“Should I make a plan on the spot? Right now?” Pauley answered while he began producing gadgets out of his suit.

“Hey, um, before you two make a plan, can we try talking it out?”

Amara looked around and recognized a familiar set of gear amongst the adult figures. “Noah? Sir? Is that you?”

“It’s me, miss.” Noah took off the face mask of his hazmat suit, revealing a tired, sweaty looking man in his late twenties. “And before we try talking, could you kindly stop scaring these poor first responders?”

“Me? Scaring?” Amara was still processing the sentence, yet Noah had already gestured all of the other adults to leave. Strangely enough, the others did what he ordered.

“Now, can you please put down the pair of scissors?”

Amara looked at her hand. Sure enough, what she thought was a blade was, in fact, a pair of closed scissors. She then glared back at Pauley, who shrugged sheepishly and said: “...I thought the medic was going to stab me.”

“They probably assumed your helmet was stuck on.” Noah explained as he stepped closer towards the pair. “Anyways, I should introduce myself. Feel free to call me Noah, and I currently work as a security enforcement officer, specializing in dealing with, uhm, supernatural affairs.”

“Like the train things just now?” Amara asked.

“Exactly, and you two have my sincerest thanks for helping out other passengers on the train. If you two don’t mind, can I ask who you are?”

“Oh, uh, I’m Amara.” Amara awkwardly scratched her head. “And he’s Pauley.”

“We’re just heading for the capital so she could apply for school.” Pauley added.

“I see.” Noah nodded. “In that case, would you two like to share a ride to the capital with me? Assuming neither of you are in need of medical care of course, all things considered.”

Amara blushed as she remembered her earlier actions.

“We’re okay, but the capital is still a few days’ ride away, right? How do you plan on managing that?” Pauley took off his helmet as well, proving that his head was indeed not stuck.

“A private vehicle is the answer.” Noah said.

Pauley’s eyes lit up with hope and joy. “That kind of private vehicle?”

Noah nodded.

Pauley turned to Amara: “Please, please, please, I NEED to see it!!!”

Amara had no idea what Pauley was talking about, but she wasn’t about to burst his bubble. “Sure? But I should go say sorry to the stretcher people first. Oh right, and don’t forget your bags.”

Pauley’s face paled as he was reminded. Noah chuckled at the sight, then offered to regroup at this location later after they all took care of their business.

Later, Amara had managed to apologize to everyone, and was able to confirm that most passengers weren’t seriously injured. Pauley found most of his luggage, though his scythe remained tragically unfound throughout the mess. Noah appeared to have spent most of the time talking to various individuals, presumably to make reports and to provide information regarding what happened.

When most of the passengers were safely directed away to either the closest train station or the first responders, Noah trudged over to the pair of minors, and asked them to wait for him while he went to fetch his vehicle.

“I really was just driving by for a work trip, you see, and now I have to go back to the capital to report to my boss.” He told the duo right before heading off. “The local law enforcement should have already sent the paperwork, but I still have to show up in person…”

When waiting for Noah to retrieve his vehicle, Amara took on a zoned-out look, but was in reality reaching out to the presences in her mind.

‘You guys knew what happened, don’t you? It might’ve been my first time on a train, but I sure know they ain’t supposed to start growin’ limbs and explode.’

Life made a long, drawn out sighing sound. I know you’ll hate to hear this, but you’re really, really too young to know about the reason behind why.

‘So why is that?’

Okay how about this? Destruction said quickly. I’ll tell you why, and the answer is…we don’t know why it showed up on that train at all.

“Hey, you good?” Pauley elbowed Amara lightly. “You’re looking real mad.”

“All good.” Amara breathed in very deeply.

Don’t listen to him, you know how he’s always been over the years. Life tried to de-escalate the situation. I can say this; although we don’t know why this…let’s refer to it as an energy. Although we don’t know where this energy came from, the truth remains that it shouldn’t have existed anymore, and the fact that it does is concerning, to say the least.

‘You’re giving me more questions than answers.’ Amara complained.

It’s not good for you to know things this early on.

‘Why?’

How’s ‘psychological damage’ for a reason?

‘Terrible. I’m not that fragile.’

Then how about knowing that this thing’s what caused us two to become the way we are now? Mostly dead and barely hanging on to the world like parasites?

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Amara nearly couldn’t hold her mouth shut. She had never heard Destruction use language like this before, and she knew she’d pushed the subject too much.

See, it’s way too early for you to meddle in this matter. Questions aside, if you accidentally attract this energy again, there’s no guarantee you’ll be let off easy next time. If there’s one thing we have discovered in the past, it’s that the more someone knows of its existence, the easier it would be for it to hunt down the individual.

Also, friendly note, we both would be done for along with yourself. Three lives on the line here, girlie. Destruction seemed to have calmed down as rapidly as he had bursted out just moments before.

‘Alright. But I…I can’t just pretend like nothing happened!’

No, that’s not what we meant. Life explained patiently. This Noah person you just met, he should be able to let you and Pauley know a bit more about this incident. You can trust him, and if he’s dishonest, we’ll tell you. Okay?

Amara rubbed her forehead as she felt a headache set in from the collected stress and confusion she’d experienced in the day. ‘Mkay.’

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Pauley tapped her lightly on the shoulder. “I saw you go from angry to scared to whatever you’re doing right now, so don’t you lie to me.”

“I don’t know.” Amara squatted down and buried her head between her arms. “It’s been a long day.”

“It’s noon.”

Amara groaned.

“How’s your Talent energy level?” Pauley changed the subject.

“Pretty low, but not ‘gonna pass out’ low.” Amara reached into her mind again for a quick checkup on her energy levels. If her green life energy source were a swimming pool at its fullest, then her current pool would be the size of a dinner plate. Her purple destruction energy levels were pretty high, but the overall size of the pool was barely larger than the life pool.

Due to the directions of both deities, Amara had been primarily practicing and honing her life energy usage. At first, it was evident that the avoidance was for safety reasons; but as she grew more powerful and confident in her skills, she was still not allowed to practice both powers. Whenever she asked for another reason, the deities’ responses were not dissimilar to what they had just told Amara.

Maybe the mystery incident and the reason for why she’s not allowed to use destruction energy are related?

Amara genuinely zoned out as she considered this possibility. She tried her best to think in emotions and pictures rather than words, thereby not letting the deities know what her thoughts were about.

Pauley poked Amara on the back after she stopped moving and speaking. Determining that she’s simply unfocused, he decided to just let her be—and instead direct his attention onto the flashy ride Noah had just driven to him.

“What’d you do that for?” Amara snapped back to reality rather angrily.

“Is that the Turbospin model from last year?” Pauley asked Noah with pure enthusiasm.

“How’d you know?” Noah asked back with surprise.

Pauley flashed a wide smile at him. “I just like to do research on my car models. Anyway, is your offer to drive us still valid?”

Noah simply waved his hand and gestured to the back seats. The vehicle itself had a matte green paint on its exterior, with tinted windows half rolled down for its driver to converse. To Amara, the black car seats looked unlike anything she had seen on the transportation from her hometown, and seemed a little excessive on the amount of cushioning they provided. But before she could voice her doubts, however, Pauley had silently elbowed her in the ribs to prevent her from talking.

The pair opened one door and entered from the same side of the car. As soon as Pauley helped them both secure their seat belts and his own luggage, the entire vehicle jolted upwards and began to hover momentarily in midair. Amara barely had time to open her mouth for a scream before her entire body was pinned back into her seat from momentum, and the windows began to reflect blurred patches of color instead of regular scenery.

All was quiet in the car as Noah focused on driving, and the two unfortunate passengers were preoccupied with adjusting to physics. Luckily, the vehicle seemed to have continued with airborne travel, as the ride did not feel as bumpy or noisy as the train.

After an unknown amount of time, the vehicle suddenly came to a complete stop. Without a deceleration process, Amara was thrown forward, and nearly got strangled by her seat belt as it tightened over her body. Beside her, Pauley has received the same treatment. Since he was taller than Amara, he had the misfortune of possessing a longer upper torso, thereby having his forehead connect with the front seat and produced a very audible thud.

“I’m so, so sorry. Are you two okay?” Noah likely felt the impact on his back and definitely heard it as well. “I’m used to driving alone and I got carried away—”

“Down. Bush. Please.” Pauley spoke through gritted teeth.

The car descended much slower than the speed it was moving at. As soon as the vehicle touched the ground, Pauley tumbled out of the car, and began to dry heave at the nearest patch of grass.

“I’m really sorry.” Noah said again, this time directing his words at Amara. “Will your…uh, him, need help?”

Amara shrugged. “Sometimes he does this when my Gran drives him around too.”

“Not everyone…has a strong…stomach!” Pauley shouted between retching noises. He had turned away from the car, so that the contents that were coming back upwards could not be seen properly.

“I…I’m…” Noah awkwardly trailed off. In an attempt to change the topic, he then asked Amara: “What school are you applying to?”

“Me? Hold on.” Amara frowned and stared down at her fingers. “I think the full name is Academy For Preparation Training…no, wait—”

“Consonants Academy!” Pauley howled.

“I see…” Noah coughed exactly twice into his fist to relieve the awkwardness. “Well, good luck with your entrance exam, it’s pretty difficult to pass.”

“Oh? How’d ya know?” Amara had done the bare minimum amount of preparation before leaving her home. Off the top of her head, she only remembered that the entrance exams for the Academy changes every year, but could roughly be separated into three parts: a written exam to demonstrate basic academic knowledge, a practical demonstration of student Talents, and an interview section with instructors to determine whether the applicant would be a good fit or not.

“I know it’s hard because I graduated from there.” Noah said.

“Thank you.” Amara didn’t know how to respond.

An awkward silence ensued as both of them observed Pauley from a distance. Somewhere between the twenty-third and twenty-sixth heaving noise, Amara suddenly remembered what she wanted to ask: “Sir…Noah, I don’t think we’ve gotten word ‘bout the things that wrecked our train. What’re those things?”

Noah whipped his torso around to look back at Amara. “It’s not something you should know yet.”

Amara’s voice had a tinge of frustration in it as she spoke: “But shouldn’t us get an explanation for why we went through all that in the first place?”

“You’re right.” Noah thought for a moment. “Alright, don’t let anyone else besides you two know, but those things were probably remnants of the Old Terrors.”

“What’s that?” Amara asked wholeheartedly.

Noah stared at her, and then stared at her some more. “How old are you?”

“I’m turning twelve this year.”

“I see.” Noah commented. “Well, if you pay enough attention in history class if…when you’re accepted to the Academy, then you’ll learn. Time sure flies, can't believe it’s been that long ago now.”

“What? I mean, pardon?” Amara tried her best to be polite in an attempt to get more information out of Noah.

“My colleagues are tracking down the source of those creatures as we speak. Once a final assessment is complete, you should be able to reach out and ask for compensation for property loss.”

Before Amara could say she didn’t lose anything herself, Pauley had returned to the car with a pale face and asked calmly: “How much longer do we have to go?”

“We’re about halfway—” Noah began to explain.

Pauley collapsed towards Amara, who caught him by the shoulders and dragged him back inside the vehicle.

“...I can slow down if you want to?” Noah wiped his forehead nervously.

Amara straightened Pauley into an upright position in his seat in one smooth motion, and rearranged his own baggage to help his limbs stay still. After clicking his seat belt in place, Amara turned to face the front seats, and flashed a grin at the windshield. “I think he’d wanna get it all done with fast.”

Noah started the engine without another word.

By the time Noah had driven to the destination, Pauley’s face had turned into a light shade of green, and he had all but crashed out of the vehicle alongside half of his belongings. Amara helped ease him to the ground, with a genuinely concerned Noah following quickly out of the driver’s seat.

“Amara…” Pauley half whispered as he laid his head on a suitcase. “Remember…to tell my parents I…love…”

“Shut up.” Amara rolled her eyes. She reached into her pool of life energy from within, and drew out a thin stream that gathered on her fingertip like a speck of light.

Amara then tapped her finger on Pauley’s forehead, pressing the dot of green light into Pauley’s skin. The latter’s eyes immediately fluttered open, his breathing no longer shallow and ragged, and color returned to his face. Pauley then bounced off the floor with renewed vigor, and screamed: “I’M ALIVE AGAIN!”

Noah, after observing the entire interaction from his driver’s seat, asked in amazement: “Amara, your Talent can heal people?”

“A little, yeah.” Amara said. “I really just gave him a boost of energy, so he’s not feelin’ down n’ dramatic no more.”

“In that case, you’re going to be accepted—”

A loud, sudden beep rang out from Noah’s shirt pocket, cutting him off mid-sentence. His face turned into an ashy color as he scrambled to dig out the source of the noise, then paused mid-action to ask the confused children in front of him: “Are you two sure about where you’re heading to?”

“Yeah?” Amara replied with a puzzled expression on her face. “Are you alright?”

“Work call, I have to go.” Noah hastily ramped up his engine as he spoke. “I’m afraid I might have you drop you off here, but this shouldn’t be too far from the Academy campus. Stay safe!”

“Thank you! For the..ride.” Amara tried to call out after Noah, but the vehicle had already zoomed out of sight.

Pauley, who had time to simply take a breath, decided not to let the air go to waste: “Alright, care to let me get off the ground now? We should get there before the campus closes down.”

Amara moved back to give Pauley space as he pulled himself up. As he did so, Amara couldn’t help but vaguely think about how little information she ended up receiving from Noah regarding the strange ‘accident’. Her dissatisfaction quickly disappeared though, as her attention was redirected elsewhere.