Hidden-Unordinary

Chapter 2

Arlo often wondered what it would be like if the world was run by the strong. How the government would treat those with higher-level abilities. and he wondered what would have happened to those without them. 

For as long as he could remember Arlo was constantly told that his ability was a curse and that it would only bring damage to society and that whoever decided to go against these rules would be put down like dogs. 

It was unfair. 

"Arlo!" Arlo broke from his thoughts and turned towards the voice. "What?" Arlo picked himself off of the ground and walked towards elaine. "Umm Arlo... I think there's someone you should meet" A tall black-haired boy climbed his way towards them but stopped when he saw the blonde. His face showed disgust and hatred. What did I do? Arlo wondered glaring back at the black haired boy. 

"Arlo this is john..." 

Arlo stared in disbelief. He scanned John from head to toe. His figure was much more built and he looked a lot angrier.  "John?!" 

John took a closer look at the blonde. His hair was a mess and he was a lot skinnier than John had remembered. What the...

Arlo took a step towards him. "I thought you were killed-"

John rolled his eyes "you wish" 

Arlo shot Elaine a questioning look to which she responded with a shrug. "Well I'm glad you made it out... most of the high tiers were killed or caught in the attack"

What on earth were they talking about?! High tiers? Getting killed? That's stupid how would people be able to take down high tiers without getting killed themselves? Questions flooded John's brain. He ran back towards where he and Sera arrived and looked around for His magenta haired friend hoping she would be able to answer some of his questions. 

"Sera?" A girl with purple turned her head around. John hadn't noticed before but she had longer hair and she didn't have her green highlights. Wow was John blind. He ran over to where his friend was. "what are you doing here?" John asked sitting beside her. "Well Elaine ran off with you so I was waiting for you here" she said smiling. John smiled. He wished that Seraphina still smiled like that in his own world. 

Seraphina still looked uneasy. "anyway mind explaining a few things for me about this world?" John asked changing the subject. "Oh right" Seraphina said her frown turning into a smile. 

"so let's see... um tell me about your world first" John sighed. "My world huh... Well everybody follows something called the hierarchy or something similar. Everybody uses their abilities and those who are the strongest rule." Sera nodded. "There are 5 main categories. Cripples, Low-tiers, Mid-tiers, Elite-tiers, and High-tiers." 

"what category would you fall into?" John looked uncomfortable. "umm" He wasn't sure whether to tell her he had an ability. He decided to since he didn't really have much to lose. "I would fall under high-tier or a subcategory called god-tier" Sera stared at him. "Theres such thing as a god-tier?!" John nodded slowly. He found it kind of funny that his god-tier friend didn't know such a category existed. 

"God-tier is a subcategory for those who are level 6.0 or higher" 

"can you explain levels a bit?" John was confused. 

"you guys don't measure ability levels?" Seraphina shook her head.

"they just split us into the main categories based off of how much of a threat we are to society"
John shook his head. How stupid. 

"well let's see here... abilities are measured by a person's overall mastery and potential. you can try to master your ability as much as you can but you're limited by your potential. so for example lets say someone has the ability to read people's minds. They can master it all they want but the wont get very far. meanwhile, someone who can control minds have much higher potential and can get very powerful" John said proud of his knowledge on abilities. 

"wow you know a lot about abilities" Sera remarked. John smiled 
"Of course I do. when you grow up in a world where abilities matter it's only reasonable to understand it." Sera looked down at the ground. In her world abilities were considered the plague. 

"So john what level would you be?" John looked startled at the question. He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Umm I'm not sure about what it is right now but 2 years ago I was a level 7.0" 

"Is that powerful?" John laughed. She had no idea. "Let's just say your level can only get as high as a level 10" Seraphina's eyes widened. "Whoa you're really powerful" John nodded proudly. 

"What about me? can you measure me?!" Seraphina asked tugging on his arm. "Um I'm not able to measure abilities. that's out of my capability" Seraphina frowned. "Oh" 

"W-well I mean I could try" John said shrugging. Surely if he was able to manipulate auras he could read them as well. "I need you to activate your ability though" Seraphina nodded and activate her ability. John really couldn't tell what her level was. He could only sense her aura. He concentrated. still he knew nothing. "Yeah I can't" John sighed. 

"that's alright" Sera said deactivating immediately. "By the way john what's your ability?" Sera asked. "I can control time" She said in a quiet tone. "Is there a name?" John asked. Sera shook her head. "We don't name our abilities..."

"oh" John furrowed his brows. Why wouldn't they name it? "Well I'll name it for you then!" Sera looked up at him with a worried look. "I don't think we should" Sera said nervously. "Why not? You have to be proud of your ability!" John said loudly. 

"I wish I could just get rid of it to be honest" John looked at her with a confused look on his face. "What?! Why?!" He asked. After Seraphina lost her ability in his world her life flipped upside down! and then this Seraphina wants to get rid of it?!

Sera shifted uncomfortably. "I-I'll tell you later... anyway what's your ability?" 

"Mine is aura manipulation" John replied. 

"What does it do?" Seraphina asked curiously. "well whenever people activate their ability their aura is present as well. In fact without an aura you can't really use your ability. So I am able to manipulate that aura. For example, I could copy your ability by manipulating my aura to match yours" Sera leaned her head on his shoulder. 

"Anyway in my world if you don't have an ability you're kind of screwed. You would get beat up and get bossed around by those with higher ranks." John leaned his head on hers. "What level am I in your world?" Sera asked grabbing his hand. 

"Well you used to be a level 8.0..."

"Go on" Sera said rubbing the palm of his hand with her thumbs. 

"But then you got injected with a drug and you lost your ability" 

Seraphina sighed. She wished she was injected with a drug that took away abilities. Then she wouldn't have to worry about anything. She interlaced her fingers in his. She could feel his heart beat faster. She looked up at his face. He looked super upset. "Its fine john what's done is done"
sera said trying to calm him down. "just focus on right now," she put her head back on his shoulder. 

"yeah alright..."