A knock on the door pulls Gobby out of sleep. When he opens his eyes, he sees Ulrich standing in the doorway.

  – Gobby. Ten minutes. I’ll be waiting at the table in the living room.

  Gobby gets out of bed, rubs his face, and looks down at his chest. The scar is still there, but the pain is gone. In the bathroom mirror he barely recognizes himself. Nothing remains of the hollow, zombie-like body from yesterday. His skin has color again, and a thin layer of fat has returned. He studies his reflection with quiet relief. His stomach tightens and demands food.

  In the corridor he meets German, and they walk to the living room together. On the table, in hunting-house fashion, a plate of sausages and bacon stands in the center, with omelets and vegetables prepared for each of them. After Ulrich gives permission to sit, Gobby begins to eat immediately.

  Ulrich pours himself tea, takes two slow sips, watches them for a minute, and speaks.

  – I hope nothing has changed in our agreement overnight.

  With a sausage still in his mouth, Gobby turns toward German. German takes it as permission to speak and pulls out his notebook.

  – Nothing has changed. But I have a few questions.

  Ulrich cuts him off.

  – Questions later. Eat. If we’re continuing our cooperation, then we have about two or three weeks to prepare you at a basic level.

  – Why two or three weeks? Gobby asks.

  – Because that’s how long it would take me to find this place if I were hunting you myself. And I’m the best at what I do. So Cerberus’s fighters will need about the same time. Maybe a little more.

  – I see. I should tell my parents. My mom is probably worried.

  – I’ve taken care of that, Ulrich says. German’s grandmother is in the hospital, so there’s nothing to do there. Your parents will be informed today by the police that you’re under protection in a rehabilitation center. You’ll just need to call and calm them down.

  Ulrich looks at German.

  – I have good news for you. Your grandmother woke up during the night and asked about you. They reassured her and she fell asleep again. She’s still weak, but it’s progress.

  German stops chewing. A tear slips from the corner of his eye. He wipes it away and keeps eating.

  – Finished? Ulrich asks. Then let’s begin.

  He stands up slowly. The boys rise with him.

  Ulrich sends German to his room to think about what he will need to handle a large flow of information. Gobby stays with him. Together they call Gobby’s parents. Ulrich introduces himself as a senior police inspector and explains the situation. Then Gobby speaks with his mother.

  After the preparations, Ulrich leads the boys beneath the stairs, where a concealed door opens into the basement. He unlocks it with a remote control, and the passage descends into darkness.

  Gobby can hardly contain his excitement.

  – German, hey, German, what do you think is down there?

  – Based on my analysis, equipment and a training room.

  – Equipment… like weapons? Wow.

  – Most likely.

  – That’s awesome. I wonder if they’ll give me one.

  German turns out to be right.

  The first room is an armory, but it holds only two kinds of weapons – cold steel and blowguns. On the left wall, sharp tools are arranged in dense rows: mostly knives of different shapes, but also razor blades and even awls. On the right, blowguns hang neatly from hooks, from old models to modern ones, and beneath them stands a cabinet with shelves full of darts and other ammunition.

  Gobby runs from rack to rack, from weapon to weapon.

  – This is incredible.

  – On the left are my tools, Ulrich says. On the right were my partner’s.

  They move on into the next room. The floor is covered with tatami mats. Along the walls stand only three training objects: a punching bag strangely wrapped in chain mail, a wooden human-shaped dummy, and a target riddled with holes.

  They cross the hall and stop in front of another door.

  Ulrich turns to them.

  – Behind this door is the command center. That’s where Vann and I planned everything. I’m a fighter myself, and I can only teach you how to use your abilities. To unlock them, I need someone else.

  He opens the door.

  They step into a bright room. A table stands in the center, and behind it an entire wall is covered with monitors. A professor sits at the table with an open folder of notes in front of him.

  Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

  – A professor? Gobby asks.

  – Hello, Gobby. Hello, German, the professor says.

  – After talking with German, Ulrich adds, we reached a conclusion. Or rather, German did – that this is the only person who can help Gobby unlock his potential.

  The professor steps closer to Gobby.

  – Show me the scar.

  Gobby lifts his shirt.

  – It’s true, the professor says quietly. At last, direct proof of my theory. I was right all along. Thank you, Gobby. You can lower your shirt.

  He turns to Ulrich.

  – May I begin?

  – I’ll leave you to it, Ulrich says.

  – Well, my boys… I don’t know how or why things turned out this way, but I’m grateful to you for giving me the chance to finish my scientific work. Let’s begin with a question. Have you ever heard of gifted people?

  – Yes. People with extraordinary abilities.

  – Correct. And do you know how a person becomes gifted?

  – They’re born with abilities others don’t have. Probably some gene is responsible.

  – That is the common belief. But this theory is overrated. In fact, all children are gifted from birth.

  – I don’t understand. If everyone is gifted, why is someone better at something?

  – Society is to blame. You will see why in the video. Sit down. I will show you the presentation I gave to the scientific community.

  The professor seats Gobby and German at the computer and starts the recording. Images appear on the screen: fighters, composers, athletes, artists, scientists, and people with supernatural abilities. Many of them resemble anime heroes with unusual powers. Each fragment is marked with a country, a year, and an ability.

  Gobby and German watch in silence.

  Then the professor’s voice sounds over the images:

  All the people you see now are considered unique and gifted. Each of you believes they were lucky to be born that way. I must disappoint you. There are no unique children with unique abilities. All children are gifted. As you can see, there are only unique adults – because society made them so. They were fortunate that the conditions in which they grew up allowed them to remain gifted as they were at birth.

  Now about my theory. A human being is a core made of two parts. The conscious part – how a person sees the world. The unconscious, instinctive part – how a person feels and exists in the world.

  The instinctive part is an inner creature, an inner animal. It is the source of power. If a person maintains a connection with it, they can do more than those who have lost it. Those who lose this bond begin to call the others gifted.

  How is this connection maintained? Through inner speech. Through dialogue with oneself. But at some point, when this dialogue becomes visible to others, we label it as pathology.

  In conclusion, My hypothesis is that allowing children to communicate with their instinctive part lets them remain whole, become stronger, and find their own uniqueness.

  The screen goes dark.

  – So my Deda… he is my instinctive part? The one that made me special?

  – Exactly. But because of adults and circumstances, you lost that connection. Your case is unique. The bond was not broken, only displaced. It still influences you. This scar and your new heart are proof of that.

  – Can you explain more about this connection? If I understand correctly, it’s the key to having power.

  – Ulrich was right. You’ve changed. The bond between different parts of the self is the most important thing in human life. When a person functions as a whole core, the ideas of normal and limit disappear. They can do anything.

  – Then… there are ordinary people without connection, and gifted ones with it. Doesn’t that mean…

  He pauses, then lowers his voice.

  – That it’s easier to be ordinary, like most people, and the gifted become exhibits, used by the ordinary? And the Higher Ones… are they gifted or ordinary?

  – The Higher Ones?

  German repeats what Ulrich told them.

  The professor does not interrupt.

  – There is much I still don’t know. In my theory, I call them people of power. All right. I will explain the structure of the world and the types of people, based on their connection to their essence.

  – In my research, I distinguish five types of people. Three primary and two exceptional.

  – The first type is when the connection with the essence exists, but control over life is given entirely to the instinctive part. Such people live by reaction. They feel but do not reflect. They enjoy and they fight. They are guided by inner nature, not by choice. A typical example is soldiers and criminals. They are strong, but their strength does not belong to them.

  He paused and looked at German.

  – The second type is when the connection has been lost, but the essence still exists inside the person. It becomes passive, and the person tries either to regain it or at least to understand it in fragments. As a result, only separate elements remain accessible – skills, reactions, hidden abilities. Most people live in this state. Including students.

  German frowned.

  – And the third?

  – The third type is fusion. The person and the essence work together. Not struggle and not submission, but alignment. Such people control not only themselves, but also the processes around them. They create structures, shape rules, and direct others. Founders of companies, architects of systems, those usually called people of power.

  German said quietly.

  – So the Higher Ones are those who have fused?

  The professor nodded.

  – It seems so.

  Then he went on more softly.

  – There are two more types, but they are difficult to describe scientifically.

  – The fourth is a person without an essence. He can see the world, but cannot feel it. He can act, but does not belong to what is happening. An empty shell. People on life-support systems. Severe psychiatric patients. A complete loss of inner reality.

  Gobby shivered without meaning to.

  – The fifth type is an anomaly. When the essence continues to exist without a body. We call them ghosts.

  The professor spread his hands.

  – It is almost impossible to obtain objective data about these two categories.

  German thought for a moment.

  – So… ordinary people are those whose connection is broken, gifted people are those who kept it, and the Higher Ones are those who fused with it?

  – Within my model – yes.

  They were so absorbed in the conversation that they did not notice Gobby falling asleep.

  The professor lowered his voice.

  – From my conversation with Ulrich, I understood that you, German, restored the connection with your essence in a critical situation. That is why Ulrich will work with you. My task is to restore Gobby’s connection.

  Gobby opened his eyes slightly.

  – I’m ready.

  – Then we will begin tomorrow. I need to prepare the process.