"When did the future switch from being a promise to being a threat?"

― Chuck Palahniuk, Invisible Monsters

"You did just fine up until now!" Rafe called out, perched far above, his feet glued to a sheer rocky pillar. I bet if you give it your all, this thing would be a piece of cake!"

"Get down here and help me," Ven scowled up at the halfling, one eye on the golden fly. "I can't even see its movements!"

"Ah, it's just a peak Semi-Divine beast," Rafe scoffed as he reached into his pouch. "This thing is barely as smart as a human, just outthink it!" He pulled a large pouch of nuts from his pocket and settled in to watch the show.

"You better hope I never catch you, Rafe..." Ven squared up, eyes focused on the sickly gold Lord of the Flies. It looked back and forth between Rafe and Ven, as if uncertain if it should run, or fight.

Ven forced the issue. He wrapped his flagging aura around his body, a thin mist of shadow that paled compared to a few moments ago. His feet pressed off the ground, and Ven streaked toward the insect king.

His rapid steps brought him close to the creature's side, and Ven lunged in, claws seeking his opponent's multifaceted eyes.

Maybe this big guy is all show? Ven allowed a drop of smug satisfaction into his thoughts as his talons encroached on the big fly. It sat, motionless, Ven's figure reflected in the many lenses of its gaze, as if unaware of the danger.

Ven spared a glance for Rafe and found the halfling with a massive grin on his face. A slow-motion look of anticipation that brought an ache to his temples.

The tips of his fingers nearly reached the oversized fly, when the beast tilted its head. Its silhouette moved faster than Ven could follow, and his hand passed through a faded afterimage.

Danger! Ven's hackles raised. A sense of oppression from his back triggered his instincts. He twisted his body and narrowed his profile. An attempt to avoid, driven by his body's natural response to an attack.

Ven's efforts were in vain. A blow struck his left shoulder, a truck that rammed him into the ground and sent him spinning through the dirt. He skipped over the yellow rocks, a trail of powdered stone in his wake. It took several seconds for him to come to a halt, crammed into a self-made depression in the land.

"You almost had him!" Rafe cheered, his mouth full of roasted nuts. "Just keep it up!"

Ven groaned, his glare a razor as he imagined slicing the halfling into sandwich-style meat. The flesh of his arm was numb, flattened into his side. It hung there, an empty glove filled with powdered bones.

"I'll kill you, imp..."

Vendak forced himself free of the ruptured stone, a dangerous glint in his eyes. His ruined arm slapped weakly against his thigh, and he shoved the unresponsive limb into his belt, tightened into place.

The golden fly hovered in almost the same location and faced Ven with a mocking air of superiority. The vile, green-gold aura that covered its body rippled, and it cleaned an antenna with a casual attitude. It brought to mind the image of an arrogant man as he dusted the filth from his hands. Ven growled deep in his throat.

Ven's cloak of shadows rose from his body, fueled by his anger, and his vision tinged red. He stepped forward, cautious as he kept his full attention on his opponent. The fly continued to disregard him and groomed itself, shameless in its relaxed behavior. Even as Ven inched closer, his dark aura twisted into a storm around him, the creature paid him no mind.

The fly dragged its thick legs across its body and landed on the ground to scrape invisible dirt from its wings. It turned its back to Ven, unconcerned about his presence. The mockery enraged him.

"This thing considers me beneath it..."

A snort rang out from the peanut gallery, and Rafe flicked a shell at the back of Ven's head.

"You are beneath it, this creature can call on its inner world."

Ven scowled at Rafe's commentary. His arm burned and popped, the cells regenerating at a good pace. Soon he'd be healed, but the aggravating halfling was right. Even if he closed the gap, and managed to hit the golden fly, the creature's aura would protect it. If he wasn't exhausted, he could probably overwhelm it, just like he'd done with Kalina's pet. In his current state, he could barely rally the shadow within his body.

"Any suggestion then, little assassin?"

"Hah!" Rafe laughed, the snacks in his mouth almost inhaled as he sputtered. "Calling me an assassin isn't the way to butter me up, kid."

"Butter yourself, pipsqueak," Ven rolled his eyes and pulled his hand from his belt, still numb but back in fighting form. "I have no idea how to use the energy in my inner worlds at all."

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The fly, finished with its impromptu bath, lifted into the air and hovered closer to Vendak. It seemed bored, and Ven's skin crawled under its alien stare. He raised his hands, the thin layer of shadows around them his only defense.

"Well, I'd start by deactivating that aura of yours." Rafe yawned. "It's locked you into a kind of cultivation." The halfling shoved his snack away and dusted himself off. "The aura is forcing energy into your cores." Rafe stood and hopped down from his vertical perch. "How can you expect to drag anything out past that flow?"

Ven almost stumbled as the halfling's words sank into his brain. It made sense. Vendak had been pumping up a tire while he tried to empty it. His aura created a powerful stream of energy and directed it into his cores. Unless he stopped, it would be impossible to reverse the flow.

Ven ignored the fly, which hovered ever closer, and withdrew the shadows around him. He suppressed them tight, restricted them until they no longer fed upon the world. His head spun, and he was almost lost. I've come to rely on the information from my aura. Without it, Ven was blind and deaf. The world was muted and bland, a colorless place.

Ven fell to one knee, his voice choked to silence in his throat. Death... I've done it twice now, and this is that same dread... His cells screamed at him, hungry for the power that sustained them. He drew air into his lungs, a ragged gasp, a drowned man who finally breached the surface.

He breathed in and out, a bellows that huffed in time with his heart. "Looks like without my aura I need to breathe." His stomach also made itself known and rumbled out a complaint. His body had a high cost to run, and he'd supplied that energy with his cloak of shadow. Now that he held it in place, the energy still needed to come from somewhere.

His mouth was a desert, a plain of fire sandwiched between two oppressive suns. Have I ever drunk water in this life? He'd had wine and some juice, but not much. The weight of months without hydration fell upon him in waves, and his crazed eyes lept to Rafe's neck. The pulse there was strong, and Ven could taste the moisture of the blood, as if it was already on his tongue.

"Hey now," Rafe darted back, "What's with that look?"

Even the fly paused at Ven's change in demeanor, a transformation into a bestial, hungry appearance. It hovered in place, its eyes on Ven as he crawled toward Rafe on all fours. Ven only realized he'd moved when his hand closed on the air where the halfling had stood.

I need to focus... Ven withdrew a huge flask from his bag and emptied it into his mouth. Water that he'd kept out of habit, transformed into a surge as he hefted the container above his head. The water tasted of life, and his body absorbed it as fast as he could swallow. Ven glanced at both Rafe and the massive fly. One hand now fed food into his mouth between gulps of liquid.

"What... now.... smart... mouth," Ven barked each word, forced out past the impromptu meal.

"Uhhh..." Rafe raised an eyebrow. "Well just pull some energy from your cores into your body." He scratched his head, little confidence in his voice as he squinted at Ven. "But I really don't know, your body is... unique."

"Thanks... for... nothing."

Ven grit his teeth and reached out to the countless cores within him. They sat, motionless, no longer little vortexes that resemble black holes. They shone like stars, uncountable little suns that cast a pale, milky light. Ven prodded them with his mind and this time they responded.

Arcs of plasma twisted free of the orbs, and flowed along the path his aura once dominated. They filled his starving body, a nourishing wind that caused Ven's muscles to swell. Sweat beaded on his brow and soaked into his robes, a foul black tar that reeked of chemicals. His cells sang, a chorus of joy that blossomed deep within his bones.

"He can really cultivate..." Rafe whispered, head poked up from behind a rock. "Grows like a dragon, but can also refine his power like a mortal..."

Ven ignored the man, focused on the strange rush of power. It differed from his aura, which wrapped him up and isolated him. This filled and empowered him. It pushed the impurities from his body, filtered his cells through a fine mesh, and scraped free the imperfections.

"This feels amazing..." Ven muttered. It was like a drug, a high. Something he'd almost forgotten. No wonder cultivators are so weird. All of them walked around, propped up by a feeling of invincibility. The power inside him dripped with self-satisfaction and superiority, as if it had a will of its own, or touched on the darkest aspects of himself

"Now try and loop the power back into your cores," Rafe's voice cut through the haze of emotions that filled his mind.

Ven grunted and the wave of energy coiled and twisted, until it became a stream. It ran through his body like a circuit, connected to every cell. A complex webway of strands that supported each other, until they became an interconnected river.

Ven guided this river back upon itself, a snake that chased its tail, and fed it back into his cores. As the serpent ate itself a wave of force pulsed from Ven, and the golden fly arched through the air toward him. It shattered the energy burst and closed on him, but this time Ven could see its movements.

Ven's back twisted, and the fly's leg whipped by overhead, a repeated attack that Ven could now perceive. The energy from his cores multiplied his freakish body's might. Ven almost felt sorry for the creature.

Dodge this...

Ven sank his fist into the exposed belly of the fly as it raced overhead. The yellow-green carapace flexed inward at the blow, and the fly was launched away. It careened through the air for several meters before its wings brought it to a halt.

It chitted and squawked, a murderous glint in its eyes. It rose higher into the air, its long mouthpart extended towards Ven like a spear. The tip dripped with a thick, black fluid that sizzled on contact with the air.

Ven braced himself for the insect's charge as the fly ascended to the limits of his vision. The power of his cores left him smug, the heady rush as bright as the sun. Ven struggled to ground himself, his thoughts darkened. It's like the mortals... anyone really... mean nothing. His mind was more dangerous than his enemy. This strange energy sets us apart by more than just biology. These poisoned words were not his own, but he understood them.

The energy, set in a closed loop within him, changed his body. Even in such a short time, he could sense that his cells had changed, gained something. It's a troubling shift... He didn't want to instinctively view anyone as lesser, unless they acted in a way that deserved it. I'll have to watch myself. His reactions could be influenced by this, even now he was too at ease.

Ven stared up at the pinpoint that was the enemy. He shook himself, both in body and mind. Everyone is equal, and I'm not better than the lowest of them. He'd been given a chance that others couldn't even dream of, but he wasn't some saint. He didn't deserve the gift of his rebirths, not any more than someone deserves to win the lottery.

"I won't look down on anyone."

Ven rejected the blanket of thoughts that spawned from within him and forced them down. The skies of his mind cleared, and the fly above attacked.

It did not charge. Instead, its spear-like mouth vibrated, and a thin jet sprayed from its tip. The liquid cut a line through the atmosphere, a compressed lance that left sonic booms in its wake. Ven dodged to the side, but the fly wasn't finished. It launched forth dozens of sprays, a rain of hyper-accelerated acid that weaved a cage around him.

The first lace fell behind him, an explosion of caustic mist and shattered rock. It bore a meter-wide hole, deep into the earth. An acidic pressure washer that hunted Ven from place to place.

"Rafe!" Ven yelped, his back coated in steaming holes. "Now is the time to help, you useless grade-schooler!"

Nah," Rafe's voice echoed from the shadows. "Just keep moving, you'll get it!"

Ven glared around, but failed to find the halfling. He lept from spot to spot, the fly content to bombard him from afar. Ven could dodge, but the impact covered him in a fine layer of acid. It was slowly overcoming his regeneration, and he quite enjoyed his skin as a solid.

"Hide well, little assassin," Ven muttered as he rushed away from a trio of spears, the ground around him reduced to sizzling craters. "Once I deal with this fly, I'll catch up with you." Ven grinned under his mask at the thought of his hands on the little man’s neck.

Now to deal with this bug...