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astorianwarrior-blog · 6 years

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Sunsinger

Life seems so much simpler as a child. You can run and play and be free. You’re not forced to make decisions that could impact your life because your parents, or parent, is always there to guide you. They’re always there to hold your hand and make sure that you do no wrong.

“We all live to serve Life,” he would tell me. Both him and paps. “But we’re special. We’ve been chosen to protect Her and all of Her creations.”

From a young age I always known who I am and who I was meant to be. A shining star on the darkest nights. Paps used to tell me of the Old World, the world that he came from before this one. Of King Skylar the Kind, the who was his brother in all rights except for blood. Of the Blessed and all of their deeds.

It was because of him that I used to dream of dragons.

I don’t remember mom dying. All I remember is the sadness that dad felt. He never let me see him frown, but I knew that he was hurting. Maybe I was too young to understand. Maybe he was protecting me even then. Shielding me from what could possibly hurt me.

In fact, I never remember seeing dad frown. He was always cheery and smiling, helping those who needed it the most. Even when paps passed he didn’t. It would falter at times, but it would never fully go away. Paps dying wasn’t a sad occasion. That was him moving on to the next stage of his cycle and to take on the mantle as the new god of Life.

So to see him now nearly broke down every wall I had put up.

The weight of my father had anchored me to the ground. With the warmth of his hand still lingering on my cheek I had to look down at my entire world. His long blond hair hanging limp and wet across his face which was still painted with that damned smile of his.

His fist was clenched around his sword and long cuts whipped through his clothing. He had died protecting his daughter.

The same daughter that had stood to the side and let him die.

Boiling rage wet my cheeks as I eased dad’s hands from the sword. “Rest easy, Dad,” I muttered. “Because I’m here now.”

Fury blinded my vision like a whirlwind and I saw fire. I saw the trees in front of me in timbers and cinders. I saw the world on fire. But then I saw him. Or more like felt him. That warm guiding hand of his on my shoulder.

His warmth quelled my fire, if only for a moment. It was like a cold breeze on a hot day.

My fingers curled around the soft leather of that sword. It is my duty to uphold what dad taught me. Without him, without me, there would be no one left to protect this world. Not from what was coming. I would have to be there.

I would have to be there when Chaos came. I would have to be that shining star that dad always talked about because no one else would. I would have to protect this world because it’s all I have anymore. Because it’s my home. Dad’s weight eased off of my knees and I stood.

“Let’s go, Sunsinger,” I said. Raging hot flame leapt from the pommel of the sword. It felt...excited. And I couldn’t help but smiling, just a little.

#fantasy #magic #magical #short #short story #creative #creative writing

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astorianwarrior-blog · 6 years

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Shockwave

Marshall gazed over the edge of the building, having immediate regrets of ever wanting to do this. “You sure this will work?” He asked.

“Probably,” a voice in his ear said. “You’re still kind of new to your powers, so it’s a bit of a guess. From what we’ve established, you can manipulate your own personal gravity. Mostly increasing and decreasing. You haven’t shown any aptitude toward fields or any of that nonsense. Your power is really straight-forward, honestly. But if you’re going to land hard, make sure you land on that bit of tech you have there. Otherwise you’ll just flatten yourself.”

Marshall looked down at his hand and made a fist. It was a prosthetic, a fake. Some high tech chunk of metal that whoever he was talking to “donated” to him. She called herself Gizmo, and made promises that somehow had convinced him to go with what she asked. “Remind me why I agreed to doing this again?”

“Your psychiatrist says that you need purpose in your life again. You lost your purpose after quitting that fire department that you and your brother worked for. You know, after the explosion that killed him.”

Marshall grunted. “Can we not talk about Noah right now?”

“Why not? He’s the one that created your artifact,” Gizmo said.

She wasn’t wrong, he figured. The hospital had given him Noah’s dog tag after he had passed, saying that Noah had insisted that Marshall have it. About a year later he accidentally discovered his powers.

He had lost his house in the depression that his brother’s death had caused. The medical bills were stacking up, and he could no longer support himself without a job. He was homeless. Then, one day, some young thugs decided to attempt to jump him. He was a homeless cripple. It would be easy.

They didn’t think that when the ground around him started to crack. At the time he didn’t realize it, but he could bend his own personal gravity. After many times of trying to duplicate the result, he also realized that he could make himself lighter. It was around then that he met Gizmo. A mysterious “do gooder” as she put it. She sent him off to some seedy joint where he got this arm.

“Oh,” Gizmo said. There was a few audible pings coming from her end. “There’s a robbery on fifth and main. This would be a good time to test out your powers, yeah? See what you can do. Go get ‘em, Shockwave.”

“Shockwave?” Marshall asked, again looking over the edge of the building.

“If you’re going to be a hero, you need a cool name. You’re Shockwave.”

He chuckled a little at that. “And you’re Gizmo,” he said.

“The only difference between me and you is that I’m not the hero,” she said. “You are. I’m just making sure you don’t kill yourself for your first mission. After that, it’s up to you to right the wrongs in this world.”

“You say that, but it’s just one robbery,” he took a few paces back and leapt from the building. It was just as much exciting as it was terrifying. “I think that the cops can handle one robbery.”

“There’s people out there that do worse than robberies. People out there that kill without discretion. You’re one of those targets now, so you need to be able to protect yourself.”

Shockwave felt the wind catch underneath him, slowing his fall. It was a neat little trick. He landed safely. Gizmo had told him that there was a robbery because he was so close to it. Almost too close, honestly.

He ran out onto the street, taking a hard left.

There was a gas station in this part of town that was notorious for being robbed. It didn’t do too well on the business end because of its reputation, but it was a good place for the kids to buy alcohol. The owner couldn’t care less. That’s how he kept his business floating.

Slowing down as he entered the parking lot, his assumption had been partially correct. A man was sitting on the ground crying. Marshall walked up to the man. “Were you the one who called the police?” He asked, beginning to hear the sound of encroaching sirens. The man nodded. “What happened?”

The man shook his head and wiped snot from his face. “I opened my door to get gas, and he jumped out from the shadows and demanded my keys at gunpoint,” he blubbered.

“Which way did he go?” Marshall asked. He had never been robbed at gunpoint, but he couldn’t help but feel sorry for this guy. “And what kind of car was it?”

The man pointed in the same direction of that Marshall had been running. “It was a silver taurus,” he said. “But you’re not the police. What are you going to do?”

“I have no clue,” Marshall said. “I’ll try to get your car back to you. You never saw me, okay?” He wasn’t sure why he asked that. He felt that it was necessary, though. Taking off running again, he followed the direction that the man had pointed in.

Marshall made sure that no one was watching him as he rounded the corner. Leaping, he felt the pull of gravity lighten on him. He landed on a building adjacent to him and ran along it, sped up by the weakened gravity surrounding him.

It still gave him a rush whenever he defied gravity like this. It wasn’t something that a normal person could do, and it was weird watching his perception change from the norm. He leapt across the street, landing on the ceiling of a house.

Running across the rooftops he watched the road that matched that man’s description. A silver taurus.

He nearly lost his balance jumping across roofs, not seeing that the one he was leaping to was a little bit higher than the last. This one sat on a corner, and he watched as a car that matched his description made a slow turn around the corner. He shook his hands and leapt again, landing with a little bit more force this time. The car barely managed to screech to a halt at the sudden appearance of Marshall.

He reach out and put his hand on the hood of the car. “Return the car to the man you stole it from,” he said. In the moment, it felt like the right thing to say.

Marshall watched as the man began to panic. The car began to lurch forward. Putting his other hand on it, the car stopped. Marshall felt a slight weight on his shoulders as he grew heavier, and the car’s tires began to squeal.

With a sudden bang and a solid crunch, Marshall felt something whiz past his head. Releasing the car and leaping up, he let his body float for a minute. This was a side of his ability that he couldn’t fully control, though, and he quickly felt himself falling back to Earth as the car sped off.

“Great,” he said. Directing himself back to a rooftop, he took off after the car. With each leap the car grew further away, and he only managed to gain ground when the driver decided to make a turn. He tried picking up the pace, but he could only move so fast.

Keeping with the chase, the car began to slow. Assumably because they thought that they had lost him. “Got you,” Shockwave said as he leapt off the building. Hovering momentarily, he launched off, making sure that the metal arm was extended.

He almost didn’t feel the impact when he landed hand first in front of the car.

The driver swerved and lost control of the car. He slammed into a light post, which flickered but still glowed dimly. “Great,” he said, rushing over to the car. The windows fogged over as the airbags deflated.

The driver side door flung open and what a teenager leaped out, gun still his hand. “It’s on fire!” He yelled, patting himself down.

“That’s just the nitrogen in the airbags,” Marshall said.

The kid looked up and immediately pointed the gun at him. “What the hell are you, man?” He asked, the barrel of the gun swaying just a little. “Flying around and shit like that. You made the road explode!”

Marshall looked back at where he had landed. There was a small divot, but nothing huge. At most, he had created another pothole. He turned back to the kid. “I’m just here to take the car back,” he said.

“Why would you need a car? You can fly!” Marshall watched the man’s hands, hoping to God that he wouldn’t pull the trigger. “You made me wreck it anyways.”

“I saw,” he said. He had promised to bring the car back, too. “Are you okay?”

“I feel fine,” the man said, “why the hell am I talking to you, though? You tried to kill me!” His finger tightened around the trigger. “Give me a good reason why I shouldn’t just shoot your unnatural ass.”

Marshall put his hands up and began to try thinking up a plan. He could still hear the sirens, and they were growing closer. He had to move fast. “Because you don’t want to murder someone?” He asked.

The teenager scoffed. “That’s the least of my worries.”

Ducking, Marshall tried to put himself below the barrel of the gun. It went off, grazing his back. Leaping forward, he slammed into the kid. The kid fell to the ground, breathless. His eyes darted back and forth in terror as a sudden weight placed itself on his chest. “I don’t think that you’re going to be getting away from this one,” Marshall said. His back felt like it was on fire. It would only be a matter of moments before the cops showed up.

“Who the fuck are you?” The kid tried squirming, but to no avail. Marshall just made himself heavier.

Marshall watched as two cop cars came to a quick stop in front of them. He stood and put his hands in the air. “Freeze!” The cop aimed his gun at Marshall. “Hands behind your head!”

The kid took this moment to try and run. A cop from the second car gave chase.

The other cop approached Marshall, telling him to turn around and keep his hands where he could see them. He felt a firm grasp on his wrist. “You have the right to remain silent.”

#short story #superpowers #fantasy

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