by Eddie Patin
"Yeah," Riley replied. "Jason 113 used to do it a lot. You have to estimate the coordinates of your destination rift and just try and see what happens."
"Wing it?" Jason asked, pulling up his OCS. He handed Gliath his AK.
"I don't know what that figure of speech means," Riley said. "Just estimate distance between us and the wall, and how high you need to go to let us step out onto it."
Jason looked up at the wall.
"So, do I take the coordinates we're at now and like ... adjust them along the three different planes?"
Riley shrugged. "I don't know how to rift, dude. But that seems logical."
"Okay." Jason looked up the coordinates where they were standing right then. He essentially copied and pasted them into a new field to focus on to open a rift, then adjusted it several yards to the west and about twelve feet high. He made sure that both the third dimension and the fourth dimension were selected. He'd figured that out recently: there was no way to open a rift across the third dimension without moving forward in time simultaneously. It took several seconds to open a rift and literally step through. He couldn't rift instantly. That's why it had been so damned hard to figure out third dimensional travel for him before.
"Don't fret over it, Jason," Riley said. "Just try it. You can always try again."
"What if I rift us too high, or into the wall or something?"
"Then we look through it before walk through, of course."
Duh, Jason thought. Oh, yeah.
He gave it his best shot and tried to open a rift. His mind flexed and he opened it easily. A blazing orange rift unfolded and started spinning madly in front of them with a flutter and a snap, soon roaring like lightning and spitting sparks all over the cobblestone. As the center of the spinning disc smoothed out, Jason found himself looking out from a space up in the air way too far away from the wall for them to reach it.
"Shit," he said to himself.
Craning his neck to look around the whirling, noisy portal, Jason searched for the other side, but didn't see anything. He looked back at the rift's window, figured where it was, then looked over to the west wall...
There was nothing.
"Oh yeah," Jason muttered. The destination rift wouldn't appear until the surface of the origin rift was broken, right? That's how that damned giant mosquito-thing came into his garage when he'd been looking into that swampy universe before the minotaur job.
Jason reached out and touched the surface of the rift. As he did, he heard a distant snap, and saw a similar rift unfurl loudly far away, two stories high in the air: a spinning disc of orange fire, casting sparks down onto the grass near the western wall far below.
The destination rift was about ten feet away from the wall. Jason could already tell by looking through the origin rift that it was too far from the wall, but seeing the destination rift appear out of thin air to their west confirmed it.
"Too far!" Riley shouted over the roar.
"Yeah, duh!" Jason replied.
He released the rift. Both portals collapsed into nothing. The one next to them let out a small pop, and a flurry of sparks fell to the courtyard floor.
"Wow!" Morgana exclaimed. "That's amazing!"
"That's what I do," Jason replied with a grin, immediately feeling both stupid and awesome.
Riley chuckled.
There were gasps and muttering from all around. The people of New Bozeman that were already nearby were gathering, standing around and keeping a hearty distance, watching.
Jason adjusted his coordinates to hopefully land his destination rift just over the wall—close enough that they could step through without a problem—then tried again.
The rift in front of him opened noisy and brilliant, sputtering sparks flinging off of the spinning edge as the view to his destination rift was gradually revealed.
He saw the walkway on top of the wall.
Jason looked to the west, unsurprised to see no rift there in the air. It was still invisible, of course. There was no way to tell—except maybe with an OCS—that there was an open rift leading to that spot until he broke the surface of the origin rift. Only then would the destination rift loudly appear.
Neat.
With a shock, Jason suddenly realized that he could use rifts in the same way for reconnaissance. He could open rifts into places all over the omniverse—whatever he needed based on the situation—and he could spy on another location without detection! He could get a visual, anyway. The destination rift would be undetectable if he never broke the origin rift's surface! He could even estimate areas just like he was doing now to look into places unknown. Amazing!
"That looks good," Riley said. "Let's go."
Jason smiled from ear to ear thinking about the new possible applications for his powers. What a cool thing! If they ever needed to invade a fortress, for instance—for whatever reason—he could look inside first. He could always spy on an area with a rift as long as he didn't mind making that loud freaking roar at the origin point. It was like ... like the DnD spell Clairvoyance ... kind of.
"I can see," he muttered to himself.
Riley stared at Jason for a moment, waiting. He smirked.
"Yeah, you did it, Jason," he said. "Let's move." He clapped him on the shoulder.
Jason met the soldier's gaze and nodded. That's not why Jason was so happy, but whatever.
He followed Riley and Gliath through the portal. As Riley stepped through first, he heard the destination rift up on the wall snap open and roar to life. He looked around the swirling orange fire of the origin rift to see the other portal across the courtyard. It appeared along with Riley on the wall.
Cool.
Jason could Dim Door...
The three Reality Rifters passed through the portal and appeared on the western wall. Up on the wall, the sky seemed wider, and Jason could see into the village on one side and out over endless mountain vistas on the other. Once through, he looked back into the rift and saw Morgana standing there in the square, hesitating, looking through the fiery gateway at him with wide eyes. She was afraid.
"It's okay!" Jason shouted above the roar and sputtering. "Come on. It's just like normal walking." There were times when Jason had fallen through rifts by accident—back during the whole Wilderlands incident—and that was always weird and chaotic. But every time he went through on purpose, it was no big deal.
The young woman took a step and hesitated again.
Jason extended his hand. It was just a symbolic gesture. She'd have to pass through to reach it.
Morgana visibly steeled herself, her long, dark hair blowing around in the wind that the rift made. She slowly stepped through and followed them out on the wall. Looking around—then quickly back down to where they'd just come from—Morgana stared in open wonder.
Jason released the rift, and both collapsed into nothing.
It was quiet again.
Riley and Gliath were already looking out over the battlements. Jason and Morgana joined them.
There were a handful of the dark-skinned primitive creatures down there in the trees far away from the wall. They looked a lot like the cannibals Jason knew, and they were similarly dressed and armed, but had obvious smooth skin of a muddy-grey color. No scales. No lizard-eyes. Their faces were a lot more human-looking, too. Most had long, unruly hair; some bunched up into dreadlocks. The 'trogs' putzed around in the shadows of the woods doing God-knows-what.
"There's a cave system in a ravine near here," Morgana said. "There are hundreds of those things down in the caverns."
"Big cave system?" Jason asked.
"Yes. Those ones are foraging. The trogs usually only come out at night—they'll capture and kill my people if they come across them outside the walls—but the gargoyles are killing them, too. So, they've been coming out more during the day."
Jason looked around. From up on the wall, he could see a lot of the town. Both the church and Morgana's house stood above everything else. Strangely, there wasn't a singl
e person on the wall other than the guy over the gate.
"Why aren't there any guards on the walls?" Jason asked.
Morgana looked back down into town. "The Chosen don't come up here or go outside the walls. They don't even help protect the town at night other than defending the church and the houses they took over as barracks. They're more like Estren's personal guards than real town guards. All of the actual town guards were taken off of duty two years ago. They're all eunuchs, you know."
That was a weird thing to say. "The town guards?" Jason asked.
"No," Morgana replied, scoffing and cracking a smile. The slightest glimmer of comfort in the woman's face made Jason feel amazing. "The Chosen are eunuchs."
"Eunuchs?" Jason replied. "You mean like ... they're all castrated?!"
"Yes. All men in any real positions in the Golden Lady's Communion are eunuchs."
"That's fruked up," Riley said, turning around and leaning against the battlements.
"What about Estren?" Jason asked.
"He's a eunuch too."
"Huh."
Maybe that's why the Magister came across as so weird and soft. That could explain it. Jason had never met an actual eunuch before. Did those even still exist in his time on his Earth? Maybe in other cultures. So, Estren must have had no or very low testosterone. That could explain his strange mannerisms and appearance. But he was still freaking evil.
"We should head back," Riley said. "Let's get some rest and wake up just before sunset. I've got a pretty good idea of how we should approach tonight."
Jason looked at Morgana.
"Wanna walk or rift?"
Her green eyes widened and she looked back and forth between all of them.
"Let's use your magic," she said.
Jason smiled. "Okay."
He pulled up his OCS and selected the bookmark to the Soloster manor dining hall. From the top of the wall, he opened another rift, which cracked the air and swirled around with a roar and spitting sparks, ultimately revealing the darkened space with the table and chairs.
Just as Jason was about to step through, smiling at Morgana, he caught a glimpse of Lillian in a pale dress passing by, turning and speaking to someone out of sight.
He paused, watching the shimmering field. At the edge of the rift, from his point of view from where he'd set the bookmark, Jason saw part of another body step into sight. Lillian was talking to a man, her eyes dead and face sour, standing straight and prim near the table. She was saying a lot, but they couldn't hear anything from the other side.
The man stepped more into sight and Jason saw the clothing, armor, and golden mask of a Chosen soldier.
"What the fuck?" Morgana said, staring at the scene. After a few more seconds, the Chosen soldier turned and walked out of sight. When he did—after Lillian visibly sighed and walked back to where she was typically sitting at the table—the young woman turned to Jason. "Okay, let's go now!"
Jason took his AK from Gliath, who'd been holding it for him the whole time he was messing with his OCS. They stepped forth into the dining hall, surprising the hell out of Lillian as the rift erupted with a roar and blazing orange light, throwing sparks around the room.
When all four had stepped through—Morgana looking intensely at her sister-in-law and no longer paying any mind to the rift—Jason released his hold of the portal. The spinning gateway collapsed with a pop and they were all in quiet darkness again.
"Oh, Golden Lady!" Lillian exclaimed when they appeared, her eyes wide and her hand grabbing at her chest. She jumped up from her chair, throwing it back and knocking it to the floor.
Jason looked around. The soldier was gone. Riley and Gliath stood waiting.
"Who was that?" Morgana asked sharply, stalking over to the older woman. "What was just happening here, Lillian?"
"Oh, goodness—Morgana!" Lillian cried, still terrified and flustered out of her wits. "Where did you come from? What just happened?! How did you—?"
"Why were you talking to that soldier?!"
Lillian balked with horror. Her face drained of color. "Why—he was here ... looking for you!" She reigned in some composure and put her hands on her hips, leaning toward Morgana, though her lip still trembled from the shock. "What have you been doing?! I thought for certain he was here to arrest you! Did Estren find—?"
"That fucker knows," Morgana replied. She huffed, crossed her arms, and let out a long, deep sigh. "He saw me out there. What did the soldier want?"
Lillian looked up to the ceiling as if trying to recall for an instant. "Estren saw you in the village? He saw you outside?"
"Of course he did. Why was that soldier here, Lillian?"
Lillian's eyes flicked up into the dark reaches of the vaulted ceiling for a moment.
"He said that Magister Estren had sent him to see if you had returned home or were still out. He ... had a message that the Magister preferred that you stayed here."
Morgana looked back at the three Reality Rifters for a few seconds. Then she sighed and slumped to lean against the table.
"Yeah, I'll bet he does," she said.
There was an uncomfortable silence for a while. Riley finally stirred.
"Well," he said, adjusting his rifle on its sling. "We're gonna get some rest."
Morgana looked up, smiled at the three Reality Rifters, then nodded.
"Okay."
With that, Jason, Riley, and Gliath headed upstairs to nap before the night's hunt.
Chapter 20
Jason toyed at the big safety lever on the side of his AK-47 as he leaned against the battlements of the southern wall. He didn't go so far as to compulsively pop it on and off, on and off, but he played with its sharp, metal edges with his gloved fingertips.
Birds were singing and chirping in the distance. He looked up and watched a hawk soaring high in the cool air, making circles. Down in the valley, a herd of buffalo stood like tall, lumbering shadows in the warm light of the setting sun, grazing in faraway grass.
For the third time in the last several minutes, Jason felt at the full, banana-shaped magazines in his minotaur-hide jacket pockets. They were still there; still heavy. He played with the pocket flaps, making sure that they'd be super easy to access when he'd need a reload in a hurry.
Jason looked at Morgana, who sat near him on the battlements watching the sun go down. While the days were warm and sunny, it was still Montana in springtime, so the nights were a little crisp. A breeze passed over them and Jason tried not to outright stare as the young woman's long hair blew in the wind. Her green eyes were beautiful in the golden light of the sunset and her tan skin was smooth with a warm sheen.
Just as the last rays of the sun winked out behind the mountains, Jason looked across to Riley and Gliath's position. They stood together, watching the south. Gliath was still in his human form, for now.
Jason looked down at his rifle again after another quick glance at Morgana's lovely face, then he smiled. If only he'd had his AK and a few mags of ammo back when he was stuck in the Wilderlands instead of just his Glock 26! Things might have gone a little differently. Could he have taken down the wyvern with this rifle...?
He took a sip from the bite valve of his CamelBak bladder. The water was getting hard to pull. It was almost out. He could probably refill it here if he wanted to, but it'd be better to wait until we rifted home again. Looking up, Jason saw that the stars were coming out.
"Look," Morgana said suddenly.
Jason looked up and saw her pointing to the south. As the sunset faded from its brilliant colors to slate-blue and the rest of the sky was darkening to a deep indigo, something strange was coming from the mountains across the valley. What at first seemed like odd, pale shapes emerging from the distant woods soon revealed themselves to be crawling tendrils of mist stretching north toward New Bozeman.
"Fog," Jason said. He reached for the subdermal switch in his left hand and turned on his image intensifier. After a second of warming up, his right eye could suddenly see
a hell of a lot better down there, albeit a little washed out with desaturated green.
The twilight sky became a Jackson Pollock painting of bright points of light and splotches of millions more behind them like glowing, green clouds stretching off into the void. In the west, where the sun went down, the horizon was still luminous; a little too bright for Jason to look at, even. Looking down into the valley, he could clearly see the buffalo. He turned to watch the approaching mist.
Before long, it was everywhere. The fog billowed out of the southern mountain range like a pale, silent invader, soon climbing over the village walls where Jason and the others waited, then crept into the village, filling the air with dread and stifling quiet.
"Every night this happens," Morgana said. "The gargoyles will come very soon."
"Always from the south?"
"Yes."
Jason flicked off his safety and made sure that his finger was far from the trigger. He stood away from the stone wall and shouldered the rifle at a low ready.
The mist was thick and bright in his night vision, but it was better than seeing normally. At least he'd be able to see the monsters coming through it easily enough. Looking back down into the town, Jason saw no one. Not a soul was out on the streets anymore. All was quiet. There were still some prisoners on the crosses, no doubt, but that was several blocks away.
The creeping fog obscured everything and Jason eventually couldn't see more than thirty feet or so in any direction.
He turned on his IR Illuminator gun light, which he hadn't tried yet. Then, he quickly turned it off again when the brilliant beam—which only he and perhaps Riley could see—was absorbed into the mist as a cone of blinding light.
"Damn," he said. The IR Illuminator would do more harm than good with all of this fog...
"What?" the girl asked.
"Nothing," Jason replied.
"Jason!" Riley suddenly shouted from up on the wall on the other side of the gate.
Peering through the green-washed fog, Jason couldn't see him.
"Yeah?" he shouted back. "I'm here! I can't see you!"
