Preternatural (Worlds & Secrets) (23 page)

“
What was that?” I asked, a thrilling sensation immersing my body.

“
What we call the Root System. We Terra-Turfers are the only ones with our own means of instant transportation.” He seemed so comfortable and right at home – I felt dizzy and I had my arms outstretched for suspension and balance. I recognised this feeling as the one I usually feel when I childishly spin around and find it hard to stay steady afterwards. Finally, although actually being upright, I began to feel bewildered. I looked around and saw that I stood on one of many hills. The area was undisturbed. Very restful too, though the wind blew back on my hair with a calm, refreshing breeze that allowed me to exhale as smoothly as I did at home on our hilltop.

“
Still feel dizzy from the Root System, or would you like to commence?”

“
I’d like to begin,” I said excitedly. I grew a slight smile of happiness and impatience, even though my mind was in a horrid tangle.

“
So, Aden,” Tobias looped his finger and a rock from the ground terra-formed its way to the surface on which he sat. “What do you know about Terra-Turfing?”

“
Um,” I commenced and looked around curiously. Tobias looped his fingers again and a rock arose behind me. He had his hands to his chin and maintained a look of examination in his eyes as he narrowed them at me. I sat down awkwardly.

“
Well, I guess, concentrating and never breaking focus.” I was unsure.

“
Mm-hm;
mm-hmm
– you got that from a bunch of movies, didn’t you?”

“
Yes, sir,” I immediately answered, bowing my head in light-hearted shame.

“
Those bloody stereotypes,” he mumbled to himself.

“
Well, Aden,” he recommenced

“
Yes, Tobias?” I shot my head back up.

“
Rule number one about living on Vernaesce:
every
kinesis has its kinetic name; it’s what we always refer to them as.”

“
Okay,” I responded. Things seemed to be becoming rather extraordinary.

“
And what you need to know for Terra-Turfing is that vegetation and earth have a different concept of being controlled. It’s probably the trickiest element to make do your will. Water, of course, being the easiest, fire being the most irritating and air being the most stubborn; it being always loose and free.”

I
scoffed – as
if
elements had emotions or feelings.

“
See the trick – and not many know this – is to first
be
at one with the Earth, let it control you so you have its general feel. And then, right after it has accepted you, or as I like to say ‘after you have fooled the earth’ into believe that you are part of it, you can take control and then do all sorts of things. Of course, depending on how strong you are and how much self-control you possess.”

“
But, Tobias, you keep making it seem like you can mix with the Earth,” he smiled a warm beam.

“
And so you can – through your eyes and mind
,
” his eyes flashed a glowing green. The rock underneath me was retracted into the ground in a heartbeat. He stood up without delay after I fell to the floor and I scrambled to get up quickly.

“
I want you to only focus on that of your Terrakinetic side,” he said plainly.

“
How do I do that?”

“
There’s a specific muscle in your temple, that you should now be able to feel,” Tobias said. I gently raised two fingers and ran them over the side of my forehead. Suddenly, I felt a vein bulge and quickly recede itself.

“Oh my goodness,” I muttered.

“You have to flex those particular muscles to turn on a specific vision. It’s not that hard actually – probably one of the easiest things to do, really.”

I reluctantly did as
Tobias asked. Suddenly, my vision burst into green. When I looked down to the ground, it was all shifty and loose, emitting spectrum of green light and moving like some sort of volatile gas. It was iridescent, changing into different shades of green as I moved about. But that was the only thing emitting an aura; the ground. Everything else around was normal. My hair was a dark bark-brown and my eyes a leafy green.

“
What – what is this?” I asked. It felt like I was wrestling fires with the Grinner again, only calmer. I could feel the earth gently pulling me to my hands and knees and I was automatically submitting.

“
Aden, you have to focus on what I told you. First, don’t fight it,” Tobias commanded. It wasn’t hard to let go, but I was just scared of what could happen if I did and nothing went according to plan. However, I had faith in my tutor and gave in. I felt the aura pulling me down and I then heard the whispers. They were soft and almost inaudible. I always
did
think the Earth was alive.

Suddenly
, I felt something; something bigger than myself all together. It was like being in control of the
entire
world. But manipulating it was another story. A connection coursed through me as I got a feel of the entire grounds.

“
That’s what it feels like,” I whispered to myself, still on the ground and stupefied. My heart pounded. It was really a strange sensation to experience; feeling as if the world was in your palm simply from a hill you were crouched atop.

“
That’s it, Aden. Now, take charge,” I gulped and slowly stood up, keeping my link to the earth’s aura but commanding it. I looked down at my hands. Now being connected to the Earth, I gave off an aura just like it as well. I opened out my hands carefully. Stiffly, I opened each finger and let the surface of my palm become more and more exposed. To my delight, an extremely thin stem began sprouting, which gently darkened in colour and thickened. The outer layer of bark strengthened itself and thickened as the trunk developed. The leaves gently began to unfold as I gradually widened my fingers. I could see my body, now giving off the aura to the tree I had just grown as if I were feeding it energy. I lowered my arm and gently smiled.

I closed my eyes and flexed the muscles in my mind. As soon as I opened them, I couldn
’t help but fall backwards into an engulfing sensation of dizziness.

“
Whoa; whoa,
easy
,” Tobias spoke soothingly. He had stretched his arm out, causing the grass beneath me to quickly shoot up to my body. They wrapped me gently and held me diagonally; my heels touching the ground but my body slanted and almost to the earth. My hair and eyes dimmed to blue again.

“
Aden? How do you feel?” Tobias asked. I exhaled deeply. It wasn’t so much that I felt faint, but rather as if I had disembodied and severed limbs that had just been reattached to my body. I wasn’t sure where the others found the strength for this; it was excruciatingly exhilarating. I felt so numb that it took me time to realise where my individual fingers were.

“
I feel…weird,” I mumbled incoherently.

“
Are you strong enough to continue, buddy?” My eyes twitched and rolled around lazily.

“
Just give me a minute…and then I’d
much
like to know how to use the Root System,” I joked.

Jade looked around
dizzily. “Mum where are we?”

“
Practice room.” A smile curled into existence on Jade’s lips, simply because of the idea that she was about to learn how to control her kinetic ability.

“
This
house
has a practice room?” Mum nodded and pushed her hair behind her ears softly. The room they stood in was wide and large, much like a gymnasium. It was filled with light falling in from the many windows that resembled the ones in our rooms. The floors were made of sleek wooden floorboards that captured the sunlight and illuminated the room.

The sound of mum
’s stilettos knocking on the polished surface of the ground echoed throughout the hall and the sound of Jade’s screeching rubber soles resonated. The only thing in the room besides Jade and mum was a bench and a long table with some items on it such as three long identical knives, a sack of stones and a glass jar, abundantly filled with silver bullets.

“
Telekinesis: the mere ability of moving objects using one’s mind – as the mortals assume; codswallop. With this ability, one could, in time, learn to derive all other kinetic abilities. It is the foundation for all other kinetic abilities. Master this, Jade, and you could become powerful,” mum instantly spoke.

“
Is this one of those things where you’re going to tell me to imagine this and think of that?” Jade cheekily replied. Mum pouted her lips and shrugged.

“
I don’t know, you tell me. You’re the one in the playing field,” mum said as she negligently folded her arms. Jade instantly lost all commitment and was now confused

“
Mum,
how
am I in the playing field?” Our mother immediately reached for a knife and threw it at her daughter mercilessly. It cut through the air viciously as it hurled towards Jade. Jade shrieked and lifted her arms up in defence as a reflex. She sluggishly lowered her arms after she had eventually noticed her intact and painless body. She gasped in wonder; the knife was mystically levitating in front of her, caught in what seemed to be half visible lines of vibrating energy.

“MUM! I could
have died!” Jade shrieked like a banshee. Mum just stared at her manicured nails carelessly.

“Oh
, I would have caught it if you didn’t – my reaction time is approximately 0.5 seconds,” she boasted. Jade’s heart slowly found the path to slowing down. She suddenly shot her index and middle finger out into the distance. The knife hurtled back and with a loud thump it speared into a distant wall.

“
Did you feel that?” mum asked.

“
Y-yes,” Jade stuttered, “there was a repelling force when I returned it and a wrestling force when I suspended it.”

“
You’re always going to have that,” mum commenced simply, “but you have to learn to win the wrestle and be stronger.”

“
Do you know anything about shape-shifting?” Mr Leery began.

“
No, not really. But then again that’s what you’re here for, isn’t it?” Mr Leery chuckled. He ran his hand through his brown greasy hair and then stroked his neatly shaven chin.

“
Here, this is for you.” Mr Leery placed a thick, brown leather-covered book in Jaden’s hands.

“
What is this?” Jaden non-hesitantly asked – the little nerd loved books, so having this to add to his collection was making him grin like a pathetic idiot.

“
This is a list of animals that helped me become as great as I am today with my Shifftocasting. All ordinary, mythical, magical and legendary creatures I have come across, I have put down,” he tapped the leather cover “in this book. I made myself an identical copy so you can keep the original.”

“
Wow, you’ve come across a lot of species;
how
? Is it from living in the region of Shifftocastans?” Jaden asked with his head already buried in the book and his hand swiftly moving from page to page.

“
Oh, goodness, no!” The manner in which Mr Leery said it made the action sound like a preposterous abomination.

“They never change
, those people. But I started travelling almost getting to my hundredth year of living. I explored and met certain species, spoke to them – it’s a trait we have – and I’ve had about two centuries to find some more.”

“
Did you just say a couple of
centuries
?” Jaden asked, almost dropping the book.

“
Oh yeah, we live, on average, hundreds of years longer than humans. Hybrids live longer though. Weren’t you told this?” Mr Leery asked, a little stunned that Jaden didn’t know this information.

“Well, I was informed about our long life span but I never imagined you were already past two hundred years!”
Mr Leery laughed heartily and merely ignored Jaden’s comment.

“
Right, now, open to the forty-fifth page.” Jaden impatiently flipped the pages to the one instructed by Mr Leery.

He
swallowed in slight worry as he stared at the description and figure of the creature he had been asked to observe. Its broad wingspan and brown shaded body seemed majestic with its sharp golden gaze. In the picture, its giant claws were dug into the soil and its lion-like tail was coiled behind it with particularly shabby hair on its tip. The creature’s strange head curved into an eagle beak that seemed as polished as chestnut – a
Griffin
.

“
It’s beautiful!” he hissed to himself. “So…how do I change into it?” he quickly asked, giving all his attention back to Mr Leery. He approached him and looked inside the book. In the top corner of every page, was a square of paper stapled to them. They all had different patterns on them, but all in golden dots as if someone had delicately drawn the constellations.