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Enjoy reading an exhilarating sci-fi thriller with a dash of mystery.
When Iolla Kecky makes water levitate during a Chemistry lesson, her innocent life as a student is smashed into smithereens. Unbeknownst to her, she was experimented on as a child, and it's related to her unusual eye colours.
To make matters worse, not only was the successful result of the experiment leaked, there is a bounty of 5 million dollars for the capture of all seemingly random five teenagers who took the dose, in order to remove the cell from their bodies and sell it at a black market auction.
The only way to save themselves is if they all work together. Except not everyone is on board, and a dangerous enemy is picking them off. The only person who can help them is the person that did this to them to begin with. If they don't, their powers will get out of control, and they risk assassins around the world acquiring their powers and using it to cause chaos.
Turns out, ending up as stew in the black market is only the tip of the iceberg.
He pressed the knife against the man’s neck, the runes on the blade glowing.
“This is your last chance, Dr. Jerydonn.” He growled. “Where is it?”
Dr. Jerydonn smiled, but quickly stopped when his kidnapper pressed the knife harder, sending a single drop of blood trickling down his neck.
“Alright, stop! I’ll tell you.” Dr. Jerydonn finally relented. His kidnapper narrowed his eyes and released the man from his knife’s grasp, but still kept a firm hand on him.
He muttered some coordinates and a location to the kidnapper, who hurriedly scribbled them on a sheet of paper. He folded the paper neatly and said, “If you are lying, hmm…… prepare to see how strong you really are.”
“Oh, brawn is not an issue. I only need my wits.” Dr. Jerydonn replied. “Also……I wish you the best of luck.” He added sarcastically.
His kidnapper waved a dismissive hand at him and smirked. “I won’t need it.”
After following the coordinates, the kidnapper finally reached where the supposed serum was being hidden. It looked exactly as he had pictured, run-down building, sixteen-digit code lock……
He simply keyed in the numbers that Dr. Jerydonn had given him. His eyes followed the ‘enter’ button, which had quickly changed into an aquamarine dot, before outlining a large square, leaving a glowing trail in its wake. The outline glowed even brighter, before dimming and moving forwards slightly. The kidnapper gave a quick glance to his surroundings before pushing the wall-turned-pivot door. The second he entered the room, he turned back only to see the door retracted back inside.
His sharp eyes scanned the room anxiously. Cell samples and diagrams plastered the walls of the room. A microscope and some other laboratory equipment were lined up in a row on a countertop. A large glass container sat at the far end of the room, with several test tubes and a few small bottles inside.
He tilted his head slightly and took out a small metal disk. The top of the disk was clear and a purple cell could be seen. Pressing the sides of the disk, he activated a laser that scanned the surroundings before landing on a stand on the table.
The kidnapper walked towards the table with bold and confident steps. He held up the bottle, carefully unscrewed the cap, and lifted it up to eye level.
This was it.
He tipped the bottle over.
Nothing came out.
Nothing.
5 rough, desperate years of searching…… all lead to one conclusion.
There was no more serum. Not even a drop.
He threw the bottle onto the floor. The resounding crash that followed echoed off the laboratory’s walls as the bottle broke into pieces. His body shook in an uncontrollable rage, like a bomb due to explode any moment.
His glare fell onto a monitor on the table. Five pictures of five teenagers were on the screen. No names, no addresses, no data……only the bold words.
DOSE TAKEN
It was all he needed.
He picked up a shard and gripped it tightly, causing his palm and thumb to bleed. He would come for them. He would make them pay, and nothing could stop him.
The Eyes of Power has gained over 1.1K reads on Wattpad. This chapter alone has won more than 5 Best Prologue & Best First Line awards in several user-led awards and attracted nearly 20 readers!
When I was ten, my eyes changed colour overnight. For a while, I thought I was hallucinating.
Until Charlotte had commented on my eyes, remarking that they were beautiful contact lenses and asked where I had bought them. After hearing that, I basically spent half the day looking down at the floor, and the other half staring at the toilet mirror.
You can see why I did not do so well for that subject.
No doctor could explain my eyes, and they only noted that it was unnatural, which I had already registered. My parents bought me a pair of brown-coloured eye contact lenses so as to hopefully cover up my insecurity with it.
I had taken advantage of Charlotte's compliment and used it to excuse my absence, lying that the contact lenses were itchy, so I went to get a new pair.
It is funny how I was already fifteen, and still, no one could explain my eyes. I only took the contact lenses off to clean them and before I slept. Until today.
"No, no, no!" I muttered, my hands flying about as I hastily rummaged through my belongings. This couldn't have happened.
Okay, stay calm, Io, think hard. Did you bring them? I thought, racking my brains. Not on the study table, not on the nightstand...
The sharp rings of an alarm, my mother yelling up the stairs was what happened after I had left the toilet. Unless...I had left the contact lenses beside the sink after washing them.
Oh, great! I bit my lip and fumbled around my bag. I just have to keep my head down, take out my spare lenses and-
"Hey, Iolla, are you free to hang out during the holidays?" A familiar voice broke my train of thought. Denisse.
"Hi, er...yes I will be free. I'll check when I'm home," I replied as casually as possible.
"Okay then!" I waited until Denisse's footsteps had faded away, then heaved a sigh of relief. I grabbed hold of the box that holds my spare contact lenses and let my eyes flicker up to the classroom's digital clock. It's seven thirty, so I have time to rush off to the toilet before everyone starts pouring in, I thought as I stood up.
After putting on my spare contact lenses, I could actually look at people without feeling nervous. Interesting how a pair of small glass dome-like lenses could impact me by simply putting them on. Before I knew it, it was the last school lesson.
"Class, inject one drop of liquid from the syringe to the water. You should be able to see it dissolve." Mrs Hallivy instructed in her usual get-down-to-business tone she only used during chemistry.
I pushed down the plunger slowly and watched as the drop landed. The water swirled around several times around the side of the flask. Confused, I placed it down onto the table. It continued swirling.
Wait, what's happening? I'm not even touching it! I thought as I squinted at the water, which was starting to swirl higher. Meanwhile, contrary to what Mrs Hallivy said, the droplet did not dissolve. It was slowly dropping, but the water below it was parting.
Several of my classmates were looking up from their own flasks and instead, were pointing at mine. I heard Charlotte mumbling behind me, "How is the water doing that? It shouldn't be......" before going on about some super scientific terms used that I clearly did not understand, since Chemistry was my worst subject.
"Mrs Hallivy! Io's flask..." Dylan asked, raising his hand and pointing to behind him. To me.
The chatter around me grew from mumbles and mutters to confused voices. The water from the bottom of the flask parted and rose from the sides of the flask all the way to the top, before curving downwards, like a dome. Almost as if...the water was trying to bury the droplet.
Splash! The water dome suddenly collapsed, and I jerked back. The water shook a little, before going still, and the droplet dissolved, just as Mrs Hallivy said it would. Groans of dismay and scoffs came from behind me, and I heard the squeaks of the laboratory chairs as everyone turned back.
"You were saying, Dylan...?" Mrs Hallivy asked. Dylan took a side glance to the flask on my table, before shaking his head.
"Nothing, Mrs Hallivy."
As everyone returned to their original seats, I continued to stare at the flask. What. Just. Happened. I didn't even touch it!
Just then, the lunch bell rang and Mrs Hallivy dismissed the class. I zipped up my pencil case and was about to leave when I noticed something on my table. Some water had dripped from the flask and was arranged in a... strange formation. As I took a closer look at it, there was no doubt in what was formed.
It is your time.
The protagonist's name is Iolla with an i and not an L and is pronounced as EYE-O-LA.
My time?
I reached forward and touched the water droplets. It rippled, and all the droplets merged together to form a puddle. It was definitely a statement, but more importantly, I had no idea who was writing it, and why.
I pored over the puddle in an attempt to make sure that it was not going to form another message for me. Only my reflection stared back at me. I looked like myself. Except the fact that something was off. My eyes.
I wasn't wearing my contact lenses.
My eyes were shimmering, and together with the aquamarine colour, they looked like the surface of water.
I poked a finger to my eyes gently. It only hit the plastic of my contact lenses, and I heaved a sigh of relief.
Then why does my reflection show me without my contact lenses?
My eyes shimmered again, as if to say, find out why.
"Iolla!" I looked up to see Denisse beckoning me. I took one last glance at the puddle of water before following her out.
I walked out of the school compound, my mind racing. The water is strange today. Perhaps I should sleep more these few weeks, since it's the school holidays.
Nope. I ended up staring at the dark ceiling above me, my eyes still wide and awake. After about half an hour, I gave up and turn on my PC.
The large and colourful logo of Google showed up, and I typed 'aquamarine eyes' into the search bar and waited for the results.
Several were advertising blue contact lenses, others are clearly photo-shopped. I shook my head. No, not this. I needed genuine eye colours. I clicked on the search bar and typed in 'rarest eye colours ever'. I clicked on a few of the websites, but they were useless. I got the gist of most of the other results too – the rarest eye colour is green, and 'blue' eyes refer to medium blue eyes.
Ugh. They're just telling me that my eye colour doesn't exist. Yeah, quite obvious.
I continued typing in various search phrases related to unique aquamarine eyes, but all that comes up is a bunch of advertisements and results that clearly show that not a person in the world – other than me – has aquamarine eyes.
My mother's voice was the last thing that came to me.
Never rely too much on the Internet this era, it's overflowing with conspiracies and fake news.
I woke up, thinking, Yes, I can't rely too much on the Internet. But who says I can't rely on a hacker?
"Denisse." I greeted the brown-haired girl standing in the doorway.
"At last. Come in!" Denisse opened the door to my opinion of freedom.
We spent the morning at the shopping mall, where we shopped for clothes and ate at some Italian restaurant. Exhausted, we returned to her house to play board games and watch a movie.
Denisse was very engrossed, but I was more distracted by one thought.
Ask her. Why are you hesitating?
The movie was not bad, and the moment Denisse turned the television off, I seized the opportunity to ask.
"You said something about some chatter? Something about a scientist?"
"Oh yes, I did want to show you. Follow me." Denisse replied.
When we enter her room, I noticed that quite some changes had been made. The music posters of her then-favourite band had been taken down and were replaced with blueprints of the latest Artificial Intelligence. A pile of books lay at the foot of her green bed.
"So, I told you I was checking out the black market for some cheap stuff, right?" She asked, typing on her laptop, which was sitting on her desk.
"Yeah, I thought you were going to buy a device." I replied.
"I was." I noticed the change of tone in her voice. The excitement had died down and had transformed into horror. "Until people started talking about this."
Denisse turned the screen of her laptop to face me. I recognised the black background of DEflayte, and my mouth fell open.
DEflayte was the home for all the shady business deals and illegal trade in the world. Great for shopping for drugs and cheap items too. When our resources declined and inflation became too much to handle, it was what people turned to. Governments could not trace them, due to the expert coding skills of the creator. I would argue to Denisse not to trade on a platform where conmen, scammers and assassins traded, but from her look, now was not the time.
Shutting my mouth, I took a closer look at the chat. About five people were actively chatting in the live chat, in the middle of some discussion:
Krire Bewtacap sent, 'The serum is now depleted, as the scientist who created it can no longer replicate it, and he claims that even if he could reinvent it, it would take years to form.'
Pennyguin replied, 'So we can't get another dose. What about finding the people he gave the serum to?'
H4TE GOV2 added, 'Pennyguin, Krire mentioned a few teenagers.'
Krire Bewtacap replied, 'Yes, they took the only doses.'
Desmond Hawkins sent, 'How can we identify them?'
Krire Bewtacap replied, 'Their eyes are unique and unnatural. Nothing like the so-called 'rare' green eyes. They look stunning.'
Like mine.
All the messages stopped, and I assumed that they were thinking. Or maybe, searching for them.
What if they're searching for me?
I shook my head, trying to brush off the thought. Stop overthinking, Io.
After a long five minutes, H4TE GOV2 sent, 'I would pay millions just for one dose! By the way, has anyone been able to locate them? We need to capture them in order to sell the dose at the auction.'
Another person, who had been silent the whole time we were watching, Jessica Krone sent, 'I have. Sending people now. No idea how powerful this one could be.'
Pennyguin replied, 'Alright.'
Krire Bewtacap replied, 'Spill the beans.'
Jessica Krone sent, '21 Binker Avenue.'
My address.
"Oh my goodness, Io! Why are they coming for you?" Denisse cried, her palm finding its way to her gaping mouth.
I recoiled. What now?
"I...it doesn't matter now," I replied as she raised an eyebrow, "I'll explain later. Right now, I need to get out of here."
I grabbed my bag and was about to yank the door open when Denisse's hand reached for my arm.
"If you're going, so am I." Denisse declared, defiance glinting in her eyes. "At least I can update you on the chat. Who will help you when you're on the run?"
Denisse is so persuasive.
While I left Denisse alone back at her house, I dashed to mine, stuffing whatever I could into a small suitcase and a backpack. After I packed my belongings, my eyes landed onto the portrait of my parents.
What would they say when they returned from their trip to Venice? To find that I was gone, a teen-turned-runaway? Could I even explain anything to them?
However, upon remembering the discussion on DEflayte, I shook my head and returned to Denisse's house. Not here, and most certainly not now.
She was already waiting outside, a small luggage in one hand and a handbag draped over her other shoulder. My pace quickened instinctively and stopped upon reaching her yard.
"So, where to?" I asked as we hailed a taxi.
"You're asking me like I'm the one about to be captured."
"Right. We could hide out somewhere more isolated and wait for more details from DEflayte." I suggested.
"Okay. As long as I get the full story. Your side, anyway." Denisse frowned, but it disappeared the moment she got into the taxi and turned to the driver.
We ended up taking the taxi to the train station. It felt like every passer-by was staring at us the entire time. While Denisse walked straight ahead towards the ticket counter, I kept looking over my shoulder to make sure no one was following us. I could not risk being stalked.
When we had purchased two train tickets to Waverhill, security checked us, and our suitcases barely passed the test. I had packed along a knife into my bag for self-defence, but no matter how hard I protested that it was a utility knife and that we were going camping, they still discarded it. Oh well. No way can I convince them that I am on the run from assassins and that knife might have just been my last line of defence.
When Denisse walked off with her suitcase, filled with hacking and computer equipment, I made sure we were out of sight, queuing up for the train to Waverhill before gaping at her.
"How did you..."
"I planted a bug inside my bag. For your information, DEflayte can be very useful at times."
Our train was a small, cosy train that was rather empty. Maybe it was the fact that it was a hot Friday afternoon, but there were barely any filled cabins. We took our designated cabin at the back; two bunk beds facing each other. Packing the suitcases and bags onto the luggage rack, I decided to briefly flip through the emergency manual the train had provided for each cabin.
"You have friends on DEflayte?" I asked as we sat down on each sofa.
"I wouldn't say friends. You're right, I can't trust them." Denisse chuckled. "For all we know, they could be mercenaries, criminals, kidnappers, assassins......" She shrugged. "The list just goes on and on."
A gust of wind blew and we fell silent. Taking a few minutes to just admire the city flying past us, I imagined my parents sitting opposite me, laughing at a bad joke my father made.
"Look how cheesy your father is!" My mother would tell me, pointing at my grinning father.
A small smile tugged at the corners of my mouth as I thought of us having fun together as a family. I would have never felt so carefree. All I wanted was to freeze in that moment forever and ever.
But my parents slowly faded away and are replaced by Denisse, attaching her equipment to her laptop using a wire, creases forming on her face. No, I'm not on holiday with my family. I'm on the run, and now I've dragged Denisse along with me too.
"So, you promised to update me." Denisse's voice snapped me back to reality.
I took a deep breath and nodded. She deserved to know.
I then told her everything that happened; from when I first discovered my glowing eyes to the water-droplet words on the puddle during Chemistry. Throughout the whole story, I did not stop until I finished.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier. I would have, but......" I hurriedly added after I had finished.
"Look, the world has dozens of mysteries, and clearly this is one of them. I understand why you did it. You don't have to apologise." She replied.
I nodded and she continued, "I agreed to join you to help you. We'll figure this out together."
"But really, are your eyes actually glowing?"
I turned around to remove my contact lenses. When I turned back to face Denisse, all she did was gasp.
"Oh my goodness, Io, you look amazing! Why, everyone you pass by will be so jealous if you go walking around without the contact lenses." She exclaimed, her mouth hanging open.
I let my gaze flicker to the floor, muttering, "Now that I think about it, it feels like bearing a curse rather than a gift. I'm chased after, forced to leave my home and family behind, all because of my eyes. Why me?"
For a moment, I thought, Denisse will probably say 'It'll be alright.' But I know it won't be.
However, she let out a determined "I don't know why either, but that scientist the users were talking about might have the answers to our questions."
That was unexpected. That was my first thought. That scientist. Wait.
"Denisse, can I check the chat on DEflayte again?" I asked.
"Sure." She replied, and I walked over to her computer, where she had already entered DEflayte. In the two hours that we had stop watching the chat, many messages were sent and I was about to scroll up when a recent message, posted just a few seconds ago, read:
EverBlazingWolf sent, 'I found them.'
The train shook ominously and I looked up from the screen to face Denisse, whose eyes had widened, her pupils dilating. I only had one, haunting thought.
We've been discovered.
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