Shadows Against Corruption

Chapter One

"Clara, you better bring home my beer!" I flinch as my dad yells from another room. "Y-yes father." I answer him quickly. I will never call this man 'dad' again. But if I call him by his first name, he gets mad.
If I get another beating, I might not be able to make it to work. And I can't afford to miss out on work again. I need all the money I can get for bills and my fathers alcohol.
I leave the house before he can say anything else. I have a slight limp from last night, but it's nothing I can't deal with, so I walk towards work. I don't have a car or a license. For things like that, you need time and money. And I don't have either.

While walking down the streets, I look around. It's such a strange world we're in. A few generations back, people started getting powers. Of all sorts of nature.
But people are greedy, so this imbalance in power started causing wars.
The people who are running the government usually have powers along the lines of foresight. But no one really knows what they're capable of.
And then there's the 'underworld'. They were a resistance at some point, but now they're only seen as criminals and treated as such. There are still groups who didn't get captured. And to be honest, I'm happy for them that they made it out alive.

There is one well-known resistance member who made it out, the shadowsinger. Not a lot is known about him. Other than that, he's ruthless and is hiding people from the government. I'm quite intrigued by him. No one knows his true identity, but we do know the basics about his powers. He has complete control over shadows. I dont know what that entails, but it's supposedly really powerful. The rumors say he's a ruthless man, but I've never heard a rumor about what he actually does to people.
In my opinion, he's quite an intriguing man. It's not like I'll ever meet him, but if I did, I'd thank him for fighting for humanity.
You see, I'm rooting for the resistance. The government is a bunch of power-hungry pigs. They don't care who gets hurt or what is best for society. They only care about wealth and power.

And then there's me, Clara Willow. As simple as anyone else. Long blonde hair and blue eyes.
I did get fortunate enough to have gotten a power. My power is healing and mending. I can use this to close and mend someone's wounds or illnesses. The bigger the wound, the more energy it costs me. Using too much of my power will cause me to partially take on the pain from the person I'm trying to heal.

After half an hour of walking, I make it to the clinic. Upon entering Mary, my superior is already standing at the front desk. "Good morning Mary!" She's an older lady, her hair grey, and she's small and a little chubby. But she's the kindest person I've ever met.
"Good morning Clara, there is already a patient in room 05. Would you be able to start immediately? She has a broken finger, the poor thing." "Sure thing!" I hang up my coat and make my way over to where the patient is.

Today was rather uneventful. It's just another day at the clinic. It's 7pm, me and a patient are the only ones left at the clinic. Sir Stanley has an illness that doesn't seem to go away. So I'm brewing up a potion or rather a cure.
I put it in a little vial and walked over to his room. "Here you go, sir. It should work almost immediately!" He drinks the contents, and you can almost see his face relax with relief. "Thank you so much, healer Willow."
After he leaves the clinic, I lock the door and get started on cleaning up. I always stay longer at the clinic. The extra hours give me the extra money I need.

That should be it for today. Putting my hands on my hips, I admire the clean area. I walk out the front door. When I see three guys walking over to me. They seem to be around my age. A guy with white hair is walking on the right. On the left is a guy with black hair. And in the middle is a blonde. And he is bleeding?! Oh shit, this seems quite bad. I hold the door open. "Bring him to room 01. It should be the closest door to the right. Be careful with moving him around." They nodded and do as I asked. Quickly getting him settled on the bed while I grab my supplies.

Upon walking back into the room, the two guys are eyeing me with suspicion, while the one on the bed has his eyes closed in pain. "What's your name?" Through gritted teeth, he answers, "Brennan." That's good news. He's still responsive. I see the blood on his lower abdomen. Very carefully, I lift his shirt and see quite the nasty wound. I let out a small gasp of shock. "What happened to you?" What in the world could've caused this? It almost seems like he was stabbed. Who would stab someone who looks so incredibly kind? "We can't tell you. Sorry." The white-haired guy answers instead of Brennan. I give a quick nod before getting to work.
I can't fix this one easily. I get a chair out for myself and sit down, holding my hands on the wound. "I'm sorry, this will hurt." I don't know whether I was telling him that, or myself.

I close my eyes and focus all the power I have into mending his wound, binding the flesh back together, recreating the tissue. I can feel it working, but I'm tiring fast. And it isn't long before I'm softly yelling in pain. "Aghh, almost there." Just a couple more minutes, and I take my hands away.
I examine the wound, but it's almost none existent now. The dark-haired guy mumbles a soft, "Wow."

Brennan is fast asleep. Getting mended like this takes a lot of energy. It's like regular healing but compressed into a short amount of time. Brennan isn't the only one with a lack of energy. The room is spinning a little for me as well. "You guys are good to take him home. Make sure he rests for another 4 days minimum. Even if he feels fine." I give them the instructions. "Thank you -" the tall white-haired started, asking for my name. "Clara Willow." "Thank you, Clara," I shake my head. "No need to thank me -" doing the same thing he did, to ask for his name. "Still, thank you, I'm Jackson, and this is Dorian." Dorian hasn't uttered a word at all yet. He's standing in the corner. Still eyeing me like I'm a threat. Or maybe he's analyzing me.

A sudden realization hits me. I have to go home. Father will kill me if I'm not back on time with his beer! This is very bad! I swiftly get up from my chair, but the dizziness from overusing my powers hits me almost immediately. I manage to keep standing and stumble to the door. "I have to go home. Please take him with you. I need to close up." Jackson and Dorian share a look of concern. "Clara, are you okay?" Jackson asks me. "Yes, I'm fine, I just need to get home quickly!"
I take a step outside of the room and sway again. Come on, world, just stop spinning already! Another step, and I fall over. Not being able to support my own weight anymore. I close my eyes for the impact of hitting the ground, but it never comes.

Dorian caught me just in time and brought me back to the chair. "You overused your magic, didn't you?" I look away in shame. "I'll take that as a yes. Stay seated for a while longer. You need to regain some strength first."
He doesn't understand, I can't! Father will give me another beating for it. I shake my head, "No, I'm alright! I really, really need to get home!" I stand up again against Dorians' advice. Only to fall again, but this time, my vision turns black. I can still hear some voices before I pass out.

"We can't leave her here alone!"

"But we can't get caught here either."

"So we're going to kidnap her?!"

"What choice do we have! We can't leave her here after she helped us!"

(A/N, this is my first ever story, so please take it easy on me!
I would love to know what you guys think, and advice is always welcome!!)