???: "Don't be so quick in judging it?"
A voice comes from other side of the forest. The footsteps are coming from the same direction. It sounds like a female's voice.
Girl: "She … she's here."
Kais: "So you know whose voice that was?"
Girl: "It's … whoever … controls this … monster."
Kais: "Controls?"
Girl: "Yes, controlling him … is the only way … to bring him back."
A silhouette of a woman emerges from the forest trees. She is about 10 meters away from us.
Woman: "Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Sona Pectus."
This woman, Sona Pectus, looks to be around my age and her height is barely less than mine. She has blonde hair and looks like a normal, pretty woman.
Girl: "You are … why … are … here?"
Sona: "Well, I came to take what's mine."
As she says that, Sona points at the girl and in a flash, the right hand of the girl is detached from her shoulder. It takes me a while to realize that in this flash second, the rabbit had jumped on it, grabbed it with its mouth and tore it off before jumping away.
Girl: "Ah … you … monster."
The blood flows out. It was enough to make me take a step back. But the girl doesn't cry. She is just terrified of the rabbit and the woman. Pain isn't present on her face. For some reason, this sight does not shock me enough to panic and get terrified of the rabbit or this woman, Sona.
Sona: "So then, do you know why you're here?"
She looks at me as she asks this question. Her face tells me how serious she is and that it would be best to not try to dodge the question.
Kais: "I have a few theories, but I can't say for certain."
Sona: "I see."
She exasperatedly sighs. My alertness is at its peak right now. Even with that fast of a speed, the rabbit would be able to do nothing if I try to teleport away now. But that won't solve anything.
Kais: "Is she going to be okay?"
Sona: "Why even ask? Judging from how you are not that shocked or worried about her, you must already have stumbled upon the realization that she is made of energy."
Kais: "I wouldn't call it realization, but yeah, I did think of that."
Sona: "Then you should know that she will be fine. Energy can't be destroyed or created, so I can't kill her even if I try to."
Kais: "Well, in that case, would you tell me why you made the rabbit attack her."
Sona: "Well, for starters, it's not a rabbit. It may look like one, but it's not."
Kais: "I kinda know that but don't know any other name to call it by."
Sona smirks. That expression is her looking down on me. Well, I can't help it. I don't know what these creatures are. Even if she looks down on me, I won't suddenly know their species' name.
Sona: "Well, let's just say – it's a spirit."
Kais: "Ah …"
Did she say 'spirit'? She did, didn't she? She definitely said 'spirit'. But what's that supposed to mean?
Sona: "What? Have you never heard of 'spirits'? "
Kais: "I have."
From what I know about them, they are sentient life-forms who exist as energy and can't interfere with anything in the world unless someone provides a medium for them too. This medium is generally a 'contract' of sorts with humans.
Sona: "Then why are you so surprised about it?"
Kais: "Well, from what I know about the spirits, they need a contract with someone to interfere with anything in the world."
Sona: "And?"
She looks at me like I'm an idiot. That's somewhat getting on my nerves but I have to control my emotions for now.
Kais: "If you're trying to act like it has a contract with you, then don't bother. The ruse is not going to work on me."
Her eyes widen at my words.
Sona: "I see. So you could tell?"
Kais: "Contracts form a very thin thread of energy tying the spirit to the one they are contracted too. This doesn't exist between you two."
When the rabbit first appeared, it was in front of my previous position. Sona was perpendicular to it. So when the rabbit when past me to tore that girl's arm off and landed further away from me, that thread would have passed my body and I would have felt its presence. But, that didn't happen.
Sona: "Well, I guess you do know some things. Glad you are not a moron."
Kais: "I have a hard time taking that as a compliment."
Sona: "Who said anything about it being a compliment?"
We look at each other with dumbfounded expressions. While we were talking, the girl passed out and her body was leaning against a tree trunk. Her arm is starting to grow back. Though the better way to describe it would be – her arm's portion of energy is coming back to its initial state.
Sona: "See? Didn't I say she'll we fine?"
Kais: "Yeah, more or less."
Both our gazes had turned to her for a moment. This is an awkward situation. I was just walking with this girl while casually talking to her. Then she got attacked. And now I am casually talking with the attacker. My mind just doesn't seem to act like it normally would.
Sona: "You are really weird for being so indifferent about this whole situation, you know?"
Kais: "Well, glad to know that we're thinking the same thing."
I can't justify not being shocked by what happened to her. True enough, it might have helped me hold a conversation with Sona, but that doesn't change the fact that I saw someone so human-like get their arm chopped off and I didn't panic even a little. There's something not right with my emotions.
Sona: "Well, if you are self-aware of it, it shouldn't present that big of a problem."
Kais: "Okay then. Can you now tell me what it is that you're here for?"
I looked at her while asking this. This way, it won't be easy for her to avoid the question if she wants to.
Sona: "Well, there's only one reason to be completely honest."
Kais: "And that is?"
Sona: "To kill the dragon."
*******************************
Ro stops at a public telephone booth. He had to wait a little while because someone was already in there. He has decided to call for back-up since he was given the permission to take as many as he wants with him. Calling from a public booth insures that no one will be able to tell the reason why this call was made. Even if, by some chance, someone is watching him, they won't know who he is calling unless they eavesdrop on him. If they try to do that, they will be falling right in Ro's trap.
Ro was born as a normal human, but with a single exceptional ability. It was the ability to detect anyone and everyone who would use any kind of psychic in a radius of 10 kilometers. It was somewhat similar to the ability of reading aura that psychics have. People like him were called half-psychics. They can't learn any new ability, and they are born with just one. Mohammed, who was also born with just the one ability of Invisible Water, met him when Ro joined the group. They quickly became friends and also teamed up for many missions. There were many people like these two; in fact, there might be more half-psychics than there are psychics. No one knows what the logic is behind the birth of half-psychics. Among the limited number of people in the world who do know about supernatural, there are not many who care about it though.
Ro, having finished his call, steps out of the booth. He quickly glances in all directions, but he can't find anybody acting suspiciously and can't sense anyone using psychic either. Assuring himself that everything will be fine as long as he keeps his ability active, he starts walking again. He is travelling in the same path he had followed before stopping at the booth. He has just called for back-up. They will be arriving at a shed house further down the path he is on.
Ro: "But it sure is a surprise. This Ethan Kales, if nothing, he has guts."
Ro keeps walking down the side-walk as a black safari stops near the same telephone booth he had stopped at before. Ethan steps out and takes a glance at Ro. His facial expression hides the inner excitement he feels right now. The aspect of fighting head-to-head with a psychic, even a half-psychic, is exciting for him. A human like him fighting with psychics and half-psychics head-to-head – who could have believed such a thing, would happen? He himself never could.
Ethan: "Guess I should check now."
Ethan steps in the booth. The moment he enters he sees the phone. He smiles as if he can no longer hold in his excitement.
Ethan: "Man, I need to calm down. I can't make a stupid move now because I was too excited to think it through."
He moves his hands under the pay phone and put his finger in a keyhole. After making sure where it is, he takes a small shiny ball much like the object Kais had mysteriously found in his wallet, and inserts it in the keyhole. The ball disappears and the box opens. He then moves his hands over the bottom surface until he feels something rectangular touching his fingers. It was a rectangular disc-like object which he tears off from the bottom. Making sure he doesn't look strange to anyone if they pass by, he puts the disc in his jacket's pocket and steps out of the booth.
Ethan: "Well, now that we have that taken care of, let's move to the next stage."
He gets back-in inside the Safari and relaxes his shoulders. The disc he has just removed from the booth was to rig the telephone. Any call made using the telephone would be redirected to Ethan's mobile. The person monopolizing the booth before Ro had put it in and he had taken it out. In this interval, only Ro had made the call. No one else was inconvenienced by it so no glitch would occur in the plan.
Ethan: "Poor guy though, didn't even realize who he was talking to was me. He was asking me for back-up in killing me. Ha! … Ha! … HA! HA! HA!!!"
As the man laughs at the irony of the situation, Ro keeps walking towards his destination. He would go and meet the people he called for and then tell them how they would ambush Ethan. His plan is simple, but it would work. There would be no problem. He has this confidence in his mind. There's no way he would be tricked in some way.
And yet, he holds onto his phone messaging an 'SOS!' to a friend. There's no need for alarm. There's no reason for him to send such a message. But he does. On the off-chance something goes wrong, he sends a message asking his friend for help. If everything goes according to his plan, then he will have caused problems for this friend without any reason. Even so, he can't take the risk. That's just the curse of an ordinary man living alongside extraordinary people, and that's exactly what a half-psychic like him is in front of people like Kais or Garfield. No matter how much he trusts himself, he will remain vigilant.
Ro looks up at the sky. It's night. It's a night without any stars in the sky but there is a half-moon. Even though he is more powerful than a human like Ethan Kales, even though he is a weakling in front of someone like Kais, he sees the sky they see when they look up. Seeing this,
Ro: "I wonder – when will I be free?"
*******************************
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Kais: "Kill … the dragon?"
She didn't reply, but from her silence I can tell that I didn't hear it wrong.
Kais: "Are you … serious?"
Sona: "Why? Of course I am."
Her response comes instantly. She is acting like it's the most natural thing in the world to do. Does she even understand what she is saying right now?
Kais: "Why would you want to do that?"
Sona: "Well, I have my own reasons."
Kais: "And you are not going to say what they are?"
Sona: "I have no obligation to tell you. I told you why I'm here only out of courtesy. Don't expect any more answers."
She folds her arms as she says that. True enough, I shouldn't expect to be getting answer to every single one of my questions, but this is just ridiculous. Why would she try to kill the dragon?
It's not that I can't think of any reason why she would want to do it, in fact I know there would be a lot who would have heard this story and wanted to kill him. But that's like a pipe dream. Nobody would have enough guts to actually try to go through with it. No, this isn't about guts. Nobody would actually want to die doing something so stupid.
Sona: "Is it really that surprising?"
Kais: "Of course it is. You basically dropped a bombshell on me."
She sighs hearing me say that. I take a look at the little girl, or the big mass of energy acting like a little girl, lying near the tree trunk. The dragon is the one controlling her and so he would know anything she would know. That means he knows Sona attacked her, but I can't say if he's able to hear anything now that the girl has fallen unconscious. Though, by this point, her arms have returned to normal.
Kais: "How exactly, do you intend to fight him?"
Sona: "Well, I can't really risk letting my secrets get known."
Kais: "So you say."
Even though you are willing to openly say you're here to kill him.
Sona: "Well, that's about me. What's your predicament?"
As she asks that question, I realize the fact that I have only been asking questions and answering none by this point. I guess its fare I should tell her what I am here for, except I don't know it myself.
Kais: "I can't say."
Sona: "'Can't say'?"
She picked that up fast.
Kais: "I don't know exactly what I'm here for. I know people have come to this island before and I think their reasons could be kind of similar to why I am here, but I have no idea what they could have been."
Sona: "Is that so?"
She makes a face of dismay at hearing those words. However, her expressions don't show a tinge of surprise.
Kais: "You don't look much surprised by it."
Sona: "Oh?"
If anything, I would say she already expected the answer, but was still disappointed when she got it.
Sona: "Well, I guess you want to go to the tomb now?"
Kais: "Yeah, that's what I was trying to do before you showed up."
Sona: "I'd say this once – forget it."
Kais: "Huh?"
What's that supposed to mean? I have no idea what's going on and going to the tomb is the only thing I can think of that might give me some clues. So how am I supposed to just forget about it?
Sona: "There's no point in you going there."
Kais: "Why's that?"
Sona: "I assume you are a psychic."
I nod. I'm not surprised she managed to figure that out, but if she did, she should know it's not an easy situation I'm in – near a legend yet not knowing why I am here. I have anxiety building up inside of me every moment. This is going to do nothing but hinder my abilities.
Sona: "Even if you go there, all it will do is shorten your lifespan."
What? That statement doesn't sound like a joke. No, from what her expressions say, it's anything but a joke.
Kais: "Are you telling me the dragon …"
Sona: "I'm telling you your life will end sooner than it should, nothing more nothing less."
What the hell? Why is she dragging the conversation like this? You can't just tell someone they'll die if they do something and then shut up.
Kais: "Damn! At least explain why?"
Sona: "You are a psychic, aren't you? Why don't you just read my mind and find out?"
I click my tongue. Reading minds – that will take up too much of my focus. It's very risky. But from how the conversation seems to be going, there might not be any other choice if I want answers.
Sona: "I see. You are one of those cautious types."
Kais: "What?"
Sona: "Don't try to hide it. It's clear from your face how worried you are about anything going wrong."
My face, you say? My expression right now is that of an idiot. Some might even call me coward for always thinking of what's about to come whenever it comes to taking the initiative. But that's fine with me. Being a coward is far better than being dead.
Kais: "I suppose I can't deny it."
Sona: "Well anyway, we got that out of the way, so I don't think I have any more questions that you could answer."
That sounds like she is going to declare our conversation is over. That could turn out to be a problem. While I have no qualms with us parting even though most of my questions haven't been answered, the main reason is that she is someone who intends to defeat the dragon.
Sona: "What? There's something you wanna say?"
It looks like she noticed the anxiety of my face.
I sigh and collect my thoughts. I don't know if she understands the situation I'm in, but it looks like she doesn't.
Kais: "Let's say you defeat the dragon, what then? Do you know how that could affect the island?"
Sona: "I do. The tomb might break apart. The island, in response, will divide into pieces and each piece will get separated."
This was something of a premonition in the story. From how she said it, it looks like it will actually happen.
Kais: "And you're telling me you are going to try to kill him in-spite of that?"
Sona: "I am."
She doesn't even flinch in giving that answer; just how important is killing the dragon for her?
Kais: "Well, that would mean I'll have no way of finding out the answers to any of my questions or to get back. So, I can't really let you do whatever the hell you want."
Her eyes widen a bit at hearing my proclamation.
Sona: "So you are telling me you don't know how to get back?"
Kais: "I did already say I didn't exactly know the reasons why I'm here, didn't I? It's because I was brought were against my will and without giving any knowledge of the place."
Sona: "I … I see."
She looks down, shocked after hearing what I just said. It's hard to understand why she is so shocked. Unless, does it mean …
Kais: "Don't tell me you know how to get out of here?"
She doesn't reply but keeps looking down. One second passes. Two seconds pass. Five seconds pass. She doesn't answer.
Kais: "… What's wrong?"
She closes her eyes. I'm guessing she is trying to compose herself. On hearing that I can't get out of here, she lost her composure like that's a very big problem for her. But why would that be? There's no reason for her to be this concerned about me since we basically just met. Then, what else could she be worried about that needs me to get out of here?
Sona: "No, it's nothing. And I don't know how you can get out of here."
I realize the choice of words in her sentence indicate something.
Kais: "Does that mean you know how you can get out?"
Sona: "That doesn't matter to you. You can't use the method I do."
Kais: "That's fine as long as it gives me some hints."
Sona: "Just … forget it."
How am I supposed to do that? Forget I am stuck on an island with no way out. How am I supposed to forget that?
Kais: "I don't know what your problem is, but I think it should be obvious I can't just forget about it."
Sona: "I suppose so."
Kais: "So, are you going to help or not?"
Sona: "Can't say."
Damn! This is irritating. I understand she might have her reasons, but it's still irritating to be treated like this, especially after it started to look like she would be willing to give me some hints.
Sona: "Well, that changes nothing."
Kais: "What?"
Sona: "I'm going to kill the dragon. Try to stop me and you'll become a target too."
Threatening me is one way to keep a potential problem in check. But it won't work here. While I won't try to act foolishly and put myself in danger, I am not going to sit around and do nothing either.
Sona: "If that's clear, I'll be going now."
With that declaration, she starts walking. I stand there doing nothing, nothing but thinking. Yes, I can't act foolishly here. If I have to do something, it should be trying to figure out what I can do to stop her without putting myself in much danger. While I'm fairly certain I can take on that rabbit and defeat it, I am not certain how much damage I will take before I finally defeat it.
She suddenly stops about 20 meters away from me and looks back, her eyes showing a glint of dismay, but says nothing, turns around, and continues walking again.
Kais: "I'm sorry, but I can't let you do as you please."
I mutter those words quietly enough so no one can hear them and then turn to look at the little girl resting with her back to a tree's trunk.
Kais: "Well, she's just energy, so she should be fine but …"
Her arm getting ripped off was a pretty brutal sight to see. While she has regenerated, or maybe I should say all the dispersed energy has returned to its initial state, it doesn't change the fact that I saw her get hurt and couldn't do anything. I do feel bad about it. There's no way I can't feel bad about a little girl getting hurt like this. If anything, I'm surprised why I was able to ignore this feeling for this much time.
Kais: "Well, I can't waste my time like this though. There's something far more important to think about."
How to get that stubborn woman to talk? If that's not possible, I'll have to find a way to read her mind. In either case, I'll need a solid defense. There are two situations where I'd be completely open to be attacked. In first case, if she makes that rabbit attack me then due to its ridiculous speed, I'd not be able to defend in time. In the second case, someone else might attack me while I'm not ready. So, I need to be ready to teleport at any moment.
Kais: "I do feel like I'm relying too much on teleportation. Maybe I should try to take a little risk once in a while."
The thought is refreshing. I think it's a good thing my mind can have such thoughts. But, there's no way I can risk it in such a serious situation. If I screw up, I'll never get a second chance. So while I'm glad the thought came to mind, I can't follow up on it.
Kais: "Okay, so how am I going to deal with this?"
Pushing these thoughts out of my mind, I try to focus on the question of 'how to deal with the situation'. First of all, why does that rabbit-like spirit follow her commands? It's because it has made a contract with her. Or at least that's how it should be, but in reality there's no contract between the two. This won't do. I am not getting anywhere like this. Okay, let's say they actually do have a contract that I was not able to detect, then how does the situation play out?
This means that she is capable of making contracts with spirits, so there might be other cards up her sleeve I haven't seen yet. There's a distinguishing feature of Spirit-Users. It is the fact that the affects of psychic energy, whether harmful or beneficial, are very weak on them. When I fought Ro and Mohammed, I used energy manipulation. It allows me to concentrate the psychic energy in my body into a particular point and release it with a high velocity to do a considerable amount of damage. Of course there are other uses of it. I just used it to attack, but it can be used in many other ways. But to do so, I would need to be safe from any danger. Last time, while we were talking, I readied myself for photokinesis. By the time the fight started, I was ready to turn myself invisible. That gave me the edge I needed to use energy manipulation, but this time won't be that easy.
Though I do have an arsenal of really powerful psychic abilities, I don't have enough psychic energy to devote a little to all of them. At best, I can use two abilities together at their full potential. And even for that, I need to prepare myself.
Just from numbers of abilities I can use, I may look to be really powerful, but I am not in the least. At least, I'm nothing compared to Barry.
*******************************
Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments below.
Stay healthy!
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