by Harlon Banks
Thirty seconds left...
Jonath didn't know how he did it, the activation of this unnatural wellspring of strength within his body. He didn't know if it had been through the dangerous encounters he'd experienced prior unlocking more of his bodies innate knowledge of its Nightborn composition; nor did he know if it was due to the emotions running through his head now. The fear of being embarrassed or taken as a joke, the fear of being unable to protect himself like against those snakes or Liariana. It all stirred inside of him after seeing how calm and collected Kelgard had been this entire scrap. Jonath wondered if he were really so weak that he should just abandon his goals here. People like Kelgard, Melissa, Delaren, Orath, Wrain and even Liariana felt like they were miles ahead of him. Like he were just a plaything in the presence of true talent.
"You gotta learn how to protect yourself child.." Jeremy's voice nagged in his memory.
Jonath realized that he in this moment, didn't care about coming to this facility to learn more about himself and eventually recover his memories. He wanted to win, he wanted to beat Kelgard, he wanted to beat Liariana, he wanted to be capable of handling himself regardless of the situation before anything else. He wasn't weak, Liariana saving his life pissed him off enough. He didn't need this guy acting like he could dispose of Jonath whenever he wanted to and this was just him showing pity.
Jonath wanted to win... He wanted to win... Taking down Kelgard was the first step to achieving not only this, but truly being capable of finding out just who he was, and how powerful he could become in the long run. Kelgard wanted to give off the impression he was too good for anybody else? Fine...
Jonath's aura exploded in a rush around him, a once vague shade of energy now a vibrant, explosive torrent of howling aura that rushed around his figure creating noticeable wind pressure that blew back air to everyone else around and only seemed to climb higher. Eyes a powerful, vibrant pale luminescence glow, crescent-shaped ghastly pupils intensifying in glare as aura pulsed outwards from his feet in a wave that hit the barrier of the circle.
"I didn't honestly think he had this kind of aura in him." Wrain calmly said, though it was clear Jonath had drawn on some shock from the cryomancer. Delaren sucking his teeth, left arm raised to shield his face from the annoying winds caused by rapidly moving aether. Kayde winced, taking a step back as her stormy grey bangs fluttered across pretty features while Melissa seemed to love staring at Jonath's energy. Her eyes seeing the full display in vibrant clarity as she wiped smiled in impressed attitude. That's it Jonath, show everyone what that power of yours could do...
Fifteen seconds left...
Kelgard, having unlike the others showed absolutely no reaction to what was happening, did pull his hands from his pockets and flex open his fingers. A quiet inhale with closed eyes, and an exhale as the opened again. Assuming an actual fighting stance now, right leg swept behind the other as he shifted his weight, and extended his right hand behind himself, bent at the elbow and palm open with curled in fingers aimed towards Jonath. His left hand moved before his person fully extended and ending with only his middle and his index finger fully extended and pulled together. Eyes showing no emotion, a flush of blood through his fingers tinged them red as a red haze began to fume up around his body.
"Is that blood?" Kayde said hushed as she watched Kelgard prepare. Melissa narrowing her eyes at him, focusing on his strange stance and the red haze. That wasn't just aura, it had traces of red blood cells in them, was Kelgard extracting his own blood from his body for something!?
Jonath's stance tensed up as well, arms crossed over his face and jacket being blown open at the zipper from the fluctuations of aether around him. This standoff a power struggle now, Jonath's wild, eerie and uncontrollable rush of power met with a strange, calm, and unmoving stance and vibe emanated from Kelgard. Both across the field from each other, ready to end it.
Five seconds left...
Jonath's right foot shifted, and he vanished in a blur, his phantom image fading shortly afterwards in a sudden flare as all his aura compressed back into his body giving him speed much faster than before. Melissa blinked, was that a warp strike!? Nobody else aside from Melissa, Kayde and Dast were able to keep up with what came next. Jonath was in Kelgard's melee range with his right hand pulled back and aiming to lurch forward with a tiger strike to Kelgard's chest. A dense concentration of aura festered at the palm of his glove enveloping the hand as his mystic eyes discharged powerful energies.
Kelgard, however would show he was just a cut above the rest. His eyes looking directly at Jonath when the amnesic moved faster than the others (aside from the ones mentioned earlier) could register. In that same moment, Kelgard countered Jonath and his right hand formed a semi-fist, the index and knuckle extended farther than the other fingers as he lurched forward to meet Jonath's attack! Blood red hues met glowing ghastly pale, the two attacking simultaneously as a large shockwave accompanied by a vibrant pulse of aura consisting of red and pale mixing together and blasting outwards from the two combatants clash...
Everything quieted down afterwards, Dast stepping in the ring as time ran out and the bystanders staring in anticipation for what happened next... It was over...
He exhaled deeply...
"You aren't too bad..." Kelgard said calmly with Jonath leaning on him unconscious, his hand that had struck the amnesic still planted in his chest while his left hand had Jonath's attacking arm by the wrist. Jonath unresponsive, his aura gone and his eyes dulled out as he stood propped up on Kelgard's crouched person before sliding off and hitting the ground out cold. Kelgard after a few seconds of looking straight ahead with that blank, detached look, erected himself and put his hands back in his pockets before turning to walk back into the bystanders crowd. Everyone quiet...
"Your barks worse than your bite though." He said blankly.
"The winner is Kelgard Crimson." Dast said reaching down to scoop Jonath up in his arms.
The Next Phase
The Challenger Chapter Thirty-Three: The Next Phase
"Hey? Wake up." A male's voice rang in his ears.
Jonath groaned at the sensation of someone rapidly poking at his cheek. Eyes squinting as he jerked his head away without opening them, a hand raised as if to swat at the irritant. He felt groggy, as if he'd just been drained of all his energy. There was a bright white light shining on his closed eyelids too further annoying him, a growl now leaving his throat as he moved his head again in discomfort.
"Rise and shine; I'll poke you with this dirty needle I pulled out the hazard bin if you don't. Who knows what kind of disease it could have on the tip?" That same voice sighed, accompanied by a rummaging noise off beside him. Jonath registering what he just said, and his brow furrowed quickly opening his eyes and raising his head. Just in time to see the needle about to be pushed into his right arm, which Jonath quickly pulled away with a less than pleased scowl!
"What the hell!?" He exclaimed eyes focused on a middle-aged aged man dressed in a porcelain white buttoned up lab coat. The strangers husky build, skin fair, his hair short, unkempt and a dirty blonde color (with a trimmed goatee), coupled with grass-green colored eyes and a monotone expression all wrapped up in a package that gave the assumption this man probably auto-piloted his way through life. How said autopilot landed him a job as a doctor/scientist nobody knew.
"Ah, so you are alive then? Guess I won't get to use this after all." The blonde-haired guy sighed almost as if he genuinely had planned to stick Jonath with that dirty needle. The amnesic's stare sharpening into a more than displeased glare as he barked out in frustration!
"The hell is wrong with you what did you do to me you how many dirty needles did you prick me with where the hell am I!?" Jonath said all of this in one, continuous run on sentence. The other man seemingly ignoring his rowdy attitude as he simply slid the needle back into a drawer beside him with a straight face. Jonath's irritation staved by him now taking a good look around and seeing he were in a clinic. The w
hite curtains pulled to hide his section away from the rest of the room. Nothing in sight but the cotton bed he were lying on, the rotating chair the strange man were sitting on and the counter fixed into the wall with a sink and a few dressers.
When did he get here? Did this mean that he lost his fight against Kelgard?
"I didn't prick you with anything, unfortunately." The mysterious 'doctor' snorted with a disappointed tone while he spun back around in his chair to pick up a stack of papers off the counter. Jonath furrowing a brow at him while still clenching his right arm with his left hand as if shielding it from any further needles to be pulled out. First impressions never seemed to be good with him, it's as if this were some sick joke now the world was playing on him. From Liariana, to Wren, to Delaren, to Kelgard and now this guy? Give him a break...
"You're probably wondering why exactly you have a strange man hovering over your once unconscious body threatening to prick you with a dirty needle if you didn't wake up, right?" As the doctor spoke he turned his green hued gaze to the younger man.
Jonath suddenly deadpanned. This guy...
"No I'm not because that's a perfectly normal thing to wake up to you know?" Jonath responded with clear sarcasm lacing each word. This guy here...
"I think you should talk to some type of authority if that's normal for you kid. That's pretty suspect and concerning." He responded with an incredulous, concerned stare. Jonath's deadpan intensified.
"I was being sarcastic." Jonath clarified if the man really wasn't being a smartass and was actually stupid.
"I wasn't." The doctor said nonchalant, never taking his gaze off the amnesic's own.
Jonath face palmed, a heavy sigh following as he closed his eyes and lowered his head. This was quickly turning into an unnecessary headache, he should just stop trying. Just deciding to forget about it now, Jonath switched the topic to something more important to him.
"Anyway why am I here? I lost the fight that badly?" He asked sounding a little frustrated again as well as embarrassed. His soft glowing eyes looking off at the curtain to his right with a narrowed, humiliated look across his pale-skinned features. Jeremy was right, Jonath really couldn't take care of himself. So annoying that he felt like this; so weak compared to everyone else.
"Nah, you're fine. Bringing unconscious people here is just protocol, cause you know... You're unconscious and all." The doctor shrugged lackadaisical. Jonath side-eyeing him again with that same old unamused glare.
"Thank you genius." He eye-rolled now looking off to the side in exasperation. "You sure do say the most helpful things."
"Anytime." The doctor rolled with the sarcasm before clearing his throat and hunching forward in his spinning chair. His dark-colored pants dingy and weathered coupled with hard brown boots crossing over another. "Anyway to put it simple, that Kelgard guy managed to shut off your blood circulation by stopping your heart when he hit you with whatever it was he hit you with. It was some type of blood-tinged attack based off the aura left circulating in the wound, but don't worry it's dissipated now." He trailed off suddenly, as if he were forgetting something. Jonath looked back at him, head tilted in narrowed confusion when the doctor began scratching the bottom of his chin and looking very perplexed.
What... what was he doing?
The doctor snapped his fingers, a light bulb going off above his head. Jonath taken aback as he looked up in blatant astonishment. Did he just see a metaphysical lightbulb magically appear over this man's head? Was he messing with him again? Jonath opened his mouth to ask about it, cut off by the outburst from the doctor.
"My name is Casey, forgot to introduce myself, been quite airheaded lately. I'm the resident doctor around here and stuff." Casey's introduction was rather lackluster, as expected by now. Jonath however was more focused on something else that caught his attention; the amnesic still staring right above Casey's head.
"Where'd that light bulb come from!?" He pointed vaguely up. Casey raising a brow and darting his eyes above his head with confused, husky features. He didn't see anything up there?
"Light bulb? What are you talking about?" He looked back at Jonath now doubting if the boy was alright in the head. Jonath getting antsy now, shifting his weight as he now blatantly pointed his index finger above Casey's head. The bulb at this point was long gone but Jonath knew damn well what he'd seen.
"There was a light bulb that appeared over your head a few seconds ago like you suddenly had an idea or revelation. I know I'm not damned crazy!" He huffed locking pale eyes with Casey's grassy colored ones. The doctor furrowing his brow even more at the amnesic now, very clearly wondering if that unconsciousness did a bit more damage than he thought. Casey peered up again, seeing nothing, and peered back down at the boy with a slight deadpan of his own now. Despite his words something about Casey gave the impression he was messing with Jonath... Was he though?
"There's no light bulb above my head, kid. You need to take some medication or something?" He snorted shaking his head slightly.
"There literally was a fucking light bulb over your head not a minute ago! It was lit up and everything!" Jonath insisted but his words met a wall of disbelief. Casey staring blankly, and slowly backing his spinning chair away from Jonath. This kid was bonkers...
"Maybe I should have stuck you with a needle. Do some blood tests or something to see if you got a screw loose in that noggin of yours." He sighed opening the drawer without looking and pulling back out another, much more intimidating looking needle from the drawer and creeping back closer to Jonath. The spiky silver-haired young man widening his eyes, a flux in the soft glowing hues as he scurried away back to the wall in subtle fright.
"The hell do you think you're doing!? Get that needle away from me!" Jonath demanded, Casey only creeping closer and closer with the most nonchalant looking expression. That hypodermic needle getting closer and closer with each passing second. The next words that left his mouth sent a chill up Jonath's spine.
"Let me pull some brain matter out your head with this, I need to run some tests." Casey said calmly more so as a statement he planned on doing that anyway over it being him asking. As that needle got closer Jonath tensed up more and more, his hand that gripped the railing of the bed literally crunching the metal slightly without him knowing. Casey pausing upon seeing this, gaze now focused on the dented metal as he lowered the needle. Well that was rather surprising...
"You got some real supernatural strength in that body of yours, you dented that metal that easily. Pretty impressive." Casey complimented dryly.
Jonath blinked, turning to look down at the disfigured part of the railing in his grip, hand jerking away now. He did that?
"Apologies..." He said low and confused. Casey snorting and just waving it off as he put away the needle. Taking a pen out of his coat shortly afterwards and standing up to walk out of the section the two were in. Returning moments later with a clipboard in hand and sitting back down, beginning to scribble something across the papers.
"Adding supernatural physical strength to the list of powers you've showcased. You've got quite the impressive skill set kid." Casey tapped the parchment with the pen one last time and stuffed it back in his pocket while rereading what he wrote. Jonath not saying anything, his eyes looking down at his open palm and then back to the railing. This was as new to him as it was new to Casey.
"What do you have down so far about me?" He asked looking back up with a much more relaxed, calm demeanor again. Casey glancing briefly up to him, a bit confused on why the kid asked a question he should've already known the answer to. A snort, and he shrugged looking back down and reading off the list of powers he'd documented for the Nightborn.
"By law this facility is required to document all the powers shown to us by our disciples; your information was rather bare bones when we got it so when you were up to fight Dast paid particular attention to everything you did, and relayed them to me." He paused, giving the amnesic time to process this before continuing shortly afterw
ards.
"So far you've in your time here shown the following abilities: mainly defensive visual powers predated by a change in your eyes encompassing but not limited to, enhanced visual perception, enhanced reflexes, enhanced precision, and enhanced spacial awareness. Physical abilities shown so far are enhanced agility, strength, speed, aura generation, capacity to use said aura offensively, and regeneration." He paused again gesturing to Jonath's chest with the clipboard.
"That regeneration is why you recovered faster than you should've from taking a blow directly to the heart like that. Granted you wouldn't have died either way because I'm sure the guy held back when he struck you but you still should've been a bit worse off than you are now."
Jonath listened, eyes looking back down to his open hand as he took all of this information in. Seemed they didn't know that he could foresee his own death or create phantom weapons yet (not that he knew how to activate the latter power himself anyway). They also didn't know about that odd transformation he had back in the ruins, those cryptic black markings that spanned his body... Best to keep that all a secret anyway, he supposed.