Chapter 5 - The Bridge

Andrew said that they need to meet at dinner but Fise couldn't get himself to get out of the bed. The alarm rang for the 3rd time. It was 4:45 pm, 15 before dinner time. Fise was drained of all his tears after crying so much. His whole life was turned upside down and he was beating himself up for it. Eventually, he dismissed the alarm and stood up off the bed. He looked at the time and saw that it was almost dinner time and decided that he'll go get some food.

He left his room and went down the stairs. When he turned right to go down the long corridor, he looked over at the janitor room to see that nobody was there. He walked down the corridor and into the tutoring room, where the tables were being set up. He went over and helped some people move it, getting thanked afterwards. He also brang his chair and got his food before sitting down.

He picked up his fork but he just couldn't bring himself to stick it into the gel that was in front of him. It said it tasted like turkey but honestly they could have said it tasted like anything and Fise would have believed it if he was not aware of what they were doing here. He stuck his fork in and ripped off a piece. He then shoved it into his mouth, before quickly eating it. He didn't want to keep looking at it more. He eventually finished his meal.

After putting the plate and fork away at the middle table, Fise went for the exit, before realising something: he would probably never see this place again. He would probably never eat here, or hear the conversations other children were having, or get taught again, or play. He turned around to face the room and steeled himself, taking in a deep breath, engraving the image in his mind, before resolutely walking out and going towards the janitor room.

He wiped the tears that built up and arrived at the corner, which he took and saw Andrew stand in front of the doorway to the janitor room. Fise raised his hand to wave and walked over. Andrew turned and looked straight into Fise's eyes.

"Good, you're here. Listen closely. You will need to leave your window open, and wait till 4:30 comes around, then you will jump out of the window. You will not touch the ground or the outside of the building, at all. You will jump straight onto the wall, and proceed to walk down it. When you reach the corner, jump into one of the trees close to it. After that jump to another tree going away from the building and keep doing that 2 or 3 more times. After you do that, you'll be able to jump straight into the woods. Once there, you would go around until you find a small ditch with a log collapsed on top, acting as a bridge." Andrew leaned onto the wall.

"You would cross that log from the branch side, then walk forwards until you find a large bush. I'll be waiting in there." Andrew finished before asking: "Any questions?"

Fise did have a question."1, I thought there were wolves in the forest-"

"False, there never were, only foxes and wild game like rabbit, and even if there were, what could they do to a Guarded?"

"And 2, what are we doing after?"

"I'll tell you that then." Andrew walked past Fise and turned to go down the corridor before turning around."Bring 3 2L bottles, a blanket, some rations, no light sources and most importantly, a compass."

"Can't we just-"

"Use GPS? No. That's too dangerous. And there's no way we even can use it."

"What do you mean?"

"You'll see." Andrew walked off and didn't look back.

Fise gazed after him. He wanted to go up to him and squeeze the answers out of him, but he knew he shouldn't. Fise went up the stairs and back into his room. He looked down at his VR set and decided that this last play, would be awesome. He turned it on and his interface reacted before he sat on the bed and everything went black. Then the colours exploded.

...

Fise watched his interface switch to say 4:30 am before looking out of the open window and activating his aura. He had to improvise a bit, but he managed to keep the window from shutting after 11 pm, which they try to do automatically, by using some clothes and parts of the AMWR unit (he wouldn't need it anymore anyway). Now came the real test.

He looked upon his room and thought about staying but he decided for once and for all, that he won't. He will just turn into a soldier and probably wouldn't even be adopted. He knew he could be, but never put his hopes up at all. Who would take him? He crawled through the window and readied to jump. He closed his eyes and remembered all the things that happened here. Fun, games, sadness, anger, his whole life, and now he could let go of it all. He jumped.

The force made the pieces holding up the window get pushed inside, making the window close, along with Fise's past life. He flew through the air and landed nicely on the wall. He couldn't have made that jump normally but now he knew a few things. He put more aura into his legs and stopped time, which added a lot more force. He stood on the wall and began to walk slowly.

He almost made it to the corner, when he turned left and saw a dark figure with large white eyes stare at him. He almost screamed but held it in. He also almost fell off the wall. The adrenaline rush ended quickly, however. That's because Fise remembered that Shrouds couldn't do much to him since he was a Guarded now. He kept walking forward until he reached the corner, and looked at the tree 4 meters away. Fise put another of aura into his feet and legs and made sure he was facing the right way.

He jumped, his arms outstretched. He almost reached the tree when suddenly a long black arm swiped through the air where he was only a second ago. He hit the tree and snapped a few branches, before falling. He snapped more and more branches, but he grabbed one to stop himself, which snapped and only slowed him down a bit. Fise acted fast and enveloped his legs around the tree. He scraped to a halt and he fell backwards, his hair almost touching the ground, breathing a sigh of relief.

He then flexed his legs and pulled himself up, dodging a slash that cut halfway through the tree. Fise grabbed the tree with his hands and let his legs fall, before quickly tucking them up, a hand sinking its fingers into the bark where they were before. Fise looked down and stared at 3 Shrouds, 2 walking towards the tree, the last climbing up after him.

He swore. Fise completely forgot about Shrouds somehow, and now he had to pay for it. He started to climb up the tree, the backpack he wore getting in the way. He found it in the back of the tutor room, used as a prop for one of Emmy's lessons. The next tree was further away, and with a shroud climbing up after him, Fise decided to jump. He flew and reached the tree, grabbing onto it tightly, using the branches as support. 2 more trees and he'll reach the woods.

He jumped again and reached the next tree. This time he landed lower down and had to quickly move up before jumping to the last tree. The woods were close and Fise just wanted to get there as fast as he could. He jumped and landed on the ground. He immediately started running, looking for a ditch. He was going deeper when suddenly, from behind a tree on his left, a Shroud lunged at him, aiming to rip his throat out. Fise dodged forwards, the shroud going over him.

He stood up before crossing his hands quickly to block another swipe from the Shroud, making him trip and fall. He hit his head first then his body also hit the ground. It seemed he fell in a ditch. 'At least I found it.' he thought. Fise saw the Shroud descend onto to him so he lashed out with a punch, landing it in the Shroud's face. The Shroud flew backwards, its shadowy form dissipating where it was hit. Fise stood up and witnessed the Shroud get up, regenerating super fast, but now missing an eye. Fise was surprised before facepalming.

How did he also forget that Guarded are the best at killing Shrouds because aura burns the shadow away. The Shroud charged at him, aiming to plunge its shadow claws into Fise's chest, but as it came into contact with Fise's aura, its hand dissipated away. Before it could back away, Fise quickly raised his left hand into an upwards slash, cutting its arm off, along with making a scratch into its chest and through its remaining eye. The shroud backed away and tried to turn and run before Fise threw a punch with his right arm, punching the Shroud in its last eye.

The Shroud stopped moving. Then its whole body dissipated into darkness. Fise breathed in and out slowly, trying to calm himself down and trying not to get too angry at himself for forgetting the reason Guarded were looked up to in the orphanage. Fise stepped into the ditch and decided to go the way it seemed to become larger. After walking through the woods for a bit, the ditch getting wider and deeper, he saw above him a fallen tree.

Fise climbed out of the ditch and looked at it, seeing the side with the branches point deeper into the woods. He did as Andrew said and went straight forwards going in that direction. Fise could see the Shrouds look at him, not daring to approach, it seemed they knew what he could do. He kept walking and eventually saw a big bush, the branches and leaves so thick he couldn't see inside of it. He walked around the other side and spotted a small opening. He got onto the mud and crawled under.

He saw the other side and was surprised. He crawled all the way through and stood up."Good morning." said Andrew. Fise kept staring, before he asked, " How didn't I see the campfire, pointing to it. "I made sure that you can't see the inside at all, by adding a few more bushes. I make sure the ground is wet so nothing catches fire, and that the campfire is also in the middle." Andrew explained. Fise walked over and sat down opposite him, putting his bag next to himself.

"You brang the compass?"

Fise nodded.

"Good," said Andrew, before taking out a paper map. "Even though we have a map, it's from The Fall so it won't be able to find Incip."

Andrew put it back into his backpack before bringing out a tool that looked like a bottle opener but with the tip replaced with a long thin needle."Now come here." Fise walked over to Andrew, who stood up."So what are doing no-" Andrew activated his aura and swung the device so that the needle got inserted into the side of Fise's brain.

"AGGGHHH-mmfmfnm" Fise screamed before he got his mouth covered by one of Andrew's hands. Andrew took out the device, and Fise fell to the floor holding his head.

"What the f*ck!" was the only thing he could say. Andrew put the device back into his bag and turned to Fise. "There's a reason we brought a map and a compass. And that is that we won't be able to use our interfaces. They could be tracked. What I did was insert some nanobots that would destroy our interfaces enough so that they won't be tracked. Unfortunately, that means that we won't be able to use GPS."

"Could have given me a warning."

"Well, now you're awake, and that's good since we are going to leave."

Fise stopped holding his head and sat up. It didn't hurt anymore and he only had a mild headache.

"We are going to wait till dawn, your interface should be safe to use by then."

...

Dawn arrived. Andrew left the bush, Fise following, and set off. They trenched through the woods. After a while, Fise could hear what sounded like running water. "We're getting close," said Andrew. "After we cross the river, we would be outside of the orphanage's area."

Fise nodded. They parted through some foliage and were greeted with a small beach and a river about 100m long (328 feet and 1 inch).

"Are we going to swim to the other side?"

"We can't. The river is too strong, the currents would drag you away, even if you're a Guarded." Andrew said before beginning to walk to the right. Fise followed.

"Look." Andrew pointed at something in the distance. Fise looked to where he was pointing and saw, through the mist, a bridge. "We're going to use the bridge. It's on the map so it's probably not used anymore." They began walking again. The rustling of leaves and the river echoed around them as if embracing them with nature. Fise decided it was a good time to have a conversation since the bridge was like a mile away. "Andrew, you said you can help me with my aura."

"I did, yes."

"Can you, like, give me some tip or something?"

"I can. Something easy would be to use your aura to fight. Watch." Andrew raised his arm, covered in aura, and a blob of aura flew off, smacking into a branch and breaking it. Fise was enlightened."See, easy trick. It's called an aura punch." Fise was in deep thought. It seemed that he could make aura fly away from him using this 'trick' and that might solve a few problems he had with time stop.

He could only stop time for much less than a second, and that wasn't enough to do anything but punch once, however. If he could make multiple of these aura punches in stopped time, he could make time stop much more powerful. Also, since time stop was so short, he could barely move, which meant it was hard for him to get in range, but with this, he now could deal damage from further away in both stopped time and outside of it. But now he had a few questions, one in particular, however, 'Could I increase the time I have in stopped time?'

"Andrew, can an ability be improved."

"Yes. Not only the ability but the aura also. They're both like muscles, the more you use them the stronger they get, though without as much fatigue."

So they could be improved. Now he had something to do in his spare time. He stopped time. Everything lost colour and stopped, apart from Fise. He tried to stay as still as possible so that he doesn't disturb Andrew, however, he moved a bit anyway. Time began to resume and Fise still wanted to stay as still as possible and something happened. He seemed to quickly snap into place at the exact spot he was when he stopped time. Time fully resumed and he kept walking.

Fise was surprised, noticing what happened, before thinking of something. When he stops time, at the place where he stopped time, there is a ghost of himself. He seems to be able to 'snap' back to it when time stop ends. That could be good in a fight, and exceptionally good in trying to trick the opponent. Fise wanted to try a trick out right now so he stopped time. Or tried to. It seemed he couldn't do it. This made him ask another question.

"Do aura powers have cooldowns?"

"Cooldowns? Yes, some do. My fire doesn't have a cooldown per se since it is generated by my movement, I can't make any if I'm out of stamina. But for something like yours, I guess there is a cool down. After we cross the bridge, I advise you to study your power well. It could mean life and death in a battle."

'So I guess can't spam my ability.Bummer.'

"Can a cool down be reduced?"

"Probably, I don't really know."

Fise was disappointed. He couldn't get an answer to something that would help him. Also, Fise realised that Andrew was not all-knowing about auras, that means that they both might have no idea how to fight against some dangers, hopefully, they don't have to. The silence dragged on and Fise kept counting. '7, 8, 9, 10'. Time stopped. Fise smiled before snapping back into place as time resumed. So his cooldown is around 10 seconds. So every 10 seconds, he could move around 0.25 seconds in stopped time. That was not good.

Fise decided to break the silence. "How did you find out about your aura?"

"Hmm. It happened a few years ago. Someone ambushed me. I have been at the orphanage for a year or 2. I went outside to play football when someone missed a goal and kicked it pretty far. I went to get it and this man came up to me and grabbed me, saying that that was easy. And he said: just like your father. Something snapped and I slapped him. He acted like it was nothing but the fire spread, and since he didn't know how to stop it, he burned away."

"Wow. Yours is much cooler."

"Fise, how did you discover your powers."

"Well, I was watching the fight between you and the other guy when the last bit of aura was launched and hit me a bit. I then went in a coma for 5 days and woke up in the wave. I was attacked by a Wraith," Andrew paused for a bit hearing that."And my aura activated."

"You're lucky. Shrouds are weak but Wraiths have so much of that dark energy that our auras don't protect us enough."

They reached an incline, the bridge extending off to their left. They went

up to it and stepped onto cracked concrete, a husk of a car in front of them.

"Now we just need to cross it."

...

The car stopped and 2 people exited, a man and a woman. They walked through the garden and the gate, before walking in through the main entrance to the orphanage. Emmy was the receptionist, reading something when she noticed them. She was surprised, visitors are an unusual occurrence.

"Good morning. How may I be of service?"

The man walked forwards a bit more, "We are looking to adopt."

"Oh, wonderful! Would you like a baby or an older child?"

"We want an older child."

"Do you have any preferences? Age, gender, personality?"

"We would like one in the early teens, doesn't matter what gender, and we'll like for them to be hardworking."

"Right on it! Now, please sign these papers and fill in the information before I ask you a few questions. Please take a seat."

The man and woman sat on the chairs to the side of the room and filled in all the papers before handing them in."Thank you! Now for the questions. First, why would you want to adopt a child?"

The woman spoke this time, "Our son died recently and he was very hard-working, nice and sweet. We won't be able to raise a younger kid because it'll cost too much."

"I am very sorry. Second, will you confirm that you would not be putting the child in another orphanage..."

The questions continued. They eventually ended and Emmy said: "Thank you! I think I have the perfect child for you. Please wait a moment." she went down a corridor before turning left for a while, then right. She then walked all the way to the end until she reached the stairs to her left. She went up and knocked on the door. Nobody responded. She knocked again. Nothing. She decided that they were not thereafter more knocking and went to get the next best child, feeling remorse for the child that was in that room not being present. She went down the stairs, leaving the room door empty, the sign reading 15 I.S on it.

...

Fise and Andrew walked past the car and onto the bridge, which was littered with abandoned cars, most in better condition than the first one." Now remember, from this point onwards, there's a possible danger." Fise nodded. They walked slowly inspecting the area. Andrew turned to Fise to say something, but only spat blood. A red line could be seen entering Andrew's chest. Something exited from his back, the red line behind it mostly gone. Fise's eyes widened. Andrew spat more blood and was flung backwards and Fise caught him, his aura burning. Then the sound echoed around the river. The sound of a gunshot.

Fise tried to make Andrew stay up, and stop his bleeding when he saw a hole in the concrete. Embedded inside was a round. To Fise it was big, probably from a sniper. Then red lightning crackled around it. Fise's eyes widened and then the bullet seemed to expand a bit. Fise covered his face and Andrew, and the bullet exploded in a crimson explosion. Fise's arm got cut by the explosion, torn by the shockwave, along with his clothes.

"WHAT?!"

To Be Continued...