Under The Veil of Night

Tommy nodded his head. He looked towards the drug on the side. "Do you know what kind of drug is that?"

"I don’t know for sure right now. The amount you give to me will be enough for me to research for quite some time. When I have the answer, I’ll tell you about that," Shiro answered calmly.

"Thank you," Tommy picked up the glass of water that Shiro gave to him. He drank the water silently as his thought was still filled with what happened to his mother.

The door suddenly opened. Kanae and Jason stormed in.

"How’s Tommy?"

"Is he alright?"

"Calm down you two," Shiro rolled his eyes. "Tommy is fine. He’s resting on the bed."

"That’s good," Jason sighed in relief. He relaxed his body and immediately fell to the floor due to the lack of strength on his feet.

"Brother Jason, you’re making a fool out of yourself," Kanae smiled slightly. She turned her head to the boy’s direction. "Tommy, do you mind if you describe how your mother changes to us?"

"I don’t mind," Tommy closed his eyes. "She has bloodshot eyes with red iris. Her hair becomes messes up and she exudes a lot of blood thirsty aura. Her strength increases so much that it seems rather impossible for normal people to reach that level. Not only strength, speed also increases so much.

However, this only lasts for less than one minute. After that, she vomits blood and passes out."

Jason frowned. "I think I know that drug."

"Really?" Tommy asked in disbelief.

Jason nodded his head. The only drug that capable of making drastic changes like that was only one. There was no other drug that he knew of could make something like that. The question remained would be, how did she get her hand on those drugs?

"Before that, do you know how she gets them?"

Tommy shook his head. He rarely came home and paid attention to his mother. After all, whenever he tried to get close to her, she would try to kick him away far away.

"Alright, you deserve to know since it’s your mother, but before that, let me remind you about something. If I tell you about this and words get out, you will put your life in danger, do you understand?" Jason asked solemnly.

Tommy quickly recalled the previous conversation that he had with Jason regarding something dangerous. "Is this related to the letter from the government?"

"You’re quick to catch up right now."

"My mind is working better because of all the adrenaline," Tommy replied.

Kanae shook her head. "Now, let’s review the letter a bit. What do you remember about the letter from the government?"

"I remember that this letter of the government is the key to access the secret power the government have. This letter is directed only towards those whom they believe hold some sort of potential or talent."

"To put it simply, yes, it’s like that," Kanae nodded her head. "Do you remember the question that you ask, but we don’t answer?"

"You told me that if words get out about the letter, I and everyone close to me will be killed, so I don’t ask further. All I ask is how do they know that you’re talented?"

"They have the device for that, Tom," Jason said calmly. "Every newborn child will be tested for their potential and those who has some difference with normal children will be given the letter. The letter is for them to come to their place when they reach the age 8-10 to test their real potential because it’s the perfect age to know if someone has the talent or not."

Tommy nodded his head. "Is it really important to know if they have the talent or not?"

"it’s important because those with talent will be able to reach greater heights than normal people. Most of the talented people who have normal power in terms of physical abilities or brain abilities can easily blend in the society. However, people who have weird abilities to the point that it can’t be accepted won’t be able to live amongst us. Some of them are categorized as crazy or monsters while the others are deployed as special soldiers."

Tommy was stunned speechless when he heard about the word ’special abilities’. Did it mean there might be people who could fly or have wings?

Seeing Tommy’s expression, Jason knew that this boy’s thoughts were reaching everywhere. "Even if you have the power to do so, will you show it in front of a lot of people?"

Tommy quickly shook his head. If he showed them, he would be categorized as a crazy person or even monster, something that he didn’t want very much.

"These talents can make you grow faster than normal people, making the difference between the talented and ordinary people. With training, you can slowly close the gap, but it’s an extremely slow process. However, there’s one kind of people who can advance even faster, they’re people who awaken their talent," Jason continued.

"The word awakens is not like what you thought. There won’t be any apparent change in your body, but your ability will increase faster. Aside from that, these awakened people can grow once a year by leap and bounds even without doing anything."

Tommy’s mouth was opened wide. "That’s very enviable."

"You wouldn’t say that if you know the requirement to awaken them," Shiro shook his head. "To awaken one’s talent, you have to experience pain worse than death and place yourself at the brink of death. It’ll break your mind mercilessly, and you have to recover by yourself or you will never wake up anymore."

With the eerie tone that Shiro used, coupled with the fact that the content of the words was scary, Tommy shuddered. What kind of requirement was that? To experience a pain worse than that, he couldn’t imagine himself experience them. Even if it was to get stronger, he might have to think twice or thrice before trying it.

"What kind of experience?" Tommy asked cautiously.

"It’ll vary for every people, but those who are being recruited by the government will be forced to undergo them when they reach the prime age," Kanae answered calmly.

"What do you mean force to undergo them? Can you inflict that kind of pain to someone?"

Jason nodded. "The pain didn’t have to be physical. Mental pain can hurt someone worse than physical pain."

Tommy looked at Jason in disbelief. Did this man just tell them that it was possible to inflict mental pain to other people? Seeing their expression, he didn’t have the heart to ask any further of what kind of pain they had to experience.

"How do you know so much?"

Jason smiled wryly. He showed his necklace that he always wore with the word J at the end. Slowly, he turned the J shaped item and opened the lid. It was actually a container with the lid placed at the top of the word.

Using his nail, he took out a paper that was rolled nicely. From faraway, it was clear that the paper was silver in color. As Jason unfurled it, they could clearly see his name printed at the middle with some other words at the top and bottom. "I got the letter from them in the past, so my father tells me everything about them."

Tommy stared at the letter on Jason’s hand with widened eyes. This annoying man got the letter? Well, it was kind of expected considering Jason’s ability so far, but he couldn’t really accept it.

"Wait, why are you bringing it with you?"

"This letter is extremely important, so everyone who get it either put it in the safest place they know or just bring it around with them," Jason replied. He never thought of his home as a save place, so he always brought it with him.

"Then, what’s the relation with the drug?"

Shiro rolled his eyes. "You still don’t understand? The pain worse than death can kill you, you know. If they’re not strong enough to endure them, they’ll die. Because of that, there have been people who develop drugs to awaken their talent without the need to experience the pain."

"You mean the drug that my mother uses...?"

Jason nodded his head. "It’s very likely that it’s the drug that awakens her talent based on the symptoms that you tell us. Considering her reaction, the drug fails to awaken them, though."

"Since this is only possibility, why are you telling me all of this?" Tommy frowned.

"It’s because there’s high chance that we’re going to fight with people like them again in the future. It’ll be better for you to know about them in advance because you have to know that they’re far more powerful than ordinary people."

Tommy looked towards his hand. "Am I also an awakened?"

"Unfortunately or fortunately, no," Jason sighed. "You’re a normal person, Tom."

"I see."

"Now you should get some sleep. You will need it."

"Yes."