Spell War

Chapter 2 - The Lesson

Knock, knock, knock.
Knock, knock, knock.

"Who is it?"
"Ambi, I need to talk to you."
The door opened, and a half-asleep girl appeared. That was Ambi.
"What's wrong?"
"Well, umm, I heard this weird voice in my head last night, while I was dreaming, and it was saying something about me getting a skill call-Woah!!"
Ambi suddenly ran up to me and dragged me into her room. She looked out into the hallway, checked both directions and then closed and locked the door.

"Ok, try telling me again now."
"Well, last night I had a dream, and in that dream a voice called out to me and said that I had unlocked an "unique skill" or something called.. Mutator? I think that was it.. but anyway, what was that about?"
"Don't tell Avem about any of this."
Ambi started glaring at me, which was odd considering how she was usually very laid-back and calm.
"Why's that?"
"Avem is HUNTING people with powers. They either work for him or he kills them. He wants to hold the most power, always has. I guess his power complex has just gotten worse since the nukes."
"Does Alex know about this?"
"That idiot? Of course not, although he can be quite perceptive at times. The only reason I know about it is because I have powers myself."
"You do?"
"Just watch."

With those words, something strange began to happen. It felt like a large amount of foreign energy, something not meant to exist in this world, was converging all in one spot. Eventually, this convergence stopped, and in place of the energy, a pencil appeared.
"Wooow..."
"That's a part of my powers. But Avem found out about me, and them, and that's why I'm here I guess."
"Don't you ever want to escape?"
"There's no escape. Not unless we can beat Avem. And you've seen their stash of weapons. They're prepared for all-out war."
"So what should I do? Do I just conceal mutator?"
"No, that wouldn't be fair to you. Hmm, how about we travel for a while and I can teach you how to control your powers then?"
"Sounds good to me."
"Let's go then."

Ambi unlocks the door, and we both quietly move towards one of the exits of the building. When we get outside, I can see a large amount of rubble and debris, but within it there appears to be a... a truck.
"Can you drive that?"
"Yeah, I kinda felt like it could be useful, what with trucks having powers themselves sometimes. Anyway, that's a story for another day, so let's get going."
Me and Ambi start to go to the truck, but before we enter it, we hear a voice call out to us.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"Oh, Alex, we're just going for a drive. Is something wrong?"
"Ambi, it's not like you to want to drive around, especially not with the danger it comes with. Tell me what's up."
"Fine... Tiffko's got an unique skill, so I'm taking them a few miles away to train them. I know it's not what Avem wants, but please don't tell him."
"Let me come too."
"What?"
"Let me come too. I want to help Tiffko train too."
"But you don't have po-"
"It's fine with me. Let's just get going before Avem hears us talking."
"Alright then, let's go..."
"Yahoo!"

A few hours later, we arrived in a desolate city. All around us there was rubble from collapsing buildings, but even though there was so much of it, not one piece of rubble made its way into the centre of the area. It was as if some mystical force was keeping it at bay.
"This area is protected by a barrier that I made myself. It repels any of the nearby rubble so that there will always be a clear field that we can use for training."
And that would be why.
"You're really impressive, Ambi."
"I'm honestly not. Alex's a lot smarter than I am, even if he doesn't show it sometimes."
"Was that a compliment or an insult? Anyway, let's get started."
"Okaaay."

"So, there's a few ways we can go about this, but the main problem here is we don't know how your powers activate. I'd suggest trying to say the name of your skill while thinking about what you want it to do, although for me I just need to think about it."
"Alright. Alex, can you bring over a piece of rubble?"
"Sure thing."
Alex ran about twenty metres away, picked up a broken piece of rubble, which appeared to originally come from a school building, and then ran back with it. Considering how heavy that chunk of concrete should be, Alex must be incredibly strong to keep running without breaking a sweat.
"Here we go. Anything else, Tiffko?"
"Nope, I think everything's ready. Just... stand back a bit. I'm not sure what will happen when I try this."
"Of course."
"We're ready when you are."
"Right, let's do this. Mutator!"
I reached out my left hand toward the concrete and imagined what I wanted it to become. Before my eyes, it twisted and warped in illogical ways until it finally became... the wall of a school.
"Woah!"
"What did you do?"
"I just thought about what I wanted it to become as I shouted out the name of my skill, and then it just... turned into that."
"So you're able to change the shape of objects?"
"I guess so."
"I get all that, but why'd ya turn it into a school wall?"
"Well, I just thought that it deserved to be returned to how it was before all of this... this chaos. This destruction. I still don't really get why anyone would want to do this, to nuke the entire world, but we shouldn't abandon it and leave it to fall to ruin. I don't know what it is, but I have this strong desire to change the world, to restore it to what it once was and to protect it from those that wish to harm it."
"That's... quite deep."
"But it's a respectable goal. And it's one we all should be aiming for. No matter what, I'll try to help you reach it, and I'm sure Alex will too. Although Avem could cause a few... problems."
"Yeah, they're extremely stubborn. But we'll just have to show them that we can stand our ground too, ain't that right Tiffko?"
"Yeah. And thank you, you two. I'm really grateful for what you've said."
"Well then, want to get some more practise in with that skill of yours?"
"Obviously!"

"Huff... huff... huff..."
"Y-you're quite strong, you know that Tiffko?"
"Yeah, I still can't believe that you did all of this. And within thirty minutes too."
Within those thirty minutes, a lot about our environment changed. At first, we started out with me mutating rubble into stuff like weapons and armour. It worked, and I was able to change the weight and strength of them too. But from there, I got a bit ambitious. I thought, "Why don't I try to rebuild this place?", and I used mutator. The surprising thing is, it actually worked. I was able to rebuild all of the surrounding area into schools, homes, offices and other miscellaneous buildings. And even after I was done, there was still a bunch of rubble left over.
"What should we do about the remaining rubble?"
"Ya could always turn it into more weapons, but Avem would get suspicious."
"I think it's a bit late for that, Alex. Won't he get suspicious about how a completely destroyed area was suddenly rebuilt, all while we weren't at the base?"
"I guess that's true, but still, what should we do?"
"Well, how about I just mutate all of this rubble into something small and light, and then carry it in my pockets?"
"That's genius Tiffko? Don't you agree, Idot?"
"'Course, although I'm struggling to wrap my head around this ability of yours. I've seen so many different super-powered beings, usually having to fight them, but I've never seen anythin' like your mutator."
Moving to mutate the remaining rubble, I casually responded to Alex. "Well, I guess that just means I'm a magical girl."
"Pffft!"
"T-tiffko?! Ambi, what did you teach them?!"
"Oh, Ambi showed me a few episodes of this anime with a mythical creature, some really trippy scenes and apples."
"Ambi, is she talking about Death Note?"
"What? No, she's obviously talking about Madoka Magica, you idiot."
"Regardless, let's head back. Avem's going to get annoyed if we stay out here any longer, right?"
"That's true, alright let's head ho-"

Out of nowhere, I can hear a siren ringing from one of the buildings. I look up into the sky, and I see two brightly burning suns. Which is weird. Because I'm pretty sure there should only be one sun in the sky, but maybe this is something Alex forgot to tell me about.
"Hey, Alex, are there meant to be two suns in the sky?"
"What? Oh hell no! That's not a sun, Tiffko. That's a nuke!"
"WHAT?!"
"And we don't have enough time to run away."
"Ambi, do you think my powers could do something to help us here?"
"I doubt it. There's not a thing in the world that would let us survive something like this."
"I guess you're right. We should just prepare for the end."
With that, I close my eyes, and I wait for fate to come for me.