by Ramy Vance
Naota hit the lich again. “We’re nothing alike. This is a war. We’re—”
“And what is a war? People killing people. You’re all little pawns for big things happening in the universe. But you don’t think of the lives you take. You tell yourself that they’re under mind control like they don’t still have families or friends. You make them… Actually, let me show you.”
Rasputina struck Naota across the face, bringing him to his knees. She grabbed his head between her hands and looked him in the eye. “You ever feel someone’s soul leaving their body?”
Naota tried to look away and Rasputina redirected his head, shouting, “Look at me! Have you?”
Naota shook his head.
“Then I’ll show you.”
Rasputina’s eyes glowed bright green, and the light shot into Naota’s eyes. The young man tried to flinch, but Rasputina straightened his head. He screamed, and tears rolled down his cheeks.
The light went out, and Naota fell limp. “That’s what you do when you kill,” Rasputina hissed. “All of you soldiers.”
Naota shook his head, tears still streaming. “If we don’t defend ourselves, all of us will die.”
“You don’t get it! It doesn’t matter! Take you and…that one!”
Rasputina pointed at Blackwell. “He obviously cares about you. You. Get over here.”
Blackwell flew over to the lich. “You don’t have to be under mind control to get a little crazy.”
The lich grabbed Terra as well. “Why don’t you join our little social experiment?” She tossed Terra on the ground and straddled her. “Encouragement is all you need.”
Green light poured from the lich’s eyes and skin into Terra’s, bathing Blackwell and Naota in the dim, unearthly eeriness.
The studio melted away, and all Terra could see was the green. She felt it crawling up inside her, digging into her skin, worming its way into her brain.
Naota was standing over her dead body, his hands wet with her blood. The image disappeared. Terra was walking down a crowded street.
Blackwell entered the street, holding a machine gun. People were running around and screaming as Blackwell gunned everyone down.
Image after image, Terra watched Naota, Roy, and Blackwell commit atrocities upon her and innocent people. She felt her stomach turning as the lich cackled on top of her, but Terra didn’t hear the lich’s laughter. All she could hear was the screaming of innocents at the hands of her friends.
Abby woke up and rolled out of bed, landing on the floor and staring at her shoes for a bit.
Martin’s voice caught her off-guard. “Do you want me to help you with that?”
Abby stared at the ceiling, thinking about how much she had missed seeing it. “Help with what?”
“The waking up thing. I could jump-start your endocrine system and get your adrenal glands pumping. Should wake you right up.”
“Sure, go for it.”
The fog of sleepiness hanging over Abby vanished. She felt like she’d just had a cup of coffee minus all the jitters. “Yeesh, your human bodies are so touchy,” Martin muttered. “Never seen a computer take so long to boot up.”
“Hey, how did you do that?”
“Wake you up?”
Abby went to the sink in her bathroom and rinsed her face. “No, access my glands. Never said you could do that before.”
“Ooooooh, well, your body’s changing with all these nanobots. First it was just your blood, and then they started multiplying. Then I tried to keep them from multiplying. There was kind of a revolt, and they gained sentience and merged with your nervous system. Oh! And I merged my consciousness with them, and that caused them to kinda commit suicide, and I guess I died for a bit, but it all worked out, and now I’m integrated into your nervous system.”
Abby expelled a deep breath as she tried to process what Martin had just said. “Okay, that was a lot. You’re saying you have control over my body?”
“Not hardly, but I do have the ability to regulate your unconscious bodily functions. Heart rate, eyes drying out…you know, that kinda crap.”
“Martin, I told you that if there were any changes going on that I wanted to know about it as soon as it happened!”
Martin sounded embarrassed when he said, “I did tell you as soon as it happened. That was twenty minutes ago. For one, I think I handled the possibilities of all your bodily functions shutting down quite well, especially for it being my first time.”
Jeez, the little guy sounds like he’s learning how to be sensitive.
Abby had been about to start brushing her teeth, but she paused to say, “Sorry, sorry. Didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. Thanks for making sure I didn’t die. Don’t want to take you for granted or anything.”
“It’s nice to be appreciated once in a while. I’m only constantly improving your quality of life. Oh, and you have a bunch of messages from Anabelle and Myrddin. You might want to take a look at them. They’re pretty urgent.”
Abby spat and wiped toothpaste off her mouth. “I’ll check them in a little bit. I’m on vacation, remember?”
Next, Abby imagined what outfit she wanted to wear, and her nanobots covered her in a pair of jean shorts and a baggy hoody. Then she went downstairs, where her mom was standing in the kitchen, watching the television.
“Morning!” Abby said.
Abby’s mom jumped. “Sorry. I didn’t know you were up,” she replied, though her attention remained on the screen.
“Anything for breakfast?”
Ma still hadn’t turned to look at Abby. Whatever she was watching on television must have been very interesting. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll make a couple of eggs. You like them scrambled, right?”
Abby’s mom nodded as she leaned over the television.
Abby grabbed a couple of eggs from the fridge, cracked them in a bowl, threw some pre-cut garlic in, and got to stirring. “Whatcha watching?”
“This talk show your pa and I used to watch. It’s…very disturbing today.”
Abby hadn’t heard her mother talk about her pa since he passed. Anytime the two of them spoke, Abby tried her best to steer the conversation away from that. Her heart still jumped at any mention of him, but she was tickled to hear her mom and dad used to watch talk shows together. For years, he’d sworn he hated them.
The smell of cooking eggs filled the room. Abby wasn’t much of a cook, but she knew how to make eggs. “What’s so messed up about it?”
“There’s this…zombie woman. She just killed and ate someone.”
Abby only half-heard her mom. The idea of a zombie on a talk show was ridiculous. It could be a little funny, but it sounded like that anti-comedy crap her sister liked. Really? A zombie eating a host?
“Is it funny?”
Ma answered as if she were in a daze. “No, it’s really fucked up.”
Abby dumped the eggs onto a plate and brought them over to her mother. “Language, Ma.” She placed the plate beside her mom’s hand and glanced at the television.
Rasputina was looking into the camera while Terra, Blackwell, and Naota writhed in pain in the background. “Been waiting to see you all morning, sweetheart,” the lich growled. “You’re looking unbelievable scrumptious.”
Abby screamed as she backed away from the television.
Ma turned the television off and said something, but Abby didn’t hear her. She was looking at her HUD, reading through her emails. Anabelle was already on her way to collect her.
The image of Rasputina had scared the living shit out of her. She knew the lich had been talking to her. There was no mistaking it.
Abby hit her comm and called the elf. “Belle?”
Anabelle answered instantly. “You see that what that fucking psycho is doing?”
“How long until you get here?”
“About twenty minutes. Myrddin gave me a teleportation spell. One-time use, but it’ll get us into that television studio, and we can put a stop to that fast.”
&n
bsp; Ma murmured under her breath, “Oh, my God.”
Abby turned to see her ma backing away from the television.
Rasputina dragged Naota and Blackwell to a window overlooking the city, the camera crew following her.
Terra watched what was happening. She’d been released from Rasputina’s mental spell. She still didn’t know where she was, but when she looked at Blackwell and Naota, she was filled with an overwhelming desire to bash their heads in.
Rasputina kicked the window, shattering it out into the open air. She knelt and looked at Naota and Blackwell. “You see, all you two need is a little push.” She clicked her hand, and the green fog in both of the human’s eyes lifted.
Blackwell and Naota stared at each other for a moment. The hatred in their eyes was the same as what Terra felt deep in her bones for the two of them.
Naota moved first, lunging at Blackwell. Blackwell was too fast, though, and he scrambled around Naota, getting him in a headlock. He tried to choke him, but Naota head-butted him.
As the two former friends tried to murder each other, Terra could only watch. She felt like they both could die, but something in her told her that was wrong.
They shouldn’t be fighting. Not like this.
Rasputina approached the Dark Gate that appeared earlier. She snapped her fingers, and the portal opened. “You see, you’re all just waiting to kill each other. I’m only speeding up the process.”
As the Dark Gate opened, there was a bright flash across the room. Abby and Anabelle walked through the portal.
Nanobots covered Abby’s body as her armor encased her, and she blasted Rasputina with a plasma shot.
Rasputina went flying as Anabelle rushed to Roy’s side and helped him up.
Blackwell and Naota were still fighting.
Naota had gotten the upper hand, and Blackwell was backing up against the open window. Suddenly, Naota kicked Blackwell in the chest, sending him flying out of the building.
Terra saw Blackwell heading toward the window in slow motion as the orcs were beginning to pour from the Dark Gate. Her body reacted before she knew it.
Whatever feeling she had about Blackwell dying, it wasn’t hers.
She was already on her feet, running toward the window. She grabbed the compact exo-suit, slamming it to her chest, and it stretched out and connected to her spine.
Terra jumped out of the window and held her arms close to her sides to make herself more aerodynamic. It didn’t take her long to catch up with Blackwell. She wrapped her arms around him and held him close.
Tucking her body into a ball, she held Blackwell close to her as they hit the ground.
Terra lay there for a moment, Blackwell beside her. The suit had saved them.
Blackwell peered at her, his eyes confused. “What...what’s going on?”
“Why would Naota kick you out a window?”
Blackwell shook his head. “What the fuck is going on?”
Terra stared up at the building as a fireball shot out of it. “I don’t know, but we’re going to fucking find out.”
Part II
Chapter Twenty-One
The news show studio was filled with pure chaos. Orcs poured out of the Dark Gate as Anabelle helped Roy off the ground and tried to move him out of the room.
Abby was at her side, firing at the orc attackers, and at last, the marines seated in the audience finally broke free from their spell.
As the marines gathered, drawing their weapons to join the fray, Rasputina, the Lich, stood from behind the desk where she’d been knocked onto the floor. Half her face was missing, though the bones were re-stitching themselves fast, while her worn and rotting skin grew over her wounds.
Rasputina ran at Abby, who boosted her thrusters and soared back. She fired shot after shot at the lich, who dodged them with ease, her eyes emerald and hungry.
As Rasputina closed in on her, Abby constructed a small thermal grenade using her nanobots. Martin’s voice rang in her ear, informing her that she was using less than two percent of her nanobots.
Abby hovered in place, drawing the lich in. And when Rasputina lunged, jaws wide open to take a bite out of her, Abby plunged her grenade into the lich’s throat. She fired another plasma blast, tossing the lich away as Anabelle shouted for the marines to retreat.
Abby followed them, the agents and the marines ignoring the Dark Gate. When she was certain the last marine had left, she detonated the grenade, and the studio went up in flames.
Anabelle was herding the marines, one of whom held Larry, the host of the show, whose face was still pale with shock. The elf also supported Roy, who appeared ready to pass out, his eyes dancing wildly.
“We need to get out of here and on the ground,” Anabelle instructed.
The elf led the marines down the hall, toward the windows through which Terra had jumped.
Anabelle blasted the windows open with a flash of lightning from her hands. “Everyone out!”
The marines leapt from the window, tossing grappling hooks out to make their descent easier. They all wore exo-suits and were moving at above-average speed.
Abby flew past them, searching the streets for Terra.
She spotted her lying near Blackwell, curled into a ball on the wreckage of a car. As Abby approached, Dark Gates started opening inside the buildings all along the city block, the way they had when the lich had risen from the ground.
Terra sat up slowly when she spotted Abby flying toward her. “Aren’t you supposed to be on vacation?”
Abby landed beside Terra and helped her and Blackwell to their feet. “Not looking like a good time for a vacation. What happened?”
“Rasputina decided to stop by for another interview. She gets worse and worse every time I see her. She’s a fucking nightmare.”
Abby looked around at the Dark Gates shining in the windows of the nearby buildings. “What do you think is going on?”
Anabelle ran up to the trio. “We need to get to the control room ASAP. Whatever is happening, we need to have a plan.”
Abby and Terra stared at the elf, both confused. “What control room?” Terra asked.
Anabelle pointed at the sky. Above them, a massive floating aircraft carrier shimmered into existence.
Abby whistled as she stared at the carrier. “Whoa, this is going to be big, huh?”
Anabelle nodded as she scanned the area. Marines were already heading to the carrier, which had launched tractor-beams to lift the troops to safety. “Full-scale invasion,” Anabelle said. “Come on. Let’s get you inside and get you up to speed.”
While the DGAs hurried to the carrier, Roy and Blackwell were glaring at each other, their eyes filled with hate. Unlike Terra, dispelling the mind control would take some time with the two men. Whatever Rasputina had done to their minds had been more powerful than what Terra had experienced.
Or maybe Terra was more resilient. Anabelle wasn’t sure.
The carrier beamed them up. Abby wondered what Anabelle meant by “full-scale invasion.” No way things had escalated that quickly.
Guess I’m going to find out.
The control room was a smaller, modified version of the war room at HQ. A holoprojector sat in the middle of the room, surrounded by chairs for agents or VIPs. Creon was already there, waiting for the DGAs and the other special agents to arrive.
Abby’s face armor peeled away when she saw Creon. The goblin smiled and waved. “Good to see you,” he called.
Anabelle strode past the goblin and took a seat, the one Myrddin would have taken had he been present.
Blackwell, Roy, and Naota were still staring at each other like rabid dogs as they took their seats.
Abby watched them, confused by their strange behavior. “What’s up with the dudes?”
Terra, who had taken a seat beside Anabelle, explained how the lich had invaded their minds, forcing them to watch their friends committing horrible acts. Terra admitted she wasn’t sure why she’d been able to shake off the psychic
attack when the other three hadn’t.
Anabelle chimed in. “It’s because of your will. We all saw it back in the arena. I don’t know many other humans who could have willed themselves to be as strong as you. Definitely not these three. You’re on a whole other level. Might even have a stronger will than the lich.”
The elf pointed at the three men. “You all need to handle your shit. I don’t have time to babysit you, and I will not have you attacking each other until this gets figured out. You understand?”
Roy rubbed the side of his temples as he cleared his throat. “Yeah, got it. I’ll hold it together.”
Blackwell and Naota muttered a similar response.
Anabelle turned her attention to the holomap, which displayed a grid of the buildings around their immediate location. “Long story short, we’re in a fucked situation. At best, we thought this would be a repeat of the last time Terra made a public appearance. We were prepped to put heat on the lich, or on Grok if either showed up. We weren’t expecting this.”
Abby raised her hand. “What exactly is this?”
The holomap changed, revealing the interior of the studio. Glowing spots dotted the Dark Gate where the machine had begun to heal itself.
“You were right when you said this was too similar to what happened before. I commed Creon, and he pulled up a scan showing how many Dark Gates are opening up. Almost four times more than before. We can only assume this is another kind of ritual.”
Terra leaned into her chair as she released a deep sigh. “Ritual for what? The Dark One already summoned an undead, immortal, pretty all-powerful, lich. What the fuck else could he bring out here?”
Anabelle swiped through a couple of options on the holoscreen. They were all terrifying. “You don’t read a whole lot of fantasy, do you? Realistically, I have no idea what they’re summoning. It’s not a type of magic people often use anymore because of how unpredictable whatever is summoned can be. Look at the lich. The Dark One obviously summoned her to help him with his army, but she seems much more content doing her own thing.”