Andrew decided to approach the old man.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Andrew asked.
"Of course," said the old man.
Andrew found this person strange. His intuition hadn't been failing him lately, and he didn't expect it to fail him now. He really didn't seem like your average old man. But Andrew had no intention of staying here to find out what secrets this man was hiding.
Andrew turned around and went back to what he was doing. Andrew stretched one last time and began to jog.
In the distance, the old man smiled wistfully and spoke to himself.
"I wish you good luck, last child of the defense."
The melancholy grandfather turned around, retrieved his discarded cane, and also left the place.
***
Andrew ran along the sidewalk, breathing heavily. His lips curled up just enough to show his contained pride.
Andrew was happy. His body had become stronger and more resilient, much more so.
In just fifteen minutes, he had tripled his maximum distance by running like a afónic.
Filled with pride, Andrew wanted more. He wanted to keep improving, he wanted to start climbing the ranks and experience the sensations that musicians described in interviews.
Andrew slowed down and sat down on a park bench. He took a deep breath, regaining his usual rhythm.
"Okay, let's try it."
Andrew stood up and checked that no one was around. When he was sure, Andrew raised one arm and pointed it forward. He began to sing an old attack song he had learned. He tried for a long time until he gave up. He was doing something wrong.
"Am I defective?"
Andrew wasn't quite sure what the problem was. His power had to be activated somehow. Andrew tried several different songs, and with some, his musical energy flowed slightly, but it didn't come through. Andrew kept trying for a while until, when singing a basic healing melody, his musical energy flowed faster than usual.
"Oh..."
Andrew thought of the huge green pentagon that had protected him from that melody creature in Nadira. Was his power based on protection? He wondered.
Now, he had another big question.
"Where did he get defensive songs?!"
The doubts and problems only grew. From what Andrew had studied, defensive songs did not exist. Supportive or defensive melodies were forgotten over the years, as humanity sought and craved offense. Andrew didn't find the reason for this very logical. But that's how it was.
Andrew looked at his hands. They were average size, calloused and weathered from years of work. Andrew had always been a hard worker, but now his experience was useless. He didn't know what to do. The only thing he could think of was to try another mission. Something that would give him that spark back. He knew that if he faced another life-or-death moment, his power would awaken. He was almost certain of it.
Andrew got up from the bench and walked home slowly, feeling like taking a stroll.
As he walked home, several people were opening their shops, lifting shutters, and unlocking padlocks.
It was already 6:00 a.m., and workers were getting up. Andrew passed a woman carrying a handcart with boxes. One of them was open, revealing vacuum-packed meat. Andrew smiled; he liked hard-working people.
"I wish it had always been this way."
Andrew was seventeen years old and had quite a bit of experience in various jobs. But this hadn't started long ago. Andrew started working at fifteen when he understood how hard his mother worked to put food on the table. His brother, Osiel, didn't usually come home, and he only sent money every three months. Although it was quite a lot, it wasn't enough.
His brother had abandoned them four years ago, and Andrew missed the days when Osiel was there for them.
Andrew pinched his arm, forcing himself to think about the present.
Andrew walked among the people, most of whom were already leaving their homes. Andrew sighed with relief. He liked this time of day.
***
When he got home, Andrew went up to his room to get ready to go out. As he did so, Andrew was checking his clothes drawers and accidentally dropped the iron on his foot. Andrew screamed in pain instantly, without thinking about whether it hurt or not. When he realized that it hadn't actually hurt at all, Andrew looked at his foot and saw a small green pentagon floating above it, protecting it from the impact.
"What the hell?"
Then Andrew understood something: this power was different from that of all other people. It seemed to be entirely focused on protecting the user. His musical energy only responded to defense, so the only way to develop it and learn to control it was to expose himself to danger, or at least that was the solution Andrew thought of at the time.
Andrew went down the stairs of his house wearing a leather jacket. When he reached the first floor, he saw a shelf of thread that was almost empty, where a woman was buying thread. It seemed that these specific threads were in high demand.
"I'll be back in the evening, Mom."
Andrew said goodbye to his mother before leaving the house.
"Don't be late!"
she replied. Andrew left the fabric store and was instantly overwhelmed by the sounds of cars, people's footsteps, car horns, and city advertisements. Something had changed. His perception of the world was changing. His senses were becoming more acute.
"Oh God..."
Andrew staggered, dizzy, his entire perception of the world changing, colors looking more vivid, sounds more acute, smells... The smells were unbearable.
Andrew could smell the sweat of a small child at the speech therapy academy, at least two kilometers away. His sense of taste was also changing, but Andrew hadn't paid much attention to it. His sense of touch hadn't been left out, but the improvement seemed to be to a lesser extent.
Andrew wiped the sweat from his forehead; he was very tired. His brain was working twice as hard to analyze every piece of information his enhanced senses were giving him.
His mind threatened to break. Andrew opened the door to the silk shop and staggered inside. He could hear the distant voices of two women, it seemed, but he was so disoriented that just standing up was an enormous effort.
Andrew climbed the stairs and before reaching the second floor, he completely lost strength in his body and fell down the stairs. His brain couldn't take it anymore. Andrew's sleepy body fell down the stairs, his mother screamed in fear. Before he hit the ground, a green pentagon appeared floating and held Andrew, when it stopped the impact, it disappeared instantly.
Thankfully, Andrew's mother didn't notice this.
Andrew got up, bewildered, and looked at his mother. Andrew's body was changing too quickly. He had to understand what was happening.
"Honey! Are you okay? What happened to you?"
Andrew cleared his throat. For him, this was a little embarrassing.
"I'm fine, Mom, I just slipped. Don't worry."
Andrew stood up and left the silk shop again. As he stepped outside, all the sensations came flooding back, but this time, Andrew was mentally prepared. Andrew walked through the crowd, able to smell and hear everything they said.
Andrew had to find out if this was normal or if it had been caused by his abnormal awakening. Andrew quickened his pace, heading for the city library. As he walked, almost jogging, the rain began to fall. Andrew stifled a cry. He could feel every drop of water hitting the ground.
His senses were too sharp, and Andrew didn't know how to control them. Andrew saw the large library in the distance and ran towards it. He stopped caring about the paths and ran across the lawn. When he reached the large doors, he knocked on them, trying to get someone's attention to open them. Andrew waited a minute until someone opened the door. It was a pale man with very long blond hair and bangs that reached his neck.
The man looked indifferently at Andrew and stepped aside to let him pass. Andrew walked through while keeping an eye on the man. Once inside, the man offered him a towel, and Andrew accepted it gratefully.
"Thank you?"
The long-haired man did not respond and returned to his old wooden chair to wait for other library visitors.
Andrew ignored this strange experience and walked over to the "Musicians' Classes" section.
There, he read every damn book, looking for something that would answer his questions.
"The offensive in music, no. Musical swords, no. Improvements for instruments, no!"
The more he searched for a book that would answer his questions, the more questions arose. As Andrew searched through a group of books larger than usual, he bumped into someone who was looking in the same area.
"Oh, I'm sorry..."
Andrew said, cutting off his apology before he could finish, surprised. A woman of the same height as him looked him in the eye indifferently. Her ebony black eyes seemed to sparkle with curiosity. Her beautiful, well-groomed ash-colored hair, her elegant body, and the clothes that perfectly matched her figure were enough to make Andrew take a step back.
"Don't worry,"
she said as she picked up the book Andrew was interested in. The woman turned around and left. Andrew stood there with his mouth slightly open. There was something about this woman's features that had awakened something Andrew had locked away deep in his mind.
"She was identical to Adele..."
Andrew thought for a moment. He had no idea about Adele's life; maybe she was one of her sisters, or maybe a cousin. He had no idea, but right now he didn't want any more trouble. Andrew set out to continue his search.
Andrew continued reading and walking through the aisles until he found two promising books. Andrew sat down at one of the tables in the library and dropped the two books.
Andrew looked closely at the first and largest of the two.
"The Nadira and its division of Classes."
Andrew had high hopes for this one. Hopes that vanished twenty minutes later.
Andrew closed the book and sighed.
"Did I just waste twenty minutes of my life reading about a topic I learned in middle school?"
Andrew put the book aside and picked up the second one.
"Defensive Arts, Ancient Class Division."
This was the one he had the most faith in. Andrew opened it and began to read. At first, the book only mentioned general cultural topics. How musicians had adapted to the passage of history on the offensive, each passing year, musicians sought more attack, they didn't want to just defend themselves against musical creatures.
Andrew was falling asleep, even drooling. But something woke him up with a start, and Andrew's eyes sparkled with hope. While reading about old arts and ancient letters, he found an interesting mention.
"Therefore, when the omega song was born, thanks to the birth of supremacy, the defensive class vanished from the cosmos."
The book had strayed from its main purpose and now talked about history found in Nadira runes. No one knew if these Nadira stories were real. To Andrew, they sounded like madness that he would never take seriously.
Returning to his discovery, Andrew smiled. He had found a clue. At least now he knew that there had been others like him, and perhaps now he was the last of his kind.
Andrew closed the book and leaned back in the wooden chair with a sigh. Then someone tapped his right shoulder, trying to get his attention. Andrew looked to his right and saw the dark-eyed woman looking at him.
"Can I have that book?"
she asked, looking directly at the book Andrew had just closed. Andrew watched her for a moment, putting his nerves aside. She was strange. Andrew took the book and handed it to her.
"Sure."
The woman simply nodded silently and returned to her table to continue enjoying her reading.
"This world is getting crazier and crazier."
Or maybe it was just Andrew's world that was changing. Andrew leaned on the table with the palm of his hand and stood up, walked out of the library, and looked up at the rainy sky. His senses seemed to have calmed down, or maybe Andrew had just gotten used to it. Andrew looked up at the sky with a frown.
"Someday."
Andrew dreamed of the day when he could touch the huge, grandiose, dark rain clouds.
It was a dream born from an old story his mother used to tell him when he was a child.
Andrew walked along the wet pavement in downtown Maderiú, feeling melancholic. His thoughts and doubts were mixed, but even so, one thing was very clear to him. He was going to achieve it. Now that he was capable, he wasn't going to give up easily.
Andrew looked confidently at the sky before being bumped and knocked over by someone. Andrew got up and saw the girl he had bumped into at the library. She was wet from the rain and carrying several books; she seemed to be in a hurry.
"Oh, I'm sorry."
The girl apologized as she picked up her books. Andrew rolled his eyes.
"These people..."
"Just be careful."
Andrew said curtly and walked away. He wasn't going to help someone who had pushed him twice. And the further Andrew walked away, the more remorse he felt for not helping that girl. That remorse obviously vanished instantly. Andrew looked behind his jacket and ripped off the tracker. The woman had put it on him when they collided.
"Do they think I'm an idiot?"
They were hunting him.