Nathaniel:

I am no stronger than I was when I came. They weighed me before and after my week. I am the exact same, but something changed inside me, I was different inside but the same outside.

"Report to sector 27," a guard tells me.

I wandered down the hall till I find number 27, inside there was only one man, a Jr. General, I knew him the second I saw him.

"Ames?" I questioned.

"Nathaniel," my brother smiled. "You have grown so much since I last saw you."

"I haven't physically changed in the last three days, Ames."

Ames looked much like me and Vestry. His hair was in natural short curls that were cut neatly at his ears. His eyes were bright green, filled with love for only himself. He received the power of light, also useless, that's why he strived to be better then everyone, better than Mike and Luke. He wanted to prove that he was not useless like Azun. He wanted to contribute something to this war and in all the wars to come. Worst of all, he didn't stand with the rebels.

"Daddy has offered me a chosen position." My brother shifted the attention to himself. "He made me in charge of winning this war, the right hand man of the second in charge. When I heard that you joined the fight, I couldn't underestimate your abilities."

"My ability to fly?"

Ames placed his hand upon my shoulder. "You can be the perfect distraction. You can be the thing that wins us this war."

"Thing?"

"Father always told me how much he loves me. He says, and I quote: Ames will be destined for greatness one day."

"Ames-"

"You're being assigned to the front line. You're welcome!"

"No, Ames-"

"There, I know you will do great things and win me this war."

Ames waved his hand, telling me to leave. It was no use to argue against Ames, he was so narcissistic that you couldn't try to convince him that the sky was blue if he thought it was red.

I followed a guard down the hallway. He lead me to the boarding dock. The steps I took would probably be my last.

I don't know why I didn't fight against all this. It might be that perhaps something inside of me knew I could win this. Then there was the part of me that doubted my abilities.

"Live or die." The guard smiled at me.

"Aways succeed." I finished the Malison motto.

The door closed in front of me, there were around another dozen people with me in the ship. These people would be the ones to die by my side. They all were older, more advanced than me in every way, twice my height and age. I spotted James and Padilla on the other side of the ship.

"Group 27S." The intercoms spoke. "Heading into battle front station now, landing on Sawsue, East Galaxy."

I looked out the window, Sawsue was a planet made of crystal blue water, barely containing any land. We like to call it the water planet.

Every day since I was born, battles have been fought on this planet, it's residents have fled to different parts of the Galaxy. I remembered when Dad welcomed the people to our planet and gave them jobs so they could care for their families.

I knew those people quite well now. They wash my cloths and clean my room. Yeah, my dad assigned them as slaves. But at least he pays them... in coupons for soap.

This is the thing with my father, the text itself makes him a good person, it's the subtext and tiny details that truly hold how bad he really is.

But, no matter how bad he gets, I will always hate Luke more.

Either way my power of flight wasn't going to do me any good in water where my wings would have difficulties if they got wet. Teleportation wouldn't help if I can't teleport very far, neither will time. Light can't do any harm anyways. Healing is a useless power still, the medics can heal me faster than the bullet can hit me. I don't spot any medics on our ship, maybe healing might come in handy after all. I could never master Earth or Water and never found out the other powers.

Now I was sincerely regretting my choice of not working on water a little more than I did.

"Passengers file out the left side of jet." Ames walked out from the captains area. He grabbed a backpack and strapped it on, then pulled the side door open and jumped down towards the water.

"Wait! We have to jump?" I screamed over the air.

"Yes." Padilla yelled back. "Here, take a pack, don't let he enemy see your wings. They will blast you out of the sky if they think we have an advantage."

She handed me a pack, which I quickly strapped on. Padilla and James, they grabbed hands like lovers did before they jumped together out the side.

I stepped up to the side and looked out over the water, not knowing where I was parachuting to. I closed my eyes and leaned forward, falling through the air. I imagined my wings, spreading to catch me through the air, flying free. My hands pulled the strap and the parachute shot up, jerking me to a stop.

I peacefully fell through the air, I could see the outline of Ames and my friends on land, I aimed my feet close to them. The land I thought they were on was in fact not land. There was no land on Sawsue, I had forgotten that this was a pure water planet. What looked like land was actually just red water, so large you could see it from space. The battle on this planet had been fought for fourteen years, and in all that time the blood had never left the water, just gathered together as one because of the currents here.

My feet crashed into the water, knocking me deep within. I released the parachute from my back and swam up, gasping for air.

"Nathaniel!" My brother snapped at me. "Quit swimming around like a fish and get onto my boat."

I swam through the thick pool of blood over to the life boat. I climbed inside in time to see another passenger fall in to the water, he bolted from the cold water to the boat. I looked at my stained hands, this redness was never going to come off.

My coat however did not stain, thanks to that Vestry. It seemed to be water proof, preventing the water from making me colder than I already was.

The rest of the group joined us on the boat, then Ames hit the gas and we headed off to the battle ground.

I saw my feathered wigs peaking out from the tip of my coat. The beautiful white feathers had turned a bright red. Signifying to me that after this, nothing will ever be the same again.

Live or die. Always succeed.

Ames gave the controls to Padilla and went to a suitcase in the center of the ship. He unbuckled it, inside were our weapons. My brother gave guns with bullets to half of the group, the rest of the remaining half got knifes and swords. Ames gave me a bow, my choice weapon.

I had trained with this since I was six, all Zodiacs had a choice weapon, unique to them. Azun had a double sided Scythe. It reminded me of the painting portraying death and his single Scythe. Azun could toss this weapon and do any move to take down anything, he was amazing.

I on the other hand, could shoot an ant from a mike away. I had many different types of arrows, to cast fire, poison, explosions, anything that can be created really.

At least Ames knew something about me other than the fact that I was replaceable.

"Now!" Ames yelled. "You will travel out in this vessel and destroy the enemy line, do I make myself clear?"

"Sir yes sir!" The boat yelled.

"I will wait for you at the base camp once you are done." Ames smiled, he knew we wouldn't see him again, that's why he was leaving.

"Yes sir!"

"Live or die." Ames teased.

"Always succeed." The group yelled.

Ames jumped onto the dock as we drove past it. Padilla steered away from it, leaving us at the total mercy of our enemy. I could see ships everywhere, some big and some small, all hiding in the shadows of the misty water. Our little life preserver wasn't going to do much against them. I scanned the ships around us, waiting for one of them to do something, anything.

I saw it before anyone else, as the ship just out of my vision shot off a cannon. I grabbed an arrow from my back, turned and shot all in one movement, as the arrow hit the missile and exploded in the air.

"Nice shot, kid." James commented. "That's not going to keep you from dying."

I counted the remaining arrows I had left. Ames only gave me twenty-five. I was already down to twenty-four. I had to be wise about my usage of arrows. I also had to be thinking about this team. I could tell the only reason everyone was here was the money. I knew perfectly well that they would get paid more if they died in battle than if they won. They couldn't care less about whether they lived or died. They got more for their families if death greeted them with a Scythe.

I, on the other hand had something to live for. I wanted my brother to greet me with his Scythe back home. I saw another ship give off another cannon, heading right to us. Twenty-four arrows. I couldn't spare another if all they wanted was to die. It was a fix point that I could not avoid, either I would have to leave them or stay and suffer the consequences.

My hand grasped a short sword from the deck of the boat. I tucked it away and jumped from the life boat, taking off my jacket in one swift movement. Padilla jerked us to the side, moving the boat to where the cannon would hit them.

They needed money, I needed to live.

My wings spread out from my back, as I lifted myself into the air, aiming an arrow at a ship cannon. I fired the arrow, and it sailed across the sky. The life boat blew up in the explosion.

My team was gone, it was just me now. They all got their wish and their cash, now all I wanted was my dream.

The arrow hit the cannon, exploding the whole ship, casting fire across the wooden deck. I could see three other giant ships, aiming their cannons at me. I attached another arrow to the bowstring. The three ships fired, all at me. I let go of an arrow at one of the cannons then dropped out of the sky and into the water.

The two other ships' missiles flew right at each other, destroying everything upon the twin battleships. My arrow caused the last one to be terminated, the people on board suffocated by poison gas.

I scanned the ocean. I could see no other cannons, only about ten smaller vessels across the sea.

My wings stuck to my back. Stupid water! I couldn't even fly now. I also couldn't aim very well while I was swimming. I had to use something else. The nearest ship to me was a hundred feet away. Close enough to swim, close enough to teleport.

I slapped my jacket across my wings, tucking them inside. I placed my bow around my shoulder, cupped my hands together and concentrated on moving to that ship.

Don't use your powers unless absolutely necessary. Azun had told me a week before my birthday. Think life or death situations.

I felt the water move away from me, as I opened my eyes. My feet stood on the deck of the ship.

Nothing is truly over until you say it is. Azun had told me when I was getting picked on at school. You must be tough in this world, but gentle, like nature.

A man, probably a pirate, screamed, drew his gun and fired at my head. I held up my hands, natural thing to do, even though I knew my hands couldn't do anything against a bullet.

My eyes were shut tight, preparing for the end. The bullet never hit me. I slowly opened my eyes, peaking at what happened.

Azun had told me a principal a month ago: If you can't move something forward...

This was a life or death situation.

"Oh my!" The solider dropped his gun. "Sorcery!"

Then move it back. Azun's words echoed through my mind.

The bullet was inches from my face, frozen in motion. Hovering there like a cloud. Looks like my hands could do more then I thought.

"Telekinesis." I whispered to myself, turning the bullet around with slow twist of my wrist. "Nice."

I snapped my finger, the bullet went into play, hitting the man, knocking him into the water.

"Let's see what else I can do." I walked to the edge of the boat, the waves rocked the sea, distracting me.

I pulled my wrist back to my chest and pushed forward, like when I practiced with light. A blue glow shot out from my hands, freezing the ocean to solid ice. I gasped, covering my mouth, freezing my spit. I jumped into the cold, spitting out the ice before my mouth froze shut.

The ships couldn't go anywhere, I could actually have a shot at winning this! I grabbed the side of the wooden ship for support, as the power took a lot out of me, I almost passed out. Placing my hand on the ship was probably the worst decision I ever made in my life.

Flames sparked from my fingers, as the dry wood leapt up in flames, dancing around the air and spreading itself across the wood.

I jumped back, flicking my wrist, hitting my hand into the mask, I felt my wrist break. A lighting bolt struck the ice and water around me. Everything was filling with electricity.

If I stayed on the ship, I burnt. If I stepped on the ice, I died of electric shock.

Choices, choices.

Don't do something unless there is a point. Azun's advice continued to flow through my mind. Remember Nathaniel, everything had a meaning and a reason. Nothing happens by accident.

My wings still weren't dry enough to fly anywhere. I was a bird caged with a cat, there was no escape or rescue.

1-5, I used their powers. 7 was mine, I already used every other mysterious power but one, which I had no clue what it was. That left me with Destan's power, water.

Dustan went on a voyage to deepen his understanding, as he was a very mental person, who often took time to meditate after studies. That's it, meditation! I sat down on the ship and tried to think peaceful thoughts as the flames burst around me, trying to consume me into them, the heat leaping at my knees.

I thought of flying through the air, drawing crayon pictures in my bedroom, decorating cakes to enjoy, then I thought of Azun, seeing him again. His soft, soothing voice echoed across my skull:

You can achieve your dreams at anytime.

I opened my eyes, thinking more about him, fighting for him. The flames leaped up at my feet, burning my skin. I slowly raised my arm, speaking through my mind to the waters, commanding them to move across the flames.

Little spirals of ocean spouted out of the sea and moved across the boat, disappearing as the flames smothered, turning the water to gas.

There was nothing but a black ash boat and me. All other boats were destroyed. Nothing remained on the ocean planet but me.

I fell to my knees, overcome with exhaustion, tired from the countless powers I used. The whole planet was spinning faster then it should be, blurring in and out. I fell forward, my face slammed into the wood, breaking my nose again. Then everything went black.