Nerves and Terror

Monica

We touched down in front of the statue of a man, as tall as a story building, wearing an expression of fierce conviction and exuding an aura of magnificence, and I felt myself fight the urge to kneel.

Asrai places a hand on my shoulder. "It's a normal reaction." Lutor nods in agreement. "When I first saw this monument, I couldn't get on my knees fast enough."

"Roal the protector" Gerial whispered, "He fought against the strongest talents of the Ragnarok Empire to give us enough time to protect ourselves."

"They say he almost won too, but he died." Lutor continued quietly, his expression sober: "He died that day to protect us."

"What was his talent?" I ask quietly, suddenly feeling like noise would defile this environment.

"Oh, he had two: metal and fire," Lutor says, "can you believe that? Having more than one talent is very rare."

"His battle was glorious," Asrai sighs. "You should see the recordings."

"It's a surprise any recordings even survived that battle," Gerial says.

I take a moment to stare at the statue of ROAL; he invokes an emotion of awe in me now. I think about my talents and if I should let the boys know, but I decide to keep them to myself instead, unless the test reveals them. I don't mind the world knowing; I just don't feel ready for all that attention now. "So what do I do now?" I ask

"Well, we have to get you registered first, then you should do the test." Lutor replies, looking around curiously.

"I would advise you to do that in the evening to avoid the worst of it," Gerial whispers, and the boys nod vigorously in acknowledgement. I suddenly feel like we are planning the coup or something incredibly illegal.

I point at the four of us. "Why are we whispering?" I ask telepathically. I'm still trying that, so I think I scream it in their heads instead. The boys jump and stagger back in pain. My eyes widen in horror. "I'm so sorry." Lutor recovers first, and he waves away my concerns. After a while, Gerial replies, "If anyone finds out that we are trying to keep a traveler under wraps, we'll be in trouble."

"Especially if it's the sector head," Asrai adds, "or the King."

"But the king is in the capital," I say, confused. "He can't possibly hear us."

"The king has resources that we can only guess at: various talents with various abilities." Asrai says, "Better safe than sorry."

"Plus, he has Mino Cinn, a class 5 telepath," Lutor adds.

"A telepath cannot hear voices thousands of miles away." Gerial scoffs

"So, the point here is to be careful," I say before the boys get into an argument. Asrai chuckles at their antics. "I might need a place to stay," I say. The boys turn to stare at each other, and it's almost like they were having a telepathic conversation that they alone could hear. That's when I realize I had no idea what their talents or classes were.

"Well, you can stay with us," Lutor says after they finish their weird conversation. I sigh in relief; at least I could be with people I at least knew and not on the streets.

"As long as you make no trouble, we'll be just dandy." Gerial says, and I cross my heart, promising to be just right. Asrai chuckles at my display.

"Come then, we'll take you home."

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It's evening, and I pace around my room in the boy's apartment. Nerves wrack me, and I breathe, trying to steady myself. The boys left hours before, leaving Lutor here to help with my registration and test. ​

I hear Lutor call out from the living room, and I walk towards him. "Ready?" he asks me with a smile that I think is supposed to be reassuring, but he fails to hide his excitement for the test. I roll my eyes at him and walk out.

"You can't possibly be this excited," I reply.

He grins, finally letting his excitement out: "What's not to be excited about? I'll be chauffeuring you to the local test and registration center; it's an absolute legendary moment." I laugh because I think it's funny. He clasps my shoulders and says, "It's nothing to be scared of; you'll be just fine."

I nod. The test isn't what was scaring me most; the fact that I'm hiding both my traveler status and a second talent was what scared me. We step outside the house, and he hails one of the flying vehicles around us. I hesitantly step into it.

The man at the wheel turns to us with a smile and says, "I'm Akeem, class 3 telekinetic; what's your destination?"

My heart stops in my chest for a moment, and I subtly direct all my focus into reading all of Akeem's thoughts. I wanted to know if he could sense that we shared a talent, and I didn't know what I would do if he could sense my telekinesis.

This being the first time I've tried to read a person's mind, I had to be gentle; I didn't want a repeat of what happened to the boys this morning. I sigh in relief when I only get thoughts of his daughter and his job and nothing even related to me; it was almost embarrassing.

I pull my mind from Akeem's; Lutor is speaking to me, but I can't hear him. The whine in my head suddenly pops, and the silence that follows is deafening. New strength flows into me, and I feel my senses grow sharper.

I look at the world around me with new eyes. Lutor is shocked beside me, and I realize his thoughts are so loud that I can hear them even without trying. The thoughts of both men cloud my mind and make it hard to think.

"Did you just tier up?" Lutor asks. He seems so shocked, and I realize from his thoughts that it's unusual for people to tier up so early. He thinks I'm a class 4 telepath. I nod to reply to his questions, and he just shakes his head.

"I guess we are about to find out." I nod, and he clasps my palm in his, squeezing reassuringly, but still, I wonder what we'll find out. I spend the rest of the drive pulling my senses around myself and limiting their range. Closing my eyes, I focus on my breathing.

We arrive a few minutes later, in front of a building painted silver and gold. I stare at the building while Lutor pays in silver for our ride, and I'm taken back at the fact that a world this technologically advanced still used such means of transactions.

The thoughts of several people slam into me the minute I step out of the vehicle; the assault is so unexpected that I lose control of the sense that I just barely managed to control. My sense spreads out, and more thoughts slam into me, all clamoring for attention and bringing me to my knees.