Priya Echo's Adventure - Part 17

CHAPTER 53 - RECLUSIVE WATERCOLORS FIGHTS A CYBORG KANGAROO

Like a thousand yawns, the sky stretched out to eternity. Somewhere in its wide-ranging breadth, a lightbulb flicked on. It was no ordinary one to be sure. Reclusive Watercolors found herself among many floatation devices, using only the wind for their propulsion. The world had fostered her and given her a firm intellect. In the last few days, she had learned to cover a distance in a shorter time by focusing the energy behind her like a jet. Both hands ahead of her, feeling the remedy of wind on her face. These white, billowing masses were evocative in their movements. She dived down into the gaseous heart of a cloud, and out the other side. She continued through that aerial obstacle course, seeking any hint of blue. Looking down, the world below was brimming with campfires that she dared not speak of. The smoke rose ceremoniously to the sky. Escaping, as it would if the world was a hand and it passed through its fingers. Yet still the landscapes transpired one after the other. A knobby, overly detailed thing. Making her dispassionate to the plight of its citizens. An untethered wind adjusted the course of her flight. She let the sky mentor her. Being its student was not so bad. She was among the breath of eagles. But no! The war was not over. That time she alighted. The thing that the soldier had whispered in her ear. The university was up ahead, following the cardinal north. Parapets like a chivalrous stronghold. And so, she hastened her pace. Reclusive Watercolors came to earth amid a rush of students. They crossed the intimate paths of the university courtyard, deep in various gossip. Their backpacks were heavy, and they had to endure the weight of them. At every angle, the buildings looked like oversized chess pieces, donned with the most appropriate bricks. The air was warm and its touch soothed her senses. Working through hesitation, she moved her legs so as to quietly shift her body into a forward motion. The faces around her seemed affable enough. They talked of things that were considerably tame when compared to the indulgences of the realm. A student jumped over and tried to flick her on and off as a joke. Reclusive pointed back in jest as it was the proper thing to do. But out there, far away from the tranquil halls of the university, there was someone else. And he did not have a sense of humor. That building she had been admiring was vaporized in a burst of hot red laser light. Telenon’s forces made their way into the courtyard, as yet another brazen assault was underway. Reclusive felt the pulse of war beat in her chest. As the veil of dust settled, a form arose behind a hill of bricks. A tall, misshapen fellow. The cyborg kangaroo charged up its right laser eye. Now that the last barricade was all but pulverized, he had a new target in his sights. Reclusive understood his intentions and caught the beam with her own. He had a chiseled, unforgiving face. The luminous pole surged constantly towards her. At the impact there were crescents and coils of escaping light. The girl gave back in equal measure with a column of polychromatic force. Its regularity did not waver. She did the work and pushed it through to the kangaroo, who promptly was enveloped in a fit of flame. Now his enhanced body was weakened from the twofold attack. And she spared no time. Reclusive propelled herself forward, amped up a first full of quintessence and rammed him in the chest. As a foregone conclusion, the frazzled thing leaned back into the mound of bricks, never to mess with innocents again. Even though their commander had fallen, the main throng of the enemy barreled over the rubble towards the university. The academic population fled in exasperation at yet another assault. Among the reckless invaders there were lions with arms wrapped in long chains, feline lynxes with turrets atop their backs, hedgehogs with shovels, snow wolves in snowmobiles, one bowling ball triple serpent, mimes doing somersaults, flamingos with war hammers that they had to awkwardly hold with their necks giving people more time to dodge them, and some guy named Fred with big colored pencils. As the underground of the university was now as sizable as a city, the university regiments charged out of every hall. It took but an hour to shrink their numbers until they were convinced to fall back. In the aftermath, the student was made an honorary regiment commander and sent out with the University 33rd Student Regiment to clear the hills of Little Finnegan’s-ville. The skin upon her neck and shoulders began to look like an illuminated manuscript, but vanished just as quick. The student was relieved at how the rest of the regiment effortlessly followed behind her. The high-flier smiled to know she was now a tinker toy amongst those knobby, overly detailed things. The fully grown trees that gave structure to the hills. Tall grasses brushing the passersby with their springy stems. Their faded, honey colored inflorescence. A log falling apart at the seams as if it had enough of the season’s nonsense. The continuous hills like an endless erosion of green. Doted on by virgin clouds. Reclusive looked to her left and saw a ram looking longingly behind a farmer’s fence. It was soon thrust upon their senses that the hills were clear. An advisor uncurled a map, and they proceeded up to the next major city, a society nestled in the shadow of a plateau. And the sight of it reminded her of the one in the realm, although the former did not have a trio of skyscrapers. The attendant beside her was curious as to why Lusi had suddenly dropped down onto her knees. Spectral flames began to pour from her eyes. Inside, the student could feel a thrust on her psyche. An affliction rushed in, and down her legs, pulling at her sinews. Although her chest was still, she could feel the convulsions propagate. Heat frolicked in her head like a bonfire. The inferno spun threads that were woven around the student’s from the inside. “What … is this?” she mouthed to the gathering circle of helpless onlookers. THE PUPPET SPELL. A vision welled up in her memory, that of a dome the size of the sky, its petulant surface burning bright yellow. The charlatan solar Gaia arising delicately from formless swirls. Yet it was not one of them. Absurdly long blond hair, with individual motions down to the very fiber. An ornamental armor tainted with blotches of paint as if a child adorned it. Thick silver divided at strange intervals. Long, sharp fingernails. A suave, polished face with intellect concealed beneath aesthetics. “Damn you Linden, you were her child all along? But you taught her well” the hallucinated gaia mustered. “I can’t feel anything. It’s you again!” the student noticed, her heart fluttering like so many butterflies turning to ash. “Yes indeed, my child. You were smart to get this far. The lightbulb of quintessence shines so well with your personality” the interloper uttered, a thin smile between both ears. “The battle is over. Let me go!” the student roared. But she could not move, the threads of the inferno kept her bound. “But you are so very close to someone who I’m interested in. The one who holds the key” the woman clarified, as the ephemeral flames drifted off her back. At their feet, the titan broiled with arcs of orange plasm.. “Priya hasn’t done anything to you! There’s nothing to revenge!” she cried, writhing to escape the grasp. “But she has insulted me. I was the only one at the very center of her being. Millenia passed but I found the truth. So yes, you can call me another avatar if you like” she related, harkening back to earlier times. Her fingertips went onto the student’s forehead, imprinting it with an eerie glow. “It's our fate, not an insult!” Reclusive shouted back. Ochidia Everglow was not swayed. She had aspirations that the little one could not conceive of. And a strategy that had started long ago. Across her palm, Reclusive could feel an eager magic like wind taking shape. An anarchy of fire erupted from her eyes. “Take the whisper dagger. Be my avenger!” the false gaia roared. The soldiers could not believe it. Their commander lifted off the ground, straight towards the waiting sky. A trail of chaos left in her wake. They were now abandoned.

Chapter end