Silver stood on a huge, rectangular metal block that he had welded together from junkyard scraps three months ago. He looked into empty space and yawned. He was excited. Too excited. He had been excited since he realized he had awakened Shadow-blending.
(A.N: Blending not bending)
This was last three months. He was euphoric ever since and so was his ever-high mother.
****** ****** ****** ****** ****** ****** ***
Sharon, his mother was drunk that night on cheap alcohol, mostly because she was unable to get her weekly supplies of synthesized stimulants.
Silver arrived at their metal container they called a home, very late that day with a huge metal block he intended to use as a makeshift weight, table and bed. It was after midnight. Sharon was drunk and not in the best state of mind.
Silver opened the door slowly, the huge coffin-like block carefully placed on his shoulder, as he did not want to wake his mother up. She was always incredibly violent when 'so rudely' awoken.
But quiet as he tried, the old, rusty iron door had other plans.
Krrrrrrrkkkkk…kkk..kk..kk…
Sharon woke up. She slowly opened her eyes at first. She didn't have to lift her head much to have a good view at whoever was coming in. Sharon lazily lifted her aching head and saw the coffin. It glossed a wicked black or whatever color metal had. The place was small and the coffin quickly reached in front of her, advancing even closer. Her eyes opened wide.
She shrieked and pounced to her feet, grabbed a knife from under her shirt and threw it at the shadowy figure she saw beneath the coffin.
Now, there is a need to say that Sharon had some skill with the knife. A result of spending more than half her life barely surviving on the dark streets of Veil County.
The knife streaked at Silver in a flash. Silver saw the knife when his mom grabbed it, but lost sight of it half a second later. The surroundings was too dimly lit to support his eyesight, but living on the streets, horrid, disgusting and dangerous as it might be, came with its perks. One of it was the quick development of one's instinctive sense and evasive response to danger.
Silver immediately had a bad feeling. He immediately tried to move but realized he had zero space for that. He was one foot past the narrow door passage and had a heavy load on his shoulder.
Unfortunately, he was stuck at the middle.
He panicked and hurriedly tried to squeeze backwards. Before he could move, the knife pierced his skin right where his heart was hidden. And then it happened.
Silver felt his vision shift. He must have seen some odd colors for a very brief moment and the next time he gained conscious understanding of himself, he heard the knife clatter to the floor behind him. As for him, he was still at the door. The only difference was he was now standing on the metal block and was no more stuck.
Sharon's mouth was wide open. Silver was also speechless. Sharon stuttered continuously, not one word coherent.
"What the f*ck?" Silver yelled. "Why would you throw a knife at your own son?"
"I should be asking you that question!" Sharon shrieked back.
"Ask me what? Did I throw a knife into your heart?"
"You might as well."
"I could have died!"
"Why didn't you die?"
"You want me dead?"
"No! But you should have!" Sharon exclaimed. Then she grabbed her head and slumped down on the chair that was neither a chair nor a bed but acted as both.
"Are you okay?" Silver asked. He walked towards Sharon and sat beside her, touching her forehead to check her temperature.
"Of course not. You gave me such a terrible jump-scare in the middle of the night. How am I going to be okay?"
"You have a fever!"
"OF course I do…."
"It's because you've been drinking again." Silver interrupted. His voice was quiet. Almost a whisper.
Sharon pouted.
"Why won't you stop drinking and taking drugs?" Silver asked for the umpteenth time. He had asked her this question only-God-knows-how-many-times. But Sharon never gave a definitive answer.
Just like now. She simply closed her eyes and laid her back on the chair-bed. Silver stood up so she could stretch her legs.
"You know it's going to kill you, right? Already, it has taken everything of substance away from us. I know therapy is expensive but we can figure out a way. Just like we always have." Silver stood by her side and persuaded his addicted mother.
"Sharon looked at him, chuckled and closed her eyes.
"Mama!"
"Do you know you should be dead?" Sharon suddenly asked.
"What?" Silver wasn't expecting such a question.
"I have impeccable aim. I went straight for your heart. The door was too narrow for big enough movements. And you were too close to have time." Sharon said. She opened her eyes and looked at her son. "You should be bleeding out, crushed under the weight of that coffin of yours while I mourn over your inevitable death."
Silver looked at the door. That was true. It was so very true. Why wasn't he dead or at the very best, dying?
"Have you ever heard of the Heroes Academy? I want you to apply. Go to Brace tomorrow and rent his hacked subscription package. Apply for a form to the Heroes Academy. Do you understand?"
"No!" Silver barked. "Why the f*ck would I want to go to another institutionalized building of torture?"
Sharon chuckled, mumbling under her breath. "Institute of Torture! I guess you can call it that. But this one is different. It belongs to the enemy. At least there is no hypocrisy to their torture."
"I'm not going!" Silver was indignant.
"You will go!"
"Why will I?"
"Because you have inherited your father's gift."
Silver's eyes opened wide.
"You are special, Silver. Just like your father was."
Silver looked at his mother's pained face. She grimaced when she mentioned his father. It was something that caused her so much pain that Silver had long known from childhood not to mention him. He had always had questions but never dared raise the topic. Today might be different.
"I know nothing about my father. You've never said a thing about him." Silver probed.
Sharon laughed bitterly. It sounded like gravel grating against gravel. She shifted and patted the space she had created on the chair for Silver.
"Sit. Let's talk about him a little, shall we?"
Silver sat down.
****** ****** ****** ****** ****** ****** ***
"Recruit Silver Bandy?" A voice called from behind.
Silver turned around. He looked at the uniformed man in front of him. A short, pale blond that had three stripes on his left shoulder patch and smiling eyes. The uniformed man looked no older than twenty years and was very obviously still a student, but had the disposition of a war veteran. Something about him gave off the experienced and dangerous vibes common around the old war vets Silver once tried to rob. Maybe it was the naturally frowning eyebrows or the deep look in his eyes. Or it was the confident stance he maintained even as he stared upwards at Silver.
"Yes, Sir." Silver responded respectfully.
"Come with me." The Student Soldier said and instantly turned around and started walking. Silver followed right behind him. They walked across the black, stale grass, that grew everywhere even on the metal walls of the makeshift homes of the community.
They walked around corners and finally got to an open clearing with some green grass.
The Student soldier went to the middle of the large clearing where already, three other people, ranging between the ages fourteen and seventeen stood. They were in casual clothing and discussed among one another. As soon as the student soldier got close enough, they immediately stopped their conversation and stood upright.
Silver trailed behind the young man who had come to get him. The latter stopped and turned around.
"You!" He said, pointing at the oldest-looking one. "Move a step closer."
The teenager obeyed. He took a step forward and stopped. Not a word uttered.
"Stay still. None off you must move a muscle." The Student soldier warned and almost immediately after that, a white beam covered them from the ground up and folded in on itself until it formed a tight spherical dome.
Whirrrrrr….
The Dome hummed and slowly rose off the ground. Inside the dome, chairs came out of the walls, behind each recruit. And a set of controls came out of the floor in the middle of the dome. It took the form of a qwerty keyboard, but the keys were placed separately, with nothing physically joining or connecting them together. And, even more amazingly, they levitated.
The Student soldier stood right in front of the controls and began to type. His fingers were a blur. H was obviously an expert at this. Soon enough, the levitating Dome hummed thrice.
Hmmm….hmmm…hmmmmmmm..
And then, as it would be viewed by anyone looking at it from outside, the white spherical dome poofed like a cloud of smoke, taking all those contained inside it with it.