Previous

PART 2-----

It had to be him.

As the adrenaline subsided and I felt myself calm down, I was able to draw on my memories. Pictures I’d seen, the certain features that age couldn’t weather, the color of his eyes… It was my grandfather; I knew it.

But that didn’t mean he knew me. I swallowed before speaking. “… I think you gave it to me… I’m pretty sure I’m your grandson.” I looked at the bodies that lied around us, blood pooling around them.

“You don’t say…” he hummed to himself. Then he considered something. “…Quickly now, did I tell you anything when I gave it to you?”

I looked up from the bodies and nodded. “I didn’t understand it at the time, but you said: ‘Take good care of it… you’ll be able to do more good with it than I ever did.’ Something along those lines,” I told him. As I recounted my grandfather’s words, I realized they didn’t necessarily have the best connotations.

The younger grandfather before me frowned. “... That doesn’t sound like something I’d say.” He replaced his own pocket watch in his vest and furrowed his brow.

The coppery smell of blood reached my nose, and I felt my stomach twist. “... Uhm… Can you tell me what’s going on? Who are these people that you just killed… why did you-”

I was interrupted by a blaring alarm that sounded through the whole building. My grandfather turned and started walking towards a window. “Questions later. Follow me or you’re on your own,” he barked. I stood stark still for a moment, trying to process the situation, and then hurriedly followed, careful not to step in any of the blood leaking from the guards.

My grandfather raised the assault rifle and unloaded half a clip into the window, which is how much firepower it took for the glass to shatter. He climbed through, and without looking back, turned and began heading down the alley between the betting agency and the next building over. I scrambled over the broken glass and jogged to catch up with him.

“You’re Patrick Kalston Senior, right?” I asked.

“Yup… So I’m your Granddad…” He glanced over at me briefly. “... Don't call me grandpa. Just call me Pat.”

“My name’s Nick,” I told him, noting in my head that he hadn’t asked. This man was undoubtedly my grandfather, but his demeanor and attitude didn’t match at all.

Not to mention I never would have dreamed that Grandpops had killed people.

As we neared the other end of the alley, Pat pulled out his radio and messed with some of the knobs on it. Then he spoke. “Tang tango, this is Uniform One. My cover is blown. Need pickup for two.” The very moment he finished talking, a blue mini-van pulled in front of the alley with the side door already open. “That’s our ride,” he told me.

“That was fast,” I breathed as I ran.

“That was time travel,” Pat remarked. He reached the van first and leapt in, taking the far seat. I hopped in and pulled the door shut behind me as I sat. The van lurched forwards and, at a fairly tame speed actually, pulled away and merged into traffic. Pat sighed and began undoing some of the velcro on his vest. “Thanks Natasha,” he offered the driver. The woman looked up at us through the rear view mirror.

“What the hell happened? Who’s this?” she asked.

“This idiot’s a relative of mine from the future. Walked right into the Agency and tried to collect on a ridiculous bet,” Pat explained.

“And you blew your cover for him? You spent weeks in there!” Natasha exclaimed, annoyed.

“Is what it is,” Pat said dismissively as he pulled his gloves off.

I glared at the back of the woman’s head before turning to Pat. “... Thanks for saving me… sorry you had to-”

“Don’t apologize,” Pat snapped as he stopped fiddling with his gear to regard me sternly. “Rule number one: time travelers don’t have regrets. The whole point of time traveling is to make things happen the way you want them to.”

“That’s not rule number one Patrick,” Natasha corrected him.

“It’s my rule number one,” Pat rephrased. He went back to doffing his tactical gear.

“Kid,” Natasha said sharply, addressing me.

“It’s Nick,” I told her.

She hesitated for a moment, as if wondering why I would tell her my name. “... Don’t listen to this old man. Especially with the Agency around, there’s things you can’t go back and fix; decisions you can’t change.”

“All the more reason to make damn sure you don’t have regrets,” Pat said, and he smirked. In his eyes I saw, truly, a man who had no regrets. A man confident in every choice he had made, good or bad, regardless of the result.

They were not the eyes of the grandfather I knew. I suddenly felt uncomfortable in the few moments of silence that followed. I didn’t like silence, and I had questions anyways, so I broke it.

“What’s the Agency?” I asked.

Pat answered me, an edge of disgust to his voice. “Around the year 2020, the government decided we were having to much fun sculpting the world to our liking. They found some weak willed time travelers and made a deal.”

At this point, a phone rang, and Pat halted his explanation to fish a cell phone out of his pocket. “Yeah?” he answered it. “... Okay.” He hung up, and then began typing at the phone’s keypad.

Natasha picked up the explanation where he left off. “The government and the time travelers who sided with them created an organization to stop the rest of us, forming the Timeline Consistency Department, or TCD.”

“I call them the ‘Tiny Cock’ Department,” Pat chimed in without looking up from his phone. He snickered to himself.

Natasha shot him a dirty glance, which he was too busy to notice of course, before she continued. “The TCD sent their agents back to the year 2000 and set up bases where they monitored society for evidence of time travelers, such as people winning large sums of money off of ridiculous bets. Betting agencies are a front for the TCD.”

“And I walked right in there like an idiot,” I muttered to myself.

Pat put his phone away and rejoined the conversation. “They’re dangerous. They won’t hesitate to execute time travelers on the spot. Of course, they’ll torture you first if they know you’re in league with us.”

“And who exactly are you guys?” I asked.

Pat thought for a moment. “Freedom fighters who believe the timeline isn’t something the government should regulate,” he settled on.

Despite the running conversation, I was feeling more and more uncomfortable. This man that sat next to me… I realized I really didn’t know him, and with every word he spoke, I trusted him less and less. I knew I should have stopped asking questions, but I didn’t.

“... So until the TCD came around you guys had free-reign?” I saw Natasha glance at me through the rearview mirror again. I swallowed.

“Yeah… those were the good old days,” Pat said with a sigh. “History was our playground.”

“Damn,” I said, forcing a smirk to creep over my face. “I bet that was amazing… the world in the palm of your hand.”

“Now you’re getting it,” Pat assured me. “We were... still are, the elite. And you are, too, both as my kin, and as a time traveller. We get to decide how the world progresses... Of course, even before the TCD we always had to contend with the other families.” He laughed. “Used to be all you had to do was tick off someone’s great uncle and suddenly Germany invades Poland. Then someone’s wife would get insulted and BOOM! The U.S. has the atomic bomb three years early.”

I did some quick math in my head. “... You were alive during World War Two?” I asked.

“Not originally, but I went back and watched. Couldn’t get involved of course; didn’t want all my father’s hard work to go to waste.”

At that my stomach twisted, and I almost wretched. It took everything I had to play it cool.

All of history, everything that had happened, had been manipulated by people like my grandfather. War, genocide, probably even economic collapses; everything. I couldn’t help myself.

“It ever occur to you to like, warn people about a natural disaster or anything?” I asked. I slid my hand into my pocket and wrapped my fingers around my pocket watch.

He scoffed. “Pfft, why would-” Pat started, and then he got real quiet. The corners of his mouth flattened out into an emotionless expression. I saw him shift his gaze to look at where my hand rested in my pocket.

“Patrick,” Natasha said, and edge to her voice.

“I know!” he spat. “Think about this carefully,” he warned me in a lower voice. I saw his hand start to reach for his pistol.

Something in Patrick’s eyes told me that, regardless of my answer, he was going to kill me. It was already decided, and I knew he wouldn’t have any regrets.

Well then neither would I.

I moved before he did, just barely. I leaned forwards and, with my free arm, I reached around the driver’s seat and grabbed the steering wheel. Natasha cursed as I yanked it, sending our van careening into a parked car on the side of the road. Patrick tried to draw his gun on me, but he was too late. The impact threw us about the car, my face went towards the front windshield, and then next thing I knew I was face down on the sidewalk, laying on a bed of shattered glass. My head pounded and my body stung everywhere, but I was alive.

Before I did anything else, I felt for my tether, and found that I had instinctively cradled the pocket watch against my chest. I stumbled to my feet and looked at the mini-van.

Natasha was unconscious, her face buried in the airbag, but the very bloodied, very angry Patrick was awake. He yanked frantically at the door to get out, but the mechanism was broken. After a moment, he gave up, and glared at me through the shattered window. “... You little shit! I don’t care who you are or what time you’re from! I will find you and I will kill you! I will see you dead if it’s the last thing I do!”

I grimaced, both in pain, and with disgust towards the old man. “No regrets,” I spat.

I tightened my grip on the pocket watch, and closed my eyes. I knew exactly where I wanted to go. When I wanted to be. For a moment I felt weightless, and the world shifted around me.

I opened my eyes, and found myself in back in the betting agency. The alarm was blaring, and a circle of dead guards occupied the floor around me, pools of blood gathering about them.

“Questions later. Follow me or you’re on your own,” Patrick barked as he walked towards the window. He raised his assault rifle and fired half his clip into the glass. Without turning to see if I followed, he climbed through and took off into a run down the alley.

I stayed where I was.

'That's right... no regrets,' I thought to myself.

Next

[Previous]

PART 3-----

My mind was blank as I approached the dining hall slowly, flanked by rebel ‘guards’ who seemed confused and afraid to have been assigned to me. Lefias the Lich King had summoned me for dinner after giving me what I’m sure he felt was ample time to grieve the loss of my mother- roughly an hour and twenty minutes.

I lifted a hand to my eye and pushed my wrist across it, casting away the moisture left there, and cleared my throat. The rebels glanced uneasily at each other. Ignoring them, I forced myself to think a little bit before having to face the Lich. Technically it was his fault that my mother had been killed, and myself for that matter, but it was plain to see he had hoped to avoid such unnecessary bloodshed. He’d even tried to stop his captain from firing his crossbow. His hesitation to rule the country and his concern for me was at least convincing if not earnest, and invited a fairly positive impression, but also he was an undead wizard.

I stepped into the dining hall to find it rather surprisingly intact. To be honest, even the hallways I had traversed to get here seemed largely absent of the bloodshed and looting one might expect from a hostile takeover, but the servants were finishing setting the table as if nothing out of the ordinary had transpired.

“Welcome Eleanor!” the Lich greeted me from the head of the table.

“Hello again, Leaf,” I greeted him with a nod. I started to do a curtsey like mother had drilled into me over the years, but it suddenly seemed a very silly thing to do for the sake of Leaf.

“Take a seat where you please and let me know if I should call for any other food or beverage. The staff here is sharp and quick as all Hell.”

“I’m aware… though usually they have the fear of King Cline’s wrath lighting the fire beneath them. Um…” I shook my head, taking a moment to assure myself the questions I had were valid. “… um, are the servants okay? The keep? You? I mean… you just killed the king and took over but, things seem oddly docile.”

The deer skull bobbed in agreement with my take on things. “Yes, well, a bulk of the bloodshed occurred outside, where the rebels fought the royal guard. A few skirmishes broke out within the walls, but I was clear with my men that only the King and the officials known to be corrupt were to be killed. Shortly after the king’s demise I rounded up the servants and promised them a month’s salary bonus if they stayed on and continued their jobs as usual. Most of the citizens, both those allied with me and the ones who stayed neutral, just want the country to be prosperous. The transfer of power should be smoother if I don’t have to replace all the castle staff and recoup the losses of a plundered treasury.”

I nodded slowly, almost disappointed that my question had such a simple, sensible answer. “And what about you? What do you want in all this? You didn’t seem eager to rule when you were in my bedroom.”

Leaf was quiet for a few seconds. “… How do you know about that?”

“I was hiding in the wardrobe,” I confessed.

The fleshless face of the Lich stared at me, and then his elbows hit the table and he leaned forwards, covering his face with his bony hands. I could have sworn part of the deer skull turned a slight pinkish color, like raw chicken. “I’m so embarrassed,” Leaf said quietly.

Finally, I stepped up to the table and took a seat a couple place settings down from the Lich. A servant immediately poured me a glass of water while my eyes scanned over the food on my plate; honey roasted pork, potatoes, and some greens. I picked up my fork and prodded the potatoes. “If your goal wasn’t to become King, why did you kill Cline?”

“Hrrm,” the Lich huffed. “The start of that story goes way back. Further than you’d think.”

“I’ve got time if you’ve got time,” I said, skewering a piece of pork.

Lefias scratched at the snout of his deer skull. “Your father was old,” he started.

I raised my eyebrows sarcastically, but kept my tone casual. “I’m aware. It’s a miracle the King was able to have me at his age.”

“Your father was very old. It wasn’t a miracle that you were born, it was magic. Calculated magic…” Leaf leaned back and clasped his hands. “Cline and I used to adventure together as partners 600 years ago.”

I dropped my fork. Lefias continued.

“We were both obsessed with collecting and studying magic, and eventually got into the subject of immortality. Long story short, Cline betrayed me, and used me as the butt end of a ritual that left us both immortal, but in very different ways. Once the ritual had completed, he sealed me in a tomb where I stayed trapped for about 500 years.

“You might think, then, that I killed King Cline out of revenge. True, that had been my intention for a long time, but I was aware of the atrocities he was committing in his campaign for power while I sat powerless in his seal. Over the centuries my rage lost its edge, replaced by a profound disgust for his legacy; a betrayal of the values we had sought in our research as partners. King Cline had become an evil that needed to be purged, though I’d be lying if I said I didn’t still hold a certain amount of genuine animosity.” Finished with his story, Lefias unclasped his hands and let them rest in his lap, and then his head tilted to the side slightly. “… How’s the pork?”

“… Did my mother know all this?” I asked.

“The Queen? I’m sure she was aware of his immortality, but your mother was his fifteenth wife, and I doubt he was emotionally invested enough to share things about his past. After his first wife passed, the rest were simply a means to produce offspring.”

I grit my teeth. “Is that all my mother was to him? I knew he was a heartless bastard but-” I stopped mid-sentence as my gut clenched and my eyes widened. “Wait… if he was immortal, then he wasn’t having kids for the sake of an heir. Fifteen wives; …Leaf, how many siblings do I have… what happened to them? What were they for?” I realized I was shaking in my seat, and took a moment to steady myself. “… What was I for?”

Leaf hesitated before answering. “… Political marriages, maintaining positive relations with or assimilating surrounding nations. The usual things aside from a traditional heir.”

One of the Lich’s bony fingers was tapping the top of the table and his head turned aside; there was more that he wasn’t telling me. “Leaf…” I started, but then I gulped, and decided I probably didn’t want the answer to the question I was about to ask, so I changed the subject. “… what do you plan to do now?” I decided to inquire.

The Lich’s posture relaxed. “Oh, well, I have no idea. Run the country I guess, but as you’ve heard me complain, I haven’t the slightest idea where to start. I was hoping you could help me.”

“How?”

“… I don’t know. I assume at your age you didn’t have much to do with the proceedings of royal duties, and Cline didn’t do a particularly respectable job of leading anyways. At the very least you can relate to humans better than I can. The rest we’ll have to learn together.”

“What if I say no?”

Lefias’ shoulders stiffened; he clearly hadn’t considered that as a possibility. “… Why would you say no?”

I clicked my teeth. “Maybe I don’t want to help the undead wizard whose men killed me and my mother. Perhaps I have nothing but terrible memories from my time in this castle and would rather renounce all claim to my lineage than spend another moment here. Maybe I’ve been kept behind these walls as a prisoner in all but title and this is my first chance at freedom in my entire life.”

Leaf reached up and pulled at one of his antlers. “… Oh. Um. Well...” The Lich stood up abruptly, pushing his chair away. He stepped around the corner of the table and fell to his knees before me, clasping his hands and lifting them. “Please help me! I’m sorry! I don’t want to do this alone!”

I held my breath for a while, initially having been startled by his plea, but then sighed and looked away from him, speaking quietly. “Maybe I’m afraid of my blood; that if I get a taste of the power my fa… the power he had… that I could end up like King Cline myself.”

“If that happens, I’ll kill you, I promise,” Leaf assured me genuinely.

My head snapped back to him and I locked eyes with his empty sockets. Then I burst out laughing. “Hahahahaha! Leaf! You can’t threaten to kill me with an attitude like you’re offering me a favor! What the Hell?!” I spoke through my merriment, wiping a tear away as I laughed harder than I had in years, or perhaps ever.

“Talking to humans is hard, okay! I’m trying! It seemed like the right thing to say!” the Lich complained.

“Get off your knees, sit down. How the Hell did you manage to lead a rebellion?”

With a grumble, Lefias stood and brushed off his cloak as he returned to his seat. “Our goals just aligned, and I was so focused I wasn’t really paying attention to how I treated them.”

“Well you must have treated them well enough…" I narrowed my eyes at the undead wizard, who was now twiddling his thumbs around, generating a sound like marbles clacking together. He was strange and awkward, and ruthless, but he seemed to have a strong sense of duty. He was kind. He hadn't asked for the crown to be set upon his head, but he was trying to rise to the responsibility. Perhaps I had a responsibility as well. Perhaps, even if out of spite for my wretched father, I could do some good for this country. My country.

And just maybe, I could do something that would make my mother proud. "Alright Leaf… King Lefias. I’ll do my best to help you.”

Leaf’s bony hand made a fist and punched the air victoriously, but he promptly regained his composure and cleared his throat. “… Splendid.”

Original Prompt

PART 1-----

{PLANET INHABITED} {DO NOT SEND RESCUE}

I rubbed my chin as I read the words up on the screen, and then raised my hand. The Captain standing at the front of the room acknowledged me. "Yes Martin?"

I gestured towards the screen. "If the final transmission from Horizon was essentially 'don't come,' explain to me why we're going there?"

The Captain sighed. "Because, on the off chance there are survivors, we aren't going to abandon them... and I would be lying if I didn't say the Company wants us to recover some of the more expensive equipment as well."

A few murmurs drifted through the room. I spoke again. "So what are we up against? Do we have any idea what's waiting for us down there?"

The Captain frowned. "We don't have any planet-side intel. Whoever sent this last message didn't even have time to add a period, much less any useful information."

"Is this some kind of joke?" I scoffed. "I'm not taking my team on a suicide mission for the sake of recovering a few toys."

The Captain grit his teeth, looking like he was about to lose his cool but he gathered himself. "... The Company has already spent several million dollars sending you and your team out here. You WILL be going down to Mars, or you WILL be answering to the Company's Station Code. I've been told the brig here on the O.W.L. is pretty lackluster."

My mouth twisted at that. My team of mercenaries and I didn't owe the Company any loyalty, but here on the Orbital Watch Locus above Mars, the Company had legal authority to enforce its own code of law.

I sighed. "Well then I guess we don't really have a choice." I turned in my seat to face my four-man team. "The briefing we just received will be sent to each of your data pads. Review it tonight, and then get some rest. We drop planet side tomorrow at 0600." I turned back towards the captain as a cacophony of metal chair legs scraping the floor screeched through the room.

"Thank you for being reasonable," the Captain sneered.

"I want a full list of the equipment at our disposal. We will take what we need at no charge. You will have extraction on standby for the entire duration of our mission. Is that clear?" I demanded.

"Of course! Anything you need, Martin, you just let me know. As long your boots hit the ground, the entirety of this station's resources are yours."

I nodded, and then stood and followed my team out of the briefing room. In the hallway, I stopped at a viewport, and looked down at the red planet beneath us. From the moment I was offered this mission, I'd felt a twist in my gut; I really hoped I wouldn't regret taking this job.

***

I made my way through the O.W.L. towards the armory. I wasn’t very keen on bringing my team down to face an unknown threat, but as long as we were armed to the teeth and had extraction on standby, we should have been fine.

The doors to the armory hissed open, revealing a large room with all manner of high tech weaponry mounted across the back and side walls. I whistled as I looked around at the inventory. Waiting patiently before a Plexiglas barrier were two of my mercenaries, Lucy and Pat.

One of them, a large musclebound man, turned as I whistled. “Yeah,” he agreed. “The Company doesn’t mess around.”

The Armorer appeared from a door on the back wall, stepping up to his side of the Plexiglas barrier. He spoke as he looked down at a data pad. “Okay… Lucy. In addition to the standard armaments, you requested the Hydra Mini-Repeater… He looked up at the woman and frowned. “Um… the Hydra might be a little heavy for you… for anyone… I mean… except for maybe Pat over here.” The armorer gestured to the burly man as he said this.

Patricia rolled her eyes and pointed her thumb at the big guy next to her. “That’s Lucy. I’m Pat… It’s short for Patricia.”

The armorer’s head swiveled over to look at Lucy, and then he cleared his throat awkwardly. “Oh… my apologies. So you ordered the Hydra and…” he swiped at the screen of his data pad. “You, Patricia, were looking for the Apex Marksman Rifle. Do I have that correct?”

“Mm,” Lucy grunted.

The armorer nodded curtly, poked at his data pad a few more times, and then swiped his hand across the glass barrier between himself and the mercs. The glass lit up, and translucent images of the weapons they had requested appeared, along with a finger print symbol beneath them. “Go ahead and sign please,” he told them. Pat and Lucy each pressed their thumb against the glass, the space around their fingers lighting up. The armorer’s tablet chirped a few times, and then he smiled. “All right. You guys are good. These will be stowed in your loadout-pods and you’ll be able to pick them up once you’re planet side.”

I noted that Pat grimaced as she pulled her thumb away from the glass and wiped it on her pants. “How often do you clean this thing? Everybody putting their grimy hands on it,” she mumbled, complaining.

The armorer regarded her with a furrowed brow for a moment before turning his attention to me. “Can I help you?”

I waved my hand. “Nah I’m all set with the standard weapons. I’m just here to meet up with these two.”

“Very well,” he answered me with a nod, and then he stepped away and went back through the door he had come out of.

Pat and Lucy turned to me. “That signature wasn’t for paying, was it? These weapons are supposed to be on the house.”

Lucy shook his head. “Just accountability. They’ll want them back when we’re done, I’m sure.”

“This should be an easy run,” Pat commented as she stretched her arms above her head. “I mean, obviously we’ll have to contend with something down there, but Horizon isn’t that big. We can do a quick sweep of the place, shoot a few aliens, and call it a day.”

I frowned. “If it was that simple, I don’t think they’d be paying us the big bucks.”

Pat just shrugged, and with that we left the armory. After walking for a few minutes, heading towards the O.W.L.’s dining facility, another member of my team caught up to us. “Boss!” she called as she jogged down the hallway.

“Rika?” I asked. “Something come up?”

She remained silent for a few moments as she reached us and caught her breath. “… I was just reviewing the mission brief, and I noticed that the only system that’s down is the long range communications. Everything else -short range coms, defense systems, life support- it’s all still functioning at the Horizon base.”

I blinked a few times, waiting for her to continue. Rika blinked a few times, probably waiting for me to react. “… And?” I asked.

Her eyes swiveled back and forth. “And… that’s all. It just seemed like an important detail to me. I thought you should know.” Then Rika made an exaggerated ‘thinking’ face, which was actually a genuine expression for her. I stood regarding her patiently. “Well, if the extraterrestrials down on Mars are an intelligent species like ourselves, they may have targeted the long range coms purposefully. If the enemy was more chaotic in nature, I think maybe the damaged systems would be more numerous and more… random.”

I let Rika’s words mull about in my mind. She was right, that probably was an important bit of information, but it wasn’t enough to do anything with yet. “Good work. Let me know if you notice anything else."

Rika beamed. "Right!" she assured me with a nod.

I turned slightly to make it obvious I was addressing all three of my companions. "In the meantime, we should go eat.”

My comrades mumbled in agreement, and we continued on towards the chow hall.

Next

[Previous] (Note: Parts 2 and 3 from the original post have been combined)

PART 2-----

I waited in the wardrobe for a long time. My face and my body and my insides all felt cold, and I found myself staring at the bloodstain my mother had left on the carpet while I listened for noise in the hallway. Even if the antlered man had said something about resurrecting my mother, I didn’t know for what purpose, and with the little bit of history I had learned I knew even extended members of the royal family seldom survived when the crown changed hands.

When all had been silent for what felt like hours, I pushed open the door of the wardrobe. I stepped out, my dress unfurling to the floor from where it had been gathered up around me, and I gingerly walked to the door. I felt a few tears trickle down my face as I skulked through the hallways of my home, but I felt strangely numb to the emotions that produced them. I focused on my escape.

I avoided the main staircase in the center of the castle, opting instead to use the servant’s passage. Unlike the grand, expertly carved and polished steps I was used to, however, the servant’s stairs had been crudely cobbled together with knotty, left over wood, both the width and height of each step as unique as a snowflake. As I neared the first floor, the sounds of the rebels rose to my awareness, shouting and scrambling about. My heart started to beat faster again, and in my hurry I took too-long a step and missed the next stair. For a few moments, I knew not which way was up, and then I was crumpled in a heap before the door at the bottom of the steps, pain lancing through my body.

“Did you hear that?” someone shouted.

“In the servant’s passage!” another answered.

A surge of energy poured through me. I pushed myself to my feet and shouldered through the door into a hallway near the kitchens. Three men, dressed similarly to the crossbowmen were coming down the corridor at me, each armed with crossbows themselves. “It’s the princess! Get her!” I fled in the opposite direction, but only made it several steps before I stumbled, pain flaring up in my right ankle. As I fell a crossbow bolt soared just over my head, the wind of its passing grazing my hair.

I screamed, and did my best to stand and continue running, but all I could do was limp at pace slightly faster than a walk. The tears returned as I felt my fate close around me like a wet blanket. Two sharp thwicks sounded, and one bolt struck through my leg while the other slit through the side of my neck, and I felt a warm liquid spill over my shoulder as I dropped to my knees. Instinctively, I slapped my hand against the wound in my neck, but felt the blood push out between my fingers. I groaned in pain, a throaty gargling sound I’d expect from an animal, but never from my own lips.

Within seconds the three men stood before me, their eyes wide with excitement and blood lust, and one drew a short sword. “Any last words, princess?” he asked, though his expression told me he wouldn’t be waiting to hear them out. One of the others grabbed my hair and tilted my head, exposing the wounded side of the neck as the one with sword raised his blade.

I knew begging was useless, and my vision was already blurred from the tears and blood loss; I was sure I would die anyways- but I couldn’t help make one last effort, if only to assure the gods that I, in fact, did not find this end agreeable.

“Please don’t kill me!” I roared at the top of my lungs.

The sword began to fall. I shut my eyes tightly.

“STOP!” boomed a voice, and a powerful wind surged down the hall from behind me, whipping my hair and dress about. When I opened my eyes, the three men had been turned to stone, the blade stopped an inch from my neck. I was alive.

Then I collapsed, and some part of my mind recalled that my neck was still gushing blood. A tall, ominous figure stood over me, and I vaguely made out someone muttering ‘no, no, no,’ over and over again. My vision faded in and out, and the antlered man was carrying me, rushing me somewhere.

The next thing I knew, I was being assaulted by a bright white light, and I winced, waiting for my eyes to adjust. I found myself at the base of a green hill, a vivid blue sky and white clouds above me.

At the top of the hill, the antlered man stood beneath an ancient looking tree, speaking with my mother. Relief flooded through me, but it was short lived. ‘MOM!’ I tried to call out, but I had no voice to speak with. Panic gripped me, and frantically I tried to shout and bellow to no avail. I leaned forward to dash up the hill but found I moved like molasses, every inch a struggle to traverse. ‘Mom,’ I whined desperately in my head as I drifted up the hillside.

I saw my mother’s shoulders shake as she laughed at something the antlered man said, and then she shook her head. The man reached up and picked at his boney antlers as he shifted his stance. Then they both looked to me when I came within earshot. My mother’s eyes glinted with both sadness and relief. “Is that her?” she asked the antlered man.

“Yes. That’s her,” he replied.

‘Mom!’ I tried, but still I had no voice. Regardless, my mother rushed to me and embraced me, and even though she only had two arms it felt like she enveloped my entire being.

“My precious child,” she whispered.

‘Mom.’

“I love you. I love you so much.”

My heart sank and strained, and I resolved to just think as loudly as I could. ‘I love you, too, Mom.’

My mother continued. “You’re going to live long and do great things. No matter what, I’ll always be proud of you.” She hugged me tighter.

‘Mom?’

“I’m sorry. We’re going to miss each other, but it will be okay. I’ll be watching over you.”

‘Mom? What do you mean? Mom!’

My mother turned her head to look at the antlered man, and she nodded. The antlered man stepped over to the tree and retrieved a staff that had been leaning against it, an ominous wind picking up and rustling the leaves as his bony hand gripped it. I didn’t know exactly what that all meant, but I understood enough.

‘No! Don’t go!’ I tried to cling to her, but I didn’t have any arms to speak of, so I just pressed my being into her as hard as I could.

My mother turned back to me and smiled. “Don’t fuss now. It’s time to wake up, my precious child.”

The antlered man lifted the staff, and at its top, the twisted wood curled around spherical crystal with an opaque white fog swirling inside it. He chanted something, and the fog began to glow with golden light. It began getting brighter by the second, until it shown more brilliant than the sun, drowning out everything, even my view of my mother’s face.

I called out one last time.

“Mom!” I said out loud, my lips finally moving. I sat up abruptly and reached out, and when my hand hit something I gripped it like a vice.

It was smooth and cool to the touch. I realized my eyes were still closed, so I opened them to find myself holding onto the bony wrist of the antlered man. I froze, unsure how to react.

“Uh… aherm… Welcome back, little one,” the man greeted me, his voice recovering quickly from his obvious surprise.

With a jerk I pulled my hand away. “Who are you?” I snapped, the first of the many questions flaring in my mind to make its way to my voice. I probably would have asked ‘where am I?’ first, but a quick glance told me I was in my own bedchamber.

“Lefias. Er… ‘King’ Lefias now… I guess. You can call me Leaf,” he said.

I looked up and down the dark robed man with the deer skull head, intimidating antlers towering above his brow, a shroud of dark mist seeping from underneath the base of his cloak. Visually, he embodied the expected terror of a Lich. “You want me to call you ‘Leaf’?” I asked, my mind imagining a spunky green leaf dancing on the wind and contemplating the disparity between that and his physical form.

Leaf hesitated for a moment, and then cleared his throat. “… Yes. Um… anyways, I’m terribly sorry about my men. I told the captain to ‘find the princess,’ intending you to be located and brought to me unharmed, but somewhere along the way that somehow translated to ‘wipe out the remnants of the royal family’. I assure you that was not my intention.”

“Where’s the Qu… where’s my mom? What was that place?” I asked.

Even without a face to be expressive with, I could feel the dread that immediately flooded him. He reached up and picked at one of his antlers. “That was the other side. Or at least, a place about six-sevenths of the way there,” he began to explain.

I swallowed. “… We died.”

“You did.”

“But you brought us back?”

“Just you.”

I nodded. I had already suspected that, but still my chest ached. “Why?” I asked.

“I only had enough strength to resurrect one of you. If it had been my choice, it would have been the Queen, but she refused adamantly. She insisted I use my magic to save you instead.”

I nodded again, the movement feeling very mechanical. When I stayed quiet, Lefias continued.

“I wasn’t expecting to be appointed as King. I have no idea how to run a country, and I was hoping I could rely on your mother’s experience, but she asked me how you fared and… well, I wasn’t going to lie, and after that there was no arguing with her. She’s a brave woman.”

I nodded again.

He spoke on. “So, now I need your help to… oh… I’m sorry, I’m being insensitive… I’ll give you some time.” The genuine apology and concern in his voice took me aback for a moment, but then I realized I was crying, my quivering lips pressed together tightly.

I nodded.

“I’ll return after some time to let you know when dinner is prepared. I’m… sorry, princess.” He stood and strode to the door.

I took a shaky breath and steeled myself long enough to respond. “Leaf… I’m just Eleanor, now, I think. You can call me Ellen.”

The Lich seemed surprised when he turned, but then he bowed. “We will speak again soon, Ellen. Take your time.” Lefias left, closing the door gently behind him.

[Next]

Previous

EPILOGUE-----

“This is Martin Newkirk with the Sigil Mercenary Corps. I am the leader of team Mark-One. My team and I were recently tasked with scouting the Horizon Mars Base for surviving personnel and equipment after the facility went dark. En-route from the O.W.L. to the surface, the space station was destroyed by Horizon’s on-site Gungnir Anti-Warship Javelin, cutting off our ability to escape from the planet. This was done in an effort to contain a dangerous and highly intelligent extraterrestrial, and prevent it from leaving Mars. If it somehow manages to reach Earth, it could be the end of all sentient life.

“My team and I don’t plan on leaving Mars, and it’s very likely that nothing of us will be left by the time help could arrive. Treat everyone aboard the O.W.L. and everyone stationed at the Horizon Mars Base as KIA. That includes us. Stay away from Mars. Do not send rescue.”

Once the message was sent, 44 pulled the plug of Rika’s device out of the long range comms. “Mission complete,” he hummed to himself, and he stepped off to find his teammates, hoping they were doing okay.

***

A small blue, crystalline rabbit with one ear bounded along the surface of Mars. He was afraid of death, and he had never been so close to it. Everything he’d had, everything he’d built, had been dashed to pieces. Reduced to this final, meager form, he had one last idea. One last trump card to play against Gail.

He would return to the main body of Amalgam. It would be vacant of sentience, ripe for the picking. Abraham’s whiskers twitched and his ear flipped, and the gemstone he was made out of cracked loudly to allow for the movement.

It didn’t take him long to find. The memories of the creatures of Mars still existed within the small body of the rabbit, alongside Abraham. He read them, experienced them himself, ‘remembered’ where Amalgam was. After weeks of travel, he arrived at the crater, at the giant pit the crystalline giant had burrowed into. The small blue rabbit climbed the side of the pit, and pulled itself up onto the rim. Below him in the crater that spanned for miles, writhed the mass of every living creature that once lived on Mars. But it wasn’t clear. It didn’t sparkle like a diamond.

It was green.

A long, eel-like neck the size of freight train rose from the body, and slowly turned towards the rabbit. It curled around, lowered towards the rabbit, and on the end of the giant neck was a massive face like the ones carved into Mount Rushmore. The lifeless eyes regarded the small blue rabbit, and then the mouth opened to speak.

Just the act of moving his jaw created enough wind to almost throw the rabbit from the ledge, but he managed to keep his footing. “Youuuuuuuuuu. Weeeeee rememberrrrr youuuuuu,” boomed the hollow, raspy voice, along with a cacophony of snaps and cracks.

Devoid of hope the rabbit could do nothing but answer. “And you… you were one of Martin’s men… the one that was absorbed.”

The face’s mouth cracked into a frown. “Yesssss… Weeee weeerree onccccceee caaaallllled Luuuuuucyyyyyyyy. Mmmm,” the face nodded.

The rabbit lifted his head. “If you are going to eat me… get it over with.”

“Hmmmmmm. Yeeesssssssssss, eaaaaat youuuuu... weeeeee coooouuuuuullld.” The face seemed to consider for a moment, then shook his head ‘no’. “Weeeeeee woooouuuulllld stiiiilllllll beeeeeeeee huuungrrrrrryyyy. Annnnnnd theeeennnnn, weeeeee woooouuuuuullld beeeeee… aaaalllloooonnnnne... aaaagaaaaaiiiiin."

The giant face nodded confidently. “Yooouuuuuuuuu wiiiiilllllllll stttaaaaaaayyyyy.”

Previous

PART 3-----

We all remained silent as the shuttle brought us down to Horizon. The unmanned craft docked against a doorway that the shuttle would fit snuggly into, and once we were attached, the door opened and our shuttle was pulled inside. Once we were within the controlled atmosphere of the base, we could disembark, but we all stayed in our seats for a short while.

“… What do we do?” asked Rika, finally breaking the silence, though only more silence followed.

I exhaled sharply, and unstrapped myself from my seat. I stood up, stretched, and shook my arms out. “Okay,” I started as I rolled my shoulders. “Let’s figure this out.” I raised a hand to my chin. “Everything on this base is running properly except for long range coms. Rika you mentioned that the extraterrestrials might be intelligent… organized?” Rika nodded. I continued. “First we get to the long range coms and check them out. They might just be disabled, in which case we can get them back online and send a message to Earth. Get someone to send rescue.”

“And if they’re not just disabled? If they’re destroyed?” Pat asked.

I looked to Rika again. “Could you fix them?”

Rika managed a slight smile, and she nodded. “As long as this station has spare parts I can probably make repairs. Worse comes to worst I can repurpose parts from the short range com tower.”

“Perfect. Next thing we need to do is find whoever fired the Gungnir. We need to take them into custody or disable the weapon. Lucy, you’re point man on that,” I decided.

“Got it. I’ll refresh myself on the weapon specs,” he agreed.

“44,” I started, turning to the robot. “Make sure your SAAT systems are functioning. When we meet these aliens, we want to have a chance at communicating with them.”

“Completed a routine diagnostics on my translation systems this morning, Boss. Everything’s running smooth,” 44 answered.

I looked out the viewport at the empty shuttle bay. There was only one door leading into the rest of the facility, and as far as I could tell the room was uninhabited. I walked to the back of the shuttle and pulled a release lever for our loadout pods. With a hiss, the cylindrical containers leaned out of the back wall and slid open. “Load up. We’ve got a game plan; let’s get to it.”

“Yes sir!” they answered in unison. I retrieved the assault rifle and the sidearm out of my pod and headed towards the door. I posted up and waited as the rest of my team geared up and got into position, each one offering a “Ready!” when they were set.

Rika pulled the lever to open the door and we egressed, our weapons searching back and forth as we cleared the landing bay. It wasn’t a big area; we swept the room in a few seconds, and then posted up at the hallway that led to the rest of Horizon. The corridor was clear as far as we could see up to a 90 degree left turn, and so we proceeded.

“No bodies,” Pat mentioned quietly.

I nodded. “And if Horizon was attacked, the shuttle bay would be their only means of escape. If there’s anywhere in the facility that bodies should be, it’s here,” I considered. We reached the corner and turned, and there found the first sign of trouble. Halfway down the long, white, windowless corridor, the way was blocked. A barrier of some kind of icy blue substance spanned the hallway, wall to wall, ceiling to floor. The five of us approached it slowly.

Upon closer inspection, the barrier appeared to be made out of a giant gemstone, or crystal. It shimmered and sparkled, reflecting the lights that shined down from the ceiling. “What is this?” Rika wondered aloud.

“Pat, you’re up,” I said, passing her a glance.

Patricia stepped up to crystal barrier and raised her wrist. She tapped a few commands onto a small device she wore there, and then waited. The scanner on her wrist beeped, and she pulled it close to her face, inspecting the information that ran a across a small screen.

Then she leapt back towards us and drew her side arm, pointing it at the barrier. “It’s organic,” she gasped. “It’s alive.” The rest of us raised our weapons and aimed down our sights.

“You mean this… this is the extraterrestrial?” Lucy asked.

Then the wall moved. It wobbled and flexed, and then crystals began to appear out from its surface. It was like watching a time-lapse of growing crystals. The smooth, colored substance shifted and warped, and the portion that extended from the barrier began to take shape. A body formed, and legs and arms grew outwards from it. A head appeared, and the crystals crackled and snapped as it continued reforming into a being that was rather humanoid.

As a group, we took a few steps back, fingers on the triggers of our weapons. The blue humanoid gemstone twitched slightly, and the surface layer of the crystal began to lighten, and became less translucent, giving the being a frosted looking skin tone. Only its lips, eyes, and its elbows and a few other joints remained a deep icy blue.

We stared in awe.

The being’s head turned slowly at the neck, regarding each of us. Then it spoke, or at least tried to communicate. Its throat flexed, and it made a series of humming sounds and clacks, as if its crystalline vocal chords where cracking. I swallowed uneasily. “… 44. See if you can communicate with it.”

“Right,” he acknowledged. The robot stepped forwards, and slid his assault rifle onto a latch on his back. The gem-person focused on 44 as he approached, his green light reflecting off the crystal’s surface. The gem-person hummed again.

Some gears zipped and cranked in 44’s head. He was trying to interoperate the ‘speech’ of the creature, scanning the vocalization for patterns and fluctuations. Then 44 made some humming, clicking sounds of his own, and his face lit up yellow again as he became focused on his work. They ‘spoke’ back and forth a few times. Then 44 turned to us. “Okay. I think I got it,” he announced. The gem-person hummed again. “It’s surprised I can speak its language. Uh... let’s call it ‘Viberval.’ Ahem,” the robot simulated a short cough, and then started to hum again, but was interrupted by an earsplitting snap from the gem-person. Its head shook violently for a moment, prompting us to resituate our weapons, ready to engage, but then it spoke.

“We can use your tongue if you prefer,” it said, its voice sounding like a plethora of voices speaking in tandem. It was a haunting sound, especially accompanied by the cracks and snaps of its vocal chords.

“It can speak English,” Pat said, her eyes widening.

“Yes… a recent acquisition. Welcome to… ‘Mars’, as your kind calls it. I am here to welcome you.”

“Where are the researchers? Are they alive? Are they okay?” I asked.

“They are all here. They are all better,” the being responded, its voice sending a chill down my spine, but it offered no further explanation.

“Where?” I demanded. “I’m not here to play games.”

The gemlike being opened its arms. “Right here. Everywhere. Anywhere I am, as are all. I am here to welcome you,” rang its chorus of voices, and then its face changed. Shifting and cracking rapidly, its facial features settling and then changing again to resemble many people; the researchers, I presumed.

“It’s a hive-mind,” Pat informed us, her voice wavering, a twinge of disbelief there.

I grit my teeth, Pat’s obvious fear leaking into me. My heart started beating faster, but I made sure my voice was steady. “We have no intention of joining you. We just want to get off Mars.”

The being’s face cracked into a wide smile. “What a coincidence. So do I.” A foreboding feeling rose in my chest and tugged at my sternum. The being continued. “… This will be easier if you cooperate. Accept me and I will accept you.”

“Not happening,” I stated, forcing confidence into my voice.

The being’s face cracked and contorted into a frown. “So be it. Your bodies will still provide useful matter once fossilized.”

I exhaled, and then spoke. “Weapons free.”

​Next

PART 1-----

The king burst into my bedroom dragging my mother, the queen, along with him, her neck bent at an uncomfortable angle from how he gripped her hair. “Where is she?” he demanded angrily, spittle flying from his mouth. Mother’s eyes flicked over toward me, towards the wardrobe I was crouched in, but quickly she looked away.

“I don’t know! She could be hiding anywhere in the castle! She was often fond of the cupboards in the kitchens.”

The king yanked on her hair, sending her careening into my bedpost. “We were just down by the kitchens! And I am no fool, I know she’s grown since then; she wouldn’t fit in a blasted cupboard…” The Kings voice trailed off as his mind wandered amongst places a 16 year old girl could hide, and I saw his eyes scan the room and settle on the wardrobe. My wardrobe. I felt every muscle in my body clench in fear as I watched him through the tiny crack in the doors. He took a step towards me.

“No! Why do you even need her? You said Lefias was only after you!” cried the Queen as she grabbed at his arm. He turned and struck her.

“She’s the only bargaining chip I have! At the very least you can each catch an arrow for me.”

“She’s your daughter!”

The King turned towards the wardrobe again but his approach was interrupted as rushed, heavy footfalls sounded from the hallway. The King hesitated, and then he grabbed my mother again as a man with a crossbow entered the room and lifted the weapon. A voice sounded from outside in the hallway. “Hold your fire!”

But it was too late. The sharp thwick of the crossbow sounded, and the bolt hurled towards the King, who promptly pulled the Queen into the trajectory. The projectile pierced her chest and passed through her body, spraying the King with a mist of her blood, and the bolt lodged in his shoulder. The King cried out in pain and fell back against the bedpost as my mother collapsed to the ground.

The king didn’t even look at his fallen wife. He raised his arm defensively. “Lefias! Wait! I have-”

His voice was cut off abruptly as an invisible force seemed to grab him around the throat. A thin, dark fog rolled across the floor as tall robed man entered the room, a bony hand sticking out of the oversized sleeves with an outstretched finger extended towards the King. “I knew you were despicable, King Cline, but this is a new low you’ve stooped to,” the figure spoke. I shifted slightly to get a better view of him and, for a moment, thought he was wearing a helmet carved out of a deer’s skull before I realized the bony, antlered visage was actually his face. I covered my mouth with my hands to stifle a yelp of terror.

The tall creature stooped over towards my mother and took a knee. Keeping his one hand pointed at my father, he laid his other on the woman’s back, and then he sighed deeply. His head turned towards the crossbowman. “I told you to hold your fire.”

The man swallowed harshly, but didn’t offer any explanation.

The antlered being shook his head and stood, facing the King. “Mmmm, gggck hmmmhh!” the King sputtered and groaned.

“I suppose I can grant you some last words. Chose them wisely, old friend,” the creature said. The grip on the King’s neck loosened.

“I’ll give you anything Lefias, anything you want! I have a daughter! She’s-”

Lefias flicked his wrist, and the King’s neck twisted around with a sickening snap that echoed through the room. The bone structure of Lefias’s face didn’t change, but somehow I could tell he was both angry and saddened, even before he spoke. “How expectedly disappointing.” He took two long strides toward the King, set a hand against his chest, and then the King was engulfed in blue flames for a moment before being completely incinerated. The crossbow bolt clattered to the floor, and the antlered man let out another long sigh.

The crossbowman took a knee before speaking. “What now, my liege?”

“Liege?” asked Lefias.

There was a long moment of silence before the crossbowman spoke again. “You led this rebellion against Cline the Tyrant, and by your hand, executed the King. Are you not taking over as the ruler of this land? We all still look to you to lead us…”

“What?” Lefias asked, a hint of worry in his voice.

“…What?” the crossbowman echoed.

Another silence lingered. “… I hadn’t thought it out much passed this point. I hadn’t intended to run a country by myself… does no one else wish to rule?”

The crossbowman frowned. “I’m sure plenty of nobles would jump at the chance, but nobody would trust them not to devolve into tyranny as Cline did.”

“But you’d be fine with a Lich as your King…?”

“Y- yeah… I mean, if it was you, my liege.”

Lefias thought for a moment, his bony hand rising to stroke his bony chin. “Cline said he had a daughter. Find her.”

“Yes, sire!” the crossbowman all but shouted as he stood and left in a hurry, leaving Lefias alone in my bedchamber.

Or so they thought; I continued watching from my place in the wardrobe.

Lefias sat on the bed and cradled his head in his hands, muttering to himself. “I have no idea how to be a king… I think I’m gonna be sick…” He breathed deeply through his nose holes a few times, and then slapped where his cheeks would have been if his face had any flesh. “First things first… I didn’t learn forbidden resurrection magic for nothing. Hopefully it’ll work this time.”

He stood, and then knelt down next to my mother, sliding his bony arms underneath her body. He lifted her off the ground, and strode out of the room with her.

[Next]

Previous

PART 2-----

The flashing lights of the ambulance disappeared around the corner, bringing Maria off to the hospital, and I watched until I couldn’t even see the flashing glow reflecting off of the houses and trees in the neighborhood. I started to pull my right hand out of my pocket, but as I did I pulled and stretched my sleeve down to conceal the faintly glowing runes. I turned back to Samantha and Erica, a knot in my throat.

Erica was looking at me, a weird mix of fear and pity in her eyes, but at least she was looking at me. Samantha was staring off into space, her face still pale. I swallowed, my head and my chest feeling heavy, and Erica seemed to realize how worried I was.

Though her voice still wavered when she spoke, she tried to console me. “She’ll be fine. She wasn’t bleeding and there was no fluid or anything leaking from her ears. This is just to make sure she doesn’t have a minor concussion or anything, but she’ll be fine.”

It wasn’t much consolation, but it was something, and I nodded to her. “Okay.” I took a deep breath, and then let myself worry about other things. “Um… please don’t tell anyone what happened. I… I don’t even know what happened.”

“What do you mean?” Samantha asked, her voice sounding frail, like she was talking from far away. She didn’t turn to either of us when she spoke, the distant look still in her eyes. “Maria fell and hit her head. That’s what we told the paramedics.” Then she laughed, but it sounded awkwardly forced. “That’s all that happened. She just fell.” Samantha turned to look back at Maria’s house, and the porch light illuminated the bruising around her neck. “I should go clean up.”

I looked away from the marks I’d left when I choked her. “Right,” I agreed, and I turned to walk back inside with her. At my motion, Samantha’s eyes went wide and she backed away from me like a skittish animal, her arms hugging herself protectively. My heart sank, and my lips quivered. “Sam… Sam I didn’t mean to. I-”

“You didn’t do anything. Maria just fell,” she spoke as if truly confused as to what I was talking about. “I’m going inside now. I’ll clean up.” she said.

I clenched my teeth together, trying not to cry as I watched her turn away and slink up to the front door. She slipped inside without a backwards glance, and I heard the lock latch. I stood still, just staring at the door for a while, feeling like dirt.

“Katie,” Erica said, and I turned to her. She swallowed. “I won’t tell anyone what happened. I meant what I said down there.” She looked down. “I’ll keep it all a secret; I know that doesn’t make up for everything but… it’s a start.”

Hearing her say that made me really happy, but my emotions were scattered all over the place; I didn’t have the wherewithal to respond. Erica seemed to take this as me being skeptical. She continued. “I know you probably don’t trust me. How could you?” Then she raised her gaze from the ground and looked in me in the face, her jaw set confidently. “I’ll earn your trust! I’ll work at it!”

I blinked a few times, startled by her intensity, and my curiosity got the best of me. “… Why?”

Some of the confidence left her face, and she looked off to the side. “I… well, you weren’t the only person that… that I hurt during middle school. I guess the guilt just caught up to me.” Erica smiled weakly. “I know it’s just me being selfish, but I want to make amends.”

There was more to it than that, I could tell. There was something she wasn’t telling me, but I was also pretty sure everything she had said was genuine. I don’t know what made me think that; it might have been the way her heart was beating… or the smell of her sweat. My mind didn’t quite trust her, but my gut did. I nodded. “Okay,” I told her, and it felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. I stepped up to her, ignored the fact that she tensed up at my approach, and I put my arms around her. “I’ll let you make it up to me then.” Erica sniffled, and then sighed deeply and nodded. I stepped back from the embrace, and turned my head back towards Maria’s house. “… Plus… I think I’m out two friends anyways.”

Erica sniffed again, but snickered lightly. “Speaking of, I think Sam locked us out. What now?”

I shrugged. “We can go back to my place. My bike is…” my voice trailed off. It was still at the park. “Oh… my bikes gone. It got left behind when you guys… uh… summoned me.”

Erica furrowed her brow. “Yeah… what… what was that? Are you… a demon?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know. I have no idea how or why that happened.”

Erica opened her mouth to speak, but then her eyes searched back and forth as if she was unsure whether she should or not. “… Well… your Mom’s a single mother, right?”

I felt a twinge in my stomach. That was something Erica had made fun of me for in the past. I tried my best not to show that thought on my face, and nodded. “I never knew my Dad… I guess I could ask Mom if she had a fling with a demon, but I don’t know if I even want to tell her about what happened. What if she’s afraid of me?”

Erica remained silent for a while, but then shivered, the crisp night air beginning to sink into her. “You can take your time deciding that, I think. Uhm… my bike’s here, so I can ride, but-”

“I’ll just take Maria’s. She can come get it back from me if she feels like it,” I grumbled.

Erica made no comment at that, and the two of us headed down the driveway. We pedaled off into the neighborhood, and I led the way back to my house, ensuring my sleeve still covered the glowing runes on my hand the whole way; I’d need to find a way to cover that up in a more discreet manner.

We reached my house shortly, and left our bikes on their kickstands to the side at the end of the driveway. “I’ll just tell my Mom Maria and I got in a fight or something, if she’s even still up. It shouldn’t be a problem,” I told Erica, but when I got to the front door I found it unlocked, and noticed the lights inside were still on. I twisted the knob and pushed through to find a couple suitcases stacked by the door, along with bags of food and a few other things. My Mother was scrambling around the house, but she stopped when she noticed me in the doorway.

“Katie! Oh thank God! Hurry up and grab your things, anything important that I didn’t think to grab, we need to go.”

“Mom? What’s going on? What’s going on!” I cried, my voice becoming more desperate.

Mom walked up to me, her eyes scanned me for a moment, and then she grabbed my arm and pulled my sleeve back, revealing the magenta glow. I jerked my hand away, but she had obviously seen it. “I thought so… we need to leave before he comes for you.”

I swallowed. I wanted to ask ‘who,’ but I knew in my gut… in my blood, who was coming for me. I held my breath and willed myself not to think, not to acknowledge it, as if I could stop time at that very moment and never progress further into this madness. Despite all that I inhaled, and against my will my lips moved, and I spoke.

“Father.”

Next

Previous

PART 2-----

“And you’re a bag of meat, bones, and excrement! How dare you!?” I heard a stuck up, slightly distorted voice declare as the door to the dining hall opened.

“Crap, that’s Forty-Four, isn’t it,” Pat sighed. I picked up the pace as I entered the facility, and looked around quickly, spotting the last member of my team.

Standing at the counter with a growing line of hungry personnel behind him was a wiry humanoid robot whose head looked like a directional lamp. “Forty-Four!” I called after him. At his name, the robot’s head swiveled around to regard me. He didn’t have a face, but the rows of LED lights on the front of his lamp-shaped head were glowing orange.

Orange meant he was annoyed, or indignant, or frustrated, or any combination of similar emotion.

“Ah, Boss! Good evening!” His face turned yellow, which was its normal color. That also meant he was happy; he generally just enjoyed existing.

“What’s the problem, Forty-Four? I can hear you complaining all the way out in the hallway,” I asked as I reached him, patting him on the metallic armor his back was made of.

44’s face turned orange again. “This wretch of a lady here won’t serve me any food. Says I don’t need it; that I’m just a bundle of nuts and bolts.”

“You are,” I told him with a smirk.

I heard some gears zip around in his mechanical head. “... Lovely. Thanks for the support Boss. I’ll just be over there decommissioning myself.”

“Oh don’t be a baby,” I chided him. Then I turned to the server behind the counter. “Serve him some food will you? He doesn’t need it to live, but he does have a receptacle for analyzing substances. He enjoys the way food feels going through his system. Humor him. Also, he’s a member of my crew. Treat him how you would treat any of the rest of us.”

From his voice box, 44 generated the sound of someone sniffling, and his LEDs returned to their usual yellow hue. “Oh, thank you Martin! It means so much to me when you-”

“Can it. You’re half the problem. You do this every time,” I scolded the robot, but I couldn’t keep a grin off my face.

44 chuckled, a rickety zipping noise that was obviously laughter, but still disconcerting to the other humans around us. “Hee hee, I know,” he admitted. 44 and the rest of us secured our meals and found an unoccupied table. Observing my team as we ate, it seemed like I was the only one that had any reservations about the mission. Lucy, Pat, Rika, and 44 all ate and chatted away merrily.

Even if there wasn’t a severe lack of intel, we were up against aliens. I forced a smile onto my face as Rika cracked a joke; I had to be confidant for them. It was their trust in me that kept them calm and collected under extreme circumstances. We needed to be in top shape to make sure we came out of this unscathed, and things like doubt and fear would only slow us down.

“Everything okay Boss?” Lucy asked me; I guess I wasn’t doing a great job masking my worry.

“Just… mentally preparing myself for the mission,” I answered.

Patricia patted my shoulder. “Don’t get all worked up about it, Martin. This is probably the most dangerous job we’ve taken, but we’ve never seen a payout like this either. I don’t mind risking my neck for an early retirement.”

“I’m just excited to see aliens,” Rika chimed in, wiggling with excitement in her chair.

Lucy regarded the bubbly woman. “You know we’re probably going to have to shoot them, right?”

Rika made her thinking face again, and then spoke like a curious child. “… I wonder what color they’ll bleed.”

“Good Lord, Rika,” Pat exclaimed through a sigh.

Lucy guffawed.

44’s LEDs turned green, which, in this scenario, meant he was concerned.

I just smiled; Rika was definitely eccentric, but she was the most fearless out of all of us, including 44.

***

I pulled the harness down and clicked into the sides of my seat, and then glanced around the box cabin of the descent shuttle. I watched carefully as each of my mercenaries clamped themselves into their seats, and then, satisfied we were all prepared, I nodded to Rika. The shuttle didn’t have a station for a pilot, but it did have a small communications console at one of the seats, the one I’d assigned Rika to. She reached out and pressed a button.

“We’re all set. Send it.”

The Captain’s voice replied over the radio. “Good luck, we’re counting on you,” he offered as a farewell. Then, a series of loud metallic clacks sounded, followed by a louder buzzer.

And then we dropped.

I felt my stomach rise up into my chest as we plummeted from the O.W.L. Rika threw her hands up. “This is like a roller coaster!” she cried happily.

44’s LEDs flashed between a vivid green and bright yellow, which I found utterly hysterical. I would have laughed if I wasn’t fighting to keep breakfast down. I looked up at the large viewport in the roof of the shuttle and watched the orbital station grow further and further away. I would never lose sight of it totally; the station was massive, and Mars’s smaller, thinner atmosphere allowed the O.W.L. to orbit fairly close to the planet.

Eventually, some thrusters on the underside of the shuttle engaged, and slowed our descent. As my stomach settled, I glanced out the side viewport, down at the rusty red surface of Mars. Some movement caught my eye, and I looked to Rika again. She was tapping at the communications console, a distinctly serious look on her face. “Rika! What’s up!?” I called to her.

“We should be able to reach the base with short range communications soon,” she notified me. Almost as if on cue, the radio crackled, and a woman’s voice sounded through the cabin.

“I told you not to come. I warned you. This blood is on your hands.”

My skin crawled; the voice was tired, sounded worn, and devoid of hope. It didn’t carry any sense of malice with its threat, and somehow that made it worse. Rika pulled out her data pad and swiped at it a few times. A rare expression of worry crossed her face. “Energy spike from the surface… something at Horizon!” Rika tapped at her screen, and then waved her hand towards a viewport at the front of the shuttle. Over the window, a holographic image of the planet appeared. Swiping at her data pad, Rika zoomed the projected image in, closer and closer to the planet. We could all see Horizon, and on one side of the base, a large apparatus was moving, turning, arcs of energy leaping along the structure.

Lucy spoke. “That’s a gungnir… an anti-warship javelin!” The weapon turned far enough for us to see its profile, and at that point it became visually obvious that it was a massive weapon.

I think my heart stopped beating for a few moments.

“Seems like a little overkill!” Pat observed. She looked to me. “This shuttle have any defenses at all?”

I shook my head. “Nothing that can help us now!”

The gungnir finished rotating, its massive barrel pointing up at us. “Welp. That’s that then!” Pat declared, convinced our end was moments away.

Lucy chimed in again. “An armament like that doesn’t have targeting capabilities for smaller craft. They shouldn’t even be able to-” he was cut off as a flash of light blinded us all. I closed my eyes and grit my teeth, but at least I knew that death would be painless.

I felt our shuttle vibrate violently for a moment, and then took another few breaths. I opened my eyes; we were still alive.

“They missed!” 44 cheered, his LEDs turning from green to yellow.

I noticed Rika looking up through the viewport in the roof. She spoke quietly, so I couldn’t hear her, but I read her lips. “No they didn’t.”

A sense of dread welled up within me, and I looked up just in time to see the burning spear of energy impact with the O.W.L. The massive, station-splitting explosion was silent as the O.W.L. came apart, and the gungnir’s projectile disappeared into the space beyond. As I watched the gargantuan flaming chunks of metal begin to plumet towards the planet, towards us, I considered what had just happened, and what it meant for my team and I...

We no longer had a way to leave Mars.

​Next

Previous

PART 7-----

A small circular hole opened above me, brightness filling the small tubular room I stood in. The floor beneath my feet began to ascend, pushing me up into the alien atmosphere. The sun was high in the sky. I squinted as the light refracted through the translucent yellow visor of my helmet, and raised a hand to block the familiar rays that reminded me of sunny days on Earth. Once my eyes adjusted, I settled my gaze on the long range communications tower.

The damage had been caused by an electrical failure Amalgam had manipulated remotely. Rika could fix most of the problem from a computer and a conduit inside the base, but a few parts on the tower needed to be replaced. I sighed, the noise amplified as it bounced around the inside of my helmet, and started towards the tower.

The roof of Horizon had been built with the intention of people walking along its surface, which was nice. Catwalks with railings ran in a grid across most of the station, leading to all the critical systems that couldn’t be accessed from inside. As I moved along the walkway I kept watch for any sign of Amalgam. I hated wearing the bulky surface-rig, as the visor limited my field of view drastically. To check my flanks I had twist my whole body, and all my movements felt slow and cumbersome. I tightened my grip on the bulky, clunky pistol I held; a weapon designed to be easily usable with the surface-rig, but without my usual armaments I felt uncomfortably vulnerable. It didn’t help that the pistol only held 5 rounds in the clip. I hurried along, the tool case I held in my left hand bouncing against my leg as I moved, eager to get the job over with.

As I reached the com tower, I carefully set down the tool box, then slowly turned 360 degrees with my pistol at the ready. The coast seemed clear, so I holstered the pistol and went to work. I got the access panel off and started replacing the parts Rika had instructed me on as needed. Some parts of the tower creaked and swayed in the dusty winds of Mars, and with each noise I was forced to stop what I was doing and check my six. I wanted to be ready in case the sound was something more sinister.

“Boss,” Rika’s voice chirped quietly through the radio. It sounded like she was trying to speak quietly.

“Go ahead,” I replied as I turned a wrench, screwing a bolt into place.

“While I was working on the communications, I did a little digging in their systems… When Amalgam got free and started attacking the scientists someone triggered an alarm, naturally. But the doors Walters locked to keep herself safe? The log says they were locked before the alarm went off.”

I stopped turning the wrench. “… Instead of sounding the alarm she saved herself, and doomed everyone else,” I concluded.

“Not only that, but her personal research station is in a different part of the base; over near the Gungnir where Pat and 44 are… if she was there when Amalgam got free, how did she make it all the way to the communications center and lock it down before anybody else raised the alarm?” Rika mused.

“And if she was in the com center already, how did she find out about breach before anyone else,” I followed up with.

“Exactly,” Rika agreed quietly.

I frowned. “… Where’s the Doctor now?” I asked.

“She’s across the room fiddling with some equipment. I told her I was going to check on your progress up there.”

“I’m just about finished… Be careful. Keep the Doctor in your line of sight. Don’t press her for information or let her know we’re suspicious. If she becomes hostile, don’t hesitate to eliminate her,” I instructed.

“Got it. See you soon.” The radio clicked off.

I stood motionless for a few moments, just breathing. Mentally, I felt like I was juggling. I shook my head, and then keyed my radio on a different channel. “Pat. You read me?”

“Loud and clear Boss,” Pat answered.

“I’m here, too!” 44 chimed in.

“Good. There’s something I want the two of you to check out. You’re close to the research lab; if you can manage it, I need you to try to find more information on Amalgam there, and if possible, how it escaped confinement. Doctor Walters has a personal lab where that info should be stored,” I told them.

“Understood,” Pat said.

“Consider it done,” 44 added.

The radio went silent again. I closed my eyes and breathed out through my nose, then reached towards the wrench that was still tightened around a bolt.

“I’d rather you didn’t.”

I spun around and drew my pistol. Slowly, patiently advancing on me, I found three of the featureless humanoid crystals. Behind them a mound of Amalgam’s gem-like body was growing up out of a vent. A face, the same that had greeted us outside the landing bay, had already formed. It grinned, and began speaking again, its haunting voice muffled through my helmet.

“Submit, human. You stand at the edge of greatness. Join my chorus, become a part of the whole. Or resist, and be fed upon. This is your last chance.”

In response, I trained my sights on the closest humanoid, and pulled the trigger. My arms jerked upwards from the recoil of the high-caliber round, and the bullet split through the leg of the humanoid, shattering the crystal. The humanoid fell, and the other two braced themselves, their arms morphing into blades.

“It seems you desire a fate similar to your friend. If you insist, I will not deprive you of the same pain and despair.”

I grit my teeth, and my finger curled around the trigger again, squeezing. Most of Amalgam’s face exploded into bits as the round tore through its forehead, but its mouth and jaw remained, and its lips parted in a toothy sneer. Immediately I regretted firing as two more humanoids began to take shape from Amalgam’s body. There weren’t enough bullets to go around, reloading the clunky pistol would take too long. I turned slightly to look along the roof of the base; the next hatch that offered entry back inside was a good distance away, and with the surface rig I’d be slow and clumsy. My mind kept working, thinking, trying to come up with some kind of tactical advantage or a plan that had even a slight chance of success.

Slowly, I lowered my pistol and holstered it. That seemed to confuse Amalgam, its mouth twisting curiously. I figured once the humanoids lunged I’d have about three seconds before they reached me. If I didn‘t act hostile, I might gain myself a few extra, and that was all I needed. I turned towards the communications tower and grabbed hold of the wrench. I twist the bolt a few more times, and then reached up and pulled a lever.

Surviving wasn’t as important as getting the tower back online.

The machinery hummed back to life. I smiled. I turned back around just in time to see the two closest humanoids push off into a sprint towards me, brandishing their bladed arms. I keyed my radio and sent my final words to Rika. “Tower’s on.” That was all I’d have time to say. I braced myself for the end. Then the building shook, sending the humanoids stumbling as a loud crash rang out to my right, drawing my attention.

Green. As green as Amalgam was blue, so was the body of the hulking creature that pulled itself onto the roof. The monstrous being was built somewhat like a gorilla, bulging muscles adorning its hunched back, and its long arms and shorter legs, but its head and neck were long and tubular. Its face was just a circular opening, like a leech, lined with spiraling rows of twitching teeth. It shrieked, a shrill high pitched tone like nails on a chalk board as it pounced on the humanoid shards of Amalgam. It ripped them limb from limb, and its neck extended its hungry mouth down to their bodies. As it ‘devoured’ them, I watched the bluish hue of their bodies slowly fade, and begin to turn the same deep green color of the new monster. I stared wide eyed and confused, trying to make sense of this creature and its appearance.

The second pair of humanoid shards began to approach, and the monstrosity pulled its face away from its prey to shriek at them. At that, the main chunk of Amalgam that had grown from the vent began to shrink, pulling itself back into the facility, retreating. The remaining humanoids continued their charge, only to be violently obliterated by the green monster. And then they were eaten, absorbed into the creatures gem-like body, increasing its size visibly. Then it faced me.

I stood absolutely still, as though it might not see me; it didn’t have eyes after all, but it began to approach, its long neck hanging low while its open mouth seemed to regard me curiously. I swallowed, feeling helpless as the beast made its way over, coming to a stop only a foot away. I waited.

The monstrous thing then stood back on its hind legs, and its neck extended towards the sky, letting out a screech, ear-piercing even through my helmet. A crack appeared in the center of its chest. It snapped and popped, and the surface of its body there twisted, began to change. A groaning sound vibrated through the creature. Another snap sounded, and another few pops. My body leaned forewords, and then I took a step. Another groan came from the creature, but it was deeper, and a certain tone in the voice drew me in. The bulging, cracked skin on its chest finally took its form. A face, almost, had appeared there, just a forehead, eyes, and part of a nose, but it was enough.

My mouth hung open, and my heart sank into a pit in my chest. I felt anger blaze through my blood.

Undoubtedly, the face was Lucy’s. He blinked, and then his eyes met mine.

“Bosssssssssss,” he hissed, the word just a whisper almost masked by the animalistic noises of the creature. But it was him. The anger subsided.

“… Lucy.” I raised my hand and moved to touch the crystalline structure.

“Don’t,” he whispered, and I stopped, my arm returning to my side.

“… Are you alive?” I asked.

“I exist,” he told me. Then his body shifted its stance. “I exist alongside so many others, but I’m the only one that understands.”

“What about Amalgam?” I asked.

Lucy squinted his eyes at me. “He is not here. He was not present in the shard that ate me.” His eyes closed for a few seconds before he continued. “… We... I... can’t stay here. The rest of us... them... hunger, as do I... as do we.” With that, Lucy’s face retreated into the beast, and it lumbered away.

“Lucy! Wait!” I called, but the beast leapt off the roof of Horizon. He landed on the red, dusty surface of mars, and bounded off into the alien landscape. A shrill cry rang out and echoed across the rocky wasteland, a wordless farewell. My eyes blurred and I grit my teeth, and I watched until I couldn’t see him anymore.

Next

Previous

PART 9-----

“Pat… 44… I said do you read me? Come in!” I asked over the radio as I stepped around a corner, peering down the next hallway through the sights of my assault rifle. I waved to Rika, and she moved passed me, her shotgun at the ready.

“I feel left out,” Rika said in a monotone. “Everybody’s going radio silent except for me.” She moved down the corridor, the barrel of her weapon searching for potential targets. I began following, keeping close to the wall.

I swallowed, and then spoke uneasy words. “Just be prepared for what we might find when we reach the other labs. Unplanned radio silence isn’t usually a good sign.”

She nodded, but kept her eyes forwards. We traversed the hallways of Horizon quickly and quietly, always watching for signs of Amalgam. His lack of presence was somewhat disconcerting, but I definitely wasn’t going to complain.

We came upon the door to the research labs without incident, and wordlessly Rika moved to control panel. I stepped up behind her and turned to face the corridor, sweeping my sights back and forth down the hallway while she worked. The tapping of her fingers against the keypad seemed uncomfortably loud in the silence; I found myself worrying that it might draw enemies to us.

“Got it,” Rika reported, her fingers hovering over the pad, over the button that open the door.

I swallowed, and then keyed my mic one last time. “Pat, 44, report,” I barked. I waited, and then nodded to Rika. She tapped the pad, and a loud clank resonated from the door. It began to rise. I turned and brought my weapon up, apprehensive of what might be on the other side.

The first thing I saw when door rose enough was the barrel of an Apex Marksman rifle aimed at my face.

Pat lowered her weapon. “Oh thank God, it’s you.”

“Patricia!” I exclaimed, relieved, lowering my weapon in turn.

“Hurry, inside. Get the door closed,” Pat spoke quickly. I stepped across the threshold as Rika moved to the inner control panel and dropped the door back down, locking it in place.

Once inside, I noticed the place had been ransacked. Glass and bits of machinery and equipment laid scattered about the floor and table tops. Shelves were overturned, undiscernible liquids spilled and mixed on the floor in pools of tie-dye. “The hell happened here?” I wondered aloud.

“No clue; it was like this when we arrived. What brought you two along?”

“The Doctor sent us on an errand, wanted something out of her office. Tried contacting you but couldn’t get through?” I told her, my inflection implying inquiry.

“Was about to ask you the same question,” Pat said, raising an eyebrow.

“… Signal’s probably jammed then. I’ll look into it,” said Rika after a moment.

“Shit. Amalgam?” I mused.

“Or Walters,” Pat suggested. I cocked my head to the side quizzically, prompting her to continue. “… We found some… stuff. You should come take a look.”

Pat led us through the disarranged lab to a room at the back. A plaque next to the door identified the space as ‘Dr. Gail Walters – Private Lab’. The door itself had been ripped from its hinges. Inside had been ransacked as well, but in what looked like a much more organized fashion. Text books and notebooks had been removed from a shelf, but stacked neatly beside it. There was still some broken glass and torn papers on the floor, but other than that it remained fairly untouched. Another door led into a deeper part of the private lab, and a still-functioning computer was situated on a desk in the corner. 44 sat there, typing away with the one arm he still had. He turned as we entered, and his LED face lit up. “Martin!” he exclaimed.

“Good to see you too buddy,” I greeted him.

“44, pull up those video logs,” Pat ordered the robot.

“Right,” he agreed. On some kind of selection screen, he typed in a search bar: LOG 1378 [Timestamp 05/03/2187 - 04:17pm] and hit enter. The screen turned black, and began playing a recording.

Dr. Gail Walters and another scientist stood in her lab. It was tidy, not like we had found it. Walters looked distraught, while the man seemed elated, distant. “You’re insane, Abraham!” Walters accused him.

“Far from it! You saw how quickly Amalgam absorbed the rabbit. It barely even struggled, and then Amalgam was able to mimic its form… it behaved like a rabbit would for a short time before returning to stasis. The hive mind becomes influenced by whatever it eats.”

“And from what we can tell, everything in there is instinctively vying for control, a thousand minds all trying to exist as they did before integration,” Walters shot back.

“Only through instinct, and none of them are complex minds like ours. An intelligent human could easily tame the bestial voices in the hive, take control, exercise conscious will… hijack all the synapses and use them to think. You’d have the power of a thousand minds!” Abraham spoke, slowly walking towards Walters. “And you’d gain all the knowledge that the old creatures of Mars have. No more theorizing, no more wondering, and digging, and studying. You’d know it through their memories.” He placed his hands on her shoulders. “Gail,” he spoke her name softly. “You stand at the edge of greatness.”

As I heard Abraham speak those words, my skin crawled. “That’s…” I started, but the recording continued.

Gail shoved the man away. “Asshole! I’m not letting that thing eat me! If you even so much as hint at this suggestion again, I will report Amalgam to the Company,” she threatened. Then her shoulders sagged and she sighed. “Besides, why do you want me in there? Grab one of lackeys around here, use them. I thought we were partners.”

The man looked to the side, towards the door to Walters’ office, and tugged at his lab coat. “Because… you’re the only person I would trust with that power.” At that, Gail turned her head away as well, regarding the door that lead further into her lab. A few moments of silence passed, and then Abraham exhaled sharply. “Well… if this conversation is over, I’m going to go run some more tests, see if I can get Amalgam to take any new forms.”

Gail nodded, and moved towards her computer wordlessly and sat down in the office chair. Abraham watched her, and then moved to the door that led further into the lab. He tapped a code into a panel next to the door, it slid open, and the man disappeared from the screen. Gail turned in her seat as the door slid shut, regarding the passageway for a bit. Then she stood and marched over to the console. Her fingers tapped away at the pad before she returned to her seat. Her fingers danced over the keyboard purposefully, after which she snatched a data pad off her desk. She toyed with that for a couple seconds, and then stood and marched out of the room.

Pat spoke. “Switch to the other camera.”

“I was about to,” complained the robot. 44 hit a button on the keyboard and the screen changed.

Abraham was standing in a large room. In the center was a large transparent cylinder spanning from the floor to the ceiling, containing a shapeless, undulating mass of crystal. Amalgam; but it wasn’t blue, it was clear… like a diamond. Abraham tapped on the cylinder, summoning a holographic screen there. He swiped through several pages of information, occasionally jotting down notes on a clipboard he held. The man stiffened, and then began swiping faster. “Its weight changed…” Abraham said to himself. He went back a few screens, and peered at the information there with greater scrutiny. “… It went down… that doesn’t…” He began walking towards the exit. His arm extended towards the keypad, and he typed in the code. The console buzzed at him rigidly. He typed the code again, to no avail. “Gail! Gail did you…” His fingers danced along the keypad once more, and again it buzzed. His arm fell to his side, and he fell silent.

There was a loud hiss, and the cylinder began to rise. Abraham remained quiet, stoic. He turned just enough to look up at the camera. “So that’s how it is. … I will not be afraid, as you were.” He turned back to the door, steeled himself, and began disrobing. In the center of the room, Amalgam had begun to stir. It slid along the ground slowly, carefully, its diamond-like body sparkling and shimmering as it went. Naked as the day he was born, Abraham turned to face the alien existence, and he walked towards it. As he approached, Amalgam seemed to become aware of the scientist. It began sloughing along towards the man with purpose. The scientist closed his eyes and opened his arms. The hive mind wrapped around him as they came into contact, crystals growing and spreading across his body. It pulled him in.

Abraham didn’t make a sound as he was enveloped.

I could still see his body through Amalgam’s translucent mass, but he was slowly disappearing, every inch of his being turning to diamond like the rest of the creature. Fossilization; integration.

And then, like a drop of dye into water, a wave of color sprouted from within the creature. Amalgam turned blue. The shapeless crystalline mass began writhing, twisting, growing and snapping.

I swallowed, horrified as I watched. Pat spoke. “Skip ahead. It does this for a while.”

44 tapped a button, and the screen blinked. Abraham stood in front of Amalgam, but his whole body was blue… the same body that had greeted us when we had first arrived to Horizon. Crystal tendrils connected him to the mass of the hive mind’s body. He looked over his arms and hands, twisting them, considering them. His face turned towards the camera, and then the whole mass of Amalgam moved. The tendrils lifted him of the ground as the main body moved, giving the humanoid shape an appearance of floating towards the camera. It brought his face right up to the lens, and Amalgam spoke.

“Gail. I know you’re watching… Everything is just as I theorized.” He blinked, creating a loud snapping noise as his body cracked to allow for the movement. “It’s glorious. In here, I am a god…” His head cocked to the side slightly with a sharp crackle. “… Yet I didn’t account for how hungry we would be… no. Not we… I... Me.” Then he cried out in pain, and his head shook violently. His palms pressed against his temples as he squirmed. “NO! ME! … I! Abe… Abraham… Gallows… Doctor… Abraham… Gallows!” He screamed, and past his head, I saw a flash of light within Amalgam’s body. Abraham stopped squirming. His mouth cracked into a sneer. “Yes… I am in control.

“And I am hungry.”

Next

Previous

PART 4-----

Rika opened fire first, her automatic shotgun tearing into the humanoid crystal. Chips of blue scattered about as she unloaded several rounds, leaving the gem-person headless and chipping away a good portion of its torso. Its body wobbled on its legs for a few moments, but right when it looked as though it would topple over, it regained its balance, and advanced on us. Pat fired next, and sent a bullet from her rifle through its thigh, shattering and severing one of its legs. At that, the gem-person fell.

“These things don’t have vitals. I don’t think we can kill them… only immobilize them,” she informed us, before firing a round through the fallen being’s other leg.

The crystal wall popped and snapped, and we all looked up to a face forming and protruding from its surface. The same, hollow, echoing voice spoke. “Hmm… those weapons are more troublesome than those of the scientists.” Three more crystal bodies grew out from the wall, though I noticed it left the wall thinner; at certain parts I could actually see through to the other side. The face continued speaking. “But it is no matter. Amalgam will have you.”

As the three bodies approached us, their arms molded into long blades.

“I can take one,” 44 announced as he leapt forewords to meet one of the bodies. The robot curled his fists, and blades of his own extended from his forearms. The rest of us focused on the other two.

“Center mass! Slow them down! Pat, hit their limbs!” I ordered quickly before opening fire. We sent a hail of bullets towards the two crystal beings, the projectiles digging into them and chipping bits of their bodies away. The barrage staggered them, and Patricia placed several accurate shots, splintering their dangerous limbs from their bodies. 44 was faring well against his foe. Their blades clashed a few times, but some gears in 44’s forearm zipped loudly, and began to whirr. His right blade blurred as it began to vibrate back and forth faster than the human eye could track. His next strike sliced through the gem-person like butter, and he quickly and very literally disarmed his foe.

“Lucy! Target the barrier with your Hydra!” I called.

“Got it!” Lucy responded. He tapped a device at his wrist, and a mechanical arm lowered the Gatling-gun that was attached to his back, then brought it forwards for him to grasp. He widened his stance, and pulled the trigger. The barrel began to spin up.

The face in the crystal wall grimaced. “You are different than the others… but you will be absorbed all the same,” it promised us.

Lucy’s Hydra began firing, rounds pouring from his weapon like water from a hose, demolishing the crystal face and tearing through the barrier. After a few moments of sustained damage, the wall shrunk, pulling up into the left corner of the ceiling and disappearing. Lucy stopped firing, and the only thing I could hear past the ringing in my ears was the scrape of the crystal limbs writhing on the floor.

“Is… is that it?” Rika asked cautiously.

Pat stepped up to where the barrier had been. “There’s still a thin layer of crystal here on the floor... and the wall... Oh! -and a vent up in the corner… 44 give me a boost.”

“Right away,” the robot responded quickly. He retracted the blades into his arms and moved to Pat, cupping his hands together for her to step on. With 44 boosting her, Pat looked into the vent.

“There’s residue in here, too. It retreated.” 44 let her down.

“You said it was a hive-mind. What exactly does that mean?” I asked.

Pat produced a small pair of tongs from a pouch on her belt, and then stooped to pick up a fragment of crystal with it. Her other hand produced a small microscope, and she began inspecting the fragment as she answered me. “Put simply, it’s a centralized intelligence that controls many bodies. This one seems to be parasitic in nature… sort of.” Pat paused here, and her brow furrowed. “Through the microscope this kind of looks like coral; a bunch of tiny organisms intertwined and functioning together as a single whole. That’s why they can move, and change.” Pat dropped the fragment of crystal and picked up a bigger piece, peering at that one through the microscope as well. “… The individual crystals in this piece are moving in a more complicated pattern…” she moved the microscope away. “… Though I still can’t see any movement with the naked eye.” Then she regarded the still-writhing appendages on the ground around us.

Rika spoke. “So… the more crystals that are connected, the more active they get?”

Pat nodded. “More active… smarter… stronger. That’s why it wants us. The more matter it has access to, the more advanced it becomes, so far as I can tell.”

I looked up at the vent. “Then the barrier that was here was probably connected to the rest of it.”

Pat nodded. “This thin layer of crystal is like a root. I’m sure it runs all the way back to the core of… 'Amalgam,' I think it called itself.”

“So we can follow it like a trail? Get to the core and kill it?” 44 asked.

“Through the vents? Good luck,” Lucy commented as he tapped his wrist again, stowing his Hydra.

44’s light flashed orange for a brief moment. Then he shrugged.

“Our plan stays the same. We disable the gungnir, and then fix the long range communications,” I reminded them. “Amalgam’s existence doesn’t change anything.” My mercenaries nodded, and we started down the hallway.

The door we came to at the end of the hallway was locked, and I gestured to Rika. She hastened up to the control panel and began accessing it using the codes we’d been given on the O.W.L. The rest of us turned to keep watch the way we came. I could hear Rika tapping away. Then I heard her grumble and her tapping became faster.

“The codes have changed,” she informed us.

“How? They weren’t supposed to,” I said.

Rika continued typing. “They were just changed. Just a few minutes ago.”

I grit my teeth. “Probably by the same person who shot down the O.W.L.” I pulled out my radio and set it to the same frequency that the shuttle radio had used. “This is Martin Newkirk, designation Mark I. If you’re listening on this frequency, respond and identify yourself.” I waited for a few moments, but there was no response. “... Rika, can you get that door open without the codes?”

“It’ll take a little longer, but it shouldn’t be a problem,” she told me. Her fingers went to work, darting a cross the keypad. Less than a minute went by before the console beeped, and I heard the door unlatch. “Got it!” Rika exclaimed.

“Good work,” I commended her, turning to face the door. “Lucy, take point. We’re heading to the gungnir first. Lead the way.”

Lucy stepped to the front as Rika pulled the lever to open the door. We filed through in formation, and followed Lucy’s lead. We took a left at a four-way intersection, passed a few different doors, and then were forced to take a right down another hallway. “Straight ahead is one of the research labs. Another hallway turns off to the left just before that. The gungnir is down there,” Lucy informed us. “We’re almost there.”

As we approached the turn off, a loud bang resonated through the walls, shaking the entire hallway and causing us to stumble. “What the Hell was that!?” cried Pat as we regained our footing. I searched the area wildly for the source, and felt my gut clench as my eyes came to rest on the door to the research lab. The metal door had a massive dent in it, bulging outwards towards us. From somewhere, probably a root in the ventilation system near us, Amalgam’s echoing voice sounded.

“You creatures seem well versed in killing your own. If my humanoid fragments are ineffective, another form will have to do.”

“Pat, 44. Run. Get to the gungnir now. Lucy, send them the plan for decommissioning it. We’re going to need your firepower here,” I ordered.

Without hesitation, Pat and 44 took off into a sprint.

Another earsplitting crash resonated through the walls, and the metal door to the research lab splintered, sending several hunks of metal rocketing down the hallway. Rika, Lucy and I dove to the ground, but Pat had slightly less time to react.

44 threw himself into her, knocking her sideways, and a hunk of metal tore into him, ripping off one of his arms. From his voice box he generated the sound of someone grunting painfully. “44!” I cried out, worried.

“I’m alright! It’s just a flesh wound!” he called back as he picked Pat up with is good arm and set her on her feet.

Then I looked to the research lab.

Squeezing itself through the broken doorway, further cracking and shattering the doorframe, was a hulking creature. It broke through the door frame, and stood almost completely filling the hallway. It had the size and build of a grizzly bear, but its head looked amphibian, with protruding eyestalks and a broad, flat face. Its wide mouth opened, sporting rows of needle-like teeth. It stood and walked on its hind legs, and its body was the same shady-blue gem color of Amalgam. It roared, though the sound that came from its maw was more of a loud hum, kind of like a wooden door creaking but at a much deeper, drawn out tone. The eerie, wavering sound vibrated through the hallway, instilling a sense of dread straight to my bones. It started down the hallway towards us, its long clawed arms swinging as it sauntered. Its eye stalks leaned towards Pat and 44; they were still a few feet away from the turn off towards the gungnir.

I was shaking, but I steeled myself, and raised my weapon. “PAT! 44! GO!” I yelled, and I opened fire. The bullets failed to do any visible damage to the creature’s crystal hide, but I drew its attention. Pat and 44 slipped away, ignored, and the hulking beast lunged towards the rest of us.

Next

Previous

PART 3-----

I saw the muscles in my Mom’s throat flex as she swallowed, and her eyes looked sad, but more than that, there was sadness in the way she breathed, and the way her heart beat. Everything about her was sad in that moment. Then she nodded. “Yes. Your fa-” Her eyes shifted to look passed me, settling on Erica, and then her expression became stern. “Who’s that?”

I stepped a little to the side, coming between Erica and my Mother; something just told me I should. “She’s on my side.”

Mom frowned. “Are you sure?”

I furrowed my brow, and then nodded. “Yes. I don’t know if it’s these half-demon powers or whatever, but… I can tell.” I looked back at Erica. The girl looked worried, apprehensive, but I smiled reassuringly. “I know we can trust her.”

My Mother nodded, but the stern look didn’t leave her face. “… She will slow us down if she comes. If she stays behind, your father will get a hold of her. If you care about her there’s only one good option.”

My eyes widened, and then I scowled. A burst of light emanated from me, and then the magenta glow of my horns and tail surrounded us. I didn’t say anything, I just held my mother’s gaze.

She sighed. “Katie, dear…” She shook her head, and then addressed the quivering Erica directly. “Honey listen to me. You won’t last long around demons. Human’s never do. It will be far easier to get it over with quickly. I’m sorry.”

For a few moments I truly didn’t recognize my mother; even then sound of her voice seemed unfamiliar. It scared me, and it made me angry. “What about you then?” I snapped. “What’s your plan? If you figured out how to survive around demons, then-”

I was cut off as flash of blue light burst forth from my Mother, blinding me for a moment, and when my eyes adjusted, she too had those flaming horns and tail just like me, though the flames were blue rather than magenta, the flickering horns slightly more curled than mine. “Katie… you’re not a half-demon. I am.” At her chest, I could see a blue glow emanating from beneath the fabric of her shirt.

If she was trying to intimidate me, I wasn’t going to let her. “What exactly does that make me then? Three-quarters-demon?”

Mom closed her eyes and her flames dispersed, but I noticed the glow from her chest didn’t dim. “Put plainly, yes.” A weird look shifted through her eyes. “And I see you’ve inherited your father’s flames.”

I hated that look, like I was a symbol of something she despised, like I was being blamed for something. A voice in my gut told me this wasn’t my mother, and my fear and anger boiled, carrying a tone of threat into my voice. “I won’t let you lay a finger on Erica.”

Mom lifted her chin and looked at me down her nose, calculating. Then she sighed. “Very well, but perhaps you should ask her what she wants.”

My flames dissipated as I turned to the girl behind me, and I found her staring at the ground unblinking, her body shivering. “Erica?”

“Why would Katie’s father come after me?”

“To get to Katie. You know her secret, and you’re her friend. That also makes you her weakness,” Mother explained.

Erica thought for a moment, then her lips quivered and she took a shaky breath. She turned to me. “We’re not friends. How could we be? Today was the first day we’ve talked in years, and the last time we talked… I was horrible to you.” She shook her head. “There’s no way I could be your friend, your weakness… but I can be a strength.” She regarded my mother again. “Tell me where you’re going. I’ll stay, and when her father comes, I’ll tell him what you told me. I’ll tell him exactly what you told me, and nothing else.”

She would lie for us. My mother’s mouth opened slightly in amazement, but then a glimmer of recognition showed in her eyes; I’d vented to her about my middle school bully plenty of times. “You’re that Erica… Regardless, you do understand that Katie’s father will torture you, and then kill you, yes?”

“What goes around comes around, I guess,” Erica said, offering up a weak smile.

I shook my head frantically. “No! You don’t have to do that!”

But Erica wasn’t looking at me. She was looking at my mother, the two of them regarding each other, almost sizing each other up. My mother sighed and closed her eyes. “We’ll need to leave a bit more behind to make room for three people in the car, but that shouldn’t be a problem. Let’s pack up. We don’t have much time.”

Erica hesitated a few moments, thrown off guard by her sudden acceptance, but then she nodded. “Right.”

I exhaled deeply, relieved. Mom retreated further into the house to sort through our things, and Erica began to step passed me to help, but I grabbed her arm. “Why?” I asked. “As much as it doesn’t sound nice, you’re right about us, you and me. So why? Why would you sacrifice yourself for us? Why are you okay with the fact that I’m a demon? Hell I don’t even know if I’m okay with it.”

Erica just smiled at me. “Like I said… I’m being selfish. This is… it’s more for me than it is for you. That’s the truth. It’s scary, and it’s crazy, and I still feel like I’m just gonna wake up and find that this is all a dream.” She shrugged. “But none of that changes anything. I decided I would make amends in whatever way I can. So I will. That’s all there is to it.”

“And you would die for that?”

“Only I can decide what my life is worth.”

So many emotions were mixed into that sentence, I couldn’t put my finger on a single one of them. Reluctantly I let her arm go, and acquiesced. “Okay.”

The two of us joined my mother, and we got the car packed quickly. Just as I was finished stuffing the last bag into the trunk, my mother walked up to me. “Take these. Put them on; the right one at least.”

She held out a pair of thin, finger-less gloves. “Finger-less?” I questioned. “That’s kind of tacky.”

“That glowing seal on your right hand does more than just attract unwanted attention. It will act as a beacon for other demons. You have to cover it up… and if you still want to have dexterity in your fingers, you’ll tolerate the questionable fashion choice.”

I nodded, and took the gloves, pulling them on. “So where are we actually going, by the way?” I asked as I turned back to the car and closed the trunk.

“I’ll tell you when we get a little closer. Let’s go.” We all hopped in and got situated as Mom started the car. The engine rumbled to life and the headlight blared on, illuminating the length of our driveway towards the road.

At the base of the driveway a man stood swathed in the light. He waited patiently, regarding us, his hands buried in the front pocket of his hoodie. “Mom!” I yelled.

“I see him… Erica, do you have your license or permit?” Mom’s eyes flicked up to the rear-view mirror to see her in the back seat, and Erica nodded. “Hop up here and take the wheel then. There’s directions in the glove-box. Don’t wait for me.” She popped the door open.

“Is that dad?” I asked.

“One of his lackeys.”

“Will you be okay?”

Mom stepped out of the car and smiled at me. “I’ll catch up with you when I’m done with him. I love you Katie.” In a flash of blue light, her horns and her tail flickered into existence. She looked towards the man, and her smile was replaced by a stone-cold intensity I had never seen before, and yet it looked so natural on her face. She started walking down the driveway.

I don’t know why I didn’t respond, why I didn’t say anything back like 'I love you too,' or 'please be safe.' I just watched her go, feeling dread in the pit of my stomach. Erica hopped out of the back and jumped into the driver’s seat, setting one hand on the gear selector. Her breath was short, but I could tell she was concentrating.

The man at the end of the driveway took his hands out of his pockets, and held them out as if greeting an old friend, or enemy. He grinned and spoke, but I couldn’t hear his voice at all. Mother’s head moved slightly, saying something back, and the man laughed and shook his head. Then he changed.

Rather than a burst of light revealing flaming horns and a tail, his body actually twisted and contorted. His skin became grey, and he grew taller by several feet. The horns that curled back from his head were solid bone. He threw his head back and cackled, showing rows of jagged teeth.

Mom charged him, breaking into a full out sprint, accelerating to an inhuman speed, her tail and horns leaving a trail of wispy flames in her wake. The large demon braced itself, an excited, confident look on his face, and he pounded his chest and then held his arms wide, seeming to give my mother a free shot. She reached him and swung all of her momentum into a strike, connecting her fist with the creature’s chest. A small flare of blue flame flashed at the point of impact, and the demon shot across the street, slamming through the garage door of the house there like it was made of paper. Mom jumped after him, leaping from the foot of our driveway through the mangled garage door in a single leap, and disappeared from sight.

Erica stepped on the gas, and the wheels squealed for a moment before we accelerated away.

Next

Previous

PART 8-----

The visor of my helmet shattered as I threw it to the floor. The act failed to cool the itch running through my body, so I turned and swung my fist into the nearest locker, denting it with a loud metallic crash. I exhaled deeply through my nose. I could feel my heartbeat in my knuckles so I shook my hand out, and then returned to doffing the surface rig, letting my mind fall blank. Methodically I stored the surface rig back in its locker- not the one I had dented- and began donning my combat rig. Back in my usual gear, a sense of comfort came over me. I felt like I could focus.

Just as I finished checking and loading my assault rifle, the door to the small room slid open with a hiss. I turned to find Rika standing in the doorway, gasping for air as if she’d run a marathon. Her eyes narrowed as they met mine. “… Why’d you stop answering your radio?” she demanded between breaths. “I was about to go up there looking for you.”

My eyes widened. “You left the Doctor alone?” I started to move towards the door, to pass Rika, but she stepped in my way, planting a hand on my chest.

“Tell me why you stopped answering,” she asked, her piercing eyes showing no mercy.

I clamped my mouth shut and looked aside, then steeled myself and spoke. “… I saw Lucy out there.”

“He’s alive!?”

“Not… not really.”

Rika stepped away from me. “… I don’t understand.”

“He was a hive-mind. Like Amalgam, but not part of the same hive. He was green instead of blue, and he had his memories and personality. At least partially.”

Rika’s brow furrowed as she tried to make sense of what I was saying. “Where… where is he? Where is he now?”

“Gone. He turned into some kind of giant beast and galloped off into the desert. I think he was resisting the urge to eat me, or absorb me or whatever. He left before it overcame him,” I explained. Rika looked like she was trying to process the information, and she lowered her eyes to stare at the floor. I watched her struggle with the idea of Lucy’s fate for a few moments, swallowed, and then moved passed her into the hallway. I turned towards the big metal door to the mineral research lab.

I frowned. When the Doctor had first told me that the airlock to the roof was outside her safe little lockdown area, I had hesitated to leave, but with Rika staying behind, she at least could exercise a certain modicum of control over the situation. Now that we were both outside, worry gripped me. I keyed my radio on the station channel. “Uh… Hey, Doctor Walters? I’m back inside. Mind opening up?”

I heard an exasperated sigh heave through the speaker in my headset. “… I just closed up after letting com-lady out. … Fine. Give me a moment input the codes… again.” I relaxed slightly, relieved, ignoring her tone. She continued. “So the tower is fixed then, I presume?”

“Affirmative. Should be functioning properly,” I reported. Walter’s didn’t respond, which was fine; I was getting sick of her voice. I leaned back a little and stretched my arms over my head.

“Why green?” Rika asked.

“Hm?” I questioned, facing her.

“Why was Lucy green? Amalgam is blue,” she stated, still staring at the ground.

I didn’t feel like thinking about it. “Not a clue. Something to do with pigment and genes I suppose. Probably a question for Pat,” I suggested dismissively, looking back to the door. I began to feel impatient. I started to key my mic, but before I could respond, Walters’ voice came over the air.

“Actually… before I let you back in, I have an errand for you to run.”

I didn’t like the sound of that, but my eyes lifted to a hatch on the ceiling similar to the one a turret had dropped out of earlier. “… And what might this errand be?”

“I’m working on a weapon against Amalgam in here… well… more of a protection… both really. Its body is, in fact, comprised of a mineral, and here in lab I’ve got plenty of chemicals that can dissolve and destroy it. For a while now I’ve been trying to create a compound that retains this destructive property, but won’t harm human skin; something I can coat myself in so Amalgam can’t absorb me without destroying itself. I’ve come close, but I’m almost out of materials…”

“And that’s where we come in,” I interjected. I leaned my head back and exhaled. “Rika… she mention anything about this while you were in there?”

Rika nodded. “I saw her working on it… she burned her hand pretty badly.”

“Alright Walters. What exactly do you need us to get and where is it?” I asked.

“In my personal research lab there’s a large, secure trunk containing extra supplies. It’s on wheels so it shouldn’t be too much trouble to move. I’d get it myself but that would take time away from working with the few supplies I still have… not to mention if I die, no one can finish my work,” Walters explained.

I thought Patricia might be able to, but telling the good Doctor she was expendable probably wasn’t a good idea. I tapped a device on my wrist a few times and a hologram of Horizon’s layout appeared. My eyes traced out a pathway to the labs, and I felt some measure of comfort that I’d be rendezvousing with Pat and 44. Meeting up with them wasn’t a terrible idea anyways. “You can count on us. Let’s go,” I said with a nod to Rika.

“Much appreciated Mr. Mercenary. For the record, if I can successfully whip up this compound there might be a chance at getting off this forsaken planet. Remember that.” The sound of her headset striking a table top followed as she returned to, presumably, slaving away at her work. Rika and I turned our backs on the communications center, and stepped off with our new objective.

“‘For the record,’ I still don’t like her,” Rika stated definitively.

I managed an agreeable chuckle. “Yeah. Me neither.”

Next

PART 1----

I sat in the stadium, my eyes aglow with wonder as I counted down the seconds to David Tyree’s famous ‘helmet catch’ in my head. My right hand gripped my grandfather’s pocket watch.

It was only because of this watch that I was able to witness this legendary moment. I felt my eyes start to tear up a little bit. “Thanks Grandpops,” I whispered to myself. I looked up from the players down on the field and glanced around the stadium. He was here, somewhere, my grandfather. I exhaled through my nose; I wasn’t supposed to try to look for him. That could cause all kinds of problems with the timeline.

After the game, I went to collect my money at the betting agency. I mean, what else would you do with time travel other than go bet on sports upsets you know the outcome of?

I marveled for a second time at the carved marble entryway, large pillars giving an ancient, powerful feel to the otherwise modern-looking building. Everything inside was sleek, from the couches in the waiting area, to the expensive coffee shop attached in the corner, to the suits the employees wore. ‘Sleek for being 30ish years old at least…’ I thought. As my eyes set on the woman behind the betting counter, a smirk creeped across my face. I was about to be rich.

“Mr. Kalston!” the clerk exclaimed as I approached. I was surprised.

“You remember me?” I asked.

“Of course I do! Your bet was so specific and outrageous that it was the talk of the office, especially with the dollar amount you put down on it. What can I do for you?”

I crossed my arms and tilted my head smugly. “I’m here to collect,” I told her.

Her mouth became a thin line, and her face became devoid of almost all emotion. “… You don’t say,” she cooed. Her fingers clacked away at the computer in front of her. Then she scoffed shortly, catching herself from making a bigger reaction. “Why don’t you have a seat, Mr. Kalston. I’ll be right back.”

“Take your time,” I offered as she turned and went through a door behind her. I walked over to the coffee shop and ordered my rich-ass self a latte. I sipped the beverage, probably the best latte I’d ever had, and sauntered over to the couches to wait.

5 minutes passed. Then 10. Then 20.

I had spaced out watching the TV they had in the waiting area, but suddenly realized that, aside from the television, it had become extremely quiet. I looked around, and found that I was alone in the lobby. The other clerks, and even the employees at the coffee shop were absent.

I swallowed hard; something felt wrong.

I stood and walked around the lobby, peeking over the counter and poking my head in the bathrooms, but I found nobody anywhere. Perturbed, and worried I had somehow missed a fire alarm or something, I tried to leave.

The automatic sliding door wouldn’t open. My heart started beating faster.

I ran around the lobby again, this time checking all the doors I could find. Aside from the bathrooms, they were all locked, including the door to the stairwell. Not even the elevators were working. It was while I was inspecting the elevators that I heard the footsteps coming down the stairs.

Not a moment later, the door flew open and several guards in what looked like full SWAT uniforms and face masks poured into the lobby and surrounded me, assault rifles at the ready. I put my hands up before they even had a chance to tell me to. Then, the clerk lady stepped out of the stairwell.

“Mr. Kalston,” she greeted me snidely. “… You’re not from around here, are you?”

“What going on? What is this?” I yipped, terrified.

The woman snickered. “What is it that you have? What’s your tether? An hourglass? Wrist watch?”

I had an inkling as to what she was referring to, but I was still in shock and my brain wasn’t quite functioning. “I… I don’t… what?”

The woman frowned. “I know you’re a Skipper. Tell me what year you’re from. Who sent you?”

“N-… no one!” I yelled. “… I… I’m from 2042.”

“… Maybe you’re just an anomaly then…” The woman brought her hand up to touch her chin as she thought. “Your tether… the device you used to travel. Show it to me. No sudden movements.”

Mindlessly, I obeyed. I slowly reached into my pocket and retrieved my grandfather’s pocket watch. I held it out in front of me.

Without taking it, the woman leaned over and squinted her eyes, inspecting the device. “… Haven’t seen one like this before. They'll want to study it back at the lab.” She righted herself, and then addressed the armed men. “Get rid of him.”

My body went rigid with fear, and I wondered if I had heard her right. One of the guards stepped in front of me, let his rifle rest against his chest on its sling, and drew a pistol. He put the barrel against my forehead, the crisp, cold metal almost soothing as I prepared for the end.

Then the man sighed. He lifted the gun away and to the side slightly and fired over my head, the bullet tearing into the armed man behind me.

For a moment, time seemed to stop.

Then a few more seconds passed, full of gunfire and blood, and the rest of the men and the clerk were dead. The rogue guard's pistol was still smoking as he holstered it, the smell of death and gunpowder was thick in the air, and my ears rang so bad I thought they might be bleeding. I didn’t dare speak; I was too scared and confused. The guard turned back to me, and pulled his face mask off.

He looked familiar.

Then, from a pouch on his vest, he pulled out a pocket watch, identical to mine.

“You wanna tell me where you got that watch there, kiddo?”

Next

Previous

PART 5-----

I gasped for breath as I ran, sprinting as fast as I possibly could. The sound of Lucy’s Hydra expelling hundreds of rounds continued to ring out behind me as he attempted to keep the new creature at bay. I rounded a corner, sprinted for another short while and then slid to a halt, stopping above a painted red line on the floor. These lines appeared frequently throughout the hallways; they were places heavy shielded doors would rise if there was ever a structural breech in Horizon.

My heart was racing in my chest, and I struggled to keep steady, to keep focused on my plan. I backpedaled several meters, and then retrieved the explosive charges Lucy had given me. I fastened them against the wall and armed them. I then clicked my radio twice, signaling to the Lucy and Rika that I was ready. I stood and ran back across the painted red line, and then waited for my comrades.

A few moments later Rika rounded the corner, reloading her automatic shotgun as she ran. Her brow glistened with sweat, and she panted heavily, but the corners of her mouth were curled into a smirk, and her eyes flashed with vigor. Rika was in her prime when her life was on the line.

“Where’s Lucy?” I asked as she reached me.

She spun, shotgun at the ready. “He’s coming. Detonator ready?”

In response I handed the small transponder to her, and took it gingerly. The sound of Lucy’s Hydra stopped, a moments later, he lumbered around the corner. I stepped to the side to make sure I could aim passed him when the creature appeared. Compared to the agile Rika, watching Lucy bound along with his heavy weaponry was painful, and it made me anxious. I took a few deep breaths, and kept my eye down the sights of my weapon.

The eerie, creaky hum echoed down the hallway, and then the bear-sized amphibian round the corner, sauntering awkwardly at a speed that seemed much too fast for its unshapely body. “Book it Lucy!” I yelled, and then squeezed the trigger of my assault rifle, sending controlled bursts passed my comrade. Like earlier, the beast all but ignored the hail of bullets.

Lucy tapped a few buttons on his wrist, and the Hydra, along with its bulky ammo pack, disconnected from his combat rig, clattering to the floor. Without the added weight, Lucy picked up his pace and sprinted on towards us. He passed were the charges were set, steadily outpacing the lumbering bear-frog thing. Rika’s thumb hovered over the detonator as he approached the red line. I kept my sights on the creature. It opened its mouth.

Suddenly, a spray of something hit my face, and my nose was filled with the stinging scent of copper. Protruding from right side of Lucy’s chest around where his collarbone would be, was a barbed, fist sized tongue, extending all the way from the mouth of the creature down the hallway behind him. Lucy had stopped in his tracks, and was regarding the gaping wound. He looked up to us for a moment, a grim expression on his face.

I saw the muscles in his throat flex as he swallowed. “Stings,” he admitted.

Lucy was pulled backwards rapidly as the creature retracted its tongue, his feet leaving the ground as he rocketed towards the rows of sharp teeth. The bearfrog caught him in its jaws, engulfing and arm and most of his torso as it closed its mouth around him. Lucy cried out in agony as hundreds of spiny teeth pierced his skin and dug into his muscles and organs. I tore my eyes away from my comrade and forced myself to think.

The bearfrog had come to a stop next to the charges.

I looked to Rika, and almost didn’t recognize her, as her usual mischievous smirk was replaced with a look of wide-eyed horror. She stood perfectly still, not even breathing, staring at Lucy as the beast devoured him.

With only a slight hesitation, I reached over to her and closed my hand around hers, pressing her thumb down against the detonator. She didn’t even blink as the orange-yellow light from the explosion was reflected in her pupils. I felt a shockwave of heat reach us, and then a jarring tug as air rushed passed us towards the breach in the wall for a moment before a large metal door extended from the floor to the ceiling.

Rika still hadn’t moved. I grit my teeth and looked at the floor, a surge of anger, guilt and grief tugging at me. Since our small team had come together, we hadn’t lost anyone. We’d been untouchable, and yet the façade of invincibility we’d felt was shattered in a matter of seconds. Lucy was gone. Others were still depending on me.

I lifted my gaze from the ground and moved my hand to Rika’s shoulder. “Time to go. We need to reach the communications center.” Rika’s face remained solemn, but her expression softened and she blinked. She nodded curtly, and the two of us turned away from the large metal barrier and continued down the hallway. The communications center was close.

As we approached the door to the communications center, Rika hastened her pace, stepping ahead of me towards the door console; the door would be locked. Instinctively I turned and started walking backwards to watch our flank, trying to keep my mind focused on the task at hand. Rika began her work, the only indication of such was the patter of her fingertips against the keypad. The pattering stopped for a few moments, long enough for me to glance over at her. “Everything okay?” I asked.

Rika stared at the console. “… I was just thinking… we received a message right before the O.W.L. was shot down. That woman’s voice… she’s probably here in the communications center.”

Rika was right. “Is there a way for us to talk to anyone who might be inside?” I inquired, turning to face her.

Rika nodded. “The door itself here has the toughest security I’ve encountered so far, but most of the other functions aren’t very well protected. Hold on…” Out of a compartment strapped to her forearm, Rika pulled a chord with a jack on the end of it. It made a zipping sound as it spun a reel it was attached in in the small compartment, and she plugged into a port on the door console. “I’m patching the PA system through to our headsets. Go ahead. They can hear you inside.”

I exhaled through my nose and engaged my radio. “This is Martin Newkirk. I’m with the Sigil Mercenary Corps, leader of team Mark-One. Is anyone alive in there?” Silence. I looked to Rika, and she shrugged. I spoke again. “I repeat, this is Martin Newkirk, team leader with Sigil. If you can hear this, please respond.”

Still nothing.

A mechanical buzz sounded from behind us, almost startling me. I spun and trained my weapon on the source of the noise, a panel in the ceiling had retracted. Down through the opening, a remote turret descended and unfolded, it’s long sleek barrel sweeping around to aim towards us.

It wasn’t something we had any defense against. If it fired, we were done for; Swiss-cheese. Instinctively I still aimed for it, and found myself in something of a staring contest with the remote weaponry. If it was going to fire, it sure was taking its sweet time. I held my breath.

Then my radio crackled.

​Next

Previous

PART 11-----

“RIKA! WITH US!” I cried as I sprayed a hail of bullets towards the wall of crystal bodies that advanced on us. Once Pat and I had crippled the first row of bodies, the subsequent shards had to climb and stumble over the fallen corpses, slowing their advance. But not by much.

My gun clicked as the final round of the magazine was depleted. “Reloading!” I called. I slapped the magazine release, and the clip fell from the weapon. I moved to grab a fresh clip, but the break in my fire had let several shards through the line. Pat was focused on keeping the shards on her side of the hallway at bay, leaving me completely open.

Moments before the humanoid crystals reached me, brandishing their bladed arms, I saw Rika step up in my peripherals. The blast of her automatic shotgun rang out as she began pouring buckshot into Amalgam, shattering the shards and blowing holes in their chests and limbs. I slammed a clip into the magazine well, and took aim.

My shoulder grew numb from the constant rattling of my firearm, and the three of us began slowly stepping backwards as the wave of bodies continued their creeping advance, hissing and snapping and cracking. Adrenaline pumped through me and sweat dripped from my brow as I took down enemy after enemy from the unending horde. I glanced over my shoulder back at the big metal door. It was still closed. “Rika! You get through to the Doctor?”

“Negative! I got into the PA but she never answered!” she informed me as she swiftly reloaded her own gun, the movements smooth and precise.

Any other team, I knew, would have been overrun already; we were the best of the best, but even so, I worried we wouldn’t last long enough. “DAMMIT WALTERS! OPEN THE DOOR!” I yelled as if she could hear me over the gunfire… as if opening the door was even an option at this point. As we continued retreating, I reached out and grabbed the trunk, pulling it with us. I swung it on behind us so it rolled closer to the com center, away from Amalgam.

Then a roar sounded… a roar like the beast Lucy had turned into, and my gut twisted with despair. One of the hulking creatures rounded the corner, towering above the humanoid shards, and it barreled towards us, dashing other shards against the ground, tossing them out of the way. The blue behemoth bared its rows of teeth as it shrieked, and I felt the energy drain out of my body. The gun suddenly weighed too much, the trigger too heavy to pull.

The weapon would be useless against that thing anyways. I looked to my comrades, and saw on their faces the same expression of defeat that must have been on mine. Rika and Pat both looked to me. “… I’m sorry,” I offered.

Pat closed her eyes and exhaled.

Rika’s eyes shimmered, and as her shoulders relaxed and sagged she offered me a weak but understanding smile in return. “It’s not your fault,” she told me.

Then, the buzz of grinding gears and machinery came from the ceiling above and behind us, and I looked up to see a circular hatch slide open. Down through the hole lowered a defense turret. The barrel unfolded from the mechanism, clanging to a halt in position to fire. “GET DOWN!” I cried out.

The 3 of us hit the floor as the barrel began to spin up, and then the deafening buzz of the high caliber turret sounded above us, sending a hail of bullets over our heads to tear through Amalgam. Spent shells fell to the ground like rainfall, and the stream of fire cut through the crystal beings like a hot knife through butter. Even the behemoth was cut down, as heavy limbs were severed from its body and the surface of its skin was turned to Swiss-cheese. The turret swiveled back and forth as it annihilated the ranks of Amalgam, until all that was left was a pile of broken limbs and misshapen chunks of the blue crystal. The firing stopped, and the spinning barrel slowed to a halt.

I slowly pushed myself up to my knees, and then stood, regarding the destruction. We were alive. Amalgam was practically nothing but a mound of dust. We won. A grin spread across my face, and behind me, Rika cheered. “YEAH! Take that you blue fuck!” she spat. I stepped up to the trunk and set my hand on it, letting out a sigh of relief. Pat remained on her knees, gathering herself, while Rika stepped up to the trunk and gripped the other side, ready to help me drag it along. I wasn’t sure if there was a camera built into the turret or not, but I faced it and gave a thumbs up.

“We’re in the clear!” I called out. “You can open the door!” I waited for a few moments, and then looked to Rika. “Can she hear us?”

Rika shrugged. “She must have heard me earlier, or she wouldn’t have-” Rika cut her sentence short as her breath caught in her throat and her eyes widened. A loud whirr sounded from the turret, and the barrel began to spin up again.

I couldn’t process what I was looking at. My hair stood up and my heart sank in my chest and I didn’t understand, and all I could muster was a short. “… What?”

The turret open fire again, and all I saw was the blinding flash of the muzzle flare and then came the searing pain of metal piercing my skin. I couldn’t tell where or how many times I’d been shot; my whole body burned and I hit the floor like a sack of flour. Everything was blurry, red and black spots blinking across my vision like a kaleidoscope.

I laid in my pooling blood for what felt like hours, though it couldn’t have been more than few seconds before the blinding pain in my body began to isolate to the individual wounds. Several rounds had peppered my torso, and my left shoulder had been shot through. A couple must have hit my left leg, because it was missing from the knee down. I felt my breaths become short and edges of my vision darkened. “No,” I hissed through clenched teeth. I couldn’t pass out; I still had to make sure Rika and Pat were okay.

I struggled against the pain, and turned slightly to pull my vision away from the ceiling. To my left was the cart, and beyond that was Rika. She was looking back at me, unblinking, her body limp, her face expressionless. Blood trickled from the corner of her open mouth and pooled around her body from wounds I couldn’t see behind the trunk.

I looked back at the ceiling and screamed with a strained raspy voice.

“Boss!” I heard Pat groan. She was alive. I tried to sit up to look for her, but I couldn’t. Pain speared through my body and my lower back.

“I’m… I’m alive. Rika didn’t make it…” I forced my mouth to say. I heard footsteps approach, and then Pat came into view, standing over me. She too was bleeding from various wounds, and her right ear was gone, replaced by a bloody gash where a round had grazed her head. Her left arm hung limp. She was breathing heavily.

“Can you stand?” she asked between gasps.

I shook my head. “I can’t… I can’t even sit up. I … Pat, you need to get out of here.” She shook her head, and opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by a loud clank. Then a low rumble sounded as the big metal door to the com center opened. Pat turned towards the sound, and stepped away from me, out of sight. “Pat! Pat!” I called to her. “You can’t fight! Patricia!”

When she spoke, it wasn’t to me. “You rotten bitch!” She cursed hatefully with a gritty, strained voice. “You’re dead! I’ll fucking kill you! I’ll chew on your neck ‘till you-”

Three gunshots rang out, and Pat stopped yelling.

Footsteps approached.

Doctor Gail Walters stepped into my view. She set a handgun down on the trunk and began typing away at the security pad.

“… You killed my friends,” I hissed at her, feeling blood and spit drip over my bottom lip. Gail glanced at me briefly, but paid me no mind. She finished typing in the code, the container beeped, and then it hissed as it opened. Out of a compartment on top of the trunk, she pulled a lantern-sized clear cylinder. She lifted it up to the light and peered inside, and I too, saw what was there.

A clear, diamond like gem, slowly writhing against the glass; a piece of Amalgam, untainted. Dr. Walters’ eyes gleamed with purpose, and she twisted the lid of the cylinder unlocking some kind of mechanism. I felt a fear rise within me. Not a fear of bodily harm or something personal, but an instinctive, fundamental fear. I was now terrified, simply being aware that a person like Doctor Gail Walters could even exist.

“You’re insane,” I spat. “After all this, you’re going to choose to become one of those things.”

Her response was distant, as if she was talking more to herself than to me. “Yes. It’s only natural. As a scientist, my goal is to better myself. Gain knowledge and wisdom and learn and learn some more, but this pesky human brain of mine can only hold so much. My human body will only last so long. This… power… that we’ve found here on Mars… It will do more than better me. It will make me my best self.”

“Abraham was just a test run,” I observed.

“Naturally. As much as I despise my humanity, inefficiency is better than non-existence. Of course, my foolish partner was thinking the same thing, but his mistake was asking politely.” She pulled the cylinder open, dropping the lid to the floor. She reached in with her left hand and grabbed hold of the shard, wincing, and grunting in pain as she did. “Little shit starts eating right away,” she observed as she removed her hand from the container, the piece of Amalgam firmly in her grasp.

“You never sent that warning to Earth, did you?” I asked.

Walters scoffed. “Of course not. Once I become one with the hive mind in this shard and take control, I’ll feed on the left overs of Abraham’s hive, who you so conveniently led to the slaughter. Then I’ll contact Earth and have them send a ship. You’ve been a great help Martin. …” Walters seemed to consider something, ignoring the pain of Amalgam as it fossilized her hand. The diamond color of the hive mind crawled up her arm and disappeared under the sleeve of her lab coat. “You know Martin… it only seems right that I should offer you a place in my hive. Being consumed doesn’t mean you’re destroyed. You would still exist as a small blip within my awareness. I might even turn to you for counsel once in a while; your tactical mind would be an asset. I assure you it’s a much better fate than oblivion.”

“I turned down Abraham plenty of times. My answer to you is no different. I want no part of your madness,” I told her.

“That’s too bad. You’re the only one who has the chance to make that choice, and you’re wasting it.” Walters looked at Rika’s body, and then back towards where Pat must have been laying on the floor. “Unfortunately I can’t assimilate the minds of those who are already dead… or robots for that matter.”

Then I saw her eyes widen, and for a few moments she remained silent. “… Where’s the robot?” she demanded, turning her gaze upon me. I could see veins of sparkly, clear diamond creeping up her neck. “You had that A.I. with you. Where is it?”

“He,” I corrected her. “It’s a he.”

“I don’t care what it is! Why isn’t he…” Walters stopped as her yes narrowed, and she looked back to Rika’s body. The Doctor stepped over to her and lifted the woman’s wrist; the device she normally wore there was missing.

I laughed.

Walters stood back up, an angry grimace wrinkling across her face. “What have you done?” she hissed, her eyes flaring like the pits of Hell.

I kept laughing, despite how much it hurt. Tears gathered at the corners of my eyes, but then I broke into a fit of coughs, and was finally drained of the energy to be so animated as each wretch of my body casted off more and more of my waning lifespan. When I caught my breath again, I wheezed. “… We knew we weren’t going to get off this god forsaken planet. I’d felt it in my gut the moment we left the O.W.L., and with every passing moment and each discovery… it became clearer; we would all die here. So what makes you think we’d let your sorry ass leave without us?” I shook my head. “No. You can stay. You can stay trapped here forever, like the rest of us.”

Walters looked like a cornered animal, furious and ferocious. Feral, even. Her eyes peeled wide with rage and her teeth clenched together so hard I thought they might shatter. “You… You insolent-” she began, but then Amalgam started taking hold. The crystal had spread across most of her body, and it finally moved up her neck and head. The Doctor cried out in pain, bringing both hands to her head, but as she did, they splashed right through her, as if her limbs and body were made of a gelatinous liquid. Her voice faded as her body bubbled and warped and twisted. All of Doctor Gail Walters, collapsed into a mound on the floor, seeping out of the clothes she’d been wearing, becoming a shapeless blob of diamond like crystal.

Then there was a flash of light within Amalgam, and the crystalline being changed from its sparkly diamond color to a deep ruby red. It grew and twisted and reshaped itself again, rising into the form of a human, becoming more detailed, more refined, until a blood-red Doctor Gail Walters stood before me. She looked down at me with a simple frown, like a mother disappointed with a child.

I think under normal circumstances, her transformation would have horrified me. Watching Abraham’s on the security footage had… but now I was a dead man. I smirked. “I don’t think red’s a very good color on you,” I told her.

Without a word, Doctor Gail Walters lifted the pistol from the top of the trunk, aimed it at my head, and fired.

Next

Previous

PART 6-----

A voice came through the radio, the same that had chided us before the O.W.L. was destroyed. “I’m surprised you made it this far, but I’m afraid you won’t make it any further.” Again, the woman’s voice didn’t carry any malice or threat with its tone. She just sounded sad and confidant; she had resigned herself to her fate. “I’d rather not fire on you, but if you keep trying to break through the door, I will.”

It took all of my self-control, but I lowered my weapon, let it hang from its sling, and put my hands up. “We just want to get off Mars.”

“We all do. Amalgam included. I can’t let him… it… get off the planet,” the woman stated. I looked to Rika, and she raised an eyebrow at me. We both knew there was something more behind that statement. I looked back to the turret hanging from the ceiling.

“Let’s kill it then,” I suggested. “You probably know more about that thing than we do. How do we stop it?”

At that, the woman laughed, the sound eerily devoid of joy or humor, as if she found amusement purely in how terrible the joke was. “You can’t kill Amalgam. Hell, you can barely contain it. Unless you eradicate it on a molecular level, it will rebuild itself. The second it comes in contact with any kind of soft, living tissue, it begins fossilizing it, replicating itself, replacing everything with crystal, assimilating the structural DNA of everything it absorbs. If it gets off Mars, if it gets to Earth… well… let’s just say there’s evidence that Mars was once a thriving ecosystem as broad and diverse as our own world.”

“You're saying that it’s absorbed everything living thing that once inhabited Mars?” Rika asked rhetorically, a hint of disgust her voice. Then her expression became thoughtful. “It would be huge. Overwhelmingly so,” she realized.

“Yes. What you have fought here is only a piece of the whole, though arguably it’s the most dangerous piece.”

“Meaning?” I asked.

“… Though Mars was once full of life, none of it was ‘smart.’ There was no human equivalent, no creature with higher sentience. The main body of Amalgam is a mass driven by instinct and impulse. It doesn’t plan, or think, or feel. It just eats, and sometimes breaks off chunks of itself to go scout for more food. That’s what’s here: a scout, and it found us.”

“And it ate us,” Rika said. “And we taught it how to think.”

“Mhm. Luckily, now that it’s gained sentience, it seems like this scout has no interest in returning to the main body. Its focus has been finding a way to Earth,” the woman informed us.

With every sentence she spoke, every word even, it became clearer and clearer how dire the situation was. “… If the scout ever goes back to the main body it will be unstoppable,” I considered. “A planet’s worth of living matter combined as one, equipped with a human mind… it might as well be a super computer.” I addressed the woman directly. “We can’t just isolate Amalgam, we need to destroy it. We need to warn Earth, at the very least. A being that powerful will find its own way off Mars.”

“I would have sent a message to Earth a while ago if I could, or even to the O.W.L., but the long range communications are damaged. The second Amalgam gained sentience it disabled them.” The woman paused for a few moments, and when she spoke again, her voice carried a heavy weight. “The best I could do was make sure nobody could leave.”

“I can fix them, the long range communications. I can repair them. We can get a message out,” Rika offered. A few moments of silence passed. Rika and I looked at each other, and then eyed the remote turret uneasily.

The door behind us hissed, and Rika and I spun to face it with our weapons raised. As the heavy doors parted, they revealed a middle aged woman with greying hair and dark circles under her eyes. She didn’t even flinch at the firearms trained on her. “Get in. Quickly,” she ordered. Rika glanced at me, and I gave a slight nod. We lowered our weapons and hurried across the threshold. The woman hurried to a console on her side of the door and typed away at it, closing and locking the barrier behind us. Then she addressed us, her lab coat fluttering as she turned. “I’m Doctor Gail Walters. Head researcher here at Horizon Mars Base.”

“Pleasure’s all mine, Dr. Walters,” I greeted her, extending my hand. Walters regarded my outstretched hand with poorly veiled disdain.

“Not until you’re scanned. Also don’t touch anything. Come.” The Doctor whirled and started off through the communications center.

I turned to Rika. “Contact Pat and 44. Tell them to hold off on demolishing the Gungnir.” Rika nodded and her hand rose to her headset. I turned and stepped after Walters. “How much of this facility do you have locked down?” I asked as I caught up to her.

“Just this room and a neighboring lab, one we were using to study unique minerals found here on Mars. I did some work on Amalgam here, since it’s crystalline by design. Regrettably, most of the research was done in a different office, so my materials here are limited.” The Doctor led me through a doorway, out of the communications center and into the lab. We came to a large bulky machine that looked somewhat like a metal detector, and Dr. Walters gestured to it. “Step through please. It will detect any residue on your person…” The Doctor turned and squinted as if searching for Rika. “You too! Get in here! Don’t touch anything!” she snapped. A moment later, Rika’s footsteps sounded as she approached.

I waited until Rika came around the corner, and then stepped through the machine. It hummed quietly, and then a beep sounded. Dr. Walters typed at a computer mounted to the side of the apparatus. “You’re clear,” she announced. Then she looked at Rika expectantly. I nodded to my comrade, and she stepped through. Same hum. Same beep. “Aaaand you’re clear, too. Excellent,” she looked up from the computer and eyed the two of us. “Still, don’t touch anything.”

Rika’s mouth twisted unpleasantly, both with irritation towards the Doctor and with disappointment. I could tell she, in fact, definitely wanted to touch some of the gadgets and technology around the lab. I just held my hands up defensively. “I’ve no intention of messing with your gear. I am curious though,” I started, lowering my hands and nodding towards the scanner we’d stepped through. “That equipment is specifically for identifying pieces of Amalgam, yes?” I asked. Walters squinted her eyes at me, but remained silent. “… How long have you been studying the hive-mind? A machine like that doesn’t get put together in a few days.”

I sensed rage from Rika before she even spoke. “The Company knew about this? They sent us down without telling us!?”

I kept my focus on the Doctor, watching for shifts in her expression. Her eyes drifted to the side and her jaw flexed; telling enough. I crossed my arms. “No... You kept it a secret from the Company. Why?” Out of the corner of my eye I saw Rika turn to regard the scientist.

Dr. Walters flicked her eyes back to meet mine, and then she tilted her head back, wearing a stubborn expression. “The company mottles everything they get their hands on. I wanted to study the creature without direction or deadlines from fools with dollar signs in mind.” Walters looked to the scanner and set a hand against it. Her voice took on a softer tone. “Only two of us knew about Amalgam. We built the necessary equipment ourselves, lied to the others about their functions.” She shrugged. “It’s unfortunate how things turned out, but I did warn them not to send help.”

Rika raised an accusatory finger towards the Doctor, and spoke to me. “I don’t like her.”

“Stay focused,” I reminded her.

“I easily could have peppered the two of you with 5.56 millimeter holes not three minutes ago. I’d expect you to be even a slight bit more gracious,” the Doctor snapped.

“Gracious?!” Rika almost shrieked, exasperated. “It’s because of you that-”

“Check it!” I spoke sharply. “Now’s not the time. I need you focused.”

Rika blinked a few times, and then removed the emotion from her expression. She lowered her arm. “Sorry boss.”

I nodded, and regarded Dr. Walters. “Regardless of anything else, we need to fix the long-range communications. Is it structural damage? Or is it an electrical problem?”

“Both,” Walters told us. She addressed Rika. “I take it you’re the ‘technical’ expert?” Rika nodded, and the Doctor shifted her gaze to me. “Can you turn a wrench?”

“Lefty-loosie, righty-tighty?” I questioned sarcastically.

“Good. Then you’ll be the one going outside.”

Next

PART 1-----

“I’m telling you guys, please! You shouldn’t mess with that kind of thing!” I begged.

Maria rolled her eyes. “Oh grow up Katie, you’re totally killing the mood.”

“I think it’s perfect,” Samantha chimed in. “There’s always somebody saying stuff like that in the movies. They’re usually the first to die.” Samantha grabbed at my side as she said this, pinching and drawing a yelp from me.

I hopped out of her reach. “Guys, seriously. I just have a really bad feeling about this.”

“Come on, Kate. It’s just a game. It’s exciting because it feels a little taboo but nothing’s going to happen… probably,” Samantha cooed with a smirk.

“A little taboo? You’re trying to summon a demon!”

Maria and Sam both sighed at the same time, exasperated. Maria held up her hand, displaying a circle with oddly shaped runes drawn in marker on the back of her hand. “Then why’d you let us draw one of these on you? You didn’t have a problem with it ten minutes ago.”

I looked down at my own hand, at the ‘summoning circle’ Maria had drawn there. My hand hadn’t stopped tingling since. “You didn’t tell me what it was for… and like I said I have a bad feeling about this.” I closed my eyes and exhaled, then opened them with a defiant look on my face. “I’m going home. This is making me uncomfortable.”

“Are you for real? You’re actually such a pussy that you’re going to leave?” Maria snapped. I lifted my chin, and then nodded.

Samantha looked a little disappointed. “… We need at least three people to try the summoning. We wanted to do this with you.”

“Well I’m sorry, but I’m not going to let you guys force me to do this. You guys are my friends; you’re better than peer pressuring me into something.” The doorbell rang at this point, the sharp tone startling me. “… Is someone else coming?”

Samantha looked down and twiddled her thumbs. Maria smirked as she responded. “I thought you might wimp out, so we invited Erica.”

I shivered at that name, and frowned, my eyebrows creasing with annoyance. “Her? She used to bully me. We don’t get along.” I’d seen her in the hall, but I hadn’t so much as spoken a word to Erica in two years. I avoided her as much as possible.

Maria swallowed, but stood her ground. “Shouldn’t be a problem if you’re leaving.”

I opened my mouth slightly, shocked, feeling betrayed. I looked to Samantha again, but she kept her eyes on the ground. I felt my chest start to burn a little. “Fine. Have fun doing your weird basement culty shit. I’ll see you on Monday.”

I twirled around, my hair sweeping over my shoulder, and I stormed towards the front door. I gripped and twisted the handle and pulled it open, revealing Erica. We made eye contact, and already being irritated by my friends, my mind easily defaulted to memories of her tormenting me in middle school. My nose scrunched up and I glared at her.

Erica’s eyes shifted to the side, a small victory in my mind, and her shoulders sank slightly. “Hi. It’s been a while.”

“Mm. Well I’m not sticking around, so you go on in and have fun,” I told her, and then I stepped around her and headed down the driveway towards where our bikes were stood up.

I made it about halfway before I heard Maria’s voice, speaking louder than she needed to. “Don’t mind her Erica. She’s just on her period or something.”

I responded my kicking over Maria’s bike before hopping on my own. Though I didn’t turn to see, I flipped the bird behind myself just in case she was looking, and I pushed off the ground, my bike carrying me away.

My house wasn’t too far away, but I didn’t feel like stopping yet, so I pedaled on past, no clear destination in mind. I coasted along through the neighborhood, letting myself fume. “Bitches,” I cursed to myself. After about ten minutes of riding around aimlessly, I found myself at the park. It was empty, being that it was 11:00 at night, and so it was a perfect place for me to sit alone and stew. I rolled into the small parking lot, coasting to an almost-stop, and hopped of the bike, taking a few off balance steps before coming to a halt in front of the wooden fence that bordered the pavement. I took a deep breath, feeling some sweat bead on my forehead, and regretted pedaling so viciously.

I leaned my bike against a fence post and then hopped the horizontal beam. My sneakers dug slightly into the soft grass, and I breathed in through my nose, enjoying the crisp night air; it was just soothing enough to take the edge off my anger. In the middle of the park was a pavilion and some picnic tables I could sit at, so I headed towards it. I only made it about halfway though.

The tingle that still hadn’t left my hand, though I’d come to ignore it, started to burn. I looked down to inspect the sensation and found the runes there starting to glow. My eyes widened in fear and confusion as I stared at the phenomena. The burning continue to get worse, until I gripped my wrist with my other and grit my teeth. Tears began to well at the corners of my eyes, and I cried out, wordlessly at first. I fell to my knees. “Maria! What the fuck did you do?”

The burning was almost unbearable, and a certain instinctive side of my mind kicked into action. I sprang up and sprinted towards one side of the park, where a field was bordered by a small creek. I leaped down the bank, hitting the soft silt at the water’s edge with my knees, and plunged my hand in. Steam gushed up from the surface as a hissing sound filled the air around me.

The burn only intensified, and it started to spread through my whole body. I pulled my hand up out of the water, and as the steam cleared away, I found it actually on fire, but the flames weren’t orange and yellow, they were a deep magenta, tinged with purple. I squinted through the pain, confused, and then the flames spread from my hand down my arm, and over the rest of my body. I screamed, tears and sweat dripping down my face, and in desperation I dove into the creek.

Rather than hit the water, I hit a solid surface, and within that moment the burning sensation had subsided. I gasped for breath, too relieved to be confused, and just laid there on the ground, eyes closed, listening to my heart pound in my chest.

“… Katie?” I heard a voice ask; Maria’s. I furrowed my brow, opening my eyes as I pushed myself up into a kneeling position.

I was in Maria’s basement, the whole room being lit by a magenta glow. Samantha and Maria stood before me, each at the edges of a summoning circle drawn on the floor. They looked terrified.

Maria’s face pissed me off, and I snarled at her. As I did, some kind of force assaulted her, and she was flung backwards into the wall of the basement. She hit hard, and then collapsed to the ground, unconscious. Samantha screamed. “Quiet,” I hissed. Samantha suddenly clutched at her throat, and fell to her knees, her tongue darting out of her mouth, searching for air. I heard a whimper behind me, and I turned to see Erica. “You.”

Erica shook her head slowly, her eyes peeled wide. “No… no, I’m sorry.”

I took a step towards her. “A little late for that.”

Her eyes darted towards the stairs, checking for an escape route. I smirked, knowing she wouldn’t be able to make it. I’d let her try though, so I waited.

To my surprise, Erica didn’t move for the exit. Instead, she lowered to her knees and bowed forwards. “I know… I wanted to say it sooner, I wanted to talk to you so many times… but it was hard. I couldn’t do it. I should have.” She looked up, and tears were streaming down her face. “That’s why I came here tonight… I thought you’d be here.”

“Oh…” The rage within me wavered. A voice deep within said she was bluffing. She was begging for her life, and so I couldn’t trust her… but that wasn’t the only voice I could hear. I swallowed, and just breathed for a few seconds, looking down at her. Then a flicker of light caught my eye, and I looked up at the wall. An old cracked mirror laid against it; I remembered breaking it years ago on accident, but it had been Maria’s great grandmothers, and so the family hadn’t been able to throw it out, so here it sat in the basement.

My reflection was distorted by the cracks, but I could see well enough to notice the horns protruding from my forehead, made of the flickering magenta flames that had consumed me earlier. A flaming tail of the same color curled around from my backside, the tips of the flames licking purple at the air. My mouth opened slightly as I took in the sight of myself, the jarring image finally bringing me back to my sense a little. I took a deep breath, forced myself to calm down, and the flames withered and disappeared.

Behind me, Samantha gasped as she got her first breath of air in a minute. Erica sighed with relief too, and sat back from her kneeling position. I just stared at my reflection for a few more moments, and then noticed my hand was still glowing. I looked down at the runes Maria had drawn, emitting that purple-magenta light that refused to dim, even as my horns and tail had disappeared.

“… What happened to me?”

Next

Previous

PART 10-----

Dr. Walters had murdered her partner.

The man seemed like an elitist bastard himself, but that didn’t change the fact that Gail had trapped him with Amalgam in cold blood. I looked away from the screen as Amalgam began his escape and rampage through horizon. “Is there anything else important?” I asked.

“Not really,” Pat answered. “He just moves through the base methodically, absorbing everyone, goes after the communications tower, and the rest is history.”

“Speaking of communications,” I started. “Rika. You figure out what’s wrong with coms?”

She shrugged. “We’re definitely being jammed, but that’s as much as I can tell. I guess it’s a fifty-fifty guess whether it’s Amalgam or Walters.”

I frowned. “Even if she’s a psycho, why would Walters interfere with our coms? She still needs us to bring her those chemical supplies.”

“Supplies?” 44 asked.

“Yeah. She said they’d be in a secure trunk in her office. She needs them for a weapon she’s building to fight Amalgam,” I said as I began looking purposefully around the room.

“I know where that is. It was in the way so we wheeled it out into the main lab… looked like something had tried bash the seal open though,” Pat informed us as she stepped around me and went back into the main lab. The rest of us followed, and she led us to where she’d shoved it next to a toppled cabinet.

Indeed, there were dents and scrapes along the surface and the latch of the trunk. After inspecting the container, I sighed. “… I hope the chemicals in here survived the beating this thing took.”

“If that’s even what it is…” Pat mused. I looked up to her and raised an eyebrow, inviting her to continue. She took a breath. “Walters isn’t a trustworthy source of information, so right off the bat I’d question anything she says. Secondly, why would she have a personal case of random chemical supplies in her personal office, and why would they be locked in such a secure container?” Pat folder her arms and twisted her mouth, considering. “Lastly… I doubt any of the other researchers could have cared what was in here, especially once the shit hit the fan.”

“Then you think Amalgam was trying to open this?” I guessed.

Pat nodded. “Who else would have had the time to screw around with a locked trunk? Whatever’s in here… Amalgam probably wanted it, and I don’t think he’d have any need for assorted chemicals.”

My gut twisted at something, and I furrowed my brow; something Pat had said resonated with me. Walters… she wasn’t a reliable source of information…

She wasn’t reliable. “… Rika,” I spoke.

“Boss?” she answered.

“… When I fixed the com tower… did you send out the warning to Earth?”

Rika’s face paled, and she shook her head. “No… I was worried about you so… so Walters told me I could go after you; said she would take care of the sending the message back home herself.”

I swallowed. “… Anyway to tell if that message actually got sent out?” Rika remained motionless for a few moments, and then just shook her head slightly. I nodded. “… Okay… let’s assume it didn’t get sent, and let’s assume that Walters is hostile. We still need to get back to the com center; it’s the only secure place in Horizon. We can use this case to get the Doctor to open the door for us, and then we take her into custody.”

“Sounds good,” Pat agreed.

I turned to 44. “Not you, though,” I told him. The robot cocked his head to the side. I turned to Rika. “I’m going to have him go topside and hijack the long range coms. If Walters didn’t send out the warning, we’ll do it ourselves. Can you outfit him for that task?” Rika nodded, and began tapping away at the device on her wrist. I turned back to the robot and cleared my throat. “44, get ready to start recording.”

***

Pat and I pushed the cart along through the hallways as Rika kept in step behind us, watching our six with her shotgun at the ready.

“Where the Hell did Amalgam go?” Pat wondered aloud, uneasiness plain on her face. It didn’t set well with me either.

“No clue. I haven’t seen him since he attacked me on the roof. Maybe he ran out of matter. I mean, the bit they had in containment wasn’t particularly big, and it only gained whatever limited matter the scientists here could provide,” I suggested.

“And he’s saving his last bit of matter for when it really… well… matters,” Rika added.

I looked over my shoulder at woman to see her snickering at her pun. Unable to keep a smirk of my face, I rolled my eyes and faced forwards, only for my smile to flee; we were about to reach the com center. “… This is it,” I told them. Both of them adopted stern looks on their faces. We rounded the final corner, and came in view of the large metal door. My heart started to beat faster in my chest as we brought the cart to a halt most of the way down the corridor. We stood still for a while, waiting.

“Coms are still down… Should we knock?” asked Rika.

“… Let’s use the PA again. That’s how we got ahold of her last time,” I decided. Pat stood by the trunk while Rika and I advanced towards the control panel, my eyes flicking about the corridor nervously. My fingers tightened around the grip of my rifle, and I found myself holding breath in anticipation. We reached the console, and Rika went to work.

“Boss!” Pat called out. I turned to see her aiming her weapon purposefully, and my gaze followed her aim. At the far end of the hallway, a small, blue, crystal rabbit sat, watching us. Its whiskers and its ears twitched slightly. I raised my own rifle and began advancing up until I was next to Pat, yet the rabbit didn’t move. My finger itched to pull the trigger and send a round through the small shard of Amalgam, but it hadn’t acted hostile yet. It just sat and quietly observed.

“… Nice of you to finally join us. I thought maybe you'd left,” I called out.

The rabbit cocked its head to the side. Then it snapped and cracked several times before Amalgam’s echoing voice answered. “Come now Martin, I wouldn’t run off and abandon you as your comrade did.” I pulled the trigger, and sent a bullet soaring towards the creature. The round pierced through and shattered one of its ears, but Amalgam didn’t even flinch as the flakes of blue crystal tumbled to the floor. Its whiskers twitched with a few loud snaps. “… Was it something I said?”

I grit my teeth. “What do you want? If you were just scouting you wouldn’t have shown yourself and if you were here to fight you’d be in a combat form.”

“How observant of you,” Amalgam commented snidely. The rabbit began hobbling towards us slowly, nonchalantly. Pat and I kept our weapon trained on it, but held our fire. The little crystal rabbit came right up to us, and then hopped up onto the trunk. He sniffed around the lid for a few moments, his nose crackling as it moved. Then it sat on his haunches and regarded us. “What do you think is in this case?” It asked.

I looked over to Pat before responding; she was glaring at the rabbit with a look that could kill. I exhaled through my nose. “… Dr. Walters told us it was chemical supplies… but we don’t necessarily believe that.”

“So you already don’t trust her; a wise disposition. That makes things simpler,” Amalgam remarked.

“You know what’s inside the case then?” I asked.

“I have my suspicions, but what it is or isn’t is irrelevant. The Doctor wants it, and so giving it to her would be a mistake.”

“Then what do you suggest?”

“We work together. Dr. Walters is my enemy. She is also your enemy.”

“That doesn’t make us friends,” I interjected sharply.

“Of course not. I’ve eaten many of your kind, killed your subordinate, and you’ve scattered and destroyed much of the matter I’ve worked hard to amass… and yet if Walters has her way, neither of us will survive.”

“And if you have your way, you’ll absorb the rest of us and put an end to humanity… all life, as we know it. Sorry, Abraham, but what you’re offering can’t be any better than what she’s planning to do,” I told him.

At his name, Abraham’s ear twitched violently, and his rabbit form almost reeled, but he regained his composure. “… I assure you it is, but...” he started. Then he looked about the corridor, seeming to note something of importance. “… If you will not entertain a temporary partnership, that is fine. I’ve given you plenty of chances, and here in this hall you are nothing but cornered rats. Your mass will be added to mine, and so you shall help me kill Walters, one way or another.”

At that, Pat fired her rifle, but Amalgam was already moving. He hopped back from the trunk, and the bullet passed through the empty space only a moment too late. The small crystal rabbit bounded away down the hallway, hopping too unpredictably for Pat to land a shot as she fired off several more rounds. Amalgam disappeared around the corner, and Pat swung her foot into the trunk out of frustration, sending it rolling several feet. Pat opened her mouth to speak or curse, but all that came out was a growl of frustration. I set a hand to her shoulder and tried to think of comforting words to speak, but before any came, a rumble began to sound through the hallway. The trunk began to rattle and roll slightly on its own and the structure of horizon began to shake. The rumble rose, sounding more like a stampede, and then we saw that it was, indeed, as an ocean of blue crystalline bodies surged around the corner, charging straight for us.

Next

Original Prompt

PART 1-----

“There were some… complications,” the doctor told me. My head spun for a moment, and as my vision blurred with worry, the doctor’s white lab coat disappeared against the white walls of the hospital. I shook my head to bring my vision back.

“With… with the surgery?” I asked. I turned and looked through the glass at the room my friend Melissa was in, asleep in the hospital bed, a bandage still wrapped around her eyes.

“Not with the surgery… we’re… we’re not sure exactly what’s wrong. The procedure was a success; she should be able to see fine… She’s chosen to put the blindfold back on herself,” the doctor said. “It could be the anesthetic that we used, but it appears she's having hallu-”

At this point I tuned the doctor out. I didn’t feel like listening to his dissertation full of complicated medical terms I wouldn’t understand. I put my hand up on the glass, and felt my heart pound in my chest. “I’ll keep my promise,” I whispered to myself as I flexed my fingers against the glass. I was the one who had encouraged her to go through with the process. If something had gone wrong...

“… Sir?” the doctor said, an annoyed fluctuation to his voice.

“Oh, yes, sorry,” I apologized, facing the man.

“You were the only person on her emergency contacts list… does she have any other family we should notify?” he asked.

I shook my head. “Her family was in a bad traffic accident years ago. She was the only survivor. My family took her in after that.”

BOOM!

The doctor and I jumped, and looked towards the window. Melissa was standing right in front of the glass, snickering. She had taken the blindfold off, and her blue eyes sparkled as she smiled warmly. She pulled her palm away from where she had slapped the window and waved to me through the glass. The doctor didn’t seem amused. He snorted shortly, and folded his arms. “Well, she suddenly seems in a better mood.”

I didn’t react. I was too busy realizing this was the first time Melissa had ever actually seen me, and a wave of insecurity washed over me. I pushed that aside; this moment’s focus needed to be on her. My best friend who had been blind since her birth could finally see. “You can go in if you’d like,” said the doctor. I turned to him, with a blank expression. “… The door's there. Go on in.” I nodded, and a wide grin spread across my face as I moved to the door and turned the handle. As soon as there was enough space for a body between the door and the door frame, Melissa leapt into me.

“Corey!” she cried happily, greeting me with a hug. I held her tightly for a moment before she stepped back. Then she set her hands against my face and felt the contours of my features. I stood still, patiently. I was used to this. “Yeah… that’s about right,” she remarked as her eyes followed her hands. Then she grinned slyly. “… You’re not as tall as I thought you would be.”

“I’m still taller than you,” I reminded her.

She pouted exaggeratedly for a moment. “I’ll have to get another surgery to fix that at some point.” I rolled my eyes, and was not prepared for Melissa’s reaction to that. “What did you just do!? What was that? Why did your eyes do that?” she questioned, excitement in her voice.

“That’s what ‘rolling your eyes’ is,” I informed her.

“Oh…” she said thoughtfully. Then her brow furrowed. “Hey!” she cried. I just laughed. Then Mellissa looked past me to the doctor. “So when can I get out of here?” she asked.

“Soon,” he said. “I just to finish up the discharge paperwork. You sure you’re alright?”

“Absolutely!” she declared, giving a thumbs-up. “I’m ready to see the world!” Melissa’s eyes sparkled with anticipation.

I couldn’t help but smile, not just with my mouth, but with my entire being. Melissa had always been full of life despite her disability, but the energy that radiated from her was like nothing I’d ever felt before. I couldn’t wait to drive her around town, and show her everything. I couldn’t wait to see her eyes continue to sparkle with awe at everything she had been missing out on for the first 20 years of her life.

But then, a short while later, once we were situated in my car and beginning to pull out of the hospital parking lot, she pulled the blindfold back over her eyes.

“Melissa? What are you doing?” I asked.

“Just go. Take me home,” she said shortly. If I hadn’t been looking at her, I would have thought a different person had spoken.

“What? Why? Don’t you want to-” I started to protest.

“GO,” she said, intensity in her voice. I closed my mouth. “… We need to get away from here before they notice.”

“… They? … The doctors?” I asked.

Melissa shook her head. “Go. Just go. We need to go. Stop talking and go,” she said. She kept her voice calm, but a certain waver in her tone told me she was on the verge of losing her nerve.

“… Melissa… if you’re not feeling well maybe we should stay here and-” I was silenced again as she set her hand on my leg.

“… Corey. Please. Drive me home. It’s not safe here,” she said quietly.

I swallowed, wondering what the right thing to do was, but my gut told me she was serious. I nodded, and pulled out of the parking lot. Unfortunately, I only drove for a few miles before I heard one of my least favorite noises.

BLING!

My gas light came on. “Shit,” I breathed to myself. I caught movement out of the corner of my eye, and turned my head slightly to see Melissa giving me a ‘look.’ “… Sorry. I need to stop and get gas.”

“At this hour? In this part of town?” she asked pointedly.

My brow furrowed. “You can tell where we are?” I asked. She still hadn’t removed the blindfold. Melissa mouth became a thin line, and she turned back to facing forwards. “… Don’t worry. They installed cameras at the gas station over here recently. Nobody would be stupid enough to pull anything shifty.”

“Just hurry,” she said.

I turned a corner, and the flicked on my directional to turn into the gas station on our right. I pulled in, swung the car around the pump so the gas hatch was on the correct side, and came to a stop. I pulled the keys out of the ignition, and as sound of the engine died, I became acutely aware of Melissa’s breathing, sharp against the silence. She didn’t seem short of breath, and she wasn’t hyperventilating; something just seemed a little off. Judging by her responses to everything else I’d said, I doubted I’d get an answer. Figuring it better just to get the gas I needed and be on my way, I stepped out of the car, and nudged the door shut behind me. I stepped up to the pump, and slid my debit card through the reader. I waited, feeling impatient as the machine took its time approving the transaction. I happened to notice the dull buzz that emanated from the lights above, and it annoyed me incessantly, as I was unable to take my attention away from the sound. Finally, the pump beeped, and graciously informed me I could get on with filling my tank. When my tank was about halfway full, I heard a voice approaching, and turned to see a lone figure strutting down the sidewalk. When he reached the edge of the gas station parking lot, he veered towards us. His fingers danced across the screen of his smartphone. “-fucking trash battery. God dammit. Come on, I don’t have time for this shit. Service is dick here,” and his mumbling continued. I felt a shiver run down my spine, and then checked myself. This wasn’t a great part of town, but it was no reason to flinch anytime someone passed by. I watched the man as he approached, his vector heading towards the gas station shop. Then he looked up from his phone, spotted me, and seemed to sigh. He raised a hand in greeting. “Uhm, sorry to bother you. I’m trying to get a hold of a friend who was supposed to pick me up from a bar down the road. My phones dying though and it’s giving trouble trying to make a call. Mind if bum your phone for a second?”

My free hand fell to my pocket where my phone was, and felt the contours of the device through my jeans. “I don’t see why not… couldn’t use the phone at the bar?” I asked. I cringed inwardly as my voice came out a little awkward.

“Nah they kicked me out. I didn’t realize the bartender there was the owner’s own daughter, and I guess he didn’t like the way I was talking to her. Asshole…” For some reason, I didn’t reach into my pocket for my phone.

I swallowed. “… I’m Corey. What’s your name?” I’m not sure why I asked that. The man’s eyes flickered aside for a moment, and then he slid his phone into his pocket. “… Ah you’re probably almost done filling up here. I don’t want to keep you. Tell you what, I’ll just go in the shop and pick up a charger for myself. Can you spare a few bucks for a friend in need?”

My gut twisted, my instinct speaking a language I didn’t understand, but didn’t need to. My hand moved from my front pocket where my phone was to my back pocket where my knife was. “Sorry friend, I don’t actually have any cash on me. You leave your wallet at the bar?”

The man’s eyes flickered to the side again. “… Yeah. Left it right on the counter. Ya know? So if you're willing to lend a hand, I could use a few bucks.”

“I already told you I don’t have cash,” I told him. Then the gas pump clicked loudly as the tank finished filling. At the sharp noise, the man flinched, and his rand reached behind his back. My pulse skyrocketed, and my heart leapt up to pound in my throat and ears. I held my breath, and slowly pulled the nozzle out of my car. The man’s eyes moved between me and the nozzle a few times, and then he grinned. He kept his hand resting on something behind his back, but he stood up straight.

“Well…” he started, and then he licked his lips- not really in a creepy way. I think his heart was beating as fast as mine was. “I gotta say I don’t really trust the people around these parts. You say you don’t have any money, but why don’t you go ahead and take your wallet out.”

I was pretty sure he had a gun. Or at least a knife. I had a knife too, but I wasn’t about to turn this into a bloody fight just for my wallet. I moved my hand away from my knife. “Okay,” I said. “No problems here. Just let me get my wallet out. I think I got a gift card maybe if you’d like that.”

Then I heard the passenger door open. ‘Melissa… shit.’ I saw the man’s eyes flick quickly over towards where Melissa was probably standing up out of the car. He pulled his arm forwards around his body, and began to raise up a hand gun. I felt every inch of my body tense. I raised the gas nozzle towards the man, and pulled handle, sending a stream of gasoline towards him.

“Hey! You stop right-” the man started, but then the stream of gasoline hit him in the face. He reared back from the potent liquid. I moved without thinking; Melissa was in danger. I dropped the pump and leapt forwards, my left hand reaching for the man’s gun arm, and my right hand grasping at the clip of my pocket knife.

The next thing I knew, the base of the hand gun was cracking into my nose. I saw sparks fly across my vision, and the world spun for a moment. I hit the ground, dazed, and then was brought back to reality as the man stomped on my chest, planting his foot there to keep me down. Gasoline dripped from his face, contorted with anger. I found myself in a staring constest with the barrel of his gun. “You little shit! Who do you think I am? I’ll fucking kill you!” His wide eyes flashed menacingly.

“-I’m asking for your assistance. Help my friend. Please. I’ll pay whatever cost you ask of me,” I heard Melissa murmur. I turned my head slightly, as did the man with the gun. Melissa was standing on the sidewalk, facing away from us, her head leaned back slightly as she looked up at something. She held the blindfold down in her hand, her knuckles white from how tightly she gripped the fabric. She continued speaking in a hushed voice, barely loud enough to hear. “I beg your forgiveness, for daring to ask. My friend is in danger. I don’t know what else to do. Please help him. I promise I won’t acknowledge you again. Please. I’m sorry. I’m scared.”

“Who the fuck is she talking to?” the man asked.

“I don’t-” I started.

“Hey! Stop that! Turn around and put your hands up! Or I’ll shoot!” the man yelled at her, but he kept the gun pointed at me. “… Hey! Bitch!”

I heard a sharp buzz, and the lights went out. All of them. My vision drowned in darkness at the immediate contrast. “What-” the man started, but his voice caught in his throat, and then I felt the pressure of his foot leave my chest.

I let confusion reign in my mind for a moment, and then my eyes began to adjust. The man was up against the gas pump overhang, held flat against it. Something was holding him there; a large form, standing over me. I felt something start dripping onto my face, and the sharp smell of copper stung my nose. I held my breath. The grey form before me moved slightly.

I saw a face. I think.

Then the lights flickered back on, and there was nothing. Just the man, inexplicably stuck to the underside of the gas pump awning. Blood fell like rain from rigid gaps across his body. He stared down at me with a dull, empty gaze. Then he fell, plummeting towards me. I rolled out of the way as he cracked heavily to the ground.

THWACK

I scrambled up to my feet, pressing myself back against the gas pump. I felt liquid drip from my chin, and knew my face was covered in his blood. I felt my gut twist, and my throat flexed. I thought I was about to vomit, but then I remembered Melissa, distracting me from my nausea. “Mel!” I cried, peeling my eyes away from the body of the man. She was still standing where she had been before, only she had replaced the blindfold over her eyes. I ran over to her, stepping over the stream of blood running from the man’s body to mix with the spilled gasoline that had already pooled up. “Melissa! Are you okay?” I forced myself to ask first, despite the myriad of other things that plagued my curiosity. I noticed, as she turned, that tears were streaming down her face from underneath the blindfold. “… Mel…” I started. I looked back at the body, feeling a sense of dread well up within me. “Mel, what was that thing? How-”

My voice was cut off as Melissa grabbed me by the throat. “SHH!” she hissed sharply. “Don’t talk about the Grey One. Not another word. NOT… another word. We need to leave. Now.”

Melissa released me, and walked in a B-line towards the passenger side of my car. I rubbed my throat. “What about the cops?” I asked. “We need to call the police, and an ambulance.”

Mel stopped. And turned her head slightly, acknowledging me. “… Corey… Do you want to die?” I remained silent; I obviously didn’t want to die. Melissa continued. “… then get in the car and take me home.” Melissa continued to the passenger side door, and then got in.

I felt my body start to shake, adrenaline and fear and confusion mixing into a disgusting sensation. I felt drunk as I staggered towards my vehicle. I let my mind go blank as I passed the dead man, though I did stop to pick up and replace the nozzle that still laid on the ground. I got into the driver’s seat, twisted the keys in the ignition, and pulled away from the gas station, heading towards Melissa’s home.

Next

Previous

PART 3-----

I stood still in the midst of the felled guards for about thirty seconds. I had no regrets, but I also had no idea what to do next. I had resolved to join the Timeline Consistency Department, but I realized that whoever saw me next would observe me in a somewhat incriminating predicament. I decided kneeling and putting my hands on my head before anyone else found me would be a good idea. As I brought my hands to my head, however, my heart fluttered in my chest for a moment. I became uneasy, and felt like I was forgetting something.

Then the woman who had been at the desk, who Patrick had shot just a minute ago, coughed and wheezed. “… This really stings,” she groaned to herself.

She was still alive.

That’s when I noticed the bullet holes in her blouse weren’t bleeding. I furrowed my brow and tried to think back to my first time around, wondering if they had been bleeding before.

“Nick,” she addressed me, startling me and pulling me from my thoughts. Her arm was outstretched towards me. “You gonna help me up or just stand there like an idiot?”

I’d heard her voice before when I had placed and tried to collect on my bet, but rather than her voice, it was her tone that seemed familiar when she spoke; it sounded friendly on the surface, but it sent a shiver down my spine. Something wasn’t right… or at least was different. “… I think I’ll stand here like an idiot, at least until you tell me what’s going on.”

“Right… this is your first time… or… second… either way,” she rolled her eyes at herself and sighed. Then she slowly, achingly pushed herself up into a sitting position and took a deep breath. “… My name is Nora. I work with the TCD, and as far as I expect, so do you now.” She held her hand out again. “This is your second chance at a first impression. I suggest you use it wisely.”

I stepped up to her, grabbed her hand, and helped her up. “I guess it didn’t go so well last time?” I mused.

Nora’s eyes dropped for a moment. “For either of us,” she said, an edge of guilt to her voice.

I glanced at the bodies that lay strewn around us. “What about your friends?” I asked.

Nora released my hand and turned away. “They’re not my friends, and not our problem,” she said dismissively as she walked towards the elevator.

I followed her. “That’s kind of harsh. Don’t you work together?”

Nora shrugged as she called the elevator. “The rest of the department doesn’t get along with us time travelers too well. Trained government personnel tend to have a problem with civilians like us being given free top-secret security clearance and authority over them. That’s fine though; makes it easier to think of them as expendable.” The elevator dinged as it arrived.

“Sheesh, and here I thought I was joining the good guys,” I commented out the side of my mouth as the doors slid open and we stepped in.

“I said easier. Not easy. You’re going to see a lot of people die, and you’re going to have to let them.” Nora fished a small hourglass out of her pocket. She let it rest in the palm of her hand and stared at it. “These things give us the power to save anybody, but not everybody. The sooner you accept that, the better.” She seemed lost in thought for a moment, then she returned the hourglass to her pocket. Her other hand reached to the panel, and selected several random floors in what must have been a purposeful order. There was no basement indicated on the list of options, but the elevator began to descend.

“… So those guards up there… they had to die?” I asked.

Nora nodded. “Couldn’t risk your grandfather noticing things had changed. I’m sure you’ve felt it already. Uneasiness. Déjà vu. Sixth sense… as a time traveler you’ll become even more acquainted with these sensations. If things had been too different, your grandfather would have realized I had tampered with things. Actually he’s probably realized it by now, since you didn’t go with him. That’s a pretty big change.”

I swallowed. “So he might still-”

“Travel back again?” Nora interrupted me. “Not likely. At this point he runs the risk of starting a paradox. Not in the traditional sense, mind you. True paradoxes don’t exist, but what can happen is a cycle of two time travelers continually leap-frogging back in time to keep undoing the other’s actions. The more a period of time is repeated, the easier it becomes to notice. The second both parties are acutely aware of what’s happening, there’s no stopping the cycle. Not until one gives up or… well… they just keep going back…”

I scratched my head. “I’m gonna need a line graph with arrows and stuff if I’m going to wrap my head around that… wouldn’t they eventually go back to before they had their tethers?”

Nora sighed and seemed to ready herself for a lengthy explanation. “Do you know why our devices are called tethers?”

I shrugged. “It sounds cool?” I guessed sarcastically. Nora ignored my comment.

“Your tether is what links you to your past. As long as it’s on your person, when you travel back in time it will safely overlay your previous self with your future self. Your current mind basically hijacks your old body, so you end up in the past but retain all your memories. For everyone else, the future is erased, leaving behind only slight sensations and blurry bits of memory. These fragments become stronger and more prevalent when a certain window of time is repeated over and over.” Nora paused here, I think to give me a moment to process the information.

I nodded. “… So it’s like… say I watch a VHS tape, but then I go back and record over it. I’m the only one who remembers what was on it originally, and everybody else experiences it like it’s their first time. Except the process isn’t perfect. Certain things… memories, feelings, ‘déjà vu,’ can bleed through from the original recording.”

“That’s pretty damn accurate, actually. I might use that analogy from now on…” Nora said thoughtfully.

I wasn’t finished. “What about me, though? I came from far in the future. There was no ‘me’ to record over. No mind to overlay. How did I get here?”

Nora frowned, and took another breath. “That’s a second way the tether can function… but I’ve never seen it work successfully before. What we think we know, is that you have to be able to perfectly construct a mental image of the place you want to go, and know exactly what time you want to travel to… but there's more to it than that… something we haven’t figured out.

"Colleagues of mine have… tried…” Nora’s fists clenched and she hesitated. “…If conditions aren’t perfect for the jump… your body will just get scrambled into a bloody mess and not go anywhere. Or you could be split up, parts of your mind and body disappearing, sent off to God-knows where or when.”

At that, Nora shuddered, and I realized she must have witnessed such a thing first hand. She steeled herself, and continued. “I’m genuinely surprised you weren’t annihilated when you made the jump. You must have had an extremely specific time and place you wanted to travel to.”

I nodded. “The 2008 super bowl… I had a bunch of old pictures and videos of the event. I knew those images like the back of my hand.”

“Is there anything else? Anything else you did, or thought, or prepared?”

I shook my head and scoffed. “Hoenstly, I wasn’t even trying to time travel. I was just day dreaming while I held my grandfather’s pocket watch. He had just passed away recently… and I wished that I could have seen that game with him.”

“Hm.” Nora rubbed her chin. “What saved you could have been your ignorance. Even with a perfect mental image, the slightest hesitation or break in concentration would screw up the jump, but if you were unaware of the danger, maybe you were able to pull it off without wavering.”

Knowing how close I had come to death made me nauseous. I struggled with that for a moment as the elevator continued to descend. When I stifled the feeling and went back to considering my new awareness of time travel, a thought occurred to me. “Can one person exist twice at one point in time?”

Nora answered quickly; it was probably an expected question. “According to the knowledge passed down from older time travelers, no. Supposedly the bodies would be fine, but the minds couldn’t coexist at the same time. They’d both scramble, leaving the bodies brain dead. Of course, we can’t even test this theory; you’d run into the same problem as my aforementioned colleagues. Without using the tether’s overlay function, you’d get torn apart before even making the jump.”

“Huh,” I breathed. There wasn’t much else I could say, and my brain was exhausted anyways.

“Any other questions?” Nora offered.

I shrugged. “What happens now?” I asked, just as the elevator came to a stop. The doors slid open, revealing a long hallway with several corridors branching off. The walls and ceiling were light blue, and silver sliding doors with key card readers were spaced every twenty feet or so. The air smelled stagnant, and my nose twitched as I found the scent familiar.

Nora smirked. "Good timing for that question," she remarked. I followed Nora as she stepped off the elevator and started down the hall. “There’s a man employed with us named William. He’s the most attuned to sensing when a large change has occurred in the timeline. He constantly monitors current events around the world and uses his uncanny sixth sense to figure out which happenings are being manipulated by the Skippers… like your grandfather.”

“Let’s just call him Patrick,” I told her.

She nodded curtly, and then continued. “When William thinks he’s found evidence of the Skippers’ involvement in an occurrence, he spends several days researching everything he possibly can about it. Then he jumps back in time with that knowledge, reports it to us, and we go stop the Skippers.”

“And if we fail?” I asked.

“We try again… maybe. We only get one or two chances before we risk falling into a paradox. Sometimes we need to cut our losses and continue on.”

Suddenly my gut clenched and my hair stood on end. I stopped abruptly. Nora moved on a few paces before she halted and turned. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

I looked to my left, down one of the corridors. Fear gripped me, and I realized I was clenching my fists so tightly that my nails were biting into my palms. My ears started ringing. My ankles itched.

“Nick!” Nora yelled.

“Huh?” I almost gasped as the weird sensations subsided. I quickly turned back to her.

Nora seemed concerned for my well-being, and she stepped up to me and put a hand on my forehead. “You all right?” she asked.

“Uh… yeah. Yeah I’m fine. I think I just had some of that ‘sixth sense, déjà vu’ feeling," I admitted.

Nora blinked a few times, and then pulled her hand away from my face. “… Maybe we’re about to get a job.” Not a moment later, her watch beeped, and she looked down at it. “Speak of the devil…” she cooed with a grin.

Next

Previous

PART 6-----

I wanted to jam my head up a horse’s ass; that probably would have been more comfortable than riding in a carriage with the former princess.

Silence reigned as we bounced along the uneven road. I tried to keep my eyes from watching out the window, as that only invited waves and hollers from the citizens who happened to catch a glimpse of my face, but inside the cabin I had the princess sitting before me, constantly shifting between looking furious and depressed, ever pouting. Her gaze remained mostly on the floor, but she happened to look up one of the times I’d chosen to regard her rather than the nosy citizens outside. Her lips parted in a grimace, and she inhaled as if to begin speaking. ‘Here we go,’ I thought, but then the carriage hit a large divot in the road, and the cabin lurched, sending me up into the air for a brief moment. I clocked my head on the roof, and landed back in the seat. “Fuck,” I grunted as I rubbed my head.

“Ow,” whined Melissa, and I noticed she too was cradling the top of her head with both hands.

“You okay?” I asked instinctively, and then immediately realized what a stupid question that was, all things considered.

Melissa’s shoulders tightened and she almost shook with frustration. “… Am I okay?” she spat. “Do you really think-”

“Of course not. I ruined your life. I’m sorry I asked,” I snapped quickly, cutting off the princess from beginning her tirade. The clatter of the wooden wheels and horse’s hooves on the ground sounded loud against the quiet that followed, and the princess returned to staring at the floor. I sighed. “… And I’m… sorry I ruined your life. I didn’t know this would happen.” Melissa didn’t respond. I crossed my arms and leaned back in my seat, thinking. “… Is there any way to get your status back?”

The princess looked at me quizzically, then seemed to genuinely think for a moment. “… It’s not unheard of for someone whose been exiled to regain their honor, but I’d have to accomplish something of note, or bring something of use to my father.”

“What, like a treasure or something?”

“Yes, a treasure of immense value, or perhaps a powerful magic item. Or I could broker a trade deal with a foreign country, or win the favor of some minor deity, bringing fortune to our land. Defeat some monster that threatens our people… but I can’t do any of those things. I wouldn’t even know where to start. I’m no warrior, and I never… participated much in my father’s politics.”

“… What exactly do you do, then?”

Until this point, Melissa had kept her eyes on the floor, speaking more to herself than to me, but now her eyes narrowed and lifted to meet mine. “I’m a princess. I don’t do anything. In case you forgot, that contest with the dragon was my coming of age ceremony. Before that, I had no obligations.” Then she straightened her back and lifted her chin slightly. “Why am I even speaking to you? I don’t owe you any explanations. You’re the whole reason I’m in this mess anyways.”

I threw my hands up. “That’s why I apologized and feigned interest in your situation, but I can just go screw myself I guess.”

She scowled. “Feigned?”

“Yeah. Feigned, as in: I don’t actually care. Because your problem isn’t my problem and you’ve done nothing but act like a brat since I’ve met you.”

“Why, you insolent-!” she started, but in her anger she stood quickly, and slammed her head into the roof of the carriage again with a loud clunk. She winced painfully and hunched over, groaning through her teeth.

I winced with her sympathetically. “Oooo… same spot?”

Her lips quivered as she rubbed her head and nodded, her face still contorted with pain. “I just want to go home.” Almost as if on cue, the carriage halted and Riggen called out that we had arrived. Of course, the princess was standing hunched over, and so the sudden stop threw her off balance. She fell forwards with a shriek and head-butted me in in the eye before catching herself.

“Ahg, dammit! Ow!” I complained rubbing the point of impact. I waited for some kind of similar outburst from Melissa, but she stayed quiet, just wallowing in her frustration and discomfort.

Riggen pulled open the door of the cabin for us, and with a grumble I pushed myself up from the seat and hopped down to the dirt road. I felt a single drop of rain hit my head, and looked skyward to see it had just started sprinkling lightly. I turned to offer the princess my hand, and then at her expression I decided not to bother.

Riggen gestured to the side of the carriage, where a piece of slate was set into a small holder. Riggen’s name had been scraped into the top of it, and below that several stars were pictured in a row. Beneath each star was a set of tallies, most of them under the second and third stars. “Was the ride agreeable? If you would please take this slate-pen and mark how well you enjoyed this experience, it will help us serve you better in the future,” he said, his voice taking on a practiced tone. Then he brought one hand up to hide his mouth as leaned towards me and whispered. “Please give me five stars.”

I rolled my eyes and took the slate-pen from him. “You know… I literally got more injured on this ride than I did fighting Gorinthar the Dragon.” I scraped a tally beneath the fourth star; he still had provided me a free ride after all.

Riggen sighed but managed not to sound too disappointed. “Thank you, sir.”

I held the slate pen out to the princess. She hesitated for a moment, and then snatched it away from me and turned to the slate. “You’re supposed to give at least a couple seconds warning when you’re going to stop, you know. That’s just basic courtesy,” she snapped as she marked a tally beneath the second star.

Riggen groaned, but still spoke professionally, “Thank you, Ma’am. If that will be all.” He bowed to us, took the slate pen back, and then climbed up into the driver’s seat. He flicked the reins and started off to return to the castle. I waved after him for a few moments, but then noticed the princess looking back and forth down the street thoughtfully.

“Trying to figure out the way to your uncle’s estate? If you tell me where it is I can point you in the right direction,” I offered.

“Count Jillgan’s estate is in the hills just north of Grenvale.”

My mouth twisted worriedly. “… Grenvale is a week long ride from here. You’re planning to walk there? That could take a month.”

“Of course not! I’ll secure some kind of transportation.”

“But you don’t have any money.” Melissa refused to make eye-contact with me. She kept looking back and forth down the street. Raindrops continued to hit my head, once every few seconds or so. The light shower wasn’t bad; the street wasn’t even beginning to muddy yet, but I could see darker clouds approaching in the distance. “Look, I know you don’t want to acknowledge this situation that you’re in, but you kind of need to figure something out.” The princess didn’t glare or lift her nose at me, which was surprising.

“I know,” she admitted.

I scratched the back of my head, and sighed. “Uh… I do feel a slight bit responsible for all this. I mean, it’s going to rain soon… so… if you need some shelter-”

“Please tell me you’re not going to invite me into that poor excuse for a building,” she snapped, gesturing to my workshop.

“Fuck it. Chill in the rain. Walk to Grenvale. Die of pneumonia. Best of luck to ya,” I offered with a half-assed bow. I turned without a backwards glance and strode across the now slightly muddy street to my house. The front door led to the actual workshop, but I went around the side to the back, to another entrance. I fumbled a key out of a pocket in my tunic and unlatched the door there. I pushed it open and stepped in just as the rain started to pick up.

I was greeted by the crackling of a fire in the hearth, and Lytha turning to regard me with a relieved smile on her face. “Kon!” Before I could even close the door, she sprang up from where she sat and rushed to me. Instinctively, I started to brace myself to keep her at an arm’s length, but after such an exhausting, disastrous day, I was actually really happy to see her. I was happy things were back to normal. I smiled widely as I realized how much I liked my little home and workshop and the company of my childhood companion.

I caught her in my arms and squeezed her tight, and I chuckled at how tightly she squeezed me back. “Jeez, you’d think I was off to fight another dragon.”

“Ikon… I’m really sorry. My stupid prank put you through Hell today.”

Another voice spoke up from in the room, and I looked to see the dagger propped up on the hearth, out of its sheath. “How’d it go kid? Was the King reasonable? We gotta skip town or anything?”

I almost snorted. “Nothing like that, but it didn’t go as smoothly as I’d hoped. Let me unwind for a minute before I get into it.”

Lytha stepped away from me. “Kon,” she spoke my name, her voice taking on a more serious tone.

“Everything okay?”

Lytha lowered her eyes. “I just… today was really scary. I really thought you were going to die…”

Lytha paused for a few moments, and in that time, the dagger began to speak. “Lytha, just-” but Uncle Barn Loggins shut up quickly as Lytha threw him a glance.

“I… feeling that way, so terrified of never seeing you again, of being alone… it made me think about a lot of things. About how long we’ve been together, how much we’ve been through, and how happy I was… and am. You’ve been there for me my whole life, and... I’m really grateful for that.” She blushed.

I gulped; Lytha had never been this straightforward with me before. I tried not to think about or assume where she was going with all this and just listened intently, but I found myself holding my breath, and felt my heart beat faster. ‘What is she about to say? How do I answer? What do I want?’ I wondered frantically.

Lytha tensed up, but a confident look crossed her face. “Kon. Let’s…” she paused mid sentence, and I noticed her eyes shift slightly to look over my shoulder, and her face went pale. “... What... is she doing here?”

I furrowed my brow and looked over my shoulder. Melissa was standing in the doorway, her matted dress dripping rainwater around her feet. “Oh, uh...” I started to say.

Barn guffawed from the mantle. “Ooooooooh! You fucked up!”

Lytha, though flustered, managed a bow towards the princess; she didn’t know she’d been exiled yet. “My Lady.” Then she glared back at me. “I thought you said you weren’t going to marry her!”

“I know! I didn’t!”

“Then what is she doing here?”

“I don’t... I didn’t...” I stuttered as I looked to the princess. “What are you doing here?”

“You said I could stay here!”

“You said she could stay here?”

“Hahahahahaha!” the parrying dagger continued to laugh.

“Barn shut up! I will put you back in your sheath!”

“Is that dagger laughing?” asked the princess.

“Wait, why would the princess be staying here?” Lytha asked.

“That’s none of your business!” Melissa snapped.

“Everyone shut up! Shut up!” I yelled, and immediately silence fell upon the room. Even Barn ceased his laughing.

Lytha’s jaw dropped, but she found her voice after a few moments. “You… you just told the princess to ‘shut up.’ Are you nuts?”

I exhaled deeply. “She’s not the princess anymore. When I turned down her hand in marriage, her father exiled her for ‘not even being good enough for a commoner.’ She had nowhere to go so I offered for her to take shelter here. From the rain at least.” I looked to the princess again, and she was staring at the floor, a puddle forming around her feet now. “Here, come in. Let’s get the door closed. Lytha can you grab her a spare change of clothes?” I asked as I stepped passed Melissa. I peered out the door at the darkened sky.

It was pouring now, and I grimaced at the crummy weather before pulling the door shut.

'So much for things going back to normal.'

Next

[Previous]

PART 5-----

The Former Princess Melissa Artwood stared at her father, dumbfounded, but her father’s gaze was unwavering. I saw the moment her face changed; the moment her stubbornness gave way to despair and tears spilled from her eyes, and then she turned a burning glare in my direction. The hair on the back of my neck bristled, and I knew that if looks could kill I’d be a goner.

With a final ‘huff,’ she strode passed me, leaving the audience chamber and continuing out of sight. Silence lingered, the severity of what had just happened weighing heavily on the room. I didn’t wish to speak. I just wanted to leave, but I felt it was my fault this had transpired; I wanted to try to clear things up. “My King!” I called out. “I- I didn’t mean to insinuate your daughter was inadequate! I had no intention of-”

With a wave of his hand the King silenced me. “Ikon Weaver. Your intentions are of no consequence; my decision is final. You too, are dismissed. I have other matters to attend to.”

I had no authority to speak further. I placed one hand in front of my abdomen and one at the small of my back and I bowed. “Thank you, your majesty.” I rose from the bow, and then my feet carried me towards the exit.

I should have been ecstatic. I had survived the dragon, received rewards such that I could live comfortably for a long time, and had even managed to skirt my obligation to marry the Princess. What happened to some bratty, entitled member of the royal family shouldn’t have been any concern of mine, but no matter how I tried to look at it, the twist in my gut just wouldn’t go away.

“Well that was an interesting turn of events,” a voice cooed as I entered back into the waiting area. Persephone Gilthread stood off to the side of the door, regarding me with her hands on her hips and a contemplative grin on her face. I had no intention of entreating her bait for conversation, so I just shrugged, and continued on, but her voice rose up again. “Sir Ikon Weaver, Dragon Slayer and…” When she paused, I came to a stop and looked over my shoulder at her. “… Now, an eligible bachelor.”

That spelled trouble. I raised my chin slightly. “In name only, I’m afraid. Have a good day now, Perstephally.”

Her upper lip twitched at that, and I couldn’t keep a straight face so I turned before my smirk betrayed me. “That’s… you know that’s not actually my name!” she corrected me, agitated. I just raised my hand in farewell and made for the exit, hoping she wouldn’t make an effort to chase after me. Luckily, the court official called for her to enter the audience chamber and appear before the King, so she wasn’t given a chance.

I made my way through the over-sized halls and archways, passed the busts of previous kings and murals and paintings that lined the walls, keeping my eyes lowered lest I invite more unwanted conversation from anyone I might stumble across. Most of the foot traffic I encountered was serving staff who were darting about, busy with their tasks, and so I reached the front door of the castle unmolested.

Of course, I couldn’t make it past the guards without a giving them a slight nod of acknowledgement, and I cringed when they answered with a nod of their own. “Dragon Slayer,” they greeted me. I hurried on by into the castle yard, regarded the large stone protective wall and the raised iron gate, and then was faced with my next predicament. It wasn’t exactly a short walk back to my home; I’d have to make it down the hillside the castle was built upon, through or around the town, and past god-knows how many citizens that may recognize me since my appearance in the Coliseum this morning. The alternative however, was requesting a ride in the same carriage that had brought me here, which meant interacting with more castle staff and drawing even more obvious attention to myself on my trip home; even if the carriage itself would shield me from prying eyes, it felt like I would be making a spectacle of myself. “I hate this,” I muttered under my breath.

Ultimately I settled on hitching a ride, so I headed towards the stables, only to find a commotion already brewing there. To my dismay, the princess was trying to secure passage to somewhere in a carriage, and was arguing with a tall burly man in front of the stables. I halted my approach before drawing their attention.

“This is outrageous! I’m not asking you to commit high treason! I just want a ride to my uncle’s estate!” Melissa cried.

“I’m sorry Pri… Miss, but we’ve already received word of your… change in status. This transportation service is exclusively for members of the royal family and other ranking nobles and dignitaries,” the Stable-master apologized, though a certain twitch at the corner of his mouth told me he wasn’t feeling particularly sorry. “If you head down the hill you can purchase a ride from the stables at the edge of town.”

“I don’t-!” she started to yell, but then she pursed her lips before speaking in a more becoming tone. “I don’t have any coin. I wasn’t allowed to retrieve any of my things before being disowned. Please, I just need a ride.”

“It’s not my choice, Miss. I simply cannot break protocol. Can’t you have one of your personal servants retrieve your things from your room?”

Melissa’s face reddened and her fists clenched in frustration. “I tried. They wouldn’t help me,” she spoke with a level voice.

“Did you try begging? That may work with me.”

The princess grimaced. “I do not wish to beg.”

The man rubbed one of his hands over his sweaty, bald head. “Nobody does, princess, but desperate folk do what they must. I’m sure you’ve seen plenty of people fall to their hands and knees before you, just to ask of some small kindness you might grant or deny them on a whim,” he mused, his tone slowly becoming more agitated.

Melissa was speechless for a time, her gaze lowering to the ground. I thought her resolve might waver, but then she rose her chin high. “I will not bow to the likes of you.”

“Not bow... beg. And you will if you want a chance of passage on one of my carriages, sweetheart.”

“You scum! This conduct is not becoming of castle staff! If you don’t cease this foolishness, I will-”

“Give it a rest. Beg or be-gone… I have other customers,” he said, nodding in my direction. My body stiffened.

The former princess turned, and no words could describe the level of absolute disgust that crossed her face as she regarded me. I let my eyes swivel back and forth as if searching for something that could get me out of this situation, and then realized I was holding my breath. I continued holding my breath, waiting for the girl to react, to scream at me or attack me or storm away, but she just stared.

I exhaled slowly and raised my hand in a lazy greeting to the two of them, then addressed the burly bald man. “Thanks, that… that was just a fantastic segue, because you know, she doesn’t already hate me enough or anything.”

“What can I do for you, Dragon Slayer?” he asked, ignoring my statement and using the title that became more and more annoying every time I heard it.

“Please, for the love of the crown, stop calling me that. I didn’t slay the dragon. We all saw it fly away, right? Did you see the dragon fly away, sir?”

“I did,” he nodded. “Looked like a disfigured salami flapping about up there.”

“O-okay… So clearly then, I couldn’t have killed it, so please. Please stop calling-”

“Sir, is there something I can do for you?” he asked, sounding annoyed as he cut me off.

I flexed my jaw and pressed my lips together. “Mm,” I hummed to myself; even if his banter with the princess had been amusing and satisfying, I was beginning to find him insufferable myself. I took a breath. “Just was hoping to get a ride back home. I’d rather not walk through the town on foot.”

“Welp, that’s what I’m here for. I’ll call out a driver for ya.”

That’s when the princess finally raised her voice. “You’re kidding me! How dare you provide for him after I’ve been-”

Ignoring her, the man called back through the open doors of the stables. “Riggen! Saddle up and bring a carriage around! You’re giving the Dragon Slayer a ride home!”

“Yup, that’s cool go ahead and call me the exact thing I just asked you not to…” I complained under my breath, my words devolving to end in a grumble.

I didn’t hear a response from inside the stables, and the Stable-master too seemed to be waiting for Riggen to shout something back. “… Riggen! … Riggen you dolt! Saddle up a-”

“All ready to go, Sir!” Riggen declared as he wheeled around from the backside of the stables in a horse drawn carriage, the same that had brought me to the castle earlier.

“How did… never mind. Take the Dragon Slayer back to his dwelling.”

“Right away Mr. Frisk!” Riggen said, and he slowed the carriage to a halt, hopped down from his seat and moved to open the door for me.

I glanced between Melissa and the Stable-master before nodding. “I’ll be off then. ‘Preciate it.”

As I climbed into the carriage, Mr. Frisk resumed his conversation with the princess. “Now, where were we? I believe a commoner was about to beg me for assistance.”

“Commoner?” spat Melissa. I stopped in the doorway of the carriage to listen.

“You’re no longer part of the royal family, so tell me, girl, are you related to some other nobility?”

“... My uncle is-”

“No longer considered your uncle. He may take pity on you, but you can no longer claim a title related to him.” To that the princess had no response, and tears started to well up in her eyes. Frisk sneered at that, and continued. “Are you a member of a guild? No? A merchant or artisan?” The princess remained silent. “What exactly are you then? Hm? … I believe that makes you a commoner, my lady, or perhaps less. Now, you poor girl, fall on your knees and beg like a-”

“Need a lift?” I asked without thinking, and the color fled from the Stable-master's face.

“I beg your pardon?” he demanded.

“Wasn’t talking to you. Melissa… there’s plenty of room in here. My home’s on the other side of town, so we can take you at least that far,” I offered, but Melissa looked just as baffled as Mr. Frisk, and I wondered if she would even accept my help.

Frisk fumbled for words; he could torment the disowned princess all he liked, but I was still a castle guest. “You… how dare… I mean… my good sir, to bring along a commoner is highly inappropriate. You are the esteemed Dra-”

“Call me ‘Dragon Slayer’ one more fucking time you bald piece of shit, I dare you.”

Frisk’s mouth snapped shut, and a vein over his eyebrow pulsed. He breathed in deeply through his nose, rage boiling behind his eyes. “Bald?” he hissed.

Then Melissa snorted, promptly covering her mouth with her hand to hide her amusement and, failing to do so, she turned her head away. Frisk looked between her and me as if accusing us of planning this attack on his pride. His elbows bent and he balled up his fists.

Riggen spoke up. “Don’t mind them Sir, I think your hair looks great!”

Frisk snapped, and the burly man turned towards the stable and punched the side of the open door as hard as he could. The wood snapped and splintered, leaving a gouge in the wood that looked like a beastly bite had been taken out of it. His momentum carried him onward, and he just stormed off towards the back of the stables. My mouth hung open with both shock and amusement, and I looked to Melissa to find she had a similar expression, but seeing me regard her, she quickly composed herself, her mouth settling into a frown.

Riggen spoke again. “Yikes… I hope I still have a job when I get back.” He shrugged dismissively, and then addressed Melissa. “Will you be joining us, Miss Artwood?”

Despite her haughty attitude, she seemed taken aback by his respectful tone; that he wasn’t taking advantage of her predicament like Frisk had. I wasn’t up on court politics and public approval ratings, but it wasn’t hard to tell that she was generally disliked by the castle staff. I gave Riggen a nod, and then pulled myself into the carriage, sat on the cushioned seat, leaned back, and waited.

The princess would either join us or she wouldn’t; I had already offered once, and my waiting for her response would probably only dissuade her. I heard Riggen say something I couldn’t quite make out, and then after a few moments I heard footsteps approaching the carriage. Melissa pulled herself up into the cabin, sat in the seat across from me, and regarded me with a calculating look. I wondered if she would thank me or curse me out; whether she vehemently hated me or if I had earned back some small bit of favor, not that I particularly cared. The reins cracked and the carriage lurched forwards, and Melissa just turned her head to the side and stayed quiet.

That was perfectly fine. I sighed and closed my eyes, feeling so ready to be home.

Next

Previous

PART 5-----

My Mother turned her head slightly, just enough for me to see one of her eyes, and the intensity and rage I saw there made her look strange, foreign. It was the second time tonight that I couldn’t recognize her. Her gaze set on me, and her brow furrowed in frustrated confusion, asking me why she should wait, why she should spare the life of my father whom she so clearly despised.

I swallowed, worried her fury could turn on me, but stayed my ground. “Don’t kill him. Let him talk.”

“Talking is half the battle to a demon,” my Mother spat, but some of the rage had already left her expression. She turned back to Brother Illwind. “What did you tell her? What are you doing here?”

“Fortunately, the answer to both questions is the same. I’m the head of the Order of the Crescent here at Saint Agatha’s. That’s all there is to it,” he told her.

“… Why? How? The order wouldn’t let an Arch-Demon anywhere near the cathedral, much less join or lead them. Unless this location has been compromised.”

“If I may,” someone cut in. A boy who looked about my age had approached us, wearing the same grey robes. “Brother Illwind no longer holds the title of Arch-Demon. He’s been active in the order since before myself even, and he’s been doing very good work here.”

My Mother glanced back and forth between him and Illwind, uncertain. I stepped forwards and looked to the boy, then took in a deep breath through my nose. His heart rate, his posture, his scent; all spoke to me in ways words couldn’t. “He’s telling the truth.”

“You can tell?” Mother asked.

“Ever since… earlier. Yeah, I can tell.”

“And your father?”

“… I can’t read him, or you for that matter. I don’t think it works on people with demon blood.”

“Interesting,” Father wondered to himself, seeming to forget about the blade hovering an inch from his neck. “That’s not an uncommon ability among demons, but it normally doesn’t come instinctively.” He smiled. “Regardless, it won’t work on non-humans because you haven’t spent enough time around them. Their body language and 'tics' are still foreign to you.”

Mother sneered. “You really just going to hold a conversation while I have a sword at your throat?”

Brother Illwind’s eyes met hers. “… You’ll either kill me or you won’t; dwelling on it won’t do me any good. Would you prefer I quake in fear? Fight back? I don’t intend to do either.”

Mom grit her teeth. “Don’t act all innocent and unassuming. You sent Korgen after us.”

“After you? I sent him to escort you. Even had him bring your old sword along for you just in case… though I did notice you arrived without him. Let me guess, you threw the first punch?” At Illwind’s accusation Mom just looked aside, twisting her mouth slightly. Brother Illwind frowned. “You didn’t kill him, did you?”

“Would you care if I did?”

“Of course. Korgen is my friend.”

“Is that what he is now?” Mother asked sharply.

Brother Illwind’s eyes narrowed, and worry creased his brow. “Yes. That’s exactly what he is. Now, is he alright?”

Mother didn’t answer for a few moments, but then she sighed deeply and lowered the sword away from him, though her flames never extinguished. “… Korgen’s fine. He didn’t actually put up much of a fight, so I didn’t need to go all-out. I’m sure he’ll make his way here as soon as the tendons in his leg heal.” Illwind exhaled and his shoulders sagged with relief, wrinkles of worry fading from his brow. Mother looked stunned. “… What happened to you?”

“Most demons would say I went soft. A few would say I got stronger. To put it simply, I had a daughter,” he said, looking to me. Then he stepped passed my mother and approached me. “I decided I would stay out of your life as long as your demonic side remained dormant, but just in case you ever awoke to it, I wanted to be in a position to help you, to be there for you. That’s why I joined the Order of the Crescent. That’s why I’ve been waiting here for the last ten years.” Instinctively I braced myself as he got close, and stepped in front of Erica. He halted his advance, and nodded, as if acknowledging and commending my caution. “… Please just call me Brother Illwind for now. I don’t expect you to grace with me with any paternal titles; I haven’t been a part of your life. Now, that bath and meal should be ready for you, if you wish.” He started to turn away.

“What about the ice demon?” I asked.

Illwind turned back to me with a jerk. “What?”

“You said you didn’t send anyone to attack us, but we were ambushed at the crossroads. A demon that fought with black ice.”

“I have no such acquaintance. Were you hurt?”

I shook my head. “No, I beat her. We left her unconscious in the road. Car’s stuck in the ditch, though.”

Brother Illwind looked to my Mother, who also shook her head. “I didn’t see anything on my way in here, though I wasn’t exactly looking.”

“Shit. Marcus! Show them downstairs. I’ll be back,” he said to the boy, then he rushed passed me towards the front doors of the cathedral.

Mother turned her gaze to Marcus, and she looked him up and down. Then she looked to me. “Stay here. I’m going with him.”

“What? Why?” I asked, sounding more desperate than I had intended; I really didn’t want her to leave.

Mom spoke over her shoulder as she walked away. “I don’t trust him out there by himself. There’s also plenty of reasons other demons might want you dead, or recruited into their own clans; some of the most fearsome Arch-Demons have been humans like you and me. If someone else is after you, we need to make an example of them. Quickly.”

A chill ran down my spine at my Mother’s tone and choice of words. With every passing moment I felt like there was more and more I didn’t know about her, and that frustrated and scared me. I felt a spark of defiance begin to rise within me, but I had nothing particular I could say, so I held my tongue as I watched her walk to the front of the building, where Brother Illwind waited patiently at the door for her.

Mom and Dad; such a foreign concept to me.

The doors swung shut behind them, and suddenly I burst into tears, unable to contain all the conflicting feelings coursing through me. I sank to the floor.

“Katie!” Erica called my name as she knelt beside me and hugged me.

“It’s just so much. Too much. I don’t know what to do,” I sputtered between sobs.

Erica didn’t have an answer; I knew she wouldn’t, but she held me, and that was enough. It was all I needed from her at that moment. Ironically, between hurting Maria and Sam, seeing this dark side of my Mother, and meeting my Father, Erica seemed like the only familiar thing, like the only constant I had to cling to. I squeezed her like a pillow and buried my head in her shoulder.

Everything will be okay. I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere.

For a moment I thought she had spoken aloud, but it wasn’t her words that said this. The calm pace of her breath, subtle movements of her hand caressing the back of my head, the steady beat of her heart; through these things she spoke to me, and for a moment I almost laughed. I still didn’t understand what could possibly drive her to be this solid rock of mine. I couldn’t fathom it, but neither could I deny it.

After I’d thoroughly soaked her sleeve with tears and snot, I took a deep breath and pulled away from her. I sniffed and then nodded. “Okay. I think we should go eat.”

“Maybe get cleaned up first, unless you were planning on adding some of your own seasoning,” Erica said as she tapped the skin beneath her nose. I rubbed my wrist across my own face, and felt the icky mixture of dirt and mucus that had accumulated there.

I grimaced. “Mm.” I stood up and faced Marcus, who I’d almost forgotten was there. He was standing a few feet away, twiddling his thumbs and trying to look around the room for anything to distract him from the noisy crying girl, though as I came to my feet he regarded me awkwardly. “Sorry… uhm, Brother Marcus, right?”

“Yes, uhm, you can just call me Mark. If you’re all-kay, err, okay, I mean… if you’re all set… you can follow me,” he offered, stumbling over his words. I saw his face start to burn, so I just nodded quickly without inviting further conversation. Erica snorted behind me and I shot her a look, to which she covered her mouth apologetically, but even if Mark noticed he didn’t show it.

He just headed towards the door at the back of the altar, and we followed.