Chapter 18

"Quick kid, grab the cart."

I grabbed the cart and pulled. The thing in the barrier roared and jumped at me. All I could see was a mouth bigger than my head and fangs as long as my forearms. Screaming, I fell on the floor as it hit the barrier. I looked up to see it biting at the barrier and scratching it with black claws, each the length of my hand, trying to get to me.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!"

I sat up. My heart was pounding and I was struggling to catch my breath. I was trembling and felt the urge to void my bowels, fortunately, I didn't. TreFual had jumped onto the table when I had moved the cart. I looked up at him.

"'That' my young 'padawan' is Hell's answer to the Kodiak bear."

I blinked and shook my head "What ... wait, what have you been watching?"

Trefual shrugged. "I get bored. I've been working my way through your family videos. I like the ones with the Emperor. TreFual held his hands up and pointed his fingers at me. His hands began to glow and his lips curled into an evil smile." Now, feel the full power of the Dar..."

"WHOA!" I threw my hands up. Something broke loose inside of me. My mind buzzed as the energy surged and pushed through my hands. A sparkling emerald green barrier of light jumped into existence between us. Keeping my hands up, I got my feet under me and stood. I didn't know how I was doing this, but I didn't care. I wasn't going to be TreFual's play toy today.

TreFual's eyebrow arched and a genuine smile came over his little face. "Interesting," his hands stopped glowing and he dropped them to his side " it looks like your subconscious is finally adapting to the change. I wasn't going to zap you, but your subconscious thought I was and acted. Good job!"

I stared at him a moment, then relaxed. As I did, the barrier began fading.

"As I was saying, I've been watching your family movies," He wiggled his eyebrows " you should see the homemade movies in your parent's room.

""Eww..." I shivered.

"Don't Ewww me. I SAW, repeat SAW, how you reacted to your mom's tits. Admit it. You want some."

I cleared my throat and shook my head in denial, even as I felt the flush of my face betray me. "Can we get back to this please." I said, pointing to the monstrosity.

TreFual laughed."Sure, that is a Kourach. It is a creature whose natural habitat is the Outlands of Hell. It's a predator that will attempt to eat anything. It's very stupid, but makes up for it with incredible animosity and strength. If it was a creature of your dimension, it would weigh about 1200 pounds.

"Hell has wildlife?"

TreFual smirked "Of course it does, dumb ass, most dimensions do."

"I thought in the spiritual world, the only things that existed were, Angels, Demons, and God."

"First of all, TreFual paused, looked up for a moment while rubbing his chin with his hand."Umm ... there's no such thing as the spiritual world. There is only an endless sheaf of dimensions. I am from one, you are from another, and we are standing in a third. Your species are a hybrid."

I cocked an eye at him "Pardon?"

"Your species is hybrid. You occupy two dimensions simultaneously and have a ephemeral awareness of a couple more. The creation of your species was one of the main points of contention that started the war."

"Why?"

"Your species is an abomination. The creation of Matter at this level, of ahh ... granularity is considered an infection that should be destroyed. He refused and that was the final straw."

I leaned back against the table, folding my arms. I looked down at the floor while trying to take this in. I was so shocked that I had forgotten the Kourach. I could hear it pace along the length of the barrier emitting soft snarls.

"Hey, kid."

I shook myself out of my reverie. "What?"

"Can we get back to the lesson?"

"Sure."

"The Kourach, not being of your dimension doesn't feed on flesh and blood. It feeds on what you call spirit."

"Ok, why is it here?"

TreFual smiled "For your training, of course. One day in the not so distant future, you are going to walk into its cage basted in spiritual energy like a well marinated steak, a raw steak at that."

"OH, No, I'm not!" I said, shaking my head.

"Oh, yes, you are." TreFual said, nodding his head.

"NO WAY!"

TreFual's tone became serious. "Yes, you are. Now, do you want to listen and learn something that can help you, or are you going to stand there and squawk?"

I shut up and listened.

"This will be your competency test for compulsion. You will have to 'compel' the Kourach to obey you like a well trained dog. Watch." TreFual jumped from the table and grew to my size again. The Kourach noticed and went ape shit. Great gobs of slobber were spraying from its mouth as it attacked the barrier again and again. Trefual moved to one side so that I could see. "Ready?"

I nodded. Trefual stood there a moment, looking at the raging Kourach that was scant inches from his face. The Kourach stopped its attack and looked at TreFual.It whined and sat back on its haunches. TreFual stepped through the barrier and stood beside the docile creature. He pointed to the ground."Lay." The Kourach laid down, crossing its front paws and resting its giant head on them. He reached over and ruffled the thing's fur."Good Kourach, good boy!"

I'll be damned if it didn't look like it was smiling.

Trefual walked back through the barrier. "See, just like that."

"If I fail?"

"It can't kill you. You are immortal." TreFual paused for emphasis."If you fail, you will hurt so badly that having your balls in a vice will seem like the most pleasurable thing you've ever experienced." Trefual tilted his head to the side and raised his eyebrows, "Got it?"

"Loud and clear."

"Great, let's go to the pantry, I swiped some chops that your mom cooked for dinner last night. I'm starved."

~oOo~

The next few weeks were busy. At night I was studying compulsion like a mad man, while during the day my life took some interesting turns. TreFual insisted that I start volunteering for various charity programs. I was spending time at a local food bank filling boxes and unloading trucks. I also spent a couple of hours a week with a group visiting old folks homes. To be honest, that was kind of cool. Those old men could tell some tales. I think I got more out of it than they did.