Omega Rising - On Hiatus Due To Lack Of Inspiration

Chapter 4: Panic Before the Panix

Grandpa lifted up the curtain that was covering the entrance of the stand. Chaim could hear loud clangs coming from inside the stall. Karen poke her head through the curtains trying to figure out what was going on. Grandpa was talking to the blacksmith inside and handed him an instruction scroll and a pile of coins. The blacksmith nodded his head and went back to work. Grandpa left the box of metal near the entrance and walked out of the booth. Karen jumped over to where Grandpa was standing and stared up into his beard.
"Hey Grandpa, what did you give that man?"
Grandpa looked down at Karen and smiled.
"You'll know in due time, but first we have to find a way to get you two to strengthen your Talents."

          As they headed back home, Chaim heard a rustling in the trees. He looked up and saw a cloaked figure in the leaved rooftops. The cloaked figure must have noticed that he was seen because it immediately dashed away. Chaim stared up into the trees trying to figure out what he had seen. He then saw something large descending from the sky. It grew bigger and bigger, and Chaim started to wonder if he should-
*THUMP*
... move. A large book had hit him straight on the head. Karen turned around when she heard the noise. She started to giggle when she saw a book on Chaim's face. She then broke into laughter and started to roll around on the floor.
"And you thought (laughs) I was (intense laughter) funny for (lol) saying Talent Chandeliers wrong! (rofl)"
"You're still saying it wrong!"
Chaim had now gotten up with the worlds largest bump on his head and a strange book in his hands. On the cover were letters written in gold that said, "FIELD GUIDE". Towards the bottom was a scarlet colored number 1 and nothing on the back of the cover. As he opened up the first page it read...
"HEY CHAIM! HURRY UP!"
Well, there would be time to figure out the book later. He started to run towards Karen and Uncle Klent with a strange smile on his face.

          Uncle Klent had led Karen off to a room and left Chaim to himself. He suspected that the book he found was quite important and should be read immediately. Chaim settled down in a good chair in the library and opened to the first page. It read... blank. He flipped over to the next page and on it was a diagram of the human body. There was an entry below about humans. It talked about human beings from a negative stand point and pointed out their quality flaws. Chaim felt a little bit awkward reading about his race in this way, but continued onto the next page. He continued reading through the book which told of different monsters and types of races, until he reached the last page. On it was another diagram of a human, but for some strange reason there was an eye carved directly on the torso. Chaim stared at the diagram for a while then proceeded to the entry.
"Entry 107: Pandora's Box.
A race of beings blessed with special powers. Extremely different from humans, a race that separates itself from others and through their search of power crush others. Pandora's Box, also known as Panix, cause terror in the hearts of all races for their unreasonable nature to destroy all life on a planet without second thought. They kill all other intelligent races and domesticate all docile species, similarly to normal humans. It is impossible to to tell the difference between a Panix and human, for there are no visual evidences other than the ability to use talents. Be wary of their powers, and whatever you do, do not aggravate them."

          Chaim felt shivers run down his spine after reading that entry. He wondered what was so dangerous about the Panix and if he could avoid meeting one. He put his new found book into his pocket and wandered off to see what Karen was doing. He opened up the room she had walked into and tried to find her. Chaim saw Karen beating something into the ground.
"Die, die, die, die, die, die, die!"
She jumped up from what she had been punching and stood a distance away clearly out of breath. Chaim looked over to what she had been punching into the ground and saw a resinous green substance on the floor. In fact, this strange goop was everywhere. Karen looked warily around seemingly searching for something. When she had scanned the entire are around her, she fell over and fell asleep on the ground. Chaim had no idea what had just happened, but when he looked around, he saw something shivering in the corner. He walked over to it and saw a small gel thingy. He had read about these in his book! These were slimes, a generally friendly creature that reacts to dangerous monsters and attempts to pacify them. He wondered why Karen was fighting things like these. He picked up the little slime that had somehow hidden itself and placed it into his other pocket.

          Karen wished to never look at another slime again. Grandpa had told her that one of the rooms in the mansion-shack was infested with slimes, and it would be good training to remove them for him. Good training, yeah right! He simply didn't want to do it himself. Well, at least she had gained some new techniques from fighting off those slimes. She had also noticed something strange, ever since Chaim had walked into her "training" session, he had started to talk to himself. At first she didn't think it was such a huge problem, until she started to notice him shutting himself into his room to talk by himself. She was going to bust into the room and figure out what was going on once and for all...
                                                                           * * *
          Chaim had started to get some good research out of his new pet slime. He had fed it the foods that were listed within his guide book and the slime had gained his trust. He decided to ask his new pet slime to transform into different creatures that were listed within the guide book to get a further understanding of the different races. He had fun doing some experiments with his slime, and he started to make some notes of his own. He decided that he needed to meet all of the other 106 different creatures listed in the book to find out more information about them. He needed to go on an adventure and discover the world around him. He would find information about the races and their-
*RINGDINGDONG*
There went the doorbell. Chaim started heading towards the door where Uncle Klent received a large box. He set the box down on a table and called for Karen, since Chaim was already there. Karen stared at the box from all angles trying to find out what was inside. Uncle Klent smirked at her curiosity and proceeded to open the box. Inside were to objects, one a dagger set, and the other a curious stick. Karen was handed the dagger set while Chaim was given the stick thing.
"Why does Chaim get the stick?"
"Because it was created to match his Talent. Now, you two go and test your new gear in the training room."

            Chaim took a glance at his stick and laughed internally. What was he supposed to do with a stick? Throw it at wild dogs so they could fetch it? Uncle Klent seemed to see Chaim's mocking attitude and beckoned for him to pass it. Uncle Klent took one wide swing with the stick, and it stretched out to about Karen's height. Karen stared at the now longer staff in awe and attempted to poke it. She was immediately shocked with a burst of energy and fell to the ground with her hair all puffed up and smoking. Chaim had no more disrespect for his tool now, it was the best weapon he could imagine.

          As the two were whacking dummies in the training room, Karen couldn't feel anything but jealous against Chaim. He had gotten the magical stick thingy! And all she got were a pair of razor sharp daggers that had their own Talent infused propellent and could create slashes so powerful that they sliced objects from a foot away. What could she do with a pair of useless daggers anyway? Slice meat for thanksgiving?

          Throughout the next few days, Uncle Klent trained Chaim and Karen ruthlessly. He made them practice with and without their tools in the art of anime fighting, and strengthened there Talent abilities. Karen could now bind things with shadows and summon things that were under her control, while Chaim was now able to equivalently exchange atoms into wood and iron, and manipulate mass to create different objects. Karen couldn't understand why they were training so hard, but Chaim understood well. They were going to be tested on their Talent strength and how rare there Talents were. The test would probably be a cinch after Uncle Klent's Training.

And the days until the test slowly rolled by.

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Hello everyone! My name is... well you can call me Toye. I'm writing this story as a test of my abilities, testing the waters you could call it. I would really appreciate it if you gave me your input on my stories :3

Thanks
-Toye