His stomping blasts shook the core of the world as his swaying arms brought him to the heart of the facility.
'STOMP! STOMP! STOMP!'
Dust blasted from the shelves which bent under the immense pressure exhibited by his aura. Once so minuscule that an ant's bark would deter any sense of the notion but now blew with devastating power which quaked the knees of both Kage and Claire, prevalent Evolved in their own right.
That subtle jitter which wavered in their eyes as the aura overtook them into a pool of ink gave Gan joy. Splotches seemingly coveted the walls only to form a vastness upon the floor which would sink all unable to see through its mesmerizing gaze. All to recreate the joy felt in his soul at the sight of his competitor drowned in his overwhelming cruelty. It intoxicated the brain to learn just how weak they all truly were.
Yet, even then, Gan couldn't get lost in such an emotion. The ink twisted into rays of gold that burned the recipients' skin, softly calling out to turn their complexion brown. Therein lies the origin of Gan's power, one which brought no newfound difference to Kage's figure. A fact that malformed the joy from a twisted sneer to one of devout confusion.
The boy should be attempting to solve it; within those scarlet eyes there should be dazed confusion as no understanding could be sought. Despair overtaking as the pest, broken and withered, would never return. Now solely a squeezed pile of bones barely worth the recognition. A simple imagination that could easily be reality so long as Gan willed it, but here he was proven wrong in that assumption. Prevailing resolve pierced through the veil of his aura instead silencing the notion of power.
Gan imagined him to be collapsed, with a hump as croaking breaths echoed all around. A scenery which should be when the lump of steel was crunched beneath his palms. Then and there, Kage would become a decrepit existence worthy of nothing except a rightful end. An end which Gan would easily accept as the purpose he shared in. Then, his feet, bound by aspirations, shall drift the rest of him to the boy's skull only to scrub it with the back of his clutch. Finally, the lesson taught; utterly learned allowing them to be equals once again. All before the boy's head scrunched together in the rapturous mitts of his friend. For Gan maintained that status.
'STOMP! STOMP! STOMP!'
He was Kage's friend. They were all his friends as well, just now a greater duty bestowed onto him from a higher force much more persuasive than the rest. It took only a single assurance to quench the rapid sadness that claimed his body perhaps an hour before. That assurance which would be the universal acceptance from his friends. Afterall, family came first, for Kage that moniker was far from a lie.
Hazel lenses reflected the half-lie now forsaking the delusion creeping out from places untold to muddy the world. A hump-back creature did not proclaim its insignificance over a corpse, rather the opposite may tell the reality. Kage almost cradled the boy in either arm that wrapped around the skeleton's torso, cushioning its neck. Gasps of defeat did not wash over him, however, the soothing wisps of steadied relaxation pronounced itself. A motherly care charmed the now unconscious body resting on the floor as its nurse stretched, rising from the ground.
A curving spine snapped while the bearer of its weight energized its muscles preparing for something still unknown to Gan.
'What am I missing? Is there anything?'
Then, when Kage stayed tall, just as he always had, he craned his neck into Gan's direction, spying the intruder holding such maleficent intentions. Not a tear fell nor an indication that any were shed. In the place of such despondent gloom was none other than that who was the original being which composed itself as Kage Tesler, second year academic student to the prestigious Petell Academy. A child sixteen years of age, having bordered his seventeenth for the last two weeks. His intelligence remarkable in both memorization to comprehension, finding that near not a single query or interrogation stumped the lad. Wearing a face devoid of emotion suffusing all hints to whatever ulterior conception another may perhaps ponder. Kage disguised himself as a resolute statue unburdened by foolish concepts of regret. For regret buried one to death under cataclysmic mounds of self-hate.
Commonly, this boy found observers detailing the stitched lining to the physical books he carried. Rare commodities which led the lie of extreme wealth filtering above him wherever he went. A description that the boy despised as not an earned dime belonged in his name. Any other were to flick through the pages of such books quickly discovered the ripped nature of the artifacts. They were not priceless collections but rather trash left beside or within rummage bins.
Thus, did Kage Tesler hunger for knowledge. That was where Gan understood the trick in the mask his friend tightly gripped. His loathing eyes spoke of twitches then amassing shadows which bled of emotion hidden behind various wiggling forms. There was where Gan took grasp of such a thing. No matter how hard his friend tried, the wriggling worms always popped from their cover, exposing him.
A toothy grin spilled by a vacuous saliva slimed coating spread over Gan's chin. The lessons were a success due to the being's return. His Kage had arrived home after his long vacation. It was the one which thought then moved with purpose, not his phony which rashly wafted about the likes of pestilence.
'STOMP! STOMP!'
Gan stepped into the harsh beady eyeball of the destroyer who wrecked the bodies of dozens alongside him. Their fists hungered for long bouts with death as those of others drew closer instead of their own. A time which puffed into his right ear then out the left calming the brain rocking between.
Strained muscles burning with lust, soothed themselves back into the controller's diminutive self. There was no reason for worry. This Kage understood this Gan making the lesson an essential teaching as Kage would have done the same for his friend. No, they were more than that.
'We're brothers! Right Kage? Brothers…'
"Kage… please." Both of the boy's hands clasped together in a prayer. Whether it was to appease or mock fell into a deafness on Kage's ability to perceive. "Won't you do something for me?"
The tranquility of soundlessness left the Brother's creased lips. Without thought to the contrary, Gan continued in ecstatic rhythm in full belief of the answer he would be granted.
"Die for me. Please, brother?" Founded in great success, Gan held the gates no more as the very words brought forth a culling of that very joy, releasing solely rivers of wetness.