Khalif roamed through the Bronze sector. His fellow guards all varying distances from him.
The night sky was beautifully lit with moons reflecting the light of many stars, and the streets were alive with activity. Maelstrom’s less than agreeable culture during the day had already shifted from agitated working class, to side hustle passion.
Crime was even more askew, as laws meant less to those alive while unseen, and more to those that had to defend themselves from criminal craft.
Khalif was trying his best not to have too much fun, darting through the shadows that the brilliantly lit CityNation of Maelstrom had to offer. Yet he couldn’t help it and still lost himself, feeling alive in the city seemingly made to be climbed and explored.
“Surprise…!"
Khalif laughed at the screaming woman that watched him jump from the side of the canal and into her boat. The screams heard well behind him as he emerged from the darkness of another boat well in the distance and on the opposing side of the canal.. He’d used the boats rather than the bridge that one of his people hid on, wondering if his last tactic may have been too much of a difficulty gap for his friends to keep up with, but only for a moment.
Their abilities are even better than my own, if they just knew how to use them better…
The group all did their best to keep their eyes on Khalif no matter what he did, their practice intense, as Khalif was the most evasive within all of the future bodyguards.
This wasn’t even because of his ability to move through shadows, as this aspect of Khalif’s abilities had always petrified him from the very first instance he was able to travel through the void between shadows.
When Khalif entered a shadow the world was born anew. Each and every time he entered a shadow an inversion of what was known as the laws of reality were all broken. Colors inverted, gravity didn’t exist, and even further neither did time.
Users of this ability or abilities like Khalif’s own were able to peak through the void and appear instantly in a new location, unhindered by anything but the capacity of their own mana.
Khalif walked casually down a dead end alleyway. The street light there illuminated his figure only temporarily, before he stepped into the dark that swallowed him whole, like he’d walked into a yawning cave mouth in the darkest moments night had to offer the world.
His pursuers didn’t see him casually stroll out of the entrance to the same alley, walking off as if he’d never been there. The void limited him in no way, shape, or form, almost as if the world became intangible when he entered shadows, walking free of the same surfaces he climbed into the void through. Able to see only the areas touched by shadow or darkness, Khalif could travel down a street in a mere blink by focusing on his destination. An ability that seemed to be growing the more he used it.
When he’d first entered the void as a child, the inverted world that was the void at best allowed him to travel through walls, up stairs, fall through the floor itself and into spaces below. Now however when Khalif entered the void the darkness itself welcomed him, calling out to him like a missing piece of his soul left behind by untold powers to support his every want and desire.
He struggled not to leave his people behind completely at certain points. As when he was outside the void, Khalif could sense shadows in movement around him, but with the numerous pedestrian traffic within the Bronze, tracking his own people's movements was just as hard as them keeping their eyes on him.
Come on, you all, you can do better than this.
“You know if this were a life or death situation, you’d all be dead by now,” said Khalif, peeking down from the rooftop of a bakery where his group had followed him. The gathered few looked up, and saw Khalif pointing a finger gun at the gathered guards in training, smile on his face as he pulled back the fake hammer of the weapon and took shots.
“How is any of this fair? How are we supposed to guard you while you actively avoid us? Your abilities are built to leave us all in the dust,” said a guard frustrated. Khalif shrugged and yawned.
“Do you think it will be easy to keep up with our boss. He’s only seven and can probably already out-sneak most of us, but if we were being paid to guard some rich brat or a noble with movement based abilities, what are you going to do if they give you the slip, tell who ever hired us that we did our best but we lost them, sorry we weren’t good enough to keep up? No, that’s not going to work at all.”
Many nods of confirmation went through the small group on the ground below Khalif, and he saw their frustrations slowly melt away as they took time to think. This was a hurdle that they had to overcome on their own and Khalif knew it.
The creative use of their minimal abilities could easily bridge the gap between themselves and Khalif, but only if they came together and utilized their minds alongside their internal powers as a group.
This wasn’t because of any of their abilities being lesser than Khalif’s own, but his level of experience using his abilities was far more vast than his counterparts below, which gave him an edge every time.
Sincere can see an entire handspan of breaths into his own future, and didn’t see me coming. Ronald is a kicker and can break through the mind rip caused by supernatural speeds, but I easily escape every time. Miranda can fly, but has an extreme fear of heights that she will need to overcome for her abilities to be truly useful. And even Cole would be able to lock me down if he worked on being less disoriented when he cloned himself…
All of his guards' abilities were perfect for their unit, but all of them lacked confidence in their abilities. None of them had the same training Almarine had initiated during Khalif’s own childhood. This almost illegal training had given Khalif a leg up. A seeming advantage that he had to now pass on to his own companions.
Maybe I should start with Cole, he has the biggest issue as when he clones himself, the hive mind of his core ability overwhelms him with the flood of thoughts that come from his clones…?
“Yo Cole, come here for a moment,” said Khalif pointing toward a shadow at the edges of the street. Khalif vanished and emerged where he’d pointed and Cole looked around nervously after being singled out, but still made his way over slowly.
“How many clones can you make?” Khalif dove straight in, an idea emerging to life from the depths of his mind with a random burst of inspiration. He’d seen Almarine create entire copies of herself long ago, and even seen the woman discuss things with herself when the woman believed she was the only person suited to converse with. So why couldn’t Cole do the same thing?
“I can make as many copies of myself as I want, but the moment there is two of me, I can’t block out their thoughts. It's like I have control over them, but not their minds, it's weird to explain,” said Cole.
“I see, but have you ever tried not to control your copy but instead speak to them through your mind?” Cole shrugged and looked away momentarily before looking back at Khalif.
“Not really, honestly get a head ache the moment I start to hear their thoughts in my mind,” answered Cole timidly.
“Look man, I’m not grilling you here, just want to know if I can help you at all, but I think we should start there. I’m not saying to let go completely or anything like that, but maybe try not to control the thoughts, or even the clone, maybe try having a casual conversation, you are in control of your power, but maybe that is all you need to control?” Cole’s eyes narrowed, but eventually nodded, and Khalif took a step backward and gestured beside Cole, urging the young man to try.
Cole nodded and in the next instant an entire body grew painfully out of Cole’s own form. Bones broke, skin ripped and Cole cried in pain as a second copy of himself broke free of his original form, both completely naked and looking around in disorientation. Cole took off a small backpack full of clothing and handed his duplicate an outfit and a flimsy pair of slip on shoes.
The shaggy brown haired boy, now stood next to an exact copy of himself. The original in a suit, and the other in casual clothing that Cole had left behind for his new professional wear.
“You good?” Both Coles nodded in response to his question and Khalif couldn’t help but smile.
“How’s it going up there,” Khalif asked with a point toward Cole’s forehead.
“Weird,” said Cole number one.
“Didn’t know we could communicate like this, when did you figure this out,” added Cole number two in question. Khalif’s brow furrowed at the way the second Cole responded, wondering if Cole’s clones truly did have minds of their own. Only to have the notion confirmed as they continued to converse.
“I didn’t either, I guess I was getting in the way, seems like if I’m not trying to control you and manage your thoughts that my power gives you the ability to do that on your own,” said the first Cole. The second Cole nodded and smirked.
“That is what you get for being a control freak,” remarked the second Cole with a smirk.
“Whatever, you brat. You didn’t think of it either. Trust me, I know because your thoughts are sparking loud,” Cole blurted to his clone.
“Okay then… this seems like a good start, going to let you work out the kinks while I go speak to the others.” Both Coles nodded in response and Khalif moved back to the main group.
“Yo, is Cole not bugging out? Haven’t seen him with a copy out for this long without grabbing his head and screaming in pain,” asked Sincere. Khalif looked at the shorter young man and shrugged with a bravado that he didn’t truly feel. He was honestly more than amazed that a simple idea that he’d shared with his friend had actually worked. The young man’s long black braid whipped to the side as Cole began to create another scream inducing clone, drawing all their attention, but Khalif looked back toward the fare skinned Sincere, and slapped him on the shoulder.
“You're next…”
…
“There he is. Drop Cole now!”
Khalif barely stepped free of the shadow he exited, and was forced to dive out of the way. A duplicate of Cole fell ten feet from above as the flying Miranda dropped a clone exactly where Khalif just had been.
Khalif didn’t even take the time to dust himself off, running at a full sprint to get away. With Sincere directing his guards with his future knowledge, though slight, it still proved difficult for Khalif to maneuver around them.
Ronald’s problem was like Miranda’s, he feared his own power and was limiting himself, but after chasing down Troy a few days prior, Khalif had noticed the young woman only moved incredibly fast during moments when her path was straight and without obstacle.
Khalif hadn’t and still didn’t know the significance of why, but after relaying the strategy to Ronald, the young man tried and begun to throttle his speed. The change was small at first, but now that they’d been practicing, Khalif only had the briefest of moments between each transition through the void before he could sense a shadow moving alarmingly fast in his direction.
“Tag, you're It, you bloody spark of a monster!” Khalif was tagged for the first time since they’d begun the training exercises, Ronald behind Khalif amidst a victory dance, only to have Khalif spin, sweep Ronald’s legs from beneath him, and tap the young man on his shoulder. Khalif laughing as Ronald tried to quickly get up and fix his messy bun of red tangles.
“No, I’m not. And worry about your bloody hair later, fool, we’re training!”
Khalif was off, once more sprinting away, only to find himself cornered shortly by Cole and one of his copies, along with another of the bodyguards-in-training. However, he didn’t slow, feeling a shadow stretch across an adjacent alley wall in a dive toward him.
He dove, not to avoid what he assumed to be Miranda flying toward him, but instead to dive into the shadow of the nearest Cole clone, recognizable only by the casual attire the duplicate wore.
Once within the void, time froze and Khalif looked around from the ground below everyone that closed in on his position. No longer affected by gravity or the distance between spaces, Khalif teleported to the shadow of Miranda above. He didn’t know if his plan would work, and knew that his situation would end badly if he failed, but it wasn’t being cautious that helped him improve when experimenting with his own abilities.
Please, by the maiden, I hope this works…
Khalif took aim from his new vantage point well above the ground below, now positioned even above the flying Miranda, using her own stretched shadow as an exit point. He prepared himself mentally and sent himself soaring in a hurtling dive back into the realm of Maelstrom from the void, moving even faster than he had been during his dead sprint and dive previously.
Once he exited the void, his momentum remained in full and Khalif still in a dive soared above everyone nearly unnoticed. His path through the air short enough that he managed to clear the gap between the buildings his companions filled below.
“What in the bloody embers…!”
Khalif hooted in celebration as he landed on the shorter of the two buildings that enclosed the alley he’d just escaped. He rolled to not damage his knees and didn’t stop for even a blink, sprinting away across the rooftop. Feeling even more free than he had previously. As it was his companions increased potential that now pushed him even further than he ever had been before.
“You’re going to have to do better than that, you hooligans!”
This continued through out the night, and by the end Khalif had been caught. Barely, and with great effort, but it was achieved. Other than the few altercations they experienced with groups they once use to rival, Khalif considered the training to be an absolute success.
“We’ll meet back here tomorrow around mid day. Tomorrow, half protect, half target. We will also be going to talk to Ms. Lisa.”
“Why Ms. Lisa? Doesn’t her shop get robbed all the time? Why would we be going to talk to her?” Ronald asked lifting his square frames to sit above his head upon his short crop of black hair.
“Use that brain of yours, Ronald, that is exactly why we are going to talk to Ms. Lisa. She doesn’t do security, so we’re going to do it for her,” Khalif said stepping toward the darkness, glancing back before he vanished to speak.
“Don’t be late.”