As I ignored their shouts and processed the sight before me, dozens of thoughts raced through my mind. Questions like 'What was this panel? Why am I seeing it? Am I going insane?' ran through my mind until my attention was drawn to Gannon as he pointed to the empty air in front of him, a look of bewilderment on his face. "What the hell is this?" he exclaimed, his voice matching his confusion.
"What the fuck is shield generation??" I saw nothing there, but I assumed he was seeing the same thing as me, giving me partial relief.
"Are you seeing a purple screen too? Can you see this?" I asked him, attempting to shake away my doubt as I pointed to my own screen.
"I don't see anything in front of you, and the one I'm seeing is red. Is this a hologram or something?" he asked.
"I think we'd be seeing the same if it was a hologram", I replied. I quickly looked over to Bea and Jon, Bea was talking to another survivor. By the sounds of it, they were desperately asking her if she could see what was in front of them. Meanwhile Jon was seemingly calm looking ahead, his eyes moving around in various directions. It's as if he were watching something fly around. I wondered if he was seeing a screen in front of him as well.
I listened intently as others around me voiced similar questions and concerns to mine. It quickly became clear that every survivor was seeing their own panel but not anyone else's, leading to an even bigger chorus of confusion. I looked up to the base General, saying something into her walkie talkie. It was most likely orders to the Sentinels standing guard around the base. A guard was running by and I heard bits and pieces from the walkie, "Remain calm and continue observing.... reacts to your thoughts..... of it disappearing and it will vanish..."
I attempted to piece together what I had heard while people were starting to discuss what they were seeing on their screen. As the General tried to speak to the panicked crowd, the panel changed again and a new text showed up reading:
[Perk randomization activating, selecting random perk for human recipient. Loading....]
Two triangle arrows appeared around a rectangular box and the word [Spin] appeared. As if knowing what to do, I lifted my hand to the screen and pressed spin. A list of words appeared and began to zoom to the bottom of the screen and disappeared while new ones were scrolling down from the top, too fast for any to be read. After watching it spin for about five seconds, it came to a stop and the words [Passive Dominance] froze in the box.
The base General began to speak, her voice clear and calm, "Everyone, please calm down. This is quite an unexpected situation but I assure you, we are still safe and remaining calm is beneficial to yourself and everyone around you. Now, please take a second to take a deep breath and imagine the strange window disappearing from your sight."
I took a deep breathe and attempted to calm down, imagining it blipping away just as it had appeared. The next second I opened my eyes to see it quickly shrink and disappear, as if it was never there. A couple other people seemed to have successfully done it as I heard screams of bewilderment as it seemingly followed their command. The General spoke again this time louder and with a stern tone. "Everyone, please gather into 3 lines in front of Major Rain, Major Ryker, and Major Bran. They will ask you questions about what you saw as we try to figure out this event so please remain calm and proceed in an orderly fashion."
The number of Sentinels standing guard had increased dramatically while the air was filled with curiosity. As everyone split up to join the three lines, the four of us quickly lined up next to each other. Gannon was first, then me, Jon and Bea; we quickly formed a small group and huddled around each other as we discussed the events.
"So we all seen that red window? What the fuck did any of that mean?" Bea questioned, nervously combing her hands through her hair.
"I don't fucken' know, what does 'You've unlocked a trait' even mean? Mine said something about Shield Generation, what about you guys?" asked Gannon, looking to the others.
Bea replied, "Earth manipulation..? I still don't understand what's going on but what about you Mars. What did yours say?"
I suddenly felt put on the spot and confused, from the sounds of it, they had a red window and only one 'trait'. But my panel stated I had unlocked "Dual traits'. I still had no idea what the panel was and decided to only tell them about the first ability and keep the second one out of the picture for now, I reasoned that maybe they hadn't seen a second one yet.
"Mine said I unlocked Telekinesis.." I slowly replied.
"Telekinesis? Like the superpower, Telekinesis?" Bea asked, her eyes widening.
"Superpower? Are you saying that's a superpower?" I asked questioningly.
"Mars, I find it strange you're a man with no superhero knowledge." she replied, narrowing her eyes. I continued looking at her with narrowed eyes.
She continued, "Usually telekinesis is a power allowing it's wielder to move things around with their mind. Like invisible hands, or the force from Star Wars, it's something like that. Now that I think about it, it's the same for your 'Shield Generation' Gannon, it sounds like some kind of game ability. But mine is... 'Earth Manipulation'? Am I an Earth Bender or something now?
"So you're saying these sound like superpowers?" asked Gannon, his voice tinged with disbelief and curiosity.
"I'm not sure, Jon knows more about those types of things. Speaking of, what did yours say Jon?" she asked while turning to him.
As I looked over to Jon he was still looking in front of him, seemingly lost in thought. As I looked around, I seen various people huddled up and discussing similar topics. My eyes fell back to Jon and they were drawn to the ground near his feet. The grass surrounding him was taller in a circular pattern surrounding him, the nearest and tallest grass was pointing towards his legs and slowly swaying.
"Jon." I said, attempting to get his attention. After calling a second time he turned around and joined the conversation.
"Shit, I'm sorry guys I was still looking at that screen. It looks like some kind of VR game if I'm being honest." he said while chuckling.
"A game? Like a skill or something? Can you explain and tell us what yours said Jon?" I asked, a bit confused.
"It's more like an 'ability panel' that powers and abilities would fall under in a game. Mine said 'Plant manipulation' and whenever I focused on it, a second window showed up displaying information about it. It said I could control, influence and forcefully grow plants in my immediate area, which sounds like some kind of damn magic. You guys should try thinking 'trait panel' and it should show up." he said, appearing proud he had some useful information.
I began to think 'trait panel' and it materialized in front of me once again showing both of my traits and the perk I had recently received. "Holy shit, it worked!" I said before taking a closer look and focusing on my first ability, Telekinesis. Just as Jon described, a second window materialized to the left of me with information about the ability. It read:
[Active Trait- Telekinesis Level 0: Allows the user to control objects with their will at the expense of Primordial Aura.]
[Range: 15 feet. Limit: 50 pounds.]
Taking a second to absorb and read the information, I then focused on the second trait, 'Trait Mimicry'. Once again the information window appeared reading:
[Active Trait- Trait Mimicry Level 0: After meeting the prerequisites, it allows the user to mimic another users trait for one week. The mimicked traits power will be 50% of the original users trait level and can be leveled up. Will disappear when duration ends.]
[Cooldown: 1 Week.]
After reading it my eyes instantly fell on the words 'mimic another users abilities'. From my understanding it seemed like 'ability' would me to copy traits from others and make them my own for a short time. If what Jon was saying was true, then almost everyone who seen a screen had a power? The world was once again going to change drastically.
Thinking back to the 'perk randomization', I focused on that and a third screen appeared to the right and read,
[Passive Dominance- Turns the users unique trait into a passive ability, offering greater control over them while also enhancing their effects by 100%.]
Just then another screen appeared in front of the others reading,
[Perk has not been activated, Would you like to activate your perk, Passive Dominance, and convert your traits to passive ones?]
I thought back to what Jon had said and answered 'yes' in my mind. A new screen appeared reading,
[Your dual traits have been altered and enhanced... Would you like to check their enhancements?]
I was snapped back to reality by Jon nudging me forward and saying, "Don't get too distracted, I know it's kind of addicting but wait till we can all talk privately later in our room."
I quickly nodded and imagined the screen disappearing, after which I leaned over and spoke to Gannon and Bea. "You guys focus on trying to control the screen, we'll talk later in our room."
As we waited in the lines for what felt like nearly an hour, we finally arrived in front of Major Bran. Gannon went first and he was asked, "What color was your screen? What did your panel say? How many 'traits' did you receive? What 'trait' and 'perk' did you receive?"
After Gannon answered their questions he was asked by Major Bran to go to the dining hall and wait there until everyone has answered their questions, as the General had an announcement to make. Gannon stood there and waited for us to have our turn.
"Next.", said Major Bran. He was the type to always yell and had a commanding type of personality, always following orders and getting them done appropriately. Although I had no idea what was going on with the mysterious windows appearing, I had decided to hide my second ability. The chaos had led me to believe I was the only one who had 'unlocked' two abilities. Slowly stepping forward I walked to the tables they had previously set up to distribute lanterns and said, "Martin Lee, 2 star Hunter, Sir." While pulling my dog tag out of my jacket.
"And what did your panel say Martin?" He asked, eyeing me down.
"It said 'Primordial system loading', and then the trait panel popped up, followed by the perk one showing up whenever the General was about to speak."
"What ability and perk did you receive Martin?" He asked, narrowing his eyes further. He was rather intimidating but I was committed to keeping it a secret, the world outside these fort walls was chaotic and full of danger, I needed an advantage. One that lies in information and could give me an upper hand in a situation, that could be my second trait.
"I received 'Telekinesis' for my trait and my perk was 'Passive Dominance'."
"Excellent Martin, now focus on those words and tell me the information that appears for them."
I was inwardly wondering how he had figured out you could control the panel, perhaps the General had figured it out initially. After doing so and him asking half a dozen other questions he finally waved me off.
"Ah Martin, one more thing. What color was your ability panel?" He asked while maintaining eye contact.
"It was red, Sir" I replied, attempting to hold eye contact and nervously holding my breath.
After telling me thank you for the cooperation, he told me the same words I heard earlier and hollered for the next person. Letting out a deep sigh, I walked to where Gannon was waiting for us and I was met with his narrowed green eyes. Then it hit me, I had told Gannon what color my panel was and he had listened to me lie.
"I thought you said yours was purple?" he asked as I sat down.
"It was but I'm not sure it even signifies anything, did you hear anyone else have a different color?" I rebuked.
"You have a point but you could've been honest with a Major, you know?" he said while grabbing his water bottle.
I let out a sigh and let my head fall into my hands as I crouched over, "Ughhh, I don't even know what these panels mean Gannon, is color that important?" I asked in an attempt to change the subject.
"It is when you seem to want it hidden." he remarked. That made me stop dead in my tracks, and nervously look away.
"I don't see a reason to hide a color." I replied, feigning ignorance. I hurriedly grabbed my water bottle and opened it to take a drink.
He picked up a small pebble and replied, "I don't know why you want to hide it but I'll let you know you weren't the only one who was dishonest about their panel. I'll keep it a secret if you eventually tell me, and I'll do the same."
He had figured me out on the spot, during our time in the bunker we had gotten to know each other quite a lot and we learned Gannon unfortunately had straight A's in psychology. I had no idea it would come back up to be such a pain in the ass and allow him to see through me. I was a bit annoyed he wanted me to reveal it but curious as to what he could be hiding about his. After being hit by the now airborne pebble, I was snapped out of my train of thought and hesitatingly replied, "Deal."