Immunity Fire

Chapter 12

Three months have passed; some of the trainees seem to look rather fit and strong, others seemed to look exactly what they were since the beginning; they were fat, underweight, weak, or unconfident. They took a three-week break from the lessons; most saw it as a holiday, the teachers expected it to be a chance to reflect on what they have learned by themselves.

Alex, Zain, and Natalie were about to take their twenty-fifth lesson with Gormo Tellermack in Vehicles as their first lesson of their day after their three-week break. The trainees seemed to try harder in this subject the most. The boys were motivated because they want to prove their masculinity for it is a boy's dream to drive and be free to go wherever they want and with whomever they want. The girls, on the other hand, were motivated because they all had a crush on Mr. Tellermack.

Gormo is the youngest of all the trainers; he is twenty-eight years old; whilst all the other trainers were in their thirties or forties. Gormo completed his training in the island ten years ago. He came from the Golden City where his father taught him everything there is to know about cars before he died from an accident when he was young. When he took his three years of training, he secretly designed his own vehicles in his personal time using only wood and an axe. In a way, he felt like when he struggled to fit in with the other trainees, he found a way to connect to his dad as an escape from all the jungle madness. Once Barlows saw his gift of vehicles, he decided to offer him a teaching post.

Alex didn't care about Mr. Tellermack, all he cared about was the adrenaline of driving fast in the jungle. Zain said nothing nor did he have an opinion about him; although he appeared to be shy which made him unconfident in the subject. Natalie always rolled her eyes to the girls who are attracted to Mr. Tellermack; clearly, he is not her type.

"Hey guys!" Natalie approached Alex and Zain as they were walking through the jungle to their Vehicles lesson. The boys responded back. "I heard apparently that Tellermack is gonna give us a driving test."

"WHAT!!!" Zain exclaimed.

"What's the big deal, Zain?" Alex asked.

"You'll be fine," Natalie tried to calm him, "You don't know, maybe you will do better than you think. Maybe it is..."

"MAYBE?!!!" Zain screamed at Natalie. "I can't drive! Every time I turn on the accelerator, I choke. And when I do push the accelerator, I get so close to crushing the vehicle. I could die you know."

"Oh please!" Alex exclaimed. "You are never close to death there. Every time you are almost about to crash, Telermack swings through the trees and jumps on the vehicle and gets you to quickly move to the front seat so he can stop the car from falling into a cliff. You'll be fine."

"Not helping Alex," Natalie exasperated.

"Guys! Neither of you are helping! Let's just get it over and done with okay?" Zain walked away.

"Zain!" Alex called out; but Zain ignored him.

"You are such an idiot," Natalie smirked.

"Excuse me!" Alex reacted.

"Tellermack saves him from falling off a cliff? Have you even CONSIDERED that Zain doesn't want Tellermack to save him all the time?! He wishes to be able to save himself. Tellermack isn't gonna be there for him all the time and he knows that; which is why he is scared. How is it that you knew your friend your whole life but can never tell when he is afraid?" Natalie leaves Alex and paces to catch up to Zain.

Alex is left alone in the jungle with no one there with him, until a fog appears out of the ordinary and surrounds him.

Alex felt blind. He couldn't see one speck of life around him: no trees, no people, nothing! He crept around so he can watch out for any tree logs he could easily bump into. He was panicking; what the hell was going on?!

A mysterious figure appeared. It was dark and shadowy from where he was. It looked like a figure of a human. Once it revealed itself, it was a hag black-cloaked with a hood that hid itself. The hag was colorless, not just its body, but even its hands. It literally looked like a shadow that has come to life.

"Greetings, my little youngling," It had a very choky voice, a voice as if it was struggling to breathe.

Alex was suspicious. "Who are you?"

"I am from another world, a world like never before. A deathless realm, a realm kept secret and safe. Everyone knows it exists, but they don't know what it is like inside."

"Then why are you here? Aren't you supposed to be in your realm?"

"I am. But my master asked me to take a perilous journey to find you."

"Why me?" Alex didn't like the look of this strange hag.

"Because you are the chosen one."

"The chosen one for what?!" Alex snapped.

"You are the chosen one to receive this gift." The hag grabbed an item from inside its strange cloak. It was a skull.

"What the hell?!" Alex gasped.

"This is no ordinary skull; this skull is a piece of the Resurrecters."

"Resurrecters?" Alex replied.

"Yes, there are three pieces. There is this skull of course; and the other two are the dagger that Barlows used to destroy Rorgoth, and a goblet that is cast away and hidden from sight in an ancient tomb throughout the deepest parts of the island."

"Why should I have this skull?" Are you asking me to retrieve this dagger and goblet?"

"Exactly!" The hag answered.

"What have they got to do with me? And why do you want me to have them? None of this makes any sense."

"These Resurrecters are gifts for you. You are chosen to keep them. No one is allowed to keep them except you. With these Resurrecters, you have the power to bring a dead one back to life."

"This is crazy!" Alex raged. "You are telling me that I must keep some items that could bring back the dead, which is a load of absolute rubbish by the way, and for what?!"

Don't be too hasty." The hag said. "I can see the future; the future says that a loved one of yours will die. You are going to need these to bring that one to life."

"You take me for a fool?!" Alex yelled. "I am not gonna take these items for some suspicious crap! This is all a trick to mess with me, and I don't know why, but I don't care! Take your stupid Resurrecters and go!"

"You will regret it when that time comes, youngling. When your loved one dies, his blood will be on your hands." The hag stepped back and disappeared out of sight.

Suddenly, the fog faded away.

Alex felt unsafe and breathed hardly. I need to get to my next lesson. He jogged all the way to catch up with his friends.