Point-of-View: Zoraiz Rafayet
———————————————————————————
"Okay, let's start with some basic knowledge, shall we?" Suggested Mike, before continuing as I nodded, "First off, Meta-Human powers...they're called Skills. There are nine main types...Pyro, Aqua, Aero, Electro, Terra, Light, Dark, Physical and Space. There's also a rare tenth type called the Aberration Skill, but it's not that relevant, so let's set that one aside for now."
"Huh, kinda seems like video game stats," I remarked dryly.
"Yeah, true that! But these existed well before video games did, so we didn't rip anything off. Incidentally, Neo's portals are a Space Skill power. And the Meta-Orb that you absorbed gave you the Physical Skill. And FYI, I also have the Physical Skill, along with the Aqua Skill and Terra Skill," He informed me, "Naturally-born Meta-Humans can typically develop upto three Skill types, and in rare cases, four or the maximum of five, there have never been any recorded instances of a single Meta-Human possessing more than five Skills. Oh, and since you aren't a naturally-born Meta-Human, you probably won't develop any more Skill types. But there's no way to know for sure at this point, since you're the first such case."
"Really? So all Meta-Humans before me have been naturally-born?" I responded with a frown, before shaking my head with a sigh, "I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around the fact that super powers are natural."
Normally, I'm not very good at speaking to others, unless it's hostile, then I have no problem...but normal conversations are kinda difficult for me. But right now, I was so curious about all this that the words and questions I wanted to say and ask just sort of flowed out...
"Yeah, you'll get used to it, I know it must be hard...that's what she said. And actually, there is one person who gained artificial powers before you, but...that's kind of a special case, so don't worry about it," He replied with a dismissive wave of his hand.
"Oh, sure, whatever. Anyway, the energy or whatever that fuels Skills, what's that called? Magic? Chakra? Or is simply Energy? No? What about Chi? Mana?" I inquired curiously.
Not gonna lie, this stuff is starting to fascinate me...
"Sheesh, slow down, kid...that's what she said. If the 'she' is question was a pedo, that is," He quipped, before clearing his throat and answering my question as I gave him a look of exasperation, "Ahem, anyway, regarding what powers Skills...none of the above, actually, all of your guesses were wrong. the energy that Meta-Humans generate is called Aura."
"What? That's so...boring and generic though," I frowned in disapproval.
"Yeah, well, this is real life, not a video game or anime, so get over it," He countered with a wry smile.
"Fair point, I guess, but still," I muttered with a shrug.
"Anyway, let's get back to the explanation. All Meta-Humans generate a fixed amount of Aura in them...actually, let me rephrase that, all humans have an Aura potential and Meta genes, but in regular humans, those are in dormant states, and usually next impossible to awaken," He explained, before continuing, "As for Meta-Humans, their Aura is used to power their Skills, and it naturally replenishes itself after being used, just like stamina. Now here's the important part...using your Aura is easy enough, but mastering and controlling it takes a lot of practice. You've been using it just fine, but you haven't been controlling it at all."
"What do you mean? It didn't feel like I was out of control or anything like that," I responded uncertainly.
"That's not what it means to lack control in this sense. Hm, let me think of a good analogy...oh, I know! Think of it like pissing, right now you're spraying all over the toilet seat and on the ground and on your pants and feet...but once you master your use of your Aura, you'll be pissing with perfect accuracy, no noise or splashback-," He clarified with a grin.
"Oh my God, just say that I need to use it more efficiently!" I interrupted in disgusted horror.
"...right, so you get the gist of it," He replied sheepishly.
"I-...just get on with the explanation," I sighed in exasperation.
"Damn, you're cold. That's what she said...if the 'she' in question is a necrophile," He cracked another dumb 'that's what she said' joke, before continuing, "Anyway, getting back to it...as I was saying, Skills are fueled by your Aura, and your Aura capacity can be measured using a certain device. Think of it like a power level or video game stats."
"Oh...that's cool, I guess," I replied, intrigued to find out what my 'stats' were.
"They can be misleading, though...for example, you'll almost definitely have a very high number when it comes to your Aura capacity, but someone with a much lower number could easily defeat you as you are right now," He cautioned me, before adding, "Of course, we can't measure mastery and control like we can with Aura capacity, those are aspects that you have to work on non-stop. And while your Aura capacity, as well as your maximum output, are fixed and can't be increased, what you can do is get better at using them as efficiently as possible."
"Okay...so how much training am I going to have to go through? Is it gonna be h-...difficult?" I inquired, quickly correcting myself to deny him an opening for another dumb joke.
"That's what she s-...hey, not cool! And I don't know, depends on your talent. Also, there are five general rankings we use, Category 1 through to Category 5, with 1 being the highest general rank...oh, and the absolute best of the best are given the rank of Category 0, very few qualify for that rank. It's primarily based on Aura capacity and output, though practical skill and degree of control over Aura are also major factors that are taken into account, of course. You easily have the power of a Category 0, and probably by a huge margin at that, but at your current level of control and skill, you'd probably be a Category 4, maybe a 3 at best."
"Makes sense, I guess," I responded with a nod.
"Well, that about covers the basics...let's get training now, shall we?" He suggested with a grin.
———————————————————————————
Point-of-View: Neo Cronje
——————————————————————————
I think that was a job well done, considering that I can't sense the Auras of others all that well. Though while that kid's Aura was immense in quantity, he's got zero control, so it didn't feel all that intense. Well, whatever, he's Mike's problem now.
Looks like the higher ups have nearly convinced a couple of the other Category 0s to help out with this, but there's a lot of reluctance. I can't wait for this to be over...so far, it's one down, eight more to go. Maybe I'm stressing out a bit too much...I might as well relax while I still can, right?
Okay, yeah, guess I'll just sit back and wait for the intel team to find some leads-...my line of thought was then interrupted as I suddenly got a call. Oh, speak of the devil...
"Hello? What do you guys have for me?" I inquired, as I answered the call from the intel team.
"Well, sir, we've located another one. And not too far from where we found the boy who came across the Physical Skill Meta-Orb. It looks like the Electro Skill Meta-Orb has been found...a house in Albany was destroyed, and from the pictures we've seen on social media, it looks like the damage was caused by lightning...two people found dead, the couple who owns the house, it seems. They were likely killed in an instant, their bodies are heavily charred. We've also spotted a small crater in the backyard of the house in some of the pictures taken, so it seems like the Meta-Orb must have crash landed there," Came the reply.
That sounds like something messy must have happened there...well, this should be fun, I say sarcastically...
"What about Tara or Richard? Haven't they gotten on board yet?" I sighed in response.
"No, sir, it looks like it'll take a while longer to convince them."
"Tch...those two are such-...! Alright, fine, send me the pictures you found, along with the coordinates and whatever else you guys found. I'll go through them and then head over there," I replied with a grumble, giving up and relenting.
"Understood, we'll email it to you right away."
A few minutes later, I received an email and opened it, going through the contents carefully. Definitely looks like lightning damage, I'm confident that those burns weren't caused by flames...and the crater he mentioned, looks like it had been partially hidden by a bush. It wasn't a very big house, and the backyard looked poorly maintained and was full of junk. Hm...
I looked up the social media profiles of the owners of the house...nothing on Twitter or Instagram, but they've got Facebook profiles...Jeff Tucker and Rachel Tucker...not many posts, this doesn't really tell me much. Oh, looks like they have a daughter...Alexis Tucker. Hm, her profile doesn't have many posts either...
No, wait, it's likely that this is a dummy account and she might have another account that she actually uses. Maybe on other platforms too. The profile picture on this account was posted about a year ago...blonde hair and blue eyes, looks to be around fifteen or sixteen in this picture...alright, I'll just type her name into the search bar and see if any profiles that match this picture pop up.
Bingo! I think I found it, that's definitely the same person. The location is a match too, there's almost no doubt about it.
Let's see here...not a whole lot of posts, but she does interact with comments, though it looks like she gets into a lot of vicious arguments with random strangers on comment threads...this kid has issues.
Hm, what's this? The location tag on some of her latest posts are in New York...while all the posts before that and the newest one were posted from Albany. And these posts are interesting...
'Fuck home, finally free, I'm going to NYC!'...
'In the Big Apple for the first time'...
'ugh, the place smells like piss'...
'wow, New York is almost as bad as home, I think I wound up in a shitty neighborhood'...
'YOU KNOW WHAT, FUCK THIS! THIS PLACE IS A SHITHOLE, I'M LEAVING!'...
'home not-so-sweet home, I guess. FML'...
That just about rounded out her last six tweets...I think I'm starting to get an idea of the situation. She clearly doesn't like her home, which is most likely because of her parents...an abusive household, maybe? In which case...it's very possible that she's the one who came across the Meta-Orb...and then killed her parents.
Of course, I have no proof or anything, it's just a hunch...but I'm going through all the recent social media posts, and it looks like there's a fairly big crowd gathered outside the destroyed house, but I'm not seeing the girl in any of the pictures posted. And looking at her last post, which was uploaded in Albany, it was posted about a couple of hours before the first report of the destroyed house.
That's more than enough time for her to have gotten back home...which is pretty likely since she was probably tired after all that traveling. And only two bodies were found, so she didn't die with her parents. Again, I could be completely wrong and this could end up being a wild goose chase...but it's my only lead. And besides, I've got a strong hunch about this...
I then stood up with a sigh and got changed, before opening the coordinates to the location that the intel team sent me...okay got it. Time to go, let's do this. I opened a portal in a discreet spot near the coordinates of the destroyed house...can't afford to be seen using my powers by any normal humans.
All Meta-Humans, from both Harmony and Eden, agree that we must never be seen using our powers by regular people. Despite both sides having been enemies for centuries, this was the one thing they both agreed on.
However, the reasons are different. For Harmony, it's because our goal is peaceful coexistence, and if regular society finds out about the existence of Meta-Humans, their potential fear could lead to some violent decisions.
History has proven time and time again that people come to hate and fear what they don't understand, there was a time where a small group of Meta-Humans declared themselves independent of either Harmony or Eden, and tried to break the rules and make a connection with regular society...but they were seen as freaks and burned to death.
That led to witch trials by the frenzied, panicked regular humans, where anyone that was so much as suspected of having superpowers would be burned at the stake. And the vast majority of those that were burned to death were just normal humans with no powers whatsoever.
Those incidents were more than enough to convince both Harmony and Eden to continue sticking to staying in the shadows, both sides terrified of the potential chaos that would have ensued if this had happened on a larger scale.
And that's Eden's primary reason for continuing to stay hidden, even as the nature of regular human society has changed so drastically over the years and Eden's attempts at accomplishing their goal of Meta-Human supremacy have grown bolder. Plus they also want to maintain the element of surprise when the attempt their world conquest.
We at Harmony have theorized that their plan must be to blindside and deal a crippling blow to regular human society, before then taking over them...that would be significantly harder without the element of surprise, which would be the case if the existence of Meta-Humans was confirmed. Of course, we could only speculate the details and specifics.
Anyway, despite those varying reasons, for now, all Meta-Humans are in agreement that we stay hidden from regular human society. Though, admittedly, that's been getting increasingly harder with all the technological advances around the world lately.
Well, anyway, I guess I should go to the destroyed house and then see if there are any tracks leading away from it. It's around 7 PM and starting to get dark out here now, so hopefully there won't be too many people around...alright, then, let's get started, I have my next target...
_____________________________________________
Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Don't forget to vote, and feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate any and all feedback and criticism!
Also, check out my Instagram account @aimdaqs for posts relating to this book.
Join the Discord server, I plan to tease upcoming chapters and future story arcs here, and you can also discuss or ask me any questions about the story and characters. Use the invite link to join:
https://discord.gg/sRbx9VbTVP