Sealed Monster

The following day was a weekend. The week had been busy and pretty eventful, so everyone welcomed the weekend gladly and with open arms. While others planned to make the best of the weekend by taking out time to relax, Alissa and Zavier had other things mapped out. Both of them had mutually agreed to meet at the school's training ground the next day.

Zavier scuttled on his feet in the early hours of the morning as he made his way through the empty school grounds. He had a lot on his mind so, he was shocked when he saw that Alissa had already been there for quite a while. The eager look on her face showed that she was truly anxious as to what lay ahead of Zavier's coaching.

"Hello Zavier!"

She greeted him heartily. It was clear to Zavier that she was brimming with energy.

"Hello Alissa. Have you been here all by yourself?"

"Yes! You don't know just how excited I am about this! Where do we begin? When can I do the awesome stuff like fire balls and drag-"

Zavier had to cut her off.

"Relax Alissa. For now, we need to start from the very beginning…"

Her eyes burned bright as she waited for Zavier to drop the ball.

"First off, I need you meditate?"

Alissa's face dropped in disappointment.

"Meditation?? Is that what we're doing now? I thought we would begin with something much cooler!"

"Don't be absurd Alissa. This is important so you can be able to gather mana."

Alissa rolled her eyes.

"Well why didn't you just say that at the beginning? What kind of lousy teaching is this?"

Zavier didn't indulge her. He simply pointed to the floor and mouthed one word;

"MEDITATE."

Alissa responded to the authority in his voice and began to meditate. The morning sun cast a warm glow over the horizon. There was a slight breeze. But other than that, there were no distractions. After about ten minutes of meditation, Zavier quickly realized one truth about his self acclaimed student; Alissa sucked at gathering mana. Nothing happened. Not even in the slightest way possible.

She opened one of her eyes to peek. When she saw nothing was happening, she looked at Zavier questioning.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing Zavier? Because it looks like you don't."

But Zavier wasn't listening. Just as she opened her mouth to speak, Zavier saw something with his Time-Space Eye. It was very faint, but it was flicker nonetheless. As Zavier paid closer attention to it, he sensed a reaction, it was a trace of very faint energy. Although he couldn't see through it, he sensed it.

While Zavier struggled to make sense of what it was, the Multisystem came through with a gentle reminder.

"Zavier, please be advised, this is a gentle reminder that you have the ability to project your own consciousness into another through close physical contact.

"In this case, the consequence of this is you might be allowed to see the energy inside this girl."

Zavier listened with keen interest. He genuinely wanted to know the nature of the energy inside Alissa. He gently placed his palm on her abdomen and closed his eyes. Alissa wasn't sure what was going on, and she couldn't wait to find out.

With his palm still on Alissa's abdomen, Zavier's consciousness found its way in to her being. He found himself surrounded in a thick encompassing darkness that had the semblance of an abyss. In the midst of the nothingness, Zavier saw a sinister formless being creeping in the deep reaches of the abyss. Zavier wanted to surge forward to investigate the shadow, but his instincts prevented him from going forward with his plan.

Almost as if the shadowy form sensed him, its cold empty hollow voice came out of the abyss. It was ancient and it was far from human;

"It has been a long time since I have seen a human…"

Zavier got goosebumps just hearing it speak. Only listening to the entity made Zavier feel like a thousand serpents were slithering all over him and he couldn't do anything about it. He felt like he was staring into the yawning chasm of a volcano and the ancient, cold, dark, ageless voice of the deep was speaking back to him.

As the black shadow spoke, a thick dense fog began to emanate from it. The black fog gradually began to fill the abyss. Zavier couldn't explain it. The entire construct was pitch black, and yet he was perfectly aware of the presence and movements in the abyss. So, even before the Multisystem warning came, Zavier had already sensed the danger in the air.

"Zavier! There is danger ahead! Retreat is advised!"

Zavier didn't need to be told twice. He retreated as fast as he could without daring to even look back.

Zavier jolted back to consciousness with a violent start. As his own consciousness reunited with his body, the lingering fear of the unknown entity trailed his consciousness and followed it to the place his memories called home. As the encompassing fear overshadowed Zavier, his biochemistry reacted to the sudden change in the state of his mind.

Zavier broke into a cold sweat. The floodgates of his sweat pores opened and within a matter of seconds, Zavier was drenched in sweat. Alissa began to panic. The young girl didn't understand what had just happened. One moment, Zavier had placed his palm on her belly, and the next moment he jolted as though he had been struck by lightning. Alissa hadn't even the slightest idea of what Zavier had seen. When Alissa saw him sweating profusely like a sacrificial lamb, she began to barrage Zavier with a steady stream of questions;

"Zavier are you okay? What happened??"

"Talk to me for heaven's sake!!"

Zavier's mind was a mess, but still, he somehow found the words he needed to assuage Alissa. He straightened his back and assumed a poker face.

"It's okay Alissa, I am fine don't worry."

But alas, the young girl wasn't so easily convinced.

"Don't do that Zavier! Don't patronize me!"

Zavier tried his best to smile.

"Relax Alissa, no need to overthink this."

Alissa frowned as she stared at him squarely in the face. She had known Zavier for a long time, but she was starting to see some discrepancies in his usually predictable behavior. She took a deep breath and spoke to him;

"I know what this is Zavier, no need to pretend. In fact, I had suspected this from the very start…"

A puzzled frown crept across Zavier's face.

"You do…?"

She replied confidently.

"Of course! Your injury from the other day's match is acting up isn't it? "

Zavier made to reply but she shushed him.

"Don't act though anymore, I know you sustained some mental damage during the match. I'm sorry, it was selfish of me to ask you to teach me so soon."

Zavier was so touched that for a second, he forgot about the terrifyingly surreal monster he had seen inside her.

"Rest up okay? I will wait till you're fully healed."

Then she added playfully;

"By then, you would've been strong enough to teach me some exceptional stuff!"

Zavier smiled in appreciation as he reached for a nearby bench to sit. Alissa rushed to sit beside him but Zavier prevented her with an outstretched arm.

"You can go home Alissa, it's okay I got this. I just need to rest up for a while."

She lingered for a bit before she reluctantly gave in.

"Okay Zavier. I am off now. Goodbye."

As Zavier watched the eccentric girl retreat into the background, he allowed himself to breathe again as usual.

"Damn! Who would have thought that such an innocent looking girl would house such a monster inside her??"