Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2017 20:15:37 -0500
From: D B <donbon@gmail.com>
Subject: Forces of Nature - Chapter 3

Forces of Nature, Chapter 3 by DGB

This story is a product of my imagination and under my copyright, so no
reposting/publishing without my consent.  If you are not of legal age or
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If you enjoy the story, I'd appreciate comments to donbon@gmail.com.

*****************************************

Jake's tears came fast and hard as rain started to hammer the windows of
his loft.  The raw emotions of fear and rejection were strong enough for
Alex to sense even through his shield.  "You really don't understand any of
this do you," Alex asked, his voice softened.

Jake just shook his head no as he continued to sob.  Alex released the
protective orb of light back into the room and moved to sit beside his
friend on the couch.  Without thinking he wrapped his arm around the other
man and sent a pulse of soothing warmth around him, a trick he learned from
his mom.  "It's ok, calm down I'm not going to hurt you.  I can help."

Alex could feel the tension slowly leaving his friend, so he held him a
little tighter, "Jake, I need you to tell me what happened.  You said the
computers at your office got fried by the storm.  Were you there?"

Jake nodded as he dried his eyes with the backs of his hands. "I was
working late.  My boss had left me to finish up a report due the next day.
I was pissed I was missing our Thursday night gaming, and kind of just
feeling sorry for myself."  He wasn't sure why he was being so honest, but
the warmth of Alex's body made him feel safe and secure. "I was just
waiting for the printer to finish so I could head home when I noticed the
window leaking.  I tried to find the leak so I could tell maintenance where
to patch, and I guess that's when the lightning hit.  I don't really know
what happened after that, I woke up in the hospital Saturday morning."

Looking at his friend he saw no judgement, so Jake continued, "That's not
all of it... I don't think it was normal lighting.  I saw the office last
week when I got to pick up my stuff and it looked like a bomb had gone off
right where I was standing.  The carpet was singed."  Jake took a deep
breath, "And other weird stuff too.  Ever since that night I shock myself
like twenty times a day, every time I touch a door, like when I ran into
you at the coffee shop Friday." Jake took a deep breath before his final
confession, "and I think I can sense emotions from people. Well, everyone
but you. Am I crazy?"

Alex just stared at him for what felt like an eternity.  "I know you don't
get along with your dad, but what about your mom? You've never mentioned
her."

The apparent non-sequitur threw Jake. "Huh? I never knew my mom, she died
giving birth. What does that have to do with anything?"

All the energy bouncing around the room was starting to affect Alex, he had
to calm his friend down before all hell broke loose.  Pulling the younger
man in tight for another warmth amped hug he whispered gently into his ear,
"I promise you're not going crazy, and I'll be here to help you if you let
me.  We need to do some testing to be sure, but I think your mom was a mage
and you inherited her powers."

Sensing a slight stabilization of energy Alex continued, "I told you I work
at the observatory and that work had been crazy.  Well, we do have a
telescope, but our main mission is to monitor the balance of nature's
energy. For hundreds of years there have been gifted humans capable of
manipulating the forces of nature.  I'm really not the best person to
explain this; grandpa would do a much better job."

Jake took a deep breath as he leaned back on the couch. As outlandish as
this all sounded, it would sort of explain things.  Besides, this was Alex,
his friend, surely he wouldn't make all this up.  Hopefully he will still
be my friend, Jake mentally added.  "The other night when I said you must
have picked starmage because you worked at the observatory..."

The same chuckle bubbled out of Alex before he could stop it.  "Yeah, I
remember.  That's always been an inside joke for me, but yes, I am a star
mage.  I have the power to control the forces of heat and light, the
dominant energy of stars.  Both of my parents were star manipulators too,
and so is my grandpa."  Alex flourished his wrist in the air like a
magician, collecting a small orb of pure light to hover in midair.

Jake stared in wide eyed astonishment, the evidence irrefutable. "Dude
that's awesome, can you teach me to do it?"

"I don't think so," seeing his friend's face fall Alex quickly added, "not
with light at least. There was a big energy surge the night of the storm we
haven't been able to explain, but I think it was you.  Your powers must
have built up or something since you never learned how to control them. I'm
kind of making this up as I go to be honest.  Anyway my point is I think
you are a storm mage, able to control the forces of water and
electricity. It fits with your story about the all shocks – that's your
power unconsciously leaking out."

"Am I dangerous?" Jake was starting to panic again, "I don't want to hurt
anyone. I mean the office was destroyed and I was unconscious for like 36
hours, what if someone else had been there? Is it going to happen again?"

Alex's crush pinged deep in his soul, touched that his friend was worried
about others.  "No you aren't dangerous, especially not now that I found
you.  The energy is actually pretty easy to manipulate once you get the
hang of it." The sense of relief flooding the room was palpable, so he
continued, "I should probably add that all manipulators are empathic; we
can sense the feelings of others, and we also tend to project our emotions
into the environment around us.  That's why I was staring at you in the
coffee shop - I could feel you actively trying to probe my emotions.  I
know you didn't mean to, but that's considered really rude amongst our
people."

Jake's emotion switched to embarrassment instantly, "Don't be embarrassed,
you didn't know." Alex's attempt backfired, as an even stronger wave of
embarrassment permeated the room.

"Ok, first lesson, let's start with shielding your emotions.  Close your
eyes and pretend like you're still a kid, using a flashlight to read comics
after bedtime.  You know you'll be in trouble if anyone finds out, so you
pull a heavy blanket over your head to hide the light."

"Is it working? I don't feel any different," Jake stated.

"Not yet. Ok I got a better idea.  Imagine you really have to burp, but
you're stuck in a packed conference room at work, so you do your best to
hold it in."

Alex gave a sharp intake of breath as Jake slammed a barrier in place.  The
sudden silence was suffocating, and he found himself missing the emotional
contact from his friend. "Oh yeah that worked.  When you learn to control
your powers better you'll be able to fine tune the barrier to only let
certain people feel emotions, or even just certain emotions."

Jake looked pleased with himself, "I feel awesome, like my body is suddenly
relaxed.  I didn't even realize it but I must have been picking up all
sorts of stuff from other people."  Thinking a moment longer he started to
giggle, "Ugh I feel dirty now, all that contact with random people.  I hope
I didn't catch anything."

The guys both started laughing at that. Alex caught his breath first, "I
never thought of it like that before but you're right; that's kind of
nasty."

Even with the barrier in place it was easy to tell Jake was happy.  "What
else can you teach me?" he asked.

"I'm honestly not sure, I've never taught anyone before, and it's not like
we ever had lessons or classes.  Since the powers are hereditary, usually
parents teach kids when they are little.  Grandpa had me do some exercises
growing up to fine tune control but by then I already knew the basics."
Alex thought for a few seconds, "We could try one thing... Do you trust
me?"

Jake replied without hesitation, "Of course I trust you.  I've known you
for years.  Well, you know what I mean."  His face had reddened just a bit.

"Ok stand up.  If I'm right about you being a storm mage you should be able
to manipulate water.  Close your eyes and take deep breaths, just try to
relax."

He did as instructed as Alex moved behind him and held him by the hips.
"Ok good. Now extend your arms out to your side," Alex ran his hands up the
other man's flank and out to support his arm.  "Now imagine you're floating
in endless sea.  Water energy is always around is in nature, either as
liquid or vapor.  You can control it in either form.  Just relax and try to
feel the energy flowing around your body."

Alex slowly nudged his student's arms together, "Now bring your hands
together, scooping up water as you go." He continued in a whisper, "That's
it, just let the energy collect in your hands, filling them with liquid."

The closeness was having an impact on Alex's body, and he consciously took
a step backwards before giving his final instruction.  "Now open your
eyes."

Jake opened his eyes to find a pool of water in his hands.  He had done it,
he really was a mage. As soon as his concentration broke his hand shifted
and the water splashed off the coffee table and started soaking into the
rug. "Shit!" Suddenly he felt drained and flopped back on the couch.

"Sorry, I didn't think that through," Alex apologized as he grabbed a roll
of paper towels from the kitchen island.

"Eh it's just water, it will dry. I feel like I need a nap now, is that
normal?"

"Not really. Not for me at least, but then again I'm used to it.
Manipulation does take a lot of energy though."  Alex's guilt from the
coffee shop came flooding back, "Uh, did you have breakfast this morning?"

Jake was rubbing his temples again to try and fend off a headache, "No I
was going to grab a muffin.  Now that you mention it I'm starving."

"That's probably part of the problem; we should get some food into you
before we try anything else."

Jake knew exactly what he was craving.  "Do you like Chinese food? The
place downstairs makes excellent fried rice, and I probably get sweet and
sour chicken at least once a week.  We could order take out and eat up
here."

"Perfect!"

=============================================

Jake was reluctant to order extra food like his friend suggested until it
was pointed out that he'd need the energy if he wanted to try and continue
lessons.  Alex just laughed at his protests and said of course he was being
manipulative, that was kind of their thing.

Jake couldn't help but groan at the pun, just like after every pun made
while they played games together.  Alex insisted that his friend rest while
he ran downstairs to pick up lunch.  Staring at the wet spot on the rug, he
let his thoughts wander in the quiet loft.  In just a few hours his whole
world had changed.  He had finally met Alex, and maybe they had a rocky
start but now things seemed to be going smoothly.

There was no denying he was attracted to the red head.  If he hadn't been
standing so close distracting him earlier, the rug would probably have been
twice as wet. Jake decided to keep that bit to himself, afraid to lose his
friend and the help controlling his powers.

Jake wasn't crazy; he really was a living and breathing mage.  And his
mother probably had been too.... Oh sure he thought about her all the time
growing up, making up stories about his mom had been almost as fun as the
stories he made up about the people in his dad's office.  She had never
been magical though in his stories.  He wondered if Alex could help him
find out more information about her; of course his father had always
refused to discuss the subject.

Above everything else though Jake wondered what would happen next.
Suddenly going back to work when the office was running again didn't seem
so appealing.  There was so much more to the world, how would he be content
with his old tedious life?

===============================================

The few minutes apart gave Alex time to think too.  Grandpa was going to
kill him for the heat ball in the coffee shop, even if it was a joke.
Maybe he could just gloss over that detail and focus on the fact he had
found the source of the storm?

He also wondered what all this would mean for his friendship.  So far Jake
seemed to be taking the news about manipulators pretty good, but he didn't
know any of the downsides yet.  He didn't know about the rules against
being friends with normal people, or what it was like to keep secrets from
everyone he met.  Just like the ghost stories about shadow organization
still hunting them from the Inquisition, there were also stories about what
would happen to individuals that refused to live by the rules or threatened
to expose the community.  Surely the stories were just meant to scare
children, Alex thought, the elders wouldn't actually kill someone, would
they?

On the bright side now he had someone to share all of his life with,
something he never had before.  Assuming Jake still wanted to be his friend
of course once he knew everything.

===========================================

Jake hopped up to open the door when he heard his friend coming up the
stairs.

"Dammit!" he cursed, "After we eat you have got to teach me how to stop
shocking myself."

Alex just snickered, "Have you ever tried not to shock yourself?"

"No, I didn't even know it was my fault till a few hours ago."

"Sorry I forgot," Alex intoned as he started to unpack the food.  "You
should just have to consciously think about not shocking yourself; focus on
not summoning any energy.  In a few days it should become automatic."

Jake was incredulous, "That's it? And what's with all the soup, I didn't
order that."

"Yeah the lady at the counter was surprised when I said I was picking up
your order.  I told her I was a friend and that you weren't feeling good so
she insisted I wait for her to pack up some soup for you.  I figured it was
easier to just take it than argue with her."

The duo quickly demolished the food, Jake being far hungrier than he
realized.  Conversation came easy as they relived their favorite gaming
sessions, eventually drifting onto work and what else they did for fun,
surprised by how much they had in common.  They read the same authors,
liked the same food, and listened to the similar music.  Two hours later
the conversation took a more serious turn.

"Alex, what happens now?  I mean you mentioned the elders earlier.  Am I
going to be in trouble for the storm?"

"I don't think so... I mean there will be some questions, but it wasn't
really your fault.  I'll talk to grandpa tonight and I know he'll be able
to smooth everything over if there is a problem."  Alex saw he had failed
to comfort the storm mage, "You're my friend; I've got your back."

"Thanks," Jake smiled shyly. "I don't really have any friends and I wasn't
sure you'd still want to hang out after today."

"Of course I do!  I always wanted to talk to you more I just couldn't
because of the rules." Alex pulled out his cell phone, "What's your number?
I'll text you so you have mine."

After they both saved the contact information Alex figured he might as well
fill his friend in on all the rules.

Jake listened intently before finally responding, "Those don't sound too
bad, I think I can handle that."

"It just gets a bit lonely sometime," Alex was morose. "Most of the mages
our age are kind of stuck up so I don't really have anyone to talk other
than grandpa."

"And now me," Jake interjected. "You sound close to your grandfather.  Dad
doesn't get along with his parents, so we rarely visited them, and I never
met anyone in my mom's family.  I don't even know if they are dead or
alive."

"I'll pick you up in the morning on my way to the observatory and introduce
you to him.  I'm sure a few of the elders will want to meet you too."  Alex
wanted to lighten the mood a bit, "So you up for testing your powers a bit?
We should probably find someplace outside so you don't ruin your floor, but
it needs to be private so no one sees.  Any ideas?"

Jake knew just the place, "Come on, my rooftop deck should be perfect."

"Remember; concentrate on not shocking yourself when you touch the door."

The roof would be perfect for more training, shielded from view and no
problem getting wet.  Seeing a strand of fairy lights gave him an idea.
"Ok let's test your power to control electrical energy.  Here hold onto
this plug and try to envision energy flowing off your fingers into the
wire."

A few seconds later Jake had managed to summon a handful of water. "Wrong
energy buddy," Alex giggled. "Try again, maybe try to think of the tingle
you get when shock yourself."

His friend's face lit up as the lights began to faintly glow, getting
brighter the more he focused.  "Easy now, if you feed in too much energy
they'll blow."

Jake dropped the cord and pulled his friend into a tight hug, "Thanks for
teaching me all this, for the first time since the storm I finally feel
like everything is going to be ok."

The men lingered in the embrace, neither wanting to break the contact.
Alex finally drew back, "Let's work on your control of water for a bit.  I
think that will be easier to get the hang of."

They practiced all afternoon with Jake quickly learning how to summon a
floating orb of water.  As dusk fell he managed to dissipate the water back
into thin air without a single drop hitting the ground.

"Ok I think that's enough for today.  I have to finish laundry tonight or I
won't have anything to wear to work tomorrow," Alex called the lessons to a
close.

Jake couldn't help but imagine his friend naked after that comment,
thankful the darkness hid his face "So what time should I be ready in the
morning?"

"7:45ish work? I'll text you when I'm outside."

============================================

Alex called his grandfather as soon as he got back to his apartment.  "I
was beginning to think you were going to make me wait till tomorrow to find
out why you've been excited all day," he said in greeting.

"You were able to sense me from the observatory?" Alex asked.

"Just barely, I figure you must be really excited for the emotion to carry
so far."

"Long story short, I found the storm mage responsible for the surge two
weeks ago.  I ran into him at the coffee shop by my apartment the last few
days and he was leaking energy like crazy.  He tried to probe my emotions
while I was in line, and I confronted him today.  His name is Jake, the guy
I've been playing games with online for the last 2 years."

"Hmmm," was all his grandpa replied.

"His mom died in childbirth, but she had to have been a manipulator too.
He thought he was going crazy from sensing others emotions and shocking
himself every time he touched a door.  He never knew he had powers until
that surge gave him a jolt.  He really didn't mean to cause any problems
grandpa, and I was able to teach him some basic control this afternoon.
He's really a great guy."

"And you trust this Jake with your heart?"

"I didn't say that..."

"You didn't have to.  That was just an old man fishing for information,"
the old man chuckled.

Alex sighed, only his grandpa could manipulate him and get away with it.
"To answer your question, yes I do trust him.  He was leaking tons of raw
emotion before I taught him how to shield it.  There wasn't any deception
going on.  But beyond that, he's my friend, and I don't even know if he's
attracted to me."

"It's so good to hear you happy and excited again Alex, it's been too
long."

"I know.  Life hasn't been the same without mom and dad.  It's more than
that though; I feel like I can finally accept they died trying to do
something good.  Helping Jake today was amazing, and I know that's why they
did what they did."

"They would be so proud of you. They loved you so much and just wanted you
to be happy, and so do I," the old man blinked tears from his eyes. "When
do I get to meet Jake?"

Alex spent another twenty minutes telling his grandfather about Jake and
how quick he had learned.

=========================================================

It wasn't until he was in bed that night when Jake realized he hadn't
shocked himself a single time since lunch. Laying there he couldn't help
but think of all the things he wanted to try with his powers and wonder
what the observatory would be like. Hopefully Alex's grandfather was as
nice as his friend made him out to be.

His thoughts finally turned to Alex, drifting off to sleep remembering the
warmth of the hugs.

*************************************************************

Author's note: That's all I've got written so far.  I can imagine all sorts
of places to take the story from here, but it will depend on what kind of
feedback I get from readers.  Hopefully I've fleshed the story out enough
so far that you guys want to read more!