Cranial《Book 1》

Chapter 1

The cold mist that fell off of his fingers was like the mist off of dry ice. His hands were cold but not like he just held- shot ice from them. "Smii7y? What did you just do?" His best friend asked.

"I- I have no idea..." Smii7y's voice trembled. The two young adults stood in the dark woods. The fire that was nearly out of control and spread onto a nearby tree was now frozen in place. Each tendril of flame was brought to a halt by a thick shell of ice. The light from the fire showed through the ice, making the camp area glow. It was beautiful but horrifying to Smii7y as the ice shell around the flames came from his own two hands.

"You just froze the fire in place. You!" Kryoz shrieked, "How?"

"You think I know?!" Smii7y asked. Smii7y was shorter than average. He could never explain the few white strands of hair that fell in front of his eyes. Every time he tried to dye it, it would fade back to white after his next shower. The rest of his hair was chocolate brown with curls. His eyes were a gentle turquoise color that seemed to glow in the cool light of the new ice chandelier.

"Okay. Okay. Let's calm down. I'm sure there is a perfect, reasonable explanation for this." Kryoz said. Kryoz was slightly taller than Smii7y and had bleach blond hair that went down to his shoulders. His eyes glowed an electric blue from the fire ice sculpture. His voice was usually calm and monotone except if he was in shock like right now.

Smii7y looked at his hands. He had simply wanted the fire to be under control again, not discover an odd superpower. "This isn't real. It's just a dream." Smii7y stated. Kryoz came over to him and pinched his arm. "Ow! What the hell?!"

"Jesus Christ, you're freezing! Are you not cold?" Kryoz asked, "Also guess it's not a dream." Smii7y felt his own skin. It was abnormally cold, but he couldn't feel an ounce of it.

"What the hell is happening?" Smii7y asked.

"I dunno. Maybe let's head back to my place and see if we can sort this out." Kryoz said while his voice shifted back to its normal calmness.

"Yeah." Smii7y agreed, "So what do we do about that?" He glanced at the frozen flames. He could see the core of the flames flickering with life. The fire was still definitely inside.

"Let's just leave it. Maybe it will die out and melt. That's an odd sentence." Kryoz muttered the last bit to himself.

"Yeah. Okay." Smii7y said. He and Kryoz trekked through the woods back to Kryoz's truck. Kryoz's truck was just a small, black truck that was parked in a dirt parking lot. It was the only car parked there since it had been dark for several hours.

Smii7y pulled the handle, but the door was still locked. There was a snap as Kryoz also pulled his handle, but the door didn't open, "Huh. That's weird." He hit the unlock button on his key fob. The truck didn't do anything. Not even a blink from the headlights or a click from the locks.

"Bro. I just replaced the batteries in this thing." Kryoz said irritably. Smii7y felt a shiver run down his spine, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. They were not alone. Smii7y scanned the forest around them.

"Kryoz. We aren't the only ones here." Smii7y said. Kryoz stopped fumbling with the keyfob to look around.

"How do you know?" He asked uneasily. Smii7y didn't know quite how to answer that, but he really hoped it was just a wild chipmunk. There was suddenly a bright light that blinded Smii7y.

"Hands up!" Someone yelled. Smii7y was too stunned to really process what was happening until he was shoved against the side of the truck. His hands were brought behind his back, and cuffs were placed on his wrists. He soon felt cold, the coldness of the air, the numbness of his fingers, and frost on the side of the truck. It was like he was immune to the cold, but now he wasn't.

"What the hell is going on?!" He heard Kryoz yell from the other side of the truck. Smii7y was forced off the truck by his shoulders, where he could finally see what was happening. His back was slammed against the truck again, and he was held still by his shoulder. The truck was surrounded by men in black armor and masks. There was a man who looked like he was in a suit but Smii7y couldn't see very well from the bright light.

The man approached him so Smii7y could finally make out what he looked like. He was wearing a black and red suit. He was quite a bit taller and larger than Smii7y. His silvery hair was thinning, and he had a bony chin. He gave Smii7y a crooked smile. He scanned Smii7y's white strip of hair. "Two in the same place, huh?" He chuckled. He had a heavy Canadian accent. Much stronger than Smii7y's.

"Two what? What the hell is happening?" Smii7y asked harshly.

"Small but feisty, eh? You must be a powerful abilitor." He smiled.

Smii7y's brows furrowed, "What the fuck is an abilitor?"

"Sir. We found the fire frozen in ice. That must have been what set off our sensors." A guard said to the man in the suit.

"Ice, eh? That's an ability I don't have yet. We'll find out what the other is. Get these two back to the facility." The man ordered. Smii7y was shoved forward along with Kryoz. Smii7y's escort held tightly to his shoulder and the links in between his cuffs. The handcuffs were heavy and felt oddly warm compared to the temperature outside and his own skin.

They were brought up the driveway to the dirt parking lot. Kryoz struggled in his captor's grasp, "Let me go! What the hell is happening?!" Smii7y gave a rough tug against his captor who only tightened his grip.

They brought him to a large black box truck with reinforced walls. There were small, barred windows near the roof. They unlocked the two heavy doors in the back. They shoved Smii7y and Kryoz in before following them in. A third guard closed the two doors and locked them tight. They made Smii7y and Kryoz sit next to each other and then sat on either side of them. Kryoz started to get up but the guard was faster and pushed him back down to the bench. "Don't move!" He demanded.

"Or what?!" Kryoz snapped. He grabbed a long rod that was velcroed to his pant leg and pressed a button. The end of the rod popped with electricity. Kryoz froze and sank back, making the guard chuckle a little. He sat down and hit the back of the wall with his hand three times right where the driver would be.

The truck started up and they started to move. "So are you gonna tell us what the fuck is going on?" Kryoz asked.

"Shut it!" Smii7y's guard demanded. Smii7y leaned his head back so the back of his head hit the wall of the truck. He was a lot more tired than he was since they had the fire going. He had no idea where his energy went especially after all the adrenaline when they were jumped by the off-brand-SWAT-team. Maybe it was the adrenaline crash. He was cold, scared, and had no clue what was happening. He was being treated like a criminal even though he didn't do anything wrong.

Kryoz bumped Smii7y's shoulder and Smii7y looked at him. Kryoz had a confident smirk. Smii7y couldn't help but smile a little. He could never tell how his best friend could have confidence and humor in the most stressful situations but Kryoz never failed.

Kryoz leaned back with Smii7y so they both had their heads on the wall of the truck. Smii7y listened to the roar of the truck and the feeling of his friend's shoulder on his. He didn't know when he'd get to sleep, so it wasn't long until the hum of the truck put him to sleep.

Word count: 1381