by Jamie Hawke
“I do.”
“Then under the power of all that is ours, I anoint you, Samantha Quinn, A.K.A. Shadow Mystic, Elder of the Citadel.”
I was the first to cheer. Others joined in, clapping, and some shot off bursts of light above. When she stepped aside, it was my turn.
Hadrian motioned to me and said, “Breaker, A.K.A. Chad Bostwick, would you please.”
I met his gaze, nodded, and stepped up to join him. Once there, my mind started to spin, even more so when I looked out at the crowd gathered there. So many, all there to watch me be sworn in as, what, their leader? My legs threatened to give out, my gut clenching, but then a wave of a tail caught my eye, and I turned my attention to my team.
Charm was there in her red dress, looking like a goddess and yet, almost like she was going to a ball on Earth. Aegriss with her new arm, and a smile that seemed almost as new and fresh. Twitch, as poised as the day we’d met. Andromida, almost as scary as she had been when we knew her as the Blue Lady, but now on my side. Terrifying for anyone who dared to go up against us. Gale wore a mischievous grin, looking like one of the only curvy women in this land of muscle and model-thin supers—and God, I loved that about her. Variety always gets a plus in my mind, especially when it meant more of her to love… to an extent, of course. Shimmer was, in my mind, a sort of sister to Twitch. Both had that composure that comes from being a true lady, both with their military-style of assessing a crowd, their ability to take leadership when the time was right. I loved how her eyes would glow a silvery-white sometimes when her powers were in effect, and how at the moment she had an arm in Gale’s, her eyes taking me in as I did the same to her.
My journey to reach this point hadn’t been alone, and neither was this position as an Elder going to be. They were here, at my side when hard times would come, with me when I needed encouragement or love.
And with them, I could do this.
Only Harp and Laurel acting strange lately threw me off, but even they had come, standing behind Charm. I tried smiling their way, but noticed them staring almost blankly. It seemed very odd, but this wasn’t the moment for those sorts of thoughts.
Instead, I turned my attention back to Hadrian, who was finishing the same speech he had given for Sam.
Hadrian looked at me, as he said, “You stand at the center of the universe, as we see it, and you stand in a position of power. One that will lead you to delivering justice and the rule of law to the people of this universe. Do you accept this responsibility?”
My posture straight, filled with pride, I said, “I do.”
“You will stand against tyranny, will fight all enemies of truth and justice. You will serve the universe as a guardian, an Elder tasked with keeping the peace. Do you confirm this?”
“I do.”
“Then under the power that is ours, I anoint you, Breaker, Elder of the Citadel.”
Cheers echoed through the square as my team rushed forward to lift me up, carrying me on their shoulders—mostly Charm and Aegriss, as they were the strongest physically.
That’s when the attack came.
15
At first it was nothing more than a feeling of unease, and I thought maybe only I felt it. Then others around me started looking worried, their eyes shifting and heads turning. A shadow moved between the supers, barely noticeable with them packed together so tightly, but I spotted it. Others did, too, the moment it lunged while reaching for the dais.
It had almost reached the dais and the crystals with the Per-Neter floating above when Hadrian acted, thrusting out a hand that caused energy to push the darkness off its path. Only then, Harp was in the air, voice booming as she opened her mouth and shouted. Even Hadrian stumbled. Many there fell to their knees or passed out entirely.
And in that awful moment, the darkness was moving again, like strands of reaching hands, and I heard a voice in my head telling me to back off. Then I heard the same voice—almost distorted—telling me to attack those nearby, to strike out with all the power at my command.
The darkness was on the dais, surrounding it. Some of the supers near the back struck, attacking others, sending out waves of energy, flames, whatever they could. Others countered the attacks, and soon there was chaos.
I was baffled. Not only was there civil war on the Citadel, but two ladies that had been traveling with me were causing it! Two, I had realized when the voice hit and I noticed Laurel’s antennae glowing, her eyes wide.
She turned to face me and, even as I meant to make a move to stop her, I felt overcome with passion, longing. Like a love spell had been cast and there was no way of breaking free.
“RESIST!” Hadrian shouted. He had a super at his side whose eyes went gold, and everyone around suddenly halted. A moment later, half those who had turned against their own were back on our side, the fighting going again.
“It’s Lau—,” I started to shout, but another voice attack from Harp cut me off, sending me to my knees, ears ringing, mind spinning.
I’ll take care of it, Aegriss’s voice said in my mind, and then she was there, striking Laurel hard.
Charm, not fully aware of what was happening, saw this and let out a feral scream, turning on Aegriss and breathing in to take on her light powers. Aegriss took a step back, Shimmer moving slightly before both disappeared—which I knew to be Shimmer working her illusion power.
That actually gave me an idea. I could do illusions, too. Thinking the best thing to do here was to first stop the fighting, I made it appear that nobody was actually there at all. It even applied to me, because I hadn’t had time to figure out the little details—so that it suddenly seemed as if I was all alone there, only the darkness at the dais visible. It rose, the Per-Neter activated. A star map spread out from it as something triggered, and I shot out with my tempest lightning to knock the darkness back.
Too late, though, apparently, as something flashed into view above. Not just a portal, but portals. And then there were strange, six-legged winged beasts that reminded me of human-sized bats coming through. They had long tongues with spikes at the end that shot out at nothing. Chaos ensued because nobody could be sure who to attack as my illusion was still in effect. But that didn’t stop the attacks from coming their way.
Unfortunately, the supers in the back rows couldn’t see who was in their path, but were firing regardless. I had to take the illusion off so we wouldn’t all kill ourselves with friendly fire. Suddenly, supers were everywhere again, many in need of healing. I did what I could but was relieved to find I wasn’t the only healer there. My brother leaped into action, Hadrian with him as they went against the beasts, while Sacrada and Sakurai went after Harp. My team was mostly at a loss, especially Charm. She was turning from side to side, not sure who to attack, and then looked at me with hopelessness in her eyes.
I sent a blast of lightning at the nearest beast even as more streamed through, and then managed to join her in time to see more forms coming through the portals. Only, these weren’t those strange beasts. They were supers, many with horns and some with various animal characteristics. The darkness had solidified, lifting the Per-Neter away from the crystals, and I heard it laugh as a form emerged. One that at least my team recognized—Asterisk.
It all clicked then, and judging by the gasp from Charm, she understood, too. That kiss back on Earth had input something into Harp, something that had spread to Laurel, but for whatever reason hadn’t managed to take hold of Charm. Now we understood why they had been acting as they had, and looking at Asterisk holding the Per-Neter, the motive made sense. She had put part of herself into them, in a similar way to Lamb using her essence with the armor and the A.I.s for the ships. All so she could lie low until she had an opportunity to get her hands on this Per-Neter. Thinking back, I now guessed that the breach we had been alerted to on the Noraldian had been a failed attempt on the part of Harp and Laurel, under the control of Asterisk, to discover a Per-Neter. They had given up when they had found no evidence of one there.
/> This was bad. We had some of the best superheroes in Oram here, but we didn’t have an army. The enemy, however, had their best streaming in through their portals. Already, the two sides were clashing,
“I need to save them,” Charm said, voice full of fright, and she turned, running to the fight between Harp and Sacrada, shouting, “Don’t hurt her!”
My brother and Hadrian had been joined by my parents, my mother rearranging the deck to cut the enemy off, while Andromida charged in too, metal cutting this way and that, blocking off enemies and entrapping them.
I used my powers to go dragon on the beasts and the nearest supervillains, tearing into some, blasting others with fire, but Hadrian turned, pointing to the large building nearby, and shouted to me, “Protect it!”
For a moment I didn’t process what he meant, then remembered the other Per-Neter there. If the enemy got hold of them, that was bad. I turned and flew that way, knowing I couldn’t hold this form long, but appreciating how the scales helped fend off attacks—plus, I could fly over a lot of the fighting.
Halfway there, Harp managed to break free from Sacrada and come at me, but Charm teleported up in a blast of white and then was on her former friend, breathing into her face, and both of them were falling, unconscious. I roared and swooped down to catch them, dropping them where the remaining fall wouldn’t hurt, and continued on to the building. Twitch stepped out of one of her screens near my destination, sending boosts to our team and allies, and then Shimmer appeared, waving to me as she created waves of illusionary attacks that made it seem like the enemy was floating in space, along with whatever else she could think of to throw them off.
I landed at her side, returning to my true form, and turned to assess the situation. Only, Shimmer was already on it. To my surprise, three supers who had been charging toward us had ended up with their eyes going blue, faces pale. They fell, dead, ice in their heads and forming at their ears.
“I guess Ice Mind was literal,” I said, referring to the new power Twitch had given her.
“Nearly forgot we had new powers!” Gale shouted from a fight where she was taking them down with ice bolts and lightning, but had been pushed back by a super with the ability to create energy fields that almost cut her in half.
She thrust out at the man, and this time threw the ice to her left and then right, focusing, and brought it back to the super from both sides but slightly behind. The effect was perfect. He had thought himself in the clear, only to be cross-impaled by those ice spears.
“Badass!” Gale shouted, giving us a grin and turning to fight more of them.
Aegriss stood there, trying out her new arm, too, having just absorbed a purple ball of light. She thrust back out and it returned in several blasts, one taking the attacking super in the leg, throwing him to the ground in time for Drew to reach him and slam his head into pulp with one solid punch.
Hadrian was in the air, causing enemies to explode, clearly working to regain the stolen Per-Neter. Charm had started to recover, pushing herself up just in time as a super landed nearby with a stomp that sent the metal rippling. I had Charm by the hand, traveling through metal together to get out of harm’s way. We looked back to see Andromida ripping this guy to shreds with thorns of metal that rose out of the ground and then twisted around and through him. If she weren’t on my side, this would have been a horror show.
A dragon of light shot out from Sakurai, only to be met by a wave of glowing dust from a supervillain, then three of those winged monsters leaping at her. Threed had two of them with green punches of poison, while Sacrada plowed through the third with a sun burst, then had turned back to take out a supervillain only to find me flashing past in dragon form again. I landed and turned back, then disappeared into the ground to come up behind another supervillain who was about to slice a woman in two. He blew apart as my lightning took effect, then I was breaking out my paladin skills to destroy three more in a matter of seconds.
“Sam!” Hadrian shouted, causing explosions left and right as he tore through the enemy ranks.
There she was, on the opposite side working to clear an area where it appeared the enemy had cut off a small group of supers and nearly had them surrounded.
I traveled over to her as fast as I could and took out two more, grinning as my screen showed a level-up. My joy didn’t last long, though, as a supervillain appeared in front of me with horns aflame, face opening up three times over with sharp teeth that felt similar to a shark but more extended and gleaming.
Flame flew from his mouth and his clawed hands tore at me. Instinct took over and I pulled on my paladin armor, so that the next strike clanked against metal as my hand thrust out and pulled a shining white war-hammer—yeah, I thought that would be cool. Since I could do illusions that became real, I guess a fucking grenade launcher or living sword would’ve done as well, but this tied in to a cleric character I had played in my youth and I thought it fit.
My strike connected, knocking one of his jaws clean off, although he still had two more. Another strike nearly caught him in the chest, but apparently, he could go convex as if his torso was made of rubber and with a mind of its own. A projectile hit and my shield flickered as I got knocked sideways. More shots hit a second later, two tearing through my opponent’s arm, and I had to wonder if this was friendly fire. No time to find out, though. I created a shield to give me a chance to strike, then hit back.
A nice connection knocked the fucker’s head sideways, hammer catching in his skull so that, when I tore it out, blood and tissue flew, and he dropped dead. From there I was spinning, striking, shooting out lightning, and clearing a path for the others nearby.
Hadrian appeared through a portal a moment later, one of those winged monsters following. He killed it as a second tried to get through, but it was chopped in two as the portal closed around it.
“Get the others out of here,” Sam shouted. “I’ll take care of these.”
I started grabbing several at a time and traveled through the metal back to the area next to the large building. Hadrian opened a portal and ushered several more through. We were attacking the incoming supervillains and monsters, alternating our attacks on the enemy with our efforts to guide the good supers to safety.
Sam darted past, cloak fluttering out behind her, moving in a blur.
Hadrian stood beside me, a strong wind blowing his cape around so that he turned in confusion. He took a step back, muttered a curse, and said, “Run.”
“What?” I shouted, turning to see what the problem was. There, emerging from the portals, was something three times as large as any man, wind swirling around its almost-solid-but-not-quite-there form of darkness. Light reflected on particles of dirt and water picked up in the wind as well as a light from a small circle at its chest, glowing a faint blue.
“A wind colossus,” he muttered. “Go, run… NOW! RETREAT!”
“Did he just…” Twitch asked. Shimmer was already moving, getting through the doors and motioning for us to follow.
Other supers streamed past us, all going for the building we were guarding. I took a defensive stance, fighting off any villains who attempted to follow. Charm joined me, claws of light tearing through enemies that got too close, charms used to boost our speed and alertness, but she said, “We’re not leaving them.”
“Andromida!” I shouted, and motioned to Laurel on the ground, still out. Turning to Charm, I nodded. “Me and you, we get Harp. Yeah?”
She nodded. We were about to charge out when Hadrian and Drew reached the building, turning to throw out attacks.
“If Hadrian says retreat,” my mom said, charging past with my dad following close behind, “that means get the hell out of here, now.”
“Get in there,” Drew called out, pointing for me and my team to go, while he and his formed a line.
“Not yet,” I cried as I ran with Charm toward her friend, glad to see Andromida moving toward us in a circle of blue light, Laurel in her arms.
Charm’s
breaths of light caused her claws to extend, furthered by claws of light, her tails glowing bright. Air bubbles erupted, and she shot a multi-colored charm my way that made me feel like I could take on the whole enemy army by myself.
“Don’t go spending it all in one place,” she shouted, leaping up and tearing into two winged monsters, then rolling under a giant of a super as she tore his legs in half.
I was there at her side, feeling the paladin angle, war-hammer appearing again and smashing skulls. With a burst that sent me moving like the damn Flash, I took out three with a single blow, understanding what she meant by not spending it all up front. Charm heaved Harp over her shoulder, hand glowing and sucking the light right out of a supervillain, so that when the man tried to use his power, he simply collapsed, eyes black. It was disturbing, to say the least.
“Stay on me,” I shouted, plowing forward to lead the way back to the building with the others.
A group of at least a dozen supervillains appeared from a portal, all trying to get to me, it seemed. Others from our side threw themselves in their path, but I wasn’t about to let them go down on my account. The wind colossus was doing its damage, while my brother and his team did their best to keep the deaths on our side to a minimum. This new group of incoming villains had managed to work their way past our defenses. though, two of them now occupied in a fight against my dad.
I gestured for Charm to continue on with her burden, while I sent thrusting bursts of lightning at this new group of attackers. Next, I darted through the ground to come up in their midst, slam three good hammer blows to smash their chests, and send out more lightning from there. My dad took on the rest of them, so I took out one more before traveling back to Charm.
“Get the rest,” shadow Asterisk commanded the wind colossus, and then activated the star map again. This time, she made a selection. We could actually see several glowing spots on the map, and two or three were on us, it seemed.