I'M NO ORDINARY MAN

Chapter 5

We were swirling faster and faster through the air. Suddenly, we fell on solid and moist ground. I got up and brushed the dirt that had grazed the left side of my sleeve. Damn! My white shirt had a brown stain on it.

I looked around. I was still alone and I wondered where in the world I was? From thin air, Jacque dropped and landed on me. I groaned as I pushed off my body.

Oops! My bad. My throw had sent him flinging through the air and land in a muddy patch. He got up, covered completely in thick mud. Jack and Rose popped into existence beside me.

‘Where are we, exactly?’ I asked looking around myself.

‘The diamond from the End Gods was supposed to help the possessor in a way unknown to the Sacred Land of Gods,’ Jack slowly sighed.

‘Well?’ I asked turning my gaze away. Something new had settled in my head. It was an uncomfortable feeling of semi - hatred. This Diamond was under my control, so why were they in here with me? I should be the only one who was to be here.

Then, I remembered Jacque and his mind – reading ability. I was careful enough to slip a hole in every in – between thoughts. I flashed a look at Jacque but he seemed pretty unaware of my thoughts.

I had to recreate the Shield of mine. But the question was, HOW? I had gotten the shielding ability directly from Jack. So, that probably meant he knew the way for it.

I closed my eyes as I felt myself floating away from the rest world. A familiar wind seemed to rise out from inside and spread around me. Then, I was back with the others.

I could see Jack's mind too clearly. I searched through his mind like a computer, searching for a missing file - the File of Creating Shields. I found in a matter of 2.53421 seconds. It was hard at first but I managed to get in, in the end.

Little did I know what I was actually creating at the moment. My mind buzzed but I chose to ignore it. A mysterious voice turned on in my head. I wasn't crazy but it was a voice and it sounded rather familiar.

‘The Shield Gift is a unique power given only to chosen vampires. It acts on positive thinking and vice versa, ‘

‘Jack... It's you, isn't it?’ I asked in an uncertain voice but there was no reply.

What just happened? I wondered to myself as I thought of the words the voice had told me.

For a second there, it had sounded like Jack's voice. My shield penetrating Jack's might have triggered some kind of link. But I doubted that Jack knew about this, and I decided that it would be better if he didn't.

'Happy things break the shield which reveals life, so sad things that means death would only reform it...' I wondered aloud.

'HUH?' cried Jacque and Rose too synchronized for a human to be able to do that.

Jack looked at me, confused.. I quickly closed my eyes before they realized what I was planning to do... I immediately thought of the same green lively meadow, only now it was on fire.

Black fire spreading over it and raging everything in its way. Dark hazes illuminated it, casting a ghastly view. It was all silence momentarily, as a chilling wind settled itself around me and stayed.

All of a sudden, a ball of golden light appeared and sucked Jacque, Rose and Jack into it. Then, it vanished as mysteriously as it had appeared. I whispered a short thanks to the voice that had helped me.

My surrounding was starting to change and revolve into another place. I was standing at the base of a mountain. My eyes readjusted and I could view the peak.

The only weird thing was the peak. It had a flat base instead of a peak. But still, it did look majestic. The peak was completely covered with layers of thick clouds and mist entwined together.

Strange enough, how could clouds and mist just get together? Barely had the question formed in my head, the Voice came back again. It sounded exactly as Jack's – the frequency, the pitch and everything.

‘This is Table Mountain, a main teleportation spot to all places,’

‘'That still doesn't explain the clouds....’ I told the Voice

‘The clouds and mist that you see is called The Twist. It was created a long time ago by a vampire named Maslow. This is a necessary precaution for this place is a sacred place of the End Gods. There are a lot of strange power that dwells within this place that ought not be disturbed. The Twist is not just anything. It can hurt anything, even vampires...’

‘How?’

‘The vampire Maslow, he gave his immortality to protect the Sacred Lands of Gods. Therefore, the End Gods have repaid his selfless act and allowed him to dissipate into The Twist itself. And there he will remain forever until the First h*******t,’

‘What am I supposed to do exactly?’ ‘You are destined to do great things... The power of The Twist will bend to you. For only a vampire who possesses at least four gifts including traces is able to take control over it,’

‘What do you mean by great things?’

‘I will tell you soon enough. But listen to me first, Christopher Lois. You will face things

way behind the line of logic,’

‘OK...’

Suddenly there was a rush of images in my head. Information began compiling in my head. From ancient world history until the modern world history. 1.2538959 seconds later, it was over.

I had all the knowledge in the world. All except the mysterious End Gods. Who were they? But I did know one thing though... I knew that Deliphio was one of them.

I scanned through everything in my mind, but I was disappointed to find that there were 0 results about the End Gods. I knew now where to go. So, how was I supposed to exit from the Golden Diamond?

‘If you don't mind, there is just one more thing the Diamond would like to offer to you. But in order for that to happen, It needs you to open your mind and allow the environment to settle within you,’

I did exactly that and emptied my mind. It was quite easy. Let me give you a rough idea of what it was like: ‘Hey brain! Empty and open your mind like The Voice tells you to’ . My mind just obeyed as it wandered off slowly into the surroundings. I could hear a cricket leaping into the air and landing on a patch of grass. The wind whistled, startling it and it leapt again.

There was a loud croak and a frog hopped out of the grass. The cricket was nowhere to be seen... I sensed the water flowing from the east and headed towards the west coast. I could feel the sun setting below the horizon?

Setting sun? My eyes popped open as I found myself in another forest. How did I know that? Well, honestly the whole place was covered in snow. I could see a house in the middle of the forest.

‘This is your First Challenge. Break the Force

Field that surrounds the house,’

I stepped closer to the house but as soon as I was close, an elastic wall of air appeared. This prevented me from entering. I looked up at the doorstep and noticed a crucifix pinned to the front door. Damn! Don't tell me that those ancient stuffs still work against vampires.

'Don't worry... The Crucifix only works partially, as in prevents passage for vampires of the Modern Age. It usually kills a vampire of the Ancient Age by first sight. Now break it, use your wits and a Gift awaits you within...'

The word ' Gift ' got me reeling as my mind quickly found the solution. I stretched my hand forward and released my Field - Shield, a combination of my shield and force field. It touched the surface of the Field and clung to it. In the next second, the Crucifix’s Shield shattered.

‘Congratulations! Your next challenge is to keep it clean and neat. Don't attract attention...’ All compliments to my vampire mind. The one thing that I adore about being a vampire is the fact that my mind never runs dry of ideas or suggestions... But, WAIT... What did the Voice mean by keeping ' it ' neat and clean?

I caught a whiff of a delirious smell. It was the scent that was enough to drive me mad, literally. The scent of only one thing - a HUMAN... I felt the snow starting to thicken so I pushed the door and entered. I could smell the heat inside but I couldn't feel it. A kettle boiled on the stove.

A perfect plan formed in my mind. An idea so simple that I could weaken my victim in a way that he becomes useless against me. I allowed part of my Force Field to encircle the kettle, making it twice as hot.

I flashed through the mind of the careless man in his room. Who would be stupid enough to leave their kettle on and fall asleep? At least shut it and heat it later on. Perfect, I thought as I focused on one small memory.

It wasn't actually small, it valued 8GB as I calculated it. It was too perfect, and I liked it that way. Perfection was the first thing that I liked now that I was a vampire. Everything has to be systematic, in a perfect order…