by Luca Braña
“Those monsters…” a brown-haired boy said. Matthew always was a fierce child who took bullies head-on when he could, especially those from outside who would come to harass the orphans. He earned many earfuls from the old lady but had the respect of the other kids.
“We’re glad you’re all right, Cyko, we had feared the worst,” a blond-haired boy said next. His name was Geon, a very friendly youth that always tried his best to help the newcomers feel at home, and sometimes, even going out of his way to make prospective parents give more attention to the other children.
“Thanks, Geon, but… Where… Where are the rest, of us? Didn’t… Didn’t they take all of us to this place?” Cyko stuttered, suddenly feeling a weight in his chest at the possible answer to his question.
“Cyko… We are sorry… We… We never saw them again after the first month… We are the only ones that are still here. Please, don’t let it get to you…” the gentle, but sad voice of a blue-haired girl spoke next. Sara, another kind soul amongst his group. She lost her family to crime, but even as she dealt with her sadness, she always tried to help everyone near her. Sara was best friends with Anna; the two were very similar.
“Oh.” He clenched his fist, feeling the stab of loss strike at him. The orphanage that the old lady ran was small but had twenty children living there in total. Counting him, there were only eight left… Those monsters—his family was taken from him again.
“Big brother, p-please, don’t cry…” a soft, melancholic voice spoke next as Cyko met the tearful eyes of a small, purple-haired girl. Starry was the youngest of the orphans, being a mere three-year-old toddler when Cyko arrived at the place. She should be five now, but was still too young, too young to suffer like this…
Cyko bit back the tears that were accumulating in his eyes and tried his best to give the little girl a reassuring smile. He wasn’t sure if he succeeded. “I’m sorry, Starry… W-we need to be strong, don’t we?” She nodded sadly, trying her best to smile at him, even though he could see the tears forming in her eyes, too.
“Yes, we do, those brutes, they need to pay for everything!” the fiery voice of a red-haired, short boy yelled, flames coming from his clenched fist. Ironically named Torch, he used to spend most of his time near Starry, being very protective of their collective youngest sister. He always tried to either encourage her or cheer her up whenever she was sad. Regardless, he must feel terrible that he can’t help her when those fools decided to experiment on her.
“Torch, you have powers, too?” Cyko asked in shock at seeing the little boy’s hand become engulfed in a fire at his rage. In answer, the boy gave him a bitter smile, something no boy his age should ever be capable of.
“Yes, those idiot’s experiments did this to me. Look.” With a short yell, the boy’s red hair turned into fire, his eyes an orange glow and his skin seemed to shine. He looked up for a moment, and with a grunt, he jumped. Faster than Cyko could see, the boy made it to the ceiling and jumped back, falling to the ground with a thud.
“Whoa!” was all Cyko could manage to say. Torch had managed to do something that he thought possible only by powerful soldiers of the Neon factions!
“Yeah, it’s cool. And it feels awesome,” the boy said with a grin, hair still on fire. But then he frowned. “The first time I ‘awakened,’ as they call it, I made a big fuss, tried to fight my way out, managed to knock down five of those guards before they put me to sleep,” the boy gritted his teeth in anger, “I tried to fight again when the brutes came to do another experiment on Starry. It took ten guards this time and I would’ve kept going if they didn’t threaten to separate the two of us. Cowards,” he said, the fire that empowered him was dying out in his shame.
“I think big brother Torch is cool,” Starry said with an angry pout. She always gave him praise when she felt he was being too negative, which made the boy smile and pat her head.
He laughed. “Thanks, Starry.”
“If we try to fight alone, it will be useless, we need to do like that girl said and join together. This socialization is an excellent opportunity to try to plan for something. The guards, individually, aren’t as tough as they look and if we work together, we can take them on,” a boy with green hair said, his glasses shining against the light. Henry was always a very smart kid and currently was the oldest of them at twelve years. Affectionately called “nerd” by the other kids from the orphanage, he often spent his time helping others study, or taking care of the old lady’s garden.
“Wait, do you guys have powers, too?” Cyko asked in curiosity. Torch was younger than him, but he already had powers. Would that mean that the others also had theirs?
“Some of us yes, others no, although the scientist did say we should feel optimistic as we are near,” Henry said with a frown, earning a nod from Cyko.
“They said the same thing to me, and all it did was make me mad. Not like I can be happy while being electrocuted.” Some of his friends winced in sympathy.
“Shock-shocky is bad,” the small girl, Starry, said with a tremble of her body. If possible, this just made Cyko angrier than before. That they would dare subject this little girl to such cruel tortures for no good reason… It made him want to…
“Cyko, calm down, it’s okay…” He felt the gentle hand of one of his older sisters, Anna, on his shoulder, making him turn to look at her. She had a sad smile on her face. “We all know how terrible it is, and we all get angry too, but… We need to keep resisting, and we need to do it smartly. All of us may be just kids, but once we get experienced enough, we can… we can escape.”
“Yes… Yes, you are right… It’s just, it’s hard, you know? Of course, you do, but…” Being around family finally made him notice how stressed he really was, how sad the situation really made him felt, how much he wished everything could just be better, and that he could be back with his parents or back to being a happy family in the rundown orphanage of the old lady.
Then he suddenly felt warmth all around him and was surprised to notice that his family had gathered themselves for a group hug. Warmth and comfort like he hadn’t felt in months. This is nice, very nice, the boy thought. He smiled and relaxed for he knew that as long as he had them, everything would turn out okay.
“Let’s go, everyone, we should find a good place to sit down and talk before time runs out,” the second oldest, Sara, said encouragingly. The small, makeshift family of eight separated from the comforting hug and made their way towards one of the more secluded areas. Despite the inspiring speech from the telepathic girl, they all were still shy and wanted to talk amongst themselves first.
As the place was rather huge compared to the number of children present, they soon were able to find an actual school table that was unoccupied. They barely all managed to fit in, but for the small family, it was enough.
“We should have around an hour left to talk, if I’m not mistaken,” the smartest child, Henry, said as he glanced at the ceiling, making the others turn to him. He looked back. “I’ve been counting the seconds ever since we got in, but I lost count several times already, it’s a fair guess.” He shrugged.
“It should be enough time, if not to plan an escape, then to at least catch up a little!” the blonde boy, Geon, said with a friendly smile, although he ended it with a grimace. “Even if we don’t really have much to share with each other.”
“No, you are right,” Cyko said, smiling at the older boy. “If at least to make sure where we stand. Now, how are you guys doing?” he asked with a smile, eager to hear from his foster family, even if most of what he will hear is likely bad things.
“Well, the rest of us were placed near each other. We are all in the same corridor I think,” Sara said softly. “I am sharing a room with Anna, Mat, and Geon. It’s tight, but at least we can have each other for comfort when we get back from the… experiments,” she said with a sad smile at the end.
“I am in the same room as Torch, Starry, and one other kid. I thought they had put all of us to
gether because we came from the same place, but with Cyko, it seems I was wrong,” Henry said with his hand on his chin. “Unfortunately, I wasn’t around when that thing with Torch happened, or I would’ve told him to not do it.”
“Wait, why?” Torch exclaimed incredulously, making Henry turn to him with a deadpan look.
“Because of exactly what happened to you. You may hurt a few of them, but there are a lot of guards, we can’t do everything ourselves,” he explained while the redhead pouted at him.
“Well, he had good intentions at least,” Cyko said, giving a thumbs up to his little brother.
Anna nodded in agreement. “At least we know that once all of us have powers, we should be stronger than them,” she said with a smile, before turning it into a grimace, “but we will have to endure more of that torture, at least for a while longer.”
They stopped talking at the mention of once again having to go through those horrible experiences. They knew that whatever it was those scientists did would make them stronger, but none of them wanted to continue doing this anymore, they just wanted to go home, to go away and be normal kids. Cyko sighed, it was hard to be cheerful with everything that was happening, but they at least had to try to be optimistic, right?
“Hey, if you guys don’t mind me asking, which of you already have powers? Besides Torch, I mean,” he asked eagerly, making the other kids perk their heads up. They looked at each other and Matthew, Starry, and Geon raised their hands. So, with Torch, that was only half of them, huh?
“What can you do, Mat?” Cyko asked curiously. The boy gave him a grin, one that made embers exit his mouth.
“It’s cool. Apparently, I can breathe fire like a dragon! It’s very hot too. When I ‘awakened,’” he said with air quotes, something the kids did often, it seemed, “I melted the ceiling and their equipment into a hot puddle. I was so tempted to try to escape then… but…” He began to fidget nervously.
“I-I didn’t want to melt anyone… I should’ve done it anyway, or at least tried!” he continued with an angry hiss, the embers coming from his mouth dripping down to nothing.
Anna reached over to put a hand on his, making him turn to her.
“Don’t blame yourself! Like Henry said, we can’t do anything just by ourselves, and besides… It’s normal to not want to hurt people, even those horrible bullies,” she said with a comforting smile, making Mat sigh and return her grin. He was okay now. She let go of his hand and looked down. “We may be forced to anyway,” she added under her breath.
“What about you, Geon?” Cyko asked, seeing the somber mood that was beginning to settle on his older sister, Anna. She snapped out of it and also looked at Geon, even if she possibly already knew about it, she was still curious to see his powers.
The blonde boy smiled before putting a hand on the table. Soon enough, it began to shake violently, making them jump in surprise. “I can cause earthquakes, localized ones, and I can control the intensity. It’s a little weird, like I can feel the vibrations,” he explained as he made the table slowly stop vibrating. A small frown then appeared on his face. “The room that they’re experimenting on me in almost collapsed when I awakened, and I seriously considered bringing the whole place down, but… it would only squash us all rather than help us get out, and I don’t know if I’d be able to do that, anyway.”
“Well!” Cyko exclaimed, surprised. “That is very cool! Earthquakes! We are underground so that means our lives are pretty much in your hands,” he joked. Geon gave an awkward laugh at the praise, but seemed to perk up, regardless.
“Thanks, Cyko! But like I said, I can make localized and controlled earthquakes. The scientists called it ‘vibrations’ instead, but I prefer earthquake. I also noticed that I can feel when the ground shakes, mostly from people’s steps. It’s a little weird, like a small light appears in my mind whenever someone takes a step. It nearly drove me mad, but I got used to it. I think I can make a map of the place if I concentrate hard enough,” the blonde explained, earning a few whistles from his friends.
“Geon, that’s excellent news!” Anna said, receiving a nod from Henry. “If you can make a map of this strange prison, then that would give us a big advantage,” she said with a smile, making Geon rub the back of his head in embarrassment.
He laughed. “I’ll try my best. But I’ll need someplace to draw it,” he said, getting a nod from his friends.
“We’ll think of something later, then. It’s a topic to keep in mind after all,” Henry said with a smile. Even if it was a small thing, it could still give them hope.
“What about you, Starry?” Cyko asked gently to the little girl who was looking at the others with stars in her eyes. She turned back towards him before smiling and holding up a hand. From her palm, a small, five-point star appeared. The children could feel a sort of energy being radiated from the small star. It felt comforting, calming, and inviting, just like Starry herself was.
“Stars!” she exclaimed after a while, raising both of her arms upwards with a big smile on her face. They all watched as dozens of stars suddenly formed from her hands, flying towards the ceiling in beautiful patterns, some going slow, others going fast. They all stopped before they could strike the ceiling, however, and instead, seemed to float there, giving that particular area of the large gym a pretty purple glow. After a while, the stars disappeared as if they had never been there. Starry was beaming triumphantly at her older brothers and sisters.
“Whoa,” Cyko said in amazement, “that was incredible, Starry! You created so many stars, and they were so pretty too!” the blue-haired boy exclaimed. Even more than that, he could feel a dark energy coming from those stars, and the strength in them was making his body shiver in excitement for some reason; he could already tell that she would be very strong someday.
“Yeah, that was amazing!” Sara declared with a big smile, earning several nods and claps from the surrounding others. They all loved it. The little girl looked bashful for a few seconds before giving them a large, thankful grin.
“Thank you, everyone!” she exclaimed, looking up at them proudly.
Torch gave a laugh and put a hand on her head. “She is something else, you know. Starry is the one who cheers everyone in my room up after the… things that they do to us. She puts on shows every night and they give us the motivation to resist.” He smiled sadly, making the little girl blush.
“You are embarrassing me, big brother!” she exclaimed in discomfort, still looking down with a red face. The others at the table laughed at her reaction. Torch tousled her hair gently and their roommate, Henry, smiled at the scene before looking back at the others.
“Her power is to create dark elemental stars, like the ones you saw her shoot from her hands,” the green head said, earning looks of curiosity from his friends, “we don’t know how strong they are at the moment, we never tried finding out her true strength so far, but she can create tons of them. There is also this thing, that they can somehow make you relax, like being near them is good for you. As of now, she’s only used them to cheer us up, so I don’t know what would happen if it was used to attack someone, but it’s something to think about.” He finished his analysis, earning a thankful nod from each of them.
“Well, what can I say? You guys have great powers! I didn’t believe those foolish scientists at first, but… Now I can’t wait until mine are unlocked, even if it means resisting that torture. I want to help everyone get away from this place,” Cyko said, determination and hope filling his voice. Finding his family again managed to motivate him to see if he can get useful powers… his thoughts wandered.
“I know how you feel,” Anna said with a frown, “even if we can’t do much, if we all work together, we should be able to get out of this cursed place. We will need to endure more, but… It’s a sacrifice worth making.” She looked sadly towards Torch and Starry—who was gazing at the ground while Torch’s brow furrowed in anger.
“I just wish they didn’t have to go through it, that n
one of us had to,” she finished, her lips turning down at the thought of Starry or Torch going through what they did. She then felt a hand on her shoulder and looked towards Matthew.
“Don’t beat yourself over it, Anna, we will give them what they deserve, you can count on it!” he said, smiling encouragingly towards her as she nodded at him.
Starry perked up then, and loudly said, “I am strong! I won’t give up!” Earning a grin from Torch, whose hair turned to fire again.
Cyko, seeing that everyone was motivated, gave a smile. The orphans that he got to meet were always close-knit, and they had accepted him without problems, welcoming him amongst their family. He was grateful for the tight bond that they all had.
“All right everyone,” Sara said with a smile, “maybe we should talk about something el—Ahh!” A loud siren interrupted her, making her and her friends jump in fright. They looked around for the source of the loud noise before they noticed that it was coming from the sound boxes in the ceiling.
“Attention all subjects, socialization time is over. Proceed to the gates you entered from to be escorted back to your quarters.” The uncaring, robotic male voice sounded all over the gymnasium, earning a few disappointed sighs from the children there.
“Darn it, seems we ran out of time,” Cyko said in displeasure. He wanted to spend more time with his family, it had been so long!
Anna shook her head; she was clearly just as sad as he was. “They did say it was for just two hours. Th-there is always next time, right?” she asked nervously, forgetting if this was a one-time thing or if it will be a regular occurrence from now on.
“I don’t know,” Sara answered her and shook her head, “but at least, we could see each other, right? And we are making some progress, I could see a few kids practicing their powers, and I could see that telepathic girl talking with lots of other kids.” She was trying to be optimistic.
“Tela, right? Maybe we should try talking to her next time?” Cyko suggested. He did find her interesting, and he would be lying if her words didn’t affect him positively. Talking to her is the next step of their plan.