Prism Academy 5- Interlude 3 (Patreon)

Interlude 3- Into the Light

In an apartment several blocks from the government center in Atlanta, a family sits around their table. They didn’t move even when the explosion went off. Their building shakes from the shock wave and one of their windows even breaks. Through it all, they don’t move or even make a single peep.

If one were to put their fingers against the neck of these people, they would feel a pulse, even see signs of breathing, but that would be all. Whatever has been done to them, these people are alive in body, but that seems to be all. They don’t show any indication that they are awake or in any way aware of their surroundings.

In the other room of the apartment, a large humanoid sits. He isn’t a man, his leathery hide in red and black colors make that, apparently. He has two great horns rising from his forehead. In a world of supers, it isn’t that it would have been impossible for a metamorph to appear like this, but he gives off a different aura.

Any humans who come into his presence feel terror grip their hearts and a desire to fall to their knees. This is as he intends for Baal, the god of deceit, has no love for human or mortals of any type. He fled his home world when an upstart war god had risen and become an overlord amongst the gods. That the usurper had once been a man from this very world, was part of the irony for Baal.

Pacing around the room was a gorgeous woman, or at least a half woman. She had leathery black wings, to smaller horns, pointed ears, pointed teeth, and an unnaturally perfect face. Her body was wrapped in the barest excuse for clothing and everything about her screamed seduction.

Baal said, “For the last time, will you sit down, For’Lese. Someone watching you would never realize you’re a demi-goddess and queen of the succubi.”

“But am I that anymore? I followed you to this rock because you promised we could set ourselves up as the gods of this world. It was supposed to be a place of mortals with little magic.”

“It has precious little Essence even now, that’s for certain, but Krig’s incursion here, followed by the so-called shadow and light, and then our own has punctured the barrier which set this world off from the cosmos. Essence is starting to pour in to fill the vacuum.”

“I know this, but it doesn’t solve what we’re supposed to do. You said that giving Krig to the shadow would set the plate for what needed to happen.”

Baal frowned. “It has. I just didn’t expect that there was enough left inside his head for him to break from of their control. He was meant to be a weapon which would finally push for these so-called humans to destroy the shadow. You’ve seen them, they have it in them to push the Plegarians from this world. I can’t imagine giving so much power to mortals, but still what’s done is done.”

“Then what, even if they drive the Plegarians away, it isn’t like they are going to suddenly turn this world over to us,” For’Lese said.

“Of course not, but without their progenitor energy here there will be no more of these so-called supers. They are only mortal. They’ll die away and we can rule the world. Even before then, they’re only mortals. We can control their minds. You’ve been doing that for thousands of years, surely you can manage it here too.”

She got thoughtful for a moment. “Fine, some of them would make tasty treats I suppose. That prism in particular, oh, what fun I’d have corrupting him.”

Baal rolled his eyes. He had his own plans, but for now he’d tolerate For’Lese. He was the god of deceit after all, not the god of something stupidly reckless, like war.

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Jen stood up. She was sweating. She never sweated, not since her transformation. It wasn’t from the heat, her power prevented that. No, it was the hours and hours of work. She had just finished cutting some of the metal beams, which were keeping rescuers from getting inside a building to search for survivors.

She was exhausted. The discussions with the remnants of the government and General West had taken it out of her. The physical work was hard even with her power. But what took it out of her more than anything was the drain she felt through her bond. Aden was suffering. She wanted nothing more than to fly to him.

He was too good for his own good sometimes, and this was one of them. Those shadow-supers had been terrifying and whatever was inside Bosch had to be put down. Collateral damage was inevitable when the enemy chose to hide amongst civilians. Yet she loved him all the more because he cared so much. He just needed a healthy dose of pragmatism.

She saw another group of city councilors walking toward her and sighed. He was going to owe her for dealing with all of this while he got to go home and sleep. Then she shook her head. That wasn’t the way relationships worked, not healthy ones, anyway. He gave to them without asking for anything in return. How could she offer anything less?

Jen also was wise enough to know that she didn’t have what he needed. He needed psychic soothing, someone who could siphon off at least a portion of the anguish he was feeling. His up bringing with ANOP blocking his emotions had not prepared him to feel things this heavy. No, Sybil was the right choice, she just had to trust her sister-bond. Then she laughed. Hua would also probably provide a worthwhile distraction. Jen even managed to grin. The bond didn’t make jealously possible, but she really just wanted Aden to be happy and whole, bond or not.

___________________________

Twinkle deposited Sybil and Hua in the apartment on the 174th floor. Then teleported one more time into the back of their apartment and dropped Aden off on his bed. He wasn’t heavy even if the size of his body was awkward. It simply pained her to see him like this. He was barely standing up on his own.

“Do you need anything? I can stay with you.”

Aden flopped onto the bed and lay back without even undressing. “No, I just need to think. I’m sorry.”

“Sorry for what?”

“Sorry that I’m not the man you thought that I was.”

Kenna got angry then. “Don’t start moping on me. We need you too much, Aden. You are every bit the man that I thought you were and more. You have the courage to do what has to be done and the gentleness to embrace feeling bad about it.”

He didn’t say anything back. The bond told her everything that she needed to know, though. He was wallowing in this. She wished she had words that would fix it. Maybe Jen would know what to say. For all that she teased the princess, Jen was smart and generally knew what to do.

Then Kenna shook her head. No, this wasn’t a problem for Jen. There was a reason that Sybil and Hua had been the ones to come back. Hua might not be bonded with Aden, but she was part of the team. Together, they were two of the most powerful psychics in the world.

“Rest up Aden. If you need anything, even just for me to hold you, I’m here. This is what being family means.”

She paused just long enough to see if he would say anything, but he didn’t, so she walked back out. When she got there, she saw Sybil and Hua holding hands across the table. What was it about psychics that caused physical contact to make it easier? Both their eyes were closed and concentration was written across their faces.

Kenna pondered if she should interrupt them, but she needed to know. “Are you helping him?”

Neither woman responded for a minute, but Kenna stood there patiently. Finally, Sybil opened her eyes. “We’re doing what we can. I won’t rob him of his emotions, not even to make things easier on him. We are simply trying to flood him with feelings of support and love from all of us. He needs to feel those things at least as strongly as he feels his grief.”

Kenna nodded, but didn’t know what to add to that.

Hua opened her eyes and grinned. “I could just provide him a distraction. In my experience with men, certain types of distractions help them forget about what’s bothering them.”

Sybil sighed. “It may come to that, but he still has to process this.”

Hua’s expression suddenly got super serious. “I know I flaunt the crazy a bit, and to be honest, it’s the only way I’ve survived, but I do know what I’m talking about. After my bond died, I wanted to kill myself. I wanted to crawl in a hole. Fortunately, I had some friends who pushed me to something more.

“I don’t ever want to bond again. I never want to be so completely dependent upon another person like that. It nearly broke me before and I couldn’t take that again. But, I do like Aden and I would like to have something more with him, even if it isn’t the same thing you two have with him. And trust me, while he has to process these feelings, he doesn’t have to do it all at once.”

Kenna looked at Sybil. They locked eyes. An understanding passed between them. They all do what they could do for Aden and maybe after he got some sleep, a small distraction would be in order. Nothing quite like a new shiny toy and all the better that Hua didn’t come with the same strings as a bond had.

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Cara awoke in darkness. No, it wasn’t dark, not after she opened her eyes. There was dim light. She was in some kind of lab. For a moment panic went off, but then she realized it was a medical bay of sorts. She sat up and looked around.

There were various workstations and a few technicians working, but it must be nighttime or something. The signs on the wall indicated she was inside the Amazo Corps building. This belonged to Aden. That brought her a surprising degree of relief. He’d never let people experiment on her again.

Then she turned her focus inward. She could feel the connection she had with Aden. He was sleeping but seemed to be having bad dreams. Something must have happened to hurt him. Cara’s first instinct was to rush to him, but she caught herself.

She thought, “No, I’m broken. I’m not good for Aden. I need to fix myself first.”

Then she sat down on the floor and began to focus on the shadow within her. It wasn’t the dark, corrupted stuff she had drained out of Kenna. Aden must have purified her, but he hadn’t forcefully removed the shadow from her. He really was trying; she could do no less.

Shadow energy began to spiral off of her and spin around. It began to form a shell around her. She thought, “This will either be my chrysalis or my grave.”