And then he died.
She didn’t say it, but the shortness of her breath, the way she covered her mouth with the back of her hand whenever she thought about him, was enough.
“I loved him,” she managed to say.
Her breath knotted in her throat. She refused to sob, but it did nothing to stop the tears that she wiped away.
“And when he died, I… I knew… I knew it was because of him.”
Her memory floated out, clear and lucid. It was effortless for me to see what she had done, that after my father’s death, after he had been laid to rest and the Commander supported her decision to stay with the Paladin Nation, she went out to the grimmet tree. She knew she’d find Pivot there. She knew he was, somehow, responsible for the death of her husband. She knew that, somehow, he’d taken her real son and replaced him with me. She knew this in her heart and with all the grimmets watching, she grabbed the sandy blonde hair of Pivot and she had no mercy. She beat him. Her rage relentless. Her sorrow, uncompromising. Her life, wrecked.
She beat him for it.
Her emotions carried enormous power, as a mother’s broken heart does. Under that dead tree, she shook him as tears burned her cheeks, she struck him as sobs burst in her chest. She cursed his name, and swore never to speak with him again.
And yet, even though she knew he was somehow responsible, she endured. Because without her, Pivot wouldn’t have been able to succeed. He chose his pawns carefully. He needed a mother with the strength to endure under impossible conditions, to bear the suffering that few could tolerate. He needed a mother that could give herself for the future of the human race, for all of life, for the universe, despite her son. Her family.
Her self.
“I am so sorry, Socket.” She turned the chair and faced me. Her dark eyes were hollow, her cheeks blotched and wet. “I am so… sorry…”
She clasped her hands and bowed her head. And the sadness escaped her control. After all those years, it finally broke her. She could no longer bear the weight of sadness she had lugged around for twelve years.
I knelt before her and held her shaking hands. The salty essence exuded through her, entering my chest. Vibrating in my core. The room appeared to illuminate. I felt light and transparent. Mother unfolded her hands, cupped mine in hers and shook. Then she looked up, touched my face. She traced my lips and nose with her fingers, looked at my forehead, my chin and cheeks. Warmth penetrated my entire being, building pressure inside, whining with strength.
“I saw him, Mother,” I said. “I saw your son today. You would be proud.”
She shook her head and swallowed. “You, Socket…” She placed her hand on my cheek. “I could not ask for something as precious as you.”
It was not me the world was lucky to have. My mother finally found a place inside that she accepted, a place she couldn’t find before. She found her Self.
Mother.
It was that space of pure love, of pure essence, that sprang forth like a luminous stream from her heart. Like Anna, it filled me. It flowed through me.
Fetter had it all wrong.
There was never any reason to take the essence, it was only a cycle of thirst and hunger, of rejection. The universe was boundless. Its very core was limitless. It was all powerful. All knowing.
And that essence gushed through me until I burst forth like the sun, shining through the planet. Once again, merging with all things. Transparent. Open.
I saw every particle of the Garrison. I knew every speck of dust, every leaf, stone and body. Deep underground was a contingent of people hiding from Pike. There were three groups of tourists and their tour guides, a multitude of civilians that worked for the Paladin Nation. Amongst them were the kids, sitting quietly while the few Paladins that escorted them all to safety calmed the others. Chute was not among them. In fact, life did not exist outside the underground safe room. Nowhere, except in the Preserve. Under the grimmet tree, I felt them. I felt the two identities. One was Pike.
The other was Chute.
And before I dissolved to transport my body across space-time, my mother buried her face in her hands. Perhaps she was relieved it was finally over. Maybe she was relieved she resolved the bitterness and rejection that festered in her heart for all these years. Relieved that what was asked of her was finally done.
Regardless, it was not me the world was lucky to have.
Engorged
Sadness saturated me like a thick vapor. It travelled with me as I dissolved, as I passed through the mountain and into the Preserve. Sadness for my mother. Sadness for the lifelessness of birds, insects and mammals littering the topical jungle. Death extended all the way to the micro-organic level of bacteria and fungi. The Preserve was void of life.
I gathered my body at the base of the stone slab that led up to the grimmet tree. It was colder than normal. The overhead forcefield that protected the Preserve from the outside elements had been shutdown, the first since it had been erected. Cool wind had already begun to wither the tropical plants.
The grimmet tree came into focus as my eyes solidified, its barren branches spotted with the colorful grimmets, the only organism to survive the life-cleansing. And at the base of the massive tree was Pike, his shoulders slightly hunched, his arm extended with a curved dagger in his hand, the tip pushing into the pure skin of Chute’s neck. An odd pain sliced my earlobe as it did when Pivot showed me the black cube that contained Fetter.
She was on her knees. Her eyes wide with terror. Her heart pounded in her chest, echoing in my own chest. Adrenaline pumped through her arteries. Carefully, I slid my mind around her, penetrating the knife’s point, surrounding her with a protective grip.
“Ah, ah, ah,” Pike said. “It’s not the knife you need to fear.”
The knife was only to strike fear in Chute. The real weapon was standing next to her, his mind poised to pull her mind apart. And while he would not survive such a strike – I could obliterate his existence with a thought, he would see how mortal he was – it would not be quick enough to save her.
“You don’t have to do this,” I said.
“Wrong, wonderboy. You don’t know what I have to do. You don’t have even a sliver of a fucking idea of what I have done, the depths of me. Wonderboy.” The silly expression that had contorted his face the last several months gave way to a dark and gray complexion that pulled on his face. He worked his lips like he was drunk, his balance wavered. “You must listen, wonderboy. You must listen.”
“I’m listening.”
The blade pushed into Chute’s neck, sparking a cry from deep in her throat. But she was held motionless by his mind, frozen in space. Helpless if he swayed too far to the right.
He was drunk with essence, having imbibed every life within the Garrison in such a short time. How many lives had he taken? How much was enough? Why would he be so greedy? Because he could, was that it?
“I’ve spent a lifetime, you hear,” he said. “A lifetime doing despicable things, things that no human could fathom, things that should never have been done. That no one deserved. I did those things.” He pulled his lips over his teeth like he could no longer bear the pain. “I DID THOSE THINGS!”
“Don’t do it again.” I held my arms out, let my mind open. Vulnerable. “I’m here, Pike. You can have me.”
“Oh, you have something.”
“Just let her go.”
A smile crept over his face. He looked down at her, wavered, and back to me. “Are you afraid your precious vision won’t come true, is that it? Wonderboy, is that it? That you would live happily ever after with your true love here, huh?” He caressed her cheek with the flat side of the cold knife. “Are you afraid you don’t know everything?”
“Those visions were a lie, you said so yourself. Pivot tricked me.”
He straightened. “Oooh, so the student becomes the master, is that it, then?”
“Just let her go.”
“What if nothing is what it seems, eh?” He waggled hi
s eyebrows and his black glasses slid on his nose. “That you know nothing.”
“What do you want, Pike?”
“What do I want? WHAT DO YOU THINK I WANT, YOU SHIT?” His face stiffened, his lips pulled tightly over his teeth. “I want this to end.”
Pike loved to talk in circles. He wanted to tell me something, to reveal something about himself that was right there, just under the surface, but he just babbled nonsense. His mind was powerful, but the frayed ends of his previous condition were starting to show. Not all things could be healed. Now that he had me, what good would he be? Why exist? Without you, there is no me.
And for the first time, there was pain in his tired eyes. He was exhausted and spent. Fat with essence, lethargic like a glutton eating for days. Or maybe the Paladins gave him a fight after all. Or the grimmets were imperceptibly pulling at his mind. Each moment that passed, he swayed just a bit more, a bit steeper, and could fall over at any moment. But his mind was still pressed tightly against Chute’s.
“Right naw,” he said, slurring, “I want you to come closer.” He wiggled his fingers, beckoned me. I didn’t move. If I could wait just a bit longer, he would slip, he would drop his guard, his mind would falter, and I would pounce. Once Chute was free, then we could talk. But Pike clenched his teeth and pushed the point of the knife into her skin. A tear rolled down Chute’s cheek. “Don’t fuck it up now, wonderboy. Get your ass over here.”
I took a step. As my foot touched the stone, Chute’s heart beat harder in my chest. And with each step that followed, it beat louder. Her fear chilled my stomach. Pike opened his hand, fingers reaching.
“Come closer.” He flicked his fingers. “Come, come.”
The air did not stir.
And the grimmets watched, eyes on my approach. Waiting, once again. As if they were on his team.
[Protect her,] I thought to them.
I stopped one step away. Pike shook his arm, almost begging for the last step.
“Let her go,” I said. “You have my word, I’ll come to you.”
“You’re in no position to haggle, wonderboy. I’ll stick this goddamn knife through the top of her skull. If you have not noticed, I don’t give a fuck.”
“You’re terrified of dying.”
“On the contrary. I’m begging for it.” He relaxed, his shoulders released their tension and his hand opened softly. “Now, one more step.”
“Do not harm her.”
He grimaced. “I wouldn’t think of it.”
No moves left.
One step.
And his fingers reached for my face. “You have something.”
Softly reaching for my ear.
“Something I need.”
And as his fingers neared my ear, the pain lanced my earlobe again. Then there was warmth. There was a rush of blood, of energy, into my earlobe. I was harboring an alien that wanted out.
My ear exploded.
A powerful current rushed from the side of my head, surging through his fingers. He shook like he’d grasped high voltage, unable to let go. And then was blasted away, slammed into the tree. The grimmets fluttered on impact. I fell back, then grabbed Chute as Pike’s mind vanished, cradled her in my arms. She was so cold. I huddled over her, surrounding her delicate mind. Nothing would harm her now. No explosion, no psychic force, nothing. Nothing.
Pike appeared plastered against the tree. Something was inside him, just beneath the skin, transforming him, stretching him. His cries were involuntary. His body looked malleable.
The massive tree creaked. Fractures split the trunk, the cracks exploding as the petrified wood succumbed to the immeasurable force swelling inside Pike. The temperature plummeted. He absorbed whatever heat, whatever force, whatever life was left in the Preserve. The black hole of his existence pulled on me and I hunkered down lower, tighter around Chute. Its force sheered the outer layers of my mind. Leaves, branches and rocks slid across the slab.
And then it stopped.
The air was still. Silent.
Pike was imbedded into the tree, his arms out. His legs folded one over the other. His head had merged with the trunk, his features barely visible. His lips moved like the tree was about to speak.
“Thank you,” he whispered.
An expression of relief fell on him. He closed his eyes. The madness left his presence. The being that was identified as Pike faded from existence. And then as suddenly as the storm had ended, it returned, like we were only sitting in the eye of a hurricane and the backside of the storm approached.
It was a whine. The beginnings of an explosion. All I could do was cover Chute, lower us to the ground.
CCCCCRRRRRAAAKKK-BBOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The grimmet tree shattered.
Shards of wood blew over the trees, stripping leaves from the branches, pelting my back, deflected only by my mind. Grimmets were blown away like debris, smashing holes through the trees, dispersed like cannonballs out of sight.
The ground erupted. The stone slab quaked and split into upended chunks. We slid into the ground as it tilted and debris showered from above. The ground rumbled.
Dust blotted out the sun. Rocks trickled down and settled in the deep chasms. When silence returned, I lightened my grip on Chute. Her heart was thumping. She looked at me, squeezed a little tighter, and nodded. Then we embraced. Squeezing so tightly, I might’ve pushed her inside me, merging our bodies together like Pike had with the tree. I didn’t want to let go.
But something was waiting for us. The Preserve was not dead. Life had returned.
“Wait here,” I said.
She reluctantly nodded.
The top of the stone was angled upward. I wanted to pull Chute out, to get her as far away from danger as possible, maybe even to South Carolina. I pulled myself to the top and stepped onto the only flat stone remaining.
The grimmet tree was gone.
There, standing on the smoking remains, was a woman wearing flowing white clothes.
“You can come out, darling.”
Light
The sky fluttered with leaves, some green, others black. Smoke crept over the crumbled ground and the stump of the grimmet tree smoldered. The grimmets were nowhere to be seen.
Fetter laced her hands together with a gentle smile. She bounced with a soft laughter at the sight of me climbing out of the wreckage; the look on my face must’ve been amusing.
She waved me closer. When I didn’t, she stepped off the stump and slowly, yet nimbly, made her way a step at a time through the rubble. Her lifeforce was weak, but her mind was already reaching out and searching for a source of energy. For essence. I surrounded Chute with my mind, hardened myself against the upcoming pull of Fetter’s lethal thoughts.
She stopped near me and took a deep breath, looked longingly at me, then peered down at Chute. “You can come up, too, darling.”
Chute hesitated, but there was no reason to hide, there was no protection down there. She took my hand and pressed tightly against me, her cheek against my shoulder. Fetter looked at our hands clasped tightly.
“Oh,” she said, touching her cheek, “that is just precious. Young love is just so precious.” She reached out to stroke my cheek. I turned away and she withdrew, a little hurt. Then came the pressure.
Pike had consumed every bit of essence, there was none left, none she could find, but her mind stretched out, searching the ground and trees for anything with a heartbeat, better yet a soul, to get her strength back. She was in a desert, no water in sight. She continued to expand. Eventually, she would find something. Once she did, she’d suck the life out of it with a sweet smile.
She didn’t show desperation, but I felt her mind searching Chute, searching for any weakness in my protection, a crack in my shield, to plunge inside and slurp Chute’s essence out like water.
“Very well, then,” she said, the pressure letting up. “If you wish to delay the inevitable, we can move forward.”
The leaves piled up around her feet and began
to move, swirling around her legs and then lifting over her head. A funnel cloud moved upward, pulling dust and smoke into its vortex like a water spout, pulling the clouds around it. The faint colors of grimmets were high above, set free by the collapse of the forcefield roof. They dotted the sky like colorful starlings, circling widely around the funnel.
I pushed Chute behind me.
“Oh, come now, darling. I told you I couldn’t die. I’ve been alive for eons, I know every trick there is. Manumit didn’t recognize that single byte of data inside you was me. Pike thought he could absorb me, like he could consume me like a magic potion and become a god, but honestly, he had no idea what he was doing.”
He was waiting for something. He was waiting for the call.
“However, I do owe him, considerably, and might have to reinstate his consciousness once I’m home. Maybe even make him a partner. He could never replace Manumit, but with time he just might make a suitable Mr. Fetter.”
“Pike did this?”
“Don’t blame him, darling. He was only doing what any good predator would do. He wanted power, thought I was vulnerable for a take over. Thought if he ate god he would become god, but it doesn’t work that way.”
“Pivot didn’t know you were…”
She shook her head. “He had no idea I could hide on a cellular level, I’m afraid. His efforts are to be applauded, certainly. His plan was genius, a magnificent work of art. But my dear lover forgot what he once was.” She took a deep breath and sighed. “I’m going to miss him, but at least now it’s over. I look forward to hunting him down, to be honest.”
She sat on a stone outcropping like she needed to rest, but that was deceiving. She was gaining strength and pulling on my mind, searching for a way inside. The funnel was beginning to thicken, drawing more leaves, reaching higher into the mist, ending in the sky where a black spot began to swirl. A wormhole.
“There was nothing you or Manumit could do to stop me from escaping, darling. Even if Pike didn’t come for me, I would’ve eventually consumed your body and mind.”
Socket 3 - The Legend of Socket Greeny Page 18
