----Unknown----
A young caramel brown-haired girl with worry and fear in her eyes was being chased by a massive shadowy creature. She darts through the puddles and pools of swampy water, but the creature only seems to be getting closer. It roars out, in its booming voice shaking the very earth beneath her feet. She tripped falling into one of the puddles getting a glimpse of her bruised, scratched up, dirty, face before turning to see the cloud of shadow dissipate to revile a red-haired girl not much older than herself. The girl who was once a shadow looked down on the girl "You won't escape me this time. I can't let you get to him. The boss won't allow it." The other girl's eyes darted back and forth between a mirror off in the distance and the red-headed girl. "You really think you can take him from me, don't you. I won't let you lay a finger on him."
The other girl's face didn't change at all, she stared back blankly. Then all of sudden she wasn't there on the floor, she was already running several paces from where she once was. "You should learn to see through illusions faster." She yelled out in a monotone voice. They both rushed, then suddenly the redheaded girl seemed to conjure a shadowy creature bigger than the shadow she once was. It roared out as it easily caught up and barreled into her. She combat-rolled away from the creature. A red light began to collect around her fingertips, she smirked "Sol Solis Incindia!" She shouted. The brightened before flashing like a bright crimson light.
------Michael-------
"Aghh." He shot upright, clutching his chest as he fell out of bed. His eyes darted left to right as he searched to understand where he was. I'm still in bed. What was that dream? Where's my dream journal? I need to write this down. His phone started violently vibrating and ringing as if to disrupt his thoughts. I'm gonna be late for school.
———System———
"One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star." -Friedrich Nietzsche.
Mundane, monotone, empty. A rather sad and reductive choice of words but none more honest have been spoken. These words are used to describe the story of a young man trapped within the cage of life itself, unable to break free. "I'll be back soon." The young man turned to the broken figure lying drunk on the floor, he'd already learned to not expect a response and thus reached for the door. "Sleep all day drink all night, same old Anna." He might have thought, I couldn't really tell, that was the thing about Michael, he was one of the few whose thoughts I could not read.
Today, unfortunately, was an odd day for the young man, one he does not very much enjoy either, because of that the drunk figure rose from the floor and sloppily made their way towards him, and with heavy arms, the figure wrapped itself around the young man. "Happy birthday Michael. I'm not in the best condi*hic*tion to say so, but you are a star waiting to shoot forward. So stop looking so dreary all the time and live your life. Listen to your mother for once." The young man heard the words but he did not listen.
Living a life is a privilege he was deprived of when his father left, his mother died, and his adoptive mother fell into alcoholism and substance abuse. The only solaces he felt in these days were his books and his studies, but even those grew monotonous as well, the gift of intelligence will always weigh down those not in the proper circumstance to use it after all. His mother passed out immediately after that and thus he had left her laying on the floor as he went on to school.
———Michael———
I hurried out into the corridor and ran to catch the bus I was always late for, I could still see the kids cramming into the seats as I came up to the back of the bus. All I saw was the flutter of short bright red hair with blond highlights and almost brown lowlights that resembled a multicolored red flame in the doorway of the bus. New girl?
She must've been handing the bus driver her route and pass because the bus actually stayed still long enough for me to walk up to instead of my usual sprint. Thank you, my lucky lady. Now... who are you? I wondered as I caught up to the bus and got on.
Kids were still finding seats and sitting down but she was already seated laying against the window, in the back of the bus, in the half seat leaving room for one person if they sat right next to each other with no space between. Hmm everyone must be shy of her, if it were me they would have shoved me into the corner of the seat and sat two more in there. Well if they won't take the seat then I will.
I strutted to the back of the bus, "May I sit here?" I spoke in a softer voice as I pointed to the open spot next to her, but as I said it I realized she looked just like the red-headed girl from my dream, but her hair was definitely brighter. my eyes widened in shock and recognition before I hid it. Did she notice... no it doesn't seem so. It was strange but not something new, this had happened before. I used to blame it on déjà vu until got a dream journal and found I could see into visions of the future. She turned away from the window to me and looked me over. Now I believe that I'm pretty decent in the looks department, smooth clear dark caramel brown skin, thick curly hair, fairly athletic build, and it didn't hurt that I'm almost six feet tall. But I do have a weird-looking star birthmark on my shoulder and a stream-like birthmark on my lower thigh. She nodded and kept staring at me as I sat down. At first, I thought there was something wrong with me but that couldn't be the case.
Sitting right next to her, my thigh against hers, her hand brushing by my own, her shoulder against mine. Alright, I'll bite. I gazed into her eyes, "What is it, something on my face." I said with all the confidence I could muster to seem cool, chuckling at the last part. She went to speak but hesitated. "It's okay I won't bite, probably," I smirked as I made that last comment. Her eyes were hazel like mine but with the slightest hint of red. Am I supposed to know you?
"You look familiar." She finally said. Her skin was light caramel and she was quite shapely for her age.
"Oh, have we met before?"
"I... don't..." she hesitated, "I saw you on a magazine a couple of years ago I think."
You think. That can't be it, she came up with that too fast and the fact she came up with it at all means she's hiding something. "Yeah being orphaned by one of the smartest people to exist can do that to you."
Her eyes widened at the mention of being orphaned. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to..." I cut her off in her panic to quickly soothe me.
"It's alright, I'm fine. No offense taken." I flashed a warm smile at her. Her face seemed to return to normal with a twinge of sympathy.
"I get it you know. I lost my mother too, and my dad had left me, and I tried the longest to find him." She gave me a weak smile.
"I know it's not my place but any father who abandons a child like you doesn't deserve you." Alright, only four ways she can take this, only one of those is really bad so... the good articulation of thought. Hmm, I wonder if I try to manipulate her mind through energy what would happen. Could I charm her, or can I only enhance? I can't do it with just my mind so I think I'll need contact. I mentally charged my hand with mana that I gave one command, be honest and like me like you would a friend. It was harder than I thought, trying to use a far more complex form of magic on the spot was going to be tricky. The mana had to be run through my mind first as I gave it the command to convert it to what I'd call mental mana, almost like I was programming it. After it was charged with fire flicker's worth of mental mana with the command, I moved my hand to the edge of my thigh and let gravity do the rest. I'm sorry, but you're going to be my test dummy. Our hands collided. I could have transferred it through our legs but it's easier with less resistance to do it through the arms, plus it was closer to her brain. I could feel my current thin clear aura, like a heatwave, connect with the energy I had sent into her body. Test time. "Oh sorry for that." I pulled my hand away as she looked at me. My brain instantly went fuzzy and then returned to normal. "What is your name?"
"Rose," she answered immediately.
"Where are you from?"
"New York." another immediate answer.
"Me too. If you know where I live, I feel it's only fair I know where you are staying."
"..." she hesitated. No answer. Hmm, I feel a definite magical connection to her. Is she resisting? That wouldn't be possible unless she knows what's happening... right?
I decided to rephrase the question. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to overstep, I realize that can be extremely personal. I just wanted to know a little more about you, you can tell a lot by where someone stays and how they appear. Like me for instance. You saw me in a magazine so I must be popular, but the tone wasn't happy, so you know something bad happened. You also can tell that the thing that happened was something to do with my parents because of the fact I came out of a foster home. Couldn't have been visiting because I didn't come out with anyone and it's not likely I'm visiting a caretaker, right? I must be either good with saving money or getting money from a bigger source of money so my parents must have been wealthy which is even more likely considering that my family is popular. So, I wanna piece your puzzle together."
But those sorts of leaps in logic don't make the sorts of connections you think it will on others. If I told you I was from central queens what would that tell you?" she said in a challenging tone.
Challenge accepted. "You lied by omission when you said you saw me in a magazine, I was never in a magazine, especially not for that, my father and later I made sure all articles like that were struck down before they even got off the ground floor. Instead, it's more likely you saw me in one of my newer interviews on the Neural Link and its various uses as well as its potential in games including the rising second reality, Terra. You likely assumed I'd be on a magazine, you like games or tech and don't want others to know it, or at least for them to not think you're a nerd, which isn't that bad if I do say so myself. Also, it tells me since you're wearing a nice skirt and top with a jacket, and due to the price of homes in queens, you are comfortable but not exactly wealthy. Also based on your sleeveless v neck shirt with exposed shoulders, you're new to this school. Based on your off-putting nature but confidence in the way you walk, you're friendly but you don't seem like you want friends. You must move around a lot, must be lonely. Again, you're new here, clearly, I've never seen you before but you're sitting in my seat. You're wearing nice shoes but not a designer though they probably cost as much you must be someone who doesn't care about popularity. Your favorite color must range from red-purple because though your hair isn't natural, most of it is meaning your hair isn't a statement it's how you like it, but your bag is blue, and your eyes are hazel, I mean people typically don't like their eye color. So, unless you don't follow that you must like blue. Purple is safe in that regard that's why your skirt is purple and so is your jacket. That must me you're partially indecisive but due to your confidence, you must have some ability to decide quickly. So how close was I?" I smirked.
"Not bad Mister Albens. Neat party trick. Okay, what if I told you I was from another world," Her eyes lit up with playful Excitement, "what would that say about me?" Her eyes seemed to pierce my soul breaking whatever magical connection I had with her.
Suddenly I could see a faint aura around her it was like the shadowy aura of the armoire, but hers was much thinner and orange, it was a shade darker than my own. Is she serious? She snapped my connection in half, and I can't seem to rebuild my connection. She's stronger than me. Who is she really? "Well if I had to say. You're not joking, nor do I rule it out as impossible, whether you're lying or not I can't tell." I had half a mind to laugh at her, it was absurd, surreal, and yet something in her glare reminded him of all the strange things in his life, suddenly the idea didn't seem so strange. "So, for now, I'll say you are Rose. But this begs the question... what's this place like?" I looked into her eyes as I spoke through my smile, searching for that glint, that spark that had lit an explosion of fear and anger in Michael.
"Not so fast Albens. We're here and your charm won't be enough for me to tell you that one." The corner of her lip went up into a smirk. "I'll see you around Albens." The bus pulled into the bus loop. We all rushed off the bus. Man, I need a car, I thought as I struggled off the bus.
I struggled to keep up with her in the crowd. "You're new here aren't you. Let me show you around or something." I said desperately trying to find reasons to stay with her.
"If you really want to talk then you'll see me after school." she waved back at me as she vanished into the sea of students. What a girl, I need to talk with her.