Labyrinth - A lost corridor

  A gentle wind heralding the promise of nascent potential caught the Shepherd’s attention. Abandoning the Door in front of it, the Shepherd moved at an unprecedented pace, actually moving with purpose instead of floating at a relaxed pace. Its cloak grew darker as if its hunger knew. Its destination was closer than before.

  Time passed unreliably at the edge of the Labyrinth but in its far reaches, Time has no true hold. It could have been an Age or a few passing seconds but the Shepherd reached its sign, the passageway calling out to it.

  This corridor was brightly lit and filled with Endless Doors shining gold and silver. Their doorknobs and latches were still locked and blocked by shimmering blue shields but the Shepherd was not fool. The Doors had begun to crack. Frames that had stood for untold eons hissed with strain.

  Yerth’s seal weakening.

  A long claw traced a new seam in one of the doors and the rest of the structural weaknesses became apparent. Black motes trailed down the Shepherd’s claws cloak. Since Time immemorial, the Shepherd did something new.

  It smiled.

  *********

  Earth - Sunday - Day 8 - 15 May 2021

  Deep beneath the abandoned tunnels of Fredericksburg sat a nesting of goals. The underground railroad linked up with filled over irrigation ditches and shored up construction tunnels used to build the canals well before the advent of cars or steam-powered boats. Even deeper were the tunnels frequented by moonshiners and those of a shadier trade during the time of Prohibition. The old city in modernity was a happy shoppette suburbia with a nearby college and plenty of people but the history of the town sat well below its surface.

  It was here in the leaky tunnels where decades of runoff waste and filth accumulated. Oils from improperly disposed car parts, organic filth from the cracks around and beneath the sealed off canal paths, and even some heavy metals from lazy industries that used to frequent the now peaceful area.

  From the muck and mire, dead frogs and slime pooled together at the bottom where a mote of blackest filth found its home. Muted shrieks of joy mixed with hunger resonated eerily through the abandoned blackness, finding nothing but space to grow. But they could feel it, could smell the virgin world just ripe for the taking.

  Crusty nails emerged from the pool, grasping at the crumbling mortar to pull itself free. Resembling a baby chimpanzee in size and build, the first true alien monster sniffed. Too primitive to form words but cogent enough to realize how lucky it was to emerge from the filth-formed portal with nothing to stop it, it raised his beaked nose to the ceiling and sneezed.

  The Abhorrent had arrived.

  ********

  POV: Sandra

  My husband is a nerd, through and through. Books, video games, computers, tools and small construction projects, he loved putting anything resembling puzzles together and even better if it had a story attached to it. Thank all that is Holy, he never got into the WarHammer 40k stuff, otherwise we’d be broke and my pretty little suburban house would’ve filled up with useless dolls and potential friends of his who thought washing their armpits was an optional activity. But thankfully, I’m his best friend and other than Thomas, really his only friend.

  He just gets too into his own head and hobbies to really keep up with social relationships outside of work.

  “That was unkind of me.” I said, under my breath. My hand rested on a tomato vine growing way too close to the garlic plot in my garden. With a small effort of will, the roots of the tomato vine shifted further away and then deeper so as to not crowd the herbs. Rosemary, thyme, and dill sat in broken stone pots, their thick healthy roots reaching down to connect to the earth.

  On the other side of the fence were voluminous bushes laden with bell peppers, cayenne peppers, jalapenos and tomatillos. However true that possible future was, getting married really did bring a level of maturity to Grant that I’d come to appreciate. Past relationships never ended well, the whole ‘where are we going with this’ question always put a damper on things but Grant was all in from the beginning. House and kids and career and make enough to move to the country, the man had a mission.

  If only having kids wasn’t so damn difficult. And all the while our neighbors just kept popping them out one by one. The vine in front of me began to visibly wilt as jealousy stabbed at my heart, its brown luster fading to gray before I pulled my emotions back. Petting the vine softly, I infused a bit of mana back into it, nursing it to health.

  I looked out from my garden to see Grant, animated and excited to test out his new ‘revolutionary idea’ with Eli but the poor boy was far from up to the task. It’s like he just doesn’t see people where they’re at sometimes. One track mind, unless something shiny pops up, like a new project or tool to play with.

  It does make me worry, hearing how invested Grant is becoming with people he barely knows. But maybe that’s how men operate, they work with someone and see how they react to the work itself and use that to judge them. What an odd system, how little they can talk to each other but become friends without the hours of chatting and gossiping it took for me and my friends to get close. In some ways, I do envy men for their simplicity.

  My worry didn’t stop me from overhearing Grant explain his ‘theoretical’ guesses of the Alchemically created First-Aid kit of Eli’s.

  “There’s so much sunstone infused into this bad boy that all you need to do to recharge it is let it sit outside in the sun! With your feathers gluing everything together plus their healing abilities, you could work out and maybe even use it to heal muscle tears and joint issues. Eli, you could work out and recover every 24 hours!”

  I kept laughing to myself, seeing Eli’s face turn green at Grant’s joy of possibly making him work like a farm horse to put some muscle on his small frame. Not that the poor boy didn’t need it, but I’m sure that my wonderful husband hadn’t quite realized how much his own super strength had changed his views. Not all of us can casually rip a monster’s head off with their bare hands or pick up most of a truck.

  Blue energy raced around my fingertips and my cup of water just out of reach floated over to me, ideas racing through my head. I was almost as bad as my husband. I couldn’t wait to get started on something new, homemade soaps and balms made out of purified animal lard and infused with herbs from my garden. The thought of incorporating fruit trees and berry bushes along with convenient honeysuckle vines into a really cool outdoor kitchen almost made me drop what I was doing but these vegetables weren’t going to take care of themselves.

  “On second thought . . .” I muttered, feeling my garden bursting with life. “Maybe it will take care of itself.”

  Grant’s words floated over on the light breeze.

  “Thomas? You okay? Elvis, help him!”

  Oh shit.

  **********

  POV: Grant

  This was almost a nightmare walking in front of me. My little brother stumbling down the street, his arms mangled and one leg bent in an awkward direction. He was clearly walking with a leg broken in two different places. Blood streamed down his face. One arm swung in the wind but the other held tight to his chest.

  Elvis scooped him up like a baby, ignoring his wounds in favor of getting Thomas over to Eli.

  “Help him!” Elvis’ high pitched plea only served to remind how young he really was. That screaming in the back of my head didn’t help. Forcefully shoving that future trauma into the black box where it belongs, I focused on my brother. His eyes wavered, his hold on consciousness fading. Elvis carried him from the street to the back yard, laying him down on top of his massive shield.

  “Elvis!” I barked, sprinting to pick up both Eli and his First-Aid kit. “Lay him down on the table! Now!”

  Sandra appeared as if by magic, several items floating next to her: a copper teakettle with steam coming out of its spout, a stack of cloths, and the last set of magical seed pods along with a paring knife. I turned to see Eli sitting forward in his chair, his hands clutching the First-Aid kit. His legs, however, betrayed him.

  Sandra gestured, pulling Eli and his entire chair over next to Thomas.

  “Is there anything you can do?” She asked. Tears streamed down her face. “Please!”

  Words caught in my throat as my eyes flew over all of us. Elvis stood there helpless, his hands opening and closing as if just needing to something productive, anything. Eli’s face was whiter than freshly bleached sheets.

  Thomas’ eyes snapped wide open as he lurched up and to the side, spitting out a mouthful of blood.

  “Giants! We ran into giants!”

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “Sshhhhh!” Sandra soothed, wetting two cloths and wiping his head. “We’re going to fix you.”

  My brother weakly looked around until he saw me. His tortured voice raked at my forced calmness.

  “Giants, two of them.” He coughed through odd gurgling sounds in his chest. “Paul’s not doing well. He needs help.”

  “YOU need help!” I whispered back, leaning forward. My left hand landed by accident on Eli’s First Aid kit and a wave of warmth washed over me. Gasping involuntarily, I felt the fog clear away from my mind crystalizing old memories from Army Reserve Combat Training from years ago. The First Aid kit brought it all back.

  For several moments, I digested my memories and combined all of it with the tools at hand. It was like Eli’s healing kit was imparting energy, knowledge, and solutions to me all at once. For a split second, I couldn’t even breathe as the solution became clear.

  “Okay, we don’t have a lot of time.” I said, raising my voice to be heard over everyone. None of us were formally medically trained in this way and everyone’s emotions were at an all-time high seeing Thomas in this state. “Sandra, peel those fruits and give one to Eli and feed the other to Thomas. Grind it up small and force-feed him if you have to. Elvis! Stand guard and make sure that nothing is coming this way. Let me know if you need any help.”

  As they jumped to fulfill my commands, I turned to Thomas, a bit of information from his Status Sheet came to my mind: his ‘Skele-Kinetic’ trait and his ‘Fractured Growth’ abilities, they allowed him to store kinetic energy in his bones to use as he wished. Also, he mentioned that during his fight all the way down the interstate, he was able to heal himself with that energy.

  It hit me. This was going to hurt him way more than it was going to hurt me.

  “Eli, did you eat that damn fruit?”

  I turned to see him swallow the last bit and nod, purplish juice running down his chin.

  “Good, hand on that First-Aid kit and a hand on Thomas. I’ll hold him down. Elvis, keep his thighs still and I got the arms.”

  Everyone rushed to obey. The urgency in my voice kept everyone quiet.

  “Okay, perfect.” I said, looking at each person in turn. “Eli, don’t hurt yourself. I know you’re drained. All you need to do is channel that new toolkit of yours and let me know if anything goes wrong. Elvis, stay right there and keep him still. Sandra, babe, you have the hardest job. I need Thomas to wake up.”

  “What?” She exclaimed, pulling back. “Do you see him? He’s crushed half to death!”

  I let out a deep breath. “Yes, I know. But he can heal himself if we can get him conscious which is where you come in. I need you to telekinetically reset his bones, all at once if you can. That should wake him up, then, he can heal himself while Eli gives him a slow trickle of power from that first aid kit. If all goes well, in five minutes Thomas will be almost completely fixed.”

  Surprise mixed with resolve and complete trust flowed down our mental link. I felt her affirmation and drive at the same time all of Thomas’ bones let out a horrific series of cracks. Blue energy crackled as he bucked beneath our hold. Veins popped out of his arms and neck and I thought they might burst from the strain. Again, more sickening pops rang out as Sandra rebroke and rearranged as needed.

  Eli gasped. “Oh crap! We’re losing him! What do I do?”

  “Shit!” I cursed. “Do something you fucking magic box!”

  Eli didn’t deserve my anger. Nobody did. Except those giants. Nothing was going to keep me from putting them in the ground.

  Motes of sunlight flowed up from the First-Aid kit up into Eli’s arm flowing to his wings like a river of sparks. From there, they gathered in a swirl, his stubby feathers lighting up before dimming, pushing their light down his other arm where it flowed into Thomas.

  “Whoa.” Eli quickly shut his eyes, his breathing slowing down as another wave of ethereal sparks followed the same path.

  Thomas sat straight up, spit flying as he coughed and inhaled a huge breath. I shoved him back down and forced him to look into my eyes.

  “Stay with me!” I snarled, giving his face light slaps to keep him focused on me. “I need you awake! All that energy stored in you . . . USE it! Heal yourself!” I turned his head so he could see Eli channeling bits of healing energy. “You’re not alone. You’re not dead. We ARE helping! We just need you to do your part, lil’ bro.”

  Thomas’ hyperventilating slowed down to haggard, pain-filled breaths. “It’s like, f-fire in my chest!”

  I moved Eli’s hand from Thomas’ shoulder to his chest.

  “Start with his heart and move to his lungs. Fix anything you find.” I ordered. Elvis bore down as Thomas bucked from the waist down. “You’re doing great, Elvis. Keep it up.”

  The big teen’s face was blotchy. He was struggling with exerting the proper amount of strength. Too much and he could simply crunch Thomas’ knees and femurs to dust. Too little and the healing we were doing in his upper body would be undone.

  We struggled for ten minutes with me acting as a maestro, trying to coordinate supernatural abilities with people who had no idea what they were doing, including myself. But it all came to a head when Eli’s eyes snapped open.

  “Hold on! I can see! No, I can feel what needs to be fixed!”

  He scooted closer, placing the First-Aid kit next to Thomas’ head. Slowly, Eli put his hand on Thomas’ forehead and slowly worked his way down to the neck and then the sternum. The motes of light flowed more slowly but also in a more controlled manner, bunching up at Eli’s fingertips until he found a problem. At that point, they would unleash like a hose with the kink momentarily removed.

  “Uh, Sandra? Mam!?”

  My wife turned her focus on Eli, her eyes glowing a menacing blue reminiscent of lightning.

  Eli froze.

  “Spit - it -out!” She said, her words curt. “This is hard enough without you overly worrying about manners!”

  “Quickly!” I said, nodding at Eli. “She isn’t going to bite. What’s wrong?”

  “Two of his ribs are splintered inwards!” Eli said quickly. His hand pointed over the left upper side of Thomas' rib cage. “I can feel it, like splinters going the wrong direction.”

  “My powers don’t reach inside of someone.” Sandra said. “You’re going to have to fix it.”

  Thomas gasped. “No! I’ll have to do it.” He looked at Elvis. “I’m out of energy, shake my legs! Gently but do it. Grant, drum your fingers on my head. I need the kinetic energy.”

  We both didn’t have time to shrug. Instead, we just ran with it. I rapped my fingers over and over on Thomas’ forehead while Elvis shook Thomas’ good leg like a rope back and forth. We may have looked odd as shit doing this but we kept on anyway until Eli gave us the all clear.

  “He’s not going to die!” Eli declared with triumphant exhaustion. “We did it!”

  Thomas lay back down on the shield breathing heavily. “Hallelujah!” His voice was weak but grateful.

  “We’re not finished!”

  I froze, processing Sandra's declaration.

  “Huh?”

  “Did you forget about Paul?”

  “Shit.”

  *******

  Our solution may not have been the best idea, but it was certainly effective. Elvis hauled the wagon with two large ropes in his hands. Sitting in the wagon, along with Elvis’ weapons and shield, were Eli and Thomas who were both propped up on whatever hides I was able to scrounge up on a moment’s notice. I ran at the rear while Sandra flew in front of Elvis leading the way.

  “It’s working.” Even though he was gritting his teeth, I could hear Thomas over the crunch of the wheels in the dirt.

  “It hurts but it’s working.”

  Eli steadied them both in the wagon as best he could.

  “It seems like it. This is just enough kinetic energy from bouncing around to slowly fill up your energy tank.”

  They were bouncing around. Elvis had no issues pulling a wagon with two people in it even up the super steep hill on William street.

  “I’m almost better.” My brother had developed a serious backbone in the last week that I’d seen him. Before all this kicked off, all he wanted to do was chill and play video games. Job hunting and working out were the last items on his list but the Advent had truly made him do a one-eighty. Fighting for your life down an interstate against savage mutant beasts will do that to ya.

  “Eli, how you holding up?” I asked, keeping pace behind the wagon.

  “Not great but better than before.”

  I looked up. Houses and shopettes were worse than demolished. Most of Olde Towne Fredericksburg was simply gone. Only a few skeletons of buildings remained standing. Between the dissolving rain and the overly empowered animals, the area had made plenty of room for nature to move right on in. I did see what must have been an active participant in getting rid of the evidence of mankind.

  Goats. We passed goats the size of Clydesdale horses that steadily chewed on anything. Their shimmering metallic horns gleamed in the sunlight and the biggest one had a coat the same color as freshly oiled steel. More than one of those calm beasts lazily gnawed on car and truck frames, and to my surprise, their teeth bit right through the solid metal.

  “Are they eating glass too?”

  Sandra almost stopped in pure surprise seeing the goats just meander through the streets eating bricks and metal. Their hooves crushed any kind of concrete or stone and we saw a particularly ornery goat ignore us in favor of ramming a building corner into dust.

  “Keep moving.” I ordered quietly. “The fact that they’re not coming after us is a good thing right now. Paul needs us.”

  Elvis tore his eyes away and picked up the pace in the direction Thomas pointed. We hooked a right on what used to be Princess Anne street.

  “All the good restaurants were on this road!” Sandra complained, floating a bit higher to get a better view. “Hey! Why can’t I go any higher?!”

  “Uh, what?”

  She kept moving forward but turned around in mid-air to face us.

  “This is as high as I can go!”

  “Babe!” I said, my breathing starting to pick up a bit more. “You have short range telekinesis. Really powerful but not a lot of reach. You’re about ten feet up. That’s right around your range.”

  “Well that's stupid.” She pouted. Her body brightened in a sheath of blue energy as she dipped back down. With a huff, she launched herself up into the air as if from a catapult.

  “Oh shit!” I found myself sprinting around the wagon in front of Elvis. “Babe! BABE!”

  She landed lightly in front of me. “Stop worrying!” Her playful smile did nothing to calm down my heart gunning at a hundred miles an hour. “So, I can fly, but only just a bit. Launching myself in the air is possible but I can’t stay up there.”

  “Did you see Paul?” I asked, tucking away my thoughts about her joyful recklessness. I turned to Thomas. “Are we going in the right direction?”

  Elvis grabbed me by the shoulder. “Uh boss, we don’t need to find the giant.”

  “Why?”

  “Because it found us.”