Luck Weaver

2. Hidden Powers

Chapter 2 - Hidden Powers

Ray was next in line, and got called.  He started heading toward the door, but was interrupted.

"Wait, have this," the teenager said giving Ray a small figurine.

The carved animal appeared to be some sort of bird.  It was dark blue with piercing light blue eyes.

“Um, thanks, good luck,” Ray replied, confusion evident in his face.

"Good luck to you too,” the teenager replied while Ray walked out of sight.

Watching Ray disappear behind the soundproof door, he was finally alone in the room.  Immediately, he slumped on the wall.  Letting out a sigh, he knew it was almost his turn.  His future depended on what happened. 

“What was I thinking, taking that challenge.  At least Ray accepted the figurine,” he thought.

He didn’t know why he gave Ray it, he just felt like he had to.  He wasn’t fully in control of his body as he handed it over.  He felt like a bystander, watching his own body.  A shout interrupted his thoughts.  It was his turn.

The teenager went though the door expecting the worst.  Early in life, he learned to expect the worst in order to not be disappointed.  The system worked pretty well, with a bonus of not getting surprised as much.

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Numb with shock, Jay couldn't move. He willed himself to move, but his body wouldn't respond.  Most of the mephs, though killing ruthlessly, at least gave quick clean deaths.  A slit to the throat or a stab in the heart would kill quickly. They worked efficiently, almost like machines.  They looked bored, whirling around in their black cloaks looking like crow wings.

A few, however, seemed to enjoy prolonging pain as if they disdained the poor farmers.  Some of them would slowly cut off limb by limb while fighting or give stomach wounds.  Stabbed in the stomach, their guts would spill out.  The bloody pink entrails steamed in the crisp morning air.  Fumbling trying to grasp them and shove them back in, the mephs would then cut off their hands.  The splattering of blood as a result never stained the meph's cloaks.  Cursing them silently in his mind, Jay couldn't stop watching.  By then, only a few farmers were left.

The mephs did not all have swords.  Though sword-wielders made up the majority, there were all sorts of weapons.  Equipped with hammers, maces, spears, pikes, and a lot of weapons Jay did not recognize, it made no difference.  All the mephs were masters of their own weapons.  Some of the weapons were unfamiliar to Jay, and looked ancient.  He was pretty sure some of them were crafted by other races, or were very old.

Watching them, Jay noticed in fascination that their auras would flicker to bright red before flicking back to black.  It was common knowledge that if someone commits an evil act, their auras will get redder while good acts will change their auras slightly more blue.  A bad act affects the color more though.  To Jay, it seemed like the black was covering up the red to keep bad karma from affecting the mephs.  Watching one cruel act after another, Jay's blood began to boil, literally.  The air started to heat up around him, but he was oblivious to it, watching the battle intently.

One farmer broke into a run.  Stumbling past a meph, the meph didn't react, so he kept running.  As he neared the forest, Jay could see he was panting and couldn't keep running for much longer.  Jay tried to leap off his tree to go help, but he couldn't.  Stopping for breath, Jay silently called him a fool and willed him to start running again.  A meph was running after him.  Obviously, the man couldn't hear Jay's thoughts, and he just kept on walking at a normal pace.  The man thought he made it out.