Gentle waves pped at my feet from the mirror pond. The tide carried water below the earth and up onto the isnd, causing this special pond of mine. I could see my face reflected in it, even as the water moved, lig and tig my feet.

  A green-eyed, sun-kissed face stared back at me, practically gleaming bronze in the sunlight. A wide smile adorned my face, but I couldn’t help it! Today was going to finally be the day! I was finally going to really know what my power level was.

  I moved my arm up, the weight making it nearly impossible. My arm was already feeling numb just from putting the devi. I’d had to do something I hadn’t really wao do, but that I could no longer resist.

  I’d stolen the family’s Vambrace. I’d heard they called it something else in other parts of the world, but to me, it had always just been The Vambrace. It was a bit of an ugly thing, an early model. It went around the forearm, about the length of my hand, and weighed as much as a good-sized stone. On top of a thick leather strap that went around the arm, was a rge s. It felt otherwordly despite its age, like aeology. I khere were things more advahan I could imagi there in the world but… we lived simply out here on the isnds. I could practically hear my mother and father's words already.

  ‘And oint is all that teology, hmm? We have what we need. Our food is cooked, our water is , our bodies are healthy, and our family is whole. What more could you need? No. Excess teology is only meant for those who’ve lost sight of need and gone only into want. Keep your wants simple and you’ll never be unhappy a day in your life Mutai. yetables.’

  I ughed at the memory and then again at my father's words the day.

  ‘Listen to your mother Mutai. Had a phone once, spent every day on it. Nearly missed my first date with your mother pying stupid games. Destroyed it the day. Never again. Now e py in the sand with me.’

  I’d been seven at the time. And truly, they’d never been wrong. Teology corrupted, led to capitalism and money.

  The words alone made me shudder.

  No. Life erfect with a good man or woman, some fruit and fish, the o by your side, and family that had your babsp;

  But The Vambrace was different. It revealed information more important than anything else in the world, the thing everyone wao know, the thing that had been hidden from me since birth. Your Power Level. How strong you were! The differeween a person who could barely pick up a bottle and someone who could (apparently) shatter mountains! Though, I’m not sure I believed that st cim…

  Still, it was important. I’d even heard that you couldn’t get a job with a Power Level less than 10 on the mainnd. Some pces eve to decide if you were ready to be an adult. sidering the average adult Power Level was 5…

  I stared, hard, as I flipped the massive switext to the s. It fred to life, freen zeros staring back at me. I wasn’t really sure how to use it, but it was intuitive. A weird e formed between me and The Vambrace. I a toward myself, and the numbers began to ge. I watched, excited, as a new number appeared on the s!

  [1]

  One.

  A power level of one.

  Weaker than a child.

  I stared, fbbergasted, shocked and horrified, my life fshing before my eyes, my total sense of being diseg as I was struck by a new reality that-

  Heh.

  I chuckled to myself, my joke too much. As if I felt any of those things. Had ever felt any of those things! But my ughter soon grew and grew, getting louder and louder. My stomach began to hurt and I could feel tears of amusement rolling down my face. It was all just too funny.

  My parents had tried to hide it, my friends, the elders, my whole vilge, and all the people I knew.

  As if I didn’t know.

  As if I didn’t see how easy my friends could run and swim and how I struggled so hard to do a fifth of what they could do. Or how easily even children could beat me in an arm wrestling petition. As if I didn’t see how my father suddenly acted like wood was the heaviest thing in the world while I was nearby or my mother ‘miraculously’ mao help him do the work. How the vilgers all moved slower and like they were barely able to do any bor nearby me even with the smallest of things.

  All my life, everyone had put on a silly little py, just for me.

  As if I didn’t knoeak.

  But how could I not? And, more importantly, why should I care? I was blessed and happy. I had everything I needed, and my mother had been right. Did I want more strength? No… not really. Maybe once upon a time, I did. Who doesn’t dream of a bit of power? But what would it get me? What could it get me? All those stories of the strong, all those petitions, the strange world we lived in, the dedication tth, the foartial arts… but what did it get those people?

  I’d heard so many stories about harems, wealth, and power. But where’s the kind family? The happy children? The loving parents? Why are all those stories always about taking and never about people giving willingly? What kind of person would be happy with that?

  No. I don’t care for power. But I had always been so curious. My power level was clearly below five but was it three? Two? But no, it was truly the lowest someone’s could possibly be. Well, a baby might be weaker, but that would depend on the baby. Not all children were born equal, after all.

  “Mutai! Mutai! Where are you?!”

  The smile on my face froze. Uh-oh.

  “Mutai! What are you-”

  I turned, a sheepish grin on my face. The Vambrace was on my arm, still ‘proudly’ dispying my weakness for the world to see. A giant glowing one. A woman stared at me in shock, bronze-skinned like me, with matg emerald eyes and silver hair casg down her babsp;

  My mother.

  I was te time I got a spanking, my ass beaten raw and red. I had a feeling I was walking a paper-thin line of having it happen again.

  “Sorry…”

  “Mutai, you… We…. I’m so sorry Mutai. We never wanted you to knoe’re…” My mother’s voice sounded so lost, so heavy, and I could see tears beginning to form in her eyes as her voice shook like a leaf in the wind.

  My heart cracked. No. No, this wasn’t okay. I could take angry but my mother about to cry? No. Never.

  “Mom.” My voice was sharp, different. Firm. My mother froze, tears still f. “I don’t care.” I said, letting my happy smile return.

  “You…”

  “I have you and Dad. I have the water and the sea, the fruit and fish, the wind and the earth. My body is healthy, my food is good, my family loves me. All of my family loves me: ky Tuwa, Juak, Suma, Maui, the elders, the whole vilge. Who cares about power? I just wao know, but I have what I need and I have what I want. It’s okay Mom. Truly, really. It’s okay.”

  I smiled, my most genuine smile, and was caught off guard when my mother rushed to me and crushed me in a hug. Literally. I could feel my boarting to crabsp;

  I hugged back, trying to keep the smile on my face. This was a good day, even if I got a little bruised. My mother’s words slipped into my ears. They were filled with so much joy and love and relief, that I almost didn’t hear the actual words themselves.

  “I am gon your ass red for stealing the Vambrace.”

  My smile evaporated, and for just a moment, I really wished I had a far higher Power Level.

  ******

  A long, painful, embarrassing walk bae ensued. Every step hurt, and it felt like a dozen angry bees had stung my behind, but I hid it the best I could. I saw our house in the distance, in the middle of the vilge, waving at a few friends along the way. I moved away from the devil- I felt pierg, knowing eyes loto me. I moved away from my very kind and loving mother, lettialk to father in the living room while I went to put away the Vambrabsp;

  “Wait.” His voice called out, and I was struck stupid for the sed time in one day. My mother had almost cried, and now my father was giving me what sounded like a stern order. I’d never heard him sound anything like that. I was starting to feel like I’d really caused a mess this time.

  I turned bay father, a rge-chested, usually smiling man. There was no smile this time. He was stern-faced, whispering with my mht in front of me. Their voices too low and too fast for me to catch. Finally, he stared at me, emotions I couldn’t read or uand buried and swimming in his dark eyes.

  “Mutai.”

  I expected more, and I waited for it, but the silence… just grew longer.

  “Power… we’ve taught you so little about power….”

  “It’s alright, Dad. I don’t .”

  Both my parents wi that. They looked at each other, a silent versation goiween them.

  “Perhaps you are right. It’s… good that this didn’t break your spirit. You have what you need here on the isnd. Yes, our isnd, your isnd, will always be your weling home.”

  I could read between the lines.

  “Wait, is that what you were worried about? That I was going to leave?”

  Dad looked unfortable.

  “People… get stronger. With training. Experience. Fighting. Being taught by a master. We don’t have that here.”

  “Dad, I don’t want to leave. I’m happy here. Everyone I know is here. I don’t want to go to the mainnd to try aronger. I’d probably have to get a job. No way.”

  He sighed, like all the weight of the world had fallen off his shoulders.

  “We feared the worst. The world… the world be so unkind, Mutai. You’ll be safe here.” His words were so, heavy. Knowing. Scared. And ended with such desperate vi. Like he was begging the world for that st part to be true. I was caught off guard, choking oions I didn’t quite get.

  Why was father so scared?

  Mother shattered the tension.

  “And speaking of being safe, you start by helpih preparing today's lunch.”

  I groaned. Fish was great! Preparing fish, not so mubsp;

  Before long, it felt like all the weirdness and seriousness was a bad dream. My dad talked about his carpentry, my mom showed off her carving, and I rexed in my family home. Everything erfebsp;

  This, this aradise. My paradise. And nothing could ever ruin it-

  Screams and yells split the air in our home, unlike anything else ever could. We turned, all three as oowards the door before turning back to each other and then running out. I was the st oo leave.

  Outside, I saw our vilge, people outside who should’ve been happily going about their day. But they weren’t. They were staring, up into the sky, where a small bck dot floated there. I stared in fusion, but my father screamed, his horrified voice painting the world in terror.

  “It’s King Vega!”

  Some vilgers froze, some ran, and some screamed. It was like a tsunami had e. My ow chilled, all of the stories and rumors ing bae all at once. I turo my mother-

  I turned-

  I turo my-

  Fmes. Dead. Dying. Fire. Bodies. Their bodies. A golden road.

  I turned-

  Beams, energy, glowing power, whispers, pain.

  I-

  My mother, my mother. A hole through her heart. A beam faster than light, her expression leaving her face, a frozen moment, a voice. So many voices.

  King Vega stands before me. His body is on fire. His skin has melted off. Only muscles and bones are left. His evil eyes melt, yet they still stare into mihe golden road brightens. The whispers get louder, the voices clearer as power suffuses me. I glow. All is Gold and All is White as evil pours all around the world.

  The End es.

  “Your fault. Your family died for you. It was your fault.”

  Time fast forwards, time rewinds, a golden blue seeps out of me, I pund the universe shatters.

  I wake up, bottle in hand, tears in my eyes, as the rain seeps into my bones.

  “S-Stupid dream. Curse. Curse you, King Vega.”

  A stranger passes me by.

  “Stupid drunk. Yoing to die cursing the King in his own city.”

  The tears flow freely as I remember all that I lost on that damned day…

  Warix_Viviana