DARKNESS

Lilith and Apollo started training Frankie in secret since that day and the weird part was, he was on level 1.29, when he should have been around level 2.88 judging by how long he had had his light.

He told them how he had been a disappointment to his dad as even though he miraculously inherited both his lights and leveled up faster than normal, he was terrible at using his light, and also rarely used it after his father disappeared, so Apollo and Lilith knew they had a lot of work to do.

"A monster burst a fuel pipe and all the oil has leaked into our farmlands, they're useless now."A farmer said.

Lilith could see how barren the lands were, as far as the eye could see and wondered why a monster would do something like that.

She brushed the thought aside then cracked her knuckles and looked at an empty acre of land then raised her hands slowly, then droplets of golden liquid started raising from the ground and accumulating.

When it was a huge drop about half a meter in diameter, she clapped her hands then it separated into carbon dioxide and hydrogen gases.

She then raised her hands again and grew a bunch of sunflowers. She told the farmer it was for their phytoremediative properties.

She then went to the next acre.

She did it all day and was exhausted, but accelerated her fat and glycogen burning processes to give her a new burst of energy and turned atmospheric hydrogen and carbon dioxide into glucose for herself.

When she was done with everything, it was left with sealing the pipe, but she sensed something grunting at the bottom and sucking the oil from a proboscis like appendage.

She was confused as to what organism her water vision was showing her and she went to take a closer look to see a child with deep indigo skin and a trunk like upper lip.

He then hissed at her then pounced on her.

She screamed as it opened its mouth, showing its three rows of shark like homodont teeth and was about to bite her face off when it stopped.

It seemed to be analyzing her then a thick, slimy, orange tongue lifted from the back of its throat and started licking all over her face, making her gag until she felt a sharp pain in her neck.

She had had enough so blasted it with water.

It fell backwards and sprung at her again but she froze it in ice XIV, and wondered what kind of monster that was.

She pumped the oil back into the pipe then sealed it by controlling the minerals and water in the plastic casing to reconnect, then melting and refreezing it in place.

The farmer and his family were shocked when they saw the monster up close and told her how it looked a little like a troublesome boy who used to steal their apples and oranges but his family left not long ago.

She wondered if he was somehow mutated then realized she had a little of its saliva still on her cheek, so wiped it off.

She got home and hugged Anneliese and me tightly, we had also missed her dearly.

I still didn't like how people were using her but she had actually been given a right and responsibility to use her light combination to help people, a bill I wanted to make milder.

I wanted we, her parents to also have a say in what she did with her light as we were literally her guardians so went to court once almost every Fortnite.

Apollo was also being used for the same purposes, it's just, his was worse.

With his ability to control reality itself, he could not only bring back extinct organisms, but also make them be perfectly adapted to the new climates we had.

He was also being used to stop wars, famines, droughts and plagues, all of which I knew we could solve on our own if we all just agreed to.

I didn't like how my children were being used one bit, but I was no better off as I also was a Monster Hunter, helping people who hated me more with every passing day, with them throwing curses after me every time I saved them from a rampaging monster, or suing me every time I saved them from a car accident, I was just happy my kids never experienced this.

Alexa and Trevor were...on a rough patch.

They didn't seem as close as they used to be and fought a lot, making the boys and girls at the camp make moves on them, which they rejected.

Trevor thought Alexa was being stubborn, and she thought he was being a control freak.

It was an ironic paradox.

Lilith was watching a YouTube video when she saw something interesting and widened her eyes.

She then looked up...

***

Apollo deflected the lightning bolt Frankie blasted at him, using a path of plasma with ease.

Frankie yelled then blasted a huge bolt of electricity at him then immediately fell on his knees out of tiredness.

He used that skill Lilith taught him to regain his energy.

By changing the chemical potential energy within the pyruvate and glucose molecules into kinetic heat, he could regain his energy in a few seconds.

Apollo simply waved his arm then it curved backwards and took a spiralling path as the lane of water plasma allowed it then flew back to Frankie.

He was able to make a thick cushion of pressurized air to insulate it but the air became very hot, which he used to his advantage by blowing the hot air at Apollo, so fast, the upthrust from the cooler air couldn't make it float in time.

Apollo stretched his arm then all the air spread apart and singed the grasses, which immediately regenerated as Apollo changed the reality of their deaths.

Apollo was seriously holding back, and that wasn't even talking about his Reality lights, even with just his water, he was nowhere near his limit, but Frankie had greatly exceeded his, that was why Apollo was being

so mild.

Lilith appeared right behind Frankie and called him then he got startled, he still wasn't used to her Hydroportation.

She then said,"Don't worry, you'll become super fast soon enough."

Apollo was confused then asked,"What's going on? I thought you were covering up today."

"I know, I made a clone, but this is too important...Frankie, you want to get stronger, faster right?"

"Yes and none of you guys will use your lights to level up mine."

"That's never gonna happen, but look at this."Lilith said.

Frankie looked at it and Apollo walked over.

Frankie then said,"Dark energy."

"Yes, it's one of the most abundant and influential forms of energy in the universe, probably responsible for the expansion of the universe, if you could control something like this, you'll be able to defeat whoever kidnapped your dad, no problem."

Frankie looked at her with that same glimmer of hope in his eyes, which was quenched again when Apollo burst his bubble, but he just had to state the facts.

He then asked,"Isn't it just theoretical?"

Lilith then said,"It may be, but what better way to find out if it was real than a person who could control it if it was, a Mechanic?"

Apollo looked at Frankie and he was eager to try.

Apollo then asked,"But he doesn't know how it works or how it relates to mechanical energy, how will he change the right form of energy to it?"

"That's what practice is for."Lilith then answered.

Apollo shrugged then said,"We're going to have to learn more about dark energy from now on."

Frankie jumped for joy...