“You’re both natives to this land, aren’t you? What exactly is Permafrost?”
Grimr had just finished sharing the news of Ahya that had come about in their absence, as well as notifying Eric and Megan that those they cared about were still in good health. Eric had nodded his gratitude at the news. Curiously, Grimr hadn’t mentioned the source of his news, but he assumed it to be Samuel. If he was right, he didn’t understand the need for secrecy. Though it did interest him to know that Samuel was working on the same mission for Grimr behind the scenes.
“We’re not Natives,” Jerik corrected him. “But we have lived here for quite a while. At least I have.”
Eric nodded again, this time to indicate that the statement applied to him as well. “There is a distinction, believe it or not. The actual Native Alaskans take issue with it when you describe us as native.”
“But it means that you call a place home,” Grimr replied, his confusion obvious. “Why, then, should it offend if it fits?”
The two Alaskans frowned in thought for a moment, but could only shrug. Eric explained further. “It’s hard to put into words. It’s something you wouldn’t be familiar with because the concept doesn’t really exist in Ahya.”
Grimr made no move to interrupt, and all three of them could tell that he was waiting for a full explanation. Eric and Megan knew enough about the Ancient from their brief time together and what Samuel had mentioned of him to know that dropping the subject wasn’t something that he’d tolerate. So Megan, as the analytical one, tried her hand at explaining. “It’s known here on Earth as racism.”
Grimr tilted his head at the strange word. “That makes it sound as if you discriminate against others based on what race they may be.”
“That’s exactly what it means,” Megan said at once. “And, well, it’s been a problem on Earth for quite a while.”
Grimr let out a snort of dismissal. “What a ridiculous notion. You’re all part of the same race, so how could this term apply?”
Eric shrugged, his expression morose. “It just does. For the longest time in human history, people of different ethnicities have been at war, whether outright or covert. There was even a brief time when slavery of an entire race was a thing.”
Slavery was not an unfamiliar term to Grimr. It had had its time in Ahya, though brief. The idea that Humans, Elves, Dwarves, or Orcs could own one another as physical property was as preposterous as it was cruel. It was unanimously agreed by the Ancients of the world that the practice was not to be tolerated, and it vanished from the world as quickly as it had appeared.
“So,” Grimr said, rallying his thoughts away from that dark place that they’d tried to veer to. “You experience this ‘racism’ as a fair-skinned member of the human race?”
“It’s nowhere near as bad as what others have endured,” Eric said quickly. “And, if you think about it, it’s more of a reaction against what the first white people in this continent did to the Natives.”
Jerik nodded his agreement but didn’t bother registering an opinion. To tell the truth, he didn’t care much. That mentality was scarce in the Fire Nexus, and he was from Anchorage in any event, which had a much higher percentage of non-Natives, so the disdain was less concentrated.
“Fine, then,” Grimr said. “You’re Alaskans. I assume that applies.”
Eric nodded his consent. “As for your original question, Permafrost is what’s directly under our feet.”
He pointed at the ground. “It’s what happens when the soil never gets warm enough to properly thaw. It’s hard enough to break drills. The university actually used to have a few of the ruined drills on display as a sort of homage to the toughness of Alaskans.”
“Shame they eventually figured out how to get at the gold and oil anyway,” Jerik said. “The land might not have suffered so intensely for it.”
Eric inclined his head to indicate his agreement. Grimr didn’t miss that his face had turned toward a dour expression again. “So that’s all it is? Frozen ground?”
“Yep,” Jerik said. “Basically, it gets so cold in the winter that the summer can’t completely thaw the soil. It gets the top layer, but there’s a permanent level of frozen ground that we can’t get rid of. Makes farming nearly impossible.”
Samuel was going to be disappointed in that answer, Grimr thought. Then again, perhaps not. He wanted an answer to his question, and he’d have one now. He’d find something else to fixate on soon enough. Grimr was satisfied with the explanation and didn’t voice another question. Charlisa Ambrose didn’t give him a chance at any rate. She’d approached in the last few seconds and addressed their group directly.
“Eric, Megan, Jerik, Natal,” she said, using the name Grimr had given the others to hide his identity, “Your group’s up next.”
They rose from the ground at once. Each group had been given a half-hour break while Charlisa and the other Lieutenants worked with smaller numbers. After five days of hard work at increasing their own resistance to their Condition, it was time for a more hands-on approach. Their Lieutenants would watch them closely, marking any mistakes they were making and offer suggestions.
Nick appeared out of nowhere and joined them, standing to Eric’s left. They were formed in a circle facing outward so that they were looking directly at the Lieutenant of their Nexus. Eric hadn’t been this close to Charlisa Ambrose before. He knew that, like her husband, she wasn’t that much older than him, but she had a careworn nature to her face that seemed to put her in her mid-thirties at least. As expected, she already had her taser in hand.
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“Ready?” She asked, lifting both her arms. He nodded his acquiescence and put one of his own hands out to make contact with the one not holding the weapon. Both of them coated their bodies in lightning, and he felt her power rushing into him at an alarming rate. It was a peculiar sensation, feeling more lightning than he could produce on his own, racing through his veins and pushing his senses to the limit. Everything was a bit brighter than usual with the excess power in his system.
“Remember, keep it up as long as you can,” she said. “Try not to burn it, but contain it.”
He nodded his understanding, and she pulled her hand away from his. At once, he felt the excess charge beginning to fade, and he redoubled his efforts to retain it. It wasn’t easy, seeing as how it was yet another new sensation that he’d only had two days to memorize. But he thought he was doing fairly well and could hold that charge in for several minutes. Not that he’d have to. This wasn’t a test of endurance but of defense.
“I’ll start at the lowest setting,” she said, lifting the taser. He watched her thumb slide the dial all the way to the left, signifying minimal power, then pressed it against his chest. He could feel the sharp pain of the shock, though the intensity was reduced with all the electricity that was racing through his system. But it did force a rather large chunk of it to disperse, ripping the power out of his control.
Cursing internally, Eric tried to forcefully keep the rest in check. He imagined it the same way that magic was explained in Ahya. The lightning was a field of energy in and around his body. It would flow freely by nature, but he could exert a certain level of control over it if his willpower was strong enough. When Charlisa zapped him for a second time, he let out a sigh of relief. Less of the energy had escaped him that time, and the pain of the taser was even less noticeable.
“Good,” she said, her eyes twinkling with pride. “That was level 2. Let’s see how long you can last.”
The next two shots, he weathered moderately well. Each impact and charge of the foreign electricity robbed him of more of his precious reserves. After the third, he’d lost nearly all of the excess lightning that she had given him. The fourth shot took out the rest of it, as well as his own energy that was buzzing. Not to mention, the pain was exceptionally sharp for that last one. He watched the fifth attempt coming closer and knew that he couldn’t withstand that one.
A few minutes later, Eric regained consciousness, faintly aware of the taste of metal in his mouth. His head was throbbing painfully as if he’d gone an entire day or two without drinking. He pushed himself groggily up to a sitting position and looked around, noting that Jerik and Megan were both on their hands and knees, panting heavily. They were clearly at the very limit of their Condition, overheating and freezing by comparison.
The only two left standing were Nick and Grimr. The faces of both were set in determined lines as their Lieutenants applied more pressure, slowly wearing them down.
For Nick, he had his feet firmly placed as Kiera attempted to send him flying with a powerful gust of wind. As Eric watched, he saw the stream of hostile air growing in intensity until it was actually visible, but Nick still held his ground, maintaining his position through sheer force of will, creating a small pocket of moving air that split Kiera’s and kept him from being thrown upward.
Grimr’s situation was similar, though in reverse. He was suspended in the air by a wooden post, and trying to retain his grip on a chunk of earth in one hand. His Lieutenant, by comparison, was doing his best to wrest the material away and render him powerless. The longer they went on, the more force Huang Jiang was putting into the challenge. Grimr was putting up a good fight, but he was clearly losing.
Both capitulated without warning and so close together that Eric couldn’t tell who’d lasted the longest. With a thud hard enough to shake the ground, the materials Grimr had been holding were slammed down onto the ground. Then Nick, who had been thrown high into the sky by Kiera’s attack, guided himself back down to a gentle landing. Huang Jiang created a small pillar of stone for Grimr to put his feet on, freeing him from the wooden post that had held him airborne.
“Not bad,” Emmet Fenn, the Fire Nexus Lieutenant said. He helped Jerik back to his feet. “You lasted quite a while under that heat.”
Jerik waved his hand lightly in dismissal of the praise. “Too stubborn to give up, I guess.”
Beside them, Jose was helping Megan back to her feet, supporting her with one arm around her shoulder. “Up you go, dear. You’re frozen to the bone, aren’t you?”
Grimr hadn’t bothered rising to his feet again just yet. But Eric was surprised to see that he didn’t seem nearly as exhausted as the others. Was that due to his mastery or the tough nature of his Ancient body? But then he noticed Nick, hovering a few inches off the ground, who also looked better than he should have.
“I see you’ve noticed the difference,” Kiera said, catching Eric’s eye and grinning. “I’m holding Nick up so he can recover. That’s how effective the positive side of our Condition is.”
Emmet and Jose were bringing their juniors closer together as well, and Eric watched them trade each other off, then retreat again. Both Jerik and Megan looked confused in the extreme, until suddenly they were able to stand on their own, and looked refreshed. With her grin still firmly in place, Kiera answered Eric’s silent question. “Cold and hot, remember? Emmet is heating the air for Megan, and Jose is cooling Jerik off.”
“How do I recover?” Eric asked groggily, turning to his own Lieutenant. He caught sight of her just as she put a hand on his chest, releasing some more power into his frame. At once, his vision cleared, and the ache in his head receded. Unlike before, when he was in good form, the extra power didn’t dissipate. It coiled inside his body, quite literally shocking him back into an alert state. IT couldn’t heal all the damage of pushing himself to his limit, of course, but it abated the worst of the sensation.
“That’s enough training for today,” Charlisa said. “If you tried to do anymore, you’d just end up hurting yourself. Take the rest of the day off, and make sure you get enough sleep tonight.”
She returned to the rest of the tired Nexians then, followed by her fellow Lieutenants. Eric made to follow, joined by both Grimr and Megan. It was a few seconds before they realized that Jerik and Nick weren’t following, and turned back.
“We’ll be there in a bit,” Jerik said, one arm around Nick’s shoulders. “Just want to catch up. Haven’t really seen him in a few years, you know.”
Grimr nodded, turning away again. Megan too seemed to accept the reply as normal, but Eric lingered for a few seconds longer, watching the pair walk away. Something about Jerik’s cheerful and flippant attitude had registered as… odd. Eric couldn’t quite put a finger on why, but something about that exchange rang as false in his mind. Then he shrugged. Even if he wanted to, there was no way to satisfy the instinct. Not without being rude, at least. So he turned on his heel and followed his friends to the mess hall and whatever excellent dinner was awaiting them.
Jerik glanced over his shoulder just as Eric disappeared through the door of the mess hall. The smile was gone now, and he watched the fighter step out of sight with a deadpan gaze. Nick pulled free from under his arm and took a step back, his expression interested but cautious.
“I knew it,” he said. “You’re lying to them. Why? I thought you came back to Earth to take away the Nexus powers.”
“I did,” Jerik agreed. “But now that I have them, I like them.”
“Do you think that they suspect you?”
Jerik shook his head definitely. With the exception of Eric, he was certain the others had no clue. “I only recently changed my mind, after all. Hearing Grimr talk about the Nexuses as if they were a curse pissed me off.”
“In so far as you can be angry,” Nick commented. “I remembered that you have sociopathy. That’s how I knew you were up to something when you acted so friendly.”
Jerik smirked slightly. “I knew you’d pick up on that. But even if Grimr suspects me, he can’t do anything. He doesn’t have access to his Ancient powers here on Earth.”
“He’ll still be an enemy,” Nick pointed out. “You’ll have to face him eventually if you want to foil their mission.”
“That’s fine,” Jerik said, waving a hand. “Here, he’s just a normal person. I can handle him.”
“What of Eric and Megan?”
“Nothing against the Menorans,” Jerik said with a snort of laughter. “Or the thousands of monsters we faced off against, you know what I mean?”
Nick nodded. “I had a feeling you wouldn’t stand for their mission. To be honest, I expected you to turn against them sooner. But I suppose you’ve had your hands full. So what’s the plan?”
Jerik looked at him in silence for a second or two. At first, his expression was one of suspicion. But it faded as he realized that his old comrade wasn’t trying to deceive him. “How can you agree so readily? You have no idea what I have in mind, do you?”
“Doesn’t matter,” Nick said roughly. “I might be a member of the Air Nexus, but you’re my General. Always have been, and always will be.”
Jerik accepted his declaration without hesitation. “Thought you might. I’ll be glad to have you at my back. For now, let’s keep this quiet. Keep training and get stronger. We’ll act when they do.”
Nick nodded. “IS that really all you wanted to say? We didn’t have to hang back just for this.”
At that, Jerik grinned, a rare show of genuine emotion for him. “I’m not just interested in recruiting you. It has been a long time since Menora, after all. I want to hear what you’ve been up to.”