Ravela stood in the middle of the store. The isolation was killing her. She could hear tires screeching outside. Ravela used her telekinesis to get a rough lay of the store in the direction of the exit. She made for the door.

“Ramiel, stay here! It is dangerous outside. Wait for the Sheriff to come back.” Doctor Han’s voice ran toward him. The metallic jingling of keys in her hand was intense. To Ravela, they sounded like loud bells. Ravela stopped using her powers quickly. She was sure that others would feel when she used them so broadly.

Another thought suddenly popped into her head. If the doctor or store clerk had just the tiniest jewelry piece with one of the amber crystals on them, Ravela could have killed them by triggering the change. Or mayhaps worse, they could have gained power or mutations that would change their life to a different path.

While Ravela had a crisis inwardly, Chi Han locked the front door. Ravela was led to the back of the store and placed in a chair. “We just wait here until the sheriff or a deputy gives us the all-clear, Ramiel.”

Ravela grumbled. She wanted to help. But the longer the colors danced in their hypnotic pattern, the more she realized that she was feeling adrift.

Ravela closed her eyes and leaned back, trying not to lose herself in the color display. Talking with the doctor and Hamil kept Ravela sane. It took an eternity for someone to ring the front door. Ravela listened as Hanmil got up and went to the front of the store to look who was knocking on the door.

Ravela could hear the voice of Sheriff Thorn talking through the glass.

“Yeah, some convicts escaped from the court. They took the guns of the bailiffs and hijacked a car. My deputies are chasing them as we speak. Hopefully, we catch them before they make it too far.” Ravela relaxed a bit. It appeared that the sheriff had the situation under control. Though, he sounded pretty ruffled and winded.

Hamil returned to the storage room to tell Ravela and his boss the good news. “Doctor Han, good news, it is safe again.”

Ravela smiled. She had lost track of time a while ago. ‘This experience better is over by tomorrow,’ Ravela realized many things she should be more mindful of. Her eyes were among her hearing the most vulnerable parts of her body. She had allowed Doctor Han to put eye drops into her eyes that were only meant for humans, and while the rings were truly transformative she didn’t know for sure that her eyes were human.

Ravela got up slowly. The weight of her errors continuously crashed over her. All in all, her temporary blindness was a small price to pay for a few valuable lectures, but only if they remained temporary. A lump in her stomach formed at the thought of this disastrous situation becoming permanent.

“Then please, doctor Han, lead the way. I imagine the sheriff may want to enlighten us on what happened.” Ravela said roughly to the spot Chi Han sat for the longest time.

Sheriff Thorn greeted them at the front door. He sounded winded and stressed. Ravela supposed, in this situation, it was only proper to be out of breath. The pure absurdity of her current situation once again washed over her.

“Ramiel, I think it would be best if I drove you home. You are not in a position to just take the bus home as I see it” Sheriff Thorn guides Ravela away.

The way to the sheriff’s car made clear that Ravela was flying completely blind. Sheriff Thorn started guiding her through the streets very slowly and with plenty of instructions.

Ravela was more than a bit embarrassed.

Inside the car, Ravela chewed on her words for a bit. Her pride fought with her gratitude, but eventually, she said the words. “Sheriff Thorn, thank you for helping me till here. I am embarrassed to say that I can barely see the hand in front of my face even with the eye mask reducing the light.” Ravela thought about the words she had said. It would be flattery to call her words an understatement. “How are you? It sounds like you suffered quite the shock outside the store.”

“Don’t mention it. I noticed you were trying to play up your confidence with the doctor, but the moment you nearly ran into that lamp post without slowing down, I knew you couldn’t see much. So, how did the eye exam go? Will you need glasses?”

Ravela was sure her entire face redded in shame. The situation was just too shameful. “I don’t think so, I read all the lines perfectly, and my side vision seemed to impress doctor Han if I might be so bold.”

The sheriff coughed at the boast. Nobody could read the lower lines on that poster, he thought. “Oh, then why did you get the eye drops if your vision was so good?”

Ravela crossed her arms. Her pride was taking a beating today. “She got all excited about the side vision test and wanted to use the drops to take a look. I am telling you there is nothing wrong with my eyesight. I am willing to bet fifty dollars on that if you want.”

The sheriff laughed, “If I were a betting man, I would match that bet. You’re a lucky man, Ramiel, others would have taken your money, but not me. Unless you are a great hustler who planned to make this bet there is just no chance. You’re blind as a mole right now.”

Ravela squirmed in her seat. “You’ll see when the results come back, sheriff. You’d have lost that bet.”

“Truly now?” Sheriff Thorn said, the amusement thick in his voice. “How many fingers am I holding up right now?”

Ravela had used all her self-control not to use her ability to guess correctly. Her pride was wounded, but the worst part was that the man wasn’t wrong about her misfortune. “The fact that I am blind right now doesn’t mean my eyesight is terrible any other time.

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Sheriff Thorn noticed the twang of shame in her voice. “I am sorry, Ramiel. I just wanted to distract myself from today's catastrophe. Truthfully, things have gone poorly in my town recently, and I don’t know how many near misses before something awful manages to manifest itself. I am sorry. Shouldn’t have teased you like that.”

Ravela put her temple against the cold glass of the passenger window. “I can’t imagine the kind of stress you’re under. First, the kids on the bus, then the incident involving your son. I admit that I think the whole town might be on edge, just waiting for the real misfortune to strike.”

The sheriff cleared his throat. “Nothing’s gonna happen on my watch. These prisoners that escaped don’t worry we’ll catch them before they do something terrible. We’ll end this year without further mishaps.”

Ravela noticed that there lay a lot of determination in his voice. However, if this prisoner escape wasn’t the next looming big thing in the making Ravela would be surprised. It had all the hallmarks of a tragedy in the making. Without noticing it, Ravela clenched her hands into fists.

For the first time, she felt like she was in the right place and could do good. She sighed at the realization that right now all she could do was let herself be taken home and hope that the hypnotic light show her senses displayed to her would go away by the next morning.

Ravela sighed again this time a bit more softly. The price she pays for going with the flow of things was something she wouldn’t forget any time soon.

Ravela felt the car going into a long right curve. They were on that fateful stretch of the road that had set in motion significant changes for the world. People just didn’t know how much the world would change yet. Ravela knew that the changes her crystals provoked in organic beings, if successful, were much more powerful than the changes of drugs, mutations, or genetic manipulation.

Once her wards grew up into adults their powers would change again, and she would have trouble teaching them by the time they were stronger than her.

Ravela wondered how she knew this would happen suddenly, but after a small pause, she realized that this information was supplied to her by the potion of technology.

The sheriff’s cruiser made a left turn signifying that they were about to reach Ravela’s temporary home. It shook Ravela out of her train of thought. She sighed the problem of differentiating between her actual memories and knowledge would have to wait for a bit.

“Almost there, aren’t we?” Ravela asked knowing the answer.

Sheriff Thorn stayed quiet for a moment longer than Ravela would expect.

“Yes, we are close.” He said after clearing his throat.

Ravela tilted her head. “You didn’t just nod at the blind man just now, did you.”

The car stopped. “Oh, look. Here we are. Wait I gonna get the door for you and guide you to the house.” The sheriff left the car hurriedly.

Ravela smiled. ‘He did nod at the blind man.’

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

Safora stood at the cliff where she flew for the first time.

She made sure nobody had followed her out to this spot. It had become her favorite place in all of Gradjia. Safora started her routine with small jumps.

Up and down barely ten centimeters off the ground. Up and down she went, but with every jump, she came down a bit slower. The feeling that flowed through her body as she looked inward in search of where this ability truly came from, Safora jumped higher and higher. Varying her fall speed from normal to slow.

Eventually, she just flew up and down. To her frustration, she had no idea where the power she used originated from. No matter how hard she tried to notice even the tiniest hint of its origin, she could not find any.

After a while, she stopped in midair. Ramiel’s power came from his mind, she was certain of it. Her power, however, escaped her entirely. She couldn’t even say that it was a mental effort since she felt no strain at all.

“But how do I do it then?” Safora whispered frustrated with herself.

She clapped once with her hands. After that, Safora dove down the cliff stopping right before the tips of the trees. Going faster each time she made it back up. Her clothes fluttered in the wind. She moved entirely free like a swimmer in water could turn on the spot, so could she.

She felt her blood pump strongly when she turned mid-flight. The air around her made whistling noises as she sped up evermore. Safora began to sweat. Something that she hadn’t particularly missed after awakening. Her body had become so resilient to effort that she rarely felt like she was working anymore.

Even training with Ramiel and Laena felt more like a light breeze than training. She learned much, but she didn’t exhaust herself from doing it. Not at all, and precisely that was her problem.

For a girl like Safora, who enjoyed a good workout and the shower of washing it off afterward, this change in her life felt harder than all the rest.

She abruptly stopped at the top of the cliff. “Raargh.” She watched the sand flee with the gust of wind she produced. It rippled over the smooth stone. Safora observed it with a sad expression. As fast as the raw frustration broke out of her, as fast it was gone.

Safora hovered in the air for a few more moments. As her feet touched the ground, she wondered how she would get used to this power. Safora took her coat from the tree she’d hung it on, wrapping her scarf around her neck and putting on her wool hat.

She made her way down the mountain path slowly. This time of year came with a stunning palette of colors, but Safora found herself less appreciative of them recently.

After a short descent through the forest, Safora made it back to the edge of the training field of the athletes. It was still busy this time of year, and usually, Safora would be among those training, but she had quit with Laena last week.

Now, as she passed by on the edge of the field of her former teammates, Safora got a lot of angry looks.

Markus was in the middle of a water break, and she walked around the field to reach him. Markus smiled when she approached. At least her brother wouldn’t shun her as the girls did. Laena’s face flashed through her mind. She had her best friend too. She scolded herself for forgetting once again that she was not alone in her situation.

“Sister, how was your morning walk?” Markus inquire.

“Oh, you know it is getting colder. I am already missing summer. How was your training? Managed to throw all your passes properly?” Safora switched the topic.

“Fifteen thrown, fifteen received, you know how I play. Plus, Tjion and Rooke are keeping me safe,” Markus raised his bottle to his top two offensive guards, who responded in kind and with a nod.

Safora knew the two boys well. Markus often hung out with them, and they had been friends as early as Safora could remember. She gave them a bright smile, or at least she tried. As of late, her smiles didn’t reach her eyes anymore. This difference wasn’t lost on the boys either, as they had known her far too long not to notice.

“I am gonna help dad out in the cinema later. I will go over to Laena’s now I’ll tell her you said hi. Don’t let defense catch you still holding the ball, brother.”

Safora walked away, but she could feel the eyes of the other athletes still on her.

Laena’s and her own exit from all the sports teams had rocked the entire school. They had been the heart of their respective teams and without them, their county would fair worse in many competitions. She wouldn’t be surprised if the news had already spread to the other towns of Bucks County.

In only a few more weeks they would return to Pliada City and would face the music when their district gathered again. A few faces shot through her mind, girls from other districts. There were a lot of girls with queen bee complexes gathered in one place and Laena and Safora had made themselves targets. They had gone from rivals to targets of the rumor mill, and Safora would have laughed all that off if that had been her biggest problem.

She had left the field a while ago and her feet had led her into the small park where Laena and Safora met when they were barely old enough to walk. Back then they met Laena and her parents. Her eyes glossed over as she tried to remember the faces of Laena’s parents.

But she only could remember their clothes, since she didn’t care enough about the adults that day. She only had eyes for the friend she made. Every detail of their first meeting was carved into her memory. The bright red dress with half-long sleeves, the black wool pants, and the polished little red shoes glistened like a brand-new car in the spring sun. The bright smile with which Laena had greeted her, and how they’d run through the park till it was evening.

Safora stopped in front of an old and mighty tree. She still remembered sitting down with Laena here. She must have fallen asleep back then because when she woke up she was in her bed tucked in and it was morning again.

A memory from what seemed ages ago, but one she would never forget.

Safora got pulled out of her reminiscing by Laena’s voice calling out to her.