:3/3:O


~ CHAPTER 67 ~

Violet-Blood Friends

Years, or sweeps ago, standing precariously at the edge of a flagpole. It stuck diagonally out the side of a building, many storeys high and over water.

"Hey! Kid, what the hell are you doing!?" shouted some sharp-voiced worrier.

I stopped contemplating my inhumanly perfect balance, and my reticent emotional state to consider the anxious fellow shouting at me from a lower window. Blue eyes turning to ponder him boredly. Why did he care? Why the heck did he care that someone may be in danger?

It brought me back to pondering these human-animals and their flawed conditioning. This complete stranger was somehow invested in my well-being. It was idiocy, seeing as I had no bearing on his life whatsoever. Maybe he was being watched, maybe there'd be personal ramifications to him not attempting to stop my supposed suicide. Most likely not.

So why? When it is not directly advantageous nor disadvantageous, why not leave me be? I looked at the man with an empty face. His eyes were wide with fear. A misguided species, blinded to its own improper programming. A species running on madness. I gave the man a bored shrug.

"What are you… some kind of psychopath!?"

He could tell I wasn't drunk or drugged, to have such perfect balance, so that was his next guess.

Not far off. For a while I believed I was a sociopath, but there is nothing 'psychotic' about me. I see everything, every interaction and life situation with a stark and brilliant clarity. There was no fear, no yearning of intangibles such as a purpose. It was just: life. And the foggy emotional torments of human brains, clouded by pointless anxieties or existential depressions not only accomplish nothing but they don't allow one to navigate life with ease.

My vision is completely clear. I have no sense of self or attachment to the idea of a self, I am the product of my reactions and desires. This is simply all that is.

Raising my arms I fell backward because I kind of enjoyed the shout of fear the man emitted. I soar through air without a change in expression then hit the ocean, hard enough to injure a human body. I sink down past silvery bubbles as the gills grow from my neck. My feet becoming webbed as I let myself sink.

Maybe I'm not a psychopath. My lack of concern for safety could be attributed to my body's natural durability. My megalomania could be attributed to the fact I am a fish-god destined to live for millennia. I continue to gently sink as I ponder life.

I'm like a superhero, posing on flagpoles above Hobart. All of these evidences could point me to believing that I am a god. But it had nothing to do with the observable facts. Despite all things, whether I had these powers or not, inside I believe… I know that I am God.

That is the only thing about me that could be considered a delusional distortion. I am God.


The memory blurred with my vision. I was trudging, clawing and spitting violet blood as I moved through the forest. We were on the Gold Coast of Queensland. I wasn't myself; a primal part of my brain was in charge. It felt predatory, violent. An aquatic savage beast, speedy eyes flickering between the flora of the hated surface world. My enemies, everything above water needed to be sunk and destroyed. I would do that one day as an exercise of power.

The speedy intellect of my predator brain found a position in the forest to crouch and hide, leaping far from my blood trail. Waiting in place and using my acute senses to pick up the positions of my enemies. Jasper needed to be killed. He would perceive any attempt at stealth with his future-sight. When I was good and ready I would emerge and move directly to his position and use brute strength to get to him and crush his skull. Afterwards I'd be free to pick off most if not all of the others.

"…til he comes out at that moment! So you have to, in precisely fifteen seconds, and I'll tell you when!"

As a largely unemotional being, my only interest in life was testing the ability of my intellect to effect the outside world. It was a test of control. How well could I mould events and people to my will. I wasn't at all sadistic, because to me other people didn't even exist. And neither did I, in a way. Despite lacking the direct empathy of understanding most emotions, I'd learned from studying others my whole life. I learned from the outside looking in, and my gaps in knowing were thus different to the errors of most people. People with their shared irrationality.

I relied on subtle, social manipulation due to its intricacy. It was more of a mental exercise, and thus more of a test of my intellectual ability. What else was there to do? Life achievements were also a form of game to win at, I'd considered with dull acknowledgement.

I bolted through the trees. My noise would alert them immediately of my presence, which meant nothing since Jasper knew exactly when and where I'd be at the time of emergence. My mind's intense clarity also knew this. And I intrinsically knew that whatever Jasper's plan, either me overhearing him or not, would still lead to the result he could see. So this space of time before my reveal was actually without choice.

Branches and leaves broke apart as I sped through with my intense speed. Violet bloody hands sweeping away foliage. Retreating would give Jasper more time, and with more time he would be able to do anything. A tree branch fell and I darted aside. It was dropped by Kaylah's psychic power, directed by Jasper and his future-sight. I tried to let it slow me as little as possible, ensuring Jasper's earlier decision was only a desperate one.

My gills flexed with bloodlust, my skin taught with hate at the open air and all its surface dwellers.

I broke the clearing and Reagan lunged. She'd been told exactly where I'd reappear, and I knew she'd know that. Jasper stood behind the others, who were like frightened sheep. I caught Reagan's fist and we spun, our fists and strikes blurred. Clawing at each other. Turning and vigilant, I was aware if any of the others were going to attack me while I was distracted, so I kept changing position with Reagan. It was why Jasper hadn't told anyone to attack me now. Time must be viewed at a distance like that, by stepping back.

While Reagan's injuries slowed her, mine made me faster. I tripped her, threw the high blood aside. She flew metres and crashed into the trunk of a tree. I wasted no time in beelining for the small Indian boy. Even if he could perceive time, his resultant judgments were made by a brain susceptible to the irrationalities of fear. Kaylah made the mistake of psychically throwing the hoverboard at me. I caught it with ease, smacked Wembley aside and blurred past the others, spearing the board at a legitimately frightened low-blood and incapacitating him.

Game over. The burgundy-blooded one fell, immobilised. A few seconds now away from death.

A pale blur whipped at my side. But Reagan couldn't be here this fast… I was intercepted and kicked aside, flying and tumbling through the grass. The tree Reagan had collided with fell to the earth. I looked up at a glowing white figure. Standing with his legs apart, arms straight and fists clenched. Defiant and virtuously angry.

"Dwayne!" I gasped. My yellow eyes were bugged. How could it be?

"Surprise, bitch."

His stomach was bandaged, I could see jade blood underneath. His skin shone like the moon.

"How are you strong now?"

"I'm a rainbow drinker, a shadow dropper. It's a genetic mutation of only my blood caste."

While still shocked to see him alive, my eyes flickered to Jasper who remained unconscious. Without his guidance I could beat them. The others had tears of relief and gasps of awe at the reappearance of their auxiliatrice. I clawed myself to my feet, aware of how primal and calculating I'd become. My grey skin tensing and bulging from the muscles beneath. While prone to moments of tunnel vision focus, I was surprised by the level of disdain and hate I felt for Dwayne Gordon.

"He's got horns now… Dwayne don't fight him!" Wembley cried out, now back on his feet.

"I have to protect all of us! I promised the Mother Grub!"

I flew at him and he fearlessly jumped to meet me. A clash and our hands connected, straining against each other. Teeth gritted like mortal enemies. This was not the same Dwayne that I killed earlier today. He was faster and stronger, glowing brighter.

He had sharp teeth when he sneered "If you're such a genius you should've done more research!"

"Shut up and die!" I growled, digging my feet into the earth as I spun Dwayne, hurling him through the air and away. Picking off the others would've been wiser, but for some reason they were out of my mind. All I could see was Dwayne and the necessity of his death.

Powering after him as he rolled, rolling into a crouch and shooting up with a punch that hit my jaw. I flew backward with an outraged growl. Someone grabbed me from behind – Reagan! I was twirled over and tossed into a trunk. Bark flying and the wood splintering apart, it made its slow fall as I slid to the dirt. My head snapped up with pointed teeth barred.

A glowing Dwayne and bloodied Reagan nodded at each other before rushing at me together. I flew a fist at Reagan but Dwayne swept in from the side and diverted the strike. I lost balance, swung a kick up at Dwayne's face but Reagan caught my foot. They were protecting each other, they were being more level-headed than I was. Reagan swung me by my leg, all the way around and into Dwayne's fist. My nose broke again.

I hit the ground and managed to knock Dwayne's feet out from under him. I ran with Reagan in quick pursuit, jumped to a tree and swung around, my two feet suddenly colliding with her torso. I jumped onto the high blood and put her in a lock, holding her head until she finally passed out. Dropping her slack body and straightening up, returning Dwayne's glare.

"Just us…"


Woah dudes, been a few years. Couldn't find the motivation to write filler so just dumped the basic contents of 68 here. I mean, it was taking me long enough... /(._.)/