The art of pulling

We began right away, as I had just put the necklace on. Finlo began to teach. He sat down on the log in front of me. "The first thing every wielder of the eye must learn is proper hand placement. Once you're able to get this down, everything from here should come easy to you, you know, since you're a prodigy and all."

I was still hung up on the fact that I was really a prodigy. I started kind of feeling myself, "Well, what can I sa-" I was interrupted by a prehistoric-looking bird flying through a portal Finlo had created while my guard was down. It was coming right at me. I let out a scream and quickly ducked, hitting the ground in fear. The bird flew over me.

I got up from the floor immediately mad at Finlo. "What the fuck was that!" Finlo responded with a sigh, seemingly frustrated, "It was supposed to be a rock." I continued my annoyance at Finlo, "No, I mean why would you throw something at me?" Finlo responded, "The Megillah recommends that wielders of the eye first learning hand placement of the necklace should learn under high-pressure situations, making it easier to get placement right in actual dangerous situations. Plus, I need to work on my pulling."

What the boy said actually made sense. If he was even a second off on his hand placement timing back at the school, there was a good chance we wouldn't have made it out of there. He began to teach me the hand placement, "Place both index fingers on the top of the eye and both thumbs on the bottom, mirroring the shape of the eye." I followed the boy's words exactly. I was surprised at the results. Upon proper hand placement, my eye began to glow a dark purple color. It felt warm in my hands, and for the first time since I had had the necklace, I felt in true control. I was in amazement. I laughed as I could feel the great power from the necklace literally at my fingertips. The boy smiled at me, "Pretty cool, right?" I smiled back at the boy, "Definitely the coolest thing I've ever done." The boy continued, "Let's see how fast you can get hands-on. I'll be working on my pulling, throwing things at you, small things that are semi-harmless. Your goal is to get hands-on before they hit you. Also, try and get out of the way. You don't know how to fight back yet." I nodded at the boy, "Got it."

The boy got up from his log and placed his hands on the eye. It glowed that same turquoise color from back at the school. I kept my hands at my side until I saw the portal the boy would create. Out of it flew a spear from the Roman Empire. I felt the feeling of fear in my body as I saw it flying towards me. I quickly assumed proper hand placement of the eye and moved to my right. It ended up hitting a tree behind me. While proud I got the placement in time, I was annoyed at the boy for endangering me. "You said semi-harmless!" The boy responded, "It was supposed to be Abe Lincoln's hat, my bad." My annoyed look on my face remained. "Hey, don't be mad. At least you got hands-on in time, right! That means you're ready to learn to start fighting back," the boy said, trying to teach me.

I was still unsure. My face showed it as well. "I don't know if I trust myself to pull random items from the past. I mean, what if I fuck up and pull out Hitler or something?" The boy once again reassured me, "Remember, you're a prodigy. Trust me, whatever you want to come out of that portal will. Mistakes only happen to self-taughts." I took a deep breath and prepared myself. I then looked to the boy, "Alright, tell me what to do." The boy began, "The art of pulling is, for the most part, a defense mechanism. Time travel can be dangerous, which is why the eye has to double as both a travel device and a weapon in itself. When pulling, you want to consider the situation you're in and choose an item or person that would make the best defense tool. You can start putting your hands back on the eye."

I began to put my hands on, practicing the hand placement from earlier. It began to glow dark purple as I harnessed its power. The boy began to instruct, "Wielders of the eye have an immense understanding of the timeline. They are aware of the entire past and can use it at their disposal. Prodigies are aware of both the past and future at the same time, having a deep understanding of what's available to them across time. I want you to look through time, open your mind, and find me something. For this lesson, we'll say a balloon animal from, I don't know... the 1930s. Try not to close your eyes. It'll become a bad habit in combat, trust me." With the eye in my hands, I began to clear my mind. My body felt one with time. I could see everything going on at once, including a 1930s circus where a man was making balloon animals for kids. "Found it." The boy continued to teach me, "'Perfect. Alright, now become one with its surroundings. Where is it? What day is it exactly? What time is it?" I answered the boy, "Topeka, Kansas, 1934. It's 5:34." The boy carried on, "Now manifest that time period as hard as possible. Look at where you want the portal to come out of." I looked to my left as I continued to make myself one with the time period and manifested. I could feel the eye's powers now vibrating through my hands. A blue portal began to appear just where I was looking. The vibration grew stronger. The boy continued, "Now deduce that time period that you've just manifested to simply the object. Make the portal smaller, only allow what you want to let out of the portal, while keeping the exact time stamp in mind."

I did exactly that as the vibrations in my hands grew stronger. The portal grew smaller, and soon enough, out of it came... a big ole motherfucking tiger, and let's just say it wasn't thrilled to see us. As the portal behind it closed, I immediately ran away from the site. The boy followed, sadly, so did the tiger. I hid behind a long tree. The boy hid behind one next to me as the tiger roared and growled as he searched the surrounding area. Once again, I was mad at the boy. This time, I had to whisper, "What the hell was that? You said prodigies can't make mistakes!" Finlo responded, "Okay, maybe that was a stretch, but hey, don't fret. I was secretly hoping this would happen. What you can pull in a critical moment is more important than anything! When Sara attacks, or when we have to face Kreel, stakes are gonna be high. It's important that you can get us out of situations like this." I looked at the boy with confusion, "And how am I supposed to do that? I couldn't even get that balloon animal out!" The tiger growled. I was being too loud. The boy whispered to me, "Don't think, just do. I taught you to pull out what you see fit. Maybe I stretched it a bit, but in moments like this, what a prodigy wants to come out will. You have my word." I nodded to the boy and once again placed my hands around the necklace. I looked to the future for an advanced weapon, something I knew would take the tiger out immediately. Then I saw it, a robot war in the year 5689. Somebody had an extremely powerful chrome blaster. I knew it would do the trick. The vibrations grew, the portal began to appear right above my head, still behind the tree. Out of it fell that same blaster. I laughed in astonishment at my accomplishment, alarming the tiger immediately. I picked the blaster up off the ground and cocked the gun in my hand. I compromised my position from the tree, revealing myself to the tiger as it ran towards me. I pulled the trigger of the gun. Out of it came a green powerful blast that completely melted the tiger, leaving a completely bloody mess of what it once was. This put me in a state of shock for a moment, as that was a really gory sight. The silence was broken by Finlo as he came out from behind the tree, clapping and cheering, "Yeah! Woo! Looks like someone's ready to learn time travel..."