Descend- Seeing Stars

by Sean Oswald

  The knife-like pain that felt like it was trying to cut his personality to shreds must be Oma. There were other attacks that he had trouble recognizing so they must have been from other people. One of the girls seemed to be trying to siphon his PSI energy away. He would have laughed but his jaw was clamped shut trying not to scream in agony. The size of his PSI pool would crush any of them here, especially a non-fused.

  He felt his mind starting to crack under the strain. Equally dangerous he was having trouble maintaining maxed durability and regeneration. He needed to do something, or he was going to have to admit they could take him down. For a moment he thought that might not be so bad. It was sixty to one, but then new Jay took center stage again. If he was going to defend his women then he had to be the strongest, and dammit they were his women.

  Jay leaned into the new threshold ability Multi-Mental Focus. So far, he had been using it instinctively in little ways to help him multi-task. Now he had to be more intentional about it. Of course, that was hard to do as his skin was burning with flame and acid, his bones were cracked, and his muscles were convulsing from the electrical current running through him. That was to say nothing of the psychic assault.

  He heard the voices of his wives in his mind asking if they should call off the attack. There was nothing but concern in them but still he pushed. He didn’t answer as all his attention, every bit of mental energy he could muster was put into trying to partition his mind.

  Then it clicked into place. One part of him was controlling his body while another was engaged in a psychic battle. He sent out a surge of his Imposing Will tracking back along each of the mental assaults. A moment later he felt the pressure start to ease as one after another the girls were knocked out.

  Even as he felt the mental pain lesson the physical attacks were stepped up. He was almost oblivious to the world around him, but he felt a punch to the side of his face that knocked teeth loose. It was like a sledgehammer had slammed into the side of his face. Not the current him. Evolved Jay would have laughed at a sledgehammer. This was like he had been struck as his old normal human self.

  The blow sent him flying into the PSI wall behind him which promptly shattered due to his loss of focus. He surged PSI to his regeneration trying to get back in fighting shape before whoever this was hit him again. But he was too slow. She was on him in a flash. It didn’t make sense. None of the girls should have been this powerful. It had to be more than one, but his eyes told him it was only one girl hitting him repeatedly.

  Granted his vision was blurry but at first, he thought it was Amelia. She was certainly aggressive enough to take the attack to him like this, but she wasn’t powerful enough. Then he realized that she was too tall to be Amelia. Her skin was too dark. It must be Trina. But then he felt his skin ripped open by claws. Trina had never manifested body transformations, so it had to be Jessie.

  He could feel that it was one of his fuses but strangely even though his body was running on autopilot essentially, he couldn’t keep up. He was too drained, too much damage had accrued and even his incredible levels of PSI were struggling to keep up.

  One clawed hand grabbed the back of his head and another shoved a shadowy blade against his throat. Then a voice that he couldn’t quite place said, “Surrender.”

  He closed his eyes and dropped to the floor unconscious.

  Interlude 1- Amongst the Wives

  Amelia watched as Zuri, Sora along with some of the other healers knelt around Jay working on him. Even Emma insisted that she be allowed to protect his mind in her Intellect Fortress. A part of Amelia wants to push them aside and do the healing herself.

  All of the fuses had Huong’s healing ability, they just didn’t all have her skill with it. And there was something more. Perhaps it could be called a natural talent. So while she had more power, she didn’t have the skills of a natural healer. There were other reasons too.

  Amelia looked over at her beautiful rival. Trina had everything she didn’t have. She was naturally tall, leggy, and just plain gorgeous. She was the kind of woman that men just drooled over. Hell, even she thought Trina was hot. So, she couldn’t blame Jay for having a crush on her back on Earth. That was just it though. Trina had a history with Jay. Amelia didn’t have that natural charisma or that history.

  It cut her to the chase at times. Even though she knew it was silly. She worried that Trina would replace her as wife number one. She was so nervous about it that she hadn’t even been calling dibs lately. A part, well actually a big part of her knew she didn’t have anything to worry about.

  Amelia knew how Jay felt about her. He adored her. But he also loved all his other wives and was even building up something like that for Trina. It wasn’t there yet, but it was growing. Knowing the silly boy scout has a heart two times bigger than it should be, he would end up sappily in love with every girl he fused with. As much as she enjoyed making fun of him for it, she still loved it when she was the object of that affection.

  It was because it was so precious to her that she let that little voice of doubt in the back of her mind nag at her. Trina cared about Jay. If she had to say, based on what she sensed through the fusion, Trina actually was in love with Jay now. It was ironic given how they had both described the way he had felt about her back on Earth, but it was there. The fusion never lied.

  She also knew that Trina only had Jay’s best interests at heart. And hers for that matter. The fusion made them one and so no matter how that little voice called her a rival they were still allies in this. That was why she had stood back instead of rushing to Jay’s side. If Trina said that Sora was the best healer, they had other than Huong then Amelia was inclined to believe her.

  She just would have liked to be the one he first saw when he opened his eyes. She would have liked to be the one holding her hand against his face when he knew that everything was going to be okay. And she would have liked to be the one to receive that Jay smile of appreciation. He wasn’t exactly stingyhow he doled them out but somehow, they made her heart race every time.

  Amelia cursed herself for being a fool. How did she ever get so emotional like this? This was supposed to be a practical arrangement. Then she looked at her man as he lay there on the ground being tended to by five healers. Her man, she liked the way that sounded. Her husband was even better. There was no doubt that he was powerful beyond anything she could match but today showed again how boneheaded he could be at times.

  Who but Jay would have thought it was a good idea to let everyone blow off steam by blasting him. He was pushing himself too hard and she worried that between the threat of the Forlorn and Higen’s kidnapping that he expected to shoulder all the burden. He needed to rely upon his fuses. He needed to rely upon her.

  Amelia was so lost in thought that she didn’t even notice that Trina had walked up next to her. “You know we are going to have to protect him from himself.”

  Amelia took a second to process what Trina had just said. “Yes,” then she sighed and added, “And he won’t like that.”

  “Since when has that ever stopped you?” Trina asked, chuckling.

  “Well, I do try to make him happy,” Amelia replied.

  “I know. We all know. There is a reason why you are his first wife. But I also see how you help him out. He is more resilient and braver than I expected and more generous than I deserve, but he does have blind spots,” Trina said. Her tone made it sound as though she was confessing to something she wasn’t proud of.

  “You’re right of course. The trick is helping him get there on his own. You wouldn’t think it to look into those dreamy eyes of his, but he can be stubborn,” Amelia said.

  Trina nodded and then said, “And that is why we have to be more stubborn.”

  “Exactly,” Amelia replied. She turned away from looking at Jay. She could feel him starting to stir but she still had a minute or two. Looking at Trina she asked, “That was a good technique. We are going to have to practice it, but he won’t be happy about it.”
>
  “Agreed, the results were impressive, and I won’t be left behind. When he finally goes to war, I will be there to watch his back.”

  “I’m only glad that Trinity's power linking skill was able to help us figure out how to complete the fusion. How long do you suppose we managed to hold it together for?” Amelia asked.

  “Didn’t set the chronometer ahead of time but it couldn’t have been more than two and half or three minutes. He was so stubborn; I was worried that the full fusion would end before we knocked him down. Even with Jessie’s transformation power and all three of our stats combined, punching him still felt like hitting solid stone,” Trina answered.

  “Wonder if he is gonna freak that we figured out how to fuse,” Amelia mused, “hopefully we can learn how to extend it.”

  “Yes and make it work for more than three of us at a time. Imagine if we had been able to fuse all ten of us. We would have been able to take him down without waiting till he was worn out first,” Trina said.

  “I know. I actually was worried for a while that he was gonna pull a Jay move and draw out more strength from some hidden reserve that I never seem to expect,” Amelia said.

  “We will get better at it. That is what we have to do to keep up with him. Besides, you know what Huong is going to insist we do with this power. At least she will if we can learn how to do it for longer,” Trina said.

  Amelia grinned, and pleasant thoughts crossed her mind but then she didn’t care about this discussion anymore. He was awake.

  Chapter 15- Nanium

  When Jay woke up, he was greeted by Sora’s beautiful face leaning over him. He still remembered the first time he had met her with the rest of Trina’s team while fighting the slime.

  She said, “Well hello sleepy-head. We didn’t know what to think when you decided to take a nap during training.”

  Jay tried to sit up, but she placed her hands on his chest and tried to hold him down. Normally that might have worked but Jay’s strength was just so much greater than hers that he didn’t even realize that she was trying to hold him down until he was sitting up. He looked at her and his hands shot out to catch her as she was about to fall. “I’m sorry. I must be out of it. Sometimes, I still don’t know my own strength.”

  Sora replied, “Don’t worry, I’m not a wilting flower. I’m fine. But you really should rest. You let us beat on you for over half an hour and then you got knocked unconscious.”

  “That long, huh? I kinda lost track of time,” Jay said.

  “It was impressive if stupid,” Trina said from behind Sora. He looked up and saw three of his wives all looking down at him with that look that no man wants to get from his wife, let alone three of them at a time. He was definitely in trouble.

  Sora grinned and said, “He’s all yours, boss.”

  Jessie said, “I get a piece too.”

  Apparently Amelia felt feisty too because she added, “I get dibs first. You can have whatever is left over once I give him a piece of my mind.”

  As much as he didn’t want to be lectured by his wives, Jay was glad to hear Amelia use her catchphrase. She had seemed subdued lately and he was concerned she might not be as interested in him as she had been before. And after all, what he had done was pretty stupid even if it had paid out dividends. He looked at his status sheet and he had gotten huge gains in several skills, particularly durability and regeneration related skills. Apparently getting beaten up was not without its merits.

  “So, what do you have to say for yourself? You could have stopped at any point if we were pushing you too hard. There was no shame in that. It isn’t as though any of us could have stood up to that barrage for a minute and you took it for half an hour,” Amelia lectured.

  “What I want to know is how you girls did that. I’m a bit foggy on the details, but that was a full fusion, wasn’t it?” Jay asked.

  “Oh no, don’t think you can change the subject like that,” Trina said.

  Jay mumbled, “I sorta liked it better when you two were fighting.”

  “What was that?” Amelia demanded.

  Then Jessie broke down and dropped to her knees next to him hugging him like she hadn’t seen him in a month. “I was so worried. It was so hard attacking you like that. I understand why we did it, but I didn’t like it. Then when I thought that I had hurt you. I hope I didn’t get carried away.”

  Jay hugged her back and held her close to him as he stroked her brilliant blue hair. “Not at all Jessie. I’m so proud that you were able to learn how to do what it was that you did there. And truthfully, it was my fault. I thought I could stand up longer than I did, or I guess I didn’t take into account the mental attacks. I am going to have to figure out how to strengthen my mind more.”

  Jay could feel the tension in Amelia and Trina. They both wanted to be down there hugging him. He knew they had been worried, and he would have probably apologized to them for biting off more than he could chew but they had chosen this tactic and now he would let them stew in it.

  Besides, it only took thirty seconds for the rest of his fuses to all come over. They were connected to him as one and while they might not be officially wives they were as close to him as any two people could be or in their case any twenty-three people could be, twenty-five if you counted all the Scarletts separately.

  Eventually even Amelia and Trina broke down and it turned into a big hug fest for all of them. Jay didn’t think about it till later, but for once he had been physically close, kissing and hugging with all of his fuses that were present and he hadn’t even thought about sex once. When it occurred to him, he wondered if it was the first sign of growing up.

  The girls finally explained how they had been trying for a while to replicate what Jay had done with Meikiyo and Trina. The results had been so impressive that they wanted to be able to do it and since he always stressed that they were all fused together not just with Jay, it stood to reason that they should be able to do it with each other.

  The results were as they explained short lived in that they couldn’t hold the full fusion for more than three minutes so far and not with more than three of them. Even to get to this point they had needed to rely upon another girl, Trinity who’s power enabled the formation of links between other peoples’ powers. Still, Jay was impressed with their determination.

  After this conversation, the next few days became a blur. That would have been bad enough but with the time dilation, those five days turned into several years for him. Jay went from one responsibility to the next.

  As the first week of an expected three-week trip was coming to a close, Jay was encouraged on several fronts. He had maximized the refinement of his fuses, at least physically. He still wasn’t willing to try refining the brains. Everyone’s skills had shot up incredibly, which is likely to be expected.

  For everyone else only a couple of years passed but because Jay was spending eighteen hours a day in time dilation, he almost felt like he was losing touch with the others. Sure, the sex was great and most of the girls had kept all their enthusiasm for it. Yes, the fusion allowed him to keep close to those girls. But single-minded dedication to a purpose, even one as important as rescuing his son and creating a safe place for the rest of the human race, was draining.

  Jay was a changed man, something which his wives regularly commented on. The only thing that kept him from turning into a hardened drone of a man was the connection with his fuses. Well, that and his kids. They had zero-time dilation so for them only five days passed. They helped to keep him grounded.

  He came to appreciate the time he spent with his children and their mothers more than anything else. Because of time dilation, Mia had long since delivered healthy twins, Chloe, and Daniel. They were still just tiny little bundles even with their accelerated growth, but they were further reminders of the future that he was fighting for.

  Jay was thankful that Ava hadn’t pushed the issue. She was being very patient, and they had settled into a good rhythm. He knew he was stringi
ng her along somewhat by not giving her children yet, but he rationalized it that no matter how many years it felt like, it had actually only been five days.

  Other improvements had been made along the way. All of Team Jay and Team Miguel were now proud owners of the new implants rather than the A’snkarnt ones. This provided a sense of freedom. And from what he could tell the new implants worked even better than before. He could now open doors, operate the systems that produced food and other goods, or do simple things like shutting off the light with nothing more than a thought. It simplified many things.

  Some of the other tech was coming along nicely but the science division always tried to make it clear that while a few years of training for combat might seem like a long time, it wasn’t a long time in terms of developing inventions that were centuries if not more beyond anything they had known on Earth.

  Improvements to their body armor, a communication network that everyone could use for long distance transmissions, some vehicle options for those that were just faster under their own power, and some liquid metal thing that had a few of the girls all excited. He still remembered when they showed it to him.