The two FBI detectives watch the video for the umpteenth time, still amazed at the superhuman speed the woman in the mask had moved, then there was the fact that she survived a gunshot to the face. One of the detectives, a young man who was just at the beginning of his career, had been doubting the existence of Beta Testers before he was put on this case.

This case is certainly strange the young detective thinks, taking a sip of his coffee. He runs through all of the evidence in his mind, All of the cameras are completely wiped, all of the footage from that day having disappeared except for this video. The bullets that we recovered from the shotgun are a strange caliber, and the gun itself along with that woman’s dagger has disappeared completely. Then there is that woman calling herself the Paladin, when looking at the video not one person in the office can even tell you the color of her shirt, let alone the color of her eyes and hair.

The second detective, an older man with graying hair, lets out a long sigh once the video is finished. He looks over to his partner who is obviously lost in thought. “Who could ever expect that we would be investigating real superheroes, eh Jared?” He says, glancing at the younger man’s cup of coffee longingly. He’d just given up the stuff last week, but with every new case and the late hours that they bring, he starts to wish that he could just give in to a small cup of joe.

Jared shakes his head, focusing in on his partner. “Superheroes? Really Connor? I think you’d know better than that. Even if they have superpowers, that doesn’t make them superheroes.”

“I don’t know.” Connor muses, “The Paladin was the one who saved all of those people from two villains. Seems like hero work to me.”

Jared scoffs. “You’re just buying into what the television is telling you. Don’t forget that two people are dead now thanks to your hero.” Jared takes another sip of his coffee as Connor looks on longingly, “Plus, we both know how easily that could have gone badly.”

“But it didn’t.” Connor says chuckling. “And now no one except for the two criminals was hurt and nothing was stolen.”

Jared grumbles into his mug at Connor’s comment.

Connor chuckles again, “Did you get anything else out of the attendant? She looked like she knew more than she was letting on.”

“Nothing. She couldn’t ID who The Paladin or the others were.” Jared says, pulling out his notepad.

“Do you think she was telling the truth?” Connor asks, leaning forward.

“I think you’re right, she definitely knows something other than what she told us, but I can’t seem to get it out of her.” Something occurs to Jared, and he pulls his phone out of his pocket, laughing at the message he had received. “That reminds me, I have to head home early today. My fiance's parents want to interrogate me again. If you learn anything new, please call me and give me an excuse to leave early. Jane’s dad definitely hates me.”

Connor laughs wholeheartedly. “I’ll remember to give you that call. I’m sure that The Paladin will reveal themselves again soon.”

*** Elena

Leila quietly pulls me down the street, after turning a corner, one of the two story suburban houses immediately stands out. All the lights are on despite the late hour, and a police car sits quietly in the driveway.

Leila immediately pulls me towards the house.

I knock on the door, and it only takes a few seconds before a woman in her late twenties opens the door, her features looking like an older version of Leila.

The woman immediately pulls Leila into a hug, a soft whimpering coming from her mouth.

A police officer walks into my line of sight, taking in the situation with a curious look. He zeroes in on me.

“Hello, I’m Officer Thompson.” The Officer holds his hand out.

I shake his hand, “My name is Elena.”

Leila’s mother is up in a flash, wrapping me in a weak hug. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.” She says into my ear.

“Miss Martinez, it might be wise to let us ask Elena here a few questions.” The officer says gently to the woman still hugging me gratefully.

“Of course.” The woman lets me go. “Please come inside.” She gently pulls me inside, not giving me much choice. “Where is Erick?”

I think that Erick was one of those bodies I saw in the ruins lying around Leila when I found her.

“I don’t know.” I answer, after all there is the possibility that he wasn’t one of the bodies I found.

Stolen story; please report.

“I-I see.” The woman responds looking troubled. She closes the door once we are all inside.

I look down at Leila, who is hugging her mom’s leg.

“Where did you find Leila?” The Officer asks me as we sit across from each other at the dining room table.

I furrow my eyebrows, “I was hanging out at the park when a woman with a- well, a masquerade mask came out of nowhere holding Leila’s hand. The next second, that woman disappeared. I wasn’t sure what to do, but I managed to convince Leila to take me to her house.”

I force myself to ignore Leila, who is looking at me in surprise.

“A masquerade mask? Was there any other distinguishing features that you can remember?” The policeman looks at me questioningly.

I shake my head, “Not really, all I can remember is the mask.”

“Is there anything else you can remember? Even the smallest detail could be important.” The policeman says, examining me carefully.

I shake my head again. “Not really, sorry.”

“I understand. Here’s my card in case you think of anything else.” He hands his card to me, and I put it in my pocket after a quick glance.

Leila’s mother puts her hand on mine, drawing my attention away from the officer. “I know you didn’t do much, but still thank you for bringing my daughter home to me. If there is ever anything I can do to help you, don’t hesitate to let me know.”

Hmm. Did she see through my lie? I know that I’m a pretty good actress, but some people have a crazy intuition.

“Thank you.” I say, nodding to the woman. “I should be heading home soon, I’m out way past curfew.”

“What exactly were you out this late for Elena?” Officer Thompson asks kindly.

“Just visiting some friends.” I answer.

Officer Thompson asks me a few more polite questions as I try to excuse myself, and I end up giving both him and Leila’s mother, who’s name turns out to be Ashlyn, my number.

***

When I get home, I bring the teleportation pad out of my inventory, and unfold the rug in a nice spot in my room, I notice idly that a beautiful pentagram is inlayed into the rug, like a tapestry. Hieroglyphs mark each corner of the rug, and I seriously consider finding a book on hieroglyphics at the library so that I might understand what is written on all these artifacts.

A thought for another time.

I put on the earrings that connect to the teleportation pad. My trip to the ruins had been very successful.

I consider pulling my other new items out of my inventory, but decide to leave them for now.

“A teleportation marker? That’s a nice item to get.” Dee says from my desk, having been unusually silent up to that moment.

I give her a tired smile. “I can see what you mean.” I say noncommittally, yawning into my hand.

I fall into my bed face first, setting my alarm clock without taking my face out of the mattress. “See you in the morning.” I say into my bed.

“Goodnight Elena.”

The next day, I sit with my mom to watch my little sister’s soccer game. The sidelines are packed with parents from the game before us, so it takes us a moment to find a nice spot to set up our chairs.

We’re lucky enough to find a spot in the shade. Today is an uncharacteristically sunny day, but I can tell that my sister is happy that it isn’t going to rain during her game. I look over at my sister who is currently going over some warmup drills with her team.

I think she has been happier these last few days, but I can’t seem to put my finger on exactly why.

I smile as I watch her interact with her friends. All that matters is that she is happier.

Let’s just hope that she hasn’t found a boyfriend, or someone might find themselves castrated.

Snorting at the thought, I turn my attention away from her. There has been something that I’ve been wanting to experiment on, and now seems as good of a chance as any.

I close my eyes, drowning out the voices from everyone around me. I hadn’t had a chance to do this last night before I fell asleep.

It only takes me a moment to enter a meditative state. I watch the psi flow through my body, just trying to understand the strange power more.

After an unknown amount of time, I turn my attention to the blood red root chakra, taking a closer “look” at it.

Like with the faint psi connection that came out of me from the crown chakra, there is another connection here, this one pulses into the earth, almost like a ripple. Then the ripple returns to my root chakra, the psi having changed ever so slightly.

Curious at what might happen, I decide to speed up the circulation of my root chakra. I’m almost knocked out of my meditation as my consciousness seems to meld with the earth around me.

I feel the grass get trampled as soccer players run across the field.

I feel the wind blow through the leaves of the tree providing my shade.

I feel the Life in the earth as microscopic organisms move through their microscopic lives.

After a while, the feelings start to get overwhelming and I stop circulating the psi in my root chakra and end my meditation.

You have manipulated your Root chakra in the right way to unlock the spell

[Connection With The Earth]

[Connection With The Earth]: Allows you to connect with the earth around you.

Helpful as always, Mr. Spell Description.

I turn my attention to the real world, opening my eyes as my sister’s team gets into position for the start of her game.

They start the game, and I watch quietly, my mind elsewhere.

When I was in that connection with the earth, I’d felt a sort of power there. It reminds me of [Defence Of The Earth]. I think that if I’d wanted to, I could have manipulated the earth, although there is no telling what the cost in my psi would be if I decided to do something like that.

Something that I will keep in mind for the future.

Finally, I give my sister’s game my full attention, cheering as Elizabeth manages to get the ball and dribble around the enemy team’s defender.