Rare

Chapter 3

          "It's still not working." We had been in the backyard for hours, and my arms were beginning to get tired. I had tried to copy my dad's stance from earlier, but nothing happened. That is, besides me losing feeling in my arms. 

          "You have to clear your mind, Levi." Apparently, this was my dad's new favorite phrase, as he had said it countless times while I was honing my skills, or lack thereof. 

          "What is this, meditation?" I asked, exhausted. 

          "You could say that." He said. Not the answer I was hoping for. "Here, watch." He held his hands up in front of him once again, and closed his eyes. Almost immediately his hands were enveloped in blue flame. "It's not as hard as you're making it out to be Levi. Try again." He shook his hands, and the fire disappeared, his hands unscathed. I sighed and rolled my eyes. 

          "Dad, you've been doing this for your entire life, of course it's going to be easy for you." Nevertheless, I raised my hands and closed my eyes. Still nothing. My dad turned towards me and crossed his arms. 

          "How did it happen before? Try to remember." I thought about it. Which was a bad idea, since the only image that came to mind was my principal's burnt corpse. I shuddered. "Let's not do that, okay?" I said quietly. 

          "Would it make you feel better if I told you he wasn't dead?" I turned, shocked. "Turns out you only stunned him. He's fine now. Luckily your powers haven't been fully activated yet." I sighed with relief, not bothering to question where he got this information. Suddenly, a bright flash emitted from my hands, and dust rose from the ground. After the smoke had cleared, I could see a crater in the floor. I heard clapping from behind me. "See? It's not hard, is it?" I stared at my hands, still surprised from what had come out of them, as well as afraid. 

          "No, I guess not." Suddenly, the yard got pitch black. Or rather, black and purple. I felt nausea overtake me and I fell to the floor, the world spinning around me. The sound of static overwhelmed me. A tall man in a dark robe walked up to us. He spoke. 

          "So...the boy has found his power?" His voice sounded electronic, and was constantly interrupted with crackles and breaks, as if he was talking through an intercom. I turned to see my dad backing away, his eyes filled with fear. 

          "No...you...how..." He was at a complete loss for words. The mysterious man laughed. 

          "I am far more powerful than you think, fool." He reached forward and a long dark purple vine whipped out from the palm of his hand. It wrapped around my dad's neck, and color slowly started to drain from his face. I tried to get up and help, but I found out that I couldn't move my body. The hooded man retracted the vine. Where my dad once stood, there was now a pile of gray dust. The hooded man approached me, and put his cold hand on my throat, lifting me up. "You are next boy. Your powers are strong, but not strong enough. Not yet." I could move my body again, and I tried to break free from his grasp. Tears were welling up in my eyes. 

         "What have you done to my dad?!" I screamed, still trying to release my throat from his grip. 

          "I just absorbed his essence. You will see him again, in due time." He laughed, and faded into the darkness. I fell to the ground, my neck bruised from him choking me. I didn't move. All I could do was cry.

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          I opened my eyes, still swollen from all the crying. I sat still for a moment, still processing what had just happened. A hooded figure came out of nowhere...and absorbed my dad's essence? I still had trouble processing the situation. Thinking back to it, the tears began to come back. The only thing that I could do was wait for my mom to come home and explain everything. Hopefully she would know what was going on. Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in the back of my neck. A split second after the throbbing had stopped, a loud beeping began to emit from the same place. I clasped the back of my neck and rushed to the bathroom. I lifted my hair and turned around. A small but bright red glow was coming from under my skin. Somehow, I had never noticed this hard lump on the back of my neck. I began to scratch at it, but then something happened. I couldn't hear anything. I clapped my hands in front of me to check, and sure enough there was no noise. 

          At least the beeping stopped I thought. Just as the thought had entered my mind, the beeping came back, but louder than ever. It came to an abrupt halt, and then there was static. A voice started speaking. 

         "Hello? Is this Levi? Reply out loud if you can hear me." I didn't know who this person was, but I replied anyway. 

          "Yes? How do you know my-" Before I could finish my sentence, I heard a sigh of relief. 

          "Okay, good. The emergency call worked." Emergency call? 

          "What's going on?" I asked, hoping to get some confirmation. 

          "No time to explain. An escape pod will come to you shortly. Get in it, and ask no questions." I heard a click, and my hearing came back to me. Somehow, they had shut off my sense of hearing temporarily. The red light and beeping were gone, but I was still confused. I heard a rumbling from above my head. I looked up just in time to see a metal sphere crash through the ceiling. It landed inches from my face, and a hatch opened up on the top. The first thought that came to my mind was how mad my mom would be. The second was just an absolute mess of questions. Hoping it would lead me to some answers, I climbed into the escape pod and waited for the hatch to close.

Author's Note: 

I tried to make this chapter a bit longer, since the last one was so short. Granted, I haven't posted a new chapter for a while, but hopefully the chapters will become more consistent! Hope you are enjoying the book so far! If you have anything good or bad to say about go ahead! I'm open to any new ideas!