Out of Time the Grand Quest

by Christopher Douglass

  “Sorceress is right. While I do plan on eventually upgrading all of you, I can’t do that right now. Some I might merge together if their stories are similar or compatible. Such as Arachno-Girl and Experiment 123: codename Tigress. Both were created by science experiments gone wrong. So instead of having to choose between one or the other, I will combine them instead.”

  “So who do you plan on upgrading? Our team has just gone out you know.”

  Sorceress waved her hand and the wall behind her turned into a projection screen, showcasing what Kimi’s body saw while she was inside her own mind. Bree and Maria were floating on a disk of wind high above the fighting, Maria raining destruction down on the monsters below with her holy magic. While most of Bree’s concentration was on maintaining her levitation spell and moving it around to avoid return attacks, she still managed to fling blades of air or augment Maria’s magic arrows with a tailwind.

  A band of creatures that looked like two headed centaurs galloped towards a group of mages who had no idea they were coming. A hand came into view from the side, one Kimi knew belonged to her mother. From out of the ground rose an opaque brick wall. One that reminded her of her old apartment building on Earth. The creatures couldn’t halt their rush, crashing into the sudden obstacle. The wall didn’t even quiver from the impact but the band of creatures fell over stunned. She heard her mother gasp as her energy was drained from using her Iron Wall ability. The mages turned as the wall flickered out of existence. They saw the creatures laying stunned, and then they attacked.

  Jeremy and Jared worked like a well oiled machine together. They moved as if they had one mind, needing no words to communicate. What little they did speak to each other was limited to hand motions and eye contact. She watched as Jeremy opened a tear for Jared to run into. When he exited, he shot three Nyt’s; creatures that looked like swirling masses of darkness, then tagged a floating eyeball and a two headed centaur with one of his bulls-eye marks. By the time the monsters turned towards him, he had slipped into a second tear and was back next to Jeremy. He didn’t stay there long, activating his own Wild Ability and teleporting to his first victim. He slapped a grenade to the eyeballs iris and zoomed away to the centaur where he planted another grenade. He fell off the horse-man’s back into a time tear seconds before both items detonated.

  “He’s our father you know.”

  Kimi shook her head along with the rest of her characters who overheard the Sorceress’ comment.

  “He doesn’t have any children.”

  “Right, and he’s been completely honest with us up until this point. He has Rift Generation ability. It is not outside the realm of possibility since he can move between Atlantis and Earth like any other Observer.”

  “True, but the likelihood the two of us were reunited even in such a case is astronomically low. If having Rift Generation was the only qualification, there are probably hundreds that could do just as well.”

  “You have the Paradoxial Ability, just like he does as well.”

  “I am inclined to believe it coincidence. As he said before, it is a surprise other Phasers have not yet had such an ability. Or if they have, it was not recorded before they left as Mediators, or died for whatever reason.”

  Gunslinger Girl grinned, slapping the Sorceress on the back. “Give it up grandma. Sure, the creator likes and respects the man, even imagines her absentee father is someone like him. But you won’t convince any of us he is really our father. It is just wishful thinking, that’s all. Besides, we are all women of power, we don’t need no man chaining us down. If by some small chance you are right, and he really is our father, so what? We lived without him for sixteen years, and even he does not wish to claim us. That is, if he even knew in the first place. What difference would it make anyway? He has a wife, it isn’t like he would pay child support, or marry our mother. Just let things stand as they are.

  Kimi nodded as Gunslinger Girl spoke. “She’s right, it is too much of a stretch. Ultimately you are manifestations of my imagination. So you are more strongly influenced by any imaginative thoughts I might have. I did imagine him as my father for a time, but even I know that is impossible, or at least, wildly unlikely.”

  “Besides, grandma, none of this gets us any closer to the reason the creator came here. So sugar buns, if you aren’t going to upgrade mothballs here, who will you upgrade? Also, do you really have the time to create more back story for more than one person?”

  “I will if I leave most of my conscious mind in here with you while the first upgraded persona takes control of the body.”

  “So then who is the first?”

  Kimi grinned mischievously. “What do you get when you combine an assassin with magic?”

  “A super assassin?”

  “Close. A ninja.”

  Kimberly held her hand out to Kimi the Blade who took it after unfolding her arms and pushing off from the wall. While she couldn’t shake from her anxiety, she still felt a bit uncertain. She really hoped this would work. There was no reason it wouldn’t but still the possibility existed.

  “After seeking out and fulfilling her revenge upon the man who had murdered her family, Kimi The Blade wandered the world. Seeking to grow ever stronger, ever wiser. Lending her blade to those causes she felt were just. She had vowed never again to raise her blade for tainted coins. Within her travels she learned the secret of inner chi, named KaMa by the local tribes. Training under a master, she learned how to unlock this potential hidden inside everyone. A power long forgotten by most humans and relegated to myth. Now she travels once more, growing into her newfound powers. Balancing the forces of light and dark. Of Ka and Ma. She has cast aside the name she once wore as a simple assassin and taken up another. One given to her by the Tikalli people who taught her the ancient secrets.

  “Shadewalker Kim.”

  Kim opened her eyes as she stood, the black garb she had once wore as an assassin, now light gray. Better suited to blending in with the shadows. She still held all the tools of her profession in the many hidden pockets, but now two kodachi blades rode upon her back. She felt the hilt of one beat against her right shoulder and the hilt of the second bounce against her left hip as she turned. Bending to get a feel for the new body, she noted the belts along her upper thighs holding small scrolls. Her mind supplied their use as more of her story was filled in.

  Kim needed to be careful of the spells she cast. Ka was light based and Ma was dark based. Too much of either one would consume her. Ma was more powerful and destructive, but Ka had stronger defensive ability. Feeling she was ready, Shadewalker Kim rushed into battle. She was the forward guard. It was her duty to buy the creator as much time as possible to create the other persona’s.

  “Time to start things off with a bang.”

  Snagging a scroll from her leg, she threw it into the air. As it unraveled while falling, the fingers of her left and right hand glowed with the darkness of the void. Crossing her arms, Kim slid them sideways across the paper while opening her arms wide.

  “Dance of shadows.”

  The paper burst into smoke as Kim ran forward. It felt like she was running faster than light. Everything else moved in slow motion. The beam of red light an eyeball shot at her looked like molasses. The roar of a two headed giant lasted an eternity. Her palms found the leather wrapped hilts of her swords, a small application of Ka on the left and Ma on the right caused them to glow as she unsheathed them. She crossed the hundred or so feet between her and the mass of Unnamed in seconds, proving her new name by slipping through the shadows of the world. With a sideways swing of Nama, the kodachi in her left hand, she began to dance. She spun and jumped, ducked and rolled through the near motionless mob. Finding all the tiny openings she could fit through. Nama and Alla cut steel-like flesh, severed limbs, fowled strikes heading for her motionless allies. Never did she stop moving, landing only one or two blows at most on each enemy. Nama and Alla, gifted by her master on his deathbed. Translated, they meant Ebb and Flow. />
  Like a battle. Like a dance. Like life.

  Kim felt the magic start to fade. Saw the creatures start to move faster. She struck once more, finding herself in the middle of a swarm of angry fairies when time resumed its normal course. Blood erupted from the wounds she inflicted, blades and fists turned away from their expected destination. The sounds of pain were like music. The gun toting fairies realized she was among them, their weapons turned on her. With a few quick hand signs, she used Ka to meld her body with the ground, sinking into it like it was water. Traveling underground was an odd sensation. Her Ka augmented hearing was her eyes, the footfalls painting the picture of the war above.

  Once out of immediate danger, Kim resurfaced behind a group of mages holding back a mass of shadow people with glowing red eyes but no real face or form made out of mist. Two were bleeding heavily from cuts on arm and chest, and one was missing an arm completely. The last two were uninjured but Kim could tell they were tapped out. Snatching another scroll from her leg, she bit down into it while holding both hands in front of her as if to pray. As the palms glowed pure white, she dropped the scroll into the cup between the thumbs and index finger.

  “Light’s Warden!”

  The scroll burned itself up in her concentrated Ka. The ground rumbled, then split open in front of the void people. Ten glowing white statues arose from the fissure. Standing eight feet tall, and so close there was no space between. Their feet glided across the ground, burning away the darkness of the void bodies when the two touched.

  “Fall back! See Valerie about the missing arm and get those wounds tended to! Rest for now!”

  “Yes ma’am! Thank you ma’am!”

  Kim felt the creator calling her back so she, or another persona could take over. Not wanting to be left unprotected, Kim grabbed yet another scroll. This one unraveled as she pulled it out of the case it sat in, swirling around her body as she filled it with Ka.

  “Cloak of shadows.”

  To the untrained eye it would look like she had vanished. Yet to those who could see, they would know she still stood where she was& just invisible. As she sank back into her mind she noted both Maria and Bree glid to hover over her still form. Maria shot arrows of pure energy from a bow made of light.

  “Having betrayed her vows to king and country. Having lifted the sword she once used in their defense against the very monarch she had served. Sir Kim, first knight of the realm and Baroness of the western reaches, fled her homeland. The people who had once praised her as a hero clamoring for her head. Ignorant to the fact that she had saved them from a king who had grown corrupt. Bereft of home and honor, of a task for which she could live, Sir Kim Longreach searched for a place to die.

  “In her searching, she found a small village in enemy lands. A village in need of a protector, who cared not for her past, or her lineage. But the strength of her blade alone was not enough to protect these once enemies from the onslaught of the demon hordes. And so, she sought new power from the gods. She prayed for the ability to defeat the hordes, offering up her very life in compensation.

  “And the gods answered. They bestowed upon her that which she most desired. They took from her that which she offered, her very life. Servitude for a cause, that was the essence of the knights code. Kim Longreach had knelt before the alter of the gods a simple knight. One outcast from her own homeland, but still a knight. She arose as something more.

  “She arose as the Dark Paladin.”

  Sir Kim shook her head to force away the disorientation of taking over the body, feeling the creator sliding back down into the depths of their shared mind. The concealment spell of Shadewalker Kim was already fading without that persona to keep it up. Kim rotated her shoulders, the light gray outfit gone, replaced by armor as black as night but burnished to a shine like day. An affect only a god could create. As she curled her toes, her plate armor clanked. It weighed little, another blessing of the gods. Spikes and jagged edges curved back off of knees, elbows, shoulders, and even toe tips. Nothing magical, just good solid steel, the better to kill her enemies. Two medium sized shields rested on the back of either arm, but far enough from the wrist to leave her arms and blades free to move as they wished.

  Reaching over her right shoulder, Paladin Kim pulled the broadsword free. The blade and hilt itself were a deep purple, lined with the white of polished steel. Spanning five foot, it required two hands to wield. It was the essence of pure power. Lacking the finesse of smaller blades, it made up for it in the strength of each strike. While power was needed in this battle against the demons, power alone would not win the war. What she needed was speed and flexibility.

  Grabbing the handle in both hands, she ripped the sword in half, giving a wild cry of rage as she rushed towards the first demon in her sight, a sword carving a path in the dirt to either side as the tip dragged the ground in preparation for an upward swing. Overhead, a rain of holy arrows hit demons to either side.

  Chapter 43: Millenia

  Kim twirled, blocking an Anicorn’s drill horn on the shield of her right arm. The drill spun, trying to break her defense. Kim brought the sword in her left hand around and up to ram into the horse creatures chin. The skin resisted only a moment, then with a sucking sound it slid inside, exiting through an eyeball. As she pulled it out her elbow came around to slice deeply into the nose of another horse before her shield wedged into the wound on the backswing. The nose ripped right off the face, allowing the sword in her right hand easy access to the brain through the gaping hole.

  “I need air!”

  Maria obliged her request. While Bree could no longer keep her flying on a levitation spell, that didn’t slow the Grand Wizard down. Maria ran through the mass of bodies ducking and dodging with the rest of them. A rain of arrows fell from the sky, creating stepping platforms for Kim. As she jumped from platform to platform, Kim brought her swords together once more. As she launched herself from the last platform in front of a creature that looked like a Troll with three eyes and metal scales, she swung the sword in a backhand motion.

  “Grand Tempest!”

  The power of her gods infused her. The sword felt lighter as the spikes grew four times larger. The neckline of her breastplate grew over her head, leaving only eye slits for her to see out of. Her shields elongated turning in a ninety degree angle as the end sharpened into points. By the time her sword met the creatures neck, the blade found no resistance. It decapitated the monster easily thanks to her hands being guided by the gods. The attack didn’t stop there, her body spinning faster and faster on its own. Encased as she was, she didn’t feel the forces acting against her body.

  Any flesh that came within a foot of her was ripped to shreds, regardless of how tough it was. Steel rent wide open, bones broke and weapons shattered as she fell. When she finally landed, the excess power drained and her armor reverted to normal. Two tornadoes with arms burst into existence around her to keep the enemy at bay while she recovered. At first she thought it was the Slyph, then she realized it was Bree’s magic. With both Bree and Maria’s help, she extracted herself from the mob.

  “Creator, I’ve held off as long as I could. But I’m about at my limit. I hope you are ready, because I’m tired and about to go to sleep for a while.”

  Dark Paladin Kim felt her lids droop even as she said that. Felt her consciousness retreat back to the section of the mind that was her room. As she sunk lower she felt the creators presence surface, a feeling of warmth enveloping her.

  “You did good my paladin. You bought me the time I needed.”

  Kimi took in a deep breath through her nostrils. “Sorry it took so long, making a completely new character in such a short amount of time is harder than it seems.

  “We dealt partner. I hope you have something good though, Like your alter ego, I’m about at my limit. I can feel through our bonds that Maria is too.”

  “I do.”

  At that moment a Gorgrunge charged from out of the treeline. Light coalesced in Maria’s hand
s but fizzled out before she could do anything with it. Bree tried summoning her wind, but even that refused to obey her. The three watched the creature barrel towards them, unable to move out of the way in time. From nowhere an opaque wall was between them. The edges wrapped around the beast, enclosing it in a bubble. It pounded on its cage, but the wall didn’t budge.

  “I will not let you touch my daughter!”

  Kimi glanced behind to see her mother had left the safety of Yandor’s shields in order to get close enough to summon her Iron Wall ability. Joel and Grell flanked her on either side, keeping her safe and feeding her power. Her mother was sweating and her body was shaking, but she didn’t let her Other power fail.

  “Kimi dear, do what you have to do. I’ll hold it as long as you need.”

  “Thanks mom.”

  Kimi closed her eyes so she wouldn’t have to see the angry face of the monster so close to her.

  “She had lost her name in the passage of time. No, she had not lost it, she had discarded it. She had no need of a name within her palace at the end of time. A palace populated by only one person. Her people were gone, her planet was gone, yet she was not. Thanks to the curse placed upon her millennium ago, she could not die so easily. Thanks to the blood that flowed in her veins her unique magic further retarded her aging. She was a queen without a court. A noble without a house. Her lover was the ever elusive death who refused to court her. Refused to show his face to her. And so, she plied her magic alone in a castle the size of the universe, yet as small as her own mind. Manipulating it for her own amusement to while away the long hours of boredom.