The next thing I knew, I was welcomed to the sounds of gunfire and explosions as I could hear airplanes flying low nearby. I opened my eyes slowly to be greeted with the sight of what I figured was similar to war trenches.
"Jeez." I looked around the area for a little bit as I let the scenery sink in. "Definitely stuck in his war days, huh?"
"Wait till you go a little further into his brain." I snapped my attention toward Lili, who was standing close beside me as some of the other kids had already started dashing toward the course. "He's a weird guy." She tilted her head a little as she took a small step closer to me. "You wear your goggles down in the mind field?" I gave her an awkward smile as I shrugged a little at the comment.
"Yeah. I just find it more comfortable. Some of this can be a bit overwhelming and all, ya know?" I looked out toward where all the kids were already starting to run toward the course. My mind floated off toward a memory as their retreating figures were getting smaller.
"He's one of them!" I winched at the amount of venom dripping in the man's voice as I took a step back away from him. "Look at his eyes!" I swallowed hard as I reached up to grab my goggles from the top of my head as quickly as possible.
"Aquato!" I tried my best to flee the situation as I did my best to fit my goggles over my eyes as I ran. Their words yelled out toward me in the distance despite I had aided the small family that had noticed my family's unique characteristic.
"Monster!"
"Freak!"
"Yellowed-eyed demon!"
It was the last time I helped strangers with my psychic abilities without wearing my goggles.
"Raz?" I snapped my attention toward Lili, who I felt put a delicate hand on my shoulder. "You there?"
"Shit," I muttered the word under my breath before trying my best to give her a small smile. "Yeah sorry, just a memory."
"You sure?" I nodded my head as I smiled wider at the worried gleam in her brown eyes.
"What? Getting soft on me already, Zanotto?" She scuffed at that as the delicate hand on my shoulder left to form a fist.
"You wish." She knocked her knuckles into my shoulder as a small snicker released itself from her.
"Aw, here I thought you cared." I laughed a little as she just rolled her eyes at me. I looked out toward the course before us once more as a determined smile took over my lips. "Guess we show these kids how it's done till then?"
"Let's do it, Aquato." Lili gave me a wicked grin that caused me to swallow hard in return.
"Last one there is a rotten egg then, Zanotto."
"Where in the world did you learn how to move like that?!" Lili gave a shining smile as we ran down toward what looked like a wooden bridge in the middle of the army trenches. "You're like some kind of gymnast! You just flew through the air like it was nothing!" I smiled proudly as I felt the urge to show off just a tad bit more to the girl beside me.
"While growing up, I was taught to train not just my psychic abilities, but my physical ones!" I started running sideways for a moment before jumping into a handstand and springing myself back up into an upright position without even losing my position next to the fellow psychic. I went back into a normal running stance as a cocky smile took over my lips. "The Amazing Aquatos for sure!" Lili just scuffed for a moment before giving me a teasing smile.
"Show off."
"Show off?" I laughed a little as I looked out ahead of me. "I could do a lot more if given the chance! My family has been living as acrobats for years!" I decided to do a quick cartwheel beside her running figure before backflipping back onto my feet with a wide smile. This caused me to start running backwards as I was now just a few inches ahead of Lili. "It honestly helps so much in minds like this-!" I felt my right foot slip suddenly as I was cut off from my sentence. "AH!" I felt myself falling backward as I quickly realized that what I thought was a bridge before, was instead a drop-off.
"RAZ!" Lili reached out toward me quickly to try and see if she could grab me, but I was already a little out of her reach by the time she tried to. I closed my eyes tightly as I felt myself free falling for a little bit down into the dirt before suddenly, I stopped. I snapped my eyes open to look up toward where Lili was to see she was holding two fingers to her temples and was deep into concentration. I looked to see what caused me to come to a halt and realized that an orange telekinesis hand had stopped me from hitting the ground with a hard thud. That hand, I quite quickly realized, was Lili's.
So much for showing off.
I swallowed hard as I hopped off the hand and landed softly on the ground that wasn't even two feet away from where Lili caught me before looking back up toward her.
"I'm okay!" I smiled as she dropped her fingers with a visible sigh before jumping down. She landed the good twenty-foot drop with ease as she stuck the landing like some kind of superhero before looking me over.
"Jesus you frightened me there." I gave her a nervous toothy grin as I just scratched the back of my neck with a gloved hand.
"Was not expecting that to be just a big drop like that. I honestly thought it was a bridge."
"It used to be! One that would wobble as you ran across it to make the younger kids frightened." Lili's eyebrows knitted together as she looked up toward the other side of the trench. "That's odd. Oleander never changed the Basic Braining course. It's been the same since I was six." I felt uneasy with the thought as I decided to take a little look around in the ditch we had ended up in. I swallowed hard as my father's voice echoed in my head.
When the mental plan changes, it's normally due to dramatic events or thoughts. Small changes may occur, but they would be subtle things. Like tiny details within a painting or a new stitch to an old t-shirt.
My stomach dropped as my father's voice finished what I remembered from one of his old lessons.
But when the brain changes dramatically? Like a change of scenery or a change in its normal path?
Then, that's something you should fear. That's when the mind is actively going through changes. That's when dangers can occur.
"Has he been different than normal?" I hesitated for a moment as I continued to scan the area a little.
"Not that I could notice and I've lived with him around since I can remember."
"And you said this is a massive change." Lili hummed as it was obvious she was getting the same unnerving feeling. The skeptical look in her brown eyes swirled as she scanned about the area around us as well.
"Something is wrong." Nothing seemed out of the ordinary until I saw a little thing of green and red on the ground right behind Lili. "What else has changed? What didn't I notice on the way here?" She questioned softly to herself as she rubbed her chin a little.
"Well," I pointed out behind her as I noticed a small little red and green figure behind her. "Did the original course include that?" This caused Lili to stand to the side and the item to show itself completely. Finding out, it was a little plant, but it was one I had never seen before. It looked as if it was a piece of meat growing from the rough dirt underneath it. Like some kind of dandelion growing from under concrete.
"What in the hell?" Lili moved around the plant cautiously before kneeling down beside it. "What are you, little guy?"
"You've never seen anything like it either?" I grew immensely curious as I decided to kneel down beside Lili as she looked a closer look at the plant.
"I have been reading books about psychic herbs and plants since I was five and I have never seen anything like this." She reached out and grazed one of its leaves. "It feels real, but I know it's nothing but a figment of Oly's mind." I watched as she closed her eyes gently and a small orange aura came about from her hands. "Maybe I can make a connection with it. Maybe it can tell me something." I tilted my head in curiosity and tried my best to give her space as I knew making a connection like that for the first time could be difficult with an audience. But I desperately wanted to know what the plant's purpose was. I wanted to know why it was here.
"ONLY TEN MORE MINUTES, MAGGOTS! GET YOUR ASSES IN GEAR!"
I nearly jumped out of my skin as Oleander's voice boomed loudly in the distance. Lili instantly snapped out of her trying to make a connection with the plant as she looked up toward me with an uneasy look in her eyes.
"You go on ahead. If you stay back here with me, you won't be able to go on to any of the other lessons. I've passed this countless times, so I don't need to worry about it."
"What about this?" I gestured toward the plant that was making me more uneasy by the second.
"I'll keep trying to make a connection with it. I'll let you know when we're out if I got anything, okay?" I nodded my head as I looked over to see there was a ladder I could climb up toward the opposite side of the ditch to continue onto the course.
"Deal. See you when we're done."
"You got it."
It didn't take me long to finish the rest of Oleander's course, but I was thinking for sure that someone else would have beaten it before me. Instead though, I was welcomed to a rather empty little room with very little to it other than a large stage in the center.
"Huh." I continued to scan the area a bit as the uneasy feeling crept back into my being. "This isn't weird or anything no." I spoke softly toward myself as I wandered about for a little bit as I approached the stage hesitantly. I felt a dreadful feeling eating at me with each step I took, but I tried my best to push past it as I reached the stage.
What was it that Nona would say? A psychic's greatest ability is the ability to trust his gut?
I swallowed hard as I saw what looked like a little hallway in the distance. My mind instantly felt like it was being pulled in that direction, but for means that made my whole being shiver in response.
Well, my gut is telling me something is wrong.
I started walking toward the white little hallway as the dreadful feeling only grew more and more the closer I got to it.
Really wrong. Really fucking wrong.
I took cautious steps as I entered the hallway. The print on the walls didn't help with my nerves as I realized that they had a trim of little rabbits and carrots that led directly toward a set of red curtains on the back wall. I moved slowly toward the curtains, and once I was in reach, I moved one to the side ever so slightly to see the familiar look of blueprint paper.
"What in the-?"
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN HERE!?" I jumped back from the curtains and turned on my heels to see Oleander standing behind me with a snarl on his face. "Weren't you taught that it's rude to wander around in someone's private sectors of their minds?!"
"Sorry, sir!" I swallowed hard as I tried my best to come up with a believable excuse. "I-I thought this was where the first person done was supposed to go since I didn't see anyone else by the stage." If my goggles were off from my eyes, I knew the man would have seen I was terrified about his response as he seemed to slowly accept my excuse.
"Well, maggot, I wasn't expecting anyone to finish that quickly. To be honest, I yelled out the time remainder cause I was growing impatient with the lot of you." The man put his arms behind his back as he gave me a simple nod in response. "You are dismissed, soldier! Good work finishing your Basic Braining. Meet me in the real world to receive your badge. You'll need it to get into the other lessons available." I nodded my head slowly as I closed my eyes. Allowing my mental presence to escape Oleander's mind and back into my physical world.
For the best anyway,
The dreadful feeling came back again as I thought to myself.
I need to tell Lili what I saw.
