Luke
People usually get a sinking feeling when they feel like something is off but they can not quite place what would be wrong or out of order. That results in people waking up in the morning with their energy off-kilter and that usually displaces the good day vibes and replaces them with the abomination people have come to know as 'waking up on the wrong side of the bed.' That's what happens to a normal person with low to no levels of intuition whatsoever, in the case of an individual whose intuition is on a whole other level approaching the sixth sense it's safe to say the effect would be quite pronounced.
This explains why Leo failed to rise at 5 am (the normal hour that he usually woke for his daily training) which was already odd however when he didn't rise until 12 noon, Luke began to worry so he kicked the door to Leo's room open with all the bravado of a man who had a bone to chew with him. The rant he was preparing to shout out at the kid died on his lips when he noticed him prone in his bed with his blankets at his waist and his torso and face fully drenched in sweat. He was mumbling in his sleep incoherently and Luke couldn't make sense of it at all.
Luke went over and shook his shoulder but this didn't wake him up. He then went and got some water after shouting his name repeatedly with no results. The kid didn't show signs of being aware at all which was odd because over the six months that he had been training him, whenever he passed out due to their excessively violent training bouts a simple tap would wake him up and such shouting had never been necessary. He brought a bucket and emptied it out on him but there were no results regardless which truly began to worry him.
Luke then lifted his right hand and channelled his chi into his index finger for the last resort technique that was used by his clan to seal or forcefully activate an individual's chi and make it flow. He jabbed the finger over Leo's right breast where the Chi heart was located and triggered a jolt of chi which was like an adrenaline shot to Leo and he gasped awake and held his chest as he gazed with glazed eyes at Luke. His unfocused eyes slowly gained clarity and he was surprised and confused wondering what was going on.
"Bro what is going on and what time is it, what did you do to me and what's going on?" he asked Luke clearly unaware of his previous predicament or what had caused it. Luke could clearly see that he was unsettled as he was very particular about keeping everything within his control. He put his hand on his shoulder and pushed him onto his back and gathered chi into his palm as he rubbed energy where he had jabbed to prevent any damage to the nerve endings.
" it is around midday kid, I got worried and came to wake you up and give you a piece of my mind for slacking off but then I found you completely out of it and nothing I did could wake you up. I was forced to give you the equivalent of Chi heart CPR hence your abrupt awakening and chest pain," he explained to Leo while watching the kid carefully for any sign of injury or anything that might have caused his condition.
" What happened to you, do you have some condition or epileptic ailment or did some deviation happen in your cultivation?" he asked pondering what could have caused Leo to become that way. " You were completely none responsive man."
Leo frowned and seemed confused and totally unaware of what had been going on. He then proceeded to tell Luke about waking up in the middle night feeling an extremely powerful sense of danger. He described the events of the previous night and how he went back to sleep convinced it was just nerves and nothing more. Luke thought deeply about what Leo said. The two had never spoken about the choices they both made when the bounties of the System were offered to them and it was quite a profound taboo to talk about what kind of basic skills one had, however, Luke had his own ideas about what Leo had. He thought he had picked an extremely powerful wisdom skill to explain how fast he learned and absorbed knowledge. It had to be a mid-tier wisdom skill coupled with a low to mid-tier body enhancement skill.
That was the conclusion he came to after observing how easily he learned martial arts as well as how his body changed to meet the requirements of his newly learned techniques slowly but surely. However, he was beginning to wonder if he had a technique that enhanced his sense of danger as well. Like a spider-sense. This then made Luke take his anxious feelings very seriously. He began considering the things that could quite possibly be a threat to them at that particular moment. He even considered the possibility that somehow the monsters had discovered a way around the safety and sanctuary of the safe zones but finally abandoned that idea when a thought came into his mind like a lightning bolt. 'the snake!!!!'
It was nagging at him that the bastard was up to something but he couldn't figure out what he would want in a backwater small settlement like Willowborough when he was well established in the Large settlement. There was something going on and it was not just going to affect him but the danger would somehow affect his little brother too. Luke began to feel his temper flaring again. He was a demon and very few people were aware of the implications of what he was or what he could do if he released his self imposed limiters. This was the second time in less than 48 hours that he had felt the urge to kill and cause destruction. He circled his chi and calmed his heart and mind slowly.
He then looked at Leo who seemed like he could feel everything he had been feeling which was not the first time the kid had made him think that and probably would not be the last. " okay kid, I think you might have been onto something. There is an enemy of mine here in this place and it might be dangerous for us in the days to come so we are going to have to be very vigilant," he said in a solemn voice.
Leo simply nodded his head showing he completely understood and did not blame Luke for bringing a problem on their asses. The kid truly was one of a kind and special. He helped him up and then they decided to go about their day and Luke delegated his men to be on the lookout for whatever the snake might be up to. He also had all those who were friendly to him be watchful of him as well. Hopefully, they would be able to handle anything that sprouted up and protect what they cherished, the life they had made and the friends and loved ones they had gained.
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(A room in a place hidden away, four months before Gegwe arrived in Willowborough)
The silence was like an unwelcome stranger who had barged into their meeting after the news arrived. Each of the six powerful men in that room was lost in his own thoughts if not consumed by shock and fear. All of their plans had simply been thrown into the gutter.
The room was very tense as word had just come in that the attack the Americans had attempted with the few tactical nukes still within their control after the devastation of the end of the world had failed. It seemed that some sort of grand field of protection activated on the war zones and conquered zones that they tried to bombard. It was as if some sort of deity was laying waste to their plans. It had been their last-ditch effort to destroy the invaders and reclaim the land that they had lost.
This had greatly reduced the morale of the humans as what was once considered a superpower had been de-fanged with minimal effort and the same went for any country that had reigned supreme with superior weaponry. Thus the six men all made one call which was both the humans' salvation and Leo's damnation…. human soldiers would be sent into the war zones to begin a direct war with the monsters and this was not based on volunteering but on drafted service as very few would willingly enter an unknown such as that. Thus the drafting began and one name that had no place being on the Zimbabwean draft found itself there. The end to peace began.
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Leo
It had been four days since his weird sleep terror and there had not occurred another such incident. There still was a feeling of anxiety in the pit of his stomach although it had become significantly less uncomfortable since Luke had put up sentries to watch the movements of 'the snake' as well as other contingencies he had put up to protect them in case he made his move. This gave him some solace and allowed him to be less tense and ready to lash out.
In the meantime, Luke had been helping him in trying to cultivate his Chi heart in order for him to unlock the chi pathway that went to his brain to boost his already significant memory and brainpower. He wondered how that would affect his abilities as they were connected deeply to his perception and brain as well as his subconscious. He was quite eager.
Normally an individual with a 60pulse chi heart would be able to fill his own heart with chi in around a day unaided. They would then create chi elements from the accumulated chi and then try to trail-blaze a path to the different points across his body until a clear cycle path was created to and from the heart from each point. That was how the cultivation was supposed to occur normally however this could be aided by a master who could immediately aid the speed of accumulating chi by injecting his or her own. This sped the process by twice the speed. This would make it easier for the individual to attempt to create a path twice a day.
This was for a normal person with low-level genius potential. For demon level geniuses with around a 100 pulse, they would need 5 hours max to refill their chi hearts. For Luke, it was even more terrifying as he needed an hour and a half to fill it. Thus for a broken individual like Leo, 30 minutes was understandable. Then add in the help from Luke and it dropped to 15 minutes. Thus in an hour, he could attempt to open his pathways four times with Luke's help. This accounted for his quarter way opening of the pathway to the brain. He was beyond broken as he did the work that took other people months in four days. But then he was an extremely hard worker and very determined as it was a very painful process to forcefully create pathways that never existed in his body before.
It was during one of these sessions when one of Luke's closest subordinates and a good friend, Michael came running into the room with a look of apprehension in his eyes and a letter clutched tightly in his hands. Leo wondered what was wrong and suddenly felt that feeling of anxiety grow stronger than it had before. Something bad was about to happen.
"Mike my man, what's got you looking like you sucked on one of my Gramp's herbal tonics," Luke asked walking towards him and putting a hand to his shoulder which Leo realised was shaking, no he was trembling. He passed the letter to Luke with a look of resignation and pity.
Luke took it and read it. Leo watched as his facial expression went from confusion to shock, to disbelief and finally rage. The rage completely shifted Luke from the down to earth and the good-natured guy he usually was. In fact, the air felt suffocating and the room seemed colder. A murderous aura was permeating all corners of the house. Luke gripped the letter and suddenly the weird phenomenon ceased. He looked at Michael, " find Tanaka, I need a portal as close as he can get me without putting this place at risk," he said in a calm level voice. Michael nodded and told him that he already had him on standby. A grateful look passed Luke's eyes before they hardened again.
"what is going on bro?" Leo asked worriedly. Something horrible had happened and his instincts were roiling inside him. Luke handed him the letter. It was from Michael's girlfriend who he left safely in the large settlement before he came to Willowborough. It was grave news. It said the higher-ups had sent soldiers on an expeditionary charge into the war zones. This made sense a little bit to Leo as opposed to being sitting ducks waiting for the monsters to fully settle the area. However, then he saw what had truly been the issue. They had force drafted people into the expeditionary force. All of them of military training, of course, no citizens of yet. However, one name was on that list. Chido Irene.
Leo's hyper cognition went into overdrive as he realised that this was all a scheme. "Bro you have to realise that the snake wants you to react this way, you can not be emotional. Analyse this and plan from there," Leo pleaded with Luke while trying to pull him back from the door. Luke looked at him then with eyes that stopped him in his tracks.
" I might have treated you as my brother kid but you have no right or qualifications to stop me now, so get out of my way or die," he said in a cold voice. Leo felt the murderous intent fully targeted at him then. He dropped to his knees as he felt something inside him crack. Some bit of light he had gained in the months in that place. Michael regretfully looked at him and then hardened his own eyes as he followed his boss to the war zones where they were likely to die.
Leo simply knelt there without noticing the time go by. Once again he was losing everything…..