'What do you want, Brendan?' The flame asked him.
'How do you know..?'
'I know because I am you. The part of you which is yet to be awakened.'
'What do you mean?' he asked, now feeling extremely perturbed. And it was confusing. Talking to a glowing white ball suspended in midair. It felt like talking to a wall…and the wall was talking back.
'I am the part of you that you have not yet embraced,' the ball replied, 'In short; a hidden, unimaginable power.'
'I still don't understand what you're trying to say.'
'My name is Marauder,' it told him as it slowly began to expand and mold out like dough and take shape into a human form. It now looked exactly like Brendan except for its eyes which were completely black as if it had no eyeballs. To Brendan, staring at it was like staring into a mirror.
'Let's put it this way, Brendan; you know the Supremes the Finch told you about?'
'Yes..?' He waited for an explanation.
'You're nothing close to one.'
'But I'm super strong,' he argued, 'and I'm fast…very fast. I beat a giant monster and I can run faster than the speed of sound.'
Marauder chuckled, 'That "monster" we defeated was a Troll. It falls under the race of Destroyers.'
'Wait, wait, wait…' Brendan cut him short, 'What do you mean "we"?'
Marauder shook his head. There was a sense of hopelessness in that movement, a disappointment in Brendan it seemed.
Brendan felt something strange coming from this thing. He felt so dwarfed and vulnerable in its presence. The two were the same size, features were the same, but this Marauder character radiated a glow that made his belly churn and his legs jelly in the knees. It was like standing in front of a bush fire. Warm from a distance, pleasing even but put your hand out and you would definitely lose it.
'When you were fighting the Troll, when you started losing the fight, don't you remember the Quilf you spoke?'
'What's a "Quilf"?' Brendan asked.
'A Quilf is a rhyme only used by a few gifted and powerful Supremes. You'd have to be truly powerful to be able to utter one. It's like speaking in tongues.'
'What does it do?'
'It reveals one's truest power. A power which enables him or her to display or channel abnormal amounts of energy from within. It is very, very difficult but mostly impossible for one to avoid the wrath of these. One would have to be as strong as a Versatile in order to be able to speak one. Anyway, I spoke that Quilf for you. I only reveal myself when you become too weak or when I feel like you can't defend yourself.'
'That's why I blacked out for a while, right?'
'Yes,' Marauder answered, 'I took over to protect you… to protect us! I am the Versatile gene within you. The gene that defines you and makes you the most powerful of the Supremes. Without me you are merely superhuman because of that nasty Oxygen potion garbage you drank, which was completely unnecessary by the way…'
'Wait a sec..,' Brendan stopped him, 'Are you trying to tell me that I am not the boy of legend?'
'What I'm saying is, you will only fulfill your destiny if you accept our union. If you decide to merge with me. You, Brendan and I, Marauder.'
'Why do I get the feeling that there's a bad side to all of this?' Brendan asked him suspiciously.
Marauder sighed, then said, 'You're a Versatile but so is the Finch. Accepting our union will increase our chances of putting a stop to her plans. You remember what she said in the forest, about ruling over the other Supremes...'
'Is she more powerful than you, then?'
'Let's not forget that I am still you, Brendan. Okay… let me make it simpler for you. You were born with me inside of you. In biology they're called genetics. They can be traits passed down from a parent and on-and-on-and-on up the family tree. Think of me as those traits, which means I am what makes you, you. But for you to truly become what you are, you have to merge with me. Without me you are nothing, just the title of Versatile, but without the power. Your current power compared to what we would become if we merged is but a speck. If we don't unite, the Finch will destroy us in the snap of a finger, but if we do, the Finch will have a hard time defeating us because we will have limitless power.'
'What? That's impossible!'
'That's right, Anonymous; limitless power will be all ours.'
Brendan felt so tempted. 'Let me think about it,' he said. He took two steps backwards and started thinking to himself. This could all just be a dream, he thought. Just like when he fought that monster, or Troll, or whatever. But this Marauder was right about what happened in that fight. About him blacking out and losing control of his body. He remembered how good it felt, the power that sprang up from nowhere like a fountain, making him kill the monster with only a few more blows. But as horrific as it had been, it had also felt extremely good.
He looked up at Marauder. He was just staring back at him, standing still, those dark emotionless eyes barely giving anything away. What if this was just another one of the Finch's tricks?
'You don't understand, do you?' Marauder interrupted Brendan's moment of meditation. 'If we merge, nothing can stand in our way.'
'There's only one thing that doesn't add up, Marauder.'
'What?' he sounded impatient now.
'When I was fighting that "Troll", when you say you took over, that was actually literal. I lost myself that moment. I could not hold myself back. I just watched you murder Angus while I stupidly watched. You turned me into a mere spectator…or more accurately, a vessel.'
'Is there a point?'
'If I do merge with you, if I embrace my true potential, will I have full control over my body and mind?' Brendan asked.
'Well…I cannot guarantee you that but…'
'Then I will not do it.'
'Fine. Good luck stopping the Finch,' Marauder said, beginning to walk away.
'Wait!' Brendan shouted, running after him, but he could not catch up. There was no enhanced speed in this dream, but still, he ran as fast as he could until his lungs begged him to stop.
But Marauder was only walking backwards. He disappeared into the darkness, and this was all it took to snatch Brendan from his deep sleep.
Had it been just an ordinary dream or a vision? Brendan asked himself.
He wiped the sweat from his eyebrows and looked outside. It was already beginning to darken. Had the dream been that long? He quickly got up and began getting ready for the dinner.