Burden of the Pure

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

I awoke in the morning, from what felt like a long deep sleep. It had taken me a while to become unconscious that night. For my body was ready for rest, while my mind was working away.

    I couldn’t get what Jade had said out of my mind. I’ve never understood “Love.” Was it something physical? A feeling? Perhaps a technique of some sort. I asked Stan about it, but he couldn’t give me an actual answer. He ended up showing me a picture inside of a gold heart shaped locket that he wears as a necklace around his neck. It was a black and white picture of a woman with short curly hair, and small glasses. He said that the woman was his deceased wife and went on to describe how she was obsessed with those black and white pictures, and some other insignificant details. However, I did observe that as he was talking, he became flustered at parts, and his cheeks became bright red in color.

I also asked Kane about love a little while back. It was during an escort mission to the country of England. On our way out of the English airport, I asked him about love. Apparently, he found humor in my question. He laughed, then said to me without turning his head, “Devante, love is the most powerful weapon in the world, and the most difficult one to control.”

His tone of voice made me think that he was being metaphorical, but I also sensed the legitimacy of his words.

I made my way down to the dining area after I had been called down by the speaker in my room. As I made my way down to consume my meal, I passed many other soldiers who had just recently woken up, thanks to their flexible schedules. Every time I passed them, they would begin talking about the mission I was just on.

Apparently, it was a mission of a unique sort.

With the information I gathered from their attempts at whispering, this was the first mission where the organization was fighting against the government instead of with it. I didn’t understand the significance of this, so I paid it no mind, and continued my way to the dining area.

After I acquired my morning meal and went to go find a seat, I sensed a lot noise and commotion occurring behind me. I turned around to see what was happening, and it seemed like a new soldier was saying some aggravating things to the others, and the interaction was starting to become physical.

Normally I would ignore squabbles between the others, but this new man was different than the others.

He was large, overly muscular, and towered over us, like the giant gods in the book I had read. He was beating and striking down all the soldiers near him in a fit of rage, with his immense strength. I figured that he was a result of one of the organization’s steroid experiments, and they thought that the outcome was successful enough to be put to work. A large misjudgment on their part.

The titan’s way of speech had now been converted to numerous angry seething breaths. He was about to pummel the face of a soldier he had taken down to the ground, but then our eyes met. After we held one another’s gaze for a while, he slowly began to approach me. I suppose he thought my staring to be an invitation to challenge me, but it was more of admiration and respect. With his oversized enhanced muscles, it would be hard to use martial arts due to the lack of flexibility. But I noticed technique and method to his fighting style.

We stood directly in front of each other with my head barely reaching the height of his chest. I put my tray of food down as I stared at his bloodshot eyes, and he at mine. The other soldiers were watching the fight but from a safe distance. They didn’t want to be near two special people. His form of communication became heavy breathing and his seething with rage.

The second I put down my tray of food on the nearest table, the giant struck at my face with an overhand fist. It was faster than the average punch, but not fast enough.

I slipped onto his left side, and he froze for a moment. He didn’t seem to comprehend how his attack could have missed. He followed up with another blow from his right fist, but this one was sluggish compared to its predecessor, so I could tell it was all downhill from here for my opponent.

I slipped past this punch in a similar fashion as I did the other one, but this time I added a spin to my movement. With the momentum I gained from the circular motion, I shattered the joint of his arm, with my right elbow.

At this point I was ready to eat my meal because I could feel the hunger knocking at the door of my stomach, but I could not feast yet. The man didn’t react to my previous attack. His expression didn’t change at all.

He felt nothing.