"You're Troy right?" The girl asked in a curious voice.
Alarms immediately sounded in my head. How the hell did she know my name? The kids at school had been calling me Snakeface for so long I barely remembered my real name.
"Yes."
I answered cautiously, as if admitting it would matter somehow.
"So, Troy, how do you plan on killing this thing? I would go with the poison vomit, but that wind gust could work too if you do it hard enough."
She sounded genuinely interested in what she was saying. I was just coming to terms with all of this being real. She kept going.
"You also have electricity based powers too. So maybe you could hit him with some of that."
She had somehow caught up to me. I ran as fast as I could to get away from her and the Greek soldier. My chest burned as I kept up the rapid pace. I had never been athletic. She didn't even sound tired. I ignored her and kept running. I was running down a side street lined on both sides with run down brick row homes.
She sped past me and locked her eyes on mine, forcing me to acknowledge her. Her eyes were the color of the sky on a clear day. There was something so powerful and unpredictable about them. They could bring good fortune and sunny vibes, or unexpected rain. My eyes were dark gray, like storm clouds. There was nothing unpredictable about them. I looked away, staring at her feet instead.
She was floating. A stream of yellow lightning propelled her. Apparently, she wasn't worried about hitting anything behind her. She never even glanced backward. That was another contrast between us that wasn't lost on me. She didn't seem worried about her safety even a bit. I was constantly worried about mine. That's why this whole situation seemed so surreal. I had awakened in a world where people had powers and somehow I was one of them. That wasn't my life. I was the guy strong people picked on.
"You can't outrun him. He's an unyielding spirit. It's kinda self explanatory. So where are you going?"
Unyielding meant I had to deal with the soldier. Running away wasn't going to work this time. Not that it had worked so well before. I gave up and stopped, doubling over as what felt like steam came out of my lungs. Maybe it was time to do something different. But what exactly?
"You really expect me to fight that thing? Why is a dude straight out of a history book, even after me?"
I asked, looking up at her from my hunched over position. My words came out in breathy bursts. She cocked her head. Her eyes narrowed in confusion.
"You're stormblooded. That's why it's after you. Use your powers to kill it."
She spoke as if this should already be clear to me. The only thing missing from her statement was 'duh'. She hovered above me with her arms folded over her chest, looking bored as steady streams of electricity coursed out of her boots. That was when I realized that I still didn't know who she was.
"Why should I listen to you? I don't even know who the hell you are."
My words dripped with accusation. I instantly feared what would happen if I pissed her off. She smirked at my assertion and nodded her head slowly.
"My name is Nix. I'm here to …. observe you. If that changes, you'll know."
There was what felt like a threat in her words. I stood straight up, narrowing my eyes at her. She raised her hands with her palms facing out.
"I'm just being honest."
So she was definitely threatening me, but why? What did she know about me that I didn't? It had to be about that word she kept saying, Stormblooded.
"Should I be more afraid of you or the ancient Greek soldier that's hunting me like an animal?"
"That's completely up to you. Just understand that you are completely wrong about who the biggest threat in this situation is."
A thin line of yellow electricity traveled across her sky-blue eyes as she spoke. It was both terrifying and intriguing to witness. I couldn't tell if it was a threat or just a display of power. It certainly didn't feel like a threat. If she was showing off, maybe I could use that to my advantage.
"You seem to be pretty good at using your power. Why won't you just kill this thing and then we can both move on with our lives?"
I looked behind me, ready to run again if I needed to. The soldier wasn't there. I started walking toward my house.
"Oh no, I'm not doing your homework for you. This is your very first test. Enjoy it. It only gets harder after this."
She stopped hovering backward and faced forward, finally.
I stopped walking and stared at her. She kept moving forward for a second before she realized I wasn't moving.
How the hell was I supposed to enjoy having my life threatened? And if this was the easy part, why would I want to get past it? The logical part of my brain told me to give up and let this nightmare end.
"There's no way you enjoy being chased by ancient soldiers for no reason?
She rose into the air with her arms outstretched at her side. Electricity travelled from her shoulders down her arms abdomen and then down her legs. Her hair stood in a wild mess as static coursed through it.
Boom!
I instinctively guarded my face with my hands as a bolt of lightning shot from her fingertips and destroyed a plastic trash can beside me. Burning debris rained down around me. I looked up at her, wondering what was about to happen.
"Do I look like someone that would let anyone threaten me and live?"
Her voice reminded me of what a phone call sounds like when you lose your signal. It crackled and rippled as she spoke. I just shook my head from side to side. She turned off the display and drifted back to the ground.
"Right, and I'm just Strikeblooded. If I had all the powers you do, I would run the world by now."
There was no way she truly believed what she was saying about me. She was making me seem like a badass. Meanwhile, I was cowering in a bathroom stall only hours before this conversation. I needed to know more.
"What is all this blooded stuff and why is it happening to me?"
I threw my hands up in exasperation. My voice was so high I was basically screaming at her.
"I'll make you a deal. Deal with him in a way that impresses me and I'll tell you whatever you wanna know."
She nodded to the abandoned house behind her. My eyes shot to it, but there was no one there. Just a normal rundown red brick house. There was garbage strewn across the front porch and the front door was missing. Something shiny caught my eye from inside the darkened doorway. I realized it was the soldier's bronze armor just before he stepped out into the daylight.