Dimension Fracture (17 page)

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I was somewhere else.

My surroundings were unrecognizable, but somehow felt familiar. I was in the center of a ruined circle of standing stones, blackened by fire. The grass beneath my bare feet felt soft and slightly damp with fresh morning dew.

I took a deep breath, savoring the sweet scent of the green life all around me. Around the edge of the stone circle, flowers bloomed in great quantity, wild and untamed. I could feel the sheer weight of the magic of this place as it hung around me, tantalizingly close, but the geas placed upon me during my creation prevented me from drawing the loose mana without.

My clothes had inexplicably changed—instead of the functional attire Luna had provided me, I wore a short sundress dyed a pale mint color. I knew that this was both a dream and not a dream; a magical construct within the mind. I wasn't entirely sure if the construct was a product of my own mind or of Karin's, but I knew it had been triggered the moment I kissed her.

“Karin?” I called out, daring to let myself hope that within this construct I might find her spirit. “Are you here?”

There was no answer but the whispering of the wind as it brushed long blades of wild grass against the shattered masonry. I should have felt anxious, but the astral confluence around me pressed warmly against my heart.

I studied my surroundings more closely, trying to determine the purpose of this construct in which I found myself. The standing stones that surrounded the clearing were worn with extreme age and bore the scars of countless battles, but it was clear entropy was the one enemy that had brought them low.

In the center of the circle, almost beneath my feet, was the Relic.

It looked much as it had the last time I saw it—the blade was riddled with cracks and fissures and bluish stains where the extreme heat had ruined the steel's temper. Unlike Amber's Shattered Sword, the Relic that I had once inhabited held no magic whatsoever, the once mana-saturated sword devoid of life and light.

I reached down, curling my fingers around the blackened hilt. The smooth crimson silk cord wrapping the rayskin hilt had completely burned off—the surface felt rough and uneven. As I lifted the dead Relic up, my eyes widened in shock as a subtle vibration began to run through the length of the weapon.

The energies within this place and within my soul poured into the lifeless blade. A small and irrational part of me hoped that my presence here would heal the Relic, bring it back, re-establish the bond I shared with my love—

No. That wasn't what was happening.

Slowly, almost imperceptibly, the Relic's blade began to take on a ghostly quality. The magic that surged from the ambient environment and into the broken artifact was not healing it, but
consuming
it!

Dread bubbled up from within and tears gathered in my eyes as I watched the Relic slowly fade away, vanishing into bright motes of astral energy that circled and swirled around my body, collecting together and coalescing into something else entirely—

I blinked and tears rolled down my cheeks.

“It's okay to cry, love,” Karin whispered, her arms encircling me protectively. “If anyone has the right to cry right now, it's you.”

I smiled through the tears.

“I missed you,” I said, trying but failing to sound cool and casual. Karin's ghostly form seemed to gain more and more solidity as the Relic's physical manifestation within the construct dissipated. “I was so scared. I was afraid I'd never see you again, that we'd never be together again—”

“Shh. Don't worry. Things have changed, but we'll definitely still be together. Nothing's going to ever change that.”

I turned and met Karin's eyes. My jaw dropped in astonishment as I realized they were no longer the rich coffee-brown hue, but instead seemed to shift and swirl with a multitude of colors. Pinks, blues and greens mingled together and I felt an incredible sense of serenity emanate from the woman who held me.

“Wh-what happened…?”

Karin's expression—and the hue of her irises—changed. The pale swirl of color seemed to darken somewhat as an uncertain look crossed her face. “I'm… not entirely sure myself, but I think the essence of the Relic fused with my spirit.”

I blinked, my expression disbelieving.

“When that weird mage stabbed me, I felt… something familiar enter my spirit before it was drawn away from my body.” Karin's lips twisted in a grimace. “At the time, it was difficult to really analyze, but I've had a lot of time to myself to think back on what happened.”

I was too thunderstruck to even ask the obvious question, but Karin just smiled warmly and held onto me more tightly. I knew, somehow, that she was right—that the Relic had indeed fused with her spirit. She was no longer bound to the Relic; instead, it was now an intrinsic part of her being.

“I can't say how long it was, but after I lost consciousness, I awoke here, in this place. It's not a real place, but some kind of extradimensional space created out of mana. I've been here, waiting for you, ever since.”

“This place… it's somehow familiar, but I've never visited such a place,” I mused aloud, not quite to myself. The feeling of familiarity was maddening, right on the edge of my consciousness, but I couldn't quite place it—

My tail's slow swishing suddenly stopped as it hit me all at once. The disparate pieces of the puzzling events after the attack started to slide into place. Karin nodded approvingly, having caught my sudden epiphany.

“Right. This place is a construct inside your soul, created by your subconscious reacting in order to protect me.”

“The secondary bond,” I gasped, my eyes as round as saucers. “It didn't just sustain my manifestation by providing me with mana. But how could it draw your spirit into me?”

“Fuck if I know.” Karin released me and strode across the circular clearing. Her form now had complete solidity, no longer appearing translucent and insubstantial. She sat down on one of the broken stones and patted the space next to her. “Come sit with me for a little while.”

I wanted to object, to tell her we didn't have time for this, but the words died on my lips before I could speak them. I sat down next to Karin and my tail curled around the small of her back as I leaned against her.

“When I woke up, I knew the Relic was dead and that you would die with it if I didn't do something. This place is a little like a waking dream, though—I can change things with a thought, a wish.” She wiggled her toes in the soft grass at the base of the fallen standing stone. “I can't affect anything external, so I did the best thing I could with the resources available to me.”

“You modified and reversed the flow of mana,” I marveled.

“It was all I could think of to save your life. All this weird magicky stuff is really new to me—it took long enough just to get used to commanding the Relic's powers. Maybe I could have done a better job if I knew more, but hey, it worked, right?”

I giggled. “Yeah, it did.”

“So I'm guessing that you managed to get to my body, wherever AEGIS took it.” Karin's shoulders and back straightened and her tone became all business. “I can feel that it's really close.”

“I had to come rescue you,” I replied. “There's no way I would have let you become some sort of experimental subject for the agency to exploit.”

Karin's expression darkened considerably. “Even with my consciousness protected in this construct, my body is still the conduit providing you with the mana you need to stay alive. Not to mention the fact that it's my body and I'd really like to get back to it.”

“How can I help?”

“Remember, being in this place is like lucid dreaming. You can change things just by thinking about them, but because it's not
my
dream, I could only make minor changes. This construct is within
you
. You should have full control over it.”

She was right—now that I was aware of the construct, I could, in fact, take control of it and make whatever changes I'd like. It was as if an obscuring veil had been snatched away, allowing me to see with unparalleled clarity.

My lips twitched in a faint, dangerous smile.

“Uh-oh. I know that smile.” Karin's own grin widened and I could feel the excitement emanating from her being. The shifting hue of her irises changed yet again, brightening to a silvery-pink that seemed to embody happy anticipation.

“I think we can do a little more than just return you to your body.”

Karin arched an eyebrow quizzically. “Oh?”

“Just watch.”

With a thought, the construct suddenly vanished, leaving the two of us suspended in a colorless void. It didn't fade away into mist or dissolve into an empty gloom, but simply vanished as if it had never been. A split-second later—or perhaps an infinite eternity; time meant nothing here—the both of us were somewhere else.

We floated above a vast expanse of glowing reddish-gold lines of force. They traced throughout the imaginary infinity, joining and diverging and converging in a staggeringly complex pattern through which astral energy flowed. Thick traces pulsed with power that traveled through innumerable smaller tributaries, arranged in an orderly crystalline structure.

“Is this…?” Karin's eyes were wide with awe.

“This is my astral circuit.” I waved toward the largest single trunk, huge and brightly-glowing, from which all of the uncountable number of smaller lines of force originated. “I never thought I'd be able to access it directly, but with the Relic destroyed, such restrictions have failed.”

I closed my eyes and concentrated on a very specific part of the pattern. When I opened them again, we faced a large line of force that seemed to cut off abruptly, as if it had been sealed shut. A coiled thread of a completely different color—a dull, steel gray—was wrapped around the line, choking it off.

Karin stared at me. “What are you doing?”

“It's not what I'm going to do—it's what you can do,” I said, offering my love a hopeful smile. “See the dark thread encircling the large line of force? This is the geas that prevents me from drawing mana from the surrounding environment.”

“Wait—you're saying I can get rid of that?” Karin gawked at the parasitic thread that wound around the line of force. “How the fuck? Because the Relic's essence fused to my spirit?”

“Correct. The restriction was laid into the foundations of the Relic itself. Now that it's a part of you, it should be possible for you to alter or break the concordances that were written into it during its creation.”

“So if I nix that thing, you'll be really, truly free—you won't be magically bound to me or the Relic any longer, right?”

I nodded.

“Well then, what the hell are we screwing around for?” Karin scowled impatiently and stared hard at the restricting geas. “Let's get this thing off, get me back in my body and get the fuck out of here before we get killed for real.”

karin's chapter

/

unison

luminosity

Sensation slowly started to return to me as my spirit snapped back into my physical body. Bit by bit, I started to feel my arms and my legs again, tingling with pins and needles as if they'd fallen asleep. My fingers twitched easily, but everything felt very weird, though not necessarily in a bad way.

I could
hear
her above me. Not the physical sounds, but the magic—I could feel her spirit, so brilliant, like a new star in the deep night sky. The song of her thoughts and emotions mingled with the thrumming might of her magic, seething all around me, then above me as I drifted away from the warm embrace of her being.

Soft lips were pressed against mine. My face felt wet, and I knew it was from her tears, not mine. My body stirred sluggishly and my eyes opened.

Misaki stood above me, tears filling her emerald eyes, her ears flat and facing forward. I could make out the faint sound of her tail-swishing start to pick up speed as the excitement and astonishment that poured from her coalesced into joy.

“Karin! You're awake!”

My lips curved into a slight smile. “Seems that way. Pretty stiff though.”

Misaki collapsed on top of me, sobs shuddering through her body. I felt her grab me, encircle me with her slender arms and clutch my body to hers desperately, as if she was afraid I'd be pulled away from her again.

“Hey, hey, easy there,” I murmured, patting her head gently. My fingertips scratched the base of her vulpine ears. “You think you can get off me so I can get up? We're not exactly safe here, remember?”

“O-of course.” Misaki stepped back, positively beaming, her eyes still bright and shiny with unshed tears. I shifted my weight and slipped off the edge of the stasis bed, trying not to stumble as my body slowly adjusted to moving again after being completely motionless for six days.

“Misaki! Are you done in there yet? Come on!”

I turned and gave her a pleading look. She nodded fiercely and stepped forward, wrapping my left arm over her neck and supporting me—yeah, still really stiff. I hoped that I'd limber up and soon, because things weren't likely to stay quiet for long.

“We've got trouble.” The source of the rough voice was a tall, muscular woman with short-cropped, spiky red hair. She wore an old-style longsword and scabbard strapped to a thick swordbelt around her waist.

“Karin! You're alive—and awake!”

I smiled. “It's good to see you, too, Star. Though I admit I'm a little surprised you helped Misaki bust me out. Only a
little
though.”

“Don't be surprised, and don't call me Star any longer, Karin. AEGIS betrayed you, betrayed me and betrayed everything we stood for. Call me by my real name from now on—Meilin.”

“That'll take a little getting used to, I'm sure,” I muttered, shivering. The room was freezing and I was only dressed in this fucking ridiculous little peek-a-boo nightie. “I don't suppose any of you brought me a change of clothes?”

The burly swordswoman grinned. “Give me a minute and I'll get something for you. Hope you don't mind second-hand outfits.”

“Anything's fine with me. I'm freezing my ass off,” I complained.

“How are you awake?”

I turned to Star—Meilin—and shrugged. “It's a long story and we don't really have the time to get into it in the middle of a facility full of people who want to hold me captive and kill all of you.”

“Fair enough,” Meilin mused. “We can talk about it once we're out of danger.”

“Here. Put these on so we can get moving.” The swordswoman shoved an armful of clothing into my hands. I set it down on the stasis bed and picked through the pile quickly. She'd apparently stripped one of the female soldiers who was closest to my size.

I tossed away the stupid hospital gown in disgust and started dressing. After a few seconds I was reasonably sure the clothing wouldn't fall off—I had to tighten the pants at the waist a bit excessively. The boots fit almost perfectly, though, so I was glad for at least that much.

The swordswoman drew her pistol from its holster and pressed the weapon into my hands. “We need to go
now
.”

“I know we don't exactly have time to get to know each other,” I muttered, “but it would be nice to at least know your name.”

She fixed me with a cool glare. “Amber. We can have a nice chat over a drink or three once we
get the hell out of here
.”

“Sounds fucking great. Hope you've got enough beer.” Already I liked this Amber person. She was definitely not one to be screwed around with, and that made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, especially considering I was currently surrounded by a shitload of assholes with guns. “What's the plan?”

Misaki turned to me. “We're supposed to head out and meet up with the gunship at an extraction point, south of the base. Amber needs to finish her mission first—”

“Already done,” Amber interrupted in a casual tone. “I got all the data we'd care about while you were in there wasting time molesting your unconscious girlfriend.”

I almost choked on my laughter. Oh, yeah, I
definitely
liked Amber.

Misaki's tail lashed and she glared at the swordswoman. “I-I was not! I was just… I was just…” Her voice trailed off into an extended diatribe of adorably furious sputtering. “It's
very
complicated!”

“All right, enough of that nonsense,” I said, straightening my shoulders. I hit the mag release on the pistol and checked the ammo—it was full, surprisingly. I shot Amber a curious look.

“I didn't use it coming in.” She shrugged and patted the longsword sheathed at her hip. “The Shattered Sword is very effective.”

“A Relic?” I guessed, gazing at the sword curiously.

“Yep. Let's go.”

The building I'd been kept in was old and falling apart, though I suspected at least some of the “falling apart” part was the fault of my three rescuers. There was considerable damage in the room outside the sealed storage vault where they locked me away, much of which appeared to have been caused by explosions.

My right hand felt weighed down with the pistol Amber loaned me. It was bigger and heavier than the type I was used to, but the functionality was much the same. Disengage safety, point at bad guy and blow a hole in them.

The center of my chest burned slightly, but not quite as badly as it had when I'd first woken up. It was obvious enough that the piece of metal embedded in my breastbone was a coalesced manifestation of the now-fused Relic. I could still feel its presence, but it was vastly different than before. The intangible sensation of
connection
was no longer a thin and distant tether, but a seething font of awesome power that was rooted to my very being.

“How are you feeling now that I'm back in my body?” I asked Misaki.

“Happier than I've ever been.”

I shook my head. “I was more referring to the magicky stuff. The gewgaws or whatever you call it—that thing you had me get rid of. Is it really gone?”

“Oh.” For once Misaki didn't look annoyed at my silly terminology. “Let's see.”

Misaki's hands blazed with spell-flame, which was normal—at least for her—but my grin grew wide when the flame immediately became blue-hot. There should be no other possible way for her to do
that
with the Relic gone.

“Looks like it worked.”

Amber arched an eyebrow at the flashy display. “You have your powers back?”

“Yes, and more besides,” Misaki replied. “Karin removed the restriction that prevented me from drawing astral energy from without. My magic should now be stronger than it's ever been.”

“I'm not one to turn down more firepower.” Amber jerked toward a smaller corridor that branched off the main hallway. “This way—it'll take us back out the same way we came in.”

Misaki's spell-flame dissipated and the two of us kept behind Amber as we quickly made our way back out of the old armory building. Resistance was so far non-existent, but I knew that wasn't going to last. The sound of the battle outside was starting to fade and I doubted very seriously that the black-armored soldiers were going to be the losers in this little engagement.

“Our assault force is preparing to retreat,” Amber snapped. “Come on, we have to get out of here before we can't get out of here.”

“Look out!”

The words barely came out of Meilin's mouth before six soldiers in black armor rounded the corner and stopped dead in their tracks, seeing all four of us standing there chit-chatting like a pack of idiots. Their reflexes were more than up to the task, though, and three assault rifles came up and started firing almost instantly.

“Scatter!” Amber shouted.

I darted to the left with Misaki while Amber and Meilin dashed to the right. The woman drew her Relic, a strange blade that looked like it had been fractured in multiple places and yet somehow still held together. Arcs of crawling, spitting lightning blossomed from the Shattered Sword, emerging from the fissures in the metal, as she swept it around and slammed the point into the ground.

A few rounds struck both Amber and Meilin, but their bodies shimmered with the telltale glow of a kinetic barrier. I could catch the faint glimmer of Meilin's Spell Engine and knew they'd probably be okay—make that
definitely
be okay.

The burly warrior woman grinned with battle lust as a great blast of thunder and lightning expanded from the point where the Shattered Sword struck the ground. The shock wave deflected the majority of the shots fired at her and blasted the six soldiers with sufficient force that half of them were knocked flying.

Spell-flame roared into being as Misaki flung motes of explosive magic that streaked through the air and slammed into the still standing but badly overbalanced soldiers. Meilin stepped back and activated her Spell Engine again.

I blinked in amazement as Amber charged right into the enemy formation with wild abandon, slashing and stabbing with her Relic. Her flurry of attacks took two of the soldiers out, chopping directly through the rifles they held up to parry and digging a deep, smoking furrow in their armored chests.

The third soldier of the group, the last one standing, knew it was over. He glanced around and his eyes narrowed as he settled on me, determined that if he was going to be sent to hell, at least one of us would be coming with him.

“Karin, no!” Misaki cried out. Her fingers began to trace out the runic pattern for the familiar golden shield of protection, but she wasn't nearly fast enough. The soldier's rifle jerked in his hands as he loosed a rippling burst of full-auto fire directly at me.

I wasn't afraid. Things had indeed changed.

The bullets struck the air half a meter in front of me and stopped dead. Most of the rounds splattered and the tiny fragments deflecting away, but some simply flattened themselves into lead pancakes and fell to the ground.

My eyes hardened as I quickly tracing a series of white-glowing runic symbols in the air before me. I gestured sharply at the offending soldier and a piercing shaft of radiant power lanced out at the speed of light, transfixing the soldier directly through the heart. The beam of pure disintegrating energy passed through his armor as if it wasn't even there, annihilating it and the flesh and bone beneath it.

The soldier's wide-eyed corpse fell heavily to the ground.

“That's what you get for assuming I was defenseless,” I remarked, bending down to pick up the dead soldier's assault rifle, scavenging two extra magazines as well. I checked the chamber, put the weapon back on safe, and slung it over my shoulder before turning back to the group.

Amber, Meilin and Misaki all stared at me as if they'd just seen a ghost. I blinked, staring blankly back at them. “What?”

“Y-y-y-you can use magic now?!” Misaki exploded. She was so surprised the fur on her tail stood straight up, making it look three times its usual size. “And you invoked it
so
fast—how… I mean, what—
what the fuck
?!”

I shrugged. “Apparently when the Relic fused to my spirit it also awakened my latent magical potential.”

Meilin nodded knowingly. “Now it all makes sense. That's why AEGIS turned, why they pushed us all away and held you captive. They figured out what happened somehow.”

“Yeah, that sounds about right.” I crossed my arms over my chest and sighed. “Can we
please
have this discussion somewhere and some time else? Like, when we're
not
getting shot at by assholes?”

“The extraction point is this way,” Amber noted, moving right on to the business at hand. Misaki and I walked side by side with Meilin bringing up the rear. I held my purloined rifle at the ready—I didn't want to have to rely solely on my newfound powers without first thoroughly testing their limitations and weaknesses—and kept an eye on our right flank.

“Doesn't look like we're going to have any more trouble getting out of here.” I frowned as we passed into the forest. I didn't know what Amber's plan was, but I hoped the trees would let up at some point. I wasn't too thrilled about the idea of climbing up to the top of one just to get in the escape vehicle.