Origins Unknown

by M K Hussain

  He is on the mountainside and is hit on the head by a large man with a long wooden stick. The impact with which he is hit would knock anyone out cold, but not William. The man goes for a second hit when suddenly, William grabs hold of the stick. He uses his weight to swing it, knocking the large man over.

  As the man falls to the ground, William is rushed by a growing number of red-painted men and women wearing minimal clothing and all holding sticks. William punches and kicks them several at a time, using their weapons against them as well as their own momentum.

  William gets struck hard on several different points on his body during the fight but this just makes him madder. The more angry he gets, the greater his powers seem to become within him. His eyes flicker with rage as he uses his powers to destabilise the molecular structure of his opponents, turning them into either solid, liquid or gas, and rendering them inert for evermore.

  The damage done to both sides is so one-sided in William’s favour that eventually, the numbers game against him drops to a considerable, beatable size. The enemy also grows wise to William’s attack method and use defensive methods to try and wear William down. They throw long, sharp sticks at him from afar, striking several parts of his body, breaking bone and rupturing skin in several places. Then they retreat back and throw more sticks at him, distracting him from focusing completely on his powers.

  As William becomes wearier, not to mention that he was already worn down from his attacks earlier in the day, his combatants hit him with whatever is left in their arsenal: Stones, knives and rocks.

  They then grab him by the arms, yelling at him repeatedly to do something in an undecipherable language before tying him to the chair. In a last-ditch effort, William uses his powers to try to de-molecularise his restraints.

  Then suddenly, his eyes turn fully black in colour with several voices whispering in his ears, telling him what he should do next. The half-naked red-painted men and women, the natives of this land, startle in fright and cautiously back away from William.

  William raises his hands, outstretching his fingers in the air.

  The remaining natives rise up slightly, feet no longer touching the ground. They clutch their throats with their fists as a transparent substance exits through their necks. As the substance leaves their bodies, a small scream escapes each native’s throat as their bodies turn to ash…

  The flashback ends.

  In the following moments, William examines himself. He is covered with bruises from head to toe. He looks around his chair. The ground is littered with black ash, once Red men and Red women, brimming with life.

  William closes his eyes, disgusted with his own actions.

  What is happening to me?

  Just then, a memory comes into his brain from the flashback. William closes his eyes once more, the pain in his head gone now as he focuses on the memory.

  One of the indigenous he had killed had tried to tell him something, but his voice was too fast for him.

  William replays it in his mind, slowly this time.

  The large, indigenous man who first appeared to him with a stick had tried to tell him something; something important before the fight started.

  He had said:

  “Calm down, we mean you no harm. We need to knock you out to administer treatment for you are severely in pain. Come now, my friend.”

  William opens his eyes, surprised. He had done this. He thought it was self-defence, but no, it was what it was.

  The natives had all tried to tell him the same thing when they tied him with ropes.

  Cold-blooded murder. That’s what it was, what it is.

  Where had the voices come from?

  William looks at his hands, at his fingers.

  Something isn’t right. Beware of the voices.

  William kneels on the ground as he slides off his chair, shaking, unsure of his own self.

  He grabs hold of the ash on the ground with one hand, the essence of his mistaken enemies.

  I’m sorry.

  Rest in peace…

  20

  A NEW MEANING

  Rebecca and I sit up, our alphabetical Gems clutched tightly in our hands.

  Having had time to settle down, I decide to be the first one to speak.

  “Are you all right?”

  “Yeah, just about. You?”

  “Same.”

  “Three to go.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Do you think it means anything that we’ve found one each?”

  “I don’t know, Becca. Maybe it’s just down to luck, you know, being in one strange place then another. Odds are we probably would have never found one, let alone one each, that is if you count how many of us are out there.”

  “Yeah, I guess.”

  “Shhh…”

  I press one of my fingers onto Rebecca’s lips to keep her quiet as I sense movement above us.

  Rebecca realises what is happening but gently lowers my hand away from her face, possibly grateful that I did so, perhaps so as not to make any sound become apparent to the ones above, but maybe not too comfortable with me having touched her so suddenly and that too on her mouth.

  I have a lot to learn about women.

  I hear footsteps now. I go over to the metal grating and peer through. I see the kys now red in colour and a guard analysing the ground for footprints. He carries a gun and other more sophisticated equipment on his body, used possibly for detection purposes.

  The guard draws close to the grating now. Rebecca signals me to move away from it. I do as she says; sinking into the shadows of the tunnel we seem to be in.

  The now maroon light emanating from the kys shines through the grating, shimmering on the yellow water of the tunnel. It gives us a somewhat near-clear picture of our surroundings. The tunnel has a murky, noxious, sewage-like smell about it. There is grime on the walls and rust in several areas.

  After a short while, the footsteps subside and the sound of a distant hum of an engine disappears. Rebecca and I relax and sit down next to each other.

  “What do you think?” asks Rebecca.

  “About what?”

  “The Gems, Max! Do you think we can somehow use them to find the other ones out there?”

  The idea never crossed my mind before, even when we were flying through the air to here. It was a sound idea and it had worked up until now.

  “How are we going to do it?”

  “How about it if we put the Gems next to each other, letting them touch? It might give us a nudge in the right direction.”

  “OK, you win.”

  As we prepare to put the Gems next to each other, all shiny and glowing, displaying an array of magnificent colour and craftsmanship, I start to notice a strange presence in our midst. We quickly put the Gems into our pockets.

  Feeling unnerved, I ask Rebecca to stand up while whispering softly in her ear – “Don’t be alarmed, but I think the shadows around us are not what they seem.”

  True to my thought, our surroundings jump out and block us from going anywhere, trapping us. As we stand up, I feel around behind my back and notice that the wall is not as solid as it should be.

  I can feel… legs???

  I grab Rebecca quickly as a sword slices between us, threatening to tear us apart. As we move to the centre of this gathering, a soldier in the form of a ninja with a pterodactyl head mask picks up the sword he had just swung at us, and attempts to strike again.

  The shadows around us also form ninjas, black-clad and swords drawn. They strike repeatedly at us as we retaliate with our powers. Rebecca begins by raising the water levels within the tunnel whereas I generate a massive force field to protect us, appearing as a bubble with us in the middle of it. The ever-rising yellow water brings a minimal amount of anxiety to the ninjas, who strike at the bubble furiously as does the leader – Dactyl, a name we come to learn much later on.

  Dactyl slices his sword around every inch of the bubble, desperately searching for the weakest point within i
ts structure, but to no avail.

  “Even though the water isn’t increasing inside the bubble, Max, we can’t stay here forever! Think of something!”

  Rebecca uses her powers to bring about a strong, gusty wind through the tunnel, knocking the ninjas off their feet and blowing them further away into the sewer. In addition, Rebecca touches the force field bubble I have made to protect us, causing it to protrude hot, green flames around it, keeping us protected longer.

  Even though his ninjas are affected by the prisoners’ actions, Dactyl doesn’t allow himself to go the same way. He stands his ground, digging his feet into the wet sludge that the ground beneath the water has become. He uses his sword to not only protect himself from the flames but to continue to cleverly search for the weakest link in the bubble. Dactyl slices away, exerting pressure on the bubble as he does so.

  He can see the sweat forming on my forehead! I can’t keep this up for long, the pressure he continues to apply to the bubble is causing its structure to weaken…

  I concentrate harder, trying to keep the bubble from bursting and keeping it intact, especially after each strike. My chest is also itching away like mad, bringing about pain and increased stress.

  If my attention drifts for even a moment, all of mine and Rebecca’s efforts will be in vain…

  After redoubling my efforts, determined not to let myself fail, I notice that each strike, movement and especially sound within the tunnel apparently strengthens me as well as the action it is carried out in is making me weak.

  Out of the blue, an idea pops into my head.

  I pull the bubble inwards as far as I can before releasing it outwards with as much force as I can muster, a few shockwaves mixed in for added measure. The bubble bursts but the resulting force causes the remaining ninjas and Dactyl to get blown away further into the tunnel. As I ensure Rebecca hasn’t been harmed at all, I also quickly analyse the CUT device adorning my wrist.

  I just want to be as far away as possible right now!

  I put my finger on one of the random locations standing away from the map as I can see it on the device. I press it, grab Rebecca’s hand and we shove ourselves through a door in the wall behind us.

  As the door closes with us on the other side of it, I see Dactyl leaping towards the door, sword high up in the air as his ninja squadron lay temporarily suspended in the surrounding water. He strikes precisely a moment before the door closes permanently, a small sliver of his katana blade breaking off on to our side. Rebecca attempts to let out a scream as this happens but I pull her aside to calm her down.

  Suddenly, we start to gasp for breath. Quickly, Rebecca uses her powers to create O2 around our heads, enabling us to breathe again. Just then, I hear a voice a few feet away from us, a figure standing on a gold rock.

  “Welcome to the Omon, Max and Rebecca. I’m glad we can finally meet…”

  ***

  Dactyl looks from the area where the door had been to the cut-off katana sword in his hand, trying to figure out where we could have escaped to by trying to recall the new environment we had stepped into through the door. Dactyl then waves his hand at the ninjas as they follow him through the watery tunnel and out of one of the several ducts leading to their ship…

  21

  COLLISION COURSE

  “Who are you?” I ask him.

  “For the uninitiated, my name is Brutus, but for the otherwise inclined, you may call me ‘Master’, for you will soon enough.”

  Who does this guy think he is?

  Not knowing who or what this guy is capable of, I tell Rebecca to run. Trembling from the cold on the Omon, she listens to my advice but not before sending a cascade of gold Omon rocks in Brutus’s direction. He side-steps the rocks and uses his borrowed powers from the prisoners he has mind-controlled to throw Rebecca high into the air many miles away from us and drop her down hard onto the Omon’s rocky surface.

  Rebecca activates her CUT device mentally mid-throw, opening a door in the ground; the same area Brutus had intended to splat her down hard on.

  “Ahh, well, I’ll get her next,” he chuckles to himself as he turns to face me.

  I’ve got to keep him distracted, keep him away from Rebecca…

  “It’s a strange sight to see a prisoner dressed in a cape, crown and O2 mask, giving it the big ‘I am’ and fight us like this. The Commander’s after us all, including you; his guards scour Raeth looking for us…”

  “You think I’m a mere prisoner, don’t you, you idiot? I’m above you and whatever this system throws at me,” replies Brutus angrily while cautiously walking towards me. “I make my own rules, follow my own path and pretty soon, I’ll be walking through MY door, the door out of here.”

  “We’ll see about that,” I say before throwing the shard from Dactyl’s sword in Brutus’s direction. Brutus pulls out a wooden cane from behind his back, the red Ruby Gem in the form of a P encased within it. As Brutus wields it in his hands, he unleashes the power of the Gem. A blast of red energy from the Gem speeds towards the shard, obliterating it further into smithereens.

  Then, Brutus fires the staff upon me…

  ***

  Rebecca lands hard on the gold, rocky ground. She is fine but still examines herself for any broken bones.

  Max and that… guy are probably on the other side of the Omon now.

  Rebecca looks around at the stagnant lack of life on Omon. As far as she is aware, she is still on Omon as she peers over the edge of a cliff nearby to see Raeth, fantastically filled with a vibrant dark crimson and translucent light orange colour.

  As she looks ahead into the distance, anxious to get back to Max, she notices a huge cavern in front of her but not too far away, as if it had been cut deliberately into the face of the Omon.

  She blinks a number of times to adapt to the sight of the Omon, which for now is blurry and windswept. Suddenly, she is confronted by a huge number of prisoners, all dressed in their standard green prison uniforms but with a pale colour about their faces.

  “Can I help you?” Rebecca asks, ready for an attack if it comes to it.

  “No, for we are the Damned. We are prisoners like you but lack any special abilities, any powers to claim for our own.”

  “Maybe you just need time for them to come naturally to you, you know, a delayed start.”

  “We’ve tried but that doesn’t work. Our CUT devices don’t function at all and worst of all, we are wasting away, little by little, until our time is up,” they say collectively…

  ***

  Brutus fires repeatedly at me as I duck and dive out of the way. I hide behind Omon rocks but the madman continues to blast each of them in turn to expose a clean shot at me. As he fires, he cackles immensely.

  Grabbing for a chance to fight back, I fire shockwave after shockwave at Brutus, who quickly moves out of harm’s way from each of my strikes. Brutus’s next attempt at firing at me is met with a Raeth-shaking shockwave/force field, which I throw at him. Both energies from either side meet with a collision. Brutus applies pressure on his staff, and in turn on the Ruby to generate a stronger surge of red energy at me, pushing my shockwave/force field combo back towards me.

  Suddenly, my blood begins to boil inside of me. I get angrier. With the sound of the battle raging in my ears, I push myself to meet the desired force needed to combat Brutus and beat him on his own level. The colliding forces regain an even keel.

  Out of the blue, an incendiary arrow strikes at the centre of the energies, igniting upon impact. Both Brutus and I fall back onto Omon’s surface. Looking up, I see Brutus activate his CUT device and dive through a door.

  As I prepare to give chase, I am cut off by a masked figure, tubes fixed to the mask on its face leading to a gas cylinder on its back. Shrouded in a black space costume, it appears to stop me from pursuing Brutus as it places a hand on my shoulder, shakes its head at me while pointing at a disappearing Brutus…

  22

  LOST SOULS

  William is lost.
He looks all over Raeth using his CUT device, searching for his lost friends, anyone who can direct him to them. Still not sure on how to use the device, he enters through different doors to many different places at random but at each turn, he finds no luck.

  During his journey through many forsaken lands, his mind is at a standstill at what exactly happened to him on the mountainside. He starts asking himself several questions.

  I am a good person, why am I here?

  Why am I here?

  Why me?

  As he climbs through the next door, the only question on his mind at that point is:

  What am I?

  Now he finds himself walking through a hospital surrounded by Red doctors, nurses and patients. They all look at him cautiously as a few of them mutter things under their breath at each other. One of them even runs past him, as if to inform the authorities. Moving quickly, as he knows he has little time, William continues walking until he somehow finds himself hiding in a very spacious room at the centre of which lay many bodies covered in white sheets, on several tables. Puzzled, he notices one of the bodies moving slightly but wincing with pain, omitting a low-sounding agonised moan.

  William rushes over to uncover the body, thinking that it could be someone he could help; someone that could help atone for his previous sins.

  Sarah lies there in agony, bloodied face and aching body. William helps her up onto her feet before realising that she isn’t able to stand. He helps her by holding onto her waist.

  “What happened?” he asks her gently.

  “My friend and I got ambushed by the Commander and his cronies. Let’s just say this isn’t one of my better moments.”

  “You’re telling me. I’m William by the way.”

  “Aargh… I’m Sarah.”

  “Come on; let’s get out of here before whoever did this to you comes back.”

  “Are you… covered in bruises?”