In the morning, silence hung heavy in the living room, a fragile thread snapped by Joel's question. "So, what do you usually do with your powers?"
Mira answered, her voice smooth yet edged with a hint of something darker, "I typically generate lightning and shoot it, or surround myself with it for defense."
"What's your lightning color?" Joel pressed, curiosity glinting in his eyes.
"Purple," Mira replied, a smirk playing on her lips.
Joel raised a brow, a flicker of something unreadable crossing his face. "Nice. Purple lightning usually means high power and unstable, but it's powerful, so it's not bad." He moved closer to the couch. "And what do you do with it?"
Owen blinked, confusion clouding his features. "You talking to me?"
"Yeah," Joel replied, chuckling.
"I usually use it to propel myself into the air or boost my speed. But when it comes to attacking, I prefer using fireballs. Also, my name is Owen," Owen replied.
"That's not bad," Joel replied with a smirk.
Joel probed, dissecting their capabilities, searching for weaknesses to fortify and strengths to hone. He needed to know how they broke, where they bled.
"Alright, guys, come on." Hiro's voice cut through the air, sharp and laced with warning. "There's a training area somewhere in the city where everyone goes to practice fighting, or their control over their curses if we're being specific. And don't be idiots and hurt someone badly though."
Irene rolled her eyes, a silent promise of defiance. Owen shrugged, indifferent to potential consequences. They set out on their trek to the training area. As they walked Crystal closed her eyes for a second. "There are four people up ahead on the left. Two cops, one civilian, and a kid. Humidity shifts when they move."
Owen raised a brow. "How the hell?? Can you.. see that?"
"Not see. Feel the moisture. It outlines stuff it's an ice manipulator thing you wouldn't get it," she said casually as they made their way to the training area on foot. A man materialized before them, blocking Joel's path.
"Come to church and worship the god who gifted us these abilities! Here's an invitation! You can bring anyone with you."
Everyone stared at him in silence. "Sure, I'll take it," Joel said.
The man smiled, then walked away happy, thinking he had recruited another worshipper of these "gifts." They continued walking. As they did, Mira and Alec, behind the rest of the group, saw telekinesis users doing construction work and a lightning user as cops tased a criminal. It was a female lightning user; she looked familiar to Mira. "Is that..." Mira muttered.
Alec stared at Mira. "Mira, you're staring too hard. Are you good?" Alec said with concern in his voice.
Mira faced the front again. "It's nothing," Mira said with an uncertain tone in her voice. They continued to walk on the sidewalk.
"We're here," Joel announced, a disturbing excitement in his voice, as they walked near the entrance of the training zone.
"Stop right there," the security guard barked. "What are your guys' ability classes? It's important to en-"
"We have Raw energy, manipulation, enhancement," Joel spat, impatience hardening his features.
"You may enter," the guards said, with a slight, irritated tone in their voices from being cut off.
"Well, this is it!" Joel said with excitement in his voice.
"Watch other fights and learn," Hiro muttered.
Owen, Mira, Irene, and Alec scanned their surroundings, their eyes landing on a match between two ice manipulators. The sounds of fighting echoed faintly.
"They have the same power as me!" Crystal exclaimed, a disturbing glint in her eyes.
Alec stared at Crystal. "Yeah, but why does it look like they can only summon ice shards?" Alec said with curiosity.
"Well, they are younger than us; younger than me. They most likely are here to train and learn to do more."
Alec stared back at the fight. Both ice users had bleeding noses; the drawbacks were already kicking in. One tried to summon ice spikes. It worked, but he coughed up blood and passed out. The fight had a clear winner.
"This is what happens when you only focus on power and not control, so this is why we're here today these curses can do good and bad mostly bad but if you don't have control advanced moves will drain you hella fast," Hiro said.
"Damn, it was never like this for me when I first started training; I only get nosebleeds," Owen said.
Mira stared. "The side effects are different for everyone, plus they're younger so-," Mira started to say
A sudden BOOM cut her off.
Every head turned towards the epicenter. A chunk of the training area's back wall was reduced to rubble, the floor spiderwebbed with cracks. A teenage enhancement-type stood amidst the destruction, his body trembling uncontrollably, blood trickling from his nose and mouth as two supervisors rushed to restrain him.
Hiro whistled, a morbid appreciation in his tone.
"See that?" Hiro said. "Overuse. No control. He probably thinks he's getting stronger, but he's just splitting his lifespan in half."
Crystal frowned, a flicker of disgust in her eyes. "Why do they even let kids train with no guidance?"
Joel crossed his arms, his gaze cold. "They don't care. Power is what the entire world centers around. Makes them money. They only step in when someone's about to die, and even then, it depends who's watching."
Owen made a face. "So this is basically.. an area where you train to work then die later on?"
"Pretty much," Hiro said.
Irene pointed towards a different section across the arena. "Look. That girl is actually doing it right I think."
A woman stood in perfect equilibrium, a swirling vortex of flames dancing around her wrist: no stray sparks, no scorched flesh, just precise, controlled power. With a snap of her fingers, the flames spiraled skyward before vanishing completely.
"See that?" Joel said. "That's discipline. Someone taught her, or she almost passed out enough times to figure it out but she most likely had the best teachers."
Mira tracked her movements, a chilling focus in her eyes. "We need that. All of us. If we go after Phoenix again or they come after us, and we don't learn new tech or control we're just running into a fight we can't win."
"I already said that," Hiro muttered.
Alec looked around. "So what now? Do we watch or start training right away?"
Joel smirked, a predatory gleam in his eyes. "Both. You're gonna learn by trying. And failing. And bleeding, probably."
Owen sighed. "That's… encouraging just get this started." They ventured deeper into the facility, past training rings echoing with violence, past medical stations where enhancement-types desperately mended shattered bodies.
Crystal nudged Alec, her voice barely a whisper. "You ever notice people here don't scream when they collapse? They're just used to it."
Alec nodded, a worrisome realization dawning on him. "That's not normal."
"Nothing about our world is," Joel replied without looking back like actually.
Mira stopped walking. "I want to see the lightning section."
"There isn't a section just for lightning," Hiro said, "but there's a corner where most energy users practice, and lightning or electricity is a form of energy. Follow the smell of burnt concrete." The back left quadrant crackled with raw power, flashes of red and orange illuminating the grim scene. Some struggled to conjure even the smallest spark, while others unleashed uncontrolled streams of lightning at battered targets.
Mira watched a man attempt to surround himself with lightning, only to be thrown to his knees, convulsing. "They don't even know how to keep it stable," she muttered.
"That's why you're here," Joel said. "To learn how not to end up like that."
Irene walks near Mira. "I'll start there."
Crystal pointed at a sparring ring. "I wanna test reflex with ice. Joel, spot me?"
He shrugged. "Alright."
Alec glanced at Hiro. "What about me?"
Hiro stares at Alec. "Telekinesis users train on the upper platforms. I'll take you."
Owen stood awkwardly, hands in his pockets. "And I just… pick a fire corner or what?"
Joel paused before walking off. "Nah. You're with me first. You use fire horribly hearing you talk about the way you use it is enough to make me think that. We fix that before you burn your own lungs out."
Owen blinked. "Well, you didn't have to say it like that."
Mira didn't move. She stared at the lightning users again, her voice low. "Before we split up, one thing."
Everyone looked back.
She said, "No more going into fights half-prepared. We train like this is life or death because next time, it will be, we need to be prepared."
Joel nodded once. "That's the idea."
Hiro stepped forward. "You all get thirty minutes of warm-up. After that, we see what you really got. Don't hold back. Don't collapse. And don't embarrass yourselves."
Crystal grinned. "Too late for that."
Irene rolled her eyes. "You talk a lot for someone who probably bleeds from freezing a paper cut."
"Keep talking and I'll freeze your entire body trapping you in an eternal rest," Crystal says with a sassy tone.
Alec smirked. Owen laughed under his breath. Mira giggled a bit, then she finally moved.
They split into their stations.
The cacophony of clashing abilities, desperate shouts, and violent impacts filled the air. The air smelled like ozone, burnt flesh, and fear.
Purple lightning coils around my wrist, steady now.
Seventeen.
I'm seventeen years old.
My parents never made it past thirty-seven.
They were twenty-five when they had me. Too young, everyone said. Too reckless. Too hopeful.
They died on November 6th, 2023.
I was twelve.
The date doesn't fade. It doesn't blur. It doesn't soften.
It sits in my head like it's carved there.
People say time heals.
Time makes the math crueler.
Every year I get older, they don't.
They stay thirty-seven forever.
I'll turn eighteen next year.
Then nineteen.
Then twenty.
One day, I'll be older than they ever were.
And that thought feels wrong.
Lightning flickers brighter at my fingertips.
I remember the hospital lights reflecting off the metal railings. I remember someone saying "accident." I also remember adults speaking at such a low volume that it was almost impossible for me to hear them.
As a child, I remember feeling small and insignificant.
Afterward, I never felt like I was small again.
My lightning changed colors that year, and that's when I noticed the change.
There was a time when it was pale blue in color.
On or after November 6th,
As a result of my training, my lightning turned purple.
Very powerful.
Violent.
I became Hungry for power.
Phoenix took my parents.
Ever since then, to me, they are the living symbolism for everything wrong.
My parents are locked at thirty-seven.
I'm not letting that happen to me.
Im Seventeen.
And still here.
Still growing.
Still training.
I'm not done yet, I have a few more things to do.
Across the arena, an Enhancement-type slams into a shock wall. The impact shakes dust loose from the rafters. Cheers erupt. The monitors flash muscle output percentages.
My name is Alec
Enhancement looks simple to many people.
Punch harder. Move faster. Heal quicker.
But I have seen the outcome of using our powers— things will go wrong, it's simply fate.
Our powers are always fated to kill us, That's the science of it, it shortens our life span. Mira thinks Phoenix is the issue, she's wrong, things have never been peaceful for us, the world. Our country has always had conflicts with other countries. Apparently, we got caught trying to make some type of device to destroy them and it ended with them finding out.
Ever since then things have been getting worse and worse for us.
Phoenix is just another fire in a world already burning. Peace is nothing but a dream. We were tangled in conflicts, economic, political, and territorial. Then came the rumors about the device. Something built in secret. Something powerful enough to "end wars before they began."
They found out.
The enemies found out.
And ever since then, everything has been escalating.
Then we have them, and their plan.
Joel thinks this is the solution.
Hiro thinks it's prevention.
Crystal thinks it's mercy.
Remove the powers from the world. End the cycle. Stop the slow death, remove the power we all call "gifts."
They talk about it like it's possible. Like they are just a virus you can isolate and burn out.
But they don't ask the question that keeps circling in my head.
These powers came from someone.
From a man.
From a source.
People call him a god because it's easier than admitting we don't understand him.
So what's stopping that "god" from stopping us?
If Joel and Hiro are trying to undo something divine… what makes them think they won't get swatted down like insects interfering with something cosmic?
You don't dismantle a hurricane with a hammer.
You don't unplug a star.
And if this man really did gift—or curse—the world with abilities… then removing them isn't just rebellion.
It's blasphemy.
The thought should scare me more than it does.
Instead, it sharpens something inside my chest.
If the source exists, then there's only one real solution.
Elimination.
We'd have to kill a god.
But here's the part no one says out loud.
I don't think gods die the way we do.
I've heard this many times from my parents while being forced pray. Energy cannot be destroyed—only transformed, so fighting against a god is useless in the end.
Joel wants to remove powers.
Hiro wants balance.
Crystal wants safety.
Mira wants revenge.
And me?
I want to understand the world and survive but other than that i don't know.
Because if we aim at something divine and miss. Or worse, if we hit it. Then there may not be a world left to fix.