Chapter 1 - Laundry Day
"The world is changing rapidly and advances are being made towards a better tomorrow. To be apart in the study and development of these changes is not only a blessing but a privilege that we would like you to be apart of. The Institute of the Chimera has chosen to accept you into our group to be apart of that change. We at the institute have been given a unique chance to study the changes to our lifestyle and to the world in recent years, this is of course referencing what some can only call magic into our everyday lives. Here at the Institute of the Chimera have dedicated our lives to the study of this magic through research and practical application.
We hope that you feel the same dedication towards these endeavors and would seek out enrollment at our institute. We will eagerly await your reply and wish you the best of luck in your future."
He had no idea how many times he had read the letter. Even after sending his response he still found that maybe if he read it again his mind would change. Sprawled out on the couch, the note held above his head as if it was some kind of treasure map or important government missive.
“You’re not going to figure out the right thing to do on my couch moping.” His mom was of course the voice of reason in the situation, there was of course never going to be a chance those words would ever come out of his mouth. His mother had always been the voice of reason even before his dad had passed.
“I don’t know about that, in this lighting I think I can see a hidden message.” The smart response of course landed him a sack of laundry in the stomach nearly knocking the wind out from him.
“You can fold your own laundry then my special college boy.” It was a jest, he hoped. He grabbed the laundry and put it beside the couch so he could sit up. It had been a year since he left high school, the first he spent at a community college taking different classed trying to figure out something that was worth studying long term. Of course there were distractions. It was a new place, new people, homework, and of course the stunts he pulled to get the letter he had been reading.
His senior year of highschool weird things had started happening all over the world. People had woken up or been going about their day when people just started exhibiting super powers all at once. Not like leaping tall buildings (there were a few cases) but little things all over the world. There was a panic, people were running around, banks were getting robbed, and he had fallen asleep on the roof of the school and nearly missed the entire thing. Scientists would later say that out of the entire population about 60% had begun experiencing some kind of ability, including him.
Waking up from possibly the best nap one could get from skipping math class his body had built up enough of a static charge that he nearly gave everyone in the top three floors of the school the best hair days of the year, and charged all their phones in record time. While the world was trying to figure out how to deal with life he decided to do what most people would have done, he first emptied out all the vending machines in the school, and then tried to learn how to use his ability.
The true stunt was a few days after it all started. They were at the bank getting money to go buy some food for the one year anniversary of his dad’s death, when the bank was robbed. Two guys, the first guy who looked like he had hit the gym everyday since birth and the other a scrawny guy who he could swear had scales on his face, came in toppling tables with guns blazing. His mother of course was cool as any other day sat and stared at him, trying to keep her son and any other people nearby calm. What the two hadn’t known was that he had been so nervous the entire time that he had enough electricity built up that he might have been able to blow up the building. When the big guy came over to move them, something triggered in his head and after one punch the man was sent flying through the room, it was like watching a gorilla launched by a catapult. His body looked like a live wire even after he hit the ground. Hands outstretched bolts of lightning streamed to the other man his gun falling from his hand and his body fell right beside it.
Newspapers were all over the story, “Local Boy Stuns the Community” or “Shocking Event in Local Bank” the articles were as bad as the titles but that didn’t stop the story from spreading. It was everyone in the world feared and dreamed of. Here were superhumans using their abilities for evil but there were also people who wanted to help. But worst of all there were people out there that had the power to level buildings. Where he had the ability to control lightning, the lady down the street could grow her entire garden from seeds in a day. He learned that day that some people were just more powerful than others, in other words nothing had changed in the world.
The heroics didn’t end at the bank, after finishing high school and starting college he spent every minute honing his abilities and fighting crime which lead him to this letter. It was on that day on the third anniversary of his father's death that he decided to accept. Once the laundry was folded he would be ready to go.
Chapter 2 - Chimera
Despite being a magical institute, it was still a school. The people attending would still have to attend classes towards getting either a two or four year degree. Walking through the school though he imagined it was going to be hard to get any school work done. People stood around or ran around showing others their abilities, it was like watching a playground full of kids. Part of him wanted to join in on one of the groups but a part that had been growing ever since the day at the bank made him hoist his bag up over his shoulder to find the room that had been assigned to him.
Making his way to the dorm was a little overwhelming. Never in his life had he been around so many people with pronounced magical abilities. It was exciting to see different powers being displayed in the open. His power over energy gave him insight into the energy of other people. He learned quickly that energy like electricity or heat wasn’t all that different from the magical energies that had appeared in their world only a short time ago.
It was almost overwhelming sensing so many people but he knew it was something he would learn to deal with. He concentrated on building up energy, letting his sense go into the back of his mind while he focused on building up energy. Slowly he let it out as exhaled. It wasn’t perfect but it would keep him sane while he learned how to control the two different parts of his abilities, his ability to build up energy and the power to sense it. He found his way to the dorm, a large hotel looking building.
The lobby was small, just few couches with tables set up in the corners of the room. There were two sets of stairs, one on the left and right sides of the room to take you up to the sets of dorms. One staircase had a large “A” on the door; the other a large “B”. In front of him was an elevator which told him that somehow the two sets of dorms somehow connected. Cale walked towards the “B” staircase and began to ascend the stairs. The first door was labeled “1B-8B”, he went up the next staircase “9B-16B”, so he went to the next floor and opened the door.
“20B” He kept saying over and over as he looked from his first day papers to the room labels. “Nope, is that it? Nope, is that it? Nope.” Why didn’t they give him a map of the dorms in the packet with everything else.
“You in 20B?” He turned around to face where the voice had come from. Behind him was a male probably just a few years older than himself stood with a soda of some sort in his hand.
“Yeah, how did you..” he stammered a little.
“Your saying it outloud and I think you and I are the only ones not enjoying the party, sound travels pretty well in here.”
“Good to know, do you know where 20B is?” He asked, hoisting the bag just a little bit higher, trying to avoid some of the embarrassment, he wondered how often he talked out loud to himself without noticing.
“We are right around this corner to the left, I just left to get a drink when I ran into you.” He lifted up the drink a little before he started walking towards him. “Here let me show you.” Just as he said the room was right around the corner. The door was open so he could see that there were two beds and what looked like an entrance to their own bathroom. Just before going into the room he looked forward to the end of hall and saw a door with a stair sign next to it, he would have to find where the entrance to the stairs were so that he wouldn’t have to traverse the labyrinth every time he wanted to get a quick nap in before classes.
The room was spacious and did indeed have their own bathroom, in addition there was also a side room with a couch and a small fridge. The main room was two beds on opposite sides of the room with their own adjacent desks. One was already spilling over with different video game posters and figures so he took the one on the other side and set the bag over his shoulder unto it.
“A man of simple pleasures I see, are you one of those live off the land kind of people?” He looked over and leaned against the desk and laughed a little while his new roommate moved into his computer desk.
“No nothing like that, I just started at another college and between all the moving from home to there to here I just decided to ditch most of my things and start over.”
“Gotcha.” This was it, the awkward meeting your roommate silence. “I am Saul, by the way it’s nice to meet you.” He held out his hand. Saul was the same height, he had some pretty thick glasses on but not in the totally nerdy way. His hair was covered by a beanie but he guessed it was short and brown, but of course the real question was why was he here?
“Cale.” He reached out and shook his hand. “Nice to meet you as well.” Based on his physical appearance he was able to rule out the idea that Saul’s ability was based around fighting although roughly the same height he was much more muscular, from his recently acquired hobby.
“Listen I don’t know the procedure about asking about people's abilities but I don’t like keeping secrets from those close to me so I would rather just get it out in the open now.”
“I agree, totally. There isn’t exactly an established social rule to follow so let’s just put it out there.” It was clear that like him that they both really didn’t have too many experiences with other people like them, well at least not friendly ones.
“Okay well I guess I will just show you mine.” Saul pushed himself out of the chair and did a little get ready hop. Cale could sense the energy in the room build up for a moment and then he was gone.
“Thats amazing.” Cale couldn’t help but get a little excited, invisibility was definitely high on the list of desired special powers out there. He had run into one before at a store but it had been more like camouflage, but this was completely invisible. After a few moments he was back. “How long can you stay like that for?”
“The longest so far is about three minutes. But the more I practice the longer I can get it to last.” He sat back in his chair, small beads of sweat started protruding from his forehead. Cale could tell that as much confidence as he had about his ability it still took quite a bit out of him to use it. “What about you, what brings you to Comic University?”
“Ah well I guess it’s kind of hard to put it into words or show you.” Cale looked about the room, the space was small so he wouldn’t be able build up energy for a light show without frying something. "I got it!" It was a simple demonstration but that was perfect for a school demonstration. Pointing to the light above them it quickly begun to flicker first rapidly then slowly and then it turned off completely. He let them sit in darkness for a few moments before allowing the circuit to flow normally.
"That's amazing" Saul exclaimed "I bet that's hard to control, they say any power that involves outside forces is really hard to control."
"It was at first. The only thing I could do in the beginning was to let out bursts of energy but I am getting better. I guess that's why we are here." He had never thought about how hard it was to control the ability but he also had practiced much more than most people would have time for. He had put his life at risk in the hope to impress someone who had risked everything for him.
