Lens Section 1

Lens Section 1

By: Asa Montreaux

Chapter 1

It was a normal day if there ever was one for the folk of Norfolk, though the Everson’s were experiencing a day that was not so normal, but rather extraordinary. There had been a series of mysterious occurrences for which there was no discernable explanation.

First, the plates in the sink, the plates and glasses in the cupboards, the toaster and the kettle, began to move up and down. After a while they were literally levitating in the air. Then, the lights throughout the entire house began to flicker on an off, and they continued to do so, no matter what light was flicked on or off, or what fuse was switched on or off, for two whole hours. 

After that, a curious cold air spread from room to room in the house, so that no one in the home could bare to do anything without a jacket and blanket. And after those events, finally the whole home began to shake, including the ground, reminiscent of an actual earthquake. It was so strong no one could move about the house without falling. 

But perhaps the most curious thing of all was that one person slept through all of the paranormal occurrences. Sixteen year-old Lens didn’t blink an eye from the first plate levitating, to the moment when the whole house stopped shaking. 

Why was this? Neither his mother, his sister, or his brother would accuse Lens of having had something to do with the strange disturbances, though it was a funny occurrence. It had crossed all their minds that Lens had something to do with them.

The truth was it had everything to do with Lens. The teenager had developed powerful abilities, almost overnight, though no one knew. To Lens himself, it was a mystery as well. Though he had inklings of having supernatural abilities, the occurrences previous to this point seemed relatively insignificant. A fallen branch here, a street light down there, nothing particularly noticeable, unless you were looking for it. Suddenly he was cognizant of very enhanced power, and he felt amazed by it, but also terrified, because he wasn’t sure if he could control it. 

Perhaps while he was in his sleep, he surmised, it was even more uncontrollable. He had just woken up, and was looking around as there were several things in his room that were out of place, some things scattered far across the bedroom from where they were when he went to sleep. And the light was on. Some strange things had happened last night. Hopefully no one was hurt. 

Lens got himself up out of bed, and headed out to the living room area in his pajamas to find out if everyone was alright. He found his mother sitting there, and he could see his sister sitting at the breakfast table, eating eggs. 

‘Everyone alright?’ Lens asked his mother.

‘Yes,’ she said. ‘We are alright. And it’s good to see you are alright as well. Did you sleep through all that?’

‘I had slept through all of it,’ he said. ‘There must have been like an earthquake. Did anything else happen?’

‘Yes, there were some objects floating in the kitchen, and the lights flickered for hours. Apparently, none of this happened in any of the other neighbours’ homes. I’m not sure if we all hadn’t received some food poisoning last night. Though the fact that all of us experienced the same thing, and the fact that the house is a total wreck this morning, seems to indicate otherwise.’

‘Oh well I feel okay. Yea, the house is definitely a mess. Where is my brother?’

‘He’s out for a bit. Went to get something from the market.’

‘Oh, alright.’ 

She looked at him for a moment, secretly wondering what the connection was to him, him sleeping through it all, and the events that occurred. She was secretly of the opinion that they had most certainly happened, though no one could know for sure. Then she went back to reading her magazine, and Lens walked out of the room, and back to his bedroom. It was a close call, Lens thought. He had to get his powers under control, before something bad happened, and someone got hurt because of it. 

Lens grabbed a towel and headed to the bathroom to have a shower. The water felt cleansing on his skin, and he knew he just needed some time to think about things, and he might be able to find out what to do. 

After his shower, he dressed in clean clothes, fitting for the spring weather, and headed out to his clubhouse in the forests behind the homes on his street. He slipped out the back door, and then the back gate. He entered through a path in the trees into the wood scape. In a couple minutes he was at the tree fort. He climbed up, opened the hatch, and shut it behind him, and went and sat on the bean bag chair, placed before the window, overlooking ten, fifteen feet of trees, and then a dip into the river valley, where the stream rustled by, on its way down to Semego lake, half a mile east. 

After a while he thought he found the right questions to focus on. How did it happen? That he got these powers? If he understood their nature, then he might be able to figure out how to control them. What more could he do? How could he work on them? 

He could remember the first time he sensed them. He’d been in class, during elementary school, and an older student had been picking on him in the hallway. The big bully opened his mouth to insult Lens, but then, suddenly, it was as if he could not speak. He opened his mouth, moved his lips as if he was speaking, but everyone around heard nothing. The older boy had been silenced, standing there, the entire time he spoke, after that moment, not a person could hear him. He was flabbergasted. He thought of grabbing Lens, but a vice principal of the school was walking by, so close the old bully could see him. His hands reached out momentarily, he had thought of grabbing Lens’ collars and shaking him, for starters. But with the vice principal so close, he had to let it go. Lens ran off, ducking into his class. But he always remembered that, the first time something remarkable happened. On this occurrence, something good and beneficial had happened. But on other occasions, the results were slightly different. 

One time, out on a walk with his dog at the time, Rascal, a car coming by, getting too close to the curb, had frightened him so much, that a spark of energy had come from him, and threw out a section of the power line. A spark wiggled across the line between one house and the next. Three houses were without power afterwards. Some of the neighbours had blamed him for this, but they never knew exactly what had happened. Some of them called him a bad kid, or at least a kid up to no good on that occasion. A few considered him clumsy. But no one but him guessed the truth, that it had been a magical occurrence. And he had been starting to think that the magic was surely inside himself.

Lens continued to gaze out the window of the club house. His thoughts were still on the paranormal/ magical occurrence that morning, and how to control his magic. He had decided no one had been hurt so, so far so good. But with his magic growing in strength, it could be only a matter of time before there is a chance he could hurt somebody. He didn’t want that to happen. How could he get it under control?

A really good thought came to him. How did he use it anyways? Maybe then he’d sort of know how to turn it on and off. It seemed to happen when he is distressed. During moment of extreme emotion, it could suddenly unleash itself. But there were other moments.

Sometimes, when he felt most quiet of all, like there was nothing on his mind at all, he could swear it activated. But more, he almost swore he could use it. It was like everything was not moving, it was so quiet in his mind, and then he swore if he raised his hand, he could use the energy to do something with it. 

But those were only moments, not quite the whole thing. There was one more instance of his magic occurring, and that was when he was asleep. It seemed, for the first time, to have unleashed itself without any extreme emotion. Could it have been the case he was having a bad dream. He could have forgotten, but he swore he hadn’t had a dream the whole night. He would surely remember at least a little of some dream that was really intense. So it seemed obvious: it came from a place of deep quiet.

So maybe he could get there. With deep focus, and complete calm, he could possibly activate the telekinesis. It’d have to be like in a dream. He’d have to be completely relaxed. Though, to actually use it, he would have to be focused on the energy as well. It seemed a difficult task. But he thought maybe he could do it.

He closed his eyes, and tried to still his mind. He tried consciously to put all the thoughts out of his mind that were preventing it from being still and quiet. He figured he’d stay this way for a few minutes. The minutes passed. He tried to have no thoughts whatsoever. After a few minutes, he thought about the difficulty of the task, and thought it might take a little more calm to make it happen. So he let five minutes go by. After that, he was ready to try telekinesis.

He stood up, and looked a little ways off to where the stream was, and reached out his arms. He tried to bend the waves of the water with his hand, watching the waves rustled by the current. He couldn’t seem to get anything to happen the first few times he tried. It was going to be difficult to activate it by command. After a few tries, he considered what was going wrong. He was trying to channel it, but he wasn’t really sure how to do it. He had tried sending it from his body but that wasn’t really working. He thought he should try it from his head. Maybe it had more to do with his brain. He tried to flick the waves again. It seemed to have made a little difference. He thought he saw some of the waves change direction a little, but he couldn’t really be sure. It needed to be more of an effect to be seen for sure, and to really have the sense he had used telekinesis. 

What else was he doing wrong? When he held his hands out, it didn’t seem to be making a difference which way he moved them. Up or down, more out, or more in. Nothing really changed. Something else with his body, he thought. He closed his eyes. He tried to calm his mind as much as possible. And then he tried to use all the power he could muster to move the waves. He tried to sustain the energy. And after a few seconds, he was convinced it was working. Then he quickly opened his eyes to see if the waves were moving differently. He could see a few moving in a direction quite differentiated from before. He almost had it. It might have even worked. 

He tried a few more times, closing his eyes, and trying the telekinesis. And then opening them and checking what had changed. Once or twice, it didn’t work at all. And a few other times he was pretty sure there was a difference in the waves, and that it had worked. He was happy about that, and he was sure someday soon he would be able to control it, and use it, one hundred percent of the time. He thought he’d better get home, and so he left the club house and trekked home.

When he arrived he entered quietly, and went to his room. He grabbed his journal, and a pencil, and he began to sketch the waves. First the waves before, and the waves after. He sketched some of the ones that hadn’t really seemed to move, and some of the ones that had seemed to move a lot. He had tried to include every little detail from his memory. Even with some of the ones that hadn’t really moved, he was sure he could see a little difference in what he depicted. He hoped he’d drawn them faithfully. When he drew the waves that had changed, the difference was very noticeable. Seeing them on paper, it seemed the difference was slightly even more than he thought at first, and he was happy about this.

He left them in his journal so no one would seem them, but he wanted to post them on the wall, and be proud of his accomplishment. No one would easily know that he hadn’t had a weird experience, but was able to create the phenomena. 

After that, he put the book away, and played some video games. It took his mind off everything, but it kept occurring to him that he might be able to master the ability soon, and then he’d be able to do a lot of cool stuff. He’d be proud of himself then. Lots of games of Call of Duty had gone by, and then his sister, Becky, came in, and asked him a question that seemed to be rather interrogative.

‘Where were you?’

‘I was just out. Out at the clubhouse.’

‘Ahhh. And what were you doing, at the clubhouse?’

‘Nothing much, just watching the sunset. Wanted to check on it, make sure no one had broken in, taken the couch, or anything.’

‘Hmm. And no one had?’

‘No, no one had taken anything.’

‘Well. Alright. Are you okay? A lot of weird stuff happened.’

‘Yea. Yea, no I’m totally alright.’

‘Hmm. Cool. Alright. See ya.’

‘See ya.’

*

The next day Lens went off to school, leaving his mother, sister, and brother behind in the morning. He was usually first to leave, and when he arrived at school, he headed to track practice, which happened before classes began. Lens was an excellent sprinter, and also ran the 800 meters. He thought that by the end of the year, maybe no one in the state would have a quicker time than him. He felt he was huffing and puffing a little this morning, as it was awfully cold outside. All the excitement of the weekend hadn’t taken the energy out of him, but maybe it had a little. You’d think, he pondered, that having magic would give you more stamina, but maybe not automatically. Maybe there was some way to reboot his systems, make everything recharge itself. If he could produce this energy, then it could probably be directed into himself. He’d probably have to focus it on healing himself, and that would be difficult. It’d take work to make that happen for himself. 

He felt not as enthused with the runs this morning, but he figured no one had really noticed at all. Most people seemed to be in a bit of a bad mood. Being honest there wasn’t much worse than being out there at 5 30 am, when it was cold, and you couldn’t feel your hands, and the air was so cold you shivered more often than not. But anything short of lots of rain, or thunderstorms, and they were out there on the tracks.

After, when classes started, he had changed into his normal clothes, which had been in his back-pack. He had jeans and a button-down shirt, and his hair was still wet, slicked over a little, from the shower after practice. Everything was the same regarding class. Though it was painful waiting for your hands to stop throbbing, and for the sense of wind chill to go away, as you tried to hold your pen normally enough for no one to look, and tried to ignore the cold as it leaked away from your body. 

Everything was normal until he got into the hallways and walked through the sea of students. People looked concerned. They’d heard the power was out in some areas in the neighborhood again, and apparently his sister had been talking about strange, paranormal things occurring in the home. He had no idea why anyone would blame him, but just some people sort of were. 

Wistfully, he thought it would be nice to have the power to just make that all go away. To have the part where everyone heard about that, just go away. And for everything to be absolutely normal again. If he could somehow just change a part. If he could get rid of all the bad parts. That’d be the best thing that could happen. Changing reality didn’t seem like an easy thing to do. It sounded like the tallest of orders. I guess it was one thing at a time. He had to nail the most basic thing. Controlling the thing. And connected to that, how to use it, how to make it work.

As he stopped off in the bathroom he thought, if only he could make these processes automatic too, if he could just pee without having to hold it, and direct it. If he could just go number two without having to flush anything or wipe anything. Maybe he would have his hands washed automatically as well, not that he had even used them. 

In his next class, he took to trying something with the magic, though somewhat against better advisement. Though he hadn’t had control of the magic yet, the thing was just too interesting not to try. His teacher was just droning on it seemed, and while he was listening, he really wished it would go faster. He tried focusing on reality, and speeding it up. Making time go faster was kind of the same thing as time travelling, so if he could invent that, it’d be something to be proud of. Being the first to invent time travel could make him as famous as Newton, or Einstein. That would be rad. People would definitely think he was the smartest person alive, and that would make life pretty cool. 

As the class dragged on, he had tried a few times. This definitely seemed a harder skill. But he could have sworn a few times he noticed the teacher speaking noticeably faster, though he hadn’t been trying to. Lens had been trying to speed up reality. And maybe it had worked. Maybe things were moving more quickly, if only just for a moment. All the same it was a normal length class, and a full hour later, the bell was finally ringing, and he headed out into the hallway, making way for his locker.  When he got there, he did find his friend Mason, but there was someone waiting, entering a combination a few lockers over that he’d never seen opening that locker before. Almost as soon as Lens started to open his locker, the person dropped the lock and headed right towards Lens. The bully was big, thick, and he didn’t look like he wanted to just mess around. There was a big snarl on his face as he stood right in front of Lens, with no space between them, and looked down on him. 

‘So what the fuck ya got in your wallet today, Lens? I could use some cigarettes.’

‘Hmm, not a thing. Who are you?’

‘What? Everyone knows who I am. And no one ever doesn’t listen to me. So might as well give up the fight now. Come on, all your money. Now.’

‘I don’t have any cash on me.’

‘Sure you do. And anything else interesting you might have.’

Lens looked up at him, unsure what to do.

‘Alright, that’s it.’ The bully reached down, ripped Lens backpack from him, and started going through the contents. He dropped several books on the floor.

‘Well. We have no dollars. Seems your word was good there. But look, look at all these quarters. Hmm. Jackpot. Like, near jackpot. And there’s some other things in here. Hmm, a Nintendo Switch. Interesting.’

‘No, leave it alone,’ Lens said.

‘Too late,’ the bully said. And he dropped the backpack, just leaving the Switch in his hands. He took that along with all the change that had been in Lens’ bag.

Lens was so angry, despite his obvious helplessness in the situation. He wished deeply that he could stop this from happening. He wasn’t physically big enough, or strong enough, to fight back. Though given everything that had happened the past couple days, it did occur to him that one day he would be able to fight this bully off with telekinesis. Right now, there wasn’t much he could do, but as the bully started walking off with his stuff, he tried using the telekinesis on the bully. For a second, he swore the bully even looked surprised. He even turned around a little, and considered looking at Lens, but in the end, he just kept walking away, with all of Len’s valuables. 

That was rough, and Lens wanted basically just to go home after encountering that level of bullying. After the next period he saw his best friend Mason, and he told him that a bully had robbed him of his Switch and all his money.

‘What,’ Mason asked. ‘He took something that expensive? That’s outrageous.’

‘He had,’ Lens said. ‘And he just walked away.’

‘But like, you could nearly go to jail for that. Are you going to report him?’

‘I don’t know. Sometimes it’s best just to leave it alone. I mean maybe someone will come after you if you tattle on them.’

‘That’s true, Lens. And he took all your money, too? Did you have anything for lunch?’

‘No, I’m kind of getting hungry.’

‘He took all your money! And it’s well after lunch time, so of course you’re hungry. You haven’t eaten a thing if you hadn’t brought anything. I’d give you something, but I’m all out of things to eat. Hey, how about after school, we swing by McDonald’s? I’ve got my mom’s car.’

‘Sure,’ Lens said.

‘Awesome,’ said Mason. ‘Oh, and it’s on me. You don’t have any money. So I’m gonna pay. You don’t have to worry about paying me back, too.’

‘Alright. Well, if you hadn’t said it, just then, I’d say it, like awesome, man.’

‘Well precisely. It was awesome, I’m awesome. You don’t have to agree. So, feel better. And we’ll fix that stomach real soon. I’ll see after last period. Okay?’

‘Okay. Cool.’

‘A’ight. Peace.’

‘Peace.’

As Mason was walking away, he said, ‘Peace, playa, peace. Pa-eece.’

Lens hurried off to his last class. He ignored the pain in his stomach the entire class, as best he could. He thought about telling Mason after, that, to be honest, it even kind of hurt when he spoke, but he decided he might as well keep that to himself. He didn’t need to elaborate about his personal pain like an emo singer. 

As class ended, if there were a God, he would have thanked him for the sweetness of the end of the day. Though there was no God, he was quite certain. He was at least happy the day was over. He got up a little gingerly, scared his stomach might make him double over with pain, but as he got moving, he found he could walk normally. He started walking to the parking lot to meet up with Mason, and finally make the pain in his stomach go away. 

When you eat, you start to feel better, but the ache in your stomach will linger even for an hour or so afterward. No matter – the sooner he ate, the sooner it would start to go away. Mason was waiting for him outside his car.

‘Hey, man. Ready to go? How’s your stomach?’

‘To be honest, not great, it’s probably been better before.’

‘Trust me, I know how it feels, that sucks. Well, we’ll get something to eat in you, and then you’ll feel better. Nothing better to stuff up on than McDonald’s.’

‘For sure. Gotta love the Mickie D’s.’

Mason started the engine, and they began driving away. He turned out of the parking lot, and onto the road. The McDonald’s was only ten minutes away. Less with no traffic.

‘So who was that guy anyway, the bully?’ 

Mason asked.

‘I’m not sure,’ Lens said. ‘He was big and mean. I don’t want to see him again but I know I will. He must be in a higher grade. We’ve probably never seen him before because he’s failed a few times or something.’

‘Well, exactly. There’s never been a bully who was a genius. That’s for sure. Well hey, stand up for yourself. Try not to give him your money next time. In fact, run away. I’ve got your back. We’ll get in the car and drive away. Sound good?’

‘Yea, thanks.’

They drove silently for a bit. When they got to the McDonald’s, Mason chose a place next to the entrance in the parking lot. Then they got out of the car and went into the restaurant.

They lined up, and after two people were served, they were next. They’d been looking at the menu, so they knew what they wanted.

‘Well, Lens. What do you want?’

‘I’ve been waiting for this all afternoon. Three junior chickens. And a coke, please.’

‘Well, okay,’ Mason said, after the cashier took down the order. And I’ll have two cheeseburgers, and a sprite.’

‘That’s all, sir?’ asked the cashier.

‘That’s all,’ Mason said.

They waited a few minutes for their order, and once they got it, they took the treys and walked to a table in the corner.

Lens unwrapped the first burger and started eating right away. He had realized how hungry he was, but he hadn’t been prepared for the wait, from when they got into the restaurant, until when they started to eat. It made him eat much faster, finally being able to have the burgers.

‘Well, I knew you were hungry, but damn. Now that is hungry. I’ve never seen someone eat so fast.’

‘Ya,’ Lens said with a mouthful of burger. ‘It tastes realla good when you’re hungry.’

‘For sure, for sure. Mine’s not bad if you were wondering.’

Lens ate very quickly, while Mason ate a little more normally, every now again stopping to watch Lens devour the burgers. 

Although Mason only had two burgers, Lens finished his meal well ahead of Mason. Lens sat with his hands clasped, waiting for Mason to finish eating. The pain in his stomach had subsided a lot, though it was still there. In another hour it would be gone.

As Mason finally finished his last burger, he said, ‘You feel better, Lens?’

‘Ya, I do. A lot better. Thanks. In fact, I can’t thank you enough.’

‘Don’t mention it. Come on let’s get out of here.’ They threw the garbage out, left their trays on top of the bins, and headed back out to the parking lot.’

When they were in the car, and backing out of the parking space, Mason said to Lens: ‘So what’s been going on with you? I hear there was some weird things that happened at your house. What were you doing? We’re you asleep?’

‘Ya,’ Lens said, ‘I was asleep. I slept through the whole thing. Completely missed it. But when I woke up, everything was, weird. There were things astray. Some things were a little, messed up. My Mom told me about all the things that had happened in the night.’

‘That all sound really weird. So why’d it happen. And what’d it have to do with you?’

‘I don’t know. I’m not sure. I guess it just happened. It really wasn’t anything to do with me.’

Mason was looking at him quizzically. Lens felt himself going pink a little, and he worried he might turn red.

‘Everything alright, dude?’ Mason asked.

‘Yea, man. Everything’s chill.’ 

‘Alright, alright. Cool.’ They kept driving, and neither of them mentioned it again.

*

Later that night, Lens was asleep in his bed. He’d left one light on, a lamp, as strange things had happened a couple night ago, and he wanted to see anything strange happen this time, if it happened. And good also, was the feeling of increased protection from boogie monsters. Who knows what the magic could bring, while it was out of control. Though Lens would admit that was unlikely.

Everything was quiet throughout the house. There wasn’t a sound. Until around 2 am, there was a sudden sound of something approaching outside. It seemed the magic could be returning, like Lens was out of control of his magic in his sleep, but it was something else.

It was not magic, but another person. But whether they had magic – I can tell you, they had. Though this person used it for ill, and not for good. 

He descended to the ground outside Len’s house, previously having been flying through the air in approach. This person was schooled in the techniques Lens was trying to learn for the first time. One would definitely say he was an expert. But again, he used it for evil.

With a flick of his wrist, he opened the sliding door to the back of Len’s house, and stepped in quietly. Though there seemed to be an urgency to his movement, as he slid into the house, and he made fairly loud thuds as his shoes hit the floor with each step.

Lens could have slept through this, but for some reason, he was keenly aware of the sound of the shoes. Maybe some of his senses were sharpening, maybe his hearing was sharpening. Whatever the reason, the footsteps woke him up, when they wouldn’t have woken someone else up. 

Someone was moving through the house, towards the hallways where his bedroom was. Lens got up quietly, and grabbed a flashlight. He was thinking he might step out there, but the footsteps seemed like they might be headed towards his room. 

The flashlight had been on the desk, and he hadn’t moved from there yet, and he froze where he was. In a super swift movement, his door was opened, and a figure was standing there, in the semi-darkness.

It took a second to get his bravery up, but the figure had obviously already saw him, so he pointed the flashlight at the person. He was a fairly tall, darkish white male. He had a big strong torso, curly hair, and black clothes on. 

‘Lens Everson.’ Come. Come with me. 

‘I’m Sorry?’ 

‘Lens Everson, the boy.’ You are needed now. The matters are urgent. Come along.

‘Go away, sir. You had no right to come in here.’

‘Fine then. We tried the nice way, we’ll do it my way.’

The man raised his hands and all of the sudden, a blast released from his hands, and headed towards Lens.’

Had he not had the sense to jump out of the way a second ahead, Lens would surely have been toast. There was something different about the man, and Lens knew he wasn’t joking around. 

Lens was still running, towards the other side of the room, when the man tried and missed again. 

Next he gave up, and tried pulling Lens towards him. With his hand outstretched, he clenched his fist and Lens began to move towards him despite his resistance.

Lens scraped his feet on the floor trying to resist, but it was seeming it was too late.

He was halfway to the man, when suddenly a new figure appeared in the doorway. He blasted the evil figure, who sensing it, ducked out of the way and was only partially hit. 

A minute later, another figure appeared through the doorway, a woman. Together with the other figure new to the party, they battled the evil figure, blasts flying everywhere, debris scuttering across the room, little fires spirting up across the room. 

All three were quite skilled at fighting, though the male fighting against the evil one seemed to be the best. He seemed to have the best mastery, the best artistry, and though he seemed unhurried, he was very quick. 

Together with his amigo, they were slowly winning the fight. 

When he had a moment, the best fighter swooped over to Lens and said, ‘Come on, kid. We gotta get outa here.’

‘Can I trust you?’

‘You can. But right now you don’t really have a choice. So don’t hesitate.’

The man was right. Lens took his hand as he held it out. He gripped it tight, and he sped them out of the room, literally gliding, at lightning speed. 

His partner was quick behind him, and quickly they were all together and they headed out the front door. After they took a few steps, they jetted off into the air. 

They flew high into the air, and after a certain height, the man seemed to have switched something on, because he started glimmering. Then he saw the woman started glimmering too. Then, he noticed he was glimmering as well.

‘Not to worry, son. This is just a glimmering spell. Though you can still see me a little, and though I can still you a little, to everyone else, we are invisible!’

‘And what about her?’

‘She can see us to. But everyone down there, they cannot see us.’

‘Hah. Cool.’

‘Are you alright? That was quite the situation.’

‘I am, I guess. Who was that?’

‘Ah. That was Orlo, the evil wizard and alpha of the Black League.’

‘An evil wizard? He seemed it. And who are you?’

‘Why, I am Zyphries, I am a wizard as well, though a wizard of the good.’

‘Awesome. You’re more the kind of wizard that I’d want to meet.’

‘Excellent. Because it only ever gets worse with that one.’

They flew for what seemed like almost an hour, and though the distance they travelled was hard to measure, it was far. They landed in a quiet, farm land area. There were acres of crop fields, and roads empty save a few vehicles. They landed outside a large barn-like house. It was older, as if it was from say 1900, and when they got to the front entrance, Zyphries opened it with a movement of his hand over the knob. Then it opened slowly.

Inside it was dark, though there were a few lights on up in the high ceiling. When they got inside, he said, ‘Come along,’ and he led Lens and his female partner into a room where two other people were sitting.

‘Well,’ Zyphries said, ‘If I hadn’t done so earlier, let me introduce you to Juniper. Though you may have thought she is my wife, she is not. She is an old disciple of the arts of energy and magic, and a very valuable ally.’

Lens looked at her, and she nodded at him.

‘And here you see Frederick, a younger disciple, and over here, an even slightly younger disciple, Lola.

‘Hello, there,’ Frederick said.

‘Hello,’ Lola said.

‘Well, there you have it, we are all assembled. Ah, including, our new, ah I hope, disciple, Lens, if he is willing. He will be a great wizard. Though as I understand, and have word, it will take some work, and some training, to get there.’

‘Happy to have you on the team, Lens,’ said Frederick.

‘Thank you,’ said Lens.

“I’m excited to have you on the team, as well,’ said Juniper.

‘So, if we are not getting ahead of ourselves, are you joining, Lens. It seems you are desiring to do so.’

Lens looked around at the members, giving it a quick think over. ‘a team of wizards, I’m in.’

Zyphries walked towards him. ‘Well, my boy. You’ve made a good decision. And I’ll tell you this. With our group on your side, an evil wizard after you, will be something you can handle. Your chances of beating him just an increased by infinity.’

‘Infinity?’

Zyphries hesitated for a minute, then smiled. ‘Why, yes. Infinity. Absolutely.’

‘Well, alright. I’m… I’m tired. Is there somewhere I can go to sleep here?’

‘Why, yes. There is a bedroom upstairs, that is just ready for you. I’ll have someone show you were it is.’ He looked around the room. ‘Any volunteers?’

Juniper raised her arm daintily, and said, ‘I will. Here Lens, come this way.’

Juniper began walking out of the room and towards a staircase. Lens followed behind her once he saw where she was headed, and climbed the staircase shortly after her.

At the end of the hall, and on the right side, there was a room with a lever that, with a slight move of the hand, Juniper was able to turn. The door opened, and she beckoned him in.

‘Here you are, Lens. As you see a perfectly suitable bedroom. The bathroom is down the hall. We passed it on our way to this room. And the door will open if you need to turn it, manually, I mean. Though work on that, opening it just with your energy. Goodnight, Lens.’

‘Goodnight.’

She walked out of the door, though before closing it she turned around and said, ‘Was there anything else you needed?’

‘No,’ Lens said. ‘I’m all taken care of.’

‘Excellent.’ She turned and walked away, and as she was halfway down the hallway, she closed the door with a move of her wrist.’

Chapter 2

Lens fell asleep quickly. He felt safe there, in the wizarding household. It had been quiet as he fell asleep, and he felt more and more at ease as he listened to it.

When he awoke, he slipped out of bed, putting all his clothes back on. He’d just slept in an undershirt and his boxers, and he put back on his jeans and his dress shirt. 

He tried to open the door automatically, though he had no luck. It was sort of unfortunate that he could not do it right then, as his strength had been improving. But then again, he hadn’t tried this one yet, so maybe he had better just not worry about that. 

When he got downstairs, everyone else had already been in the kitchen, and they were just serving breakfast. 

‘Morning Lens,’ Frederick said. ‘I hope you like scrambled eggs. As that’s what there is. Oh, and there’s toast.’

‘Great. I like both of those things.’

‘Excellent,’ said Lola. ‘Sit right here.’

Lens took the chair next to Lola, and Frederick laid down a plate with scrambled eggs and toast with butter on it. There was orange juice on the table, and as soon as Zyphries saw Lens glance at it, he gestured for him to have some.

Lens poured himself a glass of orange juice. He began to eat the eggs and they were quite good. When he tried the orange juice he found the same thing, that it was quite tasty. 

‘If you noticed that the eggs are quite good, that because we’ve charmed them. Added a little extra flavor,’ Lola said.

‘Yea it was good. And the orange juice was really good as well.’

‘Well, exactly. That’s charmed as well.’

‘Is it? Hmm. That’s pretty cool. So that’s life around here. A little charmed?’

‘That’s life around here when you’re not working,’ said Frederick. ‘Usually there’s a kid that needs saving from a baddy like you, or an energy storm hovering over China, or something like that.’

‘So some good, some bad.’

‘Well exactly. Nothing is free in this life. Anyone that told you otherwise is lying.’

‘Ain’t that the truth.’

‘Though don’t worry, the eggs are free,’ Zyphries said.

‘There must be some catch,’ Juniper said.

‘The catch is you have to begin your training later today. So perhaps that is a very small price for the breakfast.’

‘Hey, I want to train. Consider it not a price but a bonus.’

‘Well, alright,’ Zyphries chuckled. ‘That’s the spirit.’

The eggs didn’t decrease in flavor, or warmness, and he ate them up quickly. Just in the same way, the orange juice had stayed cold, and the flavor was even throughout, with no more pulp at the bottom than had been at the top. 

‘So just get yourself ready. ‘We’ll just go ahead and get the basics over with shortly. Later on, will reconvene for your first more official session.’

Lens couldn’t have been more excited. Finishing his last gulp of orange juice, he said, ‘Alright, then. Can’t wait.’

*

After Lens had changed into a new shirt and some Nike pants Frederick had for him, he met up with Zyphries, who had instructed him to meet him by the entryway. 

‘Hello, Lens,’ said Zyphries. ‘Ready, now?’

‘Yes, all ready.’ 

‘Okay, take my hand, now.’

They went through the door and flew off into the air. They flew for a couple minutes, then they landed upon a large hill, with a flat plateau across the top. Set out on the hill, were a few targets, looking just slightly decrepit and scorched. There were also a few rings on poles, and a ring of chalk, like a boxing ring, in the very middle of the plateau.

When they landed, Zyphries directed Lens over to the targets. They stopped short of them, twenty feet away. And in the grass there was a small frisbee. Zyphries picked it up.

‘Lens, in order to learn this new art, the art of energy, one must be born with it, this thing otherwise known as magic. The next thing, is to learn to focus to the point where everything else is excluded from your mind. Have you tried this before? Your power is strong. I’m aware of all the instances when you have used it, or your power had manifested itself a little out of your control.’

‘I have tried a little. It just occurred to me that might have something to do with it.’

‘Excellent. Understanding the energy is a great sign. So now, what I need you do is try to still your mind. And focus all of your energy, in a way like you never have before on this frisbee, when I throw it in to the air. You should forget every other thing you are sensing, including anything you hear, smell, or feel. Just you and the frisbee. You with me so far?’

‘Yes, I am.’

‘Good. Now, next, you will have to try to pull the frisbee towards you. You need to stretch your hand out, and pull inwards, as if you were grasping the frisbee. When you have mastered this technique it will come to you. Still with me?’

‘Yes, for sure.’

‘Alright, prepare for your first try.’

Lens closed his eyes for a moment. He tried to forget everything unimportant in his mind. When he opened them, Zyphries nodded at him, and then he tossed the frisbee in the air. Lens threw his arm out, and fixing his eyes on the frisbee, clasped his hand inwards, trying to pull the frisbee towards him.

Nothing happened at first, and the frisbee was getting near the ground, when finally, it moved a little, coming towards him just a bit. Then it thudded against the ground, jumping a little before completely settling on the ground.

‘Excellent, my boy,’ Zyphries said. ‘I didn’t think you’d get it on the first try, but I’m glad you have. It will save us a lot of trouble.

‘Thanks. I really thought I could do it.’

‘Brilliant. Now, let’s not waste time. Let’s do another one. Ready?’

‘Ready.’

‘Okay.’ He tossed the frisbee up in the air again, this time a little higher. Then Lens threw his arm out again, and tried to control the frisbee in. 

This time, right from the get go, he was able to move the frisbee. It arced toward him, with a little more force than the previous time. It moved towards him the entire flight. And as the frisbee neared the ground, he was able to increase the strength of the pull on it. It landed a foot and a half nearer to him. He looked at it once it hit the ground for a moment or two, in amazement. 

‘Well done, Lens. Well, done.’ He walked to the frisbee and picked it up. ‘That was mighty fine work, for your second attempt. Let’s try the next thing now. Come along, just over here.

They walked five, ten feet, and beneath the grass, there was a faint line of chalk, like on a pitcher’s mound. ‘From here,’ Zyphries said. ‘From here is where we practice our beams at the targets.’

‘Now you may notice it is a bit of a leap from pull to beams, but that is the next step, and that’s where we want you to get. This will demonstrate your true power. And it will show your near mastery.

‘So, when I say, you’ll stand here, and you’ll try to shoot a beam towards the target. So the first thing I’ll do is demonstrate.’ Zyphries placed his front foot on the chalk line, and then bent his knees slightly, and held his hands back near the far side of his body from the targets. And as if he was unleashing a force from the motion, he moved his hands to the front of his body, and released the beam with his hands extended. It was blue and shimmering, nearly as wide as his hands had been as he held them slightly apart. The beam hit the target, and it thudded loudly, shook a little. Zyphries held the beam for five, six seconds, and then he stopped executing it. The target crackled a little as a few small parts had caught on fire. They slowly diminished and then it was quiet again.

‘Okay. So that’s how it’s done. Mind you, that was a perfect one. Yours, at first, will be a little imperfect, but it will do. And it will be serviceable, and it will help you, help us, to defeat Orlo.’

He made the same shape he’d made with his hands when he shot the beam. They were about half a foot apart, the finger lightly extended outwards. 

‘Now, this is how you would shoot the beam. You’ll find there’s a lot of energy in your hands, especially when there in this position.’

Zyphries was looking extremely serious. He continued, ‘The next thing, is this will take the same focus as pushes and pulls. But as you might have guessed, this one will require greater mastery than that. So, the first few times at this one, it is quite likely you will fail to make a beam at all.’

Lens heard this with sadness. ‘I see. So this isn’t so easy.’

‘No. But you’ll be able to do it. Or else we wouldn’t have picked you. Trust me. With practice, you’ll get it. With practice, you could do any of the skills, but in time.’

‘Alright.’

‘So, when you’re ready, step up to the line, and try to shoot your first beam.’

Lens stepped up to the line, placed his front foot on it. He crouched slightly, and tried to clear his mind, and focus his mind even more on using the energy, this time to send a beam. 

When he was ready, he tried for the first time to go through the movement. He pivoted his foot towards the target, then thrust his hands to the front of his body, and tried to release the beam.

He held his hands in front of him, and the beam didn’t come. He held his hands there a little longer, waiting for a spark, but none came. Hurt, dismayed, he put his hands down, and stepped back from the mound, his shoulder slumped a little. 

‘It’s okay,’ Zyphries said. ‘Like I said, it will take at least a few to get it.’

Lens knew that, and he tried not to feel frustrated, but it was difficult not to succeed. He needed to believe that he would get it, and that he would not fail to do this skill. If Zyphries said he could do it, he could do it. 

‘Try again, Lens.’ Zyphries ushered back to the line.

Lens, a little reluctantly, moved back to the line. He took a moment, steadied himself, and then tried to focus his energy again. He prepared the movement, with his hands near his back foot. He waited a moment. When he was ready, he performed the movement. And he gave his best effort to make a beam, but there was literally nothing. Not a thing at all was emitted by his effort. 

‘That’s okay.’ Zyphries said. ‘Take a break.’

Lens drifted over to a knoll in the grass and sat atop it. All of this was new to him. He’d only been aware of the possibility of controlling his powers for a few days. And now here he already was, with a group of people who practiced the arts associated with the powers as their way of life. It was frustrating, trying to learn it all as quick as possible. And time seemed of the essence. Soon, he would have to go to battle against Orlo, and his chances of success or failure depended on how quickly he learned all of this, and how skilled he became at all of this. He assumed they’d have his back. But it was his fight. He needed to train to be a part of it. He needed to use his heart, his motivation, to be the one to defeat Orlo. They needed his heart, to rally around, to defeat him, as well. It seemed it came down to him.

Zyphries strolled over and sat next to him. ‘It takes time,’ he said. ‘Though, as I’m sure you know, time is of the essence.’ 

He looked at Lens, and held the gaze lightly. ‘To be honest, I’ve never seen someone so close to getting it on the first two tries, ever.’ He looked away now, and smiled faintly, in reminiscence. ‘And, as I’m sure you can tell, it’s been a long life in magic.’

‘Ya, you’re a master. And you have grey hair.’

‘Yes, Lens. I am old. Old and grey. And I have studied this for a long time. I can teach you. And you’re going to get it.’

‘I believe you. I do. I hope it’s going to happen soon. I want to defeat Orlo so bad.’

‘We all do. Trust me. Maybe as much as you. This fight with the Black League, and especially, with Orlo, has been going on for a long, long time. And we want this war to end. We really do. And you know? We think you coming along, might be just the thing to end it. Another strong wizard! You are only young, and you are just learning, but I can tell. In time you will be a great wizard. And that’s why Orlo is after you. He had wanted to turn you to the black side, but we were there in time. It's protecting you, that will help us win this war, and save all of humankind.’

‘If you say it will help a lot, I want to continue training, until I get there. It’s a lot. But if there’s really someone after me, and there’s really a whole league of them, there must be a war going on. He was definitely evil. There’s no doubt in my mind about that.’

‘He is. He is the most evil man there is. Lens, I will not give up on you. You are worth my time. And the truth is, magic is the greatest gift of all. You’ll become the best version of yourself this way. And I know you didn’t know you were going to become a hero, but you are. And you probably thought the world really doesn’t need one, but we do. We need a hero. We need a group of heroes. And we need a uniquely new one. We need you to be a hero.’

‘I’ve never really thought of myself as a hero.’

‘And why would you? But I think you have it in you to be the best of us one day. There’s nothing particularly you’ve said. But it is the way about you, you are calm and focused in a way that is going to make you a great wizard. And it will make people gravitate towards you.’

‘Thanks.’

‘Yes. Well, I think that about does it for this morning. We have to get back to the house for a meeting. And then we’ll have the second training session a little later on today. Come along. Take my hand again.’

‘Okay.’

They flew back to the house, and Zyphries told Lens he could hang out for an hour or two, relax, before the meeting.