Chapter 20

The water was cool and unnerving. The last time Zale had been in this room it had been extremely painful. He had been hoping for a little bit longer of a break before he was repeating the same training. It was pretty hard to retort Malchi’s logic though. If he could fight in the streets he could train with the eels. That was the nicest way to put Malchi’s thoughts on the topic.

After Zale, Devon, and Regina returned to the Spirit Hall they had ate dinner in the dining hall before Malchi had stormed in, livid at the reports of fighting in the streets. The next day had been hell. Every piece of his training he was pushed harder than he had before, and then after his afternoon body workout Malchi let him know they would be visiting the eels again. Not the best news to hear.

Malchi grabbed an eel from the tank with a net, it squirmed and discharged electricity in aggravation. Zale closed his eyes and focused as best he could. He felt for electrical currents. Besides the faint glow which was his brain his body was void of any form of electrical currents that he could detect. He had a feeling that if he worked hard enough and brought Impulse Control to a high enough level he would be able to detect electrical currents everywhere. Right now though, he waited for the eel to discharge.

It didn’t take long. In his meditative state where he sensed electricity it appeared like a flash of blue at his feet. The pain came shortly after. He did his best to keep the electricity under control and complete a circuit in his body, finally exciting out his hands. It went smoother than last time, no hiccups. The pain was still there, ripping and tearing every piece of his body. He exhaled when it was over. Sweat dripped down his face.

Time seemed to be irrelevant. He could have been in that room for fifteen minutes or fifteen days and he would never have known. There were brief pauses in the training while Malchi switched out the eel when it became at ease with Zale’s presence and stopped discharging. Besides those brief pauses that he viewed as blessings, pain Zale’s world. It was what kept him awake. It was what kept him circulating the electricity. It was what he hated. He wished all the eels would die. They were the cause of his pain.

The discharge ran up his legs. The pain ran right along with it. He hated the pain. He wanted it gone. He wanted the eels gone. Instead of having the electricity exit his arms he had it continue to circulate and run back down his legs and out his feet. The pain was excruciating, having the electricity in his body even a milli second longer than needed was something he had dreaded. The fear of the pain was why he hadn’t tried this before. At that moment though his hate for the eels outclassed his fear of the pain by a large margin.

Ding!

He waited for the next discharge. The retaliation. It never came. He thought Malchi was swapping eels out, but then the smell hit him. A rancid smell of burnt fish. He opened his eyes for the first time since the training had started. On the opposite side of the tub the charred remains of the eel floated. Malchi stood over the tub making no move to remove the eel.

“I think we’re done for now, right?” Zale asked as he motioned with his eyes for Malchi to undo his restraints.

Malchi undid the restraints and Zale’s hand instantly went to his Spirit Gem.

Passive - Impulse Control

Level Three

Able to sense and manipulate electrical currents within one’s body at will.

Current sensitivity to electrical currents: Average

Ability to manipulate electrical currents: low

[Rank C]

Zale relaxed in the chair. He was drained. He couldn’t move out of the chair even if he wanted to. His body ached everywhere. His body was riddled with burns. Malchi lifted him up and carried him to his room as carefully as he could. While carrying him, Malchi also asked permission to inspect his Spirit Gem. Zale agreed of course. Malchi just nodded his head in approval when he inspected the ability.

When they got to Zale’s room Wade was already waiting with medical ointment and bandages. He looked furious. Malchi made a quick escape from the room as soon as Zale was secure in his bed with the doctor.

“I can’t believe they let would put you through something like that again. After I explicitly told them how archaic and dangerous it was,” Wade yelled as he applied the bandages.

Zale just pretended to fall unconscious so he didn’t have to converse with the angry monk. With Malchi gone the only one Wade could vent to was his patient. Unfortunately for Zale it didn’t seem like closing his eyes was going to get him out of getting an earful.

“Two months. If they don’t give you two months to recover I will report both of them for the mistreatment of a minor. I don’t give a damn if it’s to unlock your potential,” Wade ranted.  

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