Sheetal tried to take in a sharp breath but stopped when the pain in her side flared. She touched her side gingerly and groaned when her fingers brushed her broken rib. She felt A197 grab her by hair and lift her head up. That pain of her hair being pulled compared to what her body was going through was just another drop in the bucket.
Honestly, the pain wasn’t what was bothering her. She had lived with pain all her life. It was the humiliation that was bothering her. She had been treated like this, ever. It made her feel like a piece of trash. Slowly beneath the pain, the bruises, and the cuts her anger was simmering. And she wanted to let it all out.
A197 leaned down in her face and with a spittle flying from his mouth screamed “Get up you pathetic cripple!”
Sheetal thought about complying. No, she did not want to just get up. She wanted to fly up and bring hell down upon this cyborg but even as the obnoxious man pulled her up by her hair, the pain in her midsection flared and Sheetal crumpled to the muddy ground.
A197 growled and tossed her head down. He looked around at the standing nishachars all around him and asked “Well? Are you all going to just stand there or are you going to help?”
The nishachars ignored A197 and looked away.
A197 snarled “Fine! Have it your way.”
He clenched his fingers into a fist and brought a punch down on the side of Sheetal’s head. Sheetal felt something in her face crunch and then her eyes rolled up to the back of her head. She teetered for a second and then crumpled down to the ground.
A197 looked at the nishachars and vetaals looking at him in disgust and with a roll of his eyes, gathered a fist full of Sheetal’s hair in one hand. With a snarl on his face he used the warder’s hair to drag her over the squishy loamy soil.
When Sheetal came to, her head was spinning and she had a sense of emptiness deep inside her. It was like all of her being was missing something essential to keep her going. She felt short of breath, dehydrated, and hungry at the same time. And yet she couldn’t find the will to raise her head to voice those concerns.
Her eyes blinked and her hud flashed in her vision.
Injuries repaired.
Lung punctures - 2
Broken ribs - 3
Cheek bone fracture
Brain Bruise
Cuts
Warning!
Potentiality at 0.5%
Healing halted.
As Sheetal watched her hud a large portion of potentiality flooded into her potentiality bar and then her body began to automatically heal. The affected areas began glowing, her bruises vanished and the tightness in her body disappeared.
Thwack!
Sheetal reeled with the open handed slap across her face and spat out blood. She tried to right herself then stumbled to the ground. She tried to protect her face with her hands but her coordination was off. And her face made contact with the muddy ground.
“What have I been telling you, you cow? ” A197 screamed at Sheetal.
He grabbed her by her hair and lifted her up. Spittle flew out of his mouth as he screamed inches from her face.
“What did I say? You worthless swine? No…”
Smack
“Magic!”
Smack
A197 threw Sheetal into a puddle next to someone’s feet “Here, you wanted the warder shard. Here it is.”
Sheetal looked up to see who A197 was talking to and blinked. The man was a strange thing. He was a scaleless humanoid lizard with an unnaturally long torso. His muscular legs were shorter and his arms ended in strange claws like fingers. When the man opened his mouth, he revealed a sharp fork tongue and needle teeth.
Vetaal
Mage - Class 1 Ascended
Affiliation - Rakshasa Empire
Faction - Kapasura
A strange fear went down Sheetal’s spine at the sight of the strange creature. The thing was what nightmares were made of and her mind recoiled at the sight. Sheetal tried to scoot away from the strange creature and looked all around her. And almost curled into a ball at the sight.
There were more of these vetaal things and nishachars all around her. They had arrayed her and the continuum soldiers in a circle blocking their exit. Her eye caught a nishachars cold dispassionate look as she sharpened her dagger with a stone and then her eyes went to a vetaal giving her a hungry look while drooling.
The bone chilling sight made her hands shake and skin prickle. Sheetal took in a breath and looked wildly everywhere. There was no escape. These things had her surrounded and all she could do was curl up in a ball and close her eyes. Just when she was about to wilt a steady thrum from somewhere in her mind steadied her.
Ting!
Resisted - Fear.
Affected - Fear.
Resisted - Fear.
Affected - Fear.
Sheetal looked at her hud and saw the floating mental shard glowing and dimming periodically. Slowly she began to realise that this fear was just like the strange effect the earlier nishachar constable had used. Her shard was trying to combat it but it was failing.
Sheetal glared at her hud for an answer. She needed to do something to stop this effect. Then her eyes landed on a shard. This one was not in her soul space. It was in her storage.
Warder Storage
Shards - 1
Strength
Crecks - 27
Sheetal disregarded her crecks and looked at the strength shard. It was the shard niether she or ash had wanted to use. Ash didn’t want muscular arms and she didn’t want to change anything fundamental about herself. Now, she couldn’t afford to not use the shard.
Sheetal gulped and with her eyes closed made her choice. A moment later the strength shard appeared next to her mental shard and began rotating around it. With every orbit it sent a pulse into her mind that made her mind stutter. Sheetal gritted her teeth and withstood the strange pain. The speed of the rotations increased ten fold, and then those increased ten more fold. Soon the shard was a blur in her minds eye. With a crack, the shard broke apart into dust. The dust maintained the orbit for a few more rotations. But then it fell inwards, coating her white mental shard in fine glittering red dust.
Shard Upgraded
Mental Shard
Class 1.1
A warmth suffused her mind. The result wasn’t externally grand. There were no glowing lights, there wasn’t an outward improvement but inside her head things steadied and clicked. When she opened her eyes, she no longer felt afraid.
Sheetal’s eyes went to the nishachar women sharpening her dagger. Now the blue women looked bored. She turned to look at the drooling vetaal and blinked. The creature didn’t look hungry, he looked disturbed. His eyes were still on her but were dull and the scars on his head spoke to his mental challenges. And that explained the constant drool dripping down his chin.
“No. No. No! We said we wanted the shard. Not a warder.”
Sheetal now could focus on the conversation happening between A197 and the vetaal dressed in black and red cowl. His voice was nasally but somehow cultured.
The vetaal squinted unhappily as he looked from A197 to her. This time his gesture didn’t feel threatening but more like that of a cornered animal in fear.
A197 tightened his hands on his rifle “Well you can have both. The warder and the shard.”
“No!” The vetaal shrieked “Not the warder.”
“Then kill her. I don’t care. Just give me back my major.” Taran A197 pointed to a crumpled form behind the mage vetaal.
The vetaal turned slightly and then shook his head “No. No deal. You promise a shard. You give us a shard.”
A197 growled “What? No. You kill her and you take the shard. Just return the major back to me.”
“No.No.No. No. No. Deal was for, warder shard. We don’t want trouble with the silver city or the Kel. You kill her. Not here. This place, ours. You kill her outside. You take the trouble. We take, shard.” The vetaal actually took a step back from Sheetal.
Sheetal felt another rush of potentiality seep into her. There had been a trickle before but now the trickle was turning into a rush. She did not know how but she could feel Ash fighting and coming towards her.
Sheetal watched A197 and the silent continuum soldier standing next to him. The both looked on edge and were moments away from violence. With a start she realised they were feeling the fear. Whatever this mage had done was causing fear. And it was not just directed at her but at everyone in the circle.
Sheetal felt like laughing at the revelation. Before she did she caught herself. This was no time to laugh. She was surrounded and in a dire predicament. Her mind whirled as she analysed the feeling. Shortly, she recognised where the feeling had originated from.
It was from the Ash. She could feel his amusement at his superiority and could feel his euphoria but beyond that was a growing ache. Right in her…In his chest. A pain that ran through her never and left a sharp tingling behind. A pain that was followed by an ominous feeling that left her short of breath. A pain that almost shut her down by completely overshadowing all her aches and breaks. And then like a momentary breeze the pain was gone. All that was left was a knot in her bones.
What in the hells was Ash doing? Just as she asked the question she knew the answer. Ash was pushing himself. The way she had asked him not to. And he was doing it all because of her. He was coming for her and she was here stuck between the Raks and the continuum traitors.
She couldn’t let him die. He was her little… her... Well she did not know but she needed to do something. She lifted herself off the ground.
Thump.
A kick impacted her stomach and she coughed.
“Stay down cripple.” A197 screamed
“Stop!” The lizard man hissed. “You will not harm the warder in front of me.”
A197 snarled “Shut up, vetaal. She is my prisoner. I will treat her whichever way I want to.”
The vetaal cursed in a clicking clacking language.
A197 looked wildly at all the nishachars and vetaal surrounding them and then to his squad mate “A303. What do we do?”
A303 looked at A197 for a moment and then used his fingers to sign something back.
“I know. I know. We can’t kill her but can't you see it already in our huds. We are already red.” A197 muttered.
Aditya A303 violently gestured again.
“If we do not kill her and give these mutated scum the shards we are signing off on the major’s death.” Tar continued.
There was silence for a moment and then A197 continued.
“Ruby F is already dead. Our team is splintering and it is all because of these outsiders.” A197 snarled.
Aditya A303 seemed to sigh and shrug.
A197 gave his friend a morbid smile and asked “Are you with me?”
There was silence for a moment. In the lingering silence a group of people rushed into the circle created by guards and bodies. The new group started clicking and chattering. Then the Vetaal standing over her rushed over to them and asked something in the same clicking chattering language.
After a few more back and forths, the vetaal whirled and pointed at Taran A197.
“You! There are two?”
“What?
“There are two warders?” The vetaal’s voice rose higher.
A197 reeled back “No. I mean yes. But he couldn’t be foolish enough to come in here.”
“Then why are my people dying at the hands of a warder?”
Sheetal couldn’t help herself. She chuckled.
She had wanted to wait. She should have waited. But nevertheless her potentiality bar was almost full and growing every second. And now was the time for her to act.
“What are you laughing at, you worthless pig?” A197 growled.
Sheetal slowly picked herself up and looked at the man who had broken her bones. She did not say anything, just sat up with a fierce smile on her face. She took in a wheezing breath and then looked at Taran A197 with his broken faceplate.
A197 growled and unholstered his weapon “You want to play it tough? Fine. I will put you down like the rabid dog you are.”
Before A197 could even reach for his gun Sheetal pushed all her gathered potentiality into the ball of shards in her constellation. The ball glowed in the space in her soul. Outside it Sheetal shot up and straight into the sky.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
T and the rest of the party shot at a group of entrenched enemies trying to flank Ash. They all fell back. Some with burns on the skin, others had holes. But within moments, Taran E65 knew they would be hail and then they would come charging back at them.
“Jay 83, I am reloading.” T shouted and saw 83 came running past him and extended his palm. A transparent crackling shield appeared in front of him and dug into the ground.
This version of shield took a lot more potentiality. As did the amount of shots they were firing into the enemy. But with the party link, and the amount of potentiality seeping into them from Ash’s kills, they could shoot like this for days. That wasn’t the problem. The mad warder burning from inside was.
T looked at the warder madly laughing while he battled the Raks. In the beginning he and the rest of the continuum soldiers had watched the mad warder in silence for a long moment.
The man hadn’t vaulted the barrels like E65 had expected him to. If he had done that, E65 would have grabbed the crazy idiot. Much later he realised that wasn’t Ash’s plan. Air, after all, wouldn’t have allowed him to rush into the enemy. Instead he had angled himself to the side and rushed past the continuum soldiers in a blur of movement.
When he hit the enemy his tonfas were out and strange inside a vetaal’s orbital socket and a nishachars throat. The next moment he was bludgeoning another nishachar, while his other stick that he called a tonfa was lodged into a vetaal head handle first. Then he twirled and began to dance. His attacks went from angular to erratic. He was all grace, with spiralling movements, peri outing kicks, and fluid strikes.
Just as the enemy got used to his movement, he changed his attacks once again. He took a nishachars down, suplexed a vetaal and tripped a third enemy. Then shot up to his feet to crush the vetaal’s skull, bludgeoned a stumbling nishachar, and tripped others with a sweeping kick.
The enemy reeled and pulled back into a huddle. E65 didn’t blame them. When you saw a man burning his essence you stood back and let him run out of it and die. The only problem was that Ash wasn’t a ascended. He was a warder with a pool of potentiality larger than any ascended.
So when the enemy pulled back Ash just watched them with his head cocked with a clueless expression. And then began walking towards the Raks.
T noted the enemy moving to snipe at Ash and tried to pull him back.
“Warder Ash.” T called out to him.
Ash didn’t reply.
“Warder. Ash!”
Ash spin kicked a vetaal. It landed with a crack and T saw flakes of burned skin fall of the warder. The crazy man didn’t stop. He carried the momentum, spun and swept another nishachar of his feet while shoot a rude gesture at T.
E65 literally saw the man’s finger bones illuminated with a fire burning inside his skin.
T who had been poking his head over the barrels stood up and shouted “Ash!”
Ash drop kicked a nishachar into the rest of the people. No it wasn’t a martial arts dropkick, it wasn’t one leg folded under the other. This was a pro wrestling drop kick. All flash and barely and impact. And yet, the poor nishachar flew through the air, tumbling into a bunch of arms and legs.
Ash sprang back up, after landing face first in the mud, and shouted at T “What!?”
“Ash, sooner or later, they are all going to pile up on you. Pull back.”
Ash snorted “T! Stop giving the enemy ideas.”
E65 looked at the Raks. They were looking at Ash with befuddlement. Ash turned to look at them and snarled. The Raks took two steps back and jerked their weapons up.
“Ash, you are burning up. Come back.” T hissed in a loud whisper.
“What?” Ash gave T a confused look.
T didn’t see Ash’s look as much as the outline of his skull and just ended up looking exasperated.
Ash ignored T. Honestly, he did not know what the man’s problem was. Speaking of problem’s, the bottom of his hud was being annoying again. Hadn’t the man who designed this stupid interface ever been in battle? A man needed his peripheral vision to fight. Anything that blocked it and distracted them, could end up with their head split open. So he took this moment to shut it off and he was about to until his eyes ran over the new text. He cocked his head to one side in confusion.
Soul Weapons - Soul Eater and Soul Drinker Upgrade Available.
Create Soul Bond?
Yes / No?
Warning excess souls will be used in the upgrades.
Ash hit yes to dismiss the annoying message. Only for the message to be replaced by another.
New Weapon Upgrade - Block
Type - Soul Drinker
Souls Consumed - 0/20
New Weapon Upgrade - Peirce
Type - Soul Eater
Souls Consumed - 0/20
Excess soul particles have been used to create - Will of the weapons.
Soul Drinker
Will - 1/20
Soul Eater
Will - 2/20
Ash would have dismissed the message and shut his hud off but just as he accepted the first upgrade a sense of his weapons bloomed inside him. They suddenly felt like extensions of him. Underneath his hands grooves formed to fit his palms perfectly. He twirled his tonfas and the grooves smoothened out to adjust to his moves.
Ash cackled and the group of sword wielding nishachars and one very beaten up vetaal took a step back in hunger.
“Ash!” E65 yelled and ordered “Don’t.”
Ash looked at T “Why?”
“Because, they will rush you.”
Ash snorted “They are not going to do that. Look, they keep backing off every time I take a step.”
“That’s because they are waiting for you to die.”
“What?” Ash shook his head.
E65 took in a deep breath and in a loud whisper tried to explain “You are burning potentiality. That is your essence. That is everything you are and you are going to be. You need to stop. You can only burn your potentiality for a maximum of ten seconds then you die.”
Ash scratch his chin and mud and flakes of burning skin fell to the floor.
“But I have been doing this for like, minutes?”
“I know.” T shouted in frustration.
“Maybe what I am doing is something else that what you are talking about?”
“No. No, its not.”
E65 looked at Parvati M for support. She gave him the go ahead gesture and he continued “Ash, we all have seen this before. Man burns his potentiality when he is surrounded, fights like a wild animal, then crumbles to…ash.” T grimaced at the end.
Ash looked from T to needles “Really? Doesn’t feel like I am doing that. Its just a bit of pain. Okay, who am I kidding its a lot of pain. Honestly, it feels like someone is scrapping my bones with a red hot knife.” His voice became hoarse with pain at the end of the last sentence and his head itself with clenched eyes.
T took in a sharp breath and after a shared look with Parvati M waved at Ash to come back.
“Ash, its okay my friend. Come back. We will take care of you.”
Ash stood there for a moment and then slowly lifted his head up to look at the Raks and started.
“But. Then I look at these blue biggest and the scaly little ones and forget all about the pain. They took her from me. She is mine. And I have half a bar full of potentiality. And every time I kill one of them, I get more. So, I can do this for days. They have hundreds. I will kill hundreds. I will only stop when I get She back.”
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
One of the nishachars facing Ash muttered “Half a bar?”
Ash gave the man a flat look.
“That’s… That’s not possible. Unless…” The blue man’s eyes widened and he screamed “Warder! He is a warder. Mages! Take him down now!”
“Oh gods. No.” Taran E65 muttered as he saw the people on the platforms move.
Mages pushed their way to the front and aimed their staffs down. They had been concerned about hitting their own but now they wanted to take Ash down before he could respond.
Jay 84 pointed above them “Look at the platforms above. They are all…”
“I know!” E65 cut Jay off and looked at the other side of the muddy road.
Parvati M141 who had been silent up till now sighed and tried to reason with Ash “Warder Ash, we need to work together. You are not well. Your body is continuously taking damage. You are glowing all over. You need to stop.”
“No.” Ash who had his eyes trained on the nearest platform answered sternly and then with a hint of laughter in voice “You all work together. I will… just kill.”
Taran E65 shook his head “Why are you being so obstinate?”
Ash spun his tonfas out and pushed his feet into the mud until he got a grip on the rocks below. The mages raised their hands and Ash shot a spurt of potentiality into his shards. The world slowed and in that moment he waited for the mages to aim while thinking about the answer to T’s question.
Standing there in front of all the enemies Ash took a moment to put his feelings into words. How could he explain why he wanted to rush in and kill everything he saw? Because it would distract him from his pain? Yes, that was a factor. Because his adrenaline addled brain was forcing him to run, jump, or just do anything? Yes, that was a factor too. Also, he was getting a hint of hunger from his weapons. They were urging him to fight so that they could feed and grow. So that was a reason too.
But the real reason left his emotions were a jumbled mess. Those were factors. But they were just the superficial layer.
It was the deeper feelings that were driving him to action. The anger, the frustration, the fear, the… the… With a jolt of clarity he realised that those feelings were not his. They were from Sheetal. For a long heartbeat he looked at those feelings and wondered if he should continue his headlong charge? Of course he wanted to. He wanted to save Sheetal. She was his. But why was that? Just thinking about the fact left him conflicted. He was someone who had killed tens of people just to keep his cover identity while spying, and let tens of others die just because his assignment demanded it, and not to mention the handful of people he had just let die because it was convenient and feeling lazy. And now something inside him was compelling him to get Sheetal back just this second.
He eyes focussed on the mages. They were almost done. Ash looked inwards and focussed on the helplessness Sheetal was feeling tainted with spikes of pain, mind numbing fear and bubbling anger. He was used to ignoring his pain and emotions but these were distinct from his. Maybe that is why he was feeling things. He hated feeling things. But compared to earlier, when all he saw red, the feelings things had subsided somewhat. Why was that? Could it be… Could the reasons for that standing right in front of him.
“Ash? Are you even listening to us?” T asked from behind him.
“No.” Ash answered distractedly.
“For the love of light.” E65 grumbled and then asked “What is going on with you?”
Ash grimaced and then his eyes lit up. T and others were connected to him with this computer system. Maybe he didn’t need to explain. He looked at his hud and at the bottom of his screen he saw their names and statuses. So, yes, he really didn’t need to explain.
Ash looked back and asked “Don’t you feel it?”
“Feel what?” E65 asked.
“Focus on it and you will get it.’
“Get what?”
“The more I kill, the less pain we will feel from Sheetal. That means I am doing something right, right?”
E65 looked at Parvati M and mouthed “Has he lost his mind?”
Parvati shook her head and mouthed back “I don’t know.”
When he turned back to Ash all he saw were magical chains, bolts, a beam and even a set of conjured knives impact the place where Ash was standing. And then he heard cries of pain and surprise from the enemies in the front. T wiped his visor, and looked ahead. He saw the mad warder blur into motion after taking down a the pitiful looking vetaal and appear over a fallen nishachars. He stomped down on the blue man’s head and then looked at the others hungrily.
For a moment everyone just stood there in a shocked silence and then all hell broke loose.
T didn’t waste a moment. E65 raised his rifle and lowered it. With Ash’s movements he did not know where to shoot. Instead he began yelling out orders to coordinate with his new teammates.
“Everyone, pick out targets of opportunity and combine your shots to put them down. Make sure not to hit the warder.”
One rifle didn’t do enough damage. Before a shot could take down the enemy, their potentiality rushed in and healed them. But two or three weapons could put an enemy down and keep them down.
Jay 84 yelled out over the screams and shouts “E65 I am with you. Let's focus on the flanks and combine our shots.”
T nodded and together they began to shoot into the enemy.
Watching the results of their shots, Parvati M yelled over the noise “83, you and I will aim above. Together we can neutralise the one on the platforms. 83 drop your shield on my mark. 3…2…1…Mark!”
T nodded as blue beams shot into the sky and the magical fire cut off. He shouted. “Good. We are going to burn the ones on the warder’s right flank. M142, once you are done prioritise any that try to flank the warder.” E65 ordered.
E65 began shooting and M142 replied on the channel with a sarcastic “Okay, T sir, yes sir.”
T grimaced and in a disgruntled tone muttered “Please don’t call me that.”
“Tell that to the warder.” Needles muttered.
T looked at Ash. The man, no, the warder was a buzzsaw. Everywhere he went enemies fell in droves. Behind him was just ash. Some of it was his, but almost all of it was the enemies. It mingled with the water creating sooty mud leaving behind sparkling shards that none of them had the time to pick up. Just watching him sent shivers down his spine. And then came his unhinged laughter.
Jay 83 chuckled “Yup. you are stuck with that name now, E65.”
“Dang it.” T cursed.
In front, Ash was on the razor’s edge. He knew that as soon as he ran out of potentiality his heart would stop and yet, he had never felt so alive. The adrenaline. The visceral need to keep on killing and the fear in the floundering enemies eyes made him cackle.
Left. Right. Strike.
Left. Right. Right. Strike. Strike.
Left. Forward. Strike.
Right. Left. Strike
Kick. Strike
New Weapon Upgrade - Block
Soul Drinker
Will - 5/20
New Weapon Upgrade - Peirce
Soul Eater
Will - 7/20
Ash felt the potentiality rush out of him like water with every footstep and every move. But with every kill more came rushing in. Not only, his jittering heart healed and sent a wave of pleasure with every kill. It was like he was in a trance. His breathing levelled out and his began to listen to him like it had never before.
Enemies stabbed, slashed, clawed, and bit. But he was faster than them. And still, some of them connected. He didn’t see any blood but his t-shirt was slaughtered and hanging off him in strips. Even if they had connected, his mind wouldn’t have felt it over the numbing pain he was feeling deep inside him.
That last thought almost loose his footing and he focussed on the battle and let his mind go blank.
War Mode - Active
Evaluating Shards.
Assigning Combat Role - Berserker.
Ash didn’t see the message but felt its effects. His strange sight became easier to comprehend. He didn’t look at enemies but the shards inside them. He saw a vetaal’s shards flash. He felt a sense of sharp sensation from the creatures and swayed away from the claw strike. His hand moved on its own and soul eater came up as if it was an extension of him. He didn’t even aim the thrust of his blow and yet it connected with the vetaals temple and dug in. At the same, he saw another flash from a green shard and felt a sickly smell tickle his nose. This time soul drinker moved and parried a lunging staff thrust from one of the nishachars.
Ash lifted his leg and kicked the lunging nishachar in his face and twirled further into the enemy. More flashed lit up his vision and he moved to counter them. Then he started to notice the potentiality rushing into those shards. He parried a weapon thrust and whirled into a swordswoman before she could activate her shards. Soul Eater crushed her larynx and he stood there for a second looking down at enemies that had stimied him.
“This was my favourite white shirt. You slaughtered it.” Ash said in a conversational tone and continued “If you wanted me out of this shirt all you needed to do was ask. Now..”
Ash disappeared and reappeared stabbing soul drinker into the mouth of a vetaal before he began his lunge. And continued in the same tone “Now, I will have to kill you. I know it doesn’t look like much.”
Ash moved diagonally and eliminated another enemy “But that was Dior, buttheads.”
Ash’s sudden speed, erratic movements and ability to know what the enemy was going to do before they did had a cascading effect on the Raks. Ash continued trash talking and laughing.
He needed to break their spirits rather than kill them. There were hundreds of the blue guys and gals. Not to mention the half human lizards and they kept popping up in front of him. Also the pain in his body had started to travel outwards and now a new burning feeling erupted on his skin. Ash tried to ignore the pain and lashed out at the enemy. With every kill, the pain faded, and then it came back.
Ash sped up his footwork, putting down enemies faster than before. One turned in two, two turned into five and then everything blurred together. Soon he found himself in the open with enemies backing away from him.
Ash coughed and spat out a blob of blood and Ash. He turned his cough into in a sultry laughter and shouted at the retreating foes
“Oh don’t be like that. Come a little closer. Let me touch those firm bodies and run my weapons on your brilliant blue skin.”
The enemy looked at him like he was a wild animal and tightened their hands on their weapons.
“No?” Ash asked.
He shot a rush of potentiality into his shards and weapons.
“Well then, I guess I will just have to come to you.”
As soon as his last word ended Ash appeared next to a wide eyed vetaal. He brought his tonfa down. The poor creature’s head exploded. Once again the enemies reeled under his assault.
T and panted and cursed “By the light! This guy is insane.”
Parvati M who was running and gunning besides him nodded “Yes but we are making excellent time and getting much needed kills.”
“Are you kidding me?”
T asked while pointing his rifle at a platform. He shot two volleys and so did his party members. Seconds later all that was left in front of them were bodies turning into ash and dust.
E65 took in a breath and stated “Ash is moving too fast and we are in the open. We need to get behind cover.”
Parvati M141 pointed and smiled “Look he stopped.”
Taran E65 turned and looked just as Ash spun and brought both of his tonfas upon a vetaal. They impacted the dumb creatures cheek and the things head erupted in gore.
Ash chuckled “Heh! Heh! Heh! Did you see that T? That guy exploded like a watermelon.”
E65 grimaced and in a whisper asked Parvati M “How is he doing?”
Parvati M141 was not a pure assault class. She was a frontline medic. That is why alongside the normal identification of her party members she usually saw their life signs. With the young warder’s new hud she saw everything that was ailing them just as she focussed on them. It was a lot but it took only a moment for her to parse out the information and relay all of it to E65.
“He is not good E65. He has potentiality. That is not the problem. He has stopped burning all his stored fat and now his body is cannibalising itself. His proteins, his calcium, his minerals and everything else are all being consumed and reused to keep him moving.”
“T?”
E65 looked at Ash. He was thinner. And was he shorter too?
E65 looked at Parvati M “Can you help him?”
Needles licked her lips and nodded “I can if he stops in time.”
“TEEEEE…EEEE? Are you ignoring me?” Ash screamed from up ahead.
83 laughed “T, he is calling you T again.”
E65 gave the man a withering look and asked “What do you want?”
“Do you want to speed this up?” Ash asked in a jovial tone.
E65 who was moving as fast as he could looked at his people with an open mouth.
“You know what? You guys take your time. T, I am just going to pick up the pace now. Come see me when you catch up.”
T looked at Parvati and the Jays and asked “This wasn’t fast enough for him?”
Jay 84 chuckled “Apparently not. Also, if you don’t do something soon I am going to start calling you T, too.”
E65 shut his mouth with a clack and turned to glare at Ash and saw him run from one foe to another. He didn’t even wait to watch them crumple. He just sped past them.
T cleared his throat and began “You know… I… Uh… Yeah… I… I think I will take that up with him later. When he is not acting like a mad man.”
The channel was silent for a moment and then he heard 84 mutter “Oh he is going to be T for the rest of his life.”
Then chuckles erupted from all the party members.
“Why is everyone laughing? I want to know the joke too.”
T grumbled “Nothing. We were just talking about how you were going to run yourself into a sword.”
Ash was about to respond when he felt Sheetal move. His eyes drifted up to the sky. There he saw a dirty Sheetal shooting a death glare down at someone below.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
War Mode - Activated
Evaluating Shards
Assigning Combat Role - Battle Mage.
Sheetal looked at the pulsing text at the bottom of her screen and then down at A197. The man looked at her with a thunderous expression. He began to raise his weapon. And Sheetal pushed potentiality into her shards. With a jerk she flew backwards and zig zagged before he could aim.
A197 let out a series of shots in the air. She jerked herself lower and kept flying. She zipped over the head of the vetaals and nishachars and over the blockade of the enemy camp and into the open.
She took a breath and looked at her hud. It had changed. The spinning ball was gone. Instead there was very little information on her screen. Instead of all the info, her hud highlighted enemies in varying shades of red. Red that there and yet not there. One of the red dots lit up and began charging towards her. Couple of red dots followed the first one.
Sheetal turned towards it, her vision sort of zoomed and focussed on an ugly grimace on Taran A197’s face. Sheetal duked to the left and then flicked out a finger. A197 was suddenly tossed into the air. He toppled head over heels but somehow landed on his feet.
Sheetal blinked. How had she done that?
Suddenly, something happened. It was like something folded inside her and imprinted, no, not imprinted, released a packet of information inside her brain. It felt like she already knew how when she hadn’t earlier. And alongside that use of her gravity shard there was more. The way she was unconsciously using the air before her to create lenses that had focussed on the enemy. The way she was using polar shards to keep her oriented. The way she was all three to fly higher and faster. Her mind registered all those changes and she knew, if she hadn’t used the mind shard she wouldn’t have even registered the changes.
In her distraction she had lost sight of A197. Suddenly a red dot pulsed warningly and her eyes zoomed and focussed on the continuum soldier. In a fluid motion he raised his weapon and aimed. He focussed and before Sheetal could react and pressed on the trigger.
Just as the weapon was about to discharge the vetaal mage ran to Taran A197’s side and pushed his weapon off course. A blue laser beam shot past her. Sheetal looked down in shock and took in sharp breaths while watching the mage and Taran A197 argue.
In her hud the mage slowly turned from red to orange. He shouted something at the top his lungs in the clicking clacking language. Sheetal watched as red outlines began to turn to orange. Except the ones that were out in the distance. A zap of pain hit her extremities as she looked in the distance and she smelled Ash’s minty lavender scented shampoo.
Before she could even think about the smell Sheetal was flying towards Ash. Sheetal duked downwards and sped backwards only a few feet over the ground. She used her wind shard to turn herself over and saw startled blue people part like water in front of her. Orange meant they weren’t friendly but they weren’t hostile either. So, Sheetal didn’t stop and fight. She kept flying a handful of feet over them.
A map appeared on the side of her vision. One of the red dots pulsed on it rapidly. She spun herself until her back was facing the ground and looked. She saw A197 explode out of a rush of blue skinned nishachars closely followed by Aditya A303. Her hud highlighted them and the map disappeared.
Taran A197 looked at her and pointed at A303. Aditya A303 nodded his helmeted head. He raised his rifle with Taran A197. A197 said something with an ugly grimace and then his grimace turned into a grin. Taran A197 fired. Besides him Aditya A303 joined him.
Sheetal eyes widened. She had expected beams and moved left. Instead, pulsating missiles flew towards her.
Sheetal banked to the right. The missiles moved with her. Sheetal flew higher. The missiles gained elevation. Sheetal rolled to the left. The pulses flew past her and then…Turned.
Sheetal shot herself downwards. The missiles began to gain speed. Sheetal saw a vacant platform. She flew past it and diverted her gravity shard use for a moment. It was like the jets powering her had shut off for a moment. And she fell weightlessly towards the ground. It was an unnerving moment but she used it to nudge the platform in the way of the missiles.
Boom. Bang!
Sheetal watched as the missiles exploded behind her and then shot a stream of potentiality towards her gravity, wind and polar forces shards. Her descent slowed and she jolted to a stop inches above the ground.
Sheetal panted and tried to get her heart to settle down.
“Nice flying. But you are dead meat bi…”
Sheetal shut her eyes as A197 and A303 appeared from the side and pulled their triggers. Sheetal felt it when someone appeared in her field of gravity and rushed past her. She opened her eyes as a large man interposed himself in between her and the shots.
Jay 83’s hand shot out and a crackling shield appeared in it. Sheetal squinted as their shots connected with the man. 83 leaned into his transparent shield. The man skidded back and Sheetal used her powers to steady him. The large man nodded and a moment later stood up on steady feet. His shield on the other hand cracked and broke before fizzling out.
“83? Why?” Taran A197 asked.
Jay 83 rang out his stinging arm and shook his head “Tar. How could you?”
Sheetal came to stop behind 83 as he pushed potentiality out his arms and created a new shield.
Taran A197 cracked his neck and raised his rifle “Fine. If you want to stand by her, you can die with her.”
Jay 83 raised his shield and placed his own over it. Sheetal raised her arms outwards ready to flick her fingers and then before anybody could say or do anything more something large and heavy fell into the water behind Taran A197 and Aditya 303. The water erupted and a wave splashed on the gathered combatants. As it settled down and the mist from the explosion cleared a ten foot tall, four armed man, with an over and underbite appeared. The water dripped off his tanned brown skin as he glared at everyone in front of him. The man glared at everyone and then turned his angry eyes at the mage vetaal weaselling his way to him.
Sheetal’s hud pinged.
Name - Kapas
Type - Class 2 Asura
Affiliation - Rakshasa Empire
Faction - Kapasura
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ash was pulling out soul drinker from an enemies mouth when a large wave of water came crashing down on him. It pushed him of his feet and Ash lost his grip on one of his tonfas. Ash wiped his face free from the water and looked up. He saw a nishachar looking at him and his fallen tonfa in front of him. Ash scrambled towards the weapon but the Nishachar hand came down on it first and he triumphantly ginned at Ash.
The nishachar’s grin turned into a scream which was cut off as his body burned up from inside as soul eater ripped his essence out and into itself. Then weapon sort of bucked and landed close to Ash. He picked it up and the tonfa purred in his hand.
New Weapon Upgrade - Block
Soul Drinker
Will - 18/20
New Weapon Upgrade - Peirce
Soul Eater
Will - 19/20
Ash smiled down at his weapon and petted it “Who’s a cute kitten? Yes, you are. Yes, you are.” He turned to soul drinker and in baby talk continued “Don’t get jealous you. You are the pretty kitten. Yes, the pretty kitten.”
Ash looked up to see the eyes of his enemies. His unhinged banter and talk unnerved them and fear reflected in their eyes. This time the fear was there but it was naked and it stiffened faces all around him.
Ash didn’t care. If the idiots wanted to freeze in battle they could all die like idiots. He grinned, and took a step to charge. The air around him thickened and a sense of weight landed on his shoulders pushing him down. He lost control of his potentiality momentarily and one by one his shards began deactivating.
Ash stumbled and fell to one knee. His eyes went to the bottom of his screen. The names in his party list along with Sheetal’s rolled and his potentiality bar reappeared. It was almost full.
And yet he was losing control. Ash’s vision darkened at the edges and he put a hand on the floor to steady himself. Something was wrong. Something was horribly wrong. A panel appeared in his vision and focussed on his heart.
Cardiac Arrest.
BPM - 14…09…05…
Ash saw his heart begin to flatline. Ash focussed on his heart. He needed it to keep beating. He closed his eyes and focussed on his heart. It needed to beat. That’s all that mattered. He pushed against the foreign pressure. And slowly his potentiality moved. It spurted into his density shard and his heart thumped and stilled. Ash gritted his teeth and pushed. His heart thumped again. Ash kept pushing. His heart thumped, thumped, and steadied.
Ash let out a breath and then remembered he was amongst enemies. He sprang up and swayed. For a moment with his motion he lost control of his potentiality and his heart stopped again. He steadied himself and focussed on squirting potentiality into his heart. With half a mind he turned his head up and looked at the enemies. They were all giving him a wide berth. They grimaced at him and then turned fearful looks towards a large statue.
Ash looked around wearily and took a step back. He raised his tonfas, and then lowered them. They felt like the rough CNC blocks of metal they were created from. He did feel them but the sense he got from his weapons was dulled. Without that his tonfas were supposed to feel like ordinary weapons in his hand. Right now, he didn’t even feel that.
Ash looked around and saw Sheetal hovering and struggling to stay up float in the distance. As he watched she finally failed and went down with squelch.
“Dang you flipping blue bronze looking fudder. Flip you and your fudding EMP field.”
Ash sighed and began walking towards Sheetal.
Sheetal felt the towering Asura’s magic as it spread out. It settled over her and then pushed her own power down. Sheetal’s hovering power sputtered out and for a moment she just hovered there. Then something erupted out of the demonic man. A bluish haze settled over and everyone else. It pushed her down to the floor.
Warning!
You are under an effect.
Evaluating effect.
Hinder - Class 2
All potentiality and related movement will be ten times harder under this effect.
Sheetal tried to combat the effect but the only thing she was able to do was squelch the mud under her. Her eyes shot to the Asura to somehow stop this pressure. But, he was not even looking at her. He was listening to the vetaal who had pushed A197’s weapon away from her. And yet his magic was restraining everyone in the trials.
Sheetal felt hand close around her and the Jay 83 lifted her up. He whispered “Lean on me warder. We might need to get out of here quickly.”
Sheetal nodded and turned her eyes to look all round her. The nishachars looked no better. They were stumbling under the pressure too and had wide eyed fearful expressions on their faces. Their glowing bolts and swords had sputtered and faded away. Now their sharp weapons looked like they were made out of weak bronze. Even the vetaals watched their former silver claws fizzle out revealing dull black nails with a disgruntled look.
The situation was no better on their side. The continuum soldiers were looking at their guns in despair. Still, they ran to her and took a protective stand all around her.
E65 in a whisper asked “Where is Warder Ash?”
Sheetal who had her eyes on the asura saw him raise his eyebrows as he looked in the distance. Sheetal turned her eyes at the enemies and saw them part with angry and fearful expressions to reveal a glowing figure from amongst them. Sheetal watched as Ash walked past them with a smug expression on his face.
Ash waved as the blue skinned enemies closed ranks behind him and called out “It was nice playing with you boys and girls. Let’s do this again sometime, okay?”
Sheetal looked at Ash. As he walked to her he momentarily touched his chest and Sheetal could feel the bone deep pain from their link. His smile slipped for a moment and then the irreverent grin came back as he looked at the large figure looming in the distance.
She knew he was putting on a front and this time she agreed with it.
Ash winked at her, turned his head to the giant man and announced “She, look! That’s a big Goro looking mother trucker.”
Sheetal opened her mouth to scold him and then watched the continuum soldiers protecting her go from tense to confused. Sheetal realised what he was doing. She had seen this before. Ash was trying to alleviate the tense atmosphere and restore the morale of their group. She smiled and decided to respond to banter.
“Wait, you played Mortal Kombat?”
Ash gave her a look “She, everyone has played Mortal Kombat.”
Sheetal was momentarily distracted by his voice. It was of her higher pitch than before. She shook off the distraction and decided to correct him “No, not everyone is a gamer.”
“Of course not. Neither am I. Just because I played Street Fighter, Tekken, and Mortal Kombat, doesn’t make me a gamer. I am not a nerd like you.” Ash replied while walking to her.
“Gamer.” Sheetal muttered.
“Yes?”
“Gamer!” Sheetal smacked her head.
“Umm… You okay?” Ash asked.
“How could I be so stupid?” Sheetal asked the world in general “The system. It’s like a video game.”
Ash sighed “I don’t know what you are talking about but there is a four armed guy talking to a lizard man over there.”
Sheetal shook her head “Yeah, the asura.”
Ash placed a hand on Taran E65 and muttered “Asura huh? Four arms? Four arms!? That’s so unfair. We only have two to pleasure ourselves with. Just left and right.”
Taran E65 looked at the warder and took two steps away from the crazy man.
Ash’s hand flopped down and he gave the man a hurt look.
The continuum soldiers chuckled.
Ash pouted “Not fair. When did I become the butt of the joke, guys?”
Suddenly the pressure emanating from the asura faded. No, it was still there but all of them could feel that it wasn’t being commanded so sharply.
The asura floated upwards standing on a small tornado and scanned the surroundings. His eyes met the warders and Ash spun his tonfas in his palms preparing to fight. Suddenly in a blink of an eye, the asura grabbed Aditya A303 by the back of his head. Before anybody could understand what was happening the four armed giant, slammed the silent Aditya down. Aditya 303 hit the ground five times in a rapid succession and then crumpled into ash. The asura looked at Aditya A303’s shards in disgust and flung them aside like trash.
Sheetal scooted closer to Ash and besides her Ash took a stance to fight.
The Asura raised his arms and in a cultured voice surprised them once again “Warders! We have eradicated one of your enemies. We don’t wish to fight. We just wanted a warder shard. We did not expect these imbeciles to bring warders to our doorstep. I, Kapas, the asura of the centre, and the leader of the Kapasura faction propose a temporary ceasefire.”
Ash’s hud hummed and one by one all the enemies in red and orange turned to yellow. Then a notification floated at the bottom of his screen. A similar notification floated in Sheetal’s hud.
Ceasefire Declared.
The Kapsura Faction has asked for a ceasefire.
Warning!
If the ceasefire is declined a state of war will be cleared between you and the Kapsura Faction.
Kapasura Faction Strength - 7.8 million
Do you wish to break this ceasefire?
Yes / No?
Sheetal’s eyes widened at the number and she looked at the hundreds of strange weapon wielding people looking at them wearily.
Sheetal opened her mouth to respond but Ash beat her to the punch.
“And we are just supposed to trust you? After you attacked us?”
“Ash!” Sheetal hissed in a silent whisper.
Kapas nodded “Here let me prove my intentions.”
The tornado covering Kapasura’s feet turned sideways and before anyone could blink, The large four limbed man was next to Taran A197. He grabbed the continuum soldier by both his arms and lifted him up. He began to twist A197’s arms.
Ash let out a snarled “Put him down.”
Sheetal looked at Ash again. Even his snarl was high pitched. There was just a slight hint of base in his voice.
Kapas stopped and looked at Ash “Isn’t he one of your enemies?”
Ash nodded “Yes. And unlike you, he is still red and mine to kill.”
Kapas’s eyebrows rose and he grinned. It was the most terrifying grin Sheetal had seen. The man’s lips parted to show large teeth the size of her fingers and then there were the canines. Four of which jutted out of the man’s mouth and over his lips.
Sheetal looked to Ash and saw a similar grin on his gently glowing face. As Ash opened his mouth to breathe a more pronounced glowing light shot out from the back of his throat.
“Very well, warder. Should I consider the ceasefire accepted?”
Ash looked at Sheetal and his face turned stony in anger. He turned back to the asura and nodded curtly.
The system took Ash’s nod as a confirmation and through their huds announced.
Ceasefire! Ceasefire!
All combatants ceasefire.
Kapusura and Warders have reached an temporary agreement.
The asura put A197 down and pushed him towards Ash.
“He is all yours warder. Now if you don’t mind. I just came to this trial for a swim. We shall be taking our leave now.”
Ash’s hud flashed again and all the yellow outlines turned to green. The Asura’s people began to sheathe their swords and weapons. Some of them started making their way to the exit. Others retreated towards the asura.
E65 quickly stepped ahead “Asura, our vehicles are out there. Don’t trash them. Please.”
Kapas looked at E65 and then at Ash “One of yours?”
Ash who had his eyes on into A197 nodded.
“You do know, The Continuum, it cannot be trusted, right?”
Ash turned to look at Kapas “Says the leader of a people who eat humans and drink their blood.”
“I see your point warder. But you know all this violence could have been avoided if the continuum hadn’t bartered for their pathetic major’s life with the promise of a warder shard.” Kapas said in a calm deep voice.
Ash snorted “Well that was a bad trade. You only trade with people when you can enforce that trust.”
The asura nodded and looked to the red and black cloaked vetaal “Do you hear Saras. That is wisdom.”
Sheetal looked at Ash and whispered “No, that’s not. It’s not how business is done.”
Ash gave Sheetal a disappointed look and whispered “She this is not business.”
The asura took a breath and smiled “Yes, lady warder. Your brother speaks the truth… Warders, I was thinking maybe, one of these days I will come to you with a proposal. One that will benefit both of us. Will you listen to it?” Kapas asked.
“He is not my…” Sheetal almost replied when she realised that the asura had heard her whispering.
Ash looked at the large man and then at Sheetal “He heard us whispers from all the way there?”
Taran E65 licked his lips “That is a class two being.”
Sheetal looked at the jittery man next to her and asked “What does that mean?”
It was Parvati M who replied “Class twos are different. They are more powerful and have strange abilities.”
Ash cleared his throat “People, the nice asura is waiting for an answer. You all can discuss all that later. So, She, What do you think? Should we take the man up on his offer?”
Sheetal wiped some blood off her chin and looked at the towering man thing “I don’t know. Your people didn’t hurt me but they didn’t help me either.”
Kapas tapped one of the teeth over his lips “Perhaps a gift will alleviate tensions? Yes?”
Sheetal and Ash looked at each other with confused looks. Then one of the Jays nudged them and in a tight voice muttered “Please say yes.”
Sheetal shrugged “Okay. We’ll listen.”
The Asura smiled and turned to the vetaal that Tar had been speaking to earlier. In the same clicking language he pointed back. The vetaal nodded and ran somewhere. He appeared a few minutes later. He approached the two warders wearily and held out his hands.
In one hand was a belt with two hole like protrusions, In the other was a leather circlet.
“That one is for you, warder Ash. To store your strange soul weapons. The other is for you lady warder, Sheetal. It will help you grow your mental shard and keep your dark hair off your face when you fly.”
Sheetal and Ash looked at each other and took the gifts.
The vetaal rushed back to his master’s side. While the strange lizard man returned the Asura began.
“Now, we have killed the beast holding this trial together. We are almost done here”
The Asura raised a glass ball and tapped it. Lights of colours rushed into the ball. It was a pretty sight. Hundreds of glowing colours flew towards the asura and his glass ball. Ash focussed on a glowing blue light.
Water Shard
Class 1
Ash’s mouth popped open, and he took a step towards Kapas.
“Hey, those are my shards.”
Sheetal grabbed Ash’s hand and from the side of her mouth she asked “Ash, what are you doing?”
Ash turned to Sheetal and whined “I killed all those people. Those shards belong to me.”
The asura laughed and waved dismissively “Actually no. They belong to me. But… When we next meet. I now know what to gift you. Now if you excuse me, I can’t allow my shards to fall into the hands of the continuum dogs.”
Ash looked at the really tall man with his head raised and pointed at the asura “I will hold you to that Kapas.”
The asura chuckled “Farewell warders. Let’s meet next without bloodshed.”
In a strange ripple of sharp lights, the asura and all of his forces vanished.
A moment later potentiality rushed into Sheetal’s shards, and she flew upwards. She stopped herself and lowered herself at Ash’s eyes level. She looked down at her feet and saw them scraping the ground.
“Ash?”
Ash kept glaring at the place where the Asura had vanished from.
“Ash!” Sheetal screamed.
“What, She?”
“Explain what the hell is going on with you. Why is your voice different? Why are you shorter and why are you skinnier?”
“Huh?” Ash gave Sheetal a baffled look and then waved his hand dismissively “Later.”
Sheetal didn’t stop “Also, do you mind telling me why the heck do you think antagonising the four-armed demons out of our scariest myths was a good decision?”
Ash’s lips twitched and he growled “Can we discuss this later?”
Sheetal blinked. His growl came out in a sharper tone. It sounded like a puppy growling.
Sheetal kept the smile off her face and asked “Why?”
“Because right now I have unfinished business.” Ash turned to look at Tar who was shaking his arms loose after the asura had twisted them.
Sheetal straightened and looked at the direction Ash was looking at. Her lips pursed together, and her look turned to glare when she spotted the older Taran.
A197 cracked his neck and glared right back at them.
“What!?” A197 shouted.
Ash enunciated every word menacingly “You. Hurt. She.”
“Yeah, what about it? You want me to feel sorry about hitting a sheep like her. Well, I am not. And you don’t scare me boy. Or is it girl?”
Ash cocked his head to the side “You want to see something scary Tar man. Let me show you something scary. Something…”
Thud!
Suddenly the whole trial shook and Taran A197 disappeared. Ash blinked. He opened his mouth and closed it. He looked for Taran A197 and couldn’t find him. Then he looked down and saw a large piece of the flying platform spiked into the ground. Around it, blood, flesh and metal bits laid scattered. Slowly the grim mess turned to ash and shards twinkled out of the scattered bits.
Ash looked at the mess dumbfounded then his mind took a moment to process what had just happened. He slowly turned to look at Sheetal who had her hand pointed towards where A197 had been standing.
Ash flung his hands up and shrieked “Sheeee!”
“He hit me!” Sheetal responded.
“I was monologuing.”
“He kicked me!!!” Sheetal yelled
“But…”
“He… Broke… My bones!”
“It was going to be a great villain monologue.”
“Do it with someone else.”
“Couldn’t you give me like two minutes?”
Sheetal turned her glare at Ash. The annoying buffoon just smiled.
Sheetal rolled her eyes and grabbed him “Come here you jagoff.”
Ash exhaled loudly and then stumbled in her arms. Sheetal’s mind blanked as a sharp pain ran through her chest and stiffen her body momentarily. Ash blinked and shook his head.
The anger from Sheetal’s voice disappeared and worry suffused it “Ash?”
Ash shook his head “Yeah, I am… good. I am good. I just thought that without the giant weirdo I could stop, you know?”
“No, I don’t know.”
Ash took a step back and stumbled “I need to… Ugh!”
Parvati M141 rushed to Ash’s side “Warder Ash. I need you to stop using potentiality. You are dying.”
Ash shook his head “I can’t, I will die without…”
Sheetal watched Ash stumble and grabbed him “Ash! What is going on?”
Hands closed around Sheetal and pushed her away from Ash.
Ash smiled “It’s okay, She. I am… I am..Gooooo…”
Ash felt a sharp pain shoot from his chest to the rest of his body. He blinked and realised that he was lying of the ground. He watched Sheetal teeter and steady herself besides him. The light from his body dissipated and stopped illuminating Sheetal’s face. Ash’s felt his eyes darken. Slowly his vision blurred and the only thing he could see were the shards tightly packed in everyone’s bodies. Then even those started fading.
The last thought in Ash’s mind before he lost his consciousness was “I hope she doesn’t find out about what I did.”
Then his mind blanked out.
Sheetal felt a sharp pain in her chest and watched crumple. She righted herself and saw Ash’s eyes roll back into his eyes.
“Ash!” Sheetal looked at the stunned continuum people.
The woman in the armour reached Ash before she could, and Sheetal yelled at her “You said he was dying. What do you mean, he is dying?”
The trial shook with Sheetal’s voice.