Chapter 1 - Awakening

Luke woke up. He got out of bed and walked to the bathroom, as he started to brush his teeth he glanced in the mirror, quickly looking over himself. His brown hair, his blue eyes. Luke was 5’7”, thin, a typical 17 year old kid. But he wasn’t going to be 17 for long, in fact, his 18th birthday was today. Luke is a modest kid, he never asks for much from his parents and always loves what he gets from them. He wondered what he was going to get today. He quickly finished brushing his teeth before walking downstairs to breakfast. His mother, a short, humorous woman, told him breakfast was on the table and that his father was already at work.
His mother was an accountant, his father a police officer. Luke himself was going to a nursing high school. He had always liked taking care of others, so it was only natural for him to get a job doing what he loved. He sat down at the table and started eating his eggs and bacon. It was July 28th, the middle of summer, he didn’t have much to worry about other than what he was going to do that day. He might go for a leisurely stroll through the little town he lived in or simply stay at home and read, maybe go to the corner cafe and spend some time with his friends. His mother walked up to him and started a conversation.

“Anything special you wanted for today, hun?”

“No, mom, you know I never ask for anything and, besides, whatever I get from you two is always amazing.”

“Is Ellie still asleep?”

“Yes, she is, didn’t you notice it’s strangely quiet?”

“Good point.” Luke answered, smiling.

“There’s something you should know”

“Yes?” he asked curiously.

“Well, when you turn 18, a certain power awakens within you, which is specific for every person.”

“This another one of your jokes?” he said, smiling.

“No, I’m being serious, Luke. This power can be anything.”

“I’m off to catch up with some friends, alright? You can finish the story when I get back.”

He walked out of the house.

“A power awakens within you,” he chuckled to himself “she assumes I’m very naive if she thinks I’ll fall for that.”

He walked down the alley and into the cafe where he usually met with his friends. The small group was waiting at one of the tables and waved him over.

There was Cassandra, she was the practical joker of the group, long aqua hair, hazel eyes, a quick wit and always ready to get in on a joke.

Then there was Marcus, the shy one, short black hair, he had complete heterochromia, one eye blue, the other green, a passive type of person, never really expressing his opinion.

Finally, there was Gina, the straight A student, she prefered to abide by all rules, only breaking them for her friends, long red hair, sapphire blue eyes.

“Hey, guys!” Luke said, sitting down next to them, smiling.

“Hey, Luke!” Cassandra said, lightly punching him on the shoulder.

“How you been, man?” Marcus asked.

“I’ve been doin’ fine, Marcus. How long you guys been waiting?”

“A few minutes, but, considering it’s you, felt like 3 hours.” Cassandra answered, smiling.

“Thanks, Cassie, that means a lot.”

“So, 18th birthday today, huh? Big day. It’s when you unlock your inner demon,” Cassandra said, with a smile.

Luke laughed, “Inner demon? What? You think I’ll start drinking like a mad man then?”

“What, no! It’s when your power appears! So, what’s yours?” Cassie said.

“Yes, what awakened inside you?” Gina asked, speaking up.

“Did my mom put you guys up to this?” Luke asked, chuckling.

“Luke, we’re being serious. Hell, we’ll show you if you just follow us to the meadow,” Cassie replied, hotheaded.

“What, you got a surprise for me there, should I close my eyes?” Luke said, catching on to the joke.

“Just come on.” Cassie said, pushing him forward.

They walked out of the cafe, leaving money on the table, Luke following them, still skeptical about what was going on.

“Alright, we can demonstrate here.” Gina said, quickly scanning the meadow to see if anybody was here. “Should be safe.”

“Alright! Now, Luke, we’re going to show you our powers and we can find out what yours are!”

“Come on, guys, you’re wearing this joke thin.” Luke said, getting bored.

“Oh, are we now?” Cassandra said, her hand slowly rising. “Let me demonstrate my power.”, with a flick of her wrist, she opened some kind of portal. “Come forth.” she said. An imp exited the portal, wielding fire in both hands. “Disappear!” she shouted, and as she made a slashing motion with her hand, the imp disappeared in a short, fiery blaze which scorched the grass beneath it.

“What the…” Luke said, stunned.

“How about I show you mine?” Marcus asked. He had pointed his hands at the ground and started moving them upwards, slowly forming a pillar of ice out of thin air, before summoning an icy hammer and shattering the pillar.

“Where did tha-”

“Let’s finish this quickly, before someone sees us.” Gina said, before turning to Luke. Her appearance started changing, her hair turned brown, her eyes hazel and she grew shorter, she was now the spitting image of Cassandra..

“Is that really what my hair looks like from the back?” Cassandra asked, looking slightly crestfallen.

“What the hell...how did you-”

“We’ve shown you our powers, what’s yours?” Cassandra asked.

“I-I don’t know, I-I didn’t believe any of this was real…”

“Well, now that we’ve proven it to you, perhaps you could try to discover your own?” Gina chimed in, now back to looking like herself.

“Um...how would I do that?”

“As you may have noticed, it’s different for all of us, Marcus has to envision the equipment he is forming, and Cassandra has to focus all her strength to summon the demon she wishes to, where as I have to focus on the person and envision them fully as I change my appearance.”

“O-okay...um…”, he closed his eyes and focused, on what, he didn’t know. His arm started to raise up of its own accord, it pointed towards the nearby tree. As he moved his arm upwards, the tree seemed to had started slowly following. It was going up, but suddenly got snagged, the roots didn’t want to break. Luke put more force into it and severed the roots, the tree was now floating in the air.

“Woah.” Marcus said, seeming impressed.

Cassandra was staring, open mouthed, but Gina seemed fascinated.

“Telekinesis...” Gina said.

Luke finally realised what was happening and broke focus, the second he did, the tree had fallen back down, toppling over.

“Wha-what just happened? Why was I not aware of this power sooner?”

“None of us were, we had received them upon turning 18, we didn’t know until our parents informed us of it”, Gina replied.

“...And here I thought my mom was joking…”, Luke said, a smile starting to form on his face.

“Well, we didn’t believe our parents either, and we didn’t know that any of us had powers, you see, nobody is allowed to reveal them to somebody younger than 18.”

“Wh-why, what will happen?”, Luke asked, frightened.

“Nobody knows, or, at least, they won’t tell us.”

“But we don’t think it’s anything horrible.”, Cassandra quickly replied, seeing the worried look on Luke’s face.

“B-but..if they never told you…”

“Listen, Luke, it’s nothing, maybe it was just something to scare us or whatever, don’t worry about it.” Cassandra said. “Besides, you can move things with your mind, man!”

“I guess you’re right…”

“Come on, let’s get back to the cafe, I think this deserves another drink!”, Cassie shouted.

They went back to the cafe and talked for a while longer, night fell rather quickly. Marcus almost fell asleep at the table when they decided it was time to call it a night.

“I’ll see ya guys tomorrow!”, Luke shouted as they went different ways.

He was excited about his new powers thinking what he could use them for. Of course, he didn’t plan on using them for anything stupid. He had arrived at his house, his parents were waiting.

“Hey, Luke, so, what’s new today?” His father asked, smiling.

“Telekinesis, dad!” Luke shouted.

“Oh, really?” his mom asked, a smile on her face. “And here I thought it was a joke.”

“Sorry, mom, but it’s become a habit to think that things you say are jokes.” Luke replied, also smiling.

“Well, I’m glad you found your power, Luke, but...you mustn’t use it in front of anyone who is not old enough to have their own.” his dad said, a grim look on his face.

“But...why?” Luke asked “I mean, Cassie told me about that, but she said it was just to scare us.”

“It is to scare you, demonstrating your power to someone else makes...something horrible happen.”

“L-like what?”

“That’s not important, all you need to know is that you mustn’t go willy-nilly with your new-found abilities.”

“I won’t, dad, I swear.” Luke replied.

“Good. Now get off to bed...and no throwing things at the light switch to turn it off!”

“Alright, dad.” Luke smiled as he ran up to his room.

But Luke, not wanting to sleep, decided to use his new power. He started slowly, throwing pillows around, not wanting to destroy anything. Then he started moving slightly heavier things, like his bedside cabinet.

He heard footsteps, quickly put the cabinet back down and pretended he was sleeping. As the door opened, he heard his mother scoff "The pillows threw themselves, did they?"

Luke laughed and said "Ya got me, I won't do it anymore. G'night, mom"

"Good night, dear" she replied as she closed the door.