John’s words seem to echo throughout the completely silent room. The magnitude of his statement sink into their minds as their eyes continued to scan the images before them, rewriting the solidified knowledge they had been taught of the world. Regardless, nobody in the room could doubt his claims. 

“Do you think…it’s like a prophecy at all?” Tyrio asks, still uneasily looking at the drawings of ruins and lifeless bodies. 

“We surely can’t know that for certain, but obviously this tells us there’s a chance things can become awful,” John answers.

“With the type of shit that maniac was talking about I wouldn’t doubt it,” Korio says, remembering Stealth’s actions and goal of equality. 

“God damn, bro, I’m in too deep,” Carlos says rubbing his forehead with a smile. 

Tyrio and John chuckle, but the magnitude of their situation was beginning to rock them to the core like a vigorous earthquake. 

At least I understand things a bit more, Korio thought. Although their situation had increased in intensity, there was some comfort in having an explanation for his situation. 

“I think that getting stronger is going to be important going forward, I doubt that’ll be our last fight with a guy like that,” Korio insists. 

“I agree, your lives are clearly at stake so you should start putting the odds in your favor,” John replies, lifting from his seat. “Come back here tomorrow, I have something to help with that,” he finished. 

Instinctively, everyone else rises in unison, realizing it was getting late and time to go. Tyrio, Korio, and Carlos let John know they would be back tomorrow, and leave the building. The streetlights had already begun to glow and the soft sunset hung beautifully over the scene. It contrasts the heavy, dark block that seemed to weigh in their minds at the moment. 

“Are you guys actually gonna be back here tomorrow?” Carlos asks the brothers, turning to walk in the opposite direction. 

“Yeah for sure, we won’t leave you alone in there,” Tyrio replies with a smile. 

Carlos nods, and everyone continues on their way. Tyrio and Korio take the bus back the way they came and hop back on the train home. 

“Are you scared?” Tyrio asks Korio, subconsciously harboring a feeling of shock.

“Now that you’re asking, I guess that I am. I mean we should be though, right?” Korio replies, staring out the window. 

“Yeah. Let’s make sure to stay on our toes, and hopefully nobody comes for us in our sleep.” 

“Now why would you even say that, bro,” Korio replies, with a tilted head and squinting examination of his brother. 

Tyrio laughs. “My fault,” he says, tapping his chest. 

They remain silent as they complete the rest of their trip back home, at least finding comfort in having each other’s company. As long as they could remember, if “nothing” was there their brother still was. Their presence for each other was as familiar as the air they breathed. The only reason they remained sane in the foster center and neglectful homes was each other’s companionship. By the time they get off the bus and walk down their street the sun has fully set. Regardless, Zahkire is still practicing alone under the dim, flickering lights of the basketball courts. As Tyrio and Korio pass by, the only interaction Zahkire spares them is a glance and stone faced nod. The brothers return the favor, able to see the resolve and intensity in his eyes clearly. The brothers finally make it into their apartment and breeze past a napping Steve, exhausted from their unthinkable day. 

Tyrio and Korio change out of their street clothes into something more comfortable, and sprawl onto their beds with fatigue that’s seemed to be getting more common these days. 

“When it comes to our safety at least, I can’t say I’m not used to a situation like this though, but remember what I had got into with those guys around the corner? Looking out for these monsters isn’t much different than that,” Korio explained. 

Tyrio sat in silence for a moment, painfully reminiscing of those times. Suddenly, he laughs. 

“So, you think that this isn’t any scarier than a gun? I don’t think they are using anything that calm,” Tyrio rebuttals. 

“It’s not like they’re the only ones that are dangerous,” Korio replies. 

Awkward silence follows. 

“You thought that shit sounded cold or somethin’?” Tyrio asks with a grin spread across his face. 

Korio side-eyes him. “Alright bro. But nah seriously I feel a little obligated to fight against whoever that Stealth dude works with. They’re definitely cooking up some apocalypse or something.” 

Tyrio scratches his head. “I don’t know man, do you really think we should make this our responsibility?”

Korio stares at the floor for a moment. “I know we didn’t ask for this but it would feel kind of wrong to be bystanders at this point,” he responds.

Tyrio closes his eyes, allowing the dark confessions of Stealth sharply slash through his mind. 

“You definitely make a good point, and it’s not like we can just run if we get attacked again,” Tyrio responds, chills scrambling through his body. 

After scrolling through videos on their phones for some time as a distraction from their circumstances, eventually Tyrio and Korio commit to getting some sleep. The next morning the brothers’ routine plays out normally, although they’re both oddly anxious to go back to the camp and see what other surprises John has in store for them. Once more, they walk down their street with the blazing sun flaunting its heat emphatically even through the cloudy day. It was now the first of July, and just like the month the energy of their lives was changing. 

After a quiet trip, Tyrio and Korio reach the camp to find John and Carlos laughing together on the couch. 

“What’s so funny?” Tyrio asks, wanting to be included. 

“Well, it won’t be as funny if we try to explain it again, you know,” John explained through bursts of laughter. “Now that you’re all here though, let me show you guys something.” 

John stands from his seat and begins walking down the hallway through the center of the building. The brothers and Carlos follow until suddenly what they believed was a simple solid wall at the end of the hall begins to transform. A white light starts to fade into existence upon the wall, in the shape of a doorway. The outlined section of the door suddenly rises upwards, unveiling itself as an open path to another room. As they walked inside with expressions of awe, the overwhelming amount of black surrounded them. The entire room consisted of matte black floors and walls, with bright white lights on the ceiling illuminating the area. In the back of the room were black two sets of what could be assumed as either elevators or sliding door closets. The room was completely vacant of any objects or any sort of furniture. 

“What the hell is this?” Carlos asks, scanning the eerie room that had nothing to be found. 

“One of the most important areas of this place, if you couldn’t tell from the hidden door I installed myself,” John replied with fabricated irritation. “Here you’ll be able to freely experiment with your new abilities, the entire room is basically invulnerable to your power and completely sound-proofed.” he elaborated. 

“Did you build this too?” Korio asked, sliding his fingers along the smooth wall. 

John scoffed. “Of course I did! An infusion of synthetic diamonds and other metals, finished with a coating of a highly resistant gel compound containing various Supersun energy laced artifacts ground to dust and spread through it,” he intricately explained.

“I’m guessing that helps our power get…absorbed basically?” Korio asked.

“Exactly, think of it like pouring water into a lake,” John says. 

“What’s up with the doors over there?” Tyrio questions, pointing to the back of the room. 

“Oh, nothing special. Just a few dummies, weights, punching bags, you get the idea,” John replied. “But I’m gonna go now! You guys should get busy in here right away, you’re my only shields if a monster like that shows up again.” 

John turns around and walks out of his extraordinary door casually.

“Shields…?” realizes Carlos.

 And just like that, they begin trying all sorts of new things with their power. Tyrio sparks his lightning at the black wall violently, and watches it be completely erased with no trace. Korio began to launch controlled shockwaves from his palm, watching the way his energy released and spread like a violently blossoming flower. Curious as to how his punches had seemed to create the same effect when they landed, he slams his fist into the wall. On que, the contact naturally creates an emerald explosion that is harmless to its target. Besides the incredible speed and strength the Supersun provides, Carlos has failed to find anything else he can use his power to do. 

“How do you do that?” Carlos asked Tyrio, watching him emit lightning comfortably. 

Tyrio stares at him for a moment. 

“It kind of just comes out I guess,” Tyrio replies, starting to realize that star users seem to have specific abilities. 

“I don’t think we can do what each other can do, can we?” Korio asked, finding himself on the same page as Tyrio. 

“We could try,” he responds, somewhat certain it won’t work.

They were right, trying to replicate each other’s lightning or shockwaves seemed to be impossible, and Carlos couldn’t do either. Korio read his disappointed expression. 

“I don’t think I would have ever known how to do this if I didn’t get into a fight,” Korio says. 

Carlos thinks for a moment. “Let’s fight then, or spar at least,” he follows, breaking eye contact with Korio’s contemplating stare. 

“I guess that could help,” says Korio. 

After a few seconds of silence, Korio dashes towards Carlos swinging, meaning to give him a true feeling of emergency. Although feeling no true malice, Carlos swiftly evades the attack with blue light streaming from him. Korio charges in once more, and upon sidestepping him Carlos attempts to follow with a counterattack. As the thought commands his body, almost uncontrollably his hands move in position as if he was holding a sword. A shining ray of blue illuminance sprouts from his hands, and transforms into a longsword purely made of energy. As he sharply swings his sword towards the back of Korio’s throat, he stops himself calmly. The cobalt weapon feels overly familiar in his hands, just as if he’d fought with it many times before. He slowly raises his sword, and watches it crumble away into thin air with a trace of glowing particles. Tyrio and Korio marvel at the remnants of the fading weapon and Carlos also seems to have startled even himself. 

“I think that was it,” Carlos says, still admiring the last few stranglers of his fading energy particles. 

Tyrio steps closer. “Do you think you can make it happen again?” 

Carlos nods, and casually creates a glistening sword of energy once more in his grasp. 

“It feels so easy now,” Carlos says, swinging the weapon around aptly. “It’s a little boring though, don’t you think?” 

Tyrio laughs. “I don’t know if you can call any of this boring bro.” 

Carlos attempts to make another sword in his free hand, and as it successfully forms scatters visions flash through his mind. Like they were his own faraway memories, sights of what appeared to be his own hands dual-weld swords just as he was at the moment. He could eternally feel the determination and fury of the cloudy, fragmented situation. Standing near the beautiful garden of what looked to be some sort of battle-stricken, partially ravaged village, he could almost feel the warm air passing over his wounds sensitively just as he’d supposedly felt then, giving him a stifling chill through his body. 

That wasn’t me, was it? Carlos asked himself, as his swords removed themselves from reality. 

“See, it’s pretty cool!” Tyrio exclaims. 

Carlos’ face is still twisted and frozen in an expression of sudden confusion. 

“Something wrong?” Tyrio asks. 

Carlos shakes his head. “I was just thinking about something,” he says, assuming he was just remembering a movie or an old dream. 

Finally, they decide to head out back into the “living room” of the camp. 

“Sooo, learn anything new today guys?” John asks, tilting his head sideways with folded hands and a smile. 

Tyrio, Korio, and Carlos share side-eye looks with each other, feeling a laugh creeping up behind their smiles. 

“You’re too tall to be acting like this man.” Carlos says, causing everyone including John to cackle. “I guess we did though,” he continued, through the final heavy breaths of his laughter.

“John, how old are you?” Tyrio asks curiously. Although being a brilliant adult, he still seemed to have humor similar to a peer. 

“I’m twenty-six,” John says, placing his hand on his chest. “I feel old,” he follows, dramatically looking to the floor. 

Tyrio stretched. “Yeah, I know what you mean. I’ll be a full adult in less than a year!” he says as a truthful joke. “What were you doing at my age?” 

“Seventeen years old?” John asked himself. “Definitely focused on basketball and my girlfriend. And working with my dad of course. Skating, being tall, you get the idea,” he answered as he looked towards the ceiling in thought. 

Tyrio nods and laughs. “Good to hear you didn’t waste that height, a little hard to picture you on a skateboard though. Do you have a girlfriend now?”

John’s expression became humorless.

“Nope,” he answers, sending a jolt of subtle sadness into Tyrio. 

After saying goodbye, everyone went their separate ways and headed back home. After getting back in the apartment bedroom, Korio realized there was someone they should be filling in on what’s been going on.