From Embers

S I X T E E N

Two hours later, the lockdown finally ended. All at once, the students came out of their housing units and went to their athletics and extracurricular activities. I got some running clothes on and headed over to the track field. I saw a group of three guys standing in the center of the field, along with a single girl. I joined the rest of them on the field and introduced myself.

"Hi, My name's Max. I was hoping I was in the right place for the Cross Country team?" I stated.

"Sure are, I'm Kronos." He extended his hand.

He had blonde hair and tan skin, with blue eyes. Not much shorter than I was.

I took his hand and firmly shook it.

"Hey guys, this is Max. He's joining onto the team today." He stated towards the group.

"Sup, the name's Mike." One stated

He was olive skinned with black hair and brown eyes. He was the same height as Kronos.

"Tristan." The other one said cooly.

He had pale skin and bright green eyes with hazel skin. He was a few inches taller than me. 

The girl just looked me over and didn't say anything.

"That's Alice. She doesn't really like new people. She's the best on the team. She'll warm up to you eventually." Kronos said quietly. 

She was extremely petite, she had long brown hair. She made eye contact with me for a moment, I caught a glimpse of her blue eyes and the freckles that lightly spotted her face. Her face was stone cold and didn't change expressions very frequently.

I took his hand and firmly shook it.

"So, is there any paperwork or anything I need to sign? Or some sort of uniform?" I asked.

"Not at all, all of that is already taken care of. We all just practice in what we're comfortable with. Coach will be here in a minute or two. I think we're just running a 5k today around campus. Nothing too crazy." He stated.

Just as he said, there was another man. He was toned, late twenties, with brown hair. He was walking towards us from the field house a minute later. After talking with Kronos for a moment, he finally joined us in the center of the field. 

"Hey coach, we got a new kid today. His name's Max." Mike stated.

"Welcome to the team son, My name is Coach Mo'hingan. We're just running a 5k today, so I'll get to see your speed and endurance. It'll help me figure out what you bring to this team. Notice there's only four members. That would be because we train harder than any cross country team in our region. We are the best of the best. I'll push you to your limits and have you running faster than you thought you were capable of in a matter of weeks if you think you can handle it." He stated.

"I think I'll fit right in coach." I responded.

"Then let's get running. We're going to the trails today." Mo'hingan stated.

We all jogged towards the other side of the field, and it abruptly ended with a field of grass and a trail started about fifty meters ahead of us. When we reached the start of the trail, we stopped for a moment. 

"Now, don't hurt yourself, but try and keep up with the others. It shouldn't be too difficult." Coach spoke. 

"Sure thing." I answered.

He pulled out a stopwatch and counted down from three. On one, everyone started accelerating into a slow sprint. I followed their lead and ran closely behind Kronos. I took in all the sights and smells as the trail took us deeper into the forest around the campus. I had never seen a forest that blocked out the sky completely. It almost felt like it was night time, but with an eerie light barely managing to shine through. It was magical. I barely felt the cold that enveloped the air around me. My lungs didn't seem to care about the frozen air entering my lungs. I took a deep breath and continued forwards, still trialing the pack of runners. 

After about ten minutes of running, the fatigue started catching up to me. Distance started placing itself between me and the others. They didn't slow down to stay with me, or even notice they were losing me. After about another hundred meters I finally slowed down to a walk. I couldn't keep going with them at that pace. My heart pounded heavily in my chest, and my breathing was frantic. I put my arms over my head and tried to slow everything down. I kept walking down the trail, and eventually saw the group disappear into the dense forestry where the path took another turn. How could they just run a 5k without even taking a second to recuperate? Coach was right. He did train these people well. They could probably run for days without stopping. Then there was me, who could run just over a mile and a half before stopping. 

"Mate, ye know you have an advantage that no one else has right?" Scott appeared in front of me, making me jump.

"You can't do that! I was about to fight you!" I stated loudly. 

"Get used to it mate. Welcome to the real world." He chuckled.

I hated him sometimes.

"Use your abilities and catch up to them, your healing will keep the fatigue away." He stated.

I closed my eyes and a few moments later, I felt a mental snap. I shook with invigorating energy and chuckled to myself as my body felt good as new. 

"Thanks Scott. Warn me next time you're going to scare the heck out of me though." I said.

"I might, I might not. Yer get what yer get." He smiled, then disappeared in a bright flash.

I accelerated instantly, going double what I was after four steps. This felt like cheating, but I wasn't complaining. I would catch them in only a minute or less. I pushed myself to go faster and I kept accelerating. The forestry flew past me at incredible speeds. All my eyes could focus on was the trail I was on. A little under a minute later, I saw the pack ahead of me. I kept running hard, as the trail ended another half mile ahead. I could just make out Coach standing at the end. I pushed as hard as I could and went as fast as I could. Before I caught up with the others, I slowed my speed and ran just faster than them. I would still beat them, but not by much. I passed Kronos and Mike, but still had Tristan and Alice neck and neck ahead of me. I accelerated a small bit, and gained on them. The end of the race was only a quarter mile ahead of us now. I finally caught up to both of them and looked over to see the surprised look on both of their faces. Alice's eyes widened a little bit, but her facial expression didn't change. Then, her eyes narrowed and she accelerated. I kept pace with her. She tried so hard to go faster, but she was burning out quickly. I kept pace with her up until the last fifty feet of the race, then I just slightly passed her. I finished first out of the five of us. Coach stopped his stopwatch as soon as I passed the threshold from the forest back onto the campus. I slowed down to a stop and took a deep breath. Closing my eyes, I let my abilities shut down. It always felt like something was just ripped out of me when they shut off. It was almost like a fire was just extinguished without remorse. Which made sense, because it was the complete opposite when they switched on. 

"Didn't know you were going to catch up, and finish first Max. Great job." Kronos said breathing heavily.

"You've gotta tell us how you caught up so quickly after you fell behind." Mike said.

"Good stuff, newbie." Tristan stated.

Alice just remained looking at me; it was almost like she was calculating. 

Coach didn't say anything for a moment, he only started across the foggy campus at the Headmaster's building. After what felt like an eternity of silence he spoke.

"Practice is over. Max. Meet me in my office. Floor four, room two thirty five. Go get changed and then meet me there. Now." He stated quietly. 

I didn't know what to make of this, so I didn't respond. I walked over to Kronos and it turned out we were housed on the same row. He was four units down from mine. I walked with him back and parted ways at my unit. I took a quick shower and put on some warmer clothes. It was still pretty cold outside. My mind started to wander. I didn't know why Coach Mo'hingan needed to see me. 

What had I done now?