Seance (2)

"Great Hawk Spirit, what is your purpose with us?" The woman's voice demanded once more.

Dane's decision was made, but the problem was, he didn' know how to make contact. He was immobile and arrested on the spot. he even wondered if the woman knew this and she was just toying with him. Maybe she did know she had him by the ropes.

Dane couldn't rule out that possibility, so he decided that it was time to go on the offense. If she thought she had found someone to mess around with, she was severely mistaken. However, he couldn't afford to be rash about it. If he made an explosion, then she'd have her answer. That was not the message he wanted to send.

Maina didn't know what to make of all this. The chanting had been weird enough already, now he could feel a spiritual presence, which served to alarm him some more. In his entire life, he had always ignored his grandma's profession. In his mind, all this macabre stuff didn't concern him. Now coming face to face in such an undeniable way, the kid was visibly at loggerheads.

The candlelight suddenly flared up. It looked more like a bunsen burner that was fully on. Violent and brilliant. Next, the flame started changing shape, before forming a shape of a human with a sword. Maina and his mom immediately gasped at this, but the grandma remained unmoved. What's more, she even started laughing.

"You must be a young spirit." She said amid bouts of laughter. Now it was Dane's turn to be surprised. Just how much did this woman know. Dane was seriously re-evaluating the woman, trying to find out just how much she knew.

"Try reaching into my mind ... " Once her laughter was done, she started saying all this, as though she was a parent instructing their child. That's when it hit Dane so hard. That was something he hadn't thought about yet it was all there. So obvious yet he couldn't see it. For once Dane started considering whether he had left the smart part of his brain in Planet Endar, however, he knew this was not so.

Just as Dane was about to do as she said, he took a moment's pause. Did he need her in any way? While he recognized her value as a treasure trove of information and someone who could guide him in this whole spirit business, he also saw her as a potential threat especially now that he was so vulnerable. At first, being power, he could afford his hubris, but now, it would cost him more than he bargained for.

Doing the prudent thing, Dane started reaching out for a mind but not the woman's mind. All told, he had already established some connections with Maina, enough to make him see things in his sleep. This was the first step in Possession, but Dane didn't have a guideline or a manual, he didn't know the steps. He was just shooting in the dark.

He cursed the fact that all this information had been gotten when he was a Grade C, already so powerful he didn't need to care about such steps.

The first order of business was to re-establish a connection with Maina's mind. Dane had never really gained any access. He had felt his way around his spirit and had tried to establish a connection. This had only ended up with some rough form of communication that could only work in a dreamlike state. This was the reason why he was 'haunting' the boy.

In the room, suddenly Maina gasped loudly. He was looking around as though some entity was about him. He could feel something happening to him, but to describe it was impossible. It was a level of intrusion so frightening since he felt something hover behind him. The kind of terror where one feels a chill even at the touch. Nothing like the fear of the unknown.

In that moment of terror, his grandmother reached out to him and took his hand comfortingly. "It's okay, relax," she said, then added, "he's too weak to do anything."

Dane was irked by that but he knew it was true. She had him like a deer caught in the headlights. He was in her palms, his every move had been expected, anticipated even. Thinking back, Dane couldn't remember when last he had been so outplayed. That's when a thought came to him, '... could she be that too?' If she was what he thought she might be, Dane would do every in his power to gain her as an ally, or even, a powerful subordinate.

Maina relaxed, and for once put down his defenses. His spirit was still as alert as ever, and as Dane approached he could feel some sort of mine traps all over the place. One wrong move and he was out. In Dane's mind, if ever there was a time to be as harmless as possible, now was it.

Maina quietened down. He had to consciously put down walls in his psyche.

The sound coming from inside his brain horrified him, but the man was anything if he was adaptable.

"Hello..." He said out loud, not knowing what else to do.

"Has it made contact?" Maina could sense elation in his grandmother's voice like she was thoroughly enjoying all this. How could he know that the profession was a lonely one? She had no friends or anyone close to her, even her own family shunned her. Now to see her grandson also has the gift, why wouldn't she be happy?

"Y-yes..." Maina stumbled, nodding.

"Good, now ask it what it is."

"What does it want?" The grandma pressed after Maina relayed the message.

***

It was late afternoon when the duo finally got to their destination. At first, they didn't seem sure, but the elder insisted that they were in the right place. A very sad look flashed on the younger one's face, as he looked at what had been his home.

Some of the structures of the once settlement remained, but it was more like ruins now. Tears trickled down Alie's face, as the reality of what had happened here hit him. This had been where he was brought up, for the most part. Until that fateful night, all his memories were tied to this place, and now, seeing its destruction, he couldn't help but moan.

Kendar recognized that the boy needed some time, so he let him be for now. Looking at the settlement, he saw that it hadn't been grand in any way. There were just a few structures and no sign of life whatsoever. If it was anyone else on the planet standing there, they would have been convinced that the settlement had been abandoned.

However, Kendar was not just anyone else on the planet. He could feel signs of life, as though the place was not as abandoned as it looked. From where he was, he could sense that the life he detected was not antagonistic towards them. Whoever they were, they were hiding for defense, not to lay a trap. Little did they know they were already discovered.

"Come on, let's walk inside," Alie said, without even waiting for a reply, he was already on the move. Kendar followed closely behind, wondering whether he had made the correct decision back then.

Signs of the fire that burned down most of the settlement were still there, though they had mostly been washed away by rainwater. The somber atmosphere left behind did more to chase away anyone who ventured deep within.

Walking on the footpath, 4 lavels suddenly surrounded on the duo from all sides, cutting off any route of escape. They looked lean, mean and intimidating. They bore no weapons, but the claws extended out meant that they were ready to strike at any time.

Alie subconsciously moved towards Kendar, while eyeing the newcomers. His mind was still in a haze, it took him a moment to gather his thoughts. Looking at these would-be attackers, a flash of hot boiling rage came upon him.

How dare they desecrate his home, invade into what was now his most prized connection to his heritage, the only inheritance he had left? How dare they even make a move on him in his lands! He never wanted them, but he wouldn't let anyone bring shame to the memory of clan.

The assailants had been brimming with confidence, but it began to flutter. Looking at the boy, it felt as though they were standing in front of some ferocious beast that had locked on them, not some unassuming pair that posed no threat whatsoever.

Kendar noticed that the air around them would spontaneously combust at some point, indicating very wild and rapid activation of fire elemental particles. Similarly, the grass around the attackers became singed. The burn marks formed perfect circles, showing the attackers were the ones surrounded.

"Before you die, tell me, why do you do what you do?" Alie was genuinely intrigued. After wantonly killing the previous bandits, he no longer desired revenge for vengeance's sake. Now he wanted to understand what would make someone betray their race and start selling his fellow species to a different race.

Kendar knew the answer to this. Sometimes, people, and this is not exclusive to humans, just want to see the world burn. Criminal behavior has never been an anomaly in a society, the anomaly would be lacking in the criminals. As a member of a policing agent who mainly hunted demons, Kendar understood this fact well. He wondered if the boy would.

"W-who ar-are you?" The one in the lead was asked. He was no longer intimidating, he even looked intimidated. Alie had got him good. There was sweat trickling from his forehead, showing the heat surrounding him could be felt. At that moment, all the lavels felt like they were just a short distance away from a blazing furnace.

"ANSWER THE QUESTION NOW!!!!"

"We are not bandits, just owners of th_"

"LIAR!" Alie walked leisurely towards the leader, and in a seriously creepy inner voice, he said, "Say one more lie and it will be your last!" Seeing his point had hit home, he proceeded to ask, "Why. do. you. do. what. you. do?"

"..."

A helpless silence, which only served to exacerbate the situation even further. Alie's fury seemed to have hit a tipping point. What was the point with speaking with these waste of space anyway, what possible reason could they give him that would justify the loss he had suffered?

Thinking up to this point, Alie made the fire particles surrounding the lavels to start closing in. A blood-curdling cry went out as they realized that their fate had been set. Alie could have destroyed them all in an instant, but he wanted to do it slowly, in a way where they would see their end coming.

"Alie?!" A voice rang out. It contained traces of doubt, as though she couldn't believe what she was seeing. The dominant emotion in that voice though was the joy of seeing someone long lost. Moments later, a female lavel ran out of some hidden corner and grabbed the boy in elation, tears of joy streaming down her eyes.

"I knew you'd come back! I knew you'd come back!" She kept saying that as she held on to the boy so tightly, afraid to let go. A very shocked lavelian boy could only utter one word in shock.

"Mother!"