Destined: 2 Be Continued

25. Scar Shi and His Occupational Hazards

Now Alex was greatly confused. He wasn't in his usual place. He wasn't in the clouds. He wasn't even deep underground. He was in some sort of evil lair, some mountain. There was a gigantic thing slowly walking towards him. It was shrouded in a heavy cloth, and creepy, insect-like hands were coming from its shoulders. Alex stood up, as he was originally sitting down, and reached for his staff. It wasn't there. That was when Alex knew the creature definitely wasn't one of Windigo's tests--Windigo always let him keep the staff.

"Good day, Desssstined," the creature muttered, slowly taking off its cloth. Alex wanted to greet it back, but the shock of what stood before him was too much.

The creature was definitely a beetle. It had a horn that Alex hadn't seen before, but now that he could see it, he knew it could easily pick up a pickup truck and throw it like a discus. Its body was dark blue and yellow, and its shell must have been so heavy that it could barely stand to stand. The beetle creature was hunched over like a mad scientist's assistant. Two glowing red eyes shone from its head, menacingly, taking in every part of Alex--including the mental parts, it seemed.

"Uh...Good day?" Alex finally managed. The beetle only snickered, as if Alex shouldn't have said that. Alex gulped, trying not to absolutely freak out. The beetle neared him and asked, "Do you know who I am?" 

"Uh..." was Alex's response. It seemed the beetle had been expecting that, because it simply answered for him. 

"I am Scar Shi," it answered. "One of Locussst's three children. I have the power of the beetle, if that was not already apparent." It pulled a chair from the shadows and pointed to it. "Sssit down," it said. Alex, not being able to take his eyes off the eight-foot-long horn, sssat down in the chair. Chains immediately wrapped around him, trapping him in the chair.

Scar Shi laughed almost mournfully, as if it made it sad that Alex had fallen for such a simple trick. Alex was disappointed in himself, too. "You are probably wondering why I have come to you," Scar Shi hissed. That was what Alex had been wondering, in fact, that was most likely vital information that he knew why. Alex nodded after considering his eagerness to do so. 

"You were the easiessst to reach, for whatever reason. It may have been the amount of power you have, which is quite a lot, but Jeremiah is so much ssstronger than you are, ssso that is out of the quessstion. It could be that you are a massster of the sssky. Sssince you commune with the wind, you are more open to dream walking and henccce would be easier to reach. There was one more reason, but I can't remember what it is, ssso I'll go with the 'massster of the sssky' option," Scar Shi explained. Alex could do nothing but listen to the giant beetle's incessant rambling about masssters of the sssky and dream walking. What even was dream walking? Alex had never heard the term before.

"What's dream walking?" Alex asked. Scar Shi turned to him with a grimace, making Alex regret his decision. However, instead of crushing Alex with his giant horn, he simply began to explain, if not a little impatiently.

"Dream walking is an ability one can learn and-or-or receive. They are allowed to travel through minds and thoughts, learn, commune, explore, and even escape into. One can only do this dream walking when the sleep, for their brain becomes opened and free. There are quite a few who use this power. Many Harbingers can do it. The guardians of the pylons can dream walk. So can any lord in the Mighty Thirteen, otherwise they wouldn't be able to educate you on your powers. 

I can, and my brother, Vilor the moth, can. Not to mention our master, TG, and the abomination known as Silas Fitch. Oh, that little beast, I wish that I could take his head off with my horn, but TG said that he is not my business." Alex had more concerns that Scar Shi's personal vendetta. Especially the thing about Locust's three children.

"You hatched from one of the eggs that Locust laid? How are you so much bigger and unlike him?" Alex asked the giant beetle.

"He infused usss with these powers. I, Ssscar Shi, am the beetle. I told you Vilor is one of my brothers, and he is the moth. We alssso are brethren of Mussskrel, the mosssquito, though Vilor would like to deny sssuch a thing. We have only been alive for a short time, but we will end the life in this world. Then, TG will create a new race, one more perfect and powerful, and he will rule over them. All of our deeds are done in the name of TG's plan," The beetle answered.

"And one more thing," it continued, against Alex's wishes. "I should tell you where I am hiding. Villainousss occupational hazard, I sssuppose. I am on a mountainousss island in the Pacific Ocean, near the coordinatesss 29.513318, -165.894869. Though, I don't sssuppose you would remember that. Here, allow me to carve it into your arm."

"I would really appreciate if you didn--GAAAAAAHH!" Scar Shi took one large, three-pronged hand and carved the coordinates, rounded to the nearest hundredth, into his arm with its index finger. 

"Now, master of sssky, stand up." Alex stood up, and the chains unwrapped from him. He sat back down, and the chains wrapped around him again. He did this a few times before he stopped at standing up.

"Now wake up."

Alex woke up. He looked around the room. No mountains here, gladly. Alex really didn't want to be in a mountain just yet. Right now, he was determined to tell his friends. He leaped out of bed, got dressed, and dashed out the door. He reached the eating room, where Heather was waiting for everybody else. He said to her, "I have a very important thing to tell everyone."