I kept my hand stuffed into my hoodie pocket as I walked through the streets. Until now they were empty, but since the rain cleared up, people had started to come out. Some street-lights flickered as they turned on. People whispered and talked to each other.
There were puddles everywhere, reflecting the sky, now slowly clearing. The storm had ended as soon as I had found the crystal, or more accurately, as soon as the crystal found me. I still didn't understand where the crystal came from, or why it turned into this glove.
Speaking of the glove, it wouldn't come off no matter what I tried. I tried tugging at it again, but it wouldn't budge. I looked at it. The lightning bolt symbol on the back was now much fainter, almost invisible, but I could still just about make it out. It was like it was asleep now. This day was so weird. It was supposed to be a normal junkyard trip, just like everyday. But instead, I got fused with this weird crystal glove thingy. I shook my head. I needed to get back to my 'house' to properly think about it.
I stuffed my hand back into my pocket. Just then, I heard some whispers followed by laughter. Not those guys again...
"Hey Storm, nice glove! Pretending to be a hero again?" The kid named Brenn, the leader of the group, yelled. "I bet he stole it, junkyard freak's always looking in trashcans, like a racoon." One of his goons added.
I tried to ignore them. I continued walking, holding myself back. Then again, it wasn't like I could do much to them anyway. Unlike me, they were actually born with good gifts.
However, they started following me. They tried everything to get me to react. They pushed me, tried to trip me, and even grabbed at my arm. I wasn't going to let them see my glove. I didn't know why, but I had a feeling this was better kept as a secret. I tried hard not to fight back. If I did, they would get what they wanted, a reaction. Then, they would spin the tale so that I was the bad guy, and of course everybody would believe the guy with telekinetic powers over the useless kid.
I tried my absolute hardest to control myself, but just as Brenn was about to try and grab my arm one more time, someone yelled at them to buzz off. They got scared, because they were cowards, and ran away, completely forgetting about me. But I wasn't going to stick around either. The person didn't help me, she just wanted the loud, annoying teenagers to be gone, and in her eyes, I was one of them.
And so, I sneaked away too, in the opposite direction Brenn and his gang were going. I continued walking at a fast pace and turned the corner. There were a lot less people here. I continued walking down the street and stopped in front of a run-down house. I opened the door and went inside.
This house was all that the island had ever done for me, before my gift appeared. I don't know the whole story, but apparently my parents died when I was really young, and the island decided to let me fend for myself. Once I turned 18, I was supposed to leave this place too. Little did they know, I was going to leave a lot earlier than that.
The inside of the house was similar to the outside, run-down and abandoned. Of course, no one cared enough to maintain this place and that included me too. I only really slept here. There was a single room in the house, which had a bed, a chair, a table and a fridge. The fridge never had much in it. The only way I got any money was by barely being able to sell stuff that I made using scraps from the junkyard.
One time I made this vacuum machine that would make cleaning dust up a lot easier. It took me a lot of time to design it and make it, but in the end it only sold for a few gold coins, just enough for me to buy some bread and milk. At this point, you can tell the kind of life I had: difficult and miserable.
I felt trapped on this island. I didn't feel like I belonged. It didn't seem like anyone liked me or would care if I left, so why shouldn't I? I would be the first person to leave this island.
I sat down on the bed. It creaked and sagged down a bit. The sooner I left, the better. Fortunately, it seemed like my luck was finally turning. I might be able to get out in a couple of days.
I looked down at my glove. It felt unreal, it was so light it felt like nothing was there, almost like a second skin. I also had to admit, it looked pretty cool. It would be difficult to hide a glove, but now that the patterns and symbols had almost completely faded, it looked like a regular black glove. I felt a weird sort of energy coming from the glove. It was faint, but I could feel it pulsing energy. And that energy was slowly travelling throughout my whole body. This glove was slowly changing something in me.
Suddenly I heard a strong knock on the door. "Hey, Storm, come out, we just want to have a little chat!"
I grit my teeth. It was Brenn again. He definitely brought a lot more goons for this, and no one was going to save me this time. My mind raced.
I needed to find some solution to get these kids off my back right now. Maybe I had some scraps lying around here somewhere. I looked around the room, under tables and chairs, and found some parts that must have fallen out of my pockets some other time.
I checked my pockets too when I thought about that. Some more parts. Instantly I saw an imaginary blueprint in front of me. The parts connected like a puzzle. I could make a sort of blaster that would send out a ring of air strong enough to blow them back.
I quickly got to work. Brenn was getting restless outside. "We know you're in there! Come out now and we won't hurt you!" He yelled as he knocked harder. That was definitely a lie.
I fit the trigger into the handle, screwed the fan at the back and attached the barrel to the front. I pointed it. It would work, but not for long.
"Fine, don't say I didn't warn you!" Brenn said from the other side of the door, and I could hear the rest of the kids shuffling away from the door. Suddenly, the door was kicked down by Brenn. The door was old, so that made sense.
"What do you want, Brenn?" I said, hiding the blaster behind my back. The rest of his goons stood around him, smiling evilly.
"I want that glove. It wasn't yours anyway. We know you stole it." He said, reaching his hand out as if it was actually going to give him the glove that easily. "You're outnumbered, so give up and make this easy for me. Please, i don't want to hurt you." He seemed genuinely sincere when he said that.
"You're stupider than you look if you actually think I'll give it to you." I said, slowly revealing the blaster from behind my back. I still didn't trust him.
"How dare you!? Everyone, get him!" He yelled in anger before everyone charged forward, about to activate their gifts.
I raised my blaster and shot it at the one in the front. A ring of white condensed air flew from the barrel and hit him in the face, knocking him back towards 2 others as they all fell down. I blew on the top of the barrel like in the movies. It would overheat if I did too many shots at once.
I shot air bullets at every single goon that charged forward. Some got scared and ran off. A guy with fire powers was about to shoot a fireball at me, but the air bullet went straight through it and hit him in the face too. It was mayhem. So many kids were using their gifts to get close to me, and I was slowly getting overwhelmed.
However, the house couldn't take that much power at once, and it slowly started creaking.
"Stop, the house is falling!" I yelled, trying to make them understand, but they weren't listening. However, Brenn seemed to hesitate for a second, the box he was throwing at me using telekinesis stopping mid-air. For the first time, I saw that maybe Brenn wasn't as bad as the rest of them. Now that I thought about it, Brenn had helped me, a long time ago.
The house was going to collapse any second now, and I decided that the goons had sealed their own fate. I couldn't help them, but I looked at Brenn and he looked at me, and a silent understanding passed between us. I wasn't going to delay my escape any longer. I shot a blast at the window and dived out of it, shooting at the roof before I went out.
The house couldn't take it anymore and the roof collapsed on them. The blaster had short-circuited after the last blast. I tapped it desperately to make it work. It had been so helpful. Nothing. Frustratingly I threw it away. I looked back at my house. I definitely couldn't stay there anymore, and the town was definitely going to blame me for this. I hid behind a fence as I saw Brenn and his goons climbing out of the rubble. They were fine, mostly, just some bruises and scratches. I figured Brenn had used his gift to actually do something, the first time anyone with a good gift had. I was about to leave, since now I knew they were fine and I didn't just murder some people, but Brenn and my eyes locked together.
He saw me and I saw him. I thought for sure that Brenn was going to send his goons after me, but surprisingly, he just nodded subtly and walked away. I nodded back to him.
For whatever reason, Brenn had decided he was going to leave me alone after so long of chasing me. It seemed like so much was changing in my life. And it all happened after the shard showed up.
I thought back to my vision. In it, I saw 6 more shards, similar to this one. "Seven Shards, One Storm." Storm was my last name. Maybe...maybe i was connected to these shards in some way. I didn't know why, but I had a feeling that I needed to find the rest of the shards. I had a feeling it was connected to the truth of the past, before the Shatter. No one knows anything about the Pre-Shatter Era. I decided I was going to find out. Maybe, I could even find out about my own past. I looked at the glove, and it pulsed, just once. It really did seem connected to me now.
I walked back to the junkyard, staying out sight by hiding behind fences, lamp posts, and trashcans. Whatever Brenn thought of me right now, the other kids would still blame me. And the town would certainly want the one who destroyed the house. It was best for me to hide in my shack and sleep there. I had done that before, so it was no big deal.
Before I went to the junkyard, I needed some supplies. If I was really going to be travelling soon, which I was, then I needed food and other supplies to survive. I was going to go into uncharted territory, so I needed to be prepared. Fortunately, the shopkeeper hadn't heard what had happened yet. I used up almost all of my life-savings. I figured that the other islands wouldn't accept our coins, so I spent nearly everything I could. But I did keep some, just in case.
I bought enough food to last me 3 weeks. I didn't know where the nearest island was, but I had a feeling it was far. I bought some new tools since my old ones were quite damaged. I needed them to finish my project and fix whatever I needed to. I also bought a couple of empty books, and a lot of parchment too. I wanted to map my way, and journal my findings and whatnot.
Finally, after I got what I needed, I hurried away before word reached the shopkeeper's ears, or anyone's ears for that matter.
I climbed into the junkyard through the hole in the fence and continued on the regular path. However, this time I messed up the path on purpose. Everybody knew I came to the junkyard often, so it would be the first place they'd check. I continued to do this until I got to Buddy, the robot I passed everyday.
"I'm sorry Buddy, I wish I could take you with me." However, I had an idea. I reached out and gently plucked Buddy's head off his shoulders. I was going to build him a new body. I would fix him on the journey. I carried him and my supplies with me to my shack.
I couldn't waste much time. Tomorrow morning I had to leave, and so I needed to finish my project now. It was the thing that would get me out of here.
I set Buddy and the supplies down on the table before I walked over to the corner of the room. There was a cloth draped over something, and I pulled it off. It was a pedestal with a button. I pressed it.
Suddenly, the whole wall shook. Then, it shook again. After that, it slowly slid to the right.
"It took so, so long..."
Behind the wall, there was an open courtyard, and at the edge, there was nothing, no fence, no wall. This was where the island ended, and after this, nothing but the open sky. A nice cool breeze was blowing. My hair was waving in the wind.
"But it's finally done."
In front of me, in the courtyard, was a big ship. I had seen a picture of it in a book, and ever since I had endeavored to make it. The ship was a bit bigger than my house. I grabbed the ship wheel that I had found earlier, and climbed on top of the ship. It was dark now, so I certainly wasn't going to leave now, but in the morning, I would.
On top of the ship, I could see the rest of the island of Dravern Reach. It was quite a small island, but it was all that I ever knew. Of course, I hated the place. I had so many bad memories there. But there were some good ones, and of course, I was still going to miss it.
I turned around, and at the top of the deck, a small room with windows could be seen. I walked up to it and entered it. This was the main control deck of the ship. I sat down in the chair and fit the wheel into the middle of the control deck. Now, it was done. I got up. It was best to start packing.
I grabbed everything in my shack. The small projects on the shelves, the many diagrams and blueprints that I had hung on the wall, the furniture that I had made myself, the supplies, and of course, Buddy.
I looked at my glove again. It was still asleep.
I had a weird feeling. It was like the hairs on the back of my neck were standing up. The only way I could describe it was that it felt like I was being watched. I looked around, but no one was there.
I thought I saw a shadow passing over the ship. I brushed it off as my imagination.
But I knew I wasn't alone.
Reluctantly, I fell asleep. Tomorrow was going to be a hell of a day.