Collide Gamer

Chapter 1016 – The mystery of the Death Zone 10 – Darkest before… [Rave POV]

Rave was running for her life.

Following the revival of Ehtra, she and Nia had decided that the best way to approach this fight was to not fight at all and booked it. The initial plan was to head in John’s direction and see if he could enable her to throw a second one of her superpowered punches. The first one may not have succeeded at completely eliminating the First of Hatred, but damage had been done. More than half of the Metracana’s body had been replaced with Lorylim matter. If enough of the original body was eliminated, even the Lorylim’s power had to fail at reanimating it.

There was no opening to charge, however, and neither was there a path to John. Something had spurred the surrounding Lorylim hivemind into action and now the mycelium veins that covered everything reared and shapeshifted to block her whenever she tried to get in John’s direction. Beating her way through it would have been an option, if there hadn’t been the Metracana on her tail. Even if the sustained damage left her slower than before, she still had the strength and the Astrotrium claws to hurt the Lightbearer.

Nia wasn’t held back by such things and had vanished at some point. Where to, Rave could only guess. Ultimately, she trusted that the pariah would turn up when and where she was most needed. She had a knack for that. Didn’t change Rave’s current predicament though. As for Copernicus, he was currently in his item form. It was easier to run in one body.

“OOooooooooooooooooooo!” Ehtra screamed and slammed into the dirt behind Rave, who narrowly dodged using Shift and then turned a sharp corner when strands of Lorylim matter interwove into a tall wall. Jumping over it would only get her foot caught and her pulled back in; she had already tried that and was in no position to do it again. The First of Hatred was too close.

‘Guess they want to try and keep me in the city,’ Rave thought and stormed down the next street. At this point, she was in some semi-intact district. There had been less fighting around here, by the looks of things, but the hivemind was no less present than elsewhere. ‘Alright, ya ready Cappy?’

‘At any point,’ the eclipse elemental returned.

Rave suddenly turned on her left heel, swinging her other foot around in the same movement. The kick connected with the Metracana’s side. Mana rushed into the Lightbearer’s body. All of the blessings, visible around her wrists and ankles, Copernicus gave her were set to personal mana gain now.

“Krkrrkrkr,” the clicking accompanied the First of Hatred’s attempt to grab Rave’s leg, but Copernicus jumped out of item form and swiped at Ehtra’s legs. The Metracana caught herself on her arms and got back up within a second, twisting her now semi-liquid torso in the process. A second was all the speedy light mage needed though, using Drift to turn around instantaneously and then breaking through the wall of a nearby apartment block.

Ehtra screamed and chased after, just as Rave intended. The Lightbearer’s steps coincided with the quick beat of the song currently playing on her headphones. Electronic tunes kept her mind focused, her intuition sharp, and she trusted entirely on the results of both. She wasn’t a schemer and pretending to become one now wouldn’t have served her well. She wasn’t an idiot either though and she could make some basic plans.

Like hiding behind the wall on the next corner and then jumping instantly at her pursuer with one open palm and drawn back fist. An intense flare robbed the Metracana of her vision first, then the punch landed in her stomach and catapulted her through several walls. Rave picked up several dozen Lorylim cries in the distance.

‘Can't a girl catch a break?!’ Rave complained and jumped into one of the apartments. She ran through several of the rooms and then hid inside a bedroom. The furniture was still all there from when things were copied and a thick layer of spores had settled on top. ‘At least there’s no veins here.’ Rave extinguished her Aura and concentrated on her breathing. Mana was the primary resource she needed to regenerate, but a break for stamina’s sake was also appreciated.

‘We’ll have to brute force our way out of here,’ Copernicus remarked, sitting by her feet.

‘Yeah, not gonna be easy,’ Rave responded, keeping her cat ears perked for whatever sounds were out there. She could hear the distinct cries of Ehtra and the general gargling of the other Lorylim hosts. ‘We need to shake Ehtra for at least long enough that we can get a head start.’ She caught a red glow falling into the room through the window opposite of her. ‘Well, at least we got a rough idea where tiger is at.’

“To tell the truth, I am quite annoyed, quite annoyed indeed.” Rave caught the voice from a distance. She wasn’t certain where it was coming from, but she recognized Izha. She had been around enough of his manifestation to recognize his monologuing. “Ah, the hate, the hate I feel so strongly for all of this useless struggling. Surrender like I have, please, please, and find the futility. Join me in the liberty of madness. It will be so much easier.”

‘Is he thinking I’m gonna be so stupid that I’m going to answer that?’ Rave wondered.

“Elizaaaaaa… she should have been my prize today… it is difficult, oh so difficult, so saddening how hard it is to find a host that can withstand the force that I am…”

“Power that you stole.” “So much power.” “From us.” “From her.” “From all the dead that came before you.” “Izha is a thief.” “I hate you.” “It hates you.” “It hates all of us.” The other voices chattered, but went so quiet that Rave couldn’t make out the words whenever Izha spoke.

“You will not suffice as a host… but all care for you… that alone will make it worth hunting you down.”

Rave didn’t even have time to sarcastically respond inside her mind. Just barely, she heard the sound of someone taking a heavy step, then the wall next to her burst open. The step she had taken back didn’t save her from the attack. Grey blades in the shape of unsteadily sized wings dug into Rave’s left arm.

Claws gripped at the edges of the hole, widened it with brute force, and through stepped Ehtra. The wings that had been attached to her back had been pulled into the maw-like tentacle that was now flowing up Rave's arm and penetrating her bodysuit at several points. Her head had been moved to the side, and acted more like an additional appendage, spreading out its four-segmented maw as it leaned down toward Jane. Replacing it between the shoulders was a blob with two stumpy horns growing out of the top. The face was nothing but a vertically aligned eye. One blink later, and it transformed into a lipless mouth, surrounded by jagged teeth.

“A failed vessel for someone else, but a vessel regardless,” Izha giggled, stepping close, swaying with every movement. “Jane ‘Rave’ Hollmey. Hollmey… such a dull, common name.”

“Thinking about changing it to Newman,” Rave joked, pain in her voice. The blades were digging deeper into her by the second, some were even in her shoulder now. She didn’t need a doctor to tell her that having open wounds exposed to Lorylim matter was seriously bad news.

Copernicus jumped at the hivemind hosting Metracana. It was completely in vain; Ehtra’s body dodged with ease and her hands sliced open the solar feline as he sailed by. Golden elemental essence covered the talons and dripped on the floor where Copernicus landed. He tried to get up and attack a second time, but his legs collapsed underneath him.

‘What are ya doing?!’

‘My best, evidently that’s not good enough here! From either of us!’ the eclipse elemental responded. ‘If you get corrupted, it’s over!’

Rave didn’t have time for a response as Izha took another step towards her. Ehtra’s head was now almost in snapping range. “Do you feel it yet?”

“Oh, I feel it,” the Lightbearer said. “I feel a lot of fucking disgust for you slimy little shit!” She raised her foot with all the speed she could muster, Aura flaring up again, and kicked Izha in the stomach. Perhaps he hadn’t anticipated her speed or didn’t respect the Lightbearer’s power, but either way the kick connected. The Seismic Step connected.

The intensity of the impact shook the building and sent the Metracana flying again, further and faster. As much satisfaction as that brought Rave, it came along with the intense pain of having the blades drag through her left arm from shoulder to fingertip. She did her best to not even look at the mess of ploughed flesh that was left behind. Copernicus went incorporeal to follow her, when she jumped out the window and across the street – into an office building’s open window.

“I wonder what will get you first,” Izha’s voice cackled from a nearby patch of mycelium. “The itching or the blood loss.” Rave blasted the entire patch with intense light, turning it into a shrivelled patch along the wall.

‘Annoying eldritch stuff,’ she thought and repressed the instinct to scratch her arm. She wasn’t going to be intimidated. Knowing that she was strong, she also knew that limited exposure like this wasn’t going to turn her immediately, if it even managed to take root. Her left arm did itch somewhat, but she could worry about that after it was no longer a uselessly dangling rod of minced meat.

“Over here,” Copernicus said, after manifesting, tapping on three legs towards the centre of the room. It was a small office space, a company that rented it wouldn’t have had more than 10 employees, and this was the foyer of that segment of the building.

“Ya shouldn’t be moving!” the Lightbearer cried out and followed him towards the centre of the office. Her eyes were focused on him, filled with worry.

“It doesn’t matter. We’re past any hope to solve this the regular way.” Copernicus stopped and stretched, letting out a pained hiss. No wonder, as the solar feline was doing his best to widen his already gruesome wound, dripping more of his golden essence onto the ground.

“What are y-“ Rave started to ask and stopped when she noticed the dripping blood fill out lines that had been carved into the concrete floor. They had seen them everywhere, circles used both for elemental summoning and those used for elemental fusion. It seemed to pull in even the elemental essence that missed the lines, leaving the concrete blank. The blood dripping from her ruined arm was similarly drawn to the circle.

“Won’t be long until they find us again, we only got one shot at this,” Copernicus meowed.

“No, we aren’t doing that!” Rave exclaimed, waving her intact arm around. “There has to be another way.”

“Jane, I’m literally in your head; you can’t figure another way out and neither can I,” the solar jaguar told her. “You think I WANT this?!”

“No, ya don’t, so we ain’t doing this!” Rave exclaimed. “If we fuse, that just means that someone else survives! That’s why ya hate fusing, right? Well, I do too, alright. I’m not going to do it.”

“We’re both going to die if we don’t do this.” Copernicus’ ears were flat against his skull, the circle underneath him glowed with their mixed blood and essence. It was a warm, bronze colour that came about from the mixture. Entirely unfitting for their environment and their discussion. “Look, we've only got this window right here, right now. It’s either both of us die or we fuse and SOMETHING of us remains.” They stared at each other, both defiant in the face of reality. “FINE THEN!” Copernicus shouted and suddenly the glow intensified.

“What do ya think you’re doing?!”

“Forcing the issue!” Copernicus declared. The pre-carved circle expanded via magical lines that drew ring after ring and filled the space between with magical runes. It only stopped to grow when it hit the wall. “I’ve made my mind up a long time ago, you moron, that I’d die for you!”

“Stop being such a selfish fucking cat and survive!” Rave demanded and dropped down. “I never asked that ya die for ME! Maybe I want to die saving you, ever considered that?”

“I don’t care what you want, I’m saving you!” Copernicus sat down and sighed, visibly relaxing himself. Rave heard something behind them and looked out the window. Ehtra was leaping at them, making the same jump across the street as the Lightbearer. However, there was something unusual going on. The abomination slowed down with each passing moment, until she was finally so slow that there was barely any movement at all. It reminded Rave of the perception she had when wielding Copernicus’ Unleash.

“It’ll be fine,” Copernicus told her. “The forced party in an elemental fusion retains the vast majority of their character.”

“Do you think losing you will leave me any happier?” Rave asked, blinking away the tears. Whatever happened, she refused to cry, just as she refused to let this happen. “No, I’ll save both of us. I’ll save everyone I love, because that’s just the kind of selfish I am!”

“Not this time,” Copernicus denied her and solemnly shook his head. “This is reality, Jane. I’ll become part of you and dissolve.”

The ground underneath them vanished and they fell into a world of light. Images and moving memories flared up around them, as they dropped.

Years of their life before they met each other. Years spent idling away time, training just the minimum amount. Years spent lying in trees and eating tasty fish. Years spent crying after an uncaring mother. Years spent in defiance of a summoner insisting on fusion. Years spent coming to terms with the divorce of her parents. Years spent alone, after breaking his contract.

Hours of their life after they met each other. Hours spent with friends, having fun together. Hours spent fighting, doing their best. Hours spent training, readying themselves to never disappoint anyone ever again. Hours spent aspiring to be the best they could. Hours spent lazing about, a reward for a successful day.

Minutes of their life during which they had been alone with one another. Minutes spent bantering back and forth. Minutes spent scratching him behind the ears. Minutes spent purring and rubbing his chin against her leg. Minutes spent just silently being curled up on the couch together, preparing for a nap.

“Stop,” Rave said, her tone controlled, measured and defiant. The memories around them overlapped more and more, the further they descended.

“There is no stopping now,” Copernicus answered, his tone controlled, measured and solemn. “This is where our paths become one… and our fate becomes yours and yours alone.”

“I reject it.” Stretching out her left arm, one ruined utterly in the real world but still functional in this stream of thoughts, she reached out to the jaguar. They fell together towards a white light. “I don’t allow you to leave me in charge. You’re my partner. I don’t care how impossible, cliché or selfish it is – I’ll save everyone. I reject this reality…

Every last aspect of will she had, she exerted on the ritual. If it was affecting her soul, then her soul would cry out with everything she had. Her disagreement with the ritual itself. Her adoration for Copernicus, her trusted familiar. Her wish for survival. Her striving for happiness for both of them. Her anger at being forced into this. Her hatred for the Lorylim that had brought them here. Her love for John, who she had to remain alive for – who she owed it to remain herself. Finally, the simple selfish wish to have everything go her way. Simple, potent and headstrong, a stoic desire that she was not going to relent on, not on these stakes, not in this moment.

“…and substitute my own!” she shouted and grabbed the cat’s paw.

Their descent stopped.

Copernicus’ eyes widened as the golden vortex around them froze, cracked, and realigned itself. Displayed memories stopped and swirled around, until all of them came to a standstill at a new spot. His all behind him and hers all behind her. Rave grinned triumphantly.

And the golden light rushed up to consume both of them.