The Battle for Sanctuary: The Titan's Legacy: Vol: 2 (Volume 2) (19 page)

He
reached inside his robes and pulled out a curious looking object. It
looked like a small iron rod embedded in a flat disk made of ceramic.

“
What
is that, sir?” Jason asked.

“
This,
my boy, is a lightning rod.” He smiled. “A little one.”
They all laughed. “Find yourself a likely spot, away from the
others, and as far from the pool as possible. Have a seat on the
grass, place the rod in front of you and concentrate on it.”

“
Um,
okay,” Jason said. “Then what?”

“
Then,
hold your finger a short distance away from it and try to hit it with
electricity.”

Jason
laughed but quieted down as he realized that Prometheus wasn't
joking.

“
How
the heck do I do that?” the teen asked. “Don't I have to,
you know, attune to the electricity, or the rod or something, like
Julia and Yolanda?”

“
No.
Electricity is not water, Jason. In your case, your ability will
actually do most of the work for you. Just visualize a connection
between your finger and the metal rod. Focus on that and the rest
should follow.”

“
Well,
okay. If you say so.”

Jason
walked off with the lightning rod, muttering to himself.

Prometheus
chuckled as he watched Jason, then he looked at Aaron, winked and
pulled a candle out of his robes.

Aaron
looked at the Titan, at the candle and then over at Jason sitting on
the ground and staring at the metal rod in front of him.

“
Can
you guess what you need to do, Aaron?” Prometheus asked a bit
mischievously.

Aaron
sighed then grinned. “I get it, sir,” he said and
accepted the candle from the Titan. Justin watched him find a likely
spot and sit down on the grass. Then Aaron set the candle firmly in
the ground and stared at it intently.

“
My
turn, sir?” Dominic asked. Justin jerked a bit in surprise.
He'd actually forgotten that Dominic was standing next to, and a
little behind him.

“
Yes,
Dominic, it is. Your gift is probably the most difficult to master
and yet the easiest to practice. You simply need some shade or
shadows. For instance, under that large bush over there.”

Prometheus
pointed to a shrub that was almost ten feet high; high enough to have
a space between its bottom branches and the ground of about four
feet.

“
What
do I need to do?” Dominic asked after glancing over at the
bush.

“
Just
sit under the plant, entirely inside its shadow and...try to
disappear.”

Justin
looked at the Titan to see if he was joking. So did Dominic. But
Prometheus looked quite serious.

“
Yes,
I know it sounds a bit absurd, lad. As I said, it is very difficult
to master the shadows. But that is the only way to practice. Like the
others, you must feel your way. Understand the darkness, know the
nature of the invisible and become shadow. Patience is called for,
Dominic. I hope you have a plentiful supply.”

The teen
considered Prometheus' words for a moment and then said, “I
have as much as I need to have, sir.”

And then
he walked over and sat in the shade. He closed his eyes and became
still.

“
Will
that actually work?” Justin asked under his breath.

“
Oh
yes, Justin. It will work. But how long before it does is anyone's
guess.”

Prometheus
shifted his shoulders a bit, settling his robe more comfortably
around himself and looked at Justin.

“
And
finally, it is your turn. Are you ready?”

Justin
felt a small shiver, whether of fear or anticipation he wasn't sure.

I think
so,” he replied and waited for the old Titan to explain his
training.

Prometheus
squatted down and gestured for Justin to do the same. Then he reached
down, pulled up some grass and grabbed a clump of damp earth and
handed it to Justin.

“
You
heard me explaining how this works to the others, Justin. It is the
same for you. Examine the earth, smell its scent, feel its texture,
get to know it as well as you are able.”

“
Okay,
sir. And then what?” Justin asked.

Prometheus
seemed to be deciding what to tell him. “Well, the earth is
damp at the moment. Squeeze it into the tightest ball that you can
and then see if you can dry it out, make it fall apart, before it
dries out and crumbles on its own.”

“
Huh.”
Justin looked at the earth. “And this is supposed to
just...work?”

“
Optimally,
yes. The power inside all of you, coupled with your innate abilities,
will direct you along the proper path to achieving your goals. You
simply need to learn to follow this direction. No easy task, I know.”
Prometheus stood up slowly.

“
Now,
you go ahead and begin while I check on how your friends are doing.”

Justin
nodded once and the old Titan walked off.

He sat
down on the soft grass. The smell of the earth mixed with the scent
of the growth around him filled Justin with a sense of peace and
contentment. It won't last, a cynical part of him muttered but he
ignored it and concentrated at the clump of earth he was holding.

He
squeezed the earth between his hands into a tight ball and then held
it out on his flat palms. He stared intently at the dirt. He touched
it lightly with his fingertips and breathed in its damp smell. The
more he stared at it, the more he noticed.

There
were tiny variations in the color of the earth. A subtle mixture of
browns and greens blended together and he saw some black specks of
tiny crystals scattered throughout the dirt.

How was
he to dry it out though, Justin wondered. He had no power over water
that he knew of. How could earth shed water that was mixed in with
it? Well, there is one way, he thought.

If
enough pressure pushed the earth tightly together, that would force
out the water and dry out the dirt. But how to get the earth to
compress by itself?

Justin
was startled by a yell of triumph. He looked over quickly and saw
Jason laughing.

“
Do
it again, Jase!” Richard exclaimed as he ran over to his
friend.

“
Hang
on a sec. Let me just concentrate...there!” Jason was pointing
at the small metal rod and Justin was startled as a small spark
jumped from the tip of Jason's finger and hit the rod with a loud
snap.

“
Well
done, Jason!” he called over. Jason looked at him and smiled
widely.

“
Thanks
Justin! Prometheus was right. You have to sort of feel your way
through it.”

The
others also congratulated him and then went back to their own
practicing, looking more determined to succeed after seeing Jason do
it.

Justin
looked at the earth again. Feel your way into the earth, he thought.
That's what I have to do. He focused his mind solely on the round
ball of dirt. Dry out, you stupid clod. Dry out!

He felt
a flash of anger as he realized just how stupid he must look, glaring
at some wet earth. And suddenly there was a puff of vapor that
covered the earthen ball and, just like that, it fell to pieces and
trickled through Justin's fingers like so much sand.

He sat
there and gaped at what he had done. Then a large hand gave his
shoulder a gentle shake.

“
Well
done, my boy. Very well done.” It was Prometheus, smiling down
at him.

“
I...I
did it,” Justin said as he held up the small pile of dried
earth in his hand. “Just like that.”

“
Precisely,
Justin. It's as I said; allow the talent within you to find the way.
All you need to do is focus it and it will do the rest.”

Aaron
hurried over. “Did you do it?” he asked and then saw the
remnants of the clump of earth. “Awesome! You did it!” He
punched Justin lightly on the arm and turned away muttering “Now
if that stupid candle would just light...”

Justin
watched as Aaron walked away and grinned broadly. He became serious
again and stood up, looking at Prometheus.

“
How
does a person know how much power to use? I mean, what are the
limits?”

The
Titan looked puzzled. “Limits? Justin, there are no real
limits. Only your imagination limits you. All you need to do is
visualize the outcome you want, focus your will and let the power
inside you do the rest.” He smiled at Justin. “Don't make
it any more complicated than it has to be, lad.”

“
Yeah,
okay. But say I wanted to, I don't know, destroy Sanctuary for
instance. I couldn't just imagine that and watch it happen, could I?”

After a
brief look of surprise, Prometheus chuckled. “No, you couldn't.
Very well, Justin. Perhaps there are limitations after all.”

“
Good.”
Justin was relieved to know that someone couldn't just destroy the
world if they wanted to, especially himself.

Now that
he had accomplished his first task, Justin stood at a discreet
distance and watched the others at their training. Amazingly, Dominic
hadn't moved since he had sat down under the bush and for a moment,
Justin thought that he might have fallen asleep. But then he saw
Dominic open his eyes, look down at his feet, sigh and close his eyes
again. Apparently he was hoping his body had faded somewhat.

Julia
and Yolanda were having no luck at all, but Justin was amused by the
sarcastic comments they were making to each other across the pond.

He
turned his attention to Richard in time to see something truly
remarkable happen. The small, dead-looking bush that Richard was
concentrating on was slowly turning from a lifeless brown to a
vibrant green starting from the ground up.

Richard
didn't move but Justin could see his body shaking with effort. Around
him, the others had taken notice and the room became very quiet. The
green line inched its way upward, filling out the dried stem and
turning the leaves into shiny, healthy-looking growth.

For a
moment the green tinge stopped moving and Justin held his breath. And
then, with a last surge upward, the entire plant turned green and
several flowers at the top burst into bloom.

Justin
let out his breath and started clapping. The rest of the group,
including Prometheus, burst into applause as well and Richard, very
red in the face, smiled shyly at them.

“
Well
done, Richard!” Jason yelled. Dominic didn't move but gave
Richard a thumbs-up. The rest congratulated him as well, and then
they all returned to work.

As the
day wore on, almost everyone succeeded in tapping into their talents.
Aaron fell over with a yell when his candle burst into flame. Yolanda
and Julia got so good at making, not just ripples but waves in the
pool that they almost emptied it of water at one point. Both were
thoroughly soaked and laughing so hard that they had to stop for a
rest.

Maria
was amazing. Justin watched her and Daemon sparring for a long while.
At first, the servitor was obviously keeping his movements slow and
methodical but as Maria sped up, so did he. By the end of their
session, all Justin could see of their arms and legs was a blur and
he was certain that no ordinary human could have protected themselves
against Maria's attacks.

It also
brought home to Justin just how fast and lethal a servitor could be.
It was a sobering thought.

The only
one left that seemed incapable of reaching inside and using his
ability was Dominic. He sat and sat until even Justin was ready to
tell him to take a break. But Prometheus stopped him.

“
He
must decide his limitations for himself, lad. None of us have the
right to do it for him.”

Justin
reluctantly agreed.

Eventually
everyone decided to rest and Prometheus brought out more fruit and
juice. This time, there were apples and pears in the bowls along with
the bananas and mangoes.

“
Where'd
these come from, sir?” Aaron asked as he bit into a crisp apple
with obvious delight.

“
Oh,
there are several islands below with various fruit trees, Aaron,”
Prometheus answered as he set down more bowls. “The picking
machine seems to randomly decide which one it harvests from.”

Maria
looked closely at the Titan. “But how does it get by those eel
machines?”

“
They
will not attack another machine, my dear. They are programmed to
attack biological signals, apparently because there was an
infestation of some sort of large clam early on when Sanctuary was
first built. The builders should have put in a command not to attack
humans or Titans but it seems they didn't.”

“
Idiots,”
Jason said heatedly. “They almost got us killed.”

“
Idiots
is right,” Daemon said bitterly. Jason looked surprised. The
servitor had been quiet since his sparring match with Maria. “Look
what they did to me. They decided my master needed a companion to
stave off the madness brought on by loneliness. But they couldn't
give him a regular servitor, one that might help him escape one day.
So they made me. A runt. Another insult to the great Prometheus.”

The
Titan looked sympathetically at Daemon. “You've been a
wonderful friend to me, little one. I could not have asked for
better.”

The
servitor stared at the Titan for a long moment. “Thank you,
master,” he whispered.

Prometheus
nodded but didn't answer. He simply stood there holding a bowl of
fruit and then looked over at Dominic sitting in the same spot under
the bush. The old Titan sighed, set down the bowl and left the room.