Elijah slowly creaked his eyes open. It was like trying to blink off the heaviest sleep after a night of endless drinking. His vision was blurry, and his chest burned. Marcus was standing a little ways away talking to.. Victor? Maybe he couldn't be sure he had no energy to move. Instead, he focused on the notification box swimming in his vision.
[Level up! A Rank Level 2
+4 Free Stat points
+1 Preaffixed Agility point]
[Skill Level up! Point Precision
B Rank - Level 2
Active ability - When activated, anything you throw of coconut size or smaller hits its intended target with absolute precision.]
[New Skill awarded for bravery!
Skill number 4: Fearless Charge
F Rank - Level 1
Passive ability - When running towards danger, your endurance gains a temporary +1 bonus.
Infused with the Minor Principle of Earthen Resistance: Your body becomes more solid and harder to damage by external forces.
Marcus turned around and walked back over to Elijah and knelt beside him. He was holding back a sob and went to close Elijah's eyes with his hand.
"I need those to see." Elijah was able to croak out.
Marcus fell backward with a small yell before making a mad scramble forward to check on his friend. His hands collapsed onto Elijah's chest, trying to staunch a bleeding that he suddenly didn't feel on his hands.
"OW!" Elijah yelped, "I'm pretty sure you just popped my sternum."
Marcus grabbed the hem of his bloodstained shirt and hoisted it up to see the wound, but instead found a new tattoo in its place. It was different from the others, though. The most notable change was the glow. All of the runic tattoos had one thing in common up to that point, they were gold, and this one is a bright green. The other thing that was odd is that almost all of the tattoos took the shape of something a human would immediately recognize. Like the springs on his feet or the target on his palm. But this looked like the vague outline of a battle axe and a bulls head put together in a single silhouette.
Liv was now there as well, kneeling on his other side, her eye power already activated. "What the fu -"
"You can put my shirt down any time, Marcus." Elijah was starting to feel uncomfortable as more people started looking from afar.
Victor strolled over and leaned down. "Hold on, I'd like to look at this for just a second before I let you up." He leaned over, looking at the bright green glow that emitted from his chest. "I wonder if any of the Alaxid at the school will know what that is. How did this happen? Did you get hit by a stray bolt of magic or something?"
Elijah was unsure how much of what he'd just been through to tell him, so he just figured he'd go with lying until he knew more. "I'm not sure, honestly. I ran over here to distract the attackers and got hit by something. The next thing I know, I'm waking up on the ground with people saying I'm dead and a new ability. Honestly, it's all a bit overwhelming right now."
"Okay, we can talk at the school, you will be coming, right?" Elijah confirmed with a nod as he brushed his shirt out of Marcus' hand and pushed himself up into a sitting position. "Go get yourselves cleared by the EMTs and home and rest. I'll see you at the school soon." He then got up and proceeded around the room, checking on everyone who looked even slightly injured.
After being checked out by medical personnel at the scene and questioned by the cops about what happened, they were released back home. Before getting into the car, he sent his mom a text letting her know he was fine. He had already left for home before the attack ever happened.
"I don't know that I want to be a hero anymore." Liv burst out crying behind the wheel of the car on their silent car ride home. "I've seen a lot as an EMT, I didn't think anything could phase me anymore. I was frozen under a table until I heard Marcus screaming for me. I wasn't heroic. I was terrified."
They sat in silence a little longer before Eli started talking. "Come to Washington with us and join Peak Empowerment Academy."
"Did you not just hear her say she doesn't want to be a hero?" Marcus stared at him incredulously from the back seat. "You're going to take this time to invite her when you had all week?"
"What I heard was my friend told me they were afraid. What better cure for fear is there than preparedness." He turned his head to Liv. "The way I hear the marines talk about combat, you're never not afraid when bullets are flying at you. But that is what training is for, to teach you how to channel that fear into staying alive."
"I don't know if I can throw myself into danger again, Eli... I might just go to Desert Bloom and become a full-blown medic type." Liv wiped away at her tears as she drove.
"I don't know if that's smart, Liv." Marcus chimed in. "There's a lot we aren't being told and don't know yet. First off, we all accepted the contract. All it says is that we will be called into service for the Alliance of Worlds. Second off, I've been doing research and categorizing the powers people were given, and about 60% of all people got some sort of combat based power indicating there to be a threat out where where they need millions more people to fight in. Millions of people with powers."
They spent most of the rest of the car ride in quiet contemplation. They said their goodbyes as she dropped off Marcus first, Elijah said he could get out and run home from here, but Liv insisted that she drop him off. As they pulled up into his driveway and she put the car in park, she finally spoke again.
"If I agree to go. You have to tell me how you're alive. I watched you die today, I had my power active... I watched as your wound went from blood red to grey. There wasn't a wound to heal anymore." She nearly whispered it out.
"Honest to God? I'm not sure. It's all really fuzzy. The only thing I remember is that I went to a white room, then I met a guy named Todd, we watched a movie about... something together, and then I was back. I'm as clueless as you are about why I'm alive and why my chest is glowing green instead of a gaping bullet wound." He looked down at the faint glow emitting from the bullet hole in his shirt.
Liv forced a smile that was obvious she didn't feel. "Then I'll go with you. We'll find out together. Marcus is probably right. There's more to this than everyone is letting on, I'd rather be with people I can trust if stuff really does hit the fan.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Elijah smiled. "Perfect. We have 10 days to get all of our affairs in order. I'm accepting the invite now. Get home safely." With that, Elijah went inside and hopped in the shower to wash off the dirt and blood that had crusted onto him. Luckily, it was a Friday night, and his mom was off doing her bingo night with Mama Bennett and a couple of other moms she became friends with during his track meets.
He pulled the invite back up. And hit accept.
[Welcome to Peak Empowerment Academy!
Dear Elijah James,
Congratulations on accepting our invitation to join Peak Empowerment Academy! We're thrilled to have you on board.
Please be ready with your companions and belongings by 7:00 a.m. on Monday, November 20th. A designated driver and moving company will be arriving to transport you to the airport.
Upon arrival in Spokane, you will meet with our admissions team to set up your housing arrangements. We provide prefurnished dorm housing, but if you prefer, you are free to rent your own home or apartment using your weekly stipend.
Keep in mind that your belongings will take a couple of extra days to reach campus, so we advise packing a travel bag for the journey. We look forward to welcoming you to our extraordinary community of superheroes!
Time left to pick up 227H:58M:19S
Safe travels,
Dr. Vivian Crest
And the Admissions Team
Peak Empowerment Academy]
He shot both Liv and Marcus a text with the time and date to be ready.
He had one last thing to do before going to bed tonight. Allocate his stats. He pulled up his full character sheet.
[Name: Elijah "Eli" James
Race: Human
Subrace: Champion of The Traveler
Champion Rank: A - Level 2
Agility type
Current Class sub-type: Human Wreckingball
Stats:
Strength - 21
Endurance - 18
Agility - 25
Intelligence - 14
Wisdom - 10
Appeal - 13
Universal Principles known:
Minor Principle of Earthen Resistance
Skills:
Skill number 1: Feeling springy
A Rank - Level 1
Passive ability - When your foot leaves the ground, you are given extra momentum in the direction you are heading [Togglable]
Skill number 2: Longstrider
B Rank - Level 1
Passive ability - When executing a jump while sprinting, you triple the distance.
Skill number 3: Point precision
B Rank - Level 2
Active ability - When activated, anything you throw of coconut size or smaller hits its intended target with absolute precision.
Skill number 4: Fearless Charge
F Rank - Level 1
Passive ability - When moving towards danger, your endurance gains a temporary +1 bonus.]
Infused with the Minor Principle of Earthen Resistance: Your body becomes more solid and harder to damage by external forces.
Well, the first thing he had to do was obvious. He had to fix the odd numbers. His agility was fine where it was currently because it was sitting on an increment of 5. But the others were completely unacceptable. He laid back in bed and clicked the plus arrow once on Appeal and once on Strength.
The last two points were more questionable. He thought about bumping up his wisdom or intelligence, and he probably will eventually, but for right now, he had Marcus and Liv to shore up those weaknesses. So, instead, he pumped the last two points into Endurance, raising that up to Peak human potential as well. Hopefully, now he'd be able to run for hundreds of miles like those Iron Man marathoners. Plus, he'd heard Prof. Yates say that endurance made him bulletproof, and that in particular sounded great. The Earthen Resistance seemed like it was taking him down that route as well.
--------------
The three of them spent the next week apart from one another, all healing from the traumatic experience and squeezing out every last minute they had with family before they had to move across the country. It was now Sunday, and in the morning the next day, they'd be leaving.
His mom and him were sitting at the kitchen table in relative silence as they ate their lunches. His mom read the paper, and he sat and browsed through Z, "God, this website went downhill after its purchase."
His mom set the paper down on the table. "Well, that's what you get when you let a car mogul run a social media company. Yes, he's intelligent, but as we know," Elijah chimed in and said it in unison with her as she repeated it for the 9 millionth time, "A jack of all trades but a master of none can easily be bested by a master of one." It became her mantra when she went back to school for her Bachelors degree. He was pretty sure she had picked it up from a pinterest post.
"Why don't you go hang out with Marcus and that Olivia girl you like. Bring them home for a farewell dinner. I'll make your favorites." His mom smiled across the table.
"Please don't make hot dogs and Mac and cheese mom. I haven't cared for that meal since I was 12."
"You think I don't know my own son?! You wound me!" She feigned chest pains, gripping at her heart. He didn't find all the heart related jokes she'd been making nearly as funny as she did.
Elijah rolled his eyes and excused himself from the table. "I needed to talk to Marcus about logistics of the move and living arrangements before we leave anyhow. He is up in arms about having to stay in a dorm for a few weeks without access to a proper workshop of his own to tinker around in."
"Okay, I'll have dinner on the table at 7. Be home about then. Please don't come too soon. I don't wanna be all hot and sweaty from cooking when I meet my future daughter in law for the first time." His mom giggled the last words out at the groan Elijah released as he walked away.
-----------
Elijah, Liv, and Marcus sat at a little table at Smokie's, the hum of his rolling machine going in the background, earning them their free meals as they scrolled through rentals on their phones.
"Ugh, why don't they teach this in school?" Elijah rubbed at his head as he wrote down the number for another house that fit the list of criteria that Marcus and Liv set out.
"Because they can't teach people skills. That much is obvious based upon your current ineptitude." Marcus was currently reassembling his gauntlet. He had slimmed it down considerably. Now, it just looked like a very large winter glove that you might see at a hunters store in Alaska.
Liv was currently on the phone talking to a real estate agent. "Okay, I get it. You're bigots who are willing to be on the wrong side of history. Good luck with life." She hung up the phone and angrily smacked it on the table with a groan. "That was the third realtor that has said outright that if we would be attending Peak Empowerment Academy, they wouldn't even consider renting to us."
"Did this one at least give you a reason?" Marcus asked without looking away from what his hands were doing.
"Something about the insurance they have not covering super powered individuals." She replied with a sigh. "I should have been nicer. They didn't deserve to be called names."
"You're right. Be nicer to this next one." Eli slid the paper over with the new name, number, and information on the location.
"Hi! My name is Olivia Erikkson, I actually just saw your listing -" Elijah tuned out after that and started packing up his stuff into his backpack and stacking their plates on the corner of the table for the waitress.
"I'll run ahead. You guys take your time getting there." Elijah hopped up and headed out the doors, turning down the main drag and shifting on his ability. He was a little faster now with the extra point in his agility, and he was getting used to running with his ability, it wasn't quite natural yet but he could stop without sliding and skipping for a quarter mile.
It only took him a couple of minutes to make it home. He was 15 minutes early as he walked in the door to a room full of startled people. Gordon stepped out of the bathroom and looked over to see Elijah. "Surprise!" He raised his beer, that he clearly took with him to the restroom.
------------
Liv and Marcus briskly walked up to the door and knocked, standing there shivering in the cold for only a half second before their super speedy best friend opened the door for them.
"Come on in." Elijah opened the door and took a step back out of the way. As they stepped in, Elijah flipped on the lights.
"Surprise!" A room full of people erupted. All of their families were there holding some sort of beverage and scattered about like they'd already grouped up and started chatting right before the vicious assault on their sense.
"See! I told you I didn't ruin the surprise by showing early!" Elijah erupted while staring at his mother.
"But you weren't surprised!" His mom shot back clearly upset she didn't get to do that to him because he was early.
"Excuse me, I was very surprised to see Gordon exit the bathroom with an open beer. In fact, I'd say I was more surprised or at least confused than these two are." Elijah closed the door behind Marcus and Liv after they'd vacated the doorway and wiped off their shoes on the rug. He deftly made his way back across the kitchen, grabbed two cups of punch, and held one out to each Marcus and Liv, who were still in the process of disrobing their coats.
"Just because you live your life in hyperspeed doesn't mean the rest of us do." Marcus told him.
"Why does everyone keep saying that? I've been getting it all week, but to me, this feels like I'm moving at a leisurely pace." Elijah protested.
"Probably because you not only instantly opened the door when we got here but had punch ready to hand to us before we have our coats off." Marcus reached out and took the cup after a veritable eternity by Elijah's standard.
The rest of the party went off without a hitch between his mom, Mama Bennett, and Mrs. Erikkson, the food selection was as much diverse as it was delightful. Elijah got a plate of food and went and sat next to Gordon on the couch. If there was one thing he could appreciate about Gordon, it was his silence, the man never wanted to speak a word, he was the polar opposite of Marcus, which is probably why Mama Bennett started dating him in the first place.
Just as he settled in, the unthinkable happened. Gordon willingly spoke first. "I'm proud of you, boy. I'm sure your daddy would say the same. I thought you were done when you blew up your knee, I'm happy to be proven wrong." He didn't even look over at Eli, just took a drink of his beer and kept watching the Nascar race.
"Ugh. Thanks, Gordon, that actually means a lot." Elijah felt awkward. He'd known Gordon for about 6 years and was even at the wedding, but in all that time, they had never had a meaningful one on one interaction.
He finished his plate of food and went to go grab some of the desert on the table and grabbed a donut looking thing that had icing stacked high on top.
"Have you ever had one before?" Livs father was hovering over his shoulder, pointing at the donut. He was the only one in the house that could match Elijah for height, and he didn't even get a boost from the framework like Elijah had.
"No, but it looked good, so I thought I'd give it a try."
"Oh, you're gonna love this. Let me teach you how to prepare it!" He grabbed his own, a wooden honey pot with a honey dipper in it that he'd brought along, and a butter knife.
Elijah was unsure to be afraid or grateful of Mr. Erikkson. But one that was certain, he was excited about this donut now.