"Beacons" by Elizabeth Yoriksson

Hey there, pleasure to make your acquaintance. I'm Elizabeth, master of light at The Academy. I can emit any part of the electromagnetic spectrum from my body and control it with my mind. It's fun to play with, but that doesn't mean I don't acknowledge the serious side of my abilities.

So, like several other students here, my story starts before I was born, which means there's plenty to tell. Let's get things going then, shall we?

I hail from Svalbard, an island off the northern coast of Norway, even further north than my current home of Øya Helter. That means I'm the only student here not only used to island life, but the cold as well. Øya Helter has relatively mild weather compared to the frozen north Svalbard, it's like a holiday.

It is very isolated on Svalbard, and the main mode of transport is the snowmobile. There are upsides to this, of course, as there is much less pollution so the air is clearer. The isolation means I'm the only person at The Academy that doesn't get cabin fever every now and then. Not having many people other than my parents means I value the people I know now even more.

Anyway, that is not really relevant to my powers. To discover those we need to go back to around eight months before I was born, or at least I think we do. Most of the students have something they can pin the origin of their powers on, but mine seems to be more of a gradual thing than students like Rod or Gerard, I'm more like Elliot.

So, about eight and a half months before I was born, a young woman by the name of Inga, barely into womanhood at the age of eighteen, was mounting her snowmobile. She'd had to wrap up warm in the crippling cold, barely any of her face visible because of her woolly hat and scarf, and a pair of skiing goggles that would stop her from getting snow in her eyes. Her boyfriend's parents weren't home, so she thought it would be sexy to wear nothing but lingerie under her long coat, the only other thing she was wearing being a pair of thigh high leather boots to match the black undergarments.

Now, thigh high boots may look sexy, but they are not very practical for driving a snowmobile, especially with the heels this woman had on. On her way there she lost control, but her braking was impeded by the heels, so she ended up going over a snow drift too quickly. As her vehicle left the ground she jumped off to prevent herself from being crushed by the snowmobile, as she felt it curving in the air as though it would land on top of her when it touched ground again.

The woman was in a fair bit of pain, but was determined to carry on so struggled all she could to tip the snowmobile back onto its treads. It had landed on its side and not upside-down so it was easier than it could have been. Then, she carried on with her journey, driving more slowly this time.

When she arrived at her boyfriend's house he was understandably very happy to see her, just as she was happy to see him. They then proceeded to go upstairs and show each other just how happy they were, as they had done several times before this exchange.

Some time later they were exhausted from all the happiness and just talked for a while. The woman told her boyfriend the accident that had befallen her on her way over, and he was quite determined that she should visit a doctor. She protested, saying she didn't hurt that much, but her boyfriend had once broken his leg in a snowmobile accident and refused to give in.

After a short debate, the much more steadfast boyfriend drove the woman to see the doctor. There, she was examined and the doctor suspected she had a broken rib, so recommended an X-Ray just to be sure.

She did, indeed, have a broken rib, but that was easily remedied and the least of her problems. Before long she realised she was a couple of days late for her period. The argument she had with her boyfriend next was a lot more heated than the one about her rib, but this time it was the woman that was more steadfast. She didn't care how it would affect their lives, they had created a life and she wasn't getting rid of it. Of that I am very glad, because the little baby growing inside the woman was me.

The X-Ray was a cause of concern for my parents. Just like Matvei's parents, mine were worried that the radiation would cause some sort of complication. However, that issue was side-lined in favour of the glaring problem of how two eighteen year olds could possibly bring up a child.

Now, my mother came from a rather wealthy family, wealthy enough to not have to work; they were only on Svalbard for some piece and quiet. However, with the news of an impending child my grandparents gave her enough to get by for a while, but otherwise cut her off. They were very old-fashioned like that. That forced my father to get a job at the mine in Sveagruva to make ends meet. They had always hoped to get enough money to move to mainland Norway, but that seemed incredibly unlikely with a baby on the way.

I was born perfectly healthy, and they were so happy that they had brought life into the world and they didn't mind the cost because we all had each other. It was a struggle for them, but their love kept them going. I will always count myself lucky for having two amazing, loving parents.

I grew up spending more time with my mother than father, but that was because my mother used some of the money from her parents and any spare time that she had to do a teaching course so she could get a job at the school in our town of Longyearbyen, and my father was constantly working, constantly providing for the family he never expected to have.

It was a wonderful place to live. I'm not going to suggest it wasn't hard - it was very cold most of the time and we didn't have all of the luxuries that other people do, but the Norwegian welfare system was very good to us. Then there's the seasons. Most places have spring, summer, autumn and winter, others have the wet season and the dry season. We had day and night. Seriously, for half the year it was day, for the other half it was night.

All of that wasn't too bad though, we managed. The one thing that I enjoyed the most were the Northern Lights. They really were beautiful, and every time they were in the sky we would watch them as a family. Even if my father had to work late we knew he would be looking at them on the journey home, reminding him of why he was working late in the first place - to make his family happy.

I enjoyed the lights the most. One day my mother bought me a disposable camera from the pharmacy whilst picking up some medicine, and my walls were covered in pictures of the lights I had taken. There were a few of my parents, smiling together and hugging, but most of those still had the lights in the background.

My parents could tell that I was transfixed by the lights, they said that every morning after I'd seen them I was almost glowing. They meant that as a metaphor, of course, but not for long.

Nobody really knows how I got my powers, but the current theory is that the X-Ray altered me somehow, and combine that with my exposure to possible cosmic radiation that made it through the Earth's protective magnetosphere. Again, nobody really knows, but I like to think that it does have something to do with the Northern Lights I love so much, it's why I chose Aurora as my codename.

So as time went on my parents discovered that I did physically glow after the lights. That's why we think what we think about my powers. My parents knew I was different when they caught me at age six playing with a beautiful swirl of light, like a glowing mist, that came out of my hands.

That was how it all started; a young girl playing with a wisp of light, fascinated at the way it swirled between her fingers. It was like my own personal Northern Lights and I could never stop smiling whenever I did it. Sometimes I still do it to cheer me up, to remind me how I started on this journey.

It wasn't just that though, as time went on I found out that I could control other types of radiation, not just visible light. As I grew older my spectrum widened, so I could use infrared radiation before long. I couldn't use it to see people through walls with their body heat or anything like that, but I could heat things up or change the channel on our television with it. That got annoying for my parents after a while, so I barely did it until I got to The Academy.

That was really all that I could do until I got to The Academy, although whether it was from fear of hurting someone with it somehow or simply not knowing I cannot remember. Still, it was enough, it wasn't like I needed my powers back then.

Well, I say that but there was a time when they came in very handy. There was a collapse at the mine in Sveagruva one day, when my father was working down there. She probably shouldn't have done, but my mother got a cover teacher for her lesson and whisked me away to the mine, the tears freezing on her face in the harsh cold of the winter as we ran to our old family pickup truck. If not for the fact that my father got a lift with his friend that morning we would not have been able to get there.

There had been fires at the mine before, big fires, but my father had survived through them before and we knew he was hardy enough to make it through this. Deep down we knew that we would get him back, but on the surface things were a little bit more panicked.

The emergency services did what they could, but they needed better equipment from the mainland, and they had no idea how long they would have to wait for that to arrive, so they needed to get food and water to the miners. They knew where they were, and there was a narrow tunnel that could take them there, but nobody was small enough to get through. Except me.

I was still young, in my last year of primary school, so I knew that I wouldn't be allowed to go down there. I didn't care though, I wanted to help my father, my daddy.

So while everyone was fussing around and trying to find a way to get the supples to them I grabbed the bag. It was difficult to get through the tunnel; I had to go backwards and pull the bag along with me. I could feel the craggy stone cutting into my knees and elbows as I went, but I carried on. I knew I had to carry on.

I started to hear voices as I went on, not clear at first but then I started to make out what they were saying.

"Lysene! Vi er her nede! Redde oss!"

"The lights!" they exclaimed. "We're down here! Save us!"

Then, as the petite school shoes of a young girl emerged from the tunnel, I heard my father yell my name.

Turning around, a grin plastered on my face as I was so proud of what I had done, all I saw was dumbfounded miners. Even my father's mouth was agape out of surprise.

"Elizabeth," my father stuttered. "You're glowing."

I looked down at my hands and he was right. It was as though the wisp I had always played with when I was younger now coated my skin. It wasn't a solid glow, the light emanating from me was fluid, like I was drowning in a sea of light, the glowing waves gently washing up against my skin.

In an instant I stopped it, plunging the cave into inky blackness. The miners turned their torches back on and, for the first time, I shied away from the light. They knew what I could do and I was afraid, but I didn't know why.

My father took me to a corner away from the others and tore off fabric from his shirt to bandage my bloody knees and elbows. He asked me why I had come down there and I told him all about the supplies that they needed and pointed over to the bag I had dropped when I saw the shocked faces of the miners.

He wasn't happy that I'd risked my life for a bag of food and water, but he was so happy to see me that he couldn't stay angry for long. The only problem was that he had to look after me now; there was no way he was letting me risk my life in that tunnel with the possibility of a cave-in.

It was strange in the cave, with all of the miners giving me weird looks. I just wanted to get out, and I had an idea of how to get more people to help with the rescue.

When all of the other miners were asleep, who knows if it was day or night, I tip-toed over to the tunnel entrance. Then I started to create my little wisp, a whirl of vibrant orange and yellow light flickering between my hands. I gradually made it larger, so before long it was lighting up a good distance into the tunnel. Finally, I focused all of my energy into it, and released a burst of light through the tunnel and into the sky above.

I was lucky. I knew it would be dark out as it was winter, but it turned out the miners had lost track of time without natural light, and it was actually daytime. That meant people from miles around saw the burst of fiery light erupt from Sveagruva.

The captain of the ship from the mainland saw it and sailed as fast as his boat would allow in case it meant there was a fire at the mine. Other inhabitants of Svalbard dropped whatever they had been doing, in case they could help the rescue services. It was strange how a fire galvanised the people more than a mine collapse.

Within a couple of days we were out of there. The emergency services were brilliant, but everyone was still a little stumped about how a young girl could get inside the mine. At least all of the news reports kept me anonymous.

That was biggest burst of light I'd ever made, and also the first time I'd ever glowed. I felt all tingly when it happened, I still do. I still can't tell if the tingling is something to do with how I produce the light or my amazement at how I can do something like that, but either way it feels weird.

The most fun I'd ever had with my power was about a year after the mine incident. My school were having a disco for everyone who was moving up to secondary school (even though the school in Longyearbyen was a combined primary and secondary school), and it was my last year there so my parents had saved up enough for me to have a gorgeous silver dress. I was sparkling like a disco ball under the strobe lights and I loved it.

It was a fun night, but I knew I would see all of the other leavers when we went back to school, as there is only one secondary school on Svalbard. The best part of the night was after everyone had gone home.

My mother had drawn the short straw among her colleagues and was tasked with cleaning up the school hall after the disco. I stayed with her to help out, but I got distracted after a while. I had a sudden urge, an uncontrollable compulsion to do what I didn't, but I don't know why.

I moved into the centre of the hall, shuffling my feet as though in a trance. Once there I lifted my arms so I was in a T shape, and then I began to spin. It was only slowly, but as I did so I began to light up the room. I glowed, just as I had done in the tunnel, but it was a soft glow. My wisp started to surround me, engulfing me, ever growing until the room was filled with the most magnificent green and blue light, like my beloved Northern Lights.

My mother walked in and saw me and the light. She couldn't help but grin, she was so happy that I was happy, but more than that she was impressed at what I could do.

After that my parents started to seek out a place for me to learn how to control what I could do, use it to help people. There aren't a lot of people on Svalbard and they don't have a lot of contact with the mainland, so news of my ability wasn't as publicised as some people. Still, my parents heard of a place for me.

There was a man on Svalbard, a wizened old sailor with skin as rough as leather, who knew of a place. He was heading back from the mainland and got caught in a storm. In the midst of the raging weather and crashing waves he hit his head on something and was knocked unconscious.

When he awoke he was on a snowy island. Looking around he could see the wreck of his ship stuck fast against a jagged rock jutting out from the sea.

As he turned to look at the rest of the isle, hoping to see something that would sustain him while he awaited rescue, he saw a flurry of snow. And apparently it walked towards him.

He suddenly stopped caring about finding food, and ran into the sea. He knew full well how cold it was, but he was so scared he ran anyway. In the icy waters he swam as fast as he could back to his ship, not knowing whether or not the life raft was still in place.

He somehow managed to get to the ship and his life raft was indeed there. He detached it and got in, not knowing what to do.

As he turned back to the island he swore he saw a girl with remarkably long hair running with wolves on the island, before a gust of icy wind blew him out to sea. Then the flurry of snow swirled around and grew to completely engulf the island.

He was eventually rescued by a ship researching the spread of king crab in Norwegian waters, and they were kind enough to take him back to Svalbard. From that moment on he warned everyone he could of the island, but upon hearing of my parents search something must have changed. Perhaps he thought that the flurry was a result of powers like mine.

My parents were elated to hear of this mysterious haven for the gifted, and spent whatever time they had searching for it on maps, but to no avail. No map or chart had any island near Svalbard that could be the one the old man mentioned.

I was fifteen when my parents finally gave up. It was not a decision that they took lightly, but it was the only option they had after years of failure. But it was that year that I received a letter.

It told me all about an island where people with mysterious powers were taught to help people. They had been watching me since the incident at the mine, but had chosen to remain silent due to the decrepit sailor's stories, as people would be more likely to believe him if the photokinetic (that is how Jonathan has categorised me, although it is not strictly true as it only refers to how I control light and not other forms of radiation) of Svalbard disappeared one day.

The mariner had decided only a week or so before I had got the letter to move back to the mainland, as people on the island were slowly tiring of his 'lunacy'. As a result he no longer threatened the existence of the island, and I could be contacted.

My parents were so happy for me, but I could tell my mother was hiding her true feelings. She'd seen me every day for over fifteen years - separation was going to be tough, for the both of us. At least she could spend some proper time with my father.

The letter instructed me to go to the port at Longyearbyen to board a ship that would take me to the school. I knew instantly which ship I needed - the wooden frigate. It was a gorgeous boat, but was ruined by the far from graceful hunk of metal bolted on at the front. It seemed to be a temporary addition, simply added as a means of breaking through ice more easily.

My parents waved to me as I set off to the school. I knew my mother was crying, so I made one final gesture to her. I concentrated as hard as I could and I managed to create my own Aurora - a whirl of colours dancing in the sky. Every night when I miss my parents too much I go up to the roof of The Academy and do that again, and I hope that they can see it too.

And that's how I got here, only a short voyage away from my past self, but I've changed and grown so much doesn't feel as short. Nevertheless, it has been a good experience, but I suppose I should be wrapping this up now.

In case you haven't noticed, I don't like goodbyes, so I'm not saying it.