War Of Worlds

Theodore turned to , and stared at the man, his worried expression fading.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"Well, that question has many answers. To some I'm a father, a mentor, a leader, even a rival. Though that last one is reluctant. Anyway, which version of me would you like to hear about?"

A vein bulged on Theo's forehead.

"Stop bullshitting me old man, just answer my damn question!"

"I will have you know I am still middle-aged aged you brat."

"I don't care! Answer me."

Taking a quick puff of his pipe, the man turned away.

"You're an impatient one, I see."

"I think the word you're looking for is, cautious."

"Well, after everything you've experienced, it doesn't surprise me. Honestly, I'm surprised you can even show this much emotion." He took another puff of his pipe and turned back to Theo. "But I believe you have something more important than me to worry about right now."

"What are you talking about?."

The man raised a brow and rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"You didn't know? Well that's strange, then how did you get that index reader?"

"Where I got it doesn't matter."

"But it's reading, isn't it?"

Theo furrowed his brow.

"Reading? What are you..."

Stopping mid-sentence, Theo understood what it was he meant, immediately looked to his index reader, and his eyes widened in shock.

[Ether core- Dormant]

[Core rank- None]

[Core Saturation- 45%] 

'forty.... five... percent?'

The realization of what that absurdly high number meant for him dawned on him, and his mind was soon filled with premonitions, and not any good ones. But that was not where it stopped, as his eyes widened even more as the figure glitched away before returning.

[Error- Error]

[Core Saturation- 64%] 

'What the hell is going on? Barely two hours ago, this thing was reading nothing, but now its reaching usurvivable heights.'

Yet again, the figure on the index reader glitched away before returning.

[Error- Error]

[Core Saturation- 73%]

'Shit!'

Quickly turning to the strange man Theo asked.

"What's the time?"

"What's the rush?" the man responded with a smirk.

"Just answer the question damn it!"

Chuckling as he raised his arm and looked over his watch, he tuned back to Theo and said.

"Eleven fifty."

'Damn it! It's nearly time for the damn trial! Wait, it's nearly time for the trial, and this think is still increasing? How? Normally, by this time, a person's core would have been fully saturated and would only need to partake in a trial to be awakened. At least that's what normal people experience.'

But for some strange reason, unlike his peers, who would have been preparing for their trials, Theo's core saturation only continued to glitched away before returning with an even more absurd number.

[Error- Error]

[Core Saturation- 82%] 

With every passing minute, it rose higher and higher, and as it continued to rise, so did his trial's difficulty. Quickly turning back to the man, Theo barely spoke cohesively as he asked.

"I see It's nearly time for the winter solstice to begin. So how's your saturation rating, is it over 70% yet?"

Theo's heart nearly skipped a beat as he froze for a moment. Turning to the mysterious man, he stared dumbfounded as he rubbed his chin.

"No, I guess it should have surpassed that by now,"

Backing away, Theo turned to the door behind him, but before he could even take a step forward, he heard a voice whisper to him..

"I wouldn't recommend that boy!."

Theo instantly froze in place as a few moments of silence hung between the two. Taking a few more moments to calm himself. He took deep breaths calming his racing heart, turned back to the strange man displaying the most hostile expression he could, balled his fists and stood ready for anything.

"Who are you? And I'm not going to take any bullshit. Just answer the damn question."

Seeing Theo's increasing hostility put a smile on the man's face.

"Now that's a familiar sight."

In the blink of an eye, he vanished from Theo's sight, dissipating into a whisp of darkness. Almost like the feeling of water trickling down from the crown of the head all the way down to your feet, Theo felt overwhelming pressure fall on him. .

'What is... this... this sensation I'm feeling.'

He wanted nothing more than to move his legs and run for dear life.

'I can't though. It's like something... invisible is holding me down.'

The sensation was new, terrifying and to him, impossible which only made it harder for him to wrap his mind around it. And with nothing but fear now fuelling his thoughts, he clenched his fists tighter.

'I can't just stand here! If I do I'm gonna...' before that thought could fully form, the sensation intensified more than three fold.

Swivelling on his heel with no hesitation, Theo swung his right fist as hard as he could colliding with nothing. He nearly stumbled over, but soon felt something clench his fist being tight. When he looked up, his eyes widened with shock.

The man's form had morphed, shifted, and now he looked like nothing but a shapeless black mass, with the only recognizable traits being his crimson eyes and two rows of sharp teeth.

"Hello Theo!"

Immediately losing the motivation to do anything at all, Theo fell to his knees. He grit his teeth as tears welled in his eyes.

'What is this sensation? It's not fear! If it was I wouldn't be acting this pitiful. What is it that this man has done to me?'

The inhuman silhouette leaned forward, and Theo felt his entire body tremble. Nearly all thoughts instantly vanished as the silhouette only grew larger and larger till it was the only thing in his field of view.

"That was a nice punch, boy," the figure said with a menacing grin as it leaned even closer. "But even as a lower ranked herald candidate, that was weak!"