The first superhuman appeared around a thousand years ago. And like most different things, humanity tried to cover it up,
but when they couldn't anymore, they tried to reject it.
In the world today, it is said that every living thing has a dormant spark in them, even cows. But only very few ever discover their sparks.
And now, like everything must be, these superhumans have been assigned roles by the public, ideals of what it means to be who you are. The cycle repeats.
Bright.
It used to mean something.
Once, it meant fire in the hands. Light in the chest. A promise that even if the world didn't notice you, you decided you were worth the trouble. People wrote songs about it. Built statues. Named eras after those who burned the brightest.
Now, Bright was a category.
A ranking.
A filter.
Unless yours could level a street, heal a battalion, or rewrite the rules everyone else had agreed to suffer under, it barely mattered. Most sparks remained dormant, lived quiet lives, folded neatly into professions that tolerated them rather than celebrated them.
Institutions were built in every city to prioritize the awakening of sparks but more often than not they couldn't help you awaken your spark, and if you didn't?
Well, you were sidelined into the masses, assigned mundane options for a role to fill in society, a hole… created by your own existence.
One of these institutions was Eastgate Lumel, one of the four public middle schools in Lumel.
The campus was built like a cross sealed inside a square, every corridor mirrored so perfectly that once you stepped in, direction became a guess instead of a fact.
Its tall glass walls loomed behind us as we crossed its gates, on leaving the admin district I turned to boy walking beside me,
"Noah?"
"Yes?" he looked at me.
"What is your ideal life?" I asked.
He facial expression changed as though I'd just said I took his grandmother on a date… not that I've done such a thing before. "Wha— are you really asking me, a ten-year-old, that question?!"
"Okay, Okay, you don't have to answer, I was just thinking on what Mr. Brown said about sparks." I sidelined as we took a left moving towards the Ward (the government home).
Thud!
I was halfway through wondering whether Mr. Brown covered the entire truth about sparks because it felt like they were more than what he believed, when I heard a loud and timid voice.
"THA—THAT'S RACIST!"
Down a narrow alley, a young boy not much shorter than us had been shoved against a wall and flanked by three other boys.
"What?" One of the boys quipped. "We're just saying the truth, dwarf"
"YOU!" the boy said in restrained anger. Even though he had muscle mass that no child should have, he couldn't take on all of them at once.
Ah, I forgot to mention, these "dwarves" and "elves" are actually just humans that adapted in unexpected ways to all the changes that happened in their environments after Odin. It happened so suddenly people couldn't wrap their heads around it.
As we walked by, I locked eyes with him for a split second.
"—HEY! HELP! PLEASE—!" he flared his arms towards us.
Noah's hands clutched his bag tighter, I could see the hesitation in his steps.
But I kept on moving.
We kept walking.
The shout followed us for a few steps, then broke into something quieter. A whimper.
The city swallowed the noise.
I told myself a lot of things in those few seconds just like I always used to.
Intervening would only make him suffer another day.
I don't want unnecessary stress.
What can I even do to help?
The rest of the journey was quiet as though we were merely enjoying each other's company and basking in the moment.
Noah didn't say a word about it. I'm glad he didn't.
As the Ward drew nearer, I wondered what sparks reflected in moments like that.
…
…
"Hey, guys, I made a new friend today!" Ray smiled at us as we passed through the front doors,
"Really?" Noah said, "what's he like?"
Ray had been assigned to class 1B, different from ours, 1C.
"He's a bit… clumsy,"
tap tap
Glancing at the stairs I turned back to him, "Well, that's good for you" I smiled sarcastically.
"Thank you!" he beamed as he sat on the couch.
Noah resumed walking towards our room.
Glancing at the stairs, I turned back to Ray, "So, what was your teacher like?"
"Well, she was a bit grumpy." he answered, scrolling through his phone,
"Oh, hey Noah" Noah bumped into Eliot at the base of the stairs.
"Hello Tom," Eli waved at me and turned to Ray "Hey, Ray? Do you know what we're having for lunch?"
"Probably Salad and some eggs," I glanced back as I climbed the stairs.
"What he said" Ray nudged his head in my direction.
…
The warm water ran down the length of my body as I cleaned myself in the shower, another reminder that the constant flow of essence in my body was unnatural, at least I shouldn't be able to feel it, not this way.
It started right after waking up in that cave, that shitty golden disco ball did something to me. I'm a bit glad Ray could help me get back or it'd have taken me much longer.
My spark apparently has something to do with my mind, basically, I can feel my body a lot. All my senses have been enhanced so much I cried, I just couldn't take it anymore.
I can literally feel my stomach and intestines doing their work, do you know it feels feeling how shit is formed and moving inside you?! It's very unnerving!
But it also lets me feel more than just poop…
I can feel essence flow from my heart, and through my veins, two immiscible liquids flowing through my veins, one hot and filled with vitality, the other cold, refreshing and filled with possibility.
I can feel my veins separating into two partitions as the more of this cool liquid flows through.
And the more I grow, I feel my heart changing as it pumps more of this refreshing liquid out and accepts even more in.
It's numbing…
And very amazing.