As Tara watched Kenshiro and the three imps he was battling she was amazed at the sheer amount of information she suddenly, just, knew. The power of the imps, how much Vitality they had. What kind of element infused their mana, and in this particular case, the density of infernal mana coating the very air. It was dense, like a thick sulfuric humidity that floated on the oxygen in the small room.
It was odd to have information about their level of Insight, Vitality, Karma, or Grace. Each of the aspects seemed to tint the world in a unique hue, the literal building blocks of everything. It was as if she was seeing everything with new eyes, everything in Kenshiro’s general vicinity seemed to radiate information, bubbling into her mind.
The imps weren’t the only thing that seemed to radiate information though. Ken did as well.
“Ken” she spoke into the void, still wishing her voice could reach him.
“What is going on?” She whispered, confused as she pulled in information from him. Ken’s Vitality, Insight, Grace, and even his Karma had manifested into quantifiable amounts. Each coloring him like a palette of unique watercolors.
He was a mash of magics, aspects, and unique colors of mana.
“You aren’t even human anymore…” which didn’t surprise her, per se, but it was a bit of a revelation. “That push must have messed with your spirit or something.” As she drank in the information, she looked at his soul and gasped.
“Oh Ken…” She said, her hand covering her mouth as she floated in the inky void.
His soul was ravaged. Dim and fading. Like it had gone through the meat grinder and was barely holding itself together. Even looking at it made her wince. Unlike a physical wound a wound on the soul was like seeing a tragedy unfold in slow motion.
It wasn’t all bad though, she told herself, forcing optimism. “He is alive. He’s safe from that blue energy.”
She stared into the mess of claws and teeth as Kenshiro fought, worry sinking into her heart. Her head swimming in this information, almost intoxicated by the sheer amount bombarding her mind. Her now expanded consciousness absorbed each little tidbit with perfect retention. She feasted on the information like she would have a wonderful meal; it empowered her, fueled her.
She felt like a pool of water catching every falling leaf. She was calm. Yet, something was incomplete, wrong. Something in her now expansive mind had a hole in it. A tiny hole. Like a needle point in a vast lake of power and knowledge. Curious, she followed the leak.
Calm beyond calm, Tara followed the small irritating drain on her mind’s limits. It was odd though, her husband was under attack and yet she had the capacity to not only investigate this strange drain, but she could handle focusing on both her husband and this mysterious leak.
“What is this?” She studied the link in the void. It was an odd little link made of her soul, her Karmic and Graceful energy, which were slowly draining power from somewhere near the core of her being, sitting at the bottom of her pool of power.
It seemed to be a link of sorts. She didn’t know exactly what it was despite the steady current of information she was taking from Ken’s situation, she seemed to know a lot of random information.
She had no idea what that information could be used for. She did know, however, that the only thing that really mattered was that it was tied to Ken.
“This must be from when we were in the tunnel. The connection we made…” she thought. “He must be using this to stay alive, otherwise his spirit would just corrode or something.”
Well, that is just fine. A pinprick drain in a pool this vast didn't really matter. Not to mention, it was Ken. For him she would drain her pool dry if it meant keeping him alive. “That’s just what you do for those that matter.”
They had been through so much together. From the fire to his mental health. From his father passing away to all the physical therapy and trauma that came from being a burn victim. They had gone through fire and death and come out the other side.
“We’ll make it through this too.” She reassured herself.
Turning her attention back to Ken’s fight against the imps, feeling helpless. All she could do was watch Ken fight worlds away.
—
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Kenshiro swatted at the bat-like creatures as they swarmed his head, biting and scratching his forearms. He tried to move and get away, but in the crowded room he couldn’t navigate very well. He scrambled around the barrels and shelves to escape their beating wings and muttering voices. Head still pounding, Ken flailed his arms until he finally connected with one of the weird bat-like creatures. It fell to the ground hard.
Ken stepped on its head, half on accident, and with a screech and a crack, it died.
The sound of the cracking bones and the acrid smell of sulfur assaulting his nose like smelling salts pushed the headache away and the pain started to bring him into focus. As if on cue, his instincts took over from years in the boxing gym with his father. He even heard the familiar voice of his old man in his head, “Cúbrete mijo! Cover up.” Covering his head, with both arms took his head ‘offline’ and became a moving target. A hard-to-hit to hit target.
Kenshiro took a step back as the remaining two things rounded on him. The first one latched onto his side, and as he tried to rip it off of his torso, a flash of reddish light followed by a smokey smell hit his senses. He knew that smell. It was the smell of fire. The flying creature had shot off a little ball of fire, singing his hoodie.
Again, the voice of his father rang clear. “Ahora! Counter, counter punch!” Obediently, Ken whipped his right arm out, still defending with his left. He felt his knuckles rake against the skin of the creatures. “One, two, mijo! Come on Chispas. Ahora, go now!” Ken followed up the first punch with a combination he’d practiced a thousand times: 1, 2, cross, cross, left hook. It was the left hook that caught the second creature in the small gut. Connecting, Kenshiro felt its little ribs give way under the leathery skin, snapping like broken pencils.
“Die!” The remaining imp giggled with profane laughter and a snort as it tore into his side, “hehehehaaHAHA”
Kenshiro’s eyes went wide as he felt the burn and tasted the singed cotton in the air. His eyes narrowed as his father’s voice seemed to drift into his mind, “Make him pay for that Chispas.” Kenshiro nodded to himself and tried to slow his breathing which was already coming in ragged bursts.
“Come here.” He said before gripping the nasty creature with both hands, tearing it off of his side before ramming its head into a cabinet, breaking its little neck.
As the last of whatever those bat things were, went limp in his hands, he stopped to catch his breath. Forcing himself to breathe through his nose, he regulated his heartbeat though adrenaline still pumped through his veins and brought everything into focus.
Kenshiro used to hate this feeling. The sensation when all the suffering settles in his stomach. It was like his mind was offering him a choice: Keep going or embrace the suck. Yet as he had gotten older, he just started living in the suck. Embracing it. Letting it consume all the extra. All the anxiety. All the ‘voices’ that bugged him. Not that he heard voices, no, he just felt that there was so much to do and so many things that needed him that the quiet simple suffering made all of that go away. Maybe that was why he had gotten so into his health these past five years.
From biking and hiking to weightlifting, boxing, and looking after Tara he had been running for a hot minute. Every day since she had gotten hurt he had run headlong into embracing the suck. Not to mention extra shifts at work and it was a miracle he had time for anything else. Just before he’d left, he had turned their garage into a small home gym and literally moved his desk from their office into the garage so he could get in some kettlebell swings between stupid meetings with UX designers and caring for her…
He snorted, not allowing the suck to fade out. He stopped, forcing himself to focus on the task at hand. He couldn't just bury himself in something to avoid what was actually going on here. A slippery slope if ever there was one.
“What happened?” He thought, leaning against the cabinet. “There was a crash and then… something… then I was here on the floor with a headache. Then those nasty things attacked me. Shooting fire and whatever else. God.”
“First things first. I need to figure out where I am and where Tara is.” He stated to himself frankly.
Kenshiro approached the first creature he punched. Looking at it on the ground, he was taken aback at its actual frame. It was a murky reddish and black thing with bat-like wings and a small body like a doll. Except the doll was ugly as sin and had two little horns on its head, which reminded him of a cheesy cartoon devil. Its leathery skin was covered in little scars, and its body oozed greenish-blue blood. Ken poked it with his foot, happy it was dead.
“The actual Hell…”
—
Tara pumped her fist and yelled. “Let’s go Chispas!” Cheering him on even though he could not hear her. The praise just fell into the empty void. Despite this, she relished the little victory even though she felt a little goofy using the nickname Ken’s dad, Jose, had used for him. She usually stuck to calling him Ken.
Tara felt a small sense of relief. Ken was safe, at least for now. A little cut up, but those Lesser Infernal Imps were basically the strength of feral cats…that could shoot fire. They had no real Vitality and barely any Insight either. Which was why their Embolts were so weak.
Then the exhilaration passed, and her excitement died, the moment of relief faded, as a new worry imposed itself on her expansive mind. The defuse Infernal Mana had not faded after the fight. There was something more dangerous there. Something stronger and deadlier than those imps.
The mana in the air, the infernal energy that infused the atmosphere should have faded with the death of the creatures. Yet the thick grease that was the infernal mana hung heavily on the air.
Whatever was producing this pressure, this infernal mana, had enough to permeate the area with infernal power from a distance. She had initially thought it was the ambient mana from the imps, but looking closer, those things were nothing but specks. As she watched the mana floating about the chamber she became more sure of it.
There was something close, and it was powerful and dangerous.
She had to find a way to help Ken.
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