Cale’s mom opened the elevator doors and he watched the scissored metal gate open and ignored his desire to put his finger inside the little holes made by the metal. He found it frustratingly interesting that the desire to put his finger in there still popped in his head even though his body was different, which meant this was his quirk and not just a human one.

  Since he wasn’t sure he could contain himself, and since he didn’t want his curiosity to lose him a finger, he forced himself to look away and to pay attention to his mom as she led them into an office. This office was much different than his mother’s office. Where hers had walls covered in notes and desks full of paper, this desk was clean, with only a few paintings on the walls and an amazing view of the base from above.

  Standing next to the window was a tall skinny man, wearing a rounded white top hat, and a long, loosely fitted leather coat with red embroidery running along its edges. The man gave them a big smile, and introduced himself as Vice Vinyatte. He gestured for them to sit at a table next to one of the windows with the amazing view of the base. Cale hadn’t been this high up since he killed that bird, and he had not been paying attention to the surroundings then, but now with a clear view, he could see that the inside of the base looked like a small town and there were a lot more people working here then he had realized.

  As he looked out, he noticed that one of the guard towers had a big blue line with the word “Phil,” underneath it. His mom saw him looking at it and told him that the guards had marked how high Phil was when he came into the base and it was becoming a joke that the “walls were not high enough to keep out the riff raff,” amongst the guardsmen. This made him giggle as he hopped up on one of the chairs next to his mom and folded his hands to wait patiently as he tried to focus on the task at hand.

  Even though he had conquered his baby brain a while back, it still sometimes snuck up on him and he would find himself very distracted. He wasn’t sure what this was all about, but there was a good chance his mom would be doing all the talking, so it was his job to basically look cute, be quiet, and behave.

  Plus he was recording the entire thing in case he wanted to watch it later. He just needed to focus on keeping his eyes open, even if he zoned out, he should be able to watch it later if something happened. He had done some testing and even when thinking of something else, the interface would still record information that hit his eyes and ears.

  “Diana, thank you for meeting me on such short notice,” Vice Vinyatte said as he sat down. “Once word came of your son’s condition, and that he survived it, I was dispatched to get to the bottom of the rumors.”

  “Rumors?” His mother asked, “Excuse me, but I am not sure if we are aware of any rumors worth bringing someone of your stature here. We are just happy to have our little boy alive and with us.”

  Cale watched as the eyes of Vice Vinyatte scrutinized his mother’s words and he could swear he saw his eyes get brighter, if only for a second. Cale suddenly realized that his mom may have been a bit naive when she told him not to worry about this conversation and he found himself eyeing the exit.

  “Yes, some very interesting rumors.” He said slowly as he looked Cale in the eyes before his focus moved to his skin. “May I?” he asked, holding out his hand and pointing to Cale’s arm.

  Not having a good reason to say no, Cale jumped down from his seat and walked over to the man with his guard up. Vice Vinyatte gently grabbed the hand that Cale offered him and he ran his fingers along Cale’s arm, following the lines and slowly mouthing something to himself.

  “It’s... Marvelous,” Cale heard from the man. “Absolutely marvelous. Tell me, young one. Do you remember anything while the doctors were healing you?”

  “I remember being hungry and a little thirsty,” he said, trying to redirect the question. He didn’t have the same blind trust that his mother seemed to have.

  “Of course, of course. I was told you were out for many days. I am sure your body was ravenous after your... ordeal.” Vice Vinyatte said, enunciating the last word with more… weight than the others.

  The man let go of Cale’s arm and looked back to his mother. “I’ve also heard that your little one here asked to change his name after he awoke. Is that true?” He questioned.

  “Yes,” his mom said, “little Cale used to go by the name given by his father, Xavier.”

  The Vice leaned back in his chair, taking a deep breath and avoided looking him. Cale looked to his mom for answers. This had not been the first time someone had brought up the name change and he was starting to think that he was missing something important.

  “Does he know what that means? Have you made him aware of his future?”

  “He is not aware. At least his father and I have not told him anything and he has not asked.”

  “Hmm...” the Vice hummed to himself, “And you didn’t try to talk him out of it?” he asked Diana.

  “We… Tried.. But… This one,” she nodded her head toward Cale, “Didn’t leave much choice.”

  Cale heard the Vice snort a little and then looked at him. “Are you aware of what a name change means young one?” He directed the question to Cale this time.

  Cale used one of the cutest looks he had practiced earlier and shook his head no.

  “I assumed not. No one would willingly change their name and remove themselves from their inheritance. Normally one’s name is changed forcefully and only when being disavowed by their family. But here,” the Vice leaned in closer to Cale, “Here we have a little boy changing his name and his parents…” he looked to Diana, “Just accepting it…”

  His eyes went wide at the words, he didn’t know exactly what was involved in this inheritance, but it sounded like a big deal.

  “Mom, I didn’t know…” His sentence trailed off as he finally understood why his dad had been so upset. It was more than the fact that he had named him, it was that Cale, by changing his name, seemed to have accidently rejected his family and their inheritance.

  “It is ok, Cale. We know you didn’t know,” she said calmly, but her eyes told another story as she stared at Vice Vinyatte with scrutiny. “We can go over what this all means… Later…” She finished.

  “Why is the church concerned about my name change?” He asked the Vice as innocently as he could, he was honestly curious as it seemed like a personal manner.

  “Why indeed…” The Vice turned his attention back to Cale. “You are a perceptive one for someone of such a small... stature.”

  The Vice scrutinized Cale one last time before changing the topic completely, mainly asking his mom about her work while only glancing at Cale. The meeting only lasted a few more minutes before they were dismissed. As his mom closed the scissor gate to the elevator, and they descended back into the depths of their base, Cale wondered what this was all about. After all the man had never even told them what the rumors even were and he had forgotten to ask.

  ***

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Vice Vinyatte

  He was lost in thought as he was given a tour of their research base. He nodded his head as the staffer told him the information, but his thoughts were elsewhere. It cost the church a small fortune to maintain this place. The knowledge they had gained, however, was well worth it and this new development, the boy, had solidified his support for investing in this place.

  “Daddy!” His daughter yelled out to him, giving him a large hug as he picked her up. The tour had ended at the childcare area so he could see her.

  “Nadea. Are you having fun here?” he was genuinely curious as she had been upset at having to leave the city and come here.

  “Yes! This place is soooo much fun! I have made a new friend!” She squealed.

  “A new friend? Already? We have only been here a few hours. You really do take after your mother. Have you seen her?”

  “Yep! Mom stopped by earlier. She dropped me off some lunch before she went down below.” Nadea chirped.

  “You have a good mom. I will have to catch up with her when I get back. I am heading out tonight and wanted to see you before I left.”

  “Nooo! You are leaving already? Why?!” Nadea pouted. “You were supposed to be here for a week.”

  “I will be back. I would take you home if your mother would come with me, but you know how she gets when she finds something interesting, she won’t leave until she is satisfied.”

  “I know…” she said, stomping her feet. “But that’s why I want you here. Otherwise work is all she talks about!”

  He giggled at her and brought her into a hug. “Hey, didn’t you just say you made some friends? At least you will get to spend some more time with them right?”

  “I guess...” she said sounding unsure. “Now that you say it, Leo is pretty fun and he doesn’t even care I am your daughter.”

  “Leo you say… Which one is he?” he asked. He had been expecting her new friend to be a girl and his fatherly instincts were kicking in.

  “That one!” she pointed and Vice Vinyatte looked, following her finger to a young boy, about her age, with strawberry blonde hair that was currently running toward them.

  “Nadea! It’s your turn to be the chaser and people are getting impatient!”

  “I’ll be there soon. Leo, want to meet my dad?” She asked excitedly.

  He watched the boy suddenly stiffen and awkwardly look up at him. “Uh… Hello Sir.”

  “Leo is it? Are you treating my daughter nicely?” He asked with a protective twinge to his tone.

  “Yes, s- s- sir!” Leo said nervously.

  “Dad, stop being mean. Leo treats me like everyone else.” She said with a huff.

  He laughed at seeing his daughter so protective. Every day he saw more and more of his wife in her and it brought his heart great joy.

  “Ok, ok,” he said giving her a hug. “You go have fun. I will be back in about a week.”

  “Bye dad! Love you!” she told him before running off with the Leo boy to join the other kids impatiently waiting for them.

  Before leaving, he stopped at their apartment under the base and left his wife a note letting her know that he had to leave earlier than expected and that he would be back in about a week. He knew that bothering her now would be a vain effort, but also saying nothing would get him in trouble, so a note would have to do. He even went so far as to have one of the guardsmen get him a nice flower from the forest, and he placed it next to the card.

  A few hours later, when he was well on his way back to the capital, he was putting together his thoughts on the investigation. The first thing he wrote down in his notes was that he had not expected the rumors to be true. There really was a boy that survived the Trial of the Divine.

  The Trial of the Divine was typically used as a punishment by the church, a means of getting rid of those that dove too deep into the divine texts and came out with questionable teachings. If they survived the trial, the church would take them seriously, but to date, nobody had ever survived and it was seen as more of a death penalty. Yet some boy, who had no idea of the political storm he was about to cause, had taken an uncontrolled version of the Divine Trial and even more incredibly, he had survived.

  The marks on his body couldn’t be more clear to Vice Vinyatte. This child had not only been touched by the divine, but he had been fully enveloped in their glory and survived. A feat never before recorded and until his interview, he himself was doubtful of the claims.

  When he started his investigation, he had arrived early and his identity remained a secret to all but a select few. This let him watch the boy freely and he hadn’t seen anything that made the boy seem special. But then information on the boy’s interface records arrived from the church and he found himself very surprised. According to their records, his interface had registered as a teenager only a year after his birth, which was unheard of to the point where they had done a full diagnostics of the ancient registry they maintained, causing the information to arrive later than expected.

  But to everyone’s surprise, the records had not been incorrect, and even more puzzling to him, was that the boy didn’t respond to any of his unseen queries. The main reason they had sent Vice Vinyatte was because of his ability to get hidden information that was unseen, but available.

  He had a script that would show him everyone with an interface, and if they got within a few feet of himself it also gave basic information about their name, age and status. When the elevator arrived, he had assumed it was the administrator, since he only saw one adult coming up the and he was in the administrator’s office. He had been caught off guard when the door opened, not revealing the administrator, but instead the person of interest and his mother.

  He was surprised to see that the boy was invisible to his script, like he didn’t even exist. There were only a few people in the world that were invisible to him, and every one of them was extremely powerful, and one of them was his superior.

  In case it was a fluke, he even tried getting information out of him by touch, a method he rarely had to use, and he had only used it a few times on people that were on the verge of death so he could get their name to at least mark their passing. However, when he touched the boy and observed the markings from the Divine Trial, he got nothing from the boy.

  It was like his script simply didn’t see him. It was an impossibility that he had not been prepared to confront and it took everything he had to maintain his emotions and not give away his true feelings. The boy was exactly what the church needed to solidify its power, a living embodiment of the divine, and it was now his job to convince the others.

  This was a sign that they were on the right path, a hope that they could restore the glory that their people once were in the eyes in the divine. His path was clear, his goal was righteous, and soon the whole world would see the glory. Their civilization would fall back into the graces of the divine. A smile appeared on Vice Vinyatte’s face as he thought of the future that was ahead of them.

  Cale

  That evening, after the meeting, and then supper, Cale sat listening to his mom tell his dad about how he cut through a desk. He then had to re-explain how it was an accident because he was using a new script that somehow appeared when his soul was attacked. His dad surprisingly was a lot more concerned about the attack that took place than his mother was.

  After hours of answering more questions, Cale and Maggy finally had time to chat again after everyone went to bed. He was finding it very awkward not to be able to talk to her when his interface was closed and she was the closest thing to a search engine and trusted companion he had!

  He laid down in bed and entered his soul vision. He wanted to chat with Maggy quietly and his mom had a way of inconveniently and stealthily catching him talking with her.

  “Alright Maggy, my day is over and I have been dying to go over those files. What did you find out?” He asked.

  “Cale!” Maggy yelled and jumped up from a lounge chair where she had multiple displays in front of herself and looked to be flying through rows and rows of text at a blinding speed. “The files we located were not of much use, but there is something inside I think you will really like.”

  As Cale walked over, Maggy circled one of the screens with her hand, causing the text to change and then she tapped the edge of it, causing it to fly over to Cale. He grabbed the screen and pulled it in front of him to review what Maggy had found. Most of the information they had grabbed was not useful to them as they looked like interface files but they were missing the reference points. However, inside these files was a manual, and not just any old manual, but a user manual for an interface!

  He grabbed a lounge chair and started going through it page by page. He discovered right away that this manual was not for his version of the interface. The example images in the manual looked different than his and it didn’t seem to have any tabs like his did. He perused the manual late into the night taking notes, sleep forgotten as he finally discovered something related to his interface that could help him without killing him.

  Cale’s life fell into a routine after his discovery for the next week. In the mornings, he would review what he learned the night before with his mother, after lunch he would blow off some steam and hang with Leo and their new partner in crime, Nadea, and in the evenings, he would dig through the interface manual, learning all he could. Soon he would be confident enough to get his other scripts working again.

  Finally, after a week of research, testing, more testing, some breaking, and then some more research. He finally felt like he had a grasp on how his new interface worked and what it could offer him. Using new mental commands he had learned, he summoned only his to do list to his vision, instead of the entire interface, and eyed up the first item on his to do list. An item he had made note of long before he came to this base and his first real goal: ‘Strongest Baby Alive plan’ – Complete.