Chapter 3

  Donny had just finished sparring with his three closest friends and they were walking through the hall leading out of the bathing chambers. They had been debating whether the orange was named after the color or the color named after the fruit. Donny thought himself smart because he knew on earth that the color was in fact named after the fruit. Apparently on Krieg, it was the opposite! Orange was first named as a color when an artist Named Ph’ryque Canvas found that if he mixed a type of volcanic ash composite found in ore beneath the Isles of Ange with a chemical called Slethorphate, it created a bright hue reminiscent of a tongue of flame, as it was written in the tomes (They’d looked it up in the library). The guy had apparently just combined the word ore with the name Ange and gotten orange.

  Donny found the entire story ridiculous but was none the less down a sweet-cake bun and his favorite slingshot. He had been planning to go double or nothing with “chicken or the egg” debate as soon as he could figure out what the equivalent of a chicken was on Krieg when every had gone dark. It wasn’t the type of dark one expected at night, or when in a room with no light, but more like someone had disconnected his brain from his eyes, disabling his ability to see.

  There was a thud near him, and then the sound of someone tumbling and crawling along the ground. “What the heck, I can’t see anything.” Chucky’s voice came from nearby as Donny tried to focus his mind.

  “Everyone, keep completely still. We can’t see but we still have our hearing. We’re under attack, and we need to remain calm.” Donny tried to take control of the situation, understanding from years of experience in his past life that remaining calm and focused was crucial right now.

  Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, a high-pitched wave of sound suddenly rocked the palace, almost dropping Donny on his knees as he tried not to empty his stomach from the sudden feeling of disorientation making his head swim.

  “Shit, no sight, no sound, what the actual fuck, it’s like that time those federal pricks bombarded our bunker with flashbangs.” Donny tried to swear out loud, but not being able to hear his own voice his tongue felt fat and useless in his mouth.

  Donny was frozen, heart beating an emotional tattoo of fear and panic. His chest began to swell with the pressure of anxiety and mind couldn’t seem to focus on logic. His Forehead misted with a fine coating of sweat and his back and arms prickled with goosebumps from the chill that ran along his spine as he tried to calm himself down.

  “Fuck, I can’t afford to be having a panic attack right now.” Donny frantically tried to focus as he bit down on his tongue to try and clear his mind.

  He ran through his options, trying to think of a way out of this mess. He knew that the longer he stood there the worse his chances of saving himself and his friends would be. He needed to act, but the removal of his senses kept him pinned in place and he couldn’t think of any way a bunch of five- to seven-year-old kids could counter such a vicious removal of their faculties.

  So, he did the only thing he could do, he spread his aura around him. No longer caring about getting caught using a skill he should not be able to use, he blasted his aura, covering a ten-meter radius that he could feel with his soul. Then, he spread out tentacles of chi with his Chi Manipulation skill, sending out metal fingers of chi that stopped when they touched anything that had mass. He did all of this in seconds, the ethereal energy of the skills taking but a breath of time to do their work.

  In his mind, Donny slowly built a sort of grey-scale image of his surroundings, like a sort of echolocation using his aura and chi. And although he could not see texture and color nor could he yet hear sound, he at least had a perfect 360 degree, black and white visual of his surroundings in his head. Donny couldn’t help but let a menacing grin spread across his face.

  “It’s time to fight back.” Donny thought as his earlier panic receded and a feeling of resolve and determination spread through him.

  Taking stock of the visual in his mind, Donny almost fell right back into panic when he noticed a person garbed in a concealing cloak that covered all but the sleeved arm with a gloved hand outstretched behind him not three feet from where he stood. A cold sweat now permeated his entire body. He noticed though that the figure was frozen in place, and realized he must have suppressed them with his aura.

  Thinking on his feet, Donny turned around and tied the person’s cloak around them, removing his own cloak and tying it around the figure’s head like a blindfold, hoping that would slow them down enough to bring his friends to safety when his aura was no longer here to suppress the individual. Then he dumped the water bottle he’d been carrying around the person’s feet, to make the polished tile into a slipping hazard for the would-be kidnapper.

  “I must be their goal; these people want to kidnap me and use me as leverage against my parents.” He realized, brow furrowing in contempt. He’d done the same thing to crooked politicians in his day, but he had a feeling these people wouldn’t be taking him for ice cream at the Zoo while the adults did business.

  Now understanding that he really needed to move quickly, Donny moved to each of his friends, he’d had his aura wrapped around each of them in a protective bubble as he had no clue how powerful it was and hadn’t wanted to hurt them by exposing them to his aura directly. Using his chi, he lifted the three shivering bodies into the air with a tremendous amount of strain. He had only ever used his ability to move smaller objects before this and struggled for a moment before he brought his friends together and turned his smaller tentacles of chi into a large arm to carry them all in a bundle of flesh and fabric. While this reduced the strain a bit, it was still a weight on his spirit, and he knew he wouldn’t be able to keep it up for long.

  Donny then mapped out his position. They were heading towards the dining hall for lunch to grab something to eat after their long sparring session. Ahead were the double doors leading to the dining hall and beyond that the kitchens. To his right were the lattice-work shades that wrapped the large courtyard of sand and stone where they trained. Behind him were the bathrooms that led to the room with the large pool filled with heated saltwater where they bathed.

  Donny grinned, turning back in the direction they’d come from and viciously kicking the figure of the infiltrator now bundled in cloth like a fresh loaf of bread, toppling them over as he passed. He scrambled through the closest changing room, friends hovering almost directly behind him as he tried not to bash them against walls and doorways as he dashed into the large room with the steaming pool of water like an over-sized hot tub. He sent a tentacle of chi down to the ring on the large three-foot by three-foot plug that blocked the drain. It didn’t so much as budge.

  “Shit, dad always made this look so easy.” Donny grimaced to himself as he desperately tried to think of a solution.

  While the pool wasn’t massive, running four-feet deep and ten feet wide by twenty feet long, it wasn’t small either. The couple thousand gallons of sea water was applying too much pressure, but if he could remove it, he and his friends could ride the long drainage tunnel down to the ocean, where there was a beach nearby with a dock the northern pillar used for importing and exporting goods.

  They had used the drain as a water slide on his fifth name-day, the adults monitoring for safety of course, with one of his dad’s cloud turtles acting as their ride back up the cliff-face the palace was built on to go again. He knew there was a way to do this, he just had to figure out how. Spreading his aura, he scanned the room for anything he could use. Nothing besides some towels by the pool that the kids had left lying there for the maids to clean up, it was large, open area with a pergola supported on wooden rafters by stone pillars to act as a roof for the otherwise open-aired courtyard.

  “Wait, rafters!” Donny suddenly had a lightbulb go off in his head as an idea began to take form in his mind.

  Dropping his friends gently next to him, he spread the six-inch think rope of chi up and over one of the rafters above the drain. The arm of energy slowly thinned as it stretched further and further, finally gripping the ring of the plug and coiling around it a few times. Grabbing the extension of his power tightly with his spirit, Donny braced his legs slowly began to step backwards.

  His chi strained with effort, a headache forming behind his eyes as he struggled to pull back on the make-shift winch system. The plug slowly began to lift from its position as a warm wetness on his lip told him his nose was bleeding. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest and pressure build in his ears as he struggled against the pain.

  And then he felt it, someone had stepped into his aura field. Looking through his mind’s eye he saw a rough and tattered woman, with blood leaking from a cut on her cheek and a child’s rope pulled down around her neck like a scarf. Although she had gotten out of her robes, Donny knew it was the figure he’d found reaching for him in the hallway. She slowly began wading into his aura, struggling and trying to fight back with her own measly aura as she slowly made her way towards Donny and his friends.

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  “She’s got to be at least level fifty if she’s started to form her aura. What the fuck are these people doing, sending such powerful lackeys after a level zero kid?” Donny thought, as the plug slipped back a few centimeters in his moment of distraction.

  Firming his resolve, Donny flared his aura in a bid to slow the pace of the scowling aggressor as much as he could while pulling with all his mental strength against the large plug. AAAAAGGGGHHH! Donny screamed internally as he finally felt the pressure against the plug release as the water rushed into the large hole, helping to push the plug out of way.

  Now that the pressure wasn’t working against him, Donny had to brace himself from falling on his back as the large cork plug became almost weightless compared to before. Tying the plug to hang above the whirlpool that was now forming above the drain with a thin stand of chi, Donny grabbed his friends and tossed them into the roiling water, following close behind as his world became a spinning mess while held his breath, trying to keep his friends from drowning with his aura as he simultaneously pushed against their pursuer while focusing on keeping the his chi from dropping the plug too early.

  It was all too much, and Donny’s aura and chi slipped as he fought to keep conscious. He had done what he could, and now he had to stay conscious, or he and his friends would drown and all he had done to save them would be pointless. But he was plunging headfirst down a tunnel of rushing water and his head felt like it would explode from the pressure of both the water and strain of pushing his skills so hard.

  There was suddenly a feeling of weightlessness and Donny was blinded in a different way as light assaulted his burning eyes and sound abruptly returned to him, the crashing of waves a dull backdrop to the sound of water pouring from the sloped hole in the side of the cliff. And then darkness returned, and the warmth of the heated water was replaced by the bitter chill of the ocean as the air was pushed out of Donny’s lungs from the impact of the unexpected drop. With the bite of cold shocking Donny awake, he kicked his feet, pulling his hands to his hips as he broke the service, coughing up saltwater and paddling to his hands to keep afloat as he looked around, frantically searching for his friends.

  “Donny, help!” Came a shout from behind as he spun his body in the water to see the woman who’d been chasing him holding his friend Lyle by his hair as she aimed a vicious sneer towards Donny. Chucky was already swimming towards the shore.

  “We’re going to swim to the beach, and you’re not going try any of your stupid little tricks or the boy is dead” She yelled at him over waves crashing into the smooth wall of rock that towered above them.

  “Not until I find Milo” Donny shouted back before ducking his head beneath the surface and looking underwater for his missing friend. His vision was still a bit shaky from the abrupt transition from darkness to light, but he thought he could make out the bright red tint of his friend’s hair about ten feet or so to his right. Coming up for a breath, Donny dove down, struggling to get his small child’s body to dive fast enough.

  As he got close, he could make out the shapes of Milo’s hands floating above his head as he sunk slowly. Donny’s lungs started to burn, his small frame rebelling against the pressure of the water. Furrowing his brow, Donny tried to extend his chi, but it was almost immediately dispersed, not able to maintain stability in the current of the ocean.

  Feeling a flicker of panic as stars began to float through his vision along with small particles of oceanic debris, Donny screamed internally at his skill to do as he asked. Stretching his fingers towards the slowly descending hand of his friend, Donny focused as hard as he could on the task of extending his chi. And then, much like when he’d resisted the pressure of Pheros' aura he felt a surge from within. That familiar coolness, like a drink of cold water after a day of work in the hot sun spread throughout his being, engulfing his insides and giving him strength.

  Donny’s chi shot out, merging with and manipulating the water around him into something he could control. He wove a net of power around Milo before extending his chi out from his feet, forming flippers of energy as he shot up to service. As he gasped for air, Donny pulled his friend into his arms and flipped onto his back, holding Milo out of the water as he kicked his feet, swimming backwards towards the beach.

  They got to the shallows and Donny drug Milo onto the beach and immediately began giving his friend CPR. “Come on, come on, don’t you fucking die on me. I still owe you my dragon-bone slingshot, COME ON!” He shouted the last part in desperation as he blew air into Milo’s lungs.

  Cough, cough… Donny sat back on his feet, letting out a sigh of relief as Milo coughed out the water that had gotten into his lungs, his pale blue lips spitting and hacking as he rolled over in the sand. “D-Don… What happened, where are we?” Milo squinted at Donny, then looked around, freezing in horror when saw the woman that now had both Lyle and Chucky in her grasp, dragging them by the hair kicking and screaming as they tried to fight her off.

  Donny scrambled to his feet, hands up to show his submission, “Let them go, it’s me you want. Let them leave and I’ll go with you willingly” He said as he grabbed the collar of Milo’s shirt and yanked him to his feet.

  “Milo, run to the docks and wait for Chucky and Lyle. If anyone asks questions, pretend like everything is kosher. Don’t let anyone know something has happened, it’s probably been contained within the palace since we have our sight and hearing back, so no one should know that anything is wrong” Donny said loudly, eyes never leaving the bedraggled woman and his friends as he pointedly raised his voice so the woman wouldn’t make him stay. He hoped his friend would remember his training and catch the code he’d weaved into his words.

  At first Donny thought Milo was frozen with fear or shock or both, as he just stood there staring for a long moment. “Milo!” he hissed, then the boy nodded at him, turning and stumbling as his feet sought purchase in the soft sand before taking off across the beach towards what looked like a small village on stilts with broad docks extending into the sea, tall masts extending out above large ships.

  “Smart boy, wouldn’t want to make a fuss and endanger your little friends here, would we?” The woman grinned evilly at him, slowly walking forward before coming to a stop about thirty feet away, blood and water dripping down her face.

  “I don’t know what sort of defensive treasure your father gave you to blast an aura like that, but I want you to throw it towards me, then I’ll let these two go. Do it now!” She yelled.

  “That’s right, there’s no way she would believe that a level zero pleb like me could have an aura skill, much less a one at the primordial rarity” Donny realized, thinking quickly as he ripped his father’s necklace that he always wore off his neck and tossed it to the ground about ten feet in front of the lady.

  “There, I have nothing else on me, now let them go!” He snarled.

  “Heheheh” The sadistic bitch cackled and smacked the boy’s heads together, knocking them unconscious and dropping them to the floor. “Oops…” She said, face not showing a hint of apology as she reached behind her and pulled two daggers out from hidden sheaths.

  “Sorry kid, but you shouldn’t have made a fool of me. You should’ve just come along quietly like a good little boy and your friends would’ve been safe and sound.” The woman’s voice was dripping with hate at being bested by a five-year-old. Donny couldn’t help recalling an old movie he’d watched at his grandpa’s house about a kid that got left at home alone on Christmas and had to defend his home against robbers.

  “What’s so funny, boy?” The lady growled at the smirk he’d let sneak onto the corner of his mouth without realizing it, daggers brought to hover with gleaming blue-black blades aimed straight down at the heads of the unconscious boys.

  “N-nothing, I…uh, hehe, I just farted and thought it was kind of an ironic moment to be shitting myself” Donny chuckled dryly, doing his best to buy time and keep his would-be assassin distracted.

  The lady scowled, apparently buying the lie as her shoulders slackened just a bit. “Fucking kids” he thought he heard her mutter but couldn’t be sure.

  “Why are you doing this, who sent you?” Donny asked in a bid for some insight into what the hell was going on.

  “Nice try, boy, but this has gone on long enough. Anything you’d like to tell your friends before they…depart?” the daggers were brought up, sinister-looking blades posed to strike.

  “Y-yeah… Merry Christmas you filthy animal!”

  “Wha-”

  Then a burst of crimson exploded out from the woman’s head, and she crumpled to the ground. Donny stood there; a bit shocked at how effective that was. When he’d come to shore, he found a long, thin conch shell then wrapped it in aura, chi and water, leaving it just beneath tide.

  While they’d been talking, he’d been slowing rotating his chi, spinning dart-like shell faster and faster while extending a tentacle of watery chi out towards the woman. He’d aimed it towards her ear, hoping that the woman having an assassin build meant her defenses wouldn’t be crazy high. Apparently, he needn’t have worried. The woman must have been either stupid or way to confident in her abilities to not even protect such a critical weak spot as her ears.

  Walking up slowly he watched the woman for movement but found he was being overly cautious. The conch had pierced her right ear straight through because the left side of her head was blown wide open, brain matter and blood leaking from exposed skull mixed with what hair was left on her head. Reaching down to collect her daggers, Donny was shocked to see the slow rise and fall of breath, though it was extremely subtle. The bitch was still alive, barely, but alive! Level fifty was no joke.

  Leaning over her Donny grit his teeth and flared his aura down at the rogue of a woman so she wouldn’t suddenly spring up and catch him unaware. Using her own daggers, he stabbed her, then he stabbed her again, and again. Down stabbed both daggers over and over, tears now running down Donny’s face as he lost himself in his rage, confusion, and fear.

  He finally stopped when a flood of notifications began filling his vision, a pinging sound going off in his head like someone was repeatedly opening and closing the front doors at his favorite bodega, making the doorbell ring over and over. He was worried for a second that his senses were being attacked again before realizing he was receiving system messages, a lot of them. He wanted to stop and look through them right away but knew that now was not the time to be distracted by such things.

  Shaking Chucky and Lyle awake, they groaned and grabbed their heads, large bumps starting to bruise where they’d been skull-bashed together.

  “Come on, we don’t have time, we’re under attack and we don’t know how many more there are” Donny snapped at them, sounding more aggressive in his urgency than he’d intended. Not wanting the boys to see the gory sight behind them he hurried them along. In a softer tone he said “I sent Milo to get Uncle Kosher, hopefully he’s around today. Now, come, we gotta get out of here.”

  After getting the boys on their feet, he dragged them up the beach in the direction Milo had run, hoping help would be coming to greet them.