by Greg Ballan
The shared link triggered the dreams that plagued Erik's subconscious. Shanda relived the battle through a different perspective, experiencing the combat firsthand, not simply as an observer, but as an active participant. She realized these were memories locked away deep inside her lover, memories now being released. She shuddered at the ferocity of the combat, and felt the enhanced emotions that were inherent in the race of beings called Espers. She recalled the feelings and attitude were remarkably similar to what she shared with Erik when he fought the thugs in her store.
Erik recalled the image of the massive explosion that engulfed the beings at the end, and shared Jakor's final plummet to his death. There was no fear as he fell, only a deep regret of what they had done and all that they would never aspire to.
The link between Erik and Shanda broke. Erik sat stupefied on the corner of his bed.
"I thought they were only dreams, bad dreams. Never in my life could I imagine there's a part of someone else inside of me," he whispered.
"We all do, all three of us," Alissa added as she walked toward the black duffel bag.
"This is unbelievable. I feel as if I'm still in a dream." Erik looked down at the fragments of shattered plaster on the bed and floor. "But it's not, is it? Those things have my daughter."
"Yes," Shanda whispered. "But there's more. I'll let her tell you." Shanda gestured toward the young woman.
Alissa went to the large duffel bag and carried it toward Erik. Something inside the bag began to moan and purr, like the hum of an electric generator. "I'm now fulfilling my purpose, Erik Knight. My family has carried this item for generations. It is yours. You now know the truth of who you are and why you were chosen. Will you accept the responsibility and obligations that go along with this property?"
"You know I have no choice," he said, slightly bitter. "I'll do anything to get my baby back, and you know it. But then, you've always known about me," he whispered as she approached him. He understood why Alissa turned up at Madame's, and why she started working there. It was to be near him.
"Be warned, once you take and activate the staff, you will be changed forever, no longer human, but not purely Esper, a true hybrid. You will stand alone among the race of men. Do you accept this?"
"Yes, anything to get my daughter back."
Alissa reached into the duffel bag and produced a dark satchel and belt. Wordlessly, she handed him the items. Erik studied the weapon resting in the satchel, it was barely over two feet in length, but instinctively he knew it would elongate and take the shape of whatever he desired. The staff seemed to murmur and vibrate with recognition.
Erik felt a strange comfort as he tested the object's weight and feel. The weapon purred at his touch like a content kitten. It acknowledged him as he gently stroked the silvery metallic object. Erik looked up toward Shanda, his eyes burning with a new fiery purpose, and a lethality she'd never seen in him before.
"The weapon accepts you, very good." Alissa remarked.
"Help me find my clothes. I'm going to get my baby girl," he whispered in a deathly quiet monotone.
Shanda quickly grabbed his clothing from the closet hangars and handed the articles to him. Erik dressed, and carefully placed the satchel holding the Sentient Staff around his waist. He tied the long hiking boots then put on his jacket.
"Now," he said, "let's get the hell out of here."
* * *
All three walked out of the Critical Care Unit and began moving toward the exit. One of the doctors recognized Erik and confronted him.
"Where do you think you're going?" the young doctor asked.
"I'm leaving," Erik replied as he headed toward the door followed by the two women.
"Wait a minute!" the doctor ordered. "You just can't simply walk out of here, we have dozens of tests that need to be performed. You can't leave," he added, directly blocking Erik's path.
Erik looked down at the young intern. His eyes were a flaming pupiless sapphire blue that burned with an inhuman intensity. "I have more important things to do today." He lifted the stunned physician with one hand and carefully moved him aside. Erik paused briefly to straighten out the wrinkle he put in the intern's lab coat, and then proceeded toward the exit.
Shanda stared at Erik as they made their way out of the lobby and into the parking lot.
"Are you all right?" she asked.
"Yes," Erik answered. "It's just that something's pushing me, urging me on, almost as if there's somebody else inside me, screaming to get to the surface. I feel a sense of unbridled anger, but I don't know why. I mean, I'm pissed at those creatures, but this is different, unlike anything I've ever felt before." The detective paused, taking a deep breath. "And the strength, I feel like I could pummel a mountain with my bare hands."
"Jakor," Alissa answered. "You are experiencing Esper emotion, or a small piece of it. Their feelings are much stronger than humans'. They were a passionate race."
"The thing in my dreams?" Erik asked
"Jakor, the warrior, it is his essence you carry. You feel the call of battle, the desire to carry out what has been programmed into your being," she explained as they entered Alissa's car.
"Once you activate the staff, all will be revealed to you. You will become the Hybrid," she explained.
"Whoa, lady," Shanda jumped in, "I thought he already was changed. He took the staff like you said."
"Yes," she said as she drove back toward Madame's. "The weapon has accepted him, but he has yet to activate the weapon and complete the transformation."
"What will happen to me, Alissa?" Erik asked.
"I don't know for certain. I only know you will become what you're supposed to become. I know nothing more," she added evasively. "You have accepted your birthright. You must activate the staff. It is the only way to save your daughter."
As they drove on, they passed a large convoy of military trucks and vans.
"The Army?" Shanda asked, looking puzzled.
"It looks like they've gone in with hundreds of people this time," Erik observed all of the troop carriers and assorted vehicles.
"They will be wiped out. They cannot overcome the Seelak and the Netherspace portals. The beasts have fed and are at their peak of strength. Those men will only make the beasts that much stronger," Alissa added nonchalantly.
She pulled the car over by the side of the road and turned off the ignition. "It's time, Erik, you must use the staff," she said forcefully.
"I know." He opened the car door.
The three got out of the car and walked toward the side of the road. The sun was starting to break through the heavy cloud cover.
Erik suddenly took Shanda in his arms. "I love you," he said simply, wrapping his arms around her. "I don't want to forget you, don't want to forget what I've found with you. I'm afraid of what this thing will do to me. I'm afraid it will take away my humanity, take away all that I am, everything that makes me a person."
"And I love you," Shanda answered. "You'll always be Erik Knight, the man I love, no matter what that thing does to you. It can't change who you are, deep down. Come back to me, please," she whispered as their lips met.
"I'll try, with all my being, I promise I'll try," he whispered.
Erik gently pulled himself away from Shanda and unsnapped the pouch that held the staff in place. The weapon purred wildly in anticipation. He looked down at the sentient object and suddenly felt a slight wave of apprehension. He looked over at Alissa.
"Will I ever be me again after this?"
"Erik, I honestly don't know. All I know is that you'll be different. My job is to get you to undergo the transformation no matter what, but I can't lie to you, I don't know what will happen to you. It's never been done before. I do know that if you don't do this, your daughter will die, those soldiers will die, and those things will simply heal any wounds they receive and continue to terrorize this place. They will eventually lay eggs and reproduce themselves, then there will be more of them, and they will continue to harv
est us like cattle. Though I am a hybrid too, I don't wish humanity to be used as food for these creatures," she answered.
"Okay," Erik whispered. "Here goes!"
He pulled the staff from its pouch and held it out from him. The weapon instantly responded to its wielder and became a staff of almost six feet in length. Erik swung the weapon with deadly precision, making lethal swings and parries in the air. The staff made a whistling sound as it bonded with its new owner. Erik felt something akin to ecstasy as he swung the staff, faster and faster.
"For Brianna!" he shouted into the air, holding the staff over his head with two hands.
A sudden rush of raw power infused every fiber of his being. His skin began to change color, going from pink flesh to a silvery metallic sheen. The once-soft pinkish flesh morphed into a chrome-like hard, malleable metal coating over his body. His senses became far more acute. He could hear the buzzing of insects hundreds of feet away, smell the scents of different flowers and other odors in the air, and see distant objects as if they were very near. It was as if he were a part of the living planet, something the Espers were on their home world and wanted to be here. Only now, thousands of years later, through a human, could they accomplish that feat. The genetic gifts he had, that separated him from others, were enhanced a hundred-fold.
Sharp pains tore through his senses as his skeletal structure was modified further. He buckled from the agony, crying out in pain, but still clung to the staff. Enhanced bones became even stronger, denser in makeup than the simple calcium and mineral substance they once were. He could feel his body not only growing in size, but in sheer bulk and density.
His brain began to change. The transition activated all of his mind's potential. In a normal human, only twenty percent of the brain is ever utilized. Erik's mutation was unleashing the sheer potential of his brain. The virus coding triggered from the staff fired unused synapses, increasing his motor skills and reflexes to dozens of times the norm. He could sense thoughts all around him, feel the energy field of the entire living planet. It was as if he had been deaf and blind then suddenly had those senses activated during a rock concert complete with laser light show.
The sensory overload brought him to his knees drowning his personal identity among the hundreds of sensations going through his mind at once. He let out a loud scream as his mind and body endured the continuing metamorphosis.
The memories and lifetime experiences of the mightiest of the Esper warriors flowed into his consciousness. He relived an alien being's entire lifetime of experiences in mere seconds. He felt brief sorrow for the massive being as he saw through its eyes, its fall and death. He knew the name: Jakor. It burned itself into his memory. He was Esper, but he was also human.
The virus triggered in his system combined the diverse genetic materials from both DNA structures rebuilding him into something more, something greater than the sum of each individual part. The virus made him a hybrid – a living legacy to a race long-gone, their final soldier to correct a mistake left behind for thousands of years.
Shanda called over to him, but he was unaware of her presence, his enhanced mind was busy sorting and resorting sensory inputs, applying filters to reduce the stimuli until his newly enhanced nervous system and brain could adapt.
After several long agonizing minutes, the pain was gone. The Hybrid stood, the staff still firmly in his grip. He survived the mutation. He looked at his hands and wiggled his fingers. Small razor-sharp claws now existed where he used to have fingernails. He felt an extraordinary sense of strength, as if he could topple a mountainside by simply pummeling it with his silvery fists. He squeezed his hand into a fist and watched as the powerful muscle tissue writhed beneath a silvery sheen of metallic skin.
The man that was once Erik Knight was nearly a full head taller, and far more massive in physical proportion. Erik's human physique was that of a honed athlete, but the figure standing before them was simply awesome.
* * *
Shanda and Alissa were stunned. They watched wordlessly as the Sentient Staff completed its work. The Hybrid that stood before them was something neither was prepared for. Its eyes burned a fiery aqua blue, a seemingly endless sea of pale blue fire. The flesh was chrome in appearance, reflecting the sunlight and surroundings like an organic mirror. They both watched as the Hybrid studied itself, carefully examining the claws that had replaced its once rounded fingertips.
The Hybrid inhaled deeply, filling its lungs with air as its chest cavity expanded, the shirt and jacket that had covered its torso had torn to shreds when his physique expanded. The silver entity that was once Erik Knight tossed the tattered garments from its body. The Hybrid's body was ripped with muscle. The writhing of each mass of muscle tissue seemed to make the chrome color flesh flow like liquid. It studied its new body, carefully exploring each limb and contour with fascination. The Hybrid then looked over at the two women briefly.
Shanda saw that the face still resembled that of Erik. At least that hadn't changed. With the exception of the hair on his scalp, there was no other trace of body hair on its naked skin. It seemed to have a different look, a look that spoke of exceptional wisdom and knowledge, a look that seemed to transcend humanity, making Shanda suddenly look away. She could no longer feel the presence of her lover in her mind. The link they shared seemed to be destroyed by whatever manner of being Erik had now become.
The Hybrid looked back over at the two. They tensed. Alissa, too, realized the familiar sense of Erik Knight was no longer within this alien creature. It seemed to be something completely different, as far from human as the Espers and Seelak were. The Hybrid walked over to a nearby road sign and studied it momentarily. Then, with apparent ease, it ripped the sign from the roadside. It held the sign, along with the three-foot concrete slab that it was embedded in, over its head. Slowly and methodically, it bent the solid steel pole into a pretzel, and then straightened it back out again. The Hybrid carefully placed the sign back into the gaping hole and seemed to stare back at its arms again. The massive being held its hands out in front of its pupiless eyes, studying them in amazement. Both women could sense the thing's confusion. It seemed extremely puzzled by its surroundings.
The Hybrid looked toward the two women again, its haunting eyes analyzing each one of them. Shanda could sense its powerful mind studying her, trying to determine if she was a threat. She could also sense discord, as if she were reading hundreds of thoughts at a time, hundreds of voices, as if she were reading a crowded room, coming from the single mind. Shanda looked over at Alissa. The young waitress seemed very unsure of herself.
"What's happening?" she whispered.
"The transformation isn't complete yet. His mind is still being altered. I had hoped it would still recognize us, regard us." Alissa paused. "I may have been wrong in assuming that it would remember anything about its past at all," she added in a silent whisper.
"It has a name," Shanda whispered back, somewhat annoyed.
Erik, or what was once Erik, looked up toward Hopedale Mountain, and then back at the two women. The Hybrid seemed to shake its head rapidly as if trying to rid itself of something. There was a sense of concern. The Hybrid turned quickly back toward the mountain. Something seemed to be happening to the massive chrome being as the two women watched. He looked back over at the mountain, and then back at the two of them. For a moment, Shanda thought that there was a spark of recognition in those blue pupiless eyes.
The Hybrid looked down at the necklace around its neck. It carefully studied the small metallic objects suspended from the silver chain. It held up each object in front of its eyes, carefully studying each tag, almost gently caressing the stamped metal of each one. One of the tags had a small dent, and he stopped, and studied it intensely, pressing his chrome metallic finger into the indentation. For a long moment, the Hybrid's features softened, its metallic face seemed almost nostalgic. But as quick as the look appeared, it was replaced by a look of sheer unbridled rage, then worry.
Shanda and Alissa picked up the sense of alarm and concern. They were both overwhelmed by the extreme intensity of the Hybrid's emotions. The intensity was far above what either of them had ever experienced.
From somewhere deep inside the Hybrid, a thought was broadcast, so loud and so powerful that it screamed within both their minds. The great being's mind only projected three words, but words that spoke volumes to both women. They knew somewhere inside that newly formed creature was Erik Knight, alive and well. Shanda wept tears as the words were littered with the familiar presence of him, the bond that they had shared reestablished itself, only now stronger, burning like a beacon inside her: Brianna! Daddy's coming!
"He's still in there," she said as her tears continued to flow. "He's still alive."
"Yes," Alissa answered. "Love is a very powerful human emotion. It makes sense that it would survive."
"It's more than that," Shanda disagreed. "I could sense him … Erik. Erik's essence survived. I could tell it was him. He said 'Daddy' is coming. We both know that's not an Esper term."
The Hybrid roared, a sound so loud and powerful that it cracked the windshield of Alissa's car. Both women felt the presence of Erik Knight increasing within the Hybrid's makeup. As Erik's presence became stronger, the desire to find his daughter burned stronger within him. Enraged, the Hybrid pummeled a nearby wrought iron gate, reducing it to scrap metal. It took two steps toward the parklands, then leapt forty feet into a huge oak tree. It then moved through the treetops swiftly until it disappeared into the vast forest.
"It's begun," Alissa whispered as the two women watched the treetops and stared at the imposing outline of Hopedale Mountain. "May the Gods help us all if he fails."
Shanda walked over to the remains of the gate and studied the twisted slag of metal bars. She was quick to note that the bars were composed of two-inch iron pillars, and her lover had torn them apart as if they were made of soft modeling clay.