Ancient Forces (2018 Reboot)

Chapter 23 - Progress

Zayne knocked on the door lightly to alert the occupant that he was there. When there was no reply, not even a slight shift in tone from the other side, he knocked again but louder this time. When there was still no noise Zayne opened the door slightly and looked in. Damien was on his bed staring at his TV screen playing a game. He had snacks littering the floor and his bed, all accumulated over time whenever he would take some to his room. The bowl of cereal was resting at the foot of the bed totally empty. Empty water bottles were everywhere. Damien was sweating on the bed even though he was doing nothing. Zayne would have blamed it on the game, especially since he'd personally experienced the feelings one could get in a tense gaming situation, but he knew that the game wasn't the problem. Something was wrong.

Damien seemed blanked out, as if he wasn't aware of anything outside of his room. His window was covered, so the only source of light came from the TV, which only illuminated Damien's face a little bit of the wall behind him. Zayne opened the door wider and stepped inside, then closed it. Damien didn't react, he didn't even so much as look at Zayne. He just kept playing whatever he was playing.

"Damien? What's up?" Zayne asked as he took a step towards the bed.

"Don't come closer Zayne just stay over there," Damien sharply commanded, still not taking his eyes off the screen.

"Okay, okay," Zayne stepped back, "What's up?"

"Why do you want to know?" Damien pushed him off.

"You're acting weird. I just want to know what's the problem so I can fix it, or so we can fix it," Zayne replied with a genuine worry in his voice.

"Forget it. It's not fixable. Now go away," Damien brushed him off again.

"Everything's fixable, you just need to know how to do it. I can't figure out how to fix it if I don't know what it is."

"I said it's not fixable. Now leave before I make you leave," Damien growled, his eyes now focused on Zayne with a piercing glare.

"Damien you can't just ignore or push away all of your problems. Let me help you," Zayne pleaded.

There was a blur and a change in wind direction very drastically as Damien went from the bed to right in Zayne's face before Zayne could even blink. Zayne was so startled by the movement that he pressed himself against the door. Damien was looking right at his eyes within mere inches of his face. He let out a breath that reached Zayne's neck and face. It was freezing cold, so much so that just that little amount made Zayne shiver across his whole body. Damien reached over and grabbed the doorknob, then moved Zayne out of the way. He opened the door and gestured out into the hall, indicating to Zayne that he was being directed to leave. Now.

Zayne quickly left the room and jumped as Damien slammed the door behind him. He looked at Ver, who had been standing to the side listening. He looked her dead in the eyes with worry.

"I think he's the one causing these storms."

"I know he is. The question is why? I want to know how. Damien was never strong enough to manipulate the weather in his training, and he quit training a long time ago. I think there's more going on here than he's telling us," Ver suggested as she turned and started making her way down the hall.

Zayne didn't move from his spot for a moment before calling out to Ver a question that had been on his mind for a while, "Damien told me to stop training because it wasn't leading where I thought it would. What did he mean by that?"

Ver stopped walking. She was at the corner to enter the living room when he stopped, her body fully turned away from Zayne further down the hall. There was an eerie silence that filled the home as the question lingered in the air. The amount of time for an answer made Zayne realize that maybe there was something Ver knew that she wasn't telling him. It wouldn't be the first time the family had kept big secrets from him, especially ones concerning the Forces.