INCARNATION
A Kid Sensation Novel
By
Kevin Hardman
This book is a work of fiction contrived by the author, and is not meant to reflect any actual or specific person, place, action, incident or event. Any resemblance to incidents, events, actions, locales or persons, living or dead, factual or fictional, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2019 by Kevin Hardman.
Cover Design by Isikol Edited by Faith Williams, The Atwater Group This book is published by I&H Recherche Publishing.
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address I&H Recherche Publishing, P.O. Box 2727, Cypress, TX 77410.
ISBN: 978-1-937666-45-3
Printed in the U.S.A.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank the following for their help with this book: as always, GOD first, since He’s the architect behind any success I experience; my loving family, who have always supported me; and my readers, who continue to encourage me with their generous praise.
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Chapter 1
We popped up in a field — a wide swath of acreage filled with what looked like stalks of grain. If grain were blue, that is, and produced soft musical tones when the wind blew. It was an immediate indication that we weren’t anywhere close to a place I’d call “home.”
“Where are we?” I asked, already knowing that we were no longer on Earth.
“That’s a little tricky to answer,” said my companion, Rune. “It’s not really a spot you can plot on a map — or pin down temporally.”
I frowned. “I take it this is one of those places beyond the conventional bounds of the universe — outside of space and time.”
“Something like that,” Rune replied. As he spoke, a bevy of unusual symbols and designs — the source of his moniker — moved eerily across the surface of his skin. It was an effect that most people found creepy.
I let out a slight groan of exasperation.
“What?” Rune said in mock surprise. “Did I fail to mention that we’d be going off-site?”
“Off-site?” I repeated skeptically. “This isn’t off-site. This isn’t even off-planet. There’s no word for what this is.”
Rune seemed to ruminate on this for a second, then grinned. “How about ‘off-cosmos’?”
“Feels like an understatement,” I replied, noting that I was being subjected to my companion’s sense of humor. “When you asked for my help, you didn’t say anything about dragging me off to this literal Limbo.”
Rune laughed. “Well, would it have made a difference if I had?”
I shrugged, then grudgingly admitted, “Probably not.”
“That’s what I thought,” Rune stated with a nod. “Besides, it’s not like you haven’t experienced this before.”
I didn’t say anything as I reflected on Rune’s comment. He was referring to the fact that he and I had had a previous misadventure wherein we found ourselves in a similar realm outside of space and time. It was then that I’d become aware of Rune’s true nature.
As far as most people knew, Rune was a member of the Alpha League (Earth’s greatest superhero team) and was generally considered something along the lines of a sorcerer or magician. On his part, Rune never disabused anyone of the notion and even went along with it, such as dressing the part by occasionally wearing a wizard’s robe (as he was now) and carrying a magician’s staff. In truth, however, Rune was far more than that. He was an Incarnate — the physical embodiment of certain potent forces and powers.
As evidence of this, there was the fact that Rune had brought us from my bedroom to our current location with a mere snap of his fingers. Now that I thought about it, I realized that it had been around midnight when we left, but it now seemed to be daylight. I glanced up, expecting to see something like two suns, an array of planetary bodies, or something along those lines.
Initially, I saw nothing out of the ordinary — fluffy white clouds floating against a backdrop of expansive blue sky. Without warning, however, the scene changed. It was as if I was looking at a reversible figure — one of those optical illusions whereby the same image can appear to be two different things (such as when the same drawing can look like an old woman when viewed from one angle, and like a young woman when observed from another). In this instance, I’d originally been looking up at the wild blue yonder when it seemingly morphed into one of the most stunning spectacles I’d ever laid eyes on.
Above us, staring down, was a crowd of giants.
No, not giants — titans.
No, even that was an incredibly flawed and deficient description.
Frankly speaking, there was no word I could think of — colossus, Goliath, Polypheme, what have you — that could adequately describe the stature, the sheer magnitude, of the beings around us.
They looked like people — albeit people who had grown to a height that could only be measured in miles. Their heads weren’t in the clouds; they were literally above them. Well above them. Their bodies were equally massive, each easily as wide as a metropolis.
They were so gargantuan that I instinctively realized in the back of my mind that there was no way they were standing on solid ground — there wouldn’t have been room for them. Instead, their towering forms extended down toward terra firma but seemed to visually dissolve around the horizon. All in all, it was as if the realm or dimension Rune had brought us to were a snow globe, with a bunch of people standing around watching it. (In truth, it felt like any one of them could simply reach out and palm us like a basketball if they so desired.) However, they didn’t move — didn’t even appear to breathe. From all appearances, they were statues.
Somewhat in shock, I took a step back, essentially mesmerized by the scale of what I was looking at.
“Wh-what…?” I mumbled, spinning slowly in a circle and noting that the immense beings were all around us. “How…?”
I felt more than saw Rune staring at me intently, although with my peripheral vision I observed him following my gaze.
“Wait,” he muttered, sounding a little surprised. “You can see that?”
Not quite able to find my tongue, I simply nodded emphatically.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Rune make a vague gesture. Instantly, the images vanished, replaced by what could be described as normal sky.
The visual change seemed to bring me back to myself. I inhaled deeply, suddenly realizing that I had been holding my breath.
Rune gave me a once-over. “You good?”
“Yeah,” I replied with a nod. “Just caught a little off guard. What were those things?”
“Incarnates,” Rune answered.
I stared at him in surprise. “What — all of them?”
“Yeah — including the good-looking dude with the impeccable taste in clothes,” Rune said with a smile.
“Huh?” I muttered with a frown.
Rune traced an imaginary square in the air with his forefinger. Unexpectedly, something like a window appeared, and with
in it I saw the giants again. Like a camera, my companion’s window zoomed in on one of the behemoths. Much to my surprise (and ignoring its size), I noted that it did indeed appear to be Rune, and was even dressed as he was. Apparently I had been so startled by the titans that I hadn’t even noticed that he was among them, so to speak.
I turned to my companion, confusion evident on my face. “Why is there a colossal statue of you looming over this place?”
“It’s not a statue,” Rune declared flatly.
Bewildered, I looked back at the window and was surprised to see the image of Rune wink at me. A moment later, while I was still trying to process what I’d just observed, the window vanished. Brow creased, I simply stared at Rune, a million questions bubbling in my brain, with each jockeying for position in order to be the first out of my mouth.
“It all ties into why I brought you here,” he said, before I could ask anything. “Why I need your help.”
“Which is what?” I asked.
“We have a mystery on our hands that, truthfully, is unprecedented.”
“What type of mystery?”
“The impossible has happened,” Rune answered in a no-nonsense tone. “An Incarnate has been murdered.”
Chapter 2
“What do you mean, ‘murdered’?” I asked after getting over my surprise. “I thought Incarnates were all-powerful.”
“We’re not all-powerful, but we come pretty close,” Rune stated. “That said, being powerful doesn’t necessarily equate to being immortal, although you’re not that far off-base. As I mentioned, this has never happened before. Up until now, I don’t think any of us felt it could happen.”
“What — one of you getting killed?”
Rune nodded. “Yes, although, all things considered, we should have been aware of the possibility — especially in this place.”
“This place?” I repeated.
Rune spread his arms wide, making an all-encompassing gesture. “This realm is known as Permovren. Incarnates are required to come here occasionally, although doing so makes us vulnerable.”
I frowned. “You’re going to have to explain that.”
Rune appeared pensive for a moment, then said, “When we Incarnates come here, it is not with the incorporation of our full slate of powers. The effigies you saw…” He trailed off and pointed up toward the sky.
“You mean the titans?” I interjected.
“Yeah,” he acknowledged. “They’re a physical manifestation of the bulk of our powers. Their magnitude, as opposed to our apparent size when in Permovren, is a reflection of the potency we leave vested in them versus what we bring into this dimension with us.”
My brow furrowed as Rune’s words rolled around in my head. “So you’re saying this place has something akin to a mystical or metaphysical metal detector, with the end result being that you have to check your powers at the door.”
“Pretty much,” Rune said. “And pick them up on the way out.”
I spent a moment thinking about the sheer size of the “effigies,” as Rune referred to them, and juxtaposed that to his current appearance. “So does that mean you don’t have any of your powers here?”
Rune laughed and then clapped his hands together once. Instantly and simultaneously, a dozen bolts of lightning — accompanied by the earsplitting sound of thunder — struck the ground in a circle around us. I managed to avoid starting as the lightning flashed, but the proximity of the thunder made me wince. The entire episode was a testament to the fact that, even if the vast majority of his powers were inaccessible, my companion was still not someone to be trifled with.
“Any more questions?” Rune asked with a grin.
Chapter 3
I actually did have more questions — first and foremost among them being whether the Incarnates’ mystical metal detector had stripped me of any of my powers. I decided to do a quick sound check by dashing around the grain field at super speed, teleporting around it, and then flying into the air above it. Finding that those three abilities were still functioning (along with Rune’s solemn promise that the “metal detector” was only for Incarnates), I eschewed testing all of my powers and went on the assumption that everything was in working order.
That said, there were still a ton of things I needed to quiz Rune about. However, he asked that I hold off on any more questions for the nonce.
“Wait until we get inside and get settled,” he said.
Befuddled, I glanced around, still seeing nothing but stalks of blue grain.
“Inside where?” I finally asked.
Smiling, Rune pointed with his chin to a point over my shoulder. Turning around, I unexpectedly found myself at the bottom of a lengthy set of steps leading up to the double doors of a huge castle.
*****
“What is this place?” I asked as Rune and I went up the stairs.
“Castle Permovren,” Rune replied, as if it were obvious.
“I mean, where did it come from?”
“Honestly, it was always there,” he said. “It just didn’t materialize until we were ready to go in.”
“I would have liked to have been inside when the lightning struck,” I declared.
Rune chuckled. “Those thunderbolts were purely for effect, with no ability to do actual harm — except maybe to eardrums.”
I was about to comment, but at that moment we reached the top of the steps and the double doors opened. Standing there, dressed in blue-and-gray livery like some kind of majordomo, was a tall fellow with a thick black beard and long braided hair.
“Welcome back, Chomarsus,” the apparent majordomo said to Rune. “It has been too long since you graced us with your presence.”
“Too true, Dalmion,” Rune replied as we stepped inside. “Too true.”
Looking around, I saw that we were in a large foyer, with hallways and corridors branching off in numerous directions. Although the castle was obviously sizable — something I’d been able to discern while we were outside — the interior was very different than what I anticipated in terms of decorations. In essence, I had been expecting lavish furnishings, expensive artwork, marble columns, and more. Instead, the interior was essentially drab and unadorned, with everything I saw reflecting rather simple tastes.
“Ah,” Dalmion muttered, looking at me as he closed the doors. “I see you have finally acquired a laamuffal.”
“Uh…” Rune droned, glancing at me. “Something like that.”
“Excellent,” the majordomo said with a smile. “It’s well past time.”
I frowned. “What’s a llama-ful?”
“You don’t know?” Dalmion asked, looking surprised. “Well, it’s–”
“We’ll be heading to my suite now,” Rune cut in. “Thank you, Dalmion.”
“Of course, Chomarsus,” Dalmion said, inclining his head slightly. “Please call on me if I can be of service.”
With that, Dalmion left us.
“Come on,” Rune said, and began walking down one of the hallways.
Falling into step beside him, I asked, “So, what was that word that guy — Dalmion — used back there?”
“Chomarsus?” Rune intoned. “It’s just a colloquial term for an Incarnate.”
I shook my head. “No, not that. The other word — llama-ful.”
“Laamuffal,” Rune corrected, putting the accent on the middle syllable. “It, uh, it just means that you’re here with me.”
“You mean like your guest?”
“Sure, yeah. Like that.”
I didn’t say anything, but had my empathic senses turned up to the max. As was often the case with Rune, I didn’t really detect anything, but my gut was telling me there was more to the story.
“And here we are,” Rune announced, interrupting my thoughts.
I looked up, and then turned to my companion, baffled. We had stopped in front of a bare wall, about ten feet in height and stretching about fifteen feet to either side of us.
Ignoring my befuddlement, Run
e tapped the middle of the wall with the end of his staff. At the place where his staff made contact, a bright amber-colored dot appeared. Almost immediately, the dot began extending itself in a vertical line, simultaneously heading for the floor and the ceiling. When it reached those two junctures, the line split and began running horizontal — to the right and left — at both ends.
By this time, I had an inkling of what was happening, and my suspicions were proven correct a moment later when the line’s split ends all began running vertical again, with the two at the ceiling heading down and the two at the floor cruising up. Seconds later, the ends of the line all joined, framing the contours of two conjoined rectangles before flashing brightly and disappearing.
Rune put out a hand and pushed on the center line between the two rectangles, which I now recognized as doors. They swung inward easily, revealing a large, lavish apartment that was easily on par with the penthouse or presidential suite of any luxury hotel. Stepping in, we found ourselves surrounded by opulence on all sides, from vaulted ceilings to posh furnishings to marble floors to a baby grand piano. It was in stark contrast to what I had observed during our jaunt through the castle, and I said as much to Rune as the doors closed behind us.
“If you wield enough power,” he stated in response, “for a long enough time, you’ll quickly realize that appearances are quite often immaterial — especially in terms of possessions. What really matters is comfort and utility. A solid gold chair might look good and seem impressive, but sitting it in all day would be dolorous. A good old recliner would be much more relaxing.”
I thought about this for a moment. “So you’re saying that Incarnates have evolved beyond being impressed by gaudy displays of wealth and power.”
“What I’m saying is that it’s hard to be impressed when almost nothing is beyond your reach,” Rune explained. “If you’re a billionaire, you aren’t wowed if one of your peers buys a ten-year-old station wagon. You can just go buy one of your own — or a thousand, if you’re really into that kind of thing.”
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