Tao

“You’re sitting between the lines much better now,” My dad said, looking down the side of the car from the passenger seat “no more of putting the driver seat in the centre of the lane. You’ll turn out to be a great driver, a natural, Tao.”

I smiled as I shifted into a higher gear.

“Shush dad, You’ll break my concentration. I need utmost silence.”

Dad ignored me, lost in his happy mood.

“We’ll wait until you get your hours up before we bring you into proper traffic; make sure you get used to changing gears a bit better. I know you want to show off to your friends but let’s focus on staying on the road for now. Hey, after this drive you would have driven for over ten hours! That’s into the double digits!”

I had just finished a training session for my wushu back in the city and my father had the brilliant idea of taking ‘the long way home’ to practise my driving, which consisted of driving out far into the country and back into the city. I haven’t even gotten changed out of my sports clothes; I just shrugged on a sports jacket, put my wushu gear into the back seat and drove off. I was very proud of my wushu gear, which mainly consisted of pads to kick in training, but I also had a staff and a few blunt traditional swords. I’m saving up to buy double hook swords.

“You know, I was a little worried for you before,” my dad continued ranting. “After you got that tattoo, your mother and I were scared you were going down a dangerous path. You know how we feel about tattoos, yet you still went out and got one! You weren’t even old enough! Your mother was furious! But a tattoo is a life choice; there is nothing we could do about it.”

I became very conscious of my forearm. The tattoo was very visible, just above my rolled up jacket. I didn’t actually get it done; it kind of appeared in my sleep one night. I was about 14 when it happened.  Of course, nobody would believe me, so when my parents found out, I told them I had gotten a tattoo.

My dad kept talking, and I blocked him out while he talked of nothing of importance.

The road was simple, a single lane road with vast farms out to either side. We’d left the city far behind, and the sun was almost directly above us, casting our shadows right underneath the car. We had barely seen another car, but now I slide behind a long truck loaded with logs, lined up through its body and tied together with strong straps. I shifted my speed to match the trucks.

“Okay, Tao, we’re going to check the lane in the opposite direction to see if there are any cars coming, then, if it’s safe you can slide out and overtake the truck.”

Slowly, I turned the wheel so I was straddling the dotted line in the centre of the road.

“All clea-“ I was cut off as the truck of logs exploded.

It wasn’t a regular firey-metal-hell explosion, but an explosion of dark tendrils emerging from the gaps between the logs at breakneck speed, like someone had stuck a stick of dynamite inside a black octopus. Under the force of the explosion the braces holding the truck together broke, and logs flew everywhere, rolling onto the road and flying into the air.

I did the only think I could do to save my life. I slowed down time.

I’ve barely used my power before except for a few times during my wushu competitions and once to gain extra time in an exam, but I knew my limitations. I once stopped time completely but I had a blood nose and passed out, only to wake up with dried blood on my face, and time reverting to its original speed. What I can do, if I focus enough, is slow down time into a slow motion state.

The problem is, I was the only one in slow motion. Even though it was moving slow, my car was still moving at 90 kilometres per hour.

I took a quick scan of the explosion and mapped out the paths of the flying logs. After a quick mental plan, I found a safe path through to the other side of the road which would leave the car undamaged.

I turned the wheel and the car skidded to the side, moving through my planned path to safety. The turn through the logs was sharp, and I felt the car tip to the side, two wheels leaving the ground. If I didn’t take some serious course of action, we were going to roll.

Slowing time even more, I slammed on the breaks and spun the car around, shifting the gearstick into reverse. As I turned to look out the back window to continue driving in reverse down the path, I tasted blood dripping from my nose and onto my lips. My focus faded, and time started speeding up more.

By the time we had screeched to a halt on the side of the road, time was back to normal and the coppery taste of blood was thick in my mouth.

“Tao! your nose! Did you hit it on the wheel?”

I looked at the accident lying across the road. The black tendrils I saw in the explosion were nowhere to be seen.

“Yeah, fine, but did you see those things? The black octopus things when the truck fell apart.”

I opened the door and ran towards the trucks cabin lying on its side.

“Tao come back!”

“What if the driver is alive? Or hurt?”

“Let me do it! I don’t want you seeing anything life-scarring!”

But it was too late; I reached the cabin as my father struggled with his seat belt. The cabin was on its side, the passenger window blocked out with the airbags. My shoes crunched the glass into the asphalt as I peered into the driver’s seat.

My father called from over at the car.

“Tao, can you see anything? What’s happening?”

I can’t see anything, it’s too dark. I go to reach into my phone to use it as a torch, when the shadows reach out and attack me. Like a rabid dog with tentacles, a dark blob launches itself at my face and latches itself around my head. Through the slime I can hear my dad screaming. With time slowed down, I reach up and wrap my hands in the slime, and with a mighty heave I throw the thing onto the ground.

With a quick breather, the blob reforms itself onto eight spindly legs, much like an overgrown spider. To my horror, more of the black goo climbs out of the cabin and joins onto the original blob, creating a car sized monstrosity. It no longer stands on thin spider legs, but rather thick, whipping tentacles. A dark cavern forms in the body, and I guess that it is the equivalent of the mouth.

My immediate thought (which I’m quite proud of) was the safety of my father. I turned back; ready to run towards my dad when a thunderous boom shook the logs on the road. A disk shaped cloud passes with breakneck speed, and carries my father away down the road.

“Dad…”

The giant blob of dark gives another roar and raises two tentacles above its… body mass. In slowed time, I duck underneath its attack before the tentacles small on the ground and I stab at the underbelly with a shard of broken metal. I swivel on the balls of my feet and run out from underneath the monster as another thick arm swipes at me. With another piece of jagged metal, I climb up a tentacle and stab the stick into its back. It acts as if it didn’t even feel the attack.

Rolling off the monster, I prepare myself for yet another attack. The thunderous boom hits again, but this time I’m ready. I slow down time as quickly as I can and turn to find the maker of the noise. A large cloud approaches, just like what I had seen before on Youtube clips of jets breaking the sound barrier.  As the object gets closer, I see that it isn’t a jet, or any mechanical object at all. It’s a boy. His hair is parted with the wind, and he wears goggles on his head. As he approaches I can see more detail, but he moves quicker. I catch the hint of a sharp defined chin and dark focused eyes. This time, as he passes, he grabs me underneath my armpits and pulls me away.

I see the black monster disappear in the distance. The wind whips at my eyes, forcing them shut and I turn my head and bury my face into the boy’s chest. Wrapping my arms around him, I hold myself close to his body until the wind stops and I can feel my feet touch the ground.

“Are you alright?” The boy asks, his face showing genuine worry.

“Yeah, just a little shaken up. What was that thing?”

“We… we don’t know exactly. That was the first time I’d seen it like that.”

“We…?”

“Look, I can answer all your questions later, but I need to make sure you’re the right one. Do you… do you have one of these?” The boy lifts up his shirt and shows me his tattoo on the side of his stomach. I can’t help but be a tad distracted at all the skin, but when I focus on the small dragon mark, my eyes widen.

“I have the same one! Well, it’s different, but… you didn’t get it actually done, right? It just appeared overnight.”

The boy smiled.

“There are some people I’d like you to meet. You might not want to, but you kind of have to. We can’t go to your place. You’d just put your family in danger. We are in terrible danger. I’m sure you’ve already noticed that, after that thing back there.” The boy paused. “Truth is, we need you. We’re desperately in trouble and our only hope is to find all of us.”

“So, I guess there’s quite a few of us then?”

“Six of us, plus you, and five of us unfound. And I guess… a tree, or a girl. Or both, I’m still getting my head around the whole concept.”

­­

I knew that I should be going back, checking if my family are alright, or saying goodbye, but this boy is difficult to disagree with. It’s something about the way his face looks so fierce, yet he seems to be so happy to see me. I always knew I was made for something special, ever since the mark appeared.

I take a deep breath.

“So, where are we going?”