TANALYA GREENEWOD: World 10

Twenty Two

"Hey, Jeremiah; Look who I found sneaking in here," Al called out and Jeremiah's gaze went from Aria, who he was teaching how to sew her sweater, to the girl in Al's grip. A deadly look washed over his eyes. It was Furner's other child... his daughter, Lilith. She was a grey eyed brunette with a timid attitude. By a year, she was younger than him and by three years, she was younger than Michael, her brother. Jeremiah stalked up to her, glaring down at her shorter figure.

"Who the fuck do you think you are, eavesdropping I see," He stated, his eyes twitching, and hands clenching and unclenching.

"I'm not, I swear! I wasn't,"

"Who sent you? Michael? Furner...? WHO SENT YOU," Lilith jumped at the sound of his angry voice. She squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breath.

"No one sent me," She stated, seriousness washing over her. She was still scared, but she had to send her message across that she wasn't joking around, "I... I just can't take it anymore," She squeaked out as tears began to flood her eyes, "Please let me say what I have to,"

Al raised a brow and glanced at Jeremiah who was studying the girl.

"You can't seriously be considering it, chap," Al stated and Jeremiah looked at him, then Aria, then back at Lilith.

"Speak," He stated harshly and Lilith once again jerked up, before bursting out crying.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry I've not been any help... what dad does is wrong. I know it, I should have interfered but rather I helped... I'm sorry," Lilith exclaimed and Al scoffed. No one in the room seemed interested in whatever she was saying- except Jeremiah. During the years, he'd been able to distinguish lies from the truth. There was always a sign to give it away, especially in cases where his victim was close to his age. There was sincerity in everything she was doing.

"What do you want to say, cut to the chase already," Lilith nodded and then wiped the tears off her face the best she could.

"Jeremiah Kaleen, um..." Everyone in the room paid attention to what she was about to say. There was sudden seriousness in the air just at the sound of his name, "Do you know what an Initial is?"

**

Initials- People from the direct line of the first ability holders created by the Writer

The sound of it was amusing to everyone, yet it fit in perfectly. He'd heard so many times the word, but he had no idea what it was. None of them had an idea what it was and they didn't ever bother asking.

"Abilities...? Writers...?" A girl amongst the children named Delhi asked

"What do you mean by abilities?" Al asked, saying the lingering question with pure confusion. Aria looked around confused, before holding on to Jeremiah in anxiousness.

"Abilities... There's a race of people that popped up years ago- more than a thousand. They had abilities- by that I mean super powers—something Normals didn't have," Lilith stated and everyone else shared a look, before bursting out laughing, all but Jeremiah, who was deep in thought, and Aria, who didn't understand anything, "It isn't a joke. I mean it. They called themselves the gifted. The Specials; legend has it that they were mainly a group of people who had been rewarded for a good deed to five nations... Supposed to die, the Writer decided to let them live and gifted them with powers, abilities," the laughter continued, and Lilith held back tears, "I mean it,"

"Could you all shut the fuck up?" Jeremiah stated and silence immediately came across the room. For a few minutes, nothing was said and then Al found the courage to speak up.

"You aren't actually buying this shit, chap?" Al stated and Jeremiah let out a sigh. He looked up and then ran a hand through his hair.

"It adds up," Jeremiah started and then looked at the people around the room, "It kinda adds up,"

"See!" Lilith exclaimed, and then took a deep breath, "Well among these first Specials, there was the Special Hunter, otherwise known as the Forbidden, the Hren. His name was Damien Hren. He could trace other Specials, could take away their abilities and keep them for himself, or he could give out abilities he'd taken," Lilith remained quiet, "The day he decided to keep the abilities for himself and tried to conquer the other Initials. That was the day weaker Specials began to pop up in other righteous families children around them. Before he could start his schemes a few years after, there was a whole army of Specials available and he had to retreat for fear of getting killed. He was banished, even though it hadn't been ever vocalized," Lilith sighed, "Later, other Special hunters began to pop up and he found out where some were. He began recruiting, creating his own army. He had a son, who became the second Hren Initial in the world. He was just as strong as his father and he had the same mentality. The other Initials began taking in the Hrens they could lay their hands on and then prepared a place they could seek refuge. All this happened without the Normals- the non- Specials- knowing, save for the Normals that were in the family of Specials," Lilith ran a hand through her hair, "The Initials judged that the Normals may overreact if they found out. But Damien and his son had a completely different mindset. He got the Normals involved and promised them power... and of course most of them gave him their strength and trust," She met Jeremiah's gaze, "Things didn't end well and as the years passed, Specials multiplied discreetly... they usually wasn't more than one in a generation. Sometimes there wasn't any and that would be the end of the Special race for that family. The Initials and Damien kept recruiting... and some Hrens they'd taken in were deceitful, sent by Damien, and that's why Hrens these days aren't allowed around. They'd had a whole community of Specials- different family lines. The Initials took a decision and three of them stood at the top- the disguise Special, Neon Grey; the Mind Control Special, Marcus Martini; and the Elemental Special, J. Narcus Flaw. They became head of the three biggest divisions of Specials as they realized staying in just one location made them an easy target. More divisions have come out across the world since then, all under the name SPL, which stands for Special Protection Law, but had undercover names in different eras as the years past. It started as communities but now it's a company, employing over a million people and sheltering the rest," Lilith smiled, "After the three first divisions, the attack came... Damien was old, but cunning, few knew he'd been taking innocent Specials' powers before SPL could find them and he'd taken close to a thousand weak specials' ability. Then he began to attack Initials. The Normals gave him their strength and the world was in complete havoc until the first Link was created," Lilith smiled, "Yerona Selki, the Writer's messenger, also known as the Link. Her powers popped up out of nowhere one day. And it kept multiplying. She did come from a line of Specials, but only her older sister had the power of Earth Control. She began training and after some years, they raided an attack on the Hrens—it came unplanned and Damien was overwhelmed. He could fight back till the teeth because of his years of training but Yerona's power was equal to that of Initials, every single one of them. The war ended and she disappeared from the face of the earth the next day; Gone completely, without a trace. But before she did, she'd cleared every trace of Specials from the mind of the Normals using her Memory Wipe. Specials has remained hidden till this day- they'd round up and burnt as many Hrens that tried to fight arrest, but Damien and his son hid. Planning, scheming, no one knew. For generations on end, it has been this way—random specials popping up in new born of families and some included Special Hunters—SPL finds these new people and recruits them... always. And Special Hunters are either arrested or left alone to fend for themselves,"

The whole area remained in silence as it was all soaked in and Al was the first to speak up.

'So... we are Hrens?" He stated and everyone's gaze fell on Jeremiah. He squeezed his hands to fists and then looked at Lilith.

"Prove it... Prove all this shit you said is real," Jeremiah stated and she nodded, before taking a deep breath and creating a pool of water over their heads. Every trace of doubt was gone and they all watched in awe as it unfolded before them. Jeremiah only glanced at it though... and then he smiled, widely. And he chuckled. His sudden amusement alerted everyone and at that moment Lilith lost control and water came tumbling down on all of them. Her eyes widened as the whole of people glared at her and she set to immediate apologies. Jeremiah simply waved it off and smiled.

"This makes our work a whole lot easier,"