Chereads / Shattered Autonomy / Chapter 52 - Aura

Chapter 52 - Aura

Something was touching his heart, holding it in place with a single smooth tissue. Then, it let go, unlocking what was controlled while tempered for so long. With nowhere to go, this captive, now free, spread inside his body eventually pouring through the crevices subsequently around to the open air. It was a feeling like that of the wave he had pictured.

No.

It was the same.

'THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!'

Throbbing in his heart inflated the circumference of this feeling, fueling it to grow in strength.

Gan had become the first of his friends to develop his individual aura. Never could he compare the past to what this pressure brought to his senses. Simply… intoxicating.

Little did Gan know but his five attackers had been dealt with during his period of reflection. Miss Bubbles quietly suffocated them with her manipulation of the rain. Each pool of drizzled water expanded to beach ball sized traps that caged their heads, killing the Villains in a matter of seconds.

Her worry was satisfied at the disheveled appearance of Gan. Furthermore, could it be exacerbated by the corpse he had undoubtedly caused, which now laid on the soggy earth.

Miss Bubbles took Gan's face into her hand then knelt to his level. "Listen here, kid. You didn't fight that man, did ya?"

"I-I-I"

'SMACK!' A hard one landed across his right cheek, slightly swelling the skin. "You did not kill him, nor did you fight him. It was a one-sided beating that he did on you…" formulating her thoughts she then continued, "You then woke up here on the ground without a clue where he went off to. Got that?" Her look was stern but had doubts in the creases to her mouth.

"O-O-K. But, why?"

"This isn't some place where you can be laying down justice without justice's approval. Only they can do that. If some kid comes on rolling to do their turf's side of things, some hell will break loose onto not only you, not only your family, but even your friends." Miss Bubbles was rattled. She heard stories of Heroes taken away by the Agency for killing an unknown Villain. It stunk differently, but no one wanted to get close enough to find out why. This whole scenario stunk so bad that she was on her way to leave the city just an hour before the place lit up in a frenzy.

They had been killing left and right with seemingly no cohesion, meanwhile, the Heroes were returning the favor. Neither side could discern from the other bringing forth a cluster of manic fights and pointless murder.

The man's body who fell in front of Gan, was a man that she knew. An ex-Hero taken in by the Agency but hadn't been spotted for two years. However, on this day he appeared again, killed some civilians, then threatened an Evolved student bringing them both to a battle for their lives.

It was the stingiest pile of manure that she had ever smelled in her life. Drawing in the rain from her right hand she produced a massive bubble with her left, sending it to hold the man's body, then tighten. It tightened until the corpse was just a mess of blood and dusted bone. No one could tell the cause of death.

"Let's get outta here. There's nothing the two of us can do deeper in; we gotta find your friends." She lifted Gan to her back giving a makeshift piggyback ride as the boy drifted to sleep at the touch of something warm enveloped his eyes easing them to a downtrodden path.

A subtle gust of wind blew past the two of them, slightly rustling the fallen leaves. What remained in their place was a spectacular glow. A glow so powerful that she knew if her eyes even came close to taking in its rays, she would be justly blinded.

When met by the MAN, if he could even be described under such a mortal title, she stopped in her tracks simply gazing to the tree line in wait for HIS decision.

A booming voice so rough and hard it could crumble skyscrapers, spoke to her with no preconceived bias. "THE BOY…DOES HE REQUIRE AID?"

"Uh… Um… Y-Y-Y…" The answer did not allow itself to be produced from her lips. HIS aura had grown too strong for someone as meek and young as her to dare speak in HIS presence. A cold sweat showered her causing inertia to her brain's communication in the rest of her body.

"HA! Sorry, I SOMETIMES FORGET HOW MUCH PRESSURE I DISPLAY WHEN NEAR OTHERS… HE DOES APPEAR TO BE QUITE INJURED." HE said two words into an earpiece then without a second passing, another person had joined them.

Wrapped in white robes as well as a hood only to hide a painted mask with blue dots lining what looked to be an eagle's beak, they withdrew an assortment of chains, strings and chords from a sleeve. Each one bore a different pattern whether it be striped or colored as well as a unique metallic symbol at its end. The person bent the pieces with his fingers then filtered through them in rapid succession until the correct one was found.

The robed person lowered its other hand to the ground, motioning to the woman to lay Gan there. Miss Bubbles did as instructed, taking a step back to observe their treatment. The silver chain dangled above Gan's forehead until it settled in place; with a dab the gold-plated moon briefly graced his skin and was brought to above his heart instead. There the symbol dropped like before, but a sharp 'PING' echoed throughout the forest afterward. Soon a turquoise field spread over Gan's arms and leg stitching together the lacerated cuts as well as shifting bones to their original placements.

Getting up, the person nodded his head flying to UNITY'S side to mutter something else. Sensing a coming wrath, Miss Bubbles leaped with the boy in either arm dashing away while giving the briefest of thanks on the way.

Solemn had a soul seen anything but a smile on HIS face, but, although she could not from her spot; she felt the ground quake with HIS steps and the wind wail to the swing of HIS arms. It could only be presumed that the smile had faded into something more gruesome over the course of the journey it had taken to come here.

The night was still to be a long one as HE now set his sights on the stage in the center of the forest. A stage inhabited by a sole witching form, her balloons bouncing to an unheard rhythm.