Max stopped to admire certain artefacts in a glass case, including five samurai swords.
Paintings of former Head Masters hung around the office. Max quickly came to the conclusion that this school was very wealthy and they liked to show it.
Master Lee signed the letter, handing it back over to Dozer in a new envelope.
“This is a cycle that comes around every time an electricity user is born. He lets out the hounds to hunt him down. We need to make a stand,” said Dozer, trying to convince the Head Master.
“We will. We just have to pick the right time,” replied Lee. “Now, my servants shall show you and Max to your rooms. Eat, sleep and depart in the morning,” said Master Lee.
It wasn’t until Dozer and Lee headed towards the elevator that Max returned to their side.
“It’s been a pleasure meeting you Maximus. May you stay strong,” said Lee, firmly gripping his hand.
“And the same to you,” replied Max, letting go and following Dozer.
* * *
The following morning, Max and Dozer exited the building, satisfied with the hospitality shown by Master Lee. Refreshed after a good night’s sleep, Max felt amazing. Dozer had noticed the change instantly. It was a new day and thoughts of the school continued to circulate in Max’s head. He had enjoyed the different experience, happy with the mission’s success.
“Back to the school?” asked Max.
“Not quite. We haven’t picked up any supplies yet,” replied Dozer.
The streets all looked the same. He was lost yet again, following Dozer as he pushed through the crowd. Before long, they entered a small shop tucked away off the main street. The door opened to the tinkling of a bell and a rich, sweet smell engulfed the men as they entered, making Max feel hungry.
“Dozer,” said the elderly Japanese woman behind the counter. “It has been too long.”
Dozer greeted the woman with a wave as he made his way to the counter. Max detoured around a shelf of freshly baked cookies and sweets.
“Cookies?” Max questioned, looking at Dozer with a raised eyebrow.
“Every time I come,” Dozer replied.
It appeared that he had been coming here for years. Every chance that arose to visit Japan, he volunteered. The Head Master before Alexander had brought him here as an Elite and from there it became a tradition. He took the brown paper bag from the proprietor and bowed his head. “Arigato,” he smiled.
Max moved to the side as the door opened to admit a cloaked figure that brushed past him. The man was big, with long dark hair and stubble. He smelled as if he had been in a butcher shop, and Max gave him a curious look.
Dozer had followed the man’s progress from the corner of his eye and now pushed Max out of the door.
“Follow me,” said Dozer, scurrying down the long street.
“Why so fast?” Max complained, hurrying to keep up the pace.
“I don’t like the look of that man; he has been following us since we left the school.”
Max’s anxiety rose as he took a quick look behind them. Dozer’s suspicions were correct: the man quickly emerged from the store, looking from left to right. The busy street worked to their advantage as they ducked and wove around the students and businessmen, trying to lose their tail.
Max tugged at Dozer’s shirt and pointed him towards a dark alleyway.
It was deserted and they walked quickly between the buildings. Suddenly, Dozer came to a dead stop and Max couldn’t help but bump into the back of him, nearly falling over.
“What’s wrong?” he whispered, tensing up.
All at once, four horse shoe rings came flying around the corner and, with a cry, Dozer found his wrists and ankles pinned to the brick wall of a building. Max had to lunge backwards to dodge the force of his teacher’s body as it hit the wall.
Max spun around and stared in the direction from whence the rings had come. Would there be more? He hurried to try and help Dozer get the rings off. The rings had penetrated the walls deeply, however, and Max was unable to free Dozer’s hands.
‘I know who has done this,’ panted Dozer, sweating. ‘It’s Seth. It all started years ago, before he switched allegiance.’
“It won’t budge!” yelled Max, trying to rip the ring from the wall. He had no idea what to do. Were they really under attack or was it just Lee playing a trick on them?
Suddenly, Dozer yelled at Max to retreat and he had mere seconds to glance behind him and then dive to the ground.
The steel rings missed him by inches, instead hitting a rubbish skip behind him. Panic swept through Max, paralysing him completely. Two further sets of rings hurtled around the corner behind him and he flinched. He couldn’t think. His reactions were too slow to stop the rings.
He had just raised his hands to cover his face when the rings stopped dead with a jolt. His instincts had suddenly come to the fore and he had released a barrier.
Two figures came around the corner, stopping ten feet from them. Max realised he was out-numbered four to one when two further men appeared, blocking the exits at both ends of the alley.
“Run!” cried Dozer.
“There’s no need for that,” said the hooded man from the cookie shop. All four men wore black travelling coats and their faces were very pale. One particular dark-haired man, his face as fierce as a lion’s, stood out from the others.
“The letter,” demanded one of the pale men. He took a step closer to Dozer.
“Leave him alone,” hissed Max, stepping between Dozer and the man.
“Don’t interfere,” he spat.
He emanated evil and Max felt stunned with fear. Max usually didn’t feel fear - after all, he had the power to do something about this sort of situation - but he realised that this wasn’t just simple fright he was feeling; there was also regret and powerlessness. Regret, because if he died here then his life would have been for nothing. His power would have been for nothing. Regret for not training hard enough to boost his confidence in this life-threatening situation. And powerless due to the fact that it was four to one and Dozer was helpless.
“Dozer?” he cried.
“I said, stay out of this.”
The man put his hand on Max’s chest and he found himself flung by an invisible force twenty feet past the two men behind him. He spat out blood as he hit the concrete ground.
Max shut his eyes and heard Dozer’s groans ripping through the alleyway. His scar burned red hot and then he found himself on his feet. It wasn’t going to end like this. If he was going down, they would have to drain the life from his body first.
Max stepped forward and put his hands on the two men. They spun around, then fell to the ground. He had transmitted a volt of electricity from his hands, paralysing them. The pale man was punching Dozer. Max’s anger took over and he growled as he ran at the men.
The pale man produced four metal rings, throwing them with such force that they whistled past. Max dodged all but one. Tears sprang to his eyes from the impact of the ring thudding into his leg and then he found himself helplessly pinned to the wall by three more rings around his hands and neck.
“You’re getting your student to fight your battles for you,” sneered Seth. “Dartholemue is going to be very displeased to hear about the mighty schools making treaties to overpower him.”
“That’s not what it is,” said Dozer, trying to throw him off their plan.
“The letter,” yelled Seth, punching Dozer in the face. Dozer spat blood to the side of Seth’s feet as he reached inside Dozer’s jacket and pulled out the letter.
“See reason, Seth,” pleaded Dozer, flinching as the man punched him again.
Max watched anxiously, but then his anger boiled over, releasing electricity. He opened the connection to his power, something he hadn’t tried since school began. He yanked his arms up, trying with all his might to free them. Sparks erupted along the wall as the rings slowly began to slide out of place. Another burst of power and Max freed himself, sending a
furious burst of lightning towards the men.
“Who is that?” demanded Seth.
Max pulled the ring from around his neck and stood in front of Seth. His eyes were wild and now he felt no fear. Seth looked at him with interest.
“I don’t know how you took out all three of my men, but I’m no pushover,” he grinned.
Max wasn’t interested in small talk. He slowly advanced, releasing small amounts of energy in the form of lightning, which flickered off the stone wall, making Seth jump.
Max was close enough to look inside his pocket, spotting the letter from Lee. He managed to put two fingers on it before Seth released a source of invisible energy from his hands, sending Max back against the brick wall, unconscious.
A second was all Dozer needed to free his right arm from the ring. He punched Seth as hard as he could, sending him to the ground.
“Stuart 06190!” yelled Dozer. A second passed and then a large surge of power alerted Dozer to Stuart’s presence.
“What happened?” gasped Stuart, running over to Dozer and helping him to his feet.
“Wake up Max and return him to the school, then get Alex straight away.”
Stuart hurried over to Max and patted him on the shoulder to wake him, to no avail. After a minute of tugging at him, Max came to, clutching the letter.
“I’m glad to see you! What happened?” asked Max, still slightly stunned.
“I don’t know, but everything’s okay now; you’re safe,” said Stuart.
Stuart had no idea how happy Max was to see him; it was like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He had survived to fight another day and now he just wanted to go back to school and sleep off the pain.
Both boys ended up in the middle of the training floor at a touch of Stuart’s hand.
On arrival, Max noticed three different things at once. First was the ten people who stood around watching a fight in the centre of the training arena. The second was the heat that warmed the left side of Max’s face and the sight of a large object thundering its way to where they stood; and the third were the sudden screams of half the people watching the fight and yelling at them to move.
With razor sharp reactions, Max pulled Stuart to the ground and sent two electric bolts in opposite directions. The fire attack from Jonny and the rock attack from his opponent were blown away by Max’s bolts and he fell to the floor with exhaustion while Stuart ran to get Alex, teleporting him to Dozer in an instant.
Max smiled as everyone crowded him to see if he was all right. He was surprised to feel a warm hand sliding into his and he turned his head to see Hilary’s bright face looking at him anxiously. Just the sight of her energised him and he bolted upright into a sitting position.
“Are you okay?”
“Never felt better,” replied Max with a laugh.
Even the short duration of a week was too long without seeing her warm smile.
“Where have you been for the past week?” asked Max, eager to know the reason for her absence.
“It’s a secret,” smiled Hilary. “Only top ranked users are allowed to know,” she giggled.
The class had begun to scatter and Hilary pulled Max upright. He had to lean on her shoulder in order to ease the pain in his injured leg. He could hardly move. His leg had begun to swell and his injured leg was twice the size of the other.
“Shall we get you to the hospital wing?” she winced, looking at his bloodied leg.
“I think that’s a good idea,” he replied, hopping on his left leg.
With the help from the student who had been fighting Jonny, she hurried him away to the hospital wing.
“Sorry about the rock. I had already released it before I saw you,” he apologised as he helped Max walk towards the wing.
“No problem. I know there was nothing you could do.”
“You really did destroy that rock, though. I would have thought earth would have been electricity’s weakness, but obviously I was wrong,” he admitted.
He looked at Max for an answer.
“Got lucky,” he said, trying to drop the conversation.
The subject was changed as he was admitted to the hospital wing and was bombarded with all kinds of questions from the nurse. Max answered them all as quickly as he could, wanting as much time with Hilary as he could get. He lay on the bed and Hilary handed him a can of cola to help spike his energy levels. There was nothing else he would rather have than a can of cola and this girl beside him.
Chapter 10
Unexpected Power
Alexander’s office wasn’t as impressive as Master Lee’s. It was known that he didn’t much care about money; he didn’t need a helicopter pad or a huge library, just something that felt like home. The room was half the size of Lee’s, with only one bookcase behind his desk, unlike the eight around Lee’s office. The left wall was lined with paintings of the old Head Masters, just like the hallway in the school and in Lee’s office. A sign of respect and remembrance of the past.
The right wall was taken up by a glass cabinet case, with one sword held on two metal clips and a mask on display in the middle. Hundred-year-old scrolls lined the edge of the cabinet.
The room was lit by candles on each wall and on the desk, their dim, yellow light flickering in the breeze of Alexander’s breath. A fire in the hearth kept warm air flowing around the room and kept out the chill of the night.
Two men stood arguing in front of the Head Master’s desk.
“You told him what?” demanded Alexander, glaring into Dozer’s eyes.
Dozer shifted awkwardly. “He needed to know,” he replied firmly.
“He is just a boy; you shouldn’t have put unnecessary stress on him.”
Dozer believed that Max had to know the truth; it was key that he knew what he was up against from the start. Before he could reply a knock at the door shifted their attention.
“Ah, Miss Avery,” Alex said, relieved.
“Please, Alexander. I have a first name,” replied the woman, now moving to stand beside the men.
“I apologise for taking your time, Mary. There are some pressing matters that need attending to.”
“Very well,” replied Mary, waiting for Alex to continue.
“I imagine you have already heard about Dozer’s incident,” said Alex, swinging around his desk and sitting in his chair, wracking his brain about where to start.
“Oh, yes. The students haven’t stopped talking about it,” said Mary, looking from Alex to Dozer and waiting for a reply from either of them.
“Great,” said Dozer, sarcastically.
“Yes, well, the problem is that Dartholemue…” Both Dozer’s and Mary’s eyes tightened at the mention of his name. Alex waited a second to regain their full attention before continuing. “He now knows that the schools are trying to come together. Whether he’s taking this seriously or not, we must be on full alert for any hint of an attack. I will inform all teachers and staff on this matter so they know what to do when the time comes.”
“Understood.”
“Dozer, what was your review of Max on this mission?” asked Alex, interested in Max’s performance.
Dozer recounted the events of the day before giving his opinion. “At the moment he has very little respect. I wouldn’t be surprised if his head was filled with a sense of over-confidence,” he said, carefully choosing his words. “However, even though he is irresponsible and reckless, he did save me from a few bruises.”
“A child, indeed, but in time these aspects will fade and confidence, responsibility and courage will surface.”
“I still don’t think he is the chosen one or prophet, as you like to call him,” said Mary making a disagreeable face and shaking her head.
“Enlighten us,” said Alex, wanting to hear both sides of the argument.
She made her way over to the glass case, pointing at the only golden scroll, which rested just above the mask.
“It is said that the prophet is to have a full circle around their s
car, a level five from birth.”
Dozer twisted his body to face her and rebut her claim.
“For all we know, the scar could appear with further development,” replied Dozer, waiting patiently for her next argument.
“But what has he really shown us?” asked Mary of both men.
“He is developing at an alarming rate and he is the only one of his kind,” insisted Dozer.
Mary shuffled back a few steps, sensing Dozer’s agitation.
“Calm down, I’m just looking at it from all angles.”
“So, what do you suggest we do?”
“Work him harder,” suggested Mary.
Dozer swivelled around and leaned over Alex’s desk.
“The Elites,” he whispered as quietly as possible.
“Impossible! Students require months of training and then to sit four Assessments before they can even try,” shouted Mary, striding closer with each word. “He wouldn’t survive,” she hissed from the corner of her mouth.
“I disagree,” said Alexander. “I saw him repel two Elite students’ attacks at once, and that’s something we can’t ignore,” he rose to his feet behind his desk.
“He’s a kid, and we are talking about the chosen one fighting the Dark Lord. I hate to say it, but he cannot win against a God. You cannot rest the fate of the world on the shoulders of a child,” said Mary, her face growing red.
“Very strong views, Mary, but only time will tell if Max is the one,” replied the Head Master.
“Why can’t the Ministry or the NPA deal with Dartholemue? Why put pressure on one boy?”
“For now I believe Maximus is that person. If there is any chance he is the chosen one, isn’t it best to hold onto that and hope that someday there will be someone to defy Dartholemue? The Ministry and NPA have tried and failed for many years. Surely your partner agrees that this is the best course of action?” insisted Alexander.
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