Hours passed in the blink of an eye, but the end of the day still seemed so far away. Then the bell rang and students began filing out of the classrooms in droves. The torturous monotony was over and something new was beginning.

  All the students seemed so small in Al's mind. They couldn't imagine how different he really was. Not because of his emptiness, but because of the strange faculty Jane had told him he possessed.

  Jane had a way with people and it showed. In just under two days she had become one of the most popular girls in their grade. No one had anything bad to say about her, but at the same time what they saw was no more than a fabrication on her part.

  His thoughts came to a stop as she moved over to his desk and leaned in close. They were all alone in the classroom, but his face still went red when she whispered in his ear.

  "We've got a lot of work ahead of us, Al."

  He stood up straight like he'd been hit with an electric shock. What had she meant by that? And what had he expected her to say? His heart was beating like a drum and his mind was going blank.

  "Come on and follow me," she said and took him by the hand.

  She dragged him out of the classroom and out into the city. Her touch left him spellbound and wanting more. He had felt so weak without her during the day, but now her attention was all on him.

  They looked like any young couple as they walked the streets. Just two young lovers walking the town. But they were anything but ordinary. The image they projected was all part of Jane's design.

  On the roof she had told him there was a place where she would make it all clear for him. He would get the answers he had once desired, but now all he wanted was her. Had he really been so lonely that the first girl to show him any real affection would make him into such a needy mess?

  The train station was swarming with people, but all his eyes could see was her. Once they had boarded the train and seated themselves, she leaned her back against his chest and wrapped his arms around herself.

  "Is this really necessary? We're in public you know," he said as his heart threatened to jump out of his chest.

  "It looks less suspicious than if we were just sitting here doing nothing," she giggled.

  They may have been an odd duo without the lovestruck teens shtick. But what exactly made it so necessary? In private he would have loved this, yet in public it made him unbearably anxious.

  "I can feel your discomfort, but don't you worry it'll be over soon."

  Two stops later they finally got off the train. The area was rural and few people walked the streets. As they walked he felt his discomfort easing somewhat. The entire trip ended up being quite short, because after only five minutes of uninterrupted walking they had reached their destination.

  Before him was a small mansion with architecture that read as gothic to him. The windows were dark and there wasn't a single sign of life to be found. Was the place abandoned or something?

  "Welcome to me, but don't worry we won't be seeing the interior," she said with a smirk as she began leading him into the backyard.

  'How long had she known this would happen?' he wondered as he spotted a small wooden post with five tin cans lined up on it.

  She let go of his hand and walked over to stand by the post. He couldn't form a single rational thought as she locked eyes with him and opened her mouth to speak.

  "We're not normal you and I," she said with a wink, "What we possess makes us something far beyond all the ordinaires that we see on the street."

  "Ordinaires?"

  "It's the word my family used to describe all the boring regular people we see all around us when we're out and about."

  So they had an entire word to describe people that weren't like them. It somehow made the gap he felt between himself and the rest of humanity feel so much wider. But it also meant there had to be more people like the two of them. People that might understand him.

  "They won't understand you like I do for our bond is something truly unique," she said solemnly.

  His heart seemed to stop as his hopes shattered in an instant. How incredibly lucky he must have been to come across her. He couldn't imagine what would have become of him had they never met.

  "But don't fret, you will always feel my presence when you look inside yourself."

  He put his hand against his chest and felt a tug. Like a string connecting their hearts and pointing towards her always. Could a promise really hold so much power?

  "What we have goes by many names, but most settle for just calling it magic."

  "Like wizards and shit?" he quipped.

  Her eyes went cold in an instant sending waves of dread down his spine. All the joy that had been on her face was washed away by the icy expression she held as she stared him down.

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  "Pray you never encounter someone powerful enough to be called a wizard."

  Those words made it all become real. The implication that there were things out there powerful enough to crush him without a second thought filled him with a fear far greater than what the shadow had once instilled in him.

  She moved in closer. The smile was back and his terror melted like ice in the sun. She placed her arms around him and looked up at him with eyes that seemed to glow under the evening sun.

  "So we will just have to make you unassailable," she said quietly.

  He had promised to make her unstoppable. He hadn't know what she had meant, but he was determined to see his promise through. Untold joy awaited him if he did, that much he was sure of.

  "I am ready to do whatever must be done," he declared.

  "Then we'll begin!"

  She pointed at the tin cans behind her and pushed him a step forward. She gave him an encouraging smile and nodded towards the wooden post.

  He was stumped. Where would he even begin? If what she had told him on the roof was true, then what had happened to the cat and the railing was because of him. But honestly it felt more like whatever power had done it was just acting on its own without direction.

  "You need to focus your will and make your intentions clear."

  It couldn't possibly be that simple. Was it really that easy? Would a simple thought make something happen? His emotions had been so overwhelming before, but in this moment he couldn't find that one sided direction.

  "Words and gestures can help you attain the necessary focus."

  He raised his hand and pointed towards one of the tin cans. There was no strange sensation. Not a single sound rang out in the empty backyard. All that could be heard was the rustling of distant leaves.

  He threw out every word he could imagine, but nothing caused a reaction. The cans remained untouched and the stillness in the yard grew heavier with every passing moment. Had it all been a fluke? Doubt washed over him like a tidal wave as he began to question if he had actually been special at all.

  "Save me, they're hurting me!" Jane cried out.

  Power surged within him. It was building up quickly, just waiting to be unleashed. His emotions moved faster than his mind could process them. His body moved before he could stop it. Anything that would try to take Jane from him had to be annihilated without question. The word left him faster than he could properly pronounce it.

  "Nihilate!"

  One of the cans instantly crumpled in on itself. The entire structure of the can just collapsed inwards with a loud metallic clang that echoed throughout the yard. He quickly turned around in panic only to be met by the wide smile on Jane's lips.

  "Look! You just did it," she exclaimed.

  "Now you just have to remember that feeling and bring it forth every time you speak that word."

  "Wouldn't it work with any word?" he asked her under his breath.

  Jane reached out towards him and gently caressed his chest. He could feel his heartbeat in his ear, but under her ministrations it slowly returned to its slow regular beat.

  "For someone like you that can't even control their abilities consciously yet, it would just end with you unleashing that power any time your emotions run high."

  "So was that like a spell or something?"

  The can had been all but destroyed by whatever he had just unleashed. It had become no more than a small crumpled heap of metal in an instant. He hadn't even seen what manner of force had crushed it. It had just happened as soon as the word had left his mouth.

  "Spellcraft is far too advanced for you, but what you just did was certainly magic."

  Was that really so simple it couldn't even be considered spell? There was a word and a noticeable effect. It raised the question of what made a spell different from what he had just done.

  "There's still four more cans, but if you do a good job you might just get a reward."

  He turned around and raised his hand. He tried to recall what he had felt before and focused his mind. He breathed out and directed his gaze towards the cans.

  "Nihilate, nihilate, nihilate, nihilate!" he chanted.

  One after the other the cans collapsed under that invisible pressure. The sounds of metal tearing echoed throughout the yard as they all broke down one at a time. As the last can crumpled he fell to his knees as a wave of exhaustion hit him and the stinging pain of a thousand needles poking into his flesh overcame him.

  He grit his teeth in pain and breathed heavily. The searing pain in his hand radiated through his body like molten iron in his veins. Every breath made the pain intensify, threatening to slowly consume his consciousness.

  He felt Jane's arms tighten around him as she embraced him from behind. The pain slowly receded until it became bearable. He felt a heart beating along with her slow breaths on his neck as she held him tight.

  "Your body can't handle all that power yet, but in time that feeling will become more and more rare."

  Every light felt blinding and every sound was deafening. The only thing that kept him centered was the rhythmic sound of her heart beating. Her gentle touch somewhat eased the pain in his now all too sensitive skin.

  "What manner of power did I call upon, how were they so easily destroyed?"

  She pressed her head against the side of his face. She felt so soft and cold, which soothed his burning body. Then she opened her mouth and slowly spoke as quietly as she could as to not overwhelm his now sensitive hearing.

  "You embraced emptiness and became the very nothing that you now wield freely."

  An epiphany struck him in that very moment. It wasn't really destruction or unmaking, that had just been a side effect. It was the very end point of all things. The cold and dark opposite of existence made manifest by his will alone. All those things had been destroyed just so that they could return to being nothing.

  The abyss was calling. Consciousness was fading faster and faster. The world was growing blurry and all thoughts grew more indistinct with every passing moment. Soon the darkness would claim him once more. The shadow's whispers were getting harder to ignore as the world got further and further away.

  "I feel tired," he mumbled.

  "Then fall asleep in my embrace, knowing I will be by your side when you return," she whispered to him.

  He felt her hand running through his hair as his consciousness faded and darkness took him. He was determined to make good on his promise and make her unstoppable. He could never put their bond at risk by failing her. She was his true guiding star. A limbo oh so sweet. His personal drug.

  "She feeds our nothingness unlike anything else," the shadow whispered.

  Within the void he saw that utter dark silhouette staring back. It had been quietly observing him, but it hadn't made itself known for some time. It spoke as if they were the same, and he felt that much more clearly than before. They didn't feel so separate. They felt like two sides of the same coin, but to accept that idea filled him with dread.

  "The distinction is an illusion right?" he asked it.

  The shadow went completely still for a moment. Then it seemed to draw closer without a single motion as if to observe him more closely. He swallowed his doubt and opened his mouth as its face moved closer to his.

  "There is no us, is there?"

  "No," the shadow responded in an almost somber tone.

  "And there never was, was there?"

  "Never."

  His mind finally drifted away completely as the darkness consumed him all at once. The warmth was still there, but there was no him. Only the endless abyss that always awaited him. Not even the darkest night could compare.

  No matter how hard he tried to fight it. No matter how much he begged or pleaded. The truth wouldn't change. It had been so from the very start. He had always been the nothingness that awaited him in sleep. He was the abyss.