'Yoo Jeongyeon!' A voice boomed throughout the woods and the crows let out a startled caw, flying away.

'Who's there?' The girl retorted, voice as loud as a foghorn.

The ground rumbled and fissures began to spider across the ground. Jeongyeon stood firm but watched as the trees shifted to the sides and fresh rocks rose to fill the gap, paving a path straight towards the geokinetic. She heard the sound of gravel being crushed and a boulder appeared in her sight, rolling down the path and stopping right in front of her before it crumbled apart like pastry to reveal a middle eastern man. 

He was well built and slightly tanned with well-defined muscles but he was not ripped. Thick eyebrows, high nose bridge and a short stubble along with a beautiful shade of hazel green eyes. His brown hair was cut short and pushed up to reveal his faded sides.

'Let's cut to the chase. I'm Qeb, one of the first few geokinetic mutants and also the one who helped in the constructions of the Pyramids in Egypt.'

'One of the first few? Pyramids? What?' 

'Yes, first. I was part of the honourable first group of the long line of geokinetics. Pyramids in Egypt. I'm Egyptian in case you couldn't tell.' Qeb clarified.

'Oh no I could tell. Your name and your features are a giveaway. Your eyes too. But what do you mean first? And why are you here? Are you part of my worst fear? Is this a hallucination?' Jeongyeon suspiciously narrowed her eyes and backed away from the man. 

'No I'm not a hallucination. I am your guide to help you overcome that fear. You're supposed to be hallucinating but I don't see a point in making you suffer so I decided to come before your sanity wastes away.' He said nonchalantly, pretending to flick away dirt from under his short fingernails. 

'My fear? What is my fear exactly?'

'Since you are supposed to realize it yourself, I'll just prompt you.' He dug his heels into the ground and raised his arms, bringing up a huge slab of earth that seemed to be the size of one section of a dam.

'Lift that up.'

'Like off the ground? No way! Look at the size of that thing! It's huge! I don't have the physical capacity to lift that!' Jeongyeon exclaimed, internally scoffing at his ridiculous request. 

'You haven't even tried it yet!'

'I know I can't!'

'Why can't you?' Qeb challenged.

'You're a guy, I'm a girl. Guys are naturally strong than girls and earth manipulation depends heavily on the user's own physical strength. I'm by no means as strong as you. I mean, look at our arms!' Jeongyeon took Qeb's arm and raised it, placing her own beside his. There was a huge difference. Jeongyeon's arm was considerably smaller and less thick while Qeb's forearm was already the size of Jeongyeon's biceps. 

'Look! There's no way I can do what you just did. I can only lift stuff the mass of.. I dunno, a quarter of that? Maybe even less.' The girl flapped her arms around.

'That's your fear.' 

'What? That I'm weak?'

'No, you have a severe case of self-doubt. You can do so much more but you hold yourself back.' 'But I-' 'Sit. Let me tell you a story.' Qeb cut the girl off mid-protest and created a little stool out of earth. Jeongyeon scowled at him but sat down with him anyway.

'I am not the first geokinetic and I'm not exactly the most qualified to guide you unlike your friends who will receive help from the very first, but the first of our kind, out ancestor, isn't keen on it. So I personally feel that it is up to me to give you a helping hand.' Qeb explained and Jeongyeon slowly nodded. 

'The first was Matthieu. Let's call him Mat for short. Mat was French and so he built the Barnenez which was used as a passage grave. He went on to help with the construction and creation of eight other buildings around what is now known as the European continent. Mutants back then lived for thousands of years. Matty lived for 1350 years before he was sent into the ground.'

'Legit?'

'Legit. The next geokinetic was then born and he followed in Matty's footsteps. I was the third, building the Pyramid of Djoser as my first project. But that's enough of Matty and the other guy. What I want to share with you is my fear. I was much like you when I was still alive. In fact I was about your size, the scrawny kid that gets picked on a lot. I always thought I was weak and I lacked confidence. I knew other mutants who could do amazing tricks with their powers and manipulate everything effortlessly but I could never do anything as well as them.' Qeb chuckled at his memory. 

'My dad was the one who gave me the strength to accomplish such a feat. I still remember his words and I want you to remember them too: Believe in yourself. It's that simple. You think that you lack the physical strength and that's completely understandable but your mental strength can act as a compensation for that. As long as you tell yourself you can do it, of course you can. You just need a little faith sometimes.'

'But it looks so huge! If it falls, I'll die!'

'If it falls, I'll catch it for you. I just want you to know the extent to your powers. You're strong, really strong but you can't see that.' 

Jeongyeon contemplated his words before standing up. Qeb nodded at her and she spread her legs apart to stabilize herself. The first thing every geokinetic learns is to have a posture as firm as the earth itself. She positioned her hands in front of her such that it seemed as though she was carrying something. 

'Whenever you're ready.' 

Jeongyeon took a deep breath and concentrated on the humongous slab of earth. She began to exert strength on her arms, pushing it upwards but the rock seemed too heavy to even budge.

'More strength! Stop restraining yourself!' 

'That's about all I have Qeb!' She spat as she pushed even harder. 

'It's not! Think of someone you love. Imagine if they were trapped beneath it. You have to get them out. Use that kind of strength to push on!' 

Jeongyeon thought about Momo, imagining it crushing her legs and wailing for help. 

'C'mon..' she groaned and clenched her jaw. Slowly, the slab began to tilt slightly and the edges crunched as it leaned over.

'More! The person is dying!' Qeb egged her on.

Jeongyeon wheezed and pushed her hands all the way up with every ounce of energy she had and the entire mass was off the ground.

'Look you did it!' Qeb shouted and Jeongyeon looked at what she had done. It was the most jaw dropping sight she had ever seen. She couldn't even believe her eyes. There it was, floating a clean foot or two off the ground.

'I told you! How does it feel?'

'Feels like I'm carrying all eight of my friends at once.'

'This is your true strength Yoo Jeongyeon. You just have to believe.' He smiled and relieved the girl of her burden.

'Djoser had special orders for me to build his final resting place but I never thought I could do it but I did in the end. 203 feet was a personal record at that time but I went on. Meidum, the oddly bent pyramid was a drunken masterpiece, the red pyramid, Giza, Khafre, Menkaure the list goes on and on. My last major work was the Pyramid of Khendjer but Giza was my pride.'

'So.. You're telling me I can build pyramids?'

'You can but I'm not telling you to do that. I'm telling you that as long as you put your mind to it, you can accomplish great things. Everyone doubts themselves sometimes but you have to learn to challenge yourself to get over it. Like the old Egyptian book of the Dead says: All things are possible. Who you are is limited by who you think you are.'

'I get what you mean. Thank you Qeb. I won't forget what you taught me.' 

'It's my pleasure. Is there anything else you'd like to know? I can try my best to answer your questions.'

Jeongyeon tapped her chin and looked down to the ground which was covered in dried leaves.

'Zafir. He's everyone's greatest problem right now. Rather than trying to stop him, can you tell me more about the organization? Have you heard of it?'

'Orion's Order? Yes, they grouped together and started spreading their craziness from my generation of mutants. These humans believe the lies they spout and carry out the dirty work for them. They hide their powers from the general public and tell these people that whoever opposed them are mutants that must be stopped or killed. People foolishly believed them and began killing mutants who knew better. Why? A dead man can't speak. They even silenced their own members that threatened to expose them. These people think aliens live in another planet or universe? They don't have to look far; these "aliens" they seek are amongst them already. There's no all mighty existence somewhere else, it's all a hoax, it's really just them and their manipulation.' Qeb shook his head.

'But why are they doing this? What is their ultimate goal from hunting and killing these people?' 

'They just want power. Nothing more. They want to rule the world and probably the universe as well. They will make humans their slaves and torture us good mutants. Ah!' He exclaimed without warning and scared Jeongyeon, making her fall off her earthen seat.

'What what what?' She looked around as she got back up.

'I remembered something really important.' He snapped his fingers and Jeongyeon reached out to slap his arm. 

'Don't scare me like that!' 

'Sorry but it's really important. He has dungeons located all over the world and imprisons mutants to try all sorts of stuff on them. The stronger ones get brainwashed and radicalized into fighting for them and the stronger ones get treated as slaves or lab rats.'

'How do you know this?' 

'When you have lived for a few thousand years as a geokinetic, you'll learn that along with your other mutant friends, seismic sensing can take you a long way. I have felt these evil things happening under this pure ground and it's really bad. Even worst recently if I may say. I beg of you to be careful. They're going to take the world by storm. When they strike, they strike together and that will throw the world off balance.'

'World domination in one shot? I thought they would start small!'

'They have been planning this for years. I don't think the word small has ever been in their vocabulary.'

'So they're making a huge gamble here too isn't it?'

'So to speak, yes.'

'Can you help? How about the first mutants? Can any of you help?' 

'We're not alive Jeongyeon. This is not happening in our lifetime. It's not out battle to fight. You and your friends will have to do this. Fight for the mutants. Preserve our bloodline.' Qeb shook her by the shoulders and his hazel green orbs pleaded with her dark brown ones.

'I will. I will do you proud and old Matty proud. Me and my friends won't let you down.'

'Geokinetics have made many things possible for humans and they have invented many things that make today's world a better place. Like the interlocking technology from the Puma Punku. You too can make a difference to this world but in another way, not just from inventing something. I have faith in you. Teamwork is key, work together and you will succeed. Darkness will never prevail if light does not give up easily. I advise for you and your friends to sit down and have a talk when you get back safely to your house and share what you have learnt from this place.'

'I'm sure we will. Thank you.'

'Run along. Practice your seismic senses to get out.' Qeb ruffled Jeongyeon's hair with a charming smile and gave her a two finger salute. 

The younger geokinetic mirrored his actions with a lob sided grin before running off.