The scientist turned around and went to the closed door where the main hallway hid behind.
"Now, all of you saw how your powers worked. Now your job is to make moves outside there and make something special. If you come back without any progress, you will sleep under the cold snow."
The scientist warned as he continued to the main hallway, reaching the experimental room, and vanishing into the shadows.
The rest of the kids didn't see this as an escape plan; they only saw it as playtime with their activated powers. All of them rushed to reach the outside, all except Genseki, who lingered a moment longer before finally following the rest, while Zeka watched them; this time he was alone, Liora already gone behind the door to try her power. Zeka was just watching them running in silence, and then he tried to get up; his body was still weak. Still, he tried to take a few steps just to look at them from the side, and then he fell; his leg didn't even warn him; he just fell immediately. He realized he couldn't even feel his own legs, as if he'd been paralyzed.
He tried to stand again, only to collapse a second time — his own body felt like it was betraying him, refusing to even acknowledge his legs. Is this what happens on the second day of the activation? Why me specifically? Am I that cursed? Zeka thought quietly as he looked at the door where the kids passed through, reaching the outside door.
This time he didn't try to stand up; he just decided to crawl like a little vulnerable worm trying to reach the soil. Zeka used both his arms to crawl, but the pain in his leg was still there, sharp and cold. And when he passed the doors, he found Liora, the same girl who had the same activation, wasn't really in pain or crawling; you could see her a little wobbly, but not the kind where it hurt her too much, like how Zeka felt.
Zeka sat on the snow, admiring the nature for a moment after the nine years of isolation. He had walked under these woods with the scientist before, but he didn't look around; he didn't try to see what was even around. But now it was different; he was warm with the coat Liora gave him, life felt clearer now to him, the tree was tall, the snow was thick, everything around him felt magical to him.
And when he looked at the children who were trying to control their power, he felt jealous again when he spotted Liora. She's enjoying everything, but I'm here suffering. Is she really that strong...? Zeka thought as he watched everything they did.
He looked at one of the kids and found Genseki; unlike the rest, Genseki felt different. He was more focused on how to use his power. He tried to imagine a rock, and it happened; the rock appeared on his hand out of nowhere. He didn't throw it away; he gripped it, trying to believe that this was real, not just an illusion, and he shattered it apart when he let go of the rock. Zeka didn't say a word; he just stared at him. Genseki casually broke the rock apart just by gripping it. Zeka assumed it must be easy, just strength, just grip. He looked around searching for a rock and found one right next to him; he picked it up and tried to grip it the way Gen did.
Zeka's eyes went wide; the rock didn't break the way it happened with Genseki. It was too dense, too hard, and Genseki made it look very easy. Zeka didn't complain about it; he only threw the rock away, trying to ignore whatever just happened.
Liora came running toward Zeka as he was busy looking at the long trees.
"What's so interesting about the trees, Zeka?"
Liora spoke as she sat next to him to look where he was looking.
"Trees? I-Is that what you call it...?"
Zeka murmured when he looked at her and back at the tree. But Liora was confused. How do you not know that this is a tree? But she didn't question him; she just looked at the same tree, trying to find what was too interesting for him to look at that long.
"By the way, have you tried your power yet? The scientist said he wouldn't let anyone in until we could do one move~."
Liora looked at him as she raised her hand. She didn't try to think about it; it just happened. The water came out of her hand, flowing clearly— something that looked impossible and she made it look too easy.
"I can... do that with my power? L-Like this?"
And the fire lit up on his hand when he just moved his own hand. Zeka immediately freaked out and tried to bury his hand inside the thick layer of the snow, just to find his hand still on fire. Zeka didn't know what to do; what is this? Am I awake? Is this some kind of magic? What is this?! he started to get dizzy after his mind asked many questions at once, trying to process if this was real.
Liora laughed; she laughed at how he immediately jumped when his hand lit on fire.
"Don't be silly now; you said your power is fire, right? This is how it works!"
Liora said as she made the water come out of her hands again.
"See, it's not scary! It didn't make me wet or anything; it's just flowing on my hand, the same as your fire. It didn't burn you, either."
Zeka looked at her again in confusion, still surprised by what happened, but he stopped panicking after he realized it didn't do anything to his hand; it was just existing there with no explanation. He tried to think about turning off the fire, but it happened immediately before he even completed his own thought. It just happened.
While the kids were figuring out their powers and how they worked. The scientist was watching them. He was standing right in front of the door where Zeka and Liora were sitting next to; the door didn't make any sound, they didn't feel his presence, and finally, when Zeka noticed, he looked up at the scientist's face; it was still very blurry, and hard to see the details on his face. A weird feeling came across Zeka when he tried to look at him; he couldn't quite name it.
The scientist entered the Lab again, and the door was wide open this time; it didn't close when he passed, as if he was telling them that their job for today was done.
Zeka tried to stand up, completely forgetting that his legs were still in that sharp pain, and his legs immediately failed him again, hitting the thick snow with all of his body. The activation curse was still there and wouldn't end until the last day.