The Seven Swords (Chapter 4b is up!!!)

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[archrae]

Tell me if this is a good story biggrin
CONSTRUCTIVE criticisms are appreciated.

THE SEVEN SWORDS
First Mini-Book of an Original Series by
Viarce Perihelion D. Lacreausse

An Introduction
----------------------------------------PROLOGUE----------------------------------------

It was a normal morning in school. I went to the back and sat on the chair right next to the window, waiting for the only subject that took my interest - Algebra and Trigonometry. It was 7:28 AM, time for first period, World History.

Ms. Armida entered the room with her pink shawl around her shoulders and a small pile of books and papers in her arms. She dropped the papers on the left part of the table and placed the book on the center. She pulled up her shawl with one hand and opened the attendance folder with the other.

She started to call out surnames.

"Addison"
"Here"
"Arthur"
"Here"
"Bailey"
"Present"
"Evans"
"Here"
"Green"
"Present"

Her voice trailed off and I stared out the window, entranced by the falling leaves. It looked like a beautiful inferno of yellow and red outside. I was hypnotized...

"Mitchell"
"Present!" chorused the twins Jason and Jasper. Everyone burst out a sarcastic "haha." It pulled me out of my trance and just in time.
"Nicholson"
"Here" I replied with as much enthusiasm as I had in my body. It wasn't very much to be truthful.

It took Ms. Armida another minute to finish the attendance and start the lecture. I payed no attention to what was written on the board nor did I pay any attention to anything (or anyone) in front. I just stared out the window.

Although I wasn't listening, Ms. Armida's lecture kept flooding into my head. And it was a good thing because she often called me on for recitations.

The day continued and I did the exact same thing in Physics, World Literature, Health, Music and Arts, and Technology - stare out the window. I did it even while walking through the corridor from class to class.

I wasn't the type of scholar that would listen to lectures all day long. I was the type that would just slack off and let time pass by. And besides, none of those subjects took my interest.

I was part of an advanced class what I was learning now would be repeated to me on my third year of college. I was just a Junior in high school. A not so nerdy scholar that wore his semi-framed eye-glasses only when he would answer a test. And the only scholar in school who gets a perfect 100 mark in my report card.

To be truthful, I didn't need the glasses to be able to read. I wear a pair of contact lenses everyday. Their main purpose was to hide my eyes' true color - green - but my parents decided to buy a pair with grades. I bought ungraded glasses to hide from the popular crowd.

My name echoed all throughout the campus. I was a low profile guy so my parents asked my teachers to call me Aaron Nicholson rather than my real name, Bertrand Jade Castor Nickels. That way, I won't attract attention when I'm called.

I walked slowly towards room 316, my book and notebook in one hand and my pen and pencil in my pocket. Room 316 was where Mrs. Dungao held Algebra and Trigonometry classes.

I walked in and sat on one of the chairs in the middle of the room. The chairs were arranged in a circular pattern in the middle of the room. Directly parallel the chairs were glass boards with different equations and figures written on each.

I loved this subject. I could solve the problems in less than five seconds. I just faked the "it's a bit too difficult" part. Mrs. Dungao knew this and always played along, saying words of encouragement whenever I'd put on my "it's a bit too difficult" act.

This was my last class of the day, and the only class that I look forward to everyday.

After classes, I would stay for a few minutes as Mrs. Dungao discusses advanced Calculus, and other advanced topics to me.

This is what goes on everyday... Until today...

I spent the whole day drawing some sort of geometric pattern. All that I could remember were the thousands of equations that flooded my head. All of them led to an answer of 1.

For every equation, I would draw a regular polygon inscribed in a circle and then use a different equation to come up with the same figure and draw it tilted by a few degrees but still inscribed in the same circle. I repeated this until the equation repeated. Then, I drew a larger circle that contained the previous figure and then repeated the process in a larger scale, only this time, the polygon had more sides than the previous ones. I finished it by the end of Mrs. Dungao's class and showed it to her.

The pattern looked more like an intricate circular design than a set of geometric figures. She looked at it and was stunned. I told her what it was and she asked if she could borrow it.

I agreed. She said that we wanted to show it to her nephew.


<That night in Mrs. Dungao's home>

"Windsor, I'm home!" Mrs. Dungao said as she opened the door.

As Mrs. Dungao closed the door, a shady figure approached her from behind. "I believe you have something of my interest, Auntie"

[l_nightmare_neko_l]

its good but i wouldnt put the part of the teacher in heer home in the proluge it just is to much of a gap i would use it as the begining of a chapter or something like that but other that thats its great

[archrae]

Windsor the Nephew, Windsor the Gifted
----------------------------------------CHAPTER 1----------------------------------------

"I am Fidel Windsor Hogan and I will be your substitute teacher for Algebra and Trigonometry" God! I sounded stupid, but it seems they don't mind. Why did I even agree to this?

The moment I heard auntie enter last night, I knew it would be trouble...

"Windsor, I'm home!" said auntie Cora as she closed the door on her way in. I walked to her, still excited about what she has for me.

"I believe you have something of my interest, Auntie" I smiled and held my hands out like a small kid.

Auntie threw her bag onto the sofa and it landed right-side-up, as it usually does. My aunt is one of the 3 in 10,000,000 people who is gifted with a highly advanced mind. She could control her release of force and she had a keen spatial awareness.

Auntie took out a folded piece of paper from her pocket and placed it on my hands. I unfolded it and what was written on it dumbfounded me. It was a set of geometric figures whose various equations had a solution of 1. The design was so complex that it would take me and my aunt a whole day to search for the actual equations used and then simplify them into one.

It took all my attention and my aunt just waited for my response. All I could say was a lousy "Where did you get this?"

My aunt told me the story about her star student and I wanted to meet him as soon as possible. For some strange reason (maybe intuition,) she knew how I felt and filed a sick leave for a whole week and woke me up at 5 in the morning to tell me that she signed me up to be her substitute at school.

Of course - being the lazy sleepyhead that I was - I disagreed but, she insisted. So now, I'm here searching for the kid that drew that design.

It took me until twelve o' clock last night to figure out if a physical manifestation of the design could be made. Of course, everything was theoretical but with the data that I had, I concluded that it was possible but I just don't know how.

This was the class that had the genius that I wanted to meet. And he was easily distinguishable from the crowd - he just sat there, drawing.

I started class and I immediately wanted to test him. I wrote a problem on the board and it took up more than half of the space on the clear board. I smiled since I took it from a master's degree book hidden behind the third year high school book that I held.

I took the attendance folder, but it was all for show. I knew his name, his real name AND fake name. "Mr. Nickels..." I said.

I saw him stiffen in his seat. I tried to hold back my smile and now I was sure that it was him I was after. Everyone looked around searching for the famous scholar, Bertrand Jade Castor Nickels.

"Mr. Nichols... son... I mean Mr. Nicholson" I faked, pretending to look closer as I pulled the folder to me. "Could you please solve the problem on the board?" I continued as I straightened myself up.

He put his glasses on and pretended to have a difficulty in reading it. I rolled my eyes slightly. He came closer and examined the board from top to bottom. He turned to face me and showed a goofy smile as he said, "Sorry sir, It's a bit too difficult for me."

I knew that face, not because my aunt said it to me but, because that was my face. That was my "damn! this is too difficult" act. I knew that he was aware of the difficulty of the problem and that he wouldn't answer it even if I persuade him to.

"Alright! take your seat then." I said trying to hide my irritation. "This problem is a complex application of chapters two to eight."

"Functions, Logarithms, Curves, and the whole lot?" said one of the students. I smiled and cheerfully replied a "yes"

I explained the eight days that we would be together and my lectures within that time span - chapters two to eight. I started chapter two and had them answer a pop quiz.

Again, he put up his lousy act and it took him nearly the same time as everyone to answer the whole quiz. I walked around and went to his side. He was doodling, no... He was doing a different pattern. I quickly pulled the paper from him and smiled. "Mr. Nicholson, stay a few minutes after class" I announced.

The class ended sooner than I expected and now, I was with Aaron face-to-face. I looked into the corridor and locked the door.

"Alright Bertrand, or would you rather be called Jade, or Castor?" He stiffened and looked furiously at me.
"Where did you get that name?" he asked, acting innocent.
"Don't play dumb. I know who you are."
"How?"
"I'll tell you that if you can solve this problem." I pulled out the legal-sized paper filled with a mathematical problem. He hesitated at first then, looked at me. I was showing him a dead serious expression. He looked at the problem and after five seconds...

"It's 17.384121366666 etc."
"What etc.?" I snapped at him.
"It's a continuous sequence of 6 after that"
"Just as I thought" I said, standing up and looking for the paper I confiscated from him. "i believe this is from you..." handing him the paper.
"Yes"
"It's quite interesting actually. At first you used equations whose solution is 1" I showed him his first drawing. He was surprised. I continued, "Now, you're making one with the solution of two."
"How do you know this?"
"I have the same gifted mind as you."
"Huh?"
"Do you know that you can simplify those set of equations into a single equation that would represent the whole figure?"
"Yes. I did that the same time that I made this"

I was surprised. Even I couldn't do that. Maybe this boy is as gifted as I am? Let's see if he is.
"Do you know that these figures can be given a physical manifestation?"
"What?" He replied quite surprised.
"They can be made with a set of strings or rubber bands"
"Really?"
"Yes and I suggest you finish a set of these figures. You have six figures to make"
"Only Six?"
"Yes, the equation repeats itself for every six figures."
"Oh... I didn't know that."
"Well, now you know."

He was fascinated, I could tell. "Alright, it's time to get home. Go on now, I'll just fix my things"
"Thank you sir!"

I waited for the sound of his footsteps to vanish. When it was gone, I pulled out my cellphone and called a friend. "Hello? Presto. I found another one. Yes, it seems that his skill is powerful but still undeveloped. Yeah. Sure. Alright . Bye."

I was looking at him through the window and wondered. "Does he have an ability?"

[ShastaBaer]

- stalked. -

Not much to critique on here - just a few typos here and there, nothing you really couldn't find yourself.
I would suggest reading over your writing twice to check it. Also, try typing it in to MS Word. That'll help cut back on typos and such. ^_^
I'll be keeping an eye on this.(;
Good luck!

[archrae]

The Opening Move
----------------------------------------CHAPTER 2----------------------------------------

"Alright, it's time to get home. Go on now, I'll fix my things." said Mr. Hogan.
"Thank you, sir!" I replied.

I ran out the door and right into the corridor to the stairs. I was still holding on to the folded paper with the designs I made. I ran down the stairs, turned left to go to my locker. I got my bag and took off for the main door. It took me three minutes to get out of the building.

I rode my bicycle and took off, homeward.

It was getting dark (even though it was only around 5:30. I had to hurry home. I turned left into the alleyway. It was a shortcut I occasionally took when I was in a hurry to get home.

I entered the alley and stopped.

"Who are you?" said one of the men. This was a place where gang activity was significantly high. On most days, gang activity would only start at around ten o' clock in the evening. Unfortunately, this was not one of those days.

I was calm. That was one of my major drawbacks - I could never lose myself to fear. Yes, I was afraid, but I had a clear mind. many people actually call that as a "gift," I call it suicide.

"One of the guys from that private school eh?" said another guy, staring intently at the pin on my uniform. I was unable to display fear but...

One of the men suddenly punched me. I fell to the ground.

"This is our turf, kid!" one of the men said as he pulled my head up. "Mug him, all we need is his cash" he went deeper into the alley.

The men around me had fierce eyes, their fists were clenched tight and some of them even had baseball bats over their shoulders. My knees and hands were shaking. I could barely sit.

I had to run, I needed to run, but I couldn't.

The men surrounded me, they pulled off my bag and nearly ripped me apart as they got my wallet. I couldn't find anything that I can use, and judging by their numbers, plain wits won't save me.

They punched me and pulled off my wristwatch. I fell to the floor, nearly blacking out. They were scurrying around my bag and fighting over what they found. I was gasping for air.

I thought that they were done with me so I pulled myself up and stood with all my strength, only to be punched back down. I felt like my eyes were going to pop. The pain was too much.

They all turned to me and got their weapons ready. My eyes widened as I saw one of them pulling out a gun. My body went hysterical. I leaned back onto the wall as if I could push it and held my hands up to cover my face.

I was going to die...

BANG!

I fell to the ground, weak, and probably getting weaker. I could see them fighting, some of them were running.

There was a woman right before me. She seemed around thirty years old with her black hair cut short like a boy's cut. She had a slightly dark complexion and was wearing black leather tights and a red backless and sleeveless tight-fit top. She had a pair of black bracers around her wrists and ankles. Tattooed on her back was the number six.

I had very little energy left, I couldn't move so I watched the woman.

She held her fist out and suddenly vanished. I stared intently. How did she do that?

"What just happened?" asked one of the gangsters.
"That's imp-" the man who said it fell to the floor. Soon after, the lady reappeared. By then, all the men had fallen.

"Presto." said a man that came from the deeper part of the alley, "you should know better than to step into my turf."

"I'm here with strict orders from Juego to deliver a package safely" she replied with a hint of rejection in her tone.

The man stepped forward and pulled a gun out.

"Let me pass, Verite" she said with a commanding tone. The man pointed the gun at her. Presto vanished again. The instant that she appeared, the man had his gun over his shoulders. It was pointed at the her.

"You know very well that I can follow your every step." the man threatened, pulling the trigger to reveal an unloaded gun.

Presto vanished again. This time when she reappeared, the man was holding her by the wrist.

"This is enough" he said, kicking Presto in the stomach. "It seems you seven swords aren't as strong as you think." the man mocked.

Presto stood back up and prepared to attack again. "Enough Presto, you are no match for him." said a familiar voice. A man entered the alley with one of his hands stretched in front of him. He walked slowly towards the woman.

Verite's eyes widened with fear as he saw Mr. Hogan standing before him. He pointed his gun at him and threatened to shoot.

Mr. Hogan flicked his finger and the gun suddenly vanished. The next thing I knew, I was watching a chess game. Among the pieces on the board were Presto, Mr. Hogan and Verite. Mr. Hogan and Verite were the kings and Presto was one of Mr. Hogan's rooks.

"I concede!" Verite begged.
"It's no use, the game has already begun." replied Mr. Hogan.

Mr. Hogan gestured for the knight at his right as his opening move. Verite shouted for mercy again and again. He refused to take his turn. A few turns passed and Mr. Hogan's knight slashed off Veirte's left arm. It was a signal of his loss.

"You will learn to respect any member of the Seven Swords, Matthew" said Mr. Hogan as the board vanished. Everything returned to normal and the damaged cement returned to its former state.

Verite ran deep into the alley cowering in fear. Why would he fear Mr. Hogan?

Then I noticed, he ran off with his left arm missing.

[archrae]

Potential
----------------------------------------CHAPTER 3----------------------------------------

The man was running away with his left arm missing. There was no blood on the ground, no amputated arm. How could that happen?

Presto helped me to stand. "It's best not to talk of this event ever again" she whispered. She aided me as we gestured to walk out the alley. Mr. Hogan didn't move an inch.

"Hold it" said Mr. Hogan, "You will speak of this event only to me." he told me. He had his dead serious expression on. His frighteningly serious eyes were staring straight into mine.

"Yes sir." I said as I pulled myself from his sight. Why did he suddenly turn cold? He walked pass us and left me with Presto. I decided that it would be best if I kept quiet about this happening.

"What should I tell my parents?" I asked.
"The truth" she replied, smiling.
"The truth?" I repeated.
"Yes. Just leave the substitute-teacher-with-special-ability-saving-you part out." she replied smiling.

Ignoring this would be quite difficult.

Presto helped me halfway home and I insisted to travel the rest alone. She vanished before I could even thank her.

I walked home, thinking of what just happened and how I could just ignore it. It was difficult to forget something so extraordinary like your substitute teacher saving you from death with some weird power.

I got to the front door and entered.

"Where were you? We were so wor-" my mom suddenly stopped when she saw my uniform soiled and ripped into pieces. She examined me quickly and found three bruises, a fracture, a few scratches, and...

I blacked out when my mom touched the back of my head. I had a large open wound there and it was still bleeding when I got home. I didn't know it, until now.


I woke up in a hospital bed at around 2:00AM. I was patched up and I had bandages around my head. I tried to move but, it was too painful. All I could do now was stay in bed and finish the designs.

I stayed in the hospital for four days and I finished the designs on the second day of my stay. By the time I got discharged from the hospital, I already learned how to make physical models of all the designs. I used rubber bands, and a lot of it.

The next day, I returned to school and Mr. Hogan was as cheery as when he first became our substitute teacher. It was as if nothing happened.

I entered his class and he pretended to be surprised. "What happened to you Mr. Nicholson?" he asked. Although I was discharged, I still had a cast on my right leg. It would take weeks for me to recover from that fracture. Every other injury was gone now except for the brownish mark of the bruises and the black spot around my left eye.

"I was mugged by some gangsters, sir" I replied cheerfully, "It was a good thing that a smart man rescued me that night." He became awkward but, only I could notice it.

"Well... Take your seat, we'll start class now." Mr. Hogan pulled out an erasable marker from his pocket and started the lecture.

I didn't pay much attention. I just fiddled with the rubber bands. It took me the whole period to finish the first design on my hands (yes, it took both of my hands to make the figure.)

The bell rang and everyone stood up to leave. I stayed for a few minutes to show the design around my hands to Mr. Hogan.

"Mr. Hogan" I called to him. He was pretending to be busy checking some papers. He didn't respond to my call. I took it upon myself to be impolite, seeing as how he is unto me. I slammed both of my hands on the papers that he was checking.

"What is wrong with you Mr. Nicholson?" he asked angrily.
"I wanted to show this to you." I held my hands up to show him the figure. He didn't show interest and returned to checking his papers.

For some reason, I suddenly became angry and slammed his table again. He was about to scold me when he saw the design on my hands shimmer. I was surprised. Suddenly, the rubber bands around my fingers broke apart and vanished into extremely small particles.

Not a second later, the table exploded into a floating cloud of tiny black particles. Some kind of energy was surging through it.

I tried to touch it but Mr. Hogan pulled me back and the particles fell to the ground. They were like metallic dust. My hands felt extremely warm.

"Did I do that?" I asked myself. It was a rhetorical question but Mr. Hogan took it seriously.
"Yes, you did that..." he was staring intently at the pile of metallic dust on the floor, "But, the question is, how?"

[ShastaBaer]

Splendid. ^_^

[archrae]

Another Introduction
----------------------------------------CHAPTER 4----------------------------------------

"What do you mean how?" I angrily asked.

He was still staring at the pile of metallic dust where his table used to be.

"Mr. Hogan! Listen to me!" I forced him to face me.

He stared at me and then commanded, "Call your parents, tell them you're staying overnight at your teacher's house for some review lessons."

"What?! This just happened and-"
"That's the reason why you need to call your parents!" he scolded me. He was serious now.

I called my mom. "Mom..." Mr. Hogan suddenly took the cellphone from my hands.

"Hello? Mrs. Nickels? Yes, this is Mr. Hogan, Castor's teacher in Algebra and Trigonometry. Yes, he needs to be trained, so can he stay with me for a few nights? Well, let's say, a few weeks."

"A few weeks?!" I angrily whispered. He gestured for me to be silent and he continued, "Yes, I'll ask my cousin to drop by and fetch his things for him. Alright... Thank you" His tone was cheerful and caring.

He ended the call and handed me the phone.

"A few weeks?!" I asked again.
"Yes, you'll need to learn how to control your abilities." He was serious again.
"And how do you expect to help me with that?!" I was angry again.
"You'll learn when we get there." He replied calmly.

I didn't put up a fight and went with him to... Wait...
"Where are we going again?" I asked. We're going to my cousin's. He was driving his black Nissan Versa. I was sitting behind him.

It took us an hour to get to his cousin's house. It was out of town and by the sea.

It was already dark when we got there but, the lights outside the mansion was bright enough to make you think it was daytime.

"You never told me your cousin was rich." I was amazed my such a mansion. It was beautiful.
"To be truthful, I own this place." he replied childishly.
"Ho, then you're rich!" I complimented him.
"Let's go in" he said as he rang the doorbell.

Ding dong.

The gates opened and the cold ocean breeze passed in front of me.

"Windsor!~" Presto suddenly appeared and hugged Mr. Hogan.
"Get off of me, Regine!" Mr. Hogan shouted, clearly irritated. "We have a guest!"

Presto release her tight hug and looked at me. She straightened herself up. "Please follow me" she smiled and walked into the gigantic front yard.

We reached an red intricately design double door. In the center - where the two doors meet - was a circle with several swords inside it.

Presto opened the door to show me through the house.

"I have one request, when we're here, call me Regine and call my cousin there..." she pointed at Mr. Hogan, "Fidie-puppy."
"Who told you to give me such a nickname?!" Mr. Hogan replied, again, he was irritated.

Regine showed me through the house and in all the rooms of the house, I found the same crest that I found on the main door.

"What is this place?" I asked.
"This is the Hogan family Mansion..." she soberly said, "when Windsor's and my parents died, Windsor offered this to be the Seven Sword's head quarters"
"The Seven Swords?"
"It's a small organization that was established from the original 'Swords.' It regulates gang activity in two cities, making sure that no civilians are harmed."
"When you say 'small,' how small do you mean?"
"The Seven Swords is called like that because there are only seven of us"
"How can seven people regulate the gang activity in two cities?"
"I can't tell you, but I can show you. Follow me."

We walked into a narrow hallway with doors on the right side and windows in our left. We entered the first room. Inside were different weapons, they were all hanging on the wall and looked like they were brand new and finely crafted.

"Hammer! I have someone here that I want you to meet!" she called to someone in the other half of the bid room.

A man came out from the other side. He had brown hair and was around the same age as Regine. He was fairly muscular and was around six feet tall.

"Who is it Regine?" he asked.
"This is Castor" she pointed both of her hands to me and smiled.
"Hello, nice to meet you, I'm Hammer, cal me Felix here" he smiled as he shook my hand, "You probably want to see what I can do?"

I nodded and followed him to the other half of the room. There was a bunch of scrap metal and rocks there. Felix walked towards one of the larger pieces of scrap metal and wrote an imaginary Korean character on the scrap metal with his finger. He grabbed the chunk of metal and it glowed. It morphed into a sturdy short sword.

To Be Continued...

[ShastaBaer]

Slight problem with this entry...

Mr Hogan calls Nicholson's parents and introduces himself as a teacher, says that Nicholson needs training, and asks if he can stay at his house. Not for an hour. Not for a day. For the next few weeks.
The parents are like, "Okay, cool, just pick up his stuff."

Would your parents like this? Mine wouldn't. In fact, they'd probably have him arrested for attempted child molestation.

I'd suggest that Mr Hogan makes up some kind of club/team and asks them permission to take Nicholson to it for the next few weeks. It'll also help explain the out-of-town part.

Also, in reference to Chapter 3.

A head wound just doesn't heal in four days. They would have kept Nicholson in the hospital for maybe a week to make sure everything was okay, and if it was large enough there would be stitches. Nicholson would have dizzy spells and things like that until it was healed completely (so maybe kept at home for a few days) and in no position to be banging on desks. And with the fractured leg, he'd probably have crutches, so he wouldn't actually be able to stand up except on one foot, and even then, he couldn't bang on desks because he'd probably overbalance.

Sorry for the delay. I don't know how I missed it the first time. XDD

Other than that, you're good to go! ^_^

[archrae]

sorry for the lack of clarification,

Firstly, I didn't write what Nicholson's parent said which was supposed to be, "Why? Is he joining another contest? Oh, yeah the national mathematics competition, right?"

sorry about that and the other one,

Nicholson actually has a fracture, his cast is placed above his ankle and is supported by a brace inside. Plus, there's also something in the continuation of chapter 4 that explains this.

Sorry if this lacked some explanation. xd

I hope you understand because I actually want the readers to be oblivious or find the flaws then, the answers on their own.

Sorry... It's my style biggrin

[ShastaBaer]

archrae

sorry for the lack of clarification,

Firstly, I didn't write what Nicholson's parent said which was supposed to be, "Why? Is he joining another contest? Oh, yeah the national mathematics competition, right?"

sorry about that and the other one,

Nicholson actually has a fracture, his cast is placed above his ankle and is supported by a brace inside. Plus, there's also something in the continuation of chapter 4 that explains this.

Sorry if this lacked some explanation. xd

I hope you understand because I actually want the readers to be oblivious or find the flaws then, the answers on their own.

Sorry... It's my style biggrin

Oh.
Okay.
Whatevvvs.(;

[archrae]

Chapter 4 continuation...

"Wow..." I said, "you can turn junk into high-class weaponry."
"That's not all" he smiled.

He gripped the sword with both hands and slammed it into a brick on his table. The brick was undamaged. He lifted the sword and the brick broke into blocks. The blocks floated around him, like mechanical horses on a merry-go-round.

The bricks paused in air. Felix pointed his short sword to an ax hanging high on a wall, and on of the brick blocks flew like a bullet towards the ax. A loud "clang" came from the impact but the ax was unscathed. The brick block on the other hand crumbled into dust.

Felix dropped the short sword on his table and the brick blocks along with crumbled one rebuilt itself into a single piece beside the short sword. He turned to me and smiled again.

"The weapons I make have different effects, depending on what I want them to have." he explained. He looked at Regine, I looked as well to see what was going on. They were exchanging smiles now, certainly, I missed the very short conversation.

Regine walked towards the door while Felix grabbed me by the shoulders to push me out the door.

"You still need to meet the others. Go on now..." he said pushing me out into the corridor, "you can see me again tomorrow" he smiled and closed his door.

Regine walked towards the next room. I was interested now.

"Who's in here?" I asked as she paused to turn the knob on the wooden door. She released her grip on the knob and leaned on the door.

"Ember" she replied with her arms folded, "It seems you're a bit more enthusiastic now." I rolled my eyes and she giggled a bit.

Regine opened the door to reveal a large empty room with a woman standing in the center, staring at the ceiling. Ashes covered the walls, floor and ceiling. It made the whole room literally, gray.

"Let me guess, she can burn things up?" I asked with disappointment clear in my tone.

Much to my surprise, Regine replied "no."

"Her codename is Shift" Regine grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her to face me, "she can duplicate anything inside or outside an imaginary boundary inside the confinements of those imagined walls."

Ember had a blind left eye. She looked like someone who was only two years older than me. She had fair complexion, a bit darker than mine. Her black hair was long enough to reach her shoulders.

She smiled at me and I smiled back. She was quiet. Suddenly, she pulled me towards a side of the room and said, "Let me show you what I can do."

She had a soft but high-pitched voice. I stepped back and she smiled at me again.

Ember raised her hand and breathed in. The moment that she exhaled, the ashes that covered the whole room vanished as weathered pillars rose from the floor. The floor turned into some sort of ancient rock and broken reliefs embossed from the walls.

I touched one of the pillars, doubtful if it was an illusion. I was seeing a portion of the Greek Parthenon bound inside her room. True enough, they were all tangible. Ember smiled and held her hand out in front of her.

"What are you doing?" I asked. Again, her only reply was a sweet smile.

She opened her hand, palm towards the ceiling. She inhaled and again, as she exhaled, Felix' ax materialized above her hand. She grabbed the handle and slashed the pillar nearest to her. The pillar crumbled into dust just like how the brick block did just a while ago.

I stared in amazement and looked at Regine. She tapped on an imaginary wrist watch as if saying, "we need to go." I looked at Ember who was also looking at Regine. She looked at me and smiled, this time her smile was a bit mellow.

"A welcome hug" she said as she dropped the ax and hugged me. I hugged back and she walked me to the door.

As I walked to the door, everything that appeared dispersed into ashes and circled the room, only to settle on the floor, ceiling or walls.

She waved at me as Regine and I walked out the door. I waved back as we walked to the next room. Her door closed slowly on its own.

"Who's in the next room?" I asked as we walked to the door.
"Irvin..." it was easy to know that Regine was irritated of this person, "codename Verander. He is a shape shifter."
"Nicely said." a voice echoed from the door.

The door suddenly had eyes and lips. "Hi. I'm Irvin" the door smiled mischievously. I waved at it and the door glowed bright. The rectangular shape of the door changed into a human silhouette. The light burst into small pieces and a twenty year-old man with short chocolate brown dreadlocks was standing in front of us.

He offered to shake hands with his left hand which was a crab's pincers. "No thanks" I said. He laughed and his left hand glowed bright and burst, what replaced it was a normal human hand.

I shook hands with him. I noticed that the number four was tattooed on his hand.

To be Continued...