I found myself staring at the skies, watching the clouds slowly drift by. A small little epiphany dawned on me. Do we fear death because of how much we love life? Perhaps that fear isn't to fear itself, but the vulnerability we feel at the moment. Fight or flight, I'd say fighting would be the most disastrous outcome. "Hey" a voice cut of my trail of thoughts, be it with or without a purpose, my boss in his 30s somehow managed to come back in the afternoon. This is because a certain girl going by the name of Elly had decided to fall sick on this particular day. When knocking on her door this morning, there was merely a weak and timid "I'm sorry, but I'm not feeling well today..." as a response.
"Who knew that girl would have such problems, I mean, who would gang up on such a harmless girl, it's not like she would have harmed them somehow in anyways right?" the manager lamented, as he nearly took a cigarette to smoke, before holding back from breaking the rules of his own store. Noticing my gaze, the manager let out a light chuckle, for whatever reason, only he would know. "Anyways, you're going to be going to Time's university through the academic route right? So here's a little Trivia, how many types of blessings are there, and which are used for what?" the manager asked. It was a little surprising, because of how ridiculously easy the answer to them was.
"Six main types and others. Telekinesis, teleportation, telepathy, clairvoyance, empathy, mind and others. Each of them are split into their various sub-types as well, or levels of their strength as they get stronger. For instance, in telekinesis, there's the basic, advanced, master and ultimate level, or even the legendary omnikinesis. Do you really want me to explain it?" I asked the manager who was seemingly beckoning me to continue this mundane talk.
"oh no, you don't have to go into detail, how about this, let's say the 'mind' what's their strongest advancement? They are a pretty unique one right?" the manager seemed to be lacking on his knowledge on this. The 'mind' never had a strongest advancement, they were merely split into the hive, control, theft. How well they did in each one were kept a secret to each country's military. "They are the one with only three classes" I answered the manager. "Oh, is that so?" he replied, seemingly astonished and maybe even embarrassed.
The atmosphere died, as the manager gave a light cough, before announcing that he was going to be on break. Without much interest, I stared across the road, there were a bunch of students running about, questioning random people of something. I didn't take much interest in it, it was probably just some sort of survey. The students seemed to be rather anxious, as I watched them rush up towards a man who was pretending to be reading his newspaper. When the students approached, I could've sworn that I saw him smile. Without my notice, a figure suddenly blocked my point of view from the front door.
I watched as the door slid open, a really suspicious-looking person entered the store. His eyes shifted left and right, as he scurried for the drinks section. I noticed how especially scrawny he looked, and the loose T-shirt that he wore despite it being winter. As he approached the counter with bloodshot eyes, his cracked lips merely mouthed a small "how much?" before scanning his card and leaving with seven bottles of coffee. He disappeared the moment he stepped outside of the door. It was sudden and instant. To be able to teleport far enough to reach out of my sight, showed that he had some capability to him. As for not teleporting from the store, I guess he just didn't want to be mistaken as your average teleport thief? A teleport thief is one of the menaces of society, they can't be stopped, and the powerful ones can simply pull the object to them from afar, even with the best barriers made to prevent it. Apparently, there has been a rumor going around that there's even a thief's guild where thieves gather and share information, it goes far enough that they seem to be able to influence the politics of various nations as well. But that's just a rumor.
A light white trail of light in the form of gaseous smoke trailed towards me across the street, as the source of it being the man pretending to read the newspaper pointed his finger towards the store, making the students dive in furiously for the store. They should be careful, there might still be cars at this period of time after all.
The door slid open, as I watched the students gather around me, well in front of me from the counter. Their eyes showed desperation and vulnerability. "Where is it?" they immediately asked, right to the bat without masking its content. "Where's what? Did you guys lose something?" I answered with another question. "Stop with the bullshit, where's the powder?" a feisty young man snapped. His face seemed pale as if all color was drained from it. "You don't need to be so rude about it, you can find it on the shelf to the right" I answered, seemingly oblivious to their question. Immediately as I said that the students scrambled to the shelf where the white powder was located. "Not this powder!" one of them cursed. "Wait a minute guys, gather around here..." one of the girls rounded them up to the corner of a room, as far away from the counter as they could be. Leaving a mirage of myself at the counter, I walked right next to them to listen in on the fun.
"Clairvoyance only told us that he might be related to the missing 'Smiling Angel', not that he has it or maybe he doesn't even realize that he came in contact with it" she started off the conversation. The students nervously glance at my mirage at the counter. "But...what if he was just pretending? I mean, there aren't even other trails nearby!" a boy replied. "Come on guys, let's just forget about it" a guy calmly stated. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN, YOU'RE THE ONE WHO LOST IT HENRY!" the pale guy got impatient. "Shut up!" another girl replied. The group consisting of 3 guys and 2 girls appeared to be in a disarray. They glanced at my mirage once again. "Anyways, he might have come into contact with that old guy...that's why the trail led to him, and also this is a convenience store... there's a high chance that the old guy came in here to get something" a very rational statement was made by the girl who gathered the group. "True..." the others had no choice but to agree.
I quickly hurried back to the counter and ended the mirage. The group slowly approached once more and the girl spoke this time "Uhm, sorry about before, but our group has been working on a really important project, and yesterday, our final product was stolen! We suspect that it might have been this weird old guy in thick winter clothing, by any chance have you seen someone like that?" she asked with a small smile. The slithering lies of a snake in the making, her words were like water, flowing smoothly to eradicate any evidence of it being falsified. Naturally, I played along. "Oh dear, that's... unfortunate, sorry but I haven't seen anyone like that... but, if its so serious, I believe we should inform the police or at least your school about it" I replied with fake concern. "what? No! I mean no, we can't do that, our grades are at stake here!" her response was perfectly valid and they seem all too real if not for what I know. "Please, anyone? Do you remember anyone suspicious?" she asked, pleading. "Ah right, just before you guys entered, there was this guy looking left and right, he didn't have thick winter clothing or whatever, but he was wearing a single loose T-Shirt, grabbed a bunch of coffee and teleported away after paying. He was a rather strong teleporter as well from what I can observe... but he didn't seem to be a weird old man?" I answered with that. "Was this item of yours heavily guarded in a locked room or something? If it is, it might be a teleport thief!" I stated, trying to 'help'. "TELEPORT THIEF! Oh my god why didn't we think of this before?" one of the guys exclaimed. "Could it not have been the old man but the teleporter he met this morning?!" another one speculated.
The door slid open once more, as a rather familiar girl entered. She had a black ponytail and shifted around nervously. In her hands held a paper bag. Naturally, I would recognize her, after all, we only met last night. She ran towards the counter and threw the paper bag into my hands. "I'm sorry for last night!" she shouted as she left. I peeked into the bag to see a brand new jacket of a rather high-class brand. Without knowing why, I broke into a small smile. Perhaps the gift was so good that I can't help but feel happy about it.
I felt warm gazes coming from the students. "You're wrong" I replied to them without them asking anything.
The students ran out after that, as they gathered around the newspaper man across the street. The white trail disappeared from the store, as it began to lead elsewhere, before instantly being cut off. Things change, little by little, everything does. People learn from their failures, they give up and move on. The students gathered around for a bit more before they left. The manager came back from his lunch, as I began to leave for mine.
"Did anything interesting happen?" he asked. Showing him my bag with an expensive jacket, he was simply puzzled as I left to the changing room
What should I grab? I entered the lonely streets, as lunch dictates that many people and their company found the restaurants fully packed.
Being a single person, I was allowed to seat at the counter with the other single customers. With my order, the yellow noodles came with its soup and some ingredients. "Hey, have you heard of this, it turns out that the 'Angels' have been sighted in the city"
"No way!"
"That's what I said until I heard this weird noise near my house down at Freiya's, so being a curious person, I went to investigate. There, I saw a girl being forced into a van by people in hoods with a wing design! I told the police, but they refused to listen to me, saying I was deluded... but it isn't just me, there were a lot of other sightings all around the city as well."
"You always do tell the most ridiculous and interesting stories! Hahahahaha"
"I'm serious!"
The customers to my left began their chatter, as some parts of their conversation caught my attention. Rumors, those are how they spread.
Finishing my food, I drank down to the last drop of the thick soup and left the restaurant. Not forgetting to takeaway dinner at Queen's once more, I made my way back to the convenience store. Thus, the day passes by without any activity, the rush hour was as busy as usual and after the clock struck 11p.m, I made my way back to my one-room apartment. It was uneventful and as dull as it ever was.
I took out my textbooks and began to study. Going through history, war tactics, the methods, and definite ways abilities were being used and the others alike. Math and sciences weren't a big part of things, as 'command' was the course I wished to pursue. It was rather useful, I graduate with a sort of degree that allows me to prove that I have management capabilities, as well as signing up for the army for a suitable post. Naturally, this degree was super popular among those who were going through the academic route and those that were gifted alike.
The mundane period passed by, as I found my eyelids beginning to shut. Laying down, I chose to take a small nap.
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"tak"
The sound of an opening door awoke me. Being in a single room flat, the only other door was my bathroom. It was without question that someone was breaking in. I noticed a white gaseous trail sneaking its way towards the corner of my shelf, where a familiar blue powder was placed. They were on to me.
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People being kidnapped huh? I wonder how much of that was true.
I waited calmly, continuing with my sleeping posture, pretending to be asleep. My eyes were slightly opened, but in the dark, I doubt that they'd notice. The door swung open. Footsteps, heavy and hard came into the room. I notice a huge figure approaching the flask. With haste, I changed his perception. The white gaseous trail led towards my fridge instead, he hurriedly turned and approached the fridge. Grabbing a bottle of water that looked to be the flask to him, he carefully attempted to place it in his small pouch, hung by his waist. Of course, the bottle fell from his side, making a loud thud on the floor. It didn't matter, it wasn't as if he was going to hear it. Tricking his hearing required a bit more of an effort, as manipulating his sense of touch, smell and sense of the atmosphere caused my nose to slightly bleed.
I watched as he closed the door gently, before making his leave. The white trail of smoke disappeared. For a clairvoyance to track it down to such a degree, it must either mean that the user is extremely skilled, or that there had already been things done to the flask beforehand. I went over to the flask and emptied its contents into the bottle after drinking a bit from it. The powder nicely dissolved in the water. Opening the window, I threw the now empty flask into the snow below.
Sneaking the bottle of water into the toilet, I hid it within the toilet tank of the toilet bowl. The upper portion where it usually fills up with the water needed to flush. Washing my face after wiping off the bloodied nose, I heard movements outside of my door once more.
"This is the place?"
"Yeah"
Small whispers, but multiple footsteps.
Quickly exiting the toilet, I went back to lying on the mattress. I fear that my noise would have already alerted them. But it was a worry for nothing. I waited a few seconds. Nothing. There wasn't any sound from my door. A minute, I hear the sound of metal, of someone picking a lock. The gentle sound of a door being swung open, but still no footsteps. My eyes opened slightly, but there was no one in sight.
"MMMMHGGGHG" I hear muffled screams. It was coming from the right. That's Elly's room, isn't it? Just as I was about to move, I hear my door being forced open. I made the blanket into my mirage, as 3 men, all dressed in black with a hood and wing symbol grabbed my blanket forcefully.
I snuck behind them while erasing my figure from their sight. My nose bled once more. Outside, I see the clear figures of 5 hooded men and Elly and 'me' being carried away. The brown haired shy girl appeared to have been knocked out as her head dangled up and down. I followed behind quietly, careful not to make too much sound. As they made their way down the stairs, I considered screaming to wake the neighbors, but wouldn't that just make them run away, and who knows if by the time our neighbors opened their doors, would we already be taken away? Would they just ignore it? I don't know.
Sneaking into the van with them, the hooded people remained silent. They didn't seem to be carrying weapons...what should I do? Blood continued to leak from my nose as I pondered meaninglessly. I sat behind them in the dark, I couldn't hold it, I needed to rest a little. My illusion broke, as the hooded people just stayed there silent, not noticing my presence nor the fact that the boy became a blanket. I should be calling them 'Angel' instead, but the term sort of distanced itself from me, it just felt wrong to call them that.
Silently, the van ride continued.
I made the blanket into my mirage once more and pretended to make it struggle. They immediately moved their hands in a grabbing motion, using their telekinesis to knock me out. Naturally, my mirage fell silent. The van was covered in absolute darkness, if not for the lights coming from the street at times from 24-hour shops, I wouldn't even have realized that there was another person in the passenger seat next to the driver.
The van finally came to a stop, as the door slid open. A mirage was much easier to maintain than the perception of others. After all, a mirage only required me to pull a sort of cover over the original object, that way, everyone can see it. Perception, on the other hand, required consistent effort.
"Well well well, if it isn't my favorite group of angels" a person dressed in priest robes, unironically said. His voice held joy and pleasure, as a distasteful look flashed across his face the moment he laid eyes on Elly, and even 'me'. Our bodies were mercilessly thrown to the ground, as the priest handed over a card, it was payment for the transaction. There was no doubt about that.
I wanted to take the card off their noses, but as I glance around the room, there were at least twenty people located here in this abandoned factory. It was too risky, there might even be someone I can't see.
I made myself appear transparent. It wasn't anything hard, it was simply casting an illusion over myself. My nose continued to bleed. Holding the blood and wiping it onto my pants, a small sound caught the attention of the people around.
"what was that?" their eyes shifted around, as they became alert. Ah well. Wait a minute, there's no one looking at our 'bodies'. I noticed as the members of the group began to move to check out the noise. "It must've come from the entrance" they figured, as the van was parked near the entrance. Taking this God-given opportunity, I took off my jacket and threw it on the floor and disguised it as Elly. Casting a mirage over her, I dragged her body along with me.
"THE BODY MOVED?!" the priest shrieked. "Huh?" the members appeared to be confused. I watched as the priest glance over to check once more. "Nothing, it must've just been my imagination, dear me, I'm really getting old...kekekkekeke" the priest laughed to himself. Taking it as his usual nutcase rambling, the other members of the group began to block out the entrance.
I slowly dragged away Elly's body, as the blood dripping from my nose found itself onto my shirt and pants. It wasn't just a little, it was to the point where I felt dizzy.
"Hmmm?" Elly seemed to have been awoken, as she appeared confused.
"Wh..." "Shhh," I silently whispered as I covered her mouth, cutting her off. "We can talk later, right now, we got to escape" I whispered. She was probably panicking. After all, she can't even see herself. "Elton?" she replied. My blood dripped onto her shoulder. I felt like I was going to faint. "Let's hurry" I urged, as Elly stumbled, unable to find her feet. I held her hand and guided her through the entrance, where all of the members were on the lookout. She seemed pale. My strength wavered, as I cut off the illusion on the blanket and jacket.
"SOMEONE SNUCK OUT MY BABIES RIGHT UNDER MY NOSE!" I heard the priest scream from inside. "FIND HIM, HIS DEFINITELY STILL INSIDE!" he ordered.
The members obliged, as they made their way back in. Moving away as far as we could, we broke into a small sprint, as my vision blurred. It was as far as I could go, I didn't know how long we ran, or how far, but my illusion shattered and all that was left was me, staring at a shocked and panicking Elly under the bright moon. It was blurry, and then it was clear for a split second it was.
I saw shoes running towards us, they were normal civilian shoes.
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I woke up to see a different celling this morning. It was white. Sitting up, I found my legs unable to be moved, as the head of a young girl pressed down on my right thigh. Her soft and gentle breathing showed someone who fell asleep waiting for me to wake up last night. There were curtains around me, meaning that this was the emergency room, with all the other people groaning in pain near me, I found it mysterious how she could be sleeping so soundly.
As if on queue, she began to move. "Hmmm?" her eyes shifted around and rested on me. "You're alright!" she exclaimed, delighted and nearly jumping in to hug me, nearly. She stopped halfway realizing what she was doing. A strange sense of pity overwhelmed me. It was as if I had missed a huge opportunity. The curtains drew open, as a doctor, young and handsome immediately made me open my mouth, stuck a wooden stick into the middle, shone a torchlight into my eyes as he forced it open, before declaring me healthy but with a need to recuperate from the loss of blood. "You shouldn't overexert your powers like that!" he cautioned once more before leaving. I noticed the needle poking my arm connected to a sack of half-emptied blood pack. I wonder why I never noticed it before.
"Ah, uhm..." Elly seemed to be finding it hard to start a conversation. "Are you alright? No, I mean uh... get well soon?" she tried her best. I couldn't help but break into a smile, on the verge of laughter. "Yes?" she asked, genuinely concerned and unsure of why I reacted this way. "Its nothing" I responded.
"Ah right, have you reported this to the police yet?" I asked. Elly nodded her head. "They said they'll look into it, but so far there's nothing, not even bothering to ask us questions," Elly answered. That was really weird. I could almost smell a huge conspiracy. Then another important question haunted me.
Do I have insurance? I can't afford to pay this... I need... I need to get out of here.
Attempting to try and pull off the needle, I realized that my other hand was connected as well. In fact, I could hardly move them without moving the machines. I was trapped, a prisoner of my own healing.
"Thank you!" Elly suddenly intruded my thoughts. "Ah don't mention it, especially about me turning invisible alright?" I told her. "Mmm I won't" she responded obediently. It was just so... so... I can't explain it. I felt like rubbing her head... if only I could move my arms...or just a hand...
"Uhm... my mom says she wants to talk..." Elly said. As if it was on queue once more, her mother, Diane walked into the area from the curtains. "Oh my, the sweet-tongued young man, what in the world happened to you?" she pretended to not know as a joke. After all, we aren't close, in fact, we would be near strangers. In short, she was breaking the ice. "Let's get to the main point, what happened? Why haven't I received any reports on this yet?" Diane felt strangely powerful. "Mom's the new head of the police department in the city, she was just transferred here" Elly explained. Wow. Just. Wow. Who could ever guess?
"So, speak," Diane said.
"Well, it was the middle of the night, I heard...."
After the interrogation, Diane confirmed the location with her daughter on where we were found. She didn't probe into my power either, as many others wouldn't as well. It was a secret, a little of it has been spilled, but it is still my secret. One I wouldn't want to share.
"Ah, if you're wondering about the hospital bill, I already got it covered, just sit back and relax" Diane settled my innermost worry before leaving.
Elly stayed by my side awkwardly. At that moment, my stomach began to growl. She chuckled a little. As I got a little embarrassed, her stomach resonated with mine. Her face flushed red, as she made an excuse to go get us breakfast and ran off. The silence remained, as I stared at the red curtains around me with boredom. A few minutes passed, as Elly returned with Queen's. They were a fast food chain. And without a doubt, they sell the best burgers. "You always buy this for dinner so..." she justified her reasoning and sat down eating her burger next to me. Watching her chew, my stomach responded for me. "Why aren't you eating?" she asked, curious. Only to look at my arms and awkwardly come to a realization. "I'm sorry! Here!" she moved her half-eaten burger and shoved it into my mouth. Reluctantly, I took a bite. And her actions repeated, slowly feeding me her burger, before realizing that she fed me her burger. "Can we share this one?" she asked innocently.
"Of course," I smiled.
The burger went one bite for me, one bite for her, as she soon began to start teasing me. Moving the burger away right before I bit into it. "Heheheehe" she would laugh until she realized that I began to take bigger mouths. The curtains swung open, as a familiar manager in his 30s appeared as Elly took a mouth of the burger, and automatically brought it to mine.
"Here I was worried about my dear junior employee and here he is, having the audacity to be flirting with another right in front of me!" the manager exclaimed. "Fl...Flirt!?" Elly blushed, as she took another bite of the burger. "And you, don't you feel anything at all, sharing a burger with him?" the manager questioned as he pointed at Elly. "hmm? Ah! No worries, I'm not saliva conscious!" Elly brimmed with her innocence as she made a determined look and a fist with her other hand.
"Is this... the legendary generation gap?" the manager went into his own melancholy. It was a calming scene to look at. In all honesty, I think this is how the manager is trying to bridge the gap between us. "So, I'm guessing the store is closed right now?" I asked.
"Oh no, apparently we got a new employee. She had a bit of problem in the past, but she's earnest and appears to be interested in joining our crew!" the manager delightfully announced. "We are just part-timers..." I brought up the fact. "Yeah, and my very first few part-timers" the manager smiled. It felt... gentle. Elly moved the last bit of the burger to my mouth, and I finished it off.
"Well then, rest well! I have some other things to attend to" the manager waved goodbye. "I need to get ready to go to work as well!" Elly stood up before thanking me once more before leaving.
"You really aren't scary!" she mysteriously announced before she left. A weird thing to say, I'm probably the nicest man to ever exist. Little by little everything's changing. The world somehow seemed to have a little more color in it.