If I can start over: A new world

VII. Secrets. Part 2

Back to the first memory.

I looked at my hands, touched my hair, took a deep breath. It was me, but according to Francesca, it wasn't, at the same time.

"It's not you, it's the material representation of your Geist." Francesca was trying to explain.

"What's the difference?"

"Your Geist works with energy. This representation is stronger, more agile, more powerful..."

"Physically?"

"Exactly. Only in this material representation of your Geist, which is called Wappen, by the way, I'm tired of saying representation..."

"I got it, continue."

"Only in this representation can you exercise your gifts, only the Wappen can charge and emanate energy."

"Why didn't you tell me before?" I c****d my head to the side, still looking down.

"If you overload, the same thing happens with a battery..."

"Ok, I understand. Thanks, you didn't tell me. I probably would have abused it." I looked at Vuk "What else can I do?"

"What are you asking me?" He shrugged. "You are supposed to find it out by yourself."

"And you to be the guide." I reformulated my ideas. "What else could I do?"

"That's the right question." He winked at me, which now in good view were a deep russet, like coagulated blood. "Do you want me to make a list for you?"

"What?" I smiled curiously. "How many gifts are there?"

"Enough to write a franchise. Let's start with the basics. You can jump in time and now, without realizing it, you can materialize your Wappen. Great, you learn fast kid, but it's a matter of having a good teacher," he laughed satisfied.

"I learned it on my own."

"The next thing," he interrupted without even noticing my voice "is to make yourself invisible..."

"If they can see me already, why would I have to make myself invisible again?"

"And of course..." he continued without noticing that I was speaking, as he surrounded me with every step he took. "Hurt other Geister."

"Why would I want to hurt others like me?"

"Believe me, child, there are only a few like you," he laughed to himself, like a personal joke that no one else understands.

"Few like me? What do you mean?"

"Not all Ratgebers are as friendly as your lady."

"He's right. I told you that each Ratgeber has different tastes, and is linked depending on what you are looking for, or how you feel about the Weltlich." Francesca explained.

"Every madman who wakes up from time to time attracts the worst kind of Berater."

"What is a >"? I had heard it before but wasn't paying enough attention to make sense of it.

"What are they," Vuk corrected me. "It's the plural for Ratgeber. If you think the language is complex, deal with old Gaul, kid. Your tongue isn't ready for that. "And he smiled again, pleased with himself.

"So let's say a psychopath wakes up his Geist, in that case he would attract a Ratgeber... wicked?"

"On the contrary." He kept walking in circles around me as if he were lecturing. "No one goes psycho without first waking up their Geist. They won't be able to jump in time, maybe, not all of us are born with that gift, but perhaps they were born with the gift of persuasion, ingenuity, silence, the ability to kill; the latter was very much in demand in my time, and became quite popular until recently, which is no longer used so much, at least not physically. Child, your gifts are different, but that isn't why you are special."

"I never said I was," I complained.

"That's the way I like it... self-centeredness isn't a good companion." He sighed and smiled. "You have an excellent teacher, boy." I think I could even feel Francesca's eyes turning.

"Then there is a mixture of gifts spread throughout the world," I sensed.

"That's right," he replied, always with that mocking laugh. "Very few awaken, but enough to wage a tremendous war with each other."

"A war? For there to be a war there must be sides."

"We continue with today's lesson. Invisibility." He continued to ignore me, no idea why.

"I think I do that pretty well already." I looked at him with spite. "Do you know something about it? I mean, the war he mentioned," I asked Francesca in my mind.

"It may be about Varick, a Jäger well known for the Alt order... but listen up. As charismatic as he may seem, Vuk is a Vormund, you will learn from him more than advice. It is much more than I can do for you."

"Bugs." He stood in front of me. "Your mind is your gift. If you think about it, it comes true."

"Is that it? Should I just think about it?"

"Try it." He took my arm and turned my body toward the kitchen glass. "If you succeed, your reflection shouldn't show there."

"Okay. Let me try."

I looked at my face for a moment. I fixed my concentration on the desire, the urge to be ignored, the longing not to exist. Nothing was happening, absolutely nothing.

"I don't understand," I told him. "I think about it over again, but it doesn't work."

"What are you thinking, kid?" He raised his wolfish grin to my face. "In a wish? Is it a woman in your head?" He came abruptly closer to me, putting his plump swinging fist to my face. "Or is it an impulse, perhaps? We aren't talking about theft or courage to lead, leave that to the young heroes who will die in battle. Think logically. That has helped you forever, my guess."

Logical way. The reflection caught by the eyes is basically the light that bounces off every surface it falls on. It's simple. If there's no light, there's no reflection, but I cannot cover the sun, so I will go for the simplest thing: if there's no rebound, I'm invisible.

I covered myself in mirrors then. I thought about changing my skin, for crystals that divide the light and let it flow through me. It worked impeccably, to my surprise.

"Perfect..." he smiled eagerly, apparently pleased with his achievement.

"How did you do it?" Francesca asked me. I explained the photoelectric principle and quantum theory to her. I could feel her nod and remember the classes she had attended with me in college, without my consent. "They were of some use to you." She joked. "And you made me win a bet."

"What do you mean?"

"One day you told me that... if I could figure out how you made yourself invisible, I could ask you whatever I want."

"I don't remember promising you that. If you still don't check, the bet is not valid." I smiled, I had won this time.

"Just remember it. You have always been someone of your word."

"Well boy, it seems they showed off when they put me with you. You're a machine absorbing lessons, and I… well, it's me, cool and nice." I was already getting used to Francesca's outlined eyes with every idiotic Vuk said. "Now, let's see, what sign are you?"

"Gemini."

"You knew it was Skopeo, an ancient Uralt, who designed the zodiac thousands of years ago... the guy could read stars. And he created a system to analyze the personality of each waking Geist, only naive weltlich still believe that it is made for them... idiots." He laughed heartily, choking on his saliva and clearing his throat until he spat on the ocher floor of the kitchen.

"I seem to have read about it. My sign is air, and according to Skopeo, I seem to be good at lying, learning, and socializing."

"Very well." He raised both eyebrows for a moment, in surprise. "The cub can read. Your sign is air, therefore, you can control the wind, precipitation, thunder, and tornadoes. With enough practice, you can take down Pompeii more effectively and faster."

"Is it the same trick as to make me invisible?"

"Yeah... something like that. But you'll be very tired every time you even try. You need to accumulate years, child."

"Why did Francesca say you would be tied to my Geist for the next century?" One word came up with the other.

"Because I have a hundred years to teach you everything I can."

"It seems too much, doesn't it? I mean, don't get me wrong, but in a hundred years I won't be here anymore."

"Just a moment ago you just spent two days. Three, when it strikes twelve. If you go back a hundred years, poof, that's it. I'm out of here."

"A hundred years ago?" I gulped.

"You can go back wherever you want, kid. If you change something that you shouldn't, you will only create a new timeline, it isn't strange, but it can be counterproductive."

"You can create caught in loops, as I explained, or remove yourself from some lines by accident." Francesca intervened.

"I understand," I replied to both of them.

"Well then, kid, you wanna practice your target shooting?"

There was noise in the distance. We both looked out of the kitchen, toward the north end of building two. The guy in the leaden shirt and the lobby mask ran with the Tampico can, full of gasoline. There was no explosion, so at least that had already changed.

"It's him again." Vuk looked at my backpack, open since I left the mask Junior had given me. "But your lycanthrope impression is in your saddlebag... What's going on here, boy? Who is that i***t?"

"I forgot to tell you that story." I ran out of the kitchen and caught up with him at the crossroads to building one.

"Hey, asshole ?!" I yelled at him. "Who are you looking for?!"

He fixed his gaze on me, a gaze filled with hatred and resentment. Suddenly, he dropped the jerrycan, pouring the little gasoline spilled into it. He raised both hands to his sides, bent, forming a double vein with his body, and with his fingers, like claws that contract and squeeze the oxygen in each palm.

From the darkness surrounding his back, a colossal beast suddenly appeared. It was at least ten feet tall, with purplish skin, full of wrinkles and uneven hairs randomly placed all over its body. It reeked of heck, and it was uglier than a mortal sin. He carried an iron mallet with a wooden handle slung across his back, supported by just one of those flabby and huge arms.

"Vuk… what the f**k is that?" I took a few steps back. Other than Vuk, I have never seen anything uglier in my life.

"That ... that's an ogre, Benjamin," Francesca explained to me, while Vuk was still staring at the beast with fervent… amusement.

"Ha!" I was startled by the sudden laugh from the Ewok. "I've fought bigger guys in years past. This is just one more wimp."

"Vuk, I'm one sixty-seven, and I'm taller than you..."

"No, you are not." Francesca intervened.

"Keep dreaming kid. You will never grow as big as Vuk."

Vuk came up to me and touched my shoulder, just like when he wanted to jump into the past. I felt the pull of energy again, but I still felt alive and energetic.

It would never have crossed my mind that Vucari actually means lycanthrope for the Slavs.