Author’s note- Hi another chapter came! And I have to say, I’m disappointed with the review by impaler, as it is both partly untrue, and I started to focus on the family in these two chapters. If only he read a few more chapters than the few he said he forced himself to read… And I do have romance as a tag, for his information! Hmph!

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Charging

I stared at the message for a while, not knowing how to respond. Because I was a dual ability user? Or was there something else special about me? I responded back slowly, the letters each coming with a second’s pause in between them.

Me- “I don’t know… But my family on my dad’s side are ability users as well. I just found out.”

I washed my hands, and as I was drying them off another message from Chloe came in.

Chloe- “They can protect you?”

Me- “Maybe. But that wouldn’t extend to you, so I didn’t accept it.”

She didn’t respond after that, so I put my phone back in my pocket and went to the table for breakfast. My parents were having a conversation with my grandparents, but it was adult talk, meaning I didn’t participate.

Spearing a piece of turkey sausage, I used my other hand to bring a cup of water to my lips. But unexpectedly, the glass shattered as I drank from it! Did I grip it too hard?

Their conversation abruptly stopped, and both Mom and Dad turned to me angrily.

Dad- “Why would you do that!?”

Mom- “Nathaniel! Be careful with our cups!”

I looked at them sheepishly, and I said apologetically,

Me- “Sorry, I didn’t mean to break it! I guess I was using too much strength to grip it…”

Granddad- “You have the Body Enhancement active?”

Me- “Yeah.”

Granddad and Grandma exchanged a knowing look.

Grandma- “Don’t worry about it, he doesn’t know his own strength right now. Nathaniel, you should deactivate it right now. Once we get to the clan, we can undergo adaptation training.”

Me- “But I’m not going to the Clan. That’s why I fought against granddad. And I ended up winning! Therefore, I’m not going.”

Grandma gave him the evil look and turned back to me with a worried expression.

Grandma- “But you aren’t safe here! Our enemies are planning to attack you right at this moment! Thankfully they were repelled by our allies this time, but who can say anything about the next?”

Me- “The organization didn’t fight them off, I did. And the F.B.I. didn’t apprehend any terrorists either; they all died by my hand. I can protect myself.”

Mom was taken aback by these words, but everyone else nodded solemnly.

Grandma- “So you’ve already experienced it. Then you know their viciousness. How can you confidently say that you can protect yourself, even if you beat your granddad? He’s only completed his first advancement! Your father hasn’t even done that! And they both need the protection of the clan! You don’t?”

Me- “I might. But I know they might have to hesitate about coming against me again, because I’ve taken them out, twice. And I’m only growing stronger.”

Mom- “Nathaniel! Go with your grandparents! Even if you can take them out, at what cost? Becoming a cold blooded killer?”

I abruptly stood up from the table, my fork clattering against my plate.

Me- “It was self-defense! It was my life, or theirs; I didn’t have a choice!”

Mom- “But now you do. Why are you taking the hard, dangerous way out? The road to heaven is right before you, but you would rather force open the gate to hell instead?”

Me- “Maybe the road to heaven is there, but it is a lonely path, full of desolation. If I took the easy way out at the cost of other people, then what kind of person would I be!?”

Mom- “Who!? What cost of another is there?”

Granddad answered for me, his face still solemn,

Granddad- “His contractor. You know how that is, right? After all, you are one…”

Mom’s face stiffened, and her eyes became blank.

Mom- “No… No way…”

Dad walked over to comfort her, and Granddad looked on with pity. Grandma spoke in a consoling tone,

Grandma- “I’ve called for Stone knights from the clan to assist. A tragedy like that won’t be repeated, not this time. Nathaniel is too valuable to the clan. A potential heir.”

Mom blankly nodded, and she continued to eat her food. We also ate in silence, and this continued until the doorbell rang. Who was it?

Me- “I’ll go see who it is.”

I went to the door and looked through the doorhole. And Chloe stood there, smiling. What was she doing here? My family wasn’t ready to see her right now; I don’t know what would happen. But unfortunately, I couldn’t tell her my thoughts. So I had to just open the door, because I couldn’t just ignore her standing there.

Opening the door, I tried to smile at her. But recent events had made my smile fake, and obviously so.

Chloe- “What’s wrong? You don’t look like your normal self.”

Me- “My family, the side where I got the regeneration from. They want me to come with them to be protected by the clan.”

Chloe’s face brightened up, and it looked like there were stars in her eyes. She was, happy?

Chloe- “That’s great! If you can go, then you won’t be hunted anymore! And you could live like normal again!”

I shook my head sadly.

Me- “I wish it was just that way. But the consequences will fall upon you if I go to the clan. Hunting me is fine, but when they can’t hunt me, the question is, how could they hurt me? The answer is you. If I leave, they will turn to you.”

Chloe- “What? I have nothing to do with them. Why would they attack me if their target is you?”

Me- “You can’t rationalize their actions; they’re killers! I have no idea what they’re going to do! By staying here, at least I feel like I can do something about the situation.”

At this point, mom came from behind me with the rest of my family in tow. Mom looked at Chloe with blank eyes. She spoke out in monotone,

Mom- “Don’t make the same mistake I did…”

She walked back into the house, and Dad followed her, continuing to whisper words of comfort in her ear. Grandma stayed at the door, a painful grimace on her face.

Grandma- “Nathaniel… You can stay here. I’ve called the clan; they will be sending bodyguards shortly. And you there. Little girl?”

Chloe- “Yeah?”

Grandma- “My daughter in law, the woman who just spoke to you, she was in the exact situation you were in. She convinced my son to get protection from the clan until he was strong enough to defend himself. Her family didn’t make it, and she survived by the skin of her teeth. Contractors just don’t have the power to contend with ability users, no matter how much stronger they are than ordinary people.”

Grandma went to walk back inside, but Chloe called after her.

Chloe- “How are they stronger than ordinary people? What can I do to help?”

Grandma gave her a sidelong glance, and said,

Grandma- “Come inside first.”

Choe followed, and she sat us both down on the couch.

Grandma- “Hold out your hand.”

Chloe hesitantly extended out her hand, and Grandma asked quietly,

Grandma- “Are you sure? There’s no going back...”

Chloe looked to me, and then back to Grandma.

Chloe- “Go ahead.”

Grandma- “Nathaniel. Activate your ability.”

Me- “But-”

Grandma- “Let her make her own choices. She already has her conviction set, trying to change that will only make things worse.”

Me- “...Which one?”

Grandma- “Both of them.”

The golden aura arose from my skin, swirling around to envelop me fully. The dense golden aura turned my skin into a dark gold, and it started to fluctuate intensely, as if preparing for an important task.

The hot feeling also poured out from my body, starting to rampage around with the golden aura. One within and one on the exterior, they extended my presence beyond my body. And suddenly, the mark on Chloe’s wrist started to fluctuate wildly.

Snaking along her arm, the shield turned into a black lines that stretched along her body. When they made it to her head, the black lines curled around her eyes, and started to glow faintly, like burning embers from a fireplace.

It formed a mysterious yet familiar pattern, one like I felt I had seen before. And an intense tugging coming from my abilities tried to pull me towards her. For what, I did not know.

Grandma- “Nathaniel, grab her hand.”

My abilities were only too eager for me to oblige, as they seemed to pull me in her direction. And in a moment, our hands were linked.

Surging forward, my golden aura flooded the patterns, and they started to grow with an intense golden light. It seemed like her body was but a shell, holding the light in that yearned to emerge free.

Grandma- “Nathaniel! Let go NOW!!!”

I struggled to let go of her hand, but it was like something else had taken control of my arm, refusing to let go of her! Grandma tried to take action to pull my hand off of hers, but her hand was repelled by my dominating aura. A hysterical laughter that was, yet wasn't mine came out of my mouth. It was the shadow me.

Wrestling for control, the battle that took place within the space happened once again within my memories. And I won.

My hand snapped back, and the black, ominous aura that remained just beneath the surface seemed to recede back into the recesses of my body.

Grandma- “It is done…”

I whipped around to her madly, my anger flaring up.

Me- “What was that!? You could of gotten Chloe and I killed!”

Grandma- “That wasn’t supposed to happen! But within your ability, there is something darker, stronger than what you can control! How was I supposed to know this?”

Me- “How is it supposed to work anyway?”

Grandma- “...The best way is to think of a contractor as the battery and the ability user as the charger. Your ability flows into the contractor, and it stores activations of itself in the inscription, the dark gold tattoo that flowed over her body. The fact that that dark, evil aura attempted to come out means your ability is not just our body enhancement and your golden aura.”

I was about to tell her about what happened in the dreamspace, but when Chloe started to groan, those thoughts just flew out of my mind. Was this, my fault?

Grandma- “This part is normal; she’ll be fine. You took away your hand before the other ability could come out, so she is ok. But as a contractor, she needs time to adjust. I’ll bring her inside.”

Nodding, I watched as the lines seemed to recede from her body, forming back into the shield tattoo on her wrist. Grandma gently laid her on the couch, and turned back to me.

Grandma- “The markings are only visible by those with abilities. She may use powers equivalent to 1/4th of your current abilities, and she can use them for 5 minutes at most. If it is used any longer than that, then she is at risk of drawing on her lifespan.”

Me- “When will she wake up?”

Dad- “When the tattoos fully recede.”

Coming downstairs slowly, Dad walked over to the couch and sat down with us, a lack of expression on his face.

Me- “How’s mom? Is she ok?”

I waited patiently for him to answer, but he stayed silent for a while, pondering. When he spoke, his speech was finally back to a normal sort of tone.

Dad- “Your mom and I, we were in this exact same situation before. And the memories, memories of what we had to face are resurfacing. No need to blame yourself, Nathaniel. It was my fault anyways…”

Tears started to flow from his eyes, and he looked incredibly sorrowful. Getting up abruptly, he turned to go back upstairs.

Dad- “I’m sorry you have to see us like this… But I’m glad you chose not to go back to the clan. Maybe now, you can do better than I did…”

The hot feeling once again began to fluctuate along with my emotions, making my mind and body stronger. But this time, I didn’t care. I couldn’t stay in here any longer.

I got up abruptly and sprinted out of the door. I didn’t care where I was going, as long as it was somewhere else.

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My feet ended up taking me far, far away. And when I finally had the thought to observe my surroundings, I was already at a lake area. I recognized it as one near my school.

The clouds were stormy once again, like they weren’t satisfied with yesterday’s pouring. And the sun was hidden by the clouds, causing a sort of twilight to cast its shadow over the world.

In that depressing light, I decided to head back over to the Racetrac. It was almost time for lessons to start, and I honestly didn’t care whether the scene I saw around the Racetrac was still there or not. They could go and f*ck themselves for all I cared…

When I arrived, the place was yes, still surrounded by a crowd. And I decided to have a little fun with them… Anything to brighten my mood.

Stepping behind a tree, I condensed flame points one by one around the area, creating a frosty chill. People started to leave, one by one.

Rp1- “How did it get so cold all of a sudden!? It's giving me the chills…”

Rp2- “It’s about to rain anyway… Screw it, I’m leaving!”

Pretty soon, there were only a couple of activists left who didn’t want to leave. I guess I would have to resort to more, drastic measures… An evil grin slowly appeared on my face as I thought of my plan. And as soon as it was formulated, I went into action.

Flipping my hoodie over my face, I masked my face with mud and dirt. Ready!

I walked out from behind the tree and slapped down one of their signs. To the other, I ripped the sign out of the person’s hands and threw it into the brush. They stared at me in shock, but when I flipped up my middle finger, things seemed to suddenly become clear to them.

Activist 1- “F*ck you!”

They both attempted to hit me, but I dodged them both easily. Then I ran the other way, and they followed, screaming at the top of their lungs.

Activist 2- “Come’re right now, b*st*rd!”

Ironically, I was purposefully slowing down my pace, making it so the distance decreased slowly. And when they almost caught up to me, I veered off to the side and sprinted full speed back to the Racetrac.

I went into the fake door while they were still behind the corner, and about 6 seconds later, I could hear their voices.

Activist 2- “Damn, that b*tch went flying! Where’d he go?”

Activist 1- “What’d he look like? Do you remember?”

Activist 2- “He was wearing a black hoodie, and… Sh*t! I can’t remember what his face looked like!”

Activist 1- “Mother f*cker! I’ll kill him if I see that b*st*rd again!”

Chuckling evilly, I slunk further into the darkness and to the blast door. It opened shortly after I activated my ability, and I went to the teleportation portal in the center of the room. With the flash of a purple light, I was sent to the organization.

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