Chapter 143: Journey

My rod was nearly ripped from my loose grasp as I got a bite. “son of a…” Standing up and grasping the rod with both hands. Paul jumps up from his seat, taking the fishing rod in his hands and helping me. The strength he displays startled me, as I feel the pull weaken tremendously.

With the added aid, I have enough wiggle-room to slowly reel the fish in. Letting the rod go slack, then reeling, and going through all the processes of fishing. It would be a nightmare without his help. Eventually, the fish breaks through the obscured water into the light. A black mammoth of a fish, grey tusks with a bulky front-heavy spine; it is a monster among fishes.

Once it reaches the edge of the dock, Paul turns to me. “I am going to grab it, hold the line.” Bracing myself, he lets go. Feeling the force suddenly increase, I am nearly yanked off my feet. Leaning back, almost falling the process, just to hold the line.

Paul pulls out a spear… from somewhere. Like lightning, he jams the spear through its head. Pulling it into the air and over his shoulder like it weighs nothing. The pulling force is gone; my hands crumple, and I fall back.

“Dude, how the hell can you carry that?”

“Strength specialist for my clan.” He says, noble-looking with that mammoth over his shoulder.

“You know, let’s duel after this.”

“Nah, don’t wanna hurt ya.”

“Trust me, I will be fine.” Accepting no arguments.

He sets the giant fish down, allowing it to disintegrate, leaving its items. “We got lucky, a bloody mature Grey Door fish.”

“What does it drop?”

“A spine for swords and some tasty meat.” He says with a toothy smile.

“How is the spine used.”

“Switch out sticks with it.”

“I see, that is interesting.”

As he said, a spine and half a stack of Grey Door meat were dropped. I took the bone in hopes of making something cool with it.

After having divided up the items, I turn to Paul. “Okay, let's duel.”

“Ya not gonna let it go?”

“Well, if you absolutely don’t want to, I won’t push it. But I want to fight someone worth a damn. Boss fights are life and death; you are a friend. Can we spar, please?”

He sighs, “Okay.” He throws me a wooden staff. I am already in my armor, so I take a stance.

He slowly approaches, walking with careful and controlled steps. Putting my guard up, I am surprised as I hear a loud bang. He used his immense strength to launch himself like a bullet at me. My armor gives me superhuman reflexes, allowing me to dodge, but only by a hair.

While leaning back, dodging the chest strike. I hit back with my wooden staff. The strike missing the chest, striking too low.

The strike caused him to wince in pain; as he steppedsteps back. His backward movement, far slower than his burst movement.

He looks at me, measuring me. “That’s a surprise.” He says, looking at me with respect.

This time, he moves faster. Sprinting towards me with his long legs. He suddenly bends his knees, almost crouching. Using his right leg, he launches right. Striking the earth to my left side. Turning, I see him heading towards me like a bolt of lightning. Pulling my staff up, I take a full strike. The force of the strike caused me to fall over. Unhurt, due to my resilient armor, but it doesn’t stop all the force.

“Don’t take your strikes head-on, lesson learned,” I say with a laugh, getting up.

He smirks, crouching down. He starts to use heavy steps to launch towards me. Moving left and right erratically. Using his sidewards force, he strikes towards me. I dodge the ones I can, allowing a few to strike glancing blows. His movement allows his strikes to be overwhelming.

Eventually, unable to fight back, I am pushed back with a heavy strike. I didn’t fall over, but I felt the force behind it.

“Damned turtle.” He shouts with a smile.

“Me, a turtle. Okay, let me go on the offensive.” He just rolls his eyes.

Walking forward, I move into a jog.

He falls into a low stance, eyes trained on my staff. Once I am only a few meters from him and he rears back to strike, I fly up. Flipping over him, I dodge his strike. He turns around with a spin, using the momentum to attempt to bat my head. I rise up into the air, dodging his attack. He is now overextending, allowing me to strike at his body. I get a clean hit on his shoulder.

Flying away, I see him cradle his shoulder. “I hate fliers.” He says with venom. He loosens his shoulders, jumping up and down. “wanna fly, well I will jump.” And with that, he launches into the air, striking with his hand, causing a loud thundering clap. His hand pushes off the air, causing him to move through the air.

From the air, he strikes down at my stunned self. Bewildered at his air movements, leading me to struggle in dodging. Falling back rapidly as he aggressively follows me. Using both the land and air interchangeably. His movement erratic and aggressive, causing me to overextend in attempts to block faints.

And all of a sudden, he strikes me with a mountain of force. Sending me flying across the floor. Getting up, he looks surprised. “How ya still standing?” He asks me.

I knock on my invisible armor, “got armor on.”

“That’s cheating.”

“I have a weak human body.”

He thinks for a moment; before speaking. “Get a better body.”

“Trust me, I am working on it. I do have a better body, but it is too valuable to risk.”

“You have more den one bod?”

“Yeah.”

“Cool.”

“I will show you sometime.” Walking towards him, I hold my hand out. “It was a good spar, thank you.” He looks at my hand with a confused expression. Resisting the urge to facepalm, “you shake my hand. It is a sign of respect and honor.”

He nods, grasping my hand with a little too much force. I slowly shake. Laughing slightly at the Endermen and his attempts at going with the flow. “Don’t worry, you will get it someday.”

Letting go of his hand, I speak. “Gotta go, got a trip planned; see you soon.”

“Got ya, see ya,” Paul says, waving me off.

I take this as my chance to teleport home. The momentary pang of concern as I teleport home; “am I teleporting too much?”

After thinking for a while, I determined it pointless to worry about. From what Paul has said, it is far too late. I just hope only enderman get attacked. I know it is wishing harm on another, but I personally don’t want to be attacked for the rest of my life.

Suddenly, my phone rings. I see Paul’s name come up. A simple message, “test.” Followed by, “ya, it sent, works cross dimensions.”

I reply, “good to know.”

I see that it is currently 12:30 pm, best head to Jengal’s.

Opting to walk towards his, given the fact I will be away from Flo for a while. While walking, I sentsend a message to everyone who needed to know that I am going on this trip. The phones make sending information to people far easier. Looking up, I notice a lot of passing people have their phones in hand. Eyes glued to the screen like zombies, “it has already started.” Chuckling at how similar this place is becoming compared to my world.

I got a few people staring, but I was fine until someone shouted, “look, that’s Aeternum.” And that is when I teleported away, only catching a glimpse at the coming wave. Not having been far from Jengals, I can see the wave of confused people looking for me. I had to stop myself from breaking into laughter as the mass disperses in confusion. Distracting myself by knocking on Jengals door.

It opened quickly, “hey, Aeternum, ready to go?”

“Yep, I am ready.”

“No bags?”

I take out my golden bag around my neck. “Has everything I need.”

“I see.” Suddenly I remember something, handing him the needle with the super serum inside. “That’s the needle with the genetic enhancements within. When you are ready to use it, just plunge it into your arm and release the liquid.”

He takes it carefully, bringing it to his eye and looking at it. “It looks like blood.” He says.

“It is blood, my blood. Don’t worry, it has been treated using centrifuge; it is safe.”

“I see.” He says, putting the syringe on the side.

I walk inside, seeing a massive pile of bags haphazardly placed to the side. “I see you packed.”

“Yep.” He says as he walks around the tripping hazard.

“Planning to move to the capital? That’s a lot of bags.”

“We are staying for a month. No point making such a long journey and only staying a few days.”

“I see.”

“Don’t worry, we know you can head home at the drop of a hat. You don’t have to stay for that long.”

“Sure you don’t want me to whip out the Tardis and teleport us there?”

“We have spoken about this. You need to slow down. After this trip, focus on a task that will take a long time. You have been running around like mad; I and Cassie agree.”

“Fine,” I say in annoyance.

I hear an audible tut as his mother walks into the hallway. “Don’t be like that; we are lovely company.”

“Of course,” I say with a hint of ass kiss.

“We plan to give out the phones in the capital. Really get the distribution kicked up a notch.”

“Sounds good; I was thinking of doing the same in the end.”

“Who would use it in the End?”

“Endermen, duh.”

“They can use phones?”

“You realize they are as smart as me and you.”

“No way.”

“Remind me to introduce you to Paul.”

“Who is Paul?”

“An enderman.” Handing him a Polynesia charm. “That is pretty much a universal translate, outside of human tongues.

He accepts it, hanging it around his neck, “Cool.”

“With that, you can talk to Endermen, or as they call themselves, Rozmer.”

“I see, thank you.”

“No problem.”

“Come sit down; it is time for dinner. We need a big meal before a journey.”

Unable to say no, I comply. Watching as his mother walks into the kitchen.

“Do you never cook?”

“Not after setting the kitchen on fire,” he chuckles.

“How did you even do that?”

“Wanted to fried eggs. Didn’t realize oil could combust when it is superheated.”

I just lightly facepalm, hiding my eyes. “What did you do next?”

“Pour water on it, of course,”

I then lightly bang my head onto the table. “I see why you don’t cook.”

“Mum, said I need a wife that can cook, otherwise I would burn the country down.”

His mother returns to the room. “That is right, damned near burned the house down.” She says in annoyance. Setting down a massive plate of bread and steaming potatoes. “Fill up; we got a long journey ahead.”

“Mother of carbohydrates!” I say in disbelief.

“Mother of what?” Jengal says with a full mouth.

“Doesn’t matter, why so much potato?”

“Fills you up; we won’t eat much until sundown during the journey.” He says, huffing as he eats a hot bit of potato.

I dig into the lightly seasoned potatoes. They were plain but nice. Slightly sweet, it is spring after all, which was nice. I ended up eating far less than Jengal, feeling like I am about to explode.

“Eat more; you will need it,” Jengal says.

I force down a few more bites, wincing in pain. “Can’t eat anymore; otherwise I will die.”

Jengal just mutters “lightweight.”

“Remind me to get you some End wine,” I say with a laugh.

His mother walks in, “carriage is here; let us get the bags on it.”