43 Monsters

Ivy looked up at the starry night sky, then back down at Zoe. Her serious expression hadn't changed. "You're serious?"

"I wouldn't lie to you right now."

Ivy wanted to say "yes," with all her heart she wanted to, but she took some time to think about it. "I don't think that's a good idea."

"W-what?" Zoe looked surprised. She hadn't expected that to be Ivy's response. "What do you mean?" Her voice was shaky. "After all of this…"

"I don't know—I want to still be friends, but you shouldn't come with me."

"Why?" Zoe asked, tears forming at the corner of her eyes. "If you stay here, I can go find Colson and we can all…" her voice trailed off, looking at Ivy's expression. "Did they say you could come back?"

Ivy shook her head, "I don't think so."

They stood in silence for a while. The nearby nocturnal forest creatures howled their mating calls. Insects the size of rats buzzing through trees.

"Will I ever see you again?"

"One day. For sure," Ivy said, trying to sound confident.

"I think you're right," Zoe said finally. "They'd probably think you kidnapped me or something," she said half-jokingly.

"Yeah," Ivy said, her voice sounding strained.

"Do you know where you'll go or what you'll do now?"

"I dunno. I'll probably just sit here and think for a while," Ivy sighed.

"Here," Zoe reached back, unlinking her necklace and handing it to Ivy. The pendant slightly glimmering in the dim moonlight.

"I left that golden horn with you," Ivy said, taking the necklace and fastening it around her neck. "This way we'll never forget."

"Thanks," Zoe stared at Ivy. Not sure what else to say. 'Well, if there's anyone who'd find a way to survive on their own, it'd be her…that was such a cope; I hate this! I hate everything about this! Crater, I hate the most!'

"You should go back now. Y'know, before they know you're gone."

"Yeah, I should," Zoe said, turning around quickly.

"See ya around," Ivy said, waving as Zoe walked away. Her face was back to its usual bright cheerfulness, but Zoe only heard her voice's hollow timbre.

After a few seconds, Zoe's figure disappeared into the night. Ivy stood staring for what felt like hours, hoping to see her run back through the darkness, refusing to go back to Crater.

She closed her eyes, turned, picked a random direction, and marched forward.

Walking off the path, the trees of the forest made everything impossibly dark. Using the white glow from her energy, she maneuvered through the woods.

The dark jungle felt as if it were going to devour her whole the deeper she trudged. Not being able to see the sky above her, it simultaneously felt like hours had passed and time had frozen. The more she walked, the more confused she became. The disorientation that came from seeing the same trees hearing the same sounds, and thoughts of Zoe, Colson, and everyone else she'd met.

A tiny clearing appeared ahead of her, a felled tree trunk blocking her path. A large enough ray of moonlight illuminated the small area. She felt tired, not just physically. A cerebral muscle ache ebbed throughout her body. Ivy sighed, plopping down on the log. She sat, staring forward, blinking away tears.

Suddenly lashing out, her fist slammed into a nearby tree. An explosion of splinters erupted from its trunk, leaving a massive hole where her hand connected.

Eventually, she got to her feet, grabbing as many large stones as she could find in the area; placing them in a small circle at the center of the clearing. Ivy then snapped off small branches and twigs from nearby trees, placing them in the ring.

She stood, staring at the pile of sticks, only then realizing she didn't have anything to ignite it.

"You need help with that?" A man's voice came from above her.

Looking up, she saw a tall figure of a man standing in a nearby tree, an amused expression on his face.

She stared at him for a few seconds, not recognizing who he was. "If you want," Ivy said, sitting against the log.

"There you go," he said casually, putting a lighter to the wood. It went up almost instantly, showing Ivy, who stood before her.

He was a man of average height, looking to be in his mid-twenties, indicated by a five o'clock shadow. An adventurous gleam in his eye as he watched the flames; his messy brown hair poked out from under a beanie.

"How'd you find me?"

"I sensed your energy and got curious," he shrugged.

"My ener—oh," she looked down. She'd completely forgotten that it was still active. Her aura quickly dissipated.

"Yeah," he chuckled. "Do you mind if I sit with you?"

"I don't care," Ivy said, wiping her eyes with her jacket sleeve.

He sat on a log across from her, absently poking at the fire with a stick. "I'm not trying to intrude, but you seem…sad. What's your name?"

"What's yours?"

The man smirked, "Keigh."

"Wait," Ivy said, the name ringing bells in her head—her face lighting up at the realization. "Keigh…like…were you the one that made the CraterCoin?"

"Yeah, that's me," Keigh said, feeling his ego rise.

"Zoe thinks you're really cool, by the way."

"Oh? Who's that?"

"My friend. My name's Ivy."

"Ivy," he repeated. His eyes widened, remembering what Neph had told him over the phone yesterday. 'So that means she's…"'

"She also said you're one of the chairmen."

"That is also true."

"So then you voted to have me expelled."

"Well, for what it's worth, I never voted either way. I wasn't here." He leaned back, looking through the small break in the trees above. "Truly, it is a nice night. Not too cold for this time of year; and no clouds to blind the stars."

Ivy looked up as well, "I guess so," she said.

"If you don't mind me asking, why were you removed?"

"It's a long story," Ivy was about to say; but she realized she didn't have anything else to do. "I think…I think it's because I'm not really from here."

"What do you mean?"

"I wasn't born in Crater. I kinda got the feeling that I wasn't really wanted," she reached into her pocket, digging out the letter her mom had given her all that time ago. "My mom told me to come here, so I did. Now I let her down, and I won't be able to see her ever again."

'If I was there, would I have been able to convince them otherwise? Would I have tried to convince them?' He leaned forward, "So, I wanna hear from you; what actually happened?"

Ivy explained everything that had happened since she had first arrived at Crater, leaving no details out. She took out the other letter Lilith had sent her, "I 'surfed' it, and she wanted me to go to this place here," she pointed on the map, "It didn't let us learn anything about it."

"The Isle of Skye…Interesting," Keigh said, his eyes glimmering with interest. "This is the training area Crater sends you to once you reach four-stars. It's not exclusive to citizens of the colonies. So, your goal may not be at an end quite yet."

"Really? Are you sure?"

"Yeah," he nodded, "But before you get your hopes up, the cost of being trained is very steep for those who aren't citizens. A little over a million dollars was the last price I saw."

Keigh sat silently, listening to the rest of her story. Only interrupting to ask her to clarify her experience with energy.

"Now I'm here," Ivy said, concluding her story.

"Wow, quite impressive. The talent between you and your two friends is pretty amazing," he said. 'I still feel kinda guilty about not being here. Punctuality isn't really my strong suit…' he thought. "Why didn't you want Zoe to come with you?"

"I did want her to come."

"But?"

"I was thinking about a lot of stuff. Like what Aca told us. Mostly, I think it'd be selfish to drag her along—she told me she wanted to have five stars, and she isn't going to get that by coming with me."

'Maybe I could teach her something about energy. So she's able to defend herself,' he thought. "If you want, I could help you out; teach you what they wouldn't at Crater."

"Really?" Ivy got to her feet, her face glimmering with interest. "You're gonna teach me how to get real strong, right?"

"Something like that, sure."

"If you can teach me…Why didn't they teach me energy while I was there?"

"So, the reason they keep it a secret is because energy is a dangerous tool. A real dangerous tool. If everyone and their mother knew about it and knew how to use it, the world would be an absolute disaster. Just look at what happened in Cassius; that was just on a small scale. A couple of guys were able to do all of that."

"Ohhh, okay. Yeah, that makes sense."

"That's why they take this stuff so seriously. If you were to hit the triple-star rank, you would have the option to learn it. Well, after some psychological tests to make sure it's safe."

"So then, you're like a master at energy? Like, you know everything about everything?"

"Oh, definitely not," he chuckled. "I've learned a lot more than most people. Maybe I'd be in the top ten of most knowledgeable. But the human race as a whole knows so little; we've barely scratched the surface of what energy can do. If I had to guess, we probably know less than ten percent."

Ivy's mouth hung open with amazement. "That's so cool! So then, can you turn all big and make yourself into a werewolf or make your hands explode too?"

"Uhh, I mean, maybe? It's not that simple. There's a lot of factors and rules that go into something like that. For one, you can't just think up an ability and 'poof,' two seconds later, it appears. It has to be personal to you. Energy is basically a representation of your wants and desires. It works best when you are true to yourself and your skill set."

"Hm," Ivy hummed, sitting cross-legged on the ground, thinking hard. "My skill set?"

"What those three had were energy abilities. They created them. Let's say you wanted to create an ability. Let's say that you're really passionate and have a deep interest in music. You should focus your efforts on something surrounding that. Or better yet; If you've never shot a bow and arrow before, it'd be a terrible idea to make an ability that centers around archery unless you have something very specific in mind. You get what I'm saying?"

"I think so…"

"I'm getting a bit ahead of myself; for starters, I should probably teach you how to hide your energy. Since, well, I can still sense you."

"Huh?" Ivy looked down at herself. She knew for a fact that she'd deactivated her veil long ago.

"This is the most important thing I want you to master. Think of it as the finale of learning the basics.

"Even though your energy is essentially deactivated, it's not 'off.' I can still feel your presence. It's in more of a sleep mode, is the way I'd describe it. Learning to turn it off is a great tool. Though, it's very rare for someone to be able to sense 'sleeping energy,' it does happen. They'd need to be an expert. But, what you should be worrying about is beasts. Especially in places like this—dense forests."

"Beasts?"

"Yup," he nodded. "From my travels, I've noticed that a lot of animals, especially beasts, seem to be drawn towards energy. Some are curious and friendly, others are very angry and very hungry."

"Alright, so what do I do?"

"Imagine all the energy in your body. Flowing like water, sloshing around."

Ivy nodded, her eyes screwed shut from concentration.

"Now, think about sucking all that water in and holding it in your inner core. It may also help to be in a meditative state."

Ivy opened her eyes, pulling a face and rubbing her stomach. "It feels weird. Like, I ate too much."

"That…wow," Keigh shook his head. "Learning that usually takes someone weeks to get right. Well, damn," he grinned. "I expected that to take all night. You wanna learn some other cool stuff?"

"Hmmm," he got up, pacing around the clearing. "Where to start…I guess the next step would be learning about abilities," he mumbled. "When creating your abilities, you've gotta keep a few things in mind: your energy pool, allocation, category, and intent or mindset. That's why Marlon, Kiari, and that Kurt-Adam guy lost. From what you've told me, they each misunderstood one of the core parts. For that Geier guy, well, he was just a naïve kid, it seemed like—the lesson there is to never be too trusting, even if the person seems harmless.

"From what you described, Kurt-Adam was an absolute powerhouse. His issue was that he put too much of his energy into the wrong things. Abilities involving metamorphosis can be very taxing depending on how you do it. His especially. Since all he did was increase his strength and possibly speed with the form he took, he wasted a lot of energy on the look which could have gone towards more strength. While aesthetics are important for a cool factor, there is a limit."

"Okay, that makes sense," Ivy said. She clicked her tongue in thought. "Would Marlin's weakness have been controlling something as difficult as water?"

"You're not far off. He seemed to be using two different energy categories: manifestation and manipulation—making the water appear and controlling it. To me, it sounded like he also had a small energy pool. An ability like what he had would be very draining; combining that with his fatigue from the earlier fight and his energy pool, he was bound to lose. If he'd made his ability a 'quick-shot' type, like some type of water bullet, I'd say it would've worked a lot better.

"Now, Kiari….that is an interesting case. I would say that he failed because his abilities didn't match who he was."

"Who was he?"

"Kiari didn't have it in him to kill you. He didn't want to; he couldn't bring himself to murder a kid like you. From what I gather, anyway. Basically, he was hindering his own power output. When two people are in a fight like that, the mental is just as important than the physical—maybe even more so. You may be stronger than the other person in every way, but if you aren't there mentally, that could be it. The reverse is also true; if you're weaker than the other person, depending on the situation, your mind can 'amp' your energy, giving it more power—Like how the human body can run twice its normal speed when being chased by a vicious animal."

"How many categories are there?"

"Yeah, there are a total of five. Manifestation, manipulation, alteration, enhancement, and the special class, oddities. I can give you a general run-down on each.

"We can start with manifestation since it's the easiest to explain. When you were sparring with Reiza, and she made a knife appear in her hand. That was a use of manifestation—an early form of it, though. My guess is that she's only just learning the basics so far. That's what she chose to manifest as practice.

"For starters, you can't manifest anything fantastical or out of your power range. For example, you won't be able to make a laser sword from your favorite movie appear in your hand unless you have the knowledge of how that would function in real life. You also won't be able to conjure a nuclear bomb since your energy won't be able to output as much power as that will generate."

"If I did have the power?" She asked slyly.

"If you were able to become that strong, then yeah. That's a prime example of why they don't let just anyone know of energy's existence.

"To manifest something, you need to have a perfect idea of what you're conjuring. You must be able to perfectly visualize it in your mind. You need to know the shape, the color, the taste, its weight, the material it's made from—as much detail as possible."

"Wait," Ivy grinned, a funny thought crossing her mind, "Reiza had to taste knives?"

"Yeah, that's one of the many unfortunate aspects of this. But, for the most part, you don't want to manifest something that already exists, like a sword, since in my opinion, it's a waste of energy. If you want a blade, you can just go out and buy one. The main things people create are animals, objects, and weapons."

"Animals? Like a Charcat?"

"If you want. But that leads into the other category, manipulation. Because you want to control what you manifest, so if you were spawning an animal, you'd need to be proficient in both manifestation and manipulation. Through this second category, you can control living things and inanimate objects."

A dark purple veil surrounded Keigh. He held out his right hand, his palm facing the sky. The aura that surrounded him seemed to fall off of him, running across his body and collecting itself into a sphere the size of a basketball in his hand.

"How did you—"

"This is alteration. It involves changing what your energy is made of, or being able to remove it from your body like so," The purple ball got brighter. "I'd cover your ears," he warned. Ivy did as she was told, watching as Keigh turned, quickly flinging the sphere at the biggest tree he could find.

The explosion that followed rocked Ivy, knocking her on her back. The ground shook, and the trees rustled; some weaker ones collapsed nearby. The blast of air from it immediately snuffed out the small campfire, scattering the small twigs.

"Also, allowing you to change the properties of your energy," he said, fumbling around, placing the sticks back into the rock circle, and relighting them. "You can also change and strengthen an object as well, like a sword or something."

Ivy looked absolutely stunned. Her eyes wide with admiration. "That was so cool! Can you do it again?"

"I could, but it's not a good idea," he said, looking in the direction of Crater. "They ain't gonna be happy about that one," he grimaced. "Enhancement is a fairly straightforward combat-oriented category. Using fortitude, you can strengthen or defend certain aspects of your body. You can greatly increase your punching power through an ability if you want.

"Transformations or metamorphosis can also be put into the enhancement category.

"Lastly is the oddities. Those are tricky since they are the ones that don't fall into any of the previously described energy categories."

"Huh," Ivy muttered, taking it all in. She sat silently for a while, contemplating everything. "So what am I?"

"I dunno," he shrugged. "You can go down any type you want, really, but your body will be efficient at one or two categories. If your body is made for manipulation, then going down the manifestation route would be pretty difficult but not impossible. You'd just have to work a lot harder than someone who's naturally good at manifesting."

Ivy closed her eyes, activating the veil of energy around herself. She imagined all her energy moving to her outstretched hand.

"It won't be that easy," Keigh yawned, sitting back down. "To make things easier, people will put restrictions and rules to their ability."

"What do you mean?" Ivy asked, opening her eyes.

"Think about Kiari. He had to grab onto you for his white phosphorus to activate. What it sounds like was that his rule was he needed to touch you with all his fingers and his palm for his ability to activate. He couldn't just look at you and make you explode on the spot."

"If he was stronger, he could've done that?"

"Perhaps. The weaker you are, the more restrictive your abilities have to be. To maximize efficiency on an ability, you'll need to add restrictions and limitations to said ability, especially if you don't have a lot of energy to begin with. Putting limitations and restrictions on your ability is a straightforward multiplier on the ability in question. The more severe the restriction, the more powerful the ability will be. Minimizing generalities is the best move; the more specific it is, the better."

"The exploding basketball was your ability?"

"Eh, kinda. I don't discuss what my actual ability is. If someone knows my ability, they won't know it for long. And that's another thing, never ever trust anyone with the knowledge of your ability; in fact, make it a rule to let no one know you even have knowledge of energy."

"Can I ask you something?" Ivy asked after some time had passed. The sky had turned from black to a dark blue.

"Go ahead."

"What were you gone for? Zoe told me that you're never at Crater."

"Well, now," he paused, a dark shadow crossing his face, "I'd call myself a monster hunter."

"A monster hunter?" Ivy repeated with awe. "So, like, you fight dragons and trolls and stuff?"

"Ivy, you may be too young to realize this, but a lot of sick things are happening in this world. How old are you now, eleven?"

"Yeah," Ivy nodded.

"Well, that was the same age I went on my first out-of-wall mission. During that mission, I was exposed to a lot of depravity. I was the only one who made it out. My two friends weren't as lucky. I wouldn't say I'm a victim per se.

We live in a fallen world. I know what monsters look like and how they act. I know how they seek positions of unquestioned authority; how they live in the upside-down world that I see more and more of as I live and travel. A world where lies are truth. Apologies are a submission. Questions are tyranny. Curiosity is unscientific. Progress is destruction, and destruction is progress. Tradition is slavery, and love is oppression.

As I get older, I feel the ancient drive to protect. Seeing what openly happened to kids like me, and especially you, sent me on a warpath. I've been fighting a war for over five years now. I won't stop, even if it kills me or I am long dead. There have been many casualties, opportunities, friends, and alienation of family, but I'm not going to stop, even if I'm dead.

Many years ago, I was at the time, maybe five years older than you. I was on a mission for a company in a faraway country. Deep in an underground lab, I saw a famous, world-renowned scientist. At first, I thought the kids they were experimenting on were runaways or lost; but he'd convinced parents to give their own kids to him. Right at that moment, I saw the flash of a monster that I hadn't seen in many, many years. It was as clear as day. Seeing parents break their protection instincts and serving their children. It reminds me of the old stories of Aztec and pagan child sacrifice.

Reading about that in the class halls of Crater, I always wondered how people could do that. How they could offer up their own flesh and blood to some great pyramid.

I read a lot back then. Particularly books on science. One experiment I learned of recently was the Milgram experiment, proving the human submission to authority. In this moment I saw something new emerge. A science not based in fact, but based in the occult, and ritual, and pain, death, and abuse.

The monsters seek authority. The Aztec priest ripping out the heart of a baby and eating it on top of a pyramid. Indoctrinating masses. That's the thing about monsters, Ivy; that's the thing about evil. Evil makes you love him as he takes everything from you.

For years now, I've cut off the heads of thousands of hydras. City after city, country after country. I put it into existence. See, but like myth, the hydra keeps regenerating more heads because I haven't been attacking it correctly; I wasn't going for its heart.

Most people don't see it because they don't understand the nature of monsters. Pedophilia isn't about sex; it's about control. It's about continuing the cycle, so you don't have to face the reality that this world is fallen and entropic. It's exhausting and full of snakes. In a never ending war to spot out and kill the snakes that want to eat your kids.

I understand why people ignore this, and pretend it isn't happening. It's tiring. When you have to face what has happened to you in the past, and realizing that's happening to others on a daily basis, it hurts horribly bad.

Everywhere I go, I just ask people to protect the children, because that's all we've got.

Traveling around the world has changed me. Learning of these things, learning of energy has changed me in very profound, deep spiritual ways—all for the good. If we as humans can't use what we have to protect each other, then what's the point?

If you sacrifice what you have to the snakes' alter; that's the lowest form of cowardice. The monsters will eat you. They'll come for everybody. They have no allies, no allegiances. Snakes have no friends. They're cold-blooded; they seek warmth, and they'll suck your blood dry. Trust me, Ivy," he let out a dry laugh. "I know monsters. I'm not gonna stop, either. Once I enter Crater and get what I need, I'll be back out. Fighting."

For the next few hours, Keigh used the time to help Ivy practice throughout the night. Noticing her progress with every passing minute.

Once the sun had lifted above the horizon, he turned to leave, moving towards Crater. Looking back, he said, "I'll see what I can do. I'm sure the decision may be final, but I'm pretty convincing. If you stick around for a while, I'll see if I can get you back in," he smiled.

Twelve hours later, he walked through the gates, down through the forest towards the clearing. He looked around. The clearing had been vacated a while ago; no signs of her anywhere. Noticing the muddy footprints in the shape of a boot, that lead down the mountain.

Ivy and Keigh did not end up meeting again. She, hours prior, had left Crater's surrounding mountains and disappeared somewhere.

End of Book One