Same disclosures, warnings and all that apply from chapter 1
Dawns Awakening: Chapter 2
Trees rustled softly, the air charged with electrodes. The sky was a mess of gray and some patches of blue wherever the sky was left undisturbed, the sun shone through a hole in the odd quilt, like an angel's stairway to reach the earth to save humanity from some apocalypse.
If only it were that exciting… Kernel thought, looking up at the scene lying down on the grass in a valley he often came to whenever life just got too rushed. He had never seen such a natural view before, it intrigued him and maybe that is why he had stayed in the valley for so long, it seemed like hours and his back began to ache.
His life was pretty boring in his own opinion, whenever he watched public news he saw terrorist road side bombs destroying tanks, soldiers funerals and families crying, hate crimes and school shootings increasing in frequency as time progress' and all he could think of was
Why doesn't anything interesting happen HERE. Of course he knew enough to know that violence was terrible and everyone needs a safe place, but Kernel wanted to live. He once heard a quote from somewhere. everyone is dying, nobody's living. Kernel wanted to be living, spending his life and energy into something that would benefit the world. He wanted to love someone and have that same love be given to him. He wanted to die knowing with no regrets knowing that he spent his time doing something for someone else; his worst nightmare was stepping on others to become successful and dying knowing he only got to where he is by crushing the dreams of others, living a selfish life.
Want, want, want… is that all you ever think about? Asked his subconscious.
Kernel sat up only to look at the scene again and think of something even less productive…
I wonder what Derek is doing now… I wonder if he still likes me and wants to get back together…
Images fade through Kernel's mind, him and Derek holding each other in a deserted high school hallway in a tight embrace, then Derek walking away down the southern side of the hall, rounding a corner. Kernel backing into a locker and sinking to the ground, tears welling in his eyes, the relationship between Kernel and Derek had been a bleak one. Frequently arguing over little things and getting back together afterwards just to feel the love that they shared for each other. It wasn't healthy but few things involving high school are ever healthy.
No, I'm not going to do that to myself…
Kernel wished his life was like a story he was reading, it was about a boy human and a boy elf and they fall in love after a long and heroic journey. Simple love, pure love; but it was never that simple, Kernel had been born in the age of new technology and cute elf boys didn't exist.
The clouds suddenly sort of inhaled and then went melted back to their normal positions. As if on cue, a lightning bolt struck the ground meters from Kernels side. Kernel immediately jumped up and ran under the nearest tree shaking, and sinking to the ground realized just how close he came to death.
Wait, I should be dead… he thought, an electric current travels through the ground and he was lying on his back, no insulator to stop the electricity. He looked up to notice that the clouds were all gone, and the breeze had stopped. As if time stood still he looked around and noticed that time had stopped, a flock of birds in mid flight above the trees, a leaf in mid fall from the tree he was under. He stood and slowly walked over to the scorched ground as if being drawn to it by an invisible force. It didn't look like much, the rough burn pattern with a small white box in the middle…
Wait, a white box? In the middle of a field in the exact place a lightning bolt just struck?.. Kernel thought to himself. Quickly picking up the box but dropping it instantly with an "Ouch!" due to a searing pain he felt in his fingers the moment he touched the thing, as soon as the box hit ground time resumed, the flock of birds flew into the sky and the leaf hit the ground amongst all the other autumn treasures.
Yep, lightning definitely struck this thing… He thought to himself, carefully picking up the small box after it had cooled off. Deciding to open it later, he placed the parcel in his jean pocket and started on the short walk it took to get to his house. The walk was only about a mile and Kernel walked often so it wasn't much to him. He traveled a path through the woods that Kernel's father helped him make, they spent an entire weekend bashing and moving various items of foliage. One of the last memories he had of his dad. His house wasn't much to look at from the outside; it was a simple two story "colonial" house as his mom told him. He lived in Masel, it was a historical town known for its Wiccan history. Kernel descended from a long Wiccan bloodline on his mother's side, she still practiced the religion but Kernel lost that course when he was young. He never really grasped the idea that chanting in a circle with some lit candles and incense was meant to make something happen, but like the unkempt grass among stone slabs he didn't question it, he just followed the wind, sometimes her circle needed him for some ritual, he didn't mind. Surmounting the stone steps and retrieving the key from the inside the small cat statue with a sliding latch that kept the spare house key set, letting himself in.
"That you, dear?" his mom asked from the kitchen, the smell of homemade mashed potatoes and spinach wafting over him, making his salivate.
"Yeah mom." He answered, quickly kicking off his flip-flops and swiftly stepping into the kitchen, only to be met by a firm hug from his mom.
"Thank Thoth that you're alright, I heard lightning a second ago!" she said, while hugging.
"Yeah I saw it" he replied, returning the hug.
"The flash?" she asked
"The bolt" he replied
She released him from the hug only to grab his shoulders and glare at him
"What did I tell you about going outside on bad weather? You're lucky you weren't electrocuted!" she said, cool anger evident in her eyes, her voice slowly rising.
"I'm fine, I was on the edge of the clearing when I saw the bolt on the other side." He lied calmly.
"Well alright, as long as you're safe, don't do it again!" she said with a huff, and went back to cooking.
"Mom, you have some potato on your skirt" Kernel told her.
"Oh just my luck, I have a meeting with the circle in half an hour; and the potato juice has already set in, think you can take it from here?" she asked, shifting the pan with the green beans.
"Yeah, shouldn't be a problem, go get changed" he replied
"Thanks" she said, hurrying out of the room.
Grubbs finished seasoning the green beans and the potatoes and got his plate ready and sat down when his mom returned, sporting a new, tighter black skirt revealing her near pencil-like figure, a black lace blouse, her straight, dark brown hair tied back in a ponytail with a black ribbon and a pair of black pumps to finish the outfit, Kernel was often told by people that he had the hottest mom in the whole town.
"So how do I look?" she asked.
"If only I was straight…" he mumbled.
"Huh?" she asked, her head tilted.
"Nothing, you look great mom" he replied with a smile.
"Thanks sweetie" she said with a grin.
"You going to eat?" Kernel asked her
"No, I already had a whole muffin for lunch"
"Oooh you're right, and with that piece of toast you had for breakfast, diet supplements are gonna start showing up at the door" said Kernel, with an obvious sarcastic tone.
"You hush, I have to get going anyway or I'm going to be even more late" she said, making to the door.
"Hey, mom?" he said, thinking of telling her about the box.
"Yes, kern?" she replied, putting on her coat in the mirror and checking her makeup, not looking at him.
"It's nothing, have a good time at your meeting" he replied
"Well alright, don't stay up too late" she said, glancing at him
"Mom, it's Saturday" he said
"Okay Okay" she said, opening the door. "Love you" she said once outside.
"Love you too" Kernel said, knowing that she didn't hear him.
After eating, Kernel decided to open the box, he took the protective charms from all the doors in the house and laid them out in a circle around the box in the pentacle in his mom's room, hopefully in an attempt to try and protect himself from whatever inside if need be. Then carefully with one hand on the lid and one hand on the base opening the box and hurrying out of the pentacle as fast as he could and covering his ears, looking away. After hearing nothing he looked at the box, decided it is safe and stepped back into the pentacle and peering inside to see its contents, all that was In it was a sort of necklace of thin black rope and a piece of clear, flat, mysterious substance shaped like a domino.
Should I put this thing on? I mean, it was obviously meant for me to find and it doesn't have a name on it so it must be for me. It doesn't look dangerous…
Deciding to put it on and if anything strange happens take it off immediately take it off, Kernel slowly picked up the strange necklace and put it around his neck, it was a tight fit and nothing weird happened when he put it on so he got up and left the pentacle. After stepping out of its bounds Kernel felt the rope tighten and start to burn his neck, he immediately tried taking it off but it was on too tight so he ran down the stairs and by the time he got the pair of scissors out from the kitchen drawer the pain on his neck stopped, he then ran to the bathroom and looked at his new neck tattoo.
The Voice of the Awakened
He gasped.
The tattoo consisted of a half an inch thick black band circling his entire neck and the domino in the domino shaped rectangle in the center except this time it had a hole in the center. Grubbs looked upon the new mark in shock and disbelief, only upon taking his index finger and moving the rectangle to the left, then to the right and realizing that his skin moved with the tattoo did he realize that it was no act of deceive.
What is this? How does a necklace become a tattoo all on its own? What am I going to tell mom when she gets home? Questions cluttered In Kernel's head like garbage bags in a landfill.
"Stop" said an unfamiliar voice; it was the voice of a woman, calm and soothing.
"Hello? Is someone here?" asked Kernel, fear creeping into his voice, looking in the mirror he saw that nobody was in the bathroom, but the voice sounded like it had come from the close by.
"Do not be concerned child, I am here to help" Kernel heard the Voice say.
"What do you want from me?" asked Kernel, looking around only to see that no one was with him in the kitchen, when he turned to the window again he saw that his lips were moving without him knowing, he didn't even feel it.
"I want what you want, I'm here to help you understand your new powers and help you get out of this place" the Voice replied.
"Who said anything about leaving? This is my home." Kernel said calmly, his voice losing the fear it once held, to be replaced by curiosity and caution.
"I know you want to leave, I know you want to be a part of something bigger, now's your chance" said the Voice in a beckoning tone.
"I have to talk to my moth- ow!" Kernel felt a pain in his chest, unable to finish his sentence. An image of a tree collapsed on the hood of a car in some deserted back road.
"Your mother has been in a car accident, she requires our assistance" the Voice told Kernel, keeping its cool tone.
"Take me to her!" Kernel demanded, his voice rising, urgency in his eyes.
"You can do it yourself, instantaneous travel is something even a partu-Awakened like you can manage" the Voice replied.
"I don't know how to teleport!" Kernel yelled defiantly.
"Just picture the place you saw in your vision, and then touch the circle in the pendant, it acts as a trigger to your powers" Instructed the Voice.
Kernel did as instructed, he pictured the scene he saw before and touched the tattoo with his index finger, as soon as he did that the whole tattoo became florescent silver and he felt his chest being tugged backwards, as if being pulled in by an invisible hook. The next thing he remembered was seeing a bright flash envelope the entire bathroom and then nothing.
Kernel awoke with his back on the road, facing up to look at the stars, he never really payed attention in Astronomy, so he couldn't remember any of the constellations. His attention was directed at the boy sitting a couple rows up…
Wait, how did I get here?
Then it all came back to him, the necklace, the Voice, the car crash…Kernel quickly stood up ( with a wash of dizziness) then turned around and felt the déjà vu.
His mom's car was nothing special, it was an old grey beat up (insert name of a car), but the large oak tree that practically flattened the hood was something new. When Kernel put his attention to the driver's side he saw that his mom was there, her head resting on a deployed safety bag and her arms casually hanging to her sides.
"Mom?" Kernel called; no movement from his mother. Kernel immediately ran to the car and carefully opened the door to make sure she didn't fall out and injure his mom even more than she already was.
"Your mother is fine, though unconscious, a minor concussion and only a few bruised bones, a week's bed rest and she'll be back to her wiccen duties." Explained the Voice
"How did you-" but Kernel was cut off
"I know everything you know, Kernel, I am a part of you for the time being"
Kernel felt his whole body heat up at the thought of some alien knowing all his thoughts.
"Any private memories or thoughts have been left undisturbed, I have no interest in your homo erotic thoughts, and before you ask no I am not a "homophobe" the Awakened have far better things to occupy our time with then thoughts of hate and discrimination" said the Voice in an almost bored manner.
"Well,thank you I guess?" Kernel replied