by Ballan, Greg
“You're saying he's going to make it?” Shanda asked, getting her hopes up.
“Yes, we're going to want to keep him here to run some extensive metabolic tests and tissue studies to understand what's happening to him, but he's well on the road to a complete recovery,” the baffled physician answered. “But not from anything that we did. What happened to this man defies any medical phenomenon that we know of. By all rights, Erik Knight should be dead.” The doctor shook his head and quickly left the room.
Shanda looked over at Alissa whose face seemed to reflect genuine confusion. “What's wrong?”
“He's healing much quicker than I expected, faster than a normal man.”
“That's because he's not exactly normal, we both know that, but he has abilities that even you don't suspect,” Shanda boasted.
“I don't understand,” Alissa replied.
“His body can already generate enhanced bursts of strength, his senses are far keener than any man's, and his fighting abilities are almost supernatural.”
“How do you know this for sure?” she asked.
“I felt it in our link. I experienced all his gifts first hand. I saw him fight at the park; he's already above normal. Why didn't you expect that? I thought you had all the knowledge of these people?” Shanda challenged.
“I have no answer, perhaps the virus did more than the Espers had intended, possibly. There was no time to actually test their creations,” Alissa replied somewhat defensively. “I never claimed to have all the knowledge of these people, just the task that I needed to perform and some rudimentary skills, such as the potion we used earlier. Our minds could never hold the knowledge of that race; we haven't evolved to that point. That much, I'm sure of,” she added.
“I'm sorry, I'm not accusing you,” Shanda said in a much softer tone. “I guess I'm just nervous. It's just all so much to comprehend.”
“I understand, sister.” Alissa reached out and took her hand. Both women watched and waited in silence as more minutes ticked past.
Several minutes later, Erik began to stir; his eyelids fluttered then opened. He tried to move, but was restrained by the casts upon his arm and leg, as well as several tubes and monitors that had been placed in and on his body. Erik struggled, battling the disorientation.
“Erik! Easy, you're in the hospital.” Shanda placed her hand on his to lightly restrain and reassure him.
He tried to speak, but the wrapping around his skull prevented him from moving his jaw and opening his mouth. His eyes seemed to come in and out of focus. Shanda could read the confusion and concern on his face as he slowly became aware of his surroundings.
Suddenly, she picked up on a great wave of grief and fear so strong that she was nearly overwhelmed by it. She looked down at him and saw that his eyes were filled with tears. He had remembered: his daughter was taken. He remembered the events that brought him to this place. She had known Erik for many years and had never seen such a look of total and complete despair on his face as resided there now. She gently laid her hand upon his head, caressing him. He looked up and groaned a sound of endless agonizing torture.
“I know, my love, I know. We'll get her back. There are so many things you need to know before you can do that, so many things that we never knew before,” she whispered to him while she used a tissue to dry the tears flowing down his cheeks like two rivers.
Alissa walked over to Erik's bedside. She gently placed two fingers upon his left temple. “He is much better now; the elixir has done its work. His body is much stronger, it will be able to withstand the changes it will undergo. His human form, as it was, would not have survived.”
“Just what are you talking about?” Shanda asked, looking away from Erik.
“His normal human biology would not have allowed him to survive the mutation caused by the Sentient Staff. The staff will change him, make his Esper more predominant. As a mere human, though very strong, he would not have survived the transition. The elixir not only healed his torn flesh, but also enhanced him as it was designed. He is now more than he was, but not nearly what he will become—what he has to become in order to defeat both creatures.” Alissa looked at Shanda with a look of confusion.
“You still don't understand, do you? Both those beasts are now at the height of their power. The armored Seelak is many times stronger than it was before. Erik fought it while it was at its weakest; it has gathered food and has no doubt already fed. As he is now, even with the enhancements the elixir has given him, he would be no match for one creature, let alone two.”
Shanda suddenly became enraged. “You, you son of a...” she stammered. “You don't care a thing about him, or who he is. You only care about creating some sort of mutant Frankenstein's monster. I love him, and I won't see him hurt any further,” she added in a voice filled with venom.
“You have a right to be angry, Shanda, but deep down you know this must be done. You have seen the truth. How can you be so stubborn after all that you have been shown? Erik must become what he must become; neither my feelings nor your feelings have any part in this. Those creatures must be destroyed!” she added forcefully.
“Not entombed or captured, but destroyed. Humankind does not have the capability to do so without tremendous collateral damage. Even if they detonated a nuclear device on that hill, they would sense the threat and disappear through Netherspace, only to appear somewhere else and start the cycle over again. They must be contained here, now, while there's still time, before they can reproduce themselves.” She walked closer to Erik and looked down at him. “And he is the one who must do it,” she whispered, taking Erik's hand in an almost affectionate gesture.
Shanda knew that the young girl was right. Despite her anger and frustration, she knew that Alissa was telling her the truth, as far as she knew it. Shanda also knew, from her own latent abilities, there was more—something that Alissa didn't know that was yet to be played out. She wasn't going to give up on Erik just yet. “You're right, and he'll change willingly, if only to get his daughter back.” She walked over to his bedside.
Alissa looked directly into Erik's tear-filled eyes. “I know you feel sadness at the taking of your daughter. Do you want her back?”
Erik nodded his head.
“The doctors will try and keep you here; will you allow that?”
He shook his head.
“You now have the strength to free yourself from the plaster restraints. Use that strength now, call upon it. This is your first test,” Alissa prodded.
Erik glanced over at his right arm which was completely covered in a heavy plaster cast. His eyes narrowed, and the arm began to tremble slightly. Shanda saw the muscles in his shoulder bunch and contract as they worked in rhythm with his arm. There was a sudden loud crack as the cast began to splinter and crack. Erik's arm tore free of the plaster restraint, sending fragments of the cast all over the bed and floor. He flexed his leg muscles and easily shattered the cast on his left leg as well. He then took both hands and grasped the layers of bandages and plastic bracing that were wrapped around his head and jaw. With a small effort, he tore the material from his skull and tossed it to the floor. He slowly sat up on the bed and brushed the long stray locks of hair from his unshaven face. He wiped his eyes quickly and looked at Shanda.
“How?” he whispered. “I should be dead or at least crippled after what those things did. How is it that I'm alive?”
“It's a long story, Erik,” Shanda began. “Let me tell it to you the way I was told.” Shanda reached for his hand. She gently touched the side of his head with her other hand. “My love,” she whispered, “we were truly made for each other.”
Their minds touched, and Erik relived the last days of the Espers and Seelak. He saw all that Alissa had shown Shanda, and shared Shanda's astonishment. Erik gasped in amazement as the two enhanced their link.
The shared link triggered the dreams that plagued Erik's subconscious. Shanda relived the battle through a different perspective, experiencing the
combat firsthand, not simply as an observer, but as an active participant. She realized that these were memories locked away deep inside her lover, memories that were now being released. She shuddered at the ferocity of the combat, and felt the enhanced emotions that were inherent in the race of beings called Espers. She also quickly recalled that the feelings and attitude were remarkably similar to what she shared with Erik when he fought the thugs in her store.
Erik recalled the image of the massive explosion that engulfed the beings at the end, and shared Jakor's final plummet to his death. There was no fear as he fell, only a deep regret of what they had done and all that they would never aspire to.
The link between Erik and Shanda broke. Erik sat stupefied on the corner of his bed.
“I thought they were only dreams, bad dreams. Never in my life could I imagine that I have some part of someone else inside of me,” he whispered.
“We all do, all three of us,” Alissa added as she walked toward the black duffel bag.
“This is unbelievable. I feel as if I'm still in a dream.” Erik looked down at the fragments of shattered plaster on the bed and floor. “But it's not, is it? Those things do have my daughter.”
“Yes,” Shanda whispered. “But there's more. I'll let her tell you.” Shanda gestured toward the young woman.
Alissa went to the large duffel bag and carried it toward Erik. Something inside the bag began to moan and purr, like the hum of an electric generator. “I'm now fulfilling my purpose, Erik Knight. My family has carried this item for generations. It is yours. You now know the truth of who you are and why you were chosen. Will you accept the responsibility and obligations that go along with this property?”
“You know I have no choice,” he said, slightly bitter. “I'll do anything to get my baby back, and you know it. But then, you've always known about me,” he whispered as she approached him. He suddenly understood why Alissa had turned up at Madame's, and why she started working there; it was to be near him.
“Be warned, once you take and activate the staff, you will be changed forever, no longer human, but not purely Esper, a true hybrid. You will stand alone among the race of men. Do you accept this?”
“Yes, anything to get my daughter back.”
Alissa reached into the duffel bag and produced a dark satchel and belt. Wordlessly, she handed him the items. Erik studied the weapon resting in the satchel, it was barely over two feet in length, but instinctively he knew it would elongate and take the shape of whatever he desired. The staff seemed to murmur and vibrate with recognition.
Erik felt a strange comfort as he tested the object's weight and feel. The weapon purred at his touch like a content kitten. It acknowledged him as he gently stroked the silvery metallic object. Erik looked up toward Shanda, his eyes burning with a new fiery purpose and lethality that she'd never seen in him before.
“The weapon accepts you, very good.” Alissa remarked.
“Help me find my clothes. I'm going to get my baby girl,” he whispered in a deathly quiet monotone.
Shanda quickly grabbed his clothing from the closet hangars and handed the articles to him. Erik had finished putting on his clothes, and carefully placed the satchel holding the Sentient Staff around his waist. He carefully tied the long hiking boots then put on his jacket.
“Now,” he said, “let's get out of here.”
* * * *
All three walked out of the Critical Care Unit and began moving toward the exit. One of the doctors quickly recognized Erik and confronted him.
“Where do you think you're going?” the young doctor asked.
“I'm leaving,” Erik replied as he headed toward the door followed by the two women.
“Wait a minute!” the doctor ordered. “You just can't simply walk out of here, we have dozens of tests that need to be performed. You can't leave,” he added, directly blocking Erik's path.
Erik looked down at the young intern. His eyes were a flaming pupiless sapphire blue that burned with an inhuman intensity. “I have more important things to do today.” He lifted the stunned physician with one hand and carefully moved him aside. Erik paused briefly to straighten out the wrinkle he put in the intern's lab coat, and then proceeded toward the exit.
Shanda stared at Erik as they made their way out of the lobby and into the parking lot.
“Are you all right?” she asked.
“Yes,” Erik answered. “It's just that something's pushing me, urging me on, almost as if there's somebody else inside me, screaming to get to the surface. I feel a sense of unbridled anger, but I don't know why. I mean, I'm pissed at those creatures, but this is different, unlike anything I've ever felt before.” The detective paused, taking a deep breath. “And the strength, I feel like I could pummel a mountain with my bare hands.”
“Jakor,” Alissa answered simply. “You are experiencing Esper emotion, or a small piece of it. Their feelings are much stronger than humans'. They were a passionate race.”
“The thing in my dreams?” Erik asked
“Jakor, the warrior. It is his essence that you carry. You feel the call of battle, the desire to carry out what has been programmed into your being,” she explained as they entered Alissa's car.
“Once you activate the staff, all will be revealed to you; you will become the Hybrid,” she explained.
“Whoa, lady,” Shanda jumped in, “I thought he already was changed. He took the staff like you said.”
“Yes,” she said as she drove back toward Madame's. “The weapon has accepted him, but he has yet to activate the weapon and complete the transformation.”
“What will happen to me, Alissa?” Erik asked.
“I don't know for certain. I only know you will become what you're supposed to become. I know nothing more,” she added evasively. “You have accepted your birthright. You must activate the staff. It is the only way to save your daughter.”
As they drove on, they passed a large convoy of military trucks and vans.
“The Army?” Shanda asked, looking puzzled.
“It looks like they've gone in with hundreds of people this time,” Erik remarked as he observed all of the troop carriers and assorted vehicles.
“They will be wiped out. They cannot overcome the Seelak and the Netherspace portals. The beasts have fed and are at their peak of strength. Those men will only make the beasts that much stronger,” Alissa added nonchalantly.
Alissa pulled the car over by the side of the road and turned off the ignition. “It's time, Erik, you must use the staff,” she said forcefully.
“I know.” He opened the car door.
The three got out of the car and walked toward the side of the road. The sun was starting to break through the heavy cloud cover.
Erik suddenly took Shanda in his arms. “I love you,” he said simply, wrapping his arms around her. “I don't want to forget you, don't want to forget what I've found with you. I'm afraid of what this thing will do to me. I'm afraid it will take away my humanity, take away all that I am, everything that makes me a person.”
“And I love you,” Shanda answered. “You'll always be Erik Knight, the man I love, no matter what that thing does to you. It can't change who you are, deep down. Come back to me, please,” she whispered as their lips met.
“I'll try, with all my being, I promise I'll try,” he whispered.
Erik gently pulled himself away from Shanda and unsnapped the pouch that held the staff in place. The weapon began to purr wildly in anticipation. He looked down at the sentient object and suddenly felt a slight wave of apprehension. He looked over at Alissa.
“Will I ever be me again after this?” Erik asked.
“Erik, I honestly don't know; all I know is that you'll be different. My job is to get you to undergo the transformation no matter what, but I can't lie to you, I don't know what will happen to you. It's never been done before. I do know that if you don't do this, your daughter will die, those soldiers will die, and those things will simply heal any wounds t
hey receive and continue to terrorize this place. They will eventually lay eggs and reproduce themselves, then there will be more of them, and they will continue to harvest us like cattle. Though I am a hybrid too, I don't wish humanity to be used as food for some creatures,” she answered.
“Okay,” Erik whispered. “Here goes!”
He pulled the staff from its pouch and held it out from him. The weapon instantly responded to its wielder and became a staff of almost six feet in length. Erik swung the weapon with deadly precision, making lethal swings and parries in the air. The staff made a whistling sound as it bonded with its new owner. Erik felt something akin to ecstasy as he swung the staff, faster and faster.
“For Brianna!” he shouted into the air, holding the staff over his head with two hands.
Erik felt a sudden rush of raw power infuse every fiber of his being. His skin began to change color, going from pink flesh to a silvery metallic sheen. The once-soft pinkish flesh now seemed to form a chrome-like hard, malleable metal coating over his body. His senses became far more acute. He could hear the buzzing of insects hundreds of feet away, smell the scents of different flowers and other odors in the air, and see distant objects as if they were very near. It was as if he were now a part of the living planet, something the Espers were on their home world and wanted to be here. Only now, thousands of years later, through a human, could they accomplish that feat. The genetic gifts he had that separated him from others were now enhanced a hundred fold.
Erik felt some sharp pains as his skeletal structure was being modified further. He buckled from the agony, crying out in pain, but still clung to the staff. He felt his bones becoming even stronger, denser in makeup than the simple calcium and mineral substance they once were. He could feel his body not only growing in size, but in sheer bulk and density.
Then, his brain began to change. The transition activated all of his mind's potential. In a normal human, only 20 percent of the brain is ever utilized. Erik's mutation was unleashing the sheer potential of his brain. The virus coding triggered from the staff fired unused synapses, increasing his motor skills and reflexes to dozens of times the norm. He could sense thoughts all around him, feel the energy field of the entire living planet. It was as if he had been deaf and blind then suddenly had those senses activated during a rock concert complete with laser light show.
