Chapter 21

"Well, that wasn't very encouraging," Colson muttered.

"So, what is going to happen?" Zoe asked.

Ivy leaned toward Zoe and whispered, "What does despoil mean?"

"In this context, something awful," she whispered back.

Idris turned to Jashin, "Go ahead."

"Wait, hold on," Zoe started, a confused look on her face.

"It would be easier to show you first," Jashin said. He rolled up the sleeves of his shirt, taking a deep breath. "I'm going to send energy with a murderous intent your way. It will have a bad effect on you since you don't have any defenses against it. I won't send enough to do any real mental or physical harm." He squatted down, his arms bent at a thirty-degree angle with his fists balled. He was in the martial arts stance that he learned from his grandpa years ago.

"You know, the way he's squatting, it looks like he's about to use the bathroom," Ivy pondered.

The whole situation looked utterly ridiculous to Colson. He let out a small laugh as he watched Jashin's stance get lower and lower.

A dark orange aura slowly surrounded his frame. He looked at each of them, no, more like staring through each kid—as if they weren't even there.

All three felt like a wave of freezing water washed over them. Colson's small chuckle seemed to go on for a little too long to be natural. Zoe's eyes felt strained as she looked on at Jashin. She couldn't take her eyes off him; as much as she wanted to turn away, she couldn't. 'This feeling. What is it? Should I go for a weapon?' Her hands shook so badly that she would have dropped anything she picked up.

A bead of sweat dripped down Ivy's forehead as she stared on, teeth gritted and eyes wide.

As Zoe looked on, a realization spread throughout her body like a miasma. 'He's going to kill us!' Finding her footing, she noticed she had slowly backed away. It was as if the world had gone black. The only light emanated from the malice that surrounded Jashin.

Just as quickly as the feeling appeared, it was gone.

"Wha-What was that?" Zoe breathed, her back against a nearby tree.

"Energy," Jashin said. "Some may call it your 'shimmer,' but it's effectively the same thing." He sat down, taking a deep breath, "Been too long since I've needed to do that," he grumbled.

Zoe looked to Ivy and Colson. Ivy stood in the same place; all of her hair stood on end. Colson was hunched over, trying to catch his breath, feeling like he was about to puke.

"So...What actually is it?"

Idris thought for a second, "Well, the easy answer is that it's your soul. A more complex answer is that it is life energy that responds to your will and desires. What you felt right there was the unprotected intent that he was putting on you. To put emotion into your energy and project it onto someone takes a lot of skill; most don't even know it's possible if I had to guess. That's probably why the werewolf didn't melt your brains earlier. He didn't have enough control of his bloodlust."

Colson had a worried look on his face, "Melt our brains?"

"That's part of the permanent damage aspect. If Jashin actually had murderous intent towards you and actually tried to use it against you, you all would be on the ground drooling like a bunch of retards."

Colson looked over to Ivy, who hadn't moved; she still stood there staring forward, "I think you fried the girl," Colson said, nodding in her direction.

"Uh, no, she'll be fine," Idris said, sounding like he was trying to convince himself more than anything.

Zoe walked up to Ivy, "Hey, Ivy, you okay?"

Ivy jumped as she put a hand on her shoulder, "Wha! Yea, just, uh, thinking…."

"Right…You're okay, though?"

"Uh-huh," Ivy said, running her hands through her hair, trying to put it back to normal.

"So, how do we get this life energy?" Colson asked.

"Every living thing has it. But they need to learn to access it at will," Idris looked to Ivy, who was clearly bored as she fidgeted with something in her pocket, antsy to see what would happen.

"Is energy what you used to make the javelins, and what you used to make the large hands?" Zoe asked, pointing at Jashin.

"Hmm, well, now that is a lot more complicated. Yes, but I don't want to bog you down with too much information that won't be relevant for a long time. For now, just worry about the basics."

"Was that us being 'baptized'?"

"No, what we'll do next is that method."

Jashin nodded, "Alright, take everything from your pockets, remove all jackets and coats, then face towards me, standing side by side."

They did as they were told.

Jashin held out his palms, inches away from their foreheads. He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, he was surrounded by his orange aura of energy.

Zoe gritted her teeth in pain, 'What is this?' she thought. 'This searing pressure in my head, it's hot too.' As if they were all at the bottom of the ocean, being crushed by the pressure of the sea above.

"Withstand it," Idris directed.

Colson broke into a cold sweat, clenched fists, blinking rapidly to stay awake. 'This...this is awful! He's literally torturing us!'

Ivy had a look of shock on her face; tiny beads of sweat rolled down her forehead.

Tears squeezed from the corners of Zoe's eyes, 'Is this what Reiza had to go through too?'

"I will begin the process," Jashin said.

Colson looked at him bewildered, 'He still hasn't started?' He thought.

With a yell, Jashin's orange aura expanded to three times its usual size. The energy moved to engulf the three. It started glowing so bright that Idris was forced to close his eyes and cover them with his hand. Only being able to hear the screams of pain from the kids.

Jashin put his hands down by his side, breathing hard. "All of the glands in your body are awakened."

Zoe and Ivy were on their hands and knees, retching. Colson was hunched over, breathing hard, sweat pouring off his face.

Ivy held her hands out in front of her, "It's like steam rising from hot chocolate. This is so crazy!"

"Everyone has this inside them," Idris said.

"Um. Mr. Idris, sir...This isn't stopping," Zoe said nervously, looking at herself, white-colored energy rising from her.

"That's normal. How do you guys feel?"

"Sick, but like, at the same time, I feel like I could run several marathons at max pace," Colson said, stretching his legs. "This is incredible!" The same white-colored energy billowed from his pores. He crouched down, pushing off the ground, jumping over six feet in the air.

"Good, good."

Ivy bounced up and down, "That means we can fight them now!"

"Slow your roll. This was only the process of opening your glands and pores. The steam will fade in a bit, but notice how it is colorless while everyone else's is a different shade?"

They nodded.

"Once you gain actual control of your energy, you will be able to bring it out at will, instead of your body passively emitting the energy. What Jashin just did was forcefully inject his energy into you. So now, instead of learning a new skill, it's as if you're trying to relearn something you've forgotten. It's a lot faster to relearn something than to learn it from scratch."

Jashin walked over, looking a bit exhausted, "Alright, we are going to go deal with some things. We want you to continue what you were doing prior. Get in a comfortable meditation stance, but this time, imagine controlling the flow of my energy inside you. Feel it move through every inch of your body, flowing through your veins and out of your pores. Imagine slowly closing a valve, the steam slowly dissipating and being held inside. It will feel uncomfortable at first, but you will get used to it. Once my energy disappears, and you are able to activate your own, that will be when you are ready."

"By the way," Idris turned to the group, "If we happen to run into the other guys, should we be worried?"

"Uh," Colson said, a slight smile crossing his lips, "Well, there's a guy named Marlon. He's not dangerous, but I'd say you'd better watch your ass around him."

Idris stared at him confused.

"You'll know what I mean if you see him."

"Ah, okay, I get what you're saying," Idris chuckled, "alright, I'm off."

Both Jashin and Idris turned and walked away.

"We currently have killed one major and seventeen of the minor players in their gang. We have all worked hard to slowly take them out, especially without drawing attention to ourselves." Verne said, looking out over the enormous crowd of villagers in the long damp basement. Was it his imagination, or were there more than usual? "Of the remaining three majors and about twenty known minor gang members, we have the location of seven of them. Or we know where they are staying. In the past few days, they have ramped up their tactics, more deaths, arson, and kicking in the doors of houses. They are getting desperate; that's a good sign. We must not fold! But we now have the quality and quantity, as we have more villagers than they do members. With the arrival of Idris last night, our victory is all but assured! We will take Cassius back!"

The crowd cheered. Verne and his crew had made sure to soundproof and test the basement so no sound would escape. They could be as loud as they wanted now.

A quiet but sharp voice cut through the cheering crowd. "Excuse me, sir, may I say something?"

Verne squinted at the crowd, trying to find the owner of the voice. People were talking, laughing, and moving around so much it was hard to see. He spotted a taller person near the back, wearing a cream tunic, with a hood pulled over his head; it completely blocked any sight of his face. Verne looked down, noticing the man was barefoot.

Knowing that Verne's eyes were on him, the man raised his arm slightly as if to confirm that it was he who asked the question.

"Alright," Verne said.

The man walked through the crowd. An aura of hope could be felt in that basement.

He climbed on the slightly raised stage and looked out over the crowd. The crowd seemed to quiet down, staring at the odd man who stood silently on the stage. Behind the man, someone whispered to Verne, "Who is this guy?"

Verne shrugged, "I don't know. I thought someone else knew. Let's just hear what he has to say and get him outta here."

The man's quiet voice ripped through the muttering crowd. "Just a few questions. What of their goals? Is it worth the bloodshed of both of us when we could just as easily give them the ring they wanted?"

Angry murmuring came from the crowd. A man yelled, "We aren't going to give up sacred generational property to a bunch of random thugs!" There was more murmuring in agreement.

"Is making a deal with them out of the question? They would only want the Angel's Ring to heal one of their own. Is that such a bad thing?"

"Who are you, buddy?" someone else yelled. The crowd jeered at him, the energy in the room quickly shifting to hostility.

The man stood silently, his sad green eyes the only thing visible, staring blankly into the crowd. He pulled his hood down, revealing himself as Kiari. "Listen. My name is Kiari. I want you to give me one more chance. I just want to heal my Addilynn; she won't survive without-"

"We know why you want it. We said no the first time, and we're going to say no now!"

"Please listen. I found you through a man named Jaim. I just want to-"

The man standing next to Verne appeared behind Kiari; in his hand appeared a small staff with a crescent blade at the top, glowing with a purple aura. He swung it down onto Kiari's head. Before the man could react, Kiari's hand shot out, wrapping around the man's face.

The dim room exploded in color; it was as if someone had lit a firecracker on the stage. The man was writhing on the ground, holding what was left of his face and screaming. Smoke rose from his face as it continued to burn.

Kiari's ability, Willie-Pete: When Kiari's palm and all five fingers connect to a surface, he can conjure ignited white phosphorus. He is not affected by the attack since his energy shields his hands from the blast.

'It was like a grenade went off between Kiari's hand and that guy's face!' Verne thought. His hand shook as he slowly moved it to his pocket to grab a weapon.

Kiari put his head in his hands, cursing himself, "No, no, no, no, no. Why did it have to go like this," he murmured to himself. "If I was a better talker if maybe I brought Addilynn here. No, that wouldn't work. Why!" He stopped and looked through the gaps of his fingers at the crowd, his eyes wide and frantic. "Just give me the damn ring!"