1 Coming of Age

In a world full of powers, the most coveted was mine.

There's one law in our society that can never be broken.

NEVER show your powers when you are not of age.

Fifty years ago, The Power War took place. Children were being kidnapped from their homes due to the fear of being overcome by them in the future. Some even as young as, a year old, killed at gun point when they see a hint of manifestation.

Rumors say, the war never ended and the peace we have is false, given by the government to douse the rage of the rebels.

"What's on your mind, Persie?"

I can never tell a soul of what I have in thought these days.

Our mom has always reminded us to never talk about the war in public, we could never tell if the government was listening in on us or not.

"Oh, I'm just anxious since in a few days we're going to be adults, members of society, power users!"

He stared into my eyes, I could see he didn't buy the crap I said.

"I know you, BRINGER OF DEATH! You always look away whenever you're hiding something!"

"WE ALL DO, Hades. ALL OF US ARE HIDING SOMETHING, and don't call me that!" I growled at him.

He stood and went back to his seat.

Hades and I are inseparable, but we are polar opposites.

He was and still is scared of everything, and I was the one always shielding him from others.

But he always thought to himself that he should be the one protecting me, because my parents thought I was powerless.

The government had all children home schooled from ages three to ten, just right before entering middle school, to avoid manifestation of our powers in public.

Our mother didn't see my powers manifest, so she always told Hades to protect me in the future.

One thing mom always kept in mind, she realized that I might be an IPU, or an imperceptible power user, a person that uses power which cannot be seen with the naked eye, like telepathy or mind reading.

IPUs have always been looked out for by the government, we are unpredictable and they could never control us. Some people say, we are feared because we might be harboring a dangerous type of power. That's why, coming of age ceremonies are always anticipated every year.

As afternoon came, my thoughts were still drowned by the worries of my future.

What will happen if the world knew about my powers?

Will I be taken by the government?

People would probably do anything to test my powers.

I looked at Hades, and wondered. I knew his power was an offensive type. The school pushes offensive types to choose the path of politics, people want a powerful leader, it gives them a sense of peace since a powerful leader means a country is feared by others. I look at him and see my scaredy cat twin brother, who can't even go to the convenience store alone. What will happen to him after graduation?

…

A crowd of people slowly entered the Temple of Origins.

Students, parents, friends and family members altogether bustled inside with eagerness to finally see what the new set of power users the year has to offer.

The Temple of Origins holds the artifact of which everything began.

Thousands of years ago, all the beings on Earth were powerless.

Buildings, roads, houses, food, everything was cultivated by manual labor by the people.

One day, as the people went on with their lives, a blazing gigantic object came falling slowly from the heavens, and wiped out fifty percent of the population of the world.

It almost destroyed the planet, but Mother Earth would never surrender.

Half of whats left of the human race had slowly evolved into species that could manifest unworldly skills, talents, or as we know today, powers.

The blazing gigantic object was an asteroid, scientists has yet to identify where it came from, or what is it made of, but one thing they discovered was, it could put any power user in a candor like kind of state.

I've seen on TV what it does to people.

It makes them brave, in a sense like they think they were high and mighty, or the feeling of being a god. They look like they were in a trance of some sort, they manifest their powers fully and I thought it was weird that a massive freaking stone can do that to someone?

I laughed at the thought, I just remembered something a fire user shouted a few years back, "I CAN BURN YOU ALL!"

…

"ZEUS HAS MADE ME HIS SUCCESSOR!"

See what I mean? This was a kid from my class. He released lightning or electric manifestations of power from his body, and thus supporting that weird statement of his.

Karma's going to bit my ass for laughing.

It was Hades' turn now, and after him, me.

The massive asteroid was nestled in the middle of the temple. They built it around the asteroid, and made an altar-ish kind of setting where a part of it sticks out and can be prayed upon like a shrine.

Hades walked up unto the altar, and reached out his hand.

A flash of light came from his eyes, and his mouth.

He started to speak, but we couldn't understand him.

I looked around the room, and everyone was hushed to a stop. All eyes were on him, I looked at the direction of the government people, and behind some guards, the President was there.

From the years I've seen coming of age ceremonies, the President never attended any of it.

"HA HA HA HA!!! You all will perish under my powers, THE WORLD WILL BE AGAIN BACK TO ITS PRIMORDIAL STATE! YOU~~

Hades pointed at me.

YOU WILL BRING CHAOS TO THIS TIME, AND ALL OF YOUR OTHER LIFETIMES. ACCEPT THE WRATH OF MY INFERNO, MY NYX, MY GAIA!"

Fire blew from his mouth as he wailed, his eyes turn pitched black and the asteroid started to crack under his touch.

Never in a hundred years could people put a dent on the massive rock. People all around the world attempted to take a piece of it, but no one even the strongest of machines, the strongest of weapons, the strongest of powers could destroy it.

He suddenly collapsed, the crowd was silenced again, a few seconds passed after the teachers went to check on Hades.

A fire type? Earth type?

All of us were confused. Two power wielders aren't unusual but still pretty rare, especially two powers that cannot harmonize.

…

The authorized people decided to have an hour break so the crowd could settle down, though the atmosphere was dim, the government was anxious and they we're planning something.

I got called into the deep part of the Temple where they took Hades.

I entered a hallway with photos of people, some I recognized, some I haven't seen in my entire life.

As I reached the end of the hallway, I realized some of the frames on the wall were paintings and not photos.

I stared into the last painting, it looked like me?

…

Hades was lying down on a sofa, the room I entered was the office of the High Priest. A lot of people say the High Priest is more powerful than the President, in terms of authority and in ability, that's why he never disputed with the Temple.

The High Priest and the President were both standing beside the sofa were Hades was lying down.

I noticed that he was already awake, and they were talking before I entered.

I bowed down as a sign of respect, "Good day, High Priest, President. Sorry for the problem my twin brother has caused."

Both of them smiled, and waved to me to come closer.

"Your brother has shared to us his past aggression with himself. He is an elite tier power user, fire, earth and darkness." the High Priest said.

WHAT? I exclaimed inside my head.

He has three powers?

"Darkness, interesting. Even with all the light inside this room, your brother enveloped this space with darkness, as if we were inside an inescapable void." the President added.

"We are expecting great things from you as well, Persephone. Since you both shared a womb. I heard as well that you are an IPU." the President continued on.

I trembled, the thought of showing my powers to the world.... scared me. I knew that after today, everything will change. I could never come back to being the unapproachable Persephone who always sticks to his twin brother, who never talks, who never mingles with others. We will be known because of something else.

I wanted to run away, I screamed inside my head, "Why us? Why me and Hades? I just wanted a normal life!"

And that thing Hades said at his coming of age.

I will bring chaos? Like what my name sake did? Brought death to everyone?

The high priest and the president began to walk towards the door.

I stepped aside and they left the room, it was time for me to reveal my powers.