A Long Ways From Home

Chapter Four: Vengeful Veil

The name is Jason, but he goes by Jay for short.

He wasn't always like this; cold, careless, and seemingly unfaithful to the cause. It is just that he has been through a lot; too much, and the Mogadorians have taken plentiful from him. His family, his home, his empathy.

Sure, they've taken lots from everyone, but everyone reacts to it differently. "Or so people say," Jay would think. He sees no purpose in the mission he was sent to achieve. Sending nine kids to another planet to fight a war that they are too small to measure up for. Constant training, the watching over their shoulders, fighting to live. It's all pointless. This never should have been the life he was forced to live, and he would do anything to not live it.

But unfortunately, that's not how this works.

Lorien is gone. His family is gone. Conrad is gone. Killed. Vanquished. Destroyed. All he has left is Dust, the Chimæra wolf treading alongside him since he was a little Loric boy. Including his abilities that make him stronger than any human. All he has is himself, and that is how he prefers it to be. No more worrying about people that haven't been there, no more fighting to override control of which species is more dominant than the other, no more of the sharing of personal stories with strangers met only once before parting ways. No more.

Only vengeance.

Jay was selected as Number Six by the Elders of his people a long time ago. The sixth in order to be killed. The sixth to die. The sixth to be hunted. Like men shooting deer. Like some animal waiting to be extinguished.

"So," begins Kevin, the second kid in number, standing from where kitchen meets living room. "What're you going to do today? Train with the others?"

While Emily, Stela, Cody, and Jordan train on the lowest level of the house on the ranch, Kevin and Jay can hear AJ, Chenoa, and Katarina talking in the other room, going through the contents of their Loric Chests. The Cêpans call it the Garde's Inheritance, but to Jay, it might as well be items that help them win a war they don't deserve to fight.

"Nah, I'm not really feeling up to it today," answers Jay, fully aware of the fact that he is probably the only one that is least excited about working on his legacies. It's not his fault. He'd just much rather use them for fun, screw fighting.

Through the kitchen window, Jay gets a glimpse of Fabian and the Chimæra playing around in the dirt and grass. Then, the idea just comes to him. A smirk spreads onto his face and, without saying a word to Kevin, Jay vanishes with a light tap of his foot.

In a split second, he has appeared behind the broad-shouldered boy's back.

"Sup Stan and Fab," Jay says, and the chubby orange cat as well as the tenth Garde jump at his sudden appearance.

"Oh crap Jay!" shouts Fabian. "You scared me!"

"I know," says the brown-haired teleporter. "That was the point."

And before Fabian can get another word out to reply, Jay teleports away.

Having returned to the kitchen once again with a wide grin upon his face, Kevin stares with his hands on his hips. "Again? Really?" he asks.

"Yeah. Don't care. It was fun." Jay says and waves a hand through the air before stamping his foot twice to disappear.

Normally, his Cêpan, Conrad, would've scolded at him for using his legacies prematurely. But since he passed, Jay has given less of a damn about exposing himself and staying hidden. He has always used his legacies whenever he wanted; shapeshifting, telekinesis, teleportation. Day or night. In crowds and alone. Not worrying about who might see or if there was any danger close by. It was this sense of carelessness that technically led Conrad to his ultimate death, but Jay's time on Earth was a complicated one.

It was eight years ago that his Keeper was murdered. Tracked down in Portugal, while they were traveling through Spain. The two of them were at the border and met a horde of them near the gate – five maybe six of them. Jay can't honestly remember. It was because of Conrad that they were able to escape them before they struck an attack, acting quickly but regularly, avoiding suspicion, and zooming out of there.

When Jay developed his telekinesis, Conrad went into full lockdown mode. Although he had become paranoid that his legacies were late to arrive, at the sight of his first, he grew anxious and needy to keep Jay hidden at all costs.

"Don't stay out late. Don't tread far from home," Conrad had reiterated more than a few times during their time together. "Stay home as often as possible. If anybody sees you with the power you possess, it could put you in great danger."

Conrad's rules became tiresome and stale overtime. Jay easily became bored at home with nothing to do but endless drills and practices. Even learning of the items in his Chest had gotten dull and lackluster, and that used to be something he always had enthusiasm for!

No, Jay wanted out. Out of their small shack in Ireland. Out of the eyes of a paranoid old man. Out of the war and out of his boring life. Jay wanted to explore. He wanted to use his abilities openly without worrying about aliens coming to hunt him down because of them.

He wanted to be free.

So, when he had received his shapeshifting ability, he kept it secret from his Cêpan. Of course, it was difficult to figure out how to use it on his own, but that didn't matter. He usually used it to turn into a small creature, one that wouldn't be easy to notice. A fly on the wall. An ant crawling under doors. Caterpillars, crickets, snakes, bees. He changed into them all to sneak out of Conrad's watch. And it worked! Every time. Though he never went out for more than a few hours at a time; he wasn't going to reveal his secret to him just yet.

But eventually he did. When the Mogadorians traced them from Ireland to London. They found themselves surrounded in the motel they stayed in that bright shiny morning. Conrad and Jay, they killed a fair few of them that day, but there were too many. No way could they kill them all. So, without fully wanting to but realizing he didn't have a choice, Jay transformed into a 6-ton elephant, one of the same beasts he's seen in movies and zoos. He picked up Conrad with his massive trunk, swung him onto his back, and dashed away, trunk swinging left and right at any Mogadorian that got in his way.

However, it wasn't until a year later that Jay snuck out and, upon his return, led a scout back to their apartment in Queens, New York. There was a knock on the door – a rare occurrence – and Conrad, with a knife in hand, opened the door. Jay sat up in the other room, his bedroom, blinded to the door. And when he peered around the corner and saw the Mogadorian, he teleported too late.

It was the first incident of his teleportation legacy. It would've saved Conrad's life. If he was just three inches more precise and a fraction of a second faster, he could've gotten there before the alien's blade plunged deep into his Cêpan's chest.

Everyday Jay thinks about that day. Everyday Jay regrets sneaking out of his Keeper's eye; he regrets not keeping his Keeper in his eye. Even now, sitting in a room shared with the girl next to him in number, AJ; living with the last of his race, Jay regrets all of it. For not being the Garde he knows his Cêpan wanted him to be.

It wasn't his fault, Jay always told himself. And it wasn't. Deep down he knows it, but it still hurts, which is why he shields himself from the pain; puts up a barrier that doesn't deflect it but deflects the emotion it brings.

Jay was selected Number Six in the Charm. There was a reason for it. No matter what that reason is, he knows only one thing:

Destroy them. Avenge his people that the Mogadorians killed. Make them hurt for the hurt they have caused them; caused him and the others like him.

Kill them all.