Now, San Francisco

Cal stared down at San Francisco. It was hard to make out minute details at the distance. He squinted and thought he could make out the Golden Gate Bridge. It was the reddish bridge out of the two, so that had to be it.

“I have to rethink the plan,” Eron murmured.

“Bit too late for that,” Cal said. He didn’t need to raise his voice despite the powerful winds many miles in the sky and the muffling helmet. His brother heard him just fine.

“I didn’t mean this plan. I meant the drake plan.”

“Still on that…” Cal shook his head.

“I realized that I can’t just take a couple of eggs and fly them back. The embryos probably won’t survive flying at my speeds, I can’t protect them with a field like you. And I don’t know anything about their nesting methods. Like, what’s the proper temperature? Do they need turning? I’ll need to observe them and take measurements, but I don’t have time to do that,” Eron said.

“Just grab a few eggs and fly them really low and slow back to Rayna. She can figure out the rest.”

“It’d be good info for the trainers if they could observe the drakes,” Eron regarded Cal expectantly.

“You want me to bring them?”

“Well, you can hide your presence from the monsters, right?” Eron said.

Cal nodded.

“That could be your present for Rayna’s birthday,” Eron ventured.

“I’ll think about it.”

“Should we even be calling them ‘drakes’?” Eron continued.

“Are you nervous or something?”

“Why would you ask?”

“These random thoughts.”

“I mean I called them ‘drakes’, but is that their real name?” Eron said.

“You’ve never had an official spires Quest or message naming them?”

Eron shook his head.

“They look like ‘drakes’ to me,” Cal shrugged.

“But that’s cause we played Magic: The Gathering,” Eron said.

“Until we get an official ruling then I’m cool with the name. Ultimately, what we call them doesn’t matter. They look like smaller dragons. Four legs, two wings, long neck and tail.”

“Then they could be ‘dragonlings’ or ‘lesser dragons’.”

“Why not just ‘dragons’?”

“Yeah, no… not that one. I’d bet actual dragons would get pissed off about that… you know that dragon you told me about? In Hawaii?”

“You… killed it?”

“Hell no!” Eron laughed. “She didn’t seem bad.”

“So, you talked to it?” Cal’s mouth dropped.

“Like you said. A conversation in my head. I didn’t get that close. I got the sense that I would be seen as a rival super predator encroaching on her territory and I didn’t want to risk a big fight with all the people in the area. I definitely got a sense of huge size. Wings, four legs, Euro-style dragon and lava, for some reason. She was pretty respectful. Asked my business in the area. Implied that she wouldn’t bother me if I didn’t her. Claimed that the people under her domain were safe with her,” Eron frowned. “I got the impression that she was protecting something.”

“Going by myth that be her hoard or eggs,” Cal said. “That’s a lot more than I got from my brief interaction.”

“Weird, huh, guess dragons are also psychic,” Eron said.

“Or some kind of mental magic.”

“Same difference.”

“It’s really not.”

“Whatever… it’s just another huge problem. We’re losing as a planet. All these powerful things keep digging their hooks in and taking control while humanity dies and splinters. Those with power are more concerned with securing their own bag,” Eron shook his head.

“Like we said. It’s time to change that.”

“Well, I’ve tried, best I’ve done is to get the assholes to curb their worst tendencies. Maybe if you can show them what’s truly out there beyond the spires on other worlds… maybe that’ll scare them enough to get their shit together. Who knows how many years we have left until Earth is completely open. That dominion is already invading your Threnosh buddies. We’re lucky that the grays turned out to be cool and aren’t colonial dicks. Could you imagine if Zalthyss showed up? I’d guarantee that we’d get a ton of morons falling to their knees in worship.”

“Bastard does look like a golden angel,” Cal frowned as he flexed his three-fingered left hand. “I could share my experiences with others in a way that would be deeply disturbing for them and for me. They would know the true potential horror out there.”

“It would be a sacrifice,” Eron nodded. “Only you can make that choice.”

“Well… something else to add to my list. How bout we go take care of one of those horrors?”

“I’m ready,” Eron said.

They descended toward the bay.

Cal brought them to a halt after a few miles. “Damn it. Look at Alcatraz.”

Eron focused. “I see a couple of people walking around, look like guards.”

“Inside.”

“I don’t have X-ray vision.”

“They’ve restarted that breeding program,” Cal growled.

“Remy said they had a deal to stop that as part of the truce,” Eron frowned.

“He’s gone and I wasn’t around either.”

“Yeah, if you’re gonna take the blame for that, then so am I,” Eron said. “New plan then. Rescue first. Destroy after.”

“Risky…”

“What’s the problem? Brain zap every guard on the island and fly the women out.”

“I’ve probed… there are fishmen inside near the women. The Deep Azure’s presence gives them some protection from a psychic attack. I can’t guarantee frying their brains instantly. There’s a chance that some of them will be able to stay standing long enough to do harm to the women.” Cal’s eyes burned lasers at the distant speck of an island prison.

“So, we pretend to ignore the women. We’re only here for the Deep Azure. He’ll pull the fishmen and everything he’s got in the attempt to save his life,” Eron said.

“Same plan, but with some modifications,” Cal agreed.

“You locate his avatar. I fly down grab him and take him to empty land. There’s a nature area to the west that’s empty of people right now. You do your thing to protect my mind from his eldritch whispers while you’re in the area,” Eron said.

“I’m estimating ten to fifteen minutes for me to gather all the women and fly them to Sacramento. You’ll be without mental protection for about half that time.”

“I can handle it. Worst case scenario I’ll throw him into space,” Eron scoffed.

“Don’t get cocky.”

Eron laughed. “I’m about to bring the light of the sun down into this eldritch abomination’s dark depths… okay, that sounded better in my head.”

“Cut, print, ga— yeah, I shouldn’t say that.”

“Terrible, you should be ashamed,” Eron shook his head.

“Alright, you ready?”

Eron nodded.

“Beginning mind scan, now.”

“We’re so lame,” Eron snorted.

----------------------------------------

A dark swirling ocean abyss suddenly filled Eron’s every thought.

Cold.

Endless.

Some have said that drowning wasn’t a bad way to go.

Something about the feeling of euphoria induced by the lack of oxygen to your brain.

Stupid.

Dying was bad as far as he was concerned.

He fought the rush of water that threw him around and filled his mouth.

So cold.

So dark.

Give in. Let the tides take you to where you belong.

A voice as ancient and dark as the deepest oceans filled him.

Sorry. I got distracted. Cal’s voice. The Deep Azure is here.

A location, the same profane temple that Remy had tried to describe was seared into Eron’s mind.

I’m hitting Alcatraz. Cultists are out and the fishmen are headed your way. Couple of giant mosasaur-looking fuckers too. I’m getting the women out. Remember, we don’t know how strong—

Relax, bro. Remy and the kids handled it in melee. Shouldn’t be a problem for me, Eron thought.

Then, fuck it up!

Copy that!

Eron’s eyes cleared to a rapidly approaching ocean surface.

An enormous shadow was on an intercept course. He lanced thin streams of solar light and heat into it and paid it no more mind as it listed beneath the surface.

He hit the water and pierced deep like a needle.

Fists forward he plowed through the rocky sea floor, tunneling through hundreds of yards following the unerring directions Cal had planted into his thought.

He burst through the ceiling of the Deep Azure’s temple in a spray of rock and water.

“Oops. You just had that fixed right? My brother flooded this place after kicking your ass. Ironic that I’m about to do the same.” Eron scanned the huge chamber. All of the architecture, the sculptures, the carvings, the text on the walls, ceilings and floors filled him with a palpable sense of wrongness. Just like Remy had told him. He scythed through everything he laid eyes on with the sun’s rays. “I bring light to your darkness,” he said. “Where are you, eldritch abomination? Come out and be destroyed.”

A cutting stream erupted from the thin layer of water on the floor slicing through his shirt and knocking him through a stone pillar.

Blood on his chest.

A thin cut, but unexpected and most unwelcome.

Magic?

Shit! So, FYI, magic water attack cut me, he thought at Cal.

I warned you.

His brother’s disapproval was palpable. In fact Eron felt it as his own for a brief moment.

Weird…

Like I’ve told you before this mind connection stuff can bleed over if I’m not perfectly on top of it. Considering that I’m keeping the Deep Azure busy in a mindscape, while flying these women away and protecting your mind…

I get it. No need to be a bitch about it.

That is inappropriate language.

Jeez… I know, my bad. Less arguing, more fighting.

Eron felt annoyance. He wasn’t sure if it was him or his brother. Probably both.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

He located the Deep Azure’s dark, stone avatar. It admittedly cut an imposing figure. Roughly twice the height of a man with muscles carved to smooth perfection and a dark trident of the same material that exuded palpable power, almost as much as the figure itself.

Eron had to reconsider… had the Deep Azure grown in power since his brother and nieces fought it?

With his luck, probably.

Eyes of polished stone gleamed in soft glow from the strange clumps and formations scattered throughout the temple.

Eron felt them boring into his own.

The strange feeling that the Deep Azure was trying to ask a question flashed through his thoughts.

He swooped low to the water sending a spray trailing in his wake.

The Deep Azure swept it’s trident toward him.

Whips of water erupted from what seemed like every direction. Some of the tendrils tried to wrap themselves around Eron. Others lashed at his body and drew thin lines of blood wherever they managed to land.

In the blink of an eye he had closed the distance.

The trident thrust out.

He flew just underneath.

The Deep Azure moved in slow motion as Eron twisted and uncorked a hook into its ribs.

The cannon blast impact temporarily cleared the ocean water in a large bubble around the two titans.

The Deep Azure staggered several steps to Eron’s right. The surface at its ribs cracked and flaked off. The shape of Eron’s fist marred what was once polished, perfect stone.

Caught off guard by the fact that he hadn’t sent the Deep Azure flying, Eron hesitated.

The Deep Azure thrust its trident.

Eron barely managed to catch it in between the tines.

The stone was soul-sucking cold to the touch.

He tried and failed to pull it out of the Deep Azure’s one-handed grip.

I’m moving out of range. Won’t be able to shield your mind from it. Be back in a bit. Good luck!

Cal’s voice.

Terrible timing.

Another distraction.

Eron momentarily relaxed, which allowed the Deep Azure to swing him up in the air. He left go before the eldritch god-thing could slam him into the water-covered floor.

Water turned to steam as Eron blazed the sun’s heat out of his eyes.

The Deep Azure blocked with one massive hand.

Eron grit his teeth as he continued to let the heat behind his eyes free. He could see the perfect stone palm. Dark singed smudges appeared, but nothing more.

You are strong. You will be stronger wedded to me.

Eron suddenly felt cold at the impossibly ancient-sounding voice. It reminded him of jumping into a cold pool. Right down to the bones.

My gifts are innumerable. Tailored to your desires, your capabilities.

The heat inside of him fought back.

Through me, you can become your best, truest self.

Burning bright, he started to dissipate the chill.

Your existence will reach impossible heights.

“I’ve been in space, fish face.” Eron cut the eye beams while swooping down.

The trident thrust out slowly in his perspective.

Easy to fly over.

He cracked the Deep Azure’s massive head with a flying punch.

Eron’s used his flight to stay at face level with the towering stone avatar. His fists blurred and stone chips scattered as he battered its face.

A huge stone arm swung.

Easily dodged to resume the machine gun punches.

“Too slow!” Eron gave the Deep Azure a feral grin. “I might not need my brother. What happens to you if I turn you into rubble? Do you die for real?”

I am eternal.

“I walked into that one.”

Futility.

“You mean for me or you?”

Eron slipped underneath a swipe of the trident to continue chipping away at the Deep Azure’s face.

“You. You meant it for you.”

The waist high ocean water on the temple floor suddenly erupted into whirling pillars that sliced like blades.

Each cut sent a jolt of bone-chilling cold through Eron’s body.

Keen hearing detected the sounds of fishmen converging on the chamber. They swam from high overhead in the bay above the rocky dome and raced through the many surrounding tunnels.

Eron had spoken too soon.

It was time to relocate.

He grabbed the trident between the tines and lifted with a grunt.

The Deep Azure fought to stay in the water, but slowly rose with him.

Whips of water lashed his body, but weren’t enough to stop him.

Eron aimed for the hole he had made in the domed ceiling.

“Don’t want to let go, huh?” Eron picked up speed. “Big mistake.”

Frigid, dark ocean water boiled around his body as he zoomed toward the surface dragging the Deep Azure with the eldritch abomination’s own weapon.

----------------------------------------

Five minutes.

Cal had been out of range for that long.

He had been slowed by the need to transport close to a hundred women in his telekinetic bubble and take them to safety. This meant people he could trust to see to their needs, both immediate and long term.

As soon as he got within range of state government territory he immediately started scanning. He quickly found people that would do.

Hanna was training new recruits in the middle of a park when Cal dropped the scared and relieved women near her.

“They’re victims of the fishmen. I know you know what that means,” he said.

Hanna’s eyes narrowed, then widened in recognition. “You’re finally doing it then?”

“My brother and I,” Cal nodded. “It’s been overdue, but I made a promise.”

“I’ll let the others know,” Hanna said.

“I know it won’t make the pain go away, but Ron’s sister…”

“It’s been hard for Hillary, but we’ve been here for her,” Hanna said.

“I need to get back there—” he glanced at the women.

“Go. We can take care of them. Bring the Deep Azure’s head back,” Hanna said.

“There won’t be anything left.”

Cal left them for the sky. He did what he could for the women. The things he saw in that prison and in their thoughts weren’t things he wished to hold in his memories. Unfortunately for him and to his eternal regret he couldn’t remove them. His memory was too good. He suspected that messing with them could cause unexpected problems in the long term. Besides, he needed to remember their suffering. As a reminder of the consequences of his inaction.

Minutes passed as he scorched the air in his wake.

The Deep Azure’s presence hit him like a massive wall of sea water.

An empty, cold swirling void that threatened to drag his mind into the depths to drown a crushing death.

He fought it back. Shielded himself. Found his brother’s mind and did the same for Eron.

Alcatraz was a dot below him as he followed the two presences to the western side of the bay. Even without his telepathic power he could’ve followed the thunderous booms that echoed from somewhere in what he knew was a nature preserve.

Fishmen swarmed the shore as they came rushing out of the water.

Hundreds of them.

Like ants coming to the aid of their queen.

Cal didn’t have time for them.

The images of what they had done to the women filled his thoughts.

He lashed out with his mind.

One by one the fishmen dropped like puppets without strings. Dark, bulbous eyes remained open but saw nothing. Gill slits fluttered faintly as chests rose and fell. Their bodies would continue to live for a time even without their minds.

Cal had shredded their psyches. Turned them into brain dead husks.

That wasn’t a pleasant experience. The momentary connection had put him in the fishmen’s place. He saw their memories, their perspectives in all their past actions.

He could see them in their hundreds on land.

He couldn’t see hundreds more in the bay, floating beneath the surface, bodies pulled by the currents.

Most of the fishmen in the immediate area were gone in an instant at his hands.

My children.

The Deep Azure’s voice was cold in Cal’s thoughts. Not sadness exactly. It was deeper than that. An overwhelming sense of loss pressed on him in all directions. He imagined the feeling was similar to what a sea diver experienced. Crushing.

I’ve seen how you make them. That can’t be allowed, he thought.

A willing choice to serve a greater purpose.

Not all of them and even those that agreed were lied to, pressured or otherwise manipulated. It wasn’t a true choice at all. You’re not capable of understanding that. You see all as beneath you.

I am worshiped on a multitude of worlds. I have drowned all that struggled against me. You cannot fight the pull of eternity.

You eldritch types sort of talk alike. You wouldn’t be the first I’ve beaten. Think about that.

Cal blocked off the rest of what the Deep Azure had to say.

He floated high in the sky as Eron and Deep Azure’s towering stone avatar traded blows.

His youngest brother sent chips flying with every thunderous punch as he blurred around the towering titan.

The Deep Azure managed to strike back once for every multiple dozen strikes.

A massive fist caught Eron and sent him careening into the ground. Dirt and rocks erupted like a volcano. The sound was just as loud.

Cal couldn’t interfere while he was locked in a mindscape of his own creation.

The Deep Azure was a frigid, empty void. It was all around him. The pressure of its presence was more powerful and direct than the fog entity’s had been. He imagined it like being at the bottom of the ocean without a submarine. Except, unlike the sea which was full of life, this felt like the antithesis.

And yet… even though he felt like he was holding back the combined strength of all Earth’s oceans a creeping fear began to enter his mind.

This is just a fraction of it.

Serve me and I will show you all of it. What you think you know is a speck amongst infinity.

Shut up!

Cal firmed his mental walls. The Deep Azure was still present and speaking, in a fashion. However, superpowers combined with willful ignorance was enough to turn it into unpleasant noise. Like a high-pitched static scream.

He couldn’t comprehend the entirety of the Deep Azure. They were truly only dealing with a fraction of its truth.

The dark, frigid water threatened to push down his mouth.

He responded by imagining his surroundings suddenly turning bright hot. The water turned to steam and he was free for an instant.

The water merely flowed back into the space that he had created.

Turn for turn.

He imagined it burning away and so it did.

The Deep Azure filled it right back up.

How long did they struggle?

Cal couldn’t tell.

Time always passed strangely in a mindscape.

Minutes could be hours. Days could be seconds.

He wasn’t in complete control of this one. The Deep Azure sought to wrest it from him and seemed to be succeeding even if he could tell that the eldritch godling wasn’t accustomed to a challenge.

Cal sought to push it off-balance. He imagined all the water suddenly freezing.

He found himself immobile in ice that wasn’t as cold as the water had been.

The reprieve didn’t last as the ice began to melt back into the dark water.

The depths began to roil. Currents pulled at his limbs in different directions. He thought that he was going to be ripped to shreds.

Things began to appear. Forms and shapes that caused him pain to look at, to even attempt to comprehend. Choking tentacles wrapped around him. Jagged teeth sunk into his body, piercing bloody holes in his mind.

He responded with telepathic weapons of every type he could imagine. Sending them out to be swallowed by the dark depths.

How long did he suffer and fight?

An imagined forcefield sprang to life and drove his attackers back for a moment, but like always they returned in what felt like an instant.

His body and mind were torn asunder once again.

Only for him to lash out for a desperate moment to make himself whole.

The water returned.

Cal’s defenses buckled and slowly began to break.

It started to flow into his mouth and nose. Choking. Drowning him.

… wake the fuck up!

A voice not his own, nor the Deep Azure.

… God damn it! I’m getting tired. This thing won’t go down. I need your help!

Eron? Cal managed to get through even as he felt his lungs fill.

Finally! It’s been two days and I don’t think I can keep it from getting back into the ocean! I’ve got an idea, but I haven’t been able to pull it off. It’s anchoring itself to the ground somehow. Eron’s plan was loud and desperate in Cal’s thoughts.

Cal choked in an imagined drowning that felt like reality as he tried to leave the mindscape.

The Deep Azure’s creations, the unmade things of spiked tentacles and clawed fingers, held on while the frigid void began to swirl around him and draw him deeper like a whirlpool.

He fought.

An hour. A day. A year.

Time held no meaning.

Slowly, but surely he rose.

Darkness gave way to light.

The pressure eased agonizing fraction by agonizing fraction until he had enough space to finally reach the surface and burst through.

A moment to cough out the sickly, dark liquid in his lungs…

Not necessary.

He blinked to a sun-lit day.

A battle-blasted landscape lay out below him.

He was still floating in the sky.

Eron and the Deep Azure struggled against each other.

The ground had been churned for miles in every direction. Craters dotted the surface like the moon. Black scorch marks marred the fields of once yellowing grass. Fires raged in multiple directions thanks to the drought-dried tinder given spark by the sheer heat emanating from Eron.

“Do it now!” Eron called out.

Cal reached out with his telekinesis.

He sensed what his brother had said. The Deep Azure was indeed exerting a force that kept its feet stuck to the ground. Magic or something else, whatever it was stretched down for hundreds of feet before extending to the ocean.

Eron grabbed the Deep Azure in a chokehold.

The eldritch godling reached back to stab with its trident, but Cal managed to stop it inches away from Eron’s face.

He struggled with the Deep Azure before finally ripping the perfect stone weapon out of its hand and stabbing it into its stomach.

True pain.

Cal sensed it from the Deep Azure.

He tore the barbed heads free and sought to plunged them in again when the Deep Azure spun, placing Eron in the trident’s path. He barely managed to send the weapon flying out of the path to his brother’s back.

“Hurry it up!” Eron roared.

Cal could see his brother strain to lift the Deep Azure off the ground.

He tried and failed to interfere with the connection, so he did the next best thing that came to his mind.

If he couldn’t rip the Deep Azure’s connection from the ground, what if he simply tore the ground free?

Eron and Deep Azure began to rise free from the Earth. Slowly at first, then with increasing speed.

Tons of soil and rock connected to the Deep Azure’s feet came along with them. A small hill’s worth of material.

Cal watched them rapidly shrink in the distance as Eron flew toward the blackness of space.

The Deep Azure liked cold voids. It should feel just like home.

A small victory against a small representation. Savor your pride. Your oceans are already mine. The rest of you will follow in time.

If you need worship then all we have to do is deny you that, Cal thought.

Silence was his answer.

He kept his mind’s eye on Eron, kept his brother shielded from the Deep Azure.

It seemed that they had won.

All he had to do know was to wait for his brother to finish the job and return.

He glanced at the raging fires tearing through the nature preserve.

“I should probably put those out.”

And so he did despite the thousand needles incessantly stabbing into his brain.