Chapter 117 - Goodnight
A shadow loomed over him, and he felt a pressure in the air as the shadow of its hand came straight for his head.
Vern's knees felt weak, and the sense of impending doom settled over him. What do I do!?
He'd completely missed all the movement in the tussle, and his reigned-in perception didn't help either.
If it was in the water, I could maybe stop it, but…this?
A sense of helplessness washed over him as he piled up contingencies after contingencies, even sparking the Third Rune in his mind. An uncertain death in that land was better than a certain death here.
Still, he wasn't about to give up just like that. He didn't bank on getting lucky like last time, but he'd found new ways to apply stability inducement—like that knife in the water.
Maybe the same would work in the air?
He instantly unleashed his perception, imagining layer after layer of sheets of stability above his own head and beneath the corrupting, taut fist charged with too much tension.
And before he could do anything else, it launched—
"UNCLE!! DIE!"
Ssssss
Vern hyper-focused and scrutinized every little change in stability as a muffled ripping sound came from above him.
They clearly slowed down the hammer-like fist to a degree, but his barricades were as flimsy as cloth in front of that menacing momentum. It wasn't enough. That fist would still turn him into pulp with a mere touch.
He sighed. Sending a wave of thoughts into the Third Rune, he looked at this world one last time—
Thump!
An unexpected sideward momentum launched him into the water—away from that rippling fist of death. His physical faculties came back to him almost instantly as the last mirror spirit prepared to devour his arm.
Unable to process how this could happen, Vern almost let the spirit rip his arm. In that last moment, his instincts kicked in, and he coated his arms with a layer of stability, followed by a quick shot to its head.
This…
A frown etched itself on his face as he frantically swam away. What the hell is happening? He didn't believe such timely interruptions by the spirits made any sense.
Not when the child-monster could command them as he pleased. Then what happened? Was he really just lucky?
Or…
His face sparkled in realization as he found a very satisfying answer to this conundrum. It is Cedric! He's messing with the probabilities to help me out!
That had to be it. Most other observational visions couldn't directly affect subjective entities like the mirror spirits. However, Cedric's Visions worked on a higher concept that bound everything indirectly.
Was that music box situation also a side-effect of his positive manipulation? But his joy at this revelation receded quickly as the ground trembled and the water rippled behind him, "MOMMY! DON'T GO!"
A conflicted feeling arose within him as those words seemed to resonate somewhere inside him. But he had to quash it.
His personal priority list put self-preservation above the well-being of a boy who was tainted by the subjectivity pollution to such a degree.
As much as he wanted to save everyone and everything in the world. He knew that he didn't have the capability to pull that off. Not yet, at least.
This also made him realize that he probably wasn't going to get any more help. Both times, Cedric had messed with the spirits, not the child-monster itself.
Given that all the spirits were finally out of the equation, it was just him and the boy.
Emerging out of the water, he continued to sprint in this crumbling swamp as he cobbled up a plan to fight this monstrosity. I need to watch out for that constriction. That one ability almost led him to his demise not once but twice.
Hmm, it walked up to me both times before using that skill. That was a pattern. There must be a range limitation.
He nodded. He just had to keep a little distance from the thing and should be fine. What else…? He racked his brain hard, accounting for all the possible uses of his two Visions.
"COME BACK!" it yelled, and Vern dodged out of instinct. A pale hand still struck him on the back as the headless body of a mirror spirit whizzed past him.
Vern's gait became unstable for a second, which he soon stabilized.
Wait!
This gave him an idea. Instability before stability. That was the tenet or rule or axiom that allowed him to deepen the shade on his perception.
Yet, who said there were no more insights to be gleaned from that idea.
A plan soon shaped up in his head, and an excited gleam thrummed in his eyes. Yet, when it was time to stop and fight the creature, a small part of him protested.
He was no fighter. Fundamentalists weren't made for battlegrounds. He wasn't supposed to be doing this.
If he escaped to Third Rune, surely Vigil would come back sooner or later and clean this up, right?
Hahh… he chuckled. That was a small part of him, a really tiny one. And he had to work, had to crush it into smithereeens.
So he pivoted around his front leg and transferred all the momentum elegantly, firing a shot in the general direction of the monster as he shouted, "Can you hear me, kid?"
It halted and used both its giant gnarly arms to shield the small boy inside its carcass. Vern's breath hitched when he saw the mangled skin of the child. His explosive shot had done a number on him.
"Mommy! Good. Uncle! Bad!!"
He completely ignored Vern's words and came charging in again. Vern rapidly imagined a solid block in one of its leg's paths.
Yet, his eyes twitched in pain as that giant leg smashed through his blockade without too much effort. Though it halted its advance and made the creature stumble, it was not enough for him to get a shot in.
Vern backpedaled as he rapidly adjusted his strategy. He had a very limited amount of representation left. If he kept wasting it on pointless ideas like this, he'd have no one but himself to blame when he ran out.
After running through all the scenarios in his mind, he narrowed his eyes, and a flame of determination burned within them, Time to go all out.
Completely ignoring the creature, he closed his eyes and perceived the liquid in front of him—something he could now assign grays to without any whispers.
"Instability Inducement," he muttered.
The water in front of him stilled for the briefest of moments before a small ripple emanated in it. Then another…and another. Tens, hundreds, thousands of ripples soon turned into chaotic vibrations.
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The water seemed to boil, but there was no heat. The height of the surface in front of him waned, yet more water surrounding it instantly claimed the lost land.
Yet, the speed at which the water disappeared far outpaced what filled the gaps. Soon, the rugged ground underneath became visible, and a whirlpool formed around it.
Droplets floated in the air as steam churned all around Vern, who was standing in this world of glass that shattered more and more by the second.
Thump!
Yet, the world didn't stop for his visions. The creature rushed towards him, slamming its fist into the ground with each step, shouting, "Bad! Bad! Bad! Bad!"
The sense of instability within him exploded, and his primal instincts screamed at him to get the fuck out of there. But he held his ground and continued destabilizing the water.
More of it boiled without heat, and the cloud of steam became denser and denser.
Just a bit more…
"BAD! Uncle! Mommy! Help! Please! BAD!!!"
The monster soon entered the periphery of his mist, but as if it knew Vern hadn't moved, it ran straight for him.
The tremors from the movement of the creature sent pulse after pulse of terror coursing through him, but a smile stretched on his lips.
His actions had caused his insights in thought space to leap far, far ahead of the mental precipice he was standing on. Now, he just had to maximize the distance and land back safely.
Vern didn't budge, and the creature's grin widened when Vern didn't move at all. Excited like a child, it jumped and hopped, slowly approaching him like a predator did prey.
It was completely within Vern's range of attack, but he held on. Instability before Stability. The worse it was, the better the results.
It completely ignored the lacking water underneath itself and happily grinned one final time, not even bothering to forcefully constrict Vern as it stretched its arms taut to crush Vern into a pulp.
Vern zoned in.
No care, no thoughts, no remorse—that was everything an unattended child would do. Yet, the consequences were real as the fists plummeted like a meteor, ready to disintegrate him into nothingness.
Sigh…
"Stability Inducement"
Whooshh!
A terrifying force manifested all around Vern as all the steam surged in one direction, pulled towards the center by the pressure differential.
Steam condensed into droplets, and soon, a floating mass of cyan liquid encased everything in front of Vern, binding it all together with a terrifying force.
"Bwwad! Blub! Mwommiee! Helpp!" came muffled yelps as Vern finally opened his eyes.
Uncoiling the amulet of restoration on his palm, he rotated its knob, and a brilliant light shone out of it.
He brandished it toward the sinewy monster stuck inside the highly compressed ball of water. A small part of its body was still touching the ground, but there was almost a boundary between the water and the stabilized prison.
He'd destabilized way more water than this, but it seemed the stabilization had squashed it more densely when all the steam rushed back, making it more rigid than if he'd just straight-forwardly stabilized the water.
Instability before Stability. An interesting methodology, indeed. He nodded in understanding. It opened up a new world of possibilities for his Visions.
Something he'll have to experiment with later.
The rotten hands of the carcass enswathing the boy attempted to build momentum and break itself out of prison, but the encasing didn't budge one bit.
The light from amulet of restoration mercilessly did its job—burned away the rotten flesh as the carcass thrashed harder. Whenever it managed to break a small chunk, Vern forcefully stabilized it right back up.
"This is it," he whispered. Pulse after pulse of soothing stability surged within him, moving towards a crescendo, and his mind drifted away.
However, he soon shook his head, focusing single-mindedly on the monster. He would analyze the situation within his thought space later. He first had to ensure this was really over.
Veins bulged around his eyes, and a terrible throbbing wormed its way up to his head. Yet, his mind was somewhere else.
"Please…"
Vern shifted his gaze to the chest of that melting husk. The mangled torso of the boy, barely attached to its sinews, looked at Vern with his blue eyes, fear and innocence rippling within them.
He took his tiny, rotten, mangled hands and wrapped them around himself, curling into a ball.
Vern found it impossible to tear his eyes away, and something broke inside him. The sense of pity overwhelmed him, but he gritted his teeth and stopped his hand that was reaching to turn off the amulet.
.
.
.
However, he wasn't an extremist. It didn't have to be either utterly cold cruelty or naive kindness. He could balance this better.
Extending his perception in a straight line far beyond all this mess, it reached a huge toy train and a music box. Spending what was left of his meager representation while leaving enough to maintain the bubble for a bit, he destabilized the music box’s mechanism.
And in the next moment, that sweet humming began once again.
~ Mhm, mhm… ~
~ In the moon's embrace, you find your rest, my dear
While stars above in silent watch do keep,
~ Dreams crystal clear in night's soft cradle here, ~
In tranquil seas, beneath the whisper deep.
Soon, most of the grotesque carcass turned into red ash, spreading inside the water prison, and the boy floated in there, his corrupted skin slowly but surely evaporating due to the light of restoration.
"mommy...please…help…please...please...please... "
Vern silently rested his head on the cold prison wall for a dozen more seconds, trying and failing to block out the pleas.
.
.
.
When the polluted carcass was all gone, he couldn't handle it anymore and imagined a path inside the prison. Taking a deep breath, he entered with unfocused steps, his eyes tethered to the trembling boy.
~Mhmmm…mhm ~
Each hum seemed to soothe the shivering child, and his eyes became more clear.
~ When night's dome sparkles with each twinkling light, ~
The mirror's grace reflects your smile so bright,
Vern's chest tightened with each syllable as he walked through the cold prison, ash filtering down on him as new cracks appeared in the otherwise stable sphere.
And as his slow steps led him underneath the boy, his thought space gave up—he was all out of representation.
Crack!
The prison shattered, and water rained down on him as the tiny figure fell amidst the shower, curled into a ball. Vern rapidly holstered his gun and spread his arms wide.
Catching the light body, he cradled it as the downpour soaked them thoroughly. The little thing shivered and gazed at Vern, its left body nothing but a mass of blackness that evaporated in the bright light.
~Mhmmm…mhm ~
~ In every star's glow, in every loving face, ~
My love for you, the sands of time can't trace.
Vern parted his lips to speak, but no words came out. The child looked up, his expression clearly etched with a mix of confusion and fear. His cheeks, once plump with youth, seemed to hollow out as the shadows crept over his skin, giving him a gaunt, almost ghostly appearance.
What was left of his left arm tried to struggle and claw at Vern, but the tiny right arm wrapped itself around his back as the boy leaned into his embrace.
"ple…ase. don't…don't go," came a whisper, launching Vern's emotions into a whirlwind of conflict. As if to rain on his parade, the shattering mirrors in the skies reflected more scenarios.
~ So drift, my child, on dreams of sweet embrace,~
Through silver streams that time cannot erase,
All of them shined the silhouette of a woman cradling a small baby, singing under the moonlight in myriads of situations.
~ In clouds that carry you to love's soft space, ~
Our bond, a mirror of eternal grace.
Winter, summer, autumn, rain, she never stopped, and the small baby in her arm almost always slept by the end of it with a smile.
With every syllable, the small thing in his arms trembled, muffled sobs filling Vern's ears. He tried. No, he was trying. He was trying so damn hard.
He could see it. No, he knew it. There was no coming back for this boy. With the negligible amount of representation left within himself, he perceived it.
The boy's right body—the uncorrupted half was porous, almost transparent in his perception. It was as if the boy had lost his innate representation.
That grotesque husk was what kept him alive in such a horrid state. The child didn't have an anchor to reality on the most fundamental level. So even if there was something that could heal his decaying body, that wouldn't keep him alive.
Even knowing all that, Vern's hand moved, and he rotated the knob of the amulet of restoration—turning it off.
~ In every gleam, in every gentle face, ~
My love for you, time's hands will never trace.
Yet, as if noticing the change, the tiny hand clutched at his coat, "…unc…le, I…wanna—go…go to mommy."
As if to convey his feelings, the falling mirrors all showed a single scene…
~Hmmmhm…mhm ~
A woman stood against the backdrop of a red moon by the river, holding the boy in her arms, when suddenly, the whole world shook, and he fell into the water.
When the small thing found its bearings, it turned around, only to find the woman missing—greeted with nothing but her clothes and a pendant floating in the water.
~Hmmmhm…mhm ~
The images shattered, and the child in his embrace hugged him tighter, those light sobs overlaying on top of the rhythmic melody.
"wanna go to mommy…" he repeated again and again.
When the sobs soaked his already drenched coat, Vern finally couldn't take it and gave in.
Turning the knob of the amulet again, he held the boy close, ignoring his left body's onslaught as the light rapidly ate at the corruption—reducing the child's agony but also his meager lifespan.
"wanna go to mommy"
Gently caressing the boy's frail back, he was reminded of how mom used to do the same for him and Ari. Unsure and unfocused, he whispered, "…me, too."
~Hmmmhm…mhm ~
~Mhmmm…hmm ~
The world continued to shatter, collapsing in and of itself as the mirrors passed right through Vern, and everything turned more illusory by the second.
The weight in his hands got lighter and lighter, and no matter how much he tried to wrap the tiny body in his embrace, he couldn't stop it.
~Mhmmm…hmm ~
Thousands of jumbled memories played in the last of the mirrors, and all of them stopped reflecting her silhouette in a slow transition
Like eyelids closing when heavy with sleep, the world turned dark, and his hands felt weightless as she whispered one final time.
~ Goodnight…my little one ~