Chapter 37 - Yet Another Strange Occurrence.

Maya continued to soar off in the direction where she had sent the horde of villagers. With her, of course, was the green eyed man who was pleasantly enjoying the wind blowing against his curled hair as he stretched out his hands and made the image of a soaring eagle.

"How did you do that?" Maya asked bluntly, interrupting the man's blissful imaginative experience.

The man opened his eyes and looked to Maya. Still, they remained unimpressed and were void of life.

"What do you mean by that?" the man asked as he raised himself forward and let the wind push him back as he braced his head with his hands and kicked his feet up as though he were slouching off on a bench.

"You froze that Malice Beast with some strange power. I don't know any Gifted that can do that." And while what Maya said was true, she did remember a similar experience when the young Evan had appeared on the battlefield to cause the very same Malice Beast to disappear into nothing.

"Oh, yes, you mean my Gift." The man said as he looked at his hand where a green blob of jello-shaped light glowed within. Then, he said in a manner of 'yes, this explains it' but really it did not – "Yes, my Gift can do that. It freezes things when I want to…though it isn't exactly freezing…but…I guess it is."

"So it is a Gift?" Maya asked as she batted an eye. "Which family are you from?" she then asked, having noticed that inquiring more about the man's power would get her nowhere.

"Family?" the man said quietly without any expression whatsoever. He still spoke as though he were a dead man. "I've no such thing. I am the only one of my kind, always has been from the day I was born."

Then the man eyed Maya from the corner of his eye. "Though on that note, I think you should pick up the pace while you still can. That monster will only temporality be frozen. You have about two hours until it can move again. I supposed that much would be sufficient." He then looked lifelessly into the open blue skies. "Though…I suppose…if you really need to, I can extend that time."

And as much as Maya would have liked to continue questioning this strange man, she soon saw the horde of villagers running along the open meadows. And leading those humans, who ran for their lives, was none other than Lelita Natura assisted by the other Gifted that were with her.

Maya immediately ceased her chatting and then raced off to the front of the group. As she passed them by, she picked everyone up with her winds and continued to the front where Lelita was now floating within the air.

"Maya! You've survived." the golden girl shouted as Maya approached. But Lelita, upon seeing the strange man that was with the white haired Aerite, raised an eyebrow and twisted her lip. "Who's that?" she asked.

Maya looked back at the man who had once more closed his eyes and seemed to be resting peacefully as his robe danced along with the winds.

"This is…" Maya said but stopped upon realized that she hadn't even gotten the man's name.

"Enen, Just Enen." The man said in Maya's stead. Though, he still didn't bother to open his eyes.

Maya then looked to Lelita. "He saved me." The white haired Aerite said. "But that aside…" Maya flew to the front of the group. "We must continue back to the capital." And at that, the horde of humans once more soared towards the capital.

~

Seven silhouettes shone brightly in the darkness of Evan's mind. They each bore a color respective to a Gifted family – red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.

"What was it this time?" Evan thought to himself as he drifted along the darkness, watching the seven silhouettes fade away as he went along a current of blackness.

This time, it is not of my doing alone.

What? What did that mean?

The seven silhouettes ran towards Evan as he was dragged away by the darkness.

A wave of water came after him and with a current of its own, it washed the boy back to where the figures glowed ever brightly in the dark.

"Don't wake yet." A voice told Evan. But it was not the same voice that he had once heard coming from the darkness. This voice, sounded very humane and came from the red silhouette who knelt down to face the boy.

"What do you mean?" Evan tried to speak but found that he could not do so.

What's this?

Just as you cannot move without a body, you cannot speak without a mouth.

If Evan really had no body in this world of black, then what was it that the silhouettes pulled towards them? What was he at this moment of time?

A face that is not even a face. An eye bearing the symbol of the Gods, a single ear posted on one side and a lip that is just that alone, with no insides nor tongue to go along with it.

The boy wouldn't even want to imagine what that looked like after that description. But perhaps, if this really was a world within his mind, he could change that. With what will he could muster, he forced a mouth to form within the lips that were there. And before he knew it, the boy found himself speaking "Who are you?"

The red figure rose up and looked down at Evan. "My name is Ronan. Ronan Regelia, first King of Efidel."

"What do you want?" the boy then asked.

"That's a good question that I hoped you could answer. Since none of us here quite know what is happening to us." The silhouette then looked to the world around Evan that had once more begun warping with colors. "It's seems that we have no more time." The silhouette then looked to Evan. "This is a lot, I know. But somehow, you must learn to control all of this. As it is now, these dreams happen at random without your consent and they'll continue as such, I suppose. Eventually, they'll probably become an everyday occurrence."

As had happened before, the colors then began circling above the boy – red, orange, yellow.

Evan watched it all, spiraling sporadically above his eye – green, blue, indigo, violet, red.

How amazing and unreal this all was – orange, yellow, green.

Evan watched as the silhouettes along with the colors that bloomed in his mind were swallowed by the darkness of his subconscious – blue. And then he found himself, once more lying in his bed, comfortably within the constructs of his own room.

~

Evan awoke and made his way down to a little dining room within the castle, where he would have dinner with his grandfather, granduncle, mother and his two aunts. The other family members probably wouldn't be there since they all preferred to eat along or in other small groups. It was only King Roy's own ambition for his closer relatives to eat together that brought them here.

But what surprised Evan upon entering the room was two notable figures. One was Skull Jones, who he had already know was here, and the other was a little demon girl with very peculiar eyes.

Trying not to be rude, Evan sought to not bring too much attention to her as he sat down beside his mother.

Marcus was seated at the right end of the table with King Roy at the opposite end while Lillian and Rose – Evan's other aunt who greatly resembled Mohan with the exception that she displayed a more dignified appearance, always keeping her hair neatly braided and her face always being made extra pretty with make-up and cosmetics.

And Skull sat beside Evan facing opposite to where the little demon girl sat next to Aunt Rose.

With everyone here, the group closed their eyes and mustered their prayers before they dug into their morning meal.

And for the most part, they ate in silence.

But all the while, something had been bothering Evan.

How should he have put this? It was the water in the glass mug that bothered him. He didn't quite know how to describe it but it was like he could feel the liquid.

And this became all the more noticeable when Aunt Rose reached for the mug and poured herself a glass of water.

He felt it. The water was within his grasp and he only barely thought about it – the image of moving the water with just his mind – but then it happened. The water flowed out from the mug and whooshed around in the air, just as Evan had wanted it to do.

At that the boy's eyes widened and he stood up to look at the water. He could control it. Evan could move the water with just his thoughts alone.

And at that, the boy wasted no time and tried to manifest a barrier within his hand. What came instead, was a ball of crystal clear water.

All the eyes in the room looked to the boy and he stared back with the very same question – "What was happening?"