Across Book 2

Chapter 6 : Origin : Brock Adler

Location : Apartment 71, Hamburg Germany, 2018

Alioth and Brock stood far apart near the apartment. Alioth was ready to make the first move and take him down but Brock stood there, defenceless, just like a rock.

"Want to go inside?" Brock said and walked into a ruined building near Apartment 71.

It seemed like it was a small house with no more than two floors. One could guess someone lived there but was not present at the moment.

Alioth, after a bit of hesitation, followed Brock, since it was hot outside, and both of them weren't planning to make the first strike any time soon.

When Alioth walked under the shade, he found Brock on the floor, comfortably sitting and thinking about something. Alioth thought perhaps he was preparing himself beforehand to use his abilities but needed time to activate it. He roughly guessed and stood on the other side of the building.

Brock was worried about how Jacob was doing. He was wondering if he won.

Location : Soria, Spain, 2015

Brock Adler was born in Soria. He had a traveling childhood, since the age of five to twelve. His family had settled in three different cities, and while growing up, he became fond of the city he was living in.

But that's around when his life took a massive turn. He had lost interest in his hobbies. He was constantly rejected for so many things that he thought he deserved, like a better life, or a better goal. Brock grew up becoming jealous of his classmates and when he realised he should be admiring them for their success, he addressed his own feelings of jealousy to be wrong and tried to suppress it.

Brock was generally so shy, that he also considered himself an introvert. He didn't interact with a lot of people in general. This particular issue led him into a state of social anxiety by the end of his high school.

There was a time when his friend Rayco, invited him to join his group for a presentation they had next week. Brock awkwardly said 'yes' to that, since he wasn't a part of any other group and it was mandatory for him to participate.

"You know, although we are in the same class, we haven't talked much." Rayco spoke.

"Oh", Brock replied not knowing what to say next.

"It's good to have you on our side Brock. You saved us when we were short on our members."

"I see."

"You don't speak much, do you ?", Rayco noticed, "Although I don't have any problem with that. I just need you to print these out. And here, this is your part of the presentation. We'll meet tomorrow then. See ya"

"Yup, bye." Brock looked at his friend go. He often wondered why he was so shy around everyone.

After all his classes were over, Brock rested a few of his books in his locker and headed back home. Walking around a few blocks, he felt as if he was being followed. But even after looking back a couple of times, Brock didn't find anyone particularly. It was just people passing by. He shook off the feeling and headed home.

Brock went over the points, even printed out what Rayco asked for. And then went home and browsed the internet. Chats were his safehouse. If he considered himself to be an introvert to the people in real life, he considered himself as an extrovert to the people in social media.

Brock often had problems opening up to people, since most of them would not acknowledge his idea of shyness or difficulty making a conversation. They would say, 'It's all relative and will go away when you interact more'. Often Brock thought that maybe true, but he didn't have the energy to start a conversation with someone either. He just wasn't ready.