I ran another couple miles, pacing the horses and building cardio. I hated it. Every sweaty minute of it. I tried to keep cool with my aura, but I’d lose concentration while heaving for air and the heat would start baking me. I quit smoking nearly twenty years ago, but my lungs were crap because I had smoked for two decades prior when I believed in the immortality of my youth.

Young people are stupid, and I was their king.

Sassy kept up easily, her tongue lolling out of her beak like a bright red pennant as she paced alongside me. The smoke got worse as we neared Covington, covering the sky in a stinking orange haze. We passed dozens of blackened vehicles scattered along the road, burnt offerings to the transportation system. I swung up on Miguel as we crossed the city line.

Instructing my bond-beasts to keep close, we plodded around the wrecks and burned husks making our way south to the interstate. It looked like a nuclear bomb had gone off, everything was twisted and blackened, every single building a burned ruin. Fire had swept through the area and consumed everything.

Where are all the people? The silence is overwhelming.

Keeping to the grassy median between the highways, we cautiously covered the four miles to the interstate. Here and there among the devastation were intact buildings, including a small ACE hardware store. Unable to pass up such an opportunity, I made a a small detour.

Both windows were busted and the front door was open. Someone had looted the place already, but I ventured inside because the stuff I was looking for wouldn’t be considered valuable. Everything was soaking wet from the sprinkler system that had activated when the fires started and the smell of mould filled the air.

I wandered in the gloom with Sassy following close behind me, her mind filled with curiosity at all the strange smells. Stumbling over items that had been tossed from the shelves, I kicked my way through the scattered hardware until my eyes adjusted a bit. Near the camping section, a set of clothing was lying on the floor. Shirt, pants, socks and shoes laid out like a murder scene. Glittering faintly where the head would be was a small white stone. I picked it up with a psychic tentacle, sensing the power inside but still unable to tap into it.

It suddenly struck me, I’d been passing strewn clothing for over an hour now. Were people, corpses, somehow evaporating into motes of light? Were all the corpses turning into mana?

Pocketing the stone, I rooted around blindly until I found some canvas tool pouches and snatched them up. First goal achieved, I started hunting for the true object of my desire — Nails. I had managed to recover three of my railroad spikes but it was obvious that I was going to keep losing them. Nails were’t nearly as good as a half pound iron spike in my opinion, but nails should be plentiful.

The hardware section didn’t disappoint with the nail selection. I filled one bag with four inch galvanised and another with ten inch. Satisfied with my haul, I headed outside with an extra handful of each to test them. Looking around for a suitable target, I settled on a cinderblock building on the other side of the parking lot.

Holding a four incher in my hand, I compressed my aura like I was making a muscle and flung it at the wall. It exploded out of my hand and smashed into the cinderblock with a satisfying thud but didn’t penetrate. Deciding that what I needed was some rifling on the psychic guns, I tried imparting some spin to the next one with no success. It took another dozen tries before I sank one into the wall, and another trip in to the hardware section for resupply before I could do it consistently. The ten inchers were easier to spin and I cracked a smile at the thought of nailing something to the wall.

One final trip inside yielded some glass mason jars for the bleach, steel jerry cans for the water, and I scored a couple of jugs of steel BB’s and tossed them into another pouch. The BBs gave exactly the results you would expect — telekinetic shotgun.

While I was practising with the BBs, I felt Sassy discover something small and tasty in the back of the store and stun it. She came out of building carrying an oversized rat in her beak, then dropped it at my feet.

Grabbing her ugly head in both hands, I gave her a good scritching. “Good girl, Sassy.”

Her tongue flopped out at the attention. “G’grrl!”

“Yup. Good girl. You eat the rat. I have my own lunch.”

She snapped it up and swallowed it whole, then wrapped her whiskers affectionally around my legs. Not my first choice in a pet, but her loyalty was unquestionable thanks to our bond. Untangling myself, I inspected the horses then mounted Miguel and headed towards the interstate.

We travelled three miles through the ruins of Covington and turned west on I-12. The Tchefuncte river was just a couple miles ahead and the horses could rest for the evening if the bridge was clear. Only forty-ish miles left. I’d see Astrid on Sunday afternoon if I pushed a bit harder tomorrow.

Burned cars and lorries were scattered across the interstate, forcing me to keep the horses either to the side or the median between. I felt both were bad choices, but the thought of being exposed in the median made me itch between my shoulders. I’d take my chances with the strip of grass and sparse trees that grew on the side of the road. It was nearly sunset by the time we made it to the bridge.

It was was clear under the bridge, although there were signs that people had used it recently for fishing. Unpacking the horses, I turned them loose with a command to stay nearby then started gathering up some firewood after I’d filled the jerry cans with water and treated them with bleach.

Sassy went off hunting, her tentacles twitching like antenna. I wondered if she could sense things like I could.

Supper was a lukewarm MRE and Sassy returned with a possum, offering to share it. Possum wasn’t my favourite, so I politely declined and let her have it. She consumed it in three snaps, including the yellow mana stone lodged in its heart. I watched as it was digested, yellow motes flowing through her body until they merged with the cloud of technicolour motes swirling around the indigo spark in her heart.

“So what do you think, Sassy?” I said to my new bond companion. “Should we light a fire or no? The benefits are that it might keep predators away, but the detriment is that it might attract unwanted attention.”

Spinning in a slow circle, she settled at my feet and wrapped a couple of whiskers around my leg, projecting thoughts of contentment.

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” I said after a moment. “A fire would probably attract unwanted attention and I don’t really need light to see in the dark anyway.” Settling back against the concrete embankment, I practised with my aura while the sun fell below the horizon, accompanied by the strange mental chatter of my bonded companions.

A rainbow of motes swirled around me as I flexed my power, sweeping out with my aura, pushing, testing the limits of my power. I turned my vision inwards and tried to see myself without stepping outside my body.

Every breath I took filled my lungs with motes. They swirled and a few of them entered my bloodstream. I modulated my breathing, seeking the most efficient means of drawing in the tiny specks of power and trapping them inside me. Deep breath, pause, short exhale, small breath, pause, short exhale, deep breath.

The longer I kept the motes in my lungs, the better they absorbed. They swirled around my veins and arteries, pumping through my heart and into my head where they were drawn towards the multicoloured cloud of motes surrounding the spark in my head and were pulled into the golden accretion disk where they changed colour.

If everything else has a heart stone, I’ll call this a spirit stone.

I pushed at the accretion disk I had created, spinning it faster and faster, gathering motes from the surrounding cloud which in turn sucked more from my bloodstream. As I concentrated on imparting energy to the disk, it stuttered, fragmented, then assumed a dense fractal pattern which pulsed in time with my heartbeat and fed silver motes into my alabastrine core. [1]

Darkness consumed me.

Sassy chirped in my mind, rousing me from shadowy dreams where I flew over a blasted hellscape searching for my kids. Clawing my way back to consciousness, I could sense her fear and suspicion through the bond. Something was out there, something that smelled funny - human, but not-human.

I grabbed for Mister Hatchet and my spikes while pinging my psychic radar for the source of Sassy’s concern. My ears could hear snapping and crackling as something pushed through the brush near the river with no concern for stealth. Something large. Something not on my radar.

Pushing out my psychic radar, I listened for the intruder and tried to identify it. The woods were only 30 yards away, covered in early morning mist glowing a soft gold in the dawn light, but I strained to reach it. Sassy clacked her beak next to me, the tentacles around her neck erect and quivering like petals on a flower.

I couldn’t sense the presence that had Sassy spooked, but I could hear it with my ears. It tromped closer, confident, uncaring if anything heard it. The heavy footsteps stopped for a moment and I drew a breath in anticipation, waiting for it to emerge from the woods. A skinny green arm pushed through the dense underbrush and a hideous face soon followed.

It was seven foot tall, skinny, with thick yellow claws on arms that reached its knees, and baby blue eyes squinting in the early morning light. A patch of dingy, straw-like hair crowned a misshapen head that sported a face straight out of a horror movie. Several dark tattoos covered its arms and bare chest. Whatever it is now, it was human once. [2]

“Do you understand me?” I yelled. “Are you friendly?”

It paused, then scratched its hairy crotch and sniffed its fingers before lumbering towards me.

“Stop, or I’ll hurt you!” I shouted, unwilling to imitate hostilities. I could see thick veins of black corruption flowing from the greenish spark near its heart like soy sauce, which didn’t give me much hope for resolving this encounter peacefully.

“Smell horsies,” it rumbled. “Jack hungry.”

“My horses, Jack,” I said, gripping Mister Hatchet tight. “Go find your breakfast elsewhere.”

The green abomination paused, considering the fact that the horsies might belong to someone else.

“No,” it said, lumbering towards me. “Jack eat horsies. Maybe little man too.”

I launched a spike into its guts, followed by another into its chest. The monster twisted with the impact, falling to the ground with a horrible scream. I watched as it rolled over and clawed its way across the dirt back to the woods, squeezing Mister Hatchet until my fingers ached.

Flinging a command at the horses, I called them under the bridge from where they had wandered. It was time to leave, get out of here and find my family before other monstrosities crawled out of the woods.

Jack reached the edge of the tree line and pushed to his feet, pulling at something in his chest. Turning, he held up the railroad spike in long, thin fingers and examined it dumbly. He looked at me and squinted his eyes.

The spike came flying at me before I could register the attack, smashing into the dirt next to my feet and barely missing Sassy. She slapped her tentacles back along her body and vanished.

Vanished like she never existed. Our bond stretched into an infinitely thin thread thrumming with desire and intent. [3]

An instant later she blinked into existence behind Jack and wrapped her whiskers around his leg, causing him to jerk and fall face down in the dirt again. I recovered from my surprise and ran towards the abomination, urged on by her mental connection, intent on burying Mister Hatchet in his head.

Sassy snapped a chunk out of Jack’s calf, causing the mutant to roll over and kick at her. She dodged back and slapped him with her tentacles again, which made him spasm and grab at the dirt with his spindly fingers while his back arched. Raising my weapon overhead, I slammed it down with all the force I could muster.

And sank it into his shoulder.

Jack roared in agony, flinging back a scaly green arm that impacted my chest. I flew back like I was hit by a truck, ribs snapping like twigs. Adrenaline kicked in while I fought for breath, fought to roll over, fought to focus my aura, fought against the encroaching darkness to heal my broken body. Liver, lungs, punctured. Spleen lacerated. Struggling against the damage I pulled at the golden motes swirling around my spark, causing them to flood my bloodstream. Power flooded through my veins, pushing ribs back into place, healing torn muscles and organs. I screamed in agony as pain overwhelmed the endorphins and adrenaline that flooded my body.

Sucking air and dirt into my tortured lungs, I coughed, spat blood, and scrambled across the muddy ground towards my bags of nails. I could hear Sassy harassing Jack behind me. Turning my head, I watched as green motes crawled out from his heart spark, healing his wounds even as she bit and clawed at him.

Troll. Jack is a goddamned troll.

Directing Sassy to keep Jack occupied, I crawled to Sparky and pulled myself to my feet. Grabbing a handful of nails, I telepathed Sassy to get clear and launched them into Jack. He howled in agony as the galvanised steel tore into his flesh, and howled again as another round impacted seconds later.

Sassy trotted up beside me as I launched a third volley into the monster, causing it to scramble for the nearby woods, flailing like it was being attacked by wasps. I sent another volley at his retreating figure and began loading up the horses. Sparky and Miguel stamped impatiently for me to saddle them and strap the saddlebags on, pushing worry through our link. I sent back thoughts of comfort and patience, promising that we would be out of here soon.

I could hear Jack howling in the woods, his echos answered by other howls. It was time to get on the road again.

Sassy ran back out into the clearing and returned with Mister Hatchet gripped in her beak. Giving her a good head scritch, I strapped my inanimate companion to the saddle, retrieved my last spike from the dirt where Jack had thrown it, and pulled myself onto Miguel. It took three tries before I could mount, my ribs and gut screaming against the abuse. I can’t control my thoughts, they keep racing, anticipating Jack coming back for me.

Climbing back up the incline, we clattered onto the highway and retreated, trotting towards Hammond. I cycled my aura through my damaged body, drawing upon the spark in my head to heal the damage the troll did to me with a single swipe of his arm.

I’m thirsty. So. damn. thirsty.

Footnotes

1. As one cultivates mana, the accretion disk becomes thicker and acquires a fractal-like appearance allowing it to store more energy. In a level one environment, this can take several years. For this reason, mana dense areas are highly valued, despite the dangers.

2. Jack is the first instance of a Troll (Homo sapiens troglodytam) Status: Hostile Sentient.

Moderately intelligent and highly territorial, these abominations will regenerate even if nothing is left but their heart. Fire will damage and deter them, but to truly destroy a troll you must remove the mana stone from their heart. Some tribes and individuals are known to be less hostile than others.

3. Sassy is a Void Cat (Felis catus inanis) Status: Hostile Pack Predator. Bondable.

Void cats are able to transverse the Void up to 50 yards depending on line of sight and available mana. They also possess six prehensile sensory whiskers approximately one yard in length that can detect and absorb mana in addition to carrying a powerful electric shock.

Copyright © 2021, Conteur. All Rights Reserved.

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