Crash!

The window on the top floor of the Henson high school building shattered and shortly after, a shadowy figure jumped out. She was getting used to her power now. In the air, Anna Albert struggled but with great effort, she guided herself to the roof of a nearby building rather than fall from the incredible height.

She grunted as she landed clumsily on the roof but she didn't let it slow her down. Quickly she lifted herself up and continued running. Her arm that hurt moments ago was already healed. Anyone else would have been glad to have her kind of powers but she didn't have the luxury to. She had discovered her powers just a few hours ago and now because of it, she was being hunted. Her life was on the line.

Anna tried not to think about her friends the man had killed to get to her. Truth was, everything was in her head right now. Literally. From the heartbeat of a cat in the alley not too far from her to the thoughts of the worried mother trying to get to her child. Everything. She couldn't think. The only thing that kept her running was the knowledge that she would die if she stopped. Even for a second.

Once again, her powers notified her of the presence of something — No, someone. Moving towards her faster than she could comprehend. It was him again. She wasn't going to survive if she kept running. If she kept being the prey. She stopped and turned around watching his figure approached her.

“Honestly, I like the way you think,” the man spoke as he reached her. “You're a bold one. I like bold.”

“Stay back,” She warned and moved backwards slightly. She needed to distract him. She reached with her power, looking for something to serve as a projectile.

Nothing.

“What are you going to do, throw a trashcan at me?” He asked mockingly. “Come nicely and I'll make it painless.”

He's in my head again, she thought in despair and he chuckled slightly.

“I'm always in here,” he answered, his voice clear in her head.

Something. Maybe not something she would throw but something. A door. She could sense stairs behind it leading somewhere too complicated for her powers to make out. Anywhere from him was best. She could feel the door a few meters away from her.

“Stay out of my head!” she screamed. Her anger, overcoming her fear, spiked her powers. Whatever they did, it gave her the time and opening she needed. He was sent flying away from her to the edge of the roof and she seized the opportunity. She ran towards the door. Tugging at it, she noticed It was locked. Anna pulled with her powers the second time and the door was removed from it's hinges.

Her force still roaming, she was able to sense him moving towards her. She didn't waste another second thinking about the door she just pulled down or where the stairs headed.

She went in.

She went down the stairs quickly. As she did, her mind processed all the info she had perceived. What if she never made it? What if he got to her? She wanted to cry but she felt empty, too drained to. Fear once again overtook the desire to do anything other than run even though her body didn't want to anymore. All that was on her mind (aside the insane amount of information her powers kept gathering), was getting away from the telekinetic/telepathic madman hunting her. Thinking about how he killed her friends fueled her desire to survive.

She kept running.

She reached the end of the stairs and wasted no time in opening the door. The room was a kitchen filled with chefs running around and the smell of food. She recognised where she was now. She'd been here before, several times. It was somewhat different now though. They were acting like she didn't matter which was highly unusual. Maybe it was how she looked? She didn't care. Now was not the time.

Anna searched again with her powers for the man, but she didn't find him. It gave her relief in a way she didn't like. She was almost free. With him gone, she could quickly get home. About two miles from here. She hurried out of the kitchen and into the dining area which was quiet.

Anna barely got out of the two storey building when she got hit by something. It was like a vehicle moving at a high speed collided with her, but in reality, it was nothing of the sort. There were no vehicle in the areas near the restaurant. Just people, going about their early night activities.

Whatever it was, it made Anna fall. She suddenly felt crushed and unable to move. From the side of the building, a blond man smartly dressed in a black suit with blue eyes appeared and walked towards her. Anna recognized him. It was the man who had been chasing her with the intent of killing her. He was the one doing this to her. She tried getting up to retaliate... She couldn't. She tried the push as she did earlier and the result was the same.

Nothing happened.

“Help!” Anna tried screaming to everyone passing but no one replied. It was like in the restaurant. Couldn't they see her? The giant of a man standing over her? She made noises but they didn't notice her. It was like she wasn't even there.

“You would have been formidable if you unlocked your gifts earlier,” The man said. He sounded like he pitied her. Like she was his easiest prey. “Probably best that you didn't. It would have been a long night of hunting and running,” He said.

After a slight chuckle, he spoke. “I hate the hunting.”

At the end of the sentence, his eyes grew brighter and she felt more weight on her. He exerted more force on her body and it began to feel like she was being turned into a human bag of crushed bones.

She began screaming as her bones began breaking under the weight of the invisible force. She couldn't scream anymore and soon she didn't have to. A much more powerful force canceled out the blond man's. It definitely wasn't hers. She was sure as hell that she didn't have the strength to lift herself right now, talk more of resisting the mountain weight she had been under.

Soon darkness enveloped her and her pain filled body stopped hurting. Her mind wasn't screaming with information, she felt peaceful.

■

She woke up to find herself on a cold hard surface.

Slowly, Anna opened her eyes and found she was in a slightly dark room; a light shone from a place she didn't know. It was like the room chose to illuminate itself that way.

She tried searching with her power and only reached a feet when she felt pain all over her body. She immediately dissipated the already growing force. She then noticed a light glowing not too far from her face.

The room suddenly got brighter and she noticed she wasn't alone. Anna saw herself on a metal table and a man much shorter than the blond psycho standing over her. His hands were aglow in golden light and he seemed to be in deep concentration. He was clad in black armour from head to where Anna could see from her prone position. Only his glowing hands were bare and they seemed to be healing her tortured body.

She also noticed her green t-shirt and jeans trousers were torn and dirty from her fall earlier.

She made slight noises and whispered, “Am I dead?”

“Why does anyone who finds himself in a strange room thinks himself dead?” He asked.

She had no reply and he continued the healing.

She took a moment to look at her surroundings. The room was quite simple. Two chairs and the metal table she was lying on. Other than that, there was a door and a few destroyed armour parts lying on the wall.

She concentrated, trying to hear his thoughts but she received nothing. It was like she was normal again, without her powers.

“Don't bother, the armour protects me from your gifts. I do advice you don't try that again. You're the one on the table with shattered bones and destroyed organs.”

“Where am I?” she asked after a while.

“In a room,” he replied.

“I meant the location of the room.”

“In a dimension billions of light years away from planet Earth.”

“Okay,” She replied.

I was thinking he was going to say beneath the earth, this night keeps bringing the unexpected, she thought.

His gaze moved from where his hands had been to her face. He inspected it then he returned his attention to her abdominal region.

“You know, this is the second time tonight someone stood over me doing things I have no idea about,” Anna said before realising how awkward she sounded.

The man not noticing it, answered simply. “Well this one's saving you from the damage the first one caused. You heal fast but not at the speed required to fix all this. At least not without you dying first. No need wasting.”

She didn't know what to say to that, so she asked something else, “So uh, what do I call you?”

He looked at her for a while then answered, “Duncan.”

“Are you like him?” she asked.

He paused and looked at her again. He replied, “A mindman? No. I'm a M'gen”

Obviously, normal guys don't have glowing hands and personal rooms in strange dimensions. She had never heard about a M'gen. She didn't want to believe but she just almost got killed by a mind reading, telekinetic. She was open to ideas.

Her mind traveled to her injured best friend and dead classmates.

“My friends were hurt, some dead. Can you heal them too?” She asked.

“No, Miss Albert. I don't do miracles. What's gone is gone,” he replied.

“But you said— wait, how do you know my name if you don't read minds like the other creep?”

“Everyone knows the name of the Mayor of Redstone City's daughter.”

“Okay then if you are not like the blond man, what are you?” She asked.

“Why so many questions?”

“I've been in the dark all night. This powers, almost dying... I need answers,” she said.

There was silence for a moment. She didn't think he would answer her when he replied.

“I'm a M'gen.” He raised his head and saw her confused look then he added, someone like you, only I don't generate Chaytan, just channeling the one in the air.”

She looked at him still confused. If anything, that answer he gave raised more questions.

“Chaytan is a universal energy generated by the Immortals and self proclaimed gods of Devaria, a dark and chaotic realm. That energy is dumped here on Earth, some absorbed by man and the rest by objects. The men gain distinct powers and abilities, they are called mindmen. We M'gen wield the weapons powered by Chaytan and with it, we control the raw, unabsorbed Chaytan, simply put, magic.”

That answered a few questions. “But what did the mind guy want with me?” she asked.

“Mindman,” Duncan corrected. He moved his hands from her stomach down to her legs. “The absorbed Chaytan makes them god apprentices, gaining Devarian physiology. The one you faced calls himself The prince. He is one of the most powerful mindmen out there, an immortal. But he doesn't stop there. The Prince desires to surpass immortality and become a god. To do so he needs more Chaytan. Mindmen can't absorb the Chaytan in objects or the free Chaytan, so to fulfill his desires, the sacrifice and absorption of a fellow mindman's Chaytan is required.”

“That's brutal,” she said simply. She began feeling her legs again. Most of it. Her ankle downwards still felt out of her reach.

“It's the way of your kind,” he replied.

“I'm just a teenager who almost got killed tonight. I don't belong to any secret race of parahumans,” she protested.

“One thing you aren't, is normal. Daughter of rich oil guy turned Mayor, social media snow white, you beat natural order by being born without a heartbeat, you don't socialize and you stay indoors with your best friend all day. You're far from normal. Always have been.”

“You sound like an internet stalker,” she replied, feeling uncomfortable.

“All I said is known to everyone in Redstone City.”

True. She wasn't normal in that sense but being called a non human because she could hear thoughts and lift things with her mind was totally different.

Wasn't it?

A while passed and she spoke again,“Did you get him, The Prince. Is he in a room like this one?”

“He escaped, now shut up and let me concentrate or you'll be here for hours.”

She complied and closed her eyes. She relaxed as much as her troubled mind would let her. Her mind wasn't picking any extra details right now but it still felt full. Full of uncertainty and questions. One thing was certain though, she wasn't normal anymore.

“Get up,” the man spoke after a while. Her body still felt hurt but she obeyed.

She didn't want to get on this man's bad side. But it didn't seem like he would hurt her, he hadn't taken advantage of her. Not that she knew of, she corrected herself.

“I'm guessing you didn't dress up just to save me. You must do this a lot. I'm not normal too. I could help,” she said as she stood up from the table. “Help you catch The Prince.”

“My kind don't socialise with yours,” He replied. She wanted to protest but she didn't. She was one of them. A god apprentice. A mindman.

“Why heal me then?”

“Because there's something big and dangerous coming and I need all the help I can get when it comes. This isn't like the other saves I do for the normal people on earth. This isn't me playing friendly neighbour, you owe me now. When I want it, I'll come find you,” after that, he murmured a few words and the room began to shake, cracks appearing on the wall and extending round the room in a runic pattern.

“To help answer questions that may arise, I didn't heal you fully, the rest your powers will fix but not before you get to the hospital. You'd be arriving on earth at the exact place I found you. Two hours from the time you left.”

“But isn't that—”

And she vanished. Wherever she was, Anna experienced the same unnatural peace she felt before.

Soon, she blacked out.