During the meeting with Nick, he explained how they were categorised. Alethea learnt there were more like her. Not with visions but with other powers, such as teleportation or mind control. Alethea didn't believe Nick, until she was introduced to others later on.
When the meeting was over, Nick concluded that Alethea was going to stay at The Hunt and get ready for the upcoming events she wasn't aware of. When he left the room, Alastair apologised about the events that the two of them encountered. Alethea was not bothered. Alethea wanted to start fresh. Not think about anything. Not even her parents.
Alethea learnt that there were three categories - General, Energy and Death. Generals are seen to be the most humble and happiest of people out of the three categories. They were best known for their generosity. Whenever you would walk by, they smile in your direction. However, never be phased, as there could be a devious smirk behind.
The next category is called Energies. Crimson labels them as the fairies, because they may seem sweet, but they strike like a python. They are known to be the most charming and intelligent beings. You could not get a secret out of them, but they were the loudest. Voicing their opinions. Their cowardice would always equal to their bravery.
The last category is Death. Alethea found out Alastair was in this group while Crimson was a General. Alethea didn't mind Crimson was a General. Alethea viewed Crimson to be lucky. She was able to fly and could get out of certain situations just like that. She also learnt Alastair could manipulate people's DNA. Apparently, once he made any type of contact with someone he could change when he wanted to. They would be sent on missions, Alastair helping his team get into high security places. Because he was able to control DNA, he could change the way someone else looked. He was also able to keep that person's DNA for however long he wanted and use it when needed. Many would describe him as a shapeshifter, but he wasn't able to change into animals and objects. He was one of the most trained students at the school.
People who are labelled as Death, are known to cause destruction if they weren't too careful. This is where the most creative minds were found. They saw themselves as powerful, while others saw them as weak. But no one could stop their rebellious acts from time to time.
People with visions were normally found in the Energy category, which made it become larger than General and Death. Other people from the Energy category became worried about the people with visions. As they trained night and day, people with visions became stronger. So strong, that they were not only able to foresee the future but change the past as well. Some became afraid of them, while others became mad.
No one knew how people with visions became extinct, but some would say it was a group of Energies. A group of Energies which were jealous of how powerful the people with visions were. It was rare to find another one with that sort of power, which is why it shocked everyone when they found out about Alethea.
In the last few days, Alethea learnt that she wasn't liked much, mainly by other Energies. Alethea entered the room which was full of others like herself. The room itself was big, with different coloured drapes covering each wall. There was furniture everywhere she looked. Some were either studying, talking with one another or playing games.
Once Alethea entered the room, everyone went silent and just looked at her as if she was carrying a disease. That's when the shouting turned into whispering. Alethea walked with Alastair and Crimson, ignoring the stares. As Alethea was walking to a small group which she presumed were Deaths, someone came in front of her. A dark-skin boy who was ravishingly handsome. He was definitely taller than Alethea and wore glasses. His sharp nose looking down upon her.
"Hi," smiled Alethea, "my name is-"
"I presume you're the famous visioner," he snarled at her.
"I would call myself famous," shrugged Alethea "but yes, I can sometimes see into the future."
"You're not supposed to exist," he said in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Well, my parents thought differently," said Alethea, starting to pat her body down.
"But they didn't want you either?" smirked the boy. "My parents talked to me about your kind, and it's good that they destroyed your people... if they didn't, we probably wouldn't be here right now. Your kind were backstabbers, wanting to change the past. They only made it worse. So what have you got to say to that?" He folded his arms and nodded his head in triumph.
Alethea mimicked his actions, looking up at him. "And who are you to judge me? Do you even know me enough?" Alethea pointed into his chest. He looked taken aback, his shocked expression changing into disgust.
"How dare you -" he was interrupted by a squeaky voice.
"How dare you touch him." Alethea turned her head towards the voice.
A brunette girl came walking towards Alethea and stood next to the boy. Alethea looked up and down at her - she had short brunette hair with brown eyes, a small round face, which suited her petite body. The girl could pass as an angel but her personality didn't seem to match her appearance. Alethea realised that she was yapping about the problem they were currently in. Alethea placed her hands up, causing the girl to stop speaking. "Look, I literally mean no harm towards you guys. I didn't know this was real if it makes you feel better," said Alethea.
"It doesn't," the girl replied. Alethea only sighed as a response. Alethea didn't know what to say to her. What was she supposed to say, Alethea never even knew all this existed.
"Look Gina, it's not her fault and I think it's great that she has this power. I know she is going to use her powers for good," Crimson sneered at her.
Gina seemed to be intimidated by Crimson, as she looked to the ground and shuffled back to the groups of Energies. Crimson then looks to Matt. "You too Matt, just because mummy and daddy said it, doesn't mean it's true. You may seem like the most intelligent and brave guy, but you really are a coward. We both know it."
Crimson and Matt stare at each other, mentally battling one another. Moments pass and Matt looks away first. Crimson smiled and both Alastair and Crimson took Alethea away from the group. That was before Matt muttered under his breath - "You're just a General." This made Crimson stop walking.
Alethea could feel the anger build up inside her. Crimson turned around and strides towards Matt. "And you know what?" said Crimson, her voice raising slightly, "I'm goddamn proud."
"Your muta isn't going to pass the test Crimson," Matt smirked. "No one isn't going to want her, even the council have said so."
"Because the council have been doing a great job so far," Crimson said and turned on her heel, walking away. Crimson came up to Alethea, "you don't need to worry."
"For what?" asked Alethea.
"Tomorrow you're going to go through this test. All I will tell you is that it isn't the nicest of things to do." Crimson waited for a few seconds. "Let's not talk about it now, me and Alastair have some people we want to introduce you to."
They walk up to a small group of people. They were all talking with one another. They seemed to notice Alethea and extend welcoming smiles.
A tall boy with ginger hair and brilliant blue eyes, made their way to Alethea. "The name is Michaels... James Michaels."
"Name's Alethea," she replied, laughing at him. James seemed the calmest out of everyone, noticing how everyone took a slight step back from her.
"Oh, we know, we have been tracking your moves for a while. We lost you here and there, but we still found you," James smiled. Alethea didn't know how to respond to James. Thankfully, Crimson introduced the rest of the group. There were two sisters named Sophie and Millie. Sophie was older. They both had blonde hair, but Sophie had freckles with brown eyes, whereas Millie had no freckles with blue eyes. Sophie was taller than Alethea, but Millie was shorter.
A small petite Asian girl named Decha is introduced next. Long black hair bordering her pretty fair face with small dark brown eyes which could be mistaken for black. She stood four inches smaller than Alethea.
Next Alethea was introduced to the other boys of the group- Luca and Anthony. Anthony had blonde hair and blue eyes and was... clean. Nothing out of place. His appearance actually suited his name and personality. From the looks around the room, Anthony seemed to be known by the girls. Luca had brown eyes and brown hair with a crooked nose. He reminded Alethea of a Labrador as he still carried a slight baby face. He wore glasses which covered most of his face. They were all categorised under Death.
Alethea learnt that the sisters were able to produce toxins and poisons. They were both able to change water into a chemical and no one would be able to notice the difference.
Decha was able to manipulate electricity. At first, not many people took her seriously because she didn't even know how to use her powers. That was until she went on a mission, and something seemed to have triggered them. Before she knew what was happening, she felt the electrical currents in her body travelling across the ground and going into the enemy. Due to the enemy not being used to this much current, the blood and the electrical impulses mixed, causing the blood to fuse with it. This caused them to lose the feel of their limbs and later on they ignited.
Next was Luca, he was flexible. Initially he was placed in the General category, but he was later placed in Death because he had learnt to be flexible enough to encase a building and crush it. This was something that no one could explain. They believed that he was a mix of strength and flexibility. Having twin powers seemed to scare a few people, so he was placed in Death for safety reasons. The Generals were okay with the fact he had two powers and didn't want him to go. It was the Energies that complained about this.
Anthony was able to manipulate and generate smoke. This ability helped to create smoke in a person's lungs. This would create mucus to build up in their throat - this made it hard for them to breath and their life would be taken in seconds.
Lastly, James, he was able to manipulate insects. At first, Alethea didn't even think much of it. He was able to control insects' minds, but after going through the development stages, he was able to create different insects, swapping their bodies and just by looking at you, he was able to create an ant colony in your head or even creating poisonous spiders in your body. James used his powers for pranks most of the time. He was hardly able to go out and join in with the missions because at times he wasn't able to control his powers.
After the introductions, they were all told to go into the hall. On the way, Alethea had learnt that she was the only 'newbie'. She was a newbie in this school and in this world. The rest of them were the people who had passed 'the test'. Tomorrow, the school would open its doors for a selection of students who were to go through this test. They were just like Alethea, all with different powers.
As she sat with the group, Alethea looked around and noticed how empty their table was compared to the Generals and Energies. She looked at the table and noticed there were people older than her. They didn't look her way. "I will introduce them to you later," whispered James.
Once everyone was seated, people entered the hall dressed in aprons. Trays of food on the palm of their hands. The different smells of food travelled around the room causing Alethea's' stomach to rumble. She didn't realise how hungry she was until then. Alethea looked over to Crimson who was sitting with her friends. Alethea was introduced to the Generals. She got a mixed response from them. Some seemed to welcome her while others kept their distance from her. It didn't affect Alethea in any way because she was used to it at school. School....Alethea knew she wasn't going to have to go back there. But was Hunt going to be better? What did The Hunt actually do? It caused Alethea pain, but it was her only shelter at the very moment.
A plate of food was placed in front of Alethea. Alethea looked down to see a plate of pizza. Alethea looked at the others around her. Decha and Luca were both having battered fish. Sophie was having lasagne, whereas Millie was also having pizza. The boys were having beef burgers and chips. All the food around caused her stomach to rumble, causing a snort from someone on the General table. Alethea looked at them and saw a small blue and green haired girl smiling at her. She gave Alethea a wink. Alethea smiled back, which was soon replaced with a frown as she turned around to her table.
"Don't worry about her, that's Trish, she can hear for miles... she's also the youngest student to ever make it to this school," Alastair interrupts her thoughts.
"How old do you have to be?" asked Alethea, curiously.
"Fifteen to sixteen...so you are just in time. She was fourteen when she came here, surprising a lot of people with what she was capable of."
"I was wondering why there wasn't anyone who was younger than us," said Alethea.
"Well, our powers don't really develop until fifteen or sixteen actually, but I guess Trish was lucky for her powers to develop so soon," replied Alastair. Somehow still able to speak with the amount of food stuffed in his mouth.
"What is she capable of?"
"None of us know. There are many rumours on how she accidentally made someone go deaf, but they began to bleed, so you know what happened next," said Alastair, showing an indication of someone dying.
Alethea looked behind her and saw Trish look at them with sadness in her eyes, her head hung low. Alethea felt guilty for asking without her permission, but Alastair seemed to not notice her. "Oh, wouldn't she be in Energy or Death?" asked Alethea.
"Why would think that?" he asked.
"Well, Energy because of 'sound' energy or Death because she can go to the extreme." Alethea was obviously thinking if the rumours were ever true, Trish would most likely be in jail in her world, but she needed to know that this magical world probably had different rules. Excluding that, she felt that saying how Trish could possibly be a murderer, wouldn't make Alethea feel any better. It must be worse for Trish to be able to hear every word people have said about her.
"How are you categorised?" asked Alethea.
"It's hard to explain, I think the way we think in situations helps categorise us but sometimes, depending on the person and their how strong their abilities are, a decision has to be made by Nick and some others on where to categorise them" he replied, giving a clear view of the food in his mouth. Alethea's' nose scrunched up in disgust, this causing a chuckle in response.
Alethea sighed, and began eating her pizza. As Alethea had the last slice, she placed it in her hand and admired it. Alethea had left the cheesiest one last. "Saved the best for last," muttered Alethea to herself. She opened her mouth to take a mouthful of pizza and realised that all she was eating was air. Alethea looked down at her hands and heard someone munching on something. Alethea looked across the table, and watched James having the last slice of pizza in his hand and started eating it.
"Hey, that was mine," shouted Alethea. James only continued eating it. She was restraining herself from slapping the pizza out of his hand. "I should choke you."
"It's cute that you think you will be able to do that," James said as he ruffled her hair. Alethea slumped in her chair in response which was changed into happiness as James gave her his fries.
"This is the kind support you need," Alethea said to him and eats his chips. The conversation started from there.
"Hey," said Alethea, getting their attention. "If we exist, does that mean witches, wizards, elves and so forth exist as well?"
"Obviously," said the sisters simultaneously, making it sound as though Alethea asked the most stupid question.
"They're home-schooled," said Luca. "Here in the magical world, we have a council, but due to generations being wiped out because of so many wars, the council have lost a lot of money. They only invested in the Ultravers, which are us. The rest of the schools were torn down."
"That's totally unfair," baffled Alethea.
"Well that's life," said Luca, before shoving the burger back into his mouth. Soon, they were telling Alethea more about how everything worked around the building. They also told her how it came to be what it is today.
The Hunt building was established in 1910 because of a little boy who exposed his powers to the world by accident. Once that happened, other little kids soon showed similar abilities. This seemed to scare their parents as they were humans and were later sent on to the streets.
The parents began questioning their loved ones. They didn't understand how their kids were capable of such powers. The little kids were lucky enough to find a cave near them and they all lived there. The boy who exposed his powers first had turned into his teenage years and noticed that they couldn't continue to live the way they were.
One day, the boy was in the cave while the others were on the streets trying to find something to eat. He was pacing around the cave until he saw some rocks begin to shuffle under his feet. The rocks seemed to move towards the end of the cave. On instinct, he followed the rocks and the boulder at the end of the cave seemed to have disappeared. Instead of seeing the grey pasty wall that was always there, it was replaced by a library. He walked in straight away and looked around him. He saw a pile of books and picked one of them up. The beginning of life - this wasn't about the Adam and Eve fantasy, but it was about how people were born with powers and how everything became the way it is.
He learnt that Ultravers received the powers due to their brains. When a child is born, in their brain, there are many sections which hold secrets. At the back of the brain, there is one section in everyone which is locked. If someone has enough brain power to unlock this, their powers are unleashed. Later on when the others came back, the boy quickly told them what he had found. Everyone was excited and couldn't believe that after all those years, something good finally came to them.
After a few days, they moved the very few belongings they had into the library. They knew that someone was bound to find this hideout which made them create a secret door. After rummaging between the bookshelves, they learnt that the building had been there for many years, but no one was ever able to find it. They said one would only find it when in need to help others and not themselves.
When they began to get everything ready, all seemed to be fine and the boy couldn't believe that this would have ever happened. That joy soon turned into something beyond anybody's control. The boy who had shown his powers, felt like he was the one who had to be in charge. He became too controlling. This led people to leave him. This made him go into greater madness, but only few had stayed by his side and he was grateful for that.
The group of 64 turned into a bunch of twenty, ten girls and boys. They seemed to be the most important people to him. He wanted to change the world. Wanted there to be a world where humans and Ultravers (how they had categorised them overall) could live together.
In the beginning, the Ultravers were accepted, but what the humans didn't understand is that the powers that they possessed. No one knew of their names, they were just known to be heroes. That title was later stripped off them. The boy met with an accident and couldn't help anyone. Not only did he lose the love of his life, he lost his mind. His friends tried to help him but he couldn't take it anymore. He seemed to have faded from the Earth.
With him gone, his friends didn't know what to do. They still continued to try and save humans if they were in trouble. But they couldn't shoulder the responsibility anymore. They didn't like the attention, they wanted to help but didn't want the attention. Therefore, they left, which caused the humans to become angry. They were so obsessed with the powers that the Ultravers possessed. If they could find them, they tried to capture them and use them for experiments, wondering how they became who they were. Unfortunately, they had found some, but they were not the last twenty.
In the end, it was obvious that the humans had given up. What they didn't know was that there was a building, containing everything that they wanted. The boy who had vanished, created a building called The Hunt to let in people like them. It was called The Hunt, because Ultravers were once the hunted, and humans now became a hunt to them. The boy wanted to let people live the life like they wanted. The others, they didn't bother him anymore as they knew there was no point. Knowing he meant no harm.
With the others explaining to Alethea about the history, the story took up most of the time till midnight. Sent off to bed when Nick saw them and was not pleased with any of them.
They all had their own rooms. Decha showed Alethea the way to her room and explained about the test tomorrow. They just said how it changed all the time which wasn't much help. Alethea was explained they wouldn't give you any harmful creatures to fight off. You had to be professionally trained to do that. Alethea would meet the other competitors tomorrow, and they would decide a certain number of people to stay. The others would go home.
Once Alethea entered her room, it seemed to be normal. A bed and a desk, with a window and a wardrobe which was big enough. Decha explained how if Alethea stayed, then she would be able to decorate it with whatever she wanted. Alethea bid good nights to the others. It seemed that pyjamas, black and white, were already sent up to her and were left on her bed. Alethea changed, and went into bed.
Too tired to think of the trails of events which have happened for Alethea, exhaustion took over her body.