TRAILING SHADOWS

Agbawo stretched a hand forward. "But, I can teach you how to keep the wolf behind bars so it never ever possesses you. And I can do that, starting from now."

"How?" Sunday asked, heaving as sweat drops began dripping from his temples.

"It's your body. It's your soul. The wolf is a tenant. It's stronger than you but it's still you that is accommodating it. But you can isolate it by concentrating your fiercest emotion there." Agbawo squeezed his hand into a fist.

"How?" Sunday heaved on.

"What do you regret the most? Feed it that?" Agbawo replied, watching as a blank look filled Sunday's eyes.

"Hey..." Obedi whispered after walking closer to the Lord Class Irunmole, his face revealing utmost confusion. "What's the big idea? How does his controlling the beast help me capture it?"

"Patience you." Agbawo smiled. "Let's not count the eggs before they are hatched. Right now, the eggs are all just laid." He added as Obedi scratched his chin in confusion.

Meanwhile, back in Sunday's Mindscape, the wolf growled, it's eyes reddened at the form of Sunday before him.

"It's a trick. Don't listen. Once you isolate me, it will be easy for them to extract me. Are you going to be that reckless, you wimp?" The wolf growled. 

It makes to speak but freezes with an open maw as Sunday looks back at it, his eye flashing.

"Don't tell me y-you..."

Sunday turned around, holding his hands on c.h.e.s.t. 

"The man is right! If I was truly in charge, that bastard would not have gotten me so easily. You abandoned me, left me to die.

Even when I saved you from destruction."

Sunday's face fell as he dropped his hands into fists.

"How ungrateful can you be?"

"Damn you... I am the reason why you are alive now." The fur on the wolf shot up, tingly with dangerous aura.

Sunday looked up at the wolf, his anger gone completely from his face, replaced with an eerrily calm look. "I don't know why you saved me, Wolf but I have always had people looking down on me and you were no different.

You even had to remind me of how worthless I am. I detest that." A tight scowl expelled the calm look in a second.

"That's why I must be in total control, to remind you that I am not some wimp you look down on. Today, you will know your bounds." Sunday yelled, stooping with his fist drawn back as he faces the growing behemoth of a wolf.

"As if I'd let you." The wolf growled, raising a paw to swipe down on Sunday.

However as the paw descended, Sunday jumped high up in the air, watching as it struck damage to the waterlogged ground beneath. Descending, he balls up on the attacking forelimb, climbing up on its body.

The wolf howled, a shockwave slamming into Sunday and sending him flying down. In mid air, a paw reaches for him, a swipe to clear him. But just as it gets into range, Sunday's eyes flash and an iron rod spears the paw into the ground from no where.

"W-what?" The wolf yelped, shrinking in size to free it's paw. Doing that makes it lose focus on Sunday so much that he does not notice the crisscrossing bars of iron that form over and around it, the bars locking into the ground.

"What?" It growled. "Release me..."

"I realised something. This is my mind. In my mind, my powers are only the extent of my imagination and my imagination is only as strong as my will.

I guess you forgot when you tried to attack me for the second time in my mind." Sunday chides, his hand resting on his c.h.e.s.t again, folded.

"They will betray you. Keep me isolated from you and they have me extractable in no time.. All they need do is simply to reach in here and cart away the locked up. Me."

"Oh, " Sunday smiled, stretching with a yawn on his face.

"You think I trust them? You're wrong!" His face darkened again. "But as far as I can get knowledge on how to maximize you for the embarrassment you made me face, then, I'll play their terms. Plus, a weakling cannot really survive going down to Earth, or can I?"

He turned his back to the gargauntaun cage holding the wolf in captivity.

"Just so you know, should you ever go out of context, I will be your bane. So, let this cage be a forever reminder and your name, Bane, be a scar to your honour telling you who is in charge here." His lips curled in a sinister grin.

"Me!" Sunday said.

"It is done. What else can you teach me?" Sunday said, back from his mindscape as the blank look vanishes from his eyes. As that happens, the nine paws that had been dangling like tails from his back begin to fizzle away, shrinking until they vanish from existence. 

"I can teach you how to use the power in an actual combat. But first, you need to get rested." Agbawo said, dropping the white cloth down to the ground. "Come with me. Obedi, please prepare the necessary." 

Sunday walked forward, his eyes trained on Obedi. As he walked past him to be in front of the duo, Obedi could swear that he had seen Sunday give him the stink eye.

Annoyed, he moved forward, his hands fisted but a resistance clutched to his shoulder. Looking back, he sees Agbawo smiling and nodding his head at him.

Agbawo moves forward, his lips near the ear of Obedi.

"Relax. The plan is to wear him down in combat training. Then, when exhausted, easily extract the restrained beast from him."

"Oh!" Excitement lit Obedi's face. "But why can't you do that now? He's exhausted."

"Patience. He's still very much alert. We need to gain his trust or we'll not only lose the beast but also our heads." Agbawo patted Obedi as he walked past, moving to join Sunday in front. 

And as he joined, Sunday's head tilted forward a bit, his eyes containing a hint of amus.e.m.e.nt as he chuckled lightly.