The House of Grey- Volume 4 (17 page)

Monson’s
counterpart spoke
with a certain degree of pleading.  “Monson
,
I wish we could, but there are other forces at work here. We
cannot
take the chance of you knowing too much
,
too early
.
Y
ou do
n
o
t understand
.
Y
ou could die.”

Monson started to respond but
his
twin put
up a hand
, silencing him.

“I know that all of this must seem surreal to you
, Monson.
However,
time
grows short.
T
here are things that you must see
,
t
hings that only you can do. So I will ask you
one last time,
will you trust us?”

Monson gazed at each of the three
individuals
. He took notice of the fire in their eyes that seemed both passionate and pure. He thought about the night’s events and all
the
other weird and unexplainable things that he
had
witnessed
up to this point
. He wanted answers
, a
nd this might be the only way to get them. He sighed.

“I will trust you, all of you. But you have
to
give me your word that you will properly explain yourself
at
some
point
.”

“Agreed
,
” said the three in unison. This little exchange hung over them for a moment as the
y
watched each other. Then Yari
stepped
forward
,
motioning for
Monson to come closer.

“Hero
,
” said Yari
,
giving him a slight smile. “What I am about to show you should not be used in the outer world of the humans. It would be dangerous
to
them. Though I think it will be
some time
until you are able to accomplish this
task,
t
his is the first step of the transition.”

He stopped and looked at Gi
.
“Breath of the Dragon
.
I will use the River’s Serenity
.
”

H
e looked back at Monson
.
“Watch carefully
,
great one
,
as this may
be your only opportunity. Behold the Magi
B
lade
.
”

Both men squared up to one another, bowed
,
and then
draped the tails of
their rob
e
s
over
the
ir
shoulder
s
.

Intrigued
,
Monson stepped forward.

They
placed
their right hands
on their shoulder
s.
T
hen
,
slowly
, they
traced the length of their arms
to their wrists until a
sort of shell shrouded in an odd light removed from the arm and shoulder. Gi’s was brilliant silver while Yari
’
s was something closer to white platinum. It was like a snake
molting, except
that
this
“skin” had some sort of stable structure
;
it did not crumble but continued to
hold the shape
of the men’s arms. Both men grabbed their shell
s
and shap
ed
them into
glimmering
cylinder
s of a
bout
three
feet in length, and
two
inches in diameter
.
The
shells were
completely transparent
,
and
seemed to pulse with anticipation.  Both men
turned to
face one another in a knightly pose
.
Gi fumed
,
a
restless blood lust mounting.  Yari remained calm and focused
,
the picture of self-restra
int
and discipline.  They held their shafts of energy skyward
,
both hands near the bottom of the shaft,
and then
squar
ed
up to one another like dueling swordsmen.

Next, both men let their bottom hand fall to their side
.
Using
their pointer and middle finger
s,
they started to make weird slashes
,
the glowing traces of
Gi
’
s silver and Yari
’
s white platinum
hanging bright
ly
in the air
like
camera-
flash
-
induced glare. They completed their gesturing
,
and then
raised
their free
hand
s
with fingers spread and palm
s
facing up
as if
each man was asking for a low five. Monson watched as
expressions
of intense focus took over the faces of both men.

Something started to happen...something
significant.
W
hat
though…
what was it?

Monson felt a
whoosh
of energy like a concussion wave followed by a burst of heat. He closed his eyes
,
reacting to the ripple of energy
.
Once
opened, Monson beheld a
sphere
of crackling energy forming on Gi’s right hand. A mix of red, yellow and orange
,
the
small orb
was dancing in place,
spinning
and growing steadily until it was about the size of a golf ball. Monson switched his attention to Yari to find that he
,
too
,
had a glowing form on his hand
.
In contrast to the reddish hues of Gi’s, Yari’s ball of energy
was the deepest of blue
s
and seemed to embody every variation of color from light to dark.  Instead
of
heat, an overwhelming coolness
emanated from the space around Yari and his tiny globe
.  Monson watched each of the glowing orbs for a moment
; then,
w
ith quick hands
,
Gi and Yari violently jammed the orbs into the bottom of the
ir
cylinders
. A violent commingling of light, smoke and color followed
,
as some sort of spiritual
debris
splashed over everyone. Monson felt burned and cooled almost
simultaneously
.  When it all cleared
,
both Gi and Yari
had assumed
fencing positions with...swords in their hands. They
had
just
created
swords!

Monson gazed in
awe
at the weapons.  Gi’s blade was
glowing with
the color of life fluids
,
simmering with a forge’s heat
,
as large flames swirled around both the blade and his arm. The look on Gi’s face spoke of blood
lust
and…power,
immense
power.

The power
and
heat of Gi’s blade contrasted sharply with the cool refinement of Yari’s aquatic blue one.
His
blade felt almost ethereal
.
The weapon left a
ghost
of itself in its wake
,
creating the illusion of multiple blades as Yari handled it.

“
What in the
...
”
Monson felt the exclamation spill from him, but then
he
suddenly burst out
.
“Holy crap! If that isn’t the coolest thing I
’
ve ever seen
!
”

“Shh
..
.” said Mo
ns
on’s
clone
in a quiet voice
.
“
W
atch closely
.
”

Both men said something in a language that Monson did not recognize, but
that
sounded vaguely familiar. Then they were off. What followed was like no sparring match
Monson had ever
seen or even imagined. Movements and poses that
he
knew were not humanly possible flared with ease as both men tried to find an opening in the other
’
s defense
s
. As expected
,
Gi’s style was wild, aggressive and explosively powerful.
He
continually shifted
his
blade from a forehand to a backhand position and augmented
his strikes
with aggressive hand combat
, with
burst
s
of swirling handheld flames increasing his combat effectiveness. The style felt strongly reminiscent of Case
y’s fighting mode,
but less form
-
centered and
much less
controlled.

Gi attacked with both his blade and fire
-
tip
ped
extremities
,
striking at the face and chest
of
Yari, but no matter what he
used to strike
or how
he struck,
h
e could not penetrate Yari’s defense
s
. Yari’s style fluidly meshed patient blows and counterblows
; he wasted no energy
on unnecessary posturing. Small movements close to the body blocked every slash and thrust thrown his way. The style was so graceful it was almost beautiful. Burst
s
of mist met blasts of flame as the concoction of elements entangled and
vied
against one
another
,
giving off the feel not of fire and mist but of passion and fluidity
,
abstract concepts that
Monson
did not even attempt to understand.

Th
e
battle continued for a few minutes until both men
, exchanging a
look
,
stopped, cradled their weapons, and bowed again.

“Amazing
!
”
Monson’s voice reflected his awe.  He felt completely blown away
by
the display. “
W
hat in the world was that?”

“Magi Blades
,
” Monson’s
counterpart
said
simply
.
“Along with my two other admonitions,
t
his is what we have come to show you.”

“But why? Why would I need to see this?”

“
The Magi
’
s Blade is the key to your release
,” said Yari as his magical weapon
evaporated, becoming mist, then vapor, then nothing
. “You should know now
,
Monson Grey
,
that you have power
.
Y
ou have felt it
before
.  Your power is extraordinary.
Yet,
it means nothing if you
do not
know...”
—h
e hesitated as if he was
choosing
his words carefully
—
“how to use it.”

“Guys
,
” beg
a
n Monson
,
unsettled. “I don’t know what you
’
re thinking but I’m just a normal
—
”

Yari put
up
a hand
,
cutting him off
.
“
Do not
say you are normal. You were never normal. You will never
be
normal.”

Monson sighed. It wasn’t like he actually believed it either.

“
This is
crucial,
” whispered
the other Monson.
“
Yo
u
must
understand
.
O
nly then will the markings be bre
a
ched.”

Monson sighed
again, looking at all of them.
 

“Let
’
s say for minute that this isn’t a total figment of my imagination, which I’m not say
ing
it
’
s
not,
b
ut let
’
s just pretend
for now.
H
ow does
watching
a sparring match teach
me
how to use this power? What do these blades have to do with anything
?
”

“Everything
,
” answered Monson’s
mirrored self.
“The Magi Blade is a representation of something much greater. Before
we or
your guardians
can teach you anything else, the construction and
preservation
of this weapon must be attained. Th
is
blade
is
the mark of any real magic user. And you
,
Monson Grey
,
are a magic user
. Y
ou just
do not
know it yet
.
”