“Hold the stretch for a bit longer! Almost there! And… done! Great work everybody, hopefully I’ll see you all next week! Great work Jas. You too Derek.” A couple of tiredly mumbled ‘thank you’s were the only responses I got. Momentum Fitness Center offered guided classes for members, and I led a handful of the afternoon and weekend timeslots in addition to my normal work manning the desk. Both the building and the work were boring and generic, but I still appreciated the opportunity to work part-time here. I got a free gym membership and decent wages, which I sorely needed. Between scholarships and financial aid, I didn’t have to worry about tuition much, but I needed some way to afford basic necessities. Importantly, my boss was also very understanding and accepting, which was a welcome blessing.
Unfortunately, this session had been pretty terrible all around. I had nearly called a close to the session early due to a nasty headache, but it had cleared almost as quick as it had come, leaving me with a plethora of questions. Previously unseen orbs of colored light flitted about in a wash of colors coasting on unseen currents, speckling the slightly-too-artificially-happily decorated place with dashes of natural color.
Even as I watched, another orb peeled off one of my seated clients before sinking into the floor. The orb was a faint slate grey, the same color as the colored field that surrounded them. I didn’t remember their name-they were as boring a person as their color. Other people had colors ranging from yellow to my own vibrant purplish-blue. Somehow, no one around me seemed to see any of the phenomena. I suspected it was some kind of hallucination, but I wasn’t aware of any condition that could cause something like this and wasn’t partial to a costly hospital visit. An uninsured and broke almost-twenty-year-old didn’t have the cash to blow on a visit to the hospital that might not even be necessary.
That left me with one option. Ignore the seemingly harmless hallucinations and hope it wouldn’t lead to any problems later on. Mind made up, I shrugged and got on with my own workout. Already warmed up by my light participation as an instructor, I hopped right into my workout. The weight training passed quickly in a pleasant haze, as worries about my long-term health vanished behind the strain. I hastened to finish my sets as I moved into my favorite part of my training routine. Martial arts had become a pleasant escape for me in those last two to three years. There was freedom in martial arts, brought on by movement and control. I felt myself relaxing into the moment, punches and the occasional kick striking the black bag in front of me as I shuffled back and forth.
Thoughts fled as I embraced the focused practice. I danced to some unknown rhythm, the slap of skin on target ringing out as strikes flowed into blows, balance precise and body lithe and reactive. I couldn’t remember another time I felt this comfortable in my body. My feet moved where I wanted them to, my body twisted as I desired lending power to my every motion. It was a focused state of being defined the subtle lightning that plied my veins and cleared my head as every movement grew more precise, and I exulted in it. Distracted as I was by the joy of progress, I didn’t notice the colored orbs that flowed into me as I worked, slowly floating in my direction.
When I finally fell out of that state, the first thing I noticed was the burn. It was everywhere, slipping into muscle fibers I had never felt before. I don’t think I’ve ever worked out that hard in my life. Feels good. Especially since nothing is actually hurting, I’ve got no stiffness, bruises, or even overworked muscles. As I moved through my warm down, my colleague Liam came over. He was beefy, but not the kind of big that you saw on those that got there with steroids. ‘Thick’ is the only word that really described him. Big nose, big mouth, big body and big smile. You almost always noticed that last one first, and everyone appreciated his thickly accented southern company. “Ellis, saw you putting in work on that bag there. You looked damn good, that was probably the best I’ve ever seen you. Been practicin’ a lot more recently or what?”
I replied honestly, without stopping my stretches. “Not enough to do that. I’m not entirely sure what came over me there- I just moved and everything else seemed to follow.”
The man laughed and smiled, slapping me on the shoulder. “Well if stuff starts makin’ sense, and working together right, I aint know what else that is but a sign that you’ve been putting in hours. Keep up the good work ‘migo!”
I nodded absentmindedly, thanking him as he walked off searching for someone else to congratulate and motivate. Despite his presence and positivity, I was still feeling and reflecting on my improvement. I could feel the difference between myself before my workout and after. I knew progress wasn’t supposed to come this fast. Progress like this felt like the kind of work that’d come over weeks or months, not a single session. It certainly wasn’t normal, and I had a growing suspicion as to what was going on.
I narrowed my eyes, glancing around at the colored orbs. There were fewer scattered around now, and the ones that were there were largely the same color as my aura. Likely coming from me. The motes were also more concentrated around where I had been practicing. They could have been drawn to me. Or my practice, I suppose. I took another moment to think, reflecting on my situation. Getting better at things quickly isn’t a symptom of any medical issue I’m familiar with, and definitely not any I’d associate with visual hallucinations. Brain injuries rarely help their victims, which I’d hope is a sign nothing’s wrong.
I walked through the locker room and into the showers as I thought. If I’m willing to abandon common sense, there’s an even simpler explanation for the seemingly supernatural. Supernatural causes. I paused, pondering, and let the hot water pound against my reddening skin. That’s something for me to figure out later. For now, I’ve got to head home so I can dodge five o-clock traffic. With my conundrum resolved for the moment, I headed to my car. I put the key in and turned it, waiting for the engine to grind to life. The car was older than I was, and the only reason the blasted thing ran was because Orion was kind enough to help me fix it up where he could and avoid getting cheated on the rest of the costs.
My thoughts on the drive back were filled with ruminations on the present. What was going on? What did I have to worry about? Was I the only one that this happened to? Thankfully, all of those questions were answered soon after arriving back in the dorm, when I was enthusiastically accosted by a sunset-red glowing Orion. He shone far brighter than anyone else I’d seen, including myself. “Ellis! You’ve got an aura too!”
“…uh. Sure?” I replied confused.
Orion quickly cut me off with a wave and spoke with the nervous and excited energy that I had only seen from him when he was gushing about a cool new project. “Sorry, sorry. I forgot you probably have no idea what’s happening. I’ll summarize what’s going on in just a second. We’re not in any danger, I think. That’s not reassuring at all, but really, we’re probably fine. Actually, first: when did you start seeing the floating lights?”
“About an hour ago. Why?”
“Just checking. Okay, so since I know you’re confused I’m going to hit you with the rundown: I started seeing things like I think you are earlier this morning, bumped into a rich girl who was also seeing these weird motes of light, we ended up meeting up and trying to figure some things out, doing some experimenting to see what was going on. Basically, we figured out people have consistent views of motes and auras-which is what we’re calling the colored orbs and colored fields around people- which means we’re probably not hallucinating, and that we can affect the motes with our auras which seems to be functions of our mind. Also, visualization and beliefs can impact the way our auras interact with motes, though we didn’t really test interactions between our auras though looking back we maybe we probably should’ve?”
“Anyways, the motes come from people, including us, and we could also absorb the motes by visualizing some kind of absorption which seemed to wake us up a bit and could probably replace sleep to some degree. If we figure out anything else, I’m going to send along the information to her so she can share it with her dad and his important friends so that they can figure out what’s going on. Also, this apparently affected a senator too, so it’s really important we figure out what’s going on. Maria and I-that’s the girl’s name- thinks it’s probably something magical right now though, as we’re probably not just losing our minds which means something we don’t understand but probably isn’t just a hallucination or stroke is going on. That’s all I know right now, I think. Yeah. Questions?”
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I took a moment to finish processing everything he just threw at me. Orion tended to hurtle through things in a single stream of consciousness, often too fast for anyone to follow whenever he was excited. I’d known him for almost a year now, but I’d guess I was closer to him than anyone else. “No, I just think it’s adorable how you’re acting like a kid that got a new puppy for Christmas.”
“Oh, fuck off,” he laughed and slugged me in the arm. “It’s cool! I’m excited! I’m part of something important now, and you are too! Don’t lie to me and say you’re not hyped!”
“You’re right. Also, I already figured out something you didn’t.” I paused there, staring, waiting for him to ask. However, he was more than used to my antics at this point. He simply folded his arms and waited until I gave in and shared. “I was working out after the session I teach at Momentum Fitness Center, and was practicing on a bag, when I noticed I was improving ridiculously fast. It was weeks of improvement in just half an hour.”
“So, you’re saying you have crazy martial arts skills? I’d ask if you were batman now, but we both know your broke ass couldn’t pull it off the outfit.”
I rolled my eyes and continued, “I don’t know. Maybe it was a fluke. If my superpower is to be slightly better at martial arts I’m going to be rather put out.”
A slightly maniacal grin leaped onto his face. “Well, I guess we better start testing.”
I internally groaned at the look on his face. That was the same grin that he had whenever he was about to torture me with obscure knowledge or new bit of research. I didn’t mind it most of the time, but I just knew that I was going to be pulled into testing with him all night. At least I don’t have anything I need done.
The first thing he made me do was practice martial arts again. Being tired and already thoroughly worked over was, apparently, not remotely a sufficient excuse to avoid being his test subject. I worked through some movements, shadowboxing and katas mostly, and felt myself smoothly sinking back into single-minded purpose. I quickly caught onto the mistakes I was making, just because they felt wrong. Like they weren’t flowing or moving right. That punch was slow. I dropped my guard slightly during that strike. That kick wasn’t snappy at all. Misstep there. Stay in the space, don’t bump into the furniture. I could rotate faster here… I lost myself in it again, and only came back to awareness when Orion rapped on my shoulder.
“Hey! Ellis! Wake up!” I stopped, confused, before taking note of my current state. I was soaked with sweat once again, but surprisingly didn’t feel much worse than when I left the gym. I looked over at Orion and saw him taking notes on a clipboard.
“W-where did you even get a clipboard? Why do you have one? What is wrong with you?”
“Nothing’s wrong with me. It makes me feel smart, Ellis. Also, it’s hilarious. It’s totally normal to purchase a clipboard specifically for comedic purposes. Besides, I was actually taking notes on my laptop the whole time.”
He spun around his clipboard, showing me the ugly drawing of a stick figure in an impractical martial arts pose. I sunk my head into my hands, without the will to reply. We’d known each other for enough time that I knew better than to argue with him. He reopened his laptop as he resumed his rapid speech.
“Alright, so I noticed a few things. First, the motes seemed like they were attracted to you somehow. They kept floating in your direction and getting absorbed. That’s almost certainly why you’re barely out of breath after going at high intensity for 40 minutes. The only signs of significant exertion were sweating and some tiredness. The rejuvenation properties of the motes seem to extend to the body to a limited degree, affecting more than just the mind. Second, you were improving astonishingly quickly. I could easily tell you were getting better, and I’ve never thrown a punch in my life. I mean, you went from hi-yah!” He threw a comedically poor karate chop, “to floating like a butterfly.” He spun around, snapped the laptop closed and tossed it over on his bed. “That leaves an obvious next step. You’re going to try and teach me!”
Teaching him went remarkably less well than our first test. “No! What are you doing? Are you stupid?” I barely managed to keep myself from yelling at him. My patience was not unlimited, and while I put in an impressive effort, he was a bumbling uncoordinated fool, and I truly couldn’t see how to help him. The way he trampled and windmilled about like an inebriated walrus learning to tap dance was readily apparent, and despite clearly pointing out every one of his numerous mistakes he made barely any progress. “Stop, stop! At this point, all you’re doing is helping me get better by being such an excellent example of exactly what to not to do!”
Orion just laughed in my face, unruffled by my condemnation and frustration. “Whatever you say, pal. Well, I think we can rule out any possibility of me having the same kind of power you do.”
“Yeah. That’s more than clear.”
“Well, we at least learned more. We know that I don’t have the same talent you do, and that your talent doesn’t extend to teaching.” I calmly refused to dignify that with a response. “Which leaves me with another idea to try,” Orion reached out, grabbing my hand. “I never messed around with auras with Maria, so we’re going to see if we can now. You should try this too, actually. I’m going to see if I can push my aura into you. Reciprocate, or whatever.”
Without waiting anymore, he closed his eyes, seemingly focusing. What the hell, I’ll try to do something too. I tried to ‘feel’ my aura, but it was nebulous and hard to grasp. Imprecise at best. Unsure if I was feeling anything at all or just imagining it, I willed it forwards. Almost immediately, I felt a small wave of tiredness as Orion jumped like he was shocked. “What was that! Did you do something?”
Panicking, I replied, “I just did what you asked! Are you okay? Do you need help?”
He pulled his hand back, massaging it with his thumb. “No, I’m fine. Sorry, that was a strong reaction, I was just surprised. It felt like your hand just injected me with adrenaline or caffeine via an electric shock. Not painful, or necessarily a bad feeling, just really surprising. Actually- it felt kind of like absorbing a bunch of those motes at once. Scratch that, it felt exactly like that.” He began to speed up again as he talked. “Does that mean our auras are made of motes like that? And by pushing your aura into me you basically just hit me with several of them at once? Let’s try that again, this time just talk through what you’re doing so I can understand.”
He grabbed my hand again as he nodded encouragingly, exhorting me to start. I took a moment to collect my breath, calming myself before speaking, “I can try, certainly. It’s extremely weird though. I focused around my arm? That feels vaguely correct. Actually, I have a better explanation. Have you ever tried to close your eyes and touch your fingertips?” He nodded, though I could tell he didn’t fully understand yet. “Well, it feels like that except it’s a third arm you’ve never noticed before and you’re trying to move it around. It’s really faint, I’m still not sure if what I’m feeling is real or not.” I focused on that feeling again, eyes closed, trying to home in on it more precisely. “Then I just pushed it out towards you, and it seems like it worked.” I tried to push my aura out again, this time slower. I faintly felt a response, my aura pooling and flowing where our hands met.
Orion gave a faint gasp, but this time didn’t peel away. As my aura flowed into him, I felt myself slowly growing more tired. I opened my eyes, looking at him. His face was scrunched slightly, exaggerating his features in a way that was vaguely pixie-like. I looked down at myself, then back at him, nothing the differences in the way our auras moved. Mine flowed and moved subtly, shifting down my body and arm, while his harsher color seemed to stubbornly refuse.
“Try visualizing the process differently.” I hesitantly suggested. “Your aura just seems… harsh. Firey, maybe. You told me that your aura worked differently based on what you were thinking. Change that, and maybe it will work better.”
His eyes blinked open, considering as he looked me in the eye before shrugging and closing them again. But a few seconds later, clarity and energy raced up my arm into the rest of me, raising gooseflesh all over. I barely noticed that outpour though. As our auras pooled and flowed into each other, I felt Orion’s presence intimately.
It was a hard feeling to describe and wasn’t overwhelmingly strong but for my newfound context and understanding of what it was. Somehow, I could feel Orion- the person, the mind, the identity. Mentally, he was bright, almost blinding. I felt the burning sense of self that fueled him and drove him forward. A mighty combustion engine fed by empathy and insecurity both.
I knew him at that moment. I understood him in a way I wasn’t sure I could ever convey. Flashes of passion and pride, fragments of loneliness and regret, visions of love and fury all weaving into a Gordian knot of self that defined him at his most fundamental levels. Was that… his mind? His soul? With shared gasps, we tore our hands apart in synch, tendrils of auras melting back into ourselves as we broke.
A nervous laugh died a sad, strangled death in my throat as I failed to meet Orion’s eyes. That oneness of understanding had mostly fled but the memories and realizations refused to fade so easily. As the silence stretched second after second, one question quickly grew to dominate my thoughts. My body tightened and stilled as I realized that if I had seen that much of Orion Maxwell, how much of Ellis Sullivan had he seen? I wasn’t quite sure if I was ready to hear the answer to that question. Or see his reaction. As he opened his mouth to speak, I cringed inwards and readied for the worst.