THE ORB

Bernice impulsively ran out, catching the running deformities off guard. A ball of fire raced toward the girl, but Lucas' water shield blocked it. The deformities fell silent for a moment, and were even more surprised to see four teenage boys and a girl emerge from the front of a supermarket.

"What are you doing here?" snapped one of them.

"Not now," said the other. "We have to go. Come on, Kids."

The four teenagers followed in the footsteps of the seven figures of the Deformity squad who had such strong stamina. Their running was fast and agile, making it difficult for the teenagers to keep up. Elijah could tell that the deformities were approaching the Orb, for he could see more clearly that the light perpendicular to the sky was growing larger.

One of the Deformity—who looked like the leader of the small army—entered the back door of the building and ran up the stairs. No one had turned on the lights, but it was so dark up there that Elijah and his friends tripped several times on the steps. They hissed in pain, but none of the Deformity troops seemed to care about the teenagers' pain.

It was a fifteen-story building, and once at the top, the leader of the Deformity army cautiously stepped out. They could feel the strong gust of wind and the choking smell of smoke. Not far from them, on the other side, the Orb stood tall. A gap opened at its top, and a bright light shone from it. Then, on the underside of the Orb, another passageway opened like an entrance the width of two garages put together, and the ants moved back and forth from there.

The Deformity and the four teens approached the edge of the building's peak and looked down at the situation below. The perimeter created by the Army and the Deformity was in ruins, and hundreds, if not thousands, of human bodies were piled in mounds. They were all dead.

The ants were busily carrying one human body after another into the orb, and there was even a group of them munching on flesh nearby. They savored the human bodies as if they were the spoils of their prey.

Bernice sat limply on the dirty cement floor, holding back tears. She had never interacted with humans outside of the Academy, but seeing the horrific scene downstairs left her completely shaken.

The deformities moved away from their spot, then looked for a more covered area to avoid being seen by the ants. Elijah carefully unzipped the backpack and took out a bottle of water, which he handed to Bernice. The young man turned to the Deformities and offered them several more bottles.

"Thank you," they said in low whispers.

"Are you rebels?" the squad leader asked.

He was tall and well-built, his hair closely cropped on both sides, his jaw firm, his white skin tanned as if it had been exposed to the sun for so long.

Of course, such an accusatory question made Elijah and his friends shake their heads in fear. They didn't make a sound.

"Academy?" The man in his thirties asked again.

The four of them just looked down, which was already a definite answer that they had indeed come and escaped from there.

Then the squad leader showed his wrist and jiggled his bracelet. "Where are yours?"

Lucas nudged Bernice's arm, causing her to hiss in annoyance. Then Bernice looked shyly at the Deformity Squad leader.

"I was the one who took it off," the girl said quietly.

"Where have you been most of my life?" There was a smile on the man's face. "All my life I have wanted to take this bracelet off for just one day."

"I can do that." Bernice shrugged. "But I left my tools back at the Academy."

Seth patted her shoulder lightly. "That was brilliant, but dangerous. Don't do it again to break the rules. Do you understand?"

Bernice looked down. "I'm sorry."

"I'm Seth." The leader gave the children a quick nod.

Then he introduced his six companions; two females and four males. The women were Ash and Lucy, the men were fellow deformities named Bone, Calvin, Fred, and Patrick. They were not former Academione from the same Academy as Elijah, but came from various other Academies and were assigned to be Deformity troops in the city where Elijah was.

"Since the Academy is established, you're probably the first kids to get out of there," Ash whispered, her eyes sharp. "Are you planning on going into exile if you get caught?"

"You're lucky those eight-legged creatures got out of the Orb." Bone chuckled softly.

"I'd rather be exiled than watch humans being slaughtered," Bernice replied.

Hearing the girl's scathing comment, Bone simply nodded and said nothing more. Patrick looked down at his wrist as a countdown clock appeared on the screen of his bracelet.

"We have until midnight. Just wait," Seth replied.

"Excuse me, Sir. What exactly are we doing here?" asked Lucas.

"What's your name?" This time Calvin jumped in.

"I'm Lucas. This is Elijah, Bernice and Josh," Lucas replied.

"Well, Lucas... we're going to attack inside and destroy the stone." Calvin smiled happily.

*

Who knows how many hours they sat there, not even daring to move. Finally, the youngsters noticed that the Orb was slowly opening, and the troops at the perimeter came forward to check it out. Only one of the ant swarms came out at first. The Army and Deformity were certain that it was an alien that had been sleeping inside the Orb for twenty years.

One of the Army troops fired a shot into the ant's head, killing it instantly. Then, within seconds, the gate opened from below and the ant-like army rushed out. There were hundreds if not thousands of them. They tore apart and killed everyone in sight, except for the deformities.

The superpowered humans were paralyzed, but not killed. Their legs and arms were severed, then quickly taken to the Orb. A small portion of the Deformity troops managed to escape, but the other humans? All were instantly destroyed.

Seth and his small army were part of the remaining Deformity forces that had gone into hiding. They planned to enter the Orb and blow it up from the inside. This would prevent the creatures from moving further away in search of prey.

"You have superpowers, how did most of you get taken?" asked Josh.

"We were caught off guard." Seth said matter-of-factly. "But their numbers are no match for the limits of our strength. Even though we're trained, we're still human."

"They put too many Support Benders in this city." Ash yawned. "And the Cores are too arrogant because they feel privileged, so they take the enemy lightly."

"Like you?" Bone grinned.

Ash snorted. "Yes, like me." Then she twirled a small flame in her hand. "Do you mind, Mud?"

Lucas had already guessed that Bone was an earthbender because Ash had mocked him by calling him Mud. This time Lucas nudged Elijah because for some reason Ash's figure reminded the young man of Isaac. But this one, a female version and a few years older.

"What?" asked Elijah, confused.

"Nothing." Lucas immediately shook his head. "You seem very quiet," he quibbled.

Elijah swallowed. "I'm just a little tired."

Actually, Elijah was mostly silent because he felt that he was outside the circle of superhumans. The feeling that he wasn't one of them because he had no powers to rely on. If they were to attack the Orb, Elijah would only be a burden.

However, he listened carefully to every step of Seth's plan, which he thought was impossible. Once the other troops arrived, someone would distract the ants to get out of the Orb. Seth's army would then sneak in and destroy the Orb from within.

A loud noise came from behind the Orb, and they saw a flare being launched from the darkness below. Seth immediately stood up, as did his teammates. They looked at the ants around the gate and were silent for a few seconds. Then, as if on command, they moved quickly behind the orb.

"Let's go, now!" Seth ordered.

Just as Elijah and the others were about to follow, Calvin showed his palm. "No, no. You go southeast of town. Keep going until you reach Oliver Lake. Some of our comrades are there to keep watch."

"But—"

Fred cut Josh off. "This is a suicide mission, Mate. You're our hope, so stay alive."

The teens just stood there, staring at Seth's small group leaving the roof, and they moved to the edge of the building to watch from above. From the side of the building, another small unit appeared, creeping toward the Orb.

"I'm not feeling well," Bernice whispered, her body seeming to shake.

Seth's troops and the combined Deformity soldiers joined forces, then fought with the ants that were apparently still on guard inside the Orb. Elijah suddenly felt bad, there was something that had been bothering him since before.

"Bernice, can you fly me up to the Orb rift?" Elijah asked.

"What are you going to do?" Bernice's eyes were filled with horror.

"I have to go there," Elijah insisted.

"My power is wind, Eli. I'm afraid the wind I create will blow you away. I can't." Bernice collapsed to the cement floor and burst into tears.

"You need Fred, he's telekinetic," Josh said.

Elijah ran for the door, accompanied by the screams of Bernice and Lucas. He ran down the stairs as fast as he could, with Josh following behind him. Fifteen floors seemed endless to both of them in their haste.

Once outside the building, there was a distant cackling sound, and Elijah saw a sea of ants coming from behind the building.

Josh gasped. "Shit!"

"Run!" yelled Elijah.

The two of them ran as fast as they could towards the Orb, taking Seth and the other Deformity troops by surprise as two young men approached them. Josh immediately launched an attack on the approaching ants, greedily trying to tear them apart. Then another group of ants came from behind the buildings, leaving the Deformity army in despair.

"We're doomed," Lucy said between despair and frustration.

Elijah squinted and saw ants falling from the top of the building. The ants found Bernice and Lucas, who were both trapped there. If anyone could get into the Orb, it would have to be through the gap at the top, which was very high up.

"Sir! Fred, Sir!" Elijah shouted desperately in the midst of the Deformity troops, who were beginning to be surrounded from various directions.

"What?!" Fred replied quickly.

"Can you fly me to the top of the Orb?"

Seth shook his head. "No!"

"We're all going to die here. Give me explosives or something! At least let me be a useful person!" Elijah shouted desperately.

Fred walked over to Elijah and pulled out two items from his belt. "This is a bomb and this is a detonator. Press this button when you're inside," he explained.

"Okay, I got it. I'll—"

Elijah's body instantly levitated and shot to the top of the Orb without a word from Fred.

"Whoaa!" Elijah screamed loudly in fear and horror.

When he reached the top, Elijah looked down, his heart pounding. He saw that Fred had already pulled down the rubble of the perimeter building he had thrown up to crush the seemingly endless army of ants.

Elijah turned and half closed his eyes from the blinding light in front of him. He walked toward the rift with his eyes covered. He thought, if it turns out that there is no foothold below, or that it is a passage that leads to the ground, maybe he will just jump. He jumped down and as he floated down he pressed the detonator button.

He looked into the gap.

The distance from the crack to the surface inside was about five meters. In the center of the beam was a large egg covered with a jelly-like surface. Elijah prepared to jump towards the egg and land on the jelly, which he didn't want to know what it was made of.

Elijah took a breath and let it out. "You can do it, Eli."