Chapter 18

The unfamiliar man charging at Kaitlyn suddenly transformed. His brown hair was shed to be replaced by thick brown fur that covered his entire body. A red gem sprouted from his forehead as did two on both sides of hands and one on top of both feet.

As he raced towards her, his green eyes became slitted, like a reptile’s before a scaled tail grew from his posterior. The final portion of his transformation happened when the front of his face elongated into an alligator snout. She began laughing at the morphing that took place.

The strange creature held his right hand up and shot a red laser from it. Kaitlyn held up an open hand to fire a ball of magma from her palm. The projectile of lava collided with the red light before swallowing it up like it was nothing, a trail of smoke all that was left of the laser.

The furred, reptilian changeling barely had enough time to jump to the right to avoid the attack. The magma bullet kept traveling through the air before searing a hole through the opposing wall. The changeling growled in frustration as Kaitlyn laughed at the monster.

“You think that ridiculous form scares me?!” Kaitlyn said. “You look like an overgrown platypus or something! I’ll turn you into a fresh grilled entree, cooked whole! No seasoning required.”

Just as she willed the river of lava flowing around her body to heat up, the red gems growing from his body lit up with a scarlet glow. The flash of red was so blind it blinded Kaitlyn for a moment. She covered her eyes for a moment in pain before they adjusted to the brightness. When she could see again, the young woman was aghast at her surroundings.

She now stood in her freshman english classroom on the second floor of her old high school. She was surrounded by familiar faces of different ethnicities who were all either fourteen or fifteen. Kaitlyn specifically remembered her school was a prestigious one that attracted a lot of rich families from other nations. The teacher had not arrived so the students were able to talk amongst themselves. She hadn’t thought about this place in such a long time.

As she stood there, she noticed the magma flowing around her was not burning the floor. No seats were catching on fire from the intense heat of her Armor. In fact, no one even noticed Kaitlyn. The students were as oblivious to her presence as a fly on the wall.

“Why am I here?” Kaitlyn asked.

“Because it is a memory you cling to,” someone said.

She turned to see the same changeling that had transformed into a furry, alligator thing behind her. His slitted eyes were no longer intense with the rage of battle. From what Kaitlyn could make of his expression, he was rather calm.

“What?!” she asked. “I hated this place! Why would I cling to it?!”

“That’s precisely why,” the changeling said. “I was able to conjure this place from your mind because you disdained it so much.”

“Conjure it from my mind?!” Kaitlyn said. “Whatever trick this is…”

She held her open palm up to him as she willed the magma around her left hand to heat up.

“I’m not buying it,” she said.

The changeling snapped his fingers. Immediately, the boiling around her left hand’s magma ceased simmering. Kaitlyn gasped at the sight of it no longer being active and shutting down. She held her left hand up to herself and began shaking in nervousness.

“What?!” she said. “How-How did you neutralize my powers?!”

“In this realm I can prevent the person I bring in here from attacking,” he said.

“What?!” Kaitlyn shouted. “No! No one can defeat me!”

Instead of trying to boil one portion of the magma surrounding her, she attempted to heat up her entire body. The stream of lava constantly circulating around her began heating to an even greater degree. However, as Kaitlyn did that, the changeling began straining as well.

He held out both of his hands and squinting in pain. A reverberating force surrounded Kaitlyn as she could feel the magma surrounding her beginning to settle down. She wouldn’t call the effect the changeling had on herself a cooling effect but a restraining one. It felt as though a thousand ropes were tightening around Kaitlyn’s body, each one cutting the circulation off her body a little bit at a time. The changeling continuously grunted in pain as it was obvious it was taking a great deal of effort to keep Kaitlyn under his grasp.

“I am the strongest warrior in the universe!” she cried defiance. “Do not test the Wielder of the Volcanic Armor!”

But as much as she hated to admit it, she was weakening. The effect eventually became too painful for Kaitlyn and she stopped heating the magma surrounding her. Kaitlyn’s knees wobbled as she attempted to stand up straight. However, as Kaitlyn struggled to find her balance, she found the changeling in front of her had weakened.

He was panting heavily and obviously trying to catch his breath. His furred chest rose and depressed in great succession as he bent over. He straightened himself to glare at her, obviously angered at having to exert himself so much.

“What’s wrong?” Kaitlyn asked. “Had enough?”

“You cannot fool me,” he replied. “Resisting me used up a lot of your might too. You’re not as invincible as you pretend to be.”

“Hmm,” she said. “That’s just the thing. I don’t pretend to be. I just am.”

His glare intensified.

“Cocky and sure as ever,” he said. “Of all the Armor Wielders we’ve observed, you just might be the one who’s disposition has changed the least.”

Kaitlyn grinned wide.

“Of course,” she said with such smugness you could hear the smirk in it. “I was always a strong person who did not need to rely upon others for anything. I was powerful in my own way and charged forward, unrelenting in everything I did. I don’t live like a coward, scrounging around hoping to get the table scraps of whatever life affords me.”

The wielder of the Volcanic Armor held up her right hand at the changeling and willed the magma around it to boil. The changeling then held up his own hand and strained to suppress the boiling. It felt as Kaitlyn’s whole arm was being strangled by the force the changeling was emitting.

It hurt enough to feel like knives were being stabbed from her elbow down to her wrist but she didn’t stop there. In defiance of the force the changeling was using to suppress her, Kaitlyn only attempted to boil the magma around her hand even further. This only caused the changeling to squeeze with even more force.

The changeling’s left hand was squeezing so hard it looked as though he was trying to pop a balloon or something. The veins in his hands could be seen as the creature was straining so greatly. It got to the point where he was almost tightening his fist. The pain Kaitlyn experienced in her right arm was akin to a dozen swords running their blade length through her forearm.

She then stopped boiling the magma around her arm, content at the level of frustration the changeling was experiencing. While Kaitlyn did feel like her arm was being torched, the changeling held his left wrist in his right hand as he panted. It was very clear the limb he was holding was in severe pain and he was once again gasping for air.

“I FIGHT LIKE HELL TO GET WHAT I WANT,” she boasted. “And anyone that stands in my way of it I crush.”

“You seem pretty confident in your own abilities,” the changeling said as he let his arm go. “You always were. That’s how I remember you.”

“Remember me?” Kaitlyn asked.

With his right hand he gestured behind her. She turned to where he pointed a human-like finger to. Kaitlyn sighed in exasperation as she found her fifteen-year-old self sitting next to the window and gazing out at it.

She wore a blue skirt that covered her knees and a blue blouse that was a shade darker. Her expression was near pure boredom mixed with just a bit of curiosity. Kaitlyn looked out at the window more than her own exams in that class. She couldn’t care for anything less than what was around her.

“You don’t seem to be interested in anything going on around you,” the changeling said.

He walked up to Kaitlyn and stood closer to her as he also observed the uninterested, younger version of herself.

“Just like every memory I have of you,” he said.

“Who even are you?” she asked. “I’ve never seen you before in my life. Neither your human self nor your ugly platypus version.”

“Here I come,” he said.

Kaitlyn’s gaze over to a boy who approached her. He looked exactly like a younger version of the changeling before transforming. His brown hair was shorter and there was apprehension in his green eyes but he bore a nice smile. Once the school girl saw him approach her, she gave an unenthusiastic leer.

“Hi,” he said. “My name Timothy Freen. I couldn’t help but notice you’re a bit…mmm, alone?”

She just stared at him awkwardly, not saying anything at first. The pregnant pause between them only grew before Timothy pursed his lips, obviously wondering if he offended her. She then shook her head and replied.

“Yeah,” Kaitlyn finally said. “And what of it?”

“I’ve just noticed that you don’t talk to anyone,” he said. “You don’t say anything to anyone. You just sit here day after day and almost…hide from the rest of us. Are…Are you okay?”

Her dour expression didn’t change.

“Hiding?” Kaitlyn asked. “From you? Who’d hide from insects like you?”

“What?” Timothy asked. “You act like we’re…insignificant?”

“Of course,” she said. “Most people are. Most people die having accomplished nothing and done little. Once they die they may as well have never lived. Their footprint on this world is so insignificant it can’t be called a mark. The sands of time bury the legacy and accomplishments so it can’t be seen.”

“You…?” Timothy said. “You…what are you talking about?”

“Hundreds of thousands of people are born each day,” Kaitlyn said. “Enough to fill a small nation. And then they die less than a hundred years later before they’re replaced by a new generation. As if they never were there to begin with.”

“You…” he said. “You seem to have given a lot of thought to this.”

“Every day,” she replied. “For the last few years. I think about how few people there are across history that have actually accomplished something that’s grand enough to be written about in books. Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, Napoleon, Attila the Hun, the conquistadors. They were powerful enough to take so much land and people that they weren’t just feared by everyone in the known world…their legacy on history was so profound they are taught in schools thousands of years later.”

“You sound like you envy them,” Timothy said.

“I do,” Kaitlyn said. “I really, really do. I can’t get it out of my head that so many people live or die everyday and when they go to the grave it is as if they never lived. Why are so many human beings born only for none of them to be remembered? Why do only one in ten thousand make a truly lasting impact on history? Is it because the majority are just born weak? Or do they have an inhibition to greatness that only the very few can surpass?”

“Well…” Timothy said.

He looked speechless. His face had turned red with embarrassment. Timothy began shaking in nervousness at her words. Kaitlyn could see him grinding his teeth together, trying to think of some response.

“Well…” he said. “That was a mouthful you just unloaded. I mean…did you prepare this speech or something.”

“No,” the younger Kaitlyn said. “It’s just that when you think about something long and hard enough that it’s the only subject you’re aware of…you can’t help but talk about it.”

The school girl lowered her expression in dourness, almost as if she was about to cry.

“And I’m terrified of being one of the nameless little insects that crawl around for a few decades and then get crushed,” she said. “It’s truly appalling to me.”

“Sounds like you’re afraid of death,” Timothy said.

“No,” Kaitlyn answered. “If I was immortal and existed as most people do…just trying to be happy, make friends, get married, do enough to make a living and exist in peace…I’d still be appalled at myself.”

Her hands tightened into fists.

“I want to become great,” she said. “A powerful warrior and conqueror the likes of which have never been seen before. One of those written in the history books like Alexander the Great or Napoleon. A warrior like the vikings that were feared for their viciousness or Musashibo Benkei who killed at least two-hundred armed soldiers alone in one battle. Why…Why do most people not do that? Is it that they’re just not willing to do hard things and take chances?”

“But those people were monsters!” Timothy said. “They were vicious killers and brutes who pillaged and murdered untold masses. Conquerors…they’re evil people. They don’t get those victories without immense bloodshed. Think about how many innocent people that died because of them…”

“But think about how many of those same innocent people would have done nothing with their life,” Kaitlyn said. “The existence of those same people is meaningless in the grand scale of things. Only specific individuals hold any real power to change the world or leave their mark on history.”

“Seriously?!” Timothy asked. “You-You think those people slaughtered by them are meaningless? That their lives exist for nothing more than to be a-a-a…I don’t know a stepping stone for cruel tyrants?!”

“Well let me ask you this,” Kaitlyn said. “What determines the value of a person’s life?”

“Um…” Timothy said. “I-I don’t know. The…The value of…of the fact that they’re alive I guess. I mean…you don’t have to do or be anything in order to be worthy of life. You don’t have to be special.”

“So what you’re saying is human lives are inherently worth something?” Kaitlyn asked. “They don’t need to do anything with it? They just need to exist?”

“Well…” Timothy said. “Uh…yeah. I mean…isn’t it obvious? We’re all equal…aren’t we?”

“Just because of the fact we’re human?” Kaitlyn asked. “So, by your logic…nobody is greater than anyone, no matter what they have or haven’t done? Am I right?”

“Yes!” Timothy said. “It’s what everyone believes! Unless…Unless they’re complete psychopaths.”

“I can’t accept that,” Kaitlyn said. “I can’t accept it because it’s not true. It’s just a shield that the weak and the common use to justify their meaningless existence. It’s a justification for the unique and exceptional to be pushed down and those with no real potential can be made to feel safe.”

“But…” Timothy said. “But of course…why wouldn’t it be that way? I mean…shouldn’t we protect the ordinary and the common?”

“No,” Kaitlyn said. “They will do nothing with their lives and their legacy shall be buried by the passing eras of history. There is no reason to protect such useless things.”

“So we should build our society around people like you who want to step on them in order to accomplish…great deeds or whatever instead of the ordinary person?” Timothy asked. “Is that how we should live?”

“Of course not,” Kaitlyn answered. “Those of us who are exceptional will just naturally fight our way to the top without needing a push from the greater whole of society. It is the ordinary and the weak who need to exist in large masses to survive and have their will come to fruition.”

Timothy glared at her as Kaitlyn gave a faint smile.

“I think about this every day,” she said. “Sitting here in this cramped, jail of an institution called school so I can be indoctrinated to follow orders of someone I care literally nothing about and to serve a nation I have no real allegiance to. When knowing everyday I could have been born a conqueror in any other and imposed my will on others.”

“You-You…” Timothy said. “You’re weird. You…You’re a monster who thinks they’re better than the rest of us. Than anyone.”

“I’m not a monster,” Kaitlyn said while smirking. “And I don’t think I’m better than anyone, necessarily. I just prefer the freedom of the individual over the safety of the unwashed masses who merely drift through life, doing nothing with their time and merely waiting to die before filling the world with more masses who will do the same thing.”

“You…” Timothy said. “You’re a freak.”

“If that’s what you want to call someone with the spirit of a conqueror,” Kaitlyn said. “Then I’m the freakiest person you’ll ever meet. History is made of great men you call tyrants pushing the lowly masses in the direction said tyrant wanted them to go in. You act like I’m a freak for not believing the masses should be held equal to the great kings and conquerors of the world but the masses don’t know what they want. They just drift. Why should the drifter be held in as great esteem as the conquering emperor when even he does not value his own life?”

Timothy just stared at her awkwardly, clearly not knowing what to say. Kaitlyn’s slight smile disappeared back into a bored, repugnant expression before her eyes drifted away from him. The young man shook with nervousness.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Look…” he said. “I just wanted to know if you wanted to go out for ice cream or something. I have my permit to drive and wondered if you’d be available.”

“Oh,” she said. “Sounds lovely. I’ll meet you after school today.”

The older Kaitlyn grew bored with the scene playing out in front of her. She took her eyes off it and then turned away. She found the changeling looking in her direction, waiting for the scene to play out.

“Now I remember you,” Kaitlyn said. “You were that shrimpy little guy who had a crush on me. From my old high school. No wonder I don’t remember you. Do you know how much time has passed since then?”

“I’m aware of the passage of time since your old life,” the changeling said. “But I’m surprised you didn’t recognize me at all. That was not foreseen by those who proposed and organized the experiment.”

“Well I’m special,” she said. “As I told you…I am the exception. Someone with the soul of a conqueror, not bound by another’s will.”

He chuckled.

“What if I told you none of that was real?” the changeling said. “Just an illusion?”

“A what?” Kaitlyn asked. “I assumed that was what this was from the beginning.”

“No,” he said. “I mean…this event never happened. A trick from the get go, created by Yeltael.”

“What?” Kaitlyn asked.

He snapped his human fingers before the scene around her changed. The bright lights of the school were replaced with the dim light of a rundown apartment. Kaitlyn saw her eight-year-old self lying on the floor.

On the couch to their right were two boys who looked in their pre-teens and one girl younger than Kaitlyn. All of them shared Kaitlyn’s red hair and had many whelps and bruises along their bodies. An older woman with long red hair stood over her.

The girl was struggling to get up as she was wounded. A little blood could be seen on the blue velvet carpet. When the little girl stood up, Kaitlyn found her younger self’s face covered in bruises.

“What the…?” she said.

She watched as the stern face of the adult red-head glared down at her daughter. Kaitlyn was confused at first before she felt a burning on her face. As she looked at the little girl’s bruises given to her by her mother, Kaitlyn traced the edge of her jaw where they were most visible. A certain familiarity tingled on the surface of her face as she did.

“I don’t remember this happening…” Kaitlyn said. “But…”

She ran her fingers across her check again.

“I feel this memory,” she said. “I feel those bruises. Why…Why can I not…remember?”

Then a realization shocked.

“Is all of my life…” Kaitlyn asked. “False?”

“Keep watching,” the changeling said from behind her.

She took a step forward, dying from curiosity to find out more.

“I,” Tamara, her mother, said. “Am afraid of you.”

The younger Kaitlyn glared up at her mother, rubbing her bleeding cheek. Tears appeared in the adult woman’s eyes, most certainly blurring her vision. She lowered her hand she struck her daughter with before sighing.

“Kaitlyn,” she said. “You…scare me more than anyone I’ve ever known.”

The grown woman shook as if each word hurt to utter.

“Every child is defiant,” Tamara said. “But not like you.”

The mother pointed to the children who sat on the couch as they looked like they were about to cry.

“Why are you doing this to them…?” Tamara said. “To my other children…I don’t understand…”

The fear in the adult’s voice became apparent as it was shaking almost as bad her body was.

“You keep telling me…” she said. “Your reason…but I still don’t understand. You sound…You sound…like some monster when you explain it to me.”

The eight-year-old girl tried to catch her breath as she stood up, wincing in pain as she tried to face her mother. Tamara shook her head as a wave of familiarity swept over Kaitlyn. Recognition of this event pierced her mind like an arrow piercing the air.

“This…” the older Kaitlyn said. “Is where…I showed my mother who I really was.”

The sympathy and pity Kaitlyn had for her infantile self vanished once she saw the look of defiance in the eight-year-old’s eyes. It didn’t look like a normal child’s pitiable gaze, stained with tears. It looked like a hateful gaze full of murderous intent. When the younger Kaitlyn spoke, the harshness in her voice made her skin crawl.

“When my father died…” she said. “You told me that everyone dies…and one day I’ll disappear just like he did. In a wooden box, put into the ground where I’m forgotten.”

“Kaitlyn…” her mother said, fresh tears collecting in Tamara’s eyes before flowing down her cheek. “Don’t…Don’t…”

“We’ll all die,” the eight-year-old said. “Everyone of us. We’ll die with almost no one remembering us. Even just a few months after daddy’s death…I’m starting to forget more and more about him. The way dad shaved without shaving cream, the stuff he put in his omelets when making breakfast…I’m beginning to forget about it.”

Tamara’s hands balled into fists at her words.

“And I keep thinking…” Kaitlyn said. “That being forgotten is the worst thing that could happen. We love people because we remember things about them…we remember them every day…but…but if we forget…if we forget about them then their love disappears. And I can say…”

“Say what?!” Tamara said. “That you don’t love your father?! You don’t love him because he’s dead?!”

The little girl stayed silent at first, obviously afraid to answer. Then she nodded her head and a tear fell down the eight-year-old’s cheek. She shook a little.

“Yeah…” Kaitlyn said. “I don’t love you. I don’t love anyone. Because they’ll disappear on me. Just like daddy. They’ll all die.”

She then looked back up at her mother.

“You’ll die,” she said. “My brothers will die…my sister will die…I’ll die. So…why not just cut off the love I have for you all…before you die?”

“That’s evil Kaitlyn!” her mother said. “That’s very, very…just evil! Why would you want to stop loving your family?! For any reason?! I still love your father! I may miss him dearly…but I love him! I love him…even if he’ll never come back!”

“But that’s stupid,” Kaitlyn said.

Her mother slapped her child again, her open palm slapping the girl’s right cheek reddening intensely as the little girl wobbled in place. However, after recovering her balance, Kaitlyn glared back up at her mother. It was now Tamara’s turn to start crying again, the mother looking more sad than her daughter.

“Don’t call me stupid!” Tamara shouted.

“It is,” Kaitlyn said. “And you can’t deny it.”

“Stop!” Tamara cried. “Stop it! Stop it right now!”

“You’re stupid,” Kaitlyn said. “You’re stupid to love a dead person. They’ll never come back, they’ll never recover. And we’ll all be dead one day…so why not stop loving altogether.”

“Kaitlyn…” Tamara said, more tears flowing down her cheek. “Kaitlyn…I didn’t raise you to be this way.”

It was at this point that Kaitlyn stopped paying attention. She took her eyes off the scene before she could stop crying. The argument between the two was burning into her, the familiarity so real and intense it was as hot as fire. Kaitlyn was sure she might have started crying if she continued to watch.

That was when her eyes wandered back to the changeling who conjured this vision. He was looking rather cross with Kaitlyn, obviously very frustrated. Their angered glares met to form a tense, pregnant pause where neither of them spoke. And in that silence, Kaitlyn could feel something rather odd.

It’s almost like I can feel his emotions and intentions in this state. She taught. I didn’t notice it before because I was too distracted by talking…but now…now I can feel something. I can feel that Timothy wants me to get sad and overwhelmed by this. It’s…it’s…

As she looked at him, a strange sensation wrapped around her. It was this vague yet gradually increasing feeling of connection between her and Timothy. It was becoming uncanny as she almost felt she could read his mind.

Like this was part of the plan. Kaitlyn thought.

Kaitlyn closed her eyes, feeling like she needed to focus. After making herself unable to see, she could almost hear small voices pop up. They sounded like Timothy’s voice.

Show her her most burdensome memory after ripping apart the illusion. His voice said. You must break her. If she is broken in this realm where your mind’s are connected…you can subdue her without needing to throw a single punch. Had to get rid of everyone in the room…the other changelings and everyone else…to focus. To hear. This way we’ll get information on how the Volcanic Armor wielder reacts to our experiment and capture…you must…must focus…must focus…

“What are you doing?!” the changeling shouted.

Kaitlyn opened her eyes at his cry to see he was very angry.

“You were supposed to be looking at your family!” Timothy shouted. “I didn’t know you’d be sleeping!”

At first she was surprised by his shouting before realizing that he was afraid.

“Of course,” she said. “You’re psychic. You can project memories that I both remember and have forgotten into reality. But the base requisite power of that is to read minds.”

Kaitlyn glared at him.

“And I’m onto you,” she said.

The changeling backed away in fear.

“Onto me?!” Timothy said. “I can control this realm at will! This is my domain! I can do as I will!”

“Yeah,” Kaitlyn agreed with a nod.

She willed the lava flowing around her body to start boiling again.

“So long as our minds are linked,” she added. “And you can focus.”

Timothy immediately held out his hands to initiate a telekinetic grip. However, just as he did, Kaitlyn stopped boiling the magma all around her body and raised the heat in her right hand alone. This caused her entire body a great deal of discomfort as her entire person was squeezed with immense pressure.

The only thing she could compare it to was being pressed on both sides by two eighteen wheelers. Kaitlyn could barely breathe since she wasn’t countering the gargantuan amount of force with the heat. But with his psychic grip spread all over her body it was not concentrated near her right hand. With no particular area of her body Timothy gripped, it was easier to gather heat in one place.

“Gotcha,” she said.

She launched a ball of lava from her open palm at Timothy as his grip around her tightened. The changeling’s slitted, reptilian eyes widened in shock as the rounded projectile of magma hit him square in the chest. The smell of burning fur filled the room as his torso was blackened by the heat and smoke rose from the point of impact.

Timothy careened over to the side, to fall onto the carpet before the scene changed. The living room around them blurred like a painting washed by water. However, rather than transitioning into a solid environment it is just blurring.

Their surroundings became a mishmash of different people, images and places the Kaitlyn vaguely recognized before it zipped by her. Events and locations appeared for a mere second shooting forward at the speed of a fast moving arrow. There was no way to keep up with anything happening around her so Kaitlyn just stared down at Timothy as screamed and rolled on the featureless black ground.

“Looks like I was able to pull a fast one on you,” she said. “It’s a simple trick really.”

“You witch!” he shouted. “How dare you! You-You-aaahhh!”

“And now you’ve lost focus,” Kaitlyn said. “You can’t keep us both in that weird memory place. It requires immense focus.”

He gritted his teeth, clearly fighting back the pain.

“Aaaahhhh!” he couldn’t help but yell.

“That’s why you got rid of all the changelings,” Kaitlyn said. “Your mind reading that allows you to perceive our memories is like hearing. With too many minds around it’s the same as too many voices. And the illusion casting takes intense concentration which can be upended by sensory overload. Your telekinesis works the same way. If you’re in too much pain…”

She opened her right palm again to launch another ball of magma at his back.

“Aaaaahhhhh!” Timothy screamed in pain as his back was blackened by the heat.

“Then you can’t use any of your powers,” Kaitlyn said. “Because you won’t be able to concentrate.”

“This-!” Timothy shouted. “It wasn’t supposed to happen! It wasn’t! It just wasn’t! I-I-I-was told you wielders would crumble at the sight of your most sorrowful memories!”

Kaitlyn chuckled.

“Oh really?” she asked.

Timothy tried to speak but continued wincing in pain, clearly trying to hold back a scream. As he rolled over against the featureless, black floor in pain, the blurring scenery vanished completely. It faded away like a hologram as the interior of the warehouse returned.

“Well guess what?” Kaitlyn asked. “I don’t get that worked up over bad memories? Do you know what I was going to tell my mother after she slapped me again? Now that you showed me, it’s all coming back.”

Timothy began seething in agony.

“I was going to give her a speech exactly like the false memory you showed me,” Kaitlyn said. “Almost down to the letter. And I think you knew that.”

“Wh-What?!” Timothy asked.

“Reading your thoughts in that memory place or whatever it was I can tell what this experiment was,” Kaitlyn said. “I can tell you were trying to see how much false and real memories affect us.”

“You-” he said in between winces. “You little…worm-”

“Well I’m a bit of an outlier,” she said. “Because real memories or false memories…I am always the same. I am who I am no matter what environment I’m put in.”

The interior of the warehouse became completely visible. The gray color of the warehouse and the experimented creatures held in transparent containers lined the walls. However, even with the change of scenery, Kaitlyn looked squarely at the burned changeling lying on the floor.

“I am a warrior down to my core,” Kaitlyn said. “A conqueror who shows no fear to anyone. I accept danger and conflict with a smile because I don’t scurry like cockroaches like most do. No matter where I am and what I remember, I have the spirit of a conqueror. I’m not like most people.”

She kicked the half-mammalian, half-reptilian changeling to elicit another cry of agony.

“I’m more of a monster than any of you freaks are,” she said. “When you’re all dead and gone I’ll be immortalized as the infamous wielder of the Volcanic Armor, the most powerful warrior in the universe.”

Kaitlyn heated the lava around her hand as she opened her palm and prepared another bullet of lava.

“Because the great and famous are rulers who walk on worms like you as stepping stones,” she said. “Feel honored you were another stone in my path that allowed such a great warrior to rise to such legendary status.”

Timothy looked up with his alligator mouth ajar at the horror of the red orb forming in her palm. His scream of fright was cut short as the magma bullet struck his head and exploded with a great deal of force and heat. A short red flash appeared before smoke rose.

In a few seconds the smoke cleared just enough for Kaitlyn to see a black crater where his head once was. The scene made her smile. She chuckled at the sight.

“Poor thing,” she said. “He never stood a chance.”

“What?!” a voice called. “Timothy!”

She turned around to see the source of the voice. Kaitlyn found two female changelings facing her. Robert and Luis were nowhere to be found but Akemi lay on the floor bleeding along with a wolf changeling. The canine creature had a gaping hole in his chest that was still causing blood to seep into the floor. A pink feather about as long as a human arm was speared through Akemi’s body.

“What?!” Kaitlyn shouted.

The river of lava surrounding her body boiled without her input. Kaitlyn knew her rising anger increased the heat of the Volcanic Armor and the sight of three of her comrades disposed of hurt to find. Smoke rose from her armor.

“Where are Robert and Luis?!” she shouted. “Where are they?! And how did you get Akemi to stab herself?!”

“We were just as surprised as you about that!” the blue-skinned changeling said. Kaitlyn vaguely remembered her name was Jennifer. “And as for the other two…they are where Fulir wants them to be.”

“Give them back,” Kaitlyn said as she formed a ball of magma in her open left hand. “Or I’m going to burn you in the hottest pit of hell.”

“Try us,” Sarah, the thorny changeling, said.

She pointed an open palm at her before the green gems on it glowed. She fired a bright green laser at Kaitlyn before the Armor Wielder launched the ball of magma at her. The bullet of magma collided with the laser to cause an immense explosion of heat and smoke.

The smoke spread throughout the warehouse to obscure their sight. Kaitlyn couldn’t even see five feet in front of her. However, she didn’t let that slow her down. She willed the lava around her right arm to heat up again before conjuring an object from the magma.

In the same way the Volcanic Armor was a continuously flowing stream of magma, the object she materialized was made of uncooled lava that merely retained shape. It was like liquid that remained in place due to being frozen except the shape she produced didn’t transition into a true solid. Once it was longer than five feet she raced in the direction of the enemy changelings.

“I can’t see anything!” Sarah shouted.

“Try and read her mind!” Jennifer shouted.

“Won’t work,” Kaitlyn said.

As the smoke cleared, Kaitlyn found the botanical changeling right in front of her. She had raced with all her speed towards the creature as the Armor Wielder positioned her sword far to the left in preparation for a swing. Sarah’s last expression was one of immense surprise and panic as she saw the handguard-less, long handled weapon composed of red lava slashed towards her.

“I’m too quick for you,” Kaitlyn said.

The thorn-covered changeling attempted to counter by swinging with her claws but the lava sword sliced Sarah’s open palm in half. When she swung her blade of magma the immense heat of the blade’s edge burned through. The motion of her sword was swift and effortless, as the keen blade combined with the high temperature cleaved her in half. Sarah’s upper torso fell to the ground, leaking greenish blood while her lower half fell towards Kaitlyn.

Soon after Kaitlyn cleaved the changeling in half, the smoke cleared enough that she could make out Jennifer near her. The blue-skinned changeling’s mouth was open with fear and shock as she backed away. Jennifer then held up her hand to initiate a psychic force but Kaitlyn was already prepared.

Just as she felt the push of invisible wind against the front of her body, Kaitlyn began boiling the heat of the Volcanic Armor along that same area. Kaitlyn went from rushing forward, sword held high, to slowly walking toward her target. Against Jennifer’s telekinetic force, it felt like she was walking through syrup, her movements so slowed and awkward Kaitlyn was getting winded with each step.

But Jennifer was exerting herself quite a bit as well. She was straining in the exact same way Timothy was, obviously straining with every movement her target made. The blue-skinned changeling was gritting her teeth with every second and groaning in pain with every step.

Kaitlyn carefully inched her way toward the changeling, glad to see Jennifer was in immense pain as closed the distance. The changeling looked ready to blow a gasket once Kaitlyn grew close enough to swing. The Armor Wielder enjoyed watching Jennifer stare helplessly at her, death marching forward as her eyes widened in fear.

“I-I-” she said. “Am the strong…strongest…changeling…in terms of…t-t-telekinetic…a-a-a-abil-ll-ility.”

“Good,” Kaitlyn said as she breathed hard. “I…”

The Volcanic Armor wielder had finally neared Jennifer enough that her magma sword was held right above the changeling’s head. With a great strain, Kaitlyn lowered the sword onto blue-skinned changeling. At first it felt like trying to swing while being restrained with ropes but once the burning edge touched the female changeling’s shoulder she lost her focus and began seething in pain.

“A-A-A-aaahhh…” Jennifer slowly cried in pain.

“Am the strongest…” Kaitlyn said. “Warrior alive. With…ugh, the greatest willpower.”

The more she lowered the sword composed of lava onto her body, the easier it became. Jennifer was more and more overwhelmed with pain with each passing second as she elicited more primal cries of pain. Kaitlyn kept smiling as the magma sword carved through her shoulder and deeper into her upper torso.

“It’s the same reason…” she said, with the telekinetic force greatly pushing against her greatly weakening. “I don’t consult…ungh…the wielders in my Soul Chamber. Because I…want to do it alone.”

The telekinetic force pushing against her suddenly stopped altogether when the edge of the sword carved down from her shoulder into her upper torso.

“I’ll be the greatest warrior on my own,” Jennifer said. “I don’t need anyone’s help. A true conqueror is like that.”

The magma sword effortlessly sliced through the changeling’s body once the telekinesis fully wore off. In a moment, the changeling’s body was sliced in half, with one portion falling to the right and the other the left. Blue blood spewed from the interior of both portions.

Once Kaitlyn was assured both changelings were dead, she allowed the object of lava to dissipate. After losing its shape, the continuous stream of lava absorbed the liquid that formed the weapon. She then walked around to observe the battlefield.

“Akemi…” she said.

Kaitlyn knelt down to the corpse of the young woman, tracing the edge of her back with her finger. Her clothes burned at the heat of her armor, blackening at the slight touch. Kaitlyn tried to hold back tears at the sight.

“No…” she said. “You weren’t meant to die this way…”

She looked around to find Robert and Luis were nowhere to be seen. As much as she hated not knowing where they were, Kaitlyn accepted there was nothing she could do. Wherever they were, they were no longer within reach to rescue.

She then looked around to find the changeling named Elizabeth and Aaron standing at each other. They were further down the warehouse than the rest of them. They were staring at each other in an awkward gaze. The way they stood in front of each other was a bit awkward, as though they were frozen in place. Kaitlyn felt like she knew the reason.

Probably locked in that mental realm that they had me in. Kaitlyn thought. From what I could discern from my battle with Timothy, it seemed they did that with all of us. Hey…where’s Kyle? And Thomas?

She looked around to find neither were around. Kaitlyn stood up, scanning the warehouse before finding a large hole in the opposing, right wall. It looked as though a giant animal had torn it open with her claws. Some of the experimented creatures lay on the floor near the tear, their transparent containers shattered. She shook her head at the sight.

“What happened there?” Kaitlyn asked.