Persist (Discipline Book 3)

by P. S. Power

  Most of the Cymeds were incredible fighters, but this man hit him with his extreme readiness to do battle. Thinking about it as he stood there in the front door of the dining hall got a wash of memories from the man to take Ben over. There were a dozen or more at the same time, and he got to live them all. It was incredibly violent, but…

  It was clear that the man, Brian Yi, didn’t want any of it. He fought, but didn’t have a choice. Instead of being scared of him, even after being assaulted with his memories, which were terrible, Ben just felt sad. On a level that he seldom had before.

  “Brian? And…” that got him to smile, since the other man, who was thin, had dark hair and pale skin, was clearly him.

  Not Ben, of course. They looked enough alike that it made it easy for him to see the similarity. A single name popped up in front of his eyes instantly however, which was helpful.

  “Jake? I’m Ben. Epson. Gwen is here, eating tacos. I… She’s you, Brian. Glenda is inside, too. Also you? This way. I’ll get you settled and come back here? To greet the others? I know that I’d love to see a smiling face if I ever went to another world.” It hadn’t happened for him so far, but would be a pleasant change up.

  The other version of him stared a bit, and then smiled hugely. Peace, happiness and oddly love radiated from the man. It would have been annoying, if not for the fact that he really meant it all. That kind of won him over, pretty quickly.

  “Thank you, Ben. It isn’t every day that I get to meet such a nice, and attractive, person. I love the hair, by the way.”

  He gestured for them to walk in, nodding as he did.

  “I don’t get a choice on that one. Genetic modification, and I guess I was color coded green? I used to look more like you. Only fat. Like, a hundred pounds heavier.” Ben held his hands out to the side, to show what he meant.

  They spoke as they got to the table, which was the one that the psychics always used, since Ben had simply sat there without thinking, when Gwen was brought in. That meant that the others had come in and settled around it, with Clark and Mags pulling over another table already, having heard others were coming in. As they settled, Brian looked at them, and nodded, slowly. His face was hard looking, but he grinned a bit.

  “I… Recognize a few people. Sort of.” He waved at Mags, and smiled hugely, then at Gwen, who was sitting right next to her, looking identical, except for their eyes. That and the fact that Mags was carrying about ten kilos of extra muscle, compared to the very thin woman next to her, who’d closed her eyes as she enjoyed her food.

  Literally shaking a bit in pleasure.

  Opening them she smiled and shook her head a little.

  “I know. I’m Gwen. Um, basically I’m Glenda here? Possessing the body of Mags, who’s actually from a different world? Before you ask, she kidnapped me, using magic, and trapped me in her body. So we worked out a deal. She and her friends were trying to bring the Elder Gods back for some reason. Beings of immense power, trapped beyond the void?” She said it like it wouldn’t make any sense, but both Brian and Jake nodded.

  Ben did as well.

  “That… Really makes sense. We should wait for the others to get here? Unless this is it?” He looked at Gwen, who took a bite of hard shell taco, a little bit of crunch carrying across the table and shook her head.

  “There will be others. Two Zack’s, Torrance, and whoever they bring with them. I think we’re keeping things small this time? I’m not really in charge. Zack is.”

  Ben nodded, and stood up.

  “Which is my signal to go and wait for people? No going over who is who yet! I want in on that. It will be fascinating.” Ben nearly chuckled over that one, feeling a bit nervous really.

  The last time he’d met himself, one version of him had been kind of murderous. Polite about it, except for the beating, but still, that didn’t bode well really. Jake felt really kind, but also off. Like he was old, and hard to read at the same time.

  The next people to arrive did it in a very different fashion. There were no footprints just appearing in the snow, like the others had going on. No, this time they came from above. Dropping straight down, from several hundred feet up. In a decently large, purple and black craft of some kind. It was about the size of a commercial bus, but hovered over the ground, about two feet above the snow. When the door opened, two people stepped out.

  Ben noticed that the first was a large man, who had to be over seven feet tall, though he was fairly thin. Also good looking enough to make Ben wonder if he wasn’t just a bit gay, deep down inside. It wasn’t really that however, not in any kind of a big way. It was just that the man, who was definitely that, triggered all the right cues for being pretty. It was a bit uncomfortable for him, but thankfully a very pale, white skinned version of Lissa was there too, distracting him a little.

  The larger man was normal in color, having skin about the same shade as his own, but the smaller woman, who was about five-six or so, looked like a pearl. Her skin wasn’t just pale, but had a sheen of colors to it, in the sunlight, like an abalone shell might. Or a really high end paint job for an auto.

  “Hello!” He waved, and tried not to be worried when Torrance, the big one, floated out of the vehicle, and then made it vanish into thin air. Grabbing something. Ben couldn’t really see it, but the words explained that it was probably the vehicle itself.

  Next to him the lady smiled and waved back, seeming very mentally controlled and almost shielded as she did it, though her words were friendly. Almost sexy, though in a subdued way.

  “Hi! I’m Doris. This is Tor. We’ve come for the meeting? This is the right place?”

  “It is! Just so no one is shocked, there are more of you inside. Our Doris is called Lissa, and Tor… Well, I think this is really about different versions of you today, if I have that right? Let’s go in. We have food, since it’s around dinner time. I think there are a few more people coming? Zack?”

  The larger man nodded, smiling. He spoke clearly enough, but his accent was a bit thick, and a little strange to Ben. Like he was a native German speaker, nearly.

  “That seems right. Thank you. I hope that coming in that way didn’t frighten you? I wasn’t told not to fly, is that a thing you can do?” It could have been the man trying to rub in how cool his technology was, compared to theirs, since they didn’t seem to have any that was visible at the moment, but it really wasn’t.

  He was honestly just worried that Ben would have been scared by what had happened.

  “Airplanes, and a few other things like that. Some spacecraft, not that I’ve ever seen one of those in person. I’ve been on a few missions though, as long as VR counts?” He got ready to explain that, but Doris tilted her head and then nodded.

  “I haven’t even thought about that in two thousand years. Virtual Reality. If we get a chance we should try that here, Tor. It’s an amazing thing if it’s anything like what I recall. You might be able to do something like it with magic.”

  Not wanting to be the person that didn’t get things, Ben nodded, but was surprised when the other man smiled.

  “The Austrans have that, you know? I think Tenet is working on it, along with Tess. Translating it to magic for us.” Looking at Ben he explained. “My younger brother and sister. They’re builders. Um… Wizards? I can explain that, if you like?” Again it just seemed like real concern.

  Tor was in all black, but the costume was nice, and looked to be made of silk and velvet. Ben was still in his regular black clothing, not having had a chance to shower or change yet. His head still ached a bit, which got him to rub it a bit, smiling.

  “That would be great, actually. I’m a bit new to all of this. I… Kind of went to another world earlier? Then was beaten up, by a different version of myself, and talked to another me who was the King of the place I went to? So, it’s been a day, you know?”

  Both of them nodded as they walked in, and the big one patted at his neck, then took off a glowing necklace. It seemed to have the shape of a ma
n on it, in silhouette. All in green. The thing was tapped once then handed to him. Ben took it, and nearly dropped the thing as his head suddenly ached and burnt. That went away though, after a bit, fading as lights and words played across his mind, showing him that his healing rate had spiked to about five thousand times what was normal, and stayed that way, until the pain was gone. Tor made no move to take the thing back as they got to the table, distracted by the others.

  Reaching out, holding the string that the amulet was on, got the man to look at him and take it back.

  Ben nodded a few times, and smiled.

  “Thanks! Um, everyone? This is Torrance, who I think prefers to be called Tor?” It was correct, but he looked at the man anyway, as he and the lovely woman next to him bowed. “Next to him is Doris. You should go sit by Lissa, over there? That way we can kind of keep in mind who is who here. This could get confusing.”

  The other two got there at nearly the same time, stepping out of space in different locations. They were similar enough, though one looked part Asian and the other was all white. Even given that, you could see that they were nearly the same. They also both looked a bit like Brian, though how Glenda fit in there, Ben wasn’t certain. She felt right however.

  So did Gwen.

  “Hi! Are you both Zack?”

  As if it made any sense at all, they both nodded, and the more Asian one stepped forward, shaking Ben’s hand. That didn’t go over well, for him.

  In what couldn’t have been more than a moment, Ben relived his whole life. All at once. Worse, he relived the other man’s as well. It had been so hard that he started crying. The other fellow smiled though.

  “Okay, sorry about that. Well, as you know now, I’m Zack Hartley. Greater Demon. You’re Ben, Epson. I know a Vampire version of you, by the way. He’s a good man. Reliable, which is one of my favorite things. The others are all in here?”

  Ben, shaking still, nodded. The other version of Zack, the Caucasian one, took his arm to steady him, but while there was a sense of immense age, and power, that was all. Something kept Ben from living his life, thankfully. It probably would have killed him if it happened.

  “Hi! Um, Zack. Also Zack Hartley, so that’s going to be confusing. I don’t want to be pompous or anything, but maybe if you called me something else? Hartley would do? Then he can be Zack, and no one will get confused?”

  Ben nodded.

  “Nice to meet you, Hartley. People will be confused. You’re the one that set all this up?” Again, Ben knew that, this time having lived the other man doing that with Zack, getting how it was all being put together.

  “Right. I don’t know if it will really help, but I think we’re all having to deal with similar things, in our own universes? I’ve learned a bit about it all, but we should talk. Share things, and make certain that we aren’t all trying to tackle it alone. The dark isn’t, I can promise you that.”

  It seemed reasonable to Ben. Rather, it seemed insane, and like they were about to jump into a surreal VR experience, but he had some experience with that kind of thing, so just got the men inside, and forced the others to move around, so that the right people were near the others. Then, because it made sense, most of them jumped up to go get food. Ben did too, laughing a bit as Jake pushed in next to him, making Tor move back a little with a few pats to the giant fellow’s arm.

  “Ben. I didn’t know that I’d be meeting anyone else here. That’s me, I mean? Brian just brought me because I originally come from a different reality. We have that kind of technology, moving between worlds, so it wasn’t that hard for me when I did it. I needed to get away for a while.” The man made selections of different foods, picking what Ben did until they got to the sweets. Other him seemed to be allowed to eat those. Which was a little sad for Ben, who skipped them, and didn’t say why.

  Taking a fruit cup for dessert, he glanced at the man, and nodded.

  “On the run from the law?”

  Instead of being insulted, the nicer version of him shook his head.

  “Nope. On the run from a world of friends that relied on me, instead of on themselves. For a hundred years they came to me for every single little thing practically, even though they just needed to work together and be kind about things. They weren’t going to stop, so I ran off to hide. Don’t worry, I left them with a perfectly good substitute. My adopted daughter, Hope? She’s over a hundred years old, and it was time for her to take over. It had been for about ninety years, but no one took that seriously. So I fixed it. That was about a year ago, now. I faked my death, but I can get you in for the technology. My friend, Skalla controls that tech for my people. It was how I got here after faking my death.”

  It was a lot to learn all at once, but Ben just nodded. Taking in the needed parts was going to be the important bit for the day. It didn’t matter who it came from. Or how strange they seemed. Jake had access to the ability to travel through different realities, using technology. That could come up as needed.

  “Neat. We need to make sure we get everything recorded. My friend Dave, the man over there with blue hair and eyes? He’s doing all that.”

  He was too. Standing, the man was setting up cameras instead of eating. The rest of the room was very quiet, as the other Cymeds looked on, most of them not trying to join the collection of newcomers in civilian clothing.

  The only exception was Kyle, who walked over holding a tray, smiling.

  “I can see this is a very special event. I don’t know if I’m allowed-” The man, who was the oldest looking person there, though far from actually being that, was a bit surprised when Tor smiled at him and gestured to the seat beside him.

  “Kyle?”

  That got a blink, and a nod.

  “Yes. Kyle Hardgrove, have we met?”

  “No. Yes as well. Back home you were the headmaster of the school I went to. Also the spymaster for the Kingdom. Noram. Later you became a Count, a position that you still hold.”

  Ben smiled, since they were probably in for more than one or two things like that to come that day.

  “Here he’s in charge of the Cymeds. It’s complicated, but basically we’re all genetically modified. I don’t know if that means anything to you? You have magic…” Which he could kind of get, having a bit of that himself.

  Nodding, Tor looked at him and smiled, his face almost seeming like it was a computer generated one. There were no blemishes, or lines, and he seemed youthful. About twenty or so, though it was hard to tell. Everything was perfectly balanced, too. In a way that made Ben’s brain itch a bit. Part of that was probably jealousy, but the rest was just that the other man was too perfect to be real.

  Worse, a lot of data started to flood into his mind about things then. It came in a rush, but was incredibly clear. The experience was different than with Zack, the Demon. This was more controlled, and while there were some intense things in his life, most of it was fantastic. His world wasn’t just a place where magic was real, but where they used it for everything. Even to travel into space. Blinking, he tried to listen as the man spoke.

  “We can do that. Change DNA, using magic? My brother Timon is the best at it, but I’ve managed it as well. My son, Dareg… He’s been changed. It… I think he might be you, actually. The look is very different, but the pattern is right, if that makes sense to you? The part that makes you who you are?”

  Next to him, sitting by Glenda, Demon Zack, the part Asian one, leaned in a bit and threw off a wink.

  “In my world you’re a book store clerk. A vampire, too. Oddly, it’s harder to find good help than it is the undead in my neighborhood. So I hire where I can.”

  Hartley nodded then.

  “Where I come from, you’re my cousin. Don. He’s a line walker. You already taught yourself how to do that? That’s incredible. We should go over technique though? I think we might, my people, be able to help you with that a bit? Really, any of you that want to try. We need to be able to get places. For now, we should go over why we’re here? If
people won’t be upset if I talk while you eat? I can also wait, if that’s rude where you come from?”

  Everyone looked at him, but Tor shrugged, his massive body going into the movement, all at once.

  “Would that be all right? We’ve been having some trouble, in my world. The Adversaries…”

  That got Hartley to stand and move back a bit, so that Dave could bring a camera around to capture his image.

  “What I learned is from a Trickster, but I think that he’s been honest with me. We have to take that with a grain of salt however, since his kind will do what is needed to make the universe function correctly. Riley, the Trickster, told me that this threat comes from the end of all things, and that we, or different versions of ourselves, are the problem.”

  No one else seemed to get it, but Ben nodded, which got everyone to look at him. Hartley gestured, the move a little nerdy seeming somehow. Overdone and out of place. Telling him to speak.

  “Uh… Well, that makes sense. The voice that I’ve been hearing of my dead father, who claims to have lived on in a different world, mentioned that none of us ever really die? That every time a death event takes place, there are two options. One lives, and one dies. That’s the simple version, there can be more than that each time, but it means that some version of ourselves always lives. In the end, however it works, that means that each of us will be the only thing left in our own Universe. Probably going insane. Floating in nothing forever would be hard.”

  Hartley nodded.

  “Exactly what I was told. If that is right, then we face an army of beings willing to end all that exists now, or ever has, in order to prevent that from happening. Time… Isn’t what we think. It stretches forward, but also back. This universe is finite, but there are an infinite amount of them, and all of them end at some point, even as other versions go on… Does that make sense?”

  It did, since Ben was getting a rather complicated visual of the whole thing as the other man spoke. Speaking next, Tor muttered. It was in a foreign language, that sounded slightly like German as Ben had thought earlier. It also wasn’t that, at the same time.