Gifted

## Chapter I

### Taylor

Taylor Notan, 16, sat at his desk fidgeting with an implement of some sort. As he did this, the rest of the students in his class dutifully read their assigned selections. But Taylor had already finished, sort of. His mind was on other things. Specifically the girl next to him, Silvia Claris, Taylor's long time friend and crush. Soon later, the bell to end school rang, and Taylor gathered up his supplies and ran to the door.

"Where are you going in such a hurry, Tails?" called Silvia.

"I've got somewhere to go, Silv." Taylor hesitated. "You know, you can come if you like."

Silvia shrugged. "Sure, why not?" She runs to catch up with Taylor. After a few moments of silence along the beaten path leading from the school, Silvia said, "Sooo, Tails. Where is this place that you're taking me?"

Taylor grins. "You'll see." He then runs up the path, leaving Silvia to catch up.

Silvia laughs. "Slow down, Tails!"

He complies, slowing his pace so that he walks beside Silvia. "Seriously though, I feel like you'll like where I'm taking you."

"I hope so. It would really suck if I didn't."

Taylor shrugs. "I'm sure that you'll like it." They had now gone further down the beaten path than they had before.

Silvia frowns. "Tails?"

"Yeah, Silv?"

"Doesn't this go right up the mountain?"

"Yep."

"Taylor, where the hell are you taking me!?" She says, displaying a rare usage of Taylor's real first name.

"I told you, it's a surprise."

Later, Taylor and Silvia had left the wood they had been in before, and the final destination was evident. The lookout building on the top of the mountain.

"Tails, the lookout building? Isn't that off-limits?" asked Silvia with a frown.

"Hah, very funny. Nothing's off-limits with us, you should know that."

"So we're just gonna break into the place?"

"No, I have the keys."

Silvia laughs. "Well, what are we waiting for then?"

"Don't you want to know how I got these?" Taylor is now waving the keys around.

"That can wait. You were right, Tails, I like it."

"Hah, I told you, Silv." They began their climb up the steep path.

Several minutes later, they reached the high locked gate in front of the lookout building.

"Here, Silv, do the honors." Taylor tosses the keys to Silvia. She almost misses, but doesn't. She walks up to the gate and unlocks it. They go inside and head up the steps to the lookout building. Taylor was ahead, Silvia having to retrieve the keys, and he reached the top first. It was now around 6. When Taylor reached the top, he froze. "Silvia!" He whisper-yells, "Go back down, go back down!"

"What?" Silvia disregards Taylor's warning and move up top. Then she sees what Taylor saw. A showdown between two men in front of the building. The man facing Silvia and Taylor sees them, and reacts. He is immediately shot down by the other man. Neither Taylor nor Silvia could move, due to their terror.

"Hah, serves him right, ADHD bastard. Never could focus on the task at hand," says the man who is still alive. He slowly turns towards Taylor and Silvia.

His eyes light upon Taylor. "Goddamnit. Interfering little son of a bitch," he says. His eyes turn to Silvia. "And a whore he's brought- DAMNIT!" On that last word, the man's eyes widen, and he brings the gun up to Silvia's head level and fires.

## Chapter II

### Silvia

Many thoughts flashed through Silvia's head as the bullet flew towards the aforementioned body part. She saw, or rather *felt* Taylor moving beside her. What was he doing? Did he intend to jump in front of the bullet? No, even he wasn't that stupid. Was he running away? No, he would never do that. Would he? If it was the latter, Tails would die pointlessly. But Silvia realized an easy way out of the situation. She ducked. The bullet flew over her head.

"Holy hell, she's got better reflexes than Dorothy!" yells the man. He levels the gun for another shot, then seemed to change his mind. "C'mere, you Elemental whore!" He runs towards Silvia. She gets up and runs with Taylor.

"Silv, head to the old place!" yelled Taylor, "I'll meet you there! I'll curve around and hit this guy over the head or something!"

"No, Tails!" Silvia screams at him, "Don't just leave me to this idiot!"

"What else're we gonna do, Silv!?"

"I don't know!" yelled Silvia.

But they couldn't find a place to safely get down the mountain. The man captured Silvia, and not wishing to be separated, Taylor gave himself over. Thus the adventure began.

"I know you're a Elemental, I know it!" yelled the man at Silvia, who was held at gunpoint.

"I have no clue what you're talking about!" she replied. Taylor would've testified, but he was treated almost worse than Silvia, and he was gagged.

"You shut your mouth! Now where's your tattoo..."

"My what now?"

"I said shut up! Pull your shirt up, so I can look for the tattoo."

"What!?"

"Do it!" When Silvia did nothing, the man ripped her shirt off.

"Hey! You can't just do that, you pervert!"

"For the last time, SHUT UP!" Thee man immediately spots something. A small black curvy arrow, at the base of Silvia's spine. "Hah, I knew it! You can never hide, you bloody Vinya Ora!" He pulls his gun back out, and prepares to fire it into Silvia, but this time, she was tied down. Just then, several figures appear out of nowhere.

"Put the gun down, Matthias!" says one of the figures, a man who could've passed as Matthias' brother.

"Gah!" Matthias turns around and points his gun at the other man, than realizes of all the guns pointed at him.

"Damnit, Matthias...." says one of the men. He then fires his gun. Matthias crumples to the ground.

"Steve! What the fuck, he was giving up..." says the head guy. The three other men remove Matthias' corpse, and untie Silvia and Taylor.

'What the hell was that about...." says Taylor as he hands Silvia her slightly torn shirt. "And that tattoo.... ....why're you tattooed?"

"I don't know, Tails, I don't know." She puts her shirt back on, and heads over to the head armed man, Taylor following.

"But wouldn't you know if you were tattooed?"

"Well, I certainly would think so."

"But..."

"Sir, who the hell was that?" Silvia asks the head armed man.

"A troublemaker, nothing more. Now go home." There is a cold look in the man's eye.

Silvia and Taylor make their way down the mountain, to the wooded neighborhood where they both lived was located. Silvia looked down, and saw a humungous fire in the spot where their houses stood.

"Oh my god, Tails, look!" she screams.

"Huh?" Taylor looks over. "Oh, God, there's nothing left....

## Chapter III

### Taylor and Silvia

*Several weeks later, Silvia and Taylor are hiding out at a farm, trying to avoid capture from the police. Something strange is happening as well. . .*

"Silv, there's someone that you need to meet here." says Taylor.

Silvia is flustered. "What!? Who?"

"She has the same symbol you do on her arm. She was, well, she didn't seem to know what she was doing, and she says that she has little recollection of how she got here."

"Hmm..." Silvia follows Taylor up to the main house. Inside, a girl around their age sits at the table. She has long orange hair, and blue eyes, and a very bewildered expression on her face.

Silvia walks up to her and says, "Hello, I'm Silvia Claris."

"I-I'm Joy Hearen, i-it's nice to m-m-meet you," she replies, shaking Silvia's hand, still frowning.

"Joy. Tell Silv what you told me about how you got here," Taylor asks her.

"W-w-well, I remember my family, m-my school, my previous city, e-everything. But then I woke up in Calis, and I-I have no clue how I got there."

"Joy, I heard there is a tattoo on your arm?" says Silvia.

"T-tattoo? It's a b-birthmark. I've h-had it my whole life." She shows Silvia the underside of her left arm. On there, there is a black mark exactly the same as the one on Silvia's lower back.

"Do you have a place to stay, Joy?" asks Taylor.

"N-no..."

"Say, you could stay here. Silv, what do you think?"

"Um, well, I guess it'd be alright." Silvia replies.

"So I can stay here then?" asks Joy.

"Sure."

A few days later, something odd happens. A cop comes stumbling into the farmhouse, and accosts Taylor.

"You've done something wrong, I know it! You've got a guilty look on your face!" he yells.

"What the hell, I've done nothing," Taylor replies, bewildered. *Why the hell would he not accusing me of any particular crime? He's just here by luck, and wasn't actually looking for me?*

Just then, Silvia walks in. The cop doesn't notice, and slaps Taylor across the face. "Damn liar!"

"Hey, what the hell!" says Silvia.

"Oh, I see, you're hiding out here with your girlfriend." says the cop.

"What? Get out of here." says Silvia.

"Take one step closer to me, and I'll shoot a bullet through your delinquent boyfriend's skull," the cop says, pulling out a pistol.

Taylor could now see that this wasn't just an ordinary cop. *Why the hell is he going rogue like this?*

"Agh!" Silvia clenches her fists, and some kind of silver mist pools around her feet. Taylor thought he imagined it at first, but then, the mist reared up and knocked the cop to the ground.

"What the hell!?" yelled Taylor.

"I don't know!" replied Silvia. The mist coated the cop, and apparently asphyxiated him, because the next minute he was dead, the silver mist dissipated into the air.

In the midst of this, Joy had just walked in.

"W-w-what w-was that?" she asked.

"Yeah, Silv, you were obviously controlling it." accused Taylor, now standing up with a frown on his face.

"I-I didn't mean to do it... ...It just sorta came out..."

"Hmmmm, this reminds me of something Wolf used to talk about..." said Taylor.

"Tails, really? That crazy orphan kid?" replied Silvia.

"C'mon Silv, he wasn't crazy."

"He most certainly was. No one can talk to plants."

"Silv, no one can control aggressive mist either."

"Tails, do you even know where Wolf is?"

"Yes. 2076 Birchplank Lane."

"You sound pretty sure of yourself."

"I am." He grins.

The next day, at the address Taylor said.....

Taylor, Silvia, and Joy all stood at the doorstep of the house. It was a simple house, with a porchswing and comfy chair on the porch, like something you'd expect at a retirement home. Taylor knocks thrice upon the door. A badly-shaven, skinny seventeen-year-old steps out.

"Tails, Silv? That you?" he asks.

Taylor grins. "Yep, that's me."

Silvia grins as well, but not as enthusiastically as Taylor. "And me."

"Oh, that's amazing! It's been so long!" He hugs them both in turn. "And who's this?" he asks, referring to Joy.

"Oh, I-I-I'm th-their f-f-f-friend, J-J-J-Joy," she says, even more nervous than usual. She puts her hand behind her head, one of her nervous tics. In this, Wolf sees her birthmark. His eyes widen.

"Come inside please," he says, and ushers the three of him into his house.

The inside of the house was predictably like the outside, like what you'd expect at a retirement home. They sit in a clean living room, on clean couches and chairs.

"Silv, Tails..." Wolf begins, "Joy is a Gifted. An Elemental. A Vinya Orya."

"And so is Silv, apparently." says Taylor.

"Wait, what?" Wolf says in surprise.

"It's true." Silvia stands up and exposes the small of her back, and the birthmark there.

Wolf's eyes widen further, making him look like a drug addict. "Wait... So, you're telling me... That you two have magic powers like me?"

"I-I-I d-d-don't..." says Joy.

Silvia purses her lips. "I seem to, though."

From Wolf, "What kind?"

"Some kinda weird silver mist."

"Ah, you're a Mestii Orya."

"Hang on, Wolf," Taylor interrupted, "*You* have these powers?"

Wolf turns to Taylor and shrugs. "Yep." He pulls down the sleeve of his right arm, and on his bicep is the tattoo/birthmark.

"But what does it *mean?*"

"It means that the Vanguards are coming. This many Vinya Orya? Yep, that's real trouble."

"And what the hell is a Vanguard?"

Wolf looks grim. "Alphae Vi Orya. They're like, well... They are the mortal enemy of the Vinya Orya... Hmmm. I'd better start at the beginning."

"Please do."

"Well, around 200 years ago, scientists, well, they, um.... bred humans and aliens. Then studied them. And figured out how to make them more powerful. Eventually, instead of using mating... they simply augmented humans with synthetic DNA of the aliens. That's when the first Vinya Orya were born. Then, several years later.... many escaped. And somehow, children of completely human, um, humans became Vinya Orya. And no one knows why. Anyway, the people responsible for creating the Vinya Orya created the Alphae Vi Orya, and tasked them with finding and killing all of the Vinya, and, again, we still don't know why."

"That's very interesting..."

"Quite."

Taylor thought for a moment. "And these Vanguards, what do they even look like?" he asks.

"Just like normal humans, like Vinya. They do have birthmarks, but they are in the shape of a diamond rather than an arrow."

"And what kind of powers do they have?"

"Usually just strong telekinesis or some kind of firepower."

"That doesn't sound very bad."

"Well, it's usually much worse than anything a Vinya could do."

"How are we going to escape these things?"

"Now that 3 or 4 Vinya are gathered in the same room, we can't. I'm almost certain that Vanguards can track us down."

Taylor stands up angrily. "Why the hell did you let us in here then!?"

Wolf winces. "It didn't cross my mind at the time, I am very impulsive."

Silvia stands up, beside Taylor. "You are one insane bastard, you know that!?"

Then, the ceiling falls in in the middle of the living room. A teen boy, not older than Wolf, lies spread-eagled on the carpet. As Taylor peers over at him, he notices a perfect diamond tattoo on the boy's neck.

## Chapter Four

The boy stands up and turns. There is an insane smile on his face, and half of his face is coated in blood. It wasn't his. He opens his mouth and laughs. His teeth are stained, as well. Joy reels back, horrified, as the boy whips towards her. The others back up, save Wolf, who tackles the boy in the waist.

"RUN!" he yells, as the boy whips his arm around, while it lengthens and glows, and chops Wolf's body in two.

"NOO!" yelled Silvia and Taylor at the same time. "H-h-holy fuck. W-w-wolf j-just..." said Silvia. Taylor put his arm around Silvia, both of them crying, and they ran. They ran for a long time, Joy still running along. They ran into the forest and then they collapsed. No one knew what to do. Silvia and Taylor weren't in any condition to take care of themselves, and Joy wasn't much better.