by Daniel Ruth
I continued to lay there and contemplate my navel. The after effects of this mode of travel was pain, nausea, and weakness. Since I learned the trick it really hasn't gotten any better. Frankly, I doubted it ever would unless I could completely break the rune or disrupt its connection to my matching rune adorning my chest.
After a half hour, I felt well enough to get up and look around. Above me towered the portal. It was the Primary Portal. The keystone to Vatapi's invasion plan and was, therefore, the largest of all the permanent portals he created. The one in France was neat since he turned a national monument into a cool looking portal but this one was the largest. The glowing light from the portal seemed to rise above me forever.
Wait a minute. I continued to stare upwards. The light show did stretch out above me, far more than it used to. Good lord! Not only did the ley lines converge from the sides but the vestigial ley light Lamia had formed to send me back had finally congealed into the real thing. That was bad.
I knew it was a likely possibility but I had hoped it wouldn't happen. Sighing, looked downward at the barriers circling the crater I was in. Turrets surrounded me, aimed not directly at me but still in the direction of the portal. They must still have issues with the dinosaurs and other wildlife wandering in from the other side. As far as I knew, the planet on the other side wasn't inhabited by any intelligent species but had a delicious breed of creatures. The local shifters loved them. Large and tasty, yet completely non-magical. The definition of easy prey.
I glanced at the stone again. There wasn't any point in putting it off anymore. Pulling out my tooth that Stella had turned into an artifact, I pushed the tip against the stone as I felt the etched runes of truth warm against my hands. I concentrated and put myself in a state of reverie.
Pushing the concept of Truth through the tooth I once again enforced my perspective on reality. The point etched the now familiar rune on the side of the stone. With experience, I was able to make it a bit smaller. A rune merely a few centimeters wide. After a moment of double vision, I firmed my will and the probabilities merged, becoming the one reality we live in. With a sharp crack, a shard the size of a few fingers fell into my hands.
My breath left me explosively. In an instant, all the energy I had just recovered was gone. Fortunately, the pain and nausea from the transition didn't return, just the exhaustion. That was one. I planned to do this a few more times. As fun as it was to carve swathes of destruction through a city, I preferred it to be on purpose rather than a result of a loss of control.
I rested a for an hour an did it again. At this point, I hear voices approaching me.
"Is he here?"
"Surveillance shows mostly static but the corrective algorithms signaled a match."
"So why has he been in there for over two hours?"
"Did Timmy fall down the well?"
"Shut up. You need his help even more than I do. If you need to beg to get on his good side then you better get used to begging."
"Damn."
One of the voices sounded familiar. Ryder, I think his name was. He was a young shifter thug that kidnapped Jeremy. I was a bit pissed off at the time but after I had literally ripped him half most of my aggression was gone. It was actually doing a favor for him so he had thanked me for it.
Now that I wasn't recovering from being dimensionally shredded and simply tired, I sat at the top edge of the anchor stone and swung my legs off the side. It was only a bit over a meter in height so although it made a lousy seat it was still better than sitting on the ground. Since I was back on Earth I had changed my robes into my faux tweed suit.
"Professor," called Ryder, his head peeking in between the turrets. "You're back. Conrad has been worried about you being out of contact."
"I was slee... doing research. Very slow research on mind-boggling complex things."
"Right. Glad your back," he said awkwardly. Then he dragged his companion forward, almost pushing him into the crater. "This Austin. He has the same problem I had."
"Charmed," I said flatly. He was another shifter involved in the kidnapping of Jeremy. Shifter society may have thought this was teenage hijinks but he was lucky I didn't want to tear him in half without the benefit of a regeneration circle.
"Hello," Austin haltingly said. He was wearing his AEGIS uniform. Pretty much community service. He also wore an oversized helmet. It conveniently covered the bowl with the mystic negation ward I had glued to his head. It was for his own good since it prevented him from exploding for betraying his previous employer, the demon lord Vatapi.
"The elders gave me this to give to you," he said as he slid down the sides of the slope and handed me a book. I didn't say anything as I flipped through it. Gradually my left eye began to twitch and I ground my teeth together.
"What the hell," I said explosively, looking up from the magical tome. "Are your elders trying to mess with me?"
"I don't understand," Austin stutters. Ryder looked on from the ledge above in puzzlement.
"The first tome was a dimensional portal spell," I prompted. They looked at me blankly. "The dimensions are locked. No dimensional magic works unless it's through the existing portals Vatapi set up or it’s a natural short term random one."
"I was told you were looking for anything magical related."
"This one is a demon banishment spell," I continued, ignoring his interruption. "Which won't work as long as the barriers remain up. At most it may make them feel a bit queasy."
"I thought you were a scholar," Austin interjected. "You’re a mage?"
I rubbed my forehead in annoyance. "Where the heck did you think the circles and wards on the buildings that have been partly suppressing the ley line surges came from?"
"The what," Austin said, looking bewildered. Ryder obviously had a moment of enlightenment. He may have remembered the circle I used to heal him.
"Sorry, we didn't know. We can't actually read the books. The elders traded them with some of the hidden mages."
"You have contact with the old mages?" I asked in delight. At this point, my annoyance was forgotten. "Can you introduce me?"
"Not really," Ryder said uncomfortably. "Since they cast that big spell to brainwash the leaders of the world they've been in hiding. Especially now since the spell drove most of the higher levels of government insane. They only use online communications and single-use dead drop locations."
"Can I have their chat address?"
"I hear if anyone besides the designated person contacts them, they abandon that ID," Austin offered. "You never hear from that contact again. They are incredibly paranoid."
"Well, there's a few secret societies dedicated to hunting them down and killing them," Ryder reluctantly explained. "There's a lot of bad feelings over what they did and how they pretty much let the rest of us hang."
"Okay. Fine," I grudgingly accepted their explanation. "Wait up by the guns. I need to sit here for a few hours."
"Hours?"
"Yeah, you can drive me home once I'm done and I'll fix Austin." I paused in thought. "Oh yeah, I don't have a terminal. Have Conrad send me one to the house."
I heard them muttering to each other. Neither one wanted to be the one to contact Conrad. I ignored their bickering as I flipped through the spell book while I recovered.
"Oh, and order pizza and something to drink. It's been a month so the service industries are bound to be almost restored, right?"
At this point, a wailing siren started to sound throughout the park. Maybe even the entire city for all I knew. I put away the book and looked around trying to find the source.
"What the heck is that?" I asked bewildered.
"Air raid siren," Ryder replied glumly as he looked upward, searching the sky.
"Air raid? Who would be raiding?" I asked in bewilderment. "Is there another demon outbreak? Because that should be impossible unless Vatapi is back."
"No. No demons," Ryder replied distractedly. "Mars is attacking."
I stared at him mutel
y for a minute. "Okay. I am sure that makes sense somehow. But I can't think of it at the moment. Did they run out of sand and rock and they want ours?"
"We're too far away from the hardened force fields," Austen said nervously. His skin shimmered and developed a metallic sheen. I vaguely recalled that was his ability. The last time I had seen him use was when he had kidnapped Jeremy, supposedly under the direction of the deceased Fenris. I had dented his face repeatedly.
"What happened to the force field that was stationed here?"
"It was redeployed to interlock with the others," Rhyder said. "When it synchronizes with the others the field is stronger. Also, if the attacks get through, any one of them will severely damage the city."
Above us in the sky points of light began to rain down, only to plume inter a distributed radiance as it struck a barrier high above the city. Moments later light flashed upward, several from the cannon we were standing next to. They were strangely quiet except the crackling of ionized gas. Soon new explosions bloomed. After a few moments, the siren paused.
"That was shorter than usual," Austin commented. "I think their factories are running out of stocks."
"Probably. Without people or an AI they were bound to run out of steam," Ryder replied.
"Okay, why is Mars attacking," I asked. "And why didn't they use that huge honking satellite cannon that was blasting everything in sight when Vatapi attacked?"
"It was pointed in the wrong direction," Ryder replied with a snort. "While it was pointed down here, one of the fighter ships blew it up. Mars had been patrolling our space to ensure no one left the planet, so when they started firing no one had a chance to do much at first. I mean, sure earth is scary, but just to start firing?"
"I hear that after they started firing, they accused us of attacking us with portals and monsters," Austen volunteered. "After a few days, there were no more communication but the bombardment kept up. As I said, they seem to be dying down."
"Portals and monsters," I muttered. Looking at the massive ley line that trailed into the sky like a glowing ribbon I nodded to myself. "When did this start?"
"A few days ago. Are you ready to leave Professor? I suppose it's safe enough to stay here for a bit but we can drive you home when you're ready."
"I need another set of shards, so it will be a few hours," five should be enough for a bit. I didn't want to stay here all night. "Order food."
I hopped up on the anchor rocks ledge and the two shifters looked at each other awkwardly before they left the area. Then night fell.
Chapter 8
A few minutes later I heard a flutter of fabric and smelled a hint of perfume. "Vivian?"
"You've been gone a while," her voice drifted eerily from the dark. I see very well in the dark so she must have been crouching behind something. Vampires.
"It's been a month," I snorted. "Do you need to hold my hand a bit."
"I see you haven't changed. You always seem so bitter."
"I haven't seen anything good come from you or your goddess. Did you notice the invasion she triggered?"
"How can you blame the Mars attacks on Lamia?" she asked in a puzzled tone.
"Because she is a moron. See that glowing ribbon above us?"
"I know what a ley line is, Professor."
"Your goddess created that. It leads straight to Mars. Guess what has happened to Mars that they are now blaming Earth for. Specifically, Arc, since the glowing line points here."
"Jesus Christ!" I wondered briefly if her mouth burned when she said that or if the staff protected her. "No wonder... So, they are experiencing the same thing we are?"
"Hardly. Vatapi wanted his ten worlds chained together and everything else locked out. The portals," I gestured to the massive portal looming above us. "All of them lead to very specific places in the ten worlds. The random portals that pop up and spew the dinosaurs the packs like to chow down on all go to these limited worlds. It's relatively safe."
"And the one on Mar... where do they go?"
"Everywhere in the multiverse," I breathed out. Someday I wouldn't mind wandering the dimensions. "From all the hells, to all the heavens. Some boring safe places but since there's always one coming or going there's always some demon or monster on the horizon. The poor SOBs up there didn't even see it coming."
"But everyone on Mars, or rather almost everyone, has the nanite modification. They are impossible to kill."
"I doubt that is comforting when they are being digested in some supernatural creatures' stomach for the next few centuries or wandering the forests and jungles scrounging for shelter because those monsters just smashed all the buildings and cities."
"That’s absurd! They had the same technology as here. They even had all the restricted technology not allowed here. How could they be destroyed?"
"Maybe they weren't," I shrugged. "However, the police think that the factories are running on empty and no one is home. I suppose they may have been driven underground. I have heard that happening fairly often back home. Portals almost never form underground."
"What did you mean about jungles? Mars is one big desert. The terraforming schedule hasn't gotten that far."
"You've seen what happened in the park," I waved to the crater above us. We were surrounded by the largest park in the city. "Ley line energy is pure life energy. The distillation of magic. The portals bring the elements of life and seeds, monsters too. An entire ecosystem. Thousands of ecosystems. The planets probably not very red anymore."
Vivian stayed silent for a few minutes. After a minute I prompted her. "Why did you come to see me?"
"I dream of Sebastian..."
"Ah, you see dead people."
"The staves allow us to communicate," she continued, completely ignoring me. "I am aware that you have 'seeded' the second world." I mouthed the word 'seeded'. So that's what they were calling it. "Lamia is calling on you to finish your promise."
"Yes, she told me I have to spread her breed of vampirism throughout the ten worlds or she'll pout."
"I know you don't like her," she paused. "For reasons that now make more sense... but if she abandons us to Vanth then we all lose."
"I recently met Vanth," I said absently. "He was uglier than I had thought he would be."
"Really? What..."
"However, I am pretty sure Lamia's pantheon didn't like her bringing the apocalypse to an entire planet. Even by accident," I thought for a moment. "Especially by accident."
"What does that have to do..."
"Although I am not positive, I think that she doesn't actually have a choice anymore. Not that it matters, I'll go ahead and help her out. But there may be complications."
"Vanth?"
"No. I'll take care of him eventually," I muttered. I had some ideas about how to handle him. I just needed to find him. As large and ugly as he was vampires could be pretty stealthy. "But not all ten worlds may be inhabited by vampires. Technically that would mean I would need some of your people to volunteer to colonize it."
My lip curled in disgust. The thought of vampires spreading was unpleasant. The thought of me helping them was even more bizarre.
"Is that wise," Vivian asked cautiously. "While I am at peace with my life choices, and have actually welcomed new members of our race... knowing Vanth is out there makes it sound unwise to go to places where we are not already."
"I thought the same," I frowned in agreement. As reasonable as she was being, I was getting still getting annoyed at talking to the air while she played hide and seek. "See if you can contact Lamia and see if that's what she intended. I will be going to a new world soon, so I will need her answer."
"I'll let you know when I have an answer." I vaguely heard fabric flapping in the wind and I couldn't sense her anymore.
I calved another shard off the anchor stone and then the food arrived. By the glow of the portal, I sat and ate pizza with the two ex-hoodlum officers. By the time we had finished the sixth box, I was feeling energetic enough to get another
shard. At this point, I knew it was time to go home and sleep a night in my own bed. It had been over a month since I had the opportunity.
When they had said that they would drive me, they hadn't been kidding. They actually had a roadworthy vehicle. Not only that but the traffic surrounding us was also ground vehicles. They looked like mass-produced knockoffs of older cars but apparently, they were easier to harden against the ambient energy surges and you didn't have to worry about falling out of the sky. I had apparently underestimated this concern. Stella would have approved.
It was still faster than my rickshaw, though not nearly as fun for me. Other than the bumpiness the only real difference was the traffic buoys were lower.
It wasn't long before we reached my house. I owned the entire block but I was mostly attached to this one house. I had a workshop in the basement, a false floor under that basement where I kept gold and gems in piles for an occasional luxurious wallow.
I also had a special shower where I had superheated water jet out. It would flay the flesh off anyone not supernatural within seconds but it was a guilty pleasure for me. It was perfectly safe though. It had a big red button as the trigger.
Therefore, I was understandably eager to enter my tiny kingdom when I noticed an undesirables standing next to a car in front of my house.
" Hardy," I sighed dejectedly. "Where's your buddy, Laurel?" This wasn't actually their names; however, one was thin and one was fat. That combined with me not bothering to remember their real names. Apparently, they took this as encouragement to open their mouth.
"How the hell would I know where that freak is? Kingston is calling in one of his markers," Hardy said quickly. He must have realized that I was about to ignore them and go inside.
"Does he want to go to Mars?" I asked despondently.
"I don't know and it's not our business," He replied. "You can come with me or call Kingston from your house."
"He doesn't want me to trek over to Mountain High?" I asked in wonder. "I thought he liked getting me to waste time traveling around."