Fayn Itagral

I was lying in a crib looking up, my chubby hand touching the hanging toys and making them spin. When the door opened, I looked at the woman who entered, a smile automatically forming on my round face, as did the sound of toothless laughter.

The woman was tall, her hair extending to her hips like a river formed by the starless night sky. Her eyes were the same dark shade as her hair. Her skin was white, as if made of porcelain. She walked toward me with a modest but cheerful smile, wearing a black dress that accentuated her silhouette. 

The strands of hair, dancing with her movement, blended into the dress, making it almost impossible to distinguish where one ended and the other began. She seemed to glide across the wooden floor of the small room as she approached me. The closer she got, the happier I became, even though I didn't know why.

Her hands reached across the crib until they reached me and tickled my belly, saying something I didn't understand. She lifted me up and held me in her lap as she walked around the room rocking me. Her voice echoed through the room in a corner, calm and controlled, which seemed to resonate within me.

The singing was light, gentle, just like the hands that held me. My whole body relaxed until I entered a state of near sleep. It was at this moment that the woman stopped singing. 

The world around me grew cold and everything began to be covered in black, a thick and threatening layer of black. In an instant, everything dissolved into dark sand, as did the woman holding me, and I began to fall into an infinite darkness.

Despair and pain overwhelmed me as I felt my body aging. Muscles and bones stretched, hair grew, skin accompanied the accelerated growth by tearing and expanding. All of this lasted only a second until my back hit something hard enough that every bone in my body cracked with the intensity of a gunshot.

I opened my eyes, gasping for breath as I sat up in bed and looked around. It was just a nightmare, I repeated to myself, hoping it was true. The pain in my back was still there, I could still feel the lingering despair from the sudden fall. But I was in my home, I was fine and safe. 

The sound of the alarm clock broke my thoughts. It was an old guitar song, one of Alissia's favorites.

After my morning routine, I spent some time analyzing my image in the full-length mirror in my bedroom. I've lost weight even though I've kept the same routine as before. It's nothing noticeable or worrying for now, but it's good to keep an eye on it. My black hair is also reaching the middle of my back. I need to decide whether to just let it grow or cut it. 

“Other than that, I'm still a hottie.” 

I put on a tight, sleeveless black shirt with sweatpants and went down to the back of my house. I took some time to check the structure of the house for any problems caused by the recent rains. Neither of the two floors, even though they were made of wood, seemed to have any defects or leaks.

When I reached my small training area, a square of sand surrounded by small stones, I took a deep breath. The air entered through my nose and was expelled through my mouth. I also took the opportunity to admire the surrounding trees, which had taken on a much more vivid shade of green after the rains.

I took my position in the center of the sand square and mentally reviewed the exercises I was supposed to do.

Breathing deeply, I concentrated and let the eternum flow through me. The warmth of its movement inside me was comforting and communicated with me, showing me which path to follow as I ordered what to do. 

My muscles were bathed in living eternum, as were my senses. I could feel the air in contact with me much better, the smell of the still slightly wet grass, and even the sound of footsteps approaching my house. Footsteps approaching my house?

I expanded my eternum through the air, as I should, and my senses followed. The person approaching walked with the calmness of the clouds in the sky, their eternum fluctuation contained within their body, making identification difficult. However, as I was the one analyzing, I could feel the slight fluctuation that escaped into the air. 

“Aren't you going to say hello, kid?”

I turned to look at Hogan. His suit didn't have a single wrinkle, and his white hair was also very well groomed.

“Do I have to?” 

 He smiled before leaving his blazer on the half-open window. He took knives from his hip and threw one at me. I caught the knife and got ready.

“Watch out for the old man.”

“You should specify which old man.”

Hogan lunged at me, slashing horizontally at chest height. One step back was enough to dodge, but he raised his other hand and began to condense eternum.

The white sphere formed in less than a second and came toward me quickly, but not quickly enough for me. I used my eternum, already expanded in the environment, and formed a translucent square between myself and the shot. The small explosion from the contact between the shot and my barrier raised enough smoke to block my field of vision.

I jumped back using my strength enhanced by the eternum running inside me and prepared myself. Hogan stood still in the same place, and I identified four points in front of him where the eternum was accumulating. I didn't enhance my vision because I didn't think it was necessary; I didn't intend to use more than slight physical enhancement and a few small barriers. But the helpless old man in front of me didn't seem to have the same intention.

Four spheres of eternum were launched at me at different speeds. I started running forward, throwing my body to the right, and managed to dodge the first sphere, but I still kept an eye on it since it didn't explode. The second one tried to hit my face, but I just had to duck a little. By jumping, I managed to dodge the third one, but that also hurt me. The fourth sphere came towards my chest, and since I was in the air, there was no way to dodge it. Of course, if it were someone other than me.

I expelled eternum through the sole of my foot and created another translucent square. Using the small panel as support, I managed to jump to the left and the fourth sphere missed its target. The panel broke into small white particles that disappeared into the air when I canceled its channeling. Even though I could feel the spheres approaching behind me, it seemed much better to attack.

The heat of the eternum in my body intensified when I ordered it to accelerate. Still in the air, I threw the knife at Hogan. I saw him move his head to the side and dodge just as it hit the sand. The spheres appeared in the corner of my vision, stopped individually by more translucent panels. The simultaneous explosions made the sand shake and the old man lost his balance, opening a gap. 

When I advanced, he raised a hand, asking me to stop. Sand was thrown forward when I slowed down midway, the internal heat gone as I stopped forcing the accelerated circulation and bodily enhancement. Hogan still held his knife, but he had no posture or intention to fight when he took his cell phone out of his pocket and answered it.

To be honest, I didn't pay attention to the conversation as I searched for the knife I had thrown. I ended up finding the blade stuck in a nearby tree.

 “I need to go, kid. Get yourself together and meet me as soon as possible.”

“City Hall?”

“The work never ends, and I have a mission for you.” 

My head tilted to the side as I watched the old man put away his cell phone and put on his blazer again. Since there was no point in asking now, I chose to remain quiet and keep my curiosity to myself. 

As soon as Hogan left, I took a shower and put on my uniform. Since he didn't seem to think it was that important, I didn't see the need to wear the whole thing. So, I put on a white dress shirt with gold cufflinks and black pants with dress shoes. I put my hair in a high ponytail as I locked the door to my house and circled eternum around my body to warm up. 

My weight seemed to disappear when I started flying, and I regretted wearing only light clothes sooner than I expected. The cold wind hitting me made me close my hands and accelerate the internal flow of eternum to warm myself up.

The people on the streets below me looked up and took pictures from their cars, most of them wearing thick clothes. When I saw the city hall building, a large and imposing structure made of concrete and glass, I slowed down and descended until my feet touched the ground. Those who were nearby moved away to make way for me.

I continued walking through the reception area until a blonde secretary approached me. She stood waiting for me to nod my head so she could speak.

“High Commander, the Governor requests your presence.”

“Tell him I'll be there as soon as possible.”

The woman let her gaze wander as if thinking of a response before simply returning to her seat at the reception desk. I continued walking and took the elevator to the recruitment area that had been built earlier that year. A few dozen soldier candidates were taking physical fitness tests under the watchful eye of platoon leaders. 

I managed to climb up to the bleachers to get a better view of the process. It was an open area, despite being one level below ground, so that the sun could illuminate the place. In a way, it was similar to my training area at home, a large sandpit for physical exercises. The expressions on some of the young people's faces made me laugh. I noticed that this time there were about six women, twice as many as last year.

I returned the hug as she buried her head in my chest.

“It feels like we haven't seen each other in years.”

“It's been a while since we've been able to get out, thank goodness the enlistments are ending”. Alissia let go of me and pulled me over to sit in the bleachers. “Soon this place will be full of soldiers training in martial arts.” 

“Try not to break them too much, my lady.”

I got a slap on the shoulder.

“Don't call me that in the middle of work”. When I shrugged, she continued. “Anyway, it's a miracle you're not stuck in Hogan's office or yours.”

“I left him waiting for a while.”

Alissia let out a melody she called laughter.

“Is our appointment for today still on?”

“Absolutely.” 

We kept talking for a few minutes until Alissia had to get up and go downstairs to continue testing the soldier candidates. That was also when I went to Hogan's office, on the top floor of City Hall, which took up the entire floor. And he still accuses me of having a big ego when my office is just one room.

The elevator door opened, revealing a large, white room that looked like the living room of some luxury mansion. In the center was Hogan, sitting in his large, padded chair, leaning over some documents on his light wood desk. I stomped my feet as I approached, and the old man looked up, already frowning.

“Have you tried making babies with your girlfriend? I don't want to get in the way.”

"How did you manage to get re-elected with such offensive and poor language? Have you never taken a break from work after working non-stop for days?"

“You'll get a break, just like me, after this mission.”

He pointed to a pile of papers next to him, I picked up the papers and started reading. I would need…

“The Warlords? Were they imprisoned?”

“The only secret that even you didn't know. Keep reading and you'll understand.”

The documents said that a group of war heroes, the Warlords, were in specialized prisons for each of them. The strange thing was that twenty years ago it was announced that they had retired and then disappeared from the media to live a quiet life. 

The rest said that they had been imprisoned for conspiracy against the Capital, murder and abandonment of comrades, dereliction of duty, and treason. Was that why Dália died? That happened twenty years ago…

I checked each page twice, there was no forgery, and they were all signed by Hogan exactly twenty years ago. After that, there was just more information about the powers and families of the Warlords, their families were… killed.

“Okay, it doesn't say what my mission is here.”

“I want you to get them out of prison.”

“I need to ask some questions first. Does anyone else know about this?”

“Of course they do, the soldiers who are guarding them know. Before you ask, I silenced them with my power so they wouldn't leak the information.”

I pressed my nose bridge with my fingers, rereading the documents once more. I filled my lungs with air, but was stopped by Hogan's voice.

"I can only tell you the reason for releasing them when I bring them. There's an old house away from the city, take them there."

I clenched my teeth, alternating between looking at the elderly man sitting there and the papers I had in my hands. It didn't make any sense, especially since it was so sudden. But there's nothing wrong here, everything adds up. 

“Okay. I'll pick them all up tomorrow.”