Chapter 1: The Charm Beneath
Thunder boomed and a restful silence followed as the woman and her boyfriend hiked in the forest.
"It's raining, we will have to get home soon." The woman said.
"No matter." Her boyfriend said. "Your power of hydrokinesis is strong enough to keep us from getting wet." He began to kiss the woman.
"No, John." The woman said, breaking away from the kiss.
"I see it in you. There is something you are not telling me. What is it?" She asked, as tears streamed out of her eyes.
"I don't know… I'm so sorry, Alice…" John said. "I love you." He said, throwing a ball of energy at her and causing her to scream as she burned in flames.
"At least… Now I have the power already. The circle will be complete." John said, disappearing.
(END TEASER)
ACT 1
Bernice looked at the garden from the window. The grass was rich green and the sunlight was reflected by the little dew drops on the blades of grass. The garden was beautiful and well kept. There were many flowers of different colours as well as several trees and bushes as well. It seemed like a rainbow had descended upon the garden. She smiled and sensed something coming at her and shocked, she turned and saw a ball of pseudo energy charging at her. The air in front of her looked fuzzy, smelt fuzzy and it was fuzzy. With a resounding cry by Bernice, the invisible wall moved outwards, deflecting the pseudo energy and pushing it back towards her mother.
"Mom, stop trying to test me." Bernice complained in a whiny voice as the ball of pseudo energy dissipated.
"You are going to the Academy in two hours' time, Bernice and you will have to take the test." Her mother said matter-of-factly. Whatever it is, I'm glad that your skills seemed to have improved."
"What skills, Mom?" Bernice asked. "I only have one skill, unlike you, who have like, seven hundred of them."
"Bernice, I only have a few powers and it took me years to learn them. I am not exceptionally gifted. You are blessed with such a strong power whereas I was born only with the power to throw balls of fake energy to intimidate the enemy. It was only when my mother died that I discovered how important active skills were. That was why I worked so hard, calculating the laws of Physics and practicing, to only master the skill of levitation, and even after thirty years, I can only levitate half a metre." Her mother said.
"What about the others? What about throwing balls of real energy? What about the ability to walk through walls at will? What about the power to create a shield?" Bernice asked.
"Each of these powers took me a long time to learn." Her mother said. "Which is why your father…"
"Alright, Mom. I have to go to the Academy now." Bernice stopped her and left the house.
Bernice reached the Academy and could see many people around as well. Everyone wanted to join the Academy. It was a prestigious school, the best school in the whole of Adminia. The government lived there, and the teachers were specially selected by them. This school admitted students from the age of twelve to fourteen. The teachers all had to be ex-students of the school with excellent grades. Since this school was very popular, students had to go through selection tests before they could enter. Bernice looked at the façade of the Academy. It certainly looked like a technology hub, a school she would want to enter. Bernice checked the signboard and saw that her examination was in ten minutes' time.
Bernice entered the examination room. There were many boys and girls alike, wanting to join the Academy. Twenty of them were seated in a circle and an instructor was standing in the middle.
"Show us your powers." The instructor ordered. "Al, Diana."
A girl with blond hair walked up to the center of the circle and announced "I have the power of Aciesvisum, that means I can see what is happening at another place." She closed her eyes and said "In the top level of the Academy, there are seven ministers holding a meeting. Two of them are blond and the rest have black hair. They seem to be arguing." She walked back to her place in the circle.
"Al, Theresa."
A girl who looked exactly the same as the one before went up and said. "I have the power of Audiusvisum, which means that I can hear what is happening somewhere else. At the top level of the Academy, the seven ministers are shouting to each other about having no powers for today, the Headmaster is…"
"That will be enough, Theresa. Next, Beckman, Thomas."
A thin young boy walked up to his place and said "I have the power of Aeriuaxis. That means I can levitate." He jumped up into the air and floated there.
"Beatty, Eric."
A boy wearing black said "I have the power of Fugamovi." Two violet beams surrounded Eric's body and he disappeared into thin air, but the violet beams still lingered in the air. Suddenly, as though to surprise the instructor, the beams of light thrashed through the instructor and he materialized again in a mid-somersault.
"Cicero, Bernice."
It was finally Bernice's turn. Bernice walked up to the middle of the circle. She stammered nervously "I have the power of Adoripactum. That means I can create a wall of wind that pushes back things." The stern instructor gathered a ball of energy in his hand and threw it at Bernice. It was a real ball of energy. Bernice was shocked for a moment and hurriedly created the barrier. Without any noise from her, the barrier dived towards the instructor and the ball of energy was deflected.
"Ah, you must be Madame Cicero's daughter. You certainly have strong powers. Alright, that will be all for today. Out of the twenty of you, four have been selected. They are Liew, with a power ranking of 3.6, Beatty, with a power ranking of 3.56, Thomas, with a power ranking of 3.5 and Cicero with a power ranking of 3.43." Bernice jumped in joy, she had been selected. The twins and the other people left the room, disappointed.
ACT 2
Bernice followed the stern instructor to a grand hall where the windows were all closed. Many students were already seated. The headmaster of the Academy began his speech as soon as they entered.
"My dear students, I know you must be terribly excited to have entered the Academy, but lets' not be so noisy." The headmaster, who was pompous and tall, said loudly. "Let me set a few ground rules. You are not allowed to use your powers in the Academy, except in specified areas. Anyone caught using their powers will be expelled. Secondly, you must always treat your teachers with respect. Thirdly, you must study hard and play hard. The high technology of Adminia is all due to our hard work. Without working hard and working smart, how can we defend this continent from the constant invasions of Senia and Junia? Adminia is only a quarter of the size of Senia and Junia combined. Remember, students, you must work hard, and some day, conquer Senia and Junia."
The headmaster walked off the stage, and, as he did, a ball of fire came charging at him. It was immediately destroyed by a teacher who was tall and had flowing blonde hair. "Who's that?" The teacher asked. "You are not allowed to use powers within the vicinity of the school, and all your powers have been negated."
"It's me." A short and bald man greeted. He blinked and everyone was immobilized. With that, he dived into the floor and appeared beside the headmaster. He dived back into the floor together with the headmaster at breakneck speed. When everyone could move again, he had already been long gone.
"This is an emergency! The headmaster has been kidnapped." The same female teacher adjusted her spectacles and shouted. The students panicked and everyone ran in all directions. Bernice sent a wall charging towards the window. It barely affected the students, the wall was far too weak, but it opened the window. It was true. The magical barrier had been breached.
Bernice ran out of the hall, and as she was running, she tripped and fell. Everyone continued running and some people stepped on her. "Help!" She shouted.
"What are you doing?" A boy asked. Bernice recognized him as Eric Beatty, who had the power of Fugamovi.
He kneeled down and held her hands. Two violet beams surrounded them and they teleported back out of the school.
"This is weird." Eric remarked. "I've never been able to teleport such far distances before."
Three fireballs flew toward Bernice and she saw that a monster was throwing them. She looked at the monster, shocked. The barrier in front of her automatically appeared and deflected the fireballs. The monster exploded on contact with the fireballs.
"What was that?" Bernice asked.
"I don't know either." Eric said.
"I think my mother would know. Can you bring me back home?" Bernice said.
"I don't know where your home is." Eric said.
"Don't worry. I do." Bernice said.
Two violet beams surrounded them and they disappeared inside the beams.
They reappeared back at Bernice's house.
"Mom!" Bernice shouted as she opened the door.
"What is it?" Her mother asked.
"The headmaster has been kidnapped and I met a monster. With the help of Eric, I almost defeated it. What is it all about? Why are there monsters? Explain it to me!" Bernice pleaded.
"Alright." Her mother said as the three of them sat down on the sofa. "You have always thought that there were only three continents in this world – Senia, Junia and Adminia. However, actually, there is a fourth continent – Monsteria – which is hidden beneath the surface of the world."
"Monsteria?" Eric asked.
"Yes. It is the secret continent, which hides monsters with extraordinary powers. These monsters were all accidentally created by the Senia and Junia government when they did an experiment – You know how clumsy they are. Since then, the monsters have been continually dividing. In fact, they are growing at an extraordinary rate. The continent itself was created with the dead bodies of monsters. Currently, scientists calculate that there are at least 200 billion monsters." Bernice's mother said.
Bernice was shocked. "200 billion? Our world only has a population of 40 million people, and that's including the Siege (people who live in Junia and Senia)"
"You don't have to worry, Bernice. Out of these 200 billion monsters, 100 billion are monster servants with minimal powers. Only a few thousand are capable of killing a human being. However, the monster king, the one with the most powers, is capable of killing twenty human beings by just waving his hand.
"Why hasn't he killed everyone yet then?" Eric asked, skeptical.
"Killing human beings is of no benefit to him. He requires the sorrow of human beings to survive. He feeds on the sorrow, slowly devouring the soul of a human being."
"But the headmaster got kidnapped. What are we to do?" Bernice asked.
"He got kidnapped? We must save him. He is my friend." Bernice's mother said. "He has very strong powers and serves Adminia well, which is why we must help him out from the monster's lair as soon as possible."
"Another thing, mum… My powers were magnified by two times when Eric held my hand. Why is that so?" Bernice asked.
"I think both of you might share a magical bond. Your powers combine with each other and can hence amplify when you combine forces. There are many different combinations to discover." Bernice's mother walked over to the computer and searched the Internet. "So far, there have only been two incidences of both your powers combining together. In the first incidence, your powers from two different beings combined to form astral projection. In the second incidents, ah… one of the Harmed ones… the two powers combined within one being to form telekinetic teleportation."
"Wait… telekinetic teleportation sounds interesting. How does it work?" Bernice asked.
"It's like this." Bernice's mother explained. "You think of a certain object or shout its name. It will immediately come charging at you in the form of the teleportation device using any route you desire. At stronger stages, it just appears in your hands directly. Both of you can try." She said, putting an apple on the table.
Both of them held hands and shouted "Apple!" A mixture of yellow and purple beams surrounded the apple. The apple appeared to turn into a mass of purple spirals which moved slightly, then combined back to form the apple.
"I totally have no energy left." Bernice complained.
"We will surely fail at this rate." Eric moaned.
"Maybe you haven't heard of the magical condition - Coup de pied, also known as 'kick'." Bernice's mother said.
"I seem to have heard of it before. When something is teleporting in, a person can run into the teleporting device and hence cause it not to exist on the plane of reality." Eric said.
"You are close, but the thing that is teleporting in can only be a lower level monster or an inanimate object." Bernice's mother said.
"I think I got the idea." Bernice said, holding hands with Eric again. "APPLE!" They shouted. The apple turned into a mixture of yellow and purple spirals, and Bernice's mother placed her fist at where the apple was. The apple formed back, then disappeared with a resounding explosion.
"Now we know how to defeat the monster." Bernice said. "But where is the monster?"
"That can be found out rather easily." Eric said. He took an atlas and placed a crystal in the middle of the map. "Monster." Eric instructed. The crystal moved to a position in the sea.
"I can't teleport that far." Eric complained. "We will have to teleport thrice in order to reach the space."
"A spell will just do the trick." Bernice's mother said.
"We can't do spells yet." Bernice said. "And another thing. Can you shield us with your power so we don't get immobilized again?"
Bernice's mother waved her hand and a blue bubble appeared around Bernice and Eric.
"So how do we get there now?" Eric asked. "We are not qualified to recite spells yet."
"Can't you just go with us?" Bernice asked.
"I'll be protecting you from home." Bernice's mother said before reciting a spell.
"There was once a god named Atlas,
He held up the world with strength,
But one day, alas,
These two people need to go somewhere."
Two of them disappeared in a whirlwind of spiraling light.
"At last." Bernice's mother said. "I wonder how long I can keep this secret from them…"
She spread her palm wide open and a cave appeared in a holograph hovering slightly above the palm.
Bernice and Eric reappeared in a cave, and saw the creature threatening the headmaster.
ACT 3
"Tell me the spell…" The creature threatened.
"Headmaster!" Eric shouted.
The creature turned back. "Who are you?" It asked.
"We have come here to save our headmaster. Let him go and we'll let you go." Bernice threatened.
"Bargaining with me?" The creature asked. He threw a fireball at Bernice. A wall around Bernice appeared and moved to deflect the fireball at the creature.
"Nothing but a mere scratch." The creature smiled as the fireball hit him. It waved its hand, causing a strong pulse to ripple through the cave.
Eric held Bernice's hand and teleported behind the monster.
"MONSTER!" Both of them shouted as they reappeared.
The monster was turned into purple and blue spirals. The spirals rotated around each other. Eric walked up to the position of the monster as it started to reappear. Immediately, a strong pulse radiated throughout the cave.
Water started to burst in from all the openings in the cave.
"We have to go now!" Bernice exclaimed.
Eric held Bernice and the headmaster's hands and they disappeared and reappeared inside the Academy.
"Come into my office." The headmaster whispered. They hurriedly ran into the office. Suddenly, the ground trembled. What was happening? The short man-monster appeared from the ground again. "You haven't killed me. That was just my astral projection."
"What? Again?" Bernice asked. A shield formed in front of her automatically.
"That is of no use. I now know of the trick that you use to kill monsters like me. I shall kill you with my strong powers." The monster said boastfully. The monster waved its hands. Immediately, the headmaster was immobilized. The blue shield around Bernice and Eric glowed and deflected the immobilization. The monster was now immobilized.
Eric picked up an old knife with many gold carvings on it from the headmaster's table in one hand. He teleported in in front of the monster.
Eric was about to stab the monster with the knife when suddenly it disappeared from his hand. He turned back and saw that the headmaster was holding it. "That is not necessary." He said in a stern voice.
The headmaster waved his hands. Immediately, Bernice and Eric were pushed to one side of the room. He waved his hands again. The monster got flung to the wall. Then, three balls of fire appeared in his hands and flew towards the monster, who at once also threw out three balls of fire. Bernice raised her hands. Suddenly, the air around the monster turned fuzzy and the balls rebounded at the monster. It shrieked and disappeared into thin air after the explosion.
"Thank you." The headmaster said. "Thank you so much for saving me. My powers were made inactive today – sealed by the monster, I presume. What are your names?"
"I am Bernice Cicero." Bernice said. "This boy beside me, he is Eric Beatty."
"Good. Well done." The headmaster said.
Ending
Cave
"They have failed… but we shall still reign." The man in sunglasses laughed maniacally.