Crystalbringer

I have never been so flustered in my life; I swear. Clare, the gossip queen, told Brianne that, while we were patrolling the red-light district, I managed to regenerate a very serious injury in an instant. She omitted the most compromising details, but it was enough to put me in the spotlight. The result? Clare and Brianne have decided that I am now 'strong enough' to partner with someone less experienced than them. Basically, they want to test me, and I'm not about to let them down!

Why am I so nervous? Tonight, my patrol shift will be with Elaine. She didn't react to that decision very well. She burst out shouting stuff like: "If that brat even tries to look at me funny, I swear I'll break him into a thousand pieces!"

These are certainly not the premises for a quiet night, but I promised Elaine that I would not do anything to make her uncomfortable, and so I will!

Even Elaine, despite being in the student council longer than me, is not exactly an expert. She is good, yes, but compared to the other members she still seems like a beginner. For this reason, Brianne assigned us a quiet neighbourhood, close to the city centre. The least interesting neighbourhood possible. But, considering the premises, maybe it's for the best.

I promised Elaine that I wouldn't make advances towards her, sure, but that doesn't mean I won't do anything to impress her. Starting with punctuality, the student council members consider me a perpetual latecomer, but tonight I will show them that I have changed even in this regard! 

The meeting with Elaine is at 9:00 PM near the big fountain in the central square. I organised myself perfectly to be there on time, even early. Everything went as I planned, but... how is it possible that I'm still late?! Shit! It's already 9 PM, and I'm still quite far from the agreed place! Brianne will kill me, and Elaine's opinion of me will plummet to an all-time low. I am afflicted by a powerful curse that always makes me arrive late; there are no other explanations!

As I imagined, upon my arrival at the fountain, I am not welcomed in the best way; Elaine spreads her arms in despair, and Brianne and Clare are with her—probably they didn't trust leaving her alone until I arrived. 

«Can't you be on time even when your crush is waiting for you?» Clare asks me with a provocative smile.

«Don't you dare ever call me 'his crush' again» Elaine scolds her, giving her an annoyed look. 

Brianne, on the other hand, simply lets out a resigned sigh. She and Clare then get into the car and leave us alone, ready for a night that couldn't have started any worse.

A cemetery at night is noisier than the absolute silence between me and Elaine during the first phase of the patrol. Moreover, she told me not to walk behind her because she doesn't want me to look at her ass.

Does she really think she's dealing with a pervert? I confessed to her, told her that I like her, but she treats me like a creep just for that? I don't deserve this...

Except for this, the evening continues peacefully. Nothing suspicious or dangerous; it almost seems like a normal moonlit walk. 

I tried a couple of times to speak to her, but her responses were so cold that she clearly made it clear she had no intention of talking to me.

Suddenly, she stops walking in front of a wall that blocks our path, and then she starts staring at that wall with an expression of astonishment. What is happening? Why did she stop? Yet I don't see anything strange about that wall. Perhaps she noticed some anomaly?

I sharpen my gaze, trying to catch some detail that eludes me, but without success.

Finally, after almost a minute of her standing still, staring at that wall, Elaine turns to me and, for the first time this evening, speaks to me. «Has this wall always been here?» she asks me. In her voice and the pronounced redness of her cheeks, I can sense that she is very embarrassed.

«Y-Yes, it's always been here...» I reply with a trembling voice, carefully considering every single word I say to avoid making her even angrier. Why did she ask me this? 

This question immediately finds an answer as soon as Elaine tells, embarrassed like never before: «I think... I got lost...»

She utters these words with so much shame and discomfort that she seems on the verge of crying. 

I think I feel even more uncomfortable than she does. We are in one of the most famous neighbourhoods of the city; everyone knows it perfectly. How did she get lost? Maybe she's not the typical girl who spends afternoons shopping downtown. How should I behave now? I certainly can't make her feel stupid. I have to say something to downplay this inconvenience, to make it seem like a normal mistake, one that everyone makes. This could be my only chance to appear in her eyes as a mature and responsible guy; I absolutely must not blow it!

«Don't get down, Elaine. These things happen. A few years ago, I got lost at my grandmother's house while looking for the bathroom» I tell her, with a friendly smile plastered on my face. 

«Do you think you're funny?!» She replies in an annoyed voice.

I sigh, discouraged by her attitude. I don't understand why she behaves so coldly and unfriendly towards me. She and I are in the same situation; we should collaborate and try to get along, yet it seems she does everything to keep her distance from me. I've decided: It's time to clarify, even at the cost of hearing the worst insults from her.

«Elaine» I pronounce her name with a firm and serious tone. 

«What do you want?» I'm about to ask her the fateful question 'why do you hate me so much?', when footsteps coming from behind us catch our attention.

We turn around suddenly. The moonlight weakly illuminates the silhouettes of three men who are quickly approaching us. They are wearing balaclavas and two of them are wielding box cutters.

Elaine and I exchange a knowing glance; we are literally backed against the wall, and the only escape route from this narrow alley is blocked by those three men who seem anything but friendly. We have no choice but to confront them.

«You've chosen the wrong evening to seclude» one of the three men—speaking with a recognizable Eastern European accent.

«Leave your phone and wallet on the ground and leave!» a second man orders us in a much more threatening voice.

It's not the first time I've been attacked by wrongdoers during a patrol; after all, in their eyes, we are nothing but defenseless children. Fortunately, they don't seem to belong to the Black Jackets. I deduce this both from their modus operandi as common criminals and from their clothing typical of gangsters from poor neighborhoods.

«I and this loser did not seclude! Don't you dare ever say something like that again! For your own good, it's better if you leave!» Eleine replies. Despite her bold words, I sense a vein of nervousness in her voice, almost fear.

«We don't want to harm any children, so don't make me say it again. Put down your valuables and leave!»

Neither Elaine nor I comply with their threats, so the two men armed with box cutters approach us further.

My attention is solely focused on them. I take a defensive stance, ready to protect myself, when my attention is drawn to a violet light emitted from a source behind me. I take a quick glance back. The source of that strange light is Elaine; her hands are enveloped in a violet glow and her eyes shine with the same sinister color. Her hair floats, as if a gust of wind were blowing from beneath her, and immediately the two attackers step back, intimidated by that supernatural vision.

Suddenly, the box cutters wielded by the two men also begin to shine with the same purple light.

What the hell is happening? One of the two criminals exclaims incredulously as the box cutter slips from his hand and begins to float in midair, as if moved by an invisible hand.

The third man, who had remained standing until that moment, reaches into his brown leather jacket. He is clearly about to draw a gun. I immediately spring towards him. The man points the gun at me, but before he can pull the trigger, I manage to disarm him by striking his wrist violently.

Meanwhile, the two box cutters fly like bullets towards the two men—who are fleeing—embedding themselves in their skulls in the cerebellum area.

The lifeless bodies of the two men fall to the ground, and a pool of blood spreads on the asphalt beneath them. Death struck them so quickly that they didn't even have time to let out a scream of pain.

Is this the power of the telekinesis crystal? It's truly extraordinary! How is it possible that it is only classified as class C? It seems to be a power far superior to that of Clare and Elaine.

What happens next partially clarifies my doubt: Elaine falls to the ground on her knees and holds her head in her hands. She seems to be in pain, and I notice that blood is dripping from her nose and mouth. Are these the side effects of using her crystal power? I have seen Clare use her power several times, but she has never shown any physical malaise. Maybe that's why Elaine's crystal is of a lower class than Clare's and Brianne's. Now, it doesn't matter; I need to focus on my opponent.

The man, now disarmed, throws a punch directly at my face, and I only now realise that he has brass knuckles with sharp metal spikes. The speed of his punch is remarkable, but it's nothing compared to my reflexes.

I avoid the blow with extreme ease and land two powerful punches one after the other: the first to the stomach and the second to the jaw. The man is thrown backward and falls to the ground. I observe it carefully for a few seconds, but he shows no signs of life.

I immediately run to help Elaine. In his condition, he is unable to race, and right now the priority is to leave this road as soon as possible to avoid being seen. I grab her hand to help her get up, but she wriggles free, breaking my grip.

«It's not the time to act like a spoilt child!» I scold her in a tone that is perhaps too severe. «We need to get out of here immediately! If someone were to see us in the middle of this slaughter and call the police, we would be in trouble, do you understand?!» Elaine makes a grimace of annoyance, then reaches out her hand towards me. Her gaze is directed towards the asphalt, as if she feels ashamed to be helped by me.

We start running, but after a few steps she stumbles, or rather, collapses to the ground, as if her legs had given way.

Shit, I didn't imagine the side effects would be so severe!

«Elaine, whether you like it or not, I have to carry you in my arms» I state in an authoritarian voice but equally intimidated by a possible outburst of anger from her. I was sure that the idea of being carried by me would infuriate her, but—probably understanding the gravity of the situation—she ultimately agrees without complaining too much.

«I concede it to you only because, if we were discovered, Brianne would suffer a lot, and I don't want our president to suffer because of us. But if you dare to lay your hands where you shouldn't... I swear I'll break you into a thousand pieces!» Those were her only words, spoken with a tone slightly less confrontational than the one she usually uses with me.