Talents (ON HOLD)

Chapter 5 - Freeloading Turd

Seth took a step back. He was looking down at my sympathetically.

 “I’m sorry you’re here,” he said, “but until we find out what you’re capable of, you’re a danger to society. You don’t know how to handle your Talents properly, and it could result in accidental casualties. From what I saw at the school, you managed to remain stable whilst in the act of using a Talent, but we don’t know if that stability will last without training and practice.”

I was trying to keep up, but he wasn’t making any sense.

“Wait, just stop for a second. What do you mean stable?” I said, finally finding my voice.

“I mean that when an unpractised Talented goes on ahead and starts using his or her abilities willy-nilly, the actual Talents inside you go on overload. Remember, the Talents are just a defect, so to say that they aren’t stable is a way of saying that the Talents haven’t successfully settled in comfortably into your genetics yet.” He stopped here, and took a long, tired breath before continuing.

 “When you use a Talent, it begins to filter power through your veins impossibly fast, zipping through your bloodstream. If your Talents aren’t stable, the speed of the power traveling through you begins to vary. Sometimes, it slows, and doesn’t get into and around the inside of your body fast enough for your brain to respond to its sudden existence. Normally, when your brain becomes aware that your have power zipping through you, it makes the split second decision to act upon it. But, more often than not, the speed of the power inside of you will increase. When this happens, your brain tends to attempt to get a hold of it, and try to control it and slow it down, so that it can than respond to it appropriately.”

“Get to the point. What happens when your brain tries to get a hold of the power when the Talents aren’t settled?”

Seth hesitated. That was the first sign that I picked up from him, telling me that whatever was coming next was going to be bad. Really, really bad.

“The power inside creates its own response to your brain not responding. And when the brain tries to slow it down, the power’s response is to rush to the brain and stop it from responding.”

“… Yeah no, you’re going to have to make actual sense when you’re explaining stuff to me. English, please.”

“What Seth is trying to say,” Kieran spoke up from behind me, “ is that your brain needs to be discreet when it’s trying to gain control of your powers, or the powers react by rushing into your brain instead of spreading through your body. And when that happens… well, you lose control, to put it simply. The Talents begin to rule your thoughts and actions. And you? You just become even more of a host to its dominance. You no longer make decisions of your own. You no longer think or feel. Its just… nothingness.”

Holy shit. I don’t… even know what to say, besides repeating that one line over again inside my head. Holy shit.

 

“And you’re sure of that?” I choked out.

“Yes. Positive,” Seth said.

“How?”