Inside, a dull gray pebble sat on a velvet cushion.
Roman ignored her warning and took a step closer to the artifact,
Damien was already standing there, curiously tapping the glass with his finger, pulling away immediately he felt the casing tremble.
He took a step back and eyed it inquisitively, while other boy tilted his head as his eyes narrowed down on the exhibit,
"Woah, is that a real rock?" Roman whispered,
"Ah... Yeah" Charlie mumbled uncomfortably.
Damien cautiously touched it again,
This time, the air seemed to buzz around him as a sharp screech filled his ears,
His eyes widened as he gasped and jumped back,
"Can you quit touching it?" Charlie sighed as she turned her head over her shoulder,
Roman stared at Damien blankly,
"What?" Damien whispered in a hoarse voice,
"Are you okay?" Roman asked with concern as he took a step towards him,
"You didn't hear it?"
"Hear what?" Roman whispered as he raised an eyebrow up.
"I... It's nothing, nevermind" Damien whispered,
"What are you two gossiping about?" Charlotte said as she sighed through her nose while scrolling through her phone,
"Nothing, it's just that real rocks are rare and we're wandering where you got this?" Roman shrugged as he walked around the table, examining it,
"Can we not talk about the rock for a second?" She groaned,
"Dude, did you steal it from a museum?" Damien asked as he raised an eyebrow in question.
At this, Charlie finally got up from the couch and used her slacks to wipe her hands.
"It's… something my dad sent me." She answered as she walked up to them,
Roman pivoted.
"Since when does your dad send you weird rocks?" He asked as he squinted his eyes in disbelief,
Charlie paused as she stood beside Damien who was unnaturally quiet,
Her eyes flickered from the casing to Roman and back again while the boy beside her looked as if his mind had been emptied out of it's contents,
"Since... recently?" She shrugged, trying to play it off as calmly as she could,
Roman narrowed his eyes at her.
"You're lying."
"No, I'm not."
"Yes, you are."
"Let's just leave it be and make something to eat" She mumbled desperately,
Roman sighed and stepped closer to the case.
"What's so special about it?"
Charlie's shoulders tensed at his question, she knew he wasn't to back down.
"I don't know. It's just… don't touch it, okay?" She whispered as she took a careful step forward, getting ready to incapacitate him immediately he stretched out his hand,
"Why are you so jumpy, Charlie, You're making me wanna touch it." Roman joked as he grinned at her.
"Roman s—"
But it was too late.
The idiot had already brushed the tip of his fingers against the glass,
And a deafening bang ruptured the air and his life momentarily flashed before his eyes,
"What is this?" Roman whispered through his locked jaw, body rigid as though he'd lost control over muscles,
"I... I can't move" He wheezed out as he stayed stuck to the floor, eyes glued to the rock that was now floating in the case,
Damien hadn't moved from his position, the blank expression on his face was the same as before,
The room was so silent that sound of their own heartbeats and the blood rushing through their veins filled the ears,
"What the heck, I can't move" Charlie groaned out in pain, grunting softly as she tried to fight against the invisible chains of energy holding them down.
The rock began to glow and they could hear the steady sound of cracks forming in the glass,
"No, NO, NO" Charlie yelled her eyes widened in fear,
Damien suddenly shut his eyes and snapped them open, groaning in pain as he tried to move but failed miserably,
"What's happening?" Roman gulped.
"Damn you, idiot, you've killed us all" Charlie whispered just before a shockwave of gold exploded outward, hurling them back as the room shook violently,
For a split second, everything was weightless, the lights flickered, the furniture were overturned as they floated around,
As for the three friends, they were immobile, even in flight.
Then, Roman hit the floor hard, his breath was ripped out from his lungs,
His ears rang, His vision blurred with unshed tears as his life flashed before his eyes, Again.
He let out a low groan and weakly turned his head to the side,
Something was glowing.
No.
Someone.
Roman blinked as fast as he could, forcing his eyes to focus on the image in the foggy building.
Across the room, Charlie stood bathed in golden light as she floated above the ground with her hands spread.
It wasn't just a glow, her entire body radiated raw energy and her hair, which was now fully blonde flickering like fire.
Her hair floated around her head like weightless tendrils, her eyes burned too bright to be just human.
A groan sounded nearby and Roman turned his head.
Damien.
Thank God, he's alive.
He was on his hands and knees, panting heavily at the corner.
He would have been considered okay if the shadows around him weren't moving.
Crawling, twisting and alive.
They coiled around his arms, flickering like ink in water against his pale skin,
The darkness pulsed, flaring and diminishing in response to every breath he sucked in.
"What the hell just happened?" Roman rasped as he winced while struggling to sit up.
Damien lifted a trembling hand, eyes wide as he stared at the shadows that peeled away from his fingertips like smoke.
"I—" His breath hitched. "What the fuck is this?"
Charlie, still glowing, lifted her hands, watching the golden energy flicker between her fingers,
Her lashes fluttered and warm brown eyes caught their gazes.
Then,
Slowly, a grin spread across her face as she slowly descended.
"We have powers now," she whispered as soon as her feet touched the floor.
Her voice was trembling, not with fear, but excitement.
Damien and Roman shut their ears in pain as it sounded like she was everywhere at once and even inside their very heads,
She turned to them with her eyes gleaming.
"You know what this means?"
'"I knew I should have stayed at home, Damn it" Roman cursed in his mind as he felt his mouth run dry.
Charlie's smile widened.
"We can save the world."
Silence stretched among them.
The weight of her words pressed into Roman's chest and strangled his neck, forcing any string of protests back down his throat,
He couldn't move,
He couldn't speak,
Hell, he could barely breathe.
Save the world?
He didn't even know if they could survive this.
Damien's breaths were sharp and uneven as he still struggled to control his violent new power on the floor.
The shadows around him danced wildly with every exhale, as if they were slowly intertwining his fate with theirs.
Charlie's glow slowly dimmed as she looked at Damien crumbling on the floor,
Her eyes were still but alight with something far dangerous,
Hope.
Roman forced himself to stay sat up as his muscles ached unbearably.
His fingers dug into the carpet, grounding himself as he screwed his eyes shut.
"Happy thoughts, happy thoughts" He mumbled to himself
"Charlie," Damien suddenly said in a low voice.
"We don't even know what just happened."
"Isn't it obvious? We touched that thing, and now we have powers." Charlotte said as she turned to him with a grin.
Roman glanced at the glass case,
It was shattered.
The rock inside was gone.
The only thing that was left of it was a thin layer of dust that had settled on the table,
His stomach twisted.
This wasn't normal.
This wasn't some miracle.
This was a mistake.
Roman closed his eyes, calming down as he tried to sense if anything was different in him,
Nothing,
He felt nothing.
At least he was still human.
"This is so cool" Charlotte squealed,
Damien cursed under his breath, running a hand through his hair.
"Okay, I appreciate the enthusiasm but hold up, can we process this for like five seconds?" He yelled as he gestured at the shadows still writhing around his hands.
"Because I don't know about you, but this? This is some nightmare fuel shit."
"It's really not that serious, Damien, It's just powers, Speaking of which, what did you get Roman?" Charlotte asked as she glanced at him,
"I... I'm the same. I don't think it affected me" Roman whispered as he leaned against the wall, using it to slowly lift himself off the ground,
"Ah- that's a bummer, so it leaves Damien and I?"
"What makes you think I want to jump around playing hero with you" Damien whispered before grimacing and clutching his head with his hands.
Charlie rolled her eyes. "You're being dramatic."
Damien shot her a glare. "I have sentient darkness crawling on my skin, Charlie. I think I have every right to be dramatic."
Roman exhaled, shaking his head.
"Both of you need to calm down so we can figure out what this means."
"It means we're different now. And we can use this." Charlie said as she crossed her arms and glared at the men.
"Use it for what?" Damien snapped as he looked up, his left eye flashing pitch black.
"You don't even know what this is. What if it kills us?"
Charlie's expression darkened for a split second, but she smothered it with another forced grin.
"It won't."
Roman frowned as he looked between them.
Charlie was too certain.
Too eager.
On the other hand, Damien was a pessimist.
Very irritable, a ticking time-bomb.
"Charlie," Roman said carefully.
"What, Rome?" She huffed as she finally turned her full attention to the man.
"Why did your dad send you that rock?" He whispered in a soft voice,
She paused and pursed her lips, looking straight into his eyes as she flashed him a smug smile and a shrug,
"I don't know"
Damien caught on immediately.
"You knew, didn't you?" His voice sharpened as he raised his head to accuse her.
"You knew something was off. That's why you didn't want us touching it."
Charlie's fingers twitched. "I—"
"Charlie."
She sighed, rubbing her temple. "Okay, fine. Maybe I did have a hunch."
Roman felt something in his chest crack,
"What the hell, Charlie?" He yelled.
She threw her hands up in exasperation.
"I didn't think it would freaking explode! I just… I thought it was important, okay? I thought maybe it would do something."
Damien let out a bitter laugh as he stretched his arms.
"Oh, yeah. It definitely did something." He whispered mockingly as he got off the floor,
"Don't you start" Charlie growled,
The tension in the room was suffocating as Damien made his way to the counter,
Unlike Roman who staggered to the couch,
No one would be able to tell that he was also involved in the accident.
He leaned against the counter nonchalantly, his arms crossed and eyes as unreadably dark as a stormy night.
Charlie stood opposite him, practically vibrating with frustration.
While Roman sat on the edge of the couch, silent but barely breathing.
"You keep saying you want to save the world," Damien whispered to her, his voice calm but razor-sharp.
"But from what? From itself? If you think so, that's the problem, or maybe you're the problem, and anyone who thinks like you is the problem, Charlie. This world doesn't want saving."
Charlie's jaw clenched as her eyes narrowed down on him. "You don't get to decide that."
"I don't have to," he shot back immediately as he gestured around.
"Humanity already has. Look at what they did with their second chance at life. What was the first thing the government did when powers showed up? Control. Regulate. And Kill anyone with dreams and a mind of their own, make the rest puppets and call them Heroes" He exclaimed as he let out a sharp, bitter laugh.
"And here you are, Char-Lotte Do-No-Van, you... you're still playing along, like they'll let you be some kind of hero.
Even if you were to become one, you'll be nothing but an expendable toy to the Corporates and Enforcers!"
Roman felt like a ghost in his own skin.
Invisible.
They weren't even looking at him.
Charlie's hands clenched into fists as she raised her voice to match his.
"You think you're so much better?" she snapped.
"You act like you see everything so clearly, but you're just another arrogant asshole with a god complex. You think breaking everything apart makes you different from them? No, Damien, It makes you worse."
Damien exhaled sharply, shaking his head.
"You're still in denial." He chuckled.
"And you're delusional!" she yelled.
"You talk about humanity like it's some failed experiment, like we don't deserve to exist just because we make mistakes. Newsflash, Damien we're human. We fuck up and We try again."
Damien's eyes narrowed as he smirked.
"Some mistakes can't be fixed, Charlie. Some things aren't worth saving. The world needs to be purged, Up from the elites... and down to the dregs of society."
Her face twisted in something between heartbreak and fury as she gasped.
"And I actually slept with you. I let myself believe—" She cut herself off, shaking her head like she couldn't even stand to finish the thought.
"God, you are such a jerk, Damien."
Roman's eyebrows furrowed as he heard this,
No wonder they were acting strangely.
Damien's expression cracked for half a second before twisting into something cruel.
"You regret it?" he asked in a flat voice,
"Of course I do." Charlie obviously lied as she let out a hoarse laugh.
Roman's stomach turned.
"This isn't good" He thought to himself as he winced at the pain in his arm,
The air had shifted, crackling like flames licking up wood in the silence as Damien took a step towards her.
"Good," he said, and it sounded like a blade cutting through flesh.
"So do I." He smiled as he watched her eyes grow wide,
"What were you expecting? For me to suddenly fall in love because you confessed to me that night?
No, Charlie, I don't like you that way,
Not when you're so gullible and naïve to dance when I play the tunes you wish to hear" He whispered as Roman tensed up, goosebumps covering his skin as a chill ran down his spine in warning,
Whatever was coming out next would not be pretty.
For any of them.
"Yes, that's right, Charlie, I used you, Just like the Corporates and the Enforcers will, you'll be stuck dick-riding, all your life" He chuckled as he raised a mocking eyebrow at her,
Charlie's shoulders turned rigid as her fingers rolled into fists at her sides as he leaned in, letting his lips brush her ear,
She was trembling,
And full of rage.
"I don't think you mind though, you've always had quite the potential to become everyone's little bitch,"
Ever heard of the straw that broke the camel's back?
That was it, right there.
Charlie screamed,
An inhuman, ferocious sound, that made the foundation of the entire apartment shake.
The chandelier shattered, sending golden sparks raining down like fire,
Roman rolled over, covering his head and face as he fell to the ground for cover.
"Die, you damned bastard!" Charlotte screamed as she threw herself at him.
Damien smiled as the blast hit him, sending him skidding back into the wall.
Roman flinched, crawling along the ground slowly, as bottles and glass shattered around him.
"Damn it, stop you two!" He yelled as a shard of glass grazed his cheek,
Neither of them heard him.
Another golden shockwave rattled the apartment, sending furniture skidding across the floor.
The overhead lamps and other electronics shattered as glass shards raining down like deadly confetti.
Roman curled up into a ball and shielded his head with his arms,
And Damien barely had time to twist his body so the shadows curled around him like a living shield.
He skidded backward, boots scraping against the floor as a jagged crack splintered through the walls behind him from the force of the blast.
"That all you got, fuckface?" he taunted, wiping a smear of blood from his lip with the back of his hand,
"Oh, you little shit" Charlie snarled before launching herself at him with godlike speed.
Roman barely blinked before she was on Damien, tackling him with a force that sent them both crashing through the wall and into the next room.
Splinters and debris exploded outward as Damien grunted as he rolled over so that she was under him,
Her eyes glowed white as she locked her legs around his hips with an iron grip,
"Let go of me!" He growled as he sent a punch flying to her face,
She blocked it with her forearm and knocked his fist away, as her legs tensed up, trying to turn him over,
"Damn it, bitch, I said let go!" He yelled as he sent a fist wrapped in shadows flying towards her face, splitting her bottom lip,
"What the fuck?" He whispered as he watched golden blood flowed out of the cut,
She parried and grabbed the collar of his shirt, pulling him closer as she retaliated with a powerful punch that knocked the wind out of his lungs,
Sending him flying off her body,
Damien chuckled as the shadows formed a soft barrier to prevent him from hitting the wall before lifting him back on his feet,
Charlotte staggered and swayed as she stood shakily on her two feet,
Her head was down and her hair was messy yet floating in the air as every strand glowed,
"Give it up, idiot, you'll kill yourself" Damien whispered,
At his words, she suddenly stopped swaying,
Her hand lit up, glowing like molten gold just, the only thing Damien saw before she vanished was a creepy smile,
Driving her fist into his ribs as she suddenly appeared in front of him as she whispered;
"Die"
Damien gasped, letting out a sharp exhale of pain as his eyes widened from the impact,
But before she could strike again, shadows surged around his arm,
A tendril of darkness wrapped around her wrist and yanked her backwards, tossing her away like a ragdoll.
Charlie gritted her teeth, and flipped twice mid-air, regaining her footing as soon as her feet hit the ground,
She lashed out with a burst of kinetic force, tearing a chunk of the floor apart before throwing it at him like a discus,
Damien barely dodged in time.
The debris exploded behind him, embedding itself into the walls like shrapnel.
He twisted his fingers, and dozens of shadowy blades formed around him, forming jagged, inky spears aimed directly at her.
"You're still holding back," he smiled, in a voice that was both dark and low.
Charlie's breathing was ragged, but her eyes burned like wildfire.
"I won't need to." came her whispered reply,
She took in a deep breath and clapped her hands together, and a pulse of golden light rippled outward.
For a split second, the shadows flickered,
Damien's constructs winked out of existence as her energy disrupted them.
Then she shot forward, leaving a cracked indent in the spot she stood on before.
Her knee slammed into his stomach and Damien almost doubled over with a sharp grunt,
But he caught himself fast and his foot hooked behind hers, sweeping her leg out from under her,
She fell, but instead of hitting the ground, she twisted and floated herself mid-air.
With a snarl, she turned her leg and sent a roundhouse kick to the side of his head as she followed it with a thrust of her palm,
A golden blast erupted from her hand.
Damien dodged, the heat of the attack singeing past his cheek.
But before she could fire another, his hand shot out and a rope of shadows wrapped around her ankle,
Yanking her to the side so that she hit the wall hard and the impact cracked the plaster.
Roman's heart hammered as he stumbled back, his breath ragged as he realized.
They weren't stopping.
This wasn't an argument anymore.
This was war.
"Guys, stop—" He whispered in a strangled voice, trying to survive in the cloud of dust they were raising,
They weren't listening.
Charlie lunged again, and Damien countered, their contrasting powers colliding in the air.
The entire building shuddered and there was a brief silence,
A chunk of rubble collapsed downward, heading straight for him,
Roman barely twisted out of the way, as a jagged piece of debris slammed into his side.
Pain exploded through his ribs, knocking the breath from his lungs as he hit the ground.
For a split second, the fight paused.
Charlie and Damien both turned, eyes flickering toward him.
The one of light glowed white and the other was an abyss of darkness, neither reflecting compassion nor awareness.
Roman gasped, pressing a hand to his side that suddenly throbbed, when he raised his shaky fingers, they were wet and colored red,
With blood,
His blood,
Roman sucked in a shaky breath, forcing his other arm to push against the cracked floor beneath him.
Every nerve in his body screamed in protest.
His ribs ached, his ears rang, and his skin burned from the shockwaves tearing through the apartment.
He looked up, Charlie and Damien had returned their attention to where it was before,
On each other.
Charlie's golden light pulsed with raw fury as her power scorched lines of fire into the wall,
Her eyes blazing with disdain as she hovered midair,
Damien stood below her, with him, a black hole of twisting shadows, gravity warping the very air around him as he stood his ground defensively.
They weren't just fighting.
They were trying to destroy each other.
Roman clenched his fists as he yelled,
"Stop it!" But his voice barely carried over the sound of the next explosion.
They didn't hear him.
They didn't care.
Not right now.
Not in this moment.
Because they were Selenites.
Roman had become the thing they all feared to be when they were still humans.
A Collateral damage.
Fate surely enjoyed playing cruel jokes on humans,
Jokes as ancient as time,
And they never got old or less dangerous.