RB Chapter 113 Spectrum Warrior

"Anyway, that woman made many moves, deals and threats, just to make sure that the African Federation was formed. Some of her moves even required giving out shares of her organisation. She is an admirable but scary woman." Michael sounded exasperated for some reason.

The car fell into silence after that, each to their own thoughts.

'A war, will I also be conscripted?' Eric wondered. 

'I will definitely be conscripted. All those remnants of the ten clans will most definitely be called upon to fight. It will even be better if they all die on the battlefield.' Those were probably the thoughts of the current government.

"By the way, when you were introducing yourself, you called yourself, the Lion Legend, what's that all about?" Chloe broke the silence. Eric too, turned his eyes back to the man.

"Its a title I was given when I became a spectrum warrior."

"Spectrum warrior? What's that?" Eric asked.

"...ah! I suppose the designation hasn't yet spread throughout the continent." Michael clapped his hands as if he had just realised something. Figurative question marks appeared above the duo's heads.

"Anyway, people...no, warriors who have gained the ability to manipulate electromagnetic waves are given the designation of being spectrum warriors. I hear some are even referring to it as the spectrum realm. So, you my boy/pal are one of those few who has gotten the privilege to become a spectrum warrior." He explained, directing his gaze towards Eric.

"Spectrum warrior...I can chew on that." Eric's eyes lit up. The name was apt.

"Yap! As for the legend designation, that is only given to spectrum warriors with any sort of legendary battle record to their name. I am one of the few who earned his before I even broke into the spectrum warrior level!" Michael had a proud expression upon mentioning that.

"Actually, my goal is to one day reach a level that will allow me to move up there in space with my body. So far its still a far fetched dream." His finger was pointing upwards.

'Space, I suppose I never had time to think about that.' Eric thought. He saw the look of yearning in Michael's eyes and it was mesmerising. He had a goal, a dream. That caused him to be touched.

'I need to find a goal!' His eyes burned with will. 

"I sense potential in you-untapped potential! You can become a legend. If you manage to train and master your abilities well, then, you never know, I might start hearing of your name in the future." Michael said seriously.

"I am going to work hard at that." He reassured Michael.

"Now, I will give you a helping hand and explain a few of the abilities afforded to us spectrum warriors..." Both Chloe and Eric decided to pay rapt attention upon hearing about that.

"First! We spectrum warriors have absolute control of every process that goes on in our bodies..." Michael shifted into a more serious posture.

"...this control surpasses that afforded upon mastering energy channeling. Let me give you a demonstration. Look closely..." He said while gesturing to one of his fingers. 

The nail of said finger started elongating. As it continuously elongated, Chloe and Eric became more and more shocked!

A spiral pattern started appearing on that nail as if it was being printed on. It was beautiful and uniform. Though, Eric noticed that Michael had a few beads of sweat in his forehead. It was taxing on him.

"Wow! How did you do that?" Chloe asked, amazed.

"Its straining to concentrate on this but, this is what I wanted to show you. I controlled the cells producing keratin(the protein which makes up nails and hair) and regulated the amount they produced, sometimes little, sometimes a lot...and this was the outcome."

"It has many other applications, like determining the density of your bones, forming armor on skin, awakening dormant genes...and many others."

"Wow!" Even Eric had such a sound leak out of his lips.

"The second...its also the most important at this stage and the trademark ability from which the name comes from..."

"The ability to control electromagnetic waves." Eric finished for him.

"Yes..." He wasn't offended upon being interrupted. Michael wasn't that petty it seems, since even his face didn't register a frown of dissatisfaction.

"...infrared, ultraviolet, visible light, heat waves and may others, all fall into the category of electromagnetic waves. But, we spectrum warriors can only try to control one frequency, if we try to handle more, we can kill ourselves. Trust me on that, you wouldn't want to die a gruesome death." He emphasized, shivering with terror. He must have witnessed it happen.

"Yes I know." Eric nodded. He had seen Fumu go through that due to his ignorance.

"There are others, but so far, I am only sure about those two." Michael finished. He took in a deep breath despite himself. The sun's rays had started shining into the car aoriginating from Eric's side since he was occupying the seat closest to the eastern direction, signifying its rise. The temperature was supposed to be low but Michael was sweating.

"Visible light is the most useful as you can use it to create false illusions, become invisible or even concentrate it into a laser beam." Michael continued, once again gesturing towards his hand, making it vanish from their eyes, unnaturally appear in another position and then making it brighter than the surroundings. What he had demonstrated had been eye opening for the duo.

"Learn well, Eric Masanyalaze. This war isn't going to be simple, everyone is going to have to participate in some way. So you mastering your abilities makes you better equipped to survive it." He advised.

Chloe had turned her eyes to the pelt bag resting on her thighs. The bananas were inside, and now that she had seen the abilities brought by gaining control of your brain waves, she couldn't wait to devour them.

"Ah! I forgot! Even plasma is controllable, and that leads to many other variations, like, you can try to bend away heat waves from a place causing flash freezing." A thin cold mist appeared in the air above his palm before dissipating.

"Thank you very much!" Eric said sincerely. The man had imparted knowledge to them selflessly, yet he didn't even know them that well! There was nothing Eric could do to repay him for now, but he kept it in his mind. If a chance ever presents itself in the future, he would pay him back.

"It's nothing. Really! I just did it on a whim. If you truly want to repay me, get stronger and reach my level." 

------

At the clearing within the banana plantation, the one where the banana fruits were originally, four monkeys were seated on the bare ground. The sun was still so low over the eastern horizon that the rays hadn't yet appeared above the clearing.

The four yellow furred monkeys were dispirited. They had woken up when all the humans had already vanished. Their plan of going back on their deal with that brat became moot. They had been lucky that the humans didn't take their lives while they had been unconscious.

They had been brainstorming ways to find or grow other fruits, but they were stuck in the initial planning, where to find the fruit.

Pata! Pata!

Footsteps sounded as they were still in their deliberation. The plantation ground wasn't supposed to produce such a sound as it was damp, so it seemed the owner of the footsteps was doing it deliberately.

The four stood up and gazed in the direction the steps were coming from vigilantly.

"Is it a human?"

"Humans?"

"Who else could it be?"

"Beasts don't make such sounds."

"What do we do?"

"Shouldn't we first wait for the owner to appear."

"Really?"

"Should we run?"

"I feel as if the steps are continuously applilying a pressure on me from their rhythm."

"You too, I thought I was the only one feeling like that."

"I feel it too."

"Me too."

"I feel like fleeing, should we flee?"

"I feel a dangerous aura."

"Yes, murderous aura."

"I can't move my feet."

"Shit!"

"What the hell is coming?"

...

The monkeys continuously conversed, looks of fear marring their faces from the original indifferent ones.

"I thought there was gonna be more. But its just the four of you. It doesn't matter anyway. I heard you are called [the collective]? What does it mean? I don't know. Would you mind enlightening me?" The voice came from the lifeform making the stepping sound, who had finally appeared in the clearing.

"A monkey?" The four monkeys were simultaneously puzzled.

"Yes, I am a monkey, but what's with your attitude? I am the one asking the questions here." The life form which made the stepping sound said, walking out of the shadows cast by the plantation.

"Sorry." The four apologised immediately! They felt as if they would die if they didn't, a very peculiar feeling!

"I am assembling a small team, a team of us beasts, the elite. Would you like to join? Though you are still a bit weak, I can remedy that."