The Glade and Its Glitch: Book 2 Allies or Enemies

Chapter 17

Now that the Glade was calm and had quieted down, Huntress started speaking again. "Now, as I was saying. Dani and Rex are Glitch's parents. All three of them lived together in the same treehouse Dani and Rex live in now. Many of you might already have known Glitch was their son since they've lived here in the Glade for nearly twenty years. Once Glitch left, they were pretty much left alone."

"But why did he leave?" A voice called out.

"Glitch was jealous of elemental powers, he wanted some of his own." Huntress answered, "So-"

"But why couldn't he just have someone be his mentor?"

"We have already explained this." Skylight butted in, "He wanted his powers from his parents. While it is true that he could have used a mentor, he wished for more. Like how my powers are my mother's and father's powers morphed together. Color mixed with mind-reading somehow winded up making light and dark."

"Our running theory is that Tai thought or dreamed in black and white." Sunbeam said from down in the crowd, "But of course, Tai read minds, not me." He laughed, "So that's just a theory."

Huntress nodded and continued, "Glitch wanted that family bond. To some families passing powers down through the generations is an important tradition. Glitch wanted that. "

By now nearly everyone had stopped staring at Dani and Rex. "He fought us," Dani added, "Begged us to give him power. It's not that we refused, we just... didn't know how." Dani looked down but her husband was still unresponsive. "Before he was born we tried to pass our power down. Just like how most elemental families do it. Somehow, it failed, Glitch was born and he was powerless. Even Protector didn't know what went wrong."

Looking back with sad eyes, Huntress smiled weakly, "After being surrounded by people who are more powerful than him, Glitch became determined. A hunger for power began to consume him. But once he realized he couldn't get power from his parents, they had already tried their hardest, Glitch set his sights higher. You know that saying, 'if you can't beat them, join them'? Well, he chose the other way around, 'if you can't join them, beat them'."

"There's a substance called Vengestone." Skylight put in. He was getting bolder, and speaking to the audience was becoming easier. "It's a type of stone that when surrounding an elemental master renders their powers useless."

Fear overtook the people below Skylight. For many of them, their powers were what made them who they were. Without them, who were they? Or at least that's the mindset they had.

"As much as Skylight and I don't want to scare you," Huntress attempted to calm the fearful crowd. "It has to be said. There is a mineral called Vengestone, and it does cause our powers to be of no use. No matter how hard you may try, you will ultimately fail to do anything. It can also be painful in some cases, keeping your power trapped inside you too long can have its consequences."

Huntress had only worn Vengestone once. When she was finally able to take it off, she nearly passed out. She had thought the pain with it on was intense, but the rush of her elemental power overwhelmed her even more. Rapidly shifting from animal to animal took a toll on her body, and the constant spazzing made her weak and exhausted. It had taken days for her power level to return to normal, the Vengestone didn't destroy her power, it just kept it inside. Waiting for the moment when the stone would be taken away and the power could escape.

"Vengestone is powerful and should not be taken lightly," Skylight started, interrupting Huntress' thoughts. "And we won't take it lightly."

"We think Glitch is trying to use it. Although we don't know how." Huntress joined Skylight in addressing the crowd, "What we do know is that he's bought a lot of it. We've found that he's hired two scientists. Likely they're experimenting with Vengestone. We think they might want to permanently stop powers."

Understandably, as Huntress said this, the Glade broke out into chaos.

"Now, as I said, this is something we think he's going to do. We can't know for sure." Huntress attempted to restore order. "But-" she was cut off by the numerous outcries from the assembly. "Listen to me-" no matter what she did Huntress failed to calm the agitated crowd.

After a few moments, Huntress gave up. "We're not getting any more words in," she said to Skylight, "Let's just call it."

Supernova looked over to Sunbeam, "This is madness."

Sunbeam nodded and adjusted Kiki's perch on his shoulders, "They did their best. But I don't think the Glade is ready for this. Glitch is insane. Who knows what he's planning."

Kiki looked up at where her brother was standing. She blinked slowly, "I hope he knows what he's gotten himself into."