Chapter 23

Ryker

For the next few hours, I single-mindedly stood vigil over Amy and watched her sleep. There was something about the woman that pulled every ounce of protective instinct I had to the forefront. The feelings I felt for her were not romantic, I didn’t think, but more that of a sibling. Maybe I was being a fool since I had just met her, but there was no denying how I felt. I would put myself between her and danger without exception.

Subconsciously, I knew the others were going through their own awakening. Some went quietly, others were forced, and one man chose to not even make an attempt and took the coward's way out. I felt Ruby approach, and with a low solemn voice, she said, “Ryker, it's time…everyone else has been processed, and I gave you as much time as I could, but now you must face your own awakening.”

I let my eyes leave Amy’s red-skinned body and could see one more person had joined the line of unconscious forms. It was the mustachioed man I had noticed earlier, but the rest of the group was gone. I could only assume they had met their end making the attempt to assimilate whatever mythical power lay in wait for those unfortunate enough to be forced to ingest the Vren.

I pushed myself to my feet, stretched my arms high above my head, and let out a sigh before stating, “Guess the odds weren’t in our favor, Ruby. I’m ready for the power; failure is not an option, and I will repay all the death that the empire has levied onto humanity and the Vren.”

I once again felt my eyes being drawn to the tank like they had in the dojo, and I could hear a deep rumble in the back of my head like the sound of two tectonic plates grinding atop one another. Then I saw a dark flash of movement, and my feet were moving.

Silent as the grave, I made the trek from my companion's side towards the tank, and the presence I sensed in my mind grew more tangible. The rumbling noise grew louder, and I could feel waves of pressure compressing me on all sides to the point of being painful. Every step closer I got, the more pressure there was, as if it were a test of sorts. I felt a trickle of blood begin to roll down my face, but I pushed onward. By the time I reached atop the tank, placed my feet, and went to bend over to grab the handle, there was blood pouring from my nose and painting my chest crimson. The pressure had become so great I could barely keep my feet under me. As I gripped the handle and felt myself begin to lower, I was unsure if I was going to be able to stay conscious. The moment my feet touched the dark liquid, all sense of self and my surroundings left me. I couldn’t feel, hear, taste, or see anything. I stayed like that in the infinite void with nothing but my thoughts to keep me company for what felt like hours, days, weeks, maybe years. All sense of time was stripped from me in the nothing. Then after a millennia of solitude, there was another. All my senses flooded back into me, and I found myself standing at the mouth of a massive cave, gazing into the veil of impenetrable darkness.

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There I found two glowing orbs the size of a man staring down at what must have been an insignificant sight to such a massive creature. It remained in the darkness of the cave and simply took me in with its red glowing eyes. I could feel a torrent of emotions bubbling to the surface of my mind seemingly without control. Something about this place was messing with my inhibition, and I felt as if I was driving a car with only a gas pedal, and the longer I drove, the faster I went without being able to stop. I felt something reach into my mind and begin to rifle through my thoughts, and in an instant, I was standing next to Jeff watching him being turned inside out, I was standing over the corpse of the man I had killed protecting Amy, I saw Viltrix kill all those people without batting an eye, then I was in a corner of a tank full of dark fluid watching as a Vren swam into the mouth of a red-skinned man with horns and was eaten, then another by a creature with 4 arms and purple hair, then another with a snake-like body, and so on and so forth, millions upon millions of Vren swimming to their demise for thousands of years I watched.

I was back in my own body, and the sorrow I felt was unending, the weight of billions of deaths pushed down on my heart. The deaths of humanity, the Vren, and all of those forced into an awakening by the empire. The effect of this place magnified my emotional pain, and I felt that I would drown in this sadness until I heard a voice. Deep and powerful, it spoke one word. “Rage!”

Like someone had pulled the switch on a nuclear bomb, my entire being was engulfed in more anger than my body could handle. I felt every drop of sorrow evaporate in the fires of my indignation. I let loose of the last vestiges of control I had struggled to hold onto and just basked in the fury that coursed through every fiber of my being. I struck out with my fist at the rock wall next to me and felt the stone part around my arm like it wasn't even there. I looked down at my fist and blinked twice before I felt the storm of emotion settle and dissipate. “This isn't real…” I muttered before my gaze left my fist and settled back onto the eyes looking down on me.

The being that loomed over me in the darkness leaned back and let out a deep, contented laugh before it closed its glowing eyes, and footsteps could be heard echoing from the shadows. The sound of mirth distorted and lessened in depth, then a man walked out of the shadows, sporting a black training uniform, wearing my face.