Read Online Cartlidge: Rise of the Imperfect Flame by Devon Loos - Free Book Online

Gen, a
singer named Alto, and myself.
    “Ok, so according to this…” He paused to read something on
his handheld device. “Everyone is here. Welcome everyone to what is likely the
hardest training course in the complex.” After introducing ourselves to each
other, we moved to one of the holo-rooms.
    “Alright, everyone, I want you to take everything you know
about energy and throw it out. We are not using our powers for fancy tricks, or
for enjoyment, or even for pointless fights with your teammates.” He looked at
each of us as if branding us guilty of one of these.
    “In the next nine days you will learn to summon the power
entirely on will, sustain it, control it, and use it to fight.” He walked to
control terminal for the room and spawned a single holographic figure. The
hologram was not nearly as realistic, due to the small room and cheaper system.
    “Alright, show me what you can do.”
    “Sir, I thought you said to throw everything we knew out?”
Gen protested
    “I did. But this is so that I’m sure that you know why.”
There was a pause. It seemed like the others were having the same problem I
was. We couldn’t simply start using our powers. After several awkward attempts
we all gave up.
    “So you’re telling me you’ve all used your powers before?”
We remained silent. He slowly walked over to Alto.
    “You’re a singer, right?”
    “Yes, sir. Born
with it, sir. That’s how I know I have it, sir.”
    “Color?”
    He remained silent, confused.
    “Color, soldier!” Brin shouted.
    “Green, sir!” Alto finally
answered. Brin walked over to Gen .
    “Color!”
    “Orange, sir!” She immediately
answered. Brin turned and walked to me.
    “Color!” Energy filled me. I
channeled it to my arm. I felt the warmth of the power travel down my arm to my
fingertips, where it formed itself into a small ball of light. It wrapped
around itself over, and over, vibrating rapidly, as if trying to escape. I
straightened my fingers, and the ball flew outward, like a bullet. The orb
smashed into the wall, just past the figure. I missed.
    “Purple… sir.” I said awkwardly. He turned away and waved
for us to move. He then drew his sword and pointed it at the figure. His sword
had two thin blades that were connected by a tube at the center. The ends of
each blade reached just past the narrow, tube. The hilt had a large, smooth gem
embedded into it. The clear gem suddenly glowed bright
red. The color flowed forward through the blades, just until exploding
violently. A red ball of light darted forward, crashed into the figure, then exploded. The figure was gone. He then turned to us.
    “Alto, you lack the strength to sustain your power beyond
singing. Gen, you lack the will to try, and Jacob, control. This is good
though. Now we know what we need to work on.” We spent the rest of the day
learning simple motions and techniques for sparking the energy ourselves. We
learned that to create the energy, we needed to feel it around us. The energy
is everywhere; in sound, light, heat, and even movement. Then we needed it to
spark. This was the most difficult part. In order to spark the energy around us
we needed to reach out of ourselves with our souls. We felt the energy swirling
around us, and willed it to bend to our desire. This bending would ignite the
energy, and like two magnets between a piece of film,
the energy would be bound to our souls.
    The third day was spent learning about the energy itself.
The colors represented the different spectrums of light. Each person used a
different frequency. Red and purple were the strongest, but also the hardest to
control. Potency decreased towards the center, while control became easier.
There were also different levels of energy. The first was the color spectrum
levels, and was the most common. The second was rare and difficult to master.
In the second level, one’s color would mix with the others of the spectrum,
creating a deathly white light. Few ever were able to