Part 1- Chapter 10

Edwin stared at the now burning Mageye. He had never heard of this before, could Mageye’s have multiple abilities? It was unheard of as far as Edwin knew. How did he have Laghain’s ability? Wait, he died in here, where was his body?

Edwin looked back at what he had found, connecting dots in his mind. Met stared dumbfounded, as did the rest of the Peacekeepers. That is, all but Reynard. His eyes filled with a fire looking at theMageye in front of him, rage building to the surface.

“Loric, Nova, you two stay back and prepare a retreat.” Reynard yelled out. “From here on out, we only use range, everyone understand?”

“Yes sir.” Nova and Loric said begrudgingly.

Met was steeled for combat, carrying his light whips in two hands.

“Edwin, we need you to make some walls.” Reynard said. He held out a hand, and chains began to drop from his palms. The end of this chain had a large spike. The chains had a purple outline to them, signaling that they were conjured.

Edwin stood for a moment, silently thinking.

“Edwin!” Reynard said loudly, his voice filled with raging venom.

“His body still has the stitches.” Edwin said, looking at the Mageye. “And he's screaming.”

The Mageye continued to yell. “Don't touch me! Stay away! I'm not going back!” All while his body was covered in flames that didn't seem to hurt him.

“Edwin! We need you here!” Reynard yelled out again.

Edwin acted. He placed his hands on the ground, summoning ice to form a wall. However, the wall formed between the Peacekeepers and the Mageye.

“What the hell are you doing!” Nova yelled.

Edwin got up and rushed over to Reynard. “Look at this.” He said, pushing the bracelet into Reynard's open hand.

“Is this?” Reynard said, looking down at the bracelet.

“Its one of the tags they give you in a hospital.” Edwin said. “But look, not identifier to what hospital, no name, just numbers!”

“S001M” Reynard said, looking it over.

“Let me talk to him.” Edwin said. “I think something is wrong here, something we aren't seeing.”

Reynard gripped the bracelet tightly. “I can't let you get close, its to dangerous.”

Edwin stared with determination. He turned sharply, then approached the wall of ice. He placed his hands on the ground, and formed a wall behind him, sealing off the others.

“Damnit Edwin!” Renyard yelled. “Stop! You don't engage without backup!”

“You'll kill him.” Edwin yelled out. “I can see it in you Reynard, you are angry. You have the look of a killer.” Edwin shivered, the look in Reynard's eyes was terrifying, yet he continued. Edwin dropped the first wall, revealing the Mageye who looked about wildly for escape.

“Hi there.” Edwin said calmly. He had to take a deep inhale before he spoke. “My name is Edwin, what is yours?”

The Mageye, still burning, looked at Edwin with pleading eyes. “N-name? I dont have one.” he said.

“Is that so?” Edwin said. “Can you tell me what happened, why you killed those people, why you are running? I won't hurt you, I want to understand.”

The Mageye gave Edwin a confused look. The fire was beginning to melt the ice nearby slowly, the heat causing Edwin to sweat in his jacket.

“I ran.” The Mageye said. “They followed, said they would take me back. I didn't want to, but I couldn't go back. I ate them. I.” the Mageye dropped to his knees, the fires extinguishing. He began to cry. “I didn't want to eat them, I had to, they would keep hunting me. They wouldn't stop.”

Edwin could hear the Peacekeepers moving closer to the ice, they could hear what the Mageye was saying.

Edwin crouched down, getting on the Mageyes level. “Why were they hunting you?”

“They, were testing. Needles, cuts, they cut me open so many times, it hurt it hurt so much. The needles, the medicine, it hurt.” The Mageye sobbed. “I can't go back, I cant I cant I cant.” He began to chant the last line over and over.

“You ate one of our friends.” Edwin said.

The Mageye stopped suddenly, his eyes wide in fear.

“He used the fire, the ability you have now. Why did you eat him?” Edwin asked.

“He wanted to take me back, back to them.” the Mageye stated.

Edwin nodded. “Do you know where they were taking you back to?”

The Mageye shook his head left to right. “I ran, I ran for so long, I don't know where I was, I don't know where I am. I just ran.”

“Tell me about this place.” Edwin said. His knees began to hurt from the crouching, yet he didn't move.

“Walls, so many walls. Made of thick metal, white.” The Mageye said, looking around as if trying to see the walls for himself. “People, they wore white too, masks, glasses. They always made me sleepy before they entered the room, then they put me on the table.” He began to shake violently.

“Do you remember the name of the place?” Edwin asked.

“No name, nothing, just white walls.” The Mageye said. “When I ran, it was through a door in the ground, nothing, nothing for so long.”

Edwin took a breath, this man had gone through something. “You killed people, but you didn't want to?”

“No!” The Mageye said. “I don't want to hurt anyone! I just don't want to be hurt anymore! I want to see, I want more than the white walls!”

Edwin nodded. “Alright, then.” He got to his feet, then pressed his hand to the last ice wall, and shattered it.

The Mageye backed away quickly as he spotted the Peacekeepers behind it. Reynard had let his chains fade, along with Met’s light. They all stood in resolve together.

“Come with us.” Reynard said.

The Mageye began to fill with fear.

“We won't let you go back to that place.” Reynard said. “You can come with us, and we will hide you till we know more.”

The Mageye paused.

Edwin approached the man, kneeling down right in front of him. “You regret what you did right? Then make it right.”

“How?” The Mageye said. “I want to make it better.”

Edwin thought about it. “For every person you killed, you have to save ten thousand more, sound good? Working with the Peacekeepers is the best way to help people.”

The Mageye hesitated, then nodded.

“Though, we will have to give ya a name.” Edwin said, then remembered the bracelet. “How about Sim?”

“Sim?” The Mageye said. He let the word sit on his tongue. “I am Sim, you are Edwin.”

Edwin gave a smile. “Right, now come on, you have some questions to answer okay?”

Sim nodded. “You promise I wont go back?”

Edwin held out his pinky finger up. “I promise.”

Sim looked at the finger curiously.

“You take your pinky and you wrap it around mind, it seals the promise and makes it so it's unbreakable.” Edwin said.

Sim raised his pinky finger, and wrapped it around Edwin’s.

“I promise to help people, to make up for what I did.” Sim said. “Is that how you do it?”

“Yep. now you have to do it.” Edwin said.

“What if I cant?” Sim said.

“Well from what I know if you break a promise they stick a thousand needles into your eyes.” Edwin said with a smile.

Sim looked scared.

“Best not break that promise, you already made it.” Edwin laughed. He had dropped his facade for a moment, he acted how he did around Harper.

“We have another issue.” Met said. “I feel like the Council knows something about this that I don't.”

“They didn't want us engaging.” Renyard said.

“Specifically us.” Met stated. “Another Peacekeeper team should be here shortly, we should move Sim here before then.”

“They will keep hunting him though.” Loric said.

“If we are going to hide him it wont be good if they are looking for him.” Nova stated.

Edwin looked at the fallen arms on the ground, then sighed. “I have an answer for that.”

The Peacekeepers all eyed Edwin. He hated it, but he was the one who could do it based on the powers he knew of in the room.

“What happened here?” The lead Peacekeeper said as he arrived on the scene.

“Bought time.” Reynard said, leaning against the building. Loric and Nova had moved Sim back to the headquarters, something they were a bit nervous about. That left Reynard, Edwin, and Met. “We took care of the target.”

“How?” The Peacekeeper said, looking at his subordinates. “We were told guns didn't work on him, something about it healing instantly.”

Reynard pointed a thumb at Edwin. “Ask him.”

Edwin felt the eyes turn to him, and spoke. “I froze him down to the molecular level, it slowed his regeneration to a stand still, then he just shattered. His arms are all that are left in there, feel free to get them if you want.” Edwin said it sternly.

“To be clear, I dealt the killing blow.” Reynard stated. “The kid froze him to the point where we could stop him.”

“He was to be captured though!” The Peacekeeper said.

“Oh was it?” Reynard said, the group moving away. “He killed one of our men, he wasn't going quietly. We did what we had to.” Reynard opened the door of his car, Met and Edwin getting in on the other side. “Maybe next time, get here a little faster.”

With that, they drove off from the scene.

“You sure about that?” Met questioned. “They will have to file a report about you.”

Edwin hesitated. “It was the only way, no one else could have dealt the damage to weaken Sim.”

“You noticed it right?” Reynard said. “They knew about the Regeneration.”

“I noticed that.” Met stated. “They were given more info then we were, even though there was no one to report that ability.”

“And the Council were the ones who sent them and held us back.” Reynard stated. “Something is off here. We need to question Sim. Edwin, thanks.”

“For what?” Edwin asked.

“If you hadn't stopped me, I would have killed him.” Reynard said. “You held a cooler head than me, which I am ashamed of.”

Edwin looked at the floor of the car. “I like Loghain, it hurts that he died. But I didn't know him as well as you all. I guess that made it easier to stay calm.”

Reynard was silent for a moment. “You still did well, though now I wonder, can you actually freeze someone that far?”

Edwin bit his lip. “If I really wanted to, I could freeze someone all the way through. If I placed my palm on their head I could kill someone almost instantly.”

“You didn't want to say anything cause you were afraid of being promoted to A class right?” Renyard said.

“Yes sir.” Edwin said.

Reynard sighed. “I don't want that kid, you all should be free to do what you want. I have never been a fan of the system of rankings that force young people into service just because of their abilities.”

“Thanks.” Edwin said.

“Rey-Rey is a very nice person.” Met said. “Ever since the war he decided to help the next generation. He actually is an avide person in the community to remove the forced conscription.”

Reynard shot a glare at Met. “Its Reynard.”

“Yeah yeah.” Met waved him off. “Anyways, he may seem grumpy, but he is all for trying to make lives of Mageye’s better.”

“I didn't know that about you.” Edwin said.

“Well now you do.” Reynard said.

Winter break passed quickly. Edwin informed Harper about what had happened, including Sim’s existence. Harper doesn't tell secrets so he knew it was safe with her. Sim was housed at the Peacekeeper offices for a while, till he was transported to Reynards place till better arrangements could be made.

Gema had done a scan of Sim, and found several markings inside him, including Loghains. Gema shut them all down, and identified the Mageye’s they belonged to, except for two of them. Sim had said they were the first ones to find him, that they came from the place with the white walls to hunt him.

School had started again, and Edwin was free of his duties to the Peacekeepers. He had asked if he could come back to speak with Sim, which they allowed. His class schedule was lighter this semester, well it was the same classes just spread out better throughout the week for his likings. Before he could enter his first class, he was called to the Dean's office.

Edwin felt a chill run up his spine as he was given the news.

“You have been selected for conscription.” The Dean stated. “We received word that you are to drop out and join the Peacekeepers full time. I am sorry to be the one to tell you this.”

Edwin felt empty as he walked out of the office. Each step was pained, his body threatening to collapse on itself. He shifted from left to right before finally falling against the side of a vending machine. He pressed his head against the machine, then raised his fist to punch it in anger.

He swung, but stopped just short. He was angry, so very very angry. And yet, he couldn't do it. He just stood there, and cried, as his life ended. 

 End of Part 1- Marking on the Face