Guardian

act 2: xi. shift of energy

Austin frowns as everyone stares intensively at him while he lied on an infirmary bed. "Guys, there's no way I'm a Miracle Warlock."

"You have black hair, Austin," Marie says, eyeing him from the computer as ran tests on his body. "It's not like one of us played a prank on you or something."

"Maybe the energy you guys have been talking about has made my hair change colors," Austin tries, shrugging at them. They don't look like they believe it, so Austin rolls his eyes. "I don't feel any different! I think I would have abilities if I were a Miracle Warlock."

"He has a point," Hope shrugs, looking at everyone. "You don't get the color change without abilities. That's why Zyra's hair doesn't change. She didn't get any abilities from me."

"Oh, I know!" Amelia exclaims happily as she bounces at the foot of the bed. She grins at her father as she says, "Can you hear me?"

Austin irks his eyebrow. "Yeah, why wouldn't I be able to hear you?"

Ally irks her eyebrow. "What?"

Amelia grins, looking at her mother. "Dad has telepathic abilities! I talked to him in my mind!"

Austin's eyes widen. "You talked to me through my mind?!"

Marie sighs as she stares at the device. "I don't know. Nothing is out of the ordinary physically," she speaks as she shakes her head. "Lian, get a read on Austin's energy."

Lian goes to Austin's side. She places her hands by Austin's head, lighting her fingertips up to observe the energy waves in his brain. "Uh, nothing out of the— oh, wait."

Whiteness covers her eyes and the glow speaks across her hands entirely as she irks her eyebrow. "I'm gonna do something dangerous. Back up."

They've been taught that when Lian says back up, just do it without question. They move away from Austin and once Lian feels like they're in a safe enough spot, she presses her index finger on the middle of his forehead.

Austin's body immediately tenses up, the blackness of his hair getting even darker and it quickly takes over his eyes. A glow forms on the tips of his fingers before spreading among his entire hand.

Austin grunts loudly and squeezes his eyes shut. "Ow! Shit, that hurts!"

"Okay, that's enough, Lian." Ally almost quivers, feeling the pain of her husband's scream. She and Austin were basically connected. Whatever he felt, she could feel it as well.

Lian doesn't respond, but she removes her hands from him. Austin calms down and lets out a breath, closing his eyes to relax. They all watch as Austin's hair transforms back into its natural blonde color and the black fades out of his eyes and hands.

"Yeah, he's for sure a Miracle Warlock." Marie quips, chuckling as her sister rushed to Austin's side.

"His aura trigger is distress," Lian announces, stepping back as she observes him. He had passed out from the commotion in his body. "But... I can't feel any power within him. It's almost like he's a less than a quarter of a Miracle Warlock. I mean, that would make sense considering he doesn't have Miracle Warlock blood, but I don't feel any power."

"Maybe we do need to put Yuele back to sleep," Hope suggests with a shrug, shaking her head. "We need to get this under control now. If the energy is hitting our family this hard, imagine what it's doing to the other people in our villages. It won't be long before we start hearing about people doing weird stuff."

Marie sighs. "I mean, it slowed down. Ally isn't nauseous anymore."

"Mom," Hope presses, giving her a look. "Ally doesn't give birth for another 4-5 months. This can't continue on."