The Pellegrine - Initiation 2 - Jacques Gets Lost
The Pellegrine
BY Soul Lark
Book V Initiation
Chapter 2 Jacques Gets Lost
© The author reserves all rights to this work.
Disclaimer:
This story is of an adult nature. It is not intended for minors nor for those whose law in their land forbids them to read this material. This story is entirely fictional. Any resemblance to actual people is purely coincidental and unintentional.
NB: Words found between asterisks (*) refer to words exchanged in psychic or telepathic communication.
Date: 14 January 2673, Tuesday
It was the last day of Jacques’ and Heath’s training. Jorg had put them through some rigourous tests to see if they could handle things on their own.
Throughout their training, Jacques and Heath were diligent. They began to see Jorg more and more as a friend. However, Heath was still a little suspicious. His little actions told Jorg that he still did not trust him fully.
Jorg was worried. He would need at least Heath’s trust and his was the hardest to earn.
*Good. You have finished with the techniques to keep your thoughts private and you’ll know if someone who is a semi-magus, or a magus below level eight, tries to read you. I’ll send you home right away.*
“Wait! When are we seeing you again? Heath can’t read minds yet,” asked Jacques.
“It’ll depend on both of you. As soon as you can trust me, call me. I’ll carry the training further.
“What about the secret you wanted to tell us about why my powers were activated?” Jacques asked.
“I cannot tell you for your safety. At this moment, your sensitivity is not high enough so that some higher level magi like myself can easily pop into you mind and get what he or she wants and you wouldn’t know. When the secret is known, your lives become dispensable. Without knowing your exact role in the scheme of things, no one would dare to harm you.”
“Then why can’t you teach us to avoid all that?” asked Jacques.
“The training will require that you open your minds to me. Until you’re ready to do that, I can’t continue.”
Jacques looked puzzled. Then he realised what Jorg was talking about. He looked at Heath and sent a mental message to him.
“It doesn’t work that way, Jacques,” Jorg said.
“You’ve been reading our minds!” Heath accused.
“No, I didn’t. I saw what Jacques did. You still can’t read his normal projected thoughts. He has to send them to you directly. He had to focus and he squints a little when he does that.”
“I do?” asked Jacques, feigning surprise.
“Yes, you do,” Jorg said.
“I guess I’ll never be a true magus, now,” Jacques sighed.
“Correction,” Jorg said, “you’ll both be magi. You just won’t have the capacity to use your powers. You’ll get a hang of some of your mental abilities in time. However, I can’t continue training for the reasons I mentioned. If you continued with the training without complete trust, your training would be flawed and you may not be able to use your psychic powers properly when you really need them.”
Jacques wanted to protest but he found himself in his room. He was angry with Heath. Why could he not see that Jorg was only trying to help? He sent an angry message to Heath.
*You’re downright mean, Heath. I think you’ve crushed Jorg’s heart!*
*Why do you care about his heart? Are you attracted to him? Maybe that’s it. You’re care more for how he feels than how I feel,* came the reply after a few moments. Almost immediately after, another message came, *Sorry, Jacques, I didn’t mean to say that. I was too angry …*
*You don’t have to say anymore, Heath. It’s evident that we’ve begun to think on different lines. I think it’s better that we cancel this weekend’s date. We’d better do some heavy thinking about what we really mean to each other and how compatible we really are.*
*Jacques, please. I didn’t mean …*
*Please Heath. You hurt me and you think that a “sorry” can just solve it, not when I felt the anger and the hate you had when you accused me of being attracted to Jorg. I’ll call you on Monday after I’ve done my thinking. Hope you’ll do the same.*
‡ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ‡
Date: 22 January 2673, Wednesday
Jorg had just finished making a hot cup of Earl Grey Tea. He wanted to know what it was that made a certain science fiction character in the twentieth century so addicted to it. He noticed the nice aroma and the aroma did have a calming effect and made it attractive. He was about to take a sip when he felt a very faint mental call.
Putting the cup down, he focused a little and realised that it was Heath.
*Yes Heath,* asked Jorg quite impassively.
*We need to talk,* Heath said. He was not successful in hiding his anxiety from Jorg.
*If that’s what you wish. Where are you?*
*Home,* said Heath.
*All right. Give me a moment to get dressed.*
Heath had to wait two minutes before Jorg appeared in his bathroom and knocked at the door.
“Yes,” Heath called.
Jorg entered and it was clear that Heath had been crying.
“What’s the matter Heath?” Jorg said softly.
“Please talk to Jacques. He’s decided to end our relationship.”
“What? I thought … no I know he loves you … and no, I didn’t read his mind on this. He told me himself and he allowed me to see how sincere he was,” said Jorg, trying to reassure Heath.
“That was then. Now he’s changed his mind!” stated Heath in grief and anxiety.
“What happened?”
“It’s my fault,” said Heath. “After we came back from your place, he said that I was mean and that I’d probably crushed your heart. I was really angry and I really hated you for getting Jacques to be at your side. Then I realised that I was wrong to have thought that but Jacques said that he saw the hate in me and questioned if we were compatible. He said he’d call on Monday but I’ve been trying to reach him since yesterday and I can’t seem to find him.”
“What do you mean you can’t find him?” asked Jorg. “He’s connected to you. You should be able to sense his presence when you focus.” Jorg was getting worried. He was going through the possibilities of what could have happened and most of them were not pretty sights.
“I can’t seem to sense him anywhere?”
“Let me try,” said Jorg. Using his mind, Jorg reached out and found that the familiar form of Jacques’ mind was nowhere. He reached towards Jorg’s home but he did not find anyone home.
“He didn’t say that he was going away, did he?” he asked Heath.
“No,” came the reply. “If he did, it must’ve been on very short notice.”
It took a while, but Jorg managed to find out where Jacques was. With the help of his network, Jorg found Jacques in hospital. His whole family was there and they were all extremely anxious. From what he was able to read from their projected thoughts, Jacques had gone to bed on Sunday evening and never woke up on Monday. His mother discovered him in bed but in a upright seated position. He was unconscious. His brain was active and the doctors were not able to decipher why he was unconscious.
“Did he say what he was going to do before he called you?” Jorg asked anxiously.
“He’s not in any kind of danger, is he?” asked Heath.
“Not if I know what he’s done,” replied Jorg rather impatiently. “What did he tell you?”
“He said he’d be doing some deep thinking about our relationship,” said Heath.
“Deep thinking … deep thinking about relationship …” Jorg mumbled and then very suddenly he said, “Heath, we’ve got to hurry. If we’re not too late, we can still save him.”
“What do you mean save?” Heath asked fearfully.
“I mean that if we don’t hurry, we might lose the Jacques you love forever.” With that Jorg took hold of Heath’s arm.
Heath found himself in a hospital room and Jacques was in there with monitor chips attached to his brain. His brain activity was very minimal. Outside the room he could see Jacques’ family gathered around, all looking very pale. They seemed to be have been crying. Heath began to panic.
*Don’t panic. We’re still in time.*
*What’s happening, why do I feel different?*
*You aren’t really in the hospital. I’ve projected what I see in my mind into yours. Physically you’re still in your room.*
*What’s happened to Jacques?*
*Remember I said that the further training requires that you open your minds to me?*
*Yes.*
*There’s a reason for this. Theoretically, a magus mind is able to look in on itself. However, there’s one practical difficulty. If you cannot remember the route you took, you may get lost and not find your way out again. That’s why someone experienced must be able to guide you out of your own mind. For that person to guide, that person must be able to stay outside and inside your mind at the same time. If he gets sucked into the mind he’s trying to help, then he won’t be able to come out as well. To be able to stay outside and inside at the same time, the subject must be totally open to the guide. Then, the guide can see the mental route clearly, even that which the subject can’t see himself. With transparency, the guide can reach in without difficulty and call out the subject. A normal trainer would never think of invading the secrets of the student but the student has to trust the teacher or else the route won’t be clear. Jacques must’ve been trying to look at your relationship from an outsider’s view. He must’ve accidentally gone into his own mind without realising it and is now lost. We must go and get him out.*
*What do you mean we? Aren’t you a master? Can’t you just guide Jacques out?*
*Jacques needs to be aware that I’m the guide. If he doesn’t show me himself, I’ll get sucked in. I need you to be my anchor.*
*What?*
*I’m going to latch myself onto your mind. Don’t worry. I won’t be able to see anything you don’t want me to see; not that I’ll be looking anyway. You, on the other hand, would be able to see some things in my mind. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t allow anyone to enter my mind because of the secrets it contains. However, I need to save Jacques. I’m going into Jacques’ mind and try to bring him around. I trust that you wouldn’t be too appalled at the terrible things you’ll see that I’d done for the last six hundred and fifty two years. Can you be my anchor?*
Heath looked at Jacques lying there and then at the man he would not trust. *Yes.*
*Remember don’t let my memories distract you. You’ve got to keep outside so that when I call for you, you’ll be able to direct me out with your mental voice. You’re kinda like my life-line.*
Heath heard a little chuckle when Jorg latched on to his mind. Jorg was strong indeed. Heath could feel his entire presence in him. Then true to what Jorg had said, he felt the presence move away. Yet he could sense different forms around him. Some of these forms were the various emotions within Jorg. Some were memories. There was a memory that was quite transparent. It was regarding a stone in the sea. There were several emotions like pain, fear and anxiety attached to this memory. Heath kept his promise and did not to go there. Heath also experienced the various emotions within Jorg. There was happiness, fear, anger, sadness and loneliness. The most dominant emotion that Heath sensed was loneliness. There were also many transparent memories that were linked to Jorg’s loneliness. These were so evident that Heath found himself experiencing those memories. In fact the loneliness was so overwhelming that Heath almost forgot his role as anchor. Then he remembered Jacques. He moved away from the emotions and got out a potentially fatal situation without mishap. For what seemed like a few hours, he hung on to Jorg whilst trying not to be distracted and engulfed by the great loneliness he sensed in Jorg. He tried focusing on Jacques’ love; that seemed to help a little.
Jorg’s voice was soft when Heath first heard it. He responded by mentally ‘tugging’ at Jorg. Slowly but surely, Jorg’s voice became louder and his presence slowly returned. When it totally returned, Heath thought he sensed Jacques’ presence but it was just for the slightest moment. Then as soon as he had sensed it, it disappeared.
Jorg brought Heath back to the hospital where he could see Jacques’ brain waves starting to strengthen. Jacques eventually awoke and his family could be seen to be crying out of relief.
When they finally came back to Heath’s room, Heath was shocked to see that Jorg had become very pale and his shirt was soaked.
“No matter, Heath,” said Jorg when he noticed the worried look in Heath’s face. “Jacques is now safe. I should be returning.”
“Wait Jorg,” said Heath sheepishly.
“Yes.”
“Thanks.”
Jorg gave a little chuckle and Heath remembered the chuckle just before Jorg went to get Jacques.
“Why the chuckle?”
“The irony that you’re thanking someone that you don’t trust.”
“Not any more. I think I’m beginning to trust you.”
“That’s nice to hear.”
“Actually, I was asking about the chuckle just before you went in to get Jacques,” Heath explained.
“Oh that!” said Jorg. “When I latched on, you projected a particular feeling that I found very familiar. Then I guessed why you haven’t been able to start your psychic powers.”
“You did?”
“You’re a bottom, aren’t you?” asked Jorg with a knowing smile.
“Bottom?” asked Heath not really understanding but realised what Jorg was talking about after a second or so.
Heath blushed and was about to tick Jorg off when Jorg continued, “I didn’t want to discuss sex with you guys but now I think it must be part of the agenda if you want to develop your magi powers. Bye!” Jorg disappeared from Heath’s room before Heath could react.
Heath pondered a little while and realised that he was privy to many of Jorg’s personal life. In many ways, Jorg had placed himself in his power in order to save Jacques. That made Heath very sorry and guilty that he had mistrusted Jorg. Since Jorg had taken the risk to trust him, he could not but keep quiet about everything he had discovered about Jorg. He told himself that he could not even tell Jacques.
*Heath!* Heath sensed a familar mental voice.
*Yes Jacques,* he replied. *It’s great to have you back.*
*Thanks Heath,* came Jacques’ reply. *Jorg told me how you helped him to draw myself out from that scary place.*
*Come on, your mind isn’t that scary.* replied Heath.
*It is, especially when you get lost in it,* retorted Jacques. *I was very fortunate that you weren’t angry with me. Jorg might not have reached me in time if you called on him one day later.*
*Jacques, I’m truly sorry that I doubted your love. I’m truly sorry that I flew off the handle like that last week. I can’t promise never to get angry, but I do promise never to stay angry with you,* apologised Heath. *I love you very, very much.*
*I know. I’m sorry for reacting so badly as well.* replied Jacques. Then he added, *Jorg was quite sketchy with what happened. Could you tell me what happened?*
Heath told him. Of course, he left out what he experienced and sensed in Jorg’s mind.
Please don’t hesitate to write me with your comments or read my blog to see when the next part is coming out.