“This is a fairly well-made bridge,” Warden stated in his most casual tone, trying not to show the paranoia that was squirming within his brain as he walked along the lily pad construction. “How long do days last in this planet anyway?” he asked casually trying to check the position of the sun.

“Don’t know,” Surge replied after Wendy looked to him for answers. “I don’t exactly keep a timepiece on hand. Don’t you humans have biological clocks or something?”

“I’ve been sleeping irregularly lately,” Warden pointed out. “Hey Wendy…” he stopped as his secretary went rigid.

“Oh you picked it up,” Surge said calmly. “How’s your swimming, Boss?”

“Didn’t you say this water is pois__?” Warden started feeling a sudden state of alarm as the lily pad beneath his feet trembled slightly.

“Something big is beneath us, Chief,” Wendy said crouching down in an aimless state of readiness.

“So you only picked up the one,” Surge said with a dissonant sense of disappointment a moment before the calm lake water exploded in a tsunami that swept over the lily pads. Reflexively Warden grabbed onto Wendy as the red liquid hit his slammed into his lower legs nearly knocking him off his feet. A fierce numbing tingling started in his body as soon as the lake blood touched him and he nearly collapsed.

The bloody lake opened up to reveal a scarlet mountain rising from the depths almost indistinguishable from the hue of the lake. An unbearably loud screech hit him causing his skull to thrum with physical pain before it ratcheted up to an absurd level that forced him to stuff his fingers in his ears as his head felt like it was going to explode before it abruptly cut out. In front of him the bridge collapsed as a bloody meteor crashed down cutting off the path forward and sending further water splashing.

“SSssss,” he hissed as a droplet landed inside his eye a moment before he closed it causing it to feel like he had just taken pepper eye-drops. He retaliated instantly with a shot from his pistol which easily landed even with one eye shut and saw it fizzled against the thick armour of the behemoth in front of him. Not that he expected it to after seeing the sight before him.

If the previously dangerous crustaceans that they battled with were equal to tanks then this was nothing less than a battleship that could crush an entire army. It towered over all the other parties; veiled in bloody red mist from which strange appendages protruded that hinted at a sense of awe-inspiring scale. This was the kind of giant monster that you saw in the movies wreaking havoc before the army was called in. With a pang of horror Warden watched the massive silhouette raised dozens of blood-red pincers that must have each weighed at least a ton before it brought them down to slam the surface of the water and the lily pads indiscriminately.

Without any chance to resist he felt himself grabbed by Wendy who flung themselves backwards off the lily pad and towards the lake. Moments before both of them hit the water a large bone platform formed beneath them and Wendy landed on it a moment before the tide engulfed them. Seconds after the landing the wave hit the bone platform and Warden braced himself for the inevitable soaking before his bodyguard lashed out with the hand not holding him and the tide froze where it stood quickly condensing into a protective wall of ice.

“Oh right I forgot you could freeze stuff,” Warden remarked in a remarkably calm manner considering the situation. “Why don’t you do that more often?”

“It’s a bit taxing on me, Chief,” Wendy said setting him down on the bone bridge. “Should I return you to shore?”

“It’s about twenty minutes away,” Warden brutally cut that option off as he shot a side-glance to the far off land mass. “Are any of the Mushrooms left? Do we have any__” As he spoke the waters of the ground exploded as countless lily pad’s burst from the river turning the red of the lake into a blue-green floor. Countless Persona Hyphum spread out standing on the various lily pads and Warden watched with appreciation as their previous assortment of swords, spear, clubs, axes, maces and various melee weapons transformed into various muskets the size of hand cannons that ineffectively peppered the misty form.

“Looks like they are quite sprightly still, Sir,” Wendy said.

“They have no way of resisting that thing though,” Warden refuted secretly hoping that the universe would prove him wrong.

“I’m fairly certain you don’t launch a mission across star systems without having at least one trump card,” Surge said rising from the water on another platform of bones. He spat out a mouthful of that blood water before he turned to the massive crustacean.

“Where have you been?” Wendy asked him with less aggression then normal before pointing to the ongoing. “What class are those? Do you have any idea what they are?”

“Swimming, two and he has the Personal Administrative,” he said directing the last response at Warden. “I’m glad you’re respecting our privacy but not using it on those that are trying to kill us is a bit risky, no?”

“It gives me a headache,” Warden admitted before he realised just how petty that sounded and looked at the creature activating his Personal Administrative as he did so.

Unnamed

Species: Indios Crustacea

Threat Class: 2

Strength: Average

Speed: Very Low

Durability: Fairly High

Power: Below Average

Affinity

Chi-5 256

“Oh wow that’s a lot of Chi,” Warden said dumbly turning away. “And if that’s average strength then I’m slightly concerned about what may be above-average.”

“That’s average for a class two and they are colloquially called City Killers in many of the places I’ve been,” Surge stated sitting down on the bone platform. “Why don’t I protect Warden and you can go join them.”

“You sure?” Wendy said seriously before looking to him.

“Go ahead,” Warden said. “Try to save as many of the mushroom people as possible.” There was a lot about the Persona Hyphum that instinctively raised his hackles but that was no reason not to treat their lives as precious; even if they didn’t seem to feel the same. While he had no idea if Wendy agreed with him, she acquiesced without any issue crouching down and leaping over to the lily pads before dodging out of the way of one of the enormous pincers a moment before they crushed the lily pad beneath her. She dived towards the misty mountain and disappeared from Warden’s eyes.

“Of the three Paths the path of Chi or Cultivation is the strongest initially,” Surge stated casually. “It’s also the path most closely linked with the idea of consumption. By continually ingesting items rich in lifeforce you are guaranteed to advance along the path but like all paths there is a door that cannot be surpassed without knowing the precise key and those who fall off it are likely to mutate into unthinking beasts.”

“Great advice,” Warden said watching as the Persona Hyphum regrouped and the Trusted Captain fell back lifting up something with a flourish. “Do you have any advice on Psionics?”

“Besides continual use,” Surge started before he shrugged. “I don’t have anything. Psionics is probably the least common Path. Those enhancers had been sitting had been sitting in my bag forever and I’d been looking for a chance to get rid of them.”

The pair watched in silence for a moment as the sole Blue-Mask dropped the item he was holding onto the ground causing a mass migration of fungal matter from the surroundings to the spot beneath it. In less than two seconds the mass mound of fungus stood up to reveal another Persona Hyphum although the difference between this one and the previous were remarkable. It stood at least seven feet tall and wore an ornate purple mask which contrasted its towering body; a pitch black colour different from all the other specimens of its kind.

“There’s the trump card,” Warden remarked indifferently. “What’s in the Psionic Enhancer’s anyway. Do you think it’s responsible for my permanent increase in Psi.”

“Hmm,” Surge fell silent as Wendy was thrown from the red mists and she twisted her body before a platform of bone appeared beneath her feet and she landed gracefully before launching herself back into the mist. “I can’t list all the ingredients off the top of my head and you wouldn’t know most of them even if I could.” He paused as if contemplating. “What I can tell you is that it temporarily suppresses the various data transfer in certain parts of your brain and heightens the outputs in other parts. The part that gets the highest increase in usage is in the Cerebrum, more particularly the area responsible for identity.”

“So you’re saying that I should try to focus on myself?” Warden asked. Thinking back on it whenever he had taken the Enhancer the other HIM had shown up. Would self-reflection help in finding that HIM? He sat for a moment reflecting on his frame of mind back then; trying to find that HIM, that divine spark that had seemed so easily reachable back then. However no matter how much he tried his efforts were stymied as that core of divinity remained stubbornly hidden under the flood of remnant thoughts and the smell of blood and sounds of battle.

He closed his eyes tight once more reaching for his poor grasp of meditation; focusing on his natural breathing while letting all the sensory input reach him before he let it go. His breathing hit its natural rhythm and he turned his mind away from the simple act of oxygen transferal to examine his body.

He was tired and sweaty despite as a result of the fighting and movement he had done today.

He let it go.

His feet hurt a bit from the constant walking and there was dirt inside his shoes.

He let it go.

He was baking hot as a result of the sun which didn’t let up its rays.

He let it go.

His pants were wet and his ankles were still tingling from their time submerged in the water.

He let it go.

His left eye was still burning from his breath contact with the water.

He let it go.

Bits of input were shed from his body until nothing remained. Every thought that came into his head was taken in, inspected and released without prejudice.

Eventually after an unknown amount of time the rushing river of his thoughts had turned into a reflective languid lake. Dispassionately he walked over the surface of the lake leaving minor ripples beneath the soles of his shoes that dissipated as soon as they left his sight. Reaching the surface of the lake he bent over watching as his reflection attempted to follow his lead a second later. Taking pity on the poor slow reflection he reached down to grasp HIS hand and felt his hand in turn firmly grasped. There was a moment of pause as both he and HE stared at each other before the calm surface of the lake broke.

xxx

Warden felt himself gently shaken into lucidity once more and he blinked blearily at the sun that was doing its best to gouge out his eyeballs. Yawning he endured the sudden flux of information that wakefulness brought with the expertise of somebody who had suffered through many mornings. Putting on a smile he turned to speak to Surge only for his head to erupt in a pain leaving him silently screaming as he tried to endure it. Nothing in his relatively sheltered life could come close to the pain that he now endured and he struggled to breathe through the agony.

“Swallow,” Surge commanded and he felt his mouth easily pried open and a few pills chucked down. He obeyed instantly swallowing the whole mess dry, choking down the small circular beads. For a moment he went rigid as the pain continued on unabated before a cooling sensation simply overwrote all of the other sensations.

“Thanks__” Warden said standing up before he stopped. Now that the pain was gone he felt it. It was less flesh than a concept rooted within his mind and yet as corporal as all the neurons in his brain. It was an orb of potentiality created from the combined output of his brain matter and yet something more. A chilling perspective occurred to him as somehow he knew that this intangible-tangible egg contained the sum of his entire existence. Neurons stretched out from cracks in the surface anchoring themselves into his brain matter entwining and sending and receiving information.

With a feeling of intense anticipation he reached towards that connection and his perspective shifted as he two sets of experiences reached his mind automatically. The senses of Present and Future Warden reached him and he indulged in the sense of double-vision; no double-sensation. The smell of the future and current lake reached him at the same time and he revelled at the sensation as Present Warden became Future warden and Future Warden moved down the line. His joy at his sudden superpowers prevented him from realising the very annoyed look that showed on Surge’s face.

“Enough,” Future Surge calmly said as he raised a hand and in the next second Future Warden was torn to pieces instantly causing the Present him to recoil.

“Wha___” he stuttered trying to recover from the sense of loss that he suddenly felt. He instinctively reached towards the nascent egg before he felt a pair of hands on his shoulders and Surge looking towards him with utmost seriousness.

“Congratulations,” he offered. “You’ve done well but I sincerely hope you haven’t forgotten the last time that you overused your Precognition. Continuous fucking resurrection is not something you should be indulging in.”

“I understand,” Warden said thinking back to the instant death that Future Him had received. He slowly climbed to his feet only to gasp at the sight of a frozen mountain of flesh and blood just a long hop across the lake.

“Are you okay?” Wendy said as she landed in front of him having hopped all the way across with some ease. “You looked like you were in some pain.” She gave Surge a probing look as she spoke but she didn’t seem as aggressive this time.

“Just had to take my medicine,” Warden said brushing off his clothes. “I see you beat the crustacean. How did the fight go? Did the mushrooms come out okay?”

“There are only just under a score of the Fun Guys left,” Wendy said causing him to cringe slightly at both the terrible nickname and the hard losses that they must have taken. He turned his eyes towards the lily pads where only a few remaining Persona Hyphum were still standing before his eyes widened as the purple-masked alien that they had summoned leapt from the lily pad all the way to the bone platform mirroring Wendy’s movements.

“They are in the service of Lord Noh-Bromias now,” the purple-masked alien said in a cold firm voice, bowing its head slightly before it raised its head displaying an ornate eyeless mask. “Unlike the three of you.”