Thanks for reading so far into my online novel, "Super Derek". In chapter TWO, I hope to reveal more of the powers that had gifted Derek his strength and abilities. Who were the witches really against? Answers to questions raised in chapter ONE. I only had time to write half a chapter but it's interesting reading where it stops. Will add the rest tomorrow if possible. Nuclear war happens!
1. Confrontation with the cloaks
The air in the house at the end of the cul-de-sac was spotlessly clean. Not a string of microbes existed for Derek to enter. But as the monks -what he called them, brushed their shoes, and slipped them off on the large coconut fiber doormat, he materialized through the tiny spores of fungi trapped in it. He jumped into the hall and grew to his full height by an ornate standing vase.
It's me, he said, touching his charred face. The wood had needed some time to burn through. And you desire healing? I don't have enough skin. Well, I have something that might help. The head monk came over with a neatly folded bundle. He unwrapped it. It was a cloak like they all wore. He put it on. It was silky and warm and seemed to cast the right shadows that he appeared normal within. It is charmed, said the monk. Use it well. Derek began to feel their combined energies and it sustained and soothed his damaged body. He would live but as a monster.
Es, Derek called from outside her window. He hung in the air like a dandelion puff caught in a dust devil, let me in.
Something's not right with you... Yes, I'm burnt, but the witches -I got them driven out of the neighborhood. They're out there -somewhere, and it's not safe. I came to see what you think of me. Deep in the shadows of the cloak, his face, hands, and feet emerged, scarred by flame but still alive. Oh, Derek! Esmeralada turned away, nauseated. Do I look so hideous to you? No, Derek. I see what you suffered. You know who you really are. His eyes closed as if to pray, meditate on her wisdom. I cannot touch you anymore. Tears ran down her face. Is who I really am important, anymore -if I can't have you? A wind stirred up in her room and Derek was gone.
*Derek* The whisper came as he hid within the comfort cloak that hung in the air by his lampshade. Do you now know who we are? Monks? A secret coven maybe? He sounded tired. Derek, the skin under your underpants can help regrow your face, and the rest of you. What's the catch? An eye appeared from the shadow of his hood. You cannot ever take off this second skin, nor are you to make love to anyone. Then how will it work! He almost screamed and the monks' voices faded away. He wondered about the witches and how they'd milked him as he was tied up and tortured. What became of his seed. Perhaps it held a solution.
But little did he suspect if was his greatest weakness -he must not ever leave any of his cells behind, more so live sperm. Perhaps the cloaked monks knew the future when they sheathed him in a second skin. Still the cloak they gave him provided many comforts and additional abilities. He fell asleep and into a torrid dream of making love to Esmeralda, looking like a corpse.
2. Picking through bones
Lotus, Quen, and their family were jeered out of town by everyone young and old but the coven of 6 stopped their MPV just 10 miles from town. At a Texas Chicken joint, open 24 hours. As the other patrons filtered out and the sky was darkening, We're homeless, blurted Lotus almost in tears. And the data -it's all gone? Yeah, all of it. At least we nailed Derek, said Quen with a cruel smirk. Dad said, we got more than our friend -eh, we have his super-powered little men and I think I know how we'll use them.
Their plan, as they crunched though fried chicken, was to get Derek in trouble were he still alive, by inseminating key women in and around the town, maybe in big cities nearby. They kept his sperm on ice. Lotus twirled her hair thinking about it. Secretly, she wanted his child too. And she imagined herself dancing for him again as she partook of his fluids, cradling her womb, bursting with the waters of birth pains. How she would writhe for his child as he looked on like Stupid Derek always did -puzzled and care-free. She kicked her leg onto his and there was nothing. He's on a different wavelength or we're just rattled, said Quen. Finish up here, and we'll sneak back to the house when it's dark. They'll soon know to fear us and obey -again.
Lotus was apt at weaving prophecy. She had woven a tapestry so thorough over Derek, that no one dared contravene it. Kept many a kid and family man in line. Now the symbol of their power -their mansion-like home was burnt to the ground.
The files they kept on his conversations, and the photos they showed kids -him and the little boy kissing, a dog taking him from behind, etc. not a single pixel out of place, though it was in black and white which was easier to forge -all gone.
In near darkness, in their witch cloaks, Quen and Lotus stepped into the ruins of their old home. The hemp bindings are missing. He may have taken those to analyze. Then maybe he'll rip off his underpants and find out a little too late, they both sniggered. God wasn't a crab -He was apparently a chemist. Close, Quen my boy (as we'll soon see), but... no cigar.
There were teeth and bones in Lotus' hand. She jiggled them as they stepped over the debris. The vibes led her to a corner of the basement and they dug under the wood and ash, it was Esmeralda's silver wedding ring. It was damaged from the heat of the blaze. Lotus pocketed it. It would come in handy later when she re-wove Derek's prophecy in-absentia if necessary.
3. Derek's solitude
There was an islet someway off the coast. It was craggy with a slope of rough green leading up to spreading trees clinging for dear life to the precipice. Derek discovered that there was a cave system beneath, a sinkhole which teemed with life as there was a hidden coral ridge that at low tide, was cross-able to those who knew its winding way like the pygmy deer did, and the wildcats.
Close to nature, he took stock of himself. He still had his lips, his eyelids, his nose, but they were a mess. If it weren't for his powers he would have died from 4th degree burns. Batman had the Bat Cave. Superman had his Arctic fortress, what did Nature man have? A sinkhole -he laughed, not caring that anyone heard. And there was someone who did.
Derek, you know me from the past. Who? A cloaked figure stepped into the shaft of light from the sinkhole that Derek was bathing in. He removed his hood and turned his face up towards the light. You're the town tailor -Pete, how long have you been hiding? But the figure wasn't interested in small talk. Derek, we are an order and our work is blessed by the Most High. Order of what? Of cloth, fabric, cloaks -even underpants. Derek's heart began to beat faster. I thought you were powerful, holy, now... Well, everyone has to start somewhere. But we digress, Pete was visibly impatient. Everything we've done for you is correct. Everything you've done for yourself is, well, wrong -I'm afraid you must be trained. Here, on this island -our base -tell no one.
Where does life come from? From the breath of God? Yes, but not precisely. What is breath? Power? No, breath is work. Spirit is power. Work along with power is wisdom. Why isn't wisdom something you read in a book, hear from an angel? Derek, we speak in objective terms, when you work, move heaven and earth even, and that power is provided for it -that equates to understanding the problems you, as a creation, face and have to surmount. An ant will never be very wise though it were obedient, meticulous, loyal. Technology does not take one far either. But it is the restriction, sacrifice of our bodies, our desires that generates true wisdom, and miracles, sometime may they occur. Silence. Derek thought he heard soft penetrating laughter.
Help and permission is given you to restore yourself. And with that, Pete faded into the shadows.
As the afternoon grew hotter, Derek summoned the woman, with Pete's powers. He had been cherry picking females, DNA-wise, to get the ideal one. She appeared, in a haze of mist in which he could see her internals, mostly. He commanded her egg and his seed to merge. They hung the air in a gentle vortex over the pond, in the half light of the sinkhole as the embryo began to develop. Blood pulsed like fire through his veins, he attached greedily to its self-differentiating cells.
He would regrow but perhaps not as the old Derek. Trauma had changed him -deep within he wanted to be someone else. Pete cowered in terror.
I might as well be who I want to be.
4. Miracle at the beach cricket match
Quen and Lotus were at the beach cricket match between the 'visitors and residents'. It lacked imagination but sometimes such things didn't matter. Large hat and sunglasses with tan lotion streaked across their faces. But Derek, he knew their thoughts -dark witches. They couldn't sense him though they had trained the town's radar onto him (before the fire scourged him) because he had grown himself purposely different. The difference ripped at his soul -his love, and being so, scars remained, criss-crossing his face and body. Luckily the cloak Pete had given him hid those marks nicely while everyone else turned to gaze at something else -privacy, another reason why Tailor float cloaks were so prized.
Lotus and Quen passed him at the makeshift bar, nursing a Heineken shandy. I can feel him here but where? Derek swallowed hard as the witch duo plied through the crowd. Perhaps he had been too bold but he loved beach cricket.
Esmeralda was also at the event and she was dressed in a short beach skirt with a necklace of shells over her bosoms. Derek stared at her as yet again nothing stirred. And he wondered if beauty were pointless without the ability to know it, produce / re-produce it. She had never gone topless while he was still in her life. Perhaps it was the prophecy. Let her go, it came from behind him -the Hawaiian and his cousin. Shh, said the pouty bikini-clad woman. Wanna deal, I have some watches on me right now? Not a good time but what the hey. And I broke up with my boyfriend. I'm single -and available, fly boy. But someone else hunkier caught her eye.
Derek, whispered the Hawaiian, I knew it was you -how you been since the fire? You all healed? Something's different -are you Derek? He slapped Derek across the jaw. That's for the bitch you took. I'm sorry, he whispered again. Okay, boss, I don't know how you believe two people so different you have to slap them, are both 'Derek'. Who the heck is Derek to you? Show me those watches. His watch hand peeked out of the sleeve of his cloak and the Hawaiian beamed, it was the boy. Somehow he'd survived.
There's war now. Kyoko's boyfriend left to serve. He laid a hand on Derek's shoulder. You ought to as well. Derek shrunk a little. He could single-handedly win the war for America. A one man disease carrying army. He could do it right from this bar stool. He remembered his comic book heroes with super powers. Why should the world go on so ordinarily while they lived among us. A paradox he would soon explore and need to answer for. Why, he could at anytime become a billionaire or a famous scientist with a mansion and a Stella 'Aire. Serve... it cut him both ways. Just like he felt someone else's hands on Esmeralda's breasts.
And of a sudden he was alone and Pete stood before him. The sunshine turned to a brewing storm with crashing waves that made no sound. Derek, the city's been hit by a ballistic warhead. Why -what should we do? Move I suppose... But you see this town is kinda where we want to be. Favors for favors Derek. What can you do to keep us safe, this bubble won't last forever. Oh, I thought we were dead. You would have been and everyone at your cricket match as well. Is it a nuke? Pete nodded.
[stopping here for now]
5. War until the end
6. Weakness is its solution
7. Ghost town
8. The underpants for God's sake!
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