Aloysia Warmacher stood with her arms crossed amid falling dust particles that burst into flames when they drew too close. She was every 12-year-old boy’s wet dream and even the Greek goddess, Aphrodite, would be jealous of her.
Closed-toe gray heels were the pedestal from which the stunning woman looked down on everyone that beheld her beauty. Her smooth, defined calves led up to a professional gray skirt and a sash-like black belt around her midsection accentuated her curves. A matching gray tailored suit coat completed the ensemble.
She had ample bosom but displayed only a modest amount of cleavage which was haloed by a gold ring on a silver chain around her neck. Her face bore full lips, high cheekbones, and piercing blue eyes that judged everyone lacking. Her chestnut-colored hair flowed behind her like she was in a photo shoot.
Unlike every other person in existence, I had absolutely no interest in her. She was ravishing, but I knew that that thought was just a side effect of me having to use icy love energy to protect against the blazing heat that emanated off her.
“Ah, there you are Jesse. Couldn’t answer the door and face me yourself? Are you still that much of a coward?” Al asked. “I don’t hear from you for years, then I get a call in the middle of a deposition, from a woman telling me that you were covered in blood and that you’d been unconscious for three days.” Al took a step forward and a tile cracked underfoot. “But it looks to me that you’re completely fine.” Another cracked tile.
“I was injured. Now, I’m not,” I said. “And you’d have known that if you cared enough to show up sooner.” I was struggling to maintain a balance between the ecstatic influence of using ice and the rising anger that I felt at the sight of her. I managed it, but barely.
“I was in the middle of a trial. You think I could just tell them, ‘Thank you for paying my retainer, but sorry, I have to go because my idiot student has a booboo.’”
“Yes, if you actually cared, you could have,” I countered. “The defendant probably would have confessed if you asked them to.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Look at you. You’re gorgeous.” She blinked and the room dropped a few degrees. I shook my head, stupid energy. “You use your body to get everything you want. Why not that?” As I finished my sentence, it felt like the entire building shook.
Brain, think. Body, move. Muscles, strengthen. Skin, harden. ICE POWERS. OH SHI—
I caught her volcanic fist with both hands. My feet sank into the floor and a shockwave rippled around me from the impact. Her flames charred the tiles, but I forced the air around me to cool. My energy levels were plummeting, but I knew if I moved Leah and Dale would turn into overcooked bacon.
“Not bad,” Al said, and in an instant, all of the fire dissipated. She took a step back and smiled. Tendrils of steam rose from my trembling muscles.
“You’re—insane,” I said between heaving breaths. She laughed.
“Relax. I knew you could handle it,” she said, then attaboy slapped my bicep, and I screamed in sync with my screaming muscles. “So dramatic. You took one of those punches just fine when you were 17.”
“Yeah—then I spent—the rest of the day— healing—the damage,” I managed to say.
“And that’s how I knew you’d be fine,” she said. “When I heard you’d been out for three days, I was worried.” I caught my breath.
“Yeah, sure you were.”
“I was. Honest. Contrary to what you might think, I do care about you, Jay. You’re the closest thing I have to a—" Her face tightened, and she swallowed to cover her longing for something she was denied. “I’d be beside myself if anything happened to you.” I ignored her feelings as she’d always done mine.
“Yeah. Is that why you tortured me?”
“I didn’t torture you. I was training you.”
“How is melting all the skin off my body training?”
“Well, all you could do was heal, so how else were we supposed to make your powers stronger?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe by healing sick people?”
“How would healing sick people help you in a fight?”
“It wouldn’t. I’m a healer. I’m not even supposed to fight,” I said. “Besides, we live in a metropolis, not Mordor. Back me up guys.”
I turned to garner support, but Leah and Dale stared with wide eyes. One’s mouth was agape while the other had a wide grin. Leah managed to recover first and smacked Dale on the back of the head.
“What was that for?” he asked looking down at her.
“You know what?” Leah said
“Aww c’mon. She just punched Shawn through a wall,” Dale defended. “Then she used some crazy magic.”
“That’s not why you were smiling,” Leah scolded.
“Oh, dead babies,” I said. “Shawn.” I was torn between helping him or not, but he could be dead or dying. I wasn’t sure if I could revive someone more than once, so if that meant permadeath, Detective Jesse’s-Guilty-Because-I-Said-So-And-I-Demand-Justice would definitely blame me. His mom could have chosen a shorter name.
Because of Al’s punch, I shaky-sumo-walked to my bedroom where Shawn was stuck in the drywall. He had a terrified expression and was taking shallow breaths. I pressed a hand to his chest and closed my eyes. A quick scan showed me that he had some broken ribs, several ruptured organs, internal bleeding, and a collapsed lung.
I reached for my energy. To my disappointment, the blue stuff was gone, no more ice powers. Regardless, pure mana listened to my call, moving into my palm. I guided it into Shawn’s chest, then suffused his body with it. He winced as bones moved back into place, organs returned to normal, blood circulated properly, and his damaged lung re-inflated. He gasped and the tension in his face relaxed as I finished.
My balance waned and I fell on my butt. My own muscles were shredded from Al’s punch. I coaxed some of the little energy I had left directly into my muscle fibers. They knit back together, and instant relief followed. When I refocused my vision, Shawn was gone.
“For death’s sake,” I said, and rushed into the living room; Shawn was in Al’s face.
“You psychotic bitch! Do you have any idea wh--"
“Langu--" was all I got out before Al backhanded him through the wall to the bathroom. The sounds of shattering tile, glass, and porcelain, followed by running water, made me sigh. I clenched my teeth and glared at my childhood torturer.
“Stop destroying my apartment. At this rate, I’m never going to get my security deposit back,” I said. Al shrugged. “Of course, you don’t care. But now what am I supposed to do? I have literally no energy left to heal him.”
“So? He can heal himself.”
“Oh yeah. He’s going to heal himself from a train to the face. He doesn’t even know how to heal.”
Nonplussed, she sighed and held her wrist out to me. I looked down at it. I tentatively stepped forward.
She’d given me energy hundreds of times, but every time, every single time that I’d taken some, it was an ordeal. It was like touching lava. It wasn’t her body that was hot, it was her soul. Even with permission, she didn’t drop her guard. The threshold to her inner sanctum wasn’t air, gelatin, or glass. It was steel at its melting point. I’d had a glimpse of her soulscape once, and her body reacted subconsciously to defend itself. Since then, every time I reached out to her for energy, I was reminded of that moment.
When I touched her wrist, the sensation was just as I remembered. Her power was unfathomable. I felt like a child comparing myself to the sun. And that’s what her energy pool looked like: the sun. A massive ball of fire with flames arcing off it like fiery leviathans swimming through erupting volcanoes.
I bolstered my courage by remembering that I wasn’t the child I used to be and looking at that rage-tainted power, I couldn’t help feeling angry. My power bank was short on funds and Al was a billionaire. She took her wealth for granted. I could save so many people with this much energy and an unfamiliar feeling of greed arose in me.
I wasn’t just a healer anymore; I was a hero. And heroes had to be strong. I needed more power. If I’d had this much energy when I fought Cara, I wouldn’t have even broken a sweat—and I was going to have to fight her again. The power should be mine; I should take it all, I thought.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
No. I shook my head. Those were the thoughts of a villain. Real heroes didn’t covet power, and they didn’t take it from others. They found it within themselves.
The temptation was still strong, so I kept myself from getting too close to the blazing sun. I called out to it in a whisper. Just as a fire is eager to burn wood, it came to me, but I only took what I needed to replenish my reserves. Then, something strange happened.
My dreams flashed before me, and I heard the pleas of a scared child. It was my subconscious, begging for Al’s fire to ward against the cold darkness. I felt its pain clawing at me. It continued to beg, grovel even, but I tore myself from it.
“I’m sorry,” I said, and I took a few reluctant steps backward. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” I repeated over and over. I closed my eyes and turned from it, as if walking away from a shelter of abused puppies. I hugged myself as I left my crying inner child, condemning it to face the black alone. My conscious mind returned to the world.
There was a curious quality to Al’s eyes when I once more stood before her. I clenched my teeth in response. She could never understand my pain. I turned away, closing myself off from her questioning gaze.
“Are you going to hit him again?” I asked.
“Is he going to say something stupid again?”
“Probably, but let me smack him this time,” I said and muttered to myself as I walked to the bathroom. “At least then I won’t have to heal more exploded organs.”
Shawn was slumped on the floor. He looked like a statue, save for the tears streaming down his face. I stood over him for a long moment. I could almost hear his eyes crying for help. Finally, I knelt and turned off the running water before putting a hand on him.
A broken spine. He was paralyzed. There wasn’t any damage besides that however, not even a broken jaw. Al actually pulled her punch this time.
Using my mind’s eye to look within myself, I stood before a thinning pillar of light, clear and colorless like water from a tap. Beside it was a formless raging inferno. I beckoned the flames, but knowing their fate, they refused to bend to my will. I clenched my fist and forced the fire to obey, then pushed it toward the stream.
A strainer appeared between the two energy sources, and I stuffed the burning red mana through it. It emerged as a blob of gray light. I waved it on, and its color dwindled to nothing as it flowed into the invisible river within my soul. I don’t know how long I stood there, diluting red until it came out clear took a long time. When the deed was done, I opened my eyes.
“Don’t say another word to her,” I warned as the vertebrae of Shawn’s spine linked back together. “I won’t heal you again.”
He didn’t reply He just looked down, opening and closing the hands he could move again. I left the bathroom and walked toward Al who sat at the table with Leah and Dale with her back to me. The couple’s eyes shot in my direction. They wore desperation similar to Shawn’s.
“Don’t worry. She can tell that you don’t have powers. She won’t attack you,” I said, and their shoulders loosened slightly. I stopped several paces from Al. “You’ve done enough. You can—"
“How did you get hurt?” she asked.
I contemplated lying, but I doubted she’d fall for it. She was a prosecutor and she’d known me for years, however, I noticed something that actually made me want to tell the truth. Even though I couldn’t see her face, I didn’t sense any anger, condescension, or mockery. The feeling and the quality of her voice; she sounded concerned. Legitimately concerned.
“I fought a husk,” I admitted. The temperature of the room shot up as she spun in her seat and stood.
“I told you! I specifically told you not to resurrect people, but I should have known you wouldn’t listen. I wanted to give you space, so I kept out of your business,” she said. “Then I saw your stupid billboard and every time I drove past it I got angrier and angrier.”
“It’s not stupid,” I said, then mumbled, “I worked really hard on it.” She scoffed and rolled her eyes. And that reaction summed up her response anytime I’d ever been proud of anything.
“You know, I’m not the screw up you think I am. I’m just not the fighter you wanted me to be. I told you before. I’m a healer. And I’m good at it. I’ve healed hundreds of injuries and brought dozens of people back to life with no issue,” I said glaring down at her.
“Oh, you know what you’re doing…” she mocked. “Apparently not.”
“Get off your skeletal horse. It wasn’t me that screwed up.” I gestured vaguely behind me, and to my surprise, there he was, sitting on my couch with his head down and eyes averted. She looked over at him and I added, “It was my incompetent apprentice.”
“Apprentice? Don’t make me laugh. You’re not smart enough to teach.” She gestured to Shawn. “Exhibit A: He can’t even use magic. You’re an idiot for teaching him something so dangerous. If the Table of Magi found out, they’d execute you both for being necromancers. You’re lucky that I’m the representative in this city.” It was my turn to scoff.
“You always say you’re this big important figure in the magic community, but I’ve never even seen another mage. So, what do I care about some walking corpses around a stone table.”
“Don’t joke about them, Jay. They’re not a bunch of old fogeys. They may all be idiots, but they’re strong. They could kill you without even trying.”
“Whatever. Regardless, it wasn’t my fault. I didn’t teach him how to raise the dead. He just did it on his own.”
“You don’t get it, Jesse. I don’t care whose fault it is. You’re playing with dangerous magic and a husk was brought into the world because of you. What’s more, you almost died killing it.” I didn’t say anything.
“Jesse?” she asked. The pause grew awkward “You did kill it…”
“I—" I looked away. Al stalked toward me.
“Are you telling me that there’s a husk running around the city?”
“No, no. I didn’t kill it, but it’s not a husk anymore.”
“What do you mean?”
“I was able to bring the girl back.”
“You…what?”
“I revived her, and her body stopped being a husk.”
“I-I didn’t realize you could even do that,” she admitted.
“Well…” I said, drawing out the word.
“I knew it,” she said, crossing her arms. “Spit it out.”
“The girl kind of became one of those black-eyed things.” To my surprise, Al just quirked her lips to one side. “Wait. You’re not mad?”
“No. I half expected you to say that in the first place,” she said. “I’m not sure why, but more of those demons have been popping up lately. I’ve taken out three in the last month alone.”
“Well, that doesn’t sound good.”
“No.” There was a pause. “Do you know what its power is?”
“Not really, but I noticed her mom was kind of acting weird.”
“Weird how?”
“Like—I don’t know. Like she was under a spell.” Al’s whole demeanor changed.
“Where is it? I’ll go kill it now.”
“No, you won’t. I can handle my own problems.” Al’s expression lightened, then she laughed.
“It’s not that funny,” I said, somewhat embarrassed.
“You?” she said. “You think you’re going to handle it on your own?” She continued laughing.
“I’ll manage.”
“Oh yeah? How? By healing it to death? How well did that work out for you last time? And that was just a husk.”
“Yeah, but I’ll be prepared this time. I can’t use elements, but I can still strengthen my body.”
“Yeah, I remember. How long can you hold it now? Three minutes? Five?” she asked.
“Uhh…” I said sheepishly. “30 seconds?”
“30 seconds?!” she exclaimed, and bewilderment replaced amusement on her face.
My eyes drifted away from her to Shawn, then I looked away in embarrassment. That included borrowing energy, but I wouldn’t tell her that.
“Well, how long can you sustain it?” I asked defensively. She stared at me with a confused expression.
“I don’t understand.”
“How long can you keep your mage strength going in a fight?”
“The whole time.”
“What do you mean the whole time? How long is that? An hour?”
“No. I don’t have a time limit. I’m always using it.”
My entire body froze in place. “What?”
“I’m always using it. Even when I sleep.”
“That’s not—” Not what? Not possible? Not fair?
I knew Al was a monster, but to always have her inhuman strength active was just incomprehensible. She relished in my disbelief with a smirk, then she spoke with a sigh.
“Jesse, you know that I’m a specialist, right?
“Yeah? So what?”
“So… The cost for me to increase my strength and use fire magic is significantly lower for me than for other mages,” she explained. “And with the amount of mana I have, it’s only natural that I can use mage strength indefinitely.” I eyed her. “You’re still looking at me like I’m crazy.”
“Well, yeah. That’s insane.”
“Jesse, I’m a specialist. Do you understand what that means?”
“Yeah. You’re crazy strong.”
“Well, yes, and no. I’m a specialist because I can only use fire magic and I can only increase my strength. I can’t use any other magic, at all, ever. That’s why I’m so adamant about the importance of training. I have to predict my opponent’s movements and respond without thinking. Why do you think I was so hard on you?”
“Because you wanted me to be a masochist like you?”
“No, you idiot. It’s because you’re the same as I am. A specialist. You’re just—a weird kind of specialist.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You can’t use any magic, but at the same time, you can use all of them.” I hadn’t thought of it that way.
The first image that pops into anyone’s head when they hear the word mage is an old man with a long beard, wearing a robe, carrying a staff, and throwing fireballs. No one imagines a kid in a white dress shirt that barely needs to shave and couldn’t even light a candle with his magic. It pained me to admit it, but in battle, I was the weakest mage ever. I refocused my thoughts.
“Fine, fine. But that doesn’t really matter right now,” I told her. “Cara is my problem and I’ll deal with it on my own.”
“You know, I’ve never seen you this confident. You really think you can beat it?”
“Yes,” I said. “Even if I have to fight, I’ll figure out a way to save her.” Al’s eyes narrowed and a smirk appeared on her lips.
“Alright, then prove it,” she said, just before sending a fist at my face. As much as I’d like to say I saw it coming, I didn’t. I slammed through the wall into the bedroom, but I managed to keep my feet beneath me as I landed. She jumped through the hole after me, and another fist hurtled toward my face. This time I was ready and used my forearm to deflect it to one side, but it didn’t seem to work as I’d intended.
It was only when I fell from the ceiling that I realized she’d sent a knee upward a moment after I’d defended against her punch. I struck the floor, and she stood over me.
“That’s what I thought. Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it.” She turned her back to me and started walking away.
I gasped on the floor for a few moments. Forcing myself to my feet, I charged at her. Before I made contact, however, she threw me over her shoulder toward another wall. My disorientation lasted for less than a second, and I was able to somersault to land on my feet.
The fast twitch muscle fibers in my body flexed and I spun to intercept her. I punched at her midsection. She smirked and dodged to one side, tapping me on the shoulder. My momentum increased as I fell past her, but she had simultaneously prepared an attack. An uppercut connected with my chin, I felt my jaw break and I was sent upward.
Channeling energy to my brain, time slowed. Bolstering my strength as well, I caught the ceiling with both hands. I flexed my core to curl into an upside-down crouch like Spiderman. With a bigger variety of magic at my disposal, I had the upper hand, but my mana pool was depleting rapidly.
A spiderweb of cracks appeared in the drywall above me as I propelled myself toward her. Her eyes widened in surprise. I projected another punch at her face, but predicting my target, she slapped my hand, sending me past her once more. I landed in another crouch and rose to stand, but she followed the spin of her slap and sent me flying with an elbow to the back of my head. I was back in the living room.
I righted myself, but she was already behind me. She went to round house kick me. I braced for impact, blocking at my face and chest level, but reacting to my defense, she made another rotation, like a tornado, and kicked me in the stomach. I felt my ribs crack and it knocked the wind out of me.
I hurtled through the air into the kitchen. The base of my skull connected with the countertop and the world went black.