Editor's Note: This is the tenth installment of an 11-part short story written by Shawn Smith, a junior English major from Keene, N.H. A new installment will be presented in each issue of The Norwich Guidon during the 2001-02 school year.

Reality's End

by Shawn Smith

Part 10

I went to turn the knob, but the door swung open on its own. I mouthed the words not locked to Kumiko and drew my katana in one fluid motion. Something was wrong. My parents never left the door unlocked for as long as I could remember. I stepped through the doorway and stood on the white carpet by the door. My legs were bent in a crouched position with the blade held vertically and out in front. Both my eyes inspected the room for signs of life or even a struggle as Kumiko entered behind me with both tantos drawn.

It was a large apartment with white walls and hardwood floors accompanied by pieces of very expensive glass and wooden furniture scattered throughout. A big screen TV with a surround sound system sat across from a leather recliner and couch. Various family photographs were in frames on the walls, but only a few had me in them. Perhaps they've moved on since-

"Did you detect anyone in here?" Kumiko asked.

"Not yet." I swallowed a deposit of saliva that had collected in my mouth. A strange but familiar sensation filled my body. My eyes narrowed as the sensation grew stronger. It could only be one thing. Someone was using magick. "Kumiko, stand ready and don't be scared." I tossed a little breeze at the door without a look. It shut quietly as I continued into the apartment.

"I am scared, David. Really scared." Her voice was trembling badly and I winced at the sound.

"Don't be frightened. You'll be-"

An explosive blow to my face knocked me senseless as the sword flew out of my hands. Another hard, blunt strike blasted my abs, and I doubled over in pain. I spat up blood as I gripped my stomach and slumped to the floor. A good sized welt was forming on my face as my left eye was already puffy and red. Trickles of blood ran down my cheek as I gasped for air.

Kumiko ran after the katana, now embedded into a wall. As she reached it, her body was lifted up and tossed across the room as if she weighed nothing at all. She crashed through a table in the kitchen on the right and lay on the green and blue linoleum tiled floor.

I was on my feet again as the surge of healing power restored my health again. My arm was immediately twisted and put into a painful lock. An increasing amount of pressure was put on my elbow joint as the armbar forced me down to the ground again.

"Do not resist, Mr. Sands. You are coming with me," a monotone voice rang out from all around me.
White electricity danced in my eyes as I morphed back into my twenty-four year old appearance. I electrified my entire body and felt the lock release as I placed both hands on the ground and kicked up at an angle to where the invisible assailant would likely be. My guess was right and I felt my foot impact on a solid object. The force of the kick was strong, but my ankle somehow got jammed as I made contact. A quick yank with a rush of magick repaired the damage.

A sudden and merciless grip across my throat made my head rock back while I gagged violently. I was hoisted above the floor in one quick motion. My legs dangled and my eyes rolled into the back of my head as the stranglehold cut off the flow of oxygen. The attacker shook me from side to side, then slammed me into a wall opposite the katanas hard enough to drive me through a few inches of plaster.

The shape of a broad-shouldered man materialized in front of me. He didn't appear to be too strong, but his grip said otherwise; somehow he was able to hold up my entire weight with only one arm while he held a strange gun in the other hand. His black attire covered him from top to bottom, even down to the shined dress shoes. The two blazing blue eyes were the only prominent features to his otherwise pale white face. Everything else was masked in stone as he looked to be about thirty, but I couldn't be sure without a thorough scan.

I tried to struggle, but he held firm. The lack of oxygen to my brain made me dizzy as I gasped for air. My vision got blurry, then black, followed by pure white before it returned to a blurry image again.

"Who or what are you?" I projected to his mind.

"That doesn't matter, Mr. Sands. I've been ordered to secure you and bring you into our central headquarters." He didn't speak with his mind, but with his monotone voice.

He isn't telepathic, I told myself. As I slipped a little closer to unconsciousness, I heard little footsteps on the floor in the kitchen. Kumiko.

"KIAAAAIIII!" she screamed as she slashed at the man's neck, torso, and back of the knees in one complete motion. The techniques, normally effective and probably lethal, didn't affect him one bit. She was breathing pretty hard by the sound of it, but I couldn't see her from my vantage point.

He slowly released his choke hold on my neck. While I fell to the floor, he immediately grabbed my shirt in midair and threw me to the side.

A quick telekinetic effect allowed me to hover and set my feet back down on the floor before I hit the wall again. I turned in time to see him block high and low slashes by the tantos with his forearms before he kicked the weapons out of Kumiko's hands. I stormed after him as the katana lodged itself out of the wall and into my hands, just as I forced it to.

The black-clothed man must have sensed my approach because he proceeded to bash her body with a haze of strikes. The blur ended with Kumiko dazed and bloody and he with a fistful of her hair as he held her in place. He twisted his upper body toward me, still with no emotion whatsoever on his face. In one sleek move, the man bent his right leg at the knee and flicked the lower portion of his leg upward to hit her face with a heel kick. The bony part of his foot smashed into her chin and he let go of her hair as soon as there was impact. His forearms were ripped to pieces with bloodstains over his black suit and droplets on his face.

My stride increased when I saw Kumiko bounce off the couch behind her and into the wall with a loud thwack. The katana was pointed blade-down at my side as my body began to feel lighter. I started to slip into the same time stream as in the contest against the High Master, but was stopped cold by the black hole at the end of the raised gun barrel. I had totally forgotten that the strange man still had it.

He pointed his gun at me and a red dot appeared on my right leg. "Don't move, Mr. Sands. I have been authorized to use whatever means necessary."

"Don't bet on that. Not for one second," I said as I focused on the structure of the gun and tried to bend it in half. Nothing happened.

"As you wish." He fired a round into my leg, then two more that hit each shoulder once. I staggered backward, but kept my hold on the sword. The bullets didn't go through. There was no blood, no pain. The magick I used to create my clothes must have made them resistant to firearms as well as melee weapons.

He raised an eyebrow, then fired again. I completed the time effect and dodged the bullets without any trouble. The white lightning raced through my eyes as my temper flared again, but this time it was intentional. I would give everything I had to bring him down.

The blade of the katana struck him in the left eye, then in the wrist that held the gun, but it didn't do any good. Sparks flew as the swords ground against something in his arms and face. He tried to swing his fist at me, but I blocked it with the blade and shot a blast of pure electricity from my eyes straight into his chest cavity. The bolts of energy sizzled his skin as the gun flew out of his hand.

He uttered no sound as he was propelled right out of his shoes and through a wall in the kitchen into the next apartment over. I pulled the gun to me as it spun in midair at the same time I tossed the katana into my left hand. The gun merely hovered near my face as I nonchalantly grabbed hold with my right and released my powers on it.

My body returned to normal time as I went over to Kumiko, still on the couch with blood all over her face. I examined her injuries and winced; the swollen bruises and sliced skin made her almost unrecognizable.

"Kumiko, can you hear me? Kumiko?" I fed her a small bit of magick to wake her up. "Kumiko!"

She moaned and raised her hand to her swollen face. Blood was streaming out of the multiple cuts on her cheeks, nose, forehead, and chin. As she dragged her hand down, the blood smeared on her neck and onto her clothes. "David?" she moaned, "Are you there? I can't see- anything . . ."

The flow of energy increased as I focused on the damage the man had caused to her. My left hand was resting on her forehead, pouring energy throughout her body. The cuts and bruises were disappearing rapidly as enormous quantities of power were draining out of me and into her.

Rustling sounds with the occasional crash of falling plaster were attracting my attention to the very large hole that the man had made in the wall. A shadow loomed closer and closer to the hole as I turned and leveled the gun right at it.

"My orders are not to be countermanded by anyone, Mr. Sands. The very least of all by you." The man's voice no longer sounded human. It was colder, more metallic. He stumbled through the hole, the clothing on his chest was badly tattered and the skin on his chest was completely seared off. That wasn't what made me worried, though. It was the scorched metallic structure that poked through his chest where skin should have been. The left eye was destroyed and whatever remained hung by a few strands of muscle. He snatched the pulp of loose flesh and threw it to the floor. As he was wiping out the gore, a glowing blue sphere was slowly surfacing from underneath the open socket.

I slowed the transfer of energy into Kumiko as I tightened my grip on the gun. He paid no mind to the fact that I had the barrel sighted at his head. Instead, he continued to clean out the bloody remains of his false eye until the blue sphere was clear of organic debris.

"Drop the weapon, Mr. Sands. It won't work if you are not one of us."

Gritting my teeth, I began pulling the trigger madly. No bullets fired. The only sound that came from the gun were sharp clicks each time the trigger was depressed. I felt the man try to pull the gun out of my hand with telekinesis, but I suppressed his powers without a second thought. His ability wasn't strong, but the technology amplified his physical strength. To make matters worse, that same technology was probably designed to take a beating even from my powers.

The blue sphere separated in the middle and parted to either side. A small blue orb with a shutter lens was centered inside a metal orifice. Its smooth movement coincided with his human eye as the shutter opened and closed.

He said nothing as metal spikes burst through his entire hands and forearms and spurted blood over him and the walls. The sunlight shimmered off the razor-sharp edges as on the floor as he walked toward us, droplets of blood followed him wherever he went.

I tucked the gun away in my trench coat and retrieved two pairs of throwing knives from an inside pocket. My aim would be true, I assured myself as my ability physically altered the knives to deliver a more powerful hit. "This is for Kumiko. And for me, Aurelian." He made no effort to avoid the knives as I whipped them right at him.

A shower of sparks and the unmistakable sound of metal colliding with metal told me that my weapons had found their mark. Two knives stuck out of the exposed metal skeleton in his chest, one lodged in his forehead, and the last embedded itself into his right eye. He swayed side-to-side as I collected Kumiko from the couch.

"Come on, it's time to go now," I said softly. She moaned in protest, but I forced her to her feet and proceeded to the door. I braced her underneath her armpit as we walked very carefully, but quickly. A noisy rip of flesh should've told me that the Aurelian was far from beaten, but I was more concerned with getting Kumiko away from danger. There was a swish of an object hurtling through the air and then a gut-wrenching stab of pain in my left shoulder. The katana fell from my hand while I arched my back in pain. The throwing knife was buried deep inside my bone, and I felt queasy as the blade rubbed and scraped my shoulder blade. The clothing I wore may have protected me from standard weapons, but not ones I modified with my own magick.

A hand grabbed and twirled me around. Kumiko fell to the floor when I lost my hold on her, and I found myself face-to-face with the Aurelian. The pain in my shoulder made it difficult to focus and he was able to throw a quick headbutt to the bridge of my nose to stun me. He quickly ripped out the knife and threw it to one side. My eyes were full of tears and blood streamed out of my broken nose as two quick punches to my stomach and face sent me into the wall. I slid out of the indentation that my body made in the plaster and onto the floor.

I reached up and touched my face. The skin was torn up and bled badly. Those metal spikes dug in deep, and I was unable to completely restore my flesh to normal. I was able to mend the cartilage in my nose, and one more ounce of my ability repaired most of the damage to my shoulder blade, but not all. A strong kick to my left side lifted me of the floor and flat on my stomach a ways from where I fell off the wall. The wind was knocked out of me as I lay helpless on the floor. I barely heard the Aurelian's heavy footsteps walk away to where Kumiko attempted to pick herself off the hardwood floor.

"No, leave me alone! No!" she yelled. A scream, then a crash. Glass shattered and objects fell to the floor.

The anger inside me heated my body, and I focused my powers into my hands and forearms. "Two can play at this game, Aurelian," I said as I grimaced. The skin on my arms and hands rippled rapidly as flesh and bone transformed into solid metal. I could still flex my fingers and move my arms around as though nothing changed, but now everything was tempered silver steel. I clenched my fists and with my ability, lifted straight up off the floor. My feet touched down and I flicked my digits out from the fists. A high-pitched ca-chink echoed in every corner of the room as long, metal talons replaced my fingers. I made sure that their unbreakable edges would surpass the tensile strength of the Aurelian's spiked arms and hands.

He heard the sound of my new talons as they extended outward and turned away from Kumiko as she rested in shards of glass from the table she was dropped through. The Aurelian kept his hands low while I raised mine into a guard position near my face. He threw a crescent kick-front kick combination off one leg, but I dodged and slashed with my right at his leg as he kicked. My talons tore through flesh and metal and I followed up with a strong left cross with my right arm down to protect my ribs. The punch was redirected away by his forearm, and the friction between our metallic parts caused sparks to fly.

I backed off and the Aurelian retaliated with two fast jabs with the left. The spikes punctured my face as he landed a high side kick to the underside of my chin. I felt my feet leave the floor as my jaw crunched and teeth shattered inside my mouth. My body smashed through the door and I rolled out into the hallway. I came to rest on my back as blood and tooth fragments dribbled out of my mouth.

The splintered door was tossed aside as he made his way over to me. I could barely comprehend what was transpiring; that last kick left me stunned and without the means to speak. My ability was weakened considerably, but there was enough energy to restore my jaw and teeth and revive my senses. There was a noticeable gap in between steps; the injury to his leg must have been more severe than I first thought.

He picked me up and I shoved my left hand, talons first, into his chest. After a few quick twists, I ripped free with a handful of wires and circuitry. Sparks flew and clear fluids squirted out of the ragged hole as he stepped back slowly. I crossed my arms in an X in front of me, my talons pointed at the Aurelian. He came forward and I raked both sides of his face with a double swipe of my metal talons. They bore deep into muscle and metal with gaping canyons running down the front of his skull. I finished with a right hook punch to his temple, and the Aurelian fell to the floor with a loud crash. The metal skull beneath was unmasked as his badly lacerated skin loosely clung onto its surface.

"I-I-I am autho-o-o-orized to-o-o-o-o-" he stuttered as his head twitched violently.

I got down on one knee beside him as more fluid spewed from the hole in his chest. My arm took on a life of its own as I thrust my right hand through his metallic skull until the talons hit the floor. His voice turned into a shrill of static as I rotated my hand inside his head. I could feel metal parts and wires slice and tear as the talons' edges ground against them.

"Burn in hell! Burn." I extended my edged fingers inside the skull and released a massive dose of focused static electricity throughout the entire metal structure of his body. The Aurelian went into a spastic frenzy; his head, arms, and legs flailed about while more fluid and blood pooled around him. The smell of cooked flesh permeated the air as smoke rose to the ceiling. Sparks were shooting out of both his chest and his mouth. My body was shaking so horrifically during the effect that my teeth were chattering and my muscles were giving way. The electric bolts steadily subsided and left the Aurelian nothing more than a mass of molten flesh and metal. I removed my hand from its skull and morphed the talons back into human fingers, then reformed the metal on my hands and forearms back into normal flesh. There was no sense in keeping them now that the Widowmaker was out of commission.

Stumbling back into the apartment, I began examining the scene. The room was a disaster area with blood everywhere. Kumiko groaned on the floor as I picked up the katana I had dropped. Its blade was badly fractured because of the strikes I used against the Aurelian, but I sheathed the sword anyway. It still might be salvaged later, after we got out of here.

"Are you there, David? I can't get up very well," she breathed.

Most of my strength was gone already, but I knew this wasn't over yet. We still had to get out here in relatively one piece. I took Kumiko by the arm and helped her to her feet. Her face wasn't as swollen, but there were still signs that she had just been in a major fight.

"David, what was that thing?" she asked me.

I shook my head and didn't reply. I led her out the door and to the elevator as we both clung to each other for balance. The elevator doors finally opened after we repeatedly pushed the down button. We ran inside and bumped against the far side. I gestured to Kumiko to hold on to the rail. She nodded and held herself up while I went to push the white button for the lobby area. A bell sounded and the doors slid shut. I let out a loud sigh as we slowly descended back down to the lobby and hopefully to safety.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 11

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