They seeped through the walls, floor and the ceiling, appearing from everywhere, pale like shapeless, blurred spots of light.
My interface identified them straight away:
Void
An A-energent
Class: Monad
Warning level: Blue (considerable danger)
Ghosts! That’s what they looked like: the bodyless ghosts circling us.
“Grey, these creatures have nothing to do with ghosts. These are energy beings born of Azure. We’ve never met any of their kind before. Regular weapons are useless against them. The only things that might work are Azuric artifacts and Enchanters’ abilities.”
Alice took a swing with the sword. A flash of green light rolled down its blade and cleft one of the creatures in two. The ghost disintegrated.
Not that it had impressed the remaining ones. Their icy-cold fingers seemed to pierce my skull, sinking into my brain. My head filled with unbearable pain. I couldn’t think straight. A strangulating wave of panic rose within me.
A mind attack. A regular person might have already broken down under the pressure, losing their mind and plunging headlong into the purple mist. But we — we were a bit stronger than that.
Helheim’s blade swooshed through the air behind my back, brandished expertly by my teammate. It had a limited number of Azure activations left. Would that be enough?
I lashed out with Fang at the nearest spot of translucent light. It recoiled. Still, more voids kept coming. Their circle kept tightening. They were coming from everywhere: from above as well as below, burning me with their icy touch and completely ignoring my erratic knife attacks.
I was out of breath, losing both coordination and control of my own body. A desperate terror enveloped me, so powerful my head was about to explode. For a brief moment, I saw myself from aside, as if the spirits had gotten hold of my ethereal body and were trying to rip it out of my host.
Alice had dropped the sword and was rolling on the floor soundlessly screaming, with creatures swarming all over her.
“Grey, they’re using the Wail of the Soul! It’s an Azuric ability! Activate a Flash, quick! Grey!”
The surge of light and fire came as a welcome relief. The Flash formed a scorched circle on the floor. The nearest ghosts disintegrated with a heartrending wail, while all the others dashed aside like moths at the wave of a hand.
I could breathe a bit better now. The clutches of the Wail of the Soul had released me. I struggled to recover my wind. Finally, I scrambled to my knees and picked up Fang. Alice rolled up next to me, squirming silently. Her body was smoking. The flames of Ra have no mercy for friends or foes alike.
I helped her to her feet. “You hurt?”
“Don’t look,” she groaned, struggling to stand up straight. She looked terrible. “Fight!”
A few minutes later, the Voids reappeared, much more numerous this time. I had to activate another Flash. They didn’t seem to have any kind of preservation instinct at all, drawn to us like moths to an open light.
The biggest problem was, I didn’t receive any Azure for killing them, and I was running really low by now.
Our odds were crap. I had just over three thousand Azure, enough to activate two more Flashes.
And then what? Death?
Interlude. Avenger
AVENGER’S BRIDGE was bustling with activity. Four class-Myles synthetics guarded the entrance, with a great many copies of Gnarl busy in the crew’s places.
Evyl’s new body was driving her mad. So weak, its perception so limited! It even took her a few seconds to tell the real Gnarl among them.
That was a truly unparalleled feat. Precious few Incarnators were capable of making their identical copies by using the energy matrix of their respective Sources. Evyl had to give her mentor his due: his powers were indeed impressive.
It had taken him all of one hour to take over the ship, block Zac and bring the synthetics under his control – all the while coordinating the actions of a good dozen ephemerals busy performing lots of complex operations. This made Gnarl arguably the most powerful of the existing Technomancers.
One of the copies turned to face her. “Have you lost me?”
He shrugged off his headdress and looked up at her. Darkness glinted within his sunken eyes.
The face of a deadman, already touched by decay. Great power comes with a price. She couldn’t even remember when he’d last changed his host. No amount of upgrades, genomes and Evolutions could make you immortal. All living matter had to run its course and die.
“Have you shot them down?” Evyl demanded, walking over to him.
“I have indeed. This is where they dropped,” Gnarl came to a 3D model of the globe hovering at the center of the bridge. A large area lit up on it, colored in every shade of red.
Evyl chuckled. “The Purple Fault Line! And they dropped right into the Exhalation zone, of all places. That’s the end of them, then.”
“Hopefully, yeah. We can’t get to them but they can’t get out of there either. At least I don’t think so. I hope they die like dogs.”
“Even if they survive the Storm, they still have to face the Call,” Evyl’s lips curved in a predatory smile.
“I’d rather see their heads on a platter, to tell you the truth,” Gnarl snapped. “How on earth did you let them get to the escape pods? How could you possibly have missed them?”
“Well, why do you think? You have Arachne and Cherub with their bullshit to thank for that. One of them must have given him the master key. And… Ice, I’m afraid I had to use the Lash of Void against them.”
“What happened?” Gnarl asked curtly.
“Arachne had her armor on, so it saved her. She’s out cold with Azuric shock, I’m afraid. Nothing too critical though. She might even keep her current host. I had to neutralize her… But Cherub,” Evyl slowly drew the side of her hand across her throat. “His Umbra was irreparably damaged. His Enio just shut down.”
“How on earth did that happen?”
“I didn’t mean it! I was aiming at that son of a bitch,” she said bitterly.
“Evyl,” Gnarl heaved a long heavy sigh. “This blunder of yours might cost us all very dearly. You shouldn’t have killed anyone. There’re very few of us left as it is.”
“Ice, I didn’t mean it, don’t you understand…”
For a while, he didn’t say anything. Evyl knew only too well how capable he was of letting his rage fly. But right now he must have been too busy taking stock of all the available scenarios, probably realizing that no amount of anger, scorn or punishment could undo what had already happened.
“What about the others?” he finally asked.
“Everything’s going according to plan. Ether and Kayra are away on a mission, so they’re not around. Sniper and Witch are with us. Gremlin… difficult to say. You just can’t read him. At least he stays out of the way.”
“And Cherub is dead. Which means we have no choice really.”
Gnarl raised his hand and made a movement with his fingers.
The large hologram of the globe stopped glowing, then expired. The round platform it had been hovering over stirred, transforming into a deep shaft.
A large pillar rose slowly from its depths. It looked like a murky crystal framed in gold and beryllium bronze. A single blob of blackness lurked within, pulsating slowly like an anthracite heart, its offshoots veining the entire crystal.
Gnarl removed his gloves and pressed one hand to the crystal’s murky surface. A narrow steel cylinder materialized in his other hand. Evyl startled, realizing what it was.
“Ice, are you really sure…” she said in a faltering voice, stepping back.
“Quiet!”
Little green sparks leaked from his fingers and disappeared within the crystal’s depths. Their touch made the black veins melt and shrink back into the black “heart” which began to oscillate, throbbing and transforming.
“Zac?” Gnarl called in a sweet voice. “Can you hear me?
”
Evyl watched with bated breath as the green sparks chased after the dark substance, surrounding it. Very soon they’d pushed it to the crystal’s edge, completely encircling it.
Black droplets began to form on the crystal’s surface, immediately sucked into the narrow mouth of the Umbra container which Gnarl was holding in his left hand.
When all of the Umbra had disappeared inside the container, its diaphragm lid clicked shut. In one imperceptible motion, Gnarl put it away in his cryptor.
“That’s it,” he said. “Now we have full control of Avenger.”
“Without Zac… or the cogitor… we’ll have to fly it manually,” Evyl said hesitantly. “You sure it’s a good idea?”
“Evyl!” the Technomancer’s dead face turned to her. “We’ve already lost one war. Another defeat will wipe us off the face of history. We have no right to be weak or merciful. You do remember where we’re taking the Convoy, don’t you? Eyes on the prize, Evyl, keep your eyes on the prize!”
Chapter 15
THIS DIDN’T LOOK good. Not the best moment to die, that’s for sure.
“Miko? How can we get rid of them?”
“These are A-energents. They don’t respond to physical attacks, only Azuric damage. Our current stocks are low. Running a quick analysis… Analysis complete. Four options available.
“Option No 1: to unleash the Fiend trapped in your dagger. Potential outcome: that might distract the Voids temporarily, with high probability of the Fiend’s complete destruction.
“Option No 2: to use the available neurospheres in order to upgrade your brain centers. Potential outcome: a fifty to sixty percent probability of neutralizing the effects of the Wail of the Soul.
“Option No 3: to implant the Rat King genome and use the Leader of the Pack ability to repel the Voids’ attacks. Potential outcome: high probability of entering into psionic resonance with the attackers, with unpredictable consequences.
“Option No 4: to flee. This is the riskiest scenario of all. Potential outcome: death in an outbreak of Azure.”
Okay. So Option No 1 would only delay them. Also, I couldn’t really control the Fiend at the best of times. He could very easily shift his focus to Alice, believing her to be a tastier morsel. Unless we used him to distract the Voids while we fled as of Option No. 4… but no, that was really a last-resort scenario. Fleeing into the Azuric storm rife with fantastical monsters – we might just as well die here and now.
Option No 2 could in theory save me – but it wasn’t much help to Alice. The Voids would simply attack her, as simple as that. I wasn’t sure if they were capable of damaging a Lilith-bound ethereal body but I had a funny feeling her prospects weren’t rosy. A psionic attack of this caliber could cripple her already-damaged mind, plunging it into madness. Also, that would be a disruption to my carefully planned-out development route. So that was a no.
That left Option No 3: the Rat King genome. Leader of the Pack. I’d have to leave implanting Hydra genome until better days. It wasn’t much help in this situation, anyway, as our enemies didn’t deal us any physical damage: they mangled their victim’s mind and their very soul, the proverbial “anima” which became my receptacle between incarnations.
Gradually the Voids were coming back, seeping through the walls. Gasping, Alice stood with Claw of Helheim at the ready, slowly drawing it through the air as she waited for them to get closer.
Then she turned to me. “Grey. Enchanter. Azure. Kill!” she invested all her desperation into gasped words.
She was basically asking me to use my supposed Azuric abilities which I, if the truth were known, really didn’t have yet. And according to Miko, Enchanters were the most effective class against this kind of threat.
Oh well, that was it, then. I had to do it. We had very little time left. You never know, Rat King’s genome just might help me bring this ghostly bunch under control.
Plus, activating the Leader of the Pack brought me one step closer to my first Evolution. I still needed four more upgrades: two neurospheres to invest into my neocortex – the outer layer of the brain responsible for mental activities – and two more into the thalamus which was basically the mind’s transmission station controlling the data processing in sensory organs.
I didn’t have the time to study the descriptions properly. Once the fleeting ecstasy of upgrade installation had subsided, I moved the blue-and crimson genome icon into the last remaining DNA slot.
And? Come on now, open!
A new passive ability – Leader of the Pack – appeared on the genetic modifications list. Like Binocular Vision, it didn’t require activation. It was just part of me now.
So how did it work, then?
“You should try to relax, Incarnator. Then focus and try to enter their minds.”
Yeah right. I closed my eyelids.
Then suddenly I knew how to do it. It was a gut feeling very similar to the hunch I’d had when I’d first opened my interface, realizing I knew how to use Stellar’s system. Or like when I’d made love to Tara back in the Monolith, realizing I must have done it many times before. It’s possible that my old identity used to be an Enchanter too – but in any case, the process felt instinctively familiar.
It felt like I just looked at the world from a different angle, as if a new perception filter added to the good old senses of sight, touch and hearing. I could sense the nearness of strange consciousnesses floating all around me just like you’d sense the touch of wind or a whiff of an aroma, or the warmth of a campfire.
I cast a fleeting glance at Alice, brushing her mind. Immediately I felt my own consciousness entering it, feeling what she felt, seeing myself with her own eyes as a tall blond young man frozen at the center of the room with his eyes half-closed. I sensed the hot confusion of her thoughts: the desperation, the will to live, the hope, the fury, the agony. Her mind singed me, fiery hot – so much passion was harbored under her stern exterior! She was a true bonfire next to the slow-flowing watercourse of my own mind.
This moment of empathy was absolute and mutual because Alice had sensed my intrusion which filled her with desperate embarrassment. She promptly shut down, throwing me out of her mind as if afraid I might see too much.
The Voids were different again. When I reached out to them, it felt like I was submerged into a vacuum filled with groans of agonizing pain. They weren’t alive at all, at least I didn’t detect any trace of thought or emotion. This was pure cold energy permeated with madness, ragged pieces of ripped-up souls. They followed their unquenchable desire to touch living things, suck them empty and add the victims’ souls to their ghostly swarm.
They kept creeping up closer. What could I do? Trying to control them by using the Leader of the Pack was out of the question – I wouldn’t know where to start. They had no minds, no thoughts, no sentience! It was like trying to control a freeflowing breeze!
I might need to activate another Flash, after all. I only had two left.
The memory of the last explosion flashed through my mind, the scene of the blinding blast illuminating the walls of our crumbling shelter.
“Grey, they’ve stopped! Keep going!”
“What do you mean?”
“Keep imagining the Flash and try to send the emotion to them!”
Now I knew. I visualized the dazzling spark of light being born from the Speck of Ra, its blinding light, its flame, its scorching heat. I set myself on fire. I became an exploding supernova, the sun flares of Ra, the fiery boosters of Avenger disgorging jets of blue flame. My unseeing gaze stopped on every shadowy outline of the Voids crowded around me, touching each of them with the image. It’s possible that the neocortex upgrade had added extra speed and imagery to my mental processes as I had no problem visualizing the blinding flames and broadcasting the images.
“Grey, it’s working! It’s working!”
Miko cheered like a child, clapping her hands. Indeed, the ghostly entities began to break down and recoil back into the walls. Althoug
h they knew no fear, the image of fiery flames made them keep a safe distance.
Still, more of them kept coming to replace those that had left.
I sank to the floor and tucked my legs under myself, shutting my eyes and focusing on this new perception mode. It actually made it easier. This way I didn’t have to turn around and single out new targets as I could sense them perfectly well even with my eyes closed. My psi-field wasn’t up to much: in fact, I could only detect those in direct proximity – but that should be enough to scare them off…
“Enchanter!” Alice said respectfully, stepping closer and towering over me with Helheim at the ready.
The Enchanter (Project Stellar Book 2): LitRPG Series Page 20