EPISODE 3 : THE TEST OF POWER

The silence in Luiz Fernando's apartment was profound, but his mind was in turmoil. He was determined to understand the powers that now resided within his body. Sitting in the center of the room, with the blue stone in front of him, he took a deep breath, focusing.

“I’m going to try to control more, just a little more,” Luiz Fernando thought, looking at a glass bottle on the table. He raised his hand, closing his eyes to feel the energy pulsing inside him. “A small test... I’ll control 1% of my strength.”

With a delicate movement, he directed the stone’s energy toward the bottle, trying to guide it with precision. He imagined he could break the object without causing a disaster. The concentration was intense. The air around him seemed to vibrate, and suddenly, the bottle began to glow with an intense blue light, as if it were absorbing all the energy he was trying to control.

Now!” Luiz Fernando mentally exclaimed, releasing the power.

The bottle didn’t just shatter; it disintegrated, with pieces flying in all directions. The power he released was so immense that the wall behind it exploded into a large hole, the vibration reverberating throughout the house. The sound was deafening.

He stood frozen for a few seconds, unsure of what to do. The hole in the wall seemed enormous, and dust filled the air.

Suddenly, an intense blue light illuminated the window, reflecting on the building across the street. Luiz Fernando looked outside, his eyes wide. Ted, his neighbor, was staring directly at his window, visibly intrigued.

“Shit,” Luiz Fernando muttered to himself. “This wasn’t supposed to happen.”

Without wasting time, he ran to the door, only to hear a firm knock.

“Luiz Fernando! Are you there?!” Ted’s voice was loud and full of curiosity.

“Come on, Luiz, open up!” Ted insisted.

Luiz Fernando took a deep breath, forcing a smile as he quickly opened the door. “Hey, Ted! How can I help you?”

Ted looked at him with a worried expression. “Something happened just now? I saw a blue light coming from your place, really strong! What was that?”

Luiz Fernando, still stunned and trying to cover up the situation, stammered a bit. “The... the light? Oh, yeah, it was... a new lamp I bought, a... 100,000-watt lamp. It gave off a strong glow when I turned it on.” He forced a smile. “It burned out, and all this smoke came out, right?”

Ted seemed skeptical, his eyebrows raising. “100,000 watts? I’ve never seen a lamp like that. Can I see it? I never knew something like that existed…”

“Ah... no...” Luiz Fernando answered hastily, trying to stay calm. “It burned out completely. There’s nothing left to see... really.”

Ted looked around, still with a confused expression. His eyes fixed on the hole in the wall, and he pointed at it. “And this hole in the wall? What happened here?”

Luiz Fernando looked at the massive hole, feeling his heart race. “Oh, it was... it was my dog. He ran through here, must’ve slammed into the wall.” He forced a nervous laugh. “That dog is big, really big and... angry.”

Ted frowned, confused. “But you don’t have a dog, Luiz…”

Luiz Fernando, now truly desperate, kept his composure. “I just got a really big and... angry dog. He must still be around here, and... Ted, it’s better if you go back home. He’s unpredictable, and he might bite you if you’re not careful. I need to lock him up.”

Ted, still suspicious, thought for a moment before responding. “Ah, yeah, sure. I’ll head home. Be careful with that dog, Luiz.”

Luiz Fernando forced a smile and waved. “Yeah, yeah, thanks, Ted. I’ll take care of him.”

Ted turned and left, but before disappearing around the corner, he stopped for a second and looked back, with a thoughtful expression. Luiz Fernando, for his part, quickly shut the door and took a deep breath, trying to calm his racing heart.

“Close call... really close,” he murmured, his body still vibrating with the energy he couldn’t control.

He looked at the hole in the wall, the blue light still burning in his eyes. The stone was inside him, and now he needed to figure out how to handle it before the situation got even more out of control.

TO BE CONTINUED IN EPISODE 4...