Ren pulls back, ending the kiss, his gaze fixed on Lina's eyes. "Thank you, Lina, for being with me."
She looks back at him, her voice soft.
"Yes."
He hesitates. "Ah… so, what's for breakfast? Are you…?"
A slight smirk plays at her lips.
"No. Just have some bread."
He nods. "Okay."
Quickly, she hands him a plate with slices of bread. He sits on the chair and eats without complaint, savoring the quiet. When he's finished, he heads to his room, his footsteps soft.
Once inside, he locks the door behind him. He takes a deep breath, letting it out slowly.
"Huuuuh… now, let's start."
He steps in front of the mirror, studying himself. His finger rises, pointing to his reflection. He focuses, recalling the feeling of last night's shield.
He imagines the shield forming around him, and moments later, his reflection vanishes from the mirror. His pulse quickens, excitement filling him.
"Wow," he breathes, the word barely a whisper.
"This feels… so cool."
Looking around, he checks his surroundings. Everything looks the same. The surrounding hasn't changed. Yet, there's no image of him staring back in the mirror.
He raises his hands, waving them in front of the mirror.
"Strange," he mutters. "It's like I'm here… but at the same time, not."
He extends his hand fully, wanting to feel the shield's boundary. His fingers brush against an invisible wall a meter out. He slides his hand along its curve, noting how it arches above him, covering him whole but leaving a gap near the floor around his feet.
"A dome… but open at the bottom. Maybe because I'm touching the ground, so it's not completely closed yet."
To check, he flies slightly off the floor. He let his slippers drop. But they don't drop, instead, hover mid-air still, like lying..
His heart leaps. The shield closes fully when he is mid-air, sealing him in.
"So… It's closed now." His mind races with possibilities.
"Bullets… they won't touch me and I can go anywhere, u seen thanks to invisibility. That's cool, in more ways than one. Maybe, I can do those stuff now, huh."
He lets the shield fade away, feeling its loss immediately. The excitement wanes slightly. "It's good," he murmurs, "but it's tied to me. If it moves with me… it could block my way like in narrow alleys. I need to be able to control it's shape and size if I don't want that."
Taking a breath, he extends his hand again. In his mind, he imagines reshaping the shield, visualizing a simple layer. When he activates it again, his reflection vanishes once more.
Moving his hand forward, his fingertips graze solid again. He traces to the edges, left, right, up, down.
"A wall… tall, about eight feet high. Means I can control it's shape and size as I wish, huh. But it's thin. I'll need to test its strength later."
Encouraged to check even more, he imagines the currently active shield stretching taller, to check if he can reshape while using it, and not to stop and manifest again.
He trace to check if it worked, his hand reaches up and diwn.
It's indeed different, a thrill shoots through him.
"Yes. It's responds. Means I can create a solid shield, get invisible and freely shape it. That's really cool. If I can give it complex shapes, that wound be even cooler."
He then pictures it bending in the middle, adjusting its form to his will.
He tries different shapes: a sphere, a square, even a simple circle. Each time, he reaches out, his fingers meeting an invisible surface that has twisted to his command.
Excitement wells up, a grin tugging at his lips. "It's bending to my will." Yet, he notices the strain with complex shapes.
Human forms require intense concentration, almost impossible. While, simpler shapes come easier.
But there's one more test.
Again, he extends his hand, conjuring a flat screen of shield before him. Then, he focuses, imagining a second shield forming in the air a short distance away.
Slowly, he reaches toward it to check if it formed, his heartbeat loud in his ears. His hand trembles slightly. The tension builds with every inch.
Come on… he urges himself, feeling his focus start to waver. His hand stretches out, reaching—
Then, he feels it. Another shield, solid, separate from the first.
A second barrier.
Relief and pride surge through him. "Yes," he whispers. "I can make more."
Driven, he closes his eyes, trying for a third. He summons all his focus, feeling the pressure mount. But the image flickers in his mind. His breath catches. His hand trembles. The shield wavers and slips away, beyond his grasp.
With a sigh, he lets his arm drop. "Two… seems to be my limit for now."
He chuckles softly, sitting back on his bed, his heart pounding.
"Invisibility… and shields. That's enough to handle those agents." A grim satisfaction settles over him. "I can escape anything now. And have fun with them in many other ways as well."
For a while, he just sits there, staring up at the ceiling. His mind drifts, pondering his powers. After few minutes, doubt creeps in.
"But there's a big flaw," he murmurs.
"I can't actually see the shields myself. If they're invisible… how can I be sure they're active? Is there a way I can see or atleast feel them myself?"
He leans back, exhaling deeply, feeling the problem gnaw at him. "If I ever think I'm shielded… but I'm not…"
Frustration bubbles up, and he sits up with a sigh.
"I'll figure it out later." He stands, stretching before stepping out of his room.
The door clicks shut behind him. The room falls silent, the air still. On his desk, the small green metal rests, catching the faint light.
Suddenly, it trembles, a faint blue glow pulsing around it. A fine crack appears along its tip, a quiet fracture spreading slowly, ominously.
Then the light dims, leaving the room cloaked in shadow again.