17 February 2013
Thayne was sure it wasn't normal. None of his teachers had mentioned seeing people when they Wielded the energies. Neither did the Carriers. He was not mad. He knew that in his mind. He did not know how he knew it. Mad people probably thought they were sane. 'Gods, I'm not mad though am I?' When he had Latched on to Elenna and drawn the energies through her, he had seen a man who had not been there before. He had been so surprised he had almost lost the link with Elenna. The man was handsome, well dressed and imposing. He had looked at Thayne and smiled knowingly. He had heard a voice in his head then. 'You are growing stronger,' it said. Thayne had been so startled that he terminated the link, jolting Elenna back to consciousness unceremoniously. She had glared at him. 'Great,' Thayne thought. 'You're supposed to be the promising wielder, the one who has everyone talking, and there you go dumping the pretty girl into discomfort.' He wanted to kick himself. Things had started out well with Elenna. They had swapped glances and smiles. 'She won't be jumping at the chance to Latch you onto the energies again. Bad enough that what she does shortens her life each time, I go making it more unpleasant.'
But that man had been so strange. He had not mentioned it to anyone yet, but he knew he must. He was scared of what they might say, what they might think. Wielders who experienced unnatural things relating to their ability often turned... dangerous. Thayne had not heard of anyone seeing people before, but some had claimed to see a person's future when Wielding the energies. Others had claimed to see the truth in a person's heart. The danger came when they tried to act on what they saw. Wielders had tried to alter the future, often bringing about disaster. There had been some odd cases where Wielders, through trying to change the course of the future, had directly set events in motion that led to the events they had foretold. Others had tried to kill people based on "the hidden nature" that they saw in their hearts. Most of those people had control of their hearts and desires, never to act upon them. The Wielders had killed them anyway. Thayne shuddered. This was nothing like that. Maybe he should get some sleep. He had been studying hard lately. That could set anyone's mind to rattling. For all he knew, he would never see the man again.
An Oddity • Opuss № I