Chapter four: Kill the Suspicion

Jacob was having a nightmare, he was sure of it. He saw nothing but blackness surrounding him on all sides, but soon enough he saw human shaped shadows begin to take shape and coalesce, their glowing red eyes sending shivers down his spine. As they drew even closer, he could barely make out their featureless faces, and the whispers they were whispering, the words just barely reaching his ears.

"Outsider…."

"Freak….."

"Danger to the tribe…."

As he took in the things these strange shadows were saying, as one in particular drew closer to him he soon realized it was his father, his eyes pure blood red, his face devoid of any other features.

"GET OUT!"

In that moment, his entire world exploded and went white, and he felt himself falling….

"Jake! Bro, You feeling alright? Hey man, Answer me-ERK!"

Snapping back to reality, Jacob bolted up in bed, moving so fast he ended up head-butting his brother right in the forehead! As both siblings clutched their heads and moaned for the better part of a minute, eventually as the moaning died down the two siblings looked at each other and the giant red lump now decorating each other's foreheads, and began to laugh, a laugh that seemed to light up the dark and depressing atmosphere that seemed to be hanging over the medical tent they occupied. As they finished laughing, Jacob's brother's face suddenly went serious, the dark atmosphere once again descending down upon the two of them.

"Jacob, we need to talk. More specifically, we need talk about what exactly you did back there whenever you healed my legs. Also, I think we should address just what exactly happened to your eye, what with it being blue and reptilian now…"

"What is there to talk about…..I healed you, didn't I?"

His brother frowned and elbowed him in the shoulder.

"Man, don't be like that! Look, if you're thinking I'll treat you differently because you have a weird eye and have some strange powers, you've got another thing coming! I can't speak for the rest of the tribe, but I don't give a damn if you can heal my legs or make pigs fly, you're my brother and that's all that matters!"

"Geez….Gettin' all serious like that on me…..You really know your way around a pep talk, huh big brother? Anyway…."

As he trailed off, his brother's eyes were drawn to Jacob's hand where Jacob was absentmindedly using unlimited resources to generate a mini-tornado in the palm of his hand, complete with miniature thunder blasts and storm clouds as Jacob resumed speaking.

"Anyway… I suppose you deserve to know, but I think it'd be better for the whole tribe to find out at the same time, so why don't we go outside and I'll tell everyone everything? Here, help me up will you? I'm still a little woozy…"

As his brother nodded and helped him up, the two siblings walked through the tent flap and out into the scorching desert heat, where they found nearly the entire tribe gathered around the medical tent. As the two made their way through the crowd of people and towards the front of the group where Jacob could make his announcement, they both overheard some whispers from the members of the tribe.

"What is that eye? It looks like a snake's….."

"I heard he lifted a camel like a balloon, then healed his brother with a touch…."

"What a freak…."

Suddenly having a flashback to his strange dream he had just awoken from earlier, he shivered momentarily as his brother seemed to roll his eyes, his face one of disgust.

"How quick they are to turn on you, hmm? Even forgetting the fact you saved my life, they treat you like a stranger, like one who no longer belongs in the tribe. Hey listen, are you sure this announcement is a good idea? What if they hate you even more?"

Jacob considered this momentarily, and then shook his head.

"Humph. I don't think that'll happen, but if it really comes to that I'll deal with it then. For now, I have hope they'll see that I'm not dangerous and allow me to continue living with the tribe."

Before his brother could respond, they arrived at the front of the group, at which point Jacob whistled sharply and waited until everyone was looking at him, then spoke.

"I know that everyone here has been wondering just what exactly happened in that cave, and to be honest…."

He trailed off, his gaze shifting down to his hands then back up to the crowd.

"….I don't quite know myself. But what I do know is that I'm still the same person I was before, the same person who has lived in this tribe since he was born, who helped fight against Esdeath and her invaders at the tender age of six! Am I not the same person who now has powers? These powers are nothing to be feared!"

As if to illustrate his point, Jacob dramatically raised his hands above his head, and the crowd gasped moment later as spheres of water appeared right beside his head, undulating and flowing as he smiled broadly. This continued for some time until he finally lowered his hands, at which time the water vanished into thin air.

"You see? This power could be used to help the tribe, to help it grow!"

He smiled as the crowd began murmur their agreement, and soon enough his father stepped forward and smiled, clapping him on the back and leading him down into the crowd where he spent a good while conversing with the people about what his power was and what it could do, and eventually the tribe let him go, deciding to set out for Amarthina in the morning.

As him and his brother returned to their tent and laid down for the night, Jacob couldn't help but feel like the getting the tribe to accept him wouldn't be as easy as it had been today…..

Jacob was dreaming again. In his dream, he was back once again standing in the middle of an endless sea of sand, which he quickly recognized as his mental landscape from when he fought with Ulsparnia. Wondering why exactly he was back here, he looked around for a while to see if there was anything of importance which would give him a clue as to why in blazes he was in his mental landscape, and to his great surprise he saw Ulsparnia, just as big and deadly-looking as ever, curled up in a ball right beside him! Hesitantly walking forward, he got close enough to put his hand to Ulsparnia's nose, let it rest for a second then leapt back with a yelp as its beady black and blue reptilian eye shot open and examined him.

"Ho there, young lad. It seems I slept longer than I thought I would and accidentally pulled you in here. Sorry about that."

"What?! Sleeping? What do you mean?"

"Watch your tone, boy. As I said, I was sleeping after I so generously healed your brothers' leg earlier, as it was the first time I had used my power in a very, very long time. Anyway, From now on we will be sharing this body between the two of us, and you will be able to communicate with me by thought, and vice versa. Is all this getting through that thick skull of yours?"

Taking a step back, Jacob fell backwards onto the sand and thought about what he had just heard.

"Wow….I suppose two heads are always better than one, err, even if both heads are still inside of me. Anyway, about our current situation. I think we need to talk…."

"Yes, I was listening in as you gave your speech to your tribe, very nice by the way, and I could still sense a vague aura of distrust coming from them, even after the speech. Will you be prepared if they turn against you?"

"If that day ever comes, I can assure you I'll be ready for it."

"Good, because I think your tribe could use your assistance back in the real world…."

Before he could speak, Ulsparnia touched its' claw to Jacob's forehead, and his world went white…..

Jacob shot out of bed with a start, his body slick with sweat as he fell out of his bed and onto the sandy ground of his tent. As he stood up and tried to understand what was going on, he heard his brother shoot up beside him, wide awake and breathing heavily. As the two exchanged glances, they just knew that now was most definitely not the time for words, so they nodded at each other and rushed outside into the camp proper only to find it under attack by a moderately large danger beast! Now panicking somewhat, Jacob and Doug rushed to the middle of the camp where the warriors of the tribe were busy fighting it to see if they could help in any way, but the minute they got within range of the beast Jacob felt a strange tugging sensation in his head, and In that same instant the beast turned, locked eyes with him, and started barreling towards him as fast as it could, as if it was looking for him all along! Just barely dodging the charging beast by diving into the sand, he got up and turned around Just in time to see the warriors of the tribe finally bring the beast down, their spears and swords peppering its' hide as it keeled over and died, its anguished death cry echoing over the plains for miles as the tribe gathered around the beast, talking amongst each other and eyeing Jacob occasionally, making him somewhat nervous. Looking around for the first time since being woken up in such a confused state, Jacob realized that over half of the tents in the village were either crushed, smashed, or on fire, and numerous bodies of his fellow tribesmen littering the sands! Just as he began to realize that this thing may have been here looking for him, the warriors who had killed the beast suddenly encircled him, his father at the front of the group as Doug finally spoke up.

"Whoa, what's going on here? Why do you guys look so mad-"

"Shut up, Doug! Get over here!"

His father angrily barked at Doug, and as he went and stood by his father's side, Jacob turned and began to realize that these warriors were looking at him with the eyes of a lynch mob, a mob who was looking really, really angry at him!

"Whoa, guys…..Let's think about this…I haven't done anything wrong here….."

"Jacob Wrightsman, By the order of Maxwell Wrightsman, the Chief of the warriors of this tribe, we have determined that through your actions you have put this tribe and this village in danger and have risked the lives of everyone around you through you carelessness! Thanks to you, over half our number lay dead or dying on the sand, your mother included! So, it is the decision of the tribe that you…"

His dad paused for a moment, and for a split second he looked as if he would cry, then seemed to steel himself and continued.

"that you are hereby Banished from This tribe, now and forevermore! Begone, Jacob Wrightsman, and never return to this tribe AGAIN!"

Just then, Doug stepped forward and spoke.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Have you guys forgotten how he saved my life? I owe my brother my life, so if you assholes insist on banishing him….then I'LL LEAVE TOO!"

"Wait, Big bro! Please, think about this! If you leave too, then who will continue our family name in this tribe? And who will protect those who are left? No doug, You need to stay behind. Please, stay behind for me…."

"Jacob….Fine. If you think I'll be better off here in the tribe rather than out there with you, fine. You'd better be off then, Huh? Goodbye."

As doug turned and stormed off in a huff, Jacob fell over onto his back and began to cry as he realized that it was because of what had happened to him that this danger beast had attacked the village and killed his people and his mother, and as he realized that he felt tears welling up in his eyes as Ulsparnia Spoke in his head.

I see…..this beast was drawn here by my aura….this is unfortunate….

As Jacob felt a maelstrom of emotions swirl around inside his head, from despair to anger to rage, he broke down in tears on the spot, unable to contain his feelings as the people he had once treasure as his comrades stormed off back towards the village, his own father looking down at him with disdain, with contempt! Finally, as the tears subsided, he made up his mind as he looked on with sadness and began to walk away, into the night sands of the desert as he set out for the only other place he knew of where he could potentially find out who he was now, since his own tribe now hated him…

Perk up, boy. At least you still have me to talk to, right?

Rolling his eyes as he heard Ulsparnia in his head, he simply smacked himself on the forehead and kept on walking, leaving his one home behind, maybe forever…..

Okay guys, this basically ends his time with his tribe, and now he begins his long journey to the capital, where he'll eventually meet Night Raid and the Jaegars, and potentially any other allies he comes across. Any reviews are most appreciated guys, I haven't gotten any yet, but as long as people keep reading this I'll keep going. Look forward to the next chapter, because hopefully it'll begin to pick up speed now that our main Character has begun his journey!