Power Pills

What if someone handed you a pill that could make you do incredible things? What if you could take a pill and gain the ability to fly or to manipulate water?

What if that pill had almost no side effects?

....

'Getting involved with the Red Hands was not my brightest idea.' Caleb thought as he ran through deserted alleyways to throw of the gang members chasing him. 'Because now I have to deal with my debt from them now.'

Caleb ran as fast as he possibly could, not pausing to take in his surroundings at all, merely flying by and hoping he didn't find a dead end.

But luck was not on his side.

'Dammit!' Caleb screamed mentally as he entered an alley without an exit. 'Wait. Maybe I could go back.'

The sounds of feet hitting the pavement discouraged him from attempting that.

'Fuck. I've got to climb then.' Caleb couldn't get a handhold, but he could reach both sides of the alley, so he spider-climbed his way up.

Caleb had pulled himself up nearly three stories when the gang members found the alley he was in.

"Fuck! Where'd the little skiv go?" A burly guy demanded, scouring the dark alley.

Caleb froze where he was, praying they wouldn't look up. He was not so lucky.

"He's up there!" The scout for the small party pointed up at Caleb and began climbing after him.

Caleb began frantically climbing, desperate to escape from the clutches of those who would kill him for his debt.

"You little skiv!" The burly man let the scout do all the work, merely waiting for the inevitable point at which he would be dragged back down. "Get the fuck over here!"

"I'm not suicidal!" Caleb yelled and punched in a window to escape.

He then waited for the scout to follow him through the broken window.

Unfortunately, the scout didn't play by Caleb's rules. He broke through another window and pounced on Caleb, swinging wildly at his skull, eventually knocking hum unconscious.

....

Caleb awoke in a cold concrete room, tied tightly to a chair.

'Well I guess I'm fucked then.' Caleb thought to himself, glancing to his left and seeing the steel table bolted into the wall. 'I've seen enough of movies to know where this is going.'

The reinforced steel door in front of Caleb opened and a man in a filthy lab coat appeared, breathing heavily.

As he got closer Caleb could see his scruffy and unshaven beard covering his jaw, along with his wrinkled and sallow skin.

"You." The man opened his mouth, revealing broken and yellowing teeth that ground together as he mumbled. "You will do nicely."

Caleb shivered involuntarily, creeped out by the man.

"Pick a colour of the rainbow." The man ground out his words, getting closer and bringing a cloying aroma of formaldehyde with him. "Any colour of the rainbow."

Caleb swallowed hard.

"O-Orange?" Caleb stammered, feeling cold sweat accumulate upon his brow.

"Good choice." The man smiled eerily with his overwide as he reached into his pocket and pulled out seven large clear pills filled with different coloured powders-each the size of a quarter. He picked out one that was filled with vibrant orange dust, forcefully opening Caleb's mouth and placing it tenderly upon his tongue. "Now, this might kill you, but just know that the men coming for you will not give you a chance to survive."

Caleb knew this well. The gang he had borrowed from were known to kill their clients if they couldn't pay. They were meatheads that didn't care about the total of the money, they just cared about getting it from other people.

'Well, if I'm going to die, I might as well go out on my own terms.' Caleb deliberated briefly before coming to a decision.

Caleb swallowed the pill after a brief hesitation, nearly choking on the pill as it slid down his throat painfully.

"Oh~. I like your determination." The man stroked Caleb's cheek lovingly as he gently wiped off the sweat forming on Caleb's brow. "I can't wait to meet you again."

Caleb began feeling an uncomfortable heat spreading from his gut, gradually suffusing his entire being with unpleasant heat.

"I'll leave you a little something under this table, okay?" The man retreated abruptly and placed a hard-backed book underneath the steel table, never taking his eyes off of Caleb. "I think you might be my new favourite~"

He clapped his hands and jumped around excitedly, grinning creepily from ear to ear.

Caleb hardly heard him as the heat suffusing his body transitioned from uncomfortable to searing. He gasped in pain as his entire being felt the lava-like pain pouring through every vein as if it were searching for a way out.

Caleb grimaced, straining against the ropes he was tied with. His muscles involuntarily seized, slowly tearing at the ropes binding him.

The man giggled madly as he saw what Caleb was doing to the ropes. "HAHAHAHAHA HE'S STRONGER THAN ANY OTHER!"

He sat down and began rocking back and forth, excitedly watching as Caleb absorbed whatever was in the pill.

The ropes binding Caleb snapped abruptly and he curled into a fetal position, his body glowing like a hot piece of metal.

If the searing pain was a drop of rain, Caleb was now experiencing an unending deluge, causing his muscles to spasm and his mind to fade into unconsciousness.

Suddenly, Caleb relaxed and toppled off the chair, sprawled like a puppet without strings.

"Did it fail?" The man cautiously approached Caleb. "But it had such a promising start! AUGH!"

The man began picking at his lab coat restlessly pacing as he spoke to himself. "What happened? Why would the power not fuse properly?"

"Because I have a score to settle." A disjointed voice sounded, echoing powerfully off of the concrete walls.

Caleb's body slowly floated into the air, now a blindingly bright orange sun that drew the stark shadows of the unknown man and sparse furniture against the walls.

"H-HOW?!" The scientist screamed, backing towards the door.

"My information regarding this is as incomplete as yours, doctor." The voice sounded again, ringing with power. "But, unfortunately for you, yours will stay incomplete."

The sun shone brighter as a spear of flame flew out from its core, skewering the man and instantly reducing him to ash.

Instantly following that, the miniature sun abruptly was absorbed by Caleb's body, causing it to balloon slightly.

Caleb's body deflated slowly as his figure hardened as the light within him dimmed rapidly, tanning his skin and evaporating any traces of baby fat he still had on his body, and replacing it with lean, yet clearly defined muscles.

When the light within him had nearly died out entirely, it coalesced into a golden and glowing heart that illuminated his chest from within.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

The new heart palpitated powerfully, circulating the power that had been fused with Caleb's very veins through his body.

With his transformation complete, Caleb's still floating body lost its buoyancy and he crashed to the ground, awakening him.

"What the hell happened?" He asked, holding the sides of his head in hopes of alleviating the splitting headache that sprung up out of nowhere. "Augh! why does my head hurt so much?"

He immediately regretted saying that out loud because the echoes of his voice caused his headache to get worse.

"Well, it is difficult to adapt to having two entities occupying the same vessel." A warm feminine voice sounded next to his ear.

"Who?" Caleb looked around for the source of the voice, aggravating his headache more as he frenziedly searched for anything that could possibly explain the appearance of the voice.

"Looking for me is useless." The voice sounded again, not as warm as before. "I'm in your head."

"So I have Schizophrenia." Caleb laughed mirthlessly, holding his head painfully and sitting on the metal table.

"You don't have Schizophrenia." The voice sounded once more. "I'd say it's more like Dissociative Identity Disorder."

"As if that's better." Caleb muttered.

"Well, two minds is always better than one." The voice responded optimistically. "And if you end up in a pinch I can always take over"

"Not if they're the same mind split in two!" Caleb retorted, swallowing the words he had been going to say when he heard footsteps.

"What was that pill supposed to do?" Caleb asked himself, trying desperately to find an answer for escape. "How was it supposed to help me escape? Oh, right! The book!"

Ignoring his splitting headache, he bent and pulled the book from beneath the table and turned it over to read the cover.

[How to Cultivate Spirits]

"Well this is fucking worthless." Caleb set the book down on the desk and resigned himself to his fate.

"Well, maybe if you read it, you'd understand that you're not Schizophrenic or have Dissociative Identity Disorder." The voice sounded impatiently.

Hearing the sharp sounds of someone hitting a baton on metal bars as they passed, Caleb pushed through the pain and endeavored to comprehend the introduction of the book.

[If you survived long enough to read this, congrats! You now possess one of seven colours of spirits!]

[A spirit is a companion that has given, willingly or otherwise, all or most of their power to you and taken residence inside your brain. They will protect you with their life if needed, since if you die they die anyway.]

"What the fuck?" Caleb didn't believe such utter nonsense and began closing the book.

"Dumbass." The voice spoke in his mind again. "Get to the part regarding manifestation!"

"And where is that?" Caleb sighed to himself.

"Literally four sentences in, you impatient cretin!" Came the scathing reply.

Caleb found the section easily, rapidly reading it in hopes of escaping the man who had been sent to torture him to death.

[Basic Manifestation]

[To manifest the most basic amount of your power, you must first visualize the effect you want with your power. To do this, imagine the power inside you flowing into a mold and filling it.]

"See?" The voice came once more. "If you had read all the way through, you would not have needed to ask me!"

"Go fuck yourself." Caleb replied.

"Well-" The voice haughtily began speaking, but was interrupted by Caleb.

"Shut your mouth." Caleb muttered, imagining the mold of a sword appearing before him and filling with power.

He wasn't certain the power that was spoken of in the book was real, but he sure as hell going to try.

"What in the blue hell?" The 'interrogator' looked through the bars on the door and saw Caleb holding his hands out in front of himself as if he were receiving a gift from God.

'Please. Please. Please." Caleb thought to himself as he imagined his desired weapon.

The interrogator abruptly opened the door and charged Caleb.

In his panic, Caleb swung a fist that connected with the side of the poor man's head and sent him flying into the cold concrete wall, leaving a crater and spiderwebbing cracks across the entire wall.

"Uh....What?" Caleb said, dumbfounded.

"It would appear that in the process of bestowing my power upon you, your physical strength improved." The voice in Caleb's head said, laughing.

Caleb didn't respond, instead grabbing the book and hurrying through the open door, rushing down the dank and mildewed halls.

Navigating the near-empty halls around patrols was relatively simple. Before Caleb knew it, he reached the molding doorframe that marked the exit.

Caleb exited the door and began running to his small apartment that was near the edge of the slums.

Caleb arrived in his cramped apartment and hurried inside, desperate for both a shower and good food.

"What a humble abode." The spirit residing inside Caleb's mind remarked.

"I am not wealthy." Caleb responded, not taking offense. "Hey. Do you have a name?"

"I do not." Came the indifferent reply.

"I'm calling you Sylvia." He decided on a whim. "Or Syl for short. Is that okay?"

"Call me what you like." Caleb could almost hear Syl's mental shrug.

"So...Syl...Do you have any spirit knowledge I should know of?" Caleb asked tentatively, grabbing himself a clean set of clothes and stepping into the shower.

"Well, I don't know all that much about my own kind, aside from what I know about myself." Syl responded haughtily. "So maybe read the damn book."

"Alright, alright." He resigned himself to the reading of a boring book.

Stepping out of the shower, Caleb immediately set a pot to boil and gleefully opened his most expensive pack of instant ramen, opening the book to read in the mean time.

[Spirits are divided into seven basic elements that the host can utilize; each element strengthens one or more attribute of the host on top of the ability to use the spirit's element.]

[The Red Spirit, or the Spirit of Life, effectively grants immortality and dominion over life to the host.]

"Well that's insane." Caleb remarked, feeling that he was deprived of an even higher power.

"Every spirit has a weakness." Syl's voice resounded within Caleb's skull. "Keep reading. I'll keep track of the cooking of your weirdly-shaped foods."

"Do you even know how much a noodle needs to cook?" Caleb demanded.

"I suppose not." Syl grudgingly admitted.

[While the Spirit of Life is incredibly powerful, the cost of immortality is often gradual insanity and a very weak body.]

"Oh." Caleb nodded to himself. "So instead of strengthening their host's body, they weaken it give immortality."

"Don't forget the insanity." Syl reminded him.

"Well, immortality is the cause of the insanity, I would think." Caleb held his chin with his hand. "Watching those you have formed bonds with pass while you remain unchanged would be hell."

Syl didn't respond.

[The Orange Spirit, or the Spirit of Ra, strengthens the body, and mind, granting the host the power of the sun.]

[While the body is strengthened, the use of the power of the sun puts tremendous stress upon the body. Hosts often overdraw their power and cause themselves to explode.]

"Well shit." Caleb's mind froze when he finished the few sentences introducing his host spirit. "Does that mean I could explode at any given time in combat?"

"It depends on the way you treat your spirit." Syl responded threateningly. "If you treat me poorly, I'll resist the transfer of power in your body and create an opportunity for you to explode."

"No need to get aggressive." Caleb remarked mildly. "And wouldn't you die too?"

"I'd rather die than live like a slave." Syl responded, brimming with determination.

"I understand the sentiment." He checked his noodles, deciding they could go for a few more minutes. "I wouldn't want to live like a tool."

Syl responded with silence once more.

Caleb took the hint and began reading once more.

[The Yellow Spirit, or the Earth Spirit, strengthens the host's body, and grants the host the power to control sand, and to an extent, the Earth itself.]

[While the body is strengthened considerably, the mind is weakened greatly as well, gradually slowing to the speed of a rock.]

[The Green Spirit, or the Sylph Spirit, grants the host control over the wind, and strengthens the body in a different way than the aforementioned spirits. It improves two aspects of the host, leaving the rest alone. It improves the reaction time of the host and improves the legs and arms almost exclusively.]

[As a result of the exclusive strengthening of the appendages, the hosts of the Sylph Spirit are very delicate.]

[The Blue Spirit, or the Graeae* Spirit, grants the host control of the seas, and improves the only the host's mind, save for granting the host gills.]

[Hosts of the Graeae Spirit are more delicate than even the hosts of the Sylph Spirits.]

[The Indigo Spirit, or the Widow Spirits, grants the host the ability to create poisons, strengthening the mind and body and granting the host the ability to create innumerable poisons.]

[The hosts of the Widow Spirits are known to be assassins. Close-quarter combat almost guarantees victory, even for a normal human. In addition, if the host concocts a poison within themselves that their bodies cannot handle, they will surely perish.]

[The Violet Spirit, or the Dryad, grants the host the ability to control and grow plant life around themselves, strengthening their bodies exclusively.]

[The hosts of the Dryads, while not as powerful as those that possess the Earth Spirit, will not have their minds slowed down as much.]

"What a fascinating discovery." Caleb enthusiastically exclaimed, adding a flavour packet to the noodles and pulling them off the heat, stirring aggressively. "To think that spirits existed on this planet!"

"You've been speaking to one this entire time." Syl pointed out.

"I'm more fascinated by the fact that there are so many types!" Caleb exclaimed. "Spirits are incorporeal, correct?"

Syl ignored him.

"The book. Right." Caleb poured his ramen into a bowl and set it down to cool while he continued reading.

[It is unknown how spirits are born. No science can explain how beings of energy can be born. We can only wonder at the 'magic' that holds them together and determines their birth.]

[Not only are spirits incorporeal, but they are not entirely composed of energy as well. This allows free spirits to interact with objects.]

"The book doesn't seem to cover why spirits will take hosts." Caleb remarked. "Any explanation from you, Syl?"

"I am uncertain as well." Syl responded after a pause.

"Come to think of it, how do you hold memories?" Caleb was struck by the thought.

"Are you going to keep asking impossible questions?" She asked irritably. "Eat your noodles."

"Okay, okay." Caleb shook his head. "I wonder if you could make yourself a material body."

"Quit wondering about stupid things and eat your food!" Syl snapped, irritated.

Caleb slurped at the ramen he had prepared, wondering how he was going to make money.

"So that's how noodles taste. They're wonderful!" Syl said excitedly.

"Wait what?" Caleb paused his eating. "You can taste what I taste?"

"Only if I want to." She replied, her excitement dying down.

"Do you like the ramen?" He asked curiously.

"Oh, yes." She responded instantly. "I wonder what other foods taste like."

"If you'd be nicer to me, I might let you try new foods." Caleb could practically hear her drooling at the thought.

"Hm. I'm not so easily bought." Syl harrumphed, annoyed.

"I think you'll change your mind later." He laughed. "The food I'm eating is low-end."

"What? Low-end food is already this good?" Syl asked, her attitude flipping instantly.

"Well, if we're smart about how I use this power, we could easily afford even the most expensive foods." Caleb tempted her with the promise of food. "I'd imagine this is the first food you've ever tried. Imagine how much better the food you could try will be."

"You want me to teach you?" She asked cautiously.

"That would be ideal." He nodded to himself.

"Only if you treat me as an equal." Syl responded firmly. "I won't accept being a slave."

"I wouldn't either." Caleb responded, resuming his meal. "So, I have an idea on how we can get a lot of money in the short run, but it's going to be difficult to explain how I got it."

"What's your method?" She asked curiously.

"Simple. Rob a bank." He laughed to himself quietly. "Sure, I might have to harm some people, but it'd be good in both the short and long run."

"How so?" Syl asked, seriously considering his proposal.

"Well, having a stash of cash to help us onto our feet would be helpful while I find a job." He responded, slurping up the last few noodles with relish. "And I could invest into the stock market and into savings accounts so I can accumulate interest."

"That seems reasonable." Syl's voice rang in his head after a long pause. "I'm guessing you want me to teach you how to utilize your power to do this?"

"Exactly." Caleb began washing his dishes. "But is the power really mine?"

"Yes." She said with certainty.

"How are you so sure?" He asked, intrigued.

"The moment you ate that pill we became one." Syl responded.

"That sounds dirty." Caleb laughed, walking from his kitchenette to his twin-sized bed three steps from the counter.

She ignored his comment and instructed him to sit cross-legged on his bed.

"Now, what's most important is you create an image for how your power flows." Syl lectured him like a schoolteacher would lecture a two-year-old.

"I am perfectly capable of comprehending your teachings without you treating me like a toddler." Caleb remarked, miffed. "We're equals, remember?"

"Fine." She directed him to then imagine the power flowing inside of him to flow according to the image he had imagined.

Caleb decided to make his image a second set of veins that pumped his power instead of blood.

As he came up with his image, he suddenly felt acutely aware of the existence of his golden heart that laid within his chest.

The golden heart glowed within him as it created golden veins that overlapped but didn't interact with the blood vessels inside his body.

As he continued circling the power, after Syl reassured him that the golden heart wasn't a problem to his overall health, the beats of the hearts slowly synced until they beat in unison.

Caleb touched his chest, feeling the combined beating of his hearts, one of which now brightly illuminated his chest from the inside.

"Will this stop glowing?" Caleb demanded, fearing that the glowing chest would become a tell for the crime scene investigators that would undoubtedly try and track him down.

"I do not know." Syl admitted. "I've never had a corporeal body, so I can't help you. Sorry."

"You're fine." Caleb assured her. "l just wait and see."

"Now that you have developed an image to circulate your power, try pushing it out through an appendage." She continued her lesson.

He followed her instructions, willing his power to coalesce into one hand, feeling it heat up.

"Congrats." Syl said mildly. "You managed it second try."

"When was my first try?" Caleb asked, examining his now white-hot hand curiously.

"In the cell." She responded laughing. "It was funny to watch you hold out your hand like some deity was going to hand you a legendary weapon."

"Well, to be fair, I had no clue if that was going to happen." He pointed out reasonably. "When I'm handed a power such as this and I have no idea how to use it, is it not reasonable to assume there are gods and devils?"

"Well, your definition of gods and devils probably differs from my own." Syl pointed out. "To us, devils are just evil beings, while gods are beings that are good."

"That's about what humans think of, but we also think of devils as a race that can have both good and bad people in it." Caleb responded. "Same for-"

"Back onto your power instruction." She interrupted impatiently. "We need to get you combat ready for your plan to work. Try forcing your power through your hand and into a shape."

He pushed the power he felt within his fist and it rapidly extended into a simple oval shield that burnt his floor without even touching it.

"Oh shit!" He exclaimed, stamping out the flame consuming carpet.

"Perhaps a flammable environment is not conducive to a successful training." Syl remarked.

Caleb nodded, investigating the shield he had crafted. The shield was clear and glowed a bright orange, brightly illuminating his entire room. He knocked on it with his knuckles, creating the sound that one would expect when knocking on metal.

"I wonder if this would stop a bullet." He wondered aloud. "I suppose I won't know until I try it."

Caleb modified the shield so it was circular and tried to make a second one on his left hand.

"You realize you don't need to touch it to keep it active, right?" Syl asked pointedly.

He took her indirect advice and pulled his hand from his half-formed shield that now floated in front of him.

"Looks like I need to keep contact with it until it's fully formed." Caleb muttered. "What an interesting constraint."

"You can move power through the air if you concentrate enough." Syl interjected. "It's not as efficient as through your body, but its utility is far outweighs the extra power cost."

"Alright, but I'm going to find a place to test that so I don't burn my apartment to the ground." Caleb glanced at the charred floor guiltily. "How will I explain this to my landlord?''

"Your shirt caught fire and you fell?" Syl suggested.

"I'll just cover it with my security deposit." He reassured himself.

It took all of five minutes of walking to find a convenient condemned building a few streets down from his home.

"Okay, so how do I go about manifesting my power through will?" Caleb asked excitedly.

"Same way you would with your limbs." Syl responded. "Have it flow through a body part, through the air and then coalesce into the desired shape."

Raising his hand to focus, he passed his power through his hand and into the air around it, creating a shield that hovered a foot away from his hand, simply hovering there as if it were tied to a string.

'Now to try multiple at once.' Caleb thought, rubbing his hands together happily.

He raised his hand once more, trying to divide the flow of power he felt streaming from his hand into two.

"Oh, fascinating." He enthusiastically examined the two shields he had created, both about half the size of the first shield he had created originally.

They still had the same clear orange glass-like look, and still seemed just as sturdy, however they were not quite as hot and perfectly circular.

"I sacrificed size and heat for numbers." Caleb said, waving his hand and watching the shields move along with it. "I wonder..."

He swung his hand and released control of the shield, watching it arc shallowly and bury itself nearly six feet into the concrete floor, continuing to melt it even after it stopped moving.

"Jesus Christ how hot are these things?" Caleb exclaimed, watching the red-orange, molten cement flow viscously to fill the crack. "And why do I not get burnt?"

"Because my residency within your brain improves your body." Syl laughed at him. "And it continues to improve as I stay inside you."

"Don't phrase it like that." He chuckled.

"Why?" She inquired curiously.

"Never mind." Caleb shook his head, cautiously exploring the still-molten cement.

Dipping his hand into the cement, not feeling any discomfort in the slightest, he scooped out some of the gelatinous substance and started playing with it like modelling clay.

"I never thought that I'd be able to play with molten concrete." He laughed at the absurdity of his situation.

Manipulating the substance, he created a crude statue of a sitting cat with its tail curling around its feet and left it near the now-cooled slice that was cut out of the flooring in the building.

"Now on to physical testing." Caleb glanced at the sturdy concrete wall and then at his fist.

He approached the wall and wound up, wildly swinging at the wall.

His punch caused his arm to be buried halfway up his forearm, spraying dust and causing him to stumble forward.

"Woah." Caleb looked at the wall, amazed as he pulled his dust-covered arm out of the half-imploded wall.

"If you're finished with testing your capabilities, why don't you practice with creating your shields on demand?" Syl uncaringly interrupted his amazed inspection of the wall. "Since you fear those weapons of the other humans so much, why don't you make them useless?"

Caleb ended up spending an entire afternoon honing the newly-created skills with help from Syl.

Sitting down on his bed, he sighed exhaustedly to himself, glancing once more at the charred remains of a good chunk of his carpet.

"I suppose I could just redo the carpet with the money I'm going to get." He mused to himself. "So I should probably start planning it."

Caleb pulled a sheet of paper and a map and began to plan his heist.

He would enter through the front, wearing a mask, of course. Next, he was going to break directly through the bars that guarded the vault. All he had to do was melt them. Finally, he was going to melt into the vault, seal it behind himself, and escape by burning through the earth that surrounded the vault, hopefully popping out in the sewers.

'Now to plan how I'm going to use the money and materials I gain from the vault.' Caleb chewed on the end of a pencil, deep in thought.

"You could infuse some of your power into metals, creating effects depending on what the item is and what your intent is." Syl cut into his thoughts with a suggestion.

"Alright, so that's what I'm going to use the metal for." Caleb nodded, imagining himself wearing golden jewelry that would protect himself. "But how am I going to use the money without raising flags?"

He sank into thought once more, mulling over the issue.

"I can't think of anything, aside from spending it in small amounts." He sighed, laying sideways in his bed and staring at the ceiling. "By the time they've figured it was me, I'll have left the country."

"You were planning to leave the country?" Syl asked suddenly. "Why?"

"I've got to keep you happy, don't I?" Caleb laughed. "And here in America, a lot of food is 'Americanized', meaning it's adapted to fit the tastes of the residents of this country."

"Thank...You?" Syl struggled to thank him, which made him grin.

"You're welcome." He laughed, enjoying the feeling of someone's appreciation. "Now, time to prepare my props."

"Props?" She asked curiously.

"You said I could infuse my power into items and make them have effects, correct?" Caleb laughed maniacally. "Well, I have some metal right here, and I have the intention of making an energy blade."

He took the pot that he used to make his ramen earlier and melted it, forming a puddle of metal that pooled in his palms

He waited for it to cool enough that it was plastic, and began following Syl's direction on how to infuse his power into it while he shaped it into a handle.

The finished product looked like a handle with only the spine of a katana curving off of the handle.

"Now, let's see if I managed to make it work." Caleb said, putting a bit of power into it and watching the item glow white-hot before projecting a clear orange and glowing blade into the air, completing the katana.

"Yes!" He laughed, pleased with his handiwork.

"Well done." Syl praised.

"Thank you." He said, retracting the blade, waiting for it to cool down before setting it on his kitchen counter and flopping onto his bed. "Now, all I need to do is wait until morning!"

After a restless night, Caleb got up and burnt a hole in his pocket so he could disguise his katana as a phone or wallet.

He grabbed three changes of clothing, two sets of shoes, and another bag, and packed them into a knapsack that he slung across his back.

He went to the construction site first, grabbing an I-beam, melting it, and then placing the liquid metal on his face so it would conform to his face comfortably.

After it cooled, he pried the mask off of his face, along with the drops that had dribbled down the sides of his face and along his neck, giving the impression the mask was trying to consume him.

Ignoring the aesthetically pleasing look of the mask, he melted two holes for his eyes and two holes for his nose. Immediately after, he melted more metal and began adding metal in random areas to make the mask not look like himself.

Letting it cool once more, he placed the mask in his knapsack and left the construction site.

He walked casually to the bank before ducking into an alley and changing his clothing from his grey sweats, grey sneakers, and black T-shirt to a black tank top covered by a black hoodie, black sweats that he had burned a hole into one pocket for the katana, and black shoes.

"Why are you changing your shoes, too?" Syl asked curiously.

"Because shoes are just as identifiable as a face." Caleb chuckled. "People tend to ignore changing their shoes and that can get them caught."

He donned his cold metal mask, put his hood up, and walked into the bank confidently.

He looked around the bank, taking in the two guards standing next to the entryway to the vault, along with the several scattered throughout the area.

Manifesting four shields, he had them rotate around himself as he pulled his katana-esque weapon out from his half-destroyed pocket.

Pushing his power into the katana, he walked in an odd, shuffling gait towards the security officers that stood next to the vault entrance.

"Put down your weapon!"

"Back off!"

Both guards simultaneously spoke, drawing their pistols and pointing them at Caleb.

Caleb created an small, brilliantly glowing orb out in front of himself, watching the guards' skin blister from the heat.

"Back off or die." He spoke with difficulty from the constraints of his mask.

BANG

One of the guards shot, watching in horror as the bullet liquified and splashed harmlessly against his shield.

"Final warning." Caleb continued to shuffle forward.

The two guards glanced at each other before moving away from the bars, grabbing their walkie-talkies only to be burnt by the superheated plastic.

He dissolved the orb and continued to advance towards the bars.

Stopping in front of the barred entryway, Caleb slashed at the thick iron bars, instantly cutting through them.

He stepped through the hole he created, leaving the half-melted metal bars on the ground behind him.

"Why did you have to make the sword if you could have just kept the orb and melted the whole door?" Syl asked curiously.

"So that if they track me down they think that I need to use devices to make this amount of heat." Caleb responded. "One can never be too careful."

"Says the man robbing a bank." Syl scoffed.

He laughed, continuing down, down, down, into the earth to where the main vault was.

Stabbing into the metal, he swiped his sword several times, creating an 'x', then slicing off the large, triangular pieces and pulling them out towards himself.

Stepping through the rectangular hole, he turned and began placing the pieces back in their respective places before using his power to effectively weld them together.

"Oh that's clever." Syl complimented. "You only need to worry about one direction this way."

"Yeah, and I want them to tear their hair out wondering how I did it." He chuckled, surveying the vault.

He opened his knapsack once more, melting open the front of many lockboxes and stuffing their contents into the bag.

From diamonds, gold, and other precious metals, to jewelry and cash, he took as much as he could fit in the two bags he had brought.

"With this, I'll have enough to live comfortably for a long time if I'm wise." Caleb muttered as he turned to the back of the vault.

He sent another brilliantly glowing orb towards the back of the vault, melting the thick steel and gradually filling the vault with liquid metal.

"I wonder how they'll react to a refinishing." He chuckled to himself as he continued burning through the metal and into the reinforced concrete behind it. "Come to think of it, why is my stuff not burning?"

"You don't want it burned, so you subconsciously are releasing energy to protect it from your own power." Syl responded helpfully.

Caleb decided that his clothing was unnecessary for the current situation, so he tried to make his clothing flammable.

The clothing he had on immediately burst into orange flame, not even leaving behind ash.

"Fascinating." He muttered, feeling his mask roll off his face like water.

After some time, he finally punched through into the sewers, allowing the filthy water that flowed within to flow down the shaft he had created.

Wading through the putrid waters of the sewers, Caleb struggled not to gag when he inhaled.

"Hey, Syl, you should smell this." He suddenly said mischievously.

There was a second of delay that Caleb assumed was her syncing to his senses or something similar before her reaction.

"Fuck you." She said curtly.

He laughed, his eyes watering from the horrible stench of the water. "You're going to experience a lot of smells when you're occupying me."

"But I don't have to experience all of them." Syl responded furiously.

"No, but it's a good experience." Caleb stifled his laugher with difficulty, despite the horrifying stench of the sewers.

She ignored him.

He waded in silence, rapidly closing in upon the location he had selected for his final escape into the streets above.

"Let's hope no one is home." He muttered as he melted the concrete above himself, rapidly burning a large, perfect circle.

Using the still-plastic sides of the hole, he rapidly pulled himself through the hole and extinguished the blaze that had taken hold on the wooden floor.

Heating up his body to get rid of the horrifying stench of the sewers, along with the goop he didn't want to even think about clinging to his legs.

Dressing himself in a new outfit, he checked his surroundings, poured out the contents of his bags, turned the bags inside out, and burnt a thin layer on the outside of the bags, changing their colour from grey to black.

Using the original set of clothing he had worn, he padded the inside of the bags in hopes of preventing any odd protrusions from giving away their contents.

Placing the bags on his back, he walked home, wondering exactly how much he had gotten.

....

"This just in. A robber using unknown technology has broken into Daylight City's most secure bank and stolen over a million USD in cash, along with more than a million in gold, diamonds, and other precious materials." A male news reporter read off a script disbelief clearly evident on his face. "The thief reportedly was able to melt everything around them, wounding two officers. In addition, the vault doors were clearly no match for the weapon the perpetrator wielded. Reportedly similar to a katana, the weapon was used to cut into the vault door and remove it in chunks.

"After...Welding the door behind themselves?" The reporter paused, glancing off-camera for a moment before regaining his composure. "The perpetrator gathered their loot, and proceeded to melt an exit into the sewers, flooding the vault and leaving a nasty surprise for the investigators. The criminal is still at large, and no information is known other than their approximate height of six feet, as well as their race being Caucasian."

A man switched the television off, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"What was reported in the news is identical to the information we have currently, sir." A beautiful, young, bespectacled woman in her late twenties tapped a few files as she set them on his desk. "Aside from the image. Although it is grainy, you can clearly see the mask. We just need to track down the mask, right?"

"It's not that simple." He sighed agitatedly. "That mask can easily be melted, recast, or reworked. Especially with the technology that man has at his disposal."

"By the way, our forensic investigators at the scene have said there is not a lick of even class evidence." The young woman placed another set of documents on his desk. "The only evidence we have of them being there is the video and missing things."

"Mister Carter, sir!" A short young man in his early twenties burst through the door, waving the iPod in his hand around. "We have video and audio from the hallway. It appears the man isn't sane!"

"Play it." Carter said authoritatively.

"Alright, however we weren't able to pick up every word, this is what we have picked up." He pressed play.

[-Need to use devices to make this amount of heat. One can never be too careful.] Said the voice from the iPod, followed by a peal of maniacal laughter and then silence.

[-Tear their hair out wondering how I did it.] Said the voice once more, chuckling.

"How can we be certain he's not just exhilarated?" Carter demanded.

"That is a possibility." The young man conceded. "However we have another lead. The way they walk. As we speak, I have people running through CCTV cameras trying to match the walking pattern to the person."

"How do we know they weren't faking it?" Carter asked.

"We don't. But the voice and the way he walks are basically our only leads, save for the technology he wields."

"Try and find that sword." Carter tapped his desk for emphasis. "There's no way that he'll get rid of it, or try and change it. It's probably too valuable."

"Yes, sir." The two responded.

"Dismissed." Carter shooed the two people out of his office, feeling beat.

"What a pain in the ass." He muttered, massaging his temples irritably as he leaned backwards in his chair. "I doubt we'll close this case."

....

Caleb laughed at the news on his television, celebrating his victory while simultaneously melting the gold bars into smaller marbles and trying to find a spot to hide the money and materials.

"Should I just buy a house out in the countryside?" He wondered to himself. "Then I'd be away from the bank robbery incident and be able to spend more inconspicuously."

"Then do that." Syl suggested. "That way you'd be more away from people that would likely tattle tale, while making a space for you to be able to train your power."

"Alright, let's do that." Caleb nodded. "Why don't we ask for a loan from a bank? Then we should get a job wherever there to make it seem like I'm doing that to pay it off."

"Smart." She said approvingly. "But what about variety of food?"

"Amazon Fresh." Caleb responded easily. "They ship you food. It'd be a great way to get perishable items."

"Ohh~" He could almost hear her drooling.

"Now, all I have to do is not create ripples." Caleb muttered to himself.

He had no idea how hard that was going to be.

*A Graeae is an ancient spirit that is supposed to be the personified sea foam