I was about to escorted out of the infirmary by Mr.Richards when the double doors burst open. A white and yellow stretcher on wheels rolled through pushed by a doctor and a nurse by its side.

“Heart rate over 200, blood pressure rising, body temp at 104.4, someone calls a healer!” The doctor spat out commands at both Ms.Terise and the nurse.

Just as the stretcher was about to ram into my pillar of carbon the wheels of the stretcher squeaked to an abrupt stop. Even though I started to sweat slightly due to the anxiety of being the source of the problem here I couldn’t help but get a good look at the person on the stretcher. It was a guy that was thankfully unfamiliar, not of course that he didn’t matter but just not as much as someone that I was friends with.

From what I could see the problem didn’t seem to be a body injury. He had pale skin which amplified the bruises and slight burns that spotted his arms and torso and I assumed his legs as well. His eyes were rolled back, and extremely bloodshot as well as blood pouring from the nose like a waterfall cascading off the cliff that is his face.

“What the hell is this Jack?” The doctor practically yelled while staring wide-eyed at Mr.Richards.

Huh, I assumed his name would be Charles the Second or something. I shook this thought out of my head as I furrowed my brows in thought as I tried to come up with a way to help. I mean I have super powers now what can’t I do?

Mr.Richards quickly turned around with more agility than I would’ve thought he would have and placed both hands on my shoulders and shook them vigorously while he spoke. It was quite a jarring experience honestly.

“Chase we need you to destroy it if he is going to get help” He tried to sound calm as to not scare me perhaps but I could tell even he was a little worried.

But no worries he could count on me to fix the problem. Well, the problem I created anyways. I pushed the increasingly loud yelling out of my mind and reached out with my right palm to touch the thick pillar of carbon in front of me thinking physical touch may help in the endeavor.

Apart from the rough surface of what I could touch with my fingertips, I felt something else. I couldn’t quite a vibration or even a shimmer, but it somehow felt ancient, something so complex that I couldn’t put my finger on exactly what it was. Or maybe I was just too stupid to even fathom to perceive what it was.

I began to realize I didn’t know how long I’d been not trying to eradicate the carbon. Re-focusing on the task at hand I began to try. At first, I just tried to make it just disappear by thinking destroy over and over in my head but after a solid ten seconds of it not working I decided to alter my technique. I began to visualize the collum to eat away at itself, to collapse onto each and every particle and crumple together into nothingness.

After a few seconds, I felt my work complete. Opening my eyes I stood proudly in front of my work, other than a couple small craters on the floor and ceiling there were no signs that there had been anything there.

But oddly it was silent in the room except for the heavy breathing of Ms.Terise who stood over the guy with her hand on his chest that was slightly glowing. The doctor’s expression melted away from fuming to a more solemn face.

“Time of death-” The doctor abruptly stopped as he looked at the smashed clock on the wall.

“Anyone got the time?”

At this point I was processing what was happening, I was too late. Even though he might’ve died anyway I felt it was at least partly my fault. That was two known deaths that the blame lay under my belt. Might as well prosecute me as a murderer and lock me up in a max prison for what I’ve done.

Mr.Richards layed a hand on my shoulder and led me out silently, I couldn’t read his face but I could practically feel the waves of disappointment radiating off of him. Ashley, Julian, and Jayden stared at me in confusion as I was led next to them.

“You guys should head off to class, it should be starting soon and It will be interesting” He commanded before turning and walking back into the infirmary without glancing at me.

“Fourth one this week” I heard him mumble to himself as Mr.Richards passed through the double doors.

“So what’s up with that?” Ashley questioned me while still looking at the infirmary.

“Who knows I left before I found out what happened to him”

I wasn’t exactly lying as I felt I was just not telling the whole truth. I knew that he died but I didn’t know what they would do with his body, I guess that was kind of insensitive but it was the only way I could twist myself out of thinking I lied.

We started to head out towards the classroom as I pondered what just had happened. Thankfully I was shaken out of my stupor as Jayden posed a question to me.

“So you never told us what you can do?”

It a second for me to understand what he was asking me before I answered.

“Well, I don’t want to ruin the surprise!” I paused thoughtfully before going on “Although I think I have to be tested before I can start experimenting” I answered.

“Ah makes sense, I myself dislike surprises but I assume that even Julian would enjoy a good surprise”

I glanced at Julian who quickly opened his mouth to comment “Ye-yeah I sometimes like surprises… Even I have one to show but, not right now” He said slowly as if each word poisoned him to say.

That was weird, something seemed to be ruffling Julian’s feathers. But that was for another time as we had arrived to the bumbling classroom filled abuzz with chitter chatter.

We walked in and again found the chairs lined up along the walls. Although what was different was a middle-aged man that I remembered from the day we arrived. Equinox, the legend, a man of Godly proportions among mere mortal men. A man that was laying in the supine position in the middle of the floor with his eyes closed.

“Is he… dead?” Julian asked slowly as he eyed the balding man in front of his like the rest of the people in the class.

“I dunno go shake him gently with your shoe,” I said unhelpfully.

To our utter surprise though Equinox said something “Even though I may be out of my prime my hearing is still quite pristine”

He stood up from the door and dusted himself off and motioned us to sit down. He stood in the center, even in his aging body he was just like I saw in the pictures. Shoulders back, chest puffed up naturually, jaw set. Very quickly everyone in the room quieted down and sat down in their respected seats.

I thought people would make a fuss about me due to what has been happening but that had apparently long passed and all attention was on Equinox. After a few moments, he began.

“I would like to know any rumors or anything you would like to add to what you think I did as a hero, anyone may speak up but please raise your hand”

One after another he called on different people. Each person sprouting out facts about his achievements, his power, his fights throughout his lifetime. Finally, he called on Jayden who sat next to me.

“You fought and killed the leader of the terrorist group called The Last Steps”

Equinox went quite for a second before starting “Yes Darkside. Leader of The Last Steps a most unfortunate sounding self-made name. Now, most of you should know my power is a tool, a shield to be more precise. I protect, that is my role to the innocent, my team, and my country. Darkside was a sword, a bloody one that slew the people by the tens of thousands.”

He paused for a second to apparently collect his thoughts before continuing “Darkside had an ability that the world had never seen before, one that led to the psychotic debilitation and nightmares of many. When Darkside made a power play to seize hold of the armory of a military base in a major city I was, of course, sent with my team to stop him by any means necessary. Nobody even knows what his ability actually was since anyone who witnessed it never really survived long enough to write down any observations. Some though saw it and spread rumors, but those were mostly discounted by scientists as they had gone clinically insane.”

“Due to me being a shield I never thought myself the one to kill him, I was to support the team they said. Let the heavy hitters take him out they said. But when my team was slaughtered by Darkside I had to face him myself. He has shrowd with shadows, the literal entity of seeming darkness. I guess that’s why he calls himself Darkside. I always thought my self to be a shield but at that moment I had to be something different. Something more. And so I did”

Equinox lifted his arm in front of his palm outwards, unsure of what he was doing I leaned in with the rest of the people around me possessed with curiosity. A green wall of translucent green energy materialized in front of him.

“My energy is malleable by thought, I can make it expend or twist around corners. So in a stroke of genius or accident, I surrounded Darkside with it and… compressed. Due to the ethereal being of Darkside, it was, well difficult to say the least but even he had some human in him. I compressed the energy, and even though I was on the verge of collapsing due to the absolute monstrosity of something that pushed against it I ended up winning the tug of war and ended his reign of killing.”

He shook his head as if to make the memories disappear and his face lightened up fractionally as he started onwards again. “This leads me to my point, what your power does is not so forward. I think we have a pyromancer in this room and if you can stand up please I would appreciate it”

All eyes moved to Marc as he stood up, small flashbacks of my fight emerised my brain. I ought to talk to him later about what happened. Marc stood up.

“Now his ability of fire may be seen only as a destructive force, something to burn, to hurt, to kill. But what if he could use it to support not to destroy. He could use it to burn down buildings, or he could use it to warm freezing children in the tundras of Alaska. In that moment against Darkside, I couldn’t be a shield, I had to be something else. What I am saying is to be creative with what you do, don’t be black and white.”

“Be grey”