The Ark of Power

by David Barco

  The board gleams bright with How the Destine people nation started and why we are called Destines. Harrison writes it down on his paper and is curious.

  "Now, we need to understand the beginning to really understand the rest. If you don't understand the context of the beginning of the story, then the context will be messed up for the rest," Mr. Lloyd says bouncing on his toes as he talks.

  "It all started like this. About one hundred and seventy years ago, all people lived on one mainland. Everybody was unified. Peace rested on the land. Two brothers grew up in the land and were the strongest. The power that they could generate from their Power Flow was unimaginable. The younger brother fell in love with a very beautiful young lady. To demonstrate his love, he went to the Purhara Mountains to search for a rare gem to place on her engagement ring. He spent three years there. It took him three and a half years to return. When he came back his power had increased immensely, and it grew dark somehow. He was bent on more power when he returned. The beautiful lady he loved grew scared of him. He was hurt and felt like she was betraying him. He planned to kill her until the older brother stepped in and saved her. Feeling betrayed by both of them he fled. Years went by and the older brother and the lovely lady fell in love and got married. Knowing that his brother may come back in revenge he trained 3 young men and 2 young ladies. He was given the title the Supreme Elder and they were known as his five disciples. They grew powerful learning from the Supreme Elder. Years later the younger brother returned vowing vengeance. His power was unlike anything ever seen. The Supreme Elder and his five disciples fought him. It took all of them to battle against him. They finally defeated him. Laying there about to die, he vowed vengeance still against his brother and his five disciples. The Supreme Elder was disturbed at what became of his brother. He knew that whatever his brother used to grow his power dark and evil, others could find too. He wanted to help prevent that, so he told his five disciples to form five clans that we now call nations. In those nations, they were to train and raise up warriors to keep peace and prevent anything like that from happening again. Each disciple was to become Elders of their nation. Each one went and did as their master told them. In the Supreme Elders last years, he began to have visions and he wrote the prophecies on scrolls. He sent the scroll to each of his disciples. He told of how one nation was destined to a great destiny and was going to prosper to enormous heights. That nation was the one you are a citizen of now, the Destine nation. The other nations were jealous and used the term Destines to make fun of us out of their jealousy. The word that they used as demeaning; the First Elder of this nation embraced it. He then made a decree that this clan would be called Destines."

  The bell sounds, snapping the class out of the trance of the story he is telling.

  "Alrighty, we will pick up with more notes next time we meet," Mr. Lloyd says as everyone heads out the door.

  Harrison meets up with his friends.

  "That was crazy!" Jaylen says.

  "Yeah, I was listening like crazy, I never do that in class," Joseph says.

  "Yeah I know, that is why you barely made it into here," Harrison says laughing and knocking shoulders with him.

  "You know what I really took from that history class," JT says in deep thought.

  "What's that?" Joseph asks as they walk towards their dorm rooms.

  "Girls will take you down paths you shouldn't go on," JT says.

  "Really? C'mon, that is the stupidest thing you could get out of that," Jaylen replies.

  They laugh as they walk into the dormitory.

  Chapter 12

  Norman Drake’s Power Flow Class

  Harrison closes a window as the wind struggles back. His math homework sails across the room slapping and sticking to JT’s face.

  “I am so glad that after today, we get two days of break. We have only been in classes for a week, but it feels like an eternity,” JT says, removing the math homework off his face.

  “Yeah, no kidding. But I heard we go to the hardest class today, our Power Flow 1 class,” Harrison packs his bags. “People say that Mr. Drake is the hardest teacher here.”

  “I heard that too, and all the horror stories, like how he has made people cry, quit, and need counseling. But, if he can teach his son to come up with a move like he did at the First Spar, then I will take the difficulty if he can teach me a move like that,” JT says as they walk out of their room.

  Shutting the door, Harrison turns around and is surprised. Standing right in front of their door is the janitor. On his right side is a pudgy gray cat with black stripes across his body. On his left side is a dingy white mouse with black spots. Sweeping the floor in front of the room, they all look up in unison.

  The janitor smiles at them, stretching his wrinkles deeper into his pastel face. Brushing his dirty black hair away from his dark brown eyes, he puts his glasses on.

  “Sorry, don’t mean to be in the way. We usually don’t clean these dorms this late, but I have been sick,” the janitor says sweeping again.

  “Yeah, every year we get sick the first week of school because of all these new kids coming here. It’s starting to get old,” the cat says.

  “Quit complaining. If you aren’t complaining about one thing, it’s another,” the mouse says.

  “Hey, don’t make me come over there. You don’t talk to me like that,” the cat replies pointing his broom at the mouse.

  “Come over here, I dare you,” the mouse responds, throwing his broom on the ground.

  Staring at them, Harrison and JT watch intently as the cat takes a couple of steps toward the mouse.

  “Y’all shut up and get back to work. Sorry about that, they get a little carried away sometimes,” the janitor says, as the cat and mouse start sweeping again.

  “My name is Felix Crane. The cat right here is named Sanford, and the mouse is named Edwin.”

  “Nice to meet you guys. My name is Harrison, and this right here is JT,” Harrison replies.

  “Oh, are you that Grady kid? Douglas Grady’s own son?” Felix asks, squinting at him.

  “Yes, sir, I am,” Harrison replies.

  “Huh, isn’t that something. I remember your dad running these halls with Norman while they were students here. Man, how time flies. One time your dad and Norman were sparring in their Power Flow class and your dad shot an energy attack so big it took out a portion of the building. It took me two days to clean it up,” Felix says, leaning both hands on top of his broom.

  “Is the Norman you are talking about, Norman Drake, the Power Flow instructor now?” JT asks.

  “Yeah, that’s him. Douglas and he were inseparable here. He probably never thought he would be teaching Douglas’ son one day though,” Felix replies.

  “Yeah, probably not,” Harrison says. “Well, we better head to his class now. It was nice meeting you guys.”

  Walking away, the quarreling from Sanford and Edwin start back up. Leaving, Harrison hears Felix shout, “Will you two shut up for once?”

  ◆◆◆

  Approaching the hut, a large crowd is lining up on the small field in front of the hut. Joining the line beside Jaylen and Joseph, Harrison sees Norman Drake standing in front of the line of students.

  The sky behind him makes the moment seem gloomy with the enormous black cloud covering the sun, not moving from its spot. Gusting heavy, the wind is making his gray robe flap continually in unison with his wavy brown hair.

  The wind brings a tear to his left eye making a teardrop fall down into a large scar underneath it that looks like an x crossing out his whole cheek.

  "My name is Norman Drake and I will be your Power Flow instructor for the next four years," he says. "This will be one of the hardest classes you take here. It will be frustrating and annoying at times. But it is vital every Destine warrior learns to create energy attacks from their Power Flow within them," he paces up and down the line.

  "This is the basic class. You as Kadens are not allowed to learn how to create your ow
n custom energy attack this year. That comes in class two. This year you will learn how to harness energy and control your Power Flow. That is all. In that process, you will learn how to form energy balls and beams, but just the simple basic ones. Do you all understand that?" Mr. Drake says.

  "Yes, sir," the class replies.

  “First, you need to know what Power Flow is. Power Flow is in everyone. We are all born with it. It is the life force of a person. We all have energy within us that we can harness and make into solid energy. That energy is created by your Power Flow. It's a lot like a muscle. We all have muscles. But you can only make your muscles stronger if you work out. If you don't work out your muscle, it will always stay small and you will be weak. That is how your Power Flow works,” he says, stopping in front of Harrison and staring intently into his eyes.

  "Now, this class of Kadens will not be able to grow their Power Flow as quickly as the other Kaden classes before you because of young Grady right here," Mr. Drake says smiling at him.

  Harrison stares back at him in confusion as the class watches.

  "You see, because of that student who almost killed young Grady by accidentally transmitting his energy into his acceptance letter, the Elder wants to assure that doesn't happen ever again. So as a precaution we created these gloves that are programmed to only filter a certain amount of energy at a time. If you surpass the set limit, the glove stops the energy from forming. These new toys are called Energy Filtering Gloves. Or as we will refer to them in class as, EFGs," Mr. Drake says walking away from Harrison.

  Tommy, his son, strolls out with a huge vanilla brown box, setting it down next to his dad.

  “Okay, let's assign you your EFG and get started," Mr. Drake says, while sunlight creeps onto the field as the wind finally pushes the cloud out of the sun's way.

  ◆◆◆

  Mr. Drake paces slowly in front of all the students as Tommy opens the box. Struggling to open it, Mr. Drake stares in frustration.

  "As we all can see, my son Tommy here can beat somebody in a battle, but can't win against a box," Mr. Drake shakes his head.

  "As we wait on Tommy to get the box open, which at the rate it's going, you all will be Cerdics by the time he gets it open, I’ll share with all of you that you will see Tommy in all your other first-year Kaden classes except this one. He is enrolled in the fourth year Power Flow Class," he says as Tommy finally rips the box open. "As you all saw at the beginning of the week, his ability to harness energy from his Power Flow is beyond his years. It was signed off by Elder Dirk that I could start training him at eight years of age. So, putting him in this class would be similar to making him have to crawl instead of walk," he says, striding up and down the line.

  "Make sure everyone gets one Tommy," Mr. Drake glances at the class. "And everyone, make sure you get one that fits well. And please keep up with yours. If you lose it, you will fail the class."

  Harrison notices the concerned look on Jaylen's face.

  Jaylen loses everything, he probably won't make it to the third class.

  Dragging the box on the ground, the top progressively rips as Tommy pulls it. Stopping at each student, Tommy is a couple of people away from Harrison and his friends.

  "Dude, this guy seems like a jerk. I mean, look how he treats his son," JT whispers so only they can hear him.

  "Yeah, how could my dad be friends with someone like him? The way my mom explained how my dad was, there is no way he would hang out with someone like him," Harrison whispers.

  Stopping in front of JT, Mr. Drake stares at them.

  "What is your name young man?" he says waiting for an answer.

  "Umm, JT Hall sir," JT replies nervously.

  "Does JT stand for just talking? Because I was saying, why are you two talking?" Mr. Drake asks.

  "We, uh, weren't..." JT says.

  "Wow, Mr. Hall I am impressed by your guts to try to lie to me in my face," Mr. Drake replies.

  "Sir, it was me that started talking to JT, I apologize," Harrison says.

  Tommy gives Harrison his EFG.

  "And may I ask what you wanted to talk to him about in the middle of my class?"

  Sweat runs down his face from the heat and enters his mouth. The saltiness stops his words.

  "I am waiting young Grady,” Mr. Drake replies.

  "I was just saying I was surprised my dad and you were friends, sir," Harrison responds. Out the corner of his eye, he notices JT and everyone's shock on their face.

  "Is that right? And what makes you feel that way? I am curious," he says leaning to his side with his hands behind his back.

  "I don't know. I just imagined my dad would have been around people more cheerful about life," Harrison responds.

  Smirking slightly, Mr. Drake turns away as if trying to hold in laughter. Suddenly, turning quickly, Mr. Drake pushes a medium-size yellow energy ball into Harrison's stomach. Lifting up off his feet, Harrison feels the energy ball's warm sensation digging into his stomach.

  Mr. Drake extends his arm sending Harrison flying through the air. Harrison hits the ground, bouncing a couple of feet. Harrison grabs his stomach, aching in pain from the attack. Mr. Drake walks slowly with his hands behind his back as the class gazes at Harrison on the ground.

  "You see, young Grady, I did that because I know that's what your dad would want me to do if he heard what you just said to me," Mr. Drake replies, pacing in front of him.

  Sitting up slowly, Harrison holds his stomach trying to stop the tingling sensation.

  "I know how big your dad was on respecting and honoring those that are in authority. Your dad would have been disappointed in your actions and choice of words right then, young Grady," he says, turning his back to him.

  Taking a couple of steps, he looks over his shoulder at Harrison.

  "Apparently, I guess I know your dad better than you," he says walking back to the class.

  "Go give young Grady his EFG and hurry up. We are wasting time," he says.

  Tommy hands him a little black glove with the finger tips removed. Grabbing the glove, Harrison notices the thickness of a material he has never touched before. Expecting Tommy to help him up, he watches him walk off getting back to the line.

  Dang, he could’ve at least helped me get up.

  He rises to his feet and wobbles. Getting back in line, he notices how everyone is trying not to stare at him.

  "Alright, put on your EFG. Get used to how it feels," Mr. Drake says. "This material was created by some of the top scientists we have, this past summer. It may feel weird at first, but you will get used to it."

  Relief comes upon Harrison as he hears the bell sound loudly in the distance.

  "Alright, see you guys next week. Meet me in the classroom as we will be taking notes for a couple of weeks. We won't be using these till the end of the month. I gave these to you now as a test to see who can keep up with them," Mr. Drake says as the class heads off.

  Harrison walks gingerly with JT, Jaylen, and Joseph back up to the main building.

  "Harrison, are you alright?" Jaylen asks.

  "Yeah, but it hurt like crap," Harrison replies.

  Harrison grimaces each step he takes.

  "I can't believe you said that to him. Why didn't you just make something up?" JT says.

  "I really don't know. To be honest, I wish I did now though," Harrison declares.

  Walking into the main building, Harrison spots his uncle Adam with the Ragnar Council heading towards him.

  "Harrison, why is your shirt tucked out? You know the dress code," his uncle Adam says. "And why do you have grass stains all over your back? You look terrible. I hope you can get those out of it since its white."

  "Yeah, I was kind of pushed on the ground, nothing serious. But I am doing my laundry tonight so I will try and get it out," Harrison replies.

  "Well that's good, looks like you need to. The washing machines and dryers are in the basement in this building. They only stay open till 11:00. You don't want to be
in there a minute late, or Felix the janitor will get you. Or his cat and mouse will, and I don't know who would be worse. Those helpers of his can't be much help to him since all they do is argue and fight," his uncle Adam says entering the Elder's office.

  The Elder standing in the doorway welcomes the Ragnar Council. He makes eye contact with Harrison.

  "You must be Harrison Grady. It's nice to finally meet you," he says smiling.

  "Yes sir, it is a pleasure to meet you too, your Honor," Harrison replies.

  "I can tell you are definitely a Grady by the way you respect and honor authority. I always respected that about your dad," he responds.

  JT playfully coughs.

  "Thank you, sir, that is a great compliment to be compared to my father. You know, I didn't really get to know him, so when I get compliments like that it feels good," he says, noticing the Elder's smile disappear.

  "Well you all take care and study hard," he replies closing the door.

  "Man, you are on it today. Taking shots at instructors and the Elder himself. I think if I keep hanging out with you, I am going to end up almost getting killed." JT says as they walk on.

  ◆◆◆

  Throwing his clothes into the washing machine, Harrison gazes at all the buttons to push.

  Which button do I push? I have no idea what I am doing. My mom always did my laundry.

  JT, Jaylen, and Joseph stroll in.

  "Dude, did you even put detergent in it? Knowing you, you probably forgot,” Joseph says, giggling.

  “I didn't forget, I was doing that right now," Harrison replies, trying to find some detergent and play off the fact that he did forget.

  "Here you go, use this," JT hands him a small pea-green cup of raspberry blue liquid. Harrison throws it into the washing machine.

  “Thanks.”

  "So, we need to decide when we are going to try and find out if that blueprint works," JT says, sitting on a washing machine.

  "How about tomorrow night we head to the library and do it?" Jaylen asks.