《SINGULARIS [a cosmic horror sci-fi litrpg]》 Chapter 1 CHAPTER 1 Spacetime is doomed. I can¡¯t escape the thought, as intrusive and ominous as a solar eclipse, as I dab up the last of my ketchup with the last of my fries. The Hogfather diner claims via their motto that they¡¯ll ¡®make you a meal you can¡¯t refuse¡¯ but, if they weren¡¯t the only place in Stonestead that did burgers, pizza, and hot dogs, I very easily could. It also might not be the best place for a covert meeting but, hey, you have to take what you¡¯re offered. Funny, that. It¡¯s the day after we saved the world and no one in the diner seems to realize it¡ªnot the waitresses, not the customers, not Mister Backflip the old golden retriever. No, I don¡¯t think he can actually do a backflip, or more than one backflip if he pushes himself. But if you spend too much time around Stonestead, the concept of an astoundingly acrobatic arthritic dog becomes the kind of thing that is positively reassuring. I close my eyes and think again about what I¡¯m about to do. If I were to get up in the middle of the diner and tell everyone the events of the past few months, I¡¯d be thrown out on my ass at best and hurled into an asylum at worst. If not for everything that¡¯d happened, if not for the fact I knew it was real, that the inevitable collapse of everything clung to the crevices of my brain like psychic napalm, I¡¯d just get it over with, save everyone else the trouble, and check myself in. That¡¯s why I¡¯m meeting with the only person who I think might understand. I look down and check my shirt. No little red dots yet. That¡¯s the kind of person I¡¯m dealing with, even if they might be the only person on the planet to hear me out. Even so, I¡¯m not sure whether he¡¯ll arrest me or ask for my autograph. Especially when he figures out I''ve damned him, too. The door opens, and there he is. He¡¯s not a big guy. Maybe an inch or two over five foot six, and with a fair amount of weight in his gut. He¡¯s wearing the simple drab business suit of public servants anywhere. He casts his gaze around the diner, spots me, and makes his way over. ¡°There you are,¡± Fletcher says. He has a voice that suggests he gargles gravel in his spare time. His eyes suggest he¡¯ll introduce you to his hobby if you piss him off. He settles into the booth opposite me. We don¡¯t shake hands. I¡¯m not sure what to say to him, how to begin. Luckily, a waitress comes by to take his order. ¡°What¡¯s good here?¡± Fletcher asks me. ¡°Not much of it,¡± I reply. ¡°Just a coffee then,¡± he tells the waitress, and she heads off. ¡°Safe choice,¡± I say. ¡°But I think it¡¯s left over from when they¡¯d pour it on rioting peasants.¡± Fletcher doesn¡¯t laugh. I feel like his craggy face has forgotten how to react to even the thought of a smile. ¡°The last time we met, Cross, I said I wanted the truth¡ªthe whole truth.¡± ¡°And you¡¯ll get it.¡± ¡°Now.¡± I shake my head. ¡°Once you¡¯ve got your coffee.¡± ¡°Is that so.¡± ¡°You¡¯ll see.¡± Hogfather¡¯s keeps its condiments on the table. Fletcher will add two teaspoons of sugar to his coffee. I know this like I know his name is William Matthew Fletcher, that he¡¯s got a Glock 19 strapped under his jacket (9x19mm caliber, fifteen bullet magazine, 855g loaded, he¡¯s never fired it and doesn¡¯t want to fire it but he has posed with it in front of his mirror and growled make my day, punk on fourteen different occasions) and that he¡¯s here to listen to me because he¡¯s seen things he can¡¯t explain, too. I glance at the bowl of sugar, focus on it for just a second, and look away. There¡¯s a slight resonance, a single pluck of the cosmic strings, and it is done. But even that draws out a headache, and I have to raise the napkin to my nose to stop the dribble of blood. A simple trick, really. One of the first I learned. But with everything that¡¯s happened just a day ago, even such a newbie move like that is pushing myself too far, too hard. Limits. ¡°You okay?¡± Fletcher asks. ¡°Fine,¡± I mutter, and the waitress sets the coffee before him. Without looking, he grabs a spoonful of sugar¡ªor what he thinks is a spoonful of sugar. ¡°Wait,¡± I say. ¡°Hmm?¡± ¡°You think that¡¯s sugar you¡¯re holding now?¡± In my head, I imagined saying it like Morpheus, and I wasn¡¯t holding a napkin to my bleeding nose. But, well, as I said¡ªyou take what you can get. Fletcher looks down and sees that, on his spoon, there isn¡¯t sugar, but salt. A simple trick. A quick invocation of the Second Semblance of Matter. A minor application of the First Order principality. Fletcher glances at his spoon, frowns, then looks back at me. ¡°How¡¯d you do that?¡± he asks. ¡°What¡¯d you do?¡± ¡°Nothing. I¡¯ve been sitting here the whole time.¡± Fletcher grunts. Decides on what he¡¯s going to believe instead. ¡°So what, you swapped it out before I got here.¡± If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Do you really think, after everything you¡¯ve seen and heard, I¡¯d stake it all on some stupid parlor trick?¡± The headache is making me grumpy but, hey, screw it. ¡°Do you really think I can¡¯t swap something so simple? It¡¯s basic fucking transmutation.¡± ¡°Transmutation, huh. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, Cross.¡± I lean back into the booth. Fletcher, for his part, does not add the salt to his coffee. He might not believe what I can do, but he¡¯s not brazen enough to mock me, either. ¡°Extraordinary evidence, huh.¡± There¡¯re ways to do it. I could very easily blow his mind. Expose him to the glory and horrors of the Pax Systematica. To the apocalypses you find beyond the event horizon. But one of our first rules were not to use our abilities on innocents. But it¡¯s Bill Fletcher. Not exactly innocent, at this point. The others will understand. I hope. I look at Fletcher, letting my eyes settle on him and then¡ªwith what feels like a jerk in my neck¡ªlook through him, past him, into the infinite gaps between him. I¡¯m still lucid¡ªor, at least, reasonably so¡ªand still synchronized to the symbiote. I draw on the Third Order, the Second Semblance of Chronos, intertwine it with the Second Semblance of Mind, and lay open Fletcher¡¯s mind in the present and all of his minds in the past. I might as well have jabbed an ice pick behind my eyes. Reality, or the most conventional idea of reality, the one I¡¯d grown up with for eighteen years, returns to me when the tabletop crashes against my forehead. I¡¯m glad I never let go of the napkin. I¡¯m sweating, trembling. I can feel the symbiote lashing about, threatening beyondic disentanglement. If this doesn¡¯t work, I¡¯m out of tricks. ¡°You were born in Langone Hospital at 4:32AM,¡± I tell him. ¡°When you were six, your parents had to move all the way to Arizona to live on a cattle farm. You coped with it by standing out under the stars, shining your flashlight to try and speak to aliens. You never met any, so, you had an invisible friend from Alpha Centauri named Thaddeus McGee instead, and you were always a little bit annoyed that your brain invented a little green man instead of a little green woman. You think I¡¯m crazy, yeah, but you¡¯re also really tired of Chester McLaine calling you Fox Mulder like he doesn¡¯t know X-Files has been off the TV for seven years and you want me to be right. ¡°Well, here¡¯s the thing, Special Agent William Fletcher¡ªthey may not be little, but green men and women do exist, and that¡¯s just where the rabbit hole starts.¡± Fletcher takes a long, slow sip from his coffee. I¡¯m not sure what else I expected him to do. ¡°You could¡¯ve looked some of that up,¡± he says. I draw the napkin away from my face. ¡°If you¡¯re going to call me a liar, then why did you even come? Tell me you weren¡¯t born at that place at that time. Tell me that Thaddeus wasn¡¯t your invisible friend. Tell me you don¡¯t know Chester McLaine.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t call you a liar. But I¡¯m very curious as to how you knew all that.¡± I¡¯m not sure what to do with the bloody napkin, so, I just ball it up in my hands. ¡°The same way I turned the sugar into salt. An insane form of quantum physics. Black holes and singularities and the things that lurk Beyond. You know what they say, about thinking about what happens beyond an event horizon?¡± Fletcher shakes his head. ¡°¡®Decent people shouldn¡¯t think too much about that.¡¯¡± Fletcher look again at his coffee, then sets it down before him. ¡°Okay, Cross,¡± he says. ¡°I¡¯m listening.¡± ¡°This is your last chance,¡± I tell him. ¡°I¡¯m showing you the door and as much as I came here to tell you about it, I¡¯m really not sure if you should walk through it. Because the ramifictions of what you¡¯ll see on the other side, and what that means for everything you¡¯ve ever known...¡± My mind travels back to Kharaak, him lying before me, his alien face splitting in an anguished smile. Of how maybe, in another life, we¡¯d have been allies, if not friends. Of how fucked up everything was, and was going to be. ¡°It¡¯s not something you can ever take back. You can¡¯t close your eyes to it again. Can¡¯t ever go back to your old user interface where things like realism and locality are taken for granted, hardcoded into the substrate. Just like me, you won¡¯t be able to stop until you understand. But you¡¯ll be the first human being to know the truth.¡± Fletcher asks, ¡°And you¡¯re not?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know anymore.¡± ¡°Fine. Then what¡¯s this truth?¡± ¡°That spacetime itself, William, is doomed.¡± To that apocalyptic statement, Fletcher just nods. And why wouldn¡¯t he? He doesn¡¯t understand what I¡¯m saying, what it all means. Not yet. There¡¯s a part of me that envies him. Because the difference between me and him at this point, is that he¡¯ll get to choose it, instead of being chosen for him. ¡°That¡¯s a big claim,¡± the FBI agent tells me. ¡°Look, I¡¯m not much of a scientist, Caleb. How about you start from the beginning, and we take it from there? I don¡¯t have anywhere I need to be.¡± The beginning? Where is that? When is that? I wipe at my brow, call the waitress over for a glass of water, and try to piece it together. There is no beginning, and there is no end. There¡¯s no time where things began, because they simply are, were, and will be. Was it when Master Taal smuggled his secret hope to our little planet? Was it before that, with the rise of the Warlock-King and his Eternal Imperium and the fall of the Star League? Or before even that, with the creation of the Pax Systematica, when the first Other slipped into our substrate? It was all of those things, and none of them. ¡°It was back at the end of August,¡± I tell Fletcher. ¡°The first party of senior year. We were all there. Max, Emma, and me. It¡¯s funny because I didn¡¯t want to go in the first place. If I knew what¡¯d happen, maybe I¡¯d have locked myself in my room and played Halo until I passed out.¡± ¡°And why¡¯s that, Caleb?¡± ¡°Because a few hours after getting to that party, all three of us would be dead.¡± Fletcher says nothing. I shake my head, aware of how I sound. Of course, had I done that, neither of us would be sitting here to have this surreal conversation. Maybe the Hogfather was the right place for this meeting, after all¡ªyou take what you¡¯re offered. Fletcher pulls something out of his jacket pocket. A little spiral notepad and a pen. ¡°I get the feeling I¡¯m going to need this,¡± he says. ¡°If you think it¡¯ll help,¡± I say. ¡°Last chance, Bill.¡± I focus on Special Agent William Fletcher. The tesseract unfolds out of him, through him, and reveals to me the next secret step along the Path of the Incarnate.
QUEST The Truth is Out There
GOAL Acquire the loyalty of The Agent
REWARD 5XP, Arche recharge
CONFIRM? Y/N
He clicks his pen, jots something down. I take that as consent to have his worldview shattered like a cheap plate. Well, I muse in his general direction, as I think confirm to the tesseract, don¡¯t say I didn¡¯t warn you. ¡°It¡¯s just...¡± I say. Fletcher nods slowly. ¡°It¡¯s just?¡± It¡¯s just... It¡¯s just... It¡¯s just- Chapter 2 ACT 1 ACCRETION
CHAPTER 2 It¡¯s just that the night was weird from the start. See, Chad Remington¡ªyes, that¡¯s his real name¡ªwas throwing the first party of the senior year. He¡¯d been talking about it all over the break and, so, it¡¯d morphed from not just A Party to The Party To End All Parties. We pulled up at the old barn a little after nine, and it was a wonder that the place hadn¡¯t already shaken itself to pieces from the bass. I could hear the thumping dance music before Vince cut the engine of his beat-up sedan, which he did, and turned to give me a smile. ¡°Wow,¡± he said. ¡°Tonight¡¯s going to go off, man.¡± ¡°Looks like it¡¯s already going off,¡± I replied. It¡¯s an odd expression, that. When you stopped to think about it, you¡¯d realize that things that ¡®go off¡¯ included eggs, milk, and hand grenades. Nothing you wanted to be near when they went from ¡®going off¡¯ to ¡®gone off.¡¯ ¡°You ready?¡± Vince asked. ¡°No.¡± But I got out of the car anyway. There was a chill on the air. I contemplated pulling my hood up, and realized I already looked enough like a serial killer. Vince went straight for the barn and I fell into step behind him, wondering if I could¡¯ve talked him into staying home and playing Halo instead. But foolishly, back in freshman year, we¡¯d made a pact that we¡¯d go to every single party that was thrown in our last year of high school. It¡¯d seemed like a good deal at the time. Problem was, Vince¡¯s popularity had rapidly outstripped my own when he went from an ugly duckling to a muscular swan, and I¡¯d ended up somewhere between Robbie Rotten and Severus Snape. People liked Vince. But on the topic of Caleb Cross, I¡¯m pretty sure they were neutral¡ªif they were even that. So, when we entered the barn-turned-party-palace, everyone met Vince with smiles and fistbumps. Then, after a second, they greeted me. Like I was only visible due to my proximity to him. But that was okay, too. Sometimes, being an outsider meant you could see things more clearly. ¡°Hey,¡± Vince said, shouting to be heard over the music. ¡°I¡¯m going to track down Brit, okay? Y¡¯know get some action?¡± Brit was Vince¡¯s girlfriend. One of those been together-since-middle-school couples. They¡¯d get married, too, if Brit had her way. But I wasn¡¯t sure where Vince stood on that front, and I think, for the most part, it was the quote ¡®easy action¡¯ end quote that kept him with her. Even with the pact, I¡¯d say that was the only reason we¡¯d come out to this party. ¡°Okay,¡± I said. ¡°Cool.¡± Vince slipped through the partying throng like an icebreaker through the Arctic. For lack of anything else to do, and feeling like a comet without a sun, I headed for the closest keg and filled up a red cup with whatever cheap beer was in it. I stood there for a moment, sipping from my drink, before I realized how I looked, standing there alone by the keg, and headed outside. After being packed into a barn that felt about five minutes from collapsing and killing everyone inside, and maybe there was a little part of me that kinda-sorta hoped it would happen, it wasn¡¯t the worst thing to be back out in the brisk air. Autumn had come early. We were about an hour out of Stonestead proper, and I took a moment to look up at the clear night sky. Out there, removed from the town itself, the stars glittered back at me. It was peaceful, quiet. It was like the world fell away from me. Nothing but me, the infinite sea of stars, and my thoughts. It would be the last moment of peace in my life. Contemplating infinity before I really knew what that meant. ¡°Hey, asshole,¡± someone said. ¡°You gonna pay for that beer?¡± I jumped, startled out of my thoughts. Maxwell Cheong came marching over with a smile on his face that never seemed to fall off. The kind of guy who, before the year had even started, already had somehow locked down the twin monarchies of homecoming and prom. Just this combination of looks and personality that had Vince and I convinced that he was someone who indulged in blood sacrifices. Vince had confidence, sure, but Max had charisma. ¡°Wow,¡± he said. ¡°Sorry, man. I didn¡¯t mean to scare you.¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t,¡± I replied. ¡°That¡¯s cool. Helluva party, right?¡± ¡°Something like that.¡± ¡°You know, you might be having a better time if you stopped looking at the stars up there and started looking at the ones behind you, if you know what I mean.¡± The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. I did, but I didn¡¯t know what to say. The orbital paths of Cheong and Cross did not intersect, and his easygoing charisma, the trick of lawyers and salespeople and DnD sorcerers, had me on edge. I tried on the one thing we might have had in common. ¡°Are you looking for Vince?¡± ¡°No way. I was actually looking for Emmie Bennett. You and her play video games, right? Is she here tonight?¡± ¡°Yeah, somewhere, I¡¯m sure.¡± Part of me, desperately, wanted to know where. But I¡¯d decided I¡¯d go looking for her later, when it didn¡¯t seem so desperate. ¡°Think you can send her a text? I¡¯ve got something for her.¡± I frowned and spoke before I could stop myself: ¡°Is it your dick?¡± Max laughed. ¡°No way! Man, c¡¯mon, Lisa would kill me if I cheated on her. Can you help a guy out? Just this once? I¡¯d owe you, for real.¡± I had Emerson Bennett¡¯s number but never really used it. Always felt like she¡¯d given it to me out of politeness, even now. ¡°Alright,¡± I said, fished my phone out, and sent her a quick text. ¡°There. Now, what¡¯s this about?¡± ¡°She¡¯s my hook-up.¡± ¡°You just said¡ª¡± ¡°Weed hook-up, dude!¡± He laughed again. ¡°But here, I¡¯ve got an idea. You helped me, I¡¯ll help you. Need a wingman?¡± ¡°Thanks, but I¡¯m fine.¡± ¡°You sure?¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure.¡± ¡°Well, okay. But the offer stands, just let me know.¡± We stood there for a time. I sipped at my beer. Someone came by to give Max another one. Before long, Emma said, ¡°Well, well, well¡ªtwo people I never thought I¡¯d see interact. Hey Caleb, Max. Matter and antimatter, kaboom.¡± She had in hands in her pockets and a crooked smile. Emma was the sort of girl who turned up to a party like this in a baggy hoodie and tight jeans. She was into video games, but not the ones that¡¯d become cool to be into over the past few years, like Mario Kart and Guitar Hero. No, Emma played Halo and Warcraft 3 and once, when she was quite drunk, told me that Optimus Prime was her spirit animal. My crush on her would¡¯ve made neutron stars envious. ¡°Hey, Emma,¡± I said, trying to sound casual. ¡°Max was looking for you.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll bet he was,¡± she replied. ¡°You got the cash?¡± Max nodded. They completed the transfer in one smooth motion. ¡°Well, that¡¯s done,¡± he said. ¡°Wanna come smoke weed in the woods?¡± Emma shrugged. ¡°Not doing anything else. Caleb?¡± I chewed at my cheek. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t want to be a third wheel.¡± She rolled her eyes. ¡°As if you¡¯re not the third wheel with Vince and Brit, come on.¡± Well, he had basically abandoned me, hadn¡¯t he? ¡°I¡¯ve never actually smoked¡ª¡± I began. ¡°It¡¯s me-di-ci-naaal,¡± she added, in singsong. ¡°Well, I said. ¡°First time for everything, right?¡± Max grinned. ¡°Then let¡¯s get this guy high as a kite, Emmers!¡± Emma nodded. ¡°Then come on, this way, I know just the spot.¡± She led the way, slight limp and all. A quad bike accident when she was young had left her with, among other mild imperfections, a bad leg. The party palace receded behind us, vanishing past the threshold of trees and brush. ¡°I¡¯m surprised the two of you wanted to bail on the party,¡± I said. Emma looked back. ¡°My ex was there. Y¡¯know, Owen? Think he¡¯s suffering from a major case of regretitis. Do not wanna deal with that.¡± ¡°Oof,¡± Max said. ¡°For me, I just want some peace and quiet before senior year kicks off. And we¡¯ve never talked or anything have we, Caleb?¡± ¡°Not really, no. Uh, hey¡ªare we going to remember the way back?¡± Max tapped his wristwatch. ¡°Got a compass in this baby, and Miss Bennett¡¯s got a gift for directions, right?¡± ¡°Something like that,¡± she said. ¡°See? Something like that.¡± We walked for a while. It was like time stopped having meaning. Max and Emma rolled up some joints as the ground turned rocky and uneven, but I still wasn¡¯t sure about actually smoking anything and, so, waved it off. The conversation was enough. Besides, I¡¯d heard that your first time smoking could give you a bad trip, or something. ¡°Here¡¯s the spot,¡± Emma said, standing before the mouth of a cave. ¡°So, confession time¡ªI¡¯ve always wanted to get high in the haunted cave.¡± ¡°Haunted cave?¡± I asked. ¡°Is that safe?¡± ¡°Extremely. There¡¯s not even any warning signs. We won¡¯t go far in, Caleb. Besides, I brought glowsticks,¡± she said, and showed them off. ¡°This is a little pre-meditated.¡± ¡°Haunted?¡± Max asked. ¡°Really?¡± ¡°That¡¯s what people say.¡± ¡°Spooky.¡± Emma led the way in, dropping a glowstick every few paces. We pulled out our phones, turned on their flashlights. I expected a swarm of bats to come flying out, but there was nothing. Just rocks and a passage that led ever onward. I glanced back. The mouth of the cave struck me as being much further away than it had been just a minute ago, the chain of glowsticks little more than stars in the deep. Was I nervous? Could you get all weed-anxious off second-hand smoke? ¡°No ghosts,¡± Emma said, sitting down on an outcropping. ¡°Damn.¡± I nodded. ¡°If we see a bear or an ax murderer or anything, I¡¯m outta here.¡± Emma snorted. ¡°Nope. Sorry, but one of you needs to get ax murdered so I can get out of here.¡± ¡°Whoa,¡± Max said, raising his arm. ¡°Guys, check this out¡ªmy compass is going nuts.¡± I leaned over. The compass in his watch was, in fact, going nuts. Spinning round and round and round, faster and faster. ¡°Okay,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s a little weird, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Told you this place was haunted,¡± Emma said. Max raised a hand. ¡°There¡¯s probably just something in the rocks. Magnets or something like that. I don¡¯t know, geography isn¡¯t my thing. Besides, what kind of ghost would mess with my watch?¡± ¡°A poltergeist?¡± I half-asked. ¡°Right on, Caleb,¡± Emma said. ¡°Trying to steal it right off your wrist, dude.¡± Max laughed. I was struck by the fact that it didn¡¯t echo, looking deeper into the cavern, and I felt my mind twist as if I was caught in vertigo, and there were three figures there, deeper into the cave. A blonde woman sitting on a rock, a guy in a Stonestead High letterman jacket, and the third who was looking at the second¡¯s watch. The shadows stretched toward them, fingers reaching¡ª That¡¯s strange, I thought. They look just like... My throat went dry. I could hear my breathing. I remember thinking: what the fuck. The world blinked. I stammered. ¡°What was that?¡± Emma cocked her head. ¡°I said that the ghost was trying to steal Max¡¯s watch.¡± ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°I just¡ª You didn¡¯t? Neither of you?¡± ¡°Neither of us what?¡± Max said, giving me that big, homecoming smile. ¡°Oooh, haunted caves, right? Come on, man, it¡¯s a good bit and that¡¯s some amazing acting you¡¯ve got going on, but I came out here to get high, not to get all paranormal.¡± ¡°I saw something,¡± I said. ¡°Deeper into the cave.¡± ¡°What, like a bear?¡± ¡°No, I¡ª¡± I tried to find the right words, but they wouldn¡¯t come. The glimpse was already fading from my mind like rubbing alcohol evaporating from my skin. ¡°Look, there¡¯s no ghosts, and I don¡¯t think I should smoke my first joint in a place like this, so, maybe we can get out of here, Emma?¡± Pause. ¡°Emma?¡± I turned and my blood froze over. She was gone. The rocky plinth that¡¯d been occupied by Emerson Bennett was empty. Chapter 3 CHAPTER 3 ¡°Look,¡± Fletcher says, interrupting me, ¡°Is this going anywhere?¡± I sigh. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°You know exactly what I mean. The only place your tale seems to be going, Caleb, is you and your friends getting high in a cave and playing pranks on each other. By the way, I¡¯m not sure of the relevance of every little thought that pops into your head. You think you¡¯re the first guy to have a crush on a girl? To sneak off and smoke weed? Please, we were doing that back in my day.¡± I don¡¯t move. Even now, the memory of the cave sticks to me like a chemical burn, and my body feels stiff and rigid at the thought of it. It takes me a moment to drag my thoughts back to the present. Slowly, I lean forward over the table. Fletcher still hasn¡¯t touched his coffee. He¡¯s been hanging on my every word. It¡¯s why he hasn¡¯t left yet. He can¡¯t leave. Not now. Not after everything he¡¯s seen. ¡°You wanted to hear the whole story,¡± I say, ¡°so, here I am, telling it. All of this is connected. If you don¡¯t know what I was thinking about on that exact night, then nothing that comes later will make any sense. It¡¯s all connected,¡± I say, tapping out the next six words against the table. ¡°All of it.¡± Tap tap tap. ¡°Every single piece. Which means you need to understand all of it. I¡¯m starting as close as I can to the main event. And we both know the stakes here, which is why you haven¡¯t left. I am your only fucking witness to everything that happened, and I think it¡¯s funny that you think you can rush me because you have a badge. Like I give a shit about that. So, Agent Fletcher, I¡¯m going to take however the fuck long I want¡ª¡± Fletcher hops up from the table fast enough that he almost topples the damn thing. Every single person in Hogfather¡¯s turns to look at him and he stalks out of the diner to a general murmuring. Just who is that guy, they¡¯re thinking, and why is he storming out from a conversation with a high school kid? Outside, I watch Fletcher light a cigarette. I watch him smoke it. I watch him shake his head and mutter to himself as he lights up another, thinks better of it, and grinds out the stub and nail both under his shoe. It¡¯d be a simple trick to know what he¡¯s saying with a simple usage of Forces or Mind but what¡¯s the point? I can guess and be close enough. What the fuck am I doing? and Am I really going to go back in there? He is. Fletcher returns. ¡°Sorry,¡± he says, to the first waitress he passes, and slides back into his seat. ¡°Please, Mister Cross,¡± he says, with porcelain politeness. ¡°Continue.¡± I do.
¡°Emmers?¡± Max said. ¡°What the fuck?¡± He laughed, not believing it to be anything other than a prank. ¡°Wow. Okay. How¡¯d the two of you do that?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t do anything,¡± I said. ¡°Emma?¡± I called out into the cave depths. ¡°Emerson?¡± I looked back toward the opening of the cave, saw no sign of her. She couldn¡¯t have gotten far. Did she go deeper? It¡¯d be like her, hiding just out of sight, to spring out and shout ¡®boo!¡¯ It¡¯d almost be funny. ¡°I¡¯ll try calling her,¡± Max said, pulling his phone out. ¡°Shit, I¡¯ve got no reception. How about you?¡± I checked mine, frowned. No bars. ¡°Same here.¡± I raised my voice again. ¡°Emma, come on¡ªthis isn¡¯t funny! Okay, okay, haunted cave, you got us!¡± Max leaned forward, peering deeper into the cave. ¡°Wait, I think... I think I see someone... There. Moving, just a bit further into the cave. Yo, Emma!¡± I stared, trying to follow his gaze, but didn¡¯t see anything but blackness. Even shining my phone¡¯s flashlight into the darkness did little more than look pathetic. Max glanced at me. ¡°What¡¯re we doing, Caleb?¡± ¡°We¡¯ll go a little bit deeper,¡± I said. ¡°She can¡¯t have gone far. She might have slipped and got herself hurt. Come on.¡± Stupid. How stupid we were. What we should¡¯ve done, was back the fuck out of there and run screaming into the night. We should¡¯ve come back with some dynamite and blasted the cave shut ourselves. That was the sensible option. But I had always hated mysteries, if only because I could never resist solving them. And there was a part of me that wasn¡¯t going to leave Emma alone in some bizarre cave. So, we pressed on. This time, I led. The cave stretched onward. A little bit became a lot. Every step, I expected Emma to burst out from behind some rock or our of some shadowed alcove and act like it was the funniest prank ever, and we¡¯d all laugh. But she didn¡¯t. ¡°You said you saw something?¡± Max asked. ¡°Earlier?¡± ¡°Yeah, I think I did.¡± ¡°What was it?¡± I wasn¡¯t sure. It was hard to remember. Like something out of a dream. ¡°I saw us,¡± I said. ¡°I think.¡± ¡°You think.¡± ¡°Like from very far away. From the top of a mountain or something. Emma was sitting on that rock, and I was looking at your watch. And the shadows,¡± I shivered, feeling the flesh of my arms prick up again, in a way I honestly never had before. ¡°They moved. Like fingers creeping into the corner of my vision.¡± Max nodded. We walked for a little longer. ¡°There has to be a logical reason for this,¡± he said. ¡°You¡¯re sure?¡± ¡°Absolutely. Like maybe¡ª¡± And that was when I heard it. A voice. All around my head, like it was coming out of the very molecules of the air, out of the shadows in crevices, even screaming out of the wrinkles in my brain. ??????????????????>???????????????? Even now, the memory of it, that voice in the dark, makes every single hair on my body stand up. It was like the echo of a garbled transmission meant for someone else¡ªthe voice of a sadist as he tongues the edge of a knife, a desperate cry for help from the bottom of the ocean, or hearing your voice in the recording of a psychotic. All of those and none of them. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. Max was saying, ¡°¡ªthe weed was tainted with something.¡± I spun about. ¡°What the fuck was that.¡± ¡°What was what, Caleb?¡± ¡°That, the fucking¡ª the fucking voice, Max!¡± ¡°Caleb, you¡¯re starting to freak me out.¡± ¡°We need to get out of here,¡± I said, barely holding it together. ¡°We need to get out of here right now.¡± ¡°What, and leave Emmie behind?¡± Max turned, looking back the way we came. ¡°Uh, hey¡ªwhen did we turn a corner?¡± ¡°We didn¡¯t. It¡¯s been a straight line. Max, don¡¯t fuck with me, please.¡± ¡°Dude, I¡¯m not. Look! There¡¯s a fucking¡ª¡± ????????????>???????????????????????????????? ??????????????? ¡°¡ªwall there!¡± I shouted, gibbering: ¡°It happened again!¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°The voice, the fucking voice. Oh my God, it took her¡ªhe took her.¡± ¡°Caleb,¡± Max snapped, grabbing my shoulders. ¡°Caleb, buddy, I need you to snap out of it. Emma needs us. We have to keep going, okay? You¡¯ll be Emmie¡¯s big knight in shining armor, alright? But,¡± he laughed, forcing it, ¡°maybe we¡¯ll lay off the weed next time, huh?¡± I nodded, meeting Max¡¯s eyes. He was as scared as I was. Maybe more. ¡°We have to go on,¡± I said. ¡°He won¡¯t let us do otherwise.¡±
So, we continued on. I looked at my phone three times in what had to be twenty minutes and the time hadn¡¯t changed once. I tried not to think about it. Max kept himself busy by singing pop songs under his breath¡ªand then, we saw the glowstick. It was just sitting there, in the middle of the cave¡ªif it was even a cave, at this point¡ªlike someone had put it there for us to find, a single point of neon aqua light. ¡°She has to be nearby,¡± Max said. ¡°She left it there, so we¡¯d know we were on the right track. We have to be getting close.¡± ¡°And then we¡¯ll just walk out of here?¡± ¡°God, I hope so.¡± And then she was. We walked, and there she was. Lying in the middle of the tunnel, not a scratch on her¡ªshe looked like she was just sleeping. I jogged over to her, or her body. Tried not to think too much about that second possibility. Max asked, ¡°Is she¡ª¡± ?????????????????????>??????????????????????????? ????????????????????? ¡°¡ªokay?¡± I kneeled down, looking. ¡°She¡¯s¡ª Oh, shit, she¡¯s not breathing.¡± I felt for her pulse, fingers on her neck, not at all how I¡¯d imagined ever touching her. ¡°She doesn¡¯t have a pulse. Max, she doesn¡¯t have a fucking pulse!¡± ¡°Oh, fuck,¡± Max said. ¡°What if we¡¯re having a stroke? What if we¡¯re¡ª¡± The world hitched again, and I was seeing myself. There, kneeling at Emma¡¯s side with my fingers on her neck. Max, behind me, clutching at his scalp, shirt soaked through with sweat, eyes wide with terror. And then, something else. ?????????????>?????? ????????????????????????????????? A presence. Another person, I thought, at first, before I realised it was more like the absence of a person. A gap in reality, a patch of darkness that stood out even against the abyss of the cave. It was there. It was close. It was closer. I blinked. It was closer again. I was saying, ¡°Max, we have to¡ª oh, fuck, we have to go!¡± ¡°Caleb,¡± he said, puzzled. ¡°What¡¯re you¡ª¡± And as the shadow passed over him with all the tranquility of a sunny day turning overcast, I was looking through my own eyes again, turning, looking for Max, shouting at him for him to help me grab Emma. And he was gone. And so was Emma. It was just me. Alone. Only, I wasn¡¯t alone. There was something here. Or someone. ??????????????????????????? ???????????? The world fell away. Or the world remained where it was, and I fell away from my body. My brain, sparking and dancing, tried to make sense of it and I beheld each and every impulse as it leapt each and every neuron, and heard my thoughts somewhere in the distance: what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, I¡¯m having a stroke, I¡¯m having a stroke, help me. The thoughts became words and they rippled out of my mouth with sonic impulses, and the vibrations echoed into eternity. ??????????????????????¡Û????????????? I raised my hands, looking at them. Skin and flesh and sinew and nerves and bone and, beyond that, molecules and atoms and the incredible, imperceptible space between them. Nothing was solid, everything was closer to mist. Even the rocky walls of the cave were so fleetingly substantial. A fractal interplay of fields and waves and particles and vacuums. And that even that conception of reality was nothing but an interface for the divine spark of consciousness. I could smell thunder, and marijuana, and I thought of my father. Then, something arrived. Not me. Not Max or Emma. It came out of the gaps between matter like it¡¯d been hiding behind them. A figure of grace and depth, darkness turned material. A figure, a silhouette, an impression of a person upon the horizon, the shadow cast from outside. I knew it was a man, somehow, as much as something like that could be a man, and his awareness fell on me, so heavy that I couldn¡¯t breathe. ¡Ú???????????????????????????????¡Ú????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ??????????????????????????????????>??????????????????????????????>????????????????????? He moved¡ªno, traveled without moving. Jumping and jittering like he was out of sync with the world, a stop-motion puppet in the hands of a madman, clipping and popping forward and back but ever closer, ever closer. My body refused to move, static screaming in my ears. Or it did, but he was quicker than the impulse to do so. If that even mattered anymore. ????????????????????>?????????????????????? So close now, that I could¡¯ve reached out and touched his face, that yawning void in which I saw stars and galaxies and the infinite cycle of beginnings and endings. My brain was sparking, short-circuiting, simple electrical signals replaced by lightning, and I was bleeding and seizuring and dying as I knew this being, this man, this Shadow, was laughing. The cave went away; space collapsed and time ceased to be relevant. The Shadow, as vast as the darkness between galaxies and as infinitesimal as the gap between quarks, reached out from behind and within me, the fingers of some infinite hand grasping, closing, and¡ª ??????????????>?????? Chapter 4 CHAPTER 4 I woke up. I lay there in my bed for a few minutes, pillow damp with drool, frowning at the thoughts that lingered at the edges of my awareness¡ªdark places and a sense of threat. Like I¡¯d had some nightmare about caves and the things that hid within them, but whatever had been so terrifying about it had vanished with the rays of the sun. Outside, the birds were chirping and one of the neighbors was mowing their lawn. I lay there for a little while longer. Somehow, everything remained normal. I dragged myself out of bed and rubbed at my eyes. That¡¯s right, I remembered. I¡¯d been at a party. Chad Remington¡¯s party. But how had I gotten home? I didn¡¯t know. My memory came in fits and starts. When I tried to assemble a jigsaw puzzle from the bits I could grasp, it was like reaching into the box and only getting sky pieces. Frowning, I pulled on some pants and headed downstairs. If I couldn¡¯t remember, then maybe there was someone who could. Mom was making breakfast in the kitchen. Maybe she¡¯d have answers. Dad had always been the cook of the family but, well, she¡¯d had to step up after that whole business. She even still wore his old Kiss The Cook apron. We¡¯d recovered in the wake, but it still wasn¡¯t something we talked about. ¡°Good morning,¡± she said. ¡°How was everything last night?¡± ¡°It was fine,¡± I replied. ¡°Hey, mom, weird question¡ªbut how¡¯d I get home last night?¡± ¡°Hmm? Oh, Vince dropped you off. Do you want some pancakes?¡± ¡°No, no, I think I¡¯m good. You said Vince dropped me home?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Mom replied. ¡°Why, is something wrong?¡± ¡°No, I don¡¯t think so. I don¡¯t know. You¡¯re sure it was Vince?¡± ¡°Well, I didn¡¯t see his car, and you went right to bed, so I suppose I¡¯m not one-hundred percent certain. Is everything alright?¡± Some part of me wanted to say no but I couldn¡¯t figure out why. ¡°Yeah,¡± I said, ¡°I¡¯m fine. Maybe I just had too much to drink.¡± ¡°You should be careful about that. But, well, you¡¯re only young once. You¡¯re sure you don¡¯t want pancakes?¡± I relented, but still wasn¡¯t hungry. As mom ate pancakes¡ªpoured from a bottle, of course¡ªand I just sort of poked at them with my knife and fork to see if I could make the meal seem appetizing, I tried to piece everything together. Vince couldn¡¯t have driven me home, some part of me insisted, but it couldn¡¯t provide the evidence for that argument, either. It¡¯d been something to do with Emerson Bennett and Max Cheong. Something important. But what the fuck was it? I couldn¡¯t figure it out. I ended up throwing out my pancakes, washing up the dishes, having a shower, and still got no closer to figuring it out. In the end, I decided to cut to the heart of the matter and just call Vince. It took five tries and I paced around my room all the while. ¡°Yo,¡± he mumbled. ¡°Sorry, man. Did I wake you?¡± ¡°Yeah. But it¡¯s all good, buddy.¡± Vince yawned. ¡°Whassup?¡± ¡°This might sound crazy, man, but... Did you drop me home last night?¡± ¡°Well, yeah,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯m not surprised you don¡¯t remember.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Jeez, don¡¯t you remember anything? Just how hard did you party, bro?¡± ¡°Hard enough,¡± I said. ¡°It seems that way, anyway. I remember...¡± I had to concentrate. ¡°I think I went off into the woods to smoke weed with Emmie and Max Cheong? Is that right?¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Vince said, laughing. ¡°And the three of you were high as shit when you got back. You were like a total zombie, bro. So, what, did the three of you hook up out there in the woods? It¡¯s cool, man, I don¡¯t judge.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think so,¡± I said. ¡°Hey, Caleb,¡± Brit said over the phone. ¡°Brit says hi,¡± Vince added. ¡°Hi Brit,¡± I replied. ¡°I don¡¯t know. It¡¯s just weird.¡± ¡°You¡¯re not wrong about that, man.¡± My phone buzzed. ¡°Hang on, I¡¯m getting another call. I¡¯ll call you back.¡± ¡°See ya, buddy.¡± If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Hey, this is Caleb.¡± ¡°Hey,¡± Emma said. ¡°Happy Saturday.¡± ¡°Happy Saturday. How¡¯re you, Em?¡± A momentary pause. ¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± she replied, at last. ¡°I think.¡± ¡°Yeah. I think I know the feeling.¡± Another pause. ¡°Listen, Caleb. Did we... Did we do anything last night?¡± My cheeks simmered. ¡°No,¡± I replied. ¡°I mean, I don¡¯t think so.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Emma let out a breath. ¡°What about Max and I? Please don¡¯t tell me¡ª¡± ¡°No, no. I don¡¯t think anything happened there, either.¡± ¡°Oh, thank God,¡± Emma said, and I had to agree. ¡°I just don¡¯t remember most of the night. It¡¯s like I¡¯ve forgotten something important.¡± ¡°I know,¡± I said, and realized I hadn¡¯t stopped pacing yet. I stopped. ¡°I don¡¯t remember anything either. That¡¯s weird, right? It feels weird.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± she replied. ¡°Um. Have you heard from Max?¡± ¡°No. But I don¡¯t have his number or Facebook or anything. Is he okay?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the million dollar question. He left me some weird messages at some point. I was going to go by his place and make sure he¡¯s okay. Do you want to come with?¡± Then, I saw something. Just for a second. There was vertigo, and the feeling of seeing through molecules. Just for a second, out of the corner of my eyes: a simple plane, bizarre characters, and an urge to accept. Then I turned to look, and it was gone. ¡°Okay,¡± I said. I thought I was going insane. It would¡¯ve been easier if I had. If we all had.
Fifteen minutes later, Emma turned up in her older brother¡¯s big black pickup truck which she affectionately called Ironhide. I climbed into the shotgun position and Emma pulled into the street, heading off across Stonestead. I found myself glancing at the clock as we drove, like I expected it to be stuck, but I couldn¡¯t figure out why. Sometimes I caught Emma opening her mouth to say something, but she never did. I think we both knew that something strange had happened, but talking about it would make it more real than it already was. I¡¯d say Max lived on the good side of town but, well, there¡¯s nowhere in Stonestead that isn¡¯t good. So, I¡¯ll be blunt: Max lived on the rich side of town. His parents had something to do with local politics, and this meant he had looks, personality, and money. It wasn¡¯t a surprise, everyone knew that about him and he didn¡¯t lord it over people, but, even from the outside, his family home made mine look like a shoebox. Emma pulled up and cut the engine. ¡°Okay,¡± she said. I peered toward the Cheong residence. No cars in the driveway, but the garage was closed up. ¡°Doesn¡¯t look like anyone¡¯s home.¡± ¡°Maybe,¡± she replied. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± Emma stepped out and I followed. The two of them had known each other since preschool, so, it seemed best to let her take the lead. She crossed the lawn at a good pace. which seemed odd, and knocked on the front door. No response. Rang the doorbell. Nothing. Rang it again. ¡°Hey!¡± I called out. ¡°Max! It¡¯s Emerson and Caleb!¡± Nothing but the breeze through the trees. Emma shrugged, dragged the welcome mat up, and grabbed a key from under it. ¡°We¡¯re just going to take a look around,¡± she said. ¡°Make sure he¡¯s okay.¡± ¡°Wait, people really do that? Leave keys by the front door?¡± ¡°Dude, who the fuck is going to rob this place?¡± ¡°Okay, good point.¡± Inside, Max¡¯s place was about as opulent as I thought it would be. A roomba trundled around the living room in a steady pattern, going about its work. The kitchen was immaculate, the kind of cleanliness my mother wished she could get. The kind of cleanliness you had to pay for, probably. Still, something was bothering me. I opened the fridge, found it full of groceries. I sighed in something like relief. ¡°Hey,¡± Emma said. ¡°What¡¯re you doing?¡± ¡°Just checking the fridge.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°There¡¯s stuff in it. It means there¡¯s been people here recently.¡± ¡°You think Max wouldn¡¯t be here?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I said. Emma frowned. ¡°His bedroom¡¯s upstairs. And Caleb, please, stop freaking me out.¡± She turned, heading for the staircase, and I realized what¡¯d gotten under my skin. ¡°Uh, Em?¡± I began. ¡°I don¡¯t know how to put this, but... You¡¯re not limping.¡± ¡°I know,¡± she replied, tone curt. ¡°I¡¯m trying not to think about it.¡± The stairs led up to a landing, with the master bedroom to the right and a hallway to the left. At the end of the hallway, light glimmered in the gap between door and carpet. ¡°Jackpot,¡± Emma murmured. The hallway was dim, and it felt like the shadows were moving. I told myself it was just a trick of the light, that I was making myself nervous. But how could I ever be sure of that again? Emma knocked on the door. ¡°Hey, Max, you in there?¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± The fact he was in there was more shocking than that he wasn¡¯t. ¡°You just didn¡¯t respond to us before,¡± I said. ¡°Yeah.¡± Emma glanced at me. I shrugged. ¡°Hey,¡± she said. ¡°We¡¯re coming in, okay? Be decent.¡± She popped the door open and the light was near-blinding. Once my eyes had adjusted, I saw why¡ªMax was sitting on his bed, shirtless, and every single light in his room was on. Light from the ceiling, his desk, his bedside table, his ensuite (wait, he has an ensuite?) and even what looked like a Santa Claus nightlight he¡¯d plugged into the socket closest to his bed. All of the curtains were drawn closed. ¡°Hey,¡± I said, glancing at Emma, then back to Max. ¡°You okay?¡± ¡°Do I look okay?¡± Max replied. ¡°I don¡¯t think so. What¡¯s with the curtains?¡± ¡°Is the outside world still there?¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Emma said, with the same false levity I had. ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t it be?¡± ¡°You know why,¡± Max said. ¡°Because of last night.¡± ¡°What happened?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. I was hoping one of you could tell me. But I also don¡¯t ever want to think about it again.¡± ¡°So,¡± I said. ¡°You saw it.¡± Max just nodded. While we all processed that, Emma went over and pulled the blinds open. For a second, just for a split second, I thought Stonestead would be gone. That there¡¯d just be nothing but infinite darkness. ¡°We have to talk about it,¡± I said. ¡°You know, Caleb,¡± Emma said, ¡°I¡¯m not sure we do.¡± ¡°We have to.¡± ¡°If the Grim Reaper wants to scare the heck out of me and fix my busted-ass leg and everything else for being such a good sport about it then, hey, great, thanks.¡± ¡°Emma,¡± I said, slowly, carefully. ¡°You were dead.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°You died.¡± The memory of finding her on the cave floor was as sudden and sharp and clear as she was before me now. ¡°That¡¯s how it began.¡± The jigsaw pieces were more colorful now, shapes and outlines beginning to form. ¡°We went into that cave. We thought it¡¯d be funny to see if ghosts could get high. I don¡¯t know how far we went in. Maybe thirty, forty meters? Then you sat down on this bit of rock, and you just¡ªyou just vanished! Max and I, we had to find you, and we did, and you were dead.¡± I sucked back tears. ¡°You died, Emerson. Then Max vanished and then I...¡± I wiped at my eyes. ¡°Then I woke up this morning in my bed like nothing had fucking happened. There¡¯s this goddamn hole in my mind. But I saw something. I know I did. And I know it saw us.¡± ¡°Fucking hell,¡± Max said, falling back against his pillows. ¡°That¡¯s not what happened, Caleb,¡± Emma said. ¡°Max¡ª¡± ¡°What?¡± I asked. ¡°What¡¯re you talking about?¡± Max sat up, staring at me. ¡°Because you vanished first.¡± Chapter 5 CHAPTER 5 The words reverberated through me like a gunshot. The quiet sincerity of it sent my head spinning. The flesh on my arms puckered up, the back of my neck was electric, and a cold shiver froze each of my vertebrae one by one. I knew, in that moment, what the feeling was when someone said that someone had walked over their grave. ¡°I vanished first?¡± I asked, unable to comprehend it. Emma turned to look at Max, pointing at him. ¡°No, you vanished first. Caleb and I went looking for you.¡± Max shook his head violently. ¡°No way. I went last. Caleb just vanished into thin air and you said we had to look for him, and then you started babbling about glowsticks and the world blinked and you were gone.¡± ¡°Are you crazy?¡± Emma asked, which felt like the wrong question to be asking at this point. ¡°You disappeared and Caleb gives me this whole thing about how we can¡¯t just let Stonestead High¡¯s future prom king and America¡¯s future president vanish into the caves after I¡¯d sold him weed. Then I fucking trip over something, Caleb vanishes as I¡¯m standing up, and the Grim Reaper jumps me from behind.¡± ¡°That does sound like me,¡± I said, trying to lighten the mood. But I looked from Emma to Max and knew that they weren¡¯t lying. The same way I wasn¡¯t lying. ¡°The specifics don¡¯t matter. Something happened there. We¡¯ve all just got a very different set of memories about whatever it was that took place.¡± Incompatible memories, at that. ¡°How is that possible?¡± Max asked. ¡°How is any of this possible?¡± He went quiet, and no one said anything. Max looked like someone trying to swallow a tablet, or vomit one up. ¡°I thought I saw a man. Or something like a man. At the edges of my vision. Except when he¡ª¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°Like a statue carved out of a black hole.¡± ¡°And you¡¯re sure that your weed wasn¡¯t laced with anything, Emmers?¡± ¡°Positive,¡± she replied. ¡°Because Caleb didn¡¯t have any, and he¡¯s just as fucked up as we are.¡± ¡°Wait,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s consistent? I didn¡¯t have any of it in any of our memories?¡± ¡°Seems that way, yeah,¡± Max said. ¡°That means, whatever happened, it happened after we went into the cave. Up until a certain point, everything¡¯s consistent. But why?¡± ¡°Look, man... Caleb, you¡¯re an interesting guy and all, but I really don¡¯t want to give this anymore thought than I already have.¡± ¡°You think you¡¯ll just be able to forget it?¡± I asked. ¡°You¡¯ll just go back to school and start thinking, oh, that night never happened?¡± ¡°What else can we do?¡± Max threw his arms up. ¡°Like, how can we ever explain this to anyone?¡± ¡°We have to figure that out,¡± I said, as much as the thought made my skin crawl. ¡°Because if we don¡¯t, if we just try to pretend that it didn¡¯t, it¡¯ll eat us from the inside out. Because not a day will pass where we won¡¯t worry that it¡¯ll happen again.¡± ¡°And what if it doesn¡¯t?¡± ¡°What if it does?¡± ¡°Fuck. Emmers, talk him out of this. He listens to you.¡± Emma crossed her arms. ¡°I don¡¯t know what to think about this. Do you know how long I¡¯ve just wanted to be normal, guys? Not having to deal with all those pitiful little looks, not having to slow everyone down. After the accident, I didn¡¯t want to face up to it. Neither did my brother. Especially when he only got out of it with some bruising. And, I guess, a ton of guilt. ¡°And now, it¡¯s like some reality TV show. Spend one night in the haunted cave and win a million dollars! And I did it. I can walk like a normal person again. I¡¯d forgotten what it felt like to have feeling in the tips of my toes or to not get these weird random aches where I got crushed. And, yeah, TMI¡ªbut I don¡¯t have to worry about pissing myself when I sneeze or laugh or whatever else anymore.¡± She reached up, dragging her fingers across her hair. ¡°So, I¡¯m with Max. I want to walk away and pretend this never happened. The same way I tried to pretend all those years ago. But at the same time,¡± and she sighed. ¡°At the same time, I regret taking so long to come to terms with it. So, I¡¯m with you, Max, but Caleb¡¯s right. We have to figure it out. We have to at least try.¡± Some of that, I hadn¡¯t known. Some of it, I¡¯d heard rumors. Sometimes, she talked about it for a few seconds when she got drunk. I just nodded at her. Max fell back against his pillows again, sighing and closing his eyes. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. ¡°Okay,¡± he said. ¡°So, what¡¯s the plan?¡± ¡°What else?¡± I replied. ¡°We have to go back.¡±
¡°Wait,¡± Fletcher says, ¡°You went back there?¡± ¡°Of course we did. How could we not?¡± Fletcher swirls his mug of coffee. His second mug. Then he takes a sip, sets it down, and leans across the table. ¡°I don¡¯t know whether you¡¯re brave or stupid, Caleb, or maybe just a very good liar. But if everything you said is true, that some shadow-man haunted you all like that, if you think some if not all of you died and somehow woke up back in your beds, then why would you ever go back?¡± It¡¯s a good question. It¡¯s one I¡¯d expected him to ask. It¡¯s one I was still grappling with, myself, even after all this time. ¡°Because I didn¡¯t understand,¡± I tell him. ¡°Understand what?¡± ¡°Any of it. I got dragged into it, exposed to something that even now I can¡¯t really explain. How could I just walk away from that, without knowing what it meant? Without knowing what it was for? Without knowing why? Why it had to be me and Emerson and Max on that particular night? What connected us? No, I had to know. I had to understand. Even without the two of them, I would¡¯ve gone back there. I¡¯d have done it every single day for the rest of my life. That¡¯s why.¡± Fletcher eyes the little bowl of salt. I glance at it and transmute the contents back to sugar with a flick of my wrist. Another flick of my wrist and the Third Semblance of Forces slides the bowl toward Fletcher as if thrown, impelling it right to the edge of the table and no further without spilling a single grain of salt. Let him try to explain that one. ¡°That,¡± I continue, ¡°and because, even then, I thought that the shadow was trying to tell me something. ¡°I just didn¡¯t know what.¡±
We drove out to the party palace in near silence. What was there to talk about? A part of me hoped that I wasn¡¯t leading the two of them to their execution. What would¡¯ve been worse--finding something, or finding nothing? The old barn stood in the middle of a field of trash--bottles, cans, red cups, and more than a few items of discarded clothing--and the cars of those people who¡¯d elected to crash there for the night, no pun intended. ¡°Well, come on,¡± Emma said, as we hopped out of the truck, ¡°let¡¯s go look this gift horse in the mouth.¡± So, we did. We made our way into the trees and back toward the cave where everything had gone weird. As we walked, I felt odd. I realized I wasn¡¯t afraid. With each step, it was like fear faded out to something closer to curiosity. Or maybe that was just the daylight. But if he wanted to hurt us, and I was sure it was a he, then why had he let us go? Healed Emma? Max¡¯s phone rang. ¡°Shit,¡± he muttered. ¡°Hey, Lise! Hey, listen, about lunch... Sorry, something came up. An emergency something. I¡¯m with Em and her friend Caleb. I know, I know, we were supposed to do lunch¡ªI¡¯m sorry, babe.¡± He gave me a look that was somehow both apologetic and baleful. ¡°Yeah, that Caleb. I know. I know. Listen, I can¡¯t really talk right now. I¡¯ll call you tonight, okay?¡± ¡°Sorry, man,¡± I said. ¡°Is she upset?¡± ¡°A little. Nothing I can¡¯t smooth over,¡± he said, flashing one of those smiles. ¡°But hey, I think you were right. Better to sort this out now. And, I mean, I¡¯d told Lise that I don¡¯t like making reservations for a reason. I¡¯m a busy guy. Things come up.¡± ¡°Just tell her it¡¯s my fault. I mean, it kinda is.¡± ¡°That was the plan,¡± he joked, in a way that said he wasn¡¯t. ¡°You single, Caleb?¡± I glanced at Emma. Or, to be more accurate, her back. ¡°Man, you know I am.¡± ¡°Yeah. Sorry, that¡¯s my bad. Don¡¯t take this the wrong way or anything, but this is the most we¡¯ve spoken to each other. Like, we¡¯ve known each other since we were freshmen, right?¡± ¡°Right.¡± We¡¯d had physics together, I thought. ¡°I¡¯m just quiet. Don¡¯t speak unless I have something to say. I don¡¯t know. It¡¯s just easier to see everything from the outside in.¡± ¡°Sure, and I respect that. It¡¯s just, how can I put this. You and Emmers, you play those roleplaying games, right? What is it, World of Warcraft?¡± ¡°Some of them, sure. Em is big into WoW. It¡¯s not my thing.¡± ¡°And you¡¯re not screwing with me, right?¡± ¡°I thought we solved this an hour ago.¡± ¡°Yeah, but there was something I didn¡¯t mention. Just wasn¡¯t the right time.¡± He pulled out his phone, dialed a number. ¡°Here, listen to this.¡± I took his phone, held it to my ear. You have one saved message, the electronically pleasant voice told me. ¡°Hey,¡± someone said, oddly familiar. ¡°Listen, listen. Don¡¯t freak out, okay? I know you just saw some shit, okay?¡± It was Max¡¯s voice. ¡°And it was insane. Like, completely insane. Don¡¯t freak out. I know that sounds crazy, but do not freak out. Just think of it like an RPG computer game thing. I wish I could explain it but, jeez, it¡¯s more their thing¡ªCaleb and Emma, I mean. Look,¡± he said, laughing, ¡°You¡¯re going to want to freak out. But, seriously, don¡¯t. You¡¯ll be okay. I went through it, too. Trust me. You¡¯ll turn out just fine.¡± The recording ended. Unsure of what¡¯d happened, I passed Max his phone back. ¡°Was that¡ª¡± ¡°Me? Yeah, I think so. Woke up to that on my phone. Like I called myself after that whole... everything. So, I kinda freaked out. Thought you and her were pranking me or something. Hoped you were, really.¡± ¡°Yeah, me too.¡± ¡°Hey,¡± Em said. ¡°We¡¯re here.¡± And so we were. The trees thinned out into a clearing that was unfamiliar in the daylight. The craggy cliffs stretched up about a dozen meters, maybe more. The cave yawned before us. Emma bent down and scooped something up. ¡°Glowstick,¡± she said, frowning. ¡°Well, we were definitely here.¡± We stepped up to the threshold, paused there. ¡°We¡¯ll go in together,¡± Max said. ¡°Come on, hold hands,¡± and we did. Emma¡¯s hand was so very warm, and her grip so very strong. ¡°And on three. One, and two, and three.¡± We stepped into the cave at the same time. My eyes took a moment to adjust to the dim atmosphere. I focused on my breathing, kept it steady. Nothing moved in the corners of my vision. No sense of static. No odd shadows. ¡°Everyone good?¡± I asked. ¡°Yeah,¡± Max said. Emma nodded. ¡°Yep.¡± I cast my gaze around the cavern, looking at the dark rock that hadn¡¯t been disturbed for hundreds if not thousands of years. It seemed much smaller than it was in the threads of last night¡¯s memories. Almost cozy. I could see why Emma had picked it out. ¡°Wait,¡± I said. ¡°But this can¡¯t be right.¡± ¡°I think we¡¯re thinking the same thing,¡± Emma said, eyes locked on the far wall of the cavern. ¡°We all went deeper into the cave, didn¡¯t we?¡± Max asked. ¡°Right.¡± ¡°But,¡± I said, reaching out and touching the unbroken, impervious wall of the cavern, maybe half a dozen meters from daylight. ¡°There¡¯s no way we were able to walk through this. Chapter 6 CHAPTER 6 It wasn¡¯t a cave-in, that much was obvious. The back of the cave was solid rock, unmarred by time and unbroken by human hand. No one had even etched their initials into it. Moss clung defiantly to crags and edges. It was disconcerting. Part of me insisted that it hadn¡¯t been there the night before. I was that sure of it. I felt like I¡¯d been pranked. Like that, if I just pressed on the right spot of the wall, tugged at just the right bit of rock, then the wall would slide away into the ground and reveal the long passage into the dark. But after a few minutes of that, while Emma and Max looked me like I was losing my mind, it became clear that it was just rock and nothing more. ¡°This is weird,¡± I said. ¡°This wasn¡¯t here last night.¡± I didn¡¯t have any proof of that, of course, beyond an odd feeling in the back of my brain. Like the first few notes of a song I¡¯d heard years and years ago, one whose name I could not remember. ¡°Who¡¯s to say we didn¡¯t float through it like a ghost?¡± Emma asked. Max stepped forward and gave the wall a good kick. ¡°I doubt it. That¡¯s solid rock.¡± ¡°Meters and meters of it,¡± I muttered. ¡°But we all went down there, right? Didn¡¯t we? Into the dark tunnel, the cave within the cave?¡± Max gave me an skeptical look. ¡°Caleb, why¡¯re you putting it like that?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. It just feels right.¡± ¡°Well, we¡¯re looking at a dead end,¡± Emma said. ¡°Either of you got any bright ideas?¡± ¡°Nope,¡± Max said. ¡°Okay. How about a stupid one, then?¡± I ran my hands along the cavern wall again. The rock was rough and cool underneath my hands. There was that feeling again, that thought of a song. If I just focused on it, maybe... ¡°Hey,¡± I said. ¡°Can you two get over here? Touch the rock for me. Do either of you hear that?¡± They did so. After a moment, Max cocked his head to one side. ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s like¡ª¡± ¡°It changed,¡± Emma said. ¡°After we were here, it changed. It changed back. I don¡¯t know why I didn¡¯t realize it at the time. There was never any tunnel here. This is the cave I remember.¡± ¡°So, what, we just walked down some tunnel that doesn¡¯t exist?¡± Max asked. ¡°Did exist, but now doesn¡¯t?¡± ¡°I guess,¡± I said. ¡°But why?¡± That was the question everything kept coming back to. Why, why, why. But there were no answers here. If there was some shadow there, whether it was the Grim Reaper or otherwise, and if he had done this, then it¡¯d happened for a reason. Maybe it was a good sign. I drew my hands away from the wall and, after a moment, so did Max and Emma. ¡°A dead end,¡± I said, frowning. But, just for a second, I had an impression of being trapped in the dark beyond dark. Of wanting to be free. Max said, ¡°So, what do we do now?¡± ¡°Well, I didn¡¯t have breakfast,¡± Emma said. ¡°Me either. I guess I was freaking out too much to remember to eat.¡± ¡°Lunch?¡± ¡°Sure,¡± I said. ¡°Hogfather¡¯s?¡±
¡°Is anyone else not really feeling the food here?¡± Emma asked, later. I slurped from my shake, nodding absently. It didn¡¯t really taste like anything. ¡°Well, I think they screwed me on the chocolate syrup. How about you, Max?¡± He was silent for a moment, finishing off the bite from his burger. ¡°I love this place,¡± he confessed, giving us one of those winning smiles. ¡°Like, I know I shouldn¡¯t. This is a real guilty pleasure for me. I know it¡¯s bad for me¡ªbut, God, the portions.¡± He was right. The portions definitely made one reconsider the idea of generous servings, and maybe even the concept of generosity. ¡°But,¡± Max said, and his eyes dropped to his mostly-uneaten burger, smile slipping from his face. ¡°I have to admit. It¡¯s not really grabbing me today.¡± We¡¯d gotten in just after the lunchtime crowd had wandered out. A few waitresses drifted through the diner, taking orders and delivering meals to the few patrons who were still present. It was one of the last stops out of Stonestead proper, so, Hogfather¡¯s always did decent business. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Emma pushed her plate away. ¡°Wait,¡± she said, looking at me. ¡°Caleb, they screwed you on the chocolate syrup? That¡¯s weird. That¡¯s like the one thing they never skimped on. Well, when I worked here, at least.¡± ¡°You worked here?¡± Max and I asked in stereo. ¡°Yeah. Not for very long, mind you. The pay sucked, the hours sucked, and I got super into making coffee. Like, weirdly into it. Pretty sure I could¡¯ve worked that coffee machine with my eyes closed.¡± ¡°How do you get weirdly into making coffee?¡± I wondered. ¡°Caleb,¡± she said, ¡°do not ask.¡± It was like it knocked something in the three of us loose. Max started laughing, then me, then Emma. Laughing so hard that Max ended up thumping the table. Laughing so hard we cried. Emma kicked me under the table. ¡°Stop, stop, you fucking assholes,¡± but she was laughing, too. Slowly, with heaving sighs, we found our breath again. It was odd. If not for the fact we¡¯d all been involved in something bizarre, I would¡¯ve assumed it was a nightmare. This was the most words I¡¯d ever said to Maxwell Cheong, and the most I¡¯d said to Emma that didn¡¯t involve alcohol, a headset, or both. Maybe that was the point. Maybe it was all worth it. Everyone was staring at us. Made sense, given that we were disrupting their day. Once we quietened down, the attention of the patrons and waitstaff went elsewhere. All except one. ¡°Hey,¡± I said to Max and Emma. ¡°Do either of you know her?¡± ¡°Who?¡± Max asked. ¡°Over there, with the purple streak in her hair.¡± Both shook their heads. ¡°Huh,¡± I said. ¡°Well, she¡¯s staring at us.¡± Everyone else had looked away once we¡¯d calmed down and started acting like good citizens. She hadn¡¯t. She still was. ¡°That just proves she¡¯s got a working pair of eyes and sense of good taste,¡± Max said, grinning. Then, she stood up, and crossed the diner, heading in our direction. It struck me first that she was tall. As tall as Max, if not an inch or two over him. Purple looked like her color of choice¡ªnot only was there a streak through her long black hair, but so was her striped two-tone hoodie. She was neither ugly nor pretty, but sharply distinctive. I¡¯d never have picked her out of a crowd but I was struck by the thought I¡¯d never lose her in one, either. ¡°Hey,¡± Max said, taking the lead. ¡°What¡¯s up? Can we help you with something?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been looking for you,¡± she replied, looking at each of us in turn. ¡°All of you, it appears.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Max replied, like he was responding to something reasonable. ¡°What can we do for you, then?¡± ¡°What happened last night?¡± I glanced at Emma, caught her looking at me. Max¡¯s smile twitched only ever so slightly. ¡°Pardon?¡± he said. ¡°At the cave,¡± the newcomer said. ¡°What happened at the cave?¡± ¡°There was a big party out that way, wasn¡¯t there?¡± I half-asked. Obviously, none of us went. Not the popular guy, not the pretty blonde, and certainly not the guy who looked like the concept of sunlight was more of a suggestion than anything else. It was a lie, and a bad one. It wouldn¡¯t hold up if she knew who we were. But I got the impression that she had no idea. "I don¡¯t care about that,¡± she said, lowering her voice. ¡°What I do care about is that the cave, and the area around it, was saturated in beyondic emanation. What did you do?¡± ¡°We didn¡¯t do anything,¡± Emma replied. ¡°You know, I don¡¯t recognize you¡ªwhich school do you go to, purple-streak?¡± ¡°I¡¯m home-schooled.¡± ¡°Well, that explains your attitude.¡± The newcomer frowned. Emma gave her a pleasant smile that said ¡®bite me.¡¯ Max intervened, holding up a hand. ¡°I think we got off on the wrong foot, Miss...¡± ¡°Kree,¡± she said. Then, after an awkward moment: ¡°Johnson-Smith.¡± Yes, she said her name was ¡®Johnson-Smith.¡¯ ¡°Look, Kree,¡± I said, ¡°we¡¯ll be honest¡ªwe don¡¯t know what happened there last night. Something happened, yes. We were there and we went into the cave, but we don¡¯t have a clue about any of that emanation stuff.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not possible,¡± she said. ¡°Look, we¡¯re wasting time. If I have an attitude, it only comes from a proper understanding of the stakes. The three of you are in danger. You are, all of you, radiating beyondic energies.¡± ¡°What, like radiation?¡± I asked. Could that have been why none of us were hungry? That was a symptom of radiation sickness, wasn¡¯t it? Kree¡¯s expression was odd. ¡°Have none of you been synergized?¡± ¡°Syner-what?¡± Her frown deepened. ¡°Then the danger is even worse than we thought,¡± Kree said. ¡°I¡¯m not the only one who has your trail, and you are defenceless.¡± Max said, ¡°But you were here before us.¡± ¡°You have to come with me. The three of you. Now.¡± I shook my head. ¡°Not before we get some answers. Why were you looking for us?¡± ¡°Because we¡¯re the only ones who can help you.¡± ¡°Hey,¡± Emma said. ¡°Who¡¯s we?¡± Then, it was like a tremor ran through the diner. People standing up, moving away from the windows. Panic expressed like a ripple in water. First slowly, then with more energy. One waitress dropped her tray of drinks. Someone, about to step out the front door, turned about and double-timed it toward the back. In fact, everyone was heading toward the back of the diner, for the storerooms and kitchen, instead of daring going out the front door¡ªor being anywhere near it. ¡°What the hell?¡± Max murmured, watching the ripple spread. I craned to look past him as Kree¡¯s gaze snapped to the front door. The bell jangled. What entered made me think of a wolf, only it was much too large, and with a brawny build that brought to mind something closer to a bulldog. But that was about where the resemblance to anything terrestrial ended¡ªit had skin, yes, but also a structure that looked crystalline, with sinew and muscle overlaid. Its pelt made me think of the night sky I¡¯d been looking up at just the night before¡ªpurple and black and iridescent, like it had depth you could fall into. Its head reminded me of more a horse than any kind of dog, if not for the crystalline fangs, and two long tentacles curled back over its body from where any animal would¡¯ve had ears, wafting in the still air. It had no eyes, merely the suggestion of where eyes should¡¯ve been. ¡°What,¡± I began, ¡°the fuck is that.¡± Max whirled in his seat as the thing sniffed at the air and opened its vast jaws. A tongue that had to be a meter long danced in an exhalation of stars and smoke. Not breath, I knew somehow. Nothing like that needed to breathe. ¡°That¡¯s one weird looking dog,¡± Max murmured. Kree pushed herself off the table, stepping back. ¡°That is not one of your dogs,¡± she said, voice grim. ¡°That is a predator from beyond the threshold¡ªa gulfhound¡ªand it has your scent. Has had it since last night. And it knows you¡¯re here.¡± Chapter 7 CHAPTER 7 ¡°You are, all of you, going to run for it,¡± Kree said. ¡°I will take care of the gulfhound.¡± She spoke calmly and with authority, like it was all entirely reasonable. I¡¯d never heard of a gulfhound before, and I suspected that Kree was the only one in the whole of Stonestead who knew the term. ¡°There is much to explain,¡± Kree continued, ¡°and no time to explain it. I will find you again in seven days. Prepare yourselves.¡± ¡°Prepare ourselves?¡± I asked, spluttering. ¡°Prepare ourselves for what?¡± Kree¡¯s attention was on the thing she called a gulfhound. ¡°Synergize,¡± she intoned. Her shadow twitched. Something emerged from within, behind, and around Kree. Like a shadow given substance¡ªblack, inky, and impossibly weighty. Too consistent to be a liquid, yet too fluid and malleable to be solid. She spread her arms, as if welcoming it, and in a second¡ªjust a split second¡ªit overtook her, covering her from head to toe. I knew what it reminded me of. The gulfhound¡¯s eyeless visage twisted in Kree¡¯s direction. She glanced at us. When she spoke, I couldn¡¯t see her lips moving. ¡°Go,¡± she said, in two voices. ¡°Now.¡± Her whole face was covered in that black substance, like a second skin. She strode to meet the beast, stars erupting against the depths of her black carapace, or perhaps somewhere within it. Sparks and fireflies spreading and solidifying into planes and surfaces¡ªa suit of resplendent golden armor. Nothing like metal, perhaps not even solid. It glimmered like glass, within which smoke was trapped. Like light itself given form. The gulfhound leapt at Kree, slavering. Kree moved, sliding to the left, and I would¡¯ve sworn she was too slow to dodge¡ªbut the gulfhound was slower still. Out of step with time itself, Kree spun her left arm three times, and then hammered the beast with a cross to the side of its head. The impact was a crack of thunder that shattered every single window in the diner, hurling the gulfhound to the floor mid-leap and sending it sliding into one of the far booths, toppling tables and chairs. ¡°Holy shit,¡± Max said. I might¡¯ve said the same thing. ¡°It¡¯s not dead, idiots,¡± Kree called, still in that weird stereo. ¡°RUN!¡± The gulfhound rose up. Emma tugged at my shoulder. ¡°Caleb,¡± she hissed. ¡°Caleb! Come on, let¡¯s go! This way, the back door!¡± We went¡ªwe ran for it. The gulfhound shook its head, its tongue writhing and lashing in the air, fully longer than I was tall. It hissed. ¡°C¡¯mon, creature,¡± Kree said. ¡°I¡¯ll have that trophy¡ªone more off the list, let¡¯s get this done.¡± Impacts again, Kree and the gulfhound locked in battle. As we ducked behind the counter, I caught a glimpse of the fight: the gulfhound with Kree¡¯s arm in its jaws, shaking her like a rag doll. I¡¯m pretty sure she was laughing. We burst out of the back door of Hogsfather¡¯s at something close to a mad sprint. I slipped going through the doorway, fell hard, and scrabbled to pick myself up. It looked like everyone else had already run for it. ¡°Car,¡± I said. ¡°Car, car, car!¡± ¡°Working on it,¡± Emma snapped, fishing for her keys. We piled into her truck. Emma threw Ironhide into reverse, backed out of the parking space, and floored it out past the diner itself. We¡¯d almost made it, when something slammed into the hood of the truck, slewing it to the left and into a light post. Kree, atop the hood, was struggling with the gulfhound¡ªher hands on its jaws, stopping it from tearing out her throat. The black carapace had been torn from her face and left arm, running like oil, evaporating into ash and smokey particles. Underneath, her skin was a warm shade of green. She caught the gulfhound with a hook, something black and glittering splattered against the windshield. An uppercut to its jaw, snapping loose fangs and teeth, and then with a thundercrack kick, she sent the beast out into the street. The gulfhound rolled and thrashed atop the asphalt. ¡°My brother¡¯s going to fucking kill me,¡± Emma said, turning the key again and again. It occurred to me that the truck had stalled out. ¡°Come on, come on...¡± The gulfhound¡¯s tongue lashed out, Kree twisting right, so it did little more than send up sparks from the truck¡¯s hood. As she swung back, dodging the second stab of the creature¡¯s tongue, stars danced around Kree¡¯s right hand¡ªand she drew a sword as if from the air itself. This time, she was ready. The tongue stabbed out again, wrapped Kree¡¯s left arm from wrist to shoulder. With a shout, she brought her sword down on the organ, the edge burning golden-bright, and severed it. The gulfhound stumbled, but only for a moment. Kree hurled her sword like a thunderbolt, the weapon spinning end over end, and buried it to the hilt, squarely in the middle of the gulfhound¡¯s forehead. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. ¡°Holy shit,¡± I said. ¡°Was that,¡± Max began, sounding numb. ¡°Was that a sword?¡± Kree staggered over to the dead beast. At least, I hoped it was dead. She looked at it, gripped her sword, gave it a solid twist, and then pulled it free. The gulfhound shattered slowly, from the outside in, and evaporated. Then, without so much as a goodbye or a sorry about the truck or even a glance back at us, Kree vaulted away into the sky. We sat there for a time. Eventually, Emma got the truck going again. ¡°Okay,¡± Max said. ¡°Does anyone want to tell me what the fuck just happened?¡±
¡°So, there was a fight here,¡± Fletcher says, back to skepticism. ¡°Between Kree the space knight and some kind of alien dog-beast from beyond the stars.¡± ¡°The correct term,¡± I reply, ¡°is Incarnate. And it was a gulfhound. But yes, that¡¯s basically it.¡± ¡°Oh, I see, I see. So, this gulfhound¡ªwhat was it? An alien, a cryptid? A relative of the mothman, maybe the chupacabra?¡± ¡°Neither. But we¡¯ll get to all that.¡± Fletcher nods. He looks around the diner again, as if seeing it for the first time. I don¡¯t know what he¡¯s looking for, what he expects to find. They¡¯d closed the place for a month after the incident, the repairs had been remarkable. So, he¡¯s probably thinking: look, I know what I heard, what people were saying, but there¡¯s no way there was some kind of alien deathmatch here. ¡°It¡¯s just very hard to believe,¡± he says. I shrug. ¡°They closed Hogfather¡¯s for a month. If you want, you can go and check out the windows. They¡¯re all new glass. You could probably even track down the company that did the installation.¡± ¡°I did, actually,¡± he says. ¡°And if you want, you can go look at the streetlight out there. There¡¯s still black paint from where Emma hit it. This is even the booth in which the three of us met Kree.¡± ¡°And the truck?¡± ¡°Chris was pretty pissed, but it got fixed up.¡± ¡°Convenient.¡± I watch one of the waitresses walk past. ¡°Y¡¯know what¡¯s interesting, Agent. Not a single person working here today was working here when it happened. In fact, none of the current staff of Hogfather¡¯s were employees before then. The employees on shift that day, they all moved away. So did the patrons, I imagine.¡± ¡°True. And the ones I spoke to never mentioned anything about this ¡®gulfhound.¡¯¡± ¡°But that¡¯s the thing. ¡®The ones you spoke to.¡¯ A lot of them didn¡¯t want to talk about it, right? And the ones who did¡ªthey couldn¡¯t explain what happened clearly, could they?¡± Fletcher nods. ¡°The police said it was a rabid wolf and a case of mass hysteria.¡± ¡°That¡¯s how this works. There¡¯s things out there that are outside the conventional realm of human experience. Not impossible to understand, but not something that fits into our standard view of the world. So, we rationalize it¡ªwe can¡¯t be wrong, right? The human mind is very good at lying to itself. Your brain is just engaging in acts of pattern recognition. You have a very good idea of what reality is, so, you just toss aside anything that might drive a crack into it. Agent, do you know of the Necker cube?¡± He shakes his head. I pick up the salt shaker and spill some out onto the table. I sculpt it into a simple three-dimensional wireframe of a cube with Forces 2. Fletcher looks down at it and doesn¡¯t say anything. ¡°Depending on how you look at it, the front of the cube will shift between two of the faces¡ªforward or back, A or B. But in truth, neither of those options is correct. Yet your brain is going to pick one anyway. Because it¡¯s simpler than understanding that it¡¯s both and neither. How much of everything we understand and know is because our brains prefer what¡¯s simple? That might be great for surviving, but it¡¯s bad for accuracy. Evolution didn¡¯t equip us for truth.¡± ¡°So, what¡¯s better? What gives us truth, Caleb?¡± ¡°The Pax.¡± Fletcher nods slowly. ¡°Which I imagine you¡¯re going to tell me about now.¡± ¡°Soon,¡± I say. ¡°Very soon. From this point on, everything is going to get much weirder. But I just want you to keep something in the back of your mind, Bill¡ªwhen you¡¯re not looking at the Necker cube, when it ceases to exist for all intents and purposes,¡± and I obliterate the wireframe with a wave of my hand, the pattern reduced to individual crystals, ¡°which face is the front¡ªA or B?¡±
The next week passed in a homecoming haze. Max and I went back to Stonestead High, and Emma went back to her school on the other side of town. We didn¡¯t talk about it. About any of it. I hung out with Vince and Brit and, for a time, managed to forget it. If not for the dreams of dark places and the gaps between them, the things that hid there, and the in the shadows of subatomic particles, I might have succeeded. On the Thursday before our reunion with Kree, Max and I met up at lunch on the bleachers to watch cheerleader practice. Not something I could¡¯ve gotten away with before this week. I was still an outsider, but Max was still popular, and we were bound together now much to the confusion of Stonestead High¡¯s social hierarchy. We weren¡¯t there for the practice, though, but for cover. We had a mission: just who was this Kree Johnson-Smith? ¡°We didn¡¯t turn anything up,¡± Max said. ¡°No one I know has heard of her. No one even recognizes her description. Mom and Dad say there¡¯s no such family anywhere near Stonestead.¡± ¡°Same here,¡± Emma said, voice buzzing from Max¡¯s phone. ¡°Total mystery girl. Wish someone could¡¯ve told me homeschooling would have given me superpowers. Then I wouldn¡¯t have to wear this dorky skirt and tie everyday.¡± ¡°Dorky?¡± Max asked, laughing. ¡°There¡¯re a lot of words I¡¯d think to use about your fancy-ass uniform, Emmers, but not dorky. Right, Caleb?¡± He nudged me. ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°I mean, I guess.¡± I didn¡¯t know why I couldn¡¯t be more confident. I¡¯d held Emma¡¯s corpse. We¡¯d watched some kind of space knight kill some kind of space monster. That was the sort of thing that made people more confident in stories, as if by magic. But it just didn¡¯t. ¡°Don¡¯t corrupt him, Max,¡± Emma said. ¡°Caleb¡¯s a good boy.¡± ¡°So, what do you think she is?¡± Max asked, after a moment. ¡°Some kind of superhero?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think so,¡± I said. But I wasn¡¯t sure how else to describe her, either. ¡°Space alien,¡± Emma said. Max muttered, ¡°I know I saw her nail that freakin¡¯ alien dog with that sword.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Emma replied. ¡°Would¡¯ve been nice if she¡¯d fixed the truck with her magic powers, though!¡± ¡°How¡¯d Chris take it?¡± I asked. I only knew of her brother vaguely. ¡°Let¡¯s just say we won¡¯t be rolling out with Ironhide any time soon,¡± Emma replied. I frowned. It¡¯d been my fault, hadn¡¯t it? ¡°Sorry about that, Em.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine. The damage wasn¡¯t major. The real problem was that I couldn¡¯t, like, tell him what¡¯d done it.¡± ¡°Big dog,¡± Max said. ¡°Big alien dog.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± I put in. ¡°With no eyes.¡± That made us all quiet. After a moment, Max said: ¡°Maybe we¡¯ll get some answers in forty-eight hours.¡± ¡°Maybe,¡± Emma replied. ¡°Wonder how she¡¯ll find us.¡± ¡°Somehow,¡± I said, ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯ll be a problem.¡± Chapter 8 CHAPTER 8 There was a homecoming dance that Friday night, and that was not an event that I attended. Vince and Brit went and took a myriad of couple photos that would¡¯ve made the sweetest candy store in America look unbearably sour. Max took the homecoming crown, as I¡¯d thought he would. Emma had been asked to the dance by, of all people, Thomas Rivera. She ended up throwing her drink in his face when he made some crack about how hot she was now that she wasn¡¯t limping. She told me that as we ended up playing some midnight Halo. Once she was able to laugh about it, somewhere around Tsavo Highway, Em said that she had to be the only person who played Halo in a homecoming dress. So, all in all, it wasn¡¯t the worst night. I woke up on Saturday with apprehension brewing in my gut. I figured if Kree was going to find us, it¡¯d be at a time that could best be described as inconvenient. Max texted me to say he was hungover and asked if that was a problem. I told him it was probably fine. Probably. ¡°Caleb?¡± Mom called, at about 10AM. ¡°Someone¡¯s here to see you.¡± It had to be her, I thought, and when I reached the front door, it was. Kree was there in casual clothes, with no sign of her celestial weapons or armor. ¡°Hey, Kree,¡± I said. ¡°Greetings.¡± Part of me didn¡¯t want to introduce this strange girl to my mom, and another part of me knew it¡¯d be weirder if I didn¡¯t. ¡°Mom, Kree. Kree, mom.¡± ¡°Kree?¡± Mom said, smiling. ¡°That¡¯s an interesting name.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not from around here.¡± She did not smile. ¡°We¡¯re meeting up with Emerson and Max,¡± I said, before things could get any weirder. ¡°We might be out late.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Mom replied. ¡°Have fun, you two. If you do anything illegal, don¡¯t get caught.¡± Kree bowed her head. ¡°We will not get caught,¡± she said, in a tone of voice that would¡¯ve etched those words into glass. Mom glanced at me, eyebrows furrowed. I shrugged helplessly. Outside, Kree moved at a crisp march, like she had somewhere to be and not enough time to get there. ¡°Hey!¡± I half-called, keeping my voice down so as to not alert mom. ¡°Kree! Do you wanna tell me just how you found my house?¡± She didn¡¯t answer immediately. We turned the corner at the end of my street, and she headed for a beige sedan that I could only describe as unremarkable. I didn¡¯t see anyone else in it. ¡°Are you going to answer me?¡± I pressed. Finally, she turned to look at me. ¡°I know many things,¡± she replied. ¡°Some of which you will soon learn. But for now,¡± she said, and it was like her voice echoed through me, ¡°sleep.¡± And I did.
I awoke on a cool surface, hard and unyielding, with a single word echoing in my mind¡ªawaken. There was no drowsiness, no confusion. I had been unconscious, but now I wasn¡¯t. Like someone¡ªKree, presumably¡ªhad flipped some switch in my brain. Max and Emma were in the same position I was in. On our backs, in the middle of a circular room that had been forged from metal or carved from stone. The pillars made me think of some of the ancient temples I¡¯d seen in history class, but they were square and angular. I sat up and looked around. No insights came to mind. Up above, orbs of light floated through the air, bathing the room in a serene glow. ¡°Let me guess,¡± I asked. ¡°She knocked you both out, too?¡± ¡°I was just about to ask you the same thing,¡± Max said. Emma nodded. ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°Great,¡± I replied. ¡°Good to know we¡¯re all on the same page.¡± ¡°It¡¯d help if we could recognize the book, though,¡± Max said. ¡°What is this place?¡± A section of wall slid away with an electronic sigh, and in came two figures. One of them was Kree, clad in that same odd carapace and glowing armor that we¡¯d seen at the diner, but with her face exposed. She said nothing. Didn¡¯t even look at us. With her, however, was a man. As tall as her, but much older. I had the impression of old leather stretched over sharp bones. A craggy face, with deep crevices and furrowed lines that suggested he smiled only under the pain of death¡ªand perhaps not even then. He wore a similar set of armor as Kree, but with glimmering robes of that weird solid-light, and much more ornate. Kree followed just behind him. ¡°Greetings,¡± the man said. His voice was deep, rough. As if he didn¡¯t like or wasn¡¯t used to using it. ¡°I imagine you have questions.¡± ¡°Goddamn right we do,¡± I snapped, before I could think to stop myself. ¡°What the fuck did you do, Kree?¡± She didn¡¯t respond. The man said, ¡°I would suggest you alter your tone, boy.¡± ¡°Yeah? Or what?¡± ¡°Or we may just decide to regret saving your life. All of your lives.¡± I pushed myself to my feet. ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°No more! No more of this cryptic bullshit. Kree promised us answers.¡± I pointed to her, frowning. ¡°So give them to us.¡± The man glanced at Kree, who nodded. He turned back to us and his expression didn¡¯t shift an inch. ¡°Fine. Then let us start at the beginning. When did you, all of you, last eat?¡± Stolen novel; please report. It was an odd question, but it was odder still that I couldn¡¯t immediately remember. I tried to remember. I¡¯d eaten recently, hadn¡¯t I? I¡¯d had to. But nothing came to me. I¡¯d picked at food now and again, but couldn¡¯t recall a single substantial meal I¡¯d had. Not since the night this had all begun. ¡°And water?¡± the man continued. ¡°Your species requires that. When was the last time you hydrated yourselves?¡± Again, I wasn¡¯t sure. I¡¯d thought I¡¯d had. I would¡¯ve sworn I had. But now that I was being asked directly, I couldn¡¯t think of the last time I¡¯d had a glass of water. Surely I¡¯d been drinking water. How could I not? ¡°When did you last relieve yourselves? These simple biological processes you take for granted. Since that night one week ago, have any of you, all of you, thought to check your pulse?¡± Trembling, unsure of what was happening but certain of his meaning, I raised my fingers to my neck. I felt nothing. I pressed harder. Found nothing. I realized, with a terrible sense of understanding that I couldn¡¯t hear the blood rushing in my ears. And hadn¡¯t for an entire week. ¡°I don¡¯t¡ª¡± I said, looking back to see my expression reflected on the faces of my two friends. ¡°There¡¯s no pulse.¡± ¡°Correct,¡± the man said. ¡°Because the three of you are quite, quite dead.¡±
¡°We can¡¯t be,¡± I said, a few minutes later, once I¡¯d recovered. ¡°I¡¯m standing here, talking to you. How can I be doing that if I¡¯m dead?¡± Kree¡¯s associate stood there with his hands clasped before him, unconcerned and serene. ¡°Not possible by your laws of physics, perhaps.¡± ¡°Our laws of physics?¡± Max asked. The man ignored him. ¡°You were, all of you, exposed to a vast amount of beyondic energies. A form of energy that pierces the psyche just as gamma radiation tears through flesh. The damage is severe and, yes, permanent. Your consciousness is already collapsing, disentangling from your physical form.¡± Emma, sitting on the far side of the room with her hands wrapped around her knees, laughed hollowly. ¡°And that¡¯s why I¡¯m not all fucked up anymore? Because my mind and body aren¡¯t linked?¡± ¡°Correct. You are disconnected, unstuck. Your present interface now risks total quantum disentanglement and absolute image collapse. Total existence failure. Unless this is resolved, your consciousness will lose all coherence and you will cease to be.¡± ¡°Bullshit,¡± Max said. ¡°You drugged us, or something!¡± The man shook his head. ¡°If only. The damage introduced by the exposure, the errors in your psyche, will only compound on themselves now. That is, until your consciousness is torn to pieces entirely.¡± ¡°Bullshit,¡± Max replied, over and over. ¡°Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit.¡± ¡°I assure you, Maxwell Cheong, it is not ¡®bullshit.¡¯¡± I knew it wasn¡¯t. I could feel it in the back of my mind, on some deep level, in the recesses and secure places that told me that I was I. Holes had been punched through my mental tapestry, and it was all fraying to pieces. Slowly, and then more quickly. ¡°The thing in the cave,¡± I began. The man shook his head. ¡°We shall discuss that later.¡± Later? Later? What did that even mean, then and now? Later, for me, was the rest of the year. Later was asking Em to prom. Later was being supposed to graduate. Later was supposed to be going to college. Later was supposed to be having sex. Later wasn¡¯t supposed to involve phrases like quantum disentanglement and total existence failure. ¡°We have more pressing issues to discuss,¡± he continued. ¡°We can help you.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Like most forms of sentient life, your mind has been conditioned to operate on fitness and not truth. You experience what helps you reproduce¡ªnothing more, nothing less. You must be synchronized to something greater. Arche. And then, through that, the Pax Systematica.¡± ¡°What¡¯re you talking about?¡± ¡°A way to connect your consciousness to a new interface. One that will nullify the beyondic damage and, more than that, allow you to control what caused it. To manipulate the underlying nature of what you have, until now, considered immutable reality. You will be, all of you, as my daughter is.¡± He unclasped his hands. Floating just above his palm were a trio of black orbs, orbiting each other in a frenzied dance. The light fell into them, shadows lingering in their orbital paths, and didn¡¯t quite return. ¡°Symbiotes,¡± he said. ¡°Pieces of Those Beyond. Non-local acausal entities that bridge the gap between phenomenon and being, two steps below what you think of as reality. Synchronizing with a symbiote is the first step along the Path of the Incarnate. And the thing that will save your lives.¡± ¡°Incarnate?¡± There was power in that word. ¡°You will join a long line of esteemed heroes,¡± he said. ¡°The first of your species to do so. Like myself and my daughter, you will become members of the Order of the Singularity Incarnate. Defenders of the Galactic Star League and adherents of the Pax Systematica. That is, if you survive.¡± If I survived? I had no idea what Kree¡¯s father was talking about. If that was even her father. It sounded like something out of Star Wars. But I¡¯d seen Kree in action, and becoming a superpowered badass struck me as a better deal than psyche cancer. And, words came to me in the voice of my father: if you¡¯re falling off a cliff, Caleb, you might as well try to fly, because you¡¯ve got nothing to lose. The three of us were falling off one hell of a cliff. I looked over at Emma and she met my eyes, nodded. ¡°Okay,¡± I said. ¡°Let¡¯s do it.¡± ¡°Caleb, come on¡ªyou can¡¯t be serious,¡± Max said. ¡°This is bullshit.¡± ¡°Is it? Do you want to take that chance, Max, after everything we¡¯ve seen so far? Do you want to put your parents through whatever losing our minds entails? What about Lisa?¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t you hear him? We might die now¡ªlike, now.¡± ¡°We will die later! We have to roll the dice now, before we can¡¯t. Look,¡± I said, stepping forward, ¡°I¡¯ll even go first.¡± ¡°Caleb,¡± Emma said. I shook my head. ¡°We¡¯ll be fine.¡± ¡°Just... don¡¯t make a girl a promise.¡± She smiled like it was a joke, but... I nodded to her. If you know you can¡¯t keep it. Kree¡¯s father nodded to me. ¡°Hold out your hand.¡± I did. One of the black orbs fell toward my palm. It resembled nothing more than a single drop of crude oil, thick and viscous. It dropped toward my hand slowly, too slowly, like every inch it fell took longer than the inch before. It stopped above my hand, hovering there, rippling like it was alive. ¡°Focus on it,¡± he said. ¡°Try to touch it with your mind. Do not recoil from it. If you do, you will die.¡± I focused on it. On the slowly rippling surface. The way it looked like a single droplet, suspended in the air. There was something greater there, inside of it, through it, beyond it. As if a single drop of water led to and contained an entire ocean. Then it pulsed, rippled once. The droplet¡ªthe symbiote¡ªunfolded from within itself like a tesseract, like liquid origami. Oily black tendrils snaked out from its mass, spasming and jerking as if puppeted by a madman. Like it was caught in stop-motion, out of sync with everything around it¡ªsomehow smooth despite the spasmodic rhythm of its movements. I¡¯d seen it before. ¡°Do not recoil,¡± Kree¡¯s father was saying, rough voice calm. ¡°Do not recoil. Let it in. Do not fight. It knows you. It has been waiting for you. Become the pattern. The end and the beginning are one and the same.¡± It enfolded me, senses fading one by one, like my body was collapsing from the outside in. Those tendrils of solid shadow thrashed and stabbed, the symbiote reaching for me. Forcing its way down my throat, stabbing behind my eyes¡ª Chapter 9 CHAPTER 9 ¡°Bear with me here, Agent. Like I said, things get very weird. ¡°If I were to show you what came next, it¡¯d be done in an instant. But it was, and it wasn¡¯t. Time is funny like that¡ªstrange things happen at the one two point, the usual rules don¡¯t always apply. Like a wise man once said: decent people shouldn¡¯t think too much about what goes beyond the veil of an event horizon. ¡°But what if you did? ¡°Imagine nothing. ¡°Endless nothing. As far as you can see, as far as you can hear, as far as you can sense. ¡°But even that isn¡¯t right. Doesn¡¯t feel right. Because it¡¯s worse than that, deeper than that. It¡¯s a fundamental absence. Nothing survives beyond a singularity, not even information. Catastrophic entropy renders existence down into the most basic elements, and then tears apart even those. There¡¯s nothing there, nothing here, and there never has been and never will be. ¡°Nothing but you.¡±
Awareness struck me in a supernova flash, and with a strange sense of falling. Like I¡¯d slipped from some great height but hadn¡¯t hit the floor yet. It was the weirdest sense of sudden awareness. Like knowing I¡¯d woken up, but not sure that I¡¯d gone to sleep. Somehow caught between moments. Not quite asleep, but not quite awake. Caught between breathing in and breathing out. Between tick and tock. Nothing but that endless deep. I had a body, but I wasn¡¯t sure where it began or ended. I had a mind, but no I. The entity that was Caleb Cross yet wasn¡¯t tried to speak but it was like he/I didn¡¯t have lips, lungs, or vocal cords. Like he/I didn¡¯t even have a nervous system to run electrical impulses even. Names that were important: Max, Emma. He/I wanted to call to them, but couldn¡¯t quite remember who they were. There was just silence and lack. Lack of senses. Lack of knowledge. A lack of feeling, yet aware that you¡¯re not feeling your heartbeat thumping away or hearing the blood rushing in your ears, not feeling the rise and fall of your chest. A lack of self. I was fading away. Inch by inch from the outside in. I was nothing but a single mote of dust within an infinite abyss. I was falling, stretching, twisting into a ribbon and knotting around a single point for which I had no frame of reference. My name vanished. My thoughts vanished. I vanished. Yet, I persisted. Something rippled in the vast expanse of absence. ¡°Who¡¯s there?¡± I asked, somehow, without a voice. I am. ¡°You are?¡± We are. Then, it was like something unfolded like an origami design across my brain, and I could see it. The symbiote was there with me, formless and infinite. Everywhere I looked, there it was. It spoke:
?????§ñ?????¡Ì???e????s?????????????????T???§ñ????óÂ??????????¡ª?????:???? ?????????óÂ????????????????????????????¨c????óÂ????? ?????????????¡é???????¤O????¤O???¤O????????????????????????????¡ê????T?????£¤?????????????:???? ??????????e????s?????????????????????T????§ñ???¤O?????¤O?????¤O??????????????¡ì??????????????óÂ???? ????¤O????¤O????¤O????óÂ????r?????¨¢????¨²????????? ???????¡ê????¤O?????¤O???¤O?????????:???? ?????????a????m???????????????????¨®?????T?????¡é????¨¢???????????????a????€??????????????óÂ????? ?????????¨®???T????¡é????????????????????? ???????????????? ????¨®????T?????¡é?????¨¢?????????/???????
¡°I don¡¯t under¡ª¡± It was all I managed to get out before it flayed me open. The symbiote, the thing from Beyond, laid my entire being open with nothing but its awareness of me. Then, like a pathologist with infinite fingers, every one of them a scalpel, it reached into my mind and sifted through my thoughts and memories. It excised them, one by one, and cast them into the darkness like kaleidoscopic confetti. Then, it paused. I felt it consider what it had found. There, glimmering in the deep, was a constellation of all of my thoughts and feelings. I felt a sense of interest, of curiosity. If a hurricane could¡¯ve been curious about the ecosystems it uprooted. One by one, the symbiote plucked each thought-star like the strings on a celestial harp. It¡¯s 2004. I¡¯m thirteen. I¡¯m getting down off the school bus and walking home, to the house I haven¡¯t seen in years. When I get there, mom is sitting in the living room couch with Grandma Patrice. It looks like mom has been crying, but that¡¯s weird, because she never cries. My stomach drops out; my throat clogs. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! ¡°Mom?¡± ¡°Oh, Caleb,¡± she says. ¡°It¡¯s your father.¡± Not dad, father. ¡°There was a terrible accident.¡± Grief. Then, anger. Because next year we have to move house and move out to this town called Stonestead, and I won¡¯t know anyone, and it¡¯s just not fucking fair, because it¡¯s not my fault he crashed his car, it¡¯s not my fault that Grandma Patrice¡¯s heart gave out afterward, and I fucking hate you¡ª But Stonestead isn¡¯t so bad. It¡¯s nicer than my old school. No one kicks my ass or calls me a faggot. It helps that I sit down next to Vince on my first day, because he¡¯s a big guy and people like him, and somehow we become friends. But the anger doesn¡¯t evaporate so much as congeal, settling into nodules just under my skin, and if I were to dig them out... Pride and shame. Sophomore year, Halloween. My first kiss with Becca O¡¯Halloran, and what she says afterward. Vince slaps me on the back and says I¡¯m a man now, or close to it. Becca¡¯s words echo in my thoughts, though: well, you¡¯re the closest to Vince I could get, sooo... I end up outside, as if I can outrun my private humiliation, and that¡¯s when I see Emerson Bennett for the first time. She¡¯s standing by a fire pit with a box of cask wine on her head. Hey, I say, cool costume. She taps her impromptu helmet and says she¡¯s the Master Chief. Until that point, I¡¯ve never understood that thought from all those romantic movies, that you really can fall for someone at first sight¡ª More and more and more. The symbiote drags the memory-threads around itself like a cloak. The inadequacy I have whenever I¡¯m next to Max, even when I know he¡¯s not trying to make me feel bad, because maybe that¡¯s what stings the most about it. The electric thrill of someone touching your hand or calling your name. The sharp pain of being struck and the somehow sharper pain of being rejected. The drive to create something beautiful and the urge to destroy it just because you can. Everything human. Everything Caleb. The symbiote considered it like an arrangement of fireflies in jars. Then, it shifted again. Condensed itself into my awareness, poured itself into that constellation of thoughts and feelings like a mold, incarnated in a form that was humanoid but not quite human. It was there before me, so close I could reach out and touch it. I raised my left hand, and it matched me like a mirror. Then, it spoke again and presented to me the first face of its tesseract:
QUEST: Becoming REWARD: Beyondic Synchronization ([Arche I], First Order resonance.) GOAL: Survive. ACCEPT: Y/N
I didn¡¯t know what it meant, but I could feel what it wanted. It wanted to exist, the same way I wanted to exist. It wanted to see things unfold, the same way I wanted to see things unfold. It wanted to offer me a gift, of which life itself was the tiniest bauble. All I had to do was think accept. It wanted me to know that it had my life hanging by a thread, and its fingers were so very sharp. It was a lifeline. A shining hand in the deep. Something that existed. It was the most terrifying thing I had ever felt. You bet your ass I grabbed it. Accept.
Reality reasserted itself. The symbiote-droplet had vanished. I turned my hand this way and that, trying to catch some glimpse of it. I raised my hand to my neck, felt the steady report of my pulse. My stomach knotted, grumbling and irate. Everything persisted in being what it had appeared to be. ¡°Is it done?¡± I asked, for lack of anything else to say. ¡°It is done,¡± Kree¡¯s father replied. ¡°And you have, all of you, survived.¡± I wasn¡¯t quite ready to believe him. I turned, looking for Max and Emma. They stood there, seeming just as bewildered as I was. Max shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t feel any different,¡± he said. ¡°Just hungry. So fucking hungry.¡± Kree¡¯s father nodded. ¡°Your consciousness has been re-tethered. Disentanglement has been averted. Your biological processes shall resume at nominal levels, if they have not already.¡± ¡°Great,¡± Emma muttered. ¡°So now what?¡± I asked. ¡°Who are you?¡± ¡°Knight-Marshal Maarek¡¯taal,¡± he said. ¡°One of the last Incarnates. Soon, perhaps within hours, the symbiote will acclimatize. It will begin whispering to you. Initiate Taal will assist you with the first lessons of the Pax Systematica.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t agree to this,¡± Max said. ¡°This whole Pax thing you keep talking about. Thanks for saving my life, but this is the end of the road for me.¡± Maarek shook his head. ¡°Soon, you will have the ability to directly manipulate the underlying strata of reality. You must learn to comprehend this, and control it, or your symbiotes will do it for you.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Host and symbiote pick each other. They grant you their ability to alter the underlying mathematics of existence, but with the understanding that you will alter them. The first [Incarnates] had no guidance, no will. Entire worlds were lost before the creation of the Pax. The Pax stands for eternal order, yet its power¡ªyour power¡ªis derived from timeless entropy. You, all of you, must walk a fine line between creation and nothingness.¡± ¡°What are you?¡± Emma asked. ¡°I told you¡ª¡± ¡°No, what are you?¡± Emma said, ambling closer. ¡°All this sci-fi stuff. ¡®Your laws of physics.¡¯ ¡®Galactic Star League.¡¯ ¡®Most forms of sentient life.¡¯ I¡¯m ninety-nine point nine percent sure you¡¯re not human, so, just cut the act.¡± ¡°I think this has been enough revelations for now,¡± Kree said, stepping forward. ¡°Father¡ª¡± ¡°Oh, purple-streak,¡± Emma said, with dark laughter. ¡°After all this, you¡¯re the last one I want to hear anything from, not until you fix my brother¡¯s truck, so hush yourself before I slap you so hard you¡¯ll end up on fucking Cybertron. So, again¡ªwhat the hell are you two?¡± Kree stepped back. Maarek glanced to her. She nodded. ¡°As you wish,¡± Maarek said. ¡°And so be it.¡± Their faces shimmered. Skin flashing from warm tan to warm green¡ªhe same color I¡¯d seen during Kree¡¯s fight with the gulfhound. Their faces stayed the same, albeit a touch more gaunt, and their eyes a touch bigger and entirely black. ¡°You may call us Ondaari,¡± Maarek said. ¡°From the planet Ziyama, in a part of the galaxy you call Scutum-Centaurus.¡± Kree raised her hand, giving us a little wave. It was a remarkably friendlier gesture than any she¡¯d given to us until this point. So was her smile. That was, until I spied her fangs. ¡°And we come in peace,¡± she said. ¡°Like the movie.¡± No one said anything. Emma just nodded. ¡°Fucking called it.¡± Chapter 10 CHAPTER 10 ¡°So, let me get this straight,¡± Max said, later, and took a deep breath. ¡°We died.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± I replied. ¡°And then we came back to life.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± I said, nodding. ¡°Because some parasite got shoved into our brains.¡± ¡°More of a symbiote attuned to...¡± Emma began, then trailed off. ¡°But yes.¡± ¡°And there¡¯s monsters.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± I said, again. This was not the first time I¡¯d helped Max grapple with recent events, and somehow he never seemed to get much more of a grip on them. ¡°And aliens,¡± he continued. I didn¡¯t say anything, just to see what¡¯d happen. ¡°Alien space knights,¡± Max continued, without missing a beat. ¡°I think you can go with alien or space, really,¡± Emma said. ¡°Like, if they¡¯re alien knights, they¡¯re from space, right?¡± Max kept on, ¡°And now we can alter the super-reality under everything.¡± ¡°Well, then it would be a sub-reality,¡± I begin, trailing off. ¡°Essentially, yes.¡± ¡°To get superpowers.¡± ¡°Seems like it.¡± Max nodded. I hoped he¡¯d manage to process it this time. ¡°And, on top of that,¡± Max said, frowning, ¡°there¡¯s some freaky-ass shadowman who might¡¯ve also been the one who killed all three of us and then sicced some freaky-ass monster dog on us when it didn¡¯t take.¡± I didn¡¯t think that was quite the case, but I also didn¡¯t have any better idea as to what happened in the cave. ¡°Something like that,¡± I replied. Max went quiet. We sat in the bizarre alien temple for a little longer, with its walls and floors of weird not-quite stone. I thought of something my history teacher had told me the year before. That there was this saying that people liked to attribute to Lenin, but one he did not actually say. Mister Fisher was very firm on this point¡ªLenin did not say it, you could not trust everything you found on the Internet. The quote was: there are decades when weeks happen, and weeks when decades happen. As I sat there, I thought that whoever had coined that term had gotten it wrong. Weeks when decades happen? Try hours when lifetimes happen, Vlad. If Lenin had said that, then no wonder he¡¯d made a better revolutionary than mathematician. At the other end of the room, a section of wall slid away and Kree stepped inside. There was some other things Max had left out. The aliens were hanging around or living in or near (or in?) Stonestead, and one of them really liked chocolate. ¡°Want one?¡± Kree asked, holding out a handful of bars. Her full-black eyes and fanged smile still did not seem remotely friendly, no matter what brand of confectionery she offered. ¡°No, I¡¯m good,¡± I replied. She offered the bars to Emma and Max, and both of them just waved her off. ¡°Suit yourselves,¡± Kree said. ¡°More for me. But I¡¯d have some, if I were you.¡± ¡°And why¡¯s that?¡± Emma asked. ¡°Because it¡¯s time to begin your training.¡± And, I hoped, to get some answers.
A part of me thought I was stupid to stick around, but it was clear that Kree and her associate, a man who was apparently her father in the biological sense because who else could he be, weren¡¯t going to just let us leave. Who would let someone, or three someones, just walk away with the keys to the cosmos? And, like the cave, like him, I had to know what was going on. Kree led us deeper down the halls and corridors of the strange place that I could only think of as a temple but felt more like a crypt. She led us into an open space that made me think of an auditorium, and she settled before an altar, turning to look at us. ¡°Attention, novitiates!¡± She barked the words like she expected compliance. ¡°I have been instructed by Knight-Marshal Maarek¡¯taal to guide you through the initial stages of ontological shock. You may refer to me as Initiate Kree¡¯taal.¡± ¡°My mind is pretty thoroughly blown at this point,¡± Max replied. ¡°Maybe keep it to the small words?¡± Kree¡¯s eyes narrowed. She set one hand on the altar. It occurred to me that she only had four digits on each hand. Above our heads, the wandering firefly lights twisted and coalesced and multiplied into dozens, hundreds, and more¡ªuntil I realized were looking at a vast projection of the Milky Way. ¡°Whoa,¡± Emma murmured. ¡°Not bad for Daddy¡¯s Little Girl.¡± ¡°Emma,¡± I muttered in response, just as Kree cleared her throat. ¡°This,¡± she said, ¡°is our galaxy.¡± It was demarcated with lines into areas and sections that I couldn¡¯t even guess at the meaning of. A bright golden dot pulsed within one of the spiral arms. ¡°This is the location of your home star, and the world you call Earth. And this,¡± she continues, pointing to a vast swath of green on the other side of the galaxy, ¡°is the Galactic Star League.¡± ¡°That¡¯s...¡± I tried to run a quick estimation in my head. ¡°That¡¯s half the galaxy. You control half the galaxy?¡± ¡°Control is not the right word,¡± Kree replied. ¡°The Star League simply is. It has existed longer than your species has known the written word.¡± ¡°Alright,¡± Max said. ¡°Okay. I can handle this.¡± I said, ¡°So how do you Incarnates fit into it?¡± Kree drew herself up, and her bearing became somehow more imperious. ¡°We are one of the oldest institutions within the League. We embody the Pax Systematica¡ªits first adherents, its facilitators, and its guardians. Where the League is threatened, where the Pax necessitates intervention, we are there.¡± ¡°Funny,¡± Emma said, ¡°Because it looks to me like you¡¯re a long way from home, purple-streak.¡± ¡°Part of the responsibilities of our Order is to guide all forms of sentient life into the greater harmony of the Pax, the ecumene. That is why my father and I came to your world, although we have since become stranded. But, as they say, all good things come in threes.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t that the other way around?¡± Emma asked me, but quietly. ¡°So,¡± I said, ¡°half the galaxy operates under the...¡± How had her father put it? ¡°Interface that allows them to manipulate what underlies reality.¡± ¡°That¡¯s correct.¡± ¡°Then why are you all the way out here?¡± I gestured at the galactic projection. ¡°Look at how far we are away from the League. And why Stonestead, of all places? Why not just roll up on the UN and go ¡®hey, want some superpowers?¡¯¡± Kree bit her cheek. I wonder if that was an expression all sentient life shared, or if she¡¯d picked it up from our media. ¡°I do not know. I do not believe your world is ready. But if the Pax has guided us here, then there must be a reason. Your world must be necessary. A piece in the design.¡± ¡°You keep talking about this Pax thing,¡± I began. ¡°What exactly is it?¡± Kree tilted her head back again. ¡°It¡¯s a solution,¡± she said, like it was obvious. ¡°To what?¡± ¡°Limitations. The ecumene learned quickly the facts of the universe¡ªthat space is finite, that consumption shall outpace resources, and that evolution crawls toward imperfection. Existence is not infinite. And the greatest minds from across the League knew that crossing any of those thresholds, whether through population collapse or open conflict, would result in the deaths of trillions and the loss of entire civilizations.¡± I stared up at the map of the galaxy and tried to imagine the scale of it. ¡°Like you, the ecumene once thought that reality was only what they could perceive¡ªwhat they could see, hear, touch, and taste. They created the Total Codex¡ªa record of all knowledge within the League¡ªand, through it, created the Pax Systematica. ¡°Initially, the Pax Systematica was the answer to material limitations: a system of regulated growth and watchful guardians. A doctrine of stability and equilibrium. A systemic order that would delay any existential crises to the last possible moment, if not avert them entirely.¡± ¡°I get it,¡± I said, nodding. ¡°¡®Systematic peace.¡¯¡± Kree nodded. ¡°Only there was a problem. The systematic doctrine was still built on a limited, material understanding. In that sense, it was as finite and fallible as anything else, and just as limited by entropy.¡± This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. Max raised his hand. ¡°What¡¯s entropy?¡± ¡°It¡¯s to do with energy, I think,¡± I replied. ¡°Themodynamics. How things go from order to disorder¡ªif you heat up an ice cube, it turns into water. Stuff like that.¡± ¡°A fair appraisal,¡± Kree said. ¡°The Pax became what it is today with the discovery of the symbiotes¡ªthe Others, Those Beyond. With their assistance and perspective, it allowed the Pax Systematica to become truly transcendental. The way my father tells it, the League is a bazaar of wonders, a cosmic ecumenopolis, the peak of civilization, of life itself...¡± She trailed off, looking up at the galactic map. ¡°You¡¯ve never seen it?¡± Emma asked. A moment¡¯s pause. ¡°No. But perhaps, one day...¡± ¡°And these... Others,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s what is sitting behind my eyes right now.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Kree replied, looking at me. ¡°Okay. So, uh, what is it?¡± ¡°It is a non-local acausal phenomenon-entity, a being that exists two steps below the substrata of our universe. Think of them as components of how the universe keeps itself running.¡± Max groaned. ¡°I¡¯m lost.¡± ¡°Semi-sentient energy that operates outside causality,¡± Kree said, frowning, as if we were stupid for not getting it, as if any of it made sense, as if anything would make sense again. ¡°When combined with a conscious mind, when incarnated within our strata, they allow one to manipulate the underlying framework of the universe.¡±
¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± Fletcher says. ¡°What?¡± I lean back, sighing. ¡°You have to stop interrupting me.¡± ¡°I just don¡¯t understand how this makes sense.¡± ¡°Now extrapolate that response by seven billion and multiply it by the total number of nuclear warheads, and you¡¯re seeing why they had to keep quiet.¡± Of course, that¡¯s not the full truth, but I don¡¯t know if he¡¯s ready for that. The same way I wouldn¡¯t have been. I gesture to the scattered, crystalline remains of the Necker diagram. ¡°Think of the cube. Your brain can¡¯t handle ambiguity. It just isn¡¯t designed to. Things are zeroes or ones. It decides whether the cube is one way or the other. When faced by some kind of paradox, your brain just decides that one perspective is more true.¡± ¡°But it could be wrong,¡± he says. ¡°Could be?¡± I ask. ¡°Think of the brain like an fleshy mass in a calcium box. It can¡¯t do anything without senses¡ªyour eyes, ears, nose, hands.¡± ¡°An interface.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± I reply, nodding. ¡°And it¡¯s not perfect. Like Maarek said, our standard interface selects only for reproduction. Think about your eyes. There¡¯s so much information just hurtling around the universe and we can see, what, three hundred nanometers worth of it?¡± Something like that. I hope Fletcher can correct me, but I know he can¡¯t. ¡°We don¡¯t need to see anything more than that in order to reproduce, so we don¡¯t see any more than that.¡± I consult the symbiote, and it whispers to me: 0.0035 percent. ¡°We can¡¯t even see a single percentage point of the information that¡¯s out there. These senses¡ª¡± And I wave at my face, not caring that I might seem completely unhinged, ¡°¡ªare completely bullshit. And even then, our brains don¡¯t comprehend everything our senses tell us. We assume so much, and know so little. Our senses are products of mindless evolution and they are great for what they are, but they are limited¡ªand limiting.¡± ¡°And the symbiotes... remove the limits?¡± ¡°Something like that. They¡¯re just a better interface. But they have limitations, too. But color, light, sound? What even are they, Agent? You think your senses are the be-all end-all? Come on, even on this planet we¡¯ve got sharks that can sense electricity and birds that can guide themselves via magnetic fields. Oh,¡± I add, thinking. ¡°And the dodo.¡± ¡°The dodo,¡± Fletcher replies, dubious. ¡°It¡¯d evolved isolated from anything that might prey on it. It wasn¡¯t afraid of humans. Evolution hadn¡¯t prepared it for humanity. It hadn¡¯t prepared them for the things humanity brought with them: dogs and pigs and cats and deforestation. The dodo evolved for a very limited slice of a very limited part of a very limited planet. Millions of years of blind reproductive strategy rendered extinct in under a hundred. It¡¯s the height of arrogance to assume we are any different. ¡°Especially when we know we are not alone.¡± ¡°But if this was true,¡± he says, unable to free himself, ¡°there¡¯d be some evidence. Something. Anything. Something would be evident.¡± I shrug. ¡°What does it mean for something to be evident when evolution has made it so you can¡¯t physically see the evidence?¡±
Kree ordered us to sit on the floor cross-legged, and we did. She made us rest our hands on our knees and I half-expected her to start chanting ohm. ¡°There is one thing I must guide you through, before I take you to see the Knight-Marshal. You need to learn how to process and interpret your relationship with the symbiote through these initial stages. It¡¯ll be easier if we do this one at a time. Caleb, we¡¯ll start with you. Relax, focus, and let the symbiote pierce the veil.¡± Being ordered to relax and focus at the same time felt like a riddle. How can you relax your mind while asking it to hone in on a particular detail? I don¡¯t know how long I sat there but, just as I was about to say something, the air rippled, and the tesseract unfolded before me again. But this time, I could make sense of it. It was like a holographic projection of a thought. I could see it, yet also see past it. Like a mental image that had been pressed into my eyes. ¡°What is this?¡± I asked. ¡°We call it the tesseract,¡± Kree replied. ¡°A bridge as your mind adjusts.¡±
YOU Caleb Cross Species: Human Class -?????_????????????-???????????????_??????????-??????????_???????-??????????????
Well, it¡¯d gotten that right. ¡°I can read it,¡± I said, and I scrolled through it.
US Status: Synced Condition: Healthy/Lucid Synchronicity: Stable Synergy: 1/5 QP: 3/3 XP: 0
¡°Your relationship with your symbiote is nothing like you¡¯ve experienced,¡± Kree said. ¡°You are not just Caleb Cross anymore, but a new being. These readings are good¡ªit is important to monitor them. Losing coherency or becoming unstable...¡± ¡°The thing in the cave,¡± I said. Kree nodded. ¡°What you encountered there was the danger you now pose to yourself and others¡ªthe entity in the cave was, we believe, a disentangled psyche. One that has become unstuck in time. A symbiote without a host. Raw energy on the cusp of dissipating into cosmic radiation.¡± ¡°What was it doing here on Earth?¡± Emma asked. ¡°I do not know. It may not be possible for us to know. Either way, it isn¡¯t immediately relevant. Know this: the relationship with your symbiote is the core part of being an Incarnate. It is simple in nature: act in accordance with the Pax, utilize the powers of your symbiote, and it shall reward you.¡± ¡°And if we don¡¯t?¡± Max asked. ¡°Then your synchronicity will mis-align, and you risk disentanglement. Caleb, please, continue.¡± I nodded. ¡°I¡¯m seeing some words and some... numbers.¡±
COMPEL GUIDE RESIST
POWER Strength 1/5 Intelligence 1/5 Presence 1/5
GRACE Dexterity 1/5 Manipulation 1/5 Agility 1/5
NERVE Endurance 1/5 Sagacity 1/5 Volition 1/5
¡°And they all say one,¡± I finished. ¡°Is that normal?¡± I asked, lamely. ¡°For now,¡± Kree replied, ¡°it is. There are two numbers that hold special resonance to our symbiotes and, through them, the Pax itself. They are three and five.¡± Something rolled through me like a pressure wave. Distantly, I was aware of something. Did my symbiote... like that? ¡°Did anyone else feel that?¡± Max asked. ¡°Buddy,¡± Emma said, ¡°I think I tasted that.¡± ¡°Do not worry about these statistics overmuch,¡± Kree said. ¡°At this moment, your symbiote is translating the Pax into something your mind can understand¡ªeventually you will, like myself, be free of it. Still, it can be useful from time to time.¡± ¡°Right,¡± I said. ¡°These statistics underpin the Pax Systematica. Broadly speaking, they reflect one¡¯s ability to compel, manipulate, and resist local phenomena. While your biological processes have been restored, and still function, you¡¯ll find that honing your abilities via the Pax is much more efficient than more traditional methods. These statistics also broadly align with aspects the Triadic Order. Caleb, please¡ªthe next section.¡± I read each one out.
FIRST ORDER Forces 0/5 Matter 0/5 Mind 0/5
SECOND ORDER Life 0/5 Death 0/5 Space 0/5
THIRD ORDER Chronos 0/5 Kairos 0/5 Arche 1/5
At each word, I felt something twitch in my skull, something speaking, but the words were indistinct, as if out of a fading dream. Kree nodded. ¡°The symbiotes are the source of our power, but the Triadic Order is how we may utilize it constructively, for the benefit of the Pax and all sentient life.¡± ¡°Okay, look, does your dad turn into a truck?¡± Emma asked. Kree tilted her head, and moved right along. ¡°There are three Orders of three Aspects with five Semblances each, moving from least complex and dangerous to most complex and dangerous. You will start with the first Semblance¡ªthe art of Knowing an aspect of reality¡ªand, by the time you have reached the final Semblance, the act of Invoking, you will be in tune enough with the Pax Systematica to know when and how to utilize such power.¡± Again, that odd note of resonance within my mind, like fingers through the crevices of my brain. ¡°These Orders must be learned in sequence,¡± Kree said, but I could pick up on the bubbling excitement undernearth her words. She may have been an alien paladin, but I don¡¯t think she was much older than us. Had she lived here for her whole life, wherever this place was? Had she ever shared this with anyone? Had any friends? ¡°The First Order concerns itself with inorganic substances¡ªForces, Mind, Matter. From there, you can progress to the Second Order, which opens up the ability to affect organic substances¡ªLife, Death, and Space. And lastly, there is the Third Order, which is influencing beyond matter.¡± ¡°What does that mean?¡± I asked. ¡°Time and fate,¡± Kree replied, and her demeanor cracked: ¡°And trust me¡ªit¡¯s pretty fucking radical.¡± ¡°Did you just say radical?¡± Emma asked. Kree tilted her head. ¡°Is that not proper slang?¡± ¡°Hey, so,¡± I interrupted, before it could go any further. ¡°I¡¯ve got eight zeroes and a one in Arche. What does that mean? How do I go about unlocking this awesome cosmic power?¡± Kree grinned, showing off her fangs. ¡°Well, how about we take this outside?¡± Chapter 11 CHAPTER 11 We emerged from from the dark into the harsh glare of a midday sun. I raised my hand, shading my eyes, and realized I was surprised to see it, to feel it. After all, given everything that¡¯d happened, anyone could¡¯ve been forgiven for thinking that ¡®outside¡¯ would have been an alien world. We stood at the base of a sheer cliff face, having had to squeeze through a tight fissure. Once my eyes had adjusted, I glanced around. We were within a pit that had to be hundreds of meters across. Crushed stone lay in mounds meters tall with larger chucks of rock poking through like dragon¡¯s teeth. Above the edge of the pit, I could make out the telltale triangular tips of firs swaying in the breeze. So, if we were on an alien planet, then it looked remarkably like the evergreen forests of the western United States. ¡°Well,¡± Emma said. ¡°I guess we¡¯re not in space.¡± ¡°You really thought so?¡± I asked. She shrugged. ¡°I mean, given everything that¡¯s happened...¡± ¡°Okay, fair.¡± Kree had shifted back into her human form, clothes and all, when I wasn¡¯t looking. Max walked a few meters out into the pit and paused, turning a circle with one hand held at his chin. Somehow, he made the pose look genuine as opposed to trite. ¡°Wait, hang on,¡± he said. ¡°I know this place. This is the old Eagle Summit quarry. It¡¯s been abandoned for years.¡± ¡°You know where we are?¡± I asked. Max nodded. ¡°East of Stonestead. Maybe an hour¡¯s drive away.¡± ¡°No way,¡± Emma replied. ¡°I heard this place was haunted.¡± ¡°More or less haunted than that cave?¡± ¡°Dude, don¡¯t,¡± she remarked. ¡°Like, don¡¯t even. My dad and brother say the guys who used to work here have all these stories. All the greatest hits: floating rocks, glowing orbs, electrical items shorting out, weird sounds, Bigfoot..¡± ¡°Really?¡± I asked. ¡°Bigfoot?¡± Emma nodded at me, and I had no idea if she was kidding me. I had no idea what anything was right now, I supposed. ¡°Side effects,¡± Kree said, hands in her hoodie pockets. ¡°We couldn¡¯t have them digging around up here.¡± ¡°But this quarry has been here for, like, a hundred years,¡± Emma said. ¡°My father is a Knight-Marshal. The ability to wield Chronos is well within his capabilities.¡± The casual implication of time travel sent my head for a spin. Neither of them seemed older than a hundred years, but if their home was underground... ¡°So, we shouldn¡¯t get on his bad side, is what I¡¯m hearing,¡± I said. Kree nodded. ¡°You should not. Now, come. He is waiting for us.¡± Kree marched off, in what I was beginning to understand was her default mode¡ªsay something, get it done, try to keep up. The three of us fell in behind her and, I realized, we were all the same now. The Pax had made us equal. The three of us were just ones and zeroes across the board. Emma, Caleb, and Max¡ªgamer, outsider, and monarch. Already, I could see the appeal of the Pax. A level playing field, where power and status went to those who upheld stability and prosperity¡ªnot just for themselves, but for the whole of society. But a part of me insisted that it was too good to be true. What did stability mean on a galactic scale? How did you measure prosperity on such a vast timeline? Was what was good for the goose really good for the gander? Or the galaxy? The quarry must have been abandoned in a hurry. There were still excavators and other machines sitting there, waiting for workers who never showed up. We stepped around an outcropping and there, before us, a section of the quarry had been flooded and turned into an artificial lake, the water an odd shade of turquoise. Maarek stood at the edge of the lake, hands clasped behind his back, perhaps deep in thought. He turned to face us as we approached and he, like Kree, was back in his human disguise. Still, intensity radiated off him. It wasn¡¯t just his wide eyes, his heavy eyebrows, or grizzled appearance¡ªbut the long scar that ran down the left side of his face. Like Kree¡¯s visage, the only word I could think of was distinctively odd. Even with the utilitarian flannel, boots and jeans, I would¡¯ve put money on him being an alien in disguise. Kree bowed to him. ¡°Initiate,¡± Maarek said, nodding to her¡ªand then, after moment¡¯s pause, turned his grim gaze toward us. Another moment pass, and he frowned. ¡°Novitiates, I will excuse your breach of protocol just this once. But in the future, you are to bow upon seeking my audience.¡± His jaw clenched, relaxed. ¡°Well. I trust Initiate Taal has acclimatized you with your new frame of reference?¡± It was a hell of a way to sum up being given irrevocable proof of alien life and a vast civilization on the other side of the galaxy. What had Kree called it¡ªontological shock? I think I was still lingering in the aftershock. But I nodded and said, ¡°Sure.¡± This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. ¡°Then, it is time to finalize your induction. Usually, there would be more pomp and circumstance, but time is of the essence. Initiate Taal, assume your mantle.¡± Kree nodded and that black essence emerged from around and within her, just like it had in the diner, and then the resplendent glowing planes of armor. A spear erupted to life in her hands, and she spun it in a slow arc, a golden plume drifting in the wake of her blade. Then, with a sharp motion, she thrust it into the earth. ¡°The symbiote has made a connection with your psyche,¡± Maarek said. ¡°Now, it is time for you to call upon it. The first Semblance of Arche grants you the basic privileges of that symbiosis, an ability to wield the symbiote¡¯s energies and for it to protect you. This mantle is what marks you as a member of the Order of the Singularity Incarnate.¡± Kree stood so still that she might as well have been a statue of some victorious warrior. It felt unreal, but a part of me was eager. Perhaps too eager. But how often are cosmic powers thrust into your hands? ¡°Okay,¡± I said. ¡°So, how do we begin?¡± ¡°Guys,¡± Max said. ¡°Are we sure about this?¡± ¡°You¡¯re not?¡± Max shook his head. ¡°Well, no. Not really. I think we should go home and think about this. Maybe talk about it between us. I don¡¯t like the idea of getting driven along and going further with... whatever this is.¡± ¡°That is not possible,¡± Maarek said. ¡°Excuse me? What the hell do you mean it¡¯s ¡®not possible?¡¯¡± ¡°We cannot let you leave,¡± Maarek said, and it was clear that the we included Kree. ¡°To unleash three symbiotes upon this planet¡ªuntrained, unmastered, unknowing¡ªwould be a gross mistake. One that we would have to correct.¡± Which meant, I figured, the type of correction that involved a permanent end. Max threw his arms out wide. ¡°See what I mean?¡± ¡°Come on, Max,¡± Emma murmured. ¡°It won¡¯t be so bad.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t care how bad it will be or won¡¯t be! I didn¡¯t ask for this! My girlfriend¡¯s already breathing down my neck! I¡¯m not interested!¡± ¡°Fate rarely calls upon us at a moment of our choosing,¡± Maarek intoned solemnly. ¡°One of the first tenets of our order.¡± In the corner of my vision, I spotted Emma¡¯s brow furrowing. ¡°But after this, once you are completely initiated, if you truly wish to walk your own path,¡± he continued, ¡°then we will not stop you.¡± ¡°Truly?¡± Max asked. ¡°Upon my honor as a Knight-Marshal.¡± I watched Max¡¯s jaw clench and unclench. ¡°Okay,¡± he said. ¡°Fine.¡± I understood, intellectually, the reasons for Max¡¯s outburst. The guy had everything he ever wanted, and his whole life planned out for him. What did cosmic knowledge offer him beyond screwing all that up? And yet, there was a part of me that felt only scorn. How could anything on Earth possibly matter now? You¡¯ve got the mysteries of the universe at your fingertips, and you¡¯re worried about what your girlfriend thinks? ¡°Then let¡¯s begin,¡± Maarek said. ¡°The mantle is the truest expression of your power. It allows you to utilize your Triadic abilities with ease, as well as protecting you from harm.¡± Then, faster than I could blink, the tesseract¡ª
Incarnate Mantle Trait (Arche I) The Mantle is the most distinctive feature of the members of the Order of the Singularity Incarnate. When assuming their Mantle, the Incarnate is healed completely and gains Resistance to all forms of mundane damage. Additionally, their Quintessent Points are restored and the Incarnate can utilize Semblances of their base level or lower without expending QP. Assuming the Incarnate Mantle is a prerequisite of summoning an Incarnate Weapon. When girded in their mantle, the Incarnate adds their Arche level to any and all contests.
¡°Dude,¡± Emma said. ¡°That sounds wicked.¡± ¡°Really?¡± I asked. The words were already gone, but I could still picture them. ¡°Because I think I understood about half of it.¡± ¡°That¡¯s, uh, half more than me,¡± Max said. ¡°What was that?¡± ¡°An excerpt from the Total Codex,¡± Maarek said. ¡°You will be instructed in its use. For now, focus. To call your Mantle, you just need to speak a single word¡ªsynergize.¡± The word had power. I felt a subtle pull, like my brain shifted ever so slightly. I thought back to the fight in the diner, and how Kree had said it. But I said, ¡°Like, anytime we say that word, or...?¡± Maarek glanced at me. ¡°The symbiote is part of you now, and you of it. It can sense intent. So, no, not any time you say that word.¡± ¡°The first time can be difficult,¡± Kree said. ¡°You¡¯ve made the connection, but you just need to find it. So, you might need to focus.¡± ¡°Silence, Initiate,¡± Maarek said. ¡°Now, the three of you¡ªlisten to me. The Third Order aspect of Arche is the contradiction at the heart of our abilities: entropy yet order, life yet death, foundation yet capstone. It is the first ability you will practice, and the last you will master. ¡°You have seen what my daughter can do. Your connection with the Others shall allow you to do the same, to shape their energetic essence into a protective barrier. Visualize the armor within your mind, and let it become an extension of your will: let no weapon hinder your intercession, let no armor impede it. Now, call it.¡± The three of us stood there for a few moments. I wondered if Max and Emma felt as awkward as I did. Then, I knew it, because we all took a few seconds to glance at each other. ¡°Screw it,¡± Max said, sighing. ¡°Synergize.¡± The shadow fell across and out of him like it had with Kree, and the solid darkness overcame him. Max raised his hands, flexing them, eyeless visage focused on the infinite depths there. ¡°Holy shit,¡± he muttered. ¡°Focus, Novitiate,¡± Maarek said firmly. ¡°You¡¯re almost there. Focus on the thought of protection, of resilience, of fortitude¡ªand visualize.¡± Glimmering light sparkled in Max¡¯s darkness-body, and it erupted in a golden flash. When my eyes had recovered, Max was still there. His armor of hardlight looked much like Kree¡¯s, but it was different. The shoulders were heavier, and his helmet was¡ª Emma whistled. ¡°Someone looks like he¡¯s about to play space gridiron.¡± Max laughed. ¡°Hah! Well, hell yeah! Put me on the team, Coach!¡± Emma clapped her hands. ¡°Okay, I think I¡¯ve got it. Just let me... And, synergize!¡± And her body was eclipsed, and then, in a bright cobalt flash, she was armored, too. She turned her visored head left and right, then looked down at her cuirass and her pleated knee-length skirt, her knee-high sabatons. ¡°Dude, what the heck? Am I some sort of Sailor Scout?¡± ¡°There are no scouts within the Order of the Singularity Incarnate,¡± Maarek replied. ¡°There are three classes of warrior within our order. Your friend, Maxwell, has been granted one of them: the Intercessor, the warriors who intercede when the Pax requires direct intervention against those events and beings who would harm it, masters of Forces and Matter. You, Emerson, are now an Arbitrator¡ªone of those who solves disputes upon the worlds of the League and guides and protects their populations, masters of Mind and Matter.¡± Maarek turned to me. ¡°Which means your friend here should be a Monitor.¡± I frowned. ¡°I feel like I got the dorkiest one.¡± ¡°The Monitors are the scholars and investigators, yes¡± Maarek said, which didn¡¯t make me feel as if I was wrong. ¡°But they are also the first to know of any threats, the sentries at the threshold. Custodians of knowledge who walk at the edges of the League, the masters of Forces and Mind. Novitiate Cross¡ªyour mantle,¡± he added, gesturing. ¡°Okay,¡± I said, and took a breath. It was now or never. ¡°Synergize.¡± Chapter 12 CHAPTER 12 ¡°I think I get it,¡± Fletcher says. ¡°Really?¡± I lean back into the booth and sigh. ¡°Right now?¡± He nods. ¡°There¡¯s a game going on, underneath reality, and you guys can bend the rules.¡± ¡°No, I mean¡ªreally, as in, you¡¯re really speaking up right now?¡± ¡°That I am.¡± I shake my head. Well, there goes the narrative flow. Fine. Whatever. ¡°Well, kind of,¡± I say. ¡°But it¡¯s more like... You and everyone else is playing checkers, while we¡¯re playing¡ª¡± ¡°World of Warcraft.¡± ¡°Sure. Yeah. Your game might be simpler, it might be easier to understand, but it¡¯s limited by the board and the pieces and the rules, and our game can simulate yours down to the smallest detail.¡± Fletcher nods. ¡°Right. So, it¡¯s like The Matrix. You know that line Morpheus has?¡± ¡°Uh, I think he has a few?¡± ¡°Would your game include a bullet from this gun?¡± I raise an eyebrow. ¡°Did that sound cooler in your head?¡± ¡°If I shot you,¡± he continues, ¡°Right here, right now¡ªwhat would happen?¡± ¡°Jesus. Okay. I mean, beyond everyone in the diner seeing that you shot a kid?¡± ¡°Sure. Beyond that.¡± ¡°Well,¡± I begin. ¡°It would hurt. But I¡¯d live. Even if you emptied the clip, I could use Matter II or Forces II to slow the impacts.¡± Maybe not at the moment, of course, considering my QP¡ªbut he doesn¡¯t need to know that. ¡°And that¡¯s if I didn¡¯t have my mantle up.¡± ¡°And if I shot you in the head?¡± ¡°Agent, please,¡± I reply. ¡°Alive and dead, they don¡¯t really have the same meaning to me anymore.¡± ¡°I find that hard to believe.¡± ¡°Do you? I mean, there¡¯s that line from Watchmen. A living person and a dead body have the same number of particles. There¡¯s no real difference. Except there is, right?¡± Fletcher nods. ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°Consciousness,¡± I say. ¡°And the three of us were technically dead. We just didn¡¯t know it. Right now, my consciousness isn¡¯t just in my brain. It¡¯s in the symbiote, too, and I don¡¯t know where it resides. We¡¯re linked. I¡¯m pretty sure if you shot me in the head, Agent, I¡¯d still be able to hobble out of here. And every single person who saw you do it would think you''d only grazed my cheek.¡± "Like that cube." Fletcher takes a breath. ¡°Hold it together, Bill,¡± he mutters. ¡°And these powers, how do they work? This one-to-five thing.¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s like Kree said. Each Aspect has five Semblances.¡± I glance at the table, and dab some of the salt crystals onto my finger. ¡°Take this salt, for example. With the first Semblance of Matter, I can tell you everything about it. At the second, I can push it in ways it was already going. Controlling and Invoking¡ªwell, those mean exactly what they sound like.¡± Fletcher nods. For a time, he just sits there and nods. ¡°You¡¯re shitting me,¡± he says, finally. ¡°Even for life, death, time?¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± I reply, nodding. ¡°Hence, the Pax. Now, can I get back to the reason why we¡¯re here?¡± ¡°Sure, Cross.¡± I lean forward, resting my arms on the table, trying to recall. ¡°Now, where was I... Oh, yes¡ª¡±
¡°Synergize.¡± It was like waking up without being asleep. I had no idea how else to put it. It was like the shadowing of an overcast day, and yet it felt anything but cold and dark. The shadow fell over me, warm and bright. It was like the memory of the cave, of seeing through everything¡ªand then, in another second, of grasping that the same pattern that sent the planets spinning around the Sun was the same that¡¯d put me in this quarry, at this time, with these people, for this purpose. The symbiote was like a cloud over my hands, and my entire body. And my body felt good. No fatigue, no hunger, no pain. It was, I realized, like I had felt until my consciousness had been ¡°re-tethered.¡± I looked down at myself, and saw the same glowing armor that the others had, but different, too. I knew that it was light, but solid¡ªhardlight, it was called. The color of the Monitor class was green, it seemed, and my Mantle included both armor and robes. Like a Jedi or a warlock. Not as dorky as I had feared. ¡°Whoa,¡± I muttered. ¡°Congratulations, novitiates,¡± Maarek said, bowing his head, but he sounded as grim as ever. Next to him, Kree was giving us a wide, toothy smile. Same expression as when she''d showed off her fangs. The tesseract opened. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
FORCES | 1/5 ¡ª Knowing ¡°Compel the forces of the universe; bind the fundament to your will.¡± A black hole is a nexus of the most destructive powers known to the universe, and so, Forces is the ability to perceive and manipulate the energies that make up the universe, subtle or otherwise. Everything from sound, light, and heat to gravity, electromagnetism and radiation. It is the power that ranges from activating electrical devices with nothing but a thought, to ceasing the rotation of an entire planet. It allows an Incarnate to access the unimaginable, unfiltered power of the entire natural universe, in both subtle and sublime forms. KNOWING: With knowledge of the First Semblance, an Incarnate can influence the most obvious forms of energy¡ªheat, light, and sound¡ªbut also detect wireless signals, hear sounds above and below their range of hearing, and perceive visual phenomena outside their typical mundane spectrum.
MIND | 1/5 ¡ª Knowing ¡°Penetrate the veil of information; glimpse the noosphere.¡± Nothing escapes a singularity, not even information, not even the collective consciousness of all living things. Mind is the ability to perceive and manipulate the thoughts and perceptions of sentient beings, including altering their actions and beliefs¡ªboth individual and collective. It is the power of sensing someone¡¯s true intention, to stripping someone¡¯s consciousness to ribbons. It is perhaps the most horrifying of the Order¡¯s powers, and yet the most vital to maintaining peace. KNOWING: With knowledge of the First Semblance, an Incarnate can determine someone¡¯s true intention, read their surface thoughts and emotional state, and detect disruptions to the noosphere in their general proximity¡ªsuch as the usage of telepathy or other extrasensory manipulations.
MATTER | 0/5 ¡ª Unaware ¡°Subvert the underlying mathematics of reality; twist and break the atomic lattice.¡± Singularities consume matter, so, it is perhaps no surprise that the ability to manipulate that same matter is a first-level discipline of the Incarnate Order. Matter is the ability to manipulate inert, inorganic substances, both simple and complex. It is the power of detecting imperfections and controlling mechanisms with but a thought to transmuting one substance into another. It is the power of turning lead to gold, liquids to solids, to creating something from nothing¡ªor to entirely expunge those same things from the substrate.
ARCHE | 1/5 ¡ª Knowing ¡°beginning, realm, empire, authority and power; witness the first and final principle.¡± The universe is more than it appears, and so much less. If Forces is the ability to manipulate the obvious energies of the universe, then Arche is the ability to manipulate the imperceptible powers and principalities that underpin it. Arche is the influence of the Others, rendered through the shared consciousness of a sentient mind, the throne of an Incarnate¡¯s authority. It is the alpha and omega of power, the ability to change what you will, and resist everything you do not. KNOWING: With knowledge of the First Semblance, an Incarnate can sense the will of their symbiote and wield its energies.
¡°Alright,¡± I said, unsure of what else to add. ¡°Cool.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t feel any different,¡± Emma said. "I''m not sure we should?" I half-asked. ¡°You should not,¡± Maarek replied. ¡°So,¡± I began, ¡°Just how do we use these...¡± I had no idea what word to use¡ªpowers, abilities, disciplines? And just like that, I knew. The symbiote whispered to me. Not in words or thoughts or even images, but just pure understanding. I was aware, now, of the fact that my body was awash in forms of energy that I¡¯d known about but never felt. It was like straining to hear words on the other side of a door, and then realizing you understood the language. A trucker on his shortwave, a heated argument on talkback radio, an FM station playing Breaking Benjamin... ¡°This is insane,¡± I said. And then, when I stopped focusing on it, the radio waves were silent. Not imperceptible, but filtered out. I shifted in and out of that awareness like closing and opening a curtain. And, I thought, the fact I could do that with people¡¯s thoughts... Emma thrust a rock in my direction. ¡°Dude, check this out.¡± It looked like a very normal, very grey rock. ¡°Nice rock?¡± I offered. ¡°It¡¯s basalt! It weighs 106 grams exactly.¡± ¡°Okay?¡± ¡°And if I was to apply just enough force right here,¡± she pointed with her other hand to a bit of the rock that seemed the same as any other, ¡°I could split it in half.¡± ¡°Well, congratulations, Emerson,¡± I told her, grinning. ¡°You¡¯ll be Stonestead¡¯s best geologist in no time.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± she replied, nodding. ¡°I will. And just what were you saying is insane, by the way?¡± ¡°I can hear radio waves. What¡¯s your favorite radio station?¡± ¡°Uh, 102.5 FM.¡± I sifted through the sounds of people talking and several different genres of music, only to realize¡ª ¡°Okay, I can¡¯t tell which one that is. Not yet, anyway.¡± ¡°Wow,¡± Emma replied. ¡°Neat superpower, Caleb.¡± ¡°Novitiates,¡± Maarek called. ¡°Attend.¡± I turned to face him, as did Emma. Max, who I realized had been looking out over the little lake, turned to regard him, too. Kree remained at her father¡¯s shoulder. ¡°I think this is enough for now,¡± he said. ¡°Over the coming days, Novitiates, your understanding of your symbiosis will increase. You¡¯ll be inducted further into the particulars of the Pax. Know that our sanctum is always open to you, and we are here to guide you, but also know that any attempt to expose our existence here will be met with dire consequences.¡± ¡°Got it,¡± I said. ¡°Initiate Taal will return you to your homes,¡± Maarek said, nodding to her. ¡°She will also provide you with a way to contact us. For now, heed your symbiotes and advance the Pax when and where you can. You are the first Incarnates from your world¡ªindeed, from this section of the galaxy. It will take time for us to understand your role in the wider system, especially given the unusual circumstances of your... acclimatization.¡± ¡°Sounds like side quest time,¡± Emma murmured. And then Maarek dismissed us, and Kree led us back to beige sedan that she had used to abduct us that morning, when we¡¯d been half-dead and somehow not known it. It felt like a lifetime ago and, in a way, it was. Kree ignited the car¡¯s engine with a simple touch. Dropping our mantles was as simple as thinking it, like blinking with sharp intent. On the drive back to Stonestead, Max finally spoke up, shaking his head. ¡°I can¡¯t believe we¡¯re going back to school tomorrow.¡± Chapter 13 CHAPTER 13 And so, on Monday, we went back to school. It went about the same as any other Monday. I woke up, I got out of bed, I stretched, and when I walked over to my desk to turn my computer on and get some music playing, maybe Thirty Seconds to Mars or The Killers, I looked at the tower and¡ªwith a look and a thought and a sensation of payment¡ªthe fans whirred to life and the hard drive began to click over. I stared at the Windows login screen for about thirty seconds, before I shook my head and went off to have a shower. As far as superpowers went, Forces I didn¡¯t seem like much of one. But I had activated it, called upon the symbiote, without really being aware of wanting to do it. Like scratching an itch I¡¯d only realized was bothering me when my arm was already in motion. There was no secret knowledge of the cosmos, no ethereal music of the spheres, no third eye opening to vistas beyond sight, no octarine hues in the colors of the rainbow. It was just like knowing I could now influence electricity the same way I could raise my right hand. I still spent my shower with my head bowed, looking at my feet. So, after three minutes of staring at my feet and wondering if I could slow down time through sheer force of wheel (no), I got out, and dried off, and brushed my teeth, and spat into the sink, and then, when I looked up and into the mirror, I saw the tesseract staring back at me.
YOU Caleb Cross Species: Human Class Monitor US Status: Synced Condition: Healthy/Lucid Synchronicity: Stable Synergy: 1/5 QP: 2/3 XP: 0
COMPEL GUIDE RESIST
POWER Strength 1/5 Intelligence 1/5 Presence 1/5
GRACE Dexterity 1/5 Manipulation 1/5 Agility 1/5
NERVE Endurance 1/5 Sagacity 1/5 Volition 1/5
FIRST ORDER Matter 0/5 Forces 1/5 Mind 1/5
SECOND ORDER Life 0/5 Death 0/5 Space 0/5
THIRD ORDER Chronos 0/5 Kairos 0/5 Arche 1/5
So, I¡¯d spent a Quintessence Point without truly being aware of it. That struck me as a pretty poor bargain. For a second, I wondered who was really in control, myself or the symbiote, and then decided it didn¡¯t matter. I swiped the tesseract away, and it showed me something else.
WEEKLY QUESTS 0/3
Protect the Weak 0/1
Punish the Wicked 0/1
Preserve the Whole 0/1
REWARD: 1XP per completion
Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.¡°Okay?¡± I said and, when I blinked, the window into the ether or the sub-reality or whatever that interface was wasn¡¯t there anymore. ¡°Cool,¡± I said, to the empty bathroom, and went out to get dressed.
Mom was in the kitchen, making breakfast. She¡¯d worked over the weekend, so, today was her day off. As we made the usual ¡®have a good day at school, darling, I''ll try¡¯ small talk, I had another feeling¡ªlike I was ignoring a ringing phone. I very carefully continued to ignore it, because I had the distinct impression that, if I didn¡¯t, I¡¯d give up another one of those Q-points and end up listening in on my mom¡¯s thoughts¡ªand that was not something I wanted to do. So, with the unsettling thought that perhaps I was not quite in control of my new superpowers, I grabbed my backpack and went off to school. It was a five minute walk to the bus stop, and a thirty-two minute trip to Stonestead High. There were forty-three people on the school bus that morning, and I took a seat at the back, so no one would talk to me. It wasn¡¯t that I dreaded school or hated it or anything like that, but just that I did not care about it. I maintained my 3.7 GPA with such ease that every single test, assignment, and exam had me thinking that my apathy towards my studies would catch up to me¡ªyet, somehow, it never had. Stonestead High was on the north side of the town, backing onto Brookfield Park. St George¡¯s Academy, with their fancy uniforms and statue of Saint George stabbing a serpent because what other kind of statue depicts the wonders of education, was on the other side of the highway that ran through town. There was a part of me that wished everything had transpired that I¡¯d been enrolled there, and had gone to school with Emerson, but then again, I suspected the only reason we had the friendship we did was because she did not see me every single day. It was all so normal. I walked through the halls without a care, because being bullied was something everything had gotten tired of, least of all me, at the end of freshman year. Now, I was just a shadow. I ran into Max and he smiled at me and said, ¡°Hey, man,¡± and slapped me on the arm, but it felt far more like most-popular-guy-in-school social charity than the fact that we had both gone through what we had. I stood there in the hallway and wondered what Emma and I would do if he really did just walk away from all of it. Then, I wondered about Kree and her father, and what they would do. The day trudged along. I hung out with Vince and Brit, and then settled in for an afternoon of humanities. Sitting there, listening to Mr Sorensen go on about the Cold War, I was struck by the thought that even being in the classroom was bizarre. Over the weekend, I¡¯d learned more about humanity¡¯s place in the universe than I had in all my eighteen years on the planet. Okay, the world had come to the brink of nuclear annihilation decades ago¡ªwell, so what? The Earth would keep spinning around the Sun, and the Sun around the supermassive black hole that kept everything from separating into nothingness, order from entropy, living proof of the Incarnate teachings. Ah, I thought. Yes, that is not my usual train of thought. Then, I looked up, glanced at Mr Sorensen¡ªand picked up the phone. The closest way I could describe it was the memory of biology class, where we¡¯d played around with these inducting headphones. I could hear Mr Sorensen without using my ears, and he was thinking: Christ, I stayed up until 3AM learning this shit, I don¡¯t know a thing about the Warsaw Pact, why can¡¯t I be teaching coastal geography¡ª And even that felt like enough of a violation that I closed my eyes, shut it out, and went back to half-heartedly paying attention to the history of the political differences of our small blue world when there was a whole galaxy of history out there, waiting to be known. And, perhaps, I¡¯d be the first human to know it. Perhaps then, I¡¯d find somewhere I belonged.
I ended the school day with a list of topics to investigate. The first, of course, was how these powers worked. Being familiar with role-playing games, I had something of an idea, but I needed more than that. Then, I had to make sure Max wasn¡¯t going to duck out on us. I had the feeling that, even if he had said it was fine for Max to leave, Maarek would not actually allow it. Maarek and Kree were the third item on the list. Okay, they were aliens, and they had been here for a while¡ªbut that just raised further questions. Neither Maarek nor Kree looked old enough to have been alive when that ship ended up beneath the land that became the Eagle Rock quarry. Fourth was the gulfhound. Max had said it had been sent after us, but I wasn¡¯t so sure. Kree had acted like it was more of a natural predator¡ªonly, nothing that looked like an eyeless hybrid of crystals and flesh could be natural. So, what was it, where had it come from, and was there more of them? And last, the fifth item on the list, was the thing in the cave. Him. The Shadowman. The Shadow. The Grim Reaper. The Entity. The Disentangled Psyche. Whatever we¡¯d call it, it was the being that had seemingly instigated this whole chain of events¡ªand why, for what purpose? I couldn¡¯t think about him for long. Whenever I tried, nothing made sense. Just that sensation of my memories being assembled incorrectly. Being re-tethered hadn¡¯t made that night any clearer. Still, thinking about it¡ªor trying to¡ªmade the hairs on the back of my neck stand up as I hurried through the halls, toward my locker, to gather my stuff and get ready for the bus ride home. Even under the stark hallway lighting, just thinking back to that cave was almost like being back there in the flesh. All these questions, all these things I had to know. Funny. Perhaps Monitor really was the right class for me.
There was a package for me in the mailbox when I got home. MONITOR CROSS had been scrawled across the front in badly handwritten Sharpie. I muttered a quick prayer thanking God that Mom hadn¡¯t checked the mail, because the events of the past week were not something I knew how to explain, and tore open the package. There was a phone inside. Not one of those fancy new iPhones, but a standard mobile phone¡ªkeypad, monochrome display, the works. Like the one I had in my pocket, but in purple. Well, the color alone made it clear who it was from. Still, when they had mentioned a way of keeping in contact with us, I thought it¡¯d be something more high-tech than a burner phone. So, I went inside, said hi to Mom, and told her my day had been fine. Then, I went upstairs, dropped my things, got changed, and did what I normally did: procrastinated my studies by wasting time on the Internet. I was trading Superbad quotes with Vince on MSN when a message came in from Emma. IT¡¯Z EMMERZ || My Other Car is an M12LRV says: calebbbbb Caleb says: Hey, Emma. IT¡¯Z EMMERZ || My Other Car is an M12LRV says: did you get three quests today?? Caleb says: I¡¯m not sure we should be discussing this in writing. IT¡¯Z EMMERZ || My Other Car is an M12LRV says: why? Caleb says: Well, evidence? IT¡¯Z EMMERZ || My Other Car is an M12LRV says: do you keep chatlogs or something? Caleb says: Don¡¯t freak out, but yes. IT¡¯Z EMMERZ || My Other Car is an M12LRV says: lol freak IT¡¯Z EMMERZ || My Other Car is an M12LRV says: but okay, i¡¯ll call you. She did. I answered immediately. ¡°Hey, Emma.¡± ¡°So, by your incredibly not suspicious response,¡± she began, ¡°I¡¯m willing to bet the answer is ¡®yes.¡¯¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°Which means Max probably got them, too.¡± ¡°Probably,¡± I said. ¡°Hey, have you heard from him at all?¡± ¡°Nope.¡± ¡°I don''t know. Just felt like he was ignoring me today." I shrugged it off. ¡°We might need to do something.¡± ¡°You say that like you want to tie him to a chair and beat him with a sack of oranges.¡± V1NCE <3 BR1T has sent you a nudge! I typed a quick reply with one hand. Caleb says: on the phone emma V1NCE <3 BR1T says: ?? ?? ?? ¡°I¡¯m just saying, the two alien samurai might not actually be willing to let him walk away,¡± I said to Emma. ¡°And there was that whole thing about three being a sacred number.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll have a chat to him.¡± ¡°Thanks. So, these quests, what do you think they do?¡± ¡°Experience points,¡± she said, like I was an idiot, ¡°which we can exchange for goods and services¡ªor, in our case, boosting those numbers on our character sheet.¡± ¡°No, I mean, I understood that part,¡± I replied, blushing for some reason. ¡°But how many do we need, are there any limits, what¡¯s the exchange rate, things like that. And then there¡¯s those Quintessence Points¡ª¡± ¡°I burned through all three of mine before lunch,¡± Emma said. ¡°But I can do this really cool thing with coins, rocks, whatever. I''ll show you. Oh, and I opened a door with my mind.¡± I paused, and wondered what I should say. Then, I just said it: ¡°I, uh, read my history teacher¡¯s thoughts.¡± Emma gasped. ¡°No way!¡± ¡°I wish I could say it was by accident, but...¡± ¡°Keeps logs of his conversations.¡± I could hear her ticking off her fingers. ¡°Wants to beat the homecoming king with a sack of oranges. Reads people¡¯s minds...¡± ¡°Hey, you¡¯ve got this Mind I thing, too.¡± I paused, sighing. ¡°But, look. We should probably get Max and meet up somewhere on the weekend. I think we need to really get an understanding of these abilities, and these points, and maybe establish some ground rules on how we use them.¡± ¡°Alright,¡± Emma said. ¡°I¡¯ve got no plans. I¡¯ll mention it to Max. Whereabouts?¡± I thought for a moment. ¡°The old railyard?¡± ¡°Yeah, because that''s the obvious choice. Caleb, this is the weirdest conversation I¡¯ve ever had.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°Me too.¡± I fished the purple phone out of my pocket. ¡°Speaking of weird conversations, though¡ªdid you get some mail today, from Kree?¡± ¡°Yeah. Don¡¯t tell me¡ª¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to call her. She knows more than us. And she seemed friendly.¡± ¡°When you say seemed, you mean she isn¡¯t actually.¡± ¡°Well, I barely know her.¡± Emma grunted something vague. ¡°There¡¯s something about the two of them I don¡¯t get.¡± ¡°What, a repair payment for Ironhide?¡± ¡°Yeah, that¡ªbut, I don¡¯t know, I¡¯ve never met two aliens before, so I¡¯m probably just being weird. Fine. You call Miss Harlequin, and I¡¯ll call Max. Saturday, the old railyard, midday?¡± ¡°Sounds good.¡± ¡°Alright,¡± Emma said. ¡°Hey, you said you had one of those points left, didn¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± I replied, squinting at my window, as if I could see the smirk I could hear on her face. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Check this out. Hey, when you got home, how many steps did you take to get to your bedroom?¡± I thought back to just a few hours earlier¡ªand, as I did, felt that odd sensation from the symbiote again, that reflex from a limb I didn¡¯t have, and before I could catch it¡ª ¡°Twenty-nine,¡± I said, utterly certain, as certain that my name was Caleb. ¡°What the hell?¡± Emma laughed. ¡°Sorry, gotta go!¡± Frowning, I left my bedroom and walked down to the front door. Then, I turned about, and walked back, keeping count in my head. If Mom saw me, she didn''t say anything about it. And that was how I realized that the First Semblance of Mind had another trick: perfect information recall. Which meant I had given up my third point of Quintessence, and had no idea how to restore it.