Chapter 24

Nate was in a pitch-black room when suddenly a pale-yellow light flashed in his hand. The pale-yellow light’s form was like a knife. “Come on!” Nate yelled as he squeezed down on the pale-yellow knife. The knife sputtered before dissipating.

“Dammit!” He cursed. Rubbing his head to alleviate the pain. After a few minutes, he began the process again.

For a whole week Nate’s been underground, in the same room, trying over and over to create God’s Javelin. The technique was written down in the silver book given to him by his father. But the dam technique was the hardest thing he’s ever done.

Nate sighed as another attempt to create the javelin failed. The technique had pictures and diagrams of how he should mold his mental energy into producing a golden javelin seven feet long. Nate could barely form a yellowish little knife.

I don’t understand what I’m doing wrong! His brain was throbbing in pain after ten attempts at creating the javelin. “That’s enough of that for today.”

Nate’s stomach rumbled. Using what little mental energy he had left Nate created the diagram to absorb world energy. The energy flowed into his blood, nourishing his whole body and staving off his hunger.

Even though he didn’t need to eat food or drink water, part of the enjoyment of eating food was flavor, and to use his jaws to chew the food. God, I miss food. He hasn’t gone out once this whole week in fear of Anza and her group coming after him. Even Aiden hadn’t visited.

Once I master this God’s Javelin, I won’t have to fear Anza. The battle between Anza and Kiru had him shaken up. He knew if he fought Anza one on one he’d have his ass handed to him. The God’s Javelin though, was a sick ability.

A Javelin I can control. With just a thought I can have it strike out at my enemies! I can even climb aboard the thing and soar into the sky! The god’s javelin was different from his ability to use mental energy to harden his punches, or to lift something. Even though he could throw a rock with telekinesis, it was something invisible, his mental energy wasn’t manifested.

With the God’s Javelin, his mental energy would manifest itself. It would become something physical, that can be used no matter how far away the weapon was. It’s like an extension of my body. Nate was eager to learn this ability but the process was simply too difficult. It was like trying to do a hundred things at once.

A hundred things at once… that’s it! Nate sat down with his back against the wall, and began focusing on the ball of energy within his chest, or as his father called it, his soul. He appeared in the grey church again, the black box was on top of the altar. Nate went over, picked it up, and sat down on the pew with the black box on his lap. It was the magical artifact gifted to him by his mother. His mother’s book was still inside, along with the note.

He hadn’t opened the book yet, though not for lack of trying. The book behaved as if it was glued shut. Nate didn’t want to rip it open so he left it where it was. After a few minutes the box had shut itself closed again and Nate placed it back on the altar not giving it a second thought as he began to practice God’s Javelin.

But now the box was before him and he knew the answer to God’s Javelin lie with this artifact. The technique took a high level of concentration and skill as one split their minds into several parts, this artifact required him to split his mind into a hundred and one threads. Even though he’s done it before, it was sloppy, and he didn’t have control over all hundred and one threads.

Once I master this, I’ll be able to master the javelin technique! Nate began splitting his mind into a hundred and one pieces. He focused on each thread trying to get them into the hole. The great thing about practicing in his soul, compared to practicing in the real world, was that he could use mental energy all day without feeling tired. He didn’t use this method before, he thought it was useless. But now he knew this would be a great way to learn control.

Nate practiced for what felt like days. When he felt his stomach rumble he would exit his soul and absorb world energy, then practice the God’s Javelin technique. Once he ran out of mental energy he would delve back into his soul to practice control.

Soon he lost himself in this cycle. Time held no meaning in that room. He was underground and it was pitch black so there was no sun to measure time with. The only measure he would use to count days was by the rumbling in his stomach, once three rumbles past he counted that as a day.

…

A golden spear manifested itself before Nate. The spear was seven feet long, and intricately detailed with little carved sigils. The head of the spear was shaped into sharp tip the flared outward like a leaf. 

Ninety eight threads... the Javelin is almost complete. Nate thought to himself. His whole brain was in pain trying to manifest the spear into the real world but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't produce more threads to allow it manifestation. He needed to master a hundred and one threads before it would be possible.

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With a sigh Nate released the threads. The spear distorted before dissipating into non-existence. With his mind not focused on creating the Javelin, he remembered the reality of the situation. The pitch-black room and the ever present silence.

“I can’t take it anymore!” Nate yelled.

His voice echoed for a few seconds before dying down. The room he was in returned to its mute silence. A silence so deafening it felt like he could hear the blood flowing in his veins. For three weeks, or sixty-three rumbles of his stomach, Nate was in the room practicing God’s Javelin.

The technique wasn’t completely mastered yet but he knew he couldn’t remain down here any longer. Even if his basic bodily needs were being met through absorption of world energy, he still felt like a soulless creature cooped up in a single room all day. He was going crazy.

For the first time in weeks Nate broke down the wall sealing the sewers from his room, and burst through to the other side. Using his awareness, he easily traversed the passaged until he reached a ladder leading to the surface.

Climbing up the ladder he burst through the manhole cover. He took a deep breath. “Ahhh! Fresh air baby!” He laughed.

There were howls sounding in the streets. Nate just noticed it was nighttime. He briefly thought about going back down and re-surfacing in the morning, but just the thought of going back down in that solitary room made him want to kill himself.

Besides, I need to practice my new tricks. Nate smiled. For the past few weeks Nate’s control over his mental energy had increased dramatically. He could easily control ninety-eight threads, which was no easy feat. It was like trying to write using one’s left hand, multiplied ninety-eight times.

His progress had decreased recently. When he was just starting out he could master three to four threads a day but over time that number has dropped. Now he’s been stuck at the ninety-eighth thread for the past two days, no matter how hard he tried he just couldn’t master the ninety-ninth. Even though he couldn’t create a fully formed God’s Javelin, he felt like he was close, just on the precipice of creating it.

The sound of paws on the ground broke his concentration. Nate turned towards the direction of the sound, standing at the mouth of the alleyway were three werewolves. They spotted Nate and began charging straight towards.

Dozens of mental energy threads exploded out of Nate. The threads grouped into three, then crossed the distance between Nate and the werewolves. Nate delved deep into their minds and made a subtle suggestion towards the werewolves. “This alley is empty.”

The werewolves skidded to a stop before yipping at each other, normally it would be impossible for someone other than another werewolf to understand wolf-speak. But Nate was connected to their minds.

“Why were we so excited just now?” One werewolf said to another.

“I don’t know… but there’s so much saliva in my mouth…” The second werewolf replied.

“I feel like a meal was snatched away from me.” The third werewolf complained.

“Come on, we still have hours before sun-up.” The first werewolf began running towards the mouth of the alley, followed by his two companions.

Nate chuckled as he watched the three werewolves retreat. Down in that solitary room he’d had time to think about ways to use his abilities. He realized trying to completely control someone would be close to impossible, but using subtle suggestions he could manipulate those werewolves into believing the alley was empty. It was nowhere near controlling their body but it was good enough for him.

“Jesus! It feels like the sewer is following me.” Nate complained as he began walking down the streets. Although his whole body reeked, Nate felt elated deep down.  The stars are so beautiful, twinkling on the background of a clear night sky, it’s like a master piece. And since when did air taste so good? I feel like I should be paying for the privilege of breathing all this good air. Nate chuckled to himself.

…

Knock! Knock! Knock!

Nate had walked into an apartment complex and began knocking on one of the doors. It took a minute of silence to realize his mistake. Who would open their door at night? Use your brain, idiot.

No need to name call. Nate thought in response.

“Did I just reply to my own insult? I got to stop talking to myself.” Nate said as he shook his head. He’d been underground and alone for so long he felt like his mind was becoming un-hinged. He knew he couldn’t return underground.

Nate sent out several threads of mental energy into the apartment. He searched the apartment and found a man hiding behind the kitchen counter with a piece of metal in his hand. The knock on the door so late at night had scared the living hell out of him.

“I’m a friend. Please open the door.” Nate convinced the man. The man didn’t move. Nate sent more threads, it took a total of fifty threads to finally convince the man to let him in. That’s strange, it only took fifteen threads each to convince the three werewolves, yet this man takes fifty…

Nate thought about that as the man opened the door. “Hey, it’s you!” The man smiled. “Come on in.”

Nate walked through the door. “Dude, you smell like a sewer!” The man laughed as he closed the door behind Nate.

“Yeah, you got an extra set of clean clothes?” Nate asked as he headed towards the bathroom.

“Yeah, I’ll leave it on the counter.” The man replied.

Nate went over to the shower and turned on the faucet. The water was ice cold. He stripped off the filthy clothes and hopped into the shower.

Black Watch Asylum took away a lot of privileges but one thing they left were running water, and plumbing. Every house had running water and plumbing; otherwise people would resort to shitting on streets.

An hour later Nate was in the dining room table munching down crackers, dried cereal, and a can of beans. He felt a little guilty manipulating the man out of his food and shelter but Nate had no collar to reimburse the man with tokens.

“Any news?” Nate asked the man sitting across from him.

“Same ol’ same.” The man replied with a shrug of his shoulders.

“And what is same?”

“Oh, you know, people being snatched off the streets in broad daylight. Werewolves hunting those out after dark, blood banks taking human blood, the usual. The only difference is the blood banks have been giving out free tokens lately on account of the Wild Hunt being shut down, ever since the massacre.”

Nate’s smiled briefly when he heard that. “Wait… you said people are being snatched off the streets? By who? Werewolves or vampires?”

The man shook his head. “I don’t know. All I’ve heard is that if you enter any dark alleys, even during the day time, you’ll be kidnapped.” A tear rolled down the man’s eye. “God I hate this place.” He said as he wiped away the tear.