Chapter 14 #4
With a will of their own, my feet carried me closer, only to have Yinric stop me.
He ran me through a specific series of exercises, which proved to be more like tests than an actual proper warm up and training session.
Having me running on the treadmill almost qualified as such, but the wretched male stopped me right before I could get my second wind.
“You will get a real workout tomorrow or the day after next,” the Raithean said with a chuckle when I glared at him. “Today, we’re just making sure everything works as intended. And so far, it seems to be the case, which is excellent news!”
He pointed at a large rectangular room enclosed by a glass wall. It was completely empty and ate up more than a third of the right side of the room.
“The second half of today’s training will take place in this holodeck,” he continued. “These glass walls are reinforced and strong enough to sustain the pressure of outer space. I’m confident they will be able to withstand whatever you throw at them.”
I couldn’t help a frown that he should have made that last statement seriously instead of as a joke. Just how powerful did he believe me to be that this would have been a consideration?
“The main thing we want to assess is the extent of your kinetic powers,” Yinric said while typing a few instructions on the control board.
A series of virtual targets appeared along the walls inside the glass room at different heights.
Some of them were extremely small, requiring substantial precision to hit them while much larger ones would be nearly impossible to miss.
The giant screen on the back wall also came to life, the swirling animation giving way to a series of charts and tables currently empty of data.
“Please hold still for a moment while I place these on you,” the Raithean said.
He picked up a handful of wireless electrodes, which he strategically placed on my chest, temples, forearms, and lower legs.
To my surprise, he added three more to my back: one on my nape, and the other two alongside my spine, between my wings.
Various numbers instantly populated the tables on the giant screen while the charts came to life, indicating my pulse and other vital signs.
Yinric glided towards the holodeck, gesturing for me to follow. The swaying motion of his hips was hypnotic.
I vaguely wondered why he hadn’t twisted six of his tentacles into makeshift legs as was his people’s wont.
As suction cups also allowed Raitheans to taste, they usually avoided gliding over the ground.
After all, no one wanted to lick the floor.
Granted, they could shut down the tasting ability, but some granules or residue always managed to find their way in.
“First, I will ask you to enter the room and try to summon the kinetic pulse you used to knock back the masked men in the convention center,” Yinric said while waiving me in as soon as the doors parted before us.
I stiffened. “Errr… I’m afraid I don’t know how. Honestly, I didn’t even know I possessed that power until Linsea told me what happened.”
He pursed his lips and slowly nodded. “Do you remember what you felt that day, and more specifically at that precise moment?”
“The only thing I felt was pain and anger. It was like a dagger stabbing at the center of my brain,” I replied, my innards twisting at the memory of that horrendous experience.
“Try to focus on the seat of that pain. It could be the section that activates your power. Then try to channel it towards one of the targets in the room. Starting with a bigger one might be easier,” Yinric said with enthusiasm. “But wait until I’ve exited the room.”
I gaped at him while he swiftly slithered out.
Did he think I had some sort of switch that I could just flick on and off to zap my surroundings with kinetic energy?
The door closed behind him, and I just stood there, feeling lost and a little useless.
He stopped on the other side of the glass wall and made a slightly impatient gesture telling me to get going.
Heaving a sigh, I tried to follow his instructions.
Focusing on the seat of that pain was much easier said than done.
Sure, I could try to zero in on it, but it still didn’t give me anything to work with.
I didn’t feel any type of spark or dormant energy that I could attempt to enhance and project outward.
The seconds stretched into minutes with nothing happening.
Each passing moment increased my frustration and his impatience in equal measure.
I couldn’t even be annoyed with him as his outward demeanor was perfectly calm, composed, and even encouragingly supportive.
But you couldn’t fool a Temern’s empathic perceptions.
“I’m sorry,” I said at last, starting to feel aggravated and incompetent. “I don’t know what to do as I’m not feeling anything in the area that had caused me pain. Maybe I lost that ability after the severe brain hemorrhage I sustained that day.”
Yinric shook his head firmly in denial. I couldn’t say whether genuine conviction that my powers remained prompted that response, or if he simply refused to accept that possibility.
“I’m certain you still have your powers. Considering you didn’t even know you possessed them, it’s not surprising that you are struggling to invoke them consciously,” the Raithean replied in a soothing tone. “We just need to keep trying, and I have no doubt it will come.”
To my dismay, he demanded that I keep trying.
After ten, twenty, and then thirty minutes of this nonsense, I was seriously starting to get irritated.
I didn’t mind training to better myself at something challenging, but this was just a complete waste of time.
How the fuck was I to ever make this happen when I didn’t even know how I was supposed to do it?
I emitted an angry growl and opened my mouth to tell Yinric that I was done with this, and that we needed to move on to something else. However, his victorious shout resonating through the speakers of the holodeck silenced me.
“There!” he exclaimed, pointing at something on the giant vidscreen. “Whatever you did, do that again!”
I blinked, baffled as my gaze flicked between him and the monitor. A visible spike indicated that I had indeed triggered or invoked some sort of power surge. A part of me wanted to be excited, but I genuinely had no clue how I did this.
“I don’t know what I did,” I said in an apologetic tone.
Instead of being annoyed with me, Yinric raised his index finger in a manner that indicated for me to wait a moment.
“Hang on. Let me try something,” he said excitedly.
The Raithean swiftly slithered towards the central control board and started typing some instructions on the interface.
Seconds later, the most unpleasant zapping sensation went off in my head.
“Stop it!” I hissed. “Don’t do that again!”
But Yinric was too excited to worry about my displeasure.
“There it is! You see that?” he asked, pointing at the spike on the graph of my brain waves on the giant monitor.
“I’m sorry if it hurt you, but this is indeed the spot.
Even your eyes are glowing. I’m guessing that this is a defense mechanism that triggers when you feel threatened. ”
I wanted to glare at him some more, but his excitement was once again contagious. It annoyed me that I couldn’t see my own eyes glowing right now. I peered at my hands, but they still looked normal.
“Now that you see where it’s located, try to work on stimulating it.
Don’t push too hard,” he added quickly in a cautious fashion.
“We can wait until tomorrow or over the upcoming days to actually have you use the full force of your powers. For the time being, we can just focus on getting you comfortable with summoning or activating your ability at will.”
I understood his logic, but the curious side of me wanted to go all out as quickly as possible. However, considering I’d spent the past seven months—closer to eight—in partial stasis while they patched my brain, being cautious seemed like a wise approach.
For the next half hour, I followed Yinric’s instructions.
Although slow at first, I quickly became comfortable stimulating the part of my brain that controlled my kinetic powers.
By the time the Raithean called a break, I was able to make my hands glow at will.
While I still couldn’t see my own reflection, I could now feel the very subtle tingling at the back of my eyes which indicated that they were glowing.
The same sensation tickled my palms as my power was activated.
“That will be all for today,” Yinric said, taking me by surprise. “You can go back to your doctors so that they can give you another checkup before you can call it a day.”
“Already?” I asked, disappointed.
He gave me a knowing smile as he nodded. “Yes. As much as I share your impatience, I don’t want to risk bruising you. Relax for the night and return to me well-rested so that we can crank things up at our next session.”
“Right,” I grumbled.
He chuckled. “So long as Arafin gives you the all clear, expect me to push you hard tomorrow.”
“I look forward to it,” I deadpanned before heading out of the room.
As I made my way back to the medical section of the facility, I couldn’t help but wonder about the significant freedom they were affording me.
Considering how much of a threat they seemed to think I could be, I would have expected to be constantly watched over—not to say spied on—and escorted wherever I went.
Granted, they had security cameras everywhere and a variety of safety measures throughout the facility that could easily lock me in a contained area should the need arise.
But I believed they were intentionally giving me more leeway to both prove myself trustworthy and show that joining them wouldn’t be the prison I feared.