by Harry Nix
I saw spiders eventually, leaping and landing on guards, tearing them open. A fireball flew past me and I growled in joy at it—Scarlet’s fireball, my demoness fighting alongside me.
Soon I was running up the road, screaming my challenge to the sky, followed by a horde of spiders and behind them, people from the city, armed with whatever they could find.
We went through the second barricade like it was nothing. Wounds multiplied over my body but as I chewed through guards, they healed, some transference taking place. I was vaguely aware of it. For the most part I was deep in the fury, letting it boil out of me.
The third barricade we nearly came undone. There were two hundred guards and mercenaries at least, cold professionals who shot me with a siege crossbow before attacking me with nets of woven steel. I threw fireballs and struggled but they were overwhelming. At one point I breathed fire, a pure heat that melted through the net but before I could break free, they wrapped me in another.
As I toppled, they stabbed at me and a spell opened my arm down to the bone. I would have died if not for the spiders. They were still rushing from behind me but some had broken off, swinging along the cliffs and then attacking from the side. It wasn’t a perfect pincer movement but enough to break a hole.
The spiders rushed and the people too and this time when I melted part of the metal net, no guard threw another one over me. Scarlet and Delicia appeared from nowhere, pulling it off me before joining the battle themselves.
I was badly wounded though, some muscles and tendons in my right arm cut away by the spell.
A single guard came stumbling towards me, pushed by Scarlet and Delicia and I snapped his head off, crushing it between my jaws. His blood poured and my body began to stitch itself together. I was so far down in my fury that I didn’t realize until around the tenth guard that my demoness and pixie were feeding injured guards to me, to help me heal.
Soon enough tendon rejoined bone, muscles wove together and I was smashing through guards with wild abandon.
Time raced by. Maybe there was a timer for the hour but I was too far gone to notice. I could feel it though—the urgency to find Rax before the transformation reversed.
We bogged down at the third barrier for some time, losing spiders and citizens. I saw Ori blinding our enemies with ink, allowing others to cut them down.
Finally I kicked a man, the commander I presume from his armor, off the cliff with a giant clawed foot. He spun off the edge and smashed on the rocks below.
“Move move!” Ebony yelled. She was covered in blood, so much that she was mostly red rather than black.
I roared again and we raced to the broken gates.
Inside it was pandemonium. What guards were left were in full retreat. More citizens of Bron must have joined us and armed themselves along the way. They flooded in and obliterated any guard they came across.
I found myself without prey, swaying as I looked about the ruined palace. The main building had cracked in two, and partially collapsed.
As I searched for Rax I became aware of something down by my knee. A girl.
Isabel, that was her name.
“This way! James, follow me!” she said, her words finally making sense.
I might have ignored her but then I felt hands tugging at mine. A demoness on one side, a flying pixie on the other, pulling me along. On Isabel’s shoulder a little ink demon, waving at me.
I followed, into the palace.
It was cracked open to the sky, walls collapsed and some of the rooms still burning. We emerged into the vast throne room I’d seen long ago and there in the middle, where there had only been smooth marble floor were steps descending. They must have been hidden by a spell.
The thought surprised me and then realizing I was thinking surprised me more. I was slipping away from the demon, coming back to myself.
The transformation would end soon.
I sprinted then, rushing down the staircase, Isabel bolting alongside me as we descended into the dark.
Some of the torches were still burning but many were destroyed. I shoved through rubble at some point, smashing a hole wasting precious time. Down down we went until we came to doors, pristine.
Without pause, I shattered through them and burst into the room full of blood.
The torches here were all alight, showing the demons in their amber tombs. In the middle of the pool, standing knee-deep was Rax, absorbing the blood.
It was like a swimming pool, shallow at one end and then deepening. He’d drained gallons of it into himself and yet still looked the same, just a man with salt-and-pepper in his hair. A harmless merchant.
I leaped from the doorway, claws out and tore his head from his body before he could react. With my speed, I hit the far wall of the pool and then went down into the blood, suddenly up to my neck in it. By the time I turned around Rax was there, a new head on his shoulders, grinning at me.
“She didn’t give you this gift to fight me! She just wants domination, like all of us!”
I moved towards him but the blood was thick and my clawed feet slipped on the smooth marble floor of the pool. I got a hand out and cast a fireball which he deflected away with a wave of his hand.
He cast something at me and I shot up out of the pool and smashed into the ceiling headfirst before plunging back down into the blood. I saw stars and got a mouthful of blood before I was up again.
Rax had turned away from me, splitting his attention. The others had arrived. Scarlet was throwing fireballs, Ori ink and Isabel was shooting a crossbow she’d picked up on the way. What was left of the spiders were flooding the room.
I dived on Rax from behind and his body burst like a water balloon, only to reform from the blood beside me. This time a sword formed with him and he stabbed it between two scales, piercing my lung before twisting it.
The agony was overwhelming. I slashed away at his hand but it was suddenly liquid again, even as the sword was still solid. It was only when tore his arm off that the connection broke, the sword turning to blood and my body sucking it up.
“You’re me!” Rax yelled before waving a hand, smashing both Scarlet and Delicia into the wall of tombs. One of them shattered and a half-dead demon fell out, toppling into the blood.
The room was in chaos then. The blood was too deep for the spiders to fight well and Rax would burst and reform. He killed spider after spider, impaling them on the statues and I saw both Scarlet and Delicia’s health dropping from multiple attacks.
Worse than that, I could feel the transformation was nearly done. I had bare minutes and we were losing badly.
I went flying, the room a blur and crashed into more tombs, shattering them, bits of the amber piercing into me. Two of the demons were comatose, dropping to the ground. One roared in challenge and leaped into the pool to fight Rax.
I found myself on my back, struggling to rise, my health down to about a quarter now.
!!!Ten Thousand Dead!!!
Do you want to absorb their souls? Take their suffering?
I had enough of me back to see what Lucy was doing. I knew if I accepted that Rax would be dead soon after. I’d be powerful, a pure killing machine.
But it just wasn’t me. I don’t kill the Little Sisters to take their ADAM. I don’t blow up Megaton.
And I sure as hell don’t feed on the souls of the dead.
I declined and then hauled myself up. I had maybe two minutes left, if I was lucky. I could dive back into the pool, fight Rax, maybe retreat and try again or...
I chose the third way again.
With what strength I had left, I smashed the tombs to pieces. Many of the demons were dead or nearly so but enough weren’t that soon Rax was struggling to fight them all off.
The pool of blood was nearly gone now, below ankle depth and still more demons joined the battle.
I freed the last of the demons and then leaped down to join them, kicking at Rax.
This time it wasn’t a blood bag but a solid body. He tore fr
ee of the blood and hit the statue he’d impaled so many others on. He waved a hand and managed to get free, the magic pulling him away but he was greatly injured now.
I advanced on him for the killing blow but then the transformation reversed. It was no slow return, but a snap, instantly gone and I stumbled, nearly falling.
I didn’t hit the ground though. Delicia was at my side, grabbing my arm and Scarlet was on the other.
“Here, take this,” Scarlet said, reaching into her cleavage and then frowning.
“It’s here,” Ori said from near my feet. He had the Echo Knife. I took it and advanced on Rax.
He waved his hand but no spell came.
I plunged the dagger into his chest and another wound opened on his side. His skin was splitting now, revealing the greenish blood clot beneath.
He was gurgling, blood bubbling on his lips.
“Let me guess... the first thing that happened when you came to our land was your death.”
That focused me like nothing else. How did he know?
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“Who do you think sent the Orc with Two Minds?”
His gaze moved past me to the far wall where Scarlet was now helping demons up from the ground.
“Scarlet sent him... or them, so I died and resurrected in her graveyard?”
“Never trust a demoness,” he gasped.
His life was draining away with lightning speed. The ribbons of flesh that made his human suit were splitting and falling away. What was underneath was pulsing and jerking as it struggled to live.
“Prove it.”
Rax turned his head and coughed, splattering blood across the cold marble floor.
“Ask her... about ... Elvenjoy.”
He gave one last gasp and died.
Light fingers stroked my neck, and when I turned around, Scarlet was there, her green eyes glinting with joy.
She threw herself into my arms.
“We freed them all!”
Then she kissed me. I tried my best to respond, but what Rax had said had shaken me. Had Scarlet been using me this whole time? She’d hired Ark and Pico to kill me so I’d resurrect down in that grave and need to make a deal with her to escape?
“What’s wrong? Why aren’t you kissing me back?”
Maybe it wasn’t the right time to ask. I was bone-tired. My hitpoints were near zero and I was covered in wounds. I had spiders and Delicia and Ori watching me, along with citizens of Bron who’d helped in the fight. I could rest and recover. I could discreetly search out who or what Elvenjoy was. For all I knew, Rax was a lying piece of shit. But—
“Elvenjoy,” I said.
Scarlet pulled away from me fast, like my skin had become burning hot.
“You don’t ever say that to me,” she said through clenched teeth.
“Rax said I should ask you about it. He claimed you hired the Orc who killed me.”
The freed demons were now looking at each other with awkward glances. A few silently melted away, looking embarrassed, like when you see someone making a huge scene in a mall.
“Rax was a liar. A betrayer. You cannot believe anything he said.”
“Strange... he said the same thing about you.”
My mind was a whirlwind of doubt and confusion. Maybe she was playing me—after all, this was a game. Or maybe not and this was the game itself, twisting things for the narrative. Betrayal from someone you loved was common—
Loved?
What the hell James.
Loved? I loved Scarlet? Was I out of my mind?
I saw tears glinting in her eyes. She was barely holding it together.
“I’m sor—” I went to say, stepping forward to touch her when everything went black. Then a yellow message flashed up in front of me.
DISCONNECTED.
25
I was shaking and shivering when they pulled me from the pod. I know I threw up on some random technician and at some point was on the ground, getting helped up. Sasha was there, pulling me out of my suit and then back into clothes.
My head was aching like the worst hangover ever.
Things were blurry and there was a tiredness that was overwhelming. Moments were fragments—me in a room with Ms. Honey, halfway through a sentence talking about a rabbit war, Cheeto scowling at me along with a few other goons. Me looking at the wall that had been hastily patched but not yet repainted to cover damage, maybe bullet holes. Me in a car, a goon driving me home.
Part of me knew something was very wrong with me but I was like a helpless passenger in my body. I woke up on the toilet, nearly toppling off it where I’d fallen asleep. I ate a cracker and then was in the shower with no gap in between. I had vague thoughts about checking my email before waking up in my boxer shorts at my kitchen table with my laptop in front of me, gibberish code streaming down a window.
Whatever it was completed and the window vanished. Now I was looking at my laptop background—a serene mountain with snow on it.
I didn’t know what time I got out, except it was night so I had no idea how long I’d been home. It was three in the morning though, and finally I was starting to feel better. The sleep stupor was still tugging at me.
I could hear my bed calling but before I could get up there was a thud on the door, someone knocking who then didn’t wait for me to answer. A thug with a shaved head smashed it open.
He came walking in like he owned the place, closely followed by Lubocheeto.
“Come with us. The system is having problems.”
Two more thugs entered and I realized this wasn’t a request. They were taking me whether I wanted to go or not.
“Let’s go,” he said to one of the thugs.
“Just let me get dressed,” I protested as I was hustled out of there.
Soon I was sitting in the back of a limo shivering my ass off. It was just me, Cheeto and one of the goons. The other two were in the front. Even though my odds had improved, there was still no way I’d be able to get out of this.
“So, what’s the problem?” I asked, rubbing my arms to warm myself up.
Cheeto had poured himself a glass of something golden brown. He swirled it a few times in the glass before taking a gulp.
“It seems you are necessary. I don’t like it when people become necessary. I much prefer them... disposable.”
Unlike Ms. Honey whose pauses were sexy and full of promise, Cheeto’s were scary and the only promise was extreme violence.
“Can I have a drink at least?”
“You do not talk now,” Cheeto said.
The goon had been staring at nothing so far. Now he focused on me. No words but the message was clear: speak and be hurt.
By the time we got to Deep Dive it had started snowing. The goons didn’t drag me in but I still didn’t have much choice in the matter with one of each side and one behind me.
Soon I was down in the lab with the immersion unit. It had been busy the first time I’d come here but now it was a crazy hive of activity. Computer techs were all over the place tapping away on tablets and arguing amongst themselves. Menacing Russians loomed everywhere. In the middle of it all Dr. Lubochenko was giving instructions.
The moment I walked in she waved me over to the changing area and pushed Sasha in my direction.
Sasha pulled the thin paper curtain shut and for the first time since they’d burst into my apartment, I felt like I had some privacy.
“Sasha, what the hell is going on? I just got dragged back here by goons. Actual goons!”
“Get undressed! The system has gone into critical error. We need to put you back in.”
It was clear I wasn’t going to be left alone so I stripped off and put the bodysuit on. Sasha then spun me around to press it closed.
“Can’t they just fix it? What does it matter so much?”
“There is a lot riding on this system working as it is meant to. Lucy is demanding you and nothing else is working so in you go.”
She thrust a wh
ite Russian into my hands. I stood there looking at it for a moment before I realized I could drink it voluntarily or have it poured down my throat by goons.
I gulped it down.
As I got into the pod, the room quieted.
“It is just a small problem. Please fix it,” Dr. Lubochenko said. She smiled at me but all it did was highlight the scar across her face.
Cheeto was staring at me and whispering something to the goon next to him.
The drink must have had more than just alcohol in it because I was getting warm and heavy... and reckless.
“Thanks for the ride Cheeto!” I called out and waved to him. One of the sullen Russians near the back let out a bark that I guess passed for a laugh.
Then Sasha was there, pushing me down and closing the lid.
Clunk.
Whine.
Prick.
26
I opened my eyes to a muddy field. Ori was sitting in a puddle up to his waist, eating a handful of vivid blue mushrooms. His eyes were already wildly dilated.
We were maybe a mile from Bron. It was still burning, but most of the smoke column was now gone.
“It’s still on fire,” I said, stating the obvious. I was still in some kind of shock. Barely out and now back in. Plus, I was sure the patched wall was from bullets. Shit had gone down when I was in the pod before.
Ori focused on me, blinking like I was just in his imagination.
“You know how it goes—powerful leader dies, and the factions fight for control and all that. Murder, theft, and mass death all the way.”
“But we only just defeated Rax...”
“You’ve been gone a week,” Ori said.
A week? By my count I’d been out less than ten hours. Or so it felt.
“Where’s Scarlet and Delicia? The spiders?”
“The spiders got run out of town. The people who were happy for their help turned on them faster than that,” Ori said, attempting to click his fingers. His hands were wet though and muddy.
“What about Scarlet and Delicia though?” I checked the HUD. They were alive at least.
“Gone to Socie. Scarlet found some diary in that cabin we stayed in. Belonged to Bron? That hermit she knew. They said something about the pixie realm too, that’s under ice.”