Koh - (1)

The early morning felt the same as any other time really. It was cold, and dark..

But a fire lit up the area, the crackling of which interrupted the otherwise total silence. A boy sat by the fire, enjoying the heat but more so the smell of the rabbit cooking on it.

He held a book in his hands, and yawned as he looked at the cover: "Koh"...

He hesitated for a moment, then opened it.

Jumping back, he recoiled as a familiar figure appeared right before his eyes.

"Old man?? What? You are alive?" Dane asked, surprised to see the old man standing next to the fire..

The Old Man stared at him for a moment then said, "of course not brat.. Use your brain for once. I sent you this book because I've died. This is merely a part of my soul.. it will dissipate shortly so shut up and listen, we don't have time..."

Dane nodded, not entirely sure about what was going on, but sat and waited for an explanation..

"Right.. this will be my final lesson to you. Obviously, I was killed, and this part of me too will pass on once this is over... I don't think you are ready for what I'm about to teach you. You are still an idiot, and very immature.. and this power is dangerous..

I was going to train you gradually, but there's no time for that now.. So stay still..."

The Old man then walked forward, his arm outstretched. Dane was busy being pissed about how, even in death, the Old Man had to insult him..

A moment later the Old Man placed his hand on Dane's head, and said, "you better survive this kid.. don't let me die for nothing.."

The world seemed to bend for a moment, and the weight of seeing and hearing everything all at once.. feeling every single atom in the surrounding air.. it all came crashing down on Dane's consciousness and he yelled in pain..

"Aaah!" He screamed.. the world spun, and he wasn't sure if his eyes were open or not.. Heck he wasn't sure whether he was conscious or not..

An eternity seemed to pass before he opened his eyes again. All the while, he suffered through the pain and the pressure.. Eventually though, he saw the old man standing before him, and the fire nearby... But something else..

It was everywhere.. a glowing white light that seemed to be a part of everything, but at the same time separate..

"What is that?" He asked the old man, looking around.. Then he felt something within himself, deep at the core of his being.. It was like a sixth sense had been awakened. He could feel it, use it, but he had no idea how to explain it...

The old man did though...

"That is Koh you are seeing..."

"Koh?" Dane said, remembering the cover of the book.. "what is it?"

"Hmm.. that is a difficult question to answer.." the old man said, "and one that I don't have the time for.. the answer is in the book I left you, at least, as much of one as I can give.."

"It is far more imperative that you shut up, and listen to my instructions if you don't want to die.."

"Die?" Dane thought, wondering how he was going to die.. in fact, he didn't think he had ever felt healthier..

"You feel that 'something' within you now?" The Old man asked, staring intently at him..

"Yes..." Dane said, waiting for more.

"I knew you were a monster.." the old man sighed, "took me fifteen years to feel it..."

"Anyway, that is your Athar.."

Dane nodded as the old man continued,

"You can think of it as your 'will'.. it is what connects you to Koh, and allows you to manipulate it... It also strengthens your body, giving you longevity, strength, stamina.. More fundamentally, it strengthens the soul and will itself...

In short, your Athar is the most important thing in your life now kid... and right now you have no idea how to control it.. within 20 minutes or so you will die from the Koh in the surrounding area..

Without shutting off your Athar from it, it will pass through your body, as it always does, but it will barrage your newly formed Athar until it shatters..

Then you die.."

"What?.. seriously?" Dane asked, feeling his heartbeat quicken.

"Anyway.." the old man said, nonchalantly, "all you have to do is make it close.. over time, your Athar will get stronger, and you don't have to worry about It getting shattered..

But for now, if you don't shut it off from the surrounding Koh.. Well, then you will be a great disappointment and I'll have died for nothing.."

"Is that all?" Dane mocked... "how do I shut it off?"

"How do you lift your hand?" The old man questioned back

Dane shrugged and the old man smirked, saying, "you simply will yourself to do it.. a baby has trouble controlling their limbs, but overtime it becomes second nature.. it is the same with your Athar...

It is why I wanted to train you slowly.. to force open someone's Athar is the same as killing them in almost every single case.. But with your talent... Hmm... You should be able to figure it out.. unless I was wrong that is..."

Dane shut his eyes then and focused on his Athar. Deep within, it was an intangible feeling, connected to every part of his body, mind, and soul...

He could feel it.. the white light passing through the Athar..

"So that's what Koh feels like.." it was warm, and comfortable.. like a small fire that lit up his very being..

It was the old man's voice that drew him out of being engrossed in the feeling of his Athar and Koh..

"Ten minutes kid..."

"Shit.. I can't get distracted" Dane told himself. He focused on his Athar again and started trying to close it off...

"Close... close..." he willed, getting more and more frantic as time went on. No matter how hard he tried, nothing happened.. the Koh kept passing through his Athar, and sure enough he could feel it starting to weaken slightly..

"Close... close... close..." His mind started to get distracted and it grew harder and harder to keep his concentration...

"Five minutes.." the old man said.

"Will you shut up?!" Dane snapped, opening an eye to give the old man a hard stare.

The Old Man raised his hands and backed off before Dane closed his eyes and focused again..

"Close...."

His Athar began to crumble. Everything the Old Man had said was coming true.. only a few seconds and his Athar would shatter, and he would die..

"No.. close!" He screamed internally.. his body was shaking and his consciousness began to fade. At the last second, he figured it out...

Deep within his Athar he felt it.. the movement.. all he had to do was move it.. and he did..

All at once the Koh stopped flowing through his Athar as he shut it off. Immediately he felt relief and opened his eyes.

"I did it old man!" He said, but looking around the Old Man was nowhere to be seen..

"Oh.." he said. The air felt empty again. All that remained was the crackling fire and the book on the ground. Dane stood up and stretched. Looking down he stopped and picked up the cooked rabbit and began to eat.

"Rest in peace" Dane said before chowing down..

...

"Throw it now!" Ward yelled.

The air was dark, covered with a thick smog. Time passed slow at that moment, and he watched intently for a blue light..

He waved his staff around, keeping the floor guardian at bay.

A second later, the blue light came closer and closer. A second after that he could see the lantern..

"Screeeee!!" The floor guardian screamed. A smile crossed Ward's face as he thought to himself: "it worked..."

The plan had been simple:

He leaned into Liza and whispered: "This is what we do... I'll be a decoy and draw the floor guardian to me, and you throw the lantern at my voice when you hear it.. it should hurt it or stun it at the very least.. at worst you can flee, at best we kill it..."

Ward stood over the floor guardian who was writhing in blue flame.. not only had the plan worked, it had gone better than he ever thought it could.

The hooded figure lay on the ground Enflamed. The fog had lifted enough that he could see Liza in the distance approaching him.

She stopped after noticing the floor guardian. Her eyes darted from Ward, to the burning creature, down to her lantern lying in the dirt.. The lantern was unlit, the first time it had ever been so..

Ward was slightly stunned as well. He gripped his staff and wondered if he should end it, but was honestly afraid to approach it..

It rolled in the grass for a minute or two, letting out a high pitched screech. Then the flames started to dim...

Ward noticed it exactly 3 seconds after Liza, who opened her mouth and said, "run!" Before he even realized what was happening..

Once Ward's mind caught up, the dark fog had slowly begun to return.

"I need to run..." was the only thing that went through his mind.

He hadn't even turned around when he noticed the blue light was gone altogether, and he said to himself:

"Shit.."