It’s gone?

I yanked the helicopter door to the side, crumpling the alloy where I held it and almost knocking it off its sliders in my haste to open it.

Roaring winds rushed in. The racket of the rotors above increased to deafening levels. I stuck my upper body out of the chopper, the wind slapping my cheeks through my mask and shoving my hair into my mouth, and gazed at the city around five hundred feet or so down. “What was that?” I yelled at no one in particular. Penemue probably couldn’t hear me over the noise.

The weird sensation lasted for only a few seconds; I wasn’t sure if it really happened or was just unnatural turbulence.

A whooshing feeling as if I was getting sucked in a whirlpool—not that I tried jumping in one. My only experience with ‘whirlpools’ was back when I was a kid, sticking my hand in the waters of a washing machine. It was sort of the same, a wave of something sweeping reality along. Or that dropping feeling in the stomach when the car was going downhill, like a part of my being ‘dropped’ towards the direction of the hospital for a couple of seconds before snapping back.

“I can’t see anything!”

Absent the enhanced senses of my Blanchette form—I didn’t want to suddenly transfer and spook Penemue who was busy flying the chopper—I couldn’t clearly discern what was happening on the ground. Fucking city pollution and the smoke from all the fires weren’t making it any easier. I supposed those ants moving below were humans and the monsters killing them. I did notice we were over Marshall Avenue; a few blocks ahead and we’d reach EFU Medical Center.

“I can’t even see Auron,” I loudly said, turning my attention to the sky. That annoying haggard-faced Adumbrae bastard had quite the head start, especially with Mammoth Buddy playing tag with me. There were no other helicopters around. He must’ve already landed somewhere.

And where was the BID? Many agents were in the city because of all the recent Adumbrae incidents. Shouldn’t they be heading over here?

From my vantage point, I spotted pillars of smoke rising from the area where city hall should be. Wasn’t Deen attending a political gathering there? Her Guardian Angel should keep her safe. But I guess that’s that for the food she promised to bring me from the event.

The BID’s temporary headquarters was somewhere around there too. Must be some shit going down and keeping them busy.

I had a small window of time to find and kill Auron before the BID came over—be it the guys fighting at city hall finishing their clean-up, heavy reinforcements from the Palomar Node flying in, or both—and I’d have to bail to avoid getting my ass caught.

I really, really wanted to kill Auron.

Sure, he appeared to be with the 2Ms; that was one point against him. He gloated at me, and I’d love to punch his face in. He also ruined my day with all these monsters and protesters. And he might’ve gotten Ramello killed as collateral damage because of his shenanigans, not sure with this one. Rule #4, yes. But I had another intention.

I want to eat him.

When was the last time I consumed the brains of people with power? Was it at Serenade Bazaar when I ate the living heads stored inside snake mutant buddy? Yeah, I think so.

I already used up that…juice, fuel, not sure what term to call it…to bring out Pino when my condo was attacked by those stinky monsters. And I wasn’t able to replace it by eating anything as Blanchette. It would’ve been cool if I was able to take a bite of Stella.

This time, there was someone with powers I could eat. Not one of those failed mutant experiments. Not those foul parasite thingy monsters. An actual Adumbrae like Rofirio. I felt Auron was magnitudes stronger than that purple-haired pervert. Maybe SpookyErind would give me more stuff to borrow if it turned out he was a powerful Adumbrae?

With Penemue by my side, who didn’t seem to be affected by Auron’s power canceling ability, this should be an easy win—gain power and impose a Rule #4 penalty in one swoop.

“Auron is probably at the hospital,” I said as I went back inside. “We should hurry.”

The massive bladed head of Penemue’s axe body had sliced the helicopter’s backseat, cutting down the foam cushion, continuing a couple of inches into the floor. Its pole was angled diagonally to the pilot's seat, the end part was held by the pilot between his arm and body.

Penemue had explained earlier that the moment he took control of the pilot, he made him tear open the side of his clothes and clip the pole this way so there was secured contact with the skin while keeping both hands free. Apparently, two hands and two feet were needed to pilot a helicopter. Something new to learn each day.

It made me curious about Penemue’s past before he became an…object.

He was someone who knew how to operate a helicopter. That or he lied about not being able to mindread the memories of his user. He could also be threatening the pilot in his head to continue flying, but that didn’t sound like something up his alley.

“What?” said Penemue as the pilot. He couldn’t do his telepathic communication thing when he was controlling someone. He could only hear and talk through his wielder.

“I don’t know what caused that feeling,” I said. “And I can’t find Auron.”

“Did…see it? It…Bridge…cut of…”

The noise was too much. Couldn’t hear shit.

I pulled the door back shut. It was still noisy but just a bit louder than the blender I used to have in my kitchen, so it was more tolerable. Poor blender that was lost during the collapse of my condominium building—I made a lot of smoothies with it.

After ducking under the axe’s handle, I scooted next to the pilot’s seat. “What did you say?” I spoke, half-yelling.

“Did you see it?" he said. "The Manifested Adumbrae?”

“Manifested Adumbrae? Auron did mention something about that. I haven't seen anything, not even Auron. Anyway, he’s probably at the hos—”

"An Adumbrae that came through the Bridge.”

“That was what that feeling was?” I said. “An Adumbrae crossing the Bridge into our world?”

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“I thought you knew? You should’ve experienced the sensation when the veil between worlds is pierced by Adumbrae since you can control your own body like me. Bridging...that's a necessary step for us.”

“I might’ve felt something like that before.” I went along without knowing what he was talking about.

“Keep an eye out for it.”

“It’s an Adumbrae that comes out of a Cocoon right? So, like an upgraded Adumbrae?”

“What? No. What upgraded Adumbrae are you talking about?”

“I thought—"

“Its strength depends on the Bridge through the veil and the Cocoon that formed its base. This one shouldn’t be that strong based on the reality displacement we felt. How do you not know about this?”

“The hospital should be over there,” I said, changing the topic. There was a misunderstanding here somewhere and I sensed I shouldn’t let the conversation continue and reach about SpookyErind. “And still no trace of that helicopter Auron used. Are we just going to fly in?”

“I’m going to take us low,” said Penemue, “and land once I find an open space on the road. There could be someone among Auron’s cohorts who could shoot us down. We’ll also conceal our angle of attack if we approach from a distance.”

I snorted. Cohorts? Who the fuck uses that word? Was he someone's grandpa? Could also be some highly educated posh prick from an old-money family. That’d explain his helicopter piloting skills.

Penemue lowered the helicopter’s altitude to probably a couple of hundred feet—I wasn’t good in judging distances—flying into the valley between the buildings lining either side of Marshall Avenue. I now had a better view of what was going on below.

Which was to say, nothing much.

A few monsters here and there, sunbathing, chewing corpses, fighting and eating each other. These were on the smaller side; the bigger mutations must’ve moved somewhere else. Lots of dead bodies, small fires, overturned cars, uprooted trees, destroyed shops—no sign of the Adumbrae Penemue was sure had Manifested. It was kind of peaceful on the street level. We were late for the party.

Through the windows of the buildings we passed, we saw many surviving humans. Good thinking, these guys, hiding away on the upper floors. Many of them waved at us, some shouted for help. I thought Penemue was going to suggest we try to help them, but he continued, looking for a spot to land.

“Once I land, we’ll find a safe place for this man.” He pointed his thumb at himself. “And we go to—"

A chain of explosions, disgustingly sounding wet and extremely loud that we heard them over the noisy rotors.

“What the fuck was that?”

A crash! I checked outside the window on my side. An almond-looking pod the size of a large boulder squished a car parked by the sidewalk. It had smashed down with so much force the car became a metal pancake with a mini-crater beneath it.

More crashes. I had no idea what was raining down. A pod decimated a line of trees and streetlights. A couple more smashed into the building to our left, one knocking off a balcony that had a person waving on it.

“Land this thing!” I exclaimed as something flashed dangerously close near us. We only avoided it because Penemue tilted the helicopter so the wind blades didn’t get swiped. That fucking almond meteor dug a deep furrow on the pavement as it careened down the street. “We need to find cover!”

“I am! Wait—”

Guttural rumbling. The buildings shook, several windows shattered, and people screamed in panic.

“What the hell?” I had my right hand out with an open palm, focusing on summoning my mask. I hoped whatever Auron did would’ve worn off by now.

Thunderous thumps became louder and louder. Something incredibly huge was approaching, its gigantic form peeked over the ten-story office establishment up ahead. A blanket of its shadow covered the street and the buildings across it.

“Yes!” I triumphantly yelled. Golden liquid flowed out of the crystals on my palm and started to form into my Blanchette mask. I’m back in business! Just in time too. I was excited to savor the heights of power I could attain as Blanchette using Penemue. I eagerly pulled up my baclava mask.

“The Manifested is here,” said Penemue.

Our colossal new enemy squeezed past the building blocking it, toppling tons of bricks to the street, and stepped into view. An unbelievably wide umbrella? A circus tent? No, it was a…

“A giant fucking mushroom,” I whispered.

It had four squat legs sprouting from under its barreled-shaped body, equally spaced around it to comfortably support its weight as it ambled on. Four arms sprouted from its torso, mirroring the positions of its legs below. It had no recognizable face. A hugeass mushroom cap, fifty or maybe sixty feet across in size, sat on top of its body. When it moved, its mushroom hat or whatever that shit was called hit the buildings, shaving off their top floors.

Its body was covered with what I assumed were plants, mostly looking like mushrooms or spores. Wait, mushrooms and plants are different. It had a freaking mini-ecosystem all over it. Myriad of mushroom creatures of varying appearances and sizes clambered all over, living amongst the weird plants or fungi.

The only part devoid of these alien forms of life was its expansive mushroom cap. Instead, it had hundreds and hundreds of cells arranged like a honeycomb.

Mushroom Buddy moved towards us, awkwardly moving with its four legs. A haze of orange powder followed it. And within this sinister-as-fuck dust cloud were people, probably a hundred of them. PCM members with their yellow clothes, police, soldiers, patients with hospital gowns, and many others.

A genius thought popped into my mind.

Why go for Auron? This creature here was a bona fide Adumbrae. And it was made through Bridging. While I didn’t know much about the difference between a Manifested Adumbrae and a ‘normally-made’ one like me, I was sure this could be a new source of power. Auron could be dessert.

Power was…nice.

“I’m going to transform,” I said, holding my Blanchette mask that had solidified. “Then, we’ll—” We were now flying away from Mushroom Buddy. “What the…? Hey, Penemue?! Why are you turning us around?”

“We must avoid that Manifested.”

“Why? We should kill it!”

“Are you out of your mind? I’ve been in your mind, so the answer is yes,” Penemue replied, breaking his even demeanor and showing some sass I didn’t realize he had in him. “We’ll leave the Manifested to the BID. Our focus should be finding Auron Cohenn and stopping any other plans he has.”

My food! “Many will die back there. It controlled those people on the street. The ones inside the buildings are trapped. I thought you want to save—”

“It’s for the greater good we avoid it.” He turned to me, or rather the pilot did, with an incredulous expression. “Are you seriously considering taking on a Manifested?”

I waved my red Blanchette mask at his face. “I can now use my powers. If we work together—”

“We’ll likely win because it’s an incredibly weak newborn. However, risking a sliver of a chance of being consumed by a Manifested—that possibility, no matter how minuscule, should be avoided. If only my friends are here...”

The disgusting diarrhea fireworks resounded. I opened the door to check what was happening with Mushroom Buddy.

It had fired dozens of those almond pods from the top of its mushroom cap, orange smoke trailed the projectiles hundreds of feet in the air. The fucking oversized almonds arced backed down to earth and increased in speed.

“We’re going to get hit!” I warned Penemue before I put on the Blanchette mask.

I didn’t feel the surge of power that much because adrenaline had already pumped through my veins as Erind. I did notice the strength of my jaws. There was no opportunity to do my traditional snapping of fangs whenever I changed into Blanchette because one almond smashed the end of the helicopter, knocking away the tail rotor.

We uncontrollably spun. I tumbled inside the helicopter. The thought that crossed my mind was, So, this is what being inside a washing machine feels like?

And we crashed into a building.