4:30 A.M.

 

Bean stood up and headed for the door, beckoning Carter to follow. They walked past Carters cell/room and approached a rusted door. It opened the same way the other door to the cafeteria did. Sparks flying and no one touching it.

 

“Why do they do that?” Carter asked.

 

“What? Oh.” Bean not understanding till he saw Carter looking at the door. “Their automatic.”

 

“They don't look like it...” Carter thought.

 

They walked into yet another gargantuan room, but this one was clearly meant for exercising and fitness. It was complete with; weights, about 50 weightlifting benches, a couple hundred pull-up bars and an indoor running track encircling the entire room.

 

“Wow” Carter unintentionally whispered.

 

“Pretty impressive isn't it?” Bean said noting Carters baffled expression. He then gestured to his tiny form and jokingly said. “You can see the wonders this rooms done for me.”

 

Carter chuckled as he walked onto the running track.

 

“This is where well start.” Bean said as he gravitated next Carter. “It gives us plenty of room for...” he paused for effect. “An energy blast.”

 

“WHAT!?” Carter was pumped. “This is going to be SO cool!” he exclaimed.

 

“But FIRST!”

 

“Oh no.”

 

The doctor's eyes lit up. “You need to learn the different types of Ignises.”

 

“Another lecture?” Carter deflated. He was never a fan of school. Most weekdays he'd ditch school and hang out at Little Stone's go kart track. He didn't have enough money to drive them, so the manager would let him ride for free since no one was there during the week anyway. Looking back he probably pitied him, he'd often show up with black eyes, cuts and bruises from the previous night's beatings. Carter was a lot tougher now.

 

One day, the manager was murdered by a 19 year old gas station robber. The robber had walked in a couple minutes after Carter had left, pulled his gun, and asked for all the money in the managers register. The kid didn't even have a bag to put the money in, he just stuffed his pockets.

 

The robber claimed it was an accident that his gun went off in his hand.

 

Straight through the chest, the manager died a slow death and the teen ran, but it was a small town so he was caught. The whole town knew about the murder, and so did Carter.

 

Within one night of being in jail, the crook turned murderer was slaughtered. Cell guards who had seen the body describe something truly horrific. The body was missing all skin tissue and its eyes. The sockets still smoking. The muscle and bones were clearly visible and charred, but perhaps the most gruesome part was the heart.

 

It was shriveled and black and all the valves were in the exact same condition. The blood was everywhere.

 

The police were unable to find the killer, but now Carter had a pretty good idea who did it.

 

“...You see Carter.” The Scottish man’s class on Ignises snapped Carter out of his memory. “Each Ignis has a purpose. Some are meant to be the Light and some are meant to be the darkness. I think you're the light Carter, there are only a handful of dark Ignises anyway it’s unlikely you're one of them.”

 

“That's a relief...” sighed Carter.

 

“Now I've placed a target at the end of the room for you.”

 

“I see it.” He said just now noticing the red and white target.

 

“Well practice with that. So do exactly as I say.”

 

Carter nodded.

 

“good.” said Bean. “Now face the target...”

 

Carter did.

 

“Take a deep breath, close your eyes.” his enthusiasm increased. “Here’s the fun part, I want you to imagine LIFE. The beauty of life, the POWER of life. The balance of life. Think of a Cheetah and a Gazelle, the Cheetah chases the Gazelle to preserve its life by feeding itself. The gazelle runs away to preserve ITS life by not being eaten. Whoever wins, will win its life. It is something they already have that they must fight to earn. Understand?”

 

“I think so.” Carter replied.

 

“OK... now channel the life. Think about YOUR life, how powerful it is. Then use it. Carter USE IT.”

 

“i can't!” exclaimed carter.

 

“YES you can Carter! USE IT!” screamed Bean.

 

“I CAN'T!” repeated Carter.

 

“DO IT NOW!” Bean demanded.

 

The scream echoed in Carters mind. All of a sudden he was in a dark room, a different room than the training room. He was in his mind. He watched as an energy blue cheetah ran across the dark landscape of his subconscious. It was chasing an energy blue Gazelle. It was a beautiful sight, this graceful ballet. He saw what Bean meant... the power of life.

 

He snapped back to reality feeling quite strange. His skin felt like it was boiling but it wasn't unpleasant, it felt energizing.

 

He let out a whoop of excitement as a brilliant blue blast of energy shot out of his hands and disintegrated the target.

“Yes!” both Bean and Carter said at the same time.

 

Carter was so excited that he and Bean spent the rest of the day practicing Carters new skill. Before they knew it was 8:00 P.M.

 

“Wow!” exclaimed Bean. “Look at the time, you should get to bed.”

 

“But!”

 

“Nope well do more tomorrow.” Quickly cutting off Carters protest.

 

“Fine.” Carter gave in.

 

As he made his way to the exit of the training room he passed a clipboard with some government documents on it. On the top document was a picture of Dr. Bean typical profile stuff. But then he saw Beans full name.

 

Alexander Bean.

 

He didn't know why but the thing inside him screamed in his head. It sounded like nails on a chalkboard but only he could hear it.

 

ALEXANDER BEAN the thing screamed. KILL HIM!!! KILL HIM BEFORE HE KILLS YOU, BEFORE HE KILLS US!!!! KILL HIM!!!

 

“SHUT UP” Carter fired back in his head. “For the first time... it’s like we have a dad. A good dad. SO don’t screw this up.”

 

“You coming?” Bean asked.

 

KILL HIM, it continued KIIIILLLLL HIII-!

 

“Yeah.” Carter cut the thing off. And made his way towards Bean. “Just doing some reading.”

 

The thing kept screaming the whole night.

 

ALENXANDER BEAN, KILL HIM PLEASE KILL HIM!!!

 

KIIIIIILLLLL HIIIIIMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!