David Bowie has a lot to do with this chapter: I was listening to some of his song while I wrote it.

Echoes of future past, part 30

Dylan automatically brought his hands up to cover his face, and turned slightly in an attempt to lessen the impact of the fire. He closed his eyes and waited for the end.

Nothing happened.

Dylan opened his eyes again, and saw a sheet of flame before him, held back by some invisible force. He turned to see Trance's jaw drop, her eyes wide with shock. The Spirit of the Abyss screamed with pure, mind searing rage, and intensified its attack. Dylan felt his feet slip as he was pushed back towards the edge of the rock column. He spread his feet further apart, and leaning forwards. He found that, if he concentrated hard enough, he could make headway against the fire.

For the first time ever, The Spirit of the Abyss new fear: ever had anything ever stood before it like the human was, never had any being ever had the power to counteract it's might. It dimmed slightly as it put more and more of its strength into attacking Dylan, its swirling colours fading to gray.

Trance stood in awe of the power emanating from Dylan: in all the had spent with him, in all the different time lines she had visited, this was without a doubt the most powerful she had ever seen him. True, the other Dylan's had been strong, but in the end they had never been up to the task. She could see The Spirit of the Abyss grow weaker as Dylan moved closer, its powers draining as it draining as his grew.

Dylan found himself within arms reach of the Spirit of the Abyss, and summoning all his strength and anger; he reached back with his fist, and punched out. He half expected his fist to go straight through the being before him, but instead it connected, and the transfer of energy was enough to nock the Abyss off of its feet.

The Spirit of the Abyss was so shocked by the blow that it almost lost control of it's physical form: how could this, this, the MORTAL ever hurt a being as powerful as it was? The cavern echoed with a deferring roar of anger as the Spirit of the Abyss probed Dylan's mind, trying to find something to use against him, something to from him off balance. It found an image, and morphed its physical form to match.

Dylan looked down and saw the Spirit of the Abyss change to look like Gaheris Rhade. He was going to say something when the prone figure kicked out, catching his squarely between the legs, doubling him other has he fought the darkness that threatened to engulf him. He gasped for air as he staggered dangerously close to the edge, almost falling to the cavern floor, hundreds of meters below.

Trance leapt at the Rhade, trying to get a kick in that would send him toppling over the edge, but he simply held out his arm and caught her foot. With a sadistic smile, he twisted it sharply. Trance hared the crack a second before her body informed her that her ankle was broken in it's own special way: she collapsed onto the ground, grabbing her foot protectively as she reminded herself that the Spirit of the Abyss was one of the few thing in the universe that could hurt her in any real scenes.

Rhade looked down at Trance, laughing, and so didn't see Dylan regain his balance. He turned round just in time to see Dylan's fist as it made contact with the side of his head.

Blood and teeth sprayed out as Dylan's roundhouse punch shattered Rhade's jaw. He fell to the flaw, completely in shock. Dylan rested his hands on his knees, waiting for the room to stop spinning, "Gaheris always did have a glass jaw: guess that was just another thing you 'borrowed' from my memory." He kicked out viscously, and was rewarded with the wet-crack that signified cracked or broken ribs. Dylan smiled, kicking out again, "You really should be more careful: making your self corporeal like this is full of dangers, like this!" He kicked out, catching Rhade's between the legs, knocking him back half a meter.

Trance looked up, "It's weekend, you can kill it if you act before it- regains to much of its power." Dylan nodded, and lifted Rhade up, and slowly staggered to the edge, "I'll see you in hell!" he half-throw/half- dropped Rhade, and watched as he fell the hundreds of meters to the cavern floor below.

Dylan made his way over t Trance and helped her stand, putting his arm around her to take most of her weight, "You going to be ok?" Trance nodded through the pain, "I will be: my people heal fast." Dylan nodded, "We need to have a long talk after this is thought." He added as they started to make their way back to the tunnel entrance, hopping from stone to stone, Trance winching every time she landed on her bad ankle.

TBC