Day 52 –
Ghost pointed at a softboard with a continuum soldier in his armour trying to explain the infantry of the continuum. Next to it was the shock troop. Following that was the specialist. And the armoured artillery core and finally the hulking devastator armour.
“A continuum soldier is not born. They are grown in a pod. The kind you are in.” Ghost explained.
“Test tube babies” Sheetal nodded.
“Not quite. They are grown into adults. When they are forming, they are allowed to live the lives of their donors in the dreamscape. They know its not their memories, but it lets them understand who we are and where we come from.”
“Wow! That must feel disorienting.” Sheetal took a sip of her rich dark coffee.
“It’s not that bad. Just a bit disconcerting when you finally step out of the med pods with different shards compared to your donors, but you get used to it.”
“That is metal, channel, tech, and…”
“Strength shards.”
“I have a strength shard.” Sheetal said thoughtfully.
“She.” Ash who was leaning on a wall hissed warningly.
“You do?” Ghost asked.
“Like you don’t know.” Sheetal snorted.
“Actually, I don’t. Ash succumbed to our ATI, Marshall Lara’s interrogation. You we never got a chance to scan.”
“I didn’t succumb jerk. I made a deal.” Ash huffed.
Ghost chuckled “Of course you did.”
“When did that happen?” Sheetal asked.
“In T’s three wheeled car thing. When I passed out.” Ash grumbled.
Ghost waved his hand and new cups appeared on the coffee table with frozen ice cream and a pot of freshly brewed coffee. Ghost began pouring coffee into three mugs. He didn’t know why but the warders reacted better to mugs rather than cups. It was strange but he chalked it up to their other world-ness.
While he did that Sheetal and Ash continued their argument from days earlier.
“Ash, will you stop being such a pain and sit down?” Sheetal sighed
“And do what? Listen to this guy?”
“Yes. He is trying to help us. You yourself said that he needs to pass on his knowledge and train us to live.”
“You don’t understand. There are things inside him.” Ash stressed
Sheetal looked at Ghost and shrugged “Ash, remember, I don’t see anything.”
“It is there. There are lights and fire and… Pliers?” He brought his hands together in a clawing gesture and stopped a few inches apart “They are… I don’t know. Waiting to crush his shards maybe?”
“Do you know why you can’t say the words damned, cursed, or variations of them?” Ghost pointed a thumb at himself “This is why. This is called being cursed.”
Ash looked at Ghost’s chest as the flames inside what ghost had called a pillar, churned.
Ghost grimaced “A quick clarification. I am not cursed. Not, yet. This is more like judgement and hopefully temporary.”
The flames subsided and Ghost relaxed.
Ash grimaced “First you shove us in here, then you shove yourself in here then you decide to get polygraph shoved into you. You are not even a bottom. What is wrong with you man?”
Ghost smiled “Not with me. It’s the continuum that is wrong. You think if I wouldn’t have done what I did, someone else wouldn’t have. This world you have come to is not civilised. Every moment, every decision has life and death consequences here.”
Ash turned to Sheetal “She, we need to stop talking to him.”
“Why?”
“Because he is trying to brain wash us.” Ash raised his hand and counted out in fingers “he has isolated us, he has showed us that he holds the power, he is now trying to change the way we think, he is trying to reeducate us and soon he will say something like, if you do what I say, you will get what you want.”
“Ash, you need to relax. We are just talking.”
“I know.” Ash clawed his long hair and muttered “It’s called Stockholm syndrome.”
“Sta… I don’t know that word.”
Sheetal sighed and explained “It comes from a city on our world.” Sheetal turned to Ash “You maybe are right. But he knows a lot of scientific theories.”
Ash shot up to his feet “I know. And they have turned by brain into mush.”
Flash.
Needles appeared in the out of nowhere and looked around.
“Warders? Are you well?” She asked tentatively
“Hi needles.” Sheetal smiled “It been a while.”
Needles grimaced.
Ash groaned “How long has it actually been?”
“A night.” Needles answered.
Sheetal and Ash looked at each other.
“See?” Ash hissed.
Sheetal exhaled loudly and turned to Needles “We are okay in here Needles. Why?”
“It’s nothing. I know this is an isolated system, but I had to check.”
“Check for what?” Ash asked.
“There is a bug in our servers. It caused a glitch. Something inside the life support systems. Turned the air conditioner a bit high. Its nothing. Just a few people getting sweaty.”
“Oh.” Sheetal shrugged “We didn’t feel anything.”
Needles began to leave.
“Wait.” Sheetal stopped Needles “When will you be back?”
“And will you bring the SS with you?” Ghost added.
“Soon.” Needles smiled and Sheetal and frowned at Ghost “Is that an order High Councillor?”
“No. But you are in the warder’s party. It will be good for you to train together.” Ghost explained easily.
Needles blinked at Ghost and just stood there for a second.
“Yeah.” Ash nodded empathetically and muttered “He is being nice. It’s creepy.”
“Hmm… I will ask the squad and if they agree, I will return with them.”
Needles flashed out of existence.
Ash tuned to Ghost “A bug in the server? So that’s what you have been up to?”
“I have no idea what you are talking about.” Ghost replied almost instantly.
“More like a Ghost in the server.”
“Servers actually. There are multiple servers. But as I said…” Ghost smiled cheekily “I have no clue about whatever is happening outside.”
“But why would you want to take over a hole in the ground?” Ash asked.
“Exactly, why?”
Sheetal looked at Ash and Ghost trying to outguess each other and groaned “You are either at each other’s throat or trying to outdo each other. Can you both be normal, please?”
Day 77 –
Ghost parried Ash’s thrust and parried it with a sword. The wooden weapons clacked together and Ash scampered back to dodge the ghostly hand that came to flick Ash in the face.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
Ash scowled.
“Still not talking to me?” Ghost grinned.
“No.”
Ghost slashed “Why?”
Ash scampered back in a burst of speed and retaliated with slashed “Because.”
Clack.
“You are.”
Clack
“Not.”
Clack.
“You!”
Ghost parried the strikes one after the other and then used a push kick to gain some distance. He didn’t mean to put so much strength in his strike. And winced when Ash went flying backwards.
Ash growled and jumped to his feet.
Ghost sighed “Have you probably considered that this is the new me?”
Ash narrowed his eyes “Stop trying to distract me.”
“You know Ash. People grow. People change. People make decisions that change them.”
Ash shot towards and released a handful of strikes.
Clack. Clunk. Clack. Thwack.
Ash toppled and rolled on the ground. He continued his momentum to shoot back to his feet.
He came back up and watched Ghost looking disappointed at him.
Ash rubbed his bottom and growled “What!?”
“You are useless with swords.”
Ash grimaced “They overgrown butter knives but I can still kick your butt with them.”
Ash sped up and attacked the high councillor from all angles.
Clack…Clack…Clack…
Ash hacked, slashed and hacked some more. Infuriatingly Ghost sword was always there to block his strikes. He shot his hand out to grab Ghost. The old man pivoted. Ash ginned. That’s what he wanted. Ash leaned into his next strike to overpower his foe and then, he was on the ground. Eating dirt.
No, Ghost hadn’t hit him this time. He had just moved out of the way.
Ghost nodded “You are fast. Stick to that. Don’t use your weight. You do not have the bulk to rely on anymore.”
Ash growled and jumped back to his feet “Why are you training me? What in the nine hecks is wrong with you? I want to kill you man!”
“There are eleven hells, actually. And we are running out of time, and can’t you feel it. The strings tying you to your corporal self are winding themselves to your soul. Soon you will have to leave this place and then you will have less than fifteen days to live before your die for not having shards.”
Ash leaned back “Sheetal. She didn’t!”
Ghost growled “Of course she did Ash. She doesn’t want to die. And your tantrums will cost her, no, all of us, everything.” Ghost couldn’t keep the heat out of his voice.
Ash narrowed his eyes “You… You locked yourself in here so that you could survive.”
Ghost exhaled “You think this would save me from what’s coming? The raks use souls to power their war machines. No, I had to take matters to an extreme because I didn’t want anyone to unplug me after you have left.” Ghost took in a breath to calm himself “Listen kid. The reason I am doing what I am doing is to give you support. Because when you are out there, when lasers are burning holes into everything. Artillery spells are flying and explosion are dismembering people by the dozens, you will need help. And you will need a safe place to retreat to. A place where you can gather yourself, regroup and counterattack from. And I will always have that place ready for you.”
“Now that’s a lie coated in a partial truth. Coated in hyperbole. And all that is coated in a big maybe.”
Ghost grimaced “You know, when I invoked the yaksha, I didn’t expect to become an open book to you.”
Ash rolled his eyes “Fine. Teach me mister Miyagi. Let’s do one more round of wax on - wax off.”
Ghost shook his head “No. You are not in the right frame of mind yet?”
Ash raised an eyebrow “Wait, can you read minds?”
Ghost looked away at the mansion where Sheetal was working on a large white board scribbling strange glyph like patterns alongside numbers. He pointed at the strange scribbles and asked.
“I get the numbers but what are those strange designs?”
Ash tried to look at Ghost inside for an affirmation of his suspicions. When he couldn’t he flung his sword to the ground and answered “The squiggly thing is a bracket and the hat thing is a Pi, I think. They are called, constants? I don’t know honestly.”
Ghost nodded “There are glyph books in the library. They are just starter guides. You can start by reading them.”
“That’s great, are there more of those pastries? The dark chocolate ones?”
“Of course.” Ghost smiled.
“And coffee?”
Ghost disappeared and reappeared next to Sheetal.
“Great, now he is giving me the silent treatment too. Just great.”
Day 87
Ash walked from Sheetal’s side. Towards the newly arrived Superb Seven. His frilly short skirt transformed into body hugging leather trousers. His tube top morphed into a black silk shirt that seemed to suck in light.
The superb seven looked suitably impressed at the effortless use of the dreamscape and Ash preened at the attention.
Sheetal rolled her eyes and muttered “Show off!”
Ash grinned and began his monologue.
“Dearly beloved, we are all gathered her today to listen to our annoying jailer Ghost and his plans for all of us. This ceremony is us a public affirmation of what we think about his him and his stupid schemes. It is your honour and privilege to curse him out. So, members of the SS, do you come here freely and without reservation to look into this man’s eyes and call him…”
Ash pointed at Ghost and prompted the SS.
“Dead man.” JJ responded instantly.
“Betrayer.” Needles growled.
“Foolish.” Theory shook his head in a disappointment.
“Scary.” T muttered.
Ash looked at Ghost and asked “Was that his first thought?”
“How am I supposed to know that?” Ghost asked without missing a beat.
Ash looked at T “Bro, you shoot anti matter.”
T shivered and said “Yeah, but the high councillor is the world around us, right? He is practically a god here.”
Ash sighed “T, we need work on your confidence, man.”
Sheetal sighed “You are many things Ghost but if I had to pick a word I would say, knowledgeable and helpful. You showed me that constants are not really constants when affected by ripples from corresponding dimensional factors and they need subsidiary arithmetical calculations to be used properly.” Sheetal smiled “Thank you for that.”
Ghost bowed from the waist “You are most welcome, lady warder.”
The show of respect threw everyone off and the hostile gazes lessened in intensity.
“Was that even English?” Ash grumbled.
“Nothing is English, Ash.”
“I meant was that helpful to anyone but you. I get it She. Ghost helps you with those things on the whiteboards. But can he be helpful to all of us. And can we trust him?”
Sheetal opened her mouth to argue, and Ash continued.
“She, the man captured us. He showed into tubes. Cut us open and now we are trapped in here with him. So, what if he is nice and helps you with some calculations? We are his prisoners.”
Sheetal looked at Ash and exhaled loudly “You know we can escape anytime we want right?”
Ash looked around and caught the curious gazes of the SS “People, a word of this outside. I will get out of here, hunt you down and kill you in your sleep.”
JJ snorted.
Theory chuckled “Was that supposed to be disconcerting. Ash, don’t take this the wrong way. You are not intimidating, at all. You looked cute while delivering a threat.”
Ash opened his mouth and closed it.
Needles shook her “Everyone, Warder Ash is right. Take this seriously. Warder Sheetal is trusting us with one of her secrets. Let’s keep it in between us. And even a wayward word of this, and you will be doing a hundred push ups with your armour’s hydraulics off.”
The SS sobered and nodded.
Needles turned to Sheetal “So, warder what is this secret that Ash is so worried about?”
“I am bonder.” Sheetal explained “I can bond with something in here and find a similar thing outside and travel to it.”
Needles eyes widened “Like what you did earlier?”
Sheetal looked at Needles cluelessly “Uh…”
JJ leaned in “Could you explain this ability a bit more?”
Sheetal shrugged and pointed at a rock in the distance “Like that rock. If I make it mine, and I find a similar stone outside, I can travel to it.”
“Don’t do that.” Needles said urgently “Your bodies are still not ready.”
Sheetal nodded “And that’s why we are still here.”
Theory tapped his chin “Honestly, this ability seems a little limited.”
“It’s not an ability. It’s who we are.” Sheetal struggled and added “I can’t explain it better.”
Ash looked at Theory “Bro! Seriously? Think about it. What if she bonds with a bag of sand? She can zip around the desert faster than anyone.”
“It’s not always about speed, Ash.” Sheetal muttered.
“She, speed kills.” Ash corrected.
“What about you?” T asked Ash.
“I am breaker. I break things.”
Everyone looked at Ash for an elaboration.
“How? By just looking at them?” T tried to pry.
“What!? No. What’s wrong with you T? You need to touch things to break them.” Ash chided T.
“Well, that doesn’t feel special.”
“Neither does you face.”
“Okay. I think we have hit the bottom of this barrel. Let’s take a vote, shall we? Oh many of you trust me to run a training program for you and the warders? Raise your hands people?”
Sheetal raised her hand followed by T. Theory raised his hand after a moment.
Ash groaned “It’s going to be a tie. Fine! She, you win. Let’s do this. I really feel like hitting something now.”
“Let’s fix that, shall we?” Ghost grinned “SS, you are going to be the core ascended of the warder’s court. And members of their party. You will fight alongside them. I am going to simulate a trial. Nothing fancy. Just mindless elementals. Incorporate the warders into your defence. Show them how to tackle bigger enemies and help them get used to fighting alongside you until you anticipate each other’s moves.”
Ghost turned to Ash and Sheetal.
“Warders, when you are fighting. Reach in deep. Until you are spent and then reach some more. Your bodies in the med pods have more resources in them than you think. I need you to tap into them. That’s when you will tap into your bonding and breaking classes. You need to know what you can do. Follow you instincts.”
Ghost looked at all the people looking at him expectantly and clapped his hands “Begin!”
Flash.
Suddenly the SS and warder were somewhere else. As their eyes adjusted, they looked around and saw that they were in a gully between two dunes on a bright sunny day. Ash and Sheetal were stunned at the unusual method of transportation. Moreover, it had been so long that they had seen day that both found themselves looking up at the blue sky.
And that is why when they sand in front of them erupted upwards, they were caught flat footed and unaware.
Ash reacted first. Almost instinctively he shot a steady stream of potentiality to his speed shards. The world slowed slightly, and he whirled. His eyes caught movement and he took a second to understand what he was looking at.
There was a malformed humanoid head shooting out of the sand. And the large window sized head was made out of sand too.
Ash exhaled and closed his eyes to get a situational awareness.
Error.
Error.
Error.
Class - Breaker
Activated
Now Ash didn’t have to turn his head. He could see in a three hundred sixty degrees around. His black and white vision focussed on his squad. Needles had jumped back behind the two Jays. They were raising their bionic arms to raise their shields. T was raising his wide barrelled pistol shotgun mix to aim towards the monster.
Sheetal. Well Sheetal was being Sheetal. Her first reaction was to duck. And she had instinctively brought her hands up to cover her head. On the other side, the large head thing that had jumped out the sand.
Ash focussed on it. It looked like an asura. It was ten foot tall, muscular, and it was decked with jewellery. It even had a crown. But all of it, including its body was sand.
It was a mockery of the real thing. And as if the world was listening to his thoughts, the creature’s calf muscle broke off and trickled back down into the ground. Ash smiled. That meant that the monster would be slower, and Ash knew he was fast.
Ash began to take a step to charge and then he caught a wayward thought from Sheetal. A thought that made his blood run cold. He though about running to Sheetal but knew he would be too slow. Instead, he took a step and felt the world ripple around him.
He screamed “She! No. Sto…”
Whooompf!
The world erupted into fire.
Sheetal blinked open her eyes and found that she was standing outside their home again.
“What in the fadded gods, was that!?” Ghost yelled before anybody could say anything.
“A monster.” Sheetal gasped.
“No, that was a sand elemental.” Ghost yelled “And that’s not what I am talking about!”
“Hey watch it.” Ash was next to Sheetal in a flash.
Ghost got into Ash’s face and screamed “Back off kid. Your sister just killed everyone in your squad except you. Do you think that is acceptable.”
Ash yelled back “She is non-combatant.”
“She is warder! You both are bloody warders!”
Ash felt Sheetal grab his arm “Ash. He is right. I saw something big and I used my stongest attack.” Sheetal held up a hand to Ash and continued “Everyone, I am sorry. I panicked.”
“You panicked and you nuked everything around yourself? And now everyone is dead. Including you, Sheetal. How many times will I have to tell you? You cannot use plasma! You might be able to calculate it” Ghost scolded Sheetal.
“That’s enough Ghost.” Ash said warningly.
Ghost restrained himself by taking a deep breath “Gravity.” Ghost stopped and started again in a restrained voice “Gravity is you biggest weapon warder. That creature was a sand elemental. It was made of sand. It was slow, cumbersome, and crippled. You would have found all of that out if you wouldn’t have nuked yourself. This was supposed to be the easiest trial I could imagine with your skill set.”
“Yeah? How was fighting a ten-foot-tall sand asura supposed to be easy, Ghost?” Ash asked in a heated tone.
“Oh, that’s simple. Sheetal should have just crushed it, picked up its bead and moved on.”
Sheetal grimaced and nodded. Then she had to mentally restrain Ash because he was ready to kill Ghost.
Ghost looked at the looks both the warders were sending each other. One was guilty and the other one was furious. Ghost exhaled loudly and looked up to the two pale faced Jays.
“JJ. Theory. Maybe I am going about this the wrong way. Could you both please help?”
JJ gulped and looked at Needles “Well, I think that would be for the best. Did you say, nuked us?”
“Yeah, that is not ideal.” Theory muttered.
“I didn’t even feel it.” Needles confessed.
T took in a breath and in a shaky voice explained “That’s because you were standing next to Warder Sheetal.”
With a morbid look he raised his hand and projected a POV hologram of the short battle “See Needles. You burnt out first. Then the fire hit JJ and Theory from behind. Then my antimatter shielding failed, and I blew up from the inside. The only one who was unhurt was Warder Ash.”
The video stopped at Ash standing unhurt, glaring at the sky.
T licked his lips “Why were you looking up.”
“That’s because…” Ash pointed at Ghost “He could have stopped the explosion anytime.’
“But then you wouldn’t have tapped into your body and did what you did.” Ghost smiled.
“What did you do?” Needles asked.
Ash smiled coyly “Meh, broke reality. I am awesome. I do that sometimes.”
Name – Ash.
Shards – Speed *4, Channel*2, Sense, Density.
Class – 0
Race – Danav (Undecided)
Class – Breaker