“ZERO, HELP!”

Null’s panicked voice rang across the mental link he shared with the Watcher. For the first time in his life, he couldn’t feel Infy’s presence.

The Watcher had been observing the boys the whole time during the testing of their new battlesuit. Field manipulation? How? It should not be possible, the Watcher thought.

It glided into the twins’ workshop and observed Null in a full panic. The Watcher wasn’t worried, they knew Angels were nearly impossible to harm, even hybrid Angels like Infinity.

“Null, calm down. It will be okay. Infinity just needs time to recover.”

It turned off the alarm and gave Infinity a quick scan. The Watcher siphoned off some energy and transferred it to the Angel hybrid, allowing Infinity to revive.

Null could now feel that Infy was waking up, and he slowly calmed down. “Sorry, Zero. We didn’t know that would happen. We just wanted to have the same powers out here as we do in the pod.”

The Watcher knew now that it would have to expose the twins to some universal truths. The concern was that exposing them to this knowledge would make it harder for them to return and integrate into human society. The humans weren’t ready for this information.

“Well, it seems we won’t be able to get around it. I suppose it’s time I teach you one of the secrets of the higher races and the universe.”

Drones went to fetch some equipment from the other lab.

After checking that Infinity and Null were both ready, Zero started the lesson.

“Before we start, it is important to understand that there are only two factors that affect the tier of a race.

“The first is how far they have progressed down their evolutionary tree. The second is their ability to observe and manipulate fields.” The Watcher projected some diagrams showing how different combinations would fit together and what tier that race would be. To Null and Infy they couldn’t understand what most of the words and symbols meant.

“The universe is controlled by the laws of physics and the law of cause and effect, but have you ever wondered why these are the laws? What decides how the universe works?”

The Watcher didn’t wait for an answer before continuing.

“The answer can be found in the study of fields. Fields permeate the entire universe and influence the laws of physics and nature. I wasn’t planning on explaining this to you, as knowledge of fields and how they work is the domain of the higher races and not something you should know.” The watcher then started to circle them.

“Except… you have just demonstrated that you can accidentally manipulate the fields.”

This was a far greater problem than the Watcher was letting on, but it needed more data before coming to any conclusions and taking any drastic action.

The drones had returned with a box of what looked like crystal balls.

“For this lesson, we will be using these—Zallium crystals. Zallium is a heavy-element crystal found only in a select few solar systems. It allowed for the storage and manipulation of what are called field essences. Here, take this one.”

Zero gestured, and a drone handed Null a ball.

As soon as Null held onto the crystal, he and Infy had the same reaction. They could hear the voice of the universe louder and clearer than ever before.

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

“This is the melody we just used to teleport,” Null said, passing the ball from one hand to the other.

“The voice of the universe has never been this clear!” Infy exclaimed, focusing intently. He continued listening to the melody, trying to uncover more mysteries. This has to be related to space—it’s been isolated from the rest of the voice. The more I listen, the more I can decode.

The Watcher observed their reactions with keen interest. The study of fields was an advanced topic, and manipulating them usually required capturing their essences in Zallium and programming them to interact with the local field to produce the desired effect. Yet, it appeared that Null and Infy could somehow directly affect the fields.

The Watcher wasn’t sure how they accomplished that feat, but they were eager to research this topic with the twins’ help. Maybe, just maybe, this discovery could finally solve the reproduction issues of the Angels.

“You both mentioned the song—what is this song?”

It was now Infy’s turn to explain. “Since birth, we have heard a song playing in our minds. While in the pod, we studied this song, and it allowed us to use powers. Outside of the pod, the song is more complex and layered, but listening to it gives us insights into the laws of the universe. We call this song the voice of the universe.”

Infy continued explaining further technical details to Zero, but Null found it too boring. Instead, he wandered over and started handling some of the other crystals.

The Watcher was confused. In all its studies of fields, it had never encountered anything like this voice, nor had it heard of anyone interacting with fields without the use of Zallium or its synthetic equivalents.

I suppose it must be due to their unique nature, the Watcher thought. But there are plenty of strange races, and none of them can do this. He had once believed they were an entity created by fate but he wrote it off as fantasy, now they weren’t so sure.

The Watcher still had more to teach.

“Angels currently know of only ten fields. There may be more, but only the higher-tier races would know them.

“Each field follows a basic set of principles. Every field has inertia. It requires energy to shift it from its default state. The greater the change, or the longer it needs to be maintained, the more energy required.

“When we want to manipulate the fields, we use a pre-programmed Zallium crystal and a reactor to power it.”

“That means you can’t change the programming on the fly,” Infy observed. “And it doesn’t sound very portable. Also, how do—Null, stop it!”

While Infy was talking, Null had grown bored again. He was now juggling three of the crystals—each time he touched one, it altered the voice in their minds.

The Watcher sighed at their antics and reminded itself that they were still very young.

“Infinity, you are correct. Normally, field manipulation requires carefully pre-programming the crystal and ensuring everything works properly.”

The Watcher then listed the ten fields that Angels currently knew while handing them the corresponding crystal:

1. Space

2. Time

3. Mass

4. Electromagnetic

5. Quantum

6. Potential Energy

7. Gravity

8. Soul

9. Life

10. Motion

Infy was deep in thought. We can already change the fields, and now that I’ve listened to all ten, I should be able to isolate them. That still leaves the problem of powering the changes…

With their new knowledge of the fields, the boys became obsessed with training.

They asked Zero if they could build an additional room on the ship specifically for training their combat abilities and testing their new suit.

During training, they discovered a natural affinity for three fields: Gravity, Motion, and Space.

While they could hear and understand the others, these three were the easiest to isolate and analyse.

They developed three new abilities:

1. Shimmer Step – A short-range teleportation ability allowing them to blink one metre in any direction. Minimal energy cost, but longer distances drained Infy significantly.

2. Halt – A powerful ability that could stop the motion of anything within a two-metre radius. The greater the object’s kinetic energy, the more energy it required. A last-resort move.

3. Fixed Gravity – This allowed them to manipulate gravity in a localised area. The greater the difference in gravitational force, the higher the energy cost.

Meanwhile, Null worked on his marksmanship and muscle memory for 360-degree combat. Unlike normal humans, he could see in all directions with Infy’s help. However, the system had never trained him to use this ability effectively—he had to teach himself.

One day, after a long training session, Infy finally asked a question that had been on his mind for a while.

“Zero, who are we training to fight? Is it humans?”

The Watcher hesitated.

Initially, it had wanted to create a guard human, someone to showcase before other races. But over time, its reasoning had changed. Now, it simply wanted the twins to be strong enough to survive.

“You are training to be strong,” the Watcher finally said, “so strong that humans will find you valuable.”

Null perked up. “We’re going to see other humans?”

The Watcher smiled cryptically.

“I might have a solution.”