by Eddie Patin
Jason felt himself suddenly jerked backwards by an extreme force. His rifle fell from his grip. He felt himself falling. He smacked against the marble-like surface of the roof, hurting his hip, one elbow, and his right shoulder.
"Shit!" he shouted, instantly mad as hell and wondering what the fuck had—?
Riley was standing over him, aiming and firing at the harpies with his Gauss rifle. He shot all three of them out of the sky, one after another. The cracks of his tungsten bolts going supersonic and the harpies shrieking in pain and anger filled Jason's ears.
He found that his rifle was still down on its sling before him, and ... the sound was gone! He had to find that sound! Where did it go?!
A few seconds later, Riley turned and smirked down at Jason, his sharp features, scraggly beard, and big nose silhouetted against the bright, dreary sky. The cyborg helped Jason up.
Jason opened his mouth to speak then stopped when he saw that he was a few feet away from the freaking edge of the roof! Another step, and he would have slipped down the curving slope. Off of the side was the swamp—still stuck in a violent, black storm—hundreds of feet below. Outside the storm, Jason could see the forest canopy slowly moving past. They were no longer over the clearing. The castle was still moving.
"Holy shit!" Jason exclaimed.
"The bitches almost got ya," Riley said. "Let's move."
Jason turned back to the roof and saw its white surface marred by many bodies and splashes of blood. Feathers flew in the wind. Riley had killed them all.
Not all, Jason thought, sighting more of the creatures flying around far away. It was as if the harpies nested wherever they could in the floating fortress's hollows, and they were always orbiting around it.
"Thanks!" Jason replied.
Then, they both ran together toward the inner space; what Jason knew had to be the menagerie.
Stepping carefully toward the inside edge of the huge ring, Jason eyed the many colored trees far below. The walls were perhaps ... sixty feet high? It was hard to tell since the place was giant-sized with extra-large walkways, tall arches at the courtyard's edges, and big windows here and there in the walls. The many floating cubes looked like clear, square diamonds hanging in the air, all arranged in a clustered circle around the center. They were in a sort of pattern that Jason hadn't noticed before from below. He didn't see the giant.
"Let's hurry before more harpies come," Riley said, unslinging his flying disc from his back and expanding it to ride again. "I'm gonna stay in the air this time," he said. "Be a harder fruking target for that giant, hopefully."
"Go for the Riftgate necklace?" Jason said.
"That's the idea, man. You should just rift down like normal this time. See if you can release the others."
Jason reached for his radio and transmitted. "Morgana!" he said. "Gliath! Do you copy? Over."
They waited for a moment, then Riley clunked his feet into place on the flyer. He lifted a few inches into the air and immediately started drifting to one side as the castle continued moving under him. "Let's go," Riley said.
"Gliath and Morgana!" Jason exclaimed into the radio. "If you guys can hear me, then stand up so I can see you! We're here. We're coming in!"
"Okay, man," Riley said. "Rift."
Jason lowered his AK onto his sling and pulled up his OCS, unlocking its screen. He eyed the center of the courtyard. That'd be a good place to start. Estimating his coordinates, he opened a rift, hoping that his destination would be on the ground.
It wasn't.
Adjusting his coordinates, Jason tried again. His second attempt ended up maybe two feet off of the ground, but it was close enough.
"Ready!" Jason exclaimed.
Riley nodded, raised his rifle, then flew up and over the edge as if the flying disc obeyed his thoughts. Jason had no idea how the guy was steering that thing.
As soon as Riley was over the courtyard, Jason stepped through. He was prepared a short drop, landed well, then immediately closed the rift behind him. It collapsed in on itself with a pop and Jason was left surrounded by a huge collection of crystalline cubes hovering above the tops of alien trees. Riley flew down toward him, scanning their surroundings.
Perfect.
"Okay!" Jason exclaimed. "Maybe you can help me find them!"
Riley went higher into the air again, turning as if standing on a record player. Jason ran out of the open area toward the nearest tree, looking up at the surrounding cubes for Morgana or Gliath as he did.
"Jason Leaper 934!" a deep voice said over his radio. "I am near you! Look up and toward the blue and green tree."
It was Gliath.
"...blue and green?" Jason spun, scanning his surroundings for such a tree. When he found one a distance away, he looked up and saw Gliath's long, black form standing inside his cube. "Gliath!" Jason shouted. "I see Gliath!"
"Get him out!" Riley shouted from above.
Jason pulled up his OCS and estimated some more coordinates. He made his best guess for Gliath's cube. His mind was suddenly in a panic about Morgana. Had Gliath heard his radio messages? Did Morgana? Gliath was still alive, but she hadn't made a sound yet, and Jason couldn't see her anywhere!
"Oh God, I'm gonna lose Morgana..." Jason muttered to himself as he opened a rift to Gliath. "Find Morgana, Riley!" he shouted, inputting coordinates.
He opened a rift leading into the open air several feet above and away from Gliath's cube.
Damn. Missed.
He shut down the roaring rift and tried again, adjusting his coordinates to be lower and closer. As he did, he scanned all of the cubes that he could see that were close to the treetops. He recalled Riley saying that Morgana's cube was close to the treetops...
A purple tree, she had said over the radio before. Jason looked around with frantic eyes. Purple tree, purple tree, purple tree...
Then a black storm swept in.
He saw it! Jason saw a cube among the treetops next to a purple tree! Just inside, he could barely see a slumped form with a spread of dark hair on the clear floor of the cube...
Morgana!
Jason looked back at up Gliath. The leopardwere stared back at him impassively, waiting.
Morgana needed released right now. Gliath could last a little longer. If Jason could rift her back home after throwing a blank focus key half into the grass, he could come back...
The maelstrom arrived in a fury, boiling forth from the sky above the menagerie as if there was a rift to a world of darkness opening up there and the collection of vapors pouring down was the anger of an evil god on the other side. As the courtyard darkened almost instantly, Jason felt the wind tearing at his face. He shielded his eyes.
Estimating the coordinates needed to penetrate the closest wall of Morgana's cube, Jason flexed and opened a rift. It opened with a snap and orange fire. Its roar rivaled the sudden noise of the rising black storm. He wouldn't see the other side until he broke the surface...
The giant was coming.
Fear exploded inside him like an icy grenade.
Jason couldn't see Riley in the black sky anymore.
All around them was darkness. The trees and the cubes themselves seemed to be swallowed up by the storm, engulfed in the violent black clouds that flooded the area, descending from the sky like a tornado.
Focus! he thought.
Jason waited for his rift to clear—a swirling beacon of orange fire in the black sky—then immediately touched its surface the instant he saw Morgana sprawled out on the other side. He saw the destination rift flare to life at the edge of the distant cube, swallowing up one wall in swirling orange rift-fire.
"You've come to steal my pets!"
Vorealus's voice boomed across the courtyard like a cannon in Jason's mind.
Stark, white fear flooded him. Jason's knees almost collapsed.
He reached out with a numb hand to grab Morgana's wrist, which was close to him, just on the other side. For just an instant, he had her—feeling her arm in
his grasp as she looked up in surprise at him—then Jason felt compelled beyond all reason to turn around and look.
Jason stared back at where his ears had placed the source of the giant's thunderous words. He'd heard them aloud and telepathically at the same time, but he knew exactly where the giant would be...
On the other side of the courtyard, emerging from a high arch leading into the castle, Jason saw Vorealus the broken god; the mad titan. The primordial giant strode toward them on muscular legs like blue pillars, his four-foot-long feet crashing against the marble walkway. His turquoise-blue skin glowed fiercely and his face was twisted in furious anger. His eyes were blazing yellow embers, and his pale, blue teeth were bared in a sneer. Elemental gouts of multicolored fire—white, red, orange, yellow—swirled and coursed over his smooth, statuesque skin. His massive hands were clenched into fists.
Jason watched Vorealus for just an instant, but in that moment, the raging primordial giant was all that he could see. The courtyard and trees and cubes around him disappeared into the black storm, and all that remained was the furious and approaching titan of blue radiance and fire. A flashing crimson light flared again and again on the center of the giant's broad, naked chest. Jason stared at the giant's burning eyes, knowing that he was looking at his doom...
Everything went sideways.
A crawling numbness blasted over Jason and he felt like he didn't even have a body anymore.
All of his senses dimmed. Jason felt like he was underwater; sinking into the black depths of an unknown void...
There was a sudden, loud sound, like three quick cracks, then the thunderous bellow of something big and scary...
All became dark.
Chapter 31
Jason emerged from sleep like slipping free from a dark, oily pool.
He didn't remember dreaming.
For a moment, Jason had no idea where he was. The strange-colored leaves and branches waving in the wind over him were confusing. He was lying on his back on a hard, smooth floor, looking up beyond the vibrant trees at a perfect oval of pale, cloudy sky, far, far away. Strange, square shapes of clear glass gleamed and winked at him in the light.
Then, he felt Morgana's hand on his face. He knew her hand. He was familiar with her touch, though her fingers were colder than they should have been.
Jason opened his eyes.
She was sitting above him, her dark hair cascading down over her shoulders and Merc armor. Her features were pale and stressed. When Jason moved, she looked down and smiled broadly at him, parting her lips. Her green eyes looked just as rich as ever.
"You're awake!" she said. "Guys—he's awake!"
There was more talking around him. Jason heard Riley's voice as well as the dark rumbling of a deep voice as big as a mountain.
"You can do that?" Riley was saying. "Hey—we'd appreciate that, big guy. The woman is suffering the most."
"It is within my power," the huge, dark voice replied. Jason heard the same words echo in his head.
A flash of icy fear flew through him, shooting from his heart and stomach to his fingers and toes, then back again.
The giant! Morgana and Gliath! The storm!
Jason tried to sit. He burst with adrenaline and found himself on the white marble walkway near the center of Vorealus's menagerie. As he struggled to right himself, Morgana reached out with both hands—she was sitting next to him—and tried to keep him still. Jason moved with the strength of panicked terror, however, and exploded to his feet. His head reeled and he was suddenly dizzy. His OCS and rifle and other gear all clattered against him.
"Jason! Calm down!" she exclaimed.
"Hey!" Riley said. "Look who's up!"
Jason took it all in. His friends were with him. He'd been lying on the walkway—presumably where he'd fallen to the primordial giant's magic—with Morgana next to him. Riley and Gliath stood together nearby. Riley's Gauss rifle was slung on his back, and his blaster was holstered. He actually had a hand up in the air as if gesturing in the middle of conversation. Gliath stood tall and dark behind him, now peering down at Jason with his yellowish-green feline eyes. His long, black tail twitched once.
In front of Riley and Gliath was Vorealus. He was close, and he was magnificent; impressive as hell and beautiful. The titan that had previously inspired so much terror in Jason's heart now sat near the Reality Rifters with his goliath legs crossed and his huge hands on his knees. His back was ramrod-straight—his posture reminded Jason of meditation—and his glowing blue face was smooth and serene. Elemental fire flowed across the giant's naked chest, arms, and legs, somehow less frantic-seeming than before.
Jason's eyes first went to the sole of the giant's sandal that faced him. He remembered walking on top of those tabletop-sized footprints in the bog. Then, he scanned the giant's naked, muscular chest for the Riftgate; the red-flaring necklace that supposedly had caused all of this trouble.
The necklace was gone.
Vorealus turned his head away from Riley to look at Jason. His eyes were like yellow stars. Thin wisps of rainbow fire decorated his smooth, blue cranium; much like the rainbow-fire-hair of Zayden Skinner's. Gone was the black inkiness around those previously furious eyes. The violent lines of indignant anger were completely absent now from the giant's blueish-turquoise features, which were now fluid and tranquil. The titan looked like the calm beauty of the Caribbean Sea given form.
"Your name is Jason Leaper," the giant said with a deep voice like rolling thunder. Jason watched the titan's lips move and heard the sounds, but also felt the sentence in his head.
"Yes," Jason said. He was very thirsty, so took a quick drink from his CamelBak's bite valve. "What's happening?" he asked, looking back and forth between Morgana and Riley. His stomach growled. How long had he been out?
"Well," Riley said, scratching his beard and walking closer. "Vorealus here is all better, and he was just about to heal our Carbon Dioxide poisoning before you interrupted, Jason." He smirked.
"The plan?" Jason asked. "It worked?"
"Of course," Riley replied. "I couldn't miss."
Jason looked back at Morgana, who stood and stayed near him. She put a hand on his shoulder. Morgana's skin was flush and she was sweating. The young woman seemed a little wobbly, but also looked like she was trying to hide it. She was in bad shape.
"Oh God—Morgana!" Jason cried. "I'm so happy to see you alive!" He smiled and felt unexpected tears coming to his eyes. His heart bloomed and he wanted nothing more than to see her feeling better. He wanted to get her home.
"The giant says he can heal us," she said, forcing a thin smile. Jason felt her hand on his shoulder grow heavy. She leaned on him. "Let's be happy when we're out of here, okay?"
"Of course!" Jason said, looking back at Vorealus. The giant sat like a calm lake. The multicolored fire rolled over him like thin clouds.
"Behold," Vorealus said aloud and in Jason's head, then smiled.
Jason felt a warmth wash over him from his feet to the top of his head as if he was submerged into a hot tub that was the perfect temperature. Several different areas of his body were left tingling: his left leg where the spear had pierced his thigh, his ankles, thigh muscles, his hip where he'd hit the concrete hard, one shoulder, points of his chest and back, the skin of his face, his right leg where he'd been burned by his lightning gun. Even his side where he'd been gored by the minotaur back in Maze World tingled weirdly. That wound had been healed by an actual magical healing potion and all of his time spent regenerating in the Wilderlands. Was the scar tissue actually dissolving away? His right knee tingled; his bad knee that had been permanently damaged in the plane crash that had killed his parents. That old injury had been healed by his time in the Wilderlands. What could possibly be happening in there?!
Seconds later, Jason felt amazing. He'd never felt so good and fresh in his entire life!
A huge grin spread across his face. It was as if the giant had healed his current injuries—what little bruises and pa
ngs he still had, anyway—but had also healed all other lingering ailments he'd accumulated over the years.
It was like he had a brand new thirty-three year old body!
Jason looked at the others. They were each experiencing their own versions of euphoria at having all of their physical woes erased. Morgana sighed and smiled up at the sky with her eyes closed. She appeared so beautiful to Jason in that moment that his heart sang with joy and he couldn't resist reaching out and wrapping his arms around her. Morgana opened her eyes and beamed at him, healthy and glowing.
Riley sighed too, smiling nearby and looking up as if lifted by some unknown force, though his feet didn't leave the ground. A second later, he looked over at Jason and Morgana and grinned. Gliath let out a low, huffing growl. All of his sleek, black fur bristled for a moment, then the mighty leopardwere shook his feline head and looked up at the giant.
Vorealus smiled serenely at all four of them. His glowing yellow eyes played across the scene.
"Well fuck me dead!" a strange voice called out from behind Jason and Morgana.
Jason turned and saw a stranger walking up; a human male that could have been anywhere between thirty and fifty in age—hard to tell because of how weathered he was—with grey eyes, a predatory mouth, and a short crop of platinum blonde hair. He was dressed in black Merc armor with a pistol of some kind in a drop holster on his right leg, a big-ass knife on his left hip, and a bandoleer of what might have been fuel cells for an energy weapon across his chest.
"Who are you?" Jason asked.
"I'm Callam Malax," he replied with a wide smile. He had big teeth. "Maybe the last surviving member of the Void Drifters."
"He's from another team," Morgana said, putting her hands around Jason to match his embrace. "Came here before us."
"I can't fucking believe I'm still alive!" the merc exclaimed.
"Thank you, Jason Leaper and Riley Wyatt," the primordial giant suddenly said, his deep voice surprising them all. Jason looked back up at Vorealus. "You have freed me from an absurd, unnatural state of being. For that, I will always be thankful to you."
