Psychonautz

by Gentry Race

  Nathan felt relief. He looked down, letting his HUD search out the enemy ground forces, but something wasn’t right. The enemy Acedians seemed to be grouping together, standing almost shoulder to shoulder. Nathan was confused, but what grew from them a moment later was something he’d never forget.

  Each Acedian spawned the Æon of Ira from their backs in holographic blue, and then combined them into one. It was nearly the size of a twenty-story building when they were done—six arms with clenching fists, fire balls, and a gigantic, swinging mace.

  The skyscraper-sized Æon fell to its knees, one hand smearing the tiny trees before it while another hand threw blazing balls of red fire at the backs of the Drækonians. Nathan watched in what felt like slow-motion as another hand holding the mace rose up, waiting to sweep everyone out.

  “Vix, can you call the Æon?” Nathan asked.

  She nodded reluctantly.

  “We’re going to need all the help we can get.”

  Hastings and Switch made their way through the desolate town. If they were to find Tang, it would be near the closest bottle. On Drækonia, the native race took part in a nightly ritual of thanking the gods, and this involved drinking an alcohol-like beverage from the anus of a small insect called Tartuga. Switch informed Hastings that Tartugas only swarmed around decay—in this case, a mausoleum not too far from the city.

  Switch was huffing and puffing due to his lack of exercise. “I thought these suits enhanced performance, not made it worse.”

  “They do. You’re just that badly out of shape. I thought we had you on a PT program,” Hastings said with a smirk.

  “Yeah, PT… part-time,” Switch said, adjusting the skull barrette that held back his hair.

  WHACK!

  Hastings turned around to see Switch on the ground, seemingly lifeless. She followed the rock-tech lines of a warrior that looked like a cross between a human and a dragon, but this one was different, resembling a velociraptor. A large talon extended from its knee joint, wiggling in a protrusive manner.

  "Where is your friend, girl?" Vorian asked.

  Hastings was quiet, stepping back and observing her surroundings. She felt calm and at peace, knowing she could conjure the Drækonian Æon for help, but what she really needed was Tang.

  Where the hell is he?

  "It's no use," Vorian said, his reptilian eyes sharpening to slits. He circled a path with his two fingers. "This moon is as good as gone."

  A large entity formed behind him, and Hastings recognized the horned beast with its six arms from the High Priest's chambers.

  "You're fucking with the wrong woman," Hastings said, planting her back foot and voxelizing a set of rocket launchers on each shoulder.

  BOOM!

  Hastings fired, but Vorian managed to tumble out of the way. She hurriedly made sure Switch was okay, but of course, he was sleeping on the job. While her attention was distracted with her teammate, she felt a force under her leg and realized that the chain-link mace of her attacker was already under her, sweeping her into a flip. She hit the ground hard, her head disorientated from the twist.

  She focused her vision and thoughts, rising to her feet. With two fingers, she pathed out the orbit of the moon of Drækonia. An entity swelled up behind her in Voxelight, wielding a hammer the size of her entire body.

  "Your strength surpasses you." Vorian smirked at the crowned devilish entity with its smooth, polished gold skin. "That High Priest has tricked you all. We, Acedians, were tricked too! Robbed of our imiganation by a deal made between Drækonians and Starcadians. They locked our moons and blocked our trade causing oppression.“

  "Vorian, is it?" Hastings asked, ignoring his lies.

  "It is I, Vorian—the Acedian who will free these moons and give the power back to the races.”

  "By attacking other worlds?" Hastings fired back.

  "You can make things you’ve never dreamed of. I can teach you," Vorian said.

  "You mean that I can help you,’" Hastings said.

  Vorian swung Ira's mace back and around, and Hastings clashed against the force with Dræk’s massive hammer. Hastings spun the hammer around, winding the chain into a tangle that Vorian tried to pull free, but then he looked at her shoulders.

  "Move, motherfucker, or you’ll be patina-dragon soup tonight," Hastings said.

  WHACK!

  Hastings hit the ground, her vision fuzzy. She tried to make out the forms, but could only feel herself being lifted and then dragged along the ground.

  And then, blackness.

  27

  Nathan watched a few hundred front-line Drækonians get swept away in one motion from the giant Æon before them. Vix pulled quick maneuvers, grabbing two riders that had been flung toward her.

  "Commander, save your men!" Nathan ordered the Drækonian rider above him.

  Nathan blasted to the ground, slamming into the blue sod behind the army. He saw Beightol and Fery still in action, blasting what Acedians came into their warpath. An Acedian made it past their defense, sliding onto the ground and projecting the Ira Æon from its back. A spiraled mace came down on the tank-like vehicle, knocking Beightol and Fery apart.

  Vix landed behind Nathan, setting down what Drækonians she’d saved. She stepped next to Nathan, eyeing the building-sized Æon. “What now?” she signed.

  Nathan watched the Ira moon passing in the sky, its orbit faster than any moon he’d seen before, and wondered what chance they had if it passed. “We're gonna need a bigger boat,” Nathan said, voxelizing a mini gun that he carried with both hands.

  Vix shrugged.

  "Never mind," Nathan said, not feeling in the mood to explain the greatest shark film of all time. "Ætch the Dræk, and fight fire with fire."

  After reading his lips, Vix sank to her knees, focusing her concentration. She held one hand out, Ætching the path of the Drækonian moon. Light spiraled around her two fingers, and a strip of light glowed behind her neck, but no Æon manifested. This result left them both wondering if Hastings was the only one with the ability to actually conjure an Æon.

  A high-pitched ringing sound from behind the Acedians pierced Nathan's ears, and he watched the fighting Drækonians drop to the ground in agony while his suit adjusted the volume to normal. He saw the Acedians retreating, and the large Æon vanished, breaking down into its smaller counterparts.

  "They’re falling back!" Nathan shouted, voxelizing his helmet into the back of his neck.

  Vix was already running toward the front line where she caught an Acedian and ran her sharp blade down its face, leaving a mark of disgrace.

  Beightol and Fery were now up on their feet, watching the hordes fleeing in the opposite direction. Their work was done there, but something seemed a little too easy, and they wondered if it was a trick. It couldn’t be that simple—not unless their attackers had come for something specific and now they had it. The Drækonians let out a series of Oooraks, claiming their victory on the battlefield.

  One warrior with a large knee talon prayed next to an egg that had been laid during the fight. He then stood up and misted some kind of spray over the shell. Nathan didn’t understand what they were doing, but that didn’t matter. They had won.

  “Nathan!” Switch yelped, limping toward the ‘nauts and the Drækonian warriors.

  Vix ran to him, catching his pudgy frame just as he fell. His face, parched of color, reflected a look of terror. He tried to speak again, but found himself mumbling.

  “Are you alright, sugar?” Fery asked.

  “Did you find Tang? Where’s Hastings?” Nathan asked, beginning to feel concerned.

  “They… they took her,” Switch said.

  “What?” Nathan asked.

  “Vorian, I think. He took her. I was hit from behind, and when I woke, she had already been dragged away,” Switch said, sobbing.

  Fery knelt next to him, rubbing his shoulders. “It’s okay, sugar. There must have been hundreds of them.”

  “No, just a few, but m
y instincts told me to lay low or be taken, too,” Switch admitted.

  “Not okay. You let a team member be taken prisoner, Switch,” Nathan said.

  “Better than fighting on the enemy’s side,” Tang said, walking toward the ‘nauts, holding a chunk of jade green tablet.

  “And here’s Mr. Hot-Head. You think you can show up anytime you want? We’re a team, Tang,” Nathan said.

  “Yeah, and now you’re one ‘naut short,” Tang said

  “She was trying to find you. This is your fault!” Switch shouted.

  “Bullshit. You want to know the real reason them lizards got you on a pedestal?” Tang said, throwing down the scripted rock. “They kept the miners as workers—slaves. When they rose up to fight, that’s when they locked up the moons, segregating the whole system.”

  “So you’re saying that’s why the Acedians attacked them?” Switch asked.

  “The Acedians want their miners freed. They want the moons’ orbits restored, but the old snake High Priest wants to keep them controlled so he has the power.”

  Nathan could feel that Tang was swaying the ‘nauts over with his story as they put two and two together, but not him. He could never trust a man like Tang—the cocky asshole.

  “I believe the High Priest is telling the truth. He showed us Ætching, a weapon that will help humans in the long run,” Nathan said.

  “It was pretty convenient that they let us use their kernel feed if we helped them wipe the Acedians out,” Switch said.

  “What about the bugs? Did the Acedians really send them?” Fery asked.

  Nathan believed the Drækonians were telling the truth about the Acedians sending the bugs. “The Drækonians have no reason to lie to us.”

  “They’re using us, One-Eye,” Tang said, stepping back. “I ain't fighting their fight. I’m going to save Sasha and then Doolittle this whole system.”

  Nathan snapped, grabbing Tang's neck. "And what? Lose the only potential power to help us fight what's really coming? They want to help us!"

  Tang broke his hold. "Listen, you dumbass. I'm out of this. You lost a good warrior, and now I'm gonna save her. No man left behind.”

  Nathan paused for a moment, looking at his comrades as they debated in their heads. Vix was the only one looking at him, and even she wore a look of disappointment. Beightol and Fery walked over to Tang, standing behind him.

  “We stand with Tang,” Beightol said.

  “Confront the Drækonians," Fery said. "Show them the tablet, sugar. If they lie, we go with Tang and save Hastings on our own.”

  The upper deck of the Drækonian Empire was flocked with maidens, mistresses, and warriors frolicking about. Two Drækonians clashed their large mugs of frothy Tartuga bug juice together. Light, airy music played, with subtle claps from a high-hat-sounding drum, setting the tempo and the spills from the overfilled mugs the patrons drank.

  Beightol carried Switch like a bride-to-be, while Fery sat on his large shoulder. She had folded back her Voxel suit, exposing her well-manicured nails, and she picked at them like a sixteen-year-old would while talking on the phone. Vix and Tang stood behind Nathan as he scanned the deck.

  A set of stairs lifted to another level, sheathed in dried, crimson-colored skin curtains. Nathan made eye contact with the High Priest as he enjoyed his frothy beverage.

  "Ah, Nathan, my boy. Come," the High Priest hissed, his forked tongue slurping back into his mouth. "What a glorious battle. The day belongs to you and your warriors."

  Nathan bowed to the High Priest. "Yes, the victory is much appreciated, but I feel like it wasn’t earned."

  "Oh?" the High Priest asked, his snake eyes darting about, counting the warriors. "You have lost one Marine."

  Nathan looked over at a pale Switch. "We believe Hastings was taken by Vorian."

  The High Priest uncoiled his tail and rose to an upright, concerned-looking position. "What do you say? Taken? I shall order double time on those ungrateful grunts."

  "Sir, we have to save our friend," Nathan said.

  "Cut the shit," Tang said, stepping forward and tossing the jade rock onto the ground. "Tell us the truth."

  Hisses pierced Nathan's ears, and he watched the High Priest's large eyes narrow into razor-sharp slits as he slithered backward.

  "Where did you get that?" the High Priest asked.

  "We know you got the Acedians slaved up and control the moons however you see fit," Tang accused.

  "Infidel! You desecrated a religious monument! Not for a hundred generations has that mausoleum been disturbed," the High Priest said.

  From his back grew the large Æon of Drækonia, pulsing with the same anger as its user. Its hammer now felt like a gavel of judgment.

  The 'nauts stepped back while Tang voxelized his black-and-grey grenade cannon, winding as it charged a payload of grey goo.

  "Cut his feed," the High Priest said.

  Without a moment’s notice, Tang's weapons vanished, folding back into his suit. Tang rushed the High Priest, and the hammer slammed beside him like a ton of bricks, smashing into the floor. Nearby guards were quick to tie Tang's hands up.

  "By punishment of the Æons, I sentence you to thirty cycles for desecration of the Apothecus mausoleum.”

  "Sir, he meant no harm," Nathan reasoned.

  The High Priest snapped his sharp eyes back to Nathan and the 'nauts. "Harm? He desecrated the very tablet our society is based on. You saw what the Acedians have done. They are a plague on this system and deserve to be wiped out. If not for Apothecus, we would have been lost."

  Nathan took a knee. "With all due respect, we promise to abide by all Drækonian law."

  "Speak for yourself, sugar," Fery said, nodding to Switch and Vix.

  The High Priest picked up the sacred jade rock, inspecting its beauty, yet at the same time recoiling from the horror that had come upon it. "You have broken something of mine, and I will break something of yours. Take him away."

  Without further delay, the guards dragged Tang away.

  "Nathan, you can't let them take him. He's our only chance of finishing the mission," Fery said.

  Nathan was quiet, avoiding their shaded glares.

  "Nathan!" she yelled.

  "They’re not lying. Tang’s a hothead. If we behave, they can help us save Hastings," Nathan finally said.

  Fery turned around, pulling on Beightol's arm. "Let's go. He's abandoned us and lost another Marine in the process. We can save Hastings on our own."

  Nathan watched the rest of his team leave, and deep down, he was relieved. Tang had been put away where he could no longer disrupt the mission. And he knew he could save Hastings without Tang, but it would be better if he went alone than with the doubters of the team.

  The High Priest smiled at Nathan. "You will have the forces you need to get your friend back," the High Priest granted.

  28

  The fire crackled in the night as the soft, purple light danced on the faces of Beightol, Fery, and Vix. Slumped into a fetal position, Switch lay resting from his wounds. Vix held his arm, reading the indicators that displayed his levels. She pressed the digital interface, shooting more Æther into his body.

  Vix went back to stirring the fire with a purple switch she’d found nearby. The fire didn’t burn like the fires on Earth. The purple-to-blue hues reminded Vix of a propane torch. And just like a propane torch, the team was burnt out—if they’d ever been a team to begin with.

  Saving Hastings would have been next to impossible with Tang, and now they were isolated on the outskirts of the Drækonian Empire on their own. Vix turned her arm over to read her digital indicators, thankful the High Priest hadn’t shut off their Æther feed along with Tang’s. They’d need it to fight—to save Hastings.

  "This reminds me of home," Beightol said.

  Fery looked at him with a crooked eye. "Oh, yeah? How?"

  "Where I live, no people go forest because those don't speak of," Beightol responded.

  Fery looked at V
ix and then swung around to catch a glimpse of the dark trees. "Who were they?"

  He shrugged. “Don't know. Don’t speak of," Beightol quipped.

  Vix smiled, admiring Beightol's humor but not understanding the frame of reference.

  “Wild land where no fly—”

  “No-fly zone?” Fery said. “Come on, Beightol. That’s the fucking plot for The Village.”

  “Still,” Beightol said with a smile, "good movie."

  Vix continued to stir the coals. She felt calm, being out in the open rather than confined to a room. Poor Tang, she thought.

  “We need Tang, but we also need to convince Nathan that the Drækonians can’t be trusted," Fery finally said.

  Switch raised his head off his arms a bit. “If we’re able to get to Tang, I can download the recipe he dreamt up for the goo.”

  “Is that so?” Fery asked. “Well, look who’s ready to play.”

  “Ready to play?” Switch said furiously to Fery. “Or ready to run?”

  Fery was quiet for a moment, understanding her question without understanding the signs. She then looked over at Beightol’s somber expression. “I had a moment of weakness.”

  “Weakness is not for a Psychonaut,” Switch said.

  “Yeah, sometimes need go by self,” Beightol said and sat up, excitedly. “Like when superhero go train station to get new power."

  "Shut up, Beightol!" they all said at once.

  "Listen, Fery, I'm not Hastings or Nathan," Switch said. "I don't give a shit about you, but what I do care about is paying back whoever attacked us at Rockheed. An attack on one is an attack on all."

  Fery nodded in respect, tying her vibrant rainbow hair back into a ponytail. "I'm in, but what's the plan?"

  "Nathan’s lost. He’s been consumed with the power he can obtain. I think our best chance of rescuing Hastings is to get Tang out," Switch said.

  "Yeah, but how?"

  "The Drækonians will send an army with Nathan to find Hastings so their forces within the Empire will be weakened. That could be our moment to get him out, or at least download the goo thought-file," Switch said.