Gleam - Chapter 156 (Patreon)

Sorry guys, getting super sick completely screwed my already bad Gleam schedule. I've been trying to get 2/3 chaps a week for it... the universe is trying to stop me from writing this damn novel. 

Anyway, enjoy!

------

The world around Chance was dancing. His entire body felt like it had been set on fire, quenched, and then set aflame again. His ears rang and the smell of smoke filled his nostrils. Any Essence that had been running through his body had vanished, consumed by the flash of light that had split the air moments ago.

He struggled to push himself to his feet with unresponsive limbs, but nothing was working the way it should have. Something dripped down his nose and ran along his lips, but he couldn’t taste it through the thick layer of ash that seemed to cover everything. A black form swam before him, wisps of… something leaking out from it.

Chance squinted as hard as he could. It seemed to be the only thing he could force himself to do. More pieces of the blurry vision swam together reluctantly. Someone was kneeling at his side, their hands grabbing at his shoulders. Muted sounds reached his ears. They were saying something. At least, he thought they were.

It was impossible to tell for sure. Something pressed against his lips and a wave of relief passed through his body. His eyelids fluttered as pain erupted like water in a desert, slamming into him in a flood.

He drew in a ragged breath that caught in his chest before it could finish. The agony mixed with relief in a unique swirl of destruction and creation. The pain bloomed, then faded away, only to bloom once more. The cycle felt like it dragged on for minutes, but it finally dragged to a halt.

His eyes snapped open, the world finally sliding back into normal vision. Bella, Yeo, and Wren all knelt around him; worry etched into their expressions.

“Chance?” Bella asked nervously.

“I’m fine,” Chance said, his lips as dry as planks of wood. He swallowed, then winced as he tried to sit up and found his body unresponsive. “What in the world happened? Where’s the monster?”

“You’re asking us that?” Wren asked in disbelief. “There’s no way you get to ask that question.”

“Yeah. I agree with him,” Yeo said, jerking his head in Wren’s direction. “You literally just called lightning down from the fucking clouds, man. Like you were a god or something. We’re the ones that get to ask what happened. You splattered that thing like a fish getting pelted into a wall.”

“You really did,” Bella said. She paused for a moment, the relief on her face flickering in confusion as she glanced over to Yeo. “Wait. Why do you know what that looks like?”

“I tripped once while bringing dinner over to the table at my old house. I tried to catch the fish, but only managed to snag it for a second before losing my grip again,” Yeo said absently. “The rest is history.”

“Right,” Bella said, shaking her head. “I shouldn’t have asked. Are you okay, Chance? We used healing pills – a lot of them. It was bad.”

“More pills than I think were safe, but you seem to have made it through somehow,” Wren added. “That was incredible, Chance. I didn’t realize you possessed such a deadly attack. But, in the future, I would suggest making sure that the only thing in the way of such a strike is your enemy.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Chance said. He rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand as a wave of weariness gripped at him. The temptation to give in and fall into a deep sleep was strong, but he pushed it back. “The last thing I remember was telling the universe that it could screw itself.”

Bella bit back a laugh. “That’s the most Chance thing I’ve ever heard. But… you don’t remember summoning a massive bolt of lightning?”

Chance’s brow furrowed as he dug through his memories. More images filtered through his mind, resurfacing. He remembered static energy arcing all around him. The feeling of power coursing through his very veins – and the immense might that had formed in the clouds above him.

Then there was a flash of light followed by nothing.

“Oh,” Chance muttered. “Yeah, it’s coming back to me now.”

“Well? What was it?” Yeo asked. “And how can I do that?”

“I don’t know if you want to,” Chance said. He pushed himself upright with a groan. Bella put a hand on his back to help him up. “I think that was the universe attempting to smite me.”

“Attempting?” Wren asked in disbelief. “You are telling me that you spat in the eye of the very universe itself – and then survived its attempt to quash you?”

“Pretty much.” Chance gave him a weak grin. “So I can’t say I’d suggest trying it yourself. I’m not really sure what this means for me. I can’t imagine it’s going to be anything great.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Bella said with a shake of her head. “You don’t stand up to the universe and survive unchanged. You’re such an idiot.”

“Hey, it worked, didn’t it?”

Yeo squinted up at the sky and rubbed his chin. “So all I have to do to summon some badass lightning is tell the universe to shove a boot up its–”

Bella clapped a hand over Yeo’s mouth. “No. Don’t even think about it. I highly doubt that’s actually all you have to do, but we are not taking the risk. The only reason Chance managed to live through that is because of how ridiculously powerful that monster was. If it hadn’t been there, he’d be a smoking mark on the stone.”

“Bella is right,” Chance said. “About both things, that is. The only way I was able to talk to the universe directly is because I was using my abilities to basically connect to the Karma and ask it for advice. The universe basically told me my path was wrong, so I told it what I thought of that.”

“Hold on,” Yeo said once Bella released his mouth. He stared over at Chance with undisguised delight. “You’re telling me that this wasn’t just you telling the universe off? You literally called it up on a direct line, then told it to get stuffed when it answered?”

“Pretty much.”

Yeo burst into laughter. “You’re so badass, dude. I’m stealing that move.”

“No, you aren’t,” Bella said with a glare. “Not that you could do it if you wanted to, but don’t even think about it.”

“Well now I want to do it even more.”

“Guys, please,” Wren said, hiding a smile. “Let’s not greet Chance’s return to the living with an argument. Chance, can you feel your entire body? Nothing is missing or numb?”

“I wish it was numb,” Chance muttered through a small smile. “Yeah. I feel everything. More than I’d like to. Did anything interesting happen after I passed out? I take it the monster is dead.”

“Very dead,” Wren said. “I don’t know if we’d have been able to handle it if you hadn’t done that. We weren’t doing nearly enough damage to handle that thing. It is a very ill omen that such a powerful monster was inside Gleam. We will need to report this to the Shikari.”

“What are they going to do?” Bella asked. “They still think that Acen is just some random guy, not someone carrying around a marble made of pure bad karma.”

“We should speak to my master,” Wren suggested. “He would know more about this, and he has the power to help us. If he’d been here, I am confident he could have handled this beast – if an abomination such as this could even have been called such.”

“As good an idea as any,” Chance said wearily. He looked out at the corpse lying before them. He could still feel the bad karma rising up from its body and constrained within its form. It was different from the Essence Eaters.

Those had trapped souls within them, freeing them once they died. This creature seemed to be infused with negative energy to the point where even death had failed to cure it. As he watched, the ground beneath the monster rippled.

Stone pulled back and the body sank into the earth. Within the span of just seconds, it had completely vanished. The stone closed back over it as if it had never been there. Wren looked from Chance to where the monster had once been.

“Ah,” Wren said. “That is unfortunate.”

“I think Ocie might have been hungry,” Chance said.

“Or she was protecting us,” Bella said with a frown. “Do you think she believes that telling people about this would put us in danger?”

“If the Shikari are playing down the danger that comes from Acen, it’s very possible,” Yeo said slowly. “Someone high up in the ranks could be corrupted. Ocie has a good point.”

And she was probably hungry too. Honestly, it’s for the best. If she’s got a way to handle all that negative karma and get energy from it, all the better. I don’t love the idea of dragging such a vile thing around, even in an orb. It’s better off destroyed.

Chance reached within himself, trying to get some advice from his Essence. A frown crossed his features. What met him felt… wrong. The Essence within him was different. It was subtle, but there was an edge to it that hadn’t been there before.

It was still Karma, but there was a faint energy around it that he didn’t recognize. Even reaching out to it sent faint tingles down his skin. He shuddered and released the Essence. His body wasn’t in any shape to figure out what it was.

“Is everything okay?” Bella asked. “Do you need another healing pill?”

“No, I’m fine,” Chance replied with a shake of his head. “My Essence is just feeling a bit wonky. It’ll probably be better once it doesn’t feel like I’m covered with little needles. I like Wren’s idea of finding his Master. He and Wren were the ones that saved our asses the last time around when the Shikari put out a bounty for our heads.”

“Maybe he’ll know more about what happened to you,” Yeo said. “I like that idea.”

“We are not asking how to replicate it,” Bella said firmly.

Yeo scoffed. “I’m not dumb. I wasn’t planning on doing that.”

Bella rolled her eyes and held a hand out to help Chance to his feet. He took it and she pulled him up slowly, making sure he had his balance back before letting go of his hand. As she turned, Yeo caught Chance’s eye and winked. Chance bit back a laugh.

I can never tell if he’s being serious or not. He’s absolutely going to get himself killed at some point. Then again, things wouldn’t be the same without him.

“Let’s leave this place,” Wren said. “Even if everything is dead, it is leaving a distasteful flavor in my mouth. The sooner we are back into the city proper, the better.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” Chance said. “Ocie, could you give us some help?”

A nearby wall rippled and formed into an alleyway. They set off into it and the stone closed behind them, leaving the alley in silence – and blessedly, free of the vile beasts that had been plaguing it.