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Vast: The Crusaders
Chapter 12 - The Burning Sensation

Chapter 12 - The Burning Sensation

The fifth floor boasted the greatest amount of resources among the lower floors. They had the largest number of facilities, such as training rooms with training droids, an array of workout equipment, and an extensive library with books on essence and its applications.

Kenneth walked down a hallway, making his way towards a training room. He had already finished his classes for the day, and wanted to get in some extra practice before heading back to his cell.

But he wasn’t alone. Many of the other floor five inmates were doing the same as him, all rushing towards the training rooms.

The announcement for the gauntlet had been made earlier that morning. Kenneth was one of the many people that had signed up to take part. And based on how many others were here, he could tell that the entire floor had signed up for it.

He wondered why Owen Walters would even ask for something like this. To him, this was going to be the easiest way for him to climb up to floor six.

"I’ve been on this floor for two years, I never imagined I would be able to reach floor six by doing something ridiculous like this."

Kenneth pushed open the door to a training room, and stepped inside. The room was large, with a high ceiling. Its white walls were clean, and the floor was smooth. At the back of the room sat several training droids, each spaced out from the other.

There were already some people inside, including a teen girl he recognized. She had light brown hair, which she wore in a ponytail. The top half of her grey jumpsuit, had been tied around her waist, revealing her white shirt.

She was fighting against a droid, and was easily overpowering it. With her speed and strength, she landed several devastating blows on the droid, disabling it. She stopped fighting as soon as it fell to the ground. With deep breaths, she wiped the sweat off her brow.

"That was amazing," Kenneth said as he approached her.

She turned her head and looked at him. A frown formed on her face, "What do you want Kenneth?"

"I was just coming to train, but I saw you over here and wanted to say hello."

The girl rolled her eyes. She knew about the shady business that Kenneth had going on with his group. She wanted nothing to do with him or his 'gang'.

Kenneth noticed her attitude, and spoke to her once more. "Hannah, have you signed up for the gauntlet?"

Hannah crossed her arms, "No. I’m not like you guys, I won’t throw away my pride as a martial artist to gang up on one person."

Kenneth frowned at her words. He considered her to be the strongest person on floor five after himself and Jason. With her martial arts insignia, she was a force to be reckoned with.

Kenneth had wanted her to join his group, but she had refused every single time he asked her.

"I see..." he replied. "Your pride is more important to you than your family, huh?"

Hannah's eyes narrowed at his words. "What are you trying to say?"

"I remember hearing that you have a younger brother. I wonder how he would feel if he knew that his older sister, abandoned a path closer to freedom just because of her 'pride'."

Hannah clenched her fists tightly, and glared at him. "Don't talk about my brother. You know nothing about him."

Kenneth shrugged his shoulders, and held out his hands. "Hey, I'm just saying. Maybe you should reconsider. You’ll regret wasting this rare chance."

Hannah gritted her teeth, unable to reply to his words. She was stuck. Maybe he was right.

Kenneth reached into his back pocket, and pulled out a small pouch. He tossed it towards Hannah, who caught it.

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She looked down at it, then back at him.

Kenneth said, "Those are some high quality aether pills. They will help you break out of your plateau, and help you reach the intermediate rank."

Hannah looked at him with surprise. The pills inside the pouch were extremely rare. But why would he give her these?

"I don’t understand, why do you want me to take part in this so badly?"

Kenneth smirked, "Because I’m a paranoid man Hannah. If there’s even a one percent chance that Owen Walters can win this thing, then I want that probability reduced to zero."

Hannah looked down at the pouch in her hand, and clenched it tightly.

She sighed, "Fine, I'll do it. I'll take part in the gauntlet."

Kenneth nodded his head, "That's great to hear."

The training droid that Hannah had defeated earlier suddenly got back up. It hadn’t been turned off yet, and so it started moving again. Its arm moved as it tried to strike at Hannah. But before the arm could hit her, Kenneth raised his own arm. A green aura flared up from him, and a rock formed on his open palm.

It shot forward like a bullet, and smashed into the droid's torso, tearing apart the metal and sending the droid flying in two separate pieces. It fell to the ground with a clang, and stopped moving once more.

Hannah stared at the destruction in annoyance. "Ugh, I could have defended myself."

"I know," Kenneth said. "I just couldn’t help myself."

Hannah rolled her eyes, and went to check out the damaged droid.

Kenneth looked at the pieces of the broken droid, and grinned.

"You won’t be able to reach me in the gauntlet. But even if you do, this is what will happen to you in a week, Owen."

***

Owen stood in one of the training rooms on floor one. In front of him Sonya stood with her fists raised.

"Alright, come at me."

Owen hesitated. He had been forced into coming here by Sonya. She had barged into his cell, and dragged him down to the training room, saying that she wanted to train with him.

Owen had reluctantly agreed, knowing that it would be good for him to have some practice against an officer.

Sonya frowned as he remained unmoving. "Are you underestimating me you punk?"

Owen sighed and brought up his fists. His essence flowed through his body, strengthening him.

"Remember, no essence ability. I want you to just use your insignia."

Owen nodded his head. He charged forward and threw a punch. Sonya casually moved her head to the side, dodging the attack.

Owen tried again with a different approach. He faked a punch, but then immediately dropped and swept his leg outwards. But Sonya easily saw through his feint, and stepped backwards, avoiding his sweeping kick.

Owen then flowed essence into his star mark, and enhanced himself with his insignia. He lunged forward, and swung his fist upwards. Sonya leaned back, narrowly avoiding the blow.

She then open palm struck him in the chest, knocking the air from his lungs. Owen was sent skidding backwards across the ground.

He stopped himself, and got back into his stance. He went to take a step forward, but he suddenly felt his essence drain away. His insignia had consumed it all.

"Damn, I'm out."

Sonya's face showed clear disappointment. "This is bad. Your insignia does basically what your essence ability can do, but it uses up all your essence."

"I know," Owen replied. "I think I should just rely on my essence ability for the gauntlet."

"No, you just have to think about using your insignia differently."

Sonya walked up to him. "I’ve told you that I have the health insignia. You can assume that that means that I can heal myself or other people right? But it doesn't have to be limited to just healing."

She raised her arm and pulled down her sleeve. Her arm began to turn black, as veins popped up all over it. Her skin shrivelled, as if it were dried up.

"I can also take away the health from things. "

She clenched her arm and Owen watched as her arm slowly returned to normal.

Sonya continued. "It doesn’t just stop there. I can also do this with non-living things as well. "

She turned around and pointed at the wall. Cracks formed along its surface, as a chunk of it fell off.

She turned to look at him. "Do you understand now? The concept of health allows me to do so many different things. It doesn’t just limit me to healing."

Owen nodded his head slowly.

"Now Owen, the concept of your insignia is just as broad. It doesn’t have to be limited to just making your body stronger. There's more that you can do with it."

"Right," Owen agreed. "I need to think outside the box."

Sonya smiled. "That's right. You have a lot more potential than you realize. "

Sonya looked down at her wristwatch, "Alright, it's getting late. Let's stop here for today."

"Thanks Sonya, I appreciate your help."

"It's no problem at all. I don’t want to see you lose in the gauntlet."

She reached down into her pocket, and pulled out a metallic box. She tossed it towards him, and Owen caught it.

"What's this?"

"Some aether pills. But they are low grade, so you can take one a day."

Owen smiled as he looked down at the box. "Thanks again."

Sonya waved her hand dismissively. "It's fine, but remember, any more than one a day is bad for you."

She turned around and headed for the exit, "I'll see you tomorrow."

***

Owen sat down on his bed. He popped open the box of aether pills, and took one out. He placed it in his mouth, and swallowed.

As the pill went down his throat, he could feel it dissolve. A light burning sensation spread throughout his body, as aether entered his system.

He sat still, patiently waiting for the aether to dissipate. He could feel it fill his veins, giving him an invigorated feeling.

And then, the feeling was gone. He had absorbed all the aether into his body.

He opened and closed his hand a couple of times and wondered if it had done anything to him. The only thing he felt was that he was slightly more energetic.

He shook his head. He looked back into the box of aether pills.

"Well, it looks like I can take another."

He ignored Sonya's warning, and lifted a second pill. Even when Owen was young, he had never properly followed the orders of the doctor. If they had told him to take one pill, he would have taken three. And so it was now, that even though he knew he shouldn't, he swallowed a second pill.

At first, the only thing he noticed was an increase in the burning sensation. It was a mild irritation at first, but it gradually grew worse.

It became more uncomfortable and Owen shifted in his seat. The burning grew worse, until it was a fiery pain. He grabbed at his bedsheet, clenching it tightly. He gritted his teeth, and tried his best to endure the pain.

But as the minutes passed by, the burning continued to grow worse. He started to panic. The burning was now painful to the point that it was unbearable.

He dropped onto the ground, clutching at his chest. He gasped for air, as the burning sensation continued to spread throughout his entire body.

It felt like every inch of his body was being scorched. Sweat formed on his forehead, and he trembled as he held his chest. He felt like he was dying.

Then, all of a sudden, the burning sensation began to subside. It became bearable once more, and Owen was finally able to take deep breaths.

Owen laid on the ground, breathing heavily. His body still felt sore, and he wondered what the hell had just happened.

"Shit."

He reached for the box on the bed, and closed the lid.

"Maybe I should listen to the doctor this time."