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***Alex***

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"Oye~ wake up~" Haruka poked Alex's cheek while crouched next to him. "How badly did you hit him to make him pass out here?"

Lucius crossed his arms and cast a troubled look at Alex. "It shouldn't have been that bad. Just the normal amount of power."

"Hmm, he's not waking up at all. Should we hit him with another bolt?" Haruka sat back and swished her tail.

...

Alex found himself in the canyons between a couple of barren desert plateaus. Small cliffs of Yellow and red sandstone rocks and boulders formed natural barriers around him. A gentle drizzle was making the blackened shale, that covered the rocks here and there, slick. The cloudy sky boomed and sparked with ominous electricity.

Alex looked around with wide eyes. His mouth was almost hanging open. "I swear I've been here before." He spotted a familiar rock face. "Am I back home?"

*Rumble*

Alex looked up at the darker clouds heading his way and realized he'd better find shelter. "There should be some of those wind caves around here."

Over time, the wind carves shallow caves out of the softer sandstone. The caves tended to be shallow but were better than nothing, at least in theory.

"What was it that I was taught again? Something about flash floods and staying clear of deep narrow paths in the sandstone." When he was young, he was taught about how dangerous a little bit of rain could be in the desert. Water would collect and form a flood that rushed through narrow paths as it headed down the mountains and lower hills. Alex surveyed the tall sandstone hills around him looking for a cave on higher ground.

"That one looks like it might be good enough." Alex started scampering along and up the sandstone. He slipped a few times when he tried to get up the steeper boulders. Sandstone tended to be rough and give good traction under normal circumstances but when it got wet, the rough, grainy surface would become weak and easily turn into mud when it was rubbed.

The rain was getting heavier and Alex was soaked through. He hoped that the ground rumbling was just his own trembling from the cold rain. He was scaling a large steep boulder, as a stream formed along the patches of rocky and sandy ground below him. This was obviously one of those places that large amounts of water rushed through when it rained enough. He didn't have much time to get out of there.

He was finally near the top when he heard it. A large amount of water came rushing all at once through the narrow path. "Oh sh*t!" Alex clenched his jaw as the rest of his muscles stiffened from fright. It looked like he was already high enough but there was always the chance that he'd get swept away by rising water. He had no idea how this area usually looked during a flood and felt like a little bug as he clung to the side of the slippery sandstone.

The water roared past just below him. If he was foolish enough he could probably cup some of it into his hands and drink. That's what he always pictured an ignorant tourist doing to show off, but when faced with it himself, all he wanted to do was get as far away as he could from the rushing torrent of death. He knew that if he fell into the rapids, he'd get dragged along and shredded by the sandstone walls and tenderized by the rocks being swept along.

"I don't want to end up on the evening news as a censored corpse." Alex reached his hand out to get a grip on the sandstone ridge just above him. He could pull himself up if he didn't slip down in the attempt. He carefully tested the strength of the ridge. It broke off in his grip and nearly made him slip on the sandstone slope that he was pressing his whole body against.

Some of the rock got in his eyes and smacked him in the face as it fell, but he didn't flinch. It had been a long time since he'd felt this determined. His hand let go of the large chunk of wet sandstone and immediately pressed the dry spot the chunk broke off from. He was able to keep himself from falling and pulled himself up before the rising water reached his shoes. He lay there shielding his eyes from the downpour as he caught his breath.

*Bright Echoing Boom!*

Alex flinched as a streak of lightning lit up the dark roiling underside of the clouds overhead.

["Alex. You should wake up before they shock you again."]

He sat bolt upright, "Hello!?" He looked around for the girl nearby that spoke to him. "Where are you?"

Then from behind him, "Alex, did you forget about me already?"

Alex spun around into a crouch on his feet. He nearly lost his balance and fell back onto his hand in his haste. He forgot all about the thunder as he stared at the woman before him. She was all in white and her hair seemed to be a beautiful light blond one moment and a sultry brunette the next as if it changed every time his eyes tried to refocus.

She smiled at him and his muscles lost most of their strength. "Who are you?" Alex was lightheaded as his heart skipped some beats, "I've seen you," he frowned, "before?"

The woman merely smiled as she lightly walked over to him and crouched. "They're going to shock you again if you don't wake up."

Alex couldn't remember her but his body was responding to her close proximity. His chest and neck heated up as his face flushed red. This time, the cold rain and rushing water were entirely forgotten. He reflexively reached for her and then, *BOOM!*

Alex jerked and flailed about as his breath wheezed out of him. The world was a spinning mass of bright confusion. He was one place one moment and rolling about on a bright grassy plain the next.

"I think that was too much." Said Haruka.

"Maybe it was. But it seems to have done the trick." Lucius walked over to the dazed Alex, "You alright? You were really out cold."

Alex tried to make eye contact as Lucius came into focus, "What the h*ll happened?" He held his head trying to stop the spinning.

"You passed out," Lucius said bluntly. "It happens from time to time to new recruits when it gets too intense for them."

Lucius held out a helping hand again. This time Alex tried to take it but kept missing.

"Haruka, get the other side."

Together, Lucius and Haruka pulled Alex up and walked him to a cushioned stone chair.

"Is it normal to feel so dizzy?" Alex was opening and closing his hands and rolling his wrists. His hands and forearms were threatening to cramp up.

Lucius inspected Alex's eyes. His pupils kept moving to the side like a broken computer mouse. "People are bound to react differently every now and then. Just sit tight and try to relax. I'll do something to help you recover in a moment but first, do you feel anything coursing through you?"

Alex held his head again, pressing his temples. "I might throw up if this doesn't stop soon."

Lucius shuffled as he bent closer to Alex, "Don't you feel any other unnatural sensations that weren't there before?" His eyes traced Alex's arms and chest, "Such as something flowing through your arms or up and down your spine."

Alex closed his eyes and was as still as a statue for a moment, "I feel a strange pressure along my veins. It feels like too much blood is trying to gush through my arteries at the same time." Alex straightened and then rebent an elbow. He also wiggled his toes and moved his ankles. "My muscles also feel tense. It's as if they want to jump and twitch out of my body." Alex grimaced, "Some are starting to cramp."

Lucius stood straight, "That's something at least. Do your best to relax and find the spots where those feelings are the strongest."

Haruka was off to the side swishing her tail as she looked on in silence.

Lucius gave Alex a moment before asking, "Have you found the spots yet?"

Alex frowned in concentration, "I think so but I'm still very dizzy."

"Focus on them. Then see if you can move any of them to the opposite side of your body."

"How?" Bile was rising in his stomach.

"Picture the sensation, the feeling, in your muscles and veins. Imagine it condensing and forming into a ball of energy and picture that ball moving down to your feet or one of your arms."

Alex cringed and a few moments later, "I think I feel it moving but its hard to focus."

"Just having the feeling of it moving or feeling it at all is great progress. Take your time. If you lose it, picture it again in the area right before you lost it and move it somewhere else. Try moving it along your chest and up into your armpit and down to your elbow."

"It all keeps dissipating."

"All it takes is practice. Just keep trying. If you feel yourself running out of energy, I can always give you a little more but keep moving that energy around."

"This is really difficult." Sweat ran down Alex's neck.

"Picture it flowing along with your blood, circulating around your body as a warm and gentle stream if it helps."

Alex tried doing so and a few moments later, "It hurts a little where the energy passed through. Is that normal?"

"Your body's just not used to the flow of energy yet. Its like lifting weights, as long as you don't overdo it and don't strain anything, you'll be fine. Heck, in this space, you'll be fine anyway, but take your time. This is already a great start."

["Move the energy into your dizzy head. Maybe it'll help you recover faster."]

[I'll try.] Alex pictured the energy flowing and coming to rest inside his brain. A warm sensation spread throughout his cranium and his dizziness subsided. [Angel, what exactly happened to me? Why was I in that sphere one moment and then feeling like total crap on the ground?]

Angel hesitated before she responded, ["You seem to have been overcharged too quickly, but I'm no expert on this."]

[Its so strange.]

["What is?"]

[I feel like I was having this dream a moment ago.] Alex frowned and tilted his head to the side. He rubbed his temple as he tried to remember. [I can't. Its like I forgot something but its right on the tip of my brain. If I try too hard to remember, it might disappear completely. But if I don't try at all, it could come back to me on its own.] Alex sighed, [Or I'll just forget it anyway.]

Lucius was watching him frown. Haruka was on her belly further away, tying blades of grass into knots. If she had enough time, she would probably make a little village using just the grass.

[Whatever it is, it seemed so familiar to me, but I just can't remember it.]

["You should focus on your training right now."] Angel watched as the vague memories kept just out of reach.

Lucius sat down on a padded stone chair nearby to let Alex concentrate without being pressured. He went through his old energy manipulation practices to refresh himself on how it was for a beginner. After a lifetime of using his own energy with pure instinct in the heat of battle, Lucius found it hard to remember the various difficulties and sensations he felt back when he was a novice himself. He usually didn't deal with the brand new recruits anymore. He was only working on Alex as a favor to Zeus. After a while, Lucius opened his eyes and walked over to Alex.

"How is it? Are you getting the hang of it now?" Lucius asked. "Can you move the energy from one arm to the other and keep it there without losing it yet?"

It took Alex a moment to gather his thoughts. He had completely forgotten about Lucius around the time he tried to recall the dream. "Hmmm, sort of." Alex opened his eyes and looked at Lucius. "I think I need more practice still."

Lucius nodded as he spoke, "No problem, keep at it. It's about time for lunch though so I'll be leaving for a while and bringing some food back." He looked over at Haruka, who was half hidden behind the grass buildings she'd made. She was busy placing little grass animals and people here and there around the streets of her village.