Kosmo stood before a desk, watching a Rosea man blathering on, on the telephone. He stood there for quite a while that he was tempted to reach over and hang up the receiver himself. The pink skinned man with his perfectly trimmed white hair glanced up at him, and mouthed the word, ‘What?’

“I’m here for an appointment with Vilena,” Kosmo said.

The Rosea man pointed towards the couch. Kosmo sat there for a while rummaging through the magazines scattered all over a coffee table. One cover caught his eye – Freya, a Porenadi woman, arms crossed in the icy blue jersey of the Saints, with the headline, ‘The Saints’ Missing Link.’ Kosmo found the whole cover funny considering the Saints’ defeat earlier in the week.

He flipped through the magazine idly, then stopped at a poster. He turned it sideways. On it was written, ‘Future Stars of Iron Blitz.’ It showed young Kin from all over Aradahi dressed up in their club jerseys.

One face stood out. It had horns curving down past its jaw, eyes brimming with pride and ego. Argy. That curly white coat was unmistakable, just like his father’s. The same father who should be in prison for giving Kosmo his scar.

Kosmo tossed the magazine back on the table and sank deeper into the couch. The Rosea man at the desk clicked his tongue and wagged a long pink finger in disapproval. He sat back up.

A door creaked open. A Porenadi man, or maybe a boy – Kosmo wasn’t sure – stepped out. He settled on man, figuring they were around the same age, and he’d want to be referred to as a man. He wore a leather jacket over a bleach-stained black shirt, and blue jeans. He sported a buzz cut with some patchy chin hair. The man looked vaguely familiar, but Kosmo couldn’t place him.

“You’re improving,” a slightly older Porenadi woman said, emerging from the room behind him. “Maybe I’ll let you take one of the birdies back home with you one weekend.”

The man crossed his fingers, grinned, and left, with an unlit cigarette dangling between his lips.

The woman turned to Kosmo with a smile. “Kosmo Tauros?”

He nodded.

Soon, he lay shirtless on an examination table. The soft white paper beneath him crinkled with any slight movements he made. The woman – Vilena as she had introduced herself – snapped on latex gloves and inspected the small, bumpy welts on his side.

“Oooh,” she said, her fingers grazing the welts. “This looks like… deliberate work.”

“That’s what I’ve been saying,” Kosmo muttered, feeling a bit validated.

“You’re saying he used Pure-Sap here, thinking it was…”

“Ice-Sap, to cool me down or something I don’t know,” Kosmo replied. “When he tried to Push, he realized it wasn’t, and it shattered the cells in that area.”

Kosmo winced at the memory. There had been only a moment of pain before he blacked out. Two days later, he woke up in the hospital, doped up on pain meds, screaming for his life. A couple of Pullers had tried to Pacify him but to no avail.

The doctors then knocked him out for another month or so. When he woke again, the cells had turned into small, bumpy welts.

“What now?” he asked the doctor.

The doctor exchanged a look with his parents before sighing. “You can still Pulse… but with some caveats.”

And just like that, his short-lived career and long-lived dream were over. His parents had tried to stay optimistic. But it tore him to pieces watching all the other Taurs, who weren’t much better than him, improve while he would be forever stuck. Worse, everybody had insisted it was an accident. The whole ordeal haunted him, so much so that when his father accepted a teaching position at a Polassa College, Kosmo practically begged them to move away from Kara and somewhere new.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Vilena listened patiently. She then took his hand and said, “I’m sorry that happened to you. It’s unfair.”

“Thanks,” Kosmo felt heard.

“What are you hoping I can do for you?” she asked.

Kosmo paused. He watched as the charmed birds flitted about freely in and out of the room. What was he hoping for? Just last week, he’d fought a masked Folk in the zoo, got kicked in the side, and spent several painful minutes writhing on the ground. Then, to top it off, that damned Parrot Pushed its GaleStone to fling him up and down into the dirt again.

He ended up in the hospital overnight. By morning, the pain was gone and the only chore left was the police, questioning him about the intruder.

“You sure it was a Folk?”

“Hanu to be precise,” Kosmo replied. “He wore a weird suit, but yeah, I could see parts of his skin showing.”

“A Pureborn too?”

Kosmo nodded.

“How you figure?”

“I fought the guy, didn’t I? And I’m sure the way he knocked out the bird was using his Pull.”

“You really really sure?”

“Does it matter?”

“Yes. There’s about a thousand Folk Pureborns in Yimani. And around thirty thousand Peakborns. On top of that, we’re talking about hiding amongst 8 million Kin across the Republic. That’s why we need you to be sure.”

“I am.”

Now, laying down in Vilena’s office, Kosmo wasn’t so sure anymore. The whole thing felt like a blur, and a new thought and crept in. Would they even bother arresting a Pureborn Folk? He probably worked for one of the Folk Families.

The soft tinkle of chimes brought him back to the moment. “What was the question again?” he asked.

Vilena smiled. “What are you hoping I can do for you?”

“I… don’t really know,” he admitted. “A guy recommended you.”

She raised an eyebrow. “What guy?”

“A Libri man. Balding.”

“Was he wearing a white tracksuit by any chance?”

“How’d you know?”

She smiled again and patted him on the shoulder. “I know exactly what I can do for you.”

A soft pop cut through the sound of wind chimes. Vilena’s double emerged, crossing the room to fetch something. The Vilena left in the chair took a sip from a vial before taking a closer glance at Kosmo’s scar.

“When you fought, how did it feel when you Pulsed?”

Kosmo hesitated. “I… felt alive. Like really, really alive man. Or woman, I guess. But I’ve used my Pulse before, you know the injury, but never like that.”

Her double returned with a book smiling. “I think she meant physically; how did it feel physically?”

“Oh,” Kosmo blinked. “Not much pain when Pulsing. It only hurt when I got hit.”

Vilena skimmed through the book, then glanced at her double. “No way. You really think so?”

Her double nodded.

Kosmo wondered if doubles could talk telepathically.

Vilena stood and re-merged with her again. “Stand up.”

He did so.

Vilena held out a palm. “I want you to punch me using your Pulse.”

Kosmo’s eyes widened. “No way. My mom –”

“—Is not here. I need to see something.”

He sighed. Inside his core, he felt his Essence warm, before directing his fist toward her palm. She winced after the punch had connected, shaking her hand.

“Aging,” she muttered, half smiling. “Cells are still doing their thing, but my Regular body underneath can’t cope anymore.” She blew on her palm, a frozen mist swirling briefly in the air. “What kind of Pulser are you?”

“Central.”

“Nice. That should have been a 4-strength hit. But tell why it didn’t feel like that?”

Kosmo shrugged.

Suddenly, Vilena’s hair began to lift slightly as if charged with electricity, her pale skin turning a faint gold. Then she relaxed. “You took 12 points off my Valour Core.”

“What?” Kosmo blinked.

“Why did you take 12?” She seemed puzzled. “Is your strength leeching from your V-Cores I wonder.”

After some testing, she revealed, “You’re three times stronger than your supposed Mythic Strength, but you lose three times the Vitality.”

Kosmo perked up. It sounded like a good trade-off. “Did this happen as I aged?”

“I’m not sure. I’ll have to look into it.”

Kosmo’s excitement deflated. What was the point with the huge target on his body anyway. “What about the pain? Can that be relieved from when I get hit.”

Her expression turned apologetic. “Sorry.”

Just then, the door burst open. The same Libri man Kosmo had met randomly at the park floated in, without a word, levitating effortlessly as he rummaged through the upper cabinets.

Vilena turned back to Kosmo, a sly smile tugging at her lips. “Would that happen to be –”

“—Yes, it was. Same outfit too,” Kosmo said, still confused by it all.

“Don’t worry, he’s got one of those for every day of the month,” Vilena assured him.

“Ah ha!” the Libri man exclaimed as he floated back down, waving a pamphlet in the air triumphantly.

Vilena grabbed it and scanned it quickly. “No shot.”

The Libri man shook his head. “It could greatly reduce his pain.”

“Reduce is doing a lot of heavy lifting there,” Vilena bit her lip, eyes narrowing in thought. “But wouldn’t they just target it? I’m sure a Push would be enough to –”

“—Hey, it’s something for now.”

Kosmo narrowed his eyes, feeling more lost by the second. “What’s going on?”

The Libri man slapped Kosmo on the shoulder with a wide grin. “I’m talking to a future GKYA World Oja Champion that’s what’s going on guy.”