Chapter 3: Transformation

The nineteen year old realized he didn’t have time to sit and think over the matter. As he rose up, no one could tell what he was going to do next by looking at the blank expression that had taken over his face. No fear…no anger…no resentment…nothing! Apparently, Mrs. Hudgens found it better to ask him what he was up to, as she went on to say, ‘Warren, what’re you going to do, kid? Keep yourself calm.’ He ignored the question and nodded as he went up to the door.

When he was out in the streets, he had to put in extra effort to keep up his pace. His feet were not ready to co-ordinate with the muscle movement. They wanted to go slow. They wanted to stop. Warren, as if trying to practice stoicism by punishing his own physique, started running. The lines on his forehead deepened as he strained himself to concentrate on the running. His mind wanted to be unleashed so that it could resume to thinking. There was an immense turmoil in Warren’s psyche.

Just as he was trying to avoid the chaos, suddenly it all went blank. He spared a split second to take a sneak peek at his watch. 9:30 h. He looked straight. He was still running in the darkness. Afraid he might meet with an accident, he tried to stop but somehow couldn’t.

Zillions of people were running with him on a barren land, shouting, screaming, yelling and whining. Warren was startled to see his mother running as well. He called out, ‘Mum! Mum!’ But he was all the more flabbergasted to see her look at him and frown. And then, she looked up as every person in the crowd did. Warren followed their action and looked up only to get stunned seeing the reddish-orange colour of the sky instead of the usual blue. And then it hit him that these people were not nens. As lightning struck in the sky, he was blinded by the brilliant illumination.

He rubbed his eyes and opened them in front of Theo’s house. As the pain in his knees seized him, it dawned upon him that while he had been with those people on the barren land, he hadn’t experienced pain even for a second. He couldn’t stand it anymore now, and collapsed. His eyes were burning and the silence around deafened him so much so that he felt his head would burst.

But he wouldn’t let out a scream. He’d rather be masochistic than trouble anyone because of himself. Fortitude, thought Warren. The pain he was experiencing was beyond human endurance. It isn’t something to do with just my running. It wouldn’t hurt so much, he continued in his mind. It’s anyway related to the visionary sequence I had just now, I know. But why would it hurt this way?

Soon enough, somebody unbolted the windows on the first floor of the building that stood upright in Warren’s awake. He looked into a pair of eyes that looked back at him. He couldn’t make out who it was until the other nen exclaimed, ‘BROTHER! What happened?’ Without wasting another second, the nen moved inside. Seconds later, the front door opened. There was a look of horror on Theo’s face. He kneeled down and said concernedly, ‘You OK?’

Warren looked at him struggling hard to keep his eyes open. He took a moment to say, ‘I’m alright’. He was barely audible. Theo had to lip-read so as to get the words. He frowned and chided over Warren, ‘No, you’re not alright’. He held Warren’s arms and helped him get up and walk into the house. He supported him as Warren sat on the sofa.

Sitting next to him, he said, ‘Dude, what’s up with you?’ Warren looked at him and said slowly, ‘I’m fine’. And then when he grasped why he was there, his eyes opened wide abruptly. Hastily, he stood up and asked, ‘Are you an SOH?’ Pain…it was still there. But Warren ignored it because this was more important. Theo threw his arms in the air, frowning, as he replied, ‘What the - ? Ugh…I am NOT an SOH!’ Still keeping calm and enduring the pain, Warren said in a cool voice, ‘How can you even say whether you are an SOH or not? Do you know what it stands for?’ Theo heaved a sigh and replied, ‘The other day I was at the Nerina Rebeco Coffee house. Some old nens were conversing about the secret agent of the HTCT. They said that the secret agent is an SOH. That’s what I’d heard. I dunno what an SOH is. But since I know I am not the secret agent, so…’

Warren said, ‘Is that all? Is there anything you’re hiding from me?’
Agitated by the question, Theo bellowed, ‘Dude, what’s it all about, eh? Now, you’ve gotta temme everything. And…that’s highly unfair. You’re hiding a lot many things from me and instead of telling me the whole thing, you suspect me to be whatever the hell an SOH is? What for?’

‘I’m not in a mood to fight, OK? It’s a serious issue.’

‘And I am neither involved in this issue nor am I in-ter-rested in being so,’ said Theo through gritted teeth.

The heated conversation generated an ambience of silence. Despite the pain that was still there, Warren managed to say in an even voice, ‘Look…you misunderstand me. Well, Its foolery on my part that I’m into believing Dungeon. I’m fed up of keeping everything inside my head. I’m gonna tell you everything right away.’

Warren narrated everything to Theo. After listening to it, Theo said, ‘And this guy went on suspecting me and believing Dungeon. Gaah! Waddup with ya, brother? Where have you left the “real” you? You’re not the Warren I knew since we were kids. You’re not the Warren who was all fun and game when we were in school. I know you’re under a lotta pressure but at least you should be yourself throughout this otherwise dude, you’ll be nowhere.’

Warren had taken in Theo’s words but again, he felt his head would burst. What’s happening to me? thought Warren closing his eyes, Stop! STOP!

He managed to suppress the pain this once and opened his eyes to reply to Theo, ‘Yep. Thanks for the advice.’ He was going to say more when he felt the pain coming back. Without wasting another moment he said, ‘Hey, you say that you had heard of the secret agent of the HTCT being an SOH. So, that means Dungeon is one…?’

‘Dude, don’t you think we should go to Mr. Vander and confirm certain things. He must know a lot, I guess.’

‘Mr. Vander?’

‘Yeah, the old nens I told you ‘bout who were talking about your stuff? I had heard one of their names. He was Leon Vander.’

‘Perfect. So, let’s go to the NRC.’

‘Wait a minute. Are you sure you can go there? I don’t think you have got rid of the pain, yet.’

‘I haven’t. But I can’t afford to waste time.’


*


At the NRC, they got Leon Vander’s address. They headed towards the Vander’s residence right away. By this time, Warren was feeling better. He showed his R-card at the door and he and Theo were allowed in. Leon Vander seemed to be a bit weird to the duo. When he’d opened the door, both of them thought he’d smirked and they exchanged glances.

Leon Vander was rather short, with grey hair and a tan complexion. He gestured towards two chairs and said in a deep voice, ‘Please be seated.’

Warren introduced himself and Theo to him, ‘I’m Warren Hudgens. I am an agent of the HTCT. This is my friend Theodore Collins. We need your help, sir.’ ‘Help? Regarding what?’ asked Mr. Vander with the same strange smirk on his face. The duo exchanged glances, yet again.

Hesitatingly, Warren said, ‘Uh…we were wondering if what we’ve heard is true...about the secret agent of our organization being an SOH…’
After a momentary pause, Mr. Vander replied, ‘Correct.’

‘The secret agent- the one who’s a member of The Geek Technique?’

‘That’s the one.’

Warren interrogated politely, ‘Could you tell us how you were acquainted with this fact, sir?’ ‘Through the news log on my computeX,’ replied Mr. Vander precisely.

Theo exclaimed, ‘Whoa! You’ve got a computeX? Amazing!’ Warren threw a momentary look at Theo and frowned. He turned to Mr. Vander and asked, ‘Can the source be trusted?’ ‘200%’, assured Mr. Vander.

Warren asked inquisitively, ‘Cool…and sir, can you tell me everything…just everything you know about Nastus Hantagen?’ That was when Mr. Vander dropped the smirk from his face. It appeared as if he was reminded of somebody close to him. His face grew grim and his eyes seemed to be looking for something in the distance.

He said to himself, ‘It’s about time.’ (Warren and Theo, a bit alarmed, looked at each other.) He began, ‘Nastus Hantagen belonged to the original world that existed on ancient Earth. Hurricane was his best friend. A true friend, then. They were skilled warriors. Hantagen was a ninja fighter and Hurricane, a samurai warrior.

‘Hantagen had complete faith in his God. He was meticulous and fanatical. His power enhanced to such an extent that it was impossible for anyone to vanquish him. He was blessed with extraordinary magical powers too. Just so you know he was the greatest ninja warrior and the most powerful person in the world. To put it simple, he was unbeatable.

‘Apparently, Hurricane grew envious. He detested Hantagen for his glory, immortality, skill and power enough to turn evil. He channelized his mind to plan ways to achieve Hantagen’s power. I have no clue what came to pass after that. Nobody does. But yes, Hurricane did accomplish in his mission – that was achieving Hantagen’s power and immortality. Hantagen left the place. We know where Hantagen is but we haven’t got an idea about Hurricane’s whereabouts.’

Warren grew ecstatic on hearing the last sentence. He could hardly hold his breath when he asked, ‘You know where Hantagen is?’ Mr. Vander replied, ‘Yes.’ It was impossible for Warren to control his ebullience but just as he lost control over his emotions, he lost the control that he had attained on the inexplicable pain as well. He stood up abruptly holding his face. He felt like he would shatter into smithereens any moment. He could hear screams. Despite the excruciating pain, he had enough senses left to believe he was not hallucinating. The screams had to be real. The only thing he knew that could happen to him next was he tearing apart.

He collapsed. Overwhelmed with apprehension, Theo couldn’t think of anything. Mr. Vander sat composed in his chair. Theo scowled at him and yelled, ‘Are you gonna just sit there and do nothing? Can’t you see my friend is in misery?’ He fell on his knees and holding his friend said, ‘Brother, what’s wrong? Breathe, it’ll go away.’ Theo was almost in tears and he looked with eyes full of disgust at Mr. Vander. He couldn’t resist shouting at him one more time, ‘Are you nuts? What ARE you up to?’

Mr. Vander fixed his gaze at the ceiling. His poker face told Theo he wasn’t going to do anything. Just then, Warren shouted, ‘NO!’ His voice was strained. A horror-struck Theo choked as he said, ‘Brother…brother…I’m here. Stay calm. Breathe. Try, won’t you?’

Sad thing. Theo’s words were like hums to Warren’s ears. Mr. Vander’s silence wasn’t even perturbed by the scream that had come from Warren. There was a quake in Warren’s psyche. He shrieked and threw his hands apart, tightening his fists. Theo was thrown away. Mr. Vander rose up and went to Theo. He told him to leave the room with him. Theo scowled at him furthermore and said, ‘You’re crazy as hell. I’m not going to leave my best friend. Get outta my way.’

What Leon Vander did next was totally alien to Theo because he found himself with him outside the Vander’s residence. He opened his mouth but couldn’t. He tried to move but couldn’t. He was in an inert state. He could only show resentment through his eyes.

What is it like to see your best friend struggling against pain…an inevitable entity? What is it like to learn you can do nothing for a person you’ve loved as a brother? What IS it like to just stand and watch…watch it all happen…watch your friend break? What is it like to be forced to give in when you don’t want to give up?

With Warren, the situation was different. He was the one experiencing pain. It’s a strange fact about physical pain that you can never get used to it and that you can never memorize what it exactly feels like. Inside Vander’s house, Warren was combating alone. Shards of glass flew in every direction. Tables and chairs smashed. Wind blew harder than ever. There was a supernatural energy being liberated from Warren. It could annihilate everything. Warren opened his eyes to see what had become of him. It was devastating to see fragments of his soul coming out of his body. He could feel blood pressurizing the arteries in his body. He found it better to keep his eyes closed and tried to gain control over his breath.

Every motion in the room ceased.

Pain had finally left his system.

However, he was still in the inertia. He opened his eyes to confirm.

Yes. It was over.

But something had changed. He knew everything about Nastus Hantagen. More than what Leon Vander had told him. More than what he’d read on his computation device. More than what Flog had said. More than what he’d known before. He stood up. Mr. Vander appeared with Theo in the room. He freed Theo from his static state. Theo was relieved to see his friend in a normal condition; his voice quivered when he said, ‘Brother, I’m sorry. Blame it on this Vander man. He wouldn’t budge.’

Warren said to Theo, ‘Hold on, brother. I’m ok now.’ Theo realized what Mr. Vander had done to him was not human. He was going to question when Warren interrupted, ‘Vincent, come when I call you.’

Mr. Vander disappeared, saying, ‘As you say, master.’ Warren smiled. Theo blankly gaped in turns at him and at the place where Mr. Vander was standing before. The next thing he knew, both of them vanished in thin air.