Oversight

Chapter 4 Practice Makes Perfect

It wasn't long before Noah figured out, he had no idea what he was doing. Mark had him try all sorts of things, but he couldn't get the hang of it. He would be able to hold the energy in his hand, but he couldn't make it do anything. It came alive between his fingers, dancing between his knuckles. But that was all it did. Mark had tried to help by telling him about some of the other people that had this power.

"...Some of them were very well known, like Thor and Zeus. Neither were real gods, as they were interpreted as by the people, but their power made it seem like they could be to mortals. Thor, for example, didn't have the modern technology you have today. He couldn't just take electricity from the devices and use it, he summoned it directly from the clouds. Zeus did the same thing. However, Zeus told the mortals he was god of the sky, creating lightning storms by summoning his electricity. While Thor said he was the god of thunder, even though what he technically summoned was lightning. He used his control to do more than summon storms, though, he also flew, shot his electricity at foes, and was a great warrior."

"How is this helping?" Noah was getting annoyed as he tried to make the energy ball stay in it's shape. 

"You must know what others have done so that you can learn what you can do. Some comic book characters have obtained this power as well..."

"Comic books? Now you're messing with me." The ball burst and turned to confetti around his feet. 

"Yes, comic books. A more modern adaptation of what we do. Not all of them are real, but some have been discovered and manipulated for entertainment. Like Storm, Electro, Green Lantern..."

"Green Lantern doesn't even use electricity!" 

"But he does use energy to create constructs. Well, he did. Of course they are all long dead, but their legacies are still being formed by the comics that mortals read."

Noah didn't know what to say anymore, and it seemed like Mark had finished his part as well. It felt like forever before night arrived and Mark told Noah to go home, and not to reveal his powers. 

Noah got 'home' late, but his mom wasn't even home yet. Weird , he thought to himself. He didn't realize it before, but he was starving. He got into the kitchen and chowed down on whatever he could get his hands on. Then, he quickly went to his room, and sat down on his bed in the darkness. 

He lifted his hand in front of his face and concentrated. Nothing happened. He walked out of the shack and to a tree nearby. He looked down at both of his hands and then up at the tree. He rested them gently on the trunk and repeated the process he had earlier that night. He did this a couple more times to other trees before going back inside and sitting on his bed again.

This time, when he lifted his hand, a ball of energy formed. It crackled and tried to escape but he willed it to stay. He pictured it like a baseball. A living baseball trying its best to roll out of a mitt. The energy began to take shape, becoming more round and smooth. He stared at it intensely, willing it to do his bidding. It seemed to be working, the energy formed into a smooth ball that held shape. It was strong, but light. It held a faint glow as it sat in his hand. Then it flickered, and the energy retreated back into his palm. 

Noah sighed, looking down at his hand, then replaced the ball with a new one. He waited for the shape to take, the smooth ball like shape, and he waited a few seconds again. This time it held. He tossed it in the air, and as he went to catch it it turned back to a crackling substance and escaped into his hand again. 

Noah glared at his hand, summoning the ball again. It took shape, he tossed it, caught it, he tossed it again, it disappeared.

The ball took shape again as Noah began to growl.