Prologue to Transform
Ellie
(Not the main protag)
Dallas nights in June were always hot, but the sweat wasn’t from the muggy humidity. Fear? Sure, but not for me. It was never me.
It’s the new ones I’m worried about.
Marissa, Riss for short, stood concealed in a shadowed alley. She was a small bundle of energy, with an athletic frame, and a blue punk-style haircut. Her hazel eyes widened with her smile. With one shadowy hand, she phased through brick and mortar before solidifying back. Good. Not long enough to count as a whole use.
She had a favorite band, and big dreams to be like her musical heroes, but the important thing… the thing, was her background. The universe decided people like her were adjustable. With a push, I can make her into something rare and a force for good.
Just can’t be a friend.
“Ready, Miss Nguyen?” I asked, keeping it all business.
She nodded quickly and smiled. “I never thought I’d do anything like this! I mean, playing on stage was a rush, but this? Thank you. For everything.”
She clipped an electronic earpiece to an ear, already weighted with several piercings, then attached a GoPro camera to her black athletic tank top. Tactical armor would have been nice, but too heavy for her power. A gun? Within the weight allowance, but she refused.
“Pity I can’t fly,” said Riss. “It would have been perfect for this.”
Memories of a short, dark-haired man with blue and red clothing returned. “Flight wouldn’t work.”
She knew the plan, but a recap calmed her nerves.
I listened and remembered the others who tried before, all different and alike where it counted.
Magic responded to contrasting experiences. Vampires straddled life and death. Shifters were pulled between animal instinct and Humanity. Gargoyles were stone in sunlight and silent, flying blurs under blackened skies.
Riss was always female, but she’d lived two roles with two names in her young life. That provided the kindling and I was the spark. I awakened others like her. Those in the middle, beyond, both and neither. I made them stronger with power and slapped on a target.
She continued the memorized plan. “…so, I walk through the buildings.”
“Because?”
“I can’t see underground since compacted matter is next to my eyes.” The smile was of someone trying to impress a teacher. “With buildings, I only have to phase for the walls, and I won’t spend a full daily use.”
“Very good.”
I adjusted my belt, more survivalist than superhero, and loaded it with a pure-white orb and a dark handgun.
I’d stay back, not as a coward, but as a general with an army of one. I’ve been on the battlefield enough to last a lifetime, and I didn’t need Vic to suspect my involvement. Riss’ features blurred and I tossed her a ski mask. She caught it after phasing back.
Were we heroes? That’s a simple definition. Thieves technically.
“Remember, in and out. Grab the artifact and leave before anyone knows we’re here. It’s in a titanium metal cage with a laser net, but nothing you can’t phase through.” My gaze fixed on my phone with an image of a warehouse near the lake.
She breathed in deep, and her form flickered like a glitching, shadowed hologram as she stepped forward, vanishing through the brick wall. At a brisk run, it would take two minutes for her to literally slip into the warehouse.
I checked the video feed, flickering between phases. Same with the audio.
She’ll be the one. Phasing was different. Where brute strength or flashy fireballs could be countered, this power slipped past nearly everything.
Quiet. Survivable.
One hundred and twenty seconds crawled by. A crackle from my earpiece came. “Ellie?” Her voice, normally so full of bursting excitement, quivered.
I ran.
My orb glowed in my side pocket, ready to lend its power. I can’t phase and a two-minute straight run for Riss would be over five for me as I navigated nighttime streets.
“What do you see?” A heartbeat passed. “Speak to me.”
“I think there’s something in the warehouse,” she whispered. “I don’t know what, but I can feel it.”
My throat tightened. Anyone Awakened has their mind opened to realities they never realized. Magic senses magic and it worked in both directions.
If she senses them, then…
“You’re fine, just scared.” My voice betrayed my worry. “If someone comes, remember your focus. Take seven steps down into the foundation. Run, then count to ten, visualize the sky above you, and come up.”
“Okay…” The tone reminded me of another girl, once terrified of shadows.
No, that’s crazy. Vic wouldn’t…
They would.
“Riss!” I screamed into the microphone. “Get out of there. Abort.”
“But I see it! Roman-looking armband thing with jewels and made from gold, right? It’s behind steel bars and laser lights, but I think I can do it.”
She suspected the stakes, but I knew them. An artifact would empower far more people. At that point it was a numbers game, with more abilities to use against Vic.
“Make it quick, then get the hell out. Run to the lake if you have to.” She could slip back into normal space over the water. It wasn’t flight but walking into the air. It might have been a shadow of her true residual power and the one I denied her.
I got a flash of her viewpoint within the cage, then outside. One second later, she screamed, sending high-pitched static into my earpiece.
I sprinted, crashing through a cracked warehouse window, trusting my leather jacket to save me again. Inside, dust floated before shadows stretched over crates.
In the center, it bloomed out. A shape both like a flower and smoke, folding itself out into something vaguely human, but with limbs too long and wings torn like wet paper. A grin with too many white teeth slid back under tar-slicked skin.
“Riss!” My shout echoed off steel beams. “Get out! Go!”
The shadow turned. Not fast, but curious about this world full of finished, solid life. They didn’t belong here. Glitches from an unfinished universe were my theory. Just like I made soldiers, someone used them.
Riss’ earpiece dropped as she flickered in and out. “Stay calm,” I yelled from over fifty feet away. I thrust out the orb, throwing light and the shadow recoiled. Black goo plopped to the floor, hissing as droplets corroded wood and concrete.
“Run!”
She clutched the armband and phased as the shadow turned. Its twisted hand swept through her. She screamed, her form flickering like a lightbulb about to burst. Still, she held on.
In the middle of that glitching agony, she slammed the band onto her forearm and wrist. It pulsed gold and synced to her heartbeat. Now bound for life, however long it might be. Not my plan, but if it saved her life and robbed Vic of power, I’d take the trade.
The shadow lunged repeatedly, every crooked slash hurting her more. She phased between strikes with new precision, the armband pulsing brighter each time. She lifted herself in the air. Not quite flight—more like skating through space. She was faster now, but even borrowed power had its limits. The new swirling wind stung with copper, smoke, and blood, sharp along my tongue.
I gripped the orb and poured in what I had left. Collected white light exploded from my palm. Contrast meant power. Illumination against darkness, and when I worked the rules, I could make things hurt.
It shrieked. Inky ooze blasted out, igniting more crates.
Most of the black husk disappeared, leaving a withered near-skeletal man. Despite its Death’s Door look, it leaped toward Riss. It must have realized the armband would give it enough life to summon another shadow or steal her essence.
Within fire and smoke, it grabbed for Riss and she screamed. She phased in and out like an old television on the fritz, but its hand stayed locked around her.
How the hell was it holding on to her?
Maybe she panicked further or thought she could phase through the floor. She almost did. Part of her solidified mid-transition. Concrete exploded as two realities collided, doing what science said was impossible: occupying the same space. The mummified man flew back in a blast of heat and smoke.
And there she was: half-submerged, torso fused, and the armband buried beneath the slab.
Flames crept closer while the skeletal thing hissed, its last hope trapped in solid matter.
I raised the orb drained of previously collected light, adding my own. A brilliant white glare flared, setting my soul on fire. I’d feel it tomorrow.
If there’s one.
One half of a shadow shrieked with an enchantment, loud enough to shatter warehouse windows overhead. Magic had its uses. So did centuries-long chemistry.
It started with a single shot from an illegal Glock, modified to a full-auto with a 33-round magazine. A lifetime prison sentence in any state, even gun-loving Texas.
Twenty rounds tore into the host’s pasty-grey, skeletal form. Bits of brittle bone snapped away, and strips of mummified tissue burst apart on impact. Another thirteen followed, shredding it down until the body collapsed into a pile of ashen dust.
I stood there, breathing in thick, greasy smoke, and stared down at Riss. Her body was grotesquely fused with concrete. What remained was a dying mix of girl and stone.
“Ellie… help?” she whispered.
The breaks in her body showed. It was no longer a matter of phasing or better control. Her lower half was gone.
“I’m going to get you out,” I said, realization dawning. “It’ll be deeper into the ground and away from the fire. You’ll be safe away from the flames.”
She nodded, seeing through the lie. “For a minute, I was special.”
I choked the words out. “You always were.”
With a deep breath, I channeled the last of my power, amplifying her again. If she survived the night, her power would break.
She’d never see it happen.
Gracefully, she sank into the earth. The slight rumble underneath suggested another explosion and an end to her fused suffering. My hand pressed against the ground and through the tears, I whispered an apology.
I staggered away with heavy, aching legs, each step an effort. If Vic or her minions waited outside the exit, then it was too late. The night air, once oppressively hot, caressed my face like a cool embrace.
I knelt and ‘fell-rolled’ into a dark drainage ditch. Tears blurred my vision. Riss died not because I awoke her ability, but because I picked the path for her. I decided what kind of person she’d be.
Sirens wailed in the distance. The next person? Yeah, there had to be another. That I couldn’t avoid. They would have to choose their power. The universe had a way to balance things and give you what you needed, not wanted.
It was time to respect that.
I whispered a final goodbye to Riss and an apology to the others. Somewhere out there, my next soldier lay hidden. Their unique background would let me Awaken them. The only question was what gift they would pick and their current location.
***
Chapter 1
Alexandra / ‘Alex’
Eighties night at ‘Hoots’ was stepping into a different era. Nestled in the heart of Dallas and more than a nightclub. It was a haven. Tonight, the blue, white, and pink pastel neon, streaking disco lights, and retro 80s music belonged to us. The air carried sweat, sugar-spiked cocktails, and the acid edge of hot overhead illumination baking the dance floor. Shannon’s Let the Music Play thumped as I rhythmically weaved through the crowd, the bass vibrating through my chest.
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