CH 3: Guidance

The next morning, Rylen woke with a yawn and a large stretch. The sun was beaming through his uncovered windows, making him cover his eyes.

"...is why I don't vote. This idiot of a president can't keep our country together!"

A faint manly voice entered Rylen's ear, accompanied by a woman's voice.

"Don't yell at the television, dear. It's six in the morning."

The faint voices continued, making Rylen confused.

"Is that the neighbors?" He asked himself. Rylen had never met the people living around him, so their voices were unfamiliar. But the houses were over 50 feet apart. He shouldn't hear their voices so clearly.

"Is this because of my new abilities?"

Rylen focused on his hearing and the two voices were amplified.

"Are you going to the store today?" The man asked.

"Yes, after work I was going to stop by. Why, do you need something?" The woman responded.

"I ran out of shaving cream. Can you pick up a new pack?"

"Sure, anything else?"

Rylen reigned in his hearing and the voices returned to a faint mumble. He tried completely pulling his senses in and they seemed to go back to normal.

"Interesting…" he said. "What about my other senses?"

Rylen closed his eyes and sniffed the air, focusing on what he could smell around him. There was a very strong scent coming from him that reeked of body odor but he quickly ignored that. A faint scent of bacon also made its way to Rylen, making his eyes go wide.

"Is Aliyah making breakfast?"

He got out of bed and went into the bathroom, taking another shower and getting ready for the day. After putting on a black t-shirt and jeans, Rylen looked at himself in the mirror.

He could barely recognize himself. Rylen had grown to over six feet tall and his facial structure had completely changed into perfection. The normal bags under his eyes disappeared and perfect, unblemished skin replaced it.

"She's going to freak out when she sees me. How do I explain this?"

Rylen knew his changes were absurd, but what was he supposed to do? He couldn't go back to how he looked.

Steeling his resolve, Rylen opened his bedroom door and walked down the stairs and into the kitchen.

In front of the stove, a woman with long dark brown hair stood frying multiple strips of bacon. She wore a casual t-shirt and tight jeans, accentuating her wide hips and skinny waist.

"Good morning, Aliyah," Rylen said in greeting.

The woman turned around with a smile on her face. "Good morning, Rylen." Now that her face was visible, Rylen could see her beautiful brown eyes and rose lips. Despite Aliyah being over 40 years old, her face didn't have a single wrinkle. Her eyes scanned the man in front of her and her smile shifted into an expression of surprise. "Who are you and what did you do with Rylen?"

Rylen chuckled nervously and scratched his head. "I've been going to the gym this past week. We haven't seen each other, so I must have changed a lot."

Rylen told her the excuse he had prepared on the way downstairs. He knew it sounded crazy, but he didn't know what else to tell her.

"The gym?" She asked in disbelief. "The gym made you grow half a foot and made your eyes change color?"

"I thought I'd try out some colored contacts. My regular eye color is too boring. As for my height, I must have hit a growth spurt."

Aliyah stared at Rylen, trying to find any trace of a lie but sighed. "Fine, you don't have to tell me. But promise me you won't do any drugs."

Rylen's eye twitched at his aunt's words. "Aliyah, I'm not doing any drugs…"

Aliyah turned back to the frying pan and continued to cook the bacon. "Alright, sit down. Got to have a good breakfast before your first day."

Rylen's eyes widened in realization. He had completely forgotten about his first day of school today. His first lecture was in an hour and getting to the campus took a while from Rylen's house.

One hour later…

Rylen quickly rushed in through the doors to a large lecture hall with hundreds of students chatting amongst themselves, their voices reverberating through the large room. Rylen's breathing was rough and sweat rolled down his face.

He was nearly late to his first class of the day. Even though the first day of classes didn't really matter, Rylen didn't want to miss anything just in case his professor said something important.

After reeling in his breath, Rylen glanced around the room, trying to find an empty seat. Since the class was about to start, most of the seats were full, so Rylen had to choose one at the very top row.

"Excuse me, can I sit here?" Rylen asked a pretty girl with long black hair and sharp facial features.

"Yeah, seat's yours," She quickly said without glancing up at him.

Rylen didn't mind the response and sat down. As soon as he was settled, the doors at the front of the room opened at a middle-aged man with a receding hairline walked up to the podium at the front of the hall. The students, realizing that he was the professor, quickly started to cut off their conversations and waited for the man to speak.

"Welcome, seniors," the man spoke with an authoritative voice. "You all should be fourth-year business majors, correct?"

The students collectively nodded and affirmed his assumption.

"Good. This is Business Analytics Capstone, where you will test the mastery of your previously learned skills from courses you have taken in this major."

As the professor continued on with his introduction of his speech, Rylen's concentration kept faltering. The events of the previous night kept lingering in his head and he couldn't stop thinking about his new powers.

Rylen's unease must have been noticeable because the girl next to him glanced over in his direction, curious as to what was wrong. When her gaze landed on Rylen's face, her expression changed and her eyes narrowed. Her expression soon changed into amazement and she quickly got Rylen's attention.

"Hey, can I talk to you?" She asked, whispering.

Rylen was taken out of his thoughts and he turned to face the girl sitting next to him. "What?"

"I need to talk to you, can we go out in the hall for a moment?"

Rylen's expression turned into confusion. "Uhh, I guess…"

The girl quickly got up from her seat, bringing her bag with her. Rylen followed her lead and gathered his stuff as well and followed her out of the room through a door that was at the back of the lecture hall on the top row.

Once they were out and in the hall, the black-haired girl looked around and once she confirmed that no one was around she turned back to face Rylen.

"Hi, my name is Rachel August," she held out her hand. "It's nice to meet you."

"...Rylen Aptera, nice to meet you." Rylen took Rachel's hand, still confused about why she pulled him out of class.

After they shook hands, Rachel smiled. "I bet you're wondering why I asked you to come out of class."

Rylen nodded.

"Have you noticed your perception increasing? Or your strength is higher than normal? Your appearance must have changed as well."

After Rachel's question, Rylen's eyes widened in horror. How did she know about his powers?

Rachel still maintained her smile. "Don't worry, I'm here to help you." She pulled out a card from her pocket and held it out for Rylen. "I'm an agent from Guidance. We surveil the population for anyone who attains special powers and we recruit them."

Rylen took the card from Rachel with shaky hands. He was still surprised that this girl found out about his powers so quickly. "Recruit them?" He asked. The card had a logo of a shield with a globe imprinted on it.

Rachel nodded. "The energy coursing through you right now is called Essence. Gifted individuals all over the world awaken the ability to use it and it is Guidance's job to find them and guide them on how to use it. You are probably confused about what has been going on recently with your body. But don't worry, now that you've been discovered by Guidance, you can have all your questions answered."

Rylen closely listened to Rachel's words and was relieved that there was someone who had an idea of what was happening to him. "Do I have to join Guidance?"

"You don't have to, I can answer questions you have about your powers right now. But know that if you choose not to join, you won't be able to access any of its resources or services. Guidance is the only authority on Earth that helps essence users, so choose wisely."

Rylen thought about her words. It seemed like a good idea, but he had a suspicion that he wasn't like any other essence users. "Do I have to decide now?"

Rachel shook her head. "If you go to the address on the card I gave you and show it to the person at the front desk, you can tell them your decision once you are ready."

Rylen nodded. "Thank you, Rachel. I have a couple of questions still."

"I'll answer to the best of my ability."

"What is essence, exactly? Why did my body completely change once I gained this ability?"

"Essence is the energy created by your soul that can strengthen your physical form and mind. The state you are in is known as becoming an Awakened existence. Once your soul can create essence, your body and mind go through a drastic change that empowers you. I am also an Awakened."

Rylen nodded, thinking about her answers. "How did you know I was an Awakened?"

Rachel's smile widened. "Guidance members are provided with a set of abilities that use our essence as fuel to power them. Once I noticed your abnormal appearance, I used one of my abilities called 'Inquiry' to see if you were Awakened or not, and to my surprise you were! I didn't think I'd find one on the very first day of school."

"An ability, huh…" Rylen muttered under his breath. "Thank you, Rachel, for the information. I was quite confused when I suddenly got this new power." Rylen smiled brightly.

Rachel's cheeks reddened slightly once she saw Rylen's smile. 'Why is he so handsome?' She asked herself. But once she realized her thoughts were skewed, she took control of her expression. "Don't worry about it. Guidance is here to help you on your journey to use your essence to the best of your abilities. Any more questions?"

Rylen shook his head. As he did, the doors of the lecture hall opened and students began flooding back into the hall.

"If you have any questions or you choose to join Guidance, please visit the address on the card I gave you," Rachel said before the students overtook us. "I'll see you later, Rylen."

Rachel joined with the leaving students and Rylen stood there, thinking about everything she said. Guidance seemed like a good place to go to learn more about what happened to him, so he decided to look into it more.

6 hours later…

Rylen walked out of his last class of the day, still in thought. Throughout all his lectures today, Rylen was looking at anything online he could find about Guidance, essence, or even the Abyss. But no matter how much he looked, nothing related to these topics was anywhere on the internet.

Walking on the sidewalks through the campus, Rylen finally stopped at the bus stop and took the bus to his neighborhood. On the walk back home, the sun was beginning to fall in the west and the sky was a deep orange and pink.

'Will Guidance know anything about my abyssal shroud abilities?' Rylen wondered to himself. 'With the titles it gave me, I don't think these powers relate to anything good. The Bringer of Apocalypse doesn't sound like anything Guidance would want to help get stronger.'

As Rylen walked through his neighborhood, he finally reached his street and began to walk toward his house.

Nearing the small, two-story home, Rylen was greeted with an unfamiliar appearance. In the driveway, he saw Aliyah's small silver sedan she drove but also a white mini-van with a familiar logo on the side. It was a blue shield with a globe imprinted on the surface.

'Guidance? What are they doing here?'

Rylen walked up the porch and neared the front door. But he frowned when he saw the door ajar. Rylen went to push the door further open and step in but he could make out noises from further in the house.

His hand froze before it reached the door and Rylen increased the range of his hearing. As time passed and Rylen continued to listen to what was going on inside, his expression shifted from confusion to horror.