"What happened?",asked Tolu who was confused by the whole disappearance." You are not hurt are you? How did you appear here? What's going on?
"I will explain everything to you just calm down ",replied Tade putting his hand on his forehead."You remember the day I felt sick. It wasn't as a result of any disease or any of sort. I guess it's because of the energy accumulating in me".
[It's not a guess],said something hidden in Tade clothes.[ It's a fact. It's tiring to teach all over again.]
"What was that?",asked Tolu looking at his brother with a muddled face."what hidden in your clothes? I didn't sense anything coming from your clothes".
[Oh,he achieved perception. Not bad.]
A orb flew out of Tade's cloth and hovered in the air.
"I haven't given it a name or should I say I don't know it's name, regarded Tade looking at the orb before fixing his gaze on his brother ." I found it or should I say it found me".
"Wait",sighted Tolu as he held out his hand to stop his brother. "Can you start from the beginning".
"Oh right I got lost there",smiled Tade with an apologetic look. "So the energy accumulated was in excess which I believe caused the sickness and my body couldn't contain it so it had to dispel it outside. I didn't know it was that dangerous. My body just did it unconsciously as I didn't have control over it yet. But in the midst of it that orb came out of nowhere and teleported me to ..... I can't remember. I dispelled all my excess energy there and the destruction it caused was extreme. I literally changed the terrain of that place. I...
[Let me stop you there], interrupted the orb. [You maggots still have a lot to learn. That energy you dispelled amounts up to 5 nuclear bombs. If I was here a second late, this whole city would be ashes. How you got back here,that was all me. I....]
"Who are you? or should I say what are you",asked Tolu again.
[Let's just say I'm an advanced artificial intelligence in your words. Take a seat . It's going to be a long talk.]
"Why do I feel like I'm talking to a human rather than an AI", thought Tolu while grabbing a chair nearby.
[Well then, I will start with the basic knowledge. The rest will be known to you as you advance in strength.]
[Long ago this world as you know it was indeed florishing. People had diverse blessings. Strength, speed, control. All you can think of . We were also advancing well in technology too. Created a lot of equipment,machines at that age. There was peace or so we thought until we receive a piece of information that people were dying in the further south. The world wasn't populated as it is now so our control of cities beyond were pretty manageable from our end. We sent warriors and seekers to find out what was happening. Only a few of them returned . Lives were lost but they didn't die in vain. Apparently someone was trying to make himself a supreme being, an undefeated warrior. The reason why he killed people was that he had a device in which he could steal people's blessings. Time was running against us and we had to do something fast or we are all going to die. It was an all out war as all nations went out against him. We won the battle but with much casualties. We managed to seal the blessings collected into gems and killed the perpetrator or so we thought. We didn't know we were playing along with his plan. We lost the war woefully. If not for last minute saving,the world would have been damned. Anyways this is the plain history I can give you. When you guys are much stronger,you will know the detailed history and hopefully this world would survive.]
"This..." ,said Tade with a sad face. "Such a heartfelt story but I have so many questions and I can't seem to comprehend some words you said . Anyways, it's as you said . We have to be strong to have such a weighty information on the tip of our fingers."
"Wait", scowled Tolu standing up. He then pointed at the orb. "You trust that thing easily! If whatever history it spurted out is true,then we are walking bombs. How can you..."
"I owe him, replied Tade as he stood up. "If not for him, we won't be standing here."
Him?,asked Tolu with a confused face . He then looked at the orb hovering in the air.
[ Huh!], thought the orb as it was surprised. [ I never expected.... He knew my gender. How?. I'm sure I'm speaking like other AI and a female one at that. How did he know? Could it be The Oracle. That's the only explanation.]
"Yes", replied Tade shrugging his shoulders. "That orb is a male. Don't you know?"
[Ahem..... Let's focus on the major aspect which is how to get strong. As for the trust issue, I can earn it. What do y'all say?]
"Okay by me"
"Hmm.."
[ First of all ,you need to develop your body. You guys are.....weak. I can easily take on the both of you.]
"Ah", laughed Tolu as he position himself in front on the orb. "Yeah sure no doubt. Infact you...."
He couldn't complete his sentence as he felt a sharp pain in his ankle and stomach. That caused him to stagger backward.
"I didn't see him or perceive anything, thought Tolu as he watched the orb still hovering in front of him. I didn't see anyone move towards me. Did he use speed? If he did ,I would have seen him. I'm sure of that but .... Impressive
[ I just used 1% of my blessing and you didn't even perceive it. You are weak. Keep that in mind. Your goal is to get strong.]
"Why did you do that",whispered Tade to Tolu who had moved to his side." We just got our powers and you want to take on someone who could teleport me amidst my energy disaster. Remember, you ran away because you couldn't even whitstand the shockwaves coming from me".
"I admit that was not wise",apologized Tolu shaking his head. "I just wanted to say what he's capable of".
[ First of all. I need you to train your body and also get used to your blessings.]
"Well",began Tolu placing his hand on his chin. "To train, we need a place and we can't obviously do that in our hostel or The Nowhere. We need to be discreet."
[You mean you don't have a base],said the orb in astonishment. [Ahh, what to do with this lot.]
"We don't have a base because we just got our powers and felt like didn't need one yet", explained Tolu with a scoff. "Who knew this world is in trouble"
"You can say this is our first base can't you?" said Tade jokingly. But he saw the stare coming from his brother and how the orb stopped hovering . "Just joking".
[Okay , just put your essence into me.]
"My what? asked Tade who looked at his brother with a puzzled face.
[Arg, stupid. Just place your hand on me and release a bit of your energy.]
"Oh!" exclaimed Tade as he saw Tolu in a deep thought. "That's what it is"
They both placed their hands on the orb and released their energy. The energy moved out from their hand and into the orb.
[ That's enough. Using this, I should be able to build a base for you.]
"What if you go rouge?"asked Tolu watching the orb closely.
[You can easily sense me anywhere and remove the energy besides it's your to control.]
"I still can't believe we are trusting an orb from nowhere," lamented Tolu shaking his head. "Pitiful".
"We have got no choice bro", sighted Tade " We don't have this powers for free. I feel the balance of the world crumbling. Besides you can sense him if he's doing anything wrong can't you?
"About that I..."
[Well then maggots, I will see you in a while. Start your training somehow and improve till I get back.]
"You know you don't have to call us maggots", frowned Tolu as he was displeased." We have names. This isn't the military"
[It's to me kid I'm off. Wait, what's the color of your gem. ]
Gem? asked Tolu as he checked himself for any gem on his body
I think he means the colour our eyes are reflecting, replied Tade as his eye colour changed
"Yellow"
"Green"
[I see]
The orb vibrated and disappeared without a trace
"Huh I can sense him! exclaimed Tolu as he faced North." How did he move so fast"
"You know where he is? "asked Tade looking at the wall his brother was facing
"How is it an he?" asked Tolu facing him.
"His voice. You didn't notice".
"That," stuttered Tolu sitting down back with a confused face." I obviously didn't. He's up North. I don't know where but I can follow the direction. Let's just figure out how we will train."
"Okay then",said Tade as he sat down back. Oh! We didn't introduce ourselves. Maybe if we did, he'd call our names instead of maggots?
"Let's stick to the main issue"
"Okay", sighted Tade giving up
They both discussed for a long while
*******************************************************************************************************
Somewhere in the Sahara desert
[Too much problem to take care of. One only learn how to store energy in his body at a fast rate while the other one is able to make use of his blessing. They still have a long way to go.]
[What's the color of their gem again?]
[Yellow and green]
[Hmm], mused the orb. [ The Oracle and the Ranger. That's... strange.]