Ch43: Adrift, Part One

"Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal."

― Albert Camus

"Mindless, broken things," Cain shook his head at the endless horde. "You need to learn better ways to kill!"

A scythe, larger than any world, appeared in his grasp. A smile edged on his lips as the Minders hesitated. 

"Afraid? I haven't even gotten started!"

Cain stepped forward, weapon shifted across his body. An extension of his arms, followed by a twist, drew the razor thin blade across the swarm. A crackle of black lightning, riven through the central mass as it crushed space into distorted hollows. Countless Minders fell into the void, transported to places unknown.

"If I don't get you to call the greater swarm, I'll consider myself a failure!" Cain's scythe danced around him. The world shifted from blue to black as reality struggled to hold.

Minder's vanished, only to be replaced by ten, then twenty times their number. A tide that saw no end. Cain's grin split his face, the power of his realm an intoxicant that muddied his head.

"Not enough, not nearly enough!"

A chorus of mournful wails, a choir of the dead, rose from with his robes. They poured forth, a river of souls that entangled the Minder horde. A tickle of sound rattled in his ear, a whisper from within his world.

"Master, the runes are finished, we'll soon be separated from the greater multiverse!"

Ooulin, his greatest apprentice, the only pupil that surpassed him in the art of runes. Just in time, as always… Cain raised his sickled blade, teeth bared in a grin. He cast it into the swarm like an arrow.

"One last goodbye!" Cain thumbed his nose, one eyelid pulled to his cheek. "See if you can find us now…"

His body froze as a vast, compressed tentacle of Minders crushed his attack like kindling. A vast portal framed it, while another opened to the side.

"Hahahahaha!" Cain gripped his waist as his body faded away, a thin layer of runes on his skin. "Two! You sent TWO for me! Hahahahaha!"

A final pop, a flash. Cain, alongside his realm, vanished from existence.

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"Where are we?" Brull walked from a curtain of mist, mouth gaped at the sky. "Where are all the stars…"

A black void pressed against a thin line of red, a crimson tinted expanse that contained a jumble of circular objects. They hung motionless as Cain's realm floated past, strange, smooth surfaced planetoids, devoid of landmarks.

"How should I know," Cain's voice cracked from within his skull. "But…" 

A visible pulse of red raced through what remained of his body. It traced his bones and filled out a section of flesh.

"Whatever's pressed against my aura is delicious!" 

Tendens popped as they snapped into existence, wrapped with newborn muscle. His skin knit itself into place, as if the reaper had never been. Cain's eyes shone with greed as bands of ruddy light fell onto him from the heavens.

"Really!" Ven darted to his friend's side. "How delicious are we talking?"

"Better than that stupid King's house," Cain nodded, a gleam in his eyes as he swept his hands like a butler. "After you sir!"

"You're already eating," Ven laughed as he charged for the sky. "It's hardly 'after you,' you cretin!"

He dived through Cain's barrier, into a thick, almost translucent soup. His back arched, the smell beyond his ability to process. Rotten carp, soaked in a bucket used to clean a truck stop restroom. It tangled with the back of his nose, claws dug into the inside of his throat.

"DELICIOUS MY ASS!" Colours span in front of his eyes, vision twisted into a gentle spin. Cain rose up beside him, hand pressed to his nose.

"It certainly has a powerful smell," The madman leapt into the waters and opened his mouth. "We've both eaten rock, just try it out!"

Ven clamped his mouth shut and extended his aura, determined to avoid the flavour. It resisted, clung to his pallet and refused to leave. His concern vanished as his aura touched the liquid. Power. Vast quantities of lifeforce, free for the taking. The giant within him trembled, drawn from its daily feed.

"This is the greatest thing I've ever tasted…" Ven joined Cain's feast. Mouth wide, he pulled the drink down, no stops for breath.

"Hey… oh my GODS, what is that smell," Mara floated below. "Will you two come back down here, we need to figure out what to do now!"

"Alright-alright," Ven danced through the waters. "Just give us like… three, no four! Four hours and I think I'll be full!"

"We've got billions of terrified citizens, not to mention all your precious drones, all waiting for word from us!"

"Word from you, maybe…" Ven muttered as he flew to Mara's side. "Let's hurry up, or Cain will eat my share!"

************************************************************

The giant man's scythe slipped past, through many of her brethren. They vanished in a shimmer of black light, returned to the creator. Her grief was interrupted as space compressed and tore. The void reached out its claws and pulled her into its maw.

OH NO YOU DONT!

Her central nexus spun, endless strands of luminous blue, the wellspring of her soul. She gripped the damaged space, pulled until it resembled its original form. She held, frozen as she strained to keep the world in place.

Come on…

Sharp edges sliced at her, the surface of her sphere tattered and pocked. Space flexed, a rebellion her power couldn't quell. The universe stretched, drawn into lines as she was pulled into a distortion beyond her control.

The world flattened her out, spooled her like a rope thrown into a horrendous storm.

*************************************************************

A great, blue vortex, situated in the deepest heart of the cosmic ocean, pulsed with annoyance.

"We have lost a target…"

"Such a thing is impossible!"

"The unity has combed the ocean, no trace can be found…"

"A unit has been reported missing as well."

The vortex rippled, deep strands of midnight exposed at its core.

"Missing, not destroyed?"

"Correct, singular unit, female person, minted… twenty three universal cycles ago."

"Dispatch permanent search parties, until confirmation of death has been found."

"And the target?"

"If it is not in the cosmic ocean, it is beyond our reach, relay a command, as well as an image of the offender, to all units and return to normal operations."

The vortex stilled, returned to its peaceful rhythm.

  "Unity be praised!"

"Unity be praised!"