She was preparing herself to jump—planning to skip the entire set of steps—when another sphere of rock flew past right in front of her and rocketed straight through the stairs. She hadn’t seen it coming, and the rock there exploded upward in all directions, sending a barrage of debris into her path and blocking her way. Her feet stopped first, skidding abruptly on the slippery marble surface. She raised her arms to shield herself from the flying pieces of rock. She managed to deflect some of them with the power, and most of them flew past her, but some struck her, and she yelled out as she felt them pelt her face.
She stumbled and fell forward. Landing on one knee, she protected the right side of her torso with her left arm and managed to avoid hitting her head by a single inch. Sliding forward a little further on the slippery surface, she finally came to a stop. Slowly, she pushed herself off the ground with her right arm and looked around. As the dust cleared in front of her, she could see that the platform was broken, and there was no way for her to connect to the other side—it was simply too far away.
Directly across from her, beyond a chasm that she could only guess was of infinite depth, was the massive arched hallway. She instinctively knew that if she could get to that, she could run from the creature’s path. As she stared at the beautiful, enormous arch, she had an inkling that it was an exit somehow—that it was only partially connected to the entity, and was perhaps beyond his control to some degree. Although she understood that this realm belonged to him, she also knew that getting to the arch would be her best chance of escape. Every room has a door, she thought, and down there, she knew she could find it. Before, Jane had been planning to jump the remaining distance, skipping the staircase entirely. Now, though, with nothing to support her underneath, and a fifty-foot distance to the other side, it didn’t seem like a smart move.
Her face still hurt from where the rocks had pelted her, and a swell of panic was threatening to rise up within her that spoke of a fear that she would not be able to help herself. She began to gasp and watched in horror as the rocks that had exploded from the platform directly in front began to float up around her. They quickly reshaped, and she heard crushing sounds as they were ground and compacted by an incredible force. There were now six separate sections of rock, and they had formed into perfect slabs of concrete infused with marble. They hovered in front of her, only twenty feet away, suspended just over her in the air. She gaped as it began to dawn on her what they were for. Then the rocks began to move in her direction.
They split up, with two of them approaching from her left and right. One came directly at her from the front, and as Jane jerked her head around behind her, she saw that another one was moving into position there, blocking her path back from where she had come. Above her, a shadow appeared, and she saw that one of the slabs was approaching from there too. Forcing herself to stand up, she grimaced in pain, but ignored it, knowing the greater danger she now faced. She reached her hands out toward the approaching sections of concrete, which were rapidly shaping themselves into the shape of a cube.
“Stop!” she yelled, and pushed outward with her psychokinetic grip, but the strength of the creature was so far beyond hers, it was pointless to even try. The only effect her effort had was to cause enough friction to crack the rocks as the two opposing forces of their wills acted upon each other. Inexorably, the slabs continued to move toward her until they were surrounding her, and began to block out the light of this incredibly unusual world.
Her chest tightened, and her lungs wheezed as she struggled for air. She pushed out harder against the rocks, and the pressure she exerted on them almost caused her to faint. Even then she had almost no effect on them, and they drew closer still. The world grew darker. When the edges of the rock began to touch, and the world she saw outside truly began to be closed off from her, she screamed. With one last push, she summoned all the strength she could, and in rage and defiance of the creature, she pushed her arms out, extending her power in every direction. For a moment, the rocks shuddered and stopped moving. She could sense the creature’s bemusement at this, for the force that Jane was exerting upon the rocks was truly colossal. She could only hold that level of power for seconds, though, and as she continued to push, blackness began to cloud her vision. When she felt a pinch grow in her chest, she withdrew her hands.
Jane leaned over, taking deep breaths, and slowly her vision returned to normal.
The sections began to lock into place; the slabs slammed into each other and fused together at the edges. Too weary to react, she was lifted off her feet as the last section of concrete rose up below her, sealing her shut into darkness.
This is only the beginning! the creature screamed in her mind.
Her heart raced as blackness enveloped her totally. The shock that rose within her was unstoppable and automatic. Immediately, she felt her mind retreat from the situation, and she could feel her grasp on reality slipping. As she fell, there was only one thing left to hold on to. She sank to her knees, and with her last ray of focus, she thought of Max. Somehow, she found him; in her mind’s eye, she saw the scepter-like object he was holding flash in her thoughts as he raced up a concrete staircase.
She opened her eyes to darkness. Her body flooded with energy at the tiny glimmer of hope she had found. She closed her eyes again, and this time focused much harder. Now she could see him, and she could sense that he was nearby. She watched him from above as he raced up a beautiful staircase. The walls on either side were lined with the most intricate patterns she had ever laid eyes on—spirals upon spirals running up their surfaces. Max stared upward, and his face was filled with venom. He seemed to be moving at an impossible speed.
Jane could see that as he took the steps three at a time, they were rapidly being ripped away from behind him. Indeed, large chunks of concrete were flying out into the void of space, which was tinged with a purple-and-blue haze.
I see you, Jane. I’m almost there.
He raced faster toward her.
She closed her eyes tighter and moved her attention around behind him, watching in her mind’s eye as his incredible coat swirled around his rapidly moving body. He reached the scepter forward into the air, and an incredible light grew around it.
BREAK, he said simply.
Light exploded into the temporary prison where Jane had been placed as the concrete that encased her was ripped into a thousand pieces. She fell to the ground, just a few feet below, and the debris crashed around her.
NO! the entity roared.
Taking deep breaths, Jane rose to her knees. She felt a rumbling rise up through the concrete below her. She placed her hands on the ground, feeling the vibrations as they grew stronger, and smiled because she knew exactly what was coming. Concentrating on Max once again, she found him in her mind racing up the stairs. As he neared the top, she could see that there was an enormous and imposing thick wall. With one confident swipe, his scepter cut through the concrete.
The spell was broken as Jane opened her eyes and her vision was restored. Straight ahead of her, a beam of light exploded from the wall on the right side of the giant archway, about halfway up, illuminating the beautiful structure there. The beam of energy was so powerful that it shook the entire world. Jane gazed at the surface below as it vibrated with the intensity of the blast. The beam continued onward toward the other side of the arch and destroyed a large portion there too. A shower of rock and dust followed, raining down into the beautiful atrium. Max flew through the air through the new opening, his coat trailing out behind him. He landed thirty feet away from the wall, about a quarter way across the large surface, and crouched. He turned to Jane immediately, looking at her across the vast distance between them.
Move! he yelled clearly in her mind.
Jane leaped to her feet. At the same time, Max ran toward her and reached out a single hand. The rocks that surrounded her came to life and flew into the broken space straight in front of her, sealing the ga
p in the platform and the stairs just beyond. She broke into a run toward the other side, seeing that the concrete below was well secured. As she approached the steps, she continued to watch Max as he ran to the edge of the walkway to her left, where below, the rock face dropped off into a smoky chasm of infinite depth.
Max reached his hands down in front of him, and immediately, a large section of the rock there obeyed his mind and broke away. The thunderous sound of cracking concrete filled the air, and this new platform carried him forward out into the massive open space in the center of this strange world. He had his palms held down toward the surface—controlling the rocky platform with ease—and his face was filled with incredible determination. He turned the platform toward the upper corner where Jane had seen the incredible series of Escher-like staircases. Max reached one outstretched palm up toward the rock face, and using his incredible power, he cut into the surface, dragging huge chunks of it away from the jagged wall. Once the pieces of rock were freed, he clenched his fist, and they were pulverized immediately into platforms. A shower of dust exploded from each piece, and then they began to move, obeying his will.
Jane reached the staircase and began to descend it. Upon reaching the area below, she glanced back over her left shoulder at Max while still continuing to move onward toward the huge open space where the giant arch towered above her and the walkway stretched on into the distance.
Max moved upward on his platform, and Jane saw from a hundred-foot distance that on either side of him, the other surfaces he had so recently carved from the wall swirled around, waiting for him to take refuge on them. She counted at least ten of them.
The entity groaned with displeasure, and the guttural sound echoed out into enormous interior—a dissonant, sonic shockwave.
Despite the low volume, Jane still placed her hands to her ears and continued to step back further toward the arch. She glanced above and saw that above her was the beginning of the structure. As she took a few more steps, she felt comforted. She had been right. Glancing behind her once again, she realized that there was indeed something safe about this place.
There was a loud sound from the upper right corner, and Jane glanced in this direction to see that some of the staircases there were breaking away. As they did, the entrances that some of them led to opened up further. New shafts of light shone out from them, tracing their way across the newly broken walls. One by one, these sections began to implode, crashing in on themselves. This time, they formed huge spheres, and each of them was easily eight feet in diameter. Four of them formed quickly as the rock they were composed of was crushed by incredible, awesome power. Then, quickly, the same thing happened to the others, until at least twenty spheres of various sizes were flying around each other in that distant corner.
The first one flew toward Max with that same massive velocity that Jane had recently witnessed. She gasped, her hand automatically going to her throat. She was about to reach out with the power, knowing it would do no good, when Max deftly moved his right foot back, turning so that his front was facing her. His left hand rose, and the scepter grew with incredible light once again. The sphere of rock didn’t even come close to him; instead, it broke into a thousand fragments that Max directed around him in perfect fashion. As they passed by him, they fell behind into the abyss below. All that remained was a cloud of dust.
Max crouched low to the platform he was standing on, and it took off at a rapid pace, heading directly toward the terrible source of light from where Jane knew this being’s essence emanated. The spheres in the upper corner all began to move, flying toward him in unison with incredible speed. He directed the platform to avoid them. When one moved too close, he stood up straight, his left arm dancing in front of him as the scepter changed hands. Reaching up, he swung his right arm. A blaze of light flashed from the tip of the scepter, and the sphere was obliterated around him. Some of the rock struck him this time, though his coat seemed to be almost invulnerable, and Jane saw no rock penetrate its flowing form.
Shocked, she watched as the platform he was on approached the light source.
Momentarily distracted, Max brushed the dust off his face and glanced at his hand. Then, as he drew near to the center, where the vile, beating heart which represented the entity was, he turned toward it and drew both his hands together, aiming the scepter straight toward the source of light. The glow from the scepter grew around him, encasing him until he became a thin silhouette. Then he was gone.
Jane heard the entity scream, and she looked up as new light began to appear through new cracks in the concrete all around her. Streams of it reached out into the giant open space and enveloped her. She had one last chance to see the Escher-like staircases, which stretched high above her on the right. Then she turned rapidly, knowing she had only seconds to once again see the extraordinary marble arch. She knew she probably wouldn’t lay her eyes on it again in this life, and she also knew somehow that there lay the answers to all of life’s greatest questions. In the far distance, she could see thin wisps of cloud flowing inside of it, but then, that world was too bright to see.
***
Slowly, the light faded, and Jane found herself sitting back against a hard surface. Her head was resting against it, and her eyes were heavy with exhaustion. The light that had penetrated the world previously was fading, and now she could see shifting patterns of rock all around her. This reminded her of a kaleidoscope her father had once bought her. In the upper left corner, the Escher-like staircases were roiling and fading like flowing, liquid wax, appearing to recede into oblivion. She squinted again, and the concrete-and-marble structures changed more dramatically. Walls rose up in the distance. They appeared one behind the other, forming some great set of steps, and they were outlined with dim, pulsing, white light. These receded backward into infinity. A ring of rock had formed all around her. It was about fifteen feet high, and it had formed into a roughly circular shape. The construct that was forming around her then reminded her of a stadium.
She squinted again as behind her, she heard the faint sound of crunching rock. She had just enough energy and time to look up and see the formation of a similar set of blank marble rows behind her.
What the heck?
She was sitting down now as the arena finished forming and the light dimmed. Above her, there were a series of beautiful white lights, like the fairy lights of a Christmas tree, except they were brighter. These were the source of the illumination for the arena. As she squinted, and the lights became clearer, she guessed that there were maybe thirty of them in total separated into three separate groups that ran across the top of the structure.
In the far distance, across the gigantic flat surface that was the floor, the marble that covered the wall on the other side seemed to be decorated naturally with beautiful swirling striations. They were a darker brown in color, and they rose upward, encased in the wall that separated the ground level from the stadium-like seats above.
Stadium.
The word came to mind, and she frowned. This is a stadium. An arena. But why? Why am I here?
Her strength still hadn’t returned, but she pushed herself up off the ground with one hand. The ground shook violently as something tremendous crashed down onto it in the distance. Jane gasped. She had only risen two feet when she fell straight back onto the floor, and her head jerked toward the source of the sound. It was only now that she saw the giant arch on the left-hand side, embedded in the wall there. The concrete that formed it was still vibrating from whatever force had caused the sound, and dust fell from the top of its arch, which must have been eighty feet high.
She looked to her right—she was closer to the edge of that side of the arena—and saw that there was a second arch there too, just as big. She glanced between the two of them and was readying herself to move again when another crashing sound came, once again from the left. She looked back to it, taking a deep breath, but then, as she stared at the black space betwe
en the arch there, everything grew quiet. She glanced right again, but there was no sound from this second space either. She looked at the ground, feeling the weakness in her bones, and wondered if she would have the strength to rise up off the floor. She reached her right hand down and placed her palm flat on the surface there. Gently, she pushed herself upward and stood.
This time, she preempted the sound on her left and looked in that direction before it came. It was a boom that echoed across the arena, and she felt the force of the sound hit her like a shockwave. Her hands went to her ears, but the sound was gone almost immediately. To her horror, she began to hear scratching sounds on the concrete that led away into the darkness of the arch there. As she watched, she realized, her lips trembling, that something was emerging from the space. There was a glint as some of the light from above struck the object. Then, as more of it was revealed, she realized it was metallic in form. A few seconds later, it revealed itself to be an enormous hand.
Jane frowned. How is that possible? A metallic hand?
The hand reached up toward the edge of the arch, revealing the rest of the arm and the thick, muscular shoulder, all seemingly either made of metal or enclosed in metal. The appendage grabbed the edge of the concrete, and as it did, it crushed the rock that formed that part of the wall into pieces. Chunks of concrete and marble fell to the ground, along with small clouds of dust. They crashed against the floor, some of them breaking further apart, and then settled. The arm pulled itself forward, and Jane heard the sound of moving machinery as it did. It struck her then that once again, her mind was merely doing its best to comprehend what she was seeing—that she might not be seeing the whole picture.
The figure began to reveal itself. First the metallic shoulder came fully into view, glinting under the beautiful lights overhead, and then the rest of the torso. It was composed of rings of flat metal, which appeared to shift in their position, rearranging themselves as its body moved. The other arm reached out of the darkness and grabbed the other side of the wall. The concrete beneath its grip crumbled, crushing, and pieces of it once again fell to the ground in a haze of dust. One giant silver leg came forward and fell to the ground below, breaking through the hard surface just in front of the arch. Then, as the second leg rose up toward the front of the arena, the light revealed its detail. The face was covered with a mask of some kind, like the rest of the suit, with two holes from where giant, otherworldly eyes bored out at the giant open space.
Rise (The Ethereal Vision Book 2) Page 31