Sol: The True Self

by Joshua Chou

  Ethan felt a different kind of electric jolt through his body. He dared not smile, now that Iris looked at him with scrutiny.

  Nora stood up and started walking out of the room. She turned back and waved. “Bye,” she said with a modest smile.

  Ethan ended up smiling back. “Take care of yourself too,” he said.

  With that last note, Nora left the room. Iris followed her out and closed the doors. Ethan leaned back into his bed and stared at the blank ceiling. He didn’t know what had just happened.

  Could that be considered flirting? It’s not like he had much of a reason to do it before.

  But in the absence of two of his teammates, Ethan realized someone really was listening in on the conversation. He didn’t bother looking this time.

  “You were trying to get total control over me, weren’t you?” he asked aloud.

  Someone shimmered into view. It was Gabriel. He appeared again as a boy, but the smirk on the demon’s face was anything but innocent.

  “It was worth a shot,” Gabriel replied.

  Ethan coldly laughed. “Not even close.”

  Gabriel walked into Ethan’s line of sight. Sunlight passed through his body from a nearby window. The light punched through him and rendered his form translucent.

  “It will be,” he replied. “I’ve got all the time in the world.”

  Ethan’s ice spirit vanished. The mysterious boy was gone, and Ethan was left looking at a window leaking sunlight into his lonely room. It was a hunch, but Ethan knew for sure now. His Sol was making him a different person day by day.

  He had yet to find out if this gradual change was a good thing or not.

  ***

  After a clean bill of health, Ethan was back outside. No need for further treatment. He still felt a bit bruised up, but that would heal over in a few days.

  The AXEL intern stepped outside. He stood at the pickup zone for the State General Hospital. The whole curb was painted white to suggest that nobody park here, but no other cars were here at the moment.

  Iris was on her way. She said she would send a text before arriving, but that was over two hours ago. Traffic was definitely getting worse as the day slugged on.

  Ethan was still waiting for her. Best to be outside so she could pick him up immediately.

  Someone coughed. He glanced to the side. Liam stood behind a pillar, just out of view but visible from Ethan’s position. Liam’s left arm was in a sling.

  “Liam!” Ethan called out.

  Liam turned his head. He smiled and waved with his good hand. Ethan approached him.

  “Hey,” Liam replied. “How’s it going?”

  “Better than you, apparently.”

  Beneath the beard, Liam wiped the smile off his face. He checked his phone before putting it away. Apparently, he was waiting for a text as well.

  “Iris should drive by soon,” Ethan remarked.

  Liam folded his arms as best as he could. He put his right arm into the sling, which put the full weight of both appendages upon the sling around his shoulders. Ethan mimicked him by folding his arms normally.

  “How’s your collection coming along?”

  Ethan glanced at him. Liam raised an eyebrow, waiting for an answer.

  “What?”

  “You heard me,” asked Liam. Despite the inquisitive question he was asking, he was doing his best to be as warm as possible. “I know you’ve been ordering those things. Someone’s been ordering the same size parcel to the West Dorm for the past few months.”

  “So?”

  “The packages are always shipped to your room.”

  Ethan shoved both hands into his pockets. “Did you tell anyone else?” he asked sheepishly.

  Liam smiled and held his head up higher than before. “Didn’t think I had to. But what is it?”

  “Gundam models,” said Ethan. “Robot kits. That sort of thing.”

  A glimmer of a thought passed across Liam’s eyes. Ethan could only guess what he was thinking, but it probably was overshadowed by a new thought that was forming into a new question.

  “That’s neat,” said Liam. “Buy why build ‘em yourself? Can’t you buy the pre-built ones?”

  “It’s something I can control,” said Ethan. He put his hands up as if he were putting the different pieces of a robot together for Liam to see. “There’s a feeling I get out of making something mine. A Gundam kit can be designed by someone else, shipped by a moving company, and seen by other people.

  “Someone had to put it together, and I feel good when I know that I built the robot. Get it?”

  “I think so,” Liam replied. “Because it was something you had control over?”

  Ethan nodded back, though he still felt nervous if his senior was going to ask any more questions.

  Thankfully they had no reason to talk about the subject any further. They stood in silence for another minute before he said another word.

  “Winston came by while you were out cold,” said Liam. “Was trying to apologize for you-know-what.”

  “He’ll get another chance today.”

  Liam pointed to his sling. “He actually apologized to me first. Thought he was partially responsible.”

  “But it was the guy in the hoodie,” Ethan replied. “And he’s still out there.”

  “Hope he doesn’t show up soon,” Liam replied. “But hey, next time we’ll be ready for him.”

  “Maybe,” Ethan said with a nod. “He got pretty close.”

  Silence filled the next few seconds. Liam looked up to the sky above. No clouds in sight. This would have been a great day to do something outside, but Liam couldn’t do much with one arm out of commission.

  Also, Iris needed the two of them for something important. Ethan was unsure what it was exactly.

  “Ever wish you never got roped into this business?” asked Liam. “You could just pretend you were a functional adult working for a paycheck rather than killing monsters?”

  “What kind of question is that?” Ethan asked.

  “The soul search-y kind.”

  He glanced at Liam with a smirk. But the other guy wasn’t smiling. Ethan realized too late the situation wasn’t one fir for brushing off Liam’s question.

  “It’s a mixed bag,” Ethan replied. “But I’d rather get something done rather than not much at all.”

  Liam chuckled. “I guess you have a point.”

  They waited in relative silence for the next few minutes. After that time passed, a familiar dark car drove up to the State Hospital driveway.

  Iris was at the wheel. She rolled down the passenger seat window and curled a finger.

  “Shotgun,” said Liam.

  He opened the passenger side door. The moment he opened the doors, someone was waiting for him.

  “Oh,” said Winston. “’Sup?”

  Liam glanced at Ethan. He stuck a thumb at Winston and mouthed, “You gonna apologize now?”

  Ethan blinked. Now was a good time to sort things out. But if any semblance of a coherent apology tried to form in his mouth, it came out as three words.

  “So, uh, hey.”

  It was Winston’s turn to blink.

  “Get in here,” Iris called out. “No time for stopping in the drop-off zone.”

  Ethan and Liam slipped into Iris’ car, and Iris began the long drive back to West Dorm.

  Chapter 12 – The Truth

  The streets didn’t pass fast enough.

  Staying in this car was becoming more and more uncomfortable by the second. At least that was what Ethan felt.

  It was probably something that new guys always dealt with. Maybe Iris and Liam were used to these kinds of awkward situations when dealing with AXEL’s top brass?

  Maybe it was part of being too young. Adults knew how to pretend everything was fine when the metaphorical room was on fire. The hardest part was trying to get a read on what everyone was thinking.

  Can’t say much with two other people in the car, Ethan thought.

&n
bsp; Ethan couldn’t stand pretending there wasn’t something horribly wrong. Yet he had to every now and then. Now that he was with Winston in a confined space, this was an especially awkward situation.

  I’m not sure what to say either.

  By the time they got off the highway, Ethan had the nerve to glance around.

  Liam sat across from him. They left a seat empty between them. He hadn’t said a word since entering the car. Probably because there was nothing else to say.

  Ethan’s bigger concerns were the two people in front of him. Iris was at the wheel, and she hadn’t said a word since they left the hospital. Winston peeked behind the passenger seat every now and then, but he didn’t say much either.

  He folded his arms. Ethan needed to calm himself. Iris had something planned. Now that Winston was in the car, she wasn’t telling him.

  Why though? Ethan wondered. Did it have something to do with the two of them?

  He wished that she had told him via text or something, because now he wasn’t sure what she was expecting out of him.

  Their car passed through a tunnel. Ethan’s ice spirit appeared in the empty seat. The mysterious boy nudged Ethan’s elbow, despite his arm passing through Ethan’s body.

  “Maybe she’s expecting you to beg for forgiveness like a good little boy?” Gabriel whispered.

  “Can it,” Ethan hissed back.

  They left the tunnel. With the partial shade gone, Gabriel disappeared.

  “I’d like to give you a new assignment, Ethan,” said Iris.

  Did she hear Ethan speak? Hopefully not.

  “What is it?” Ethan asked.

  “Winston’s becoming part of our group as of today,” Iris continued. “And you’ll be training him.”

  He stared wide-eyed at his leader. Iris did not look back, not even through her rear-view mirror, which was looking straight at Ethan.

  “Why me?”

  “The Board of Directors and I decided you were best suited for showing Winston how we work in the field. With Liam being injured and Nora not having a Sol.”

  “Fair enough,” Liam piped in.

  “I’m not sure—”

  “Ethan,” Iris interrupted. “Just do it. There’s nothing to argue about here.”

  Winston looked back once more. This time Ethan met his stare. The other guy looked more diminished than he did when the Wraith nearly consumed him the other night. But he was definitely as anxious as Ethan was.

  Ethan broke his gaze first. The AXEL trainee-turned-teacher looked to Iris. “Yes, ma’am.”

  Iris finally glanced back at him. She looked satisfied. Not pleased, but satisfied. Whatever the matter was, she seemed pleased that Ethan was playing along.

  Wasn’t he usually playing along? Aside from the debacle with Hector and his Wraith, he wasn’t in this much trouble.

  Guess I’ll find out when I get back, Ethan thought.

  ***

  One lengthy drive later, the familiar walls of his home rose over the cityscape horizon. Ethan and the others returned to the West Side dorm.

  By then it was dusk. Ethan noticed that the front doors to the dorm were replaced with new ones. Evidently, the Wraith attack did more than enough damage to the front.

  Iris parked first, and Winston made a slow pace to try helping her with something. Ethan and Liam walked toward West Dorm first.

  “Not exactly perfect,” said Liam. “But they did fix most of the damage.”

  Ethan nodded. “It is a college dorm,” he noted. “It’s gotta look passable all the time.”

  Liam pointed to the roof. “Should’ve seen it the other time we got attacked. That time it was against an Elder Wraith shaped like a marshmallow.”

  Despite the serious climate he just escaped from, Ethan bawled with laughter. Thankfully Iris wasn’t close enough to chide him. Liam began laughing with Ethan as well.

  Winston passed the two of them and walked into West Dorm with a suitcase in tow. It was Iris’ suitcase. Iris followed closed behind her newest member.

  Ethan saw something out of the corner of his eye. There was a car he didn’t recognize in the parking lot. Granted, not many kids could afford cars. A new one was easy to spot.

  This vehicle was a vintage Rolls-Royce and very well kept. The paint shone almost as well as the chromatic bumpers lining the front and rear of the luxury car.

  “Whose car is that?” asked Ethan.

  Liam glanced at the vintage machine. He sighed. “Oh boy,” he said. “It’s one of those meetings today.”

  “What kind of meeting?”

  “You’ll find out soon enough,” Liam replied. He patted Ethan on the back. “Let’s go.”

  The two marched through the lobby doors. Iris ascended the stairs, which could only mean they were meeting in the command room. Ethan and Liam walked up as well to find the doors were open. They entered.

  Tea was set up. Green tea boiled in water, and served from a discounted ceramic tea set from Chinatown.

  Nora’s work, most likely. She was the only person on this floor with a water boiler in her room.

  Iris, Nora, and Winston were present, along with someone Ethan had never seen before. The new person in the room was a middle-aged man with a bald head and glasses.

  Ethan knew he never saw this man before. He hadn’t a gram of fat in his face. Their guest also wore a tough turtleneck shirt over a sizable frame. Ethan almost mistook him for a wrestler.

  “You must be Mr. Walker,” he said in a warm voice. “Please take a seat.”

  Ethan took up a seat next to Winston and Liam. Again, Winston pretended to not care much about Ethan, but ended up looking at him anyway.

  “My name is Nikita Ivanov,” said the bald man. He was addressing Winston. “I’m captain of the local police department. I believe you are already acquainted with Mr. Walker and Miss Paramour.”

  Nikita pointed to Ethan and Nora, respectively. Winston sat up straight. His face wasn’t one of content, but it was stoic and showed enough respect for the situation.

  Does he own West Dorm? Ethan wondered. He may as well.

  Nikita pointed to Liam. “And the fine young man sitting next to you is Mr. Liam Everhart.”

  Liam waved with his good hand. “Hey,” he said.

  “Nikita is a key member of our group here,” said Iris. “He was one of the first members of our division.”

  Winston’s ears perked up. “Ten years?” he asked. “What kind of gig is this?”

  Despite his wary attitude, Winston seemed almost excited to be part of this conversation. Ethan almost thought he was looking at a pet waiting for food.

  “To answer your question,” Nikita replied. “We are AXEL. The Anti-Xenospecies Extermination League. A special task force sanctioned by the government to the defense and preservation of New York.”

  The man’s reply almost sounded too corny to be true, and Winston’s expression did not betray any sense of amusement.

  “No offense, sir,” he said, “I wanted to know if this was about my Wraith?”

  “First, let me ask you this: what if I told you that all Wraiths spawn from people?”

  “What?” Winston asked.

  Ethan leaned back. He remembered getting this talk a couple years ago. It wasn’t pleasant for him then. The general public couldn’t handle the truth either. That was one of the other reason they were so tight-lipped about Hector’s fate.

  How would Winston take the news?

  “Think of your spirit as a bubble,” said Nikita. He held up his hands to form an O-shape for Winston to see. “It’s both perfect and breakable. If you ever begin to devolve into pure emotion or confusion. . .”

  Nikita broke the circle. He formed two separate ones.

  “Another you is born. Your Wraith. And it wants to become its own person.”

  “Most people assume Wraiths jump out of holes in the wall,” said Liam. “That’s not entirely true.”

  “Uh, sure?” asked Winston. He looked around the who
le table, and then he looked at the exit to the command room. “So who are you guys really?”

  Iris leaned forward and presented something from her jacket’s interior pocket. Inside was a badge embroidered with a unique emblem colored black and white.

  A golden name was engraved around the symbol’s circumference: The Anti-Xenospecies Extermination League. Its abbreviation was engraved atop the badge’s insignia.

  “Our official designation is A.X.E.L.,” said Iris.“And we hunt Wraiths. We were formed to fight the Wraith threat in New York.”

  “Correct,” said Nikita. “Iris leads the team, and I am a direct medium between us and the government. And if you choose, you could help us.”

  Winston drummed his fingers on his knees. He looked again to the others around the table. This time, he wasn’t looking for a quick escape out the door.

  “Is this a legit thing?” he asked.

  “The government is fully aware of our actions, Winston,” remarked Iris. “They sanctioned the founding of our group and currently finance its activities.”

  “That’s how they found us,” Ethan remarked. He pointed to Liam and Nora. “It’s also why we’re all in the same dorm.”

  One hand was raised. It was Nora. “Hold on,” Nora said. “Why are you inviting him to join us so quickly?”

  “Exorcisms and Sol are the safest ways to contain Wraiths,” Iris replied. “We invite anyone who can do either.”

  Ethan waved. “Winston,” he said. “You earned an ability the other night. Do you remember?”

  Winston nodded.

  “That was a Sol,” said Ethan. “A spirit that does as you wish. And it lets you fight Wraiths on your terms.”

  “Correct, Mr. Walker,” said Nikita. “We are very fortunate to have you in this building now, Mr. Wright. As you know, the most effective way to defeat Wraiths is through the use of a unique power.”

  Iris stepped forward to pick up a teacup. She held it between her fingers. “We’re not forcing you to join,” she said. “But we implore that you consider this decision. Joining us will prove to further benefit you.”

  Winston was getting hyped. “I’m in,” he said. “When do we start?”

  “If you decide to join A.X.E.L.,” said Iris, “then you will be part of every operation we undertake. Sol-user or not, there is always work for new recruits.”