Genesis - the Battle Within (Pillars of Creation Book 1) by David Tucker Page A

Rieft manipulation was not growing under his newly adopted Master and the training regime forced upon him.
    The Elders had been reluctant to answer his questions after his rude intrusion, his rebellious spirit was unacceptable and they were unappreciative of such interruptions. But he’d persisted in getting an answer. Genesis later realised they’d only told him half of what they knew, and if he’d not been so forthright even less would have been divulged.
    No matter, either way they’d explained that they were always very uncertain of his training and future, seeing danger and darkness in his scarred past and in his inability to attain his Crastepheon potential and properly tap into the Rieft.
    But worse still, nearly stopping the Elders from claiming him as one of their own were his constricting powers, which laid in wait along his path to immortality. This they feared more than him, they’d said. Again, only after awkward and tedious questioning did they decide to let up what they understood of his true nature, and the reason he’d been apprenticed to another after his real Master had disappeared all those years ago.
    They had said his Rieft blindness was because his Crastepheon was so unnaturally high in just one area of his talent, that all other areas were almost completely blocked. This implied that he was similar to a Rider of the Rieft – a rare specimen. A Rider tapped into a harder-to-utilise source of Rieft that apparently didn’t belong to the Sacred Creator’s own divine power, which all other Rieft users tapped into for their psychic manipulation and talents, and where the faith guided its followers.
    Genesis though, was different. His power was harder to see and use, and in a sense broke him away from his own talents, from within his Rieft manipulation; even the Sacred Creator’s. Despite this weakness, in essence he was supposed to be more clear-sighted in other aspects than normal users, if he could harness his Rieft properly. But, they’d explained, regardless of this fact, his talent seemed to be more bonded to him rather than used , it was not like their distant metaphysical psyche that needed to be drawn upon, but rather existed as a semiotic part of his natural-core makeup. This bond was tied very closely, apparently, to why he always seemed adept at enduring hardships while being weak in essence.
    The Elders had admitted they had not seen this exact form of Rieft co-exist before and accordingly were unsure how to utilise it, or how to train him to harness it. But for now, they’d decided – way back then – it had served him well enough, keeping him alive in near impossible situations, and they concurred it would continue to help him on his path in the future. To what extent though, they were unsure, but accepted that he could be used for the faith, of course with the limitation, and as he saw it, leash, of keeping his religious personality for all his years, even if becoming a Divine Wielder.
    Despite their many warnings, Zeal had insisted he train him no matter what the outcome or cost. Genesis was still uncertain why, but knew he owed him his life and loyalty for this. Without his Sovereign’s teaching, Genesis never would have made it this far into the Way of the Sacred.
    Without Zeal he would be dead, without gaining the status he enjoyed today, long before he’d ever been issued his Apocalypse armour and immortality, and long before he’d climbed from his weakened past and proved his worth.
    He’d come from an Earth colony, growing up in the slums of a filthy, abandoned Sky-platform, a Roach amongst all the other Roaches, living amongst the gutters, smog and filth, taking one day at a time and being lucky to see the next—
    Me’lina abruptly cut into his meditations, “Genesis I have the lift controls, you ready to go?”
    Before he could answer, the end of the shaft grew light as the lift finally whirred and moved upwards . Genesis, fearing the lift could return, leapt