Mistrunner 4 - Chapter 52 - Screams (Patreon)

I didn’t know how to react when I thought I’d lost her forever. I knew nothing could have survived that explosion. It was too powerful. But then I heard her voice, and I saw her face. I was too shocked to wonder if she was still the girl I love.

Patrick Ward

I sat on a cushion of Mist, hovering a hundred feet above the ground, my eyes closed and my mind – every thread of it – focused on my surroundings. I could feel everything, and in a way that defied all of my previous expectations. Every atom was laid bare to me, and through it all, I saw the Mist. Each individual nanite. Most were identical, but there were enough differences from one group to the next that I couldn’t help but wonder if there were any limitations.

I could see them replicating, too. One became two, and two became four, and so on. For each one that was born, another went inactive, only to be consumed by the others for its materials. And so, the cycle continued, on and on into infinity.

There was something else there, though. Some connective tissue I couldn’t really perceive. But I could hear it. Those whispers had haunted me for months, but I still wasn’t sure what they meant or how I was supposed to deal with whatever that might turn out to be. I wanted to, though. In a way, I felt like I needed it. Understanding those whispers was the key to everything.

And yet, meaning remained elusive.

So, I shifted my focus to the object in my hand. It burned between my fingers, deactivating any nanites that came into contact with it. And considering that much of my body was composed of solid Mist, the pain should have been agonizing.

It wasn’t, though, and I had no idea why.

Handling the norcite pellet – one of the few remaining pieces of my old arsenal – was uncomfortable, but it wasn’t debilitating like it had been for many of the mystics I’d fought. In fact, I almost felt a kinship to it. Like in another world, it might’ve been a part of me.

Or like it was a reflection.

The moment that idea crossed my mind, I let out a gasp of understanding. Suddenly, what I was seeing – what I felt – made sense. Norcite was like a reflection of the Mist. Or an inversion.

And with that in mind, I adjusted my perception, twisting it around until I could feel the norcite more properly. And suddenly, the whispers became screams.

I recoiled, dropping the pellet.

My cushion of Mist disappeared as well, and I fell right alongside it. For an instant, I plummeted toward the ground until I steadied my mind and reestablished the Mist. My heart continued to pound, though, and I opened my eyes to a brilliant sunset that was in such fervent opposition to the chaos in my mind.

I steadied my breathing and slowly pushed my mind into placidity.

Then, I closed my eyes and repeated the exercise. The moment I shifted my perception, the screams returned. Yet, they weren’t really screams at all. It was more like I could hear into a different frequency. And buried in that was a story that I could almost perceive.

I pushed.

But it felt like I was up against a wall, beyond which was something I wasn’t supposed to be able to see. I didn’t like that one bit, so I kept shoving against it with my mind. The whole time, the screams persisted, screeching their way through my soul. I ignored them, and with no small expenditure of willpower.

Then, suddenly, I burst through.

And I saw everything.

The system itself was laid bare before me, all numbers and symbols I could never hope to understand. It was so complex that I briefly recoiled, and in that moment, the curtain hiding it all from me – from everyone – fell back into place.

Not one to let myself be locked out of anything, I returned to my toil with more fervor than ever before, breaking through the wall without difficulty. And then, I let myself bask in what I saw.

Upon second observation, those numbers were not so incomprehensible. Instead, they reminded me of all the equations and puzzles I’d learned to solve. But they were built into a recognizable structure that was connected to everything. I didn’t know what any of it really meant – not yet – but I was more determined than ever to figure it out.

More importantly, I could pinpoint the tiny pebble of norcite that had fallen to the ground. It lay there like a solid chunk of nothing. An abyssal rock that represented a void amidst the chaos of everything else. I yearned to understand it. To see what it truly was.

For the next few hours, I studied the numbers, and I began to understand what I saw. The numbers weren’t really numbers. Rather, they represented the system that governed the Mist that, in turn, suffused every part of my reality. An interconnected web of controls and commands and predetermined algorithms that far exceeded even my mathematic prowess. It was as if I was looking at the inner workings of the Mist, at everything that made those nanites function the way they did.

By extension, it was as if I was looking at the underpinnings of reality itself.

Did I understand it?

Not at all. I wasn’t even certain that it was what I thought it was. But one thing was for certain – it was more complex than anything I had ever seen. Indeed, it was more complicated than anything I could have imagined. And looking into layer upon layer of impossibly intricate numbers and symbols, I felt smaller and less consequential than I’d ever felt before.

The norcite, though, was easy enough to understand.

It was like a black hole. Or a tiny eldritch creature whose tentacles sapped the life – or the Mist – from everything around it. Or that was just how it felt. In reality, it was more like anti-Mist, deactivating every nanite it came into contact with. But it went further. Nanites going inert was just part of the cycle. Instead, norcite infected them to such a degree that they could no longer be consumed by the other nanites. Thus, it ended the cycle.

What would the world look like if it was more pervasive?

Certainly, I couldn’t survive such a thing. Nor could most people on Earth. The Mist was too ubiquitous. We were too dependent on it.

That was one thing I learned very quickly. The Mist was life. Norcite was death. Or nonexistence. It was difficult to truly pin it down, but I felt like understanding the relationship between the two was important.

So, I drifted down to the ground and once again retrieved the norcite pellet so I could resume my study. Like that, I occupied myself for the next few hours until I felt someone approach from nearby.

“I don’t want to hear it,” I said without opening my eyes. I was still hovering in mid-air, but only a few feet from the ground.

“I’m sorry,” Freddy said.

“About what?” I asked, opening my eyes and looking in his direction. My perception was still shifted, so I could see the inner workings of the nanites inside him. It was a strange thing, seeing someone broken down to a series of numbers and symbols. His flesh was still there. But it was so suffused with the Mist that it was practically invisible beneath the blanket of symbols. “Attacking me? Or what you said before?”

“Both,” he admitted with a sigh. He looked at me for a long moment before shaking his head. “I still don’t know if you’re you.”

“I still feel like me, so that’s how I’m approaching it. What do you want?”

“To guide you.”

“Guide me to what?” I asked.

“Templars are not without knowledge,” he stated. “And I’ve been cleared to share some of the system’s history with you.”

“I thought that was a mystery.”

“Not to us,” he admitted. I couldn’t recall if he’d ever claimed otherwise, but that seemed likely. Everyone else had said as much.

“And why would you share this with me now?”

“Because you’re on the verge of transcendence,” he said. “You’ll learn it all eventually. You’ve probably already gotten a few peeks behind the curtain, right? Well, I requested permission to tell you what we know. Or what information is available to me, at least.”

“So, you’re in contact with the other Templars, huh? Did you tell them what’s going on here?”

“I have.”

“And?”

“And nothing. They won’t get involved, except to free us to act,” he said. “What few Templars remain on Earth have given themselves to Alistaris’s command.”

“Too little, too late,” I muttered. If they’d have done that sooner, there was a chance that Earth might not have been facing annihilation. Or better yet, if the larger organization of Templars had acted, they might have wiped out the Gamori Confederation altogether. Yet, they remained in the corner of the universe, their hands clean.

All the while, we bled and died.

“Please control yourself,” Freddy pleaded, his words breaking me out of my spiral. He’d fallen to his knees, obviously in pain – not surprising, given the way the Mist was swirling all around me.

I pulled it back, and with no small degree of effort. “Sorry.”

He let out a shuddering breath. “It’s…I understand. You shouldn’t have so much power. Not yet. You can’t control it properly.”

“I’m aware. What do you think I’ve been doing out there?”

“Floating.”

I sighed and rolled my eyes. “Just tell me what you want to tell me so I can get back to what I was doing.”

“Very well,” he said. He looked a lot less disheveled than the last time I’d seen him, which reminded me of his appearance the first time we’d met. Back then, he’d been on the heels of watching his apprentice become a wildling. “Do you know the origin of the system?”

I shrugged. “It was built to help people control the Mist,” I said. “Like training wheels for evolution. Without Nexus Implants, people tend to devolve. Kind of like people have to break down before the Mist can rebuild them.”

“Yes. But do you know who built it?”

“Not a clue. Aliens, I’m guessing.”

“The Originators – the first mystics – millions of years ago. An entire planet of them who’d evolved the hard way. They were incredibly powerful, and they understood the Mist in ways we can’t fathom. They built the system. Not to help people, but to control them. To keep them from evolving properly. But then, a group that would eventually form the Templars broke away.”

He shook his head. “They went to war. Whole galaxies were destroyed. Then, they created norcite.”

“How?”

“Sacrifice. Millions of them, all led by the most powerful among them. They gave themselves over to the Mist, creating a black hole the size of a galaxy, and with the purpose of subverting the Mist. When it reached a crescendo, the Originators were destroyed. But before they succumbed, they used their power to ensure that the system continued to evolve and spread. Meanwhile, the black hole reversed polarity and exploded – we don’t know why – sending shards of the drained matter throughout the universe. We know it now as norcite.”

“What does this have to do with me?” I asked. It was an interesting history lesson, but I had two major problems with it. First, the distant past didn’t seem all that relevant to Earth’s fate, except to provide context. So, it felt like a pointless lecture. Second, I didn’t know how much I could trust it. The Templars had established that they had their own goals, and honesty didn’t seem like a big part of their guiding philosophy. In fact, the only thing I’d seen from them was selfishness.

“Everything,” he said. “Mira, you’re playing with forces you cannot begin to understand. No one on Earth does. And if you don’t stop, you’re going to –”

“Die. That’s the word you’re looking for. We’re all going to die unless I find a way to save Earth. Do you want to die?”

“No, but –”

“That is what’s at stake here,” I said. “Our backs are against the wall, and I feel like I’m the only person that can do what needs to be done. The enemy is stronger than us. They have more people that matter. They know more. They are better equipped. They have all the advantages. Except me. They don’t have anyone that can do what I can do. And you want me to…what? Just step back and let them destroy Earth?”

“Do you have an alternative?” he asked. “The way you’re going, there’s every chance that things go out of control, that they continue to escalate until there’s nothing left. That story wasn’t meant to be aspirational. It was a cautionary tale of people going too far. That war killed quadrillions of people. And it has killed exponentially more since then. And here you are playing with norcite and planning who knows what. A billion people live on Earth. If we die, that’s a tragedy. But if you keep going the way you’re going, the death toll will be catastrophic for the entire galaxy. For the universe, perhaps.”

“How?”

“You are on the verge of transcending. When you reach that point, you will gain unprecedented control over the Mist. In all the universe, only a handful of people have done that. And they only did so after centuries of training and study. You’ve only been alive for thirty years. That is nothing. You’ll be like a baby with a grenade.”

“What’s the alternative? Give up?”

“Leave. The Templars are prepared to help you escape Earth. They will even take you in. Train you. Teach you how to properly use your power.”

“And what happens to Earth?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

“Earth’s fate has already been sealed. The planet will be destroyed. Perhaps not today. Maybe not for a decade. But it will happen. You know this,” he answered.

I started to respond, but I held back. He was right. If we kept going the way we were, Earth was doomed. So far, we had held our collective head above water, but I knew just how thin our margins were. One slip-up, and the enemy would get what they wanted. They would destroy the planet, harvest whatever resources they wanted, and then move on to the next world.

“So, I should run away.”

“From a burning building, yes,” he responded without a hint of shame.

“And what happens if we win?” I asked. “What if I stay and, somehow, we turn the Gamori Confederation and their mercenaries away? What if I refuse the Templars’ oh-so-generous offer?”

I was almost certain that I already knew the answer, but I wanted him to say it.

“They are prepared to limit your impact,” he said. “With everything they have.”

“No pretty words, Freddy. Tell me what they will do.”

“They’ll join the Gamori Confederation in ensuring that this planet is destroyed.”

“To kill me.”

“To prevent you from endangering the entire galaxy,” he countered. “The Gamoris won’t let you win, though. They will bring everyone they have.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” I said. “Al said that they’d give up once the costs outweighed the benefits. That was our entire strategy. Make it difficult enough for them to continue that whatever resources they could harvest from Earth’s destruction would was outweighed by the cost necessary to defeat us.”

“The paradigm has shifted.”

“Why?”

“Because of you!” he shouted. “Because of the threat you represent! The Templars have put a bounty out on you, and would subsidize the Gamori Confederation’s entire operation. More, they would contribute. You think the mystics you’ve fought so far were dangerous? They are nothing compared to Templar masters. Nothing. Take the deal, Mira. Earth is going to die. It will be destroyed. You don’t have to go with it. It’s the only move that makes –”

I reached out with a thousand tendrils of Mist, wrapping them around him in the space of a second. He tried to react. He attempted to counter. But his efforts were laughably weak. Or maybe I was just that much stronger than him. Whatever the case, he stood no chance against me.

I squeezed.

I could have sucked the Mist right out of him, but I chose not to. That would have brought death far too quickly. Instead, I wanted to look into his eyes as he realized that he couldn’t stop what was coming. That was what he wanted me to feel, after all. So, as far as I was concerned, I was giving him a taste of his own medicine.

Vaguely, I was aware of someone shouting at me. Instead of dealing with that, I pushed against the Mist at my feet and soared high into the air, and I dragged Freddy with me. As I did, I never broke eye contact. Even as his bones were crushed to jelly, I stared into his very soul. And just before he died, I said, “I refuse your offer.”

Then, I ripped him to pieces, sending a cascade of body parts and gore raining down on the ground below.

I remained aloft, just staring up at the atmosphere. With my eyes, I could see the faint blue tint of the blockade. However, with my other senses, I could see the flows of Mist that enabled it.

Somewhere out there, the entire universe was arrayed against Earth.

I refused to give in to defeatism, though. Instead, I let myself drift toward the ground only to see that Patrick was staring at me with a confused look on his face. “Why?” he asked.

When I touched down, I recounted what Freddy had told me. Once I’d finished, I said, “His offer wasn’t real. The Templars have no intention of teaching me anything. They just want me off the board. I’m sure that if I took them up on their offer, I’d end up dead or enslaved. Our only chance is to win this war and so decisively that no one else would dare mess with us again.”

“And how are we supposed to do that?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know,” I answered. Then, I looked at the gore-covered ground and the strips of white cloth that had been Freddy’s Templar uniform. “But at least we have one less enemy to deal with now.”