Chapter 26. Mental Energy

Shawn and the children were hurrying after the vampire that moved quickly, making the injured children run after him in desperation. It didn't take a genius to understand getting lost in this place was dangerous. Shawn and the others heaved constantly while their faces flushed from pushing their bodies, the vampire leading them seemed to enjoy their struggle as a sneer escaped his lips. One of the children had started to wheeze badly after a few minutes of the high intensity running. They ran in the dark with low lighting, hitting twists and turns in the cave that honestly made Shawn question how far the Servant quarters was.

At this point in time, it occurred to Shawn to check the map to see where he was going. It took him awhile to balance running properly and continuing forward while studying the map. Immediately Shawn saw that the man was not taking them to the servant quarters. Alarm bells rang in his head. Looking around he saw that there were only fifteen of the original seventeen. Thinking for a moment, Shawn decided to let the others know in order to better figure out a plan.

They were all tired and in pain, although partially healed, they weren't fully healed. It was only yesterday they had somebody literally wreaked havoc on their mind and then damage their vitality through extraction. Shawn saw the vampire ahead of them and waited for a moment when they went into a winding tunnel. The vampire kept enough distance that they had to pay attention and run hard. However, it was clear that he slowed down enough for the children to get an idea of the direction they should follow.

When the vampire had sprinted ahead, Shawn spoke to the others just loud enough that the others could barely hear him.

"He isn't taking us to the Servant's Quarters. Something isn't right, don't stop running or he'll know."

Some of the other kids took in a hollow breath hearing Shawn's word.

"I know dumbass, (huff huff)but there is clearly nothing we can do." It was the boy with the brown hair who had spoken previously in the healing center speaking.

Shawn knew everyone was struggling by their labored breathing and expressions of pain but there were some who were better off than the others.

"Well, (huff huff), does someone, (huff huff), have a plan?" It was a boy with curly blue hair and a pale white face.

"All of you shut up, thanks for the heads up goldy locks, but (huff huff) there isn't anything to be done. (huff huff) Hodge (huff huff), said we already have our placements, so they shouldn't kill us." The one speaking this time was Eliza.

None of the other children had the time to talk because they came out of the tunnel. The vampire leisurely running before announcing something. "All of you will attempt to find me or you will be tortured profusely. No one is allowed to help the other or that means additional torture."

The vampire turned into a dark cloud of smoke. The area they were in had five different tunnels to go into, the smoke vanished into each tunnel. Exasperated, the children looked at each other briefly before leaving for their own devices.

Shawn took a little bit of time to rest while coming up with a plan. It was without a doubt going to be a struggle in order to accomplish their said task. He had no technique to speak of that was remotely helpful, the only thing doing him a service now was [regenerative cycle].

His head still hurt, but Shawn tried thinking of what he knew so far. They were being tested after being physically exhausted. A test in regards to their placement was already done, so they shouldn't be refocusing on their physical attributes.

That's when it hit Shawn. "The extraction of blood was testing their physical attributes, the torture tested their will, while this was a test of capability."

Now the question was, how was he to accomplish the test. Studying the others, he watched how they would complete the task.

Some of the kids had techniques meant for sensing, some of them were using a method that Shawn guessed used their spirit, while the others looked to be losing their minds to accomplish something.

Only five of the other kids were unable to figure anything out. Turning to the other nine, he took notice of Eliza the red head, the brown-haired boy with a surly voice, the blue haired boy, and a kid with double pupils especially.

Eliza raised her hands towards the cave entrances and a small temperature distortion took place. The brown-haired boy pressed on his chest and mumbled something while bowing on the floor. The blue haired boy had his eyes go blank as an energy was released from him. Of the lot of them the double pupiled boy was the strangest as his eyes widened like they would devour the entire cave. Five other children were doing similar methods.

Shawn could feel a connection with the blue haired boy the most because the energy he released, was affecting him. It felt like he could reach out with his mind to touch it. Looking back at the other five who didn't have a technique or method of communication with their spirit, Shawn felt a bit flustered.

The boy with blue hair had his eyes come back into focus as he seemingly pushed the energy being channeled to the limit. Shawn felt it ever so clearly and reached out mentally touching it. A bewildered look appeared on the blue haired boy as he felt someone latch onto him mentally. Looking directly at Shawn he felt creeped out and a bit annoyed. The blue haired boy had the mental element and was proud of that, Carl would have never thought to run into another kid as special as he was in such circumstances.

From that attachment, Shawn could feel a presence not too far in one of the tunnels. Thinking for a moment, Shawn moved down the tunnel he felt the presence in. He started walking into his chosen tunnel when he noticed that the ones with techniques and abilities to complete the task were walking down different tunnels. He wasn't the only one to notice this as the others stopped proceeding and looked at one another.

Silence pervaded as nervousness overtook everyone. Three of them: Eliza, the brown-haired boy, and the boy with double pupils didn't stop for long and continued in their destined tunnels. Shawn watched them disappear into the tunnels and noticed the others hesitation. Deciding to take a risk, Shawn walked down the tunnel he sensed someone and proceeded. Fear overtook him as he walked.

"If only one of the tunnels leads to the target, then are the other four wrong? Under that assumption, couldn't the others who don't know the way just follow the others? No, it can't be simple. They must be watching our performance, even if you got that lucky, they would not have a high evaluation of you."

Little did Shawn know that his thoughts were on the right track. Most of the others in the group followed the first three, the only one to follow him was the girl who had asked about the disabled or insane individuals. The vampires watching kept a close eye on all that happened.

She followed at a distant from Shawn, but he could hear the footsteps coming from behind him. Moving down the cave, he was then again met with multiple cavern entrances in a small clearing. What was strange was that not one of his group members was there, even the girl behind him should've walked out of the tunnel, but he never saw her. Her footsteps seemingly vanishing into thin air.

This time he had to figure it out. He lucked out in the beginning because he was able to feel the target's location based on his ability to latch onto someone's technique. did not know what would happen if made the wrong decision. Would they pull him out of the test after so many wrong tries or was this based on some kind of point system that has yet to be determined. Deciding on a tunnel Shawn ran, and conitnued to do so until he was tired.

"It's like it just won't end. Everytime I come to an end, there's another set of tunnels. There has to be something I'm missing."

Taking a leap of faith Shawn closed his eyes to feel his surroundings with not his five senses but his mind. Trying to remember the same sensation as when he sensed the other kid's technique. It felt like something raw was being born in his head, a swelling pain burst forth that made Shawn hunch over.

"Come on, come on, work damn it!!!" The scream from Shawn reverberated in the cavern as a burst of energy came forth. Like a limb that had always been there, the energy came forth and spread out. Using this newborn power, Shawn checked for life and found it in one of the cavern entrances, heading through, he continued using his senses to find traces of life. Different from his previous blind rushing, Shawn could feel himself getting closer and closer to his target until he came out of an entrance with some of the other children kneeling to the vampire tasking them with the entire ordeal.