“From what I’ve come to understand through the various historical texts that I read as a child, the human race has started to evolve into more advanced beings. One such evolutionary branch is that of the Vitalizers. Scientists have traced the extraordinary powers that Vitalizers control to a strange organ that develops within their mind before birth. This ‘Vital Structure’ serves no purpose other than to produce a chemical that, when activated, grants the Vitalizers their powers.
The chemical, often referred to as vim, can be produced at will and there doesn’t seem to be a limit as to how much of it can be produced. The only thing stopping a Vitalizer from having unlimited access to their abilities is the strain that the chemical puts on the synapses inside of their brain. Once a certain amount of vim has passed through the synapses they burn out and start to refuse the chemical. It is believed that a Vitalizer can override their synapses and force the vim to activate, however most theories state that doing so could cause permanent harm to the mind and body of the Vitalizer.
And even though there have been scientific studies on these evolved humans, their existence is widely believed to be a hoax. One theory is that they are a creation of the UPSC to show the civilians that we have an upper hand in the war against the Tel’vivim, but I didn’t believe that. I never doubted for one second that these Vitalizers existed but at the same time I never imagined that I would ever meet such a being.
Lawrence Bayley and his telepathy turned my view of the subject on its head and I was truly amazed to have come into contact with a super-human, but the possibility of meeting even more of them never crossed my mind. To me Lawrence was unique. An oddity, people like him were few and far between and I didn’t even entertain the possibility that others like him were closer than I could imagine.
And so, the tempest of fire raged through the sewers. I threw myself between Sara and the rapidly approaching wall of fire. I knew that my armor would do little to save my life but it wasn’t my life that I had hoped to spare. I had failed, but if I could save Sara then maybe my death wouldn’t be in vain.
The fire drew closer and I felt sweat break out all along my brow and then something crashed into me. It wasn’t hot. In fact, it was cold! In the few seconds it took for me to fall to the ground and lose consciousness I rationalized that the heat from the fire had weakened the integrity of the sewers and the ceiling had come crumbling down on top of us.
As my vision slipped away and my mind dimmed I thought I was dying.”