Clash Of Worlds (33 page)

Chad could hear the woman’s breathing louder than ever now and he tried desperately not to make a sound. Then it suddenly went silent. Chad listened for a few moments…but nothing. The boy gasped a sign of relief. Then, without warning, two large hands grabbed Chad from over the box.

“I’ve got you know boy!” said Mrs Garner, tightening her grip.

Chad managed to wriggle free and run from the box, however, there was nowhere to go. Chad and Mrs Garner stood to face each other, only a few feet between them. The pair eyed each other up. It had the feel of a showdown between the two, something that had been brewing for a while now. Chad was deeply resentful towards her for the way she treated him and the other boys, and she was resentful towards him for his defiance of her. Both hated the other and they weren’t about to hide it now.

“I’m going to teach you a lesson once and for all! A lesson you’ll never forget! I’m going to make you all beg for forgiveness!” said Mrs Garner, in a very aggressive tone. She clearly meant business.

Chad stood firm, no longer afraid to confront his enemy. “Leave them alone!” His anger was beginning to rise.

“You shouldn’t be worrying about them boy,” said Mrs Garner. “How can you hope to protect them, when you can’t even protect yourself?” Mrs Garner launched forward, but Chad quickly sidestepped her. The old woman snarled in annoyance. “Come here!”

“You’re too slow Grandma!” mocked Chad.

Mrs Garner tried to grab Chad, but again he was too fast for her. Mrs Garner stopped for a moment as she attempted to form a strategy of how to catch her younger, and clearly faster foe. She noticed a large stack of loose boxes against the wall to the left of where the pair was stood. She pushed over the stack of boxes, which sent them tumbling over in a domino effect. The boxes fell on top of Chad, sending him crashing to the ground.

The woman laughed loudly, as if in victory. “Stupid little boy!” Mrs Garner dragged Chad from the ground. He tried to fight her grip. To the woman’s surprise, the small boy was more than a match for her own strength. The pair struggled around the room, crashing against tables and boxes in a battle for supremacy. They now found themselves dangerously close to the fire furnace.

“Just give up Chad, there is no way out of here.” The woman’s voice was strained due to her attempts to subdue the boy.

“Never!” replied Chad defiantly. The pair tripped up and Mrs Garner fell to the ground. Chad, however, was stood right next to the furnace, and his left arm fell inside. Mrs Garner looked up from the floor and a worried look edged onto her face. Despite wanting to punish the boy servilely; she knew that burning him might be a step too far. However, much to her surprise, Chad didn’t cry out. He didn’t even seem in pain.

Chad took his arm out of the fire. He couldn’t believe what he saw. A well-lit flame now lay abreast in the palm of his left hand. He didn’t feel any pain or discomfort; in fact, the flame seemed to give him strength. Mrs Garner stood frozen, not believing what her eyes were seeing. “What the hell are you?”

Chad looked at her; he was just as confused as she was.

At the top of the stairs stood James who had witnessed the last few moments of the events that had taken place down in the basement. He too was amazed at Chad’s ability to seemingly hold fire in the palm of his hand.

James stood before Professor Milton once more in his office. Realisation began to set in. He had long forgotten about the incident with Chad and the fire from long ago, but now, he realised there must be a connection between this and the event’s that had taken place in his battle with the strange white haired figure he encountered.

Chad held the fire in the palm of his hand, just as Lucius did.
“How long have you known?” asked James.

“I always have,” answered Professor Milton.

The agent was lost for words. He and Chad had tried for so long to hide the secret of their enhanced abilities. However, it seemed Professor Milton had known far more than they realised.

“Do not worry,” said the professor, easing his concerns. “Only I have read the reports in full. No one else knows the truth.”

“Why didn’t you ever say anything professor?” asked James.

“It was not my place. Besides, I wished for you to tell me in your own time. And if you didn’t, then that was fine too. Just know that your secret is safe with me.”

James nodded. He knew the professor was a man of his word.

“Perhaps we can figure this out together my boy. Now I gather you see the connection as well as I.” He referred to the shared ability of Chad and Lucius when it came to fire.

“I’d never thought about it until now but yeah. That white haired man…one of his henchmen called him Lucius. He and Chad have some kind of ability to hold fire.”

“This Lucius character could not only hold it, he could manipulate it,” said Professor Milton.

The pair stood and thought for a moment. “Do you think maybe…Chad could do that too?” asked James.

“You tell me,” replied the professor. “Have you ever seen him manipulate fire before?”

James searched his head for any such occasion in which Chad may have done such a thing. One suddenly came to mind. “The examination!”

“Ah yes,” said the professor.

“You knew?”

“Not for certain, however, I was never quite able to figure out how Chad was able to kill the lights in the entire room in the tower on that island.”

“He made the fire lanterns all go out. I had no idea he could do such a thing until he pulled that stunt during the field exam,” James confessed.

“What about you?” the professor asked. “Are you capable of manipulating fire?”

“No” replied James. “I tried. After I found out Chad could hold fire, he tried to teach me how. But I can’t hold it. It burns me, just like it would burn anybody else.”

“Burns you? I’ve seen your body heal bullet wounds in a matter of days and you have just recently survived a fall that would have killed any other man.” The professor paused for a moment. “Yet fire hurts you like it would a regular man?” He paced up and down his office, and then all of a sudden came to a halt. “A weakness perhaps?”

The professor continued to pace back and forth. His mind was in full flow now. James stood back and marvelled as the man worked. Professor Milton truly was a genius. He had a way of figuring anything out, no matter the difficulty of the circumstance.

James began to wish he had told the professor the truth a lot sooner.
Maybe we would have figured this all out by now
.

Professor Milton placed his right hand on his chin, looking like he was learning something on his own mind.

“What is it?”

“Would you say this Lucius character gained strength from fire?” said the old man.

“It certainly didn’t hinder him,” replied James.

“No, not strengthen,” said Professor Milton, who was now thinking out loud. “Yet easily concurred up or controlled.” The Professor looked at James. “Ok my boy, so you say that the fire caused no pain to Chad. Are you certain of this?”

“That’s right.” James nodded as he spoke.

The professor carried on, “And it’s obvious that this Lucius, whoever he is, is clearly immune to fire. So much so, that he can control it.”

“Do you think there is a connection between this man and Chad?” asked James.

“Perhaps. Maybe between all three of you.”

“I can’t hold fire, or control it,” said James, who didn’t see any connection between himself and Lucius. “Ah but you’re missing the point,” said Professor Milton. “You may share the same physical skills as your friend Chad, yet something that he and Lucius can control or manipulate, weakens you.”

James stood confused. “I still don’t get it?”

“Think about it this way. You match your friend in every way, yet you are not the same. I’ve noticed this in your fighting style also. Things affect you in different ways. Unless I am mistaken, I doubt you are as identical to Chad as you would believe,” said Professor Milton.

“What do you mean?” asked James.

“My research needs more data, but from what I have gathered, Chad works very well at night. His sight seems extraordinary advanced in the dark, almost as though he sees things normally like you or I would see things during the day.”

James had noticed this too, however, he had never thought much of it until now. “You’re right sir. Ever since we were kids, he always had this strange ability to see in the dark.”

Professor Milton picked up the file of the mission and turned to one particular page of the report. “Read the second paragraph.” The professor handed James the report file.

James began reading and instantly noticed what the old man was getting at. This part of the report described the fight between himself and Lucius. In particular, the sections were James had plunged the city into darkness in an attempt to reprimand his target.

“You see, this man clearly worked well despite the lack of light. Sound familiar?” said Professor Milton.
I can see you perfectly fine in the dark
, James thought, remembering the white haired man’s taunts.

“It seems that Chad and this Lucius share the same unique abilities, different even to your own.”

James nodded, agreeing with the man’s verdict.

“Unlike Chad, however, its seems this man has a full understanding of how to harness the potential of whatever abilities he has. Whilst Chad, and even you James have yet to fully realise just exactly what you are capable of.”

“You’re right sir. That’s because we’ve spent our lives trying to hide it.”

“Why is that?” asked Professor Milton.

“I’m not sure. Maybe we were afraid of being different. People might see us as freaks, people that don’t belong” said James. The boy sounded a little despondent. It had been hard for him to keep something like this a secret his entire life.

The professor placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. “You should never hide who you truly are,” he said. “Keeping such a secret must be a terrible burden.”

“Yeah,” agreed James.

“Besides, haven’t you ever wanted to find out the truth? About why you and Chad can do the things you can?” asked the Professor.

“Of course, but we thought that we were the only ones who had these abilities. Everyone else we encountered was normal.”

“Until now…” replied the professor. “Lucius possesses the same skills, albeit somewhat advanced. You are not as alone as you think it would seem.”

“You think he can help us?” asked James, who suddenly got a spring in his step. The prospect of finally getting some answers to questions he had all of his life excited him.

“Perhaps. However we need to locate him first,” said the professor. “Lucius has been busy. He is gathering mystical objects and artefacts whilst at the same time, gathering forces.”

“I wonder what for?” asked James.

Professor Milton shook his head. “We cannot be certain at this point, but whatever he’s planning, we need to catch him before he can implement it.”

“Mystical artefacts. I wonder what he plans to do with them?”

The professor moved toward the exit of his office. “Come with me James, there is something I want to show you.”

Chapter 12: The Search For The truth

Everything was as it always was at a little shipping port in the small city of Rio Gallegos, southern Argentina. Fishermen were bringing their boats back into the bay after a long day at sea, eager to count the fruits of their work. In fact, several boats were already anchored in for the night. It was early evening, and the locals, who stood at the doors of their small shack houses, were calling the children in for dinner. Market stalls; set up in the bay to sell seafood and fishing equipment were in the process of closing up for the evening. The sky lit red as the sun began it’s descent for the night. The sea was calm and still and the quickly disappearing sun shone a red line as it reflected down the middle of the water.

Amongst the calm of the quiet fishing port, appeared Lucius, who was dressed in archaeological attire. The area had many visitors from other parts of the world, many of them researchers whilst others were tourists. Lucius knew this, and his clothing of choice was to aid him in not standing out from the crowd. This was only partly successful however, as many of the locals stared at him as he walked through the port.

One of the locals approached him with a bucket of fish in his hand. He was an old man, brown of skin and slim in build. Clearly he wanted to make one last sale before closing up for the night. “Fish sir, very good price for you,” said the man in Spanish, the native tongue of Argentina. Much to the man’s surprise, Lucius replied in fluent Spanish.

“No thank you, but here, for your troubles,” said Lucius, politely. He handed the man ten gold coins. The old man couldn’t believe his luck. This amount of money was worth a week’s business alone.

“Thank you kind sir, thank you!”

Lucius bowed is head slightly, putting on a great act of being humble. “Tell me, my friend, could you direct me to Silva Jungle?”

The man’s expression changed to that of fear. “No, no sir, you do not want to go there. Dangerous, very dangerous!”

“It’s ok, I have friends out there. But I seem to have lost my way. I would pay handsomely if someone could put me in the right direction.” Lucius said. He sensed the man’s desperation to earn money. It was evident he struggled to make a living and Lucius thought him the type who would struggle to make ends meat to support his family. He was right. The man’s eyes lit up at the prospect of more money.

“One second sir, one second!” The man ran back into his market stall. He frantically scrambled looking for something inside the stall, tossing various items out of the way. Lucius looked less than amused. He thought such desperate people to be pitiful. The man quickly emerged from the stall. He held a scroll of some kind in his left hand, and a small blade, about half the length of a sword in his right hand.

“Here, you will need this. It will show you the way,” said the man, handing the scroll to Lucius.

Lucius opened up the scroll, which was a map of the city of Rio Gallegos. To the east of the city was the jungle that he was looking for. Lucius tossed the man another five coins, without even taking his eyes off the map. He began to walk down the eastern path that led off the fishing port.