Zero

CHAPTER FIVETEEN

-Okay –said  Noah while holding a rock in fron of him marked with a green “X”, Giuseppe was sitting on the floor in front of his brother, observing the object-, this game is like this: I have a basis that is between four stones –he emphasized while pointing at the objects that served as boundaries, his older brother scanned the three meters per side square-, inside of this basis I’ll hide this stone, meanwhile you’ll have to hide, then I’ll go get you, my goal will be to catcht you and yours will be catch the stone without being caught.

-It sound like you’ve got a lot of agvantage, the roles here are out of proportion don’t you think? –said the older brother with apparent faintness.

-Of course not! I used to play this everyday at school, it is very fun.

-But sooner or later you’ll know I have to go back for the stone, you just have to wait for me.

-But then you can run, besides, the stone has a green mark, it’s pretty flashy.

-Well, if you say so, then I just have to hide? –Noah nodded showing a big satisfaction smile; Giuseppe didn’t care how bad was the game but he cared more about Noah’s happiness so he just resigned to play.

The older brother moved away from the area while the younger one walked around it looking for a hiding place for the stone, apparently he was getting used to the tremors, because he hardly swung on himself. The talented bent over to hide behind grandfather's camper, it was the only place he could think of. Is it too predictable?, he wondered; after thinking about it for a while he decided to improve his hiding place, so he flew a few meters away and stood over the camper. During the week, Noah had proposed him several games and in all of them he had olympically lost, no wonder, the ex-zero wasn’t used to play, so his brother had more experience and since it was his time to beat his brother in something and what better hideout than above the camper? Noah could never reach him, not to mention that from there he had good eyesight to look for the stone. It was perfect!

As Giuseppe glanced through the area, a blue flash caught his attention, it came from inside the camper, it was fleetingly sneaking through one of their skylights, it was hard to guess which room it came from, since the camper was full of them, which was strange, because it was always dark out there, and the symmetrical shape of the vehicle was not very helpful for orientation, so the boy crawled towards the light source to kill his curiosity, once above it he looked out the hatch; the light was flashing like a melting bulb, yet it radiated very powerful flashes, the simple fact of being near dazzled them. Among the bluish sparkles that penetrated Giuseppe's pupil, he managed to glimpse the scene a little before becoming blind. At the end of the room there was a huge and spongy recliner, in front of which there was a kind of rustic machine with cables, gas tanks, a booth and a control panel with many buttons, levers and switches, finally, in the center of the room was a metal table lined with a kind of plastic, small pieces sprinkled with various mechanical devices were on it, tools and other objects that the boy didn’t recognize, but they must be important because the man who was working on them constantly checked them, as if he expected some reaction; Giuseppe turned his eyes to see the subject better. As soon as he started recovering his sight from a flash, another blast blinded him. He took a moment to free himself from the residual beam that impregnated his eyes and blinked a couple of times without being able to prevent the fluorescent stain from continuing to interfere with his vision. The boy was so immersed in his new discovery that he forgot that he was playing, Noah's voice sounded in the distance, he said something about forbidding talents, but he was ignored without knowing it, his receiver was trapped by the curiosity in that room, it was most likely the one with no lock on the door, perhaps what happened there was none of his business, but how could he ask a 122-year-old boy to contain his curiosity? Suddenly, as he ventured to take another look, he fell without warning into the room; as if the ceiling had ignored the laws of Physics and given him access to its espionage; but actually, the one who had become intangible was Giuseppe, his body activated more frequently the necessary talents to satisfy any desire of its user, sometimes useful, others, as at that precise moment, not so much. An old man of about 2 meters 30 turned aroind to see his new guest, he had a torch in his hand and wore a mask with a green polarized glass, except for his neck red skin and because he was inside the house; the boy would never have guessed he was the grandfather.

- How did you get here, son? –asked Morrus while removing from his face that weird mask.

-I’m sorry, it wasn’t my intention, I just... I don’t know how do my talents work and I... I was playing with Noah... and sometimes they just activate themselves- the grandfather laughed.

-You apologize too much, probably you inherited that from your mother, you’re home, you don’t have to apologize for entering a room, on the contrary, you’re my guest.

The boy was speechless, apologizing was for him the most logical response in this situation, and that would be even more stupid -thanks- he finally articulated the boy and continued.

-And what is this place?

-It depends, right now it’s my workshop -he said raising the ion-torch that he had in his hand, behind him a great quantity of hung objects were illuminated with the tool flame and judging by their appearance, they were weapons that had been remarkably made with old pieces and second hand spare parts-, but when I want to feel nostalgic it’s grandma’s room - he waved his eyebrows and head so that his grandson could see the wall at the back, Giuseppe slowly reacted as if his eyes were magnetized by the weapons, at the end he ended up diverting his attention to what the old man was pointing at: between the huge, bulky chair and the machine he had placed on the wall, a holographic painting that showed a young woman (who could easily pass for a girl) with orange complexion, brown eyes and green hair, next to her a man with red complexion, white hair and purple eyes held out a hand on her shoulder, this one was smiling unlike the girl, who seemed to have just awakened, at the bottom a small legend that said: "May Graviton bless this new marriage and may it be fruit of prosperity for the See".

-That’s grandma –the kid understood-, I never got to meet her...

-I know, she died when you were just a baby, anyway I don’t think you two would have gotten along, she was a rough person to deal with.

-I don’t think she had been a person that rough- remarked the kid-, she makes you smile when you talk about her and your voice is very nostalgic, she couldn’t have been that mean.

The grandfather looked at him surprised, his grandson was more analytic than he seemed to be.

-You’re right on that kid, the See gave me an angel, but even the most lovely being has a devious side, don’t ever forget it.

Giuseppe walked unconsciously towards the photo to analyze it for a while more; the room was dark without the torch light, the old man didn’t interrupt him.

-What was she like? I mean, as a person.

The grandfather enlarged his smile and began to talk how wonderful his wife was, Giuseppe completely forgot that he was playing with his brother but, what did it matter? it was about hiding anyway, wasn't it?. Noah on the other hand, waited lying on the floor of his base, tired of looking for his brother in every squeare inch of his grandfather’s "yard", the boy played with the little marked stone waiting for the moment in which his older brother came out to claim him.

- Giuseppe!, you must get out of your hideout for this to be fun! –he shouted, as he kicked in a tantrum attempt, but before increasing it a small crunch caught his attention, it came from inside a nearby rock mound that formes a small basin on the edge of one of the collapsed walls of the canyon, it was shallow, but the eternal darkness made it impossible to see inside. I got you, thought Noah relieved, without hesitation he stood up and ran toward his target.

-So, you made this? –their talk had now focused on the huge machine that hogged the other half of the room.

-I made this one, yes –answered the grandfather-, I didn’t invent these type of compressors, but I designed and assembled this particular model myself; in fact, it’s the one I used with your grandmother –he sounded proud, which was weird after the nostalgia with which he had expressed himself about her before.

That’s creepy - thought the boy; processing the body of a loved one with your own hands must have been quite painful, although the result was worth it, a beautiful diamond made of the ashes of that person helped to remember them as something beautiful, and you could have it with you, if you took it with you to a public compressor, they would keep the mineral and they would charge for every time you wanted to see it-.

Wow!, you’re like dad –sentenced Giuseppe after thinking about it for a while, they both invented things and disobeyed the See’s weapon monopoly.

-I’m better than your dad kid, Sermon Industries was founded because of me after all.

-But it has dad’s name –and my last name, added on his mind.

-That’s because I already knew he was going to keep it, besides the industry doesn’t have your father’s name, it’s your father who has the name of the industry, because I founded a century before Sermon’s  birth.

-Did you name your son after your industry?- he asked with a reproachful grimace that showed his skepticism.

-I have already told you, I founded it for him.

Giuseppe didn't believe him at all, he was just trying to justify the fact that Sermon overcame him by managing the company, creating products, and positioning himself in the market... If it had his synchronizer, he would corroborate the information on the web, but since didn’t have it, the best thing to do was to talk about something else.

-Is it that what is on the box?

-Yes, it’s her –confirmed the grandfather-, a beautiful orange pearl, that was his favorite armchair, so it didn’t think any better place for her to rest after death- he said as they both looked at a small glass box with  wood  and gold details resting on the armchair.

-That’s a nice gest... -a sharp scream interrupted Giuseppe; That’s my brother!, he thought, and almost automatically the ex-zero’s silhouette vanished to be next to the chameleon-: What’s wrong? -the older brother said worried.

-An animal!- screamed Noah, who was on the floor pointing at the pile of stones, Giuseppe's fists were lit with orange energy and he aimed them in the direction of the entrance to the cave, thus illuminating the scarce three meters deep that made it up: indeed, inside there was an animal, but it wasn’t the classic abominable and giant thing that had extremities or mouths to spare and sharp objects distributed in an unnatural way, no, this was a small frightened little animal that barely reached half a meter, its appearance wasn’t threatening: a pastel cream-coloured coat, almost white, small and triangular head like a mouse, but its ears were spongy, long and fallen like those of a rabbit; it had neither mouth nor eyes, but he moved its head as if it could see, in its forehead there was only a small worn red circle that looked like old paint, the rest of its body was made up of a robust torso and contracted legs, like a kangaroo, some blue feathered wings served as arms and it also had a thin tail that ended in a ball of hair.























Erst fauna


The little creature rubbed itself against the wall as if trying to pass through it, it was more terrified than Noah himself, Giuseppe was forced to lower his fists by the tenderness he felt for the creature and a laugh escaped down his throat even when he tried to contain it, the young brother looked at him strangely, what was so funny?; so he leaned forward to give the animal a second look and after seeing it again he blushed a little. The rest of the family joined in to help, but Giuseppe confused them with his laughter and the chameleon's expression didn’t help much to understand the situation, yet Naya went ahead to help her son who was still on the ground, making sure he had no harm.

-What happened? –questioned Naya.
-Noah got scared with a tiny ball of hair – mocked Giuseppe.

-These last days I’ve learned to be scared of animals, you know? –Noah justified himself.

-Is there an animal inside? –asked the grandfather, Giuseppe nodded- is if furry with blue wings?

-Yes, how do you know? –asserted surprised by the exact description.

-I’ll go get the FP-15 –concluded the grandfather without giving any explanation.

-Good idea- seconded Sermon.

-Didn’t you hear me? It’s a tiny ball of hair, the greatest damage he can cause is to give you an allergy, like the dogs that are mentioned in my book- can I keep it?

-What if we cover the entrance and let it strave to death? - suggested Sermon ignoring the delusions of his eldest son, Giuseppe responded with a horror grimace, but grandfather and Naya even seemed to meditate on the idea.

-I’ve seen more little things end with an entire village son, animals are no longer what they used to be –explained Morrus.


-You should listen to your grandfather –suggested Naya-, he has lived here in Bottom for such a long time, he knows about the dangers that live here.


As the debate continued, the old man realized that the strange animal was trying to escape between the holes left by the stones on top, so he abandoned the dispute and dealt with the matter with imperious arbitrariness: he took off one of his leather gloves revealing holes that hogged all his fingertips, then he extended his arm and a weird metallic brown liquid sprouted from them under pressure, as soon as the substance that looked like melted metal touched the ground, it crawled as if it was alive, snaking around the ground until it positioned itself around the mound of stones, the whole family was frozen immediately, if that was his talent, it was really strange.

-Don’t hurt him grandpa! If he was aggressive he would have already attacked us –argumented the boy, worried by the substance that  was finishing to fence the perimeter scaling by the wall of the cave.

-It’s very likely that it’s full, as soon as it feels hungry it’ll strip off your head- answered the old man.

-I’ll grow another –mumbled the talented.

-But we won’t son –replicated the grandfather who had apparently heard him. Giuseppe was a little bit ashamed but yet he prepared his next argumentm he had to stop whatever his grandfather was doing.

The metallic brown liquid ended up forming an almost perfect circle around its target, and without any major setback a laser materialized from the ground, invoked from the figure that created the grandfather's substance, it rose to about nine meters high, Giuseppe's face was terror-paralyzed. What kind of talent was that?, the boy wondered as the fireworks show roasted his prospective pet. However, when the energy vanished there were no ashes or graying earth, what that laser really made was to transmute everything it touched into that strange metal that came out of his hands, which now that wasn’t in a strange liquid state, it was obvious that it was copper.

-Okay, now you can keep it, it’ll be a cute ornament for your room –said the grandfather mockingly, then he turned around and began his way back home-, sacrifices have to be done in order to protect the family –said while he was walking away, Sermon turned back and joined him.
-Are you hurt? – asked the mother to the younger but he denied with his head-: well, when you get in go to the infirmary so that I can treat you those scratches, okay? And Giuseppe... I’m sorry, but it was for our own good, I’ll get you a digital pet when everything ends, your father has already a plan, so we’ll be back to our normal lives soon.

-It was so cute!- exclaimed Giuseppe as he kneeled in front of the copper monument. His mother seethed and went to the infirmary that now was the planning room or something like that.

-I  thought it was scary- commented the younger brother while leaning over to touch his brother. I won! –added with joy.

Giuseppe raised his hand to show a small object marked with an "X", but he said nothing, apparently Noah had let it fall from fright and the brother had picked it up at that last moment.

-It’s not fair! When did you take them? I want a rematch - Giuseppe crawled into the cave, his eyes responded to his desire to see in the dark and everything became sharper, a uniform copper color lined all the rocks, but the creature wasn’t there, instead there was a small burrow carved into the ground; the boy rushed to see it more closely; it was deep and made at an angle, so that it escaped from the transmutation circle; the little animal was alive, he could even prove to the grandfather that it wasn’t dangerous and adopt him.

-What about tomorrow?, I’m already really tired – said Giuseppe, he went out of the cave hastily and sneaked away in a blink of an eye, leaving Noah talking.

A second later Giuseppe flew over the area looking for the small animal, he had a whole repertoire of talents, but he didn't know which to use, they all seemed to be so useless at that time because when he tried to use augmented hearing he was bombarded by a thousand thunderous noises that ended up confusing him; the X-ray vision only confused him and thermal noise was affected by glass trees, and he still didn't know how to regulate the range of augmented vision, so he chose to patrol over the forest in search of his friend. It was much more difficult to use the powers when he it wasn’t clear for him what to do, it was as if the talents responded to his biological needs and when he didn’t need them for a specific purpose they were very complex: I wish Noah was here to tell me what powers to use, he said to himself. It was unbelievable, it had only been a few days since he discovered grandfather's books and he already depended on him.

While the talented accomplished his personal mission, Noah had returned to the camper, Giuseppe wasn’t in the armchairs, which was where he and his brother slept, although in reality he wasn’t expecting to find him there; he had also looked in the cave, and as he didn’t se the varmint anywhere, he guessed that Giuseppe would go looking for it; determination had always been a characteristic of the ex-zero and now that he had a second chance to prove that the grandfather was wrong he was not going to let it pass. However, Noah was quite concerned about his brother; he risked unnecessarily after the protection of his talents, he was foolish and ignored the chameleon’s advice, which made him feel useless by not being able to do anything to avoid it and much less to protect him... No, of course he could. The young brother went to the grandfather's shelf, removed the chain that prevented them from falling, took a couple of books and with paper and his favorite pen, he began to take notes of the talents.

The hours kept on going and Giuseppe didn't show up, his parents didn't even notice it; they had been in the infirmary, his mother was telling Sermon about her eldest son's exploits; besides, they were planning on how to replicate the formula, in fact, the grandfather only showed up when they talked about it, he seemed quite enthusiastic about the idea of replicating it. Noah didn't like it there, he didn't understand a word they were saying, and his father talked about his brother as if he was one of his weapons or his secret card, which made him very angry.

Time ran on, Noah's yellow pen was running out of ink and refused to finish it until he had a spare, so he stopped his research, tried to entertain himself with other things - like organizind his sleeping area and grandfather's books by size - but his brother didn’t arrive. Time seemed to slow down with each second. The young even tried to read the book that Giuseppe always carried, but his Spanish was very bad and he ended up getting even more desperate. He thought of going with the adults to tell them about Giuseppe's whereabouts, but that would only get his brother in trouble, he couldn't betray him like that; so he decided to check Giuseppe's capsule charge to see what interesting things he had brought, and this turned out to be more boring than his book: three brown raincoats, very similar to each other, a dozen of short-sleeved T-shirts of different colors, always keeping a range of dark tones, four grey trousers and the updated version of The Last Breath of a Society. Noah rolled his eyes and dropped himself on the couch. What if I sleep until he gets here?, he wondered. However, something about the idea made him even more uneasy, he didn’t want to be absent while his brother was out there probably requiring his knowledge. Resigned, he stood up and returned to the bookcase to choose another book. While the boy chose his study material, his grandfather left the room without a lock, Noah instinctively turned when he heard the noise, how does he open it? he asked himself; he only walked in front of it and it answered itself, there must have been some electronic key or a facial recognition code.

-Are you still reading that?- his grandfather asked curious.

-Yes, I’m planning on memorizing all this talents, so I can tell Giuseppe which he should use and he’ll never be in danger.

-Aaaah! I see, so that’s why you’re so enthusiastic about it.

-Yes, besides, they’re very interesting, I had never seen something like this before. Where did you buy them? I didn’t find author nor name anywhere.

-You don’t buy those kind of relics, the See is not very delighted about the idea of the population knowing what talents exist, rumor has it that up there there’s people extremely powerful with unusual talents, they’re interested on that.

-Then, how did you get them? –he asked confused.

-Let’s say that a friend wrote them for me- he replied with a wink as he walked away-, I’ll go check on your father’s plan, I’ll make sure that were not killed while trying to recover those formulas –said laughing.

Noah wasn’t amused by his little joke, even his stomach was turned upside down by the thought of going out on missions again, it wasn’t the same as training or going hunting, because ironically the zaykans were even more hostile and perverse than the animals, he still had nightmares about Malcor and his dead family, it was hard to decide who the real savages were and besides, killing animals had an altruistic purpose, it was a pity that the tribe had been left behind when the grandfather moved the camper, they were really nice people.

Noah's lists of talents and their combinations continued to increase as his pen ran out of ink; he wanted to prove all the talents that were mentioned on the book, though perhaps there were a couple of lies, after all it was written anonymously and if he was wrong no one would come to claim him, so it would be better to check the information. The hours passed, according to the clock in the infirmary it was already 16 pm; noon, and Giuseppe didn’t show up, perhaps it was time to go for him and try a few new combinations. After analyzing the situation for a while, the boy made a decision, took his notes, folded them into imperfect squares and went out in search of his brother.

The path was dark in the tracks without glass trees, the only thing that illuminated him was his holographic clothing, this was characterized by making shine the brightest colors of each garment, it wasn’t a powerful glow, it was more like those sticks that you crack for them to shine in the dark, but still it served not to stumble over the debris that covered the surface of Bottom.

His current outfit consisted of holographic and physical clothing; after his adventure at the checkpoint, he had followed his mother steps wearing physical trousers full of sachets. However, his shirt was holographic and provided a small glow, which although it didn’t illuminate the entire road, at least let him see where he stepped.  The boy went on for a little more than half an hour, at some point the path without glass trees had ended, forcing him go into the forest; "This is a terrible idea," he told himself with every step he took. He shouted his brother's name to see if he appeared, unfortunately he didn’t know that Giuseppe had turned off his ear with augmented listening. Noah wandered a little longer before realizing that he was completely lost, it had definitely been a bad idea. After understanding that moving forward would get him nowhere, he leaned back at the foot of a glass tree to rest, the constant use of gravitational spheres had really taken away his physical condition, he thought. Once he was under the flaming tree foliage he took one of his lists out of his pocket, he had selected a couple of talents in case he found Giuseppe before he found the animal, but when he came out with full adrenaline he didn’t verify which sheets had he taken, however, before he was able to unfold the first paper, a gasping breath coming from the depths of the woods put him on alert, his eyes stuck in the gloom, his body paralyzed due to the fear, he had no chance to escape or defend himself from an animal, the best thing to do would be to hide. He looked up to try his chances of climbing the tree, there weren't many but it was worth trying; unfortunately, before putting his first foot on top of the trunk, the shadows behind him began to move, to take shape. Noah trembled with fear, a drop of cold sweat rolled through his face, and finally, with a step forward, a zaykanoid figure emerged from the darkness, Noah's terror multiplied when he saw that creature. It had bounding bones, as if they wanted to escape from its body, his face was sucked, shredded of so many scars and cuts, but even so his look was merciless, dangerous, full of sadism, in his hand took a kind of rusty tube, it was covered with dried blood in black and yellow shades, the creature continued advancing, his mouth had the same stains as his weapon, the light of the crystal tree reached him, providing a better image. The clothing was unmistakable, it was torn, but the See logo was marked among the mud and the blood, on the chest a monosyllabic word told the story of the one who was once a citizen of Zayaka: "Fletch", it said in letters that had were once white.

The creature kept on complaining with every move, as if his mere existence hurt, Noah tried to run, the man lifted the arm that held the tube, his hand had only three fingers, and the signs of infection were clearly visible. The starving being howled and in a surprisingly fast movement reached Noah, who was about three meters from his starting point. The tube sank into one of the chameleon's thighs, making him fall out uncontrollably, the man released a guttural moan and pounced at the boy who still rolling on the ground, he raised his arm to unsuccessfully try to stop the creature, his corroded teeth were embedded in him, Noah's exoskeleton plates prevented the bite from reaching the muscle, but his skin was being crushed; the boy hit him on the temple with the arm he had free, the thing jumped back and stood on all fours, waiting for the next movement of his prey. Noah pulled the tube that was still incrusted, the most rusty part was defeated, leaving a fragment of about six centimeters inside the leg of the chameleon, the bastard had hit him right between two of the bone plates of his exoskeleton, he wouldn’t be able to stand up because he clearly had a muscle tear.

-Giuseppe! –screamed desperately the kid with watering eyes while he held with a shaking hand the part of the tube he had stripped off from his skin.

The "man" responded with a grunt as he circled around Noah, the boy continued to scream with pain and anguish tears, probably the creature took it as a challenge because it responded with a roar to every prayer of Noah. His leg burned, his muscles punctured, he could feel the rust fragments breaking through his flesh causing a lot of harm. The creature groaned for the last time and jumped over its prey, Noah threw at him the tube that was easily dodged with great speed, and in a blink of an eye another bite crushed the kid's skin, but this time it was dangerously close to the neck. The thing chewed his collarbone furiously, chipping it slowly until he managed to break it, the boy shrugged his neck trying to hide it from the jaws of his predator, while begging him with a bitter cry of terror to stop; there was no exoskeleton to protect him, if he reached it he would bleed to death in less than two minutes. Suddenly a tug separated a piece of flesh from his body, leaving the broken bone out in the open, however, the shove still removed the "man" from above, Noah's face was sprinkled with his own blood, this clouded his sight a little, but he still managed to see his defender. A bloody yellow rat with wings stood between him and his death. Then he tried to put pressure on the wound, but the pain outweighed his common sense, and he gave up. With his eyes clouded, he saw the small animal fighting against a former sprinter condemned to Fletch who was still chewing the piece of meat that had been accidentally torn off with the animal's push, he definitely didn’t remember how to use his talents, since he only used them from time to time, the ex zaykan roared to frighten the animal, and he replied with a louder cry when his little face broke in two showing jaws full of asymmetrical teeth, his beautiful coloured wings filled with spines varnished in his own blood and hands made of bones emerged from his belly, even the boy could swear that he increased in size, but to tell the truth he no longer knew if he was beginning to hallucinate because of the blood loss. Whatever that thing was, it was defending him, or at least he had left it for dessert. He probably wouldn't find out, because the strenght escaped his body too quickly, even breathing became a difficult task, he felt so much fear that he couldn't think with sense, reality had was away now, as if he had become a simple spectator who watched everything between long blinks.

At one point the former sprinter was over the animal, then everything darkened, the animal cut one of the man's arms, and the darkness returned, letting the imagination interpret the noises, the ex zaykan was on the creature's back stabbing it with the tube and the gloom dominated Noah again. With great effort his eyes returned to the light, the animal now had two heads coming from his mouth, it subjected the sprinter with a heavy elephant-like leg, Noah's eyelids became heavy and the gloom took over the place but this time without noiseless. From time to time he heard the man groan along with a hideous sound of broken bones and torn flesh, but even these began to disappear, until there was nothing but the great nothing where not even his thoughts kept him company... Noah's eyelids lightened again, he opened them weakly only to see a green flash, or was it yellow? Whatever, the darkness felt better, his eyes returned to the cozy shadows, but they would not remain there for long; a slap forced him towake up, now his eyes were completely opened. Giuseppe was kneeling beside him with tears in his eyes.

- Wake up!, I healed you like two hours ago and you’re still asleep, don’t you see that I’m worried about you? –Noah looked his leg, his trousers were black dyed in black but his skin had cured without leaving any scars, then he touched his collarbone; it was intact –For Graviton, say something!

-I don’t want to fight again in my whole life –he said-, I can’t do this anymore... please –he hugged Giuseppe and cried bitterly-.  I want to go back home, I want to go back to school and hang out with my friends, I don’t want to keep doing this- Giuseppe only held him tightly, he didn't know what to say to him, he had lived exactly the same after his fight with Malcor Straud, he had even had to kill him, he swore never to do it again and he remained true to his word, the nightmares still haunted him and he was seduced by the idea of escaping forever, but he knew he couldn't stop fighting, there were people who needed his strength, who lived as slaves of a society and would continue like that unless he did something.

-If you don’t want to keep on doing this, leave it- Giuseppe said kindly-, this new life is composed of living one traumatic experience after another, sooner or later it will desensitize us; like grandpa, who is willing to kill anything in order to protect us. I don't want that for you, in fact I would feel much better if you leave, but I didn't want to ask you, it's not fair. You've helped a lot, but this is no life for a child, it really shouldn't be for anyone... but some of us can't abandon it, you're still on time -Noah moved away from his brother's wet chest, his face was dimly illuminated by the tree light, his red eyes seemed to shine on their own, he was undoubtedly the most important person in his life, he couldn't leave him alone on this journey, even though he really didn't want to go on living in that situation.

-Thank you –said while his brother wiped away his tears with his thumb-, you can leave it too, we can forget about this, we would use your talent to change shape and we would start over again.

-It’s not that easy Noah, this war began because of me, we won that battle but it would be very selfish to stop it here, now I have ro win this war for all the zeros in the world. Who knows, maybe that formula works with talented ones and we’ll turn you into one, just like me.

-It sound very easy when you say it... but it isn’t, that’s why you have to promise me something –the younger warned with depression.

-What? –he asked curious.

-That you will never desensitize, like grandpa or dad, no matter what happens, you can’t allow yourself to be like them, they are in danger of losing their essence, of becoming corrupted, of become like Malcor, sometimes life blesses some with certain gifts that give them an advantage over the rest; it assures them his stay in the world of the living, but slowly takes their identity away, it makes them cold, wild, soulless, to the point where they stop being themselves, they become a shell that celebrates their  pointless life and corrupt themselves with unhappiness; you received one of these gifts recently, don’t waste it, don’t corrupt yourself with power.

Giuseppe was astonished at his brother's thought. How could he have been so blind? The little one was having a really bad time, his words had been forged with pain and anguish, a child of his age shouldn’t be able to conceive that philosophy, his gaze began to lose innocence and joy that he used to radiate, all this in before his eyes, while he had spent it celebrating his talents. Silence invaded the atmosphere, the eyes of the two children were welded to each other, but Giuseppe couldn’t answer, causing great sorrow to the chameleon; the tears began to invade the bowls of the younger brother until his crying began again.

-Promise it! –required almost full of rage; this prayer brought Giuseppe out of his trance, he smiled at him tenderly, he surrounded the child in his arms and promised. They stayed in that position for a long time, because the emotional shock had been very hard for both of them, but good in a certain point, at last they had got that of their chests.

After a few minutes, their hug was interrupted by a third body that slipped between the brothers looking for love, Noah suddenly moved away and let out a cry, the small winged rodent looked at him with his face without eyes.

-I can’t believe that it still scares you, this buddy saved your life and drove me here.

-Giuseppe, that thing is 6 meters high and has peaks all over his body, and, and...

-Yes, yes, I saw it, and you’re right, it’s scary, I think it’s a metamorphus, but this is its regular and adorable form.

-How can you be so sure that that’s its form?

-It’s obvious, you’re a chamaleon and eventhough you change form all the time it’s clear that your eyes are orange, because of your face –said while petting the little animal.

-My eyes are yellow.

-I know, I was being sarcastic –said smiling-; come, pet it, he likes you.

-Maybe I just look more appetizing for him than you do- he argumented while he looked at the black puddle with meat pieces of his attacker.

-If you were appetizing for him, you wouldn’t be her anymore – he said turning to the same place, the argument convinced Noah, who agreed to approach to pet him, but always cautious. As soon as he touched him, the little animal lunged at him and rubbed him; then from the tip of his face emerged a tongue in the shape of a cord and began to lick him.

-What is he doing? –asked the younger brother terrified.

-Maybe he’s tasting you –joked the older brother-, he didn’t give me that much love, I’m telling you, he likes you, besides he looked for you and he even protected you.

Noah made an skepticism grimace but still he petted the little being.

-Which species do you think it is? –he asked while removing the dry paint that it had on the head. Why is it marked? Does it have an owner?, he wondered.

-I don’t know, it can be a lot of thing, what if we ask the locals?- said Giuseppe.

-What? Do you want them to eat it? For sure they will tell us it’s a goat –Giuseppe and his brother stared at the animal and laughed very lound.

-That’s a very good name: Goat –he emphasized making a gesture with his hands.

-Are you going to name him?

-Well yes, otherwise, how will we call him?

-We can just call it vermin or time bomb.

-Oh come on! You already get along! –he said pointing at Goat that had fell asleep while Noah played with his fur –or maybe I just should call him Noah, he would be your substitute on the missions.

-Ha, ha –copied the younger brother, the older just laughed-, Goat is a good name, we would be the only ones to know the meaning, it would be symbolic, but... How do you think you will take him home?

-I don’t know, maybe he can wait outside, hidden or I can make him invisible and put it inside without them knowing it.
-No, it would be better if you shrink him and then we enlarge him when we go out to play.

-Okay! It’s decided, Goat is part of the Zero Team –Giuseppe stood up and began his way back home.

-Zero Team? What’s with you today on naming everything?

-I’m feeling creative –the talented turned around to reply to his brother that was still laid on the floor- why don’t you stand up?

-I think that he has fallen asleep and I don’t want to wake him up –Giuseppe smiled to himself, Noah really loved Goat.

-Oh come on! He’ll fall asleep ag... –a loud noise shook the ground followed by another one very particular-. It sounded like... like grandpa’s talent –Giuseppe flew ove the trees top to have a better vision, the camper was on fire and not only that, the entire tribe was attacking it.