Dust swirled around Angelo's feet as he walked through the old lab. The building had been empty for seven years, and it showed - windows were broken, metal was rusted, and green moss covered the old equipment like a thick blanket. The afternoon sun peeked through the holes in the walls, creating patches of light in the darkness.
Angelo ran his small hand along the crumbling wall as he walked, leaving finger trails in the dust. His brown eyes were red from crying as he looked in every corner and shadow, like he was searching for something important. Old papers crunched under his shoes, their words too faded to read anymore. Above him, plants had grown through cracks in the ceiling, hanging down like green curtains.
He kicked at a piece of broken glass, sending it skittering across the floor. The sound echoed through the empty hallways, making the place feel even lonelier.
"This place is depressing!" a voice suddenly spoke in his mind, full of wild energy. "Come on, let's do something fun instead! I know exactly how to get back at those jerks from recess—"
Angelo stopped walking and pressed his hands against his ears, squeezing his eyes shut like he was trying to block out the voice. Fresh tears started rolling down his cheeks, leaving clean streaks in the dust on his face.
"Don't listen to him," another voice chimed in, trying to sound grown-up but still clearly a kid's voice. "The other kids are only mean because you keep doing what he says. Just ignore them and—"
"You're no fun!" the first voice shot back. "They pushed us down and laughed! We can't just let them get away with it!"
As the voices argued in his head, Angelo stumbled to the nearest wall and leaned his forehead against it. The wall felt cool and damp against his skin as his shoulders shook with quiet sobs.
Behind him, a door creaked open.
"There you are, Angelo," a gentle voice called out, making the arguing voices go quiet. "I had a feeling I'd find you here."
Angelo quickly wiped his eyes with his sleeve and turned around. Sleeser was standing in the doorway, his spiky hair glowing orange in the sunset light. "Come on," he said, his voice kind but firm. "You've got more aura training to do. Can't get stronger hiding in old ruins, now can you?"
Angelo sat cross-legged in the grass behind the old lab, trying to meditate. After twenty minutes of sitting still, he couldn't take it anymore. His eyes flew open and he scratched his head frantically, his legs bouncing against the ground like he was sitting on springs.
"I can't take this anymore!" He jumped up and down without even getting up, like a kid waiting in line for the bathroom. "I think I'm starting to prefer the pushups and sit-ups!"
Sleeser leaned against a nearby tree, watching with a smile. "Now, now. The mental training is just as important as the physical training."
"I hate this stupid training!" Angelo leaped to his feet and kicked a rock as hard as he could. It bounced across the clearing like a skipping stone. His face scrunched up like he'd tasted something sour. In his head, one voice egged him on to kick more rocks while the other tried to calm him down.
Sleeser didn't move from his tree, just watched calmly as Angelo stomped around. "I thought you wanted to be an Auron like me?"
"I doooooo," Angelo dragged the word out like stretchy candy, letting his whole body droop forward dramatically. "But this is so boring! Why do I even need to do this?"
Sleeser pushed off from the tree, his face getting serious. "Do you know what makes someone an Auron, Angelo?"
Angelo stopped mid-stomp and shook his head, suddenly interested.
Sleeser walked over and crouched down next to him. "All around us, there are invisible channels where energy flows, like rivers that we can't see." He held out his hand, and orange light flickered around it like a gentle flame. "We call these 'energy connections.' What makes Aurons special is that we can sense these channels and learn to draw energy from them."
"Really?" Angelo's eyes got huge, like dinner plates. Even the arguing voices in his head went quiet to listen.
Sleeser picked up a stick and drew lines in the dirt as he explained. "Yes, but it's not easy. That's why we need both physical and mental training. Your body needs to be strong enough to handle the energy, and your mind needs to be focused enough to sense and control it. That's what the meditation is for - learning to quiet your mind so you can feel these energy connections. Only then can you connect to the universe and draw from its infinite energy."
Angelo kicked at the lines in the dirt, frowning. "I've seen you in action, Sleeser. I really don't think its as infinite as you say."
"Ah, good observation." Sleeser smiled and sat down properly. "Let me explain it this way. Have you ever seen the ocean?"
Angelo shook his head, plopping down in the grass across from his teacher.
"Well, imagine the biggest pool of water you can think of - so big it goes on forever. That's like the universe's energy - endless, infinite. Now, imagine you have a small swimming pool on a piece of land near the ocean, and you want to fill it with ocean water through a pipe."
"Okay..." Angelo nodded slowly, drawing his own little pool in the dirt.
"The ocean never runs out of water, right? But your pool can only hold so much. And the pipe can only move water so fast. That's exactly how it works for Aurons. We have access to unlimited energy, but we can only control as much as our 'pool' can hold, and we can only draw it as fast as our 'pipe' allows."
Sleeser created a ball of orange energy between his hands, about the size of a basketball. "This isn't even a fraction of the energy that's out there. But it's what I can safely control right now. That's why we train - to make our 'pool' bigger and our 'pipe' wider." He closed his hands and the light winked out.
Angelo's whole face lit up as it clicked. The voices in his head went completely quiet, like students absorbing a fascinating lesson. Then suddenly, he couldn't contain his excitement anymore.
"When I unlock my aura, I hope it's silver!" He bounced up and down where he sat, making the grass flatten beneath him. "That would look so cool! Like a superhero!"
"Anything but orange," one of the voices groaned in his head. "Look at Sleeser, he's so boring! All proper and stuff. If we get orange, we might end up like that!"
"I don't think that's how it works," the other voice chimed in. "Though silver would be nice..."
Sleeser chuckled and ruffled Angelo's hair. "The color isn't something you can choose, you know. It's just part of who you are."
"Aww," Angelo's whole body slumped for a second before he perked right back up. "Well, whatever color it is, I bet it'll be awesome! Way cooler than orange!"
"Hey!" Sleeser raised an eyebrow, trying to look stern but his mouth kept twitching into a smile. "What's wrong with orange?"
"Nothing!" Angelo said quickly, then he lowered his voice, "But silver would still be cooler."
"Alright, alright," Sleeser laughed, standing up and brushing grass from his pants. "Less dreaming about colors, more meditation. You won't unlock any aura at all if you don't focus."
This time when Angelo closed his eyes, he couldn't help grinning as he imagined silver light sparkling all around him. The sun was getting low now, making the shadows of the trees stretch across their little clearing. Master and student sat quietly together, while behind them, the old lab loomed like a watchful guardian.
[Four Years Later]
The setting sun painted the sky a violent crimson, its light catching on plumes of smoke that rose from burning homes. Bodies lay scattered across blood-stained streets, some still, others twitching. Aurons wreathed in ghostly auras clashed above the devastation, their powers turning the air itself into a battlefield. Each impact sent shockwaves through the town, shattering windows and crumbling walls.
Sleeser's fist connected with his opponent's jaw in a savage dance of orange light and bruised flesh. The enemy Auron stumbled back, spitting blood. Without hesitation, Sleeser gathered his power, condensing it into a tight beam of pure energy that struck his opponent square in the chest. The force launched the man through the wall of a burning house, adding fresh screams of splintering wood to the symphony of destruction.
"Sleeser!" The desperate cry cut through the chaos. He spun to find Tomas, one of the town's elders, his face streaked with ash and terror. "Angelo - he's escaped the shelter! The boy thinks he can help!"
The words hit Sleeser like physical blows. His mind filled with images of his young student, barely twelve, trying to face these killers. "WHERE?" The question erupted from him with such force that his aura flared violently.
Tomas's trembling hand pointed toward the forest edge. "The outskirts - he ran that way!"
Sleeser bolted without another word, his feet barely touching the ground as his aura propelled him forward. The sounds of battle grew distant, replaced by something that made his blood run colder - a woman's terrified scream, piercing and desperate. Then came a child's voice, high and frightened, followed by the guttural roar of a man in pain.
He pushed himself faster, cold sweat running against his skin, muscles screaming. The trees loomed ahead, their shadows stretching like grasping fingers across blood-stained grass. Three figures came into view - one lying motionless on the ground.
The scene that greeted him carved itself into his memory with brutal clarity. Angelo knelt in the dirt, his small frame trembling like a leaf in a storm. At his feet lay a man, face-down and motionless, an axe buried deep between his shoulder blades. The wooden handle jutted from his back like a grim marker, blood pooling dark and thick around the wound. Sleeser stumbled forward, bile rising in his throat as the details sharpened - Angelo's hands and face were painted crimson, fresh blood stark against his pale skin.
The boy's head snapped up at Sleeser's approach, and the look in those eyes stopped him cold. Gone was the quiet, determined child who'd trained with him all these years. In his place knelt something else - something broken and raw, forged in the crucible of necessity and violence.
"I had to," Angelo whispered, his voice cracking. "He was going to... One of the voices told me..."