Wind gusted across the shore whipping sand in a billowing cloud that would've stung against Eli's eyes if he didn't have his voidspace bubbles layered across his eyes to keep everything but air and light out. Waves of water lapped against his ankles as he stepped deeper into the ocean. He glided as he dove and started swimming. Stroke after stroke his clumsy movements melted into a smooth, natural gait as if he'd never stopped.
Eli's Body of Light with his Dynamic Vitality let him swim with unnatural ease. Strength allowed him to swim harder and farther. Instead of the deep pervasive chill of the ocean, he only felt unhampered joy and satisfaction as he was able to ford to the near bottom of the ocean. Darkness seemed to blitz against his eyes beneath the water, but with Voidspace Control, his spatial field was even more perceptive.
Rocks, shells, sand dollars, and seaweed all churned on the ocean floor beneath him. Farther in fish swam in droves, he could almost sense the splashing waves as ships and boats sailed where the ocean truly thrived.
He let himself slow to a stop as his body turned radiant and watched his prismatic light sparkle through the water and shone across the seabed.
At last, he reached out with Hydrokinesis and beamed as his senses exploded with possibility. He pushed down as hard as he could—
Eli shot through the water in a glittering arc of incandescent water as it trailed off his hard light body. He laughed as he did a flip to dive back in. Bubbles of water flooded around him as he knifed beneath the waves as he shoved against the water behind him.
He shot forward faster than he had ever moved on land or in the water.
Water tensed in front of him as he let it slowly compress and weigh him down until he came to a gradual stop. Rays of light bathed swarms of fish darted away from him as if he were some new kind of horrifying predator. Pressure started to build in his lungs as his internal stores of light began to fade. He needed air or more light.
Eli started to reach out with Voidspace to the air above the water so he could reclaim either one... but then he smirked. Oxygen was a part of water so what if he—
Bubbles swirled around him from the top as he swiped his Hydrokinesis downwards until a dome of air formed around his head. He took in a big gulp of air as his grin grew even larger. He looked above him and watched as the dazzling strands of bubbles eddied towards him as he continued to guide oxygen-rich bubbles down while he shunted bubbles with carbon dioxide out.
He closed his eyes as he let his Hydrokinesis-attuned senses drift outwards along with his spatial field. Using Dynamic Vitality, he siphoned Strength both ways to fuel Perception and Stamina. Prismatic colors sparked as they shot through his strobe light of a body as he relaxed. For the first time in... in forever he felt at peace. Plus, he finally had a chance over the past week to level Hydrokinesis.
True peace that wasn't tainted by the fear and anxiety of the future. He was just happy.
Eli felt light in body and soul as he let his powers continue to work. Actual light streamed in from a small bubble he sent above the water and bubbles of air flowed down and away from him as easy as breathing. He reached out as he relaxed and...
A sharp buzz woke him up from the watch on his wrist that his Dad had programmed with his powers so that he'd be a bit more accessible. It didn't track his location or anything like that, it just gave a simplified read-out of his vitals so they knew he was okay. If they dropped dangerously or anything then it'd alert his parents and give them his location. It was a compromise, but it was one he was okay with.
Far better than them distrusting him at every turn and being unreasonable about taking his powers away or anything else. He glanced down at it with a wince. It was already after nine PM. He was supposed to be home soon, fuck.
Eli started to bolt through the water so he could teleport back when he noticed the water around him. Everywhere around him where his Hydrokinesis senses could reach was cleaned, pure seawater. Not only that, but the water had a shimmering glow to it that continued even after he turned off his radiance and became flesh and blood again. He pushed his Hydrokinesis through the water and felt it almost... burble with his joy reflected back at him.
He snared a portion of it as he teleported back to land in an ever-growing chain of teleports until he stood back on the beach. A rippling sphere of water floated above the palm of his hand even now. What the hell was this?
Eli blinked at the surprising number of notifications.
But... he hadn't done anything? When he had first started learning his powers they'd been nearly impossible to level. What was that about? He glanced at each of the notifications again with absolute confusion before he shrugged and shoved the shimmering water into a voidspace bubble and teleported outside of home in a matter of ten minutes. Eli made sure to grab his keys and unlock the door before stepping inside.
Another compromise. They wanted him to at least make a show of leaving and entering through the door. It was slightly annoying, but they shrugged and said it was a matter of respect. It only took him a few seconds longer.
"Hello." He said a bit awkwardly as he stepped into the living room where Dad's eyes flitted from side to side as if he were looking at something that wasn't there. Mom was watching one of her old favorite movies.
"How was your swim?" Mom asked with a smile as she paused the movie and tapped Dad.
"It was really nice! I didn't realize how much I missed it."
"Did you find a nice spot that you wanted to set up at or do you want to change your birthday plans while we still have the night?" Dad asked as he blinked and rubbed his slightly bloodshot eyes. Eli had to resist the urge to be petty and ask if he was okay after using his technology with his powers so much.
"I think I still like it, but it is pretty far. If you guys don't want to—"
"A bit of a drive is no issue at all. We want to celebrate your birthday doing something fun. We have reservations for Shoreside and we rented out two cabins for the weekend in case any of your friends want to stay for the weekend." Mom said with a smile that he returned.
"Okay. Well, I'm excited for this. Thank you." Eli nodded to both of them before he tugged with Voidspace Control to teleport himself up to his room. He studied his professionally cleaned room that didn't have so much as a speck of dust or anything where it didn't belong. Thank God for his Voidspace bubbles.
He cast his senses through his void across each of his bubbles as he searched through two different bubbles of clean or dirty clothes, all of his money taken out of his bank account along with his wallet, his car, and a container of gas he had bought and filled up. Finally, he found his bubble of schoolwork thrown far in the back. Eli winced at all the clutter of his bubbles that took up far too much space inside of his void.
He had two essays to write and more Math homework due by Monday. Most teachers had started to pull back on assignments and basically gave up on trying to do anything too new. It was only a week away from graduation now. He really didn't want to spend his Friday night doing homework, but they were leaving to pick up Roman, Theo, and Lyra pretty early tomorrow...
Annoyance prickled him at how Lyra had been avoiding all of them. He understood, but it wasn't fair of her either. Their parents were trying to adjust, trying to understand. Ever since they took his power away then given it back they've taken more of an active interest in trying to understand and grow their powers.
So far they've taken an hour every day to train and practice with them a little. Eli had made little progress until tonight with his little excursion, but his parents had improved by leaps and bounds. Dad had his Technopathy up to level one even though it was at evo-3. Unfortunately, Storm Cloud was still at evo-2, but they had a hard time pushing its boundaries. They were too afraid of it blowing out of his control.
Mom had improved the most though.
Both of her powers were now at evo-3 level 0, but she could use them far better than she could before. Enchantress's Palate let her enchant any food or water she ate, plus duplicate whatever was in her stomach. That had been a disgusting discovery. Stomach acid did not smell pleasant at all. The real prize was Phytopathy.
Now she could mutate and grow plants and plant matter with far more ease. Including any plants used for clothes. Mom had taken to making sure she had at least some type of cotton clothing that she would sew various seeds into so she could grow them as needed.
Eli stopped to think about it as he looked down at his textbooks with a frown. He really didn't want to sit there and write. What if...?
Notebooks and pens slid out of his schoolwork bubble into a new one that he created with Voidspace. Inside of which he suddenly felt each page of the notebook with an enhanced level of clarity without having to rifle through each notebook. He scanned over to a blank page and visualized writing with one of his pens and watched with a growing grin as ink scrawled in sloppy handwriting at first that soon improved to his normal scrawl.
How fast could he write?
Eli glanced checked his notes for his research paper on biometrics and the use of and quickly began writing as he thought out the first two sentences and watched as they wrote themselves into the page as if he'd written them by hand.
'Biometrics can take numerous forms such as fingerprint, facial ID, or iris scans. As technology continues to improve, biometrics have become increasingly more common for the everyday citizen as well as within professional industries.'
His smile grew as he teleported up to the roof to sit in his spot at the eave where he played with his luminescent sphere of water that he churned into different shapes one after the other: a cube, helix, pyramid, a chain. It was strange.
The water responded to him so easily and yet according to the Power Crafting forums Roman and Theo had sent to him Hydrokinesis was barely at a rarity of R2. Yet, it felt more like a part of him than Teleportation or anything else had back then. While he played with the water and tried to puzzle out the inconsistency, he devoted the rest of his attention to writing his essay.
Would he be able to cheat on Math and other classes by using the calculator he had in his voidspace? Maybe. He wasn't sure how he thought about it though.
Eli bounced the water sphere in his hands before he stopped to study the sloshing surface of glowing water that had dimmed since he started playing with it. He wanted it to go brighter—
Light flowed from him into Hydrokinesis. It brightened considerably until he held a globe of radiant water that responded to his mental commands with considerably more ease than before. He blinked spots out of his eyes as the glow turned radiant.
Weakness shook through his trembling arms as he leaned the rest of his weight against the eave of the roof. Dynamic Vitality siphoned Perception into Strength. The spots cleared instantly as the shining water turned blinding. Each droplet gleamed and shimmered like an individual candle with a white flame.
Exhaustion started to sap against his mind. His eyelids grew heavier. His metal arm dropped with a clunk against the shingles of the roof rendering him unable to even lift it. He squinted against the glare of the water as he fought to keep it from blinding him...
Wait. How was light able to blind him?
Eli blinked wearily once he realized that his internal stores of light had been drained. He yanked at the light in the water and jolted upright to his feet as if he'd been blasted with lightning. Again.
Power slammed into him as it saturated every cell of his being. He lifted up the now dim, but not dark, sphere of water. He had sucked it dry of every bit of light he had packed into it, yet it still glowed. Eli shoved it back into a spatial bubble before he created an empty voidspace bubble that he compacted then popped into real-space. Inside of its shell hardened space, purple voidshade churned inside of it.
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He filled it up with as much light as he had stored and watched as the purple undertone brightened until it sparked like indigo lightning in a pitch black thundercloud. He felt feeble again, but underneath that—
—was unhindered excitement. Stats didn't just synergize with powers, but they played off them. Strengthened them. He drained as much light as he could and watched the crackling purple light fade until it was also dim, but still brighter than the shade it had been before. Now his storage of light had faded by two thirds, but still.
He had to experiment.
Eli felt like he was moments away from a discovery that would change everything for him.
He siphoned out everything from Perception and Strength and flooded Stamina full of energy until he felt like he was vibrating. Then, he focused on pushing light from his stores through Dynamic Vitality and started spasming as every nerve fired with the indisputable necessity to do something.
Light vanished from his stores entirely as he felt the well for Stamina blaze with power as it expanded. He slowly pushed off the shingles behind him even as he bit his tongue. Before blood could fill his mouth the wound sealed with a flashbang of light so bright it glowed through his cheeks with a red glare.
Eli stood as he felt absolutely wired. Motivated. Empowered.
He could run a marathon!
Two!
He took a single step forward he felt Dynamic Vitality's well run dark. Embers of radiance glimmered inside the slightly enlarged Stamina well, but he had ran out of light. He took a single step before his whole body went numb.
Everything went dark.
...
Energy screeched through his veins as he awoke in midair. His head, hands and knees stung. Peace flowed through him as his heart pounded. Before he landed, Eli used Voidspace Control to teleport in place where he widened his spatial tunnel to bleed off the excess energy.
He landed on his feet on the lawn while the sprinklers spouted arcs of water.
He shook his head in confusion even as he tried to push out with Hydrokinesis to stay dry... when a cooldown message popped up at the same time he became soaked.
He teleported back into his room while he shoved all of the water on him into the same spatial bubble as his glowing water. Relief and glee sizzled across his skin the moment he stepped into his room. Bright power seeped into his body immediately. Eli's eyes widened as he did a double take at the cooldown message then opened up his status.
[Stats:
Body: Light (Photon Shot)
Mind: None
Will: None
]
[Equipped Power List:
Slot One -- Voidspace Control Ev. 0/Lv. 3
Slot Two -- Rapid Recovery Ev. 1/Lv. 4
Slot Three -- Dynamic Vitality Ev. 0/Lv. 4
]
[Unequipped Powers:
Hydrokinesis Ev. 0/Lv. 4
]
"What the actual fuck?" Eli swore while he ran his hands through his hair, before he caught himself and lowered them with a grunt. Was he really losing it or did his power equip itself on top of him doing the same stress gesture as his dad? A few moments later he sensed Lana's door open as her silhouette walked across the hall.
"Did you say something?" Lana called from the other side of his door. He teleported over to it and stared down into her face with what was probably a wide-eyed crazy expression. He didn't care.
"I think my power just equipped itself!" He hissed to her while he pranced from one foot to the other at the sheer volume of energy zipping through him. A check with Dynamic Vitality showed that Stamina was full by three-fold and the second it started to dip, Rapid Recovery filled it. "I was on the roof when I..."
"When you what?" Lana raised her eyebrow as she studied him carefully. Eli took a deep breath. Did he really want to tell her what he could do? If he could channel his light into any power to improve it, then he'd be throwing away his only secret advantage... but they had helped each other with their powers and hung out together with the Power Crafting club over the past week.
"Practicing when I noticed something. My stat power somehow allows me to push light through other powers which seems to help me control and empower whichever power it is by an insane degree."
"Holy shit!"
"And... I think it helps me level powers easier too?" That or it was some other reason that let him level Hydrokinesis so quickly. He loved the water and had fallen asleep under the... wait. "Wait. Lana... You've always loved working out and pushing your limits physically, right?"
"Yeah? Why else would I work out?" She frowned at him as if he'd gone over the deep end. He nearly giggled. He supposed he had when he had gone swimming in the ocean. "Eli?"
"Sorry. I got distracted." He shook his head. Panic started to flare... no. He was fine. "And Lyra loves art, obviously? Well, what if your powers leveled faster at first because you actually enjoyed using them?"
Eli started pacing as his thoughts seemed to drift like cloudbanks. This was too big. He had to move.
"Teleportation didn't start jumping up in levels until I fell in love with it." And when he started sneaking out. Sure, he had done it out of fear and to protect himself, but same thing with Telekinesis. Even a bit with Photon Shot despite his misgivings until near the end. "I bet if I had still been on the swim team, I would've been offered a water related power. Right? But since I wasn't and I only wanted to be away I had gotten Teleportation. Great, amazing power that fit me, but not nearly as well. Same as your powers."
He looked up at Lana's wide-eyed stare as she watched him bounce back and forth from his desk to his wall. She slowly crept into his room as if she were approaching a wild animal.
"Eli. It's okay. You might be right, but it's late. Don't you think it's time for bed?"
"Nope. I'm not even tired!" He chuckled a little.
"Do you have your Rapid Recovery equipped?"
"Yeah! See that's the thing. I was on the roof practicing and I figured out how to push my light into my other powers! But I ran out of light and fainted or something but then I woke up in the air! I think I must have subconsciously equipped Rapid Recovery or something, right? But it gives me a great idea! What if I sit somewhere with a looot of light and supercharge Rapid Recovery while using Dynamic Vitality to boost each of its aspects? I bet I could powerlevel both powers really fast! Doesn't that sound like a great idea, Lana?" Eli turned around to try and look for her, but she had gone back in her room to look for something.
Did she want to talk in there?
Eli teleported into her room.
"Maybe I could use it to help you with your powers too!" He said, startling her as she fumbled her phone with a large crack as she accidentally pushed her thumb too hard into her screen.
"Goddammit! I broke my fucking phone. Eli. Elias. Stop. Unequip Rapid Recovery right now."
"What? Why?" He glared at her incredulously. That was a silly idea. It had its dangers, sure, but it had literally saved his life. Probably. And it could be the secret to him—
"Just do it or I'm telling Mom and Dad." She chewed her lip hard enough that it bled while she studied him with a concerned squint.
"Tell them what, Lana? I patched everything up with them. Besides, it's not like they can tell me what to do much longer!" He giggled then whispered as if it were a surprise. "I turn eighteen tomorrow. And! And I didn't tell them about everything you were doing. Just like you and Lyra didn't tell them about what was happening to me at school."
"What the fuck, Elias?" She hissed with a glance toward the door. Tears started to shimmer in her eyes. He realized he was glowing. "Stop. Now. Or I will knock you and drag you into your room."
"I'd like to see you—"
***
Eli woke up laid out on top of his bed with the sun rising. A massive lamp hung over his bed along with three different dead flashlights. He sat up with a yawn and blink as he checked around him with Voidspace Control and turned to the near comatose form of Lana huddled under half of her bedding laid out across the floor. He scratched at an oddly itchy part of his skull and frowned as something flaked off under his fingernails.
"What?" He whispered in disbelief at the dark red grit that coated his fingertips and nails. It was blood. "What the fuck happened last night?"
He glanced at his status and gaped at the level gains he'd gotten.
[Stats:
Body: Light (Photon Shot)
Mind: None
Will: None
]
[Equipped Power List:
Slot One -- Voidspace Control Ev. 0/Lv. 3
Slot Two -- Hydrokinesis Ev. 0/Lv. 4
Slot Three -- Dynamic Vitality Ev. 0/Lv. 4
]
[Unequipped Powers:
Rapid Recovery Ev. 1/Lv. 7
]
"What the fuck happened last night?"
"Huh?" Lana stirred as she bolted upright with a massive hammer made out of Silverlight falling into her hands as she prepared to swing it into his head. She stopped herself with a sigh as she dispersed the hammer into mist. "You're awake?"
"Yeah?" He frowned at her before he noticed the way she drooped with exhaustion. Her hair was a gnarled mess of tangles and snarls. "Lana... What happened? Rapid Recovery leveled a lot and you slept in here?"
"You kind of went a bit crazy. I had to knock you out multiple times. I... I was afraid I had gone too far a few times. But you're okay." She heaved a ragged breath. "I had to make you use up your Recovery enough that you'd be a bit more normal. Then I put as much light on you until you became lucid enough to unequip it. You've been asleep since."
"You knocked me out?" Eli stared at her in horror. "What if I got brain damage or something else?"
"You don't understand. You weren't coherent. You were terrifying. Arrogant. Dangerous." Lana hissed then whipped her head around towards their parents' room. "Fuck. They're awake. Teleport all of the blood off you now and send my bedding to my room, if you would."
"Okay, okay." He did so.
"We're even now. Never throw the fact that I dated that shitbag or did drugs with him in my face again." Her eyes narrowed as a silverly sheen glimmered across her iris. "I won't hold back again if you do."
She crept out of his room back into hers.
Eli held his hands up as he stared at them with a sense of growing confusion. What the fuck happened last night? His memory was a blur after he fell off the roof. He slowly started getting dressed as he pulled clothes out of his void while he pondered on what was going on with Rapid Recovery.
'Too bad Mom didn't try taking that power,' he chuckled to himself before he teleported downstairs. Ingredients rapidly teleported into his voidspace from which he pulled out the beginnings of an omelet in his bowl that he then glanced down at as he wondered. If he was able to prepare all of the ingredients together and write an essay in his voidspace...
What else could he do?
Eli teleported the egg mixture and other various ingredients out of the mixing bowl into its own separate voidspace bubble. He focused on the cold mixture as he brought his concentration to bear. He willed the voidspace bubble to heat up.
He pushed at the idea of cooking and folding the egg mixture into an omlet as hard as he could. Sweat dripped from his forehead as he leaned against the kitchen counter with all of his weight.
Slowly.
Ever so gradually.
It began to boil and bubble as heat seared it golden brown. He added the rest of his ingredients as he twisted the omlet on itself and pressed it into itself before he almost teleported it onto a plate that he'd set on the table when he stopped. Could he preserve the temperature in his bubble?
Did time even pass to whatever he held inside of Voidspace?
Eli pondered that as he poured himself a glass of water from the water purifier in the fridge. He studied the water while he wondered what Hydrokinesis needed for his last level. He teleported everything to the table and started eating.
A couple of minutes later his parents came down stairs. Dad was still in his pajamas and his hair was a wild mess, but Mom was fully dressed with all of her makeup on for a beach day.
"Happy birthday!" They crowed as they stepped into the kitchen to hug him.
Oh yeah. He'd forgotten after he woke up with dried blood all over his hair from when Lana had to beat him into unconsciousness. Apparently.
"Thank you." He smiled up at them and how they glanced at each other.
"Do you want your present now or later?" Mom pranced from foot to foot with excitement. Dad smiled as he went to pour himself a cup of Mom-made coldbrew that he then poured copious amounts of milk and flavored syrup into.
"Uh, now, I guess?"
Speed Shift Ev. 0 Photonic Generation Ev. 0 Aerokinesis Ev. 0 In return for N/A> Accept Offer Power in Trade Decline> "What's this?" Eli stood up as he glanced from the status to his parents. "We felt really bad about taking away Spatial Control. It was wrong of us—," Dad started to say. "Wrong of me." Mom interrupted. "—so we started looking at power trade lots. It's pretty interesting, but it's a full auction normally. We managed to switch add in Photonic Generation though so you could get a light power too. They're all zero evolution, but we hope you like them." Dad finished with a growing smile on his face. "After you said you wanted to be a Power Trader, I thought it was kind of ridiculous, but... after we looked into it, it's definitely a valid career path that could be perfect for you. Maybe this can help you be a bit more safe or to even get started when you graduate." She pulled him into a hug that Dad joined in on. "Are you sure? Aren't traded powers super expensive?" Eli asked as he pulled back to glance at each of them. Both of his parents grimaced with a bit of a guilty look. "You didn't pay with money, did you...?" "No. We didn't." Dad sighed. "We dismantled our highest evolved powers into perks and sold them. They were apparently very good. We bought new starter powers that we like, but..." "You'll have to start completely over!" Eli glanced at each of them in horror even as a part of him felt touched by what they did. "I can't take these! You need—" "No. You're accepting it. Please." Mom insisted as she grabbed him by his shoulders. "We'll be okay. It'll be fun to start over anyways. Besides, we have two power geniuses in the house and Lyra..." Mom winced as her breath caught. "And Lyra can help us see the beauty in them too." Eli looked at each of them before he accepted the trade and slowly sat down with them. "What powers did you break and sell?" "Technopathy." Dad said with a poorly hidden wince. "Phytopathy." Mom said forlornly as she sighed. "When did you even..." He frowned as he realized they hadn't done training the past two days together as a family. "You guys sold these just a couple of days ago? But... aren't these your best powers?" "We did, and they were, but... now we'll get to see what you and Lana have been talking about as we build up our new powers instead. It's an apology and well, it was the only present that fit you. We hope you enjoy it, Eli. Now! Hurry up and eat! We have to pick everyone up and head to the beach in the next few hours!" Mom said as she started to get a breakfast of her own together with a bit of a frown at his omelet and how he had cooked for himself already. Dad glanced off into the distance as he pulled out his phone to text manually. A few moments later Lana came rushing down the stairs too. Eli waited expectantly for Lyra to come then he remembered she was still staying at her friend Ava's house. They'd be coming to the beach too. Hopefully, he could talk to her and figure out what was going on. Eli glanced at his expanded status with a growing smile as he read. He could do a lot with these. [Stats: Body: Light (Photon Shot) Mind: None Will: None ] [Equipped Power List: Slot One -- Voidspace Control Ev. 0/Lv. 4 Slot Two -- Hydrokinesis Ev. 0/Lv. 4 Slot Three -- Dynamic Vitality Ev. 0/Lv. 4 ] [Unequipped Powers: Rapid Recovery Ev. 1/Lv. 7 Speed Shift Ev. 0/Lv. 0 Photonic Generation Ev. 0/Lv. 0 Aerokinesis Ev. 0/Lv. 0 ]