Pure Nautical

Vontore

Chapter 4 Vontore
A beeping noise and a light blinded my vision.  “Mom?” A young woman with brown curly hair leaned over blocking out the light with her head. “No, I’m sorry. My name is Kim.” She leaned away and took a step back.  "I’m one of the nurses here, you’ve been knocked out for three days.”
Three days? The rest of my memory was fuzzy. I leaned up,  I was wearing the same clothes, but they were no longer in shreds.  No blood or dirt anywhere. “How are my clothes cleaned?” 
She nodded, "Most of us who live here are people with powers. We were able to clean your clothes with them still on you.”
I slipped out a cry. And here I was hoping it was all a dream.   I swung my legs so they hung off the bed. 
Moisture on the window painted from the rain.
“How long has it been raining for?” 
She looked at me."It's been storming since you got here."
That's strange. I got up and walked closer to the window. I could only see the top of the buildings because I was so high but, wow, it looked like a picture. The buildings were round, giant skyscrapers with a point at the top. Square windows lined up and down just like a skyscraper.
I am in Vontore. I closed my eyes. My whole body ached. Not like this. None of that was supposed to happen. I laid my shaking hand on top of my head.   “My Dad, is he — dead?” I gazed at her. 
 Sorrow gleamed off her eyes, “I don't know, you appeared on the portal. We've been waiting for you to wake up.”
 I lowered my head. All I wanted to do was cry. That same sickness I get when I wake up from a horrible nightmare, but this time it was real. The door creaked open. “I’ll take it from here, Kimberly. Tell the others he’s awake.”
A man dressed in a black business suit with his sleeves rolled up and short brown spiky hair walked in. He closed the door and grabbed the chair from the desk from my right and sat to the side of me. His eyes were reddish brown. He stuck out his arm. “Pleased to meet you.”
Maybe if I had any of my medication it would help me calm down. “Are you my doctor?” I replied, shaking his hand.
“No, my name is Nellik,  I run this city and the half-god program. You’re not at a hospital, you're at our training center.   May I ask what your name is?” 
My head pounded. “It’s, it’s Eric.” 
“Eric.” He sighed. They brought you to me as soon as they found you,  He paused. “What happened?” 
That purple beam blowing up on impact still haunted me to my core. “My city was blown to bits.” Snot began leaking out my nose. He reached over the tissue box and gave me a tissue. 
“It’s ok, you must be in shock right now. I understand, that’s awful, I'm so sorry.”
I blew my nose. 
Nellik inhaled. “How did you survive the explosion?”
I thought back to the moment I woke up from after the blast. I was so full of energy I was going seven times the speed of sound and not realizing it. I remembered the pain in my back as well as seeing a star. Guilt sunk in. 
“I believe my powers saved me.” 
His eyebrows raised, “Energy abilities?” 
I nodded, “How did you know?”
“As head of the Half-god program. We test any arrivals for powers and since you were foregn, we had the ok to test you while you were passed out. The results came in. You’re a level x half-god. Level x means our system can't calculate your power level, you must have energy abilities. Do you know what kind yet?.”
I was unsure if I wanted to tell him the details of my powers. If it's true and I am The Nautical, I shouldn't be obvious about it. I shrugged my shoulders. “I dont know.” 
He nodded, “It’s okay, no rush to figure it out. I'm sure you’ll be of help to us anyways. No energy users even live in Vontor, you're truly one of a kind. I do have one more question though. How’d you get on the portal?”
The events fast forwarded in my mind trying to remember.  Rudolph appearing from behind me, Saving me from being taken, or killed. I remembered his words. ‘Don't let anyone know I'm alive, not just yet.’
My eyes darted to Nellik, “I’m not sure”  
My head throbbed from the agony of wanting my medicine. Was this withdrawal? The medicine wasn't working at all but it seemed to at least not make me feel like this.  I'm going to puke. I held my breath in a cry. I leaned my head into my hand and rubbed my head down my hand. I closed my eyes trying to fight my tears. I need my medicine. 
Nellik sighed, “Eric, I'm sorry, asking you any of these questions after you’ve gone through a horrible loss, it was uncalled for." 
I kept my head down and took a deep breath. How am I going to tell anybody there’s something wrong with me? 
Nellik spoke again. “Well the good news is, it's Friday and we are having a meeting today. All of our squad leaders and squad members are here but none of them are wearing their uniforms, just normal clothing for the meeting. So if you want I can show you around and I’ll even let you stay in one of our guest bedrooms for the night until a squad leader picks you up tomorrow morning.”He smiled at me. 
Hearing that was intriguing. Exploring a place I've always wanted to explore and fitting in like a normal person? Seems like I need some normalcy in my life. 
I sighed, “That would be nice actually,”
Nellik stood up and turned around then leaned his head back to me giving me a short grin, "well I'll be happy to show you around.” 
He opened the door and tilted his head towards the outside, “Come on now.” I stood up and walked out into the narrow hallway. The floor and railing curved down to the left in a giant almost full circle form the construction of the building. 
There was only one way I could really go and it was to the right towards an elevator. Nellik shut the door and walked next to me. “I think you’re going to like what you see.” 
The elevator had one button which was down. We must be at the top floor? The elevator dinged and the door opened. The elevator had carpet in it and was rather spacious. We walked in and turned around and he pressed the button that read, ‘Main floor.’ 
The elevator hummed downwards. The doors opened up to tons of people walking around. It looked like they were having a major event. 
Two girls came from the left of us and both waved at us. “Hi Nellik, what are you doing?” One of them in a flirty voice.   He smiled, “hello beautiful ladies. Im showing our new recruit around and to his bedroom for the night.” The other one locked eyes with me and smiled. “Enjoy the bed for the night, the guest bedrooms here are so nice.” 
“Thank you.” I smiled as they both walked past me.  I got excited. The same carpet and railing curved around the floor. A single rope hung from the ceiling I didn't notice before, dropping all the way down passed the floor we were on.  I walked next to the railing and looked down. It dropped off like it was a balcony and I could see the rope hanging all the way down several levels. “The whole building is hollowed out?” 
“Nellik smiled, “Its our training center.”
“The whole building is the training center?”
He smiled, “Oh that’s not even half of it.” 
He stopped and we were in front of room sixty-seven. He reached in and pulled out a card. He placed it inside a slot in the door above the handle and a light on the slot turned green. He turned the door handle and it opened it up. 
The room was very wide with a bathroom door to the left and  two queen size beds. All with custom made lamps and bedding. It was like a high class hotel room. 
“Well, we have a meeting in an hour then dinner. They’ll announce when to come down over the intercom. It will be outside today. So what you want to do is go out to the left then walk all the way down. You’ll see a huge glass window and just go out the double doors to the courtyard.
Nellik turned around and left. 
Everything was so nice here it was overwhelming. Ansberry wasn't the safest place to be, it was Vontore this whole time.
I remembered back inside our jeep. It was the last time I heard my dad say, I love you. He had so much love in his eyes. He would do anything for me. 
The room spun. I wobbled to the right bed, I almost fainted before I sat down. I put my hand over my eyes and took a slow deep breath. “I’m so sorry dad. I squoze my teeth. “You didn't deserve to die like that.” I said in a whisper. 
The pain in my back from the star still slightly burned. I took my hand away from my face and stood up. I need to check. 
In front of me was the bathroom. I turned around and lifted my shirt. The star was gone. I stared at my blank back for a moment. I reached my hand and touched where the top of the star once was.  Did that actually happen? I took another deep breath, Well I'm here aren't I? I sighed, I need to get out of here.  I felt the key card in my pocket once again and walked out. 
The people walking around, most of them seemed pretty young but you could tell there were people ranging from the late twenties to thirties. They all seemed to be going in one direction which was to the left, around the curved floor and outside. 
I walked with a group of people until the floor curved to the right. A giant glass wall with two glass doors going outside. It had stopped raining but dark clouds still roamed the sky. To the right just before going out the double doors there wad concrete stairs going up to the next level. I wonder what’s up there? 
Through the glass wall outside I could see grass and a cement path going straight then opening to a giant cement circle. Around it also had giant cement stairs.  I assumed it was for people to sit on like they were bleachers.
 In the middle of the circle laid a huge fire pit with people standing in front hanging out. 
To the left of the glass doors a huge sign outlined the whole building. Looks like right above me is the lounge area with a cafeteria and a Basketball court. Sadness washed over me.  My dad and I always played basketball together. 
Every floor besides that had to deal with training but the way this picture is and the outline of the middle hollowed out part is the main test labeled as, ‘The climb of Champions.’ Hum, I thought to myself. I wonder how hard it would be with someone like me. Climbing a long rope can’t be that bad. 
I might as well check upstairs. I walked to the right up the concrete stairs and peaked my head up to the next floor. Chairs tucked into white tables, like a cafeteria.  
Down the hall,  double glass doors went into a basketball area. I definitely have to check that out. The rope caught my eye again. I have to take a better look at it. I walked to the railing. It was just a yellow rope,  nothing special about it. Something else must be going on, it can’t be that simple? Climbing a rope. 
“You look like me when. I first got here.”
I turned around to see a black young man with short curly hair and glasses. 
 “Trust me, I was just as confused.” He stuck out his hand. “My name is Micheal. You must be new here.”
I smiled and shook his hand. “Hi yes, I'm very confused about all of this.” 
He laughed, “Don’t worry, we all are. I won't dare climb that thing again.” 
“Oh why’s that?”
“I couldn't even make it past the first level. My powers are a bit useless for something like that. I can control wood. There's no wood around here that I can find.
I nodded and looked back down at the rope. “How does it work?”
He laughed, “Oh it's too much to explain, it'll be your first task when you join a squad." 
“What squad are you in?” 
“It's a new squad that started when I first arrived. Nellik’s  Girlfriend Jennifer is the Squad leader.”
“Nellik’s Girlfriend?” 
“Yeah and she’s quite the fighter. We have three people so far, hopefully you can join our Squad. But hey, I was on my way to Carl Jinkens story room if you want to come listen for a moment." 
I nodded, “Um sir why not.” 
I followed him down the hall toward the basketball court. He opened a door to our left and it was mostly dark besides a lamp up front lighting up a white board.  All of the seats were almost taken except for ones in the back next to us.  Mike shut the door behind us as we sat down. 
A few minutes passed, when an old hunched over man holding a book in his hand walked to the front of the room. His white-silver hair matched his goatee and he was wearing an old fashioned robe. His intense eyes scanned the room, then locked on mine for a moment. His eyes widened and his eyebrows shot up.  He snapped his head downwards like he didn't want me to notice. I looked at Mike to see if he noticed what I saw him do. He was looking forward, unaware. 
That was strange, I thought. 
Carl Jinkens cleared his throat, “This story is about the gods and the Nautical.”
My heart dropped, do I even want to hear about this story?” 
He continued.  “The gods live in their own world, a beautiful and mythical place. Each of the gods have powerful powers. So they themselves could control their own world. After trying again and again they figured out how to combine their powers and create another dimension, a whole other universe. 
They created many planets but finally they created the perfect planet that could support life. They named it Earth. Science and their godly powers are one of the same, so it took them time to figure out the perfect setting for their offspring. They first started out creating water, then microorganisms. Then fish, then giant lizards." He raised his hands to his chest, picturing the big beast. I could hear some people laugh.