The morning air hung still and cool, a thin layer of mist clinging to the dew-drenched grass of the park. Zazm and Kiyomasa stood near the edge of a winding path, the silence broken only by the distant chirp of unseen birds. It was unsettlingly empty; no joggers, no dog walkers, no children playing. Just the two of them.
Zazm still lost in his thoughts and Kiyomasa standing there not knowing what to do and why Zazm has called him here.
He finally spoke, "Zazm...umm what did you want to talk about?" His voice low and concerning.
Zazm's brow furrowed, a strange tension tightening his jaw. "Kiyomasa," he said, his voice low, "can you come here for a second?"
Kiyomasa, oblivious to the shift in Zazm's demeanor, turned and walked towards his newly found friend, a slight smile on his lips. "What is it?" he asked, his voice light.
Before Kiyomasa could take another step, Zazm's hand lashed out. A sharp, precise blow landed on the back of Kiyomasa's neck.
"Sorry."
Kiyomasa's eyes widened in surprise, then glazed over, his body going limp. He crumpled to the ground, unconscious.
Zazm, with a surprising display of strength, swiftly moved to support the falling Kiyomasa. He crouched, then hoisted the unconscious man onto his shoulder, the weight settling heavily.
"I need to check it," He straightened, Kiyomasa's limp form draped over his back. A strange, almost clinical calm settled over Zazm's face as he turned and began to walk away, the soft crunch of his footsteps on the gravel path the only sound in the unnerving silence of the deserted park.
"This will do," Zazm looked down a river flowing in the back of the park, he checked around to see if there were people or not but there was not a living soul in the area.
Zazm glanced at the unconscious Kiyomasa on his shoulder and then jumped in the river but before hitting the water he disappeared.
Zazm placed Kiyomasa's unconscious body carefully on the ground, he looked around the ruins to check one more time if there are people nearby or not.
"It's good, I found this place." While on his run from the house to the main streets he saw a big ruined place which had extremely hard and dangerous path leading towards it and he perfectly analyzed the place in case something happened.
"Everything is fine now." Zazm closed his eyes and after he opened them, his eyes now completely different.
He carefully got up and started looking around to find Kiyomasa's threads and...."there."
He quickly raised his hand and his threads started wrapping around Zazm's hand. Suddenly several other threads, started flowing around it.
Those threads flowed the same irregular way but they were way more stable and shiny.
Zazm gulped as his eyes widened in surprise, the sudden realization made him go deep into thought for a second and suddenly a fierce pain assaulted his head.
"Ahh," Zazm sat down holding his head with both his hands. "Fuck, I lost concentration," A drop of blood flowed down from Zazm's right eye.
He quickly took out a tissue and wiped the blood off, he sat there holding his head for a while before finally standing up. "I shouldn't lose focus or something worse can happen."
He quickly started focusing again and all the threads became more visible to him, once again Kiyomasa's threads wrapped around his hand.
He started spinning his hand in the direction of the thread's spin, slowly his entire hand had become a huge ball of thread. It looked like a ball or yarn.
Zazm finally looked at Kiyomasa and there was no longer any threads flowing from his body and he..... wasn't breathing anymore.
Zazm carefully started running Kiyomasa's threads through his marks, this process was way more hard than he had expected.
Nox's threads were simple, he just had to use the threads that flew out of his mark because that's where the main power source of Zazm and Jahanox was.
But Kiyomasa didn't had a source, his entire body was the vessel itself. Every thread in his body was the same as the threads from their marks.
So the only way for Zazm to know his powers or to make those threads stable was to check all of his threads together but the threads continues to flow as long as a person breathes.
Zazm didn't wanted that much trouble, he took out all the threads in Kiyomasa's body and froze his body in time. By doing this no more threads would be required and the sudden disappearance of threads won't harm Kiyomasa.
The beautiful threads started flowing through Zazm's mark, an intricate design of complex lines with an hourglass in the middle. One by one all the threads passed through the mark and started to become stable.
The threads that were once extremely unstable now seemed at peace, they flowed more smoothly and started to move more freely, it was as if some chains that held them back was removed.
"This power....." Zazm looked at Kiyomasa and a smirk appeared on his face, a chilling smile. Zazm felt his legs shaking, he calmed himself down and carefully coated Kiyomasa's threads with his own.
'I need to be careful,' Kiyomasa's threads started glowing and the more Zazm's threads covered his the more shiny they become.
The sun had already reached the horizon, Zazm's clothes were wet from sweat, his hair sticked to his forehead and neck but he remained focused on the threads.
The world didn't moved for him, it was still, several hours had passed but Zazm didn't budge, he was carefully coating every single one of Kiyomasa's threads.
The threads that wrapped around Zazm's hand had now once again formed a huge ball but this time it was much brighter and vibrant.
Zazm carefully placed that hand near Kiyomasa and all the threads started flowing inside Kiyomasa, it was a scene straight out of some sci-fi fiction. The scene was so beautiful it even made Zazm adore it for a while.
The beautiful threads continued to flow into Kiyomasa's body and Zazm fell down on the ground, he once again looked at Kiyomasa to check if everything is fine and after that he laid on his back.
He let out heavy breaths catching his breath and he spread his arms for more air.
"This is a fun power now." A smirk appeared on Zazm's face, as he continue to catch his breath.
"So, there are more people with powers huh?" Zazm asked himself in a low voice. The already silent area felt more silent as Zazm said it.
He sat down and crossed his legs, "How many? Where?"
Zazm looked at Kiyomasa and only a few threads remained that floated above him, "And why did he had no mark like us? Did the other don't have any mark either?"
Zazm put a hand through his hair putting it back from his head and eyes, "Too many questions, the more I answer them the more lost I become."
Zazm felt a pang of disappointment, it had become a common thing for him now, the more he tried to find answers the more he tried to make sense of things, the more they seemed out of hand.
"But... They can't use their powers without me," Zazm was sure about this one thing and this was his biggest advantage, he knew if others didn't had a mark that means they would never know they have powers.
Even if they have a mark they would simply live with after a while thinking it's some weird phenomenon or something. The threads of those with power can't be used until stabalized and the only way to stabilize them is to accurately guide them on the path.
And without Zazm's power it wasn't possible to do that and even if they did that they won't know their power. Zazm let the threads flow through his so he can observer them at an atomic level and saw what's inside them.
Zazm lifted his hand and twisted it slightly, Kiyomasa's body which was frozen in time now fell sideways on the ground. He wuickly started breathing and everything in his body became normal.
Zazm slapped his face a few, slowly he started opening his eyes as he heard a raspy voice waking him up, "Hey, Kiyo. Wake up! Come on man."
Kiyomasa slowly opened his eyes and saw Zazm sitting next to him, slapping his face. He quickly sat down next to him.
"Zazm?" Kiyomasa quickly looked around to find himself in an abandoned place, he looked confused and frightened, it was nearly evening, he looked back at Zazm and spoke in a frightened voice.
"Did you bring me here? What happened?" Zazm didn't replied to him and after a while he got up and dusted his clothes, Kiyomasa also quickly stood up besides Zazm.
"Hey, tell me." He walked near Zazm but Zazm stayed silent.
"Kiyo." Zazm finally spoke in a low and concerning voice, 'Should I tell him?' Zazm didn't know what to do, he can tell Kiyo about his powers and can add him to his team but...
'But is it better to let him live a quiet life?' Zazm knew the path he had chosen is not easy by any means, he knew he was alone and if something were to happen to him no one would care.
But Nox and Kiyo, though he just met Kiyo he can tell he had a loving family that look after him and had made him into a good person.
He never wanted to involve Nox too, but he knew Nova won't sit still. "What is it?" Zazm looked back at Kiyo who kept asking Zazm questions.
Zazm's mind asked him several questions too, he didn't know what to do, Zazm needed people, some others. He didn't knew what was in store for future and the more people he can gather the better.
He cleched his fists and with a sudden movement he got up. He walked closely to the edge and looked at the sunset for a while, he glanced to his side and Kiyo still asking him something.
Zazm spoke with a soft tone, "Kiyo." The word lingered in the silence. Kiyomasa was also caught off guard but he tilted his head and asked Zazm in a confused voice, "Yes?"
Zazm walked a little more closer to the edge and turned around to Kiyo, "Come here."
Kiyomasa frighteningly walked towards Zazm, he looked down to see the cliff, he knew if he fell from here it was over, he turned around and ....
His eyes widened in surprise as he saw his body mid air, Zazm stood at the top of the cliff with stone cold eyes and expressionless face.
Tears started welling up in Kiyomasa's eyes, he wanted to shout, to speak, to ask him why did he paused him but not a single word came out, he was simply too frightened.
He closed his eyes accepting the reality and just as he embraced himself from the impact he stopped, he slowly opened his eyes, he definitely stopped but why didn't he felt any pain?
"Wh-what?" He slowly moved his eyes to look around and he found himself a few inches above the ground in the air. His eyes widened in surprise and he started freaking out but he couldn't move his body.
"What's what's GOING ON??" Kiyomasa couldn't do anything besides moving his eyes and speaking.
"Chill out you aren't dead," Kiyomasa slowly turnes his eyes and saw Zazm sitting there on a rock, his eyes widened in surprise and no words left his mouth.
Zazm got up and started walking towards Kiyo, a sudden chill ran down Kiyomasa's body as his remembered that stone cold expression.
Zazm walked near him and just as he lifted his hand Kiyomasa fell on the ground, he looked around still confused as to what happened. He didn't know what to say.
He was about to speak but Zazm continued his words first, "Surprised? I definitely pushed you up from that height and yet you survived, How? How did I get here before you safely?"
Kiyomasa's eyes widened in surprise, "How?"
"How do I know what you're thinking? Let me explain." Zazm spoke in a low voice as he helped Kiyo got up.
"I have supernatural powers, to be more precise the more to control time and space."
Kiyo quickly twisted his neck towards Zazm he let out a dry laugh, "You-you're joking right?"
Zazm didn't replied to him and continued, "What you saw just now was the power of time, I froze your body and all the particles including gravity that's how you survived."
"Wait what?" Kiyomasa still couldn't understand what was happening but things were finally starting to make sense. "Now looked at this." Zazm spoke as he closed his eyes.
A beautiful portal started forming Infront of the Kiyomasa's eyes widened in surprise and only word escaped his lips, "Pretty." He admired the beauty of the portal before Zazm jumped in it with Kiyo.
Kiyo instinctively closed his eyes but when he opened them he found himself back at the top before he could speak anything Zazm spoke, "This is the power of space or teleportation."
Kiyo didn't speak anything for a while as if processing things and Zazm gave him time to do so.
With a frightened tone Kiyomasa finally spoke, "Why are you telling me all this? And how?"
Zazm replied, "I'm telling you this because you're one of us, besides me my friend also have powers, as for how." Zazm simply shrugged at that part, "I don't know, I just woke up and I had them."
Kiyomasa found himself in a weird place he didn't knew what to say or how to react, "I'm one of you?" He asked his voice slowly dropping to a low whisper, the voice contained a hint of sadness but there was also a hint of excitement.
"Yes, you have supernatural powers just like us, even if you don't have a mark you can use their powers." Zazm finally finished.
"So.....what are my powers?" Kiyomasa asked Zazm in a worried tone.
"Before I tell you always remember this," Zazm's eyes turned dark as he looked Kiyo straight into the eyes, He straighted out at the stern gaze on him.
"No matter what happens you must never tell anyone about it, if this gets out we would be treated worse that lab rats." Zazm's voice contained hatred and acceptance.
Kiyo nodded and spoke, "I know that but how did you know that I had powers?"
A smile appeared on Zazm's lips as he said, "Well I should probably tell you what's going on," Zazm put his hands in his pockets and started his explanation.
With every single word leaving Zazm's mouth a new mystery opened for Kiyo, a new world he didn't knew could exist, he was both surprised and worried at what he had just heard.
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