I don't know what this thing does, but it seems to give me some power. From what I saw, things accelerated from actions like throwing items, and well... through my fist. My punch felt faster, stronger than usual, against this creature. I would never be able to send something stumbling back like that, typically. I even felt my knuckles dig deep into the stomach of that thing.
This... It's my lifeline, it's my way out of here. I have to figure out how it works.
That rotational energy earlier, maybe...?
I placed my hand on a table, sliding my palm across it, attempting to apply one of those arrows I had seen earlier, which caused it to shift in the way of the zombies shambling my way, causing them to stumble over the table, providing me a choke point.
They don't know how to reorganize themselves and can barely walk in a straight line.
One slumped across the table, crawling onto it in a desperate attempt to grab at me. I brought one leg up into the air just as their neck aligned with the edge of the table and brought it down, decapitating the creature. It startled me at first to realize what I was capable of, but I can worry about it later.
If I can control my momentum, or the momentum of an object, there isn't anything necessarily stopping me from stopping my fall, maybe? From what I can tell, the arrows start faltering when an object goes over a particular weight class.
I was able to weaponize one of the chairs from earlier, so maybe that could help me get an idea of this ability's limitations?
That chair was probably around 7-10 lbs, and I was able to propel that, but I struggled with the table. What happens if I place multiple arrows down?
I circle the room slightly, kiting the zombies as best I can before reaching another table. I placed one arrow down, causing the table to shift slightly. I placed down two more, and one side of the table slammed into the stomachs of these zombies, clambering over each other.
On the third table, I placed all four at once, causing the table to flip on top of the creatures. It didn't seem to cause them much damage, but I confirmed my theory. Now, could I slow an object down?
I waited for one of the undead to approach, and it began to swipe at me.
I needed to find the right time to place an arrow down; it had to be mid-momentum, and I'd imagine I'd have to make contact with one of this creature's hands as well.
First swing, miss, second swing, miss.
On the Third Swing, I found the right place, placing a backward arrow onto the creature's hand, causing it to hit itself in the face. I slammed my foot into their chest, sending them spiraling back to the rest of the group.
I grabbed one of the chairs in the classroom and threw it through the window at the back, smashing it open. I jump onto the counter, which is directly connected to the window, and look down at the steep drop outside.
I needed to steel myself, taking deep breaths as my enemies bounded toward me with a newfound fervor.
I grasped the window seal, sharp, broken glass be damned, placing all four arrows onto my body and jumping out of the window. At first, I'd begin plummeting down into the Earth below, my gut jumping to my heart as I feared the worst, but then... I felt a pull, like I was being pulled upward for a moment before having a less-than-graceful landing down onto the concrete below.
I felt the arrows lifting me slightly, so I opted to take them off.
I looked down at the arrows in my hand, realising that, if I was able to propel things forward and slow things down, even myself, I should be able to go significantly faster when used in the right way.
I placed two on my palm, another two down at my feet. Without my hands on the ground, I began gliding forward at a steady pace, but then I lowered myself, lower and lower, until my hands touched the ground, which shot me forward in the direction I was pointing. The problem was that I barely knew how to control it, leading me to headfirst into a wall.
It was nothing, I've felt worse, I just needed to get the hell out of there.
The next day, I woke up unable to move, sore from head to toe. I'm just glad that any of those things didn't hit me.
While I was recovering, I looked into this ability further and decided to call it Lateralus.
It took the form of some armored rabbit, or hare, maybe? I've never seen anything like it. It sported an orangish, brownish color palette, the rabbit itself looking almost like some fleshy membrane that made up the main body of the animal. I had time to confirm a few of my theories. Each arrow has a limit of 10 lbs; the limit appears to be multiplied by the number of arrows added to an object, up to a maximum of four arrows. Earlier, I also habitually added rotational energy to the force of my attack, enhancing it, it seems. Adding an arrow to my hand already enhanced it quite a bit, but out of habit, I pushed it to even further heights, I believe.
I'm also able to use the arrows to bring items toward me, it seems, since I can throw them; the arrows themselves don't set a direction until I choose to do so. Convenient. I'm relatively sure that if I placed a section with an arrow on the ground, or perhaps another object, I could probably set something to move in that direction, even when it isn't connected to the object on which I placed the arrow. However, that's more of a theory. I'm not sure h-- I take that back, I do!
I placed a box on the ground, then I put an arrow facing the opposite direction. Theoretically, the object should begin following the arrow's direction as I had described. When it came to an object like, let's say a sign, anything that isn't necessarily a static object, rather than sliding an object in the desired direction that appeared to be around or near the arrow, it'd instead only apply the directional movement on the sign in question, but, if I place it on a mostly static object like the ground underneath my feet, as described, the box I had put down will begin sliding in that movement but will end it's movement after a few meters, around 2-3 meters.
I attempted to place it on the wall, but, due to the construction of the house, a chunk of my wall flew off. If I tried it on a stone wall, the previously established logic would most definitely apply, but on something like the thin walls of a house, it more just takes chunks off of it, since it's a layer of it that technically doesn't weigh anything.
I don't know what this is, but... it is all incredibly fascinating.
The Supernatural Exists; I now possess this bizarre ability...
I... I don't want to get overzealous, but I couldn't help but think that... with this, I could change. Back in Middle School, I got screwed over by a lot of people, the stigma placed onto me then sticking with me until now, and, honestly, I lost my drive.
I used to be such an optimistic kid. Very justice-oriented. I wanted to be like my parents. Our family is disconnected from the main Driskoll family, and we come from an offshoot line of this old family that used to be around, called the Caccias, I believe.
My dad, Seth, became a Police Officer in his early 20s, and my mother, Marie Ann, became a Lawyer at 25. They were strict, prioritized the true story, and provided justice to those wronged in any given situation. They were stubborn and strong-willed. Those are the ways I'd describe those two.
Due to this mentality, they were strict on us as well, my sister and I, along with my older brother Lennon. They trained us, taught us how to defend ourselves.
They held us to such a high standard.
My father was ethnically Irish-Italian, whilst our mother is Brazilian. Dad's genes were strong, though, so we all generally came out pretty light-skinned, especially me. My sister and Lennon came out with a bit more color to their skin than I did. More than that, though, besides not sharing as many of our mom's genes as everyone else did, I came out strange. That's a story for another day, though.
I inherited their sense of justice at a young age, but I kept an open mind, giving those who probably didn't deserve it the benefit of the doubt. I felt that Justice didn't just end with taking down the bad guy and calling it a day; it also provided them with an opportunity to change.
Fought a lot during those times, but my grades were significantly better then than they are now. After my little... incident at the end of my Middle School year, I sort of just lost all hope. I didn't want to keep persisting like my parents did.
I think that, because of this, the attitude my family showed me changed significantly, becoming harsher... those looks of disappointment... God.
But now... I have something that sets me apart. It also helps that, in this town, there aren't just people who cause petty drama to ruin others' lives; no, it's... It's more than that; there's an actual killer out there. That thing referred to itself as a corpse and mentioned something about a "Bane." "Alakazam"? Maybe that's what it was called?
It said that it had a master, and it appeared that they were at the school during the time of the incident.
With this power... I could go out there and bring them to Justice. To avenge those people who died and were puppeted by this unknown mastermind.
I dunno... probably none of my business, but I live in this town. This place is my Childhood Home. I can't let some dipshit serial killer ruin everything, making everyone live in fear of what could be living in the shadows.
I can't let this blessing go to waste.
"Are you Gael? Gael Driskoll?" I was shocked when I was asked this question, especially by someone so infamous within our school.
The Student Council President, Naomi Rascean.