Chapter 5: A famous person bails me out.
Kian's POV
I stumbled on my feet, my balance shot to shreds. Black spots danced about my blurry vision, my breathing was heavy and I could taste traces of blood in my mouth. Looking up, I saw the effects of what had happened just moments ago. The person I had been fighting was out cold, his orange suit now in tatters as he laid out next to trash from the nearby dumpsters.
What surprised me was that the once dirty alleyway I was in now looked like it got a good clean. Grime and muck seemed to have vanished into thin air exposing the clean ceramic tiles underneath
"I... cough...won't let-cough-"
I sharply turned to see the man in orange stumble and cough. Even after that battle, he didn't want to give up on getting Violet's card. Looking at his suit, there were patches of bright green blood, which might have been his blood
I attempted to move my arms up to defend myself, but they were now as heavy as lead. I felt a sharp twinge of pain in my stomach and looked down to see a bruise just underneath it, figuring out that it was probably from the punch he had thrown me. Before I could move forward, I felt a twinge of pain in my head and-
~3 happy kids played with each other~
~3 scared adults picked us up~
~Fire surrounded us while we cried~
~A tall woman with an evil glare carried a scythe~
"Tsch!" I grimaced and blinked the pain away. Those images stopped flashing into my head and I found myself back in the alleyway. What...were they?! Were they dreams? Did I just suddenly remember a TV show? I couldn't really tell what they were but again, it felt all so familiar to me. A sudden flash of pain in my stomach told me that this was the real world and not a dream. I glanced at the man in orange who was still trying to get Violet's card from me.
If I were to fight him again, how long would I last now, less than a minute maybe?
That question was answered sooner than you think.
As the man in the orange suit walked towards me, the ground near him liquidized and rose up to his ankles, effectively trapping him. I sharply stepped back, scared that the ground would do the same thing to me but it didn't look like it was.
"You should be ashamed. Attacking a child."
I looked up to where the voice came from to see a figure in a long cloak hover just above us. The cloak fluttered just near his feet as he landed in front of him. "Hiring children to run your dark business and now this, where does it end with you?"
"Dom-!" The man in the orange suit gasped. "H-how did you know I was here?!"
The man in the green cloak swung around and I now noticed that he looked very familiar. "Hey," he crouched down and looked at me with a kind smile. "Are you okay?"
"I-" I gasped sharply and I would have fallen to the floor if the cloaked person hadn't caught me.
"I got you, kid. Don't worry," he replied. Within seconds of him holding me, I felt immediately better. The pain in my stomach dissipated and upon glancing at the person in front of me, I noticed that his hands were giving off a light green hue, something I knew I had seen before.
"Are you feeling better now?" the man asked me.
I nodded. "W-what did you do?"
He chuckled and pat my head. "I just healed you, your welcome. What happened here?"
I told him what happened, sparing no detail about how this person used his huge right stretchy hand to slap me about the alleyway and how I encountered him when I went to get Violet's ID card back. After I was done explaining this, he stood up and simply chuckled to himself. "Must be genetic."
"What?"
He shook his head. "Nothing, don't worry about it. I can take you back to where you're supposed to go if you want me to."
"What about that guy?" I pointed to the man stuck in the ground.
"He's going to be...sticking around." He looked at me with a smug look in his eyes. "Come on, your teacher and friends must be worried sick about you. You disappeared and had a fight with someone!"
"I g-guess." I rubbed the back of my head. "But how can I trust you?"
"Huh?"
"You might be friends with him."
The man in green looked bewildered. "Do you not know who I am?"
"Should I?"
"...You can trust him Kaliel..."
"If I was friends with the villain, then why did I heal you?" the man in green crossed his arms. "And if I'm not mistaken, you would have been killed if I didn't' step in."
I thought over what he said and given what the voice said, it seemed like he had a good point. "I guess that makes sense," I replied. "So who are you then?"
"Oh, I'm Noriel, my closest friends call me Njoro for short. Everyone on Locus know me better as the Superhero Dominion," Noriel explained. "I'm kinda like a big deal around here."
"I believe it when I see it," I said, not wanting to completely trust him. I was sure I heard that name somewhere but I couldn't for the life of me remember when and what it meant. I looked up to see him walking out of the alleyway leaving me behind to my thoughts. "Hey wait up!"
A couple of minutes later...
"You're really a hero?" I asked him
"Keep it down!" Noriel hushed me. Somehow, he had managed to change into a casual outfit consisting of a green jacket, jeans and a stetson hat over his dirty blonde hair. "Listen Ki-kid, you gotta keep it down okay?"
"Why?"
"Whenever the public sees me, they end up going into a frenzy. It's like ants to a picnic!"
"Hmm," I wondered. "If you're really this popular superhero I'm going to need some proof."
He began to think and his eyes darted around the open street before settling on something in the distance. A smile formed on the corners of his lips and he pointed at something in the distance. "Take a look for yourself."
"What are you-" I looked at where he pointed and to my surprise, in the middle of what looked like a shopping centre, there was a poster of Noriel in his hero costume, holding what looked like a bowl of noodles with a ceramic white smile. There were also other posters spread across billboards as they flashed in and out of existence just near us.
"Believe me now?!"
"You really are famous aren't you?!" I asked him. "Wait, now I remember who you are!"
"Oh really?" Noriel raised an eyebrow. "All it took was me to show how famous I was weren't you?"
"No, not because of that," I stated. "My dad used to say how there was this story of someone called Dominion who managed to create a forest out of nothing, how you can lift moons by yourself. I've gotta tell my Dad about this, I can't believe I've met the Dominion!"
"Dominion?!" As soon as I mentioned his name, the people in front of us snapped there heads towards us. "He's here?!"
"Good job Kian!" Noriel said sharply and changed his voice. "No, he didn't, he's not here, sorry to disappoint!"
They grumbled and complained as they resumed there business. "Well then, let's get out of here before they realise that I am who they wanted. Come along."
Just outside the school
"This is the place right?" Noriel asked me
I nodded. "It is. Thanks for getting me here."
"No problem. Now, make sure you don't go running out to fight someone in an alleyway okay?" Noriel stated. "Oh, and I might see you again soon, it's about what happened with the man in the orange suit."
"What about it?" I asked him
"Well, he's someone...important. He belongs to a gang of smugglers that sell ID cards of Eden Academy Applicants to the highest bidder. They use whatever they can to get them, poor children, vulnerable woman, as long as they get what they want, they'll do it."
"I beat one of them!" I said proudly.
"You got lucky, if I weren't here, you would have died," Noriel said sternly. "Heroes, especially Eden Academy applicants don't charge in against villains because they want to."
"But I couldn't just stand there and do nothing!" I defended myself. "That man was torturing a poor kid with some torture device kind of thing, I was just doing what any hero would do!"
"And I don't disapprove of that. I'm just saying, be careful next time okay?"
"Yeah yeah," I half-heartedly agreed. "See ya around Mr Dominon!"
I waved goodbye as I stepped through the doors of the school, scanning myself to find where Rennan, Harry and Violet were. As I stepped forward through, I bumped into someone.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know where I was going."
A kid of my age with crimson red eyes looked at me and I could sense I've seen him before. "It's fine. Just watch where you're going, no one likes it when you just ram into people."
"Of course they don't," I said and turned around to see Rennan with my friends. Without wasting a moment, I jogged towards them. As I saw Rennan look at me, the worry seemed to be wiped off his face. He ran towards me and hugged me tightly
"Where were you?!" he held me by my shoulders.
"I got Violet's ID card back," I slipped my hand into my pocket and pulled out Violet's ID card which for some reason now looked clean and it felt warm to the touch. "See?"
Violet sprang up and grabbed it out of my hand. She looked relieved to have got it and then hugged me tightly again. "Thank you so much! I don't know what I would have done without it!"
"I-it's fine. I was just doing my job," I chuckled. "That's what heroes are supposed to do right?"
"Kian," Rennan said sternly. "Can you please in your life not put your wellbeing at risk. You're going to be the death of me one day if you carry on like this!"
"Sorry," I grinned. "I just couldn't help myself."
Rennan sighed. "Your mum would be glad. She would have my head if anything happened to you."
"Yeah," Harry agreed. "Remember the time when we made spilt milkshake on the carpet and your Mum made us clean it until it was spotless? She gets very tough when we did something bad!"
I shivered. "Don't remind me!"
"You came just in time," Violet explained. "If you didn't get the card in time then-"
"Ahem."
I turned to see what looked like an old man with a holographic display over his arm. His skin was like tree bark and his eyes as grey as a gloomy sky. "Does candidate Schwartz have her ID and is Candidate Taylor present?"
"Yes," both of us replied and showed him our ID cards.
The old man smirked slightly as he glanced at us. "Your parents were pretty good heroes kiddos, Blue Angel, Red Devil and Lumen. It's just a shame your parents retired after the disaster 6 years ago."
"What disaster?" I asked him. "Everyone keeps saying that!"
The old man went to speak but he glanced at Rennan and then spoke again. "I'm sure your teacher here would tell you when you're old enough. I don't need to tell it to you."
"Can they take the entrance exam?" Rennan asked the old man.
He nodded and gestured to a door. "Of course you can! Your just in time! Good luck kiddos.
After the Entrance Exam
I think 3 PM relative to Earth Time
"That was a lot easier than I thought!" Harry explained.
Harry, Violet, Rennan and I walked out of the building, followed by a lot of other people who exited at the same time as us, all of them jubilant that they got out of the 2-hour exam and 1-hour physical exam.
"You did well all things considered." Rennan ate a banana.
"Rennan," I looked at him. "Did you have to do this test?"
Rennan nodded. "Something like this. They have to make sure that all entrants are strong enough to attend. Hero school is tough and you have to be strong mentally and physically to finish it."
"You don't have to worry about me, Rennan." Harry pointed a finger at himself. "I'll pass this school with the highest of grades!"
Rennan laughed and pat his head. "I look forward to that."
He would have talked further, how he would see the three of us graduate with top marks before I heard yelling and angry footsteps in front of us. I glanced up and saw an angry crowd of people, all holding up signs. Some of them read: "Down with the Order!" and "We liked the old board better!"
"Rennan, what's going on?!" Violet asked him.
"Protests," Rennan stated. "We need to get out of here, right now!"
He grabbed us and ran away from the scene, dodging all sorts of items thrown at us as we ran. Why were they angry at us? I didn't do anything to hurt them in any manner or form. I didn't get to ask that question as we focused on just getting out of there alive.
After a while of running, I asked Rennan what that was about. "It's complicated," he explained. "The public like the way it was before when anyone could just join if they were strong enough. When the board went through with their policy, it struck a chord with them, one they didn't like. Because of that, the public doesn't really like Eden applicants, they think they're better than them."
"That's not true!" I said. "I just got here and I don't think I'm better than them!"
"Yeah, what he said." Violet agreed. "That's very unfair."
"I think so too but those stupid board members don't think like that. As long as they have powerful heroes, they're more than happy to keep this current regime up." Rennan scowled as he finished the sentence. "If I attempted to become a hero now, I wouldn't have even been allowed to take the entrance exams."
"Can't someone change this?!" I asked. "If no one likes it, can't they change it?!"
"They don't want to. If it works for them, then they don't care if it doesn't work for others." Rennan scowled again. "They've turned it into a business rather than a school in 6 years. Bastards."
He turned to us. "Let's not worry about that for now, okay? Right now, it's about time you get home. You've had quite a day haven't you?"
"Oh yeah, my Dad gets pretty nervous if I'm not home by 7." Harry agreed.
"Yeah, I know." Rennan smiled. "Let's get going before-" He stopped as he turned to face someone. Someone who I had met earlier. "You've got to be kidding me!"
"Rennan, is that how you greet me? After so long?" Noriel smiled. He had a top hat and black sunglasses, probably to stop him from getting recognised by the public
"You know this guy?" Harry asked Rennan
"Know him?" Noriel chuckled. "I was his teacher!"
"Y-you taught him?!" I asked him. "No way!"
"He taught me how to fight," Rennan agreed. "Why can't I catch a break? I just wanted to return home and watch Law and Order!"
"This will only take a few moments," Noriel stated. "I need you 4 to come with me to the police station. It's about what happened earlier, Kian told me that he managed to get your card from someone who took it."
My blood ran cold at the mention of that. "A-am I in trouble?!"
"Of course you aren't!" Noriel replied gently. "I need you 4 to give a statement about what happened. No one's in trouble, I can guarantee that."
"Well, if we aren't in trouble, then I guess we could go. Rennan, can we trust this guy?" Violet asked her teacher.
Rennan nodded. "Yeah, yeah we can. Let's just make this quick, I'm going to need to run if I have to catch the recent episode!"
"What about Mum? Won't she be worried that we're in a Police Station?" I stated.
"I'll tell her about it," Rennan stated. "She'll understand."
A Nearby Police Station
We arrived in the police station and it was busy. All sorts of people were running around, answering calls, handing files to the ones sitting at desks. Even though it was on a different planet, it looked like a police station you would find on Earth.
"This looks normal," Harry said reading my mind almost. "This is like every cop show on Earth."
"Well, you know, apart from the non-human people in here," Violet replied.
Again, the people in this building were all varied and different from each other. Skin colour ranged from red all the way to end of the spectrum with violet, some of them had extra arms and sometimes, even extra eyes. There was one person in the middle who's eyes were on stalks instead of his skull. You had to be here to see it
The door opened behind us and Noriel stepped through, taking his hat off and placing it near the coat hanger. As he did, the entire office stopped at what they were doing and turned to face him. "Don't stop because I came here," he chuckled. "I just came here about the attempted stealing of a test card earlier this afternoon."
"I assume the children in front of you are the witness's?" the man with the eye stalks asked Noriel.
Noriel nodded. "They are. Luckily, the stolen card was returned to this little girl here as soon as possible!"
"Yeah, I foug-" Noriel covering my mouth as soon as I spoke.
He chuckled. "What he means is that he ended up finding the person but I ended up helping him by defeating the smuggler. That's what happened, don't ask any questions!"
"Makes sense. He's is the Number 1 hero for a reason."
"Silly Kid, putting himself in danger like that."
I wanted to protest that I managed to defeat the guy with the yoyo hand, that I did it all by myself and Noriel only came to help me in the last second. Noriel gave me a stare and I knew that he wanted to talk this through later.
"Well, if you kids could fill out a statement sheet," the police officer with eyestalks stated. "What language do they use? English I presume?"
"Yeah, we do," Harry agreed.
"Yes." Violet agreed.
The officer nodded and with his eyestalks, it was very hard to not look at him, us being from Earth the reason why it was so strange for us. "Can I ask you three to come into this room please, it's supposed to be done privately."
"Sure thing." Violet agreed. "Kian, Harry you coming?"
"Actually," Noriel broke in. "I need to talk to Kian, it's about what happened. He'll be with you shortly."
"Ok, just make sure you don't get stuck here," Harry laughed.
Noriel took me aside and away from the office of busy people. I was the first to speak, angry at how the people in the office spoke to me, calling me a silly kid when no one else jumped in to get what was taken from Violet back. "Why didn't you let me say I fought that guy in the orange suit?!"
"If you did, you would be in a lot of trouble," Noriel said sternly. "Only those who carry official licenses can fight the bad guys. I told you this, didn't I?"
"Y-you did," I rubbed the back of my head. "But he was hurting that little kid! What was I supposed to do, leave him alone and wait for you?!"
"I'm not telling you that what you did was wrong. It was very brave and risky at the same time. If you didn't surprise him, you would have been killed from over-exhaustion and head trauma." Noriel explained, crossing his arms as he leaned against the wall. "You know this too right?"
"I suppose." I half-heartedly agreed. "But I won against him!"
"You were lucky, that's what you were. You did win, but don't let that go to your head okay? You can't go rushing into situations because you want to save someone. You have to see what's going on, then see what you can do with what you have. You are far from calling yourself a superhero just yet. Your still young so don't worry about being weak, okay?"
I pouted lightly. "So, you're going to get the credit for that?"
"I am. But hey, I'll tell them that you managed to distract him long enough for me to defeat him." Noriel smiled. "I have to give you something don't I?"
"I guess." I smiled lightly. "Noriel, is that a rule, that only those who have licences can fight bad guys?"
"It is. See, after the board placed the unfair rule in, they also went as far as to say that no one could use their abilities if they weren't from a powerful family. If you ask me, the real bad guys are the board." Noriel explained. "They boast powerful heroes and get paid by it from other planets for there services."
"If I did become a superhero, I would take them down first!" I proclaimed.
Noriel laughed and patted my head. "I'd like to see that. I think we've spent enough time here. You better fill out the statement before that sergeant gets on my case."
"Noriel, can I ask you something?"
"What is it?"
"Everyone keeps telling me that there was a disaster 6 years ago. What happened?"
Noriel seemed to freeze up but he shook it off. "There was an...attack. It killed a lot of people and it's the reason why the current board is in place. They pledged to repair the damage the attack caused and they did but at the same time, they also put that unfair policy in."
"Once I'm a superhero, I'll defeat the person who was behind the attack!" I said loudly.
Noriel smiled sadly and played with my hair gently again. "If you do, then you'll be stronger than me. You don't have to do it you know."
"I want to. My parents told me that it's my job to help those who can't help themselves. If I don't find the person responsible for this attack then I'm not doing my job, that's why when I'm strong enough, I'll make the person responsible pay for the attack!"
Noriel chuckled and pushed me forward. "Keep working to get stronger then, if that's what you want to do I can't stop it."
A few minutes later
I completed the statement and came out of the room only to find none of my friends near me. I thought that they might have gone outside so I went to say hello, saying that I finished my statement.
"That's a pretty bold statement you said."
I sharply turned to where the voice came from and saw a girl of my age standing in front of me. Her pretty auburn red hair fell past her shoulders and her emerald green eyes seem to shine like beautiful gems.
~A woman with green eyes and scarlet red hair caressed my face~
~She hugged a smaller girl who was crying loudly~
I rubbed my temples and those images flooded into my head again. "W-who are you?" I asked. Again, I swore that she was someone I had seen before in my lifetime. The girl in front of me looked around my age. She wore a black shirt and green tracksuit pants. Her skin was tan like mine so I assumed she was an alien who looked human, just like me.
"I'm Jazmine Isabella Garcia. You are?" she asked me
"I'm Kian, Kian Taylor. Nice to meet you." I said happily.
"K-K-" She seemed to stammer. Her emerald green eyes froze slightly but she shook it off just as quickly. Choosing to cross her arms, she spoke. "I heard what you told D-Dominion. For someone who just stepped foot on the planet, you didn't think twice about risking your life did you?"
"H-How did you know?!" I stepped back slightly. "You aren't going to tell on me are you?"
"What is this, the playground." she chuckled. "You can relax...Kian."
"Thanks, I owe you one. What are you doing here?" I asked her.
She chose to ignore that statement and narrowed her eyes at me. "Risking your life like that for someone you don't even know? That takes a lot of courage." That's how a lot of people end up dead, trying to play the hero."
"Hey! If you had been there, you would have done the same!" I replied angrily. "I can't just let someone hurt others without doing something about it."
She grinned lightly and spoke again."Did you know my dad once was so overbearing that he made sure I called him every minute when I went to play outside? It was really annoying. When I started to practise martial arts, he made me wear so much protective equipment.
"I think he means well, doesn't he? I mean my Mum used to make sure I didn't play far with my friends from home." I tried to alleviate the tension. "What did you practise.
"A few," she explained and looked at me, her emerald green eyes meeting my purple ones. "Did your parents teach you how to fight?"
"A little bit," I explained. "I-"
"Kian, where are you?
I snapped to see Harry looking at me. "Harry!" I waved back and earned his glance.
He rushed over to me. "Did you complete your statement? We've been waiting outside for a few minutes now. Your Mum sent me to get you."
"Yeah, I did. Oh yeah, meet-" I turned to my right to introduce Jazmine but she wasn't there, it was like she vanished from existence the moment I turned to see her.
"What?" Harry asked me. "You okay, Kian?"
"Y-yeah I am. Did you see a girl here? She had auburn hair and green eyes, she wore a tracksuit too." I asked Harry
He raised an eyebrow. "No, I didn't. Have you been seeing things, maybe see a pretty girl around?" he laughed
"Shut up!" I replied, my face red slightly. "I just asked if you saw someone next to me!"
"You've gotten so desperate that your imagining girls?" Harry joked.
"I wasn't!" I protested. "You're so annoying, Harry1" I stormed past him.
"Come on, Kina, I was just joking!" Harry defended himself. "But if you want me to be serious, I didn't see anyone. It was just you. Were you talking to someone before I came in?"
"Yeah, I was. Oh well, it's time to go home." I sighed in defeat.
At Home
We returned home soon after what happened and Mum told me that I would be going to Eden Academy pretty soon. Rennan had told Mum that I was in good hands so that was over and done with. Pretty soon, I was going to be in a school for superheroes.
But there was something that bugged me.
Those images that flipped into my head, what were they? And did they mean anything important to me?
Deciding that I couldn't ask myself how to solve that question, I instead went to Mum again. She was in a good mood and was collecting the laundry from Dad. She hummed to herself
"Hey, Mum?" I asked her
"What is it Kina?" she smiled at me.
"When I was in Locus, these images came flying into my head. Does that happen to you sometimes?"
"What kind of images did you see?"
"Well...there were 3 kids, then a fire and then some woman with a scythe I think. Does that mean anything to you?"
Mum's good mood was no replaced with worry and fear, at least that's what I think. Her eyes were wide and she nearly dropped the clothes basket had she not used telekinesis to suspend it in mid-air. Some of the clothes weren't lucky as they hit the floor.
"N-no, Kian. I'm not familiar with those images." she sat down on the floor, trying to collect some of the clothes that fell from the basket.
I dashed over to her. "Are you okay, Mum?"
She smiled at me and played with my hair. "I'm fine Kina. It's just, I remembered something."
"What was it?" I asked her.
"Well, she began. It happened a long time ago. But a friend of mine...hurt herself trying to help me. That's why I reacted like that." Mum explained.
"Is your friend okay?"
She smiled and pulled me into her lap, like what had happened earlier this afternoon and placed her hands on my cheeks. "Yes, she is."
"If she helped save you, then I want to see her. She needs to know how much of an amazing Mum you are!" I said happily. "Wouldn't she?!"
"Yes...I think she would." Mum chuckled. I felt a slight drop of water on my shoulders but I didn't get to think further because I fell asleep soon after, wrapped up in my mum's arms like when I was an infant.
