Behind me, the campfire grows farther away. This isn’t the first time I did this. If it were, a deep, unsettling feeling would take hold of me. Not my idea of a pleasant midnight stroll. I walk with no destination in mind. Not knowing where Zero is, I realize that there’s no point in trying to have one. It’s impossible to find him. He will find me. It happens sooner than I expected.
As the hands of sleep threaten to ensnare me, I almost run into him. Stepping out from behind a tree, Zero stands in my firelight with his tongue hanging out of his mouth. “Boo,” he says. I jolt, slamming my mouth into my arm to stifle a yelp. I can’t let the others hear me. If they do, all of this will be for nothing.
“Evening,” he says with a playful grin. “What are you out so late for?”
“Zero,” I answer in greeting.
“That is the name,” he answers, a curious look in his eyes. “What do you want?”
Opening my mouth, I close it back just as fast. Now that I caught him, what am I supposed to do? I know what I want to ask, but how should I go about it? Perhaps I should lead the conversation to that point, instead of springing the question without warning. “Where were you when we fought those monsters?” My voice has a sudden sharpness to it. Queen’s rubbing off on me more than I realized. This might not be the best starting point. If there’s one thing I’m not skilled in, it would be in verbal confrontations. Still, what am I supposed to do? His behavior is so awful that I can’t hide my anger. We had to fight the Serpopards all by ourselves while he was gallivanting off doing who knew what.
I wait for his answer, which he is in no hurry to give. He looks up at the limbs above our heads. Don’t know what he’s staring at since the trees block most of the night sky. “Zero needed to take a nap,” he replies at last, as if it were the most natural answer in the world.
My mind flashes back to the maws of those beasts. Horror grips my stomach. “Sleeping?” My voice raises close to being too loud. That has to be the most ridiculous excuse I’ve ever heard. My words tumble from my mouth in a fit of frustration. “That’s all you have to say?” He doesn’t defend himself. “And what about almost getting into a fight with G.?”
“Zero felt he wasn’t pushing the team hard enough.”
I can’t believe what he is saying. His tone and face don’t give the slightest indication that he knows of the strife he’s causing. The others are right about him. “Your team needs your help and you sleep when they fight. When they need to rest, you mock them for weakness. Are you that self-centered?” I exclaim, unable to say anything else. “And to think I came here to ask for your help.” Shaking my head, I ask, “Could you tell me something?” Zero shrugs his shoulders, not agreeing nor disagreeing to answer. Either way, I should ask one of my more pressing questions. “Why are you out here?”
Zero stares at me as if he didn’t understand what I’m asking. “Zero is out here to keep watch,” he replies, shrugging his shoulders as if it were obvious.
“No,” I reply, struggling to keep my temper. “I meant here here.” Our first meeting, months ago, pops into my head. “You know why I’m here, but you took off back in Aliyah without a reason. If I remember right, you also said that wherever you were going, you couldn’t have anyone tagging along.” I point where I think the camp is. “Do you call this being by yourself?” I don’t mention how he keeps away from everyone while hovering around for meals and such.
Based on my previous experiences with Zero, I don’t know how he will react to this confrontation. Whatever I expected, he did something different. He smiles and shakes his head. “Zero would rather not go into the deeper topics like why he is here. Why is anyone anywhere?”
I groan, realizing that this topic was a waste of time. “Forget I said anything,” I reply, turning my head away. I’ve had enough. This is one of the longest days I can remember. I need to rest. The hands of sleep reach for me again. There’s no way I can remain conscious for much longer. Five words send me reeling, extinguishing my blazing temper, and waking my entire body.
“Can you hear the Voice?”
I feel cold, and I don’t move. Did he say what I think he did? No, it’s impossible. That had to be a trick of my ears. I heard what I wanted to. Being the only one experiencing these strange occurrences is too much sometimes. I want someone to know how I feel, so my ears made me believe Zero was that person. “Stupid,” I mutter, stifling a laugh as my muscles thaw.
I didn’t expect what I would hear next. “Can you see those floating words or the titles that appear on someone’s shirt?” This freezes my body again. I know I heard that, but it’s too good to be true. Could I imagine something two times in a row? “When you face a monster, do you see how much it can take to kill it? Do you know how strong you are when you pick up your weapon?”
At this, my body warms enough that I can open my mouth to gape at him. Leaning against a tree, Zero wears a wide, knowing grin on his face. “Zero thought you could,” he says with a nod. He leans toward my face to where our noses are close to touching. “Who thought the genuine article was under Zero’s nose the entire time?”
A bunch of questions rush into my mind. They all fight to be the first one asked. I end up asking the simplest of them all. “How did you know?”
“Observation,” he replies.
I want to ask him where he could’ve observed all of this, but the answer crawls out of obscurity. That glint in his eye when he faced G. He knew something. Perhaps he wasn’t sure, but he had a hunch. Everything makes sense. All of those times he disappeared. He could be anywhere. For all I know, he’s watched all of us every second for the last month. Who knows when he realized that I had this ability?
Instead, I ask another question, one that I’d much rather hear the answer to. “Do you hear it?” I ask, in a voice too strained to hope. “Can you see the words?”
“Of course,” he replies. “Zero can do anything. He can even see all the stats of allies and enemies alike.” My jaw drops. Can I do that?
“Are there others?”
Zero’s eyes lose their excitement, becoming serious. “No,” he answers. “As of today, you and Zero are the only ones.” This statement drops on me like a weight. I believed that I was the only one that could hear this Voice. It was lonely, but even having one other person makes it a little less isolating. An intense silence falls between us. There was someone like me so close all this time. It’s almost too good to believe.
“That settles it,” he murmurs, stepping away from me. Before I can ask what he means by that, he places his hands together. His eyes blink once. Zero used Sound Barrier. “Now, there will be no interruptions.” He grins. “Yell all you want. No one will save you.” Zero reaches up to his back and rips his bo from its resting place on his back. Time seems to slow as I take a second to realize what is happening. I grab my staff and raise it in time to block his bo from slamming into my face. The impact sends me staggering back, but my feet move fast, careful not to trip over any roots.
“What are you doing?” I shout, but he doesn’t answer, rushing toward me. My eyes focus on Zero. A red tint surrounds him, and my stomach churns. Zero ambushed you, the Voice declares. “I know,” I yell in frustration.
“It is irritating, isn’t it?” Zero asks. “But Zero has learned that it has its uses.” He moves at a speed I’m not ready for. Before I can block again, his bo slams into my gut. The force of the blow throws me into the air, making me somersault head over heels. My fall ends as I slam into a tree.
My vision blurs a little, but quick blinking cures it. Looking at my health, I notice how much damage I’ve received from this one attack. I gulp. If he keeps this up, I won’t last against him. Wouldn’t that be awful? I survive against monsters and end up destroyed by a teammate. “What are you doing?” I gasp. He doesn’t answer, approaching me with his staff poised for another strike. Pushing myself off the tree, I run away from my wild attacker.
In a matter of moments, Zero drops from the trees ahead of me
, his bo winding back to send me flying again. G. always says, “All attacks can work once. The trick is to make sure it doesn’t get you the second time.” If Zero wants to fight me, for whatever reason, I need to take this advice to heart. Otherwise, he will rip my body apart with this blunt object. Before he can swing, I jump to the side, changing my direction. I have to keep him guessing.
Once again, Zero jumps into my range of vision, with his bo reaching back. “Tell Zero,” he asks. “Why are you running? Don’t you want to be stronger? He’s giving you the chance to prove your power.” The pole lashes around, but I duck down. Luck isn’t on my side because as the bo swings, Zero spins. His entire body turns around, and his weapon follows his body. The back end of it catches me across the face, sending me flying into the same tree.
My teeth rattle together from the impact. Thoughts race through my mind as I grow desperate for a way out of this situation. Once again, I come back to the same conclusion. I have to have that inner power, but how am I going to use it? My H.P. drops further. This battle is about to end. Whatever I can do to win, I have to use it now.
“If you cannot defend yourself from Zero, he will not hesitate to paint the trees with your blood.” To show that he meant business, his bo glows. Zero used Shattering Hurricane, the Voice says. He spins toward me at blinding speeds. I move away just as the long, slender pole strikes against the tree. A loud, splintering noise follows me. Little pellets bounce off my back. Turning, I see the tree crashing toward me.
A cry escapes my lips. Diving away, I cover myself. The crashing noise ends with a ground-shaking thud filled with the cracking of tree limbs. All the noise dulls my hearing “This is insane,” I mutter, but all the words run together in my ears. Looking up, I find Zero standing over me. Above his head, he spins his bo so fast that I can’t see it.
“All right, Zero,” I plead, throwing my hands up in a feeble defense. “Let’s stop this game. You win. I give up.”
He wears a victorious smile. Whatever game he pushed me into, it’s clear that he won. If we’re being honest, I didn’t stand a chance against him. There’s no way that I can take someone else on in a single combatant fight. Without my teammates, victory is nothing but a dream to me. “Only the weak give in,” he replies, disappointment in his voice. Zero’s bo stops spinning, raising up high. From this angle, he might as well hold a sword. The result will end up being the same either way.
Fear grips my heart, and my body begins to tremble. Looking up at Zero, a deep anger starts to swirl in my gut. I fight my fear the only way I can: accept the end and don’t give him the satisfaction of seeing my terror. Clenching my teeth, I scowl at him. Just get it over with. I say nothing more because I can’t change the situation. He has me in the palm of his hand. He will do what he wants. Without warning, he brings the bo down.
It stops an inch away from caving my head in. His expression switches to a stern frown. You lost. You gained 5 exp. Try harder next time. I grimace. Stepping back, he reaches into his pocket and tosses a piece of dark meat. With clumsy fingers, I catch it after it hits my nose. “Eat up,” he orders. “It will keep up your strength.”
Glancing at the food, my stomach churns from the fear. I choke down relieved bile that tries to rush up my throat. Taking a long breath, I look at my attacker. I’m confused. He fights me, then wants to feed me. Is this some new kinda game that no one told me about? “Eat,” he repeats, jabbing his finger at the meat. “It’ll help with the nausea.”
Should I trust him? If he wanted me dead, he had me a moment ago. Picking up the meat, I touch my tongue to it. I expect to vomit, but just as he promised, my stomach begins to settle. “What was that all about?” I ask, taking a bite of the meat. There’s a stale chewiness to it. Who knows when he got this. There’s too much on my mind to worry about how the food tastes. Replenishing Vitality: Stamina +5. H.P. restored. It invigorates my body. The weariness and nausea of a moment ago seems like it didn’t happen.
He doesn’t answer. Instead, he turns away as if he had more important matters to discuss. “Zero expected more,” he muses. “Such wasted potential.” He turns back to me and chuckles. “At your skill level, you won’t survive in Raka much longer.”
I want to ask him what he’s talking about, but I don’t care. None of it mattered as soon as he attacked me. Chewing up the meat and replenishing my strength, I wait for whatever he has in store. I reach for my staff, preparing for the worst. “Perhaps,” my attacker muses. “Zero could speed up the process.”
“Huh?” I freeze.
“There is so much that Zero could teach you. How to form a map in your mind, using an internal compass, and reading the stats of allies would just be the beginning.” He pauses. “But that won’t help you in battle. That has to be the focus today. He could show you how to use a staff right, but that would take too longer. It needs to be a shorter lesson.”
“What are you talking about now?” I exclaim, my irritation being too much to maintain politeness. Zero glares at me with a dumb look on his face. Unbelievable. Does he not care or understand why I’m frustrated?
“This,” he says. He clasps his hand in a tight fist and opens it. Inside of his palm rests a single gold coin. “You are weak, but that can be fixed. It’s time you understand how to harness your inner power.” He blinks his eyes, and the coin glows. With a single flick of his wrist, he tosses the coin into the air. It vanishes into the branches above. With a chuckle, Zero snaps his fingers. Zero used Distant Explosion, the Voice declares.
A bright flash lights the night above us, followed by a loud noise, like a pounding drum in my ears. Broken branches rain down on us. Once the upheaval ends, I glance up to see a perfect hole in the canopy. I stare up at the night sky for the first time in a month. He did that with just a small coin. It’s unbelievable. In that flash, all the frustration, fear, and doubts vanish from my mind. “Where did that come from?” I exclaim, excitement leaping up in my chest.
“A personal purse,” he replies. “Zero thought you understood how money works.”
Rolling my eyes, I demand, “Where did that power come from?”
“No need to get huffy. If you want an answer, be specific. That power came from inside Zero.” He holds his hand out. Narrowing his eyes, a small ball of glowing blue energy slides across the palm of his hand. “Take a good look,” he says. “That is a tiny portion of Zero’s inner strength. He calls it Chi, but there are other names. Everyone has this within them. The body produces it, making it a ready resource to anyone that has the capability to use it. Are you following Zero so far?”
“Yes,” I reply with a nod, trying to maintain my excitement.
“The key to victory is this,” Zero instructs, reaching a hand up to his head. With one finger, he taps the side of it. “He who thinks, wins.” No other words follow.
“That’s all?” I exclaim, not believing what I just heard. After everything I’ve gone through, that’s all he has to say to me.
“Yes and no. The wielder uses this however he wants, but it is difficult to refine. There are two things to remember when using that power. The first is that the only limitation is your imagination. The second is that you have the willpower to make it happen.” He pauses. “No. There is a third. If you lack the power for such a move, then you won’t be able to succeed.”
“Anyway, since you don’t have time, Zero is skipping some of the fundamental lessons, but that is the gist,” he admits, giving me a cheeky wink. “Besides, out here, no one has time to go through all of the basics. Do you think this is some kind of tutorial?” He laughs at the end, though I wonder what he finds so funny.
“There are two basic types: physical and magical. The magic type includes your friends Aurora and Maris. They have abilities that manipulate the environment around them. The physical types are G. and David. They enhance their weapon to channel that energy, using it against their foe with powerful attacks.”
“What about enhancing the body?” I ask.
; “That is a skill that either group can harness as well as a few basic spells. For instance, Zero used one to keep this battle quiet,” he says, while giving a look that warns against interrupting him. “Some have easy access to chi, using it with little effort, but for others, it is a challenge. You are in the latter group.” Of course I am. Nothing can be easy.
He grabs his bo and drops into a defensive position. “C’mon. Take your staff and show Zero what you can do. Today marks a turning point in your life.”
This is a lot to take in. Looking at Zero, I realize that this man is a puzzle, one that might be making sense. Perhaps I’m wrong and will only be more confused in the future. Was it possible for anyone to understand him? For the time, I let this slide. What he is offering is too good to pass up. This is far better than what I set out to achieve. I have an ally who understands my situation, and he can teach me with that knowledge in mind. A sudden excitement wells up inside me. I grip my staff with new determination and begin this next step towards my goal.
CHAPTER EIGHT
A Lapse in Judgment
8
G. lets us take an early break. I couldn’t be happier because if I have to take another step, I think I’ll pass out from overexertion. After training with Zero last night, it’s a miracle that I can walk at all. The only reason that I haven’t collapsed yet is that G. isn’t pushing us today. He’s calmed down since yesterday. Zero’s keeping his distance again, so our leader doesn’t feel the need to assert his dominance. Glancing around, I see that the others aren’t much better. Everyone looks as drained as I feel, no doubt from the last few days. Weapons drop to the ground. Harva almost flops on the ground while Maris lowers herself with the caution of an old woman. Even G. leans against a tree with a heaviness I’ve not seen yet.
Mind's Journey 2: Of Monsters and Men (A Gamelit Fantasy Adventure - Book 2) Page 8
