Confusion

I wake up, in bed, hoping today, I'll find something that'll change my family's future. Right? Everyone has a purpose, even if it's not obvious. I'm not causing our situation, I'm trying to get it fixed, that's all. If anything, it'd be Mom and Dad's employers.

"Give it back!" I hear from outside my small room, as my parents sleep in the living room, sisters in the bedroom, I, guest. One bathroom. Sucks, but at least we're not sharing one hotel room.

At the foot of my bed, I have a note, written by someone hastily, with, "Meet me either outside, or on top, but hurry! I have a gift!" written with a sloppy cursive. I shouldn't judge, my handwriting sucks ass.

I climb out the window, onto the fire escape of this cheap apartment building, and climb up. I hear a whistling of wind, and hear a slight thud. Up top.

A neighbor pokes their head out of the window just below the rooftop.

"What was that?" He shouts, shaken.

"I accidentally kicked my ball up, on my way up, sorry to disturb you." I say, gripping to the metal support beam, climbing.

Something new. Exciting. Is this that Adventurous feeling I've read about? There's fear, but I'm high up, it's normal to be scared of possibly falling to your death. For a gift. A note. Wait, my window was locked. So was my bedroom door. Huh.

Must be one hell of a gift, I think to myself, grinning mischievously, thinking about my life, and how it's sucked FUCKING ASS! How I finally, get to change my life around. How I can support my family. As I climb up the last ladder, and step foot on the roof, everything turns black, then white, like unplugging and replugging in a older tv. I hear the static, even. Colors fade their way in front of my eyes, and I see other teens. Five of us total.

Three girls, two guys. At least, I think three girls. As I'm staring, the one girl I'm not sure about winks at me. I clear my throat.

"Hey guys, nice weather, huh?" I say, looking up into a black abyss of a sky, while we're in a fully lit room.

The girl who winked walks over. Definitely a girl, right?

She pushes me down into a chair behind me, and sits in my lap. Little buddy pokes up, and she grins.

"Annabell." She says simply, kissing my cheek.

"Aydin." I say, smiling, probably blushing.

"Leave the poor kid alone." One of the other girls says, and Anna shakes her head no, and cuddles up to me.

"Anna, do you like him?" A man, cloaked in shadow, so we can't see his features, descends, into the room, from the abyssal sky.

She nods, to this question.

"Would you rather be with him, or Lisa and Zoe?" He asks, and she pouts. She kisses my lips, slips some tongue, and stands walking over to the girls, sad. The other guy walks over, and pats my shoulder.

"Ben. Too bad man, she seems to be your type." He says, sitting down.

I stare over at her, for a minute, and an awkward silence ensues, deafening, pairing well with the void that is above, cold, quiet, beautiful.

I move my chair over to her, feeling everyone's eyes. Above? I look up, into the looming void. I stare at the shadow loved man, as I feel, him aware, of my awareness of someone above.

He clears his throat. More feeling, more eyes. Emotion. Electricity? Electrosensitive. I feel a new sense, develop, confused, my body reacts, and energy flows, and I feel it all. The shadow, the light, heat, the others, their emotions.

I fall to the floor, instincts taking over, as new feelings emerge, and I focus on them, and as I discover so many new feelings, most of the energy comes from the people I sense, in the air above, dense, flowing towards them, out of them. This place, energy. Slowly, I start drawing energy towards me, using the feeling that I somehow can tell is their conscious, studying their power to move this energy, as it flows, freely, and calmly.

I need it to stay calm. Don't force, guide. My body lifts off of the floor, and I float into my chair, rapidly gaining prowess in this ability.

"Sorry kids, he's an empath telepath hybrid. He was dormant, but he sensed my mind, and gained power. He's conscious. Aydin, I'll see to it, your family getting a better situation." He says, and I float into the air, this time on my own. I can only move slowly. I reach for his hand, and I feel why, even if unconsciously reaching, its all I waited for.

Anna reaches for me, while I'm up in the air. She kisses me, and I smile.

"See you there." I say, memorizing her mental feeling. I can't hear thoughts, but I feel intent. I float calmly, towards the man, who's grin I feel, but not see, burning into me.

"Burn it down. Be the "Villain." Save that world from it's incompetent leaders." The man says, taking my hand.

"Just know, you'll have a new body. Same you." He says.

"Let me keep my knowledge, power, and instinct. Let her know about my task. I'll need a few-" I ask, as he snaps, and I wake up. On the ground. Throne room. My skin, Black as night, veins glowing purple, claws, where my fingernails used to be.

"Morning, Kid." I hear, as a Blood Red man, with Black Veins, with black hair.

"Morning. So, should I be scared, or happy?" I ask. A slight urge to rip something surfaces, and my body tenses. His energy.

I stare, mesmerized, by the pretty colors, surrounding us. Gravitating towards him and I.

"Technically, Dead. Emotionally, Excited. Did my spell work?" He asks.

"Well, I'm not the original owner of this body. I feel I was a weaker being then this one. Wait. Sir, magic isn't something we can use where I come from. Also, I was told to burn it down." I report, wanting to stay alive.

"Interesting. Anything Shadow?" He asks. I nod.

"A man. There were others, so I wouldn't be surprised if someone else did this. Temporally, though, I might be the only one, depends on time dilations and whether or not they are frozen in time until summoned, or similar. Oh, sorry." I say, getting carried away.

"Strange. You say there is no magic there. You, are naturally gifted. This bodies owner... Not so much. So, affinities are..." He says.

"Tied to soul?" I ask, and he frowns.

"Smarter, too. Say, how old are you?" He asks.

"Um, I was 17, with Three hundred sixty five days a year. Twenty four hours per day." I report.

"Ah, you understand interdimensional time differences. Much more intelligent." He says, writing down notes with a magic quill.

"Yes, I can also show you technology I can reproduce, but I focused on other subjects." I say, and all of a sudden, all of my stuff materializes.

My phone, a cheap one, lies in the mess.

"Ah, one I didn't understand. Sir, are you a leader, or do you have connections?" I ask, grabbing my phone.

"Well, I know who is my king, but there's whether or not he's yours." He says, sighing.

"Ah. Well," I reply, grabbing a notebook from the stack of items that is neatly set down, on the ground. I draw out the tools I was aware of.

I notice how I'm bigger, but I quickly adjust.

"Okay, so, this phone, is a piece of technology that took nearly 200 years to get to this little thing, but it used to be mounted to a wall, with a limited reach. If we can make this with no magic, I'm excited for with it. Especially if we can make it better." I say, handing it to him. He crushes it.

"Right. You don't know me. You all probably have better tech anyway." I say, anxiously, and I start drawing up schematics, frantically trying to show prowess.

"Kid, calm down. You have the body of a warrior, and now you're treating him like a mage." He says, trying to calm me down.

"Sir, my family was poor, barely able to afford how to live. just because he's done something, doesn't mean I have. I want to help. Please. I don't know what I need to, to keep his reputation going." I say, and he sighs.

"Kid, the warrior retired. Our kind were cursed to live extremely long lives." He says, simply.

"You mean, you guys go through a lot in your lifetimes, he had as well, and wanted to leave as he did all he thought he could?" I ask.

"What? No, he just wanted not to be used as a tool for war. He liked fighting, not killing. So, he came to me to find a way. This... is dragging in an innocent bystander. One who accepted the situation like it was NORMAL! Fucking crazy ass creature." He outbursts, and stormed off.

I stay in the room, drawing up mechanisms I remembered. I get bored, and stop eventually, and start practicing with the magic, and as I do, I feel energy, fluctuations, density. I feel the denser areas moving, deep below, all around. Electricity in clouds, people, this, "Mana", stored in everything.

(Skill, Omnisensory, gained. Skill, Mana Control, gained. Skill, Soul's Compass.)

(Soul's Compass, Allows for tracking of any being who's soul you've felt, objects with soul in them You're aware of, and points towards souls from your world.)

Oh. Anna-

(ERR0R, SOUL NOT FOUND.)

SHADOW MAN!

(ERR0R, SOUL NOT FOUND.)

Phew. Must be that Domain.

I feel a strong presence.

(Skill, Prey's Instinct, gained.)

I jump, hard, through the ceiling, and out of the building. You'd think they'd reinforce these things.

Just then, I SEE the air ripple, and the house is gone. I see paper fly, though, and the air rippled again, sending debris from the building flying. I feel something on my back, heavy...

It's wings. I flap, and soar higher in the air. I dodge debris, thrown up from below, as I gain a new form of dexterity, and everything slows, for a moment, and I see a girl, moving fast, while everything else slows, jumping up the debris.

Temporal Energy? Is it because I can sense differently, that I even notice? I feel my body moving slowly. Hers, normal. She can't move faster. Only make everything else slower. My eyes dart to debris falling elsewhere. Radius.

I focus on her, while I move, even if its slow, doesn't mean it'll be easy to stay airborn, I need to be re-

I think, as time normalized, and I spread the wings, amd flap down slowly. I look down, and the poor thing fell asleep. I focus on her feeling. Not Anna, unfortunately, and fortunately.

I land near the girl. Two thirds of my increased height. As I get a closer look, I notice her ears. Elf. I pick her up, and look for the old man.

I sense him.

I run over gently, making sure not to wake up the girl.

"Sir, she has temporal magic." I say getting close. He raises a hand. A ring, slides off of it, and onto my hand.

"Use that. About time my old ex sends a troop." He says, laughing. His wings extend. He starts to flap, and an enormous arrow knocks the crazed, laughing man into the ground, laughing with the last of his breath.

"Don't shoot! I have a troop! I'll bring her to you, I am still really unsure what's going on! He said something about an-" I see the bolt. It's not stopping. What do I do? Dodging is near impossible, she's asleep... Wait.

I draw the temporal energy into my body, and let it flow, slowly.

I have time, now, even if I can't do much, I can at least think. I can't move faster, i feel it's kinetic energy, I feel the air, everything. At most... I can duck. That'd take, maybe 3 seconds. I have about 5. Duck diagonally.

I drop to my left, roll, and use inertia to fling this girl to safety. She hasn't hurt me, only broken a couple of things I didn't need. I'm going to have a long talk with her supervisor.

The Ballista Bolt flys by, nearly taking my unaccounted wings with it. As the explosion of its thud hitting the ground erupts, I grab the girl, and I feel my adrenaline leak into her, waking her up, and as temporal energy wraps her with its embrace, I make it flow through us, slowly, and as I do, I see her commanders face, laughing, as a flicker toward them, and I feel their glee, laughing in what appears to be slowmotion to myself.

As I gracefully climb over terrain, reflexes firing, time slowed to the point of which it all feels paused, I get kissed by this elven girl, and i kiss her back, running towards the ballista, and as things return to normal speed, I feel a rush, like my body was addicted to the time field.

I pull the commanders energy towards me, and I feel it. Metal. The Ballista shatters, and pieces fly everywhere, rearranging into different weapons, all with their sights on the commander, several blades pointing towards weak spots, surrounding them.

"Stand. Down." The girl says. I let the weapons drop, but let one scratch the commanders leg on the way down.

"Sorry." I say, not letting my eyes leave her. I feel the commanders energy reach for a weapon, and I cancel the attempt, drawing the mana towards me, absorbing it.

"How?" A women's voice, lets out, shocked.

"I'll just say I'm not from around here." I say.

"You're obviously a greater demon." The commander says.

"Then who was that old guy?" I ask.

"Demon Kings, Wizard of Necromancy." She lets out.

"Nope. More, I can tell. He's closer to a deity." The Temporal Girl lets out.

"Well, this isn't my body, but I didn't die." I say, and the commander bursts out laughing.

"Not your body? How the hell are you alive then?" She asks.

"Her body. I felt her energy, and used it. Yours too, Ms?" I ask, visibly confused.

"Hawks. Ms.Hawks. That's Lisa, a new recruit who has a strong ability." Hawks, lets out.

"Lisa, know an Anna?" I ask, grinning. She looks shocked.

"It's been 5 fucking years." Lisa says, falling to the ground.

"What? I swear, I was just with you guys, and woke up here, today." I say, laughing.

"Constant war. Friends, Dead. Ben's gone, he died fast. Zoe fell in love. Anna is near insane, insisting you'd be there. Anna's not..." She says, and the commander looks at Lisa, and I feel the sorrow.

Pain. Lisa...

Then I feel someone elses pain.

I quickly pick up a blade on the ground, turn around, and stab at a humongous mass of energy.

It's the old man. But, I feel it, its not who he is. This is the body. And it's pissed.