Daniel Xander, Chapter 4: A Passage to Anoterose

"Come on," said Smith Baker's voice, oddly calm, "let's get you up." Daniel hadn't seen him walking up to him, but maybe, that was because tears were streaming down his eyes. He stretched out his hand. Eyes watering, Daniel stood up, grasping Smith's hand briefly. As suddenly as that, the pain went away. He felt amazing, infact. Breathing easy, he turned to Smith who was looking at Nathan with a frown.
"Sorry about this Kyle," he said to Nathan, "but you know I have to put my foot down if you try hurting a semi mortal assigned to you."
Nathan stood there speechless. His arm was still raised, and he wasn't even blinking.
"Umm, is he alright?" Asked Daniel, with more confusion than concern.
"Yes," said Smith looking thoroughly displeased, "I had to use my Imperium on him: time manipulation." He sighed and said, "I used it to rewind your injury as well. I have slowed him down times one million."
"Meaning?"
"He is a million times slower than his average speed."
"Oh." Daniel was still too angry to really care. Maybe, one day he would ask for the specifications of Smith's Imperium.
"That was very stupid." Said Smith suddenly, turning to look at him, a glint in his black eyes, "You shouldn't have provoked him like that."
"Wha-seriously?" Said Daniel incredulously, "He talked crap about my parents!"
Smith's expression was pained. He was silent for some time.
"You are right," he said finally, "I didn't agree with him either. He is so childish sometimes, it's hard to handle him." He sighed and continued, "Look, go back up, and stay in your room. If you need anything, there's an intercom in every room. Dial the number '1'. I will take care of it. I will unpause him soon and try to cool him down. Though, beware, he isn't gonna control his hostility against you now."
Daniel nodded. He looked at Nathan, whose scowl seemed to sharpen, but maybe, that was his imagination. Silently, he walked past him and went back up to his room, wondering what the other guy's problem was.

Daniel woke up with a start and instantly panicked, not remembering where he was or how he'd gotten there. It took him about half a minute to calm down and realise where he was. Smith Baker's gigantic house.
The incidents of last night came rushing back to him, as if they were scenes from a movie. Nathan's angry look, Smith using his Imperium to "rewind" Daniel's injuries and freeze Nathan. He rubbed his temples. Ofcourse, Smith had "rewinded" his injuries, so he didn't feel any pain at all, but still, just thinking about that impact made him wince. He looked at the wall clock in the room. Strange. It was still only 7 am. Daniel was sure he'd gone to bed at about 1 am last night. He felt strangely refreshed even though he hadn't even slept for that long.

As quickly as he could, Daniel washed up, and put on a plain black t-shirt and jean. Smith was already in the kitchen by the time Daniel got down. He was wearing a grey t shirt and jeans, his platinum blonde hair shining in the well lit kitchen.
"Morning." He said crisply.
"Yeah, good morning," replied Daniel.
"So," continued Smith, busying himself with the coffee maker, "you had a good sleep last night?"
"Yeah," replied Daniel. He looked around to see if Nathan was there. Suddenly, he noticed something very strange. The clock on the wall of the dining room read: 7:04 am.
"I didn't realise I showered that quickly," said Daniel confused, "or maybe that's a faulty clock you got there."
Smith squinted over to the digital clock Daniel was looking at, and laughed suddenly.
"Oh, that's not a faulty clock," he said, "it's just that, I slow the time of this house whenever I have jet-lagged guests. Nathan is always sleep deprived, and you looked really tired too, so I made it so that 1 minute outside, would equate to 2 minutes in this house. So time runs slower in here, as 2 minutes in this house means only one minute outside. So we technically have twice as much time to get work done. That clock is showing what time it is outside."
"Wait," said Daniel slowly as he began to realise, "that means I slept for-"
"A good twelve hours." Said Smith, nodding his head.
"And you did this with your Imperium?"
"Uh huh," said Smith. Then he pointed towards the clock. "Look at the 'seconds' hand of the clock," he said, as Daniel tried focusing on it. It was ticking, alright; but it took Daniel about a moment to notice that it was ticking at half the pace of a normal clock. So time indeed was running slower in here.
"Luckily," continued Smith, clutching his coffee mug, "this doesn't affect us or the functioning of this house. Which is why we can move around just as easily and not at half speed. You want something to eat."

Daniel was having the most leisurely breakfast, taking all the time-since he did have twice as much time as normal-to enjoy every single dish as best as he could. There were pancakes, sandwiches and hard boiled eggs. By the time he'd finished, it was 7:30 and Nathan had come down from his room, dressed in a black t-shirt, red jacket (to hide his marks, probably) and jeans. He immediately scowled at Daniel, who returned it with great interest, but didn't say a word to him.
"You slowed down the time of this house?" Asked Nathan, slumping down on one of the chairs and started to butter a piece of toast.
"Yeah," replied Smith, who was reading a book, "I thought the kid could use some extra rest."
Nathan's eyes narrowed but he didn't say a word.
"Oh, by the way," began Smith conversationally, "when are you guys gonna leave for the egress? I really wanna restore the time of this house to normal. You see, I am meeting some clients today, and I just wanna get that over with real quick."
"Then you can restore the time of this house," said Nathan, nibbling at the corner of his toast, "I don't really care. We don't need that much time anyway."
"Right," said Smith. Suddenly, Daniel heard a sort of whoosh. Instinctively, he looked at the clock of the dining room. It was ticking just like a normal clock now. Pretty cool, thought Daniel to himself, maybe, I should come here again next year and bring my summer reading assignments with me. His stomach sank suddenly. He had totally forgotten to ask Nathan about how much time he would be spending in Anoterose. It hadn't been that long, but the faces of Daniel's parents were already starting to dance around in his head.
"So anyway," said Daniel addressing both the guys at once, "how long am I gonna be staying in Anoterose for?"
Both of them answered at the same time.
"One summer," grunted Nathan.
"One year," said Smith.
Both of them turned to stare at each other.
"I- I am only kidding!" Stammered Smith nervously, "It's actually just a summer-"
"One year?" Said Daniel quietly. He felt numb on the inside. He balled his hands into fists to stop them from shaking. His gaze automatically moved to Nathan.
"And how long," he continued addressing Nathan, trying to keep his voice from shaking, "were you planning to keep this from me?"
Nathan set down the piece of bread he was eating and turned to look Daniel straight in the eye. His gaze was unreadable. He sat there staring at him for some time.
"I wasn't gonna tell you." He said finally, looking back down at the piece of bread he'd been eating. His voice was bland, emotionless.
A wave of anger rose inside Daniel. It took every bit of his willpower and patience to stay rooted to where he was standing. To not just jump on Nathan and punch his pathetic face.
"Anyway," said Nathan, "it's not like you can do anything about it." He looked over and smiled at Daniel. It was a terrible smile. Full of mockery. "There is nothing you can do about it. You can't run, you can't walk away, go home, fight me-"
"Oh so just because you have a petty superpower, you think I can't beat you into a pulp?" Said Daniel his voice growing louder with every word as he advanced towards the other guy until he was next to the chair he was sitting on. Daniel wasn't big and menacing. He wasn't tall. Even though he had a slightly athletic build, he didn't know if he could fight. He had never been in one, but it didn't matter. Daniel's anger was blocking out all his other more logical thoughts. This guy had been lying to him this whole time, and now Daniel was finding out that he was gonna have to be part of some freak town for a whole damn year? He didn't care if he was gonna unlock his secret "superpower" or Imperium or whatever. He just cared about getting back to his parents as soon as possible.
Nathan was completely ignoring Daniel standing over him. He quietly set down his fork and wiped his mouth with napkin. He brushed his hands and then, he stood up.
He towered over Daniel. He was over 6 feet tall, and built like a boxer. Despite all his rage, Daniel felt himself falter a bit.
"Ooohhhhhh," said Nathan, sounding so smug that Daniel instantly felt the thought of giving up evaporate, "backing down are we? Well good for you, cause I would hate to beat you-"
Before he could finish, Daniel swung his fist. He'd been sure that Nathan would be able to dodge it; that he would duck, jump back, vault through the air, or simply catch Daniel's fist. Daniel hadn't expected his fist to catch Nathan in jaw. Momentarily surprised at being able to hit Nathan that easily, Daniel pushed forward with every bit of anger and resentment he could muster. He had started to believe that probably, Nathan was an ok guy. Maybe he would be able to warm up to him. But that was all down the drain now.
Nathan flew back some distance and hit the ground with his back with a loud thud. He started to laugh, and then, he made the same movement he'd made when Samuel had hit him. He swung his arms and legs and was up on his feet, as if nothing had happened. His jaw wasn't bruised. He didn't look even slightly winded.
"Kyle," said Smith Baker warningly.
"You see Smith," said Nathan, sounding crazed; as if it was taking him every bit of his self control to stay where he was, "I am forbidden from using my Imperium to attack the semi mortal I am guiding. But if I don't use my Imperium, there is nothing you can do to punish me. Right?"
And without waiting for Smith to reply, he moved. It was very odd. He was literally in front of Daniel, and then, as suddenly as that, he wasn't. Daniel's body moved on it's own. Instantly, he spun around and swung ou-
Too late. Nathan judo kicked him in the ribs, making him fly back much higher and much faster than he'd done last night. He hit the ground with a sickening wham. But this was different. This time, there wasn't any pain. This time, he wasn't winded. Swinging his legs up, he immediately got to his feet, just in time to see Nathan move again. This time, he knew what to expect. The point where Nathan had kicked him did hurt pretty bad, but the rest of him felt ok. At first, he'd thought Nathan had used some sort of teleportation to come up behind him. But actually, he'd just moved superhumanly fast to come up behind Daniel. Daniel twisted, anticipating the same move, but Nathan wasn't behind him. He felt a jolt, as someone-Nathan-grabbed the back of his head and slammed his face into the hard marble floor. Blood spurted from his nose as pain shot through his face like a someone had stricken him with a hammer. Nathan picked him up by his hair and threw him forward. Already dazed from his nose breaking, Daniel couldn't fight back. He slammed helplessly into the wall face-first, blood streaming down his nose into his mouth and onto his shirt. Nathan grabbed him again by the back of his t-shirt, picked him up like a rag doll or a soft toy and threw him. Daniel tried to spin around; break his fall somehow, but he couldn't. The pain from the kick, and now his broken nose was bad enough. He hit the ground with his back, harder than before. His arms flew around him helplessly. His whole body ached. He could see Nathan standing over him, raising a foot, probably to kick his teeth in.
"And this," Nathan breathed, sounding just as crazed as before, "is what you get for standing up to me, small fry!" He brought down his foot.

Nothing. The foot never connected to Daniel's face.
"I said," breathed Smith Baker, sounding outraged, "ENOUGH!"
He had pulled Nathan back by his jacket making him lose balance and stumble back. Smith stepped in between Daniel and Nathan.
"Stay out of this Bake-" growled Nathan, but Smith cut straight through him.
"Stop this madness already," said Smith his voice level. He turned and pulled Daniel back to his feet. Again, Daniel felt better almost instantly.
"Um, thanks," said Daniel, "again."
Smith sighed.
"Look," he said sounding exasperated, "stay out of each other's ways for some time atleast. Atleast until you guys leave. I can't have you pounding each other to a pulp, not in my estate." He looked at his wrist watch, and said, "Look, you guys have about half an hour before you have to leave. I have to take you to the egress."

After getting dismissed by Smith Baker, Daniel stalked off to his room. He slammed his door shut and opened the book his father had given to him. Half of himself was trying to comfort himself, and the other half was too proud to admit that Nathan had been right. There was nothing, absolutely nothing, he could do about it. He started to read the first chapter. He was already halfway through it when he realised that he wasn't actually taking in a word of what was written. His mind was too full of the confrontation that had just happened now. He'd actually struck Nathan. Seriously. Why though? Hadn't Samuel taught him that the ones who let their emotions get the best of them are the sorest of losers? All this while, Daniel hadn't actually been focusing on what his goal was supposed to be. He hadn't realised that he was really here because he didn't have a choice. His parents had sent him with Nathan for a reason. And no matter how much Daniel tried to antagonise everyone, the fact that his parents wouldn't be pleased with him returning without even trying to fulfill his goals, wasn't gonna change. The fact that they wouldn't be ok with him quitting, wasn't gonna change. Instead, he tried to think. He reviewed everything he'd read in Nathan's textbooks, over and over in his head. All the conversations he'd picked up on. Maybe, he could get a key piece of this whole situation. A key piece to this whole puzzle.
It has something to do with that heinous blood oath, thought Daniel to himself, this is the kind of thing which really causes all the trouble in movies.
But this wasn't a movie. This was Daniel's reality now. For one whole year. And again, nothing could change it. He got up from his bed and tossed the book into his bag. He would read it later. He picked up his bag, packed all the clothes which were lying outside, and went downstairs.

Half an hour later, they were leaving the house for the site where the egress was. Nathan was sitting up front while Smith drove, and Daniel sat in the back. The way was pretty beautiful. Daniel spotted houses, trees and several beautiful birds.
"Here we are." said Smith Baker, braking abruptly in front of an iron gate. Daniel got out and looked around. There was a ten feet tall wall with barbed wires, stretching away from both sides of the gate. Through the iron gate, Daniel could see a paved pathway and tall trees on both sides of it. Was this place an orchard? The gate itself had a huge sign on on it:

"Stay out. Trespassing on this property is strictly prohibited."

"Come along," Smith called, taking out a key and opening the side gate, "We have to hurry."
Daniel followed Nathan and Smith inside. There was nothing noteworthy once he walked through the gate. It was just an ordinary plantation. 15-17 feet tall trees stood on both sides of the paved pathway. Smith and Nathan were talking in undertones, walking very fast. Daniel almost had to jog to keep up.
"So," he said, as Smith looked over, "is this where the egress is?"
"Yeah," Smith replied, "we just have to walk some more."
"The pathway looks big enough for a car," said Daniel struggling to keep pace, "couldn't we have just, you know, driven in?"
"Ahhhh," said Smith with a faint smile, "but we can't do that. You see, these trees around us," he waved around his hand, "are called silver-moon blossoms. They repel mortal technology consisting of chemicals, batteries or even too many moving parts, keeping the majority of them out. They are also useful for my little business."
"What is your business?" Asked Daniel, staring around.
"The fruits from these trees can be used for a ton of things," said Smith, "like medicine and variety of alcohol. Also, look at the leaves."
Daniel looked. Focusing a bit, he could see that the leaves had a silver outline on them.
"Semi mortals on earth buy them," said Smith, "they are used for curing Imperium related illnesses."
"So," said Daniel, curious, "how much do you make?"
"How much do I make?" Said Smith frowning, "15,000 to 20,000 Zedarins per month."
"Um, what?" Zedarins? What the heck?
"Oh, I am sorry," said Smith, "most of my income is in semi mortal currency. They are tiny gold coins, which one of agents later cashes in for mortal currency."
"So you make about 15000-20000 of those in one month." Said Daniel numbly
"Uh huh."
"So how much is it around?"
"Somewhere from 2-3 million dollars." Nathan grunted unexpectedly.
"Nah, not really," said Smith waving his hand, "I have to use most of it for maintenance."
"Maintenance of what?" Inquired Daniel, looking at him.
"Maintenance of that." Said Smith nodding towards something ahead of them.

Daniel followed his gaze, and his jaw dropped instantly. Eyes wide, he stared at the thing in front of him, open-mouthed. It was a pyramid of crystal, giving off a blinding shine in the sunlight. It was about 20 feet tall. How hadn't he noticed it until now? Squinting his eyes, he saw that the pyramid's edges were lined with pure gold which gleamed royally. What was this thing?
"This, my friend," said Smith flamboyantly, waving an airy hand in front of him in an arc, "is an Egress. The thing that serves as a way of travelling from plane to plane for semi mortals!"
Daniel could only stare. So this was an Egress? He'd been expecting an inter dimensional portal from one of his sci-fi comics. This was a bit too........grand.
"So," Smith said happily, "I can't wait to get you guys off my hands. Better get going then!" Nathan shrugged started to walk around the huge pyramid, looking for the entrance maybe. Daniel followed, his eyes adjusting to the blinding shine of the Egress.

The inside of the Egress was just one hollow tunnel with a kind of contraption at the other end. The glass floor was extremely slippery. Slipping and stumbling a bit, Daniel started to follow Nathan towards the centre.
"Well," came Smith's voice from the mouth of the tunnel, "it was nice meeting you Daniel Xander. I will be dropping by during the winters. Unlock your Imperium by then! I would love to spar."
"Yeah! Sure!" Shouted Daniel back, his voice echoing.
With a single wave of his hand, Smith Baker closed off the entrance of the Egress. Daniel could make out his blurry outline walking away. He'd really been pretty cool. Though Daniel had known him for just about a day, he had treated Daniel well, rewinded his injuries, and saved him from Nathan.

Nathan was on his knees and working on the contraption. Finally, he stood up and pressed his hand onto the glass wall to their right. Immediately, the walls became opaque, and the inside of the Egress was engulfed in darkness.
"Um, what's going on?" Asked Daniel nervously.
"Shut up." Replied Nathan tonelessly.
Oooookkkkkk. Someone was in a bad, bad mood. Daniel looked around, hoping to see something, some source of light.
"And," said Nathan, and even though Daniel couldn't see him, he could somehow feel him grinning, "here we go!"
Immediately, several things happened at once. The floor beneath his feet lurched forward as Daniel stumbled back, like you do when you're standing in a bus and it starts suddenly. Images began to form on the wall. Blurry, formless images, which seemed to stay for about a second and then disappear. Daniel looked around and tried to make out something, but he couldn't. Daniel could see Nathan now. He had his hands in the pockets of his jacket, and he was frowning at the walls.
The images stopped as suddenly as they had started, and Daniel jerked forward, as if the Egress had stopped doing whatever it had been doing. Suddenly, it became translucent again. Daniel looked around. He could make out trees. A ton of very tall trees. About 50-60 feet. He could also hear the cooing of birds.
"Come on." Said Nathan walking past him towards the opening which had suddenly formed. So the entrance and exit were the same. Daniel followed him out. Stepping out, Daniel knew he was in the middle of a forest, which didn't take a genius to figure out really. Tall trees surrounded them. As he started to walk forward, his feet scrunched the twigs on the ground. The forest air was pleasant to breathe. The sun was shining directly over head, only blocked by an occasional cloud in the otherwise clear blue sky.

Nathan was walking away from the Egress, and Daniel had to jog a bit to catch up.
"So," said Daniel wondering if Nathan would talk to him now, "this is Anoterose, I am assuming?"
"This is the forest located on the outskirts of the east border of Anoterose." Replied Nathan.
"Huh?" Said Daniel very confused, "why didn't you guys make an Egress in the city?"
"There is one in the city as well," said Nathan, closing his eyes briefly and opening them, as if praying for patience, "but it is only for government agents and VIPs."
"But why didn't you make this one in the-"
"Because we don't make Egresses." said Nathan through clenched teeth. He looked like his eyes were about to pop out of their sockets. "They were randomly scattered around by the immortal who made them. Karstum just built a city around one. We didn't even find out about this one's existence until recently."
"Ooohhhhh, ok," said Daniel.
It made sense, he guessed. But why wouldn't the immortal who invented them place them where semi mortals asked him to? Maybe, he was just too high and mighty to do what semi mortals told him to do. Maybe, that was i-

Footsteps. Daniel couldn't tell how many, but there were several of them. More semi-mortals? Or.....
Nathan put out his hand in front of Daniel, signalling him to stop. The back of Daniel's neck was prickling. He could feel something, but couldn't tell what it was.
"Don't move a muscle, Xander," said Nathan quietly, "don't move a muscle."
Daniel didn't need telling twice. He turned his neck from side to side, wondering what was it that they were hearing.
The footsteps were becoming louder and clearer, and Daniel was sure there were several dozens of them, too.
Then, finally, he caught a glimpse of what he'd been hearing. It was 7 feet tall, with white skin, needle like spikes protruding from it's body beneath it's neck, and red pupil less eyes. It was dressed in rags, covering some of it's torso and groin area. It's nails were as long as knives. The worst part? It wasn't alone. There were several dozens of them, coming from all directions.
Nathan retracted his hand from Daniel's front. He was standing slightly ahead of him so Daniel couldn't tell what his expression was.
"Seriously?" He spoke finally, sounding exasperated, "I thought it would be a bunch of brearoids coming for us. But all I get is a pack of ghouls. Come on!"
Was he going crazy? Here, Daniel was paralyzed with fear, and this dude was expressing his disappointment at not being able to encounter some other heinous mystical beast. Wow.

All at once, the ghouls charged at blinding speed. And Daniel knew there was no way he would be able to survive. He was gonna die before ever reaching Anoterose or repaying his father's debt. It hadn't been all bad. Really, he'd enjoyed life as it had gone on. He closed his eyes, giving up. No, he wouldn't go down without a fight, he was gonna take down or seriously injure at least one of them. He opened his eyes and roared, about to charge into the midst of ghouls.
"Aaarrrrrgggghhhhhhhhh!" He bellowed furiously, preparing himself to spring forward.
"Did you hit your head, or did Smith forget to rewind your injuries from my beating?" Asked Nathan, in his sarcastic tone.
"Huh?" Said Daniel. He blinked.
All around, the ghouls were pounding air. All of them were two feet away from the two of them. Their claws, fists, legs, teeth, none of them were making contact. Daniel looked at Nathan. His jacket was lying on the ground in a heap. His hand was stretched over his head, and one of the three marks on his right arm was glowing.
"Uhhhh...." Began Daniel, really confused.
"It's an air barrier." Explained Nathan smirking at him, "there's no way they can get through it. You are gonna need an atom bomb. Well, theoretically."
Daniel looked around him. Sure enough, broken nails and teeth were lying all around them. Several of the ghouls had twisted arms and legs, so they were pounding their heads against thin air, which supposedly, was an air barrier, and the majority of them were circling Daniel and Nathan.
"Well, guys!" Yelled Nathan, addressing the ghouls, "it was fun playing with you! But we really gotta go!" Then, turning to Daniel, he asked, "You got a problem with blood?"
"Um, not really." Replied Daniel.
Nathan grinned a very sinister grin. "Well, sit back and enjoy the show," was all he said.

He stretched out his other hand. Immediately, all three marks on his right hand began to glow. All around them, leaves started plucking themselves from the trees and started to swarm their barrier, their tips pointed outwards, at the ghouls. Now, they were enclosed in a cylinder of green, with hundreds, maybe even thousands of leaves. Through an opening, Daniel could see the ghouls backing away, looking confused. The leaves started to twist themselves up, forming a swarm which resembled thousands of green corkscrews. Daniel suddenly realised that their outlines were blurred out. Was it his vision, or..... No, the leaves were enclosed in a sort of air barrier of their own. Suddenly, they were set ablaze. All of them were on fire, forming a sort of fiery tornado all around him and Nathan.
Nathan's grin widened. As suddenly as they'd started plucking themselves, the leaves shot out at unimaginable speeds, like fiery bullets. The ghouls didn't even try to stand their ground. Immediately, they started screaming and running away. But the leaves were literal bullets. Before they could take as much as two steps away, the leaves caught them. Several of them tore straight through the flesh of the ghouls, as black blood spurted out, several of them embedded themselves into the ghouls, setting them on fire, and several of them just circled around the barrier, occassionally charging down and tearing through an escaping ghoul. It was a fiery leaf storm of death. The swarming leaves vividly resembled clusters of projectiles of pure energy, ablaze with white fire. It was horrible. Blood, burnt and burning pieces of flesh, and the wriggling bodies of ghouls lay all around them. The leaves took everything and everyone out, burning and tearing through the ghouls, leaving them in a state beyond recognition.

Daniel stood there open-mouthed, staring at the scene of pure terror before him. The smell was worse than it had been at the back of his house. He didn't even want to look at the organs and body parts surrounding him, but he couldn't take his eyes away. Nathan was waving his hand around, one of his marks glowing. Daniel could see that he was putting out the fires his leaf storm had started.
He picked up his jacket after putting out all the fires, which had taken about 20 seconds.
"You coming?" He called out.
"Yeah," said Daniel, and he began to follow Nathan.

The destruction wrought by Nathan was still noticeable after walking a hundred metres. Scattered organs, burning bodies, and all sorts of other morbid stuff. Nathan occassionally raised his hand to put out a lingering fire. They were both walking in silence; but Daniel was too shocked to even consider talking.
He knew those ghouls had been monsters, hunters; but he still couldn't help but wish that Nathan had taken them out in a less cruel manner.
As if reading he'd read Daniel's mind, Nathan said, "You are empathising with those monsters, aren't you?"
"What?" Said Daniel. It wasn't as if he hadn't heard Nathan, he was actually asking the question to himself. What was it that he was feeling? Daniel was aware that he couldn't sort out his feelings at the right times, but still, he didn't really know what he was feeling this time. Was he feeling pity? Regret? Disgust? What was he feeling? Well, he'd just been exposed to unhesitating violence.
"Piece of advice," said Nathan, "don't try to puzzle it out. Those monsters were sent to hunt and kill us. All I did was defend. In the end, if you don't save your own skin, if let your emotions get the better of you, you are nothing but dead weight." He looked back at Daniel. Daniel couldn't bring himself to meet his eyes. Yes, that is what his father had always taught him. Save yourself first, playing the hero wouldn't work, because if you don't save yourself, you won't be able to help more people out in the future.
"I don't hate Samuel Xander." Said Nathan abruptly, looking ahead again, "I just don't think he was a hero. Of course, you don't yet know what he did, so you can't form an opinion for yourself. But know this, there are gonna be times from now on that you will have to partake in hunts. There will be times when you will have to probably kill ghouls, vampires and whatnot with your bare hands. Don't feel shame or regret when you do that. Pride your skills instead. Take pride in the fact that you are killing those, who have killed so many of your comrades."
"I don't think I will be able to do that." Blurted out Daniel without actually meaning to.
"We all feel that way in the beginning," said Nathan solemnly, "we are all wrong."
"I could be different," said Daniel more strongly than he felt.
"You won't be," said Nathan, "not when you see what these monsters do to the people you care about. Showing empathy to something which can't feel empathy to begin with, is plain stupid. It's like apologising to a pole after bumping into it. If that pole was trying to kill you."
Daniel didn't feel like arguing. He looked back subconsciously to where the last burnt up ghoul carcass had been. He could still hear the screaming from when the burning leaves had sliced them up, like blades of a blender. Maybe, Nathan was really desensitized from all of his experiences. Would the same thing happen with Daniel? He made the thought go away. Why would something like this happen to him? He was only gonna be staying here for one year. One year..... His heart sank. He'd come here believing that it would be for one summer, and now, he had to stay here for a whole year. He felt a sting from the spite he felt towards Nathan. Sure it had ebbed away a bit, but wasn't fully gone.

Perhaps, for now, changing this topic would be the best thing to do.
"So what did you do to kill the ghouls?" Asked Daniel, wondering if fiery leaf storms were a part of Nathan's skill set.
"I made them pluck themselves from the trees, twist themselves so that it would be easier for them to pierce through stuff, enclosed them in an aerial barrier so that they became as solid as steel, and set them on fire for extra effectiveness. The aerial barrier also made it so that the leaves wouldn't burn."
"How is controlling air a part of your skill set?" Asked Daniel, confused.
"Well, the air particles are constantly in motion," said Nathan scratching his neck, "so I can use my powers to control their motion and form a solid, near indestructible wall. Also, I can use the aero-kinesis to pluck or pick up things from around me. Also, don't forget the energy from that star up there," he pointed up to the sun, "the heat energy I can convert into any type of energy I want. And if there's no source I can draw power from, I just use the energy I stock up. Like I said dude, think of it as having psychic powers."
"And how much energy do you have stocked up?" Asked Daniel.
"Hmmmmm....." Said Nathan, scratching his chin, "let's just say if I were to let loose here, right now, I would blow the whole continent up. But in the second plane, it's a million times that scale. I could probably destroy a galaxy or two. Plus, remember, there are always some stars around the place you can draw energy from."
"You are kidding about blowing up a galaxy, right?" Said Daniel, not really buying it.
"I am a system buster," said Nathan, "I have more than enough feats to make you believe me."
"Like?" Asked Daniel.
"Ok. So this one time in universe K? Me, Liz an-"
"Universe K?"
"There are hundreds of thousands of universes in the second plane," said Nathan exasperated, "and the universes K, K-26, and Y-123 are all uninhabited, so that is where we go for sparring and training our upper limits most of the time."
"Sorry, my bad," said Daniel, not really believing it, "continue."
"So yeah," Nathan continued, "I practiced this move I just showed you. The only difference was that I performed it with hundreds of asteroids."
"How did you get air in space? Or are you telling me you wore a space suit?"
"Semi mortal biology is way different than human biology," said Nathan with a smirk, "we have the blood of immortals in our veins. Hence, in the second plane, where we truly have no limits, our blood can regulate our bodies so that vacuum no longer bothers us. Mortals often refer to these things as auras, but we know it as the Essence of Immortals."
"Right," said Daniel, "but remind me why you went to the second plane to practice again?"
"Because," said Nathan breathing hard, "we don't have a limit on our Imperiums there. Since we draw our powers from the entity of this plane, we have a limit to our powers here. But the entity of the second plane is not where we draw our powers from, so it cannot place a limit on them. As soon as we leave the third Plane, the entity of the third plane can no longer limit our powers, because we literally are out of it's domain! And since we still have our blood, which is the source of our powers-"
"I thought you said the entity was your source of power?" Asked Daniel.
"Pardon me, your highness," said Nathan looking like he wanted to kill Daniel, "our blood is the source of our powers. And our powers are connected to our life force. And all life force is connected to the entity. Hence, when we are here, the entity puts a limit on our power because it is afraid we will go barbaric and cause serious damage. The entity just places a limit. Our blood is our source of power. Now as long as we are out of the third plane, the entity of the third plane doesn't care if our powers have limits or not. Then we are the responsibility of the entity of the plane we are in. And if we cause damage in that plane, that entity has no reason to let us survive. So it erases us. As simple as that. Have you finally gotten it you numb-skulled thick-headed-"
"Yeah," said Daniel, "I got it."
"Good." Said Nathan.

They'd been walking pretty slow, but Nathan looked like he'd just run a mile. But Daniel wasn't done yet.
"Why did the entity of this place create immortals with power anyway?" He began as Nathan's face turned red with frustration, "Now it has to place a limit on the Imperiums of them and their children as long as they are here. And that limit is removed as soon as they leave this plane. Sounds like an awful lot of wor-"
"Why are electrons attracted to protons?" Began Nathan loudly, "Why do humans need oxygen to survive? Why do you eat good food instead of bad food? Some things you have to believe by convention. Just because I have told you about the existence of the supreme creator, doesn't mean I am even close to understanding it. Why the hell should I care about why the entity created immortals and gave them super powers? We know it placed a limit on our powers because it told us through the protectors! We don't know what it thinks, feels, or does. Or why it did what it did. It is believed that it was looking for simulation, but we DON'T KNOW THAT!" He finished yelling.
"Ok, ok," said Daniel wincing. He'd really overstepped his boundaries. But Nathan was right. How could he understand the all powerful? There was no way he could. Without another word, both of them kept walking on.
"Yoooo, Kyle! Is that you?" Came a voice from somewhere towards their left. Nathan groaned loudly and started to mutter under his breath. He'd stopped walking and was looking where the voice had come from. Daniel could here him swearing fluently. Perhaps the guy was really too frustrated.
Daniel looked over to where Nathan was looking. And almost fell back with astonishment.

The woman was tall, with dark brown hair tied back in a pony tail, vanilla skin, and an athletic build. Her brown eyes were large and curious and she was very pretty. She looked like she was in her early twenties, like Nathan.
Her attire was pretty weird. She was wearing black jeans, a purple t-shirt, and a black breastplate with shoulder pads. Her breastplate had a design of a hawk down front.
But her out of the ordinary attire wasn't what Daniel had found astonishing. He'd actually been prepared for something like this. What had astonished him was way weirder.

It was the fact that she was holding a tank; yes, an ACTUAL TANK, in her right hand, and was tossing it up and down, as easily as you would toss a tennis ball.