"These charges have to be entirely bullshit, right?" Dad fumed while he paced a tread across the carpet as he bounced from one wall to the other. Eli sat uncomfortably on the living room couch unsure of what to do. Lana had headed straight into her room and Dad had pulled him aside so they could call a good lawyer he'd been referred to. So far it had been nothing but a lot of one-sided yelling and Eli trying to practice Voidshade Control while he waited.
He had figured out he could switch a shadow to be more void-like where it had started to consume heat, turning it darker and more solid. He stared at a piece of paper he'd set on the carpet next to the couch after he tore it out of his notebook. With a flick of his finger, Eli sent out another tendril of shadow that whipped across the floor. Resistance pressed against his will as he tried to keep the void away from darkening the shadow.
Without the void, it had little solidity to it, but he didn't want Voidshade, he wanted Voidshadow.
A ribbon of shadow as thick as a finger skipped across the page before he managed to slide it underneath the page to its shadow. Sweat beaded on his forehead as he struggled against the void that wanted to consume the darkness and everything it contained. He squashed the void as he pinched the shadow to condense it to a single pinprick of night. As the shadow grew denser and stronger, so did the pressure from the void. It wanted to reconcile with it and dominate it.
But he didn't allow it.
Something was missing though. The shadow felt primed and ready to turn solid and follow his every whim and command. Voidshade was already familiar to him after a couple days of practice. It felt like it was the nexus, the crossroad between Spatial Control and Body of Light... just different. Hopefully, he’d be able to get Spatial Control back tonight. Ever since he’d gotten home he’d worked like a dog to clean and do everything else he could to hopefully get on Mom’s good side by the time she came home.
If not, therapy was tomorrow. Dr. Simmons would have to help her see reason. Sure, he understood that sneaking out in such a dangerous situation was irresponsible and that his parents didn’t understand why he had gone to the mall to help save them. But after a day of not having it…
Eli's eyes prickled as tears threatened to spill down his face. He ignored it. He felt the light around him with his intimately improved connection. Every light had its shadow. It was only the absence of it, but the brighter the light, the darker the shadow and vice versa. After closing his eyes, he pushed with his senses as he focused on feeling the light flow from the bulbs overhead and scattered throughout, as he felt the light that streamed in through the windows. Then he marshaled his focus through Voidshade Control and felt how eager it was to diminish the light.
Just as the light wanted to brighten the dark.
He gave both what they wanted.
Light's vitality poured into the endless depths of the darkness's embrace as it sought to consume it.
Movement twitched under the page as the shadow beneath bulged from insubstantial shadow turning solid. He squeezed his eyes shut as he fed more light into the shadow. As it swelled with growing solidity, so too did the void's hunger and its fight grow. Pain blooded under his skull. He willed the shadow to rise from the floor like a stalagmite that speared through the paper with ease. The torn scrap of paper dissolved as the void surged free and devoured it. Veins of voidshade pulsed through each and every fiber inside of it.
Frost crept across the page as it wrinkled and then hardened as the void ripped all of the heat from it. Pressure spiked as he wrestled the void back from the shadow pooled at the bottom where it touched the carpet. He didn't want the frost or consumption to spread there. Steam misted and rolled off the paper.
Eli willed the shadow to rise and writhe beneath the frozen crumpled page to support it as he lifted it in the air. A grin cracked across his face as he brought the floating paper to hover right in front of him. New strength flooded into the shadow as he allowed the void to sunder the paper to pieces then watched as they vanished into the voidshade like a rock dropped into a still pond.
A mass of shadow roiled in the air under the might of nothing but his will. He crushed it into a hardened sphere the size of a basketball before he compressed it down farther to a dot. It darted in tight whipping whirls through the air as he guided it through looping patterns.
"Wow, it's really dark in here," Dad said as he walked back into the room out of the kitchen. "Anyway, I just got off the phone with our new lawyer, Abraham Hauff, who said that Mr. Daniels is not accurately representing anything at all. But first, he will check with the NFPD about the charges concerning Saturday, but he did confirm that you and Lana have no business being at those ‘mandatory’ meetings. Apparently, it isn't mandatory to track power changes and developments either unless someone has committed prior crimes. Same deal with these mandatory meetings. They’re recommended, but in no way required. He said that only the Initialization power needs to be reported and that the scaling system will be changed a bit too. Too many revolts and other bad situations."
"So I'm in the clear?" Eli asked as he allowed the voidshade dot to disperse. A wave of darkness rippled through the darkened room before light flashed back through. In moments the light levels returned back to normal. Excitement vibrated through his veins like rising bubbles in a glass of soda.
"Yes. You’re in the clear. Hopefully. Lana should be too." Dad nodded as he stepped forward, his eyes darted from Eli to the space where he'd ran his Voidshade Control through its paces. "Have you figured out your shadow power then?"
"I think so. I wish I could test it, but it's a bit hard. I think I'm on track to figuring out how to use it similarly to Photon Shot also."
"What would that be? Umbral Shot?"
Eli shrugged as he studied his dad's face and saw nothing but interest and acceptance. Unlike with how Mom seemed to take every opportunity to find fault with him when it came to mundane and power-based matters. He clenched his metal and flesh-and-blood fists tight at his sides. “Why did you let her take away Spatial Control, Dad?”
“Eli… You’ve gone too far. I appreciate what you’ve done, but goddamn, your actions have been dangerous. It’s—”
“It’s not the same world anymore.” Eli crossed his flesh and metal arm in front of his chest. “Yes. I’ve done dangerous, maybe even stupid things, but it’s a dangerous and scary world now. You just said there were too many revolts and riots. Why take away the one power that can guarantee my safety?”
“I’m going to talk to her again, okay? I… I don’t know. I don’t like everything you’ve done, but we’ve all made mistakes. This is a shitty situation and there isn’t exactly any parenting books that cover raising kids with physics-breaking powers, alright? We’re trying.”
“Try harder.” Eli frowned to which his Dad chuckled.
“God, you remind me of myself when I was a kid. I blamed my parents for everything wrong that happened in my life, and they were definitely responsible for a lot, but not all of it. No parent wants to push their kid away, but we’re trying to help prepare you for the world if it… well if it maintains any sense of normalcy at all. But yes, you’re right. We went too far.”
“So why does Mom not trust me then?"
"She trusts you." Dad blinked as he scrunched his brow in confusion.
"Then why does she keep yelling at me over the slightest thing?" Eli growled. "It's like she thinks I'm some bloodthirsty maniac ready to destroy everything in sight! She acts like I've changed when I haven't! Plus, I'm using my powers just as much if not more than Lyra and Lana! It's not like I would've even been hurt in the first place if it wasn't for your old business partners!"
Dad stared at him for a moment before he sat down on the nearest chair. He rubbed at his forehead for a few seconds before he spoke, "She's afraid, Eli. Not of you, but of the world. Of herself. These powers are literally her worst nightmare. Remember? I told you that right at the beginning. We watched you sink over the course of a year where you hid in your room and withdrew from everything. Whenever we tried to talk to you about it, you ignored us or you denied that anything was wrong. Eventually, we just assumed that you were focused on school and that you were stressed about college and all of that. But then..."
He sighed. "Then the world got powers and you started coming back. You had light in your eyes again. You showed interest and passion in something again as you threw yourself into these powers like someone stranded in a desert who found water. We were so happy and glad that you were back… but also alarmed. Then our home was broken into and you had to fight for your life. Your determination only grew. It became an obsession. Lana is obsessed and has problems too, don't get me wrong, but she's doing what she's always done. Same with Lyra. You've thrown yourself deeper and deeper into this every day that has passed. And then..."
"Saturday." Eli nodded.
"Yes. I don't think you understand and I don't ever want you to, but it was bad. I won't presume to know or try to weigh the difference between our trauma at the mall, but it broke your mom. It has broken me. Dr. Simmons referred me to another doctor at that office for me to see during your appointments. It’s just… the things we had to do... it was bad, Eli. Very bad. And she's hurt because Lyra has been distant from us since as if we’re the bad guys. And well… maybe we are. We never thought that Dave and Sandra would get out and that they’d come for us. We’ve been trying to look for somewhere else to go, but… every airport is still locked down or flights cost a fortune. The police say they’re on their trail, but I don’t know. They keep slipping away. The infrastructure of our world is not equipped to handle any of this. And well, back to what I was saying, your mother has always been afraid. Anxious about the world and about safety. Did you know when she was little she wouldn’t even go into a cave once on a family vacation because she had to wear a hard hat? Now the world has powers that only grow scarier each day."
"I see," Eli said as he studied his dad's broken face and his shaky breath. He opened his mouth to ask what he thought and how what he did was bad then if he stood up for himself and for them. Whether or not it was just because he was still a minor that it was wrong.
Mom's car pulled into the driveway. Her car beeped as she locked it then a moment later she walked through the door and saw them.
"Hello, how was everyone's day?" She asked carefully as she swept into the room and sat on a chair across from them as she glanced from Dad to Eli with a curious look. Her eyes brimmed red with tears.
"Pretty good. I spoke to that lawyer finally and he's pretty confident he'll be able to resolve our issues with Mr. Daniels. How was your day?"
"Good," Mom said as she leaned back into her seat with a sigh. "These companies treat us like we're miracle workers and don't understand it takes time and their effort to improve their workplace culture."
The pause stretched to silence before Mom asked cheerfully, "Where did you get the metal arm, Eli?"
"Roman Anders made it for me."
"Oh good! You guys are talking again? I'm glad!" Mom beamed as the conversation landed on a familiar topic. Relief thawed the fear and anxiety that sat like a void-frozen stone in his chest. "Are you going to invite him to your birthday party?"
"We're throwing a birthday party?" Eli blinked. Why was she talking about everything like it was all fine and normal?
"You bet we are. You're turning eighteen, why wouldn't we? Do you have any other friends you'd want to invite?"
"Maybe Roman's younger brother and another friend from school."
"Oh?" Her eyes twinkled with amusement. "Is this friend a girl?"
Something about her jovial question as if the past two days hadn't happened broke something in him. They were just going to pretend that she hadn't yelled at him and grounded him? Stolen his power based on who he is?
Irritation flared through him hot as a wildfire.
"She is," He said tersely as his knee started bouncing. He fought to keep the rising anger out of his tone, but her eyes narrowed anyways. She started to get up. To run away. Wood creaked as his left hand squeezed on the armrest of the couch. Maybe Lana had the right of it. She was the only one in the family who didn’t fucking run. He started to open his mouth, but Dad spoke first.
"Addy. Sit down, please." Dad rose as he glanced at both of them. "I think you both need to talk. Listen to each other. We can't let our fear of change hold him back and we can't pretend what's happened didn't happen. I think we need to give him back his power, Addy, but first, you two need to talk. We went too far."
A few seconds later footsteps pounded down the stairs as Lana ran down. "We're getting pizza?"
"Yes. You can drive. Do you have your permit on you?" Dad asked, eliciting an excited squeal as she whirled around to sprint up the stairs. "I believe in both of you, okay? You got this."
They nodded numbly as both they watched Lana tear down the staircase again before they both left. Dad's car roared to life with a squeal of acceleration as Lana must have whipped out of the driveway. Mom and him both winced then sighed with relief when their cars weren't crashed into.
"Well. Okay, let's talk then, I—"
"Why don't you trust me?" Eli asked as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. "You trusted me before, so why not now?"
"Are you serious?" She shook her head with a raised eyebrow. "Eli. Your powers are scary. I tried using it earlier and it was horrible. It cut a trashcan in half when I tried to teleport an empty cup into it. How can you even handle knowing how much capability you have for destruction? How can you handle the constant vertigo and nausea? The very air buzzed against me. I almost had a panic attack and had to unequip it immediately. Why would you even want something so… so horrible?"
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"Because I'm still me." He sneered. Knowing she had used his power set his heart pounding with territorial rage. "Nothing else has changed. And because it’s my power. I get that you think I’ve gotten too crazy about it, but I don’t think you’ve accepted that things have changed. We need our powers now to survive. It’s not just a convenience or whatever. It’s a necessity. So. Why don’t you trust me?"
"You've been sneaking out. You rushed into danger! You could've been killed or even killed someone else. Again. Are you sure you haven't changed? You couldn’t have done anything like that before…"
"Mom. I already was sneaking out before. I hadn't in a while, but I still did. Sure, I wasn't in dangerous situations, but with the mall… I would have gone in regardless. Powers or no powers, except I would have died. I lost an arm, but it’s only temporary. I haven’t changed, I’ve just become more… more me. I’m starting to feel more brave, more confident. I think Lana is right. I feel safe knowing that I have the capability to protect myself now when before I would’ve been at someone else’s mercy. I haven’t changed, I promise."
"I'm not so sure about that." Her upper lip quivered as tears started leaking from her eyes, but she didn't acknowledge them. "These powers change people. I-it's why you and Lana killed someone. It's why we got attacked and why everything has gone to hell. All of the shootings, bombings and everything else. Three states have already declared martial law with talks of more joining! Have you checked the news? It’s a nightmare out there! Who knows how many more there will be? Airports are still closed for the most part or they’re beyond expensive."
"I mean, okay, but... I don't know. Things weren't perfect before either. Sure in general, things are worse, but people can do so much more good. Isn’t that better? We can do things as individuals. As people. These powers seem to help us be who we are or who we want to be. I’d rather we be safe no matter what."
"So. You want to be a ruthless killer?" She snapped, her mouth pressed into a thin line.
"Is that what you think? That’s what you think of me?" He started to stand up but she shook her head. Tears raced down her cheeks in a pitter patter down her business suit.
"I... no. No, it isn't, I'm sorry." She slumped. "This is all too much. I'm having a hard time adjusting and I'm so afraid, Elias. So, so very afraid. I lie awake at night afraid that someone will break in again. I'm terrified now when I'm at work or driving somewhere. Worried about how you and your sisters are. Your father. My sister and brother. My parents. Everyone."
"That's how I've felt this whole time," He said, ignoring her slight flinch. "Everything I've done since then has been about all of you and not me... until Dr. Simmons pointed out to me that the System seems to have given us powers that suit us and our desires, like I said. Not to be good or bad, it's still us that has them. I felt so aimless before and now... now I think I know what I want to do. Who I want to be."
"And what's that Eli?" She said with a mix of hope and dismay.
"A power trader maybe," Eli grinned even as she rolled her eyes, but he noted how her mouth twitched like she was about to smile. Then he glanced down at his metal arm and beamed at the thought of what he and Roman could achieve together. "Or maybe something else entirely."
***
Eli grimaced as he clicked through news reports on his dinosaur of a laptop that sounded like a fatally wounded animal as the fans roared. Reports of national disasters, massive shootings and bombings. Other countries had undergone violent coups. Even more had taken to trying to screen out people’s powers with similar methods as the United States, but many were even more invasive. Dream and empathic powers were becoming some of the worst powers to possess it seemed.
He glanced down at the shimmering metal of his left arm then glanced at his status. After their talk and dinner over pizza, Mom had given him Spatial Control back with a heartfelt apology. He was still angry, but he only had it taken away for a day. Hopefully she understood now.
[Stats:
Body: Light (Photon Shot)
Mind: None
Will: None
]
[Equipped Power List:
Slot One -- Spatial Control Ev. 0/Lv. 5 (Maxed)
Slot Two -- Voidshade Control Ev. 0/Lv. 4
Slot Three -- Dynamic Vitality Ev. 0/Lv. 1
]
[Unequipped Powers:
Rapid Recovery Ev. 1/Lv. 3
]
Soon he'd be able to unlock a new power with Voidshade Control and then use Spatial Control to merge the two powers. Excitement screeched through him in time with his racing heartbeat as it slowly cooled and grew tempered with a hardened resolve. It was time to finish max out Voidshade Control so he could level it. He flicked out his will with Voidshade Control to pull some shadows from under his desk.
He scrolled through numerous reports of two disgruntled employees blowing up their workplace with gusts of scouring wind and what seemed to be pulverizing waves of force. Fear shivered inside of him at the thought of how easily it was for powers to become destructive in a matter of weeks since the Initialization.
Tendrils of shadow slithered up his glass of water as he poured darkness into the cup. Intuition guided him as he turned the shadow liquid and watched as they swirled like dye in the once translucent glass. Eli coated the glass with thick opaque shadow as he willed the shadows in the water to become voidshade. Webs of voidshade shot through the water as it froze. Mist writhed above the glass as he turned his attention back to the news.
Protesters and strikes marched everywhere as everyone complained about workers marginalizing those with inefficient powers or overworking those with suitable powers. Reports of violent demonstrations and terrorism against government buildings for the enforcement of corrupt procedures in an unconstitutional manner. He frowned at all of the news reports as the weight of the world seemed to settle on his shoulders once again.
The weight of his family’s world.
If he didn’t get Spatial Control and Voidshade Control merged and evolved, how would he be able to protect them and help take them to safety if things escalated? If he didn’t get his body stronger, how would he manage to withstand the violence that had to surely be coming?
Voidshade frozen ice rose out of the glass in a cylinder. He studied the nearly purple ice with its pitch black coils and swirls as he spun it in a revolution above his glass. He frowned at what he was about to do before he popped out a spatial bubble that he filled with air and the voidshade ice. A push on the voidshade turned all of the ice black as the air began to freeze around it. Within moments the whole bubble went black to his spatial senses from how thick it all was.
Eli started to pluck the voidshade out of his spatial bubble before he stopped and looked at it again. It felt far more solid with both of his powers working in tandem.
Another bubble appeared that he pushed Voidshade into and he grinned as he felt the two mix and react. He willed the bubble to fold and flatten like a blade as he placed it into real-space. His spatial field extended into his void where he had a bubble of his school things and he teleported out a worksheet from Math that had a B written on the upper corner.
A twitch of his spatial-voidshade blade swept it across the page where it cut without a shred of resistance. He watched with interest as the blade devoured the slender strip of paper it had cut through. Eli glanced at the old alarm clock he had on his night stand and nodded at the time. It was only nine.
He teleported across the hall while he slipped his spatial-voidshade blade into his void and knocked on Lana’s door.
“Yeah?” She called as she opened the door then frowned at him. “I’m trying to do homework.”
“Sure. Can I borrow you for a minute in the basement? I want to test something.”
“I guess? What is it?”
“I want to try something with your Silverlight.” Eli said as he willed another blade of spatial-void out next to another bubble that he flattened into a sort of shield. “And to see how strong this is.”
“Alright. Let’s go.” Lana shrugged as she followed him down to the stairs. Eli peeked into the living room with his spatial field where his parents sat on the couch while watching a movie of some kind. Soon they stood in the basement again cluttered with boxes, their ping pong table and their treadmill. He ignored the weights that were missing in the corner from when the police had taken them or they’d been thrown away from when he’d broken them.
“Give me two pads like we’re boxing.” Silverlight flowed across her fists up to her wrists like boxing gloves as she settled in a crouch. He complied with two flattened spatial bubbles that were paper thin in real-space, but internally he expanded them to the size of a room. “First I’m going to fire some silverlight projectiles to make sure I don’t get cut again.”
Eli nodded as he stepped aside just in case they got cut or tore through his spatial shields with ease. Silverlight dripped and beaded off her arms where they floated in front of her chest as they coalesced into a spinning array of soon-to-be projectiles. A moment later they shot through the air as they slammed into his shields.
He felt them enter spatial-voidshade shields and knew he could let them pass through the other side, contain them, or even devour them to strengthen the void more. He slowed them considerably then dropped them out of the bottom of the shields where they clinked on the floor.
“Nice. Can you make them solid now?” Lana asked to which he gave a thumbs-up as he willed the shields to harden and watched as she fired another silverlight buckshot of glowing beads. They blurred then stuck against the outside of the shields. He felt like he could pull them into the shields or even teleport them around as he pleased since his bubbles were technically a part of his spatial field.
“Great.” Silverlight metal evaporated into silver mist that streamed right into her once again. “Alright. I’m going to punch now. Make it solid still, I don’t want my fists going inside, but don’t make it stick to me. I don’t want to break my own bones.”
“What if it breaks?”
“Then it’s not strong enough and if it doesn’t break, I’ll hit harder.”
Eli watched as she swatted out a couple of punches that cut through the air that fell flat once they struck the shields.
One-two.
One-two.
Heat and momentum were devoured by his void instantly the moment her silverlight boxing gloves collided with the shield without a sound. Again and again she struck. Silverlight gloves cracked against his shields with more and more force that seemed to almost break the fragile spatial bubble, but then the voidshade consumed all of the force and energy she unleashed upon it.
“Ugh!” Lana grunted as she swung so hard her feet cracked the cement of the floor. Then her fists drove into the shields with a crack as her silverlight cracked and ruptured in a spray of light and molten mist. Fractures spread across the spatial bubble just as the mist poured across it and disappeared into the shields instead of her.
Silverlight pooled down her legs to encase her feet and the floor before slammed her booted leg down as hard as she could only spraying up a puff of mist.
“How did you not break the floor just now?”
“Silverlight empowers whatever it covers at the same time.”
He nodded as she started punching without gloves.
“Fuck!” Eli swore as something in his skull seemed to get crushed into pulp right as she tore into the shield with all of her might. Voidshade boomed in twin explosions as both shields were destroyed.
“Finally!” Lana growled as she shook her hands out that were pocked in holes that leaked rivulets of blood. Fragments of ice peeked out of the wounds as they melted shadow. He dissipated them instantly then equipped Rapid Recovery to heal her. “How was that?”
“Pretty good!” Eli grinned as he looked over his status. “That was the last level I needed!”
You may now select from one of the following options: Evolve Power Merge Power Obtain New Power N/A> You may now select from one of the following options: Evolve Power Merge Power Obtain New Power N/A> “Anything good?” Lana asked as she dismissed all of her silverlight. “Nothing super great, but I’m going to finally take Hydrokinesis then merge my other two powers. Then I’ll finally have a power ready to evolve once it’s maxed out!” “About time.” Lana nodded, then asked after a second. “Well?” “I haven’t done it yet…” Hydrokinesis Ev. 0 Force Construct Ev. 0 Geokinesis Ev. 0 Jolting Strike Ev. 0 Imbue Ev. 0 BACK> Would you like to equip it? Y/N> Would you like to equip it? Y/N> [Stats: Body: Light (Photon Shot) Mind: None Will: None ] [Equipped Power List: Slot One -- Voidspace Control Ev. 0/Lv. 0 Slot Two -- Hydrokinesis Ev. 0/Lv. 0 Slot Three -- Dynamic Vitality Ev. 0/Lv. 3 ] [Unequipped Powers: Rapid Recovery Ev. 1/Lv. 4 ] Space shimmered purple above Eli as he willed another spatial bubble to pop into existence. It was seamless as he willed it to shape into a knife or to inflate into a bubble that he willed air into. Suddenly, it felt like he had far more control of the air inside of his bubble at a much more involved level than before. He pushed it out and willed it to flatten into a vertical disk that spun as it stretched larger. The space around and inside of it felt like near perfect extensions of himself and his spatial field. He popped out another disk that he set up across the room. Then he tried to link the two and smiled as he felt the space between them became linked. He started to walk forward, ready to step through his first ever portal— Air cracked purple as the two disks vanished then reappeared where they crashed into each other. Cracks glowed a deep indigo as they flowed across the two disks before they darkened to a shade of the void. Then they seemed to shudder and vibrate with a drone as if they were about to explode. Eli hurriedly willed them to vanish with bated breath that he released in a sigh of relief as it vanished.