44 The Meeting @ Origami Hotel 3

Raising his scarred face to face the other nine men in the room, Tenebris started,

"My name is Tenebris and I..."

"Your name is Tenebris??!"

Wilhelm interjected,

"I thought it was Bristene"

Tenebris' face darkened and he looked at Wilhelm with hostility.

"If you interrupt me again.... I'll make you regret coming here..."

Carl shot up one eyebrow in amused curiosity at Tenebris' words,

'This is interesting, a nobody like Tenebris threatening a member of the fraternity, doesn't he know that that's tantamount to suicide'

Tenebris heard Carl's thoughts but chose to ignore it because he didn't want to reveal his mind reading abilities yet.

"....and if by now, you're not yet aware that Bristene is just a fake name that I derived from my real name then you're pretty stupid."

Carl couldn't bear the feeling of watching a stranger disrespect Wilhelm who was a member of the fraternity, he flared up,

"Who the hell are you to talk like...."

"Don't. Interrupt. Me"

Tenebris turned to Carl with a malicious expression on his face and placed a finger on his lips as the aura around Carl became very heavy and pushed him back on his chair, no matter how much he forced himself, he couldn't overcome Tenebris' powerful gravity magic that pressed him tightly on the chair.

"Mph! Mph!"

Carl tried futilely to say something but Tenebris had used gravity and sound magic on him thereby rendering him mute and immobile.

There was surprise written evidently over the faces of all the men in the room especially Oliver who wielded the gravity element, his gravity magic had never worked against Carl before but right there before his eyes, Carl was struggling against another mage of that same element who didn't even use his hands to cast the spell.

It was so... Unbelievable.

"Bris... Tenebris, I think that's enough"

Wilhelm pleaded gently as he stood up and faced Tenebris.

"No... I want him to learn his lesson first and make sure he never interrupts me again with such murderous intent"

Tenebris said in a deadly tone as he stared fiercely at Carl who was stuck to his seat.

Everyone looked at Carl and saw that his eyes were screaming with obstinacy, he had no intention of letting Tenebris off the hook if he stood up from that chair but when Tenebris started using the gravity and sound magic to choke him, he knew that there was no escape his eyes dilated briefly in fear.

As this happened, Alex, Walter and Lee Min Sung tried to stand up to restrain Tenebris but they also realized that Tenebris' gravity magic held them fast to their chairs. They were slowly coming to the realization that this scarred man was way out of their league.

The other men in the room were less concerned about the outcome of the incident because they knew that if Carl died there, the team would be disbanded and the only way for him to secure his life would be to agree to not attempt to attack Tenebris again, it was one way or the other.

"Tenebris..."

Wilson's quivery voice started,

Tenebris turned fiercely to the old man but once he looked into the half closed sightless eyes, he felt a kind of peace that calmed his heart.

"...Release them"

"Will you disturb me again?"

Tenebris asked and stared coldly at Carl, there was no reply from him for a second before Tenebris realized that he couldn't speak. He quickly cancelled his sound magic and Carl began to breathe heavily as if he had been suffocating since,

"...N..no"

He replied,

Alex, Walter and Lee Min Sung opened their eyes wide in surprise, the indomitable Carl actually complied to someone's request, it was baffling.

'Who is this man?'

They all thought,

With an evil smile, Tenebris cancelled his spell and they all sighed in relief, the tension in the room had been so thick that a knife could literally slice through it. Now that they could all breathe well, Tenebris proceeded to continue his introduction, no one dared to interrupt or attack him, they had all seem first hand what he was capable of doing.

"My name is Tenebris and I can use all the 13 elements except light...."

Tenebris said casually,

"Whaaat?!!"

Oliver yelled in surprise and all the other men in the room except Wilhelm left their mouths agape in shock.

"That can't be possible..."

Dr Kevin started,

"...Jack Snow is the only man in the world who can use all the elements seconded by Robert Allen who can use 10 out of the 13 elements, how is it possible that you can use 12 elements and nobody has found out about you?"

At the mention of Jack's name, Tenebris winced in anger but he composed himself and ignored Dr Kevin's question,

"I believe my introduction is over"

"Yes..."

Carl started, his voice had regained it's confidence but he now knew that there were lines that he was not supposed to cross.

"....now we have to go to TMA's building to register our team"

***

Green was surprised when Sam brought him to the school's zoo.

'What on Earth is Ryan doing in a zoo?'

She led him to the Lion's section and he saw Laura bawling out her eyes in front of the cage and Ryan was hanging tightly to a weak branch that looked like it would break any second, the lions and lionesses that were around eight in number were prowling around the tree waiting for him to fall down like manna from heaven.

"What happened here?" Green asked,

"Laura was playfully swinging her bag and it slipped out of her fingers and ended up on the tree inside the cage, now Ryan wanted to get it for her but it turned out that he landed on a weak branch, that branch will break anytime soon if he moves an inch from there. His DID is strong but not strong enough to fight eight lions."

Sam quickly explained,

"So what do you want me to do? It's not like I'm strong or anything"

Green asked, he was confused as to why they called for him instead of calling someone else. He couldn't even miss the hateful glances that Ryan was sending towards him, he didn't look that eager to be rescued.

"Don't worry, Laura has a plan"

Sam said and led Green to Laura who was crying in front of the cage. When she saw the two of them, she cried out louder and said, "Green, please help us!!"

Ryan could be seen rolling his eyes on the tree until the branch creaked under him and threatened to fall, he gripped it with all his might and began to look pleadingly in their direction.

"Quick, Laura tell Green the plan so that we can rescue Ryan"

Sam said hastily,

Laura looked angrily at Sam but didn't say anything,

"Here's the plan, I'll enlarge myself and throw you inside to distract the lions for some seconds then I'll grab Sam and use her to pull Ryan out.."

She explained,

"Then..."

Green prompted,

"Then what?"

Laura asked,

"How do I get out?"

Green asked fiercely,

"Okay, behind you there is an opening to the outside forest where the lions go out to stretch their bodies, once I throw you inside there, I want you to run there and escape through the wire fence because we have cut a hole in the fence big enough for a human to pass but not big enough for a lion to pass...."

She explained,

Green was shocked, did she really expect him to trust her and proceed with such a crazy plan.

"Wait...wait a minute"

Green said,

"How do I trust you?"

CRRRACK!

The branch under Ryan threatened to give up and plunge him into the midst of the lions.

"Please! Please! Just trust us"

Laura pleaded as she activated her ability and her body size enlarged by almost twice her normal size.

Green let out a nervous sigh and thought,

'Man... I hope this turns out well'