Night One (Jake)

Jake, wake up.

Jake Morris awoke in a bed, which, indeed, is not an abnormal place in which to awake, but this was not his bed. It was, just like the rest of the empty and unfamiliar room, very purple. Mr. Slick’s orb appeared in his room as he crawled out of the bed.

“Good evening, Mr. Morris,” Slick said after fully appearing.

“Wha-- where am I?” Jake replied.

“You are Here. And Here is where you will be trained in the usage of your Power and Element.”

“...what?”

“You will understand soon enough. First, leave this room.”

With that, Mr. Slick disappeared. Jake looked around and saw no way to leave. He leaned against a wooden nightstand to think, but he ultimately thought more about the nightstand. It really did not match the room, being of a natural wood color. When he looked up, he saw a yellow door. It was difficult to tell that it was a door, though, because it blended in with the wall too well, but closer examination proved that it definitely was a door. He pushed it open and entered a huge, black room.

Usually Jake would be afraid of the dark, but this room, despite being all black, was well-lit. What really unnerved him was the odd creature in the middle of the room. Most of the being’s body appeared to be its head: a spherical mass filled with razor-sharp fangs that glittered through its circular mouth. From this head came a plethora of tentacles that ended in circular pads.

“Oh!” Jake cried suddenly. “I’m dreaming!”

“Oh, child, I can assure you that I am real,” it corrected in a nasal-yet-piercing voice. “Well, maybe you are dreaming… but I am definitely real.”

“OK, so what’s your name?”

“I did not come here for pleasantries. I heard that you are one of the six who are to usurp my throne.”

Jake laughed aloud. “Now I know I’m dreaming!”

“Child, focus!”

“All right. Whatever. Are we supposed to fight to the death for the ‘throne’?”

“No. I am here to train you in the use of your Power.”

“And what, may I ask, O king, is my Power?”

“Realitywarping.”

“Ha! I can hear that being one ridiculous word with no spaces! Let me guess, it’s always capitalized in the middle of a sentence too?”

“Listen! Your Power is an Intellectual one. What that means is that you use logic and rationality to control your power. Actually using it, however, requires you to tap into your emotions. It is the easiest to control, but the hardest to use and restrain.”

“OK… so what do I need to do?”

“Use your emotions. This becomes a lot easier once you understand why you have this Power.”

“Good. Sure. So why do I have this power?”

“I don’t know! Why would I know? What I do know is that each individual’s Power is at once contradictory to the possessor and perfectly fitted to them.”

“All right. I’ve played along up until now. There’s no way that you are real! I am fairly certain that I am awake, but I am even more certain that you cannot exist! So stop! Existing!” Jake ran forward and thrust his hand into the head of the creature. Its hide was warm and slimy, stretched tightly against a hard skull. Whatever he just touched was definitely real. Jake staggered backwards and fell to the floor.

“Child, my name is Alecris.” the alien said gently.

“I… I’m Jake.”

“Good to meet you. Now, why can you warp reality?”

“I have… paranoid schizophrenia.” Saying the sentence killed Jake a little. He was diagnosed several years ago. He was being treated and had his amazing friend on whom he could fall back. Despite all of this, it still felt condemning for him to admit that he had this illness.

“Good. Now use your emotions to activate your Power.”

Jake took a deep breath. He wished Gary was with him now. He conjured his strongest emotions and fear, happiness, and anger instantly answered the call. The fear gave him an unnerving shrinking feeling, but his size did not change. His happiness turned the ceiling yellow, and the anger raised the temperature in the room a few degrees. He then hid his feelings again, and the effects dissipated.

“You’re going to hate what I’ll have you do next…” Alecris said nervously.

“What is it?”

“Use your illness. It is the reason you are perfect for Realitywarping. He would not have given you this power otherwise.”

Jake grew silent and stared forward. He had spent the better part of four years concealing his symptoms, and now this slimy ball of tentacles and teeth was telling him to intentionally tap into it. After considering the monsters he had created over the years, he summoned a being that resembled a stout muscular man except for the impossible green light it wore in place of a head. Alecris made some movement that most likely was supposed to convey pride.

“Now arm yourself and fight it!”

Realizing what sort of power he possessed, Jake thrust his hand to the side and caused a beautiful sword to materialize in it. To test his abilities, Jake teleported behind the creature and thrust his blade through its chest. He then caused the sword and the creature to quit existing.

“Very good!” Alecris applauded. “Now you need only to apply those concepts to everything else! When you’re ready, the door to the next part of your training is in the door behind me.”

Jake teleported to the other door and was about to walk through it when Alecris called out to him.

“You remind me of a friend of mine. If you’re anything like him… just be careful through that door.”

⁂

Jake did not have to wonder for very long what this meant. As soon as he walked through the door, he clutched his head as it burned with psychosis. It felt like something was hijacking his brain and forcing him to use his Power. This was rather close to true. The environment caused him to manifest his greatest fear in the room. When he looked up, he saw that fear. It bore the shape of a woman, but he would not dare call it one. He barely managed to suppress a scream. But this time things were different. This time, it was real.

Now I can kill it…

Jake thrust his hands forward and proceeded to spend the majority of the night repeatedly killing it and bringing it back. After he had obliterated the witch several times, he decided to stop bringing it back. He then noticed a deep purple bed sitting in the room. He walked over and laid down in it. He closed his eyes and quickly drifted to sleep. After he had fallen asleep, a strange wet noise filled the room. The insides and outside of the newly crafted creature were slowly sliding together and forming their previous form. The witch walked over to the bed and looked down at Jake. She then slowly faded away, grinning awfully.

End Night One (Jake)