Beginning of the end Chapter 4
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‘What happened’ mother said, walking into the room frantically ‘I felt a large tremor outside, then nothing,’ she reached out to touch Varak forehead ‘he’s lost a lot of physical energy you pushed him too far’ mother glared a little at the other parent in the room father took on an innocent look, she turned back to the boy in the bed and after a moment bright green healing light comes from mother’s hand within moments, my brother’s eyes fluttered opened
‘Did I make another mess’ he said through a weak whisper?
‘No son you didn’t get some rest, you did well today’ father said commending him. He smiled at the compliment closing his eyes to the world falling into a deep sleep, a few more checks from mother we all then filed out of the room I watched my parents go downstairs.
I stood there outside his room for a moment lost in thought. What kind of power did my brother have? It looked dark and dangerous, even the anger seemed malevolent when father goaded him into action, looking at my own hands do I have that kind of power? Do I have to be angry to create it or can I use something else?
That night I sat in my room trying to go over today’s events everything from the talk with my brother in the library, Amie and Tom rushing away in their floating limousine to get a rare bird, this seemed to be all noise distracting me from accomplishing anything.
I had sat for hours trying to focus on the library book on my knees. Shaking my head clearing my thoughts enough to follow the basic instructions of stasis. Breathing calmly and closing my eyes, I drew all my strength into the pit of my stomach, concentrating my Dengen, allowing it to build slowly into a small reservoir, it was a struggle to keep control of the ever-building power; I wrestle with the energy molding it, taming it until it remained sealed away this was the first time after many hours feeling the power become under my control instead of dispersing away into nothing. Remembering a defensive technique from the book, I pulled the energy to form a defensive field drawing the fluctuating energy across my arm, as the barrier grew the fluctuations rapidly became unstable, focusing hard to keep control for a moment it stabled then it fell apart in seconds.
I had truly lost it and my arm shuck only once as the energy darted forward through the roof of my bedroom leaving me a view of the night sky. Both parents rushed through the door with mixed emotions across their faces. ‘Sorry’ I said nervously.
Mother was about to say something until father laugh boomed out ‘good thing it’s not raining, what were you doing’ father’s eyes landed on the book on my lap. ‘Oh, I haven’t seen that book in a while where did you get it’ I close the book embarrassed thinking I should do this outside
‘I found it amongst the shelves in the library it was the only book on anything remotely to do with praetorian training,’, a flicker of concern crossed both parents face ‘ever since you told me and Varak about Grandma, I thought I could improve on my skills for the test,’ I breathed out letting my nerves go, feeling tired.
Looking up at the hole the repair bots were getting to work on regenerating roof.
Mother sat beside me ‘this is a book from a training library I guess someone at your school forgot it, Devin we will help you train so don’t worry as much,’ they both went to leave ‘don’t worry so much about the tests and please don’t blow the roof off again I think that’s what your brother does, isn’t it,’ mother smiled at me then closed the door behind them. After they left, I pulled the covers over my head and fell into a sound sleep.
In the morning we were all sat at the table apart from brother, he was still in bed looks like exhaustion was still with him and was unable to move, both parents looked at me with unreadable faces ‘me and your mother have decided to help you learn that book and teach you a view other things in the process’ father said breaking the silence. The relief must have shown on my face because mother smiled was more relaxed ‘now, I can teach you the technique, your mother will show you how to refine them’ he said I must have looked puzzled because his expression changed ‘you seem confused’ father said
‘Well, I thought this was just a technique involving Dengen,’ I said.
‘You’re right most of this is to do with the Dengen arts, but Chikara can also use this technique to create bigger spells’ said mother, I nodded, having a little understanding when I read books on mages it sometimes took several masters, combining their Chikara energies to create a larger monster, but some could do this on their own maybe this stasis ability could be one of those key techniques in being stronger by myself, I was about to jump out of my seat to train but mother rested a hand on my shoulder passing another pastry ‘we can start after breakfast’ she said calming me down.
We moved to the backyard after last night’s roof removal there was a little extra shielding back here ‘all right son show me what you have learned from the book’ father looked pleased to be training.
I sat down on the floor cross leg and breathed in slowly trying to calm my nerves. I mustered the energy inside and locked it down under my control visualizing a well being filled, this allowed me to gather it in one place after a while it became stable ‘ok Devin I can feel the energy has stabilized now try to redirect the energy into a shield, form an image in your mind before transferring to one of your arms’
Forming the image of a small shield in my mind, I began to move the energy onto my right arm it felt hard and heavy trying to make it move, after several attempts trying to draw it out slowly I gave it a good shove. The result was a loud bang, quickly opening my eyes, I saw smoke was coming from the wall, and father had developed an energy shield along his arm.
‘That went well, at least you can use your energy as a projectile’ father said cheerfully I could see his shoulder was a little singe, ‘ok, let’s try it again, this time to be patient, it will come’ I began again, several times father ran me through the drills of drawing the energy and redirecting to certain parts of my body at first a few more holes went through the perimeter of our home.
Finally, with most of the morning gone, I created a small shield for a short period. ‘Good, when you are proficient enough, this is what we will learn today’ standing there concentrating, father drew out the energy along both arms crackling light moved into both hands. The air surrounding him became dense, it started to crackle and vibrate, trees shuck everything seem to draw in on father while he changes his footing to a wider stance, both hands moved to one side creating a focal point collecting the energy between his palms, intense bright light gathered there looking out of control and wild, fathers hands were shaking holding the torrent of energy being collected, I felt the power changed to something solid with purpose, in that instant his arms flashed forward and with a bellow ‘Hikari’ a beam of pure white light flew into the sky being directed by father, it lasts only a few seconds but looked incredible.
‘Father, what was that’ I said in awe of what just happened
‘That my son is the family main technique, it’s a last use weapon, the reason for this is that it will use up most of your Dengen inside of you’ he said I nodded, understanding if you risk depleting all of your energy inside you, not only will you not be able to fight but you can also die because the powers inside a praetorian also connect to your life force.
My father and I ran through the steps of stasis control through most of the day before trying to tackle the Hikari, after drawing power in and around the body like the techniques in the book I became more comfortable forming and molding that power.
‘you think you’re ready for it’ father said, I nodded moving into the forward stances as father instructed one foot forward the other back, supporting the body comfortably, I focused on molding the stored energy into my palms, feeding it slowly to a single point, the energy being built up became unstable, breathing in slowly, calming my mind just as father had instructed me over and over slowing the tidal wave of energy rushing into my hands, this allowed an easy flow, minimizing fluctuations, I could feel the power through my body and saw the crackle of lightning charging along my arms, feeling a critical point, I crushed the energy into a single mass in my palms and threw the energy forwards for the moment I had it, then nothing happened, the bright light fizzled out right in front of me I was very disappointed in myself.
I kept on going after the third attempt my knees felt weak, unsteady I sat down under the oak tree to rest and keep cool from the midday sun it was baking hot ‘I feel so drained do you think I have enough ability to master the Hikari’ I said through a tired smile, father handed me a drink of water, I excepted it draining the glass quickly ‘of course you can son your only controlling your energy in a more intense state, creating the major control for the Hikari will take time Devin, you have come far in a short space of time I guess it is down to your great parents which teach you so well’ father smiled at me, with that he headed to mother, watching them together apart from grandma they were probably the two most powerful on the planet possibly the galaxy.
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About the author.
Albert is an ex-royal air force photographer. He is passionate about novel writing and creative arts, his work can be seen on Amazon and Opensea. Albert enjoys gaming with his son and records them to replay on YouTube.
