Take Flight And Fall

- Falsetto -

I should... demonstrate my powers? I thought in fear, my breath growing thin. Oh skies how should I do that in here when all my power does is destroy everything?

Seconds passed before the queen softly said, “go on. We don’t want to waste our time any longer.”

“But... Your Majesty I can’t use my powers here. I can’t—” I swallowed my words as the queen straightened up, leaning her back away from the backrest of her throne. She narrowed her eyes, a new glint of emotion in it. And the glint was an irritated one.

“You can’t or you don’t wish to?” She brought up her hand and shifted her cold gaze to it. “Well if you don’t know how to do yours I can show you how to do mine.” She clicked her fingers and a sound—like that of an almost inaudible thunderclap—sounded clearly. She opened her palm wide and a tongue of fire appeared out of thin air in the heart of her palm. “Fire is a sweet but dangerous element,” she softly said, looking at the fire like it was her one true love. The corners of her lips quirked slightly. The fire gave her eyes a predatory glow as she whispered, “if you don’t do what I’ve asked of you I’ll have no choice but to burn you alive. You don’t belong here and the only way I can trust you is if you do as I say right now.”

Feeling threatened by her words, I gulped loudly, my eyes wide in panic. “Please don’t Y-Your Majesty. I can... I’ll do as you say but”—I bristled as she frowned lightly and her fire hissed in anger—“I can’t do it here because my power makes people unconscious.”

“Then demonstrate it on a low scale.” She clenched her hand and the fire disappeared with a light whisper. She leaned back, placed her elbows on the armrest and interlocked her fingers. “Go on. I’m waiting,” she said in a quiet tone, urging me.

The instinct to do what the queen said overpowered me and I slowly stood. I wobbled a little but successfully regained my balance. I allowed my eyes to rake the room, searching for a bare place.

There, I thought, turning to face the wall that had nobody standing before it or anything on it. I shut my eyes and searched for the power within me. Come on Deneb. Save yourself with your power. Oh skies help me.

The seconds sluggishly ticked as the power started swirling in my chest. It was like tiny balls that were bouncing around, ready to be set free. I steadied my breath, making use of the silence in the room to help me. A few more seconds passed and my eyes were flying open. My mouth hung open and I wailed. Half a second later, I made out the sound of hissed and groans despite the leash I was putting on my powers. Everyone in the room continued groaned in pain as I continued wailing. My wail was like the music of a whale. It was pitched, airy, and soothing, but it was also heavy with might. The sound was coming out like when a person is trying to force a toothpick through one of the holes in a button, relentless and determined.

Because of the tornado-like force of my voice, the wooden surface of the wall began to chip away as multiple slash marks appeared on it. The part of the wall that was the most affected began to jut out, the area bursting open in the next few seconds. Its particles flew outside, my power still affecting it. Before I could allow more casualties to happen, I tried to swallow back the power by abruptly shutting my mouth. It vibrated fiercely in my chest before it threw me back. My mouth went open one last time, letting the last bit of my power free. I tumbled on the floor and landed before the legs of a few mutants, my chest burning in the aftermath of my show of power.

The room was quiet for a while before everyone started murmuring in shock. A few of the them—the braver ones—shuffled closer and peered down at my face. I we struggling to breath, wheezing and choking. My heart was beating extremely fast and my throat was tight and heavy as if it was trapping a baseball in it.