God Eye by WriterWhoWrites a.k.a. me

Chapter One - Genesis

Note
italics = thoughts

“Please! Won’t you help us?!” the young man with short blonde hair pleaded. He knelt on the ground next to his brother, the two of them placing their foreheads against the hard wooden floor of the small oriental shrine they were in. Though he kept his head low, he could still feel the dozen pairs of eyes staring down intensely at him. It hurt his pride to be in such a lowly position, but it’d be worth it if he got the information he needed so desperately. He wouldn’t mind playing their hierarchy games then.

“The answer is still no!” a stern male voice shouted. “The Tsubaki Clan must remain neutral in this conflict. It is not our place to give you or any of the others any kind of aid.”

These traditionalist fools really aren’t going to tell me anything unless I use my trump card, will they? The young man thought, doing his best to keep from raising his head. Fine, if that’s the case, I’ll just force them to-

“That’s enough.” A soft female voice said. “Stand.” Confused, but curious, the two brothers got to their feet and saw the young girl the clansmen had been protecting. She couldn’t have been more then thirteen or fourteen years old, but she had a worn down look on her face that made it clear to anyone watching that she’d seen more than her fair share. She wore an elegant blue kimono with white flower patterns which was accented by her silky green hair that reached far down her back. Though most would consider seeing this hair color odd, it looked perfectly natural to everyone in the room. The girl got to her feet and slowly walked towards the two brothers and placed her hands on their heads. “You’ve come a long way to protect your wishes, haven’t you? I can spare some time to give you the fortunetelling you’re hoping for.”

Nearly everyone else in the room was in an uproar. They furiously questioned the girl’s judgment, but it fell on deaf ears. She’d made her decision. The only other person not up in arms over all of this stood up. She had long braided blue hair and wore a kimono similar to the other girl, only this one was black. She was a few years older as well, most likely her early twenties. Narrowing her eyes at the angry kimono-clad clansmen, the blue haired woman silenced them all with a single wave of her arm. “Jade’s powers are her own to do with as she wants.” The woman said, lowering her arm. “Are you sure about this, Jade?”

Jade nodded. “Yes, sister.” she said. “If anyone has a problem, they can just leave.” Though they all looked angry, no one dared budge an inch. With the blue haired woman supporting Jade, there was nothing they could do. “Good.” Jade knelt down in front of the two brothers and closed her eyes. While the brothers knelt down across from her, the blue haired woman knelt down behind Jade, placing her hands on Jade’s tiny shoulders to stabilize her. “What is your question?”

“We want to know who our greatest opponents will be so we can prepare accordingly.” The young man answered.

“Understood…” Jade said, letting her voice trail. The lights in the room slowly dimmed until the only source of light were the four flames floating in the air around them. “I’m seeing…what?!” Jade nearly fell over, but her sister braced her. “This presence…I’ve never felt a presence this large before! It’s a monster! A monster disguised as a man…”

“A name!” the young man shouted. “I need a name!”

“He’s…yes…his name…I can see it…”

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Monday, January 9th 2012

For the past several days, I’ve had the same dream every night without end. There’s a saying somewhere that our dreams are the windows to our future, but I never felt that was true. Something like that just doesn’t make sense. The future isn’t set into stone. There are too many actions day by day that can change the world in little ways. Besides, accepting the fact that everything we’ll ever do is already decided leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I’ve worked hard to reach that point I’m at, so the thought that it was all planned before I even worked up the courage to get started annoys me.

The way my dream starts out varies most of the time, but the end result is always the same. On the day my world changed, I had that dream as well. In fact, at that time, it felt more surreal than it had ever felt before. I could feel every rain drop as it touched my skin. I could see the mist seep out from my mouth from my exhausted pants. The sound of my feet running through the rain soaked city streets resounds in my ears to this day.

My heart raced out of terror from the people chasing me. They were all featureless, but it was clear that they were out to get me. Each one carried a crude weapon, either a sword, a club, or a pitch fork. The featureless man leading the mob kept pointing at me with each additional step he took, never wavering for a moment. “There he is! Don’t let him get away!” the leader shouted furiously. The men and women following after him let out rallying shouts that didn’t improve my stride one bit. “We’ve had enough of you, monster! Just die and let us live in peace!”

“What did I do to deserve this?!” I would always shout back without turning around. Though fear fueled my stride, the mob closing in on me did little to help me speed up. In fact, it felt more like I was moving slower, as if invisible hands were gripping my ankles through the puddles. “Will you at least tell me what I did?! I don’t understand what’s going on!”

“You’d dare make us repeat it all?!” the leader replied in anger. “You…!”

I violently shook my head, hoping it’d shake this situation away, but all it did was make me blind to the pile of crates that came rolling into my path from who knows where. It didn’t take much to make me lose my balance and fall face first to the ground. I definitely wasn’t considered athletic in the slightest, so I had no clue how to save myself from falling. I lifted my head out of the debris, only to realize that the rest of the crates were pinning me to the ground, keeping me from getting back to my feet. What’s worse, most of the wooden crates had opened in all the chaos, burying me in a mountain of smelly fish long since expired. I wanted to throw up from the stench, but before I had the chance to, I looked up to see the mob standing over me. “W-Wait a second…!” I cried out, trying to plead with them to spare me, but before I could even finish my sentence, I was stabbed through the back, not by the mob, but by someone else. As my world slowly turned redder and redder, I turned around to see who’d delivered the finishing blow. I could see someone clutching the long javelin which was now embedded in my back, but before his face was visible, the dream ended and I woke up.

It was at this point that I, Christopher Erickson Blaire opened my eyes back in the real world, covered in sweat. “Not again…” I said, feeling around for the glasses on my nightstand. Once I gripped them in my hand, I sat up and put them on my face. “What in the world…?” I said groggily. My room was in shambles. I was very particular when it came to keeping my room clean, since I’d often have to find papers or pull out reference books at the drop of a hat, but this was just horrific. My desk was completely knocked over and all the books had fallen to the ground. The lamp was on the other side of the room, the light bulb smashed against the wall. My bookcase was in a similar condition, only it was now taking up half the space on my bed. Even the posters on my wall had been ripped off and torn to pieces. “It looks like a tornado came through when I was sleeping…” I said, getting out of bed. If I weren’t so tired, I probably would have been more upset, but I’d been up late last night working on the contents of the speech I’d have to give at school later today. The sole object untouched by all the chaos was my wall clock, probably because it was firmly bolted to the wall from the time I accidently nailed through it when trying to hang it up. “7:45? I’ve got to be at school in half an hour. Guess I’ll clean my room when I get home. Gah, and on the start of my last semester too; mom’s going to kill me.”

Now that I was up and on my feet, I was awake enough to be frustrated by all of this, though it might have been because I had to move my now smashed TV out of the way to get to the half-bathroom attached to my bedroom. It was depressing. Doing my best to avoid the pieces of glass on the carpet, I climbed into the half-bath and looked myself in the mirror as I brushed my teeth. “I need to get a haircut soon…” I said to myself, pulling down on my brown bangs once I saw it in the mirror. “I can’t imagine what everyone would say if the Student Council President was kicked out of school because of dress code. Geoff probably wouldn’t stop laughing for weeks.”

With my teeth brushed, I carefully made my way back into my room to quickly change into my school uniform. All students of Nuae Private Academy were expected to wear black pants and a gold trimmed blazer on a daily basis. While the girls had the option of wearing skirts, both genders had to wear a tie, though I usually found myself wearing the same electric blue tie every day. It was my favorite color after all. Once I’d slipped on my uniform, I walked out the door while putting the red sweatband my little sister, Jenny had made for me years before. I never went anywhere without it, so it felt weird to leave it at home even with our school’s dress code stating otherwise. “So long as no one sees it, it won’t matter.” I’d always tell myself.

My room was on the second floor, so when I managed to move my dresser out of the way, I stepped through my bedroom door into the second floor hallway. It was pretty empty for the most part, since it was rather small, but most of the walls had family pictures. Once I was certain I’d be able to get inside my room later, I stepped down the stairs into the kitchen, which was as pristine as always, thankfully enough. So it was just my room. I thought.

The kitchen itself looked simple at first glance, but upon further inspection, there was more to it. While it had plain looking gray counters on either side of the stove, there were several compartments built into the actual wall of the room, which served as one of my mother’s favorite hiding spots when I was too young to know about the little cubbies. Today, as with most days, the counters were clear with the exception of a see-through glass platter my mother usual put bread or other snacks that were ok to eat.

Today being a Monday meant that my dad was busily typing on his laptop, desperately trying to catch up on the work he was supposed to finish over the weekend. My dad was a nice guy that loved to crack jokes, but he was a little weak willed when it came to dealing with the higher ups, so he usually got roped into hosting poker night for some of his friends. My mother did a good job at keeping them quiet, but there were still instances where I could hear them loudly enjoying a good game while I was up late studying. “Forgot again, Dad?” I joked as I sat down at the kitchen table. There was already a plate set for me, so I helped myself to the eggs and bacon my mom had cooked up earlier.

“What’s with this again stuff?” my dad replied without looking up from his keyboard. “I’m just running a little late this time.”

“Uh huh…” my mom said, setting a glass of milk next to my plate for me. She and I exchanged glances. I liked my mom. She was smart, but she was also cunning in her own right. I can easily recount dozens of moments where my mom pulled off the impossible before anyone had even realized the impossible was needed. “I believe your Queen of Hearts knows better.” She said with a smile.

“If the King of Diamonds had given me some winnings for once, I wouldn’t have to feel like the Joker…” he said, heaving a sigh. With several exaggerated set of keystrokes, my dad saved his work and shut his laptop. “Guess I’ll have to have summon my inner Ace later, huh? So, Chris, you ready for the new semester? Don’t let yourself go too crazy, even if you’re a senior. School will eat you whole when you least suspect it, you know.”

“I’ll be fine.” I said, taking a bite out of the scrambled eggs on my plate. “Kelly would kill me if I goofed off too much. Besides, looking at the syllabus, I’ll be lucky if I can survive one more semester.”

“Kelly, huh…?” my mother said, giving me a sly smile as she set a piece of toast next to me on the table. “You two have certainly hung out a lot lately. Are you planning on asking her to prom?”

My face immediately flushed. “W-What are you talking about?!” I exclaimed, coughing to keep from choking on my food. “You did hear me talk about her killing me, right? There’s no way I’d ask her. Besides, Geoff likes her.”

“I’m just calling it as I see it.” My mom said, sitting down across from my dad to start eating. “By the way, what was that noise coming from your room last night? It woke me up twice.”

“Ah, that…” I said. She’ll probably have a fit if I tell her what state my room’s in. “I did a little of spontaneously reorganizing last night. Nothing to worry about.” Well, I guess there wasn’t an earthquake or something last night. What messed up my room? As I kept eating, I looked over to the empty chair to my right. “Is Jenny still asleep?”

My mother’s expression immediately dropped. “I told her to go back to bed.” She said, setting her fork down. “Her condition wasn’t good enough to go back to school today, so I’m keeping her home again. Speaking of which…” my mom got up and walked towards me, feeling my forehead with the back of her hand. “Are you feeling ok? You’re a little warm. I hope you’re not coming down with a bug.”

“It’s probably nothing.” I said, ignoring her worries. “Besides, I can’t miss school today. The principal asked me to give a short speech to welcome everyone back today. Today won’t be too rough.”

“That’s right.” My dad chimed in. “I’m sure it’s nothing, honey. He’s still young. He’ll likely shake it off in a few hours. School’s the priority of all Blaire men his age.”

My mom and I both exchanged glances. One of my dad’s favorite things to talk about was how something was the priority of all Blaire men my age. Since my dad was quite the ‘wild child’ as my grandparents describe it, I could never tell if he was being serious about it or not.

“Anyways, if you feel like you’re coming down with something, go to the nurse and call me so I can pick you up. With Jenny at home today, I’ll be here most of the day.”

“Ok, ok.” I said, finishing off the rest of my plate. “I’m going to say goodbye to Jenny before I go.”

“Alright, have fun at school, Chris.” My mom replied as both she and my dad waved at me. I waved back and quickly rushed back up the stairs.

Once I was upstairs, I moved to knock on Jenny’s door when one of the pictures on the wall caught my eye. This picture in particular almost always caught my eye whenever I saw it since it was one of the few pictures with all four of us in it. Even though the picture was from four years ago, I was the only one that looked like they’d aged since then. Both my mom and dad looked pretty much the same. What was disheartening though was that Jenny still looked the same as well. She should have been roughly ten or eleven in that picture, but she still looked the same at fourteen.

I slammed my fist towards the wall, but stopped myself just before hitting it when I realized that Jenny might have fallen asleep. Instead, I simply clenched my fist in anger. “Petrificatious Fungi…” I said under my breath, turning away from the picture. Taking in a deep breath to calm down, I knocked on the door. There was no reply. I should let her sleep. I thought. Mom did say she wasn’t feeling well. I started making my way back to the stairs, but as soon as I took one step, I could hear Jenny’s soft voice call out to me. I smiled and walked into her room. “Hey there, Jenny,” I said, kneeling down next to her bed and patting her head. “What’re you doing getting sick on the first day of school after winter break? You trying to skip or something?”

“Hey…sorry about this…” Jenny said, squinting her eyes to protect them from the hallway light. “I wanted to go school…I really did…But mom was like ‘You’re going to overwork yourself if you go to school today’, so I have to stay here…It’s not fair. She just worries about me too much because she thinks I’m really frail.”

“Well, you’ll just have to do your best to prove her wrong then, won’t you?” I said. “There’s always tomorrow. You can go with me then.”

This brought a smile to Jenny’s face, but it quickly faded away. “Thanks, Chris…but you and I both know it’ll be a while before I’m strong enough to go again.”

“Who knows?” I said, patting her one last time before walking back to the doorway. “I bet you’ll jump up and start doing jumping jacks the moment I walk out the door.” Jenny glared at me which only made me laugh. Though her body was as frail as glass, her eyes were incredibly sharp. “Anyways, get some rest. I’ll talk to you after school.”

“Ok. Can you tell my homeroom teacher I’m sick today?” Jenny asked.

“Definitely.” I replied, slowly closing the door. “See ya later, Jenny.” I waved her goodbye as I closed the door. As soon as the door was closed, I let out a sigh and leaned against it. Don’t be so nice to me, Jen. This is all my fault in the first place…

No sooner had I thought this did I hear Jenny’s voice inside my head. “I hope Chris doesn’t worry too much about me at school today.” She said. It caught me so off guard, I looked back into her room. She was already half asleep.

Must have been my imagination…I thought. Deciding it was better not to dwell on it for too long, I grabbed my backpack from my room, headed back downstairs and headed out the door to get to school.

Because Nuae Private Academy was only a mile away, I usually walked to school with a few of my friends, though I was running late today, so I didn’t expect to see anyone. Nuae Private Academy, named after the city it sat in, was considered to be one of the best high schools in the world in nearly every subject. Students came from all over the world just to attend, but actually getting accepted was no simple feat. Simply enrolling was considered a feat of genius, and your freshman year there would was usually enough to get into most colleges while actually surviving the four years with good grades without your brain turning to mush got you enough college credits to graduate. All in all, it was a school filled with natural and self made geniuses who were ready to tackle the world as soon as they became adults. Those that didn’t know me very well thought I was some sort of super genius since I was the Student Council President, but truth be told, I got the position because I was probably the most popular of the small amount of people willing to take on its responsibilities in addition to my own school work. I made good grades, but it was just good enough to get by.

“This is getting ridiculous…” I said to myself as I walked down the sidewalk of the bustling city. With the start of the new semester, the city was even more active than before. Everyone that’d left for the holidays was now back and ready to get back to business, so crowds had more than doubled in the past week. It was difficult just make it down the street without being suffocated by the sheer amount of people. Out of frustration, I slipped down a side alley and cut to the other side. Thankfully, the sidewalk was much clearer. “I’ve lived here all my life, but I don’t think I’ll ever get used to these crowds…” I said.

“Don’t get so depressed this early in the morning, Chris.” A familiar voice said from behind. Stopping, I turned to see Geoffrey Jackson walking towards me. Geoff was the sort of goof ball that surprised everyone when he announced his acceptance to Nuae Private Academy. School to him was a playground, not a place of learning, so I never expected him to follow me and Kelly to our High School. Unlike most of our classmates, Geoff planned on being a detective once he got out of high school, though he didn’t look the part. With his short blonde hair and bright green eyes, he looked too giddy to work in criminal justice. Still, he was a great guy, even though the ‘kicks’ he’d get into at times were more suited for being a criminal rather than catching them. “You’re going to make me depressed too. I completely forgot to do my homework until last night. I’m exhausted!”

“I’m not really surprised.” I said, turning back around to watch where I was going. “So, what was it this time?”

“Tripwires.” Geoff replied, crossing his arms behind his head as he walked. “You would not believe all the things you can do with that stuff! I spent a week tricking out my room before I ended up triggering the trap myself when I was half asleep.”

I shook my head. “That’d explain why my mom asked me if I was messing with things I shouldn’t a week ago.” I replied, recalling the strange conversation we’d had. “Try not to kill yourself yet, Geoff. We’ve still got six months of high school to go through.”

Geoff grinned as his pace quickened. “Heh, if anything going to kill me, its boredom.”

“For me, it’s these crowds…” I said, cringing as more and more people started walking alongside us. “Don’t you think it’s worse than normal for this time of year?”

“Oh, that’s because of all the moving vans on Southerland Street.” Geoff said. I raised an eyebrow at him so he continued. “That old mansion was bought a few months back by some young millionaire. They were renovating it for a while, but they’re finally moving in, so the street’s packed with moving vans. Traffic’s completely blocked on that side of town, so it’s all being detoured through here. Even the sidewalks are closed! I couldn’t even sneak my way through it all. That’s why I’m running so late.”

“Really?” I replied, dejected. “I can’t imagine what it’d be like if I took the bus.”

“Tell me about it. I’ve got to admit though, from what I saw of the house, the renovations were pretty weird. Here, look, I took some pictures.” Geoff flipped open his phone and held it towards me. After a second of fiddling, the screen displayed the ebony-colored mansion. It had a dazzling stone walkway with a crystal clear fountain halfway between the open gate and the building. Through all the pictures Geoff showed me, there wasn’t a single one that didn’t have a large amount of moving vans. “That really is a lot of vans. I gotta say though, the place looks great.”

Geoff grinned. It was the same grin I’d always see whenever he was scheming something. “I was planning on sneaking in later to profile the new residents. You want to come with?”

I sighed, turning away from Geoff to focus on walking. “You’re really going into Criminal Justice?”

“What that supposed to mean?!”

“Try not to get caught this time.” I said, laughing to myself. “You got off with a warning last time you got caught ‘investigating’, but you’ll get kicked out of NPA next time.” My phone started vibrating, signaling that school was about to start. “Come on, Geoff, you’re going to be late.” Before Geoff could reply, I picked up into a run, slipping through the sea of pedestrians and leaving him behind.

“H-Hey! Wait for me!” Geoff shouted, running after me so he wouldn’t get left behind.

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The bustling city streets never gave way for a moment, so it didn’t take long before I was forced back to a walking pace. It was frustrating and took much longer than I would have preferred, but I managed to reach the school with Geoff trailing a few feet behind me. From the sidewalk across the street from the open gate, I could fully take in the view of the world’s top high school. The school felt massive just by looking at it, both vertically and horizontally. The campus itself was about a three square miles, set in the middle of the city. There were four main buildings, all built in a circle around the central office, which also held the auditorium. From where I was standing, there were three buildings to the left and to the right with the central office directly ahead of me. Three of the four side buildings reached four stories high, as did the central office. The sole exception was the building closest to the gate on the right, the gymnasium, though it was quite large as well. Each side building, minus the gym, was named after a color: Velvet, Lavender, and Vermillion, and this was signified by the color on the doors. There were also sports fields like a soccer field and track field among others, but our sports teams were more for show than anything, since most students focused on studying rather than sports or clubs.

Ready to get the day started already, Geoff and I crossed the street, only to be stopped at the gate by my other best friend, Kelly Hudson, standing at the gate, tapping her foot. Kelly served as the Student Council Vice-President, and was one of the few members of the track team. She always tied her light brown hair into a short ponytail with a ribbon she’d bought during our freshman year’s school festival. Though she tended to be the first one to call Geoff and I out on the stunts we tried to pull, she also went along with them most of the time.

“You’re late!” Kelly shouted at me, pointing her index finger at me. “Well, almost anyways. Have you seen the time? You should have been here ages ago!”

“Since when has almost ever counted for anything?” Geoff said, walking straight past her, patting her shoulder. “And besides, school doesn’t start for another twenty minutes, Kelly. We’re early.”

Kelly crossed her arms and focused her gaze at me. “Yes, but for the Student Council, it starts in five.” She said, motioning for me to follow her. I wasn’t about to argue with her, so I kept walking. “Did you finish your speech?”

“I didn’t forget.” I said casually. “It’s only supposed to be about two minutes though. It’s not really a big deal.”

“I know, I know, but I just want things to go smoothly.” Kelly said, stopping in her tracks in the middle of the student filled courtyard. She held her hand out towards me. “Can I read it?”

I froze in place. This was exactly what I was hoping wasn’t going to happen. “Eh heh…” I said, coughing as I kept walking. “You said it yourself, we’re almost late. Let’s get going…”

“Hold it right there.” Kelly said, grabbing me by my collar as I walked past her. “Don’t tell me you’re just going to wing it again?!”

“Well…”

“You haven’t written it yet?!” Geoff shouted next to me. “Have fun spilling your guts out on stage today, man. I’ll make sure you have a decent funeral.”

“Not again…” Kelly said, rubbing her forehead.

“Hey, you know I sound like I’m reading whenever I write it down ahead of time.” I said, doing my best to play it cool. “And besides, this way’s more fun, don’t you think?” I stretched my arms out towards the open air. “Call it…being free spirited.”

“I’d call it suicide.” Geoff and Kelly both said simultaneously with straight faces.

“Some friends you are!” I shouted back.

“Do not fret, sire!” Geoff said, bowing like the servant of a mighty king. “My loyalties shall always lie with thee and thee alone, oh great lord of the student council. I only aim for thy welfare, my liege.”

I sent Geoff a glare fiery enough to melt stone, but he and Kelly were too busy laughing to care. “Geoff, we haven’t played the King’s Game in like, four months!” Kelly said as she laughed.

“I’ll stop when you stop laughing at it.” Geoff said.

Even though I felt the urge to laugh as well, I wasn’t going to let them know that, so I walked past them while hiding my face by pretending to rub my forehead. “The auditorium is right there, Geoff, so we’ll talk to you later, ok?” I said, pointing to the auditorium connected to the central office.

“Alright, alright, see you later.” Geoff said, still laughing as he walked away.

“He never stops laughing, does he?” Kelly said once she caught up to me.

“Probably not.” I said. “But yeah, don’t worry about the speech. I’ll definitely know what to say when I’m up there. I’m spontaneous, remember?”

“You say that…” Kelly said, sighing. “I swear, as the VP, hearing you say that makes me want to slap you. But as your friend, I know you’ll stumble through this and make it look like you did it on purpose. Just remember…” Kelly and I locked eyes the moment we reached the double doors of the auditorium. “…if you mess up, I’ll just have to kill you and take your spot as President.”

“As if I’d let that happen!” I said with a laugh, opening the door for Kelly.

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Twenty-five minutes later, students started pouring into the auditorium. Despite the vast amount of burgundy theater seats, it didn’t take long for to take up all of them. From the stage Kelly and I sat at, they all looked like one large grainy picture of every shape and color. I adjusted my tie out of nervousness and sat up straighter. I’d spoken in front of everyone like this before, but the waiting at the beginning is always the worst. Even though I knew nearly everyone’s name by their faces, no, because I knew nearly everyone, I always felt stupid just before getting up to talk. The podium on the stage seems to have the mysterious power of making me calm down the moment I grip it in my hands though, so I’ve always had confidence in my public speaking. It was partially because of this sensation that I decided I’d got to law school after I graduate so I can become a lawyer.

When I looked over to Kelly, who sat to my right, I could see her nervously fiddling with her thumbs, like she always did when she got antsy. It was funny to watch, since she was always brimming with confidence. This instance felt a little strange though. Kelly never got stage fright. “Relax. All you have to do is introduce me.” I whispered in her ear.

Kelly smiled at me and shook her head. “It’s not that. I was just debating on when to give this to you.” She reached into her blazer and pulled out a white envelope and held it towards me, looking satisfied with herself. “Open it when you get home tonight, ok?” she asked. Then her face grew stern again. “If I find out you took a look at it before school ends, I’ll hunt you down and use you to practice pole vaulting.”

“Now that would be an interesting experience.” I mused, only to get slugged. While I kept myself from laughing, the principal signaled to Kelly to start. Taking in a deep breath, Kelly got to her feet and walked to the podium which silenced the talking in the auditorium.

“Esteemed students of Nuae Private Academy,” she began. “I’d like to welcome you back from winter vacation. I hope everyone had an eventful time. But we did not enroll at this school to play around all day during our time off. We’re enrolled here because there’s a lot we want to accomplish while we’re still young. But before we can usher in the start of the new semester, our Student Council President, Christopher Blaire, has some words for you. The principal will then address you and we’ll start the new semester. Now then, Chris, if you would.” Kelly motioned to me from the podium, signaling for me to stand up. Putting on my best smile, I walked to the podium as applause filled the auditorium. Kelly and I shook hands before she sat back down so I could begin. I looked out at the crowd of people and felt my worries slowly fade away. Then, smiling, I adjusted my tie and spoke.

“It’s at the beginning of a new semester that I’m often reminded of just how far we’ve come in our lives. Ever since we started kindergarten, our schools have been instructing us, showing us the path that will lead us to our best selves. To this day, everyone here has continued down that path, going above and beyond what is considered the norm, not because anyone told us to, but because that is what we want the most at this point in our lives. We all strive to be the best we can so we can follow our dreams to reach the goals we’ve set for ourselves. Even though these goals may be different, at this moment, this very second in time, each and every one of us strives with the same level of ferocity that makes Nuae Private Academy the place it is today. So long as we continue with that drive, any obstacles we face will seem like nothing while we climb over them. With that said, my fellow students, I’d to welcome all of you back to school for another fine-”

“That’s quite enough!” someone shouted from the student section. Everyone turned to see several students all standing up, carrying instrument cases. “I’ve seen enough through the eyes of these tools.” Everyone standing up suddenly reached into their cases and pulled out either an assault rifle or a handgun. Students started screaming. The SROs standing in the auditorium reached for their guns only for the young man that’d spoken to turn and quickly pull the trigger of the handgun he carried. The bullet hit the man’s forehead, dropping him to the ground as more students screamed. “Christopher Blaire. I have to admit, I’m surprised. For someone with your reputation, I expected something more menacing.”

I couldn’t bring myself to budge an inch. My body was going into shock. I wanted to scream in terror, but I could feel everyone’s eyes on me so I swallowed my fear to stare down the man with the gun. I recognized his face, but the way he carried himself, and spoke was nothing like his normal self. “What do you want?” I asked, doing my best to stay calm. What’s going on?! Did he seriously just shoot Officer Carver?!

“Call it bad luck or fate, but I’m here to kill you and everyone here. The Monster who Devours Worlds and the God who Creates Worlds, the two of you are the biggest obstacles for our wishes, so I’m going to kill you before you get the chance to reach your full potential!” Another SRO jumped out from his cover and started firing, but a girl standing near him quickly turned with the assault rifle in her hands and quickly shot him down. More screams filled the room. “What do you think you’re doing?” the main man asked, shaking his head. “Well, get to work everyone!”

The horrible screams only worsened as the armed students started firing at everyone at random. Their leader fired a shot at me, but I felt Kelly push me out of the way just before impact. The bullet embedded itself into the wooden wall behind us, sending splinters flying. Kelly and I took cover behind the old podium, but we both knew it wasn’t going to last for long with the amount of hits it was taking. The speed of the hits increased drastically, so he must have ordered an assault rifle to start firing.

“Chris, what’s going?!” Kelly asked in tears. “You know what he’s talking about?!”

“No! None of this is making any sense!” I replied. If they’re after me and someone else, they might stop for a moment if they hit me, right? Won’t that give some of the students a chance to escape? I thought. I shook my head. No, I shouldn’t just let myself get shot for a chance. There’s got to be something I can do to…In the middle of my thoughts, I saw an SRO lying on the ground only a few feet from me with a gun next to his hand. A gun! If I…

“Don’t!” Kelly pleaded, reading my thoughts. She gripped my shoulder to keep me from going. “You’ll get shot!”

“We’ll both get shot if we stay here any longer!” I said, pulling her off me. “I’m going to do it!”

“Chris, no!”

Ignoring her cries and swallowing my fear, I suddenly ran out from the safety of the podium and dove for the gun. I managed to grab it and roll back to one knee with it ready to fire, but the sight in front of me was too horrific for me to handle. There were bodies everywhere. I couldn’t take my eyes off them, so I didn’t even attempt to dodge as the leader fired his handgun at me. It hit my shoulder, sending a wave of pain through my body, forcing me to drop the gun.

It was at that moment that something clicked inside me. It was more than the sound made when a pistol was ready to fire. In fact, it would be better described as having my whole being ripped in half in a single instant. Something swelled up inside me. I didn’t know what it was, but whatever it was, it made my eyes burn as if they were on fire. The intense sensation kept me busy long enough for several bullets to hit me all over my body, sending even more pain through me.

“No…!” I shouted, somehow pulling out the strength to get back on my feet. “I have…to do something…! Anything…!” Though I was filled with holes, I somehow managed to take a step forward. Then another one. My eyes were focused on the man that’d initially spoken. Every fiber of my being wanted him to disappear. Even if he were someone I’d known before, whoever was controlling him was anything but good. On an impulse, I reached my hand forward as the burning in my eyes intensified even more than before. “What are you staring at?” I asked, exasperated. “Go away!!” As I shouted, I waved my arm to the side. At the same time, the leader’s body sudden shot in the same direction at an incredible speed. He crashed into the wall, but I didn’t care. There were more shooters staring me down. More people to make leave. “Fly!” I shouted. “Leave!” I roar. “Leave us alone!!” With each cry, I sent a body flying in a random direction, either killing or incapacitating them.

“Gah, he woke up!” one of the shooters shouted, raising his assault rifle at me. “Everyone, target the Monster! Now!”

The other shooters all nodded and turned their guns at me and fired. The bullets looked like they were moving in slow motion. In fact, they were moving so slow that my berserk mind quickly grew annoyed with them. “Disappear!” I shouted, waving my arm. The bullets simultaneously turned the other way and flew off. But this time, it didn’t hit the wall, but instead it hit Geoff who was trying to help a bleeding student sneak outside. Geoff screamed in pain as his blood flowed. My body froze as I snapped out of my rampage at the realization of what had happened. Geoff hit the floor and stopped moving. “Geoff!” I called out to him. I tried to move, but my body was so bullet ridden it was a wonder I hadn’t fallen myself. There was another gunshot as I turned to see more bullets headed my way. I reached out my hand to stop it, but they kept coming. I had no clue how to stop them now that I’d snapped back to reality. Just before the bullets reached me however, Kelly jumped in the way, taking the bullets in my stead. As she started to fall, I reached for her.

“Kelly!” I screamed as loud as my body would let me. Kelly didn’t respond. She couldn’t respond. My vision was starting to get blurry from the loss of blood, but I put my all into the simple act of stepping towards her. “Kelly! Come on! We’ve got to get out of here!” I shouted, still reaching out for her. “Kelly! Answer me! Come on!”

“Forgetting about something?!” I heard a gunner shout. I looked up to see a man I didn’t recognize. He had short blonde hair with glowing yellow eyes and unlike everyone else here, his clothes weren’t stained with blood. He pointed a revolver at me with a big smile on his face as he spoke. “Goodbye, Monster.”

As he pulled the trigger, the world once again started slowing down. The bullet soared through the air towards me as everything faded to blackness. In seconds, the only thing left in the world was that bullet and I. It’d stopped so close to my eye, that I could feel it. I’ve…This…I’m sorry, everyone.

“Don’t give up just yet.” A woman’s voice echoed through my mind. “There is a way to save not only yourself, but everyone as well. But only if you’re willing to get your hands dirty.”

Floating through the black void didn’t do anything to alleviate my pain. Just making the smallest twitch sent a shockwave down my spine that made me want to cry out. “What’s going on?!” I shouted to the darkness. “Who are you?!”

“Chris!” I heard Kelly call out to me. I looked around frantically to find her. The black void had shifted all around me to countless images of Kelly running my way as if she were trying to catch me from falling.

“Kelly! Kelly!” I cried.

“We’re over here, pres!” Geoff shouted at me. I was suddenly surrounded by hundreds of Geoffs. They stood around me in a scattered circle, each with a blank look on their face.

My eyes started burning again. Despite the pain in my body, I grabbed my head to force the burning sensation to go away, but to no avail. I wanted it all to end. I wanted to be back in class, listening to a boring history lecture. But the more I wished it away, the more pain surrounded me.

“Chris!” I heard Jenny call out to me from behind. My eyes lit up and I felt the burning slowly fade away. She sounded healthy and strong, unlike her weak soft voice. I turned around to look at her, but was horrified by what I saw. “Chris! Look at all the fireflies! Ah hah! Aren’t they pretty at this time of night! I wonder where they’re going!”

“Jenny! Wait! Don’t follow those!” I shouted, running after her to no avail. She was only walking, but she still somehow moved faster than me. Eventually, she fell down and was surrounded by spotted purple mushrooms that were covered in a sticky spore. “JENNY!” I shouted, recognizing the fungi. “Stay away from those! Come back!”

“My body feel’s funny Chris…” Jenny said, as her head started bobbing back and forth. She was losing consciousness. I had to hurry, but I couldn’t seem to move fast enough. She fell face first into the mushrooms and quickly turned to bare bones.

“JENNY!” I shouted, reaching out to her. I was about to reach her when I started to fall myself. I couldn’t reach her. I couldn’t save her. Just like back then, I was limited to how far my arms could reach and how fast my legs could move.

The next thing I knew, I was sitting upright under a blanket in the middle of a massive open ballroom, breathing heavily. Though my body had been cleaned up somehow, there was still blood coming from my wounds. Remarkably though, the pain I’d felt slowly faded away. The bullets wriggled their way out of my body, sealing the skin as soon as they left. In a matter of seconds, my body was fully healed, leaving me dumbfounded.

“What in the world…?” I said, staring at my hands. “Did I just…?” All of a sudden, I felt like there was someone else in the room. I looked around and sure enough, I was right. Though the ballroom was mostly empty, there was a white metal table on its wooden floors. It sat in the corner of the room, next to a door leading to a balcony.

Curious about what was going on; I got to my feet and walked towards the table. As I got closer, I could see a young woman, probably in her early to mid twenties, sitting at the table drinking tea out of a small white tea cup. She had long blue-green hair that went to her shoulders in the back, but was braided on either side in the front, reaching a few inches further. When I was only a few feet away from her, she opened her purple eyes to stare at me. “So, you live.” She said, casually taking another drink.

“Would you mind explaining to me-” I started to say, but before I could finish my sentence, the woman’s eyes suddenly shifted from purple to blue and I felt something squeezing my mouth closed.

“I already know what you’re going to say.” She said. “I’ve seen this conversation in visions countless times.” The woman set her tea cup on the table and stood up, smirking to herself. “And besides, it’s not like it’d take my powers to figure out what you’d ask in this situation.” Once she was standing away from the table, she turned to greet me, giving me a quick curtsy despite the fact she wore blue jeans and a purple shirt with long black sleeves. “My name is May Joanna Bethany Hope Yevan. I am going to be your teacher.” I wanted to ask her what she meant by this, but my mouth still wouldn’t open. “A teacher for what, you ask?” May asked for me. “Well, shouldn’t it be obvious? Does the word psychic mean anything to you?”

The force keeping my mouth closed was finally released, giving me a chance to talk. “Yeah, I know what psychics are. Those people who look into crystal balls and stuff to give you bogus fortunes for a quick buck. What are you going to-”

May shut my mouth a second time and heaved a sigh. I wanted to sigh as well. This was getting annoying. “Do you really think a person that can see into the future would waste their talents like that? I’ll just go ahead and tell you what you already know, but those people are just scam artists. I’m sure you already knew that, but it needed to be said. Follow me.” As May made short strides towards the balcony, I felt myself hesitating. There was just too much information swirling around me at once. It was hard to just take in at the rate this May person wanted me to. Unfortunately for me, May wasn’t exactly inviting me to come along so much as ordering because I suddenly felt my body being pulled towards her as if I was being dragged around by a rope until the point I started following her on my own.

The terrace had a beautiful view of the city, made all the more beautiful by the bright setting sun. This was about the time that I realized just how high up we were. We must have stood over forty stories above the ground in a huge skyscraper that reached even higher into the air. Even though I wasn’t afraid of heights, the sheer drop was unnerving. All of Nuae looked like a speck from up here.

May leaned against the railing as she spoke, looking down at the city below. Her braided hair blew softly in the wind. “This world has several types of phenomena. People’s lives are saved miraculously at the last second. People who should have died from injury or disease end up surviving and using that strength to do things they never believed possible. Even those who have been impoverished for years somehow pull out of that very same poverty thanks to some unknown force they didn’t know existed.” She turned her head to look at Chris. “Some people call them miracles. I know better.”

“Are you trying to say those are psychics or something?” I asked, leaning onto the railing next to her. “Sounds like some sort of fairy tale.”

May made a single, barely audible chuckle. “No, I wouldn’t be so naïve as to say that. However, there are times…” May said, holding her hand out to him. A black sphere of light spun endlessly in her hand. “…when you want to believe all of those miracles are happening because of something you did. Am I right?”

“I guess…” I said, unable to take my eyes off the spinning sphere. It took me a second to snap out of it, but that was only because May closed her hand. “What are you trying to get at here?” I asked. “All this talk about miracles isn’t making any sense. Unless you’re saying I was saved by some miracle.”

“You could say that, though that’d only be the tip of the iceberg.” May said, looking back at the setting sun. “Though, you’re not the type of person that needs miracles. You create them yourself…”

A gentle breeze blew, waving their hair as they stood there. Then, I noticed her eyes shift from black to green. I stepped back in surprise. “Just what exactly are you anyways?” I asked. “What happened to your eyes?”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I was just checking up on something that’s going to happen later.” May said, stepping away from the railing. She sat down at a table that was shaded by an umbrella. “It’s about to rain. You might want to come over here.”

“What do you mean? The forecast said-” suddenly, a drop of cool water landed on my face. Then another. And another. A moment later, it was pouring buckets. Feeling defeated, I sat down across from May at the table.

“Whether or not you’ve noticed it yet, you are a psychic.” May said, staring straight into my eyes. Her eyes were back to purple now. “Before today, you were merely a potential, so you were subconsciously using powers that slept inside you. Think of it like a reservoir having a leak.”

“That sounds so fake.”

“Trust me, it’s not.”

“Then show me some-”

“What? Proof?” May asked, laughing hysterically. “You’ve seen the color of my eyes change twice now, I’ve stopped you from talking, and I’ve been finishing your sentences since you woke up. You really are stupid for someone that goes to an esteemed school like Nuae Private Academy. How else would you explain what you did earlier?” May’s eyes shifted blue for the second time as the umbrella over my head bent inward, pouring water all over me. I groaned as I flung water off my arms. But instead of flying off in random directions, the water droplets flew into a tiny ball forming above May’s open palm. “Oh, you’re right. Psychics don’t exist. I just happen to have a gravitational pull above my hand strong enough to float water. My bad. I’ll let you go home now.” May said sarcastically. “Believe me now?”

“I guess so…”

“Don’t sound so disappointed.” May said, standing up. “Anyways, it’s about time we get started…”

“Wait a second, so if psychics exist and I’m really one, then what happened at the school today-”

“Bingo.” May said, interrupting me for the umpteenth time. “Yep, it was mostly your fault. Those people were after you and one other, but mostly you.” I was in shock all over again. But May wouldn’t let me have any time for this to set in. She got to her feet and started dragging me back inside by some unknown force again. “Stop being so dramatic, kid; you’re going to give yourself a stomach ulcer.”

“My friends and classmates just died because of me! How do you think I’m supposed to act?!” I shouted at her.

May didn’t seem angry, but instead simply raised her hand to silence me. “If you’d calm down I was about get to that. Maybe I should have kept your mouth shut. Anyways, you wanted a way to fix things, so here’s your chance.”

“What do you mean?”

“What I mean is that you have a chance to do something not many people can do. I know of a way that will make everything that happened go away. That includes what happened to that little sister of yours.”

I took a step back in surprise. I couldn’t keep from smiling. This is great! I thought. If she can really fix everything, then all that pain would have just been another bad dream!

“But at a price.” May added.

“I should have seen that one coming.” I said, letting my smile fade. I clenched my fist and widened my stance. “What is it you want? My soul? Servitude? What?”

“I’m not the devil!” May shouted, crossing her arms. “Anyways, it’s not really anything in particular. To save the lives of everyone in that auditorium and the life of your sister, all you have to do is fight other psychics and win. Well, and remove yourself from existence, but with as insignificant your life’s been so far, that’s hardly worth mentioning.”

“Hardly worth mentioning?!” I shouted. I ran up to May and started shaking her by her shoulders. Her expression didn’t change the entire time. “Is this some kind of sick joke?! My life isn’t insignificant in the slightest!”

May’s eyebrow flicked up for a split second. She was starting to get irritated with me. “The reason those people went ballistic like that was because of the two psychics controlling them. They came there in order…” May put her index finger against my chest. “…to kill you. They asked someone to look into the future for them and they saw something they feared. It involved you, so they figured the quickest way to keep it from happening was to kill you. Your friends just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

I didn’t know what to say. This was simply too much for me to take in at once. “I can tell you don’t quite grasp what I’m saying.” May added as she turned to walk back to her tea cup at the first table. “Very few do at first. If it helps, I can simply ask you this.” May picked up her tea cup and took a sip before looking straight into my eyes. “Do you want to live or are you content with just dying?”

I slammed my fist into the wall. “If they were really after me like you said, then it doesn’t matter to me if I die or not. I want them to live! Everyone that they hurt. Everyone that I’ve hurt…if there are people out to kill me right now, then they come first.”

May grinned and tossed her tea cup into the air. I followed it with my eyes as it fell. Instead of breaking into pieces, it seemed like everything else shattered. I was falling once again, but May stood perfectly still. “Good answer.” She said. “Then let your wish be granted!”