The Matters of Power

Chapter 66- The Fate of Marcus Fernandino [4]

I want to go home. The food service is awful, there is nothing around to entertain myself with, and I can't even stretch properly without the noise of chains rattling around to remind me of the futility of my actions. I haven't been able to use the restroom at all ever since I've been here, but it's safer to say that I've never felt the need to answer nature's call. Is it because of whatever is inside those injection needles that Mr. Corvanez, or am I able to hold it in this whole time with the help of my mind's manipulation with my body? I pretty much gave thinking about after some time because I couldn't be bothered to think about anything. Among everything I have suffered and endured in my time in this pit, I think it's safe to say that nearly all of them pale in comparison to how much I experienced from Mr. Corvanez's forceful use of the Psychometry skill. I saw everything from his damn point of view: his high school days from when he first got his powers, university and business startup, his... great love life, the tragic accident, his descent from grief to his current form, Guadaro's betrayal, Pot's recruitment... and then the times when he gave 4 people pieces of his powers. Every emotion he felt, I felt. Every feeling of pain that he went through in his life, I suffered with him. I felt nearly broken by the end of it all, and I was unable to hold back the tears, crying for minutes on end while the old man simply stood there watching. By the time I could no longer shed tears and could clear my vision from the waterworks, he was no longer there, and I was left in loneliness once again. 

How long must I continue to be chained like a dog until Mr. Corvanez finally thinks that I'm ready to be released to do his bidding one last time? Guadaro, I'm sorry, but I just want this nightmare to be over. I want to live a peaceful high school life, free from this curse that you and the old man have set upon me, and if I must defeat you and drag you on your knees in front of his feet, I might as well do it to appease him. Speaking of the devil, I hear the familiar elevator ding once again and he appears once more, but this time with a duffel bag. He places more tools on the table, but he also places a few items of note: a few photographs, a tablet, and some more packs of those injection needles he has around. "We're nearly done here. After 5 days of intense training, you've improved to the point where I can be confident in saying you have a slight chance in beating Guadaro. It's impressive how much of a difference it is from when I brought you here from Tuesday to the present Saturday. However..." He grabs the tablet and goes through some motions on the screen. "It turns out your friends have started investigating on your disappearance. It's amazing our far they're willing to go to find you, but I make sure to cover my tracks." He flips the screen towards me and goes through various images where I see Fernando, Carl, Payton, Yan, and Quarter talking to strangers and making notes. As much as I want to hold out hope that they'll just burst out of the hidden elevator and save me from this old man, I have strong doubts. What exactly is he trying to prove by doing this? Is he giving me false hope in some psychological tactic? "They're worried about ya. We're at the end of the tunnel here, Marcus, we can end this as quickly as possible so that we don't have to worry people any more than they are about you. We finish this last session, you finally defeat that rebel, and we all go our separate ways. You get your peaceful life that you so desire, and I get the one thing that holds me back from being able to march ahead without fear."

I can barely find any anger within me to yell at this man. "Just... let me... go home. Please, old man." He sighs and lays down the table, grabbing the photographs instead. "In due time. Your psychic powers just need one more push to awaken, and we need to test all avenues of what we need to do to achieve it. In the end, all of this training will help you in the future to help you become whoever you wish to be." He lowers the ceiling chains so that I can finally feel the ground again, but I'm stuck in place as he places this random photograph in my hands, and I'm forced to use Psychometry on it to see what history this has. At least the process of using the ability feels smoother this time...