Chapter 8: Awakening

Cole awakes lost and confused. He wanders in a new land for a while, then discovers a group of ghouls. He escapes before meeting up with a team from the New Generation Pirates.

…

The mind confuses the needs of the body with its own needs because the mind needs to know, what am I? We live in this world of illusion, having no idea what we are. The mind creates all these questions. What am I, becomes the biggest question. Any answer satisfies the need to feel safe. The mind says, I am the body, I am what I see, I am what I think, I am hurting, I am bleeding. The affinity between the mind and the body is so close that the mind believes that, I am the body.

The body has the need, thus the mind says I need. The mind takes everything about the body personally because it tries to understand, what am I? So it is completely normal that the mind starts to take control of the body at a certain point. You live your life until something shakes you, allowing you to see what you are not. You start to become aware when you see what you are not. When your mind starts to realize that you are not the body.

Your mind says, am I the hand? If I cut off the hand, then I am still me? Then I am not the hand. You take away what is not you, until in the end what remains is what you really are. It's a long process of the mind finding its own identity. In the process you let go of the personal story, what makes you feel safe. You continue until finally you understand what you really are. You find you are not what you believe you are, because you never chose your beliefs. These beliefs were there when you were born. You find out that you are also not the body, because you start to function without your body.

Then you start to notice that you are not the dream. Then, not the mind. If you go deeper you start to realize you are not the soul either. What you find next out is so incredible. You discover that what you are, is a force. A force that makes it possible for your body to live. A force that makes it possible for your mind to dream. Without you, without this force, your body would collapse on the floor. Without you, your whole dream would dissolve into nothing. What you really are is that force, called life. Life is not the body, not the mind, not the soul, it’s a force.

Through this force a new baby becomes a child. It reproduces and grows old, eventually turning to dust. You are life passing through your body, your mind, your soul. Once you find that out, not with logic, not with intellect, but because you can feel that life, you find out that you are the force that makes the flowers open and close, that makes the birds chirp and fly. You discover that you are in every tree, animal, and rock. You are that force that moves the wind and breaths through your body. The whole universe is a living being that is moved through that force. That is what you are, you are life.

-Don Miguel Ruiz

...

Cole, weightless, falling into a never ending abyss. He looks around but only able to see black.

I will get through this. Thank you teacher, thank you. I will create a world where corruption does not stand. Where justice is pure.

His thoughts drift to Dimitri.

I should have been able to save him, but the injustice in this world is evil. I was judged based on my actions, and Dimitri was punished for it. I will bring justice with me wherever I go. I will overcome all the evil of this world with righteousness and understanding. I will change the world, no, I will change the universe.

Yet again, the soothing female voice whispers in his mind.

“Cole... Cole... Wake up Cole. It's time….”

Cole snaps awake in a hot sweat. His head pounding as he sits up. His mouth is dry.

What happened? Another dream?

Gradually he comes to his senses. He’s laying in a bright desert wasteland, void of movement. Only a few dead trees can be seen scattered about. The blistering sun shines on him, though his clothes damp from sweat.

“The bunker! Dimitri?! Where did everything go?!”

He gets up just to wander aimlessly through the desert. The bright light of the sun pierces the sky in a way he doesn’t quite comprehend. In fact the sun appears to be many magnitudes bigger now.

It's so big. So bright now...

Cole covers his eyes unsure if he’s seeing things. After a while, in the horizon he can see the top of dark green trees honing his course. He stumbles upon a small puddle in the dirt, then kneels looking at himself in the reflection. His hair has grown considerably creating a wild black afro.

What in the world?!

He touches his cheekbones, then looks down at his hands. His skin looks and feels different. His skin is darker as if he has been laying in the sun for days. His muscle tone has increased considerably as well.

Well, more muscle can’t be a bad thing, but if I just had the memory to go with it…

Confused, still without answers, he continues wondering. After hours of marching to the distant trees he stumbles into a desolate ghost town. He shouts for survivors until he turns dizzy.

“Helloo!!?”

The terrain is dilapidated giving into the overgrown vegetation. The new life has become aggressive, claiming the buildings with prejudice. Cole’s attention turns to the terrain causing him to take a moment of awe. The plant life seems to have taken on a life of its own. The trees have grown to enormous sizes not seen since the dinosaurs. He wasn’t aware of their size when they were so far away. Various white flowers have bloomed as wide as hula hoops. Thick vines with enormous leaves cover the buildings, carving into the brick. A wild rat with three eyes and the size of a terrier scurries across his path. He jumps in response, “What the hell was that!”

Suddenly Cole is confronted by subtle inhuman groans. Frozen by the terrible sounds, he watches as thin decayed bodies rise from the rubble of the town. They must have once been human, but died long ago. They seem to have lost most of their muscle tone due to being dormant. Black crystalline dust coats their skin. For some, small back crystals appear to be growing out of their skin. More ghouls continue to creep from the surrounding buildings shaded doorways. Their bodies strain to move against their stiff joints. With a series of cracks and screeching sounds a group of ten ghouls break into their newly active joints. With a great ferocity they rush towards Cole.

Cole recognizes the danger immediately. These creatures obviously don’t have good intentions. He turns running towards the nearby forests by the edge of the town. His only hope is that he can find some cover to hide. As he enters the edge of the forest the long grass reaches out wrapping around his foot. He falls on his face not ready for the sudden stop. The grass is alive, slithering its blades. It continues to pull him down wrapping around his arms and legs, immobilizing him. With pure strength and adrenaline he rips his arm away from the grass, then pulls free the rest of his limbs. Terrified by this vicious vegetation he continues to run, making sure to dodge any plants that could grab onto him.

“This has to be a dream! Please let me wake up!”

He can hear the creature's footfalls following behind him with increasing speed. Their groans turn to ravenous screeches.

This isn't good. They’re catching up to me!

Cole accelerates his speed fully motivated with fear of his life. Two of the ghouls fall into the same grass that had just captured him. They screech ensnared in the trap. The powerful grass constricts, pulling them into the ground for a feast.

With a shocking realization Cole discovers the fact that he’s running faster than he believed to be humanly possible. His hair cracks like a whip in the air. His feet feel lighter than they ever have before. Instead of having to push his body to move, it feels as though he’s being manipulated by an unknown force. He’s gliding, just skimming the surface of the ground. Believing that he’s dreaming, he comes to a stop kicking up a cloud of dust. Enthralled by this amazing feat, Cole allows for one of the ghoul creatures to catch up with him. It lunges with its claw-like hands.

Cole throws his arm up to defend himself. A ripple in the air, then a sword like slash emanates from his hand cutting the creature in half. It stands for a moment, then as if out of a cartoon the two halves of the body fall to the ground with black blood spraying in all directions. Understanding that something extraordinary just happened he stares at his hands questioningly.

I did that, with my hands?

To test his theory he walks up to a nearby boulder then swings his hand in the same fashion as he did for the ghoul. The boulder sits silently for a moment as though nothing happened. Then a creaking sound cries out from the boulder as it breaks in two halves. Cole is elated thinking that now he can actually defend himself. He turns to face the creatures that mean to kill him.

He shouts and charges toward the pack of ghouls, “I’m not afraid of you!”

As each one gets within arms length he makes the same slashing motion. One by one Cole cuts them down. The final ghoul approaches, Cole lunges towards it screaming, "You want a piece of this punk! Then have the whole thinnnggg!"

He thrusts his hand in a spearing fashion. His hand shoots through the creature's stomach all the way through its back. It screams while clawing Cole’s shoulders, pulling itself closer to him. It flails attempting to take a bite out of him. Cole lifts his hand up through the creature's head, slicing the creature in two. Small black jewel fragments spill out from the torso of the body. Cole bends over with his hands on his knees panting from his exertion. He looks at the jewels thinking to himself, These crystals were in its body?

When he looks up he discovers a group of five men. They are just standing, staring from a distance. One man slowly walks in front of the group towards Cole. He’s strange, staring at him intensely with a grin. He’s blond wearing a fedora and a tight fitting long sleeve black jacket with what looks to be two coiled whips hanging from his hips.

“Looks like we found another brother, boys!” calls the man back to the group.

The men laugh roughly. Cole can’t help but feel he’s met these strangers before. He’s presented with a sense of comfort from them as if he was saved.

The man speaks with authority, “My name is Blazer. What’s your name, and how did you survive?”

“I’m Cole, and I don’t know.”

“Don’t be coy with me. What do you mean you don’t know? I mean what’s your power?” questions Blazer, pointing his finger at the defeated ghouls.

Cole looks down at his hands covered in thick black blood.

Power??

The rough band moves in closer. Cole questions Blazer, “Power? What do you mean power? But really I don't know how I got here or where I am. Have I lost it?”

Blazer motions to the men stopping them in their tracks then replies, “These are my accomplices, Kid Cannon, Toxic, Rush, and the big guy is Thunder. We were watching you fight those drones. I have to say, we thought you were going to die until you started unleashing that badass power of yours. Now come on, tell us. What’s your power? Some sort of telekinesis?”

Again Cole can’t shake it, that odd feeling of knowing you forgot something. He thinks to himself, They were watching me this whole time? They were going to let me die?!...

Cole rapid fires questions, “Do I know you guys? How did I get here? What’s going on? What’s wrong with the sun? What were those things that attacked me?! The last thing I remember was the KillShot, and, and a bright light. What happened to my nephew?! Where is everyone, everything?!”

The men laugh as though they are in on a secret joke. Blazer retorts, “Whoa whoa slow down man! What, do you have some sort of amnesia or something? The Event happened a long long time ago. I would say, oh boy, probably about ten or eleven years ago now?”

“The Event?”

“Ya man, you know, the solar flares, and the end of the world that followed? At any rate that doesn't really make a difference. We saw what you can do and we want you to join us.” Blazer continues laughing then says, “Sorry don't take it personally. We were going to step in and help you. No really we were! We just wanted to see who you were before we stepped in. We are part of a group called the New Generation Pirates. We control the territory around here. We were about to run a mission, then we found you.”

Blazer walks over looking at the corpse that was destroyed by Cole’s spear attack. He bends down picking up a few of the black jewel fragments, putting them in his pocket. Once secured he continues his speech, “As for where we are… Well, I guess that depends on your perspective on things. I like to say that we are in what's left of Utah. Although many others would have you think that we are actually in an afterlife of some kind.”

Cole cries wildly, “The afterlife? Ten years ago? Holy shit! I did die!?”

Blazer replies, “Yes, eh, well we're not exactly sure. Probably? I mean if this is the afterlife then why does it seem so post apocalyptic? If this is heaven, or hell, it's nothing like I expected. Maybe this could be explained by some weird genetic mutations from the radiation, like the overgrown plants and crazy animals? Meaning that we truly are still alive on planet Earth, and this is just life after it was known. On the other hand, I have run into some interesting things that I know never existed in the old life. So this could just be the next dimension where our souls ended up, but I like to think something else is going on.”

“Like those monsters that were chasing me?”

“Sure, that's a good example, and your powers, and, other things... Now, you should come with us. We think that we can help answer some of your questions.”

“Do I have a choice?”

“No, not really. Think about your options right now. You are in the middle of nowhere. You obviously have no idea what is going on, and we're inviting you to come with us back to the closest thing to civilization you will find nowadays. At least we are giving you the option to walk with us as equals.”

Toxic skoffs in the background with his distorted voice created by the mask over his face, “Phfff, equals...”

Cole replies to Toxic, “Why are you wearing that biohazard suit?”

“Don't worry it's for your protection, not mine.”

Overwhelmed by everything Cole shrugs, saying, “Dejavu it is. Lead the way.”

He follows the men with the undeniable feeling that he’s met these men before.