As David walked out of the hospital, he looked back to see the staff peering at him from the room they held his in-depth diagnosis. No damage had been sustained by him, at all. This wasn't just unordinary. David felt as though there was more. He reached into his pocket, compulsively searching for his phone. No dice. Just another item to add to the tally of assets lost.
He didn't know what to do. His parents, Martin and Camila, would surely find a way to blame this on him. Despite that, David felt that they were the only people he could be with right now. They weren't in contact, but he still loved them.
His parents were two hours away, though, living in a cottage on the outskirts of a rural town. The quiet life, they had said. He mused while he walked, glumly recounting the events since the explosion. David felt oddly calm, despite the feeling of cheating death freshly engraved in his mind.
Finally reaching a bus stop, he slumped onto the chair. 45 floors. Turning around to read the bus schedule, groaning as he saw the time of the next bus arrival. 7:30 AM tomorrow? David had never been homeless before, but there was a first time for everything.
He settled himself on a park bench nearby, ignoring the judging stares of people walking by. Trying to settle into the hard wood of the chair, he could do nothing but attempt to fall asleep. Drowsiness refused to embrace him.
The moon was far above David when he noticed a figure on the bench across from him.
Creepy, he thought, sitting up.
"Do you need something, man?" David broke the silence.
"You seem to channel it well, but for some reason I can't see your paths. You were pretty easy to sense, though." The figure spoke back.
"Huh?" David said.
"You're not particularly bright, are you?" The figure replied. "Have you ever heard of conduits? Raijin?"
"I have literally no idea what you're talking about."
"You're a non-spec? Fuck." The figure threw up his hands. "Look, have you had any weird... miracles, I guess, happen to you?"
"Yeah, you've heard about the apartment explosion?" David said.
"Enlighten me."
"It's gonna sound weird, but yesterday I was in a downtown apartment building as it collapsed. I live... lived on the 45th, and was going about my business. As the apartment went down, so did I but when I hit the ground I was perfectly fine." David recounted.
"I was right, you are powerful." The figure said, after thinking. "What are you doing?"
David looked down sheepishly. "I'm just trying to sleep here so the bus ride to my parent's is easier tomorrow."
"Forget that," The figure said. "You're coming with me."
"No, I'm not." David objected.
"At this point, you don't have much of a choice." The figure said. "You at least have a clue about your potential, so to comply with the pledge taken by my guild's members, I must train you."
David couldn't respond. This guy was nuts. He needed to get out of here.
"Jenna, it's a non-spec. Do my usual and go with maybe... 75 kilos for my acquaintance." The figure said.
The world snapped, and a large, well-lit room appeared around David. He could see random objects cluttered everywhere, and a young girl with dreads stood before them.
"How're we in here? Did you make this?" David asked.
No longer in the shadows, David looked up to see a young Japanese man looking down at him. The height difference was embarrassing.
So this was the figure.
The man had a well swept middle-part and high cheekbones, grinning down at David, amused by his disorientation.
"I didn't make this." He said. "This is Jenna's ability. I'm Seiju, but I would be surprised if you cared about names right now"
The girl peered at David, sharing the amusement of Seiju.
"So what's your name?" She asked.
"I'm David." He said after a moment. He shouldn't have been as surprised as he was. This was one of the most normal occurrences today.
"Have you been assessed yet?" She asked.
Seiju cut in, "I've seen his reserve. He's a level six at least."
"Unassessed? Damn, Seiju."
"I know." He said.
David spoke up, "I'm not following."
He was ignored as Seiju and Jenna walked with him out of the room. A long hallway spanned from where their door was. Each room offered a plethora of sounds when walked past, ranging from the clashing of weapons to otherworldly sounds from God knows where. In the middle of the hallway, the walls ceased into a short stairway leading to a large common room. 50 people mulled around the common grounds, surrounding tables and bars, talking. On the opposite side of David, another stairway rose up into another hallway.
"What's this?" He asked.
"A place for people like you and I." Seiju responded. "This is my guild, Raijin. We house conduits who pledge themselves to us."
"I still don't know what conduits are." David reminded them.
"Right. I don't think it's my place to give you the rundown. I'll hand you off to Doctor Alder."
Jenna waved over the doctor, a short old man with a large bald spot hidden in white hair and a nasty scar along his cheek.
"It's a non-spec. His name is David, eyeballed to be at least level six." Jenna told him.
"Wow, that's uncommon!" The old man chuckled. "Come here, boy. I'll show you what you are."
David followed Alder back up the stairs, heading to the opposite end the hallway. He was led into a room full of computers on one side, with a row of medical beds and a projector at the far end of the room. A screen was brought down by Alder, who shuffled in front of the projection as it turned on.
"You may be wondering what this all is." He said. Then he laughed. "I'm just kidding. I know how disoriented you are, and I know how bad Seiju is at filling in non-specs. I'll start from the start. Emotions are powerful, and can be made tangible by conduits. Us. Each of us channels an emotion. Your utility reserve is how much of your emotion can be utilised. This means that the bigger it is, the more of it you can use, subsequently making you stronger."
"You're good at explaining." David commented.
"You don't wanna know how many times I've said this. Your paths are how your emotion gets channelled. It's just power until you put it to use. Most of the time, the emotion you channel influences the power you output, but not always. We can diagnose this sorta stuff. Let me give you an example."
David was lost.
The doctor continued, "Seiju, the guy you met, channels the emotion of mischief. His utility reserve is rather large, but it's his power that makes him special. He has symbols all over his body, with the most powerful starting at his stomach and becoming progressively weaker the more outward one travels. Seeing him fight is a very disorienting experience. He's a level eight."
"What are levels?" David asked.
"Oh, right. My bad. Levels range from one to ten. Instead of being a fixed scale, levels are based on the average ability of the vast population of conduits, making almost everyone level 5. Anyone above is considered above average, and anyone below is considered below average. Most people awaken their ability in a time of need, or a spike in emotion. Regardless, we call people who haven't been given a level non-specs."
David almost understood. "So when do I get my level?"
"Right now." The doctor said, over his shoulder.
He was already preparing one of the medical beds. David watched on as he set up multiple needles and a piece of headgear.
"Okay," said the doctor, "when you're ready."
David climbed into the bed, wincing as needles were jabbed into him.
"How strange," the doctor said. "I don't see your paths."
"Seiju said the same." David replied.
The doctor strapped the headpiece over David's eyes, and before putting the earpieces in, said "Don't hold this against me, this won't be pleasant."
A scene of a battlefield began to play, bullets soaring over David. He felt no needles, he didn't feel the weight of the headset, he was in this scenario. A forest to his left offered superior cover to the trench David found himself to be hiding in. Abandoning his post, he ran across the battlefield, feeling one of his arms getting shot. He cried out in pain, but kept running.
He reached the trees, embracing him with shade. David ran through the forest, stumbling over stumps and roots, creating distance between him and the warzone. A shout behind him brought him to a halt. He looked around, seeing a lone soldier holding a knife behind him.
The soldier sprinted forwards, lunging with the knife. David dodged and threw a punch, but the soldier was unaffected. The soldier span back around, slitting his throat. David brought his hand to the cut, pulling away a blood soaked hand.
He fell backwards, with his vision going blurry. The display shut off as David was engulfed in darkness.
He felt the earpieces being pulled out by the doctor, who fumbled and dropped them.
"Why are you so shaky?" David asked.
Ignoring his question, the doctor spoke back, "This device works by putting a user through each state where their power could be used. For example, while you were running through the forest, if your power was movement based, it would subconsciously activate."
"Okay." David said absently.
"Your's was different. Whilst the scene was unfolding, there were no supernatural occurrings. That was until you died."
"What does that mean?"
"When you died, you sent a massive amount of energy to nowhere." The doctor said, slowly.
"What does that mean?"
"Your body attempted to negate death, by sending the trauma that would've killed you elsewhere. Mr. Garcia, it seems that when you die, others will be killed in your place."