CHAPTER 13 – Johnny’s Destiny
Johnny slowly opened his eyes to find himself back in the endless half white and half black void. He slowly adjusted his eyes and found himself sitting in the driver’s seat of the prototype. Johnny looked out the window to his surroundings to see nothing at first. Slowly, a dark mass began to form on the horizon everywhere he looked until it got closer. The moving mass was a wall of rift eaters heading his way, slowly encircling him.
Johnny began to panic looking at the wall of death approaching. He started the prototype with the turn of a key. The engine hummed as he put it into drive. He floored it running over the first wave of rift eaters. The ones he ran over howled in pain but slowly got back after driving away.
Johnny was shocked to see them moving again. He tried next to arm the prototype as he drove from the terminal. He managed to equip the prototype with machine guns as he opened fire from the terminal. It did nothing to suppress the beasts, only annoyed them.
The bodies of the rift eaters were getting too much for Johhny as he drove. It made feel like he was driving in fast moving water. Fearing for his life Johnny quickly modded the prototype into a monster truck from the terminal. The command was instant as the prototype glowed bright white as it turned from rather stick car body to a tall monster truck with wheels.
He continued to drive for what seemed like an eternity with no end to the beasts. They just kept coming and coming. Soon there were so many the truck was bogged down with beasts climbing over each other. The monster truck soon came to a standstill with bodies all over the truck.
Johnny could only look at the beasts clawing at the windows and there bright eyes focusing on him. Johnny remained calm at first. He knew the prototype was pretty much indestructible. His calmness was soon gone when he heard a hissing sound. The inky liquid from the beaats fur was now beginning to dissolve the windows. Within seconds the front windshield shattered as he was greeted by claws and fangs.
Johnny was ripped free from the prototype as the rift eaters dragged him away. He tried to fight back but was overpowered by the rift eaters as they pinned him down. He could only look In horror at where they were dragging him. In front of him was the giant rift eater he had beaten. It loomed over him with an inky saliva dripping out before it bit him in the neck. Johnny’s dream then began to fade…
Johnny slowly started to come to his senses. His body felt itchy and painful all over.
“Why does this keep happening?” That was all Johnny could hear of Julia’s voice. She was crying in a deep sob.
He slowly began to open his eyes as he moaned, finding himself inside of a big tent with other wounded people from the fight. “I felt like I just woken up after having a severe allergic reaction after falling into a cactus bed out of a moving truck,” He said with a grunted tone. Trying to cheer up Julia.
She looked over at him before hugging him and crying.
“If you ended up dying, our chances of defeating the loathing one would be even greater. I didn't have Margaret to use her revival ability. Plus, I was getting tired of losing people,” She whimpered, still in tears, but not crying now.
Johnny looked himself over and saw he was covered all over in bandages. Except for his lower legs, which had been replaced with some sort of metal. Looking at them made him want to panic, but Julia was quick to tell him the grim news, hoping he wouldn’t freak out.
“I’m sorry Johnny, although we were able to heal your wounds. Too much rift eater essence had eaten away at your lower legs. We had to amputate them to keep the infection from spreading. They have been replaced with cybernetic limbs.”
Johnny went from freaking out to shock. All he could do was just lie there with his mouth hanging open. He came out of the shock with eutheism, which confused Julia.
“Well, I didn't expect that to happen. I should get infected by rift essence all over then.” He half joked, who was scolded by Julia for his remark.
“If you let it take over your whole body, you would cease to exist…”
He gulped at the statement giving his future actions more cation. Johnny tried to focus on something else, seeing that others had also received cybernetic parts as well.
“So I’m guessing the others in here were also affected by rift eater essence?
“Yes, when the body is infected with rift eater saliva and isn’t treated fast enough. That part of the body is claimed by the void.” She answered with a grim tone, wiping the tears from her eyes now.
She then turned back to face Johnny. “You were lucky I was able to extract what poison I could. You were so close to death. Plus, the regeneration helped heal you a little faster. Even if it was slow.” She said with a concerned look and tone.
“Those who end up losing body parts to rift eaters that survive. We end up giving them cyborg body parts. Just like you…” She said with a sad tone.
“Just about everyone who has fought rift eaters has some sort of cyborg body part. Including my elite guards who are cyborgs. If they had been here when the appearance of the mystic rift eater occurred. The casualties wouldn’t have been as high. Plus Margaret who is one of my best elites, could have saved lives with her resurrection spells and her knowledge in making cybernetic body parts. That is one of her specialties.” Julia sighed in frustration, thinking of how things could have turned out with the others.
“I wasn’t expecting any trouble until that mystic rift eater appeared. The fighters here were more for scouting and quick hit and run tactics. They were not really trained to deal with this kind of situation. We lost a lot of good men, but could have lost more if it wasn’t for your actions Johnny. A class VI mystic rift eater was certainly the end of us all,” She replied with a sad tone, before turning it to more appreciated.
“Curious how you know that was a class VI?’ Johnny asked Julia.
She looked at him with a smile answering his question. “That is easy to determine. You can tell by how many times bigger they appear than the normal spawn.”
Johnny only nodded at the response before a voice broke the silence. “Ah, Johnny you are awake.” Everyone in the tent turned to see the new person. Orion was standing at the entrance to the tent. He walked over towards Julia and Johnny. He stopped just a few meters from them both and spoke again.
“I can definitely see why the Radiant One has chosen you now.” Replied Orion in a surprised tone.
“I am also sorry you were attacked by the hoard of rift eaters. I was defending the portal when some of the loathing one minions blew a hole in the wall. A dozen or so escaped. I had others chase after them, but by the time they caught up. Julia had already beaten the pulp out of them,” Orion sighed to Johnny.
“I am terribly sorry that had happened. Anyways, I have already given Julia the details of your assigned duties when you fully recover.” He added with a smile.
Johnny wanted to shout at him. Julia just squeezed his arm. “I would like to stay and chat, but I need to report to the counsel of the events that have occurred. Somehow the Loathing One had infiltrated the surrounding area. I’m going to ask for more stricter security.” He finished talking in a tired tone.
He then stared back at Julia.
“Oh, before I forget, Julia, take this pouch.” He said as he handed her the pouch. Whispering something in her ear. After he gave the pouch to her. He bid them farewell and left the tent.
“What was that all about?” Asked Johnny raising his brow.
“I’ll explain later.” She spoke. “For now, you still need to heal up. So just lie here and get some rest. It should maybe be another day or two before your wounds are completely healed.” She added.
“I plan on having my elites guarding you in shifts when they come back. If you don’t see me. They have my warden’s crest. I am not going to leave you unguarded. After being attacked by a loathing one’s followers. Still not sure how they managed to infiltrate the alliance.” Julia stated with a sigh.
“Anyways, I plan on moving you to a more secure private spot,” She added.
“For now, drink this. It will help the healing process go faster. Although, it will make you fall asleep to help with recovery.” She said as she handed Johnny a potion. Johnny was hesitant to drink the potion looking at it. Julia reminded him if she wanted to kill him with that potion, she could have done it already. With that remark he drank the potion and dozed off…
Johnny woke up to find himself in a smaller tent this time. He sat up and stretched with a yawn. “Feeling any better?” asked a familiar voice. He sat up and stared over at Julia.
“Quite fine.”
“I was mistaken with the healing potion you healed up about a half a day, instead of a three days.” She said with a surprised tone.
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“If you are well enough to move. There seems to be something strange going on with the prototype.” Replied Julia. “Orion looked at it and wasn’t sure what to make of the tampered core. He only knows that it wasn’t tampered with here. He mentioned it had been meant to be set off in a week.” She finished.
Johnny frowned at the news. Someone at Banzai Bangers had to have tampered with it then. I don’t know who though. Thought Johnny.
Johnny got up out of bed and stumbled, not use to his cybernetic legs. Julia sighed helping him up. “It will take some time getting used to working with cybernetic body parts.” Julia escorted him out of the small tent and headed to the prototype.
Johnny was able to walk on his own after a few steps. He stumbled a few before he was able to get the hang of it without Julia’s help. They arrived at the prototype to see it guarded by members of the radiant alliance. Scientists were also present getting readings on the prototype as it glowed with a pulsing dark purple.
One scientist caught Johnny’s eyes which made him spring into action. The man had the hood opened inspecting the plutonium reactor. The man tried to pull it apart. He ran over to the man pushing him out of the way and quickly reconnected the reactor. “Are you crazy?! If you take that out the car will blow up the entire area within a massive fireball!” Johnny yelled at the man he had just pushed to the ground. He mentally asked Albert to check the connections to make sure they were in place. Albert responded in a few seconds saying the reactor was secure. Johnny sighed with relief.
Johnny then was tackled by a guard as the guard tried to subdue Johnny. Johnny was fighting back before Julia intervened. She yelled at them to stop. “Enough. I want all you researchers to get away from Johnny’s thingy.” She snapped.
The researcher Johnny had assaulted argued back that he had attacked him. Julia gave him a death stare. She showed them her Warden’s mark which made him silent.
“If you have questions about this contraption, you can ask Johnny later. Right now, we need to be left alone here.” She continued. The researchers left with a grunt. A few tried to stay behind to watch but Julia gave them a stare. “Do I have to report to Orion to have you guys demoted for interference?” She added with a mocking tone. The researchers got the message and left in a hurry. Only the guards stayed behind.
“Sorry about that I didn’t know who had the scientists tinkering away at the prototype. I will have to report this to Orion when I find out who gave permission… it could have been Orion himself though.” She said while letting out a sigh.
“Anyways after the fight with the mystic rift eater. Orion told me to help you in fixing a part of a core. He mentioned using my radiant powers to help you fix it?” Julia continued to talk to Johnny as they walked to the back of the prototype.
The trunk was left open by the fleeing researchers. He stood and looked at the anti-matter and matter core. “Well I just hope someone didn’t mess with something too important,” Johnny muttered to himself as he started working with the control terminal in the back.
Johnny started to run diagnostic checks to make sure nothing had been tampered with. About two minutes into the checks. Things got worrying. The core along with the broken dimensional drive began to glow a dark shade of purple the same as the prototype was glowing, while making a low pitch humming noise that seemed to intensify by the second. Johnny tried to shut down the terminal as the energy from the core only intensified. He tried to have Albert help him shut it down with no success.
While Johnny was frantically trying to shut down the terminal, Julia, who feared the worst, blasted the core with radiant magic. Her instant reaction caused the core fragment in Johnny’s head to turn a dark pulsating purple. It let out an enormous amount of energy, causing Johnny to fall to the ground in pain. “AGHH!” He yelled curled up in a ball as his vision faded to black. Johnny was quickly surrounded by an invisible barrier that pushed Julia back with such force she was thrown onto the ground.
“This isn’t good.” Julia said as she stood up from getting knocked back. She barked out orders to the surrounding guards to be ready for anything, while she quickly called her elites with her communication bracelet she had on her wrist.
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Meanwhile, Johnny was face to face with the mystic rift eater he had defeated. It was much smaller than the first encounter. It was twice the size of a normal rift eater. The two were in a separate reality of endless darkness, with the beast having the upper hand on Johnny. It had him trapped with no way of moving or running. Johnny had tried to contact Albert for help, but was getting no response. For now Johnny was on his own.
Johnny stood there in absolute terror, paralyzed from the beast's effects. It slowly approached him, padding its way through the endless darkness they were trapped in. Johnny tried desperately to break free of the paralysis. The beast stopped just a few feet in front of Johnny before it glared into Johnny’s eyes as it probed his mind of his past. The beast found something of interest in Johnny's past, before it released him from its search.
The beast then sent Johnny mental images it wanted a rematch with him. It showed him a mental image that it had trapped him in his own mind. Only defeating it would break him free. Johnny sent a message refusing to fight back. The beast sent Johnny another mental image in response. The beast had let him know it had probed his mind. It mentally told Johnny it knew all his weaknesses and secrets. It had a mental connection with the Loathing One. The beast let Johnny know it had informed the Loathing One about his crippled brother Jamie and all the nasty things it had in store for him.
This enraged Johnny as he watched the beast make a mocking laugh at him. The beast pushed even harder on Johnny with some unknown mental force.
Johnny growled with anger. The core fragment in his head glowed with radiance in a blinding flash of light that was bright as a supernova. The beast stepped back in surprise with a pained expression as its eyes were burned from the light.
Johnny on the other hand wasn't affected by the light. All the rage he felt somehow broke him free from his paralysis. He slowly started walking towards the beast with murder in his eyes as the light faded.
The beast kept backing up in a cautious manner as Johnny approached. Johnny would make sure the beast felt true terror. No one messed with Jamie, never.
Johnny pulled a radiant weapon that was the shape of a sword from the core fragment in his head as he approached. While he walked, he had tried to turn the weapon into other things besides the sword. It only stayed in that form of a sword. Johnny could only sigh as the spontaneous power began to fade now.
Johnny wasn't sure he could beat the beast with just the sword. He may not have been a pro with swords, but he hoped the VR games he played sword fighting would be enough.
Meanwhile, the beast stood there anxious like a weary predator. It was anticipating his next move, letting its partially burnt eyes heal. It had lost the mental grip on Johnny's mind over the mental prison it had created.
Johnny was the first one to make a move, with determination to kill the beast. He charged at the beast in surprise, striking faster than it could react, with a boost from his cybernetic legs. The core fragment in his head glowed with the bright radiance of a thousand suns. The light blinded the beast again howling in pain.
Johnny dove into a fast slide feet first beneath the beast's belly thanks to his power boost. He struck the sword along its chest leaving a long gash, sliding past the beast and quickly climbed to his feet charging again. Inky black liquid began to pour from the long gash against its belly.
The beast howled in pain as it tried to fight back. It tried to rip the sword from Johnny’s arm when he swung again. The beast caught the sword in its mouth only to yelp in pain, releasing it. The radiant blade burned into its teeth causing them to sizzle from the exposure to the blade.
The beast left itself open for Johnny to swing for a hit. The beast was quick to dodge the attack but not without being nicked on one of its front legs. The beast attacked while Johnny was open pinning him to the ground with its body. It loomed over Johnny with hateful eyes, it opened its mouth attempting to end him.
Johnny could only stare back, frantically trying to get free, struggling under its weight. He thrashed his arms and legs around hoping for anything. He kicked the beast with a surprising amount of force from his legs causing the beast to lurch up in the air a little. It paused wondering what just had happened only for Johnny to kick again, this time sending it tumbling off him. Johnny was quick to get back up while the beast shook itself off, eyeing Johnny.
Johnny stood there thinking of a new tactic as he cautiously approached. He remembered back to how some of the resistance fighters hacked away at the rift eaters in hit and run tactics. Johnny now had a new plan to put into motion. He ran up to the beast and stabbed at it here and there and retreated, repeating the process over and over. The beast couldn’t keep up with Johnny’s attacks as he lashed out. Johnny was able to keep ahead of the beast thanks to his legs.
The beast was getting beaten down, realizing things were futIle, it then attempted to run. It had hoped to heal itself by running away. Johnny was barely able to keep pace with it. Seeing that Johnny kept up with it. It tried last ditch effort things with no avail, only to be subdued after it realized it had no way to win.
Johnny finally caught up to the beast as it lay panting, pouring out inky liquid from its wounds. The beast looked at Johnny with fear in its eyes, knowing this was the end. Johnny gave one last stab at the beast before everything went black for both of them.
Johnny found himself alone in the dark. He couldn’t see anything as he looked around. He did get another feeling that someone was still there. He moved around in his dark mind trying to find the threat. He was startled by another mental vision from the mystic rift eater.
This time it was more of a curiosity than a threat. The beast set Johnny a mental image of thanks for freeing it. Johnny was puzzled. It sent him another mental image the beast had briefly known what it was in the past.
It thanked Johnny once more by giving him some items. Johnny was given five necklaces made from radiant light. He sent a mental image to the beast of what they were for. It responded that the necklaces would let Julia and the others follow him into the void portals.
It gave him a few more mental talks, such as about how it had fused with the core and it could help him in the coming battles. It had repaired the core back to its full strength after Johnny had freed it. It let Johnny know he could fill the core with power by killing rift eaters of their essence.
Johnny was unsure how to respond but thanked the beast back mentally before the darkness vanished. Johnny slowly woke up finding the necklaces the beast had given to him wrapped around his right arm. The barrier was still there with Julia outside of it. Who looked exhausted from pouring radiant magic into the barrier. Johnny slowly stood up as the barrier faded away with Julia falling in surprise. Johnny was quick to catch her in his arms.
“Easy there,” He said, helping her sit down. Johnny was about to tell her what had transpired when four people came running up. “Well that is a disappointment, i failed to breach the barrier,” Julia sighed as her elite guard finally arrived.
The four elites approached the two with caution. Only for Julia to wave them off that the danger had passed. She then waved them over so she could introduce them to Johnny, who was now telling her what had transpired while he was trapped in his own mind.
The other four had gathered around as Johnny told his story of how he was able to beat the beast and break free of the mental prison. He mentioned after defeating the rift eater. It gave him the necklaces to let Julia and others join him in the void portals as a thank you freeing it from the loathing ones influence.
“Well this isn’t the first time someone has been possessed by a mystic rift eater. At least it didn’t kill you to take control of your body. Still taking on a class II mystic rift eater is something,” Julia sighed.
Julia looked at the necklaces wrapped around Johnny’s arm before sighing again. “Guess Orion didn’t need to hand me those radiant fragments after all.” She then turned back to Johnny smiling.
“Well, since all the danger has passed, I believe I should introduce my elite guard now. Who will also help defend you,” she spoke with a smile.