Rogan's Monsters 3: Temple, page 16
22
“Gamma!” I shouted, and I wasn’t the only one. Ash and Zera had both turned in time to see what had happened, and both of them voiced cries that echoed my own. Ecco and Camille looked momentarily confused, before realization dawned.
I couldn’t keep the unity I had going with Camille. It fell apart, leaving me effectively powerless as the Wraith bore Gamma away. But Zera didn’t hesitate, taking off as fast as her delicate wings would let her, tearing through the rain as if she had the power to wrest Gamma away from Kaige L’obo all by herself.
As if the sight of the beautiful butterfly girl woke me from my trance, I spun to the others, knowing that there were no good options from this point.
I couldn’t fling bolts of chi at the retreating form of the Wraith, not without risking striking Gamma herself. If I gave chase, I would be leaving Ecco, Camille and Ash to fend for themselves against the remaining Hydra creatures, and only Ecco had proven effective against them.
At the same time, I couldn’t just stand there while the Wraith made off with Gamma.
The same thoughts must have gone through the heads of everyone present.
“Go!” Ash said. “Get her back!”
It sounded like a command, but there was a note of pleading in the big woman’s voice. We were all on Gamma’s quest to find the Hidden Temple. But there was more than that conveyed in Ash’s simple words. The raw grief she managed to express was about friendship, even love.
A quick glance at Ecco and Camille, and I could see Ash’s words echoed there. “Go,” Camille said, and Ecco nodded, her eyes full of hope.
“I’m going,” I said. There were only a couple of graboids still remaining, and Ecco’s toxin would take care of them. But there was one thing I needed to check. Belatedly, I demanded of Camille something I should have asked earlier.
“Are there others?” I asked the lizard woman. “Are there any more Wraiths around?”
Camille shook her head. “Not that I can tell,” she said.
I didn’t hesitate any longer, instead hurling myself into the Divine Steps, lightening my feet so that my first Divine-guided strides took me halfway up the nearest mesa, and my next took me to the top. From there, I focused everything I had on the retreating form of the Wraith, its flickering, unstable movement seeming to distract my eye as it lurched from mesa to mesa, a long way in the distance.
I cursed, gritted my teeth, and put all the effort I could muster into increasing my speed. I ignored the fat drops of rain, ignored also the shining beacon of light that was the Temple, glowing brightly even in the gloom beneath the thickening clouds.
All that mattered was the Wraith in the distance, and Gamma.
I couldn’t help but think of the last time I had gone after a Wraith like this. Then, it had been Vesh D’Agon when he had abducted Ecco. This was the same and yet different.
This time, I was dealing with a twisted, shadowy creature that I didn’t quite understand.
But that didn’t mean I couldn’t use the same trick I had done back then. Especially when I caught up with Zera, who was crying and gasping at the same time, the butterfly girl not built for extended bursts of speed. She had done her best to keep pace with the Wraith, and while her top speed was a match for him, she could not maintain it.
I caught up with her easily, pulling her from the air, and crushing her delicate body against me. At first, Zera struggled, and I knew she had mistaken me for another Wraith.
“It’s okay,” I said to her. “It’s me.”
Zera wiped her eyes and calmed herself down. “I tried,” she said. “But he is too fast.”
“It’s okay. We’ll do this together.”
With that, I reached out with my chi. The union I formed with Zera was perhaps the most enjoyable of all. She had a lightness to her nature that seemed to make all the world’s problems just drift away. Even now, the touch of her soul was soothing.
Less powerful than Ash’s or any of the others, but still powerful enough.
I breathed deeply, and with Zera clutched to my side, I hurled my chi into my great sword, whirling us both about until we were pointing the right direction, performing a full three-sixty and then some, and then hurling my sword toward my target with everything I had.
The two of us flew across the top of the mesas, my feet barely touching the ground, Zera tucked in my arm almost like a child, the butterfly girl letting out a squeal that on another occasion might have been delight, but this time containing too much fear and surprise.
It was like hitting the turbo boost in a video game. All at once, the distance between us and the Wraith seemed to halve.
Even though the Wraith that had absconded with Gamma was still some way out in front, I knew that another effort, maybe two, would be enough. I would catch them, and then I would separate the Wraith’s head from his shoulders.
But the Wraith hadn’t given up. He darted this way and that, never quite moving in a straight line, almost seeming to disappear from one spot, to reappear in the next. He was an inky black shadow, cast by a creature of evil, and even though he was too far away as yet, I imagined that I could still hear his cynical laugh.
I whirled my great sword around a second time and hurled it before me again. Like Thor’s hammer, the chi I threw into the task drew me and Zera behind it, as if I had thrown the both of us instead of my sword.
It was almost enough. My efforts very nearly brought me all the way to the Wraith.
But I lacked the strength. My second attempt to bridge the distance between us brought Zera and me up short by the length of a mesa.
Even then, it should have been enough. But there was a reason why Camille had sensed no other Wraith back where we had been attacked.
Loom Natas was there, waiting in ambush.
The monstrous Wraith’s first act was to reach out with his own dark chi, and drain the strength of the unity I had formed with Zera. I had been whirling my blade about for the third time, intending to hurl the two of us toward Loom Natas, intending to lop the monster’s head off without putting Gamma at risk.
But suddenly, Loom Natas’ intrusion knocked me off balance. For the first time since I had woken in this world, the Divine Steps betrayed me. I wobbled out of control, spilling Zera one way and myself another, crashing to the ground on the top of a mesa, and almost skidding over the edge.
Such was the surprise that Zera didn’t have time to save herself. Instead of flapping her wings in the rain, taking the brunt of our momentum, she crashed to the ground as I did, grunting in pain as she rolled to a stop.
For a moment, I didn’t know what happened. Then Loom Natas decided to gloat.
“And so one captive becomes three,” the loathsome creature droned. “Your strength will become that of our Queen.”
I spat an obscenity as I whirled around to see the oversized Wraith standing at the edge of the same mesa Zera and I were on, with the twisted one not far beyond on a smaller, less stable-looking mound of dirt. Kaige L’obo had stopped running. He still held Lady Gamma tightly, and I could see even from the distance that she was no longer struggling.
I hoped that this was because the misshapen Wraith had drained her chi to the point where she was unconscious, or otherwise put her to sleep. I didn’t want to entertain the possibility that whatever he had done was more permanent.
“The fuck it will!” I shouted to the Wraith, and exploded towards him, spinning in a complete circle even though I was too far away for my blade to come close.
I didn’t care. These ugly mutant beasts had taken Lady Gamma. Difficult, demanding Lady Gamma, whom I had started off hating, but whom I had grown to respect and admire, and who was without doubt the glue that held us all together.
With a howl of rage, I pumped chi into my blade, and as I completed my turn, I unleashed that power in a scything movement, a razor-sharp arc of argent energy slicing through the rain toward the oversized Wraith.
Such was the venom and hate I put into the task that my arc of power would have sliced through any of the mesas we had crossed so far. It should have sliced the monster in half where he stood. But this Wraith, like Vesh D’Agon before him, was bathed in dark chi armor.
My chi blade struck him, forced him back a pace and a half—and shattered into fragments of light.
But I wasn’t done. This new technique I had discovered held promise, so without getting any closer than I was, I executed half a dozen additional steps, whipping my blade around in every direction, sending arc after arc of argent fire cutting through the air, each one aimed to cut through the oversized Wraith’s protection and slice him into sections like a butcher at work.
But the Wraith’s dark chi proved my match. Again and again, the oversized Wraith gathered his chi around him, blocking my efforts with his hands as best as he could, and weathering the impact of my chi arcs if he could not.
Many of my attacks got through his guard, but all except one shattered harmlessly against his cloak of darkness. And that one that got through, the one that held its form against the monster’s strength, barely cut a line on his cheek.
Even so, it gave me hope. Even without the unity I enjoyed with Zera, even without the boost in strength it gave me, I could do this. My base level strength was enough to do the job.
If I launched another twenty, another fifty or so strikes, perhaps I could cut him into ribbons. And then I would bury my blade into his chest, carve out whatever foul organ he used as a heart, and move on to the twisted wreck that had taken my Gamma.
But I had forgotten the Wraith’s most potent weapon.
Even as I launched my most significant attack, my teeth bared in a grimace of determination, the oversized Wraith reached out with his inky black chi, engulfing me fully.
I felt my strength ebbing away even as I moved through the Divine Steps, the air suddenly as thick as treacle, slowing my movements from an almost impossible speed to a crawl.
Even so, I managed to direct two, three, and one more of my arcs of chi power at the monster. But they were mere shadows of those I had produced at the start, and they bounced off the monster’s chi shield without doing any damage.
The twisted monster that held Gamma filled the air with its sinister laugh, and Loom Natas repeated a refrain that I had grown to despise.
“Your strength will be added to that of my Queen,” it said.
I felt the strength drain from me in waves, and knew I was done. How Ash had fought against the twisted Wraith’s black sludge for as long as she had, I had no idea. Perhaps her chi reserves had been higher to start with.
But I had been using my chi as if I had an endless supply, expending as much as I had to keep myself and my companions alive.
I was at a low ebb, and this monster’s chi draining ability was more than enough. I stood in place, a snarl twisting my lips, refusing to buckle. But my arms felt like they weighed several tons, and I knew that if I tried to swing my blade one more time, I would end up face down in the dirt.
I didn’t want to admit it. Didn’t want to give these nasty creatures the pleasure of knowing they had won. But I was beaten. Beaten by a combination of my own hubris and the insidious dark chi skills of these Wraiths.
I willed myself to keep standing, to face my doom on my feet, and my only regret was that I had failed to protect Gamma, and that the others would have to continue alone.
With the last of my strength, knowing that this monster was draining me right to the end, I grated an apology to Gamma. Then I willed myself to take one more step, to cross as much distance as I could, intent on burying my blade in this monster if it was the last thing I did.
But even that, it seemed, was going to be denied me. It was like I weighed several tons, and even that small step had taken almost more than I had. Even so, I prepared to take another, and another, as many as it took, knowing I would never make it close to my target.
“Rogan!” said Zera. The butterfly girl had recovered from her tumble and had taken to the air. She stayed out of the Wraith’s reach, and for that I was glad. Perhaps she could return to the others and let them know what had happened.
“Go!” I grated, the rainwater gathering on my cheeks, on my forehead, dripping off the end of my nose and my chin. It was all I could manage, and even that took it out of me.
Almost, I fell. I swayed on my feet, and might have gone down, but I willed myself to stay standing. Somehow, I still gripped my sword, the tip of it dragging in the ground. My only hope was that Zera would listen to me and leave.
She did not. “Bond with my chi!” she said. “It will give you strength!”
But I knew in my soul that I was already too far gone for that. I shook my head, managed one more word. “Can’t,” I said.
For just a moment, I took my attention away from the monster and glanced at the butterfly girl. Zera was hovering in the rain, looking between the two of us. At first, she seemed uncertain, not understanding what I meant. But then she understood.
“Meditate,” she said. “Recharge your chi at the same time. I know you can do it. I’ve seen you do it before.”
For the longest time, I stared at her. It was all I could do to force myself to keep breathing, to will my heart to continue to beat, so much had the monster taken from me. I was nothing but an empty husk of a man, devoid of all but the last spark of life. But Zera had given me a whisper of hope.
She was right. I had managed to do it before. I had opened myself to the energy of heaven while forming a union with Gamma, in order to save Ash’s life. I could do it again. And maybe, just maybe, it would be enough.
So I did as Zera suggested, opening myself to the energies of heaven, feeling the sweet strength of it fill my core even as the Wraith continued to drain me. It was like I was feeding the Wraith strength directly, and at first Loom Natas didn’t seem to mind in the least. I drew a deep breath, luxuriating in the relative ease of doing so, and knew that despite the Wraith’s best attempts, I could hold onto just enough chi energy to do as Zera said.
Without hesitation, I reached out to the butterfly girl and felt her chi merge with mine. Now the Wraith was draining both of us, and I knew we couldn’t hold the union for very long.
But I didn’t need it to hold for long. Just enough to aim a blast of pure power once more at the Wraith.
I did so, leveling such a bolt of pure power that not even he could withstand it. Not completely. I managed to break free of the monster’s dark chi, and as soon as I did, I began to breathe easier.
The oversized Wraith grunted with pain, but his twisted brother never stopped laughing. I thought that Loom Natas would resume the attack, or maybe they both would together. I stood at the ready, but instead, both the injured, oversized Wraith and his twisted brother turned tail and ran, skipping across mesas at such a high speed that I knew I could never keep pace.
I understood then that the whole thing had been an attempt to capture not just Gamma, but me as well, or at least whoever sought to follow. And it had very nearly worked.
But not quite.
As the two Wraiths disappeared with their prize, I finally allowed myself to collapse. I sat down on the mesa, folded myself up into the lotus position, and let the energies of heaven refill my core.
Only when I was fully recharged did I open my eyes. Zera was still with me. Wet and bedraggled, looking miserable in the rain. I smiled at her despite the pain of losing Gamma to the Wraiths.
“Come on,” I said, and even I could hear the despair in my voice. “Let’s get back to the others.”
23
The Wraiths were gone. I had no way to track them. No way to go after Gamma and rescue her from their clutches as I had done with Ecco before.
I stood on the top of the mesa, staring off into the distance, knowing that I had failed.
I was supposed to be Gamma’s protector. And I had all these powers with which to do the job.
If I’d had the same chi abilities back in my old life that I did now, then I could have scythed my way through the invading armada of alien spaceships all by myself, using my soul blade to punch my way through them, or simply standing on the ground and erupting into a powerful column of chi magic, knocking the fucking things out of the sky.
I wondered briefly if that’s what the message meant. You can save them. You can save all of them. Was that what this whole adventure was about? Granting me that chi skills I needed, so that when the priestess sent me back in time, I could be a one-man weapon, turning the spaceships into spare parts?
It seemed to be a fanciful idea. But, really, who was I to say what was possible or not? After all, I had woken up again, hundreds of years after I had taken my last breath.
And yet, despite all my skills, despite all of the possibilities that I might otherwise have never realized, Loom Natas and Kaige L’obo had beaten me.
They had absconded with Lady Gamma, and there was nothing I could do to get her back.
I took a deep, shuddering breath, and with the weight of my failure heavier than the whole world on my shoulders, Zera and I turned back the way we had come.
Nor was I the only one to feel my failure to keenly. Zera would have normally fluttered about, perhaps humming to herself, but more likely chatting away about whatever caught her interest, and just being generally her normal lively, upbeat self.
But now, the butterfly girl’s wings were still. In fact, they seemed to sag a little, to bear her down as she trudged at my side. And she was largely silent, an expression of her own despair more eloquent than any words.
I could have made the journey back swifter by summoning my chi once again, and hurling myself and Zera forward as I had done before. Perhaps, from a tactical perspective, I should have. For all I knew, Ash, Camille, and Ecco were still battling against the remaining hydra monsters. Perhaps they could have used my help.
But there were other ways to drain a man’s soul than by absorbing his chi, and the Wraith had found one that worked well for me.
So for the start of our journey, I plodded along, knowing it would take maybe an hour or so to return to the others.
