Psychoworld, p.18
Psychoworld, page 18
part #2 of Tear it Up Series
“Is that… so.”
The monk was clearly impressed, as was I. This woman who had been a leader of the Gold Reapers all those years was a descendant of a founder of the Cult of Hermite! I’d gotten into it this time. Well, not ‘into it,’ but… into an interesting situation.
“There was a hiccup in my plans,” she continued, “and I was discovered. As we speak, the majority of the Gold Reapers and any other hunters they can afford to pay are on their way here, to try and take me out. Let them have me, that’s easy. Sure. But then… you don’t have your man.”
She was using me. I wasn’t sure how to feel about that.
“What you’re offering is a trade,” the monk said. “We protect you, and in return you bring us the one who defeated Master Shen, the one who will open the gate?”
“I will.”
23
In life, as in death, I planned on being my own master. Someone else bartering with me as leverage… not on my watch.
“I have yet to hear what’s in this for me,” I said, stepping out of hiding.
The monk from above vanished, a split-second later appearing in front of me with hand on my throat, but not squeezing. My hands were ready to draw my pistol or arc baton, but a nice thing about being an empath is being able to tell if someone means trouble.
As soon as the monk clearly saw my face, his emotions told me I didn’t need weapons.
“Student Faldron,” he said, releasing his grip.
“Master Richter.”
“I don’t underst…” He turned back to Hinru. “This man is the one? I’m sorry, but… no. He was a student at the temple but couldn’t hack it. Left after only the early stages to go off and become a mercenary.”
“Bounty hunter,” I corrected him, earning a flash of annoyance in his eyes.
“He defeated Master Shen in combat,” Hinru said. Taking my hand, she stared into my eyes, emotions pleading with me as if her eyes weren’t doing it enough. She leaned close with her voice lowered. “We need this.”
“We need them?” I hissed. “How do I know you aren’t part of the cult, using Hadrian’s name to try and get me to do wrong? I’ve been led down that path before.”
“How? Because, Ezra, I give you full access. Check my emotions. See if there’s any ill-will, any part of me that is lying.”
I frowned, knowing it was true. However this ended, I knew she at least believed what she was saying. With a deep breath, I nodded. For her, because I believed in Hadrian, and had to take the leap of faith, here.
“I’ll do it,” I said, turning back to the monks, then to the Hermites. “I’ll attempt to open the gate.”
Master Richter nodded, the others looking his way. He stepped over to me, close enough to be uncomfortable.
“Are you certain?” he asked, but without waiting for a response, kept talking. “This is incredibly dangerous, and we’re all relying on you.” He indicated the temple and then started to walk, clearly expecting me to follow. “It’s no secret, the way you left us. So, for me to say that putting my trust in you is a letdown is quite the understatement.”
“Maybe you should do it.”
He didn’t even miss a beat but kept walking, ignoring my comment. He knew he wasn’t strong enough, clearly.
“The power of this planet lies in the purple mist,” he explained, “which takes form in the waters. When the locals call on it, the frozen lakes thaw and take form. In a way, this power works with the darkness—when not in use, the darkness keeps it at bay. They go hand-in-hand.”
“Interesting.”
“Indeed. What you must do—and why you might have a shot at this compared to me—is use your inner core as you were taught, focus as if pulling the darkness out, almost as if mentally asking it to move aside. It is the empath part of you that sets you apart, though, as you’ll have to gauge the energy coming out of the gate in order to properly manage the situation. We believe you can then communicate with the planet’s power, and if there’s enough of it, open the portal.”
“So you want me to… talk… to the darkness. And mist?”
He nodded, finally stopping on the stone bridge, glancing back, and then taking a step away. “You may begin.”
Had I not trained at the temple as long as I had, none of this would have made sense. As it was, though, the notion that physical training went hand-in-hand with mental training made complete sense to me. I also understood the idea that, if I had defeated Master Shen, it must have been with power greater than or at least equal to his, on all levels.
In that regard, it made sense that they would expect me to be able to do this. The only problem was that I genuinely had no idea what the fuck I was supposed to do. Reach out and touch the darkness with my mental fingers? I frowned, eyed him, and at his nod, stepped forward.
I closed my eyes and focused, imagining the darkness while reaching for the golden ball of energy within me, pulling it out and asking the powers of this planet to cooperate. My mind turned to other times I had harnessed my power, including fights, emotional outbursts, and young loves. None of it elicited the pure emotion I was going for, and even when my insides pulled and then crunched up, only the slightest sense of purple mist appeared. Nothing more.
“It’s not happening!” I shouted, giving it everything I had in what I thought would be my last attempt.
“Try harder!” Master Richter shouted, anger winning over.
Again, I focused, trying to imagine the ball of energy within me, to see it circling, growing. With a push, I reached for anything that might be beyond, using my emotional sensing powers in a way that allowed the other side to reach over.
Like someone knocking and then the door creaking open, I was somewhat aware of a presence, of something coming my way.
Water pooled around the temple. A strong wind flowed over the top, dragging it up and along the sides of the stone walls. A glimmer appeared. For a split second, there was indeed a portal of sorts, or at least a shimmering oval that appeared before us. Light moved across it, an image penetrating my mind of wars fought long ago, beings in animalistic suits going up against monsters that seemed to take on various forms but were made of swirling winds, others of stone, fire, and more. Then it was gone, along with the portal.
I collapsed, drained.
Never in a million years had I imagined that my power could somehow be used to open a gateway to another dimension, or that I would be doing it. Even at that moment, I vaguely understood that this was a power we could harness, but felt a screaming, internal push against it. If I could barely open this gate, or not even open it, how could we hope to control what was on the other side?
“I… can’t.” The words were barely more than a whisper.
Hinru was at my side, kneeling, hand on my back. “You have to.”
“No, I mean, I gave it everything I had. There’s nothing more.”
She glanced back, nervously. “If you can’t, nobody can. And then… then we’re out of options, here.”
I clenched my fist, grinding it into the stone bridge beneath me. Maybe… maybe there was a way to get more energy. With my powers and cultivation, I had an idea. As the others approached, I pulled up my screen and readjusted the skills—glad it let me—and found that I could focus my empath powers in a way that looked like it would pull from others. It was a long shot, but I had to assume this meant in ways other than simply reading their emotions.
“There seems to be a problem, here,” a man said.
I had expected to see one of the monks, but instead there stood a stout man with flowing purple robes, his face half-hidden by his thick beard and his head by a hood. One of the Hermite leaders, I had to assume.
“We seem to have a prob—” Hinru started, but I held up a hand.
“Give me a moment,” I said.
The glance of hope from Hinru gave me courage, so I tried my new skill, hoping it didn’t have any crazy side effects. Still, I didn’t use it on her. Instead, I focused on this large guy with his judging glare, on the others starting to edge in toward the bridge, and even on the monks. Then, focusing on my inner strength and the power I had used to open the gate in the first place, I pulled from all of them.
Grunts sounded in unison from all around, even a couple of gasps and thumps as people collapsed. My mind filled with all manner of emotions, even images to accompany the emotions—a man laughing as his daughter made a silly face and poked his belly, a woman shrieking as she ran from living darkness, a couple reaching climax and caressing each other’s sweaty bodies in the throes of love, and hope from the man standing over me.
It all fed into my ability to open the gate, so that this time the water surged and the portal formed, a being seemingly moving past turning our way and then charging out. It came at me, darkness swirling around it along with wind and blue flashes of light. My foot caught as I stumbled back but then I rolled out of the way as it swept on and nearly took out Master Richter, if it hadn’t been for his hand held up and a power protecting him.
My only thought here was a mental attack, since it looked like a wind spirit and wouldn’t likely care if it got shot or hit with my arc baton. That in mind, I reached out as if to pull on its emotions. The thing lost half its momentum but grew bigger with anger. Behind me, the monks were chanting and the Hermites proclaimed their joy, not realizing what this thing was.
It swept past me, snatching at Hinru, but I hit it with another mental attack and sent it staggering sideways. Only, it charged directly into another group—two monks and a few of the Hermites—sweeping one of the monks and two Hermites up. They screamed like in a tornado, moments later being absorbed by the creature, sprays of blood the only remaining sign that they had ever been there.
“Close the gate!” Master Richter shouted, realization dawning on him at last. His aura spoke of panic.
“No!” the Hermite shouted, but I was already on it, not about to give those monsters on the other side another shot. The gate faded and I took a step back, eyes peeled as I watched to ensure it was gone and there was no chance another life would be lost.
The wind faded, the water receded into the lake, and then it was gone.
Almost.
A dark circle formed right where it had been. I stepped forward, preparing to reach within, to find some way of stopping it from opening. Only, this one was different. An emotion came through, as if… yes, aggression! Hatred and revenge.
A burst of darkness shot out from the air around us, taking on a shape. A form appeared and then… Maji shot out, kicking me in the chest and sending me sprawling onto the stone bridge. He stood for another attack as I quickly recovered. That fucking smile of his was about to get wiped off by my arc baton. But, as I drew it and charged simultaneously, he held out his hands as if to embrace me.
Instead, sections of the roof exploded inward, light shining through with descending spirals of purple mist, and then water. Small waterfalls formed all around as several ships descended in beams of light, aimed, and then opened fire on the Hermites gathered below.
Screams. Death. Horror.
My eyes darted from the ships to Maji and back again, trying to come up with a way to stop this atrocity from happening. The power from pulling at the others nearby still surged through me, raising my alertness and increasing my empath pull. And thank Oram, too, because a very-much appreciated and familiar emotional-print came to me, originating from somewhere above. Searching, curious, frustrated... It was my team! I sensed Cheri there, Erupa, Tink, and Mer. Even Cheshire!
Down here, I pushed. Not so much of a mind-reading or mind-communication thing, but pushing the emotional pull in a way that was very much like communicating. The immediate change in Cheri’s emotions told me it had worked.
As shots continued to light up the cavern, my team came crashing in—the ship Hadrian had given us managing to take down two of the enemy vessels and send them plunging into the lake, while Tink emerged to join the fight as enemy hunters jumped for it. Some of the enemy could fly or had hoverpacks, so I was glad to see Tink kicking their asses. She zipped around, causing confusion and attacking like a tiny ninja.
The men and women from the downed enemy ships that had crashed into the lake were now emerging from the waters. But Mer was on it, diving from the still-descending ship and landing with a splash. The enemy around her disappeared below the surface, one by one.
“I’ve already sent out the coordinates for the rest of the Gold Reapers to find you,” Maji said, hands still out as he mocked the entire place and all of the action around us. “All you have here will be destroyed, don’t you get it? Flee while you can, or bow before me. Either way, this shit is done.”
“Only when I say so,” I countered, charging in with my arc baton swinging, exchanging blow for blow with this asshole. From time to time I shot, never missing my target, but he had a damn good shield in place. If I could get a good shot with the arc baton in, that shield wouldn’t matter.
As we circled each other on the bridge, charging in and attacking and then backing up to size each other up again, my team was around me, kicking major ass. I tried to pay attention to what was what but needed to stay on my toes to avoid the way Maji managed to pull darkness, and the way he occasionally tried to attack Hinru, his apparent sister.
Erupa went by in a flash and tried to hit him with a shadow strike but he swiped a hand up and her shadow moved against her, throwing her back and out of the way. The rest of them were too occupied, although I was pleased to see that more than once they vanished before a strike could hit, only to reappear near Cheshire a split-second later. That cat was proving damn useful.
Mer appeared, leaping from the water to take a hunter from the bridge, then sinking back into the dark. The muffled underwater screams that followed, coupled with the blood, limbs and scraps of flesh that floated up from the depths, threatened to never let me see Mer in quite the same way again. It was disgusting.
A mental push hit me, maybe from Cheri or the cat. The source didn’t matter, only the power that I felt, as if new parts of my mind were opening. I embraced the sensation, pulling deep from within as I had right before going up against Master Shen. Only, this time it wasn’t to perform some fancy kick or other technique but to pull at the gate, to open it just the right amount.
Maji turned, curious about the sight of the water pooling up in the air behind him, to me. His eyes took on a crazed yet determined look, and I knew this was it—he was going to put everything he had into this attack.
Only, I wouldn’t let him.
Another mental push on the gate and it was open! Swirling winds, pulsating energy waves that sent me to my knees, and something massive… something very much resembling the statues on either side of the temple. As a portal rippled before me, water pulling toward it but becoming part of the opening, a being turned to face us.
No, not exactly a being, more something like a stone colossus with cracks where lava seeped through. Its eyes were ablaze, a glowing stone where its heart would be. All around it and in the background, that purple mist floated about, making me wonder if the purple of this planet actually had nothing to do with chemicals and everything to do with this portal and the work of the Hermites.
“What are you?” I muttered, wishing I could back up and run, but unable to.
Maji glanced back once, screamed like a little girl, and started to run for me. Seeing him like that, even then pulling out two blades and turning a shoulder-mounted barrel at me, I decided I’d had enough of his bullshit. I stood and used the energy connecting me to the portal to pull myself toward it. The effect was like a force throwing me at my oncoming opponent. I lifted a leg and thrust with my foot, catching him in the chest. The impact sent him flying backward, up and into the portal, and gave me enough momentum to push back, clinging to the base of the nearest temple statue.
“Hinru!” he shouted, but his scream was cut off as I severed all mental links with that portal. One final glance showed the colossus swinging at Maji, fire bursting forth, and then the portal closed.
Maji was gone.
The portal… gone. My energy was depleted and my mind spinning. Everyone was standing in a stupor—everyone but my team, who charged over to me, checking to see if I was harmed. I waved them off but accepted help from Erupa to stand.
“Thank you,” the lead Hermite said, voice shaky.
“These are your gods?” I asked, indicating the spot where the portal had been, unable to hold back my anger. How many lives had been lost? How could they expect to do this again, after what we had seen?
My answer came in the form of a glare.
“Let them through!” Hinru growled.
I glanced over to see who it was. My heart leaped with relief at the sight of the rest of my team. Cheri was in the lead, carrying Cheshire in one arm. Tink fluttered close behind. Next, my eyes found Mer as she emerged from the water, pants torn, blood and water dripping over her clothes, which clung tightly to her form. Sexy, but disturbing.
The team was back together again.
“When will you be able to try again?” the Hermite said. The two remaining monks—as one was on the ground, headless—stepped up behind him, waiting for my answer. I glanced at my team, then back to these three. Hinru stepped up at our side.
“It’s not going to happen,” I said.
“What?” Master Richter looked outraged.
“Not yet,” I finished. “I can open the gate, but we’re not at a point where we can control what’s on the other side. Not yet. To do so, there is something from the Temple of Domren I require.”
Master Richter shook his head. “Nothing there can be of use in this situation. Unless you mean—”
“The core gems,” the monk at his side interrupted, and Master Richter actually bowed his head, stepping back. I recognized the man, now that he spoke. This was Master Shen’s teacher, known for being great at guiding others although he had never been as powerful as Master Shen had become. Nobody had, until I came along. “Supra tech of great power, although not many are aware of them.” Looking at me, he added, “How is it that you are?”
