The bus arriving at the school roused Kiyan from his revelry. Grey cement walls greeted his eyes as he looked out. Leaving the bus with Jeremy he met up with Fred. They were his only friends here. There were dozens of other refugees but few from America. Besides many of the refugees were classified as such because of American actions. Arriving at the gate, security checked his identification card before sneering at him and shoving him past the checkpoint. The abuse didn't bother him now, he had got used to it years ago.
History class was one of Kiyan's least favorite classes. His teachers took every opportunity to remind him that his country was responsible for the state of the world. He excelled at his other classes but history was difficult. Not only did the bias make it hard to learn but Kiyan seemed to have another history in his head which sometimes he found impossible to separate from reality. He remembered everything clearly only sometimes what he remembered was of a different history.
His new history teacher was different somewhat. She hadn't pointed him out to make a point about Americans but she still clearly disliked America. Today had been a test and Kiyan had tried to answer it like he had been taught. He had found some of the questions just seemed wrong no matter how hard he had tried to recall. The last question was about who had been the first person to discover the Americas. The only thing he could recall was Columbus but the teacher had told about how the privateer captain’s ship had been sunk off the coast of England.
Lost in thought he realized that his pencil was hot. He made the teacher look up when he dropped it. Glancing at the paper he decided and answered as best as he could. Returning to his seat after he turned it in he glanced around for his pencil but took the snickers that sounded around him to mean that his pencil was gone. Past experience had taught him better than to try retrieving it. The snickers died away as Kiyan produced another one from his bag. In a way it was his quiet protest. He would not give the other students any unnecessary amusement at his expense.
The instructors droned on for what seemed like hours about how queen Elizabeth of England had been assassinated shortly after her reign began. Her reign of tyranny had ended and King Philip of Spain had taken the broken county into his combining the island with the continent. This arrangement had proven difficult to defend and after a time the mainland had rebelled exiling Philip to Spanish England. Kiyan found it hard to focus as he felt like he remembered something else.
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The history teacher looked at Kiyan's paper and felt sorry when she marked several of them wrong. Kiyan seemed to think that a different reality existed. She wondered where he had got some of his answers as they described a different history. It must have been the education he had got in America before the war. The amount of brainwashing that the country had forced their children through was staggering. The poor kid couldn't be blamed for where he had been born yet if he refused to learn the truth then perhaps everyone was right about the Americans being incurable communists.
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The next class was much better. In math there was no nationality or race. To Kiyan numbers and patterns made sense. He was able to grasp most any concept and put it into operation after the first time it was explained. Today Kiyan looked at the formula on the screen and was a little surprised when numbers seemed to just appear in his vision. Looking for a moment more and he realized that he had the solution for the problem. The teacher began to explain it but didn't seem to understand the concept of the equation. It wasn't long before the teacher had made a mistake and came to the wrong conclusion. One of the fractions hadn’t been cleared leading to a solution that was far different than the truth.
Kiyan knew better than to correct the teacher. Last time he had been given four times as much homework. During one of the breaks everyone went to get food but Kiyan found himself alone as he didn't have the money. Taking the opportunity to correct the equation he rewrote the incorrect parts. Returning to his seat before any one returned he waited for class to continue. The instructor returned and erased the board without even looking at it.
The rest of class progressed without incident as Kiyan looked through his textbook. He found that when he looked at any problem the numbers began appearing in his vision. It was almost like he had a calculator in his head and was just imputing the equation and the solution was being calculated for him and presented in his vision. Moving his hand disturbed the numbers but they soon settled back into their places. Recess ended the class for the day and Kiyan found himself in the yard. For a high school it was not that affluent of an area so the yard was mostly just a walled in cement lot. Kiyan naturally gravitated to the other two Americans that attended the same school. Of all the different refugees there were only three Americans. It was a testament to how well the allied powers had destroyed America.
“Hey you, American pig.” Kiyan knew what was coming, a chill ran up his spine as he turned. The bully spoke with a thick accent that could hardly be understood. “You think you are so smart. I saw you change the board. We don't need your kind here.” A ring formed around the boys. From the number of scowls that surrounded them Kiyan knew today would be a bad day. “Hey answer me when I talk to you!” The leader of the group was getting angrier. “I lost my grandfather in world war two and my dad says that all you Americans are just spies.” Kiyan knew that any answer would only make it worse so he remained silent.
Two of the school security officers joined the group and laughed at the plight of the boys. “Worthless Americans. We don't want you here so go back home. Maybe this will give you a hint.”
Time felt like it was slowing down as Kiyan watched the fist approaching his face. After watching it for several moments Kiyan decided that he could easily avoid it as fast as it was moving. Stepping aside he watched as the fist traveled through where his head had been. The surprised expression of the bully as he lost his balance almost made Kiyan laugh. Turning he caught the snarl on the face of the guard. Everything felt like slow motion as Kiyan avoided a couple more blows.
“Tactical analysis complete. 100% survivability Kiyan, 37% survivability Fred, 21% survivability Jeremy at current levels.”
Kiyan began remembering the other history again and lost his concentration. Memories of alien worlds and spaceships coursed through his mind before he was recalled to reality by a blow landing on the side of his head. Time slowed again as he turned in time to see the guard recovering from the swing. The other guard was swinging at Fred and Kiyan watched in horror as the club made contact with Fred's head. Sparks flew as the club ricocheted back and hit one of the bully's coming in for a kick.
“Recalculation 100% survivability of Fred.”
Kiyan heard a snap as he deflected a punch from the leader of the pack. Arms grabbed him from behind and the guard wrapped his hands around Kiyan’s throat. He grabbed the wrists that were trying to strangle him in a desperate attempt to survive. There was a scream as the guard yanked his hands free. Kiyan noticed the red blistered hand prints that wrapped around the man's wrists. Sensing another attacker on his left Kiyan twisted and pushed at the leg of his assailant. There was a snap and pop as the leg crumbled and the boy flew away taking a couple more with him. Fred wasn't moving as fast as Kiyan but he was nearly there. He had already disabled a couple of the bullies and was circling Jeremy who had wrestled one of the attackers to the ground. Blood streamed from the nose of the boy that Jeremy was pummeling. Jeremy kept at him until the bully had stopped fighting. As Jeremy stood up a shot rang out. Both Fred and Kiyan paused until they realized that they hadn't been hit. Turning to Jeremy both of them froze as they saw him fall to his knees with his hand over his heart.
Jeremy felt the bullet rip through his body and instinctively he held his hand to the hole even as he knew it was a shot to the heart. He felt the world going dark until his knees hitting the ground shocked him back. Pulling his hand away and looking at it he saw that it was covered in water. Strange, it should be blood, he thought as he realized that he didn't feel any p
ain and his head was clearing. Kiyan watched as water rippled around the wound before it closed and disappeared.
“Recalculated, 100% survivability of Jeremy.”
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The guard felt a hard pit form in his stomach as he took aim and fired at one of the boys. He hadn’t planned on this but things were getting out of hand now. It was better for the American to die than for the American to kill an innocent Australian. The other two were moving faster than he could aim at. One at a time he thought as he squeezed the trigger. The pit was getting bigger as he watched the boy collapsing. A clean shot to the heart. His satisfaction evaporated as he saw the boy lift his hand away from the injury revealing clean skin.
The boy stood up again and seemed to shift. The blue eyes that glowed back at him were the most disconcerting. The guard noticed that the skin of one of the other boys had a metallic glassy look as he raised his gun again.
The other boy caught his attention when he noticed the white hair and glowing eyes. The icy blue light was consuming the skin of the boy and the air had begun to swirl around them. The guard felt the blood in his veins chill as he pulled the trigger as fast as he could. The bullets passed through Jeremy without harm and melted into Fred's skin without even leaving a dent. Kiyan's icy body burst into flame as it lifted into the air and the gun melted in the guard's hands. The guard began retreating as he felt the blue flames radiating cold.
The remaining bystanders heard words reverberating through their minds. “Fear me, flee or perish.” The words contained the rage of a thousand years as the lightning struck from the swirling clouds. A terror flooded their beings as they struggled to escape, fleeing for their lives the memory of the last few minutes was lost to the all-consuming terror. Running until they could go no farther they collapsed and realized that they didn't know what they were running from. The guard stumbled to a stop at a store front and stopped when he saw his reflection. A face that he didn't recognize stared back at him. Reaching up he felt the wrinkles and ran his hand through his white hair. What had happened? He jumped at a peal of thunder from the angry black clouds over his head.
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Kiyan staggered for a moment after returning to the ground. The cold flames died down and the ice disappeared leaving clean skin behind. There was a flicker as the holographic cloths appeared. The storm was raging overhead but the space around them was calm. The school had gone into lockdown mode and metal doors had slammed shut at every entrance. A couple students were curled up in the corner of the yard farthest from the trio but other than that they were alone.
“How did you do that? I’ve never seen an ice elemental before.” Jeremy was looking at Kiyan with awe.
“It looked like a hybrid ice and fire elemental.” Fred offered. “Besides how did we get here?” I remember being on the Avenger but I remember living here most of my life. Everything is fuzzy more than six or seven years ago.
“I don’t think we were here more than five or six years ago. We have to go before anyone comes.” Kiyan walked over to one of the courtyard exits and placed his hand on the thick steel gate. Blue flames flickered around his hand as frost formed over an area of the gate. Twisting back Kiyan shifted his arm into ice and brought the full force of his body into the swing. The metal shattered from an area around the impact and clung to his hand. Trying to shake it off Kiyan felt the metal around him in a new way. Getting an idea he thought for a minute before raising his hand. Connecting with the energy of the metal he felt lines of force that radiated from his body and returned in a loop. Examining the metal more he realized that he could manipulate it like earth bending. Shifting the properties of the gate he repelled the fluid metal from him. Opening his eyes he saw that the gate appeared to explode out and solidify wherever it touched.
“Cool, how did you do that.” Fred nearly forgot their situation.
“I think it is a part of earthbending. You could probably do it too.” Kiyan was pleased with his discovery. He was calculating values and scenarios with his mind and fine tuning the energy levels needed to manipulate metal. At the next door Kiyan focused for a moment and the door melted into a puddle before solidifying.
Fred picked up a piece of the melted door and examined it a moment before suddenly trying to drop it. It had re-melted and was disappearing into his skin. He was about to comment on the occurrence to Kiyan when a guard that had been trapped in the school by the lockdown came around the corner of the hallway. Clearly still terrified by the telepathic attack he began firing wildly. Blue arcs vaporized the bullets when they hit Kiyan's shield and Fred reacted by throwing his hands up. He watched as metal strands flew out of his fingers towards the guard. Arcs flew as the webs wrapped around the unconscious guard. They didn't meet anyone else as they escaped. Once outside they slipped into the assembling crowd as the main security force arrived.
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Theo appeared in downtown Sidney. He had sensed the change in the timeline and knew there was little that could be done about it. Some sort of temporal reset wave had passed through space. Likely the result of the altered timeline on earth. The ships had temporal shielding and were hardly affected. The problem was that the disturbance seemed to be concentrated at the Avenger's location. The resulting overloads had caused Kiyan, Ray, Fred, Jeremy and Corban to become displaced in space time. Theo would have been displaced to if he had been so close to the convergence. He would simply have returned to energy and moved back to his time and place. Kiyan couldn't do that yet. The other two boys had been around Kiyan all their lives so had absorbed a fair amount of temporal energy. Corban had only been sent to the planet but the rest had been sent clear to the epicenter of the disturbance. Until the drakken could be stopped from rampaging the known universe, spending time trying to correct aberrations in time lines would only be pointless. The drakken would have the resources to make more changes if they were not stopped from coming.
Theo connected with the mind of a person nearby and learned what he could of the current situation. He finally decided that his best bet would be to infiltrate the security force in order to find the missing boys. He shifted into the uniform of an officer and walked out of the alley looking like a ranking SF officer. He noticed that people gave him a wide berth as he walked down the street. Scanning the mind of a nearby police officer he found the local SF headquarters. After seeing his rank the guards at the door waved him through. Inside he was met by the local officer in charge who asked him for ID. Planting the memory of having seen the proper ID, Theo demanded access to the database and order the captain to inform him if anything happens.
“With all due respect colonel, but we are busy working a school attack and don't have time for anything else.” The captain seemed flustered.
“Well tell me about it captain.” Theo didn't think that Kiyan would be involved with a school attack but anything could help.
“It happened this afternoon and we have reports that some sort of new weapon was used capable of melting through reinforced steel blast doors. There are no witnesses and several people that were injured in the attack are suffering from memory loss. One of the guards that may have witnessed something is currently in a coma and the hospital is trying to remove some sort of metal restraint. They used a freak storm to get in and out without being seen. Like I said I don't have time for this, I have to go.” The captain was losing patience.
“I think I will just go and look over the crime scene. I'm just here to observe and offer suggestions as part of a random inspection.” Theo ordered one of the nearby officers to drive him to the crime scene.
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Ray had remembered who he was years before and had been spending the ensuing time trying to find Kiyan. The link between them had been severed which made the search difficult. In his search he had aroused the interest of the security force. Hiding in the shadows was something he had become quite good at. Few people ever saw him and those that did never knew what they saw. His latest lead had been that Kiyan was
living near Sidney. The refugee camps had grown into ghettos and were filled with hundreds of thousands of people so that was only marginally helpful.
Ray heard the sounds of someone screaming for help around the corner. Crawling along the wall he was soon over the three men mugging the woman. Dropping on them soundlessly two of the muggers quietly collapsed. The third turned on Ray with a knife. Over the years Ray had learned to use his body as a weapon. The mugger swung the knife and Ray deftly broke the wrist holding the knife then slammed the mugger to the ground with his hand on the miscreant’s chest. There was a few cracks as the mugger struggled for breath before passing out. The fight was over almost before it began. The woman cowered in front of Ray before he turned and walked away. Turning a corner he turned his holographic emitter to stealth and was soon leaping from wall to wall as he continued his search. He had overheard a conversation between two SF patrollers about some strange things happening at a school. It was worth checking out.
Arriving at the school he slipped past the officer in charge of the investigation and into the building. He watched as a man wrapped in some sort of metal webbing was moved to an ambulance then continued inside. Standing still as a group of people walked by he was invisible and unnoticed. Rounding a corner he saw a door that appeared to have been liquefied then blown outward. Not seeing any signs of Kiyan he was about to go when he saw the scorch marks on the floor. In another spot there were a couple of foot prints in the cement.
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Theo arrived at the school and decided the first course of action should be to get the camera footage. The school security office already had SF personnel there. “Can I see the tapes?”
“About that, the camera for the courtyard was disconnected a couple minutes before it happened and there was some sort of interference with the rest when it happened. So no trace of the footage survived of the incident.” The officer that was looking through the computer explained. “The strange thing is that the first camera was disconnected here and the rest were blocked remotely. I still haven't got them working yet.”