Darkness flooded the area. Zahn began to sink in a pit of never relenting shadows. He felt his chest getting pressed harder and harder and harder. He gasps for air, but there is none to breathe in. He sinks further and further down as a loud and deep hum begins shaking his mind. It grows more intense by the second and continues to overload his mind more and more. The sound grows too loud to bear and suddenly Zahn awakens in a panic.
“Huh huh huh huh…”, Zahn begins breathing deeply. “What was that about?”
Before he could give it another moment of thought a sound was heard at his door. KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! He walks over to his door to see who could be at his house this early in the morning.
Upon opening the door he is met with the smile of a friendly face.
“Mr. H! What are you doing here so early?”, Zahn asked while trying to hide his yawn.
“Oh! Well it’s really not that early, Zahn. You slept through the morning harvesting shift. All that time in the big city and you have already started slacking off on your job back home, huh? I hope they treated you well while you were there, Zahn. They are not the biggest fans of us, you know?”, he responded with a nervous laugh.
“I know, Mr. H. But they treated me like a king! It was the best experience I could have ever had! Even better, I’m Immortal!”, Zahn shouts with glee.
In that single moment those two words sent fear, worry, and stress down Jeremy’s spine. His mind floods with thoughts of the past, the loss they have suffered, and the torment they have endured. In his heart he wants to feel happiness for the boy, but he just can’t help but think about the negatives.
“That’s great, Zahn, really. Have you put any kind of thought into this yet? You know of our history and what we have had to do because of it. Please tell me you don’t plan on repeating that!”, Jeremy begins to plead to Zahn.
“Mr. H, there is nothing in this world that I would do to put Grith in danger. All I want to do is change everything going on here. If I can become a well respected Immortal then I can make them stop treating you all like this. That is my plan.”, Zahn assures him.
Jeremy smiles at Zahn and tells him how glad he is to hear that. They exchange a couple of goodbyes as Zahn heads towards the harvesting mines.
Zahn begins to plan out how he is going to spend his last 3 days in the small town. He goes around and tells everyone the news as he sees them, but they all seem to show the same kind of reaction that Mr. H had at first. He chose not to let it bother him as he understood their worry and concern, but what was something that he could do now to help, he thought.
Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
After walking a few minutes down into the mines he started to feel the energy surging in the ground around him. It felt like it was calling to him, reaching an arm out to touch him. He responded in a likewise manner and reached out his arm to the wall. Energy started flooding into him at a rapid rate. He was overwhelmed. He started to panic as he was unsure what would happen to him. He released his grip on the energy and within an instant it dissipated away with a slight rumble. Zahn started thinking about the feeling that his hands had and ways to control it. The more he thought about it the more the energy called to him more. He had an idea.
Zahn stood up and started absorbing the energy around him using his outstretched arms. He kept drawing more and more of it from the earth as he started shaking. His head was feeling light and his vision was fading. He focused the energy towards the harvesting pods and flooded them with the energy he absorbed.
“Y-y-yes…. Huf huph hhuh… I-it worked.”, Zahn said as he fell to his back.
A few moments passed as Zahn woke up. He saw the pods filled with energy sitting there and remembered what had happened. He smiled, grabbed the pods, and ventured back to the town. He met with Mr. H along the road and showed him the energy pods.
“How did you collect this much energy so soon?”, Jeremy asked with a concerned look in his eyes.
“I just felt it in the ground. I pulled it out with my arms and pushed it into the pods. That’s the only way I know how to describe it.”, replied Zahn, scratching his head.
“Thank you so much, Zahn! You know, this is 5 days worth of energy that you just harvested in mere minutes! This will put us so far ahead of our quota that we may be able to actually have some energy for the town! Thank you so much again!” Jeremy could no longer hold back his happiness.
“Anything to help, Mr. H! I’ll try to get more like that as soon as I am able to again. That really made me tired. I thought Immortals had way more stamina than this.”, responded Zahn.
Jeremy just looked at him as he continued walking back to his home. Once he made it back to his house he sat down to rest. He was confused as to why he was feeling tired. Immortals rarely show signs of exhaustion unless–that was it. In the middle of his thought he realized what happened. When he focused on pushing the energy into the pods he actually released his own energy as well. This made him realize that he was much more powerful than he originally thought. He gave up enough of his own energy that it was equal to roughly 5 days worth of harvesting. That amount of energy could run the entire town of Grith for over a week. But how does an Immortal normally recharge their energy levels?
The solution that Zahn came up with was to take a nap.
A few hours passed and Zahn was awake again. It was not too late in the afternoon which was perfect in his mind. The last shift for harvesting had just ended and everyone was about to start getting ready to sleep until the next day. He set out to go to the mines again, but this time he wanted to learn more. The mines were now his own miniature training grounds.
He practiced taking in energy and pushing it out over and over again. After a couple hours of this he learned two major things. The first lesson he learned was that controlling energy was easier than he originally thought it would be, but still very difficult. The second and more important lesson he learned was the boundary. He was able to feel the line between his own energy and the energy around him. Even after he started absorbing it he could feel the difference in them. This would help him greatly and help the town even more!
Zahn stepped into his house after another couple of hours had passed. He was so happy that he could barely contain his smile. He was ready for tomorrow and the happiness it would bring everyone. He thought about his training and working in the mines. He laughed as he pictured the look on Mr. H’s face when he saw the 3 months worth of energy pods he left at his front door. This would be the best way for him to help the town right now. He drifted to sleep to end off this new day in his new life. Two more days until his first day at the academy.