Don't make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry ...
Like any other parent, sibling, child, pilot, manager, underwater basket weaver, HUMAN BEING in the world, there have been times I’ve felt so angry and frustrated, that I thought I might burst into flames. And I’ve been so enraged other times, I wished I could take that feeling of immolation and turn it into a fireball that I could throw at something. Not necessarily any person, but at something expendable – a wall, door, glass table, birthday cake – that would blow up in commendable, time-lapse video pyrotechnics. I’d feel better. (Don’t judge me, I’m sure you’ve felt the same way before.)
As fantasy would have it, hundreds of hours spent at the gaming table took that very basic, enraged reaction and put an exciting spin on it: what would you do if that ever actually happened? Why did it happen? What type of creature are you, or what type of powers do you wield that you can do this? Are you a mage or spell caster of some type? Are you something not of this world disguised as a human? Are you demonic?
For me, this was how it all started: I always dreamt that one day, a moment of anger would manifest itself into a physical form and something would get destroyed. And I’d be standing there – fuming a moment before, now wide-eyed and smiling, uttering, “That was AWESOME!!” But now what? What am I? For years, that’s the question that my daydreams always needed answered. Once I was able to answer that question, background stories and the unique history started flowing. It was at this point that I began writing Guardian, the first book in the series.
Chapter 3 (Excerpt)
About four hours later, the two were SCUBA diving through the sand canyons of one of the most beautiful dive spots in the world. Huge multi-colored coral, marine life in large quantity and wondrous variety, and, around each turn, a more idyllic and fantastical hue of colors than that which peppered the last formation greeted every kick throughout their underwater excursion. The two normally appreciated the therapy of total silence and being immersed in the white noise while diving – even the sounds of their breathing normally drove them away from using SCUBA, but some of the most beautiful parts of Alice’s Wonderland were in water much deeper than convenient for a casual skin dive. And based on the happenings of the past several hours, they used the SCUBA necessity as an excuse to use the full face masks and the underwater communications feature to continue talking through Elex’s abnormalities.
The pair of them kicked through a small arch, teeming with coral growths and other marine life. Allison’s voice crackled over the speaker to Elex. “So, when was the first time your powers presented themselves to you? Was it a moment of fear or anger?”
Elex took an audible breath before responding. Communicating on the FFM usually made everyone sound like Darth Vader. “Actually, no. It seems like they often do manifest themselves through enraged or intimidated episodes, or when my safety is threatened. For years before, I would break a sweat and heat up when stressed during tests or when angry. I remember a high school math teacher getting concerned during our AP calculus midterm final because I was drenched—sweating so badly. My heart was racing, and when he came over to check on me, he noticed my skin was ridiculously feverish. He sent me down to the nurse’s office and she took my temperature. When it came back at 118 degrees, she concluded her thermometer was broken, but she still sent me home. There were tons of other hints dropped throughout high school, but I never put two and two together until I received my college acceptance into both UCLA and Penn State. I got home and had collected the mail. While sorting through it, there they were – from both universities in big envelopes and on the same day. They were the only two schools I applied to, and the only places I really wanted to go. I let out a ‘woot’ and jumped up like I was at the end of a Toyota commercial. At the peak of my jump, a small fireball shot out of each of my hands and burned a decent chunk of the ceiling away.”
Allison inhaled and interrupted, “So that was the origin of the infamous, ‘I was trying to make my own saganaki’ story?! I thought the truth behind that would be so much more exciting.”
Elex actually stopped swimming forward to turn around and look at her. “More exciting than conjuring fire at will?! Jesus, you’re hard to impress!” As laughing was a combination of short bursts of sound and rapid breathing, it was always loud and irritating in the FFM; now was no different, but Elex tolerated Allison’s chuckling outbreak better than normal, as he was euphoric to be talking so openly about it.
Allison continued. “You know what I mean. My parents and I, well, we always thought it was you doing something stupid or reckless or irresponsible. We obviously had no idea that it was something like this.”
Elex resumed navigating through the colored patches of the next sand-based canyon. “Anyway, I was both terrified and excited at the same time. I mean, who hasn’t dreamt of discovering that they have super powers? It was pretty cool. That was really the last time that they inadvertently activated out of joy or positive excitement. From that point on, it was always triggered by a negative stimulus. The novelty wore off within weeks, and it felt more like being diagnosed with leprosy and knowing that everything in your life was going to change for the worse, that people might always regard you differently, and that you were going to have to deal with this crippling imperfection for the rest of your life.”
