Lucas Ryan Versus: The Hive Part 17

LEVEL 22: The Energy.

The truth was finally here. The truth was magical. This truth was unbelievable. This impossible truth covered itself in dangerous beauty. Seeing the stone's hidden truth was amazing, but I don't think I was ready to accept its truth, our truth. The stone's true ident.i.ty was in front of me now. I wasn't ready.

* Believe in me. *

"I'm trying!"

* Believe, Lucas. *

"Gimme a sec!" I whined. I closed my eyes hard, but I could still see it. The stone's epic design etched onto my inner eyelids. Slowly, my eyes peeled open again and I surrendered as the truth overtook me.

* See me. *

"Okay."

I had a nightmare once when I was 8 years old. Born from the stupid decision of watching a movie I shouldn't have. I can barely recall the movie anymore, something about a possessed doll with a knife and its appet.i.te for blood, but I remember every torturous moment of the dream. This nightmare was so bad that it has stayed with me ever since. At the time, I remember being so scared that I couldn't even leave my bed and run for the safety of my parents bedroom. So, I shivered in my coc.o.o.n of covers and sweat, frozen with fear. I thought I would never feel that kind of fear again, until this moment.

Black velvet smoke swished around the room in waves, like silky liquid. Along the floor it danced, sliding itself into the corners of the room and covering the walls. Silently, this rolling flood of smoke began to take a shape. It pulled together to form a body that was unmistakably snakelike. It was thin enough to see through and whipped back and forth like a tail of a kite fighting to free itself from its captive string. Silver shaped scales began to form along its curves as if burned into place. Each one ended in a pointy tip with an electrical spark popping from it. I couldn't see any legs, but it had at least four arms or appendages. They were long and lanky with matching scales on fire. At the end of each arm was a three fingered claw, black as night. The sharp fingertips clicked together, dripping sparks to the smoky floor.

"Impossible," I almost gagged in fear. Three whiplike tails emerged from the magical mist, each with its own different and deadly tip. The tail in the middle was longer than the other ones at its sides. It had a vicious looking spike that seemed to change its shape at will. Each new form more menacing than the next. The two outer tails moved almost like legs, but with giant sickle shaped tips that scratched along the walls and ceiling with a nerve rattling sc.r.a.ping sound.

The tangle of monstrous appendages were tied together by a steel plated chest of vibrating scales. Within this torso sprouted a long neck as long as a giraffe. The creature's shoulders were thick and did not move, making its slender neck a statue of metallic stone that towered above my pale face. This menacing neck led to the head of my secret beast. This was the hardest part to describe. It was slightly long like a lizard, or dinosaur, but with a stubbed nose that held two almond shaped slits for eyes. They smoldered in a deep fire-burst of yellow, with red sparks of lightning that reached for the ceiling. Pulses of purple energy reflected just beneath the pupils, depending on what direction you stared at it. Even though its head didn't move at all, its eyes seemed to follow me wherever I moved. Which wasn't much because of the absolute amazement I was locked in.

No mouth or outline for a mouth of any kind, that I could see. No nose or nostrils. As I studied its head closer I realized it wasn't breathing at all. It just hovered there in existence. While parts of its iron torso shifted and clicked wildly throughout the room, other body parts seemed still and almost transparent. As if they weren't all the way there, all the way in this realm or dimension. My head pounded with the ridiculous thought, but it was happening right before my eyes. The pounding progressed to dizziness and I leaned backward fearing I may pa.s.s out. Luckily, I caught a well-placed chair and sunk into its arch safely. The vertigo disappeared in an instant.

"Whew...that was weird," I mumbled. My right wrist tickled with a building heat, pulling my tired stare down to it. The creature's eyes watched me as I pulled my wrist up to my face and found that it was engulfed by a swirling storm of black liquid smoke. It spun around my arm and hand like a miniature hurricane. Streaks of electricity crawled along the hairs of my skin, outlining the foreign symbols left from my missing gauntlet. My other hand began to reach for it when it became completely clear I wasn't sitting in a chair at all. My body rested atop a small puff of smoke that fit to my body like a throne fits a King. Air shot from my mouth in a thin stream and drilled into the smoke directly in front of me. The giant beast shivered.

"Whoa...sorry about that," I said, embarra.s.sed. The creature's eyes seemed to smile before me, filling me with a new and weird calmness. The excess smoke twisted and morphed before my face like the white cottony clouds on a beautiful spring day. Instantly, I started to see familiar shapes; castles, birds, a rocket ship, even a bunny wearing a top hat. The images brought a funny little smile to the edge of my mouth. I had almost forgotten all about the mysterious alien in front of me when its reptilian head slid down, aligning itself with mine.

* Finally, I have been waiting for you to see me. For you to believe. *

What are you? I asked without words.

* What are we? *

Huh? What the heck are you talking about?

* What are we? * It corrected again, a little louder this time.

Still confused, I gave up on the mental telepathy stuff and asked, "What are we?"

* You asked me, 'What are you?' The real question is, 'What are WE?' *

Its smoky, steel body lifted me toward its brilliant stare and gently back on my own feet.

"Huh?" I asked, again.

* Believe in my words, Lucas. What are WE? *

"Okay...what are we?" I asked, completely lost in the conversation. It quickly circled the room causing the lights to flicker on and off. It coiled itself around my tense body with the smoke still handcuffed to my wrist. Misty shadows pulled from its back in the shape of morbid demon wings. They never fully defined themselves and stayed in the spooky form of shadows.

* WE are the energy. WE are the same as you. Take everything you need. *

Its voice serenaded my mind with the tone of a calculated machine or computer. I pulled my hand back up to my face and blew out a puff of air, making the twirling smoke disappear and expose the burning symbol inside my forearm. It burned with vibrant purple light that pulsed in the same timing with the creature's pupils and crawling electricity, as if we were in sync somehow. As if we were one. Then the timing of the flashes matched my racing pulse. I stood stunned, watching the beautiful color beat in unison with my heart. My hand fell upon its metallic chest just a few inches in front of me and I could feel its heartbeat. It was strong and mimicked mine exactly. That's when its words finally hit me... 'What are WE?'. The answer was simple. We were one. We were the same. We shared everything, our thoughts, our fears, our life force.

* Understand? *

"Yes. We are the same. We are one. I believe now."

* WE are the energy. WE are the same as you. Take everything you need. Take everything from me. *

I rubbed the flashing symbol on my wrist, calming the racing heart in my chest. A serene peace filled my head even though I had a thousand questions to ask. It loosened its coil around me, slowly.

"Where did you come from?"

* Inside of you. *

"Please, explain."

* I traveled a long way to be born, to be made. To be what you need. *

"Right now I could use a straight answer. Where are you from?" I sounded impatient.

* From far away. From inside of you. From nowhere. From everywhere. There is no real name for where I came from. There is only the truth. *

I scratched my head, annoyed. "Okay, what truth?"

* Only that you and I are one. Are WE. *

"You're talking in riddles, making absolutely no sense!" I pouted.

* It doesn't have to make sense. I chose you because you chose me. You asked what I was...I am what you make me. I am what you want me to be. *

Its three menacing tails twisted together in one long curly knot that reminded me of the way the stripes flowed along a candy cane. Quickly, the creature's colors changed to red and white that spiraled down the length of its body. My mouth hit the floor in utter disbelief.

"I am what you want me to be..." I repeated the creature's cryptic words, putting another piece of the puzzle together in my brain. This thing has been growing and changing by MY will, by MY imagination. WE were one, after all. I had spent my childhood chasing and dreaming of dragons and now, I had created one with my deepest and darkest thoughts. I created the creature's true form, its essence.

Running a nervous hand through my matted hair, "Why me?"

* Why not? Where I am from only a few of my kind ever find their OTHER. Find their creator. *

"Your kind? What is your kind?"

* We are the universe. *

"And..." I pushed.

* We are the energy. We need hope to be born. Fear to grow. Dreams to learn. Belief to live. I believed in you, Lucas...my creator. *

"I'm the creator...your creator?"

* Yes. What you desire, is what is true. *

Its words. .h.i.t me with the force of a runaway train. What I desire...

"You mean like...wishes?" I blinked. It nodded, yes. My wishes! Every time I had truly wished in my head for something it seemed to come true. Memories of the past few days rushed over me. Too many coincidences had happened. Too many things I couldn't explain. When I needed it most, my wishes saved me. A wonderful reality slapped me across the face. Why hadn't I seen it before?

"Oh my G.o.d! You're a genie!" I shouted. It flinched from my ecstatic statement.

* I am what YOU make me. If you believe it, I am what YOU desire. *

"No way!" I cheered, and tried to slap one of its claws in a misguided high-five. Its flaming eyes watched me, unsettled. "My very own genie!"

* What is a genie? *

"A magical being that grants wishes, any wish!" I tightened up at the thought of what my next wish might be. My dream car, a pile of money...immortality.

* Sorry, Lucas, but it does not work that way. *

"What do you mean? Why not?" I shrank.

* I make what YOU want reality only if you truly desire it. I have no control over it. It's just the way it is. If you truly wanted money, then you would have it. All of it. *

"Oh."

* If you desire something with everything you are, I make that desire true. WE make it true. *

My true desire. My thoughts became deadly serious as the image of my friends in danger sobered me. Olivia's ghost appeared, filling me with goose b.u.mps. I found everything hard to swallow all of a sudden. Information overload.

* She's in trouble. She's out of time. *

"Olivia's in trouble? Is it General Love?" I asked too loud.

* I am not alone here. *

"What do you mean?"

* My kind is always hunted. *

"By what? Who?"

* Something that lives and feeds on hopes and dreams. The opposite of me. The anti-energy. The darkness. The end. *

"Are you saying we're in danger still?" I asked, looking up toward the demolished security camera tucked in the corner of the room. My mind filled with the faces of all my friends.

* Yes. *

"All of us?" I whispered.

* General Love will end this world. General Love will kill us all. *

I closed my eyes not wanting to hear anymore. I wanted to run away. My creature pushed its face closer to mine, connecting with me with only our thoughts.

* He's especially taken an interest in her. *

Olivia. I thought, instantly. I began to shake. We have to save Olivia. Show me where she's at. Show me how to save her!

* Not Olivia. Her sister...Sophia. *

"Sophia." My hands tightened into fists. Bright white light ignited around them, canceling out some of my creature's mystical smoke. There was no more time for questions. No more time to talk. There was only one truth now. I had to stop him. WE had to save my friends. WE had to save the world.

"I wish to see my friends. Take me to them," I said, through clinched teeth. I wanted this wish more than anything. My creature nodded its head down before me, almost in a bow of respect. Its eyes never looking away from me.

* That's more like it. *

My creature's torso morphed into a swirling ball of gray mist. Spinning inside was a shiny surface that resembled a large mirror. It settled into a fuzzy picture that came to life with a moving image. An image of the chaos that was about to overtake my friends. Inside this doomsday painting came a fear that chilled me to my core. I was out of time.

"Oh...no..."

LEVEL 23: This Is War.

"Please, don't hurt my friends," Sophia wilted. Her hands tightly strangled the last remaining piece of my missing gauntlet as tears scratched down her cheeks. She looked to the horrifying scene above her head, watching as her sister, my best friends and oldest enemies, dangled from the rafters of the school gymnasium. General Love had strung everyone, but her, up in the air, attached to the roof by some weird and sticky substance like a gooey spiderweb. It oozed black slime and twinkled with green flecks of light. Twenty-feet above the hardwood floor Olivia hung in pain, trying to be strong for her sister.

"Please!" Sophia begged again, surrounded by the General's monstrous armed guard. This time they pointed their daggers for fingers and mouthfuls of fangs at her, instead of a.s.sault weapons. They shook with powerful bodies, hunched over and growling. General Love watched her with his phantom eyes from across the room. He smiled with the same coc.o.o.ning black ooze dripping from his lower lip. It disgusted Sophia, completely.

"Soph! Don't make him angry!" Olivia warned from above. Her warning only seemed to scare Sophia more, exciting the General and his men.

"I am not angry, my dear Olivia. Far from it," General Love said, strolling along the length of the gymnasium floor, playing hide and seek with the falling shadows of my tortured friends. As he pa.s.sed under each hanging body he gave a wicked glare to each of his prisoners. A personal moment of fear for all his trapped victims.

Finding a new wind in her lungs, Sophia stepped forward, "Let us go!" Holding the magical token seemed to settle her nerves and fill her with confidence. This new sensation enveloped her young body and she didn't notice that the gauntlet screen was radiating inside her hands. General Love avoided her silly threats and continued his stalking of my friends. He stopped halfway to Sophia and jerked his head upward, focusing his hateful stare on Dax. Dax hung quiet and petrified, trying his hardest to not show the General just how scared he actually was. General Love pulled his lips together and sucked in a long dusty breath. Quickly, he expelled a jagged icy column of air that crackled upward, reaching for Dax. The force of it spun him in a sickening circle of dizziness that covered his clothes and skin in chunks of frozen crystals. Dax screamed down to the General as if he were dying.

"Don't do this! You don't have to do this!"

"Of course I have to do this! I want to do this!" General Love laughed in an unnatural, gravelly voice. "This is why I have brought my men, my Hive! This is what I am here for. This is what I am made for!"

Dax lost consciousness and the General's guards joined in his celebration of laughter.

"I don't understand, why are we here?" Olivia asked, upset. General Love whipped his head around to meet her drained face.

"I needed you as bait. Your pitiful little friend, Lucas Ryan, has something I need. Something I crave!" his pointed teeth locked together. "It's the only reason why you're all still breathing."