Hearts of Clay

Chapter 10

".....We didn't realize we had stopped aging until about six months afterward. Rina was working in the glassworks when she tripped and burned her hand. It was an accident, and she knew she would be fine, so she bandaged her hand to take care of it later.

But when she had gotten home, and unbandaged her hand, she couldn't find the burn. Her hand had no trace of it, nothing. She told us, and we were a little unnerved but thought she must have imagined it.

A few days later, Arin was working in the mines, when the supporting gave out and the tunnel collapsed. He was able to be dug out but we were told that he suffered too many broken bones to live. We all rushed to the mines. We were alone with him in the healers tent when his body started to heal itself. A few minutes later, it was as if he had never been in the cave-in. The healers and miners were scared. So were we. After that, no matter what we did, we couldn't scar, couldn't burn, couldn't die. Everyone around us aged, but we were trapped in time.

Then our powers erupted.

Rina was the first. We had decided to share a house, on the outskirts of the village, and she chose the bedroom in the loft. That night, we were awoken by screaming. We all quickly rushed up to her bedroom, to find her thrashing on the ground, window wide open, moonlight burning into her shoulder.

We tried to help her, but we couldn't. All we could do was comfort her, watch, and wait.

It finally stopped when the sun rose. The night became day, the moon faded into the sky, and Rina raised her hands and shot fire at the window. The place where the moonlight had burned her, healed over, and became a fiery-gold tattoo.

Crey was next. The same thing happened, only crystals started to grow from his arms as well as the tattoo on his shoulder.

I was the third.

It was a normal day. A normal night. Then the window burst open, and the moonlight came in.

Oh, it burned. It hurt so bad. But underneath the pain, I felt something else.

Strength. Power. Something that made me feel complete.

So I didn't scream. I made no noise. And in the morning, I had gotten a tattoo on my shoulder like Rina and Crey.

Everyone went through that. Afterward, we had the tattoos on our shoulders, but other things had to be different as well.

We thought we could control them. So we went along with our days as usual.

But of course, there were problems.

Our skills had become greatly improved again, scaring the other villagers. Rina got angry and blasted her furnace with other people watching her. Seveya accidentally caused a freak storm, wiping out several grain fields. I healed someone's broken back with a touch, causing them to panic. Arin blasted a hole in the mine's tunnels just by clapping his hands. The seventh summoned rock and almost crushed the other stonemasons. Faern's hood fell off when he received a vision. And Crey was tripped on the road and exposed his crystals.

We were called many names. Freaks. Abominations. Cursed. But we kept trying. Then it grew unbearable and everything just snapped.

We were walking home, when a group of people came up and started teasing us, calling us names. We tried to ignore them, but some things can't be held back.

When it was over, they were on the ground, dead.

It was the last straw for the villagers. But they could do nothing. How can you stop someone who can't be stopped? How can you hurt someone who can't be hurt?

How can you kill someone who can't be killed?

So we left. Abandoned everything, and isolated ourselves in the mountain caves.

And that's where we lived. At least fifty years, maybe more. We didn't know. We would only leave at night when everyone else was asleep. We practiced with our powers. And then tried to develop new ones.

It was a simple life for us. Then we had that terrible fight, and you know what happened after