Chapter 8: [it's faceless]

"...ahh not again, i used my full strength and you still beat me? Why does this keep happening?" Tomisin said, tiredly.

"it's called experience lil bro and you my boy, still have alot more stuff to learn," Desmond smiled with an innocent look on his face.

"ohh! My! God! Wow! I can't believe it, you two were amazing, it all happened in split seconds, damn! You guys are like skills and speed kings," kevin stood up from where he was to go meet with them.

"nah... It's nothing, we've been training like this since Tomi was a kid so i guess that's why you think alot about it, and don't feel bad Tomi, if i had let down my guard any second, you would have easily hit me with your strikes and now that the marks are active, your firepower has steadily increased. I could tell because my hand still hurts from blocking your blows and not to mention, your movements are more flexible than before. This is good improvment he you ask me, keep it up," Desmond dropped Tomisin to walk on his feet.

kevin heard what Desmond said and couldn't hide his weird surprised face, as his mouth was wide open in awe.

"what kevin? Close your mouth, it's creepy and bro stop trying to console me, i still haven't learned how to use the marks," Tomisin said.

"okay, i don't really know much about the techniques of the vice marks but i can only teach you how to use its raw energy since it has some attributes similar to mine," Desmond replied.

"ok then, let's start now, teach me how to use it," Tomisin said, excited about learning something new.

"okay, okay but before that, let me show you how my ability works," Desmond held out his left hand to his side and what looked like a green portal appeared, he drew out a short black sword from it. The sword had some traditional designs on the handle. The two boys saw this and screamed simultaneously "woah!!" as they have not seen something like this in real life before, only in movies.

"am...am i dreaming?" kevin said and Tomisin pinched him really hard on the hand.

"oww! What was that for Tomi?"

"what? I just proved it to you that you weren't dreaming, was it a bad thing?" he replied.

"yeah! Whatever!" kevin said, rubbing the swollen spot on his hand.

"bro what's that? And the sword? Because i've never seen you with one before,"

"ohh this? This portal thing is just one of my spatial abilities, as i can bend space, turning it into a dimensional jump portal. The sword is not something unusual although it's just a substitute, it's not that powerful in terms of energy utilisation compared to the ones i gave someone. We aren't the only ones that has powers like this you know."

"yeah you did mention that there were others, where are they now?" kevin asked.

"well there's me, Tomi, Naphtali, although she wasn't fused with anything. There are others as well like micha. Some chose to stay hidden and live normal lives, the same could be said for us until all of this happened. Some also went abroad to find something to do."

"who's micha? Have we seen him before?" Tomisin asked, curiously.

"no i don't think so, maybe when you were still a kid. He is kinda like a smart person, i don't know much about his powers but he likes to tease me a lot," Desmond said, as he smiled, thinking about some old memories.

"speaking of Naphy, won't she freak out once she finds out that you two have special abilities?" kevin asked.

"ahem! About that, uhm... She found that out two years ago, she saw me use the portal," Desmond became nervous.

"whaaaaaat! How... What! How come you both kept me in the dark? I'm one hundred percent sure that if not for what happened, it would still be kept a secret." Tomisin was really upset as his anger brought about an ominous presence to Desmond.

"calm down Tomi," kevin said.

"what! I should cal... Okay, okay no problem i will," he said, letting off some steam.

"phew!... Thank goodness," Desmond thought.

"wait where's Racheal? Isn't she coming? Because i thought you guys had a game to play today," He said, to quickly avoid the problem at hand, and it was quite successful.

"ohh yeah she's helping her mum do some stuff at home, she texted last night that she'll meet with us by 12pm or so," kevin replied.

"okay that's good. In the meantime, until she gets back, let's start with training you on how to control your flow of energy," Desmond said as he unbuttoned his sleeves and shifted them up to his elbow.

"oookay!"Tomisin agreed, with a serious and more excited look on his face.

At Racheal's house...

Racheal took her small blue back pack from the table and said to her mom from the living room, in the kitchen...&"mama i'm going to Tomisin's place, i'll be back by evening," she moved towards her mom and landed on her cheeks, a sweet peck.

Racheal was wearing a short red jeans and an ash coloured turtle neck top. It was well fitted on her.

"hmm okay don't be late for dinner, oh! And get me some onions and seasonings from the market on your way back," her mom replied, as she was engrossed in her cooking.

"okay mama, love you, bye!" Racheal said, sweetly as she left the house.

Racheal was walking by the road side as she was busy swiping away at her phone's screen. Unknowingly to her, someone was watching her from the dark corners of the building at the other side of the road. The person's face resembled that of the guard that was killed at the museum.

"this is very good, she has the presence of that deserter around her. It seems like she knows who he is. Humhumhum... It looks like our plans will be much easier now.

Racheal got to the field beside Desmond's house. She had already spotted the guys ahead, when she moved closer, she saw what made her the freeze. Tomisin held what seemed to be like a blue flame on the palm of his right hand and was... smiling.

"ohh! My...am i dreaming? Is that fire on your hand Tomi?" she said, keeping her phone in her back pocket.

"yeah it's amazing, i know, isn't it cool? i can't even believe this is possible," Tomisin replied.

"no way! Doesn't it hurt you?" she asked...

"no, i don't feel any pain."

"hey Rach! Xup!" kevin said...

"oh hey kevin. When did you get here?"

"ohh you know, a couple of days ago," he said, being sarcastic.

"do you want me to hit you in the head?" Racheal retorted.

"nah...woman, i'm good."

as the kids were busy discussing, Desmond was checking some new notifications on his phone. One said, "from Mehis: hey Desmond what's up? Are you gonna be busy by tomorrow? We have some investigation to do."

as he read the text, his eyes became heavy, he closed it and opened it again, he could not see anything around him anymore, he was now in a dark empty space. The next thing he saw was a man in front of him.

"it's been a while... Brother," the man said. He was the same person that was tailing Racheal the other time.

"so you've been freed from the bead and you are in someone else's body," Desmond said, looking as calm as ever.

"oh please! You know i have my ways but let's leave that aside, and i'm not here to talk about our story either, all i'm here for is the key, give it to me," the man pointed at the necklace Desmond was wearing.

"never in a million years willi even make the mistake of letting it fall into your hands and i won't let you open the gate."

"humhumhum...ohh really? This is interesting, you had the guts to turn your back on your own tribe? You really are worthless but no problem, lets put your words to the test..." the man vanished.

"uhmm...Desmond are you okay?" Racheal asked as she was curious to know why he bent his head with his eyes closed.

he opened his eyes gently and sighed, looking stressed out.

"nah it's nothing i'm fine thanks for asking," he said, as they both walked to where the others were and kept his phone back in his pocket. Before he could move further, a dark matter had formed on the ground behind he and Racheal and a humanoid creature that had on face came out of it, it had a wide mouth with very sharp teeth and sharp claws. It was almost about to get close to them, Desmond saw this and quickly pushed Racheal to the side, leaving himself wide open... "heeishss!!" the creature shrieked and held him down to the ground.

"shit! Run! Desmond yelled, the kids were as frozen a block of ice at the sight of this thing, not knowing how to react at it's terrifying presence. In a blink of an eye it had already removed the necklace on Desmond's neck and turned back into a dark substance as it vanished into the ground.

"no!no!no!no! This can't be happening!" Desmond was frustrated about what just happened, the kids were on the ground still bewildered by what they just saw as they didn't even have the strength or guts to move from their position.

"holy shit!!" kevin exclaimed, as he was still terrified.

"what...what was that thing?" Tomisin muttered.

"that...thing definitely had no eyes what tha hell was it?" Racheal said, still on the ground, shivering in terror.

"guys i have to go after it quickly, stay inside, lock the doors and don't come out till i get back!" he said and immediately, he opened a green portal and ran into it.

"seriously? He is going after that thing?" Racheal said.

"he's gonna die!" kevin added.

"guys! guys! Let's get inside now, that thing... could still be around!" Tomisin suggested.

"what! I don't wanna die man... let's go man..." kevin was now drowned in fear.

"shit!! This week is just full of bad luck let's get inside quickly kevin!" Racheal said, as the three stood up and ran with muffled breaths towards the house.

...

a Taxi was seen, as it parked at a bustop and a petit feminine figure came out of it. When the taxi drove off, you could see her in full view, she was wearing pink shorts, a white inner wear and a blue jacket. She had short black hair. She was a bit lighter in complexion and had a very cute smile on her face as she had a green lollypop in her mouth. She waited for the next bus to arrive, the sign board said, the bus will be heading straight for Martin street. She was carrying a small back pack and also her travelling bag was by her side.

"ahh... I'm finally back in Lagos, hmm... Home sweet peaceful home, i can't wait to see the looks on their faces when i get there," the girl said, in a joyfilled expression.