Chapter 115

Carrie’s core was going to rupture, and I could do nothing.  My mind raced, and I slipped into my mind space.  I summoned my constructs to the pedestal room.  The air rippled, and all my constructs were around me, called to attend to me, “I need help!  Nashima, Carrie’s core, is about to burst.  I do not understand why, but I need to stop it.”  I was somewhat frantic.  

My constructs had a live feed of my life, so she should know what was happening.  Nashima looked hard at me, “I can not see what you see with your aetheric sight.  Explain what you saw during your copulation session, incubus.”  She sounded slightly judging of my actions.

I searched my thoughts.  “Her core reached its max size, and I knew it would rupture if I went further, so I stopped the vortex that pulled aether forcibly into her core.  It always worked in the past, but this time, her core continued to draw in the aether, and it will not stop!”  I was anxious for assistance.  

Lilith stepped forward, having an answer, “She must be having a forced vision.”  All eyes turned to her.  “She is using her power of foresight, Caleb!  Think about it.  You enlarged her core so she could use it.  Her larger core was full of aether to bursting, allowing her to use her power stronger than before.  You can train powers to draw in aether from the environment to work longer.  She must have subconsciously trained that technique with her small aether core and was continuing to do it with her larger core for a powerful vision of the future.”

“How do I stop it!”  I voiced loudly, impatient.  Even with the time differential, I felt I did not have much time.  

Nashima stepped forward and spoke slowly, “You can not stop it.  The ability needs to finish its work.”  Nashima saw my frustration.  She gave me a thread to grasp.  “I do not think it will work, but if your aether manipulation is strong enough, you can reinforce her aether core.  Wrap bands of aether around it until it stabilizes and heals.  Use your vortexes to prevent any more aether from entering as well.”  

I was about to leave, but Nashima grabbed my arm, “It is going to be hours, maybe days, before her core is stable.  You need to stay close by until it can heal its surface.  Hopefully, your aetheric sight can tell when that time is.”

“Thank you!” I left the mind space and used my pathetic aether manipulation skill to wrap thick bands of aether around the core.  It felt like I was using a whole roll of duct tape to cover a tennis ball.  I paused to set up a pair of vortexes to prevent the aether from being pulled in.  I continued to wrap the core over and over in aetheric bands.  I was sweating in focus and effort.  Carrie was unconscious, and her body was cold underneath me.  I was having flashbacks to my mistakes of almost killing Abigail—to almost killing Lydia.  

I felt helpless as I worked, too afraid to stop.  Sustaining the bands around her core required a trickle of aether, so I stopped making more bands with around 200 aether remaining.  I could not manipulate my life essence to assist, so it was just my aether pool doing the work.

I grabbed my phone and texted Bedelia to come ASAP.  After the text, I held the phone, hovering over Lezerath’s number to call her.  It would reveal one of my biggest secrets.  But Lezerath might know something to help Carrie.  I stopped hesitating and hit the button, and when she answered, I calmly asked, “Hey, I wanted to see when you will be back to the house.”  

Lezerath sounded irritated, “It is really late, Caleb.  I plan to stay in the city and get a ride back with Archie.  I wanted to ask you if bringing him to your house was okay, but I was going to do that tomorrow.”

I decided that I needed everyone who could help here.  No matter if my secrets were revealed, “I need you back now.  There is an emergency, and Carrie may die.”  Silence on the other end of the phone.  I asked earnestly, “Can you get back quickly?  I do know how long she will last.”  

“Yes, we will be there in an hour.  You can explain then.  Archie will be with me,” Lezerath said, hanging up quickly.

I returned my focus to Carrie’s core.  Fuck, it was still drawing aether even though I had two vortexes working!  What the fuck did I need to do to stop this!  I kept feeding the aether restraint bands containing her core.  It was about one aether every five minutes.  Doing the math that was about three hours, I could sustain the bands.  Was that going to be enough?  

Bedelia, Artica, Iris, Vida, and Abagail showed up about thirty minutes after I texted Bedelia.  I covered the naked Carrie with a sheet.  Bedelia was checking on Carrie on one side and Iris on the other.  “What happened?”  Bedelia saw pupillary response with a magic light she had made on her finger.

I was sitting on the bed in just underwear.  “I think when I expanded her core, it allowed her foresight ability to trigger.  She used the more powerful form of the ability, and it went out of control and drew in more aether than her weakened core could handle.”  Bedelia’s face flicked toward me.

She seemed to think for a long time.  “Her core was damaged?”  I nodded.  She whispered morosely, “Then she is as good as dead.”

I stood, “I am holding it together with thick aether bands.  It has not ruptured yet.”  Bedelia’s mouth fell open.  Her slack jaw wouldn’t work.

Finally, she said, “That would require an absurd amount of aether.  If none of her soul escaped…but if the core was too damaged, it won’t be able to heal itself.  I don’t think I can help.  I don’t know what to do.  Call Lezerath and see if she can get here in time.”

“I already did.  She should be here in half an hour,”  I said to Bedelia, who nodded sagaciously, still thinking.  Everyone else in the room seemed a little dumbstruck.

Abigail broke the silence, “How big is her core?  Is it fluctuating?”  We all looked at her.  She explained, “When a soul is damaged, their core size readings fluctuate up and down.  They oscillate until the patient’s core completely disintegrates.”  I knew Abigail had been studying a lot of the magical medical books I got from Amsterdam but didn’t realize she had assimilated the knowledge.

I pulled Iris’s reader from my mind and aimed it at Carrie.  The reading was 2.091.  What the fuck?  She had only been 0.11 before our session.  I handed the device to Abigail.  A few minutes later, she used it again.  The reading was 2.092.  A panicked look on my face had Abigail shrug, not concerned.  “It seems small.  I think the oscillation would be larger and accompanied by seizures.”

We kept checking her core.  It was 2.094 when Lezerath arrived.  And she made quite an entrance.  Artica’s phone went off as the security system picked up intruders flying in.  The man who landed with Lezerath looked to be a humanoid dragonkin as his wings folded, and he set Lezerath down.  Dragons were one of the races that were notably stronger than demons in my incubus handbook.  Lezerath moved to the bed, “What happened?” Everyone looked to me to answer.

I formed my thoughts, “I expanded her aether core, and it caused her to have a future vision using her ability.  It pushed her core past a safe size, and its walls are now cracked and ruptured.  I am holding the core with my own aether right now.”  

Lezerath seemed lost at the explanation but was processing it.  The dragonkin, Archie, harumphed but did not speak.  I wanted to turn the core reader on him but was still too worried about Carrie.  Lezerath seemed to agree, and she sat on the bed and put her hand on Carrie’s head.  She asked, “Are these two aether sinks yours?”

I think she was referring to my vortexes.  “Yes, should I stop them?”

“No!” She barked.  “They are slowing the aether enough that her core can metabolize the aether in her core quickly enough not to break your barriers.  Sloppy work but effective.”  She looked to Archie, who shrugged.  “Can you get him settled in my room?  He cannot help, and we can do introductions at another time.”  

Archie, who was in a human form now, wearing jeans and a white tee, was led away by a group, and only Lezerath, Bedelia, Abigail, and myself remained with Carrie.  Lezerath said plainly, “I do not know if she will live.  It will depend on whether she can heal the shell of her core on her own.  I do not know anything other than time that can help in the process.”  

I had a pained look on my face, “I can only hold the restraints on her core for maybe three hours.”  Lezerath appraised me and seemed to think.

“I can take over.  I should be able to shield her core for maybe two days since I am much more efficient with my aether,” Lezerath said without sounding too condescending.

“It stopped!”  Abigail blurted.  Her core was the same for the last three readings, “2.097!”  Lezerath took the device and confirmed.  She looked at me differently.  Yeah, that secret was out.  

Bedelia guessed, “Is she still drawing aether by using her abilities?”  I checked with Lezerath, and we both came to the same conclusion.  Her ability had finished its work—whatever vision she had of the future had played out.  

“You can end the aether sinks in an hour.  That should be enough time with a good safety margin,” Lezerath said while lying down next to Carrie.  

An hour later, I dropped my vortexes.  My aether pool was at 244.  My vortexes had continued to pull aether, so more aether pool had increased and not diminished.  How powerful was Carrie’s draw-in of aether that I siphoned so much?  Carrie’s ability seemed to draw aether as a person’s lust did for my incubus ability.  I was shocked but still allowed Lezerath to set up her own containment on Carrie’s core and take over.  After the handover, I went into the kitchen and wanted to break something in anger.

Bedelia had come with me, “It is not your fault, Caleb.  You had no idea this could happen.  It is all up to her now.”  Abigail came into the kitchen.

She overheard and sounded sad, “If I was a medicus magicae, I could have helped her heal her core.  It is a very advanced technique, but I found references to it in the texts I have read.”  

I turned to Abigail, “This is on me and me alone.  I am playing with forces I do not fully comprehend.  I almost killed you as well.”  I vented, “It is fucking Amdromeda’s fault.  She probably could have prepared me for something like this but wanted me to fucking learn on my own.”  I almost punched the refrigerator but gained control of my anger.  I stewed before storming off to be alone.

I went to the library and started scanning books into my mind space to distract myself.  Everyone knew I wanted to be alone, and no one interrupted me.  It was hours later when Archie entered the library.  He was a large man, equal to my 6’3” frame.  He had a mane of black hair and emerald eyes that sparkled.  I was too off guard to initiate, so he did, “My name is Archellion,” he held out his hand for me to shake, and I extended my own.  

“Caleb Silversmith.  We are not meeting under the best circumstances,” I said quietly. 

He nodded slightly and looked around the library, “Impressive collection.”

“Thanks.  It was a prize from a vampyre I killed during a vampyre civil war in Europe,” I said, trying to make it sound impressive.  Archie raised his eyebrows.  I did not want to talk about it, so I asked, “So, are you a real dragon?  Like a massive, apocalyptic dragon?”

Archie laughed loudly and pulled a book off the shelf to peruse.  “No.  I am, at best, an annoying child claiming to have dragon blood.  My species is called dragonkin.  We were once birthed from an amalgamation of a dragon egg, powerful magics, and an ancient human race that may or may not still exist.”  He put the book down and pulled another.  “Now we have vast cities and are subservient to the true dragons,” he said, facing me.  “True dragons that rarely show themselves to us anymore as they reside on the highest layers.”

“Why are you here?”  I asked the Dragonkin.

“Because I made the mistake of befriending Merlin, or as you know him, Rincewind.  Aboleths and dragons are mortal enemies.  He called on me, and I tried to recruit a true dragon for him, but none would make the trip to this layer—even to kill an aboleth.  So instead, you get me.”  He held out his hands in supplication.  From my sight, I guessed his core was upper tier two, but I would like to confirm it with a device as his core seemed somewhat different from what I was accustomed to.  I figured it out a second later, and his core was a mix of a monster and a human core.

“So, are you okay working with a demon?” I asked Archie with a curious tone, trying to lighten the mood.

“You mean you?  I am not particular as long as we are on the same side.”  He looked up, “Interesting thing you did to the girl upstairs.  The true dragons do something similar to their servants with mixed results,” he said with an astute smile.  Was he trying to get at my secret?  

I played my hand close, “Well, as you can see, it didn’t work too well, and my friend might die.”

“After you have seen centuries of death, it will affect you less.  I have lost more friends than I can count.  I have fought more demons and angelics over the years to know there is no such thing as good and evil, right and wrong, black and white—you can always look at something from only two angles or put a lens on it to change perspective.”  His tone switched to somewhat fatherly, “As long as you did not intend to kill her, do not blame yourself if she dies.”  He seemed to think, by his tone, that she was doomed, and my mood fell again.

A silence hung in the air for a while, then he stood.  “I am going to find Rincewind.  Tell Lezzie I will stay in touch and thank her for meeting me at the portal.   I am here to kill an aboleth, and the sooner it is done.  The sooner I can go home.”  He walked to the door outside, transformed into a dragon humanoid, and took to the air.  My impression of him was he was powerful but not invincible.  He definitely felt like a seasoned warrior.

I went to check on Carrie again.  Lezerath was in a meditative state, and I stood next to her and examined her core.  Nothing new had developed.  As I waited, morning came, and Lezerath stirred.  She sat up, “She is stable.  Can you take over while I eat?  Look closely at the weave of aether I used to contain her core.  It is much more efficient and takes less aether to maintain.”

I studied it for an hour before I felt confident of replicating her efforts.  I set the weave and took over our created artificial core to prevent Carrie’s from collapsing.  Lezerath returned around lunchtime on Sunday, looking rested.  She studied Carrie’s core for a while, then let out a harrumph.  “She is stable, and I think she is slowly healing her core’s shell.  Truthfully, I did not think this would work.”  She sucked her teeth for a few minutes until it became annoying, “I think two more days.  I will take over the final stretch if you can hold the weave till midnight.”

I did mental calculations with the new efficient methods I learned from Lezerath and nodded.  I had enough aether for about 16 more hours, thankfully, my vortexes had brought in more aether.  Abigail brought me lunch and sat with me.  I could not move more than seven or eight feet from Carrie’s side to maintain the weaves.  Around dinner time, Carrie stirred and opened her eyes.  Her eyes were sunken, and she looked exhausted, “My head is killing me.”  

Abigail had chicken broth ready for her.  I asked solemnly, “Do you remember anything?”

Carrie tried to sit up to drink and focused on trying to remember.  “I think I saw many possible futures, but I am not sure.”  She sipped the cup of broth.  “I can not sort it out; some of it is horrible,” she shivered at memories.  I had been referring to me almost killing her, not her visions, but I let it slide.  

She seemed to focus, then looked at me, “You have a monumental decision coming, Caleb.  It is going to happen soon, within the next few months.  Your demon overlord is going to need help.  If you do not go to her, she and possibly billions on Earth and many others will die.  I do not know if you can save her as even the paths you took when you went to her still resulted in tragedy most of the time.”  Carrie looked sadly at me.  She no longer looked like a scared teenage girl.  She looked like she had the wisdom and weight of a dozen lifetimes. 

“Can you give me more about the visions?”  I asked, anxiety rising.

“No, the images got blurry and incomplete.  I also must go with Lezerath after the aboleth is killed,” Carrie said sadly.  “I may return in the future.”  Something about maybe returning told me either she or myself might not be alive in the future.

Lezerath was in the doorway and asked, “So we kill the aboleth abomination?”

Carrie was nodding, “Most times, a dragon man slew it.  Once or twice, it was Caleb who killed it.  Once everyone died, but the Magus Arcanum set off a nuclear weapon in Boston as a last resort.”  

This did not sound great, but Carrie smiled tiredly, “Don’t worry.  The aboleth lair is twenty-five miles north of Boston.  The lair you all plan to attack is a decoy.  I think you will be victorious now that you know where it is.”  A short while later, Bedelia had a map on her phone, and Carrie pointed to a spot.  

Lezerath said, “Let her rest.  She is more than exhausted and needs to sleep.”  Lezerath cast a spell, and Carrie fell asleep.

Lezerath seemed to be thinking for a long few moments.  “Do not give up that information to anyone.  Let us wait and hear what they find first and what we are told.  Messing with the fates is tricky business.  If the aboleth has a spy in the midst, then caution is our best course.”  

I stayed with Carrie till midnight and then drove home.  The entire time, I was pleading with the fates that Carrie would pull through.  Even though she hinted at making it, I was still worried.  I did not want her death on my hands.