CHAPTER 4

Becoming the Power

Darkness quickly crept across the alleyways overshadowed by tall buildings as the sun set in the horizon. Cold winds blew away papers and rolled soda cans while cars brushed past the sidewalks. A railcar came from the distance and slowly grinded to a halt in a pick-up point on the overpass. The door slid open and Galen stepped out of the railcar and walked down the staircase from the overpass. He had finished his part time job and was on his way back home.

Galen was very familiar with the streets around his apartment. So familiar to the point where he could blindfold himself and still find his way to his doorstep. There was a shortcut that he always loved to take that no one dared to. He winded in the alleyways until he came across a dead end. The wall was around the height of a suspended basketball hoop. Galen stood some distance from the dead end wall and smiled to himself under his hoodie. He was the only one he knew who could pull this sort of stunt here. Galen broke into a run towards the wall, jumped towards it, stepped on it with his right leg and used the impact to push himself up the wall and stepped with his left leg and jumped up with it for a second updraft and grabbed the edge of the wall with both hands, pulled himself up and vaulted to the other side, landing close to some black garbage bags. He had done this stunt countless times, it was second nature to him.

He was about to continue walking, disregarding his surroundings when his eyes caught a glimpse of a strange purple light shaft shining through the pile of black garbage bags.

“What the hell?”

He thought to himself as he stared at the purple light shaft. What could make such a glow? Someone’s phone? Someone’s electronic item? He thought to himself. But how could someone drop his phone like that? Unless…unless it was …intentional. Galen’s heart skipped a beat with curiosity as he approached the strange light shaft and rummaged through multiple garbage bags, throwing them aside, the purple light got more intense as less and less bags kept blocking it, gradually having an aurora-like mix of purple-pinkish and magenta-white light until Galen came to head with the source emitting the glow; staring at a strange iridescent purple-pinkish glowing capsule that seemed to have a thick layer of burning heat mirage around it. Galen had never seen such a strange sight in his life. The capsule was about the size of an egg, enough to be gripped firmly in one’s hands.

He swallowed some saliva as he glared at the glowing capsule, contemplating if he should ignore it or not. He turned around and looked at his surroundings if anyone could notice what he had noticed. There was an old homeless man, half asleep, dozing off as he glared at Galen but the old man didn’t seem to have noticed the strange sight clearly emitting a strong glow nestled and surrounded by garbage bags. There were another 5-man group of street youngsters talking amongst each other at the exit to the alley dead end while giving Galen curious and mocking looks before returning to their conversation and laughter. It seemed no one even took interest at it and yet for some reason he couldn’t tear himself away from it.

“I guess there is no harm in taking it….Finders keepers,” Galen thought to himself and reached forth with his right hand, grabbed the capsule and glared at it in his hand. It’s texture felt like pure, highly polished glass. Despite it’s glowing nature, Galen could clearly see his own reflection on the glowing capsule’s surface. His grip began to feel pulsations and vibrations from the capsule as its glow intensified and the warm heat mirage spread and outlined his entire palm and began spreading to outline his entire body. He panicked and attempted to throw away the capsule but the capsule firmly stuck to his palm as if it was glued to him even after he let go off his grip and his fingers were unfolded out.

“what the hell?”

Galen uttered to himself in shock and confusion as the mirage had now halfway outlined his silhouette. He used his free left hand to grab the capsule so that he could pull it out by force but his left hand grip stuck, glued to the capsule immediately upon contact, both his hands were now firmly stuck to the annoying capsule as the mirage finished outlining his entire body and he felt a light piercing into his body through both his palms without cutting through his skin creating a warm tickling sensation as it travelled, spiralling around the bones and tissues in the insides of his arms , arrived at his shoulders, spiralled along his spinal cord and went to his ribcage, enveloped his lungs and connected into his beating heart ,encapsulated it, then proceeded up his throat straight to his brain and pierced into it, setting it alight, crossed to his optical nerve and arrived at both his eyes, releasing forth magenta-purple light shafts from the eye sockets. At that instant, Galen fell to his knees as the capsule melted within his 2-handed grip and diffused into his being, leaving his hands empty, blacking out in the street, unconscious.

3 HOURS LATER….

Galen regained consciousness and began to slowly open his eyelids, his vision was blurry.

“What the hell maaan?” He uttered to himself as he sat upright recalling that he had experienced the strange sensation when he held a strange glowing capsule in both his hands. He felt cold winds brushing past his bare body and he hugged himself only to realize-

“HOLY FUCK!” He yelled as he looked at his almost naked body, with exception for boxers. His Clothes, phone, watch, wallet, bag with a laptop in it, they were all gone! Stolen!

He started to panic as he gazed around his surroundings. The old homeless man was still in the same place he had comfortably rested himself in before Galen passed out, warming himself with torn blankets he had picked up from some forgotten dump.

“Hey, do you know wh-”

“I saw nothing kid…,” The old bum snapped back without letting Galen finish his statement.

“C’mon ma-”

“Told you kid! I saw nothing! I know nothing! Get lost! Find someone else!” The old bum interfered again.

It was pointless to attempt to ask this man for any clues. Galen thought that to himself and yet he was convinced that this bum was certainly there and had not moved from his spot.

“How long have I bee- …no…what’s the time now,” Galen pressed on a dialogue with the old bum. The man kept silent for a few seconds and looked at Galen with uncaring eyes before his gaze loosened and he looked at the sky and then looked back at Galen.

“10 pm…” snapped the man. The man could accurately tell the time just by looking at the sky. He had lived out in the streets long enough to not need a watch.

“WHAT?!” Galen exclaimed. He had been unconscious for 3 hours. That was enough time to completely lose the trail of whoever took his belongings, they could be miles away anywhere now.

Panic began to leak into his heart, filling it like a tap of water filling a bucket. He had been robbed. He couldn’t even go to his apartment now that he had lost his keys included. He couldn’t call anyone. He couldn’t do anything the way he was. His heart began to race, along with panic and fear , another unknown sensation began to kick into him.

“My body…” Galen thought to himself as stood there looking at his own naked torso, down to his bare legs. Something felt odd as the unknown sensation pulsated within his entire being, sending ripples from within his entire body at 2 second intervals from his heart as the epicentre. Is this an anxiety or panic attack? Galen thought to himself. Surely he was panicking, given his situation but this unknown, pulsating sensation that was coursing through him was something else entirely. It was taking over the panic and consuming it at a steady pace. The panic was somehow being forcefully devoured by this sensation and his vision began to sharpen into Ultra high definition fidelity and clarity. He saw his environments clearly as if it was high noon.

“What the hell?” Galen murmured to himself, amazed at the superhuman fidelity of his vision despite the lack of light sources. He could see everything sharply to it’s texture and zoom in telescopically nearly to microscopic detail, from the walls to the ground to the due droplets to human skin and hair strands and skin pores and skin hairs. He slowly shifted his gaze from his surroundings to the eyes of the old bum who was at first looking away into the open end of the alley, uncaringly smoking a cigarette, not knowing he was being stared at.

Galen’s vision began to change as he stared into the old man’s eyes. A glowing, translucent, magenta-coloured, soft and foggy outline faded into view at the circumferential edge of his vision; his vision began to zoom in slowly into the bum’s oblivious eyes staring off into the open end of the alley. The bum’s gaze was turning to focus somewhere else when their gazes met halfway and locked unto each other. The bum’s facial expression immediately paled as his eyes widened into a state of abject shock and fear, his cigarette falling off from his lips as his lips opened slightly agape, almost as if he was attempting to shout or utter something but the words and voice would not come out of him.

Galen lost control of his vision as his vision zoomed right into the man’s Iris and went right into his eyes, speeding through the magenta hyperspace of the human soul and connected into his memories. He saw through the eyes of the old man laying at the corner watching 5 juveniles searching the unconscious Galen, laughing at him as they undressed him and one of them shoved Galen’s phone into his jean’s pocket another took Galen’s hoody and wore it, testing it on himself to see how it fit, while the other unbuttoned his jeans and pulled it down his legs away from him, another unzipped his bag and checked what was inside and saw the laptop, then he zipped back the bag and took it with him. They all laughed at him as they stood around him, watching him naked, stripped down to only leave his black boxers. Galen couldn’t contain his rage as he witnessed this footage from the strange vision he saw when he locked unto the bum’s eyes and went into his being. The vision stopped there and flew back up high into the sky, watching the juveniles walking away with his things, his vision flying backwards into darkness with a magenta-colored boundary hyperspace before returning to reality, locked unto the man’s eyes. The man’s eyes were wide with shock, mouth wide agape as he stared at Galen’s eyes.

“You saw it, didn’t you? Those street thugs undressing me, you saw it all, didn’t you? ” Galen quietly spoke, trying to contain his anger. His anger rose up within him as he walked towards the old man. The bum was speechless, he was starting to tremble.

“You just didn’t want to even tell me who it was, did you? You know them don’t you?” Galen spoke as his eyes narrowed. He was now standing astride the old bum. The man averted his eyes away. Galen squatted down until his face was at the same level as the bum’s.

“Look at me….” Galen snapped.

“I said….LOOK AT ME!” Galen bellowed, causing the man to slightly jump in fright, the old man slowly turned his head and met Galen’s gaze once more. It was then that Galen saw what had scared the old man as he stared at his own reflection in Ultra high fidelity and clarity through the reflecting irises of the old man. His purple Irises were glowing on their edges with magenta misty outlines visibly even in that night but that glow was not producing light to his surroundings, only within his own eyes. The old man was scared of what he was looking at. Suddenly a spotlight from a torch shone in Galen and the old bum’s direction, revealing them both.

“What’s going on here?” asked a curvy blonde policewoman as she saw Galen half-naked with only boxers on, squatted low and up close towards the old bum who had an uncomfortable yet shocked look to his face. In that night, it was hard to tell how the woman looked like except for her revealing curvy figure and blonde hair.

“THIS MAN! HE’S HARASSING ME! I THINK HE’S TRYING TO ROB ME!” pleaded the old bum.

“N-no I wasn’t!” Galen exclaimed back to counter the man’s accusation as he stood back up and faced the policewoman. Their eyes immediately locked onto each other as they made contact and the woman’s face paled, her eyes widened. She instinctively let the torch slip out of her hand in fright as she reached unto her holster and pulled out a .50 Calibre Magnum Desert Eagle and disengaged the safety trigger lock, aiming at Galen.

“DON’T COME ANY CLOSER! TURN AROUND AND PUT YOUR HANDS WHERE I CAN SEE THEM!” She shouted at Galen.

“Ma’am, is a half-naked dude in an alley a threat to you? I’m not even holding a weapon,” Galen casually spoke, jerking his head in amusement and sarcasm.

“I-I DON’T CARE! DO AS I SAY OR I’LL SHOOT YOU!...AND DON’T CALL ME ‘MAAM’!” The policewoman bellowed back at Galen. There was a brief pause of silence as Galen thought to himself.

No matter how it looked, this scenario was fairly damning to Galen. Although he had lost his important belongings but the way the situation played out; the way the policewoman found him with the old bum, there was no way anyone would not suspect him of being in the wrong there. First of all, he was half-naked, anyone could assume he was crazy for walking around the streets like that. No matter how he looked at it, the situation conveniently pointed the finger at him. But that did not warrant such an over the top edge reaction from the policewoman; either she was still green and lacked experience in her field or…?

It was at this point that Galen remembered that the old bum also freaked out after they had made eye contact, it would stand to reason that the policewoman reacted the same if she saw his eyes. They were not the eyes of a human. No human had irises whose edges glowed like that in the dark.

“Fine….” Galen sighed as he turned around and raised his hands.

The policewoman slowly and carefully walked towards Galen while aiming at him, she bent low and picked up the torch while still aiming at him, not taking her eyes off of him.

“Slowly…lie on the ground and put your hands behind your back,” instructed the policewoman. Galen obeyed and did so. She walked up to his position attached the torch to her hip belt and took out hand-cuffs and hand-cuffed him. She then reached for a radio caller on the backside of her belt and spoke.

“I have secured a suspect…”

“Felony?” spoke a male’s voice from the radio caller.

The policewoman looked at Galen with a somewhat odd look, with a brief moment of silence and answered.

“Disorderly Conduct…”

“WHAT?! You can’t be serious!” Galen exclaimed as he failed to believe what he was being arrested for.

“Yes, send in a car…” She continued, before hanging up the call. She dragged Galen to the main road and the two of them waited for the police car designated for them. Galen felt humiliated, standing half naked on the side of the road. Although it was past 10pm at night, the exteriors were still mildly populated with people, some of whom were taking pictures of him with their cell-phones and tablets.

“Fuck! I’m going to be the laughing meme of the internet for this,” Galen thought to himself.

Shortly thereafter, police sirens could be heard in the distance before growing louder until the vehicle pulled over where they were. Galen was forced into the backseat of the vehicle. By this time, his eyes had reverted back to normal.

For some reason, Galen felt alright with being arrested by the police, in fact he felt much more better that it had turned out this way. He was planning to explain the situation better at the precinct and ask for help from them. But that night he was given some spare clothes upon arrival at the precinct and put into a holding cell until the next day.

AT THE POLICE PRESINCT….NEXT DAY…

It was 9 am in the morning, the sun had risen over the horizon of the Alliance sea, yet Trinix was unusually cold that day as cold breezes blew through the city. Pedestrians walked the sidewalks dressed in coats, jackets and sweaters over their inner garments.

Galen could not sleep very well the previous night because of the cold. But that was not the primary reason why he couldn’t sleep. He rose up from sleeping position and sat on the edge of his cell bed, thinking to himself about the events of the previous night. It had to do with his newly found “condition”. It kept on kicking in and he kept on pouring through the memories of the old bum even after he had broken eye contact and was away from him. He could not stop himself from viewing scenes from the old bum’s life even from a bed in the holding cell. It was like he had established a link with the man. He could now clearly identify the juveniles who stole his items just from remembering the high definition experiences of the old bum . The old man had seen these juveniles in many different occasions before although he was not in league with them.

The door to his holding cell opened as two cops came to his cell.

“You are going to be asked a few questions in the interrogation room. Depending on how it goes, we may let you go with just a small fine,” One of the cops spoke.

Galen was escorted out of the holding cell and was led to a room on a separate wing of the precinct. Galen was ushered in and the door closed behind him, leaving only himself in the room.

The room had a camera at the top corner to the left of the entrance. A rectangular table stood in the middle of the room with 2 chairs facing each other on opposite sides of the table. Galen walked and sat in the chair facing the entrance to the room awaiting his interrogator.

He stared around the room while fiddling his fingers in boredom and started whistling random tunes. He was starting to get bored when the entrance door opened. A tall 6ft 3Inch slim man with blonde, well-combed, professionally styled hair and thin-rimmed, square-framed glasses walked into the room. He was dressed in a sky blue slim-fit shirt and black linen, well-ironed trousers, black leather belt, professional black well-polished leather shoes with black socks and an unbuttoned over-coat on top of it all. He had Germanic skin and bright green irises with a sharp distinctive black dot at the centre circumference of each of his Irises. He walked to the chair closest to the entrance on the opposite side of the rectangular table facing Galen and pulled it out, removed his overcoat and rested it by both its shoulders over the chair and sat on it and looked at Galen with a smile.

“My name is Max Hamelson, I’m a senior agent of the Deilburg Bureau of Investigations,” He introduced himself as he reached to his pocket and pulled out his DBI badge and showed it to Galen.

“Yeah, makes perfect sense that I’m being interrogated by a DBI agent over being accused of disorderly conduct, that’s a very good use of resources on such a menial case,” Galen replied sarcastically.

“Hahaha ….you are a funny one, talkative too when someone can push you to talk,” Max spoke after he chuckled, then continued.

“Yeah, it makes perfect sense that you end up naked in the streets in what looks like an altercation, 4 hours after the camera’s ID-ed you walking out of a railcar well-dressed and normal-looking. A college student with promising grades and good conduct in school suddenly ends up naked in a street altercation with an old bum, right? Makes perfect absolute sense,” Max returned the sarcasm as his smiling face slowly morphed into a serious tone. Galen’s complexion paled and his heart skipped a beat as he glared at the serious DBI agent. This man had some knowledge of him and the situation as well, and possibly thoroughly looked into his profile from multiple sources. He also asked questions that seemed to disbelieve that it was just a mere “disorderly conduct”. A thought occurred to Galen that this DBI agent might just be the perfect person to explain everything to and spill the beans.

“I’m the one asking the questions here, these questions are meant to help both of us, so if you just-”

“Alright, ask, I’ll tell you what I know,” Galen interrupted the DBI agent’s statement.

“Good…then this will be over in no time, and you’ll be possibly free to go” Max spoke reassuringly and took a pause before continuing.

“So…let’s start. According to the testimony of the police officer who arrested you, she claimed that she found you only with boxers put on and in what looked like an altercation with the old bum…how did you end up naked in that alley?”

Galen explained how he usually took a shortcut through that alley on his way home and how he noticed a strange glowing capsule in the pile of garbage bags.

He had not finished explaining his story when he noticed the DBI agent’s eyes widen with shock and his complexion pale as he interrupted.

“My,God!….tell me you did NOT take it,” Max interrupted as his calm demeanour and composure broke. Galen kept silent and shook his head while looking down before tilting his head back up to look at the DBI agent, whose face paled even further after seeing Galen’s affirmation that the interrogated did indeed take the capsule. There was a brief moment of silence between them.

Max gave a deep sigh as he massaged his forehead while closing his eyes in deep thought. Another moment of silence followed before the DBI agent broke it.

“Go on…” He said.

Galen proceeded to tell him how the capsule diffused into his body and he passed out and how he suspects that the nearby juveniles stripped him off his clothes and took his items while he had passed out. He told the DBI agent that when the policewoman arrived and found him in that state, it was because he was pressuring the old man to reveal the information on the whereabouts of 5 juvenile suspects who took his items.

“How are you feeling right now?” Max Hamelson asked Galen as he eyed him curiously.

“Alright…I guess, just haven’t eaten, that’s all,” Galen replied casually.

“This may sound odd of me asking you but…when you regained consciousness, did you notice anything….strange?” Max asked cautiously as he looked deeply without blinking into Galen’s eyes. Galen took a moment of silence and swallowed some saliva before speaking.

“This is going to sound really stupid….I felt strange after I regained consciousness-”

“Mind elaborating?…” insisted the DBI agent.

“My vision…. God, this is so stupid.…I know this sounds stupid but…I could…sort of like zoom in …like…zoom into people,” Galen explained his best trying to not look awkward.

“Is that all?...just zooming…in?” Max continued to ask.

“When I zoomed in…like at the old bum …I sort of went into his being and lived his experiences as if they were my own …it felt sort of real…even after I broke eye contact, I couldn’t sleep well last night because I was pouring through his experiences…I couldn’t control myself…it just happened…it’s kind of scary,” Galen said quietly. The DBI agent’s face was now utterly pale as he tried his best to conceal a shocked look in his eyes. He sighed deeply once more before speaking.

“I wish there was an easy way of putting this and explaining it to you and I hate to tell you this but… terrified?….yeah, you should be. Kid, you have now become part of a very dangerous side of the world,” Max spoke in a grave tone.

“I don’t get it, mind telling me how?” Galen asked the DBI agent. What did he mean by ‘becoming part of a very dangerous side of the world’?

“Does the word ‘Prymer’ ring any bells to you?” Max asked as he shifted his gaze from the table to Galen.

“I’ve heard rumours about it, here and there… in the internet, read some articles, but I never paid much attention to it, people with powers, same people end up losing their powers who boasted about them earlier on, people dying in freak occurrences and disappearances, aliens. I assumed it was just bullshit,” Galen replied. The DBI agent leaned forward, his elbows anchored to the table, his fingers crossing into each other and spoke.

“And now…after what you experienced…do you still think it’s bullshit?”

Galen kept quiet for a brief moment. He had experienced an inhuman phenomenon that he couldn’t dismiss nor deny and yet he desperately tried to make sense of his new reality that seemed more and more like some scene out of a strange fiction.

“Do you still think that’s bullshit?” Max asked once more as he looked deeply into Galen’s eyes, who kept silent before replying.

“I don’t know what to think anymore…I’m just a college dude doing his bachelors in I-T….this mess?...I don’t want any of this,” Galen explained.

“You think anyone wants it?” Max spoke calmly.

“I hate to tell you this but most of the things you have read in the internet regarding prymers may not be entirely false, albeit not entirely accurate either.” Max said.

“Whether you like it or not, there is no running from this, you have become part of a larger struggle for a higher form of power, the likes of which this world has never seen,” Max continued.

“You are not the only one who goes through these strange experiences, there are many more like you here in this city,” Max said as he fixed his gaze on Galen.

“Prymers… that is the word we’ve taken to call them. You are one of them now, there is no denying it, your life may never be normal again with the power you have acquired. According to our investigation reports, most prymers, for their own protection, find their fellow prymers and form small cell groups and live in enclaves within Deilburg. The Deilburg Bureau of Investigations also scouts potential prymers to aid us in our operations.” Max finished explaining. There was a brief moment of silence before Galen spoke.

“So what happens now…my items are stolen…how do I even start?”

Yet another silence stood between them before Max broke it with a sigh.

“I’m going to give you a choice, although given your circumstances; I’d wager that you don’t have much of a choice. Either way, you will be cleared off the charges of ‘disorderly conduct’ and will be free to carry on with your life. However, what you should be really concerned is what happens there after,” Max spoke.

“The first option is, of course, we can clear your charges and you can walk out of here and go and sort out your mess on your own, good luck….oh, and you can keep the outfit you are currently wearing since you don’t have anything else” Max spoke flatly.

“What’s the second option,” Galen asked, he had his suspicions about the second option.

“I think you have partially figured it out, you are smart in deducing conclusions after all,” Max spoke as he fixed his gaze unto Galen.

“Galen Scillian , you are a prymer who has yet to master and enhance their ability to delve into the experiences of others upon eye contact, if my deductions are right about you, then I say you are an extremely rare breed, even for a prymer. The whole prymer incident started 6 months ago in our country, but the DBI has never had their hands full in any other time in history. In a span of merely 6 months we have had more supernatural cases to deal with than criminal investigations. Hell, even some criminal cases are connected to supernatural works of prymers. And yet of all the prymer types I’ve ever met, I’ve never met one whose ability is like yours. The DBI would be very much be interested in your…abilities…I think you know where I’m going with this,” Max spoke without removing eye contact. Galen’s heart skipped a beat before opening his mouth.

“What do I get?”

“Should you consent to join us, we would confirm the nature and potency of your abilities for ourselves and we would assign you a clearance level befitting your power. We classify prymers who are part of the DBI into different tasks befitting the nature of their abilities and assign different clearance levels of access and combat involvement based on that. We do not like having our prymer’s abilities forcefully taken from them so we offer them the level of protection and secrecy befitting the nature of their abilities,” Max spoke.

“If you choose to come with us, we will deal with those petty thugs who took your belongings; we’ll get you new items if necessary. Your security detail will be taken care of as well as your parent’s and any significant others you have. Naturally, you will not be staying in that rugged apartment in that dangerous region of the city where you stay now. Of course, we can arrange for you to go on with your college, but since you will be working for us, you will be having a special status that will only be known to a few senior members of the administration of the Deilton College. They will take care of your college matters if anything is out of line. But your main priority will be your mission and the operation you are involved in. We’ll also sort out your wallet issues and your part time job, we can’t allow someone forcefully taking your powers from you when you are in one of your pizza deliveries now, can we?” Max spoke with a slight smile.

“I’d like to know a bit more about prymers,” Galen spoke as he digested everything he had been told.

“Sure…shoot,” Max spoke as he maintained his smile.

“You said that prymers could have their powers forcefully taken from them…,” Galen spoke.

“Yes I did, we have lost several of our prymers to someone who can take away the abilities of prymers away from them, returning them back to normal humans and in other cases, these same abilities that used to be in one of our agents were later encountered in other human hosts. Our enemy is shuffling prymer powers between humans,” Max spoke as his facial expression went pale again, his gaze shifting to stare at the table in memory of the incidences where the agents testified to being approached by someone who attacked them and took their powers from them.

“Who is this guy? Have you tried to deal with him or her?” Galen asked cautiously. Max’s gaze shifted from the table to Galen.

“Haha…deal with him?...If he was someone that could be dealt with, don’t you think we would have done that by now? He is something else, he doesn’t even read like a prymer, No one I know can deal with him. That is why we protect our prymers by secrecy and hiding. I’ll show you what we have on him if you join us,” Max spoke as he leaned back on his chair and took a deep breath.

“So…what’s it going to be?” Max asked as he looked at Galen who was silent.