by Vee Bosse
The doctor intently continued to listen for a communication from the ones whose statuses were unknown. She shook her head in concern after another couple minutes of silence. Haynes suddenly turned around, with a stern look on his face. “Yes, in this situation, the best thing would be for me to teleport us both to San Antonio. Anything that could put those three in a situation where they were not able to contact us at all, must be frighteningly powerful. We will have to check on Benedict and Isaac outside of Wichita afterwards.” The doctor nodded her head in understanding, preparing herself for whatever situation may have unfolded.
Haynes proceeded to take out Portfold while preparing himself to stab through an invisible portal in the air, turning his sword like a key to open a wormhole to San Antonio. “Portfold, split!” The dimensional traveler raised his sword up to the sky, as his command caused the sword to split into three extending points: one facing north, another facing east, and one facing west. Its tip now resembled the look of a classic vintage fireplace prod, prefect for sparking up embers of a dying fire. “Now, I will open the dimensional portal.”
Haynes lowered Portfold as he stabbed it straight outward as the tip of his sword disappeared in thin air. Ripples could be seen emanating outwards from where his sword disappeared from when out of nowhere, a black portal appeared in front of them like a large rip in the time-space continuum itself. “I am able to steer our location in this dimension as we travel through time, so we will reach San Antonio in only a couple of minutes,” Haynes said, as Jassa gazed on amazement. She noticed Hayne’s sword didn’t disappear, yet it simply stabbed into his alternate dimension as the entire blade was visible once again.
“Perhaps, I am starting to regret not getting my own dose of Christian’s aura while we were subdued back at Haven Island. That’s very astounding, Haynes.”
Haynes turned to give the doctor an embarrassed smile, “I lucked out by getting this kind of ability, especially one that lets me channel my energy through my sword. But even if you learned your healing abilities before our oppressors deemed you a threat, the fact that they targeted you simply for your genius means that you are perhaps the most valuable piece of our puzzle. We were targeted by the Western Latitude for having strong auras that just so happened to respond to Christian’s presence, with the substance that Derek slipped into our meals also helping. In your case though, your healing abilities have the potential to complete our techniques. Be sure not to consider yourself inferior to us.”
At Haynes’ kind and intellectual words, Jassa managed to let a reserved smile show on her face as his portal remained open in anticipation. “I’ll help you guys, with all of my strength.” Jassa stepped forward, as Haynes insisted that she go in first to ensure that no one would be attacking as they entered the portal.
Jassa stepped forward, yet she paused for a moment as she passed by Haynes. “Did you feel that just now? It felt like a shock of static electricity?” Haynes immediately went into defense mode, realizing that he had just felt the same thing.
“Yeah, I did honestly feel something similar to that. Let’s hurry, and jump in.” Dr. Jassa complied, and she quickly hurried into the portal to await Haynes’ guidance into San Antonio. It was an odd dimension, one that had a solid ground that she could stand on. She looked around in wonder, admiring how it appeared as though they were standing in space; brilliant and distant galaxies could be seen by the thousands.
“I feel like I shouldn’t be able to breathe without a space apparatus. How does this dimensional travel work anyway?” Haynes stepped forward, tapping his sword on the portal’s invisible parameters to close it behind them.
“I know if feels like we are in space, but this is the appearance I have given my dimension. By slipping into this subspace, I am able to shorten thousands of miles on our planet into miniscule amounts. Portfold is able to connect our world, and any other reachable dimension together for such an effect.”
Jassa smiled at Haynes, feeling comfortable enough to let him work his magic. “I leave it in your hands.” Haynes allowed his sword’s triple tip to extend back into its standard form, putting it into his sheath on his back.
“Jassa, before we go to San Antonio, lets visit the spiral galaxy over there. It’s actually quite close.” Jassa allowed a look of confusion to come over her, adjusting her white tote bag of New Age medical supplies that was strapped over her shoulder. “But, you just said that this wasn’t space, and that it was just the look that you gave your dimension. Although, I still don’t know how I am able to breathe in a dimension like this.”
“Come Jassa, San Antonio will wait for a second, and so will our friends. I will take us on a journey to that galaxy, right there.” Haynes was acting oddly strange, and Jassa became suddenly uneasy at the thought of space travel without a space apparatus.
“Okay, I guess, if you really want to see it.” Jassa nodded her head as her dimensional-travelling friend showed her a slightly insane grin. Haynes snapped his finger once, then before she knew it: they were there.
“My...my god! Haynes, it’s...it’s so beautiful!” They both seemed to teleport to the galaxy in an instant, and its center resembled a brilliant, white star. Unknown multitudes of planets and stars made up this galaxy, and Jassa’s breathe was completely taken away.
“What if I told you, Jassa, that this galaxy is our own Milky Way galaxy? And if I were able to wipe away its existence, what would happen to us, I wonder?”
Jassa suddenly felt panicked, studying the grim smile etched on Haynes’ face. “What, what are you talking about? Haynes, are you all right? Someone must have altered your mental state. Let me perform a neural impulse analysis.” Haynes slapped the doctor’s hand away after she had pulled out her small, handheld scanner for a quick examination.
“I wonder doctor, if we had created a dimension, connected to our universe in such a way that would allow us to erase a galaxy simply by willing it in our minds, what would happen to us?”
Jassa suddenly became panicked, realizing that the galaxy itself was suddenly disappearing before their eyes. Haynes’ smile grew abnormally wide as he commenced a death stare in the doctor’s direction. It became hauntingly dark, as the galaxy was erased into nothing.
“Wh...what is going on!? Haynes, get me out of this dimension, now!!” The situation didn’t improve, however, because she realized that she and Haynes were now fading from sight as well.
“Good-bye, Dr. Jassa Nava. I am your friend, so it’s only ethical to decide on your behalf if our universe is suitable for our existence. Jayce Wolfgain will have his way, and this world will not be suitable for our kind. No longer will we suffice.” It became a dark world of nothingness, and Jassa’s and Haynes’ bodies were seemingly no more, yet her voice still echoed through the invisible dimension. “If you can decide whether or not I exist, then my decision to exist becomes just as powerful! Haynes, if that is really you, please, LET ME LIVE!!!”
Suddenly, the scene shifts to Jassa and Haynes standing as though nothing had just happened. “Jassa, why did you stop, suddenly?” Haynes posed the question to Jassa, who had suddenly frozen in place as she was approaching his dimensional opening. “Jassa? Jassa!!?” Haynes grabbed ahold of the doctor, shaking her in an attempt to snap her out of whatever state she had suddenly entered. “Damn, could it be that an adversary has put her in some state of catatonia? But, I might be susceptible to the same technique that might have been used on her. Damn it, I have to concoct a plan, immediately!” Haynes was not able to snap Jassa out of whatever state she had been put into, and he suddenly realized that the best option was to escape the invisible enemy by pushing Jassa into the portal, and jumping in right beside her.
“We have to help our friends at any cost, let’s go!” Haynes did just that, grabbing ahold of the doctor as he jumped into the portal. After they were in, he quickly tapped on its invisible parameters to hastily close it behind them. “Come to think of it, there was that odd static electricity sensation that we both
just felt. That was right before she froze up, too.” It felt like moving a heavy mannequin, but Haynes was able to keep Jassa standing upright on what appeared to be the grassy ground in his dimension.
“My divine grassland dimension. I gave it the look of a windy, mid-summer’s day in the middle of the rolling hills of grass. If Jassa were conscious right now, surely she would complement my tastes, haha!” Haynes said, using his odd sense of humor to attempt to lighten up the situation. “Shit, I have no idea how to even approach this. What’s happened to her?!” She remained frozen with her causal facial expressions etched on her face.
He let his sword return to its normal form, as he put it back in its sheath on his back. “I suppose that even if she is out of action for now, I can still fight as one of the strongest in our group. I need to go and assist Sabrina, Laran, and Milli with whatever trouble they might be in.” Haynes clasped his hands together to form an ‘L’-shaped hand sign, causing the dimension’s appearance to suddenly rip forward and then backwards like a thin, wind-hit canopy that had some grasslands painted on it. The grasslands and sky seemed to slowly become bent and blurred as Haynes propelled them through time-space at a frightening speed, with the sound of dimensional travel resembling a dive into the deep sea with an anti-pressurizing ocean apparatus.
“What is right, and what is wrong?” Jassa was still seemingly frozen, but Haynes became shocked at the sight of her being able to speak. “Is this ability of yours right, or wrong?” Jassa posed the question to him very clearly and calmly, and Haynes suddenly felt compelled to break the hand symbol he had made. The appearance of his dimension suddenly ripped forward violently, as their travel came to a sudden halt; it had afterwards become a normal grassland again: sunny, windy, and extremely pleasant.
“Jassa, what do you mean?” Haynes was perplexed, more than ever by such a question. “Do you feel all right? Are you really there, doctor?” Jassa remained frozen, continuously staring off into nowhere.
“The ethics of dimensional travel have declared to the universe that this is not ethical, this is WRONG!” Jassa’s words blasted at Haynes like a bomb, as he covered his ears in pain. His glasses suddenly shattered, and he opened his eyes again to find himself somehow tied to a large, metallic beam with steel chains that were fused into the beam itself.
It became pitch black, and Jassa was now the only visible thing in view. She stood before him, showing a menacing grin. “Let me live.” Haynes tried with all of his might to escape the situation that he was in, but the chains just wouldn’t budge.
“Jassa, what’s going on? What do you mean ‘Let me live’?!”
Jassa stood with her grin, disappearing from sight very slowly. “Let me live.” Haynes took another good look at himself, realizing that he was slowly fading from appearance as well. “Am I...are we becoming nothing?! What is this trap! Jassa, I think an enemy is attacking us mentally, we have to do something!!!” As they both continued their slow fade from existence, Haynes desperately racked his brain to think of a way out of their situation.
“Listen, Jassa, we have to fight this, if we,” Haynes became panicked once he saw Jassa turn into nothing before his eyes. It was now a universe of black, and Haynes would now be stuck inside of it for an eternity. He faded from the sight of his own eyes, with his own existence permanently denied.
“I want to live.”
Suddenly, the scene shifts once again to Haynes and Jassa standing like frozen statues in front of the dimensional portal. They had become as still as a statue might have been, and their expressions of determination to escape the unknown enemy was etched on their faces. The portal stood in front of them, rippling idly as it awaited anyone’s entrance.
“Very good. You are both enjoying the reality of my metaphysical philosophy.” A new figure emerged from the corn field, dusting off his plain black jacket and blue jeans. “Time to wake up. Allow me to help.” Suddenly, this unknown man pulled out two sharp machetes, preparing to stab his newest victims to their deaths.
“You will enter this world again, yet it comes at a price! In order to obtain equilibrium, you must embrace the even nature of the universe we are bound to!! Welcome!!!” It was a brutal blow. Both Jassa and Haynes were helpless to stop the machetes that were driven clear through their lungs. Their eyes suddenly snapped back into reality, experiencing an unparalleled shock and confusion at the sight of the machetes sticking out of the front of them. The mysterious man withdrew his weapons, forcing both of them to the ground in a bloody mess.
“So, you are the one who took us into that mental state?” Haynes said as he and Jassa exchanged panicked glances, both desperately gasping for air amid their lungs collapsing. The man stepped forward in extreme curiosity, admiring Hayne’s dimensional portal.
“Yes. While I am impressed by your little portal here, my ability to capture my opponents’ senses and carry them off into a dimension that only I can control is the superior force. Perhaps, my philosophy of existentialism has trumped your inferior relativistic viewpoints today!”
Haynes was overcome with teeth-gritting anger, as he began to reach for his Portfold sword. “Now, now, let’s have none of that.” Just as Haynes was about to grasp his sword that had fallen on the ground, he felt his arm go completely numb. “I told you that I have total dimensional control over all of your senses. This means that severing the neural connection between your arm and your brain is easy as long as I create a rift between the appropriate nerves. I have had quite a bit of practice over the years.”
“Shit! I never guessed that we would be ambushed by somebody like you!” Haynes said in panic, forcing an accomplished smile to emerge on the man’s face. “Of course you didn’t, since Jayce tasked me with locating the one who was able to travel between dimensions. Please comprende, I can only transport someone’s sensory experiences into a plane of non-existence. This is different from your own abilities since you can open portals fully, and travel between and amongst them at will. This, of course, is something that Jayce wants for himself. So, as you both suffocate to death here on the ground, I will be taking your sword, Haynes.”
The man turned his head once more, studying Haynes’ portal with avid interest. As the two fallen rebels studied their new adversary, they couldn’t help but notice his vibrant, brown hair amidst his Hispanic facial features and well-trimmed beard stubble. “My name is Stephano Escobar. I am ranked Number Six in Jayce’s small group of allies. I am curious to find out if your portal will close after you are dead. Yet, even if your aura is a unique requirement to opening a portal, we can also just extract your DNA and synthetically create a means for us to travel through dimensions. There will be no stopping us.” Stephano found himself delighted to hear his own words, so much so that he closed his eyes smugly as he said them.
“If Jayce’s plan involves you, I regret to inform you of a grave setback.” Suddenly, Stephano grimaced in pain to find that the very sword that they had coveted had now completely pierced through him. “Idiot, you pierced our lungs. With a New Age doctor of Jassa’s capability in the mix, it would have been best to plunge your machetes through our hearts.”
Jassa and Haynes were now standing with all of their faculties about them, breathing steadily with no wounds to be found. In her hand, Jassa held two small and empty vials; their clothes still possessed the blood and rips that signified where the blades had gone through, yet their skin was as wound-free as it had been before the attack. “Ha! Impressive! But, do you suppose that a wound like this will be enough to stop me?” Stephano inquired, as Haynes kept his sword held through his opponent.
“Understand one thing niño, an instant kill without using these machetes is easy for me. I only use them for a sense of fullness.” Stephano resolutely dropped both machetes on the ground, extending his fingers out as though he was about to run them through some sand. “It is easy for me to permanently remove my victims’ conscious from reality. In other words, I will literally escort your minds to the afterlife and lea
ve your bodies here to rot! I will then promptly use that last bottle of All-Cure that I see on the ground over there to heal this wound.”
Just as certain doom threatened them both, Haynes kicked their adversary into his dimensional portal that was still open. “Not happening. DIMENSIONAL PRISON TECHNIQUE!!!” Stephano could barely be seen getting to his feet, suddenly overcome with amazement at the vast appearance of Hayne’s galaxy viewing dimension. “I can trap someone in my dimensions as easily as I can travel to them. Allow me to compress this one into the size of a small cage, and close it off permanently. Good riddance, lackey of Jayce Wolfgain.”
An unbridled rage suddenly hit Stephano hard, as he realized that Haynes had plunged his sword into the rift itself, compressing it an instant. The portal hole also began to shrink, quickly becoming too small for anyone to climb out of. “Well, I will never die so disgracefully. Understand that I can simply erase your conscious from here, and force you to open the portal using my hypnotism technique! Ignorant niño!!”
“Time’s up. Good-bye.” Haynes allowed the porthole to be slammed shut seemingly before Stephano could act, allowing their defeated opponent to do to himself what he chose to. Their view of the night as the sun’s twilight continued to fade from the sky was no longer blocked by his dimensional opening, yet Haynes wasn’t expecting it to be used to trap one of Jayce’s group so soon. He pulled Portfold out of the invisible airspace, and attempted to catch his breath in exhaustion.
