The days the four spent together rapidly turned to weeks, and weeks soon turned into months. Soon, nearly two years had passed before they knew it. Allison spent every day more thankful than the last. The makeshift family had brought a light to her life she had never known before. Every day was filled with the rampant laughter of the children.
Laine's improvements could be seen in more than just her mood. It seemed as if a smile never left her face, even while diligently studying. Eventually, she claimed the first seat in her grade and held it for over a year. Joe, ever looking to return the kindness Allison had shown him and Sarah, was always helping around their small house. When there was nothing that he found a need to tend to, he could be found with his face crammed into a textbook. His academic improvement was so vast, he followed closely behind Laine for the past semester holding the second seat.
Despite everything going incredibly well for the family, Allison had recently realized that could change the steady pace of their day-to-day events. Soon, both Joe and Laine would become pubescent. Unlike the pre-war, gradual changes, this was a far more abrupt and momentous occasion in this age.
Not a person alive could truly pinpoint the cause for such a drastic change in human development. What all had come to understand was that puberty came with an immediate and explosive change the day one turned sixteen. Sure, there was still the gradual increase in hormones that had previously been vacant from a teens' body. However, these hormones were a radioactive version of their predecessors.
Overnight, a man could grow half a foot in his sleep. Previously lacking muscle masses would expand and condense, hair would grow, voices would change, and their thoughts towards the opposite sex would be rapidly rewritten. In the eyes of the current global population, this was nothing.
The biggest change was the foundation of their modern society. The morning of one's sixteenth birthday would awaken a surge of unknown power within their body. When the first individuals to go through this change came forward, the masses called it magic. The origin, cause, and true purpose had remained a mystery even to this day.
From person to person, one's level of control for this power varied drastically. Some could instinctually manifest a raging ball of flames twenty feet above their heads while another could only carry a dozen pounds more than they had the day before. Those who had awakened a stronger affinity for their power would go on to serve their respective nation's armed forces. A career that boasted benefits an average person could only dream of. Those with little to no change would be stuck living a life of poverty.
In this war-ridden world, strength was law. The stronger you were, the less people there were to oppose or control your actions. The one underlying concept of this awakening was simple, somebody that woke up that morning physically enhanced could never manifest their thoughts into reality and vice versa. In the century that followed the first awakenings, there was not one case of an individual controlling both sides of power.
Many believed this to be a balancing act from nature. Both powers acted independently from the other but when pitted against an opposing power of equal control, the event could only end in a draw. Despite this, those with powers of a psychic nature were favored by the world's governments. After all, there were drastically fewer of them than those with physical enhancements.
Faced with her epiphany of the coming changes within her family, Allison continued to prepare dinner while waiting for the three to return home. From an outside perspective, things seemed to be progressing the same as any other day. The children went off to school, came home for dinner, and finally turned to their studies.
However, within the household, physical tension could be felt between the doting mother and the two eldest children. The following months would be pinnacle in forging their entire future. For Joe, this was a realization far closer than the rest. They had already learned of the changes coming early into this school year. Without anybody else knowing, Joe had begun an internal countdown to the day he would awaken to a new him. He went to bed that night with mixed feelings of anticipation and anxiety.
The following morning, the barely five-foot boy woke early to find that he had grown over a foot that night. Opening the wardrobe within his room, he was faced with an obvious problem, None of his old clothes would fit him anymore. Had his school slacks been sufficient in length, there was still the issue of his shirts. Every one would no longer slip past his now broadened shoulders.
Curiosity rapidly consumed his thoughts. What other changes had there been? Without a second thought, he dropped into a high plank before rapidly dropping his shoulder and rising again. Eighty, ninety, one hundred rapid repetitions and he hadn't even broken a sweat. It was transparently obvious that he had awakened a physical power that night. Where he had struggled to execute twenty pushups in slow succession, his newfound strength was exponentially greater.
Luckily, he had long prepared for this possible change. With a calm demeanor, Joe retrieved a bag from under his bed. Inside was a variety of different sized clothing. After a few moments, he managed to find a set that fit him near perfectly, although the shirts would still be mildly tight around his chest. With clothes in hand, he made his way out of his room and into the restroom to prepare for the day.
While the shower slowly climbed to a comfortable temperature, Joe took a moment to observe the visual changes to his body. He would now tower over his old body standing at six feet and one inch tall. Stepping onto the digital scale located beside the sink, his eyes shot open. He had gained nearly sixty pounds of muscle mass. His previously dirty blonde hair had lightened to a golden tone while his already blue eyes became vibrant. Staring at himself within the mirror, he was momentarily reminded of his late father who had given his life fighting the Jinai.
Wasting no more time, he stammered into the shower with near euphoric vigor. After half an hour of standing under the scolding water, Joe finally emerged from the steam to dry himself. As he raked his hand through his hair as he usually did, he decided that his hair style could use an update as well. Whereas he typically pushed every strand to the left in a neat manner, this time he left the front relatively unkept. This added to the apparent volume of hair on his head. As he finished, a new worry grew roots in his mind.
What will they think of me now?
He was confident would remain otherwise unaffected by his changes, after all, she was still young and had spent nearly her entire life beside him. What about Allison and Laine? They took Sarah and him in that day and every day since had been blissful in comparison to how he had been living.
What if they see me and decide that I'm too different? What if they no longer want me here?