The creator's staff

Chapter 9 - A burning heart

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An hour has passed in the real world since Lucius' mother has been searching. There are still no signs of him.

In the real world...

Lucius' mother is levitating, just like she saw Lucius do. A mixture of white and dark smoke is flowing out of her pants and blouse. Is something burning? Is it her? Her clothes? Or is Lucius doing something to her without realizing it himself?

Her husband rushes down the stairs after smelling something burning in the living room. He sees his wife and son sitting facing each other. He sees his wife partly covered in black and white smoke. She turns over to Lucius, just to see white smoke underneath his breath. Lucius takes a deep breath. Smoke comes out of his nose, mouth and ears.

His father, not knowing what exactly is happening, is panicking; he doesn't know what to do in this situation. He clears his throat and takes a deep breath as he draws back out of the smoke.

He picks up the towel underneath his wife and covers his nose with it. While pressing it on his face, he lightly slaps his wife.

*Hey, can you hear me? What is happening to you two? Are you alright? Say something! Honey-pie, please tell me you guys have this under control! Is this what you meant by the history of your family? I thought you were a normal person! Isn't that what you told me?*

He raises his voice and shouts in agony, *Wake up? How are you flying, and what the hell is happening?!*

He lowers his voice as he begins crying for their sake. He continues, *I thought it was all just a story you wanted to tell. I should have believed you. Now I do, so just stop what you are doing and come back, please!* He whispers under his breath, *I have a bad feeling about this!*

He tries touching his wife's face once more. Her body is so hot, he burns his palm.

She is literally boiling!

Both Lucius and his mother are hot, and the room has dropped from thirty degrees Celsius to room temperature, twenty degrees Celsius. Lucius' father discovers this after checking the thermometer. He is wondering how it is possible. It is summer, and the room should be almost as hot as outside. Instead, the room's temperature has dropped rapidly, like an a.c. Wait, like an A.C.! The medium becomes hot as the room gets colder.*

It takes him a while to remember something he has seen in an action movie. He continues murmuring to himself, *Could it be that my wife does have superpowers after all and is absorbing all the unnecessary heat in the room? But even so, why is she hovering off the ground with Lucius? Does she have multiple abilities? Nah, I don't think so. This would mean the other ability comes from my son. I would like to say that I am proud, but to be honest, I don't even know the right thing to do.*

Two hours have passed in the real world since Lucius' mother exited it. For her, she has been gone for almost twenty minutes.

Three hours have passed in the real world, and they are still not back...

Four hours in, and they're still not back...

Lucius' eyes are starting to glow blue with flaming red sparks. His father is terrified by the change. He tries to remain calm and continues watching them.

*There isn't something I can do now, is it?*, he asks himself.

*Calling the police or ambulance won't even work. They will just end up being more confused than I am right now.*

He grabs himself a big glass of coffee and a second one filled to the brim with red wine. * I am going to keep myself awake to support you guys, whatever you are doing. I don't even get why I keep talking to you; you can't even hear what I am saying.

Inside the created reality...

Mama Lucius is still searching for her son after an hour away from her location. She continues shouting out his name, *Luci boy!*

*Maybe he will hear me and follow my voice*, she thinks. She has a powerful voice. Standing in her range of movement can shake one's insides. Even the deaf will feel more than her vocal vibration.

One might say it will make a deaf person understand her words, even though it isn't the loudest she has to offer. *Dude!*, She sighs deeply and continues walking.

*I have the feeling this isn't just a planet he is imagining. The sky also looks weird, or maybe not? There is neither sun nor star, just red skies. Is time different here? Faster or slower? What is happening in the real world with our bodies? I hope the storm has stopped making a mess inside our living room. I am not motivated at all to clean up again. I just did the cleaning last night. Geezesus, Lucius, show yourself! Please? I want to go back. I don't feel well. I'm getting dizzy! I feel my chest weight heating up. They are burning up from the inside*, she says.

She tumbles and falls slowly to the ground. She looks up to the sky and wonders, *That is weird! Did I fall in slow motion? I thought it was going to hurt—like a lot!*

She manages to stand up but falls once more. Her legs are weakened. She feels her energy being sucked up slowly by an unknown source. She is unable to get back on her feet and decides to stay down for a while until she has recovered enough to be able to stand up again.

She uses her last strength to raise both her arms and sees something scary: her arms are thinner, and her entire body is thinner than it was before she was pulled in.

*So my power was being drained this entire time, huh? I give up...*

Just before she loses every last ounce of motivation, she hears someone shouting out her name, *Mom, Mom... Mom!!! Wake up!*

A smile brightens up her face while she whispers, *Lucius, is it you?* Her voice has almost faded away.

Lucius rushes to her and apologizes. He realizes his mother is unable to survive in his reality and tells her how and why she isn't supposed to be there. He calms her down and touches her forehead. His mother's temperature drops rapidly. She can stand back up. As for her blouse, it is burning from her chest outward.

Lucius tells her with sadness in his voice, *Mom, you aren't supposed to be here. Without my help, it would be hell for someone like you. Go back and wait for me. And now... RETURN!!* He pushes her consciousness out of his world and starts to search for someone to give him answers.

His mom is weakened in the real world and needs to rest. Her chest is glowing red. Her heart had been heated the entire time.

What does it mean?

Lucius starts meditating in his spiritual reality and shouts, *Monkey King, I know you can hear me; show yourself!!!*

Chapter 9, end.

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