by Chad Kunego
In slow motion, he managed to grab several branches, allowing him to control his descent to a degree. He used the final branch to flip his body around, letting him land on his feet.
Instead of feeling pain from the hard landing, he felt a rush of energy suddenly coursing through his body. Everything was moving in slow motion for some reason, like someone had slowed a film down to a crawl. Looking up, his combat sphere was only now smashing through the missile. The slowly expanding fireball suddenly snapped everything back to normal speed, startling him.
What the hell just happened?
Without thinking, he took off running, the foliage flashing past him in a blur. Using something he’d seen his brother do, he jumped into the air, trying to cover ground more quickly. Willing himself to go faster, he suddenly slipped farther forward than momentum alone could account for, like he was sliding down an icy hill.
I’m coming Hal. Just hang on!
After what seemed like an eternity, he finally reached his brother’s position. Everything was moving in slow motion again, so he took advantage of the phenomena, scanning the area. His eyes stopped on where his brother was pinned down. Snatching spheres out of his pouch as quickly as he could, he began launching them at the robots closest to his brother’s position. Each one gave off a satisfying crack before punching holes in his targets a split-second later. Running again, he appeared next to his brother suddenly.
“What’s the situation?”
Ducking, he barely dodged his brother’s reflexive attack, even with everything moving slower than normal.
“Where’d the fuck you come from? I thought you were set up in your sniper blind?”
Rick paused to launch another sphere, disabling a robot that had lumbered out from behind cover.
“I was. I got attacked at my position as well. This was an ambush! They knew we were coming.”
“No shit numb nuts. That still doesn’t explain how you got here so fast.”
“I ran,” he said with a puzzled look on his face.
“That’s impossible. You barely crack a hundred on a good day. You just covered around five miles in less than a minute.”
“Seriously, I just—”
The weird pressure appeared again, coming from his right side. Before he could turn, what felt like vices closed on his shoulders before yanking him backward and to the side.
“LOOK OUT!”
He suddenly found himself sailing through the air. An instant later, everything stopped, allowing him to see the after-effects caused by the deadly cluster of missiles slamming into his brother’s body. The impact blasted an arm and both legs off his brother, the limbs now just dangling in the air, apparently frozen in place. Time seemed to slowly start back up as Hal’s torso drifted backward through the air after another projectile slammed into his brother’s chest. The final one glance off the side of his brother’s metal encased skull, snapping his head in the opposite direction.
“NO!”
A massive surge of power swelled within him, rushing through his body like a lightning bolt. Anger, fear, and hatred bubbled up from inside, forcing its way out. His powers fed on it, expanded exponentially like a star going supernova.
With a thought, he stopped instantly, hovering in the air a moment before reversing direction. Rocketing toward the combat robot that had just killed his brother, he slammed into it with a vengeance. Shoving his hands out, he jabbed his fingers through the reinforced chassis and armor plating, tearing through it like wet paper. Flexing, the frame split apart effortlessly.
More projectiles rushed toward him, triggering his new senses. Reaching out with a thought, they suddenly came to a stop, pausing in the air before reversing course. The barrage of missiles slammed into the robots, moving so fast that the missiles actually exploded after punching through the robotic frames.
Spinning, he sensed more robots hiding behind trees almost a quarter mile ahead of him. In a blind rage, he launched the chunks of robot he still held, smashing through trees and destroying more targets. Another projectile blurred toward him, moving too fast for him to deflect.
A bright flash of light blinded him for an instant before he felt something hot and sticky trailing down his face. The impact launch him backward, staggering him for a moment. Adrenaline and anger surged through him again, instantly clearing his disorientation.
Mentally tracing the trajectory of what had hit him, he launched the object back along its original path. A distant pink cloud was all that remained of his attacker. Blood slowly trickled down his face, threatening to blind him. Reaching up, he touched were the blood was coming from, a spot between and slightly above his eyes. Wiping the blood away with his sleeve, he searched for more opponents. Stretching his senses out again, a dull throbbing pain slowly grew behind his eyes, centering on where he’d been hit. The slowly intensifying pain began interfering with his ability to concentrate.
Preparing himself to jump back into the fray, the world suddenly froze around him. Somehow, he knew what happened from here, but he didn’t ever remember time coming to a stop.
“So that is why it took so long…”
The feminine voice sounded strangely familiar, but he couldn’t remember from where. He tried to turn his head, but he was frozen in place.
“You still haven’t figured out how to move here, have you?” the sensuous voice asked him, a touch of humor colored the speaker’s voice.
Without warning, a woman suddenly appeared in front of him. His memory of her crashed into his mind, recalling his last conversation with her. With the memory, he felt the fog lift from his mind, allowing him to remember this mission had already happened a long time ago.
“Inanna…” he said, examining the woman in front of him. An unfelt breeze caused her raven hair to dance around her head playfully.
“Ah, so you remember me after all. How delightful.”
“Where are we?”
“Nowhere, everywhere, somewhere in between… Does it really matter so much to you?” she asked, a hint of a smile tugging at the corners of her full lips.
“Yeah, kinda. I need to know if I’m going crazy or not.”
He paused a minute, trying to gather his thoughts.
“Then again, I guess the answer wouldn’t really let me know either way, would it?”
Inanna broke out in a full-bodied laughter, the air physically vibrating with her mirth.
“You are so amusing, my little Dumu-Dinger. I do believe I have chose well in selecting you to be my avatar.”
Rick tried to process what she was saying, but none of it made sense. Trying to stall, he referred back to something she’d said earlier.
“What did you mean about something taking so long?”
“Ah yes, right down to business. I’d forgotten how impatient humans could be. Very well, then. I was referring to why your growth surged, then stopped. That crude weapon hit you in the head, causing an injury you were still too young to understand how to heal. That injury impeded your development.”
“My development? Is that why my powers are an order of magnitude stronger since I met you?”
“Oh child, you’ve only just begun to blossom into your birthright. You have so much growth in front of you before you’ll be able to claim a spot in my house.”
“Your house?” he asked, becoming more confused.
“Is that truly the question you want the answer to?” she replied, raising an eyebrow quizzically.
The memory of his recent battle with the storm mutant flashed through his mind. On a sudden hunch, he shifted his vision, physically wincing from the bright white light emanating off the figure in front of him. He noticed the corners of her mouth quirk up again. Struggling to make sense of everything, he took a gamble and shifted his aura to violet. His mind expanded, allowing pieces of information to start falling into place.
“You’re like me!”
She held up a finger and waggled it at him.
She smiled at him, tilting her head to the side slightly while her eyebrow quirked up.
“What is the real question you should be asking right now?”
Rick’s brain continued moving at blinding speed, shuffling and reshuffling information like a puzzle, trying to figure out what he was missing. With a sudden smile, he realized where she was prompting him to go. He noticed a large smile break across her face, her eyes crinkling at the corners.
“I sense that you’ve determined what the right questions are. Am I correct?”
“I believe so,” he said, smiling back, “how come my powers didn’t seem to work on my opponent, and how do I defeat him?”
He watched the beautiful woman in front of him clap gleefully, her body bouncing seductively in all the right spots. Forcing himself to lock his gaze on her face, his breath was snatched away when he saw the raw, sensual, sultry look she gave him.
“Those,” she said, her voice flowing over him like warm satin, “are the right questions.”
Without warning, she rushed toward him. Her fingers twined tightly in his hair, yanking his head forward into her embrace, her mouth locked over his. Then a feeling of fire rushed into his mind, making him forget everything around him.
Chapter 18
A groan from the makeshift bed they’d cobbled together for Rick caught Zarina’s attention. Kaitlyn had left earlier to report in and get supplies. Once Rick woke up, he’d probably be starving, especially after using so much energy to not only let them escape, but to heal as well. While it wasn’t an ideal location to hole up in, the abandoned gas station they’d found was better than nothing. It was probably safer for the town population as well since it was located on the outskirts, away from the town proper.
Concerned, she moved a chair over to the bed so she could sit closer to him. After using her telekinesis to carry them all to the next town indicated on their GPS, she was exhausted. Unfortunately, they both agreed one of them should be awake to monitor Rick’s condition, so she had to wait for Kaitlyn to return so she could get some sleep. Closing her eyes, she debated a moment before shifting her brainwaves, overriding her feeling of exhaustion. It wasn’t something she liked to do since the lack of rest would hit her hard when she changed them back to normal, but accidentally falling asleep could be worse.
Settling in, she noticed Rick seemed to be tossing and turning more.
Is probably reliving battle we just survived.
As a precaution, she decided to examine him. After a cursory telepathic scan, she became more concerned. It was usually pretty easy to read someone’s mind when they were dreaming, but for some reason, she sensed nothing. It was almost like his mind was missing.
Something is wrong, but do I delve further, or give him privacy? This may be just another facet of his healing powers.
She turned the question over in her head for a few seconds, debating if invading his mind without consent was worth the risk. Coming to a decision, she felt his safety was a bigger concern than his privacy, especially after the injuries he had just sustained and healed from.
Hopefully, will forgive if he notices me.
Adjusting her position to get more comfortable, she slowed her breathing down, drifting into a trance. Taking another deep breath, she rested her chin on her chest and jumped out of her body. Cautiously drifting forward, she noticed with more alarm that he was starting to thrash around more violently while his mind was still an empty void. Steeling herself, she dove into his mind.
Bozhe moi! Where is he?
She looked around, but an infinite blackness extended outward in every direction. Experience had shown her that, no matter how injured someone’s mind was, there was always something to experience inside their mindscape. This was different though. This wasn’t just blankness. This was a complete void, like the vastness of the universe. It was almost what she would expect of someone who was brain dead.
This cannot be right. His body is still functioning, he is obviously responding to some type of mental stimulus, yet is nothing here. Where is his mind?
The feminine voice startled her. Before she could get her bearings, she found herself forcefully shoved out of his mind, slamming back into her body. The suddenness of it disoriented her for a moment before her head started to throb with the start of a migraine.
What in Imya Boga* was that? Who, or what was that? *God’s name
Panic start clawing at her mind, but she forced it back down. Shifting her awareness, she examined his aura. A startled gasp escaped her from what she saw. His aura, while still throbbing with power, was muted. While a concern, it was to be expected after all he’d been through. The trail of light emanating from the top of his head, on the other hand, was more disturbing. Almost like a tether, it was something she’d never seen before.
It seemed similar to the silver cord, but different. She’d seen the silver cord before when she’d astral projected with Master Levi, but that normally emanated from the dan tien, not the crown of the head. The color and structure seemed to be more real than the silver cord, for lack of a better description. It was also a different color.
Instead of being silver, it was the same brilliant white as his aura, with touches of a golden hue. The actual consistency gave the impression of being significantly more durable than even her master’s cord seemed when he was training her.
She stared at the tether, trying to understand what she was seeing. Shifting more of her awareness over, she noticed the tether extending out well beyond his body, becoming indistinct the further it went, which was another difference that set it apart from the silver cord. Her rough estimate was that it extended about twelve feet before it faded to nothingness while a silver cord was only visible for about a foot before fading into higher realms.
Shifting her awareness, she jumped to a higher level in the astral realm. In awe, the tether extended well into the astral realm as well, but it again faded away into something she sensed was even higher than the astral plane.
I need to contact Master Levi. I have never heard of a level of existence higher than the astral plane.
Continuing to study the tether, a glowing white ball faded into existence at the very end of where the tether vanished. Becoming more defined, it slowly began traveling down the line toward Rick’s body. Studying it, she felt like it was somehow familiar.
After traveling alone for a few seconds, another, much larger and brighter globe materialized behind it. Once the second globe was fully formed, the first globe suddenly accelerated, slamming into the top of Rick’s head.
Rick lurched up in bed, his aura flaring out in all direction. His aura was brighter than she’d ever seen it before. Before she could react, she was violently shoved away, along with everything nearby. She barely managed to erect a telekinetic shield before being slammed against the far wall. The impact knocked her breath away, pinning her and all the furniture in place. A distant part of her mind noticed cracks forming in the cinder block walls behind her.
Terror clawed at her mind when she tried to breathe in but couldn’t. Even with her shield up, blackness slowly crept into the edges of her vision.
Straining against the pressure, she struggled to maintain her protective cocoon while trying to reach out to him telepathically. The effort and lack of oxygen was slowly making her become light-headed.
If I do not snap him out of this, I am going to die.
Adrenaline surged through her body at the realization. While her consciousness slowly faded, she visualized her mental probe forming into a spear. Mentally rearing back, she flung her mind at Rick, striking him between the eyes.
As suddenly as it had manifested, the pressure vanished, dropping her to t
he floor in a clump. Raggedly gulping in air greedily, she struggled to force the darkness encroaching on the edges of her vision to retreat. So focused was she on breathing, it took her a moment to realize she was weightless and slowly drifting across the room. Getting closer to Rick, her body was suddenly flooded with warmth, allowing her to relax and letting her breathing return to normally.
The chair she’d been sitting in earlier appeared beneath her before she gently settled down near the edge of Rick’s makeshift bed.
“What the hell happened?” he asked raggedly, gripping his head between his hands. He paused to take a deep, shuddering breath.
“More importantly, are you okay? I didn’t mean to hurt you. It’s just that I…” he whispered, trailing off like he was lost in thought.
Zarina waved him off.
“Is okay. I will survive. You just knocked wind out of me.”
She noticed Rick visibly relax at her statement.
“Good… Good…” he paused, an expression crossing his face like he was struggling to think, “How long have I been out for. It feels like it’s been awhile.”
“Is been nearly day. How do you feel?” she asked, cautiously taking a peek at his aura again.
Something was slightly different about it, like it was denser and brighter at the same time. After a few seconds, she realized he hadn’t responded. Shifting her vision back to normal, she saw him giving her a quizzical look.
“What?”
“I can still feel that, you know…”
Her eyes widened slightly in embarrassment.
“What do you feel, exactly?”
“Like a slight pressure coming from your direction. Were you trying to get into my mind or something?”
