Pain & Power

“In this world, there is no justice or peace, only chaos and war. As long as we live in this wretched world, suffering for everyone will continue. Pain is what we constantly inflict on others, and by result inflict on ourselves. "An eye for an eye" only ends with a whole world blind. Blind to everything, but the pain we feel. "Doctors" are only superficial. Nobody heals. We hurt and hurt until it kills us. This cannot change, this will never change. There is but one thing we can do; enjoy ourselves. In a world of hurt and pain, how can anyone truly enjoy anything? I’ve come with that answer. The only true way to feel pleasure is to take it away from others. That is this entire world’s philosophy, but few of humans have ever realized it, and even few have embraced it. In a sea of fools, I will truly find inner peace. I will truly find inner happiness. It does not matter who or what I have to do in order to get there. In the unwinnable game of life, I will be the glitch in the system. I will embody pain, the one true messiah. I will be the savior, if only for myself. After all, yourself is the only one who matters. That is also our world’s philosophy.” He said, disregarding his organs, slowly slipping out of the gaping wound in his stomach to relay his insane philosophy to me. 

I didn’t care what he thought, what he cared about. I came to him seeking power, and I found it. He was a crazy old man, but who gives a s**t? Got what I want. He’s dead now, anyway. My one regret is what his s****y philosophy did to me. As even the dumbest could imagine, this guy of mine had plenty of enemies. Which, by some stupid default, became my enemies. Name someone you don’t want as your enemy, and they probably are mine. The Order, The Lingzhi, plenty of other b******s. I never thought the path to power would be easy, but I never expected it to be this bad. Too late to turn back, regret is a waste of time. Just have to keep moving forward. 

“Really? We aren’t that poor are we?” She asked, regarding the motel, with a superior tone. 

“Don’t know why you’re still here.” I said. 

“Shen said-” She began.

“I don’t give a s**t what the old man said. He was whack anyway.” I said. “Stop acting like such a rich b***h and suck it up, or leave. I’d prefer option number two.” 

“Don’t think you’re going to be the only one to get the Giver’s powers.” She said. 

“How long is it going to take to find this guy anyway?” I asked.

“Well, seeing how we can’t use magic to search for him-” She said.

“And why is that?” I asked.

“Well, unless you want the entire Lingzhi on our a*s-” She said.

“There are only like, ten of them.” I said.

“Ten, extremely powerful people who want us dead.” She said, “And stop interrupting me.”

“Then just hurry up and answer the question.” I said.

“It’ll take a long time, ok?” She said.

“Wow, really glad I waited for that.” I said. 

“Can you just shut up and go to sleep.” She said. “It’s bad enough you got a tiny room with two tiny beds.”

“And what are you trying to imply with that, huh?” I asked. “That I’m into twelve-year-olds?” 

“I’m sixteen.” She said.

“Wow, amazing.” I said.

“Well, you just- ” She said, “You know what, nevermind. I’m going to bed.”

“And you’re not going to take that ugly a*s mask off first?” I asked.

“Nope.” She said.

“You betrayed your family anyway, why carry on their tradition?” I said.

“Can’t hear you, because I’m going to bed. I’m not going to be the one bitching about being tired in the morning.” She said.

“‘Bitching’? I was almost killed!” I said.

“Yeah, and you’ll never let anyone forget it.” She said.

Needless to say, the next morning wasn't the best. Turned out Kim was right, that s****y motel felt like I was sleeping a ton of bricks. Though, I’d rather die than admit anything Kim says is right. Another s****y motel, another day of trying to track down some ‘Giver’ guy we found in the old man’s notes. Something about him holding immense power which he could give to others, probably why they call him Giver.

Our basic routine was using as little energy as possible to lead us in the basic direction of the Giver, then take the bus in that direction. Then repeat, then repeat, then repeat. Which is basically at the bottom of the list of things I ever want to do, but get to the giver is at the top. There’s no way I’m going to run for the rest of my life, I'm going to wipe them off the face of the earth. 

“So just another day of poor people smell and driving, then?” Kim asked. 

By now we were out of the hotel, going down the street to find the bus stop. 

“You do realize we are the poor people, right?” I asked.

“Because of your witch hunt for power.” She said.

“You can go at any time.” I said. “Now can you tell me which direction this guy is?”

“Do it yourself, since you think you don’t need me.” She said.

“I don’t, but since you’re trying to find him too and one of the only things you’re good at is tracking, its way faster for you to do it.” I said.

“Excuse me?” She said. “‘One of the only things I'm good at’? You can’t do anything but throw a little fire”

“Care to test that out?” I asked.

“Don’t threaten me.” She said. “He’s this way.”

We changed direction, crossing the road onto the other sidewalk. We were now looking for the nearest bus stop in the same fashion we always did, but being less successful than usual.

“Where is the damned thing?” I asked.

“Don’t see one.” She said.

‘Of course, because everything must always take longer than it should.’ I thought.

“How long are we going to do this?” She said, aggravated from the fruitless search for the bus stop. “At this point, we should just search for it and deal with the Linzhi.”

“Yesterday I was an idiot for suggesting that, remember.” I said.

“You’re an idiot regardless.” She said.

“Just find the god damned bus stop.” I said.

“No longer gung-ho about fighting the Lingzhi?”

“I don’t think the words ‘gung-ho’ can ever be applied to me.” I said. “And why are you suddenly get so impatient? Didn’t get your Starbucks?”

“If that was supposed to be an insult-” She said.

“Can you just find the bus stop? ” I asked.

    “To answer your question; I’m impatient because we’ll it kinda seems like we’ll never find this guy.” She said.

    “Not if we can’t find one stupid bus stop.” I said.

    “Or if the Lingzhi or Order already got to him, dumbass. Which, at this pace, wouldn’t surprise me.” She said.

    ‘Actually, that’s a valid concern.’ I thought.

    “And your proposal is to…?” I asked. 

    “If the Lingzhi already has him, avoiding them is useless.” She said.

    “So…?” I asked.

    “So we just track him anyway.” She said.

    “And if the Order has him? Or even better, the Lingzhi have him but the Order comes to attack?” I said.

    “Don’t pretend it’s a stupid idea just because I had it.” She said.

    “Um… I had it last night and you pretended it was stupid.” I said. 

    “I changed, my mind.” She said. “Ok?! Is that too complicated for you?!” 

    “Whatever, hypocrite.” I said. “Do whatever.”

    “Ok then… let’s just do it then.” She said.

    “Then stop talking about it and do it.” I said. 

    “Fine. I will.” She said.

    “Go, then.” I said.

    She closed her eyes, doing the simple locating spell. I could feel her energy as it passed under me, searching for the Giver’s energies.

    “It should take this long to find him.” I said, after sitting idle for ten minutes.

    “Guess what? Yes, it does. Especially since we don’t know this guy's exact energy signature, and especially if you break my concentration. ” She said.

    “Fine.” I said, leaning on the store front next to me.

    “There’s a disturbance in the energy.” She said.

    “And what is that?” I asked.

    “I mean, somethings blocking me. Idiot.” She said. “And it also feels like I triggered something.”

    “What do you mean ‘Something’?!” I asked.

    “Like a spell, or a summoning, or-” She said.

    Her explanation was interrupted at what seemed like the perfect time with an example. White skinned, humanoid figures, with faces like an animal's.

    “Or...whatever that is.” She asked.

    The sky turned dark, isolating us alone with the creatures, obviously also part of the trap.

    “Lingzhi or Order?” I asked, backing away from the things all around us, bumping against Kim.

    “Lingzhi, the Order isn’t this sloppy.” She said.

    “So that means they have him!” I said.

    “Either that or they can’t get to him, and they don’t want anyone else to.” She said. “But that really shouldn’t be your main concern anyway.”

    “Guess we’ll have to take care of the albinos first.” I said.

    They lurched forward much like an animal would, aiming to attack me with its claws. I moved forward to it, delivering a blow of fire directly at its abdomen, blowing it into pieces. Kim grabbed it’s throat before it had a chance, transforming her hand into a blade and tearing its head off.

Counting the one’s we killed there were about ten, so we moved it down to eight. 

“Weak trap.” I said. “Thought the Lingzhi was supposed to be some big bad group of people.”

The sludge that used to be my opponent crawled towards itself, reforming into the being I thought I killed. The head of the other swiftly flew back to its body, bringing itself back to life.

    “You were saying?” Kim asked.

    I covered my hand in fire, giving it a similar effect of Kim’s hand which had been transformed into a metal blade.

    ‘Immortal, huh? Not good, but obviously we have a buffer between their death and their regeneration, so if we can kill them fast enough we should be able to separate their...matter, or whatever, and stop them from coming back to life.’

    “I have an idea.” I said.

    “Congrats.” Kim said.

    “Just kill them as fast as you can.” I said.

    “Wow, good plan.” She said.

    “It’s part of a larger scheme, a*****e.” I said.

    We both launched into action, slicing at their head, allowing them no time to kill us. For us it didn’t take long to get all ten, either burning or cutting off their heads.

    “Now what?” She asked.

    “I don’t know, separate the heads and the bodies in metal.” I said.

    “Great plan.” Kim said.

    She slammed her fist against the ground, calling all the surrounding us to liquify and incase the creature’s heads.

    “Told you it was a s**t trap.” I said.

    The previously white substance turned grayer and broke out of the metal casing to reunite with its body, getting me only a glare from Kim through her hideous mask. The creatures had become bigger and more dangerous looking, and the time between death and healing was shorter than last time, too. 

    ‘Well, this isn’t ideal.’ I thought. ‘So as they are killed they get more dangerous, and as they get more dangerous, and as they get more dangerous they get darker and better at healing. Hate these Lingzhi guys.’

    “Got any more brilliant ideas?” Kim asked.

    ‘But last time they only got worse when all of them were killed, not for the first two. So they’re a hive mind? Which, could be their downfall. So isolate one? But then doesn’t kill the others and it just leaves one more for us to deal with later. We could trap them and run away. No, that would just make it harder later. We have to handle this now. It seems isolating one is the best plan after all, however flawed.’ 

    “Yeah, use more power and cover one of them, I’ll protect you in the meantime.” I said.

    “This better not be as stupid as your last plan.” She said.

    “Shut up and do it.” I said.

    “Ok, but don’t let me die.” She said, closing her eyes and gathering energy.

    I formed a circle of fire all around us, but the gray beings walked through them with ease. I formed fire in the palm of my hand, compressing it until I had enough to start a forest fire. As the things walked closer I got ready, waiting for the perfect moment. I ran forward, slamming my hand into the center one and releasing all the compressed fire, The huge explosion tore the center three into shreds, throwing their pieces all over the place. The other seven still approached. I heated up the concrete, sink in, then cooled it. The current strength they were at wasn’t enough to break free, and since the other three were still dead, the creatures grew darker still. They now broke free and healed themselves back together.

    ‘Oh great, so not only does killing them make them stronger but they can also grow stronger to face the obstacle in front of them. This is a very high-level spell. To be expected from the Lingzhi.’

    “Abort mission, Kim. It won't work.” I said.

    “Nice plan.” She said, standing back up. She opened her eyes, instantly angrier. “Oh, and you also made them stronger. Good job. Well, here you go.” 

    She rose a giant metal wall around us, trapping us inside.

    “Strongest metal I could make with the energy I had.” She said.

    “Idiot!” I said.

    “Yeah, pretty stupid of me, saving your life. Don’t worry, won’t happen again.” She said.

    “No, they adapt to their obstacles,” I said. “If it’s the strongest metal you could make, they’ll only become stronger than it.”

    “S**t.” She said.

    They tore open the metal like paper, their color now deep black.

    ‘At least she got them to what looks like their limit.’ 

    Their claws were now like daggers, and they had the body to fit it. They created the only exits out of Kim’s walls, and they were blocking them. At their strength, tearing us apart would be easy. Not to mention they were completely impervious to any and all attacks. They were immortal, and we were doomed.