Chapter 2: A FIERY AWAKENING.

It has been ten years since Taski met Hayamoto and was given the registration paper, and now The two royal children have grown into young adults. He is now twenty years old and is fresh out of high school, while Darice is now twenty-two years old, she has been a graduate for two years before her brother graduated. The two have always had sibling races throughout the city of Asalikith Capital ever since their childhood days. Taski was a fast adolescent male and made the top at just about every track competition in his high school years and he still until now has never been able to outrun the fast-lighting, that is his older sister. Darcie had been given the nickname Fast Lightning due to her incredible lighting speed ability, she didn't even attend the track competitions, due to her speed. She discovered her ability when she reached the age of thirteen, and after she was blessed with her ability, she tamed her speed and ability to protect those she loved. The two were having a friendly sibling competition downtown. Both of them were both flying through the heavens and performing intense parkour on the rooftops. Taski was determined that he was going to beat Darice and finally obtain a victory. Darcie shouted to her little brother," Hey little bro! You're going to have to keep up with my superior speed, I know that you would rather not be left in the dust again."

She then shot down, up and over, and all around the building structures throughout Asalikith Capital at Light Speed. She left him behind in complete shock; however, he didn't let this intimidate him and shouted, "I don't think so sis, Not this time. I will win this time." so he grabbed a tight hold onto the structure near him, which was a round clock tower, and slid down the brick-walled tower at high speed. He then leaped off the tower at the right angle and landed on a flag pole, sliding down in between two small marketplaces. He scared two ladies working at that time. He then dashed towards the church where he had last seen his sister running, he slid under large carriages and tight areas within the town. Meanwhile, Darice ran into Sharaletta and Mikado. Sharaletta was now twenty years of age, while Mikado was at the age of nineteen. The royal children's close friends greeted her after being away for a while, Sharaletta asked Darcie," Well let me guess, he still hasn't beaten you yet has he?" Darcie chuckled in response to her question and said," Of course not! He still has a long way to go before he's ever going to beat me at a race." Mikado, confident in her one true love said," Oh I'm certain that he could win in a race, as you know my baby was top in almost every high school track competition, although he never went up against anyone like you.

As long as he is having fun, that's all that matters." As Taski hurried towards the finish line, the royal daughter took notice that he was approaching. Sharaletta then implied to her," Well what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be rushing to the finish line?" Darcie was confident and wasn't too concerned, she then said," I feel it is unnecessary to finish the race this early, so might as well not rush myself." Taski then approached the finish line and noticed she wasn't there yet, he then took the perfect opportunity to take the victory for himself, and as he was approaching it closer and closer he thought to himself, "(I will not lose again, I will not lose again, I Will Not Lose Again!)" He comes to the peak of the finish line in victory to then get instantly cut in front of by his lightning fast sister; thus he trips over in failure as she takes the victory. She then positively says," Looks like another win for the Fast Lightning, Darcie Mandelen! Better luck next time little bro." Taski, baffled at his unfortunate defeat, states to her," Just you wait sis, I'm going to beat you one of these days." Mikado glances over at him and smirks affectionately and dashes to his footing since she had been away from him for three months. He greeted both of them after three months of not seeing them and said, "Hey, long-time ladies." Mikado, giving lots of attention to him, giggles and says, "He-he.... You're still the cutest man in all of Asalikith.

You haven't changed a bit, except you're much hotter than you usually are." Taski, still lying in defeat from the loss he received from his sister, asked, "How! How! How! How do you do it sis? How is it that you can move so quickly like that? She then was flabbergasted since he had no idea of her lightning speed ability she has had for at least nine years. She said to him, "Well, little bro, all I did was use my ability to shoot across the city at lightning speed. That's honestly all I've been doing for the last nine years that I've had it." Now caught in the interest of abilities, he asked, "Well then, how do I use this ability that you're talking about?" Sharaletta supporting him on the topic, "Well, to put it short, It is just like a superpower that some are born with and someday in their life discover it." Darcie, with even more knowledge of abilities, then said to him," Abilities are unlocked for a user when it chooses to reveal itself to the user. It isn't easy to obtain, they just come when certain tragedies happen in one's life." This information seemed somewhat perplexing to him and then drove him into confusion which only made him feel like he wasn't special like Darcie, Mikado, and Sharaletta were since they had their abilities. This then grieved Taski. In her massive love for him rested her hand on him and said, "It's okay dear, don't worry you'll find your ability soon my love."

Darcie, after the amusing race she won, felt starved and had the idea to go to the local café and enjoy a nice lunch with each other. Sharaletta agreed with this request as well as the rest of them. The four friends headed for the local café in the eastern city part of the capital. The four friends arrived at the café and were seated at their table, the royal children ordered a plate of breakfast sandwiches. Mikado ordered cooked carrots with a salad. Sharaletta ordered a bowl of salad. Taski was still a little down from not being able to understand how everyone else discovered their abilities but not himself. She took instant notice of this and became concerned with him, she then asked him, "Hey, are you okay? You seem down in the dumps my darling." He replied to her, "Yeah, I'm okay, it's just the fact that I see everyone here showing off their abilities around me and all." Taski then thought to himself, "(I just wish I could have my ability.)" Mikado insisted and got up out of her seat and walked over to the side of the table where he sat on and with comfort and love towards him, she told him, "Aww, I know how you feel darling. I didn't discover mine until I was fifteen. It will happen to you soon sweetie. Just give it some time." She then encased her arms around him to soothe his distress. Taski then thought in comfort, "(Well, I can't lie, she does give wonderful hugs.)"

After some time had passed at the café, Taski decided to part ways with the girls and go for a walk by himself for a while down the safe streets. There he found that old alley that he and the girls used to go down all the time, finding himself too deep down in fear and worry, he felt led to go down far into the deep alley. He went all the way towards the very end of it where most illegal actions happened; however, he saw that it was empty and no one was there at the moment. He then sat down to rest after his walk, unaware of the danger that could arise. Over across the street from where he was, there was a construction site, there his old friend Dakaski was a team lead supervisor, he was responsible for everyone's safety and making sure everyone had met their quota for the day. Dakaski, in a commanding voice, said to a group of staff, "Yo, you all need to be more careful with all that heavy equipment. We don't need anyone else being sent home again today." Dakaski took the responsibility seriously and didn't take horse playing lightly; however, he had high favoritism towards certain people within that shift, so there were instances where he didn't care what some employees did. Minutes afterward, Dakaski and his crew members were going to their second break, he walked past the fence he looked over across the street and noticed someone sitting down in the deep and dark alley.

When it then dawned on him that the one sitting in the alley was none other than Taski Mandelen. He then said to himself, "No way, are my eyes playing tricks on me? It's him?!" He still had hatred towards Taski for what happened recently when they were in high school. Dakaski had dropped out of high school and started the workforce earlier than his classmates. He then had the thought to go and settle his bone with him. As he was looking down at the ground with all the graffiti drawings around him, he made a slight tear shed in doubt of ever finding his ability, he thought to himself, "(I am twenty years old, and I haven't even discovered my ability yet. How? Mikado, Sharaletta, and even sis. How come they found theirs at such a young age, but I can't? I guess since I've reached my twenties, maybe it's too late for me to discover mine.)" Then he heard what sounded like footsteps walking down the alley. The footsteps kept getting closer and closer as a shadow began forming on the walls coming down towards the end. Then the shadow was revealed to be Dakaski. Taski then was surprised and said, "Dakaski? Is that you? I haven't seen you in forever." Dakaski then said to him," Well... if it isn't the little nerd all grown up now into a man. What are you doing down here? I guess you don't have any friends, huh?"

Taski then felt the intimidation radiating from him, he felt as though coming down here wasn't a bright idea. He got up off the ground in slight fear and said, "uh... how has life been for you old friend." Uninterested in his question, he then pulled out a Revolver Model 500 and pointed it towards him. Taski then said in fear, "W...wait! What are you doing? Why are you pointing that gun at me?" Dakaski, chuckling in amusement, stated," You're still that little nerd who can't defend himself in any situation, like you have always been. Here, let me do you the favor and end your pathetic little miserable life." The prince was cornered and had nowhere to run, he tried to reason with him and begged him to repent of this decision. Dakaski didn't have any plans to change this action, he then pulled the trigger, shooting off an incredibly fast bullet, and pierced Taski's hip in a blink of an eye. The prince then began throwing up blood from his mouth and slowly fell to the earth in excruciating pain. Dakaski, laughing in delight said to him, "Chris put this mission in my hands to do, something he failed to do all those years he had. I don't know where he went off to, but if he was here right now, I can see that he would be having a ball right now in complete pleasure. That's how I see it, old friend. I'll be the one to remove you from this life, you stupid failure. Any last words, you worthless waste of creation?"

Taski then gathered the strength to stand up, shaking and losing blood quickly, he said, "You know I won't buy your statement of me being worthless. I know that I am worth something in life whether big or small, I know that I am a new creation, and I am not defined by my past failures. I Am Not A Failure!" Then deep down within the royal prince, a flame within his heart sparked and ignited with heat force radiating from his body. Thus, a giant flame guardian suddenly appeared as an angel of fire with a sword that illuminated the whole alley as a fire began engulfing everything around. With all the fire charging and igniting up, then came an enormous explosion, catching the eyes of everyone nearby and driving the citizens into panic and fear. Dakaski dashed out of the alley at supersonic speed with half of his hair and clothes on fire, as well as his clothes. At the top of his lungs, he persistently shouted, "Okay! Okay! I'm Going. I'm Going. Don't Kill Me." At this time Darcie decided to go and look for Taski down the streets and noticed smoke arising up from the street where she and her friends would always hang out in. She then dashed towards where the smoke was at. As she approached the safe streets, she decided to slow her lighting speed and lightly ran towards the area with smoke, only then to see that it was indeed the long alley she was familiar with.

Then Dakaski approached her at super speed, running past her to avoid any consequences of Taski. She was confused as to why he was shooting past her dramatically shouting and screaming like a child running to his mother. She didn't take any care of him, but ran over to the alley to check out what had happened. The fire department, police force, and citizens were swarming the area and blocking the entrance to the alley. Darcie found a small opening and dashed through at lightning speed. She knew this alley from start to finish, and had zero issues running throughout the long pathway, except for some fire that was still burning on the walls and the grounds. As she made it closer and closer to the end of the alley the fire became bigger and hotter. Darcie slipped through the burning flames and reached the end. Only to see gigantic flames surrounding the end of the alley, but she instantly spotted someone lying on the ground, completely isolated from the flames, she then knew exactly who it was. She gasped and said, "Oh my.... TASKI."