Chapter 22: The Power of Friendship.

My new world was one big toilet. Turbulent waters shearing down fanged plants, armored snails, hidden pumas, treacherous penguins and spiteful shrews together. Crushing and smashing them into paste against the stronger inner layers of tunnel walls.

The current rushed past me for hours and hours on end. Refusing to end despite my wishes. All I could do was remain in my little nook. Legs and arms coming together into the fetal position.

Praying that the tide wouldn’t rise much further. Stewing in the unfairness of it all.

‘If I had been an Enhancer, I might have been able to escape. I could have swum through the abyssal waters. If I had been a Shifter, I could have turned into a fish or something with gills. I could have taken my time escaping. If I had been a Projector, I could have either teleported out or created a force-field to keep me safe.’

If. There was the catch.

‘I may as well wish for a palace full of lusty ladies or for a pet elephant.’

Or freedom. There was that too. Perhaps closer than I cared to know.

The tension kept me from proper sleep, yanking me out of dreams with the ferocity of a hungry tiger every time an errant pebble struck Buddy. It was too bad, since the contents were happy for once.

Scenes of birthday parties and weeklong holidays. Of the time we’d gone to a theatre and found it in ruins after a rift had overflowed. Lower ranked Espers had been finishing up the last dregs when we got there and Dad had taken us to a little pizzeria down the street. Its windows had been smashed by a viper-bear, but the owner had proudly stated a trifle like that wouldn’t keep him from doing business.

Some soldiers had come later, and told stories of how the rifts sometimes spat out other things. Massive gemstones, pillars of stone inlaid with gold, fruits that kept normal people from aging or even gave the elderly more vigor.

It was all very strange then. Being in the scene, rather than watching the event on the news.

Whenever a tragedy unfolds on TV, one never really grasps the plight of those on screen. Seeing someone trapped on a roof after their entire house got flooded is one thing. Living through the ordeal is quite another.

Case in point, I’d never considered how difficult it was to sit still for days at a time while my surroundings went down the drain.

A metaphor that was very appropriate at the moment, as the final torrents of the deluge swirled past us at last. To my evident dismay, they weren’t travelling downwards as gravity would dictate, but upwards, in defiance of physics. Which meant that the aquatic biome keeping us here had fully patched itself up.

Yes, it was frustrating. Yes, it was unfair.

But hey, I wasn’t among the dead at least.

Survivor Count: 382/1000

Yeah.

That was rough.

Not entirely my fault as there was no way to predict the biblical levels of flooding that crashed down, but rough nonetheless.

In all honesty, I couldn’t summon the effort to rage against my fate. No, I was too busy relishing the fact that we were still alive and kicking. In a manner of speaking anyway.

Stretching my legs for the first time in ages was, difficult. A process made all the more harrowing by the blaring pain shooting up my leg. The makeshift cast Buddy had constructed had served for a time, yet it had proven to be a tenuous solution.

I needed to find a Shifter as fast as possible if I had any hope of avoiding permanent damage to the limb after all the stress I’d placed upon it.

“Hey Buddy. How much fuel you got left?”

‘I’m just about dry of nutrients. The last meal we had being that piece of super-eel we fished out. Other than that, we’re good on stored Psy.’

“Perfect. Let’s grab a quick snack and start heading down.”

As luck would have it, the proverbial snack presented itself almost immediately, in the form of a half-dead leviathan. In its hubris, it had apparently tried to fight the centipedes for territory, the telltale markings of mandibles adorning what was left of its carcass. Problem was, they were innumerable and it was all alone.

“Hear my words, Buddy. Never forget that overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer.”

‘Wow Sully! You’re speaking funny.’

“Never mind that. Get to digesting.” I said, finishing the sad creature off with a psychic bolt.

I had hoped to earn at least one level from the ordeal, yet found myself unable to progress. That annoying feeling of being stuck at some ethereal barrier kept bugging me. It insisted that there was some facet of myself that was missing. An obvious piece that I was wholly unaware off.

‘If you’re worried about not levelling, why not ask another Student?’

“That is a fantastic idea, Buddy. I will get right on it as soon as I find someone not trying to kill me.”

Speaking of which, looks like another survivor was at the edges of my fog.

I waited until Buddy was full and sent the all too familiar probe to their location.

I was hoping for the best while not really expecting this attempt to be any different.

That was, until I got an answer. An actual, coherent response from someone that didn’t sound like a lunatic.

‘Yes! I’d love to meet up! Whew, you have no idea how glad I am to have met you!’

‘Are you sure?’ I pressed, trying to keep my hope from showing. ‘You don’t mind the whole Telepath thing?’

‘Oh, not at all. Why, my cousin is a Telepath and he’s the loveliest person! You two would get along great!’

Damn.

It was actually happening.

I was finally going to have a human teammate.

The thrill I felt was difficult to describe.

One doesn’t really appreciate the good times until they’re gone and that saying is doubly true for genuine human connections.

After six days of crushing loneliness, I’d finally have an ally besides Buddy.

I felt…

Happy. Elated. Overjoyed.

As if my crush had confessed their undying love for me.

Until some of my strings started getting in the way.

[Meditation] was choking me. Dragging me back. Strangely, [Block Mental Attack] was doing the same.

I grunted as the happiness started fading. My beloved friend’s voice was growing fainter. Less impactful.

I didn’t like it. I didn’t want to be alone again.

I needed someone to talk to.

Anyone would serve so long as they could keep the loneliness away.

So, I gripped the strings and turned them off with a flicker of effort.

Then I sprinted to my new friend’s location.

Dropping fanged and clawed horrors along my path. They too made their way over, all opposition vanishing like liquor from Henry’s closet.

‘Hold on! I’m getting closer!’

‘So am I! Almost there!’

My chest was thrumming with excitement. A bold new flavour of ecstasy making itself known the closer I got to my target.

Indeed, the sensation became so intense that I started to contemplate whether something was wrong with me.

Like an annoying fly hovering around an otherwise perfect cake, that nagging persisted. It dug into my sides and vexed me. Eluding my grasp like the correct answer at a multiple-choice section.

Oh whatever.

If I can’t focus on it then that means it probably wasn’t important.

What is important is my new friend. There’s nothing else beside that. The joy that thinking about them brings is suffocating.

I don’t know what I would do without them.

I don’t know what I’ve been doing in their absence.

In my haste, I trigger a trap. The earth gives way beneath me.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

I fall gracelessly and break some more bones in my bad leg. My good leg isn’t spared either and I can clearly see a jagged bone peeking through Buddy.

He tries to say something, but he feels distant. Muted like a movie playing a few rooms away. I can make out the fact that there is some noise and some discord. Nothing more.

The pain makes me aware of a small drizzle inside my skull. Ethereal droplets of pure power, not too dissimilar to my own. Those beads are sticking to the…

The…

Outside? Inside? Are those holes? Are the ends barbed?

Are they growing?

Yes. My new friend is speaking more loudly. He’s worried for me. Worried about my well being. He’s putting more and more of himself into me and straining with the effort.

My imagination starts to play trick on me. I know this because I can sort of make out curses aimed at my direction. A sort of annoyance that the ribbons might not be worth it.

What a silly notion. My friend would never say anything bad about me or anyone else for that matter.

Buddy is saying something again. I shush him and demand he use my Psy to make another cast and cover my new injuries.

Wouldn’t do to freak out my new friend after all.

Then, with herculean effort, I dig my fingers into the crevices and outcrops of the nearby stone. My shell screams in such a manner that not even Buddy can keep it down.

It hurts. It hurts so much. I should not be moving. I should not be struggling to climb.

No, that’s silly. If I stop, the pleasure will stop. I don’t think I could bear it. Its absence might break me in a way no mere flesh wound could. I want it. I need it. I need more of it and I need it now.

Climbing out of my hole with much effort, I shrug off the meager protests of my legs. Afterwards, I move. Going uphill at a frankly painful angle, until I find myself climbing the loose rocky surface on all fours.

I have to keep going. I have to keep killing monsters and spending Psy. Have to empty myself out completely before meeting all of them.

All of them.

Yes, I see them now. They’re hiding behind my friend, carrying some screaming creatures among their group.

My new friend steps forward in greeting.

He’s saying something but I’m too happy to make out the words.

Looking at him, I can’t help but feel awed at his charisma. He’s tiny, yes, but his red cheeks and wide smile go perfectly with his large conical red hat. His coat is made of colourful fabrics pathed together to resemble motley and his neck is adorned by an odd cord of dissimilar bulges.

“Welcome friend! Welcome! So nice to see a fellow Telepath in these trying times. Tell me, how do you feel?”

“I feel good. Really good.”

The entire group guffaws. On closer inspection, they too wear the lovely red hats on their little heads.

“What do you think this one will taste like?” One of them asked.

“Stupidity.”

“That’s a given. All the tall ones taste like that. I was referring to the finer details. Does he have family? Friends?”

“Not by the look of it. It looks like a loser.”

“They’re all losers. That’s why they taste so good.”

“Yeah.” Another one joined in. “I want to eat his thighs. They look nice and thick. Bet it tastes like lamb.”

“You think everything tastes like lamb! I bet if we had a bloody dragon in front of us, you’d think it tasted like hot lamb!”

“I can’t help it! I eat a lot of lamb!”

“Well, I want his liver. I heard Tulip saying it was the best thing she’d ever had.”

“I want his stomach. I need a new purse and those are water proof if you dry and tan them right.”

Those giggles of theirs are contagious and I found myself joining them before long.

“I’m glad to hear it. Spreading joy is one of my most important missions in life. Right up there with having fun. Tell me friend, do you want to have fun?”

“Oh boy! Yes! I want to have lots of fun!”

“Well then. I need you to start with doing me a little favor.”

“Anything for you.” I answered truthfully.

My hands were shaking at the prospect. Nervous twitches giving away my greed for companionship. For someone to share my woes with. For someone who understood what it was like to be me.

“Right on. Let’s start with a simple one. Hold on to this for me.”

I stretched out my hand at once, ready to receive whatever it was, but he shook his rosy cheeks.

“No. I need you to hold on to this treasure with your ribs.”

“Of course.”

I felt so stupid. Of course, I needed to hold on to it with my ribs. Knives were meant to go between ribs.

Everyone knew that…

Wait. Are those, human ears, around his neck?

Meh. Whatever. To each their own.

I was fully immersed in helping, trying to grasp at straws to see if there was anything more to be done. So, wanting to make myself more useful, I activated [Precognition]

At once, golden strings wrapped themselves around my body. My Psy had roared to life.

There, in the infinite realm of possibilities, I saw the end. Cold, unfeeling finality taking root as the gnome impaled my heart. I saw many, many futures where it all ended, where my family would never know what had happened to me and my carcass became yet another trophy.

Images of possible futures overlapped and diverged, past and present superimposed as the former became the latter. They revealed what had happened and what would happen if I didn’t act now.

A shiver crept up my spine as I felt the blade’s temporal echo biting before the actual object did. I knew it was coming and I knew my life depended on stopping it.

The pain was excruciating and, to my shock, it was the gnome’s own assault that alleviated the backlash. His Psy was still pumping joy inside of me.

My fog was working properly, making me aware of the hunting party and its captured prey. Dead humans, being brought back for dissection.

And consumption.

Against all odds, I grasped on the faintest of possibilities. The one in which I made it out.

System Notice:

Student has made a breakthrough with an ability.

Level Gained: +5 Maximum Psy. +3 Ability Points.

I felt sick to my stomach.

Level Gained: +5 Maximum Psy. +3 Ability Points.

That feeling was back.

Ability Evolving: [Precognition] 4 has grown to [Precognition] 5

The visions returned with a vengeance.

The drunk was singing again. Louder this time.

“Under the sea and over the stars. A thousand maggots slither. They grow big and they grow fat, before the great corpse withers.”

“Juices fall and juices rise, dancing to the beat. Yet none will stay and none will sing, all will turn to meat.”

“He comes and she comes after, burning with a vengeance. He will die and she will smile, passing down her sentence.”

“The spider looks, the spider sees, everywhere and nowhere. It is there and it is here, watching from the corner.”

“I see you. I know you. You cannot escape. None can run and none can hide from the Coffin or the Drake.”

“The shadows come to play and sing and dance. They stroll about the cobweb, tearing its expanse.”

“The mirror cannot hold. The mirror cannot stay. The shards of glass will all fly out and blind those in the way.”

“The Coffin is still empty, very musty and very cold. Its owner hides behind the veil, eyes glittering with gold.”

“The Drake is loud and furious. Terrible in wrath. Its tendrils invite horrid doom to all within its path.”

The sarcophagus was threatening the king in carmine. The monarch laughed jovially, or at least in a manner that vaguely resembled mirth. It wasn’t clear whether or not the abomination had ever truly grasped the concept.

“Your toys are nothing compared to the surety of flesh. They will decay and wither to dust, as all dead things do.”

“You speak as though meat is any better.” The me that wasn’t me argued back.

“But of course. Ha. Ha. Ha. Psy may only thrive with life. True life. Not this laughable imitation you’ve donned to keep yourself trapped in mediocrity.”

“My weapons have served me well.”

“Your prison has fulfilled it purpose.” The thing snapped. “Yet a prison it remains. It will not suffice. Not if you truly wish to achieve enlightenment. You must…”

“Hush.” I, or it, countered. “Something’s wrong. We’re being watched.”

Abruptly, the dream collapsed unto itself and I was back with the little killers.

My body didn’t know how to react and my mind was afire from the psionic backlash. It was only through surrendering myself to the golden threads that I passed the threshold.

With a fluid motion, I forced my body into the only movements that would save my life.

I pivoted, wincing from the feedback of shattered bones in all possible realities coalescing into a single mote of agony. The blade missed my heart by a hair’s breath.

All the energy within me roiled in protest as some foul force twisted it. That influence attempted to skew my perspective and throw me off balance.

The golden threads would have none of it. Once more, it was the effect of whatever my would-be assassin was doing that empowered me to greater heights.

System Notice:

Student has made a breakthrough with an ability.

Level Gained: +5 Maximum Psy. +3 Ability Points.

I was back there. Seeing the tall man play with my neighbours.

Ability Gained: [Confusion] 1 has been added to the Status.

I wanted it to stop.

Level Gained: +5 Maximum Psy. +3 Ability Points.

I pleaded for it all to go away.

Level Gained: +5 Maximum Psy. +3 Ability Points.

My heart was about to burst. I could feel the beat in my ears.

Ability Evolving: [Precognition] 5 may not grow any further in the first Tier.

Millions of little secrets tried to wriggle themselves free, worming their way into my psyche.

Ability Evolving: [Premonition] 2 has grown to [Premonition] 3

Too much. Too quickly. I had to press down to keep from going insane.

Ability Gained: [Psychometry] 1 has been added to the Status.

Please. Please. Please.

Ability Evolving: [Psychometry] 1 has grown to [Psychometry] 2

Name:

Solomon Carter

Psy:

101/225

Type:

Telepath Level 35

Abilities:

[Sense Thoughts] 3 / [Message] 4 / [Mental Bolt] 4 / [Fever] 4 / [Fear] 3 / [Static Illusion] 4 / [Hide] 3 / [Faint Presence] 2 / [Mental Map] 2 / [Precognition] 5 / [Friendship] 1 / [Meditation] 3 / [Block Mental Attack] 2 / [Block Mental Detection] 2 / [Premonition] 3 / [Confusion] 1 / [Psychometry] 2

Ability Points:

3

The gnome and all his buddies looked as surprised as if Hannibal himself has strolled through the walls, riding an elephant and juggling cheesecakes.

My thumb found his eye. Just as a half-brewed cocktail of [Fear] and [Fever] found the entire squad. They all dropped at once like puppets whose strings had been cut. Screams resonated all over, bouncing off the cavern walls. Those wails were horrifying. All bunched together with an inevitability I myself had recently experienced. The rush of fear and adrenaline was in full swing now, bringing with it a deep melodious thumping in my veins.

He let go of his weapon.

Big mistake.

In the back of my mind, I recalled that one shouldn’t pull out knives from wounds. Still, I figured those guys in the real world wouldn’t have Buddy to patch them up and stem the bleeding. It should have hurt more than it did.

But the effects of [Friendship] were still going strong.

So, I followed my visions and trusted Buddy with my life.

While I got to stabbing.

I took the leader by the throat first. Sticky blood gushed out like a fountain, staining my arms and spraying all over Buddy. As his eyes dimmed, I felt a rush of comfort flowing back to me. Little shards of broken bone piecing themselves back together without any input.

Reinvigorated, I withdrew the implement and leapt to my next target. My next victim.

Before the edge met soft flesh, the gnome’s figure transformed into that of a baby-crab. Whispers leaked out from within me. From under the murky waters of the lake.

“Please. Please. Please.”

Somewhere in the recesses of my shattered psyche, I observed the people being transported. One of them looked like a cop with a badge unfamiliar to me. His gun was still holstered. He was killed without ever breaking free of the illusion. Never knowing he was in danger. Another looked like a young woman, dressed in a torn summer dress.

Both their eyes had been gouged out.

“Please. Please. Please.”

The remaining gnomes were in too much pain. Their wills straining against the onslaught to no avail.

Sharpened metal found their arteries. Mercifully ending their struggle. Until none remained.