The Lost Sentinel

21 Something inside.

Tan P.O.V

Hanika stares at me as if I said something strange. Are magical beasts something strange?

I’ve never heard of them so…

“Where did he find it?” Hanika asks still looking awestruck.

“He didn’t say. I saw it, it was some kind of lizard with big eyes,” I say describing the creature I saw looking up at me.

“No way,” Hanika says looking excited for the first time since I met her. She jumps to her feet and walks to the door in her excitement, but then she realizes that I haven’t moved. “Come on,” she shouts walking out of the kitchen.

I jump to my feet and follow her out.

We walk down corridors, making our way deeper into the ship. We pass closed doors and ones that are open, and I see playrooms, greenhouses and rooms that have desks in them.

“Was this part of the ship a school or something?” I ask her as we walk deeper.

“Yes. Most of us had to grow up here. And then when new recruits came they were trained in order to harness their power,” she says looking back at the classrooms forlornly. “Now that everyone died…” she trails off.

I look back at the room wondering how they can be filled again.

“You said that there were new recruits. How did you find them? I thought that sentinels were born,” I say confused.

“Yes, the next generation were, but new recruits were mostly gifted humans, but those are rare. There hasn’t been that many even when I was still training,” she says with a shake of her head.

“But it doesn’t mean that they don’t exist,” I say hopeful. Well, there had to be way out of this. I can’t be the only one fighting this war.

“Even if they did. That will take time. And time we don’t have,” Hanika says opening the door, and stepping inside. “You focus on getting strong, and not filling this empty ship with people.”

“How did you know that’s what I am thinking?” I ask her with a laugh.

She stares at me with a lifted brow. “I know you. If you had your way this place will be crawling with thieves and beggars.”

Beggars, I shake my head walking into the room. And I whistle in amazement.

It is a large library. There are books from floor to ceiling, and it smells musty and dusty.

“I guess you don’t use this place, huh?” I ask walking around and touching the spines of books that look very old and delicate.

“No. Everything is electronic now. But I what I want to show is really old,” she says looking for something in the shelves. “Master Gin had the ability to bond with magical beasts. He had one, but he lost him in the last days of the war with the aliens. His beast’s name was Hyphing. He was a Falcon. He fought with him, and they won many battles, until he was defeated. Master Gin was never the same after that. He had him for a long time.”

I stare at Hanika as she finds the book she was looking for. She moves a few things on a large table in the middle of the room. And opens the book. I step forward to see what she wants to show me.

And in the book there is a drawing of the Falcon. He looked magnificent, fierce and powerful.

“The lizard can become like this?” I ask in disbelief, because what I saw was a tiny little thing, with cute scales and yellow hair.

There is no way he can be fierce like this.

“Yes. He has the innate power inside. He can cultivate it, and become strong, and you can harvest its cultivated power as well by consuming its core,” Hanika said paging through the book. “Everything is in here. Study it so that you know what to do.”

I nod taking the book, even though what she just said to me make no sense.

Go with it Tan, I tell myself because I have no other choice but to go with it.

She stares at me.

“What?”

“Everything is happening so fast. I wonder what it means. I must say that I am a little nervous,” she says looking down at her feet.

I touch her shoulder, waiting until she looks at me. “We’re moving at the pace that we should. If anything, I think time is moving too fast for me to learn everything I need to before the tournament. I feel like I am running out of time. But we can only do our best.” I tell her remembering Master Gin’s words.  “Come. My next fight is in less than 48 hours. I need to harness that power so that I can survive on Mount G for another day.”

Hanika nods and we walk back the way we came. I drop off the book in my room. And then change my clothes into the pyjamas since I don’t know what she will have me do in the meditation room. But I am looking forward to it.

I make my way there. And I find Hanika already seated in the middle of the mat, with her eyes closed.

I assume the position even though I know my legs will be cramping soon.

A few minutes tick by with us sitting there, and doing nothing. I take a deep breath and clear my mind. The desire to reach out to my other half fills me, but I push it away. I need to concentrate on what I need to do now.

“Absorbing bad energy is not a bad thing. The bad thing comes when you allow it to impose its will on you, when it controls you.” Hanika says. Her voice is calm and soothing in a way I never heard her speak to me.

“Every energy has a purpose, and it’s going to achieve that purpose if you don’t give it your own. Right now, what we’re going to do is you identifying the will of the energy you absorbed. And once you know we can move on from there.”

I silently wait for her to tell me how to do that. And when she doesn’t I open my eyes to stare at her. Only to find her staring back at me with a huge smile on her face.

“You have to find that out on your own,” she says getting to her feet. She moves to the benches set against the wall, and then sits down. “I’ll be right here if anything happens. Remember just find out its will, and then come out. Okay?” she asks staring at me.

“Okay,” I say. I stare at her for a minute, taking a few calming breaths as my heart starts to slam hard against my chest. I turn around closing my eyes, and clearing my mind.

A few beats go by, and nothing happens. And then I hear it…the manic laugh that sounds too loud in my head.

I stop myself from cringing as a shadowy figure shifts in my mind.

Suddenly the breath leaves my lungs as something slams into me hard.

I blink open my eyes, and all can see is smoke thick and dark.

I can feel it all around me, but it’s not choking me.

What the hell?