Kinetics: In Search of Willow (52 page)

"
I guess. How do I get you out
?"

Sarasvati clasped her
hands together and began to walk. I followed after her
instinctively, trying
to
not pay attention to the fact that I was not
really walking on anything at all.
"
Only Ben Ashwater can get me out.
Fear not, I mean you no harm. In my many forms, I
travelled
far and I have
gained the knowledge of a thousand rulers and beggars. I am only a
gatherer of knowledge
and
I only strike when I must protect myself and
through that I will protect you, because you protect
me
."

Suddenly she stopped and
stared up. I felt something, my real body perhaps, being
teleported.
"What's
going on
?"

She
didn't
have time to answer because I
was kicked back into my body and found myself staring up at a
starry night sky. Beside me I heard conversation but the words made
no sense. It took a moment before I realized that the people
talking were doing so in Chinese.

I looked over and saw Marcus Grey
talking to a young girl.

I
didn't
have the energy to think much
more than that, because as soon as I realized it, the pain of the
EOS struck
and everything
that I had done to pull my powers out of my body
rebounded and I was in immense pain.

I screamed and screamed and
screamed.

And little did I know
thousands of miles away Willow
was
well
on
her
way
to
becoming
the
next
host of
Isiro
.

HARRY GLEESON

I followed Willow
into
the Healer's rest
where Willow
would
become the
next host
of Isiro.

There were two cots in the middle of
the room laid head to head. George Lancaster, Isiro's current host,
already lay in one.

I had
never
seen our leader this close
before. It was strange. In George's body he wasn't nearly as
intimidating as he could have been. George had become old and
wizened. He had been Isiro's host since his mid-thirties, and now
well into his sixties he looked so much older than he should have
been. I had heard that in some ways being host to Isiro could
extend life for some, but George hadn't been one of the lucky ones.
He had aged well beyond his years under the weight of Isiro's
mind.

"Harry?" Willow pinched my
shirtsleeve.

"Yeah?" I looked down at her. Her
stance was strong, but her eyes were worried.

"Will you hold my hand… when… you
know." She glanced to the side, she was nervous and it
showed.

"Of course!" I said and wrapped my arm
around her shoulders and squeezed.

The Healer monitoring the transference
came over to us. "George and Isiro have gone into a deep sleep,"
she said. "We have to put you under now too, Miss
Willow."

"Stay with me until I wake?" she asked
me.

"Yes," I smiled.

Willow nodded and sat on the second
cot. She looked around at the small gathering of people who had
come to witness the transference. "I keep forgetting," she
whispered to me, "that this is almost a once in a lifetime
experience for some."

"It is for me, too." I
said.

The Healer came over and patted
Willow's shoulder. She lay down and closed her eyes. I reached out
and grabbed her hand. It shook in mine.

The Healer touched Willow's head and
Willow's hand and entire body stilled. I swallowed and tried to
shake the feeling that she was dead. I could still see the light
rise and fall of her chest as she breathed.

Another Healer came over and stood
between the two cots. He placed a hand on George's forehead and a
hand on Willow's and began to breathe in and out deeply.

"What's he doing?" I asked the first
Healer who was now standing next to me, watching the other Healer
work.

"He is regulating their
internal energies. They need to be on
the
same
wavelength for the transference to
complete itself. They are already in tune with each other because
of their meditations this past month, but the extra help while they
sleep will make the transference go smoothly."

I nodded and squeezed Willow's hand,
even though I knew she was in too deep a sleep to get anything from
it.

"Transfer," the second Healer said.
The first Healer left my side and placed her right hand on George's
arm and scooped the green crystal lying on his chest into her left
hand.

I had momentarily forgotten the others
that were in the room. But when the Healer picked up the crystal
there was a collective gasp from the onlookers. The Healer reached
over and placed the crystal on Willow's chest and then placed her
left hand on Willow's arm. The crystal glowed brightly and I could
hear an electric hum coming from the two Healers and the two hosts,
old and new.

The air crackled and I felt more than
saw a massive amount of energy flow from George and into
Willow.

The shoulders of the two Healers
slumped and there was a sigh from the onlookers.

The transfer was complete.

END OF BOOK 1

TO BE CONTINUED IN BOOK 2

FORCES: IN SEARCH OF
POWER

Supplementals

Glossary of Terms

Anyan’s Decision
(AD)
:
An
experimental drug that suppresses a wielder’s powers for a short
time.

BodyHeat pills:
A set of two pills, the silver one lowers the
body temperature, the black one returns it to normal.

Combine
Power
:
Combine
powers are powers that join two other powers to make a unique
power.

Isiro:
An alien of indeterminable age and purpose. He has no
physical body and has lived via human hosts for generations. What
remains of his ‘soul’ is in a green crystal pendant through which
he can connect to hosts.

IsiroanTech:
Because of Isiro’s alien origin, Isiroans are
well versed in highly advanced tech. Most of their modern tech is
combined with traits from powers. Anyan’s Alliance has little
access or understanding of this tech.

Kinetic:
Term for a person who can utilize powers. The
term was coined via a translation error made in a speech by former
chief minister of the Anyan’s Alliance Ashraf bin Saqib Al-Fulani.
The term stuck and has become widely used in modern day.

Omni-powers:
Powers that have access to all variations of
powers. Included are Omnipotence and Mirror.

Primary
Power
:
The
Primary Power is always Telepathy.

The Prime:
A point of time when a Kinetic is young where the
volatility of their powers is most extreme. This is the point where
children begin to fully manifest and settle on one unique
power.

Secondary
Power
:
The
Secondary Power is any other power, it changes from person to
person, but not exclusive to anyone.

Sphere:
A general term for a sphere of influence. This is
how far a Kinetic can use their powers from their person. It can
grow with the skill of the person.

Telepathy:
Telepathy is distance restricted. The further the
‘Pathers the more skilled they must be.

Tertiary
Power
:
The
Tertiary Power is like the secondary power but is much less
developed and very rarely does anyone gain more than a fundamental
control over it.

Kinetic Weaponry:
Weapons that certain kinetics can imbue with
their powers. These weapons are not specific to any power; the
imbuement occurs with the Kinetic not the weapon. Rather, weapons
can act as a sort of centering device. The powers do not stay in
the weapons after use.

Vunjika:
A Vunjika Block is what a kinetic has when he or
she goes untrained in their powers after the age of 7. With a Block
it becomes increasingly hard to remove as the years progress.
Blocks often occur automatically with extreme psychological trauma.
Blocks can only be broken with intensive work and training. A
kinetic with a Block is called a Vunjika.

Wielder
:
Any person who uses Kinetic
powers

KINETIC POWERS
AND SOME THEORY

***

- The following abilities
are only the
known
powers. There are still powers out there with no class or
specification of use. Also due to the nature of the human mind,
powers are subject to extensive variation. Combine powers for one
have led researchers to the conclusion that powers are not set in
stone. A person like Laura Jordan has a Combine power that melds
together the two Psychic Class powers of Mind Read and Illusionary
and because of how she uses it causes her targets to experience
nightmares. She can also cause them to enter a sleep walking state
where they can interact with the world around them while still
seeing some form of nightmare.

- Powers are not determined at birth. A
Kinetic spends the first five years of their life in a state of
uncertainty, their bodies and minds are constantly trying out new
powers and trying to make one fit in with the child’s environment,
personality, upbringing, and so on. At five they enter the Prime.
The Prime is the primary influential environment for the
development of powers. By the age of 7 the mind begins to acclimate
to a particular pattern and the environment in which the wielder
resides. At 8 or 9 the power settles and becomes permanent.

- If a Kinetic goes untrained throughout his
or her life they become inflicted with a Vunjika Block that often
times cannot be broken without serious work and pain on part of the
wielder. Use of powers as a Vunjika, as Eugene did, causes Energy
Overload Syndrome, a malfunction of certain circuits in the brain
that become overloaded with Kinetic energy. EOS then causes the
body to try and expend the energy via fever or, ironically,
continued use of powers.

- The tendency for the mind to acclimate to
its wielder’s surroundings is oftentimes the cause of new and
unusual abilities to arise. There is no limit to what the mind can
come up with within reason.

- A wielder’s power works on a sub-molecular
level. For example, when a Breather is breathing in a poison gas
the gas itself is being sub-molecularly changed into oxygen. Fire
and like powers are especially potent powers because the wielder is
effectively tapping into the energy of atoms themselves.

- The first conscious ability that any
Kinetic learns is that the human body contains only so much energy.
There is energy all around us so they must learn how to draw energy
from any sources around them. As a Kinetic trains his or her
reservoir of energy in their body grows.

- As a Kinetic grows in power, her abilities
and control over her environment will expand. For example:
initially a Pyrokinetic will only have control over fire itself, as
she trains she will be able to temper and control the smaller
aspects of energy. Some powers and persons are able to branch out
to other similarly constructed powers at advanced levels. This
particular ability is not easy and many have coveted the training
required to do it.

POWERS

PHYSICAL
CLASS

Alter: Transforms any inanimate object
into another object

Teleport: Teleports the wielder and
anything he or she wishes to a specified location.

Telekinesis: Gives the wielder the
ability to move and manipulate physical objects.

Transform: Changes the form of the
wielder to another human or animal.

Healing:  Heals wounds, highly
advanced Healers can occasionally heal or cure various ailments,
but the ability to do so is beyond many wielders
proficiency.

Invisibility: Turns an object or the
wielder invisible via reflective light.

Fission: Obliterates an
object. Effect is like an atomic bomb
on a
significantly smaller scale
.

Solid Shifter: Allows wielder to
become part of a physical object, chameleon-like, but the effect is
that the person is separating the molecules in their body to enter
another object.

PSYCHIC
CLASS

Mind Control: Gives the wielder the
ability to control and enter another’s mind.

Mind Read: Gives the ability to read
only the mind.

Mirror: Mirrors an opponent’s
power.

Sensory Sphere: Kinetic radar or
sonar