by Isaac Hooke
Well that was unexpected.
Tane took a deep breath, then stepped onto the gate and plunged after Alric before it could seal.
Here goes nothing.
As Tane fell, he glanced at the throne room behind him. When he had reached level two in Emerald Siphoning, the muscle memory for Illusion had unlocked completely inside of him, and he knew all the intricacies involved, and the varying types of illusions of which he was capable. He utilized one of those intricacies now to dismiss the final illusion that remained in place, and before he passed completely through the inter-dimensional gateway, the throne room and all the soldiers inside of it winked back into existence.
In the center of the room, Tane’s clone was replaced by G’allanthamas, clad in the alien environmental suit. The earlier dart intended for Tane would have harmlessly bounced off that suit.
The dweller raised his tentacles in surrender as Tane plunged from view and this universe winked out.
Tane had fallen into a basement room of the palace. The stone around him glowed bluish with a hidden power. Metal crates were piled upon that stone, but there were otherwise no other furnishings present, and certainly no sign of the Paramount Leader—likely the man had already fled into the adjacent room.
Tane clambered to his feet and activated his shield generator. When he moved, small gray shockwaves traveled outward from his body, like ripples across the surface of a lake. Those shockwaves quickly faded to nothingness beyond a meter out from his body. He noticed that even when he stood still those gray ripples expanded from him, though at a lower intensity.
The bliss of the Emerald still sparked across his neurons. That the Synthate hadn’t been ripped away from him as soon as he entered this universe was a good sign. He tried to step into the White, and touch the Dark—he was able to achieve both. He promptly ceased Siphoning either, but continued to hang on to the Emerald for now.
Tane hurried to the closest doorway and leaned past. He saw only an empty hallway beyond.
He hadn’t been certain what the Paramount Leader would do when tricked into believing Tane had transported him into the Umbra. Tane had suspected the man would attempt to flee, but he didn’t think Alric would escape directly to another universe. The archaeoceti hadn’t been kidding when they said the Paramount Leader could take him to the creodenti.
Assuming this was actually the universe where the creodenti resided.
The fact that Alric had used a rock to create the portal lent credence to that theory, seeing as S’Wraathar had utilized similar artifacts to summon the rock creatures. Well, Tane was in some other universe anyway, domain of the creodenti or not; he worried vaguely about infection from microcrillia equivalents, but hoped this universe didn’t have them.
Tane momentarily ducked for cover back inside the basement room. He couldn’t create another Illusion, nor any other work of the Emerald. He didn’t dare. Still, he was reluctant to let go of the Synthate. That bliss was never easy to give up, not even in the memories granted by the archaeoceti.
He reluctantly sealed the veil and the Emerald left him, along with the pleasure. He staggered in exhaustion, the bone crown feeling heavy on his brow. The grazer, still cowed from their earlier duel of wills, remained in hiding beyond the veil.
Tane had a splitting headache. It felt like he had dunked his head into the plasma outflow of an engine conduit.
Still, it was better to feel that way than to allow the Emerald free reign over his neurons, as by letting the pleasure of the Synthate immerse him he would be tempted to use it again. Doing so now, without Lyra to heal the resultant nerve damage, would lead only to his death. Yes, far better to seal the veil than allowing the exhaustion to utterly, and secretly, consume him.
He wasn’t completely exhausted though, and definitely not as tired as he had been after Reviving Sinive. The initial creation of the illusion had been the most draining part, due to the sheer effort of will involved in mastering the grazer, and then the concentration required to interlink the complex network of Synthate lightning bolts. But once that had been done, he was able to Siphon a steady stream of Emerald into the illusion and otherwise rest his mind, at least somewhat. As such, he felt confident enough to Siphon the White or Dark if he needed to. Well, mostly the White, as he didn’t really feel up to the effort of creating a Dark timeline, due to the complexity involved. That said, he had already stored two Dark works in reserve anyway, works he had created several hours ago: both were Fingers of Ruin. As for the White, he thought he could form Essence Missiles without too much difficulty, but he was worried he’d only be able to create a few before wearying himself and having to step out of the Essence. They would be weak Missiles, too, at that.
Tane retrieved the D18 from his storage pouch, intending to use that as his only weapon for now. He wore the beam hilt around his neck via the cord he had secured to the device, giving him an Endurance boost. It helped. If he needed the hilt, he could tear it from his neck, breaking the cord.
He turned toward the doorway again and was about to step past it and into the hallway beyond, but a sixth sense stopped him.
Tane retreated, and grabbed one of the smaller crates from the pile beside him. He hurled it past the doorway. Before it landed in the hallway outside, it had turned to stone. It shattered when it struck the floor.
Not good.
Tane hauled another crate to the door and also hurled it past. This time it landed with a metallic thud, remaining intact. So he’d triggered the trap, which was a one-time variant, apparently.
Tane slowly crept through the door. He wished he had the Reveal Surveillance Essencework, which would show him any traps nearby. It was available at White Siphoning Level Five. As usual, he was sorely unprepared for the trials that awaited him.
You’re not ready to face the Paramount Leader.
But like G’allanthamas had said, Tane would never be ready. Even with Reveal Surveillance, he wouldn’t have been invulnerable. No matter how powerful he became, he never would be. He was still a man. And besides, that particular Essencework might have made him complacent, causing him to miss a trap that he assumed he could detect.
Still, if he was a higher level in all the Essences, things would have been much easier. He vowed to spend a few solid weeks leveling up as soon as this ordeal was done. The universe would just have to endure until then.
He advanced cautiously, keeping his gaze on the doors that lined the hallway ahead, and the crossroads in the corridor beyond them. The stone walls glowed blue, and those grayish shockwaves continued to travel outward from his body. He suspected those shockwaves were the manifestation of whatever hidden power this universe harbored, and indicated his ability to wield that power. Maybe he was wrong, but so far he had been able to wield the power of every other universe he had visited.
He reached the first of the doors that lined the hallway. It was made of metal, unlike the stone walls, and thus didn’t glow. The lock was biometrically sealed. He couldn’t open it.
At least, not via ordinary means.
Tane held his plasma blaster to the door and fired. The metal around the lock melted inward, and he kicked it open a moment later.
He found only an empty storage compartment filled with metal crates like the one he had just left.
He heard frantic shouts coming from somewhere ahead. Skipping past the other sealed doors, he hurried forward to the crossroads, and in the hallway to the left he spotted a staircase leading up to the main floor. Essence warriors were running down those stairs. They weren’t surrounded by gray shockwaves, like Tane.
It seemed the Paramount Leader had stowed a human platoon in this universe, ready to answer at his beck and call. If the Paramount Leader had access to this realm, it made some sense that he would deploy troops here once arriving at any location where he planned to stay for any significant length of time, in the event he needed to flee here.
Either that, or Alric had already returned to Umanitar and had sent these men inside
after him.
Tane dashed onward and the hallway opened up into a wider underground concourse. He headed toward the stairs on the far side and raced to the first floor above.
He had only just emerged from the lower left corner of the throne room when a distortion tunnel opened up in the center of the room. The place wouldn’t have been in the line of sight of any Mancers among the troops below—that told him they had marked the area with a beacon, and thus had definitely deployed here previously.
Essence warriors emerged from the distortion tunnel, leading the charge.
Tane unleashed both works of Fingers of Ruin he had in reserve, taking down two of the warriors leading the vanguard. The others shouted, and instinctively dove behind nearby pillars for cover.
Tane meanwhile proceeded at a mad dash toward the exit to the throne room, only a few meters in front of him. There was only one hope for him, given his current weakened state.
He raced into the courtyard that was lined with trees and fountains.
Another distortion tunnel opened directly in front of him, between the two fountains.
Tane swerved around it, held his D18 behind him, and squeezed the trigger. He prayed he wasn’t in range of any Mancers and their Telekinesis works.
He dove for cover behind one of the trees, and then took a side hallway. He hurried down it.
In moments it opened into the main entrance hall, and he sprinted across the bare marble. He knocked over the bust of one of the former Paramount Leaders before crashing through the entryway.
Two mechs had been deployed there, their weapons trained on the entrance.
Tane released two quick Essence Missiles, boring into the cockpits of both mechs and taking them down. But one of them managed to get off a short laser burst. A powerful one, at that.
Shield strength, 0%.
The laser bored a hole into his armored robe underneath. He staggered, not from the laser impact, but because of what the two Essence Missiles had taken out of him; he edged his way past the wreckages of those mechs, recovering enough to take the steps leading down to the walkway below two at a time. He moved away from the palace, threading between the outbuildings for cover. Overhead, the sky glowed with the same pale blue as the pavement underneath him.
He peered past the final building between him and the Mosaic’s location. Alric had deployed several scepters, Mancers, and Essence warriors to stand guard around the ship’s copy in this universe. Tane was actually expecting the ship to be gone entirely, carried away by some larger vessel so that there would be no chance he could ever touch it at all. In fact, given the thoroughness of the TSN, it probably was gone, at least in his own universe, and the snapshot of the vessel in this one was merely lagging, thanks to the presence of those troops from Umanitar.
Their first mistake.
Tane ducked from view, and then clambered onto the small collection of barrels next to his current outbuilding, pulled himself onto the roof, and lay down to rest and recover.
After about ten minutes, he felt strong enough to create a small Emerald work. Probably a good thing, because by then the TSN troops had brought in drone units to begin searching the rooftops—Tane could hear the buzz of their rotors growing in strength.
He crawled to the edge of the building and lowered himself back down. He heard a shout from the direction of the Mosaic, and the buzzing of drones increased dramatically in volume as no doubt several swooped toward him.
He had been spotted.
28
Tane parted the veil of the bone crown that rested on his brow, and thankfully the grazer gave way readily this time. Tane patted the inter-dimensional creature in approval with his mind, and in return it pressed gently back, so that he had the impression the grazer was nuzzling him with its nose.
Nerve-searing pain filled him almost immediately, soon giving way to bliss. From the lightning that sparked into existence, Tane created the necessary work and set it upon himself. Then he sealed the veil and allowed the pleasure to fade away, and exhaustion to return. He couldn’t use the Emerald again, not for a long while. White and Dark were still available to him, however.
He quickly spoofed his ID to the name and class he desired. Tane prayed the level difference wasn’t noticed, since he currently couldn’t spoof that.
At the same time as several drones appeared overhead, an Essence warrior rounded the bend, Chrysalium sword in one hand, pistol the other.
The man immediately lowered his weapons. “My apologies, Paramount Leader! We thought—”
But Tane cut him off with a disdainful nod, and walked curtly past the man toward the ship. Underneath him, the asphalt of the tarmac glowed just like the stone and marble walls of the palace.
He reached the ring of troops and addressed the closest man.
“I want him found,” Tane growled in the voice of the Paramount Leader.
“We’re continuing the building by building search,” the warrior said. “If he’s here, we’ll find him.”
“I want the search expanded outside the palace grounds immediately,” Tane said. “Send drones to nearby shipyards and terminals. He will be seeking a Chrysalium source.”
“But we’ve removed all nearby sources,” the trooper said, confirming Tane’s earlier suspicions.
“Yes, but he doesn’t know that,” Tane said.
“It will be done,” the trooper said.
Tane stepped toward the ring and the troops immediately parted, allowing him to continue toward the Mosaic and its open ramp. No one made any attempt to stop him. Why would they? He was the Paramount Leader. Supreme ruler of the TSN.
He’d only just started up the ramp when the ringing troops all turned their weapons toward him. No doubt the real Paramount Leader had sent a message to his troops on an encrypted band, informing them of the situation.
But Tane already had his hand inside his storage pouch, and he pulled out one of the Dark Artifacts he had, commanding it to expand at the same time.
The troops opened fire then, but the artifact had already arrived at its full height and easily reached over his head, serving as a shield. In fact it was so big that it abutted the underside of the hull, and the tarmac below cracked to accommodate it since the Chrysalium of the starship wasn’t going to give.
Tane touched the black surface and reached toward the underside of the ship above him at the same time, which was just within contact range thanks to his position on the ramp. When his fingers touched, he allowed the hurricane of White to gust across his bones from the Chrysalium hull, while the artifact provided a conflagration of Darkness in counterbalance, searing through his core.
Siphoning bonus. All Dark Essenceworks are enhanced 570% due to Siphoning through Dark Artifact.
Siphoning bonus. All White Essenceworks are enhanced 3429% due to Siphoning through Chrysalium hull.
Tane sent out his Essence Sight lifeline, allowing him to see beyond the shield of the Dark Artifact. From the massive maelstrom of stellar wind that erupted from his core, he grew an Essence Missile, using the flames of the Dark to buttress the White, which otherwise would have been uncontrollable. Then he released the immense work, which appeared as a blindingly bright light that towered over his body, a White shape spidered through with veins of Dark and surrounded by black lightning.
He sent the Missile through the line of troops in front of him, and then steered it around the ship in a sweeping motion. Some of the mechs and robots managed to dodge out of the way thanks to their high Dexterity, but Tane got most of the Mancers and Essence warriors.
When the work faded, he created another. The Dark helped stave off the weariness, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to last much longer.
He sent this work out as well, this time toward the score of troops that had emerged from one of the nearby outbuildings, obviously part of a group responsible for sweeping the different structures. They attempted to scatter, but Tane plowed that missile right through them, swerving it left and right as he did so, t
aking them all down.
He rotated his Essence Sight, scanning the immediate area, wary of any distortion tunnels that his enemy might be planning to open up. He was worried that they might try to jump just behind him, at the top of the ramp, and he had to be ready if they did.
But he sensed movement coming from the direction of the palace. He focused his Essence Sight there and spotted Alric. The Paramount Leader had stepped out from behind an outbuilding.
Alric was holding a rock: gray ripples rapidly expanded outward from the item and homed in on Tane.
Before Tane could do anything, the ripples struck.
Against his will, he stepped out of the White and released the Dark. He wanted to slump in exhaustion, but could no longer move. It wasn’t so much his body that was caught within an invisible vise, but his mind.
The Paramount Leader approached, stepping around the dark artifact so that he was in Tane’s full view. The surviving troops gathered around him: two mechs, three scepter robots, one Mancer, and four Essence warriors.
“I would have used this upon you earlier,” the Paramount Leader said when he was near the base of the ramp. Tane hadn’t been able to move the whole time. “But unfortunately the potency isn’t as great as when applied within the Sedentia itself. Here, even the strongest of minds can be broken. I’ve taken all of my generals here at one point, and most of my Volur advisers, to do this very thing. It has been my secret weapon, winning me negotiations galaxy-wide. A way to do so without having to inject nanotech, which always leaves a mark upon a subject’s brain, and thus a means to trace treachery. But Mind Shape, a gift of the creodenti, leaves no trace.”
Tane found that he could still move his mouth, so he said: “At what cost? What price have you paid the creodenti?”
Tane flinched as the vise tightened around him mind.
“Yes, you are a strong one,” Alric said. “I expected that, given our previous chippings failed to take hold. But I suppose that given how many Essences you can Siphon, by nature you’d have to be strong. But it doesn’t matter, because you’re mine now. I planned to use Mind Shape upon you once you were in the Alcove. I was going to announce that we’d developed a way to chip you successfully after all. I will simply move that announcement forward.”