Early potens were very similar to each

other in the beginning of awakenings.

We thought that the ability to manipulate

the old four elements were the peak.

Malek proved us wrong.

-Richard J. Richter, from the Colorado University

Ludwig’s stomach rumbled.

“Here you go,” Sarah said.

The nurse was a tall woman in her early forties. She had light brown skin and straight hair that curled slightly in some strays, close to her ears. Some had a little gray on them.

“Thanks, Sarah,” Ludwig said to her.

It was ten p.m., yet he was still laying in bed. The light from the morning sun came in through the window, warming the room in a dim white light.

It had been three days since he returned to his room.

“I honestly think I would have died already if it weren’t for you,” Ludwig said while grabbing the plate from Sarah's hands which had his breakfast.

“I would tell you to stop it, but I like the blandishment,” Sarah said with a small grin.

Her smile was pleasant and warm. It had what felt like an obvious beauty to it, almost appearing to emanate light from her heart-shaped face, which had some wrinkles around her clear brown eyes and cheeks.

It still surprised Ludwig the ‘short’ age gap between the both of them. He was thirty-two years old. It was still difficult to believe. Even more when his face had only aged a couple of years.

Sarah said her goodbyes and left the room. Ludwig then began his meal with a glass of milk.

(I guess relieving sexual tension could improve emotional happiness,) Wagner said.

Ludwig spat his milk.

“What.. What made you think that?” Ludwig said between coughs, hitting his chest to try and get some air in.

(I was thinking of ways to improve your physical and emotional state. Repressing vital needs such as defecating or eating can cause stress and harm. I thought that maybe it was the same for your mental state, and fornication seemed an available option-)

“It isn’t!” Ludwig snapped out. “And why would you suggest that option?!”

(Because I thought it correlated best with your current state.)

“What?” Ludwig asked, his voice still drowned from the cough.

(We’re communicating telepathically. And such communication requires me to hear your mind and let you hear mine. I heard what you thought of that nurse.)

Ludwig had had these previous days to get to know Wagner. And one of the few things he had learnt was that he was incredibly straightforward.

“...Oh.”

(I had hoped you wouldn’t need me to explain what it entailed,) Wagner said with what felt like a disappointed tone.

It had been the first expression of emotion Ludwig had ever heard from it. And the fact that it had been an expression of disappointment made it worse, making him feel embarrassed for not realizing.

“Sorry, my mind has been in another… I was just distracted. I won’t forget again, I promise,” he said, his voice back to normal.

Ludwig was able to feel reassurance coming from Wagner. Although it wasn’t entirely his fault, feeling relief from it was pleasing enough. Yet he had to understand. It wasn’t very common for humans to have their mind read… at least people who woke up from a fifteen year sleep.

But it was different now. Their minds were connected. Both ways. He could feel its disappointment, and it could feel his shame.

“Why are you so focused on my health, by the way?” Ludwig then said while munching a french toast with bacon on it.

(It is simple, I don’t want to die. Health is a factor attached to living. Better health equals living more. And we are a joint organism now. Therefore, if I want to extend my life expectancy, I have to improve yours.)

“What do you mean by joint?” Ludwig said while grabbing his green apple.

It was surprising how tasty the fruit was in this hospital.

(I… I don’t have the words to describe my idea. But I mean this.)

Suddenly, Ludwig was only able to see, hear, and feel something connected. No. Dependent on something else. Two anonymous beings. Beings that lacked any form of their own, yet had an appealing presence, almost as if he knew them. Their dependency, their connection. Ludwig then began to associate them with different images of his own.

Those beings were like the plants that need the rain to live, the wolf that needs the sheep to survive, the buildings that need the people to prolong their time above the streets.

They were symbiotic.

The feeling then began to fade, letting in the other thoughts that had just been in his mind.

“What did you do?” Ludwig said, gasping for air.

He didn’t know why, but he felt as if he had just run a lap around the building at full speed.

(I expressed an idea. The concept that I was trying to make you understand. And you… You expressed it with words. Symbiotic…)

“Yeah… Symbiosis refers to the relationship established between… You know what it means, right?”

(Yes. But I now know the word,) Wagner said in a happy tone. Even though the ‘happy’ part of it was almost undetectable.

It was somewhat strange that it was expressing more emotion than usual. Which was none. Ludwig then continued with his apple after a moment of reflection until someone knocked on the door.

“Come in,” he said, his mouth still partially full.

The door leading to his room opened, revealing a young woman and a tall young man. Both of them were dressed in suits with white shirts underneath.

The young man had an old fashioned gray hat with a black ribbon around it, covering a bush of black hair, and that matched the rest of his gray outfit. He had white skin and very sharp features, although not as sharp as his eyes. He might have looked young, but those eyes showed an old man’s wisdom laying behind his juvenile handsomeness…

(I have to insist, relieving sexual tension might be-)

(Cut it off,) Ludwig thought dryly.

The young woman’s suit had a clear brown color. She wore an unbuttoned jacket, and pants that seemed to widen near where the pockets should be, creating what looked like little spikes. She was a brunette with white skin and an average height and complexion.

“Mister Lock?” The young man asked.

“Yes. Please call me Ludwig.”

He could be thirty-two years old, but he didn’t feel like a mister at all.

“Hi, I’m Harry Erickson, and she’s Erika Steelhart. We’ve been sent here by the Police Department to get some information about the aggressions and attempt of murder directed to your person.”

Something moved inside Ludwig. Something big, yet distant. A chained beast waking up from its slumber.

The young man then showed him his badge.

It was different from the ones he had seen. The badge was thinner at the center and resembled an imperfect triangle that changed angles as it moved to the union of the lines. It had complex engravings close to what seemed to be dates and names. On top of the badge, the words ‘Juvenile Detective’ protruded from the metal.

“Oh. I was expecting-”

“Heroes?” The young man furiously inquired.

Ludwig was able to feel an intense hatred coming from the young man. A silent scream of abhor that made everything around it furiously rumble. Its presence… Was disturbing. It felt like a deafening screech and smelling a pestilent stench.

“... Someone older,” Ludwig slowly finished. “You and your partner look quite young.”

The young woman approached from behind the young man. She slapped the back of his head just as she kept walking to Ludwig.

“Please, excuse this donkey for a partner. We’re from the Juvenile Detectives program.”

“What's that?”

“Basically, we’re sent to gather testimonies, which will be used to evaluate our performances. Even if we look young. Please, do not worry. Only validated people by the Police Department partake in the program.”

“Huh.”

“Would you be able to describe to us what happened the night from the thirteenth of october, when you were attacked?”

Her partner had sat down on a chair nearby and was holding a notepad and a pen in his hands.

“Sure, um… Well, I was at work-”

“The airsoft shop in Cintia?” The young lady asked.

“Correct. I was at work and, my boss, Stan, was late to his-”

“Stan what?”

“I… Don’t know. I don’t think he ever said his last name.”

Ludwig was able to hear the pen moving across the paper from the other side of the room.

“Could you describe it for us?”

“Yeah, um… He’s a short white man, probably in his thirties, with disheveled hair and a trimmed prominent beard. He always wore military pants or a military cap. He had brown eyes and… Oh, and he had plenty of muscles.”

“You got all that?” the young female detective asked her partner.

“Yup,” he said while still writing.

“ Ok. Continue, please,” the female detective said.

“Well, he was late. And then this lady showed up. Piercing brown eyes, sharp face, elegant eyebrows, sparkling lips, skin white as snow…”

The beast inside Ludwig moved, making the chains tinkle.

“She then asked for him. My boss,” Ludwig continued. “I was going to tell her he wasn’t at the store but I… Felt, something.”

“What did you feel?”

“(Caution,)” Ludwig said while Wagner repeated the sounds in his head. “(Danger.) Stan had told me to present myself as him if I suspected that there was some kind of… Well, danger. He said that it would scare people trying to mess with me. But…”

“It got you in danger,” the young man said across the room, still focused on his notepad.

“Yes…” Ludwig said, somewhat ashamed.

“Didn’t you think that it was somewhat weird for him to ask you to use his name?”

“I… Well, yeah. I thought it was weird, but… The area seemed kinda sketchy. I thought he was someone people knew not to fuck with... Ah, pardon my language!” Ludwig then said, putting his hands out. “Apparently, he had helped me before. I thought that he was looking after me.”

“We now know he was only using you,” the young man said.

He had figured out, yet, the realization just kicked in. Stan had used Ludwig. He had taken advantage of a miserable man.

He then became angry at the young man. How could he play it off so…?

“I’m sorry,” the young man then said.

The words had a soft tone. They were a gentle breeze that caressed him, that told him he was alright now, that calmed the beast. Ludwig didn’t need his ‘feeling’ thing to know what they carried. Honest sorrow.

“What happened next?” The female detective inquired.

Ludwig inhaled slowly and composed himself.

“We… Got into a fight. She was incredibly strong. She must have had some kind of… power. She then threw me out of the window…”

The beast inside him began to scratch the floor.

“I tried to run but she grabbed me and threw me next to the store…”

The beast inside him began to growl.

“I then grabbed a knife. It was a… synthesis knife-?”

(Symbologist knife,) Wagner reverberated.

“Symbologist knife, sorry,” Ludwig quickly corrected.

The young man nodded to himself, almost as if he was checking something he was sure of.

"We fought a little longer until she had me in her grasp…”

The beast inside him began to pull the chains keeping it down, trying to escape the memories that hunted it like an even greater predator, getting angrier. Even more ferocious.

“But then a pair of gunmen appeared and began shooting. She threw me…"

Wait.

(Should I mention the threads?) Ludwig asked Wagner.

(Are they relevant to the story?) Wagner then asked him.

The current dragging him. The rain piercing his skin. His extremities bleeding and aching. Barely clinging to life.

The beast inside him began to whimper.

“... to the drain canal,” he continued. “I somehow was able to cling to the edge without falling. I then pulled myself up and… Everything faded to black…”

Ludwig could also remember someone screaming, but he remembered it vaguely. Padded by his unconsciousness.

The female detective turned around to see the young man. He then nodded.

“Alright. Thank you mister… Ludwig. We appreciate your cooperation,” the female detective said. “With this, we may be able to catch him,” she said, trying to recomfort him…

Wait. Him? Were they talking about Stan?

“And what about the woman? The one who tried to kill me?”

The smile disappeared from her face.

“Unfortunately,” the young man said whilst getting up from his seat. “There’s nothing we can do about that. It’s simply out of our reach.”

“But the Police Department-”

“I was referring to us as a whole. Police Department included.”

…Nothing?

The beast inside him stopped whimpering. It then got up and faced the even bigger monster in front of it. Memories, sadness, fear…

They began to shrink in the presence of anger.

“What about the heroes? They have super powers, right?” Ludwig asked, almost desperately.

“Ah. Them,” the young man said.

His hatred began to emerge.

He and the female detective began to walk to the door.

“Yes,” he said as he opened the door. “One of them is being super disappointing…”

They then crossed the door frame.

“I’m truly sorry. I wish there was something I could do. Goodbye, Ludwig.”

He then closed the door.

The beast inside him began to consume the anger, making it bigger. Stronger. Louder. It then chomped the predator’s head off, filling the cave with blurry memories. Memories he didn’t want to remember.

Ludwig stayed in his bed.

A minute passed. Then an hour. And with barely a blink, the veil of night fell to the skies.

(Ludwig? Is there a way I can assist?)

“Yes…”

The beast inside him howled, thirsting for more blood.

“Help me get revenge.”

Wagner didn’t respond.

Ludwig then began to notice a thread coming from his right hand.

It was a lonely thread, painted with a crimson red.

(Your anger is mine as well.)