Chapter 21

“God I hate this place.”

Nate chuckled lightly as he looked over at Aiden. “You have no one to blame but yourself, I told you I’d be fine. You should go back up to the surface.” Nate replied.

“Nah… knowing you, you’d probably get into another life or death situation.”

“Ha, ha, very funny.” Nate laughed mockingly.

“What’s funny is your appearance. You look like death on two legs. Why don’t we go find a doctor or something?”

“I don’t need to, a few hours absorbing world energy will restore my body better than any doctor can.” Nate said.

Aiden shrugged, “If you say so.”

Nate and Aiden had been in the sewer for a few hours now. Nate knew nothing about the sewer system but he was hoping to find some sort of shelter to hole up in for a few days. The ghosts were somehow able to track him anywhere but he remembered something from the first encounter.

The ghosts had broken into his apartment, rather than phasing through it like a normal ghost should. Not that Nate’s ever met a normal ghost. He realized he was making assumptions based off what he’d seen in movies and read in books. It wasn’t a full-proof plan, but it was the best one he could think of on such short notice.

“This way.” Nate said sensing something with his awareness. Nate turned left before stopping.

“This is a dead end.” Aiden said in a confused voice.

“There’s an empty space beyond this wall, about twenty feet wide, ten feet high. I’ll rest here for today while I recuperate then break through the wall tomorrow. Why don’t you go back up to the surface? I’ll be fine now, trust me.” Nate said patting Aiden’s shoulder.

“You sure?” Aiden said looking at him questioningly.

Nate nodded. Aiden finally took Nate’s advice and began backtracking towards the surface. The sewer system wreaked havoc on Aiden’s sensitive werewolf nose so being down here was torture for him. Nate didn’t want to keep him here longer then he had to.

Moving towards the dead-end, Nate sat down finally relaxing. He was tense ever since the battle, a part of him was still tense, knowing that Anza could blow him up at any minute. I must ditch this collar asap. He thought, but trying to use mental energy right now was something he couldn’t even contemplate. His body was like a dried-up sponge, no mental energy, no world energy.

Before he knew it, Nate was asleep. When he woke up he didn’t know how much time had passed but he was feeling better. “Now to get rid of this dam thing.” Nate muttered.

Focusing on the collar he used his awareness to delve inside. The mechanics inside the collar were still as confusing as ever but this time he made a mental effort to try and figure things out.

“Dam it all.” Nate sighed aloud. For two hours, he’d studied the collar and had made a discovery. There were two separate fluids in the collar being separated by metal. There was a door on the metal separating the two fluids, Nate guessed when the button was activated this door would move so that the two fluids could come into contact. There was another latch, a collapsible latch that could be manipulated to open and close but there were very delicate mechanisms on it that also tied back to the door.

Nate guessed once someone tried to manipulate the latch the door would be opened combining the two liquids. Once the two liquids came into contact the collar would blow up. He had no clue what the liquid might be but he knew they were highly flammable.

“I wonder… maybe I can drill into the... no, that wouldn’t work…hmmm…” Nate spent some time pondering his solutions. He had to do this carefully because even though his ‘mental hardening’ could take damage a normal human couldn’t withstand, he felt something like a bomb this close to his body would shatter his defenses, killing him instantly.

Finally, he decided he couldn’t waste any more time. He had to decide on something before Anza made the decision for him. He focused almost all his mental energy on the door separating the two liquids. With his mental energy firmly holding the door in place he made a quick prayer: “God, if your listening please help me.”

After a brief pause: “Or Lucifer.”

Oh, how mother would be horrified knowing a made a prayer to Lucifer. Nate chuckled. If I’m a demon might as well act like one.

Clearing his head, he sent an ethereal hand towards the collapsible latch. He prodded the latch slowly, pulling at it so that it would open the collar. A bead of sweat trickled down his forehead. Slowly…slowly…careful...

Nate finally opened the latch. The collar opened falling off his neck. With his ethereal hand, he caught it and gently brought it down to the floor. “Thank god!” Nate laughed. He was so relieved that everything went per plan.

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With the device off his collar, Nate released the mental energy holding the door in place when suddenly the gears on the collar clanged together, a winch was pulled and the door on the collar was opened.

Nate’s eyes opened wide in surprise before flinging himself far away from the collar while hardening his body as much as he could. With a loud bang the collar exploded making the walls of the sewer rumble and sending a few pieces of debris flying in Nate’s direction.

“That wasn’t too bad.” Nate thought aloud.

The explosion wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be. Furthermore, the walls he wanted to break down using his mental energy were already brought down from the blast.

ROARRR!!!

Nate’s head snapped back as his heart began to beat furiously. What the fuck was that?! He’d never heard a creature make that sound before.

Roar! Roar! Roar!

After the first roar, it seemed like several other roars rose in the area. Nate gulped down a mouth full of saliva, Aiden’s warning flashed in his mind but he was sure the scary monsters were above surface. What the hell, first werewolves and vampires hunt those living up above, now this?! He was angry at the people in charge, this place was a freak show and the prisoners were unwilling participants forced to be here.

Nate quickly moved towards the hole created by the explosion. There was a small gap large enough for someone Aiden’s size to fit through, Nate widened the hole before moving into the small space beyond the room. Using his telekinesis, he began piling up rocks to cover the hole with before sitting in a corner of the small room.

The roars continued for twenty minutes before settling. Nate finally relaxed. Using the diagram taught to him he began absorbing world energy to restore his body to peak condition. Although the bliss that came from absorbing world energy was there, Nate ignored it, focusing solely on his body, he’d cut himself off as soon as he reached his limit.

As he absorbed the world energy Nate felt like he was in a strange state of mind, as if his disembodied head was floating above a river. How strange…

Nate felt like there was something strange about world energy, using his spare mental energy he focused on the diagram.

“What the hell?” Nate cut himself off from the diagram when his body reached the limit but his face was still screwed up in concentration.

“World energy doesn’t come from this world? That doesn’t make any sense.” Nate had clearly felt the world energy come from somewhere else.

If it doesn’t come from the world where does it come from? Nate wanted to further investigate but he’d absorbed enough world energy for now, anymore and he’d risk damaging his body. Instead Nate’s ponderings took him in a different direction.

Magic. What makes it tick? Nate thought back to how Kiru had taught him magic. That saying a Latin word “Impetus” could form a gust of wind. This didn’t make sense to him. Why was Latin so special? Could someone do it in another language?

“Impetus!” Nate focused as the gust sprung up around him. He concentrated on the spell and on his body. He was eager to get to the bottom of things.

“Impetus!” The spell isn’t taking any energy from the world around me so it must be coming from within?

“Impetus!” It is coming from within me. But does that mean learning Latin will allow me to cast any spell as long as I have the energy for it? This felt like a wrong conclusion to him. If the only difference between him and Kiru was the amount of energy Kiru absorbed, then magic would be too simple. Could he recreate some of the same magics that Kiru cast simply by saying those words in Latin?

“Impetus!” Nate knew there had to be more to magic then just casting it in Latin. He wanted to get to the bottom of it. He felt with each time he cast the spell he learned a little bit more, but he was running out of energy. He only had enough for one more spell.

“Impetus!”

Nate had felt something this time. It was very faint, almost to the point of non-existence, but he knew he felt it. A portion of world energy came from within but there was a very tiny strand that came from somewhere else. The same place world energy came from.

If it’s not coming from Earth, then it must be coming from the NetherRealm. Nate had only heard the NetherRealm mentioned by Kiru but he knew that’s where the energy must be coming from, unless there was another dimension besides the NetherRealm.

Nate tried probe that place where the energy came from but there was nothing there. “I probably shouldn’t…” Nate thought aloud but he was too curious to resist, casting another impetus spell he waited for that ‘other’ energy to appear.

A sliver of green wind appeared in mid-air. But with Nate’s ability he could see there was a very small distortion in the space where that energy came from. Using his mental energy, he dove in.

…

The world was a sea of black. Nate was floating on this sea of black unable to move or rotate his body. His heart began to beat furiously as he felt helpless, stuck.

Calm down, he urged himself. Once he convinced himself there was no danger he began to relax. So, this is where that energy comes from. Does that mean this is the NetherRealm?

Nate continued to float in this empty sea. He was aware that his disembodied self seemed to be moving, as if this black sea had a destination. So, he allowed the sea to carry him. He was curious to find out where magic originated from.

After what felt like weeks of nothing but pitch blackness, Nate saw a small light in the distance. As hours passed that small light grew larger and larger until it became a door. The door grew until it was a door the size of a small mountain. Nate finally touched that door and his mind appeared in a barren desert. Although the barren desert air was dry he could feel an abundance of magic in the air. This was where the World energy came from.

Immediately he felt something within his chest burn. He was back in the sewer, back in his body. Then he was back in the desert, back and forth the two worlds seemed to switch until finally the burning sensation in his chest went away.

He leaned against the sewer wall blowing out a breath in exhaustion. There was what felt like a molten ball in his chest, subconsciously he knew that molten ball was a connection he’d established with that place of magic, that other world. 

A large grin appeared on his face. Even though he was tired mentally he felt like he was discovering a whole new world. It was like the days he spent watching anime as a child, day-dreaming about all those amazing powers. The way he felt about magic couldn’t be compared to how telekinesis made him feel. Every time he used telekinesis he felt a strain on his brain, even though controlling things with his mind was cool, that strain put a damper on the whole experience, but magic was more like a playground.

“This is going to be fun.” Nate laughed.