Psychoverse

by Jamie Hawke

  Even better, I now knew how to get more.

  “Watch this, motherfuckers,” I said, suddenly doubling back and forming my own path from stone as I lunged at another water colossus and sent out my wind and new water ones toward the wind lady.

  I took two more water stones before the wind lady managed to beat my creatures off and come at me. Krigo was there, too, but I pinged the ladies again, this time focusing on Erupa and trying to give her a mental idea of where what was.

  Erupa appeared then in a flash of shadow magic, purple and black swirling as she landed on the back of Krigo, pulling at him with her shadow strike.

  “What the fuck is all this?” she shouted, taking it all in.

  “An ambush,” I replied, and pushed against Krigo as her shadow strike hit. The effect was for me to pull on his stone at the exact right moment, causing the stones that held him together, along with all the stone colossuses following him, to scatter. My hand was out, pulling on the core stones and at once turning the smaller ones to my bidding as Krigo’s body fell to the floor, hand outstretched. A nude, weathered man with cracks snaking across his flesh as if he were weathered marble now lay where the stone being had stood.

  His gold core stone hovered between us for a moment, then shot back to him. As it connected to his chest again, he was up and a barrage of rocks shot past, one connecting with Erupa and slamming her to the ground as it went.

  I had the main group of stone colossus now, and formed a barrier around Erupa and myself as I darted over to her, kneeling to help her up.

  “We’re… getting out of here,” she said, and before I could argue had shadow transported us back to Cheri.

  “Shit!” Cheri proclaimed, spinning and nearly jumping out of her skin at the sight of us. She didn’t have time, however, because the stones between us and the enemy were splitting apart.

  In that brief window of time, Krigo had managed to take back half his force, the rest along with my wind and water colossuses battling within. It was as if the ground had opened to hell, only the demons of hell were locked in battle—a sight to behold, certainly.

  Krigo stood there in that opening, merely a husk of what he had been, but with more rocks forming around him by the second. His eyes were on me, but with a new sense of fascination coming from him.

  “You… you have the gift. I won’t deny that.” He took an earth-pounding step toward us, more stone forming around the leg as it connected.

  “I’ll show you how it works,” I replied, pushing so that the stone between us moved back into place.

  “You continually underestimate me.” The rocks moved away again, this time more surging from the ground, moving up around us and connecting to the opening below so that we were in a new section of the connected caverns below.

  “Who’s the asshole?” Cheri asked as we ran, some of my colossuses falling as they tried to defend us.

  “An ancient monk,” I replied, skidding to a stop as a wall rose up in our path.

  “Come, Ezra,” Krigo said, face appearing from the wall. “We can discuss this, no? Perhaps if I tell you more you will understand, then be willing to join us.”

  “Never,” I replied, pushing against him mentally, my golden stone flaring and sending him away so that it was just a wall again.

  “All of this predates your ideas of good and evil,” Krigo’s voice boomed through the tunnels. “Our enemy harnessed the power of a special metal, that same metal that amplifies or feeds some powers of the supers in the Oram system. We tried to stop them, but others intervened. Supers from your system who didn’t know any better, as you know no better now.”

  “They’re talking about Lamb,” Cheri said.

  “Who?” Krigo rose out of the stone wall beside us, apparently able to shift into different rock formations and to merge with new ones.

  “Oh, just this super we met back at the Citadel.” Turning to me, she added, “Yeah, Lilly here… she’s telling me all about it. About how Lamb’s parents found some strange metal, and it merged with them to help them fight, resist the invasion by these dumb fucks and… what’s that?” Cheri held up the little bear, and grinned. “No shit? Guess what, asshats, some of that metal is in Lilly, here. Snap!”

  Krigo rose, eyes bursting with ferocity. “In our home!”

  As the rocks moved aside and the other colossuses emerged to join him, almost all my army of them taken back over, a crazy transformation began. First, the furry part of the bear glimmered like metal, then sank into itself as the little bear seemed to come alive and break free from the chain. It moved like a little pixie, darting up to float next to Cheri and then alight on her finger as she laughed.

  “You have a problem with Lilly,” Cheri challenged, “you have a problem with me!” Lilly scurried along her arm and down to Cheri’s chest, where the little creature merged with her in a way that sent metal rippling over her skin. The metal formed armor, the top of her head taking on a helmet that somewhat resembled a bear, even with cute little ears.

  My mouth went dry as I put this together, remembering the images at the temple of the warriors in animal armor. Holy shit, Cheri was one of them! Or, her and Lilly, who I had taken to be nothing more than a silly toy.

  Wow. That changed everything.

  Erupa and I shared a look of surprise but didn’t have long to linger in the moment. Cheri had charged into the fray against the colossal monsters that were all at least twice her size, but she held her own. The armor clearly gave her extra strength and added skills, as she would swipe out and claws like great swords would strike. Enemies fell left and right, giving me the ability to pull on their core stones and pit them against Krigo and his followers, while Erupa went up against the other main ones.

  “We know what’s here,” Erupa said as she ran and slid past a wind colossus, almost swept up by its energy but shadow striking it instead. “We need to get back.”

  “Agreed, but—” I started to say I had no idea how, when a flash of light caught my eye.

  “You’re not leaving so soon!” Krigo shouted, bursting up from the rock at my feet and pulling at rocks nearby while I ran to get clear of his attack.

  He had made a mistake, although I likely would have figured it out at some point. The light that had flashed came from the direction of where the entrance to this place had been. Apparently, me thinking about returning activated my powers so that the portal back was opened at that spot. Maybe it related to why Krigo and his followers had been hanging out there, or maybe it had to do with how they were trapped in this place.

  Either way, it was our ticket home.

  21

  Now that Krigo knew we could activate the gate, he was throwing everything he could in our way to keep us from it. Any attempts at trying to win me over were long gone. Rocks jutted up like spikes, others tried to fall on me, while at other moments water surged as if trying to drown me.

  But I had my power, and as I continued to harness it, I felt it grow exponentially. This wasn’t the leveling up associated with fighting and my Citadel device, but a sensation like the core stone becoming one with me, its power pulsating through my veins. When the rocks came, I was able to push them back and an awareness came over me that allowed a push to send those same rocks back on Krigo, to even transform them in a way. I made them denser, folding the rocks on themselves in some form of alchemy that made them something else entirely. Stronger, more deadly than anything Krigo seemed able to muster.

  Then, for a moment, I even felt myself control the stone inside of Krigo. I pushed him back, made him cower in fear, and I led the charge to the gate. It flashed bright with gold streaming around blue, an image of Mer and Tink and the others past there, staring back at us.

  “Go!” I shouted.

  Cheri charged past, eyes visible under her bear helmet but with a silvery glow I had never seen on her before. She stuck her tongue out playfully before leaping right into a water colossus and tearing out its core stone and throwing it my way. It was still her i
n there, at least.

  A stone colossus pummeled her, sharp edges tearing into her skin, but a moment later she was dodging around it and the wound seemed to be healed. We would have to get into the specifics about what was happening with her and that armor once we were out of there.

  We reached the gate and I saw Cheri through first, then Erupa, and turned as a force pushed back at me.

  Not physical, and not exactly mental. But… spiritual?

  The gate closed and I was on my knees, still in Krigo’s world. My entire energy was being pulled, torn apart, the fabric of my being threatened.

  “How’s it feel?” Krigo asked, and when I looked up at him we weren’t there at all. We weren’t surrounded by rocks or fighting or even in our bodies, but floated around each other, the ground and all of it fading into what could best be referenced by thinking of an all-encompassing waterfall of spiritual energy. It flowed around us, into us, and in all directions. We were part of it, and yet like two beings squared off.

  “What is this…?” I started, voice sounding disconnected, more like a thought.

  “You won’t ever fully understand, will you?” Krigo’s voice was like a distant song. “To grasp what I’ve given you, that much of your powers, what you were taught, comes from me, from my people. So many killed off, so many gone… but it doesn’t have to stay that way.”

  “Are you seriously still trying to win me over?”

  He shook his head, sadly. “In truth, I simply want you to understand before I destroy you. My child, it is never easy to kill a thing you love. But I must.”

  “You have a sick idea of love.”

  “I love you as a painter would a piece of art. An evolving, growing work, one that started with a few brush strokes but then morphed into its own masterpiece.” He floated closer, so that I could see my nude, spiritual form in the reflection of his eyes. “Everything you are is thanks to me and my kind. And now, your energy will cease to be your own. Your life force is mine.”

  He thrust out his hands, grabbing my head with thumbs pressed into my temples. Sure enough, I felt myself draining away. Days of training at the temple flashed before my eyes as my spirit and life force flooded out. A memory of sprinting out of a building and tackling one of my marks, of beating the shit out of him before dragging him to my ship. A time when I had met a woman and she had taken me to an armory and fucked me on a table of rocket launchers because that turned her on. All fading.

  Cheri’s smile crossed through my mind. Then the image of her with her tongue sticking out, followed by the others. The thing is, maybe I had been a certain man before meeting them, but since then I had given so much of myself to those ladies, I was changed.

  And no way in hell was I giving their memories to this man. No way in hell was I letting him take my team from me, or me from my team.

  His eyes wavered, uncertainty flooding his aura, and in that moment I broke off. I was gone from that realm, back in the stone shrine, the stone, wind, and water creatures all watching us, waiting to see what would happen.

  “Fuck off,” I growled and threw myself backward, willing the gate to be there. Hoping, really.

  Then I was through, and I looked down at my team, smiling with relief to see them and the others arrayed before me. Except, they were backing up, staring up at me with shock. Then the attacks came.

  First in the form of a barrage of shots from Malaia and hers, then the monks with binding powers. At first, I growled and turned back, considering going straight back through the portal as I was sure I had been betrayed. In the process of avoiding the attacks, though, I processed how large I was at the same time as I lumbered over the water. In the moment before hitting the water and making a splash that ruined the reflection, I saw myself as the stone colossus I had become. Not fully, but rocks were all about me and I could see how the others would have made the mistake.

  Cheri was already shouting for them to stop, but I hit the water and spun, joining in as I forced rock back to reveal myself. My upper torso emerged from the stone colossus’s chest, my clothes torn away by the friction with the rock—not that it mattered at the moment.

  “It’s…. me!” I roared, pushing even more of the rocks back, holding out my arms so they could see.

  Hinru made a shield of purple, the first to reach me, with Cheri and Erupa at her side, Mer and Tink a moment later. Eloise turned to the monks to relay the order to stop attacking, while the Hermites had not attacked at all, but knelt in reverence. They were going to be an issue.

  “Ezra…” Hinru started, eyes taking me in as she clearly had no idea where to begin. “We weren’t sure you’d find a way back.”

  “I did,” I replied, allowing the rocks to at least cover my lower half, so that it was like I was riding in a mech. “Only…”

  My gaze moved to the gate too late, to realize it was still open. In those fleeting seconds, before my realization and my ability to shut the gate, Krigo burst forth, a couple dozen of his followers in tow.

  I immediately closed the gate in a feat that cut more of his would-be followers in half and left their core stones for the taking. The stones rose under my control, shooting into the others and forming to fight the enemy, while the monks and others stepped back in confusion.

  Once they saw me charge back into the fight, though, my team joining me to assault Krigo and his followers, the monks and others joined in as well. It was almost hard to follow, I imagined, but shouted out to attack them all. Any colossus they could target, as most wouldn’t be able to figure out which were on one side or the other, and most were core stone warriors, meaning it wasn’t like they had lives or died.

  Cheri and Erupa had their stones with them and were still able to use the fire and ice boosts, and that gave me a new idea. The next stones to fall were sent to Tink, Mer, and Hinru instead of me making them into monsters. While each seemed confused at first, they were quickly in the fight with added boosts—stone and armor for Mer, since she already had her water abilities, and wind for Hinru, who looked like a major badass flying through the air with her gold robes fluttering.

  We fought with shots and blasts of new powers, Malaia and the raiders proving their worth. My XP was rising rapidly, my energy amplified and other boosts coming in every time Cheri got close—so I did my best to stay next to her in the fight. Cheri let out a hoot as she tore into her enemies, and I couldn’t help but chuckle at her enjoyment of the situation.

  “We have the majority of the bounty hunters incoming!” Hinru shouted, darting around a stone colossus. “If we don’t deal with these bastards fast, we’re going to be crushed between two enemy armies!”

  “Agreed,” I said, watching my team and my monks, contemplating the right move, here.

  The monks were showing their training, not just powers, with proper kicks and punches, a few tiger claws and great displays of spinning attacks. A group moved like a cyclone together, throwing aside those in their wake, leaving most done for.

  And just when I was starting to feel at ease, gold light burst forth in the sky. The message was clear—Vistro, the final Gold Reaper, the leader, had arrived. I imagined he had those android-type fighters like Killart had used at the Orion Corp. fight. There had been only one, then, but who knew how many this bastard had with him?

  I had to deal with Krigo once and for all, and fast.

  “Krigo!” I shouted in challenge, alerting him to my location as I released the stones around me and shot up to him by pulling on stones up there. More stones swirled around and joined me until I was his size, so that when we met it was like two mountains—except, my physical attack had only been a distraction.

  The real attack followed in a mental blow that was beyond anything I had ever attempted before. Mind open, exposing myself in a way that could very easily end poorly, I practically invited him in. He was laughing, taking full advantage of the perceived weakness… when I crushed him.

  Once inside his mind, he was linked to me. I pulled him in completely, making
sure he knew that this was my territory. I had been leveling up my mental abilities and strengthening my core with each fight and, even more so, by my connection to my team. When I say I crushed him, I mean it. The strike was a mental pulverization. Obliterated, he stumbled.

  My physical attack came then, smashing the rocks that were his being to bits, tearing until I had his body, which I drew out and prepared to smash on the same rocks he had been hiding in.

  “No!” High Glotian commanded, voice booming as the stinger ships came up all around us.

  “This is your god?” I asked, holding the body high for all to see. My eyes met Cheri’s, and for once she nodded, letting me know she was giving me her full trust. “He is nothing but a would-be invader. An alien with characteristics similar to yours, but mortal. Observe.”

  Without waiting to see if they would back off, I squeezed with my massive stone hand, breaking him. Blood gushed out, the Hermites shouted, and Cheri turned her gaze away.

  She had learned the hard way but had learned well, nonetheless. Being in the other dimension, she had seen what they truly were, I imagined. She’d put the connection to them and Lilly together, and come to see the light.

  I dropped the body as the Hermite stingers began their assault. My preference was to not hurt them, to not let it get to that, but already the stinger ships were launching into an assault against me, against their god killer.

  “Last warning,” I shouted, pulling on Krigo’s stone and all the others which had stopped working due to his influence. Some stingers broke off, but the majority kept coming, firing at me with all they had.

  Who was I to deny them their glorious deaths as they attempted to take down the man who had killed their god? Taking Krigo’s core stone and all of those from his fallen fighters, I raised an army that plowed through the craft in a matter of minutes, with control of the wind and stone that could pummel the ships low enough.