Reality's Plaything 4: Savants Ascendant

by Will Greenway

  Bannor stepped over and grabbed the five remaining swords one at a time out of the boxes. “Zee, do it again. Daar, Wren, Damay, Azir, Daena, gather around me.” With one arm around the bundle of swords and a hand on Ziedra’s shoulder he began to concentrate.

  “What?” Ziedra said.

  “Just do what you did before,” he told her, eyes still closed. “We don’t have much time.” He tightened his focus, he hadn’t yet reached out to touch the Garmtur, but he could feel it inside him.

  As the other savants closed in around him, he began the combining. Like he had at the party, he conjoined all the savants, looping their patterns through him, making them one with the power of eternity. The difference was they were no longer savants—they were first ones.

  The power coursed through him, but this time he did not have a fragile human body. He had the resilient energy-hungry form of a first one. They needed to do it fast, and they needed to do it right, and they needed more than one Ziedra to do it.

  So he created five more.

  Through his connections to the other savants they understood his intention. Each one took a sword from him, each one replicating the enchantment with Ziedra, mirroring her actions as she worked the next weapon. With the power of six first ones behind her eyes, the first of magic flew through the enchantment, analyzing and imbuing, this time with even greater force.

  In barely half the time it took to do the first sword, the next five were complete. Bannor was not done. Each savant had a piece of the knowledge needed for their success. He spread that knowledge through their union, willing the power of Eternity to fill the empty reservoirs of their newly created bodies.

  Bannor drew back with a crackle of energy rasping around his hands. That had felt good. He had never felt so alive—so in control.

  Ziedra stared at him with a slack jaw. She thumped him on the shoulder. “I officially cede my crown of awesomeness. That was brilliant.”

  Bannor picked up the sword that Ziedra had first created. “I know this one isn’t as powerful as the others, but can I have it?”

  She made a little wiggle of her head. “Uh, sure.”

  Azir hummed and his body cracked and assumed the silvery sheen of battle form. “Wizard,” he said in the hollow voice.

  Bannor remembered the words that Wren the seemed to have said eons ago. Bannor, I can see myself. He gripped Ziedra’s enchanted weapon in both hands and willed the Garmtur into action. The incredibly hard metal turned molten, becoming a hovering ball between his hands. Reality twisted, probability combined and threaded. He pushed his mind into the molten mass and willed it into a new shape. With a sizzle, two axes formed and solidified.

  He caught the hafts in his hands, and spun the two weapons. “That’s better.”

  “Damn, Brother, you’re pretty good,” Daena said.

  “We don’t have anymore time, and you need to be ready,” Quasar said. “Allow me to equip you.” She didn’t wait for anyone to acquiesce. The elder commander vanished in a flash of light.

  It seemed like she vanished but Bannor felt an outpouring of energy and a twist in the threads of the universe. Before he could blink he was sheathed in the heavy armor that Wren had been wearing earlier that day. As he looked around, all of them were.

  He felt a pressure and found that he was wearing a helmet too. The mark VI sidearm hung in its belt at his side. Heavy-duty close quarters combat knives sat in sheaths on both of thick metal boots. The larger crossbow sized weapon hung on its strap over his shoulder. A brief check showed that all the other equipment, communicator neckband, Marna’s message crystal, and skill implant were in place.

  As he glanced to everyone else, they had all been outfitted the same way. Even with all the power he had now, he needed to respect the Kriar’s ability to move through time and space. Somehow, Quasar had compressed time and placed all that material on them.

  The others were looking down at themselves and letting out sounds of surprise. Their remarks were drowned out by a crash that shook the whole tower.

  Tal grabbed one of the cylinders to catch his balance. “Damn, what was that?”

  Quasar’s glowing eyes were wide. “That was—not—good.”

  Ziedra bounced up in the air then fell back down. She scowled. “Pooh. No flight sigil.” She gestured toward her sleeping body and a green light lanced from her hand. A grayish image like smoke spiraled back along the beam and reached out like a tendril, etching a rune covered circle at her throat and collarbone. The spell expired with a rasp and a glow flooded around her body. She floated up off the ground. “Better.” She turned in the air, light stabbing out from her eyes, hitting Bannor, Wren, Damay, Azir, and Vanidaar. Gold diamonds appeared on their foreheads.

  Bannor felt his body grow light.

  The assault team rushed back to balcony room. As they reached it, the tower shuddered again as something massive crashed into the shields making the whole balcony light up as the screens sparked and fizzled.

  “Dark,” Eclipse muttered. “What did they do, pull the batteries off one of their warships?”

  “Perhaps we gave them a wee too much time to plan and regroup,” Loric murmured.

  They reached the chamber where Tal’s gate remained in place. Through the shimmering they saw something flare star bright in the distance, then a shriek as two streaks impacted the side of the tower.

  The sky was filled with flying figures holding position just out of reach of the citadel’s weaponry. Obviously, the Baronians felt turnabout was a good ploy. Bring the assault team to them. It was going to work too, they had to disable that weapon. He didn’t know anything about these artifices, but it was obvious it that it wouldn’t take many more shots before the shields defending Quasar’s tower went down.

  “Whoa,” Tal said with a shake of his head. “That’s a pretty major weapon.”

  “It is the main gun off a Starhawk class warship,” Quasar said.

  “Guess it’s time to explore my new limitations,” Wren said. She floated up off the ground.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “You’ll see.” She flew out through Tal’s gate.

  Damay growled. “That child will be the death of me!” She streaked out after the blonde savant.

  Bannor paused for a moment. Wren didn’t think…??? “Oh—spit!” He willed himself to shoot forward out through Tal’s gate. He felt it pass over the surface of his body like an icy caress.

  Behind him, Ziedra, Azir, Vanidaar, and Idun followed.

  Wren streaked down and a black shadow gathered around her. The Baronians in Daedalus armor took a few half-hearted shots at her, but she was still well within the tower’s defensive perimeter and at the extreme range of their weapons. A few bolts of energy reached her but simply dissipated harmlessly against her armor. She didn’t even seem to notice it.

  This could be a very short lived fight for Wren.

  What had to be more than five leagues away, the horizon lit up, followed instantly by the shriek of something tearing through the atmosphere.

  How Wren predicted where the shot would hit, he didn’t know, but she managed to be close to where the blast passed. Contrary to his worry, she did not try to block the horrendous burst of power. Instead she seemed to divert only a small portion of the energy. Even one tenth of that massive blast was potent indeed because as she absorbed it, she deflected it back toward the Baronians in Daedalus armor waiting at the perimeter.

  Some of the hovering figures managed to dodge, but others caught in the fan of energy exploded, fell into pieces, and went spinning toward the ground. With one attack she had annihilated twenty enemies, by using the Baronian’s own weapon against them.

  Tal had taken up station at Bannor’s shoulder. “That gives me an idea!” He hissed down toward Wren who had just been joined by Damay. “Where’s the next shot going to hit?”

  “Uhhh, well,” She squinted her eyes. “About eight paces above me.”

  “I want to—whoa!” He lurc
hed down with his hands over his head as a shot streaked directly at them from the horizon. Bannor’s heart leaped. Wren grabbed Tal’s shoulder and pushed him behind her and held up a hand as the immense energy slammed the two of them backward.

  As the power hit, the blonde savant swelled like a gust of wind filling a sagging sail. Her body easily quadrupling in size as the horrendous outpouring of energy dissipated with a roar. It also caused her to explode out of every stitch of cloth and armor she’d been wearing.

  “It appears they lowered their aim a tad,” she boomed. She looked down. “Ack! I feel a draft!”

  Behind her Ziedra whistled. “Nice arse there!”

  Wren covered her naked behind with her hands and frowned at the dark-haired savant.

  Tal uncovered his head apparently surprised not to be in pain. “What the frell? What—” He leaned back as he looked up at the gigantic savant. “Uhhh—happened?”

  “Absorbed a teeny bit too much energy.” Wren shook her massive head. “No offense Marna, but I prefer using Starholme Prime for my flux matrix. With Master Prime watching over me, I have infinite energy/mass conversion. If I can’t buffer an incoming force, my density and size automatically adjust to keep me from getting blown into little pieces. Pretty wizard, huh?”

  Ziedra whistled again. “I love it, how long are you going to stay that way?”

  “Long enough to make those Baronians regret it.” She looked down at the sword Ziedra had made that now looked like a wand in her giant hand. A tornado of sparks whirled around her fist. She whipped forward into the middle of the army of floating enemies slashing and thundering.

  The armored warriors fired on her, but soon realized they were only making it worse as the now gigantic first one of forces used every iota of power directed at her. In a matter of a few moments they backed off in retreat.

  The massive guns which had been firing at the tower stopped as well.

  “There,” Wren said, floating in the sky hands on hips. “All I had to do was get naked.”

  “That would scare anybody!” her brother hooted.

  “At least have the decency to be embarrassed,” Euriel growled.

  “Like nobody could see my arse in that skin-tight stuff?”

  “Yes, but now your butt is the size of a barn!” Azir laughed.

  Wren scowled at him. She pinched her thumb and forefinger together. “I’m going to flick you—and it’s going to hurt.”

  “We need to stay serious,” Eclipse said. “Are you in any danger Wren?”

  She grinned. “I’m in danger of being thumped by my mother if I don’t put on some clothes.” She bowed her head. “Let me see if I can fix it.”

  “If you coulda done that mass thing to begin with,” Tal asked. “Why didn’t you just let the first shot hit you?”

  “It’s like this,” Wren said, pressing her hands together. As she did, a blue mist swirled around her and the air turned chilly. “You go to a merchant a buy a suit of armor. The instructions on the armor say ‘arrow-proof’.” She rocked her head back. Shadows flickered on the surface of her skin and she began to shrink. As she spoke, her voice went from a ringing boom to the echoing timbre it had when she first transformed into a first one. “Not knowing how well it works…” She sighed, opened her eyes and looked at him. “Do you jump in front of the first arrow you see to test it out?”

  “Oh.”

  Wren turned to Quasar. “Any chance I can get another of those instant redresses? I really don’t want to get thumped by my mother.” She glanced at the frowning Aesir woman. Her voice dropped to a conspiratorial tone. “She hits really hard.”

  Quasar glanced at Marna who was eying Wren with wide eyes. It was obvious that the Kriar had known that savants turned first ones would be potent, apparently she never dreamed that one of them could possess that kind of ability.

  The elder Kriar did however comply with Wren’s wish, restoring her clothing. With a swirl of light and flickering of the threads of the universe Wren was dressed again in the same uniform.

  Seeing a repeat of the trick just increased his respect for Quasar. Assembling all of Wren’s clothing and weaponry in an eyeblink while seemingly innocuous, showed how dangerous the Kriar woman was. Despite all their powers as first ones, none of them had any defense against a time-based attack. Quasar didn’t simply know about travel, she was a master with eons of experience.

  “Thanks,” Wren said, sliding the sword through a loop in her belt. “I’ll try not to ruin these.”

  Loric was frowning and studying the empty landscape. “Why did they stop shooting? Surely their commanders know she couldn’t continue to block shots like that…”

  “Likely they were concerned she might start shooting back,” Aarlen said.

  “Despite the interesting—” Vanidaar cleared his throat and looked sidelong at the glowing paragon that his daughter had become. “—show. I feel somewhat slighted. Could they have given up this easily?”

  “Not a chance,” Algernon growled. “They’re just considering their options. They want us to come to them so bad they can taste it. They know the tower gives us the advantage in a prolonged battle.”

  Dulcere said.

  Damay looked over at Wren. “If there is a next time, you should shoot back instead of playing around.”

  “Ummm, like how?”

  “What do you mean—‘how’?” Damay demanded. “You just annihilated all those enemies with a redirection. You do all these other tricks, why can’t you use the massed energy to launch an attack of your own?”

  Wren put fists on hips. “Why?” She leaned forward. “Because my mentor has been on holiday! How much do you expect me to teach myself in a summer or two that I spent being chased by Hecate and locked in Hella’s dungeon, hmmm?”

  Damay scowled at her. “Don’t be impertinent.”

  “I’m not impertinent.” Wren folded her arms and raised her chin. “I’m indignant.”

  “So,” Azir said with mock bewilderment. “Now, you have no dignity?”

  “I am sooo going to smack you…”

  Bannor was going to add a little to the levity, when he heard a crackle in his head coming from the Marna’s communication crystal. **Bannor!** In the background he heard a crashing sound, yells and shrieking metal. **Those dreads you warned about—whoa!** Bannor’s heart leaped in his chest as he heard stone smash on stone through the link and he felt her gasp for breath. **They’re here! More than twenty we—** The sound of her voice cut off…

  * * *

  Chapter Eleven

  Dread

  « ^ »

  I saw him and almost swallowed my tongue. It didn’t help that some huge thundering beast from Hel was trying to beat me to a pulp at that precise moment…

  —Arabella Tunespinner,

  Beta Class Protectorate Enforcer

  Bannor’s heart leaped to a hum in his chest. Sarai was in danger and he needed to be with her—now.

  “Kul’Amaron is under attack by dozens of dreads,” he yelled in the giant voice that his body now possessed. “I’m going…”

  Sarai’s need always inspired him. She was a universe away, but that wouldn’t stop him from protecting her. He dove into his nola sense, and willed himself to be where he should be.

  The universe seemed to froth around him. The lush green scenery of Quasar’s demesnes vanished into a sea of black, stars rushed around him, and in flare of white light he was braced in a stone corridor with a dreadnaught roaring in his face.

  A gold fist the size of a catapult shell whistled toward his nose, giving him only an eyeblink to will himself into battle form.

  Power gathered in his chest and static raced down his arms and legs, bubbling flesh becoming shiny alloy in a heartbeat.

  The impact smashed him back a step almost causing him to crush two figures crouched behind
him. Sarai was on her haunches against the wall, a bruise already swelling on her cheek, hands braced against the rock surface and glowing violet eyes wide. Marna’s blue communication crystal glinted on the floor by her. In front of her, driven to one knee, a bloodied and battered Senalloy looked up in surprise.

  Instead of being painful, the dreadnaught’s vicious assault made him angry. The sight of his love lying injured and terrified on the floor, made his vision go red. His heart, already pounding, became a thunder in his ears. A white-hot ache he had rarely experienced shot through him in single-minded desire to destroy.

  The dread’s next punch came only fractions of an instant after the first, but with a growing rage swelling in his chest Bannor met it like a battering ram, turning the hard part of his skull against it, so that it deflected off with a mace-on-shield metallic clang.

  “You—” He swung back with all his mass and strength. “Bastard!” Hand shrieking with velocity, his knuckles struck the bridge of the Baronian dreadnought’s nose straight on. The thrashing creature, so confident of its invulnerability didn’t even try to dodge. The thing’s face crumpled like cheap leaf armor pounded with a sledge. Stone shuddered and air gusted from the sonic impact as the monster’s momentum reversed explosively. Only ten paces away, the stone corridor turned. Down in the basements like here, the walls were iron-reinforced granite several paces thick. The creature cratered the solid buttress with a blow that made the entire structure around them shake.

  The beast slumped out of the indentation and fell face down on the floor. It didn’t move. Instead, its body smoked and disintegrated into a grisly reddish slime that spread across the floor with a disgusting gurgle.

  Breathing hard, Bannor stared at it. Damn. One shot. He looked down at his gauntleted fist and flexed his fingers. Lords that had felt good. That hit had been for every creature over the last few months that had beat him down. He had gotten so damned tired of being slammed about like a priss.

  Daena called in his mind.