The purple field continued to expand wildly, disintegrating the forest like the world's second big bang, only the opposite of what people believed the first bang to be.
"I'll get rid of it," Zachary, or Zack, referred to the growing force field, the wind Minor tapping his sky blue cap, his white energy rising and the wind swirling around him.
"No, don't," Tsukansu told Zack, all of the group listening in and watching the purple field creep closer, clouds of dusts surrounding it. "It's not like you can penetrate the force field anyway. Don't waste your energy," Tsukansu said, Zack's swirling wind stopping in its tracks, his clothes stopping to flutter.
"Fine," Zack said reluctantly, wishing he could have a chance to show off his wind powers all ready.
"How do we get rid of it then?" Rick asked, turning to Tsukansu, who didn't turn around to look back at him. The sun shone high in the air above, looking still as if it were not caring about their conversation or the destruction caused below.
"That's just it. You can't," Jeremy popped into the conversation, his stare still locked on the purple field that widened like a hurricane. He swept his brown metro hair to the right so he could see well.
"Well, we have to do something. It's coming closer," Rick stated, turning to Jeremy, and then Tsukansu, posing a worried look to both of them. His young, yellow eyes beckoned for an answer, the confused look never gone.
"I think there's one way to stop it," Tsukansu stated, his stare serious and thoughtful.
"What? How could you do something like –," Jeremy's sentence was cut off. His eyes widened in shock, his mouth opened in horror, he began to groan in a shocked way. He felt someone's palm against the back of his neck, causing him to lose consciousness. What…? he asked confusedly as he fell to the floor,his body heavy and limp. He lay on the dirt floor on his side, his eyes closed and hiding the widened, surprised look he had.
At the place of where his neck had been when Jeremy was standing could be seen Tsukansu's palm in a kind of knock-out manner, surprising everyone who had watched. Especially Rick. "'Wha-What did you do that for?!" Rick outburst, knowing that Tsukansu had just harmed Jeremy.
"It's our only way of surviving. We don't have much time," Tsukansu said, narrowing his eyes at Rick, giving him a serious stare.
"How's knocking out a ten year old kid going to help us survive?" Rick demanded as the echoing and sounds of the purple half-sphere crept closer, only minutes away from making contact with them.
Suddenly, the answer to his question began, for young Jeremy stood up on his feet, looking weak and his body seeming lazy, his back slouched and his head facing the floor. His arms were limp, his hands on the ground, slowly coming up as he tried hard to stand up.
"Jeremy!" Rick shouted, surprised. He went to Jeremy's side, and leaned down to his height. "Jeremy, what's wrong?" he asked. The ten year old didn't reply. In fact, he hadn't even opened his eyes. It was like he was sleep walking. "What have you done to him?" Rick interrogated Tsukansu, giving him a cold, protective stare, as if telling him he didn't know him anymore.
"He can't hear you. You might as well save your breath. Now shut up and stay back unless you want to die!" Tsukansu demanded angrily and tensely. Rick was surprised at Tsukansu's yelling and did as he said, putting a reluctant and confused face as he stood by the other Minors who were behind Tsukansu, who was also behind Jeremy.
Jeremy stood up, his back straight up and his eyes finally opening gracefully, revealing cold, charcoal-shaded black eyes. Tsukansu… Rick thought. Just what is he planning on doing?
Everyone continued to watch the ten year old nervously as he slowly opened his mouth subconsciously, the color and expression missing from his face. His mouth was open wide now, and everyone watched as if he were about to pull a rabbit from out of his throat or something.
And then, suddenly, there it came. The huge boom. It seemed like a clash of cymbals in front of Jeremy's mouth, a medium white sphere appearing out of nowhere.
"What the hell?" Mark, the Earth Minor asked, even more surprised as Rick..
The purple force field was only a few yards away now, coming towards them like a crazed animal. The white sphere in front of Jeremy's mouth seemed to spread another clash of energy through the air, dust and air coming towards the sphere in counterclockwise swirls. The air all around began to get sucked in everywhere, even from where Tsukansu and the rest of the group were.
The dust and air kept coming in, fluttering Tsukansu's robes and the Minors' teenage clothing. "Everyone stay back!" Tsukansu warned. The white ball soon grew and grew and the dust and air began to swirl into it like a cyclone, and eventually became a huge hole that seemed to lead to nowhere, breathing in sticks and pieces of wood and leaves into it like a black hole lost in space.
It continued to suck everything in, and everyone waited for the moment when the worldwide force field would collide with the continually growing black hole. The purple sphere crept closer, blowing more dust and tree pieces towards the black hole, as if helping it. Jeremy's clothes were fluttering wildly, more than anyone else's, and his eyes were wide open, the deep blackness hard to stare into and find anything, the stare bored as if watching the whole scene he created like a barely interesting movie.
Damn it, Walter thought in his mind, trying to keep himself from being sucked in, even though it should've been easier from behind the hole. This kid has a lot of power, he just doesn't realize it, but everyone else does. That's why this Tsukansu guy knows how to activate it. He even has more power than me, this kid. That's going to have to change later on, Walter thought, a little mad at the awareness that this little ten year old half his size had the power to kill him. Walter watched, examining everything that happened as the black hole continued to grow wider and wider, the vacuum stronger and stronger when it finally sucked in a whole tree.
The purple wave raged closer, threatening the huge hole, and the strong vacuum breathed everything in harder in reply. When they finally collided, they created a huge collision noise, sending a wave of dust in our direction, getting the tiny particles stuck in my eye.
The two forces remained stationary, fighting each other desperately, but in the end, the black hole broke a huge opening in the force field, cracking it at first, and then breathing in the whole thing, shard by shard. Then, it breathed it in all together, while the black hole disappeared along with it.
Jeremy fell back to the floor after the surroundings became safe again, his eyes returning to its shade of brown and his body lying on his back, his hair disheveled. Slowly, he began to open his eyes, blinking twice while his body stirred as if he had just awoken from a long sleep. He squinted his eyes to block the sun, and stared at the rest of the group with a baffled look. "What… What happened?" he asked, putting a hand over his squinted eyes, the rest of his face from the eyes down covered in his hand's shade.
"Nothing," Tsukansu replied immediately, not giving everyone else a chance to tell the truth. "It's not important. Now that everything is cleared, let's go!" he declared, also immediately changing the subject.
Jeremy stirred some more on the floor until he got back up on his feet, his mind feeling weak. I wonder what happened, and why I feel so weird, he thought, feeling a slight headache.
Tsukansu stomped his foot on the ground, blue energy pouring from him, as if calling attention in the most demanding way. "Traveling Land River!" he declared as a huge wave of water came from behind the group and carried them in the water as Tsukansu actually stood on it. Everyone had a hard time trying to ride it like Tsukansu did, even Walter, and they traversed through the barren, dirt reigning land.
There was not much to observe as they passed by in the rushing wave of water except splinters of wood sticking out from the dirt, pieces of bark from the trees, leaves and sand and grass blades scattered all over, bits of rocks laid out in the barren field. What happened here? Was this caused by the purple force field from before? I've never even seen Minoa cause this much damage, Jeremy thought as he felt the coolness of water rush him down the dusty path, his clothes soaking wet by now.
PoVS
I felt my headache slowly die down, my pain going away and fading into nothing but a forgotten memory. The defying of gravity of my hair failed out, my arms free of the straight jacket's hold, and my consciousness returning to its rightful place in my mind.
I looked around me to find nothing but dust and destruction all around me, remembering that it was a forest before. What happened? I thought. Did I cause this? I looked around me as much as I could, to try and find some clue of what happened. I turned around to see where the building I had been locked up in for so long had gone to.
I saw nothing but a pile of the stone bricks the tall building was made of, all of it disassembled like a Lego's puzzle. I took in a sharp breath at the sight of something horrible. My eyes froze in fear, my mouth open in horror. My expression tightened as I saw multiple human arms and other body parts sticking from pores In the scattered wasteland of white stone brick, blood coming from every leg, arm, and head I saw.
What…What happened? Did I do all this? Did I kill that many people just for the sake of getting out of here? What have I done? Just who am I? I'm not the same person anymore. I realized. I've caused another murder, I thought. That's what I've done.
I tried to look away as hard as I could, but my eyes were resistant to follow. I couldn't turn my back on it, no matter how hard I tried. Then, something made me turn around, something more engaging than the pile of graves I caused.
In my confusion, I turned around to see about six figures riding on what seemed to be water, five people slipping and one person standing coming towards me. I was immediately scared, thinking it was someone like the security archers from before and backed up. I couldn't go anywhere. The graves of the many innocent people I made and the bricks that surrounded everything were blocking my path. I had no way of escape. What was going to happen now?
They inched closer, and stopped right in front of me, the middle one looking familiar from the things I've learned back in school. "Tsu-Tsukansu?" my voice choked out in disbelief, surprised to see the Water Council here. Maybe I really am going delusional, I thought, my straightjacket sleeves worn out and tired.
"Looks like I'm famous around these parts," he said, smiling and tilting his head as what seemed to be his group stood behind him, finally letting my arms move.
"What are you doing here?" I asked him with innocent eyes, still not believing that I was actually meeting a council, wondering if he had come in person to kill me for the deaths everyone had claimed I caused.
Immediately, he introduced himself and began telling me the story of the Minors as smoothly as possible. About how they set off on a mission to come and save us because we had power White Cloak wanted, about they had ten of the twelve Minors all ready, and about me being number eleven on the list, soon to be crossed out. But I was totally baffled. Am I losing my mind or something?
"A Minor?" I asked, my voice full of disbelief. This world can't be real, I thought, thinking that there was no way I could be one of these "Minors". "How can I be so sure that I believe you?" I interrogated him for proof.
"You sometimes experience strange things. Strange things you cause that you can't explain, or have any way of explaining. So you decide to ignore it," he told me, telling me the exact same thought I have come up with many days ago.
"I… I don't know if I can," I lied, wondering about if their story was true or not. Everyone nodded in unison to Tsukansu's talking, the claimed to be "Minors" and Jeremy.
"Why would I lie to you? I'm Tsukansu," he told me, trying to make me realize that he was totally trustworthy just because he helped rid the world of its Ebony Age. Well, newsflash. Just because you helped the world doesn't mean I have to believe every single word you say. You're not the best or anything. You're just strong enough to stand up to the world's dark times. Being a Council means nothing either. I don't know the Councils as people. Why should I respect them? Just because they're older and that they are who they say they are? That just gives them a title, not respect. You have to earn respect. The hard way. On the other hand, it could be true about what he's saying…
"I don't know… it just seems too…" I began, unable to find the words in my confused mind.
"Abnormal? Well you control the abnormal. Get used to it. I'm not lying to you," Tsukansu said, finally receiving my trust.
"Fine," I told them, believing them for now, my voice still a little unsure. We'll just see how it turns out. Plus, I have nowhere to go now. "My name is Miroku Teresa," I said, introducing myself.
"Oh, I know you and all about your past," Tsukansu said, scaring me. "By the way, you're not crazy," he told me. "I know for a fact that you're not." He smiled. His smile was sure reassuring. It just made me feel so sure inside, so warm, but really, I knew that what he said meant nothing to me.
"But… if my purpose is really for good," I said, becoming sad and depressed, thinking of the lives I took away in seconds with my uncontrollable powers. "Why did I kill all those people just now?" I asked them, my eyes tearing.
Tsukansu sighed. Everyone watched our "private" conversation. "Your powers are just out of control. You have the mind element, which is hard to master. It can take over your own mind and body at certain times, but you have to become stronger than that power inside you. When you feel too stressed or pressured, your powers get out of hand and you can do who knows what to anyone," he explained, his eyes giving a look assistance. "You just have to have a lot of heart to do so," he said in a reassuring way. How does he do that? How does he seem to make me feel better just by looking at me?
But even so, if he's correct, that won't pay for the real sins I've commit. I looked back to the graves, the bloody limbs and other body parts sticking out like protruding sticks of the dead trees in the dirt. I have to make it up to the world, to get everything in balance, I realized. I'll have to help these guys stop White Cloak! It's the only way to cancel out the load of bad things I've caused with enough good ones.
"Okay, I believe you guys. I'll join you," I told them, this time me reassuring them. And they all smiled welcomingly and made me part of their group with smiles.
The sun glared high in the sky, still ignoring us as we walked away to the center city of Kinotoro, where we would figure everything out, and then begin our search for the next and last Minor.