What Have I Become? My Sweetest Friend

The Advisor assumed a fighting stance, waiting for Hendrix’s next move.

After a tense few seconds, the Advisor noticed something appear in Hendrix’s right hand.

Hendrix had manifested a guitar pick into his right hand, quickly strumming a pinch harmonic on his high e string as a sharp sound cut through the ambience of the large cafeteria.

The black soundwaves returned, this time in the shape of a pointed cone, charging towards the Advisor’s midsection.

The Advisor jumped.

The soundwaves were too fast for the Advisor, grazing the side of his calf despite his dodge.

“Wait… Yes! His attacks move at the speed of sound!” The Advisor’s smile returned as he thought of the precision of Hendrix’s attack.

“To meet a manifestation of God in the flesh… I am truly humbled!” The Advisor’s blood-sword puddled before moving to his feet.

The blood hardened against the sole of his boot, giving him a platform to pivot against.

The Advisor pushed against the platform with all his might, moving like a heat seeking missile towards Hendrix.

“There’s no need for me to hold back anymore! I’ll show you the full power of an Advisor chosen by the divine!” The Advisor screamed manically as he cut through the cloud of dust, straight towards Hendrix.

“Is there… Is there anything we can do?!” Vida asked herself. The fight was moving so fast that the Advisor and Hendrix seemed to become blurs every now and then. Not even Kai could meaningfully keep up with the fight.

The pool of blood reformed into a nail-covered club in the Advisor’s hand.

He reeled it back.

Hendrix shot his strings from his arms, making a shield around his upper body.

The Advisor struck the shield.

Hendrix slid back from the impact.

The Advisor didn’t let up, striking it again.

Hendrix planted his feet into the ground to prevent further sliding.

The Advisor struck again, this time from the bottom.

Hendrix’s shield was moved up.

He knew what the Advisor was trying to do, quickly reeling his strings back in.

The Advisor swung towards the area where Hendrix’s string-shield had once protected.

Before the swing could make an impact, Hendrix let out a power chord.

The black sound waves expelled from the guitar at the speed of sound in the form of a sharply rounded oval.

“I know how this goes now…” The Advisor told himself as he ducked under the sound waves like a limbo line.

The Advisor took the chance to attack from the low end.

He swung his club upwards, towards Hendrix’s chin.

Hendrix jumped back just in time.

His guitar, however, didn’t have enough time to be jolted back by his strap.

The Advisor’s swing shot Hendrix’s guitar into the air.

It flew through the air, spinning all the while until it hit the ceiling. Hendrix looked up in horror. There was no way a guitar could handle such strain, it was only an instrument.

The guitar jammed its neck into the ceiling like a throwing knife, with no harm to its body whatsoever.

“Thank god… How did it not break?” Hendrix shook the question off.

He quickly shot his strings from his right arm, expelling them towards the guitar.

He looked up, desperate to reel it in before the Advisor’s next strike.

“Eyes on the prophet, boy!” The Advisor swung his club into Hendrix’s side, the nails covering the club sank through his shirt and into his skin.

Hendrix was propelled across the room, flying over Alex, who was still busy trying to protect Bloom from the stray sound waves that had been coming from Hendrix’s guitar.

Alex looked up from the unconscious Bloom just in time to see Hendrix crash into the wall on the other side of the cafeteria.

“What… What have I gotten these kids into? Would my sister be happy with how these kids turned out?!” Alex asked herself as a cloud of dust shot up from Hendrix’s impact.

“Hendrix!” Vida instinctively ran towards the dust cloud to help Hendrix.

Suddenly, a blood-knife met Vida’s neck. It floated right up against Vida’s skin, stopping her in her tracks.

“Don’t dare stick your lowly hands in this battle. You rebels only hold back this boy’s potential. HE COULD BE SO MUCH MORE WITH US! NOT STUCK DOWN HERE WITH YOU!” The Advisor screamed in what seemed like genuine frustration.

The Advisor’s knife guided Vida back to her friends while keeping her chin up to avoid being cut.

“I’ll end your life soon. But for now, he’ll need you to be motivated.” The Advisor told himself.

The Advisor looked back towards the cloud of dust, seeing no movement still.

“Is that all you’ve got? It can’t be! Get up! Now! For the living God!” The Advisor demanded.

Hendrix heard the Advisor’s voice like a muffled microphone. He felt an unbearable pain in his left ribs. Standing up felt like an impossible task.

Hendrix began to cry from the pain alone. His spine felt like it was going to collapse from the pain of the impact.

“Do you see what he’s doing?” Hendrix heard a voice that sounded like it was right next to his ear.

“Is that… Is that me?” Hendrix recognized the voice as his own. The only difference was the emotion. The voice that whispered into his ear sounded like it had lost all hope. It sounded defeated, stricken of any joy or hope.

“Look to your right. Do you see what he’s done to Vida?” The hollow voice made Hendrix look to his right, his eyes widening as he comprehended the sight.

Vida was still tense as the Advisor’s blood knife floated against her neck. The other kids were frozen in fear, unsure of how they could help her out of the situation.

“It seems they all know they are helpless. You were their only hope, and now you can’t even stand. What a shame.” The hopeless voice rang through Hendrix’s head.

“No…” Hendrix muttered. That shellshocked expression returned to his face as he saw Vida look in his direction.

Vida couldn’t see Hendrix through the dust cloud, she was trying to make sure he wasn’t lifeless already.

Hendrix didn’t know this. Her worried eyes seemed to tell him “Get up… Please… Don’t fail us…” and Hendrix couldn’t stand the sight.

“That’s it. Let your emotions reign.” The voice faded away as Hendrix felt like he was losing control over his actions.

“You’ll feel the pain you’ve given.” Hendrix’s voice rang out through the cafeteria.

Every other soul in that room widened their eyes in shock. Hendrix’s voice wasn’t the same.

It had lost all emotion whatsoever.

Vida’s heart sank as she recognized that tone.

“He sounds so… Hopeless… So… Defeated…” Vida shook her head, trying not to tear up in such a tense moment.

“Get up, Hendrix!” Vida shouted, trying to instill the hope back into him.

“After all this training, I thought I would be able to hold my own. Hendrix wouldn’t have to risk his life for me anymore. Now I’m back to square one.” Vida continued to shake her head.

Hendrix heard Vida’s cry. He was so lost in a downward spiral that his interpretation of Vida’s message just made him more furious.

“How dare… How dare I fail her like this.” Hendrix grit his teeth as he channeled as much Spirit as he could into his arms.

“So, are you going to show me? Show me! Show me now!” The Advisor screamed manically.

“I’ll show you.” Hendrix’s hopeless voice rang out, making way for what happened next.

His strings shot out in all directions like a six headed serpent rising from the cloud of dust.

The Advisor noticed a change.

Before, Hendrix’s strings looked like thicker versions of regular guitar strings. They were metallic silver just like actual steel strings.

Now, they matched the strings of Hendrix’s attack guitar. They were black, with no shine to them whatsoever. They had an almost matte look to them, dead of any reflection.

The strings spread out into the air before converging on the Advisor.

The Advisor laughed manically as the strings closed in.

He jumped into the air.

The strings went low, missing the now airborne Advisor.

The Advisor’s dreadlocks flowed in the wind as he looked back down through his mask. His eyes widened as he noticed the strings’ motions.

All six strings crossed over each other, making sound through the friction alone. As the six strings collided, a black, smoky block of sound waves shot up towards the Advisor.

He held his hand out to summon the blood knife from against Vida’s neck, but it was too far to make it in time.

The sound waves hit the Advisor like a brick wall, sending him crashing into the ceiling.

The strings reeled back into the cloud of dust still covering Hendrix.

The Advisor fell back down from the ceiling, placing the puddle of blood beneath him to soften his fall.

The room fell silent for a second or two, before the Advisor’s shouting began.

“YES! YES! YES!” The Advisor looked up as if to thank a god above him.

The group noticed a crack in the Advisor’s mask from the impact. It started at the bottom left of the mask, reaching up to about where his nose would be.

This didn’t surprise the kids, it was a wooden mask after all. Alex, on the other hand, was shocked.

“How…” Alex tried to collect her thoughts as she pondered over the mask. She looked at the various red marks on the mask, some faded, some fresh.

“Boy, tell me your name! Tell me now! You tell me yours, and I’ll tell you mine. This is a battle for you to remember!” The Advisor spoke with such glee, making Hendrix’s face twist in immeasurable amounts of fury.

“That mask is a manifestation. It was already loaded with Spirit when it was made, but got even more Spirit each time that guy smeared someone’s blood on it. When he puts the blood on the mask, the Spirit inside someone’s blood is transferred to him through the mask, at least that’s how I made sense of it. So, for Hendrix to crack that mask… Sister, what’s inside that kid?” Alex thought.