“Fraxian ethno-extremists,” Professor Lilah whispered. “They are a bizarre mix of gang and cult.”

Shon took a closer look at the three men. Besides their elaborate dragon tattoos and fiercely glowing irises, there wasn’t much else remarkable to the eye. However, for a Fraxian, eyes could be deceptive.

Shon closed his eyes and tapped into his thermal senses. He could sense Professor Lilah, a ball of heat right beside him. Further from them were the two Valerian men, now two burning hotspots. With his Academy training, Shon could tell that their body temperature was increasing by a hundredth of a degree every second, likely from the rapid heartbeats and muscle tension.

However, as he scanned forward, he hit nothing where the three men stood. He amplified his perception and tried again. This time, he found small temperature perturbations marking the contours of their bodies.

Shon was shocked. The three Fraxians were not only lowering the ambient temperature, but they also masked their own body heat in plain sight. If a top Academy candidate like Shon could barely detect this, then they would remain thermally invisible to a regular Fraxian.

They would also be invisible to any thermal detection equipment from the police.

Shon realized the source of his unease. They would be like ghosts, entering and leaving without leaving a trace of themselves, and judging by their looks, they were up to something sinister.

Shon opened his eyes and found the three Fraxian men staring at him. He must have released some heat while using his thermal sense. While Shon could conceal his primal fight-or-flight heat perturbations, the heat from using thermal senses — or any thermal transfer — was much smaller in magnitude and much harder to control. After all, he was trained to be a Stormrunner, not some stealth assassin.

The leader of the Fraxian stepped forward.

“Do not be alarmed, my brother,” he spoke as he raised his palms up. “We saw the flare and noticed these two Valerian scums running. Are you involved in any confrontation with them?”

“I don’t know what you are talking about,” Shon replied curtly, heeding Professor Lilah’s warning of their extremism.

“Don’t worry. We will not hurt you. You are a Fraxian brother, just like us.”

The leader closed his eyes, and Shon could tell that he was using his thermal sense to scan the perimeters.

“There is an injured Fraxian over there,” he pointed to the ground about a hundred feet away. Shon followed with his thermal sense and found a half-crawling body.

That was the homeless Fraxian those two Valerian men beat up.

The leader glanced back at the broad-shouldered Valerian men. His eyes bounced from the bruises on his knuckles to the dried bloodstains on his boots. He quickly put two-and-two together.

“It was him, wasn’t he?” the leader inquired.

The broad-shouldered Valerian man was now shivering with fear. “No, there has been a misunderstanding. It wasn’t me.”

However, the leader glanced down. He noticed the bruises on the man’s knuckles and the bloodstains on his boots. He instantly understood.

The leader’s eyes glowed again. The ambient temperature instantly plummeted by another two degrees, sending fresh wave of chill up everyone’s spines. Despite his shivering, Shon felt an unnamable excitement bubbling within. He awaited the judgment of the Valerians’ crimes.

The leader turned toward the skinny Valerian. Compared to the broad-shouldered man, the skinny Valerian’s hand was devoid of bruises, and his clothes were neat and composed without bloodstain. After all, despite his menace and sycophancy, he was too afraid to attack an innocent person.

“Did he also attack him?”

Shon instinctively formed a “no” in his mouth, but before he could utter it out, he remembered the encounters with the skinny Valerian. He could recall, word for word, the insults this pathetic man hurled at him and Professor Lilah. But no, it wasn’t just the insults… Regardless, this man did not deserve to be let off.

“Yes, he also attacked him,” Shon replied.

Professor Lilah gasped behind him. Shon kept his eyes fixed on the Fraxian leader, but he reached behind with his thermal sense. The professor’s heartbeat was accelerating. From what Shon knew of her, Professor Lilah would want to tell the truth, but surely she knew it was safer to stay quiet.

The Fraxian leader sighed. The ambient temperature spiked twice within a second, each time by a quarter degree. It would be imperceptible to a Valerian, but for a trained Fraxian, this was as loud as a cymbal.

Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

Immediately, the two other Fraxians dashed toward the Valerian men and grabbed them from behind. With arms twisted behind their backs, the two Valerians struggled futilely against the grip. Finally, they gave up. They fearfully awaited what was to come.

Shon watched, his jaw on the floor. Despite all the years at the Academy, it never even crossed his mind that Fraxians could communicate with each other through thermal manipulation. But besides that, how was such strength and precision even possible? This was like swinging a 200-pound sledgehammer and hitting a needle on its eye.

But this was far from over. The leader of the gang opened his palms, and a ripple of heat radiated outwards. This time, it was one tenth of a degree.

Shon realized what he was doing. He was creating a pocket of subzero temperature in his hand. Contrary to popular perception, coldness was not a tangible entity in itself. Coldness merely represented the absence of heat. Therefore, freezing something meant releasing heat into the surroundings.

This lasted for five seconds.

At a closer look, Shon saw what he made. It was an icicle, only six inches in length and as thick as a finger at its base.

Before Shon could comprehend what was happening, it was too late.

The Fraxian leader swung his hand up in one swift stroke. The cut was so clean that blood followed only half a second later. Both Shon and Professor Lilah screamed.

A fountain of red erupted from the throat of the broad-shouldered Valerian man. He wanted to cover his wound, but his arm was still restrained behind his back. He screamed in pain, or attempted to, because only broken gasps escaped his lacerated windpipe.

Without a moment of hesitation, the Fraxian leader swung toward the skinny Valerian man.

“No!” Shon screamed, a burst of heat radiating from him. He wanted to plead, to confess that he had lied about the skinny Valerian’s sins. He only wanted to punish him, not to condemn him to death.

The Fraxian leader’s hand stopped in midair, the icicle inches away from the Valerian’s neck. He glanced back at Shon, his eyes devoid of any emotion but rage. No, there was something more. There was fatigue, not the physical fatigue from overexerting his powers, but a fatigue of his mind, as if he was tired of seeing the same events play out a thousand times.

Before Shon could say another word, the Fraxian leader drove the icicle into the man’s neck, killing him instantly. Perhaps this was mercy.

Shon took a few steps back, his brain still unable to — or perhaps refusing to — process what had just happened. This Fraxian man had just murdered two strangers in cold blood.

Then, suddenly, the realization hit Shon. He was just as guilty. Had he not lied about the skinny Valerian man’s involvement in the chaos, he would have still been alive.

His lie had just killed a man.

Shon felt his gut wrench. His heart began pounding against his chest, faster and faster, until he could feel his entire body quivering with every beat. His vision blurred, and the world began spinning. Instinctively, his hands leaned on his knees to keep him from collapsing.

He felt Professor Lilah’s hand on his shoulder. Her hand was warm, in fact warmer than usual from her increased heartbeat, but he did not mind. She said nothing. She must also be in shock. Her hand simply rested there. But it was fine. It was enough.

The Fraxian leader approached him. Shon felt his body temperature get closer. Shon took a step back, and the man stopped.

“My apologies, brother, I did not mean to frighten you.”

Shon glanced up. The man’s void of a visage was now marked with a tint of gentleness. Shon did not respond. His eyes were fixed on the man’s figure, but more than that, his thermal sense locked onto the other two gang members.

The Fraxian leader took a step in, and Shon instantly raised his fists on guard. In the back, the two other Fraxians stepped slowly to the sides, forming a circle around Shon and Professor Lilah.

“Please step aside, brother. Let us deal with the Valerian. We will not hurt you.”

“That Valerian?” Shon snarled. “She is a professor of Deercreek Academy, a Fraxian Academy.”

“She’s a Valerian. Why are you protecting her?” The man took another step.

“She has done more for the Fraxians than your gang ever would.”

“Can’t you see it, brother? She’s a Valerian witness. It’s either her or us.” He took another step forward.

“Perhaps we can strike a deal?” Shon said, trying to muster the eloquent tone that Zora would use. “You let us go, and we will not whisper a word to the cops.”

“I trust you, brother, but I do not trust any Valerian.”

“Please, do what is reasonable,” Shon pleaded, fumbling around for words. “We will say you were only defending yourselves… No, we won’t even mention you’re here.”

“Enough! I don’t make any deal with Valerians.”

The three Fraxians now circled in closer, leaving no room for escape. For whatever reason, there was no sign of the cops either. Shon must make his choice now.

He felt Professor Lilah tugging at his shirt. “Just leave now, Shon. It’s only me they want.”

“No, I can buy us some time,” Shon hissed back.

Planting his feet firmly on the ground, Shon assumed a combat stance and faced the Fraxian leader. He clenched his fists, ready to pounce at any moment.

The Fraxian leader sighed. His gaze shifted between Shon and Professor Lilah. He shook his head, his expression one of disappointment, like a father dismayed by his child’s foolish mistake. His body emitted another heatwave, this time a single surge at five percent of a degree. Shon assumed this signaled “stand down” to his companions.

The Fraxian leader released his grip on his icicle and held it flat on his palm. As an orange glow emanated from his eyes, the icicle melted away into a stream of water, splashing on the pavement with a staccato of thuds. Drip. Drip. Drip.

The leader stared at his palm quietly, not moving a single muscle. He let the melted weapon trickle slowly from his fingertips. Drip. Drip. Drip.

With every drip, tension thickened in the air. Drip. Drip. The drips slowed down, leaving a few seconds of gap between each other. Although the leader’s eyes were fixed on the droplets of water, Shon knew that his thermal sense covered the entire block. Should Shon make any sudden movement, he could bring him down at a blink’s notice.

Finally, the last drop of water fell from his hand, hitting the ground with a light but clear drip audible to the entire block. The Fraxian leader clenched his fist.

“Brother. Last chance. Fraxian blood is sacred. Let’s not spill it in vain.”