Questing fingers squeezed her hand. "Forgive me for saying it, but your ex was an ass. You gave him four healthy, happy kids. Who cares if they'd rather explore the galaxy or pursue medicine or whatever it is that makes them happy instead of risking their lives, dueling for rank. He's an asshole for breaking your heart."
Agneta’s eyes widened. "You forget your place, John Reacher. Best you focus on your castle, lest you'd meet my blows defenseless before my onslaught."
John swallowed, wondering just how bad he had messed up this time, Agneta's hot gaze making it clear he'd better focus. He closed his eyes, seeking to escape her gaze as much as aid his concentration, surprised despite himself to see the building in his mind's eye.
Of shimmering white polished stone, it was solid, beautiful, and more than able to reflect any laser beam sent his way. He didn't know why he was thinking in terms of laser beams, but he supposed it didn't matter. What mattered was getting his mental image as solid as he could.
Feeling just the slightest bit fatigued, he gave a satisfied smile when the last stone of his humble little building slid into place.
"Okay, I think, I think I'm ready. Are you going to read my mind now?"
"No, John. My goal isn't to read your mind. It's to break you."
Those words sent icy shivers down his spine.
"Are you ready?"
"Shit, um..."
"I'll take that as a yes."
And in a heartbeat, his world was nothing but blinding pain.
He did not hear the cry as he stumbled before his tower, the beautiful walls sent tumbling down by a massive blade of obsidian and fire, blasting through the stone and into the soft porous flesh beyond, fat drops of blood welling up like oil from the ground.
"And that was the least of my attacks, John Reacher. Do you understand? The least. Now reform your castle and try again."
John groaned, seeing the mild dip to his health, already healing, though the pain had been beyond exquisite. He didn't fuck around this time, replacing elegant symmetry for a thick, tough, triple layer wall he imagined cementing with limestone and ash, brick after brick after brick.
It was some time before he was satisfied.
"Are you ready, John?"
"No!" John blinked, thinking better of his response. "Um... hold on a second... just a minute..."
"Good."
John winced, feeling a second strike blasting into his fortress, blinking in surprise when he sensed it bounce off. He couldn't help grinning in relief. "Oh gosh, it actually..."
You have suffered 50 points damage to Stamina from Non-Lethal strike! You are suffering from Dizziness and Disorientation!
Pain and utter blackness roared through him. He collapsed in a heap.
"You lost your focus, John, and countering a Mindblade is nothing like Ego Crush. It pierces mental defenses just as well as Mind Dagger while being far deadlier. In fact, it’s the favored technique of my clan.” Her cold smile was almost sympathetic. “I know you fear the pain, John. I can read it in your every thought and gesture, but pain can be a phenomenally effective teacher when used with care, and my control is exceptional. Shall we try again?"
John swallowed desperately, choking back a whimper. Looking into her enigmatic golden eyes, the warm camaraderie they had shared such a short while before was now nothing but a memory. He knew the only answer he could give was a nod.
"Good. Ready your Castle once more, John. And this time, focus less on how shiny it looks in your mind's eye, but how thick, black, and impenetrable it truly is. Dark as the void, dense as a neutron star. Do you understand, John?"
"I think so," he said, his voice betraying his exhaustion.
"Good. Now brace yourself as best you can."
On and on it went, the most grueling and exhausting hour of his life, and not even the fact that he had just gained Rank 1 in Castling, which would allow him to ward his mind from casual enemy intrusion and proved like nothing else that the blood of Psionicists truly did flow in his veins, was enough to put a smile on his exhausted face.
But the odd voice echoing in his head sure came close.
Rank 1 Castling fully quantized! Congratulations, you have just learned the most basic lessons of any Highlord! Experience earned!
All soldiers brought back have been successfully purged of spores. You have completed the Hidden Quest: A Highlady’s Defense. Captain Greenfield and her soldiers had faced almost certain death at the hands of ambushing revenants until you came along and turned the tables, wildcard that you are! An echo of the endless potential within every life rescued now resonates within you.
Congratulations, you have leveled up!
It was all he could do to murmur his need for rest to a suddenly concerned-looking Captain Greenfield, the harsh disciplinarian of minutes ago now replaced by a beautiful woman clearly concerned for his wellbeing, effortlessly leading him to what he was relieved to see were quarters of his own just down the hall.
As soon she bid him goodnight, John shoved the closest hardwood dresser within that luxuriously appointed room in front of the door before collapsing onto the four poster bed within. He all but sank into the feather-stuffed mattress, desperately hoping no one would disturb him, terrified of what might happen if he wasn’t extremely careful.
He shuddered at the memory of a desiccated corpse strung up with webbing to an oaken door, praying no spiders would seek him out this time, when he was lost in the depths of slumber.
Then he shook his head in self-disgust.
Who was he kidding?
There had been no spiders back at that inn.
It had all been him.
John winced, trying desperately to push back that awful thought that had haunted him all day, but now he was utterly sure of it.
Just as he was sure that he was dreaming even now, happily sitting in his favorite chair by his computer, gazing at his character sheet once more.
Frowning at the new, mysterious Hunter Abilities chart that had suddenly appeared between one level and the next. It seemed that each Symbiote-linked stat Tier also opened new ability paths dependent on Strength, Vitality, Quickness, and Perception. There were thick bands of utter darkness leading from those key stats to various fruit on what seemed to be an ability tree. The only problem was, he couldn't see what any of the abilities were, save for one that had apparently been catalyzed the moment he had woken up on Jordia.
Tier 1 Greater Regeneration. - Because sometimes it's good to be selfish. Keep it all to yourself! Unwanted bleeding from playmates overenthusiastic about sharing your body will stop almost immediately, even if you’re feeling arterially generous! So long as your Survival Pool remains positive, bleed damage halves every second and stops at 1 damage per second or less. Additionally, you heal 1 point per second and 1 Wound Tier every 10 seconds. Once your Health bar is full, all injuries are completely healed! Whether struck by horseshoes or hand grenades, you'll be back on your feet in no time, assuming you survive the initial onslaught! Exposed to poison or toxic levels of radiation? As long as you can withstand the initial exposure, it won't give you anything worse than stomach cramps or a good tan!
Excited, John tried to identify the mysterious orbs hanging on that ability tree, but he could sense nothing save a curious tingle, odd a sense of possibility.
Blinking through space to strike his enemies at all angles, time stretching taut for long seconds that allowed him to blitz his foes, resilient armor covering his skin that protected him almost as well as what he wore now. The ability to see in utter darkness, sensing his scurrying prey by heat alone, and magic emanations as well, so even cold-blooded revenants couldn't escape his fury.
But that wasn't all, he realized, doing his best to look deeper at all the possibilities within. Sensing the tiny strands of potency linked to his Willpower, his sheer stubbornness and hunger to survive, to best all his foes, to never give in. To never surrender.
His mind flashed back to that frenzied struggle for survival against
the undead horror he had first grappled with, covered in flesh that writhed like maggots, gazing at him with obsidian orbs so like his own, doing its damnedest to tear his very life force free of his soul.
He remembered the furious gleeful satisfaction he had felt, turning nightmare into triumph, doing just that to his foe.
He had no doubt that if he planted the points of his potential into the soil of that tree, those powers and more he could unlock and master, should he survive the trials to come.
"Whatcha doing, Johnny-boy?"
Heart hammering, John spun around, catching sight of that beautiful girl from before, sneaking in through his bedroom window. He grinned, captivated anew by her sensual grace, the memory of her dusky skin as sweet as honey on his tongue. Her obsidian yes sparkled like jewels, rich ebony hair as soft and silky as he remembered when ran his fingers through her luxurious mane.
He took a whiff of her heady scent, like cinnamon and cloves, and the dream of their lovemaking flooded through him once more.
Sade's winsome smile made his heart skip a beat.
"How are you, lover? I missed you."
John chuckled. "God, it's good to see you. No one at school is going to believe you're actually dating me. But if my dad finds you in here, we're both dead."
She rolled her expressive green eyes, twinkling with gentle mirth. Hadn’t they just been pools of darkest obsidian?
"First of all, your dad works crazy hours, and I'm very good at sneaking. Second of all, you're good, Johnny-boy, but not that good. I'll wear you out and leave you sleeping like a babe way before your dad comes home." She flashed a smile at his flushing cheeks. "Thirdly, your father is actually a world away, which is great, because now we can spend some more quality time together."
Soft warm lips kissed his own, her hand gently twining with his right, currently on his PC mouse. Her fingers gently took control as she tapped several of the auxiliary keys he used to store his macros. He might play a paladin, but it didn't mean he was too proud to store convenient command sequences.
Sade's throaty voice caressed his ears, sending tingles racing up and down his spine.
"How do you like your build so far, John?"
John frowned. "Honestly, the heightened strength and speed are fantastic. And I love feeling so healthy and alive, like I could run for miles! And my vision has never been sharper, or tastes so intense! I thought I had a great sense of smell before. But eating chocolate-sprinkled puff pastries with a 15 in perception? My God, they are good! I can't believe even this out of the way town is blessed with pastry chefs. I can only imagine how good they must be in the cities!"
"That's because croplands in South Jordia are the most fertile in all the world. Probably helped by the Druids everyone depends upon and not even inquisitors harass, because if you have no food... you have no food. And a lot of people have magical knacks where you now are. It sort of determines their profession. And whispered words that turn your pastries into perfect masterpieces every time, or enchantments that keep your spice and chocolate jars full, so long as you have golden wheat to sacrifice to the faeries every solstice, all of that helps keep our kitchens and larders as full of tasty food as all the high tech innovations allow in the North. If you can't tell, lover, I'm a southern girl myself. Or was," she softly said, "before my world was torn away."
John’ eyes widened. "Are you saying you were born on Jordia?"
She gave a sad nod. "I was. To a mother who loved me dearly. Then, after a wonderful, happy childhood playing in the trees, learning to hunt with bow and Mind Dagger, to read, to whisper prayers to the spirits just like grandmother once did... Father came." She chuckled bitterly. "He said it was time for our family to blossom, is how he put it. To explore our 'endless potential.' Next thing I know, I'm being blindfolded and pushed through a gate crackling with energy, and my mother is screaming and shouting, and we're fleeing for our lives."
She shuddered and swallowed. "It was a scary time. But somehow, after a month of hopping from bus to bus and staying at all sorts of motels and dives, and learning all about this wondrous world through television and computers, we finally found a home."
John shook his head in sympathy. "I can only imagine how hard it was for you and your mom."
Her gaze hardened. "No, you can't, Johnny-boy. You really can't. But we survived. Somehow. Mother met a man who fell head over heels for her, left that awful job of hers, and the next thing I know, she's expecting, and I'm enrolled at a private school and learning what it means to be a real, well, Terran girl, I guess."
She flashed a wistful smile. "Those two years were some of the happiest in my life. Until the day I came home, boyfriend in tow, and there Father was, eyes crackling like fire, Psiblade in hand." She trembled and swallowed. "Mother was just a head, somehow still alive, eyes gyrating wildly as she bobbed in a vat of yellow goop. When I close my eyes, I can see her lips moving in silent screams, even now. As for my second father, my baby brother, my boyfriend..." she shuddered, a look of bitter sorrow upon her features. "That's when the nightmare really began for me. A nightmare without end."
Hard eyes met his own. "I can never forgive what those Highlord bastards did to my mother. To my baby brother. To everyone I ever loved. Even you, John, your mind a perfect echo of the boy who caught my heart, five years ago. You could have been so beautiful. So perfect. God, you look just like him. In fact, you could be his twin."
Those words chilled John to the quick, resonating all too well with Mitch's offhand comments from before. Unlike countless other experiments, he had actually survived his horrific procedure. And he could remember all too well the words his brother had used, explaining how they had gotten around the extreme difficulties of successful fusion from that point on.
Clones.
Just how fucking vile was his family?
Sade gave a curious tilt of her head. "If there was one thing you could change about yourself, what would it be?"
John blinked. There was so much he wanted to say to this beautiful girl in his arms. His enemy, his confidant, a girl he ached to comfort, having suffered a fate far worse than his own. Yet when he spoke, his eyes caught his reflection in the wall mirror behind them, and he couldn't help but spit out the truth.
"To be honest, my eyes are really freaking me out. And when I look at all my potential, I see paths that could lead to such awesome power. But I know that each power I claim will claim a piece of my humanity in turn. And I don't really want to end up looking like a Doomclaw, or some horrific mantis-like monster, by the time I hit level 10."
Gentle green eyes lanced his heart. "So, you're saying that keeping your humanity, being a sweet, good-natured, good-looking boy is more important than transforming into some spider-mantis hybrid whose only purpose is to hunt my kind to extinction?"
John couldn't help kissing the soft, dusky lips before him. "Isn't that fucking obvious? Here's an idea. Stop making zombies out of innocent people, let the kids go, and let's go back to Earth and move in together. We'll go to college, fall in love, screw like rabbits, maybe have a few kids. And no zombies or Doomclaws will be allowed within a 20-mile radius."
Sade sighed, wrapping her arms around him, gazing at the screen over his shoulder. Her warm lips caressed his ear. "Sorry, John. I'm afraid Lilith wants to kill you. Between you and me? I think she's jealous that I've actually managed to seduce you and haven't, well, let myself get that warped yet.”
John lowered his head. "What about the kids, Sade?"
Sade kissed his cheek. "Lilith and her drones play their own games, and they don't play nicely with others. Not even with other Queens, and most especially not with me.” She smiled at his look of confusion. “We all live by an unspoken truce. I stay out of her territory, she stays out of mine. The bottom line, lover, is that you're in her territory now. If I were you? I'd get the fuck out."
She gave his hand a reassuring pat. "Now, let's focus on your character!" She clicked a few links, and before John knew it, he was gaz
ing at his reflection, blinking and frowning just like he was, eyes pools of obsidian his heart quailed to look at.
"Goddamn, I hate that face."
"Seriously? I think you look all kinds of sexy. But if you don't like it, why not change it?"
John's eyes widened, feeling a sudden burst of hope, not even realizing until that moment how deeply his transformation bothered him. "Can I do that? Seriously?"
Reassuring laughter washed over him. "Of course, silly! You have 5 points to totally reinvent yourself. Or should I say, rediscover the real you. Perhaps your eyes aren't liquid pools of darkness. Maybe all you gotta do is close your eyes, and envision all the little base pairs making up your genome as a million tiny switches. Can you visualize it? Endless switches it just takes a gifted hand to flip on and off. Look closely, John. Really closely. Do you see it?
And John shivered with awe the moment he closed his eyes, seeing tens of thousands of switches fizzling out, blinking, or shining brightly in his mind's eye. His heart burst with excitement. He could see it all perfectly. And with a single flip...
"Careful, John. Make sure you're mucking about with the right switches! You wouldn't want to turn off or on any traits that would kill you, or worse, turn you into a methane-breathing microbe, right?"
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