The storm from last night had left the city washed in silver. Rainwater still clung to the balcony rails outside Alaric's apartment, dripping rhythmically into the alley below. Inside, the faint scent of burnt ozone still hung in the air—a reminder of the previous night's chaos.
Evan sat cross-legged on the floor, hair messy, surrounded by open notebooks, scribbled equations, and coffee cups that had gone cold hours ago. His face was lit by the soft blue glow of his laptop screen, where waveforms and calculations danced like restless ghosts.
Alaric leaned against the wall, exhaustion heavy in his eyes but the golden veins under his skin pulsing faintly with each heartbeat. "You've been staring at that screen for two hours," he said finally. "You gonna tell me what you're doing, or are we just waiting for another blackout?"
Evan didn't look up. "Trying to answer your stupid question."
Alaric raised an eyebrow. "Which one?"
Evan exhaled, pushing his glasses up. "The one you asked before everything went haywire. 'If I have the power of electricity, can I move as fast as it?'" He gestured to his notes, frustration and fascination mixing in his voice. "Do you even realize how insane that question is?"
Alaric smirked faintly. "I figured it was worth asking."
Evan turned toward him. "You're talking about moving at the speed of current flow—potentially hundreds of thousands of kilometers per second. Even the idea of it would turn your body into plasma. Friction, resistance, air density, thermal shock—it would vaporize everything."
Alaric crossed his arms. "So it's impossible."
Evan paused. "No," he said finally. "Not impossible. Just… not yet."
That caught Alaric's attention. "Meaning?"
Evan stood and began pacing, muttering under his breath as he flipped through a physics notebook. "Electricity doesn't travel as individual particles—it's a flow of electrons through a conductor. The speed depends on the medium. You can't run that fast because your body still obeys normal molecular physics. Friction acts on the surface, the air resists the motion, heat builds, and—boom—you're a human lightning bolt."
"Not a great ending," Alaric muttered.
Evan ignored him. "But… atoms are different. They're neutral, stable, and not affected by friction the same way charged particles are. Now, ions—those are the charged versions of atoms. When current flows, what actually moves are the charges, not the atoms themselves. Friction barely affects them."
Alaric frowned, trying to follow. "So… if I could become like that—"
"—if you could convert your body into ionized energy or wrap yourself in a field of it," Evan finished, eyes gleaming, "then technically, yes. You could move through conductive paths nearly as fast as electricity itself."
Alaric blinked. "You're serious?"
Evan nodded. "In theory. But in reality, the control needed is ridiculous. You'd need to deconstruct and reassemble your atoms at will, or at least generate a field dense enough to protect you from molecular disintegration."
"That sounds… painful."
"Oh, it would be," Evan said dryly. "You'd be compressing your body's matter into an ion state. The only reason you're even capable of channeling electricity right now is because that Aurion serum changed your cellular structure. It made your cells act as semi-conductors."
Alaric flexed his fingers, feeling the faint hum beneath his skin. "So I'm already halfway there."
Evan gave him a sharp look. "Halfway is still lightyears from turning yourself into lightning."
"But not impossible," Alaric countered, voice calm, eyes burning with quiet determination.
Evan sighed. "You really don't know when to quit, do you?"
"Would you, if you had this?" Alaric asked softly, holding up his hand. The golden arcs flickered between his fingers, lighting the room in brief bursts of brilliance. "It's like something inside me is calling—pushing me to go further."
"Or pushing you to destroy yourself," Evan said flatly. "Power like that doesn't have a manual."
"Then we'll write one."
---
The hours passed in slow rhythm. Evan tested pulse rates, resistance levels, and thermal feedback while Alaric channeled tiny arcs, keeping them steady for longer each time. The hum of energy filled the air like a quiet heartbeat. Occasionally, small lights flickered in the room as the energy spiked.
"Focus," Evan said, watching the readings. "Keep the charge even. No surges."
"Trying," Alaric murmured. Sweat beaded his forehead as golden light spread across his arms. "Feels like… my veins are circuits."
"They are," Evan said. "The serum restructured your bioelectric lattice. That's why you can do this. But to reach that next phase—ionization—you'd need absolute control. No emotion, no distractions. Just… pure flow."
Alaric smirked faintly. "You make it sound like meditation."
"In a way, it is," Evan said, tone serious. "You're not just learning to control energy—you're learning to become it."
For a moment, silence filled the apartment. The air shimmered faintly, like static before a storm. Alaric's eyes unfocused, his breath slowing as he felt the hum beneath his skin deepen. For a split second, the edges of his body flickered—not disappearing, but distorting, as if light itself was bending around him.
Evan's eyes widened. "Stop. Stop right there."
Alaric snapped out of it, gasping. The glow faded.
"What the hell was that?" Evan demanded, heart pounding.
"I… I don't know," Alaric said breathlessly. "I just felt… lighter. Like I was about to—" He hesitated, searching for the word. "—dissolve."
"That's exactly what I mean!" Evan said, running a hand through his hair. "You were starting to ionize your surface layer. You realize what that means?"
Alaric stared at his hands, the faint traces of gold fading. "That it's possible."
Evan's voice lowered. "Barely. And if you push too far, you won't come back. You'll scatter yourself across the air like static dust."
"But if I master it," Alaric said quietly, almost reverently, "I could move at the speed of electricity."
Evan's silence stretched. Finally, he said, "If. That's a big if."
Alaric smiled faintly. "Then that's what I'll learn next."
Evan shook his head, half in disbelief, half in admiration. "You're insane."
"Maybe," Alaric said. "But insanity built every invention worth remembering."
---
They spent the next few hours drafting what Evan reluctantly titled "The Ion Field Hypothesis."
Each page filled with rough diagrams—energy circulation paths, electromagnetic barriers, potential feedback loops. The two of them argued over everything: the density of energy fields, the polarity shift needed to maintain cohesion, even how consciousness would function if the body was partially deconstructed.
By the time dawn began bleeding into the sky again, Alaric was slumped on the couch, exhausted but smiling faintly.
Evan stood by the window, watching the city lights flicker below. "You realize if this works… you wouldn't just be fast. You'd be everywhere. Instantaneous."
"Speed of thought," Alaric murmured, half-asleep. "Maybe faster."
Evan glanced back at him, his tone a mixture of awe and worry. "If you can control your energy to that extent, you'd stop being human, Alaric. You'd be something else."
Alaric's eyes opened slightly, the faint glow in his irises reflecting the morning light. "Maybe that's what they wanted when they created me."
"Or maybe that's what they feared," Evan said quietly.
The room fell silent again, filled only by the quiet buzz of distant power lines outside.
After a long moment, Alaric spoke softly, almost to himself.
"If I can control it—if I really can—then I could move faster than sound, faster than sight… as fast as electricity itself."
Evan turned to him, serious. "Of course not," he said. "You'd burn up instantly. Friction, air pressure—it'd tear you apart before you even took a step."
Alaric smiled faintly. "But you said there's one way."
Evan nodded slowly, stepping closer. "Yeah… one way. If you can truly control your electric field—completely—then you could convert your outer layer into ionized plasma. It would act as a barrier, insulating you from friction, heat, and resistance. You wouldn't be running—you'd be flowing. Through current. Through wires. Through air itself."
He paused, the air humming between them.
"But if you lose control… even for a millisecond… you'll disintegrate."
Alaric's expression didn't waver. "Then I'll just have to make sure I don't."
Evan stared at him for a long moment, then finally sighed, muttering under his breath.
"You're either going to change the world… or burn it down....or burn yourself Down Stupid Bastard."
"I am going home now I'm Tired,What about you. "
"I Am not coming as well....My suspension of over but I'll rest today. "
"See you Tomorrow"
"Bye."
Outside, the first rays of sunlight touched the city skyline. Power lines hummed softly, as if whispering a secret to the boy who could one day become lightning itself.
And as Alaric looked at his hands, a small spark flickered between his fingertips—quiet, steady, and full of promise.