Hell's Gifts - Complete Series Boxset

by Mark Russo

  We all ran into the school again. Just beyond the main door, we found Stuart laying on the floor, shaking like he was in the middle of a seizure.

  “Call the doctor!” I yelled.

  “He’s stitching Kassie’s arm now,” the student said.

  “Can you please explain what happened?” I was still yelling.

  “I do not know. We found him here, and Kassie was hurt badly.”

  “Okay, we’ll discuss our lack of medical personnel later. Let me get to him.” I pushed the small crowd out of the way and kneeled by Stuart’s side.

  His body was trembling and shaking hard, so I ensured nothing pointed was around. His head rolled backward, and his eyes opened; they were completely white, just as those Maria had in the vision I’d just experienced.

  “Do not touch him!” Akko cried out from behind me. “This is not what you think. Stay away from that kid.”

  I stood and obeyed.

  “Get all the students out. No one has to be around that body.”

  “Didn’t you guys hear what Akko just said? Everybody out!” I shouted.

  The students scattered. One fell but got back up and bolted.

  Only Akko, Stuart, and I remained in the room.

  “Now look, because you have to see this for yourself,” Akko said with a groan.

  The young guy in front of us twitched without ceasing.

  “We have to do something, Akko. Are we going to let him die?”

  He grabbed my hand and held it tight. “That is exactly what we are doing. Look, it won’t take long.”

  His body shook like it had an earthquake inside it; arms, legs, and head moved so fast I struggled to get a clear vision of them. Then it became even faster. He was nothing but flurry vision defying my eyes. A second after, it was over.

  “Where is he now? He was here! Right here, Akko.”

  “He’s in the same place you would have been if you had touched him.”

  “Can you please tell me what is going on? One of our students just disappeared before our eyes.”

  “That was a student in the first year. He did not get his training on the Paths yet.”

  “Yes, and what does it have to do with him vanishing into thin air?”

  “It’s the planes’ merger. The same thing that happened to that animal will happen to people. Sooner rather than later, apparently.”

  “What do we have to do?”

  “We rush the schedule. Train as many of them as possible, as quickly as possible.”

  “How does that protect them?”

  “Plane K is a dominant plane. It’s not like it will coexist peacefully with Plane R. It will shape it. Humans, animals, and most living things here will face this fate.”

  “And if we turn humans to marchers, we save them?”

  “Yes, Emma. And we better do it fast.”

  3

  Vaim

  Clothes. All I could see were clothes. Some lay on the floor or the furniture. Underwear and bras stuck out of a semi-opened drawer. That was Maria’s room. I looked at my feet and saw a few mugs, a coat, and something else I could not identify, but it looked like food. I needed to mind my steps.

  “People would call this a gigantic mess,” Laura said from behind me.

  “I have to agree. Despite all those things lying around, I think she brought nothing together with her.”

  “That seems odd but true. Emma said she was quite messy, so I think this is just the way her room would look on a Tuesday.”

  I spotted something on the nightstand. “What is this?”

  She moved by my side. “A box of makeup.”

  “I get why I was not familiar with such a thing. There is nothing interesting for us to find here.”

  “I agree. Let’s see if we can talk to Akko instead. He was the last person who saw her here.”

  When we opened Maria’s room door to leave, the Grand Master on the Path of Time appeared before us. “Emma told me you needed to talk to me, so here I am.”

  “Well, thanks for coming here then,” I said.

  “You are the last person who saw her before her disappearance, so we wanted to ask whether we should know something.”

  “Am I being accused of something?” he barked.

  “No. We are just trying to sort this out. What did she say when you saw her last?” I asked.

  “We did not talk about anything in particular. We discussed the opening ceremony. She mentioned the speech she was about to give.”

  “Did you notice anything unusual with her?” Laura asked.

  He paused for a moment. “She was talking much slower than usual. Maybe she was just tired, but that is the only thing I can think of.”

  “Thanks, Akko. It sure seems odd to think of Maria not saying a hundred words per second,” Laura joked.

  I assumed it was a joke. It is very difficult to say that many words in a second.

  “I’ll be here if you need my help. I must go now. Emma, James, and I have some very urgent matters to attend to.”

  We thanked him once again before he left.

  “It looks like we are back to square one. Searching this building proved completely worthless,” Laura complained.

  “I would not agree with that. We learned Maria left in a rush and she packed nothing before that. Akko helped us as well. He said she was behaving unusual.”

  “Are you saying someone kidnapped her?”

  “I am saying we take that possibility into account.”

  “What do we do next?”

  I processed many possible courses of action. “Do we have a way to find her?”

  Laura eyed me and exhaled, which was another thing humans do when they are thinking. She probably does not remember she is not one of them. “I could use my time skills to find her trace but not her.”

  “I’m not sure I understand what you are saying.”

  She laughed. “When a marcher on the Path of Time uses a skill, it leaves a trace in the space-time continuum. It is possible to find that if I concentrate.”

  “Okay, can I help somehow?”

  “I don’t think so. Wait for me here. I’d sit down if I were you. It might take a while.”

  “I don’t get tired; I cannot. I’ll just stay here.”

  She chuckled before jumping into a time series.

  After Laura left me alone, I analyzed the information I currently had. It turned out we didn’t have much. We were hoping to find a trace that her skills might have left.

  I looked around. No one was walking by the bright corridor I was standing in, so I went by one of those large windows. On the outside, beyond the trees, I spotted the remnants of what once was the city of Berlin. It had been a long time since we’d gone there. I paced a few times—something else I’d seen people do but never understood why. Killing time was not one of my best features.

  When Laura jumped from her time series again, I was still pacing the hallway. “I found something.” Her eyes were smiling.

  “What exactly did you find?”

  “She was in the badlands. There’s a trace of her there.” She made unintelligible gestures with her hands.

  “Okay, let’s go there.”

  “Will you do the honors?”

  I opened a portal leading to the area I remembered in the badlands. We walked through it, one after another. The badlands looked like the last time we were there—a wide expanse of low hills, devoid of vegetation. The badlands didn’t know any weather conditions the same way Plane K did. The only thing that caught my eye was the severe level of drought; the soil was so tough, it looked like rock.

  I eyed Laura, waiting for her to tell me what to do. “Okay, we’re here. Now what?”

  “We look for the trace.”

  “How do we do that?”

  “Follow me.” She passed by my side and led the way.

  I assumed that peculiar trailblazing activity occupied most of her mental space, since she said nothing else after inviting me to tag along. We walked
in silence for a hundred meters, one foot in front of another, for five full minutes.

  She passed a small hill that hid our sight in a narrow valley then stopped so suddenly I realized she must have seen something unusual.

  When I got closer, I realized it was lots of human bodies laying lifeless before us. I counted them rapidly, but I stopped once I reached a hundred.

  We didn’t talk.

  I stepped forward and kneeled by a corpse.

  “They are all dead,” Laura said in a low voice.

  “Yes, but I don’t understand what killed them. They don’t show any signs of trauma.”

  “We don’t have any equipment here for determining the cause of death.”

  “I have some embedded in my eyes, but it’s not helping much.”

  “Thanks,” she muttered.

  “We don’t even know where these people came from.” I held the poor girl’s hand while talking; it was not even stiff yet. “We have to get back and inform the others about this.”

  Laura’s voice changed suddenly.“Not yet. Do you still see that trace we were following?” She progressed through several facial expressions before she spoke again. “Something’s nearby. We should check that.”

  We started walking again. I had to watch my steps closely if I wanted to avoid stomping on the dead.

  Laura kept her mouth shut, and I didn’t need to talk to her.

  The more I inspected the area, the more I thought whatever killed these people didn’t do it here; they had dragged them here after killing them elsewhere.

  “I saw something!” Laura cried out and sprinted like a lightning bolt being cast from a heavy cloud. Laura landed on her hands and knees a few seconds after.

  As I drew closer, I heard her crying, but her head was blocking my view. I went by her side and peeked at what made her eyes water.

  She was holding a weapon—a time blade—but it was not hers. It was Maria’s. Those blue shades on the sharp edge of the sword were impossible to be mistaken. “She would never leave her weapon,” she mumbled.

  “That is true. But even if she did, where is she? I cannot see her around here.”

  She lifted her burdensome head to look around. She sighed a little and blew her nose. “We have to bring her time blade to Akko. He will know what to do.” She collected it from the dry patch of soil.

  “Okay, let me carry it. I have lots of space.” I slid the cold object inside my backpack.

  A familiar metallic noise spread throughout the surrounding air. A large Marcovian vessel hovered before us.

  I didn’t see the weapons they were carrying but surely escaping was not an option.

  Laura remained completely still, her arms frozen, and her eyes stared blankly into space.

  The spacecraft landed slowly; the two lateral engines ran at a diminished speed before turning off. From beneath the cockpit, a rectangular tailgate opened, revealing the metal giant’s dim interior. Three uniformed Marcovian foot soldiers marched toward us with a rhythmic pace, phase guns pointed at us. Their weapons colored in a bright shade of white; they were loading them. They did not fire; instead they lined up, making clear they were not here to play games.

  After squaring off with us for a moment, one yelled, “You two get inside the ship! I will not repeat this!”

  4

  James

  The students stood before me in an almost perfect line. No one was trying to make eye contact with their teacher.

  I checked my shirt, but I had buttoned it all the way up, and my shoes were clean. I opened my arms and cleared my throat. “Guys, it gives me enormous pleasure to be with you here today. I’m sure this all will be a fundamental step in your development as marchers on the Path of Matter, which we all know is the best one.”

  No one fully laughed at my silly joke, but one of them smiled at me for the first time.

  I returned the smile. “The first thing I need you to do is to accept the Path. What do you guys say? Do you want to be marchers on the Path of Matter?” I stressed the second question way more than the first one.

  They all shouted, “I do!”

  In front of me stood a guy whose voice did not match his body; that kind of low-pitched sounds belonged to bears or wolves where I come from.

  “Very good. Now, please follow me. I want to show you something.”

  No one dared to talk while we walked. Soft grass muffled our steps, bringing the silence escorting us to its most deafening. When we reached the back yard, I asked the students to make a wide circle around me. The result was more of an eclipse, but I just let that go.

  “We will now try a little something. Do you guys see all these small rocks around here?”

  A loud, “Yes,” was their answer.

  “Okay. I want you to lift as many as you can at once. You have to do it without using your hands though.”

  The students eyed each other, but again, no one asked questions. One of them kneeled to stare at a rock; nothing else happened. Behind me, two of them closed their eyes; I could not discern what they were trying to do.

  The tallest of them, who remained in the back until that moment, tried something different. He raised his hand above the ground and outstretched his fingers, reminding me of what I would do when conjuring a rockjet. Big lines appeared on his balding forehead as he attempted his first rock-related skill.

  The others interrupted their almost shamanic rituals to concentrate on their classmate’s actions instead.

  I did the same; I just couldn’t move my eyes from his massive fingers. Time dilated; were we just a bunch of people staring at another?

  Sweat covered the tall guy’s forehead.

  I was about to intervene—give the guy a little help or just use the skill myself—but a rock lifted from the ground. It was just a second, then it plummeted again to the same spot it was before.

  Everyone jumped and cheered for the big guy’s success. Some hugged him; others patted his back.

  I went to congratulate him myself. “What you did was great. I did not expect one of you could do this already.”

  He shook my hand many times.

  “You see, guys? What John did was trust his instincts. There is not one way to make the Path work for you. You must find your own. Feel the energy and bind it to your will. Keep trying, I’ll keep a close watch on you from there.” I pointed at a bench in the shadow of a large tree not far away.

  As I sat on that uneven piece of wood, I remembered that, recently, I would have immediately browsed my live feed. Too bad the internet had been down for years. When I raised my head, I saw John approaching me with a wide smile.

  He sat a few centimeters too close to me. “I had no idea that would work.”

  “Me neither. But it did, and that’s what matters the most.”

  “When you all stared at me, I knew I had to do something.”

  “That is the same thing I did the first time I tried to use my skill. I just improvised.”

  He looked at me, still wearing that smile, then we watched the others. Most had an arm extended, hoping to trigger an inkling of a rockjet. It did not happen, but I was sure it was just a matter of time.

  Paul stood and said he would join the rest of the guys; I had nothing against that.

  “Look at you, already some new making friends,” Emma said by my side.

  I did not hear her coming near.

  “We have something very important to talk about,” she said.

  “I know. We always have something crucial to discuss, but we should also think about keeping things quiet around here.”

  “It looks like you already have something on your mind.”

  “Yes. We give them a little show. I wanted to talk to you about this the other day, but then it slipped my mind.”

  She chuckled. “Okay, what kind of show were you thinking of, James?”

  “They know they will learn about the Paths, but they have no idea what that actually means. So, we show them.”

  “Are yo
u talking about a mock fight?”

  “That is what I’m talking about.”

  “Okay. I think it will be a way to relax a bit. I mean, when I will kick your ass.”

  “We’ll see about that, my dear Emma.”

  We shook our hands and proceeded with the preparation.

  *****

  It took us a few minutes to gather all the students behind the school where we had enough space to put up a decent show. Emma and I were one in front of the other, five meters apart.

  “One rule: let’s not hurt each other too much,” I told her.

  “Don’t worry. I won’t make you cry,” she said before becoming invisible. Her next move was a standard mind blast. She grabbed my throat, a petty way to knock me out immediately, forcing me to pass out.

  I turned my skin to stone so her grasp would not be as effective.

  Two stone worms appeared by my side; the students stepped backward, but Akko calmed them down.

  I sent them underground; that proved way noisier than I had remembered.

  Emma went for another cheap trick of hers, crowding the surroundings with doubles.

  The students cheered that time. Some had brought their hands to their faces while jumping left and right.

  Her mind blast came back to yank me from behind, almost making me fall.

  I turned around to see dozens of Emma’s clones waving at me. It was time for her to taste a rockjet; I didn’t imbue much power into it.

  When the rocks exploded toward the intangible army, all of them disappeared—yet another trick.

  So, I turned my back once more. This time, only one fake image stood in front of me.

  Emma rapidly laid her hand on my chest and tried her override skill.

  My head spun, and my vision blurred. Lifting an arm to push her back proved tough; it was as heavy as a metal bar. I was losing my balance too. Suddenly, my right arm raised, and the hand attached to it opened and slapped me—one, two, three times.

  The students all laughed.

  It was time for the big guns. My entire body turned to rough stone, and I grew. By the look on her face, I assumed she had never seen me turn into a stone giant before.