Two weeks have gone by in the blink of an eye. Major changes have taken place in the mind and body of Luke. His body was now on a level inconceivable to him before. The capacity of his mind crossed the threshold of what could be considered normal or human. His new senses were sharp, and his mind's reach consolidated, forming a domain of passive influence meters around him.
Entering our reality he popped into existence as if exiting a shower. Cracking his neck and stretching his arms he couldn’t stop marveling at his new capabilities. He knew that what he learned were only basics, his experiments with them were probably laughable in the face of denizens from beyond the Veil, yet the satisfaction he felt couldn’t be dimmed by any of that.
He felt his training was a job well done.
Soon, the time for descent into the sewers will come.
First, he has to sort out some personal stuff.
Getting on his backup old cellphone he made some calls. First, he will grab some beers with Lettuce, then catch up with Cupid, and lastly grab Bubbles after work. He dreaded meeting with her the most. She could always read him like an open book. But he has to meet with her in case something went wrong.
NO REGRETS
*Maybe I should call her too…nah, not yet…not yet*
He still had some time before his friend came back from work, so he started his preparations.
The leather bag floated to his open palm. From its insides, he fished out the amulets he was given. He had to leave them in the somewhat protected backpack so that his Void Interference wouldn’t damage the matrix in them or drain them of power too quickly. They were rented to him, not given. Well, besides the regeneration signet, Monsoon knew that one would probably be on the fritz in no time so he said not to worry about it. It was a low-level trinket to him either way, still, Luke promised to make it up to his good-hearted shelled patron.
Closing the first amulet of illusion around he steadied the Void overspill within him, closing up all the leaks from where the infection spread roots in his body. Making sure the flow of Void was as restricted as he could make it, he willed the amulet to activate.
Now, Luke’s body underwent major changes visually. His hands looked as if he was wearing satin black gloves with pearl white veins spreading from them. His muscle definition became highly visible, muscles taught like iron cables under coarse, milk-pale skin. Looking at his current skin tone he remembered the motto of a washing powder company: It can’t get any whiter.
Chuckling he studied his body as the illusion spell tried to return it to what would be considered his normal look. His hair grew a bit, still raven dark yet now possessing a splash of bone white on the top. Because of the rapid change in his stature, with his already broad shoulders and chest getting wider and him gaining a few centimeters of height, the spell had some issues. That, and even the passive but close interference of Void made Luke try to forcibly correct and stabilize his new look.
The effect was passable, if barely. The hair remained the same, which could be easily explained and looked decently. So was his bulk. The big problems were the skin tone the semi-visible muscle fibers and Void taint. Covering that strained the amulet immensely. He settled for a pale monotone skin color covering his body completely. It blurred his tattoos but also hid his fresh scars so that was something he would have to accept.
His eye was also a point of a major clash of forces for the talisman, the only human-like look he could muster was to make it look like a black eye and a bit bloody. The veins were more black than red but again, oh well.
From the distance he looked sickly and beaten, from close up he looked like a bad render.
*Oh well, I’m not aiming for any beauty prizes.*
He made sure the Key beyond the Veil Talisman was fine, it was no longer needed as his control of forcing through the dimensional wall came surprisingly easy.
Grabbing some clean-ish clothes just in time Lettuce busted into the apartment, with a case of their favorite mountain-man beers under his armpit and a smile on his face.
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Both idiots sat down to start their evening of stupid jokes and fun.
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Getting tipsy on four 4-packs he left his friend at home to beat off and play games as he always did. Not one for the city nightlife. Truthfully, it was for the better. The number of times Luke had to play detective searching for his drunk friend or got messages that he randomly left and ended up in a river or some random people's house was staggering.
Once he said, that while drunk, some guy wanted to steal his smokes so he head-butted him on the street, and later in a drunk stupor tried to cross the river in front of their house to “lose the trail of the chase”. He later admitted that he spent too much time playing a certain game about cowboys that were red and dead.
Reminiscing on the stupidity of his close friend he quickly reached the meeting place at the end of the street where another idiot waited for him.
There he stood, Cupid, in all of his charming glory. He could see from the distance that his twitchy friend was having a night full of crystal wonders.
“MISIU!”{My teddy bear!) Cupid screamed making Luke wince.
*Yup, today is going to be fun.*
“Hi there, Big Boy, wanna fuck or do we have to date first?” He answered with a smile and clasped his friend in a bear hug. This time things were different. He had to be really careful not to break his spine but making the big guy creak like the unoiled door was funny as hell.
“OOof! With that grip, no fucky fucky, only rub and tug in the car HAHA!” He opened the door of his new fancy car for Lukas, letting him enter and noticing two already prepared lines.
“Cupid…”
“What, I told you we are going on a trip, and for you only the best airlines for travel.”
Having the self-control of a child in a candy shop Luke simply shrugged his shoulders and took him up on his offer.
For the first few hours they just drove around the city, making stops for bars and clubs Cupid was getting money from bouncers, managers, and plugs under him.
He offered to go to the Latino club but Luke didn’t want to risk meeting his Amber friend too early. They settled on one of the clubs Cupid boys stood in for the night. Grabbing some drinks, Macho Man tears(look below the chapter) and double vodka with Spri*e for Cupid they went in front of the club, where the car was parked, right next to the club doors. There, they chatted away the night. Luke standing near the front tire and his friend is near the back doors.
As Luke was telling some random story from his past making both of them laugh a small group left the club in front of him. Four girls and one guy, all similar in age to Luke. Not wanting to tell rude things next to strangers he stopped his story and took a sip of his drink.
That was a mistake.
Cupid, for reasons unknown to Luke, had again the moment typical to him where the rusty gears in his head started rapidly moving and he had to spout some outrageous thought that was bouncing around that noggin of his.
“ Yooo, Luke, you know what? I would really like to eat some ass right now, a proper juicy one.” He said, loudly, into the air.
Luke choked on his drink and started coughing disoriented by the stupidity that just assaulted his ears.
Looking up he noticed the group in front of him stopped and was looking at him as if expecting a parent to excuse for a rude child’s behavior.
“Hahaaa…ha…CUPID YOU JOKESTER, YOU! VERY FUNY! HA…HA..” He forced himself to say, more to the group than to Cupid.
They just looked at him funny and started walking away as his friend got a step closer, and still loudly started to say:
“Where do you think we could get some fat bitc-“
“Just shut the fuck up for a moment please.” He said with his face buried in his hands, never before was he embarrassed for someone else. His friend, not knowing what he did wrong just shrugged, chugged his drink, and went to get more.
At that moment, Lukas, being left alone in the parking lot started to cackle, which transformed into a full-blown laugh that brought tears to his eyes.
Yes, he was still human. He was still alive, he was still, at least somewhat, himself.
Once his idiot returned with his drinks they chatted off until 3 am in the night. Still, since that moment something was bugging him. He couldn’t pinpoint what.
Just as Cupid dropped him off where Bubbles worked, drunkenly he decided to check how his friend looked piercing the Veil.
The smile vanished from his face instantly.
Walking unsteadily towards his friend he slapped his arm, what Cupid felt as a surprisingly powerful slap on his shoulder, in other reality was something that took Luke’s full concentration and a package of rage delivered through it.
Beyond what the Normal world could show his bulky friend was swarmed by tens of small, crystal-laced spiders with the body covered in holes that would make any trypophobe shake in fear.
While walking to his friend he used his sphere of influence to pinpoint the parasites. They must have been the thing that was bugging him all night. Feasting on his friend for god knows how long. The two biggest ones were near his kidney and heart. The whole swarm was in constant movement, ignoring clothing and nibbling on his skin, the insides of his ear. Most of them were feeding on his life energy, or aura, or whatever different cultures called it. That would explain his random outbursts and some of his health problems.
The fuckers were eating him alive.
He focused telekinetic padding in his palm, transferring the force from his feet stomping into stone with enough power to crack it he slapped the shoulder loudly. His friend tumbled back, and in the time it took him to fall over, Luke burst with Void into the creatures stranded and panicking in the air. Scattering them and shredding their mortal vessels while dispersing any energy they hold.
He made sure that each one was ground into paste while in the air, crushed and popping under an unmoving gaze filled with hollow anger.
Apologizing to his friend he lends him his hand to get up.
“Sorry man, you had a big ass spider on your shoulder and I know you hate those. You seem more drunk than I do, go straight back home and sleep it off. Seriously.”
Saying their goodbyes, confused but drunk enough not to care for it Cupid left.
All his good mood gone Luke decided to change his plans. He texted Bubbles to meet before her work tomorrow for a coffee. He will tell her more than he originally planned and make sure she is safe.
Slipping beyond the Veil he turned his amulet off. Looking at the place where shreds of the Crystal Spiders Swarm lay he gathered all his spit and spite and spit on the remains cursing. Then he stomped on them and kicked the dirt until he felt better and returned home.
Last night in this bed before he had to repay his debt.
Saying goodnight to the Little Fella who developed a disconcerting sort of addiction to flaming people on the internet, he allowed himself to drift off into sleep.