105

 

105.  The Oneiric Awakening

 

Nestled in the deep backwoods of West Virginia, Vance, Wendy, Winslow, and Bruce stepped out of the Sky Lantern and lined up to face Averyl. He peered down at them from a tree branch, smiling mischievously.

 

The first one to leap up at him with a bellow of anger was not Bruce, but Vance. Averyl raised an arm up in defense as his nephew shot into the air and swung out a punch. Two varying tints of violet crackled as their auras clashed.

 

"Averyl, where the hell have you been?!" Vance shouted, as he was deflected back onto a nearby crag.

 

Averyl slid his eyes over Vance and his companions. "What a surprise to find you all here..."

 

"Answer my question!" Vance roared.

 

"I don't quite understand what you want me to answer, I'm afraid."

 

"Why didn't you come with us into Pandemonium?" Vance asked. "We needed you down there. If you'd only been down there with us, we might have been able to save Eden!"

 

"Now, now, Vance..." Averyl waggled his finger. "Are you sure that's really all my fault?"

 

"You could've easily gotten down there if you wanted to." Vance's eyes grew dark. "I want an explanation."

 

"Well, if I had saved her, you just would have gotten jealous." Averyl threw his hands up dramatically. "I was back there doing all the hard work so you grab all the limelight for yourself." Averyl then abruptly winked at Wendy. "How are you, my dear? I see you were able to intercept my nephew, just as planned."

 

"Yep!" Wendy called back cheerfully. "I'm fine, Uncle Averyl! Vance snuggled with me all night!"

 

Vance's face reddened as he looked between the two of them with an uneasy grimace. "Uncle...Averyl?"

 

Averyl let out a chuckle. "Things certainly seem to be heating up here, aren't they? What with the Greymatter announcement, and your father's promotion..."

 

"Yeah," Vance said firmly. "Let's go to California."

 

"Oh, by all means. You'll be going to California – but you'll be doing it through your own power alone."

 

Vance's body slouched as he considered his uncle's words. "What do you mean?"

 

Averyl put a hand on his hip and let his aura surge. "Now that you've gotten some real experience under your belt, it's time for some real training. You must know what you're capable of now, Vance. The destruction of space is your specialty. Now it's time to develop that into an efficient, powerful ability."

 

"Are you out of your mind?!" Vance shouted. "We don't have time for that!"

 

"It shouldn't take long, as long as you work hard," Averyl said with a shrug. "After all, we're on Earth, where it's much harder to use psynergy. This will speed our progress up greatly, you see. Once you've gained proper control over your powers, you can cut a void open to California by your own hand, and our journey shall continue."

 

"No!" Vance screamed. "Averyl, Eden could be in trouble right now! I need to–"

 

"Then you'd better power up quickly..." Averyl chuckled. "Everything up until now was merely a lesson, Vance. It's time for you to undergo a proper test."

 

Desperate, Vance looked to Wendy for help, but she only nodded in agreement with his uncle. Frustration rising, he stood his ground and opened his mouth to retort. But then, he saw flames burst out from the corner of his eye.

 

"Averyl!" Bruce roared. "You're mine!"

 

Averyl's eyes widened with excitement as Bruce flared up his aura. Veins were popping out of The Tiger's head as he struggled to let his psynergy burn as much as it could through the psynergy vacuum. Sweat poured down his brow, but he stood strong.

 

"Oh?" Averyl chuckled. "Are you sure about that?"

 

"I'm gonna wipe that grin off your face once and for all," Bruce seethed. "You backstabbing son of a bitch!"

 

"Wait!" Vance put out a hand to try and stop Bruce, only to see Wendy bring the large man to his knees in a flash. With trained finesse, he struck him hard in the back of both his knees, knocking him off balance and dropping him face first into the dirt.

 

"Vance was right, you know..." Wendy said with a scornful smile. "You could never pose a real threat to Uncle Averyl."

 

"Now, now, Wendy..." Averyl called out with sadistic glee. "Bruce has potential. I'll be happy to keep him occupied while you deal with your fiancé."

 

Hearing this, a shiver went up Vance's spine. "What, what are you talking about?" His question was quickly answered as Wendy's axolotls began swarming over his body, along with her aura. "Hey, whoa! Knock it off, Wendy! I thought you loved me!"

 

"Of course I do. That's why I'm doing this," Wendy said, voice unwavering as she let go of Bruce and redirected her attention. "You need to get stronger, Vance...so you can protect me."

 

Now freed, Bruce shot up from the ground and took a swing as Averyl. An explosion rocked the landscape as flame clashed with a dark purple barrier. In the center of the fire and brimstone stood Averyl, looking calm within a hardened barrier of psynergy.

 

"Looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning..." he cooed. "Don't you at least want to eat breakfast first?"

 

Averyl gestured behind him, toward a log cabin that was nestled in the trees. Beyond it, Winslow could be seen making a mad escape.

 

"You killed Roufas!" Bruce raged.

 

"Are you still going on about that?" Averyl sighed. "You know you're the only one who still believes that, right?"

 

Bruce gritted his teeth. "You can't deceive me. I don't care what everyone else thinks!"

 

Although he was shielded, Averyl was still enclosed by Bruce's flames. With a roar, the Tiger rushed through them in an attempt to pin the man once and for all. As he got close, however, he found himself face to face with a volley of knives. Flames leapt from his skin, melting the metal away. The next thing he saw was a fat block of dynamite with a freshly-lit fuse.

 

As the Tiger's fire collided with the highly volatile reactant, the hills shook. Bruce went flying through the air while a blast of smoke washed away his flames.

 

A satisfied smirk surfaced on Averyl's face, and he turned to peer over the edge of his perch. Nestled just below the rocky cliff were Vance and Wendy in the midst of battle, and from the looks of it, Vance could barely keep up with the woman's speed.

 

Vance swerved to the right and tried to tackle Wendy, but was soon caught in a swarm of axolotls that came pouring out from her. The Albavitrean revved his aura, disintegrating the creatures and freeing his limbs. Desperately, Vance concentrated psynergy into his finger and released it in a thin beam that sliced through the forest like a knife. Just as he watched Wendy leap out of way, he heard a whirring sound coming from behind.

 

Vance turned around to see a spinning chainsaw blade extending from the mouth of a tiny axolotl hidden in the grass. He frantically shifted his psynergy barrier just as the blade neared his body and expertly cracked through the machinery.

 

The moment he finished, he felt a sharp pain in his side. He looked down to see another tiny axolotl perched on his side thrusting a small pitchfork into his hip. The salamander curled its lipless mouth upwards in a demented smile, then maniacally began stabbing the pitchfork in over and over again.

 

Vance screamed, ripped the monster up from his side and crushed it between his hands, but only light yellow psynergy spilled out. He ran as fast as his feet could carry him, barreling through the trees and scanning for his target.

 

"Not even close, Vance..." Wendy stepped out from behind a pine tree. "You need to go serious on me, or there won't be any point to this!"

Vance froze and stared into her eyes. They still exuded care and love, but they also burned with her pale psynergy aura. She was dead serious.

"I'm sorry, Wendy, but there's no way I'm wasting time up here in the mountains." Vance shook his head. "Just stop it with these stupid games already! What do I need to do?"

 

"Catch me," Wendy said plainly. "Let's go."

 

Vance hesitated only a moment longer, then shut off his emotions and shot forward. He pummeled her with strikes, but she matched him blow for blow, along with psynergy blasts and flying axolotls. Then, Wendy raised her legs and wrapped them around his neck, jilting Vance's concentration enough to make him trip and fall backwards.

 

She was on him instantly, pinning his arms to the ground with unstoppable force. Once again, Wendy's mouth was mere centimeters from his.

 

"Come on, Vance..." Tendrils of psynergy leapt from her fingers as she traced them down his stomach. "Tell me what you really want."

 

Vance moved his arms to stop hers. The next thing he received from her was a hard knee to his abdomen. A bellow of pain escaped the young man's lips, and he curled up into a fetal position.

 

"What are you trying to do, kill me?!" he yowled. "You... you..."

 

"Go on, say it." Wendy's eyes pulsed. "You'd better get serious here, Vance, or else I'm doing it again. Averyl and I know what you're really capable of, and I don't care what I have to do to pull it out. That's how much I love you."

 

With that, Vance's frustration exploded. For the first time, he broke through Wendy's grip, shoving her back as he leapt to his feet. Partly out of shock, Wendy threw a punch right at his face. It hit firm psynergy, and he didn't budge. On the contrary, Vance's aura only exploded out even further, forcing Wendy to shield herself for the first time. Curved psynergy blades extended from his hands and scratched at the very particles of space itself as he charged forward. Soon, the strange feeling of metapsynergy returned to his body.

 

Wendy covered herself with a mountain of axolotls, which Vance cut through without losing any speed. In the midst of his dash she leapt over him, but the Albavitrean followed her every move. A sharp hand caught her calf, and in mid-air, Vance swung Wendy below him, locked both knees firmly into her back, and increased his momentum.

 

Before they collided with rock, Wendy utilized Vance's grip on her calf with a psynergy boost from her hands and spun their bodies around. At the very last second, the Albavitrean slammed into the ground, burrowed deep into the soil by his own force.

 

Wendy immediately filled the hole with axolotls who were each armed with blades that protruded from their mouths. Vance flailed beneath the dirt and gathered psynergy as they charged in.

 

"I'll be honest with you, Vance," Wendy called from the surface, "This scares me, even though I know it has to be done. See, I've swallowed people up into Wendyland before...and they've never come out."

 

Wendy produced one more axolotl who expanded its mouth above the pit and prepared to swallow everything up. Below, the soil rumbled.

 

"Averyl told me what happened during the tournament. You were in clear mortal danger there, and you had no other way out. The same thing happened in Pandemonium. As sad as it seems, I guess I don't have what it takes to push you over the edge on my own. You need to be in real danger."

 

Vance could hear her as he charged through her axolotls and tunneled back to the surface. Blood dripped from his forehead, and his eyes burned. Then, he saw nothing but darkness. Panicking, Vance desperately sucked in a breath of fresh air before one axolotl finished opening its mouth wider than Vance's eyes could see and swallowed him up into its warped abyss.

 

Vance could feel reality splitting and reconnecting around him, but this time it was different. In the back of his mind, he thought he heard something, like the churning and meshing of gears – a sick and inhuman sound. He felt like he was falling. Not transferring from one dimension to another, but falling, down into the deepest recesses of Wendy's subconscious. A million images fluttered into his mind in a single blip only to disappear instantly, beyond recognition.

 

Then, he passed through something different: a colorless space filled with temperature and sensation, a lukewarm and emotional membrane. He continued falling, and the churning and meshing got louder. Vance suffocated, shrunk, and grew cold. He was trapped within

 

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

 

herself, she finally realized. At the core of her being, in a white space surrounded by invisible walls, the woman saw herself. The horizon of oblivion stretched on forever, constructed of emotion, trauma, and pain. There was no timing, there was no realization. In a serendipitous moment, the woman simply brought up a hand and tore it all down.

 

One minute, it had all been in front of her. The alpha, the omega, even the eternal nothingness. She could see the entire universe from every level, from every angle, and it had all made so much sense.

 

But now, it was gone. She could remember her moment of transcendence, but she fell back down now, out, sailing across the horizon, tracing back along her memory.

 

She could feel her heart beating. Yes. It was time to wake up. After all that happened, after all the pain, she would continue. She reached out to make contact with her body. All of her anguish, happiness, trepidation, excitement, love, and hate merged into an orange amalgam of energy and became her armor.

 

Eden opened her eyes.

 

She didn't know where she was. Using her elbows, Eden hoisted her body up from a soft, large bed and realized she was wearing an intricate white gown. The soft fabric flowed, spilling out from a tight corset that had been clasped around her waist, which led to waves and waves of frills. The fabric continued up to the base of her neck, encrusted with golden patterns and flowers and revealing not an inch of her skin. Even her arms were covered in long, shining gloves, and her hair was soft and lush, as if it had been washed thoroughly with the finest shampoo.

 

The blood rushed to her head as she sat up, and Eden realized that she felt better than she ever had in her entire life. She removed a glove and touched the skin on her face. It was so soft and warm, it felt like someone else's. Her nails had been manicured, and her skin had been hydrated. She was pristine and safe.

 

Eden slid off the luxurious bed and felt cold marble beneath her feet. Physically, she felt very good, yet for some reason, she also felt dread rising up in her heart. She noticed a pair of soft gold sandals next to the bed and put them on.

 

Along with her fear, images of her lost companions spilled back into her mind. Cliff, Azuka, Nathan, the Seneschal, Madeleine...where are they all now? We were so close, and then he ripped everything away from me. Vance couldn't protect me...and I couldn't protect him.

 

Eden passed her eyes around the bedchamber. Crosses and floral arrangements decked the plaster-stone walls, which arched upwards to a high, curved ceiling adorned with a colorful painting of angels. Opposite her bed was a wooden door on iron hinges.

 

Eden placed her hand on the door's black handle and opened it easily. Stepping outside, she felt a rush of wind ripple through her dress and tousle her auburn hair. Ahead, a stone bridge traversed the sky to a large gilded spire. The sides of the bridge were just high enough to peer over, but all she saw were clouds beneath, and the occasional pointy top of a lower spire. Behind her, the spire that contained her bedchamber seemed to float in mid-air, supported solely by the stone on which she now stood.

 

Catching her breath, Eden walked toward the opposite spire. With every unsteady step she took, the wind howled around her. Eden held her arms in close and flitted her eyes around warily.

 

Upon reaching the end of the bridge, she wrenched open another wooden door and found herself at the top of a steep spiral staircase heading down. The path was dim, lit only by the faint glow of glowing crucifixes that lined the stone wall. With her shadow flickering on the stone, Eden took each step slowly and deliberately. After a very long time, she took a breath of relief, stepped to the floor, and opened yet another door.

 

The first thing she noticed was the faint reverberation of organ music echoing through the new hallway. Stepping into the red velvet-lined corridor brought back memories from the small church she used to visit with her foster parents in Pittsburgh. It had been a somber, dim place, where strange people had spoken in solemn voices about esoteric things.

 

As she moved deeper into the catacomb, Eden came across a gold-encrusted door that glowed dimly in the lamplight. It opened to a vast chapel that housed stained-glass effigies encompassing a sea of pews. At the left end of the room the floor was raised, and above it hung a gargantuan bronze cross. A figure in black sat on a bench in the corner, playing the organ at a sludgy pace.

 

After taking her first steps across the carpeted floor, Eden felt apprehension rise into her throat. Then, the music stopped, and the tall figure stood.

 

He was an older man, with long wavy grey hair that fell across his shoulders. A black eyepatch with a red cross in the center shrouded one of his eyes. Upon seeing Eden, his face lit up with a warm smile, and he bowed to her.

 

Eden watched the man closely. "Who are you?"

 

"My name is Zeigfried," he said. "I've been waiting for you to awaken, Eden."

 

"How did I get here?" Eden asked. "I don't know who you are."

 

"I brought you here," Zeigfried spoke warmly. "The moment I discovered Grayson had you in his clutches, I made it my foremost goal to rescue you, Eden. You were damaged quite a bit, but we took care of you. Mother Angelica stripped those rags off you and bathed your body in the finest oils and soaps that our kingdom has to offer. It's such a relief to know that you're back where you belong, Eden. I can only offer my deepest apologies that we were unable to find you sooner."

 

Slowly, Eden began to back away. Memories of Edgar J. Caskett's stories flowed back into her mind, and she could feel the adrenalin start to pump through her body. "I don't know what you want from me...thank you for saving me, but...I can't stay here. I need to go find someone."

She was surprised to see Zeigfried chuckle in response. "Clearly you're still a bit confused. You needn't worry. This is your true home, Eden: the Church of Holy Truths, home of the guardians of the universe, chosen by God Himself. We are his strongest warriors, and we are here to protect you. Believe me when I say you would be no safer anywhere else."

 

Eden's terror increased, and with it, her psynergy. Now accustomed to the monstrous strength that lied within, she slowly opened the floodgates, unleashing a torrent of power.

 

"You can't stop me..." she mouthed, as her face began to shimmer. "I won't let anyone hurt me ever again. I'm unstoppable."

 

Zeigfried smiled back and nodded. "Of course you are, Eden. And you're free to leave any time you like. But before you do...why not speak to your father?"
           

At this, Eden faltered. She studied the man's face for any signs of malice or deception, but could find none. "My...father?"

 

"God," Zeigfried responded with powerful conviction. "Wouldn't you like to hear what he has to say?"

Next: Not of this World