I glared at the three named ones, my armor bristling,
“So we kill them, go into the tunnel, clear out the eldritch, then escape before the rift closes?”
Aatrox shook his head,
“Close, but you won’t have to escape at the end. All that happens is the tunnel converts into a normal dungeon once the rift keeper is killed.”
I sighed,
“What level should we be expecting from it then?”
“Nothing higher than level 1,000. It will likely be another of the angels, such as Gabriel.”
I raised an eyebrow, “I thought angels were a human thing?”
Kessiah grinned, “Come on. You know by now that most myths have some truth ingrained in there.”
I frowned,
“You’re telling me angels and heaven are real?”
Aatrox’s eyes flared,
“Your world is at the dead center of some kind of…Dimensional instability, perhaps? For that reason, there have been signs of eldritch presences in the past across all of humanity’s history. Many of your myths are based on these signs, such as Greek mythology or Lovecraftian fiction. They saw the signs, but they couldn’t prove they existed using standardized logic. As it were, their imaginations filled in the gaps.”
I blinked a few times,
“What part of the Greek mythology is real then?”
Torix raised a finger, mist forming various shapes above his hand,
“The imagery and little else. In fact, it’s incredible how mortal minds latched onto the visions of truth far more than thoughts of truth. Seeing is believing, as your kind puts it. In that regard, all races neglect most truths that are proven through logic. We all like to wait until the truth can no longer be denied before accepting it.”
Kessiah leaned onto the shoulder of the guard,
“I read a few of those stories while I was bored, and I can vouch that the symbols are spot on. The powers were kind of correct, but the Greeks looked at the eldritch as gods. They’re demons masked in thin veils, but I guess something like that would be godlike compared to an unsystemized person.”
My mind was swimming with conspiracy theories as I said,
“Did a strike team from Schema come and eliminate them before they could spread too far?”
Aatrox replied,
“Most likely, yes.”
My eyes widened,
“And did they leave Stonehenge or the pyramids?”
“Of course not. Why would they reorganize giant piles of rocks? That’s something simpletons minds would think of.”
I deflated,
“Oh, but I heard that making the pyramids would be impossible given the technology at the time.”
Kessiah and Torix laughed. I gawked at them.
“What’s so funny?”
Aatrox swooshed his arm as Torix would,
“And there is it. I just spoke of how logic isn’t enough to prove outcomes to most, and what you’ve just said is a perfect example of such.”
I furrowed my brow and frowned.
“Well then how did they make them?”
Torix leaned closer.
“A price paid in the blood of those less fortunate. Bodies were broken. Lives were lost. Likely, thousands died over decades while the kingdom extracted all excess wealth for their vanity project. Of course, I am a mere speculator from a far off world, but it does remind me of other empires I’ve heard of.”
My eyes widened further,
“Other empires?”
Kessiah snapped her fingers,
“Hey, we have a dungeon to clear, remember?”
Althea furrowed her brow,
“I think we should keep talking about moving big rocks as if it's some miraculous feat.”
I gave her a slight nudge.
“Oh come on. You’re in a bad mood today, huh?”
She let out a small laugh, more to release a mounting tension than out of humor.
“Ok, a little. We’re going down into that death pit soon, and I’m getting nervous.”
That same unease spilled into my stomach like butterflies and rotten milk. I took a deep breath and let the emotion pass before I tapped my chestplate, a metallic ring coming over us.
“Fair point. I’m stalling even if I don’t mean to.”
I turned to the portal,
“You think the angels or whatever are in there? What should we do about them?”
Aatrox adjusted a robe he wasn’t wearing, his expressions echoing Torix on the other side of town,
“You’ve seen what lies underneath the angel’s outer shells. They use those disguises to deceive those that worship them to take tribute and sacrifice. Stronger angels are said to feed on the minds of those that pray to them, but I’ve never seen those specific accounts. Regardless, the eldritch are oppressive, and they’ve intervened multiple times according to some files I bought on the open market.”
I completely forgot about the mission as I murmured,
“When?”
Torix’s voice took on a tone of a learned scholar and appreciative teacher.
“The Spanish Inquisition, the Holocaust, even the plague of Justinian, there are many examples of them interfering with your world.”
Althea crossed her arms,
“Daniel, please don’t take this the wrong way, but from what I’ve heard about human history, you guys didn’t need much help to sow chaos. It’s more like the eldritch just tipped your war hungry race over the edge.”
I waved her off,
“Honestly, I can’t even be mad about that. But for real, is there anything we should know about the angels before we go down there?”
Kessiah leaned another hand onto Aatrox, her weight resting on him. The guards started straining as Kessiah mumbled,
“Nothing more than you already know. They're tough, especially the upper level ones. You’re lucky that Gabriel hadn’t turned into an archangel yet. That’s when he gets tough.”
Althea frowned,
“Uh, you make it sound like you fought him before. Heh…You haven’t, right?”
Kessiah waved a hand.
“Pshh, of course I have. The angels are always looking for ways to get into other worlds. You can’t kill them here. The only way to handle them is over on the other side. You have to get them while they’re in their home turf, and like we’ve said, no one survives the spaces between dimensions. Ever.”
Aatrox squeezed a hand in excitement.
“The working theory I’ve devised is that the angels are actually liches that aren’t nestled on our world. Their phylacteries are situated in some fringe world or lost dungeon. In that space, they may reconstitute themselves time and time again.”
Althea gawked.
“Er, phylactery?”
Torix waved his hand,
“A binding spot for one’s soul. Your essence returns there should your physical form be destroyed. It grants a kind of immortality if no one finds it. Lichs are the most common users of the technique, though many sorcerers employ similar tactics. Before you ask, yes, I have one. No, I will never speak of where my phylactery is to anyone.”
Althea put her weight on one leg,
“Then-”
Kessiah raised a hand.
“Enough. Mission details and go.”
Althea bit her lip while I sighed. I put my hands on my hips.
“Honestly, it doesn’t sound like we’re ready for it. I’m not that crazy either.”
Kessiah leaned up, pushing the guard so that he stumbled sideways,
“This is a teeny, tiny rift. They haven’t fed enough to be able to kill us, and besides, you and Althea are crazy powerful for your levels. You both have a lot of eldritch or other bullshit in you, so you won’t be as endangered as you think. In fact, I get the feeling you may actually feel more at home there than here.”
I pursed my lips. I mulled over our options before I gazed at the named ones. Even after their mutations, the lines of human bodies and bones jutted from different places. A rage, not from mana or other forces, nestled into my chest. I sneered before turning back to Kessiah.
“Alright, I’ll give you guys the benefit of the doubt. You haven’t steered us wrong yet.”
Kessiah patted my back,
“That’s the spirit. It’s about time…Damn you’ve grown. What the hell. You’re catching up to my height.”
I peered up at her, though the angle wasn’t as abrupt as it once was. I grinned, “It won’t be much longer now and I’ll be looking down on you instead.”
Kessiah grinned before pressing a finger into my chest, “Don’t get too cocky, little man, or else I’ll have to put you in your place.”
I smiled back, my armor forming teeth, “We’ll see how far I’ve come and how far you’ve fallen.”
She pressed her finger against me, pushing me back and turning me around. I stumbled as Kessiah laughed,
“You’re not the only one who’s training in their off time. It’s going to be a while yet before you take me on. I will say I appreciate the ambition even if its a bit early.”
I saw the rift. Kessiah pointed, her hand over my shoulder,
“Wait till after you get through that. I’ll be waiting here.”
Althea peered at us, her eyes narrowed.
“Can we go already?”
Kessiah leaned over Althea,
“You’re eager now? Good.”
Kessiah grabbed Althea and started tickling under her sides. Althea burst into laughter before jumping away. Kessiah grinned again,
“See you both when you get back. You’ll be fine. Daniel’s strong, and you’ll find out that you are too.”
Althea blushed, “Heh. Thanks.”
I walked out into the stadium stairs,
“Come on. Let’s go take some named ones out..”
We paced down the steps, my feet thumping on the floor from my telekinetic augments while Althea’s steps went unheard. A couple dozen clanks later, and a named one turned towards me. It was the one with bat wings covering him. He outstretched his wings, exposing a torso with the ribs jutting out of his skin. His face opened along three points, his cheeks and face splitting apart. Red gums exposed writhing tongues.
Great. Just great.
A spear sliced through one of his wing joints, and the monster howled out. The others each outstretched their wings. The mantis buzzed like a cacophony of chainsaws and sizzling bacon. The metal feather monster flapped its wings, and dominion mana fell from it in shady tendrils. My armor drooled at it, a growing hunger overtaking me.
I silenced it as the beast flew towards us. The skeletal flesh bat leaned forward. It latched its hands into the ground, and an energy beam charged in its throat. One of Althea’s spears flew through the air. It aimed to gouge out its throat. The monster raised a wing to deflect the projectile. In tandem, I leaped forward.
I landed on the field and on a telekinetic pad. A bit of force transferred a hundred feet in the distance, not enough to injure but enough to shove. That knocked the enemy’s wing up by about six inches. The limb missed the spear because of that shove, and the projectile sank into the beast’s throat. It kept piercing before spiked prongs at the javelin’s end ripped the monster’s head off.
A second later, it died. A bit of planning and coordination went a long way.
The two-winged fighters flew up and dove toward me. The ascendant mana poured from my helm before I lifted my hand and forced the energy into my runes. The mantis bolted down before smashing against several chairs. The metal hawk launched at me, firing feathers as her toes spread talons wide. I put one leg back, bracing my leg before I grabbed her talons.
When her feet met my hands, I surged mana through my hands. My muscles roared in protest as tremendous force channeled through them, and I squeezed down. The monster’s claws splintered against my metal. I gripped her feet, and her body flew past me. I dragged several feet before finding purchase on the turf.
The bones in the eagle’s legs broke as I roared. Her body kept wanting to fly forward, but I clasped my hands, breaking her toes. I pulled her downward, slamming her against the edge of the stadium. Concrete cracked as the metal body flopped into the stadium’s side. Taking a breath, I let out a red, misty breath, the ascendance soaking my lungs.
The mantis spread its claws and swung them at my back. Two spears impaled its chest while I stomped the ground in front of me. A wave of telekinesis spread the mantis’s raptorial forelegs, and they embedded into the ground at my sides. The metal hawk raked its talons my way, but I stepped backward to dodge.
Simultaneously, the top of my spiked helmet smashed into the mantis’s mandibles. Tiny limbs and joints and blood fell from the fleshy insect. The hawk scrambled its legs at me, the claws whooshing inches from my face. Another spear hit the mantis before a wave of ink fell onto the hawk’s face. It let out a cry before I fireman kicked the monster deeper into the stadium.
At the same time, I lifted my head toward the mantis. Kicking off the wall, I slammed my face through the mantis’s chestplate. It stumbled back before I turned to the hawk. Having a moment, I focused my mind. Telekinetic pads formed over my hand, and I stomped forward. Mana roared. Wind whirled. My fist hit the monster’s foot.
The drilling effect aligned, and my arm creaked under the pressure. Metal feathers ripped out of its entire leg before the limb broke. Bones shattered inside from the spiralling force. I dragged back a foot before stepping forward and grabbing the ruined limb. I planted a foot on the beast’s plumed chest.
I jerked. I heaved. I ripped. I tore. The joint ruptured from the socket, the skin splitting. Blood exploded from her wound before I stepped onto her chest. Blood shot out of her mouth before I slammed her leg into her head, cracking her skull.
Two clubbing’s later, and she stopped struggling. The mantis man swung a scythe at my back, and a blade pierced my chest. I grabbed it, stopping it from moving before I bent down. Two spears hit its arm, and I turned. The mantis lost its limb and lifted itself up, buzzing away before Althea shot a bolt at its twitching eyes.
It pulled a limb to deflect before I stomped forward. Another telekinetic wave moved its arm, but I also moved the insect's entire body. The spear pierced a shoulder before the next one pierced its skull. Mana surged, and I leaped forward as he fell. I lost levity, my stomach pulling up into my throat before I reached the mantis.
We crashed into each other, and my momentum overtook theirs. Before landing, I pressed my heels into the beast’s back. I jumped off it, sending the mantis crashing into the stadium bleachers. I spun in the air before jumping off a telkinetic pad. It barely held. Abusing the rebound, I bolted forward to the monster.
I stomped both my heels into the beast, the chairs beneath us crushing like tinfoil. A subtle quake reverberated across the arena. Green goo inside the mantis splurt in all directions from under my feet. Cracks rippled through a portion of the bleacher’s concrete as I stood tall again. Ascendance glowed in my runes, the blood of beasts soaking into my shining skin.
I stood over the corpse, a scythe’s blade jutting from my chest. I reached around and growled as I tore it out. Blood oozed before my armor packed into the wound. As I breathed through the injuries, I glanced at my hands. They shook from adrenaline but no fear unsteadied my outstretched fingers.
I clamped my hands to fists. It was good to conquer fear this time. I ran towards the entrance of the rift, sun-baked bleachers smashing underfoot. I leapt up and into the green grass nearer to the field’s center. As I landed on the ground, my feet sank into the earth.
The ground didn’t feel hard or sturdy anymore. On my metal feet, it was akin to sand. Something that didn’t give enough stability for me to use my full strength. I thanked my foresight to give myself greater grip using my telekinesis. All the levels and leveling perks gave me greater heft, and the greater amounts of mana meant I wielded more power. It culminated in dirt giving way when I fought.
Seconds later, and Althea landed beside me as if flashing into existence. She stood tall, her jumpsuit clean and shining aside from her left leg. She’d stitched a new portion of suit back after her leg exploded.
She let out a held breath.
“Woo. That…That wasn’t so bad.”
I let out a quick laugh.
“For you, maybe. I got a scythe through my chest.”
She traced a fingertip where the wound had been.
“You seem fine to me. Maybe you imagined it?”
In fact, my imagination fired elsewhere,but I grabbed her hand.
“Maybe so, but we’ve got a rift to clear, don’t we?”
She squeezed my hand.
“Sure. Let’s go.”
I pushed on my feet, digging them into the ground as I shot forward. As I reached the rift, one of the person sized insects crawled from it. Turning to Althea, we gave each other a nod. She fired a bolt and threw a glass vial of ink at the creature. I threw a quick telekinetic jab to shatter the glass in front of the insect’s face.
Blinding the creature, it stumbled before I tackled it to the ground. It scrambled as I stood with one foot on its chest. Taking a breath, I created telekinetic pads on my hand, and I lobbed that fist as if slicing firewood.
It collided into the insect’s chest. Mana flared. Blood burst. Carrapace cracked. The insect gurgled on its insides before I raised my foot. I stomped its skull. The ground cragged around my foot. Turning up, four more insects rushed at me. I stepped forward before slipping on the slick ink from Althea’s earlier trap.
I flopped backward while momentum kept me sliding to the rift’s entrance. The insects dogpiled me before pulling me back. Althea killed two of the insects before I fell into the abyss alongside the insects. Terror roared in my mind. I took a breath, calming myself. I lost levity before kicking off the side of the rift.
We flew across the tunnel. I smashed the monster against the other side of the rift. Green goop exploded before I grew claws from my hands. As I slid down the wall, I stabbed my fingers into it. It stopped my fall, the fleshy wall being hard as stone. I glanced up and Althea jumped into the rift right after me.
Her arms reformed into two titanic mauls, the fingers thick as most men’s forearms. Those fingers pierced into the stone wall with ease before I grinned,
“You ready?”
Althea nodded, the look of battle spread across her face. It made her eyes narrow, and her jaw turned hard. The focus, the energy, that was something I loved about fighting. We no longer stood still while waiting to die. We fought tooth and nail to survive, and that was the essence of life – to struggle.
When closest to death, you’re the most alive. It was a sensation I experienced while fighting, and in that dark pit, I embraced it again. I glanced down, and the tunnel turned black at the bottom. I let myself go, falling into the abyss. As gravity pulled me down, I hit a gray mist. It dug into my skin like icy needles, and my armor flared to life, hungry and writhing.
Through the discomfort, a deep sense of longing burned. It changed the discomfort into a means to an end. As my armor feasted, the icy burn became fun. It was a warm shower while covered in scrapes and scratches and dirt. The water stung, but the cleaning was intoxicating despite the pangs.
That sensation wrapped around me before something else disappeared. It was subtle like knowing someone watched you. As I fell further, the fog disappeared and into the other world, I rushed.
It was a beautiful hell. I flew upwards now as if gravity’s ceaseless tug flipped. That let me fly up into the sky and see what was there. Around us was a field of spikes. Metallic, cerulean, and ominous, the spines dripped a thick red fluid that all kinds of darker blue insects devoured. They fought for the fluid, like a swarm of ants.
In disparate spots, portions of the bugs would disperse from one of the icy millipedes. They drilled out of the ground and dragged other insects into their burrows. The ground was gray, the kind of gray you see in a rotting corpse, but every part of the ground teemed with life as if to spite that notion. The shades of blue and white flowed together, almost like a river of paint.
As I fell toward the ground, I glanced up at the red sky. There was a pillar of energy firing off into the clouds, reaching high up before splitting into white tendrils that reached around in every direction. The invisible forcefield was where all the life ended, like this was a different world being forced into our own.
The red sky and air floated into and out of the sphere, as if just outside of the sphere was a different dimension. Likely, there was. I didn’t have time to think about it as I landed amongst several cerulean spikes. I dragged my fingers down the sides of the thorns, and I spread my legs to drag my feet between two of them.
Sparks flared from my hands before I neared the bottom. A flare of ascendance raged in my runes, and I shoved my feet hard to stop. The rods of metal broke against my metal skin, their brittle case cracking. The insects dispersed from the points of impact, scared of the sudden aerial combatant.
My feet thumped hard into the ground, and my knees creaked under the load. I pulled at oppression, revving the aura up to full strength. Glancing up, I spotted Althea flying over. Her membrane wings carried the beginnings of feathers, and I shouted her way,
“Don’t come near me.”
She fired her rifle a few times before chugging some water from her bag. She let out a gasp,
“I know. I’m not going down there. It’s disgusting.”
I glanced around, and all the insects crawled towards me. I glanced at my health bar, but there was none. I frowned. Schema’s influence left. It didn’t matter much to me at the moment. I could operate off how I felt considering how safe the situation seemed.
Some of the smaller insects curled up and died before reaching me, oppression draining the life from the tiny creatures. The larger ones reached me in droves, but I smashed them with ease, drilling through their shells with my telekinetic wrath. Likely, simple swings would’ve gotten the job done. However, this acted as practice for more pressing battles.
A few minutes later, I bathed in the blood of the insects. Their fluids drained down the hill in coursing green, and I destroyed the insects against the blue, metallic spires around me. In a flash of inspiration, I found a quiet moment amidst the chaos. A quick burst of focus later, and I punched through the base of a cerulean spire. It tumbled as a tree would, and I grasped it.
Lighter than expected, I wielded it as a weapon. The bugs reached me at times, nibbling at my hardened skin. I was too dense for them to pierce, but they crawled through the joints and cracks, slowing my movements. Even worse, they tried crawling into my mouth, nose, and ears.
My armor laughed before chomping into the bodies. The haunting metallic drone echoed through fields of monsters and blood and death. The mountains turned to hoards that turned to groups then single insects. In time, I cleared out an area the size of oppression around me.
Glancing around, I heaved for breath. Sweat dripped from my face, hands, and torso. I wheezed as the taste of iron filled my mouth. I breathed until my lungs bled. A small laugh escaped my lips. Though rare, I could still experience exhaustion if pushed to my limit. It felt good, a reminder of my mortality.
Taking a second, I regained my bearings as my armor reached out and pierced insects. It drained them. The laughing of my armor ceased. An eerie quiet overcame me, only the sound of sapping life and twitching limbs breaking the silence. A minute passed, and I was a monster amongst these corpses.
Althea’s voice ebbed in from above,
“That’s why I called you a battle hungry maniac. You’re the guy that just runs down there and starts killing bugs.”
Other bugs trickled in. I stomped on one, the shell caving before I ripped a small spine from the gray ground. I gouged another beetle above me,
“Unlike you, I can’t fly. I would try talking things out-” A stray bug leaped at my face, the mandibles clawing towards my nose. I held it, “But these things don’t seem like they’re that into negotiation.”
Althea fired harpoon after harpoon at the beetles before one of the centipedes shot out of the ground. Like a toasted croissant, flakes of its carapace wafted in the wind, and its underbelly sheened like a pearl. With tiny, red eyes, it glanced at me before peering at the carcasses. It hissed, trying to scare me off. I banged my chest before spreading my arms wide.
“Come on then.”
The centipede writhed my way, the ends of its legs ending in shining claws. As they tapped against the earth, ice spread below the monster. It vomited the liquid nitrogen at me, but I shoved at the liquid using a pad of telekinesis. The liquid splashed in all directions just in front of the centipede’s face. As it met the shell of the beast, ice spread atop the monster.
Specific parts of its body were designed to hold the super chilled liquid, but it wasn’t immune to the cold altogether. It reared back before I ran up and jumped. In midair, I kicked off a telekinetic pad. That pad slammed into the monster’s back and sprung me forward. It flopped to my way before I dashed into the beast’s chest.
I tackled the monster, and cracks spread across the monster’s belly. It hissed, more cold ooze falling from its maw. A harpoon snapped into its jaw. I kicked off its body, dodging falling liquid. The beast slammed its bladed arms down from all directions. Sparks flung off my armor as it grazed me.
Taking a second, I closed my eyes and calmed my mind. I reached out, creating a circlet of telekinetic power around one of the beast’s legs. It held, though the odd shape required intense focus. Taking a breath, I jerked the beast back. The invisible pull surprised the creature, and my feet dug into the ground.
Once it flung towards me, I stepped forward and spun on my heels. Mana flared through me in a momentous surge, bits of crimson aura ushering from my runes and body. Telekinetic pads formed over my hands, and a heavy right straight lanced into the monster. Its belly erupted in a green and foggy burst.
A bladed harpoon fell into the monster’s face at the same time. It sliced half the monster’s face off. The cold liquid landed on the metal of my armor, but it only hissed for a moment before evaporating. I expected more, but for some reason, it never touched me directly.
I shook off the cold before glancing around. No more insects swarmed nearby, so I walked around for a few minutes and absorbed the eldritch around me. At least that’s what I thought they were. I couldn’t be certain since I lacked a status screen.. At that moment, an odd sense of familiarity returned.
My HUD didn’t return, but I did receive notifications.
Data upload present. Current total level growth: 28. Upload speed: 1 attribute point per minute.
So the data worked like a steady trickle of sap from a tree. I’d still receive some benefits, but it would take a while. I guess that’s why Schema didn’t bother with the HUD. My health and stamina bars were only useful if they were up to date. Otherwise, they were useless.
My armor on the other hand rippled across me with delight. Maybe here there was more ambient mana in the creatures, letting it get more of its fill. I couldn’t say with any certainty. I grew horns from my back before retracting them. Controlling my armor was easier here compared with Schema’s universe. Ascendant mana was more powerful as well, though even harder to control.
In fact, everything changed in this twisted fever dream of the world. The air sweetened like honeysuckle and the atmosphere invigorated my spirit. In fact, it weighed on my mind, making me want to tear something into pieces. Althea landed beside me, and her bloodshot eyes told a similar story. She murmured,
“This place…It wants us to kill.”
I gazed at a pool of stilled, green blood. My helm reflected in the pool, the jaw jagged and mana gleaming. I murmured back,
“I can’t tell if it's winning.”
Althea sighed.
“Let’s hope that doubt lets us know we’re not zombies yet. Can you splash your aura over me?”
I nodded. A quick wave of Oppression smothered Althea, and she let out a yelp. I winced,
“Sorry.”
She smiled, the expression grim.
“If anything, I should be thanking you. But yeah…Let’s go.”
Her head twitched, and I recalled our earlier fight. The firing rate of her rifle hastened here. At the same time, she didn’t seem as restrained now. She was more like when we first met, someone who desperately wanted control. In a way, I was the same. As mana siphoned into my palm, I took in a deep breath before letting a crimson cloud waft out of my lungs.
By now, the hunger and rage dimmed in intensity. Whether that was by will or practice, I couldn’t say. After a quick break, Althea flew into the air and glided down in circles over me, keeping her distance. She acted as our eyes and ears this mission, ensuring nothing too crazy rushed us down. Without her intervention, I’d likely have been mauled by an overwhelming group of enemies. Instead, we sliced them apart one group at a time.
Using that same strategy, we headed out. All around us, mountains loomed, each of them ending in sharpened points. It reminded me of a valley of spires, so that’s what I named it: Spire Valley. It seemed fitting. On top of one of the rocky zeniths, several shapes moved. They seemed like they were feeding on something.
There were no signs of movement or life on the other peaks, so I pointed and shouted,
“Let’s go find this Rift Keeper.”
She glided toward the mountain before I slammed my feet against the gray ground. It was harder than dirt on Earth. Instead of giving like a thick mush, it held firm against my steps. I enjoyed the stability, and it let me sprint even when the engine of ascendant mana roared within.
We passed through another field or two of the spires, each of them resulting in subsequent slaughters. Nothing about these creatures tested our limits outside of the endurance required to slay them. Unfortunately for these creatures, their means of killing happened to be my specialty. For that reason, this kind of prolonged war suited me well.
Each battle gave me more will to draw from, and I gained experience in combat quickly. Althea also empowered herself, each of us trying new techniques upon our myriad quarry. Althea’s mental endurance faded after a while, but I sustained our dogged march. Body after body, battle after battle, I caved and crushed and crumbled our enemies under my heels.
And it exhilarated me, the constant battle enlivening as an artist’s newfound muse. I enjoyed it to a frightening degree, and I kept the pace high across fields of slaughter. Althea focused her assaults on the larger, stronger enemies after a while, letting me cull the masses. It acted as my specialty, and I couldn’t help but imagine myself as a Fringe Walker in the future.
Despite my glee, we never lost pursuit of our mission. The mountains in the distance closed in after the third death field. Along the mountains, blue, winding trails crisscrossed their rocky ledges like blue veins in an elder’s hand. As I closed in on these glowing paths, I found blue magma.
Unlike lava on earth, this blue gunk froze everything near it. All around the exposed bits of magma, baby centipedes collected into bundles. They nibbled at the blue, some of the smallest ones a deep shade of carmine. The larger they grew, the whiter and denser their shells became. To my surprise, this was how they gained their icy abilities.
They feasted on the cold when they were young then ate the field bugs. Those smaller insects relished the ambient energy and bits of ooze that dripped from the cerulean spires. Though an odd ecosystem, it followed some semblance of logic.
That was my impression of the eldritch in this world so far. It wasn’t that this place was malignant or evil; it was simply different. Sure, it was a brutal, savage place, but it wasn’t something humanity couldn’t master. That being said, I hadn’t seen much of it so far.
To that end, we marched. Before starting the climb up this peak, I shut oppression down. Althea flew to me before I cleansed her once more. On the campsite, we had a quick lunch. We both carried packs on our backs, mine much smaller than hers. She pulled out the steel legion’s rations and water.
She poured the water on the dehydrated foodstuffs, revitalizing the otherwise unappetizing morsels. As the food grew, the meal heated up as well. By the time it fully reformed, it smelled good like a microwave dinner. The potatoes, gravy, green beans, and salisbury steak took me right back to my childhood.
Despite my appreciation for her meal, I finished eating before she even started. From my satchel, I had pulled out one of Torix’s rations. I lifted it over my face and dropped it on my armor. My armor split, letting the packet burst into a dark pit. It otherwise soaked into my skin, a sort of intravenous cocktail. Weird, I know, but I could eat much faster this way.
As Althea ate, I practiced telekinesis. I fine-tuned my control by juggling three rocks nearby. Whenever I picked something up using telekinesis, I had to handle whatever weight I lifted. When working with these tiny stones, I could afford to practice using my fingers. When working with something larger, that just wasn't the case.
Unlike when lifting something normally, telekinesis lifted and rebounded wherever you distributed the force. I could have all the energy of a lifted boulder arrive on my fingertip. Said finger would crumble from that ricocheting force. On cars and the like, I had to make sure I telekinetically lifted using my legs and back
Otherwise, I would try to lift a boulder using my toes one day. In that case, my bones would snap like twigs. Er, or bend like metal bars. At that point, I didn't really know what I was made of anymore. Deep in my focus, Althea ate for a few minutes before she spoke,
“This must be what a fringe world looks like.”
I frowned,
“Well that’s actually kind of disappointing. I was imagining bigger monsters and stronger forces. You know, a bit more oomph.”
She sighed, a weary look in her eye,
“Heh. Of course you would.” She glanced around, “It’s hell here.”
I let my juggling stones drop before walking over. I sat cross legged beside her,
“Ah, you know about hell?”
She scoffed.
“The easiest book to find on your planet is the bible, and tons of people back at camp talk about it all the time. It would be stunning if I didn’t.”
I telekinetically flicked my rocks back to me. I tried juggling them as I spoke to her,
“Fair enough. I’d say…Oh, almost dropped it. I’d say there’s a few key differences. For instance, you can’t get out of hell. This place also only sucks if you’re near the bottom of the food chain. All you have to do is…Dammit, dropped one. All you have to do is move yourself to the top of that food chain, then it’s not so bad.”
She gazed at monsters in the distance. The radiance of this place weighed on her. She murmured,
“When I was child, monsters like this gave me nightmares…I’d shake so hard after seeing them.”
My stones dropped.
“That…That sounds hard.”
She frowned.
“From what you’ve talked about, you saw monsters too.”
I remembered broken glass and scars across my back. I waved her off,
“Not real ones. Just the ones you find in people, and those are metaphorical. You found monsters that are undeniable.”
Althea gazed at me, and monsters tore each other apart far behind her.
“The monsters you’ll find in people are just as real. More real, sometimes.”
A chill ran up my spine at her words. A quiet passed over us before she laughed at herself,
“Yeah, maybe I’m not making sense. Just ignore-”
I shook my head.
“It’s what you think. I enjoy hearing about it, whatever it is.”
She nodded, and another quiet passed over us. It carried warmth. After a while, I said,
“Do you mind if I ask you something, uhm, personal?”
She raised a brow, a mischievous smile painting her lips,
“Depends on how personal, but go ahead.”
“When did you get taken from your homeworld?”
It was my first time asking something so affecting, and a bit of fear raced up my back. Her smile faded. She leaned down before nodding. After a sigh, she hugged her knees to her chest.
“When I was about…Three or four. I was young. So young that I, er, I didn’t know my parents really. Like, at all, actually. I can sort of piece things together from spare memories here or there. Sometimes, I wonder if those memories are real or if I made them up after arriving at the research facility.”
I leaned forward.
“I know the feeling. My father was a mean drunk, and when I try to remember those days, they bleed together into this…This kind of memory mush. It’s like my mind doesn’t want to distinguish between every individual event. It would rather bottle them together and push them down.”
She let out a bitter laugh.
“It’s like our mind is trying to protect us, isn’t it?”
I scoffed.
“But it lets little pieces out from time to time, doesn’t it? It’s like trying to clean up a broken plate. You can pick up and sweep away the shards. In the end, you’ll still find pieces lingering. On occasion, you’ll cut yourself on a spare grain of glass you missed. Even years later, the same wound still bleeds.”
Althea smiled, the expression bitter.
“Oh yeah. Then, you find your old wound is open again as if it never healed in the first place.”
A bitter yet cathartic laugh passed over us. We took a moment, and she bit into her food. I grabbed the back of my hair, a bit self-conscious. It was amazing how a simple conversation pulled more adrenaline out of me than a life or death battle. I cleared my throat.
“You managed all the fallout from the facility really well. I, uh, I think you handle yourself admirably.”
She stared at me. For the first time, her eyes carried weight as if peering through me. I suppressed the urge to squirm, keeping my expression serious and open. A variety of subtle emotions passed over her face from anger to sadness to hatred. She settled on something fragile,
“If…If not for your help, I don’t know if I ever would’ve gotten a handle on my strange powers. I remember those days sometimes. When I couldn’t control myself. I…I wake up from nightmares, and I’m crying while drenched in sweat. It’s rare now, but when that happens, I’m glad I can’t remember who I was before being taken.”
A laugh pulled from her lips, and it held pain and scorn and anger.
“I…I hide it. Probably more often than I should, but there isn’t a guidebook on how to handle being a test subject. I think…I think I’ll be opening that problem bit by bit for a long time. Hah. They had a bunch of us. What they did exactly, I don’t know for sure. They wouldn’t let us look into lab rooms or anything during the experiments.”
Her eyes grew distant until it felt as if she visited another place. It weighed on her,
“They would knock us out before performing the worst of them. No point in keeping us awake and having us squirm after all. I still remember the faces of other research subjects. Sometimes, we’d play. One of them was named Freyja. I never learned her last name because they didn’t give them out. Not until we proved ourselves, anyway.”
I gulped, worried I’d torn open an old scar with my question, as if I hurt her without cause. She blinked, her eyes misty.
“Freyja was so warm and so kind. She was one of those people that constantly tried to explore just to find something new, and she made sure everyone else came along with her. She was…She was a force of nature. Like a summer wind that carried the cold away. I miss her so much sometimes that it burns.”
I listened, my expression serious and my mood somber. She continued,
“One day, the other scientists took her away. I never knew what happened to her, but I assumed that she…She died like all the others. That day stole the only little joy I had found in that place. It ripped it out of my chest like a monster tearing your heart out of your ribs. That-”
Althea gulped, her hands beginning to shake.
“That’s the thing. It’s not what happened to me that has me shaking. It was watching what happened to other people. To children. To my friends. I had another friend called Calliope. We would slide notes to each other when we walked past each other’s rooms. I looked forward to those notes. I treasured them. They were like tiny slices into someone else’s world. They made my tiny cell feel bigger for a while.”
A scathing bitterness overcame Althea’s calm voice,
“I watched Calliope turn inside out and eat two of the scientists. They fumigated her room with sedatives. When they finally got Calliope back together, she smiled through the glass at me. The look in her eyes wasn’t right. She patted her stomach in there before smiling like a pleased mother…They killed her while she was still alive, and someone else wore her corpse.”
My stomach sank at her words. I had always thought Althea’s time at the research facility was awful, but I never imagined anything that horrifying. Unable to even imagine that suffering, I didn’t pretend to. I nodded, and empathy overcame me.
“That sounds bleak. I-I can’t even imagine.”
Althea wasn’t crying. Her voice was hard as steel,
“When you tore my armor off and ruined my sedatives, I thought I was gone. I thought what happened to her had happened to me. I…I didn’t even care if I died. All I wanted was to stay normal. That’s all I ever wanted, and I don’t think I would’ve ever gotten out of there without your help.”
She blinked, a set of tears falling from her eyes. Emotions ran over her face like water through a flooded ravine. She hid her face behind her hair.
“Thank you. Thank you so much. I…I-”
She quieted as if frozen. She held something in, so I reached out a hand before pulling it back. A wave of apprehension overcame me, but I pushed through it. I stood and walked over to her. I sat on my knees before holding her in a hug. She never lifted her head. In the shadow of that mountain, a scarred woman was held by a scarred man. The woman wept, tears falling as she relived the pain of old wounds, and that man held her to his chest.
He murmured,
“I’ll always be here.”
And she wept.