And at that moment Old Death looked to Lucian, true fear in his eyes as he mouthed the word, “Run.”
Lucian did just that.
As the woman on top of him started to twist her blades in and Danira approached with her weapon drawn, Lucian tapped his pinky and thumb together, and vanished.
Chapter Sixteen: Mental Health
Rage boiled through Lucian as his form took shape in Old Death’s home.
He turned to his bedroom, falling to one knee as his stats appeared before him.
Lucian punched the floor, feeling a strain in his knuckles. He started to crawl, everything dimming as exhaustion rolled over him. He was gasping for air by the time he made it to his bedroom, barely able to pull himself up to his bed.
Blinking his eyes rapidly, Lucian tried to stay awake, hoping to gain enough energy that he could sit up and get a grip on what had just happened.
But sleep came like a car going over the side of a cliff.
Soon he was out, his dreams filled with injuresouls, angels swarming at him with swords and guns, parasites lunging for him.
Lucian kept running and fighting, but they always got him in the end.
He awoke, completely groggy, a soft glaze to everything around him.
Lucian brought up his stats to see that he had indeed replenished all fifteen of his Soul Points. Even so, he still felt beaten-down and anxious. He was also angry at himself for sleeping, especially when he should have done something to help Old Death, possibly going back after him, possibly…
But what could he have done against a crew of armed angels?
Lucian needed to get stronger, and taking Yoshimi’s advice, he decided it was time to visit a mental institute.
The right side of his room expanded as he walked to his crafting space.
For one, Lucian wanted to get better control over his robes.
To accomplish this, he lifted more dummies from the ground and shot his sleeves toward them, cutting off their heads. Realizing that he needed something more versatile, perhaps a swath of fabric that would give him added range, Lucian quickly formed a dark cape that stretched all the way to the ground.
He floated up into the air and started to turn until he was standing on the ceiling, gravity not yet affecting his cape or his robes.
He liked going upside down, but he needed to make this maneuver more useful.
An idea came to him, and Lucian spent the next few minutes detaching his cape and spinning it beneath him, almost like a tornado. He dropped down into the middle of this madness, sharpened ends of fabric still spinning all around him.
His Glocks appeared.
Lucian floated them into the air, to the other side of the room. He turned them around and started firing at himself, blocking the bullets with his spinning cape.
Next, he tried returning fire, sucking up the bullets with his robes and throwing them back toward the guns.
The weapons disappeared and everything settled, leaving Lucian standing in the middle of the space, his hands at his sides.
He jumped in the air and twisted, elongating his cape and whipping it around his body. He tried the same thing with his scythe, which was an action he planned to use next time he was surrounded.
Over the course of an hour, Lucian came up with other maneuvers he could use that involved his cape and his various weapons. He would have to spend more SP to create new gear in the future, things like drones, or lethal autonomous weapons, but the animated costume was a definite improvement.
He would have to get creative, that was a certainty, but what he mostly needed right now was more Soul Points.
Lucian checked his Soul Points to see that he had used a little over two points during all of his tests.
He nodded, satisfied that he still had about thirteen points left for the hunt.
Retrieving his smartphone, Lucian began searching for mental institutes in Massachusetts and came across McLean Hospital. The place had been around for over two hundred years, starting off as an asylum for the insane, and then later rebranded to coalesce with new concepts of mental illness.
It would have to do.
Lucian brought up the map on his HUD, mentally keying in the place and being presented with a few red circles, indicating that there were people in there who had lived past their dates of death.
Good to know, but that wasn’t what he was after.
Touching his thumb and pinky figure together sent Lucian directly to the mental institute, where he appeared in a swath of green surrounded by a circular drive, cars parked to his right.
He floated toward the hospital, ignoring the fact that it was raining outside, lightning and thunder, some sleet in the air as well.
He couldn’t feel any of it anyway.
Pressing into the administration building, Lucian began looking for details that would lead him to the area where patients were actually staying. There was a map on the wall and some of the locations looked promising, such as a recreation building and an admissions building.
He saw a brochure about the Appleton Center, and how it was treating bipolar and schizophrenic disorders, and quickly located it on the map.
This would do.
Lucian floated over to the building, passing over cars and trees with wiry branches, all stripped of their leaves, fall already doing a number on New England.
He lowered himself into Appleton Building and onto a floor that had patients’ rooms on it.
There was something sterile about the place, a sense of calm that Lucian appreciated.
Through the treatments for his heart condition, the doctor had recommended counseling, especially as he struggled with bouts of depression. He remembered one of the psychologists giving him a brochure to a different mental institute, one with outpatient programs.
At the time, Lucian felt proud of himself that he had managed to get through his depression on his own, that he hadn’t had to rely on outside help.
But now, standing in this place and noticing an odd sense of serenity in the air, Lucian wondered how things would have been had he gotten help.
Maybe he wouldn’t have been at home alone, waiting to die, maybe he would have spent those last few days with his family, as Old Death had suggested in their discussion of mortality.
Maybe things would have turned out differently.
There was nothing he could do about it now.
Lucian equipped his lava sword, gliding into a room with a few seated patients talking to a nurse, one sitting in the corner, drooling but content, another pacing back and forth.
And he didn’t spot them at first.
The parasites that Yoshimi had warned him about were nowhere to be seen, not until Lucian took a step closer to one of the patients, noticing a white film in the air. A translucent body started to take shape with a red filling inside, a vertical eye on its back.
Lucian sent his cape spiraling forward, the ends of the fabric clasping onto the parasite and ripping it off the patient.
The patient cried out in pain and the nurse ran to him, everything happening simultaneously on two different planes of existence.
On one plane of existence, Lucian was using his cape to hold down the parasite while he tried to kill it with his lava sword. On the other plane of existence, a mental patient was crying out in agony, the other patients taking notice.
One of them looked directly at Lucian and screamed. The woman brought her hands to her face, clawing at her own eyes, the parasite on her back bubbling over her and slipping onto the ground as it grew spikes on its body.
Lucian managed to stab the first parasite, his blade tearing into the monster’s vertical eye, and the creature hissed and screeched as it exploded into a supernova of energy that practically knocked Lucian over.
The second parasite attacked, the creature now the size of a fully-grown anaconda, feelers on its body allowing it to spin along the floor as it came right at Lucian.
His cape held it back in time for Lucian to bring his blade
right into its gut. This attack did little to actually kill it, and the parasite’s tail came around and latched onto Lucian, nearly ripping his neck off.
His claws forming, Lucian tore the creature’s appendage off his face, noticing that vertical eye again and diving toward it. He sunk his claws into the vertical eye, blood and guts all the way up to his elbow as his hand broke through the other side.
Another burst of energy, more spiraling toward him.
On one plane of existence, Lucian was now battling another parasite. On the other, one that Lucian couldn’t experience, the patients were on the ground, convulsing, specialists running in, the patient sitting in the corner still drooling, watching everything play out, his eyes fixated on Lucian.
Equipping his whip, Lucian struck one of the parasites in its vertical eye, the end of the whip digging deep into his flesh and pulling out its innards.
More energy came to him, and Lucian felt stronger than he had ever felt before.
He turned to the final parasite. The translucent creature lifted two stingers off its form, blood dripping from their tips. This parasite belonged to the drooling man, who had a smile on his face as he watched Lucian try to avoid the parasite’s limbs, which left craters in the ground as they tried to take him out.
His cape whipping all around him, Lucian cut at the stingers.
He dropped his whip and went for his MX-11, firing off a few shots at the other side of the room, a chunk of shrapnel catching the parasite in its vulnerable spot.
The creature hissed, its limbs spinning around as it grew larger, forming more stingers that doubled as legs, allowing it to attack Lucian in a way that reminded him of a hermit crab.
The parasite formed a protective barrier over its vertical eye as Lucian started to cut through its stingers. His sword back in his hand, he fired forward onto the back wall and used it to springboard off toward the parasite’s body, bringing it to the ground and sinking his fist into its vertical eye.
It exploded into a supernova of energy that rose into the air and spun into Lucian’s chest.
He stood and caught his breath. The room returned to its normal form as the nurses helped the patients, one of them already on a stretcher and being wheeled out.
His stats appeared before him.
Lucian quickly did the math: each mental health parasite was worth two and a half Soul Points.
Not bad.
A satisfied look on his face, Lucian was about to go after more of them when he noticed just how much distress it had caused one of the patients.
The female patient was having a panic attack, beating her fists against the metal as two of the nurses strapped her arms down.
She locked eyes with Lucian and started to scream. One of the nurses came forward with a shot that sedated her.
And as much as he wanted to continue hunting, Lucian realized he would need to see how this played out, how it affected these four, especially the woman being wheeled out.
So he waited.
Lucian stood patiently in the corner, the woman’s stats hovering in front of her every time he looked at her.
Name: Joanna Becker
Date of Birth: 08/11/2000
Date of Death: 09/24/2067
She was still sedated, and as he watched her, his eye on her death date, he thought about the two impossible tasks he had ahead of him.
Lucian had to save his brother, but he also needed to save Old Death.
In terms of the timeline, his brother still had over six months left to live, while Old Death could be murdered at any moment. Lucian still didn’t know how they were going to do that, but he assumed it wasn’t pleasant.
He felt some irony in the fact that angels had kidnapped the Grim Reaper and he was worried about them murdering him. But that was what his life had become, a dark twisted fantasy with real implications.
After he was certain that his actions hadn’t affected her date of death, Lucian floated back out of the room, leaving Joanna to rest peacefully.
Hunting in mental hospitals was definitely going to be an option for him, as long as it didn’t modify people’s death dates. With this in mind, Lucian moved through the tiled hallways, past potted plants and a few inspirational posters, looking for his next target.
He came to a room with its light on and checked inside to see a man lying on a bed, his gaze fixed on the ceiling, a blank look on his face.
Lucian saw the parasite with its vertical eye and its clear skin, the red filling in its body slowly pulsating.
Growing his claws, Lucian slipped into the room and tackled the parasite, the creature squirming as he tried to rip it open.
The parasite scrambled on top of Lucian and opened a vertical mouth filled with horizontal teeth.
Lucian punched his fist into the mouth; the creature clamped down and bit his arm off.
Taking control of his severed arm, Lucian began to shoot off fire daggers inside the creature’s body, its body ballooning with each explosion.
Lucian flipped it around and drove his clawed fingers into the vertical eye on its back, killing it instantly.
He stood, the creature letting out a wheeze as Lucian’s arm crawled out of its mouth, as a white light met him.
Rather than grow a new arm, he simply reattached the one that had been severed, watching the skin merge back together, dark tape wrapping around his forearms.
“I’ll never get over that,” Lucian said as he moved back into the hallway, his eyes on the next room over.
He drew his lava-infused sword this time.
After checking to make sure that there was indeed a parasite attached to the patient, Lucian charged in, cutting its body in half, the creature hissing and squealing.
Even though its body was severed, Lucian had failed to cut through its vertical eye, and the parasite’s other end immediately came forward with a stinger.
The stinger opened up, spitting pink acid onto his face and burning his eyes.
He swiped his blade in front of him, hoping to prevent the parasite from reaching him again as he healed his eyes. Tentacles wrapped around Lucian’s legs and brought him to the ground, just as he regained his vision.
Lucian cut through one of the tentacles and used his claws to rip another one out of the creature’s body.
Pressing forward, he drove his sword into the parasite’s vertical eye, killing it instantly.
Lucian was just about to leave the room when the patient started speaking to him.
“There you are,” the man said, looking just past Lucian’s shoulder.
“You can see me?”
“I knew you’d return for me. I know what you look like, what you are, I can see it.”
The hairs on the back of Lucian’s neck stood to attention. “Can you hear me?” he asked.
“I see you, Satan. I know you’re here with me right now. But you aren’t going to get me. I am a true believer.”
Lucian noticed a flash in the hallway.
Assuming the man had somehow called an angel, Lucian pressed through the door, leaving the patient mumbling to himself.
Instead of being greeted by a man or woman wearing golden armor looking to kill him, Lucian was greeted by a black mist rolling into the hallway.
An injuresoul tore out of nowhere, latching onto him, its jaw ripping the gauze on its face as it bared its teeth.
Lucian managed to throw it over his shoulder, but trying to drive his sword into it was useless.
The tip of his blade passed right through it, the creature squealing in delight as it threw itself at Lucian.
Another injuresoul came from behind and drove its claws into Lucian’s back.
Lucian tilted forward, sending the second injuresoul into the first.
He almost pressed his pinky and thumb together, but before he did he decided to test something, to make sure that he really couldn’t harm these things.
His shotgun appeared in his hand and he fired a shot at one of the terrible creatures.
It tore right through the monster, and the wound instantly healed up.
And before the sinister injuresoul could fully grow its claws out to razor-sharp twelve-inch blades, or dislocate its jaw to adjust for the size of its growing teeth, Lucian pressed his pinky and thumb together, lamenting the fact that he wasn’t strong enough yet to kill one of these damn things.
Chapter Seventeen: Crow
“That was way too close,” Lucian said after his form had taken shape in his bedroom. He recalled Old Death telling him that he wouldn’t be able to do anything against an injuresoul, not yet anyway.
If only he were stronger...
Lucian stepped out onto his balcony, looking over at the alien city, with its saber buildings in the distance and flying vehicles.
His stats appeared before him; Lucian noticed yet again that leveling up on mental health parasites was definitely worth it:
Rather than continue to stare out of the city, Lucian moved to his crafting table on the other side of the room.
While he could conjure any type of magic he wanted, Lucian liked the technological aspect of his power, the power to create weapons beyond his wildest dreams.
He hadn’t really explored this as much as he should have, and he knew that to go after Old Death, he was really going to need some new gear.
Lucian really needed to level up.
An idea came to him, one based on a video game he had played a couple of years back. Lucian remembered a pod that followed the avatar around, firing on enemies.
As he imagined his creation, a floating metal sphere formed in front of Lucian.
Turning it over with a wave of his hand, he pinched his fingers to form a beak.
His creation’s head took on the shape of a crow’s, which would work for a name as well.
“Crow,” he whispered, and a backlit eye appeared on the side of the sphere.
He created another eye on the other side and then added a compartment at the top of the sphere that contained a retractable claw with three prongs, giving the crow the ability to move something if need be.
Death's Mantle Page 13