《Embers of a New Dawn》


 1.1 Ignition

    "Nate, be cautious!", his mother yelled at him from where she was, "Don''t go up too high!"


    Nate, as his family called him, was climbing up the stone wall just above their fireplace. His hands were gripping the rough stone as tightly as he could. As a rather experienced climber, he was not worried about going up as high as he was already. He wanted to go further and reach the edge of the wall to get to see the view from there.


    His muscles were burning by the climbing but he enjoyed that feeling, he loved it to push himself to his limits. There were around four feet left, he just needed to place his right foot on a stable place that would not make him slip. He turned around and saw how his parents were looking at him, making rather distressed expressions. Nate concentrated on reaching the edge and placed his foot on a place he deemed to be safe for placing his foot. His grip got tighter and he pushed himself up the edge of the wall, finally reaching solid ground he could sit on.


    His chest was heaving and Nate was ringing for breath, the climbing had exhausted him more than he would have imagined. After resting for a few moments he looked down to his parents and grinned at them: "See? I told that nothing would happen to me, no need to worry. I am quite used to climbing walls like this one!"


    "Don''t stay there for too long! We need to go back before your sister gets home, she forgot to take her keys, remember?", his Dad yelled back.


    Nate sighed and stood up, facing the city he was able to see from where he was. Tacoma, a city that was inhabited by around two hundred thousand people, was to be seen from there. Nate and his family lived there. In the state of Washington, not far away from the border of Canada. He lived here since he was born.


    Nate remained as he was for a few minutes and then turned to the wall he needed to climb down. That was the most difficult part for him. Climbing up was relatively easy if the person who did it knew what he was doing. But climbing down? Nate did not like it. Too much focusing on feeling the wall rather than seeing it. One mistake could cost your life.


    He placed his foot on the exact place he used to go over the edge, once again feeling his grip tighten around the stone. He immediately felt relaxed as he was doing the same thing he did countless times before.


    "Be careful, Nathan!", his Dad said.


    Nate, who was already halfway through climbing down laughed, "I already told you that nothing will happen. I''ve done this a thousand times alread-". His grip lost its strengthand he slipped, falling face down to the ground.


    "Nate-!", he heard his mother cry.


    He knew that it would be too late to try anything other than cover his face, which he did. He placed his hands on his face and closed his eyes to not see the ground coming near to him.


    And hit the ground.


    ______


    "Doctoris he alright?", he heard his mother say. The whole place reeked like disinfectant, Nate realized that he was in the hospital. He wanted to open his eyes and tell his Mom that everything was okay but he could not do so. His eyes refused to obey his commands.


    "Yes, Mrs. Walker, there''s no need to worry," a man replied, "It is actually quite fortunate that he didn''t break anything besides the fracture of his right hand, considering where he fell from. There may some slight discomfort he may feel and he will most probably be disoriented for a while, but it''s nothing serious."


    Nate was not sure what the doctor meant, when did he fall? He could not remember, to say the least.


    He managed to open his eyes and was greeted with seeing everything twice, the room looked blurry and he could not make out the expression of his mother. She in turn immediately got close to him and hugged him, "Nate, my baby!", she sobbed, "Don''t you ever go climbing again, did you hear me? Do you know how worried we were?"


    Nate, in turn, felt his headache. He held his hand to his forehead and rubbed it, hoping that it would stop. "Mom, I''m alright but why wouldn''t I go climbing again, where did I fall from?"


    "Don''t you remember? It was just an hour ago," his mother said,"we went to the forest to go hitchhiking and you wanted to climb the stone wall just above our fireplace."


    "Fireplace...", Nate murmured and rubbed the back of his hand but he suddenly jerked up. Why was the surface of his skin so rough? He felt his hands shake uncontrollably and looked at them. His right hand had a splint on it, but he could detect some scars coming out from where the splint stopped. The left hand was not covered, there were burn marks visible on the back of his hand, not in every place but at least half of it was covered with them.


    "These will probably remain as scars," the Doctor said. Nate turned to him, a middle-aged man with an unkempt beard, and let him continue, "If it weren''t for you stopping the impact with your hands, you would''ve hurt yourself far worse than just that, you were quite fortunate actually."


    The doctor turned to the door, "I''ll leave you now, you''re free to go Nathan. There''s nothing we need to do, just be sure to use your right hand as little as possible. The nurse will give you a cream to lessen the burn marks as much as possible but don''t expect them to magically disappear. If you''ll excuse me, Mrs. Walker."Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    "Thank you for your help!", Nate''s mother said while she stood up.


    "I''m just doing my job," the doctor shook his head and left the room.


    Nate was in a daze, he unconsciously rubbed the back of his left hand touching every rough bit of his skin as he racked his brain to remember his fall. He panicked a bit because that was the first time he had to deal with memory loss, as little as it was. It was frightening to lose something as personal as your own memories.


    "Nate, no need to stay here," his mother touched his shoulder, bringing him back to the present, "We''ll go home and I''ll make you your favorite food, alright, dear?"


    Nate looked up to her and moved his legs, "Yes, Mom, let''s go home." He stood up, although with shaky legs, but he managed to take his clothes, new ones his mother brought from homeand changed himself. Not being able to use his right hand showed him the difficulty of changing clothes with just one of them. His mother had to help him.


    The both of them left the hospital after taking the cream the doctor prescribed him and went home.


    The house his family lived in was a two floored one. All of them slept on the second floor. While his parents had obviously the biggest bedroom, Nate was lucky and got the bigger of the remaining ones. His sister was a person who would probably need more space than he did but Nate liked that his room had some open space.


    His mother told him that they would eat dinner an hour later, so Nate had nothing else to do than lay on his bed and watch TV. He could not continue to draw the picture he was currently drawing because his hand was broken and could also not play a game.


    The show he watched was a rather boring one, so Nate stretched himself and looked up to the ceiling. The background noise the TV made put him feel comfortable. He lifted his left hand and looked at his burn marks, scars that would likely remain forever.


    They were not that noticeable, it was only standing out because of the red color his skin had as it was burnt two to three hours ago. The cream he put on his skin cooled it and made it far less itchy than he would have imagined it to be. Nate moved his fingers and looked if something else was different looking but noticed nothing.


    He heard his mother call him for dinner and wanted to stand up when the complexion of his skin changed in an unnatural way. The color that was red just a moment ago suddenly turned into an ash gray one. Nate touched his skin and it felt different, not as rough but softer?


    If felt like he could poke his finger through his hand, which he did as curious as he was. What happened was contrary to his expectations, his finger went through his hand and it popped.


    His hand popped like a bladder.


    Nate screamed in reaction and looked at the place where his hand was supposed to be. It was not empty but filled with... smoke?


    The smoke, that was also smelling like it, was formed like his actual hand was. Nate stared at his smoke-hand and went through it with his right hand. The smoke seemed to avoid the other hand of his and dissolved while maintaining the same colour, just as if gray colored air was moving around his right hand.


    Nate''s heart pounded, he was confused.


    This hand if he could call it was still there but was it the same?


    Before he could continue to wonder his hand turned normal and made Nate feel really exhausted. He immediately felt like sleeping. He had forgotten what he was supposed to actually do and was surprised when he heard the door open.


    "Nate, what is it, you screamed like you were about to die!", his Sister barged into his room, "We''re waiting for you, dinner''s ready." She did not say anything else and left Nate''s room.


    As he walked down the stairs, Nate sensed how exhausted he really was. He managed to join his family to dinner and ate his food as quickly as he could. It was a steak, his favorite food.


    "Quite hungry, aren''t we, son?", his father laughed, "Good to see that you''re the same, that fall was quite unexpected, wasn''t it?" He tried his best to lift the atmosphere as Nate felt that it was somewhat awkward sitting there after being injured like that.


    Nate finished and told that he was tired. He left the table after assuring his parents that he was feeling good. He was actually happy that they were such loving and caring parents.


    Nate closed his door and made sure that it was locked. He sat on his chair and turned up the light of his desk lamp. He made sure that the lamp was putting out the brightest light it was able to. He did not want to miss anything while he observed his left hand.


    One hour had passed. The left hand of his had not changed since the initial change, nor had it done anything abnormal as well. He had long since engraved the picture of his burn marks in his brain. Nate was disappointed. Was it only his imagination? Had the fall done something to his brain?


    Dejected as he was, he gave up on continuing. He turned off his light and went to sleep.


    "Nathan! Wake up, you need to go to school!". Light invaded his eyes. His mother had opened the curtains.


    "Mom", Nate groaned, "Just let me sleep for five more minutes!" He covered his face with his pillow.


    "No five minutes, I let you sleep as long as you could.", his mother replied, took the pillow, and pulled his blanket away. "I''ll drive you to school today, you''ve already missed your bus."


    Nate groaned once more and forced himself to stand up. He went to his closet and took out some clothes he could wear. A blue t-shirt and some jeans. As casual as possible, he did not like to stand out.


    "Nate?", his mother made it obvious that she was sniffing around room, "Nate? Are you smoking?"


    Nate got flustered as soon as he heard something about Smoke, "Smoke... Wha-? No! How did you get that idea?!" His thoughts turned into a great mess, he immediately remembered how what happened to his left hand.


    "It''s your blanket... it just smells like it," she squinted her eyes, making a serious look, "Nathan Walker, are you smoking in my household?"


    "No,Katherine Walker," he paid attention to specially emphasize her name, "I did not and won''t ever smoke."


    "Okay, I''ll trust you for now," she sighed after she could not bear to hold eye contact any longer, "But I''ll keep an eye on you!" She took a deep breath, "Alright, forget that for now,Nathan. I''ll get changed now. I expect you to be ready in two minutes or you can walk to school today." She left the room.


    Nate knew her threat could very well turn into reality if he did not hurry. So he took his backpack and put the books he needed inside. History, Chemistry, Math and Art. He had a bad taste in his mouth with just about thinking of math and the teacher, Mrs. Finch, who was a little, grumpy lady.


    He put everything into his backpack, only his history book was needed. He looked around and found it on top of his closet, why ever it ended up there. He reached for it while stretching his whole body for it - the book was quite far away from the edge - and managed to touch it with his finger and slowly pulled towards him.


    The book, though, did not seem to want to follow the way Nate wanted it to. Instead, it fell, right on top of his injured, right hand. He could not react fast enough.


    At this exact moment his right hand turned gray, the same ash-gray colour the left hand had. The book went right through it. Nate was speechless, he stared at the book with a blank expression.


    And laughed.


    Nate did not know whether he could figure out this phenomenon or not but he would certainly try to.

 1.2 Ignition

    The way to school was at least 10 minutes by car or bus. Walking would have been the most annoying thing Nate could think of right now.


    They arrived just in time, the bell was ringing as he left the car.


    "Have a nice day, dear!", his Mom said after she opened the window, "Be careful not to strain your right hand, okay?"


    "Yeah, thanks, Mom, see you later."


    Nate took a deep breath, he needed to forget about the Smoke for now or his grades would suffer from it. He ran into the building because he had only two minutes left before class started. He ran through the hallway but made sure to slow down if he saw a teacher that would pass by. The school was strict regarding their rule about running in the hallway. A student could count himself lucky if he would just be punished with detention.


    The dumbest thing about Monday morning was that the classroom the first subject, Chemistry, was held in the furthest wing of the school where the labs were to be found. He saw how other people that were late got into their classes and cursed his luck for having Chemistry on the sole day he was late.


    The last bell rang just when he was in front of the classroom, the door was already closed. A sense of dread filled his mind. Even though his teacher for chemistry, Mr. Richards, was a rather relaxed man when it came to students talking in class or not paying too much attention, the one thing he could not stand was if the students would come too late to class. He liked to maintain a schedule in class, basically planning every minute of class.


    Nate took a deep breath and opened the door. The class had already started and he felt how every single person turned their gaze to him. Mr. Richards, a man who had red hair and always wore his glasses with thick frames, looked at him expectantly, "I hope you can explain to me why you were late, Nathan?"


    "Uh... I had an accident," Nate made his splint visible, "The hospital released me just earlier today."


    "Hmm... Alright, take your seat," he turned to the blackboard, "Where were we... Yeah, let''s continue with what kind of Gas is released if we burn a piece of wood."


    Nate walked down the classroom and met the looks his classmates gave him, some were neutral and some discontented but that was probably because of the way Mr. Richards explained things. Nate took his seat and looked up to Mr. Richars who was currently explaining the process of burning wood.


    "You know, the wood isn''t the thing you need to know buthow it happens," Mr. Richards said. "Who can explain me the process of burning wood?"


    Some groans were heard as the students hated it when questions were asked, Nate''s classmates were lazy people, no one bothered to answer even if they knew it already. With the exception of one person, Emily. Emily was a timid girl with curly, light brown hair. She did not speak too much but when in class she made an hundred-eighty degree turn. She would raise her hand every time a teacher asked something, giving them the correct answer most of the time.


    This time she did it as well. Mr. Richards looked around to see if anyone else wanted to answer the question as well and after seeing that no one wanted to, he looked back at Emily and sighed, "You guys should try to take part, you know. It will affect your grades if you don''t do anything at all. Emily, please."


    "When wood burns it uses the oxygen in the air and turns into carbon dioxide and Ash in form of Smoke," Nate jerked up as he heard the Word "Smoke", "and water vapor."


    Nate realized how sensitive he had gotten towards that word and got excited just thinking about his hands. He looked at his left hand and touched the burn marks. He would look into it as soon as he got home.


    "You could''ve explained more precisely but I''ll let that count, good job," Mr. Richards said, "You seewhen wood is burned it actually..."


    "So Nate, what happened with your hand?", a classmate asked.


    "Nothing really, I wanted to climb a wall and fell down." Nate shrugged, as he tried to play it down.


    "I told you that you would fall down sometime, didn''t I?", his friend laughed.


    "Yeah, you did."


    Both of them were following the rest of his classmates to the next classroom, where the worst two lessons of the week would be held. Math class. Nate shuddered by just thinking about Mrs. Finch. She was the reason why he hated math as much. Well, math was pretty much the world thing in the world for him now. He loved it when he was younger but that was probably because he had a teacher that could actually explain things.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    They went up to the second floor and got into the classroom where Mrs. Finch was already waiting for them. They took their places and she did not greet them or anything and started class.


    Nate opened the door to his house. Tired as he was he did not go to greet his Mom but went into his bedroom to lay down. He was somewhat sad because he was not able to go to art class. His right hand hindered him from continuing drawing the sketches he loved to make and he was allowed to leave earlier. The whole afternoon was in front of him now and he had nothing to do. Every activity he liked to do was connected with him using his hands, whether a single one or not.


    Although he would enjoy drawing in school right now, he could finally look into what happened with his hands. He changed into comfortable clothes and looked at his hands, the same way he did yesterday. The burn marks on his left hand looked much better than they had the day before, the red color was not as intensive and his skin looked healthier as well. The cream he used was really doing wonders.


    After staring at his hands for a few minutes he decided that this would not bring him anywhere. Nate thought about the circumstances when his hands had turned to Smoke and wanted to experiment a bit. The first time when his left hand turned, he did not know how it happened but his right hand this morning turned when it was about to get injured again. Was it a defensive mechanism?


    That was why he took another book and let it fall on his left hand. Nothing happened. The book fell on top of his hand and hit it just like it would a normal hand but he was not giving in that easily.


    He looked at his closet and thought about what kind of difference the situation from the morning had with the one now. The height was the only thing that came into his mind, so he tried to throw the book into the air and let it fall onto his hand.


    The book, a heavy dictionary, was the wrong one to use. The book fell on his hand and it hurt.


    Dumb idea, Nate thought.


    He continued to use different methods, different angles to land, and different heights, with a lighter book safe to say. That was until his door was opened, it was his sister, Leah. She walked into his room, saw him and froze. "What are you doing here?", she said.


    "That''s my room, do you expect me to be somewhere else?" Nate was confused.


    "At school, don''t you have Art Class until six? Well, whatever. I''ll leave."


    "No, you don''t," Nate was suspicious of her, something was wrong. "What did you want to do in my room and why do you care if I''m early at home?"


    His Sister''s expression flickered, she was hiding something, "Nothing, I just searched for something."


    "What did you search?"


    "That''s none of your business!" She ran out of his room before he could continue.


    Nate did not bother to chase her, he would find out sooner or later. He locked his door and sat on his bed. Throwing books around would not help him either. He racked his brain to find another solution but he had no clue about it. Should he look this up on the internet? Look at how the people from superhero movies and comics discovered their powers?


    Nate had no doubt that what he had was true and a special power. It was surreal for him because he treated supernatural things with real skepticism but the situation he was in did not allow him to think things the way he used to.


    He opened his laptop and searched around. The mainstream Movies like the X-Men, the Avengers, Superman, and Batman. They all got into a fortunate event, were Aliens or had a huge amount of money. The only thing that could be a possibility were the X-Men. But he discarded this option as he would have heard of other people having the same kinds of changes going through their bodies.


    He got frustrated with the lack of information and closed his laptop.


    What was it that he had missed? Nate thought about the fall he had, as that was surely some kind of trigger point for him. His hands were able to turn after he fell into the fireplace.


    He jerked up.


    The fireplace!


    Something about this place was special and he knew it. But he would not be able to go there, it would take at least an hour to go to this place by car. He would have to wait until it was weekend when he would also normally go outside to climb. It would not be suspicious for him to go out for a longer time so he decided to go to the fireplace the first moment he could.


    Keeping it a secret would be the best option, Nate thought. He would not want anything unexpected to happen because of it. The best thing would be to stay low and slowly figure things out.


    The remaining day was nothing special, Nate gave up and spent his time watching some videos on the internet and watch TV for a bit. Dinner was also normal with the exception of his Leah avoiding gaze like her life depended on it. She tried so hard to not look into Nate''s eyes that their parents noticed it and asked about it. Being the nice brother he was, Nate decided that he would not drag their parents into the strange behavior of hers.


    The both of them left the table at the same time after assuring their parents that nothing was going on. Leah immediately went into her room and remained there for the rest of the evening, while Nate also did the same. He went on and watched TV until he prepared his stuff for school and went to sleep.


    The next morning he woke up to the sound of the alarm he set up on his phone, it was 6.30 in the morning so no one else had gotten up. His parents both got up on 7.30 and he did not exactly know when his sister went to school, even if they went to the same one. Nate moved his blanket and sat on his bed, he needed to wake up for good. He scratched his eyes and yawned.


    After readying himself for school, he went up to his bed for the last time to neatly put his blanket and pillow in the right places. His mother hated it when he left his bed without tidying up. Nate took the blanket and folded it. While he put it on his bed, though, he caught a whiff of it.


    That was why his Mom asked whether he smoked or not.


    It smelt just like a fire that was burning. Nate opened his window and hoped that his Mom would not come inside.


    Only five days remained until he would go to the fireplace.