Chapter 27
Headaches vs Migraines
The next day, as soon as our teacher appeared at his desk, Stephen and I excitedly tried to tell him what happened.
Kenzo put his hands up. “Whoa now, one at a time. Darcy, you start.”
We went back and forth at his direction, slowly recapping the previous day's events. When he was all caught up he clapped. “See, I knew you both could do it! One new friend. A trio is born!”
I grinned. “I wish you could meet her, she’s really impressive.”
“Maybe I will at some point. A victory celebration for defeating the monster, eh?”
“Really? Hell yeah!” I exclaimed, feeling like a child awaiting a Friday pizza party. But, damn it, I still loved pizza parties. Especially if Sam N. Fillet was cooking. I trailed off in thought, my mouth watering at just the mental image of Sam’s cooking.
“Wait a second,” Stephen said. “I just realized something. When we completed the Quest we didn’t get much of a reward."
Kenzo nodded. “It was a Quest I made, not the Interverse itself. I didn’t add any extra rewards.”
“Why not?” Stephen asked, not in a spoiled brat kind of way, but genuinely curious.
“You’ll find a lot of my methods are rather old school.”
“Just like my mom,” I said. “She wouldn’t even bother setting up Quests for me at all growing up. Just told me what to do and I had to do it, with no rewards.”
Stephen’s mouth fell agape at that. “I knew she was old school but, wow, I didn’t know it went that deep.”
“Yep, so try and remember that next time you have to explain something to me that a normal person learns by the time they are eleven. I’m stunted, I’ll admit it.” I stuck my tongue out at the last part.
“There’s nothing wrong with being a little old school,” Kenzo cut in. “No matter your age. Besides, Stephen, you seem to do a fine job of explaining things to us less technologically sound people.”
“I try my best,” he said with a smirk, obviously enjoying the complement.
“Teacher, like the girl said, it could be bad for us if the other people find out that we don’t have a concrete plan for how to beat the monster. You do have one… right?”
“I do.”
“Can… you tell us?” Stephen asked.
“Please?” I added.
“In due time. You two still have a lot to learn. I want to instill in you the basics before we get caught up in the details. But trust me, you will know what to do before you are expected to have a plan.”
I would have vastly preferred knowing right then and there but, for whatever reason, I trusted him enough to know he must have a method to the madness.
“Fine, keep your secrets, old man… for now.” I fake glared at him.
“Oh, I will, gladly. Now, enough talk, are you two ready for today’s lesson?”
I nodded enthusiastically. Stephen less so. “More feathers?” he asked.
“Actually, no. That was just to get you accustomed to using your abilities. Knowing what it felt like to use and the importance of mental images. For today we are going to let out a little of that pent up energy.”
“How do we do that?” Stephen asked. “And you're positive it won’t involve feathers?”
Kenzo laughed but I confronted him. “What do you have against feathers?”
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
“Nothing. Just want to move on. We want to kill cthulhu, moving feathers is uncomfortably far away from that.”
He was right. I looked back at the teacher who had a grin on his face. “If all goes to plan, by the end of this session you will be moving much bigger things than feathers.”
“So what do we do to release the energy?” I jittered in my seat.
“I’m going to have to enter your minds.”
We shared looks, neither of us sure how to process that.
“Will it hurt?” Stephen asked the most pressing worry I had.
“Mostly painless.”
“Mostly?” I asked with a wince.
“It depends on how much is drawn out and how much you are able to take on. Basically, I’m going to draw the power out and hand it off to your mind. The handoff process… isn’t alway painless.”
“You’re kind of freaking me out,” I said. “What is the range of this pain, rate it from one to ten.”
Kenzo chuckled. “It’s not that simple. Everyone is different. But the absolute worst I’ve ever heard was described as an intense migraine.”
I groaned. “I hate migraines.”
“I’ve never had one,” Stephen said.
I rounded on him. “What!?”
“Yeah. I mean, I’ve had headaches. But they are never that intense so I don’t think I’ve ever had a migraine.”
“I think the Interverse tracks that, doesn’t it?” the teacher said.
“Yeah! Check your Achievements!”
Stephen raised an eyebrow. “Why is having a migraine an achievement?”
“You know the Interverse tracks a bunch of stupid shit. Look it up.”
Stephen sighed but his eyes glazed over as he made his search. He was quiet for like half a second than said, “Nope. Searched migraines in my achievement list, nothing.”
“The hell?? Okay, look up how many headaches you’ve had.”
Stephen rolled his eyes but he was still in the menu. “One-hundred and nintey-nine. Hey cool one more headache and I get a new pointless rank.” He exited out of the menu and saw me staring at him. “What?”
“You’ve had less than two-hundred you’re entire life?” I went through my achievements and threw my menu at him.
[ Headaches: 1,500
Migranes: 1,000
‘Ow My Aching Head’ Rank: 5
Title: ‘You Should Consider a Lobotmy” ]
Stephen gasped. “What the hell Darcy. How are you alive? You’ve had over 2,500 headaches!?”
I laughed and exited out of the menu. “No, 1,500 total headaches. One thousand of which were intense enough to be considered migraines.”
“Oh. Okay, that's a little better. But still, what the fuck?” He looked to Kenzo who had just been watching us discuss this with a bemused expression on his face. “Sir, does that sound normal to you?”
“Well, I’m not that kind of doctor. But, in my experience… built up mental energy can cause immense pressure.”
I sat up straight. “What? Really? So what does that mean, I’m gifted?”
“And what about me, this is gonna be another thing I suck at?” Stephen groaned.
Kenzo waved his hands around, flustered. “No, wait, don’t take it like that! Nothing is decided until we get into the nitty gritty. I should not have said anything.”
“But, okay, sure, it doesn’t matter for our future abilities, but…” I could hardly contain my excitement. “When the energy is released… will my headaches go away?”
He grinned. “Now that is a very real possibility.”
I stood up. That possibility was so exciting and unbelivable that I just leapt to my feet. “Are you for real?”
“It has often been reported to me, yes.”
I ran up to the desk so fast I crashed into it as I leaned forward, presenting the top of my head. “Get in here right now!”
The man laughed and got up from his chair. “I will, but you need to sit back down. It's not a safe thing to do while standing.”
I leapt back to the couch and plopped down beside Stephen. He looked at me with bemusement, like I was a hyperactive puppy that he couldn’t quite understand the source of my excitement.
“I’ve had close to two thousand headaches, okay? I need this.”
“I didn’t say anything. I hope it helps. But… I’m fully expecting me to get the worst headache of my life from this so sorry for my lack of enthusiasm.”
“It’s a rite of passage. Right, sir?” I looked to Kenzo for approval but he was no longer behind his desk but right above us, rolling up the sleeves of his shirt.
“In a way, yes," he said. “Are you both ready?”
I nodded so hard and fast my head could have popped off. Stephen gave a hesitant nod.
“Okay. It’s not normally recommended to do two people at once but, in this process, time can go a little weird. I don’t think we would be able to do the technique on you both separately. So, I apologize if things get a little more… intense.”
Stephen sighed. “I really hope all these crytpic warnings don’t come to pass at all. That you’re just saying this to prepare us for something that doesn’t come.”
I agreed. “Except for the migraine cure. Inject that shit into my veins.”
Kenzo gestured for us to get closer together. We scooted until we were almost shoulder to shoulder on the couch, both sitting way forward. We were often on the edge of our seats in this cozy little office.
He placed a hand on each of our heads. “Now, don’t fight me. The more you can relax the easier and pain-free it will go. I have to dig around to find the heart of your energy. I… might see memories. Ones you might not want anyone to see.”
I swallowed. Images of my mother’s death already floating to the surface. I tried to push them back down but the more I wanted to suppress them the more I thought about it.
“I think you already know everything about my past, sir,” Stephen said. He looked at me out of the corner of his eye, like he was expecting me to back down.
“I’ve got nothing to hide.”
“Alright then. Three… two..”
Don’t think about mom.
Don’t think about how I found her.
“One…”
Fuck.