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Fast forward eighteen years. Aurelia Oxide, now a young woman, was the golden girl of Elemental University. Her unique elemental powers had only grown stronger with time, and she had learned to harness them in ways that left everyone in awe. She was the life of every party, the muse of every artist, and the dream of every suitor, the oxygen in every atmosphere. Her laughter was as infectious as her spirit, and her presence was as radiant as the gold she could manipulate.
Her golden hair shone in the light she could produce, and her blue eyes were lustrous and lively. Her steps were light and gentle, unlike her personality, which was much more over-the-top and bubblier. The university was a familiar place, where she had spent all her life. She had never been anywhere outside. And why should she? She had all she needed right there. Her tan skin had a soft glow, a testament to the many afternoons she had spent running around and playing in the residential area with the children of other teachers.
The move to her new dorm was a matter of a quick brisk-walk from her parents’ apartment to her room with a suitcase full of things. She didn’t get why she had to move to a dorm, but according to her parents, it was for her own good. When she entered her new room, she was greeted by the sight of a girl of around her age standing on a chair, struggling with placing her bag on the higher shelf of her cupboard.
“Need help?” Aurelia asked, as she placed her own bag on the floor near the door.
Stepping off the chair, the girl replied, “No offense, but will you be able to reach?”
Aurelia scoffed and cracked a small smile. “Who cares if I’m tall enough to?” She stretched her hand out toward the bag, and effortlessly lifted it up in the air. She levitated it up into the cupboard gradually and shut the door using her levitation ability, without breaking a sweat.
The girl smiled back. “Thanks. Hydrogen?”
“Close,” she replied. “Helium. What’s your name, by the way?”
“Selena Brielle Platina,” she replied exaggeratedly, brushing her black bangs off her face. “Sounds like some sort of princess, I know… what about you? What’s your name?”
“Since we’re sharing middle names too, Aurelia Helen Oxide. You have a pretty name.”
“Thanks,” Selena replied. “What are your elements?”
“Gold, helium and oxygen. You already saw Helium- levitation. Gold allows me to emit light, and oxygen lets me heal things and people. Yours?”
“Take a guess…” she deadpanned.
“Selenium, beryllium and platinum?”
“Close - barium. It gives me the power of X-ray vision, but I can turn it on and off. When it’s on, you’ll see my blue eyes turn green, like how barium is used to improve visibility in X-rays. Selenium, since it’s used in black-and-white photography, allows me to change the color of things around me. Platinum lets me turn one metal into another. Not really useful in lifting my bag up, huh?”
Aurelia chuckled. “Lucky, you got platinum… it’s even rarer than gold! Those are all really cool powers. You know what would really be cool to have for an element?”
“Hm?”
“Francium.”
Selena gasped slightly. “But isn’t that-”
“Radioactive, I know. But think about it, Lina, you can actually take the powers of any non-metallic around you.”
“Um, hello?! Selenium sounds like the name of a metal but it’s a non-metal! I’d be terrified.”
“It’s really rare though, don’t worry. It’s not like someone with francium will walk in this door right now! Live a little, will you?”
Selena smiled slightly. Before she could say anything, however, she heard a light tap on the door. She took a few steps, but by the time she could reach the door, Aurelia had already opened it using her ability, to reveal a rather flabbergasted young man at their door, holding a suitcase.
“Oops…” he muttered to himself. “I’m really sorry to disturb the two of you.”
“Um… this isn’t the men’s dorm. Are you a friend of Ari’s?” asked Selena, equally confused.
“Who’s Ari? No, I thought this was the boys’ dorm, room 129.”
Meanwhile, Aurelia couldn’t help but crack a smile as he heard the conversation between her new friend and the boy. “Too bad,” Selena replied. “This is the girls’ dorm, room 129, genius. Now leave before I turn that metallic phone case of yours into aluminum foil and tear it as if it was a sheet of paper.”
The young man was now even more confused, and embarrassed. “I’m sorry, but how do you know I have a metallic phone case?”
“Barium for the X-ray vision, which lets me see through pockets, and platinum so that I can turn that aluminum phone case into foil. I could turn it into sodium too. Your fingers will pass right through it because it’s so malleable. You have five seconds.”
“Okay, okay… I said I’m sorry,” he replied, rolling his eyes. Picking up his suitcase, he proceeded to turn around and leave. “Jerk…” he grumbled, sighing slightly. “Metallics… such a pain…”
However, the boy himself was a metallic, but his metal was different. It was gallium, which was a liquid at room temperatures. This property was useless to him. It was the reason why other metallics used to bully him as a child, for not being a ‘real’ metal. His best and only friend, a boy called Mercury Bromleigh, who also could liquefy himself, since both mercury and bromine were liquids at room temperature, and his third element, iodine was a halogen, like bromine. Having two halogens, Mercury could make friends easily, but he couldn’t. Mercury was able to manage at a new college, taking a major in Physics, specifically thermal energy, but he was different.
Gallus Siliconson had always felt out of place, his abilities seeming more like a curse than a gift. While there were some interesting elements, such as hydrogen which could summon fire and nitrogen, command the winds, Gallus’ powers were subtler, less flashy. He could melt into a silvery puddle, slipping through the smallest of cracks, or take control of any electronic device within his vicinity. But these abilities had never brought him the admiration or respect that others received.
As he walked away from room 129 of the girls’ dorm, Gallus couldn’t shake off the feeling of being an outsider. He had hoped that college would be different, that he would find a place where he belonged. But it seemed like the same old story was repeating itself. He was the odd one out, the boy who could turn into a liquid and talk to machines.
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