Taking a deep breath Solaire elaborated, “You know that Clay asked the people from your school and some people about their experience with this transformation, right?”
“Yes,” confirmed Jim. “We thought that we should at least ask after Dennis told us that his transformation was different and Clay volunteered to ask around but didn’t tell us anything noteworthy.”
“Right,” nodded Solaire while stroking his beard. “He wasn’t sure about his guess and asked a little more around to confirm his supposition. After we talked he was finally sure and before leaving he told me his theory.”
Getting impatient Jim urged, “What the hell did he find out for you to make such a fuss, tell me already.”
“No rush my boy, I was getting there,” stated Solaire calmly. “He found out that there are a total of three differences between transformations that most likely determine what ability you have. You could say it is a sort of affinity.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Jim asked bewildered.
“It essentially determines the path of your… evolution. We know from the animals that the changes after the transformation are huge. We always assumed that humans just underwent a weaker transformation, but it is more likely that this energy is used for something else,” replied Solaire while in deep thought.
“Wait, wait,” interrupted Jim with confusion. “So you want to tell me that we humans have weaker transformations because this energy is used for something else? But what else could it be used for? I don't feel anything different.”
“Are you sure about that?” asked Solaire with a deep gaze.
Is something different? Do I Have something like a special ability? I was able to burn this energy to boost my strength, but that should be something everyone can use with enough training. An ability only I have… wait!
Finally realizing something Jim exclaimed, “There is this one thing that bothers me for quite some time. Over the past few days of fighting I developed some sort of the sixth sen-”
Not being able to finish his sentence a stone flew in his direction and before he even saw it, Jim felt something wrong and tilted his head slightly to the right, avoiding the stone barely.
“Solaire!” Jim exclaimed in shock, while the old man chuckled to himself. “So you do have a special ability. One that lets you sense danger. It seems like you used this subconsciously all the time and didn’t even notice its effects. This would at least explain some of your absurd fighting skills.”
“Yes, that seems to be the reason,” said Jim with furrowed brows. “I never really thought about it, but I really avoided some nasty attacks all the time and fought recklessly somewhat expecting to be able to avoid or block everything that was thrown at me, but why am I the only one with this ability?”
“Oh, who says you are the only one?” Solaire asked before answering his own question. “We know little about these abilities and how they work, but we can sort them into categories.” Saying this he took a lighter out of his pocket and ignited it. Sligting pushing the flames forward with his hand he explained, “I can control flames, even if my control over them is rudimentary. They are hard to control and it seems like enlarging existing flames and pushing them away from me is my current limit.”
“Wait, do you mean the differences from the transformations?” asked Jim while looking at the dancing flames.
“Precisely,” responded Solaire while snapping the lighter shut, causing Jim to flinch. “Before explaining further I want to know what is the most painful thing about this transformation?” Solaire asked with a knowing smile.
“My heart,” Jim responded almost immediately. This was an easy question, as the heart was the one thing that hurt the most after each transformation. It felt like it was pierced by a blazing hot blade.
Smiling Solaire said, “For me, it was at the solar plexus. It is very hard to describe … The first time it felt like insects were eating you from the inside until they carved a small hole into your body, only to pour lava into it. During my second transformation, it felt like the ball formed from this lava was being broken open only to be repaired with new lava.”
Hearing this Jim exclaimed, “That is very similar to what Dennis told us he had a similar experience.”
“I know,“ replied Solaire. “The pain in the heart and the pain in the solar plexus are two of the three categories Clay discovered during his conversation with all these people. The third one reported experiencing a splitting headache and seeing some sort of illusions, visions, or nightmares…”
Taking a moment to take all of this information in, Jim summarized, “So you want to tell me that each of us belongs to one of these three categories, and they determine how we change after our transformation, right?”
“Yes and now you should understand why I want to prevent people from getting stronger, right?” Solaire asked with hope.
“Yes, I think so,” confirmed Jim. “We know little about what possible abilities could be evolved after someone underwent their transformation. If someone would awaken an ability similar to yours and they harbor ill intent many would die.”
Smiling at Jim finally understanding him, Solaire patted his shoulder. “You finally understand it. We don’t know what the limit of these abilities are so we have to find them out by nurturing trustworthy people and making sure we can suppress them if needed.”
“Good now that I know what is going on, are you going to teach me how to sense this new energy?” asked Jim.
“Oh, right I almost forgot,” replied Solaire, while shaking his head awake. “You are lucky that Clay discovered a technique that works a lot better than what I tried in the past. While he tried to save Lukas he somehow discovered that this energy seems to constantly travel along your blood and he was able to control it. For you, most of this energy should be stored in the heart. To evolve the sense of this energy you have to try to imagine its presence, feel it, and eventually control it,” Solaire said.
“Wait, that sounds a lot like meditation,” responded Jim with a frown.
“Because the principal is the same. Essentially you try to shut your other senses out to better feel this energy,” answered Solaire.
“Okay I understand this, but why exactly do we have to hide this information? From what you just said this meditation could be something everyone can do, even those who are only rank one. This would help them a lot when they eventually reach higher ranks,” asked Jim with a frown.
Exhaling tiredly Solaire said, “Jim I don’t think you realize the importance the control over this energy holds. How do you think I control my flames or you strengthen your body?”
“Oh, so if they learn to control this energy they are more likely to control their potentially dangerous abilities and strengthen their bodies way beyond their normal capabilities,“ expressed Jim in understanding.
“Exactly that makes this so dangerous,” replied Solaire. "For now I’m only able to push my flames away but with enough control, I could possibly control them so fluently that I can will them to go wherever I want. This would not only reduce the amount of energy I have to use but also make them way more lethal.”
Thinking about the consequences of everyone being able to temporarily increase their power like Jim does a cold shudder went down his spine. He knew best how big the increase in strength was and what someone with ill intentions could do with it.
Thinking for a moment, Jim looked at Solaire and said, “The thing is that this ability - if very dangerous in the wrong hands - could also save us against the threats of the mutants. If people were to master this ability they could fight with mutants on par or even surpass them.”
Nodding his head Solaire replied, “I know, and like Clay already assumed this ability could be the key to turning this situation around. Especially as everyone can learn it,” taking a breath Solaire exclaimed, “By the sun I’m shocked how easily you can learn it. Don’t understand me wrong it is very hard to master it but training it is simple. As you said, it is basically meditation. Clay also recommended imagining this energy like a stream, which is flowing around your body.”
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
“Interesting and how exactly can I imagine this? Like should it cycle around my whole body or only parts and should it be calm or fast?” Jim inquired.
Standing up Solaire looked at Jim and said, “That is something you have to figure out yourself. It is different from person to person. You just have to imagine it and with enough time you should be able to feel what works and what doesn’t. Besides you're not the only one who I told this to. I said we have to limit the number of people and not withhold information from everyone. Jake seems to already have a pretty good grasp of it. You should see him, he didn’t come out much the past few days.”
Opening the door and standing between the frame he looked back and added, “Dave and I will use this small time of peace to go out and train the group that will protect this place while we are away.”
“Wait, what do you mean with away?” Jim asked Solaire with perplexion.
“May the sun grant us a bountiful harvest!” Shouting this, Solaire started to laugh widely as he left the room. Just like any other normal person would do.
Being left alone with his thoughts again Jim tried to understand everything they just talked about. Eventually, he pushed his storm of thoughts away and started to just try it and meditated, trying to feel this energy.
Not really knowing where to start, Jim just got in a lotus position - this was the only position he knew was used for meditation - and started to concentrate on his heart. After a while, he somewhat blocked all of his senses, the quiet environment helped a lot with this.
After an unknown amount of time, Jim could clearly hear the rhythm of his heartbeat. How every beat pushed new blood through his body, supplying his cells and organs with the oxygen and nutrients they needed.
Following the beat of his heart Jim fell into a sort of trance and was slowly able to feel something else rushing with his blood. He couldn’t imagine what it looked like so he just compared it to a stream of water as Clay suggested.
This stream was… calm, smooth, and without impurities. At first, he only imagined this but eventually, he could sense glimpses of this stream. For a moment this imaginary stream would turn so clear that Jim almost believed he could touch it. Having this much progress Jim felt happy.
It seems like I have a talent for sensing this energy when I can sense this much after only a few minutes.
One could imagine how shocked Jim was when he realized that the sun was already gone when he opened his eyes.
What only felt to be a few minutes of meditation turned out to be a few hours and Jim felt cramped all over his body. His muscles still hurt like hell, but he decided to push beyond the pain and stretch a bit, which seemed to do wonders as his bones cracked in succession like the twisting of bubble wrap.
A little downcast by the discovery that he wasn’t as good as he hoped Jim called it a day. He ate the food that someone must have brought him at some point and went to sleep. Sleep was the best medicine for mental and physical exhaustion and for his body to regain his energy and heal itself.
***
After the sun woke him up on the twelfth day Jim felt way better than the day before. Emma came over and brought him some crutches and he decided to do some light exercise before meditating, fearing that he would waste all of the daylight again.
He began with some light stretching and for the beginning just moving his legs and right arm slowly up and down. The pain wasn’t comparable to the day before and he felt like that by tomorrow he should be able to walk again.
So with nothing else to do, he switched between light exercises and meditation. This time he was also more careful not to completely shut his senses off so he would feel the passing of time. This made meditation surprisingly way harder than he thought and his progress slowed further. Switching between these two activities and the occasional rest the day quickly went by.
The next day Jim felt rejuvenated and was able to walk small steps on his own. With the help of the crutches walking was no problem which was very good as today was a very important day.
Today was the funeral for the dead. This included the Mason family. Lukas would be cremated together with his mother. Many people preferred the classical earth funeral, but the trend of the time was to cremate your loved ones. Normal graves got very expensive over time and many didn’t want to be a burden to their family and loved ones, so they chose this cheaper option.
In the current times, there was no other choice than to burn the corpses. They had neither the space, coffins, nor manpower to bury every corpse. This sort of mass cremation is nothing new for the people here in the church as Solaire did it countless times in the past few days. There were too many dead people and they would only lure more mutants to them if not disposed of, not to mention the smell of rotting corpses was rather unpleasant.
Especially now when most corpses were not in one piece, as limbs and organs littered the streets. Some corpses were so badly wounded and half-eaten that one couldn’t even resemble who this person used to be. The mutants didn’t seem to have a problem with eating humans and this was apparent when one examined the corpses. Not many were able to find the corpses of their loved ones and say their last goodbyes.
In the beginning, some people were against the idea, but after some time they decided to build a memorial stone - a mass grave - for everyone who has already died and everyone who will die in the future.
Jim didn’t really have any spare clothes and borrowed clothes that were as black as they could be. They didn’t have suits so a black sweater paired with black jeans had to do it. Grabbing the beautifully wooden crafted crutches by the side of his bed Jim got ready.
He slowly stood up and went downstairs, where everyone was already waiting. Solaire, Charlotte, Emma, Jake, and Dave. Everyone tried to dress as black as they could.
Specifically looking at Jake, Jim started to smile. He was happy that his best friend was still doing fine. He had to talk later with him about everything that happened. In truth, he was a little hurt that he didn’t even visit him once.
Even if Jim only started to really interact with Lukas for a week before he abruptly died, he still saw him as a friend and will treasure his memory. The memory of Lukas death was still vividly in his mind and was not something he would forget anytime soon.
He had to pay his respect to the one who sacrificed his life to guarantee the survival of everyone in the church. Without his sacrifice, Jim would have never been able to kill that raven.
Maybe by now it would have already reached the fourth rank and slaughtered everyone who was alive at this moment. To some extent, Lukas saved them all. Additionally, it was very important to have some sort of normality in these crazy times.
If they suddenly started to throw all of their traditions out of the window there would be nothing left that could give them hold. Like religion, traditions are something humans use to strengthen their bonds with one another.
Not in the mood to talk, the group silently made their way over to the mass cremation, where Father Solaire was holding the ceremony. In a small hole, about a dozen corpses lay on the back with hands clasped together on their chest.
Igniting his lighter Solaire willed and the flames gently engulfed the corpses burning them to a crisp, leaving nothing behind. The ashes fell down, adding to the ashes below, which amounted to over a hundred humans. Everyone said their goodbyes and went on their way.
Not many cried. The mood was pensive and gloomy. For many this was just another cremation from the countless they had the past few days, some even got accustomed to it and the smell of burning corpses.
This whole situation was so unrealistic, that some just adapted to the flow and looked where it went without thinking too much about what was happening around them. They had to preserve their sanity somehow.
In the end, the Mason family was just another poor family - like many others - who died a brutal death in this dark time. The father was punctured to death, the son ripped open and the mother strangled herself.
If they wanted to survive they had to build a new society and this fast. Jim and everyone else knew this. After the ceremony, Jim talked with Jake near a tree away from the rest of the people, “Jake, do you have a moment?”
“Sure,” responded Jaked absentmindedly.
“Did something happen? I have known you for years and it is unusual for you not to even come looking for me once,” said Jim with worry.
Looking at the cloudy gray sky, which blocked every single ray of sun, tears started to trail along Jake's face. “Y-Yeah, something happened. Something I expected, and yet hurts so much,” looking at Jim in desperation Jake asked, “Why? Why does it hurt so much?”
Jim took him in an embrace fearing for the worst. “Jake, please don’t tell me your family…”
Saying this Jake's cry broke into a painful wailing, that confirmed Jim’s fear and he too wasn’t able to hold his tears. Jim and Jake were like inseparable brothers, and the same went for their families. There was a time when Jim came better out with his parents than with his own. Jake also often cared for Mia and she was like a little sister to him. It would be no exaggeration to count their families as one.
One could imagine the pain Jim was feeling at the moment. Not only did his friend lose his family, but he as well lost a part of his family with it. After consoling him for a moment Jim asked, “Jake what happened?”
He took a deep breath and said, “I-I was with Dave out to train a little. I just felt so useless after the accident with the raven and wanted to get stronger. After some time one of the cars that crashed into one of the house walls piqued my interest as it felt familiar.”
Stealing his nerves and holding his tears back Jake said, “After getting a closer look and seeing inside the driver's seat I… f-fou-” not being able to hold it in anymore Jake began to break down to his knees. For so many days he tried to ignore it and told no one about his suffering.
Looking at Jim he wailed, “Th-They are dead, forever gone, and not because of a mutant or human, just a car accident. There is a fucking apocalypse going on and both of them die in a goddam car accident! My father was… crushed to death by some debris of the building that fell down and my mother-”
Recalling this memory Jake almost threw up before forcing himself to finish his sentence, “He-Her throat was pierced by a metal rod from the building.”
Jim was shocked to his core and was unable to speak. He tried his best to comfort his best friend, but he was in a turmoil of emotions and barely able to control himself. The bright light at the beginning of all this caused countless car accidents and Jim didn’t even want to know how many people died alone for this reason.
For the next few hours, Jim and Jake talked about everything they could think of. About the past, present, and future. They laughed sometimes, cried others, or silently gazed at the sky. Their topics ranged from trivia to plans for the future and deep talk of death and family. They were truly friends for a lifetime.