things so quickly. we might be able to have a fighting chance after all." Puzzled, I ask, "Fighting chance?" Kel smiles, "against The Organization, of course."