“No matter how careful you are, there's going to be the sense you missed something, the collapsed feeling under your skin that you didn't experience it all. There's that fallen heart feeling that you rushed right through the moments where you should've been paying attention. Well, get used to that feeling. That's how your whole life will feel some day. This is all practice.”
― Chuck Palahniuk, Invisible Monsters
“Hmmm?” The Giant stepped into a world of liquid green, an itch on his skin that travelled down the connection to Ven. “The water is hungry?”
Ven’s Giant opened his arms wide and unveiled its aura of shadow. A great cloud of ink black smoke that consumed the aggressive micro-organisms like a great filter feeder of the deep. Ven squinted through the creature's perceptions, before he prodded the lazy beast.
‘That way, Brull and the rest are stuck over there,’ Ven drew the Giant’s attention to the left, where their friends worked together to hold back the murky green tides. ‘Make yourself useful and eat the stuff attacking them.’
“Mmmm…” the Giant nodded and shifted the clouds to surround the embattled group. Pressure relieved, they lay back in the water, bodies limp from exertion.
“Ven?” Brull squinted through the mist, hand on his sword. “Is that you?”
“It’s that bloody Giant of his,” Cain snorted as the transformed Giant stepped into sight. “It might look a bit different, but this aura is the same chaotic mess.”
“Ven is present as well,” Lucifer squinted at the Giant’s dull gaze, where Ven’s consciousness peeked from within. “I can feel the faith he carries like a beacon.”
‘I wouldn’t have to send someone to find you, If you wore your masks…’ Ven sighed as he projected his voice into his friends’ minds. ‘Lyra has her’s on, but she’s out like a light.’
“It all worked out,” Cain waved a hand and tossed Lyra’s snoring body to the Giant. “Get your little demon to carry her back, I’m sick of being the pack mule!”
‘I want you all to go to the Abyss and let Min check you out,’ Ven snorted and prodded at the Giant with his will. ‘If all is well, I need you to come back into the realm and show me how to speed up the passage of time inside.’
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“Time acceleration…” Cain squinted into the Giant’s eyes, where Ven’s will glinted. “I can show you how I did it, but my technique requires a ton of energy… I use to syphon it from the multiverse, but you’ll need a different kind of fuel.”
‘That’s fine, leave the power requirement to me,’ Ven finally convinced the Giant to move back toward the gate, Lyra slung over his shoulder. ‘Just hurry up and find Min, Rafe’s been infected and I want to make sure you guys are clear before you do anything else.’
“Infected?” Brull raised his eyebrows as they reached the luminous whirlpool that was the way back up. “With what… don’t tell me he visited a brothel?”
‘You’ll see when you’ve returned to the Abyss,’ Ven sighed. Brull’s humour was always low brow. ‘Now get through the gate already!’
Brull laughed and led the group back into the portal. Lucifer, then Cain followed suit, until only the Giant and Lyra remained. Ven’s reluctant pair of eyes tossed the wolf-kin through the watery vortex and turned his attention to the monstrous creatures that filled the ocean.
“I’m going to eat now,” the Giant let his aura expand, a hungry maw that choked the life from everything it touched. “Leave me alone…”
‘Fine, but when I come back be prepared to listen, or you’re never going out again!’ Ven shook his head and let his focus return to his avatar. Ooulin floated nearby, lost in slumber or meditation. ‘Hopefully none of the others are infected with whatever’s inside Rafe…’
“Husband! What are you doing, lazing about?” Huan appeared in a flash of light, hands on her hips. “The people of the next Earth are waiting, as are our children!”
Ven sighed and retracted his connection with his avatar. Once more in a dissociated, game-like state, he followed Huan to the welcome platform of yet another Earth. Soon enough, Cain would help him fast forward this tedium, but for now he had to play it slow.
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“Ven has resumed his rallying tour… but now he’s got Twenty kids that Huan is parading around as their progeny,” Mara shook her head. The dragon-kin had a one track mind, but she was closer than anyone to her goal through shear repetition. “That woman is determined, I’ll give her that much…”
“The tour is good for the realm,” Aangor shrugged as he removed a pile of finished paperwork for Mara’s desk. “Many beings beyond the Earths had never even heard of Ven, but these events are broadcasted to all planets with life.”
“I know,” Mara sighed as she reached for another parchment. A request from the Hive to experiment with more advanced drones. “It also helps out the Empire, most planets will join immediately after this display in their skies.”
She stamped an approval onto the Hives request and moved on. The size and reach of Avalon was beyond her wildest dreams. So many worlds already fell under their banner, with thousands more every day. The creation of a symbol, like the one Ven had begun to turn himself into, would be a strong glue to keep the disparate cultures unified under a single flag.
“Hmmm?” A knock called her attention to the door, where Syy’s head poked through the half-open frame. Mara gave the mysterious woman a smile and waved her inside. “What can I do for you, Lady Syy?”
“I need you to send a message to Ven…” Syy’s hands clenched together in distress as she chewed her lip. “I can feel something bad, a shadow of an enemy I thought we’d left behind…”
“Why not tell him yourself?” Mara raised an eyebrow at Syy’s restless state. The woman was normally flippant, unconcerned with much beyond her lessons and Kalina’s academy. “You can see as well as I where he is.”
Syy glanced at the projection above and rocked back and forth on her heels. She shook her head, face drawn into worried lines.
“I can’t… he might want to know more, but I’m… forbidden from talking about it directly,” Syy returned her gaze to Mara and met the cat-kin’s eyes. “Please, just tell him to be very careful… this enemy is different… dangerous…”