5 This ain’t you

After about 10 minutes of walking, Nkosi, Marcus and Jason arrived at school. Making a racket and being wild, they find their way down the halls headed to class, engrossed in their own little world, Nkosi bumps into Tyrique, one of the most volatile individuals in school.

"My fault, I wasn't paying attention" Nkosi softly spoke. "Not this again.....seems like I'll need to toughen this kid's reputation up before I take over, lest a mortal dares to test my patience." The lord commander thought as he watched the encounter. Exerting a bit of his soul power, he attempted to influence Nkosi's speech and mannerisms.

"Don't be sorry hoe be careful" tyrique stated in a pissed off manner. "Yo Tyrique, watch your mouth talking to my boy like dat, you know Nkosi wasn't paying attention." Jason stepped up from the side to place himself in between the two after seeing where this accident was headed.

"Do you wanna die?" Nkosi spoke in a strange manner. Marcus and Jason looked so shocked at the words that just came out of Nkosi's mouth, Marcus stuttered "Wh-What?!". In response Tyrique steps forth ready to fight, "What the fuck did you just say to me you lil bitch?". Without any warning, Nkosi raises his hand faster than what anyone can see, reaches out, and punches Tyrique in the throat, making him collapse instantly due to lack of oxygen and pain.

Grabbing Nkosi by his backpack and shoulders, Marcus and Jason pull him away from Tyrique and drag him down the hall quickly before anyone could see what happened, in turn leaving a growing crowd and a collapsed teen in the center on the hallway. Pulling Nkosi into a nearby stairwell Jason cracks the door to see if they were followed by any teachers or security guards. "What the fuck was that Nkosi!? Since when do you start fights!?" Marcus nearly yelled.

"Yea bruh! We know yo OG put you in that Martial arts School downtown and all but you always backed down whenever anyone wanted to run yo fade, it's always me or Marcus pulling you out cause everyone think you're too soft." Marcus said seemingly astonished.

"Hmmm so that's the reason eh? I was confused as to how I influenced him to punch the kid without trying. Seems like it was a natural reflex, due to some formal training. I'll have to explore his memories once I've absorbed his soul into mine, that way I can keep up appearances for the time being." The lord commander stroke his chin in thought.

"Whatever, I'm tired of holding back, I'm tired of feeling weak. No more, will I be trampled on!" Nkosi said imposingly, with an aura that refused to be disobeyed. "boy what the fuck? Why you talking like that? This ain't you." Marcus looked at Nkosi skeptically. The lord commander reigned in his aura and influence after feeling the threat of being discovered by those closest to Nkosi. "Huh!? Wha-What are you talking about?" Nkosi snapped out of his trance like rant. "Boy, why the hell you acting like you tough all of a sudden? What the hell happened? The Nkosi we know, would have took several steps back in that situation." Jason said questioningly.

"Idk...I just felt this strong urge to not back down. Then I just reacted and hit him." Nkosi weakly defended himself. "....." Jason and Marcus gaped at Nkosi, deciding whether to believe him or not. "Whatever man, just let us know when you're making a move next time so we can be ready to back you up, We stand forever..." Marcus said with a pause. "Or we fall together." Marcus and Nkosi finished in unison.

"Oh! That's cute haha, these children have a catch phrase." the Lord Commander mused. "What's next a signature handshake? Hahah" the lord commander jokingly stated. Not a moment later each one took turns with each other completing a unique handshake. "...." The lord commander couldn't believe his joke would turn out to be true.

"Alright let's find our way to class and we can handle Tyrique and his boys, should they decide they don't wanna let it go, and I doubt they would. " Jason said, knowing things weren't going to go so smoothly today. Pinching the bridge of his nose, "You've made a bigger mess than I usually do Ko." Jason stated, calling Nkosi by his childhood nickname.

"There's no use in continuing on about it, what's happened has happened. Let get to class, I'm sure we're late as it is." Marcus said not caring to keep on with the topic. Opening the door to the stairwell, the boys peek to see if security guards or anyone for that matter, was lingering around. Not seeing anyone they walked out and made their way down the hall to class.

In the nurses office, "His bitch ass snaked me yo!!!" Tyrique said angrily explaining to his boy Zayvion. "Think about it dumbass, we all know Nkosi is as soft as cotton in the entire school, for what reason would he ask 'Do you wanna die?' Then proceed to punch you in the throat right after? Even if what you said is true, for him to knock you out in one punch almost killing you, cause you stopped breathing for a minute, does that sound like a story someone would believe!?" Zayvion slowly explained disbelieving Tyrique's story.

"Look bruh, I don't give a fuck whether you believe me or not, all I need to know is if you down to ride for me!?" Tyrique shouted in Zayvion face getting up from the nurses bed. "Do you even gotta ask?" Zayvion said with a deadpan face. "Lets go then!" Tyrique said while leaving the nurses office.

Hours later...

"Yo, I'm exhausted bro." Jason said with his bag slung over his shoulder. "Today has been extra long, especially waiting for Tyrique to make his move throughout the day." Marcus agreed as Nkosi followed up behind leaving them school grounds.

"I'm surprised he waited this long, I'm sure we'll meet them on our way home from school." Marcus stated out-loud. "Let they asses come and run my fade, they not getting to my boy Nkosi on foenem grave!" Jason said sticking his chest out proclaiming to world.

"Guys...I started this....let me finish it" Nkosi said not wanting to be a burden. "Nah Ko, you ain't going out alone like that, people don't fight one on one no more, we got you bro." Marcus stated matter of fact. "Let's just go home, no use in being on edge the entire time bruh, we'll be exhausted by the time he does make a move." Jason said with reason.

So the trio continued to walk home crossing streets, passing stores, and walking through neighborhoods, before making their way to their own in a relaxed manner, joking and laughing the entire way. "Wow! we made it all the way ho—" Nkosi was cut short by a gun sound. Turning around slowly he see's a black car speeding off.

Looking down he notices that his shirt is covered in blood. "Ko!!!" Marcus and Jason yelled. Touching his chest he feels no pain, just the feeling of his life ebbing away as he's bleeding out. "Damn kid...You really got bad luck...welp guess it's my time to shine, don't worry kid I'll get revenge for you blah blah blah, not like I care anyway..." the lord commander spoke up to Nkosi for the first time since they met. "What...Who are you..GOD?" Nkosi said feeling weaker by the moment. "GOD? No not a GOD...Not yet anyway, I'm taking this body as mine since you won't be needing it anymore." The lord commander said emotionlessly. "Why?....Are you the reason I hit Tyrique?..." Nkosi said questioningly.

"Haha to be honest, I had nothing to do with you hitting him per se. I influenced your emotions and mannerisms, to not back down in that moment. You actually surprised me when you hit him so crisply." Chuckled the commander. "So I'm dying? You're taking my body and there's nothing I can do about it?" Nkosi said in almost a whisper. "Yup! That's all there is to it." The commander said with nonchalance.

"No..."Nkosi said. "No?" The commander repeated questioningly. "Yes." Nkosi responded. "So that'a a yes!" The lord commander said happily. "No" Nkosi said barely audibly. "No? Oh! So you were saying yes when I asked no. Hmmm, well it's not like I needed your permission anyway kid. Time will make things much easier, you are on your way to the Duat [1], and I'll be able to scour your memories once you're weaker so I can make it easier to impersonate you." The lord commander said as a matter of fact.

"Mama...Sana...I can't leave you both alone...after losing pop....You can't....lose me....too...." Nkosi said calling out to his family, then going into silence. "So he's finally beginning his passage into the Duat, time to scour his memories." The commander stated with impatience. "Whew, time to risk it all.." he said with a hint of reluctance on his face.

Normally scouring someone's memories would be easy, so long as the person opened up their soul to another. This method that the lord commander is attempting is among the most dangerous because he can be swallowed by the host's soul and lose himself. This is why he waited for Nkosi to lose his strength and pass into the Duat.

While inside Nkosi's body he touched his soul's mind, and began absorbing his memories as his own, but the moment he began, he didn't expect Nkosi to grab his hand. "You thought it would be so easy! Yea Aight!" Nkosi yelled and forced himself to absorb the lord commander.

"Haha I may be weakened kid, but you have a better chance soaring through the heavens than absorbing me." The lord commander laughed. "Clear!!!" A random voice broke through their monologue. Then seconds later electric currents ran through Nkosi's body. "Ahhhh!!!" The commander yelled in pain. Souls are innately yin energy, and the lord commander facing such a pure yang energy with his own weakened soul was not expected in the least. "Clear!!!" A second wave of electricity passed through Nkosi's body, in order to face it head on, the commander broke down his defenses against Nkosi, since he had to focus on the yang energy striking at his soul.

"Now is my chance" Nkosi did his best to pull the lord commander's soul into his. As fate would have it, the commander's arm sunk into Nkosi's head while his other arm is holding back electric currents. "Argh!!! How dare you do this to me you mortal! It's your blessing that I do this to you! Let me go!!!" The lord commander yelled feeling his hand to his forearm disappear. "More!!!" Nkosi furiously yelled doing his best to pull more into him.

With renewed vigor the lord commanders arm up to his shoulder was devoured in seconds. "No!!!" Not being able to break away the hungry wolf like Nkosi and fighting the currents, he finally felt the threat of death. Then he made a crazy decision to ensure his survival even if it had a one percent chance. He diverted the next current and dove head first into Nkosi's soul to devour him from the inside out.

"We'll let fate decide who lives! To tell you the truth kid, I'm a lot stronger than you! Your odds aren't looking too good! Hahah!!!" The lord commander yelled furiously!!!

BEEP...

"We have a pulse!" an EMT yelled to the driver from the back of an ambulance. "Notify the hospital to get this kid a room prepped for surgery, the bullet missed his heart by 5 centimeters to the right. No exit wound." A second EMT yelled giving a quick diagnosis to relay to doctors ready to receive them. "Damn you got lucky kid, 5 cm to the left and it was over for you, even after that you still came back from being gone for 5 minutes. Keep fighting kid!" The EMT yelled unaware of the battle Nkosi truly had.