Preternatural (Worlds & Secrets)

by Lloyd Harry-Davis

  “It burns!” I said childishly. I blew on them ridiculously, but nothing of what I expected happened. Instead, the blowing just caused my hands to go up in flames. I shrieked and I stared at the flames in complete terror. The blazing orange of the fire reflected off my electric blue eyes.

  “I’M ON FIRE!” I exclaimed loudly.

  “Don’t worry, it’s part of your metamorphosis. It’s natural,” Jojo said nonchalantly, sipping water from her glass. Then, Robbie began snickering and I shot an evil glance at him.

  “What’s so funny?” I asked in an aggravated manner.

  “I’m sorry, it’s just that you latecomers are so pathetic!” Robbie scoffed. The nerve! To actually call me pathetic after every single thing that was going on at the moment was extremely brave of him!

  “Pathetic?” I snarled in disbelief with an insane look in my eyes. The orange flames on my hands suddenly reddened. Robbie’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

  “Uh-oh,” he muttered.

  “PATHETIC?!” I then yelled. An unprecedented anger suddenly rushed through my core – something I had never felt before. It was a sweet, desirable yet, bitter anger that brought about a wave of adrenaline.

  “HOW DARE YOU!” I suddenly burst out. I saw the startled expressions on everybody’s face as they flinched, jumping away from the table. I was even more stunned (but too fumed with rage to properly notice it) that blood-red flames had erupted beneath my feet and were swirling around me. It was as if I was standing on a pit of fire that raged upwards like a spiralling tornado. My hair had turned a dark crimson, my eyes began glinting like sparkling red rubies and my canines felt much more threatening, being exposed more aggressively from my teeth. The flames from my hands and the inferno blazing from underneath me were conjoined in a series of violent twirls.

  “DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT KIND OF A WRECK TODAY HAS BEEN? WHAT YOU HAVE ALL PUT US THROUGH! You better sit down and SHUT UP!” I growled again. I had no clue what was wrong with me. This newfound attitude spewed out of me uncontrollably and there wasn’t much I felt I could do about it. The others were pressed to the wall in fear.

  “Aden, Aden –” the others tried to calm me cautiously. I swiftly turned my head towards them. I was panting heavily and breathed as if I were suffocating from the black fumes diffusing into the air.

  “HOW am I supposed to get rid of these flames?” I exclaimed, somehow more to myself in anger than to the others.

  “Drop and roll, drop and roll, drop and roll,” Jaden mumbled to himself.

  “THERE’S NO GRASS TO ROLL ON YOU IDIOT!” I bellowed, increasing the power of the raging fires. I was looking at myself and my arms from a stranger’s point of view as the inferno continued to waver around me. I couldn’t control myself. I stared at my arms – angry, surprised and completely shocked. Suddenly, I noticed the glass table slowly begin to melt and tiny beads of sweat began to form on the others’ foreheads. To my surprise, Robbie gently strolled forward, his eyes lightening to hazel and his hands glowing white in the process. I wasn’t sure if this was to protect himself from me.

  “Aden, you’ve been talking for this long and you haven’t yet screamed in pain – try and see for yourself if you can actually feel the fire,” he said calmly. I kept prancing up and down, but in the end I did as he suggested. I hated so much to admit it but he was right. There was no pain that accompanied this burning hellfire – well to me at least. It was just a slight caressing touch of that comfortable warmth you first experience after a very biting winter. Robbie had calmed me but this fire was still ever-present and the table was still melting, alongside the chairs.

  “I can’t turn it off though,” I said gently with a hint of fear in my voice and on my face. Robbie then suddenly approached his glowing white thumbs and pressed them on the front face of my wrists where my jugular veins were. Instantly, like a quick ventilation of mixed emotions and strange climate changes, the soft warmth was suddenly vacuumed away and replaced the sensation with a frosty cold that instantly circulated from me. As the flames quickly withdrew themselves to the base of my feet in a messy spiral; and as those on my hands disappeared with a bright orange glow of my hands and a trail of smoke, a sheet of frost diffused throughout the room and cooled the oven-hot atmosphere. The melted glass tables and chairs were suddenly solidified again but left in an utterly violated state. I breathed heavily as I slowly regained proper calmness over myself. What further seemed to confuse me was how none of my clothes were burnt – not even warm. They were ice cold. Before Robbie’s eyes and hands dimmed to their original state, he turned to face the table and chairs. He placed his right palm flat-out in mid-air at his chest’s level, a few inches away from it.

  He circled his hand, still flat-out, and then flicked it upwards – his palm to his face – as if throwing an object in the air. Suddenly, the melted glass from the table was lifted and re-solidified into its circular form and the melted glass from the chairs rose up to form the objects they once were. Finally, Robbie’s vibrant eyes and bright hands dimmed.

  “Aden…” Jaden said as he unclearly pointed towards me. I walked over to the mirror on a cupboard at the back of the room and looked at my reflection. I grew confused. I reached for my hair on my back and saw that it was still a blazing red. Turns out it wasn’t any reflection from the fire – my hair had actually dyed itself red.

  “Your eyes are red as well,” Jade told me as she stared at me in fascination. I stared at myself in the mirror; my blazing red hair suddenly streaked itself back into blue as well as my eyes.

  “Okay. I’m convinced; talk!” I said irascibly, turning around sharply as everyone reseated themselves.

  “Well…sit down first,” my grandfather stated. I rushed to my seat, overzealous for an explanation that made sense.

  “Okay, I’m seated. Now if you would be so kind to explain–”

  “We’re on another planet – one that goes by the name Vernaesce, a parallel world to Earth.”

  “But –” I was silenced by granddad’s raised hand.

  “Let me finish. Then you can ask your questions.” I slid down in my seat sheepishly.

  “It isn’t so different from Earth. We have the same number of continents – though we classify our continents as regions – and they have their population, each one of them with a specific power; but of course, that doesn’t restrict people from migrating to other areas. It’s identical to Earth, see. The Porto-Pyrons possess the ability to control fire; the Hydrottes control water, humidity and to some extent, certain liquids; the Terra-Turfers control the Earth and vegetation; the Aero-Capers can play with air as simply as how you breathe; the Shifftocastans are capable of shape-shifting into any animal and any creature except humanoid beings – with some exceptions, however; the Time-Morphers, with the talent of bending space and time, grants them the abilities of teleportation and time manipulation; and lastly the region of the monarchs. It is the region where the leading monarchy and Supreme Court, which we call the Supremacy, reside, along with the palace guards that have multiplied over the years to form the Unclaimed. They have incredible agility, strength and stamina but no manipulative powers,” granddad finished. Jaden, Jade and I inhaled deeply.

  “This is a lot to take in,” Jaden said, exhaling so loud it seemed like he was struggling to breathe.

  I all of a sudden thought of Jojo and her family.

  “The perfect example of Time-Morphers, or Chronokinetics, would be the Wittles over here, Tantrus’ family,” added my grandfather.

  “So, what are we – actually wait, I want to ask what my mother can do because she turned glass into flakes and there were these people who sort of flew straight at us and she stopped them in mid-air?” Jaden babbled incoherently with the look of a confused child.

  “Your mother, Jaden, like your sister, is a Hybrid. They both have the gifts of telekinesis and telepathy and I, too, possess it,” granddad mentioned as he stood up calmly. Jaden and I looked at Jade and rolled our eyes, then gi
ving her dirty leers as she fiddled around with her hair that was now its original length again.

  “So, I can move things with my mind and read peoples thoughts. Is that what you’re saying?” Jade asked curiously.

  “Well, I guess that’s one way of putting it. Nevertheless, you will soon learn that whatever the mind controls or does, you can control,” granddad sighed. “But only with a certain degree of training.”

  “What about me? What can I do?” Jaden asked, pointing to himself curiously.

  “Remember that high pitched sound you heard, Jaden?” granddad reminded.

  “Oh, how could I forget?” Jaden reached for his ears, recalling how painful the noise had been.

  “That’s an animal feature, hearing high-pitched noises,” my grandfather hinted.

  Jaden sat there thinking, until the answer came to him like a smack in the face. He gasped and exclaimed: “Shifftocastan!” and granddad smiled weakly.

  “Now, down to business –”

  “Wait, what about me? What can I do?” I asked, left on the edge of interest. Everybody stared at me strangely, Jade and Jaden looking at me without a care in the world, already knowing what they were capable of and I bet contemplating on ways to use their powers against me.

  “Here’s a tip, Aden – take it as a piece of advice: just because you were able to conjure flames, doesn’t necessarily mean your ability is solely related to fire,” granddad replied dully to me.

  “Wow, granddad, that was amazingly…unhelpful,” I said with a sarcastic, bubbly aura of happiness. Jade and mum stretched over and smacked me on the back of my head again!

  “Ow! Quit it, already!” I exclaimed

  “What about Robbie and Tammy, what are their abilities?” Jaden asked inquisitively.

  “I thought you would have figured that out from the lucid dreams,” granddad said plainly. Well, sorry, we aren’t geniuses.

  “Tammy can see past, present and very seldom futures. She’s now developing her skills in mind-mapping,” Anne answered.

  “Mind mapping; what’s that?” Jade asked, ill-informed. She sat there silently as Tammy stared at her with bright eyes.

  “It’s the ability to make your thoughts pop out and visualise things as if they were being projected out of your mind,” she answered after what looked like she was reading Jade.

  “What about Robbie?” I asked

  “Robbie can –”

  “I can alter matter,” he answered for himself, cutting off Tantrus.

  “So you should be a god!” replied Jade enthusiastically. Robbie chuckled.

  “Yes, it does look like that, doesn’t it? Unfortunately for me I can only change the foundation of things but not change its actual nature of what it’s meant to be.”

  “I’m lost,” I replied.

  “For example: see that door?” he said pointing to the metallic door behind him through which we had entered.

  “Yes, what about it?” asked Jaden.

  “I can alter it and change it into wood, cotton, maybe even water if I tried hard enough and other materials. But I can’t change the door into…let’s see – a book! I’m no way near strong enough. I can’t even create objects out of nothing yet, but I can change their shape. Oh, and I can also change things into what they truly are – like that archway. I changed it into the entrance of this tunnel. Well, that’s because that’s what it originally was. Call it a gift of revealing. Also, as you may have noticed, I can open wormholes to other dimensions or planets but I have to have gone to them first or know what they’re like in order to open one to them.” I couldn’t speak. I was merely left gaping subconsciously. How could someone so young at an age of fourteen, like me, be so powerful and look and act so mature? He and his sister were bizarre at most and I definitely felt intimidated. I mean, the ways with which Jade, Jaden and I pronounced our words were perfect and flawless, we didn’t mumble or omit any consonant sounds (mum had made sure of that), but there was something about the way the Roxeths comported themselves that seemed, ironically, out of this world.

  “Mum, you seem pretty timid,” Jade pointed out. Mum looked at her, a fragment of fear in her almost transparent eyes.

  “It shouldn’t be hard to read your mind, should it? I just have to concentrate, right?” Jade said, somewhat threateningly.

  “No! No need. Besides, my telepathic force-field would be too strong for you to penetrate,” mum retaliated suspiciously. I could tell she was trying hard to keep her suspicious behaviour under wraps. She really seemed doubtful and apprehensive. Suddenly, all faces except Jaden’s, Jade’s and mine began to look doubtful.

  “What is it you’re all hiding?” I asked everyone. You know those instances where everyone in a room seems to be aware of your deepest, most shameful secret and yet you have no clue that they know? This was one of those moments. See, I wouldn’t necessarily mind being lied to – but this was an exception. This was about all of us.

  “Look, now’s the time we’re all revealing things. Whatever it is, you can get it out in the open,” Jaden said, as annoyingly wise as usual.

  “Should we tell them?” Anne mouthed to mum. I saw mum nod weakly, but from the impression on her face, I understood that she didn’t want to agree.

  “The Barons,” she uttered plainly whilst fiddling with a piece of paper, deliberately avoiding eye contact.

  “I beg your pardon?” Jaden countered. Mum sighed.

  “That’s how your father died. He was killed by the Barons of Corlévati,” mum said clearly, still fiddling with the edge of the paper she held.

  Jaden and I inhaled lightly and exhaled. I felt like I was in an emotional rut. I didn’t know how to describe this feeling. I hadn’t known him my whole life so how was I supposed to understand sadness in that way? Although. I did in a way feel sorrow and sadness because he was, then again, my father.

  “Well – why did they kill him?” Jade stuttered.

  “They’re not exactly – how shall I put this…human,” Robbie answered. Jaden and I looked at each other almost automatically, both of us with a look of perplex in our lost eyes.

  “But neither of us in this room is,” Jaden answered.

  “No, I mean they’re extremely different. They don’t have the ordinary abilities a Vernaescian is usually vested with. Their powers are dark; evil, you might say,” Tammy explained, her voice and face losing its previous perkiness and vibrant colour.

  “Maybe they’re hybrids – and are you okay? You seem really ill,” I asked. She seemed disgusted.

  “Aden, you don’t understand. They’re despicable and no, they’re not hybrids. Their leader Trailian, is a Necrokinetic.”

  “All I know from that sentence is that it has something to do with death,” Jade uttered.

  “Yes. He can inflict death on anybody he chooses – whether with a stare or a touch,” Tantrus continued.

  “Bloody hell…” Jaden and I exclaimed undertone. “He must be really powerful then,” I continued.

  “He is. And they all have their own dark ability,” said Robbie.

  “Well,” I gulped “where is he now?”

  “He’s trapped with his fellow Nobles in a prison. A prison of darkness and nothingness that we call the void. But, on the dim brighter side, being trapped in that prison has dreadfully weakened his supreme Necrokinetic abilities and so we deduced, that the only way he would regain their full control was by killing off the most energetic and differentiated kinetic possessors – hybrids,” he added as Goosebumps scaled over my body.

  “You see, long ago, there stood a revolution between him and another monarchy. I was there; a soldier – but something happened. To this day, we don’t know what it was, but an extremely powerful force of energy ripped open a chasm in the ground and took out everyone in the war. I was able to teleport out at the last minute; luckily…but your father was already dead. And what strikes us all as odd is the fact that that energy should have spread much further than it did – but something stopped
it and imprisoned the Barons, keeping them trapped in a prison. We later found out that that thing that bound them was from a weapon our monarchy had launched. With it, they could control all manners of darkness,” Tantrus started.

  “They could make voids,” Jade stated plainly, with a lost look in her purple eyes. Anne smirked.

  “I just love how her intelligence is rising,” she said. “And kids, I must also quickly chip in that by being alien, your physical development advances more quickly but will start to slow down at one point until it freezes for a good three or four hundred years. At which point ageing will gradually resume until you peak at about eight or nine hundred and then die – unless you’re killed way beforehand. You hybrids tend to live longer. Your grandfather is at least between eight hundred and nine hundred. Not too sure,” Anne finished, leaving us all startled.

  “I’m eight hundred and sixty-four,” he grumbled indifferently with a leg crossed over the other as he fiddled with a ring on his finger. We sat, jaw-dropped, at what we heard. We were practically close to immortality and eternal youth which was blissful music to my ears!

  “As I was saying – as the revolution raged, even though we, the warriors, didn’t stand a chance – the void filled the sky and began closing in on us. All warriors were either sucked into the depths of the darkness or fell into the pit. So in other words –”

  “– you’re the only one who survived,” Jaden and I finalised solemnly. Tantrus nodded almost unnoticeably and his glassy eyes glistened. As he carried on speaking, we sensed like he was holding back his anguish.

  “I could never find your father’s body, I’m afraid. As the void closed in, it trapped the Barons in another realm – the realm of shadows. It has been a mission to find it. You have no idea. But, being different, the void didn’t kill them like it killed the others. No, you see…they’re much stronger than that,” Tantrus finished quietly.

  “But now of all years – and we do not know why, because they could have done this at any moment – the void is tearing. It’s slowly ripping apart. Rest assured that when the fabric which makes the void is finally destroyed, they’ll be unleashed,” Tammy said, fiddling with her pendant.