Young Writers Society

Hm. Where to begin…I think the first ever known case of superpowers was about one hundred and forty years ago, in the year 2026. It was a case in Germany. A young girl, she had just turned ten if I remember correctly, showed signs of melanokinesis, or the ability to control ink. No one really knew what to do, it was the world’s first time experiencing something like this. It was like something out of a movie.

The leaders of the strongest countries got together, hoping to decide what to to with the child. It was agreed that her ability seemed harmless, but could it evolve into something more dangerous later? I mostly remember that people who were watching the meeting on TV would talk about how halfway through the debate another case appeared. This case circled a teenage girl in Panama who seemed to be toxikinetic, having the ability to control poison. The people alive back then would say it was like the world stopped.

As the week pulled on, just over three hundred cases of kinetic and chronic communicative abilities were documented, with at least one in every country. People began to realize that this was more than a simple melanokinetic in Germany. Many people started talking about superheroes and stuff like that. I mean it did seem like a lot of crap on could find in a comic book or anime or something. Of course, the theory was short lived, once someone has an idea someone else has to come along and ruin it. The idea was followed up with someone pointing out that a bunch of kids —most cases were between that ages nine and seventeen— probably couldn’t control their powers and would cause more damage than help.

This raised the next question: just how dangerous were they?

Another meeting took place, this one attended by at least one representative from every country, as it was a world wide issue. In this meeting, the topic being discussed was, once again, what to do with all the “super kids” who become known as ‘gifteds’. Two weeks into the debate and it seemed like they weren’t getting anywhere. Then the Brazilian representative brought up the award winning idea: why not just give them a school? Well two schools actually. One for the kinetic kids and one for the chronic communicative kids. Both schools would provide regular education and specialized education to help them learn to control their powers. It seemed to be the perfect solution.

Two years after the idea was first presented, both facilities had been built and staffed. All kids with powers were assessed to determine what powers they had and then were sorted into their respective schools. Over time the number of students (and cases) dwindled down to around a one hundredth of the original number. Since the original swell in 2026, later known as “The Manifestation” the amount of cases never even got up to a fourth of the number there had been at the time.

It was—

What?

Oh! My power…

Um…okay so one of the many benefits of having these schools was that now the kids could be studied, it wasn’t anything dangerous, just trying to better understand the new race of Gifteds. Over time there were many discoveries made, the two biggest ones though revolved around the actual powers in relation to DNA.

One of the discoveries was that there was no way to predetermine if a person would be Gifted, their DNA would change rapidly in a matter of days so the body could support its new ability. A carry on of this revelation was that there was never more than one person alive with a power some other living person had. Soon after this discovery the second ground shaking finding was revealed. As it happened with most powers they were equally matched concerning stamina and the power itself, they would make sure that no one person had more power than another. In addition to this, powers cannot be given away. That was what was believed until four cases showed up breaking both of these rules. These powers were incredibly strong and took no energy from the user/owner and even had a bonus ability, in addition to this they could be passed on to another person, but with a fatal cost. When the person had their power they wouldn’t age, but when they gave away their power they would rapidly age to how old they should be. This rapid aging almost always results in death as a change like that is unhealthy for the body even if it only a couple years. Through thorough monitoring is was determined that there were only six powers like this: hemokinesis, power over blood, psychokinesis, power to move objects with one’s mind, telepathy, mind reading, chronokinesis, power to control time, cyberkinesis, the ability to control technology, and photokinesis, the ability to control light.

…I know it is not directly about my power, which may I add you don’t even know what it is.

Nope! I’m not allowed.

Because…

I don’t want to.

Okay…what?

Name? Oh!

My name is Justinian Constantine DeMonte, I am sixteen years old, and I am a student at the International Institute for the Kinetically Gifted. Actually we call it the ‘double I KG’ . It’s easier to say—

Excerpt form (New and Old) students from the International Institute for the Kinetically Gifted: Interview with Justinian Constantine DeMonte.