by Aaron Crash
“I can’t keep blowing the horn,” Gabby gasped.
“We’ll have to chop them up the old-fashioned way.” Bailey shrieked laughter.
Jack wasn’t about to use the Eternity Cannon for these things. His shotgun was working just fine. He got two with one shot. He jacked another shell in and blew out the belly of the fat woman. A musket fired, hitting Bailey in the shoulder. A swing of her war pick punched a hole in the skull of the monster. Gabby hacked through the rest.
“You okay, Bailey?” Jack asked.
Her dark face was ashen. “I will be. Once we get out of this fucking Land of the Tossed. If we get out. I’m telling you, if we meet the Count or his Court, we’re royally screwed.”
Through the door, into the palace room, where these things not only had skin, but hair as well under their powdered white wigs. They even had fingernails. Something was wrong with their faces, though, as if the skin were like bad masks wanting to slide off.
They fought their way through the lacy monsters and into the medieval room. More skeletons met them, and these were harder to kill, but when things got bad, Gabby glowed brighter. Jack used up all the shells from his shotgun and switched to the AR-15. Then it was a headshot apiece for these bastards.
And any of the medieval feasters that dodged his bullets met their end on either Gabby’s glowing longsword or Bailey’s war pick.
Once the skeletons had been wiped out, Jack swept up his homemade bag of booty and gave it to the demon. “You carry this. Gabby and I will fight. We only have two more sets of monsters—the farmers in the adobe room and the hunters and gatherers.”
“I fucking hate your human history,” the demon said with a sigh. “It was so boring until internet porn.”
They fought their way through the adobe room, and into the tent room. Not only did the skeletons have skin and all the trappings of humankind, but they were also a foot taller. And really, could they be called skeletons now? Probably not. They had morphed into big giant things with misshapen features. They had crude stone weapons, at first pretty pathetic until Jack noticed they were glowing with green magic.
They were facing the most advanced of the Black Tower’s guardians.
Gabby went forward, using her horn as a shield, which caught a stone ax on the edge. She drove her sword into the guts of one monster. Then Jack saw that Gabby had other weapons at her disposal. Buried in the feathers of her wings were metal spurs. She opened one of the monster giant’s throats, and blood poured down. It fought on, since it wasn’t exactly a living thing—even with skin it was some kind of undead entity, fueled by Decaysia.
Jack shot two in the head, and they kept coming at him. Bailey had no choice but to drop her bag to fight. She flung her war pick into a head. She drove her spiked tail into a gut and out the thing’s back.
Jack said fuck it and emptied the clip of his AR-15 into the brains of one. It fell to its knees, then toppled over. Jack flung away the AR-15, out of bullets.
By that time, Gabby had slayed the last giant. They fled into the pine forest where there were six massive giants, even taller than the tent things. These things had outgrown their skin, their bones showing through, too big for their meat suits. It looked like the flesh was literally dripping from them, and they too had glowing green weapons, these made of stone rather than bronze.
One flung a spear, but Gabby was quick. She put her horn to her lips and blew it as hard as she could. That spear turned to dust. Two of the giants were pushed back. They lost some flesh, but they hurried forward.
Bailey was sweating, bleeding, and not happy. “This isn’t what I signed on for, Jack!”
One of the giants stormed forward. Jack had his Beretta, and he put three bullets into the knee of the thing, reducing the joint to mulch. The giant fell, and Jack put a bullet between its eyes, then another, then another, firing until the thing stopped moving. Meanwhile, Bailey flung her war pick up and managed to get it stuck in one monster’s skull. She yanked the giant backward using the chains and slammed the pick into its skull over and over.
Jack ducked an ax, turned, and at point-blank range sent three bullets into the chest of the thing. Whatever heart it had was gone, but the giant swung its ax again. Jack ducked behind a tree. The blade was stuck for just a second. It was all the time Jack needed. He emptied his pistol into the thing’s face, taking out both eyes. It fell, clutching at its face. Jack had to use his last bullets to finally make it stop moving.
Gabby had killed two others and was working on a third.
Jack saw that Bailey wasn’t going to be able to stay on her feet much longer. He holstered his pistol, dropped his shotgun, and pulled the Eternity Cannon from the back of his jeans. He thumbed back the hammer and pulled the trigger, ending the overgrown skeleton.
He felt the Corpus and Decaysia fill them. He went over and touched Bailey, and felt her body, but not just that, he felt her core of Ijjinaya. She was mostly lust after all. Then it was easy to transfer the Corpus into healing the bullet wound. Again, he was mystified by the power of the Eternity Cannon working with whatever uniqueness his soul possessed.
Bailey fell against him. “Thanks. I needed that. But I’m still hungry. I need sex.”
Jack knew how she felt. He needed Kairos. Killing the skeletal guardians of the Black Tower hadn’t helped him with his growing headache.
Gabby grabbed Bailey and flew her over the wall. The angel then returned for Jack, who’d retrieved his shotgun. In a whoosh of feathers, Jack was soon standing on the black plain in front of the redwood log wall.
Things, though, were not getting any easier for them. Jack knew he’d seen shapes moving under the ground. Now he saw what they were.
Doll-headed serpents rose from the black pebble ground. The snake scales were a pale yellowish white, matching the cracked porcelain heads of the dolls, connected to serpentine bodies with iron fittings. The doll-serpents were Interim creatures, Kairos-based Fugs he could kill to power up.
They weren’t alone, though. A voice echoed across the black pebble plain. “WHO DARES COME WITHOUT PAYING TRIBUTE TO THE COUNT? WHO DARES VIOLATE THE PALANTINE OF THE MISPLACED?”
That thunder came from something moving across the plain from the city toward them, something huge, with lots of legs. However, another toy creature was erupting from the soil, a monstrous dump truck. Instead of headlights, the thing had reptilian red eyes, glowing a bright crimson. The grill was open to show massive gnashing teeth. Again, that was a Fug.
Something like a cross between a slinky and a corpse writhed out of the pebbles. The spine of the rotting thing was a steel core, as were its arms and legs. The rest of it was claws and teeth. But not for long.
Jack had used up every bullet he had, for both his Beretta and his shotgun. He had no choice but to draw the Eternity Cannon and blow off the slinky zombie’s head. Kairos filled him, and it was good, powerful.
Current Kairos: 79/100
Gabby blew her horn a final time and the sound rolled through the weird toy creatures, clearing the way.
Jack and Bailey ran. Gabby flew. They reached the crumbling black brick staircase. Down they went, with the staircase closing behind them. As they raced up the steps, those steps were disappearing. The way was closing, and the trio barely made it up and out of the hidden staircase and back into the Clockwatcher’s courtyard.
They once again stood on the hard-packed yellow ground. The staircase was gone.
The fat clock man chuckled as a bonging sound filled the air. “Twelve o’clock midnight!”
Jack didn’t know what that meant. Every time the Clockwatcher talked he advanced an hour. What did that mean?
After escaping the Cast Away, Gone Astray, Jack was in no mood for any sort of hijinks. He still had two shots left in the Eternity Cannon. He wasn’t sure how to reload it, not really, but those two shots were precious at this point.
If he had to use one on the Clockwatcher? Well, the fucking fat clock man radiated Kairos. First, though, J
ack needed to know where Kerrata had taken Annie Blackburn.
Then the shooting could begin.
Chapter Twenty
THE CLOCKWATCHER SHIVERED and shook as every hand on every clock across his corpulent body lined up and struck midnight. The sky went from a weird crimson color to absolute darkness for a minute, and the only light came from Gabby’s halo, eyes, and sword.
Having an angel around certainly was useful.
Then a second later, a blast of Kairos energy hit Jack like a warm ocean wave. He immediately felt his levels soar to full, and he checked it. Yep. From the combat, from using the Kairos, all of it conspired to send him to second level.
<<< SEPTUA SANCTUS >>>
Level: 2
Current Kairos: 191/200
Current Corpus: 98/200
Current Nefesh: 95/200
Current Ijjinaya: 85/200
Current Psyche: 99/200
Current Morpheum: 100/200
Current Decaysia: 150/200
Special abilities:
Potential Auxiliary Storage: 0/100
Aeterna Kalpa Olam Hosted Synchronization
Septua Conversion and Transfer
<<< SEPTUA SANCTUS >>>
All of the Clockwatcher’s creatures grew two sizes and continued to radiate the vibrant time energy. The dogs took to snarling, and the elephants trumpeted, raising their decayed trunks while their rotten bellies swayed. Clockwork vultures whirled in the sky above.
“One o’clock, and welcome to a brand-new day,” the clock man said as the hour hand clicked over. “Now, show me the Eternity Cannon.”
Jack lifted the big horse revolver and showed it to the clock man. “Yeah. Here it is. We got out just before the Count found us.”
“Two o’clock, good, good, good,” the Clockwatcher cooed. “Do you know its real name?”
Jack did. But he wasn’t going to tell the Clockwatcher a thing, especially not after Bailey nearly shit a brick when it became clear that they’d have to deal with the Kairos lord in his own eon palace. “According to you, its real name is the Eternity Cannon, right?”
“Three o’clock, clock. Did you fire it?” the Clockwatcher asked.
“Nope.” Another lie. “Tell me where Annie is. And what is Kerrata planning to do?”
“Four o’clock, and I am not going to tell you anything until I have the Cannon.”
Jack tossed the gun to the Kairos lord.
A very quiet feminine voice tickled the inside of Jack’s skull, just a whisper, hardly audible. Don’t you love a little gun like me?
Jack didn’t respond, but he still felt connected to the gun.
The clock man grinned. “Five o’clock, my foolish friend. Kerrata has plans, but those plans are a mystery. Gossip, gossip, gossip abounds! Perhaps he plans to win a lordship by making a deal with Tanichron. Or perhaps he’ll invade a section of hell by killing him. Kerrata spent decades drinking from some human, someone important, though I don’t know the how or why of it. But then Kerrata took Annie, another key Kairos player, and Kerrata is going to drink from her, and take her to Tanichron, perhaps as a gift, and Tanichron will give Kerrata an eon palace of his own. Or perhaps Kerrata will drain the girl and kill the duke and become the first Interim to seize land in hell. It’s not clear, but if you want Annie, she will be at the duke’s gate a week from the time of her capture, an Influunt week, a week of your seven days.”
Bailey let out a laugh. “That ugly Fugger has some big brass balls to do that. Tanichron is a two-bit player, but he’s no one to mess with if you’re not hell spawn, and he’s ruled the region for a long time. With the Tempus Bellum doing its thing, this is the perfect time for such a power grab.”
“Bailey!” Gabby complained. “We can’t talk about the Tempus Bellum.”
That made the demon roll her eyes. She was still weak, though. She might have repaired her flesh, but her Ijjinaya core was weak. She needed to eat, and that meant sex for Jack. That was awesome. First, though, he wasn’t about to leave Aeterna with this Fug.
The Clockwatcher checked the cylinders and saw that it only had two shots left. He pointed the weapon at Jack’s face. “Six o’clock, you son of a bitch! Only two shots left, and you know, don’t you? Don’t you? Won’t you tell me the truth?”
“Know what?” Jack was leaking Kairos and he didn’t have a headache, but he wanted another shot of power, which he suspected would hit again when the Clockwatcher’s hands hit noon. All Jack had to do was keep this Fug lord talking. Besides, the fat clock man had his finger on the trigger, but he hadn’t pulled back the hammer. This thing was single action. Nothing would happen if the guy squeezed the trigger.
The Clockwatcher was apoplectic. “Seven o’clock, stupid. I mean the Cannon’s real name.”
A clock dog came forward, lunged and snapped at Gabby, who brandished her blinding sword and forced it back. They were hopelessly outnumbered. More vultures were in the air. Rats with clockwork mouths crept forward. Bears with ticking clocks in their sides rose up on two feet. And of course, the rotting elephants, with gears in their guts, trumpeted.
Jack was going to play stupid. “How does a gun have a name?”
“Eight o’clock, and you are trying to trick me!” The Clockwatcher screamed over the sound of his hands clicking forward.
“I’m not trying to trick anyone,” Jack said. “You’re the one pointing the gun at me. I wouldn’t shoot me, though. If Kerrata’s victim was powerful, you should see the son. Hugo Mundi is critical to the Time War, and he’s a good friend of mine.” Total bluff.
The Clockwatcher looked at him uncertainly. “Nine o’clock, who is this Hugo? And perhaps you are not the Jack of Clocks I think you are.”
“I’m the Jack of Clocks all right, a godling who can stop time, and I was able to get the Eternity Cannon. You don’t want to kill me. You don’t want to mess with Hugo.”
Gabby was keeping all the creatures back. Bailey held the bag instead of her war pick, which was currently in its dimensional sheath. Besides, the demon was too weak to help in a fight.
“Ten o’clock, and I can kill you if I want. Kill this Hugo child if I want.”
Jack had to stall. Just two more sentences. “You could, but wouldn’t it be better to give me to the Count of the Cast Away, Gone Astray? You could blame me for stealing the gun, say you never had it, and he wouldn’t look your way.”
“Eleven o’clock, and you might be right. Stand clear, Time Knight, stand clear.”
Jack liked the sound of that. “Time Knight is cool. What does it mean?”
The Clockwatcher kept the pistol aimed at him even as he waved a fat hand. His fingernails were miniature clocks. Jack hadn’t noticed that. This thing was strange, but very well connected. And of course, treacherous as fuck.
Well, so was Jack.
“Twelve o’clock noon!”
Instead of the crimson sky going black, there was a blinding flash of light as another flood of Kairos energy swept out of the Clockwatcher, striking his creatures and topping off Jack’s core.
Not just his core, but also his special storage.
Current Kairos: 200/200
Potential Auxiliary Storage: 36/100
Jack reached out a hand, and the Eternity Cannon sailed away from the Clockwatcher and found a home back in Jack’s fist.
Yay! Back with the guy! the revolver’s little voice squealed with glee.
Jack had the hammer back, and he shouted even as his eyes tried to adjust after the blinding flash of pure Kairos. “You stay back, Clocky. My friends and I are leaving, and if you try to stop us, I’ll end you.”
The Clockwatcher screamed. “One o’clock, no!”
But already his creatures were falling back. The vultures had landed on the ramparts of his cinderblock palace.
Gabby led the way, then Bailey, and finally Jack, backing up with the gun pointed at the fat clock man’s face.
“Two o’clock, and I will get you, Time Knight! I will not for
get this! Nor will I forgive!” But the Clockwatcher wasn’t going to risk death by sending his creatures to attack Jack and the two women. Not at first anyway.
However, when Jack retreated through the gateway, the animals came chasing after him. A whole zoo of clockwork animals, and those vultures from above, descending on black feathers.
Gabby again saved the day with her horn. She let out a blast that struck the birds from the air and floored the clockwork creatures.
By that time, they had hurried back through the Salvador Dali clock puddles and to the shabby wooden door floating in midair. Jack pushed through, and they returned to the empty place in the stairwell of the office building.
Jack moved his thumb over the toy soldier tattoo on his left hand. The inked key moved to the right. Time flowed again, and the glowing door in the wall of the dead space vanished. It was just a boring old wall in a boring old stairwell in a half-abandoned office building once more.
After that last blast of Kairos, Jack was feeling great as he shoved the shotgun back into the case. Gabby fell to the ground, sitting there, a little trickle of blood coming out of her nose.
Bailey went to try to soothe the angel, but she too lost her strength and fell in a clatter of golden goblets and angel gold. The demon landed with her head resting on the angel’s thigh. Both were in their full human forms.
That last horn blast must’ve wiped out Gabby’s Nefesh levels. And Bailey’s shoulder had been fixed, but her core was starved for sex.
And that left Jack, Kairos tank full but wondering what he could do to help the two women. He had the Eternity Cannon, but he couldn’t just shoot people and convert their energies. Also, he only had two rounds left and had no idea how to reload the Cannon.
Then he had another idea. He flicked his thumb over the ink soldier. Time came to a halt.
Well, they’d gotten what they needed from the Clockwatcher, but Jack wasn’t sure what it all meant, not yet. Or how Evelyn Mundi, her son, and Annie Blackburn could be so important in the Tempus Bellum that they’d become pawns.
