ONE HUNDRED THIRTY-EIGHT: WAVES, IV (Patreon)

[A/N:  The other day I spotted a comment and planned to answer it when I got a second, and now I can't remember what chapter I spotted it on or if I even finished answering. Since I can remember the question still, I'm going to answer it here. The comment was about whether Matadero was located at the same coordinates as R'lyeh from the Cthulu mythos.

I'm only sorta kinda barely familiar with Lovecraft. When I first started worldbuilding Super Supportive, I wanted the most isolated place in the ocean for Matadero, and it all came together that way. I did see Lovecraft's name mentioned a few times when I was researching Point Nemo, so I was aware of the fact that he'd set his city in the vicinity.  

Matadero is exactly at the center of Point Nemo, so the precise point of isolation. I think that would put R'lyeh a little to the northwest?

Thank you for asking!

Now, onto Chapter 138! ]

*******

Up. Go up.

Alden didn’t know for sure what was coming or if it would even reach him. He had no idea if now was the right time to abandon his horizontal evacuation in favor of a vertical one.

The only thing he was sure would be safe was a flyer that was currently bound for South America without its intended passenger. In the absence of that vehicle, and with his public school education having failed to prepare him to escape from oceanic anomalies caused by magical contaminants, he was going to have to go with Plan C. For “caveman.”

Big scary sound is getting louder. Hide from it.

He increased his speed and hustled back the way he’d just come from, jogging past a row of oddly gothic-looking townhouses. As he hurried across the next street, flashing pedestrian warning lights automatically switched on, bathing the crosswalk yellow.

One of the safest-looking buildings he’d seen since he left The Span was on the corner.

A stretch of concrete wall, painted white, led him to a door that had seemed appealingly sturdy when he passed it earlier. It was a tall, wide rectangle designed to look like a jigsaw puzzle made of differently colored pieces of metal. Some of them had slightly different elevations, giving the door a textured appearance.

Now it looks too damn sturdy.

Alden had a couple of sketchy ideas about how he would break and enter, but he’d much rather it just be unlocked. If I can’t get in here, I just break into one of the houses instead. That’s all there is to do.

The roaring still filled his ears. He couldn’t tell if it was growing anymore, but it was way too loud for his liking.

This can’t be good. Either some Avowed is using really heavy-duty magic, or the ocean is eating things oceans shouldn’t eat.

He thrust his hand toward the extra large puzzle piece that served as a knob. Nothing happened when he turned it.

Crap. He swallowed. Don’t panic. Just try—

“Hi there! Bienvenue!”

“Ack!” Alden took a step back and clutched Zeridee with both arms as a smiling cartoon seal animation suddenly appeared on the wall by the door.

It waved a flipper at him. “Welcome to Apogee Artist Spaces! You can use your studio 24/7. Just input your personal puzzle code to gain entry.”

What the heck does a talking seal have to do with anything?

“I don’t have a code,” Alden said quickly, staring the seal in the eyes. “But it’s an emergency. Could you open the door?”

The seal giggled and performed a swimming back flip. “Art is fun!”

“You’re not equipped to respond, are you? I’m talking to pixels.”

It clapped its flippers. “You can rent our studios by the month! We even have boom rooms! Just call Kimmy T—”

Alden tuned it out and carefully adjusted his grip on Zeridee, trying to make sure he was holding her in a way that wouldn’t hurt.

She’s been stabbed. However you hold her is going to hurt. Just try to talk to her fast.

He let the preservation fall from the assistant for the first time since he’d lifted her.

Zeridee didn’t make a sound, but the sudden re-animation of her features turned the illusion of peaceful sleep into something more pained. Her eyes opened.

“You’re all right,” Alden said in Artonan, trying to enunciate. “I’m all right. I need to open a door. I think if I use my skill on the door or the knob for a second, it might open. Can I have this door?”

She stared at him with one eye. The other was pointing straight up. Blood from her head injury was trickling down toward her ear.

“Some of the doors in the residence are expensive,” she whispered. “Why do you want them?”

Stay calm. Don’t freak her out.

“We’re not in the residence. I’m taking us both someplace that I think is safe. This is another door. You don’t mind me using my skill on it, do you?”

“Those men are sleeping.”

“I’m glad they are. May I have this door? Or even just the knob?”

“Why?”

More warm blood was slicking his hands again.

Shit. I can’t do this to her. One more try. Then we re-preserve her.

“If I use my skill on this door, it might open. I hope it leads to a safe place. May I?”

“Yes.”

Great!

“Alden Ryeh-b’t, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have allowed you—”

He slapped his hand to the puzzle knob, attempting to activate preservation on both Zeridee and the door simultaneously. Her words were cut off in an instant. As for the door…

There was no way he could actually preserve it while it was attached to its frame. Maybe with a lot of mental gymnastics that he didn’t have time for he could’ve convinced himself the building was an enemy trying to assault the door or something. But for now, he was just hoping that making his intent to take the object into his keeping would be clear enough that the skill would still count it as his.

Tag, puzzle door. You’re under my care now even though you didn’t get the full preserve.

Beneath his feet, a subtle vibration ran through the pavement. He swallowed.

Get inside. Get up high, he told himself as he looked for enchantments.

There was a better than fifty percent chance, in his opinion, of the door being some kind of Wrightmade magical artwork. The alternative was it being regular tech.

If it was magical artwork, there should be some enchanted components involved.

He didn’t see anything at first, and he almost jumped right to his backup plan—trying to use his skill on just the doorknob over and over to see if he could interrupt an imagined electric locking mechanism. Then his own heavy breathing and bloody, sweaty palm made him reconsider.

It might be there. You might just be in the wrong headspace to see it. Look harder.

The sensitivity part of the “defogging package” he’d chosen to enhance The Bearer of All Burdens with during his last affixation wasn’t one he’d had all that much opportunity to train. He was a pro at seeing enchantments on NesiCards when he was calm and focused, but that didn’t mean he could take it for granted that he was seeing everything there was to see about this door.

Give it just sixty seconds. Sixty seconds of focus.

The ground was definitely vibrating.

Ignore it.

Alden tried to make his next breath slow and steady. He pressed his hand to the knob harder.

Okay. You’ve been entrusted to me. All of you. What does all of you include? What are you besides just a door?

He asserted his skill as much as he could while he stared at the entrance, not trying to use any particular feature of his bound authority, just aligning himself with his affixation a little more. He was only capable of giving the process a fraction of the attention he’d dedicated to it the other night, when he’d spent ages contemplating his targeting ability and making peace with himself so that he could find the mug of soup Haoyu had hidden.

But fortunately, even a little effort made a difference here.

A new aspect of the door suddenly came into view.

The knob beneath Alden’s hand gleamed with a network of magic, similar to the ones he saw when he looked at entrusted NesiCard chips or temper spheres. And he could now feel that piece of the enchantment under his palm, like a patch of warmth.

Taking another breath, determined not to lose his head or shift his attention, he examined the rest of the door.

Smaller knots of enchantment shone on several of the puzzle pieces that were elevated or recessed compared to the others, all of them with hair-thin magical connections to the door’s knob.

The seal said to input my code for entry. Those pieces must all be buttons people press to open this thing.

He thought trying to pull the enchantment from a single piece would be a bad move. It might do nothing at all.

Pulling the whole thing and de-magicking the door entirely seemed like the surest option. He was pretty worried about the strain on his skill, though.

Enchantments were harder than objects, and with Zeridee preserved, it would be a double run on top of that.

I don’t think it’ll be nearly enough to wear me out, but…

Fast. Just do it fast.

Take enchantment. Turn doorknob. Done.

“Please work,” he murmured.

He made a pinching motion against the doorknob, like he was trying to pluck a cobweb from it, and activated his preservation again, this time with the intention of bearing only the enchantment.

All of it. The whole thing.

The network of light pulled free of the door and wrapped itself around his hand and a few inches of forearm. He could feel it there, under the sleeve of the sweatshirt.

And it’s taking way more effort to hold than the temper sphere enchantment.

“Shit!”

He grabbed the knob, turned, and yanked. The door opened.

In too much of a rush to be grateful, Alden stumbled through and dropped the stolen enchantment the second he was inside.

Heart pounding, hand still on the knob, he looked at what he’d done. He could feel the warmth of the restored enchantment beneath his palm again, and he could see it on the puzzle piece buttons…some of them. It was dimmer, and most of threads connecting the pieces to the knob seemed to be missing.

Pretty sure I’ve broken it.

He let go, pushed the door shut, and took a step back. A couple of seconds later, the door clicked as if it was locking itself. Then it clicked again.

And a few more times.

Yep. That’s definitely broken.

He hoped the cool door wasn’t someone’s magnum opus.

Something to feel guilty about on another, better day. One when he would also have time to appreciate the fact that he had just confirmed he could bust magical locks.

******

It took Alden a few seconds to get his bearings; it probably wouldn’t have taken even that long if he wasn’t so stressed. The building seemed to have a simple layout. The lights were on as well as the heating. It was toasty warm, bright, and quiet.

The roaring was undetectable.

I doubt it just stopped.

The walls must have been thick enough to block sound, which could only be a good thing.

He carried Zeridee down a hallway lined with with doors on both sides. Some of them had nameplates. One had a “Boom Room 4 - Available” sign on it.

What’s a boom room?

He associated funny names with “boom” in them with Wrights who worked with dangerous materials, not artists.

He reached the building’s elevator and pushed the call button. Should I be looking for stairs?

Getting stuck in an elevator would make a bad night worse. But climbing six flights of stairs with his injured passenger would take longer.

While he waited, he watched the animated seal on a wall screen. It was swimming around in a bright blue ocean and using its nose to bump balls covered in notices and news toward him for him to read.

Someone was looking for unpaid collaborators, models in the 3-6 Appeal point range were wanted for a fashion show in the spring, and a “living sculpture experience” would take place in the sixth-floor gallery tomorrow night. There would be hors d’oeuvres.

“Your elevator’s here!” said the seal. “Have a creative day!”

Alden jumped into the elevator. As if to mock him, it was painfully slow. He tried not to imagine a giant wave barreling toward him while he watched the floor numbers change one by one.

When a ding finally announced his arrival at the top, he stepped off to find himself in the promised gallery.

“This is unnecessarily creepy under the circumstances.”

The whole sixth floor was a wide open space except for columns that supported the roof, and it was lined with windows on all four sides. The room was full of sculptures, almost all of them featuring life-sized human figures who were reaching out in various ways as if to interact with people who weren’t there.

That would’ve been eerie on its own, but none of the main overhead lights were on. Instead, about half of the sculptures featured their own custom lighting arrangements that left faces, hands, or other body parts aglow while everything else in the room was in shadow.

And the sound was audible here, thanks to all the glass.

Alden ignored the outstretched arms and knowing expressions on the statues’ faces while he strode toward the windows that overlooked the street he’d just left.

Nothing.

But his body wouldn’t relax. He stood there, waiting, on the alert for a glimpse of the villain he’d fled.

Gradually, signs of wrongness appeared. Not down on the street, but some distance ahead, in the direction he’d been traveling in and to the left, around where the coast was.

“Oh,” he said softly, letting his forehead touch the glass as he tried to see better.

There was an area of darkness, as if something had taken a bite out of the island.

Most of the places in the evacuated neighborhoods weren’t completely lit. But there were street lamps, signage, windows, and occasionally an entire house with the lights left on. In that place, however, it was totally black.

Maybe the power’s just out. Maybe there’s a cove there or some other kind of place that doesn’t have lighting.

Or maybe there was a brand new cove there, one created in the past few minutes.

“I’m really uncomfortable with the fact that it’s ahead of us instead of behind us, Zeridee.”

He’d been picturing the danger at his back, chasing him. And ahead of him—really, not that far away—there would be people, tall buildings, superheroes, battle groups…safety.

We could get cut off.

He walked the perimeter of the gallery, looking out in every direction, trying to understand what was happening out there in the dark.

“I think…”

He trailed off because he didn’t know what he thought. There was another blocky multi-story building in the direction they needed to go in. Several minutes of his fastest burdened walking pace, by his reckoning.

I could do jog-rest-jog. Keep moving out of the evacuation zone, stop every time I hit a concrete building at least a few stories tall for a breather and head upstairs to check out the landscape.

Doing it that way sounded like some sort of plan.

I think it makes sense. I don’t want to get in a situation again where I’m down at street level with no idea what’s going on up ahead or behind me, so heading up high to do periodic checks is good. Don’t want to run toward a patch where all the lights have gone out, right?

The plan came with new worries.

If the power goes out everywhere I’m not going to be able to see anything.

What if the next building I aim for has a door like a bank vault?

What if the next time I try to talk to Zeridee, the blood loss finally gets her and she faints?

“Yeah,” he said, deliberately ignoring his own inner questioner. “It’s a good plan. I think a short rest and regroup while I keep my eyes on things and try to figure out what’s going on out there is the right choice. I’ll do something about my fucked up toes and try to fix the straps on this Canadian man’s sandals. Oh, and let’s find ourselves some light switches!”

Inspired by Instructor Klein’s technique on the bridge earlier, Alden wanted to make the gallery lights flash an SOS by flicking a switch over and over. He was foiled by technological “advancement.” Instead of switches, there was only a lighting control panel accessed via the screen by the elevator.

“Listen, you dumb seal,” he said, poking the giggling animal in the forehead. “You and I both know that there is no reason to password protect the lights! You’re just afraid I’m going to get a good look at some of the freakier statues hiding in the shadows!”

He abandoned the project since it was cutting into his self-imposed “rest and regroup” plan and went to sit down.

The only seats in the room were benches lining the windows on two sides. They were made of translucent acrylic so that they didn’t distract from the art. He took a corner one so that he could prop his back against the wall and still see out, facing in the direction he planned to head.

He spent a couple of minutes adjusting his shoes, fighting his way out of the poncho—because it was getting messed up anyway and he was hot—and getting himself situated on the bench in as comfortable a position as he could find with a whole other person resting on him.

“Okay,” he said at last. “I’ve got to be totally honest, Zeridee. I wish you weren’t hurt, but I’m glad you can’t see me now.”

Playing a game of “the floor is lava for the person I’m holding” while he tried to adjust his clothing and examine his own feet was inelegant to say the least.

Now I sit here and I watch and I make decisions. Calmly.

Yeah, right.

He was already fidgeting even though he was finally getting the chance to sit, just because not running felt wrong.

The roaring seemed to have diminished. He stared out, trying to watch for changes in the cityscape.

People are up ahead.

The lights of downtown Apex were there, curving around the crescent, so close and so far at the same time. He hoped the guys were all right.

They’re definitely more all right than me.

He pulled his attention back toward nearer destinations. The building he’d mentally marked as his next stopping point was in view.

We’ll aim for it when we leave. I could take the stimulant injector there.

The label warned about sudden onset tiredness after it wore off, and he was leery about using it until he was just a little more sure that salvation was within reach.

For a while longer, he stared out, hoping to spot signs of life, signs of danger, signs telling him where help might be.

“I wanted this place to keep me safe.”

He shifted Zeridee’s weight. The way he’d positioned her was making one of his legs go numb.

“Anesidora, I mean. That’s not all I wanted from it, but it’s probably the main thing. Chaos is supposed to stay out there, with you Artonans. It’s not supposed to chase me to Earth.”

Matadero was supposed to be nothing—a blip that happened, and then he would hear about it on the news and forget it again. Like it had been every year of his life up until tonight.

“I would like to file a complaint with the ambassador. As an Avowed, I expect safe and comfortable living conditions when I’m off-duty. It’s only fair. The demon cube should be moved to whatever place on Earth is as far from Anesidora as possible. So you guys just pull some wizards together, act all mighty like you did when you showed up eighty years ago, and tell the rest of Earth you’re going to plonk it down somewhere else.

“And if the cube can’t be moved, you can plonk whatever’s left of this place elsewhere instead.”

He watched the dark place up ahead, wondering. Waiting for more lights to go out.

“Hey,” he said finally. “You weren’t about to tell me to put you down, were you? Before I preserved you again. It sounded a little like you were.”

He looked at the top of her head.

“Don’t do that to me, Zeridee. I know we only just met, but you’re…”

He hadn’t asked himself what she was. Or why he hadn’t seriously considered abandoning her now that they’d gone from a very minimal risk level to a situation that felt way more dangerous.

It hadn’t felt like a question that needed asking.

She was kind. She’d been left behind at least partially for his sake. She was the sort of person who fretted over the safety of her human neighbors, and she’d thrown her broken body at an Avowed who had tried to murder Alden.

And she’d killed him.

“You remind me too much of too many people who have been important in my life. Pieces of each of them.”

Kibby, Hannah, Arjun Thomas, Thenn-ar.

If she asks me to put her down, and she seems to be having a lucid moment, I guess I have to do it.

But then what happens to us?

“Please don’t ask. It’s really not heroic of me,” said Alden. “You’ve made me care about you just that fast. I still see ways for us both to get out of this together, and I don’t want to find out what it feels like to leave you behind. That’s all.”

******

Back downstairs, Alden gave himself a last minute pep talk while he drank from a water cooler.

I’m up for a jog to get to the next building. Move forward steadily. If I think it’s about to get really dangerous and I’m three quarters of the way there, I’ll keep going. If I haven’t made it that far, I’ll turn back.

He’d decided three quarters of the distance should be his cut-off instead of half, since he didn’t know what the exact situation with the other building would be. It might take him a few minutes to get inside or he might discover it was impossible and have to haul ass toward the next best thing.

This place had the advantage of being a known quantity.

He refilled his paper cup again, and the cooler released one giant blub as water poured from the tap.

He drank, crushed the cup, and dropped it into the trash.

He felt ready to move. He’d already washed the blood off his hands. Zeridee was slung across his back, her braid wrapped around his chest and shoulders.

All right. Let’s go. This isn’t a Thegund level tribulation. Just a bad night. It doesn’t matter whether the System’s answering me or not. I’m getting us both to safety within the hour.

Determined, driven, and focused on the journey ahead, he headed for the exit.

And froze at the sight of a pale-skinned, dark-haired man wearing nothing but a bright red swim brief. His back was to Alden, and he was pulling open the puzzle door. He stepped out into the night. As the door swung shut behind the man, Alden saw him throw his arms out and stand on his bare tiptoes, head tipped back for a big inhale.

“This is your night, Liam!” he shouted. “This your time! Become more than—”

The door closed, cutting off his voice, and the lock Alden had broken clicked a few times.

His thoughts, which had gone momentarily blank, came back online.

“Sir!” he shouted, running down the hall. “Dude! Liam in the tiny swimsuit! Wait!”

He flung open the door and ran out onto the sidewalk.

Where’d he go!?

Alden whipped around. He couldn’t see the guy anywhere.

“Liam!” he yelled as loud as he could. “Liam! Where are you?!”

Oh fuck he’s gone. He must be running. Turned the corner up ahead? If I just…

He kept shouting, racing toward the intersection, and just as he reached the crosswalk, he heard someone call back.

“Hey! You good over there?”

Alden looked around to see the man in the swimsuit standing in the other crosswalk, across the intersection. The pedestrian lights were flashing for both of them.

“What’s that on your back?” Liam called.

An image of the woman on the motorcycle shaking her head and abandoning him flashed through Alden.

“She’s alive!” he shouted. “I’m trying to get her to someone who can help! She only looks like this because of my skill. I’m definitely not a murderer!”

“Somebody’s hurt?” The man bounded toward him. His eyes widened as he got close enough to get a better look at Alden and Zeridee. “Ho wow! What happened to you!? That’s an Artonan. That’s a very bloody Artonan. And she’s real stiff.”

“That’s my skill. It’s preser—timestopping her and shielding her. What…”

What are you doing here in swimwear? Why were you headed toward the coast? Have you seen anyone else?

Alden settled on the question that mattered the most. “Can you help us somehow?”

The man was hovering around Alden’s back now, staring at Zeridee, so Alden had to look over his shoulder to see him properly.

“What?” Liam asked.

“Can you help us?” Alden repeated. “I’m trying to get out of here as fast as possible. I don’t know my way around the area, and—”

“Of course!” Liam exclaimed. “You’ve obviously had a hell of night already. What in Apex happened to you two? Did you come from that way? Did something go wrong with the evac up there?”

He pointed in the direction Alden had mentally marked as unsafe—the place where all the lights were out.

“No. We came from the Artonan ambassador’s house. It’s a long story.”

“Well, don’t worry. Unless your skill’s at risk of giving out? In that case, we might need to worry.” He ran a hand through his hair and looked up and down the street. “We’re nowhere near an emergency department, and I don’t really know how I would help with something like this.”

“I can hold her and keep her this way for a long time,” said Alden. “Running far would be hard, but if we walk—”

“You’re set then. Yeah. I know a place that’s safe.”

“You do?”

The man was nodding. “Yes. If you can really keep the Artonan petrified…you’re a hundred percent sure she won’t die of her wounds when she’s like that? She looks kind of…not healthy.”

“I can keep her like this,” Alden said firmly. “She won’t die.”

“Then you’re good, buddy! What’s your class? Healer? Never mind. I’ve got you covered. Yeah, yeah…oh, and we can probably use one of Tina’s spells to send a message ahead. For a good cause…definitely!”

Alden’s faith in humanity had taken some critical hits tonight. This guy was restoring it fast.

“Thank you so much. Who’s Tina? And where—?”

“Follow me!”

******

Liam Long led Alden right back into Apogee Artist Spaces, talking ninety miles an hour the whole way. The “safe place” he knew about was the ground floor studio he shared with his brother and sister. The brother and sister were B-rank students at Celena North University; Liam was a B-rank too. He had just graduated. The guys were Brutes. The sister was an Adjuster.

According to Liam, Apogee’s ground floor boom rooms were the perfect “base of operations” during a natural disaster. Basically, the things were reinforced concrete boxes that allowed artists to get more violently creative with their powers than was allowed in the upstairs studios. Hence, no windows and thick doors.

“The old lady in the studio across the hall films herself smashing through all sorts of things. Bet you’ve seen some of her work in movies! Cannonball Betty? We never hear a sound.”

That does sound good, but…

“Did anyone say the rooms were safe to hide in during a magical flood, though?” Alden was watching Liam input his code into the panel by the door of Boom Room 6. “Or a regular flood even? Are they waterproof? Have they been rated for external impacts by, like, an engineer?”

His code is just 123123123?

Alden was memorizing it in case he needed to leave and come back for some reason.

Liam seemed a little too nonchalant about the ongoing disaster.

“Of course they couldn’t officially let people shelter here. There are only a few rooms. But my siblings and I all agreed it was safe enough. You can stay here in our boom room. I’ll get back to the others quick and tell them about you. Tina’s got a spell that will signal friends back on campus if any of us get into trouble. When they get it, they’ll know to send someone this way. You just sit tight!”

He smiled comfortingly and pushed open the door, gesturing for Alden to step inside.

Alden did take a step inside. Then the lights came on automatically, and he reversed course so quickly he almost fell down.

“Thank you so much, but Zeridee and I are just going to head toward downtown on our own! Nice meeting you. Sorry to bother you. I think I’ll be fast enough to get where I’m going. I hope you and your brother and sister and everyone you know have a wonderful time together in your bathing suits. See—”

“Wait!” shouted Liam.

No way.

Alden was down the hall grabbing the puzzle-piece doorknob in a heartbeat. The man’s bare feet were slapping the floor behind him.

“It’s not a torture chamber!” Liam shouted.

“I’m sure it’s not!” Alden shouted back as he shot outside. “No judgment! Just going now. For multiple personal reasons!”

He ran as fast as he could.

Liam Long caught up to him, passed him, and skidded to a halt in front of him.

He’s faster than me. I’m screwed.

“Kid, it’s not a torture chamber! I mean it sort of is, but—”

Maybe if I kick him hard enough in the nuts.

“My brother and sister and I just use it to scare ourselves.”

“I’m sure. Like I said. No judgment. I just realized I felt like running right now.”

Kick him and then kick him again.

“I know it looks weird!” Liam waved his hands. “But we just get together and scare the shit out of each other. I swear.”

“Why?” Alden demanded.

“Because…” He dropped his arms and gave Alden an embarrassed smile. “We’re doing it to help each other level.”


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