Born a Normie?

The Anomaly race has a characteristic of being not only violent, but also very arrogant and condescending. They regard anyone who isn't as gifted or possesses special qualities such as themselves to be lesser. The Don liked to use the term "Normies" to describe such perceived inferior beings. Dark Matter, a deep-purplish liquid substance found in abundance deep within the planet's crust, is found in large quantities within each Anomaly. This substance grants them superhuman powers at some point in their lives-usually from the preteen age. The more powers a youth discovered within themselves, the more famous they became. Some say Dark Matter is the glue of the universe. Most saw this as speculation and believed Dr. Lunningham only found a large enough quantity of this cosmic substance to use in his creation of the Anomaly.

Those who primarily don't believe in the "we were created" doctrine say Dr. Lunningham didn't exist. The few that believed this teaching say the Anomaly were sentient Dark Matter particles deep inside PowerLand that learned how to form human-like bodies over time after reaching the surface. These particles reached the surface through seismic events before the "Dawn of Sentience". Over the millennia during the "Dawn of Sentience", those particles became few in every subsequent race created until it reached one that was devoid of the substance in their system-the humans. Fortunately, most of the world knew better than to believe such blasphemy. Arguments that refute the mad scientist's existence are no different than those who don't believe in a higher power and think life started with a single organism.

As a child, all Zini's peers had extraordinary feats, except her. She was ridiculed and regarded as lesser despite also being an Anomaly-although she wasn't one fully. At face value, Crystal, because of her immense power as a psychokinetic, was one of them even though she wasn't an Anomaly. Don, on the other hand, was an Anomaly by blood but wasn't unique as far as the superpowers were concerned. He was a great tactician and very strong willed. Don was the Anomaly's first King since PowerLand's creation and continued to be until his death. Zini was a product of the first widely known inter-species union on the planet. When she was born, Zini's skin appeared to be unlike those of her fellow race. It wasn't completely purple but had more of a brown tint to it than the purple color. The light brown color, she inherited from her mom who's a light-skinned lady. Consequently, her peers poked fun at her because of this trait.

"She has no powers!"

"She's mos' def a weaklin'!"

"She looks like us but isn't!"

"She's an impostor!"

"She's a hybrid!"

These were the type of statements that trailed the paths she walked. However, there was another problem Zini's schoolmates had with her. She won every fight she got into despite not having any unique superpowers. Unknown to them, she could lift three times her weight, a feat which was way more than that achieved by any Anomaly child. At age ten, most Anomalies were able to lift only twice their weight. Zini could lift the average weight of an adult Anomaly male at their peak strength with training. She usually got into trouble for injuring the children who tried to bully her. Once, her mother went to school about her suspensions. The atmosphere was thick and filled with fear and uncertainty. No one wanted to step on the toes of the Queen. At first, Zini was excited, she could now breathe. But the excitement soon turned to sadness because now the bullies and their families experienced the Queen's wrath. As a result, many kids stayed away from her due to who she was. Zini wanted to not be bullied, but she equally didn't want to be avoided or become the bully.

This was just the beginning of her problems. Being born from two super villains should've granted her at least one unique superpower but didn't at the average "discovery" age. At age ten, she was as strong as an adult Anomaly and smarter than the average Anomaly. She understood quantum physics and had a photographic memory. One would naturally expect her parents to be proud of her. Unfortunately, this was only half true.

Zini's mother was proud of her but her father was far from it.

"I want a warrior for a daughter, not a scholar." was his regular reply of contempt for her in public and in private. Her father treated her like an outcast and at times avoided her like a plague! Zini always tried to make him see that she was his daughter and would try her best to make him proud.

"Why can't you love me like other fathers love their kids? Why do you treat me so badly, Daddy? Why?" Zini cried out to him in front of others only to be met with ridicule not just by her father but those who supported his treatment of her.

There were a lot of why's but no answers. It was saddening that her father did not see her as his child. He did not attempt to hide the fact that he didn't want to have anything to do with her. At different times she'd tried displaying her expertise in different extracurricular activities in school: acrobatics, weightlifting, and wrestling.

"That's child's play!" the Don would often scuffle and remark when the feat was brought to his attention.

Yet she still was a child, and a rather gifted one at that! She'd broken records no Anomaly child could even come close to breaking. Why wouldn't he be proud of that? Why wouldn't he love her? She'd cried herself to sleep believing that her father would never love her most nights. Zini used to think she was cursed. That was the only thing that could explain the absence of superhuman powers in her currently by the Anomaly societal standards. However, at thirteen and a half, something changed. The stress of going to school and living under a dysfunctional family began to paralyze her. She locked herself in the room and cried herself to sleep most times. Other days, she vented through workout sessions or by punching her frustrations into a punching bag or a random wall at home. It was during one of these training sessions that something spectacular emerged.

Zini began hearing voices in her head. She heard them when people passed by her room. Sometimes voices woke her up in the middle of the night. She even knew it was time to eat when the maidservant came to her room with dinner. The first person she told of this power was her mother. Surprisingly, her mother had known the answers before Zini even came to her. Her mother also knew Zini knew of her evil deeds throughout the centuries. This was from Zini accidentally "Mental" probing her. The current war the Anomaly were fighting against some race called the Nexus. She knew all about it.

"So, what is this power I have, Mama?" Zini asked.

"You have to keep the power to yourself." Was her mother's only reply.

But, why? It didn't make sense to Zini. Then she critically thought about it. This power was an invasion of privacy. She understood that. Regarding her mother, Zini started having suspicions that she was hiding something. She could feel it. As for this power Zini had, her mother called it Telepathy. She also told her that no Anomaly Telepaths existed and not since the Flamers, a once powerful gang in Caprice killed all of them. 

The Flamers started off as a cult of pyrokinetic Anomalies but their arrogance over the years corrupted their leadership. Some of them decided to launch campaigns against the Telepaths of Caprice known as the Veritas Guild. The Flamers were the first to believe telepathy was an invasion of privacy and felt Telepaths should not exist. During the Flamers rise to power, the public didn't know the Queen was a Telepath. How the Flamers found out about her being one was through a Royal Guardsman. This guardsman also a member of the Flamers. During the first five years of Zini's life, the Flamers tried to assassinate the Queen. Though she knew they were no match for her, Crystal didn't go out of her way to hurt them and Don knew that they weren't a real threat to her. Most of the time, she just erased the ill-intent out of the would be assassin's mind. The day they tried to harm Zini was the day the Flamers' leadership ceased to exist. Their followers respected the Queen from then on and dared not to attack her or her family.

How Zini became a Telepath was by blood and her mother's heroic actions against the terroristic pyrokinetics known as the Flamers proved that she too had the potential to be someone great in Caprice one day. However, her mom wasn't an Anomaly. Don tried to create a clone of a powerful being that lived long ago known as the Dreamer. The only thing Caprice's history books said about the Dreamer was that she was once a dear friend of Don. She died suddenly after the creation of PowerLand due to an incurable disease contracted while exploring their new world. After the Dreamer's death, Don ordered his scientists to create a clone using her DNA. Historians believed the Dreamer was Don's first wife. Crystal wasn't an exact replica but was enough for Don. He was in love with powerful women and Crystal was one herself. This was the sole reason why he wanted her as his new Queen.

Though the Flamers ceased to publicly attack Telepaths, in secret they were murdering them by the dozens each year. Knowing this fact, Crystal charged Zini with the task of using this power responsibly while keeping it a secret for her protection. The current Flamer leadership don't know the Queen is a Telepath because she erased that fact from their minds. Furthermore, anyone outside the Royal Court that knew that secret wouldn't remember that piece of info either.

"But mother, does that mean I am doomed to being an overachieving telepathic Normie?" Zini once asked her.

Crystal stared at Zini, expressionless until she heard her mother's voice in her mind, "Neither one of us are Normies!"

This power soon became fun to use against Zini's initial tormentors. She could easily read their minds and thus knew their movements before they acted. A group of foolish children decided to pounce on what they presumed was a defenseless Zini after school. Zini could feel the maliciousness of this crowd around the corner. She could feel their rage, jealousy, and spiteful emotions. Some knew she was better than them athletically and academically, however, there was a power that eventually turned them away. Zini would refer to it as the "adult" in her or the power of reason many kids her age didn't use. Yet there were Anomaly adults who were impulsive too. Zini sensed most of them were. Her father was one of the few who wasn't.

In the skirmishes against the Nexus, the Anomaly armies would win some battles but that was only when the Queen oversaw that battalion. Yet her mother was a battle bred tactician that awarded her those victories. Before her mother was born, the Anomaly were no match for the Nexus, seldom winning any battle against them. This was due to their inherent impulsiveness.

She asked her mother once what this power was that allowed her to feel her opponent's emotions. "Zini, it's called empathy. Normies have it, but on a lesser scale." her mother answered.

This power was both frightening and wonderful at the same time. Zini could read people's emotions. Using this power on her mom, she could feel her disappointment, frustration, and irritation. Zini didn't know why but believed her mother's feelings came with the territory of not only ruling a nation, but also dealing with a king that didn't recognize his own daughter. Zini was furious at first but realized one parent was at least trying to do the right thing. Or was this a misinterpretation? Zini soon began to believe there was something off about her mother. It's true she stopped the bullies and their administrative allies from antagonizing her up until high school. The protection stopped when Zini learned how to use her secret telepathic and empathic abilities responsibly around the age of Fifteen. By this age, she could read surface thoughts but only got in trouble when trying to read her mother's mind.

"My mind is off limits to you!" Her mother vehemently said to her each time before giving Zini a mental lashing. This resulted in Zini getting a slight headache after being kicked out of her mother's mind. Eventually, Zini's mind recovered faster after each "mental attack" over time. The side effects used to last several hours, and her headaches were quite severe. Now she had a slight headache that lasted for a half hour. Sometimes the intensity of her mother's mental lashing knocked Zini out as punishment for repeatedly trying to sift through her mind.

As Zini grew older, her mother told her that Zini's mind had become as impenetrable as the other Anomalies. Then it dawned on Zini that her mind was an open book to her mom until she turned seventeen. The following year, all 18-year-olds would go before her dad for military service "tryouts". Eighteen was an age of significance as Zini felt it was going to be a great opportunity for her to win his love. Or so she thought. She wasn't eighteen yet and she didn't imagine in any shape or form, being disowned by her father when that time came.