Infinity

Chapter 1

From the day you turn three, you begin to train. You go on morning runs, practice fighting, and start meditating. That’s all my life has been. After years and years of this training, you can achieve self-awareness. Many people don’t achieve this until around their forties.
As the last bell of the day rings, I quickly  begin to stuff my homework in my bag. As with every child in these mountains, immediately after school ends you are to run home to begin meditating in private. Literally run. In our house the last child home has to wash dishes that night. I sprint home over the rocky terrain I have known my whole life, beating my little sister home by mere seconds. Quickly I scan my LB, life bracelet, to get into the house. The bracelets are to protect us and track our movements. They monitor our health, calories, receive calls and texts, monitor sleep, and tell us the time.
Dumping my bag by the door, I make my way to my room. Our halls are lined with every piece of artwork my sister and I have ever made. I push my door open and enter my room I painted to look like a forest. Although I painted it a few years ago, I still admire the details I put into it, never tired of the scenery. My grass green meditating pillow is in the corner of my room and per my usual I fall to the ground and tumble to it, careful not to collide with the walls. I close my eyes and slow my breathing, focusing on my senses.
As I enter a tranquil state of mind, my senses come alive. My sister’s breathing echoes loudly to the point I could believe she’s right next to me rather than across the house. The smell of this morning’s pancakes linger and I can taste the syrup I drowned them in. A draft enters the room from beneath my door and sends goosebumps up my arms. Carefully I place my hands on the carpeting ensuring they are flat. Slowly I shut down my senses until sight is the only one left. I shiver as my soul leaves my body. I open my eyes to see my body beneath me. Now I focus on what I want my body to do.
“Stand up.” I command. Quickly it shifts into a standing position. “Lay down on your back.” I call out. My body follows the direction and is now on the ground. Time for a hard one. “levitate” I command. Slowly my body rises into the air. “Stay floating but shift to an upright position” my body is now standing up and floating. “fly to the door and back.” I suggest.  Once again my body does as asked. This has never happened before. Usually I have no control over my body when I’m out of it. Time to rejoin it. I command it to the typical sitting position and focus on the feeling of being weighted down.
I lift my hand and when it happens I know I’m back. My senses are still sharp as I awaken them. I’m unsure how long I have left to meditate but I want to try something. While I doubt it will happen, I want to try to fly. It may not even be my power and I’m far from unlocking one, but I still want to try. I keep my senses sharp but focus on a weightless feeling. I keep my hands on the floor to monitor my progress. I shut down my sense of taste in hopes it will help me float. I focus on how high I want to go; about 4 feet off the ground.
My hands leave the ground, but I’m focusing so hard I barely notice. Keeping my mind sharp and focused, I take a chance and open my eyes. It worked. I’m floating. I chance a look at the clock. I still have half an hour of meditating left. Sending myself higher I  stretch out my legs so I am essentially standing. I fly to the door and back to my corner, purposely moving up and down as I do. For whatever reason I am able to do something at sixteen that others can’t do until forty.
Lowering myself to the ground, I let my concentration disappear. Let’s see how good I really am. I close my eyes and quickly bring my senses into focus with the exception of taste. I focus on the air that prickles my skin and let myself feel weightless. I open my eyes to find myself about seven feet in the air. It took me about twenty seconds to get in the air. Even the adults who are experts at their powers can’t unleash it that fast.
Slowly I lower myself back onto my pillow. Honestly, if I so chose I could stop right now and announce my success but I decide to push myself. I want to make my body disappear. Quickly this time I eliminate all my senses but touch. Wanting to make myself invisible I choose to focus on the air and how it feels. Opening my eyes I look down at my arms. They are gone as is the rest of me. I am once again successful. This is unnatural.
A shrill alarm sounds, disrupting my focus. My hour of meditation is over. I look down again to find my body in its usual state. A question repeatedly runs through my mind. Should I tell my family that I have unlocked not one but two powers, or keep it to myself? It seems dangerous to keep this to myself, but I don’t know what will happen if I tell.
Exiting my room, I make my way to the door to grab my school bag. Our parents won’t let us take it to our room when we go to meditate, fearing we will do homework instead. Now that it is 4:00 it is time to do homework. All children in this society are held to intense standards. I couldn’t imagine life without it though. I re-enter my room, sitting at my desk to do some math. Most of it is done so I’ll have my homework done in about three minutes. Quickly I solve for x and y. All done so I have until 5:30 to work on whatever I so choose. I decide I will go tell my parents about my new powers.
I shuffle down the hall to the office I know my parents will be occupying. I knock and hear my father’s grumbled response to enter. The first thing I see is my father’s black hair next to my mother’s golden hair. They are both facing a computer on the other side of the room but as I enter the room they both turn to face me. The first thing you notice about them is their electric blue eyes. I’m not sure how mine ended up purple.
“What’s up honey?” my mother asks. I pull the door behind me and my dad gestures for me to take a seat. I glance around nervously beginning to regret this decision but I know there’s no going back.
“Something odd happened during my meditating time.” I say more boldly than I feel. My parents urge me on and I continue. “I unlocked two powers” I spit out in a rush. My parents stare at me, amusement on my father’s face and fear on my mother’s.
“This isn’t something to joke about. You know you can’t unlock a power until mid-life.” My mom says unwilling to believe me without proof. My father shoots me a serious look and I know they won’t believe me until I show them. I close my eyes and do as I did before, focusing on all of my senses but taste. I let myself feel weightless and I feel my feet leave the ground. I open my eyes to see my parents with looks of shock on their faces. I fly around the room, watching their expressions but if anything, they appear more uncomfortable than they first did. Gracefully I land.
Now I decide to show them that I can disappear. Just like the first time, I eliminate all senses but touch. I will my body to become one with the air. I open my eyes and my parents have their mouths hanging open in shock. Silently I move around the room. I reappear and tap them on the shoulder. They whirl around and step back in disbelief.
“This should not be possible. Nobody gets powers this early and nobody gets two.” My father says angrily. He grabs my hand and pulls me out of the office. My mother opens the front door before we reach it and my dad pulls me outside and through town. My mom follows us, barely keeping up with the brisk pace. I’m unsure what’s happening. Never have I seen my dad so upset.
“We’re going to see city council.” My father calls back to my mom. He takes us down the main road and past the school before taking a right turn. Before us stands an old brick building that houses the elders library along with various meeting rooms. My father scans his LB and drags me inside. We go up four flights of stairs before entering a large meeting room. The council sits inside and stares at us as we enter. I glance at my mom and to my surprise she is close to tears. My father releases me and pushes me to the center of the room. I stumble but catch myself. Every eye in the room is on me.
“City council. Sorry to interrupt your tea party but we have an issue. My daughter, Omni, is able to do things she shouldn’t be able to. Call in the village elder and she will demonstrate.” My father announces loudly. One of the men press an orange button and in shuffles a woman probably in her nineties. She smiles at me and presses a button on the wall. A section of the wall slides away revealing a well-lit room with tinted windows on all the walls. The elder gestures for me to enter and I do. The door slides shut behind me.
“Demonstrate.” A voice commands. I close my eyes and start by flying around the room. The more I do this, the faster I get at focusing to fly. I land and immediately make myself disappear. As I did in the office, I move before reappearing. This time I appear in front of the window I know they’re looking through. I smile and wave as cries of surprise filter through the glass. I step back and the door slides back open. Stepping back through I find all eyes on me.
“Impressive. Follow me to the library, all of you. I wondered when this would happen.” The elder says while walking back to the stairs. We go down to the third floor and she scans her card, ushering us all in. Books line the walls, clearly old, yet in good shape. Dust covers all but one table and there’s a musty smell lingering in the air. The elder leads us to the back of the library where scrolls line the wall.
“This my friends is the wall of prophecies. S1 belongs to Omni here. Please read it.” She glances through the scrolls before pulling one out and handing it to me. Carefully I unwrap it not wanting to destroy it. Before reading it aloud, I skim the text. I gasp and step back. There’s no way this belongs to me.