A Shuffling of Planets (The Chained Worlds Chronicles Book 3)

by Daniel Ruth

  I stepped out onto the fire escape again and flew up and west. Now that the terminal had its internet connection back the GPS was flooding me with garbage I didn't care about. I fiddled with the filters to get rid of almost everything but the restaurants.

  I had one embarrassing moment where I flew through a billboard. Distracted flying at its best. Fortunately, only a few people looked up, and then only briefly. There was no real danger to me so my unreliable precognition didn't even have a chance to trigger. Although I thought the business district of Arc was an eyesore, I had to admit all the holographs and light shows were hard to miss. If I ever had to fly around there, I would have to be blind to run into them.

  Contemplating about the advantages and disadvantages of technology I wove between the buildings. I think I flew over downtown Brooklyn and passed over the water. By now it was definitely dark enough to easily see the ley lines. It was a bit too diffuse to light up the city except the specific blocks it ran through but it certainly competed with the ambient city light.

  In a few minutes, I was over land again. I heard a dull roar in the air a few blocks over. I landed on one of the roofs to avoid being too obvious as I craned my neck around the building. As the noise got louder, I saw a familiar floating vehicle jetting through the air. It was the same one the Patriot was standing on when I got thrown through the portal in my abortive fight with Vanth.

  I put my wings away as I watched it go by overhead. It definitely looked out of place here. It would have looked right at home in Arc. It was a bit too loud and I think it had an exhaust that left me wondering what it was burning, but I could see one of the retro groups flying around in one of those before they all fell out of the sky.

  Then it was gone out of view between the buildings. As the whining sound faded, I grew my wings and continued.

  The park itself was a bit of a surprise. It had a lake, some large fields, and trees. It didn't really look that large on the map but they made surprising use of the land. There was even a structure that vaguely looked like a castle.

  As late as it was getting, there were still a lot of people frequenting the area. To my dismay, except for some areas with dense tree growth and some other parts near the water it was remarkably well lit, even ignoring the intersecting ley lines.

  Fortunately, the node and several blocks around it were cordoned off. I suppose the risk of creatures falling from portals went up significantly this close to the node. Off in the distance, along one of the ley lines, I could see some lightning arc as the excess energy tried to ground itself. It wasn't nearly as intense as I knew they could be and I briefly wondered how the locals dealt with it at its worst. It had been bad enough to almost drive Arc's civil engineers to drink and it must be a nightmare in places they can't rebuild most of a city within a few days.

  I walked past the barricades and took my normal shape, complete with the favorite suit. The enchanted silk couldn't really do tweed very accurately; however, it was good enough and very comfortable. My hair started to rise as I approached the node.

  This one was had more static electricity than most of the others I had come across. There's a fair amount of variation among nodes, just as every portal is its own little snowflake. They do have one thing in common. They feel glorious.

  There is a reason why demons dragons and monsters gather in places where the Firmament almost touches the material plane. The energy flows through you, fills you and makes you feel like you can conquer the world. I hear drugs can do that, however, the difference is that if you are supernatural, chances are the sensation is real. Of course, it's tricky to get the world to surrender when you have to be a few hundred feet away to enjoy that advantage.

  It's hard to conquer the world when you can't leave the area. I had heard a bit of the god that visited Moscow. A portal appeared, a god came through. While standing there he was as close to invincible as an entity could be. So, the humans panicked and nuked him. Since he was pretty much impervious to harm all it did was make the city glow and kill a lot of mortals.

  Perhaps the moral of the story is don't blow up your own city. It could also be don't try to blow up gods. I like to think of it as don't meddle in things you don't know anything about.

  I took in a deep breath as I entered the node. Stretching my arms out before me I cracked my knuckles. Then I shook out my shoulders and got to work. I had a variety of things to try. I pulled out a few pennies first. After a few tries, I snorted in disappointment. The copper coating held a decent amount but either the other metals or the mix of metals were making these an incredibly poor battery.

  I pulled out a few plastic rings and cheap toys I had gotten from a gumball type toy dispenser. To my surprise plastic worked remarkably well to store magical energy. As I filled the tiny toys, one after another, I thought about this. It could have been simply that the material is homogeneous. The pennies may have performed poorly due to the mixed materials.

  It also could have been that plastic is a carbon molecule and carbon is the building block of life. It may very well also have been that plastic, and oil, in general, is derived from the distilled essence of creatures a million years dead. This last seemed unlikely since the distilling process for oil is exactly what kills the magical properties of artificial gems.

  I tried a few other items. All of them worked to one degree or another and as I got used to the procedure I also became faster and slightly more efficient. What it came down to is that metal just was an ineffective magical conductor. Next time I see a dwarven smith I'll be sure to let him know he's been doing it wrong. Seriously though, metal didn't work well with this specific spell.

  "Excuse me, sir," a voice came from behind me. "What are you doing here?"

  I turned around. Behind me I saw the Patriot in his full red, white and blue glory, standing in his floating car with the cockpit open. The pose looked remarkedly similar to the one he had during the brawl with Vanth. It was well practiced.

  Now that I was looking at him, I realized that the floater was still doing its whining and whooshing. It hadn't gained a silent mode, I simply hadn't paid it any attention. That was embarrassing.

  "I am looking for Diego," I improvised. "I am a traveler." Let's go with the name-dropping tactic.

  "Could you be more specific," he prompted me. Great, he was going to make me work for this. "I'll need more information than just a name."

  "Flamboyant fellow," I described. "Likes dressing like a girly cowboy. Roams the dimensions and likes earth analogs." Fortunately, Diego and I had chatted extensively over the last few weeks. This wasn't the first world where he had used his joke disguise.

  "Are you saying you are an interdimensional traveler like him?"

  "Yes, I just arrived," I paused. I thought back to the last time I had felt the dimensional fabric ripple. Small portals were popping up frequently and I could sense them from a few miles away. I generally ignored them if I could, otherwise, I would constantly be peering over my shoulder. "About an hour ago."

  "I see," he was good at masking his emotions. With his mask, I couldn't tell if he was buying my story. I was hoping for a bit of credulity. I was totally not in the mood for a superhero fight. Not only was it a waste of time, but I was wearing my favorite face. There was also a chance the alien may show up and my preparations for him weren't complete. "If you'll come with me, we can discuss making arrangements for your presence on our world."

  A bit cold, but not hostile. I could work with that. I nodded and was about to walk towards the colorful hero when my senses prickled. A portal was about to form. Usually, I ignored that, however, it was about to form on top of us.

  "We should move," I walked to the side. "A portal is about to open. There." As the energy built up, I could tell more specific information. About twenty feet up. I pointed.

  "You can tell?" Patriot asked skeptically. "None of our sensors have been able to tell..."

  "Seriously, move," I interrupted. As far as I knew he was a close to a baseline human
. His aura had been a little off baseline but I had no idea what powers he had. If a dinosaur fell out of that portal not only would my 'in' to mainstream society be flattened, I would probably be blamed for it.

  It was too late. A rip in the fabric of the dimensions formed above the floater and all hell tore loose. Magma and fire rained from above. Rocks, steaming with vaporized metals and stone poured out.

  I was actually pretty surprised. Unless a portal formed in the middle of a volcano this kind of thing almost never happened.

  Usually, outside these ten worlds some idiot entities will poke their heads through. They seem drawn like flies to excrement. With the barriers that Vatapi had erected no supernatural entity could pass without his aid or my blood, but we had a constant stream of dinosaurs.

  "Dammit," I muttered as I put a force bubble around the slow human. He finally moved to leap to the side, however, he now had my invisible force field in the way. He bounced off but recovered his balance immediately. Meanwhile, the debris was easily defended against and flowed over the surface. It wasn't magical magma at all so it barely did any damage.

  The same couldn't be said for the floater. For a car of the era, it actually held up surprisingly well. The armor held up to the first few rocks and drops of lava, however, within a few seconds, it was as if someone poured a cauldron of lava through and a cement trucks worth of lava poured out.

  I starred up in consternation at the portal. How the heck was I supposed to meet with the Patriot now?

  "What the?" I muttered and almost rubbed my eyes. There were vague figures standing on the other side of the portal. A few were hurling flaming boulders through and some were manning the cauldron that had just finished pouring the lava that was covering the car.

  The smoke was too thick to see much but I was guessing they were some kind of demons. It could have been elementals but they seemed a bit small. Also, elementals don't use tools. I slipped a hand into my pouch and pulled out an anchor shard. Biting on my finger I dabbed a drop of blood on the stone. It immediately started to vaporize. Then I tossed it through.

  I breathed in calmly as I smoothed out the slightly unbalanced energies caused by the anchor fragment changing locations. I really didn't want any kinetic missiles right now. Considering I was holding one in my bag and there was now one about a hundred feet through that portal, my odds of living if the balance went critical were not good.

  Fortunately, I was able to soothe the churning flows and they settled again. While I was doing that, the creatures at the portals were tossing other things through the portal. I was pretty sure they must not have seen me through the smoke, or they dismissed me as a mere human.

  Looking down at the items falling from the portal I noted they were no longer rocks or lava but stone and metal boxes, even chests.

  "A supply drop," I muttered to myself. Well, that answered whether there were demons in the city. "But if they are dumping it here, who is picking it up."

  As I was pondering this, the dimensional energies fluctuated once more and the portal began to shrink. "Look out behind you!" Patriot called out from his bubble.

  Turning I looked around. Behind me was a familiar wave of insect demons. Each barely a foot tall, they were so close to one another and so numerous they seemed more like a living carpet than demons.

  "Yikes," I shouted. I suppose these were the low-level demons sent to pick up the supplies. I slowly backed up to bubble. These were far more numerous than the ones that had harried Beth a few months ago and the ones that ate poor Mat.

  "You appear to have a demon infestation," I said as I neared the hero. "Have you thought about calling an exterminator."

  "Diego was our exterminator. We need to retreat," Patriot said. I didn't argue this. "My shielded communicator was in the car. My portable one won't be able to work with so many demons around."

  I was slightly worried. It would hurt a lot if they swarmed me but I thought I could take these creatures out. Probably. Nonetheless, if even a few dozens ignored me and focused on the force bubble the Patriot was in trouble. As a mostly baseline human, any one of these demons would rip right through him.

  I waved my hand and cast Bind on the ground in front of me. Dozens were caught, unable to move as their feet magically adhered to the ground. Then the ones behind them freely climbed over them and moved towards us almost unimpeded.

  I heard popping sounds as the trapped demons pulled so hard they ripped their legs out of their sockets and attempted to drag themselves along the ground towards us. Of course, then their torso and face became stuck to the ground. It was creepy but perhaps not the smartest strategy.

  "That is dedication," I sighed in dismay.

  I cast a Cool spell on patriot and dispelled the shield. As I had hoped, he didn't immediately burn to a crisp, however, it was equally obvious that the apprentice cantrip wasn't great at keeping the slowly cooling lava at bay.

  "I waved my hand again and spat out the mnemonics for the Shield cantrip. It was garbage as protection went, intended to protect child apprentices from other apprentice level spells. However, it would still be better than the hero's rather light armor to keep a few attacks away.

  I cast Flash of Light and as the demons blinked, grabbed the hero and cast Illusion behind us. Vague blurry images of two forms roughly resembling us formed in front of the demons. Another force bubble around the illusion would hopefully keep them occupied for a few seconds. None of these cantrips would ever win a fight with Starman, but they would buy some time against some very stupid demons. At least that was the plan.

  The plan worked, mostly. I hightailed it down the park's paved paths. Perhaps the humans sensed a deadly threat, perhaps they had already been eaten, but I had sprinted several hundred yards past the cordon at the time and I hadn't seen anyone.

  "Set me down," Patriot huffed as he fiddled with his communicator. All that was coming from it was static. "Still nothing. We must still be too close to the demons."

  Chances were it was actually me. I took a few deep breathes and did my best to suppress my aura. The static slowly faded.

  "So. You have demon supply drops often?" I asked to break the ice.

  "We had sites that were surrounded by rocks and molten rock but there were never any witnesses. Or survivors."

  "How can they stay hidden if they killed all of these people," I gestured at the empty park.

  "It’s not empty because the people were eaten," he snorted. "It’s empty because this close to the energy intersection we have a curfew."

  "No one is allowed in?" I asked. When I had come here earlier there were plenty of people. I suppose I had lost track of time. They couldn't all have been shifters or supernaturals. I admit I wasn't examining auras but I am positive I would have noticed that.

  "There are some creatures we leave alone," he acknowledged. "Since they keep the random dinosaurs and demons in check, we leave them alone as long as they leave the people alone."

  "That did not seem to be in check," I muttered distractedly.

  "True. We may have to revisit our policy," he growled.

  Oh, crud! That was not the effect I wanted. "Perhaps you should organize them instead of having them haphazardly wander around."

  "We'll see," he said absently as he fiddled with the communicator. "Finally! Patriot here. We have a major demon outbreak in Central Park. Sending the coordinates now. Send flyers if possible. It’s the small insect ones, but there are hundreds of them."

  "Got it," a static-filled voice came from the device, intertwined with sharp bursts of feedback. "Starman is coming back from China. He'll be there in five minutes."

  "Send a new floater," Patriot said. "I have a guest coming with me and the demons demolished the last one."

  "That’s the fifth one this month..." the dispatcher on the line said in dismay.

  "Yeah, hopefully, that will change if the trade pact comes through," the colorful hero said. "When will the car get here?"

  "Ten minutes. Are you safe?"<
br />
  "I think so," he looked at me for some reason. I shrugged. My danger sense wasn't very reliable. Either it simply wasn't working tonight or the little demons weren't considered threats. Admittedly, individually they weren't threats. Maybe my danger sense simply couldn't count.

  I activated my aura sight. Just us here as far as I could see. I gave him a grin and a thumbs up.

  "Yes."

  I saw a blurry flash above us and a moment later the crack of a sonic boom. I frowned. The alien had arrived. I didn't see him too clearly as he made his way to the gate but he looked pretty healthy for a person that had a hole in his chest a few weeks ago. It’s not like I couldn't heal like that but this fellow didn't emanate a speck of magic. I also didn't like him, so it was a coin toss why this made me unhappy.

  "Starman is on the scene," Patriot said.

  "Damn it," the voice on the speaker cursed. "The city already complained last week about broken windows. Again. I thought you talked to him about that?"

  "I'm sure he felt it was important," Patriot faintly defended his companion.

  "Portals closed," I volunteered, I had sensed the portal completely close as I was running. It was suspiciously short lived. "Pretty sure all that is left there is cooling rock." It appeared it was a simple pick up that we were unlucky enough to interrupt. A moment later I heard another sonic boom. Patriot winced as off in the distance I heard the sound of broken glass and car alarms.

  After that, we stood in the middle of the deserted park waiting for transportation. The silence was getting awkward so I went over to sit on a nearby bench. I had just taken out a book to study, another alchemy dissertation when Patriot coughed.

  "Yes?"

  "So, you know Diego?"

  "Pretty well, considering we are both travelers," I said with a nod. It was true. We had talked and he was pretty good company. He knew I was heading to his world and we had discussed some ways to ease the introduction. The demon bug infestation wasn't in the script but I was flexible. "That wasn't him on the phone. I assume he wandered off?"