by Jamie Hawke
My main concern wasn’t them, anyway, but the incoming final Gold Reaper. He had arrived, his golden blast hitting us in blinding brilliance a moment before he arrived in an explosive flurry.
22
Blasts of gold light barraged me but I pulled a flood of rocks to block it out, and was helped by shields from Hinru and dark resistance powers thanks to one of Erupa’s latest upgrades.
Still, when the assault let up, a handful of Hermites below lay dead, along with two monks. The monks were my people, so this was unacceptable. Not that I would have let it stand regardless. Throwing a barrage of attacks at the Reaper, I slid along with my team, attacking android after android as they started to arrive. These were powerful beings similar to what Killart had used to fight us, and so far each one was putting up as much of a fight as several colossuses.
“You’re not easy to find,” Reaper Vistro said, eyeing me as the fight continued around us but we squared off. “Even harder to kill, it would seem.”
“Lucky me, you’ve come to present your head and make it easy.”
“Hardly.”
“Didn’t you hear?” I let the rocks move away, leaving me exposed from the waist up. “I’m Ezra Fucking Faldron. The law in this land.”
He laughed, shaking his head. “All of this, our worlds, our universe. It’ll never truly have law. There are many players. And you, Ezra… you were never really a player—more of a piece in the game. Expendable at that.”
“Past tense.” I grinned. “Let’s see how that holds up, now.”
Not waiting for him to get off another snarky comment, I surged forward with the rocks surrounding me, flying up to pummel him. He had earned his spot as head Gold Reaper for a reason, if the stories were to be believed. Considering the way he dodged my strikes, even flew to weave through my creatures and blast many of them to pieces, I didn’t doubt his skills. That said, I had my monsters converge on him, so that finally he had nowhere else to go. When he blasted his way out, I was there to welcome him to his freedom with a fist of stone twice the size of his face.
The strike knocked him back and ice formed over his limbs, stone golems pummeling him. All moved aside as I came in for another strike. Only, this time he caught me with a blast that sent rocks flying and doubled me over in pain. I wasn’t sure if the damage was physical or mental, but I knew there was pain.
Another blast threw me to land on my back, watching the sky and the image of Hinru darting past, then Eloise. Others were doing their best against this guy, but I rolled over, willed rocks back on me, pulled energy from the ground, and charged. I couldn’t let anyone else get hurt when an attack was meant for me.
“Back off,” I commanded upon seeing my monks about to take a shot for me, the others too taking up positions against him. “I’ll deal with him.”
“Then let’s see it,” Vistro said, hands out, golden robes fluttering behind him. The man I had looked up to for so long was quite the sight. Only, where once I would have seen him as a god, now I saw only the mark. He was the new name on my list, and right now, the only name.
With each step, I let the rocks leave me until I was in only my tattered clothes, standing before him with hands out. My eyes met his and we sized each other up.
“Do the powers make the man, or the man make the powers?” I asked.
“I’d say it depends on the man.”
Nodding, I said, “What do you say? Care to find out where we stand in that regard?”
He frowned, clearly not following. I turned my gaze to Eloise, and nodded.
“You’re sure?” she asked.
“I am. And don’t tell me you don’t have one—the monks of Domrem always carry quenchers.”
“You’ll fight him without powers?” Cheri said, rubbing her chin. “Hot, but… risky?”
“Only one way to find out,” I replied, and turned back to Vistro, waiting for his answer.
He growled, then spat. “Do it.”
I nodded, and the rest of the group moved back out of range, as directed by monks forming the circle. In a sense, it was absurd that we should be resorting to this after everything that had just happened with the other dimension and my core stones, but this guy needed to be taught a lesson and this was the ultimate test. When it came down to the two of us, no powers, who would win?
My powers drained, but… not really. I glanced over at Eloise, but she looked worried. Her emotions weren’t clear, so that part of my powers was off for sure, but there was something about me I could feel, something that had never been there before, even when quenchers left me without power.
Whatever it was, I didn’t have time to test it out because Vistro was charging for me, hands balled up in fists. The guy was taller than me by a few inches, muscles thicker, but I had to imagine his ego was a good ten times mine. And that was saying something!
If I could use that to my advantage, I would. Hubris, believing you were too powerful to fail, had been the downfall of many of my marks—I had to hope this would be no different.
A shift in the air, and I could almost see a line showing his trajectory. It was like the powers shown to me when I first claimed the gold stone, only now it was related to his attack. Holy shit, this was the power I felt! With each of his strikes, I was out of the way or blocking, and then there was an opening.
My fist flew fast and true, connecting with his ribs. Then another, and I’d caught him across the jaw so that he fell to the ground. He growled and kicked, but I lifted my leg to block, coming back in to stomp on his sternum.
Only, he went with it, rolling as my leg hit so that he had me. I didn’t see the move because of my hubris, so I tried to pull my cockiness back a notch as he yanked and I went down with him.
Two solid punches to my face, and then he pulled me into a choke hold. Tucking in my chin and weaving my hands between his arms I broke his grip, then caught him with an upward elbow to the face.
He took the opportunity to roll away from me, circling, then darted back. I thought he was about to run when he abruptly changed course, going right for Eloise! I stared in confusion, watching as he took a kick but managed to get to her and take the quencher, turning it off and grinning my way.
“Incoming!” Hinru shouted.
Sure enough, swooping down toward us was a fleet’s worth of bounty hunter and allied ships. As if Vistro wasn’t enough.
I took a blast from Vistro’s outstretched hand but managed to absorb some of the nearby rock and use it to heal. That blew my mind. Before he could get off another shot, the incoming hunters opened fire—only, a split second later several of them exploded, blown out of the sky as another group arrived.
“Our turn, motherfuckers!” Hinru shouted, shooting purple blasts at Vistro.
It was Bonder and the others we had been hiding out with when the call to take down Hinru had come in. We were still far outnumbered, but I was pretty sure we had them in terms of power and awesomeness. With my new powers, I pushed out to the enemy, forcing them to turn on their own. They took on the androids and the androids, being attacked, then turned back on them. A thing of beauty, if I do say so myself.
The fight reached new levels with Mer dragging people into the water and being the enemy’s worst nightmare. Tink managed to turn a whole group of the enemy against the rest in a bout of insanity from her pixie dust, and more. Erupa was going about her business, while Eloise and the monks were with Malaia and her fighters working to destroy the other incoming enemy ships before they became a problem. Soon, the monks had used their light powers to take down three in a row, and were able to get in and bring the attack back to the enemy.
As we took down their forces left and right, I once again found Vistro and determined it was time to end this.
My steps shook the ground, the rock attached to my body growing larger, strengthening as it folded in on itself and transformed. Shots bounced off me, even his gold blasts that had done so much damage before. Whatever natural glow the stone gave me was amplified by C
heri’s boosts.
I reached Vistro, hands of rock gripping him and squeezing until I heard the crack of bones breaking.
“Take him,” I said, dropping Vistro and stepping back with a glance to Hinru. “He put a price on your head. I figure it’s only fair that you should be the one to take his.”
“With pleasure.” Hinru stepped forward as he opened his mouth to protest. He never had the chance, though, because a second later she had stomped on his windpipe and crushed it, opting for a simple death for the guy.
I gave her a nod, trying not to pay any attention to the remaining group of Hermites bowing my way. Apparently, having seen me harness the abilities of the core stones, they had decided I was a god. Fucking wonderful.
Eloise was doing the same for the monks, and I met her gaze, nodding. She would do great at managing them for me, but I would learn. I had a lot more responsibility than I had ever planned for but looked forward to seeing what sort of leader I could be.
Hinru and her mom were now caught in an embrace, my monks finding each other to stand in formation, ready for the next move, prepared in case there was more trouble.
I turned to see Cheri stumbling toward me, the metal pulling away from her and returning to the form of the little floating bear around her.
“My well of energy… dry,” Cheri muttered, catching herself on my shoulder, then nuzzling me. The others joined, Mer giving Hinru a concerned look. I noticed a gash on her neck that was healing, and nodded, checking over the others for injuries as well. From a cursory check, the worst I found was Tink with a swollen eye from where she said an android had swatted her away, and a nick out of one of Erupa’s horns. She said it pissed her off more than it hurt.
“I…” Tink started, but then chuckled. “Scratch that. I was going to say, ‘I can’t believe we did it,’ but no, I believe in us wholeheartedly.”
“Me too,” Mer said, and we were glad to see Hinru and her mom joining us. All eyes moved to Cheri, and the way her bear was still floating there.
“Wait, so all this time you weren’t really hearing voices?” I asked Cheri. “This was… all the bear or alien metal thing?”
“Oh, I still hear plenty of voices. But that was the main one. Never realized what it really was until now, though. Go figure!”
“Not ‘go figure.’ No, this is huge. You can’t say ‘go figure’ about something like this!”
“Ooh, do you think Lamb knows?” Cheri beamed. “I mean, about her parents and all this. How involved they were?”
“We should tell her, if not.”
A flash appeared in the sky, a massive ship like blown glass flying down toward us. We prepared to attack, but when a door opened and Hadrian appeared, floating down to us, we knew we were safe. Midnight came through behind him, ready for a fight. Seeing none, he relaxed and offered us a wave.
“Midnight told me there was trouble, but I see that’s been taken care of,” Hadrian said, coming to stand in front of me. He looked up at my stone mech, as I wanted to think of it, and said, “Come, Ezra, we must get you dressed again. I think we can accommodate you.”
He created a portal behind him, reached in, and pulled out an outfit that was every bit the Supreme Master look Krigo wore in old paintings of him and the other founders of the temple I’d seen. While we now understood why the temple had been founded, I was going to approach running it and making sure we fought for the right reasons a very strong priority.
“How did you know?” I asked.
“When I went to the Seer, I saw you in this predicament. Considering what has happened with you and the temple, I felt this fit best.”
Accepting it, I had the rocks move about me in a sort of dressing room fashion, donned the robes, and then let the rocks fall away. All the colossuses faded, their core stones coming to me. Not sure what else to do with them, I had them affix themselves to various spots on my being. The gold ones affixed themselves to my sash, others to the back of my robes and even the end of my sleeves like cufflinks. A bit of a showy look, but in battle I would be a force to be reckoned with.
Hadrian asked for the highlights of what had happened, listening intently to each detail. We briefed Hadrian on all that had gone down, while Midnight filled in blanks from the other side with the hunters. When it was done, the old man looked at me like a proud father would look at his returning son.
“I didn’t see all of this, but from what I did see, we are on the right track.”
“Track?” I asked.
He nodded. “You will stay at the temple, lead them, recruit others to your side and form alliances. With your power to control the core stones, and with Cheri’s newfound friend,” he indicated her bear, “you will be one very valuable ally in any and all wars to come. And between wars, I hope you will raise a law enforcement branch to ensure that we don’t reach this point again. Send out groups to oversee the colonies, even the fringe planets. We will ensure all are safe, when we can.”
My heart was thudding with excitement. This was the dream—not only to return to the temple as I had often wished for, but to make the whole law enforcement thing official.
“Do you accept this charge?” Hadrian asked.
Without hesitation, I bowed. “I accept.”
23
To my relief, the first step upon returning to the temple after washing up and changing was to meet with Eloise and the other senior monks. It wasn’t the meeting that gave me pleasure, but the coffee and little maple scones they served with it. Sumatran Dark Roast, and the scones were the perfect amount of not too sweet but delicious. Slightly moist.
Of note, I saw that I had leveled up to ten. I didn’t bother with the upgrade, though, because right now it seemed so… trivial. Considering what I was able to do, whatever the upgrade gave me would be one more tool in the belt. Nothing more.
We confirmed how this would work, according to Hadrian’s instruction, and then I noted a message I wanted sent around to the planets.
“While the Citadel will be the ruling force, Oram and the surrounding systems have a new sheriff to answer to. That would be me.” I adjusted in my seat, then said, “Forget that,” and stood. “I’m here to form teams and am looking for volunteers. Think of it as a sort of police force and know that you will be standing up for what is right.
“Don’t know me?” I leaned forward. “You soon will. Want to resist this new order?” This time I laughed. “Trust me, you won’t feel that way for long. And for all of you who intend to do other than follow the law, you will find that our justice is swift and on point.”
“Send it, sir?” The monk recording made an adjustment on his holo controls, then eyed me. “Say the word.”
“Send,” I replied, and watched with pleasure as it was done.
We talked more in that group, discussed training requirements and how we would interact with such planets as Theramuse and other outposts we had deemed allies. Theramuse still had many groups and their warlords to deal with, but we would bring them all under our wings, eventually.
Soon, we finished and Eloise led me outside, where a line of monks knelt.
“This is your home, now,” Eloise said, kneeling along with them. “Welcome home.”
I nodded and looked out over the monks who would now serve under me. Then to my team, to Cheshire there beside the stone colossus who was almost like a second skin to me. It was a new beginning, a new life I never would have dreamed of.
“You must be tired, Supreme Master,” Eloise said, standing and gesturing to the high temple. “Please, take your team. Rest, or do whatever you might be in the mood for.”
I chuckled, not missing the grin from Cheri.
“Thank you,” I said, taking Cheri’s arm in one of mine, Erupa’s with the other. They each in turn took Mer and Tink, and we started to walk for the large, studded doors.
Cheri paused, looked back, and sighed. “This is how much I love you,” she said, then called back, “Would you like to join us?”
Eloi
se blinked and glanced around. The other monks kept their heads down, nobody reacting but her. Slowly, she stood, nodded, then walked with us. Each step served to heighten the anticipation, the blood flowing to my cock in a way that showed me that, as comfortable as these new monk clothes were, they didn’t do much to hide an erection. I tucked it into the sash, eyeing the stones that stayed there in reserve for a massive fight I knew would come one day.
“You all were really something back there,” Eloise said, her voice failing to hide the unease I felt coming from her. Desire, but uncertainty, confusion.
“Relax,” Erupa said. “No need for fake small talk.”
“But she has a point,” Tink said with a laugh. “We owned the day.”
“Tore that shit up!” Cheri chimed in, then rubbed Lilly, now back in small teddy-bear form, as that felt more comfortable for all of us.
We turned into the temple, stopping by the bathrooms on the way to make sure we were relieved and clean.
“With Eloise… I mean, we don’t have to do this,” I said to Cheri, following her into the restroom. “I had a crush on her when I was young. It doesn’t have to—”
“Shhh.” Cheri put a finger to my lips. “She’s part of the team, now. Too late.”
I laughed. “Yeah, but come on. I saw how uncomfortable the idea of me and her made you feel. There’s nothing I would ever do to jeopardize what we have.”
“And nothing you ever do could jeopardize what we have. It’s that perfect. Now get out there and show that lady what it means to be on Team Psychobitch.”
“But, Cheri…”
“You do it, or I will.”
Knowing my ladies, this was it. We were truly accepting Eloise as part of the team. I took a piss, cleaned myself in the sink, and dried it before heading back out. The others joined soon, and we went through sliding doors to a room that had been kept up but not occupied for years.
