Maven's treatment of Samson during their real test was, to put it mildly, egregious. The big man came back, broken and incoherent. Every finger in his fists were broken. Blood covered his skin, his skull cracked, and his two black eyes were, at least, darker than usual. A tooth chipped, a few toes shattered, and his leg's bone was pushed outward. Samson had seen better days.
“I’d like to report a hate crime,” he mumbled. Then he began to yell and groan through a swollen mouth as Santos pushed the bone back into place and began to heal him. There was so much damage around his body that Santos had to take breaks to heal him fully. By then, a smiling Mav had dragged a kicking and screaming Irish away.
When Samson woke up, he refused to answer questions about what had happened. The old man had threatened to do it all over again if Samson said a word. Despite his attempts to appear tough, the experiences he had endured deeply unsettled him. When Irish returned, he appeared to be in a worse state than Samson. Will had a guess it had to do with Irish's...endearing personality, but Irish too was close-lipped.
Katy was taken next. She handled it like a man, with very little whimpering. It was hard to watch, like seeing your friend off for execution, but they were all slowly accepting their fates. Mav was true to his words. Each of the tests took 12 hours to complete. Will initially thought it was some kind of endurance test, but everyone was too beat up at the end to think it was only that. His past few months had led up to this point, so he had better be ready.
Samson and Irish went back to their training as soon as they were well. Thanks to Santos, their recovery time went from months to hours. Katy was brought back, a mere husk of what she was before. Beaten beyond recognition, it took Santos hours to heal her fully. Ryu went on his test with little fuss, and Will distracted himself by training with the others.
Running, sparring, lifting weights, and using his ability, he did everything he could to prepare. He ensured he was in peak fighting condition, ready to tackle any challenge the elderly man presented. Will knew it wasn’t enough to win, but he hoped it was enough to get through it alive.
When it was his turn, Will didn’t fight. He did his best to not look at the mangled Ryu, but he still saw it. He knew that would be his fate in 12 hours, and he didn't want to leave. He had to. Mav didn’t grab him or drag him away like some of the others. They walked side by side. Will felt like each step toward the school’s exit was a step closer to his execution.
“It’s alright, you know,” Mav said, breaking the silence.
“What is?” Will asked.
“To be afraid,” Mav said. “Fear is the first step; courage and cowardice are the reactions. It’s good to know you have one of those, at least.”
Will chuckled. “Well, I feel like running.”
“Good, we will have a lot of that to do,” Mav said. Will gulped and opened the door to outside. He and Mav walked out together. The morning was overcast, and it looked like it would rain. Thundering off in the distance, a cool blast of wind hit him, making him shiver.
“What now?” Will asked.
“Now, we begin the first step of the test,” Mav said. He turned to face Will.
Will returned the gaze. They were only a space away from one another. The older man looked down on him, and Will studied his face. Despite his advanced age, Mav rarely displayed signs of it. He was able to run faster, lift more, and punch harder, proving that age was just a number. He was so close that Will could clearly discern his age. He had crow's feet on either side of his eyes. He had a short beard on his chin. Since he had been testing the others for two days straight, the old man hadn’t had time to change. For once, he wore his green cloak. The hood down looked natural on the man as it billowed in the wind.
“What have I been teaching you over the last few months?” Mav asked.
Will didn’t think there was a trick question. Mav usually asked questions with simple answers. “To fight. Use our abilities.”
“I taught you to survive,” Mav said. “This is an ugly world we live in. Above all, I implore you to never sacrifice your life. Understand?”
“I think so,” Will said.
“Good,” Mav said. “I hope you choose wisely.” The old man’s hand lit up with electricity, and before Will could react, the hand and lightning enveloped his head, turning everything black.
—
William was running. His footfalls echoed loudly in the debris-laden street. Shopping carts, burned-up vehicles, chucks of concrete ripped from the ground, a broken potted plant, and a multitude of other items were scattered around the area. He had become used to dodging them over the last few weeks as he acted as a runner for his camp of survivors.
Shaking his head, Will realized that he was dreaming. This ended years ago. This was the world he lived in during the Anarchist War. But the world was saved. The Goons seized control, forcing civilization back onto the people. He stopped running as he looked around.
Memories tried to force themselves inside. His time in high school, his best friend Lindsey and his friends Samson, Santos, Irish, Katy, and Ryu. They were there, but fogged over. He remembered them, but didn't remember everything. Their personalities were clear as day to him, but there was something blocking his understanding of what they had been through together.
Walking forward, Will tried to remember what he was doing. With the sound of whining beside him, there were starved dogs in an alley. That was when he remembered where he was. It was the day he saw Goons for the first time.
A small dog barked at him, and Will began to run again, causing them to all chase after him. A part of him said he could kill them all if he needed to. Yet he was only 13; he was still weak. But to his surprise, he felt his ardor deep down inside. An ever-present warmth to him as he fought and trained to…The thought escaped him. He couldn’t remember what he had been training for. A pair of eyes was the only image that came to his mind. They were a pale blue, almost white color that made a shiver run up his spine.
A high-pitched noise sounded, practically bursting his eardrums. William heard the animals yelp behind him and scamper off, but he knew what this was. He remembered everything. With a lump of fear in his throat, he ran in the direction of the survivor camp. They would reside in this camp until the temperature dropped too much for them to remain outdoors.
He barely felt the strain of the run as he came to a halt at the end of the street leading to the assignment tent. When he did, the three vehicles of the Goons were waiting, and the high-pitched sound died down. Will had been through this before. He was uncertain about the method of his return, yet a voice informed him that he needed to alter it.
Turning to where Samson, Santos, and the others that were caught outside the camp were, he rushed over to them. “What’s going on?” He asked Samson. The 15-year-old was older than Will, but he appeared scrawny in comparison to the man he remembered. He had a wild afro on his head; he looked weird with hair on his head.
“No idea-” Samson said, but stiffened as the door to the vehicle opened. Benjamin Rhinehold stepped outside. He was younger than Will remembered. He still had gray hair, but instead of a beer belly, he was fit, and his uniform was recently pressed.
“Hello Chicagoans!” He said simply, but his voice boomed in between the buildings. He began to talk to the camp.
“We need to stop this,” Will said, pulling at Samson’s shoulder.
“What? Why? Who are these guys?” He asked.
“I can’t explain,” Will said. No one would believe that he had somehow seen the future. These ragged boys and men who had braved the outside were ready to run away at the slightest inconvenience. Will needed to save his mom. His ardor calling to him to be let out, he looked down to Samson’s waist. “I need your knife.”
“No,” Samson said, his hand moving toward the hidden blade.
“Please, Samson,” Will said. Samson looked at his brother, then shook his head. No one trusted one another, especially not with your only source of protection. Will felt his power swell and phased to within Samson’s reach. His hand shot down, and he grabbed the knife before the bigger man could react.
Phasing steps away out of reach, he noticed the fear in Samson and the other’s eyes. Will didn’t care. He had to kill the Rhino before he or someone else hurt his mother. Shaking his head, he turned to see Rhinehold still addressing the camp. He needed to act. He had seen it happen a dozen times. He witnessed the deaths of numerous individuals in front of him, making it insignificant for him to carry out the same actions. His power exploded outward, and he phased to Rhino.
In shock and fear, Will gave himself a full second to hesitate behind the man. In an instant, he questioned what he was doing, but a part of him knew it was kill or watch his mom die again. He wouldn’t stop. The blade drew back, and he stabbed at Rhinehold's back. William's body immediately went rigid. Held there by some unseen force. Will cursed, realizing that his ardor hadn't extended to the rest of his body. He hadn't been in Control. Other Arc's ardor could control him. Now that someone was using their ardor to control him, he couldn’t bring it out fully.
Ben noticed him cursing, and the old man stepped back. “Holy hell, where did you come from?” Rhino asked. Will was standing a few feet away, holding a dagger, and pointing at Rhino. He saw his mother’s face in the crowd ahead, crying as she yelled at him.
"I have no idea," someone said, exiting the vehicle next to Will. The new Arcs hands pointed at him,.Will guessed he was either an Aqua holding onto the water in his body or some type of psychic. His hand twisted, and Will’s neck snapped, killing him instantly.
—-
Will was running again. This time, memories were already there, and he realized he was back. He continued to run, picking up speed. The dogs barked and chased after him. A piercing sound halted them and made them flee, but he persisted in his pursuit. Instead of stopping, he ran right to Samson and took his knife.
“What the hell-” he said, but Will turned to Rhino as the big man got out of the truck.
Extending his ardor to the rest of his body, Will was in Control. No Arc could use their powers to control him. He phased directly to the old man this time. The dagger stabbed Rhinehold's heart. The blade was the only thing that stopped this time. His hand still had momentum, and his fingers were broken and sliced open by the transfixed blade.
Rather than hesitating, he phased behind Rhino and punched at him. His bloody fist stopped inches from the big man. There was nothing holding Will back, but a part of him knew that the Goon’s uniform offered some protection from attack. He cursed, and a small pebble was thrown, piercing into his skull.
—
He was running again. Again, he was trying something new. This time, he phased to the camp and tried to rally people to help him. It never worked. His plan changed to stealing a gun and firing at the Goons. Again, the bullets were stopped, and Will died. Plan after plan didn’t work.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
His attitude changed, and he eventually waited this time. Letting the Goons encase themselves in a shield of concrete. Will gave a rousing speech to those in the alley, and a few, including Samson and Santos, stormed the Dragoon vehicles. Each and every method ended in his death.
Eventually, he learned why they called Ben Rhinehold the Rhino. He was able to control rocks, so he encased himself in concrete like a living shield. With his ability to throw himself with his Arc power, he could bulldoze anything in his path. One time, crushing Will completely.
When he gave up on trying to defeat the Goon, Will moved on to trying to save his mother. It never worked. Nothing did. It was about the 100th attempt when he finally gave up. He shed tears, surrendering to the inevitable, as the dream abruptly ended and his memories flooded back to him.
—
He was on the top of a building. On his hands and knees, he cried uncontrollably as rain poured over him. Thunder sounded overhead, and a cold wind blew across his skin. Memories flooded in, connecting the missing pieces he had been trying to put together for what felt like days.
“Why?!” Will yelled, looking up at Mav with all the rage he could muster. “Why did you do that?”
“To remind you that you can’t change the past, Will,” Mav said. The old man was sitting cross-legged in front of him. The green cloak’s hood over his head protected him from the rain. The light was dim around them, obscuring the old man’s face. "You've been dwelling too much in the past. Always that moment, you craved knowing what could have happened. That was the reason, and I had to remind you.”
“Remind me of what!?” Will roared as he clenched his fists. He was trying his best to hold back the anger that was building. He had hoped to have been sent back in time, but it was another sick mind game of the old man.
“You need to be in Control at all times,” Mav said. "That was something I forced down your throat, yet you walk around like some Arc couldn't throw you into an infinite loop of your life while they kill you with ease." That made Will pause. He had overlooked the most crucial defense in his arsenal against Arcs. Mav had pounded into their brains to be in Control at all times, but Will had been slacking. While it wouldn't have completely prevented Mav from taking control of Will's mind, it would have at least lessened his influence. Maybe give him some defense to escape.
"That, and to let you build your rage for the real fight," Mav said, rising to his feet. “You’ve been in your mind for an hour.” Will was surprised it was so little, but as Mav stood in front of him, he knew that was the least of his worries. “You have 11 hours left for the test. I want to see everything you learned during that time. If you can survive against me for the next 11 hours, you will have passed.”
“Survi-” Will stopped as a bolt of lightning streaked across the sky, and Mav shot forward toward him. In full Control now, his ardor was in every part of his body as he blocked the blow from Mav. It was a simple hit that he had blocked a hundred times, except this one had much more force than before.
Will’s feet slid across the rain-soaked flat roof as the force of the blow threw him back 10 feet. His forearms numb, he hardly had time to phase away as the old man kicked at him. Behind the teacher, Will threw his own jab and cross. Mav instantly turned around, blocking both.
“Real strength! Not this puny crap!” Mav roared. His voice echoed like thunder. Will grunted and kicked hard at him, his body spinning with the force. Mav jumped up, dodging it, and kicked down, hitting Will in the face.
“Is the rain throwing you off? I thought you were faster than this,” Mav barked.
“Rah!” Will exclaimed, pivoting to the side and striking Mav in the face. The punch connected with his chin, but the old man hardly reacted. He grabbed Will’s hand and pulled it with a simple jerk, dislocating it. Will experienced a sensation akin to having his arm torn off. Pain exploding in his arm, he tried to phase away, but the old man zapped him in the gut.
His body went rigid, but Will was in Control, the zap wasn’t as powerful as normal. Rolling away, he caught sight of the building's edge and phased to it. Overshooting slightly, Will tripped over the edge and plummeted to the ground, 20 stories below. Gritting his teeth, he phased directly to the ground and landed in a puddle of water.
Cursing, he grabbed onto his dislocated shoulder and got to his knees. He was about to knock it into place. Maven had done this to all of them at least once. Before he could act, Mav was in front of him in a flash, as if he too had turned into light. “This is a real fight. Do you think I would let you heal up?” He moved for Will, and Will phased away blindly.
Shooting to the side, he reformed right before he hit a lamp post. Mav was over a block away, but Will didn’t care. If this was a real fight, he had to run and recoup. He phased away again, then again, and again. He was all the way across town when he had a moment to himself.
“I hate this,” Will hissed and slammed his shoulder into a tree. Grunting, he held the pain in and let his anger grow. He had been on the defensive; it was time to go on the attack. Psyching himself up, he saw the fresh face of his mother in his eyes as he tried to save her in the messed-up dream Mav had put him in. He wanted to use some of that anger on the old man.
He turned his head, cracked his neck, and punched his knuckles together. Turning to face the way he had come, he expected to find Mav waiting there, but instead it was his oldest friend.
“Will?” Lindsey Fields asked. She was under a yellow umbrella. Wearing jeans and a loose-fitting shirt, Will felt like he was hallucinating for a moment. Had Mav trapped him in another dream? Will thought back, verifying that he had been in Control the whole time. Lindsey continued talking as he thought back. “What happened to you?” A part of him still feared he was in the dream, but the pain was too real. Will knew it was her. Light red hair braided behind her head. It had been months since he had seen her.
“Lindsey?” He asked, playing along as if this was real. “When did you get back in town?”
“This week,” she said. “I was signing up for classes.” She pointed to a building behind Will. It was the University of Chicago's admissions office. They had visited it together a few months ago, back when Will was trying to decide what to do with his life.
“Uh…cool,” Will said. As he stared at her, his anger was dying down.
“Are you bleeding?” She asked, stepping forward. Will winced, pulling away.
“No, uh, hey, I’m in the middle of something here. You mind if I stop by your place or call you in a few days?” He asked. He did want to catch up with her, but a sudden sense of dread washed over him. He could tell that the old man was close.
“Sure,” she said. “You sure you don’t want-”
“I do, but I can’t. Later alright?” Will nodded at her and raced off. After only a few strides, he was out of the small park area and on the other side of the trees before Lindsey could react. Mav was waiting patiently for him.
“Get yourself a date in the middle of a fight?” The old man inquired.
Will rolled his shoulder, trying to get the stiffness out of it. “Maybe,” Will said, and phased toward him. He punched again, but only met air as the fight began anew.
—
Will, coughing up blood, felt his breath coming in with great effort. Laying on the wet gravel, he couldn’t go on. Everything hurt. In his right eye, his vision was blurry. On the left side of his head, a splitting headache was doing wonders. His jaw barely worked. His nose was broken, and he was having trouble getting in air. He couldn't move either arm to touch his face in an attempt to find out the extent of the damage.
A light flashed, and Mav was standing over him. Will didn’t react. He accepted his fate. He was surprised that he managed to hold on for as long as he did, considering how many times he had already gotten up.
“Just kill me,” Will spat.
Mav turned his head, confused. “Why would I kill you?”
Will hesitated. He was confused, and another wave of pain hit his mind. “Sorry, I, uh, I don’t know. For some reason, I thought we were fighting to the death or something.”
“No problem. It happens,” Mav said. Dusting off his pants, the old man sat down next to him. Will slowly remembered that they had been fighting. Some kind of test.
“Did I pass?” Will asked.
“Yeah,” Mav said. “We’ve been fighting for about 10 hours now.”
“Jeez, it feels longer,” Will noted. He had lost consciousness so many times. He would wake up and start fighting the old man as soon as he was able, confusing him about what was going on. “What was it for, again?”
“To push you to your limits,” Mav said. “At the start, I showed you the past. I wanted to see how long it would take you to give up. Here, in the present, I wanted to show you what you are capable of.” Will shook his head; his body hurt too much to move. The sky was no longer cloudy, and the day was getting brighter.
“Now, when you fight someone really strong, I hope you can look back and know it wasn’t any harder than this fight,” Mav said.
“Ha! Thanks,” Will said, coughing again. He didn’t taste as much blood in his mouth that time. “What next?”
Mav paused and got up. Bending down, he reached under Will and picked him up like a baby in a princess carry. Will would have struggled against him, but he refrained from crying out in pain. The old man did not carry Will far, and upon setting him down, he leaned against a building.
He had the opportunity to assess the extent of his damages at the time. His shoes were off, and a few toes were pointing the wrong way. His right hand was a bloated mess of purple. His leg was broken, and his ribs felt like they were crushing him to death as they stabbed into him. But he was alive.
“Past, present, and future, Will,” Mav said. He sat down beside William. “You can’t change the past. We only exist in the present. And all of it leads to our future.” His hands began to glow the familiar white of his electricity. The power formed a ball, like when he created his Joules. The ball began to grow larger, though. Once it was the size of a beach ball, Mav extended his arm out and pointed it at a large brick building in front of them.
The ball shot out of his hand faster than Will could follow. It crashed into the brick, then disappeared inside. “What-”
“Shh!” Mav cut off. Pointing Will waited, and slowly he saw it. The building began to crumble. Not so much crumble as implode. The building started to collapse, one brick at a time. White bolts of lightning eating away at every piece of the building and pulling it toward the ball. As the electricity was revealed, the silent destroyer was eventually the only thing left standing. In only a few seconds, a 5-story building disappeared.
“Arcs are powerful,” Mav said. “I told you that with only a few monstrously strong Arcs, they took over the world. These aren't aliens who show up one day and decide to mess up the way things work. They were people like you and me, with an ability that allowed them to do insane things.” Will struggled to look over at the old man. He kept his icy-blue eyes fixed on him.
“What matters in this world is what you do with that power. Someday, destroying a building might be as simple for you as breathing too,” Mav said. “You’ve seen how weak you were in the past. You know how strong you are right now. Now, imagine how strong you could be in the future. You are light. You are what pushes away the darkness. Without your power element, nothing in this world would exist. Use that, Will. Get stronger. See what the limits are? I always told you all that you weren’t special. There are Arcs out there with similar abilities to all of yours. At least, everyone except you.”
“Me?” Will got out.
Indeed, I've never witnessed anyone transform into light like you. Your ability may be the first of its kind. I hope that you find out it’s limits,” Mav said.
“What about you? I-I saw you appear and disappear in a flash of light.”
“Ah, that’s different,” Mav said. “I mastered lightning. I learned that to master it, you have to become it. Electricity isn’t as fast as light, but it’s close enough to have trouble telling the difference.” Mav looked back at the building. The white ball of electricity dimmed down to a small sphere. “I hope you find out what that difference is someday.”
Will let out a sigh. Trying to picture it. A strength that he couldn’t understand. What could he do with his light? What could he accomplish? For a long time, he had no idea what he could accomplish, but for once, he had a goal in mind. He really did want to outdo the old man. Surpass him and see what the world had to offer. It was an intriguing dream. It was his first in a long time. Will was curious if he could make it come to pass.