The next day, with the tree sprouting in the capitol, various governments were calling for lockdowns, pointless regutions, and whatever a politician does with a good tragedy. After getting caught by Mom yesterday I've been stuck doing chores all day and now it's already evening. While she did find out that we went into a dungeon I refused to expin how. Because of that, I was tasked with helping clean up everything all day, (could today have been worse?) I mented putting the st pte from the dishwasher away. Once the pte ccked on top of the other “Where’s James?” I asked Mom as she was finishing putting away the silverware. I haven't seen him all day.

  “Last I saw him-" She had a look that told me she hadn't seen him all day either. Drying her hands on a washcloth, "Now that you mention it, he has been missing. He should be in the usual spot. Go find him for me?” She asked.

  With my st task finished I was already assigned another and was allowed to leave, stepping out the backdoor I started towards the pasture. Back behind the house, a good few minutes’ walk into the open field was a rge ft rock. James likes this rock as his ‘thinking spot’. He was sitting on top, and he wasn’t alone. “Good boy,” James said his hands squeezing and smooshing the head of an orangey-yellow dog, James also liked this spot because it was a nice spot for pying fetch.

  Seeing this I asked, “Cooper seems unusually energetic.” James turned to look at me before I continued, “You think he’s mutating?” Cooper, unlike many dogs, had remained retively the same. For many animals they were mutating, in strange ways as were the cows on the farm. I swear some of them have scales... Though In Cooper's case, he seemed to have regained a youthful appearance, his coat once again shined with a long-lost luster.

  “No. I gave him a fruit that extended his life.” James said still petting his head. That would expin why the dog that’s been on death's door for close to a year suddenly so energetic...

  “Though I don’t know how many extra years I gave him… As for mutating, I think he’s growing, so he could be”.

  “Right.” How am I supposed to respond to that? Wait, he can just do that!? “Ahh~,” I let out a sigh. “What are you out here for this time”?

  “What”?

  “You only come out here when you’re thinking about something, and the st time that I can remember was before Mom shipped you off to college”.

  “I’m thinking about what I should do”.

  “Huh?” What's he talking about now?

  “Danny, I’m basically a god,” James said ftly.

  .

  .

  .

  “How the-how am I supposed to respond to that?!" (What's he on about this time)?

  James let out a chuckle. “I can pull out anything from an image, real or fictional. While not all of them work perfectly with the right item I can change anything with the snap of my fingers, like a gauntlet that could rewrite reality. Or a book that could kill anyone once their name is written inside".

  (Ok, I admit I never really put that much thought into what he could do.) "What are you getting at?" I asked with a perplexed expression growing on my face.

  "I could return the world to how it was before... But then what? How long would that st? Would people be happy that everything returned to normal? What if I made it so that nothing ever happened? Would something else happen? Would another disaster occur? Would it be on a grander scale?"

  "Slow down a minute, you're saying you could return the world to normal?" A chill ran down my spine thinking what his definition of normal might be.

  "More or less. I guess I’m wondering what do I do from here?” (There are a lot of other things too. Maybe my experiments on the goblins were starting to wear on me).

  "You scared me there..." I felt chills running down my spine. "I’m still trying to come to grips with the fact that magic’s real. And you're here questioning whether to rewrite reality...”

  "It gives a strange feeling doesn't it"?

  "Strange?! Saying that just made the chills down my spine worse"!

  "Please, I’m not some idiot with a hero complex," James said throwing the tennis ball for Cooper. As the dog ran off after it, "Also there's more than just magic, and it’s led me to questions".

  "Like"?

  "What exactly am I doing when I enter a screen? Am I just interacting with the screen and the image on it? The concepts that make up the image? Or am I interacting with different dimensions? Is what we watch on a screen a window into another reality”?

  “I don’t think I get it.” (What the heck is he talking about now?)

  “Right, imagine the multiverse and art is how it connects to other worlds. Lots of creative types say that they got the idea from the Ether or From a Dream. Instead, think of it like all those worlds exist somewhere and the creatives are just connecting to bring us a better picture. Various worlds all connecting to each other, and I can connect in the opposite direction with a 60-inch psma screen. If so -” James stopped as Cooper brought back the ball.

  “That’s disgusting- The multiverse thing.” (Cooper why did you have to slobber all over the ball?)

  “I know. I felt about the same when I first thought of it.” James said before throwing the ball once again.

  “I wonder if I have an ability?” I wondered out loud.

  “Probably.” James responded. Currently, it is believed that over half the popution has an ability of some sort. With a significant number of people waking up to find something unusual about their bodies from the night before. It was more common for these people to discover the change than people like James who had no external differences.

  “It’s not all it’s cracked up to be, I can't even wear patterned clothes now and I’m practically useless without the internet,” James said putting his arms up in surrender. A bit of an exaggeration it wasn't far from the truth.

  “Ha!” I couldn't help but ugh.

  “Anyway, that feels like about enough internal questioning,” James said as he stood up walking a few paces away from the rock. Striking a familiar pose that every kid would have tried, at least once. With one leg forward and both hands brought together towards his right side. James began channeling his Ki towards his palms something he had grown used to doing as he attempted bone tempering daily, to middling success. About 1 every 1-3 days or so. Over the st two and a half weeks he was able to finish most of his skull at the very least.

  I watched him striking a pose for a couple minutes before I asked, “What are you doing now?”

  “I told you I’m not at the point where I can just shoot off sers and shit. But I can at least give it a try.” James stood still channeling Ki into his hands but moving it outside of his body into his palms was completely unfamiliar territory. After several minutes of nothing happening and with a decent amount of Ki channeled into his hands James was once again lost in thought. (I guess this is the expected result.) "Haaa~" James let out a sigh before a though occurred to him, (Maybe I have to clench my ass?) It was a throwaway line he remembered from somewhere. After doing so he felt something different. The muscles in his back felt tingly, more so than when he usually pyed with Ki. This tingling sensation rapidly moved around his body sending shivers as it went, before making its way towards his hands. Within the space between his palms where he was trying to channel the energy, a small silvery white orb about the size of a Ping-Pong ball had formed. Now that the ball of energy was out and without the experience needed to control it the small silver orb was unceremoniously and uncontrolbly unched into the tree line. Not exactly a refined technique, more in line with an uncontrolble bst of energy.

  “Huh?” James was confused as he barely had time to feel the difference before the ball of energy was unched away. Only seeing the light in the sunset as the ball flew. (It cost me almost all my Ki, and it happened so fast I didn’t even notice before it was gone).

  “Wow!?” I was shocked and amazed to see the small ball of light whizzing away into the sunset. It was something just about anyone would wish they could do.

  As the two stared off at the white light in the coming dusk it popped like a firework. However, they weren't allowed to appreciate its beauty as Cooper came back running past them as fast as he could in a mad dash in the opposite direction. “Cooper?” Both called out confused to see him acting like that. A moment ter, James felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up and his enhanced senses started to intensify. Looking around in the encroaching darkness he tried to find out what Cooper was running from. He could sense it; he could feel something moving within but he couldn’t see it. He knew something was coming.

  END

  kidmonkey94

  For those wondering, Cooper is allowed in the house, but he doesn’t want to go inside because Mama Dewitt always brushes him down. It's especially bad when she gets in a cleaning mood. And she has yet to stop her current cleaning mood given the stress.

  [colpse]