Chapter 6 – Education

James got back to his room to see Silk in a classroom. James had realized two things in the fight, one materializing took a bit more time than changing the properties and it took less time for him to heal any physical injury.

"What's going on?" James asked.

"Apparently I need to learn the basics of abilities and then they'll send us into an arena for entertainment."

"Lucky us. As you said, information is power so listening is inherently necessary for our survival."

"You sound like such a geek."

"No, I just want to survive this, and get you into trouble."

"And who are you talking too," the teacher scolded.

"No one sir. Sorry sir." It answered. It paused confused, "Sir, why do I respect you. I have no control."

"Where you not listening. As I just explained all demons, and that is what you are called, are genetically modified to be superior to humans but to keep you all under control from events like what happened in London we tracked you down and have made you respect humans with a bit of jiggery pokery." The teacher was pack in front of the class.

"James, can you do me another favour. I don't like the idea of being controlled."

James paused considering the options. "I will, but on a condition."

"What condition."

"I will tell you that if I succeed in removing the respect issue." James got up throwing the cane to the side as he felt fine now. Opening the door, he entered Silk's mind. It had changed a tiny bit since he was last here which was only minutes ago. The plane now had a light blue tinge.

James looked to see if anything was unusual but didn't see much. A fiddle lay on the ground which he picked up and tentatively tried to play but only a few screeches came out. He placed it back carefully on the ground. James looked up in the sky to see a floating island which looked way too technological to be natural.

"Bingo," he smirked. "Why do people never look up." He imagined a ladder coming down from it and it started forming from the ground up. The process took significantly longer than the shield and James reckoned it had taken ten minutes of focus. Taking a step up the ladder he realised how stupid this idea this was. Not willing to give up he kept going.

It took James one hour of none stop climbing to get to the top of the floating island. He inspected the circuitry trying to derive meaning from all off it. He couldn't. He imagined a piece of copper in his hand and placed it across two wires to short circuit the technological monstrosity. It didn't work.

"That should have worked unless..." James realised that the island was just a representation of the mind control and he had missed it before because Silk hadn't known about it so there couldn't be a representation, however he had caused physical damage to the lady before so he could influence some aspects of the physical world.

James climbed back to the ground. He imagined lava poring on top of the island and watched it melt away. His intention was to use the placebo affect ad hope that worked. He went back to his room.

"You should be fine now." He imagined a bed and then collapsed on it as it had been a long day. "What did you learn in your lesson?"

"Magic is real and we were mad to harness that power. The Demons in this complex are defective. We were made to lead a war against other worlds so this one can survive with its limited resources and there are a group of demons who trapped us in the school who are rebelling against serving humans as they think themselves superior."

"Do you seriously believe that."

"There is an element of truth but does that matter. For some reason I don't have the urge to convert humans into demons. Probably your fault."

"Not a bad thing. Did you learn how to use your ability?"

"A bit. I can bend the light so things look further or closer to you."

"Refraction then. By any chance do you imagine something going around the object."

"Yes. Some sort of scientific principle I guess."

"You could probably diffract the light by imagining that energy as a wall with small slit. If you have more than one slit you could confuse people with maximums and minimums."

"Dumb that down for me would you."

He sighed. "Do as I said and you can confuse people by making areas louder and quieter. For light I presume it would make areas with different colours. It doesn't work on people but only on waves?"

"I gather that's true." He said unsurely. "What do you want for that favour?"

"Nothing right now." He understood that what he had done may not have been effective so didn't ask anything for an ineffective treatment. "Can you use magic." Magic had always been James's dream and the very thought made him excited enough to run one hundred metres in under ten seconds.

"No, abilities use the same energy and you can't split it. Someone in the class tried and now he's dead in a ditch, literally."

"What is the function of this facility.?"

"Too whittle down the numbers while showing the rest of humanity why we are such a valuable asset in the form of a TV show. They want to show us in the best light so they are training us her first. If we lose they will modify us further to be better fighters."

"Brutal. They are teaching you how to physically defeat others, right."

"Yes, however I thought it would be a good idea to focus on my ability."

"Why?" James asked confused at the thought. If it did this it would be taking out a substantial tool in its arsenal.

"I wouldn't want to be a Jack of all trades but a master of none."

"Read up you scrub," he retorted. "A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one."

"If you don't master an art you won't be able to overpower an opponent with it."

"Yes, but you will be able to buy time with your own multiple skills while looking for weaknesses to exploit."

"So, won't either method work for our survival."

"No, your method involves hoping you have developed your technique further than your opponent and said opponent isn't your natural weakness. My method involves trickery and craftiness, fighting on an intellectual level of bluffs and double bluffs and ultimately every fight becomes a test of wits. This may result on every fight being harder but at least you have a chance."

"You feel very passionately on this."

"Yes."

"I'll go to the fighting class then." It stood up and walked out the cell without any problems. It knew exactly where he was going which impressed James as it had never been there before. It entered the room to find the lesson hadn't started yet. Silk went to the wall.

"Sit," the instructor commanded. Everyone obeyed.

"I thought you undid the respect issue." Silk mumbled.

"I lied."