I’m awoken by a splash of cold water hitting my face. Alex and her team looked at me, some in fear and some confused. Alex, holding my hand tightly, asks me, “What was that?”

  I look at her and stay quiet, not knowing myself what any of what just happened was.

  Alex: “We need to go back home… plenty of us are severely injured and well you… you need to understand what just happened.”

  Our journey back felt long, maybe just due to the quietness, everyone lost in thoughts. I feel different though, like that gem fused with my body somehow. I can feel the power, like it’s a heartbeat. I wonder, did this gem make me beyond any ordinary Ascended?

  As we walked back into our town, we saw the family members of our team members standing waiting to reunite with their loved ones. But soon they start to notice we’ve come back a smaller team than we left. Immediately, people started yelling, screaming, crying. Forcing Alex to try and take control of the situation and explain best as she could without scaring or hurting people even more.

  I continue to walk away, still in thought about what this power is. What can I do with this power? How do I control it? What matters now is that I have these powers, I must learn to wield them correctly and do what I must in the end.

  I take a short bath then head to bed.

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  The morning after Alex bursts through my door, not even giving me a chance to wake up fully and drags me out of bed. She stares into my eyes then says, “We’re going to another ruin, prepare yourself. You, me and my team once again.”

  Confusion and fear mingle in my voice as I reply, "I don’t understand my powers. Testing them in another ruin could endanger us all."

  "But that’s exactly why we need to go," Alex counters firmly. "You need to learn to harness those powers. If you can control them, you’ll be stronger than you ever imagined. Don’t worry, we’ll intervene if things get out of hand." With that, she leaves, leaving a heavy silence behind.

  I sit back down, wondering to myself what these new powers can do. What is the extent to them? Can they grow? Are there limitations? I keep getting flashbacks of these ogres, how they went from overwhelming to such an easy enemy just due to a gem. Did this gem also heighten my physical abilities more than just punching power?

  As the day goes on, I couldn’t take my mind off those who were lost in that battle as well as my newfound abilities. It’ll be an interesting run for sure, just wondering how can I tap back into my powers if necessary. I need to keep people safe.

  It reaches nightfall and we’re at the new ruin, it’s a warm night but it's quiet. Everyone is still shaken up from what happened at the other ruin, but sadly we have to live through it. The ruins test us, but we test them as well.

  This time I understand I am not just participating in these ruin runs now, I unlocked some sort of power from a ruin, this could tell us something we’ve never known before. I’m stronger now, I need to do what I need to do.