THE SINGLE LIGHTNING ELEMENTAL MAGUS

By J. TNANGA

Chapter 5: The truth.....

I couldn’t see anything. No matter where I turn my head, there was nothing but darkness. I found myself in a dark endless space, floating in mid-air. I could go anywhere, but I could not see anything. It felt empty, old, even ancient at times. There was this feeling of misery and loneliness but also of duty and will.

“Welcome to my mind palace, Lear-Bane” said the older version of myself. “I am glad you made it hear un-harm”

“Wait….was there a possibility that I could have gotten hurt?” I asked slowly trying to keep my guards up with this guy.

“….......”

“So, there was no way I could have gotten hurt, right??” I repeated again.

“………no……not…hurt…..maybe….dead??.....” said the older version of myself. “Anyway, glad that you are here, let’s get to business”

“Don’t try to change the subject!!!” I yelled. “I know what you are trying to do. You are trying to torture me until I give up this championship”

“No, not quite” the older me said.

“Yeah, and you are trying to scare me to death as well” I continued.

“No” said the older me softly as if he was anti-social.

“Then, why did you bring me to your mind palace, as you called it?” I asked

“We shall merge” he said.

Before I even had time to react, he grabbed my head, then memories begin to fill my mind.

My name is Lear-Bane H. Selverbern. I was born on a particular summer day, just like any other summer. I was born two weeks later than the doctors thought I would be born, but that wasn’t too rare. I remember when the doctors took me out of my mother’s womb, and handed me to my mother. I remember the feeling of comfort as my mother held me with her arms, and held me so closely as if I was a bird and she was afraid I was going to suddenly try to fly.

I remember then, that a dark clothed man came into the hospital room where I was. His ethereal energy was gathering in his hands, and I awoke completely. I turned my small head and looked at the man that just killed the doctors that were there. He looked at me and I looked at him. I saw malice in his eyes, and death radiating from him.

I knew he’ll kill my parents that had no magic and he would take me. I knew I had to protect them, but I was just born, I couldn’t exactly do anything. The man then walked closer to my terrified parents, and knowing he was going to murder them, I opened a teleportation portal and using all the strength I could muster tried to get inside.

My parents were confused, a man wearing all black with a mask in his face hiding his identity, came out of nowhere and started to attack us, then out of nowhere a purple circle of massive ethereal energy came in front of them, they didn’t know what to make of it.

My parents didn’t know whether the man that was trying to kill them was the same man that opened the portal, or if it was someone else, but at any rate, my parents decided even if they died, they would give me a chance of survival. They started to throw anything they could grab and throw it at the man. But the man was too strong.

He merely used magic to destroy any objects that were sent flying at his directions. And even those he didn’t have time to use magic for, he merely dodges and block. The man was smiling now, and his smile was wicked.

“After all this time, I have finally found you at last and even though you are just one of them, I will find the rest, really soon, then it would be complete” said the man with laughter and madness in his voice.

The man then approaches us, and my parents with sudden desperation and even with the wounds and their bloody shirts from the cuts they attained from the man’s dark magic, threw me into the portal with tears and blood.

“I hope we did the right thing, hopefully that ethereal gate will take you to a better place”

“What? What did you do?” yelled the man with a loud voice, as if this is the first time he noticed the portal. “But it doesn’t matter, I still left my dark trace in that child, it doesn’t matter where he goes, as long as I still exist, I will find him, for I can find anyone with my dark magic trace and can control them”

The man then in a furry that his plan so far had come to a miscalculation, killed the two married couple that were trying to save the child and left.

Since I was thrown into the portal I could only hear half of what my father said about doing the right thing by sending me in the gate. That’s when I came to this world. When I went into the portal, it brought me in front a house. It was early morning at that time, so naturally, at such a time, people will be leaving for work, a man that looks exactly like my father.

(No, to exact, it was my father) opened the door to make way to go to work, leaving home, but the moment he looked at the ground, there I was.

“What in the world?” said the man. “What is a baby doing here? Did someone just leave a baby in front of our doorsteps? What is wrong with me people? Now, what should I be doing? The police, right?”

The man then took me in. After he called his wife (That looks exactly like my mother) and explains everything, they called the Magus Police. When they came, they brought to see a doctor and the doctor said according to DNA results that is your son, Mr. and Mrs. Selverbern.

 “I am not sure as well” said the doctor. “But he has a 99.9% match, it is a fact that this child is the son of the both of you”

After many more conversations took place at the hospital, my parents decided to adopt me into their family (Technically I was already a part of their family, but let’s leave it at that). So, they adopted me and named me Lear-Bane.

I was raised properly and my parents loved me. I had everything a good child would need, but my heart just wasn’t in it.

“I still lack the understanding of what happened that night, maybe it was my imagination, but I hardly doubt that” I thought. “Then, what happened?”

I begin to try to comprehend my powers even though I was only three years old at the time. While I thought I was narrowing to the most likely possible explanation of my powers, something that brought great joy happened. My mother was pregnant.

We celebrate the new baby’s arrival, and this time it is a girl. I was overjoyed to have a little sister in the house. I was helping my mother decide a name for her. My family and I have been closer. Soon, the day came, and my little sister was born. That day was the happiest and saddest day of my life, for the day my sister was born is also the same day that………….

As more and more memories flooded my mind, I opened my eyes to notice that the other man-the other me- was no longer standing there. He had disappeared. In fact, I should not say he disappear more like he was originally me and merely went back…….

As the memory current starts to slow down and came to a complete stop, tears filled my eyes and fell down, times and times again. I felt a sadness I didn’t even know existed, a sadness so heartbreaking that I felt like the pain was too much and it needed to stop. I felt sadness just pure sadness, a sadness so strong that thoughts about committing suicide came but I know I couldn’t and that I had promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep. My sense of duty came back, and the inner struggle of sadness and pain and duty came back to me (or to be exact, it was always there I just didn’t notice it until now).

My sense of duty is telling me to be strong and to continue my mission, but my sadness makes me want to give up, makes me want to avoid anyone and everyone, the pain that it brings make me want to kill everyone that crosses my path………and my loneliness ever grew exponentially…….and I realized the malice of this world, the deaths that surrounds people……….and I came to recognized just how much people love control and power, how much they would do and give to have such a key………..

After what felt an eternity of mental suffering and pain, but was actually 3 hours, my sense of control came back slowly and slowly. I finally understood everything……I also realized how the way I was treating myself (The older version of me) was wrong after everything he (I) went through. After, I finally had the courage to control myself, I clean the tears away from my face and tried to stay strong. After a couple of minutes, I got up and left this dark space.

I found myself laying in the cold ground on my stomach. As soon as I got up, I sensed the presence of two individuals (Darwin & Darla) approaching. (I didn’t used any magic spells; I just knew what direction they were going to come). I got up and sat down on the ground, and patiently waited for them to come. I just had a feeling that it would take them 5 minutes or so before they finally arrive.

“Ha!! We got you now, you punk, that’s what you get for messing with us” said Darwin. “You are so dead”

“Seems like the rumors were true about your personality” I said with complete seriousness. “Well, then, be a good sport and die then”

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“What-----?” Darwin started to say but was suddenly unable to finish his sentence, as if something huge was holding him in place with humongous strength. His eyes widen in fear, he started to breath harder and harder, then he turned to dust, slowly but surely. And in less than 5 seconds, there was no Darwin to be seen any longer, just a pile of dust and the clothes he was wearing, where he should have been.

“What did you do to my brother?” asked Darla with a loud voice, as she comes out of invisibility.

“….Nothing really, just did what he was going to do to me” I said with a serious face, like that was all there is to it, nothing more nothing less. It was just death; death is the same for everyone.

“What? What kind of spell was that? No, not even, what kind of elemental was that? Stay away from me” yelled Darla, as she got on her guard and turn invisible.

“……Really,…….. turning invisible and pretending you are running away even though you are slowly approaching me to slit my throat with that knife you are currently holding in your hands right now?”

“?????!!!!”

“small talk’s over” I said with a casual attitude, as if I was no longer interested in conversing with her, as if I lost complete interest in her. “Just die, ok? I have things to do”

Without even realizing anything, Darla jumps towards me and leap to my location, trying to slice my throat, but before she could even get to slitting throat distance, she was unable to move. And just like her twin brother, she died as well.

“Well, now this is over, time for me to do some things” I thought. “Maybe I should really start to use my lightning ability and test it to its limit”

“Maybe I should mind-control anyone in a 120 kilometers, and make them use their magic on themselves, just not to kill them, but make them unable to participate in this All-Stars anymore” I wonder. “Will I get points for that”

“Technically, no one knows I have lightning elemental magic” I thought. “And now that the guy that have death elemental is gone even though he was right next to me, and I suddenly look like I gone from 15-year-old to 18-year-old in an instant, and my face looks even more closer to the death guy, I will have a lot of explanations to answer to”

“When the merge happened, I grew taller, my hair is also longer, it reached all the way to my shoulders now” I thought. “I feel stronger and I now have death magic (Not that I didn’t have it before, merely……..)”

“Everything makes sense, I understand everything now, so this is what has been going on for all those years…..” I murmured out loud, and without a second to waste, I ran so fast I was nothing but a blurred and arrived at a battlefield of about 50 combatants.

With everyone on the battling with each other, and I even noticed a couple martial artists, I decided to join this fight.

“Martial Artists participating in All-Stars, what are the odds of that? Even though, some mages know martial arts, why would they bother to use it when they can kill someone with just a spell?” I murmured out loud to myself.

While murmuring to myself out loud like a crazy person, one of the combatants that was knocked out during a previous fight when I wasn’t there, got up from laying in the ground, and notice me. He then grabbed his staff and started chanting a very powerful earth-elemental spell at me.

Unfortunately for the guy, I can now sense the presence of everyone in my vicinity, and even if I didn’t have such a power, I could have easily realized someone was using earth elemental magic to attack me. How do I know? Well, I can feel the ground underneath me moving. Seems to me, the attacker is making some quicksand under my feet, guess he didn’t realize I can shoot lightning or kill him with just a word, but whatever.

As the ground underneath me open up and revealing a big whole big enough for a person to fall into, I pretend that I never notice the person that use the spell and I pretend I am falling in the quicksand inside the whole, and right when the opponent let his guard down, thinking he got me, I jumped out of the whole. (Only it looks like I jump, I actually flew up using lightning).

“What? How can someone jump so high, the whole was at least a couple of meters deep” said the earth-elemental mage.

“Oh, it wasn’t that deep” I said casually. “You should have made one bigger, or maybe even better, you should go back to earth-elementary school?”

“Curse you” said the man.

“Well, don’t mind if I do” I said with my smile disappearing and a gigantic bolt of lightning summoned from the sky came crashing down on my opponent.

“That’s what you get for saying curse you to lightning” I murmured. “And I thought everyone was afraid of lightning, seems we have a man among us. Now, what should I do with the rest of those people? Kill them? Let them live? Make them kill themselves with their own magic? Or better yet, turned all of them to dust? So, many options, should I electrocute them (I never tried it before, seems interesting enough)?”

I then created a portal and went through. In less than the time it takes you to blink, I found myself exiting the portal in the middle of the numerous numbers of people that are battling, with magic spells being thrown left and right and me in the middle with a bright smile in his face.

“Seems like fun, guys, let me join too!!!” I said out loud for everyone to hear. “I currently have anger issues and my therapist isn’t here with me right now, and you-know-what-they-say, taking your anger out on the world is the best medicine”

“Who the hell are you?” said one rather rude guy with one of the world’s ugliest mustache, on my right. “Get the f- out of here”

“And what if I say no?”

“Just die”

“I don’t think that’s possible”

“Why is that, huh, punk” said the ugly mustache man, as he sent 4 different magic spells of water, fire, dark, and wind at me.

“It’s just that you’ll die first” I said as I suddenly appear behind him.

The 4 different spells then went hit four different other magicians that were fighting someone else and didn’t notice a spell behind them. All 4 magicians fell to the ground (I can just tell that 2 of them are dead, the other two is just knocked out).

“How the hell did you do that?” asked the ugly mustache man, as more and more people stopped fighting to look in my direction and starts to stare at me.

“Well, let me show you what element I just used to run so fast just now” I said with a wicked smile appearing in my face. 

“I definitely think you are going to enjoy this”

Before anyone knew what hit them, a strong wave of electricity hit their body. They all started to tremble and wiggle around and around as they scream in pain.

“Oops” I said. “I forgot I am not a sadist guy, just have anger issue”

I stopped my lightning attack, but seems that it was too late, about 80% of them have already died. The other 20% won’t be continuing any battles in this All-Stars again, at least that’s for sure.

The distant combatants from far far away:

“What was that gigantic energy wave just now?” asked Marcus. “That was huge”

“Probably Darwin & Darla, don’t you think?” asked Lordandy.

“No, I don’t think so…..this felt different” answered Orcantz. “But anyway, no matter who it is, no one can survive the technique I learn and I went through hell to get it, I specifically got it to utilizes on the big three rarest”

“Oh, really? I want to see it” said Orland excitedly. “Please show it to us”

“Ahh, why ruined the fun, and we have finally been reunited after so long” said Orcantz. “We should enjoy ourselves and go to the other battlefields”

“Yeah, you are right, Why waste time? Let’s kill a couple more people and then order food” said Lordandy.

“Yeah, I feeling a bit sleepy, a little exercise would be just what I need” said Marcus. “And stop grinning like that, Orland, Lordandy”

“If we continue east, I think we’ll find more people” said Orcantz.

“Oh, right, did you find out where the life miss is hiding?” asked Marcus.

“Kind of, since the game started she been in hiding, I think she is going from battlefield to battlefield and killing the small fries that are already weakened from countless fights. We should find her if we go here”

“I see” said Marcus. “Did anything awesome happened while you were fighting?”

“Not really” started Orcantz but then stopping immediately as he remembers something. “Oh, right, there was this guy I killed, I kept on torturing him with my darkness elemental magic, he was crying in pain, there was even snots coming from his face and everything man, by the time I was done with him, he was begging me to end his life, LOL”

“Wow” said Marcus as he gulped a little. “Sounds like something you would do”

“And that’s not even the best part, he only lasted a couple of minutes before he begged me to end his life” laugh Orcantz and everyone with the small exception, Marcus looks like he was faking his laugh a little.