The Powerful Pride of an Immortal (Immortal Supers Book 4) Kurtis Eckstein (psychology books to read TXT) 📖

And how in the hell could a ‘cyclone’ devour a ‘tower?’

It was just a bunch of bullshit.

Unexpectedly, everything around her began to rattle, the massive window before her vibrating. For half a second, she was shocked by the earthquake, only to abruptly realize it was far from a natural phenomenon.

Her head snapped to the side when, in the corner of her vision, she witnessed before her a massive pillar of fire erupting straight upward into the sky as a brilliant blinding light chased after it, swallowing it up in barely the blink of an eye. And then it was gone, replaced with a haze in the air. She stared at it in disbelief, completely dumbfounded by what she’d just witnessed, almost wondering if she’d imagined it.

But she knew she hadn’t.

It was real.

Seconds later, and her phone was vibrating on the bedside table.

She quickly rushed over to pick it up.

“Winter Fowler,” a familiar woman’s voice said automatically. “We desperately need your help.”

Winter’s pale green eyes widened, as her mind began making the connections, prompting her to look back over her shoulder at the haze in the near distance.

Concentrating as hard as she could, everything unexpectedly clicked into place as her power was drawn into a mind she’d latched onto just days ago.

And suddenly, she knew what her answer must be.

“No,” she said firmly, her gaze shifting upward to the brilliant orange sunset, the colors enhanced by the dust in the air.

Winter paused then, with the person on the other end silent, likely shocked by her refusal.

Was this really it?

After all this time, was this really the path she was meant to take?

She knew it was. Now that she’d seen the sign, her indecisiveness was gone. Her instincts were confirmed. Really, she knew this was right from the beginning. She was just waiting for confirmation.

And now she had it.

She completed her statement.

“You don’t need my help,” she continued. “But he does.”

❖               ❖               ❖

Sam Archer

April 13, 2735 – Current Day – Evening

The temporary horror, induced by the desolate scene before me, was immediately replaced with overwhelming relief when I met two separate amethyst gazes, both of them equally horrified – both of them surrounded by blue flames, burning brightly in the sudden twilight, yet somehow completely untouched by the heat.

It was like they were literally sitting in the middle of the proverbial burning bush, completely ablaze but not consumed by the omnipotent flame.

And then, I noticed more blue flames in the distance, with more and more humanoid shapes coming into focus.

Everything was gone.

But the people remained.

A fire that destroyed everything, except that which I valued above all else. An explosion that burned everything, even metal, yet spared what I treasured.

A force of destruction that obeyed my will.

It was then, that I knew I did have Lily’s pyrogenesis, but I also had pyrokinesis.

I could only assume they both came from her, with one being completely untrained and untested. But just like I removed the limitations of this body’s ability to regenerate, it appeared I must have done the same with Lily’s power.

At least, that was the only thing that made sense in that moment, as I tried to piece it all together.

As far as I could tell, the only people who were truly gone was the suicide bomber and those who had been immediately around her. Maybe ten to twenty people total. Everyone else appeared to be alive, assuming they hadn’t died previously from being impaled with metal rods.

Even the body next to us was still mostly there, minus the guy’s head, which had been vaporized.

I also still had Lexi’s phone in my hand, likewise untouched, but it was completely dead.

Heidi was sitting up now, looking like she was shell-shocked, as if she was so beyond stunned and traumatized at this point that her ability to process the situation had just shut down entirely. At the very least, she didn’t seem to notice the blue fire still covering her body. But after meeting my gaze, her face scrunched up and she practically flew into my arms, clinging to me as she began hyperventilating again.

I wasn’t sure if she understood my role in what just happened, or if she simply thought that a bomb had detonated, and I simply protected them from it – nothing more.

Lexi followed suit, hugging both me and her younger sister, both of them trembling violently. The other victims in the area were having various reactions, some of the freaking out about the blue fire that still clung to their bodies, while others were too shocked to even process anything beyond the empty wasteland.

Then there were others who ignored both, focusing on trying to get their friends or family to safety.

The three of us ignored them all, just clinging to each other while activity slowly increased in the area. No police though. No superheroes either.

Was anyone coming?

It seemed like forever before I noticed someone quickly approaching us, running at normal speed, his body alight with blue fire.

“Lexi!” he called out, prompting her to pull away when she recognized the deep voice.

It was Tyrone, the guy with dark skin and curly hair – the one who turned out the lights on me just a few days ago to show me his ability to manipulate radiation.

“Tyrone?” she said in confusion. “Why are you here?”

He laughed, though there wasn’t much humor in it. “You’re my partner in crime! And you know my wife is your biggest fan. She’d kill me if she knew you were hurt, and I left you hanging.”

“But where are the police?” Lexi pressed. “EMS? Where’s the CDS’s emergency response team?”

“They’re here,” he reassured her, only to wave his arms. “But they’re freaked out by this fire. Anyone who comes within a certain distance of the explosion lights up. They’re coming now though.”

And sure enough, nearly a dozen men were heading vaguely in this direction. Two of them had guns and were dressed in riot gear, leading the group, while four more were EMS, and the rest