I entered the Pine Forest by myself. Since Hunter was off on his date with Gianna I decided to try something new today. My power works on humans, that much is true, but last night I had an idea. What if I could use my power to control animals and not just humans. So I set out into the forest to test my theory. I had never gone into the forest by myself before, although the Pine Forest isn't particularly dangerous, I still had to be careful. The Pine Forest is the home of the Fairies but I've only seen one or two in all the years that I've come here. Commoners don't enter these woods because magic is looked down upon. They don't want to be associated with any kind of magic, including Fairies. That's the reason that me and Hunter practice here, there is little to no risk of being spotted.
It was a short walk from the edge of the Forest to the clearing that we practice in. After about ten minutes of walking I arrived at the edge of the clearing. The surrounding trees were scorched beyond repair thanks to Hunter. Thankfully, forest fires were common here in Caedis so the burned trees weren't that suspicious. I walked into the middle of the clearing and looked up at the sky. At the very top of one of the tallest pines was a small sparrow. I decided that this was to be my test subject. I locked eyes with it and slowly reached out my hands towards the sparrow. I felt a tug behind my eyes that was the sparrow's consciousness. I closed my eyes and whispered, "Fly down to me." I stood there in silence for about five seconds and was about to give up when the sparrow spread its wings and glided to my feet. I grinned in delight, I couldn't believe it was working. I decided to take it one step further. Instead of saying the commands out loud I said them in my head. And to my surprise the sparrow flew to my shoulder and perched itself there. It had done what I had said even though I hadn't said it aloud. I felt satisfied with myself, I had two major breakthroughs today.
As I was about to leave I heard a twig snap behind me. I turned around and saw a boy about my age hiding behind a tree. Had he been watching me this whole time. He slowly stepped out from behind the tree. I couldn't do much except stand there. He approached slowly as if not wanting to startle me, "My name's Calvin. I'm not gonna report you but you have to listen to me," This all seemed oddly familiar, "I'm part of a rebel group that protects the Gifted from the war. I've been tracking you and your friend for a while in hopes of taking you back to our base. You don't have to come with me, it's completely your choice, but you should know that I'm your best chance of survival. Where's your friend?"
I looked away, "He's not here."
Calvin noticed my unease and replied, "We have to get to your friend too. He's one of the Gifted and he knows about you so he's going to wonder where you went. Where is he?"
"He's in the village on a date with some girl. I don't know where they went though."
"That's okay," he replied, "We can find him. So what do you say, are you coming with me?"
"How do I know I can trust you," I asked him, still suspicious. He smirked at me and then threw his hand out in front of him and something flew past me, hitting a tree. I turned to look at it and it was completely frozen. I turned back around to look at him. He still had that same smirk on his face as he said, "I'm a Cryokinetic. I know what it's like to have to hide your true identity from everyone because if anyone were to find out who you really were they would send you off to the war. I know how you must feel, being told about a rebel organization by a random stranger. I was the same as you once, someone offered to help me, and I'm only standing here now because I accepted. I'm begging you to do the same."
I knew what I was about to say was crazy, but for some reason, I felt like I could trust him. I took a deep breath and said, "Okay. I'll go with you." Then a ball of fire streaked past me and Calvin.