An unimaginable crime.
An unexpected hero.
An unbelievable reward.
Simon lived a comfortable life: a steady job; a wife that shared his interests; an active social life. Yet he knew deep down that something had gone awry; that perhaps the contentment he felt with his life was an illusion. That gnawing discomfort falls to the wayside, however, when his world is shattered after he crosses paths with a monster hell bent on committing a heinous crime; and his act of heroism attracts the attention of a divine presence who grants him literally unfathomable powers in recognition of his sacrifice.
This sets Simon on an epic adventure of discovery as he tries to evade those furious at his heroic intervention, and shadowy government figures intent on discovering the 'secret' behind his new-found abilities. His quest will lead him to parts of the world he never knew existed as he experiences passion, joy, betrayal and heartache unlike anything he could have imagined. In the end, he will grapple with the question of if his 'gift' was in fact a curse, and if a man with his abilities can ever truly deserve happiness.
Freewill is the tale of a simple man given abilities which make him a god among men, and his journey to find the one thing his powers cannot grant... but which all men desire.
Author's note:
This novel is a work of contemporary fantasy adventure. I've split it into five sections for publication here.
For fans of the Dean, this novel began as a thought experiment along the lines of, 'what if Stranger was about a regular guy being granted that powerset, instead of a man born on another planet and raised by aliens (not to mention swapping out a frankly unforgiveable amount of bigotry found in that seminal work with a whole heap of on-page sensuality and a sprinkling of ideas inspired by other works of popular fantasy)?' and grew from there.
Make no mistake, this novel delves into some weighty subject matter. Trigger warnings for significant on-page violence (including a mass shooting and multiple hate crimes), depression and suicidal ideation.
All sensuality (on page or otherwise) takes place between characters who are eighteen or older.
Thirty-Nine
A scratchy voice interrupted the efforts of a primary-school aged girl who was trying to kick a hole in the back of Simon's seat to say, "Thank you for joining us on our flight this evening. We are now on final approach to Kuala Lumpur. We should be on the ground shortly."
Simon groaned audibly but tried to convince himself that the torture would soon be over. It had been over twelve hours since departing Johannesburg. Early in the flight, he had debated the wisdom of withdrawing to make the flight go by unnoticed. He ultimately discarded the idea, worried he would emerge from withdrawal to find that the plane had been diverted and his seemingly lifeless body had been dropped off on some island no one had ever heard of in the middle of the Indian Ocean.
He rubbed his temples in frustration at the extreme discomfort he was enduring. At the compound, it was easy for him to filter out the emotions of those around him. He was even able to effortlessly focus on a single individual, or small group, without allowing in any extra noise. But here, in this aluminium tube hurtling twelve kilometers above the most desolate part of the southern hemisphere at over nine-hundred kilometers per hour, he had nearly been overwhelmed. Everyone around him had been radiating so much anxiety shortly after takeoff that he spent several minutes worried that he had missed an announcement that the craft had been hijacked. But, after some careful probing of a few individual passengers, he realized it was nothing more than a terror all humans felt, to a greater or lesser degree, when engaged in the unnatural act of flying.
Unlike his fellow passengers, who had spent the flight sleeping or watching the tiny screens before them, he had chosen to pass the flight studying his fellow travelers. He especially cherished the unrestrained emotions of the children. They were not yet worldly enough to fear flying. For them, it was just an adventure to be enjoyed. He also got great enjoyment out of the flight crew, for whom a flight path which involved nearly seven thousand kilometers of flying over the deepest part of the Indian Ocean, was so routine they had difficulty staying awake.
Simon spent the remainder of his time appreciating the school he was leaving in Dani's capable hands. And, more broadly, the time he had had with her. Their tearful farewell, the morning following the initiation had been joyous, despite the tears. She understood his need to move on more than he had thought possible. It was yet another measure of how far she had come in her learning of the First Language. He had told her, with complete sincerity, that her knowledge of that language now outstripped his own in some areas.
He knew he would miss her terribly. While he had not fallen for her in the same way he fell for Karen, or indeed even Max, he had been, and remained, quite fond of her. She was a wonderful companion, in good times and bad. But while she loved him unreservedly, he knew her love for teaching the First Language had become her all-consuming passion. He was also made glad that she was surrounded by so many wonderful people who shared her obsession.
He had left the compound, heading south without a clear destination in mind. He knew he was likely to leave Africa but nothing else was certain. But he had also not been in a hurry. He knew that even though the attention focused on him had died down in the months since the incident in Oklahoma, he was still very likely a wanted man in most of the civilized world. So, he had traveled slowly, focusing his efforts on once again changing his appearance.
During his first such exercise, he had felt limited by his skeletal structure and limited his efforts to changing his face and adding muscles. Now, with his expanded understanding of the different ways in which he could instruct his body to remake itself, he shaved off about five centimeters in height by making his femurs slightly shorter and stockier. He also aged himself down from the late forties appearance he had been using to closer to mid-twenties and allowed his face to become more rounded. Finally, he allowed his muscles to become leaner and faster while allowing a bit of padding to build up around his midsection. The final result was not unlike if George Clooney had somehow transformed into Joaquin Phoenix circa Gladiator.
Once his transformation was complete, he had turned his attention to the regrettable, but unavoidable, task of compelling a person in a position of influence to arrange for a new identity for him. The task had been more difficult than he hoped as he had had to make his way up the chain of command within the South African government, each conversation requiring a trickle of compulsion from Simon and causing him significant discomfort. The only upside was that he had discovered that through proper preparation spent in withdrawal, he was able to avoid the spontaneous nausea which had been so pervasive in his earliest inadvertent attempts to compel people.
After landing, he made his way through customs without incident with his South African passport. He instructed the taxi driver, in Malay, to take him to a reasonably nice hotel, leaving the specifics to the driver. He had chosen Kuala Lumpur as a convenient place from which to choose his next destination somewhere in southeast Asia. He was leaning toward Vietnam but wanted to get a feel for the area before making a decision.
***
What had started as an intention to spend a few hours withdrawn in his hotel room to recover from the flight had turned into a week. The teeming masses of the densely packed city were constantly threatening to overwhelm Simon's senses. Were it only the hustle and bustle of millions of people happily going about their lives, he likely would have been fine. But it was as if the city contained nothing but miserable, suffering people.
He had gone out for a walk the previous evening in an effort to rip off the metaphorical band aid, but it had only made things worse. He had encountered what he assumed was a street robbery with a young male pointing a weapon at two younger people who were both screaming and radiating terror. He had rushed to the scene, whereupon the male had turned his weapon on Simon. Simon's first instinct had been to turn the obviously wicked man, but he had the awareness to recognize that he could have been mistaken, so he instead chose to freeze him. This had caused the man's victims to immediately turn on Simon. What he could ascertain, before he had had to freeze them as well, was that the man was some kind of pimp and the young trans women he had been threatening were in fact demanding rightly earned money from him and he pulled the weapon in self-defense. Simon had ultimately been forced to compel them all to forget him and retreated to his room to withdraw and recover.
Other sojourns from his room had ended less disastrously, but no more satisfyingly. Simon had attempted to video call Max and Paige to assuage the misery which was threatening to consume him, but they were still on their return from the North Pole and tended to keep their equipment off unless they needed it. He thought briefly of contacting Dani, but he knew that the pain of their parting was still too fresh. He even tried Hank but ended the call quickly after realizing that, not only was it the middle of the night in southern California, but that his friend was also in the company of his lady-friend. He even briefly toyed with the idea of contacting Casey, but the thought made his skin crawl. After all, he reasoned, what possible common ground could he ever hope to find now with his estranged wife.
