The Lost Sentinel

20 Taming the power.

 Hanika P.O.V

Rhine picks us up, and I carry Tan onto the ship. I take him all the way to his room. I lay him down on the bed, and leave him to sleep it off. He had let so much power flow through his body, not pacing himself.

Absorbing and using power can take a toll on the body. He’s going to have to learn that if he’s going to fight with the aliens.

The upcoming tournament will test his limits and if he can’t pace himself he will never win. I stare down at him, and feel my heart clench a bit.

I have been so hard on him ever since I met him. And maybe a bit angry at him. I just never thought that Master Gin’s reincarnate would be a thief. He is so far removed from the person Master Gin was. And who the other reincarnates that came after were.

But maybe that is a good thing.

So far he has proven himself to be resourceful, strong and even to an extend brave. And he seems like he might go further than the other reincarnates.

And I am willing to be by his side, and support him so we can win this fight.

I look at him one last time, and then make my way out of the room. I walk back to the control room to find Laz and Rhine hard at work.

“What happening?” I ask as I watch the screen, and it looks like one of Tan’s guys, the one that he hates, has found something and Laz is guiding him towards the artefact.  It was Blake and he sounded like he was enjoying every minute of it.

“Tan’s plan seems to be working,” Rhine comments looking at me over his shoulder. He stares at me for a few minutes before turning back. He knows that I didn’t approve of the plan.

Yeah, it was a good idea, and its cutting the time we would have spent running around the world. This is even safer, because the aliens are not aware of the humans helping us. By the time they are aware hopefully Tan would be strong enough to face their fighters.

“He got there really fast,” I comment about Blake.

“Yeah, Blake is something else. Tan and I could never tell how he managed to get to the jobs we were going to so fast. He has to be some kind of superhuman or something,” Laz says with a shrug. “Now that I think of it, he could be one of you.”

I shake my head.

“Right,” Laz says turning back to the screen.   

Thieves, I shake my head taking a seat in one of the empty chairs and watch the action on the screen.

Blake finds the artefact and Rhine gives him the coordinates of where he’ll pick it up.

“When will you be ready to go search in Egypt?” Rhine asks wheeling to where I am sitting.

“He’s whipped out. He’ll needs more rest. Maybe after a day we can go. He absorbed some very bad energy from that artefact we found. He’s going to need time to work through the power and make it his own. Or else it might take over his body. I need to train with him,” I tell him already getting to my feet. I need to take my time as well. I haven’t had a moment to myself in a while. “Let me know if you need me. I am going to meditate.”

“And sleep too,” Rhine says.

I nod, even though I know I will sleep when I am dead. We need to win this fight first. 

It’s not easy being the remaining sentinel. Rhine and I watched them all die one after the other. This ship was full of life, of families, and just like that the war between us and the aliens just took over our lives and everything else.

They came for earth aggressively – images of blood, gore, fallen bodies and sounds of screaming fill my mind.

It had been brutal and we lost, even Master Gin saw that there will be no one left if nothing was done. And so he came up with the tournament: the second coming – the fight for earth.

I make it into the meditation room, pulling off my shoes as I step onto the padded floor. I unclip my sheath and place it on the mat.

I sit down and close my eyes, clearing my mind of everything. I pick up my sword still in its sheath and place it on my thighs.

My sword has been hungrier than usual. I know its sensing my desperation to win, to want this war to go the way I want. I am fuelling its hunger, and in the process I am hurting myself. I haven’t managed to get stronger, because everything that’s happened – losing the people we love, and being alone in this has taken its toll.

I have no strength left, but I know I have to find some so that Tan can get stronger.

I place my hand on the hilt and connect with my sword. Its red flame burns bright in my mind. I cool it so we can become one.

I’ve let it fester, and fight to win – seek blood far more than the justice it was made to give. It’s no longer doing my will, but controlling itself.

I exert my own will on the sword, but it resists. The hilt burns hotter.

Dammit, I remove my hand as it burns through my skin.

I stare down at it, watching the smoke waft from the sheath. The sheath is not burning though; it is made from a special material that protect it from the sword’s hunger.

Its resisting me…

I drop it onto the floor as I get to my feet.

I am going to have to teach Tan this, but I can’t do that if I can’t control my own bad energy.

I walk the length of the padded floor trying to think of what I can do.

I come to a stop as a memory of me and Master Gin stood in this very room filters in my mind.

“It’s your anger that holds you back. You’re angry Hanika,” he said touching my arm.

 We rarely touched then, because there was no room for love in war. Those you love die in war. And it hurts too much.

“I am tired. I am not angry,” I said because there wasn’t much I could give at that point.

“Then go to sleep. The world seems better after sleep, but remember the mind and the heart work together. What is in the heart feeds the mind. And your power lies here,” he said touching the centre of my heat. And then he turned and walked out of the meditation room. And that was the last time I saw him. And then he was reincarnated the first, and then the second time.

I stare down at my sword.

Was it rejecting me? I ask myself.

I pick it up, and then pull it out of its sheath. It hisses, flaming red. I can feel the heat of it as I bring it next to my face.

I hold it steady in both my hands, and close my eyes. The blade burns brighter that I can see its red flame through my closed eyelids.

It burns into my palms seeking blood. Blood flows down my arms dropping to the floor. But I hold on wanting this.

If I am going to teach Tan, I have to master my own bad energy. I tell myself over and over. My strength drains out of me as my sword consumes my blood. The blade grows redder that the heat starts to burn my face. The hissing gets louder in my ears.

“What are you doing?” Tan asks. He sounds horrified. I ignore him, forcing my will on my sword it hissed one last time, and then there is silence.

My ears ring a bit from the silence, because a few minutes ago the noise my sword made was deafening.

I open my eyes to find it glowing a blue warm colour that looks beautiful. I stare at it feeling its cool warm touch.

All the anger in me, leeches out like a water flowing down a stream.

Huh?

I’ve never managed to reach this level before. Power surges through me as I swing it loosely in my hand. Now, I wonder what it can do.

“Hanika?” I look over at Tan. And I can see the awe and the fear in his eyes.

I sheath my sword, and clip it back onto my shoulder. I wipe my b****y hands on my pants ignoring the pain that radiates from there.

My heart hammers in my chest as I step off the mat.

I didn’t it, I think to myself.

“Let’s go and find something to eat,” I tell him as I walk out of the room. We walk down the hallway, heading to the kitchen. I walk in there, and head for the fridge.

“I am not much of a cook, but I am starving. Anything tastes good when you are hungry,” I say as I open the fridge.

“No it doesn’t,” Tan says coming to stand next to me looking into the fridge.

“Hey,” I say pushing him with my elbow.

“I’ll make a cheese sandwich,” he says reaching into the fridge. I move aside and let him do whatever he wants.

He makes both of us a cheese sandwich and we sit down to eat.

“What was that in there?” he asks staring at me.

“It’s something I needed to learn so I can teach to you,” I say devouring the sandwich…well, he makes a mean sandwich.

“What do you mean?” he asks his eyes going wide.

“This,” I say touching his arm. The lines have thickened showing that the power was taking root inside him. He had to tame it, and bring it over to his will as soon as possible. “The bad energy will rule you if you let it. But you can harness it, and bring it to your will like I did with my sword.”

“Your sword is a bad energy?”

“Yes, it thirsts for blood, and it even draws mine when the fight intensifies, I let it rule me, because it gave me power, but I never got stronger. I remained the same.”

“You sound like you blame yourself for the things that happened,” Tan says far more intelligent than he seems.

“Yeah, maybe I do,” I say with a sigh. “Do you feel better now?”

“A bit,” he says smiling at me.

“Good. We can start as soon as possible,” I say.

“Ahhh, question,” Tan says raising his hand. “What is a magical beast?”

“Magical beast? Why do you ask?”

“My other half has one. He said it won’t leave, says he’s its master,” Tan says with a shrug.

“What?” I ask surprised, because the last two reincarnates never reached that level. But Tan did, a magical beast came to him on his second day on Mount G?

What the hell?