by Navi' Robins
I heard two thunderous claps and found myself kneeling in a garden. I could feel the sun’s heat on the back of my neck and the breeze blow past my face. When I lifted my eyes I beheld the most beautiful natural setting that I had ever seen. The colors of every tree, flower, and blade of grass seemed to be enhanced and illuminated in the most beautiful colors. The air tasted sweet and free from pollutions and the odd smells one would encounter in today’s world. Was this heaven? I thought as I smiled, looking around and taking in more air and the beauty that surrounded me.
“No, you are not in heaven.” The voice came from behind me and it was none other than Jaffrey. I quickly turned to see Jaffrey standing there with a worried look on his face.
“What is this?”
“This, Aiden, is the beginning of your training and you failed your first lesson. You failed it miserably.”
“Are you telling me that whole seizure-thing I experienced back there was a test?”
“Yes and again you failed to pass it.”
“Whatever! What was the point of it? To make me admit I love the man who tried to kill me and my family?”
“No, that was just the surface of the test. The purpose was for you to accept your emotions and use them to save your life. But it seemed you’d rather die than let your emotions flow.”
“You got that right, Jaffrey! No way will I ever let love and Jason be in the same sentence with me, let alone feel it.”
“Then you will never be able to protect your family and become Baraqu.”
“Oh damn, there goes my dream! Bummer!”
From the look on Jaffrey’s face I could tell he was not amused by my sarcasm.
“I told you already, I want no part in being a Baraqu, so me not passing the test really doesn’t ruin my day. Sorry, but I’m just keeping it real with you, Jaffrey.”
“Keeping it real? You have no idea what that really means. You are lying to yourself Aiden and if you don’t accept the emotions that flow through you naturally, you will succumb to the unnatural emotions created by man and be ultimately destroyed.”
“Man-made emotions? C’mon, Jaffrey. Are you telling me that man created his own emotions?”
“Yes, hatred being the most vile and powerful of them all. When you are born you have no idea what hatred is. A baby can only love. It is when we fail that a child begins to feel unnatural emotions like hunger, abandonment, and pain. When we fail, we introduce these unnatural emotions that teaches a child to ultimately hate. Hatred is taught to a child; it’s never a gift from life but a curse from man. So when we fight and ignore the emotions that flow naturally, we again fail and become our worse enemy. Like you, Aiden. You decided you’d rather die than to let your natural feelings flow. This way of thinking and feeling has to be unlearned if you are to become a warrior and possess the power necessary to protect your family. Whether you decide to join our cause or not, the Shadows will not stop until your entire family is dead. And your family’s safety is entirely up to you because though your brother Manny is a very skilled soldier, he is not capable of fighting the Shadows head on.
“You are your family’s only hope of safety, and if you refuse the training I am giving you, you are ultimately condemning your family to death. Either at the hands of one of Jason’s students or another assassin; they will die and you will be the cause of their deaths because you refused to act when action was needed.”
“So I actually have no choice? Either train with you or everyone I love will die?”
“Yes, that is your dilemma. You are free to refuse, but for every action the universe reacts or responds. It’s truly up to you.”
Jaffrey was right, I had to go through with this if I wanted to be able to keep my family safe. I didn’t want the responsibility, but life isn’t fair, it never is.
“I will give you a warning Aiden. Unless you accept your true feelings for the Shadow you killed, you will never reach your full potential and again you will be leaving your family vulnerable.”
“Okay, now I will agree to train but I won’t feel what you are suggesting and I would really appreciate it if we changed the subject concerning Jason.”
“Very well, Aiden. Shall we begin?”
“Sure.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Over what seemed like five hours, all we did was meditate and exercise. For a man who was thousands of years old, Jaffrey was in unbelievable shape. He put me to shame by outperforming me in every physical and mental category. And he constantly teased me calling me out of shape and a young “Thundercat.” I guess he thought it was funny and “hip,” but it wasn’t funny and was kind of weird knowing this man who was thousands of years old knew about a cartoon from the eighties. I would think a man of his experience would be reading books on strategy and enlightenment, not watching cartoons. But what was even stranger was that regardless of how long we had been in this forest, the sun never went through its natural progression. It just remained in the same position in the sky and after so many hours its position should have been towards the west and not still in the east. I tried to ignore it, but after a while it kept eating at me so I just had to ask.
“Hey, where are we?”
“Keep moving, Aiden!”
“Wait, we’ve been at this for hours and the sun hasn’t moved one inch— that’s not normal. So where are we?”
“I said keep moving!”
At this point I was getting upset, I hated being ignored and given my current predicament, withholding information could mean my family’s demise.
“Okay, I’m not going to take another step until you tell me where we are!”
Jaffrey stopped running and turned to me with a look of anger in his eyes.
“I said move! I’m not going to repeat myself again.”
“And if I refuse? What are you going to do? Kill me?”
“The thought crossed my mind!”
“You actually think I’m afraid of you, Jaffrey? Things here don’t seem right even with all the beauty around me. I want answers and if killing me is an easier task than telling me what the hell is going on here, then so be it!”
Jaffrey smiled and placed his hand on my shoulder in a gesture of congratulations.
What the hell? He thought this was funny?
I quickly snatched away and took a step back to make sure he couldn’t touch me again.
“Jaffrey, you may be all powerful, but I will not hesitate to kick your ass if you try and hurt me.”
Jaffrey began to laugh till tears started falling down his face.
“What’s so funny?”
“You remind me of myself during my training with my teacher and he always said I was one of the most difficult yet most talented of his students. I never saw myself as being difficult. I, like yourself, just wanted answers and I didn’t trust the process in the beginning. Now I understand completely what I put him through and it’s cosmic comedy at its best.”
“Jaffrey, look at my face, do you see a smile or even a giggle coming on?”
“No, Aiden, I do not. I meant no disrespect.”
“So why the threats? Why the games?”
“Aiden, this was all a test!”
“Another test?!”
“Yes. In training you will be tested to find out exactly what kind of Baraqu you will become and the limits of your potential. I have trained many Baraqu in my past and you are by far the most intuitive of them all. It only took you mere hours to discover and gain the resolve to question your current situation. Normally it would take days and weeks before they got the nerve to question their trainer. I am not in the business of training ‘yes’ men and walking-talking “sheeple”. No, we train those with a mind to think and use it. Regardless of how things may seem, how beautiful they are, if your soul speaks to you and tells you something isn’t right, you must have the courage to speak up. Even if it’s someone you love or look up to; it shouldn’t’ matter, you must have the resolve to discern what’s right and act.
T
his is the foundation of our order. We can’t sit idle and let even those we love behave contrary to what we know is right. This is one of the major problems with mankind today. Fear—fear prevents people to act and rise up against oppression and tyranny. They wait for others to act and while they are waiting, someone else is also waiting and a chain reaction occurs and the entire planet is sitting on their asses waiting for someone else to make things right. As Baraqu, we can’t become mentally lazy and complacent.”
The more Jaffrey explained, the more I began to understand how much I didn’t understand. I thought even as a teenager I was ahead of the curve. Boy, was I wrong. I was clueless.
“So can you tell me where are we?”
“Yes, we are in an alternate reality that I created just for this training exercise.”
“What do you mean a different reality? So all of this isn’t real?”
“Yes, it is…this isn’t an illusion. As a master and wielder of time and space I am able to create an alternate reality to which I can invite whomever I want. I can create all the scenery I want, create my own canvas. But I am unable to create any life forms that require ‘Shi’ or the breath of life. Only the creator has that power. But I can create wildlife, plant life, landscapes, etc., but I can only maintain this alternate reality for a limited time period and once I’m done with it I must dispose of it. It can’t be permanent.”
“Why not? I mean that would be a great idea to create the perfect vacation or chill spot! Beaches, oceans, great islands with all the trimmings. C’mon, Jaffrey, why would you not want to keep a place like that for yourself?”
“Because you are altering the order of the universe and keeping that reality permanent could have a negative effect on the order of the universe. We are creating an unknown and smashing it into the known without proper process of creation. We are taking personal order and implanting it into universal order. Who’s to say making this reality permanent won’t cancel out another reality?
Who’s to say it wouldn’t create a supernova that would eradicate all organic life in the universe? We have no idea what it would cause, so we must maintain it for a limited period of time and then correct the ripple we created in the fabric of time and space when we created this alternate reality.
“Creating these alternate realities are essential to keeping the Shadows’ prying eyes in the dark about what we are planning.
I was still confused about the whole “time and space equals reality” thing. I was trying to wrap my head around it, like Jaffrey said, but it just seemed too advanced and farfetched to me.
“So now that I’ve passed this test, what’s next?”
“We continue to train. You see, you think you’ve been here for hours but in reality you’ve only been here less than five minutes.”
“What!”
“The most I can maintain an alternate reality without it beginning to have an effect on the universe is about an hour tops. If you didn’t pass the test within that time frame we would have to stop and the training would end.”
“End?”
“Yes. I would have to stop training you and revealing the secrets of the Baraqu.”
“Why?”
“Because you don’t possess the mental capacity to handle the power you would wield and you would become your own worst enemy and potentially become a harbinger of destruction. That is something we cannot allow, so this test is necessary to weed out those who have the potential and those who don’t. Just because you have the power of the Baraqu inside you doesn’t mean you will become Baraqu. It’s not just enough to have the power, you must also have the wisdom to use it.
“Our time is up here, it’s time to move on to another form of training.”
“Which is?”
“Wielding and controlling the elements.”
“ You can teach me how to control fire, electricity, water, and other elements?”
“Yes, I can, but can you learn?”
“We’ll have to see.” The thought of being able to control lightning was just badass to me. I was really hoping this training wasn’t all smoke and mirrors either. I was standing there picturing myself shooting lightning out my hands and eyes like a superhero. Yeah, it was going to be badass. Well, that’s if I could learn because I had the feeling the whole control-time-and-space thing would come into play and I still hadn’t gotten the concept.
“Shall we leave, Aiden?”
“Yeah, let’s go.”
Then Jaffrey did the most awesome thing I’d ever seen. He calmly walked forward, stretched out his right arm with his hand held open and then closed his hand like he was crushing a piece of paper. And instantly everything around us was absorb inside his hand; like balling up a piece of paper that was on a wall, but instead of paper it was an entire world.
When I looked around we were back at his place. It all happened in less than three seconds and the swift change in environment and lighting made it hard for my eyes to adjust. Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined this kind of power being available to anyone. Not even in comic books or movies was this kind of power displayed. It was amazing and unnerving. I started to understand why my mental state was so important because someone with a really bad attitude with this kind of power at his disposal could be a walking, breathing Armageddon.
“What was that? How did you do that? That was incredible!” I yelled. I couldn’t contain me excitement at Jaffrey’s display of power.
“This is the power you will wield and you must be trained to use this power responsibly. You must understand and honor the laws of relativity and govern yourself accordingly. Using this power is no small matter and that’s why the first thing we have to know is if you have a mind capable of thinking for itself and a will to use it. We will train in the art of elemental powers first. Elemental powers are the weapons of the battlefield against the Shadows and any other enemy you may encounter. The power to alter reality is a power that will be learned much later once you’ve mastered your ability to harness emotions and the wisdom of which emotions to use.”
“Can Shadows create alternate realities?”
“In a way. They possess a power called Erset La Tari, which means ‘land of no return’. It allows them to place people in a dark hellish reality where evil spirits occupy a dark abyss. Many have perished while under Erset La Tari spell.”
As he continued to explain Erset La Tari, it dawned on me that was exactly what Jasmine was doing to me. I never gave it much thought until that second, but it appears that Jasmine was also a Shadow. But how could she be a Shadow yet warn Sarah about Jason the night of the attack? I would think she would rejoice in our demise’ not warn us. Especially now knowing she was trying to kill me with that dark nightmare she kept putting me in. I was so confused and I guess my inner turmoil was written all over my face. The look on my face alarmed Jaffrey and he walked towards me with concern in his eyes.
“Tell me Aiden, have you experienced this curse before?”
I was hesitant to answer because then I would have to relive my murderous intentions towards a high school girl who from what I’ve just learned, may be a Shadow.
“Yes, I have.”
“Where?”
“At school.”
“School? At your high school?”
“Yes.”
“That is not good. How many children were affected, how many were lost?”
I was really confused now. “What do you mean how many were affected? No one was lost, I was the only one affected.”
“Impossible, Aiden, unless you were alone. Where did it happen?”
“In the lunchroom first and then on the football field during tryouts, also during a game and I wasn’t alone. There were hundreds of students and teachers around.”
“That is impossible! When a Shadow performs Erset La Tari it affects an area not an individual. Entire towns and armies have been lost when a Shadow performs the Erset La Tari.”
“Jaffrey, I’m telling you I was the only per
son affected.” He still had a look of disbelief on his face.
“Maybe you were not made aware of anyone else that may have been affected. Most of the time only Baraqu can escape the Erset La Tari alive. You are very fortunate that you survived being cursed multiple times even though your powers were not awakened at that time. Although your resilience was amazing it’s still very shocking and I need you to tell me everything.”
So I spent the next two hours explaining every detail of my encounters with Jasmine and all the events that led to the night Jason revealed himself. After I was done, Jaffrey sat in his chair, silent, and looked at the floor. He would periodically look up at me with then would look back at the floor.
“I don’t know what to say, everything you told me doesn’t make sense. I know you are telling me the truth. I can feel that from you, but it doesn’t add up. Something else is going on here. Firstly, you should not have survived the first time she performed Erset La Tari, but to survive three times and to have the curse only felt by you is even more bizarre. When Shadows use that curse it takes a vast amount of negative energy to cast and it’s used to take out multiple targets, never a single individual. I have never seen that kind of power wielded by a Shadow, let alone a teenage girl. It would take a great amount of power for a Shadow to concentrate the Erset La Tari on just one individual and prevent anyone around them from being affected. The concentration and mental control of that girl is something we have never encountered before in all our dealings with the Shadows. If what you say is accurate, she would be even more powerful than Jason who was the second most powerful Shadow in their order. His powers were only exceeded by Alal, who is a Shadow and a warlock. A very powerful and dangerous combination.
“But that would also mean you possess a power that no other Baraqu has ever possessed. Even while your powers lay dormant they still protected you. That is the only explanation why you survived Jason’s attack and was able to destroy him. Aiden, you must understand that very few people in this realm, Baraqu included, would have been able to defeat him. You possess a power inside you unlike any other. If you apply yourself, you could be the most powerful Baraqu in history.