New Day - 3

3

A few miles from the big city, in a forest far from roads and all human work, I was trying my best to keep moving forward. My legs and arms were shaking, my forehead and back were sweating, but I could still run.

And I am not just talking about a slow jog, as if I were regulating the amount of energy I was spending to cover long distances.

I was running as fast as I (still) could, and without calling on the powers of my mask, even if I was wearing it at the time.

That was, at least, until I felt that it was enough for my body, and then I stopped. First I tried resting by holding myself with the hands on my knees, but that position was not comfortable enough.

I had trouble breathing, so I had to straighten my back. But because my abdomen was in pain, I had to stay hunched over. In search of a better position, I ended up on the floor, but my buttocks were burning.

So I could not sit still and thought about lying down, but then I felt like throwing up.

I really felt horrible. With so little oxygen in my head, everything was blurry and I had trouble thinking. I did not know what else to do, so I ended up spending a few minutes writhing around until I slowly started to get a relief from the pain.

Finally, I leaned my back against the base of a tree, staring at the sky as if it were the only form of entertainment available to me.

It was at that moment that a something appeared in front of me. A huge, quite scary beast.

It was a bear, hairy and intimidating, and I was struck by how helpless I felt in front of it. I was in danger…

Or at least that would have been the case if I could not count on my mask. Before I knew it, it began to shake.

I tried to regain my posture as the bear changed its appearance, becoming larger, its claws sharper, and its eyes completely white. And I, for my part, simply let my growing excitement flow.

Adrenaline:

It was a new design, simple but striking. The base was completely black and made of some ethereal, viscous material that at times seemed to have a life of its own. It also featured a large smile, which could be described as a large, infinitely deep white hole. And finally, there were three luminous fibers waving around each eye, in green, violet, and blue.

The bear… Well, the beast roared so loudly that it shook the ground and scared away the other animals in the area. It then raised its strong arms and used them in an attempt to hit me, though it was not very successful.

I managed to dodge the first attacks, deflect the next ones, and finally grabbed his furry paws. I wanted to test his strength, and although at first it seemed like I was pushing him, he managed to respond with a pressure that almost made me fall to the ground.

I decided to back up to then take flight and attack him with the speed of a bullet, and thus I managed to make him retreat two or three steps.

That was all I could do, and then I had to defend myself from its claws again. This time I was not so lucky and ended up receiving a large cut on my bare hands. I could see my own torn skin and some exposed bones.

Twen: Hey! We're just playing, this is going too far!

The truth is, that was my mistake. I was so wrapped up in the fun that I did not care enough about defense, and that is why my left hand bled. Only for a few seconds, of course, because my powers quickly closed the wound (not a 100%, though).

That was not enough to stop my smile. The battle continued. We pushed each other, sometimes I lifted him off the ground and other times he threw me into the air.

It was really fun and exciting, but it had to come to an end. I remembered that there was something important I had to do that day, and I could not keep wasting my time there.

Twen: Bear friend, we have to stop this already… Stop!

When I shouted at him, that intimidating beastly image disappeared and he became a simple animal again. A brown, hairy bear with no desire to play anymore. He was exhausted, so he threw himself down on the floor.

I took the opportunity to give him a big hug around the neck (he was like a giant stuffed animal), and he let out a big yawn. Then he moved again to rub his snout against me. Maybe it was a way of saying goodbye, so I tried to imitate him by burying my face in his fur.

Twen: I have to go… But thanks so much for playing with me today. Take care.

Its eyes closed, probably because it wanted to sleep. I, on the other hand, still had a lot to do. My heart was still beating fast and I wanted to keep having fun.

It was Saturday, after all, and I was almost certain that it was time to go to Novadía’s mall.

That meant covering miles at a high speed, which would be a problem for many, but not for me. My inexplicably big smile, instead of showing any signs of fading, grew even bigger.

I started walking in the corresponding direction, and my steps began to speed up as a feeling of lightness grew within me. The force I was applying to the ground was increasing, and when I could not wait anymore, I took it to the next level.

My speed suddenly increased, to the point where I left even the sound behind. The grass and leaves of the trees rustled as I passed by them, and I did not worry about the time or the distance I had to travel, only about not crashing into something.

Only a few seconds later, almost halfway there, I arrived at my house. I stopped by to take a shower and change my clothes. I greeted my mother with a shout when I entered and said goodbye in the same way when I left.

When I was back on the streets, the design of my mask had not changed. I resumed my previous speed to run to the mall, taking the paths I learned by going to the university.

I walked down the steep street that separates the upper and lower areas of Novadía. Somewhere in my mind a thought grew and I listened to it, so I ended up rolling and doing pirouettes like a professional gymnast as I descended, though with notable failures.

Once down I kept running, zigzagging between pedestrians simply because I thought it was fun. But soon after a problem came, and it was something completely different.

Where exactly was the mall?

I tried pushing off the walls of buildings to gain height, hoping to figure out a route to my destination. But in the end, I found something maybe better.

A long body of water sparkled with the reflection of the sun. Based on my knowledge of the city, the river could take me directly to Novadía’s mall.

With that in mind, the next step was obvious. I dove headfirst into my new route, swimming at inhuman speeds, passing under bridges or jumping out of the water like a dolphin. Before I even asked myself about the distance, I had already covered more than a kilometer.

But where was I supposed to stop?

Coming to a bridge that connected two large, clearly important buildings, I thought I had found my answer.

So how was I going to get to them?

I did not want to put other people at risk, but I did want to get there quickly. My solution was to take a big leap and crash directly into one of the buildings, obviously making a change in my body to disperse some of the energy of the impact.

My skin, my bones, and even my clothes came together into a strange, dark, bluish-colored, slimy mass.

So I just hit it and stayed stuck for a few seconds, without doing or receiving any damage, and then I slowly slid down until I touched the ground, where I regained my human body.

Twen: Alright! … Yeah. There are a lot of people here, so it must be the right place… I think I made good time.

People came in and out of the large building, some looked at me strangely or fascinated by my powers, but the reasons why they were in the area were the same: They were visiting the Novadía’s mall.

I took a breath to calm my body and mind, and my mask returned to its typical black and white design. I then found out how long it took me to get there, and was surprised to find out that I still had fifteen minutes left.

That meant I did not have to rush to get in, so before I did that I stopped to think about what I had just done and the possible consequences of my actions in the city.

If I had made a mistake and something had been damaged, then there was only one right way to fix it, and that would be to go back the way I came from and use my own hands. But I had something to do, so I could not waste my time on that.

As a result, I had to ask for help from the first person who passed in front of me, a man with thinning hair, wearing a black T-shirt and white pants.

I tapped his shoulder to make him aware of my presence, and then I could see that his face was covered with a mask.

Twen 1: Please… You already know what I'm going to ask of you, and I trust that you will do it well.

Twen 2: Sure, sure… But I wanted to see the others too.

Twen 1: You're going to do so in a way, so don't worry.

It was an exact copy of me, and even had its own consciousness that started from the same base as mine.

That is why he felt sorry for not being able to do what he had been waiting for for some time. But as long as one of us did it, it would be enough for both of us to experience it.

We would get together again in the future. It is not like I just created a clone of myself to turn into a slave and then kill it… That would be disturbing, grotesque and very dark, so I would rather avoid it.

With that settled, the second masked man left. I thought about him for a few more seconds, and ended up deciding that that would be enough of my fantasy powers for the time being.

One of the big buildings in the mall was behind me. I turned around and saw lots of windows, movie posters, logos of world-renowned stores, and the big clock on which I had seen the time.

There were also a lot of advertisements, among which I could distinguish one with a woman dressed as a with, although she had shiny skin and painted lips. She was an OV carrier.

I walked in looking around at the many shops that I had never seen in my eighteen years of life. I also saw a large, beautiful tree that had grown right in the middle of the building, next to which many people sat to rest or take photos.

I did not want to see too much before joining the others, so I sat down on one of the seats by the tree. However, when I spotted a pillar with information, I went to read it.

This is how I learned the basics of the mall. It was divided into four sections, of which three were buildings and the last was a “Greenway”. They all were located around the river and were connected to each other by bridges.

At that time I was in “Tower A”, which was the largest building of all. There was an arcade, a cinema, foreign stores and fast food shops.

A bridge connected it to “Tower B” over the river. This was a little smaller, and its content focused on fashion. Clothing and accessories stores covered all floors.

On the same side of the river was “Tower C”, which was the smallest. Inside were various household and electronic products. And, with a bridge over the river, it connected to the last section of the center.

The “Greenway” was responsible for providing the typical greenery of Novadía. It consisted of a long cobbled path that followed the direction of the water, with a row of trees dividing it in two and a lot of restaurants on the side of the street. This path began a few meters from the back entrance of Tower A.

It sounded interesting. I continued to wait by the tree for the remaining fifteen minutes to pass before the others arrived. In the meantime, I grabbed my cell phone to take a photo, since the tree looked beautiful shining under the skylight of the building.

But when I looked at the result, I saw a familiar face in the background. I was surprised, but not as much as that other person was when she saw me.

Zena: Oh? Wait, that's Twen? It can't be... TWEEEN!!

The lively black/red haired girl appeared at the mall. She had a very typical reaction to seeing me, screaming my name as she ran in my direction and gasping for air in the process.

Before she arrived, I could see that someone was accompanying her. It was obviously her friend Lani, who was carrying a small box held in both hands. Seeing Zena running towards me, Lani also quickened her pace, although not enough to run.

I watched as Zena approached me without slowing down at all, so I felt compelled to brace myself for an impact. And that was the case, as what she planned to do was charging against me for a hug.

Zena: Hi! What do you think of the place?

Twen: It's amazing! I haven't seen much of it yet, but I'm dying to.

Zena: That's good, because today you'll be spending the whole afternoon with us touring the center. Right, Lani?

Lani: … Yes!

She arrived a few seconds later, and as she did so she joined the conversation with a simple reply. She said it in a cheerful tone, but I found it strange that after speaking she just stared at me while smiling silently.

For a moment she was still, but then she slowly approached me. She began to raise her arms and then wrapped them around me, giving me a very careful hug.

This lasted a few seconds, during which Lani remained still until it seemed to be enough for her and she moved away. Then, she looked into my eyes and Zena stood next to her.

Their warm greeting was not the only gift I received from them. They handed me the small box Lani was carrying in her hands, which made my heart and my mask begin to shake.

Lani: It's a gift from both of us…

Zena: I hope you like it!

Hearing those words, accompanied by their smiles… I exploded into a thousand pieces, right there and then. I became a huge and powerful ball of destruction covered in fire and smoke. I destroyed everything inside the building, causing irreparable damage to the property and causing panic among the other costumers…

Or at least that is how it felt. All that actually happened was a bit of pink smoke coming out of my mask, but nothing too violent.

Twen: For me? And what did I do to deserve this?

Zena: So you don't want it?

Twen: Thank you very much for this gift! Can I open it now?

Zena: Yeah, go ahead. I want to know what you think.

I opened the small box and inside I found four silver circles. They were the perfect size to wear around my wrists, so that is where I put them on, two on each side, and it brought back a feeling I was used to and loved.

Once they were on, I showed them my right wrist (so they would not see the wound on my left hand) and they both seemed as pleased as me.

Lani: Well, that's our welcome gift to Novadía.

Zena: Welcome!

Twen: Thank you… It’s perfect! In fact, I used to wear a lot of bracelets and necklaces before coming to Novadía.

Lani: Really?

Twen: Yes! Although those had many more colors and were made with leather and some seashells.

Zena: Lani thought something silver would be best for you… Since you like to wear black and white, and silver might match better, right?

Twen: It's perfect! The other one was for tradition, but these bracelets are better for everyday use. Maybe I could start using them right away… Thanks again!

Lani: If you really like it, then we've accomplished our goal.

She said it with such a smile that I could not help but respond in the same way (although I know it was hard to notice because of my mask). Zena looked at me and winked with one of her eyes, and I responded by giving her a thumbs up.

She was probably trying to tell me that this idea was at least partly hers, as it might help to close the gap between me and Lani. We promised we would work on it, and I was glad to see that it was working.

But, more than that, it made me incredibly happy to see that someone had taken the time to think of something for me. My happiness from that present, of course, did not come only from what they had given me, but also from the thought of having someone who wanted to gift me something.

I could have thanked them about a hundred more times, but that would get awkward.

Zena: We're already winning against Noe and Jean. Or do you think they have something planned too?

Lani: I have no idea… But we'll have to wait to ask them.

Twen: That's true. It's still early, so they're probably on their way here.

Zena: You already know why we came early, but what about you? Were you too excited?

Twen: I'd be lying if I said I wasn’t... Although it's also true that I miscalculated. I didn't know how long I would have to wait for them, but luckily I found you both soon.

As he spoke, our phones vibrated at the same time. Zena was the first to grab her phone and handed us the message.

Zena: Jean and Noe also arrived early, and they are sitting outside…

Twen: So we all arrived fifteen minutes early? Did something happen?

Lani: … You?

There was no reason to refuse to leave, so the three of us left Tower A to head out onto the Greenway. Its beauty genuinely made reality surpass expectations, and even Lani and Zena, who had been in Novadía for years, were amazed by it.

We walked while they told me about what we had around us, like the bridge that crossed the river and the changes in the colors of the leaves on the trees that adorned the path.

We also passed many restaurants. We saw pizzas, fish, soups, sandwiches and fried foods, but the place we stopped at specialized in hamburgers.

There, we saw Jean and Noe sitting at a table for six, and it was Noe who called us over by waving her hand.

Noe: Hey~ How are you?

Zena: Better now that we're all together!

Twen: So you guys also arrived a few minutes early. That makes everything a lot easier…

Jean: Did you want me to be late?

Noe: You would have been if I hadn't come looking for you.

Jean: Twen, this bastard was in front of my door at ten in the morning. Can you believe it?

Noah: Huh?!

One of the typical fights between the two of them arose while we were sitting down. But, shortly after, the discussion stopped because Jean wanted to tell me something.

Jean: We sat here because there were some empty seats and I like what they're selling, but if you'd rather go somewhere else we can get up and leave. No problem. What do you say?

Twen: Are you kidding? You guys are probably as hungry as I am right now, and I wouldn't want to keep you waiting any longer than you already have.

Noe: Although we all arrived early…

Twen: That's not the point! Besides, the place looks pretty nice and I would never turn down a good burger.

Jean: Really? … Then why don’t you try this? People say it’s really good.

I could see the logo next to Jean's recommendation that said caution because of its spice level. I thought it was some kind of joke, but since I was eager to try new things I ended up accepting.

The five of us decided on something and talked while we waited. It was like a picture for a TV commercial, and I am proud to have been in it.

Our table was finally filled with plates and glasses, and when we all had something at our seats we were able to give in to our hunger.

…

When we were done, everyone seemed satisfied with their orders, even me, who ended up with a sore tongue and beads of sweat running down my forehead.

Jean smiled as he watched my reaction, and Zena was terrified as she remembered her own experience with the same burger. I was not his first victim.

We sat there for a while before paying and leaving, letting our full stomachs rest a bit.

Noe: So? Why the silver bracelets, Twen? Are you going to become a rebel?

Noticing her genuine curiosity, I showed her my right wrist.

Twen: Not yet, at least. It's a gift-

Zena: It's a gift that Lani and I gave him! And you? What did you gift him?

Noe: What?! Why didn't you tell us anything about that?

Zena: That sounds like you didn’t gift him anything… Which means we're winning! Well done… Lani?

The blonde-haired girl was out of the conversation. Her mind was focused on something she had noticed that had apparently confused her greatly. Something about my left hand.

Twen: Is everything okay?

Lani: I do, but… Your hand. What is that…?

On the back of my left hand, Lani found out about the two long scars that I got from playing with a big bear that morning.

When I showed it to the others at the table, most of the reactions were ones of disgust. It was a bit grotesque, but it was no longer really a problem for my health.

Zena: Since when?! And how come we didn't see it before?

Jean: That's a big scar... Did you fight a lion or something?

Twen: Almost... This happened in the morning while I was training with a gigantic bear that lives in the forest. It's incredibly strong, hairy, and has huge claws that can split a tree in half with a simple touch.

Zena: Those bears exist?! And they're so close?!

Noe: I think it's just something he did himself with his powers…

Lani: Powers… The mask…

Jean: Are you training? You haven't mentioned it before.

Twen: Yes! I like martial arts. I usually train with a team in a gym, but there are also days when I train on my own, although in a more savage or brutal way . I have had some accidents because of that...

Lani: Did something happen to your mask? Your powers aren't working properly anymore?

Twen: It was an accident and that can happen to anyone. I just got distracted and made a mistake.

Lani: But you should be able to completely heal the wound with your mask, right? Why not?

She really seemed interested in that detail. Thinking about it, the others also began to have their doubts.

Twen: That's a good question, and my answer to that is going to seem a bit vague… Because you're right. I can completely control the healing process of my wound, both at the time of the accident and now.

I covered the scar with my other hand, and even though they could not see it directly anymore, I let them know that something happened. A red drop ran down my wrist to my forearm, leaving a trail behind it.

However, when I discovered the wound, it was still closed. Everything was clean, so the blood they thought they had seen ended up as little more than an illusion.

Twen: The reason I haven’t healed it completely is that I want my own body to do some work... While I love trying new things using my powers, I also have to worry about what I can do myself, behind the mask.

Noe: You say you hurt yourself to strengthen your body…?

Twen: No… Yes? … Look, I just know that humans can heal themselves when they get hurt, and I’m a human. That’s why I want my body to do what it should and not abuse my powers.

Noe: Does everyone with an OV do the same?

Twen: No, I don’t think so.

Jean: I guess that makes sense...

Zena: It makes you wonder what an OV is for the person, doesn't it?

As I thought, my answer did not completely satisfy them, but that was the truth and there was not much more I could say.

Even though they still looked confused (especially Lani, who froze for a moment), the topic was not addressed further.

Instead, we moved on to something more important.

The five of us were at Novadía’s mall and had a plan to stick to. After getting up from our seats with energy and desire to continue, we left the burger place and returned to Tower A.