Chapter 22

As soon as the link established he felt the ball of energy in his chest call to him. Focusing on the ball in his chest he felt like it was calling to him, his consciousness was being pulled towards the ball of energy.

Nate entered the ball and appeared inside a large grey colored room. Grey light streamed in through the windows lighting up the grey scenery. There were grey chairs and a grey altar right next to him. Everything was grey.

“What the hell?” He said aloud.

“Welcome to your soul!” A loud booming voice cause him to jerk his head back.

What met his eyes made his heart beat furiously. One of these days he’d have a heart attack if he didn’t find a way to stop being so afraid of everything.

Before him stood a seven-foot giant that was rippling with muscle. It was humanoid but its skin was violet. It wore crimson colored clothes and the double-spiral horns on its head were gold-colored.

“W-who’re you?” Nate couldn’t help the quiver that sounded in his voice.

“I am you.”

“You’re a demon…”

“So I am…”

“But I’m human.” Nate responded, confused by the demon’s behavior.

“Are you?” The demon said with the right side of its mouth curling upward.

Nate looked at the demon in the eyes, he couldn’t help feeling like this demon was messing with him. The demon suddenly broke into a smile.

“Relax son, I swear you look just like your mother when your angry.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Your soul finally established a link with the NetherRealm, surely you understand you’re not a normal human?” The demon said raising one eyebrow.

Nate’s greatest fears were realized. He was a demon.

“You look as if the world ended.” The demon snorted.

“Demons are pure evil, now you’re telling me I’m one of them?!” Nate still had anger in his heart for the demon that slaughtered his whole family.

“Ah you humans and your misguided perceptions. You know who’s truly evil? Your human mother when you stand between her and strawberry ice cream.” The demon chuckled. Seeing Nate was in no joking mood, he sighed before sitting down on one of the pews.

“Listen kid, I’m projecting my image into your soul but it’s not going to last forever so I’ll make this quick.” The man waved his hand and a grinding sound came from behind Nate.

Nate turned around and looked at the altar. Out of the alter, two items began rising to the surface. “The black box on the right is a magical artifact made by your mother. The item on the left is the God’s Javelin technique, unique to our clan.”

“I’m not in your clan. You’re not my dad, matter of fact, you said this was my soul. How the hell do I kick you out.” Nate snarled turning back to the demon.

“Projecting oneself to another’s soul takes a lot of power, too much power in fact. Nobody can do it.”

“Then how— “

“Let me finish.” The demon continued cutting Nate off. “The only exception is when projecting to someone you share a familial bond with. The stronger the familial bond, the less energy it takes. Although, it still takes quite a lot. Its why your mother couldn’t be here, humans are often weaker when compared to demons.”

Nate gulped. He didn’t want to believe what he was hearing but a part of him already believed it. It would explain his telekinesis and why the ghosts kept calling him a demon. “If that’s true, if I’m really your son then why did you abandon me?”

The demon sighed. “Look Nate, your mother and I, we aren’t exactly popular amongst our people. She had some rather novel ideas when it came to magic, ideas the White Council deemed demonic in nature. When they ordered her arrest, she fled to the NetherRealm. That’s when I first met your mother and fell in love.

The only problem was I was engaged to be married. A demon prince rarely marries for love, and the woman I was married to was part of a very powerful clan. When I refused, my clan tried to imprison me, and kill Talia, your mother.

We fled, and when you were born we had people after us so your mother crossed over to the human world and put you up with a family that could care for you.”

Nate sat down on the steps of the altar. All this information was a shock. The demon could’ve been lying to him but a part of him was already convinced. Kiru said a human couldn’t use telekinesis, that only demons were capable of such a feat.

Another thought made Nate pale, he looked up at the demon. “The demon who attacked my family… was it after me? Did it know I was your child?”

The demon looked at Nate with a pitiful expression, “Demons crossover wherever the barrier is weakest. Your family wasn’t targeted for any reason other than dumb luck. Don’t put it in your heart Nathaniel.”

Nate jerked up when he heard that name. Only his mother called him Nathaniel, everyone else, even his dad called him Nate. That’s also when he realized he never told the demon his name. “How do you know my name?”

“Your mother named you Nathaniel.”

The demon watched as Nate battled with all the conflicting emotions within him. Sighing, the demon stood up. “My energy is depleting. Just remember this son, not all demons are the same. We are a whole race after all. Just like humans there are good ones and evil ones. Don’t reject your race just based off one bad seed.”

Nate looked up and saw the demon smiling at him kindheartedly. “Goodbye son, I hope to see you in the NetherRealm one day.” He said before his image faded.

Maybe I am a demon but that doesn’t have to change anything. At the end of the day I’m still me. Nate realized he’d grouped all demons into the same category but the demon he’d just spoken to didn’t seem all that evil.

That’s when Nate realized he didn’t even know his father’s name. Your father is Michael Walker, killed by a demon! A part of him shouted. Nate struggled with the complex emotions within him. On one hand, he loved his family, the ones killed by a demon. On the other he wanted to learn about his biological parents, but deep down it felt like he was betraying his family.

“Ahh! Screw it!” He shouted, rubbing his head and banishing the thoughts. Standing up he looked around the church and briefly wondered why his soul appeared to him like this, did this church hold significant meaning? Turning around he looked at the two items on the altar.

Nate picked up the violet colored book named, “God’s Javelin”. He briefly flipped through the pages hoping it would show his father’s name. Biological father, not real father. He reminded himself. There was writing in the book but it didn’t name anyone specifically. He wouldn’t find his father’s name here.

Putting down the book he turned to the black box. The black box looked like a giant dice, it even had holes on the sides and on top of the box. The holes were designed in weird patterns, Nate picked up the box and tried to look inside one of the holes but it was pitch black.

I can feel nothing from the box, even my telekinetic abilities can’t see inside it. Nate was intrigued. Picking up the box he went over to one of the pews and set the box down on his lap. Using his mental energy, he envisioned several ethereal hands reaching out to the box and probing the many holes on the box.

Nothing happened. Nate realized four hands weren’t enough to cover all the holes. Instead he split the hands into many threads, each thread entering a hole. There were a hundred and one holes in total. It took the upmost concentration on Nate’s part to split his mind to control a hundred and one threads at the same time. Slowly he began placing each thread in a hole. It was difficult because every time one thread entered a hole, focusing on the next hole would make that other thread slip back out of the hole.

It was like trying to move one’s toes. Most people could move their fingers separately. But the toes were difficult to move separately, apart from the big toe, most people couldn’t move their smaller toes without the other toes following.

For what felt like hours Nate focused on the many holes. Finally, he managed to put each thread into a hole. The box shimmered, suddenly Nate’s threads of mental energy were sucked into the black box.

“Ahhh! Fuck!!!” Nate felt like his brain was being pulled and twisted apart as the black box pulled on the threads. It felt like the pain lasted an eternity before the top of the box finally opened.

Nate closed his eyes and rubbed his head trying to sooth the pain. He realized it wasn’t the box that caused him pain. When he split his mind to try and control the hundred and one threads of mental energy he barely had a grasp on it, when the box began pulling on those threads it was like his mind was being pulled in a hundred and one directions.

Looking down at the box Nate saw another book with a yellow sticky attached on top. Nate reached in and lifted the yellow sticky. It read:

Dear Nathaniel,

As I write this you’re still just a little baby in my stomach, but know that I love you. I wish I could’ve taken care of you, loved you, watched as you grew into a fine young man, but I’m afraid fate has decided to keep us apart. Just know one day we will be reunited.

With all my love,

Natalia Prescott.

Nate looked at the note, re-reading it several times. “Natalia Prescott, my biological mother. Huh.”

…

The clouds flashed with lightning before a streak of lightning reached down towards the earth. The ground shattered where the lightning struck, scorching the earth. Kiru was standing on the scorched earth as lightning ran up and down his body.

Standing before him was a large mountain. As he went close to the mountain Kiru began chanting and waving his arms. The spell completed, the large mountain faded from view as a whole city was revealed. Around the city were groups of men in brown colored robes discussing something.

“What’s got the earth mages so bent out of shape?” Kiru wondered aloud. He would’ve went to ask but he was in a hurry, he had to report to the Grandmaster right away. Without sparing the earth mages a second glance, Kiru sped through the city.

At a glance, Albacore city was like most human cities. But if people looked closely the would find some humans with sharp pointy ears, other humans with short stature, and many other humanoid creatures of all shapes and sizes that weren’t exactly human.

Although these different races weren’t human, they were able to remain on the human side of the barrier because of their contribution. Those who didn’t contribute or where malicious to the humans would be banished to the NetherRealm without fail.

Kiru sped towards the tallest building in Albocore city. The Mage tower was the tallest building in the world, the human world anyway, spanning up to four thousand feet. Mage tower was home to every human mage in the world.

Entering the lobby Kiru saw a lot of hubbub as groups of people gossiped amongst one another. Kiru wondered what was going on. Something big must’ve happened recently for so many mages to gather here. He couldn’t hold it any longer he went over to one of the groups and asked: “What’s going on?”

A brawny man looked at him in surprise. “You haven’t heard?” He said in a thick Russian accent. The Russian man continued when he saw the blank look on Kiru’s face. “Talos has struck again.”

Talos! Kiru nose flared in anger at the mention of that group. Corrupted mages who deviated from the path and threw in with the demons. Traitors, all of them. “Who?” Kiru said in a low whisper.

“Natalia Prescott.” The Russian man said, barely masking the fear in his voice.