by C. Louis S.
After Kaz left, his family had a long discussion. Mother and Father opposed the idea of Kaz Warwick training Leon, but given Father’s track record of despising Kaz, that was to be expected. Aidan was completely jealous and happy for Leon and fully supported it.
Kali also told them all about the castle in Shiloh and the tree and the fruit and the books. Leon mentioned that eating the fruit had somehow drained all his energy and Kali said the same. She was a lot less concerned about it than Leon was.
When everyone had gone to bed, Leon snuck downstairs and started his training session. At first it wouldn’t happen. The dark wouldn’t come. But then slowly he could feel it seeping in. It crept up his arm and into his nose and mouth. It filled his lungs.
That’s when he ran upstairs. It wasn’t like the other times. There was something menacing and scary about it. It felt alive. It was trying to capture him, take control of him. The thought of being in the basement in the dark by himself made him huddle under his blanket on his bed with a flashlight. The batteries were dead by morning, but he was still shaking.
That day, he continued reading Micaela’s book, Disciple of Light. He came to the part where The Avalon defeats the Grimlock and 1,000 wolves, but the book said it was Cade that defeated them. He was the hero and he used his dark powers to save the town.
Leon tried again that night, thinking of Cade. He thought of himself as the hero. It started to feel like it had used to feel and Leon didn’t feel afraid. He scoffed at himself for being so scared of the dark energy. It wasn’t something scary. He had done it before and it had always felt powerful and good.
With his renewed confidence he was able to use his powers. He began learning to fly, though Kali refused to help him.
After a few days of flying, Leon was sure he could fly all the way to Idumea. Kaz told him to start coming that next Monday for training.
On that first Monday morning, Leon flew through the air like a bullet. It was exhilarating. I’m an aeronaut!
He saw other people flying in different directions several miles away in the sky. In his mind he raced them and pushed himself to fly faster. Looking down he saw little specs appearing and disappearing along the desert floor. It was dumbledores apparating repeatedly. He thought how tedious it must be to travel that way, but he thought that if he got powerful enough, maybe he would be able to teleport right to Idumea from his house.
He also saw long, straight lines being drawn in the sand. It took a moment to realize what it was, but then he realized that it was speeders running through the desert and the lines were the dust they were kicking up behind them. He smiled contently at himself.
I can learn all the powers. I’m going to be the most amazing person on the planet.
And then he flew faster.
He landed in Idumea with a total flight time of about 35 minutes. It was longer than Kaz said, but that just meant that Leon needed to fly faster next time. Faster wasn’t what Leon wanted to think about. He was exhausted. He wanted to tell Kaz that he had had enough training for the day except that that would mean he would need to fly back home.
Before landing Leon had spotted the training facility near the south side of the large city. Instead of flying directly there, he landed on the outskirts and walked. He needed to catch his breath.
Leon frowned. Idumea was not like Shiloh or even Bethel. Trash lined the streets. The paint on buildings was faded and every other building had broken windows. A silence seemed to hang over the whole city like everything was muted.
When he made it to the training facility, he walked to the front and tried the main entrance. A guard stood with his arms folded, frowning just inside the door. He was wearing a dark uniform and an earpiece. Any weapon he had wasn’t visible. Leon wondered what superpower he had that made him fit to be a guard. Super strength? Speed? Teleporting? He didn’t want to find out.
“Are you Leon Torvell?” The man’s voice was a squeaky mouse.
Leon had to try hard to suppress the snort of laughter that was bubbling inside. He simply nodded.
The man spoke on his radio to announce Leon’s arrival.
Another fit of laughter wanted to burst out, but getting on this guard’s bad side was not a good idea. He covered his mouth with the back of his hand and waited while another guard entered from the hallway on the left.
“Follow him.”
Leon managed to get out a thank-you before he turned and followed the new guard. This new guard was dressed as the other, but was much less muscular in the torso. His legs were another story.
Leon was escorted up a gold-plated elevator. The whole facility was so different from the rest of the city. Everything inside was flashy and showy with gold everywhere and bright pictures. It was cold and sterile like a hospital and overly lit. Large TV screens filled whole walls. They showed a continuous stream of highlights of famous games won by the Firebolts.
The guard didn’t say a word to Leon the whole walk. Leon was dying to find out if his voice was the same as the last guard, but he had no such luck.
Leon was dumped off at a big, gold door. The guard entered a code on a keypad to the left and pushed the door ajar before walking back down the hallway the way they came.
Leon continued onward into the room. It was a typical cluttered office. Behind the large executive chair was a wall-sized window and its view was the practice field below. The chair was turned toward the window, but at the sound of Leon approaching, it spun around to reveal Kaz sitting comfortably. He must have been using telekinesis to spin around because he didn’t move his crossed legs or his hands which held up his chin and rested on the arms of the chair.
“See? It’s not that far of a flight, now is it?”
“Well, it will take some getting used to. I was pretty tired.”
“You exaggerate. It will be the easiest part of your training.”
Oh boy. That doesn’t sound good.
“Come to the window, Leon. Have you ever seen the Firebolts play?”
Leon scuttled to the large window. “Just once.”
He stared down at the players. They were all much older than Leon, probably in their twenties. They were sprinting around the edge of the upper deck in a straight line.
Leon had been apprehensive to see Kaz again because of the strange feelings he had the night that Kaz was in his house. But all the apprehension had dissipated immediately. He must have been out of sorts that night because Kaz felt perfectly normal to him now. He was friendly and confident. He came off as a little cocky perhaps, but that will happen when you are the richest man in the world.
“You’ve already passed my first test, Leon.”
“I did? What did I do?”
“You learned to fly.”
“Well, I had to so I could get here.”
“Yes, but not everyone that trains in the dark arts can learn all the powers.”
“What?” Leon asked.
“Most of the Firebolts team only knows two or maybe three of the powers. You have learned them all, I believe.”
Leon chuckled nervously. “Well, I’ve only got four of them down, actually. Dumbledore, lantern, mindbender, and aeronaut.”
“I see. I suppose there are a few more for you to learn, but you’ve got the important ones down. No one needs healing to play shadowball, am I right?”
Leon chuckled nervously. “You sure don’t, sir.”
“A few more and you’ll be able to do more with your powers than most people on the planet. By learning to fly you’ve proved that you can master all the powers. And on top of that, you can do that wonderful trick with your lantern abilities.”
Leon continued to watch the players below. They were now passing the ball back and forth. They would try to throw it way out of the reach of another so that he’d have to teleport or fly to catch it. Leon couldn’t wait to start practicing such moves. His heart started beating quickly. He imagined himself down on the field, wearing their black jersey, passing the ball to his teammates. A smile crossed his li
ps.
“Is it true that your team has other superpowers?”
Kaz frowned slightly. “Those are just rumors. There are only the nine powers. My team is just the best because they are the best players.”
Leon sighed. “Oh well. It would have been cool.”
“What’s cool is what you can do. That is truly a new superpower. You must show it to me now.”
Leon nodded and then turned back to look at the players on the field. He then realized that Kaz meant right that instant. He clumsily stepped back from the window. He had made sure before he left home that he had plenty of green energy. A green shadowball ball appeared in his right hand. He tossed it up and down slightly into the air. Kaz smiled widely. He motioned for the ball and Leon threw it to him.
Kaz caught it with a look of wonder on his face. He stared at the ball closely and his face turned green from the light. He held it up above his head and put it down below his waist, looking at it from every angle.
After a few more moments he tossed it back to Leon, but instead of catching it, Leon let it dissipate into nothing. The green light that had been shining on both of them was no more.
“Since I’ve seen your videos I’ve tried to replicate what you can do. I cannot do it. And here you make this incredible thing without nary a thought before my very eyes. Boy, you are a marvel.”
Leon smiled awkwardly. This is where I belong. It’s what I was meant to do. I am a marvel.
Kaz ushered Leon down the hall to where he would begin training.
“You know, Kaz, sir, my silly friend says that these superpowers are just a distraction so that people won’t notice some supposed war between Light and Dark, but being here I know that superpowers are my calling in life. This is what I’ve always been meant to do.”
Kaz stopped and glared into Leon’s eyes, searching for something. He must have been satisfied because he smiled at Leon and clasped his hand onto Leon’s shoulder.
“Your friend is not completely wrong. You’ve stumbled upon one of the great truths of this world. We are at war. One side wants humankind to stagnate forever, but I believe that superpowers are the next step in the evolution of humans. We are better and more capable than any generation before us, boy.
“What I have created gives us abilities beyond our ancestors’ imaginations. And you’ve discovered that dark energy unlocks these abilities. Anyone could potentially learn what you have learned, but we don’t want just anyone to have all the powers. It’s too dangerous. Only elite, special individuals like myself and like you should have access to be all powerful.
“And so I have devised a system that keeps the common folk distracted. They play their little games on their phones all day and get mere seconds of basking time so that they can fly a little or mindbend a little. It’s just enough to keep them satisfied, but not you. You wanted more. That’s why you’re special, Leon. That’s why you’ve come so far.”
Leon had never felt so honored. He belonged here. This was his destiny, his purpose. I’m finally doing what I’m supposed to do with my life. I’m not a loser anymore.
“Oh, one more thing. Let me see your phone.”
Leon handed him his phone with curious dread. Kaz tapped and swiped a few times. He typed something in and then it asked for him to identify himself. It had never asked Leon to do that. Kaz stated his full name slowly. He swiped a few more times and then handed it back to Leon.
“What did you do to it?”
“I’ve given you full access to all the light you could ever want. You don’t have to play games anymore to make it emit light. You can get exposure to any color of light whenever you want. Not that you’ll need it much, boy, but if you ever find yourself out of energy, it can give you a quick recharge.”
Kaz led him to an ugly brown door. Looking through the small window, Leon could see that it did not lead to the practice field, but to a small workout gym. Kaz simply told him to workout both with his powers and without.
And without a word more, Kaz left him in the musty room and closed the door. Leon surveyed the equipment. He had seen this stuff in videos, but he had no idea what to do with it. He walked in circles for the first several minutes, looking at all the weights and machines. It all looked so hard.
A light flickered in one corner of the room. The room felt so silent. Leon felt alone, abandoned. He knew this is where he belonged, but he thought there would be people cheering him on or something.
Eventually he chose a treadmill. It seemed easy enough and probably a good place to start. He hoped on. He started the treadmill at a very quick pace. It sounded muffled. Weird. It’s like nothing in here wants to make a sound. After just a moment he was breathing heavily and had to slow it down.
“If only I had super speed. This would be a breeze,” he said aloud just so he could hear something, anything.
He ran until sweat poured down his face and his shirt was wet around the neck. When he got off, he wandered around for a while to let the sweat dry. He noticed a curious control panel near the door. One of the controls said color and so he pressed it. Nine large buttons appeared, each was one of the nine colors. He pushed green. The lights in the room turned off and a second later the room was flooded with green light. Everything looked very different colored all in green.
Leon smiled. He could feel the green light penetrating his skin. He pushed red and again the lights turned off momentarily before coming back on in a brilliant red color. His eyes found the treadmill and an idea was born.
“I do have super speed. I just haven’t used it yet.”
He jabbed the indigo button and waited for the room to turn indigo. He made his way back to the treadmill. Looking around, he took off his shirt. It felt awkward, even though he was alone. Holding his arms across his chest, he got on the treadmill and started running.
He concentrated on dark power as he stared at the mirror wall in front of him. He immediately felt it crawling inward. It came so easily. Is it something about this room that makes it even easier for the dark energy? Is it because it knows me already and will follow my command to enter me? I don’t know, but it feels good, powerful. It’s like I’m invincible. His energy reserves were enormous and especially his indigo reserve.
Though he had never used super speed, it came very easy to him. He ran so fast that he almost ripped the tread off the treadmill. But when he stopped, the treadmill threw him off the back like he had seen on so many funny videos. It hurt much more than the people in the videos let on. He sat up smiling.
It had been too easy for him to use super speed. The indigo lights above him were so piercing and the dark energy came so easily. He had learned a new power in just minutes. If only I had learned mindbending or teleporting so easily!
Brimming with confidence, Leon turned the room’s lights to blue and found the biggest weight he could. He used his mind to lift it. It was heavier than he expected, but he lifted it with ease thanks to the dark energy multiplying his mindbending power. He placed it delicately back on the ground, with a wide grin smeared all over his face.
Leon spent hours mindbending weights, running, tumbling, hovering, and apparating. It was the best time of his life. He was so tired by the end of it, but he really looked forward to doing it again tomorrow.
Leon found his way back up to Kaz’s office. He had to ask a few guards, but he didn’t run into the one with the squeaky voice. He even went back to the building entrance looking for that guard, but couldn’t find him.
As he opened the door, Leon saw someone standing near the window. He couldn’t believe his eyes.
chapter 20
Fight or Flight