Chapter 1
Mihpares emerged from math class,weighed down by another tedious lecture. The corridor hummed with conversations, yet he moved unnoticeably, receiving little attention. He mastered blending into the background, existing as though devoid of special talents in a society valuing strength and dominance. His stomach churned as he entered the restroom. It reeked of disinfectant.
His sneakers echoed against the linoleum floor. His brain ached from Mr. Henderson’s instruction on quadratic equations. He coiled in anxiety as taunts from his peers began. The usual urinal flushes and running water was replaced by jeering.
“Look, it’s a powerless wonder!”
“How’s life as a weakling, Mihpares?”
Mihpares ignored them, bracing against the sink. Laughter, a mix of mockery and distress, grated on his nerves. This was all too familiar.
A cold dread washed over him as Bruiser exited the stall with Finn in tow, his face a mask of fear. Finn emerged with a red mark on his cheek, clutching a broken pencil.
“Give me a new one, worm!” Bruiser growled.
“I-I don’t have another,” Finn stammered, nose bleeding.
Mihpares usually looked away. He was good at looking the other way. Survival meant blending in, being the dust you stepped on. But the whimper morphed into a choked cry as a stall door caught Finn’s jaw.
As the blows became vicious, Mihpares couldn’t afford to draw attention. With the next punch, Finn crashed into onlookers recording with their phones, hardening Mihpares’ resolve. As the sadistic strikes continued, Mihpares calmly spoke. “Hey, leave him alone.”
He stepped forward, yelling as Bruiser pummeled Finn. “Hey, knock it off.”
Bruiser turned, a smile stretching across his face. “Well, well. The powerless wonder found his voice,” he sneered.
“I said, knock it off. This isn’t right,” Mihpares said steadily, hating his trembling hands. He knew better than to intervene. Survival meant blending in, being invisible. But Finn’s terrified eyes pierced through his resolve.
Mihpares stepped forward, his voice a whisper against the of his pounding heart. “Leave him alone, Bruiser.”
Turning, he smiled slowly, menacingly. “You think you can stop me, cripple?” Bruiser’s eyes narrowed as he laughed.
The air crackled as Bruiser raised a hand, and a stall door slammed shut with a metallic shriek, inches from Finn’s head. Finn whimpered, eyes wide with terror. Hinges cried under Bruiser’s gravity power.
Finn caught Mihpares’ gaze, silently pleading.
Suddenly, Mihpares lurched backward, surprised as he felt a tingling sensation that vanished. Bruiser roared, eyes burning red. Doors groaned under an unseen force.
Mihpares launched towards Bruiser. The fight was swift, Mihpares dodging his wild swings.
“Pathetic!” Bruiser cackled. With a swift movement, he sent Finn crashing into a row of lockers. The impact echoed through the small space. Mihpares became a blur of motion. His hands connected with Bruiser’s chest, but the impact was like hitting a brick wall. The bully’s laughter, a cold, mocking sound, filled the air.
Mihpares maneuvered him towards the outside of the bathroom in a gamble for more space. As Bruiser’s ability peaked, the hallway lockers pulsated with strange light, then slammed around as he yelled.. The air crackled with unseen energy as Bruiser unleashed his power. Silence followed.
As Mihpares sprawled across the floor, a sickening crunch of bones in his arm turned into searing pain.
Bruiser exploded with rage. As lockers clanged, metallic shrieks echoed in the corridor, punctuated by warping bolts pulling from concrete. A cloud of dust filled the air.
Mihpares coughed, his vision obscured. Through the haze, he saw Bruiser’s presence. Mihpares stumbled back, slamming against the lockers. The metal groaned under his weight. The taste of blood filled his mouth.
Silence fell, broken only by Mihpares’ ragged breaths. The dust settled, revealing a scene of utter devastation. Lockers were twisted and mangled, their contents scattered everywhere.
Bruiser stood frozen, his eyes wide with disbelief. Mihpares had not only withstood his gravity-bending attack but was now rising to his feet, a feral glint in his eyes. His arm, clearly broken and dangling at an unnatural angle, seemed to be the least of his concerns.
An unhinged fury consumed Bruiser. He would not be humiliated. The hallway became a vortex of gravity as he roared. Lockers and heavy-duty floor tiles contorted into a whirlpool. He aimed directly for Mihpares’ head to blast him through the concrete walls.
As Bruiser unleashed his attack.
Ophanim, Mihpares’ close friend and second most powerful person in the nation, stepped out from a doorway, her face etched with concern. The gravity-fueled blast bore down on her.
An energy surge coursed through Mihpares’ veins. It was frightening, but undeniable. Without hesitation he threw himself, taking the impact. His arm snapped, but he remained silent as he took the full force of the attack. He lumped down a metal pile of twisted rubble.
She knelt beside him, her touch jolting him. “Mihpares, are you okay?”
Her eyes looked up and saw the blast had returned to the sender. Bruiser was sprawled on the floor as if two planets landed on him. His head looked like a cracked egg as classmates began to take pictures and videos on their phones. A teacher came out and shooed away the crowd. She knelt down and created a time portal around his head. The kaleidoscopic bubble swirled as all the gore and blood reverted back into the boy’s head. Once it was finished, Mihpares closed his eyes.
The infirmary was a sterile white, buzzing with the low hum of fluorescent lights. Mihpares winced as the doctor – Dr. Reyes, a healer with a perpetually harried look – poked and prodded his shattered arm.
“You again, huh, Mihpares? You have a death wish or something?” Dr Reyes’ snapped, The exasperation in his voice was a worn path, a familiar refrain Mihpares had heard enough times to recite himself. Behind him, a nurse with eyes bloodshot from healing the constant influx of injuries, muttered a snide remark under her breath about reckless fools.
Mihpares flinched, the sting of the antiseptic on his wound a dull echo compared to the turmoil within. He couldn’t explain the tingling sensation that had spread through him and how he’d neutralized Bruiser’s power-fueled attack.
He couldn’t articulate the way Bruiser’s energy had felt… absorbed by him somehow. It was too dangerous to think about, let alone speak. His impossible secret, the one he’d guarded so fiercely, felt like a live grenade, primed to detonate in his gut.
