The beginning

"Sofi, help me up, I can't move normally." Lian asked without much further thinking into the matter. Better take things step by step. But nevertheless, he was inwardly shocked. 'What is happening? What was that voice? Just hallucination? Or is it really some fantasy stuff happening right now? And she can control lightning, she says?'

While Lian was thinking, Sofi was trying to put him on his legs. "You are too heavy!" she complained.

"Only 65 kg, too light for my height. Ok, put me on a sofa… Oh, it's burned, nevermind then. What's that?" He suddenly saw the scenery outside the window and his heart skipped a beat while his brain started thinking off all the worst possibilities. "Help me to the window."

A second later, when Sofi looked outside the window, her face became one of shock. With her mouth slightly open and body trembling she slowly walked to the window supporting her brother.

What they saw outside completely stunned them, as such scenes can only be seen in those American movies after a heated battle between some superheroes and villains. Saint-Petersburg was known to be a beautiful city full of 18th-19th century small buildings lining up in an orderly manner. Although now, it looked like ruins.

Sky was gloomy with little sunshine still breaking through the clouded horizon. In the distance a beautiful cathedral was blown up from insideю Its antient columns and murals have now become blocks of stone and littering the plaza around it. Some pedestrians, who enjoyed their free time just some time ago have now become red paint over those boulders. While some survivors were in a panic running all around the place.

Not far away from the cathedral a car went out of control and rode on a sidewalk, crashing into a shop and continuing further into its depth. Soon an explosion shook the whole building and it crumbled. A lot of scenes like this could be seen all over the city.

"It literally is Hell on Earth" murmured Lian. Seeing his sister shivering in fear he wanted to console her. But then realized, that it was not the right time. It was better to think about their plans.

'Looks like I really am pretty emotionless. People are dying, my sister is almost crying in fear and all I think about is planning out the best thing to do next.'

"Quickly answer my questions, I need to understand what to do. How long have it been since you woke up?"

"I wo-oke up just before you did. I became co-onscious, sat up, tried to summon li-ightning and saw you moving. Then I ran up to y-you." Answered Sofi in a trembling voice.

"You said you can control lightning is that actually true? It is a very important matter" quick succession of questions followed the first one.

'I don't know what is happening outside. But looks like something crazy is happening to people. And if we run into someone like that with bad intentions… well it is not time to stand and contemplate on it now.'

"I do-on't really know. I can create li-ightning. I burned that ho-ole in the ceiling." She said, turned around and pointed at the hole, surrounded by burned marks.

"Last question then. How many more times, do you think, you can use it?" Lian asked last question in a grave tone.

"I do-on't know. B-but I can use i-it some more times…" After this question she began to shake visibly.

'She is just 16-year-old, after all.' Lian thought and sigh. Then he began to speak slowly in a calming voice. "Alright, I get it. There is nothing to worry about. Go get your keys, passport and other documents, money and put it all into my bag. You need to dress up in clothes, in which you will be comfortable to walk and run. And then we will go to our father's army friend. His name is Hinson Donald. You know him. He is General now, so there should be no problems when we get to his house. And we will need just less then 40 minutes to get there. It is very near, so there is no need to worry about anything happening, okay? Now go and do what I told you to do. Put me down, some time is still needed for the numbness to completely subdue."

"O-okay." She said slowly helping Lian on the ground. She wiped her tears and ran into her room.

Sighing Lian began to ponder. 'Haaah, I hope everything will be as easy as I said. Well then, now I have some time to think through things. Both me and my sister had a blackout and heard a voice saying that we got some powers. Sofi got control over lightning and she can now summon it. Damn, I don't know how many charges she can summon, how powerful are they, how far is the reach of the ability. But, we have no time for experiments. Hope she knows this info herself. Next then. I have seen all the details of what had happened near the cathedral. But it was like 2 km away. And I was short-sighted before. Looks like my eyesight have improved.'

While thinking he touched his closed eyes. And then put his arm on his biceps 'Is it the same to my physical condition? No time. Need to do some tests. Also, seems like my analytical ability has improved quiet a bit. Is it because of the ability I got? How was that again… "You can analyze and learn anything..." Looks like it is pretty useful.' Lian felt intrigued about his new ability. But at the same time, he was a bit apprehensive about how he got it. What was that black space? Why did he hear some voice?

'Then, what is happening outside? Is it some sort of terrorist attack? Unlikely. Something similar to my sister's situation is happening to people outside? Better go watch the news, hope they will tell us anything. And I also need to call uncle Don. He is our only lifeline now. Although he and Dad are friends, we can't rely on people's kindness. Especially at a times like this, so I need to think of a plan to force him take us under protection.'

After carefully thinking through most of urgent thoughts, Lian slowly got up and went with an unstable pace to TV set. Yelling along the way "Sis, are you done? Sh*t TV is also broken. Where is my smartphone?"

"I'm done, do I also need to take library student pass?" he heard a shout coming from his sister's room.

"Yes, take everything that can prove your identity. And take those papers, proving our ownership over this apartment. They are in a safe. The password is 1709. If all is good, we will be able to return here or claim compensation from government. You have two more minutes and we are setting off." He said after thinking it through.

'At least I hope everything will be alright with the government by then… Worst case scenario, huh. So, what is in the news. Hmm. Here it is. Aha, it was posted two hours ago. And it is now 2:39 p.m. The time is pretty close to when sis and I lost consciousness. It says that some people are just falling unconscious.' Lian began stretching to speed up his blood flow.

'It even has statistics. Heh, I wonder where they got it from. Still, they say that 15 to 20 percent of… all the population? It's not it too much exaggerated? Our population is somewhat close to 150 million people. So, does not that mean that close to 30 million people have the same problem and, probably, acquired an ability of some sort? It's getting pretty nasty. After that… no more news about this. Alright then, social network is our next stop. Wow, so many posts here. Aha, seems like all unconscious began to emit some sort of energy. Here. Some began so heat the temperature around. This guy made all food around him rot? Not a nice thing. Looks like government will really have their hands full for some time…'

Just as he was searching for clues on the internet, his sister came out from her room in sport outfit, holding a pair of sneakers in one hand and a stack of paper in another. "I'm ready. Are we going?"

This voice awakened Lian from his thoughts. He took his eye from the screen and looked at his sister. 'She seemed to change somehow. Is it her new power? Or what she saw outside? Or new clothes? To hell with such jokes.' Lian stood up, moved around. Stretching his still a bit numb body he said.

"Yes, we are going. I'll summarize what I learned on a way. And you must tell me everything you know about your ability. Let's get moving now."

He then opened his backpack, took out his laptop and put inside all the official certificates and his tablet with charger.

Watching this his sister asked him carefully. "Why didn't you take your documents?"

"I already have them in here. I had to go to university's officials to settle some things." He answered casually. But on the inside, he was tense. 'Haiz… It looks like I would not even be able to end my 3rd year there. I could have actually begun to study with this ability, not just lifelessly spend time there.'

They dressed up and quietly slipped through the door into the hallway. Lian began his instructions

while closing the door. "First of all, we need to get down on ground. I feel really uncomfortable on 11th floor while everything around is exploding. But we will go down by closest stairs. Don't want risk riding a lift."

While he was talking they already came to a staircase and started their descent. "Now then. You should promise me one thing. Whenever I tell you to shoot lightning, you must do it. No complaints and no asking "why?", understand?" He asked, waiting for some sort of answer. After seeing Sofi nod, he continued. "Good, then I will tell you what I my guesses are on the situation and what we will do next. First of all, all this chaos is caused by such people as us. All people who blacked out began to somehow affect their surrounding in one or another way. Still, as I see it, during their period of unconsciousness they can't affect themselves with this power. Only their surroundings. That is why you don't have any electrical burns or numbness. Are you keeping up?"

"I do. And it sounds really strange. But it looks like some people are quietly making their way down a few staircases above us." His sister said in a hushed voice.

Lian stopped talking and started listening perceptively. Soon he heard very faint noises of footsteps from above. 'Her senses are really something else' He thought looking attentively at his sister. As if trying to guess what else she is capable of.

"What? Why did you stop? Did something hit you on your head and you forgot how to walk?" She asked him without stopping for a second.

"Heh" He chuckled. "Let's speed up a bit. Also, looks like you are ok now. That is good news. But try making as little noise as you can" He continued in a low voice.

"I'll sum up everything for you then. As I said, situation in the world is f*cked up because of people, who are similar to you and me. They are now destroying things unintentionally. But later, some bad guys will do the same because they want to. So, we will have to find shelter before we meet those bad guys. Easy enough?" Lian asked with a serious face.

"I'm no 5-year-old child. No need to simplify everything to such level." She said glancing sideways on her brother.

"Alright. Coming to the last point. I'll call uncle Don a bit later. I'll tell him that I have super power that can be extremely useful in the army. I will ask him for protection and in exchange I'll go to army. Pretty sure they will soon start thinking about organizing some sort of special troops out of such people. What I need from you is to keep your mouth shut about the fact that you have super powers. Understand?" Lian said, staring straight into his sister's eyes.