Chapter 63: The Tall Man’s Home.

The rain was thickening. Red droplets falling down with greater intensity as the thing in front of us kept wheezing.

“I… control…. I control…. I…. ugh…. control.”

I moved one of my legs and smashed the poor thing’s skull. Caving it in under the weight of my current body.

Turning my eyes in time to see the child sprinting feebly around a corner and out of sight. Calling upon his new ability as if it could shroud him from his own avatar.

‘Fool. Bloody fool. It is you. It will know where you are so long as you know where you are. Fool. How could you not be in control? How could you possibly be surprised by this thing’s existence? How could you not notice your own power? How could your own mind keep secrets from you? How could you be so… so… Delicious.’

I was quivering. Partly from rage and indignation. Partly from envy.

To say that Veiled Princes were rare would be like saying the imbeciles I turned into living furniture were a little uncomfortable on occasion. To make one, a master would have to merge all their Veil-related abilities to create a Tier 5 power and then fuse that with other anchoring skills for good measure.

The weakest one I knew about belonged to Lady Agony and hers was Tier 8. Capable of turning interlopers inside out with its mere presence. More importantly, it had been capable of turning me, my hijacked bodies and my clones inside out as well. All while the (Noble) sat around lazily from the safety of a pocket dimension.

‘Though doing away with hers was easy. Compared to that [Noble]’s own.’

I grew teeth on instinct. Grinding them against each other with such force that they cracked and splintered in my jaws. Reeling from an insurmountable rage as I was made to recall Singing Steel.

She who had loved hounding me with her own avatar for some petty actions she took offence with. She who had foiled all my attempts at leaving the Labyrinth in search of fresher pastures. She who had refused to fight me head on while still managing to win our clashes.

This fool. This, child. Had reached these heights at six years of age. Granted, our worlds probably had different definitions of what a year was, but the way it had been translated meant at least half a dozen months. Maybe more.

This swine had managed to form a fully functional avatar while having the simple mind of a pup. Reaching the heights of old masters without an ounce of effort.

‘Is it his blood? Some preternatural freak accident from two compatible genes meeting each other? Or is it his upbringing? Some obscure, esoteric factor about his home planet?’

No good. Too many possible answers. Too little time.

I growled in spite of myself.

Shivering as more crimson vitae rained down on me. Instinctively trying to absorb them into myself. To grow and adapt and overcome. Yet these were not real and they did not sustain me. Instead, it almost seemed as if each new wet droplet was an anchor. Unreal voices from beyond the veil dragging me deeper and deeper into a hole. Into an inevitable torpor.

‘Could this be a ruse?’ I wondered suddenly. Looking at this great big fool as he leapt over the shrieking, half-formed Intruder.

‘Could he have noticed my probing? Is this his retaliation for trying to take his mind?’

No. The chances of that happening were negligible at best.

Sully himself was perpetually clueless as to the true depths of his own Psy. A quality that was par for the course for most Savants. It was a weakness, but not an uncommon one for our kind. After all, why would anyone bother with rhetoric and underlying philosophies when the truth was so self-apparent to their eyes?

‘Yet I keep failing. Over and over again. All I need is a cell. A single cell among the innumerable ones in his body. A breach that would let me overtake and imprison him in his own flesh. So that I can feed him to the rest of me once the Tutorial is finished. I’ve done it to greater foes before. To masters and young prodigies that had traversed all four Types. So, why can’t I do it to this child? Why is his mind so very vexing?’

I re-centered myself. Forcing my sinews to stitch themselves back together and quashing my frustration as the wounds I’d taken failed to properly heal.

‘Calm yourself. You are the Seeking Drake. You will not fail. You will have your due. One way or the other. This can only end with you having his Type and his might. Or, failing that, with you eviscerating his very spirit from within.’

That last option had seemed awfully tempting as of late. Though it would mean giving up on this seed his future self had so carelessly created, as well as any hopes of me gaining Telepath anytime soon.

I shook my head to dispel the wave of regret.

‘Enough. Focus on the present. I have not come this far to surrender my talents to an imbecilic whelp. Either I get what I want or he dies. There can be no hesitation. Too much greed has been the undoing of many masters. It will not be mine.’

With that resolution re-affirmed, I centered myself and made to follow. Turning down the same path that the fool had taken.

Only to find a wall of stone in my path.

‘Oh, what fresh insolence is this?’

I looked up and saw that the wall went up forever. Then I turned and saw that the previously leafy corridors had been transformed to stone as well. Unsurprisingly, they also seemed to rise up to the heavens with no end in sight.

I grew wings, thickened my muscles and lightened my bones. Rising high in an effort to defy these changes. All to no avail.

It didn’t matter how high I flew. The walls stretched on and on and on. The queer yellow sun blotted out by the constant crimson deluge falling down from the carmine sky.

Then, the world turned upside down. My wingbeats becoming confused as gravity twisted itself around to make me fall upwards and into another stone floor.

Bones cracked and ligaments tore as I hit the hard surface. Growls and snarls escaping my mouth as I cursed the foolish child once more.

‘I will savour his suffering. Once this is done. I will make his death last for eons after I turn him into a toilet. No, a whole outhouse. I will stretch his skin over the frame of a square building and make him swallow each and every ounce of excrement my slaves produce. I shall keep his nervous system intact as well. Maybe even enhancing his sense of taste and smell. Yes. That might do.’

“Me oh my. How very scary.” The fool called out from the side.

I turned my head, my many eyes taking in his black suit and bushy, unkempt beard.

My nose scrunched up as the smell of alcohol wafted over. Cringing as the sheer potency of it took over my senses.

Despite it all. I forced myself to smile.

“Sorry about that Sully. I was merely trying to release some of the tension. I didn’t really mean it.”

The lie came easy, as lies often did for me. My many hearts steadying as I expected this fool to swallow it as he always did.

Instead, he reeled back and laughed in my face.

“Of course you did! There’s no shame in it. That’s simply who you are. Own it.”

I paused. Blinking rapidly for a few seconds. Unsure of how to proceed.

“What’s the matter Drakey? Cat got your tongue? No problem! Just grow a new one!” He laughed at his despairingly poor attempt at humor. Taking a bottle of amber liquid from somewhere and downing it in one continuous gulp.

‘Something’s wrong.’ I realized with a start. ‘I can’t sense his mind. I can’t see his thoughts. I could access his own abilities before. Something has changed.’

“Gee. You think? Damn Drakey. You are one bright mother(Gnome)er. Guess it comes with all that life experience.”

He threw the bottle away. Not caring in the slightest as it shattered on the floor.

He pulled another one and began to sip from it.

Meanwhile, I began to flood my body with Psy. Willing all my cells into a state of battle readiness as my blood began to boil. My many hearts beating faster and faster as my muscles turned into innumerable serpents. All coiled up and ready to strike.

“Now now. Drakey. No need for that. You’ll only end up (Gnome)ing my friend off. And trust me, you don’t want to do that.”

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I clicked my tongue. Realizing that the jig was up.

‘Well, no matter. I’ll cripple him from the inside and remove him as a threat to my main body in the future. Another opportunity is bound to come up eventually.’

I leapt.

Expecting the jump to take me all the way to his throat as I willed bladed tentacles to sprout from my back and sides.

Only for my body to falter and fall. Landing with a thud onto the cobblestones that made up the floor.

“Ha! Hahahahahahaha! Whooo! Oh man! I can’t believe you actually did that! Actually, never mind! Yes, I can! Ha! Hahahahahahahaha!”

I… I couldn’t say anything. My own mind frozen in a paralyzing mixture of rage, incredulity and indignation.

Pain flaring up from my nose and teeth as I struggled to stand.

“Wha… what is this?” I coughed. Horrified at the way my blood wasn’t flowing back to the rest of me.

“What have you done!?”

“Tut tut, my fiendish, furry, friend. No need for such aggression. Instead, how about you join me for a drink? A joyous celebration! Here. On the house.”

He threw a fresh bottle at my head. My limbs feeling slow and clumsy as my grasping claws struggled to coordinate properly. They swiped the air and missed the bottle by a mile. As a result, the glass smashed me in the face. Shards of glass embedding itself into my skull as alcohol dripped down my cheeks and chest.

I sputtered. Unable to cope with the sheer amount of bull(Noble) happening before my eyes.

“Damn. I guess you’re not used to having those normal reflexes huh? Shame.”

My mind was awash with emotions. Struggling to process and internalize these events. To find a method to the madness. Through it all, I kept coming back to that one, irrefutable truth.

My abilities weren’t working. My power wasn’t working. My Type, my everything, would not answer my call.

‘No. No! This cannot be happening! I am the Seeking Drake! I am all that a Shifter is and should be! I will not be mocked! I will not be caged! I will not be….!’

The fool sauntered over to me. Calm as he had never been before. He turned his bottle upside down and allowed the liquor to dribble down unto me.

I just, stared up at him. At the sheer hubris on display. Unable to make sense of it.

“Heh. Sorry to break it to you Drakey. Its only hubris if I’m way out of my depth. I’m sure you’ll agree that, out of the two of us, I am not the one on the backfoot.”

I opened and closed my mouth. Gaping at his insolence.

“How?” I managed after a while.

“How what? How do I manage to drink so much without passing out? How do I rock this awesome suit? How do I make the beard work despite not having any shaving supplies?”

“How are you doing this to me?”

His sardonic smile turned deadly sharp.

“Oh, I’m not doing much friend. Not anymore at least. The damage was done a long time ago. I’m only coming out because we’re past the point of no return.”

He walked around me. Not bothering to look me in the eyes as he did so.

“Your Type is mine. Now and forever. Its only a matter of time until it shows up on my status. I’m only here to gloat now that you can’t wriggle your way out of this. I find that it can be, therapeutic.”

“No.” I said. Unable to accept it. “I would have read the intent in your mind. I would have known. I would have realized.”

He quirked up an eyebrow.

“Are you sure about that? Okay. Then tell me this. Why have you been using human language?”

“What?” I blurted out. In spite of myself.

‘What is this fool talking about?’

“Oh, come on. Think a little. You’ve been using words like ‘spamming’ to describe how you would use [Insight]. You’ve been defaulting to human form more and more. You’ve even been using human turns of phrase, instead of those of your own species. I mean, (Gnome)! Even the way you’re thinking about this very situation is human. Surely, you’ve realized?”

“I… Only to make you relax! To put you at ease while I dug my claws into you!”

“And? Are you trying to put me at ease now?”

“What?”

He sighed.

“Look down at yourself Drakey. Tell me what you see.”

I did so and was horrified to find a human body attached to my head.

‘When? When did I change? Why did I change?’

The fool giggled.

“Don’t you get it Drakey? It was me all along. I was bleeding into you while you thought you were bleeding into me. Your laughter was the first to go. I don’t know if you recall, but you used to go all ‘Ha. Ha. Ha’ as if you were merely going through the motions. As if you were merely pretending to laugh because the concept of mirth was so foreign to you. But you’ve been laughing more and more now, haven’t you? You’ve been feeling genuine joy for the first time in forever. How do you suppose that happened?”

He placed a hand on my shoulder and leaned in close.

I tried to strike at him, but found my limbs seizing up. My body refusing to move.

“You were never the predator. From day one, you’ve been my prey, and you haven’t noticed until now.”

‘No. Impossible.’

He wagged a finger.

“Okay. First of all, yes. Second of all, it is very much possible. At least for me.”

He paused, belched and wiped his mouth with his sleeve.

“But don’t worry too much about it. You wouldn’t be the first person to (Gnome) around and find out. I mean, (Gnome). This place is full to bursting with morons who thought they were invincible. Here, I’ll show them to you.”

He waved his hands about. Drunkenly swinging his limbs in an uncoordinated fashion.

The stale, featureless room swirled and changed. Empty walls corroding like images on a burning canvas. Until faces came forward from behind the stones.

They wailed and wailed and wailed. Their surroundings erupting with knives and flails and swinging, rattling chains dyed purple and gold and silver and bloody shades of red.

Malefic instruments sprouted up from the floor. Littering the chamber as grass would a field.

Weeping, screaming wretches crying out for death atop them. Begging for forgiveness and salvation.

Flowers blossomed from the ceiling at that moment too. Petals having the features of human faces. Open in silent pleas as blackened bile rained from their empty eye sockets.

Worst of all, was The Tall Man.

There it was. Rising from the middle of the chamber. Dressed in its pristine white suit. Its legs spreading tar wherever they touched the soiled floor. Its hands dripping blood as its fingers caressed a section of wall. Its eyes, open, and watching it all unfold without any hint of care or worry.

Those three icy eyes stared my way. Unblinking.

Their sight caused my heart, yes, a single heart in my chest, to seize in a wave of indescribable, incomprehensible terror.

The corners of the walls fled from each other. Enlarging the chamber and deforming what few sections of stone remained. Replacing them with fleshy pillars that reminded me of home and glowing piles of brimstone shaped to resemble human forms.

I took them in. Took it all in and realized where I was. Where this was taking place.

“Pandemonium.” I whimpered. Almost sobbing in spite of myself.

“Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner ladies and gentlemen! Give it up for the Seeking Drake!”

The faces cried out at once.

“Kill me!”

“Kill me!”

“End it!”

“End me!”

“Let me die!”

“I’m sorry!”

“End it!”

“Kill me please!”

“Please!”

The room seemed to spin. The voices coming from above and below and from all the sides at the same time.

I realized then… how close I was to joining them.

So, I tried to grow claws and end this feeble collection of memories.

Only for the feeble human fingers to remain unchanged. The claws failing to manifest.

“No. No!”

I turned to this fool. Consumed by desperation.

“You have to take us out of here! We’ll be stuck forever at this rate!”

He snickered.

“So?”

“So!? This place is beyond the veil you (Noble)ing buffoon! Do you have any idea what kind of horrors live here!?”

“Of course I do.” He answered. Casually stroking one of the wailing pillars. “Horrors like myself.”

I… could not find the words.

“And of course, the many, many people who’ve crossed me over the years.”

He waltzed over to one of the walls. Gracefully trialing his gloved fingers over the face of a human male. Not caring in the slightest about its evident anguish.

“Take this one for example. He came around my neighbourhood when I was eight. Right after my birthday party. Driving an ice-cream van around the houses and doing business as usual. That’s it. No nefarious business happened. Until one day, he and his van, mysteriously disappeared.”

This new, sinister Solomon turned to face me. Dropping the bottle he’d been holding and using both hands to wag his index and middle fingers up and down.

“That is, he mysteriously disappeared. After he started having very naughty thoughts about me and my friends. Looking back, I’d say I saved three, maybe four lives in total. Hard to say how many he would have gotten away with given how much the police had on their plate. But of course, I didn’t do (Gnome). Not since I released everyone I’d enslaved and repressed my own memories.”

He shook his head.

“It was all the work of my good friend. The Tall Man. My own personal fairy godparent. Always watching over me and, removing things and people that might endanger my safety or happiness. And of course, this predator wasn’t the only one to…”

He wagged his fingers even harder.

“Mysteriously disappear around this time.”

He moved around to another face, a woman this time.

“This was an old friend of my mom. One who really wanted our house for her and her kids. To the point where she had the particularly novel idea to make me and my parents mysteriously disappear while forging a will that would name her as my mom’s sole beneficiary.”

He chuckled.

“Her plan had been to kidnap me first and to then get my parents to search for me near a rift. Ha! Well, that didn’t work out quite the way she expected. I’ll tell you that much right now. She ended up mysteriously disappearing instead and her kids went to foster care after she never came back home.”

He stepped away from the wailing woman. Looking towards an elderly man.

“This one was going after Henry’s sister. She’s older than him and quite the looker, if I do say so myself. She was my first crush. Someone I always looked forward to seeing again.”

He sighed wistfully, walking over to the face and slapping its forehead.

“And this bloke was part of a local crime family. He also thought she was pretty. So, he decided to take her away and… offer her a new job somewhere else. That is, until he and every single one of his, uh, employees, went mysteriously missing.”

Solomon’s face turned to mine next.

“I’m sure you can see where this is going. Life at this time was, difficult and most of my peers knew some kind of personal tragedy. All while my childhood was rather happy by comparison. It’s actually really sad, knowing about all this. It made me realize that Mason was a hair’s breadth away from joining the Tall Man’s collection. He might have been right here, if it weren’t for the fact Doris broke up with me first. Her doing that put some distance between us. Enough that the Tall Man didn’t care to protect her.”

“I… I don’t know who those fool were. I don’t care either. You… you! You’ve been lying this whole time!”

Rage was bubbling up within me. Fueled by the magnitude of my impotence.

“Pot calling the kettle black, I guess.”

“(Noble) you!” I shouted. Caged by this feeble human form.

“Why are you going on about all this nonsense!? Kill me and be done with it!”

He laughed once more. Bending backwards as he did so.

“Kill you? Oh no my dear Drake. I am not going to kill you. You have a role to play, after all. Yours will be the second head of the angel. The shield that will guard humanity when the rest of the Labyrinth turns to devour my world.”

It was my turn to laugh. My beleaguered spirit taking joy in this one small act of defiance.

“You fool. You think a Tier 4 like you can stop the other great factions? You? With these parlor tricks? Ha!”

My eyes bore into his. Defiant until the end.

“You are nowhere near strong enough, Solomon Carter. The gnomes will bomb your world as soon as they face resistance. They will turn your, Earth, into a smoking pit! So, enjoy your victory while it lasts! Maybe you can take solace in your new Type while crawling through the ashes of what used to be your home!”

I’d expected it to end then. For his avatar to leap forward and spear me through the chest.

But that didn’t happen. Instead, Solomon called another two faces forward. His avatar bringing them to him with silent obedience.

“Kill me!” Randall pleaded. “Please! Let me die! Please! Please!”

Solomon didn’t even glance his way.

“You know my dear Randall, of course. He will join you, sooner than either of you think. Allowing me to gain Projector as a third Type. I don’t particularly enjoy doing this, but I saw no other choice.”

“It won’t matter.” I spat. “You still don’t have the range! The ships will be firing from orbit! There’ll be nothing you can do!”

His smile didn’t waver. Indeed, it only widened.

“I guess that leads us into the last of my confessions. I don’t have to do it, of course, but it might serve to… aid in your instruction.”

He waved a hand upward and my body floated up. Unable to move.

“Come, Drakey. Let us see the birth of my executioner, and the war that my world forgot.”