Aegis: Catalyst Grove (36 page)

“It will come with time, ya know.
 
You are not the first one to have to wait.
 
It happens.”

With a huff, Graham said, “I guess.
 
I just hate feeling inadequate, that’s all.
 
I’ve held back all my life, and this is no different.”
 
Graham was not comfortable talking about his issues, so he quickly tried to change the subject.
 

“So, what does your catalyst look like?”

Chase pulled up his sleeve, baring his forearm.
 
He tightened his hand into a fist as his wrist began to glow.
 
Within the small circle was a horizontal lightening bolt; the points extending a bit beyond the rim of the circle.
 

“How did you just do that?” asked Graham.

“Do what?”

“Just make it light up like that?
 
I thought you had to use your power to make the bands show up.”

“There are a lot of things you will be able to do once you develop.
 
Making your bands illuminate is just on level two.
 
Just wait until you get past level ten.
 
You think a glowing wrist is cool?
 
You just wait my friend.
 
There is a lot more to see.”

“Levels?
 
What is a level, and how many are there?”

“Its pretty simple, really.
 
The more you learn and train, the more advanced you become.
 
The levels are a pre-designed metric to understand how far along you are.
 
As for the number of levels, I couldn’t say.
 
I don’t think there is a cap.
 
I have heard of people getting up into the 50’s before, but that would take a lifetime of dedication.”

“So, what are you?
 
Are you at level twenty or something?”

“Twenty?
 
I wish.
 
No, I am at fourteen right now.
 
Cavaness is working me pretty hard to move up to the next level, but it is pretty intensive.
 
Plus, I’ve been a little distracted lately with chasing kids through the forest,” said Chase, playfully pushing Graham, making him stagger to the side.

“Yea, well your blasts did seem a little weak to me,” Graham replied as he playfully pushed back.
 
“Speaking of the forest; how did you get started in all this?”

“Now that is an interesting story.
 
As you have probably figured out by now, I was also a lonely kid at Greenwood.
 
I was a perfect picture of the ‘problem child.’
 
I am probably single handedly responsible for most of the gray hair in Ms. Winstone’s head.
 
It took a very long time for me to come around, but she was diligent with me.
 
I think she made it her life’s mission to set me straight.
 
I remember that almost every single day, so would tell me, ‘Those who spend abundant time in the shadows know the true value of light.’
 
It was her mantra for me.
 
Now, I can see the wisdom in it, but before I changed, I hated it.
 
She was good at that sort of thing.
 
It’s like she kept planting little seeds in me that would push me in the right direction later on.
 
As a matter of fact, it was something she said to me that led me here.
 
It all began one night when I…..”

Before Chase could finish his thought, the wall beside them exploded, sending both of them flying backwards across the room.
 
They both hit the ground hard.
 
Their arms instinctively shielded their faces from the rock and rubble that flew through the air like shrapnel.
 
Chase tried to look around, but his mind was in a frenzy.
 
Squinting through the smoke, he could see that everyone was knocked to the ground, even Cavaness.
 
He look back over to the source of the explosion.
 
Through the fire and smoke, Chase could see six men in black coats step through the gaping hole in the wall.
 
Before he could react, he saw large purple blasts fire from their hands, hitting Cavaness in the chest.
 

More blasts filled the room, as Murphy and Branson retaliated.
 
The dueling yellow and purple blasts filled the room like fireworks.
 
Branson reached out with both hands.
 
One hand fired a steady stream of energy towards the unknown attackers, as electricity sprang from the other.
 
His yellow stream was met with a purple one from one of the attackers, creating a shockwave that knocked everyone within a ten feet radius to the ground.
 
Branson’s electric blast hit one of the other men in black, making him convulse and crumple to the ground.
 
Chase fired a blast at him, knocking him into the wall so hard that he fell down into the surrounding rubble, unconscious.

Graham laid there trying to process what has happening.
 
His first impression was that this was yet another attempt to bring his power to the surface.
 
He looked over at Chase.
 
“Chase, you can stop.
 
It won’t work if I know what it is.”
 
Before he could get his next sentence out, a purple blast hit him in the side.
 
His legs flew out from underneath him and he crashed to the ground with a thud.
 
He grabbed his side and rolled over in agonizing pain.
 
This was different.
 
This was real.
 
The blasts continued to fly through the room, lighting up the smoke that permeated the Manor.
 
Graham could see Kel and Ailey curled up underneath the large table with Damien’s arms wrapped around them in protection.
 
Thank God
, Graham breathed as he continued to wince in pain.
 
Graham looked over to Chase, but he was gone.
 
He could see a faint path through the smoke where he had ran.
 
Graham followed the path with his eyes until he could see two of the invaders flying through the air, and crashing into the walls.
 

As he lay there, he could see Cavaness’ large form through the smoke in hand-to-hand combat with two of the others.
 
Murphy was trying to form what looked like a glowing net to capture one of them, but before he could cast it, seven or eight blasts hit him all over.
 
His body went limp as he fell backwards.
 
He did not catch himself as his head connected with the wood floor.
 
He did not move.
 
He was out cold.
 

Branson was still locked in his streaming blast with one of the others.
 
His stream was growing shorter and shorter as the dark purple blast coming from the other guy was growing longer.
 
In a split second, Branson was overtaken by the purple stream as the invader’s blast met his hand, and in a huge flash of purple, he was send crashing into the table where Damien and the others had taken shelter.
 
Branson hit with such force that the table broke in half, sending shards of wood everywhere.
 
The two halves of the table tossed in the air and fell on top of his unconscious body.

“Run, Graham!
 
Get the others and run!
 
NOW!”
 
Chase’s voice echoed through the room.
 
Graham could not see where he was.
 
Graham’s adrenaline kicked in.
 
The pain in his side faded and he jumped to his feet, running over to Damien and the others.
 
He grabbed Damien by the arm.

“Come on, we have to get out of here!”

“WHERE?!
 
I can’t see anything!” yelled Damien.

Graham twisted his head around in a panicked search for an exit.
 
He looked all around until a glare to his right caught his eye.
 

“GET OFF HIM!
 
AhhhhHHHHH!!!”
 

Graham could hear Chase trying to help Cavaness as blasts flew from what he assumed was Chase’s hands.
 
The glare hit his eye again.
 

“The mirrors!
 
We have to get over to the Transit Mirrors!
 
Grab each other’s hands,” shouted Graham.
 

Small rocks peppered his face as the fighting continued behind them.
 
Graham heard another body hit the ground.
 
His heart sank as he prayed it was one of the invaders and not Chase or Cavaness.
 
Graham could now see a faint outline of one of the mirrors through the smoke.
 
He stretched out his hand as his wrist illuminated.
 
They were almost there.
 
He was just a few feet from the mirror until a large hand with a glowing purple wristband took hold of his arm.

“Where do you think you are going, boy?”
 
The voice was deep, callous and cold.
 
“OVER HERE.
 
I have them!” yelled the sinister voice to the others.
 

The smoke was beginning to clear, just enough to make out one of the invaders forming thick black chains between his hands.
 
Cavaness was already bound, and Chase was in the process of being shackled.
 
The chains around their bodies looked like a solid smoke.
 
The Former placed his hands over Chase’s and Cavaness’ mouths.
 
Once he removed his hands, a strip of a thick black smokey substance remained.
 
There was one other invader still conscious.
 
He fired two blasts into their chests.
 
Their muffled grunts of pain echoed through the room.
 
Graham struggled against his captor, but he could feel his energy being syphoned from his wrist.
 
Damien reached out to fire in retaliation, but the stranger held his glowing purple hand to Graham’s temple.
 
“Ah, ahhhh.
 
That would be a mistake.”
 
A wave of fear swept over Damien.
 
He wanted to fight back, but not at the expense of Graham.
 
He put his hand back down.

The element of surprise was too much.
 
All the members of Aegis were either unconscious or bound, and once again Graham could not help but feel the sinking feeling of despair over not being able to help.
 
The other two men in black walked over and picked up their fallen comrades.
 
They carried them over to where Graham and the others stood.
 
One by one, the taller stranger grabbed his teammates by the wrist.
 
Both of their bands began to glow as he transferred some of his energy to the others, bringing them back to consciousness.
 
They all stood up, shaking off the pain, regaining their awareness of where they were and what they were supposed to do next.
 

The man holding Graham looked at Cavaness and Chase as they fought against their bonds.
 
“So, this is the one.
 
The bottomless well.”
 
He tightened his grip around Graham’s wrist.
 
Turning his wrist so that his forearm was facing the ceiling, the man took notice of the vacant circle.
 
“He is strong, no doubt about that.
 
I guess we will find out soon enough.
 
Us, that is.
 
Not you.”
 
He looked over to one of his subordinates and gave a nod of approval.
 
The leader then removed two of the Transit Mirrors from the wall and threw them to the ground.
 
With two swift stomps, he shattered them beneath his boot.
 
Each one of the invaders grabbed Kel, Damien and Ailey by the arms and placed their hand to the center of the final mirror and vanished.
 
Only Graham, his captor, and one other man in black remained.
 

“Time it right,” the leader said to his comrade.
 
The other man then raised both hands and shot a large pulse of energy into the ground, then turned around and exited the room through the mirror.
 
The entire house began to quake and tremble, as the floor began to crack beneath them.
 

Graham’s captor looked over to Cavaness and Chase.
 
“I won’t kill you myself.
 
I would, but I have my orders.”
 
He looked directly into the eyes of Cavaness.
 
“Consider us even.”
 

Cavaness clenched his jaw and furrowed his brow, murmuring something behind the strip covering his mouth.
 
Graham looked behind him at his captor’s face.
 
Bent over and nearly breathless, Graham searched his mind until he remembered where he saw this man.
 

“Si…Silas?”

Bits of the ceiling began to fall down around them.
 
The walls were beginning to buckle and the beams from the ceiling were cracking and caving in.
 
Silas shifted his gaze from Cavaness to the ceiling above.
 
The corner of his mouth curled up into an evil grimace.
 
“A little ironic, don’t you think Cavaness?
 
Best of luck, old friend.”

At that, he placed his four fingers into the small divots carved into the wood surrounding the glass of the mirror.
 
Still having a firm grip on Graham’s arm, he placed his thumb to the mirror, and with a fading mist, they were gone, along with the mirror.
 
Within minutes, Portfield Manor imploded into a large heap of rubble as Silas’ sinister laugh lingered in the air.