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Chapter 109  Power Outage

"Then maybe it\'s not really gone, honey." Sei said comfortingly. "Maybe you\'re just having a mental blockage."

"Like performance anxiety?" Mal said emptily. "Umm... something like that?"

The young man\'s mood sank even lower and he threw his head back in defeat.

There was another theory in the back of his mind that he was trying not to think about. What if Nyx had forsaken him?

He believed them to have grown rather close, but what if that wasn\'t the case? Was there something that he\'d done in his last battle with Alex that made her believe he was no longer worthy of her blessing?

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn\'t think of any possible explanation for this current dilemma. But when he recalled the love and warmth that Nyx had shown him, he couldn\'t help but feel like he\'d lost a lot more than just his powers. "Try not to think about it so much." Anna said. " Maybe it\'ll come back in the morning with some more rest."

Mal nodded, although he wasn\'t entirely sure this issue was that simple. For a while, he merely basked in the warmth of the girls until he remembered that there was something he\'d been meaning to do. "Luna."

"Hm?"

"Think you can teach me how to synchronize with my contracted beast tomorrow morning? I want to-"

"""No!"""

"...Why are all of you ganging up on me like this?"

Anna: "What kind of idiot thinks about going back to training as soon as he wakes up from a coma!?"

Luna: "You\'re on mandatory bedrest for four days minimum. Then I\'ll think about letting you come back to training."

Sei: "We will tie you down if we have to."

\'...This is hot.\' Suddenly, Mal was having a hard time remembering what he was so depressed about a few seconds ago.

Luna\'s face became slightly flushed when she felt something poking her in the bottom and she jabbed Mal hard in the ribs."Are you listening to us?"

"Mhm." She had the undivided attention of both heads. Malachi finally shook his mind free of dirty thoughts as he tried to weasel out of house arrest.

"But I won\'t do anything too strenuous, I just want to understand Shear a bit more."

""Shear??"" Luna and Sei asked in unison. Almost on cue, Mal\'s friendly neighborhood kaiju exited his forehead and materialized in front of the girls. Due to her unexpected appearance, Luna and Sei\'s reactions were a bit... exaggerated. "Kyaaa!!"

"W-What the hell!"

Even without her claws and bladed appendages, she was still rather alarming to look at. Luna and Sei immediately leapt up in fear, prompting Anna to claim the coveted spot of Mal\'s lap.

She held out her hands and gestured for the strange creature to come towards her. "Come here girl, I missed you."

Shear made a small clicking noise before sliding into the open spot in Anna\'s arms like some kind of overgrown puppy. Maybe it was her love of horror movies, scary video games, and halloween, but Annalise didn\'t seem to find this creature the least bit terrifying. In fact, she was rather tempted to ask Mal to let her keep her.

"What kind of creature is that...?" Sei asked. ""Dunno."" Mal and Anna responded in unison. "Well what does it do...?" Luna said curiously. "She makes really cute noises." Anna said. "As far as abilities go, I haven\'t really seen her do much. She is capable of shapeshifting to a degree though." Mal added. Sei and Luna both hesitantly came closer to the monster in Anna\'s lap. Once they got past it\'s odd appearance, they realized it wasn\'t as frightening as they initially thought. They still did not understand why Anna found it to be so cute though. "Alright, we can go to the training room in the morning for ONE hour. And only because I am curious about what... Shear, can do."

Even though the creature did not have eyes, it lifted it\'s head as if it were staring at the two mature women opposite it. After finding nothing interesting, it rested it\'s head back into Anna\'s lap.

"Honestly... Nothing is ever ordinary with you, is it?" Sei muttered. "Would you have me any other way?" He said with a smile.

"No... I guess I wouldn\'t." she giggled. -

When Mal opened his eyes, he was somewhere he was very familiar with. Inside a world of darkness, where even the brightest light would be choked out and rendered imperceptible. To most this would be nothing short of horrifying, but to Mal it was all so comforting. He was weird like that. "You did not panic... I see why she chose you."

Suddenly, a deep and old masculine voice echoed from all around him. Immediately alarmed, Mal sought out the source, only to find nothing but more emptiness. "But I am convinced that your worthiness was no more than a mere delusion. I let you borrow power from me for far too long boy, and now I see no further need."

A chill suddenly ran down Mal\'s spine as the gravity of this being\'s words sank in.

"You\'re the reason I can\'t use the blessing from my mother?"

"....What did you just call her?"

The voice seemed to be asking out of genuine disbelief, as if it\'s ancient ears were suddenly nonfunctional. "My mother, do I gotta spell it out for you? How the hell are you interfering in-"

"This must be some kind of joke... For her to inflate your value on a level similar to ours is..."

"Ours?"

Finally, the puzzle pieces began to fit in bit by bit, and Mal realized exactly who he was talking to. "You\'re Erebus..."

Almost on cue, an enormous figure moved through the darkness. In front of him, Mal was no bigger than an ant. It was a god in the shape of an old man, with two dark horns curling out of his head and unhealthy dark grey skin. His eye sockets were empty and black, like looking into pure nothingness. If Mal did not have an affinity for the night, he would have long went insane with a mere look.

"She equates you... to we, her children..?"

Mal wasn\'t interested in talking about he and Nyx\'s relationship, even if this being was his \'brother\'. "Why did you take my powers? How the hell can you even do that?"

"...From the beginning, my divinity and hers have been... what is the word... Neighbors. Too many times you have crossed into my yard, when you never should have left hers."

"Wanna elaborate a bit more?"

Erebus growled and pointed at Malachi with a massive clawed finger. "You\'ve been using power that you don\'t have. She gave you blessing over the night, not darkness.

I allowed you to go on so far out of my own curiosity, but you are becoming bolder and bolder in the amount of power that you take, and I will stand for it no longer."

Malachi had no idea why, but everything that Erebus was saying made sense to him. The reason why his body always hurt so much after using his powers was because they weren\'t really his in the first place. He had been unknowingly taking power from Erebus all of this time. "What...?"

Erebus suddenly looked around in a panic as if he sensed something dreadful coming. Suddenly, Shear materialized next to Malachi out of thin air, and nuzzled next to him cutely. "Aww, hey girl. How\'d you get he-"

"Human, why is there a nightmare in your mindscape?!" Erebus roared. Malachi looked back at the irate god and saw an expression of pure shock, and even a small amount of fear. "Dunno what you mean by nightmare but this is Shear. She is my contracted beast."

"She is your... what??"

No matter how many times Erebus blinked his empty eye sockets, the scene in front of him did not change. One of the scourges that was coming to earth, was actually nuzzling next to this boy like it was some kind of domesticated animal. "You good man? Look like you\'ve seen a ghost."

"Boy... do you truly speak no falsehoods? This creature is truly bound to you and obeys your every whim?"

"I\'m not asking her to do any crazy shit like jump into a helicopter propeller but yea, she\'s pretty obedient." Malachi said calmly. "That... is impossible... how can you even..."

Internally, the gears within Erebus\' ancient mind began to turn. \'That\'s why they\'ve been having such a hard time observing him lately... he\'s bound to a damned blindspot!\'

There were so many questions that he wanted to ask and things that he wanted to say, but even he had laws he must follow. But one thing was for sure. If this boy was capable of controlling that which is known for being uncontrollable... his value to this world had just tripled. "You called her a nightmare." Mal reminded as he lightly petted Shear. "What is that?" Erebus was unable to take his eye sockets off of the creature in Mal\'s arms. "...You ask me knowing full well I am not allowed to answer." "Worth a shot." Mal said under his breath. "Then if you won\'t answer my question just give me my powers back. I need them to help pro-" "Alright." "...Alright?" "Alright." Erebus confirmed. -

When Malachi opened his eyes, a bitter sunlight was streaming through the curtains. His body felt like it was sandwiched between three immovable objects, and it was in this moment that he remembered the girls had spent the night. Sei rested her body on top of his, Anna was underneath his right arm and Luna was underneath his left. All three were still sleeping peacefully, and judging by their snoring they were going to remain that way for a while. \'This would be nicer if that sunlight wasn\'t in my face...\' Whoosh!

Before Malachi had even finished his thought, a curtain of darkness fell over the window, blotting out the light. His powers were back and for some reason they were drastically easier to use than before. "Hm.." Sei finally showed some signs of stirring, and she slowly opened her rich brown eyes. When she saw Malachi, her gaze became unimaginably soft as she looked at him with utter devotion. "Honey... you\'re beautiful..." She said sleepily. "...huh?" Nôv(el)B\\\\jnn

Staring back at Sei were two mesmerizing feline eyes that were a vibrant amethyst color. Not only that, Malachi\'s complexion was now a shade darker, and his charm had somehow grown even further. Erebus had done a whole lot more than just allow him the use of his powers again. Though just how much... he would have to find out soon.