Sarthak Nair

Drama Action Fantasy

3.8  

Sarthak Nair

Drama Action Fantasy

LYNXOUS - Part II

LYNXOUS - Part II

39 mins
383


"What did Emma mean when she said: We haven't had a case like you since... never mind."?

 

Are there others like me?

 

I woke up next morning to Adam, shaking me gently.

"Wake up, Arion. Training awaits!"

 

I was led to a well lit hall, with a bunch of other people. Adam explained that those were the other students - Last week's newbies.

Firstly, he taught me how to... well, bring out my magic.

 

I had to focus on my magic, which was apparently inside me.

Concentrate.

"Look beyond yourself, he said, and into the 4th dimension."

"Focus, and draw out some power."

 

I tried. It wasn't easy. I repeated. I started sweating. I tried, again and again...

 

...For two hours. I was nervous. Emma tried to calm me down, but I didn't listen.

 

Frustrated, I... I focused on something else.

Electricity.

Metal.

Suddenly, my entire body lit up with sparks of electricity. I didn't feel like a creature, but... alive.

My hands and legs were covered with metal.

Sparks flew, and I suddenly... withdrew the power.

Everyone looked at me, astounded.

 

I was back to normal, but I felt super fuzzy.

Emma and Adam exchanged looks.

"Well, Emma said. There's your proof.

You're 25% Android."

I took a break of ten minutes, stunned by the event. Then I went back.

This time, I truly looked beyond the world in front of me.

In another dimension.

 

And very slowly brought out its power.

The other students looked at me, surprised.

 

On seeing a yellow little sphere of light in my hands. 

Suddenly, I lost contact and I fell down, exhausted.

"Nice job!" Emma exclaimed.

"You accessed it pretty early. Well, that's it for today." Adam clapped his hands, and the rest of the students left the room.

 

"Well, let's go!"Adam exclaimed.

"Uh, where?"

"To the Android temple. Seeing that you've accessed your robot self, it's only right that we pay Abner a visit."

"A-Abern?"

"Abner. He's the leader of the android temple. Adam's the general of the mystic temple." Emma explained.

 

They took me out of the temple, out of a purple door with the star symbol on it.

Adam opened it up. Emma lead me out.

I saw that all this time we were on a beautiful, isolated little mountain. There were quite a number of hills around. Mountain goats roamed the place freely, feasting on the lush green grasses. There was no snow, but the air was a bit cold - colder than inside.

"Take it in." Emma said, as she took out her phone and clicked a couple pictures.

I looked around for five minutes.

 

"Ready?"

"Yep."

 

The three of us trekked down the mountain, and into a small village.

"Don't these people come up the mountain?" I whispered to Emma.

"Nah. The government didn't allow it, saying it was too dangerous. The village believes that witches live up here and well, they're partially correct. Brave trekkers come up every once in a while, but we made sure that the Lynxous remained hidden. Few who saw this... well..." 

"We erased their memories." Adam completed.

 

We went to... a cave?

"What is this? I asked Adam. What's the door?" I said, pointing at the end of the cave.

Relax. We're taking you to the android temple. 

"Huh? Isn't it somewhere, like... a few kilometers away?" 

Emma and Adam looked at me like I was crazy.

"They're situated across the world, spread out." 

Adam used his hands to shoot a purple blast at the door. It flashed the star symbol, and it opened.

"Oh. So where are we?"

"Norway". Adam said, as we entered the door.

I saw a completely different temple. It was bright and flashy, and everything was solar powered! Robots chatted away normally, in a human - robot voice, except they seemed... more human. A lot were playing games and making phone calls.

An old, yet young and bright looking robot tapped my shoulder. He was differently coloured from the others. Instead of the silver metallic shade, he was covered in strong golden plates.

"Welcome to the Android temple. I'm Abner." 

"Uh.. hi, Mr. Aber-Abner. I'm Ar-"

"-Arion. I know." 

He looked so calm, like an old man, but there was something interesting in his smile. It almost seemed like... wisdom was surrounding him, as he had been surrounded by knowledge for thousands of years.

"Well," he said, "thanks, Emma, for bringing him here. Adam, wanna join the tour?"

"Sure."

He then showed the three of us around the temple. Adam and Emma, of course, had been here many, many times, but they still tagged along. I noticed that the structure of the temple was very similiar to the Mystic temple's, except... the population was full of cyborgs, and unlike the ancient looking mystic temple, it looked from the future. 

 

"Uh, Adam, Emma, mind giving us a minute?"

"Sure." Adam walked back and Emma shrugged, winked at me and walked off with Adam.

He then turned to me, and led me to a room inside. It was well lit, and he sat down on a chair, gesturing me to sit.

"Arion, do you know - why you're here?"

"Uh, n-no?"

"I know about the Lynx test. You're 25% Android, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, apparently you displayed your... robot side while training in the mystic temple, correct?"

"Yeah, I, I just felt like electricity wa-"

"I know. And that's why you're here."

He leaned in. 

 

"You're gonna train here for the next week, until you know the basics. You... we've never had any cases like you before."

"B-but what about training in the Mystic temple?"

"All in good time."

"Bu-"

"That's not up to you and me. Or Adam, or Emma. It was the call of the Lanxorses - The Lynxous government."

"Government? But isn't this a secret thing?"

He laughed.

"Oh, Arion, you're funny. No. The Lynxous is very complicated, and it does have a secret government. We have representations from each temple. Every month or so they check in. They're playing a huge role in Grim's wa-"

He stopped. He eyed me suspiciously and then continued.

 

"Anyways, they're not here to introduce you to this temple. Adam and Emma, I mean. They're here to drop you off. Gradually, you'll visit every temple, and learn from it."

"Cool!" 

"I know."

We didn't speak for a moment.

Then he whispered. "Just because you're powers are split up, Arion, doesn't mean that you're weak in different things. That's what makes you strong." 

A few minutes later, Adam and Emma waved goodbye to me, and they left. I was actually a little sad to see them go, as they were the only people I knew. It was like first day of school all over again!

Abner showed me into my room. I expected it to be like my previous room in the mystic temple, but it was fabulous! It was a well lit, very comfy room, equipped with two cell phones and a computer! 

He told me the wi fi password and left, telling me to take some rest, as training was tomorrow.

I just sat on the bed, and started to think.

Just a few weeks ago, I was... just like any other guy. Now look at me! I- I'm a superhero! 

I called up my mom. You see, I told her that I was on a business trip in Norway. Well, I was in Norway, but... it wasn't any business! 

I opened up the computer, and it was just an ordinary one, but looked pretty modern. I searched up the place we were in, and turns out, we were in Los Angeles. Then I played some games, and went to bed.

 

I was escorted into the training room the next day, where there were people, but they were... just human. Abner told me that the general of this temple - Oliver, would be training me.

Oliver came in. He was quite a good looking guy, with brown wavy hair. He too, was human.

He clapped his hands twice, and suddenly, everyone in the room powered up like a robot. In less than two seconds, everyone was an android, fizzing with electricity!

 

Everyone except me. 

All of them were up in the air, and soon, everyone was staring at me.

Luckily, Oliver came to my aid.

"He's a newbie. Give him some space, guys." They turned away and soon started chatting with each other.

"Hey." He looked in my eyes.

 

"Arion, focus. You're not human anymore. Feel your difference. The thing that makes you inhuman, bring it out. Charge yourself up. Let the little sparks in your body join up to huge bolts. Feel the coldness of the metal. You can do it."

Oliver was much nicer than the others. I did what he said. I tried to recall the feeling back at the mystic temple. I felt... stronger. I didn't feel alive, but I was. Like an android.

 

I could feel little sparks in my body. They grew larger till I was completely numb. A tingly sensation washed over my and suddenly, my skin was a cold silver, and I felt stronger and faster.

"You did it!" Oliver cheered. "Now, try to go back to being human."

 

I felt myself all over again - alive. I controlled the sensation, and soon, the numbness melted away and I was a human again - a mortal.

 

"Alright, Arion. Really nice job! Fast learner, I see. Now, become a robot again, and then revert back to a human. Repeat for about ten minutes. I'll be back by then. He walked out."

Without Oliver, the first few times were not so easy. But I remembered his words. Soon, I charged up and reverted back again, multiple times. A couple guys came over. They were really friendly, and soon, we were all chatting while I was reverting back and forth. Oliver came in, and we all hurried back to our places. 

 

"Nice job, dude! Now, come on."

"W-where?"

 

"Android combat, of course." 

“What? Combat? I-I’m not ready.

Yes, you are. You’re a special case, so we need to rush up things with you.

What? Just because I’m… different, why do you need to go fast on the training with me?

He didn’t respond. He walked out, into the brightly lit hall, and I followed him.

He led me to a different hall, this time with more Androids. I just stared. It was awesome! The Androids were all fighting each other, in pairs. They were slamming their fists into each other’s bodies, swinging and ducking. A couple of them were flying and fighting in the air, using a device which looked like a jet pack. Some were even using little pistols, which were attached to their hands, to shoot down the others.

I gulped. If I wasn’t careful, a stray bullet could end my life!

Oliver noticed my worried expression, and smiled.

Don’t worry. These guys are experts! Some of these are even ranked. They won’t hurt you, unless they want to.

What’s a rank?

Tell you later. He lead me to the end of the room, and ordered me to turn myself into an android. In a few seconds I was buzzed up.

 

Now what?

Oliver smiled at me.

 

Then punched my face.

 

“Ow!” My face turned red. If it could, that is. He smacked me so hard, I’d probably be in the hospital if I was reverted. But since I was a robot, it didn’t hurt much, which was cool. But it nearly created a dent in the metal.

He had a huge grin on his face. “What was that for?”

“Basics.”

“Basics?! THIS IS BASICS? STARTI-“

He lunged and swung at my face again, cleanly smashing my face.

“OW!”

“How was that?”

“How was that? I’ll…. I’ll…” I stopped.

 

“It’s alright. Come at me.”

“W-what?”

“Go ahead. Bust a move.”

 

I didn’t hesitate. I charged at him. I ran much, much faster than I did. But he just jumped out of the way and stuck his leg out. I went tumbling to the floor.

“Again!” he ordered.

I got up quickly, and ran at him. I swung my arm at him, which cut through the air very much faster than it did before – when I was a human. But he ducked and kicked my knee. It buckled and I fell on my knee, but quickly jumped back. I had barely got up when he did a fast, powerful rotating kick in my stomach. I fell all the way to the edge of the room, slamming into the wall.

He chuckled.

I felt broken. But I wouldn’t give up. I ran up to Oliver, and he drove his fist in my face. But I was ready, and I stopped it. I grinned at him and using all my power, I flipped him over with his hand. It took little strength, actually. He flew up in the air while curving into a backflip…

…and landed expertly on the floor.

 

Wha-? I was a bit caught in shock. These guys really are well train-

BAM! He did a flip, caught my neck mid-air and flipped me over in front of him when he landed. I felt my body smash into the floor. Hard. I moaned weakly.

“Had enough?” Oliver grinned widely.

 

I couldn’t speak. I closed my eyes and reverted myself back into a human. I looked at my body. It wasn’t injured, like I thought it’d be, but it was grazed heavily – Just as the metal had scratched off on the floor. It was bleeding lightly.

“Get up.” Oliver ordered.

I didn’t listen. I had enough of this guy.

“Now.” He said firmly.

I tried, but I couldn’t. I was too weak. I needed to close my eyes… yeah…

 

I woke up in another room, this time on a soft and cozy bed. My body was covered in bandages and ointments, and I felt much better. There was a window near the bed and a chair beside it. Other than a shelf and a table in the room, it was empty.

 

Abner walked in. He was grinning widely. What was it with these people and smiling at others’ torture?

 

“So, how was training?”

I wanted to scream. But I couldn’t. I let out a meek howl.

He chuckled.

 

“This happens to everyone.”

“What? Their bodies being crushed in first time training?”

“Yep.”

 

He leaned in.

 

“You can’t train if you aren’t durable enough. This was just a test. The real training… is… well… in one word, pain.”

“How did I do?”

“What?”

“On the test. How did I do?”

 

“Hm… average. Some first timers defeated their coaches. One of them was Oliver.”

“Makes sense.”

 

We both laughed. I noticed I felt much better.

 

I looked at Abner and spoke:

 

“What’s a rank?”

 

“Oh. Well, a rank is actually a level given to a Lynxet – a power level. The lowest rank – achieved when the first basic training is completed – is I. The highest rank – given to the most experienced – is V. Oliver’s rank is III.”

 

“What’s yours?”

“V.”

 

“Whoa. Makes sense, I guess. Emma and Adam?”

 

“Well, Emma’s the same as Oliver – III. Adam’s the general, so he’s IV.”

“Cool.”

 

“Actually, the elders of Lynxous – The founders were rank VI.”

“Oh.”

 

“Our enemies are given ranks, too.”

“I see. So, uh, what’s G-“

 

I stopped. I didn’t want him to know that I knew about Grim. He stopped himself before, before he blurted out his name, as it was… something secretive.

He didn’t notice.

 

“When will my training end here?”

“A few weeks, I guess. Till you’re a rank III.”

 

We didn’t say anything for a minute.

“The Lynxous doesn’t just help you recognize your powers and abilities. It’s a job, as Adam said, not a trainer course.”

 

“The… missions - start when you’re level IV.”

 

“So, Adam’s been on missions?”

“Yeah, of course. Nearly a hundred.”

 

“Emma wants to go on a mission more than anything else. She trains really hard to reach rank IV. But… well… the temple leaders decide the ranks in a monthly ranking ceremony. She’s been waiting for six months, but the elders think she’s not ready.”

 

“Where are the elders?”

“Uh… c-come again?”

“The elders. Where are they?

“They’re on an …assignment.”

 

“An assignment?”

“Yeah. Uh… some… um… terrorist attacks in different parts of the world.”

“When will they be back?

“In a few months.”

“But… don’t they come back monthly?”

“Yeah, but…um…this is a different assignment. Very difficult. Um… I’m gonna go. Training continues tomorrow.”

“Wait. Don’t I get a day off?”

“No. You heal yourself. Get used to pain. Pain is the road to power, Arion.”

“Bu-“

He turned around and walked off in a hurry.

 

I stared at the ceiling of the room, deep in thought.

Abner lied. Straight to me. I thought I could trust him… if anyone I could trust in this temple, it’d be him. Would have been him. Why are they keeping the war with Grim a secret? Thank goodness Emma told me… she’s annoying at times, but she’s really nice. I guess I can trust her.

But the others?

Something’s wrong here… these people…they’re lying to my face.

 

Are they who they say they are?

 

I woke up next morning, and headed to the training hall, with Oliver leading me in. This time, though everyone was an Android, they seemed very excited. I stood amongst them, and the training began.

Oliver instructed us to feel the energy, the electricity of the Android… and to use that. All of us tried, and some began sparking and cracking bolts of electricity. They soon managed to stabilize their power. Surprisingly, I didn’t take much time. I felt the sparks running through my veins, and joined them to power me up.

He asked us to ‘direct’ the power to our hands.

We did, and suddenly, everyone’s hands began to brighten up, and soon, all of our hands were beaming up with bolts of electricity!

He then asked us to power down, which was a term for being human again, power up and repeat.

 

We were divided into pairs by him. I was paired up with a girl named Jane, and we started chatting a bit. Oliver then asked us to do something we didn’t think of:

Shoot your electricity into your partner.

 

I was a bit nervous, but Jane didn’t hesitate. She mouthed a ‘sorry’ and soon beamed me up. An electrifying pain shot through me, but soon, it faded away. I noticed that I was much brighter than the other Androids, when Oliver asked us to stop. He explained that Androids can absorb little amounts of power, which can increase the overall potential of the Android. He then asked us to shoot back into our partners.

I did, and suddenly, everyone was flying across the room and slamming into the wall– including Jane, as huge amounts of electricity flew into our partners. Jane started whimpering, and I could see that she was in great pain. I didn’t wanna hurt her, so I stopped. Soon, everyone’s energy had run out and both partners were exhausted and hurt.

 

Oliver explained that our powers had increased, and the bolts we shot back were too much for our partners, which they failed to absorb. He led us into another room, and it was filled with machinery – full of weapons.

 

“Welcome to weapon training. Take a look around.”

 

We were awestruck. It was amazing! The room was neatly filled with shelves, each labelled ‘missiles’ or ‘guns’, or something else. We crowded around each shelf. The guns were not really normal, they were in different colours, mostly silver. We swarmed around the missile shelf – the most exciting one. Turns out, the missiles were much smaller than we thought – about the height of a long pencil!

 

We were then paired into groups. Oliver asked us to power up, which we did. He gave us each a pistol, and he fit it in a little hole in our arms, which I didn’t notice before. It fit perfectly. He then asked us to concentrate and run the electricity into where the pistol was – very slowly – into our arms.

 

I did, and in less than three seconds, I heard a bunch of loud gunshots – except they sounded more of a fizz, as in there was some kind of magic. Soon, everyone, including me, had managed to shoot our guns into the wall.

 

Oliver then gave us some bigger guns, with more ammo capacity. He took off our pistols and fitted the new guns into the same hole. He then put us up in the same pair, and I found myself with Jane.

 

He asked us to shoot each other, and this time, I didn’t hesitate. I fully powered the guns and so did Jane, and as the bullets ran into our body, we heard giggling around the whole room. It…tickled!

 

We practiced for a couple more hours, where Oliver made us do some exercises. He asked us to return to our rooms and get ready for combat training tomorrow, which gave me shivers on remembering my last encounter with Oliver. I walked up to my room, chatted a bit with my friends, played some games, read a bit and went to bed.

 

I woke up the next morning, a little late. I went to the combat room. Only a few others were there, so we started chatting. I did well to stay away from the other room. It hurt just thinking about my fight with Oliver! More and more people filled up the room, and soon, everyone was there.

 

I always wanted to learn martial arts, and now, it was possible! Oliver showed us a bit of Taekwondo, which we practiced for a couple of hours. Then we learnt some karate, and later, a bit of kung fu. We practiced for eight hours straight, and at the end, we were assigned a huge log of wood each. Oliver asked us to power on, and split the log.

 

Though we were much stronger as androids, the log was very durable. Few could split the log. My turn came, and I smacked the log with all my power. My arm went halfway through, but then it stopped. I felt some pain in my hand. Though we were androids who were durable enough to barely feel bullets, we had a long way to go. Oliver said that being an Android isn’t enough, and that we should be more durable and stronger. We practiced various exercises, and we went to our rooms. As tomorrow was a Sunday, we had a day off. Oliver said that we had to stay in the temple, but could do whatever we liked.

 

I turned on the laptop. I watched some videos, and read a bit. Then an adventurous thought came in my mind.

 

I went to the laptop, did some… ‘hacking’, and went to a secret search engine website.

 

Then I keyed in: ‘Lynxous’.

I hit ‘enter’.

 

Instantly I found many results – companies, corporations, houses and more. I searched a lot, but not much. Then I went to images – same.

Except… I recognized a picture almost instantly.

It was of the android temple – nowhere near exact, but I was very sure that it was it.

 

Below the image… a little headline.

What I read made me shiver.

It said: The lost temple: is this the famed Lynxous?

 

I clicked it hesitantly, and I got redirected to a new website.

A blog.

 

It was short, but it only made my doubts multiply. It said:

 

Hello everyone, my name is Alfred Valentine. A few years ago, while hiking in the mountains, I stumbled upon something strange – a deserted temple.

I wandered in, curious, and said: Hello?

No response.

 

I wandered inside the temple. Strangely, the interiors of the temple looked… new. I didn’t wander in deep, before I suddenly entered a hall.

I barely got any time to explore it before suddenly, I heard noises. Shuffling, talking noises, growing louder and louder. I just hid behind a pillar when a bunch of young people, around the age of 25, entered, all talking loudly. They talked for more than ten minutes when a slightly older looking guy briskly strode in, upon which everyone fell silent. He then asked them to ‘power on’, at which my eyes nearly fell out, as all of them turned into… androids, beaming with electricity! I clamped a hand over my mouth to stop myself from gasping. They were in the hall for more than an hour, when the older guy told them to go have lunch. They all walked out, and once they did, I ran out of the hall.

 

I looked over my shoulder, hoping no one would see me. Many times, on my way out of the supernatural temple, I was nearly spotted, but I did well to hide in the shadows. I finally managed to reach the front entrance, and I escaped. I heard a shout before I ran outside, but I didn’t look back. A few weeks later, I moved out of the city; I was that shaken.

I managed to click one picture of the temple, which you have seen This happened nearly six years ago. I told everyone, but they didn’t believe me. I ventured back in with all my courage the week before I moved out, but as I peeked in, it was silent. I mustered my courage and walked in, armed with my pistol. This time, the temple had truly fell silent – as if it never existed.

 

I still know it was real. I… my name is Alfred Valentine. Here’s my number. The blog ended with his phone number.

 

I shut the computer off, and for the next two hours, I couldn’t stop shivering.

 

I woke up a bit late the next morning, and had breakfast. After I ate, I saw Oliver, who was grinning at me.

 

“What’s with the smile?”

“You’ve got guests.”

 

He lead me out to the front of the temple where Abner was talking with two familiar faces.

 

“A-Adam? Emma?”

“Hey, Ari!” Emma grinned and gave me an unexpected hug. “How’s training, Oliver?”

 

“Oh, he’s pretty good. He got the hand of powering on, weapons and… a bit of fighting.”

“Fighting, huh? Wanna go a round?”

“What? N-no. Oliver smashed me up first try. Maybe later.” I shuddered.

Adam laughed.

 

“So, you like this place?”

“Yeah, it’s cool.”

“We’ll be moving to the next temple in a few weeks. Once you’re rank III.” Abner declared.

“What rank am I now?”

 “I.” said Oliver, with a bit of confidence.

“Nice!” I exclaimed.

 

“Well, you three go on. I’ve got to talk a bit with Adam.” Abner said.

“Oh, ok.” I started walking with Emma, but Oliver wasn’t coming.

 

“I gotta show some training games for the newbies. You two go on. See ya later, Adam.” He waved and Adam gave him a thumbs-up.

 

I lead Emma to my room and started telling her how my training was going. Then I asked her something hesitantly.

 

“Uh… what… happened to the previous Android temple?”

She looked at me with a bit of darkness in her eyes.

And at that moment, I felt a little scared of her.

 

“How do you know this?”

“Uh… I… w-where… what happened to the previous temple?”

 

She looked away.

“Emma, tell me. What happened?”

 

“There was… an… an… an accident.”

“An… accident?”

“Y-yeah. Uh… an Android got in a bit of a muddle and accidentally exploded a chunk of the temple. The rest collapsed.” She looked away again.

 

“You’re lying.”

“Well, I don’t have a choice!” Emma shrieked. I jumped at the unexpected shout.

“We didn’t speak for a minute.”

 

“I’m sorry.” She apologised.

“Yeah.”

Another minute went by.

 

“Tell me, Emma. What happened?”

“I… you don’t wanna know. I never should have told you.”

“Told me? About what?”

“The war… n-never mind. I gotta go. Uh… good luck with your training.” She quickly walked off.

 

I sat back in my bed, a bit upset.

Emma was the only person that I thought I could’ve trusted. But she lied, too. An accident? I knew very well what happened. They discovered that Valentine found them, and out of fear… they abandoned it, I guess. But she lied too. Oh, well. At least I know Alfred’s story’s true.

 

Why did Emma say she never should’ve told me about the war? Are… are the war and the destruction of the temple… connected?

 

What did she mean by: “I don’t have a choice?”

 

I sat there for five minutes, then walked out of the room. I saw Emma walking into the training room. She was probably gonna talk with Oliver.

I looked for Adam and Abner, and found them at a very unexpected place – on an isolated bench, away from the main temple, at the back of the temple. They were whispering.

I crept up behind them, very carefully. They were talking about… me?

 

Adam: So, the training’s going well, isn’t it?

Abner: Yeah.

Adam: You haven’t told him, have you?

Abner: No. I’m pretty sure Oliver’s kept quiet, too. We can’t let him know about Grim. He won’t want anything to do with us, then.

Adam: I know. Is training almost over?

Abner: Yep. He has to cover flight, and master weapons and combat.

Adam: Good. We must prepare him… he’s filled with unbelievable power that he doesn’t even know he has. He’ll be a great asset to us, then.

Abner: I know. And that’s why I’ve issued a new rule that the temple will be shut at all times. I lied that it was because of safety concerns…like another event six years back… with you-know -who…

Adam: Glad to know you’re making progress. But I have a concern.

Abner: What is it?

Adam: Will he find out? The reason… I mean, there’s so many people in this temple, like all temples. One could find out and break it to hi-

Abner: We can’t do anything about that. We can’t force everyone to stay silent. They’ll be suspicious… and Arion, more.

Adam: I thought of something like that. I say we take him out today. He’s free, isn’t he?

Abner: He should be. Today’s Sunday. Take him out. Have some fun.

Adam: Cool. Well thanks, Abner.

Abner: No problem. Also, when will you tell him about the history of Lynxous?

Adam: Soon. And oh, I hope he hasn’t found anything secret in the computer in his room. About…well, you know.

Abner: No, I’m pretty sure he didn’t have access to that. Uh…

Abner suddenly turned around. I ducked low and sprang into a bush the moment his head turned. I stayed there for two minutes, with the conversation now much lower – too low for me to hear. Then the sound turned up, and the audible whisperings began again.

I crept out, much more careful this time.

 

Adam: No, that wasn’t our call, remember? With what happened with you-know-who? It was the law of the Lanxorses, not us.

Abner: Yeah. Also, make sure he doesn’t get his hands on the Lanxet, ok? He doesn’t wanna know some of the rules in there…

Adam: I’ll make sure of that. He rose. Anyways, thanks Abner. I’ll go look for Arion now.

 

I slunk off and reached my bedroom.

Something’s terribly wrong… why are they so secretive about me? Who’s you-know-who? Is it Grim? Why are they hiding Grim from me? Who i-

 

A loud knock interrupted my thoughts. I opened the door to Adam, with a bit of a smile on his face.

“Hey, Arion. Well, Abner has agreed for a bit of a trip for you. You know. You haven’t been out for many days. We can go to a nice restaurant. Amusement park? Movie? Emma’s tagging along, by the way.”

“Oh. Um… I guess a restaurant would be nice. When are we leaving?”

“In an hour. Well, see ya.” He winked and went off.

 

I spent some time on my bed, recollecting my thoughts. Then I had an idea.

 

I opened up the computer, went to the secret site and copied down Alfred’s phone number.

 

An hour later, Adam had called a taxi and the three of us were in the back, silent. I was really grateful for my friends as these two had supported me a lot. Instead of his usual tunic, Adam was dressed quite normally, a jeans and a t-shirt. Emma wore the same. We whispered and talked a bit, but overall, it was a quiet time in the car.

 

We got of the car after about forty-five minutes, in front of an elegant four-star café, named The coffee light. Emma practically waltzed in, and in less than two seconds, everyone was looking at us. I slowly walked in, pretending that I was a different customer, so as not to embarrass myself by making others think I came with Emma. We walked at the end of the room, near a nice window.

 

Adam called in a waiter, and we took less than two minutes to decide – a couple of veggie sandwiches, a smoothie and some waffles. Emma, of course, took more than ten minutes, making the poor waiter stand there until she finally declared she’ll decide later. He walked off, glaring at her.

 

We talked a lot, with a couple of laughs in between. Emma told me how she found out the Lyxnous about three years ago – when she too, found the cave, but leading her to the Mighty temple. They tested her and informed the Mystic temple that they’d found a garront, of mystic powers. She took a couple weeks to stabilize. Adam, of course, had been in the Lynxous for over fifteen years.

 

The waiter brought in our food, when Emma finally ordered her meal. We finished off the meal and left the restaurant, with Adam paying for the bill, saying it was his treat. It was really good restaurant, and Adam revealed that it was his favourite restaurant even before he discovered the Lynxous.

 

We ordered another taxi and reached the Android temple in less than an hour. We had left at 12:30 at noon, and came back at 4:30. It was a lot of fun, and Adam and Emma waved goodbye at the temple entrance. I forgot about all my suspicions and called up my family the rest of the day, before going to sleep.

I woke up the next morning and headed to the training hall. I felt slightly odd at seeing that I was the last one in the hall, as I had overslept a bit. Oliver came in just a minute after I entered, and he asked us to power on.

 

Then, he asked us to fill our powers and concentrate them at the back of our shoulders and arms. I felt a surge flowing through me, but stabilized it pretty quick. Only… it was getting difficult with my feet not gripping the floor. I looked down and I was… floating!

 

I looked around the room and sure enough, everyone was a bit off the ground and waving about, their hands flailing up and down. Then, Oliver asked us to focus a lot more power into our backs. We did, and almost instantly, a metal container slid out of our bags, its edges on fire and then… we were flying! But not as I expected. In three seconds, everyone was bouncing off the walls, the floor and even other Androids! Oliver sat back and laughed, as the room was filled with clanging of metal. I bounced off surfaces and people over ten times before I powered down the extra power, leading the container to slide back in and make me fall down from six feet in the air. I was fine, but I held my head as everyone whooshed over me.

 

In about another minute, everyone had powered down and were sitting on the floor, tired. Oliver laughed his face off as we all shot him annoyed glares. He stopped, gave us a bit of a break, and explained that the metal containers were jetpacks. He asked us to re-focus the power into our jetpacks, and focus it more. We all managed to do that, and Oliver ordered that we slowly power on the jetpacks, very slowly, until its maximum capacity. He did, and soon, we couldn’t go much higher because we’d touched the ceiling!

 

He asked us to slowly lower our jetpacks, and soon, we’d all touched the ground. I’d never flown in my life and it was a magical experience. I could feel my jetpack fizzing up with electricity but I held in my excitement and calmed down because I didn’t wanna burst a hole through the ceiling!

 

Oliver then took us outside, and asked us to power on, but with a bit more speed of power in the jetpacks. Soon, we were much higher than we were in the room before, and we all certainly looked very cool. We repeated this step for three whole hours, each time faster powering on, and each time raised higher. Then we practiced some more martial arts, weapon combat and went back to our rooms.

 

Oliver trained us more on flight the next day by taking us out in the open, the backyard of the temple, where lush, beautiful green grass grew all over. He asked us power on and then increase the focus into the jetpack while putting all our power into it. In less than two seconds I was screaming as my legs, jetpack and palms opened up with fire blazing out and I was flying in the air straight up at top speed. I powered down but then I dropped down faster and faster, as the air hit my body at full force. I managed to power back on just a few seconds as I reached the ground, as my body suddenly stopped and started hovering over the grass, thanks to my jetpack, with everyone staring at me. Turns out, only I succeeded in flying!

 

We practised flying up at top speed quite a number of times, for three hours, including how to hover mid-air. Oliver taught us how to switch directions in the air, throw some punches and how to land safely. Finally, Oliver asked all of us to power on as he did, too, and when we were all ready, he rose up in the air, hovering above us. We joined his height, and soon, we were flying with him around the little valley like a flock of birds! We flew beautifully for about twenty minutes, when we landed back on the grass. It was an amazing experience, and I realized then that I never would’ve been able to have this experience had it not been for Lynxous.

 

Then we practised some more combat, weapons and landing down, before we retired to our rooms. Before we went, Oliver mentioned that in the following week, we would have a little surprise.

 

I talked with Jane a bit and her friend, Jake, before I had a video call with my old friends. I went to bed late, tired out, only at 11:30.

 

I woke up early and headed to the training hall, only to find out… everyone was not in their regular groups. They weren’t even assembled; they were just chatting away. Oliver came in and everyone fell silent. He announced: “Welcome to the mini-training contest!”

 

Everyone applauded.

 

After the applause had died down, Oliver explained: “The rules are simple. There will be three competitions; A strength, speed and flight competition. The winners of at least two of the contests will get permission to leave the temple this Sunday.” He eyed everyone, stared at me for a few seconds and continued: “As there are over sixty people training with us, we will have an elimination round, in which only qualifiers shall pass. Let the contest start!” Everyone clapped and cheered. This was a bit of a chance to show off.

 

The elimination round was quite simple: Snap a metal bottle, fly the height of the temple top and hit the target using weapons at least thrice in a five-chance test.

 

It wasn’t as smooth as everyone thought. The first six didn’t qualify, much to the uneasiness of everyone. But then most people started qualifying. My turn came, as I was placed thirty eighth. I easily flew to the height of the temple and snapped the aluminium bottle like a twig. I missed the first target, but hit the next three and qualified. I grinned at Oliver, but he only gave me a slightly worried smile. I shrugged it off and watched the rest of the elimination. The whole process lasted about one and a half hours.

Thirty-four people passed, and I was glad to be one of them. Jane had barely passed, but Jake didn’t make it. Then, we got a little break of half an hour. We were instructed to get ready and go out to the back, where quite a little crowd had gathered, including Abner. Oliver was ready and waiting for us.

 

We stretched, powered on, and Oliver announced the rules: “The rules are simple. You are paired up with a person in the first round. The person who can beat their partner in hand-to- hand combat qualifies. The qualifiers make it to the flight competition. The person who can fly around the pillars of the temple without hitting them moves further. The final few who can destroy the objects using the right weapons makes it in the top three. Thirty-four remain. Only three qualify. The top three will win and be promoted to rank II, which is the rank where you can go out of the temple, among other things.

 

We shuddered a bit. I was partnered with a strong looking, slightly intimidating guy. He told me his name was Paul, and we gave each other a little shake hand. He tipped his head a little, winked at me and got into pose. We were the first pair.

Paul ran at me full speed, but I dodged it quite cleverly and did a rotating kick on his head. He staggered a bit, and that was his end. I smoothly dodged his punches and countered them with punches, kicks and acrobatics. He soon staggered, fell and gave up. He had landed only a couple punches. Abner looked quite pleased. I sat down to watch as the rest of the round took place.

 

One won out of each pair, and so seventeen qualified. Surprisingly, Jane had qualified quite easily, having used acrobatics excellently to incapacitate and defeat another girl. The next round was flight, and I was a bit nervous. Quite a few bumped on the pillars and lost, including Jane.

I was sixth, and at the start my shoulder barely brushed one of the pillars. But then I took a different approach; I pretended it was a video game and used my ‘gaming’ skills to make it out. Seven qualified.

 

In the final round, the first two did really well, only missing and using the weapons incorrectly twice each out of a ten-object course. The next three crumbled and hit only four and were disqualified straightaway. I was second last, and it was my turn. I hit nine very well using aiming tactics and guessing the weapons. I qualified instantly, and the last guy hit only six. I’d won!

 

I saw everyone clapping for me and I looked pleased. The other two were graded as second and third based on their performances in the previous round, as both of them had the same score. Turned pink, then red on hearing the loud applause. Paul, Jane and Jake were clapping really hard and I winked at them. Abner gave me a little medal, a shiny yellow one. Oliver patted my back but his face held the same, slightly sad expression.

 

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Abner a little worried, along with Oliver. I wondered the cause, but I started to indulge in the celebrations that came that night.

 

I woke up next morning, entered the hall to pats and slaps on my back, and we did a lot of training. We were much, much stronger, faster and better two weeks back. We mastered flight, improved aiming and did a lot more acrobatics and combat, including some Karate, Taekwondo and Judo. After eight hours of training, we called it a day.

After dinner, I went up to Oliver. I needed to know more about what happened to the previous Android temple… and anything of Alfred, if possible.

 

“Hey.” I walked up to Oliver in the empty hall.

“Hi, Arion! Training’s going really well, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. Totally enjoying it.”

“Nice. Well, any questions?”

“Uh… yeah.” I hesitated.

 

“Say, what happened to… to the previous Android temple?”

He looked at me darkly.

“What?”

“What happened to the previous temple?”

He didn’t look at me.

“Uh…you telling me or what?”

“Yeah. Yeah. Uh… it was destroyed.”

“How?”

“Well, uh… a student accidentally destroyed the primary pillar of the temple, bringing it down.”

“But… aren’t the pillars very, very strong?”

“Yeah. They are. But he used all his powers on it. By… accident.”

“Huh? It wouldn’t break like that.”

“Well, it did. He was your rank, and… uh… he used everything on the pillar. Combat, electricity, weapons, everything.”

“But… wasn’t it an accident?”

“Um… yeah! Uh… it, um…”

He left me without an answer.

That was the last straw. Something’s definitely wrong, I thought. These people…they’re still strangers.

 

I went back to my room and saved Alfred’s number.

 

I had to talk to him.

 

I woke up the next morning, practiced a lot of speed and flight techniques, weapon training, athletics and martial arts. After the training session, I went to my room and closed all the curtains and latched it. I didn’t want anyone to overhear my conversation with Alfred.

I called him up with nervous, shaky hands, not knowing If his phone number was still valid or if he’d respond.

The first dial rang. So did the second. So did the next eight.

I was beginning to lose hope and I nearly cut the call when suddenly, a firm, slightly old voice responded: “Hello?”

I was a bit stunned, as I hadn’t prepared what to say.

“Uh… hi, my name’s Arion. Um…I…”

“Oh, are you here to pay the rent? Don’t worry, I ca-“

“No, no. Nothing like that. I held the phone closer to me and hushed in a quieter tone: “I’m from Lynxous.”

“Lynxous? What’s that?”

“Um… you wrote a blog, right? About a temple?”

There was silence for nearly a minute.

“How’d you find it?”

“I have my ways. Listen, the whole temple organization is called Lynxous. What you saw was the Android temple, where everyone became Androids.”

“W-why are you calling me?”

“Because I need your help. There’s something wrong here. I’m one of the Androids myself, and I feel these people are lying to me.”

“Why should I trust you?”

“Because… because you have to. I need your help. Please.”

“I can’t trust you. That event… it destroyed my life. People called me crazy. They called me names. No one – not even my family believed me.”

“Well then, I’d be your first believer.”

There was a long silence.

“Fine. Meet me at this address. I’m in Los Angeles.”

 

That’s the same city I’m in, I thought.

 

“And bring no one with you.” He added.

 

The phone cut off, and I started planning my ‘appointment’ with Valentine. Maybe he could help me.

The remaining days of the weeks passed away quickly. I woke up early on Saturday. His residence was almost 300 miles away from here, and I couldn’t drive that distance or ask someone to drive me, since that’d be suspicious.

I prayed Emma and Adam wouldn’t visit because if they did, my plans would be ruined. Fortunately, they didn’t; Adam had to attend some family matters while Emma paid a visit to the elemental temple.

I asked Abner permission to go out. He seemed really suspicious and asked me where I was going at which I promptly said I wanted to go on a long drive, on a taxi and maybe visit a few places. He pondered over it for almost five full minutes when I reminded him, I was a rank II and was allowed to go out. He gave me a bit of a worried look, told me drive safe and wished me a good time.

I went out of the gate and walked for some time. This temple too, was in the hills and as I walked through the peaceful yellow grass down the hill, I thought about Alfred and his experience. I was risking a lot going out to meet him… I wasn’t even sure if his story was real or not. But I had to trust him… he was my only hope.

I walked down the hill and into a remote spot and powered on. I rose high up in the air, into the sky and blasted off in the sky, feeling like a peaceful yet powerful bird. I was going really fast and though I could see houses and buildings, I couldn’t see people as they were too small. I was going at over 120 kmph.

I was cruising for an hour and a half when I took a bit of a break. After ten minutes of rest, I decided to continue on foot as I was in the snowy mountains now and I would tend to miss his house. There wasn’t much of an address; just some coordinates. My metallic feet padded along the snowy ground, sinking into the snow when suddenly, I fell into a bit of a hole. It was pretty wide and deep, but I simply flew out. If it wasn’t for my flying skill, I would probably never have been able to get out.

 

It was a really beautiful area where Alfred lived. I saw a lot of animals such as deer, owls and even a rare, beautiful snow leopard. I had left at nine thirty, and according to my calculations I would return to the temple at around three o’ clock. I trudged along for another thirty minutes, and decided to continue on air.

 

I flew for almost another one and half hours until I realized I was close to my location. I landed and powered off, not wanting to scare anyone possibly nearby. I walked along the slanting slope of the mountain, through various caves and trees, until I finally saw something which resembled a big cottage, white, so white that it almost blended in right with the snow. I ran up the rest of the mountain until I had reached the beautiful bronze steps of the off-white cottage. There was a bell on the door.

I trembled a bit, calmed down myself and walked up to the front door. I held the smooth, metal bell and shook it, instantly producing a ringing sound that seemed to echo through the mountains.

The door opened to a man. He had beautiful black hair with a couple of grey strands in between. He had tired eyes but an energetic face. He was about my height, and his face was clean shaved. His age was around the mid-forties.

“So, you’re Arion?”

“Uh…yeah.”

“Come in.”

 

I walked in to a pretty room adorned with wooden furniture and cozy couches. The room was outlined with big windows, streaming with yellow sunlight in. There was a big old bookshelf with hundreds of books inside, and beside it were reports – newspaper reports, which I recognized instantly. It was of reports of Lynxous – short newspaper articles, from last month to fifty years back. Beside it were maps and artifacts resembling Lynxous. It was covered with red ink and circles and lines. Alfred wasn’t lying. He had spent his life looking for Lynxous and following it.

 

He led me to a big brown armchair. I sat down and sank into the warm, cozy armchair. Opposite to me was a silver kettle with marble crockery. Alfred sat down the opposite armchair.

“Tea?”

“Oh, yes, please.”

He poured me a cup of hot, steaming tea. Then he poured himself a cup. I took a sip of the hot, strong tea. We sat in silence for the next two minutes. I could feel his eyes looking at me.

“What do you know about Lynxous?” He asked.

 

“What?”

“What do you know about Lynxous?” He repeated.

“Oh. Well, uh… I’m-I’m not supposed to talk about it.”

“I know. But you have to tell me if I can tell you.”

“The Lynxous has, well… not just one temple. It’s a branched-out organisation. There are four temples – Mighty, Mystic, Elemental and the one you know – Android.”

“Wait. Four temples?”

“Y-yeah.”

“And? Do you know where they are?”

“Not all of them. But the Mystic temple is in Norway and the Android temple – the new one- is in Los Angeles, right in this city.”

“Wait. Are you serious?”

“Yeah.”

“Well…who all do you know?”

“Oh. Adam, Emma, friends from the mystic temple. Then Abner, the leader of the Android temple and Oliver, the trainer there, among a few friends. Everyone at the Android temple’s really hush-hush – as if they’re hiding something from me.”

“I see. Something’s wrong with the Lynxous, Arion. They’re hiding something dark from you, I’m sure.”

“Any advice?”

“Get out of there as soon as you can, then. They’re dangerous people. No matter how long you’ve known them, they’re still strangers.”

“Uh…yeah. The Lynxous is very organised, actually. There is a constitution called the Lanxet, members of the Lynxous are known as Lynxets and the Lynxous government is known as the Lanxorses.”

“Lanxorses? Interesting…well, I’ll tell you what to do.” 

                          

                                                           To be continued... 


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