2 Exploding Anger Suppressed by an Inner Peace

Watching as the descending club reached around a foot from my head, something finally seemed to snap.

This snapping seemed to come from within myself rather than the outer world, and along with it came a feeling of intense, boiling rage. This anger felt nothing like the previous anger.

Wherein my previous anger left me feeling a serene calm, this rage seemed all-encompassing, blanketing out any other emotions or thoughts I'd previously been experiencing.

As such, all that ran through my head was thoughts of death to the creature currently trying to turn my skull into paste.

In this state, I had no conscious control of what happened next, something that even left me in a shocked state. I watched on as the rage I felt seemed to twist, awakening some form of energy I'd never felt before.

A sensation overtook me soon after, feeling as if nothing I'd ever experienced before. This feeling appeared as if my energy was slowly being sapped from me, instead being sucked into a location somewhere to my right.

As I looked over to this location, I found my eyes widening in surprise at the sight that appeared before them. This sight was that of a canvass, specifically one of the canvasses that I kept within my backpack.

However, this canvass was different from the other; where the other canvasses were kept in my bag in remembrance of a better time, this one was instead kept as a reminder to myself of my decision.

It was the last thing I ever did before fully disconnecting myself from interacting with the supernatural.

That was, to paint one of the most beautiful things I'd ever seen. It was a mythical creature, one I had spotted in this very forest years ago. It's beauty had drawn me in to the point that I had subconsciously taken out my art supplies, painting a mural of it that was the most vivid I'd created to date.

This creature was none other than that of a Unicorn, something that signified purity and innocence. As time passed, I feared that I had lost the ability to recreate the painting, my connection to the emotions required to create such a vivid image of it disappearing as my fog of fear slowly took hold.

Along with my loss of the ability to draw said creature, I had never seen it in the forest afterwards since. This, eventually, led me to the conclusion that one needed a certain amount of purity and innocence to even see the creatures; a right I knew I had lost with my growing cynicism.

This was the one regret I had always felt about separating myself from the world of the supernatural; the loss of creatures I once found myself growing close to.

So, to watch on as this painting slowly seemed to come to life, showing me the beautiful creature I had thought lost to me, was like a dream come true. And furthermore, watching this creature seeming bring a peace to the rage that had taken hold of me.

Feeling a wave of calm rise through me at the creature, I watched on as the ogre stopped its savage attack, a look of terror rooting itself to its once brutal face. After all, for a creature of such darkness to meet something so pure, it was as if the ogre's greatest nightmare came true.

Before my very eyes, I watched on as the scene continued to rapidly change, the ogre rushing off into the forest, disappearing under the tree lines, as the unicorn remained rooted to its spot, seemingly disdaining to chase such a foul creature.

After the ogre had fully gone, not even the loud clomping of its hurried steps even being heard, only then did the scene change.

The unicorn, which had been to that point just staring at the disappearing ogre, turned its gaze toward me. As it stared at me, my emotions seemed to be sent into haywire, warring with one another.

On one hand, I felt a sudden sense of ease and peace within the presence of the creature that was the embodiment of purity and innocence. While on the other hand, I seemed to lose control of my mind as memories began to appear one after another, seemingly outside of my control. Each and every one of these memories was about something I had done wrong in the past, leading to an increasing feeling of guilt rising within me.

While I feel that most people would become lost in this sea of conflicting emotions, I didn't. This was because I had experienced this feeling in the past; though, my memories of things I'd done wrong was never quite as large as it was now.

While I say that, it isn't as though I've lived a life full of wronging others, it's just that I'm comparing myself to my child self, someone whose worst memory was staying out later than they were supposed to. On the contrary, even now I still had very few bad memories that were brought up.

This was something I considered as natural; after all, how could anybody wish to pursue a life of evil when they had encountered the literal embodiment of good? Even after so long, I had never once done something worse than jaywalking, the memory of the Unicorn resting on my mind whenever any errant thoughts would arise.

So, as the Unicorn stared at me for what felt like an eternity but was probably less than a minute, it eventually let out a nod, as if satisfied with something. At the sight of this, I couldn't help but to let out a breath, as if I had just unknowingly passed some type of test.

Before I could react, the creature of beauty slowly approached me, gently nuzzling its muzzle into the crook of my neck, its figure slowly disappearing. As the Unicorn disappeared, a pure white light took its place, something that slowly flooded into me.

As the energy rushed into my body, my eyes closed as a feeling of serenity washed over me that was indescribable, far outstripping what I had previously been feeling.

With a deep inhalation of air, I stared up at the now clear blue skies, the trees above me gently swaying along with the slight breeze that seemed to cradle me as it passed.

A serene smile rested on my face, the serenity I was currently experiencing being so strong that I felt as if on cloud nine, my figure almost floating out of the forest and to my home.

~~~~

Waking up the next day, I immediately could tell that the events of the previous night hadn't been a dream. Even after a night of rest, the remnant energy of the Unicorn still rested in me, leaving me with a calm that didn't seem to fade.

However, now that a night had passed, I could think with a much clearer mind even through the peacefulness.

And the more I thought, the more confused I became.

As someone who viewed themselves as reasonably intelligent, it didn't take me long to conclude that the Unicorn hadn't appeared out of nowhere; rather, it had somehow come from the painting I had made in my youth.

It also didn't hurt that after viewing the painting I had made, I noticed the distinct lack of vibrancy within the image of the Unicorn that had once shone so brilliantly it appeared alive.

Atop this, I also remembered the emotions of rage that had rushed out of me, flooding into the painting and bringing it to life.

As someone who was aware of the supernatural since a young age, I had obviously hoped to awake some form of superpower since a young age, wishing to become some sort-of real life superhero.

So, awakening this power left me with a feeling of intense excitement, one so vivid I would currently be vibrating were it not for the feelings of peace that still coursed through me.

This excitement I felt was only amplified by my new revelation within the forest; I would no longer ignore a part of the world. Rather, I would embrace it and slowly explore it, gaining the power to protect myself from all that was out there.

With all this in mind, it was no wonder that I was currently residing in the forest once more, this time far closer to the town to make sure nothing untoward would occur once again.

Currently, I had some of my paintings before me as I tried to pull upon the energy that had pulled one to life once more. Surprisingly, this energy came to me rather naturally. However, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't bring the paintings of the forest out.

I tried everything, from visualizing the effect I wanted, to pouring this newfound energy into the painting, I even tried pulling on a strong emotion to see if I could replicate what occurred the night before.

Frustratingly however, no matter what I did, no results were brought about. Letting out a grunt of irritation, I took a deep breath, using the ever-present calming energy to calm my increasing frustrations.

Instead, I decided to bunker down, using the one thing I could always rely on in difficult times - my intelligence.

So, I sat there in silence, letting my brain compare and contrast the two scenarios, trying to figure out what was present then that was now missing. Eventually, I came to the conclusion that there were two options; one would be that I needed the pressure of danger to push out my ability, and the other was that I needed something supernatural to bring about an effect.

Not eager to place myself into a dangerous situation once more, I chose to focus my attentions on the second option, leaving the first as a last resort.

So, I got to work with a gusto and enthusiasm I had never felt before; after all, once I'd found out about the supernatural world, I had found the regular world to be mundane even if subconsciously. Once I'd found the opportunity to focus my attentions on the supernatural without having to snap myself out of it, my brain began flying on all cylinders.

With a blank canvass before me and a brush in my hands, it took me no time at all to begin the process of creating another art piece. This time, I used references from my mind to create a mythical creature I'd never seen before, something that I had found myself fascinated in for a long time.

This creature was the mighty Jormungandr, a snake said to be capable of swallowing the world.

As I pictured the creature, I found my hands moving deftly, their speed being faster than any art piece I'd ever made before.

In no time, I'd finished the piece, my eyes staring at it with an intensity they rarely held. Before me lay one of the pieces I could proudly call among my best, the imagery depicted being so vivid I found it hard to believe I'd never seen the creature in real life.

The painting depicted that of a large serpentine figure with spikes layering its thick scales, its body coiling around itself as it peaked out of a vast ocean, scales of a black color that was brightened by a light blue peaking through the gaps, a large row of mane-like spikes atop its body that appeared in a purple reminiscent of lightning, with its large dragon-like face poised to strike out, aimed toward the viewer. (Image here.)

As I viewed the image, I felt a deep satisfaction at the emotions the painting contained. It wasn't even close to the first time that I had marveled at my own ability to seemingly bring paintings to life, and now I had a semblance as to why.

Shaking my head of these distracting thoughts, I took a deep breath in preparation for what would happen next.

Sticking my hand out, I pushed the energy out through it and into the painting before me, immediately feeling a change from all of my previous attempts. I watched on in fascination as the image seemed to shine a bright purple in color, something seeming to appear before it.

(As stated in the tags, the main character of this story isn't human, at least not fully. I'm confident however, that nobody will be able to figure out the main characters race. So confident in fact, that if someone manages to guess the race of the mc, I'll allow them to decide something in the story.)