The Sword of Fire-Trials Of Fate--Book I

CHAPTER 15: APEP, BEAST OF CHAOS

As we ascended the mountain, I looked at Hannah and asked, "Are you sure you can fight with that injury?"

"It's just a scratch,"she rolled her eyes, "I'm okay. Seriously," then she smiled at me, "Thanks for asking, though."

I nodded,"You're welcome," then, "How'd you even do that stuff with the griffin-you know, when you hypnotized it?"

She shrugged,"Originally,I thought I could only use my uh, telepathic power on machines. That's how I was able to fly that plane. But, while I fought the griffin, I thought, 'Why not give it a shot? I mean, it's a kind of machine...created only for the purpose of destruction.' I'll be honest, I never thought it would work."

"So you have telepathic powers?" I asked, "Cool."

She shook her head, "It's harder than it sounds. I had to... connect myself to it. I felt it's...energy, its pulse, its...what do they call it...its chi. I understood how it's spiritual energy flowed for it to achieve its goal of destruction. Then I kinda hacked it."

"Wow, "I smiled a bit, then I thought out loud, "What if you could do that to humans? Hack their chi and use them to do whatever you want?"

Hannah shook her head, "It'll probably be a whole lot harder for humans. Like you, for instance," she looked up at me, "Your chi can be directed in different ways to do different things. All a griffin wants to do is destroy stuff, but you could want to take a walk, kill some monsters, or go to the bathroom. You'd have different thoughts and desires, which makes it harder to control your spiritual energy flow. It's like a river, with one thought being a particular current. If I connect with you, my mind would be swimming in your chi's energy flow. But the second your thoughts change, my mind might be carried away by this chain of thought, like a current."

"Oh," I said, but she told me, "It's okay, though. You can control yourself as long as you understand your chi path." Then she thought about it a little and turned to me, "If you do it right,  if you can feel the flow of energy even beyond a physical level, you just might be able to reach the peak of your power."

I looked at my hand, full of bruises. If I could use thirty percent of my power, that would be enough to stop Apep, right?

I looked at her and nodded, "I'll try."

In a few more minutes,we reached the dark cave. "Man, "Mac muttered, "Hasn't this guy heard of lightbulbs before?"

I raised my hand and let it catch fire, turning to my friends, "You ready?"

"Ready when you are, "Mac smirked wickedly as the girls nodded.

"You fools."

If that voice ever wakes me up from bed at midnight, I would legit pee in my pants.

We all turned as the dark, demonic voice reverberated around the cave to see the darkest beast of chaos I'd ever seen.

Its eyes glowed ghostly red, it's fangs gleaming in the dark as it smiled at us, as if amused by the fact that we'd even dared to step in its presence. It sat on a throne made of stone, surrounded by skulls, broken bones, and decaying human flesh. It had a black skin covered in scales and a humanoid figure, but its head was clearly that of a cobra. It had this kind of demonic aura that was so strong it filled the cave, emitting several feelings ranging from fear to terror. I shivered a bit, and the only reason I hadn't run away screaming was that; one: No one else was, and two: It'd be embarrassing. 

Mac said, "Um, hi."

"You think, "Apep continued, "That you can infiltrate my territory, slaughter my monsters, come to my presence, and live?" He chuckled once more, "I'm amazed at your foolishness. My aura alone served as a warning to minor disturbances like you, but since you have decided to bring your worthless selves to me, I will have to destroy you all."