A Curious turn of events

Something, anything

I woke up the next morning to an empty bed and a text message.

T- had to go, sun came up. Call if you need me

Fuck my head hurt. It was like a migraine with no definite location to it. Like my whole head ached. Going downstairs I heard the TV.

"Breaking news: strange instances of violence sweep the globe as unknown acts of violence and crime continue today. A man shot this video in Las Vegas of what appears to be a man - throwing a ball of white fire. The weapon the man held is still unknown and authorities are working to contain the situation."

"Jesus Christ, what in the hell is even that." My mother exclaimed. "That shit just ain't real. Oh hey Blake, you came home after I went to bed. Did you have fun out on the town?" I had to lie about last night, she'd kill me. "Yeah me and Ty had a couple drinks down at Chief's and called it a night." She cut a smile, "Hopefully you were out of there before that tree got hit." My stomach turned and I felt sweat on my back. "What do you mean?" I asked reluctantly. "Well I got called out there this morning, the owner says it looked like someone backed into it with a semi truck or something. These damn folks never learn." I laughed it off, sure, some semi truck. "Well hey I gotta run, couple more things to go look at today. Don't wait up on me, I'll be home late." Mom grabbed her coffee and was out the door. I took advantage of it and called Ty over. Maybe we could try and figure this shit out.

She met me in the backyard, "Hey, what's up?" I motioned her to follow me into the woods. We walked for a good hundred yards into the pines. "I want to know how it works, I wanna know if we can control it." I plainly spoke. "Well, I mean, I kinda can." She rolled up her sleeve and roughly hit a rock that was on the ground, splitting pieces off of it. "It's not every time though, I just kind of think of it right before and it happens." She laughed it off like it was somehow easier to talk about now that it was out in the open. "Yours you just kind of... did it I don't know." I thought hard about it, trying to make it appear or give me some sign I wasn't crazy. I closed my eyes and pictured what I saw in my dream. The streams of purple light that flowed into me, that power I felt. "Holy shit dude." Ty spoke sounding shocked. I opened my eyes and it was there, I could feel it. The purple hazy light that poured from my palms, it felt like water. It wrapped around my hands and up to my forearm. I was astonished, I wanted to see what it could do. I reached out to the tree I was standing by and it caught flame, a hot purple flame where my palm touched. "Oh shit oh shit!" I said frantically trying to put it out as my hands went back to normal. "You're like a fucking- purple human torch or something." Ty said, voicing her opinion. It almost felt good when I held it in my hands, that scared me. "What in the Fuck are you doing?" A voice from the woods commanded to know. My heart stopped, Ty stood defensively looking around. We didn't see anyone, we moved closer to one another trying to keep 360 view of surroundings. "I'm not here to hurt you." A voice spoke behind us. I spun around and there stood a older man. His face was aged, with his hair back in a ponytail. His greyed beard moved with his lips, "I'm here to help. You're confused aren't you?" He asked the both of us. We looked at each other and nodded. "Yeah, but what do you know?" I asked. I know enough, he said rolling up his sleeve. His skin changed, it now was dark green scales with red dots on the end of each piece. I was shocked. "You're like Ty!" I blurted out. She bumped me roughly, "Shut up." She growled. He held his hand out as if to ask for hers. She looked at me and then stuck her hand out to him. "Now focus, you know how to do it, I just saw you." He spoke calmly in a deep gravely voice. She looked like she was zoned out as her hand changed, and so did his. "Earth magic that is, a gift." She looked shocked, "We call that Stoneskin, but yours is a rare variant, haven't seen that color of rock in ages. I do remember it being hard as steel." She took back her hand. "It's okay, I'm a shifter. My beast form is a serpent. You're safe." He spoke again. "Now, you." He started, "That there is something really special." "What do you mean um sir?" I asked. "I'm Brian, drop the sir shit. But, that there is Void magic I've only seen that sort of thing once." What was that supposed to mean? "What is it?" Ty asked curiously. "Most users I read about in the old texts, used it like a shield. Impenetrable and deadly in the wrong hands. You be careful." "I'm Blake, and this is Ty, nice to meet you Brian." He shook my hand. "You two are new users, your gifts came from the resurgence right?" He asked. Ty shrugged her shoulders. I was confused, "what does that mean?" I asked. "Have a bit of a halfway coma recently?" Shit, what in the hell was happening? "Yeah just woke up, right after we saw this flash." He nodded and smiled. "Hell, I didn't even know it was possible, mortals being gifted even at such late stages in life. Magic users are usually rarer than perfect emeralds, but somehow millions have the gift in the span of a week after some kind of spell I assume. This must've been caused by the explosion in town." I listened to every word he said but my mind still couldn't quite comprehend this, like I was dreaming. "This isn't your average magic, there aren't any wands or wizards or bullshit like that. People like us are just given some kind of gift. There are different archetypes but it's all random. Most are good and well.. some are just naturally violent. Ty's facial expression changed. "Is mine?"