Psychoverse

by Jamie Hawke

  “Master Shen committed murder,” I pointed out.

  “And you weren’t wrong to take his life, for multiple reasons.” She went over to the edge of the plateau and looked down over the side. “He always was an asshole. Fuck him.”

  “Indeed.” I looked at the two remaining stones, pocketed them, then moved my armor back over the gold one in my chest. I wasn’t exactly sure how to feel about this,

  “And, I’m glad to see that you didn’t have to kill me,” Eloise said, smiling. “Unless…?”

  “No desire to take your life overcoming me, either,” I assured her.

  “Wonderful. In which case, we should head back so you can get on with playing your part in saving our universe.”

  I chuckled. “And you?”

  Her arched eyebrow showed me that she thought I should know the answer to that. “Ezra, don’t you know? The Temple of Domrem is yours, now. By taking the stones, you have proven yourself the worthiest of Grand Masters. We stand behind you.”

  With that, she knelt. Eloise was actually kneeling in front of me, committing the power of the temple to our cause! To say that my mind was blown away was an understatement.

  For a long moment I stood there, trying to process it, then finally said, “I accept.”

  She rose, eying me with a new level of respect. “As if you have a choice.”

  I laughed. “What, I can’t turn down the position?”

  “Where the stones go, we go. You could try, but then you’d have a bunch of fanatic stalkers instead of followers, so…”

  “I wouldn’t want that.”

  “No, you wouldn’t.” She winked, then gestured to the spot where the prism still lit up the center of the plateau. “What do you say we take the easy way down, this time?”

  At first I balked, but a pleasant pull from the air around me seemed to coax me forward, to tell me it was all right. I stepped forward and touched the edge of a green bit of light. A network of jump ports that the monks had set up suddenly flooded through my awareness. I could see various points on the planet Xian, where we were, along with others on such planets as Theramuse. Bounty hunters were gathered at some—the connection gave me access to lookout points, where I saw them moving in their ships, likely considering a move against the temple. That would be a huge mistake on their part, or at least I thought so, but I was a bit biased.

  Then I stepped in and flashed away from the mountain, feeling Eloise’s presence beside me. In that moment, it wasn’t just her emotions that I felt, but every emotion she had ever felt toward me in a flood of confusion, lust, and… love? We exited the jump and emerged onto the main training grounds of the temple, where she started and looked at me, knowing that I had seen it all. Her arms went around herself at first, a very raw, vulnerable expression taking hold. But then she saw everyone around us, all of the monks gathered or trickling in.

  She stood tall, hands at her sides, refusing to show weakness in front of them. Next, turning to face the monks, she gestured at me with a sweeping flourish and declared, “He harnesses the core power. Bow before your new master.”

  It all felt so formal, so out of place. But if I was to do my part in this war, I had to remember what Hadrian had said. He told me this would lead to a change in the structure of our worlds, to a new way of doing business. Was me leading the monks in an alliance with the Citadel what he had meant? Either way, I knew it was my duty.

  The last of the monks knelt, too, making it official. As crazy as it seemed, because I harnessed the core power, I was now their leader.

  Grand Master Faldron. Nah, I would stick with Ezra.

  Now that they were kneeling, I noticed my team lounging about near some red pillars to the left of the square, eyes wide. Using my focused energy, I targeted their emotions and sensed surprise, excitement, and a bit of confusion regarding the road ahead. Most surprisingly, I sensed an aura of contentedness coming from Cheri, as if she had always known this was meant to be and I had finally proved her right. Maybe it had to do with Lilly and the voices?

  “Arise,” I said, gesturing for all the monks to do so. “We have another sort of power to harness, followed by a battle in a much larger war to win.”

  11

  The whirlwind of excitement that followed being named leader of the temple felt, in some ways, more overwhelming than merging with the stones. Quick ceremonies were held, the monks adorning me in robes and the sash of the Ultimate Grand Master. They briefed me on more skills and techniques they would be sure to teach me in order to further increase my core power and ability to reach new heights in the connection to my powers, and more.

  “Finally, the briefing of the stones,” an old monk by the name of Grand Master Puk said. He had been around since before any of the rest, and although he was bent with age, he otherwise wore it well. With a shaved head and tight muscles, his eyes held a strength I wondered if I would ever begin to understand. “Your team can wait outside.”

  I turned to Cheri and the rest, and shook my head. “They’ll be at my side at all times, so I’d prefer they know this.”

  Puk arched a white eyebrow but motioned us into a circular room at the back of the temple, an area that had always been restricted for the likes of me. We removed our shoes to stand on the bamboo mats, taking in the ink paintings of colossal creatures, the likes of which we had briefly viewed when opening the gate with the Hermites.

  Fire, wind, and other colossus warriors fought against a much smaller enemy, warriors in armor that took on various animal shapes. In one was a super whose armor had the ears of a fox, pushing out so that flames erupted around him and shot toward an ice colossus. Others were like bears or had antlers like stags, while some weren’t in armor but had little metal shapes hovering around their heads and seemed to draw power from them.

  One thing stood out above the rest, though—a glowing light on the chest of the colossus. I noticed it first on the ice one, then another, and when I looked closely, I saw that they all had it.

  “Which side were the good guys?” Tink asked, glancing at my chest and having apparently noticed the same thing in the form of a light glow under my broken armor.

  “Does it matter?” Puk replied.

  “How can it not?” Erupa chimed in.

  Puk sighed, motioning to my chest. “What matters now is who holds the power, and what he will do with it.”

  “That’s easy,” I said. “Stop the Nihilists. Put down any organization like Orion Corp. that would seek to manipulate others for their gain. Defend the Citadel.”

  Puk’s eyes narrowed, but he nodded, moving along the wall to stand at a blank portion of the painting. “This, then, is where you will come in. What happens next will be the defining moment for the Temple of Domrem.”

  With a sweeping motion of his hand similar to what Grand Masters Dawa and Richter had done before with the sand, light swirled through the room. Instead of moving sand to show an image, though, here the paintings came to life. We watched as the two groups battled and the metallic animal fighters sacrificed themselves to close off the world to the others, but then a new war emerged as the colossus creatures broke back through. This time, a human rose up, and in the painting reached out his hand for a foxlike metallic figure that took over his body. A woman stood at his side, and they led a fight against the returned enemy.

  This time, when the battle was over, several stones were captured. The supers who had them ran off to form this temple, while others who had supported the enemy side hid below the surface of a planet that at first I didn’t recognize, but then it hit me.

  “The Hermites,” I said, amazed.

  “They were the survivors on one side, we on the other,” Puk explained. “Over time, we have come to understand a new way of working together, thanks to Hadrian.”

  “You are with the Citadel already?” Erupa asked.

  “Not with, but… we share a mutual understanding.”

  “And that would be?”

  “Survival is best for all
of us.” Puk waved his hand once more and the ink moved to the blank section, forming me, as if I was looking into a moving, ink mirror. Almost like a reflection in a lake, but then it was gone, blank again. “So, Grand Master Ezra Faldron, lead us. Ensure our survival.”

  “You know I will,” I replied, standing tall, feeling the warmth of the stone in my chest.

  “Wait, what about the metal stuff?” Cheri asked. “Those guys in the armor… aren’t they around to fight it off any more?”

  Puk shook his head. “The last of their kind merged with some of ours, in a sense, and they had a child. One who I believe is with the Citadel now. Perhaps you have met the super they call Lamb?”

  I blinked, taken aback. “You mean…?”

  “Yes. The reason her powers work as they do is, in part, related to her lineage. Her parents held this power, and it was passed down to her so that she can gift her essence in ways others cannot.” With those words, his eyes darted to the wrist devices we still wore, the ones that had been the products of Lamb’s powers and allowed for upgrades. It both blew my mind and made complete sense. Mostly.

  “So, the metal is gone?” I asked.

  “Not gone,” he replied. “Never gone. It is all around us, in the air we breathe, even. The answer is more complicated than I would wish, but part of our powers—or some of our powers—comes from this, and our ability to get in touch with what some might call magic, or an etheric plane, or whatever you want to call it. Like a source of powers that exists all around us, you can tap into it, harness it to become a great superhero, if you know how.”

  “Or supervillain,” Cheri pointed out.

  “Naturally.”

  “And the Nihilists?” I asked, rubbing my chin, trying to figure this puzzle out. “They serve this other group, or vice-versa?”

  “Neither,” Puk replied. “The Nihilists and the ones they serve are out there, doing what they do, while this force pounds on the walls of our universe in a way the Nihilists, to my knowledge, are unaware of. They have their own agenda, and if the two forces ever meet, we may find ourselves with fewer problems on our hands.”

  “That’s where I come in,” I said, processing it. The reasons for Hadrian sending me here were beginning to make sense. “If I can harness this power, use it to point our enemies at each other…”

  “Precisely.” Puk folded his hands before him, and nodded to the back of the room. Hinru stood there with Eloise, the two staring at me with something akin to infatuation. Coming from the two of them, it felt strange.

  “Yes?” I asked.

  “If all is in order, I recommend you prepare for the journey,” Eloise said, eyes roaming over my team. “Some rest, quick recalibration while I prepare the monks, and then we’re off. Yes?”

  “That sounds good.”

  She turned on her heel, departing and leaving Hinru to motion for us to follow. “Come, they showed me where we could have a few minutes of down time. We might need to discuss a few things.”

  “Agreed.” I gave Puk a nod and said, “Thank you,” then took Cheri’s arm in one of mine, Erupa’s in the other, and smiled as Tink went small and landed on my shoulder.

  “What the fuck, right?” Tink whispered as we followed Hinru out of there, the latter taking Mer’s arm and leading us along the corridors.

  “Just yesterday we were… whatever the fuck we were,” Cheri chimed in, “now we’re… whatever the fuck we are.”

  I laughed. “We’re still the Psychobitches, don’t worry. Only, now our mission is a bit more psycho.”

  12

  Cheri hopped on me as soon as we were back in the room, first kissing me then tearing away my clothes.

  “Slow down,” I started to say, then bit my lip, trying not to laugh. Of course I didn’t want her to actually slow down. What was I saying?

  “I want to see it,” she said, peeling away the robes, then armor and pausing, hand on my chest where it glowed.

  “Oh, that.” So often, those words coming from her would have had an entirely different meaning.

  “Your cock, too,” she added, grinning and cupping my package. “But first, this.” She pulled off my shirt, her fingers now running over the smooth stone. It was basically flush with my skin, a sight that only now caused me any concern.

  “Shit, doesn’t that hurt?” Tink asked, fluttering around the other side of Cheri’s hand.

  “Actually, the opposite,” I replied.

  “And if you… pulled it out?” Hinru asked, leaning over Mer with her arms around the mermaid’s neck.

  “Let’s not try.”

  Erupa chuckled at that thought, then cocked her head at me. “The others?”

  I frowned, knelt to retrieve them from where I had stashed them in the robes as soon as I had the chance, and held them up. Again, they felt active, but didn’t attach to me or anything like that.

  “I haven’t figured out how to use them,” I admitted.

  “And this one… what’s it do?”

  “That’s a great question. For one, I’m revitalized, connected to this sort of power-network the monks set up, and… I imagine more?”

  “Let’s test it,” Cheri said, giddy as she flipped her pigtails aside and punched me in the face.

  Only, more than normal with her emotions, I felt her intent in a way that let me connect the dots. Moving my head slightly, I was at the point where the skin of her knuckles brushed against my nose as if she had given me a playful caress.

  When her hand went back to her side, her eyes were wide with excitement, a smile creasing her face from ear to ear. “Fucking cool!”

  Cheshire looked up at me, grinned, and mentally said to me, Now you get it.

  I stared for a moment, flabbergasted, and almost didn’t catch Cheri’s foot as it went for my groin.

  “Never there,” I said, tossing her foot aside.

  She giggled. “I never would have connected, just testing you. Trust me, the last thing I want to do is cause harm to that precious cock or your smooth balls.”

  I cleared my throat, noting the way Hinru had shifted at that.

  This conversation tells me I should be out of here, Cheshire said, and walked across the room, tails wagging. He stopped next to Hinru and added, Might want to tell her to follow me. I can go over some visions of the home world with her.

  “You okay?” Erupa asked me, noticing the way I was staring at the cat.

  “Oh, yes. So… apparently, I can talk with Cheshire now. Or hear him, I mean. He wants to show you some visions, Hinru. So… if you’ll go with him.”

  Hinru gave me a very impressed glance before following the cat out of there.

  “You can… talk to cats?” Erupa asked.

  “Rendrion,” Cheri corrected her. “And… wow. I had one of those things for a while, and I would’ve killed to be able to speak with it. This one day, my bed smelled like piss and I swear it was her, but felt horrible about blaming her when she couldn’t defend herself, so—”

  “Cheri, that’s fascinating,” Tink interrupted. “But we have a lot to get to.”

  “Er, right.”

  “Great reflexes, talking to cats,” Erupa stepped toward me, licking her lips, “but does it make you stronger?”

  I grinned, eyeing her muscular physique. This could go one of two ways. Either I would show her how strong I was, impressing her, or she would dominate me. Either way, I looked forward to it.

  I moved in, ready to attempt a takedown, and instead found her pinning me up against the wall, tongue forced into my mouth. My hands moved over her arms, her back, gripping her firm, large ass, and then suddenly the room was spinning, I was up, and then down. She’d slammed me!

  Mind reeling, I barely processed that she was coming in with an elbow, but at the last second I moved aside and pushed her arm so that I was able to get her into a triangle choke. Not long-lived, as she managed to turn her body into it and break free, but then we were moving, swatting arms, testing strength, and having a good time all
along.

  “Impressive,” she said when we backed off, circling each other.

  I did my best to ignore the fact that the others were moving around her and watching with curiosity.

  “What?” she asked.

  “For some reason, I can’t get the same read on you.”

  “Might have to do with relation to people and how they connect to this local source of power,” Erupa suggested.

  I cocked my head at her, mouth open.

  “What I mean is, Cheri lived on Theramuse, so…”

  “Or it could be related to the source of powers,” Tink offered. “Oram versus this metal stuff. It’s possible, right? I mean, it’s possible that some might have gotten their powers more from the metal that’s in the air, or whatever you call it. Or vice-versa, Oram’s rays. So this is connected, somehow, and it pulls on that bigger connection.”

  Erupa nodded. “What she said.” Then struck again.

  Sudden focus took over and it was like nothing else mattered but me and my opponent. In this case, that was Erupa, but it was like I could see every aspect of her, from the shadow power coursing through her veins, to the lust burning hot and radiating outward. Maybe it was a mind-shift, knowing or at least guessing at what Tink had posited. Every aspect of Erupa made complete sense in that moment, and instead of attacking, I simply willed her to submit.

  A flash of emotional disturbance, and then she was on the ground, prostrate, in full-on submission mode. I knelt, motioned up with a finger so that she lifted her head to look at me. To my surprise, her eyes were glowing gold.

  “Stop it,” Cheri said, voice shaking.

  I blinked, snapped out of it, and released my hold on Erupa. It had an instant effect. Her eyes returned to normal, and her emotional aura screamed out with confusion and frustration. So intense was the effect, apparently, that while trying to stand, she stopped, went for the wall—and found Tink there in full size for support instead… and then burst into tears.

  “I’m… sorry.” I stepped up to her, but when I reached out to comfort her, she pulled away.