Free Age of Power 1: Legacy by Jon Davis

stairs, a
double set of doors led to a parking lot at the back of the school. The right
side door opened and a dark figure came in.
    I blinked and time unfroze. Then I realized that I was still
blinking, still breathing, but not everything had unfrozen. I was staring at a
bullet that spun in midair for a moment longer, and then, dropped to the floor.
I looked at it for a moment, and then I looked up and saw who came up.
    I said, “Son of a bitch—Alex?”
    It’s not often that you see someone glowing with a soft but
definite blue light around him. Brand managed to mutter, “Dude…what’s with the
CGI?”
    Alex sighed and just shook his head. He stood at the top of the
stairs, taking everything in. Then, slowly, he reached a hand out to the two
girls. Jennings started to swing his gun around, screaming, “Freak, keep your
hands off my girl!”
    There was more gunfire. I flinched. Then I realized that last
shot hadn't come from Jenning's gun. I turned to look
behind me and saw Chief Sinclair in a firing stance. Then his gun sank downward
as he stared toward where he had fired. I looked back and saw Jennings staring
our way. Or, rather, he was staring at another bullet hanging in the air right
in front of his chest. Then that bullet dropped to the floor, as well.
    Alex gently took the gun from the Jennings’s now limp hand.
After a moment of sheer terror on his face, the freaked out basketball player
went down onto his knees, crying with mix of shame and grief. Then, Alex looked
at me, and before I could do anything, I felt a strange feeling of nausea pass
through my body.
    Alex said, “I’m glad you two weren’t hurt. And I’m sorry.”
    For a few moments, we just looked at Alex Shaw with a mix of awe
and fear. I was having trouble paying attention. I was guessing the adrenaline
from all this was now petering out, because I was starting to feel hot, and
very achy. Brand suddenly looked as white as a sheet. But both of us pushed
whatever was going on to focus on Alex and what he was doing.
    Behind me, I heard a woman say, “Alex, Goddess, no—what are you
doing?”
    Alex looked past me, started to say something, and then stopped.
I’m not sure what it was, but I swear I could see a look of loss in his eyes.
Then, quietly, he said, “Don’t abandon each other. Live. For each other’s sake,
just live.”
    Without another word, Alex turned and went down the
stairs.  All the while putting out that strange blue
glow.  I got to my feet. The feeling of nausea retreated, but I was
still feeling sick. Still, with Mom’s help, we followed Alex out to the back.
Almost as an afterthought, Chief Sinclair put Jennings in handcuffs and
escorted him outside. Even the girls he almost killed were looking at Alex with
awe.
    Outside, we saw Alex standing at the far edge of the blacktop
area, near a maple. He was ignoring the increasing numbers of questions and
demands. No one wanted to get too close to him, though. Getting up close, I saw
him looking at the Moon.  No, at Yama.
    Then he looked back at us and smiled lopsidedly. He said, “I
guess I have to try.”
    In front of me, a red-haired woman, not much older than me said,
“Alex, you can’t. Don’t! It will kill you!”
    Saying nothing back, Alex looked back up at the sky. Strangely,
he looked disappointed. Then his expression showed an intense amount of concentration.
Then he closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and his feet left the ground. When
he did that, everyone gasped.
    He didn’t stop rising. As he passed the top of the school, his
glow brightened. With a flash of light that made everyone flinch, he flew up
with a vision-blurring speed. He disappeared into the sky in seconds. And, yet,
we watched. A blizzard could have been going on, and we would have kept
watching the heavens. For an unknown time, we were silent, wondering what had
just happened. And we wondered whether he was doing what we were praying he was
doing.
    Then, ‘it’ happened.
    The sky turned