Inside the confines of a non-decrepit medieval domicile, where shadows cast by an unfeeling moon clung to every corner like ethereal tendrils from the deep wrapping around its prey, lay a room veiled in dim shade and tense atmosphere. The air, stale and thick with humidity, carried the stench of wood oppressed conjoined with the aroma of food uneaten.

There, in the middle of the room, sat a boy staring at a tree.

“I think you’re about to bore holes in the bark, Cal,” Ina chuckled as she watched him glare daggers at the small bonsai Quinn took out.

“She’s the one who told me to summon a pebble inside it,” Calvin said, pointing an accusatory finger towards Quinn. “I’m just— I can’t, it doesn’t work.”

“I know, I was here the whole time,” She rolled her eyes. “Why’d you make him do that, Queenie?”

The pink girl didn’t answer, seemingly dazed as she stared at the same bonsai on the coffee table, biting her lip and crossing her arms. There was an indecipherable look on her face as her eyes were glazed over, whatever thought made her rush out of the room and grab the bonsai was still swimming in her head.

“Hello? Bastion to Queenie?” Ina waved her hand in front of her face.

She jolted back to attention, “Huh? Ah, yeah— did you do it?”

“Are you okay?” Calvin had to ask, seeing her distracted.

The only time he’d seen her like this was when Ina was hatching— and that was really bad. He can only guess why she’s like that this time.

“I’m fine,” She sighed. “So?”

He sent a glance to Ina briefly before shaking his head, “Nope, I can’t.”

“It might be something about your power,” she breathed out a sigh of relief. “Haah… to think you also have an absolution prefix.”

“Add another cheat to your repertoire,” Ina grumbled. “I can’t believe you never thought about shaking his pebbles after all this time.”

“That sounded so wrong.”

“Shut up, cheater.”

Calvin smiled wryly, thankful he hadn’t told them about the evolution thing yet. God knows how much she’d pout if she knew about that right now.

He turned to Quinn with a question, “Is it that rare? I mean— I know it is, but, you know?”

Quinn looked at him blankly then brought up nine fingers.

“Nine? What does that mean? That there's only nine people with the prefix?”

Ina shook her head, “Only nine people in the entire history of Bastion were recorded to have had it. It’s not just 'rare’.”

“It’s not even common knowledge that it exists. Ina didn’t even know until I told her,” Quinn added. “It’s closer to an urban legend.”

“And there’s two of them in the same room,” Ina sighed. “Cheaters.”

“Cal,” Quinn kept her tone serious. “Never tell anyone that you have it. Once you do… just trust me. You don’t want anyone to know about it. Especially not Vanguard.”

“Vanguard? Why?”

“Let’s just say you’ll become Oracle’s second favorite child once they find out.”

“Ah,” he nodded. “I mean, I wasn’t really planning to— but didn’t you tell me about your own power?”

“You saved Ina,” her voice stated as if it was obvious, “and you never blamed me, even after knowing I could’ve ended everything immediately with my power.”

“Well, I figured you had a reason,” Calvin shrugged. “And I genuinely just forgot at the time you could’ve melted everyone in—”

She cut off his words with a pillow to his face, the smile returning to her expression.

“Cal,” Ina smirked, shaking her head.

“Anyway, don’t tell anyone. I’m fine, since— well, you know who spawned me. Despite what I think of her, her name is useful. You don’t have the same privilege.”

He put back the pillow, “But… they monitored you?”

“Not anymore,” Ina answered in her stead.

They shared a glance while Calvin continued to ask, “Why, though?”

“Because I can kill anyone in The Seven,” she spoke calmly as if it was about the weather. “Or anyone at all. Just one touch, and they’re done. The absolution prefix completely nullifies any defense, especially paired with a power like mine.”

“Not anyone,” Ina raised a brow. “Uncle Boe?”

“I guess he’s kind of the exception,” She said, noticing Calvin’s confused gaze, “John Boe, the one in The Seven that’s always invisible? Well, he’s not just invisible, he’s untouchable… in a literal sense.”

“I thought it was illegal to tell anyone about another super’s powers?”

“It’s illegal to speak about his exact powerset,” She explained. “Like I can say Ina can beat people up or that you can crack heads open if they rush at you blindly.”

“Loopholes,” he nodded, “anyway, coming back to that— will I be able to do that too?”

“You want to kill The Seven?” She smirked.

“You know what I mean,” he rolled his eyes.

“Well, no,” she smiled wryly. “That’s why I made you try making pebbles inside that.”

Quinn pointed to the bonsai on the table. Even now, Calvin felt like the wood was taunting him somehow for failing to summon a pebble inside of it.

“Not every power needs to worry about the Manning Effect, like Ina’s,” she leaned back on her best friend. “And, from what it looks like, yours too.”

“So you won’t be summoning pebbles inside anyone’s skull anytime soon,” Ina said the quiet part out loud.

“I wasn’t planning to…” He lied.

“He doesn’t have to do that for his power to be as scary as mine,” Quinn explained. “There are two aspects that make our powers terrifying. You already know the first one—”

“It ignores the Manning Effect,” He nodded. “Except for when it doesn’t.”

“Skill issue,” she stuck out her tongue before continuing, “and the second one: there’s no ceiling.”

There was a pause. Calvin stared at her before letting out a sigh, “Can you please just elaborate instead of waiting for me to ask for dramatic eff—”, he caught the pillow, “—stop throwing pillows at me.”

“Stop being a killjoy,” Ina harrumphed. “What ceiling, Queenie?”

“First off, only some parts of a power are affected by the prefix. For instance, mine makes the vibrations unstoppable, no matter what.”

“No matter what? But you can stop them?”

“Counter vibration. I cancel it out,” she answered. “What’s not affected is the power and the size of the vibrations. It’s controllable. And the controllable parts have no ceiling.”

“So, theoretically, you can crack the world in half?”

“With enough essence,” she nodded, “ah. Oh yeah, essence is—”

“I know what essence is,” He interrupted. “So, what are mine?”

“Well… we can guess the absolute parts.”

“Immovable and indestructible,” he nodded, pausing as he looked at the Super Help.

Super Help

Impervious Pebble Summons an immovable and indestructible pebble for ten seconds. Super Evolution (Unavailable)

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Now that he read it with the context of the absolution prefix, it was painfully obvious, “And it only lasts ten seconds, I guess.”

“We can figure out the others, but it’ll take some time to prepare tests so we better start—,” Quinn stopped as Ina hugged her tighter, “Ina?”

“Plenty of time later. It’s late and we have class tomorrow,” She smiled scarily.

“But this is more important! It’s the absolution prefix! Cal!”

“Yeah, I think we should—”, he shivered as Ina stared towards him, “—ahem, Math is important, Quinn.”

“Betrayal never comes from enemies,” she muttered.

Ina dragged Quinn out with her, saying goodnight to Calvin before heading out to their own dorms. Cal cleaned up before laying in bed, head full of thoughts about the conversation he just had. His chest beat like a drum, both from nervousness and anticipation about the future of his pebbles.

It took an hour of trying to sleep before he sat back up, “Fuck, I can’t sleep like this.”

----------------------------------------

The Next Morning

“Woah— you look like shit, Calvin,” Helena said as she approached him at the park.

The tanned girl was sweating more than usual, soaking her sleeveless shirt enough to stick to her muscled figure. Behind her, a girl wearing a pink jogging suit ran with apparent fatigue, approaching them with the face of someone who was painfully unused to exercise.

“Haah… I’ll win next time,” Alex spoke, knees shaking and chest heaving. She was in her eighteen-year-old form, likely courtesy of the girl beside her. “Ugh… my legs.”

“Good morning to you too,” He said, yawning as he did another pull-up. The sun was coming up, which usually meant it was nearly an hour before he had to go to class.

“Exercising while sleep-deprived is bad for you, you know?”

“I’d say overexerting is worse,” He said, jumping down and unequipping the weights on his body. “I’ll sleep more later.”

“It’s the second week and you’re already a delinquent planning to sleep in class? I like it.”

“I didn’t mean during class,” He rolled his eyes at her giving him the thumbs up. His eyes landed back on the other girl, “You okay, Alex?”

The said girl was now face-first on the grass, doing her best impression of a plank of wood. She raised her head slightly and stared at him for a few seconds, before using the last of her energy to give him the bird.

“You two exercise together now?” He asked, taking out a couple of bottles of water and placing one beside Alex’s head before drinking his own.

“No idea, I was just minding my own business when she just challenged me to a race out of nowhere,” Helena shrugged.

“You should’ve made a bet,” He chuckled, knowing it probably was what Ina would do.

“I should’ve,” she snapped her fingers. “Hey Alex, want to bet?”

Alex pointed the bird towards her.

Calvin chuckled and got on the ground, preparing to start his pushups, “You have CQC later too, right?”

“Hell yeah, it’s the first one I picked,” She grinned summoning a bottle of water from her pocket before jumping and sitting on Calvin’s back with her legs crossed. “I heard our teacher’s a rising star, though. A genuine fourth-ranker in their early twenties.”

“Is that good?”

“Better than most.”

“That’s not really a metric,” he spoke before letting out a groan. “Holy— how are you heavier than yesterday?”

“You just got weaker,” Helena scoffed, lightly smacking the bottle on his head.

“Where’d you hear it from? The teacher thing, I mean,” He asked, picking up the pace.

“I’m popular with the ladies too, pebble boy.”

“I’m more asking who did you torture the information from.”

“I have friends outside of you guys, you know?”

“I wonder why it’s hard to believe you— oomph,” Calvin felt the weight on his back grow heavier. “What the hell?”

“We have class in an hour, Cal,” Ina’s voice rang behind him.

“Hey demon girl,” Helena’s grinning face was somehow audible. “When are we going to spar again?”

“During or after CQC,” She answered. “We can do it now, I can beat you in thirty minutes.”

Calvin heard the two bump fists before he rolled over and threw them off of him, “Yeah, just have a conversation on my back why don’t you?”

Ina was wearing the [Training Tracksuit] they usually wore when sparring, exercising just as Helena did, albeit a bit more laxer. The girl liked to train by sparring, not doing monotonous motions like jogging or lifting weights.

“Mmpph…” Alex mumbled with her face planted on the grass.

Ina looked down, just now realizing there was another person here, “Huh, is that Alex?”

Helena looked at her with an amused grin, “Really? He’s strong, you know?”

'She understood that?’, His eyes narrowed. “What did she say?”

“She wants you to punch her as hard as you can,” Helena gestured to the girl on the grass.

“No!” Alex rolled over. “I said just enough to give me energy!”

“You look as energetic as a wriggling worm— ow ow!” Helena jumped as Alex grabbed her ankles and started biting.

Ina pried the two apart before giving Alex a smack on the head, “Good enough?”

“Pft— You hit like her,” she scoffed, nodding towards Helena.

“Oh?” Ina’s eye twitched, giving Alex a smack that sent her flying. “Ah!”

“Ugh—”, she groaned, heaving on the ground for a brief second before getting up and cracking her neck. “I feel fucking alive again!”

“That will never not be strange,” Calvin muttered.

“His name is Martin Rodrigo!” Alex suddenly exclaimed as she stretched her body.

The other three looked at each other, unsure about what the masochist was talking about.

She tsked at them, “The teacher! For CQC!”

“Ah,” Calvin nodded. “How’d you know that?”

Helena chuckled, “Yeah, I didn’t even know his name. What are you? President of his fan club or something?”

“Vice-president!” She took out a holographic badge from her pocket, clearly labeled with the words 'VP’ and 'MR’. “The president’s an old fucking hag that pays off members of the council to keep her position. Fucking corrupt bitch.”

“O—okay?” Ina wasn’t sure what to say, and neither did the other two.

Calvin glanced at Helena, a smile creeping on his face as it was the first time he’d seen her taken aback by anything. The manic grin that was a common feature of her face was replaced by a mouth ajar.

“Yeah… so what about him?” He carried on the conversation, despite the oddness, curious about the person that’s supposed to teach them combat tactics.

“Oh my god? Seriously? You haven’t heard about him?! That’s— he’s the most amazing rising star in the fourth season VLYH!”

“VLYH?” Calvin echoed.

“Vanguard’s League of Young Heroes! My god, you should watch that season, it’s amazing! He’s one of the youngest ever to become a fourth-ranker in Vanguard…I mean, can you believe how? It’s because he’s been solving cases left and right, from kidnappings to legitimate supervillain groups even when he was just a first-ranker, just as weak as we are now. He even had a part in that terrorist kidnapping case from six months ago, the one where a bunch of trainees god kidnapped from everywhere in the entire city? Even in the Vanguard headquarters?”

“I am aware of that one particular case, yes,” He nodded, smiling wryly.

“That’s not even the end of it…”, she shook her head, “supposedly, at least from rumors and whatnot, he’s interned under one of The Seven. You’ll never guess who—”, she didn’t even wait for them to guess, “—Destructoman! The most powerful and mysterious hero!”

“That’s amazing,” Helena nodded in faux interest.

“And, he’s handsome too!”

“You know, I kinda figured that was the case,” He muttered.

“Also, did you know—”

“H—hey, we have to go. Cal, we have Math, remember?” Ina gave him the look that said 'get me out of here’.

Calvin was tempted to ignore it and let her suffer, but he nodded, “Yeah, see you guys later.”

“But I still haven’t told you—”

He didn’t hear anything else as Ina used her power to quickly drag both of their asses away from the fangirl on the verge of shrieking.

----------------------------------------

After Math

“Why do you two have to be so overdramatic?” Ina sighed as she carried Calvin and Quinn on her shoulders.

The two were slumped, dazed, and drooling like someone just stuck a nail on their frontal lobes. Although the subject had a similar effect on people, it wasn’t as drastic as they were making it out to be.

“Come on, you two, we’re here,” Ina threw Calvin off while carrying Quinn in a princess carry.

“Discrimination,” He pointed towards her accusatorily.

“Get over it,” Quinn stuck her tongue out at him.

Calvin sat up and looked around, finding the hallway looking like the same non-descript hallway as the one their homeroom was situated at. That usually meant the classroom they were going into was going to be a separate space, the 'bigger on the inside’ kind of separate space.

“Let’s go in,” Ina offered a hand.

He took it and got up, sighing as he fought off the fatigue, “I hope it’s not another forest.”

“Good news,” She spoke after opening the doors, “it’s not.”

“A Colosseum?” He blurted out, seeing the open space surrounded by marble and Greek-like facades.

“Colosseum? This is an amphitheater,” Quinn corrected, getting off of Ina.

“It’s a big place is what it is,” He said, looking around. “Where are we supposed to sit?”

“Anywhere, it looks like,” Ina said, gesturing towards the other people in the room scattered into groups.

“Reminds me of the first day of the workshop,” Calvin reminisced about the simpler times.

“No seats back then too.”

The three made their way into their own corner and summoned a bench. Calvin had become used to Quinn just pulling random furniture from her pocket, so it wasn’t strange seeing that. What was strange, though, was that he knew where this bench was from.

Nevertheless, he asked, “Did you take the bench that’s right in front of your mother’s statue?”

“Maybe,” She smiled knowingly.

“Just take a seat, Cal,” Ina said, sighing.

The three chatted as they waited for the teacher. Helena, Alex, and Sparky arrived minutes later, the latter having announced his presence as soon as he entered the room.

Thankfully, it wasn’t too long after they arrived that the teacher came as well.

Tanned, tall, and with a build like a Greek god, Calvin could understand why Alex was uncharacteristically fawning over the man who couldn’t be more than five years older than them. He had short, spiky, and blonde hair, obviously styled to photographic perfection. Coupled with his deep blue eyes, it would be weirder if the man didn’t have a fan club.

“There he is!” Alex said excitedly.

“That’s my arm, that’s my arm!” Helena smacked and tried to pry her iron grip off.

“Sparky looks more handsome—” Sparky flew away after getting kicked by Alex.

His eyes scanned the room slowly, pausing as they got to Calvin and his friends.

“He looked at me—” Alex was smacked on the face.

“Get a grip, girl,” Helena slapped her on the forehead.

“He looks familiar, somehow…”, Ina muttered.

“Yeah,” Calvin nodded.

“He’s famous, apparently,” Quinn said, glancing towards Alex. “But I don’t really watch anything outside fashion shows.”

“I only watch sports stuff,” Ina nodded. “And he’s not there.”

“Not on any of the news either,” Calvin added.

“Old man,” Quinn quipped.

The teacher narrowed his eyes as his gaze lingered on their group, moving on after a moment and turning his attention back to the front.

“Everyone, gather,” Martin spoke, his voice sounding deep and thick. After everyone gathered in front of him, he glanced towards Calvin once again before speaking. “Okay, so I’m your teacher for Combat Tactics and Close Quarters Combat. Today, we’ll be introducing ourselves to each other. Name and superpower. Starting with you—”

Students started introducing themselves just as he told them, stating their name and their power. Some only vaguely spoke about the effects of their power, which was understandable, while some— specifically Sparky— gave full details for an unknown reason.

“I can build a charge inside of me and let it explode out! I can also let it keep building and create a field of static that shields me from projectiles!” He shouted proudly.

“So that’s how he does it,” Helena grinned, obviously making mental notes for when she fights with him.

“Your turn, Calvin,” Martin nodded to him.

“Huh— ah, yeah. I’m Cal—”, he paused, looking back at the teacher in brief confusion on how he knew his name, “—Calvin. I can make pebbles that block stuff.”

Martin’s eye twitched before gesturing for the next person.

“What the fuck?” He whispered towards Ina who was beside him.

“Do you know each other?” She asked, equally confused.

“Maybe you’re famous,” Helena offered a reason. “You did save everyone in the cafeteria less than a week ago.”

“Somehow, I don’t think that’s it,” He brought his attention back to the front.

After the last students introduced themselves, the teacher nodded and clapped once to get everyone’s attention again.

“It wouldn’t be fair if you were the only ones to introduce yourselves. My name is Martin Rodrigo, and I’m quite fast. I see some of you may already know me from my time in the VLYH, but some of you may know my Superhero alter ego better—”, he smiled brightly, glancing towards Calvin, “—Lightspeed.”

“Fuck me…”