by Riley Tune
“I can’t believe you left the base,” Young Pyro said as he moved towards Picasso with his hands stretched out. Picasso stepped back some. “Forgot,” Young Pyro said as he retracted his hand. “No hand contact.”
“Sir, we have to get moving.” The large guard said as he bent down to speak. Several other large men in his employ had surrounded behind us as well to keep the crowd in check. Young Pyro shook his head, then snapped his fingers, and another guard gave him several lanyards with laminated badges on them.
He gave Picasso a badge. It had VIP Backstage Access written on it. My eyes followed that badge leaving Young Pyro’s hand, and I fought the urge to snatch it from Picasso. “How many are here with you?” Picasso looked to the rest of us, and we all looked at Young Pyro, trying to contain our excitement for what was coming. He handed us all badges. Backstage access, VIP, I’m better than you badges!
I held the plastic badge in my hand and looked down at it. For a moment, everything faded away. The sound, the crowd, everything. I took in a deep breath, swallowed hard, and looked back to Young Pyro. I wanted to says something but excitement and shock had rendered me speechless. I was a groupie. No doubt about it now. But, I was also a groupie with backstage access. It was worth it.
“Jim,” Young Pyro said, “make sure they make it to the stage so they can see the show close up.” Jim, another larger than life guard, escorted us behind Young Pyro and we all made it to the stage. Jen and Zeva were as excited as I was. We all kept looking at the badges and held them tightly as if they were made from some valuable metal, instead of paper and plastic.
Young Pyro walked up the stage steps, and so did we. I didn’t even know if we were supposed to, but nobody stopped us. “Hang here and we'll catch up after the show. You can tell me how everything has been,” Young Pyro said to Picasso as he removed an afro pick from his pocket and stuck it in his hair.
A blond lady appeared and handed him a microphone. “Enjoy the show guys,” Young Pyro said to the rest of us. A grand finale of fireworks exploded in rapid succession, and Young Pyro looked up at the sky, moved his hands, and the fireworks all began to take shape and spelled out his name on the nights sky.
The crowd exploded and screamed as he ran on stage and his music started. Instantly we all turned to Picasso. “How do you know, Young Pyro,” Zeva asked. He shrugged. “He was a member of the Imperial Lords for a short time.”
“Short time?” I repeated. “I read it was for less than a week. Then he quit to pursue music.” Picasso shook his head as he began to draw on his sketch pad. It looked like he was drawing the scene around us. “Before that.” Picasso suddenly pause as he drew an outline of the crowd on his sketch pad.
“Focus, focus,” Jen said as she snapped her fingers. “Before that he was an intern just like you three. I met him then. He always was nice and spoke of his music. He never teased me about my sketching, or awkwardness, as some do.”
This made me feel hollow inside. Picasso was weird, but he was a nice guy. I personally felt like he was underutilized in the Imperial Lords. All that power and he just, hangs around doing nothing. Either way, I hope he knew I wasn’t trying to tease him. If it wasn’t for my suggestions, he wouldn’t have even been here right now, meeting old friends. Well, sort of old friends.
“I’m just glad you came,” Zeva said as she and Jen started dancing and saying the words to the current song Young Pyro was doing. I looked at my badge again, and felt myself start to move to the music. “I’m glad you came too,” I said loudly over the song. Picasso simply nodded and continued to draw the crowd on his pad.
Three more songs were performed and then, everything stopped in the middle of the fourth song.
Literally, everything stopped. The hyped crowd suddenly stopped moving. They appeared frozen. So did the people backstage with us. “What’s going on?” Jen asked. I looked around. All the security, stagehands, and anybody else excluding us four were frozen as if somebody had paused them.
Young Pyro turned and looked at us from his center spot on stage. So, five of us were able to move it seemed. Zeva and Jen ran to him. I walked closer to a guard and realized that his eyes were moving, and he was still breathing. “Blink’ if you can hear me.” I said to him, and he in return blinked rapidly.
“Blink once for yes or twice for no.” I said to him quickly. “Can you move?” two blinks. I placed my hand on his arm. “Can you feel that?” Two blinks again. His eyes became glazed, and tears rolled down his cheeks.
I grimaced. “Are you in pain?” One blink. I took a deep breath. Total, painful paralysis that seemed to only effect Voids. Why did that sound so familiar to me? I walked on stage and told the others what I had found out. Then I looked at the crowd, and even the people in the vendors section.
All statues. All apparently in pain as they were unable to move. The five of us. Icons, were able to move. “We need to get help.” Jen said as she pulled out her phone. “I’m calling dad.” Then she screamed as a single bolt of electricity struck her phone, causing it to fall to the ground.
Another bolt of electricity hit the stage and a man appeared from it. He was tall and broad shouldered. Dressed in all black, with a matching black trench coat, his face couldn’t be made out because he had a white mask on that covered it. I looked at him. Where had I seen him before?
“Ah, Young Pyro.” he said. His voice had a rattle to it, and he tilted his head. “Look at how you glow. How you all glow. All of you, but two are different. No bother, can’t say I’m not surprised.” His head turned as his white masked face stopped on me.
“You again.” Then it hit me. He was the same guy I saw getting out of the elevator at Danielle's apartment. Why was he here? I glanced around again. Was he the reason everything was paused in place?
“Who the hell are you?” Young Pyro asked. “Your end,” was all that the masked man said. Then he rose in the air, and lifted his hands. As he did so, two things happened. First, anything around him that wasn’t secure, and wasn’t a person, began to float in the air. Second, his raised hands began to glow red and pulsed with energy.
Young Pyro, didn’t seem to miss a beat, and instantly transformed himself into a living blue flame. The heat he generated was intense. Even after his years of being in music, he still looked formidable, and almost demonic. Following his lead, Zeva encased her body in her ice armour, while Jen turned invisible, and I heard her move away from us.
I looked for Picasso, but he had retreated off stage. He hid behind a vendor cart, and was visibly shaking. Fear had him now. He would be no use in a fight. He likely had no experience with confrontation. I flicked my hand to form a force field around him. He sat under the force field, still shaking.
I then called a force field forward and surrounded myself. Leaving enough room so that I wouldn’t be too enclosed inside. I glanced back to check on Picasso. I expected to see him shaking, instead I saw him draw a door and vanish. “Coward,” I said through gritted teeth.
I didn’t have time to worry about that though. Something worse was happening. The others may not have noticed it but I did. Pausing people, electric manipulation, flight, telekinesis, and what seemed to be some energy- based power. Five powers. Five of them. That was impossible. Wasn’t it? Before I was born, nobody even had four powers, and here this guy was flexing five of them.
Surprise and awe, washed over me, as he floated above us. I wish I could say I wasn’t impressed with his power, but my gaping mouth said otherwise. My surroundings turned blue, as I felt energy course through me, and then the unexpected happened. The impossible happened.
He used a sixth power.
CHAPTER 17
ASHES
A
s the man dressed in black hovered in the air, he turned his head to his left, and let out a sonic scream. Funny. For it to be a scream it didn’t hurt my ears. It didn’t even sound that loud. It was apparently strong, though.
The scream caused his mask to s
hatter at the bottom, showing only his white chin. The scream was so powerful, that you could even see the waves of sound as it traveled, and collided with something unseen and caused it to crash to the ground. It was Jen.
It knocked her out of her invisible state, as she was thrown back several feet. She was holding a long pipe in her hand that I could only assume she intended to use as a weapon on our attacker.
Now, she found herself unconscious on the ground. I didn’t understand how though. How could he have seen her. She was clearly trying to sneak up on him, but still she never got the chance.
Jen was almost cat- like, no ninja- like, when she was invisible. She made virtually no sound, and was utterly impossible to see. Yet he knew. He knew she was there. That usually only happens with people who have enhanced senses, or powers that allowed you to see thermally. Either way this was not a good sign. I could feel my heart skip as realization came to me.
Did this guy have more than six powers? How could that be? Was he created in a lab or something, because this was becoming unreal.
“Jen,” I screamed her name as I flew to her. She was sideways on the ground, with her arms tangled under her. I was leaning over her now. Mouth dry with shock. She was surprisingly not bruised or bloody. Her hat seemed to be the only thing that would never be the same. I checked for a pulse, and felt her breathing. “Good,” I said to myself as I formed a force field around her. “This will keep you safe.”
Before I could turn around I felt a cascade of heat roaring behind me, mixed with an intense chill, then the stage was the home of several random lightning bolts falling from above.
Our attacker was moving from location to location. This lighting power made him some sort of short- ranger teleporter that was hard to lock down. When he finally did stop moving, his hands were pulsing with energy again. I didn’t know what this power could do, because if he used it before, I was too caught up in Jen being down to see.
Before he could use this power, several shards of ice were sent his way. Hell, they just barely missed me as they searched for their target. I had to dip my head some to stay out of their way. Zeva didn’t seem to care. She had a frightening smile on her face as she continued to use her powers.
At the same time, Young Pyro, had flown in the air, and created several beachball sized, balls of fire, and hurled them at our attacker. He followed this attack with a constant, flamethrower style, stream of fire that came from his mouth.
The masked man twitched his head, and with the wave of a hand, a wall of red energy was blasted in the air, destroying the balls of fire. This same wall, after consuming the fiery attack, kept moving, overpowering the second flame attack, and still moved towards Young Pyro, who had to fly out of the way for his own safety. As he moved, a trail of blue fire followed in his wake, and painted the night sky.
The same shards of ice thrown by Zeva, were floating helplessly in the air, trapped in our attacker’s telekinetic power. If our attacker was anything, he was fast, and he was powerful. To stop one attack with your mind, while physically fending off another was no small feat.
The shards were then sent flying back to Zeva, but she created her own extra layer of ice around her current ice armour to protect her. The shards shattered on contact and fell to the ground.
“Pathetic,” the man said as he disappeared in a flash of lighting again, and reappeared beside Zeva. He raised a red hand of energy to attack her, but I was in the fight now. I formed a force field around Zeva, and used my control over it to pull her towards me. It wasn’t telekinesis, but it got the job done.
While pulling her, I let my Impact Blast fly. A solid beam of blue energy rushed towards our attacker. He, in return sent a beam of red energy towards my blast, and they both exploded on contact with each other, causing the stage to shake, and some of the paused, helpless people, to fall over.
“Hunter, let me out,” Zeva screamed. I did so instantly. Not for her own well- being, but because we were out gunned with this guy, and needed the help. As I released the force field around her, I flew towards the attacker. With all the strength I could gather, I swung at him, but just before my attack landed, he phased.
The bastard phased. Another power. What was that? Eight? I was starting to lose count and with each new power displayed I grew more concerned, and even a little jealous.
His phase was short lived, maybe for a second or two, and while I couldn’t see his entire face, I could see his lower jaw and mouth, and he was breathing hard. Phasing must really take it out of a person.
Young Pyro landed in front of the heavy breathing man, in all of his firey glory. He stretched out both hands and literally engulfed the man in a sphere of fire. He should have been burned alive, but instead, a powerful scream came out again, punched through the wall of fire, and hit Young Pyro square in the face.
The reaction was instant as Young Pyro fell to the ground and reverted back to his normal self. His fire form was no more. “Pyro,” the man said as he looked down on him with a disapproving, and mocking tone. “This. Was. Fun.” Then he sighed, and without even looking, the man stretched out his hand, and I heard Zeva scream as she was lifted off the ground.
She continued to scream as quickly her ice armour became cracked. Tiny chunks of it began to fall, as she was slammed to the ground several times. Each time shattering a larger portion of her armour until she passed out. Once she was out, her armour melted away. He held her limp body in the air like a child holding a doll.
Then he coughed and tossed her to the side as she landed close to Jen. I was stunned. Standing there like an idiot. Caught between fearing for my life, and the life of my friends, while still being in awe with what this guy could do.
I called my force field once again, making it large enough for two people as not to feel trapped, and looked at my attacker. He placed a foot on Young Pyro’s chest, and looked at me with a smirk formed on his lower, exposed, mouth.
“Just stop,” he said casually. I ignored him, and flew directly towards him. As I moved, he screamed again, but this time it was different. It wasn’t high impact, and it couldn’t be seen. It wasn’t even aimed at me like his previous attacks.
It was different. It couldn’t hit me physically. What it could do was hurt my ears so bad that I grabbed them with both hands, as I literally came crashing down and my force field faded away.
My force field could stand up to extreme physical attacks. Made me almost invulnerable actually, but sound could still get through, and this sound was like some sort of death cry. As I pulled myself to my knees, I could see what he was doing to Young Pyro. He lifted him off the ground with one hand.
This guy wasn’t overly large, so the act alone suggested some sort of enhanced strength. Yet another power. As he lifted him up, he looked Young Pyro in the face. They looked like they were going to kiss for a second.
I tried to use my Impact Blast, but the area around us merely flickered blue. “Your glow is now mine, Pyro. Worry not. They all will join you soon” the man said. Then he took in a deep breath and something came from Pyro’s mouth.
He began to literally glow, a pale white glow, for a second and then it faded as it left his body, and seemed to flow from his mouth into our attackers. Pyro began to come to as his head moved and eyes blinked a few times.
“No need for that,” the man said and then he casually snapped Young Pyro’s neck. The sound of the crack was followed by the sound his body made as it fell to the floor and rolled. Our attacker brushed his hands together as if he was removing the last remnants of Young Pyro’s dirt from them.
He looked around, then saw me as I slowly moved. I had been trying to get to him, trying to attack for the last few minutes, but couldn’t get it together. That death cry was overwhelming. My head was still spinning and as I touched my ear, I felt something warm and sticky. As I had assumed, I found blood when I looked at my fingertips. “Don’t fear me boy. I don’t kill my own kind. Not often anyway.”
I could feel my face grimace. “I didn’t expect to find a Spellborn here. Seeing two of you here was even more surprising.” he said as he looked around. He spoke slowly as if he was talking to a child.
“A spell what?” I muttered. He ignored me. “Hm, I could have sworn there were two of you but the other one seems to have gone.” the man shrugged his shoulders, and then walked towards me. “I only came for the boy and his fire, but you and your friends proved to be an annoyance.”
He looked around at all of the people, still seemingly paused in place around us. I had been so wrapped up in the fight that somehow, I had forgotten all about them and their condition. “Collateral damage,” he said as he glowed red. Much like the energy from his hands earlier, this red energy pulsed, too.
I didn’t have time to think. With the little energy I had I stumbled over to Zeva and Jen’s bodies, but I fell before I could get to them completely. I was still close enough. It took all I had, but I called a force field in time to surround us all. As the force field went up, my attacker exploded as the energy pulsing from him dispersed in a single effort.
As the energy expanded from him, every person that it touched vaporized, but not completely. While their bodies turned to ash and were blown away, their bones remained. I watched in horror as by the dozens small piles of bone scattered. The entire crowd or fans, the people behind stage, and even the vendors, were all gone. Dead. I had seen fake skeletons before in school, but never had I realized just how many bones were in a person's body until I saw this.
“Yes, that’s better,” he said as he lifted a skull from the ground and tossed it up in the air a few times as if it were a ball. Ashes from the vaporized bodies floated in the air around us like snow now.