Chapter 26: Into the Furnace

The fluorescent lights flickered above, casting long shadows across the training chamber. Jake Foster stood in the center, his hands clenched into tight fists, his body drenched in sweat. He could feel the raw energy pulsing inside him, simmering beneath his skin, begging for release. The air around him crackled with faint static, the pressure mounting with each passing second.

“Again,” came the cold voice of Dr. Mercer from behind the glass, her tone devoid of any patience. “You’re not even trying. Push harder.”

Jake’s eyes flicked up toward the observation window, where Mercer and her team watched from the safety of their control room. Her face was a mask of calm, but he knew better. He could feel her frustration, her disappointment seeping through the sterile environment like a suffocating fog.

“I’m giving you everything I’ve got,” Jake muttered through gritted teeth, his arms trembling from the strain of holding the energy inside. Every instinct told him to let go, to unleash it—but he knew what would happen if he did. He remembered the explosion, the fire, the screams. He couldn’t let that happen again.

“Everything?” Mercer’s voice came through sharp and mocking. “No. You’re holding back because you’re afraid. Afraid of what you’ll do if you lose control.”

Jake flinched, but it wasn’t the accusation that stung—it was the truth behind it. He was afraid. He’d been living in that fear ever since Galewood was destroyed, the memory of it a constant weight in his chest. He could still hear the echoes of those who had died in the explosion, feel the heat on his skin, see the way the city crumbled around him.

And then there was Levi—broken, pale, and barely alive when Jake had found him in the aftermath. If he hadn’t dragged him from the wreckage… if he hadn’t saved him…

Jake shook his head, trying to focus. He had to get his powers under control. For Levi’s sake. For his own.

Inside a separate room, isolated and dimly lit, Levi Blackwell sat on the floor, staring at his hands. The room was soundproof, they had told him. Not that it mattered. No walls could block out what he felt.

The emotions of the Academy—the fear, anger, frustration, and hidden sorrow—seeped into him like water through cracks in a dam. It was constant, overwhelming, and suffocating. He could feel the cold detachment of the scientists watching him, the carefully measured thoughts of Mariane Kyros as she analyzed his every move. But what Levi couldn’t feel—what he hadn’t felt since that day in Galewood—was himself.

It was strange, the way the explosion had changed him. His body was fine—more than fine, according to the Academy’s tests. His powers were intact, possibly even stronger. But his emotions… his empathy… they were distant, like echoes in a vast canyon.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

He could feel the emotions of others, sense their pain, their fear—but they didn’t touch him the way they used to. He could manipulate emotions if he wanted to—bend them, shape them—but he felt nothing when he did it. It was like playing a game he couldn’t quite remember the rules to.

Levi chuckled softly to himself, the sound echoing eerily in the empty room. The Academy had been running tests on him for weeks, poking and prodding, trying to understand how he had survived. They didn’t know what he knew—they didn’t truly understand the sheer volume of emotions he had felt that day.

That had been his breaking point.

The emotions had crashed over him like a tidal wave, tearing him apart and putting him back together in ways he didn’t fully understand. He should have died, just like everyone else. But something—something he didn’t understand—had kept him alive.

Now, as he sat in that sterile room, he found himself more curious than angry. Why didn’t he feel anything anymore? Why was he just… numb?

He ran a hand through his stark white hair, staring at the contrast between his pale fingers and the strands. His hair had been black before the explosion, and his eyes had been brown. Now, when he looked in the mirror, he saw a stranger staring back—white hair, glowing red eyes. The Academy had been baffled by the change, but Levi didn’t care.

It was the numbness that bothered him—or rather, the absence of being bothered at all.

On the other side of the facility, Jake’s training continued. Sweat poured down his face, and his heart pounded in his chest as the energy built inside him, reaching a dangerous level. His thoughts were jumbled, a mess of guilt and determination.

“I can’t lose control again,” he muttered to himself.

“Push it, Foster,” Mercer’s voice snapped through the speaker. “Let it out.”

Jake’s eyes flashed with anger. He didn’t trust Mercer—not for a second. But he had no choice. He had to get control of this, or they’d keep him locked up here forever. Worse, they’d keep Levi locked up too.

He couldn’t bear the thought of Levi probably being stuck in this place as well, subjected to the Academy’s endless experiments. Jake hadn’t seen him in weeks, not since they had been separated upon arrival. He had no idea what was happening to him, whether he was okay—or as okay as Levi could be, considering everything.

“Don’t think, just Focus,” Jake growled to himself, forcing his mind back to the present.

His hands began to tremble as he reached his limit. The energy was clawing at him, threatening to rip through his body. But Jake wouldn’t let it. He gritted his teeth, holding it in. He couldn’t lose control.

In his isolated room, Levi’s mind drifted. He wasn’t afraid of the Academy. Not like Jake was. He couldn’t bring himself to care that much. The only thing that piqued his interest was the strange emptiness inside him.

He wondered how long the numbness would last. He wondered what it meant.

Levi shifted, feeling a faint flicker of something in the back of his mind. Jake. He always knew when Jake was struggling. There was something about the bond they shared—it was twisted now, broken in places, but still there. He felt it most clearly when Jake was trying to keep it together.

Levi let out a long breath, his eyes narrowing. He could sense the guilt radiating from Jake, thick and suffocating. It would crush him if he didn’t find a way to let it go.

But Levi wasn’t sure he cared enough to help.

“I told him this would happen,” Levi thought, staring blankly at the wall. “I told him to stop messing with his powers.”

But the truth was, Jake had saved him from losing his mind completely. In the moments after the explosion, when Levi had been consumed by the emotions of everyone dying around him, it had been Jake’s true feelings—his desperate, overwhelming love and loyalty—that had grounded Levi, kept him from being truly lost.

It was ironic, Levi mused, that the one person responsible for all of this destruction was the only one he felt any connection to.

Back in the training room, Jake reached his limit. With a guttural roar, he released the pent-up energy, sending a burst of light crackling through the air. The force of it knocked him to his knees, but he didn’t care. He had done it. He had controlled it—barely, but enough.

Behind the glass, Mercer leaned back, a faint smile on her lips. “Good,” she murmured. “You’re learning.”

But Jake didn’t feel victorious. All he felt was the dull, aching reminder of what he had done—of how far he had to go to make up for it.