Universe in Flames 3: Destination Oblivion (3 page)

“So?” asked
Chase.

The man put his
hand on the blood-gushing wound and spoke. “Take a right at end of the
corridor, then go all the way through and take the last left. Zarnor’s
operation is there.”

Chase extended
his arm towards the man’s shoulder.

“Please don’t
kill me. I told you what you wanted to know!”

“Shut up and hold
still,” said Chase, removing the man’s hand from his wound and applying his own.

He healed the man
in less than three seconds. The man looked at his closing wound and his eyes
grew with astonishment.

“There, good as
new. I suggest you find another career path, though,” said Chase, not waiting
for an answer as he resumed walking.

Two minutes later
he arrived at his destination. Two huge, pink-skinned goons, with bloodshot, red
eyes, stepped in front of him. Behind them a green insectoid sat at a black
desk. He spoke. “It’s invite only. Get lost!”

“I need something
and I’ve been told you can provide it.”

“I don’t deal
with strangers.”

“Well, today you’ll
make an exception.”

The insectoid
made a clicking sound and his goons jumped at Chase.

“For the love
of—”

Chase sprang into
the air and somersaulted behind them. He then turned around, extended his arms
and sent a powerful telekinetic wave towards the goons, who rebounded against
each other before crashing against the walls on each side of the corridor. They
collapsed on the ground with a very satisfying and synchronized thud. Chase
turned back to the insectoid.

“Look, I’m not
here to cause any problems, but I’m sick and tired of people’s attitude tonight.
I came in good faith hoping you could help me, but if you’d like to see how I
can use my powers to dismember you and then just take whatever the fuck I want
from your inventory, let me know, ’cause I’m losing patience here.”

The insectoid
clicked multiple times nervously. “That won’t be necessary. What are you
looking for? And whatever it is, it’s on the house.”

Chase took
credits from his pockets and threw them on the table. “I don’t need a freebie. Hopefully
this can buy me something nice?”

The insectoid
looked at the credits with a gleam in his eye.

“Whatever you
want, in fact.”

“Good. I need
something for numbing pain.”

“A painkiller? I
have them all.”

“Not that kind of
pain.”

“Ooooh, I see.
You need to forget something or someone.”

“Yeah.”

“Then may I
suggest synthesized Kyrian snake venom?”

“Yeah, give me a
double shot of that.”

“One dose will
suffice. More could kill you.”

“If only
. . . Give me a double shot, please.”

The insectoid
clicked while looking in a drawer within his desk. “Your funeral.”

“Not likely.”

“There, my last
two doses. I can’t stress enough how dangerous it is to get more than one per
day, though.”

“You said that
already. Jack me up.”

Chase extended
his arm. The insectoid took the vial, inserted it into a medical gun and
injected Chase subcutaneously with a small whooshing sound as he pressed the
trigger.

“How long does
it—”

“Not long, as you
can probably feel already. In five minutes you won’t remember your own name.”

Chase felt a
burning sensation, followed by a soothing and warm feeling. He started to feel
light-headed.

“Any side
effects?”

“Besides
overdosing? If you survive this—and I should really stress the ‘if’ part—once
the poison is out of your system, you may find yourself craving more. But it
usually takes three or four injections for the craving to be so strong you need
it daily.”

“Charming.
Anything else?”

“Yeah, you’ll
probably be quite angry once the drug is out of your bloodstream; like
homicidal-maniac-violent for a few hours.”

“That should
prove interesting.”

“I don’t plan to
be around then, if you survive.”

“Oh, I will
survive. The universe isn’t done fucking with me yet and I’m not done paying it
back.”

“Whatever, man. Nice
doing business with you. How long are my goons gonna be out?”

“Maybe an hour or
two.”

“Swell. I guess
I’m off for the night then. So long, stranger.” He clicked a button on the
underside of his desk and thin walls closed in front of his desk, effectively
transforming it into a dead-end corridor.

Chase started
back the way he had come but after a few steps he lost his balance and crashed to
the ground. He registered no pain at all at the impact. But the pain within his
soul grew smaller at an exponential rate. He barely managed to set an alarm on
his wrist band before falling into an inviting and sweet darkness.

*  
*   *

Chase was lying in
tall, green grass. He brushed the grass with his hand and felt at peace. The
sky was magnificent: dark blue and purple hues, with pink clouds dancing in a circle.
Then he heard her voice.

“Chase! Where are
you hiding, silly?”

“I’m over here,”
he said, raising himself from the ground.

Sarah ran toward
him, holding the hand of a small boy about five years old. The child released
himself, ran quickly towards Chase and jumped into his arms. Chase lifted him
towards the sky and spun around a few times. He then brought the child toward
him and kissed him on the cheek.

“Daddy!” said the
boy, with a broad and innocent smile.

“You’re okay,
buddy? Are you hungry?”

“No, I’m fine. I
want to play with you though.”

“What do you want
to play at?”

“I want you to
make me fly, Daddy.”

Sarah embraced
him from behind. He turned and kissed her passionately on the mouth.

“Always a
favorite.”

Chase smiled. He
lifted his son with his mind and sent him flying around. He extended his arms
in front of him and laughed hysterically.

“You’re alright,
my love?” asked Sarah.

“Couldn’t be
better. You?”

“Yeah. We’ve been
looking for you since he woke from his nap.”

Chase smiled. His
heart felt warm. He was happy beyond his wildest dreams.

After flying the
boy around for a few minutes, he brought him down.

“Again, Daddy,
again.”

“Later, son. Let’s
go for a walk, okay?”

The boy closed
his eyes and nodded in agreement with a big smile. They walked for the next
hour and arrived by a river bed. Sarah and Chase sat on the grass while the child
chased a beautiful, green-orange butterfly, the sound of his laughter echoing
in the valley. Sarah put her head on Chase’s shoulder for a while. He brushed
her satin red hair and reveled in its intoxicating perfume. They lay on the
ground and kissed for a very long time.

“Chris looks so
much like you.”

“Does he, now? I
always thought he was as pretty as his mother.”

“He even has your
eye color.”

“It’s popular
with girls.”

She punched him
on the shoulder affectionately.

“How would you
know? Perhaps it’s just popular with me.”

“As long as you
like it, that’s all I care about, my love.”

“Don’t try to
charm yourself out of this.”

“You know I only
have eyes for you, my sweet wife.”

“Good save,” she
said with a broad smile, before kissing him sweetly on the lips.

“I love you so
much. I don’t know what I would do without you.”

“I love you too,
Chase, and you’ll have me for as long as I live.”

A tear escaped from
Chase’s left eye.

“What is it?”

“Nothing. I’m
just so happy.”

Chris approached
and jumped up and down.

“What is it,
Chris?” asked Chase

“I want to fish!”

“Alright. Just
remember what I told you last time. Go easy on them, okay?”

He smiled and
nodded, and then he ran to the river and looked at the surface.

“Perhaps you
should supervise him?” said Sarah.

“He’ll be fine. It’s
only fish.”

Chris extended an
open palm and shot a small, yellow fireball into the water. The impact raised
the water and with it a big, purple fish flew into the air. He ran into the
water and jumped to catch it before it fell back. The fish was clearly stunned.

“All good, son?”

“I think fishy is
sleeping.”

Chase looked at
Sarah who gave him a big smile.

“So you caught
dinner?” said Chase playfully.

“No! I don’t want
to eat fishy. Fishies are my friends!”

“That’s a good
boy. Perhaps you should help him wake up then?”

Chris smiled and placed
his hand on the fish, bathing it with white light. Soon it started flapping
about and escaped the boy’s hands, returning to the water.

“Bye, fishy, see
you soon,” said Chris joyfully.

He came back, all
wet, towards his parents.

Chase raised one
hand and dried his son with a swift and warm air current.

“Thank you, Daddy.
Will you teach me that too?”

“Sure thing,
son.”

A thunderclap
resonated within the valley and the sky began to darken.

“Looks like it’s
gonna rain,” said Sarah.

She stood and
extended her hand towards Chris. “Let’s go home and prepare dinner for Daddy. Want
to help me, sweetie?”

Chris jumped in
excitement. “Yes, I want to cook with you, Mommy.”

Sarah looked at
Chase. “You’re coming?”

“Go ahead. I’ll
be right behind you.”

She winked at him
and they left.

Chase looked at
the ominous sky. He was surprised how quickly the weather had changed. He walked
by the river bed, taking a small pebble and sending it flying at the surface of
the water. The sheer power of its increasing velocity split the water in two
for a few hundred feet.

“I need to talk
with you,” said a voice behind Chase.

The sky turned
darker. Chase spun around.

“Hello, Ares,
what can I do for you?” Chase started to feel dread within his soul, but
couldn’t really understand why.

“Interesting
dream you’re having. Are you high?”

Then it came back
to him. He had taken some sort of hallucinogenic venom. None of this was real.
Tears flowed down his cheeks.

“I’m sorry to drag
you out of your reverie.”

“Not as sorry as
I am. I like it here. Wish I could stay here forever.”

“One day,
perhaps.”

“Let me guess,
once I defeat Argos? I thought I told you I didn’t want to talk to you or
Aphroditis anymore.”

“I know, but you
need to understand something.”

“Yeah? What’s
that?”

“Aphroditis
didn’t ask you to kill Sarah, and—”

“Chris, his name
would have been Chris.”

Ares’ expression
grew darker and he only nodded in response.

“She did tell me
I had to kill her. I remember it very well.”

“No, she tried to
warn you that our communications had been compromised, most likely by Argos.”

“What are you trying
to tell me, Ares?”

“That Argos,
somehow, must have impersonated Aphroditis and given you that order.”

Chase made fists
and the ground started shaking.

“Easy, Chase, you
could destroy the place your physical body is in right now.”

“I’m not sure I
care.”

“Well, if you
want to be given the opportunity to exact revenge on Argos, perhaps you
should.”

Chase closed his
eyes and tried calming down. Projecting a mental image of Sarah and Chris seemed
to do the trick pretty fast.

“Good. Now
understand this: we are both very sorry for what happened.”

“And that helps
me how?”

“I didn’t say it
would help, Chase, I’m just telling you I’m sorry. We both are.”

“Right, thanks, I
guess . . .”

“Chase, you’re
hurting right now. It’s understandable, but you need to heal. You can’t expect
to defeat Argos if you don’t process your grief first.”

“Actually I think
my hatred for Argos should be all I require to kill him.”

“Anger and hate
will cloud your judgment when the time comes. Argos might exploit that.”