Boundless Voice part 1

In the last two months, Jade had practiced his - wonder senses - none stop. At this point, he was able to use them relatively with ease. It was becoming second nature for him.

He also noticed that the frequency of their involuntary activation had decreased noticeably with time. He thought that, maybe the reason behind this is his attempts at learning to control them. He couldn't be sure though.

One more thing that happened consistently to Jade during the last couple of months was, under the pretext of searching for a cure to his symptoms, he received many offers from different organizations regarding his abilities. Nothing of this made sense.

In one way, all the contracts he was offered seemed to include some kind of exclusivity of his abilities to their organization and theirs only.

In another, the fact that he received all these offers led him to believe that what he had wasn't something that rare or at least unheard of, lest they would have taken him by force and turned him into a guinea pig.

And yet, no matter how much he searched for it online he never found anything related. It was as if those who knew are trying to keep it a secret and cover it no matter what.

Needless to say, he refused all the offers without hesitation. Though there was this offer made by a private company that dealt in ergonomically chairs. He did not see why would such a company need him. However their offer was the best he got so far.

They offered to teach him all they know about these abilities in exchange for working with them for two years.

For someone who is twenty years old, two years seemed to be a great amount of time. None the less, the sign in bonus was too good to be true. And he would have a great use for it, since his app was shaping up quickly and sooner he'll need all the money he could afford to put his app out there and advertise it so that he could start generating some revenue from it.

Another condition that was part of this contract, was that he should start immediately with them and basically drop out of university. It was simply an outrageous idea for him. How could he possibly leave the university he worked so hard for twelve years in order to attend?!

So, in the end, he shrugged it off just like the other offers.

***

Nowadays, he was able to keep more than one - wonder sense - active at a time. And it became like breathing to him, he could do it without thinking much about it.

However, this was not enough anymore. He wanted more. He wanted to have more control! It was a really addicting sensation. More importantly, he was in dire need to share what was happening to him with his close ones, he needed someone to speak to.

One day, he decided he would tell Taofik every thing about this, not caring much for the contract he signed a while ago. So at night, when they were both in their dorm room, he went ahead and started.

"Taofik, I was meaning to tell you. It's been about three month now, but I think I developed some kind of .." [Knock, knock]

He was interrupted by some one knocking in the door. He went to open it, only to see one of the cleaning ladies that helped keeping the dorm clean and in order.

" Hello Jade, can I have a word with you please " Her tone was worthy of a professional butler.

'She knows my name? I do see her occasionally, but I don't think we ever spoke before... Wait a minute... '

" Sure, why not " Jade stepped out and shut the door behind him. At this moment, he was pretty sure she is one of the people who know about "it". After meeting with so many people who wanted to recruit him, he started to notice they had the same - voice -. That's what he called this new sensation he started getting from people around him, even from animals.

' Why wasn't I capable of discovering her before now? '

" Because I simply silence my - voice - " she said with a slight smirk in her face.

" Did you just ... read my mind? "

" Well, it's more like I heard your thoughts out loud.

" More importantly, I came to you today to prevent you from doing a crucial mistake. You were about to reveal what you know to your friend weren't you? " Jade was extremely surprised, it seems he was monitored at least by her 24/7, how else could she know what he was saying to Taofik.

" You should take your signed contract seriously. If you broke its articles, Ayax will know so, and you'll be forced to choose between being forced to work for them for the rest of your life or loose your abilities at once "

" Stop, please. Just ... stop. Who are you and how do you know about the contract I signed and its articles?! " Whenever he thought nothing would surprise him anymore, he always discovered something jaw dropping.

" I am Aisha Dracona and I am a member in the - boundless voice - association. It is an association of people who share the same capabilities you have and most importantly they are free people who did manage to avoid sign in a contract "

" Boundless Voice... " that name seemed somehow familiar to Jade.

" Anyway, I can't explain everything now, else your friend might suspect something. Meet me here at 6 PM tomorrow and you will know the truth about everything. " She gave him a piece of paper containing an address.

" And don't worry, you won't have to give anything in return " She turned her back and started walking away.

Jade stood still for a minute, unable to digest what he just heard. Just like that, all what he wanted to know would be giving to him for free.

***

When he went back to his room, he found Taofik sleeping, which was good because he was in no mood to think of any excuse to explain the sudden knocking at the door.

That night, Jade couldn't sleep at all. He kept thinking of tomorrow, still unable to believe what Aisha told him, and trying to guess what could this association gain from helping him.