Seering Pain

Dan was covered in dirt and sweat, hunkered down in a dark corner under some abandoned building materials. He was breathing so hard that he didn't know why he was even hiding, everyone must be able to hear him. He was terrified.

'This is fucking fun', he thought to himself.

The team battles of the ranking event were nothing like he expected.

A laser sight flashed past his location, lingering a fraction of a second too long on his spot. 'Dammit, they made me,' when you're hidden you have an advantage, when they know where you are... you're trapped. He didn't have a lot of options in this scenario, he was in a narrow space, and the their modified phase weapons shot energy blasts. It wouldn't hurt him really, but it stung like hell and he'd be out of the round. 'Now,' he whispered into his communicator.

Phaser fire launched from behind a broken wall to his left, and from high in a dark corner above him. The 3 opposing players all hit the ground, shaking slightly from the shock. They had opted to move as a unit in an outward facing circle to cover as they searched for Dan's team.

Even though Dan was pretty well hidden in the debris, this was an obvious hiding spot. It was so obvious, that his teammates, Caleb and Peter, were able to place themselves in covering positions to wait for Dan to be found.

"Team 16 has won the round. Please proceed to the exit," a robotic voice called over the speakers.

"Yes! We did it. Brilliant plan Dan," Caleb said, all smiles as he gave a hand to the opposing team members who were just getting up.

"Damn, walked right into that," the biggest one said, Paul, said. "We'll get you next time." He didn't seem too upset. Dan was surprised actually, some of the higher ranked class mates went out of their way to chip away at his confidence before the ranking event. Caleb said they were worried about him showing them up, but Dan thought they might just be regular bullies.

"We'll see Paul. Your formation was very solid considering the terrain here," Dan said, a smile on his face. It felt good to win.

They left the arena as the proctors went in to set it up for the next rounds. Theirs was the last match of the round robin tournament, and the teachers would shortly share the matchups for the quarterfinals, made up of the top scoring teams.

Caleb, Dan and Peter headed towards the canteen area to get some food and rest. They had won each of their 3 matches, and were pretty confident they were going to be in the quarter finals.

The canteen area was abnormally full, as the ranking battle had drawn spectators from Academy and The Centre. Caleb had told Dan that different specialist groups within the larger organization used the rankings as a scouting opportunity.

Dan noticed all of their teachers in one section, likely discussing the results of the round robin. Throughout the room were adults that he didn't recognize, but they all gave off auras of power and competence. Seeing this many people in a space at once would have really taxed his attention before, with all the parallel images and information bombarding him. Now though, since The Quantum System had announced itself suddenly in his head, he was able to turn it on and off at will. It was strange to live normally, it felt like half of his senses had been cut off, or that he was experiencing the world looking through a dirty glass window. Turning it on felt like he was cheating though. Dan was conflicted about his strange power.

Almost unbidden, the system screen came up.

[QUANTUM SYSTEM]

[Daniel Sandman: Quantum Human]

[Class: Observer]

[Skills:]

- [Parallel Sight] [Level 3]

- [Foresight] [Level 1]

[Entanglements: Computer]

Dan still hadn't figured out where the system had come from, or why it seemed to regulate the powers that he already had since Ethan's death... He knew that it wasn't random, something must have happened to have turned his head into a video game, but no clues had presented themselves. The system was remarkably unhelpful about where it came from.

'System, where did you come from?' Dan thought.

"[We are an entangled AI, designed to regulate and advance the Quantum Talents.]"

'What does that mean though!' Dan had asked the question, and received the same answer, hundreds of times. 'Explain what the Computer Entanglement is'.

"[You have a strong entanglement with the Quantum Computer Talent]"

Dan was tired of the system, and from the match. 'You'd think something called the Quantum System would be smarter,' he thought.

"Earth to Dan," Peter said with a smile. Peter was Caleb's friend, but Dan had warmed to him, he was actually nicer than Caleb and very easy going.

"Sorry, I was just caught up in my own thoughts. I wonder who we are going to face in the Quarter finals?"

"Confident, eh transfer kid" said a tall olive skinned boy with close cropped black hair. His name was Trent, and he was far and away the number one student in the year 2 group. Whether it was tactics, martial arts, weapons or Math, Trent was the acknowledged star of all the year 2 classes. He didn't like that Dan was getting a reputation too, and this wasn't the first time he'd come to trash talk.

Trent and his 2 team mates sat down at the same table as Dan's team and started to eat. 'I guess they are joining us then, damn,' Dan thought.

After a few moments of silent eating, with Peter looking more uncomfortable every second, and Caleb looking madder, Trent said 'You guys did well in that last match. It wasn't a complicated snare, but it worked perfectly.'

Dan was more than surprised to hear this, "Thanks Trent. We expected them to be the hunter type, so we needed to draw them to us."

"Don't let it get to your head or anything. We are going to demolish you in the final round," Trent said, but he seemed to be in a good mood. "I'm looking forward to facing you, so don't disappoint me Transfer Kid."

"I want to do well Trent, but I'm not that confident ". Dan said, trying to downplay the tension he felt about this apparent rivalry.

"Pretend all you want, man, you think you deserve to win. You're good, but just because the teachers' treat you special, don't mistake it for you being as good as me. I've been training my whole life, you're just a talented drop in. And everyone will see in the tournament. Try to make it to the end so we can beat you properly". Trent didn't sound angry, just matter of fact, like he was talking about the weather. Somehow, that made it worse to Dan.

"Don't worry Trent, we'll put on a show for you. Wouldn't want you to get bored during the rankings," Caleb chimed in. He winked at Dan. "We put this team together specifically to beat you. Don't worry about modest Dan. Between his tactics, my martial arts, and Peter's marksmanship, we're ready for you".

Trent smiled then. "Finally. I knew I could count on you at least Caleb. Let's give it our all and make it a real battle!" In just that short amount of time Trent seemed to transform. The cool, aloof older boy persona was replaced with a much more vibrant attitude. "I've noticed your swordsmanship too, Caleb. I don't think it will help much in the team battles, because of the terrain, but you have great skills. We should spar sometime!" Trent's smile grew wider.

Dan had no idea what had just happened, it was like a new person was sitting there. Caleb had a better understanding though. Trent had been number one all through the lower grades, and year 1 and 2 of the advanced Academy training. He was just looking forward to giving it his all.

"Maybe we could play chess sometime then?" Dan said, trying to get into the new spirit of the conversation.

"Ha. That would be a short game, I'm terrible. Quin though, he's sharp" Trent said while patting the the blonde boy to his side. Quin seemed like the strong silent type.

"Sure, I play pretty well," Quin said. He was serious and friendly Dan decided.

'System, Parallel Sight' Dan thought. Instantly the room was filled with the flickering blue light he associated with his secret knowledge and his ears were bombarded with 10 times as many conversations. In a way, turning it on suddenly was more jarring than when he just lived with it constantly. However, he learned the system gave him another advantage he didn't have before. Now he could focus his power to show him the possibilities of just the area he wanted.

He centred his power on his table, the light and noise from the rest of the cafetaria disapeared. Now he could hear the overlapping conversations that might have happened with Trent and his teammates. The dark, more lifelike images of Trent all seemed to be saying similar things talking towards Caleb and his own parallel images, but some of them were angry and some seemed disappointed.

The blue version of Quin was telling Dan that he 'didn't think playing chess would be worthy of his time, since he was definitely a million times better'. 'Huh, so this Quin is a bit of a quiet and confident type,' Dan thought.

By paying attention to the parallel Trents, he was able to tell that he really did come here to try and ramp up the competition. If Caleb hadn't chimed in with a little trash talk, or Dan kept being modest, Trent would have gotten angry and things would have gotten tense!

That seemed to be the most powerful aspect of this power. Dan couldn't read minds, but seeing all the likely actions and responses happening in parallel gave him something almost better than mind reading. It was like seeing 10 versions of someone's mind, insight into how they think and respond, and Dan was becoming really good at reading this data. 'Seems like Trent really is a good guy' Dan thought. He looked over at Trent's other teammate, the quiet one. Almost all of his parallels were also sitting there soundlessly, but, deep in the realm of possibility, Dan saw something that made him jump out of his seat.

"Wahhah," Dan yelped.

"What is it man, you look like you saw a ghost!" Trent said, looking closely at Dan.

"Seriously, you ok?" Caleb said. Quin just looked curiously, and the other boy didn't even seem to notice as he kept eating his food.

"Sorry, sorry. I thought I saw a ... wasp," he said, a little lamely. "I must be more tired than I thought. There is nothing there." Dan sat back down and everyone laughed a little before talking again. Dan looked at the other boy, was his name Aaron? He was talking with Peter now and seemed totally normal. He wasn't though. Deep in his parallels, Dan could see a hard, cold version of him with a wicked expression on his face. And that version of Aaron had wings.

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