10 The Immortal Prison (Part 1)

At the top of a mountain, snow fell around a lost city. This city once had a name, but like most things, it was lost to time. However, there is a story that the people of this land keep to themselves. It is a story that has been passed down for centuries; it is the Tale of the Demon. For hundreds of years echoes of the Demon's head could be heard of among the townspeople, but in the last eight years, the story has started to shift. The Demon's head has found him a successor.

The Demon's successor stood a top of the collapsed walls of the lost city's Colosseum. The rows were filled with thousands of people, but all was still and silent. On the ground, at the center, a young girl was seen kneeling in front of a man. He was known as the protector of this city, but to everyone in the stands, he was the bane of their existence.

The man looked down onto the girl and took out a mask. This mask was the spitting image of her, stripped of all its color. However, You could still see her fears and nervousness, from being abducted and brought to this city; locked forever in the mask.

The Demon's successor once had a mask like that. It was when his adopted grandfather wanted to begin his training. His grandfather who had to that point been a loving, caring man took him to another mountain peak, thousands of miles away, stripped him of all his clothing and told him to return in three days or die. He was only five then and made it with only seconds to spare. His grandfather hugged him on his return and for the second time in his life called him by name, Abn. His face was captured then; cold, scared, and tired. He wore that mask for three months. Now as Abn looked down on the girl, his masked lacked features. There were only slits for the pupils and nostrils.

The man at the center of the Colosseum spoke to the girl, "This mask represents who you were when you entered into this city, and like it, you were lost to the world. But, follow us, and remove yourself, to become what is needed to protect the world."

The man's voice echoed out into every corner of the Colosseum, but no one cheered, no one moved a muscle. All that was heard was the rushing wind, whipping and howling, condemning the girl to her fate.

The girl took the mask and put it on over her face as she spoke timidly, "T-thank you, I will do my best."

All at once, in perfect sync, the heads of every individual standing in the stands turned away from her; all turned but the demon's successor — a blank white mask in a sea of black.

The man looked at the girl; there was no emotion on his face as he swiftly lifted his hands and punched her in the stomach. "You are not here to speak; you are here to follow orders. Your voice gives you an identity just like that mask. The goal is to lose the mask, to become faceless. You are to blend into the shadows and silence should become your companion. You are now a tool to be used by the Demon's head."

Abn looked down at the girl and thought to himself, "Hey, Kris, maybe it's time I've tried. Before she loses who she is on that mask, maybe we could save her."

"I'm always with you, even though this plan seems stupid Anthony."

"What plan, I'm just feeling lucky."

*Two*

For the past eight years, Anthony has been molded into perfection by his grandfather Ra. Ever since he was two, he was pushed to become the perfect warrior. After Ra noticed that his body would recover and adapt quicker than any other person he has ever met, due to Synthesis and the Body Spark, Ra pushed him to the brink of what was possible. From the ages of two to five his body was molded to be extremely flexible and robust. However, it was during this harsh training Anthony was able to see the kindness and the caring nature of his adoptive grandfather. Anthony could see that Ra wanted the best for him. He was given the best food, the best tutors in any subject that interested him. Ra was setting his foundation just liked Anthony planned.

As Anthony grew older his perception started to grow as the world around him became slower. This made his reaction time better, he picked up languages, and everything his grandfather threw at him. For the first time outside of his mother and Kris Anthony felt the love of another person.

While Anthony was focused on his physical and mental training, Kris concentrated on magic. She really had a special talent for the subject. She started by upgrading Synthesis and Body Spark. Both magics was only designed to sustain the body and not bring it back from the brink of death. Because Kris knew Anthony focused was on survival, she combined both magics into what she called Auto Regeneration. She explained, as long as Anthony could stay awake, clear-headed and had a way to pull in enough magic, in theory, he could heal from anything within reason. He still needed Synthesis as a passive to stave off hunger and little things, but Autogen would act as a big red button at the brink of death. That took her two years to completely master and teach to Anthony.

Her next thing was creating a sensory skill. She used their knowledge of electricity to help develop the skill's properties. When they were learning about the poisons of spiders, the book talked about how the spiders used their hairs, along with their webs, to create a bioelectric field to help sense prey and danger. So, Kris used the electricity in the air to act as the web, and connected to Anthony's hairs and natural nervous system to create a sensory field around him. It worked, but a little too well. She electrocuted Anthony on the first try. The reason being was, she tried to have the field reach too far out, drawing in too much at once. So the field can only extend a few yards away from him until his body could get used to it, just like Synthesis. She took the next three years to master this and to teach it to Anthony to make it passive.

This last magic she had created had an unintended but welcomed consequence.

"I can do what?" Anthony said with excitement?

"I think by using the Force Sense we could discharge our bio-electro mass into an arch and pass it along to someone else."

"In other words."

Kris took a long sigh, "You can shoot lightning from your fingertips."

"SO BASICALLY I CAN USE"

"Yes, you can use Sith Lightning. But, we are not ready for that yet. We would electrocute ourselves before we would hit any target. We can only control the magic on our palms for right now. We will call it Force Palm."

"Who cares, I will be able to do it in the future right."

"Right."

Anthony started to smile harder than he had ever done before.

"What's wrong," Ra asked in Mandarin.

"Nothing, grandfather," Anthony responded in Tibetan to the amusement of Ra.

"Then let's continue, switch to the Roman sword style."

*Three*

However, things did not last between Anthony and Ra. Ra needed to show Anthony his view of the world, and that this world needed to be fixed. He and eventually him, as his successor would be the ones who would fix the world. So Ra took Anthony, stripped him of all his clothing and dropped him off at the peak of a mountain, and told him to find his way home; it was time they put their training into practice. He needed to test his will.

When Anthony made it back to Ra, he welcomed him in with an embrace and for the second time addressed him as Abn.

Ra took Anthony at the age of five to the lost city and told him that this was the immortal prison, and that this is where they will build an army for their future. He left Anthony in the care of the protector of the city, gave him his mask, and walked away.

The protector threw him into a pit with hundreds of men, women and children. He explained to them that only one of them would be able to leave. Then he threw down a single knife and closed the pit.

*Four*

Three months later the pit was opened again, and Anthony sat on a pile of bodies that were burning. The protector rushed down to him and immediately captured his face. When Anthony received his new mask, he could see the person he was. There was less detail than the last mask, but he could see the savageness the mask held. On that night Anthony first rule was born.

"Hey, Kris,"

"Yea"

"I don't want to be a superhero or villain anymore. I know I'm going to have to kill, but I will not kill for them. I will not become a tool. I will do what I want, when it is needed. If I save people so be it; if people die than I will mourn for them, but, I will fight for me and those who I deem worthy. I don't know what I want to do in this world or what to do with the world, but I will keep those I choose to care about alive until I find that answer."