Soul Hunter

by Drew Briney

  Vaya Sage places the magnetic, encrypted bar next to the door. Recognizing the code, the door unlatches as he enters the old cabin. I instruct my AI chip to engage in pointless chatter with Vaya Sage while I continue to probe his mind.

  Soon, he has his magma rifle and a few other trinkets unpacked and ready for use. He hasn’t thought of much anything apart from pragmatic details about what he’s doing but I can tell there’s something in the back of his mind I need to find. I’m struggling to find my way through his labyrinth of disjunct thoughts.

  Despite his intelligence, damage to his brain is tangible, palpable as I traipse through his psyche. He’s consumed with doubts and uncertainties all while exhibiting indefatigable confidence in himself. It’s a bizarre twist I can’t quite wrap my own head around. He sincerely believes he’s going to figure all of this out all while being entirely insecure in each and every memory he’s been reviewing. The cognitive dissonance he endures is staggering. I’m quite impressed and it makes me desirous to salvage him for that hit he’s so uber qualified to do for me.

  “Will you just shut up a moment? I need to think.” he barks so loudly that I can no longer forget that my AI is controlling my conversation. I feign a hurt look and close my mouth but he doesn’t bother to toss the slightest glance in my direction. He’s looking intently through the scope so I focus my attention on his conscious thoughts rather than rummaging through his mind for helpful tidbits he seems to be suppressing somehow.

  He’s spotted the man puttering around the living room, accomplishing nothing much at all. But that isn’t what’s caught Vaya Sage’s attention. A framed picture on the wall portrays a younger version of the target. He’s in a military uniform, a conscripted soldier for his country, a Swiss tradition that’s endured for centuries. Vaya Sage quickly connects the dots, reviews the details of the target’s face, concludes that they’re the same person.

  Merde. I don’t usually curse in French but when among the Romans ...

  Vaya Sage slightly lowers the rifle as if adjusting his target but I know better. He’s just given a signal. His conscious mind finally unleashes what I’ve been unable to uncover reading other portions of his mind. A sniper is positioned to my right.

  Nearly before I can consciously register this turn of events, my AI chip takes action, stimulates neurons to make me jump and roll to a different position behind Vaya Sage and away from the window. As I do, I slap my right thigh to engage a device inside a patch I’ve attached there. Normally, I have it embedded subdermally but I haven’t had time for that in this new body yet. My AI chip responds faster than the sniper so there is no gunshot but I know he’s watching. He’s all over Vaya Sage’s consciousness now.

  For a moment, I’m relatively safe. My device will obscure my position for the sniper so he won’t be certain where I am. It didn’t work with Vaya Sage so I’m more than a little nervous about it’s effectiveness but it’s all I have for now.

  I notice the dishwasher isn’t far from my current position so I roll sideways to put it between myself and the sniper. The moment I’m balanced and in position, I lock eyes with Vaya Sage.

  “Would you like to speak with Ji Anna? She’s still in here.”

  Ever so slightly, his jaw drops. I’d give a million credits and two digits for a holo-image of his expression. He doesn’t know that’s what I read in his thoughts earlier, the gem that made me so excited. Neither does he know it’s a complete sham. But, it will bide me time while the Dark Uzzit gets a good read on his location.

  I repeat my earlier efforts of adjusting my position to heighten allure. My anxiety is increasing so it's overly perfunctory and contrived but it's working anyway. I subtly dreamcast one of his memories noticing similarities between my figure and Midi Ella.

  He silently responds, tries to stifle that ever-present pang of guilt. He's simultaneously trying to deny my carnal appeals to his visual senses. Thankfully, the results are far from bragworthy. He's far less disciplined as these emotions reach the forefront of his mind.

  “Sure.” He answers nothing more, lowers his eyes to the ground, wonders if this is a superstitious or scientific activity. He has sound reasons for believing either.

  His answer is about as certain as a feather blowing in the wind so I know he’s just abiding his time, trying to figure out what to do. He’s worried the element of surprise is gone and so his hit on me won’t work or worse, it will just get himself possessed. I chortle so fiercely that it wouldn’t take a genius to detect some degree of masculinity behind my sound.

  “Okay, hero, here she is.” I take a deliberate breath, relax my countenance, and then contort it as if I’m afraid. Then, I rivet my attention to sounding as authentically Ji Anna as I possibly can. After all, I’ve only had time to rehearse a few lines after discovering this superstition during the hovercraft ride.

  “Vayge. Don’t listen to anything he says. Just kill him. You’ve got to take him out for—”

  I practically choke myself closing off my throat as if there’s some sort of fight over the control of my body. Of course, there’s nothing behind any of this but Vaya Sage has doubts. Don’t get me wrong, he’s not a praying man and generally speaking, he’s not superstitious in the slightest. That said, this whole scenario has really blown his brain - with or without memory alterations - so he’s exploring ideas he’d usually summarily dismiss on principle. He’s baffled by Ji Anna’s supposed statement. Clearly, if what she told him earlier was accurate, she wouldn’t advocate killing me. At the same time, why would I encourage him to kill me unless I was playing some dangerous reverse logic game?

  And then again, if he trusts her, he may not be able to stop my assassination by the sniper anyway. Surely, he’s searching for a new position by now and there’s something else.

  He changes thoughts so I can’t tell what it is, though I’m insatiably curious to unveil whatever it was. Meanwhile, Vaya Sage begins loudly wondering whether or not it’s true that I can control minds, levitate things, etc.

  Why not?

  For distraction’s sake, I levitate a knife on the counter, slowly move it toward Vaya Sage. I chuckle as his visage responds to the movement, registers the implications of what’s happening.

  I decide to amp up the juice. I alter my voice to sound more like Midi Ella and prepare to fluctuate my voice like she did. I already called him Vayge - I'm guessing he noticed that, though his thoughts didn't seem to register anything. Also, I dreamcast an ever-so-slight image of Midi Ella over the top of my own body to enliven his emotions and guilt. I hope it's just enough to influence his subconscious while not being enough to really notice.

  “I can give you everything you desire, Vaya Sage. I can wipe your memory clean, embed the memories from every accomplished saxophonist since they were invented, offer you anonymity to relocate, retire, play jazz until the day you die. Just say the word.”

  His face contorts in a way I cannot understand. Even reading his mind seems to be superfluous. He’s clearly considering the offer but it feels something akin to suicide when I put it like that. Not to mention he has a teensy bit of distrust issues with me. Peering through his mind, I see him watching me again even as his physical eyes train upon my neck. He’s trying to avoid eye contact, uncertain whether or not that affects my ability to mind control. Meanwhile, he’s admiring the beauty of my neck.

  This guy’s really whack. I enhance the overlay of Midi Ella, try to distract him from properly reasoning through all of this.

  He’s remembering how, as Treiliki, I used to turn my neck in a certain way while my eyes lingered on a certain vase in the Chateau de Chillon. I smile as I see the similarity between he and me. His memories continue, noting that I’ve looked at the same vase in the same way and with the same physical gestures as Treiliki. It could be something subconscious from my consciousness that’s made me respond the same way to the same vase in different bodies but I think it’s nothing more than coincidence, a universal feminine movement that he’s dr
awing unwarranted conclusions from. Still, I discern that this has been a deciding detail in his efforts to determine whether I’m Darkmind or Ji Anna or both.

  “What do you say,” I taunt him, waiting impatiently for the Dark Uzzit to take his shot. I really am interested in preserving Vaya Sage’s life. I'm finding all of this truly fascinating, but reality bites sometimes. He’s growing too dangerous, too unpredictable and frankly, he’s far brighter than I gave him credit for so I silently vow not to make that mistake again.

  “Zut!” I didn’t mean to curse out loud but I couldn’t help it. Where’s your hired assassin when you need him? Perhaps Vaya Sage’s assassin took out the Dark Uzzit before preparing the hit on me? Perhaps Vaya Sage anticipated my plan all along? The possibility that I’ve allowed myself to be double crossed by the very man I’ve nearly lobotomized on multiple occasions infuriates me.

  “What’s your price to erase my memories?” he asks.

  I raise both my eyebrows in genuine surprise. Of course, he’s using this as a distraction. That’s no surprise. What’s shocking is that he’s genuinely interested. His interest is peaked.

  “No price. Just give the signal to stop your sniper.”

  That’s when his thoughts gave away the final piece to the puzzle. I feel a shot to my neck. It’s only a graze but it’s deep enough to get my AI chip buzzing and whirring inside my head. It’s gathering information, performing a diagnostic check on my health, scanning my memories for any experiences or information that I want stored for my next body.

  Oh, no, I plead in vain. I know what it’s doing and I’m not ready. I don’t want another body. I don’t want to waste another few months adjusting to something new. Tabernac! Especially not Vaya Sage’s body! The specter of living in a broken mind like his sends me shuddering with terror.

  I quickly dreamcast thoughts I ran across earlier, reminiscences that Ji Anna is his only living tie to Midi Ella and that he somehow needs to preserve her life.

  Without prompting, my AI chip increases the sweat. I push myself up slightly with one hand while the other applies pressure to the wound. My shirt tightens and Vaya Sage's eyes drop, hover for a moment. Progress!

  He raises his right arm high into the air, making the universal stop signal, a vestige of his long stint in the Marines. “Stop!” he yells at the top of his lungs. Then, he lowers his magma rifle to the ground, brushes the hovering knife to the side, takes a step toward me and a little to my right, and then squats down to my level so we can converse more freely.

  “I hate not being able to trust my mind,” he confesses.

  I know it’s a genuine statement because I’ve heard echoes of that ruminating in his mind for days now. I’m trying to read his mind to see what his current angle is but I’m bleeding quite a bit and I’m struggling to focus. My left hand is putting pressure on my neck. It’s nothing life threatening but it’s bleeding a lot. I’m targeting all of the proper places with my pressure to stop the bleeding but I’m getting dizzy anyway and my already limited abilities are waning. I let the knife tumble to the ground to conserve energy and focus but I’m not making much headway. Further, I'm pretty certain Midi Ella's overlay is fading as well. All of my emotional appeals are crumbling - I hope they've been enough.

  “What assurance can you give me that I can trust you to follow my instructions as to how I want my memories reconstructed and erased?”

  Without looking, I can’t tell if I’ve got the bleeding under control, but after a few deep breaths and gloatable efforts to train my thoughts, I can tell he’s both sincere and playing me. He’s genuinely intrigued at what I might be able to do for him. At the same time, he’s pretty certain his gesture to stop my assassination was worthless. I relax a little.

  His questions are a ruse to distract me from reading his thoughts. He’s guessed all along that I’ve been touring his mind. He’s been making deliberate efforts since his brain scan to rivet his mind on nothing besides what he’s wanted me to read.

  Nevertheless, after I feigned a release of Ji Anna, his emotions began flaring. He hates that. Like me, he finds feelings more or less worthless. That doesn’t change reality, though. They come anyway and sometimes, they’re beasts to control. And right now, he’s battling his fears and emotions like never before. Killing his lover and her sister is more than he can bear, regardless of the greater good. While he believes it’s the right thing to do, he hates himself for it, blames himself for the entire train of events I’ve set in motion. As these thoughts and emotions surface and he loses control over them, awaiting my answers to his questions, wondering whether or not I can implant blissful memories of Midi Ella along with fake news of her peaceful death via some non-tragic, painless means.

  Moments like these rarely come but I've had a few so I gather every minutia of resolve and energy I can muster and play my last ploy. Tears! I command my AI. They start welling immediately.

  "Vayge, please, let's find another way. Don't kill me. I'm fighting him off. I can do this." I know it's somewhat contrary to my first Ji Anna impression but that didn't work and I'm desperate with waning mental resolve so what more could I do?

  Randomly, his thoughts veer to the Dark Uzzit, wondering whether or not he’d been too late to call off his hit.

  The instant my mind registers the image of the Dark Uzzit passing through Vaya Sage’s mind, my temper flares like I haven’t experienced in many decades. If there’s one thing I despise more than anything else, it’s betrayal by someone I’ve helped out. The Dark Uzzit was on the fast track to nowhere when I found him. I gave him the means to never need the drugs he took to enhance his magic and, by accident, delivered a contingent form of immortality he should have been eternally grateful for. Instead, he contracted to kill me even after I hired him to kill Vaya Sage.

  Out of desperation, I struggle to my feet, staring at Vaya Sage in horror.

  Am I doomed to take your body next? I wonder as I glare into his puzzled eyes.

  “You’re reading my thoughts,” he whispers, nodding. “Of course.”

  He’s metaphorically kicking himself while trying to be discreet about unsheathing his lava mag.

  “Strike me and it’s your body I’ll have next,” I warn.

  But as I say this, I’m finally straightening my posture as I move toward the fridge to take cover. But I’m not thinking straight and I recognize that all too late. My AI chip punches me with three vivant alerts in a row all while dashing through a process I’m all too familiar with.

  “Oh crap.” I’m certain my expression is dazed but I’m too tired and lazy to disguise it.

  Vaya Sage scrunches his brow in response, looks puzzled, starts to raise his hand to gesture for a second time that the hit should stop.

  I sense the Dark Uzzit’s presence for the first time as my AI chip identifies his location. Somewhere in the recess of my mind, I discern that my AI chip has identified a third person and has been evaluating which of the three would make the best transfer or if I’ll make it out of this situation alive.

  Despite three vivant alerts, I’m feeling drained and groggy, helpless as a toothless nursing baby. I lose all desire to know where I’ll be next. It’s annoying that I’ll probably end up with a broken mind in the process but I’ll get through it. I take a deep breath, gaze into Vaya Sage’s mind and without intending to, I imagine that I’m looking into a mirror, staring at the man who both outgamed me in a battle of wits and lost at the same time. I open my mouth to start speaking but I’m deluged with the nastiest headache I’ve ever had, something akin to the psionic blasts I’ve delivered to victims in the past, only this is unquestionably physical. It's all over.

  Everything goes black.

  If you enjoyed Soul Hunter, please leave a review - it helps me publish books faster. Also, if you haven't read Slice, you should give it a shot - it traces the origin story of the Dark Uzzit.

  The next installment in the Assassin Hunter series will return to Vaya Sage's point of view. Well, that
is, at least his body's point of view ...

  DREW

  the author

  DREW’S BIO

  Drew explores what happens when technology clashes with magic.

  He's drawn comparisons to heavy hitters: Ursula LeGuin (Harry Potter influence), Elaine Cunningham (queen of dark fantasy and Forgotten Realms), Fydor Dostoevsky (psychological godfather of Crime and Punishment), Andre Norton, and J.R.R. Tolkien. However, Drew takes greatest pride from knowing he can juggle more balls than any other author on the planet (sometimes, 8).

  His books feature post-apocalyptic genetically engineered humans joining forces with magic-wielding aliens (Moon 514), superstitious steampunk societies warring with a powerless mage and camouflaging dragons (Unproven), high-tech assassins trying to discern memory implants from reality (Assassin Hunter), drug-enhanced magic systems (Slice), psionically gifted dragons, telepathic griffons, symbiotic vampiric vines, and entrancing world-building. He aims to deliver thriller pacing a la Dan Brown and tightly outlined Brandon Sanderson-esque plots all while exploring deeply personal character growth.

  He accidentally found himself a bestselling author in YA SFF Steampunk and Action & Adventure (Unproven) and SFF Anthologies (for 5 Blades) and a Top 5 Author at SciFiFantasyFreak.com (for Moon 514). Currently, Drew's working on Sea Dragon Apocalypse (a futuristic sci-fi thriller meets epic fantasy mashup) and Unproven's sequel.

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