Sir Windsoar felt his body screaming. The pain from all the wounds he had sustained in the death battle had taken its toll, and he did not know for how long he would be able to fly before his energy ran out. His chasers were far away, but knowing they had sent out most of the alliance's forces to catch him, he did not dare to stay put anywhere.

With his feet standing firm on the blade, he pierced through the night, keeping a low altitude just above the treetops of Green River forest. The wind was cold, and with his energy focused on keeping his blood inside his body, Windsoar gritted his teeth. The biting cold that usually felt like home, only served as a reminder of his long-forgotten mortality. The battle was on his mind and his thoughts drifted away from the present. "That damn boastful coward! I should never have trusted him. Had I been the weaker one, the alliance would not have bothered if I died, but since I was the one to win, they deemed that I must have cheated. How dare they claim that I poisoned my blade!?"

Windsoar lost focus and had to swerve around a treetop to not crash and lose the last bit of energy he had remaining. The moon stood full and its brilliance cast his temperament aside. "I have lived a long life. I got my revenge, I served my purpose. Maybe resting now isn't such a bad idea..." He thought. Up ahead, an opening amongst the treetops appeared. warm red light shone from a fire, and he spotted smoke rising. "A cabin, out here in the middle of Green River forest!? What lunatic would be so mad as to..."

No wait, this might be exactly what he needed. The fire of hope reignited inside his chest. Only a person living in seclusion would be able to live out here. This person might become his savior! Windsoar did not realize it, but the last bit of energy he had disappeared, and his feet lost footing on the blade. He crashed through the air, heading towards the cabin. Branches clawed at his torn body as he fell, and right there, down in the grove, he spotted a person!

No wait, three.. and two of them green? and what are they doing? The blood loss must have caused damage to his senses because what he saw did not make sense. A black-haired man sat inside a barrel of steaming water, and next to him stood two short green people with long ears who fanned him using disproportionately large leaves. 

The man opened his eyes and met his gaze as he soared through the air, his meeting with the ground drawing closer by each tenth of a second.

"Gobulas, catch that man."  The black-haired man spoke from the barrel.

"What man!?" One of the short green men exclaimed.

Windsoar feeling his consciousness fading, saw the man's hand rise, and a finger pointed at him. But he never hit the ground.

Lewis had left his apartment and was on his way to work. His feet struck the rocks in front of him as he marched with steady footsteps. "More people have awakened their powers now, maybe I'll be lucky and get one as well!" He thought.

He thought back to the News report about the recent increase of people awakening this year as compared to last year. His hopes were high. "Give me anything, any power is fine! Just don't make me work at the shop for the rest of my days!". Lewis was a clever guy, but he never bothered with school so he could not reach any higher education. Instead, he spent most of his school days outside. He went hunting with his father at any given opportunity and visited his grandparents to help them with their farm. Not that they needed any help. His family was wealthy and had hired many farmhands for the older generation, but Lewis just enjoyed being outdoors more than sitting by the school bench every day. His low attendance was always brought up whenever his parents met the teachers. Luckily for Lewis though, his parents did not seem to mind. "Life skills are just as important as anything he can read in those books" his mother would defend him.

Well, until he graduated they found out that his grades were not enough to seek higher education. After a lot of fighting with them, they decided to purchase a building for Lewis to operate as a shop. They didn't care much for what he sold there and handed him a hefty allowance. "They tricked me, they definitely only want me to be in debt to them for my entire life" Lewis muttered. After Lewis had operated the shop, selling mainly outdoor clothes, tools, and survival gear, his store had only gone in the negative. Month after month, with no revenue. Lewis had to fire two employees that he hired in the beginning because his parents had forced him to.

After the failure, Lewis had to sit idly in his shop day after day until he managed to sell off half of the store. Only then would they give him the allowance to buy anything else. In the beginning, he was allowed to live in the condo above the shop, giving him a great area to read, play games, or tinker with his piles of gears and scrap parts, but not anymore. His parents had kicked him out, hung a padlock on the door, and told him that until he learned to budget better and think of the future before acting, he would be forced to live in an apartment a block away from his precious condo. "Can't you see that this is for your own good!?" His father would yell at him every time he threw a fit. "You have the money, if you weren't such scrooges you would give me at least this much!" He would retort. His friends practically ghosted him, giving excuses that he did not understand the value of things and that he needed to understand how lucky he was to have the opportunities he had. In the beginning, he cursed the lot of them in his mind, but not anymore. After having to move to the apartment, and losing his allowance, he understood that to buy things he needed money. To get money, he needed to sell things, and to sell things he needed to work. Had this been five years ago, he would gladly perform at any job for the fun of it, but he had not understood that getting a grand for one day's work is not realistic. He had to change his perspective.

"If only I had a power" He sighed. "Then I could abuse the power and make a lot of money, that would make my parents proud," He thought.

Being 23 years old should be easy. "To be young and think of yourself as immortal" His father would tell him with a solemn expression whenever Lewis tried to vent about all the nonsense on his mind while living an expensive life on somebody else's check.

Lewis saw the building up ahead and increased his pace. He needed to sell a lot of things today, make some money, and buy pizza. He had not eaten a pizza for three weeks, and only daydreaming of pepperoni did not suffice. "Mum, look. an awakening!" A little girl shouted. "Don't be silly Frid... my god, it is!" the mother yelled. they pointed at the sky, and Lewis could not help himself but to look. "This is it, I am finally awakening my power!" Lewis felt his heart rate getting faster. Lewis looked up at the sky, a golden light twirled, zig-zagged, and dashed downwards, towards... Not him!? but a teenage boy across the street!? Everyone's eyes were fixed on the teenage boy.

"I can't believe it!" He yelled as he stretched his arms out towards the orb of light. The light engulfed his body, and as usual, every awakening seemed unique. 

"It's a spiritual power, it must be. it's shrouding him like that!" a man cheered. People flocked around the boy, but Lewis had no interest. His mood was soiled.

Lewis heard the laughter and cheers but ignored it and headed to his shop. Angry and disappointed. "Why do I even get my hopes up, when does anything good ever happen to me?". Lewis unlocked the door with his key, reached for the door handle, and forced it down. He pushed the door, opened it, and then! A silvery orb escaped from the doorway and crashed into his chest. His vision went white as if lightning had exploded in front of him! "Yes, yes this is it! I knew it!" he said to himself, proudly. He turned around, waiting for the people to crowd around him like they did with the teenage boy, and he would then invite them into his shop and sell out all his goods. Then he would be allowed back into the condo!

But no people were coming towards him. They were all still cheering with the boy across the streets. "Hah, no worries. I'll get to the GPAB before that guy anyway!" Lewis smiled as he locked the door again. "I'll give you a ride to the GPAB, we'll get you tested immediately!" A man with an aqua-blue cowboy hat joyfully suggested to the boy. His soot-colored beard was trimmed and proper. "Yes please, sir!" The boy laughed.

People gave way, as the two walked across the streets to Lewis's side. "Hey you, I'm also awakened and  heading to the GPAB, maybe you could give me a ride as well?" Lewis asked. But the man in the cowboy hat only stopped in his tracks to deny his request. "Uugh, ya know, I can't fit three people on my motorcycle" the man excused himself as he pointed at the two wheels right next to me. It was a beast of a motorcycle, black with blue webbed patterns painted on it. An idea appeared in Lewis's mind. "I can pay you, probably more than that kid!" he said, as he pointed at the boy. The man frowned and removed the hat from his head, holding it close to his chest. His clear blue eyes met Lewis. They expressed regret. "Hey kid, if you truly did awaken, I hope you drop that mindset. Be better."

His words struck Lewis in the stomach. He never took critique well, especially not from a stranger. And especially not these days, when Lewis had actually tried to think of others and understand their perspective. "I apologize, sir, I will try. But could you tell me how I wronged that boy?" Lewis asked.

The man raised his eyebrows and smiled. "Hah, you lack awareness but you got the will. All right, it's pretty simple. Everything is not about money, and using money to have your way is not the way of a hero." He patted Lewis's shoulder. "Anyways, it's time to blaze!" He laughed as he hopped on the motorcycle and in the same motion handed the boy a helmet. The engine revved and they took off, swift and agile as if any other car on the road was merely for decoration.

Lewis was dumbfounded. He did not exactly understand why things worked as the man had said, but he decided to accept it in his heart. He worked to better himself, and any advice was welcome.

After a couple of bus changes, Lewis arrived at the Global Powered Administration Bureau. He walked through the doors and met a long line of people spread out across many helpdesks. Not everyone came to the GPAB for power evaluation, there were all kinds of services, so the hundred people crowding the room weren't necessarily new-powereds.  Lewis chose a line to the left and waited. In front of him was a bear of a man, taller than most, and wider than more. at the very front of another line, inside Lewis's field of view, he saw a familiar back. It was the boy from before. His legs shook eagerly and his hands were moving quickly as he spoke with the GPAB's representative. "Had the cowboy accepted the trade, it would have been me standing there... but he probably wouldn't have accepted a postponed payment." Lewis sighed.

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The boy disappeared into another room, and time went by as Lewis's line flowed towards the helpdesk. Some people talked some and then went out the exit, either satisfied or not with whatever answers they had received. Others went into the other room like the boy from before. Then it was finally Lewis's turn.

"Hello, how can I help you?" the representative smiled. He had a bowtie and a white shirt, as to proclaim how serious the GPAB was.

Lewis gathered his breath and met the guy's gaze. "I received my sign of awakening today." He said.

"Oh, I see. surely I can help you with that. What kind of sign was it, could you describe how the orb moved, its color, and from where you saw it coming?" the representative asked as if he had said this phrase countless times already. The tone was good but there was no soul in his speech. 

"Well, the color was silver and it appeared from the door I opened. Then it struck me like lightning?"

"Silver, appeared out of a door...? and struck like lightning" the man repeated as his fingers danced across a keyboard. and his other hand swiftly led the mouse to the right places. After a moment of silence, the man opened his mouth again. "Are you sure this is what happened, there are no records of an orb appearing from any doors, maybe you weren't paying attention and didn't realize it came from somewhere else. Were there any witnesses who could fill in the details?"

"No, ugh, it came out of the doorway and there were no witnesses." Lewis looked around confused. "All right, I will fill in the details as is and we will continue with the testing. Unless you are lying, we will get a good grasp of your abilities and characteristics and help you on your way!" The representative continued. A true professional.

Lewis was guided through the door, and as he opened it, he met the boy from earlier. The boy smiled. "Good luck in there, it was exhausting but I'm sure you will do great!" He said. "Sure kid," Lewis said, trying to sound older and more mature than he was.

He walked through a corridor alongside a guide who then opened a door into a large room. A monitor was placed on a wall, and a circle was drawn on the white tiled floor in the middle of the room. "Please stand in the middle of the circle" a female voice commanded. Lewis walked into the circle drawn.

"Stand still. We will turn off the lights and release a certain gas into the room. Depending on the level of your power, the particles will react to you and create luminous effects. We measure the lights and an evaluation of your approximate power level will be given. Don't fear if the luminous effect takes on the form of a fire, it will not hurt you." The voice explained.

Eager to find out, and with his whole body pulsing with his heart, Lewis closed his eyes. He saw the bright light in the room shut down through his eyelids. And then, nothing happened. Lewis feared. What if his powers didn't manifest, what if he was tired and only imagined what had happened? He started panicking. "It surely happened when I opened that door, it must have. I am not imagining things!" He yelled internally. His body emitted heat and sweat formed pearls on his forehead and more poured along his spine. Then it happened. Silvery lightrays appeared as rods from the floor and created needle-like pillars all around him. They flowed slowly and steadily, increasing in radius by every second. The intensity was insane, and soon the silvery light reacted to all of the particles, leaving none of them remaining inside the room.

"I can't believe it," The woman said in the microphone. She let go of the button allowing her to speak with the man in the room. "His power level is at the maximum." She exhaled. Her hands trembled.

"Power is at the maximum level," She said into the microphone.

"Max level, holy.... that's insane! I knew it, I asked for any power and this is what I got, the absolute best! Take that mum, take that dad!" Lewis thought. And he only smiled, keeping his cool on the outside.

"Head to the next room to evaluate your physical enhancement!" The woman said. and So, Lewis did.

He went back into the hallway and was guided to a new room. There were crystal marbles placed in a long line and a symbol of two feet at one end. "Mister bigshot," a male voice said. "Please touch only one marble and we'll see how far the energy will spread. depending on the strength increase you get from your powers, the line will glow further!" The voice told him.

"Easy, be surprised my guy! This will be the furthest anyone will have gone today, no this year!" Lewis boasted.

"I don't know about that mister bigshot. Though you maxed out that power level, there was a kid earlier today with all of his power focused on the physical increase. Unless you are the same, you definitely won't top this year, let alone today!" The man laughed. "But give it a go!" 

Lewis smirked. He had maxed out the level of his power. Surely even a little bit of physical enhancement would be bigger than lower leveled once, even if only a little of his power was concentrated on that aspect. "Watch closely!" He yelled as he put his hand on the marble. 

But it didn't light up. None of them did. Dumbfounded Lewis asked; "Hey you, aren't you supposed to turn off the lights in the room or something?" 

"Ehm, Ya know, that is just for the power level evaluation. But maybe the marbles have malfunctioned. Let us do a test measure!" The man excused himself.

"Definitely that, the test mechanism has malfunctioned." Lewis calmed himself. Two people dressed in white chemical protection gear walked in with some sort of battery. They swiftly put two cables onto one of the marbles and started infusing energy from the device, and the marbles started shining, one after the other.

"Nothing wrong with the marbles, run the test again!" They said and excused themselves from the room.

Cold sweat formed and Lewis felt nervous. "Try again," The man said cockily through the speakers."

And so Lewis did, not that it made any difference. None of the marbles lit up. "Hell, what is wrong! My power level was at the max, how can not one of the marbles light up!?" He yelled at the man in the speakers. "Don't worry pal, it only means that none of your powers are concentrated into physical enhancement. It's unusual but not unheard of. And it also means that whatever other areas you are enhanced in, will receive more juice!" The man said.

"Head to the spiritual room next, see how many spirits will take a liking to ya!" He cheered.

Lewis was guided into the spirits chamber. It felt cold, warm, and loud but quiet. many contradictory senses mumbled up. "Welcome Sir Maximum Power level, I heard you did not receive any physical boost. That is a good sign, it might mean that your attunement to the spirit is increased!" Another man said with a soothing calm voice. He spoke quietly but steadily, in a determined well-thought-out manner. Just stand in the middle and we will use our cameras to see how many spirits flock to you, the more the merrier or so to speak" The man said.

But that test went the same as the last one. There were no reactions, no spirits came even close to him. They weren't deterred, it was more a lack of interest that showed itself.

The elemental test went the same, he had no attunement to neither fire, water, earth, air, lightning, light, or darkness. Lewis felt disheartened but strengthened his resolve. This whole ordeal had taught him that whenever he didn't have any enhancement in one area, it meant that whatever areas remained would be focused on. His powers would either be mental or magical boosts, possibly even both! "I can do this, I hope it's magical because influencing people's minds isn't something I've ever been interested in." Lewis patted himself on the back and tried to muster up the courage. But what if he was wrong, what if he didn't have any suits, and only a high power level!?

In the next room, he quickly found out that he had no mental enhancement. The tester could influence him however they wanted, and had he had any enhancement in that area, he would have been able to withstand at least something. "Maybe I am a great wizard" He cried.

Lewis entered the last room. "I can't believe it, a maximum level powered with no enhancements in any of the other areas. You might become the greatest magic weaver in history!" a woman practically screamed. "This is insane, come to our school after the test is done. We will welcome you with open arms!" The woman practically threw praises at him.

"This is a simple spell, it works in the manner that you chant the incantation, and the better suited you are for magic, the stronger it will become!" The woman explained.

Lewis felt his confidence coming back. He had failed all the other tests, but it was because all of his power was focused on magic. Life would be smooth sailing from here on out!

"Repeat after me!" The woman explained.

"Yes!" Lewis shouted.

"Firis Nimbus!" 

"Firis Nimbus!"

Nothing happened

"Firis Nimbus!"

"Firis Nimbus!"

Nothing happened this time either.

"FIRIS NIMBUS!" Lewis screamed. "FIRIS NIMBUS FIRIS NIMBUS FIRIS NIMBUS!" but nothing happened.

The door slammed open as a tall woman dashed through. She grabbed Lewis's hands fast and transferred some sort of energy into his. "This can't be!" She exclaimed.

"We usually don't physically examine magical users like this to measure your magical abilities because it can mess up your flow, but what is this!? You have none, how is that possible!?" She shouted, spitting saliva onto his face. Lewis felt like crying, his heart sank into his stomach.

He collapsed onto his knees. "What is going on, how can my power be at the max level, but I have no affinity to anything, no enhancement, and even no magic in me!?" He cried.

"Sorry, I take back what I said, you are not welcome to the school, you are an anomaly." She said, and that was also what was stamped onto his records. His profile in the GPAB received the yellow text in his information box. "ANOMALY".

Lewis dragged his legs behind him as he walked with sunken shoulders through the hallway. He was headed towards the exit when somebody stopped him.

"My friend you aren't done yet! Though it saddens me that you have no affinities, perhaps you would at least like to know the name of your power?" A voice asked behind him. Lewis recognized the voice. it belonged to the cowboy on the motorcycle from earlier.

Lewis sniffled and looked at the man, then he nodded. He followed the cowboy with the aqua-blue colored hat into a room at the very end of the corridor.

He entered a room with a desk and two chairs. There were bookshelves all around the walls of the room, and two large windows with red curtains from the top of the windows to the floor. On the chair on the opposite side of the desk sat a woman writing with a feather on a piece of paper. "Mmmhmm, yes, no physical enhancement, no spiritual power, no magical power, no mental powers, no elemental powers. What have you?" The old woman said as she wrinkled her nose and looked up from the paper to face Lewis and the cowboy. Lewis stood frozen in place. This day had been one beating after another, it started with two rockets to the moon and then crashlanding onto every possible surface down to the bottom of hell. "Well, are you going to just stand there, come take a seat, and have a cup of tea?" The woman proposed.

Lewis with no energy in his legs pushed his body to the chair and fell his bum on it. There was already a cup positioned on the desk for him with tea in it. "Doesn't hurt to try" He thought as he downed the cup in one go, scorching his inside and coughing out water on the woman in front of him.

She brought out a napkin and cleaned herself.

"Caspir, let's have a look" she commanded, and the feather in her hand convulsed and grew in size, shaking and jumping until it went POP and a crow appeared.

The crow stood on her palm as she led her hand towards Lewis's face.

"Now mister Anomaly, what have you?" She said.

Though exhausted, Lewis couldn't wait to hear. The name of his power.

"The name..." She began.

Lewis could not breathe.

"It is..." She continued

Lewis felt the excitement, maybe this was the turning point!

"Door"

Lewis smashed his head onto the desk.