Chapter 6: The Truth and Chaos
"You!" exclaimed Ned. "Your eyes."
Both Connor and Alexia seemed pretty shocked as well.
"What's happening, it's happening to your eyes as well," said Connor stepping forward and Tom sighed.
"Well earlier Ned you said you don't how to explain," said Tom. "Now, I don't know where to start either, it's so complicated."
"Just the truth would be fine," said Ned. "I have no idea what's happening with myself and I don't like it."
"It would've been more fortunate if I was given more time," said Tom as he gazed up at the sky.
"What is going?" asked Alexia. "I'd like to know as well and you seem to know all the answers."
"Well Ned, Connor and… I don't know what your name is?" said Tom looking at Alexia.
"Alexia…Hailing, that's my name," said Alexia and Tom looked surprised.
"You're Genevieve's daughter?" asked Tom and this time it was Alexia's turn to look surprised.
"You know my mother?" she asked but Tom shook his head.
"Not personally, no."
Connor and Ned feeling like the odd one out of this conversation looked back and forth as Tom and Alexia traded speech and finally Ned interrupted.
"Tom, you were going to explain to us about all this," said Ned prompting him.
"Right," said Tom. "Well since you don't know anything about what's happening now, let's start with what you know…"
At this Ned, Connor and Alexia paid close attention.
"Do you know of the mythology of gods?" asked Tom surprising all of them. "Like Norse, Greco-Roman, Egyptian, Celtic etc."
"I know some stuff," said Connor nodding. "Just some names and all."
"Well aside from what you just spoke and what I've seen in movies and all I know nothing," said Ned.
"Well that's a start Ned," said Tom. "Look our ancestors, the Ancient Greeks and Romans, Vikings and all they worshipped these beings like gods from them the various mythologies spouted and new worlds begin to form and right now these're considered false beliefs but every tale has a beginning does it not."
"I don't get what you're getting at," said Ned frowning.
"I think what he means is that every falsity has an ounce of truth behind it," said Alexia. "But to think that gods like those are real, that's a bit far-fetched isn't it uh… Mr. Tom."
"Please call me Tom, no need for any honorifics," said Tom. "But yeah to think that such things exist in this day and age is far-fetched, because we've expanded our own capacity for miracles and those being worshipped as gods were not gods anyhow, though it is true they stand above us."
"You mean those things exist?" asked a shocked Connor still disbelievingly.
"That's utter bullshit," said Ned but he still couldn't help but believe a little.
"Is it really Ned, what you can do," said Tom and then he in turn looked at Connor and Alexia. "What I suspect they can do as well… it might be hard to believe but they really do exist, but they are not by any definition of the word gods but they do possess far more power than we ever have."
"Well… I can't say I believe you completely," said Alexia. "But maybe a little but what does that even have anything to do with what Ned and Connor can do."
"These beings they exist on a plane far higher than ours, they make different civilization to ours, they wield more powers than us, they are far more powerful than we could even ever dream off but they like us are a creation, maybe even human to some extents," said Tom. "Now that I believe that you believe a certain extend of this, let's get to the point of how you became like this…"
"I still don't believe this," said Connor but Ned shook his head.
"I kind of do," said Ned. "The more ridiculous it sounds the more plausible it becomes."
"Are you kidding me," said Connor. "This is not plausible at all, this is the exact opposite plausible, this is implausible."
"Keep quiet for a second," said Alexia to Connor. "He's still getting to the part about how what's happening now."
"No, no please talk, sort it out, if that makes this more believable then so be it," said Tom nodding to them.
"No, it's fine, we're done, please explain further," said Alexia giving Connor an evil eye much similar to what Kathleen threatened him with this morning.
"Fine, ok I'll continue," said Tom looking at the three of them carefully. "I have reason to believe, no rather, I know that something devastating happened in that realm of beings, something so bad and all of them in that plane were I am guessing going to be killed but instead of that, they performed a piece of magic, no it can't really be called magic on their world, it might be similar to how our technology is a sort of magic to people who don't know about it but what happened then is the most unbelievable thing of all, they came across planes into our planes in separate ectoplasms of powers and right now they're in each of us, or rather we host them."
"That…" started Ned but he couldn't continue, he didn't know where to continue, it was absolute ludicrous and he didn't even know what ectoplasm meant.
"It's absolutely ridiculous," said Connor but his face showed otherwise.
"I'm tempted to agree with Connor in this case but what Tom just said explains what you did," said Alexia looking at Ned and then she looked at Tom. "So then what you're saying is we possess these higher beings' powers but it is temporary and by 'us' how many possess these powers."
Ned looked amazed at Alexia, she was certainly taking this calm and Connor seemed to be repeating the word impossible over and over again with such conviction that he might've though if he said it enough times it might become impossible.
Tom too looked amazed at Alexia calm appearance. "I don't exactly know how many possesses these powers but the beings that transfer their powers onto a human have to be similar to the human's own personality and I can also safely so only the people on this island have access to these powers and as for further I can't explain why but yes we do possess their powers, and Ms. Hailing yours appear to not have awakened yet."
"I have them as well?" asked Alexia taken aback.
"Sure you do, you saw it too right," said Tom. "The visions are the first stage and then when the powers bond with your physical body you're bound to feel a little sick, or even pain, Ned's and Connor's have already bonded but yours appear to be taking its time."
"What about yours?" asked Ned. "When did yours bond or whatever and did you get these visions as well."
"Mine is a little different," said Tom scratching his disheveled hair. "It was under slightly different circumstances for me."
"Can you explain further?" asked Ned, he felt a little relieved, he didn't know why, perhaps it was the fact that he wasn't trying to walk around blindly in the dark anymore.
Connor seemed to have finally given up on saying impossible and looked up very pale.
"You still haven't answered whether its temporary or not," said Connor.
"Right now, its temporary but I can't say how long that temporary goes for, but yes one day these powers will most definitely disappear from this world, I just can't say when, rather I don't know when," said Tom.
"Wow, yeah, that…" started Connor but he was lost for words similar to Ned. "I mean it should be nice and all but I get the feeling this isn't done, what about that thing that happened with their realm, that great devastation."
"It was caused by a single being," said Tom shivering all of a sudden. "The entire plane they lived in was turned into darkness, but I don't know any further than that, or rather the one I'm hosting doesn't allow me see any further than that."
"So if these are gods of the various mythologies then they should all have names shouldn't they?" asked Alexia and Ned nodded at this.
"Yes they do," said Tom. "Ned, you host the Baldur the Golden Son, the being's death that singly started the second Ragnarok and Connor, you host Hermes the Light Fingered, thief and traveler and as for Alexia she hasn't awoke yet so I don't know."
"How do you know this?" asked Ned. "Is it just a guess or are you thorough."
"It's one of my powers," said Tom. "I'm host to a god that hungers for information, his eyes can profile a human so thoroughly so yes I am thorough."
Ned suddenly felt vulnerable when Tom looked at him again.
"I know Hermes is in Greek mythology so you say I host a god of thieves," said Connor slightly upset.
"Not just thieves but also travelers," said Tom noticing the upset look that Connor had.
"This Baldur guy, what's he like?" asked Ned. "I mean is there anything I should be aware of besides super strength?"
"Your information is slightly harder to profile Ned, Baldur's golden radiance blocks my eyes, but I can still see a little and as for your powers I can't really say," said Tom. "I'm new to this as well, though I may be slightly more experienced than you are."
"Wow this morning when I got up I wasn't expecting this," said Ned sighing as he too sat down, he just needed a little time to process this.
"Well it is at this time I would offer you refreshments but…" Tom looked apologetically at Ned and nodded at the shop.
"No…no need for anything, I'll feel fine in a second," said Ned. "But since this is my power now, sort of, can I control it?"
"Yes you can and there is so much more you need to know so keep everything under wraps for now," said Tom. "Damn it if only my shop wasn't destroyed."
Ned suddenly thought of the symbol on his back, it was when Tom mentioned his shop he remembered it again, whenever his eyes turned golden his back around that tattoo also slightly heated up.
"I have just one more question," said Ned suddenly getting up and he unbuttoned his shirt and Tom took a step back.
He pushed his shirt down and revealed to Tom the tattoo of the arrow on his back. "I don't know if this has any relation to what you just said but it isn't just an arrow, I can feel that much and I certainly didn't tattoo this."
Tom looked closer and he gasped and took a step back making Ned very nervous. "What is it, did something bad happen, is that not supposed to exist."
"Of course," said Tom and this left Ned in a direr situation and he was feeling very anxious. "I was wondering why, Baldur's golden radiance shouldn't be able to so completely block out Odr's eyes of truth but this makes sense now."
"What is it?" asked Ned again. "Is it dangerous or something?"
"No, no, it isn't dangerous," said Tom. "Quite the opposite in fact, that's a rune Ned, to be more specific the rune of Tyr, Tiwaz, the war rune, you see most mythologies or sources don't mention this but Tyr was the first All-Father, King of Norse Gods, both Vanir and Aesir bend to this will and then after the first Ragnarok he lost importance and Odin took his place as the second All-Father and I'm merely guessing here but the third All-Father after the second Ragnarok cycle should be your god."
"Wow, so it isn't dangerous," said Ned and his spirits rose. "Does that mean that this Baldur character I host is really powerful."
Connor scowled to the side. "He gets a bloody All-Father, whatever it is and I get the god of thieves."
"Well you got what you deserved," said Alexia pointedly and both Ned and Tom chuckled.
Connor stood up slightly enraged. "What's that supposed to mean, I have stolen very little things from the day I was born to now, I mean sure I might've stolen some things, or borrowed but why did I end up hosting the god of thieves, I'm sure his personality is not similar to mine, can this egg-to-plastic thing make mistakes?"
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"It's called ectoplasm Connor and it could be used as another term for a ghost," said Tom and Connor suddenly stood up aware.
"Ghosts you say," he said warily. "They're not the creepy type on those horror movies and shows are they?"
"No, well most aren't but still there are some," said Tom and it seemed to be an attempt to provoke a reaction from Connor who already seemed slightly scared.
"They can attack you in the middle of the night and all?" said Connor looking around this time very warily.
"Why would they even attack you," said Alexia. "At the rate you're going all they would need to do is show themselves and you would possibly die of a heart attack."
"Alright that's it," said Connor stopping his wary looks and staring straight at Alexia. "What've you got against me?'
"Nothing," said Alexia shrugging and she got up and then she asked Tom. "This island shaking, does it have anything to do with what you just said?"
"It shouldn't," said Tom. "But then again I can't be sure."
"Ok I'm going," said Alexia. "Are you boys coming?"
"Going where?" asked Ned still trying to comprehend everything that had just transpired.
"Well I need to get to school, unlike you other people actually notice when I'm gone," said Alexia and Connor gritted his teeth.
"Well people notice when I'm gone as well," said Connor trying very hard to hold back from possibly punching her.
"I agree," said Alexia leaving Connor with a disgruntled expression that couldn't be used. "So are you coming or not."
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Just then they heard the rolling of wheels, it wasn't a car and there were more than one.
"The Blastboarders Gang?" said Connor not understanding what was happening.
"They must've pulled a fast one like us when the quake happened," said Ned sighing as he looked at them.
The tall lanky dude that appeared to be the leader rode past them without paying a glance and the other followed. The one taking the rear end was a tanned buff boy that both Ned and Connor knew. It was Kevin Erickson and he seemed to be having trouble keeping up.
"Why would a dude that muscled up ride a board," said Connor shaking his head. "He doesn't even fit in."
"No, he does," said Tom suddenly surprising all of them.
They all looked at him and he shrugged. "They all host gods, I just read their information when they rode past, all of them thunder or sky gods and that tanned boy whom I assume you were looking at is also a sky god Horus, Egyptian mythology, he might be comparable to you Ned."
"Wait did you say all of them host gods?" asked Connor shocked and he really did seem pretty shaken.
"What's wrong?" asked Ned standing up.
"Well think of the damage they cause when they're just normal people," said Connor and he shuddered as he said the next part. "Now think of the damage they could cause and every single one of them hosts a good."
Alexia herself seemed pretty concerned as Connor said and Ned thought about it, several teenagers part of a destructive gang all wielding godly powers, it wasn't just going to end in disaster, there could very well be lives put in danger.
"Are they that dangerous?" asked Tom and he seemed fairly concerned as well.
"Well there was this house at the end of our street," said Connor looking at Ned and he suddenly remembered. "This gang went there and that tall dude that rides as the leader, he felt a little insulted because of an old lady that lived there and next day the old lady went out shopping and when she came back, what she found wasn't her house but a spray painted wreck, a mash of wood and bricks."
"My god," said Tom and he looked slightly frightened. "Surely they wouldn't do something like that again and they've all awakened too, this could be a disaster."
"No perhaps more than that," said Connor.
"This isn't going to end well for anyone who gets on their wrong side," said Ned.
"What about the police, perhaps we should inform them," said Alexia and she seemed very concerned now.
"Tell them what?" asked Connor. "They host gods now and we suspect they could do some real damage to the community using their new powers so please stop them, besides would the police even be able to stop them?"
"Oh no, that's not good what now?" asked Tom and he genuinely felt anxiety, a group of teenagers running around abusing their god-given powers was the last thing this artificial island needed.
"I don't suppose there are any peaceful gods in their haggle, like maybe god of grass or something, I mean grass is pretty peaceful isn't it," said Connor hopefully as he looked at the ashen Tom.
"No, they're all gods of thunder or sky, all highly destructive gods, if they went on a rampage we'd all be in trouble," said Tom.
"Well, I still haven't got anything so don't even bother asking me to do anything," said Alexia as a matter of factly.
"We can't really do anything to them directly that'd get us in trouble," said Ned and he was looking scared as well.
"Well this is brilliant," said Connor nodding. "I was thinking that this was a very amazing situation and all, I mean we've got all these great godly powers and all but it's funny isn't how a situation just turns on its head in a matter of seconds."
"Well, I wouldn't worry about it yet," said Tom unconvincingly. "They're not all psychotic are they?"
"No, not all of them," said Connor. "But enough to make a mess of Hailing Isle I'd wager."
"It doesn't matter, nothing's started yet," said Ned sighing. "We can't really worry about things that could possibly appear, we don't even know the extent of this situation and so we can't deal with it yet."
"Well put," said Tom smiling. "By the way didn't you guys have school or did they let you off because of the quake."
"No, we were under an evacuation drill," said Alexia and she looked pointedly at Ned. "Until someone decided he couldn't wait to come here and ask what the hell was going on."
"I wasn't the only one who was interested in this," said Ned trying to defend himself.
"Yeah but you were the only one desperate enough," said Connor chuckling.
"Fine, I admit I was a little desperate," said Ned. "But I was freaking out seriously, I had no idea what was going on."
The information they had just been filled with needed probably several hours, if not a day to process. Ned needed do some thinking to himself, some severely serious thinking.
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It was a destroyed house, the property was to be pulled down any day now and to be rebuilt again. The reason it was coming down was not because of any natural reasons such as old house, or other imperfections but rather the Blastboarders had made this their gathering. They had ruined this house for that sole intention and now this was coming down. Inside the house currently resided all the Blastboarders and their leader a lanky, tall boy named Jeremiah, he had a very peculiar face and a scar just to side of his right eye and when he smiled, it twisted the scar up and his face looked cruel beyond recognition and if one paid close attention they could see several of his teeth had lost their homes in his mouth. Jeremiah had created the Blastboarders, a gang free of all natural law and order, the police and other authorities, it was a paradise meant for him and slowly that paradise extended. Jeremiah sat on a red torn couch inside the broken house, it was the only one of its kind in the house and the rest of his gang either stood or sat on old chairs. He was cackling madly as Kevin Erickson was trying to say something to him.
"Jeremiah, we've always worked outside everyone's controls, that's what you said our policy was," said Kevin. "It's why the Blastboarders exist."
Jeremiah cackled madly and then turned his insane eyes at Kevin and he shivered. "Policy, really, I made the policy Erickson and besides me and The Echo have similar ideas for this island so it's not that I'm being controlled or obeyed, it's a mutual partnership."
The Echo, that was the topic of their discussion. It was maybe a few weeks ago that Jeremiah came to them with orders from a new boss above him. Jeremiah didn't point him out as the controlling figure yet from what they've done to what this 'Echo' character had said anyone could see that Jeremiah was being controlled by this mysterious character. It was there all black and white. Kevin Erickson had disagreed from working with the 'Echo' in the first place however Jeremiah had put his foot down and most of the Blastboarders were too afraid of Jeremiah and sided with him and there were few in the gang like Kevin and most of them didn't bother to speak up, because they couldn't really be bothered but Kevin did. He felt unnaturally homely here with the gang and he had a feeling that now the gang was heading down a bad path and he had try his best to stop this from happening. The Echo, that was the entire reason behind this mess. The Echo was the reason they attacked the old English teacher at H.I.P.S on her way back from school and put her in a hospital and though no one had been able to track this back the Blastboarders and Kevin felt unusually guilty.
"We shouldn't take orders from this Echo or whatever," said Kevin strongly. "We are a group of our own, we need to stand for our own beliefs and not do what some voice is telling us."
"Kevin, you'd better watch what you say," said Jeremiah his cackling face suddenly disappearing to be replaced with a frightening expression however Kevin didn't fear him. "You are only a member of this gang, I'm the leader."
"That's why I'm telling you, this partnership, if it is even that, with this new character, we need to cut it off," said Kevin. "We don't even know who it is, we don't know what he's capable of."
Jeremiah got up of his couch and he looked around scowling. "You'll all stay here, right here, I know what he's capable of and I know what I'm capable of, this is a good for both us and them and if anyone leaves I'll cut them down."
Jeremiah took out his switchblade as he said so and at that moment a clear shining blue hue passed through his eyes along with a trace of lightning, it wasn't seen by anyone else but Kevin who facing Jeremiah directly saw it.
"Jeremiah, I'm begging you, reconsider," said Kevin pleading again and Jeremiah walked down to him twirling the switchblade between his fingers.
"There's no need to be scared Erickson," cackled Jeremiah. "Please feel free to wet your damn pants."
Kevin looked angry for a moment. "I'm saying this for your own good."
Just then Kevin felt a sharp pain to side of his stomach and he gasped. He looked down and he saw a most horrendous and unbelievable sight. Jeremiah's switchblade was sticking out of his stomach's side and the shirt he was wearing was slowly wetting itself in red. He hadn't thought Jeremiah would actually do it, attacking a member of his own gang.
"No one needs to say anything for my good, Erickson," said Jeremiah and grimaced as he twisted the switchblade making Kevin gasp further audibly in pain. "No one gives me orders; no one should even attempt to it."
Jeremiah pulled out the switchblade and Kevin collapsed and the blood hue that circled around his shirt spilled onto the floor and he clutched his found trying not to pass out from the pain. The last thing he saw was that familiar shining blue hue passing through Jeremiah's eyes and the spark of lightning and then he lost consciousness.