Now, Earth
Megan watched Remy until he was a small dot in the distance.
“Do you want to pack up your house first or mine?” Nila grimaced from the pain in her broken arm.
Megan’s eyes widened. “Oh my god! I’m so sorry. With all the— I didn’t notice. Here let me heal you.”
“Wait.” Nila clenched her teeth and held her arm tight against her body as she pushed and pulled to make sure that the bones were aligned properly. “Okay,” she hissed.
Megan held her hand over Nila’s arm as a soft glow enveloped both.
The pain was excruciating, but Nila managed to stand still and hold her arm in place.
Seconds, minutes.
Nila had no idea how much time had passed when Megan stopped. The glow had vanished and Megan swayed in place. Nila reached out with both hands to steady her.
“Ouch,” Nila said. She looked down at her arm. “I’m never going to get over how amazing that is.”
“Does it hurt?”
“Tender and sore, but not nearly as bad as it was,” Nila flexed her arm. “Thanks.”
“The drive back was barely enough time to recharge my mana, but it should be good enough to move around. Don’t do any fighting or heavy lifting with it though,” Megan said.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I just used up all my mana again.”
“Can you walk? We should probably go before Demi thinks to put us to work. I’ve only got a few things I’d want to bring with me, some of Cal’s stuff too.”
“Let’s go to your place first. I don’t know what I’ll find at our home,” Megan said softly.
“Princess, fireman or piggyback?”
“Definitely piggy back,” Megan smiled sadly.
“Hop on then and hold on tight.”
Nila, with Megan on her back, took off running faster than an Olympic sprinter. She was tired, but the long car ride had been enough to bring some semblance of life back into her bones.
It wasn’t over, but she could see a small light at the end of a dark tunnel. For the first time she realized that the darkness in her thoughts were gone.
The Deep Azure had hounded her, all of them, with its presence for close to two years.
What did the absence signify?
Had Remy managed to kill it beneath tons of rock and earth?
No.
Nila decided that wasn’t likely.
The cult had ultimately won by taking their homes from them.
The thought didn’t bother Nila as much as she knew it would the others.
Her home had been with Cal and he was gone, she didn’t know if he was still alive. If he would or even could return.
Now, her only real home was south with her family.
Perhaps it was time to move.
If, when Cal returned he’d know where to find her.
She wouldn’t be too hard to find. After all the rest of his family was in the same area.
“What the fuck? Where are they going? Hey! Wait!” Demi called after Nila and Megan in vain. “I could use your help,” she deflated.
“Boss?” Max said as he walked up to the watch commander with Alexa by his side.
“Damn, am I glad to see you. We’re short-handed. The fish fucks hit us hard the last couple of nights. We lost a lot of our vets. Mostly down to the trainees. I’ve got Ron, Rebekah and Trevor handling the move over the bridge into Sac. They could use some help.” Demi’s eyes narrowed as she noticed the look on Max’s face. “What is it?” She noticed that there were only two of them. “Where are the kids?”
Max shrugged. “Remy said he last saw them escaping down in the tunnels. Seemed to think that they would alright. But what do I know. Might just be a father’s hope.”
“Del’s alive, but…” Alexa trailed off.
“The cultists killed Rory, made Del listen. He made it through the fight out, but… now… I don’t know. Hasn’t said a word or moved since. Just staring out at nothing,” Max said.
Demi nodded. They had lost so much in such a short amount of time. Everything they had struggled to build in ten years was gone.
“Keisha—” Alexa began.
“You can see for yourself.” Max led Demi to the back of the school bus and opened the emergency door to reveal a cloth covered body. “Should have seen her, boss. Took on a legit dark abomination god to buy us all time. We would’ve been smashed flat, literally, if it wasn’t for her.”
Demi hardened her heart.
“We’ll bury her later.”
The dead could wait.
The living needed her guidance.
“We don’t have much in the way of mana and we’re beat, but just tell us where you need us,” Max said.
“Keisha wouldn’t rest. We owe it to her,” Alexa said.
Demi clenched her jaw and swallowed her tears.
That too would wait.
The watch commander dispensed her orders.
----------------------------------------
Remy eyed the cultists down on Alcatraz warily as he descended with Detective Ordonez.
Weapons weren’t pointed in his direction so it seemed that the cult was sticking to the truce.
He flew around to the access point down into the undersea tunnels.
“What are we doing here?” Detective Ordonez hobbled off the upside down truck hood.
The tunnel entrance was covered by a small concrete enclosure, like a large phone booth. Remy ripped the metal door open with a gesture.
“This leads to where we fought the Deep Azure… down in the deep… a temple to evil.” Remy’s voice was haunted.
“I got that information from your wife. It was a long drive,” Detective Ordonez shrugged. “Your kids are missing. They didn’t come out with the rest of you, so you think they went this way.”
“Cal said your Detective class gave you abilities that let you see and experience past events. Like some kind of super evidence gathering sense. Can you see if they came out this way? Or… if they were captured then this is where the cult and fishmen would’ve brought them through.”
Detective Ordonez looked like she was chewing on some glass. “I don’t recall telling your brother details about what I can do. And it’s not just the class. It’s years of experience. The Skills just help.”
“Can you do it?”
Detective Ordonez grunted then focused her gaze on the open door into the dark space and the spiral stairs made out of crafted stone. If the disturbing images bothered her, she didn’t show it. She stood immobile as her head and eyes moved as if tracking scenes playing out in front of her.
Remy felt a sensation in the magnetic field he had ready around him. Like a tingle, static. He moved away from the detective lest he interfere with whatever it was she was doing.
Seconds became minutes.
The cult had gathered to within a hundred feet, but continued to remain peaceful.
A part of Remy wanted them to give him an excuse.
“I’ve got nothing,” Detective Ordonez said.
Remy felt dread’s sharp talons grip his heart. He took several steadying breaths. He reminded himself that Detective Ordonez’s words didn’t mean his daughters were dead. He couldn’t kill the cultists even if he so badly wanted to. He didn’t know if he wanted to cry or rage. His head throbbed.
“If you kill them then the truce is off. They might have your kids or might capture them later. I normally wouldn’t trust someone’s word, but I sense something different with this situation. Magic bullshit,” Detective Ordonez spat, “in this case it could be good thing for your kids. They promised to release them if they had them, right?”
“Is that what you got from your Skills or your experience,” Remy said harshly.
“Both and you better check that attitude. We’ve got a lot women and girls we’re here to take home. Don’t forget that,” Detective Ordonez stared Remy down until he looked away.
The cultists watched Remy with a mixture of loathing and fear in their faces.
Remy fixed the cultists with a hate-filled glare. “I’m here for our people,” he growled.
“Follow me, no tricks or you’ll pay,” one the cultist’s said.
Remy and Detective Ordonez followed the cultist’s into the prison.
Alcatraz had undergone renovations.
It wasn’t an old museum any longer.
The decor mimicked the same style that Remy had seen in the tunnels and the temple. His anger burned and helped him fight the unpleasantness that welled up within him.
“You’d need to be really fucked up to work in a place like this,” Detective Ordonez said flatly.
The cultists bristled with thin, needle-sharp spines and writhing tentacles beneath their robes, but made no move to break the truce.
They led Remy and the detective past empty cell blocks into one of the open air exercise yards surrounded by buildings on all sides.
It was empty.
“If this is a trick then you are already dead,” Remy said flatly.
More cultists emerged from a different building and approached.
Remy readied himself.
A cultist in a familiar deep blue robe with an impossibly moving, swirling surface stepped out of the group and stopped a safe distance away from Remy.
The man looked to be in his fifties with perfect hair and the demeanor of a slick politician, car salesman and cable news talking head.
“Has there ever been a more merciful god on this world than the Deep Azure?” the man smiled.
“Yes,” Detective Ordonez said.
The cultist’s eyes darted to the small silver cross hanging from the detective’s neck. “I meant a real god. Not make believe.”
“Do you intend to betray your god’s truce?” Remy said flatly.
The cultist saw something in Remy’s eyes. He flinched back, but recovered quickly. “The Deep Azure’s mercy is boundless. Our guests are being brought out as we speak.”
Remy extended his magnetic field over the entire island. The strain sent pain stabbing into him, but he bulled through it.
A human cultist gave off a slightly different electromagnetic signature than a regular, non-cultist human. He found many cultists scattered throughout the island, but the normal people were all gathered in one area and were indeed moving in his direction.
“We aren’t even going to charge you for two years of room, board, meals and entertainment,” the cultist said.
“What’s your name?” Detective Ordonez said.
“You may call me Grand Priest.”
“Tch… suit yourself. I never forget a face and I have access to the seat of government. All those records, pictures, names. I’ll find out who you are. Anonymity won’t protect you,” Detective Ordonez said.
The cultist smiled smugly. “It hasn’t been even a day and you’ve already forgotten the truce. That’s the problem with you people. Never grateful for the opportunities we give you. Always yapping like dogs. Deluded in thinking that we are the same,” the man sneered. “Well… the proper order has been restored. As your betters, we will rise above your scrabbling claws always trying to drag as down to your level.” The man held his head high. “Even if you’ve managed to get your computers up and running, I doubt you’ll find my accurate likeness in your files. Do you honestly think you can rely on a thirty year old DMV picture? And here I thought you were supposed to be sharp. I suppose you’re not bad… when compared to the rest of your kind.”
“I’m sorry… were you saying something?” Remy said.
“You don’t deserve your good fortune,” the cultist said. “You’d be begging for scraps from my table if you hadn’t lucked into your abilities!”
Further ranting was interrupted by the captives’ arrival.
Women and girls, a few as young as four, filed into the yard.
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
“As promised. Our guests are now yours,” the cultist sneered.
Remy saw it right away. He almost struck out and killed all of the cultists with their own metal weapons.
Some of the women were dead-eyed. They stared ahead or at the ground without truly seeing anything, without awareness of their surroundings. Other women’s eyes darted around them. They were hunched inwardly, afraid of the cultists, of Remy and Detective Ordonez. The women were all hollowed out in some way. They looked dead inside to Remy.
The girls were in better shape. The fear was there, but not the emptiness.
All of them looked thin, but not malnourished.
Remy could only imagine what they had endured in their long captivity.
“Is that all of them?” Remy said.
“As promised,” the cultist said. “The Deep Azure is honorable. His word is beyond question.”
“He believes what he’s saying is true,” Detective Ordonez said. “Except, I count forty-six people. More than the number taken from Old Sac.”
“Doesn’t matter. We’re taking them all.” Remy regarded the women and girls. “Um… we’re taking you out of this place. They can’t hurt you anymore.” The cultists grumbled, but fuck them. They were lucky that Remy wasn’t ripping them to shreds.
Some of the women looked up at that. Hope bloomed hesitantly.
“Let me just make a… uh… vehicle to carry you guys.” Remy created multiple magnetic fields. The pain was excruciating, but worth it.
The prison buildings rumbled, then shook violently as metal tore free and crashed together above the cultist with a frightening din.
The cultists scattered as Remy let the twisted metal mass crash to the ground.
He had pulled indiscriminately. Cell bars, pipes, lights, even tables and benches were crushed together.
The prison buildings had been ruined. The walls facing the inner yard were simply gone. It was as if giant hands had torn them open.
Remy took the metal mass and melded it all together. He shaped it into a large rectangular box, almost like a bus. He waved his hand and the metal flowed like liquid to reveal an opening.
“Please, climb aboard,” Remy said.
The women hesitated.
“Could use some windows,” Detective Ordonez said.
The metal flowed at Remy’s will and small openings appeared in regular intervals on the two long sides.
“How about some seats?”
Remy frowned, but complied. He added handles for good measure. “Sorry, I can’t make them comfortable.”
“Alright, ladies, let’s get out of this shit hole!” Detective Ordonez said.
That got the women moving.
Remy choked up when he saw the women with children as they filed past him into the giant metal box.
A four year old girl hugged his leg tight as she and her mother walked past him.
He tried to smile and laid a gentle hand on the girl’s head.
Sorrow and fury warred within him.
The girl had been two when she was unjustly imprisoned, kidnapped by any proper standard. She had known nothing beyond this evil prison among the horrid cult.
“Thank you,” the girl’s mother said before pulling her daughter away.
Remy nodded. His thought on his own daughters.
“Can you fly us all the way back?” Detective Ordonez said. She hadn’t missed the flashes of pain that Remy’s face had revealed whenever he had used his power.
“Might have to take some breaks, but I’ll get everyone back.”
Detective Ordonez boarded last. Remy sealed up the opening and levitated up to the roof.
A glint a few miles distant caught his eye.
It was a spire rising up out of the ocean. Higher than the tallest sky scrapers, it seemed to rise forever, swallowed by the clouds.
Remy frowned.
The spire seemed to be located over where the Deep Azure’s temple had lain, buried deep beneath the ocean floor.
Where he had last seen his daughters.
“If you have withheld any other unjustly imprisoned people,” Remy addressed the gather cultists, “then I will come back to finish what I started here. I will destroy this place. I will destroy everything you care about like I did your evil temple. Then I will destroy you. All of you.” The threat of violence came easy. He had change over the last few years, the last few days. He didn’t like it, but it was necessary to face the darkness all around him.
The wind whipped in Remy’s ears, drowning out the cultist’s curses hurled at his back, as he pushed and pulled the large metal box under his feet up into the sky.
Bright yellow sun and clear blue all around him.
He should have felt free, happy, refreshed.
He couldn’t, not while he didn’t know his daughters’ fates.
----------------------------------------
Now, Threnosh World
Veronica couldn’t scream with the thick coils, bigger than she was wide, constricting tightly around her.
Mads was right. She had seen a snake.
Except for the furry part.
Well, partially right.
Veronica felt the fur scratching against her exposed skin.
Except it wasn’t the soft and fluffy kind.
It was harsh and hard, like steel wool.
She had acted with superhuman quickness to thrust her left hand up over her head, out of the tight coils, to protect Twinkle Star, who was squeaking in terror. Unfortunately, her right hand was crushed tight against her body along with her staff.
The giant snake pulled her for what felt like dozens of feet into the dark jungle.
Nope, Veronica thought, not happening.
Moon and starlight was enough to give her a good look at her surroundings.
More snakes thrashed around her. It looked and sounded like there were dozens.
A huge head, bigger than her torso opened up and hissed in her face.
Nope.
It was hard to make out details in the darkness despite her superior night vision, but the head looked like a mix between a snake and a lizard, the big, scary kinds. Except with wiry fur framing its face.
Definitely nope.
Fortunately, Veronica didn’t need to point to use her power.
She nailed the giant furry snake with the strongest electromagnetic pulse she could manage under the circumstances.
The snake recoiled and in its uncontrolled spasms, loosened its coils around Veronica just enough so that she could burst loose with a surge of superhuman strength.
She hit the ground running, tucking Twinkle Star into his bag, as she headed straight for their camp.
Another snake darted in from the side.
She jumped up and banged her head on a tree branch over fifteen feet off the jungle ground. She reacted quickly and grabbed the branch with her free hand and swung herself under and up just before another snake speared through the space beneath her.
The racket the snakes were making was thunderous.
It sounded like they were knocking trees over in their hunger.
Veronica climbed higher. She glanced back. Frowned. Something big was charging through the jungle. She had the impression of a thick, powerful body and thudding steps trampling the undergrowth like a supercharged elephant.
What the hell?
Snakes didn’t have legs.
The creature, animal or monster, she had no way of knowing which, barged through a thick, gnarled tree, probably decades old, and exploded it sending splinters as tall as Veronica shooting out in all directions.
“Oh crap balls!”
They weren’t a bunch of giant furry snakes after all.
Well… they were, but not exactly.
All of the snakes were connected to one body. It wasn’t quite as tall as an elephant, but was a lot wider, thicker and more muscular. Thick, coarse fur covered most of it. The tree-trunk thick snakes were connected to the front of the body, where a normal animal’s head would be.
Veronica recalled its like from her dad’s Magic cards.
It was a weird alien version of a hydra.
“Help!” Veronica screamed out as she jumped to another tree like a monkey to avoid a couple of striking snake heads.
Where the hell was everyone?
They definitely should’ve heard the racket.
The others did, in fact, hear.
Johnny sprang awake screaming about his danger sense a split-second after Veronica had been snatched.
Tessa woke next, kanabo already in hand and was just about to dash of into the jungle. She had noted that Veronica had been missing in the instant she opened her eyes and was already tracking the violent sounds in the jungle.
Unfortunately, they had their own problems.
The marsh water a few hundred yards away exploded as other creatures attacked.
“Go get Vee!” Johnny drew his sword.
Tessa was dubious about leaving her friends. Veronica could handle herself for at least a little bit. Right?
“We can hold these things off,” Gene said, “just… try to hurry back with your sister,” he gulped.
Tessa took a small bit of metal out of her pouch and magnetically accelerated it to supersonic speed. The projectile tore the upper jaw off a creature’s fang-filled head.
It was too bad that her dad hadn’t been able to fill her pouch with more metal bits back in the temple of disgusting evil. She had to be judicious with her limited ammunition supply.
The instant kill momentarily slowed the creatures’ charge, which allowed the rest of her friends to get up and get their weapons ready.
Tessa turned and dashed into the dark jungle. She followed the sounds of branches and trees being splintered.
Gene hoped he hadn’t made a mistake.
The creatures, he didn’t know if they were regular animals, mutant versions, or monsters, were a mix of fish, amphibian and reptile. Their armored heads resembled a snapping turtle’s mixed with a crocodile. A wicked looking beak was joined by dagger teeth. They had two, clawed front legs, armor-plated like the rest of its upper body. Their back end was slick and scaly tapering into a muscular looking tail, like an eel’s.
They moved in erratic lunges that covered a frightening amount of space.
“Fuck, so fast,” Olo said breathlessly.
“And huge,” Johnny said. “I just want you guys to know that… I love you all, even you, Mads.”
For once Mads didn’t have a sharp retort.
Gene couldn’t believe how big the creatures were. He was reminded of those crocodiles killing poor zebras and wildebeests that had just wanted to get back to the pride lands in those YouTube clips he had watched a long time ago.
The thought that he was about to experience what that was like firsthand, might have led to a bit of pee squeezing loose.
“What do we do, Gene?” Bastien said. “I can’t use any of my anti-evil magic. These things aren’t evil. They just want dinner.”
“Olo, taunt and tank. Johnny look for backstabbing opportunities. Bastien and Mads stay back, try to help anyway you can if you have a safe opening,” Gene spoke in one breath. His heart raced as the creatures closed. A few more jumps and they would have contact. “Magic Missile!” he screamed. Small, glowing orbs of purple streaked across the darkness, out beyond where the campfire’s faded. He had spread out his targets. One orb for each creature.
They hissed as the magic missiles burned into their exposed flesh. Steam rose from each impact.
The four creatures slowed, but didn’t stop.
Gene stepped forward next to Olo and thrust his free hand out again. “Fire Spray!” Bright orange flames shot out of his hand as he waved it in an arc and set the grass twenty feet out on fire.
The creatures stopped for a moment, but the grass was damp and short. The flames didn’t rise too high for them to leap over.
“On me!” Olo stepped forward and banged his shield.
The creatures went for him. Two a dozen feet ahead of the other two.
“Fireball!” Gene blew one out of the air and sent it rolling into the burning grass. It shrieked as it flopped wildly.
Olo thrust his spear into the second creature’s open mouth. The big young man held on thanks to his Enhanced Strength skill, but his spear shaft didn’t. It snapped with a loud crack and Olo had to shuffle back, using his shield to redirect the dying creature’s leaping charge to the side.
The spear blade must’ve hit its brain, as its thrashing slowed, then stopped.
Olo fumbled at his belt for his custom axe-mace, one side resembled a flanged mace, while the other an axe blade. Remy had made it out of one piece of metal. It weighed close to fifteen pounds and required all of Olo’s enhanced strength to wield.
The creatures moved too quickly. One was on him.
“Shield Bash!” Olo battered the lead one and stunned it for a precious second.
The second creature charged in.
“Quick Cut!” Gene stepped in and carved a deep gash along the creature’s unarmored tail. “Mage Shield!” He conjured the ghostly buckler just in time to block the creature’s lashing tail. Gene’s pained shout drowned out the sound of the bones in his hand and arm shattering. His spell wasn’t strong enough to mitigate the force of the creature’s muscular tail. He lashed out wildly with his longsword as he desperately stumbled back, all thoughts of proper footwork forgotten.
The creature lunged after Gene.
A burning brand spun over Gene’s shoulder and struck the creature in its eye. Its cry split the night. It shook its head madly, the ruined eye splattered fluids.
Mads thrust another length of wood into the campfire. She was out of ammunition, but it seemed that her enhanced vision and aiming skills didn’t strictly require her guns.
The creature recovered and eyed Mads.
Gene stepped in front of her. Shattered arm cradled, blade pointed forward.
The creature’s muscular body tensed.
“On Me!”
The creature lunged at Olo. As did the previously stunned one near him.
“Cleave!” Olo swung the flanged side of his axe-mace in a flat arc across his body, left to right. He caught both creatures, breaking teeth even as their weight carried into him and knocked him to the ground.
The creatures bore down on Olo and he desperately tried to keep the snapping jaws from his face with his shield and weapon. Olo was half again as strong as he would’ve been without the passive strength skill, but it was like trying to bench press a ton when the bar had razor-sharp teeth and was trying to bite his head off. He didn’t have a chance.
“Quick Blades!” Johnny appeared on a creature’s back. Rather he had hopped on, it was just that no one, not even the creature had noticed. “Bleed, motherfucker!” His hands were a blur as he stabbed and sliced all over the creature’s head, striking at the narrow gaps in the armor-like plates.
The creature shrieked and slithered off Olo, looking for its hidden attacker.
Johnny was long gone.
Bastien stepped up to the second creature and slammed his halberd down at the thinnest part near the end of its tail. He cut deep, almost to the bone.
The creature spun and snapped at Bastien, who had already retreated.
While Olo clambered to his feet another burning brand flew and struck the creature in it’s remaining eye.
“Fire Spray!”
The blinded creature lunged at the sound of Gene’s voice, but it was too late. The young man bathed the creature’s head in flames.
Gene couldn’t believe how well things were going.
“We’re doing this, guys! Keep it up!”
As it turned out, he had jinxed them.
There was a loud smack as the creature he had set on fire thrashed around wildly.
Someone cried out.
A body went flying back past the campfire and hit a thick tree with a dull crack.
“Johnny!” Bastien rushed over.
Gene’s eyes widened. He rushed the burning creature. Fortune turned. His furious thrust slipped into the creature’s ruined eye. The creature ripped the sword from Gene’s hands in its death throes.
“Power Strike!” Olo broke the armor-like plate on the creature Johnny had bled. He flipped his axe-mace. “Power Strike!” The axe blade sunk deep into the creature’s head with a dull thunk.
It dropped to the ground and stayed still.
Gene turned to go to Johnny’s side. As did Olo.
They had forgotten about the fourth creature.
Mads didn’t miss it, but she was too far away and she didn’t have a burning brand to throw.
The creature opened its gaping mouth.
Mads saw something that didn’t make sense.
A small spark.
Then a spat glob of fire flew in an arc toward Gene’s unsuspecting back.
“Look out!” Olo was at Gene’s side in what seemed like an instant. He pushed his friend to the side.
The glob of fire engulfed him.
Gene’s shattered arm sent waves of pain through him, enough for his vision to briefly dim, but he fought it off. He saw the creature open its mouth wide.
“Fireball!”
The flaming projectile met the same spark and blew the creature’s head up into burning chunks.
Mads had rushed to Olo’s side and was desperately trying to smother the flames as Olo rolled.
His friend was completely silent.
Gene found that even worse than if Olo had been screaming. He hurried to help Mads.
Olo’s chest plate and helmet were blackened. His skin was blistered and oozing red. His eyes were shut tight, but Gene could see liquid leaking out the sides.
Olo moved weakly, his mouth was clenched tight.
“It’s okay, Olo. Bastien has a healing aura.” Gene knew that Bastien’s healing abilities were nowhere near Mrs. Cruces’ level. He couldn’t do anything for Olo and probably Johnny.
It wasn’t fair. They were winning. Fighting and killing dangerous and powerful creatures all by themselves. These things weren’t just small gremlins and mutant squirrels and birds.
“Gene,” Mads whispered in a shaky voice, “the water.”
“I can’t see that far into the dark.”
“I-I-I think more are coming.”