Thursday, October 27th. 7:10 AM.
"Um, this is just a rock, right?" I asked, though I felt stupid for doing so.
"Watch closely now." Arthur concentrated as he held his palm up. The brown rock began to glow orange, before slowly levitating like a maglev train. Then, the rock cracked and crushed, turning into soil.
"Amazing!" Daina and I exclaimed in unison.
Arthur smiled as the soil turned back into the rock it was before. "Allow me your undivided attention, and I'll explain my ability later. Please prepare for a lesson in history about Santa Pyre itself, even. Don't worry, it's all related."
"I don't like the subject of history much, but for this I'll make an exception. Fire away, Sir Arthur."
"We're ready when you are," said Daina.
"Good." Arthur picked up his coffee and took a long draw. He placed the cup down again and cleared his throat. "Ahem. The first I'll say is that I am probably the second human to gain the APEH mutation. I cannot be too sure, though. On December 31st, 2020, while sailing through the Philippine Sea, at about 1248 kilometers south east of Kyushu, Japan, and about 700 kilometers west of the Mariana Trench, my ship stumbled upon Lava Side Island. Listen closely; the mainland of Santa Pyre did not really "exist yet." I'll explain what I mean by that later." Daina and I exchanged glances. Arthur continued, "It was an island not found on any map, so I knew it was a new discovery and dropped anchor right away. My crew and I took smaller boats to the shore. That was when I met... her."
"Her?" The alien woman in my dream flashed through my mind. "Say, this woman you met, did she have the bluest eyes you ever saw?"
"Huh!? Why, yes. How could you have guessed something like that?" I could tell that he was really surprised.
"One more question; did she possess an otherworldly skin color?"
"What do you mean? Well, her skin was the same color as Daina here. What are you getting at?"
"Oh, okay. Sorry, I just thought she might be the same person I saw in a nightmare."
"A nightmare!?" Arthur repeated.
I waved him off. "Don't worry about it. Please continue."
"Alright, but I will want to hear about it later... Well, there was indeed an otherworldly quality about her. At first, she was very aggressive towards us, and strong too. She could easily beat down the toughest of us. She could not understand English, so getting across our intentions to her was next to impossible. Eventually, I decided to send my men back to the ship and stay alone to try and work something out. I used such tactics as trying not to look like a threat and sometimes just sitting around on the sand doing absolutely nothing but breathing."
"Hmm…" I tried to imagine such a comical sight.
"Eventually, I got her to accept me, and I began to teach her English. She made me send my crew away and become her "captive." I spent two months teaching her. When she fully trusted me, she took me to the Boiling Swamp. It was my first ever look at Pyrium-LRT." Daina and I gasped. "I was very curious about it, and though she told me not to, I went in for a closer look. When I breathed in the Plasma Energy laced steam, I fell ill to the point of death."
"Oh, my! That's terrible," said Daina worriedly.
"The woman was kind enough to take care of me while I was unconscious. I was essentially her only friend, I guess. I woke up two days later, healthier than I had ever felt before. It was then that she revealed some secrets about her, including her powers and her name, Sapharubi."
"Sapharubi…? That sounds like the combo of a sapphire and a ruby. What an odd name."
"Perhaps… Over several weeks she taught me how to control my Plasma Energy, and I discovered my abilities. I can channel my energy into the ground and use advanced Force-Manipulation to control the very land. I can only control non-metal elements and I can't control water."
"Still, your power is very cool, if not ironic considering you are a sailor," said Daina. Arthur chuckled. "One would think you would gain control over water or something."
"One would think. Anyway, I noticed that Sapharubi changed somewhat after that event. On March 1st, I think, an underwater volcano rose up out of the ocean and she and I began to produce the mainland of Santa Pyre from its magma."
"So, you are literally the father of this land!?" I interjected.
"If you put it like that, then I guess so. It took three months, and after we were done, she told me she was going away somewhere, and I could not follow her. She had some sort of plan but did not disclose it to me. She told me about the wonders of Pyrium and that I could bring other people here to eventually create a wealthy country. I was charged to never let too many learn of the secrets of Plasma Energy, or the very world may come to a greater calamity than even that of the two world wars. The following day after our talk, she just vanished like a deleted picture, as if she had just been a figment of my imagination all along. I have not heard from her since. Anyway, to make a long story short, I took a boat, traveled south and got picked up by a trawler. Later, I traveled near and far to get the help I needed to found Santa Pyre. On February 20th, 2022, Santa Pyre opened its doors for immigrants. It took a lot of work, and help from Oceana, Indonesia, and Japan, but Santa became a proud island nation."
"Wow..." I was just stunned by this tale.
"I am going to take over your training starting today, but before then, I am welcome to tell you anything and everything you don't understand or William hasn't explained yet."
"In that case, first tell us about the ways the five forms of energy can be used," said Daina,.
"Alright, that's a good place to start. Various types of abilities can be produced depending entirely on the assortment of elements that were configured to each individual at the time of the APEH mutation. Allow me to describe the combinations. The combination of Chemical and Kinetic energy allows for the manipulation of element atoms to create or destroy different molecules and substances, example: water and metals, and the first step in how I control the land. This is one of the fundamental abilities."
"That's helpful to know," said Daina. "This is how I create and control metal."
"Yes, Love. Moving on, the combination of Chemical and Thermal energy is called Heat Control and allows for pyrotechnical abilities. That is, the production and manipulation of fire; as well as the control of the flow of heat to control the movement of air, which can be thought of as the production and manipulation of wind and other air based phenomena. The combination of Chemical, Kinetic and Electrical energy allows for the manipulation of negative and positive charge in the user's body and/or in the air around him/her to produce electric discharges. The addition of Thermal energy to that list allows for heating up of elements to build up and discharge them in the plasma state."
"That's definitely what I do," I commented. "I can control electricity, and even generate visible static."
"Right you are, lad. But a warning; electrical and plasma abilities can use loads of Plasma Energy at once, so you ought to be careful. Electricity is also difficult to control. I'm sure you suffered some burns during your training so far."
I grimaced. "You're right, Sir Arthur. But, I have an ability that makes it easier and allows me optimize my energy usage. I call it the Light Boost, as it allows me to also become stronger and faster."
"Interesting... Fine, but be careful all the same going forward." I nodded. "Good. Finally, the combination of Kinetic and Potential energy allows for the manipulation of the many different types of forces."
"Can you tell us more about Force-Manipulation? How does it work, exactly?" I asked.
"Good question… Honestly, it puzzles me to this day. This is an innate and rather mystical property of Plasma Energy itself. It is how it is potent enough to break the strong binding energy of elements and molecules. At higher levels, I have estimated that each practitioner can exert and control forces up to 100 times their own mass times the gravity on the current celestial body they are on. You would be able to control a lot less force on the Moon, for example."
"Force equals mass times acceleration…" said Daina.
"Times a hundred!?" My eyes were wide open at that notion. If translated into lifting strength, then that kind of power could probably toss a full cement truck like ball.
"That is my estimate based on the strength Sapharubi displayed," Arthur answered. "Curiously, she taught me how to fight. She was quite a warrior. She said that it may seem dangerous, but it was the most effective way to train one's control over their energy."
"Wow." But my surprise gave way to critical thought. In my nightmare, the alien had created what looked like a ball of electricity, maybe even plasma. When she launched it at me, the burning, jarring pain was what finally woke me up. I could not help but draw parallels, even if Sapharubi was unrelated to the alien. I felt there was something suspicious here.
The thought train steamed off as Arthur said, "Anything else you want to hear about?"
"Arthur, what is your maximum energy capacity?" asked Daina.
"Hmm… Last I checked, it was about seven Giga-Joules. I guess I am in need of an update. Why don't we head on down to the lab and find out. But what of you two?"
"SEVEN Giga-Joules!? I was at 180 Mega-Joules yesterday, and Sister Daina was at 100." I felt very small. Daina and I were drops in buckets compared to Arthur.
"Interesting! Now I'm excited to coach you two. Welcome to the Plasma Power Family." Arthur stood up, prompting us to do the same. Daina went over and hugged him, and I joined after a few seconds of deliberation.
11:05 AM.
I was standing before a wooden dummy, concentrating. Arthur had asked me to attempt something rather wild. "Okay, here goes nothing." I coated my right fist in copper and focused electricity to it. I built and built up energy until my fist began vibrating with the sheer amount of current running through it. Yellow static began dancing over it. "Let's call this…" I got into a loose boxing stance before pulling my glowing fist back, "Thunder Fist!" I launched the punch and hit the dummy squarely in the chest. A crashing thunder-like sound occurred with a brief discharge of yellow static. The dummy sailed through the air before coming to a shattering stop against the wall. It fell to pieces onto the floor. "Whoa."
"That was amazing, Bill," praised Arthur. "Okay, Daina, your turn."
I observed as Daina coated her right fist in a brownish metal as she stood before her own dummy. "Lead is one of the densest metals, so I'm going with it for this. Lead Fist!" Daina fired her punch and took the head of the dummy clean off. The beheaded body just fell over to its back in front of her. I cringed. "I guess Lead is really strong…"
"Nicely done, Daina." Arthur and William were already setting new dummies into place, with the one for me being placed at a distance. "Bill, how would you feel about learning to shoot lightning or an approximation of it, at least?"
"Shoot lightning!? I can do that!?" I asked with excitement. This sounded way too cool to pass up.
"Well, I doubt your current max capacity is enough to do one as strong as mother nature can produce, but you should be able to shoot out a small but no less dangerous stream of static. Here, I'll give you a training wheel." Arthur stuck a piece of iron rod into the chest of the dummy. "Aim your hands at this rod. Feel out and stretch your Plasma Energy out of your hand to create a path of least air resistance."
"I should probably use Light Boost for this. Light Boost, Level One!" My muscles tensed as my energy became erratic and powerful. I held my right arm with my left hand as I made a two finger gun shape with my right hand. I then recoated the hand in copper. I did not want to waste a drop of my remaining power, which I began to focus into my 'gun.' Already, I could feel the drain. I dared to look at the monitor and my previous remaining 140 MJ was already 99 and dropping quickly. I actually began to sweat as blue static formed into a fuzzy, sizzling ball on my fingers. Okay, aim and connect to the makeshift lightning rod. Feel my P.E. reach out to it… There, now! I really felt it, an invisible line pointing and connecting to the iron rod. I could even imagine it. "Lightning Bolt!" I watched in near perfect clarity as the blue ball burst out. A stream of crackling blue electricity launched forward, occasionally letting out small branches. The miniature lightning bolt took four seconds to hit the dummy in the chest and set it on fire! It was much slower than real lightning, slower than a bullet from a firearm even! "OWWW!" I cried out as both me and the stricken dummy fell over, Light Boost switching off in the wake of no fuel. "Aah, my hand!"
"Bill! Are you okay?" Daina was at my side first. I felt very exhausted, more so than when I first tapped into Light Boost. "Whoa. Your fingers… don't look so good." Daina helped me up.
Sure enough, my fingers were burned, pretty badly. The stunt had also drained me down to fumes. My eyes even started to feel heavy. Arthur came into view. "I'm sorry, Bill. It was too soon. Just rest now. You'll be fine in a few hours."
I just nodded absently, already feeling my world dimming. Sleep sounded like the best thing in the world right then and there.
When I woke up again, my fingers were fully healed, not even an ache to show that I hurt them at all, but I was still somewhat tired. When I got to the lab, Daina hugged me before showing me her newest technique, the Mercury Bullet. Using Force Manipulation, she could just suck in a big gulp of air and literally spit out a droplet of mercury at almost half the speed of a bullet. She demonstrated by destroying a few dummies' chests… and leaving a hole in the wall behind them.