Chaotic belongs to TCDigital.

⁂ ⁂ ⁂

Spy

⁂ ⁂ ⁂

Ulmar is the guy to go to in the UnderWorld if you're looking for mad science, bizarre ideas, tweaks on the existing and conceptions of the new that brush against the edges of sanity. So, not what we're looking for in the slightest.

Khybon is the one to go to if you're looking for the tried and true. As the UnderWorld's most skilled engineer, he'll get you what you're looking for in no time at all.

"Impossible."

Or not.

The large, muscular, four-armed and bird-headed creature turns back to what seems to be some kind of welding job. His sole biological hand holds a massive metal frame steady, while his other three arms, each with attached welding equipment, get back to work in their complicated dance of machinery.

Chaor folds his arms, unimpressed with Khybon's answer. "You barely gave the Human a glance, Khybon."

Khybon sighs, and he withdraws from his project and turns to me. He glares on me with his three eyes, glancing up and down at me. The eye on his forehead swivels to look at Chaor, while his other two keep focusing on me. "It takes at least a solan of training to properly handle any of the BattleGear I've got," he growls. "I've had Humans in much better shape try to pilfer my inventory, and none have been able to pose a threat with what they've stolen once I've cornered them. He's better off with a dagger, something more suited for slow Human minds."

Ouch.

Chaor's brow lowers. "Why are you speaking like that? And more importantly, you have a thief problem?"

Khybon's lower eyes squint in a way that someone familiar with him would recognize as a grin. "Nothing's been lost, don't worry. They never get far." He tilts his head to the side a little and looks directly at Chaor. "Speaking like what?"

"He's talking about contractions," I pipe up. "I've, they've, don't... Words like that."

Khybon lowers his head and rubs his lower eyes while rolling his third. "Ah, that. It's those damnable Humans again. You hear enough of their squealing and you pick up some of their speech patterns."

I glance over at Chaor and lower my voice a little. "Pretty much all of Perim will be talking like Humans before the solan is over."

Chaor grunts at me, and then turns back to Khybon. "Set him up with something regardless. We can judge whether or not he can handle our BattleGear after seeing him in action."

Khybon lets out an exasperated sigh and starts unscrewing the welding tools from his wrists. "Very well, but I hope you don't have high expectations."

⁂ ⁂ ⁂

Khybon's local workshop is an open-air, fenced-off field. It doubles as a firing range of sorts, with several targets made of stacked hay or stone scattered about. Khybon and Chaor sit in a crude bunker watch me through a thick window. Chaor's watching with rapt attention, while Khybon looks bored.

I already know that the BattleGear Khybon is having me try out won't do as a self-defense weapon. Sure, it's got firepower, but it's heavy and difficult to whip out quickly. Clearly, he just wants Chaor to see me fail to fire the darn thing. The BattleGear in question is a pyroblaster, a metal tube that splits into three pipes tipped with metal cages, atop a pair of textured grips. It's basically a fancy flamethrower with a few extra tricks.

Khybon's voice comes out of a speaker on top of the structure. "Try to hit one of the targets." Then there's a click as the speaker turns off, and I see him turn to Chaor to say something.

Khybon had said that it would take a solan, or six months, of training to properly fire any of his gear. While a gross exaggeration, it is true that it takes quite a bit of practice to use this thing, even more so to be good at it.

I pick my target, a nearby pile of rocks and take aim with the heavy hunk of metal, looking down a line of metal sights atop it. I put a foot back, brace the weapon against my shoulder, and pull the grips together. Gouts of flames shoot from the end and cover my target.

Chaor smirks at the surprised-looking Khybon. The speaker clicks on, and I catch the tail end of his remark. "-certainly was entertaining to see. The look on your face, that is."

Khybon narrows his eyes at Chaor. "It could've been a lucky guess." He turns his attention to me. "Well, Michael? What do you think?"

I rest the weapon on its side on a table near the bunker. "It's bulky. I'd need to put a shoulder strap on it to carry it around, and it takes too long to aim."

Khybon grunts, "Well, move on to the next one, then." The speaker then clicks off.

The next BattleGear Khybon wants me to try is a brass-colored spear with an open tip. A cyclance. "Same issue here," I say before turning and blasting a far off target with a bolt of lightning. "A Perim native could whip this thing around one-handed, but not a Human. It's also more of a long-range weapon."

The speaker clicks one, and I can hear Chaor laughing in the background as Khybon speaks. "Was Perim really the subject of one of Earth's 'television shows'?"

"Yeah," I reply as I put down the cyclance. I really like cyclances, a pity that it's not going to work for what I need it for.

"And there you have it," Khybon says to Chaor. "Simple mimicry. A Human might technically know how to use these weapons, but-"

"Michael," Chaor interrupts, "skip the liquilizer. Demonstrate the next one."

Past the bizarre pistol called a liquilizer is that strangest BattleGear of the lot, a jagged green gemstone on a thin metal chain. A diamond of vlaric.

"Chaor, even by mimicking what he must have seen in this 'show' he won't be able to use that," Khybon sighs. "No Human has been able to make it even misfire. That is if they didn't mistake it for jewelry in the first place."

Chaor leans back in his seat and puts his arms behind his head. "You underestimate our friend here."

The speaker clicks off. I pick up the diamond by the chain and lift it to eye level. It glows softly, and small brighter sparks of light dance inside it. I suppress a grin. This is will do nicely. I loop the chain over my neck, then walk back to the center of the testing area. I glance at Khybon, grin at him, then close my eyes and focus on the diamond.

I can feel the stone and earth around me as if they were parts of my own body. I can feel vibrations in the ground beneath my feet, the precarious balance of the stone targets, each grain of dust carried by currents of warm air.

I turn my palms upward like I'm about to lift a stone in my hands and raise my arms up a little. The earth behind me obeys, two large round stones erupting and hovering by my shoulders. I open my eyes and glance around. Seven straw targets in my field of view. Let's annihilate the closest and the farthest. I flick my wrists and spear my fingers, and the spheres of rock rocket toward their objectives, shattering them into wide piles of dried plant.

The way Khybon's beak is shaped makes it difficult to see if his mouth is hanging open, but I can imagine that it is. Chaor looks at him with a wide, taunting grin, the leans forward and switches the speaker on. "Do you like this one, Michael?"

I nod. "It'd be better with a shorter chain. I could do a lot more if I weren't worried about it whipping around all the time."

Chaor's brow rises. "Oh? What more could you do?"

I press my lips together, as if deep in thought. I already know what to do, of course. I've been working on a plan ever since I saw the diamond on the table. "Maybe I can show you..." I mutter in what I hope sounds like a thoughtful tone while I start bunching the chain up behind my neck.

I hear the speaker click off. Oh no, you're not doing that. You and Khybon have been talking with that off this whole time, and I want in on that conversation. I focus on the diamond again and reach out toward the bunker, at all the metal within, and with a flick of a finger, the switch controlling the outside speaker nudges just high enough...

"-our most valuable BattleGear, my lord," Khybon says exasperatedly.

"You are correct," Chaor agrees. "I want to see if it is worth the expense."

I tie off the chain and start pulling off my shirt.

Khybon blinks. "What's he doing?"

Chaor's eyes widen, and he leans forward in his seat. "I do not know."

You don't know, but you like it. You've been staring at me a lot, Chaor. Time for me to put that to use. If you're going to look at me with that hungry look in your eyes, then I'm going to twist you around my little finger.

I throw my shirt to the side, then swing my arms forward slowly and put my palms together. I close my eyes and bow my head, and I focus again on the diamond. The stone and earth around me quiver, waiting for my command.

I hear Chaor's voice. "Can you hear that?"

Khybon groans. "Did I that thump from under the console while you drooled at the Human? Yes. Yes, I did."

"No, idiot, the ground." Excitement is rising in Chaor's voice. "Did you hear the ground rumble?"

I raise my head and open my eyes, then clench my hands into fists and lift them with a shout. Pillars of stone rise on either side of me, then crack into towers of floating rocks.

"Did- did he just?"

Chaor hushes Khybon and continues to stare.

I sweep my left hand to the side, and the left tower scatters, the stones all striking different targets around me, some of them I'm not even looking at. I sweep with my right, and the same happens to the right tower. I raise my right foot up, put it forward a little, and stomp down. The ground shakes as rubble scatters in every direction, toppling and shredding the crude targets in their path.

"He's a natural," Khybon breathes. "No creature could achieve this level of skill in only a fortnight. Even if that Human spent every waking moment training since he appeared here, two weeks would not be enough for what he's shown."

Two weeks. I have my time-frame back.

I don't need to pretend that I'm exhausted, that display really did take it out of me. I do play it up a little, though, crouching down and putting my hands on my knees as I pant for breath.

Chaor glances at Khybon. "...Yes. You should know."

"I should know what?"

Chaor turns entirely to face Khybon. "What would you say if I told you that Michael is not a natural talent at using a diamond of vlaric? What if I told you that what you saw was, in fact, the result of possibly solans worth of training?"

Khybon looks like he thinks Chaor hit his head a little hard. "If Humans had these things back in their own world, then the sorry displays I've seen wouldn't be so prevalent."

"No, Khybon, you misunderstand." Chaor looks practically giddy. "Michael's power, it is to relive his life. The reason he can use that diamond so well has to be through the result of many lifetimes worth of practice."

"Let's pretend I believe you for the moment," Khybon sighs. "If that were the case, then I would be sending the Human out to spy on other tribes, then having him tell me his findings before I sent him off in the first place."

Chaor grins and says nothing.

Khybon stares. "...You're serious? And that's your plan? Then why are you keeping him locked up in your palace? This is the Human I've been hearing about, yes?"

I try not to look like I'm listening in. Finally, some insight!

"He does not trust me," Chaor sighs. "Not yet, anyway. If he did, he would not have hidden this power of his from me. Before he can become a useful tool for the UnderWorld, he needs to think of himself as an UnderWorlder. He needs to feel like- no, he must become one of us." He looks out the bunker's window at me. "Once he's loyal to us, and once we've determined how to convince me of his powers quickly each lifetime..."

"Pardon?"

Chaor shakes his head. "Never mind that. I have a few changes that I would like you to make on one of your diamonds. But first..." He leans forward, and I hear a click as he pushes the speaker's switch all the way up. "I can have Khybon customize a diamond of vlaric for you, Michael. You prefer this BattleGear, correct?"

"Yup," I say, still breathing heavily.

Chaor grins, and there's another click as the speaker turns off.

I pick up my shirt and wipe my face on it, mostly to hide the grin that I can't stop from forming on my face. I know how many days have passed. I know Chaor's thoughts and intentions. A powerful tool will soon be in my possession.

I hope you're ready, UnderWorld. I'm about to retake control of my life.

⁂ ⁂ ⁂

Chaotic belongs to TCDigital.