Genius

The last sensation I felt was crackling lightning coursing through my veins, a sharp pain still slowly stung in my head and my eyes met with two golden eyes in the darkly lit room that seemed to be the study.

I guess I got caught.

My head had already begun thinking up plans and excuses when a cold voice sent shivers down my spine.

"Do you want to be a magician."

I was on the verge of nodding my head before another slither of words found its way into the back of my head.

"Or a genius."

I remained confused about this addition to his question.

His Golden eyes didn't waver as their view stayed fixed on person. Me.

I thought steadily. Was it a test? A trick? A laughable joke? No, he didn't seem like the jokester type. I replied hesitantly.

"G-genius."

"What."

"I want to be a genius."

My voice throttled forward with resolve and power.

A cold,lengthy silence broke down as the morning sun crawled through the windows. Lightening his sharp features and outlining his wrinkles.

It was then that I noticed a difference. I had grown. But overnight? Had the mysterious lightning changed me? I looked down at my feet and then at my arms. They had certainly lengthened. It was only when I saw my reflection with a silverware spoon that I sullenly took two steps back. A look of shock and uncertainty plastered on my face.

"How was your sleep, Genius."

In the reflection was a boy at around 4 years old. Older than I should be as of now. My hair had grown to a crimson red that curled backwards. My vermillion eyes matched my hair and my skin had paled.

The man cared not for my brief lapse as he continued to speak.

"You are no ordinary child, capable of speaking at what should be around 2 despite a 2 year coma and my limited teachings."

"Your body now is weak. I do not teach the weak. I teach the strong,smart and genius."

"So tell me. What are you?"

His cold voice surged with power. A cold breeze blew my hair back, my vermillion eyes flashed with gold.

"I am- a genius."

The man chuckled lightly. His breath was visible as it flew away in the winter air.

"Then show me."

I opened my mouth to ask how but found it shut by a mysterious force. As if a vacuum seal had been placed I could only furrow my eyebrows as I met eyes with the perpetrator.

"Watch, Child."

My mind grew unsteady and concerned as the air around me moved. Like a vortex or an imaginary pull, a force pushed the air and I could feel something else towards the man's feet. The man then placed a hand on my shoulder.

Fast.

"This is called the lotus step. So tell me, are you a genius?"

I nodded slowly. Everyone wants to be a genius.

"Then show me."

I scratched my head awkwardly before the mysterious force returned, my leg hooked in the air as my arms flailed around.

"Wha?"

The fields lay silent. They had gone from a pleasant green to an unpleasant grey. The sky too had formed to a mundane sticky white. There was no wind, only a chilling cold. In the sky, satanic birds flew yet these birds slowly dropped. Never rising again.

We travelled across fields for hours before the guardian stopped, checking his staff for some sort of information. I sighed. I had been tired yet unable to sleep due to my predicament and had long grown bored of the repetitive landscape.

"We're here."

His deep,cold and uninviting voice broke the hours of silence that had built up to form a heavy tension. His voice merely pressed down on this tension unfortunately as I still felt extremely anxious,sluggish and nervous.

He paved through around 100 metres of high-grass before we found a rock construct. He entered through the back. Was that there before? I hid my thoughts away as another thought came to my mind.

Is that what I-?

A wolf. A wolf stood there, growling and husky.

"Was he invited?" I question timidly.

"Does it matter?"

I look at my guardian questionably.

"You are a genius, are you not?"

I now actually become confused.

"Take him out."

"Wha-. How?"

"I have done the teaching, now you must do the learning."

I started within the deep abyss, the palpitating blackness that resided in his golden eyes. I felt his cold hand,wrinkled and gaunt with unblemished white grab me by the collar before throwing me to the floor.

Cold.Hard.I felt my back sting, something was cut.

I then met two white eyes.

"Growl."

My hands twitched.

What was I meant to do now?

I had no clue how to even begin the strange technique he used.

The Wolf however, seemed to have a technique in mind.

It pounced swiftly, becoming a blur in my eyes.

I felt something warm and grizzly in my hands whilst a pulling sensation gripped my shoulder. My hands soon bore red as claws dug and dove.

I looked at my last hope.

His back already against my seething gaze, the cave door shut to a small slide. Just so light could reach the smallest crevices of the cavern.

I slammed my small hand onto the wolf's back yet received no result. In a state of numbness I sprinted left, against the pulling of my shirt and turned to look at the wolf.

Time, I need time.

"Garh."

A groan was let out my tightly clenched teeth as the wolf took another bite for itself.

Blood spilt on the ground.

I thought of the sensation from when my Guardian used the technique.

The air around me moved in a curve. It was controlled yet basic somehow.

Wait, no. I had to think deeper. Something else was moving. I felt it like a disappearing itch.

I watched as the wolf's head dove in and out tearing flesh off left and right.

I stared into the palpitating darkness and looked for something.Anything.Everything.

"Come..."

My head screamed for me to stop.

"Over.."

My system warned me, my body began rejecting itself as I felt muscles tear and a huge stitch rise.

"HERE."

Like a fourth wall had been broken, air came crashing in an uncontrollable barely definable mess. Air and something else. I used my broken body and partially splintered mind to push this undefinable mess behind me.

The wolf still attached to me did not mind.

I clenched the wolf tightly in my arms. Swearing to not let go. Screaming from my body and mind tried to stop me but I assured myself from another mind.

Making sure every last part of this energy was behind me. I readied my mind and body. I looked at the wolf one last time before I uttered but any words I could think of.

"For-ward. Fast. Now."

Boom.

A large blast of air propelled me forwards with extreme force,doing almost as much damage to me as it did to the wolf. Rubble fell and a light smoke rose as I felt the wolf's body hit the wall. The undefinable energy slowly disappeared from my feet.

"G-grow-l."

I shivered as my broken body uncontrollably trembled.

I could see the downed wolf begin to regain its temperament.

Before it could even wag an ear my fists had already begun raining.

The wolf scratched,kicked and even tried to bite but I kept going.

Effort does not always correlate to results.

My fists carried no power and therefore no threat to the wolf.

"Do something.Anything.ANYTHING."

I pleaded. I screamed. I shouted.

But received no answer like before.

So I stared into the palpitating darkness. I grasped its location. I stared at it hard. I pulled out closer to me. I tried to position it right behind my hand. The wolf jolted suddenly to my surprise and rose like a killer whale going for the kill.

Not today.

"Now."

The hard sense of bone meeting bone met and the awkward sound of cracking resonated in my ears. Yet the mysterious energy did not stop, propelling my bloodied,broken and pale fist further into the wolf's swollen jaw. The wolf attempted to bite yet its teeth were already hanging by threads. The gruesome site put a sticky lump in my throat yet I continued my assault. It was only when I noticed that blood had leaked from the wolf's mouth that I stopped.

Just like before.

My emotions had led the way. I could only see a lousy result now.

My panting finally reached my ears. Along with a world of pain.

It would seem that the wolf had suffocated,drowned whatever the associated words were in this situation. Its eyes had rolled over white and a small part of its skin had been torn so that it hung by a small parchment.

I tore off the small part and reached the entrance of the cave.

Luckily, my mind was still hazy and in the moment or I don't know if I would have resisted fainting right then and there.

I took a step outside the cave and met his golden eyes.

In triumph, I lifted the parchment of wolf skin I had torn off as I raised it in a clenched fist. My bloodied face and long red hair stood solemn in the wind.

Somewhat angrily I managed to make a croaky and hoarse shout. The high-pitched childness was still present unfortunately, somewhat dimming my glorious moment.

"Genius enough for you?"

And as I stood there looking in frustration and as a broken mess, he chuckled not lightly but almost forced by himself.

"It can be considered a pass."

And as I turned my back on our return trip, I felt an insatiable feeling of rage mixed with unforgotten colds caress my back in forceful impacts.

I stared back to find my guardian merely looking at me in annoying sweats. What am I doing now? Should've been his line of thought.

I continued talking to myself to cleanse my boredom.

Meanwhile, the guardian's hands were still sweaty and cold. His eyes kept their reminiscent gold and his hair shook slightly in the wind.

He seemed to be at a constant war deep within himself. One second away from doing something he would love and regret. Be freed yet at a cost. A cost that only part of him had the sanity to drag the rest of him back as to not have to pay it.

No matter the cost.