The beam of light struck Wave! At first, he flinched but slowly realized that the beam of light wasn’t actually hurting him. Blight chuckled softly and snapped his fingers with his other hand. The beam of light started to turn brighter and began to slowly turn white. Heat was emitting from the light causing Raito’s chest to feel like it was being set on fire. “I’m the Gift of Light and along with controlling light I can also control the heat that comes from it!” Blight explained.

“Knock it off!” Wave roared. The light was starting to get to him. The heat from the light was causing his chest to burn and feel as if a giant brick was lying on top of his chest.

He attempted to stop Blight’s attack by throwing out his right arm to do another sound blast attack. The attack made contact and forced Blight to lower his arm, but something was wrong.

“That...that should have knocked you down,” Wave questioned.

In a cocky attitude Blight responded with, “You mean that pathetic attack of yours was supposed to hurt? You lack any real power in your attacks. It might be strong enough to work on humans. But I am no human. I am a Gift!” Blight took his time walking over to Wave before continuing his speech. “If you want to hurt me. Every attack should have passion! The passion to kill!”

“K-Kill?” Wave repeated.

Blight threw a right hook into Wave’s face the moment he was in striking distance. The heat resonating from Blight’s glowing fist ended up leaving a burnt mark on Wave’s face.

Wave was in a state of shock and fell onto his back. He didn’t know what to do and was paralyzed with fear. He tried to get up but couldn’t stop focusing on the pain from the initial punch. He kept trying and trying to get up but for some reason he couldn’t. That’s when he realized that his fight or flight response had kicked in. He was so petrified that he didn’t realize that he was throwing his sound blast attack over and over again. His body had chosen to fight despite the fear that was consuming him. But it wasn’t enough. With each attack they began to get weaker and weaker to the point where Blight wasn’t even feeling the hits anymore.

“Getaway getaway getaway!” Wave cried out. At this point, he wasn’t even aiming for his sound blast attacks. They were now just a blinding barrage of attacks.

“You started this and I’m going to end it!” Blight screamed. Blight quickly grabbed Wave by the neck and pulled him in closer. A beam of light came out of the eye shield, striking Wave in the face.

Just like his chest earlier. The light from Blight started off as harmless. But quickly evolved into a burning rampage of heat. Wave’s face felt like it was being cooked inside an oven. If Wave hadn’t closed his eyes when he did. He would have gone blind from the blast of light.

“Stop! Please stop!” Wave pleaded.

Things only got worse. Blight struck Wave in the stomach with his knee several times before throwing him across the room. Wave gasped for air since Blight was no longer squeezing his neck. But Blight had only just begun.

“Oh, we are waaaaaay past me letting you go. You ruined my deal so now I will ruin you!” Blight shouted as he snapped his fingers.

Just then, the lights in the garage turned on. But somehow only the lights that were directly over Wave did. “I think it’s only appropriate for you to understand how you’re going to die by my Gift,” Blight said with a finger snap. The lights turned into the harmless orange light that only made Wave feel warm. “The color of light and the color of fire practically follow the same set of rules. Red is the weakest, orange is next, and then there is white.”

Wave’s body became heavy and it started to get difficult for him to concentrate. He was dripping sweat throughout his whole body. Whenever he tried to move out of the light, Blight would just kick him in the gut. Making sure he stayed on the ground with nowhere to go.

“Don’t go just yet. We haven’t even gotten to the brightest form of light yet. Come on down blue light!” Blight yelled as he snapped his fingers once again.

The edges of Wave’s clothes started to smoke as if they were about to catch on fire. His skin began to go from just sweating to drying up and peeling. His skin was so dried that he started to bleed between the cracks in his skin. He could feel his energy draining from him. Blight’s Gift wasn’t making sense to him. No way could an average lightbulb emit this much light. It would be impossible. What Soul had told him must be true. Gifts aren’t just random superpowers. These were powers were from gods that went by their own logic.

Wave knew he had to get out of this light by any means or else! With the last bit of strength, he was able to stand up to do one last attack. “Sound…bang” was all he was able to say. A large sound wave shot out of his body. It was weaker than the one he had done before but it was strong enough to knock Blight back. With Blight out of striking distance, Wave quickly ran out of the garage.

He tried screaming but his mouth and throat were so dry that no words could come out. An only the sound of wheezing could escape his lips. This is what Flight had warned him about. This is what Flight feared would happen. All the work he did with Flight, his dreams of being a comic book artist, and his future was all about too disappear. Memories started to flood Wave’s head. They do say that your life flashes before your eyes before you die. Just when he was about to close his eyes for the final time, he spotted people! Gifts were not supposed to use their powers in front of a bunch of people.

“I….need…help! Please…. anyone…. come out…help!” Wave cried out. Yet, nobody turned around to even acknowledge him; even after shouting out towards specific people that were nearby. They all simply walked away. What was even stranger is that they all kept their back towards the garage, it was like they knew what would happen if they were to turn around.

“No one will help you here,” Blight said as he made his way towards Raito. “I own this part of the city! They know damn well to not even look at me. Timekeeper is really strict on the whole no one sees us use our Gift. I can get killed if he were to find out. So we have a rule that if anyone were to even catch a glimpse of our powers. We had permission to get rid of them.” He walked very casually towards Wave knowing that Wave couldn’t run very far from him. He cracked his knuckles as his fists continued to glow blue.

Exhausted and stunned with fear, Wave just stood still as Blight got closer and closer. Once in reach, Blight grabbed Raito’s face so his hand could burn Wave’s skin. “Now you will experience true pain,” Blight said. With a snap of his fingers the blue light turned to a darker shade of blue. Blight didn’t stop there and turned on the streetlight that both of them were under. A Blue light showered down onto Wave. Burnt holes started to appear throughout Wave’s outfit and his skin continued to peel. Wave couldn’t even sweat anymore as if all the water in his body was gone.

Completely exhausted, Wave went limp and fell flat onto the ground. He didn’t even have the energy to scream out in pain as his skin bubbled with blisters. At this point he was no different than meat being cooked inside a flaming hot oven.

“I’m going to die here.... I’m sorry Flight...I’m sorry mom...dad. I thought I could be a hero...I guess that stuff...should be left to the comic book world…” Wave thought to himself. While in a state of constantly fading in and out of consciousness. He started to hear a faint beat sound. It sounded like a heart but it’s not beating like a how a heart should. Instead of beating in a consistent rhythm, it was offbeat. It almost sounded like it was trying to talk. As Wave got ready to close his eyes and accept his fate, he spotted two feet next to his face.

“That’s enough. You showed him how tough you are. Now leave,” a voice said.

“Help?” Were Wave’s last words before passing out.

Raito slowly opened his eyes and then immediately sat up from his bed. “Was that just a bad dream?” He asked himself as he checked out his arms and face for any peeled skin or blisters.

“It wasn’t, you almost died. You’ve been unconscious for the past three hours,” said a voice.

Raito turned around to see Flight sitting on his computer chair watching over him. “F...Flight? Were you the one who saved me?” Asked Raito.

Flight shook his head no, “I called in a favor from a friend. I was worried something bad would eventually happen to you and I guess I was right. That’s why I was gone. I had to go somewhere far. I’m just glad you didn’t die while I was away.”

Raito, checking out his arms, noticed that his skin looked fully healed. Then out of the corner of his eye he spotted his hero outfit on the floor. They looked like someone had set them on fire with all the burnt marks and holes in them. “I had like blisters and my skin was peeling off! How is it that I’m okay?”

“You can thank Doctor for that. He’s the Gift of Health and is sort of like an off-limits Gift. He doesn’t belong to either Soul or Timekeeper. His Gift is too valuable to fight over so both sides are allowed to use him. When he saw your clothes, he made an assumption that you were set on fire. He had to take your clothes off to see just how serious your wounds were. Don’t worry, you still have your boxers on,” Flight said with a slight chuckle.

“Wait my car is still back there!” Raito shouted.

“Don’t worry. I found your car when I was flying over to where you were. Doctor drove you home. I sort of don’t know how to drive.”

With that, Raito was able to calm down. After a few seconds of silence, he looked over to Flight to apologize about getting into a fight with a Gift. He didn’t think he would run into one on his first trial as a hero. “I thought I was stopping a chop shop ring.”

Flight placed his hand onto Raito’s shoulder, “are you okay?”

With teary eyes, Raito raised his right hand to show that he was shaking uncontrollably. “I thought I was going to die back there. I even accepted the fact that I was done. Even my legs are shaking...I thought I was ready but I’m far from it.”

“How are you mentally? Something like this can cause some severe PTSD,” Flight asked.

“I can’t stop picturing his helmet and his hand on my face,” Raito said as he started to rub his arms. “My skin is fine but I can still feel the pain of my skin peeling and the blisters popping up.”

“This is the last thing I wanted to happen to you but maybe look at the bright side. At least you got the wanting to be a hero out of your system,” Flight said.

“Out of my system?” Raito said in a confusing matter. “Who said I was done being a hero?”

“You can’t be serious!?” Flight said in an angry tone. “You would be dead if it wasn’t for me! Do you want to go through that pain again!”

Without saying a word, Raito got out of his bed to walk towards his bookshelf. While walking, Raito couldn’t even take a step without almost falling from how much he was shaking. It was like he was walking in the snow without clothes on.

Despite being healed there were small scars throughout his body from where the blisters were. Even Raito couldn’t comprehend how much this encounter had affected him mentally and physically.

Raito started grabbing a bunch of comic books and threw them onto the bed, saying the names of each one. “Angel of Apocalypse, Star Hero, Monster kingdom, My World Ends, ect…. In every one of these stories. The hero never won their first fight. The first fight was always written like that as a way to demonstrate how much the hero needed to improve. I can improve and get stronger. Maybe even stronger than the guy I just fought. Stopping now will mean I got my ass handed to me for nothing!”

Raito then turned around to face Flight and stared into his eyes. Not once did his body shake this time. Flight took this as a sign that Raito wasn’t one to quit after falling down just once. With a deep sigh, Flight had accepted Raito’s decision and knew he was right about him. Raito wasn’t like other Gifts or the ones that tried to be like heroes. Even after facing death, Raito was only thinking about how to improve from his mistakes.

Flight reached behind himself to pull out the first volume of I Am Hero, “I’m ready to read the next volume.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Leech appeared out of nowhere and walked towards Blight, “That’s enough. You showed him how tough you are. Now leave.” Blight appeared to be incomplete shock to see Leech and quickly snapped his fingers to stop the light from killing off Wave.

“Lee-Leech what are you doing here!?” Blight asked while trying to compose himself.

“An old friend of mine told me to keep this guy safe,” Leech said as he nudged Wave with his foot to check if he was still alive. “This fight is over, now get out of here.”

“You’re joking right! He’s a Gift that opposed me. Which means he opposed against Timekeeper! He’s seen my Gift and he’s that type of Gift that wants to play hero. We kill these types of Gifts anyway! I’m not letting this Gi-” Before Blight could even finish his sentence. Leech snapped his fingers and a clear barrier surrounded them.

Blight knew what this barrier was and what it meant. Before Blight could even apologize, Leech grabbed Blight by the throat. Leech was a skilled killer and knew the perfect amount of pressure to use that made it very difficult for the person to breathe but still be able to speak.

“Now you listen to me. You’re going to get into your car and leave. You will forget you ever saw this kid or even what his Gift is. If Timekeeper discovers that this kid exists. I’ll make sure to inform him about your backdoor dealings. I know for a fact you’re not supposed to be here. Not to mention that little speech about how you owned this area. And just so you know, you were right to think Timekeeper was on to you. That’s why I’m here. This was just a nice coincidence that I got to kill two birds with one stone,” Leech giggled. Blight was speechless because during Leech’s whole speech. Leech never once stopped smiling. For the first time ever. Blight now understood why people feared Leech.

Blight followed Leech’s instructions and disappeared. With Blight gone, Leech looked over to Wave and kneeled down. “I probably should have stopped this a bit sooner,” Leech said while checking Raito’s condition. He puts his hand onto Raito’s head and closed his eyes. After a few seconds, he got back up and snapped his fingers for the barrier to go away. He took out his phone and began to dial a number.

“I have someone I need you to heal...yah just charge my account...I’ll open a portal for you now...bye.” Leech hung up and snapped his fingers to create a black hole on a nearby wall. A person emerged from the black hole wearing a doctor's coat, dress pants, dress shirt, and a surgical mask. This man was known as Doctor.

With a slight Middle Eastern accent spoke. “So who’s the person that needs help?”

Leech pointed over to Wave. Doctor’s eyes widen to see the horrible condition Wave was in and rushed over to him. Doctor asked Leech what happened and so he explained the situation.

“He must be important if Flight actually came to you for help,” Doctor said as he started to remove Wave’s clothes. “The last time you saw him was also the last time you ever took off that mask.”

“I don’t see how this kid is special in any way. Just someone getting himself killed. That’s why I let Blight beat the shit out of him. Hopefully this ass beating will knock some sense in him.”

“Wait, Flight told you to let him get roughed up?”

“Of course not, that was my decision.”

“Where were you watching this fight?”

“I was spying on Blight for Timekeeper. I was watching everything from the rooftop of that garage over there,” Leech said as he pointed. “Next thing I knew, this kid showed up.”

“I really wished you didn’t let this poor boy get this badly hurt. He’s suffering from dehydration, bleeding everywhere because his skin was peeling off, blisters all over his body, and a lot of burnt marks.”

“So what? You can’t heal him?

“Of course I can. But remember, my powers don’t heal people like magic. When healing a person, what’s actually happening is that I manipulate a person's body to heal itself.” Doctor placed both of his hands onto Raito’s chest and closed his eyes. Raito’s body began to glow bright green and Wave’s skin started to slowly heal. The blisters on his body slowly faded away while leaving small scars behind. Skin that was peeled off got replaced with new healthy skin. The burnt marks faded away and just like that; Wave’s body looked to have been fully healed. “I sped up the natural healing process and increased its efficiency. This will cause him to be unconscious for about three to five hours since his body needs to rest from forcing itself to heal. As for the dehydration I need a bottle of water to help hydrate him.”

Leech created another black hole and pulled a water bottle out of it. He handed it to Doctor who then poured it into Wave’s mouth and snapped his fingers. “I made it so his body will evenly distribute the water throughout his body. It should hold him till he wakes up. He will be extremely thirsty but this way he won’t be suffering from dehydration.”

Leech in a calming matter shrugged himself off, “Guess I’m no longer needed. Make sure to call Flight so he can pick him up. I agreed I wouldn’t be around when he came.” With that, Leech snapped his fingers and left through his black hole to go back home. “I’ll see you soon again Wave, now that the seed has been planted.”