This is Episode 5-22 of a serial urban fantasy & paranormal story. This part contains scenes of violence that may not be suitable for all readers.

◀ Prev • [ All parts ] • Next ▶

 

Part 5-22: Illusion

I couldn’t risk leaving the old lady to the same fate. Not simply because it’d be a terrible thing to do, but because if she suffered I was sure Eden would be able to convert her into one of his damned locks. So I asked the bees to help point out where it was hiding, after they were done with the four-legged threats.

The lake of stinging fury rose up and started to amass again, but before they could fully gather over top of my nemesis, the ground shook underneath and I found myself rising up on a cylinder of rock. It came near-level to the top of the spikes, which I discovered were rather rounded at the top—the eroded incisors of a golem, perhaps.

Miss Sugimoto’s hijacked form stood atop a similar raised platform, some eighty feet away. The bees wobbled in a big oval over top of her.

“Halfway through test!” she called.

Bright green light—neon, practically—snapped on from below. Rising impossibly fast, a bubbling, luminous liquid filled the space below, stopping a few inches below my platform, making a small round island of it. The top of the spikes were tiny mounds.

“Weird levels are getting extreme, folks. Do—” I jerked to the side as a lancing blue bolt buzzed by, dodging it by a hair. I pinwheeled my arms, trying to correct my balance before I fell into the radioactive soup.

I managed to rescue myself, but not before another attack caught me in the left shoulder. It froze up, numbing my whole arm with it, and tickled at the muscles in my neck and chest.

“Screen!” I shouted, too panicked to think silently.

The bees fanned down, drawing a curtain between me and Eden, who’d apparently learned my sword-zapping trick. Impossibly lithe, Kari hopped through the bugs, leaping from one spike tip to the next. I forgot about my resolve to leave her unharmed, and readied up a charged shot.

The old lady bounced and juked, springing off the exposed rock with the agility of a football player doing the rubber tire run test. I let her get about halfway to me before I felt my crackling energy was strong enough, punched forth a streaming jet of light. It swirled at Eden, leaving a crackling trail of electric bolts in its wake.

Eden stopped on one of the tips, raised the katana, and caught the blast. My line of power stretched between us, tethered to each of our weapons like a ribbon between two poles. I hurled my rapier away and to the left, then brought forth the polearm.

Like a tether ball, my sword went orbiting around my foe, drawing ever closer as its blue trailer wrapped around the demon, illuminating the upper levels of the cavern in an erratic, strobing fashion.

I fired another blast from the tip of the polearm, timed for when the rapier tornadoed into Eden. There was a dazzling white explosion, and I felt myself dropping. I hit the floor, all green goo and spikes vanished.

I scrambled to my feet, and found the lady kneeling some forty feet away, using her downturned katana as a bracer. She rose slowly, sardonic grin gone from her face. As she did, I saw what was in her other hand. My rapier.

Growling, I pointed the polearm and tried to zap her again, but instead of producing a bolt, the tip simply glowed blue. Eden gave the rapier a few test swipes, which had also started to glow.

“Oh shit,” I said, as the lady dashed toward me, both tools of death held up and out like they were her sharp, thin wings. I was terrifically undertrained when it came to actual polearm combat. All I knew was that it was longer than her weapons, so I stuck the business end out, braced, and when she got close enough, sent a thick column of bees sweeping into her.

Eden came stumbling sideways out of the rushing swarm, knocked askance. I roared and sprang forward, jabbing for the chest. My blade got caught in an X, as she crossed my rapier and her katana.

“Some sort of larger cave, hold—visual,” said someone, behind us.

“Guests,” said Eden, and flung its X apart, leaping backward.

As it did, the walls of the cave flickered, twitched, and I caught a flash of the checkerboard pattern. I made to instruct the bees to make another move, but before I could, everything wavered. Eden appeared to sit down, I saw windows, pictures, swirling knotted wood patterns, flashing, flickering—

I blinked and let out a bunch of quick gasps. I stood in a charming, dimly lit living room. Kari Sugimoto sat in an easy chair in front of me, seemingly comatose.

“Is that a sword she has?”

“Ma’am, put down the weapon.”

I twirled around, confused. Who could see me?

On the other side of the room was a fantastically odd sight. The door was wide open, and four people stood there, in a neat little line. Their posture was ramrod straight, like they were toy soldiers. All their eyes were closed. One of them was the woman with the shiny, curly hair.

But more insane than that was the enormous pile of bees they stood in. Like a huge black snowdrift, thousands upon thousands of bugs were piled in the room, more near the door, so that the four agents were literally up to their belly buttons in bees. One part of the drift was so tall that the leftmost agent was submerged to the point of only having one shoulder and head visible.

“Stand down, miss!” said one of them, their lips moving, their eyes closed.

“See Alena, last time, you call friends,” said Kari. I spun back, pointing the polearm at the slouched form of the woman. Her lips moved, “Tricky move. This time, I call them. Four come, more than enough.”

“Alena?” said the woman. “God damn it.”

“Okay, what the fuck,” I said.

“What’s wrong?” asked Fergus.

I tried my best to explain. As I did, all the agents started to shout. Eden laughed. It sounded like there was a fight going on in a cave I could not see.

“It’s an illusion of some sort, Eden is manipulating their perception,” said Deluxe.

“And all the bees too, it seems?” said Persi.

“Like the Fort,” said Fergus. “It’s like how The Minder makes shit like the library?”

Yes, it was all connected. Checkerboard patterns. Fake settings. There were all the lessons, what were my skills? I could use animals, but that seemed useless right now. I could destroy shit, but what? And there was no wifi around to manipulate.

I was about to tell Persi to bring in a remote, when I saw it. A little box sitting on top of an honest to goodness VCR player. It was a router, and it was blinking.

There had been no wifi cloud, because it had been channeling the rogue signal all along. I’d gotten so used to it by now that I’d straight up overlooked the possibility. After a moment of quick concentration, made difficult by the screams of one of the agents, I found the disjointed squares in the backdrop of the world.

When I twisted them to diamonds, instead of causing wifi, the walls of the room seemed to slide away, grow tall, become stony…

Gunshots exploded and echoed.

“Get her off!” screamed someone. “Heh-hel-help!”

I was back in the cave, still holding the polearm. Kari Sugimoto had dragged one of the agents halfway up one of the spires. Her limbs had become strange and multi-jointed, covered in patchy fur. These allowed her purchase along the column as she shielded the man with her body. Bullets sparked off her back and chipped the stone as the others tried to stop it. A small waterfall of blood trailed down the rock, and there was a growing sheen of blue emanating from the victim.

“Oh god,” said another agent. He’d seen the things at the bottom of the spire: globular mounds of fleshy greyness sprouted. The big brothers to my blob-buddies. Gooey, slime-slick tendrils telescoped out of them, reaching to slurp up the juicy blue life force above.

“Screen,” I whispered, afraid it might be too late. The bees were awake down here, and they surrounded me in a thick dome.

I took a chance, and tried to raise the rapier. It snapped to me; either Eden had dropped it or it was bound to come when called. I did not dwell on it, and instead pointed blades at where I estimated the monster to be.

With controlled patience, the buzzing shield helping drown out the terrible wails from the agent, I charged up both weapons—as full as I thought they would go.

When I was ready, I said, “Break.”

The bees dissipated, and I sent all my power forth. Twin beams pierced Eden, just as the last of its victim’s colour bled away and down into the suckers below. There was a static snap, and Kari came tumbling down, limbs normal sized. A cushion of bees formed below her, hopefully sparing her some damage.

I let off the beams, and saw the blue haze of Eden still clinging to the corpse of the agent. Everything flickered and sputtered.

I twisted the wifi again, and the world resolved back into the house, except this time it brought Eden and the blob monster with it.

And everyone, including my tiny friends, woke up.

 

 

Continued in Part 5-23

◀ Prev • [ List of parts ] • Next ▶

 

🎁 Win prizes for reading!	🔖 Collect episodes or parts as NFTs
Learn more	Free NFT Bookmarks on Polygon OR Commemorative Hive NFTs

📚 Get on (or off) the readlist by asking in the comments	🔮 Read The Childseeker’s War: a full fantasy novel on Hive	👻 Check out Starlight Spectre: a horror novella on Hive
✒️ Learn about the Scholar & Scribe writing community	🍕 Join the Hive Pizza Guild: a community of creatives	🗺️ Worldbuilding project (Sneak peek!)

 

📚 Readlist 📚

These users get pinged on new parts & earn occasional token airdrops!

@relf87 • @jonimarqu • @wrestlingdesires • @cescajove • @gwajnberg • @yeckingo1 • @twicejoy • @pero82 • @candnpg • @emaxisonline • @olaf.gui • @emrysjobber • @thinkrdotexe • @thoth442 • @leemah1 • @henruc • @alex2alex • @arc7icwolf • @susurrodmisterio • @mavericklearner • @seki1 • @alessandrawhite • @grindan • @samsmith1971 • @shadowspub • @lisamgentile1961 • @stevermac1966 • @engilhramn • @joseal2020 • @oblivionlost • @treefrognada • @alicia2022 • @slothlydoesit • @iskawrites • @hhayweaver • @jhuleader • @wanderingmoon • @ivanslait • @acidtiger • @ganjafarmer

Thank you for reading. I own the license for all images in this post. Episode 5 cover art was made with a Canvo Pro license & a Midjourney AI art prompt. Follow me or the #huntingmidnight tag so you don't miss new parts! I can also @ tag folks to alert you, just ask in the comments to join the readlist.