In a world torn between heroes and villains, it can be a dangerous and hostile place. Some take comfort in the Gifted that stand up against those who would use their powers for greed and chaos. While others choose to hide away, fearful of the day...
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Elaina Hart spent far too much time cursing the stars.
She sat out on the roof of her cabin, wondering why they were so damn captivating. How could so many people find hope and inspiration in burning balls of gas that will incinerate anything that approaches them? So many people gaze with wonder and amazement at pinpricks of light, when in reality, those same dreamy stars could sear away a viewer's retinas.
Stars are destructive, merciless, and all-consuming. Yet, from a distance, they felt safe. They were whimsical, beautiful, and alluring. The source of countless songs, poems, and rhymes. A wonder to behold, a guiding light in the darkness, a symbol of hope.
Which is why she really fucking hated stars, just as she really fucking hated Gifted.
Elaina reclined against the slope of her roof, the shingles digging into her back despite the thick woolen blanket she laid across it. She crossed her arms behind her head, snagging several long, stray strands of her dark brown hair in the process. She tried to remind herself that, like with the stars, the Gifted were just as far out of reach. For six years she's lived alone in the heart of the forest and away from the city centers that attract superpowered humans like moths to the flame. Except unlike moths, the Gifted don't catch fire when they get too close. Instead, the whole damn city becomes a raging inferno while the Gifted dance upon their victims' corpses.
With her mind wandering, it became easier to ignore the stars and instead focus on the backdrop of endless black. Or it did until a shooting star crossed her field of vision. She swore at the instant appeal the overzealous meteorite held over her. She gave it a second's worth of instinctual wonder, then took a breath and shook away the passing fancy. However, when another shooting star caught her attention a second later, she couldn't stop herself from rising to a seated position and rubbing the scales from her eyes.
"Two shooting stars within a minute of each other. There aren't supposed to be showers for another..." A star rocketed by — closer, larger, and clearer. "Fuck, those aren't stars!"
Elaina rose to her feet as a figure lit up like a Christmas tree zoomed over the treetops with a thunderous roar. In her haste to escape the loud intrusion, she rolled her ankle upon the slanted surface of her roof. She hissed with pain, but maintained her stance. Though the slope was slight, her footing on a bad ankle was hazardous, especially when she took the supersonic whizzing above her head into account. Continuing on her hands and knees, she crawled over to her loft window and pulled herself through.
She slid down onto her bedroom floor, limped towards her ladder, and then stumbled down to the ground level of the cabin. Within the space of a few minutes, she was out on her porch before stepping onto the grassy lawn of the open meadow she made her home.
"Fucking Gifted." She drew away from the protective awning of her porch to gain a better view of the dueling bodies that floated a few hundred feet above her home. She found that one of them maintained their height using a bending of the elements, the air around them rippling with a force emanating from their hands and feet. With the other, an assortment of machinery encompassed their body and propelled them through the air. The purr of an engine and a collection of glowing panels spoke of this particular Gifted's lack of ability in the flying department, but that didn't mean they didn't have some other trick hiding up their spandex sleeves.
