8 Old Man Bone

7th Ring, Sector 12, Baker Street, mansion of the Bone Family; Mr. Bone alighted from the metro train that directly passed through this building. This skyscraper was situated directly opposite to the skyscraper where the house of Mr. Bone was situated. This entire skyscraper was the property of the Bone Family.

Passing through a couple of security checks and flashing his identity card that showed his affiliation to the Bone Family, Mr. Bone boarded a lift, pressing the button to the topmost floor. The lift was empty, making him stare at his reflection on the lift walls, due to them being wiped clean until they acted as mirrors.

He thought about what he should say, how he should behave, the sequence of statements he must make to gain the largest benefit, etc. After all, getting something from old man Bone was tantamount to stealing fish from a hungry cat. Mr. Bone saw the doors of the lift open, the face of a middle-aged man came into view.

The middle-aged man looked a little similar to his wife, Henrietta. But, his rugged look and his feline eyes made him look like a stranger at the same time, creating a baffling sense of disharmony. The man wore an immaculate single-breasted suit, a scarf that winded around his neck, creating a sense of choking him, and a gold watch that had precious gems inlaid inside. He flashed a look of pleasant surprise on seeing Mr. Bone in the lift.

"Fancy seeing you here, Hancent; I was just about to head to the Limitless Tower, to congratulate Henrietta." The man said.

"I came here to discuss something with the family head. Henrietta barely managed to breakthrough, leaving her in a weak state." Hancent Bone said, rubbing his eyebrows and silently wiping away the trace of tears that threatened to leak out of his eyes.

"As long as it's not a failure, everything's fine. That's what family head said; oh, he was the one who ordered me to head to the Limitless Tower." The man said, then, leaning closer, he whispered. "Old man has perfected our family skill, intending to pass it over to Henrietta as a form of congratulation. Take note of it when you talk with him, don't ask for more."

"Thank you, Hubert," Hancent whispered, a trace of gratitude present in his eyes. He then walked towards a double door that was twice his height and pressed a switch beside it. A couple of seconds later, the double door opened, allowing his entry. Hancent entered it and looked at the sight of an old man in his eighties fiddling with an electronic apparatus, mumbling incessantly.

Seemingly as if he hadn't noticed his existence, the old man pulled out a glass bottle from within the apparatus and inspected it. The bottle was filled with a solution, a tapeworm suspended within it. The tapeworm showed no signs of biological activity, slowly shrinking into a thin piece of thread.

The old man shook his head and threw the bottle inside a trash can, joining with tens of such similar bottles. Checking for the resulting data on a large monitor that flashed with numerous graphs, statistics, numbers, etc. the old man retracted his gaze from it, finally noticing Hancent.

"Good afternoon sir," Hancent performed a light bow, reducing his breathing rate in fear of offending the person before him.

"Hancent," The old man walked towards a wooden chair, sitting on it, motioning for him to occupy the opposite chair. Hancent did as was told, sitting on the chair a metre away from the old man. The old man sat in silence for a couple of minutes, the sound of Hancent's heartbeats filled the room.

"Henrietta," The old man paused, as if in deep thought, "She…did well. I initially thought she would fail her breakthrough, but she did well."

He emphasised about Henrietta doing 'Well' many times, as if an old faulted radio that played in a loop. He then paused once again, in silence, seemingly in deep thought. He then stood up, walking towards the machine he was fiddling with before, retrieving a small glass bottle from within. The glass bottle was filled with a fluid that shone with a resplendent hue. A small grey dot was concealed in its centre, looking dull, in contrast to its surroundings.

On a closer inspection, activating his powers as a Wave Controller, Hancent saw the grey dot in full detail. The small grey dot looked like the neuron of the human body, but all grey in colour; its nerve endings flashed with obvious flashes of electricity, looking black in colour. There was unconcealed pride and desire in the eyes of the old man, looking like a ravenous beast about to be set free in the wilds, unhindered across all nature.

"This is the perfected version, the first of its kind." The old man said and safely hid the glass bottle within the apparatus once again. He then straightened his back and looked at Hancent, "As for the recovery of Henrietta, our family will bear the full expenses. In two weeks, no, one week, she would have made a complete recovery. She would then inherit the perfected version and will display its might in the Flying Signature Raid. Let those old fogeys from the inner ring know the true strength of our Bone family."

Pausing for a second, he motioned for Hancent to leave, "I have already contacted the Tower staff, with your approval she would be brought here. I still have work to do, create more finished products for our family members participating in this raid by the end of this month. It's a race against time."

"Thank you, sir," Hancent performed a bow filled with gratitude and exited the room, all the while feeling bouts of confusion. The image of the current family head to the one in his memories wasn't synchronised. It felt like he had become a different person altogether.

'Has he finally lost his mind? But, if he had really perfected our family skill, then it might raise the survival chances of Henrietta by a huge margin. I hope it's true.'

After the door to the room had closed, the eyes of the old man regained their clarity; wisdom, and craftiness present in them. He paced back and forth in the room, laughter filled the air. He pulled a lever near the machine, prompting the wall to part, revealing a cabinet filled with glass bottles. All of them were filled with a fluid that radiated with resplendent colours while a small grey dot floated in their centre. On an approximate count, there were about 100 such bottles, making the old man involuntarily take in a sharp breath of air.

'Henrietta, oh Henrietta, my good child; to have given birth to Heima, giving you the perfected version is naught but a simple gift. If nurtured with care, there is a high possibility of Heima becoming a Transformer level powerhouse like me in the future. That will make our family soar to greater heights, creating a virtuous cycle.' The old man laughed without a single care in the world, envisioning the bright future of his family.

After some time, he reverted back to his old demeanour, continuing to fiddle with the machine, in hopes of creating more of such products, as soon as possible.

…

1:45 PM, 1st Academy grounds.

"Ouch," Jyorta winced in pain, having gotten hit on the head by the PT teacher.

"Don't sleep!" The PT teacher growled, hitting the heads of every student, breaking them out of their grief-stricken states. The students winced in pain, rubbed their heads, glaring at the PT teacher. But, on receiving a glare from the hulking PT teacher, they hurriedly retracted their gazes, silently following his instructions; their thoughts distracted away from events that caused them sadness.

Kaushik, the blue soul exclaimed in surprise; as, after Jyorta got hit on the head by the PT teacher, he subconsciously retracted his connection to the pain receptors in the area, giving Kaushik control over them. Even though he had to suffer from the pain, he found a clue through this event.

When Jyorta voluntarily gave up control over a certain region, it meant his soul relinquished its control temporarily. This gave Kaushik an opportunity to invade his soul faster, prompting him to think further in this line of thought to hasten his invasion.

'What is the actual connection between the soul and the body? I thought the soul served as an energy source that acted as a switch for the body. As long as it is present, the body would stay alive and the moment it dies, the body is no longer capable of functioning. But, it seems there is more to it.' He thought as he looked at Jyorta's soul.

Unlike the clear transparent wisp he had when he was born, his soul currently looked like an amalgamation of dirt and polluted water, leaking out a putrid stench that only souls could sense. Moreover, it wriggled like a poisonous slime, looking eerie. The connection he shared with Jyorta's soul also looked like a rope bridge that was stretched taut; looking like it had sunk into a swamp, making passage difficult.

Taking a moment of Jyorta's distraction to control most of his brain for an instant, the blue soul hurriedly searched through its memories, stopping at the scene with the creepy-haired man. Thinking back to verse recited by the creepy-haired man, the blue soul silently memorised the content, using Jyorta's brain to mentally recite it.

When he had finished reciting it completely, the blue soul looked surprised to find two thick blue tendrils emerging out of its soul, looking like a condensation of its memories. Using it, he sent a slap towards Jyorta's soul, making a bit of the gooey substance on the surface to scatter. After a couple of seconds, the scattered gooey substance returned to their original positions, looking as if his attack hadn't occurred in the first place.

Feeling shocked, a faint sense of exhaustion spread throughout itself, prompting it to use its connection with Jyorta's soul to strip away some of his energy. Regaining its vigour, the blue soul didn't continue its attacks, allowing for Jyorta's soul to magically replenish itself through his body. It was something the blue soul had found, through its experiments for the past 2 years.

Jyorta's soul was backed by his body, acting as a stored reserve of energy, replenishing it, and nurturing it. But, for Kaushik, his blue soul had nothing to lean on, acting as an individual unit.

'There is still time. Soon, I will take control of this body.' The blue soul thought, severing its connection to Jyorta's senses, taking the role of a spectator once again.

"Ouch!" Jyorta shouted, the pain on his head suddenly flaring up. He hurriedly shut his mouth while his classmates sent weird glances his way. He continued to earnestly practice the breathing methods imparted by the PT teacher until the end of the class.

…

Academy Infirmary, Heima sat atop a bed, looking weak, but already having gained sufficient strength to walk. She looked at her lunch bag, at the food inside the Tiffin box that had spoilt. It had been prepared the day before by her mother, therefore it started to emit a faint stench.

'Why did you pack me lunch when you knew I wouldn't be able to eat it?' Heima sighed, unable to assume what went through her mother's mind.

She stood up, using a crutch to support her weight, joining with her classmates who walked with crutches just like her, making small talk as they walked towards a canteen. It was time for them to eat. After the Induction ceremony, they had to eat in intervals of 1 hour to nourish their bodies and prevent the entity hidden within their bodies from killing them.