Affinities

Chapter VI

POV: James

I woke up in some forest, must have been way outside the city. I tried to piece together what happened back at the ship and after the escape. I remember escaping, the giant and after that...nothing. Another weird thing was I had a dream, I think it was a dream.

I remember a map of the world. There were colored stars aligned across the map. A blue star in the middle of Australia, pink star in the middle of India and a blue star just across on the Indian Ocean. I also remember that I was in some city that was flooded. I ran inside an old building with large columns and then ran down the basement. People were scrambling on their computers, making calls and just...I couldn't make sense of what was happening.

When I woke up, I wanted to sleep more so that I could continue the dream. The sun and the heat wouldn't let me sleep again.

"Glad you're awake and back to your normal self." It was Seth. He walked towards me then threw me a mango. "Sorry, no apples here. Just lots and lots of mangoes."

"Thanks." I said. "So, what happened?"

"You became this crazed maniac then passed out." He said flatly.

I didn't realize that I was hungry. Must have been lunch time by the looks of the sky and the sun. I peeled the mango and then started eating. Messy...just messy but who cares. I really felt drained. It was a different kind of exhaustion from a work out. Mentally I was just...lost. I suddenly knew things I didn't knew before like I know how to control my giant. My giant?

Seth sat down beside me on the ground. "We're lucky that you landed here in the middle of nowhere."

I agreed. "Yeah, that's true."

We sat in silence for more than ten minutes. Seth was the first to break the silence. "I need to explain something to you."

I didn't answer him. Don't know if he was expecting me to say something.

"I don't have an explanation why I brought you to that ship. Yes, I knew what they had but I needed someone like you to pilot one of the vessels that you call giants."

Like me? "Care to explain what I am?" I asked sarcastically.

"You're on another kind of level than I am even though we're both the same. You have your memories from before since you did survive the Rapture."

"Another level? We have levels?"

"Not like levels in games or anything but some of us are stronger and some are much stronger. Your Affinity makes you different. It just so happens that you have that kind of power and a suitable one to use with the vessel."

Before, when Malaya existed, before everything went to hell, I was just starting to develop my powers. I was working with some of the elders to enhance my Affinity. I was able to produce white light that can cut through anything, kind of like producing white knives. I also had training to manipulate the energy around me. I would use that to create red energy or sometimes black energy to blast objects. It was kid's play to what my elders did.

Seth waved a hand in front of my face. "Hello, still there?"

"Yeah I was just...I wasn't strong enough. I still remembered training with the elders."

"Handpicked trainees. They chose you. You were part of the experiment."

"Experiment?"

"You know how our powers get very strong when we meet our so-called partner?"

"Ok, so?"

"The elders created the vessels to magnify your existing powers." Seth paused and looked at his right hand. "They gathered the strongest, they deemed strongest of our kind and through your powers they created vessels. No need to find our destined one if there are vessels. They may not be a replacement but it eliminates somewhat the need to find who the person who will enhance our powers."

I stood up to walk over to the giant or vessel. I opened the panel on the side of its leg. Some of the symbols looked familiar. Like the kind that one of the elders showed me before. Too bad I wasn't listening to what they were teaching. I didn't even like training. I was lucky though to be picked by them since I met Dalia.

"Seth!" I called to him.

He quickly walked towards me. "Yeah, what?"

"You said that there was another one like the Black Wings, the one that was left behind at the ship?"

"I think it may have sunk since you broke the ship apart."

"Anyway, do you know who owns the other one?" I had a hunch, a feeling that I know who it is.

"Actually, no. But you and the Black Wings can find it."

I commanded the Black Wings to bring me up to the panel. Once inside the chamber I quickly pressed the symbols on the side of the chair, bringing up a holographic map. I just knew how to operate it. I just knew somehow. A white star appeared on the map, east of where we were located. It was on an island. I have to find out.

I jumped down from the chamber. Earlier I was totally weak, drained and just tired but now I had this renewed excitement, energy. Never been this excited.

"Seth, I know where to go and find the other vessel."

"Let's go." He said.

"I think we can both fit inside the chamber."

"Beats being in the hands of Black Wings."

I sat down on the chair while Seth was crouching beside me. The vessel knew where to go since I put in the coordinates of the other vessel we needed to find.

The trip took about twenty minutes but felt more than an hour to me. We landed on a deserted island, the remnants of what used to be my home. I saw the white vessel and her on the hologram screen. She was looking at us. She wasn't scared. It's as if she was expecting us. The panel of my chamber opened and we quickly hopped down on the ground to meet her.

"We need to talk." She said to me.

Yes, a long talk indeed.