Ability Wielders - Chapter 149 Stargazing Augur

…..

Daniel and Starakt arrived at the footsteps of the Source Heart. Hayden can be seen amidst the fog, holding an Origin Crystal in his right hand and a Liqirian in the other. He was sitting in a lotus position.

“What are you doing?” Daniel bothered Hayden. “What you ‘reading’ there?”

“I’m memorizing the Roshist dictionary, the sentence structures, and the alphabet. If you can call this an alphabet, that is.” Hayden impassively said as if what he was doing was a trivial activity. “This is a cool language.”

“It has been developed for over a million years, after all.” Starakt seemed hurried. “I’ll leave the two of you here. I’m going to play my games.”

“Goodbye.” Daniel was the only one to bid Starakt goodbye. Hayden was focused on studying and minding his own stuff in general.

When Starakt was gone, Gaia materialized in front of Daniel, floating. “Daniel. You have three innate gifts within you.”

“Wait, you can read people’s Innate Gifts without…” Hayden ceased his reading of the Liqirian and questioned. “Uh… What?”

“I told you, I couldn’t use the traditional way of reading Innate Gifts on you.” Gaia’s specter form shrugged. “It’s something I have no control of.”

“Maybe it’s the mysterious Innate Gift.” Hayden accepted Gaia’s answer. “So, wait, you can unseal Daniel’s Innate Gifts without…”

“Without him being here.” Gaia completed Hayden’s line of thought. “As long as he’s on the island. Anyway, let’s get back to you. I can see that you have three Innate Gifts, all partially unlocked. The first is Supreme King. Second is something called Diplomat. And the third is… Soul Peering Eye. You’re a far-off descendant of the Kilch Family. Huh, your Soul Peering Eye is really pure… Are your parents…”

“No, they aren’t.” Daniel snorted. He then pondered something, “They’re not Forish, no way… No…”

“Well, let’s start unsealing it.” Gaia disregarded Daniel’s mini existential crisis. “They’re all partially unsealed, this will be easy.”

For the next six hours, Gaia unsealed Daniel’s Innate Gifts while Hayden continued his absorption of Origin Crystals and has started on his third one. He has even completely memorized the Roshist vocabulary, the complex ones and the common, as well as the alphabet and characters.

…

A few hours earlier, Philippines. 7:00 PM. Faye’s room.

For the entire day, Faye has been limit testing her Ability. Not wanting to reveal that she was a ‘superhero’ to the world, she couldn’t go outside. Hence, she stayed inside and did all sorts of body weight exercises.

What’s more, her Ability didn’t just enhance her physique. It enhanced her mental faculties and senses as well. Initially, she was a smart person, being the 9th smartest person after Hayden’s emergence in school. Presently, with the help of her Ability, she was able to calculate at immense speeds and was able to process so much information without being inundated or stressed.

A thought popped up in her mind. “Wait… Hayden was a nobody back in the… Is he… Did he…? Is that why he rejected me…? No way, right? There’s no way that he is a so-called Ability Wielder as well…. Right…?”

Faye sat atop her bed. “Does this mean that he cheats? No… That look of utter focus every time he does things aren’t fake… Well, he did learn my dance simply by watching it, but there are those people who can do this…”

Faye couldn’t deduce anything as she didn’t have any kind of relationship with Hayden before being classmates with him. Hell, she hasn’t even heard of his name till she noticed him in class.

“That guy is veiled in absolute mystery.” Faye shook her head. She slapped both of her cheeks. “Let’s stop thinking about him, shall we? I’m a superhuman now… I am a powerful woman.”

At that moment, her phone rang. It was her mother. She answered it. “Yes, mom?”

“Honey, do you want to go to Grande Mall?” Her mom asked sweetly. “Our company gave all of us the day off due to an incident.”

“Oh my, will we eat outside?” Faye expectantly inquired. “Will we eat at that Kusina ng Pinas (Kitchen of the Philippines) you’ve been bragging to me about?”

“You’re really excited, huh?” Her mom chuckled. “Okay, let’s eat there. Meet me at the Grande Mall as soon as possible, in Itim na Bituin.”

“Okay, mom, I’ll be there.” The two bade goodbye.

Faye quickly changed outfits into that of jeans and a white polo. She took off without carrying anything excluding her phone. She exited their building. A few steps later, a force hit her neck and she blacked out.

…

“Uh… What…” Faye groggily muttered, her head spinning. “What the hell happened?”

Opening her eyes, she observed her surroundings to be that of a… Training room? It was the training room of Pangkat Anino. Needless to say, Faye wouldn’t recognize it as she doesn’t know of Pangkat Anino.

She was handcuffed to a golden chair. The circular band that was wrapped around her wrist was black. For some reason, this black band was sapping her of her strength.

“Hello? Is anybody there?” Faye shouted out. A few seconds passed, and there was no reply. She attempted to activate her Ability, but couldn’t. “Really? It chooses to fail to activate now? Of all times?”

Without a warning, the door to her left swung open. In came a woman with a voluptuous figure wrapped in a tight spandex-like bodysuit that was designed to look like black mummy wrappings. Her face was hidden behind a mask with a galaxy-like design. Her hair was tied up in a ponytail.

“You’re awake.” The woman said. “Don’t bother activating your Ability, you can’t. That black cuff is made of Voidstone. It saps you of your strength. A Level 1 wielder cannot break through it.”

“Who are you?” Faye spoke with hostility. “Where am I? What are you doing to me?”

“Calm down, honey.” The woman walked up to her and knelt. She took off her mask. It was her mother, Olivia. “You’re in safe hands.”

“Mom?” Faye gawked at Olivia. “No… You’re… No… You’re a wielder? What about dad?”

“Yes, I am, honey.” Olivia smiled at Faye. A key materialized in her hand, freeing Faye of her shackle. “I couldn’t help notice that you awakened last night.”

Olivia’s jubilant expression then turned grim. “As for your father… He was a human. It’s really a pity I couldn’t save him. Aswang was a rampant and unassociated wielder at the time. Someone with a common, yet powerful, Ability. Unfortunately, Pangkat Anino was busy at that time as well.”

“Mom…” The atmosphere between the two plummeted. “Hey, let’s not talk about dad now. When did you awaken and become a wielder?”

“I’ve always been a wielder.” Olivia chuckled. “Tell me, what’s your Ability?”

“Tala, The Goddess of Stars.” Faye didn’t hide anything from her mom. “What about you-”

Faye couldn’t complete her sentence as Olivia forcefully put both of her hands on her shoulder. She wore a startled countenance. “C-Can you repeat the name of your Ability?”

“T-Tala, The Goddess of Stars.” Faye stammered. “W-why? What’s happening, mom? What’s up with this Ability?”

“You’re… Oh my…” Olivia was alarmed. “You awakened a terrifying Ability, Faye. You don’t know how valuable you are.”

Olivia enlightened Faye as to why she was acting this way. Among the wielders, there were those that can transform. Some can transform into stronger versions of animals, which were presumed to be past iterations of modern animals. Some can shift into mythical animals. Some can possess unimaginable ones that may seem like they popped out of a fantasy story altogether.

Amongst these countless transformation types was a special subset: High Gods. High God is a classification of Abilities that consist of those Abilities that can change a wielder into what is believed to be the past version of humans: High Gods.

Wielders who holds a High God Ability have tremendous strength and potential, capable of transcending the Levels of wielders. After all, it is believed that those that holds this kind of Ability are the ‘chosen ones.’ An example of this would be Gerald’s Apolaki, The Sun God.

There are two ways to differentiate a High God Ability and a transformation Ability that purely transforms a wielder into a human-shaped creature. First, is its name. Apolaki, The Sun God and Tala, The Goddess of Stars is clearly vastly different from Annie’s Celestial Tigris-Rhinoceros.

Second is its evolution path. All High God Abilities have a single evolution path. During the first Level, they acquire the body characteristics of the High God they embody. These comes in the form of tribal tattoos and a modification in skin coloration, at least for Filipino High God Abilities.

At Level 2, they will manifest an equipment, something that will never happen for a non-High God transformation-type Ability. At Level 3, they’ll be able to control their own native element. In the case of Gerald, he is able to manipulate solar energy.

At Level 4, one will be able to summon their ‘spirit animal,’ or more commonly known as their Avatars. For Gerald, it was a majestic lion that has solar flames for its mane. As for Level 5? Nobody knows.

For the matter of its passive, it’s more traditional. Its passive increases one’s overall physical, mental, and sensory condition.

“That is…” Faye didn’t know how to react. “You mean to say that I… Will have to fight? I’ve never fought someone in my life…”

The eyes of Olivia shifted into a pure image of a star-filled sky. It was beautiful and horrifying at the same time to witnessing something like that in real life. Upclose, too.

“Don’t worry, you’ll make a great fighter.” Olivia smiled at Faye.

“How do you…” Faye gazed deeply into the eyes of Olivia. “Mom, what’s your Ability? Is it involving the…?”

“Yes.” Olivia nodded. “It’s about reading the future.”

Olivia’s Ability was the Stargazing Augur. It is about interpreting the alignment and arrangement of the stars in the night sky. Well, this was more figurative than literal as her Ability is about ‘seeing the alignment and arrangement of the person’s stars.’ It was vague and only Olivia can really understand it.

Its first Level power is that she can dish out divinations of a person’s future by looking into their eyes and activating her Ability. Olivia can willingly choose what kind of reading she will give, such as a person’s love life, or their financial future. There’s a limit of one prophecy per day for each person.

Its second Level power is that she can look into the futures of two people or more. For example, if two people will get to end up with each other, or how someone will change an organization’s future.

Its third Level power is that she can now bring multiple prophecies on a person per day as long as she uses purified essence energy. However, the main power of her Level 3 Ability is that she can shoot out beams of stellar energy out of her eyes. The first and only attacking power she has.

“I used my Ability on you and saw that you will be extremely powerful.” Olivia rotated her body around, facing the door. “Come, I’ll answer your questions.”

As Olivia has promised, she answered all of Faye’s questions. Stories of when she awakened. Her own adventures. The tragic death of her father and why nobody saved him. About the state of the world of wielders in the Philippines. Regarding Abilities in general. And many more.

She was then brought to the office of Rhys. In there, Olivia officially introduced Faye to Rhys. Upon hearing of Faye’s Ability, Rhys drafted Faye into the organization in a heartbeat, being the second person to be recruited without the initiation.

Faye was passed on to Annie once everything was in order. Olivia stayed behind as she was asked to by Rhys.

“Your daughter, huh?” Rhys muttered. “Is she the one that you’ve predicted to be one of the ten children that will incite chaos in the world of wielders in the impending war?”

“Hayden with his unparalleled combat prowess. Daniel with his rare Ability. That woman Scarlet with her Gintong-Langit descent. Sophia with her support Ability. Zeke with his calculative prowess. Annie with her great power. Courtney with her illusions. Ayesha with her Bear of the North. And now Faye.” Olivia asseverated. “I don’t know how three recently awakened people such as Courtney, Ayesha, and Faye will fare, or contribute, in the war for that matter, but… My Ability has never been wrong.”

“We have trust in your Ability, Olivia.” Rhys’ voice was full of confidence. “The question is… Who is the tenth and final kid?”

Olivia shrugged, implying that she had nary the slightest idea. She was merely an augur, and her prophecies were vague. Even she can’t fully interpret its meaning.

“We’ll find them.” Rhys didn’t rush. “For the moment, we have to act fast and recruit Daniel, Scarlet, Zeke, Ayesha, and Courtney. War is nigh.”

…..

Somewhere in Cavite, Cavite City. In a high-rise apartment. In a luxurious bedroom. A handsome fair-skinned blonde was snoring away. A beautiful black-haired woman’s head lay on his muscular bare chest. They were both naked and was covered in a gray comforter.

The man opened his eyes precipitously and rolled out of bed, rousing the woman awake. Without a warning, a bullet perforated the woman’s head, spilling her blood.

“I liked that woman.” The man muttered begrudgingly. Hurriedly, yet calmly, the man put on the boxer briefs he found on the floor.

Once he wore it, he immediately propelled himself up. A bullet shot through the wall again, this time, from where his head was previously in. If he jumped a microsecond too late, he would have been dead by now.

Midair, a pair of glasses materialized in the man’s hand. Wearing the glasses, the man narrowed his eyes to look through the bullet hole. The man flashed a sinister smile, “I see you, sniper.”

Opening his right hand, a ghost-like cartoonish ghost donning a white cloth with two eyeholes came out of it. The ghost shot and raced towards the sniper from afar, phasing through the wall.

The surroundings became peaceful for a moment. No bullets went for the man’s head anymore. That was until the door to the room he was in was forcefully unlocked. The room was flooded in by people with soldier’s armor carrying modern guns. Written in the middle of the armor was Aguinaldo. It was written stylishly.

The sea of armored people parted. A beautiful white-haired woman sporting gray-and-white combat fatigue pants, combat boots, and a white shirt underneath a white jacket walked in.

“Really, Jackie?” The man raised his hands up in the air. “All this just because you slept with me for one night? There were no feelings attached, I thought that was out there?”

“Shut up, Danilo.” The woman named Jackie roared. “You toyed with me. I should have never slept with a Bonifacio. You will pay in hell, you fucking bastard.”

Jackie’s hands, alongside her feet, was engulfed in Iron Man-style gloves with a different color scheme of gray and white.

Unexpectedly, Danilo spun, sending out specters in different directions. These specters merged with everybody in the room. Danilo weightily closed his right hand. Every ‘body’ in the room was petrified, as if they were hit by Locomotor Hortis.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk.” Danilo sneered at Jackie, frolicking to her in a laidback manner. “Jackie, you really think I gave you all the information pertaining to my Ability? I’m not that gullible.”

Jackie’s eyes followed Danilo. Jackie’s eyes contained the burning hot rage of a million burning suns. “Well, farewell, Jackie. Enjoy being frozen in place for the next hour. I hope to never see you again.”

Danilo scampered till he was out of the apartment building. Once outside, Danilo removed his pair of glasses and sighed. “Guess I got to lay low for a moment, huh? Those Aguinaldos are really getting on my nerves these days.”

“Where would I want to go?” Danilo put both of his hands behind his head, his expression filling with contemplation. “I haven’t visited Dark Haven for a while… Am I really going to travel to NCR though? It’s far… Not to mention I can’t take the public transport as those Aguinaldos have ties with the police…”

Danilo stopped in his tracks when a middle-aged man with a lanky body and a wise physiognomy covered in a white beard blocked his way. Danilo recognized the man as the head of the Aguinaldo household, the ‘mafia’ of Cavite City.

“You were the one who r*ped my daughter?” The man menacingly queried. The wind around the Aguinaldo head blasted outwards, forcing Danilo to use his strength to hold his ground.

“I-is that what she told you?” Danilo didn’t back down. “Well, not like you’ll believe me even if I said that she consented… So, I’ll just get carried away, eh?”

Danilo ceased resisting the wind, resulting in him being carried away. In the middle of him flailing around in the air, a board, reminiscent to that of a surfboard, that had thrusters attached on the side, materialized in his hand. It was the new hoverboard that was recently released by the American technology development company, Thorns.

Danilo skillfully put the hoverboard whilst ‘flying.’ The hoverboard’s thrusters suddenly activated and accelerated the board, bringing Danilo with it.

“That kid…” The Aguinaldo family head rolled his eyes. “Well, there’s no hurry. Let’s mentally torture the kid before killing him.”

When the force of the wind ceased, Danilo looked back. He was perplexed as to why the Aguinaldo family head didn’t give chase. The Aguinaldo Family head was a Level 4 wielder. He can chase Danilo all he wants and Danilo would have no chance in hell of escaping.

“I see, he wants to hunt me down. Enjoy the thrill of the hunt.” Danilo navigated through the unusually desolate high-rise residential area of Cavite City. “Did the Aguinaldo family evacuate them? How sweet. Well, this is my chance to go back to Dark Haven.”

With an exhausted groan, Danilo put the hoverboard’s horsepower in full force. As he cruised on the road, he pondered, “I wonder what’s the state of Dark Haven… What kind of bounties will I be able to claim? Terra informed me last week that there’s that Hayden bounty of three million-credit bounty… And Daniel too… Well, let’s check for ourselves. Better call Terra that I’m stopping by as well.”