And god said let there be light, leaving mankind to pick up the electricity bill. – From Jessie in Missed Conversations Vol 1.

The headmaster’s office was, in a word, opulent. Gold leaf garlanded the bookshelves and the frames of animated renaissance paintings. A desk, built from deep mahogany, loomed before two empty seats. Surveying all of this, with an expression that read ‘harsh but fair’, was the elderly headmaster of Black Vine academy himself. As a resident of the preened and perfect room, the man was dressed in a fine black suit, with gold rings on every other finger. Standing at his side, in a deferential capacity, was Doctor Fitz.

Alex swallowed, before walking into the middle of the room. The headmaster bowed his head slightly and let some of the steel fall from his expression.

“I am headmaster Williams, overseer at this academy.” He glanced furtively up at Doctor Fitz before continuing. “Take a seat, Alex. I’m going to tell you why you’re here.”

Alex looked from the doctor to headmaster Williams before doing as he was told. Finally, the chance for answers had come. When he had made the decision to accept enrolment in Black Vine Academy, he had considered only that which stood directly before him, like looking down the sights of a gun. Access to the bigger picture was a hope, not a promise.

The headmaster continued. “I’m going to dispense with the pleasantries. I was watching the recordings, both from the train incident and from your class just now.” He supressed a chuckle, but only barely. “Quite a day, if I may say so. The department picking you up out of all that chaos was pure unadulterated luck.” His expression went immediately pensive. “Or so we believe. But your performance just now lends credence, Mr… Alex, to the notion of fate.” He picked up a remote and used it to turn on a wall-mounted television. “Or am I being melodramatic?”

Playing on the screen was a recording of Alex’s fight. It showed the tall, slender boy lying prone before the mercy of a very ticked-off Jasmine. Alex’s eyes widened as he saw the image of himself slipping away into a black puddle of nothingness, and then reappearing in Jasmine’s shadow. The screen went black and Alex turned back to the headmaster.

“It seems part of your ability allows you to do more than just launch a foray into the souls of your enemies… or friends as it may be. When you take possession of a body, you take possession of its gifts too.” The headmaster continued, taking a sip of something amber-coloured and apparently sharp on the tongue. “That’s what makes you Prime.”

Alex grimaced, looking down at hands that weren’t his, through eyes that saw better than he had ever been able to. He didn’t want this body, and he didn’t want its gifts.

Doctor Fitz continued where the headmaster had left off. “I was just briefing our headmaster on some of the history behind your skills. In short, we looked into the other Alex’s life. As I said before, he was training to become a hero, and so a lot of the information is beyond our reach by design. What we can tell you is that heroes start far earlier than villains when it comes to receiving a practical education. We have records of a much younger Alex being scouted and then picked up by one of the hero institutions out west. We know this because we were looking into him also. Even without your core ability, shadow dancing is quite a gift.”

Alex sat back, absorbing the information. So, he thought, that’s why I can move so fast. That’s why I know how to fight. He wanted to be angry at them, for viewing people the way they did, like tools to be honed. But he couldn’t. Alex had been Ellie, and Ellie had known the harsh truths of the world long before someone she didn’t even know came into her life and took it all.

“So that’s why I’m here. Because I’m valuable.” Alex said, unable to keep some of the spite from entering his voice.

“Yes, actually.” The headmaster replied, without apology. “That’s why we’re all here, in fact. I have a boss, and now so do you. If I don’t do my job I get fired. If you don’t learn to perform in the way we want you to, you get expelled. There is no place at Black Vine for students without a sense of their own purpose. Hence this conversation. Now you’ve already made your choice, and for that I commend you, but know that if you want to make anything out of this experience then you have to really want it. The way Jasmine wants it, the way that boy Jessie wants it – even though he may pretend otherwise. Because this place has a fail rate of over ninety percent. Now hear me, that’s forty-five of the fifty students in your class.”

This gave Alex pause. He didn’t want to fail, not because he had designs on becoming a super villain – on that he was ambivalent – no, he wanted to learn more about his father. There was something in the past two days that had made him wonder, for the first time, about the man he’d never met.

“Is that what happened to my dad?” Alex turned to Doctor Fitz. “You said he dropped out.”

The doctor froze, eyes flickering for a just a moment. “I said nothing explicitly, but yes. He did drop out. Your father was a good man, and as a result of that felt unsuited to the work.”

Alex couldn’t say why, maybe it was the tone he thought he’d heard, or the way the doctor seemed a little too still when he spoke, but Alex didn’t believe him. Not entirely, at least.

“What was his power?” He asked.

The Doctor looked at headmaster Williams, as if handing the question off. Both were plainly uncomfortable.

“We don’t exactly know.” The headmaster said, in a strained voice. A heavy silence hung in the air, like a black hole pulling in questions.

“What do you mean you don’t know?” Alex said, eventually. It was such a fundamental knowledge-gap, that there was little else he could ask for– besides clarification. The headmaster frowned, evidently annoyed at the idea of a student-led interrogation. Alex looked down, embarrassed by his own forwardness.

“I mean, Alex…” The headmaster eked out. “…that when I try and look back over the years, to the days in which I taught your father – personally I might add - there are gaps. Breaks in my memory where I can’t find the answers. And it’s the same for everyone else. Fitz?”

Doctor Fitz nodded, then said: “We believe, due to the nature of these symptoms, that your father could erase the memories of people. We believe he used his unique gift to excise memories of his powers in all that he came into contact with.”

“Why?” Alex asked, this time directing his question at Fitz. “Why would he bother removing your memories? It’s…”

“Redundant?” Fitz broke in. “Considering that the gap he left leaves pretty much only one possibility for what the concealed power must be… yes. I’d say, even, that it was an exercise in futility - only other memories of your father might forbid that. He did not do things for no reason.”

“He was a Prime, like you.” The headmaster continued. “Oh, sure there were others who could hold temporary sway on the mind’s ability to store information, but they held no candle to what your father eventually achieved. Heck, I’d almost be proud of the man, if it didn’t reflect so poorly on me as his teacher.” The headmaster flicked his head with a finger.

Questions upon questions. Why would his father bother to do something that seemed utterly pointless? More importantly, Alex felt, why do it to his friends? And yet even more importantly…

“How’d he die?” Alex asked, his voice far quieter than he’d intended it to be.

Doctor Fitz and headmaster Williams stared at him in silence. Then, Doctor Fitz let out a wearied sigh. “We don’t know that either, I’m afraid. But he did die, Alex. I was at the funeral, I saw his body with my own eyes, could feel no sense of consciousness in his form.” At that moment, the doctor appeared somehow older. Lines, which Alex had taken for articles of wisdom, deepened mournfully, making his face appear drawn and haggard. “I’ll admit something to you Alex. I’ve tried looking for answers here and haven’t found them.” Fitz turned, eyes flashing as if in challenge. “But maybe I wasn’t looking at it from the right perspective. Maybe it takes someone who has only the desire to find the truth, without the preconception of what said truth must be. I know that’s the real reason you agreed to come here. And as long as it doesn’t interfere with how you learn… I’d say its fine to be curious about your father.”

Alex lowered his head, thinking morose thoughts. There was something terribly wrong about all this. He could feel it and was sure that the headmaster and Fitz could feel it too. With a slow nod of his head he looked up at both of them.

“Was that all?” He asked.

“Yes, Alex. You can go.” The headmaster said. “Fitz will show you to the dining hall. You can grab an early dinner.”

And with that, Alex stood up, nodded once again at the headmaster, and followed Doctor Fitz out the door.

***

The hero, known to the people of dimension 221-c as ‘Tomos’, was in a cursed place. A place in which he would never, could never, be seen by anyone not ripe for death. He was in the shadows.

He righted his hood over his eyes, ensuring that any stray wanderer would be unable to recognize him from a glance. Tomos was a great man, loved by all. He was a respected hero. The respected hero. And he felt right about his place in this particular dimension. No, it would not do to be seen right now.

With a sudden surge of capricious rage, he fell to swearing. This place was filthy, dark. He was a hero. Nay, the hero. Need he write it in the stars?

He resisted the urge to sink this small muddle of a town into the depths of dimension 129-x, a hellscape, and instead took his impatience out on his bottom lip. The lesser being was making him wait, again. He would have to make it a slow death when all this was done. He could send him to the black holes of dimension 442-a and let the tidal forces shred him into a cosmic skid mark. No, for making him wait, Tomos would skin the man himself. He would kill his family and everyone he’d ever known. But later. For now, the man would be used.

A shadow darkened Tomos’ alleyway, and the hero readied an exit, just in case. He needn’t have worried, as the villain known as ‘KeelSpawn’ limped into the light. The villain gritted his teeth against a fracture and began using the wall of the alleyway for support.

“I hope…” Tomos began, in a tone of voice that would be unrecognizable to those only familiar with his more public exploits. “I am not inconveniencing you by calling this meeting.”

The villain paused, and then lowered himself painfully to one knee, bowing his head. “No. I am sorry, Lord Tomos. My injury delayed me.”

Tomos considered this, or at least appeared to. “And your mission?” He asked.

Keelspawn kept his eyes firmly on the floor as he replied. “I killed the girl as you ordered. But there was a complication, and a hero named Scimitarian intervened.”

“His wife will be widowed and forgotten. His children sold to the slavers of 148-b.” Tomos replied, dispassionately. “Continue.”

“Yes, sir.” KeelSpawn said, hurriedly as if to make up for his tardiness. “There was a complication. The girl’s power manifested. I’m told from our source in the academy that she lives on in another body. But the job was completed as per your orders.”

Tomos regarded KeelSpawn with a contempt that spanned worlds. He was going to enjoy the day this man died at his hand. As if turning on a switch in his mind, Tomos’ tone shifted to match his heroic persona.

“Very well.” He said, without a hint of malice. “You will do one more thing for me then.”

KeelSpawn looked up at him, like a spoiled child. “But I did what was asked of me. You promised-“

“-If you complete this next mission.” Tomos said, cutting him off. “I will give you the power you deserve. And unlike some, I never break my word.”