Chapter 12: A Razorlike Blue

"Wh-what is that?" Eden murmured.

"Psynergy," Cliff replied, as he slowly escorted Eden to the entrance. "A type of energy created by channeling psychic and kinetic energy together. Train yourself enough, and you can even develop your own unique abilities, just like Johnny has."

Eden watched the two men stare each other down. "Is he going to be alright by himself?"

"No," Cliff answered. "I’m going to back him up. Meanwhile, Eden, I need you to run back to the Guild as fast as you can. You’ll be safe in - "

Cliff’s voice abruptly cut off as he watched Van Kaen lunge toward Johnny. Gnashing his teeth, the Dragon swiped out at the man’s midsection. Johnny flung his whip at the beast's claw, catching it and diverting its aim. Van Kaen rolled with the new momentum, spinning through the air and eventually coming to a halt as he crashed into another wall, collapsing it. The Zodiac erupted with laughter as he brought himself out from the rubble, completely unscathed.

"Shut the hell up!" Johnny lashed out with his whip once more. This time, it wrapped around Van Kaen's stomach. Johnny yanked it downward, smashing the Zodiac's face into the crushed tile and dragging it through the rubble.

"He's toying with you, Johnny!" Cliff shouted, as he ran in and took aim. "Just keep him still, and then I'll have a perfect shot at him!"

Johnny jerked his whip up commandingly, and Van Kaen rose to his feet. The assassin continued to grin at Johnny, pausing for a moment to spit a chunk of tile from his mouth.

Then, Cliff let a tan blast of psynergy explode from his gun. The psychic bullet soared right into Van Kaen's shoulder, but there was no visible effect. The Zodiac didn't even turn his head to acknowledge the attack. Smoke sizzled off his leathery skin, but it seemed as if Cliff's attempt had been utterly in vain.

"Why isn't he getting hurt?!" Eden cried. "This makes no sense!"

"He’s shielding himself with his own psynergy," Cliff called back. "Johnny, stop! We need to take him together!"

Johnny focused more psynergy into his hands. Stronger surges pulsated through his whip, jolting up to Van Kaen's abdomen. As they struck home, the beast began to shake and convulse. He threw his head back and roared as his body was electrocuted.

Johnny glared at the jittering beast. "Yeah, that's it..." he growled. "That's what you get, you damn monster!"

As the electricity continued to flow, Van Kaen stopped shaking and slowly lowered his head. His glowing sockets focused on Johnny, and a wide, mocking smile spread across his face.

"Wha..." Johnny gaped.

Van Kaen reached down with his left hand, ripped the cord from his body with ease and tossed it to the ground. He walked forward, licking his claws excitedly, seemingly in perfect condition. Realizing that his psynergy had been wasted, Johnny dropped the useless remains of his whip and backed up against the east wall of the shop in dread.

"No!" Cliff dove forward, but it was too late. Van Kaen wildly slashed his hands out toward Johnny. Cliff’s friend tried to defend himself as best he could, but the Dragon’s glowing blades sliced through his appendages, and then his stomach. A bloody cough escaped Johnny's throat as Van Kaen followed through with the blow, tearing the man's body in two clean parts. A long purple tongue shot out from the Dragon’s mouth and tried to catch a splash of blood as the man's entrails spilled from his body.

Eden screamed in terror, while Cliff descended on the monster. Van Kaen raised a gnarled fist in response, smoldering the remains of Johnny’s insides with a blood red aura. Power that had been kept hidden during Van Kaen’s charade with Johnny exploded now, crushing Cliff's shoulder and sending him flying. Turning back to his prey, Van Kaen fished out Johnny's heart from the bloody clump of flesh, then slipped it down his throat.

I can do this... Cliff pulled his shaking body up from the ground. I killed one of them, only yesterday...but that was on Earth...that guy wasn’t shielded at all...

Finished with Johnny's remains, Van Kaen turned from the human mess and looked expectantly at Cliff.

I said I’d protect her... Cliff raised his shotgun once again. This is my chance.

The Vice-Captain of the 4th Division of Dimensional Knights watched Van Kaen slowly approach, desperate

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

for some kind of answer as Vance poured over Caskett’s journal on his bed.

I hate this place. I hate them. Why do I even stay here? Mom, where did you go? Why didn’t you take me with you?

He scanned the messy writing, paying close attention to the part that concerned other dimensions, 'tunneling,’ space-time threads, and any sentence that had the lone letter 'V’ in it.

He must be writing about my mother...Victoria...what were they working on? Did they really figure out a way to travel into other dimensions somehow?

The clock ticked loudly, and suddenly it was 12:50.

I know. I’m running out of time. Tomorrow my dad’s moving us to the opposite side of the country...right when I finally found some sort of clue as to where mom went. And he doesn’t even care. I’m not going with them...I’d rather die.

A spark entered Vance’s mind, and he turned back to one of the pages he’d dog-eared.

Mar 4

Death was not the end for her, that I must believe. Otherwise, how could I go on, knowing that my greatest source of strength is now dead and gone? Whether or not it was on purpose, V reached something that night...something beyond the realms of death.

Death.

Is that the answer? Vance began to tremble as his desperation took a new turn. Mom, is that what I need to do to find you? Will death take me somewhere else...somewhere away from all this?

Vance stared out his bedroom window, past the overgrown bushes in his house’s unkept yard, out to the muggy Sunday afternoon sky. In the entire world, he didn’t have a single person he could call a friend. No one loved him, and he loved no one. He’d felt for a long time that he didn’t belong...but at least when his mother was around, he had one person that made him feel at home.

"Mom...I’ll be with you soon," Vance whispered, feeling his throat tighten up.

Half an hour later, Vance sat on his bed cradling the biggest knife he could find in the kitchen downstairs. His breath was strangely calm as he gazed across the room to the clock on his desk. 12:51. Progress.

Vance closed his eyes, prepared to separate his mind from his body, prepared to return to she who had made him. When the knife penetrates my skin, severing me from this world, I’ll finally be free. I’ll finally be happy again.

Vance couldn't have been more wrong.