Now, Earth
“YYYAAAAA!”
Veronica’s metal staff clanged against Tessa’s metal kanabo. The only reason that the weapons survived the super strong impacts was because they were custom dad-made. The metal was extra dense and super tough.
The impact sounded like a car crash. It drew all the other eyes on the field to the sister-on-sister practice violence.
Tessa’s arms vibrated with the impact. She needed to ask her dad if he could maybe work some shock absorbing attributes into her otherwise awesome weapon.
“Jesu—” Tessa caught a glance of her dad out of the corner of her eye. “Jeez, Vee. Are you going all out?”
Veronica narrowed her eyes warily. “Miss Gozen said to.”
Tessa said a string of bad words in her head. She couldn’t risk her dad hearing the slightest whisper.
Was this some kind of older sister test? Vee could go all out, but if she went all out then everyone would get on her back about not looking out for her younger sister?
Did Miss Gozen want to teach her about control and defeating the opponent with just the appropriate amount of force? Their melee weapons teacher did say that a lot. Like all the time.
Tessa was distracted.
“KIAI!” Veronica feinted with a thrust to her face, then she went low and attempted to swipe at her lead leg.
Tessa raised her leg over the staff with inches to spare. She swung a one-handed smash down toward Veronica’s shoulder.
Her little sister parried it away while shuffling back several steps.
Tessa took in the determined look on Veronica’s face. The elder Cruces sister was simultaneously proud and annoyed. Sword to her neck she honestly couldn’t explain why.
Tessa shifted to a two-handed grip on her kanabo. She snapped its end out with a lunged thrust.
Veronica parried it away again, but she couldn’t hide the look of pain on her face.
They both had superhuman physical attributes, but Veronica was only eleven and she was small for her age. Tessa had a significant edge in that department. All she had to do to win this sparring contest was to keep hammering away until she overwhelmed her little sister.
It was tempting, but Tessa was aware enough to realize that wasn’t the point of this exercise and if she did so, it meant that she failed. She stepped back and held her kanabo up high. A move only made viable by her super strength and superior reflexes and quickness.
Veronica twirled her staff around her before suddenly letting her grip slide all the way down to the end. “RRRAAAARRRRR!” She swept it at Tessa’s head in one smooth motion.
Tessa recognized her little sister’s favorite move. “GAH!” She swatted Veronica’s staff down to the ground with her kanabo. The clang echoed out into the neighborhood surrounding the park. There would be several concerned inquiries later from the residents about a possible car crash.
Tessa stepped into Veronica. She grabbed the staff with one hand while she thrust her kanabo down between her little sisters feet. She did three things simultaneously. She pushed Veronica’s staff into her body, tripped her back leg with the kanabo and shouldered her in the chest.
Veronica crashed into the grass.
“That’s the point to Tessa,” Hanna Gozen said.
Tessa couldn’t help but smile, despite the stinging feeling in her hands. That had been a hard hit to absorb.
Their melee weapons teacher was so cool. She was tall and strong and even had some cool scars. She was like some kind of warrior woman straight out of the movies. Watching her work with the long sword was one of the most awesomest things ever. Tessa wanted to be just like Miss Gozen. In fact, pretty much all the young girls did.
Veronica glared up at Tessa.
Tessa sighed in her thoughts. She held Veronica’s staff out. Her little sister grabbed it. She pulled Veronica up before relinquishing the staff to her. Time to be a good big sister. “You almost got me in the face with that move,” she grinned.
Veronica’s wary look slowly turned into a shy grin. “I’m trying to not telegraph it like Miss Gozen said.”
“Getting close. Let’s see if you can get even closer this time. Though I’m not going to make it easy for you,” Tessa said.
“You’re going down!”
Tessa moved back to reset for the next round.
There was an even more determined gleam in Veronica’s eyes as the two sisters stared at each other.
Tessa grew concerned. She hadn’t been lying. Veronica did come pretty close to tagging her in the side of the head. The things the elder had to do for the younger. It was so unfair.
----------------------------------------
“I’ll do it.”
Remy blinked up at Bennett. The tall, thin and pasty man looked like he had swallowed a lemon, but he looked Remy in the eyes.
“I see you’ve read the stuff,” Remy pointed at the paperwork and maps spread out on the living room coffee table. He couldn’t help but note the empty blood bag. “I just to want to be clear. I’m not here to make you do anything you don’t want to do.”
“Thanks and I appreciate that. You’ve always been cool with me,” Bennett said. “I want to do this. These Scions of the Deep Azure cultists sound like really dangerous people. Blood sacrifice to summon fishmen? It’s terrifying, like a Lovecraftian story come to life. I have to do something. I mean if I’m the only one that can do the information gathering and I don’t, then we get attacked. Then chances are I’m dead along with everyone else. Crap, I’ll be lucky to die. You never know with cults. There is a none zero chance that I’m subjected to a fate worse than death on account of my… unique Class.”
“I think I can see where you’re coming from with that. I might be in the same boat.”
“Yeah, they’d probably want to do horrifying experiments straight out of Lovecraft.”
“I’m vaguely familiar with that guy. Horror writer?”
“I went through a phase in high school. Dark and edgy nihilism. Looking back on it, I was mostly being a stupid teenager,” Bennett shrugged.
“Weren’t we all.”
“Still, I never thought it was real. But, listen… since the spires appeared things we thought were definitely impossible, beliefs and fiction are now real. Then why not something like in Lovecraft.”
Remy nodded. “The stuff our research team came up with as an overarching theory and hypothesis. Collective human mythologies somehow made real by the spires or whatever is responsible for them. So, this fishman cult is just like how I have superpowers and you became a Vampire. Because we, they, subconsciously willed it so?”
“Right, which is why I think this cult is really scary dangerous. Let me show you.”
Bennett led Remy to the kitchen where a stack of books on the table met them.
“Have a seat.”
Remy took a chair, while Bennett took the opposite one.
“I’d offer you something to drink, but…” Bennett shrugged.
Remy grinned. “Thanks, but I’ll pass.”
Bennett picked out a thin book from the pile and handed it to Remy.
“The Shadow Over Innsmouth? Let me guess, there’s a fishman cult in this?”
“More or less. In short there are a race of fish people, but they interbreed with humans. The product of these unions are basically born human and grow up that way, until eventually they start to turn into fish people and have to go live in the ocean.”
“Probably not as nice as the Little Mermaid,” Remy said.
“No,” Bennett said flatly. “The scary thing is that these Deep Ones lived with and worshiped an eldritch-type entity that some may popularly know as Dagon. Now there is evidence that Lovecraft didn’t actually mean for this particular entity to be named that. I believe the name Dagon actually refers to an ancient Mesopotamian god. It wasn’t my area of study.”
“Was it Cthulhu? Like Old Ones-type stuff… I played a video game once,” Remy said.
“Ah, no that’s a different one, but I suppose close enough if it helps you to conceptualize what I’m trying to explain.”
“I get it. The cult calls themselves the Scions of the Deep Azure. So the question is who or what are they claiming as an originator? And I really hate the fact that I can’t automatically rule out that there isn’t an actual Old One hiding out in San Francisco Bay.”
“That is my concern as well. We need more information. I’d be pissing my pants if that was still something I was capable of doing,” Bennett sighed, “but I’m sure that I have to do this.”
Remy grimaced. “It’d be a big help if you could confirm the existence or lack thereof of what’s behind this fishman cult. We need to know what we’re up against if we want to fight back.”
“I was more thinking that we’d run away as far as possible if it turns out that there’s an Old One-like entity out there. You don’t fight one of those things. You’d probably go crazy just looking at it,” Bennett shivered.
“That’s only in the stories. There has to be a way to fight them.”
“No, no, that’s the whole point of the stories. Man is a small insignificant speck to the elder beings out in the universe. I mean our research is pointing toward the fact that elements of fiction have become part of our reality. I don’t see why this would be any different.”
“That’s true up to a point. Don’t forget that there’s also a game-like element to how the spires work. Getting insta-crazied without a chance to fight back doesn’t fit that.”
“Well, how would you fight a giant elder being the size of buildings?”
“Lots of explosives or a very powerful one. Maybe hit it with a train. The point is we’ve got to try. It’s how the spires work. The greater the struggle the greater the reward.”
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
“You’re just about the only person I know in literally the entire area that might have a shot,” Bennett said.
“Don’t sell yourself short. Sometimes you just have to be creative with your abilities,” Remy said. “Thanks for doing this, Bennett.”
“I don’t know… the more we talked about it the scarier it became.”
“Stick to Officer Lawrence’s suggestions. She’s competent.”
“High praise.”
“I couldn’t do any better,” Remy stood. “I’ve got some training to do with my kids. Then I’ll be following a map of my own. When are you planning on heading to the bay?”
“Tomorrow after the sun goes down. I need to wake up fully and get in as much blood as I can fit in my system,” Bennett winced. “I should’ve practiced my abilities more.”
“You can’t really blame yourself for your reluctance.”
“Maybe, maybe not. What I do know is that I’m definitely going to have to spend the day out there in a sewer. If I was stronger I might’ve been able to do everything in one night.”
“Well… I wish I could do more for you, but… good luck!”
Remy shook Bennett’s hand. It was cool to the touch. Remy kept the surprise from showing on his face.
“Thanks, good luck with your stuff too! I heard that it was your kids that stumbled on to this whole cult thing in the first place. We owe them big. Who knows what kind of damage they could’ve done if they were able to infiltrate our community? Eldritch cults do a lot of their damage that way… at least in the stories,” Bennett grinned sheepishly.
“Yeah,” Remy blinked. “I suppose we were lucky the kids caught on to the plot when they did.”
“Right place, right time,” Bennett agreed.
“I’ll see you when you get back. Don’t take unnecessary risks. Any information is better than no information.”
Remy left Bennett’s house deep in thought. The small monsters and mutated animals in the darkness gave him a wide berth. They instinctively knew to avoid his level of power.
The kids did do a vital service for the community. Maybe he was being too dismissive of that objective truth in his zeal to teach them a lesson.
Remy sighed. It was hard enough raising kids back when the world was normal. Now he had to factor in super powers and monsters into the equation. Let alone some kind of Cthulhu-like monster lurking out there somewhere.
“It’s all bullshit,” Remy said.
A chime sounded in Remy’s head.
“Fu—”
Congratulations!
You have received a Quest.
Raise your children to defeat their enemies.
Success Parameters: Your children must play a main role in their victories and survive.
Failure Parameters: Your children’s deaths in combat.
Reward: 1% of your children’s Universal Point reward for each successful victory. Your children will live.
Failure: The knowledge that your children’s deaths are due to your failure to train them to a high standard.
You will accept.
Notes: This Quest is eternal until such time that you have no more living children. 1% reward is independent of your children’s Universal Point reward.
Remy had to stop walking. His legs suddenly felt weak. Was this horrid Quest generated in answer to something in his subconscious? It was too much to think about. It did clarify one thing for him. The spires’ system was malicious if not downright evil. He had no doubt of that, not now.
----------------------------------------
The interior of the spire was ethereal as always.
Nila walked through what to her was much like an office building if it had been made out of mists. Translucent stairs appeared beneath each step only to blow away like smoke as she kept going higher.
It was almost as if she was in a dream. She knew exactly where she was going. She had gone to the same room dozens of times. Except the path to get there was different each time. Yet, it was also familiar, as if the way was exactly the same.
A door or what felt like a door, opened for her and she strode right in. She sat down at a table, no she walked up to a screen that floated in the ether. She was floating in the clouds. She was sitting in an airy chair of mist and smoke, but felt as solid as wood.
Every possibility shifted and merged from one to the other. It didn’t bother her. It felt as natural as breathing.
Like always, the spire made perfect sense, while not making any at all.
“What do you wish to do?”
The voice of the spire sounded like a man, woman and child. All distinct, yet garbled at the same time.
“I’d like to check my messages,” Nila said.
They had tried to send messages to each other after Cal’s first message had arrived from the other world. After Eron had made it down south and had managed to somehow get a few cell phone towers working. It made for spotty connections that weren’t working more than they did work, but it had allowed Nila a chance to reconnect with her immediate family.
They had tried to coordinate using the spires’ messaging system for its reliability, but they hadn’t been able to. One expensive tutorial purchase by Eron, since he had the most points, revealed that the system wasn’t going to be available until after the ten-year tutorial period was over. True to form, there was no explanation how Cal had been able to send messages from an entirely different world. Nor did it explain why they couldn’t send back messages of their own.
“You have one new message.”
Nila took a deep breath. “Open message.”
“Hey, love!”
Cal’s smiling face appeared before her. It was like he was sitting or standing across from her. She unconsciously reached out to touch his cheek. When her hand passed right through as it had each time in the past, she felt a lump grow in her throat.
“Hi, love,” Nila said softly.
“Let’s see. Things have been pretty quiet on the Professor C front in the last couple of months. This place basically runs itself now. Got good people, er Threnosh, running the admin side. Bad news is that I haven’t been able to pick up new recruits for the T-Men.”
Nila smiled. Cal was such a nerd.
“The rest of the Threnosh finally caught on to how awesome we are. They’ve been unwilling to give up their defectives.” The distaste was clear on Cal’s face. “They’re trying to copy us except they suck. Especially Prime Eternal Warden 1. That guy is the worst. They have tons of defective, but they’re throwing them into a meat grinder without any support or guidance. Threnosh are supposed to be pretty flat emotionally speaking. All controlled and stuff, but this guy might be a legit sociopath.” He palmed his face with his right hand and shook his head.
Nila had finally noticed that in every message Cal had kept his left arm completely still. He had sent messages from what looked like a variety of places. Behind a desk, standing in a forest, surrounded by those small, adorable alien animals he had dubbed deercows. His left hand was always out of view. It was under a desk, in a pocket or behind his back.
When she had mentioned it to Remy and Eron, his brothers had come to a similar conclusion. Cal was hiding his hand for some reason.
It killed Nila to know that she couldn’t even ask about it until the ten-year mark passed.
“I don’t want to bore you with negative details. Instead, I’ll talk about the cool stuff. So, the animal husbandry thing is going… okay, I guess. Got more deercows and those miniature chicken things. It takes like ten eggs, but I can make omelettes now. There’s a bunch of wild vegetables that are close enough to the stuff from home too. Garlic, onions and peppers, bell and black. Even got salt. That took some work. Had to get the Threnosh to use their orbital scanners. It turned into a whole thing when the Collective learned about it.” Cal laughed.
Nila had almost forgotten what that sounded like. She felt tears well up.
“Pure sea salt after I ground the deposits up and dried it and stuff. Took some experimenting. The things we modern humans take for granted. Just like meat. Man, I’m still not used to slaughtering deercows. So gross. Fortunately I don’t have to get my hands dirty,” Cal tapped his temple, “mind powers are great! Almost as great as grilled meat! I’ve made deercow burgers, ribs, every kind of steak I could think of. Sure, I could survive just fine on the Threnosh nutrient drink, but, bleh,” he made a disgusted face. “Anyways the deercow meat tastes like not quite beef and not quite venison. Though I’ve only had the latter a handful of times. Plus my palette is not discerning. So, I could be wrong,” he shrugged. “Maybe you can try it one day.” He visibly swallowed.
Nila choked out a mix between a sob and laugh. “You have the worst taste buds,” she whispered.
“On another positive note. I have invented ice cream. It’s not quite right since I’m using deercow milk. I haven’t been able to find any chocolate or vanilla analogues, but I have found several fruits. Some of which make a pretty decent ice cream. The Threnosh love them. Unfortunately, they can only taste then spit out. Turns out being genetically engineered to only consume that nutrient liquid means their stomachs can’t handle anything else,” Cal shook his head. “That was a terrible discovery. Things got messy. At least no one died.” His eyes darted to the lower right corner. “Crap. Running out of time,” he sighed.
“That’s okay, love. This is enough for me,” Nila said.
“So, um, I’m sorry, but this is going to be my last message for a while. It’s very expensive and I’m going to have to start using my points on prepping my guys for this quest we’re going to start in about a month. Going to reclaim a lost city. The auto translation system says it’s called Orchestral Meridian, not sure how accurate that is. The Threnosh aren’t the most poetic people, as in they literally don’t have any sort of arts in their modern era, which apparently goes back like fifteen thousand years,” Cal shrugged.
“Academics around the world would give everything to be in your shoes and you’re making deercow steaks and ice cream, while creating your own superhero team.” Nila shook her head and laughed.
“Oh and I’ve been transferring the Universal Points I don’t need to you guys. I’m not sure if you’re getting them. I hope you are, but if not then I can only think that maybe the ten-year tutorial period thing is holding them up. They’re definitely being taken out of my account.”
“You don’t need to do that,” Nila said. The points hadn’t showed up yet.
“I know what you’re thinking. I should use the points for myself. Don’t really need them. I spend most of them boosting my T-Men or purchasing equipment and supplies for our base. Even then, I’ve still got so much left over from all the bosses and secret bosses we’ve been killing. Plus all of the Quests clearing spawn points.” Cal took a deep breath. “Goodbye for now. I love you, Nila. Give everyone my love and I’ll send another message the first chance that I get. And… I’m sorry for all of this, please stay safe.”
Cal smiled at Nila for a few seconds before the message ended and he vanished.
“Oh, Cal. Stay safe. Please. We just have to make it a few more years then we can be together again.”
----------------------------------------
Then, Threnosh World
Standing on top of the gray ones’ wall was a precarious thing to do for the massive cragants. The walkway was barely three times as wide as their feet were long. One false step meant a drop nearly twice their height. Not dangerous, merely shameful. One had already fallen flat onto their back to the deep, booming guffaws of the others.
“Silence!” Adjutant Trusk bellowed.
The cragants snapped to attention.
General Zanya didn’t notice the entire interaction. She had more pressing concerns. The hierophant had fallen and was being carried back by the reinforcements that she had sent out. She could see that he was still alive through her spyglass. “More’s the pity.”
“General?”
She turned the spyglass on the four gray ones that had defeated the hierophant and her legionnaires. “Trusk. I want you to mark those four,” she pointed at them as they fled through her legionnaires to the north.
“They will not get through our soldiers.”
“They are already halfway there. Mark them. Start building dossiers. Speak to the legionnaires that fought them as soon as you have the opportunity, while the memories are fresh.”
“As you will, general.” Trusk scribbled down the orders into a sheaf of parchment before passing it to the cragant next to him.
General Zanya had underestimated these unique gray ones. The armor they wore were much more powerful and versatile than the other soldiers she had faced. It was hard to accept that such small and delicate looking things could pose a threat to her kind. “The smallest pebble may send forth an avalanche to bury the hardest warrior,” she muttered. She turned her spyglass back to the gray ones’ fortified camp across the distant plains. As expected, without the hierophant to maintain the working, the curtains of fire that had engulfed the enemy walls were gone.
“Adjutant, the bulk of the 1st have reached the enemy walls. Give the order to the other legions. All out attack. I want the gray ones smeared into the grass. Without the hierophant to maintain the aegis over our heads we will be vulnerable to their flying machines. We must destroy them all quickly.”
“Yes, general.”
Trusk barked the commands to the flag bearers arrayed on the wall.
The signals went up and several seconds later the other four legions on the field went from an orderly march to an all out sprint toward the enemy base.
General Zanya scanned the field. There were many bodies in the grass. 1st Legion men and women. The toll taken by the gray ones’ flying machines and destructive weaponry. Despite their thick armor and thick skin even the cragants eventually fell. Still she expected victory shortly. They outnumbered the gray ones. They would overwhelm them in close quarters, just like during the battle for the city.
“Adjutant. Signal the medics to prioritize the 1st’s wounded. Their valor will be honored.”
General Zanya turned her spyglass back to the fortified camp. Her legionnaires had already breached the fire weakened wall. She saw their spearheads flash in the sun, while the gray ones’ minuscule missiles sparked off their thick shields and armor. She knew that enough concentrated fire would eventually pierce through the steel and into the legionnaire beneath. From what she saw the enemy wasn’t going to be able to rely on that tactic in this battle.