The Untold Tales Of Urbine

[3] Things I Used To Know

Nepenthe

(n.) Something that can make you forget about grief and suffering 

           It's been a few days after choosing to join this team of abnormal teens and things have been going pretty smoothly so far. Kai's been helping me control and use my powers so I don't land in another plate of eggs. I think Rachel's starting to warm up to me now and I'm getting used to the others using their powers as well. Kai just called me to her room and I'm a little nervous...I don't think I did anything wrong....yet.

       The sound of my heavy boots echo through the hallway and I get so caught up in my thoughts that I don't realize I'm at her door until I hear it creak open. "Ah, Amber! Just in time, come right in." I slowly waltz in, scanning the foreign room. Her room looks more like a business office than a room. There's a large oak desk towards the back, bookshelves on either side and a small bed pushed up against one of the walls. "You can sit on the chair over there by the desk" Kai directs. I make my way over to the chair and plop myself on top. The seat is covered in a shiny black leather and has gently curving armrests that feature a seamed lattice pattern on luxurious genuine leather upholstery. This really puts my practically empty room to shame...I should go shopping for some furniture soon. "So..." Kai starts, snapping me out of my thoughts. "You're probably curious why I asked you to meet me." "Yeah, I didn't do anything wrong did I?" I ask anxiously. "Haha no of course not, you did nothing wrong so far" Kai says lightly. I let out the breath I was apparently holding. "I just wanted to tell you about the whole power thing and about your family..." "M-my family??" I ask surprised. "Yes.... I should start from the beginning. A couple hundred years ago the government of this country was under war with the neighboring kingdom, and were losing severely. All the highest ranking members frantically tried to come up with ways in order to secure their victory. When one of the adherents thought of genetically modifying people to be able to use deadly powers. Desperate, the government incubated children, sliced their DNA, and added new segments of DNA. After a couple tries they somewhat perfected it and designed an ambush attack using these new human weapons. The plan was successful and the other kingdom fell into our hands. Not wanting their secret weapon to become exposed, they killed off all the original mutated people. Only two out of the 97 were able to escape. They hid far away from the government and had children of their own. They had three children that carried the recessive mutant trait. Years after their children moved away and also started families, the two survivors were finally discovered. They didn't tell anyone about their children and were brutally slaughtered. I was one of the children from the three offspring. Everyone thought that the trait didn't get passed down to me but after a century passed and I kept the same look, I realized that immortality must be my power. Being the only one to survive carrying the knowledge of these past events, I've made it my infinite goal to track down all the kids who possess this burden and try to help them survive." "Oh my.....but what about my family? What happened to them?" I urge. "From what I know, your mother was a scientist and your father left you when you were just starting to develop. I believe your mother somehow knew about the mutated DNA that you carried and tried to suppress it with her own type of immunization. After she gave birth to you, she fell gravely ill and decided to put you in an orphanage. When a few years had passed, I believe you tried to escape in order to see your mom and ended up getting a concussion, forgetting everything about your past. In order to defend yourself, you trained and joined a group of local thugs. That's when we got you." "Wow, I can't believe I forgot everything.....but wait- how do you know all of this?" I question. "Well, Sydney's power is wizardry so I had her locate everyone with the mutated gene and did a background search on you." "I can't believe you were able to save all those people like me...." I exclaim in awe. "Well actually, do you remember that one wanted criminal on the flier?" I nod my head, confused on what that felon had to do with any of this. "He's actually one of us and before I could get to him he already discovered his powers and his mind got corrupted with greed. He started to use it for his own selfish desires. His power is evil and dangerous....it's necromancy." "Wait, that's possible!?" I exclaim. "Sadly, yes. And he can kill people like us and use their powers for his own will." "Oh no.....was he able to kill any of us yet...?" I ask nervously. Kai gloomily looks to the side as her brows furrow. "I'm afraid he's already got two of us....their names are Ray and Sebastian. Ray was Rachel's boyfriend before he got captured. Rachel has never lived down the fact that she couldn't save him, so she trained for hours on end and ended up isolating herself from everyone else...it broke my heart to see her do this to herself..." "That explains why she's always in a sour mood" I say, rolling my eyes. I don't really care for the whole romance thing to be honest, if there's anything my old gang taught me, love is a good way to get yourself killed. "Anyway....what's their powers?" I ask, trying to learn some intel in case there's ever a need for it. "I believe Sebastian's is similar to Zach's....he can call on spirits to possess his body...although they're mostly evil..." she mutters. "And Ray's....?" I ask. Kai lets out a sigh and looks down at her desk, observing the small scratches that are etched into the dark wood from centuries of use. She traces her small finger along the grooves of the wood. "He has the scariest ability of them all.....he can control people's thoughts or emotions....as long as he can see them." "So I guess Rachel's love for him wasn't part of his abilities......." "Nope!" Kai exclaims slowly rising from her chair. "What they had was a bond stronger than anything." I almost puke hearing these cringey words. I lift myself up from her comfortable seat and follow her to the door. "Thanks for filling me in, Kai." I bow my head and start to head back towards my room. Once again, millions of thoughts cloud my mind, causing my head to ache. I wonder if Sydney can make a potion for that....

                   I open my doors to my room and look around at the empty space. Wow how boring....I should just steal stuff from people's rooms...maybe Davis'...hehe. I put on some darker clothes that I borrowed from Elizabeth and make my way towards where I think Davis' room is. I tip-toe even though no one is around. Wait a minute...I can just teleport. I close my eyes and concentrate on the look of his door. I open my eyes and find myself standing right in front of his room's entrance. Heavy Mahogany doors block my way in and since I've never seen the inside of his room before I can't just teleport inside. I slowly reach for the doorknob. I tighten my whole hand around the cold gold oval as I slowly twist it, trying to make as little noise as possible. If he's in here, I'm screwed. I toss those thoughts aside and steadily crack open the door. I squirm my way in the dim lit room. I look around and see punching bags hung from the ceiling and different sets of weights. I look to the other side of the room and see a....person...? Wait a minute. Uh oh. I make a break for it, sprinting in the opposite direction. My shoes make loud thuds through the hallway as I'm running as fast as I can. I hear his footsteps slowly getting closer and closer. Why's he so fast!? "Ahhhhhhhhhhh!" I scream as I'm still running. This was a terrible idea. I look ahead to the end of the hall, heavy footsteps chasing after me. I spot Kailey walking towards one of the rooms with a book in hand. She quickly looks over and seems surprised at my situation. She then runs and turns the corner. What the heck. How dare she. I'm suddenly yanked back when Davis latches on to the back of my hoodie. He uses his telekinesis to keep me in place. This little rat. "What were you doing in my room?" he questions while crossing his arms. I let out puffs of air as I try to regain all the lost oxygen from running. "Uh, none of your business" I respond, rolling my eyes. "It IS my business considering it's MY room!" He emphasizes. "Nuh uh" I retort. "Yuh uh" he spits back. We go on like this for a while until Elizabeth walks up to us questioning our circumstances. "Elizabeth! Oh thank the Rat King ¹, Davis is trying to attack me for no reason!" I say acting all sad and scared. "Davis, let her go." Elizabeth demands cocking her head to one side. "B-but s-she" Davis stutters in disbelief. "Wahh please let me gooooo, I didn't do anythingggg" I sob adding in some fake tears to really sell the story. Elizabeth smacks Davis on the top of his head, making him release his powers. "Come on Amber, we can go do something in my room" Elizabeth says softly, trying to comfort me. "Ok...." I say sniffling. Elizabeth turns around making her way to her room as I go to follow. Before leaving I smile and stick my tongue out. I then whisper "Loooooserrrrrr" and walk away. I glance behind me and see that he is just standing there in incredulity. I laugh to myself thinking of ways I can steal some stuff from Elizabeth's room. 

Rat King ¹ - A type of god worshiped  by it's followers.