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CHAPTER 5 HAD UNDERGONE THE REPARATION PROGRAM: BATCH ONE

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A dim light penetrates Chase’s eyelids, prompting him to slowly open them in response.

‘What the?!’ He saw nothing, or perhaps he did not see. Wherever he looks, there is only deep darkness. He tries to open his eyes wider, thinking that they are still closed. ‘Ouch!’ He lifted a finger and felt for his eyes, accidentally touching the surface of his eyeball. ‘They’re open… am I blind?’

His query is instantly answered as a ball of white light erratically zips around him. He focuses his sight on the object, the only object that he could see. The sphere moves in an irregular way, making sharp turns at random intervals. The only thing that enables him to follow its movement is the stark contrast of its brightness with the pitch black surroundings.

Chase did not realise it before, but he could feel nothing underneath his feet. He tries taking a step, and his foot sinks into emptiness. ‘What in the world, what the hell is going on?’ He shouted, but no sound came out. Is there no sound, or is he unable to hear it?

Fear creeps up on Chase, being suspended and surrounded in pitch black emptiness is obviously not an everyday occurrence. He tries to scream again but not even a single note escapes his mouth. Try as hard as he could, only silence penetrates the void.

Drawing out his ten years of experience, memories of wetting his bed, Chase draws out the most logical conclusion that is available to him. ‘Okay, okay, calm down, this must be a nightmare…’ This surreal place, it could never exist in the real world.

‘Now, this is one strange nightmare…no ghosts... no anything except for this ball of light’ The floating globe provides some illumination for him, enabling him to see his own body. ‘I’m stark naked, oh come on not another one of these …’ He hates these type of dreams.

His body feels strangely light somehow, not that he lost any weight but… every movement he makes does not require much effort. It is as if his body is moving by the power of sheer will, not his reliable muscles and bones.

The mysterious sphere abruptly comes to a halt and stands immobile a feet away from his face.

‘This is not a nightmare, child, this is most certainly not a nightmare… and that is the only certain thing that I know of’ A voice spoke directly into Chase’s mind, bypassing the eardrums and going straight into his brain.

‘Wha-?’ Chase let out a startled response. ‘Who- what are you? Where am I?’ He let loose a couple of questions, not even sure that he could communicate without sound.

‘My identity is of no relevance to you at the moment, as for where you are… let’s say you are within my dream’ The voice cannot be determined to be masculine or feminine. It does not even sound human, but it is easy to understand. If Chase is told to describe it, he would be at a loss for words.

‘Y-y-your dream?’ Chase asked.

‘Yes, that would be the closest term’

Chase understands why he thought the voice was not human. It is awfully monotonous, as if the speaker holds no emotion.

‘More importantly, if you want to get out of here you have to answer my questions. There is no time limit, you may think as much as you like…’ It said. Chase eyes the globe uncomfortably, still not getting used to communicating with the mysterious… life form?

‘There is no distinction between right and wrong, just tell me what you think’

‘Q-questions?’ Chase blurted out, or was it inwardly since he did not outwardly say it?

‘If you do not have anything important to say, please be quiet and let me state the first question’ The voice haughtily dismissed Chase’s startled response.

‘If you were to choose between light and darkness, which one would it be?’ The first question.

Chase is dumbstruck after hearing the question in his mind. He still suspects this is a nightmare given the surreal feeling of the situation but he decides to calmly play along. It is very rare for him to have such a vivid dream.

‘What would you define as light and darkness?’ Chase asked the voice.

Chase has always taken as many factors into consideration as he could before answering any question. He could never answer such a vague question like the one that was posed without sufficient information.

‘Whatever you want to define it as, just tell me what you define it as along with your answer then’ The voice once again dismissed Chase’s retort.

Chase scratched his head, slightly frustrated with the sphere’s attitude.. He really hates vague questions like this, it nullifies a person’s critical thinking and forces people to dumb themselves down.. He gives it some thought and forms a thought to answer but he paused for a moment. Then he answered.

‘I would choose the light’

‘ Hmph, typical… any reason why?’ The voice asked in a bored manner, in terms of the wording it chose.

‘Well… You told me there is no right or wrong answers, but people usually have their own ideas as to what an ideal answer is when they pose a question. Even if I were to define what light and darkness is there is a possibility that you already have a firm idea planted in your mind as to what they are. So, I tried to reason out what you meant by them. Given the short time I took, I could attribute it to three things, good and evil, life and death or simply just light and darkness.’

‘… interesting, go on’ It said. Chase finds it hard to believe that it is interested, given how its voice is perpetually bored.

‘The world keeps itself in balance, that’s what I always thought. Men seek out women, warmth moves towards the cold, just to name a few examples. So I was about to answer that I choose both of them, but then I realised something. Only the light is needed for me to acquire both options based on all three definitions I came up with.’

‘Evil cannot exist without good. After all, on what grounds do you perceive evil if good never existed in the first place?’ Chase said. ‘Death cannot come upon those who never lived’ Is slaying the undead considered as killing them? ‘There cannot be shadows if there is no light’

‘Darkness is simply an absence of light. The light can give birth to darkness but the reverse cannot be done.’ That goes for all three definitions he came up with. ‘In conclusion, I chose the light because it amounts to choosing both light and darkness.’

‘……’

‘That was… unexpected, I take back my first impression of you’ The voice responded after a brief moment of irresponsiveness.

‘Thanks, wait, what?’ The implicit meaning behind the reply struck Chase. ‘You underestimated me, didn't you?’ He narrows his eyes at the ball of light.

‘……’

‘Next question’ It changed the subject. ‘Your answer pertaining to this question would determine if further questions are needed. Does brains beat brawns ?’

‘Another philosophical question…’ Chase rubs his chin, brows knitted tightly in consternation.

Chase does not dislike answering these types of questions given his upbringing. Years of poring over books had made him very different from normal ten-year olds.

Chase opens his mouth to answer, out of habit and not because of need. An interruption comes before he could give a piece of his mind.

‘Don’t ask what I define as ‘brains’ or ‘brawns’ or ‘beats’’ The voice said in irritation, perhaps.

‘I wasn't, now if you have nothing important to say, please remain quiet so I could answer your question’ Chase retorted back.

‘… cheeky boy’ It said impassively.

‘My answer to the question would be no.’

‘Your reason?’

‘I presume you meant knowledge and intelligence when you say brains, and brute strength when you say brawns.’

‘Sigh… why do you even bother stating the obvious?’

Chase ignored the comment. ‘I believe they are both equal, overwhelming knowledge and intelligence would beat brute strength while an unstoppable force would triumph over the mind’

‘Would you care to elaborate?’

‘What decides the outcome should brains and brawns are pitted against each other would be their level, or their… density, to put in another term’ He provides an explanation. ‘One must possess a higher level of intelligence than the opponent’s strength in order to beat them, and vice-versa. I suppose an appropriate example would be fire and water. Some would claim water can extinguish flames, but a hotter flame would turn water into vapour’

‘….’

‘No more further questions shall be asked, I am satisfied with your answers.’ The voice spoke again, this time with a hint of respect, maybe.

‘I have acknowledged you as my master’

‘Wait, what? Master? I don’t even know who or what you are!’ If this really is a dream, Chase worries for his own state of mind. He had read before about dreams being a product of one’s subconscious and if that is so… does he yearn to be called master, deep down? The thought makes him shiver uncomfortably, disgusted at himself.

‘I am the legendary weapon, ‘Equilibrium’ It announced. The revelation lost its impact due to its unchanging tone of voice.

‘Huh?’ Chase had read numerous books on magical weapons and the like, the name ‘Equilibrium’ was definitely not in the list.

‘A grand battle shall unfold upon Armus in the future, and I had spent decades searching for a new owner’ It launches into a narration befitting of a stereotypical story with a fated hero and a world that needs to be saved. ‘I must be wielded for the battle by someone worthy of me, and you fit the criteria’ It adds on the predictable line.

‘On what basis did you choose me? Why didn’t you look for some Legendary warriors instead?’ There are thousands, perhaps millions of combatants with far more experience under their belts… and Equilibrium here, mysteriously chose a ten year-old boy.

‘I am a weapon that grows in strength along with my owner, if I were to be wielded by someone who was already strong, I would be no different from a common sword’ Thankfully, it provided a passable explanation.

‘My body cannot move by itself, but my power allows me to see the world. So I searched all throughout Armus for promising youths. My search was in vain, none of them could give me satisfactory answers given their childish minds’ It clarified itself further. ‘Forgive me for underestimating you, I had been disappointed hundreds of times’

‘Wait, what? Is this real? I’m going to own a legendary weapon?’ Chase is bewildered with excitement after hearing the explanations. He finds it to be a bit anticlimactic somehow, acquiring it so easily but he would not do something as foolish as refusing to accept.

‘Where are you? How can I find you? Can you just appear by my side?’ His boyish instincts kicks in from all the exhilaration.

‘I can appear by your side whenever you think of me, but not yet.’ Equilibrium stated. ‘You would have to make physical contact with me and form a link first in order to complete the process of ownership even though I have acknowledged you’

‘You don’t have to worry about my whereabouts, the moment I accepted you as my master our fates were already tied together. You will come across me at an appropriate time in the future’

‘When would the ‘appropriate’ time be?’ Chase’s bubble of excitement was deflated, his shoulders drop down a little bit. The future is too wide of a scope, is it next month? Next year?

‘Once you possess the necessary strength to wield me’ It answered. ‘I mentioned to you before that those that are already powerful cannot bring out my true power, but I do need to be wielded by someone with some amount of power at the very least.’

‘Errr…. Define some’ He would try to acquire it, some power.

‘Master level in at least one weapon skill’

Chase adopted a downcast look as his head droops down. ‘Even my dad is only Advanced in dagger mastery and he’s been using them for twenty years’ He said dejectedly.

‘Now, now… Don’t you worry about the details… fate will take care of it. You will wield me in the future and that is now already a certainty that cannot be changed by any force in the world’ The voice spoke words of encouragement to the crestfallen Chase. The effect is dampened though, owing to its mechanical sound.

‘I shall bid you farewell now, master’ The voice trails off into the silent darkness, going further and further away along with its body of light.

‘Eh, wait! I have more questions!’ Chase reaches out his hand, as if to grasp Equilibrium.

The ball of light disappears and everything is plunged into the darkness once again. Chase opens his eyes and lifted his head off the study table. He rubbed his eyes groggily and starts to stretch, his back curling slightly.

‘Was that just a dream? Haha… at least it was a nice one, owning a legendary weapon… wait..what type of weapon is ‘Equilibrium’ anyway?’ He frowned.

The thoughts are pushed out of his head as he sees his father standing in front of him. Aaron Blackstone is holding up his bag that is full of goblin clubs on one hand and his blood-stained makeshift spear on the other. His expression is livid with anger, red as brimstone.

“Chase Blackstone, you and I need to talk, now.” Aaron said.

‘Here it comes…’

Chase hardens his resolve and prepares to confront his fuming father.

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A Bloody MeetingArmus Cheap Soap Opera