Chapter 5 - Revelations

I was absolutely confused, astounded, baffled, gobsmacked. A random old man, in a random cell, that I was randomly placed in, somehow managed to call out the main ingredient of my power. But how? How does that happen? Was it just a guess? That's just too random. It can't be. He must have realized somehow, that it's my power. He probably saw it beforehand? But I never heard of a single power like this one before. As far as I knew, I was a glitch in the matrix.

"How did you...?" I asked quite astonished.

"Was but a guess, young man," he said, with his deliciously crispy voice. He probably spent most of his life smoking, to get this voice, "But before that, an introduction is necessary. I am Inmate Number 100, Nikolaj Halla," he sorta bowed down a little bit, much like an actor would.

"Name's Dan Atys, Inmate Number 999. You've been here long, Sir?" I asked politely.

"Oh, what a rude little question, young man," he said jokingly, "Yes, as you now know, I am Number 100, while you are 999. We don't get much inmates here, maybe a dozen a year, so, yes. I've been here for a long, long time," he explained, and he started laughing after. He must like company, "Rude question after another: What did they put you in here for, son?" he asked.

"You like your rude questions, don't you?" I laughed, "Apparently murder. Was sort of an accident though, to be fair," I tried to explain.

"Murder's still murder. Did you not know how your power works, by chance?"

And we're back on topic. He somehow figured out my power, although I have no clue how.

"It sorta started working from there. Before, I thought I had a [Charm] power," I said.

"Of course. Few weilders of [Temptation] have been able to use it from birth," there he goes again. [Temptation]? Is that the name of my power, then?

"I never heard of it before, though. Is it rare?" I asked finally.

"Rare, he says! Hahaha! Son, you have one of the rarest [Powers] in existance!" he was bursting of laughter. Rarest...?

"What do you mean, Sir? Rarest? I'm just a nobody. Just a regular [Low-Tier]," I said.

"Oh, no. You son, are not a [Low-Tier]. [Temptation] is a [God-Tier] power. Higher than any known power. It is said, that at any given moment, there can, and always will be Fourteen users of [God-Tier], and you, you are one of those Fourteen."

I was absolutely flabbergasted. Dumbfounded even. Me, the Low-Tier weakling, that everyone was mocking, for being this weak, to be such a high-level existence. No, that's not possible. Why would I believe a senile old man's babbling.

"Senile?! Come on, son, I might be old, but I'm not that bad!" he said with a slight upheavel, to my utter surprise.

"Sir, can you read my mind?" I asked, slightly unsure as to what to think.

"Well, of course. After all, that's my power. [Omniscient], it's called. Although, it's a misnomer. I'm not omniscient, I just read minds, if I want to," he said. Wait, does that mean, he wanted to read my mind then?

"Uhm, would you mind not doing that?" I tried to ask him as politely, as I could.

"Sure, sure. After you stop tempting me to do it, you know. Turn off your power, and I'll turn mine off. That's a fair deal, isn't it?" What he said didn't quite make sense. I wasn't trying to tempt him, so why would he think I did? "Because, son, you are constantly doing it."

"But I'm not! You can read my mind, right? So you can tell I'm not doing anything right now!" I almost shouted at him. It was really pissing me off. Why would he think I'm doing something, when he clearly could tell, that I'm not?!

"Now, now. Calm your horses," he said calmly, yet quite sternly, "This is not something you're actively doing. What's happening now, is a passive ability you have. It's more or less subconscious. I can't tell you how to turn it off, but I can help you out, okay?" He looked at me, sort of waiting for my approval. It sounded good enough, so I obliged, "Good. First off, do you know what's the core of each [Power]?"

"Some sort of mutation?" I ask-replied.

"Not quite. Physically? Sure. Mentally? No," he paused for a second to collect his thoughts, "Each [Power] has a something, that we call a [Governing Attribute]. This is part of a set of human traits. For example, my Power, [Omniscient] has the Governing Attribute of [Wisdom]. The more I learn about life, myself, or others, and the more experience I gain, the stronger my Power gets," he stopped for a second, again, to collect his thoughts, "When I was young, my Power only allowed me to see sort of colors, or feel emotions from others. For a while, I thought it was just strong empathy, but the Inspectors told me it was my power. With time, I gained to ability to exactly see, hear, and feel each and every word, image, or sound in any person's mind," he stopped.

"So, what's mine? This Attribute?" I quickly interrupted.

"Now that's precisely why I said I could help. Not tell you what to do. I do not know what your Attribute is, so that, you'll have to figure out for yourself."

"I... see. Thank you," I said, although I wasn't quite satisfied. I know this was a lot of helpful information, and most of it wasn't actually taught to us, but it still sort of lacked direction. How do I figure out what this Attribute is, and how do I know for sure, that he's actually right about this one? Why would I trust a random old man in a cell?

"Look, I know you don't trust me, but I'm trying to help you, for reasons - I can't really explain," he said. Thanks for reading my mind again, "One thing I think you should know: it isn't the Attribute that forms around the Power, but the Power, that forms around an Attribute, that has a lot to do with you."

"That's... actually pretty nice to know. Thank you, really." I was genuinly surprised he'd help me this much. We only got to know each other only a few minutes ago.

I decided not to go to sleep that night. I figured the faster I find out my [Governing Attribute] the faster Old Man Halla will stop reading my mind. So, I was thinking.

What are some things, that have something to do with me? Up till recently, I was a meek coward, really. I wasn't outspoken, nor opinionated, but recently that changed a lot. All I thought, was that our society was screwed in some way, but not until the incident did I find out what it was. Right now, I'd say I know what I want, or at least know what sort of path I want to take. I'm more focused on what to do right now, rather than how I previously discarded the present, and only thought about the future.

If I think about it, a lot has changed in the past month or so. Well, duh, I mean I'm in prison, so that's a change, but that's not really a presonality trait.

Let's think about that time. What did I do, to awaken my newfound [Power]? What did I want?

I think...

I think I wanted to kill Kevin. I had enough. I couldn't take their shit anymore.

I wanted things to change, drastically. I wanted to be stronger. I wanted to take them down.

I wanted...

I wanted. For the first time in my life, I wanted something. I really wanted to kill him, but that wasn't the part that changed. What really did change, is that I had a will.

Wait a goddamn moment. Isn't that kind of a thing, with a bunch of powers? The only activate when the user wills it. Same goes with mine. I can ask people to do stuff for me, even without activating my power. Could my Attribute be [Willpower]? That would make sense.

Ever since that day, I had a Will to move forward. I wanted to figure out my power, and eventually control people, and kill those bastards, Justin and Claire.

I sat down, and I started looking into myself. Sort of meditating, I guess. The trick I was going for was simple. Will this passive ability I have into an active one. For now, at least. Somehow, I need to control it, so that I don't affect too many people from the get go, because that could both ruin my plans, and also Old Man Halla wouldn't stop looking it my very soul.

"Well done, son. You did it," the old mand said, while turning towards the wall on his bed, "I finally don't have to see your mind. Thanks, son," he said, sounding real tired. Did he just...? "Not my time yet," he said.

That relieved me. I thought I forced him into dying. Good thing I didn't, that would have sucked.

And then it struck me...

Did you just read my mind?

"Yup," he laughed.

What a jerk.

"I heard that one too!"