*
Meanwhile, in a different part of the maze, Barsch and Maloch were lost. They had chased after the man-in-black relentlessly, but no matter what they did, he always seemed to stay ahead. Finally, when they thought they had caught him, he disappeared into thin air. Although he had only seen glimpses of their target, Barsch felt as though he knew his identity. After he had vanished, Barsch collapsed to the cold, hard ground, trying to catch his breath. Maloch, who needed air like fish need fire, began to pace back and forth.
With a decidedly uncomfortable note in his metallic voice, he eventually said, “Master, I have troubling news to report.”
“How many times do I have to tell you, call me Barsch!” Barsch was in no mood to argue with the re-mech. He had been foolish, and now all he wanted was to return to Kingston and Alza.
“Yes mas- Yes Barsch.”
“Much better. Now, what is this troubling news?”
“It seems as though these crystals are creating some sort of electromagnetic field, which is interfering with my geometric sensors. I am unable to determine our starting destination, and am therefore unable to determine which way we should go.”
Pulling out his own compass, made by Kingston, Barsch checked the re-mech's assertion. The needle was unable to stay in one direction for more than a second, and was starting to perform full revolutions by the time Barsch finally pocketed the useless gadget. “Well, it seems as if we're on our own,” he said, while looking at the wall of violet crystals. He took a step forward, trying to decide on a route. Every path looked the same, and not a single choice gave off a feeling of ‘correctness’.
A thought occurred, causing him to glance towards the morning sky, as he remembered the Avatar's words. “Head towards the setting sun” they had said, and he intended to do just that. His heart sank when he saw that the crystals had multiplied the beams of sunlight a hundredfold, making it impossible to determine their point of origin.
“Something is wrong.”
The Re-mech was staring at the sky with an intense gaze, his fists clenched to his sides. In a questioning tone, Barsch asked, “What do you mean?”
“I am detecting a massive interference pattern in the local electromagnetic sphere. Barsch... I have never felt anything like this before.”
“Wait, I don't understand. What exactly are you feeling?”
“There is enough electrical energy in the air to ignite the atmosphere a hundred times over, but there are no changes in temperature... So something, something powerful, is supercharging the air, but at the same time it's managing to prevent it from going out of control.”
It was at that moment, when Barsch was still trying to decode Maloch's words, that the lightning struck. It was a bolt of clearest white, and it seared the earth where it fell, whilst blinding all who had the misfortune of being near. The roar was louder than anything Barsch thought possible, and it seemed to continue on even after the light faded. Static sparks were dancing in the air, and the crystals were humming a dissonant tune by the time Barsch finally regained his senses. Slowly, he raised his still pained eyes to the heavens, searching for the source of the bolt. However, the skies were clear, with no trace of the ferocious strike.
“Kneel before your Master, vermin, or be brought low!”
The speaker had appeared from where the bolt had struck, but, apart from a few wayward sparks, he was unharmed. He was a tall man, with hair like dried blood and eyes that showed nothing but emptiness. His pale, almost corpse-like skin was mostly hidden by a large, obstructing black robe, which was fringed with stylized red lightning bolts. He was wearing a look of minor annoyance, as if he had been in the midst of doing something important and that this was nothing more than a hassle for him.
Involuntarily, Barsch took a step backwards, his sub-conscious having already realized that this person was dangerous, and was seeking to remove it's host from harm's way. The speaker appeared to not notice Barsch's sudden movement, instead focusing his gaze on a frozen Maloch.
With a voice like a harsh gale, he spoke, “I see that the vermin has gathered some friends. This is most… irritating. Now, what shall I do with you?”
It was at that moment that realisation hit Barsch, the force of the truth causing him to sink to his knees. With a strained voice, he blurted out, “Wait! I've seen you before... in my dream! Who are you?”
A flash of puzzlement briefly occupied the stranger's face, before he smiled -a horrible, maddening smile- and said, “I see now. Someone has unlocked your dreams. They have removed the barrier between what was, what is and what will be. You should count yourself lucky, as few of your kind have ever been so fortunate to have glimpsed the truth behind the dreamscape. Now, who was it who blessed you with an Awakening? Perhaps my troublesome siblings? No... this does not feel like their work.”
His cold eyes seemed to study Barsch for a moment, before he continued, “It does not matter, however, in the end, all will be reduced to ash. Now, what should I do with you? My sister seems to think that you will defeat my champion, as unlikely as that may be. However, it does me no benefit from letting you just run around. Perhaps I should just kill you now, and be done with it.”
Unbeknownst to the intimidating stranger, Maloch had been busily preparing his weapon. With barely a moment's forewarning, he raised the sonic cannon and roared, “Barsch, Get Down!”
Barsch's legs obeyed long before the message had fully made its way to his brain, and he dropped to the floor in surprise. The re-mech wasted no time in firing his supercharged cannon, and the resulting blast of compressed air and sound would have decimated a large area on any other day. However, on that day, something rather different happened. The stranger, without even looking at his attacker, brought his hand to the sky and called forth a shield of rotating air. For a moment, he was lost in the midst of the miniature hurricane, before the sonic cannon's blast impacted against the wall of air and was absorbed into the swirling chaos.
There was a stunned silence for several seconds as the attack proved ineffective, with the roar of the tornado-shield becoming a background noise. The moment passed quickly, and Barsch returned to the present. Maloch, always a logical thinker, had already realised that he and Barsch were no match for the thing that stood before them, and was busy computing escape routes when the stranger spoke.
Although his face was utterly calm, and he was still smiling that horrifying smile of his, his body language spoke of barely suppressed rage. In a chilling voice, he said, “Now. That was rather rude, don't you think? Here I am, offering you a quick and mostly painless death and you have the impudence to refuse?”
With a speed that defied belief, the stranger moved. It was as if he had simply moved from one place to another, without bothering to traverse the intervening area. He reappeared before Maloch, who had barely enough time to call out.
“Run!” he said, before the world went white.
Barsch, fear finally overtaking his sense of loyalty, ran for his life, while the re-mech screamed in pain behind him.
Awakening Page 143