《Tales unbound》


 Dream Of The Lost

    It was a late afternoon and Noel was returning from a lecture as this was his first year of Varsity, although he was rich as his family had left him a huge inheritance, he hated being driven around or driving so he would normally take a short five minutes walk every morning to school and every afternoon from school before taking an Uber to and from school despite the protest of his caregiver Miss Anele, infact she thought him attending University and not even picking a business major was a waste of time, of course his reasons were not as noble as wanting some degree or something he just thought Varsity was his best chance of finding a girlfriend as he does not have a lot of friends and the only friend he does have would not his understanding his virgin plight as she''s a gir.. . Hey Noel! While lost in his thoughts he heard an enchanting voice behind him, turning around a beautiful girl of avarage height was walking towards him in hurried steps.


    Hey,why did you leave me?? She asked him while pretending to be mad, this was his only friend Charlize Snyman, they grew up together and are so close most people thing they dating but he doesn''t think of her like that. Well I thought you would he hanging out with your book club girls. Normally they would walk together in the morning and in the afternoon,after school as they are neighbours and it been like that since primary school, afterall the Snyman family was pretty well-off as they owned a construction company and a few smaller businesses like restaurants and furniture shops so they lived in a very expensive neighborhood like Noel.


    However unlike Noel,Charlize was pretty good at making friends so she had a few other friends beside Noel which sometimes makes Noel feel left out, not that it matters most of the time as he does not mind solitude. Since it your eighteenth birthday today you should come with me and we''ll celebrate your adulthood, she said while flashing him a mischievous smile. You know I don''t like those crowded places especially when there''s alcohol, he said, looking at her with a serious face, she looked at him dumbfounded then giggled, you really hopeless you know that. What does that mean? he asked, don''t worry about it, okay then since you don''t want us to commemorate your adulthood like adults then we could go out for dinner, just the two of us, I''m sure Miss Anele will not mind after all it you eighteenth birthday, that only comes once in a lifetime.


    Doesn''t every birthday only come only in a lifetime though?? He asked her with a serious looking face. Sometimes talking to you really tiring she said with a sigh. While they were talking,a car suddenly pulled up infront of them, it was their Uber, they got in the backseat and the driver started driving. They continued their conversation but overtime noticed the driver kept looking at her from the review mirror. She tried to ignore it but it got tiring and eventually she asked him to stop. I apologize if I was being rude it jus.. you were rude, she answered before he could finish but Noel just could not bring himself to blame the guy after all, Charlize was truly beautiful, black flowing hair that reaches her back, with a strips of red hair here and there and black eyes that have a tinge of crimson so small one would not notice it unless they focus on them which was made harder by her voluptuous body.


    Even though he would not blame him it still did not make him happy, it has always been like that, although they were not a couple and he did think of her that way he always felt angry when other guys hit on her, perhaps it because they are childhood friends and he protect her as he would a sister, yeah that probably it,he told himself. The Uber arrived infront of a giant gate painted with flames, behind were lush green trees and in the distance one could see a large white house decorated with images of a Phoenix in blue flames, this was the Snyman family home, they both got off and paid the Uber. The gate opened and Charlize went inside, see you at seven, she said as the gate closed, sure see you then he replied as he headed towards his own house.


    Welcome back, he was greeted by somebody as he entered the house, it was Miss Anele, a beautiful woman who looks to be in her late 20''s even though she was approaching 40, atleast as long Noel was aware, she was black with a lighter skin tone, hair made into long thin braids and beautiful black eyes that seems to draw you in. Go take a shower I''ll prepare food, come on aunty I''m tired, can''t I eat first? He said as he threw himself on the couch, taking off his shoes, go take a shower, she said with a stern voice. Okay he agreed adamantly, he was quite scared of her,afterall she had been training him in martial arts ever since childhood and everytime he is rebellious, she would challenge him to a spar and beat him up, infact it was not only him, Charlize had been caught in the storm multiple times so she tried,her best to avoid pissing off this beast of a woman.


    After taking a shower, he ate and went to their dojo for training, Anele was already waiting for him there, in her hands were two short daggers and unlike the wooden weapons they usually use to spar these were made of steel and looked very sharp, Ahh,my beautiful lovely aunt is not trying to kill me is she?? He asked as he took a step back, relax I''m not going to kill you..... As long as you careful, she said with a small grin. Pick a weapon, Noel picked up a long spear with a wide and long spearhead. Although he''d been taught how to use multiple weapons he always felt more comfortable with a spear, of course he never understood the purpose of this training as all these are useless in the modern era where people could just shoot you. Self defence made sense but training with a sword, spears and Shields always made him question the sanity of his loving but ruthless aunt.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    Him and Anele stood 5 metres apart, she suddenly rushed towards him, he backed up as he swiped his two metres long spear at her, hesitating, afraid of accidentally harming her but she ducked under it rolling toward him by the time he reacted a dagger was already on his throat. Why did you hesitate?? She asked with a blank face, well I didn''t want to accidentally hurt you, he said softly. Hurt me?? You? Hurt me?? Who do you think you are brat, you are a hundred years to early to be able to hurt me so start fighting seriously or I might accidentally cut something. She looked angry and Noel although confused knew better than disobey her.


    Standing five metres apart and Noel looking serious, holding his spear horizontal to the floor looked at her. She moved and he backed up trying to keep distance between them as he knew that where his advantage is, if he let her come close he would lose and knowing this crazy woman she might actually cut him up. He swiped his spear diagonally from right to left and she easily dodged his attack, closing up the distance she aimed her dagger at him but at that moment the shaft of his spear shifted blocking the dagger and the spearhead hit the tiled floor causing the shaft to vibrate loosening the grip on her dagger but causing him to almost let go of the spear as well. She slides to his blindspot on his right before swing her dagger at his back.


    He rolled forward and turned around only to find a kick flying towards his chest, he used his spear shaft to block losing grip of the spear and staggering four step backwards before falling on his back,by the time he came to be, a knee was already on his chest and a dagger on his throat. She stood up and gave him a hand, good, she said, you improving. They continued their sparring for the next hour or so before he remembered he had a date with Charlize, wait is it even a date, doesn''t matter he thought to himself. Aunt, sorry I can''t stay, and I won''t be home for dinner tonight. Where are you going? she asked him with a raised eyebrow, to have dinner with Charlize. Hoh a date?? No we friends it not a date.. I think. I never said anything about not being friends, what makes you think friends can''t have a date??, She teased him.


    Well goodbye Aunt, see you later, goodbye Miss Anele, she watched as the two of them got into Charlize car. We running out of time, she whispered to herself as she went back to the house. Charlize and Noel drove to a five star restaurant called the Belly of the beast, Charlize loved meaty meals so this restaurant was great for her. They had a delicious meal before heading out and going around looking for fun things to do until late at night. Charlize was quite happy, one would swear it was birthday and Noel was just following her around but seeing her so happy for some reason made him happy. They went back home around midnight, they hugged and said goodbye to each other. So how was your date, he heard her voice as soon as he entered the house. It was not a date he retorted.


    You going to hurt the little girls feelings if you say things like that you know? Charlize and I are frie... You know what I''m going to bed, goodnight, goodnight she responded. He went to his room upstairs and took off his clothes, lit a scented candle before going to bed and fell asleep shortly after. While he was sleeping,Anele walked into his room, looked at him with eyes full of tender and love, good luck little one she said softly before going out. Noel had a dream that night, in that dream he saw someone he thought he would never see again in his life, his mother, he was in a world filled with dark clouds rumbling with thunder and scorched land and lighting struck the ground in short intervals.


    In this world stood a woman beautiful as a goddess, clad in armour with lighting running running all over it. I had hoped this day would never come, she said with a sad smile. Noel was overwhelmed and did not know what to say,mo..mom, he stuttered, hi beasty, the woman responded with a smile, no longer able to hold himself back, Noel cried and ran towards, her hugging her tight as if he''s afraid if he let go she''ll disappear. Why?where? Where have you been, you and big sis, why did you abonden me, he flooded her with questions with tears streaming down his eyes. Don''t cry now, what will that little girlfriend of your think about her man crying, she teased him. With a sad look she said, I''m sorry beasty I didn''t intend to lea... Wait what did you say about Nandi? She asked startled, she''s gone, she disappeared, are you saying she''s not with you?? He asked her. No of course not, that stupid child, I should''ve know she''d do something like this, why did Anele not stop her??


    I don''t know, I was only ten years old, he answered, yeah I''m sorry sweetie but you don''t have to worry about me and your sister,we''ll be fine, just worry about yourself. We''ve run out of time, what?? he asked, we don''t have a lot of time to speak just take care of yourself okay, she said with tears in her eyes, and always listen to Anele, she''s smarter than she looks and always remember that I love and take this, she gave him a bracelet made of obsidian beads, her voice was fading away as she kept getting further, Noel felt himself being pulled by something. Will I ever see you again mom, certainly you wi..... her voice faded and Noel woke up.

 Undercurrents

    Noel woke up sweating, he was confused but just dismissed it as a dream, there was no way that could''ve been my real mother, but then why did it feel so real, he wondered, i can still feel her touch as if her hand is on my cheek, he can still hear the thunder rumbling and prickling sensation of the charged air and her lighting clad armour which now that he things about terrifies him, he had just ran and hugged somebody covered in lightning, but then again it okay cause it was just a dream right? Right?? Yet for some reason he could not let got of the thought that it might have been real, afterall he has experienced lucid dreams before but that was more than that. He got up and got out bed, he opened his door intending to go take a shower but as he reached for the knob he unintentionally look at his wrist and there it was.


    The bead made bracelet was lying in his wrist but even though it was there and he could see it, he could not feel it touching him. When he tried to take it off he felt it tightening around his wrist causing him pain and so he gave up. Sighing softly, so it was real afterall. He was weirdly calm about it.He took a shower and went downstairs, Anele was in the kitchen wearing an apron, she heard Noel coming down. Here''s your breakfast, she said. They sat down and ate breakfast in silence when he suddenly felt his wrist tingling. The bracelet was emitting soft blue pulses in short but regular intervals like a beating heart, subconsciously his breathing adjusted to match that of the bracelet pulses. He felt his chest tingling as if lightning was running inside him. Unknowingly his eyes started glowing blue, it was barely perceptible, he was confused but he tried to hide his confusion to not alert Anele lest she start asking questions and he didn''t want to worry her.


    He looked up at her with calm eyes when his eyes were suddenly drawn to chest and no, it was not a lecherous gaze. There was something subconsciously drawing his attention to her chest, in her sternum there was a pool of darkness in a spherical orb. He almost spilled his coffee, Aunt, are you okay, she looked up at him, yeah I''m fine why? She answered with a questioning look, don''t I look fine to you?? No it just that in your breast, huh, she looked at him with a terrifying smile. No it just tha... It not polite to stare at a womans breast, especially if she''s your aunt you brat. Don''t flatter yourself you old hag I was worried about your health because of your age, he said shouting and immediately regretted his decision, he felt his bones go cold and his skin tingling as if ants were walking all over him. He looked up at her and her cool calm face seems even more terrifying than when she looks angry. What did you say you little rat, do you think turning 18 makes you a man now?? Do you wanna go for a spar?


    He knew things were bad so he immediately tried to diffuse the situation, I''m sorry my young and beautiful aunt I didn''t mean what I said I was just joking. He said as he stood up, picked his bag and backtracked towards the door. I''m going to school now he said, I''m just kidding you brat, she said with a small laugh, if it makes you any better I''ll go see a doctor later. Yeah sure aunt, bye, he said as he opened the door. Before he got out he heard her say in a small voice, thank you for worrying about me. He smiled, got out and closed the door. Anele left alone in the house sighed softly, he''s growing fast, a little too fast for my liking. His talent might even surpass that of big sis or even that little girl. She stood up and cleaned the table, she washed the dishes before heading to her room.


    In her bedroom there was a black and large wardrobe, she touched the wardrobe mirror and uttered words in an unknown language. The front of the wardrobe turned into a vortex of pure darkness, she entered it and appeared in a large white room filled with all kinds of weapons. She changed into a black outfit that looks like an assassins creed costume designed for women, heeled boots with tight silky smooth pants, black leather jacket that seemed to designed for battle rather than fashion, black long hood and a black facemask that only covers her mouth and nose.


    She got out of the secret room and disappeared in her own shadow as if by magic.She reappeared In the shadow of a tree a few hundred metres away from the Uber Noel and Charlize were in, of course the two of them did not know this. On their way to school, the Uber suddenly took a turn and went a different way, I didn''t know this road could take us to school, said Noel. It doesn''t, replied Charlize, you a shut-in so you wouldn''t know but this road doesn''t go anywhere near our school,she whispered. Hey where you taking us? She asked, the driver just kept quiet, take us back now, they said, hey take us back she repeated, suddenly Noel eyes glowed blue bit he didn''t notice, turn back now! He shouted, the driver stopped the car and answered in a monotone voice, yes. Noel experienced a splitting headache after, everything became blurry he couldn''t focus as all he could think about was pain, throughout the whole way his eyes remained blue unbeknownst to him. Charlize kept rubbing his head with a worried look, her hands were warm, much warmer than a human hand should be but they were comfortable, the pain lowered a bit but he could barely focus or he would have realised something weird about her.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    The Uber kept receiving phone calls during the whole way but nobody paid it any attention. He stopped infront of the school gate, shouldn''t you go the hospital? Charlize asked, no I''ll be fine, besides we have a test today don''t we? No we don''t, she answered. They got off and Uber drove away, when it was about 30 metres away from him,his eyes turned back to normal and the headache started to recede slowly as Charlize kept rubbing his head, they went inside the school gate and headed to class. The Uber driver suddenly woke up, confused, he almost hit another car. What happened? Where are those kids?? So many missed calls, what going on?? You don''t have to worry about that anymore, he suddenly heard a femanine voice at the backseat and his mind went blank.


    Noel and Charlize were in class oblivious to everything, Anele appeared in a dim lighted room that appears to be an office. Two men were talking facing each other, one of them was an Afrikaner and the other seemed to a coloured, they were dressed formally in suite and seems to be discussing something important. Next to the Afrikaner man who seems to the owner of the office stood a dark skinned lady in a suite. You seem to be quite busy, they suddenly heard a womans voice in one corner of the room, all three seemed tense as non had sensed the intruder this entire time. Anele stood out of the shadows, the woman took a defensive pose to shield her boss. To what do I owe the honour of esteemed guest. Cut the crap Bekker, Anele retorted as she threw a head to the floor, it was the Uber driver. What gave you the balls to send your goonies after my kid? Do you perhaps think Denaro can protect you? I don''t know what you talking about miss Anele,Bekker said.


    The people in the room suddenly felt a tremendous amount of pressure barring down on then, the desk and windows cracked, a cup on the desk shattered to pieces. Next time you try something like this again,I will kill you, and neither Denaro nor the association will protect you, keep that in mind, after she said that, she disappeared in her shadows. All three people in the room were sweating, Bekkers hand could not stop shaking. I guess the mission was a failure, said the coloured man, I will take my leave then, I will report to the boss what happened here and don''t worry, he will understand it was not your fault. With that monster around, getting to the boy will not be an easy task, he continued. Bekker stood up, shaking the mans hand, thank you, he said.


    After the man left, Bekker was sitting in his chair with his elbows on the dest and his hands clasped under his chin. The black Reaper huh, she''s more terrifying than rumours say, he said softly. Yes, replied the woman next to him, even I couldn''t sense her presence even though she was standing right infront of me, she said with a shaking voice. If she wanted to kill me I wouldn''t even know how I died, and that spiritual pressure, it beyond anything I have ever experienced. Even the rank two falcon I met at the table mountain did not give me this much sense of danger. I think we should reconsider the offer from Mr Denaro, she said. That will be hard, he''s not a man who take kindly to being turned down, they both released an exasperated sigh.


    Somewhere near the coast, in the top floor of a tall building in a very well decorated room, a man was kneeling down on one knee and infront of him sat an Italian gentleman who seems to in his early thirties. So what news do you bring?? The gentleman asked. Sir the mission was a failure, the kneeling man said, Bekker failed to capture the boy, this man was the same one that was talking to Bekker in his office. Denaro, the Italian gentleman suddenly laughed, of course it was a failure, there was no chance he could do it with her still alive, he said. Then why go through the trouble sir?? To gauge her reaction of course, replied Denaro, and now I do. Sir I believe I should mention that she showed up in Bekkers office, said the man. So how was she like, asked Denaro. Terrifying, extremely terrifying, replied the man. More than me?? Asked Denaro. The man kept quiet, he laughed a little, I see, so that strong huh, although he said that, he still didn''t believe he would lose. Shaking his wine glass a little then he took a sip, things are about to get interesting, he said with a small smile.

 Undercurrents 2

    Noel had come back from school to find Anele had prepared food for him, they ate in silence and went to their daily sparring match afterwards. Night came and Noel went to sleep, still not saying anything to Anele, he thought he should first try to figure out what going on before telling her anything and she also pretended to not know anything. While sleeping, Noel had a dream but this time it was different, instead of dreaming of his mother, he dreamt himself standing infront of an endless crimson wall with a giant hole in it.


    He did not know why since it obviously looks like a wall but he had a feeling this was a gate, just so large the portion of it infront of him seemed like an endless wall, as to where the gate lead to, he had no idea. While stuck in his dream, he was not aware of the disturbance happening outside. The bracelet in his wrist was releasing invisible pulses matching his breathing, or rather his breathing had adjusted to match the pulsing of the bracelet.


    Somewhere in the centre of the Bialowieza forest, there was a region spreading over 50 kilometres in diameter. This region was not recorded in any map, this place was as beautiful as a painting of Gods, trees were tall and lush, flowers of all colours filled the ground, butterflies fluttering in the wind and birds singing in the trees, with all types of small animals on the ground and large ones grazing the grass and bushes.


    Strangely non of the animals here were predators, even the birds which would occasionally eat insects only either lived on grapes and berries or ventured out for food, this place seemed like paradise. Deep in this region there was a tree house standing on top of a large tree that looked ancient, it roof covered by flowers of all shapes and colours, each of it four corners seems to have vines growing on them, this house did not look like it was built but rather it was part of the tree itself, even the stairs made of vines, wood and flowers seemed to have grown naturally that way.


    On the porch of the house sat a beautiful woman with long black silky hair that had flowers stuck to it. The woman was knitting what seemed to be a sock made of pink cotton when she suddenly stopped and raised her head looking up. She showed a beautiful smile and plucked a flower on her hair, blowing into it, the flower turned into a beautiful butterfly, she whispered to it and it vanished into thin air. Perhaps things will get better for us, she said with a small beautiful smile that had a hint of sadness into it while looking at a small village built on trees further in this hidden realm of theirs.


    Somewhere in the Vatican, in an underground large hall were three people on a high platform at the front of the hall, behind them was a giant painting of angels slaying demons and masses prostrating themselves to the heavens. Among them was an old man sitting in a throne decorated by golden linings and jewels, this old was dressed in a popes attire and was carrying a sceptor with a golden cross on top. On his left stood a man in a black robe wearing a Rosary and on his right stood an old but beautiful woman carrying a small silver cross in her hands. All three were radiating powerful auras, especially the old man on the throne.


    It seems it has reappeared, said the woman. I think we should retrieve it before the others, replied the black clothed priest. It will not be that easy, with her around getting to it would be a perilous endeavour, she replied. I think you all giving he too much credit, what can one woman do against us, he said with a blank face. Underestimating her would be foolish, but it true that her by herself cannot stop the might of the church, but we also cannot send anybody powerful enough to hold her back without alerting the others or the association and we would just be sending the rest to their deaths. She replied.


    So what?? It should be their honour to die for the church, he said with a calm look. There''s no honour if their deaths achieve nothing. What does Father think we should do?? She asked the old man in white robes. Mhhhh, send a message to our people in the area, tell them to keep an eye out but not get too close lest they antagonize the Reaper, replied the old man.


    Powerful people all over the world were alerted, A sorcerer In the deep dark forest of Nigeria, a snake whisper in a small village In Iraq, a priestess in Egypt, a giant spider three metres tall in Australia opened it eyes, fangs dripping with venom before closing them again. A giant white serpent in the Amazons worshipped as a God by the local tribe suddenly hissed as it raised it head before lying down again. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    A truck driver in Europe sniffed the air before smiling lightly. A man with red eyes and pale skin was sitting on a throne in a room with a red lighting, a corpse of a young woman was lying on the floor pale as if drained of all blood, he laughed a little before licking his lips. A man training with his sword in Japan and a fisherman in China. Every single powerful man, woman and beast in the world could tell a storm was brewing. Some anticipated it, craving the chaos to come while some were worried and others hopeful. The cause for this disturbance was still sleeping soundly stuck in his own dreams without a single clue. As Noel breathing kept matching the bracelet, in his chest blue wisps that looked like electricity kept gathering and dissipating, this process kept happening until morning when Noel woke, he was still oblivious to what happening.


    When he woke up he felt refreshed, he noticed that tiny symbols were imprinted on the beads. He had no idea what any of the symbols mean, so he wrote them down on a paper before going to take a shower. Today was a weekend so he did not have to go to school. He had planned to stay home all day but after seeing those symbols he thought he should go the library and see if he can learn anything about them.


    After having breakfast he got up, when he opened the door, Charlize and her parents Charlie Snyman and Dalena Snyman were already infront of the door just about to knock. Oh hi Mr and Mrs Snyman, nice to see you, please come in, he said. Thank you Noel, they both replied with a smile, is your aunt at home?? They asked, yes she is. So what your plans today, going to stay home all day?? Asked Charlize. No, I actually intend to go to the library, he replied.


    Can I tag along?? Yeah sure, it will be nice to have company, he replied with a smile. The two of them took of, her parents and Anele were left alone. They went to the living room and Anele went to make tea. They sat down, sipping his tea, Mr Snyman spoke first, have you told him yet? Not yet, replied Anele. You know you have to right? After last night disturbance they going to come for him and you can''t protect him from all of them forever said Dalena


    I know, Anele replied, I just wished it didn''t have to come to this, first it was big sis, then that little stubborn girl and now him,he''s the only family I have left, I don''t want to lose him, she said with a hint of sadness. Is the famous Reaper going to cry?? Teased Dalena. Do you want to die you flame bitch? She retorted.


    Ahh she called me hot, said Dalena with excitement. Anele was just dumbfounded, she signed softly before taking out a black egg and crushed it, black smoke came out of the egg and turned into a crow, she whispered some words into it and it disappeared into a puff of smoke.


    He had yet to awaken so he is still under the protection of the association, I doubt they would openly antagonize it, said Charlie. I wouldn''t put my hope in them, they too are attracted by the secret of the key and some among the top brass are quite shameless, they wouldn''t mind disregarding their own rules for benefits, said Dalena.


    You right, which is why I''m going to protect him myself, I don''t mind erasing a few organisation to send a message. Charlie and Dalena felt the temperature go down but they were not fazed. Either way the boy will need to grow stronger to survive what is to come, both of them will, said Charlie with worry.


    While the grown up were having their conversation, the two kids had arrived at the library. They started at the history and archaeological section. So what are we looking for again? Asked Charlize, ancient civilizations, lost languages, something along those lines, he showed her the symbols, tell me if you see something like this, he said.They kept searching for a while and he didn''t find what they were looking for so they switched to languages section and still nothing, looking a bit tired Noel was about to give up when he suddenly had an idea, wait considering the nature of the bracelet he might have been looking at the wrong place.


    They went to the fantasy and mythological section, he read the tales of Gilgamesh and he noticed something, on the painting of Gilgamesh spear there were symbols not unlike the ones on his bracelet, this piqued his interest. He continued to read multiple myths of Gods and heroes and noticed that in multiple of them, these symbols kept appearing, from the immortal daost of China to the samurai and Shinobi in Japan Buddhist, vampires and werewolves, witches, sorcerers and Druids, regardless of where the legends are from they all seem to have a connection with these symbols.


    Although he learnt a lot he still had no way of translating them so they both tiredly left the library. It was already dark when they got out, they had stayed until the closing hours with even realising it. The got into Charlize car and started driving back home. While on a vacant road with trees on both sides a black SUV suddenly hit them from behind, Charlize lost control of the car and it started drifting before hitting a tree.

 Dangerous situation

    Fortunately, neither of them were hurt just disoriented, from the black SUV came out six men carrying M4 carbines, atleast six of them were, Noel and Charlize did not waste anytime and headed for the woods, bullets following behind them. They ran further into the woods at full speed while using the trees as cover from the bullets.


    When they no longer heard anything behind them, they looked at each other and without saying a word, went in seperate directions,they climbed trees and use the foliage as cover. While all of this was happening, a crow was silently watching everything on top of a tall tree.Anele was cooking when her eyes turn pitch black with not a single spot of white.


    She disappeared in her shadows and appeared in her room, going into the secret room she quickly changed into her battle attire before disappearing Into her shadows again. Amongst the six men, one of them was walking on the back, there was no gun or any weapon on his body, his hands clasped behind his back, he looked relax as if he taking a stroll and from the way he walked, it appeared that the darkness did nothing to impede his sight.


    His name was John, 67 years old, though it was hard to tell based on his looks since he looked like a man in his early 40''s. He had been an awakened for over 30 years and still stuck at rank 1 early stage warrior, even he admitted how much untalented he was, he saw no hope of ever reaching late stage let alone rank 2. Perhaps that is why the mission to capture an unawakened kid was given to him even though he thinks it beneath him.


    Spread out, he said, but sir, one the man tried to argue. What? are you afraid of a bunch of kids?? He asked with a cold look in his eyes. No sir, the man replied and they went in different directions. In one part of the forest, hidden in a tree was Charlize, she watched as a man slowly approached the tree and when he was directly below her she jumped on him, before he could react she already held his head in her arm, twisting it with terrifying strength one would not expect from her delicate arms she broke his neck, that man died right then and there, not knowing what even happened. She took his Army knife and went in another direction. The tiny crimson in her irises had grown to cover the entire iris causing her eyes to glow red in the darkness of the night.


    Noel had done the same thing but unlike Charlize, he had failed to take down his opponent quickly, he fell of top of the man, disarming him before he got punched in the face. Although he had sparred with Anele,this was the first real battle he had and it was a life and death battle, pretty heavy start. The man took out his knife and rushed towards him.


    Adrenaline rushed into Noels head, his breathing subconsciously adjusted, his eyes glowed blue and his perception increased, but this time he was aware of it happening, he was surprised because his perception had increased to insane levels, he did not even think it was possible for a human eye to reach such levels of sight,he could see the movement of muscles in the mans arm and could predict the trajectory of his attack, the darkness of the night  nolonger effected him.Instinctively he grabbed the mans arm and bent it stabbing the man in the throat, the man dropped dead and without thinking about it, he took the knife and went in another direction.


    30 metres away from him was another man searching for them, Noel hid behind a tree, picked up a stick and threw it around 10 metres away in another direction. The man turned around and went to check, he sneaked up behind him, the man heard a sound of a twig breaking behind him, he turned around and before he could point his gun, Noel stabbed him in the eye, he died instantly.


    He held the man and placed him down softly,then he heard a gunshot north of his direction, Lize, he said with worry. He ran towards that direction at full speed.


    A few seconds before, Charlize was standing 15 metres away from three guys, she heard them talking. Didn''t boss say to split up? Asked one of them. I can''t get in contact with 3 and 5, replied another, neither can I, said the last one. She was still thinking how she is going to attack them when a fluttering of wings was heard, the three men turned around to check in panick only to see a shadow of a bird flying between the trees.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Without wasting a second she ran towards them, before they could turn around she sliced one of them on the throat before using his body as a shield, the other two opened fire without question, she ran towards a tree still using the guy as a shield and took cover, although she managed to dodge most bullets, one of them still hit her on the arm.


    As the two guys were slowly approaching her from both sides trying to pincer her, they heard a sound of something running towards them, they turned around and there was a boy with glowing blue eyes rushing towards them at full speed, before they could open fire, he threw a knife at one them, hitting them In the eye. Before the other could react, Charlize came out behind him stabbing his neck and killing him.


    The two knew one of them was still alive, they searched for him and they found him. He was standing 30 metres away from them, hands clasped behind his back. Impressive, he said, to think two kids could kill five armed men, truly impressive. Although he looked calm both of thm felt like a beast was standing infront of them. Every fibre of their being telling them to run but they stood their ground. An awakened Charlize said softly with a shaky voice, a what asked Noel confused by what she said. She didn''t answer his question but raised her guard against the man infront of them.


    John was surprised, he didn''t expect all of his subordinates to die by the hands of two kids, now he understood why they sent him, these two were dangerous. Standing infront him, one of they with eyes that glow blue another with crimson shining eyes. For a second he felt like he was infront of two divine beast before coming back to his senses.


    The two kids ran towards him, covering the distance in mere seconds, the girl jumped up spinning in the air before delivering a kick, before he could grab her the boy was already stabbing at him from his right side, he tried to grab the knife but the boy pulled it back at the last second causing him to miss, the girl used his arm as a foothold, doing a backflip they both retreated 5 metres away from him.


    The boy rushed at him, delivering a kick to his cheek, he blocked with his right arm. And felt an impact that surprised him, that kick was very strong for a dormant boy, he thought. The girl was already infront of him trying to stab him in the eye, he raised his hand to grab the knife but before he could she dropped it, holding his arm with her right hand she grabbed the falling knife with her left hand before stabbing him in the heart or atleast tried to.


    Noel and Charlize were surprised, the knife only went two centimetres in, he paused for a second, seemingly dumbfounded, Noel did not miss that opportunity and kicked him in the face, he took two steps back which surprised Noel again, he knew more than anybody how powerful his kicks were after sparring with Anele for so long yet this guy only took two steps back.He does wish he could''ve stabbed him in the face but he knew his legs were longer and faster and had a higher chance of landing than a knife. The guy seemed pissed, he kicked Charlize in the gut sending her flying for over 10 metres before hitting a tree and falling down coughing blood.


    Lize, Noel screamed, a punch came straight to his face, he raised his arm to block but the impact was powerful enough to send him flying backwards and his arm broke. He stood up wobbling, his mind clouded and almost blacking out but he stood infront of Charlize unwavering as if to protect her. I was told to bring you in alive but nothing was said about the girl, the man said with a twisted smile.


    John was really angry, although nothing the kids did was dangerous to him, the fact that two dormant brat had caused him to bleed and take a step back pissed him off. Although he was weak amongst the awakened and a coward that submit to those stronger than him, he was a very proud person and looked down on the dormant as he considered himself a higher lifeform ,seeing the brat defiant look infront of a being stronger than him made him angry as it reminded him of his own cowardice, as if to mock him for it.


    Why doesn''t he submit, why does he stand up to me, he has no chance of winning so why does he try?? John was becoming hysterical. Yes, if I kill the girl, will he despair, will he cry and beg then?? Ohhhh I can''t wait, I can''t wait!! John released a maniacal laugh, his skin turned grayish, his claws became longer and sharper, becoming black as if they had poison in them, he wobbled a bit before disappearing, he appeared almost instantly behind Noel, all Noel felt was a gust of wind hitting his face.


    He turned around slowly, the mans claws were only a few centimetres away from Charlize face, he felt shiver in his spine but the gray skinned man had stopped moving, ropes of darkness rising from the shadows were tied around his legs, arms and neck, he could not move an inch. The man looked terrified, Noel followed his eyes and 10 metres away from him he could see a lean figure in black with pick black eyes and ribbons of darkness flowing from it body, a sense of familiarity and relief took over him, his eyes went back to normal and the last thing he heard was the man saying Reaper in a shaky voice, his body quivering, Noel fainted.

 Learning the truth

    Lize! Noel woke up shouting, where is she? He asked with panic. She is fine, you should worry more about yourself, he heard a familiar voice. He calmed down, he noticed the room was unfamiliar and was very bright, it looked like a hospital ward, the bed was too large for a normal hospital bed though.


    I guess I should explain everything, said the woman next to his bed reading a book, she didn''t even look at him as she spoke but her voice was tender and full of lover, it was Anele. How long have I been here?? He asked. Four days, she replied casually. No no no no no, that doesn''t make any sense, my arm was broken, there''s no way it completely heal in four days, he said shaking his arm. What do you mean it doesn''t make any sense, you fought a man whose skin turn Gray and has sharp claws, did that make sense to you, she looked at him like he''s an idiot.


    Yeah now that you remind me, who were those men I ki...he suddenly stopped, leaned over the bed and threw up. Anele sighed, stood up and poured him a glass of water. It okay, she said, it was not your fault, you were just defending yourself and your girlfriend. Yeah I kno... WAIIIIIIT! Stop right there, she is not my girlfriend, he replied. Yeah right, she said. No really, she''s not,he said, trying to convince her.


    She threw him clothes, change,I''ll wait for you outside. She got out. He put on his new clothes before following her out. He came out to a long hallway with doors like the one he just came out off on both sides, at the end of the hallway was an elevator. He followed Anele towards it. The elevator went up for around 50 metres before stopping.


    He realised they were in one of the companies owned by him. I didn''t know we had a secret underground hospital here, he said, looking at Anele with a questioning look. Of course not, I didn''t tell you about it afterall, she replied. Infront of the building parked a beautiful black Mercedes Benz. They walked towards, a tall man in a black suit opened the back door for them.


    They went inside before the man started driving. So what really going on? He asked her. A lot of things are going on, let talk when we get home, she replied. They sat in the car in silence for the entire drive home. When they got home, Anele went to the kitchen to make them something to eat. They sat down, okay, you can ask, what do you want to know first?. Who were those men and what did they want from us?he asked her.


    You, they just wanted you, the little girl was collateral. They want something from you, a key. Key? What key?he asked confused. You the one who should have that answer, not me, she replied. Your mother should''ve left something for you. I don''t know what it looks like but that is the key.


    A key to what?he asked. I don''t know, that for you to find out replied Anele, taking a sip from her coffee. All I know is,that key holds the secret of a bygone era as well as power, tremendous power. Atleast that what your mother told me, from her discoveries and those of your grandfather, they speculated the key might have been a seal.


    They theorised that, the awakening of the key symbolises the return of the forgotten era. Whatever was sealed will break free and could either bring prosperity or doom to everything and everyone. I''m leaning more towards doom though, otherwise why would it have sealed away. She said, taking another sip from her coffee.


    The entire time Noel was listening intently, he didn''t even touch his food. Okay, and now everybody is after this key, he asked. Yes she replied, and they won''t stop until they get it. He sighed. Then tell me about the awakened, I heard Lize call that man an awakened, what are they?? Awakened are humans who had not only awakened their spirituality but also formed an essence core, she replied.


    You already half way through, so is that girl. You''ve already awakened your spirituality which is the hardest part and also one that takes the longest, all you need now is to form an essence core and you''ll be fully awakened. That girl on the other hand is a bit weird, really weird, she formed an essence core before awakening her spirituality, which should not have been possible, she said.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Noel adjusted his breathing, unlike the previous times, this time it was of his own will, his eyes turned blue. He looked at her chest, so that what that is, he said. Your core, it seems to be the same size as that of that man but the space inside it is larger, much larger, why is that?? He asked.


    Ranks, she replied, it the difference in our ranks. Awakened have different ranks, there are three currently known ranks, although it theorised that there might be seven in total. Each rank has four sub-stages, early, middle, high and peak stage. Once you reach the peak of high stage, you can try to break through to the next rank by shattering your core and creating a stronger and larger one.


    It is not a good idea to break through while at the high stage though as the chances of success drop and even if you do break through, your core would be weaker and smaller than your peers who broke through at the peak stage. There are two types of awakened, the warriors and the Magus, they also have their own sub professions you''ll learn about on your own time.


    Noel listened to everything with excitement, he was just an eighteen year old kid afterall, there''s no way he would not be excited by something like this. By the way, I think there''s something strange with me, he said. When I killed those men I did not feel disgusted or sad even though I was killing humans for the first time, it felt natural. That might be the effect of your bloodline,said Anele, I don''t know it full abilities but your mother said it has to do with storms and it could also steel one''s heart.


    You most likely didn''t feel disgusted because your bloodline deemed them lesser lifeforms, like how a human feels nothing when killing a chicken or a rat. Then why at the hospital.....It because of the anesthesia, it suppresses your bloodline, you overused it without being an awakened, your soul is too weak to bear that weight, it was killing you, so we had to use it, because it was suppressed, the emotions and disgust you felt towards killing humans came in a rush all at once, but you fine now aren''t you?,she answered before he could finish his question.


    So how does one becomes an awakened?? He asked with anticipation. Through a breathing technique and a chant, she replied. Oh like this?he asked as he adjusted his breathing and started following a certain breathing rhythm. Blue wisps gathered at his chest but dissipated after, his rhythm changed and the blue wisps gathered at his forehead before dissipating again. Anele was amazed, two breathing techniques of such high ranks, for a warrior and a magus, but her excitement dropped when she realised the problem, there was no chant to support them, she sighed a little, what a pity.


    Yes like that but with a chant accompanying the breathing technique, she said. Where''d you get those breathing techniques anyways, she asked. I think I learnt them from this, he showed her his wrist. Your wrist? She asked with confusion. No..what?no, this, the bracelet, he said. Bracelet?she asked.


    You can''t see it?he asked with confusion. No I can''t, that must be the key, I heard legends say, only it wielder can use it, I guess others can''t even see it, didn''t think it would be a bracelet though, thought it would be something cooler like a sword made from dragon bones or something, what a letdown. Why are you disappointed, you can''t even see it.


    Well anyways, without the accompanying chant, those breathing techniques can only help you clear your mind and raise your spirituality a little, she said. So I can''t be an awakened, he asked with panic. Calm down, your family has their own techniques, they might not be as high ranked as those two but they are complete.


    Come, I''ll show them to you, she led him to a secret underground passage. Deep underground they arrived at a room lighted by giant white balls of lighting that seem to never go out. The room was clean and well maintained, it was filled with book shelves and was about  30 to 30 metres large, at the other end of the room sat an old man with dark skin, grey hair and a grey beard with a cold look, reading a book.


    As soon as they walked in,the man stood up and slowly approached them. Noel was tense, this man was radiating danger, he was dressed in a Buttler outfit. He looked at Anele and she looked relax, happy even. Hi dad, she said with a smile. Dad?you have a dad?he asked with surprise.


    Why do you look surprised?she asked with a raised eyebrow. I just didn''t think you''d have a parent like normal people, I always just thought you were conjured from hellflames, wait, it that how it was, is that how she was made?he asked looking at the old man. Does young master want to know how my daughter was made?asked the old man with a serious face.


    NOO! stop, nobody want to know that, she said, covering her fathers mouth. Anyways I''m a human with parents you rude brat. I guess introductions are in place. Noel, this is my father, patriarch of the Khoza family and guardian of the Zulu royal family library. Lucas Khoza.


    Huh?

 Thunder Beast Breathing

    Guardian of the library? Now that you mention it, when did we have such a large library in the house?he asked. It has always been here, you just didn''t know about it, replied Anele. Is the young master here for the family technique? Asked old man Lucas.


    Yes, he is, replied Anele. Then please follow me. They followed the old man as he led them down a long spiralling staircase. Isn''t that the library?asked Noel. That one only has normal books one can find in any library, the real one is below, replied Anele.


    They arrive in another room, it was much larger than the previous one, infact, it was larger than the entire house above. It so large, exclaimed Noel. Of course, it has records of the most important events and figures for the past two thousand years, both from the circular world and the world of the awakened, replied Lucas.


    Where''d you even get all that information?he asked. Some it was traded but most was gathered by my ancestors, said the old man. Your ancestors?he asked. Yes, my family has always been a family of assassins and spies. We''ve worked for your family for ages.


    Can I look around?he asked. Of course young master, said the old man,it your library. Noel started looking around the library, he saw books recording the history of recent historical figures like Shaka Zulu, one of the Zulu kings, Abraham Lincoln and a lot more.


    Each of them had multiple books under their name, as a matter of fact, the Zulus history had multiple shelves just to itself, which is understandable, anybody would like to know more about their ancestors than others and will most likely prioritise that part.


    What disturbing is the amount of details under each person, the books contained even personal information the history books used at school do not have, including their height, weight and shoe size as well as p...size, which is just creepy.


    Noel kept looking but noticed there was no section for the Khoza family history, so he decided to ask about it. Why is there no information about your family here, he asked. We supposed to be a secret, although some of us are well know, we are mostly known by our aliases and as individuals rather than an entire clan.


    Information about us is kept somewhere only the patriarch of the clan knows, sorry I can not show it to you young master. No it fine, I was just curious,he said as he continued looking through the books. He found a smaller shelf with relatively fewer books in comparison to the others. Techniques was written on the shelf.


    There were more books at the bottom of the shelf and grew fewer as you go up. At the top of the shelf were only two books. He realised the books were arranged based on some order. The bottom shelf was labelled mortal, the middle shelf was earth and the top shelf was heaven.


    He decided to asked about it, so he went to Anele, techniques are divided into different grades, there are four currently known grades in the world, at least as far we know, the three you saw and legendary grade that stands above them, she said.


    So what the difference between them?he asked. The higher the grade, the better the effect of the technique,she answered casually. Yeah but how?he asked. It differs between techniques, some, like the one I''m using, transform your essence into elementary essence, which means, you can use the battles techniques of that elementary nature much faster as you skip the transition stage from pure essence to elementary essence.


    Others increase your essence regeneration, others increase your essence quality, others it quantity, for some, it because they come with a special battle technique that others cannot use. All in all, regardless of what effect it has, higher grade techniques are almost always better than lower grade ones.


    I see, so is the technique you going to teach me one of the heaven grade one?he asked with excitement. Come and see for yourself, she answered with a smile. He followed her and they went towards the end of the hall, where a blue book with a picture of Inkanyamba was placed on a pedestal.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    Is this it?he asked. Yep, this is it,she answered. He took the book, tried to open it and failed, he tried again and again, he still couldn''t open it, it was as if the book was locked with iron chains. Place it on your forehead and wait, said Anele. He did as she said and felt a shock, as if electricity was running through his body. It testing to see if your blood matches, only those with your bloodline can open the book or learn the technique inside.


    The book finally opened. You not allowed to take it out so stay here until you learn the technique for the first rank, she said. The book was thick, he opened the first page and on it was the history of the technique, it mentioned who created it. It was over two thousand years ago when the ancestor of the Zulus, who were famers at that time found an ancient book detailing a certain technique.


    He could not learn the technique inside that book and it took him twenty years to derive the current technique from that one, the class of the technique was naturally lowered by a lot but at that time, it was still considered a top class technique. He then took another fifteen years to derive another technique of equal class but meant for magus.


    He then derived multiple battle techniques over the course of his life, bringing the status of his family to the same level as that of other royal families. The second page contained the breathing technique as well the chant, for the warrior type and the next twenty something pages had battle techniques most suitable for warriors.


    After that was the part containing the Magus type breathing technique and it chant as well as the battle techniques most suitable for it. In total the first rank section took over 50 pages.Now all that was left was for him to figure out if he want to be a warrior or a magi but he had no idea what the actual difference was so he started looking for a book detailing them.


    He found a book written study of warrior and Magi by Sophie the witch of the depthless lake. There was a lot of information in there, most of which he had no interest in. He looked for the part about their differences. According to the book, warriors form a core at their chest and create a form of essence called vital essence. Vital essence strengthens their body to absurd levels, they are faster, stronger and more durable plus their regeneration factor is much higher. As a downside, they lack long range attacks


    Magi on the other hand, form their core in their foreheads,they weaker, slower and less durable than warriors but they have longer range and more destructive might, they also better at fighting multiple weaker opponents than warriors. So, if they were to fight while on the same rank, in close rank,a warrior is most likely to win but if the magi Keeps a distance between them,they could bombard the warrior with spells until they defeat them.


    Neither seem more powerful than the other, he still could not make a decision. So, like any eighteen year old boy, he just chose the one he thought looks cooler to him. Warrior it is then, plus he already learnt how to use weapons so it made sense to him to choose being a warrior.


    He picked up the book, opened the warrior section, instead of learning the breathing technique, he went to the battle techniques section. He wanted to see which cool techniques can he learn. There were multiple techniques, like lightning weapons, pretty straightforward name, whoever named this technique lacks imagination, he thought, couldn''t they atleast use armaments instead of weapons, sounds much more awesome. He decided he''s going to call it lightning armaments instead.


    The technique allows one to form weapons made of lightning, takes too much essence though. Lightning discharge, which discharges a flood of lightning from your hands but it needs you to get close to your target. There were a lot of other techniques, like lightning boots which covers your feets in lightning, increasing your speed or lightning ball, this one looked like a magi spell but it was not, it had longer range than most warrior techniques but still had shorter range than a real magi spell, it was more like an imitation of a magi spell.


    As he was about to go back to the breathing technique section, he saw one ability that drew his attention, lightning armour, it was a simple technique that covers your body in lightning, unlike the other techniques though, this one seemed like an all rounder. It enhances all of your stat, provides defence and allows you to throw bolt of lightning as long your target is not too far.


    What drew his attention the most though, is that you can use other techniques on top of this one and it will enhance them as well, plus it also covers your weapons with lightning, enhancing them as well. All in all, it a pretty good ability, the only problem though, you need to be atleast rank two to use or your body will not be able to handle the strain.


    Noel was pretty satisfied with his choice, he couldn''t help imagining himself flying in the sky, covered by lightning like a God of thunder, battling dragons and other powerful enemies while looking cool. He was excited just thinking about it.

 First step

    After he was done imagining himself a superhero, he started to look through the breathing technique. He read the whole page including the chant. Okay, time to start, he said. Following the instructions on the manual, he adjusted his breathing according to the instructions.


    He then started chanting the chant but doing so while also focusing on his breathing turned out to be harder than he thought. He kept either messing the chant or his breathing rhythm and sometimes both. This kept on for hours until Anele came to check on him.


    You''re too distracted, she said. I can feel excitement oozing out of your body, your mind is filled with too many distractions. She went towards a certain shelf, came back with a book. It a Buddhist mantra, she gave him the book, it will help clear your mind off the distractions, she told him


    Meditate while chanting this mantra for a while, do so until your mind Is clear, then you can start practicing again, she told him. Yes ma''am, he replied. She went out for a few minutes and came back with tray filled with snacks and a drink.


    Here, eat something and go back to your meditation. After he was done eating, he followed the instructions on the meditation book. He sat down crossed legged and started chanting, for the first few minutes he just kept getting distracted by his own thoughts.


    He was about to give up when his breathing changed and he felt all those wild untamed thought in his head fade away slowly. He continued with the meditation for a few hours until he eventually opened his eyes, they were clear like a recently cleaned pool on a Monday.


    He began the thunder Beast Breathing again, this time he was able to maintain the breathing rhythm and the chant for much longer, he felt his chest tingling, his eyes gained a small tinge of blue, he could feel the essence course through his body, it was a comfortable feeling.


    Essence gathered at his chest, he could feel it trying to form a pool, he got too excited, lost focus and the gathered essence dissipated. He calmed himself down, tried again and this time he was able to gather it, wisps of essence combined in his chest forming a tiny drop of essence.


    Noel got excited, he tried to do it again when he suddenly felt a splitting headache. He stopped, got up and went back to the main house above. He found Anele watching tv on the living room and decided to consult her about this. He felt mentally drained.


    Aunt, I''ve been trying to form a core all day and all I''ve managed is a tiny drop, Anele suddenly coughed, what do you mean all you''ve managed, you did that in hours, do you know how long it takes others just to gather that drop?she asked.


    I must be pretty awesome then, he said with a sheepish smile. The thing is, when I tried again I felt like my head was gonna split in two, why is that? Oh, no, you fine, your spirituality is just not high enough, your breathing technique and chant are too high grade for a person with your level of spirituality to use for too long. Go rest, you''ll be okay.


    There should be a meditation technique and chant to increase spirituality in that book, almost every high grade technique has one. Don''t be mistaken though, although those techniques help,there''s a limit to how much, increasing spirituality is dependant on the person themselves.


    The most effective way know is mastering a technique, when an artist experience a moment where nothing but their art exist, that when their spirituality increases, there are other ways of course but that the most effective one, she said.


    Thanks, he said smiling, he went upstairs, went to bed and fell asleep immediately. The next morning he woke up quite early, refreshed, although the difference wasn''t high, he could tell he''s stronger than before. He went to take a shower, put on his clothes and took his backpack and went downstairs.


    What for breakfast? he asked Anele who was sipping coffee while reading the news on her laptop, you woke up early, why?she asked while still looking at her laptop. I''m going to school of course, he answered.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    You still doing that?she asked looking at him. Yeah why would I quit school? I don''t have a girlfriend yet, he answered with a serious look. She just sighed, stood up and told him to sit down. She went to make him breakfast.


    While she was gone, he looked at her laptop, on the screen was a page showing a snow leopard close to metres in height, it was laying dead on the ground, with hundreds of wounds on it body, they looked like they were made by hundreds of very sharp tiny weapons.


    The headlines read, rank one middle stage snow leopard slaughtered an entire village of over 70 people, in a fit of rage, the youngest disciple of the peach fairy Fang Lin, Meifei went out to hunt the beast and slayed it, there was a long description of their battle which he didn''t bother to read.


    In another article, an old witch in Nigeria had kidnapped multiple virgin girls in an attempt to use them to create some sort of potion that increases ones lifespan, fortunately there are strict conditions on the time and position of the moon for the spell to work and before that, the girls could not be harmed.


    That gave the local sorceress who proclaimed herself the protector of that region enough time to act, she confronted the witch, their battle lasted two days and two nights before a warrior came to assist her and the witch was caught.


    Her execution is scheduled to be five days from now on a full moon, the destruction left by a battle between three rank two''s is devastating, sorcerers who possess the wood attributes are still trying to fix the forest. In KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, a cobra over 20 metres in length was spotted in a farm, it devoured the cattle and the farmers dog.


    The farmers were compensated and asked not to spread the news, or they just mind controlled them, he thought. In Egypt, a giant pet scorpion of Lady Amunet the sand whisper escaped, it was brought back by a six year old boy.


    Seeing a child riding a scorpion the size of a a dog impressed lady Amunet, she said the boy had a natural talent of a whisper and took him under her wing. There were a lot of other headlines, mostly about people seeing weird phenomenon or their pet suddenly growing bigger and more ferocious.


    In most cases the local awakened authorities acted pretty fast and as such,there were not a lot of casualties. Anele came back with breakfast, he ate then got up and went to school. Charlize was not with him this time, he was still worried about her, he had not seen her since that day and plan to go see her later.


    At school, he could barely focus on the lecture, all he could think about was this amazing world he didn''t know existed a week ago. Bored, he started checking the spirituality of his classmates, non even met the threshold of even pre-awakened human, they had normal level of a dormant human except the lecturer.


    His spirituality was higher than others but still far from a pre-awakened let alone an actual awakened, there was another, a girl with glasses, her spirituality was quite high as well, even higher than the lecturer, she was the class genius. It had actually reached the threshold to be considered pre-awakened.


    It like she could feel his gaze, she turned and looked at him like he''s a creep, he avoided her gaze. He kept looking until his eyes fell on a guy at the back of the lecture hall, he seems to have a vague memory of him, somehow he knew the guy was his classmates but he seems to have a vague memory of him, like his image is blurred.


    Weird, he thought, when he tried to check the guys spirituality level, he was surprised, it was high, insanely high, even higher than his own. He could instinctively tell it was not at the awakened level but it was pretty close, most likely at the absolute peak of dormant level.


    The guy turned his head slowly and looked at him, his eyes were cloudy, as if he''s sleepy, his hair was disheveled and he looked tired. He was a coloured with a handsome face even though he looks like he doesn''t take care of his appearance. He had an overall gloomy aura


    He just looked at him without blinking for a while before turning his head forward. Noel felt weird, this guy is creepy, better stay away from him, he thought, while he was lost on his thoughts, a black man who seemed to be in his early twenties walked into the lecture room.


    The lecturer introduced him as the new student. Both the girl with glasses and the gloomy guy looked at this man with caution, he was handsome and exuded confidence, most of the girls seemed to be drooling over him. He looked like a kind fellow, nice to meet you everyone, his voice was beautiful, one girl moaned just hearing him.


    Even Noel and the glasses girl seem to be taken by him, Noel eyes turned slightly blue and broke out of it, the girl eyes turned slightly golden but because of her glasses, nobody noticed, she too came back to her senses, the gloomy guys didn''t seem to effected even a little bit.


    Shit, cursed Noel, and no it wasn''t because he was jealous that girls were fawning over this guy, not at all,not at all, it because he could sense danger and trouble from him. The guy looked at the glasses girl with fascination and a bit of possessiveness. He then looked at Noel and the gloomy guy and clicked his tongue a little, besides the three nobody else noticed. He introduced himself, my name is, he said


    Imani Makamba.

 Rising Waves

    In a certain ruin on a certain continent, there was an old tower whose walls were covered with mold, beneath the tower was an open space of large proportions. At the centre of this hall like space was an octagon drawn with blood. On the centre of the octagon was a black spiral that seems to devour all things.


    On each corner of the octagon stood a person in a black gown with a hood, their waist tied by a red rope. The room was dimly lit by red glowing candles. The prophecy has come true, the enemy of the lord has risen, along with their companions. Said one the figures in a raspy voice like that of an old man on the brink of death.


    All those who oppose the lord must perish, said a tall women with an erotic body in a seductive voice. Do we know who they are or where they are?? Asked a tall figure with an absurdly muscular body.  We are not certain as of yet, the forces on the surface seem to making an effort to ensure we don''t find out, but we have a clue, replied another in a mans voice.


    Send word to the servants of the lord on the main land, they should find out who the chosen is within a week, we cannot let them grow, said the raspy old voice. You don''t have to worry, I''ve already taken measures, replied the seductive woman with a chuckle.


    RETURN ALL TO THE ABYSS, they all said in unison before disappearing.


    Noels life was on repeat for an entire week, he would go to school in the morning, have a spar with Anele after school and go check up on Charlize who was pretty much fine, she had woken up before he did apparently but chose not to go to school.


    She would spend her entire day meditation, apparently what happened had motivated her to grow stronger. It was not a surprise to Noel that her family were awakened, what surprised him though was that she had already known yet was able to keep it a secret from him for all these years.


    Noel told her about their new classmate, how at first he seemed to pay attention to all three of them but recently he''s more focused on the girl with glasses. What? Are you jealous? She asked him with a smile. No why would I be jealous?. I just feel there''s something wrong with that guy, something about him just feels.. foreign.


    I didn''t know you were xenophobic she said with questioning look, what? No that not what I mean. I know, she said while laughing. His eyes turned blue as he looked at her chest, inside her was a core, it was empty without a single drop of essence, I could use this to check him but it would cause a spike in my spirituality, he would easily detect it.


    I can feel your gaze on me, it very uncomfortable, she said as she covered her chest with her arms. You really do have the instinct of a wild animal, he said. That rude, she said pouting. Don''t worry I''ll come to school on Monday, I''ll check that guy out for you, she said looking at him with a smile. The weekend passed by in a blink of an eye.


    On Monday, Noel and Charlize went to school together. So that him huh, she said to herself while looking at Imani. He''s a pretty handsome fellow but he stinks. During the entire session, she would occasionally look at him trying to see if there''s something strange about him like Noel said and everytime she does, she would feel a bit repulsed by his scent, it was a scent she had never smelled before and like Noel said, it felt wrong, repulsing.


    Another thing she noticed is that, he would keep looking at the girl with glasses, she recognised this girl as one of the two people in class besides her who had any essence inside them, before Noel and this new Imani guy of course. She recognised the way he looked at her, it was the same look a predator has when they stalk their prey.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    Even though it was not directed at her, she still felt uncomfortable. Obviously this guy did not have any good intentions towards the girl. She made up her mind to warn her later, or just beat the living hell out of this guy.


    Imani felt uncomfortable, a new girl showed up on class, she seemed to have been a student here before he arrived and everybody seemed friendly to her. He could tell the girls spirituality was not at the awakened level, infact it was even lower than his.


    She kept looking at him with an unfriendly look that made him feel uncomfortable. He did think about getting rid of her but something told him if he tried to fight her, he would lose and most likely die but he did not have to fight her, he was not much of a fighter anyways.


    He made up his mind, he would talk to her later and try to seduce her, he doubt any woman would be able to resist his charm when he goes all out, the glasses girl was an exception, after all, she''s the chosen one his master has been looking for, it makes sense she could resist him.


    During lunchtime, Charlize felt the guy coming towards her from behind, she turned around, frowning a little, what do you want,he looked surprised as if he did not expect that. Hi my name is.... I don''t care what you name is, she answered before he could finish, now tell me what you want or piss off, she said.


    Now everyone at the cafeteria was looking at them, Imani was embarrassed, this was the first time he experienced this after being chosen for greatness by his master. He wanted to kill her right then and there but he held himself back, showing his fake smile.


    Would you like to have din... No,she cut him off again, if you done, you can piss off, you stink. Imani was now pissed off, he clenched his fist but before he could move she was already up on his face, try it, she said, try it, I dare you, looking him dead in the eye as if she can''t wait for him to attack.


    He looked around, everybody was looking at him, the girl with glasses looked like she was eager for him to try something and the Noel guy was ready to jump at him at any moment, he knew it would be hard defeating any of them by himself let alone all of them at once.


    He turned around and went to the mens room. That b***h, just you wait, he punched the wall fuming with anger. He calmed himself down, putting on his fake smile and went out. The rest of the day went on without any accidents happening, they didn''t interact with each other after.


    A week went by and Charlize would occasionally come to school, the guy never tried to talk to her again, although he would occasionally look at her with hatred, his interest to the other girl though seemed more intense.


    Every now and then, he would try to talk to her, though she always ignored him and sometimes straight up told him to piss off, he didn''t seem to mind but Charlize could sense deep anger and hatred in him. At some point the girls in her classroom could be seen going to the mens room with him and every single one of them would always be very tired during class.


    This continued for two weeks, one evening after school, Charlize saw the guy talking on the phone, she could not hear him but with her good eye sight, she could easily read his lips. It seemed he was talking about finding someone and that it was time. Time for what?she wondered.


    She immediately thought of her classmate this guy seems to be obsessed with. It look like his obsession with her wasn''t random, he was searching for her. Knowing the girl was in danger, she went to look for her.


    She couldn''t find her so she asked Noel to help her look, why?he asked. It looks like that guy is about to make his move on her, she answered. Hit on her? He asked. No I think it something dangerous, stop asking questions we need to find her before she leaves.


    They found her near the gate, she was just standing there as if waiting for someone. They ran up to her, Hi, I am.. I know who you are Charlize Snyman, the girl answered, and you as well Noel Zulu. The two of them felt embarrassed because they did not know her name.


    We wanted to warn you, that creepy guy might be intending to do something to you, you need to be careful. If you want we could could accompany you home, make sure you safe, offered Charlize.


    Thank you for caring but you don''t have to worry about me, she said as turned around and went to her car, she opened the door but before she went in, she turned around and looked at them.


    My name is Priya, Priya Gupta.


    Was she waiting for us? I feel like she was waiting for us, said Charlize, yeah it weird, replied Noel

 Priya POV

    My name is Priya Gupta, since childhood I''ve always been a bit more special than others, I never new my parents, apparently they died in an accident when I was a kid. The only thing they left me is a pair of glasses, simple as they may be, they are the most precious thing to me and not just because they are a give left to me by parents I don''t even remember.


    Most people thing I have terrible eyesight because I wear glasses but the truth is I have incredible eyesight, beyond incredible infact for a human. I can see clearer and further than a hawk but the most impressive thing is I can see things others can''t like ghost.


    Of course, that ability brought me a lot of trouble as a kid, the worst part is, if they know you can see them they would keep following you and pestering you, it was not only scary for a kid but tiring as well. I once saw a short ugly creature with a nail on it forehead sticking out like a horn topple a car moving at incredible speed, most likely over 80 km/h.


    I later learnt this creature was a dark spirit created by a witch called Tokoloshe. It was as short as I was and mind you I was only eight at that time, yet is toppled an entire car with a single then turned around and looked at me, everybody was running around as if they could not see it, I had to pretend I couldn''t see it as well which wasn''t easy with my curiosity.


    It was only after I started wearing these glasses that I stopped seeing them, that when I figured they weren''t just regular glasses. My life after that was uneventful, I was a bit reclusive so I did not have any friends, sometimes just to feel special I would take off my glasses an gaze at the world unseen by men.


    It was only when I went to varsity that thing changed, I had thought it would be like my primary, middle and high school but I was wrong. Two of my classmate were different which was both exciting and depressing, one of them seemed even more of an introvert than I am, infact it looked like he was deliberately trying to push people away.


    The other one was a very beautiful girl who seem to get along with everyone, for the first week of school I could see her stealing glances at me and the dark aura boy whose name I seem to forget, I mean you can''t blame for that though, even the lecturers forget to call out his name and it written on the register.


    I wanted to go talk to her a few time but I always choose not to and it not because I''m too shy, yes not at all. She seemed to friends with a handsome quiet boy called Noah, the guy is..well normal, too normal. People have some sort of aura like thing coming out of them, I later learnt this is spirituality but we will get to that,normal people barely have any but it is still there.


    Charlize had more of it, way more than a normal person should, the dark aura guy had even more than that, infact it was so large it looked like he was covered in black flames but Noel had nothing, even rocks had more than his and the spirituality of none living was almost zero, unless they powerful treasures, or so I''ve been told, or rather read.


    I think I should mention that on my eighteenth birthday the glasses my parents left me suddenly released a projection with symbols and their translation, apparently these are called runes, I learnt a lot from that projection, like that there''s a secret society of powerful people called the awakened.


    My parents were one of them and pretty powerful ones, apparently we hail from a family of researchers and historians. From that projection I also learnt about the different ranks of awakened. I was told to wait till I reach the first rank before I learn more secret.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    I also learnt about my eyes and that they part of my bloodline, yes you heard me, bloodline. Wait who am I talking to? Priya asked out loud, shaking her heard a little. I need friends or I''m gonna go crazy, she said with small laugh, anyways where did I left off, she continued talking to herself, ohhhh yeah, bloodlines.


    There are a lot of bloodlines but I''m gonna talk about mine cause mine cause it super special, like me. It gives me special eyes, their basic ability is it gives super eyesight and I can see 270¡ã around me, yes I could see all those creeps watching me from behind. I also learnt a breathing technique and chant from the projection and I''ve been following it instructions for a few weeks now plus a martial art training.


    I also learnt that my parents actually left me a hefty sum plus I had made millions in middle school through my inventions, apparently my parents owned a tech company which they sold before their deaths and put all of that money in a savings account in my name as if they knew they were gonna die, this makes the accident part of their deaths even more questionable.


    A while back, Noel and Charlize disappeared, i was worried about them, of course I would never admit this to them or anybody else for that matter, these two are not known for skipping school, especially for that long. Noel came back and he was different, he had an aura now but it was massive, almost as large as my own, it was quite a surprise.


    I thought everything would be fine but then he showed up on the same day Noel came back. His name is Imani, his aura was as large as the other guy in class, the one with the dark terrifying aura.


    His aura was also dark but unlike the other guy his was as if it was tainted by tar and rotten blood and was very nauseating to look at, the good thing was if she wasn''t consciously using her abilities, which she has been able to do since learning the breathing technique by the way, the glasses could prevent her from seeing it.


    The guy seemed to be obsessed with her, he always has that disgusting smile whenever he was looking at her. Charlize came back and she too seemed to dislike the guy, which was a relief, she was nolonger the only girl in class who has not been taken by his charm.


    Recently his obsession seem to growing stronger, ever since he showed up, I always felt people tailing me when I''m going home, infact since then I haven''t once went to my house, I can''t let a creepy stalker like him find out where I actually live, that would give me sleepless nights, so I''ve been staying at a motel.


    Today things escalated, he almost had a fight with Charlize, which would''ve been a sight. Because of my unintentional stoic face people tend to think I''m cold but the really cold one is Charlize, which is ironic cause her aura looks like blazing flames.


    While I was lost in my thoughts I saw her and Noel approach me, act cool act cool, I thought. Hi my name.. I know who you are Charlize Snyman and you as well Noel Zulu. Huuuu that was so cool, and embarrassing.


    They seem flustered, ohhhhhhh I see, it that awkward moment where you don''t know somebody''s name but too embarrassed to admit it, it seem neither of them even remember my name, this is very embarrassing for me .


    We wanted to warn you, that creepy guy might be intending to do something to you, you need to be careful. If you want we could could accompany you home, make sure you safe, offered Charlize.


    Thank you for worrying but I''ll be fine, I said. Turning around I went to my car, opening the car door then I remembered they still did not know my name, I should probably tell them right? I turned around, by the way my name Priya, oh I should tell them my last name as well. Priya Gupta.


    I went into my car and closed the door. Idiot idiot idiot, why did you decline her offer, this could''ve been your chance to make friends and we would''ve had a better chance of taking that creepy bastard down, no no no no Priya, this is your problem, you should solve it yourself.


    She started driving to the motel she was living in, she had a feeling something was gonna go down anytime so she bought the entire motel two days ago and kicked everybody out, she did give them money to appease their anger and protest though.


    She went to her room on the top floor, the motel was three stories tall, when she got inside, she took a shower, changed into military gear, equip a Swiss Army knife and two Glen 5 Glock19 guns with suppressors and waited.

 Priya POV continued

    At night, she could hear footsteps from the roof and front of the motel, she knew that creep was here with  goonies, taking of her glasses, she started counting the people coming for her using their auras.


    There seem to be 24, unless there are others she cannot see, and of these 24 guys, 6 seem to have stronger auras than others, one of these six was Imani, even amongst the rest he stood out, not only because his aura was larger and stronger but also because it was the most disgusting, infact the others looked fine.


    Okay it time, she said. She was strangely calm for a girl whose house is about to get raided by 24, possibly more armed men. Not only was she not scared by the idea that she might die bit the fact that she might and most likely will kill people does not seem to scare her.


    She just dismissed as part of her bloodline ability and she wasn''t far from the truth, it was just not the whole truth. Just as she was about to cut of the power grid for the whole block, the light went out for the whole city.


    All of Cape town city went dark that night. The men started entering the motel in droves, inside they spread out no check the different rooms, others coming from the ground floor while the rest came from the top floor, they felt the building was way hotter than normal, infact without their gloves they couldn''t touch any metal inside the motel. Not knowing they were being monitored.


    During this time she had moved to the second floor, watching them enter her domain. I have remodeled the entire house just for you my lovely guest, I hope you like it. They all had night vision goggles but she has prepared for that, infact she had hoped they would use them.


    She had designed all her gadgets to be invisible to infrared light. She watched at two guys from the to entered a room. sensors were placed in it, blindly trusting their goggles which allowed them to see very well in the dark, they couldn''t see the sensors or the dart guns specially designed to counter that.


    When they were five steps in the room, the guns fired silently, puncturing thei skulls, not alerting the others, the two men fell silently, on the ground floor a tall women with a scar on her face entered a room with a lot of dolls in it that seem to have been melted by something.


    She was careful, sneaking in slowly with her big gun pointed forward, as soon as she reached two metres in the room, the door suddenly closed on it own, she turned around but before she could move, a bucket of acid fell on top of her. She screamed but her screams could not leave the sound insulated room.


    The people kept dying one after another, infact after they discovered over eight people have died they wanted to leave but would not dare as the boss was still watching them, they knew he would kill them. They had no choise but to find the girl and catch her.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    Priya was marveling at her creation, watching the men and women that creep brought die one by one strangely turned her on, wait, do I have a thing for seeing people die gruesome deaths? That sounds like a twisted fetish.


    While she was watching others, she didn''t forget to check the six people including Imani. She always has her eye on them. All them were still alive, they seem to have a very sharp sense for danger which is understandable with they high auras. Especially a beautiful pale faced woman who looked to be in her thirties with a cold look wearing a red dress and nothing else, not even shoes.


    Of the six only one was injured, it was a man you look younger than all of them except Imani. He had entered a room filled with very thin, very sharp and almost invisible wires that would snare you up and dice you to a hundred pieces, he reacted fast enough and only lost a hand.


    What baffled her though is why they are warning the others, she then realised they were competing, they weren''t as united as she thought. They kept quiet because the less people there are,the higher their chances of being the one to kill her.


    She laughed at their foolishness, what she did not realised was while she was busy enjoying watching her enemies die, somebody had already reached her room, she could not sense their aura of hear their footsteps.


    She only reacted when they entered the room by breaking the doors handle, she jumped into her feet and reached for her gun. She shot at the guy but he had already moved and she missed, before she could point at him again he was already next to her.


    He kicked her across the room and she fell on top of a table,broke it and dropped her gun, she rolled and a foot fell where was in a second. She pulled her knife and swiped at him and he just moved backwards a little and she missed.


    He kicked in the chest and rolled back. She started crawling backwards as the man approached slowly, he still did not have any aura on him which is why she couldn''t see him coming and let her guard down.


    He looked her at with a lecherous gaze, grinning a little, I know the boss said to capture you alive but he didn''t say anything about not having fun, he said as he approached her, his little member pointing towards the sky as if it want break through his pants.


    It should be anytime now, she thought, this idiot being in heat is only hastening the process, good thing I met a lecherous bastard. Your body is heating up, she said. What? Asked the man. You horny, your body is heating up, she repeated.


    What the hell are you talk...before he could finish he suddenly caughed blood and fell on one knee, he looked at her with panic, what did you do to me? He asked. I released an invisible, tasteless and odourless poison in the building, the poison only works in high temperature, if it released in room temperature it simply become ineffective and useless even if someone ingest it, she thought to herself.


    Why would I tell you that? I''m not a third rate Villian, you just continue on dying and you don''t have to worry, you won''t be lonely in hell, you friends will follow you soon. As she had said,three minutes later everybody besides two people were coughing blood and dying.


    Well time to go, she said as she opened the window, using a rope she hooked to the bed, she jumped down, when she was far away from the building, she took a remote from her pocket and pressed a red button on it. She heard a giant explosion from the direction of the motel. She had blown up the entire building and her car alongside the people inside it.


    Breathing out a long sight, whoooooh that was intense, she said with excitement.


    Indeed it was, said a familiar voice behind her.

 Liam POV

    Ahh this a pain, Liam thought as he sat at the back of the class listening to the lecturer. Liam Theron was a coloured boy living in Cape town, he never had any friends. He is from, well a very unknown family. It not that his family was unknown because they reclusive, well it is,but the main reason is because of their  bloodline.


    Liam bloodline makes whoever has it very forgettable, of course there are ways around this, the most effective simply being stronger than them. He had tried as child, he tried very much to have friends which was already hard with his personality, not only is he an introvert,he straight up dislikes people or rather finds socialize very tiresome.


    Everytime he had a chance to make friends, they always forget his name or that he''s even there after a while, it got tiring having to remind people who he is. In highschool he had a girlfriend, they had fun for an entire day, even kissed each other goodbyes later.


    The next morning she had forgotten his name or even the fact that they dating, although she did claim to have a feeling they were close to one another. He just couldn''t bring himself to tell her, after all you can''t tell somebody they love you.


    Ever since that day he had not tried to make friends with anybody. Even in varsity, the lecturers forget to call out his name which is written in the register, one might wonder what he does when it comes to test, well truth is he had not received a single results from his tests and he didn''t bother to ask, he knows he passed anyways and he only attend school because his mother asked him in hope he''ll find friends or a girlfriend, he thinks it ridiculous though because of his bloodline.


    Infact he was certain if he went to another class and took a test there, nobody would notice, that how forgettable he is, but it also works out for him as well since he would rather not interact with people if he could help it.


    With this type of bloodline ability what does his family do exactly? Well, as you might have guessed, they own a disposal organisation aka assassins. As a family of assassins, they are pretty distant from one another, there''s rarely any show of affection.


    The only person who had ever showed Liam any love was his mother, his father on the other hand only cared about his bloodline. This sucked for him because his bloodline was purer than his siblings or anybody''s in the family for that matter.


    I mean he has been trained intensely ever since he could walk, forced to take a life at the age of eight, had his first assignment at the age of twelve which was to kill a drug lord that was starting to cause problems for the rich people. It was also the age he learnt a breathing technique, of course it was a minor technique not his family true technique, he was allowed to learn that when he turned eighteen.


    This is annoying, should I just kill him? Wondered Liam as he stole a glance at the new guy who kept looking at him every now and then. Cleaning up the mess would be a pain, I''ll let this one go.


    Fortunately the guy shifted his attention to a girl whose name he does not remember, remembering peoples names was too much work. Over the next few days he kept getting irritated by the new guy, it was not because of his obsession with the girl, not at all.


    It was as if his very blood was repulsed by this guys existence, no matter how much he tried to ignore him, he just kept getting the feeling to kill him and be done with it, of course he wasn''t going to do it, it was against family law to kill for personal gain unless the situation was very serious.


    One day after school he felt a lot of hidden eyes focus on him, Mmm, it not me they looking at, it the girl next to me, he turned his head a little and looked the girl walking close to him, she''s probably their target, not that it got anything to do with me.


    He was about to leave when he felt killing intent, it was not directed at him but the girl. He turned around and went to his car and started driving away, on his way he suddenly remembered his mother asking him to show kindness to others if he could, as much as he find it troublesome, he really couldn''t say to that woman.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Troublesome woman, he said as he thought of his kind mother, the only different person from his family of cold blooded killers. He turned his car around and started tailing the guys who were following the girl. None of these fools should be stronger than her, they don''t even have a drop of essence in them, but let wait and see.


    He watched the girl go inside a building and closing the door behind her. The guys left and he followed them. Without the knowledge of the person he helped, he killed all of the guys tailing her before burning their bodies, when he got home he told his father he killed some people, cleaners who work for their family were to sent to erase any evidence his involvement.


    He kept repeating that for a few more days, even he started wondering why, it can''t be that it because his mother asked him to be kind. Perhaps I like his girl, he thought, before laughing it off.


    One day, things escalated a little, he saw more of them follow the girl but this time, the disgusting guy from his class was there as well. The girl didn''t seem scared though he knew she already knew they were following her.


    He decided to wait and see where she get her confidence from, night came, light went out and he went on the rooftop of the building across the one the girl lives in, he waited and they showed up, 24 of them. He watched as they entered the building.


    He waited for a while and nothing was happening. He suddenly saw the girl jump out of the building and running away, he followed her on foot and it seemed she had not noticed him.


    She suddenly stopped and took out something from her pocket and pressed it, it look like a remote, just as he was wondering what it was for he heard an explosion, he knew immediately what she had done.


    Crazy girl, I''m starting to like her, he thought, what he didn''t realise though was he already like her, which is why he was doing something so tiring in the first place. He came up behind her and she still did not notice.


    That was Intense, the girl said with a flat tone. Indeed it was, replied Liam in a tired sleepy voice while yawning. They were of course talking about different things but he didn''t care. While she was talking about whatever she did in that building with those people, he was just talking about following her, it was tiring.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Turning around, Priya saw someone she did not expect to see here, it was her gloomy classmate, startled she jumped backwards opening the distance between them before pulling out her gun and pointing it at him.


    Looking at him warily, the guy did not even move, his eyes were looking at her but they seem distant. Wait is he sleeping? She wondered, there''s no way someone could sleep in this situation, he''s trying to lower my guard.


    Now that she thinks about it, he does usually have the same look in class. Could he be always asleep during class, there''s no way, how does he even pass the test then? I shouldn''t lower my guard.


    Are you one of them? She asked. Liam raised his head a little and looked at her, one of who? He asked. You don''t have to pretend, if you not one of them then why are you here?she asked.


    Ohhh you mean them?, asked Liam. No I''m not with them, I just thought it would be fun so I followed you, he lied through his teeth, there''s no way he would admit he did it because he thought she would be in danger. You thought it would be fun? She asked, baffled, of course it did not show in her almost always stoic face.


    You look pretty, he said. What? Asked Priya.


    He turned around without answering her question, this is a drag, he thought. He walked away without saying another word.


    This guy is weird, thought Priya, why do I attract the weirdos, why can''t a normal handsome prince come to me instead of them? She wondered,not aware it was her cold look that terrifies guys away from her.


    She turned around and left. Police and firefighters had flooded the place of the explosion, the previous owner of the motel had been called for question and they did not remember the face or gender of the person who bought it.


    Eventually the top brass decided this was the awakeners association problem. Unbeknownst to others, two people where standing amongst the watching crowd wearing long coat with hoods.


    We might have underestimated her, said one of them. Indeed, but she probably thinks we all dead, it better this way, next time we''ll catch her off guard, let go before the association arrives, falling into their hands would not be good, replied the other.


    Unbeknownst to them, a tiny drone was hidden in the sky, watching everything happening below. Priya was in her room in a bathrobe watching everything on a tablet. She chuckled a little. It seems two of them are still alive,they probably believe I don''t know they still alive, we better keep it that way, she said sipping a glass of red wine.

 Genesis Compendium

    At school, Liam saw Priya which surprised him, he expected her to go into hiding after that night. He approached her with a drowsy face, what are you doing here?, he asked in a very slow voice. I go to school here. Mh he answered.


    What you saw the other night, don''t tell anyone about it, she said in a threatening voice. Mh he said as he turned around and went to his desk. Priya looked at him and frowned, she sighed and went to her desk as well.


    While this was happening, Noel and Charlize were talking to each other in the back. I think I''m close now, said Charlize with with excitement. Close to what? he asked. Breaking through of course, I feel like in a few weeks to a month I will become an awakened, you might not have noticed but I have already formed my core, only my spirituality is lacking, she said with a smug look.


    Ever since the night we fought that awakened, my spirituality has been increasing really fast, she said. Good for you, he answered with a smile, I also feel like I''m not far from achieving my break through, I will probably be slower than you though.


    My absorption rate has been increasing a lot in the past few days, it as if there''s more essence in the atmosphere, he said with a contemplating look. Ohhh yeah there is, she said casually. Yes you probably right I''m overthi....wait WHAT!!.


    Why didn''t you tell me earlier? He asked, I thought you knew, everybody with a core can easily sense it. You know I don''t have a core right? Ohhh I know but I thought miss Anele would''ve told,besides there''s nothing you or I could do about it. Like hell she would, that women wouldn''t tell me if an asteroid was going to hit earth.


    He looked at her with a serious face, you do know what this means right? Yeah mom filled me in but like I said there''s nothing either of us can do about it. Being weak sucks, they both sighed.


    I think I''m going to drops out of school, he said. Yeah me too, with what coming, whatever we learn here will be useless. Well not necessarily but I do wonder how others are going to deal with it.


    During break they went to the cafeteria, bought their food and went to an empty table. As they sat down two people sat opposite them. It was Liam and Priya. Priya was the first to break the silence.


    She looked at Liam, so why''d you call me here, she asked with her usual cold face. Liam just yawned, have you heard? He asked looking at Noel and Charlize. Heard what? Asked Charlize.


    The changes in the atmosphere, Priya turned to look at him with with a confused face, what happening?, she asked. The primus essence is increasing. Isn''t that good thing though.


    No it is not, answered Noel. If the the essence in the atmosphere increases beyond a certain threshold, it will cause a global event called Genesis,mutations will occur in animals as well plants. Humans will also benefit yes but our growth rate would be slower than the other species during Genesis.


    Although we might catch up later on the casualties would be too great by then. While Noel was explaining, something was happening in Priya heard. Host has discovered knowledge beyond her authority, knowledge unlocked, Compendium of Genesis.


    All the knowledge partaining Genesis was written on her glasses, although the others cannot see it. Ohhhh so that how it is, indeed it is quit bad but it not like the situation is hopeless. The others looked at her, what do you mean?


    Although their growth during Genesis is rapid, it not like they''ll become invulnerable immediately, as long as the military prepares we can reduce the casualties to a minimum. I have heard of the Awakened association, I''m sure they have enough power for that.


    Yes but it will be expensive and with how selfish awakened are, I doubt they would move an inch to save a dormant human, said Charlize. You right, which is why we talk to the dormant human organisations, the governments.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    There are awakening organisation who depend of the dormants. If you talking about the religious groups then don''t bother, it already assured that they will take action, although they might not be genuine it will still help.


    Why do you think that? Although they want worshippers it not like they need them right?. Not for personal cultivation no, atleast not for those of lower positions but the leaders can use the faith accumulated from worship to empower their attacks.


    Infact there spells which are completely dependent on how much faith there is, I don''t know how that even works but it true. What exactly is faith?asked Noel. I don''t know, that knowledge is beyond people at our level. You seem to know a lot though, said Charlize with scrutiny.


    I''m a descendant of scholars, my family collected a lot information throughout the history of mankind, < that not exactly a lie, I''m not a bad friend, are we even friends, I wish we are, this is so exciting, I should invite them to my house after school> though Priya.


    If we are done here I''ll be taking my leave, she said as she stood up,< what are you doing Priya you idiot, idiot, now they will think you don''t want to be friends with them> wait shouted Charlize, we should gather at your house, you live alone right?


    If we work together we might find a way to help some people atleast, by mothers estimate we might have a year and a half before genesis, we should already be awakened by then. < Yes yes yes, say yes Priya say yes> suite yourselves said Priya as she walked away< what was that?what the hell was that? Are you stupid Priya, why would you say that?>


    <What a pain> thought Liam as he stood up and left. Those two are pretty weird, said Charlize. Naa I just think they don''t like us. WHAT!!! That impossible, everybody likes me. You are one narcissistic girl aren''t you? I''m going to make them like me you''ll see. Sighing softly, leg go back to class, he said as he stood up.


    Three days later Noel and Charlize dropped out of school, and within a week Priya and Liam followed suit which surprised a lot of their professors as well as classmates as they were the top four students, everybody had already forgotten about that boy who joined their class and disappeared immediately after.


    For three weeks Noel locked himself at home, training his spear art and dabbling in other weapons, he was though forced by Anele to seriously train his hand to hand combat. On the last day of the third week Charlize told him she was about to break through.


    He went to see her do it, infact they even called Priya and Liam, they did not expect them to show up but surprisingly Priya did but as expected, Liam did not even respond to their text. Charlize was wearing a long red dress that looks like it made of silk.


    She was sitting cross legged in a red carpet with drawings of a majestic Phoenix, she started her breathing technique, the air started simmering around her, it became hazy like a road on a desert. An hour later flickers of flames started appearing around her.


    They would keep appearing and disappearing but everytime they appear they would be brighter and stronger than before, this kept happening for a while until two hours later when they stopped disappearing. Light yellow orange flames were now covering her skin yet her dress did not look like it was burning.


    The flames kept increasing for the next three hours. Her parents and Anele looked like they''ve seen a ghost, this child really is a monster said Anele. Even your mother took twelve hours to breakthrough but it appears my little girl with take less than ten said Charlize mother with a big smile on her face as she looked at Noel.


    Charlize father was laughing out loud, I though I was a genius but this brat is something else. Well you should''ve know she was abnormal when she formed her core before her spirituality was dense enough, only ferocious beast can do that.


    Are you calling my daughter a beast you shadow spawn? Well she is the daughter of a flame gorilla. Did you call me hot? That awfully kind of you. Talking to you is really tiring. Hahaha thanks for the compliment.


    It wasn''t a compliment. Eight hours after she started her breakthrough, her hair started turning crimson, from the tip it kept turning crimson and when the ninth hour since she started hit, her hair was completely crimson.


    The flames around her suddenly surged into the sky, a seven metres tall Pilla of flames from to the sky, it burnt a hole through the roof of the training room, fortunately there were array formation to protect the training so the demand was contained.


    The temperature in the room rose, although Noel and Priya were standing over thirty metres away from her, they felt their skins and mouths dry up, Priyas hair started to curl due to the heat, she felt her body going limp and she couldn''t even cry since even her tears have dried up.


    Just as she was about to faint, cool energy suddenly surged into her body, she stood up straight, looked at Anele, thank you,she said in a soft but cold tone. Anele just nodded a little.


    Charlize flames had burnt everything in a radius of ten metres around her, as they were still talking, she slowly opened her eyes which had turned crimson, Noel and Priya were the first to feel the tremendous pressure from her, then it came.

 Vulcan the priest

    Charlize opened her eyes, they were deep crimson, as soon her eyes fell upon them, they felt their blood flow slow down as if they are being watched by a being much superior to them. In their minds her image overlapped with that of a giant Phoenix burning the entire universe into ashes.


    This only lasted for a second before everything went back to normal. This is not good, said Charlie before he arrived behind Charlize in an instant, Noel and Priya did not even see him move. He started doing hand signs while chanting an incomprehensible chant.


    Unbeknownst to everybody including the person in question, Priya started following and mimicking those hand movements, but she was still dormant human after all, no matter how close she was to breaking through she could not keep up with a second rank awakened movements, especially one who was close to breaking through to the high stage.


    He pressed his hands on her back and the surrounding temperature started dropping, do you think it felt it? asked Dalena. I don''t know, I placed a lot of formations around to prepare for this but it was much more powerful than I ever could''ve expected, I''m not certain they will be enough.


    Should we leave, she asked, we will go somewhere else to hide, the only reason it hadn''t come after us is because it feared Naledi, without her it will surely...you don''t have to worry about that, said Anele.


    Big sis aura still exist, it can act as deterrent, besides this is the associations territory, even big sis didn''t want to mess with that old man, he''s a very troublesome person to deal with, that thing won''t act wantonly here.


    You wrong, if it can provide benefits to them then it won''t matter, they will allow it to do whatever it want as long it doesn''t commit genocide said Charlie dejectedly. If I may intenject, they heard a soft but cold voice, I don''t know what happening here but if you running from a powerful enemy then you don''t need to worry, the association will act.


    Why do you say that?asked Dalena, nobody can turn down massive benefits for us, not even the association. If they have a brain they will, she answered. Normally that would be true but an organisation like the awakened association is different, it dependent on trust of others, especially the weak.


    It promised to protect awakeners from outside threat, that why people trust it, if it were to abonden one of their own, what do you think would happen? But we not members of the association, you are registered are you not? Yes we are but we have not joined the association no do we plan to, we not going to shackle ourselves.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    You don''t have to, there is a way for you to join with actually shackling yourself, join as a temporary outer member. That an option? Yes but it was designed for descendant on powerful organisation or people who don''t want to shackle themselves.


    People with your level of power, then why didn''t we know about this? Can I borrow your laptop? She asked. Charlize went into her house and brought back a laptop. Priya started typing. You names, they told her and she typed them down.


    No wonder you don''t know, according to your registration you are only rank one middle stage and under no powerful organisation, of course they wouldn''t bother informing you. You just need to re-register yourself and you''ll be allowed to do it.


    You have a familiar face, what your name girl? Asked Anele, the others raised their heads in curiosity. Priya.. Priya Gupta. No wonder you look so familiar, you probably that womans child, I heard she go married, pity what happened to her, it must''ve been hard on you child.


    It okay, I''ve never met her anyways, Mmm I see, but do remember not to reveal your last name to strangers. thank you for your reminder big sister. Big sister? Yes yes that right,Ahahaha, laughed Anele. See you stupid brat, that how you address a woman. Yes grandma big sis.


    You really need a spanking, I''ve once has a sparring match with your mother, one of the most frustrating fight I''ve ever had, it like she knew all my moves before I even thought of them, although she wasn''t strong enough to beat me, there was nothing I could do to beat her either.


    When you are about to breakthrough, you should come to me first, I might even be able to teach you how to fight like that woman. Thank you big sister, I will do as you say. Goodbye, she said as she went to her car and drove away. This brat might even be more intelligent than her mother.


    While Charlize was breaking through, somewhere in a volcanic island in Asia, a giant birth with red and orange feathers was sleeping inside the volcano, it suddenly raised it head causing the volcano to erupt and the entire island to shake.


    The primitive tribe living on the island prostrated themselves towards the volcano and started shouting begging for mercy, the lava, flaming rocks and ash that was on the air suddenly flew back as if time was reversed.


    Amongst the tribe was a giant man standing as two and a half metres. Unlike most of the tribes people, he was kneeling but rather bowing slightly. This was the priest of the flame god which is what the tribes people call the giant bird.


    The man suddenly heard a voice in his head, and a two metres long feather flew towards him and he caught it, he bowed even lower before turning around, in a few seconds he has already crossed the 35 kilometres between him the seashore, he climbed on wooden raft crafted from blood red wood that even harder than steel.


    The boat released flames from it rear, propelling itself forward at tremendous speed. You who have angered my lord deserve to suffer a thousand deaths and I loyal priest of the flames God will trample all obstruction to have your head. I swear it on my name VULCAAAAAN

 Encounter

    Four days after her breakthrough, Charlize was in a small cafe with Noel and Priya. So how does it feel, being an awakened that is?Noel asked. Good, very good, it was hard getting used to the increase in strength at first, I kept breaking everything in the house, I even burnt my car down, she said as she laughed out loud.


    My senses have also increased by a lot, I can hear the heartbeat of everyone in the cafe, look across the street, Noel and Priya turned their heads at the same time. Look through the window inside that restaurant, that waitress over there is going to lose her job because she turned down her managers advances.


    Is that even legal?asked Noel. No it not,answered Priya. Don''t interrupt me, as I was saying, that man she''s about to serve, his heart beats faster when he looks at her and he keeps saying this is the day which means he likes her but is too scared to confess to her, she knows and likes him too but waiting for him to make the first move.


    That guy on the corner. Which corner? The only one you can see through the window, she looked at him like he''s an idiot, Ohhh yeah, he replied. He''s about to propose to his girlfriend who''s on the bathroom, she knows and she''s pregnant. How do you know that? He asked. She''s on the phone with her sister as we speak.


    You can hear all that? Yeah and I can see and smell a lot too, although my brain is fast enough to process all that information, I''m still not used to it. I think I''m going to have my breakthrough in a few weeks as well, said Noel, when are you having yours, they both looked at Priya.


    Soon, she answered with a cold voice. Still cold as ever, I thought we friends now, said Lize. < I don''t mean to I swear and she called us friends, okay calm down Priya don''t ruin this, say something nice, don''t act like an iceberg> sorry, she said.


    You don''t need to apologize, I was just kidding, I know that your personality, there''s nothing to apologize for. While they were talking Lize suddenly looked at an empty spot next to Priya.


    Are you going to show yourself or should I make you? Her hands turned red like a burning stove. The temperature in the entire cafe suddenly went up by a few degrees. They heard a sigh on the empty spot.


    A young man with dark messy hair and dark circles under his eyes suddenly appeared there. Liam raised his head and looked at Lize with tired eyes. How did you know I was there?


    My senses are very sharp, she replied. < Senses aren''t enough to discover me> is what he thought but was too lazy to say so he just replied mmh before taking one of Priya fries and started eating.


    It rude to sneak up on people like that, especially when they eating said Noel. Liam did not reply. Have you broken through?asked Priya. Yes I have. When? A few days ago. So that why you didn''t reply to any of our text when we texted you four days ago, you were preparing for your breakthrough. Asked Noel.


    Sure he replied < well he wasn''t going to tell them he did not reply cause he was sleeping the whole day>. Lize phone buzzed, she looked at her screen and the stood up with a smile. Sorry guy I got to go, my awakend licence test is today and I have to fetch the licence myself.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    Can''t they just send it to you?asked Noel. There might risk of it getting lost, making a second is expensive apparently and I have to take a few tests which can''t be done online, okay see you later, she turned around and walked toward the door.


    Wait I''ll accompany you. There''s no need, infact before you awaken you can''t know the location of any of the offices, the only reason we even know the association exist is because of our background.


    They watched as she left, Priya looked at Liam, is yours ready?she asked. No not yet, she nodded and kept quiet. Noel stood and said goodbye to the two of them before he left the cafe.


    Lize went to get her licence, everything went smoothly for her and on the way back she felt a sense of familiarity but did not know where it was coming from and that kept bothering her.


    -----------------------------------------------------------


    Vulcan was confused, how can something so delicious exist, he had eaten all kind of treasures which increased his power but none had tasted so divine.


    He had tasted logs and bark of the divine flame tree and even the coal made from lumber burnt by his masters divine flames, raw flesh of the sea devouring whale and iron teeth shark.


    So how come this thing made from common vegetables and this thing that looks like blood but taste sweet be so delicious. Vulcan had arrived in Cape town city South Africa when his lord had directed him to. He has yet to find his target but he did find many delicious and fascinating things here.


    My lord would surely love this pizza thing, he said out loud which earned him a few odd looks, combined with the clothes he was wearing, he truly looked like a madman.


    After he was done eating five whole pizzas with the money he forced somebody else to pay he stood up to leave. He started searching for his target but every now and then he would find something interesting and get distracted.


    Three days later he was sitting in a shisa nyama eating fried ribs like a savage beast when the feather on his back started heating up. It vibrated and started pointing at a certain direction.


    During this time Lize was undergoing a test and had released her full power. A few seconds later the feather stopped pointing but he already had a sense of direction. As he passed by a building he felt a few powerful auras.


    Although only one was enough to threaten him a little the rest were also stronger than normal humans which mean they are one of the blessed like he is just weaker because they are not favoured by the lord, he thought happily.


    As he entered the building he saw a girl exiting a very tiny room. The girl had red hair as if they on flames which made him happy, atleast one these barbarians knows the beauty of flames.


    -----------------------------------------------------------As Lize exited the elevator and was about to leave she felt a sense of familiarity so strong it made her uncomfortable. She pulled out a chocolate bar and bit into it to calm her nerves, as she was savouring the taste a giant man with bulging muscles approached her.


    What are you eating girl? She looked up at him, she could sense this towering man''s aura as he was not hiding it, he was powerful, more so than even her parents. Chocolate she said, give it to me he said.


    She slowly extended her hand to him, she was nervous, she saw the feather at the mans back and knew what is was and had an inkling of who he might be. She had afterall heard her parents talk.


    The man threw the entire chocolate bar into his mouth with the rest of it cover and started chewing, it was really inelegant, he was like a beast. NECTAR NECTA OF GODS, THIS LOWLY ONE HAS TASTED THE NECTAR OF GODS he shouted with tears in his eyes.


    Everybody looked at them, some were covering their ears as his voice was really loud. A security guard came to ask him to quiet down. LEAVE ME BE, YOU KNOW NOT OF THIS GREAT ONES JOY, little girl this Great one will forever be grateful to you, tell me your name.


    Samantha, answered Lize, she did not dare tell this madman her real name. Samantha, what a glorious name, truly worthy of one who could easily give away such a precious thing.


    Yeah sure, said Lize, goodbye, she rushed outside, just as she was about to release a sigh of relief the temperature rose, she turned around and saw the feather vibrating. Fuck  she thought.

 Gap

    Lize calmed herself down, a rune on her back lit up, the feather stopped vibrating. The man turned his head and looked at her. Is something the matter? He asked. No no no everything is fine, she turned around and basically ran to her car.


    She rushed home in panic. Her parents were sitting in the living room stuffing themselves with with what seems like wings from a giant bird. Mom, dad, I think whoever you were running away from found us.


    WHAT? why what happened? Asked Dalena. I bumped into a man today, he looked Asian, had a very muscular build and was carrying a giant Phoenix feather. Was he loud and sounded like an idiot? Asked Charlie.


    Yes, how did you know? That Vulcan, he answered. He is a bit dull but he''s very strong and very loyal to that beast. Don''t worry he has not figured out who you are. Why do you say that. Because if he did you would be dead as we speak.


    So what are we going to do? Just wait for him to find us? I will talk to Anele, Vulcan is very very strong, your mother and I might not be able to beat him by ourselves but if Anele joins us, it is possible.


    Is he that strong? Yes he is. Later that night the Snyman family went to have dinner at Noels house. Before they arrived, Noel was helping Anele with the cooking. Aren''t you going to invite your old man?


    No. That very cold of you, he must be lonely by himself down there. It''s his duty, besides, nobody can know about my family. Why is that? We spies and assassins kid, being unknown is best for us. As far as everybody knows I am an orphan who was found by your family at a very young age, we best keep it that way.


    Not even the Snymans know? No. Why not? They are family friends I think it should be fine to tell them right?. Don''t. Bring me the mayonnaise and stop asking stupid questions. They will be here soon so please don''t mention my father.


    Okay I got it. Five minutes later, the Snymans arrived. They sat down and had their dinner while having small talk and talking about the silly things the two kids did when they were young and about the things they did when they were young.


    After dinner, Lize and Noel went to the underground training area while the adults were left alone to talk. Vulcan is here, said Charlie. Mhh that is not good. We should just go there and beats him up, said Dalena with excitement while flexible her muscles.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Do you ever think before you talk or did you exchange your brain for those balloons? Are you jealous you table board? Jealous, why would I be jealous of that, they would probably be in my way during battle and don''t call me that, they are the perfect size for my body, you the abnormal one, said Anele while clicking her tongue.


    She might be right on this one, said Charlie with a contemplating look. What? You also think they would stand in the way? What? No that not what I''m talking about,definitely not, they perfect just as they are, he said while avoiding eye contact with his wife. On a serious note though, you are right when you say we should attack him first, we might be able to catch him off guard.


    Have the two of you burnt your brains, doing so would give that ancient monster a reason to attack, even the association might not be able to anything if his reasons are justified. So what do you suggest we do? You can start by not jiggling those things, it disgusting.


    I think we should wait, from what I''ve heard, Vulcan is a bit of an airhead, he''s unlikely to find you soon, this will give us enough time to grow stronger. At most this will give us a few weeks or months, it might be possible for the kids to grow stronger in that time span but how much can we? You know how hard it is to grow stronger at our realms.


    Don''t worry, I''m going to have my breakthrough in a few weeks to a month at most. Really, you that close? Yeah, I found a black clover in a minor realm, it has both shadow and darkness attributes, it perfect for me, she said with a smile.


    Congratulations, said Charlie. Thank you, but even if I do breakthrough I don''t think I''ll be strong enough to defeat him by myself, after all he''s been at that realm way longer than I will be. That okay, after all you won''t be alone, said Dalena with a grin.


    -----------------------------------------------------------


    Underground


    Noels was benching a 300kg barbell, ever since he started the breathing techniques as well the increase in his spirituality, he has gone stronger, far stronger than before, he is faster and more durable as well but even he was surprised when he saw what Lize was using.


    She was lifting a 500kg dumbbell on each hand, although the dumbbells look like normal dumbbells they had array inscriptions, he had learnt about them in the family library, apparently although they work almost the same as rune inscriptions they are also different with less restrictions.


    He assumed these ones increase the weight of objects. He also realised the difference between himself and an awakend, although he did fight one before, according to Anele that guy was of the weakest group of awakened and not just because of his realm.


    He was the untalented and lazy type with no future, he even used the battle technique wrongly otherwise the two of them might have died just from the pressure he released and now that he thinks about it they did almost die from pressure when Lize broke through which means she was already stronger than that guy.


    Although he was not at the peak of a pre awakened dormant human, he was not too far off but he bet at most he would be able to lift around 800kg yet she looked like she wasn''t even sweating while lifting those dumbbells, as he thought, she dropped them with a bang.


    Frowning slightly, they too light, she said as she looked around, she saw dumbbells that weigh a ton places at the conor. She lifted them up, although her muscles flexed, it did not seem like this was her limit.


    They kept training for two hours straight, sometimes they would do squats and sit up while carrying those heavy weight, by the end Noel was sweating but Lize looked fine, not tired in the least.


    Essence keeps nourishing my body cancelling any effect this kind of training has on me, she said with a frown. I better find a better way to train or I would just be wasting my time she said.


    Noel just sighed, you''ve really gotten too strong. You should try to breakthrough too, maybe you will be as half as strong as I am, she said with a grin. Ohh somebody is getting cocky, I will be stronger than you the instant I break through you''ll see. They both laughed.


    Lize left with parents. As Noel was going upstairs to her room he heard Anele, tomorrow, bring that Gupta girl, we start training.

 Sparring

    The next day Noel called Priya and told her what Anele said, she said she will come over later. Later that day Priya showed up with a large bag that looks like It weighed atleast 100 kilograms.


    Anele took both her and Noel underground, Priya was surprised by the amount of weapons in this room, some which had array inscriptions, her eyes lit up when she saw those inscriptions, without saying a word to Anele or Noel she rushed to study them.


    She looked at the inscriptions like a kid who just found a new toy, nodding her head every now and then saying I see, I see so that how it is. Noel and Anele looked at her weirdly.


    Coughing a little, Anele brought her back to reality. You can study the Inscriptions later but right now I''m here to teach you how to protect yourself. Your family is blessed with high spirituality which means your computational ability is insanely high.


    She picked up a spear with a very long spearhead and threw it at Noel. Standing 10 metres apart. I want you to watch us fight, and figure out what you would do in his situation. Pulling out a dagger, she disappeared from her position only to appear behind Noel Instantly but Noel had also became far stronger than before.


    He swiped his spear backwards, she jumped back to dodge but he had already turned around and was stabbing at her, the wind from his attack caused her clothes to flutter. As his spear was about to stab her, she merely touched it spearhead with her dagger causing it to miss. The collision caused a deafening ding sound of two metals colliding.  Noel lost his footing but by the time he came to be a dagger was on his throat.


    Priya watched all this and figured if she were to fight any one them, she would lose, she calculated her chances of victory at around 10 percent. Round two, said Noel. This time he took the initiative and rushed at her with incredible speed.


    Due to her high spirituality, Priya could easily follow their movement but she knew her body cannot keep up, even if she could see them, she cannot keep up at most she could block. The sparring match went on for a while but something she did not expect happened.


    As Anele was about to place her dagger at his throat and win the match like last time his spear shortened and turned to look like a weird sword or saber barely longer than a metre. He blocked her attack but just as he was about to celebrate, she pulled another dagger and place it right where his heart is.


    I lost again. You let your guard down, you should always be vigilant in battle even when you think you''ve defeated your enemy. Did you see? Yes I did. So how do you think you would fare Against me? I wouldn''t last nearly as long as he did.Why is that? My body is not as fast as his and I''m not as flexible or battle oriented.


    Choose your weapon. What? Choose your weapon we going to spar. I just said I''m not going to be able to. If you don''t choose your weapon now I''m going to attack you. Aren''t you going to train me first. Anele disappeared from her position as Priya was still talking, her foot connected with Priya stomach sending her flying in the air, she bounced on the floor a few times before colliding with the wall.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    She was groaning in pain. Are you still not going to choose your weapon. She looked up at Noel, is she always this crazy, she asked with a hoarse voice. You''ll get used to it. She tried to get up while clutching her stomach.


    Okay fine I''m going to pick my weapon. She went to her bag, opened it and took out two black 9mm looking guns. Guns? Asked Anele. What you can''t handle guns? No it fine. She took off her glasses and placed them in her bag.


    They stood twenty metres apart. Priya moved first but instead of approaching, she jumped eight metres backwards, point her guns at Anele. She shot twice but Anele had already moved, within a second she was already infront of her. During that second Priya had shot three times and missed three times. Her bullets were round and were made of rubber.


    Anele kicked her on the guts sending her flying, she rolled on the ground and stood up immediately, her left hand clutching her stomach while the right was pointing her gun but her target was nolonger infront of her.


    Before she could react she felt a punch on her left side, she flew through the air but landed on her feets, she released two shot one after another but missed, she was now terrified, her ice cold look broke, fear and helplessness could be seen on her face.


    STOP! she shouted, stop please, tears streaming down her face, she could barely stand, just a few hit from Anele had rendered her helpless. Anele sighed, you worse than what this kid was like at 14, atleast he could stand for atleast 10 minutes, you barely lasted 6 seconds.


    Priya was surprised, six seconds? She looked at her watch and indeed only six seconds have passed. She felt even more depressed, then she looked at Noel like he was a monster, <how the hell did he last 10 minutes against this ruthless brute>


    Are you going to quit? She did not reply. Are you going to quit. If you are then you best do it now so I won''t waste my time teaching you. Priya remembered that little prick that tried to come after her, she remembered he was still alive.


    Gritting her teeth, I will stay. I didn''t hear that. I said I will stay, I will not quit. Good, take a break and we''ll go for round two in five minutes. Priya sighed. She went towards Noel. How long has she been training you? As long as I can remember. The sparring matches started when I was 13 though, for an entire year I was getting beaten up every single day.


    It was not as intense of course, she would adjust it to my level like she did with you. That was my level? Yep, she wouldn''t have fought you if she did not think you could handle it. She is very rough and barbaric but overall she is good teacher. You know I can hear you, you brats.


    They laughed. After five minutes Priya stood up and reloaded her guns. She faced Anele and the beating started again. It lasted for 7 minutes and during this entire time she had wasted all her bullets on one gun and only two were left on the other.


    Anele released a bit of killing intent as Priya was taking the beating,her eyes suddenly glowed gold, numbers floated infront of her, she could see Aneles punch approaching her, she could see the time it would take to reach, how much force is behind it, the angle it going to land at and even the angle and speed she would need to dodge. She shot one bullet but missed.


    She shifted her body 9cm in a 33.342¡ã angle backwards and twisted her waist. Unfortunately she did not have enough speed, the punch still landed but over 60 percent of it force was diverted, she flew backwards for 5 metres before crashing on the ground.


    Her consciousness was slipping, she could tell she was about to faint but the numbers were still in her head, she pointed her gun with her shaky hand and shot, she heard a sound as if metal colliding, she smiled a little and then fainted.

 Spartan

    Noel watched as Anele picked up the fainted Priya and take her upstairs. He continued his weapons training for a few more hours,mostly focusing on the spear. Priya slept for an entire day, he would go up every now and then to check up on her.


    The next morning he went to check her and found her sitting up straight on the bed. Good morning.


    Good morning, how long have I been asleep? An entire day. That long huh.


    When you ready, come down and have breakfast. Can I the take a shower first? Yeah sure of course, bathroom is right down the hall, it easy to spot. Thank you. You welcome.


    Noel went back downstairs and started preparing breakfast. Thirty minutes later Priya came down wearing new clothes that fit her perfectly. Anele bought those for you. Where is she? I want to thank her.


    You don''t have to worry about it, here is your breakfast. Thank you. So what do you think about her training method? Rough but effective, I''m not really sure what happened yesterday, my memory is a bit foggy but I''m sure my spirituality has increased by quite a large margin.


    Aunty would be better at explaining it to you, when you done eating meet us in the training room. Noel went to the underground training room where Anele had been the entire night. New training material were there.


    There were a multitude of different guns and an entire crate of bullets. There were also target dummies, a lot of them. It was obvious all of these were prepared for Priya. A few minutes later Priya showed up.


    She saw all these and was surprised by the amount of effort Anele put into training her, this really touched her, she vowed not to disappoint miss Anele. You woke up, good. Now we can start training.


    Choose your weapon. This sentence made Priya flinch. Yesterdays beating traumatized her. She slowly went forward, picked up a gun and loaded it. Thirty metres infront of her was a target dummy with a red circle 4cm in diameter in the centre.


    You will keep shooting the target until you can hit the centre 50 times in a row. 50? Isn''t that bit too much? Tell me when you done. She turned around and looked at Noel. Noel picked his weapon and went to have a sparring match with her.


    Priyas task was not especially hard but it was not easy either, especially for her. Afterall, although she had a few target practice before,she was not an expert marksman, she just learnt enough to defend herself.


    While she was practicing her marksmanship, Noel was getting beaten up by Anele over and over again but his spearmanship was improving at rapid speed and along with it,his spirituality.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    Anele would at times give him pointers on his stance and grip, although she was not a spear user she was very knowledgeable of any and all known weapons, under her guidance, Noel was becoming better and better at using spears.


    After around 10hours of this,they heard Priya tired voice. I have done it. They turned around to look, her arms were shaking, she did afterall have to withstand the recoil for over 10hours.


    They went towards her and saw the target dummy littered with bullets holes and there was a larger hole at it centre. Do it again. What? Do it again I want to watch. Can''t I take a rest first? My arms are killing me.


    No, do it now. How am I supposed to shoot with shaky arms? Exactly, if you can''t shoot with shaky or broken arms then you not even close to having done it, now pick up your gun. Priya looked depressed, Noel just showed an understanding smile.


    He too had to go through the same thing when he was much younger and weaker than Priya currently is. Even when his arms were shaking and hands were bleeding he still had to pick up his spear and fight.


    Priya went back to her training and Noel went back to his,however this time there was no sparring. Your grip is too soft, your legs lack balance and your arm strength is too weak. That is on me though, I should''ve started this training much earlier.


    What training? Priya turned around to look at him with pity. Anele picked up two dumbbells with array inscriptions. She made him wear a vest that weighs 100kg, ankles that weigh 20kg each and bracelet that weigh 10kg each.


    She made him do an air chair position with his arms standing straight horizontal to the floor. Gave him the dumbbells and his arms fell down immediately, each of the dumbbells weighed 300kg.


    I can''t do this. You will, stay in the position I told you to. I can''t, I can''t even lift these dumbbells. A whip made of pure darkness suddenly hit him on the back. Stop talking back and do what I say.


    Begrudgingly Noel tried to lift the dumbbells but was only able to lift them a few centimetres off the ground, his muscles were tense and he felt like his arms were being pulled off.


    This is the best I can do, he said with gritted teeth. Okay then stay in that position. For how long? Until I tell you otherwise. He gritted his teeth and did as she said. Priya on the other hand was even more miserable.


    People may think her situation was not as bad but that would be a lie. She had to shoot at the same position for hours straight without rest, her finger was now bleeding and her arm was shaking so much it basically vibrating.


    She had to shoot multiple bullets every second or a whip would be on her back, although it was hard,with her computational ability she was able to see the improvement, which served as motivation. Although she was still missing almost all of her shot, it was because her arms were shaking like crazy but she feel her accuracy increasing.


    She felt like her arm could withstand the recoil better now, her shooting rate per second increased and most importantly her computational ability improved which also meant her spirituality was increasing gradually.


    Five hours later, the elevator of the training room opened, out came a beautiful girl with red hair like they were on flames, beautiful crimson eyes and natural dark red lips. Noel, are you here? Let go out and have some fun, I''m bored.


    All three turned to look at her,Priya and Noel had pity in their eyes. Anele smile a little, bored? Well that good then, I have just the right thing to cure that, she said a little evil grin.


    Shit, thought Lize.

 Spartan 2

    Lize was forced to join them. Anele called her parents and told them she wasn''t coming home that night. She trained them for the entire night without rest. By morning tomorrow Noel and Priyas bodies were shaking none stop and they had bags under their eyes.


    This is hell, said Priya. I''m sure the devil is not this ruthless, replied Lize. We should call Liam, said Noel. Why? Asked Lize. Ohh I see where he''s going with this and I agree we should.


    I mean why should we be the only ones to benefit from this amazing training, it would truly be selfish of us, said Priya with an evil grin which surprised Noel and Lize as this was not like her cold and detached self they used to.


    True true, I see now, yes you are right, we would be terrible friends if we left him out. Haha hahaha ahahahaha, all three made an evil laugh. Anele happened to show up right then.< Have they gone crazy? Was I too harsh on them? No I was not, if that was enough to break them then I might need to train them harder to strengthen their will>


    Unbeknownst to them, their plot to implicate Liam had gotten them in deeper trouble. Aunt, can we call one more friend? I don''t see any problem with it. Okay thanks. Priya took out her phone and called Liam.


    Hey come over, there''s something amazing happening here. What is it? Come over and you''ll see, I swear you will love it. No I''m too tired. Ahhhh just come you won''t regret it I promise shouted Lize.


    Okay fine but I won''t stay for long. No problem, no problem at all you can leave when you want to, I will send you the location. Leave when you want to? I would have left yesterday if that was possible, said Lize.


    There was no need to tell him that now was there? No there was none at all, afterall things are much better if you figure them out yourself, he will love the surprise said Lize with a mischievous smile.


    An hour later Priya received a text ( I''m here). Noel went above ground and came back with Liam. Liam saw how bartered all three of them were and the smiles they were giving him were giving him a bad feeling.


    So is this the friend you were talking about? He''s too skinny, his strength and durability are too low, an assassin, I see, no wonder. Whoever trained him was sloppy. Liam could feel tremendous pressure from this lady.


    As an assassin, his instincts were very sharp, he had been trained to hone them since he was young and he could tell this woman was very dangerous, he felt like a viper was on his neck barring it fangs at him.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Get changed. What? Get changed and we will start your training. No I''m fine, I''ll taking my leave now, said Liam with a sleepy voice as he turned around to leave. He did not know when but a rope was suddenly tied around him, dragging him backwards.


    He tried to struggle but to no avail. He could tell the lady was not even using any essence, she was overpowering him with pure brute strength, which meant she''s either at a higher realm or stage than him or has monstrous strength.


    What he did not know was that it was both. Although she was at a higher realm and stage, she had limited both her body strength and essence to what she had when she was at his realm and stage.


    Liam stopped struggling and just relaxed his body and allowed himself to be dragged. What a pain, he turned to look at the others and they were all looking at him with creepy smiles.


    He already figured this is why they called him<shouldn''t have answered> he just sighed. Anele forced him to wear bracelets that completely sealed his essence only leaving the strength of body and spirituality. Lize was wearing the same things.


    For your training you are not allowed to use your spirituality either. As an assassin your senses and instinct must be topnotch to the point they will never fail you. They are, I''ve been honing them since young.


    She covered his eyes with a black cloth, he found this pointless, he was an wakened, he could see without his eyes. With his spiritual sense he was able to see Anele attacking him with a stick.


    He dodged it then bang, he was hit hard in the head. I told you not to rely on your spiritual sense. How did you do that? I clearly saw your attack,Liam asked surprised. Anybody with a stronger spirituality than yours can easily fool your senses. It how illusionist fight.


    Now then do as I say or the beating will be even harder. Can I not train? No, you will train or I will beat the living two hells out of you, choose. Liam sighed, fine, go on then. The training continued. Liam was required to dodge her attacks without relying on any of his five senses or spiritual sense.


    Aneles attacks did not even disturb the wind, they were truly untraceable. Liam was suffering but he was not the only one, the other three only had two hours of rest since yesterday and they had to get back to it.


    Lize training was anything but simple, she had to increase her body temperature to the extreme without using essence or her bloodline ability. She would run around the training room with really heavy weight but it was not enough.


    Sometimes she would rub her hands together to create friction but Anele would just shake her head. Anytime she ask what she should do, she would tell her to figure it out.


    At one point Lizes mother Dalena came over. She would shout out loud to cheer on her daughter. This really embarrassed Lize, sometimes she would even run around with her and cheer her on from behind.


    At some point Lize figure it out, if she want to raise her body temperature she should try speeding up her blood flow but trapping all the heat within her body which will cause her entire body to heat up, as an awakend, the heat produced will be far greater than a normal body temperature.


    This caused Anele to raise her eyebrow and Dalena to have a small smile.


    A week passed.

 Ready

    During the entire week, they would only have a two hour break every single day, during this break they would have to shower, go to the private room and/or eat, sleep for an hour and then get back to it. It was truly hell.


    They each progressed significantly, especially Noel and Priya since they had yet to breakthrough. Dalena would come over everyday to watch and cheer them on.


    During the second day, Liam was able dodge most of her attacks, then she had him wear a very heavy vest that weighs atleast 500kg. He could move just fine In it but it did inhibit his speed by a lot,afterall he never had to train his physical strength before,all of it was a passive results of being an awakened and of the warrior class. A week later he wearing a vest weighing a ton and had to dodge without using essence.


    When it comes to physical strength and speed, Priya was the weakest of them all, as someone who has yet to breakthrough and also chose the magi class, her physical stats were barely above those of an athletic man.


    Her accuracy with her gun on the hand was something else. Everytime she would hit the target 50 times in a row Anele would put the target further, this kept repeating until she reached the end of the training room.


    She would sometimes glance at the array inscriptions on the training material. Anele noticed that everytime she looks like she figured out how an array works, her spirituality would grow tremendously fast and she looked really happy.


    So she brought her a book titled, array for dummies, she would then alternate between learning arrays and learning marksmanship but she seems to like arrays more, unfortunately she can not draw any until she can produce essence.


    Her marksmanship was still progressing pretty fast though,Anele then made the target move and she had to shoot it while it was moving, this took her an entire day to be able to do. It speed was then increased and a new one was added, there were now two targets.


    A week later she had five target moving at blinding speed and she would miss more often than not but one thing of notice was now she can activate her bloodline ability on her own and even without it, her computational ability was insane.


    Lize on the hand was able to heat up her body to point it was steaming but everytime she did that ice cold water was poured into her, Dalena would boo everytime that happened.


    On the fourth day, ice water melted before it could even touch her so it was not poured into her instead she was dipped into a drum filled with water and ice cubes and told to evaporate all of it, it was over 500 litres of water and ice, Lize felt like crying.


    Noel on the other hand, his training was progressing pretty fast, by the third day he could hold the two dumbbells in a horizontal position for over 3 hours and he would have to swing his spear 1000 times in 500 seconds before going back to the same position.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    By the fourth day, the weight of the anklets, bracelets and vest were increased to twice their original weight while the dumbbells now weighed 500kg each, this change was instantaneous and unexpected, the weight just increased while he was in the same position, causing him to fall and almost break his arm and hit his knee with the dumbbell.


    He tried to complain to Anele but she just told him to shove it up or he will get a spanking. Without a choice, he continued trying but could barely lift them up for half a second, he felt like crying.


    On the 6th day since they started training, Priya suddenly said she''s ready. They all turned to look at her. Are you sure? Asked Anele. Yeah I am. Okay, rest for today, you will have your breakthrough tomorrow.


    They then turned to look at Noel. What? He asked. Aren''t you ready yet. Oh I feel like I could breakthrough right now but I also have a feeling I can strengthen my spirituality further.


    Can you show me, try to spread your spiritual aura. Noel did as she asked, the ground where he stood creaked as if it was under tremendous pressure. They were all surprised but none like Dalena and Anele.


    They knew what this meant, his spiritual aura had condensed, this was something one only achieves after their spirituality reaches a certain level, on avarage one would have to be rank one high stage.


    Geniuses on the spiritual path are able to achieve something similar in the middle stage of rank one with very few super geniuses able to do it in the early stages but achieving it as a dormant Pre awakened human was unheard of in all of human history.


    Monster, said Priya, she too knew what this meant as it was written in the family library in her head. She thought she was a genius in the spiritual path, high spirituality was afterall a passive ability of her bloodline but this guy was abnormal.


    Okay enough, Anele just sighed with emotions. You can all rest for the day, they took a sigh of relief, Liam just fell down and slept right there, he did not even take out the 1ton vest he was wearing.


    Lize was told to bring him, she kicked him to wake him up, he flew 10m through the air, this was a testament of her physical strength, she had become far stronger, afterall for the entire week she had been walking around with a vest, bracelets and anklets that weigh over five tons in total.


    This was just her physical strength without any essence boost but the abnormal one was this lazy guy, even after that kick he was still sleeping, she just sighed and dragged him to the elevator by his ankle.


    Morning the next day, Noel woke up with a sore body, checked the time and it was already 10am. He went downstairs and found Anele, Priya and Lize on the kitchen, all three were preparing breakfast or a rather a buffet.


    Good morning, he said. Morning they replied. Have you showered, asked Lize. Ahh yes. Go take a shower Noel or you not having breakfast. Yes ma''am. He went to the bathroom, took a quick shower before coming back refreshed, although his muscles were still sore a little.


    Priya looked fine though and he wondered why that is so he decided to asked her, why do you look so refreshed? Miss Anele gave me a rejuvenation pill. What? Why didn''t I get that? Well she needs to be in perfect shape to breakthrough, what do you need it for?


    Well that not fair. Keep talking and I will make you run around with a truck on your back for the next four months. I believe you, Noel went to the living room to watch TV. Where''s Liam? He shouted. Still sleeping.


    An hour later, breakfast was ready, they woke Liam up, he took a shower and they ate. After breakfast they went to the underground training room, at the centre was a gold carpet with a single rune in the centre. This carpet has a mind calming effect, it''s very good for a breakthrough.


    Priya sat down cross legged on top of the golden carpet, she was quiet for five minutes,she was adjusting her breathing and then she opened her eyes.


    Ready?


    Ready.

 Waves

    Priyas breakthrough took a bit longer than Lizes. She was gathering essence for the first six to seven hours, which with her high spirituality was not a hard thing to do. It gave her an absurdly high control over essence.


    Condensing her core was not hard for her either. Even before awakening Noel could sense the absurd amount of essence gathering at her forehead.


    Magis are known for high spirituality and higher essence quantity than warriors on avarage. Monsters like Lize have just as much essence as an average magi. It might not sound like much being compared to an avarage magi but for a warrior, it was a lot.


    Priya was no avarage Magi though, even before her core could fully condense everybody could tell her essence will be higher than Lizes by a few times. It took over fourteen hours to fully condense her core.


    This was still very surprising to the Snymans and Anele. Charlie had come to see the breakthrough as well. Like with Lize breakthrough, a phenomenon happened. Unlike with Lizes though their bloods were not effected, instead it were their thoughts.


    Everybody felt their thoughts slow down the inst8 she finished her breakthrough. Her eyes glowed in pure gold, a towering golden aura surged from her body. All them felt like the speed of their thoughts do not align with the bodies making it hard to move.


    They felt as if somebody was scanning them, Priya released her spiritual aura, the ground beneath her was crushed, it was even stronger than Noels and it also appears her spiritual sense was very wide.


    This only lasted for a few seconds before everything went back to normal. Priya was now a rank one early stage awakened magi. To celebrate her awakening, Anele opened a bottle of wine and they had a brai.


    They invited their neighbours but did not explain what they were celebrating. All that was left for Priya was to go register with the association. Early the next morning Priya got ready to leave.


    Goodbye big sister and you Noel, thank you for everything. Why are you talking like this is the last time we seeing each other you brat. Go register and come back here, we not done with your tor... Ahem, training. No no no, I have intruded long enough, I don''t want to bother you.


    Priya said as she ran out. If you don''t come back, I will fetch you myself, I don''t think you want that. Priya just sighed, so there''s no escape huh? Noel was laughing on the side. Priya left, the instant she went out the gate her cold expression returned.


    She went to her house first before going to the association, she had to register online first and then go for the test on the allocated date. So she decided to spend a bit of time on her own house, it beedln a while since she''s been here.


    She noticed a car parked five hundred metres away from her gate, it had dim windows but as an awakened, she could easily see inside. As soon as the two men inside saw her, they made a call to someone.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    She knew exactly who it was<so that idiot hasn''t given up> she pretended not to see them and just went inside her house. Her test was scheduled to be a week later and she chose to spend that time studying arrays.


    -----------------------------------------------------------


    In a certain hotel


    So she is back, good, good, I need to get her back for what she did. How dare she do this to me? How dare she? If I don''t pay her back this debt I wouldn''t be a man, I will make her pay, I will make her pay said a man with a disfigured face in a hysterical voice.


    <Wasn''t your master the one that did that to you though> thought a beautiful woman with a cold look. She did not utter a word to him, she just looked at him like he is an idiot. When I become an awakened killing that bitch will be easy and then master with restore my beauty again, I will have my beautiful face again and wash away that stain of failure.


    <If you kill her, your master will not return your so called beauty, she will kill you instead, she''s not even the one your master want> the lady still kept quiet, she stood there like a robot without any expression.


    Make preparations, In four days I will make my breakthrough, I will awaken and become a higher being then we will move out, I must kill her and retrieve the key as my master had ordered. <She''s not the one with the key though, it that Zulu kid but this is also good though, the more failures you have, the more you will suffer, besides have you even thought that maybe she has also awakened>


    -----------------------------------------------------------


    Back to Noel


    The day Priya left,Liam recieved a call from his father telling him to go back home so he left. Noel and Lize were left alone to be tor... trained by the Dev... Anele. The following day Anele was having a conversation with Lizes parents.


    I think I will have my breakthrough by the end of this week. That great news. Yeah but there''s a problem. There are vultures after my kid, my breakthrough will take atleast a few days.


    You think they will take that chance to come after him? I know they will, the allure of the power promised by the key is too much for any of them to resist. You don''t have to worry, we will protect the kids.


    It won''t be that easy, the instant we take action Vulcan will know, dealing with him without Anele will be impossible, we will be risking ourselves and our daughter. So what? Are you saying we should just let them take Noel.


    No, I don''t think there will be any need for that, isn''t that right? Glad to talk to a smart person, unlike this big boobed airhead. You are jealous that I''m well endowed aren''t you? Mxm,as if.


    So what the plan. Okay I will lay it out for you since your brain is too slow. Do you want to have a go you table board. I don''t mind we can go right now you milk cow. Both Dalena and Anele stood up ready to throw hands.


    Okay ladies this isn''t the time to be playing. Mxm you always so serious but that why I love you, said Dalena with a cute smile. The plan is to draw them out, I will leak the information that I''m breaking through.


    Wouldn''t letting them know be bad? They will know anyway but if we give them the wrong date, we might have an advantage.  It will give us enough time to weed them out.Ohhh I get it now. Good you finally caught up.


    Anele told Noel and Lize they will be having their training on top of the table mountain. The two of them were overjoyed, they have been locked up in this house for more than they prefer, it would be good to take a break even if it not really a break but just more training.


    The following morning Anele left, nobody knows where she went but news spread amongst the awakened, the dark Reaper was going to have a breakthrough into the high stage of rank two, a lot of people were apprehensive about the news.


    The Reaper was fearsome as she is, if she could breakthrough then even peak stage rank two''s would not be safe from her, as an assassin, she doesn''t need to fight you head on which makes her danger level much higher than her actual combat ability.


    A lot more people thought this was a chance to kidnap the kid but a few others had a feeling this was a trap.


    -----------------------------------------------------------

 Waves 2

    Somewhere in a beautiful garden filled with all sort of fruit and vegetables as well as flowers was a young looking woman with flowers on her beautiful silky hair.


    This was the high druid Aoife the forest witch, she was obviously not a witch but that was what people called her. She was an ancient being, one of the very few still living third rank humans on earth.


    Behind her stood a very beautiful woman who appeared to be in her early 20s, she was the second in command of the druids and the daughter of Aoife, Aira the dreadful, she earned this nickname because of her unusual ability for a druid.


    The boy might be In danger mother, what should we do? What do you think we should do Aira? Bring him here, nobody will touch him here. So you suggest we kidnap him?asked Aoife with a small smile.


    No, it for his own good. It still kidnapping, besides,after we bring him here, then what? We protect him. We can''t take on everybody by ourselves Aira. If we take the boy, we would be drawing all the flames to our leaves and we cannot handle that heat.


    Does everybody want to steal that thing? No I''m certain the Buddha and the pope want the same thing as us, to protect him and that sand witch might not even take action. Then.. but if we take the boy, especially by force it would look like we also coveting the key.


    But that would not be true. It does not matter if it true, as long as they believe it or even suspect it, they might even use it as an excuse to steal some of our resources, afterall many covet our gardens.


    Then what should we do? Take leafblower, make sure the boy and his companions are not hurt. Mother wouldn''t it better to send ironroot, he''s more powerful than us. Ironroot has already reached the peak stage, if he joins so will others like him, things will blow out of proportion.


    Do not worry, nobody will send peak stage expect, it agreed upon that sending rank two peak stage is reason enough to start an all our war, unless necessary they would only be used as the last resort. Now go. Yes mother.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    Similar conversation were happening all over the world after the news of Anele going into seclusion. Although these organisations were more powerful than her on her own, they had more knowledge that the rest of the world. They knew the true terror of the dark reaper as well as her family.


    So as long as she does not know who took the boy it would be fine afterall angering an assassin as skilled as the reaper was not a good idea, even though the leaders of these organisations might be safe from her, they could not say the same about their subordinate.


    She by herself could possibly cripple them let alone with her family in tow. So her going into seclusion was the perfect moment to act. But most were still apprehensive and were acting carefully.


    Somewhere in Egypt, deep inside the pyramids in a space unreachable by normal means stood two people facing each other. One was on a throne with their face covered by shadows and a veil like those wore by ancient Egyptian women.


    Opposite them was man who appeared to be in his fifties. Lady Amunet what should we do about this news? The person on the throne was Amunet the sand whisper another of the few third rank beings,Amunet was a seer, the oldest and most feared seer in the world. Legends say in her younger days she was very weak like most seers, had no personal fighting ability.


    That was until she found a wounded scorpion, it was not a ferocious beast, it was normal scorpion through and through. She it healed back to it peak condition then an idea struck her, it took her five years but she created a taming ability.


    Unlike the traditional taming abilities, where beast and master are seperate entities, she branded the scorpion beast into her body as a tattoo, it soul bound to hers. It rank and stage will always be the same as hers and as long as she lives so will it, if you kill it,it will only return to her to heal and with a seers tremendous amount of essence, killing it is a talk order.


    This ancient being turned to look at her subordinate. An enchanting voice one would not expect of a 600 years old person came out of her mouth. Do not interfere. Yes my lady. Any of her subordinate knew of her power so none ever questioned her.


    All over the world powerful people moved out, any one of them enough to match an entire modern army, some went to help while most were there to reap benefit. South Africa Cape town city became the gathering place for these monsters.


    While this was happening,Dalena and Charlie told the kids what going on. That they were going to use Noel as bait to bring out the snakes in the bushes. Lize refused saying they will not put Noel in danger asking why can''t they just hide but Noel agreed immediately.


    He knew Anele would not do this unless necessary so he had no reason to doubt her. They packed their things and openly left for table mountain like they were going on a vacation. They called both Liam and Priya and explained the situation to them.


    Priya agreed to help but Liam said he can''t as he still have a family errand to attend, they both understood and didn''t press him to help them. Coincidentally, the day of the confrontation was the same day Imani chose to attack Priya.


    They spent a night at table mountain and at 11pm Lize stood up stretched her body a little. need help? Asked Priya.


    Naa, you just watch and enjoy the show.

 Lucy

    Lize picked up a guitar bag and opened it, she took out a claymore sword. A sword? Asked Noel. Can you even use swords? Of course I can, I''ve never told you? No, never. Must have slipped my mind.


    She turned around and walked into the darkness of the night. She stopped a kilometre away from the camp site. Table mountain is known to be about 3 kilometres wide but that is far from the truth.


    Infact that is the case for most mountains, a large part of them are covered by illusion and barrier array formations but they are far larger. Noel and the others were on the true peak of table mountain, it was perfectly flat as if cut by a sharp blade.


    A few hundred metres infront of her stood a group of over twelve people, nine men and three women of varying ages with the youngest being a boy who looks no older than eighteen but as an awakend he could be much older.


    Greetings dear guest said Lize with a grin, her claymore firmly resting on her shoulder.


    -----------------------------------------------------------


    Lucy POV


    Hi, my name is Lucy, over thirty years ago I was merely a farm girl from Texas. My parents died when I was in my early 20s, I too had cancer like my pops, I knew I wasn''t long for this world but a miracle happened.


    One day while I was out in the woods I found a strange fruit from the bushes. I did not know what it was nor did I care, I had weeks to live anyway so I ate it, it looked really delicious and i felt a compulsion to eat it so I did. Afterwards my body felt hot like I had a fever.


    Really thought I was dying for a moment there. Rushed home and tucked myself in and waited to meet my parents again. The next morning I woke with a head full of silky long hair.


    I was breaking everything I touched, pretty clumsy of me. I rushed to the hospital. I realised I was more energetic than before. I could run faster, much faster than before, infact I tripped rushing to my car.


    I broke the gear shift and the steering wheel forcing me to take a bus to the hospital. The doctor told me I was fine, infact I was more than fine, I was the healthiest person she had ever seen. Oh and I couldn''t get drunk no more, that was a bummer.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    I had to lock myself up in my farm for months learning how to control my strength. I lived a simple life for 10 years afterwards. Even though I had the strength to topple a car and outrun a horse I never told anyone until that day.


    I was coming back from the market when a car toppled over infront of me, the point is I used my strength to topple it back up and also learnt that day that I have what called an innate gift of healing after bringing those teenagers from the brink of death.


    I got introduced to the association and learnt they were more people like me and I don''t have to fear being dissected by the government, I also learnt I was bulletproof which was a pleasant surprise to me cause I''ve always been afraid of guns, I know, pretty weird for a Texas farm girl.


    A few years later I met a group of people who call themselves the wolf mercenaries, they were called that because their leader could transform into a giant wolf, not like the werewolves but a wolf.


    He was a good fella so I joined, signing a contract I did not understand, turns out his assistant was a cruel and unpleasant bloke, pretty ambitious too, so was the leaders son, that apple flew away from the tree. They were the ones who drafted the contracts and the leader did not know because he trusted them.


    It been seventeen years since then and 8 years ago the leader died on a mission and his son took over. Since then we''ve been accepting missions that leave a really bad taste in my mouth.


    This time it was supposed to be the case, although we hated it, we had no choice. He brought everybody to this mission, except the hundreds of normal soldiers. It was supposed to be a kidnap situation, the target was a young lad, unlucky fella that one.


    Yet infront of us stood a young lass, a young lass with a grin on her face. Crimson hair and red glowing eyes, they look terrifying in the darkness of night. Greetings dear guest, she said as she tapped the giant blade on her shoulder.


    Who are you? asked our stupid leader. It seems more guests are here, the girl did not answer or even look at him, with his pride, how could he take that lying down. How dare you ignore me? He shouted.


    Before he could move the girl raised her hand. Don''t rush, she said. Two other groups arrived after us, all of us were around the same realm with only four people at the middle realm of rank one.


    31 people against one girl, we all thought it funny, we were wrong, we were very wrong. The girl approached and stood a hundred metres away from us. Have you seen this boy? Asked Bulldozer, a giant man standing at over 2,3 metres and the leader of the raging bullz mercenaries.


    Why do you bother talking to her, just kill the bitch and take the boy, they obviously together. Back off Black Wolf, this is our mission. The mission belongs to whoever accomplishes it, only your ability talks here Bulldozer.


    Said a woman, the leader of the Siren mercenaries, the only mercenary group made of women and the only group here with two middle stage expect.


    The one you want is behind me, if you want him, come get him. We don''t want to hurt you little girl so move out of the way, said Bulldozer. Hurt me? You thinking too highly of yourselves.


    Our leader with his short temper moved first, he did not even use his innate gift, he looked down a bit too much on the lass, we all did, thinking his higher stage would be enough to defeat her but he was about to get a wake-up call, so were were.


    He covered the 100 metres distance between us and the girl in a less than a second, we all relaxed thinking the fight was over, after all he was known as one of the strongest mercenaries in the lower rank mercenary circle.


    Although he was not as strong as his father, he still had pretty decent strength among middle stage expects,yet before any of us could react we heard an explosion 300 metres behind us, we turned around and there he was Black Wolf lying in a crater groaning.


    We turned to look at the girl and she showed us a mocking grin, then the nightmare began.

 Intense battle

    Bulldozer and Siren exchanged looks. Apprehension was apparent on their faces. YOU FUCKEN BITCH, everybody heard a voice screaming behind them. You will pay for that.


    Uncle really has a foul mouth, said Lize. Uncle? Uncle? I''m not much older than you, you slut. Geez, you probably old enough to be my grandfather. I''M, SIXTY, ONLY FUCKEN SIXTY.


    Yeah and I''m 18, see old enough to be my grandfather, said Lize with a small laugh. Everybody had a baffled look, how can an 18 year old be this strong? They all refused to believe it.


    So are we doing this or what? Everybody immediately took their weapons out and prepared to fight. Bulldozer reached for his back where a giant hammer whose head was the side of a chair and it handle was 4 metres long rested.


    Siren took out a blue flute from her robe and the other middle stage lady next to her had a long black whip. Lize held her claymore with both hands pointing it in their direction. A wolf howl roared like thunder as Black Wolf used his innate gift.


    He transformed into a 3 metre tall black Wolf. His teeth and claws shining in the darkness, only his green eyes visible to those without enhanced sight. Lize just smiled like a maniac which unnerved her opponents.


    She seemed happy there were more of them. Time seemed to slow down then she moved. In a split second she was already before Bulldozer. He swung his giant hammer at her faster than sound itself.


    The air exploded with sonic booms. Instead of dodging she used her sword to deflect the hammer. It hit the ground, the shockwave pushed everybody around them clearing a 100 metre radius.


    The two of them were standing in a 20metre wide crater. Bulldozer looked stupefied like he cannot believe what just happened. Lize sent a kick towards his chest but before it could connect a sound wave hit her from the side sending her flying a 100 metres away.


    She did a backflip mid air landing on her feet and skidding backwards for a few metres before stopping. She dusted herself as if that attack meant nothing but unbeknownst to them she was grimacing, that soundwave had broken her ribs.


    One by one they rushed towards her as if taking turns fighting her. Swords, spears and a lot of other melee weapons came at her. She brandished her claymore valiantly. Blocking and dodging every attack.


    She ran between them like a shadow, although they were at the same level as her, her speed could match those at the mid level which was very close to the speed of sound. The rest could barely follow her movement.


    Only the four mid stage expect as well as a few others like Lucy could keep up with her movement. Attack her together, shouted Siren. Listening to her, the rest rushed at her at the same time. The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Strong as she was,attacks started landing on her. This continued for a few minutes yet what none had yet to realise was that she had yet to use any technique. So far she had only been fighting using her sword and body.


    Seeing her struggle they got a bit relaxed but Lucy immediately realised the problem. She had not used a single technique. Although they weren''t all going all out, they had atleast exerted some effort but her face didn''t show any sign of struggle.


    A whip hit her on the chest, she flew backwards breaking the sound barrier, blood gushing out of her chest. She rolled down for a while before stopping. Just as everybody was about to move they felt the temperature rise.


    They now noticed the problem as well and stopped except one guy who continued rushing forward. A member of the Bullz, although third rate he was still an awakened, he closed the 100 metre distance in a second.


    He swung his sword at her but before it could land it melted and he too was immediately covered in flames. He was burnt black but everybody could tell he was still alive. She stood up and looked at them.


    There was no anger in her eyes, even with the wound running between her breasts, she looked excited instead. Flames covered her sword and body, the heat cauterizing her wound. She took a step forward and the ground melted leavng a footprint.


    Siren jumped backwards playing her flute furiously, before anybody else could move they heard a boom and a shockwave destroyed the ground behind her. They looked and saw her sword stuck a few centimetres away from a girls chest.


    She had been stopped by a barrier made of soundwaves. Visible sound in the form of a metre large balls came rushing at her. Although these attacks were made of sound they were faster than sound. She dodged them. They collided with the ground sending shockwaves everywhere.


    It did not necessarily mean she was faster than these attacks but she was able to predict their trajectory and dodge them. It was skill known to every awakened with a bit of training.


    Everybody rushed at her, Black Wolf was the first to arrive, he was the fastest and the only one who can breach the sound barrier. He sent a claw at her, his nails glowing like polished iron. She blocked with her sword and a ding sound like metals colliding was heard.


    She was pushed backwards but before she could react a whip was wrapped around her, a soft melody assaulted her mind causing her to be disoriented and see an illusion for a second before a giant hammer crashed into her.


    She was sent flying a few hundred metres in the air before crashing down. She stood up and everybody saw a breastplate made of flames stuck to her chest. She was not wounded in the slightest.


    It had only been a few minutes since battle started, although with the four keeping her in check she had not really hurt anybody except the first guy, she was relatively fine as well which was terrifying consideration she was alone against so many people.


    She''s stronger than we thought, if we don''t take this seriously, we might lose a lot of people, said Bulldozer. You right, replied Black Wolf. The ladies both nodded.


    Everybody it time you give your all, shouted Siren before jumping backwards, she put away her flute and took out a conductors stick. Different ghost like musical instruments appeared before her.


    Innate ability, Ghost orchestra. Bulldozer grew to four metres and his hammer was now 8 metres long with a heard the size of a couch. Red aura was flowing on his skin and hammer, Innate ability Herculean strength.


    The whip lady grew four more arms, each held a whip with thorns, Innate ability, six arms. That a lousy name for an ability said Lize. You know, my fathers ability turned him into an iron wolf, a moving tank.


    His fur was tougher than armour but mine, my ability is different, said Black Wolf as his body turned smaller, from 3 metres he turned into a 1,5 metres tall wolf, mine, it makes me deadlier, then he moved.

 Life Flames

    Before she could react, he was already infront of her, he moved faster than sound but did not even produce any sonic booms. He was firmly beyond the speed of sound. Lize raised her claymore to block.


    She could barely react to his movements. This confused her as she was able to dodge attacks much faster than him before. (What she did not know was that even researchers still did understand why that was case.


    People could react to attacks moving at tremendous speeds but had a harder time reacting to living beings moving slower than those attacks.


    One theory suggest that it because there''s more will and intent in peoples souls than attacks or object without souls, everything is know to posses will but object with essence are said to have more will than others and souls have even more will than that.


    Peoples will and Intent are believed to interfere with perception thus reducing your ability to react to them. The answer is said to lie in souls.


    That is why attack from awakeners are more dangerous than science based weapons even if they are both as destructive, because of will and Inten. It is also believed that is why soul based attacks are much harder to dodge.)


    The collision sent her flying for hundreds of metres. His attack had more momentum than before. Since he turned smaller he bacame denser as well. She could feel her arms shaking from the collision.


    She stopped and he was already there but she did not block this time, she went straight for his neck. He panicked and jumped back to dodge. You crazy, he screamed. She just laughed like a maniac.


    Come, come you maggot this is this ladys first dance, don''t disappoint me. They all rushed towards her while Black circled around her. She ran straight towards them. The first to meet her was the whip lady.


    Her whips became shorter and harder like swords. She swung them towards her and she met them with her sword. The ladys six arms buckled, she was pushed pack by a dozen metres and Bull swung his giant hammer at her.


    She did not dare block the giants attack so she slipped below it, the hammer caused shockwaves which pushed Wolf who was behind her. She ran past Bull when dozens of sound waves came at her from the front.


    Siren was swinging her arm around like a conductor. She dodged and blocked some but most were able to land on her. Her skin bust open sending her blood flying yet she did not stop.


    She rushed into the crowd, they tried to attack her but none of them were close enough to be strong enough to really hurt her. With each swing she drew blood. Blood and limbs were flying in the air.


    They noticed that with each swing, she became more precise, she had more control of her strength, she made less unnecessary movements and the flames around her sword became more condensed.


    The sword was starting to look less like a flaming sword but more like a red saber. She''s using us as practice, said Siren. More and more of their attacks started missing her. This truly infuriated Wolf.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    He howled to the sky and jumped towards her. She deflected his attack while moving backwards. The whip lady swung her arms like a whirlwind, her whips stretched and covered everything within 30 metres of Lize like a net.


    Fortunately for her teammates they had retreated before she could attack. Lize raised her claymore above her head. A 30 metre long blade made of flames appeared above her.


    This was the first time she has used an actual battle technique. She swung down her claymore and then it replica above her followed suit. It broke the whip net and continued towards the lady.


    She opened her mouth and screamed, the sound wave from her scream collided with the flame sword causing an explosion in the air. The shockwave ripped the ground apart. The sword was weakened but it continued towards her.


    Before it could land, a giant hammer collided with it causing an explosion that ripped everything in a 100metre diameter around it. She kept watch on the four of them but suddenly felt danger behind her.


    She turned around and a glowing white fist was coming straight for her face. She blocked with her sword and was sent flying backwards for a few metres. Everybody was quiet.


    The person who had attacked was Lucy. Lucy then jumped backwards and touched a guy with a burning sword wound in his chest. His wound started closing up and two seconds later the guy was fine.


    Lize looked around and noticed that almost everyone she had put down was back up. She turned and looked at Lucy and asked with a smile, who are you? Lucy didn''t answer.


    Lize didn''t mind, afterall they were enemies. You have hidden yourself well Lucy, said Wolf. Lucy just turned and looked at him without saying anything. Her friends looked at her.


    Now there five people who could threaten her yet she still looked excited. Lucy jumped towards her, her body glowing white as if covered by light innate gift SoftLight. She was fast, second only to wolf and in strength she was only below Bull. I see, she''s using her healing abilities to boost her cells, she''s quite daring, I like it.


    However if we talking overall she might even be stronger than them. The thing though is she was still in the early stages like Lize. This got Lize really excited while wolf was eyeing Lucy like he want to eat her.


    Lucy sent a fist towards Lize but she swung her sword at her. Flames were nolonger on her body but her skin had turned red as if she was burning from the inside and infact was, she had sealed those flames inside her.


    This made her stronger and faster but it was really hard to maintain. Fist and sword clashed hundreds of times in a second. At first Lize thought she wasn''t hurting her but soon realised she was but she was healing faster than she can get hurt.


    The constant collision lasted for a few seconds before the others interfered. They have been fighting nonstop for hours. Lize would sometimes wound them, especially Bull who was slower than the others.


    But with his size and thick skin, those wounds did not mean much to him and it did not matter because Lucy would just heal them. It was getting frustrating for her but also exciting, she just kept improving during the fight much to the fear of Siren.


    At around 4am the next day everybody was panting, wounds covered Lize entire body. Even her facial features were hard to make out. The whip lady had gashed her face leaving a terrifying scar.


    She had broken bones all over her body. They were not as wounded as her, mostly because of Lucy but also because fighting the five of them at once was not easy for her. When they saw her condition they released a sigh of relief.


    They were out of essence and could nolonger use their innate gifts, innate gifts afterall use a lot of essence. You guys are strong, if you had proper techniques or she was already mid stage you could''ve won. With her insane essence regeneration and healing ability, I would not have beaten you.


    They looked at her like she was crazy, can''t she see her body, she''s almost dying but Lucys face turned ashen. Green flames covered Lize body. Innate gift Life flames.

 Formations

    Every single wound on her body disappeared like they were never even there. If not for the blood covering her body and the tears on her clothes, nobody could tell she was ever wounded.


    Even her broken bones were fixed. She rolled her shoulder a little. They looked at her in fear. They were spent and could barely move yet here she was looking like she was ready to go for two more rounds.


    She showed them a grin. You lot were really helpful, I feel like I have better control of my strength now. Fear seeped Into their bones, so all this time she was just using them as training dummies.


    Although they already had their suspicion but having them confirmed made them despair. They had given their all against a child and they still lost. This really demoralized them.


    You can take your people and go, or stay and go for another round, she said while stretching her arm. They did not hesitate,they looked around and realised that although most of them were wounded, not a single one of them was dead, this would suggest that she was holding back against all of them and this terrified them even more.


    She is a monster, said one girl with a violin from the Siren group. They picked up their people and left but they did not leave the mountain, they still wanted to see what would happen later.


    Lize returned to camp. She went to her tent and took a bath and changed clothes. Noel and the others were still sitting around a fire roasting what looks like a giant bird larger than an ostrich.


    So how was it? Asked Dalena. They were weaker than I thought, there are two reason they lasted this long , one, I lacked real battle experience and two, it because of one interesting woman.


    Interesting how? She has a light based healing Abilify. Battle technique? No, innate gift. The way she used it though was pretty interesting. I also noticed her essence was too pure for someone using a mortal grade breathing technique.


    It regeneration was also fast, too fast. Even faster than mine. You think that also because of her gift? What other explanation is there? Anyway, how many do you think will show up?


    For now, you don''t have to worry. Only rank ones will show up. People at my level have a lot of time on their hands and they are not easy to bait. I don''t think we can stop everybody mom.


    I know but we don''t have a choise. Where is dad anyways, or aunty Anele. Don''t worry about them, they will show up when it time. Nobody showed up the whole day until later at night.


    If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    It was still a group of rank ones. There were only 13 of them this time but they had 6 mid stage expects. Priya stood up to take care of them. It did not take longer than 30 minutes. The reason for that is, Instead of fighting them Priya just trapped them in a formation.


    Arrays could also be used to draw formations. Formations however need anchors unlike temporal arrays. Priya used her silver bullets as anchors. The strength and material of an anchor matters when drawing a formation.


    Although spirit gold is better for formations, spirit silver also get the job done and her bullets are made of spirit silver. When they showed up she just shots her bullets around them, drawing a pattern.


    They thought she was just a terrible short so they did not even consider her a threat plus there were more of them and some even at a higher stage than her. After shooting over 23 bullets she made a few hand signs.


    They felt essence spike around them, they knew something was wrong but it was too late. Before they could move, a blue square made purely of essence appeared around them and trapped them Inside.


    However because there was no other power source, she had to use her own essence as the power source, fortunately as a magi type awakened, she had a lot of essence but the more they hit the barrier the more of her essence was used.


    Fortunately they had no knowledge about formations because after 30 min of attacking the barrier they just gave up. She promised to open the barrier if all of them signed a soul binding contract.


    They agreed as long as the terms were not unreasonable. She opened a small hole and three 13 papers inside, they were the contracts. The contracts required them to leave table mountain and not return for atleast 10 days.


    They all placed a drop of blood and she released the barrier and without a choice they left. The first group saw all of this and were surprised that there was somebody else as unreasonably strong as that other girl.


    They realised how foolish they were to think they could kidnap that boy and they also knew the team that just left. They all looked at each other and sighed. The assault continued for a few days.


    There was still no rank two expect or even peak rank one. Only one rank one high stage expect showed up. It took both Priya and Lize to drive him off, even then they had to rely on tricks.


    The fight was really intense. Lize could barely withstand any of the guys attacks. With every collision she would be sent flying backwards for hundreds of metres. He could brush off her flames like they nothing.


    He had the iron skin battle technique but unlike John he could use it well. Lize Claymore could only leave white marks on his skin and Priyas bullets could not pierce it. They were really pressed.


    The guy was a brawler, he only used his fist. Lize used her flame sword on him but he caught it with his bare hands and did not even flinch. Dalena almost interfered, if she did not receive a telepathic message from Charlie telling her not to,she would have jumped in.


    Priya shot all kinds of elemental bullets at him but he shrugged them off like they were nothing. The only reason they lasted so long was because if Lize lifeflames and with Priya support although not very effective still helped.


    She was bleeding all over with cracks on her skin. The ground In a kilometre radius around them was littered with craters and burn marks. Priya had to use her formation bullets to place a trapping formation around him but she knew it would not last for long.


    So she made it so he cannot see outside and had Lize play the role of a power source. How long can you last? She asked. 45 minutes max, answered Lize with gritted teeth.


    Okay hold on. Priya ran deeper into the mountain. She ran around bushes picking up leaves and flowers. In just 15 min she came back and started grinding and mixing them. She used a flame array to dry them and the product turned to powder.


    She opened one of her bullets and poured that powder inside. You can open it. Lize pretended to lose control and the barrier weakened, the iron guy broke it with a single fist.


    He grinned at them and they panicked. Priya raised her gun with shaky hands and shot. The bullet bounced off his skin and fell. Both of them had despair in their eyes, seeing this the mans grin grew wider.


    Take another shot, you might be lucky this time, he said. Priya shot another shot. He expected the bullet to bounce off him like before but instead it blew up and powder covered him.


    He was surprised for a second but did not panic. You though that was gonna wor.. before he could finish his sentence he stumbled forward. What did you do to me? He asked now panicking a little.


    The two of them just looked at him like he''s a dead man and grinned.