With so much of the previous chatter gone, he was now painfully aware that his almost naked state, standing simply in a pair of snug fitting trunks was likely the cause of his massive discomfort. Never had he experienced cold so acutely. His mind began to grow numb, something that was not at all unpleasant given what he had been burdened with for the unspecified span of time.
Through sheer instinct again, he found himself shifting into a great roaring flame. At first he was absolutely terrified. Memories of Yefferson’s antics immediately jumped to the forefront of his head, giving him an instant aversion to the inferno. Now, he instead only felt overwhelming peace. The oppressive cold was gone, and without the cold, the quiet had become pure bliss.
He felt the whipping of the winds, heard the raging of the gales, but it all seemed to be a concert put on by the greatest maestros. Sitting down, he tucked his legs underneath him in a fashion similar to when he was with Master Shin, and he was at peace. It was not until he recognized that he was surrounded by walls that he took stock of his situation.
Though he had tried it before, he had only achieved it due to pure luck and prior experience with other forms. Now he was sitting in a rut, walls of compacted snow and ice around him, as he was a being of pure fire. There was a clear ring around him about five meters all around that was bare glowing rock. He came to understand that he must have melted all the snow around him which led him to his predicament. For the time being he was content, and the ground beneath him was not yet liquified, so he took stock of his situation.
Hobb, where am I?
Appearing in his mind with a scarf tied around his head and a fuzzy cap atop it, Hobb gave him the most disgruntled of looks as he stunned in what must be luxury pajamas. “You seemed to think it was a good idea to take an impromptu trip to Mount Everest.”
Mount Everest?! Why am I here?!
“It has become quite irksome you know, the constant asking me questions only you have the answers to. If I had to extrapolate given the data, you sleepwalked here to rid yourself of all the sensations you were feeling.”
Wait, sleepwalked? I don’t sleepwalk.
“You do now.”
What gives you this idea?!
“You mean other than the fact Mr. Ingraham is lying on your floor quite sore after you flung him from the bed?”
Oh shit! I did that? I’m always so considerate! Even though he still hasn’t done something about that damn snoring. Now that he knows about my powers, we are seriously going to a nose and throat doctor…
Clearing his throat, seemingly not in the mood for his internal ramblings, “Indeed, you should do that. Now to answer your previously unanswered question, it would appear you have not adjusted to the vastly increased power you now possess.”
How so?
“I have never before felt the things you were experiencing. Without trying, your synesthesia was picking up everything for miles, down to the molecular level.”
Seriously?! How would I be able to stand all that?!
“I would suppose you could not, hence the perfectly ruined pair of new underwear we just bought…”
Looking down he realized what Hobb was talking about. He did not sleep in his suit, and he had been in bed with Phavian. This form he had taken was both comfortable and extremely volatile. He had never before taken into consideration becoming a being a fire would simply burn everything around him. He did not even think he would give off heat. There were so many things that were inherently different from his other elemental forms that he never took into account.
There was a flash in his mind of a room with toys and a small bed. The room had become engulfed in fire, but he did not know why or how. As quickly as the flash came, it was gone and he was back in his hole, steadily burning through the ground beneath him. Opening a portal directly above him, he jumped, taking off at a much greater speed than he expected. If it had not been for him shifting into his Gaseous form at the last minute, he was positive he would have shot through his own ceiling.
He had begun wondering how he was communicating so well with Hobb atop Mount Everest, but remembered that away from campus their Vizers piggybacked off satellites, and his own implant made him a built-in antenna. Given how high up he was, he actually had a better connection than other places when he was on the ground. He was taken out of his thoughts by the overwhelming presence of everything around him. Now that he was awake and knew what it was, he was better equipped to do something about it. The moment he got it to a manageable level he heard Phavian screaming.
“-my fucking back could be broken! What is going on with you! What happened to you?! You have never done anything like that before, then you just disappear!”
Looking over at Phavian, then looking down at himself, he grabs his suit, melding into it, and then some underwear. “I’m starving. Let’s go to breakfast.”
Still hysterical, Phavian flails his arms about whilst trying to make a point. “Did you not hear me?! What if I am a quadriplegic now or something?! I hit the wall directly on my neck! Where did you even go?!”
“Quads don’t stand, nor do they flap their arms like they are trying to take flight. You are being dramatic. Do you want food or not?”
“Are you cooking?”
“No.”
“Do we have to walk there?”
“What is wrong with walking?”
“You are a fucking Transporter!”
“So?”
“So we could be there instantly!”
“I’m also masquerading as a Fire Affinity. Well, I guess not anymore. But you get my point. Fire Affinities don’t have portals.”
Pouting as he creeps over and nudges Anaar in the side, “Please?!”
Groaning with clear annoyance, “Will it make you shut up?”
Smiling happily as he snuggles Anaar from behind, “Yes!”
“Fine, but don’t get used to this. I can’t just be portaling around campus. I get to actually be what everyone thinks I am for once. I don’t want to cause panic.”
Nodding happily, Phavian gets dressed as Anaar does the same. It does not escape Anaar’s notice that Phavian is putting on some of the new clothes he had never gotten a chance to wear. Catching the look on his face, Phavian smiles innocently.
“Well you aren’t wearing them.”
Damn freeloader…
“I for one appreciate his enthusiasm and recognition of my genius style. Perhaps I should assist him in shopping instead.”
Oh shut up Hobb.
With both of them dressed, Anaar checks and opens a portal that is devoid of nearby people on the B1 floor of the Cafeteria. Phavian seemed extremely excited by the trip, even though he had portaled many times, and could not help beaming with glee at everyone they passed, something no one had an issue with. As they sat down to eat, Phavian noticed the even larger amount of food on Anaar’s tray than normal, but thought nothing of it.
Pointing a fork at him accusingly, “Care to explain why you flung me into a wall this morning?”
“Sorry about that. I was sleepwalking. Supposedly.”
“What do you mean ‘supposedly’?”
Shrugging as he stuffed he mouth with food, speaking through bites, “I have it on good authority.”
“But you don’t sleepwalk.”
“I didn’t think so either.”
“So how do you know that’s what happened?”
“Can we move on to the next topic please?”
“Okay then. Where did you go?”
“The peak of Mount Everest.”
“What?! That sounds so fucking amazing! Did you not think I would want to go?!”
“It wasn’t a vacation. Well, I guess technically it was. But not why you think.”
“Well then talk to me. Why would you just port-”
Anaar’s hand shoots out and puts his finger to Phavian’s lips. His speed shocked even him, but what was more shocking was why he did it in the first place. He could not explain it, but he could feel them
being listened to. Though it was not something he had experienced before, it was as if his powers were experiencing a feedback loop, and his Affinity Detection could identify it as audial synesthesia. He was not sure what made him so sure it was directed at them, but to be safe he scanned the area.
His eyes were almost immediately drawn to his target, and he should not have been surprised. Despite being on the completely opposite side of the large space, his enhanced sight easily picked up Efren Chang. It made complete sense someone with his level of ability would be capable of filtering through all the noise in the room. Anaar was honestly quite impressed. He was also quite annoyed.
He thought of confronting the man, but he knew that he had made his name as the school gossip and information broker. It came as no surprise that he and Phavian were being targeted. Though they tended to not discuss things that were a more private nature in public, Anaar wondered what else Efren knew about them. Openly assaulting Efren would lead to questions, though not many people cared about his wellbeing. Instead Anaar thought of a different way to handle the situation that would prevent obvious detection.
Releasing a number of small explosions with the power to create miniature sonic booms, they buffeted the area all around Efren. What he did not expect was that what he thought would be small booms, reverberated the entire room. Even just one was enough to completely incapacitate him, but the series caused Efren to seize and fall from his chair, his ears violently bleeding. The sudden ruckus caused the students to shriek in the aftermath, everyone completely ignoring Efren’s plight.
Anaar felt terrible that his attack was far more effective than he intended and put his newfound strength to use. It was surprising just how much the people around him were ailing, something he had never been able to pick up on before. Pushing past all of the others, he focused on healing Efren, just enough that he would not be permanently disabled, and he was stable for the medical team. Having Hobb send for a transport, he turned back to Phavian as everything began to settle back down.
“What in the fuck is going on? Did you hear that shit?”
“Of course I did.”
“Right. Synestate. Grand one at that.”
“I was actually referring to the fact that I caused it, but yes, there is that too.”
“Why would you do that?!”
“Because Efren Chang was listening in on us and you were about to say something that would give him far more information than I would like. Who knows what he would have done with it. I would have probably had to kill him to be safe.”
Staring at him with a terrified expression, “That was a joke, right?”
“No. Either way it has been handled. Now back to you what you were saying before. I can’t control my powers that well right now. I didn’t intend for so much to happen to Efren just then, and it is like I can hear, feel, smell and taste everything right now. I have it in a bearable state at the moment, but I have some work to do.”
“Is it that much of a difference?”
“Oh yeah. I would imagine it is what deaf people feel like when they get surgery to hear, and that is not at all hyperbole. It is like I had no senses at all before even though they were already absurd.”
“Holy shit… Well that is fucking nuts…” Phavian begins fumbling around with his Vizer to Anaar’s curiosity.
“What are you doing?”
“Messaging Codi that you just fucked up Efren. She hates that guy.” There is almost an immediate response with Phavian giving Anaar a sour look. “She wants to know did you ‘kill the fuckbag?’”
“Don’t tell her this, but if I hadn’t have healed him, he would probably be dead at worst, or completely deaf at best.”
“Why would you do that shit?! Now he is just going to come back worse than ever!”
“Don’t worry, I just stabilized him. My best guess is that he won’t be hearing for some time.”
Phavian and Anaar continued their meal until Anaar had been satisfied. To Phavian’s dismay, Anaar told him to go on without him because he had things he needed to take care of. After staunchly refusing to portal him back to the room, Phavian sulked away as Anaar headed in the opposite direction. Arriving at the Headmistress’ estate, he dropped in to see an overjoyed Seles before meeting up with Ixnes.
Finding her in one of her studies, no doubt long since alerted of his arrival, he took his seat opposite her in one of the luxurious chairs. Anaar was surprised to find her in an almost lime green body-hugging dress. Ixnes had never been one for overly bright and garish colors, so he could not hide his amusement.
“You are back much sooner than I expected. What do you find so amusing child?”
“You remind me of a popsicle. Quite a different look for you.”
Responding with a sour look to match her dress, “I suppose I can take your good cheer and borderline disrespect as a sign of success?”
“No, it was a complete failure. I wasn’t able to get through to Yefferson at all.”
“What steps do you plan to take to prevent future incidents and to clear your name?”
“I didn’t realize my name needed to be cleared…”
“You thought my spectacle at that smarmy little police station was enough to exonerate you?”
Grumbling to himself, “I thought it was a nice police station…” Resting his head on his hand, lightly massaging his temple, “What course of action would you advise?”
“Something that clearly shows you have nothing to do with this brother of yours, nor his nefarious deeds! It would be better if there was something to be shown that it would not happen again!”
“Does him being dead satisfy those conditions?”
Ixnes was taken aback by the words, her eyes wide and glimmering brown in the light. Before she said something untoward, she took a moment to study Anaar’s face and demeanor and she could tell he was struggling to sustain a veneer of professional indifference. After making her assessment she leaned closer.
“Can you be certain? Given your… situation.”
“I can show you the proof later, but for now it seems you had something else in mind.”
“Whatever do you mean?”
“I know everyone in this house. Though he may be a guest, people’s auras are like fingerprints. I was barely functional at the time, but I do remember this one clearly.”
“Hobb, have the good commander sent in.” Narrowing her eyes at him, “I will require more explanation later.”
Shrugging, “You always do.”
It was not long before a tall, medium built aging man was brought in by one of the maids. Giving a slight smile with a bow, she exits leaving the man to look visibly annoyed.
“Ixnes how long must we play these games? If you are not going to turn over the boy-”
Because the grandiose chair was tall enough to obscure the slouched over Anaar, the man was utterly flabbergasted to see Anaar lean from around it and give a wave.
“I suppose I’m the boy you are asking about?”
Charging over to a chair adjacent to Anaar, “Ixnes what are you playing at?!”
“Nigel darling, you have been badgering about the child for days now. Here he is.”
“You plan to just give him up like that?”
Straightening his posture to his full height and taking on a much more mature expression, “I am not a good to be sold or traded, so no one will simply be ‘giving me up.’ I am Anaar Vorpahl, but you of course already knew that Commander of Interpol, Nigel Welschire. Please, enlighten me to why I would need to be turned over, and to Interpol no less, an international agency, for a completely domestic affair? I didn’t think you had agents, nor jurisdiction anyway, so why exactly are you here?”
Keeping his calm in the face of the sudden attack, Nigel turns to Ixnes with a disgusted look on his face. “I see you prepped him well for this exchange.”
In a flirtatiously flighty manner, Ixnes flips her hair and laughs. “Oh no my dear, I assure you this is all him. I give you my w
ord that I did not even tell him you were here. It appears I am having quite the impact on the boy.”
“Whatever the case may be, I cannot help but feel ambushed.”
“Well you are the one who walked into a lion’s den. Now have a seat.”
Nigel begrudgingly sits as he looks between the two and waits. “Well?”
“You are the one who came here for something from us. Perhaps you should start.”
Sighing, “Given the crisis still surrounding the incident in Cuba, you were placed on a watchlist. You had been quiet for some time, but after this incident, there is no saving you. Though it still sickens me to my stomach to have you walking free, the Air Force utterly destroyed any chance of holding you accountable for the incident in Cuba. You will not be so lucky here.”
“So much for due process… Yefferson Costa. Look him up, though I am sure you have ways of obtaining that information already. With your resources, you must have known who he was without his last name, just by cross referencing my information. You are aware I had an identical twin brother yes?”
“We were told you knew nothing of the existence of this brother. What do you mean by had?”
“Had is the past tense of have. I cannot say I have a twin brother any longer because he is dead.”
“Dead?! This is extremely convenient! Where is the proof? He was killed by whom?!”
“Unfortunately I don’t have a body to give you. As you understand my abilities can be a bit… explosive. As for who did the deed, I took care of it myself.”
“This is madness! Why would you kill your own brother?!”
“Because he was an extremely volatile entity that was responsible for the willful deaths of hundreds, along with the injuries of thousands more, and billions in damage? Also he had my face. That was bad for business.”
“How can you be so cavalier about murdering your own twin?!”
“Who said it was murder? I assure you that I wanted nothing but to reunite with my long lost brother and be a family. Unfortunately he did not share that desire. He died as I was defending myself.”
Revelations (Song of Sophangence Book 4) Page 3