I remember that day like it was yesterday. The summer sun hitting my face as I stared up to the clouds. Small islands of candy-like shapes in front of the brightly illuminated background that was the sky. But not staring into any specifically. Just in the general direction, where a group of people were floating in the air.

My usual pondering of the moments where I had nothing to do was tormenting me as usual. There were many things that bothered me that specific morning. What should I eat when I reach home? Did I bring my phone with me? Should I make a move on Syl? All but a distraction of what was to come this afternoon.

The mind of a teenager seems to be something hard to understand for many people, but I’ve always thought of it as a simple kind of mentality. In the end it is the time of your life where you need to start taking control of your life. The future is hovering menacingly close over you, threatening to materialize in every second. Some people decide to address it upfront. Others, like me, are just lost.

I remember trying not to think of the moment that was just ahead. The streets were pretty that day. Many people enjoying the hot weather in a nearby park or at a café delving into possibly uninteresting conversations with their friends, family or simply acquaintances.

I was bored at that specific moment. Not that there was a moment where I was not. But that specific day at noon, I was just making time before my appointment. Waiting at the station for that specific person who said was going to join me and accompany me through the evening. An event that would likely change my life. Even more reason to stop thinking about it. I didn’t like at all the feeling of not being in control. But considering I would not be able to change the outcome in any way at all there was no use to thinking about it. But I couldn’t help feeling anguish.

The trains kept passing while people went in and out every time one of them stopped. Some were a mother with her new-born child asleep in her arms, others a couple were the girl laughed at something her partner said, businessmen in a rush to who knows where or complete groups of students, each having an individual conversation with who was likely to be their favourite person in the group. There was nothing special about these people. They all looked exactly as the previous group did. Different looks, but nothing to remind me that they were different people. But they were different from me.

All of them showed a kind of special trait. The mother’s eyes were that of a feline. The girl was laughing at jokes her partner did not even pronounce. The salesperson hovering above the ground and the students all with an unconventional hair colour. Each of them was different from the rest in one way or another.

Images were these special characteristics that each person had. There was not a range of features where you could pick from, so there was no person with the same special attribute. These traits, or so-called images were evident in some people but hidden in most of them. A closer definition would be to call images as abilities. Most individuals could activate them instead of showing them constantly. That’s why some people looked exactly like me from the outside. Again, each of these traits was unique to the individual it was a sort of identifier in which every single one of them was special. But in a society where everyone was special, then no one was.

Except me of course. In a sense, the only thing that still made me special is that I was not special in any way. I was not able to light my finger. I was not able to hover over the ground. I was not able to see things others didn’t. I was not special. Or at least not yet. Today was the day where that would change. Hopefully for the better.

Finally, it was her train that reached the station. She clumsily jumped down the train. Her broad smile Sowing in her bright and young face while waving happily to her friend. She was always like that.

—Hey Nath! Thanks for coming pick me up.

—It was you that insisted on coming. I still don’t know why considering you already went through your rupture.

Her rupture didn’t have any complications, she was still young but relatively late to the usual age. It was about 5 years ago, not long after we had started secondary school. She was not too interested at the beginning, but she was happy to get an ability that would help others. Ruptures usually consist of a sudden and violent exposure to one’s own image. She had numbness in her arm for a couple of days before recovering her sense of touch fully. It was a fun couple of days where I could make fun of her for not being able to grab objects as easily as before. She then gained the ability to alter the sensibility of a person’s senses. Especially with touch. She practiced hard to learn how to use her ability with others without harming others. Technically an image that numbs someone’s senses could only do the opposite of harming, but the first times she practiced on herself she had to spend some horrible nights of darkness before learning to revert the effects.

—Well, you like to talk a lot about how you will use your Image to join the guard together with Kai, right? Who wouldn’t want to be with you the day you gained your ability then? I imagined you would be happy today, so I wanted to spend the day with you.

Always so considerate.

—What time do you have to be there again? — She said.

—We have some time to spare, but I want to be there early. You never know what can go wrong.

—You always are so paranoid. I thought you would be quite relaxed, but you aren’t, right? You are worried.

—Wow, always pointing out the obvious.

She didn’t like that sarcastic remark, as she turned pouting towards me. I liked to make fun of her every now and then, it was my way of reminding her that I was comfortable with her. Yeah, I was bad at sharing my feelings.

Stolen novel; please report.

Taking the next left turn we could catch our first glance of the Guard’s central structure in the city, tall building reminiscent of some kind of old architectural style which I was too lazy to remember the name of. The columns in the front held the ceiling some floors above the ground on top of a central circular protrusion where the access was found. Many people liked to hang out on the stairs that served as a simple and quick seating spot reserved for the ones who wanted to enjoy the midday sun with their friends. Its size was fitting for a military structure. It was not too tall compared to other buildings in the city. But its wideness and architecture made you feel small in comparison. Considering it was the central base for many of the activities carried out it made sense that they would try to make the building imposing. You did feel little compared to it, as it was supposed to do with everyone that laid their eyes on it. Serving both as a show of power and as a deterrent for any possible wrongdoers in the surroundings.

We entered the main plaza in front of the building. A beautiful fountain in the centre. Children playing with a football around the seats some restaurants had placed on the outside for the clients to enjoy their meals in the open.

—Why do you want to join the guard?

She surprised me with her question. I never really considered it to be honest, so I was not sure how to reply at first. But she waited patiently looking at my face with a curious look while y questioned myself. Her auburn hair laying on her shoulders falling like a river in the forest. It was shiny and colourful, probably due to her young age. Her brown eyes reflecting the light that was coming from her surroundings, making her look like a small kid asking for something to her parents. She had put her hands behind her back, while tilting forward. Her legs laying bare to the environment. The white and red dress covered her from the burning sunlight, swaying with the wind.

—So?

Damn, got distracted.

—I am not sure to be honest. If you want a quick reply, then it is probably because it is cool. But I think after all these years I am kind of jealous of Kai. He’s always so capable and cheerful, I don’t want to spend the rest of my life in his shadow. Not like I did with…

—Well, that makes sense. But isn’t aiming there your own decision? I mean, it is understandable that you want to be “strong” and everything. But are you sure it is what you want?

She was questioning me like I hadn’t thought this through myself, but I didn’t mind. She was just trying to help.

—Well, I am not trying to join the guard because it is what I want. In the end I am just using it as an excuse to find what I want to do. Kai seemed so decided to learn to fight that I just thought to join him and find out what we want to do together. But I am still wondering if that’s ever going to be possible…

I didn’t look at her after saying that, but I felt her gazing at me inquisitively.

We kept walking for a while until we reached the entrance of the building. It would haven soon been the time for my turn, so we decided to go in and wait there. The Guard was a busy organisation. Many people moving one side of the room to the other, looking for something or someone. It must be hard controlling the security of the city, imagine of the country. It was easy for something to go wrong if you thought about it. The fact that everyone had some kind of supernatural ability raised the risk for someone to develop an especially dangerous one. It wasn’t only about criminals. Imagine someone randomly develops an image that they cannot control. It might be like giving a machine gun to a kid. The Guard was there to stabilise things. It was an organisation of capable Image users willing to use them to keep some order in the country. It seemed like a noble job to me.

It was mainly organised into different levels. Depending on your Image and your affinity with it you would be assigned to some specific rank. The lowest ranks were mainly management related. You didn’t need to have a powerful ability for you to be suitable for the job. May applied just for the prestige of belonging to the organisation. Their main task is to send the appropriate forces to each help request they received. They basically organised the tasks for every single rank above them. They sent requests for the higher ranks to reach out to any problematic situation, and if it was deemed appropriate, someone would go see what happened.

The Immediate rank above them were just the equivalent to the soldiers of an army. The only thing they did was follow orders. Their main task was not even to respond to help calls; they were mainly sent around the city patrolling in case any minor issue rose. If any problem was too big for their capabilities, someone bigger was sent to the rescue.

A bunch of other ranks I wasn’t aware of were above them. All until the captains. They were powerful image wielders, capable of fighting many individuals at the same time. I wasn’t sure if I had ever seen one fighting at full strength. Usually, when one of them was sent, it would mean that the problem would be solved in a matter of hours, or even minutes. Their powers were usually flashy and exceptionally strong, specialised for combat. Some people had them as their celebrities. Many aimed at them with exceptional admiration. It was understandable. In the end it was something that motivated them to aim for their exceptional strength and power. But I thought they were scary. If either Kai or me managed to reach their rank, we would feel more than accomplished. Their numbers were relatively small. There were about three in our city, Marenia. Fifteen in the whole country.

But there was one rank above them: the Guardians. They were not sent often. Their powers were destructive in more than one sense. Having one of them on the field meant that any issue, as dangerous as it could be, would be resolved. They were the more drastic kind compared to the captains. They had permission to do anything as long as the threats were resolved. Whole buildings could disappear in their presence. And it was unlikely for any criminals to leave unscathed. Having one of them deal with an issue was almost a guaranteed and utmost defeat of anyone opposing them. But they didn’t show up often. So much so that I wasn’t even sure of how many of them were there.

The last case where one had to intervene happened when a group of terrorists tried to overthrow the government. They locked up in this building and took many workers as hostage. Their numbers were small, but they had powerful images. They tried to escape making a hole in the ground. But they were unfortunate. That time Haze was in the surroundings. One of the scariest men in the Guard. The whole area was covered in a cold mist for ten minutes. Screams of pain were heard every now and then. Until he came out unscathed. All the criminals had been laid on the ground with their eyes removed, replaced with glass balls full of a white could. It was a gruesome act, but not many dared criticise such violence. No one knew what his true ability did. Some theories wondered if his way to kill was to suck people’s souls out of their eyes, but no one could confirm since it was his only appearance ever. Such violent situations were scarce, that’s why no one was even sure if all the guardians had battled publicly at least once.

But I was sure of something. Years ago, when my brother, Drest, left me, he enrolled in the Guard and joined their ranks as a Guardian.