All of a sudden, my perception of the world changes radically. My thoughts are swept away, while all my senses sharpen… and adrenaline pumps through me, making my head feel light, and my emotions confused.

  Dawn has started shooting, pounding my eardrums with the bangs of her gunfire. The enemies near the building are shouting in confusion. It seemed to me that one of the soldiers got caught in the blast. The others, however, quickly recover from the surprise and rush for cover.

  A scene I still can’t experience as if I were part of it.

  Are we… are we really… killing each oth—?

  “Shoot, if you want to live!” Antony exclaims.

  Startled by those words, I flinch. A moment later, I find myself aiming the pistol. With fear flooding me and wiping away my ability to think, instincts I never usually rely on have been awakened by the young man’s words.

  At the back of my mind, a voice still tries to reach me:

  Fire into the air! Don’t aim at people!

  … but do I listen to it? I’ve no idea. I don’t know what I’m doing anymore!

  What’s certain is that my hands are shaking, so when I fire the first shot, it’s impossible to tell where it ends up. The gun itself nearly slips from my grasp due to the recoil.

  Meanwhile, intermittent beams of light start coming toward our position. Some shoot very close to me, and I notice with horror how the ground struck by them is scorched.

  “Ray weapons!” Antony bursts out. “Damn it!”

  Ray weapons? What does it mean, ray wea—?

  An object no bigger than a rugby ball flies from the soldiers towards our group, striking the hillside not far from us. A powerful explosion erupts from the impact point, showering us with debris. I cry out, bringing a hand to one ear: after the blast, my hearing has suddenly dulled.

  Damn… damn… damn!!

  “Fall back!” the junior sergeant shouts. “They’ve got explosive charges, damn it!”

  My survival instinct doesn’t wait for a second telling. The moment I see the other two move, my legs follow suit. A strange emotion is pushing me: as if I were part of a pack my life depends on, it’s like I’ve synced myself to my companions’ actions, temporarily surrendering my freedom of thought.

  This way, my reactions are FAR quicker than they would normally be. Anything unnecessary in the immediate present is discarded. But this…

  … I don’t like this one bit. And as we abandon our shelter and start running towards our velivus…

  Ethan… wake up!

  I suddenly tell myself that, snapping out of it.

  Think… think for yourself! Don’t get swallowed by the situation… you have to control it!

  I can feel that letting go is very dangerous. Easy… convenient… but it means giving up the one thing I can rely on: my mind!

  And finally, my brain lights up again with a vision of the situation. The overall picture becomes clearer, as objectives and priorities begin to resurface.

  The enemy has no aircraft. We still do. We have the upper hand! Yes, that’s what they were saying earlier!

  Hundreds of metres ahead of us, the velivus engines flare up with a bluish light. Samuel must have realised what’s going on.

  All right… we can do this!

  “Quickly!” urges Antony.

  We run at full speed along the side of the hill. My heart is pounding like mad: I’m terrified that any second now, a bullet will hit me in the back and bring my young life to an end.

  Damn it, I’m one of the fastest in my class at running! They won’t get me!

  I haven’t even finished the thought when, as we pass the hill, I see two men in uniform emerge on the other side. Antony and Dawn open fire on the soldiers, but they take cover behind a rocky outcrop. We try to get past them to keep running towards the velivus, but the enemies are right on our heels. We’re now in the open, with no cover between us and the soldiers.

  Damn—

  The gendarmes point pistols at us and fire. However, what comes out aren’t bullets, nor beams, but rather some sort of hooks attached to the weapons by long cables. I turn and try to swerve aside to avoid one…

  … but I’m not fast enough. It slams into my chest, the claw-like device latching onto my clothes and tearing through the fabric. Just beneath, it grips my flesh.

  In that instant—

  “A…aaargh!”

  —an abrupt shock jolts through my limbs, making my muscles contract. Paralysed, I drop the pistol and collapse to the ground with an inarticulate moan.

  “Ethan!” cries Dawn, stopping.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  “No, Dawn!” shouts Antony, pulling her away before the other soldier can take another shot at them.

  I barely register any of it.

  I can’t understand a thing. The pain is excruciating as spasms shake my limbs. Small bluish arcs of electricity leap from the weapon’s cable to my body, wrapping around it. They shouldn’t be there… not if that device is anything like Earth’s stun guns.

  My vision is blurring; whether from fear or the shock itself, I’m starting to lose consciousness, sinking into a darkness filled with pain.

  No… is this death?

  An overwhelming terror has seized me.

  Damn it… if only…

  Lying on the ground, I struggle to stretch my left hand towards the soldier who’s shocking me, who in the meantime has come closer.

  In him I see the enemy. The threat to my safety… to my life.

  If only I could hit him…

  Fuelled by pain, an aggressive instinct wells up inside me. At the same time, the anomalous lightning covering me intensifies around my outstretched arm… concentrating there. Then, in the blink of an eye, it takes shape from my fingers: a bolt thicker than the rest. One that, instantaneously, extends through the air… and strikes the soldier.

  A scream erupts from the man as, with a tearing sound, the electricity engulfs him. Moments later, he crashes to the ground. At the same time, one of Antony’s bullets hits the second soldier, who also falls.

  I’m barely aware of any of it. No longer wrapped in sparks, I let my left arm drop back down. And remain on the ground, exhausted.

  In a flash, Antony and Dawn are at my side. My senses are fading in and out, so their voices and faces feel as if they belong to a place far, far away.

  “But… did he use…?” I hear the rebel girl say.

  “Not now,” the junior sergeant cuts her off, removing the hook of the electric weapon from me.

  “Ethan!” she calls. “Come on! Stay with us!”

  I’m lifted off the ground and dragged towards the velivus. I hear the shouts of more soldiers approaching. I shake my head, trying to throw off the daze, but it only sends sharp pain shooting through my neck.

  Did I imagine it… earlier… when that lightning hit the soldier? Did Dawn shoot him?

  We board the craft. I’m made to sit down, while Samuel begins the take-off procedures. We gain altitude, moving away from the fragment.

  “They’ve got explosive charges,” warns Antony. “Be careful, Samuel.”

  “I saw the beams… are they that well equipped?” asks his brother, manoeuvring above the island.

  “They shouldn’t be, and yet—watch out!”

  The velivus shakes as the sound of an explosion reaches us from outside. Suddenly, I’m flung upward, and the same goes for Antony and Dawn, who, like me, are without harnesses.

  “What…? The engine… shit!” shouts Samuel.

  We’re rapidly losing altitude. The pilot tries to halt the descent, but all he manages to do is slow it down.

  “They hit us with an explosive charge!” yells Antony, managing to get back to his seat.

  “It didn’t hit us,” growls his brother. “Damn it, I can’t pull away from the fragment’s magnetism…”

  The descent lasts a few more seconds, then we crash to the ground with a deafening noise. Fighting through the pain, I grab the harness, holding onto it to keep from being slammed into the ceiling. At the recoil that follows, however, I inevitably end up on the floor.

  A wave of white spots fills my vision as my right side slams against the hard metal.

  “We need to get out!” I hear Antony shouting, despite an annoying ringing that fills my ears. “We’re sitting ducks in here!”

  I try to get up, but immediately collapse. I try again. Meanwhile, the junior sergeant has opened the hatch and started firing outside. Samuel staggers towards him, while Dawn reaches me and helps me to my feet. The rebel girl has a cut on her forehead, and blood is pouring into her eyes, forcing her to keep wiping her face with her sleeve.

  “Out!” yells Antony.

  We abandon the craft. Then, I realise: we’ve crashed right next to the ruins, not even a hundred metres from the burning enemy velivus. Three enemies are firing at us. Or is it four?

  But that one…?

  I try to clear my vision. There’s a large figure among the enemies: it looks like a black suit of armour, with sharp protrusions at the joints and a large rifle gripped in its hands. Not a single part of the body is exposed.

  Is there… a person inside that thing?

  The Sanders brothers and I move away from the velivus, trying to reach a corner of the building where we can take cover. The man in the armour, however, moves rather quickly towards us. Antony tries to shoot him, but the bullets bounce off without effect. In turn, the armoured soldier points his rifle and fires a large beam of light. Antony is almost hit, and I’m certain that, had it struck him, he would’ve lost most of his torso.

  “Drop your weapons!” orders the soldier, his voice distorted by the armour.

  Under pressure from the enemy attacks, we’ve ended up backed against the wall of the ancient structure. They’ve cut off every escape route, and we’re completely exposed. Any cover is too far away to reach before being gunned down.

  I press myself against the wall of the ruins, scanning the scene. The armoured soldier is a few metres in front of us. Two more gendarmes are near the burning velivus, while the last Republican stands at the entrance to the building. I’m the closest both to the wreckage of the enemy craft and to the doorway. At my side is Dawn, followed by the two brothers.

  There’s no escape…

  Antony and Samuel throw their pistols to the ground. Dawn, however, is still holding hers. She has a strange expression, made more intense by the blood streaming down her face: I realise she’s not thinking clearly.

  “No, Dawn…” I try to speak to her.

  The girl raises her weapons and fires repeatedly at the armoured soldier. Once again, the bullets ricochet off the plating, producing sparks and vibrating sounds. In response to her refusal to surrender, the soldier aims his rifle at the girl, who lets her pistols drop and begins to raise an arm.

  The mayea… I realise. But she won’t make it in time…

  The world seems to slow down as Dawn stretches out her arm to unleash the mayea and the soldier lines up his weapon on her. The tragedy forms in my mind before it takes place in the real world. And as if searching for a way to avoid it…

  … my eyes dart to the flames surrounding the enemy velivus.

  Fire is energy.

  Like something alien forcing its way into my mind: that’s how the thought strikes me. My gaze is captured by the blaze. My heartbeat slows. For no apparent reason, I think back to the lightning that struck me, and the strange discharges that had surrounded me just moments ago. Then, almost acting on its own, my left arm jolts towards the flames roughly a hundred metres away.

  The only thing I can identify in what’s flowing through me is a powerful will to act. One that I now project outward…

  … into a desire to impose myself on reality. At first, an image in my mind. Then, as if it were a premonition… a concrete vision.

  Like a wave, the fire rises: a crest of burning plasma. With a roar, it sweeps over the nearest soldiers. They scream in bewilderment as the blaze pours over their bodies.

  I clench my fist and swing my arm towards the armoured soldier. A surge shoots from the ruined aircraft, rushing through the air like a tendril in the Republican’s direction. Before it can reach the target, however, the brilliant tongue of fire vanishes into the air.

  It’s enough, though. Sensing the danger, the gendarme turns his head towards the flash just as it fades. It slows him down just enough for Dawn to finish the mayea.

  “Ah!” cries the girl, a flash bursting from her palm.

  A powerful gust of wind knocks the enemy off balance. Antony is lightning-quick: he grabs the pistols and dashes towards the armoured soldier. He’s on him in an instant, aiming the barrels of the guns at the junction between the helmet and the chest. Two shots echo within the armour, and a moment later, the soldier crashes to the ground, a great clang accompanying the impact.

  The Republicans engulfed in flames are still screaming, desperately trying to free themselves from the fire. Only one gendarme remains able to pose a threat, standing by the building’s entrance. Antony points the pistols at him.

  “I surrender!” the man shouts, dropping his weapon and raising his hands.

  The junior sergeant stares at him for a few seconds. Then, he marches towards him, pistol raised. He’s almost reached him when a beam of light bursts out from the opening in the structure.

  A ray that, I’m certain, strikes the young man straight on.

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