1 One

Nick was sitting in the office, waiting for his mom to arrive. The principal was looking at him, not with anger, but with disgust.

After minutes of waiting, his mother walked through the door. Her black hair was unkempt, evidence of how fast she tried to arrive. Her dark blue eyes were still dull, as she was sleeping before receiving a call from the school.

She first looks at Nick, no emotion apparent in her eyes. She then switches to look at the principal.

"You finally arrive. It has been thirty minutes, Miss Snow." The principal says. Nick doubted that he was actually angry with her, but just wanted to make things hard for them.

"I'm sorry, I was sleeping when you called." She apologizes profusely. The principal looks at her messy hair and rough clothing.

"I can tell." He sighs. "Well, I called you here because Nicholas was caught destroying school property."

"I told you I didn't do it!" Nick screams at him.

"Nick, be quiet." His mother scolds him. "We'll pay for the damages, I'm sorry again."

The principal looks at her and feigns a look of sadness.

"Unfortunately, as this isn't the first time he was caught doing something this bad, we'll have to expel him."

Nick's mom looks down. "Y-Yes, okay." She replies meekly.

"But I didn't do anything!" Nick shouts again.

"NICHOLAS!" His mother shouts back. "Be quiet!"

"We'll be going now. Send me a text on how much it will cost for repairs. Once again, I'm sorry." She grabs his arm and drags him outside.

Once they are in the parking lot, she lets go.

"Mom! Why did you do that?! I didn't do anything wrong!" Nick was angry, at his mom, and the school.

"I know Hunny, but we can't make the situation worse." She looks at him with sadness. "We'll just find another school. It shouldn't be that hard…"

"But mom, this is the third one this year!" He whines.

"How about we go out for some lunch? You can get some ice cream."

He calms down slightly and lets out a sigh. "Okay, mom."

…

When they got home, he went straight to his room. His mom just lets him, as she understood his emotions. Being in a world of magic, people like them who are born without any magic are stains on society.

Angela didn't have to deal with it as hard as he did, because her father was a very powerful man. But someone like Nick, whose only family was as powerless as him?

…

Nick lied face down on his bed for a couple of minutes. When he was done with that, he grabbed his phone and started scrolling through the internet.

After a while, his mom called out to him for dinner. He quickly leaves, fills his plate, and returns to his room. After finishing dinner, he leaves his room, makes sure to wash his dishes and leave them to dry, and then heads back to his room, exhausted with the day he had.

As he drifted off to sleep, one thought floated through his mind.

'I don't want to live like this…'

…

*Do you wish for it all to change?*

The first thing Nick heard was a voice neither male nor feminine, neither human nor animal. A dark red glow appeared, and inside was a shape he could not understand. It felt so familiar, yet so unknown. So small, yet so large.

*Do you want power? To make others grovel at your feet? Do you want to be powerless forever, or do you want the powers of destruction, of chaos?*

"O-Of course I do?! Why wouldn't I?! My life is hell! I stand at the bottom of the ladder, the first rung to be stepped on!" Nick shouted. He heard no sound, yet knew he had spoken.

*Then come, come to me and take my power, be the one to finally fight back.*

"What will it cost? If there's one lesson I've learned, it's that everything has a price."

*Only one thing, boy. It will cost your humanity.* The voice sounded as though it was excited. At least he thought, because the voice didn't have any semblance of a normal voice.

He started to move forward. Not walking, not floating, as if he was moving the world towards him.

Mere moments away from entering the red cloud, he hears another voice.

+Is this really what you want child? To lose your family, your happiness, for revenge?+

This new voice sounded as though it embodied the hopes of life. The joy a mother feels having their first child, the love a boy would have for his crush, all the care a person gives to a pet. All the good of life was inside those words, and it pissed Nick off.

"What f*cking happiness? I'm discriminated against, bullied, and blamed, all because I have no magic! This will give me a chance to be normal, to BE happy. I would be insane to not take this!" He argued.

+What if you could gain power without becoming less than human? To stay with your mother, who would be torn apart, knowing that her son left her alone in the world? I could give you that power, and all it would cost is a promise that you will be kind to all those you meet.+

"But what if that person doesn't deserve kindness?" He was starting to be swayed. The thought of his mother alone, crying for him, made him regret ever considering the red shape.

+Then you give it to them all the more.+

He turned around and saw the source of the voice. It was a pale blue cloud, duller than the red cloud. There was another shape in the center, but this time, he felt he understood it perfectly. All of his doubts were gone, the pain in his head vanished, and good emotions flooded him.

He starts to walk towards the new cloud when the first cloud speaks again.

*I can give you more than #%$ ever could. The cost isn't as high as they make it out to be. You would stay with your mother, giving her just as much love as you did before. The cost of your humanity only makes it so you won't hesitate to get revenge for the ones who wrong you.*

Nick hesitates again.

"Then how am I supposed to choose?" He was going crazy. The red cloud could offer him more, but he would hurt people without hesitation. The pale cloud leaves him without hate, but he would be weaker than he wished.

"I-I can't choose." He sees another glow, brighter than all of the others.

~~Then you don't have to.~~

The light engulfs him, and as he feels the light entering him, he hears the voices of the red and blue lights.

+Oh that poor, poor boy.+

*Refusing our offers would have been a better fate for him.*

Everything fades to black, and his ceiling comes into view.

…