He glanced at Kabiroas’ inert form, then bent over and pulled his hood over his pale face.
“Did I kill him?” She already knew the answer, but her brain was in disbelief.
“You had no choice.”
“I didn’t think that was the real one. I’d expected him to vanish.” The sound of hearing bones crack under her fist replayed in her mind. Nausea rose in her throat. She stared at the hood. “I didn’t mean to kill him.” Murder. Kill. That’s what she’d just done. Even in self defense, it still didn’t feel right. She felt no need to cry though. She didn’t know Kabiroas, never would.
She stood by his head, then looked around the reception room at all the people watching her. A few of them, including Arryk, were either dead or dying. Arryk was barely conscious, watching her with his hands clutching the collar of his coat and dress shirt. A shiny gel covered the red line along his throat. Aerigo watched her as well, eyes still glowing red, but probably watching for any signs of her losing her sanity. Shouldn’t she be cracking? Vomiting? Crying? Going into hysterics over having killed someone for the first time? She felt none of that. She felt sad and disappointed. There’d been no murderous intentions behind her punch to his face. She’d only been trying to stay alive. She wasn’t proud of what she’d done, but she couldn’t bring herself to feel repulsed or ashamed.
She didn’t feel like some innocent child anymore.
Roxie turned back to black-clad Elf. “I don’t hate you, Kabiroas. You were just doing what you wholeheartedly believed was the right thing to do. I pity you, though. You wasted your years on a life of murder. What a shallow existence that must’ve been.” Without looking back, she crossed to Aerigo. Eyes shifting from red to blue, he pulled her into a hug but didn’t kiss her.
“I’m sorry you had to go through all that.”
She hugged him back. “It’s not your fault.”
“I know.”
“Yet you still sound like you feel guilty. Stop it.”
“I’m trying,” he said softly. His hug tightened, tensed. “I just get so furious when people try to kill you.”
“It seems to be part of the job description.”
Aerigo let go. He tried to smile but only managed to clench his jaw. “And so is learning. It’s time for one more lesson.”
Chapter 28
“The presence of extended reality has gotten stronger over the last six hundred years,” Aerigo said. He had one hand out, looking for the invisible door to Baku’s realm in the middle of the reception room. Roxie held his other hand, taking solace in his touch while her nerves made her whole body tense. She was about to learn how to unlock a heck of a lot of power. She hoped she could control it half as well as Aerigo.
The dead and injured had been brought deeper into the hospital to be taken care of. Donai and the others were with Arryk in ICU. They said brief but heartfelt goodbyes, and hoped to see them again. Roxie hoped so, too. The list of people to revisit was growing, minus the loss of Rooke and Gem on Phaedra.
So this was what it was like to experience the rougher side of Aerigo’s social life.
They stood in the presence of strangers, along with several hovering robots watching the two Aigis’ every move. They were cameras for news stations, Aerigo had explained once everything returned to some semblance of calm.
“Just to warn you, Rox,” he said over his shoulder, “world-hopping to a realm is different from going world-to-world. This will feel... uncomfortable.”
“Okay,” she said uncertainly. World-hopping didn’t feel like much of anything. It was all concentration and intent, from what she’d gathered when he’d made her world-hop off Phaedra for them. She just knew when she wasn’t where she started anymore the instant it happened.
“Visualize whatever you remember of Baku’s realm. It’ll help me get you there. Don’t stop visualizing it until we’re there. Got it?”
“Yeah.”
“Start now.”
A spike of panic seized her. The panic was like that when, after practicing something all alone for a bit, and then suddenly being asked to show it, the thought of someone watching makes you panic and mess up. She couldn’t afford to mess up, and Aerigo couldn’t wait for her. She pushed it aside.
The first thing that came to her mind was Baku himself, him and his blue eyes and salt-and-pepper hair and goatee. Then there was the lake ringed in white sand. That lake had drawn or beckoned her into its waters. She’d obliged without realizing it, but Baku had snapped her out of whatever trance the lake had slipped her into. She cringed away from visualizing the lake and instead recalled tall grass they’d taken a short walk through. Above the grass was a beautiful sky lit by what had looked like an aurora borealis. Stars twinkled beyond it. She’d seen more, but the rest of the realm hadn’t been committed to memory. She instead tried to recall how it felt to walk through that grass and how warm and soft the sand had been.
Roxie felt like she was standing in a riptide up to her hips that felt like it was trying to pull her forward. She reflexively leaned against the tide, but Aerigo’s hand pulled her forward. She tried to widen her feet in hopes of preserving her balance, but her legs wouldn’t move. Maybe they couldn’t. Normal world-hopping would’ve been over by now, but they were still standing in the reception area. However, it looked like it was underwater. She couldn’t hear talking or the TVs anymore; just what sounded like a distant crashing wave from under the surface. She refocused on picturing Baku’s realm.
Her whole body then felt like it had been pulled into the riptide. Her head led her body forward--not like she was falling, but just leaning. Still, she tensed all her muscles as she tried to visualize falling face-first onto grass, instead of the tiled floor she knew was under her booted feet. Strangely, the tiled floor felt like it was so far away, and so were her feet. The whole hospital and Kismet were far away now, and Baku’s realm was very close, yet she knew at least her feet were still on Kismet. She saw her boots, but they looked like they were near and far at the same time, as if she were gazing at them backwards through a telescope lens.
In addition to the sensation that everything was near and far at the same time, her body felt like it was being stretched like a bungee cord. Her feet remained glued to the floor on Kismet while her head rushed infinitely forward in the riptide that led to Baku’s realm. Thankfully there was no pain, although her brain couldn’t sort out where she was. The stretching sensation made her feel like she’d inhaled deeply and held her breath too long.
The rest Baku’s realm filled in around what she’d remembered. At the same time, her awareness of Nostrum Hospital fell farther and farther behind.
Before she could take in the rest of the scenery, Aerigo released her hand and stumbled forward, but stayed on his feet. His pack slid along his back, hit him in the head, and slid over a shoulder and hung like a pendulum from his neck.
Roxie’s feet suddenly caught up. Her whole body got flung forward. She stumbled through several off-balance steps, until she had to put her hands out in front of her so she wouldn’t fall on her face. She pushed off the ground and straightened up as she readjusted her backpack.
Aerigo discarded his pack on the grass and exhaled as he shook out his arms and rolled his neck.
Roxie dropped pack next to his, then shook out her limbs, trying to get rid of the stretching sensation. “That was weird. What was that stretching sensation, and why is it so different from regular world-hopping?”
Aerigo shook out his legs. “That, believe it or not, was the sensation of being in two places at once. The hop we just did felt different because we really have to brute-force our way onto a realm. If you get the chance, have Baku explain it to you. I just know how to do it.”
The both of them stood in the middle of the realm’s grassy field, a light breeze combing the tall blades in random directions. Ahead of them loomed a cluster of mountains. To their right lay the lake she’d recalled. To their left sat an ancient Greek-style building that glowed a so
ft blue from within.
“Anyway,” Aerigo said. “Let’s--” He searched the realm for Roxie could only guess what. “Here’s as good place as any.” He took another breath and exhaled heavily. “Come stand in front of me.”
Roxie obeyed, bringing herself within arm’s reach. Brows knit together, he looked her up and down--not like he was checking her out, but rather sizing her up.
“Get in a low horse stance.”
He’d taught her that on the cruise ship. She spread her feet and bent her knees as if she were sitting on a horse, making fists and chambering them at her sides. Aerigo tapped the inside of one of her boots.
“Wider. And really sit into your pelvis.”
She complied, her fists touching her quads. This wasn’t what he’d shown her, but she trusted him to know what he was doing.
“Good. Now, you’re going to do three things I’ve never done before.” He articulated slowly and carefully. “One: you’re going to help channel part of your Mana power into me. Two: you’re going to pull your remaining power back into yourself and tuck it away. And after we’ve accomplished that, I’m going to teach you how to unlock Frava. So that third thing is becoming a fully realized Aigis. From there, we’ll be confronting Nexus and taking him down one way or another. Do you understand so far?”
Roxie furrowed her brows. What happened to just learning how to unlock both halves of the power? “I get most of it. What’s with the channeling power into you part?”
Aerigo took yet another deep breath and exhaled heavily. “The simple explanation is that I’ve regained maybe a tenth of what you saw me release in Phailon. I haven’t gotten enough back to unlock the second half. I--here.” He took one of her hands and pressed her palm to his abdomen, right over his stomach. “You can relax your stance for this.” As much as she wanted to focus on how it felt to touch his sculpted chest, now wasn’t the time for such things. He gazed unfocused with concentration as he pressed his hand over hers.
Roxie felt like she was holding her hand over a small fire. In addition to the heat, it felt like her hand was touching a vibrating massage chair, but it felt like the vibrations had a life or energy of its own, like it was pushing against her hand in attempt to break free of whatever was holding it inside Aerigo. She flinched. There was a ton of it. The power felt like it took up the space of an athletic stadium. How was it all hiding inside him?
Aerigo removed her hand and she no longer felt the vibrations or heat, but she could still sense his power. It was like using her mind vision, but instead of trying to see things, she was trying to feel, like probing with invisible hands.
“That’s a lot of energy!” she said, awed.
Aerigo arched an eyebrow at her without smiling. “Now this is what your power feels like.” He placed the fingertips of one hand over the same spot on her stomach, then stood by her shoulder. He placed his other hand on her back and began drawing small, slow circles with his fingertips, the circling motion moving her skin. Roxie felt drawn to the circling. She closed her eyes and felt like she was slipping into a meditative state.
After every complete circuit, Roxie began to notice something take another step closer to her awareness, as if she was sensing someone drawing closer to her. Something; not someone. Something big. Something strong. She breathed in-time with the circling motion, one circle in, and one circle out. Her stomach began to grow warm like Aerigo’s had.
And then she felt her own power.
Her eyes flew open. “Oh, my god!” She grabbed Aerigo’s arm. He gazed at her with the same serious focus as he had after Daio had tried to kill her on the cruise ship. He gently squeezed her shoulder with his free hand. She let go.
Her power dwarfed his. It felt huge enough to level Phailon or New York City with one explosive release. Aerigo must’ve contained his power to within the space of a city block, and that was with over three thousand years of practicing using magic and whatnot. Her whole body was vibrating with just the awareness of her hidden power. How the heck was she supposed to duplicate his results?
Aerigo licked his lips nervously and took his sheathed dagger in one hand. “To give you perspective on how weak I am compared to you right now...” He drew his dagger and chucked the sheath by their packs. “You have only one shot to get this right. Take my hand with both of yours and get back your low horse stance.” He held out his free hand, palm up.
Eyeing the naked dagger, Roxie obeyed, gently sandwiching Aerigo’s hand with hers.
“Actually, hold my wrist.” She slid her grip to his wrist. He clasped hers, then set the knuckles of his dagger-wielding hand atop hers, the business end of the blade facing her. He stepped closer and dropped into a horse stance as well, the insides of his boots touching the outsides of hers. His eyes began glowing blue. “This isn’t a sign of a lack of faith in you. What I’m asking of you is anything but easy. You either succeed or you die.”
* * *
Grandmaster General Kwon Oemaru watched the front lines collide from the temporary safety of the cockpit of his fighter jet. The sight of so many bodies clashing, all the spells and projectiles arcing for the enemy, much of it intercepting midair, the number of flying creatures--all of it awed him. Gunfire, explosions, the twang of arrows, the clash of metal-on-metal, and death wails filled the air as well. It was like one of his many campaigns on a compact yet magnificent scale. He disliked Nexus a little less.
The entire allying army of 100, 000 was obeying his orders without question. Even with the thrill of so many soldiers as his disposal, he still felt paranoid. The hooded lady with only a ghost of a face remained near the forefront of his thoughts. He couldn’t shake the idea that she was planning to have him die in the midst of battle. After five thousand years of training and conquest, it would be so anticlimactic to have his legacy end here.
He donned his elongated helmet, then fired up his Sky Fang with the flip of several switches and the press of a few buttons. He tested his twin engines, cranking them up to full. The roar of their mach three capacity responded. Placing his feet on the pedals and holding onto his twin joysticks, he lurched into the air like a jumping bug and took in the aerial view of the front lines. “Mid and back lines hold a little longer,” he said to his soldiers, ninety nine of whom in turn would relay his command to the subordinate leaders. Divvying up a portion of his soldiers had been necessary for the sake of effective communication. “Let the enemies show us where their strongest point is so we can crush it.”
Oemaru skirted his jet along the edge of the realm, letting the initial volley hit something other than him. To his dismay, he spotted many a manticore dotting the enemy army. It shouldn’t have surprised him, though. There were probably a thousand of them. Oemaru arced towards the army and pressed a button that unsheathed his plasma rifles from the nose of his jet.
He aimed for the manticores nearest him the front line and took aim as he kept an eye on all the chaos filling the air. He’d never recommend this maneuver in this scenario to any of his soldiers. He was sacrificing safety in numbers, putting himself in the line of friendly fire, and probably making it easier to give what he assumed the hooded lady wanted.
A manticore took flight right at him as he let loose a volley of plasma ammunition. The beast banked out of the line of fire and came at him at an angle, wings flapping hard. Oemaru stopped firing and angled towards the beast, deciding he could skewer it. The craft was sturdy enough to rend flesh.
Right as the gap between beast and Sky Fang disappeared, the manticore veered higher and raked its claws along the top with a jaw-clenching screech, and scratched across the cockpit’s glass dome with a piercing shriek. The nose of Oemaru’s jet rose and he revved the thrusters so he wouldn’t plow into the ground, and the looming thunderstorm filled his field of vision as he made a slow ascent. The hull breach alarm wailed and the indicator in his dashboard blinked furiously.
Once he reached an altitude of four hundred feet, something punched into the rear of his craft. The manti
core clawed its way up to the cockpit, covered the dome with its chiseled chest, and dug its claws into either side of the dome.
Oemaru began executing aerial maneuvers designed to shake off someone chasing him. He rolled and dived, but when he tried to bank back into a higher altitude, he started tail-diving.
“Warning,” a calm female voice said over the hull breach alarm, “Your craft is overburdened. Please dump a minimum of seven hundred units.”
“Oh, shut up!” Oemaru snapped as he jabbed a choice button to cut off the voice before it repeated itself. The Sky Fang rocked as the manticore dug its claws back into the shredded hull. Oemaru pressed a button near the tip of each joystick, cutting off the front thrusters as he drove his steering forward. He thumbed a second pair of buttons, causing his rear thrusters to flare to max. The engines screamed at him as he leveled out two hundred feet from the ground, the fight below getting terribly close. Oemaru turned the front thrusters back on and continued sinking. “Fly, Vancor curse you!”
The manticore had to be half the size of Oemaru’s Sky Fang, which was not only sinking, but listing to port. His port wing was wobbling dangerously close to snapping off. Oemaru mashed an emergency button right in front of his elongated face and the cockpit dome popped off with an explosive hiss, socking the manticore in its stomach. The beast let go, clutching its stomach, and flew out of sight.
Oemaru had hoped dumping the excess weight would ease the burden on his wings. Instead, the port wing snapped off and spun out of sight. The jet’s descent turned into a spiraling nosedive. Oemaru undid his belt and leapt into the air as his beloved craft explode on a cavalry unit. He’d spent centuries in that craft, tens of thousands of hours of flight time, and had killed countless aliens with it. The Sky Fang’s explosion left a twenty-stride wide crater. And just to add insult to injury, it had plowed into ally cavalry. That manticore was going to receive retribution.
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