Who You Really Are

"There are others like us, five more others like us."

"Five more others? Tell me you're joking, please tell me you're making this up." I demanded. In the bottom of my chest, I sensed it. The growing rage that I've been fearing, that demon inside me was slowly crawling out of its cage and was coming out of my body. I have to stay calm or I might kill the only person with valuable information at the moment.

"Why are you getting upset all of a sudden?! You should be happy!" Ryker raised his voice. I clenched my teeth and fist and thought of something peaceful to clear my mind but that didn't work, I was still angry and it's getting worse.

"HAPPY?! Why on earth should I be happy?!" I yelled. I looked down and saw Ryker clenching his fist as well, he too was getting angry.

Although both of us knew that we can't get angry or be consumed with rage, but neither one of us wants to lose in this argument. Pride is fueling up the heated conversation and is fueling up the growing wrath in us.

"Because we finally have people like us! PEOPLE WHO CAN UNDERSTAND US!" Ryker hissed. His face was turning red and his eyes were watery.

"PEOPLE LIKE US ARE A DANGER TO THIS WORLD!! A DANGER TO THESE PEOPLE! A DANGER TO MY FRIENDS!" I snapped. I finally realized the reason why I was upset. I was scared about the lives of my friends, them having some kind of connection to me brings them closer to danger and possibly closer to death.

"I have trying to keep them safe from something that could hurt them. I was keeping them safe from me and you, from us! Now you're telling me there are others like us? Demon parasites that should've never existed in the first place?" I revealed. My eyes were also watery just like his.

Ryker folded his arms and smiled weakly, he looked down on the floor and said, "Good for you, brother. Good for you that you have people around you that loved you dearly."

"I wasn't that privileged like you. I was alone and I grew up alone and I live alone!" He continued. "Everything and everyone around me either dies, leaves me, or hates me!"

"...Even you." He added.

I was caught off guard by what he just said. I never realized that he wanted my attention, I never realized that he wanted love. He was always so lively and cheerful from the moment we first met till he jumps in the shadows and vanished, even earlier he was cracking up jokes. I was a bad person, a bad friend, and most of all, a bad big brother.

"I'm sorry... I didn't know you were hurting." I said. I slowly moved forward and hugged him as he cries. I hesitated for a bit but eventually decided to pat his head softly.

"It's just hard to trust people when the one thing you trust the most betrayed you," I whispered. I suddenly had flashbacks when I was still at Hellviana. The first and only home that accepted me for who I was. I remembered the warm smile of the principal as he hosts numerous feasts and celebrations for us students. It's just hard to trust anything that comes in your life when the one thing that you thought wouldn't hurt you, stabbed you in the back.

*Boom*

A loud and scary explosion suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Ryker and I jumped by surprise and hurriedly ran towards the windows to see what was the cause of that explosion.

"That's the marketplace," Ryker commented.

I was frozen in place once I saw the chaos that was happening outside, the once peaceful but lively marketplace was now engulfed in flames and breaking apart. I looked around and saw the townspeople bringing their buckets and hurriedly scoop up the seawater to help put out the raging flames.

"Zion, look!" Ryker suddenly called out. I looked at where he was pointing and was shocked at what I was seeing.

I saw a couple of people on fire running away outside the burning marketplace. They were screaming in pain and flailing their arms as they desperately save themselves from death. An image that will surely haunt me in my dreams.

"Zion! Ryker!" A voice called out from behind us. I turned around and saw the door wide open and Olivia standing outside. She looked out of breath and was gasping for air.

"They wanted me to call you." She added. Ryker and I nodded in unison as if knowing what we're about to do.

"Both of you, hop in," Ryker said. Using his ability, he created a circle of shadow big enough to fit three people at the same time on the wall of my apartment. Olivia, without hesitation, ran towards. I looked out the window and saw her already outside along with my friends.

"Nice ability you got there." I grinned.

"Thanks," Ryker replied. "But seriously, let's go. They need our help."

I nodded and ran, following my brother inside the dark circle. It was a weird sensation once we were inside, although it only took a couple of seconds, it still made me a little seasick as we pass numerous locations towards our destination in a flash. Finally, we arrived at the marketplace and join our friends.

My friends were busy assisting the townspeople, even though they have their quirks to take care of the job a lot quicker, they stayed lowkey about it. They helped carry the buckets of water while the others help the injured inside the ambulance.

"Nice of you to join us." Theo quipped but I was a little occupied to handle my motion sickness and trying to handle not to throw up to even care about what yet another snarky remark my best friend has said.

"What on earth happened here? Who caused all of this? And where are the fire department?" Ryker asked, filling my shoes as the first one to throw a bomb of questions.

"Calm down little Zion. The fire department was quite busy due to the number of reports of fire these past few weeks." Layla said. "Earlier at dawn, four buildings and two houses were burning simultaneously."

"What on earth happened to you, Zion?" James called out from behind. I was still trying to contain my breakfast inside me.

"Just a little seasick. I think I need time to get used to anything teleportation." I replied, holding on to the light pole as I take deep breaths.

"Anyways... Ryker, I need you to cast a little bit of darkness everywhere so that I can control the sea and put out this fire without anyone seeing us." Layla commanded.

Ryker took a quick response to Layla's orders. He closes his eyes and controls every shadow from every object or person that has shadows. He then used these collected shadows and cast them into the sky above creating darkness, all of that without moving a single finger. While Ryker was doing his thing, my friends and I surrounded him, forming a circle around him so that no civilian would see him use his abilities.

"Dang Ryker, nice work." Olivia suddenly commented. Ryker looked at her and blushes. It was safe to say based on his reaction that it was his first time a girl complimented him.

"Great, now that we have an advantage, we can-" Layla stopped mid-sentence when she saw something out of the blue.

"EVERYONE LOOK OUT!" She screamed as a large boulder appeared out of nowhere and was heading straight towards us.

Thinking quickly, I raised my hand and used my reality-bending powers, and snapped the boulder out of existence without a trace. With the sudden boost of a near-death experience, my motion sickness went away and was replaced by adrenaline. Who on earth would throw a giant boulder at a bunch of kids?

"You shouldn't have done that you know." A menacing voice suddenly called out. The voice, although a little hard to hear from all the chaos that was happening around us, seemed to come from inside the burning marketplace.

"Casting darkness, I mean." The voice continued. "I can easily use my abilities on you without any fear about my identity.

I looked at my friends and saw them charging up their abilities and was ready to fight the unknown boulder thrower. Water surrounded Layla, everything metal was vibrating due to Olivia, the wind picked up because of Theo, James' hair and fist started to smoke, and Jessie stuffed her hands on her little bag that was filled with seeds while her boyfriend stood behind her.

"Who the hell are you?" I called out.

The voice snickered at my question, his laugh felt like a loaded gun that was aiming at me and my friends. Everything about this person was intimidating even though we couldn't see any sign of him, only his voice.

"I am the person who's going to tell you who you are. Who you really are." The voice announced. "Zion, The Prophesied King. Ruler of realities of the multiverse."