Chapter 22: Knowledge

Knowledge.

"You USED me!" Xero shouted. He drew his revolver and fired six rounds at Halim, which he dodged easily. The younger panther then attempted casting magic at him, but failed. When Halim saw this opening, he tried to strike Xero's chest with an open paw, but was was too slow. Xero grabbed his wrist and threw him into the air. He then reached to his ankle and drew one of the five throwing spikes he had strapped there and threw it at Halim.

 

After Xero returned to normal and passed out, Vladimir and Longinus took him back to the castle to rest. Up until now, three weeks since the incident, he had not awakened. In his mind however, it had only been a few minutes.

 Halim gained control in the air and caught the spike. "I needed to! The only way to make a decent opening in the defenses the mayor has prepared was to cause chaos that he'd have to deal with!"

"That doesn't alter the fact that you possessed me!" Xero shouted, throwing another spike. He pierced Halim's shoulder, but the avatar just pulled the spike out when he landed and threw them back in the form of a storm of spikes that pinned Xero to an invisible wall behind him. The wall was not necessarily invisible, it was the room that made it so.

Before now, they had appeared in the mansion in the forest, but this time, as there was no memory being given, they were on a blank plane as they had been when Halim led Xero out of the delivery room in the first memory.

"Listen to me." Halim said, stepping toward the pinned panther. "The only way to get past the mayor is to get him to leave his home, which he never does unless he needs to appear to the public. I can't do much from where they're holding me, so I needed to use you."

"You've possessed corpses before. Why not use one of them?!" Xero shouted, trying to break free to rain more hell down on Halim.

"I needed you because the people know your face." Halim replied. "I knew that if you appeared again after the police station incident, the people here would panic and call on their leader."

Xero said nothing. Slowly he began to calm down and pull the spikes out via his telekinesis. "Okay...so what was that thing I turned into?"

"Those seals on your body limit your power, correct?" Xero nodded and Halim continued. "Both of us possess a power such as that being's. I took the seals away temporarily so that he could come forward for a while. Alone, you wouldn't have had the power to do what you did."

"You mean what you did." Xero said.

Halim nodded and continued. "That being was mine. As your powers are now under Vladimir's brother's control, I had to project mine. You have a similar beast inside you. Who you became was the true 'Aadrik'. What I became inside over the centuries. I assure you that you have become something almost as dark, however, the true 'Xero' will not be released."

"Why not?"

"I can change at will because I have pushed myself to that point, you however..." Halim lowered his head a little. His tail, which had been swaying idly stopped. "You are binded by the seals I put on you. the true 'Xero' cannot be released unless they are broken."

"And if they are broken...I'll die, won't I?"

Halim nodded. "To live, you would have to remain in that state for the rest of your days, but you don't have that kind of control."

"What could I do if I had the power?"

"I don't know about those who live in the light, but as far as we are concerned, removing our shadows is not the only way to kill an Eternus. I have discovered over my life that these secondary beings within us are above the power of Eterni. I have taken to calling them Infini. They can kill an Eternus."

"Have you done it before?"

"No, and I hope never to have to." Halim replied. "I saw someone do it. I was in Cruz and I watch this primate Infinus take down a serpent Eternus."

"So what happens if your captor succeed?" Xero asked. Under the assumption that he could mold this dream plane of his, Xero mentally formed an invisible chair behind himself and sat down. Halim did the same.

"Well, one of two things could happen." Halim replied. "One, they could simply gain immortality, let me go, and be done with it."

"And otherwise?"

"Two, much more likely, they could use their findings to create an army of indestructable soldiers and take over the planet."

"Are they using anyone else for this?"

"Well, I've been in my confinement for about 12 years, it's quite likely that they've collected more Eterni."

"Do they know about Infini?"

"I doubt it."

Xero sat back in his mind chair and ran his paws through his hair. In his mind, he was trying to formulate ways that they could use Infini to their advantage given that whoever was holding Aadrik did not know about them. He let out a groan as two snags came to him. First, there were only two Infini that they knew of that were near by, second, and most problematic, one of those Infini was locked away and the other could not be brought forth.

"Okay, lets move on to the matter at hand." Xero said after a while. "How do we get into the lab where they're holding you?"

"I told you, through the mayor's house."

"I know that, but how do we get in?"

"Blow the b*****d to bits!"

"Subtly." Xero replied crossly.

"I have no idea."

"Damn... How'd they get you anyway?!"

"Someone with a SecondSight ability saw that I was an Eternus. They reported it to whoever they worked for. Few days later, I suddenly wake up in a lab. I saw a few people, but it was hazy. After that, I fell asleep again. I haven't awakened since."

"One more question." Xero said. "What are they doing to you?

"...It's horrible." Halim looked Xero straight in the eye. The sudden glare made the panther flinch. "They drain off most of my blood each day they can so they can test it. They try to kill me frequently to insure that there's no way to do it. I've been shot, stabbed ,burned, drowned, hanged, you name it, they've done it. Xero, you have to get me out of here."

"I will, don't worry."

"Oh, one more thing before I let you wake up. "

"What is it?"

"I know why Longinus was led into your forest."

Reviews

[BassWolf]

C'mon, keep writing!!! You know I can't wait for more... =^_^= Besides, I need stuffs to do and since I go to orientation tomorrow, I have nothing better to do!!! ...Though I never had anything better to do anyway..... But that's beside the point!!!

[Forist.johnston]

It rained today. That's not unusual considering I live in Florida. But while I was tracing a raindrop down threw the safety of my warm car window, I had a sudden flash go off in my mind. Bright umbrellas twirling through desolate streets. It seemed so vivid I had to look around to see if it was happening. I tried all morning to figure out where it sprang from. Then it hit me.

It was your book. When Longinus was deathly, and Xero was looking out the window. Freaked the hell out of me actually, that your writing just popped into my head. But, I figured I'd tell you�. Seeing as you're the author and all�

Keep writing. Your better than you'll ever know.


-Forist