The Wanderer (Book 1): The Wanderer

by Giancioppo, Danny

  “Hey, I just uh… I know you’ve been busy all day, but, can we talk, maybe?” she asked.

  “Yeah totally– later though,” I said. “I’m kind of… on the moon, right now.”

  “You’re– what?” Alannah shouted. “Are you serious?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Jason, that’s incredible! How long did that take you!? All day!?”

  “No, only like, thirty minutes.”

  “Oh my gosh…” she gasped. “Um, alright, well do you think we could maybe talk in an hour or two? I just… I really want to talk to you about, you know, what happened with you and Sam– and me, I guess.”

  NOOOOOOOOOOOO was what I wanted to say, for so many reasons. The strongest of course being that the very idea of confronting the girl of my dreams terrified me to no end. Also, you know, it was dangerous.

  “Alannah…” I murmured into my helmet. “I…I don’t think…”

  “What? You don’t think what…? Jason?”

  I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t not tell her what was going on. Hearing her voice– just hearing say my name– I just… I couldn’t lie to that.

  “I can’t come back, Alannah,” I said. “I’m not.”

  “What?” she asked, laughing in disbelief. “Are you serious? What do you mean you can’t?”

  “Alannah, it’s way too dangerous; if I stay home, you guys could be at risk–”

  “From what? Challengers? You fight those all the time, you’re great at it! Jason, you’re a hero–”

  “No, not…! Everyone would be in danger, Alannah, you’d be…! I-I can’t let that happen. I’m sorry.”

  She was silent for a moment, and I wondered whether she’d just hang up on me there and then, or if she’d actually fight me over this; it’d be just like her, after all. Instead though, she did something else.

  “Is it me?” she asked. Her voice was soft, reserved; it hardly left her mouth, and she sounded so… nervous. “I mean… Jason, honestly, I’m sorry if setting it up like this is freaking you out, I just wanted to say that, you know, I– I mean I think that I like–”

  “Don’t,” I interrupted, clenching my eyes shut. “Please, just…just don’t.” She was quiet, and I stared back up at my big blue planet, where she sat somewhere, right then, just wanting to see me. I wanted to see her. Yet here we were. “Alannah, I… goodbye. Goodbye.”

  “Jason, wait–!” she tried, but I had the suit hang up on her. It felt like someone straight up shot me in the heart sixty times, and they were reloading. Every passing second of realizing what just happened felt like an eternal grave I’d just dug myself into, and I was cascading into total self-hatred buried deep beneath the life I’d just thrown away.

  And then, as if on cue, my already tarnished mood was ruined.

  “It’s not easy, departing from the ones you once loved,” Malek said from behind me. He landed, and a little moon dust floated over into my field of view. I refused to turn around and face him, though. “The people you used to call family. They don’t understand though, Jason Rhodes. Not like we do– what it’s like to be alone.”

  “We’re not alike,” I said. “You and I, we’re totally different people. You’re alone, Malek, not me.”

  “Really?” he scoffed. “You have no family– the only family you ever had seem to have disowned you, haven’t they? Your ‘friends’ can’t understand you, and you know why? Because you are on a different level, Jason. You are greater than them.”

  I stood up, and turned around to face him. Damn, he was so gross looking. Little pores all over his face, a couple quills sticking out from the back of his neck. A real ugly-mug.

  “Because of you, right?” I asked. “Because it sure as hell wasn’t me. I was just a normal kid, and then I got this title that you made, just to have a friend.”

  “Not a friend, an equal,” Malek explained. “Jason, were you truly like the rest of them? You can’t ever leave well-enough alone, you fight at every chance you get, you lose your temper, you steal and break any chance at a real relationship with anyone you care about. Not because you are afraid of them, but because deep down, you know, you are not one of them… You have no time for their ridiculous joke of a lifestyle. Life can be dictated as you see fit, so long as you have the mind and capability to do so.”

  “Yeah? So what? So– So I just decide to be the hero, I guess? I want to be the ‘good guy’ for once, and now I get to change everything about the way the world looks at me? My world? Or, wait a second, I could have done that, fi you didn’t force me to push them away just so they don’t die!”

  “Jason Rhodes, how dare you be as foolish as assume such childish titles as heroes and villains actually exist,” Malek said, and for the first time, he actually sounded a little pissed. “Good and evil are simple concepts for even simpler creatures who cannot see beyond the morality of their day-to-day decisions. Life sustains itself in the grand scale, not the minutiae of everyday life; if you were looking to be a hero with these gifts, Jason Rhodes, you have seriously misjudged what the Wanderer is meant for. What you are meant for.”

  I scowled at him– though I guess he couldn’t really tell, with the visor and all– and walked off down the moon. I didn’t want to fight– I’d lose– I just wanted Malek to leave me alone. He followed me however, floating just above the steps I made in the moon-ground.

  “I don’t want to be your equal, Malek,” I said. “I’m not a weaver, I’m not your lab rat; I’m not helping you.”

  “Jason, you don’t have a choice,” he said, zooming in front of me. “You are my creation, and we can either move forward with that in mind, or I can free you of all your ‘family ties.’ The choice is yours.”

  “Why do you want this so badly!?” I shouted. “I’ve been alone all my life, and I’m doing just fine! Just because you’re going crazy in your solitude doesn’t mean you have the right to just drag me down with you! You think I’m going to be some kind of stable point to your mental rampancy? I’m not! I’m not a weaver!”

  Malek tried to shove me back, but I saw it coming and dodged. He glared at me, and swung at me with his fist. I ducked under it, and punched him in the side. He snarled, and I just swung at him again. He took the hit, and this time he didn’t flinch.

  Instead, he tackled me into the ground. I wrestled him off of me, and kicked him into a little crevice nearby. I leapt over, and before I’d landed Malek already stood back on his feet. He grabbed my leg and slammed me down onto the ground. When I smashed down into it, he tried to kick my head into the floor, but I rolled out of the way, and flew back into him, slamming us both into the wall of the crevice by our shoulders.

  I shot up into the air, and tried to throw him into the ground again. He overpowered me though, and I ended up being the one to hit the deck. He landed as I crashed, and picked me up off my side.

  Malek grabbed my neck, and with his other hand he simply lifted it into the air. Suddenly, I felt that we had slipped back into a frozen frame in time.

  “I could leave you here,” Malek growled. “I may not have a full grasp on the laws of time, but I know enough to trap you inside this single moment, forever, alone. You will see no change, no growth, no decay. No loved ones will call for you, nor will you even be a passing thought in their minds. You will be erased from life entirely. Don’t make me do that.”

  I struggled to get out of his grasp, and after a lot of pulling at his arm, he let me go, and I fell to the ground. He clicked us back into time, and I took a pained breath.

  Malek lifted up off the ground, and began floating away from me.

  “Stay in contact with your friends as much as you feel safe with, Jason Rhodes. But soon enough, it will be you and I, and nothing more. The sooner you accept that, the better off we will both be.”

  And like that, he was gone. I just sat on my knees, breathing in staggered breaths, trying not to get irreparably pissed off.

  “Jason,” Ox said, reappearing. “We understand your frustrations, b
ut–”

  “How the hell am I supposed to beat him!?” I asked, looking up at Ox. He just stared at me for a moment before shaking his head, and staring up at the stars where Malek burst off to.

  “We do not know,” he admitted.

  “I mean… are they gods? Can weavers even be killed?” I asked, trying to fight back the stinging tears from leaving my eyes. I get it, I cry a lot, but this was a weird-ass amount of stress to have to handle for a teenager.

  “We don’t believe them to be gods, but… they are certainly powerful,” Ox said. “Malek was a mighty wedge which pushed most of our loved ones from our lives, if nothing else, for their own safety. It is not fair, but if you want to change that, Jason…”

  “I need to beat him,” I muttered. “I need to kill Malek.”

  “It would seem so,” Ox agreed. “We have theorized that it may be possible…”

  “How?” I asked, seeing he had something more to say. “How is it possible? What’s possible?”

  “Malek created the title of the Wanderer,” Ox explained. “When the title is passed down, the Wanderer physically give it away through its golden essence. The Wanderer is based on Malek’s own being, so we have theorized– perhaps– Malek’s essence too, can be taken.”

  “You mean, I can…I can steal his essence?” I gawked. “His very being?”

  “We are unsure, but… maybe. Until then… perhaps it would be best for you to leave your old life behind, until we can be certain; if it really is worth what you feel, then perhaps it will still be there for you, if you may return.” We sat there for a minute, just taking all that in, as I nodded solemnly; I’ll be honest, it was actually really nice to have Ox with me then, even if he was just a collection of essences or whatever. “Come, you should continue your training.”

  “Yeah, alright…” I said, standing back up.

  “Focus,” Ox directed. I closed my eyes. “Create a ball of cosmic energy in your hand.

  I held out my two hands, palms-up, and tired my best to will the energy out. It took a minute, but I started to feel my hands seriously heat up, and once I opened my eyes, I saw two little balls of cosmic energy sitting in them.

  “Oh! Oh I’m doing it!” I marvelled. “Ox, I’m doing it!”

  “Good,” Ox said. “Release it.” I shot my hands out toward the stars, and blasted the energy out. It shot out of both my hands in these big, white beams and inevitably dissipated into the vastness.

  “Oh man,” I gasped, looking down at my palms afterward. “Not bad, huh?”

  “Not at all,” Ox agreed. “Now, let’s continue.”

  11

  Why Do Stars Fall Down From The Sky

  “Kid, what the hell’s the matter with you?” Bentley asked, shutting the drones down for a minute and stepping inside the sparring room. We’d been training for about an hour, and I was already exhausted. Or really, I guess my heart just wasn’t it.

  The drones would shock and shoot me– the pellets had to be swapped out for actual bullets, but they still only stung more than anything. That said, once twenty drones swarm you at once, electric shocks and whizzing bullets still left some marks.

  “Sorry Bentley, I just…” I shook my head, breathing heavy through my mouth. “My head’s not in it right now.” Again, heart, but whatever.

  “Well why don’t you pull it out of your ass, for starters? It’ll probably do you some good,” he said. A swell of compliments and good advice came from this one, let me tell you.

  “I’d just rather smell that than you, if I’m being honest,” I replied. He just stared at me, unsatisfied with the killer one-liner, and demanded a real answer out of me. “It’s been three months since I last talked to any of my friends, Bentley. Three. And the last conversation was with Alannah, over the phone, on the moon, and it didn’t exactly go over well.”

  “Yeah, it’s a tragic backstory, but you’re fighting for them aren’t you?” Bentley pointed out.

  “Yes, but I don’t–”

  “You don’t want it to be like this, I know. Tough news, kid, the world doesn’t exactly swirl around you. You want things to be different? Do what you can, and recognize that time and chance play a pretty hefty factor. Do you get what I mean?”

  “No.” I did, but I just wanted to see him get all flustered. It was too easy. Bentley groaned, and clenched his hands in and out of fists.

  “I’m saying let’s keep training,” he said. “You want to beat Malek, you gotta fight harder, smarter, better.”

  “Alright, why are you in here then?” I asked. Bentley scowled, and turned around, heading back into his little control room.

  “This is why I don’t want kids, you little bitch…” he grumbled to himself. What a guy.

  I heard some beeps and whirs, and all of a sudden all the drones on the ground spurred back to life, and flew up into the air. There were little vents near the ceiling where more could fly in, but so far we were dealing with about thirty or so drones.

  “Alright, I’m setting them to max stats right off the bat, you whiny prick, so you’re going to have to be fast,” Bentley explained over the intercom. “Not everything is about brute force, you have to be quick with your movements. Precise. You gotta think quick.”

  “Funny, coming from a caveman like you,” I said, hopping around, trying to avoid their blasts. “Sorry, early-man.”

  “Thinking quick means no smartass remarks,” he said. As if those required any thinking for me.

  I leapt all over the place, flying up in the air where I could find a pocket. It should be mentioned that I also didn’t have my suit on, so I didn’t really have the training wheels. I hadn’t needed them as much the last few months as it was, but that also meant less protection, and more of my own focus to do multiple things– flying, fighting, powers– at once. That was difficult, but more of the training I needed.

  I managed to get about half the drones off– I wouldn’t break them, I’d just tap them with enough force to shut them off, which still actually did take a good amount of strength– when Bentley decided to make a change.

  A bunch of extra drones flew in through the vents, and suddenly I was surrounded by like, 45 zappy-shooties; God, I have to work on my naming skills.

  “Uh, Bentley, why!?” I said, weaving through as many as I could without getting hit. It was done with minimal success. “What the hell is this!?”

  “Hydra run,” he said. “You get one, two more fly in. You want to win? Shut them down faster than reinforcements can join the fight.”

  “That sounds wildly stupid,” I complained. “Can’t we like, I don’t know, call it a day?”

  “Nope. Get to work, kid.”

  “Yeah, easy to say when you’re sitting in a swivel chair…” I muttered.

  I spent the next five to ten minutes trying and failing repeatedly to get all the drones down and out at once. As you might imagine, the more I failed, the harder it became, and before I knew it, I had something like 100+ drones filling up the sparring room like a hoard of very angry electric bees with guns.

  I bolted to the opposite end of the room, and took a breath, landing on the ground.

  “Alright…Alright think, you idiot,” I said to myself. “Use your head…Use your…! Bentley!” I shouted.

  “What?” he asked, as though I’d just interrupted a business call or something; like, you’re supposed to be here with me right now, right?

  “How expensive are these things? Quickly?” I asked. Keep in mind these things were very fast, so I didn’t have a whole lot of time for a rant.

  “More than you’re worth,” he barked.

  “Oh, so they must be pretty cheap, then.”

  “Kid, do not break these things.”

  “Oh, sorry B, you’re breaking up!”

  “Kid!”

  I held out my hands, and pointed them at the right and left walls. I blasted out a huge wave of cosmic energy from each hand, and quickly swept them toward the center. Once my hands connected, s
o did the beams, and I shot them left, and then quickly shoved off to the left once more.

  It was crazy bright, and wicked hot, but when I stopped firing the energy out, all that was left was a pile of dust and metal scraps.

  “Not bad,” I chuckled, marvelling at my own creation.

  Then Bentley barged in.

  “What did I say!?” he yelled. “What the hell did I goddamn say, kid!? I said don’t break the drones! That’s federal equipment!”

  “You made that way too hard!” I shouted back. “Malek won’t be like that! He probably couldn’t even beat all those stupid drones!”

  “You have zero respect for anything that goes on here, you know that? People are busting their asses so you can go back to the life you want by helping you here, and you just go and break anything you want, bust through doors, skip sessions at least twice a week!”

  “Well excuse the hell out of me for wanting to have a normal life! I’m not your lab rat, Bentley, I’m my own person! Sorry if you can’t get your sick kicks out of tazing a teenager with a hundred and one flying-guns anymore!”

  “You don’t understand how important you are, kid!” Bentley screamed into my face. “You have no clue how seriously you’re supposed to be–!”

  The door swung open, and casually, Bell walked over, his hands in his pockets. Bentley and I both stepped away from each other, and he just peered behind us, inspecting all the damage.

  “What’s going on here?” Bell asked. “Jason broke the drones?”

  “He–! Yes…” I said.

  “Hydra run?” Bell asked.

  “Yes, sir,” Bentley responded.

  “Hmm,” Bell grunted. He just sort of scanned the whole room over, and then looked me up and down quickly. “Nice job, Jason.”

  “Suck it,” I muttered to Bentley, smirking.

  “But you have to clean this mess up, no powers,” Bell finished. “There should be a broom and a dustpan in one of our closets down here.”

  “I believe the sucking’s all yours,” Bentley scoffed. I flipped him off, and Bell just rolled his eyes.

  “You know, I’d hoped we wouldn’t have to deal with an immature adolescent when we brought you here; I didn’t think I’d be juggling two,” he said.