Residual: The Gray-Matter Chronicles Book 3 (The Matter Chronicles 6)

by P. G. Thomas

  *******

  Having watched Ryan transform his body a dozen different ways, Steve had seen how the man-shaped creations countered, and he fared no better with his opponent. When he heard the lightning explode in the courtyard, he threw his adversary into the air, calling out, “ERIC!” As a massive bolt of electricity slammed into it, he saw the smoldering black corpse fall to the ground. He turned, placed his fists on the head of the second creature, and metal spikes extended from them into its head.

  The strange creation released Ryan, formed a hole around the offending spikes, and began to attack Steve, but then a smaller bolt of lightning slammed into it, causing it to stumble backwards.

  Ryan held up his hand to Eric, “Stop, I need to recharge.” Driving his fists into the creature, he siphoned off the remaining magic. After his arm had transformed into a sword, he decapitated the head, and all three headed towards the house.

  *******

  John’s breathing was labored, dry. Closing his eyes, he saw a white light, but when they opened, he saw a red pool of blood forming around him. Remembering the words from Tranquil, with his dying breath, he spoke the two letters: “TD.”

  *******

  Panry and the Crimson Shields rushed towards the house, seeing Zymse slam the door closed, and all the metal shutters inside secured instantly. Several dozen feet away, John lay in a large pool of blood, yet they continued to run up to the door, throwing their bodies against it, trying to pry their swords between the double doors to open them. However, the wooden structures remained locked.

  Ryan ran towards the house, as Steve went over to help John up, “Are you okay, Kid?”

  “I think so.” Looking down at the two bullets in the large pool of crimson blood, he watched the scabs fall from the fatal wounds. “Go get Zymse. I just need a minute.”

  Calling out to the closest six Black Watch to follow him, Jedimac began to run down the stairs, as he had to warn them that Logan still lived.

  Lauren and her four remaining Guardians, followed by Gayne and Mirtza, headed to the house. In the courtyard, the Ironhouse warriors, tall and short, dealt with any remaining resistance, flesh or rock. From the walls, the Black Watch aided the battle. John, being the last to arrive, watched while Ryan forced the inner walls of the recessed double doors apart, so Steve could pry his arms into the small gap. Walking up to the doors, Eric with his god-gifted strength kicked them open. Around Steve and Ryan, Crimson Shields flowed into the room. It had the same expensive furniture that Panry recalled from his previous visits, which had been violently pushed to the sides of the room, so there was no obstruction between those who entered the door or those who stood on the far side.

  Reaching the midpoint between the wall and the house, Jedimac saw the front doors open, and even though he knew the group had entered, continued his push in their direction.

  Crossing the threshold, Panry’s senses flared with the image sent from Mother, and he saw Zymse holding the young Earth Mother, a dagger at her neck, and beside him, another shrouded in black.

  “YOU WILL ALL LEAVE THE BRIGHT COAST AND NEVER RETURN!”

  The Crimson Shields started to spread out, as Ryan and Eric took two steps forward.

  “STOP!” Lauren looked into the whites of Zymse eyes above the black veil, “If you return my daughters to me, I’ll guarantee you safe passage from Calicon!”

  “THESE ARE MY LANDS NOW, AND I WILL NEVER LEAVE!”

  “If you kill my daughter,” began Lauren, “your pain of death will exceed my sorrow of loss.”

  “YOU DON’T HAVE IT IN YOU, EARTH BITCH!”

  “I don’t,” and then she pointed to one of the Crimson Shields, “but he does.”

  Panry smiled.

  Zymse lowered the dagger, “Safe passage to my ship. On Mother’s word!”

  Lauren sighed, “Yes.”

  After all had taken two tentative steps forward, Zymse pulled the black shroud from the person beside him.

  “LOGAN!” screamed Lauren.

  “BURN,” was his angry response, as black flames burst from his outstretched hands.

  In the split second it took the Crimson Shields to see the absent look in Logan’s eyes, they quickly dove behind the rock and metal legends.

  [Immanent threat. Indigenous assets endangered. Form shield.] Steve spread his arms and legs apart, causing a metal skin to instantly fill the voids to block the dark fire. The machine in Ryan, accustomed to reacting to the fast changing events, engaged similar rock protection.

  “Everybody get out. Steve and I’ll handle this.”

  At the back, John, who was running to the outside, wished he had given the magic skin-armor the proper command, as he realized that Logan outmatched him many times over in such a confined space. Eric, standing between the two transformers, had watched the fire absent of light wrap around his armor, but he had no concerns until the heat began to build, and then he headed for the door. Lauren had no choice but to leave, as the Granite Guardians forcibly pushed her to safety. While ten of the twelve Crimson Shields also retreated, the smoldering corpses of Silmon Freshspring and Catic Winterfox, who were standing at the ends, remained where they fell, as their blessed cloaks were unable to withstand the black death issued by the fallen Logan.

  Steve, feeling the heat increase, saw Ryan materialize beside Zymse, wrapping one hand around his neck, the other forming a cocoon around the small baby. Then the wavy image of Zymse changed to a scaled tattooed man, who grew in size, and then head-butted the legend called Rage Heart. Ryan screamed, ‘HELP ME!’ When Steve tried to walk closer, battling the black flames, he felt the heat increase, and to his horror, felt himself begin to melt, as the room filled with dark smoke from the burning contents.

  *******

  Naked Zack ran over to Lauren. “Where’re your daughters?”

  Wanting to cry, she was unable to because of the berry, but the image of Logan dressed in black robbed her of speech.

  Rushing towards them, a man in a black mask with his sword drawn.

  The Granite Guardians moved to intercept him.

  “Jedimac, what’re you doing here?” asked Zack.

  He removed his mask. “Earth Mother, your brother lives!”

  Lauren nodded, “I already saw him, and Zymse has turned him.”

  Hearing an eagle squawk, Zack looked up at one of his children flying overhead, “Zymse is on the roof, and he has a baby!”

  Lauren thought back to the words spoken by Steve, about fanatics always having contingency plans. She began to scan the outside of the house, as black smoke billowed out of the front doors. At the base of the house wall, she saw large vine stumps cut off close to the ground, and she called to Mother’s magic. Even though the hatchet marks on the wood were weathered, the roots had continued to grow, providing nourishment to the plants the gardener defeated each year. In his absence, somebody new tended it, and small green vines began to climb, finding holds in worn crevices or around the windows. Increasing in size, they sped up to the roof, as Lauren encouraged them to grow faster, larger.

  Transforming into a bald eagle, Zack took to the air, and by the time he crested the flat roof, the first vines were wrapping over the edge. At the back of the structure, he saw Zymse holding a small infant, standing in front of the open doors of the only wooden building on the roof, and inside it, a machine like John had built.

  With green leafy vines covering the wall, Lauren waved her hand, “Ladders,” and the branches began to reach out to larger vertical main stems, entwining around others doing the same.

  *******

  Panry with four Crimson Shields had stayed at the double doors, and when the smoke lessened, he looked inside. While there were no signs of the metal man or Zymse, one of the strange, scaled men had appeared. Even though Ryan’s rock form engaged the new opponent, his body had grown two additional arms. One was behind him where his hand had formed a large round rock shape, and a second stretched out to hold Logan in place with an oversized hand
wrapped around his torso.

  While the smoke obscured his sight, it had no effect on his Earth Guard senses, as he still felt the presence of the young Earth Mother. “Does give me cloaks all.” After securing the four crimson cloaks over his own, he lifted all of the hoods over his head. Pulling the twisted fabric from around his waist, he donned the last cloak of invisibility. With the additional protection blessed by Mother filtering out the remaining smoke, his breathing was uncongested. However, he soon understood the haze that obscured his view had now created a ghost-like void in the swirling ash-filled air. Having realized the same, Panry raised his arm to block the black flames directed in his direction from Logan.

  Looking in the same direction, Ryan saw the crimson garment since the cloak of invisibility had never been gifted powers to protect it against such a powerful attack, and the rock statue knew only one would be foolish enough to enter, “PANRY, TO ME!”

  Ashes from the outer crimson cloak fell to the ground, as the elf ran to the rock statue, and once there, he tugged at the arm where he sensed his Earth Mother. When the rock bubble broke free, he turned, stumbled through the black flames, and could see the burning embers of the crimson cloaks at his feet. Feeling the heat increase, he ran to safety.

  [Primary objective achieved. Situation critical. Options: deceit.] Ryan pushed Logan away, who stumbled and then fell. Then the fingers of Rage Heart drilled into the tattoos, as Ryan began to transform. [Virus delivered.]

  When Logan raised himself up, Zymse screamed at him, ‘KILL HIM.’ Having been programmed by the man in black to follow orders, the fallen Bastard did as directed, sending his black fire into the rock monster.

  *******

  Once outside, Panry pulled off the last burning crimson cloak, leaving only his original undamaged. Breathing in the fresh air, he watched the rock bubble shrivel away to expose the young crying baby inside. “Lauren, we have your first daughter.” Looking to the side of the house, he only saw Gayne pointing straight up

  Chapter 28

  Lauren was the first to crest the vine ladder, followed by two Ironhouse Granite Guardians and four Crimson Shields: Jasmine, Oxron, Ahee, and Helight. When Jakel Goldfinder and Kraj Silverbright looked over the wall, they saw the man in the black veils holding the small baby at the end of the complex. Tucking their elongated swords into their thin armor, they pulled out mithril daggers. The walls were rock; they were dwarf, and dwarf conquers rock. Lowering themselves, they drove the magical blades into the hard stone with their great dwarven strength and began to travel under the roofline, hanging from their dwarf-forged weapons. Eric, with his gifted strength, grabbed the top of the wall, launching himself straight up, and standing on the roof, he reached down to end John’s struggles, and Mirtza was the last to crawl over the top. At the far end of the roof, they saw Zymse standing beside a machine, holding a small baby.

  “She is an Earth Mother, your daughter!” exclaimed Jasmine.

  *******

  Logan was advancing to the rock monster, filling it with alternating waves of cold and heat. In doing so, he never saw the silver-gray metal flow up from the floorboards.

  After solidifying, it tapped him on the shoulder. “Sorry, Kid.” Then Steve hit him with a sufficiently calculated force, knocking him unconscious without breaking his neck or jaw, but the punch he directed at the black veil was meant to kill.

  Zymse glared at Steve, “WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT!”

  “Roger that,” and he began to beat on the rock monster.

  *******

  Lauren called out, “If you give me my daughter, I’ll guarantee you safe passage to your ship!”

  A look of pain and loss filled the eyes of Zymse’s. Directing the dark magic into the machine with one hand, the other crippled one grasped the child. When a black dagger formed at the throat of the baby, they knew he smiled when he spoke. “I brought my own guarantee of safe passage, EARTH BITCH!”

  John saw the massive ring on the machine raise to the upright position.

  Jaykil and Breax began to move to the perimeter. In the hands of Zymse, they did not see a baby, they saw their honor, but when the large ring began to shimmer, they saw their shame.

  Lauren’s anger was building, “I’ll hunt you down, find you, and make you pay!”

  “YOU WILL TRY, BUT WILL FAIL!” was Zymse angered response.

  *******

  Clinging from their daggers, Jakel and Kraj increased their speed, seeing the last corner of the house approach.

  *******

  Cresting the wall, Panry called out to Lauren, and behind him, Gayne struggled to join the rest.

  *******

  [Energy levels decreasing. Analysis complete. Power source identical. Begin transfer.] After Ryan’s fingers had transformed into syringes, he jabbed them into his image, watching them extract the magic to fuel his rage, as the strange tattooed man began to crumple over.

  Steve saw his arm form into a sword, watched the tattooed head roll across the floor, and wiped the blood off with his metal hand.

  *******

  The whisper from Panry floated into Lauren’s ear, “We need to act,”

  Seeing the dwarven hand on the wall behind Zymse, Ahee and Helight began to advance on the black veils.

  Lauren’s angered Earth Bond burst forward, “STOP!”

  The two elves continued.

  Black tendrils appeared from Zymse, growing in size, and with lightning speed, shot out, wrapping around the necks of Ahee and Helight, lifting them off the ground.

  With the blessed swords unsheathed, Jasmine and Oxron raced forward, running past the struggling elves, and continued to Zymse, as more dark mists formed to keep them at a distance.

  With any other opponent, they would have seen the fear in his eyes. Even though he was surrounded, they all heard the dark laugh from the man dressed in black.

  After Jakel had grabbed onto Kraj, he began to crawl up his torso. With both hands firmly planted on the top of the wall, he briefly raised himself up to gauge his location. Pulling out his elongated mithril blade, he jumped over the top, slicing the crippled hand from Zymse.

  Driving his dagger into the wall, Kraj grasped the top, pulling himself over. Seeing his Granite brother battling Zymse and the black tendrils, he also saw the fallen baby: his honor. Scooping her up, he began running towards Earth Mother Ironhouse, but feeling something wrap around his leg, he threw the small child with the last of his might.

  When Zymse anger exploded, the black tendrils vaporized the two bald dwarves.

  Panry launched himself into the air, catching the delicate baby, cradling it in his arms, as he rolled across the roof.

  Seeing the image form in the large golden ring, Zymse grasped his bleeding arm, “You will never find the last.” Stepping into the ring, he vanished. Then black smoke started to drift up from the golden boxes attached to the machine, smelling like burnt metal. As they watched, the odd machine seemed to be melting, and before anybody could act, the large golden ring that Zymse stepped through began to lose it shape.

  When Ryan and Steve crested the wall, they heard Lauren scream.

  Defeat seeped from Panry’s eyes when he presented the young child to Lauren. “We have saved two,” but he also knew he had failed.

  Jasmine and Oxron turned over the lifeless bodies of Ahee Springbud and Helight Woodwild, and looking at the open doors of the lone building, they saw the magical ring collapse.

  Even though Panry held out the baby, Lauren never embraced her long-lost daughter, as his words seemed empty; We have saved two. She turned to John, “MAKE THIS RIGHT!”

  “I don’t know where they went. Gayne, how did you find us?”

  Mirtza replied, explaining the portal bracelet, glass, and medallion.

  John gave his head a shake, “An image triggered it?”

  Then Gayne explained how he told it to open a portal to Ironhouse and one back.

  Trying to create a winning conclusion, John remembered that Zymse had nu
llified the gold bracelets. “I don’t…we don’t have a portal bracelet.” Then John looked down at the oversized piece of feminine jewelry wrapped around his wrist, pulled it off. “Show me the closest.” He then instructed Panry to lower the baby’s foot into the wrist hole. Instantly, a portal floated forward, stabilized, showing them an image of the three former Earth Guards protecting Erust Huntinghawk, as he held the young child close to his chest. Stepping across the threshold, Panry ushered the group onto the roof.

  “It can find people?” said Gayne, being astonished.

  “I don’t know,” John replied, “but the triplets are identical and provide the trigger.” Then he commanded the magical metal, “Show me the farthest,” but a portal failed to open.

  Ryan was beginning to shake, “John, what’s wrong?”

  After the Magic instantaneously examined all of the buildings in the fortress, being unable to locate the desired object, it went to the smoldering machine. While it had no understanding of the complicated, damaged mechanism, it did understand the purpose, which was also magic, and having completed its task, it had left a trail. The Magic from John raced across the skies, following the invisible collapsed tunnel. Its purpose defined, its mission incomplete, it went in search of closure.

  Even though Lauren was holding her daughter, it did little to lessen her increasing frustration, “John, is it working?”

  When a portal opened between Ryan and Steve, both stepped into it. At the exact moment it closed, John dropped the bracer, screamed, and fell to his knees, pressing his ears against his head, as Mirtza and Gayne reacted similarly.

  *******

  The room was thirty feet square, having wooden ceiling joists barely seven feet above the planked floor, and crude wood boards completely covered all of the walls. On the back two multi-pane glass windows showed the whitecaps breaking on a rolling sea, and on the front wall, beside the only door into the room, a large mirror reflected the image. Steve’s size had reduced, allowing him to fit inside the confined room, but with his body remaining the dull silver-gray metal, he could hear the rolling wooden boards creak at the strain of his weight. In the four corners of the room, glass enclosures each held a crying baby, but their sounds of frustration remained locked in their confined space, as a hovering black dagger pointed towards their hearts.