“Your Earth is pretty,” Jessie said. The pink-haired woman stared up at the glittering stars in the night sky. She and Mark sat on the lonely park bench at two in the morning.
“It’s not bad,” Mark shrugged. He stared at the ground while he sorted his thoughts. He’d had a fairly stressful day and needed a bit of a break before he decided what to do next. He was grateful for Jessie’s company. “But wow, the academy is really something else,”
“It is,” Jessie agreed. “But if you accept the invitation to attend, you’ll learn to appreciate each Earth in its own way.”
“Is there anything left for me to learn?” Mark asked. A blue glow washed over his hands, then dissipated. “I don’t even know how I learned what I know,” He shrugged.
“I’m sure that was part of Julius’ plan,” Jessie replied. “And that proves that you’ve still got plenty to learn.”
“How so?” Mark looked up from the ground to her. Jessie grinned.
“We,” she pointed at Mark, then herself. “Estrellas can kind of jump-start the abilities of other Estrellas. Whoever set you up to kill the King made sure you could use your flow at least.”
“At least?” Mark chuckled. “Between that and traversing between universes what else could there possibly be?”
“This is why you should attend the academy,” Jessie rolled her eyes and sighed. “Alright, here’s a short version. Estrellas are like masters of energy.” She locked eyes with Mark. He watched golden stars begin to glow around her red irises. “We can see energy like auras and stuff.” The golden stars in her eyes faded, then she waved a hand at the nearest lamp post. The light grew brighter until she made another gesture, then it dimmed. “And we can control nearby energy to an extent.” Jessie held a hand out in front of her with her pointer finger aimed at the ground. A soft orange light glowed around her finger until a single drop of fiery plasma dripped out of her finger onto the sidewalk. It hissed as the drop melted itself into the concrete.
“Why is yours orange?” Mark asked. He already knew how to do that move. He held his hand out and dripped a bright blue drop. It hissed and sputtered louder than hers.
“You’re pulling plasma out of a real star somewhere. Some stars burn hotter and some are cooler.”
“No way! Wait. Does that mean I can run out? Can other Estrellas use my star? Can I switch stars? Can I-” Jessie interrupted him with a sharp slap on his cheek.
“I’m not going to answer any of those questions,” she winked at him. “You can learn all those answers at the academy.”
“Alright,” Mark nodded. “I want to learn more about what I can do, I’m in.”
