IN VERSION

" The peace and security experienced by the humans during this period would soon be discovered to be a façade. A dream that never was, hope that wasn't real, truth that never existed. They lived, fed and slept like crops, awaiting HARVEST"

YEAR: UNKNOWN

LOCATION: UNKNOWN

The eerie silence, chilly atmosphere, dark surroundings, all these things were being processed by Tenny's already saturated brain. "I can't believe I'm actually in a friggin alien planet!" Tenny's thoughts screamed aloud as his mind raced.

As though he read through his mind, Darey smiled and said "Don't get too excited, this is nothing. Just stay focused... Like I said earlier, the Cultivators don't know that the Gate is fully operational, however as wild creatures of habit and persistence, they would be checking on the Gate occasionally so it shouldn't take them long."

They had snuck in when the guard of the beasts were down, so that they could catch them by surprise and finish them off. Tenny had thought it madness when Darey declared they were venturing into the Gate, but he reassured himself that with Darey taking the lead along with his newfound powers, he'd be fine.

"Stick close to me. I can't guarantee your safety if you stray too far from me" Darey spoke to Tenny who was slowing down while taking in the view of the world they were in.

The skies were gray and black, no source of moonlight or celestial radiation could be seen, making everywhere dark. The only thing that prevented complete loss of sight for Tenny was the sensory aspect of his Ability. As for Darey, when Tenny had asked how he was faring in the darkness he had said, while smiling "Don't worry, I can see clear as day, no, even better."

Tenny reasoned that his vision must have indeed been extraordinary as he was able to notice every detail in his fight with the Cultivator a while back. He also seemed pretty comfortable and confident of his sight. So far Tenny had seen Darey use three different abilities, one for healing Tenny's serious wounds, one for forcefully activating his abilities, and the Night vision ability he was displaying at the moment.

"How many more abilities does he possess?" Tenny found himself asking in awe. Though he reasoned it couldn't be much at present since he only had 1 percent of his cumulative abilities at the moment.

Suddenly Darey stopped moving and signaled Tenny to halt. Both boys stopped moving and as Tenny looked at Darey's seemingly broad back and the nervousness that was enveloping him suddenly faded away. Darey looked back at Tenny, and suddenly words began to enter his mind.

"Don't be startled, this is one of my abilities." Tenny could hear Darey's voice in his head, and his tensed self calmed down. Darey continued " Up ahead, 30 meters from us are a group of eleven VampCyclops. They have a good sense of sight, as you have noticed. If we move from here, we'll be exposed and one might alert the others." Tenny had lots of things going on in his mind.

"VampCyclops?" That was the name of the Cultivator that attacked him, and now eleven of them were approaching them. Tenny wasn't certain he could defeat one, especially in their home turf.

"Relax" Came Darey's voice in his mind again, "This ability works as a one way channel, so I can't read your mind, though I have a pretty good guess what it is. I'll handle those guys. Immediately I move from my location, move to where I'm staying now and lay low." Darey said finally.

Before Tenny could think, Darey was no longer in sight. Noticing this, he hurried to Darey's just recent location, but didn't stop there. He kept moving forward. He wasn't going to miss his chance to see Darey fight. He blinked and teleported just 7 meters away from the enemy, just enough to stay out of sight and hide. He saw Darey approach the group casually, and then they noticed him.

The startled group, taken by surprise made a preemptive attempt to react, but before that happened Darey snapped his thumb and middle fingers, immediately creating a mild vibration which caused all eleven of them to cease movement. Even Tenny couldn't move as he felt a numb feeling coursing through his body and his brain thudding as though on the verge of collapse. Then he heard Darey's voice clearly from his lips.

"You fools might be confused at this moment. You ask yourselves 'why won't your bodies do what you want'... And 'why do your brains feel like breaking apart?'. Poor insignificant souls, let me free you from your shackles of ignorance before sending you off to oblivion. It's my ability, 'NERVE CORROSION', and it forcefully ceases all voluntary action carried out throughout your body through your brain. Using the sound generated by snapping my fingers, and amplifying the vibrations, it forcefully severs your brain's communication with your auxiliary nerves and ultimately your entire bodily functions cease, overloading your brain with information it can't process and within a period of five minutes, the living being will die."

The cyclops immediately fell, one after the other until none were left standing. "Well, I guess for brainless animals like yourselves, it'll take merely a few seconds till death. My apologies for overestimating your capabilities. "Darey said in mockery as he displayed a sadistic look.

Tenny was still paralyzed and his brain kept screaming in pain. He was going to die in a few moments.

" The shortest range of this ability is 10 meters, and that's why I told my idiot brother to wait for me for his own safety, but instead he comes rushing in, and finds himself on the brink of death once again" Darey said smiling, while looking towards Tenny's direction. He snapped his fingers again, and Tenny's body went back to normal, though he still felt a lingering numbness and was a bit light headed. "Side effects of the ability... It'll wear off in no time though" Darey said as he was already in front of Tenny, who knew he was most definitely in trouble as he looked up and laughed nervously.

The two boys kept journeying, silence dominating the tense atmosphere. Darey had not chastised him, instead just said "Are you going to keep lying there? Let's keep going" and so they did. They encountered many groups of VampCyclops but Darey swiftly took care of them with his nerve wrecking ability, while Tenny stayed out of range. Tenny was amazed as he saw Darey swiftly and masterfully subjugating the countless groups of Cultivators they encountered when he had barely survived against just one of them.

"With just one percent... He's this powerful" Tenny thought to himself.

They had kept heading straight for a few minutes with no encounter, and had even entered a strange tunnel which felt even darker than the outside, which was already blindingly dark. As they kept moving, Tenny sensed they were nearing their destination. "Are we almost there?" He finally asked as his curiosity got the better of him. Darey kept moving as he answered him. "Just about time..." He said, as suddenly, they met a strange wall in front of them. Tenny had not sensed the well at all, until Darey signaled him to stop. "How come?" He asked himself, obviously shocked.

"This wall is made of a special mineral which distorts special abilities" Darey said, as though answering to his question. Tenny was surprised. He had heard of certain minerals that tampered with special abilities, but he never would have imagined he'd be seeing one up close.

Darey suddenly punched the wall, and the impact generated a deafening sound, immediately sending rock particles flying as the wall crumbled to pieces. "Doesn't do well against raw strength though" Darey said smiling.

"H...How?" Tenny asked in utter shock. The wall must have been at least 10 centimeters thick, and about 7 meters wide. They had been walking in a tunnel for the past few minutes so that was their only exit, if they didn't want to turn back. How could Darey, without using any ability be that strong physically?

"Don't be surprised. This mineral distorts abilities from manifesting, but it can't cancel them out completely. My strength is a passive ability I obtained, it is always constant and doesn't require activation or voluntary use. The wall couldn't tamper with that." Darey answered his brother's puzzled looks.

As the pile of bricklike minerals stood at their feet, and dust hovering in the air, they saw a path before them beyond the already broken down wall. Unlike the outside and even the tunnel before, it had a bit of light radiating from within. A strange echoing sound was emanating from inside the mysteriously carved out passage, and where it led to was anyone's guess. The tunnel path's glow kept increasing and reducing in an ominous pattern that seemed to draw one's eyes deeper and deeper into it, and the attention of it's spectator focused on it.

"The Grandmaster must be at the other side of this path." Darey suddenly spoke, which startled Tenny a bit as he yelped.

"Don't speak so suddenly like that, it scared me!" Tenny protested. Darey's face, however, was in no mood for any of that.

"This path is filled with many like minerals that distort abilities, and beyond this must likely be hordes of VampCyclops awaiting us. We no longer have surprise on our side, as they must be expecting us. My 'NERVE CORROSION' ability also has it's limits, needless to say... it's going to be a bit dangerous from here on out." Darey continued.

Tenny felt a dark foreboding as the air felt heavier and the atmosphere tenser. Darey wasn't done, however. He stared Tenny in the eye and spoke without mincing words "Tenny, you have two options at this point... Will you come with me... Or NOT?"

TO BE CONTINUED...