Black Eyes Book 2: Chapter 10:Ghost (Pt.1)

“Lash…” It was like he was trying to cry, but it seemed he had forgotten how. He felt like a corpse. He found himself snailing along a white blanket of cold. The sky was black and the ground an almost glowing white, making the place feel surreal, like a strange dream he would struggle to remember when he woke. Still, the frigid cold felt somehow comforting to him. “Oga…” he fell to his knees and ripped his shirt off. He felt all alone, like not even the Zagans were with him. He keeled over plushly on the thick snow. He was feeling a daunting tiredness, but not like it was his body that was tired, more of his soul, or even his will. He closed his eyes and quickly drifted into a dark, dreamless sleep.

***

Zen saw from the outset that finding this Cyrus person wouldn’t be too much of a challenge. The streets were jammed with portraits, posters and notices about this “Cyrus the Great”, “Cyrus the Powerful”, “Cyrus the Messiah”, even. Without too much asking around, Zen had learnt that Cyrus was living in the courts of the Prime Minister, an aged man named Chron. It seemed that since the Black War, Cyrus was acknowledged by all of Kundo, even Chron, as a national hero, and by his great deeds in the war, was invited to live in the Prime Minister’s house.

A woman observed Zen spending some time in front of one of Cyrus’ posters. “I wonder what kind of man he is,” she said to herself. In the picture, he looked like a god-like hero. He seemed to be about 30 or so. The Prime Minister was in some of the portraits with him. The minster was much older, and seemed to take Cyrus as his own son proudly. Zen jolted as the approaching woman cleared her throat. “Oh, hello,” Zen greeted in her fragile voice. The woman inspected Zen a little more before answering.

“Well, it is true he likes them green,” the woman said, confusing Zen.
“I suppose you want to try out for being one of Cyrus’ women,” the woman said, making Zen’s eyes widen suddenly. She grabbed Zen and twirled her, making her frilly white dress spin majestically.

“Wow, you’re certainly a pretty one – a little thin, though, but the food there will fatten you a bit if you catch his eyes. Tell me, how much do you have, or am I wasting my time?”

“Money?” Zen took out her bag and opened it before the woman. She gulped, not having expected to see so much.

“Ah! Tell me, what can you do? Listen, I’ll get you fixed up and ready for Cyrus, then you will have no more need for that gold. Believe me, he takes good care of his girls. The last two girls I scouted for him aren’t complaining now!”

Zen cringed at the whole idea of this, but she knew going along with it would give her a good chance at getting close to Cyrus, which was her mission. “Take me there.”

***

“Oga, get here this moment!” Kizer said, and in a cloud of white mana, Oga appeared. The wizard studied the look of discovery on Kizer’s face. Also, he glanced down at the closest table, seeing what Kizer had been scribbling. Oga snickered.

“So you’ve found that pure darkness, pure light, along with raw, eighth grade mana combine to create what we call ‘life energy’?” Kizer didn’t seem surprised that Oga had already known this.

“Summon me a dead animal,” Kizer said. Oga rested his hand over the table, and in a jiffy, a fluffy white cat appeared. He grabbed the creature as it tried to leap off in confusion. The cat died silently as its life fled its body. Kizer went up to the cat eagerly, and opened up his palms. In his left hand appeared a black sphere that pulsed rapidly, growing bigger and smaller a few times per second.

“So now you compress the darkness so that it can withstand being fused with pure light,” Oga said.

“Right. If the ratio of light to darkness is not exactly 1 to 128, either the darkness will be consumed by the light or the darkness will change its form into air and flee the light.” In Kizer’s right hand, a tiny white ball appeared. It shone with brightness that seemed to be able to challenge the sun. Kizer clenched his teeth in focus as he got both spheres to be perfect.

“Now Oga, apply eighth grade mana to the dead creature.” Oga grabbed the cat and an invisible aura graced it, an aura Kizer recognized quite well. “Good,” Kizer said, and slammed the spheres of darkness and light together. Oga shielded his face as the two opposite elements collided. The place shook and the room pulsated with an indescribable energy. Looking left and right at the same time would be easier for the eyes that it was for them to make sense of this illusion-like energy, the bright darkness. Kizer grabbed on to the cat and poured the power into it. The man stepped back a bit and kept his eyes on the still cat. Kizer’s eyes jolted as the cat’s tailed moved slightly. Then, the cat lifted itself from its dead position and turned and gazed at Kizer.

Oga snickered. “You realize it, don’t you?” he asked Kizer.

“Yes. This breed of cat runs even from the wind, yet it seems to be comfortable here with us.”

“With you, Kizer. The soul itself acknowledges its creator. Intelligence isn’t necessary for that.” Kizer watched as the cat sat on the table, still staring up at Kizer.”

“Did I then create life just now?”

“No, only life energy. The cat’s body along with all its intricate systems are a part of its life, something that you cannot create. That aside, if this cat had been a human, it would know nothing, except that you had created it. Had it been a sorcerer, it would now be powerless and senseless.”

“What does this mean?”

“A soul and a body aren’t all there is to complete life. Memories, emotions, these things are also included.”

“Then what would be the sense in resurrecting our laughed a little. “Knowing all of this, my spell, which I casted on all of them, even on you, also retains a tiny amount of their original life energy, not enough to sustain life, but just enough to keep them in a state where they can be fully recovered.”

“So my sons are not completely dead, then?”

“And neither are they alive,” Oga said quickly. “Tell me now, what happens after your children are resurrected?”

“Don’t sound so concerned, I won’t battle you again. I will use all of my resources, including you and your children, to rid the world of all its meaningless life. And then, we will create new life, and truly be gods! We will be worshipped as omnipotent creators!”

Oga laughed a little. “You think this is an easy matter, even for us, Kizer?”

“The only force that could even think of stopping us is The Seven, and so our first mission will be to destroy the remnants of that demon, along with all those who will try to defend this world from its glorious fate.

“No, we first have to figure out how to create new human life, and just how much of it we can create with our power over a certain amount of time. Also, how complete will these humans be? Can we implant in them our own will, or will they be susceptible to disobedience? Will they be immortal like us, being sprung forth from our power? Will they have traces of our power that we could build a world army from them and henceforth capture other worlds? We need answers for all of these before we can make any move. Also, with this grand plan at stake, is it sensible to allow the world’s defenders to gathers their strengths to fight us?”

“My, Oga, do not tell me you are wary of these weaklings. The last world war will be our reward for being gods. We might as well enjoy as best a fight as they can offer. Also, these final fights will give me a chance to do some necessary evaluations.” Oga hissed.

“If we cannot be confident enough to battle the earth’s defenders at their peak, then we cannot be fit to lead the new world that will last an eternity. That boy, Lex Leo… I hope he doesn’t disappoint me.”

“If you treat something this big as a game, you might end up losing, Kizer,” Oga warned soberly.

“Do remember who I am, Oga.”

***

Kyle’s sword fell from his shaking hand. He was lounged over, his clothes drenched with sweat and torn all over, yet his eyes still firm with readiness. Lyoko stood a few meters before him, his staff resting on the wall close by. “You are excelling almost as quickly as Blade, boy. After a few hours of rest, we will--”

“Are your tired, old man?” Kyle asked clenching his teeth as he stooped and grappled his sword. Lyoko smirked, then laughed a little.

“Heh. Very well, then. I will now introduce you to another of the foundation principles of fighting – force manipulation.” Kyle listened keenly. “Upon mastering this, you will be able to easily defeat almost anyone who you come across.” Kyle grinned. His body was aching – he could feel his muscles tearing and growing at a near impossible rate. His hair had become thicker and more beastly. He could feel the essence within the cave making his body stronger and his mind keener by the second. It was a straining, frightening feeling, but one he gladly endured.

“Blade, here I come…”

“Now, I want you to come at me with a fist of a hundred men. Give it everything you have. You already know it doesn’t make sense to hold back against an opponent like me.”

“Well get ready, old guy!” With that, Kyle ran off toward Lyoko. As he moved off, the ground beneath his feet shook a little. His speed, even though he hadn’t realized, had become marvellously increased since his training with Lyoko. He yelled as he reached up to Lyoko, firing a sturdy fist at the man’s face. *SNAP!* Kyle’s eyes widened as Lyoko caught his fist without effort, absorbing without batting an eye the entire impact. But it was the next moment that would make Kyle wonder just what Lyoko was. The old man, with his other hand, barely touched Kyle’s chest. The boy felt an immeasurable wave of pain pulse throughout his entire body. Also, he felt his body lift from the ground and zoom backward at the speed of a well-fired arrow. He flew out through the cave and crashed into a tree a few meters out, busting through the thick bark and landing abase a huge rock, sending cracks though it.

The boy uttered a cracked groan. He vibrated with heavy pain. He felt his bones shivering in confusion. He looked out at Lyoko from where he was, his eyes bulging. What the hell… Lyoko walked outside toward where Kyle was fixed.

“You might not be able to move for a little while,” Lyoko said. “What you just felt is called force redirection – force reversal to be specific. I absorbed the impact of your punch and forced it back at you, multiplying it a few times.”

“Wh…what?!”

“This technique will not be learnt quickly. You will become frustrated and will probably not even survive this part of the training, but should you become a fighter who can challenge anyone of substance, you will have to learn this… Huh?” Lyoko was surprised to see Kyle already struggling to stand. With teeth clenched tightly, the boy found his way to his feet.

“Out here feels weak – let’s get back inside,” Kyle said.

Why is he already able to move?

***

Lex was in a dark place. He could feel it, the unshaken fear that the demons had for Oga. He could feel Maximo and the others shivering. He was vexedly annoyed at them. He wanted to believe that what he felt toward Oga and Kizer was only hatred, and not fear, but the demons’ emotions was synching with his until his ability to differentiate his thoughts from theirs became weakened. When his consciousness fully returned, he found himself clinging to iron bars in a cold place. It was also very dark but he didn’t realize it. “Where am I?” he asked himself, looking around. “Well…” He was in a cell. “Lash…” He felt something that wasn’t exactly grief. It was a much emptier feeling. He clenched his teeth, wishing tears would come to console him. “With my bare hands I’ll break their necks.”

“He’s awake!” Lex heard someone say. In a short while, two guards walked up to his cell.

“This is Iceland, right?” Lex asked. One of the men laughed, triggering the other’s laughter.

“Something funny?” Lex asked, already very annoyed of them.

“Think he’s still drunk from last night?”

“Nah, I didn’t smell anything on his breath. Maybe he’s a lunatic.”

“Where is Icilda, daughter of Asuri?” Lex asked, ignoring the men’s laughter.

They looked at him peculiarly, and then one of them started laughing again. A third guard entered the scene. Lex noticed that whatever facility he was in was quite small – there were only a few cells and it seemed he was the only captive. “Come now, let the young man out, you know this isn’t a prison.” He looked at Lex. “Hey, we found you asleep on the snow last night so we dragged you in here. The cold would have killed you otherwise. Some looting gang was running about in the area but we got a message that they were all found early this morning so we can release you now.”

“Come on, Hen, we barely get any prisoners in our detention centre – let’s keep this one a while. Besides, he seems fun, doesn’t he?”

“Whatever, you idiots,” Hen said and turned to walk away.

Lex grabbed two of the bars tightly and in a jiffy they were frozen solid. The wide-eyed men stepped back as the bars of iron shattered like glass. Lex walked out of cell and grabbed the throat of one of the men, forcing him up against the wall and off the ground, looking up at him with menacing eyes. He glanced to his left and right as Hen, along with two other armed men drew their swords, shaking nervously.

“An icemaker,” Hen said under his breath. “I thought…”

“Icilda,” Lex said coldly, numbing the man’s throat, his voice as threatening as his glare.