The True Enemy
Confusion came first, then disappointment, then fear, and, finally, burning pain from his forearm.
Edwin could barely hear the yelling of the policemen surrounding him as he himself was screaming hysterically. His blood was streaming out of his wound along with his sanity.
"I'm just a child...I'm the victim here..." he murmurred to himself, body trembling with anger, "...why did you shoot me?"
"Because..." came a loud voice from the sea of debris beneath him, "...for them, there is no difference between us!"
A growing white light appeared between the gaps between the intertwining mess of steel bars and concrete. It quickly went from a dim glow to blinding beams radiating like a cluster of search lights. The heat soon followed, along with the shockwave that blew everyone off balance. Even the armoured trucks, which moments ago stood as sturdy as mountains of iron, drifted away like papers scattered in the wind. Solid debris rained around them – something massive just detonated beneath the collapsed building.
Despite his ears ringing, one noise stood out sharply from the chaos around Edwin. The foot steps approached him slowly, while a deadly aura slowly embraced the boy lying on the ground. He did not need to look up to know that the man he burried a minute ago was standing beneath him, completely unharmed.
"We are not enemies, " Dirac said slowly as he lifted Edwin up, "kill them or save them, it changes nothing about how they look at us."
He then hugged the injured boy and whispered next to his ears.
"Because we are espers – incurable freaks."
Edwin pushed himself out of the embrace. His head banged, his legs trembling.
"No!" he yelled, "they just don't know who to trust! But they will!"
"Really? Show me the evidence, then!"
The sentence instantly froze the burning rage in Edwin's head. He desperately searched for an counterargument, but failed miserably: he thought of his mother, who loved him dearly, but drove him out after calling him a monster; he thought of Dan, who looked after him like his own son, but abandoned him after knowing his secret...The turmoil rumbled in his head. Anger mixed with sadness, truth mixed with lies...nothing felt right anymore.
Only one thing was sure.
The burning desire to kill.
With a roar, Edwin seemed to forget about his injuries. The brightly glowing eyes of his shot across the battlefield like a pair of shooting stars, thrusting towards the target in front of them.
Dirac was stunned by the sudden boost in power and narrowly dodged the attack, with Edwin's blue-glowing hand slashing through where he stood milliseconds ago. In the direction of the attack, space was ripped forcefully apart as a blue flash tens of meters wide sliced through the mountain of debris. Shortly after, every solid structured in the direction crumbled to their feets.
Before Edwin could retrieve his hand, Dirac grabbed it pulled the boy towards him. By shooting a plasma beam right beneath his right foot, Dirac thrusted his knee up and hit the boy right in the stomach, sending him flying upwards. But he took the hit as if it was nothing, then teleported away in an instant. When he reappeared, he was standing right behind his target, ready to deliver the final attack that would end it all. Edwin thrusted his hand into hyperspace, aiming directly at the heart of his opponent.
The bullet narrowly missed his hand. He would've had a gaping hole in his palm if it weren't for him stopping midway, allowing Dirac to hop backwards to a safe distance.
"Quit interfering!" bellowed Edwin, who immediatly sliced a steel bar and hurled it towards the source of gunshot. The bar burried itself into a the metal door of a car, with the officer, whose head was millimiters away from the point of impact, trembling in fear.
A stream of mad laughter came from behind.
"Wouldn't you look at that!" Dirac opened his arms in a proud gesture. "The boy finally admits his hate! You just tried to kill an innocent cop!"
"Shut up!" Edwin yelled. He stomped his feet on the ground, which cut the ground cleanly open, opening up a rectangular gap that extended to Dirac's feet.
Edwin buried his face in his hands and creamed into the sky. He didn't know what was right or wrong any longer. This crooked world had been playing cruel jokes on him, by constantly giving him hope, only to completely strip it away later. He was played as a clown, yet all he wanted was love and trust.
"You have no reasons to hold back!" a voice inside him screamed, "none of them are innocent…they all deserve to die, to burn!"
Edwin dragged his body towards the armed personnel. His hair drained in blood and sweat, partially covering the eyes that were filled with murderous intent. It didn't take long for the officers to realize the message behind those looks.
"Die." Edwin growled.
"Fire!"
The heavy twisting of space came just milliseconds before the gunshots. The next second, Edwin had teleported to the middle of the crowed of armed policemen, grabbing a gunner by the neck and smashed him into the metal car door behind him, which deformed heavily under the ridiculous strength. Though blood gushed out of Edwin's existing injuries, the pain only fueled his burning rage.
More shots came this way, which failed to even graze him as he jumped between the vast distance between him and the targets in an instant. It took only a few slashes in the hyperspace for Edwin to snatch out entire bones from the limbs of the policemen, leaving behind painful moaning and blood stains. Seeing a few of them taking cover behind car doors, he raised the right hand and slashed through space. As if hit by a giant, invisible saw, the car was cleanly split in half, scratching heavily against the ground in flying sparks, igniting the gasoline, which erupted into towering flames.
This feeling…this feeling of no longer holding back…felt incredible.
Standing there, bathing in the gloom of flames and distorted sirens, Edwin laughed. It started out as small giggles, then became hysterical laughter. He faced the night sky, decorated by flying embers, and enjoyed the delight of revenge.
A series of nervous chatter came from behind the metallic chunk that used to be an armored truck. When Edwin reached the other side of the chunk, he saw an officer sitting against it, desperately calling for help. Almost screaming into the intercom, his hands were shaking uncontrollably. Only when Edwin stood in front of him did he notice the deathly glare from above. The man was too scared to even lift his gun. All he did was slowly putting down the intercom and squeeze out a phrase in his weak, terrified voice.
"Please…I don't want to die…"
But Edwin couldn't care less.
He had given up mercy, for he never received any. All he wanted was to inflict pain – to return this world the favor. Edwin's hand crept into hyperspace, reaching forward in an invisible dimension. When he reached the target, the officer trembled fiercely for a second, and then held his chest in pain, his facial expression too distorted to even scream. Grabbing his heart, Edwin could pull it out at any time and drench his hands in the warm, pleasing feeling of blood and revenge.
A pull is all it takes…
"Don't!" The powerful yell reached Edwin the same moment the arms hugged around his chest.
Edwin stumbled, pulling his hand back from hyperspace. The heavy breathing of the officer was all he could hear. The tight yet reassuring grip squeezed Edwin back into reality. He breathed in deeply, allowing the cold air of midnight to put out the fiery rage in him.
"Don't give in, kid…" whispered Dan, holding the boy from behind while kneeling on the ground, "please don't…I'm sorry…"
If Edwin paid enough attention, he could tell by the trembling voice that Dan was holding back tears. Edwin stared blankly in front of him, his hands moving up unconsciously until they touched the warm, rough skin of Dan's hands.
Then came the tears. Thin streams of bitterness flowed down the boy's cheeks, dripping on the powerful arms. It was as if Dan's body temperature melted away the child's icy barrier, releasing the sadness frozen deep within his heart.
This was all he ever wanted.
A warm, honest hug.
But before he could lock his arms around Dan, a pale, white light flashed through the air right next to them. The next moment, the strength in Dan's arms disappeared along with the comforting warmth.
"Dan?" Edwin whispered lightly as he watched in disbelief.
To him, it all played out in slow motion: the adult body floated towards the ground as lightly as a falling feather, then collapsed in a thumb.
A burnt and bloody trench appeared on Dan's back, borrowing deep into his body from the left kidney to the right one. He lied face up, his expression frozen in a state of surprise. The tears stilled remained on his face.
"Dan?" Edwin's mind went blank. "Hey…Dan, what are you doing? Get up!"
Edwin crawled towards the still body and shook the still arm violently in an attempt to receive some response. But the body lied still, as if no life had ever been in it.
"And I thought my message could get through," came a cold voice from a distance, "how disappointing…that old bastard had to ruin the moment."
Dirac appeared behind the flames, the wall of fire opening up for him like gates of hell, welcoming the devil's arrival. He shook his right hand as scorching hot air deformed and twisted heavily around it – clear indication that it just fired a powerful jet of energy.
"I guess we both tried, boy," said Dirac, ready to deliver the killing blow, "but you just can't see things as they are…now perish."
His palm opened wide above Edwin's head. Light began gathering in the center of it as the air around it began boiling with heat. The final blow was on its way.
Until it was interrupted by a light earthquake.
The ground rumbled quietly at first, sending pebbles dancing around Edwin and Dirac. But then, the debris began shaking and bumping higher and higher, making even Dirac lose his balance.
"But I don't feel the ground shaking at all…" thought Dirac, stumbling to keep himself balanced, "what is this weird feeling? It was as if…I'm constantly getting lighter and heavier…"
He immediately thought of Edwin and turned to look at him.
"You did this…" The voice came out of the boy with nothing but rage. He stood up on his feet, fists clenched so tight that his nails buried into his palm, squeezing out thin trails of blood. "You caused all this to happen…"
"What more tricks do you have up your sleeve, brat?" yelled Dirac.
Edwin's blood rushed into his head, drowning him in dizziness and rage. Yet, one thing felt clear – the sensation of the space around him. It was as if the fabric of reality had become as accessible as strands of cloth. Edwin felt his blood boiling in anger, burning him from inside out…and the more it burned, the clearer he could feel space bending around him.
He was gaining full access to hyperspace. With all four dimension becoming mere toys for him, a force of nature had just sided with him…
"I understand now…very intriguing…" said Dirac, a nervous grin appearing on his rough face, "…so this is what gravity manipulation looks like!"
But Edwin could not hear him.
Now it all made sense…the destruction of his family, the irrational hate towards espers, the despise from Dan…
…and the death of his closest one, which happened right in front of his eye's mere seconds ago…
They were all caused by ones like Dirac. It was because of the endless slaughter that drew all the hatred.
"You said that you are the 'remedy' to this world…" said Edwin, finally looking up. He stared right into Dirac's eyes, the blue-glowing pupils overflowing with the desire for vengeance. "…but to me, the only 'tumor' that needs to be eradicated…IS YOU!"
◆ ◆ ◆
Five minutes after scolding Edwin, Dan was caught in a whirlpool of guilt and regret.
He felt like a walking corpse before reaching his police car and throwing himself on the driver's seat. Shutting the door, even the faintest noises were gone. The eerie silence inside the metal container gave Dan the isolated space he wanted. He stared blankly at the steering wheel, feeling the jumble of emotions boiling up inside. Whether it is confusion, rage, disappointment, or guilt, he let all of them swirling in his head.
As an officer that's been in his position for decades, Dan had delt with robbers, murderers, and even an esper – the symbol of fear for many. Yet he still lost control over a puny, introverted brat.
Letting his feelings run free didn't seem to comfort him, so he began looking around for clues to the source of his guilt. A few seconds later, the picture of him and a young boy he had in the car entered his sight. In the frame, a younger version of himself smiled delightfully, while the five-years old boy laughed in his arms. The innocent and happy look on the kid's face resonated with a past Dan had tried to burry a long time ago.