Chapter 54
(Hit Me Baby) One More Time
It took a few levels to remember why the Advanced stage floors were so tough. Namely the stupid monsters weren’t so stupid anymore. They learned from one another. When you held one down with Telekinesis-X, the others adapted. Far easier to go in guns blazing, or in my case Minds Rending, then stop when you hit what you thought was the halfway point.
The good thing about this new process was that my killing half of the enemies generally allowed Rayquel to awake from her fugue. This meant that she would finally be to contribute to combat.
From there we would try to alternate attacks. I would only target muscle control centers of the next groups of brains, leaving twitching masses of bodies.
Floor Thirty-Eight Complete. Team Score: A You have been awarded one Free Attribute Point to Assign.
Also, I found that I still heard voices in between floors, but now that I was used to them they weren’t as jarring. Also, I found that now that I knew a sign of why I thought I was going crazy, it felt easier to overcome. Whether I thought it was a good idea or not, I decided to put the newly acquired Attribute points to increase my physical attributes. This did several things, first I no longer felt like my mind was going to burst.
Second, I did notice a slight itching sensation all around my body. My first attribute increase went to Agility, maxing me out. If I never have to run another speed drill in any lifetime, it will be well worth the investment.
The second Attribute to be increased was Dexterity. This only caused a minor tingling sensation in my fingers and arms.
Oh, and we found rejuvenation potions. Delicious, delicious rejuvenation potions. I had thought they were also in the Intermediate difficulty floors, but I was wrong. Kind of sad, how many times have I been on these floors, or floors like this one, only to be reminded now that the potions were only on the Advanced levels? I blame my memory lost on speed drills. In fact, I think most of my previous problems were solely due to speed drills.
With the third free Attribute, I tried to increase my mental Attributes. Well, my mental attributes other than Power. Nothing happened, but again I didn’t even think about trying at first, due to speed drills.
The third Attribute point went to Strength, evening it out with Endurance giving me 16 each.
As for where Rayquel put her attribute points, well if I told you where she could shove them… Nope, not going to go for the easy quip. We are a team, and we all know you can’t spell team without me. Well at and me. With that, I’ve decided to be the bigger person, of this team and carry the sandbag with me, regardless of what is needed.
I don’t want to say that I am bitter. But if I never have to be part of this imbalanced of a team again, it will be too soon. To Rayquel’s credit she too did a lot of speed drills recently.
The marker comes, then the delicious rejuvenation potions come up. I take mine and nearly guzzle it. After a point the only thing keeping you going are these potions. It doesn’t hurt that they are delicious.
“Yuck, this tastes like grape.”
Hearing the words coming from Rayquel, I realize she is a monster. Clearly, she was born wrong, if she doesn’t like grape. I just stare at her.
“Fine, fine. I’ll finish it.” She says, as she visibly gags while trying to get the purple fluid down.
I was angry earlier, during my human temple run, when these potions didn’t taste like grape. There it was just purple, here the potions are clearly improved, as they taste like they look, purple.
Why Rayquel couldn’t understand that this was amazing, only showed how little she understood.
We waited the thirty seconds or so needed for the potions to take effect.
“You ready?” She asks.
I nod.
“You seem to be doing better. Are you feeling more stable now?” She asks, an awkward tension could be felt between our bond.
“Yeah.” I answer.
She nods, then proceeds to go down the staircase first. Before entering I once again apply Mind Shield then go.
I try to avoid the conversations of the three voices.
“This time we should give them a special potion.”
“Yes, we should give him one to grow his wings.”
“A regressor potion check. How do we know he will take it?”
“Simple, we give two. Each with their names on the stands.”
“Okay, what potion should we give to her then?”
“Give her a Magic Resonance potion. One that will awaken latent powers within her.”
“Check.”
Badump. Badump.
My heart is racing at the news. Rayquel the sandbag will get rewarded by getting a Magic Resonance potion, while I get stupid butterfly wings, oh Hell no!
I am so distracted by my own thoughts that I almost missed the fact that Rayquel was down and bleeding from a monster feasting on her intestines. Yeah, I guess I should start doing something.
Mind Rend.
Heal.
With those two spells, Rayquel is safe, for the moment. I then begin the process of ruthlessly killing the monsters that appear quickly and thoroughly.
Flames erupt, creating a kill funnel.
From there I keep the flames going by using Air Magic, while Mind Rending the more powerful monsters. Then finally Rayquel awakens to find her stomach healed.
“AHH! Thank you.” She screams as she rubs her hands over her fully healed stomach.
Why everyone feels the need to touch a fully healed wound makes no sense. Maybe it is the tingling sensation of skin being knit back together. Whatever the case, I don’t really know. Just she runs her gloved fingers over her exposed stomach, drawing particular attention to her impressive stomach.
Badump. Badump.
Okay, what can I say, I’m a guy and I am visually stimulated. We all have our vices, mine happens to be looking at finely muscled Endarian abs.
Giggle.
She is laughing, even while pulling out her blaster from a seated position and giving ace shots from her blaster pistol. In no time the monsters of the clearing are dead. She managed to stand, but she lost a lot of blood in the initial encounter. Also, blood cannot be re-created with magic, only enhanced by magic.
It is clear she is still feeling terrible from her encounter, and once again rubs her stomach. Her actions once again draw my eyes to the aforementioned perfect body part.
Giggle again.
I look up, to see that Rayquel is once again giggling at my discomfort.
Rumble.
The ground erupts as apparently, we have killed all the monsters on this floor. Almost at the same time we get a notification of our success as well.
Floor Thirty-Nine Complete. Team Score: A You have been awarded one Free Attribute Point to Assign.
Badump. Badump.
I know what I need to do.
“You just sit there. I’ll go get the rewards.” I say.
Rayquel looks like she is about to protest, but then decides better on it.
I run over to the first stand to see that it has an orange looking concoction and is on a pillar that says Rayquel in English, Endarian, and Dwenvarian.
Then looking across the field I see a glowing purple potion that is on a different stand that I can almost bet says Kyle Goldman on it. Even from this distance my eyes and improved Perception is enough to almost make out my name.
Still, I focus my mind on controlling my emotions and thoughts. Then with my Telekinetic arm, I reach out and pluck the purple liquid container off the stand.
I even go so far as to place the purple liquid container on Rayquel’s stand. I also place her original orange potion on the stand, while I attempt to fix my boot laces. Plausible deniability.
Then I take both potions, drop them, jostle them, in my hands.
By the time I get to Rayquel I hand her the first potion I find.
“Here, I think this is for you.” I say, not looking at the potion.
I don’t have to; I know which one I gave her. The one that came from her stand.
She holds it up and gives a sour look.
“Grape?”
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I look down, “possibly.”
“Bottoms up.” I say, as I don’t even look, and uncork the potion in my hand and begin drinking it on reflex. The flavor is terrible, ginger and root beer root extract. I can feel my face going rabid with foam, but I suck down the horrible concoction anyways.
“Oh, that is bad.” I state, as I collapse on the ground as my body begins to tingle.
“Oh.” Rayquel says, as I feel a tingling sensation from our shared bond together.
“Wow. That was not the rejuvenation potion.” She stated.
“It wasn’t?” I asked.
“No, that one feels like it had a lot of power in it.” She says, as she begins buckling over as if she has severe cramps.
At about this time, I too feel like my entire body is coming alive with fire ants trying to sting me. Did the gods do something just to mess with me? One of those, we know you know, so we will confound you?
“Ohh! My head!” Rayquel shouts as I see her hands go up to grab her skull.
I on the other hand am dealing with a different dilemma, as I feel a deeper connection to the physical world than I ever have before. Even my previous connection to the Elements was nothing like what I am currently feeling. It is almost too much for my mind to comprehend. For a second I think I am about to die, I want to cast Heal, but since that is clearly a magical process. I rationally think that using magic to fix magically induced pain might not be the best of choices. So instead, I knuckle down and deal with the pains.
We are both writhing around in agony. However, I am greeted by a message that makes me smile inwardly.
[Increased Magic Potency]
Finally, after a few moments, we both stop. I don’t know how long we stayed there, rolling around on the floor, but it was bad. Even now, we were both feeling intense pains. I cast a Heal on her out of reflex more than anything.
“Oh!” She said, as I felt a deeper emotion from our bond.
“What?” I ask.
“Well, nothing. It is just that your spell was a lot more potent than usual.” She admitted.
“Okay?” I asked, in that human way that seems like I am giving you a chance to explain yourself or stop your thought process.
She like most space faring races, just takes it as a statement, completely missing the questioning voice inflection. Linguistics, am I right…
Finally, after a few minutes, I look at her. And I almost instantly regret looking. She is covered with multiple horns sticking out of her head.
“Your head?” I say, eloquent as always.
Discomfort.
“Yes, it seems that I have grown antennae.” Rayquel admits.
I look, those are straight up curved bones on her head. Imagine tiny satyr ram’s horns, then multiply that by three sets and that is what you are looking at.
“Those are horns.” I say, looking at her head and even going over to feel them with my fingers.
Almost immediately I feel strange pulsing sensations from our bond. Then I realize I might have just done something extremely erogenous to her.
“Um. Sorry.” I say, backing away.
“No, it was fine.” She states, but I can tell she is still aroused by the incident. This only further adds to my discomfort.
I look at her and am once again reminded of the earlier species of Endarians, ones that had wings and massive antenna that could be used to communicate long distances. Over the centuries the antenna has moved inside to little pockets of the brain, but the recessive genes were always there. Now looking at her, I could see that she was well and truly an alien species.
A very beautiful alien species with a nearly perfect stomach showing, and butterfly wings and horns that only seemed to add to her fierceness. But alien all the same.
She was hauntingly beautiful in the way a tsunami might be to someone who likes watching ocean waves. You know you want to see them, but then until you see them right there before you, you don’t know how you are going to react.
As for me, I found my own emotions going haywire. She was beautiful, and I knew a lot of my attraction was likely on this pair bonding between us. But still, we had gone to war for each other and had grown stronger.
To distract myself, I turned away and applied my free Attribute point to Endurance. Then I turned back, a question on my mind.
As if reading our connection, or my pheromones. I ask. “So do I now look different?”
I looked down at my skin, half expecting my skin to be oompa-loompa orange, but fortunately nothing so odd.
She nods, as she stares at my eyes.
“What?”
“Heterochromia.” She replies.
I must think about the word for a moment. Then I realize what the word means. “My eyes have multiple colors?” I ask.
She nods, still staring directly at me.
I pause, as I wonder what to say or think. Fortunately, she explains further. “The base of your irises still glows purple, but now you have bursts of glowing orange in them as well.”
Hearing that I nod, not quite ready to speak.
Of the two options I fully made out like a bandit. I did not want horns, nor butterfly wings. I would gladly take orange speckles to my eyes, over either of those two conditions.
“You ready to go on?” Rayquel finally asked.
I nod.
I wait for her to go out in front, but she just gestures for me to go on ahead. Originally, we thought the entry way was a safe zone. Meaning Rayquel could go in first and automatically start her count down timer. This last floor proved that the entry way was no longer a safe option. As such she now apparently wanted me to go first. How Chivalrous.
I nod, apply Mind Shield, then head into the stairwell.
As always, my mind gets disconnected.
“They took the wrong potions.”
“How could this have happened?”
“Doesn’t matter. We need to entice them both to form a Mind Meld to continue to go deeper.”
“What is down there anyways?”
“The options for what we can offer down on those floors is so much more than we can on the first forty floors.”
I exit the stairwell and wonder what is possible down on the lower floors of this temple. Even with Rayquel as a sandbag, they think we can make it, as they seem to be focused on future rewards. So long as they stay away from stupid things like offering butterfly wings, or antenna horns, I should be okay.
With that, I make a mental note about how big of a power-hungry-whore I am. Sighing to myself, I realize my next step before I even get there. I will perform a mind meld with Rayquel, all to see what I can be gained from these lower levels of the temple.
As much as my own personal morals are screaming at me that this is a terrible idea, I can’t help but feel the need to move forward. I know I am still no match, one-on-one, for a Prolaxian Infiltrator. The only way to improve, is to get stronger, to find that last vestige of strength.
With that as my motivation. I double down and focus on clearing this fortieth floor as quickly as possible. Like clockwork, Rayquel awakens from her fugue and begins killing the disabled monsters. Then before I know it, the message we have both been waiting for appears in our minds.
Floor Forty Complete. Team Score: A You have been awarded one Free Attribute Point to Assign.
This is it, no further floors open. I turn to look at her. She trembles slightly as our eyes lock.
I don’t need to ask, as she can already feel my thoughts through our bond. I ask if she is ready.
She nods.
Taking a deep breath, I brace myself. This is the final step of being connected. From this point onward I would forever be closer to her than anyone else in the universe.
I should stop right here. My mind is telling me that something is wrong, that something will go horribly wrong. It isn’t world shakingly bad, just a minor annoying discordant note that lets me know something will go sideways. Still, we are talking about power enough to fight and survive against the Prolaxians.
Taking a deep breath, I move forward, pulling Rayquel close to me. Then pressing our foreheads together, I relax my Mind Shield as I let our minds merge.
There is a moment when I first feel my consciousness merge with hers. I can feel her mind like an Endarian city of thoughts and rooms. Rooms that quickly crumble away as I begin to fully merge. Almost like the surface was made of foam. Foam that looked the part, but quickly folded and buckled from the strain of any real weight.
Panic.
Rayquel is panicking, but even as she is, I feel my consciousness falling deeper. The foamy fake memories of Rayquel slide away, as I fall the next floor down. Deeper and deeper.
Suddenly I am in an opulent room, much like the throne room of the three gods. The room is oddly serene and beautiful and reminds me of the time I traveled between floors with my Revelation Sight active. The time when I saw through the veil and nearly went mad in the process.
Seeing her, I see a golden figure before me. I know it is Rayquel, well not the real Rayquel. The real Rayquel is the foamy city scape above me. This is something different. My mind is spinning, trying to catch up. Then I realize, something.
“You’re a god?” I ask.
Then almost with that one question the mind scape that we were in. The moment when I could see her, see the real Rayquel, it all began folding and breaking away.
Shattering glass.
A sound of breaking glass rings out, as the mind meld, we had been tying to form ended.
“No. No.” Puppeteer Rayquel says, as she begins to panic. “I never imagined you would form a true connection with me. No, no, no, no…”
She repeats over and over.
Suddenly I am in the temple, on the fortieth floor. Then the next the temple scape around us is warping and breaking.
“Shit, shit!” She is still cursing. Tears are running down her eyes. Shaking her head “what do you mean I have five minutes until I am dislodged!” Rayquel, well the puppeteer of Rayquel shouts.
White energy is forming around me. I feel the world around me slowly breaking down into base parts.
Gemini Temple Run Ended!
A warning message from the temple pops up into my mind. Letting me know that I had failed to open any further floors to the temple. Still, I realize that is not the most important part of what is happening right here and now.
“What is happening?” I ask, reaching out and grabbing Rayquel. Though I know something is wrong, this is not Rayquel, not quite a Prolaxian, but something wrong. Well, wrong is not the most accurate word. Instead, it is more of the fact that this is not the true Rayquel. I am certain of that.
Even now I feel that the mind meld I tried was successful. I had melded my mind to the true Rayquel, not to the skin suit being worn by the Rayquel Puppeteer. And she was a puppeteer, that much I was certain of.
Badump. Badump.
I had seen her, seen her true thoughts. If only for a moment, I had seen concepts and futures that were beyond comprehension. A game? Well not quite a game, the stakes were too high to be a mere game, but that is ultimately what we appeared to be to the puppeteers. Game pieces.
Rage.
Rage and Anger.
“Wait. I can explain.” Rayquel says, as she places a hand on my stomach.
I look down at her.
“You are right. I lied, I cheated. I manipulated you.” She begins, as she trembles. “But I have loved you. Ever since we were given a chance to go back and save the universe. I have loved you. You were always the one shining point of hope.”
“Me?” I ask. What nonsense was she spouting, save the universe?
“Yes, but you were always off limits. At least you in the current universe. But then I thought, if I could pull you over on a loan, then bond with you, even for a moment I could see you. See the true you.”
“You are crazy!” Even now through our bond, I could tell that she believed everything she was spouting.
She shook her head. Then shrugged.
“Probably. Look I only have…” She paused as she looked at something only she could see. “Three minutes.” Shaking her head again she forcefully continued. “Look, this might not make sense, but everything I did to get you here is about to be undone. You will go back to your universe. To your time. But know that I love you. Know that the…” She trails off.
“Fuck, it sounds so stupid when I even put it into words. We need you. The universe needs you to fight and win against the Prolaxians. I’ve seen you. You managed to…” Cough cough. She is cut off as she begins cough uncontrollably.
I am reminded of the time General Tigran did something similar when she had a moment of insight about the certs.
“There are fucking more of you?” I ask, my mind instantly outing General Tigran.
Upon thinking this, I feel even more moments of clarity come. I see fear and desperation fill her eyes. The bond, the connection that we have is slowly fading away.
“No. Stop. You are going to undo everything.” She says, tears coming down her face.
I look at her, rage causing my shoulders to shake uncontrollably.
“I’m so sorry. I just wanted you to look at me the way you look at Jess, just one time.” She states.
The world is fading away. I know time is being undone somehow. I feel my life slowly unwinding. I am here in the present with Rayquel. Or with the puppeteer of Rayquel. Simultaneously, I feel like I am in an island that was surrounded by the river of time. A river that is now quickly flowing backwards.
Looking around I can see that Rayquel is going nearly trembling.
“No. No, it is all undone. Everything. Worse I will be removed.” Rayquel says, in a defeated tone. Time is going backwards; we are at the months when I was being held like a prisoner by the humans for having a cracked windshield.
I feel a sense of resolve come through the dying embers of our pair bonding. A bond that by the timeline being seen should not exist.
“Mel, isn’t who she seems to be either. She isn’t meant for you. It was Jess, always Jess. I just wished I too could take her place, if even for a moment…”
I see the moment I get pulled back through the in-between universe. Then back to my universe.
I am once again in my ship. Feeling the familiar fabric of my tri-weave space suit against my skin.
“Cadet Goldman get back in formation, this is an order!” DI Hopewell shouts.
A chill runs down my spine as I know that voice. I know this moment.
I still see the opening fissure in space. Then I pause, as I let the reality of what has occurred over the last few moments break out over my mind.
I quickly adjust back to formation, but before I do the fissure fully opens revealing a fleet of scourge coming to our universe.
Badump. Badump.
It has begun again. I think to myself, as an icy chill runs down my spine.
I pull up my status screen to wonder if everything was a dream or not.
Name: Kyle Goldman Age: 18 Race: Half-Human* Mage Class Type: Support (Common) Mental Class Type: Psionic Prime (Omega)
Attributes (1 Free)
Physical Attributes
Strength: 16 Dexterity: 20 Agility: 20 Endurance: 17
Mental Attributes
Perception: 20 Intelligence: 20 Willpower 20 Power: 39
Magic Aptitudes Specializations Spirit: 99+% (Spell Breaking, Unweaving, Negation, Dampening, Rendering) Healing: 57% (Mend, Cleanse, Purge, Heal) Air: 25% (Cleanse, Create) Water: 25% (Cleanse, Create)
Psionic Aptitudes:
Mind Rend-X: 99+% Mind Shield 99+% Telekinesis-X: 99+% Mind Heal 99+%
Pyrokinesis-X: 99+%
Total Recall 99+%
Precognition-X: 99+% Revelation Sight 99+%
Blessings
[Energy Sight], [Increased Psionic Potency], [Increased Magic Potency]
Skills
Base Skill
Specializations
Linguistics: 99+%
Rune Crafting: 99+%: Reading/Writing: 99+% Art: 89%: Human Painting 99%
Navigation: 88%:
Astronavigation: 99+% Musical Instrument: 86+%: Violin: 99+% Meditation: 82% Piloting: 81%:
Human Fighter Pilot: 99+%
Endarian Fighter Pilot: 98%
Firearms: 75%: Blasters: 95% Mechanical Engineering: 91% Hand to Hand Combat: 85% Human Martial Arts: 90% Medicine: 71%: First Aide: 84% Melee Combat: 68% Sneaking: 68%
Seeing that all my changes that had previously occurred were still effective. I once again thanked my fortune for not suddenly appearing with butterfly wings. Then, I realized it was time to get serious.
“Break apart. Return to base! Exercise over!” DI Hopewell shouted.
His words once again pulled me back to the present, letting me remember what I needed to do.