Chapter 107

Another Day, Another Set of Problems

Mount up, prepare, and wait. Those are the three components to any soldier’s life before they go out on a mission. So why do I feel like we are setting ourselves up for disaster?

Resonance. Grating Resonance on my Spirit.

I feel like we are being both too cavalier with this second “easy” Behemoth, and simultaneously taking it too seriously. I don’t know how or why I feel this way.

Alien Jess went and shared a projection of the mental influences at work by the Behemoth from our universe. The way we were targeted and hunted by our own team before the film around the monster was removed.

After that revelation, General Tigran agreed. Though this General Tigran was different. Far too untrusting of us. It made sense, from a technical perspective. This was after all my first time meeting her. Well, my first time meeting her without her body being hijacked by a Celestial.

At the same time, she has some type of knowledge of us. Her Oracular abilities, and the fact that the four world trees vouched for the three of us, have gone a long way. Still, I can tell that there is a feeling of distrust. The fact that she doesn’t trust us is very apparent. It is in the way she looks at us. The way she secretly glares at us when she doesn’t think we are looking. The way we are here, in what is effectively a military holding cell.

Yes, we are in a combat staging room, aboard an Endarian Battle cruiser that was sitting stationary in space. If you have never seen a staging room, imagine a wide-open rooms with long benches designed for you to straddle with your legs as you wait for your time to leave for combat. The only problem is, there are just the three of us, we were barely given our space suits and a few rations. Yep, those same frothing at the mouth Endarian ration bars. We had our choice of Ginger oats and Root beer wheat, breakfast of feral champions everywhere. I managed to force down a Root beer wheat bar, with an excessive amount of water.

I got to watch my Jess’ face as she made the mistake of trying to taste the bar.

“Oh mmnnoo…” She managed, before her mouth began pulsing and bubbling with suds. It was simultaneously disgusting and hilarious at the same time.

Seeing her face Alien Jess and I couldn’t help but laugh at her misfortune. It was a rite of passage for every human who tried Endarian energy bars, be scoffed at by their peers. The fact that Alien Jess just watched on as I had, only showed that she too had experienced this same situation before.

Glug, glug, glug.

I could hear the water being guzzled by Jess, as she desperately tried to fight back the foam invaders from her mouth. “That was disgusting.” She finally managed.

“You can’t taste it, that was your first mistake.” I add, trying to be helpful. I know she will need a moment, to get that flavor from out of her mouth. Along with the mental image of her being choked by her own saliva.

“I will admit. You handled it better than I did. My first time, I ended up vomiting all over the mess hall.” Alien Jess added, again confirming that she had previously tried these torture bars from her own dimension.

“I’m surprised you didn’t try one while you were at Thessia Academy?” I asked.

She looks at me like I am crazy. “When we were there, I was not treated like a prisoner of war.” She paused, and then turned to Alien Jess, “what exactly did you say to Rayquel?”

Alien Jess shifts on the bench uncomfortably, but I can’t tell if that is just the natural reaction to having to sit on the oddly shaped bench for so long, or a reaction to the question. Finally, she answers.

“I just said, we were here to kill the Behemoth. I then heard the four world tree spirits vouch for us, as you all did. Then we saw the general, played her the video of the last Behemoth we killed. Then were taken here.” Summarizing the details of everything that had happened.

“Gah!” My Jess cries out in pain as she clutches at her chest.

In an instant I am up and holding her. Her heart is beating quickly. I cast Healing-X on her, but it doesn’t do much. Realizing what that means, I only pause.

“Are you okay?” I ask, knowing that this is likely a direct result of her fractured soul causing damage to her body.

“Yeah, I think it is just more acid reflux from the energy bar.” She offers weakly.

This of course is a lie, one meant to make me feel better. Then she holds out the bar with one bite taken from it.

“What is this for?” I ask.

“Can you throw this away for me?”

I look, and of course the trash can is on the far end of the room. I don’t want to leave her side, but I do want her to rest for a moment. So, I take the bar then using Telekinesis-X I fling the partially eaten bar across the room where it lands perfectly in the trash receptacle. Once that is done, I turn back to look at Jess, but then find another wrapper being held out from behind Jess. Clearly Alien Jess wants a repeat performance. Shaking my head, I grab hers and push it together with my own wrapper, then send the two back across the room.

I don’t know if powers were truly meant for this type of abuse, but they did come in handy.

With the trash situation taken care of I turned back to Jess.

“I say we give it another thirty minutes. Then we bail.” I said, as I looked first at my Jess, then to Alien Jess.

“What? We are just going to leave them?” My Jess asks.

“Just like they left us to linger here? Look, I know it seems callous, but these people clearly think they don’t need our help.” Alien Jess adds.

I can’t help to think that part of this animosity is directed towards the fact that she wants to save her universe. Or at least save what is left of her universe. I have heard that her original world tree that she was sworn to protect has died. This normally means that she should have lost her wings, but somewhere she found time to pledge her services to Prime. Then when she came here, she also pledged her services to Omen, Hunger, Nothing, and Deca. At the time she said it was so we would likely have more sway in getting resources. Or in our case, either a ship, or a teleportation out to where the Behemoth was.

Badum clack.

Almost as if they wanted to oppose the words of Alien Jess. The giant double metal doors of the staging area slammed open. In the doors’ wake was a procession of military soldiers, being led by General Tigran at the lead. It took a second to see that in the procession were a few of the elite royal guards, one of which was pushing a levitation chair.

General Tigran continued forward, until she was a few paces away from us.

Once she was in front of us, she scowled, as the three of us got to our feet. “So are you finally willing to point us at the enemy? Or should we just move on?”

Surprisingly, the one causing issue wasn’t me. I know, right? But this time it was Alien Jess who had just about enough of these power plays. It was also clear that the longer we waited here, the more dangerous it would be to fight off the fully formed Behemoth from her universe.

We had wanted to use this one as another test run, but I agreed with her, at this point we should move on.

“Sorry for the delay. As you might have guessed, we are rather strapped for resources now.” General Tigran began, and then took a step to the side so she could reveal the person in the floating hover chair. It was Astria, though she looked terrible.

Immediately I began casting Healing-X on her, I used Cleanse, Purge, Heal, and Mend on her. She looked a little bit better after the infusion, but most of what she was feeling was clearly related to being exhausted.

“Oh, thank you.” Astria began as she sat up a little straighter in her chair. “When the world trees first informed me of your presence, I insisted that I help.” Cough, cough. Even with the healing, it was clear that Astria had been pushing herself well beyond her limits for a while. In a way this made sense. They were likely in the same boat as we were, but they likely had a harder time of dealing with everything. At least that is what their haggard faces and appearances seemed to be telling me. Even with their ethereally beautiful skin and features, all the Endarians present looked tired and worn.

“We thank you for your help.” My Jess said.

Hearing that Astria just smiled warmly. “Thank you deary. Now I believe you all had a Behemoth to slay?” Astria begins.

“You don’t have to.” General Tigran said, clearly worried about the strain on Astria. Given her state, and the fact that she had to be moved around in a hover chair, I assume she was not doing too well. Then again master level Transportation experts were likely in high demand, particularly during times of war.

“Nonsense. Of course, I must.” Astria stated, then her eyes began to glow as she summoned forth her energy. It was slow and weak, but I used my Spirit-X to help her stabilize and maintain her spell form. This was surprisingly easy, like stupidly so. Then I realized the main root word of my Mage Breaker power, and almost face palmed. Of course, it had all been planned out. Spirit-X, the power, was meant to be influenced by my Spirit Attribute. But wouldn’t that mean that this had all been scripted? That everything had been planned?

Did this mean I didn’t have a choice with the way things played out? Or was there something far more conventional behind everything? Regardless, of how or why I got here. I was here.

The spell came to life flawlessly. I allowed just enough flexibility for Astria to define the portions that she wanted. Almost as if she was willing to let me do all the hard work, she would focus on a rune, then stabilize it long enough for me to lock it in place. Then once it was locked in place, she would move on to the next rune. Each rune went up, perfectly. Then finally once it was locked into place, we were shown a portal that led to a wide-open expanse of space, and a giant monster.

This of course was a one way portal, which meant that we could go through to the other side, but the other side could not come through to us. Seeing this structure, it was obvious why Astria was so tired. These types of portals required twice as much power to cast. But were very effective at keeping enemies from being able to advance too quickly.

We were about to go through, but I held up a hand.

“Wait.” I said, as I stared at my Jess.

I then leaned down to tell her something, but before I could. I felt warm lips against my mouth. She had kissed me. I was so shocked by the action, that it took me a second to catch on. Fortunately, my body reacted almost instantly. Then before I knew it, I was holding her tightly as we finished our embrace.

Once we were done, I took a half step back. “What was that for?”

“Wait, you weren’t going to use that to steal a last-minute victory kiss?” My Jess asked.

I blinked. Then said, “no, I was going to ask if we should go ahead already powered up?”

“Oh, well that sounds stupid. No, wait it is a good idea. But my idea was still better.” Jess said, in that way that made me fall in love with her all over again.

“Come on, you two love birds. Let’s charge up, then go in.” Alien Jess said. As she gripped my left hand. Then My Jess gripped my right. Then with their free hands they clasped each other, forming a three-person chain. Then with that, I began channeling energy into them. This was my third time doing so, and it was relatively easy at this point.

Once I could feel that the energy, I pushed into the two Jesses was fully formed we turned towards the portal.

We were about to step forward, but that was when I had an idea.

“Wait, Why don’t we just fire through the portal?” I ask.

“Can the portal even manage that?” Jess asked.

“It is a literal fold in space. We could fire our most devastating missiles through the portal.” I state.

At that General Tigran nodded, “not that they did anything.”

I nodded at that. “Of course, likely the outer shell needs to be dissolved first.” I said, remembering how nearly impenetrable the Behemoth from our universe was.

“Well, we can at least try it. If it doesn’t work we can always walk through the portal and make ourselves an easy target for the enemy. But while we have this cheap shot, we might as well take it.” Alien Jess said, and just like that, I nearly fell in love with her too. Nearly, but she was more of that older punk rock sister role model, than an actual crush. But I could see myself falling for older Jess as well, if my Jess wasn’t already here. Nope, that is not within me. I am strictly a one-person kind of guy. My main reason for this, I am barely capable of fulfilling the needs of one partner, then throw in two unsatisfied partners and things will just spiral out of control. Nope, better to just not think about those types of things. Be happy for what you have.

“Well?” My Jess asks.

Suddenly I realize I likely had a tangent. Focusing I look around to see that everyone is looking squarely at me. Shaking my head, only now do I realize just how taxing this whole process is on me, as well.

“Well, what?” I ask, feeling like I am about to fail an impromptu pop-quiz.

“Never mind. Let’s just do it.” Alien Jess says, as she huffs angrily but then points her hand towards the portal.

“Oh, we are doing it live.”

“As you wish.” My Jess said, while her words were clearly directed towards Alien Jess, I couldn’t help but pounce on the line.

“Ahh, I love you too.”

With that both Jesses just blink and stare at me like I am crazy.

Finally Alien Jess breaks the silence by asking, “what?” It was clear from her tone and inflection that that was a shortened form of what in the actual fuck. Or something close to that. Still, I obliged.

“She said, ‘as you wish.’ Which we all know really means, I love you. Thus, I replied with, I love you too.” I pause looking back and forth between the two.

“Wait, nothing? You two truly don’t know? So that wasn’t a confession of love?” I asked.

The two just shook their heads, then looked at each other in a way that said they were done listening to me. I don’t know how that was the one thing I learned to understand, from the unwritten language that women use while looking at each other, but I got the message loud and clear.

Deciding not to listen to me anymore, they both turned to the portal held out their hands that had been clasped together moments ago. Then fired dual pulses of energy straight at the core of the Behemoth.

Within seconds, there was a bright pulse of light as the protective barrier around the Behemoth dissolved. Revealing only long black tendrils of mucus covered muscles spasming about. The two of course weren’t done there, they continued firing their beams of energy. I didn’t want to cycle any more energy through them, not unless it was needed. I knew that every ounce of energy they held in this way was dangerous to them and had to be released almost instantly. That was why the two kept firing, until every drop was gone.

Once their amplified foreign energy in their systems were completely released, they collapsed. Fortunately, I was ready for them. Unfortunately, this was not space where they weighed nothing, and I nearly lost balance before I managed to catch them both before gently sliding them down to the ground. With the two Jesses safe, we all watched on in amazement as the pulses of light smashed into and then obliterated the core of the monster.

Then we all watched as the Behemoth fist stretched out, then burst and melted right before our very eyes.

Astria of course was asleep. The only reason the portal was still up and operational at this point was because I still held the spell form in place. We watched as the Behemoth slowly dissolved, revealing only a vast and vacant solar system. One that had a giant dimly lit orb for a light source. An orb that would soon die out.

The Behemoth was gone, but the solar system that it had started with was also destroyed.

We all looked on in amazement at the utter destruction of the solar system. Sadly, I recognized the solar system. It was the same solar system that the Behemoth from my universe started in.

I wondered if it was likely the same solar system that the Behemoth from Alien Jess’s universe also started in? If that was the case, then I had an idea. Though first, I needed a nap.

“Sleep now father. You have earned a rest.” The voice of Prime, no wait, that wasn’t Prime.

“Don’t worry father. I do not take umbrage with your mental faux pas. I am Omen. But you are right. You do need to rest.” The world Tree going by Omen said.

Yeah, that wasn’t a bad sign to fall asleep to, I idly thought. But then had my own thoughts quickly pushed aside. I was so tired.

“That is because your own soul is also being destroyed in these attacks. The Jesses are using fragments of your soul, then combining it with portions of their own.” Deca said.

Always read the fine print. Am I right? I think to myself, as I too slowly drift off into sleep. I will find another time to worry about my own destroyed soul later.