Rise of the Young: Warriors are not made; they are forged (The Ascended Book 2)

by Bygott, Hugo C.

  He placed a barrier over Sarah while she slept on the bench, the energy concealing her from view. For now, she would be safe. He then looked up toward Botulinia’s office. It would be much easier to reach the top without being noticed rather than entering the rooms on the lower floors.

  An aura of energy began to surround him as he shot up into the sky, flying quickly toward the top of Bellum HQ. He was just a blur in the night and finally landed on the company helipad. He used his mind to sense Michael in the office below, but Michael’s presence was strange.

  Rush moved with confidence down the metal stairway and tried to open the door into the building. The door was locked. Why did everything have to be locked? He placed his hand on the door panel and entered the circuits with his mind. He had done this so many times before that it was second nature. There was a surge of energy, and the door opened.

  “Welcome to Bellum. Have a nice—” The female computer voice faded away.

  “Thank you. You have a beautiful voice,” he replied.

  The roof door from the helipad shut behind him. He walked down the stairs and found a hallway with great oak doors at the end. Paintings decorated the walls of the hallway. This was where the Queen resided. For now, the Queen was out, lucky for him. Botulinia would no doubt have a wild rage once she returned to find out he had been here. He would not envy the person who had to be in her presence when she found out. Oh, Botulinia, he thought to himself. If only she were not evil, then they may have made a lovely couple.

  He pushed open the oak doors. Inside was the most magnificent mahogany table he had ever seen. So, this was where she had killed the members of the Board. Her office looked out across the city. Bottles of fine wine were behind the bar, and one had been opened. A succinct smell was present: lavender and rose. The scent of Botulinia was everywhere.

  Michael was not here, and Rush could not sense his presence. He made his way around the table toward the back of the office. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in the back of his head and fell to one knee. He looked up and saw a pipe coming toward him. He grabbed the pipe and snapped it in two. Michael continued to strike him with his fists, but Rush held him in place, holding his fists with his own hands.

  “Michael,” shouted Rush. “It’s me, Rush. Do you remember?”

  Michael was deranged and struggled against him. Unlike the other Bellum employees, there was a sign of life in his eyes. Whatever had happened to Michael was different to what had happened to the others.

  Rush grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed him against the wall, knocking a picture down in the process. “I’m a friend of Kry!”

  Michael grew even angrier and tried to swing at him again.

  “What has Botulinia done to you?” asked Rush, trying to hold him back.

  Michael’s eyes spoke for him. They were enraged.

  “I’ve come to save you, Michael. Sarah is safe!” shouted Rush, trying to break into his senses.

  Michael finally stopped resisting and shook his head. “Botulinia is the only one who saved me.”

  “What happened to you?” asked Rush,

  “What happened to me?” shouted Michael. “You and Kry left me to rot in here! I thought we were friends, but it took you so long to get here!”

  Rush lessened his pressure against him. “You’re not thinking straight. Botulinia has done something to you, Michael. We have to go, now. Sarah is waiting outside.”

  Michael shook his head once more. “I don’t care. This is all Kry’s fault. Everything. I know now. Botulinia has told me the truth about everything.”

  “Lies, all lies! That’s what she’s told you! Snap out of it!” shouted Rush.

  Michael swung at him, and his fist connected with Rush’s chin, knocking him back. “You and Kry are the lies!”

  Rush took the hit but kept Michael pinned. Michael’s eyes were different. Botulinia had done something to him.

  “Kry’s still your friend. He sent me to get you,” said Rush.

  Michael laughed hysterically. “Really? So where’s he now? Why isn’t he here with you?”

  Michael’s behavior was erratic and unpredictable. Rush knew that Michael was not in a sane state of mind to tell him anything, especially if he was willing to share it with Botulinia.

  “Kry’s safe. That’s all you need to know,” said Rush.

  “So you don’t even trust me?” Michael glared at him. “Are you now his best friend?”

  Rush was sympathetic to Michael. He knew that this was not the real Michael. Whatever had changed him had affected his mental state.

  “Kry’s still your closest friend, and he’s waiting for you. Please, come with me, now.” Rush was aware his time was coming to an end. Too much time had already been wasted.

  Michael then threw his head forward, head butting and knocking him back. He let go of Michael who then struck him from the side. Rush was dizzy and could no longer concentrate on anything. What was happening?

  “Not so strong now are we?” said Michael, kicking him to the floor.

  Rush was unsteady as he tried to get back to his feet.

  “Botulinia gave me this to protect me,” said Michael, pulling the blue glowing rod from behind him.

  Michael then swung the rod down on Rush’s temple. The pain Rush felt was incredible as he dropped to his hands on the floor.

  “A Seeker’s rod?” said Rush. “Not again.”

  “Botulinia knew you would come. Predictable I guess,” said Michael.

  Rush grabbed Michael’s trousers. “Michael, Botulinia is deceiving you! Fight it!”

  Michael kicked his hands away. “Botulinia is strong, beautiful, and intelligent.” He spoke the words with admiration.

  Rush was surprised at how much Michael had changed. He never imagined this could happen. He should have come sooner.

  “Even with that rod, I can still use my fists.” Rush returned to his feet, but his mind was still fuzzy. “I’m taking you with me, one way or another.”

  Michael smiled with malice. “No, Botulinia has thought of everything.” He pressed a button on Botulinia’s desk, and the floor underneath Rush opened up.

  Rush tried to jump away, but without his User abilities, he was helpless as he succumbed to gravity and fell into the darkness. The small shaft had little air, but he could still breathe even as he fell toward certain death. The Seeker’s rod still had power over him, and he was unable to do anything as he increased in speed further down into darkness. He could only imagine that he was falling from the top of the building to the bottom. This was not how he thought he would die. He thought it would be in glorious battle against the Shadow Government, but the joke was on him; he had been beaten by a non-User!

  As he fell, the power of the rod weakened, and he began to feel the connection from his mind to his body growing stronger. He could sense the ground not far away. He had only one option left: to blink away, but the cost would be expensive in this state of his already exhausted body. He closed his eyes and used every bit of his energy he could muster to bring the image forth of the bench where he placed Sarah. There was a loud bang as he hit the ground.

  He opened his eyes and found himself next to the bench. One more second and he would have been dead. He would remember this. Botulinia would need to be repaid.

  The protective barrier still covered Sarah. At least, he had saved one of them. From where he lay, he heard the sounds of the Bellum alarms. The lights had returned, and the whole compound was in a frenzy trying to understand the situation.

  Rush was exhausted and breathing heavily. He used the cloaked energy that was hiding Sarah to cover him, too. Both Cole and Michael had certainly changed. He wondered who was worse, Cole or Michael. Cole was explainable, but there was still a rational consciousness in Michael.

  “Botulinia, what have you done to him…?” The London air was fresh on his lips.

  At that moment, a limousine drove up and stopped in front of the gates of the compound. He paused and realized that th
is was not Botulinia’s limousine. Guards came to the limousine and seemed to be questioning the driver. A rear door opened, and several men with dragon tattoos on their faces appeared followed by a man wearing a green silk robe. Rush immediately recognized Tai-Lao. He tried to see closer, but exhaustion was blurring his vision.

  Another door opened, and a young woman stepped out of the limousine. Rush was becoming dizzy. The cost of blinking such a distance now took its toll as his eyes slowly closed from fatigue. He collapsed, but the last thing he remembered was that the young woman with Tai-Lao was a ghost; it was Rhea.

  Chapter 17 – Snowfall

  Several weeks had passed, and the winter air was cold as the snow fell across the university barrier. In order to not disrupt the flow of classes, special tunnels had been built to connect the university buildings together as a precaution if the barrier failed.

  Kry was constantly training, studying harder than ever. Losing to Abel only gave him more motivation. He did not want to stop there; he wanted to prove he could beat him. The challenge Abel had set him pushed him further to test his limits. He took all his classes with deadly seriousness and gave his best every time. Since Abel had beaten him in the students’ graveyard, he had fought him twice more, losing the fights just as fast as he did the first one. Abel was still too strong, and every time he felt he had made progress, Abel was always two steps ahead, both in class and out. Eclipse was concerned. She had seen the marks on his body and how exhausted he looked. Her persistence was an annoyance, and he had tried to hide the fact that he fought with Abel, but she would not let up and knew something was wrong. As soon as he had told her, she had given him a lecture about being careful or he might get himself killed. Abel would not kill him; he was sure of that. Even if he fought him a hundred times, he would be fine, but Eclipse was not happy about the situation. Eclipse had asked him that the next time he fought Abel that she should come along. She would watch and see where he could improve, but he did not want anyone witnessing their fight. It was between them, and them alone. He would improve himself every time he fought Abel. It was only a matter of time. He knew his limits. The look on Eclipse’s face said otherwise.

  It was not just the fact he was fighting Abel, but other things had been on her mind to cause her worry. Since they had joined the university, they had yet to hear a word from Rush; it was as if he had disappeared. Kry was sure Rush could handle himself. Rush was always traveling and doing something important, but no one knew what he was doing. Eclipse was aware Rush could handle himself, but that did not stop her from worrying. Rush could be unpredictable and sometimes very careless. Kry knew she cared for Rush more than she let on. They were complete opposites, but also similar in a way that was unexplainable. He was perfectly sure Rush was fine and would be in touch soon. There was probably a good reason for his silence. Rush had many responsibilities, and Kry was confident that he would save their friends. He missed Michael a lot, but he was here to become stronger so he could protect him when the time came. Whisper was also worried and wanted to know if he had any clue about his father’s whereabouts. Whisper trusted Rush that he would save his father. Even Yujin had heard nothing. It was fine Kry told himself. For now, he had to focus on beating Abel and having him join his group so they could beat Sonus.

  Sonus now commanded the largest faction on campus. In the beginning, the New Order had been one of the smallest, but ever since Sonus had lost to Abel in the Cube, Sonus had recruited many new members. He had even gone back on his prejudice against women and recruited a large number of them into the New Order, some of whom had been proficient Users from other factions. The size of the New Order was now a growing concern among the other students. However, Kry did not care how many students the New Order had, he only cared about stopping Sonus.

  The next contest was only a week away, and they had been told it would be a group fight. Unlike the single combat they had before, five members of each faction would participate, and the group which won would choose one member to go on to fight the champion.

  As the winter days had passed, Kry found himself growing hungrier to fight. He wanted to go inside the Cube more than ever to test himself. He could not explain this urge he had. It was new, unnatural, and so unlike him. He kept this to himself, but there was a gnawing inside of him that there was truth behind Abel’s words: a darkness was in him. He did not want to believe it, but why would Abel lie. Abel had seen into his mind and kept his secrets. Even now, he was no threat. Kry did not want to think it was true and pushed it to the back of his mind.

  More and more he had gone to the library as he said he would, and he joined Athena almost every day. She had been a nice distraction from his classes and the constant thought of what Abel had said to him. Here, in the library, he was just an ordinary student, and Athena kept his mind off his own thoughts.

  The time he had spent in the library with Athena was the time he was the most relaxed. She had begun to help him understand the history of Users, the Civil War, and the people who fought during that time. He kept what he knew to himself and never told her his parents had been Konrad and Alana. Anyway, she probably would not believe him. They had died as the history books had said. There was so much to learn, and Athena was a brilliant teacher as much as she was a student, although very blunt sometimes. She could be cold one moment, but the next there would be a golden warmth from her. Athena was a mystery to him, and the more time he spent with her, the more he began to merge the memories of Rhea and Athena together. He knew they were different, but the pain of losing Rhea was too much sometimes, and he would just push the memory of her far into the recess of his mind.

  Bronson, the librarian, was always pleased to see him because so often only Athena was there. Kry’s presence made the place a little less lonely. As the snow continued to fall, Kry would visit the library and challenge Athena on how many books they could read in one sitting, and of course, Athena always won. She just devoured those books and had probably read them before. He had never seen anyone as passionate about what they were doing, except for maybe Rhea when she had first joined Bellum. Rhea was passionate about her job until she found out the truth, and then the passion was stripped from her. Kry slammed his fist down onto the desk.

  Athena jumped out of her seat. “Kry! What are you doing?”

  His hand was shaking. He had no idea why he did that. The anger just came without warning, and a rage that was inside of him felt like it had to be released. He calmed himself, holding his hand with his other and lowered it to the desk. “I’m sorry. I just read something about the Shadow Government which made me mad.”

  Athena gave him a strange look. “I don’t like what they do either, but you better not have sudden outbursts like that in public, or people will think that you’re against them.”

  He was against them. “Look,” he said, trying to change the topic. “Let’s do another reading challenge. This time I’ll find a book you haven’t read!”

  Athena was doubtful of his claim. “I’m pretty sure I’ve read almost everything in this library, but you might find something.”

  Kry was sure he could find something. There must be some book here that would challenge her. “I’ll be right back.” He went off to search the library shelves.

  As he looked among the tomes, every book seemed ordinary, and he just knew that Athena had already read the book. He looked all around the library and was not satisfied with any book he had found. Maybe Bronson would have an idea.

  Bronson sat at his library desk, asleep with his legs spread out. Kry could hear a gentle snoring coming from his nostrils.

  “Bronson,” he said.

  Bronson jumped up from his seat, his back straight against the chair, pretending that he was awake. “I wasn’t sleeping, you know. I was just deep in my thoughts on this lovely winter’s day.”

  Kry was amused. He did not care if he was sleeping, and he probably would be as well if he had to sit here all day.

  “I wanted to ask if you c
ould help me,” said Kry.

  Bronson scratched his head. “Not many students ask me for help. What do you need?”

  Kry pointed over his shoulder to Athena, who was diligently studying. “I want to find a book that she hasn’t read before. I’ve looked all over, but I feel she’s read them all.”

  Bronson grinned widely. “You bet she has. She’s here every day, even long before you started coming! She devours every new book that’s brought into the library, so it might be difficult to find anything.”

  Kry guessed as much. Dejected, he turned away.

  “Hold on,” said Bronson.

  Kry turned back to him with little hope.

  “There might be something. Come with me.”

  Bronson led him through to the far end of the library and behind several bookshelves. Kry had already searched here and had found nothing of interest. Athena had read everything!

  But then Bronson pulled out a navy-colored book and then pressed what appeared to be a button at the back of the shelf. To Kry’s amazement, the bookshelf opened up, revealing another shelf behind it.

  “This section is usually only for professors, but I can make an exception this time. Don’t tell the other professors I let you read one of these,” said Bronson, seriously.

  Kry was excited. There was sure to be something here that Athena had not read. “No problems here, Bronson. I won’t tell a soul! Thank you so much!”

  Bronson left him with the books and returned to his desk for another short nap.

  Kry looked up and down the shelf, reading some of the various titles: ‘Soul of the User,’ ‘Beyond Dark Matter,’ ‘The Tenants of the Shadow Government,’ and ‘101 Ways to Horrify your Students.’ Kry was sure that would be Professor Zero’s favorite.

  He had no idea which ones to choose for Athena. Perhaps any one of them would be suitable and picked up several random titles, hoping at least one would be of interest to her. However, there was one title he was more interested in than the rest. The red leather binding of the book reminded him of the uniforms of Bellum, but it was not the color which caught his attention, it was the title: ‘Unlocking & Locking the Mind.’ He was drawn to the title immediately and knowing how his mind had been locked against his will there might be something written that could help him. He had not had a headache for some time, not since his first class with Zero, but he did not want to leave it to chance. If there was a way to help him cure his headaches for good, then perhaps this book had some secrets.