Children of a Lesser God

"Auntie Cal. Long time no see..."

"Long time no see eh? That's what you say when you see me again boy? What you been doing, eh?"

"Oh. Nothing much."

"I be knowing dat. You never been doing much. Bless my sister's heart how did she end up with such a useless boy? You been getting into trouble again, ain't cha?"

"NO. No. Course not. Course not."

"Well boy, den you be hard at work, trying to fix up that flimsy core of yours?"

"Yes. Yeah. Of course... No. I mean. No I haven't gotten..." Dwayne knew he made a mistake as soon as he agree with her. Before he could even correct himself, several wisps of green flame appeared around madam Cal and went charging at Dwayne.

"OH COME ON..." The wisps of flame hit Dwayne, one after another, causing his entire body to burst into flames. Strangely enough, although Dwayne was twisting around in pain, there was no damage to the floor or even his clothes. The flame seemed to focus on only his flesh.

"Seeing you not even able to stand a flame of this level boy makes me really understand you ain't been doing nothing to improve yerself."

Laz was actually watching on with interest since this was the first time he had seen another infected using a flame type of attack. He could tell from the waves of energy coming off madam Cal that she was also in the foundation realm, except that her foundation seemed really stable and not weak in the slightest. He couldn't help but nod his head in approval. This action was clearly seen by Aaron.

The interesting part to note was that although Laz met with madam Cal before, he had never made it on the Aaron's radar. As the leader of the Vodun, Aaron had been out and about, getting people organized, setting up safe houses for those who had awakened but needed a safe place to be and trying his best to keep his people safe and out of the crosshairs of anyone who would have a problem with them.

The number of people within the Vodun was many times larger than either the council or the Vampyres and that was mostly thanks to Aaron.

Madam Cal had mention that she had met with Laz at the request of her spirit contacts, but that was as far as it went and Aaron didn't think much of it because she didn't mention that anymore thought about it was needed.

But now, this young man was sitting across from him again and now he was being told from his beloved wife that this boy who looked to still be in his teens was stronger than him. It wasn't just a matter of his pride being hurt, it was more like his position was being challenged. He was, after all, already in the late foundation realm. Although he couldn't feel Laz's strength, he didn't think it would match up to his.

After around ten minutes of torture, Madam Cal finally stopped assaulting her nephew. When she finally sat down again, she smiled at Laz and explained.

"Dis boy be doing nothing but getting in trouble ever since he came here. My sister had sent him here since he awakened as we could take better care of him, yet in all that time he don't be practicing, he be spending time with the fairer sex and he be causing trouble with those damn leeches. Then, a few nights ago, he just goes and disappears. Then he shows up with yos, saying you been killing. So be it, but since he was there it be easy to see that he be up to no good again."

"Ah..."

"Ahh..? Brotha? That's all you be saying when I was getting cooked like a pig at a bbq?" Surprisingly enough, Dwayne had recovered enough to crawl back and drag himself on to a chair. It seemed like although she was showing him some tough love, his aunt Cal had gone easy on him.

"ENOUGH." For whatever reason, Aaron seemed to lose his cool at this moment. Looking at the two young men, he seemed to feel like he would never get anywhere if he didn't direct the conversation.

"Alright. You boy, my wife seems to think highly of you for reasons I'm sure only she can understand. And you say you wish to cooperate. Well, I'll give you that chance."

"Alright!".

"But only on one condition."

"And... what would that be?"

"Fight me."

"Sorry?" Laz thought he had misheard.

"Fight me. Show me your strength. Show me you're a man I can believe in."

Laz didn't say anything. He just looked at the old man for a moment while thinking.

It wasn't that he didn't want to fight him or was afraid to fight him, it was simply a fact that minus the training bouts with Julia, the only people he had fought lately had been either far weaker than him or someone that he had just planned on killing anyway. To fight someone, full strength without trying to kill them... was that something he could do?

Seeing the look on his face, Aaron seemed to understand.

"Do you doubt my strength boy?"

"I just... don't know if I can fight at full strength without trying to kill you."

Aaron took what he said in for a moment before bursting out with laughter.

"You think you can kill me boy? AHAHAH. That's a good one. Truly a good one. So be it boy. You kill me, then no harm done. It will just mean that I am far too weak. But I must add something as well."

"What?"

"No harm then if I be killing you, right? AH HA HA HA." While laughing, Aaron stood up and opened the door, motioning for all of them to follow him.

Laz turned to look at the now much younger looking madam Cal and saw her simply return a smile back. Laz knew she would be no help.

With no other arguments to make, Laz followed along.

Unsurprisingly to Laz, they ended up in the basement of the shop, a massively open space that seemed far bigger than the tiny shop that sat on top of it. Looking around, Laz was impressed to see that the walls had been reinforced along with the supports. It seemed like there had been some serious time put into making the area safe.

As Laz looked closer, he noticed several blotches of dried up blood stains on the concrete floor as well. It seemed like this area was regularly used for some intense training... or torture. Laz wasn't really able to judge since it looked like everything had been cleaned up before they got down there.

"Surprised?" Aaron asked, watching Laz look around the room.

"Not really. It would make sense to have a place like this in the basement," Laz replied honestly. In truth, Laz was mentally measuring the entire room. One of the things that he remembered from training with Kat was that you should always observe everything around you to make absolutely certain you understood the terrain. Once a fight began, you would need to focus on your opponent and wouldn't have time to look around. Doing so could cost you your life.

Besides the fact that everything was layered in concrete and cement, Laz also noticed the lighting was hanging from a metal frame and wasn't actually mounted into the ceiling. It really gave the entire place a rather dark, hard and cold feeling.

"Whenever you're ready, my wife will start us off. If you can kill me, so be it. But I won't be taking your life today. I might not approve of you, but a boy with talent like yours will be helpful in the future," Aaron said, a little bit friendlier than he had been.

Why the change?

He noticed that Laz wasn't intimidated in the least by the surroundings. It seemed like there was some steel within the young man. Aaron then looked over to Dwayne who almost looked to be shivering while staring at the stained floor and shook his head in disappointment.

'If only he could show half the fortitude as this young man...' Aaron knew it wasn't fair since different circumstances led to different people. But it was still very vexing to Aaron how this nephew of his could still be so weak. His only redeeming trait was that he could heal super quick and that was it.

Aaron took his spot behind one line on one side of the room while Laz stood behind another line on the other side of the room. As though they both had the same thought, Laz and Aaron both took off their shirts, shoes and socks at the same time.

Aaron's upper body was well built and massive with well developed muscle and no fat at all, something not normal for a man his age.

Laz didn't loose out in the slightest on being toned and hardened, but his frame was far smaller than the older man and more taunt. Between the too of them, one looked like a powerful brute while the other looked like a coiled beast. It was impossible to tell which one was stronger as both seemed to radiate power.

Just as madam Cal walked into place in the middle, the doors on the other side of the large room opened and in walked almost thirty young men and women who immiedatly froze while looking at the scene in front of them.

Laz looked over with a questioning gaze while Aaron smacked his head.

"Arg. I forgot we have lessons and training today," he said while his wife laughed.

"Yous be forgetting yer head if it wasn't attached by yer neck love. Why did you think yous was here in the first place?" madam Cal said with a smile.

"Right. OK. All of you, go sit down and watch. Maybe you will learn something." Aaron order while pointing to a spot a ways away. The group did as ordered and moved while Laz observed them. All thirty of them were in the condensation realm while their individual levels ranged from early to late stage. Strangely, Laz's eyes landed on one of the females who seemed to be the strongest of the bunch. When compared to the others, she seemed like she was all ready to break into the foundation realm and when she did so, her foundation would be as stable as a rock. Just this alone caused Laz to nod his head.

After taking a look at the others, he noticed that their energy cores were all amazing stable and solid as well. He couldn't help but praise Aaron assuming that he was the one guiding them.

Of course, while Laz was checking them out, they were all checking him out as well.

"Who's the skinny white boy?"

"Skinny? Just cause he ain't big like Uncle Aaron doesn't mean he ain't built. Look at that chest and those abs. They look like steel."

"Yeah. Hey. Look who's back. Big Bro Dwayne."

Everyone turned and greeted Dwayne who was sitting down next to them. The area they were sitting in was a raised platform with a barrier of concrete around it. Although it was uncomfortable to sit there, it was also pretty safe. Unless someone intentionally shot up and over the barrier, the ones sitting inside would be pretty well protected while being able to see clearly. It was obviously designed with safety in mind.

"Yo kids. How's things?"

"Who's the dude fighting Uncle?" The guy sitting next to the girl Laz noticed earlier asked.

"He's... a friend I guess?"

"A friend who wants to get his ass kicked by uncle huh?"

"Well, this whole thing started cause he wanted something and then my aunt told my uncle that he couldn't beat Laz which seemed to set him off."

"Aunt Cal said that?"

"Damn. For real?"

"She trying to get the boy killed or something?"

"I don't know," Dwayne responded. "But I do know his strength is the real thing. I'm just not sure how real."

"Guess we will know soon."

"Yeah. I've never seen uncle take anyone seriously."

Everyone seemed excited about watching their 'uncle' fight. Of course, uncle was just a term they used to refer to Aaron in the same way that Aunt was just a term they referred to madam Cal. They weren't all related in the slightest.

Just as the madam Cal was about the announce the start of the fight, the lights dimmed a bit causing the kids who had gathered to watch to reply with "OH?"

Laz didn't understand why they seemed more interested now, but instead focused on Aaron.

"Begin."

It's important to note that Laz had no idea what kind of fighter Aaron was as each infected seemed to have their own abilities. But even then, that didn't stop Laz from making the first move.

With a stop on the ground that caused cracks in the reinforced concrete, Laz shot forward like a bullet, coming to a fierce stop before Aaron and punching out. Just as his fist was about to connect, Aaron's body turned transparent and faded away, as though it had melted into the shadows casted by the low light.

Looking around, Laz quickly spread out his spiritual sense and seeing a slight pulse, he changed directions and charged forward.

"DAMN. THEY BEING SERIOUS."

"I can't believe uncle is using his shadow technique and not fighting the new guy head on."

"Did he find him?"

"SHUT UP AND WATCH!" Dwayne yelled, focusing on the fight. He had no idea about Laz's real ability but he was well informed about his uncle's. He had never seen his uncle use his shadow walking to actually fight, instead he mostly used it for quick attacks. But every time he did use it, he would end up killing an enemy.

And no one had ever found him once he melted in.

Until today.

Laz knew where Aaron was because even if he was a shadow, he was still human and still had a pulse. Maybe in the future Aaron would be able to hide it, but now was still to early.

Although, even if Laz knew where Aaron was, that didn't mean he could hit him.

Laz stomped on the ground at the exact place that Aaron should have been, but he didn't hit anything but stone. Using his sense again, he noticed that Aaron had moved from the spot. Despite being safe from Laz's attack, he wasn't going to stand there and let him try other ways of attacking.

And besides which, the middle aged man was surprised that the boy found him so quickly.

'How strong is his spiritual sense to be able to do that? Still, he reacts without haste and his movements are smooth and flowing. Still, he is a far cry from being able to match up.' Aaron thought as he continued to move.

Seeing this, the spectator's were awed. It was like watching a game of cat and mouse, except they couldn't see the mouse and instead it looked like Laz was just randomly beating the floor. Even though it looked like Aaron was playing with Laz, they also noticed that Aaron hadn't attacked yet which meant that he was still moving. And since he was moving, Laz must be chasing him.

'Let's see how he does with this,' Aaron thought and waved his hands.

Suddenly, Laz froze up and jumped back, breaking off his attack. He had been using his senses to find and attack Aaron, but he wasn't just focused on that. He had also loosely spread it out to notice any other danger, like right now.

But just because he noticed it, didn't mean he could avoid it.

He moved his body, ducking, weaving and back stepping as fast as he could, but he couldn't avoid all of Aaron's attacks.

From out of the shadows came little bits of shadow that slashed at Laz, causing shallow cuts on his skin. For every five he avoided, one seemed to hit him.

From Laz stomping around while chasing Aaron to Laz being forced the retreat, the change was almost impossible to accept.

"He's running."

"I knew he wasn't as strong as Uncle."

"Still, it seems like Uncle is taking it easy on him."

More and more attacks came flying from the shadows, causing Laz to fully focus on the nearly invisible blades that bit into his skin before disappearing. Before long, his upper body was a mashup of shallow cuts that ran the entire length of his chest and back. Even with skin that could stop most bullets, Laz couldn't prevent the shadow blades from drawing blood, causing him to look like he would fall at any minute.

As bad as it looked, the one who was most shocked was Aaron. Only he knew just how hard he was sending out these blades and how much damage they should have done. He had wanted to end the match quickly, if only for his image with his students, but he failed the land even a solid blow on Laz. What's more, at the beginning he would hit Laz every couple of shots, but as time wore on he was missing more and more, landing a hit after maybe firing off eight to ten blades.

Laz's rate of improvement was astounding.

Just as everyone thought that Laz would fall, madam Cal took a seat next to Dwayne on the stone risers and leaned back.

"Uncle Aaron is amazing, huh Aunt Cal?" One of the students asked, causing the middle age woman to chuckle.

"If he be that amazing, he be listening to ma words and taking the young boy more seriously. But hes decided hes know better and wanted to show off. Nah kids. It's about now the real fight begins and my dear husband is already now lagging after wasting so much energy. That man be glad he be better in bed that he is at using his head or I'd of left em long ago," Madam Cal said with a smurk, causing everyone to turn back around to the fight.

Of course her words ended up reaching her husband as well who was glad he was hiding in the shadows right now so that no one could see his red face.

Aaron then turned his attention back to Laz and prepared to use a stronger attack, only to see Laz smile a little. Before Aaron could figure out why, Laz's entire body erupted in black flames, causing the already somewhat darkened area to plunge further into darkness.