40 Steps to Fate (21 Steps)

by Steven in Illinois

21 Steps

            We arranged a meeting immediately, and Jamie was sent home, though she looked at me lightly hurt. When I gave her an encouraging nod, she slowly walked towards her house.

            “Anybody you know who might be doing it?” Justin asked as soon as I arrived. We were in a State Park, meeting on what seemed to be illegal grounds, but for some reason police didn’t seem to care, nor spectators of the sights. “Well, my theory is that this person is either trying to make me famous, or trying to make me feel like the craziest and most lonely guy in the world.” I said casually, yawning. Bruce smiled. “I like you,” he said. “You seem all relaxed over all these concepts.” I shrugged. “When you have what happened to me happen, you really can’t be surprised much more, though this was a bit more than I expected, honestly,” I remarked, then yawned again. Justin laughed. “Well, we’ve actually come here to practice.” He said. I looked at him. “So what exactly are we doing?” I asked him. He smiled. “I believe we can damage this place all we want, but it’ll all go back in time, so the damage will be temporary, and the other people are immune to it, unless they’re staring directly at us, which will be impossible, since I got a protection wall, so they won’t see us, unless…”

            “Just shut up,” Bruce interrupted, and I had to agree. Slowly, Justin seemed to concentrate, then shot a huge blast of what seemed to be flames and lava, all swallowing up a tree in easily seconds. Then, he showed me something cool. “I can bring flames as my guard, but others will get injured too much during practice. But I think you can create an invisible barrier just by thinking it up, and then just utilize air as your shield, no matter how they try to hit you.” Slowly, I concentrated on forming a barrier. “I think it might be there, you can try it out.” I whispered. Bruce and Justin both conjured up blasts. I suddenly was reluctant to let them throw whatever they had at me. What if I hadn’t formed it correctly? Then again, if I could withstand both their blasts, it meant I was the most powerful. I concentrated hard, then opened my eyes. Justin and Bruce combined to shoot lava, rock, fire, and dirt all at me at once.

            It deflected off like annoying mosquitoes running away from repellant.

            Justin and Bruce were both panting, so it was clear that the blast had taken energy out of them. I smiled, and felt a whole lot of power. “My turn,” I said playfully. I conjured up something, by opening up my arms, like I was thrusting it out my chest. Slowly behind me, gust began to swirl until a small tornado formed, getting bigger and larger, stronger and more ferocious, till it was touching the clouds, and ripping trees and grass up. Justin and Bruce said, “We’ll survive, but this’ll hurt. Let’s see what you got?” They were both panting, but I felt no mood to just sit I thrust the tornado, which moved through me (obviously not doing any damage). Suddenly, they were sucked in, and then I ordered for the currents to become stronger and more powerful, and the tornado swallowed up half of the forest, yet not me. After a few moments of entertainment, I eased the tornado into nothing, then caught Justin and Bruce, who fell to the ground like ragdolls. I looked at them, and asked, “You okay?” They both looked at me, and how I had caught them with purely air, then said, “I think you might have overdone your powers.” I laughed.

“You have got to be kidding me,” Jamie said when I was talking to her. “First, I find out your insane at piano, then you repeatedly save my life like I’m Princess Peach, and finally, I find out you can create tornadoes half the size of our state park!” I shrugged. “I guess you can consider yourself lucky to have such a boyfriend,” I stated plainly, and she laughed. “Of course I feel that way, but not because of that. You’re the most charming, sweet, and caring guy I’ve met, so I do consider my lucky, but not because of your…abilities.” She slowly hugged me, and I hugged her back, then she squeezed me till I complained I couldn’t breathe. She laughed, then kissed me full on the mouth. There I was lying down with her, and she was part of me, the only thing left in the world, with her beautiful silky hair, and gentle lips, as her tongue explored a foreign mouth once again. I gently put my hand on her back, pulling her in, her moaning, then…

            I hear a blast, and we broke apart suddenly, then looked up. Bruce and Justin looked at me quirkily. “Sorry to ruin the moment there,” Bruce remarked, seeing that a little bit of her lipstick had somehow gotten on my lips. “But it’s time for your first mission.”

            “Where is it?” I asked. He smiled. “I’ll bring you right there, though you may feel dizzy when we get out.” I grabbed his hand, then gave a sad smile at Jamie, who winked. I felt myself get sucked up, then thrown around through an invisible chamber, then reemerge, and Bruce was right, I did feel dizzy. We were in an alley, and as soon as we turned the corner, we saw a gang harassing a teenager. The girl was making horrified screams, the gang’s teens laughing eagerly. With strange confidence, the three of us walked towards them, and when they saw us, they snarled. Pulling out guns, they fired, but the bullets bounced off our barriers. Somehow, Justin had shifted his to lava that simply melted the lead before it could even reemerge, becoming part of the shield, till his shield was huge. He threw the lava, and some of the gang screamed, though they all dodged it. Bruce conjured up spikes from the Earth that threw one up in the air, landing on a truck with a heavy thunk, and another straight into the ground for a face plant. Finally, I conjured up a tornado, and made it as big as I could till I was sweating, and I couldn’t believe it. The tornado was so huge, it seemed to be as big as the street, engulfing it, ripping houses to shreds. I willed the tornado to have no effect on the girl, Justin, or Bruce, or for it to kill the gang, then sent it flying towards the gangsters.

            They didn’t stand a chance, and soon, I was looking lightly amused as they flew out of the tornado, into apartments, cars, trucks, and even one very particular guy who ended up in a trash can.

            It made my day.