Samuel

Chapter 29

As Samuel and Jonathan continued their discussion in the tower, the denizens of the city below moved quickly around towards their destinations. Others, holding no place to call home, lay prostrate on the streets. Destitute of all they had. Hopelessness crushed them.

One, in particular, a slave to the nuances of the shifting emotions pulsating in the city, sat in Central Park, with his individual hovel around a bench. With his shopping cart tied to his body, sleeping in the day, for safety while the night proved too treacherous to let one's guard down; the darkness is where he moved about.

To acquire funds for nourishment, holding a stand for passersby to come and bet against his prophecies. Feeling their emotions at the surface, this man reached lightly into their minds, their feelings. Simply guessing their current emotion gave way, through their amazement, to further excavate a startling truth about them. Here he divined their own veracities.

Discussing their fears or thoughts they wished to conceal to the world, many fled quickly after leaving their money in order for him to stop his revelations, his extractions of their most precious and vulnerable memories. With these funds, he ate some but, with the exchange of energies, his hunger abated, slightly. Nourished by their energies, unaware of his own skill or potential, he continued living this way, living to survive, surviving to live while remaining ignorant of his inherent capabilities.

What he truly desired came in the size of a yellowish rock. A rock he burned to release its chemicals into his body. The drug, with which, he adored above everything else. Tying off his arm, holding a syringe shakily as he infused the remnants of his newfound love into it. Drawing it into the needle, smirking slightly as the sweet bliss filled his body. Euphoria in the form of a small draft of fluid coursed through his blood. The veins gave way to the permeating joy, the pervasive peace. The world split in two as his body radiated ecstasy.

Through the haze of the effects, he bolted upright. The building, to the left of him, which he stayed away from, caused him to become numb. Happiness left him as dread swirled in his abdomen. Through the center of it, a fiery power encompassed the area. An energy so intense, it brought the inebriated man to his senses, back to his body and reality. An audible groan escaped his mouth as his body trembled as the hand of energy gripped his chest tightening it like a vice.

Fear replaced his rapture. Scrambling he attempted to flee. Forgetting his cart, tied to his body, it emptied its contents onto the dark trail. Grabbing the rope tied around his waist, he ripped it apart with inhuman strength. Inattentive to his own intensity, he sped away in the opposite direction from the looming power behind him. The energy radiating from the skyscraper.

"Gotta get out of here. Must leave now!" He thought to himself as he fled. Onlookers watched as this homeless man sprinted quickly out of Central Park as a flickering light beamed out of a nearby tower.

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Moments before...

As an unseen hand gripped his body, noticing the connection to his limbs appearing severed pinpricks peppered Alm's neck as the tingling wreathed his frame. Blinking, he immediately understood his predicament, as his head remained mobile and his body frozen, unable to open his mouth to sound an alarm.

A cool evening breeze whistled around the tower. The beaming cacophony of the metropolis began to fade softly. Turning his head to the left, he saw the infinity pool. It moved around, filtering its contents noiselessly. Deafened to his surroundings his internal alarm caused him to fight back to no avail.

With Alm's body immobilized, he looked around wildly. The boy remained stoic with his gaze towards the other man. Meeting the eye of Jonathan, he saw his left lip twitch slightly in a smile.