The Campbell Chronicles
Chapter 8
Exiting Steelworks, Nicholas glanced up at the sky, watching rivers of invisible energies snake through the air from deeper in the city. Reaching toward the energy, he pulled it into his body, grimacing at the burn that swept through his veins.
Turning toward the energy, Nicholas began walking, probing the energy flowing through him. 'This is quantum energy, but there's something else mixed with it.'
Cars zoomed by him as he walked down the sidewalk. He weaved through people and around food carts. As he journeyed deeper into the city, he continued to pull in the strange energy.
Stopping before a chain-link fence surrounding the Metropolis docks, he inhaled, pulling in more energy and the scent of the sea. Nicholas leaped over the fence with a light push off the ground. Gravel crunched and shifted beneath his feet as he bent his knees with the impact.
Moving between the warehouses, his gaze flicked from side to side, taking in the windows covered in bars or corrugated metal. Turning left as he emerged from between two warehouses, he continued walking.
To his right, people on forklifts drove by, large crates held in the air.
A few min glanced at him beneath their hardhats, and Nicholas realized he looked out of place in his suit. With a force of will, his clothes shifted.
His three-piece suit transformed into a white T-shirt, overalls, and thick-soled boots. Satisfied with his new clothes, Nicholas pulled his hard hat down to conceal his yellow eyes.
Shadows painted the ground overhead as cranes moved large metal containers into place.
Nicholas stopped before a warehouse at the back of the docks and eyed the building.
It was a large structure made of crumbling concrete blocks. Rust dotted the corrugated metal door and the fencing over the windows.
Taking a deep breath, he slowly released it.
The world around him shifted.
Everything solid became made of intertwining red threads. Loose threads swam through the air, periodically merging with a building or the ground in a flash of light.
These were the threads of reality.
However, there was a change to his usual vision.
Deeper in the building, red energy flared, and threads of reality snapped, releasing a burst of pure quantum energy. For a moment, Nicholas stood there, watching the threads snap and disintegrate as energy and possibility were released.
Reaching forward, Nicholas's hand paused inches from the corrugated metal door as a red film shimmered into existence over the threads that made it up.
His eyes widened as the energy gathered into a point in the center of the door. He stepped back, only for the energy to explode forward.
It slammed into his chest, burning the upper portion of his clothes away as he went arcing through the air.
Metal screamed as he impacted the container.
Metal folded around him at the force of the impact, leaving only a tiny hole for him to look out of.
Blinking his vision back into focus, Nicholas moved his arms, grunting as the metal around him slowly shifted, creating a bigger opening for him to climb out of.
Climbing from the wreckage of the container, Nicholas fell about 10 feet to the ground.
Dust puffed up from the ground on impact, but he ignored it in favor of the black boots floating before him. Slowly, his eyes trailed up the figure, taking in the woman before him.
She was 6'6" tall with a curvy figure, wide hips, a moderate bust, lightly tanned skin, and wavy blonde hair that flowed down her back. Red eyes glowed with power from beneath an ornate headdress on her brow.
Nicholas rose to his feet, wincing as the cuts and bruises on his body faded away.
The woman crossed her arms over her chest, causing the formfitting black bodysuit to tighten even more around her defined muscles. Red bands adorned her wrists and ankles, and a belt with a rectangular device hung around her waist.
"I take it you're the one that has been snapping the strings of reality?"
The woman cocked her head to the side, her lips parting, forming a smile that showed pointed teeth.
"What are you doing here?"
The woman disappeared.
In the blink of an eye, she appeared before him, her fist hurtling toward his face.
Nicholas grunted as her fist impacted his arms.
Twisting at the hips, Nicholas launched a kick at her side.
Her left hand shot down, clamping around his shin.
Her right hand shifted, grabbing his arm.
She lifted him from the ground without any visible effort and threw him through the air.
Nicholas froze, hanging sideways in the air.
Flicking his fingers, the wrecked container became viscous. Liquid metal shot through the air, conforming into a straitjacket around the woman.
The blonde glanced down at the metal straitjacket binding her arms across her chest.
While she was distracted, Nicholas shifted upright, thrusting his palm forward at the same moment. Force slammed into the blonde, and a red aura flared around her.
Her high-heeled boots dug small trenches in the earth.
The woman raised her gaze from the straitjacket, "You do not use magic? What kind of energy do you use?"
The straitjacket began to smoke. The metal glowed orange with heat before dripping off her body like thick mud. She flexed her arms, sending the molten metal flying.
An energy screen appeared before Nicholas, protecting him from the hot metal, "So you use magic that would explain the additive to the quantum energy. Who are you? Why are you breaking the strings of reality? What is your purpose here?"
The woman stared at him for a long moment before her shoulders raised in a shrug, "My name is Lilith Wolf, and I cannot help that my very presence disturbs reality.
As for why I'm here, you haven't earned that."
'She's using magic; it's familiar, but it can't be what I'm thinking, that power is too hard to control.'
Nicholas's eyes trailed up her body, taking note of her muscles. 'She's also physically stronger than I am, despite the enhancements I made to my body so long ago.'
Years ago, before his mother passed on her quantum string manipulation to him, Nicholas's body produced energy that allowed him to warp reality within a certain range.
Nicholas studied with his relatives to overcome that limitation and altered his body to grant himself specific abilities. Since gaining his mother's abilities, he has rarely used his old powers, but with what this woman has shown him today, maybe that was a mistake.
'If I can't beat her in a physical fight, maybe a battle of the minds will even the playing field.'
Catching Lilith's eyes, Nicholas is flashed a pale blue.
The blonde stilled as Nicholas's power was reflected in her gaze as their minds were pulled elsewhere.
–XX –
Nicholas appeared hovering above an octagon-shaped space enclosed by stone walls. Rectangular towers emerged from the walls at eight points.
Settlements emerged at the base of the eight towers.
They were simple stone structures inlaid with copper technology. The copper blazed with energy, filling each home with electronic light.
Inside the octagon's walls, a circular tower sat directly in the center, reaching four stories high. Other buildings pointed toward this central structure, each combining metal and stone.
This was what the city of Brigadoon looked like before the exterminator's attack. His heart ached at the empty city, but it was the driving force in his personality, the reason he kept fighting, so it was the central piece of his Mindscape.
Glancing up at the sky, he found it split in half. One half was blue with white clouds, and the other was red with black clouds.
Hulking figures with tough leather-like skin flew through the red half, drool dripping from their extended lower jaws.
Nicholas looked away as translucent figures flew into the air from Brigadoon, fronting him in a protective formation.
The cracked black ground that dominated the red half shook as circular towers shot into the air, creating a rectangular space. Rings of fire hovered around each tower, filling the air with a sulfurous stench. In the center of the four towers sat a floating throne.
Lilith sat on the throne, one leg crossed over the other, a confident smirk spread across her face, "I have to admit, I didn't expect you to pull us into the astral plane, but it won't do you any good."
Nicholas said nothing.
Raising his right hand, spectral figures shimmered into existence around the settlements and in the city of Brigadoon. Nicholas purposefully kept their features blank but poured everything he could remember about the people of Brigadoon, their lives, their powers, and their combat styles into these ghosts.
As they grew more solid, they charged across the sands surrounding Brigadoon, only to burst into flames when they stepped onto the cracked ground of Lilith's Mindscape.
Red light burned from the cracked and blackened ground, igniting the ghosts.
Nicholas flinched back as the ghosts burned, feeling his energy drain.
On her throne, Lilith drew her hands together, forming a circle.
Red beams shot from the circular towers, converging into Lilith's hands. Pushing her palms forward, a ball of red energy shot toward Nicholas and Brigadoon.
Nicholas slapped his hands together; blue energy shone from the walls of Brigadoon before shooting into the sky, forming a three-dimensional octagon with Nicholas in the center.
Lilith's crimson energy slammed into Nicholas's barrier.
Ripples spread across the blue barrier from the point of impact as the city below shook.
Pulling his hands apart, Nicholas splayed his fingers and thrust his arms forward.
His barrier faded, and the ghosts winked out of existence as threads shot toward Lilith's domain.
Nicholas reached through the threads with his mind as the threads touched the towers. Red energy flared around the towers and traveled up the threads.
Nicholas's hands curled into fists as he pushed more energy down the threads to meet the oncoming attack. Images flashed through Nicholas's mind as the energies clashed, and he caught glimpses of Lilith's past.
Lilith was born in a world called Apocalypse, which existed outside of time and space in a place called the sphere of the gods.
A hellish world full of pain and cruelty.
She was an experiment by the Lord of the planet, Darkseid, combining new god DNA with a lady of chaos named Shivering Jemmy.
As Nicholas was reliving some of Lilith's memories, Lilith saw some of his.
Lilith's eyes glazed over as she saw the birth of the city of Brigadoon, people using their powers to forge a home in a primitive world. She saw the people of Brigadoon battle the white Martians as they attempted to change early humanity and witnessed its destruction against the Exterminators.
Nicholas twitched as he experienced Lilith's pain. Her mind was conditioned by Granny Goodness, a new God from Apocalypse who trained orphans to be killers, always to follow the orders of Darkseid.
As pain consumed her body, red energy flared around her as her chaos magic was released for the first time.
Granny's machine exploded, and Lilith floated from the rubble.
The 5'10" tall woman with flowing gray hair and blue eyes that shone with cruelty stepped back from the crater Lilith left at the power roiling around the diminutive girl's body.
Lilith reached toward Granny, crimson power boiling around her hand.
Crimson energy flared around Lilith, transforming into claws that shot forward, fingers curling to wrap around her torturer.
With an explosion of displaced air, a newcomer appeared.
He was 8'9" tall with burning red eyes and gray rock-like skin.
Lilith's attack slammed against his body, barely scratching the black armor-like bodysuit he wore that showed off his toned arms. With a flick of his wrist, Lilith's power shattered.
Lilith stumbled back from the backlash; the crimson energy around her faded, and her red eyes locked on the man before her.
Nicholas spoke in time with the memory Lilith, "Darkseid."
With a blink, Nicholas was back on the battlefield of the mind, staring across at Lilith.
"The powers of chaos are wrapped up in an immortal being that is born outside the multiverse, but it's at the same time connected and influenced by its events. Interesting and complicated."
Lilith stared at Nicholas, "So the origin of modern-day meta-humans is actually from another multiverse. What could Lord Darkseid learn from a pure specimen untainted by years of breeding with the natives?"
Nicholas spread his arms wide; the sky darkened, and rumbling filled the air as meteors began to rain down from above.
She glanced up at the attack before focusing her gaze back on Nicholas. Thrusting her palm forward, a vortex of crimson energy shot from her hand, spiraling through the air toward the mental representation of Brigadoon.
Nicholas floated toward the attack, his hands outstretched, the orange ring around his pupil glowing brightly.
The energy drill slammed into his palm, and Nicholas inhaled, pulling it inside him like he would the life force of a criminal. The energy broke into streams that flowed through his eyes and mouth.
Lilith's eyes widened as she saw her attack disappear.
The meteors struck her mental domain, and the ground shook.
The blonde grimaced as cracks appeared in her towers and her throne wobbled in the air.
Nicholas hovered in the air, panting as chaos energy roiled through his veins.
Sweat poured down his face, "Oh, this was a bad idea." Something inside him stirred at the power, like a beast waking up or worms digging through a corpse.
Before Nicholas could comprehend what was happening, his back arched, and orange energy shot from his eyes and mouth. His Mindscape rumbled as the energy coalesced above Brigadoon, slowly transforming into its destroyer.
Lilith watched as the orange energy coalesced into an Exterminator. The being threw back its head and roared, sending vibrations through their minds as the 30-story-tall creature reached for her.
As its hand grew closer, her towers crumbled under the force of its presence.
Veins bulged out on her brow, and blood ran from her nose as the shadow of its hand fell over her throne. Crimson energy flared from her body, wrapping like ribbons around the thing's fingers.
"I will not fall to some. Jumped up spirit."
Nicholas rose from the streets of Brigadoon, his eyes heavy as his gaze locked onto the creature that had brought about his people's destruction. His teeth ground together as he understood now.
Knowing it was about to die, the creature latched onto his mother's gift as she transferred it to him. It was what was causing him to hunger for life force. When he absorbed Lilith's chaos energy, its pure potential nature allowed the Exterminator to be free of his soul.
Slowly, Nicholas drifted into the air.
If he got out of this, he needed to find a magic teacher to protect himself from future Liliths and to affect things like the Exterminators in ways his powers couldn't
Nicholas watched as Lilith fought against the creature. Her chaos power had drawn its attention, and with it out of his Mindscape, he was free, but could he really let it possess the woman before him? He still didn't know why she was here, even though, from her memories, he didn't think it was for anything good.
With a sigh, Nicholas thrust his left arm to the side. The air rippled as red threads of reality shot forward and wrapped around the arm of the exterminator.
He grimaced as burning welts appeared on his outstretched arms from contact with the beast.
Lilith looked up as the pressure in her mind lessoned and saw the red threads wrapped around the beast's arm. Following the threads, she found that it originated from a distortion in reality to the left of her adversary.
"Why are you helping me?"
"I'm not; I'm protecting everything else from the thing that destroyed my people."
Lilith stared at him for a long moment before finally nodding, "Fair enough. How do we kill it?"
"Entropy or we need to purify it so I can absorb its energy."
"Do you think I'm going to let you strengthen yourself," Lilith sneered.
"Do you want to try to contain it?"
A cracking sound echoed through the air.
Lilith looked up to see her crimson energy breaking under the strain of holding back the Exterminator's arm.
Nicholas grimaced as the welts on his hand began to bleed as the threads of reality frayed.
Folding his pinky and ring finger down with his thumb, Nicholas closed his eyes, searching for options through the threads of reality attached to the exterminator.
Cracked images flashed through his mind, but they were fractured like he was looking through a shattered window.
Lilith cried out as her crimson band snapped, and the exterminator's hand slammed down on her throne. Her Mindscape shook, and Nicholas was pulled forward by the threads attached to its arm.
Nicholas slammed into the creature's arm, feeling his nose break on impact.
Lilith coughed up blood from beneath the creature's palm.
–XX –
A man with sharp features, slick back black hair, a thin mustache, and a goatee strode through the shipyard, his hands tucked into the pockets of his black slacks. His polished loafers scraped against the asphalt.
He stopped before the hovering figures of Lilith and Nicholas, their eyes glowing dimly as they were locked in their mental battle.
"Oh, what I wouldn't give to be a player on the board, but I am no longer strong enough, nor do I know exactly who I am, but maybe this little creature can help." Removing his hand from his pocket, his nails became black claws, and his skin turned the color of freshly spilled blood.
"Come here, little soul, come and heal the fractures in my own."
Orange vapors began to ooze from Nicholas and Lilith's skin. It flowed through the air, attracted to the man's hand like a magnet.
The man closed his eyes as the vapor entered his body. Fire licked his skin as the exterminator tried to take control but was destroyed.
–XX –
Nicholas fell through the exterminator's arm as it turned into orange vapor and disappeared.
Lilith coughed as she stood to her feet, blood coating her bottom lip, "What's happening?"
"I don't know, but our battle is over." Snapping his fingers, the Mindscape shattered.
–XX –
Nicholas blinked as he came back to reality.
Exhaustion hit his body almost instantly, and his arms sagged.
He looked at Lilith through heavy eyes, "Leave Earth. I don't know what Darkseid has you doing here, but I want it to stop."
"You do not have the strength to command me."
"The Exterminator may be gone, but the changes it made to my body stayed; I can still eat you, and at the moment, you don't have the strength to resist."
Wiping the blood from her bottom lip, Lilith raised her arms, "You're welcome to try."
Nicholas tensed his muscles coiling as he prepared to lunge forward.
Suddenly, a red beam slammed into both of them.
It shattered on Lilith, but Nicholas was wrapped in bands of power.
"Dammit, more chaos magic; it used to be rare; what are they doing giving it out like candy now?"
"You two have caused quite a mess today."
Both turned to find a woman standing a few feet away, one hand raised, her fingers curled to keep the bands wrapped around Nicholas.
Nicholas turned his attention to the newcomer as a white portal opened before Lilith, and she jumped through.
"You say I cause trouble, but you use a power that chips away at reality."
The woman swept her Auburn hair over her shoulder, her green eyes shining with a hint of curiosity, "Who are you?"
"Nicholas Campbell, who are you?"
"Wanda Nelson, sorceress supreme."
Nicholas raised an eyebrow, "I wasn't aware this universe had a sorceress supreme."
Wanda's eyes narrowed, "you know of other universes?"
"I know of some, but I'm not sure they still exist."
The bands around Nicholas faded, and he dropped to the ground.
"I think you and I need to talk."
Nicholas looked around, "I hope it's not here; I kind of made a mess."
A complicated spell diagram appeared beneath their feet, "We will go see my master."
As they disappeared, Nicholas asked, "What do you call the master of a sorceress supreme?"