Descend- Coming Together

by David Burke

  After that she grabbed Amelia’s and Huong’s arms. As she tugged on them, they both shook their heads as though not quite sure where they were. Then they followed her.

  Jessie called out, “This isn’t over.”

  At the same time Jasmine said, “Can’t we keep talking? We can work this out.”

  Jay felt the pulse of emotion that surged out of her as she spoke but at the same time Meikiyo extended her hand behind them as they walked away. A jet of flame shot off into a long line cutting them off from the others. Then the wall sprung up higher till it was at least ten feet, undoubtedly fueled by her power.

  Jay needed to figure out how to get to his team. He owed them an apology, but he also wanted to see what they were thinking about what Jasmine had said. It could be a sticky situation and while he wasn’t opposed to pretty women fighting to be with him, he also wasn’t gonna be dictated to.

  As he snuck between two bungalows he was struck by an imminent sense of danger. He turned his head to the right just in time to see a flash of blue hair flying at him as fast as a lizat. He didn’t want to strike out at her so he instinctively activated his hardened skin and barely felt it as he was slammed into the wall.

  He was held up against the wall and despite the situation now that he knew what he was facing, he didn’t really feel any danger. She was probably 5’6” and muscular in a fitness model sort of way that didn’t detract from her femininity at all. Even then he dwarfed her with his new more muscular frame.

  “I thought I smelled you,” Jessie said as she sniffed at the air.

  “Whoa, I know I probably need a bath, but I didn’t think I smelled bad enough to warrant being attacked.”

  “It’s a new development in my abilities. I’ve learned to take on the traits of the animals I have seen.” As she spoke her smile caught his attention.

  “That is amazing. All your hard work is paying off,” Jay said back. “Now how about you set me down. You know you can’t take me.”

  She grinned and there was a certain feral look to her. “I’m not trying to take you. I just wanted to talk.” She lowered him back to the ground and then pressed herself up against him. “But maybe you want to take me. Take me for your team. Take me right here. Take me every way you want.”

  Jay would have been lying if he said he wasn’t tempted. If he hadn’t been high enough level and possessed of the Iron Will skill, then he would have given in. “Jessie, it doesn’t work like this. I told you that the next spot we got on the team, I would consider you for.”

  “Fine, go have your vote, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have some fun now. I can see the way you are looking at me. I can smell the desire on you.”

  “You know I won’t betray the team. I’m not free to just stick it wherever I want to. I’m committed to them,” Jay said.

  She slammed her fist into his chest and Jay could tell that she was much stronger than she probably should have been, presumably another aspect of her new powers. She stomped her foot and looked up at him. “Why can’t I have that? I want someone who treats me like that. What’s wrong with me? Aren’t I pretty enough?”

  “You are beautiful and you know it, but it doesn’t work like that.”

  Jessie screeched and turned and walked three steps before she turned and gave him the finger and then kept walking. He didn’t know what to say to make it better. He needed to talk to his team first. So he turned and continued sneaking off to the bungalow at the end. He assumed that was the one they had gone into.

  All of a sudden he stopped cold in his tracks. He felt another tingle of danger but this time it had a different intensity to it. His guard was immediately up as his hardened body and strength skills surged to maximum while he simultaneously conjured a sword.

  A part of him wondered if it was Jessie coming back to express her anger with more than a finger but the intensity was too great. He couldn’t take that chance. This place was very unforgiving.

  No sooner had he formed the sword than he saw a chitinous form burst forth from the shadows. He reflexively slashed the sword as he stepped to the side. The creature that was coming at him was the size of a bear but covered in chitinous armor. It looked something like a beetle but was thicker up front.

  It has three legs on each side that propelled it along the ground with the speed of a car and two thicker, wider barbed front legs that extended out of the front of its shoulders right under the lip of the armor. A conjured sword composed of psionically generated particles as thin and sharp as the edge of a razor met a chitinous, barbed claw. The result was predictable as the claw was sheared off and green blood gushed out.

  A high-pitched screech escaped the creature. The follow-through of the slash scored the creature’s armored shell as it slid off. An absent thought crossed Jay’s mind to wonder just how tough this thing’s armor was that it could even partially stand up to the sword. The creature fell forward on the severed leg.

  Jay surged forward and brought the sword down on the area that he thought was the head. The blade pushed hard into the tiny brain but the beast's legs lashed around and struck Jay in the chest sending him flying across the open space into the side of the bungalow. Once he lost contact with the sword, it only lasted a few seconds, but the damage was done and the creature continued to thrash about.

  Jay’s precognitive sense continued to scream that the fight wasn’t over. He sent out a pulse of Life Sense. It lit up as Amelia, Meikiyo, and Huong ran out of the bungalow. Over by the other bungalows he sensed other people but most of them were staying indoors. Then there were also five more life forms that seemed shaped like the creature he had just killed, but these life readings were very faint as though something about the creatures resisted being detected.

  “Watch out, girls,” Jay yelled before charging into the creatures as they swarmed out of the darkness. He would be damned if he let any of these creepy crawlies get to his team, even if they were the size of bears.

  From the side, he saw another human rushing by. He couldn’t yet identify individuals by their presence in his Life Sense but a flash of blue hair told him everything he needed to know. Jessie may have improved in her skills but these things were far tougher than the lizats or owlbears.

  Now he was torn. He had his team to protect on one side and the girl he had scorned to protect on the other side. He felt obligated on each side. Sure he hadn’t asked the team to come out of the bungalow but that was just the kind of people they were and he certainly hadn’t asked Jessie to attack massive beetles, but she probably wasn’t in the right state of mind and at least part of that was on him since he couldn’t find a way to get through to her. Or even if it wasn’t really on him, Jay was the kind of guy to take up that burden.

  So faced with an impossible choice of whom to defend first, he did what any overconfident hero would do. He didn’t run towards either side, but instead decided that the best defense was a good offense or in other words, the only good bug is a dead bug. He pushed himself to new limits as he channeled stamina into maximizing his strength, speed, and hardening. Even as he was running at the creatures, he funneled PSI into precognition, Life Sense, and into strengthening his sword.

  He had never tried six skills at once like this. His body felt impossibly powerful. His mind was precisely aware of everything around him. In a way it made him feel as though he had been blind his entire life.

  Yet his head was splitting with a headache and his chest felt like he was being hollowed out. He knew he only could maintain this for a few seconds. It would have to be enough.

  The creatures were completely silent as three of them charged straight at him while one veered to his left towards Amelia and the rest of the team. The other split off towards Jessie on his right. He would have to be faster than ever before.

  His sword struck through the armor of the first. The reinforcing had worked to make it so he could shear through them easily. One slash, two slashes, and then a third slash and the closest of the creatures was legless
and headless but still squirming around.

  Jay slid underneath the next of the giant beetles as it tried to leap over its fallen kin. The sword extended straight up and cut open the entire underside of the creature. Its insides gushed out all over Jay who was back upright a moment later.

  He jumped high into the air and came down on the back of the third beast. His sword was shoved down into the top of its head. He twisted and yanked the blade to send the head flying. As he did so he coughed with the exertion and saw his own bright-red blood speckled over his arm. He might be pushing too hard, but he didn’t have a choice.

  Jay turned and took stock. The beetle attacking them was being forced back by whips of flame that Meikiyo whipped around it. The vines that Huong had summoned up around its legs did little more than slow it. Its barbed claws cut through them as fast as they sprouted from the soil. Even the flames while clearly helping push it back didn’t seem to be able to leave any lasting damage.

  The strain started to tell and the first thing to falter was Jay’s sword. He didn’t know how much longer he could maintain it so he flung it at the beetle Jessie was fighting. It severed one of the barbed front legs before dissipating as the thread of PSI maintaining it broke.

  Jay didn’t even see how successful his throw was as he bull rushed the beetle attacking his team. He leaned his shoulder into it and heard a loud cracking sound as the impact knocked the creature over. He wasn’t sure at first if it was the carapace or his shoulder which had given way until he found he couldn’t raise his right arm.

  It didn’t matter. He dropped all of his skills other than strength as he conjured a new sword faster than he ever had before. Before he could strike though, Amelia appeared from her cloak and drove a dagger straight into the creature’s head. Her shadow power somehow allowed it to pass through the carapace unhindered.

  A groan of pain escaped Jay’s lips. He was drenched in sweat. His body trembled as he tried to deal with the shock of the injury to his shoulder. Behind him he heard a scream of agony and ignored his own pain long enough to get to his feet.

  He saw Jessie impaled on the remaining barbed claw of the creature she had been fighting. Its carapace had deep scratches from claws but none of them penetrated to the soft insides. The few moments of recovery allowed Jay to reactivate his speed and hardening.

  Jay surged across the ground littered with the ruined corpses of the slain creatures. His sword sped out in front of him as he treated it like a projectile, flinging and accelerating it. The blade severed that barbed claw and dropped Jessie to the ground with another scream of agony.

  Then he focused all of his remaining PSI into the tightest Kinetic bullet that he could form. It burst through the creature’s head as a shadow bolt from Amelia slammed into its side. The beetle lay there thrashing about too stubborn to know that it was dead. Jay reached out his left arm and tried to crawl to where Jessie had fallen, but his body was completely drained of energy. Darkness found him as he passed into the land of dreams.

  Chapter 9- Guilt and Apologies

  Jay’s eyes popped open as he felt a pair of soft hands against his thigh. He didn’t know where he was. It didn’t look familiar. More like some kind of tent. There was a campfire flickering somewhere a few feet away. He could smell the smoke and feel the heat as well as seeing the shadows dancing all about.

  The hand moved further up his leg and he shivered. His eyes followed the hand up its arm, noting the lovely nutmeg skin even in the dim fire light. He saw Jasmine’s face, but it was hidden too well in the darkness for him to make out more than a rough outline and her bright smile.

  “Relax, let me make you feel better,” she said as her hand encircled his manhood. He was confused and went to move his arm to slow her down but the shoulder exploded with pain and he was unable to make his arm move.

  He heard a voice from his side. “Don’t move, you are still hurt.” Jay turned his head and saw Daphne. She had a long scar running down her cheek which caught his attention even more than her bare breasts.

  “Where is Amelia?” Jay croaked, barely able to speak his throat was so dry.

  “She died with all the rest. We are the only three left,” Jasmine said.

  “No,” was the only word that Jay could manage to form but the question in his eyes must have been apparent.

  “You’ve been out for three days. You fought bravely but after you collapsed another wave came. They destroyed the bungalows and killed everyone. Your team fought on to protect you till the end. Meikiyo was the last one standing, and she held them back with her flames and asked Daphne and me to carry you away. It was all that we could manage, but we escaped.”

  Jay shook his head. He didn’t want to believe it, but the pain in his shoulder and the parched throat argued for the truth of her words. Daphne leaned in and dribbled a tiny amount of water from a canteen into his mouth. He yearned for more but she pulled it back. “More please,” he croaked.

  “We would love to give you more, Jay. We want to give you so much more but we barely have any water left. It is too dangerous for us to move to the water supply. The creatures still move around that area sometimes,” Jasmine said.

  “What then?” Jay asked.

  “We want to give you more but we need you too. We need you back in fighting shape but all the healers are gone. You have regeneration though so you will be able to heal up. You just need to be able to speed it up and then Daphne will magnify your ability.”

  That made sense but Jay still felt hollow inside, which didn’t really make sense. If he had been out for three days, he should have long since regenerated his Stamina. Jay said, “Okay, I will start now.”

  “First we need something else from you,” Jasmine said as she slid her hand up his leg to his manhood once again. Jay felt ashamed that with his friends dead and his arm broken, he was still becoming aroused. His first thought was to blame Jasmine’s power but there was no sense of her using it against him.

  He couldn’t help it. Was he really this shallow? She was so very fine, but still he shouldn’t be this eager. He watched hypnotized as she stood up. Her hips shimmied as she lowered her shorts in front of him. He looked on at the beauty of that treasure he had wanted so much when they first arrived here.

  He gasped as she dropped down on top of him, impaling herself upon him. There was no subtlety, no build-up, just raw abandon and need and she bounced upon him. With each downward return she would bury him full into her. She moaned out, “That’s right. Give us what we need.”

  Some small sliver of his mind that wasn’t focused on the bliss that he was feeling thought to ask, “What do you need.”

  Jasmine moaned out, “Your seed.”

  Almost in echo to her, Daphne said, “Your soul.”

  Jasmine finished their chant, “Your life.”

  Then the darkness of the sky shattered. He saw holes punched into the canopy of the stars as creatures like men but not men rode beams of light to the ground. Neither Jasmine nor Daphne so much as flinched, both oblivious to what was happening overhead.

  Jasmine continued to moan but from her open mouth he no longer heard the sounds of pleasure. Instead he heard a voice as familiar to him as any. Once again he heard himself speaking out of her mouth.

  While he listened to the words, he felt a pressure building in his cores, especially within his head. The pain became so intense, but he wasn’t able to even pass out. The words he heard were seared into his mind to digest later.

  New dangers. Unforeseen. Future changing. Final message. Stop being distracted. Focus. Take charge. Alone die. Forge a new path. Not all at once. Cycles unsure. Must descend. Grow more. Two together too much. Find the behind. Giving all.

  Jay woke up on a soft bed. He felt the sheets against his skin and realized that he was naked as the day he was born. More than that, he had to have been bathed. The blood and guts from those creatures, whatever they were, was gone. Was this another dream?

  He wondered how long he had been unc
onscious that they had been able to carry him inside, undress him, bathe him and then get him into the bed. He felt himself from head to toe and noticed right away that his shoulder while stiff was clearly not broken. Jay wondered what was going on. The dream had been so real it was hard to discern from what he was experiencing now.

  Jay looked around. Huong was the first person he saw. She was sitting at the top of his bed with her back to him. At the table, Amelia and Meikiyo were both sitting and eating in silence. The mood was very somber.

  She must have felt him move on the mattress because Huong immediately turned towards him and placed her hands on his shoulder. He felt warmth from her hands and then heard her say, “He’s awake.”

  Both the other girls jumped up from the table. Amelia rushed over first. Jay could have sworn he saw concern in her eyes but the words that came out of her mouth said anything but sympathy. “You idiotic boneheaded man. What the hell do you think you were doing? You almost got yourself killed.”