Now, Earth
The time had finally arrived.
The cost had been great, but it was worth it to obtain access, limited though it may be.
Spreading one’s presence across the multitudes was not easy for one of the older powers.
Their passage wouldn’t go unmarked by the others, always eager to seize on the slightest opportunity for control.
The more one held, the more one gained.
Strength rose, as it ever must if one did not wish to be consumed by their peers.
Their touch upon the new world was like a finger tip dipped into a placid pool of water.
Ripples radiated out increasing in size with distance and time.
Others had already staked their claims on this new world.
Its original inhabitants would rise as well.
The challenge was great, as it always was.
As the spires desired.
Power through conflict never-ending.
They sought a herald. One to prepare the way.
A gambit.
A trick.
A trap.
One that had served them well on countless other worlds.
The spires created a world desperate for power to survive its challenges.
They would provide that power for a reasonable cost.
“Have you sent the item?”
A language not of words. Audible, but not spoken.
“Don’t rush me. I’m trying to find a good candidate.”
“Well, hurry it up. You’re burning through a lot of Universal Points and I need to use the multi-dimensional viewer too.”
“What? I thought I was the only that needed it.”
“We splurged. Got access to a second new world. I thought it was a bad idea to target two in quick succession, but no one listens to me, so…”
“Fine, fine, just let me work in silence… it’s annoying with you sloshing around behind me.”
“What kind of world are you working on? Ah… a bipedal species, I see.”
“Yes… I’m going with standard procedure for these primitive sorts.”
“An item of great power that binds them to our will. Rarely fails… however, I see a problem.”
“What?”
“Your location already has a being with immense power and potential and it looks like another one is approaching… hmm… this might be a good opportunity to record what the inhabitants of this world are capable of.”
“Quiet… I’m trying to concentrate. The portal won’t be open for much longer and if I screw this up… besides, as you stated, using the viewer from such a great distance is an immense drain on our points. I’ve already been censured once this cycle for ‘needless waste’.”
“Sorry. My mouths are sealed.”
Silence reigned for an indeterminable amount of time.
“There, magic item is away through the portal.”
“Just in time too. Now, get out of the harness. I need to get started on my world.”
“Want to make a bet?”
“Again? You always lose, but sure, I don’t mind you covering my shifts.”
“First world to fall is the winner.”
“As always.”
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Rayna had been enjoying the sunny day as she laid out on the beach during her exceedingly rare time off.
Had been, that is, until the landsharks came out of the water.
The mutated animals or monsters, she wasn’t clear on that, were eerily silent aside from their gnashing teeth and muscular tails whipping across the sand.
The name was descriptive.
They were sharks, but with legs in addition to their fins.
They moved with surprising quickness given their bulk, spraying huge clouds of sand in the wake of their passing.
Rayna raised a hand.
The school of landsharks suddenly found themselves floating ten feet off the sand. Their legs kicked and their tails thrashed, but they stayed firmly in place.
“It’s your fault people can’t enjoy the beach anymore,” Rayna muttered.
Rayna willed more gravity fields within the one she had already encased around the creatures to lift them up and hold them in place.
She could’ve sent them higher and free from Earth’s hold. They would’ve simply shot off into space, but that was a waste.
Instead, she placed gravity fields inside each creature’s head to crush their brains.
The landsharks spasmed violently before falling still aside from the odd twitch.
Rayna sighed and got up off her towel. She donned clothes over her bikini and walked back into the city with the landsharks floating behind her. Blood leaked from their heads, but floated freely as droplets within Rayna’s invisible gravity field.
Rayna felt like a kid walking down the empty streets with the world’s most disgusting balloon on an invisible tether.
The landsharks were too valuable to waste. Skin could be turned into armor, teeth and claws into weapons and meat was meat. That crazy chef, Aaron, claimed that he was close to making magical dishes supposedly able to grant buffs. He wanted as many strange ingredients as he could get.
“This was supposed to be my one hour off this month,” Rayna sighed.
Oh well.
At least Cal was coming down today. Maybe her oldest brother could help take up some of the burden of protecting the people.
She broke into a jog until she hit Beach Boulevard. The wide street meant that she could run faster without worrying about her floating ball of dead landsharks colliding with anything.
At fifty miles an hour it didn’t take long to reach the industrial block were she had people doing all their potentially dangerous experiments with magic and Skills.
She dropped the creatures off without a word and took flight in a bubble of anti-gravity.
Time to head home and get ready to see her brother in the flesh for the first time in over ten years.
----------------------------------------
Cal and Nila flew inside the former’s telekinetic bubble a few hundred feet above the freeway. They were headed south with one of the Threnosh containers filled with the things they wanted to take with them. The rest of their belongings didn’t matter much and they were content to leave them in their home in Davis. It’d take a truly powerful being to override Cal’s and Nila’s ownership.
“Are you sure I don’t need a parachute?” Nila resolutely kept her eyes straight ahead. It took a superhuman effort to avoid looking down. Flying without anything underneath wasn’t something she had been able to do often. In fact, she could count the number of times Cal had taken her up on one hand and those had been years ago.
“You don’t need a parachute. You’re basically Captain America and he doesn’t need them to jump out of planes.”
“That was into water,” Nila frowned.
“So? After you reach a certain height, landing in water is basically the same as landing on the ground. Besides, he also jumped out of a building and walked away, easy.”
“Well… he had his physics-defying shield. Oh… and it was a movie, fiction, make believe,” Nila said flatly.
“Your superhuman physical attributes suggest you’ll be fine.” Cal looked down. “We’re flying over dirt and grass. Lots of slope-y hills and such. In the unlikely event that I let go of you, just try to roll when you hit the ground,” he shrugged. “Don’t worry, I’ve carried plenty more weight over longer distances and at faster speeds before. This is like an easy Sunday drive.”
“I’m concerned about those drakes that Eron said hunt all along the five,” Nila said. “Maybe we should’ve worn that fancy Threnosh armor instead of regular clothes. Probably help me survive the fall too.”
“It should be fine. I can protect us long enough for you to put it on in the unlikely event that we run into trouble. I just wanted to wear normal human clothes. It’s been years and I need to at least try to fit in with the rest of your kind. You know, be human, do human things,” Cal grinned. “As for the drakes, yeah, I remember. He told me about them too.” Cal looked up and around. The sky was clear. “I’ll detect them with my mental powers before they can get close.”
“Would’ve been nice to have one of those fancy recoilless rifles to defend myself with,” Nila said.
“I figured they needed them more,” Cal said. “You don’t fight with guns or ranged weapons anyways.”
“Not entirely by choice. My abilities forced me into the tank role. Kind of hard to do otherwise when the others can’t survive the same things I can.”
“Hmm, well, that can change. I can tank for you. How’s your shooting?”
“Not great. Not enough ammo for me to practice much.”
“What about bows or crossbows?”
“I’m a little bit better with those thanks to the local Big 5, but we found that those didn’t do so well against stronger monsters. Practically useless against the fishmen at anything more than close range.”
“We need to find a Bowyer. Someone that can make legit bows, like longbows or something,” Cal said.
“Yeah, I agree, someone that knows what they’re talking about,” Nila grinned.
“Yup… makes sense,” Cal laughed.
They continued to talk idly as they flew over the landscape at speeds faster than a commercial jet.
The flat landscape of California’s Central Valley gave way to the mountains.
“I’m going to take us higher. I don’t want to deal with anything or anyone shooting at us.”
“Who’s going to shoot at us?”
“I don’t know,” Cal shrugged, “mountain men?”
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“Is that even a thing anymore? People on their own in the wilderness are basically food.”
“Don’t worry. It’ll be fine.”
“I remember you being scared of heights.”
“Got used to it,” Cal grinned. “I’d say hold on, but you can’t.”
“Wait, not to fast!” Nila’s eyes widened in alarm.
Cal took them up over the mountains like a rocket.
Even if any drakes were inclined to attack them, they had no chance at keeping up now.
Nila clenched her fists hard enough to shatter wood as her stomach dropped to her feet during the rapid ascent.
She resolutely refused to close her eyes, instead fixing a glare at Cal’s armored back.
They reached Cal’s parents’ home in record time. It would’ve taken an hour and half plane ride, plus travel time to and from the airports. This trip took a little over an hour.
A woman flew up to meet them.
Cal felt something pushing up against his telekinetic bubble as she drew closer.
“Hold on Rayna,” Cal smiled. “Our bubbles don’t seem to like each other. I don’t really want to find out which one will pop first. Not to mention the feedback to my brain would suck if mine went first.”
Cal’s little sister, who wasn’t so little anymore, pouted. The image was nostalgic.
Rayna was around twenty the last time he had seen her in person. She was thirty now and she looked almost exactly the same.
“I was gonna give you one of my ribcrusher hugs,” Rayna said.
“That was cute when you were little. Now that you have superstrength… I don’t know,” Cal said.
“Meh, I wanted to compare anyways,” Rayna turned to Nila, “Hey! Don’t worry, no rib-crushing for you… although, you also have superstrength…” she mused.
“A little bit. Not nearly as much as your brother and you, so I’ll take a normal hug,” Nila smiled.
“Sure thing! Let’s go down into the backyard. Mom and Dad planned a Filipino food feast in honor of your return. All your favorite grilled meats.”
Cal and Nila descended after Rayna.
The grill was heating up, but Cal’s dad was nowhere in sight. He resisted the impulse to use his telepathy to scan for his dad’s presence inside the house.
He needed to keep his telepathic walls strong to block out the thoughts of all the people in the area. He could tell that there were significantly more people in the south than up north.
“Cal! Nila!”
Cal’s mom emerged through the open sliding glass door with a tray of raw meats in her hands. She placed the tray next to the grill before rounding on Cal and Nila, embracing them both.
“I’m so happy to see you!”
“Oh God, don’t cry,” Cal groaned.
The tears flowed in defiance of his wishes.
“Oh man, c’mon Mom… your embarrassing me in front of the cool kids.” Cal patted his sobbing mother on the back.
“Holy shit! Cal! Your hand? What the fuck!” Rayna’s eyes were wide as saucers.
“Rayna, language! Your cousins might hear,” their mom said reflexively. Her eyes snapped to Cal’s left hand with laser focus.
Cal gulped. Why did it feel like he was in trouble?
“Okay, first of all, you can’t get mad at me for this,” he waved his three-fingered hand in the air, “I’m the one down two fingers.”
“What happened?” his mom’s eyes narrowed. “You didn’t say anything in your messages.”
Rayna grabbed his hand and peered at it with curiosity.
“I told you so,” Nila said.
“It’s a long story and I’d rather not have to tell it twice.” Cal found a path to a momentary reprieve. “Where’s Dad?”
“He’s patrolling along the foothills to the east. Past Tustin, Irvine, those places. You know where there’d always be fires? I’m relieving him around 9 later tonight. One of us basically needs to be always close to the area thanks to the monsters and mutant animals that come out of the wilderness,” Rayna shook her head.
“Shi— I mean that sounds bad. I can help,” Cal winced internally. He came home to rest and recharge. Fighting and killing was the last thing he wanted to do. “I think I can handle monsters and mutant animals,” he tried to convince himself.
“That’d be a big help,” Rayna eyed their mom, “but since you’re on a break, there’s no pressure or rush. Just enjoy the family reunion for now. We can talk business tomorrow or something,” she shrugged.
“Yes,” Nila said quickly, “so, what can I help with? I don’t see any vegetables in that pile of meat.”
“In a minute,” Cal’s mom said. “Your hand?” she arched a brow.
Cal sighed. “An evil golden angel entity bit them off and ate them. I did make him, it, choke on my bones so, fair trade. Plus, I kept the best fingers and the thumb.”
“Ay nako,” Cal’s mom let out a long breath, “come on, Nila, lets get those vegetables prepared. Cal can get the grilling started since he still has both his thumbs.”
Cal’s mom took Nila into the kitchen.
“So, what’s in the futuristic box?” Rayna prodded it with her finger. “Presents?”
Cal smirked. “Guess?”
“Those onesies you wore in all those messages you sent us before you stopped two years ago and freaked out Mom and Dad?”
The smile fell from Cal’s face for a moment before he recovered and plastered it back on.
“You have the worst fake smile,” Rayna said flatly.
“In my defense it’s a long and traumatic story.”
Rayna nodded. “Lots of that to go around.”
“Did something happen?” Cal said in alarm.
“Not to us, I mean me, Mom and Dad. We’ve been super lucky.”
Cal remembered something his mom had just said. “Mom mentioned something about our cousins?”
“Some bad stuff happened since you left. Just, please try not to draw attention to it during dinner. Don’t ask about missing people. I’ll fill you in later when we’re not in earshot.”
“Okay, whatever you say,” Cal nodded hesitantly.
“So, these onesies? I remember you talking them up in your earlier messages. Are they that good?”
“They are the greatest articles of clothing to have ever graced our planet. Unfortunately, I only brought enough for you, Mom and Dad. I didn’t know anyone else was here and I couldn’t afford to bring more. I would’ve had to switch out an armor set or a recoilless rifle.”
“Alright, now I’m curious,” Rayna said.
Cal grimaced. “Sorry, I only brought you one set of armor and no rifles. I thought the people up north needed them more.”
“Ouch, you wound me, brother. You forsake your only sister, thusly.”
“Huh? Since when did you speak lame nerd?”
“Since I read through every novel and comic book you left behind in your old room,” Rayna smiled.
“That’ll do it,” Cal nodded sagely, stroking a nonexistent beard.
“I’ll get this inside,” Rayna levitated the Threnosh box with a gesture, “you best get to grillin’,” she drawled.
It was all there.
His favorites.
Slices of pork marinated in a special sauce, then threaded through a bamboo skewer. Thin cuts of pork belly, along with a small mound of thinly sliced beef.
“No vegetables, indeed,” Cal said with a slight smile on his lips.
Sometimes it was the smallest things that could lift him from his darker moods.
Although, there wasn’t anything small about the tray in front of him.
He couldn’t waste anymore time. The sooner he got them cooked, the sooner he could eat.
Time passed faster than Cal would’ve liked.
If it was up to him he would have stretched the day and night out. He didn’t think of threats, from mundane monsters to existential class ones like Mother Madrigal or the Deep Azure, he just enjoyed the company of his loved ones while eating good food and drinking good drinks.
Before he knew it Rayna had departed, like she said.
Their dad had arrived not long after landing heavily out in the street in front of their house.
Cal had jumped in alarm, thinking the loud thud had been an attack.
His mom had assured him that it was just how his dad got around. Leaping blocks at a time with his superstrong leg muscles.
While, Rayna’s rib-crushing hug had been underwhelming, his dad’s wasn’t.
The Cruces patriarch was definitely at the top of the hierarchy when it came to physical strength.
Cal’s gaze drifted over to his six year old nephew, Rynnen. The boy had his face buried in a tablet, playing a game. He seemed to be attached at the hip to Cal’s mom.
“Here,” Cal’s dad said as he handed him a wet plate.
Cal took it and set to dry it with a towel. “The dishwasher not working?”
“It wasn’t working before the spires. One of the repair techs can probably get it working, but there aren’t a lot and there are more important things than our dishwasher. Plus, certain individuals would love the excuse to accuse us of abusing our power,” Cal’s dad grimaced.
“What about the tablet? You got that working.”
“We got the electronics done in the early years. People were more focused on survival than posturing for positions of power than they are now.”
“That election Rayna mentioned?”
“Yeah, it’s a mess. I’d say about 30% of the population wants to return to the good old days. Taxes, make people earn the free food they get from the grocery stores, pay rent, that sort of thing.”
“Everything in the stores magically reappears in a day or two, a week at most,” Cal grew angry, “and who gets the rent.?I guess if the original owner is alive, sure, but then you could just move to a vacant house or apartment. It’s not like anyone is using them. And what are people supposed to pay with. Cash is worthless. Gold? Silver? Copper? Universal Points are the only worthwhile thing in terms in terms of spending.”
“You got it and the same people who are calling for rent are the same people positioning themselves to be landlords by gobbling up vacant properties. They actually tried to charge people to use the stores under their control. Fortunately, Rayna and I have a lot of stores all over the county in our names and we don’t charge anything.”
“Free food, shelter and medicine are like the only good things about the spires appearing. We’re sort of in a post scarcity society and people want to go back to the old ways,” Cal shook his head.
“It’s not too bad, if you don’t take the monsters into account.”
“Well, 30% isn’t bad,” Cal sighed.
“It’s closer than it seems. There are three main factions and the polling numbers are evenly split between them all. Rayna’s friend heads up one. The conservatives are the ones that long for a return to normalcy. Then, you’ve got another third that I guess you could call moderates, they’re more about mitigating the two extremes, as they see it. The last 10% are either undecided or don’t care.”
“Sounds wonderful.”
“Yeah, well, it’s not your problem, so don’t worry about it,” Cal’s dad smiled.
Earnest and open. Just like Cal remembered.
“So… about Rynnen?”
Cal was ashamed to admit that he hadn’t even known Rynnen existed until today.
“Rynnen is Vivien’s son.”
Cal remembered his cousin, Vivien, his dad’s younger sister’s daughter. He nodded. “I’m assuming she’s… no longer with us…”
“Vivien and her husband, Ryan had a small community under her protection down in San Diego. Vivien had powers, kinda like me, superstrong, tough, but a lot weaker.”
“Rynnen is what? Six? So, they had them after the spires appeared.”
Cal’s dad nodded.
“She had just given birth. Rynnen was barely a month old when a gremlin alpha attacked. Vivien gave it her all from what one of the survivors said, but it wasn’t enough. Ryan tried, but he only had a few Skills. A few people managed to make it up here close enough to catch Rayna’s attention. I went down and took care of the gremlins, but it was too little too late.”
Cal thought of Vivien’s mother. His aunt lived in the Philippines and last he knew there was no international contact, hell they couldn’t even reach the east coast.
“Our relatives in the Philippines?”
“Good news, bad news. What do you want first?”
“Good,” Cal said hesitantly.
“After you were gone, Eron was able to fly over and make contact. My side of the family and your mom’s side of the family had several people with similar powers. It seems to run along genetic lines, though that doesn’t explain why you and your siblings have different ones.”
“And the bad?”
His dad sighed. “Not everyone made it. I have a list if you’d like to look at it.”
Cal nodded numbly. He hadn’t thought much about his extended family the early years had been overwhelming then he went to another world.
“Your mom has some relatives with their own little community in the Malibu area. Her siblings in the Philippines were okay last time Eron checked, but the one in Virginia, the one in London, and the one in Dubai… nothing. Eron hasn’t found anything.”
Cal detected fear and uncertainty in his dad’s thoughts. “You said the last time Eron checked… when was that?”
Silence.
“About a year and a half ago. When Eron went that time, the entire Metro Manila area out a few miles into the rain forests and even over the ocean was covered in a thick, smoky fog. Eron said that whenever he tried to enter he kept finding himself going back out in the opposite direction.”
“That’s… not good.”
“Yeah. We’re really worried, but what can we do? If we leave then no one will protect the people here from the monsters and the minor wannabe warlords all over Los Angeles, then there’s the cartel trying to move up into San Diego.”
Problems upon problems.
Cal forced himself to calm down and find his center.
Not his problem.
At least not right this moment.
He needed to regain control of himself before anything else.
“Enough about our issues. What about you, son?”
Cal frowned.
“Five years on an alien world is a long time on your own and I can see you have physical scars,” Cal’s dad eyed his hand, “and I can see in your eyes that you’ve got other scars. Want to talk about it?”
Cal clenched his jaw. Then nodded.
Rehabilitation.
A part of that involved talking to people you trusted.
And he could use it as a test of sorts. Full disclosure of what he underwent under Mother Madrigal’s clutches meant that he could be certain that there weren’t any hidden traps left behind by the Mother’s invasion into his mind.
Right?
He had already told Nila much of what happened.
The more he told his tale the better he’d feel about himself.
Right?
Cal told his father everything.