Chapter 19

“Good work team.” Ahri was sitting on a tree branch eating an apple while the four students below her were hard at work fighting mutated animals. “Heads up, here comes another!”

A large black shape darted out of the forest and charged towards the group of students. Snog, who was the closest to the creature, turned to face it. After a brief chant he activated a spell and collided with the fast-moving object.

The collision sounded like a car crash. Snog flew away several yards while the black shape was barely pushed back a few steps. It was then the students managed to get a good look at what they were facing. It was a black bear the size of which none of them had ever seen before.

The black bear got on its hind legs and roared so loud it made the students clamp down on their ears trying to block the sound out. The bear was at least ten feet tall, and when it roared a hazy brown aura began to radiate from it.

When its front paws landed, the ground shook like there was an earthquake, throwing the girls off balance. Snog was already on the floor but Nate managed to keep his balance.

“Come on guys, are you just going to watch it all day?” Ahri said from the sidelines.

Snog began chanting and his whole body lit up. “I’ll keep it distracted, you three kill it!” He shouted.

The girls began their spells but Nate already had an arcane bolt hurtling towards the bear. Spells consisted of many different components combined with mana and invoked with a verbal component.  Mana was important, but one’s mental ability also played a part in the casting of magic. If one could recall the components faster and will them into existence, along with the portion of mana required, than that mage could effectively cast the spell faster.

Nate was only taught a few spells, and he knew all their components and how he had to manipulate his mana to produce that spell, he also held an advantage when it came to mental performance.

By the time the girls finished casting their fire bolt and earth spike, Nate had fired off a few more arcane bolts. Snog was taking the brunt of the bear’s attacks. He was a shaman mage and was able to use nature to reinforce his body.

The bear roared again as it’s body was shrouded by the brown aura. The brown aura slowly contracted, revealing the bear. It now had plates all over its body and on its head. The plates were studded with spikes.

“Nope!” Snog retreated with a panicked look on his face. “Dam things a ranked beast! Flee!”

The bear charged at Snog, who was back-pedaling as fast as he could. The spikes on the plates grew larger until they were deadly looking daggers. It was only a few feet away from Snog when a figure appeared in a flash of blue light.

The scarred instructor stood there with one massive paw wrapped around the bears head, effectively halting the bear’s progress. “Ahri! Dam you girl, you just going to let your charge die like that?”

“I felt you coming Master Oleg.” Ahri said as she jumped down from the tree. “Why did you come anyways? I could’ve handled it.”

Oleg crushed the bear’s head with one hand, killing it instantly. “You’re the only upper classmen that can handle a one-star beast.”

“Really?” Ahri said in disbelief.

“Does it look like anyone else from the advance class made it here?” Master Oleg said gruffly. “We’re surveilling the cross zone, and when any ranked beasts appear, we get involved to take care of it. Next time you’re facing a ranked beast don’t let it activate its spirit, otherwise one of us will have to come over and take care of it.” Oleg said before he disappeared in a flash of blue light.

Snog sat down gasping for breath. “A ranked beast!” He exclaimed. “We got lucky.”

The girls nodded in agreement. Nate was curious though. He never fought a ranked beast before but he didn’t think he’d lose if he fought that bear one on one. Magical beasts ranked from one-star being the lowest, to seven-stars being the highest.

Most mages could handle ranked beasts up to the two-star level. Master mages could handle up to three-star beasts. It was rumored the Grandmaster and the Inquisitors could handle up to five-star, and when they combined their powers they could even take down a six-star beast.

In bestiary class, they often talked about mutated animals and their strengths and weaknesses. It was a fascinating class that made a part of him wonder what the NetherRealm was like. From the descriptions it seemed like a place of adventure and Nate wasn’t the only one who fantasized about the place. Students often whispered about what it would be like travelling there.

The other students in his group sat down, resting from the battle. Nate closed his eyes and focused on his awareness. There was an incorporeal string attached to him. Nate detached a piece of his consciousness and followed the string to the other end, flying as fast as he could go.

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In the past, his detached mind could only go so far, but now that he was more adept he could go miles if need be. He quickly reached the other end of the string that was wrapped around the combat boots of one of the Guardians Mendell brought along.

They were settled at the base of a waterfall with a dozen or so magical beast’s corpses surrounding them. Nate had attached a string to the Guardian back at the village. There was probably a more efficient way to use his powers rather than crudely attaching string to his target’s feet, but because he had no one to teach him he had to experiment and learn for himself.

Nate quickly scouted the area. The Guardians had an instructor following them closely the last couple of times he checked. He was always in the trees or somewhere nearby, but this time when Nate searched he couldn’t find anyone.

He snapped back to his body and saw them still resting. Nate slowly walked backwards trying not to draw attention to himself. Once he was sure it was safe and he was unnoticed he headed towards Mendell and his group.

Mendell’s group was five miles away from their location. They had gone in the opposite direction when the event started. When the Guardians came within eye-distance he stopped.

Nate didn’t know what he was going to do. A part of him wanted to satiate his need for vengeance, but the other part of him knew no good would come from it. Maybe if I kill Mendell, the demon would know peace. Nate thought. But he knew that wasn’t true as soon as he said it.

When he was in that coma for ten years nightmares haunted him. His two greatest failures constantly plagued his nightmares. The death of his parents to that demon, and the atrocities that took place in the Asylum.

The fact that he was completely oblivious to Mendell’s lab it was what angered him most. At first he thought the greatest threat to the humans there were the vampires and werewolves. Later on he learned it was the rich humans who paid millions to hunt down the prisoners who entered the Wilderness game. But the greatest injustice was taking place right beneath his feet.

You could’ve prevented their deaths, but you were blinded by arrogance!  A warbled voice whispered in his head. Nate shook the thought away, they were just vestiges of nightmares that once plagued him. They were gone now. He had nothing to be afraid of.

“Nate?”

Nate was startled by the voice so lost in his own thoughts. His eyes were focused on Mendell’s group so he wasn’t expecting someone to approach him from behind. He turned to the unfamiliar voice and saw a young blonde smiling up at him. “Was’ good fam?!” The girl stuck out her hand and when Nate clasped it against hers she tried to reach in for the one-arm hug. But she was unable to. Nate kept her at a distance as he stared at her.

“Do I know you?” He remembered the girl had arrived with Mendell but he hadn’t seen her before.

Suddenly an image flashed through his mind and he realized who stood in front of him. “Jody?”

“Now you remember me?” Jody laughed and went in for the hug again, this time Nate reciprocated it.

Once they let go of each other Nate took a good look at her. He remembered back at the Asylum when he removed the downloaded personality that was implanted into her brain. The only remaining personalities were Jody and Andrea.

Did the downloaded personality come back? He wondered although it wasn’t possible. Jody was clearly speaking to him. So then why is he here with Mendell?

Jody noticed the changes in Nate’s face. “I know what you’re thinking.”

“You joined up with him?” Nate spat.

“It’s not so simple fam.”

“He experimented on you! Transplanted you into another person! How can you say it’s not so simple?!” Nate whispered furiously.

“Look when you… revealed the Supernatural world ten years ago, things got a little crazy. I was with Mendell but he didn’t know I was free. I was going to bide my time and wait for a chance to topple his whole organization.”

The young blonde made a grim expression. “I was on the front lines, responding to monster sightings. I’ve done a lot of horrible things for Mendell and I saw him experiment on unwilling participants, but what I saw on the front lines… it was cruel man.

I wanted to kill Mendell for what he did to me, but soon I began to realize if I did such a thing the humans would be completely defenseless against the monsters. As much as I hate the bastard, I couldn’t deprive humanity of that man. Otherwise who knows? We might’ve become slaves of those monsters.”

Nate scoffed. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “You sure you’re you?” Nate said as a dozen mental threads slowly drifted into Jody’s brain.

The threads progress was halted and Jody fixed him with a stare. “Don’t.” He warned. “My mind is my own.”

“Nah.” Nate shook his head. “The Jody I know wouldn’t let that shit slide. The man cut you to pieces man! He transplanted you into another fucking body. How could you possibly be okay with that?!”

“I’ve made peace with that.” Jody said. “After the alliance with the Angels was made I gained power, along with Mendell and twelve others. I’m in a position now where he can’t do those inhumane experiments anymore. Now, we only experiment on volunteers.”

Nate looked at Jody with an incredulous expression. “Do you hear yourself? How can you justify experimenting on humans?”

“Sometimes the ends justify the means.” Jody responded. “Mendell’s measures might’ve been extreme, but it was because of him humans were able to fight back against the monsters. I mean just take a look around you.”

Jody gestured towards the corpses of mutated animals. “If these mutated animals ever made an appearance in one of the cities it would’ve been a massacre. Mendell’s way allows us to fight back and with my efforts his power remains in check.”

Nate was still angry, but a part of him could understand the logic behind Jody’s decision. He knew what it felt like to be helpless. But he couldn’t forgive Mendell. A part of him wanted to end the man’s life with his own two hands.

“Fucking think about it.” Jody walked away frustrated.

What Jody said to him made sense, but it was hard to just accept it and move on. As Nate watched Mendell and his camp he struggled with what action to take. If I act I’ll certainly be discovered by the instructors. And with all those Guardians surrounding him, Mendell is protected. There are just too many risks.

Suddenly Nate felt a presence right behind him. He turned around and saw an arm sticking out of a wall of shadows. The arm had pierced him with something and returned to the shadows before he had a chance to process what was going on.

Deep within Nate, in an area covered in shadows the demon stirred. When Nate was pierced, the fluid went directly towards his brain and purged the shadows, revealing the chained demon. The fluid then broke the shackles holding the demon in place.

The demon howled a terrible cry declaring its release. On the surface Nate froze in terror as he realized what just happened. The demon was free. It was rising to the surface and no amount of suppression would make it go away.