The Ashes of My Soul, page 42
He shook his head, then a slow smile crossed his face. His power amped up and he stopped slouching. “This has been amusing, Parker. Fun, even. Play time’s over, though.” He’d been sandbagging. The son of a bitch had been toying with me.
A mist of darkness poured from his hand and I stepped into its path, forming a barrier to block it from getting to Star. The mist curled around the barrier faster than I could form it, burning my skin where it touched. I could barely keep it away from my face. Losing my sight or inhaling it would be a very bad idea. I continued to form the barrier and he stepped toward me, increasing the pressure of the ever-growing mist. I backed up, step by step, compressing the area of the barrier to prevent it from cracking under pressure. I was forced to stop when my back hit the wall. Star was slumped against the same wall at my feet and what was left of her shield was reinforcing mine. Even together, we couldn’t hold out. The barrier shrank inward as my energy dwindled.
“Think this is it, love,” I murmured.
“Not yet,” she said, her voice stronger than I’d expected. “Got one ace left each. Resist.”
My mind snapped back to what she’d written. Resist. Risk.
Ring.
She tapped hers first and our shared shield stabilized, then grew outward. The mist pressure started to decline and she poured every last reserve from the ring into rejecting the attack. I took advantage of the sudden respite to gather enough power to launch a counter-attack, burning away the dark mist with my own blue-green light. When both light and mist dissipated, I could see Shade’s eyes focused on Star. “Interesting trick,” he said.
I tapped into my own ring and launched a furious attack at him. At best, the stored power would give me a minute of equality with him, maybe two. He had to have a weakness. Everyone had a weakness. Where was Shade’s? He was still strong, with reserves of energy to spare.
Nikki’s attack from a few minutes ago came to mind. She’d drained me before I even realized it. I didn’t know how she’d done it, but if I could replicate it somehow, I’d be able to end this fight. I gathered all of my power together, ran the ring almost dry, and slammed a focused attack into his mind. He took the hit with a sneer, but then his eyes went wide.
My attack had been focused, but the attack wasn’t the point. The gap at the center was the true attack. It had drilled a tiny hole in his defenses, letting power spill out through the gap. It burned across the threads back to me, a feedback cycle I hadn’t been prepared for. Agony surged through my mind and I pulled away, but a moment too late. My own power fizzled out.
Shade wasn’t in any better shape. His eyes were still wide, but they weren’t glowing. “What did you do, you asshole?” he demanded.
“Bought time,” I said. My vision threatened to go dark and only my force of will kept me on my feet. “Who’s going to recover first?”
“Not you,” he said. “Experience beats talent every time, Parker.”
I smiled and raised my right fist. The engagement band on my finger still had a trickle of power in it. It wasn’t enough to crack his mental defenses. It wouldn’t even light a candle, let alone do fatal damage to him. It was, however, enough power to bootstrap my way into second tier. The consequences didn’t matter to me. I’d end his threat to me and mine right now.
Given a moment to think, Shade could have pulled himself together and tapped enough second tier power to block an attack. I wasn’t attacking him, though. The power he started to pull toward himself only fed mine.
I’d never asked Burke what would happen if we tried to teleport someone against their will. It was dangerous enough when we knew our own dimensions, our own sense of self. An imperfect shell would leave some bits behind while others reached the destination. I didn’t even try to make a perfect shell around him. If he’d realized what I was doing, it would have been simple enough to ground the power or push it away. As it was, he didn’t realize what he was doing, and by the time he did, he didn’t have enough power on hand to stop me.
I took firm hold of the teleportation shell around him and pulled it back.
“No!” he screamed.
“Go right to hell!” I screamed back as the tension on the shell snapped it into the glass wall.
Chunks of flesh hung in midair on both sides of the glass barrier. I could see exposed bones, muscle, organs, all with random pieces missing. The eye remaining on our side of the glass was still fixed on me when the teleportation finished. Everything dropped to the floor in a splatter of blood and fluids. The smell and taste of copper and iron hit me a moment later.
“Holy shit,” Star said. I heard her cough and gag. “Holy shit,” she repeated.
“It’s over,” I said. “Finally gave him what he deserved.”
“Now we need to kill Alistair…” Her voice trailed off. Movement on the other side of the glass caught my eye. Alistair Ripley was back on his feet and his eyes were glowing. Moments later, Professor Burke appeared next to him.
Burke looked down at the spreading mess that had been Shade and made a face. “Unorthodox,” he said. “But effective.”
“Thanks, I think.”
“Unauthorized offensive use of the second tier,” he said. “Don’t thank me. I’ll have to be witness against you at trial.”
“He will not have a trial,” Alistair snapped. “Mr. Parker, what were you thinking?”
“Fuck you,” I said. “Even if I’m going to die here, I’m going to make it as hard as possible for you to do everything you want. Getting rid of your hatchet man is a pretty big step, isn’t it? I’m sure there are plenty of backup candidates, but training up a new Shade is going to suck.”
The fury on the old man’s face was enough answer. Burke shook his head. “Mr. Parker, you disappoint me. I thought you were smarter than this.”
“I am,” I said. “Thanks for not saying anything about the ring.”
His eyes narrowed. “What ring?”
I held up my hand. “The ring I could store energy in. You know, the one I used to save Absynthe, the one you knew about.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” His tone was scornful. “Are you trying to drive a wedge between us?”
“Casting doubt on the head of Establishment Intelligence?” Star sucked in a quick breath from her seated position. “Yeah, he was spying on us. Not for us. But he was playing both sides, too. Didn’t think we were going to win, but he’d give me one last chance here.” I grinned. “Thanks.”
He snorted and shook his head. Alistair’s face was somewhat less furious, but I saw the sidelong glance he gave to Burke. Even a tiny seed of doubt was good enough. “Alistair, are you denying a trial?”
“Resistance members only get trials if we say they get trials,” he replied. “Mr. Parker is a traitor to this Establishment. He murdered Shade in cold blood. He caused the deaths of dozens of operatives. And he released a viral agent in order to prevent us from fulfilling our duty of bringing order. The blood of millions are on his hands. We couldn’t stop him in time, Austin. But we could make sure he gets the ending he so richly deserves.”
“I see,” Burke said.
“You’re pinning this on me?” I asked. “Are you crazy? No one’s going to believe you!”
“Who will be alive to argue the point?” Alistair asked.
His voice was soft and my jaw dropped. I couldn’t find any words. He was going to pin the virus on me. He’d kill all of my family and friends to keep it quiet. He’d kill everyone who knew the truth, at least everyone not a sworn loyalist. Maybe even them. I looked at Burke to see if he realized that last point, but he only returned a blank gaze. “You’re a monster,” I said.
“You had another choice, Mr. Parker,” Alistair said. “You could have been the hero. You’d have been the one to lead the unification. Instead, history will show you are the monster. You will be remembered as the man who caused the apocalypse, and we will be the ones to raise humanity from the ashes. Austin, would you please find some appropriate agents to bear witness? And some recording equipment. I believe we have a few minutes before Mr. Parker can make his futile attempt to escape.”
“You’re turning all of my own arguments back against me,” I said as Burke teleported away.
“Why let them go to waste?” Alistair asked. “Now, Mr. Parker, Ms. Kelton, you have the pleasure of spending your last few minutes together. I recommend you make the best of them.” He turned his back on us and reached for his phone.
I looked down at Star. She looked up at me, still holding her left shoulder. “How bad is it?” I asked.
“Won’t kill me within the next few minutes,” she said, reaching up to me with her free hand. I helped her to her feet. “I don’t suppose you have any other great ideas?”
“I don’t think I could light a candle right now,” I said. “Ripley’s right. It’ll take us a few minutes to get the strength to fight, and he’s strong enough to handle both of us at once unless we’re in good shape. Which we’re not.”
“How’d you figure that out?” She smiled at me. “So. What do you want to do for the last couple of minutes, here? Give him a show?”
I shook my head. “I don’t think I could. Everything hurts.”
She put her arm around me and buried her face in my shoulder. “I wish we could go back in time and stop all of this,” she said. “Go back to when we first met and run away together.”
I had to laugh. “I don’t think even I could do that.”
She looked up with hope in her eyes. “But you’re latent for third tier.”
“Latent,” I reminded her. “The times I even came close were out of complete desperation.”
“And this isn’t completely desperate?”
“I don’t have the power to even try,” I said. “Sorry, love, I can’t.”
She sighed and pushed her face back into my chest. “I know.”
I shared her hope. According to everything Absynthe had told me, third tier power could do practically anything. It could reshape reality. There was no direct evidence, only circumstantial anecdotes and guesses. If I could actually use it and direct it, like I’d almost done with Lisa, I could save us.
“Lisa,” I mumbled.
“Sorry?” Star asked.
“Lisa,” I said again. “I almost reached third tier when I was trying to bring her back to life. It almost worked, but I slipped at the last second and implanted my consciousness into hers.”
“I’ve heard of that happening before,” Star said. “Not in that sort of context, but yeah, consciousness transfer. Second tier power?”
“Absynthe bridged my mind back into my body,” I said. “So it’s not second tier and she acted like she’d done it before, but I don’t think that’s the point. I think the point is I was dead, Sarah. My mind wasn’t in my body. Same as when Shade attacked the dorm. I was dead for a minute, remember?”
She pulled away from me and frowned. “I’m not following.”
“What if the reason there are no third tier psions, the reason we have no evidence or records, is because they all died in the process?” I stared down at her. “What if the way to control third tier is to be dead?”
“That doesn’t make sense,” she said. “You’d be dead. No mind to tap power.”
“There’s a gap,” I said. “Between the body and mind dying. It doesn’t have to make perfect sense. Twin Theorem doesn’t make sense. Only Child Theorem doesn’t make sense. There’s enough psionic bullshit that doesn’t make sense when you look at it head on. Why not this? It fits the facts, what few of them there are.”
“You might be right,” she said. “And?”
“I love you,” I said.
“I love you too. I see where this is going now. You were able to tap it without permanently dying before, though. Right?”
“It wasn’t enough to save Lisa, and it was barely enough to deal with Shade then.” I tried to smile. “I’m sorry. It’s the only chance, I think.”
She smiled and wiped at her eyes. “I wish you could meet your daughter first.”
“What should we name her?” I asked.
“I’m partial to Amanda,” she said.
“Not sure I like that,” I said. “How about Alyssa?”
“Alyssa Parker,” Star said. “Yes. I like it. Alyssa.”
I lowered my hand to her stomach. She wasn’t far enough along for the baby to kick, but I wanted to at least imagine I felt something there. Some sort of connection to the daughter I’d never meet. “I’m sorry, Alyssa,” I said.
“Are you sure?” Star asked.
I nodded, leaned in, and kissed her for the last time. “It’ll be cleaner than anything they’d do,” I said.
Alistair was turning around, done with his phone call, when Star’s eyes glowed blue. She held a hand out and manifested a blue plane of force. Without any hesitation or ceremony, she whipped it clean through my neck.
Chapter Twenty Eight
“Welcome home.”
Vertigo spun me end over end. A strange voice saying something unexpected wasn’t helpful. By the time I realized I was falling, I bounced off the ground. It didn’t hurt and I wasn’t supposed to bounce, either.
“I know this sounds strange, but you’re dead.”
“No shit,” I said. “That was sort of the point.”
“Hah!” Another voice spoke up in the distance. “I win this time! Pay up!”
The closest voice chuckled. “Why don’t you open your eyes, Kevin?”
I opened my eyes and a realm of emptiness yawned before me. Before I could fall forward into the darkness, something pulled me backwards. A hand. I focused on that hand, on that voice. The hand grabbed my arm. The voice entered my ears. My body was resolving itself as I remembered who and what I was. I was Kevin Parker, and I was dead.
“Do you have your bearings yet?” the voice asked. I turned around to see an expanse of light stretching out for infinity, with a sharp cut into infinite darkness behind me. Swirling gray mist skirled along the ground and poured over the edge into the abyss. The voice belonged to a man who appeared to be both old and young at the same time. His eyes met mine and I had to look away.
“Are you God?” I asked.
He chuckled again, echoed by another series of laughs from the distance. “No, none of us are God. We are simple men and women who have done some rather extraordinary things.”
Realization dawned on me. “You used the third tier.”
“Third tier?” He frowned, then shrugged. “If that’s what you call it, then yes. The power only found at death. You’re the eighth to join us.”
Over his shoulder, four more figures were there, and they always had been. Two men, two women. “Welcome to our particular hell,” one of them said.
“It’s less hell and more a form of purgatory,” another said. “But we all agree, it’s not heaven.”
“Wait a minute,” I said. “I haven’t done anything yet.”
“Well, you did, but it’s not happening yet,” the first man said. He scratched his head. “Sorry. It’s hard to explain with words. Let me show you.”
The darkness behind me shifted into a view I’d seen hundreds of times in photographs. The Earth hovered against an empty background which suddenly resolved into a field of stars. “What year is it for you?” he asked.
“2012,” I said. “If that makes sense to you. I assume we’re not all from the same time period.”
“We’re not,” he said. “But I’m able to convert for you. I’m from what you would call modern day Germany, from 1894 in your time, applied to my reality.”
“To your reality?” I asked.
He waved a hand and Earth divided down the center. “Our power, my young friend, splits the world into separate paths. One follows our death. The other is what we define. What we change.”
“Multiple universes,” I said. “It’s not something we can ever confirm, but there’s always been people saying there’s an infinite number of universes.”
He chuckled. “Wrong.”
“What?”
“You must define your frame of reference,” he said. “There are a finite number of paths causing discernible divergence. Yes, one pebble in a different place can cause a cascade of effects which cause a man to slip and die, but there are billions of pebbles whose positions do not matter. A grain of sand does not care who steps on it, and the man who steps on it does not care which specific grains fall under his feet.”
“Very philosophical,” I said. “What the point?”
He pointed at the split Earth. “What if you hadn’t died?” Both sides of the Earth zoomed in to show the same scene, an invisible camera pointing at myself. On one side, Star was frozen in time as she decapitated me. On the other, we clung to each other. I couldn’t make out the words we said to each other, but before long, Burke reappeared. Nikki roused. Witnesses arrived. Alistair made us suffer.
“Stop,” I said, before I could watch Star die. “What about the other one?”
“That world is the one moving on without you.”
I shuddered. “Can I see what will happen?”
The image moved as I spoke. The camera whirled around the world, focusing on events I found interesting, faster than I should have been able to comprehend. The release of psionic power from my death and subsequent tap into the third tier had rippled through reality and psions all over the world felt it. Those in the room caught the brunt of it. Star recovered first and escaped, smashing through the glass, walls, and reeling agents in her path.
The virus spread. Children were born with the spliced genes, more and more of them as the years passed. The first one to awaken was fourteen. Hundreds more followed. Thousands. Hundreds of thousands of young people discovered their powers within a year. It spread like an epidemic and the world could not help but take note.
It didn’t take long for the collapse to begin. Thousands of psions died every day, killing each other, being killed by the terrified powerless, being used by the terrified powerful. While they died, Alistair waited. The war began in earnest only six years after the first awakening. It ended eight months later. The human population was a quarter of what it had been, worse than I’d ever expected. The next ten years halved it again as humanity struggled to maintain a technological society. Still, Alistair waited. Another decade passed. When the newest generation of psions was nearing forty, he finally took control.
