Fise ran as the giant fist of the Wraith flew behind him, trying to tear him apart. Just as it got a few centimetres away, time stopped. Fise ducked and then time resumed. The fist went over him but it flung him down a cliff. And he was falling fast. Just as he was about to hit the bottom, time stopped and he continued falling, but he willed to stop and he slowed down before time resumed and he fell again towards the abyss. As it engulfed him, he woke up.

He stood up from his bed and went over to the AMWR and got changed, before standing in the middle of the room. It was 9:30, too late for breakfast and partway through a tutoring session. Which was good for him; less chance of someone entering in on him.

He opened his interface and went to the 'Dispense' screen. He selected a carton of orange juice. A shelf extended out the side of his bed and there sat an orange carton with a straw attached to it. Fise picked it up, got the straw, and pushed down into the carton to drink the juice. He sucked all the juice out and now was left with an empty carton and a straw. He took the straw out after inflating the carton, before putting both on the bed.

He remembered that time in front of the door to the wave room and tried to bring out the golden flames. They appeared around him quickly and started vigorously burning. He picked up the straw and then concentrated. Time stopped. Everything lost colour apart from Fise and his aura. He then tried to move the straw but it wouldn't budge. Time resumed.

The straw bent with a small snap and flew across the room incredibly fast, before bouncing off a wall. Fise's eyes narrowed. It seemed that all the effort he put into moving the straw had all at once affected the straw and made it fly away. He opened his interface and noted that down. Now he just had to think of why the straw went move. Is it that only Fise could move? Possibly.

But that won't make sense, how can he stop time and be the only one to be able to move in it, wouldn't that make him go faster than light? And how could he move, if he stopped time, all the particles of air couldn't move out of the way so hell just is trapped. But he wasn't.

He could stop time and move in it. Maybe it had to do with his aura. He remembered back to the fight between the boy and the man, at the final punches where the man's aura flew and smashed the window. Fise knew from that that auras can be separated from the body in small blobs to shoot out. But there was another thing he noticed, and that was how easily the man's head was smashed open.

He felt sick just thinking about the scene, however, he needed to find stuff out about his aura. He knew auras strengthened the user, increasing their overall strength, that included their resistance. Also, auras are widely believed to spread out the force of an impact, that's one of the reasons Guarded can pick up cars without bending them in. But a punch couldn't have smashed someone's head like that if they had an aura active if the punch was by an aura user or not didn't matter.

So maybe the man didn't have any aura covering him. Fise might have seen this, but he was then scared too hard to remember the finest details. The man probably covered his hand with all his aura which flew towards him.

He picked up the straw and looked at it. The man moved his aura to his hand to make the punch more powerful, and also when he created the spikes that went towards the boy, they had a little bit of his aura on them. Since his aura power was spike related, that means that the aura powers the power, that's why Guarded can't use their power without activating their aura. So Fise just had to cover the straw in his aura. Easier said than done.

Fise spent some time trying to make aura go around the straw, but it was for nothing. Then, he tried to rethink a bit. The man's hand got covered in a lot of aura, so he was left defenceless. That means that aura isn't infinite but needs to be weaker to cover something. So Fise made some of the aura all around his body go around the straw. It worked.

Now Fise stopped time, and he moved his hand. The straw moved with it. Time resumed.

Yes! It worked. Fise smiled widely while looking st the straw before putting it on the bed, replacing it with the carton of orange juice. He did the same thing he did with the straw and covered it in his aura. It only reached halfway before he had to stop as it was straining him. So if his aura made it so things could move in stopped time, what would happen if he tried to move something only partially covered with his aura?

He decides to try it out. He stopped time. Fise moved his hand and the carton also moved, but only the part covered in his aura, but moved isn't the right word, it bent out to only a bit of it moving, Fise ripped a bit of it off as he moved too fast. Time resumed. The carton flew out of his hand and bounced against the wall. Fise picked it up, along with the straw on the bed, and opened his interface, selected 'Waste Disposal' and a shelf extended out of his bed, just like before when he selected 'Dispense'. He threw the carton and straw in before it shut.

It was probably already moving to the waste room, where it will be sent to be recycled. Fise decided he wanted some fresh air, so he opened the window a crack before decided to go outside and so left his room. Last time he did something like this, he spectated a battle between 2 Guarded, and almost got wounded seriously. As he was walking down the long corridor, he remembered that fear he had when faced with the Wraith and a cold shiver went down his back. He reached the double doors leading into the big room where Emmy did her tutoring sessions and heard her voice on the other side.

He just kept walking until he reached the wave room door. He stood looking at it, before going towards the kitchen where she speculated the fight. He reached the door that led outside. He opened it and exited the building. He breathed in and relaxed. He had gone through too many stressful situations. He went left.

He saw in front of the windows that were on the side of the corridor a football match being played. There were many boys and 2 goals were set up. They kept screaming to each other. Fise walked around the game, trying to reach the other side of the corridor. He thought about his aura and he got excited about testing it out even more. He thought about how, when the guarded tests happen, he could change his life.

They'll take him to the city and train him in a prestigious academy, where he'll be reached and trained to be a Guarded. Then he'll get a good job and have lots of money which he will then use to spend the rest of his days peacefully. Somehow he felt good and satisfied with this. He finally had some purpose to do something.

But his thoughts were interrupted when something came flying towards him. He turned to look towards it and almost activated his aura, before seeing it was just a football. It smacked him in the face and bounced off of him."Whagh!"

"Hey, you okay?" said a boy passing by to pick up the ball.

"Yeah, I'm okay," said Fise, leaning forward and holding his face.

The boy ran past him and smiled at him, before putting the ball above his head and throwing it at his teammate.

"It almost went through the gate, be careful next time, dipsh*t." said a boy to another.

"Shut up, you said pass and I passed!"

Fise was standing next to the gate, which led to the outside of the walls. The gate was made out of metal and could be easily opened. It also has a lit of holes in it, since it's like a chainlink fence. Fise kept walking and wiping his nose, trying to see if he had a nosebleed when he suddenly heard a voice.

"Hey, kid."

He looked right and there, behind the gate and partially covered by the wall, was a man. He looked averagely built with light brown hair and hazel eyes. But Fise's eyes widened. The man had an aura active. It was green.

"You seem surprised. Maybe you can see my aura?"

Fise must have shown it on his face cause the man just smiled." Look, come here, since you can see my aura, you're a Guarded. I'll help you with starting your journey, just get here."

Fise knew he had to listen, if he didn't, well Fise isn't good in a fight with a Guarded. He walked over to the man and the man pulled the gate open so it flung outwards. Fise walked through and the gate went back to normal. The man walked further away lengthwise down the wall and Fise followed. They bothered eventually reached the corner and the man stopped.

"So, I know you are new to this, so let me demonstrate my aura power." He put his hand on the corner of the wall."My power is Crack and Break. I activate it and," fissures and cracks appeared on the corner, but didn't spread even 1 meter away from the man's hand."It makes cracks in things. Let me demonstrate Break on these 2 rocks." the man picked up 2 rocks, on in his left hand, the other in his right.

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" Let me Crack them both." Both rocks cracked." Now, cracking the rocks would weaken them so I can just," he crushed the rock in his left hand, the pieces falling to the floor, "Crush them. But this is where Break comes in. Let me use it on this rock." The rock's cracks seem to have air blown out of them and the rock exploded into pieces weakly."See? These are aura powers."

"I was not sent here to do this but it won't hurt anybody so, consider joining my organisation! We are always on the search for new aura users, and the fact you are so young will be good since you will be easier to turn into a real powerful ally!"

Fise looked at him and considered this proposition. He could discover stuff about his aura and learn how to battle. But something didn't seem right. Fise pieced together that he was one of the people after the blond boy. He doesn't know what the blond boy did, but something was telling him that these guys were the quote on quote, "bad guys". But if they were that, he had to be careful, since denying might not be a good idea, neither is accepting so...

"Uhh what?" asked Fise

" Oh before I continue, have you seen this boy?" The man pulled out a picture and held it out between his index and middle finger. It was a picture of the blond boy.

"No."

"Aww, too bad. Do what did you say?"

" I asked what. I have no idea what you are talking about. I don't know what magic trick you used to crack the rock and wall either. What is this?" Fise decided to play dumb.

The man's features seem to darken.

"You mean, I told you all that, and you are not a Guarded?!"

The man readied his hand and slapped Fise across the face. Fise flew a meter before hitting and rolling on the ground. It hurt but he stood up and put his hand on his left cheek. He felt something wet. He looked at his hand and saw it covered in blood. A slap couldn't have made his cheek bleed, the man must have Cracked it.

The man charged at Fise and delivered a kick to his left side, which Fise blocked by crossing his arms. The kick connected and he got flown away, his right hand starting to bleed at the impact point. Fise hit the ground and rolled once before stopping. He stood up and activated his aura.

"You..." The man seemed surprised before pure rage was shown on his face. "You lying piece of sh*t! Not only did you try to play dumb but then you just showed to me your aura as if I'll stop?! Are you retarded?!" The man charged at Fise again.

The man reached Fise and threw a straight punch at his chest using his left arm, but Fise dodged and grabbed his arm. He kept pushing it forward and then launched an elbow which hit the man in the ribs. Fise let go of the man's hand and it shot to where the man was hit. Before the man recovered, Fise threw a punch at his face, making blood fly out. The man took a step back.

Fise punched again, with his other hand, and the man stepped back again, and Fise punched again. However, before Fise could punch a 4th time, his fist was grabbed, and Cracked. The man then delivered a kick, which was again aimed at Fise's chest, this time he blocked it with his left hand and it took him off the ground.

The man was still holding onto Fise's hand, so he switched to holding his wrist and pulled him down, making him smash into the ground, before placing his foot on Fise's shoulder. He then pushed with his foot and pulled with his hand. Fise opened his eyes wide. His shoulder was bleeding from being Cracked, along with his wrist. His arm was stretched to the limit and his shoulder was giving out.

The man pulled a little more and a little more before - CRACK! The man smiled before blood oozed from his mouth and he was pushed backwards, taking a few steps. Fise was standing, somewhat hunched over holding his right fist, bleeding a lot, already being Cracked from when it was caught. Just before the man dislocated his shoulder, he stopped time. Fise then got his hand out of the grip and quickly punched the man in the ribs. Time then resumed.

Fise was not in the best of shapes. He was bleeding from both arms, the fingers and knuckles of his right hand, his shoulder blade, left cheek and mouth. The man, however, only had a broken rib. This wasn't looking good. But Fise had a plan. And for that plan to work he had to weaken the man. And he knew how.

The man recovered from his shock and walked towards Fise, more careful now. He got within one meter and sent a right hook straight for Fise's head. Fise ducked a bit and dodged the punch. Right after that, a punch mark appeared on the man's chest with a crack echoing out, making him come to a stop. Fise then punched him in the face before quickly retreating towards the right, dodging a kick from the man. Fise went to his side.

The man swung his left arm around only for Fise to dodge and another punch mark to appear on his chest. Another crack rang out. The man was now staring right at Fise holding his chest, who managed to get behind him quickly after only 2 attempted hits. The man readied both armed and launched them at Fise from either side. Fise already was making a plan to dodge this attack before something blinded him. Spit mixed with blood.

Fise was disgusted before realising he was going to get hit. He used his aura to propel him forward and he slid. Right in between the man's legs. The man missed. But not completely. Fise turned around to face the man before his head started to bleed from a long thin Crack on the top left of his head.

The man turned around and smiled. Before his right eyes were shut by a stream of blood, flowing down from his head. The man didn't see to care as he walked towards Fise. Using his left arm he delivered a straight punch, that travelled diagonally. Fise dodged left, too far away to be able to get a hit in on the man's chest. But then he got hit in the throat, Cracking it. He stopped time.

He ducked under the fist and time resumed. The arm flew over him, but before he could be relieved a kick hit him in the chest, making him stand up and hit the wall. His chest was bleeding, Cracked. The man turned around to face Fise, the punches and kick spinning him around a bit. He launched his left fist straight at Fise's chest again, shouting "I'll Break your chest open, BREAK!" The fist flew towards Fise's chest.

It connected, but barely because Fise was gone. The man's fist kept travelling and hit the wall, notably the corner, and Broke it, since it was already cracked. Some of the corners flew off, making the man not stop going forward. As his shoulder hit the wall, everything crashed down on him. Some little pieces fell and some bigger pieces but as the man looked up his eyes widened and he delivered a punch. It impacted the biggest piece falling on him on that would crush him. It didn't affect it much. The man's hand bent the wrong way and the piece fell on him, crushing him and breaking apart.

Blood splashed onto Fise's legs. And his aura went away. He leaned against the wall and vomited out what little he could, that being the orange juice. He needed to get back to his room. He looked down at himself and saw the fresh and dry blood, which started evaporating and decided best not to go back through the gate. He decided he'll go on the outside. He walked around the pile of rocks, some steam rising out beneath it.

Something grabbed his ankle. He looked down and saw a bloody arm reach out, and a voice echo from underneath." F*ck you, kid. I'm not gonna last long so I might as well tell you not to go near that kid. He's related to betrayal. He's danger..ous." His hand went away from his now bloody ankle and fell to the floor, lifeless. Fise ran.

His ankle hurt, the man might have Cracked it. Fise went further away from the wall so he could see a little over it before seeing his room, being the first room on this wall. Fise activated his aura and took a few steps back before sprinting and jumping. He reached for the top of the real but he didn't make it and hit the wall, but he dug his fingers in a bit and used that to reach his hand up and grab onto the top. He then picked himself up onto it.

He was now facing his window, about 5 meters away. He put a lot of aura in his legs and leapt at his window. He flew through the air and he was almost gonna reach it but he was a little short, fortunately, he grabbed onto the window sill. He then pushed his window even more open and climbed inside before closing it.

Fise immediately took all his clothes off, leaving him in his underwear and socks, before throwing them in a laundry bag he had, which he put near the windows open again. He was waiting for his blood to dry so it could evaporate. Fise fell onto his head and relaxed. Before doom settled onto him and squeezed his heart. He just killed someone. He was breathing rapidly and shaking. This was bad, bad, bad, bad. He.Killed.Someone. Tears flowed.

He tried taking in big gulps of air but they seemed to escape as he cried. He felt crushing guilt for what he had done. He never wanted to do anything with Guarded anymore, he isn't going to use his aura, he's just going to be normal!

Fise walked over to the laundry bag near the window, seeing that the blood stopped evaporating, and threw all the clothes into the AMWR unit to get washed, before also getting changed. He wiped the tears away, and also his memory, at least he tried to. He leaned on the window sill and looked outside at the world. He breathed in the air and nature. He turned around to go to his bed, and that's when his door was opened.

Black fire exploded into him and he crashed through the window, before falling onto the ground below. He activated his aura to protect himself from the fall and he was fine, but then he saw a figure jump out of his window. He rolled to his left and the figure landed, blowing black fire in all directions, which Fise was pushed by, undoing his aura. He knew this black fire and how it worked. He looked at the figure.

There, crouched from his fall, was the blond boy. He rose and he turned his head to look at Fise. "You impressed me in that fight with that guy. Well done. But, you are suspicious. I knew from when I saw you had that fever that you were probably important. When you came halfway during the wave alive, that further improved my suspicions. But now I know 100% you are a Guarded. And you are a danger, goodbye." The blond boy raised his hand and black fire flew straight at Fise, wanting to burn him alive.

TO BE CONTINUED

??? ( The man)

GUARDED,

DEAD,

KILLED BY FISE.