‘Yeah.’ Sammy winced, and did a strange thing with his mouth. ‘My tongue feels like it’s covered in cotton wool.’ He squinted at me. ‘Was I roofied?’
‘What? No.’ I blinked. ‘Why would anyone do that to you? More to the point, how do you know what being roofied is like?’
‘I don’t.’ He smiled toothily. ‘It’s something I could tick off my bucket list, though.’
I shook my head. ‘You’re so strange.’
‘Whatever, man.’ He looked across to his desk. ‘So, did McMannus upload my APPs?’
‘I... yeah?’
‘Good. I earned those points.’ He stretched out, yawning. ‘Hey, I need a drink.’ He pointed to a cabinet along the wall. ‘Could you?’
‘Sure, but I don’t think alcohol’s a good idea right now.’ I got to my feet and opened the cabinet.
‘Who said anything about alcohol?’ Sammy smirked, as I pulled a carton of chocolate milk out of the refrigerated cabinet. ‘Yeah, that’s the stuff.’ He nodded, and I poured two drinks into crystal goblets, bringing them over to him and handing him one. He took a long pull of his milkshake and smiled at me. ‘I feel better already.’
‘Good. I’ll pour a glass down your throat every ten minutes if it means you get up from this sofa and never do pass out again.’ I looked down at him with my best “I mean business” face. ‘You scared the hell out of me.’
‘Yes Dad. Sorry Dad. Won’t happen again, Dad.’ He chuckled and sat up. ‘So. What do you think happened, if I wasn’t roofied?’ He nodded towards his desk. ‘You think it’s something to do with the WalkWidget beyond me working out a bit more?’
‘I don’t know. McMannus said something when he uploaded your APPs...’
‘About it feeling good?’
‘Yeah. Were you awake for that?’
‘Barely.’ He shrugged and took another mouthful of milk. ‘It was... distant, like a dream. But yeah, I know what he meant. When you upload the APPs, it’s like you get a rush of accomplishment. You feel good for having achieved the points.’
‘Like... what’s that stuff? Dopamine?’
‘The pleasure centre stuff?’ Sammy considered it. ‘Hey, are you saying I’m addicted to getting APPs?’
‘No.’ I thought for a moment. ‘I’m saying I think everyone is.’ I finished my milkshake and stood. ‘I need to go see Elijah Noch. There’s some clothing I need him to make for me.’
‘Okay..’ Sammy looked confused for a second, and then stood up. ‘I need to...’ He pointed at his desk. I helped him across to it, and he collapsed into his chair heavily, and strapped his WalkWidget back on.
‘What the hell are you doing?’
‘Testing a theory.’ Sammy waved me off. ‘It’s fine. I’m going to sit here, and... well.’ He paused, looking at me seriously. ‘Can I borrow your belt?’
‘Why?’
‘Because I want to fly through the city and beat up bad guys.’ He rolled his eyes. ‘There’s something I want to see.’ He checked the time. ‘Is Michael still here?’
‘Yeah...I think so.’
‘Awesome, I need to see him, too.’
I eyed my friend, looking frailer and weaker than I’d ever seen him. ‘You’re not thinking about writing your Will, are you?’
‘Hell no. I have decades left. Just... get him, okay? Oh! And go kiss Emily at midnight.’ Sammy smiled weakly. I nodded and headed back down to the party.
In the early hours of the New Year, I flew back towards Tarkenden, with a slightly different costume on display, and an even more different one under the hologram.
‘I do not understand why I have changed the appearance of your suit.’ Sami complained.
‘I don’t want to be seen coming.’
‘It is currently 3am. The sun is not due to rise for another four hours.’
‘Sami, it’s not like you need beauty sleep.’
‘I still require recharging, Mr Anson.’ She harrumphed at me. ‘If I do not recharge properly, my systems can be adversely affected without external assistance.’
‘Yeah, sometimes I need coffee, too.’ I glanced behind me for what must have been the sixth time, to ensure that I wasn’t leaving smoke-trails in my wake, and for what must have been the sixth time, felt slightly disoriented to barely be able to see my own legs.
My new costume, which Sami had modified quickly, and I’d labelled as “Stealth”, was a very dark blue. I’d read somewhere years ago that, whilst people generally believed ancient Ninjas to have dressed in black, more often than not they’d dress in a dark blue to blend in with the horizon, as black would have looked like a ninja-shaped hole in the sky. I had no identifying features as Fire Guardian, either - I know in movies the hero always has a modified version of their main logo, but I thought it would be too eye catching. I’d kept the vaguely robotic armour look of my normal costume but removed any trace of red or orange, and everything was a matte instead of metallic. As I reached the outskirts of Tarkenden, I thought I saw... movement.
‘Sami, what’s down there?’
‘Scanning... unknown life signs.’
I frowned. ‘Unknown how?’
‘If I knew that, they would not be unknown.’
I sighed at my literal minded AI, and slowly banked across the treetops towards the dimly lit building in the distance. Activating my low light vision, I took in the AwaTen compound for the first time.
‘What the...?’ I zoomed in, staring at it. ‘That’s... Sami, is that what I think it is?’
‘I do not know what you think it is.’
‘I think it’s a castle.’
‘Then, affirmative. It would appear to be a castle.’
As I got closer, more details started to emerge on the building that was most definitely a castle... or, at least, some architect’s fever dream translation of what a castle should look like. With several tall spires, the entire thing looked to be clad in stone. Surrounded by an inky black moat, the drawbridge was down, and the faintest flickering of torches lit up the behemothic entrance to the AwaTen headquarters.
‘You could drive a truck through that entrance!’
‘They undoubtedly do. This is a corporate headquarters.’ Sami reminded me. I nodded in agreement, and rose higher, to take in a better aerial view; and to find somewhere secluded to land.
‘Parapet, parapet... spire... ah!’ I smiled to myself. ‘Rampart.’
‘I have reached an important conclusion.’ Sami informed me as I slowly descended. In truth, I didn’t think the speed in which I lowered myself down had any impact on the noise I was making, but I wanted to be extra sure.
‘Okay?’
‘You do not know the names of castle components and are just saying words that you believe fit in with what you remember from school.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous.’ I said, after a moment. ‘We didn’t study castles in school.’
‘Obviously.’
I touched down in a secluded area, hidden by the rampart, and turned off the Power Belt, tucking it in underneath my pristine white shirt and cream trousers, which I had worn underneath the costume. Adjusting the golden tie, I pulled out a baseball cap from my back pocket, in case I had to jam it on my head in a hurry. Switching my vision to thermal, I began looking for a large enough group of AwaTen employees I could hide myself in. Above all else, I reasoned, I couldn’t be discovered on my own - I knew nothing about what was going on here and would be caught out as an imposter immediately.
Naturally, I was found by a patrol in under a minute.
‘What are you doing here?’ A dull voice intoned from behind me. Switching my vision back to normal, I straightened up and turned around. Two AwaTen employees, in identical clothing to my own, were staring at me.
‘I was...’ I faltered. What the hell would they even begin to believe?
‘You were afraid.’ The other guard, slightly taller than Sammy and about as wide as Sammy and I together, rumbled. He glared at me from under a thick, heavyset brow a
nd bullet-shaped bald head. Deciding to play it safe, I hung my head and nodded, moving my right hand behind me to hide any movements in case I needed to throw a quick fireball and escape. ‘Do not be ashamed, brother.’ He continued in a soft voice, stepping forward and placing an arm around me. ‘We will cast off the new flesh and embrace the old together.’
‘Okay, sounds...’ “Cast off the old flesh”? ‘Sounds good.’ I nodded again, looking back up at the guard. ‘Let’s... uhm... let’s get on that, shall we? You should probably take me to where we’re going to... you know. Do the casting off. In case I chicken out again.’
The guards stared. ‘Oh. You’re English.’ “En-ger-lish”. The guards looked at each other and nodded. ‘That explains it.’
‘Explains what?’
‘Jeremiah, I’ll take our brother to the Pit, and meet up with you later.’
‘Of course, Godfrey.’ The other guard said to my newfound friend.
Godfrey the Guard patted my shoulder and withdrew his arm. ‘Come, brother. We shall attend the Gates.’
‘Of course, brother.’ I responded, trying to not let my bewilderment show. Godfrey led me efficiently, but gently, through a maze of torchlit corridors, which I would have got myself lost in within minutes.
‘So, brother Godfrey.’ I started. ‘When did you know you had to join the...’ Cult? Whacko castle living weirdos? ‘...company.’ I finished, lamely.
‘I had a calling during the war, brother. It was as if I were asleep until that moment, and then was awakened. Lord Dakari opened my eyes and I pledged myself to his cause, along with dozens of others - much as yourself, I would assume.’
We entered the open air, and something felt... wrong. Lacking, I suppose is the best term for it. ‘Yes, that’s much the same as me.’ I smiled at him. ‘I love what we’re doing with the WalkWidgets. That’s my favourite part.’
Godfrey stopped, and eyed me. ‘That is the only part, brother. Our cause, the awakening. The opening of the Gates.’
‘Yeah. The gates.’ I nodded, gesturing for us to continue. We did so, and once back inside the confines of the labyrinth of I felt a little more at ease. I became aware of a soft, rhythmic pulse that began to tickle the back of my brain. I glanced at Godfrey, who either didn’t notice it, or had become acclimatised to it. Is it a form of mind control? I asked myself. ‘So, the Pit.’
‘The Pit is the entrance to the Gates.’ Godfrey informed me. ‘Through the Gates,’ he seemed to recite, ‘we shall cast off the new flesh, and embrace the old.’
I nodded again, not really knowing what to say. Godfrey seemed to take this as a silent affirmation that I agreed with him and didn’t speak for the rest of our walk. Finally, we made it outside the castle, to the drawbridge. I hadn’t noticed from my fly-by that there were thick cables running along the edges of the drawbridge, coming from inside the castle. They were lit up by some inner glow, which pulsed at the same rate as the noise I had heard coming from within.
‘Follow the path of light, brother. But do not return again.’ Godfrey took on his strict guard demeanour again. ‘If you do, you shall not be able to enter the Gates.’
‘Good deal.’ I agreed. ‘You won’t see me again.’
‘This,’ Godfrey pronounced, ‘is true either way.’ He nodded. ‘I shall meet with you again, when we are both of the old flesh.’
‘Cast off the new flesh.’ I said, after a too-long pause.
‘And embrace the old.’ Godfrey replied, nodding to me before turning back to the castle and disappearing inside it, swallowed up by the shadows cast by the huge entrance.
‘That bloke’s a nutter.’ I muttered to myself, before turning back to the cables, and following their pulsing path into Tarkenden Forest.
Growing up, there used to be a children’s book which was a favourite of mine. It talked about what you could find in the dark, dark woods, and at the end a ghost popped out. I have memories about laying on the thick, blue carpet in my Dad’s home office, the book in front of me and a chocolate milkshake balancing on a circular chipboard coaster, white with orange butterflies, reading this book and thinking about how scary it must be to walk through these dark, dark woods without my Dad’s hand to hold. I remember looking up at the desk my father was sat at and admiring how big and strong and brave he must be.
‘“Dad?”’ I recall asking him.
‘“Yes Jason?”’ He had turned in his chair and smiled down at me benevolently.
‘“If I ever have to go into the dark, dark woods, will you protect me?”’
‘“Always.”’ He had lied.
Not for the first time since I’d arrived at Capehill, I wished my Dad were there. Then I thought about what I’d had to go through, and how it had changed me, and was suddenly glad he wasn’t. Seeing me lose limbs and my eyesight, rebuilding myself into an Augmented Person... I don’t know if he would recognise the man I am today.
I was so lost in my thoughts about family that I almost missed the dark streak that careened flickered past me. Almost.
‘Sami, what was that?’
‘I do not know. I am under your shirt and cannot see.’
I scowled, and yanked up my shirt, letting the belt out. ‘Better?’
‘I still cannot identify what you were...’ Sami paused. ‘I have now identified what you had seen.’
‘What was it?’
‘I believe it to be an example of the unknown life form from earlier.’
‘Oh, amazing!’ I hissed. ‘I’m putting my night vision on.’
‘Why did you not do so sooner?’
‘Because...’ I was at a loss. ‘Because shut up, that’s why.’
‘Information logged.’
Turning on my night vision mode, I looked around. I could still see the cables, although the pulsing lights looked... weird. Not as bright as I had expected them to. the forest, now a dull green, was silent and still in front of me. Slowly turning in a complete circle, I took stock of what was around me. There were no unknown life forms; there were no known ones either. The forest was completely motionless, and soundless. I strained my senses, and shortly became aware of a rushing sound in my ears and an aching in my chest. I realised I’d been holding my breath and gently, softly, and agonisingly slowly let it out, eking it one fraction at a time so that I wouldn’t cause anything out there to notice me too much. As my breath was finally expelled, I took another breath, forcing myself to breath naturally. I gritted my teeth, took a step forward, and that was when I noticed the eyes staring at me.
They weren’t human eyes. Human eyes in night vision look like human eyes - the pupils are reflective, and larger since they’re trying to take more light in, but still proportionate to the rest of the eyes and the head. These were massive, circular reflective discs, positioned at an angle which, unless I was going mad, would be impossible on a human. They stared, unblinking, for so long that for a moment I thought it was my brain playing tricks on me, like how you look at something in a certain way and your brain tries to make sense of it and turns it into a face.
Then the eyes blinked and moved closer. As they began to loom out of the darkness, I became aware of colossal protrusions sticking out of the top of the creature’s head, twisted and proud, and not at all startled by me. The long snout moved up, and that was when I realised what I had been looking at. It was a deer.
It was a really, really big deer.
‘Uhm... that’s not... that’s not right.’
‘Deer are known to inhabit Tarkenden forest.’ Sami chipped in.
‘That deer is at least twelve feet tall!’ I hissed, staring at the behemothic Bambi. ‘That’s not normal.’
‘Information logged. Scanning the creature...’ Sami paused. ‘There is an anomaly with the deer.’
‘You think?’ I tried to not yell, but felt my anger fuelling the increasing volume of my shout. ‘There is a 12 foot tall deer staring me down in the middle of a forest full of crazed cultists!’ I continued to stare at the deer, whic
h bowed its head slightly, and took a step forward. Towards me.
‘Thaaat’s definitely not right.’
‘Have you encountered many oversized deer in forests?’
‘No, but... shouldn’t it be running away?’
It stepped closer. One hoof down. Then another. It snorted loudly, almost braying into the cold night air. The steam that rose from it’s huge nostrils looked almost like smoke.
‘Recommend evasive action.’
‘If someone sees me fly, this will all be for nothing.’
‘If you die, it will all be for nothing.’ She had a good point, I had to admit. ‘You are also capable of running.’
I started edging past the deer. ‘How fast can a deer run?’
‘48 kilometres an hour.’
‘Yeah, but...I ran a 5k in 15 minutes. That’s not nothing, is it?’
There was a momentary pause. ‘Congratulations. That changes everything.’
‘Does it?’
‘Yes. It means that you can run at just under half the speed of a regular deer and will prolong the chase slightly longer than a normal human would. As you have noted, this is not a regular deer. Please initiate escape sooner, rather than later. I do not wish to be trampled.’
‘Me either.’ I glanced behind me, and seeing the path lit up, turned and ran as quickly as my artificial legs would allow.
Crashing through the thicket, hands up to guard my face, I heard the deer emit a strange bellowing cough right before the thundering of hooves began, and the deer began to charge at me.
I dodged left and right, zigzagging through the bushes and trying to not trip on the roots of trees but I could feel it close on my heels. I dove to my right, and saw in the distance a faint ruddy glow, that lit up the settled mist in front of me. Sprinting towards it, I heard the monstrous deer bellow again, and despite pushing myself to my absolute limit, straining beyond all hope, I could feel the hot breath of the buck on the back of my neck as I smashed my way into the clearing in front of me...
A huge group of people, all dressed identically to me, snapped their heads around and I saw their eyes widen in fear. Huge metal poles with wicked looking ends came up and shot past me. I heard the deer scream in an impotent rage and turned around just in time to see it rear back, turn, and bolt back into the forest.
Guardian's Rise Page 24
