Klasmir Unleashed

Chapter 2

He flies towards what seems to be endless eternity, a blackness that no man can penetrate, he is trespassing. Two pinpricks of light appear in the crackling mass of darkness, like bright blue eyes staring through his soul. He stops, frozen in place, staring into those eyes. They narrow and seem to be seeing into him, twisting. Twisting his thoughts. He darts back, an orb of blue light appearing in his palm. He looks to it, as if confused, then looks back to the eyes. He throws the orb into the black cloud and it explodes, darkness expanding. A shrill shriek tears through the air and as he tries to fly away the growing cloud envelops him. His screams are lost on a terrible wind.

I awoke slowly for once, my eyes opening blearily. I vaguely recalled the previous night, when I had partied late with Dagger and Lapis. I groaned, I had a pounding headache, had I really drunk that much alcohol? I sat up, managing to not bump my head on the ceiling for once, and clambered slowly down the ladder. What had that dream been? It wasn't like my usual nighttime scene of a battlefield with me fighting Materoni valiantly. No, that had been something else, something darker. I shook my head, probably just a strange one-off.
When I walked into the kitchen, Aunt Rakia was making pancakes.
"When did you become such a chef?" I asked, sneaking around behind her and grabbing a pancake.
"Oi, you," she said, wagging a spoon at me. I innocently stuffed it into my mouth. She grinned, turning back to the pan.
"So, what're your plans for the day?"
"Eat pancakes, have three coffees, enjoy the luxury of no school? You know, it's an action-packed life."
"You should do something productive, like going down to the training arena."
I wrinkled my nose at her. "The training arena? I was thinking more like mooching around, y'know? What if a Materoni apocalypse comes and wipes us all out, and my last thoughts are 'I never spent a day as an adult mooching.'"
"I really hope your last thoughts are a bit more inspirational than that."
My sister's voice cut through our conversation. I glanced back at the doorway to see her standing there, arms crossed, eyes glowing blue. I raised an eyebrow.
"Klasmir?"
She shrugged. "I smelled the pancakes."

Unlike me, Aithne made no attempt to conceal her Klasmir as much as possible. She expressed her power blatantly, like a new dress she showed off to her friends. Also unlike me, Aithne was good-looking, with long dark indigo hair that she usually wore styled. Mine was a similar colour, but more black and boring. Hers had a certain shine to it.
She was short, but not tiny, with big hazel eyes and a mouth that always had a smile playing on it. She somehow looked fully mature, with a slim, attractive build, and yet also so young, like she was barely ten years old. She certainly acted like it a lot.

"You called upon it, didn't you?" I accused. Aithne was uncannily good at calling upon her Klasmir, making her eyes glow and her energy restore practically on command. Most other Klasmires — holders of Klasmir — had to be feeling a strong emotion to engage the power. My father always said it was incredible luck that he had two children born with it, when it was reasonably rare, especially with the population dwindling. Some said that in the City of Godless, everyone was a Klasmire, which I thought was ridiculous.
Aithne grinned sheepishly. "The blue goes with my outfit. And it always makes such a statement."
Girls, I thought grumpily. So weird. Why not just throw on whatever's in your closet?
Aunt Rakia met my eyes and we shared a slight eye-roll. I smiled and piled my plate high with pancakes, drizzling them with syrup before taking them to the table.

As I ate, I stared out the window at the street beyond. I'd woken up late, after sleeping in luxuriously, and the usual morning transports were passing by; public carriages with a dozen people piled in, commuting to work, school or somewhere else, and the odd private carriage too, often with haughtily-dressed aristocrats wearing fur lined coats sitting primly inside and drawn by two equally haughty horses.
I sat like that for quite some time, even after I'd finished my breakfast. I simply sat, watching people go by and enjoying the peaceful freedom of no school.
Suddenly, a private carriage pulled up, one with a high roof and drawn black curtains, right outside our house. I cocked my head, confused. I watched to see if somebody came out, but no such person emerged.
"Dad?" I called. My father came in, scribbling something in a notebook.
"Mhm?"
"Did you order maintenance on that sewage problem?"
"No, I need to get on that actually."
"Ok... well a private carriage just pulled up in front of our house."
My dad's face went pale as he stared at the black vehicle. "I didn't think they'd come some soon," he whispered to himself. I stared at him.
"What?"
"Don't worry about this Cal. I'll handle it." He walked to the front door, running his hands through his hair before taking a deep breath and stepping outside. I watched through the window as he strode down the path to greet the people inside the carriage.

A man and a woman came out, dressed in black robes with shining blue embroidery and what looked like sapphire jewellery. It glinted in the sunlight, almost malevolent. The man was short and squat, with mousy brown hair and a handsome face that didn't fit with the rest of his rat-like appearance. The woman was very tall, with blonde hair and eyes that shone with Klasmir. She turned towards the window and met my gaze, and I felt like she was penetrating my soul. I yelped and shut the curtains, my hands coming away trembling. I sat frozen, unable to move. The woman had Klasmir, and it was powerful. I'd heard of Klasmires being able to see inside other people, read their thoughts and feelings as if they were a book, and sometimes even alter them. That, what that woman had done to me, had been a Mind Scan, I was sure of it. Which meant she was something special. Telepathic Klasmires were rare, even inside the tiny amount of Klasmires in general.

Suddenly, I heard voices outside, angry voices. The pair in black blasted open the front door, the air glowing faintly blue with Klasmir. My father burst in after them, yelling like a madman. I didn't pick out what he was saying, because I was lost in the electric blue of Her eyes. My brain immediately capitalised the 'H', naming Her as something inhuman.
I could feel Her picking Her way through my thoughts, feel Her dissecting my feelings. I ripped my eyes away, focusing instead on the man, who was speaking.
"Wait, what?"
He sighed, glancing at Her.
"Really, Nyx? You're Scanning him now?"
"Why not?" The woman, Nyx, asked, shrugging. Her voice was surprisingly warm and kind.
"Because I was speaking to him!"
"Oops, sorry." She didn't sound at all sorry, more bored. She crossed Her arms, looking me up and down.
"Anyway, as I was saying," the man continued. "Mr Calecon, you are a Klasmire, yes?"
I met my dad's gaze, and he nodded, somewhat reluctantly, signalling that I should do what they said.
"Yes, sir. Class Three, no apparent specialty powers—" I glanced at my feet. "—er, yet."
"Alright Mr Calecon, there's nothing to worry about. We are from the Department of Klasmir Control and Containment, and we're going to have to ask you to come with us."