don't come any closer

The blaring alarm sounded and startled little Elizabeth awake. Composing herself, she got dressed and began her morning ritual, crunches and shadow boxing. After some time she finished and entered her bathroom.

"Oh right I almost forgot." she said while tapping herself on her head. " scatter brain."

Elizabeth held two broken bars of soap and began to focus. Nothing happened for quite some time but after a while the bars began to float. Then she resumed bathing,even using the floating bars to lather herself.

"come and get it."

Peeking her head out the bath Elizibeth called back. "In about an hour."

Elizabeth and her mother held this habit for when food had finished.

Her drenched body curled onto the bed in a lotus meditation stance and over that hour she psychically removed the water from herself and even managed to play darts.

daduuff… The house trembled under the impact of the commotion.

"Heather, you trying to kill we?"

"Sorry dear."

"Goodness man, me and liz going and hunt in a bit, we gonna be back around two."

"Oh that Is perfect, maybe you can get her to try that new technique I came up with, I wasn't able to schedule a day off but this fits quite well."

"Babe if you wanna teach her your witchcraft do it on your own time, you work often enough, make them give you a day off."

"Donavon !!" Heather ferd her brows in protest.

"It's not magic!" They both said in sync. "Yea, yea Dorthey. "

"Donavon please, you know I hate being called that,.... you know how important this is to me. "

"We're at an impasse then, because seeing you is important to me. look I know you have to work and I respect that, I just wanna hunt in a scary place with my daughter in peace. "

"Donavon, where are you taking our daughter?"

In that moment heather already knew where he meant. The only place talked about in a scary manner in this town was a place called hangman's peak. It was essentially a part of the forest where people would go missing. Each time when search parties are launched all they found was a lifeless corpse hanging from a tree. Authorities would say that it's like if they just decided to hang themselves. No suicidal history nor any intention or motive indicated.

"oh, why, you wanna come?" Donavon smiled and hugged Heather silently savouring those few seconds before it was broken.

"Stop playing, tell me."

"I'm taking her hangman's peak."

Heather's eyes widened. "No! You can take her anywhere but there, not hangman's peak! "

"Relax babe, it's fine I scouted the place out myself, it's actually kinda fitting for her first hunt."

Donavon turned his wife around and pressed her head to his chest. " I love Elizabeth with all my heart, trust I know she can handle this."

A faint glow excaped Heathers eyes from under his shirt "You fool you will get them killed you know nothing!!!" Heather said it but was it really her? Donavon didn't know but it shook something within him.

"Fool?,... No i taking she, and I going see you tomorrow when you chill out. " Donavon had enough. He turned and stormed off into the house.

" Tomorrow!, That's too long! "

... badump,

" Relax he does that sometimes."

,...badump...badump...badump,

" But at hangman's peak though?This is bad, Abo lives there."

..badump….badump….badump….badump..

" breathe,...breathe, don't panic breathe," She struggled against her panicked thoughts.

"Why did he say such a long time all of a sudden? Why did he get mad so quickly?

Did I do it again? what did she say?"

,babump,badump,badump,badump,

"fuck!!"she thought.

Heather's head spun, her thoughts grew hazy, her breath left her and her fists and eyes clenched as she struggled to catch it. Nothing but weez-like breaths escaped her lips.

"four in four out"

she remembered the advice she read in the many books she consumed about panic attacks.

Heather willed herself to follow the breathing exercise, four seconds in,... four seconds out. Psychic blasts erupted all around her,and as pillars of dirt rose and fell, still she forced.

"come one..." " you got this " "just...let go "

And slowly but surely silance fell.

Heather rolled over and looked up at the sky "I am not dying today,....." "my life will be in order."

In ----

----out

In----

----out "my life is not over."

In----

Out----"i am not going to.."

Heather layed there for another ten minutes. breathing and taking mental note of the carnage that was her yard. Her powers got out of control and it took a while to get things back in order. Her experiment was next for fixing. After all, the government would be rather upset to know that their research was destroyed. After spending so much money over the years, they were growing impatient waiting for a "cure" to be developed.

After Donavon stormed off he went to the shop and bought Elizabeth's hunting gear. It was a long-sleeved camo hunting shirt and long brown pants. It matched what he wore slightly except for one thing, a hat.

"A hat would complete the outfit. "

However, while searching for a suitable hat, he noticed a group of small children looking for one as well. They all looked no older than ten, in fact the oldest was eight, the others seemed to look to her for guidance. She stood at about four feet and had a medium build; her clothes were old as well as the clothes of her eager followers. Quite expectingly his first reaction was

"i'm sorry but where are your parents?"

The oldest turned and pointed to a middle-aged couple who looked a little worse for wear. Donavon's heart softened and he decided to not only pay for the hat but to also buy the children some clothes. Seeing that the store they were in only sold hunting equipment and they did not seem to even trust him, he decided to just buy what could fit. This amounted to baggy hunting clothes and cloakes.

"I ain't sure if i would like the cloakes if i was choosing but, it look like ya like them so fair enough."

Later that day Donavon and Elizabeth passed by a local hardwear because, of course, all of a sudden firewood mysteriously disappeared right before a hunting trip.

While there, a strange boy jumps out of nowhere and almost tackles Elizabeth.

"The speed,... the speed." donavon thought.

"Did he really?…..I didn't even,.. see him, can I really protect her?" seeing the way the small boy moved unsettled donovan.

" If I can't even stop a lil-boy from jumping pon her, should i really go ahead with the trip."

Suddenly the trip did not seem so alluring.

The small boy and what looked like his father apologized and and went on their way, Elizabeth even stopped to offer words of assurance to the young one.

They both, especially the boy seemed very sincere.

Donavon pushed forward. Making the drive to the forest where they then hiked to a nearby clearing to set up camp. Due to the reputation of the area the camping areas were often abandoned. This area was no exception, although it was not very forested, it still held a lot of undergrowth.

As Donavon got out his cutlass Elizabeth chimed.

"Wait no, i wanna do this"

They exchanged glances and he took a couple steps back.

Pink energy slowly emerged from her outstretched arm, forms in the shape of a ball which hovered just beyond her finger tips. In an instant it flew and slammed into the ground in front of them. The ground near them trembled in response, and a wave of dust dirt and daybree flew everywhere. Hole the size of a small bed was made and the resulting waves cleared more than enough space for them to make camp.

"I think that is enough"

-----elsewhere------

Asura and Mr Grey finished picking out their tools and materials and made their way back.just in time for Asura to over hear eden and rem talking about some stupid travelers.

"Why'd you say that?"

"They seem to be able to use ruk but still went into Abos' domain. "

Asura just looked at them blankly for a second. "the what now?"

"You do know what ruk is right."

"At least what it might be." rem interjected.

"Yeah I know." Asura proudly stated.

"Well good, so when you ruk is strong you can easily sense other people and people in turn can sense you."

"Uh huh" Asura's excited expression betrayed his ignorance.

"Master why did you not tell him?"

Rem quietly asked as Eden explained to Asura.

"We did not get that far yet, besides everything I know might not even work for someone who was not born with power and abilities."

"He's not normal, even i can tell." Rem looked over at Eden and Asura quietly paying attention.

"Trust me I know, I practically raised his parents." A pang of nostalgia stuck out in his voice. No doubt a longing for simpler times."If anyone can do it he can."

Eden motioned to a rock. "Sit down, this part will take a while."

Eden explained how the different energies flowed throughout the body and how each feels. Describing them was not easy but Asura seemed to understand enough that he could at least try for himself.

He smiled brightly. "Alright, I wanna try!" he shouted excitedly and ran over to a sloth flat rock which faced the ruined remains of Mr Greys' cabin.

After getting into a lotus position he began to focus, and sure enough, after quite some time he managed to gather enough energy to cover himself in a thin layer of light. It was white in colour and swirled around him. There were different shapes which danced and flowed. Occasionally like waves on a beach they meld into each other. As asura produced more, the cloak of light around him soon resembled a rough beach at high tide.

The waves began to converge above asura's hands which rested on his knees then flowed to the center.

BOOOM!!!

Asura was sent flying through the air, careening into a nearby tree. Branches stood broken behind him poking and jutting slightly into his skin. One particularly thick branch lodged itself into Asuras' leg. By the time Mr Grey heard the noise, Asura hung upside down.

"Ok that is enough, I'm stopping this before someone gets hurt."

Rem pointed. "but..."

Mr Grey:"hurt more..."

Asura: "I was on to something. I could feel it, I just need to control the explosion next time." Asura chimed, seemingly unfazed by the branches.

"Absolutely not." Mr Grey barked, his voice rumbled resolutely as he lifted himself up to Asura's level.

Mr Grey spoke to Asura with a stern voice as he floated in front.

"You are under my care and what I say will be followed."

Mr Grey was understanding of Asura's adventurous nature and wanted to let him be free. However he also needed to be cautious of the unpredictable and unknown nature of the forces they seemed to be able to wield.

"Fine, I will take it easy."

"Good."

Mr Grey motioned to Rem to pull him down and as he was gently floating to safety Mr Grey and Eden talked in private.

Mr Grey: "He is skilled and probably can do what we can but he needs to be able to slowly go into this."

Eden: "I agree, that was way to close."

Mr Grey: "No, not like that. He could end up killing himself if he makes a wrong move. Think about it, didn't you feel what he was trying to do?"

Eden: "You mean how his energy seemed to smash into itself just before the blast occurred. "

Mr Grey "Exactly, imagine if that happened inside his body. "

A grim expression crept across Eden's face. " Splat " Eden sounded and her face became even more disturbed.

Mr Grey nodded in sad agreement.

Mr Grey: "This also means."

"It could happen to us" Eden finishes his sentence.

she laughed. " Now training does not seem as fun"

"You're not getting out of it that easily." Mr Grey smiled and said jokingly.

"Whut..." Eden's face blanked "you're not serious."

"I won't force you to do anything. But think about it, if he can do it then well, others can too. He is weird, not some freak of nature. Other people are going to be able to do these things and if i were you i would want to get as high a leg up as i can now."

A somber expression crept across Mr Grey's face "Just trust me ok kiddo."

In that moment Eden knew nothing will be the same again.

"or perhaps it has never been the same from the beginning?" she thought.

The next morning after asura had been bandaged up Mr Grey went to wake asura up. Instead he found an empty bed with neatly folded sheets. His heart fell and he began to search frantically. Since the house had been destroyed he and asura decided to sleep outside, they even used the same beds from inside. Their rationale was if it rains they would have to get rid of them anyways so why not use them until they are unusable.

"his wound!! Did an animal carry him off?" This thought sent Mr Grey into a frantic worry.

Just then...

"El-e-ven"

soft staggered breaths could be heard coming from the forest.

Mr Grey followed them and soon a small asura could be seen pulling himself up from a small branch near the ground by the tree line.

"You know they say that Abo roams around this time." Mr Grey was hoping to get a rise out of him.

"What -ehh that? " Asura replied but continued his rutinen.

"Some say it's a myth but I know it to be true. Mornings just like this, a creature the locals call Abo roames the forest guarding his territory. And if anyone is found in his domain."

*they are driven mad by mental trauma* Mr Grey speaks into Asura's mind.

Asura puzzled a question out loud. "Why did I not feel a chill?"

Mr Grey smirked. " Because you're being disobedient by using your ruk to do those pull ups, now your ruk is a little bit stronger."

Asura stopped "damn it " he said to himself.

*Now that it is stronger I don't have to use as much effort to communicate with you like this* the word sounded in Asura's head similar to when Rem does it. However Asura noticed a small difference he didn't know what to make of.

"Woah , that kool." Just then Asura got an idea.

"If Eden and Rem agree, could they just watch me instead, besides grounded to what?"

Asura made really good points, after all the cabin was merely a forge and storage unit. There was also an underground library but we won't talk about that yet.

Mr Grey: " You make a good point. " Mr Grey ponders for a while.

Mr Grey: " we'll see. "

---Donavan and Elizabeth---

After a long day of hunting Donavon and Elizabeth made their way back home. Elizabeth's parents laughed and joked and things went back to normal. That was until Donavon realized heather had them followed by her colleague. The shouting and arguing made Elizabeth's chest tightened.

"I'm going for a walk." Elizabeth said before packing her stuff before leaving.

There was a river that ran close to the place where she camped the night before. It ran so wide and clear she wanted to play in it. Without her father there to stop her she saw her chance.

As she approached the clearing it seemed she forgot the lay of the land.

" That's weird, I could've sworn the river was next to that tree." Elizabeth's hair stood on end and a chill ran down her back.

"Who is there?"

"Come no further! " A cold gravely voice rumbled from beyond the trees.

Unimaginable fair struck Elizabeth, but her feet refused to cooperate. She stood there as black mist crept from behind the trees. A slender figure with red eyes slowly pulled itself out of the mist.it's skin was black as oil, in fact it was as if it had been created with or made of oil. It's claws cut cleanly through anything they touched and its toothy maw alone inspired fear.

"Leave here at once!!!" It walked forward with a sickening creep. Leaning with every step like a poorly tamed puppet.

"Stupid camper." Rem swoops in grabbing onto the stunned girl and with one swift motion she sprang back into Eden's part of the forest.

Rem: " are you ok?"

Eden sighed "you froze, wrong choice back there."

After Eden and Rem took the small girl back to where Mr Grey was living some time had passed and she did not wake up.

"Isn't it strange. " Eden puzzled over this for quite some time before Mr Grey suggested going back to the scene to figure out why.

"If you analyse the area you might see something you did not notice before, just make sure to be careful."

Just then….

Asura: "i'm coming too."

Eden eyes tightened into slits. "no your not."

"He can go just keep him in your domain."

Asura's expression brightened. "Yaaay, i'll be good, I promise."