Nath

I was running, sweat sliding down my face. Each step I took cost a portion of my valuable stamina. Leaves and branches broke as I ran rapidly on the forest ground marking my position by crunching plants for each step I took. The trees passing by would have been a nice view to relax myself if things were different. The orange light of the evening filtered through the small spaces that the leaves left between them. But it wasn’t nearly enough to see my surroundings. The sombre aura of the forest was an obstacle itself to my movement, but it was too for my pursuer.

For each thud my feet produced on the ground, there was a similar one an instant after. My breath was starting to come short, but it is not like I could just abandon the race. I obviously didn’t want to get caught. But as my perception of time accelerated, feeling each ray of light on my skin, every blow of the wind, my sight remained forward. Every second was valuable. An error could cost me much more than I was willing to pay, and I wouldn’t have time to recover from a possible setback. Each step had to be ideal. I was doing my best to leave my opponent behind. But I think I didn’t have any chance from the beginning.

A loud breaking sound startled me, splinters of wood falling on top of me. I fell backwards from the shock, stopping me on my tracks. A thick Iron chain was now preventing me from moving any further. One extreme of it deeply ingrained to the trunk of a tree to my right, while the other leading into a blur of shadows deep in between the mixture of greens, and oranges of the forest’s twilight. But for an instant I could discern the hidden reflex of light on an eye. I had to run.

Putting myself back on track, this time in the opposite direction. I took a swift turn out of the path of dirt that I was following, hoping this would drive my pursuer away from me. The run became even harder as the thickness of foliage obstructed my path even harder than before. It would be the same for the person hidden behind that dark figure, even if I was kind of opening the way for him. But he seemed to be struggling with it.

Loud crashes resounding all across the forest, I felt him catching up to me. The rhythmic repetition of the cracks setting me more and more uncomfortable with each repetition. I accelerated, my breath barely enough to feed me with strength. The only thing I could focus on now was running. All my concentration went into putting each foot over the other as fast as possible. No birds, no trees, only the empty space forward. That’s why it took me some time to realise: I couldn’t hear the chains anymore.

I was scared, but I paused for a second. Standing still was risky, although it was riskier to advance without notice of where he was. The area was now darker, so my vision wasn’t clear enough to discern any person-like silhouette. It didn’t seem like anyone was cracking branches nearby. Did he stop running? It was unlikely. The pursue had lasted for a while now, and there had been no defining change that had turned the tables towards my side. The silence of the forest wasn’t even broken by the occasional chirp of birds. I did hear some of them flying up in the area to my right. A bunch of them together, as if something had scared them…

It was too late for me to react in any significant way. The first chain hit to my left, rigidly implanting itself into the ground, while the second hit to my right a second later, both pulling something from above. Or I mean, someone. Straight from the cup of a tree I saw him jumping towards me, one end of a chain in each hand. His fall felt slow, as if in slow motion. But every instant marking the steady approach of that individual towards me, who was unable to counter in any way anymore. He hit me on the chest, throwing me backwards. It took my breath away. While I was lying on the ground, he got closer, walking. I guess there really was no way of getting away anymore.

Kneeling at my side, he grabbed my collar with both his hands and lifted me, to have my face right in front of his. The silence between the two did nothing more than raise the tension. His eyes staring right into mine, reaching straight to my soul.

Then, he spoke.

—Spar with me.

—No.

He let me go on the ground, still hurt from that hit on the chest.

—Oh, come on! You never want to train together!

I struggled to get back up, so I just used my elbows to raise my torso and recover some air. I couldn’t avoid coughing.

—Why would I! It’s not even a competition! Every time we do I just feel like your personal punching bag!

—Well, you are never going to get better if you keep running away.

—Oh, come on Kai! I don’t even have an image yet; how do you expect me to have any chance. Besides, you are too strong for me. I don’t think a bear would last long against you.

He was now facing away of me, standing some feet away with his arms crossed, angry.

—Bears are boring, they always do the same. I need a person that would be an actual challenge! No point if I can’t learn anything new from my opponent, and you are the only one that puts up a fight.

—Wait… You actually fought a bear?!

—No point talking about that. Come with me, I found the Ideal place for sparring the other day.

He held his hand out to me. I considered the options. There was no way I would fight him anytime soon. Fortunately, some steps interrupted us, coming from in between the woods.

—Nath! Nath! Where are you! Kai! Leave him alone! Kai…! Oh, I found you! — The person rapidly kneeled beside me, checking on me.

—Nath! You look hurt! What happened!

—I think he fell… — Kai replied, feigning Ignorance.

—Oh Kai! You always do stuff like this! There was no need to hit him! — She held her hand to my chest. I felt uncomfortable for a second, she was so close…

Her Image didn’t show any visual effect, but it was useful in cases like these. The heat of her hand was reassuring enough. The pain reduced gradually. It wasn’t instantaneous but it felt better after some moments of being subject to her ability. I then tried standing up.

Stolen novel; please report.

—Don’t force yourself, you know my image, doesn’t heal.

It was still relatively hard to breathe. I felt the air struggling to reach my lungs just as before. But the slight ache that came with each inhale and exhale was completely gone. It felt much better now. I had to be careful though. Her ability was like an anaesthesia. She couldn’t heal wounds; she could only numb your senses. If I exceeded with my movements, the injury could get worse without me noticing.

—It’s fine, it wasn’t as bad. Thank you, Syl.

She had become a good wielder of her ability, still checking my face for any sign of pain. One good habit of hers. She was so reliable to be around. She would go help anyone that needed her in any situation, even strangers. Healing abilities were scarce, so her image was a good substitute before you got any professional help. But she would also help with lighter pains. She told me once that she liked hanging around playgrounds to help any kid that fell while playing.

Her hair was tied up today, while still leaving some space for it to drop on her back. Its auburn tone was the only coloured thing left under the darkening orange light of dusk. Her brown eyes were scanning for any slight twitch of my mouth, still worried for my wellbeing. I looked back at her. Her gaze deep in thought and her delicate eyebrows tilted outwards. The reflection in her eyes gave a sensation of clearness, characteristic of her. But I couldn’t focus on her longer, as she turned towards Kai, still with his gaze lost in the woods, as if he didn’t know a reprimand was coming.

—What the hell were you thinking?! You know you can’t do things like that to people! He didn’t even want to fight with you, and you kicked him to the ground! What the hell were you expecting to happen jumping like that with those chains!

She kept shouting at him for a while and he kept listening, still too stubborn to admit his fault. This situation was a common one in the group. Kai was a stray bullet, always running around excitedly wanting to improve with the use of his image and his fighting skills. He liked having fun and started conversations with strangers if he thought they were interesting enough. Syl On the other half was the responsible one. Always caring and correcting Kai every time he got in trouble. I was usually the one to get him away from them though, maybe that wasn’t too helpful since he didn’t learn from his mistakes if he got away without being punished. But I wasn’t in the mood to hang out with them today.

When a person gets an Image, they become an individual. The character of the person is enforced by the specific characteristics of one’s abilities. It wasn’t like one was independent from their image. When a person gets one, it becomes something that differentiates them from the rest of the world. Something unique that no one else will be able to reproduce. Yes, you could find similarities, but even if small, you would find differences, like small changes in their strength or certain conditions they required to activate their ability. Society had gotten used to the fact that every person had a different ability, and considering almost everyone grew into them before a certain age limit, the people that didn’t develop one before their late teens were behind with respect to people that earned it in their childhood. Image-less individuals were uncommon though. But I still was one of them.

When I met Kai he already had his ability, he had earned it at an early age, so he was more than used to it, almost like an extension of himself. Syl was a childhood friend of mine, we grew up together and neither of us had an ability for a few years. By then there was no rush, it was something that came with time. She got hers when she was around 13, which is when most people develop theirs. She learned how to use it quickly and we started relying on it when we would fall when playing together in the forest. Hers wasn’t as flashy as Kai’s, but she was more than happy. And there was also him…

I had grown together with a brother with an amazing ability, especially for a kid. Spitting and controlling fire was an uncommon but always welcome quirk. I wanted to be like him when growing up. Considering genetics had certain influence in the inheritance of images, I was hopeful to obtain one that would allow me to catch up with Drest and Kai. But two years ago… When he came back… The images of his mutilated body still haunt me at night. His cut limb. The smell of burnt flesh. He almost looked like a corpse. It made me wonder what my destiny would be.

—Are you all right, Nath…?

I held up my hand to stop Syl from speaking.

—I’m fine, thank you for worrying. Kai, I want to train too. But I still hold the burden of being quirk less. It’s been bothering even more these last days…

—Is it because of the forced rupture?

The forced rupture was a ritual that some people had to go through if they reached a certain age without showing any signs of their image. The purpose was so that they could artificially produce the rupture on someone, the state after which person’s body would change so that it would allow for the use of their image. It was relatively risky since it wasn’t an organic change, but the later it took for someone to develop their powers the harder it would be for their body to adapt. This is why the Guard, the Image-based military governing the country, spent their efforts trying to help people use their abilities, by activating the process manually.

My turn was the following day. When Kai mentioned it, some shivers went down my arms.

—But shouldn’t you be happy? — He continued.

—It’s not that I am not, but… I’m not sure what to expect. Forced ruptures don’t give good results usually. It’s probably going to be something like lighting up my finger or being able to wite backwards. But my brother got such an explosive one, what is the difference between me and him?

—Maybe you’re adopted.

Syl sent an angry glare at Kai. She then turned to me.

—Images are a complicated thing. It is hard to tell what is going to happen even if you have previous cases in your family. Besides, you only know your brothe’s.

She was right though. I didn’t know where our parents were since I was born. Drest and I grew up at Denia’s house. So, the irony is that we were in fact adopted.

The silence in the forest was hurting.

—Not like you can do anything about it right? I think your best call is to go, go through your rupture and then you will see — Said Kai.

—I guess so…

—Listen, it doesn’t matter what your image will be. We are still going to train together, right? And its not like a great Image makes a great person. You should worry about it once you are done with this. Just think about now. Tomorrow you’ll be able to think about tomorrow.

—Thanks Kai. You are probably right. It’s just that the wait is killing me.

—Who wouldn’t be bothered by it?

—Probably you…

—Nah… You think too highly of me.

—I never said it was a good thing.

—All right, now I’m offended…

We laughed together for a bit. Kai kept making jokes while Syl tried cheering me up. Whenever I felt lonely it was great to hang out with them. Maybe I couldn’t choose my Image, but I was glad they chose me.

Kai grinned broadly and hugged me suddenly, lifting me in the air and jumping while shaking me around. I didn’t expect him to get so excited. He then dropped me and held his hand strongly in front of me.

—Let’s do it Nath! We will become the strongest together! It’s a promise I want to make with you.

I took his hand firmly, with determination.

—Let’s do it! — I said, before he ran away cheerfully.

I was happy he liked it. Syl was looking at me. And sighed.

—I’m so glad you feel better now. I’m happy for you. Except… I want you to promise something too.

She seemed sad, or tired maybe. Until she lifted her face towards me, smiling.

—Could you guys not leave me behind?

I stood there, confused, before realising what she said.

—It’s never been in my plans.

The day ended with not much else to explain. Syl invited us for dinner and had a fun while chatting and wondering about the future. In the end it’s what people that age do. Imagination runs wild in those minds. In Kai’s case it did especially strongly. The time we spent together was especially cheerful that night and we went back home with great expectations for the following day. And it was in fact, a day that would change my life.