A Storm Is Coming

The two boys looked at the young woman, dumbfounded.

'Fake world?'

A silence fell over the 3 adolescence. Kai's thoughts were rampant, he couldn't understand it.

'What does she mean 'Fake world'? Could it have something to do with this voice in our heads?'

Karma broke through the awkwardness first.

"The hell do you mean, fake world? We're here aren't we? I mean I can feel the ground beneath my feet, so how can this world be fake?"

The young girl looked at Karma and Kai with a somber expression.

"I'm not sure what it means yet either, but I heard the men who took me say it."

Kai's curiosity of the girl only grew the longer the conversation went on. But now he had some solid information to go off on. 

'So this place, or rather 'world' is fake huh? Honestly it makes sense. How else would we end up in an environment that was nowhere near us? Not to mention the voice we've been hearing.'

Kai didn't know if this was some terrorist group kidnapping recently mutated civilians, but he knew it couldn't just be some coincidence. That man-Pluto, seemed to appear at just the right time in just the right place. He also mentioned he was an elitist, which must've meant he was at least a mutated like Kai and Karma.

"By the way, what's your name?"

Kai wasn't certain if the girl would share such information, but right now they were on their own. Who knew what was waiting for them in this strange place, so being together was better than being alone. That was why when the girl answered Kai had a feeling she understood that.

"Loni… my name is Loni." 

"Loni huh? My name is Kai and this is my brother Karma."

Loni analysed Kai and Karma almost like she had never seen a boy of her age before. She looked them up and down as if she was sizing them up, but then looked at them both with a cool, serious look in her eyes.

"Weaklings."

"Huh!?"

Karma gasped dumbfounded.

'Is that really the best thing she could say to someone she just met?'

Kai looked at her in confusion, thoughts rattling in his mind. He felt there was something more to that statement.

"'What do you mean, weaklings?"

Loni turned away from the two boys and began following the same stream from before, North. 

"That's not important right now. What's important is finding a stable water source and not getting caught in it."

'Get caught in it?"

Kai began walking to catch up, and Karma followed not far behind.

"What do you mean 'caught in it?' What's 'It?'"

"Don't you feel it?"

The girl paused, stopped walking then turned her head back towards Kai and Karma, and looked out into the horizon behind the 3 young adults.

"A storm is coming."

—-

'A storm is coming? What the hell does she mean?'

Kai thought for a moment then looked up to the sky. All he found above him was an azure expanse of nothing, as far as he could see. There wasn't a cloud in sight. So why would a storm be coming. Not only were there no clouds hanging above, but the warm soft breeze suggested nothing but solace on a hot spring day. 

Maybe this mysterious girl he just met was able to predict the weather, or even the future. What if that was her affinity? Now that Kai thought about it he actually asked her about what her affinity was. 

'Is that what most mutated go around talking to each other about?'

Speeding up his pace so that he was standing next to her, Kai gave a nice smile to Loni.

"I don't know if this is like a personal question to ask but do you mind me asking what your affinity is?"

With that, the nice calm breeze that surrounded Kai began to speed up. It swirled around him blowing up his raven hair and throwing his clothes up over his face. Then it swam away towards Karma and swirled around him, making him flinch. Muttering under his breath Kai admired the fantastical power in awe.

"Whoa…"

"Heh, I can control the wind. Not the most powerful but still an important tool."

Kai thought about his own affinity, and all the special ways he can incorporate it into something that helped him with his own goals. 

'Affinities truly are a beautiful thing… when put in the right hands."

Afterall Kai knew how deadly this power could be if put into that light. That was also why he needed to learn about his newfound power, as well as tame it. But now wasn't the time for that. He had to wait until he knew he was in a good position too, and trying to unleash that monstrous power right next to his companions wasn't a good place or time. He had to gain mastery and insights into it first. At least that is what he thought. 

It was then that Kai sensed something. The air's smell subtly changed. If before it was clear and smelled of sweet healthy grass, now it smelled of rain and almost…

'Despair.'

The calm and comforting wind that, before spread only warmth, now turned cold and unwelcoming. It was as if something within the world's fabric changed slightly, causing all its laws to malfunction. Then Kai felt it… the eerie and silent feeling flooding his entire being. Fear. Kai was scared. 

Almost as quickly as the feeling came, clouds started to conjoin in the sky above. Blocking out almost all the light there was, and turning the once warm and vibrant plains into a cold and withering land. The winds became faster, more erratic, and from the look on Loni's face Kai knew this time it wasn't her affinity. 

The group of 3 stopped suddenly, and for a moment the world went silent…no, it went still. That was until a deafening boom resounded from every possible direction, throwing the world violently back into motion.

Thunder had come.