Kade’s mind reeled as the truth crashed through him. He couldn’t tear his eyes from the creeping frost as it slowly, yet hungrily spread across the dead creature. It never occurred to him to entertain the idea of coincidence; he was immediately certain he was looking at the same phenomenon that had left the ruins of a man in the chamber Kade had just vacated. What had they done to him? What was inside him that was capable of this?
Seemingly in answer, he heard a telltale beeping from his bracer. Lifting his left arm enough to see the display sent fresh pain surging outward from his shoulder, but he forced himself not to look, knowing his grip on consciousness was already far too slight. It took a moment for his eyes to focus as the world seemed to spin around him, but he managed to read the latest messages:
Interface Update!
Ability (1)
[Anomalous Energy Blast]: Rank 1
Cost: Anomalous Energy (Variable)
Description: Release a concentrated blast of anomalous energy. The size and shape of the blast are variable, determined by [Unknown factors]. Warning! Anomalous energy is unaccounted for by Dalton’s Fabulous Bracer of Hope (™), and may have unpredictable effects.
Status Update!
Anomalous Energy Reserves +1
New total: 0/2
Objective Update!
Path: (1) Slay 10 Unstable Manifestations of Chaos
Progress: 1/10
Kade barely managed to finish the last message before the light-headedness left him sprawled back on the cold stone floor. He finally found the nerve to examine his ruined shoulder, and it matched his worst fears with unnerving accuracy. Bone was clearly exposed and the flesh was in bloody ruins. He knew distantly that he needed to stop the bleeding, but realized the creature was still clasped in the hand he’d need to use.
With flagging strength he managed to force his mind to the broken, frozen claw that his right hand had become. He wasn’t certain the hand could even be made to move in its condition, but he turned what little willpower he had to the task. Kade’s face took on a pained grimace as he tried with little success to make the limb obey, but strangely it felt like more than just the pain and damage was preventing him from releasing the creature.
Just as Kade began to wonder if he’d become frozen to the horrible little monster, he experienced another in a series of new, painful sensations. The hand still wrapped around the creature’s head was shaking, almost humming as he gritted his teeth, trying to block out the agony that seemed to come from every part of him. Suddenly he felt a pull, deep inside his chest, and he worried his heart may be taking its last desperate beats. Then all at once it was like the sensation of the so-called “energy blast” but in reverse, as he felt something rip through his already ravaged arm, back toward his body.
Impossible heat sent fresh agony into his ravaged limb, but strangely turned to an equally intense cold as the force of the pain roared up his arm and seemed to disappear into his chest. He gasped as the chill then spread through his body, concentrated in his ruined right arm, and bleeding left shoulder. He inhaled against the sensation that wasn’t quite pain but certainly wasn’t pleasant. The ordeal only lasted a moment, but left him panting and writhing on the floor, his empty right hand now grasped in his left, and cradled against him.
Relief came slowly, but it did come, and Kade eventually managed to steady his breathing and finally examine himself. He was surprised to find his hand empty, as he had no memory of releasing the creature that had attacked him. In disbelief he turned his attention to the wound on his shoulder, trails of steam rising from a layer of frost that had formed over it. His shock escalated as he realized the pain was now a distant thing compared to only moments before. His shoulder was still clearly injured, but it looked like it had happened days earlier, with signs of healing and scar tissue already visible.
His hand wasn’t quite as transformed as his shoulder; the blackened veins still extended to his mid-forearm, but he could move his fingers again–if only slightly. Looking around he couldn’t find any sign of the creature that had attacked him, and by instinct he looked down at the…did it call itself a ‘Fabulous Bracer of Hope’? He immediately resolved to never use the absurd name, but acknowledged that he had long-ago accepted that it was his only guide in this impossible situation.
Surprisingly Kade didn’t find any pending messages waiting for him; it was like the bracer wasn’t aware of the odd sensation or the miraculous healing. Quickly scanning through the existing status information, the only change he found was in the anomalous energy reading, which was now at two of two, up from zero when he’d last looked. The connection seemed obvious, but Kade was equally confident and dismayed that he’d be forced to test his assumptions soon, and likely many times.
Slowly rising to his feet, Kade looked around and considered his options. Neither direction of the endless hallway offered any particular sense of safety or purpose, but Kade was forced to acknowledge that ‘safety’ might be off the table for the foreseeable future. That left purpose, and while he didn’t enjoy that his was partly defined by a space-bracelet he found on his torturer, there weren’t many alternatives before him.
Trying to embrace the equally terrifying and insane situation he was in, Kade took a deep breath then set off in the opposite direction the creature had come from. It wasn’t completely a reaction to the evil little monster with its too-sharp teeth, but if he had to make any kind of choice, walking away from the source of his recent pain and torment seemed like the right one.
Kade continued down the hall, finding that his analytical mind was once again absorbing everything around him. While he took in different types of vegetation, the occasional skeleton of some creature or another, what truly captured him came from a closer examination of the walls. The odd light didn’t provide much illumination, but it was enough to reveal some form of writing carved into the stone. After he noticed it, Kade realized that the writing covered every inch of exposed surface.
While fascinating, it was indecipherable, and quickly faded into the background of his thoughts as he continued down the hall. He found occasional intersections with similar halls disappearing into the darkness, but resolved to follow the first path as far as it would take him–if for no other reason than the simplicity of his path didn’t further tax his exhausted mind.
As he slowly continued forward, he considered his right hand, still throbbing in time to his heartbeat. It was a difficult prospect he was faced with. Even putting aside needing to accept what he was now capable of, the pain had been so intense, and so alien that the thought of experiencing it again was nearly paralyzing. The agony being self-inflicted made it even more difficult, but having a weapon in this place was a comfort. That he was the weapon complicated matters, but not so much that it changed what needed to be done.
His mind turned to the objective his bracer had given him, and the prospect of needing to face at least nine more mysterious creatures in the dark. He needed to use this power, regardless of the consequence, and that meant figuring it out–ideally not while locked in a struggle to the death. With a deep, resigned breath, Kade began experimenting.
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
He began by simply aiming the damaged hand out in front of him, and trying to imagine the feeling of the energy ripping its way out of him, as it had the first time. Trying to willfully recall the intense and unusual pain was an unpleasant experience, and brought him no closer to duplicating the feat. As he continued down the endless hall, he moved on to a method that left him unconsciously looking around to make sure there were no witnesses.
“...energy blast,” he whispered into the darkness. Nothing.
“Energy blast!” this time shouted, and with a flair of the wrist. Nothing.
“Anomalous Energy Blast!” Still nothing.
Kade was equally irritated and relieved as he continued to find no success. Not being subjected to the near-unbearable pain was always something of a blessing, and frankly he didn’t like the idea of screaming the bland name out loud every time he needed to use the power, especially as he expected the circumstances would often be no less dire than his first monster attack. Slow minutes ticked by as he wandered in the near darkness, his attempts to access the ability devolving into shaking his aching hand violently while swearing at it.
Success came nearly as unexpectedly as it had upon his first use of the ability. Perhaps it was how distracted he’d become as he focused his attention no further than the length of his own arm, but when he was finally interrupted by the alarmingly familiar sound of small, rat-like feet skittering across stone, he at last managed to replicate the ability. Whipping around in the direction of the sound, hands protectively out in front of him, he had just enough time to let out a “Wha–?” before the hall erupted in a flash of blue-green light, and the power again was torn through his body, erupting from his outstretched palm.
The pain seemed to explode from inside him, every bit the equal of his first experience with the ability. This time the burning reached even higher up his arm, but was numbed where the veins had already been scorched black from fingertips to wrist. Somewhat prepared for the pain this time, Kade managed to keep his feet, but his mind still felt foggy for more than a minute. Finally as his ragged breathing came back under control, he noticed the blinking notification on his bracer.
Status Update!
Anomalous Energy Reserves +1
New total: 0/3
Objective Update!
Path: (1) Slay 10 Unstable Manifestations of Chaos
Progress: 2/10
Kade smiled in surprise. Apparently his wild, aimless blast had been an unearned bullseye. He was also curious to see that not only had his “Anomalous Energy Reserves” increased once more, but evidently he’d spent more of those reserves on the second blast. He’d have to investigate the results when he found the remains, but having no awareness of having done anything that might affect the energy cost just left him with more frustration.
Pushing himself back into motion, Kade went in search of the creature he’d apparently slain somewhere in the shadows ahead. As he looked, he considered what he remembered of his second use of the mysterious ability. He tried to recall whatever special feeling might have been going through his head when the blast finally went off, or perhaps some connection to the fear that the creatures caused, but truthfully there was nothing. He’d simply been shocked and reacted…reacted without thought, or effort. Kade lifted an eyebrow in consideration. He’d used the ability as effortlessly as he’d have used the hand it came from.
Trying desperately not to try, Kade simply lifted his arm and willed the blast to happen. It didn’t. Kade dropped his aching hand to his side in disappointment, before glancing back to his bracer in realization.
Anomalous Energy Reserves: 0/3
Kade groaned, “I’m an idiot. A sad idiot in a hallway.” He hurriedly returned to his search, counting on the other ability? to restore his reserves as it had the first time. He knew the general location both from the sound he’d heard, and the direction he’d thrown out his arms in panic, so the search didn’t take long. Only the creature’s skin, which was the same stone gray as the hallway itself, made for any difficulty.
He was surprised to find that the creature wasn’t exactly what he remembered of the awful rat-snake. While they both skittered on four sets of horrible little claws, this one had a long tail he couldn’t recall from the first, and its head was almost wolf-like in shape. Further examination came to an abrupt end the moment his left hand came in contact with the creature’s skin. This time Kade was able to watch in abject fascination as frost spread from his fingertips into the scaled hide. He had just enough time to spot a fist-sized hole through its chest–his bullseye– before the frost managed to cover the creature completely.
The moment the frost completed its inexorable journey–covering the wolf-rat entirely–the whole frozen mass seemed to shrink in on itself impossibly fast. Kade had only a brief moment to absorb the sight, as it seemed to pass from creature, to ice, to a spec of light, all before he could blink. The light itself seemed to be the same blue-green–teal?–that had flashed out from his first ability, but he had only a second to compare before the light disappeared into his hand.
Instantly he felt the same wrenching pain sear through him, again giving the impression that the light, or energy was being pulled directly into his chest. Once more the pain shifted to an intense chill that flowed back outward toward his injured shoulder and hand. He handled the pain better, feeling somewhat inured to the experience having gone through it before. Mostly he found he was excited to watch his shoulder, as it healed itself before his eyes. Witnessing the experience again, Kade finally allowed himself to whisper the word “magic”, realizing his reflexive disbelief was fading with each miracle.
His sense of awe quickly gave way to curiosity as his eyes came to rest on his right arm, noticing that the blacked, charred veins were still present. Worse, his left hand–the one he’d used to touch the creature–was now sporting its own series of weaving black veins, though they didn’t travel as far up that arm. That at least told him that there didn’t appear to be any real significance to his right arm; he’d started to wonder if it was somehow his magic arm, which was a thought he’d refused to articulate until it was proven one way or another. For better or worse, whatever had been done to Kade appeared to affect his whole body.
Turning his mind back to his experimentation, Kade glanced at his bracer to confirm that his energy reserves were indeed back to their maximum. This answered a question as well, as his maximum had increased since he last–absorbed?–a fallen creature, and he couldn’t be sure how much energy he was capable of getting from them. Putting that aside, he began lifting his hand in trepidation and excitement, preparing to test his latest theory.
Just as he once again began to not try to blast energy from his body, he had a stray thought that he was about to potentially use up his only weapon in this terrible place. Before he could focus on the thought, he felt that increasingly familiar pain tearing through him, and once more the hallway was briefly illuminated as a blast of energy escaped his hand, sending a small shower of stone chips flying through the air as it collided with a wall some distance away.
Panic–now becoming something of a companion in these dark halls–almost completely pulled Kade’s mind away from the pain, as he hurriedly looked to his bracer. Relief was equally powerful as he saw the reading blessedly read two of three. He let out a breath. Not only had he managed to use the ability intentionally, but apparently he’d answered the question of whether he was capable of controlling the energy cost. He even theorized that his own desire not to spend all of his energy was what had ultimately shaped the blast he used.
Kade quickly inspected the damage to the wall, finding that it was bullet-hole sized, much like his first use of the ability. Smiling to himself, he realized he was actually excited to try to keep using the ability, in spite of the price of pain that accompanied it. More than just that, he was starting to get a vague sense of hope–certainly tied to his no longer feeling powerless–but he admitted to himself that the situation just felt different the moment he began to accept it. He wasn’t sure accepting the situation was necessarily wise, but he was surprised at how much of his mind had been occupied with stubborn denial.
Kade resolved that things would be different going forward. Maybe tomorrow he’d wake up in a hospital and find this had been some coma-dream, or worse, but for today he was a man lost in a world of magic and monsters, and he wasn’t powerless. He stood up a little straighter, flexed his stiff and aching hands–quietly resolved to himself not to make any more squeaks of terror–then went hunting.