RBR Chapter 5 Tense Ride

The blue skyscraper loomed in front of him, a monolith crackling with 3D holographically simulated electricity, so tall, it was just a few meters shy of touching the city's semi circular shield. Every time he came back from school, he always appeared right here, but this time, his feelings were different. In normal times, he would ride the elevator to the highest floor where the clan leader was supposed to reside, his mother happily welcoming him from school with a hug, but now, he was to meet his father.

A sinking feeling enveloped him as he gazed at the harmless blue electricity crackling in the surroundings of the building.

"Well, are you going to stare at it all day?" Uncle Ben's voice came from behind, probably having given the car to another to be parked.

"You know me Uncle Ben, meetings with my father are always stressful. I wonder how you can always stay calm in the presence of his steady pressure." Elec sighed, before walking towards the entrance of the building.

There were very few people with the courage to pass right in front of a building owned by one of the seven spectrum clans, so, as always, it was sparse except for a few blue eyed brats and adults, the peripheral relatives, who nodded to him as he passed. 

Elec knew that it was just perfunctory. Many were probably anticipating the day Baguma vanished from the picture. The meek lambs giving him the bow would turn into the most terrifying of predators then, baring claws and teeth at him.

'It will be a long time before that man ever dies...' A stray thought...he shook his head to clear it away before walking through the double doors, only for his pupils to shrink at the figure in the lobby.

He was wearing a casual black shirt and dark blue pants, his arms crossed in front of his chest. A stoic expression radiated from his face, a faint pressure radiating from him. Everyone else who entered or made for the exit gave the man a wide berth, avoiding staring too long.

His body was thin, but not scholarly thin, instead being well toned, the muscles faintly visible beneath the black shirt. Sky blue, piercing eyes and dark silky hair, the same features as Elec himself, signified his identity, Baguma, his father.

He went by another title, clan head of the Masanyalaze clan, one of the seven spectrum clans.

"Boy, follow!" He turned around after that order. Elec had the impulse to disobey, so that he could at least see what sort of expression the man might make...ultimately, he didn't. He feared more of what might result in following through such an impulse.

Elec moved instinctively, taking a step in front of the other with subconscious meekness. 'Why can't I muster any rebellious thoughts?' 

He chasitised himself even as he followed behind. 

Elec raised his gaze to see that they were making for the elevator. 'Why did he wait in the lobby if the meeting place was to be this building?' 

"Uncle.." Before he could complete his sentence, he saw that the man had already vanished. 'Hmmm!? He's always present at my meetings with my father.' 

Uncertainty gripped him. He had the mind to take a step back, but then he had a thought, what if they were going to meet mother? If it was so, he had to be there. 

'...but that is a place I don't want to be!' 

He frowned. If the two met, there would be coldness and awkwardness...being in the middle of that would be...unpleasant. 

"I thought we were going outside since you waited in the lobby and all..." Elec clenched his jaw, but still asked.

"No, under." Only two words? Didn't he have more to say? The answer only hatched more questions, even as he boarded the elevator. It was the special one, only allowed to the Patriarch and his family.

Elec's gaze roamed the blue elevator walls as his father gave an order to the AI in charge of the entire building. His mind wasn't in the scenes entering his eyes, instead brainstorming possible conversational threads. The silence was always his enemy in the presence of his father. It always somehow magnified the pressure he felt from the man.

"Father, why am I not officially crowned your heir?" He asked, his heart pounding. This was the first time in all his years that he dared broach the topic.

"Your mindset is still too weak."

'Huh!?' Elec became shocked as the answer wasn't one he had expected. 'Too weak!!! Are you kidding me?!' A rage took hold of his mind.

"You took me to witness an awakening when it hadn't even been suitable at my age! How can you say that my mind is too weak when I survived such a horrifying scene? Any other child would have come out scarred and horrified for life!" Elec shouted, his entire being radiating righteous anger.

He flinched when when his father abruptly turned around, those sharp blue eyes scrutinising him with surprise.

"At least you got the guts to speak your mind, but that is not will." Elec saw the man's eyes lose their earlier interest, instead settling back to the cold look he always wore.

"If you want to become my heir you will need more than guts." After saying that, the man turned around, his straight back being the only thing Elec could see, a wall he couldn't surmount. He clenched his hands tightly and ground his teeth in frustration.

'I shouldn't have showed weakness!' He blamed himself after remembering how he had almost taken a step back earlier. The flinch must have caused the man to lose interest.

'Will? How could it be that I don't have a powerful will? Is he lying? An excuse to acknowledge one of the bastards? Why can't he truly be honest with me...with mother for once?' He felt as if he was about to burst. Baguma was someone like that, his thoughts always masked behind stoicism. Elec hated that expression.

"Father, I do hope you aren't planning on having one of those bastards taking my place, right?" He asked after releasing a deep breath.

"If they have sufficient willpower, yes." 

Elec saw red, every thought within his mind almost vanished at the apocalyptic rage that took over.

"The other clan members would never allow it." He tried to throw out something that would hopefully bring the man to his senses.

"They don't matter. They can challenge me if they dare to disagree."

"Wouldn't you be letting down mother?" Elec asked, his gaze becoming blurry, liquid having pooled within.

For a moment he thought he saw the man flinch at that, but it must have been an illusion because his next words scathed...

"What matters is for me to have a powerful successor. As long as they have part of my DNA, nothing else matters." Elec lost his words, his gaze focused too much on that back, that he wanted to see through him. 

"You should have said that with your eyes turned to me. Don't hide!" He shouted.

After that outburst, he felt his body become heavy as if his mind was being crashed. At some point in time, blue strands of light had appeared around Baguma's body, a faint blue aura covering his entire body.

His breath caught in his throat unable to be released. His vision swarm as he felt a deficiency of oxygen. He was suffocating. He tried to grasp his neck but failed and stumbled.

"Boy, I only brought you here to give you something. Willpower isn't the same as having the guts to provoke me." After that sentence, the pressure vanished, causing Elec to regain himself, his heart pounding in fear and terror as he beheld that stoic back. He heard heard every word clearly even though his brain shouldn't have been capable of such a task at the time.

Elec hated, hated himself for having been born as the man's child, hated the fact that he wasn't as powerful as him, but also the fact that his mother had to suffer due to this...piece of trash.

'I will make sure that one day I become more powerful than you father. I will bring you to your knees in front of mother and order you to apologise.' He clamped his mouth shut, but how he wanted to roar out his frustrations.

(Ding!)

They had arrived. The doors opened to a white corridor, the walls illuminated with soft white light. He took stock of his new surroundings upon making an exit from the elevator. This was a different floor, somewhere he had never been. His memory told him that the Masanyalaze clan building had eight underground floors, but it seemed that there were still the secret ones.

He didn't give it much thought as his emotional state was still not stable after the deadly elevator ride.

"This is a secret research lab only I as the clan leader and a select few can access..."

Tap! Tap!

Eric didn't listen to the rest of his explanation as his ears rang with the sound of their feet hitting the floor. He felt deflated and lost. This was the first time he felt this way.

He didn't know how long he remained in such a state, his thoughts incoherent, before the sound of a sliding door brought him out of his mind. Something instantly captured his attention. The moment he had looked over his father's shoulder, it had drawn his gaze like magnet and temporarily made him forget the previous spat.

It was just too eye catching and bizarre.

'Is it alive?' The question simply popped into his mind.