A Shuffling of Planets (The Chained Worlds Chronicles Book 3) Read online

  "Hey now, I thought you were a decent guy," the same man who had been giving me a headache interjected. "You can't go round stealing from the dead. Those things are locked so that only the city patrol can use them. They'll hunt you down after they deal with... whatever that thing is."

  I snorted as I looked at the ring disdainfully. Mass produced crap. The blood should deal with either a life essence link or a blood link until it dried and the most logical second method of protection would be a keyword to trigger it. I reached over and tapped the mage's forehead. One subtle telepathic nudge and the word floated to the surface of his thoughts. More like dreams since he wasn't fully conscious. Fortunately, a trigger word doesn't count as true magic and wasn't obscured as other magic would be. Spitting the trigger word out I leaped into the air.

  My heroic exit was ruined a bit by my awkwardly plowing through an inconveniently placed awning and then the edge of someone's roof. If anyone asks it was the mage who did it. He owed me anyway.

  The flight spell stored in the ring was slower than I had expected. If the tentacled horror hadn't been flying in the air I would have made better time on my bike. Assuming I had actually had it. Still, it gave me plenty of time to form my psychic blades as I drew near the battling duo.

  Although the ring was a bit slow, about the speed of my bike, it certainly beats flying in a carriage, floater or even the occasional winged horse. Okay, the ring 's security was a joke but maybe I would see if they sold them in any of the stores. I hadn't seen them before but I hadn't seen any of the many spell storage jewelry my attackers had used earlier. Either they were prohibited like the spell books or sold at more specialized stores. I snorted as I imagined a magical jewelry guild. This side of the portal was pretty archaic, it could happen.

  Approaching the battle, I could now see the cowboy was held aloft by a smaller more controlled version of Stella's tornado attack. It seemed a bizarre way to fly but magic makes people approach things in novel ways. The tentacle beast was flying in the more traditional manner, without any visible means of propulsion. Both of them were covered in the creature's black blood. The vile liquid smoked and bubbled as it was exposed to the air.

  "You can't escape so easily you damn animated corpse," he boisterously crowed. "I chased you out of our world and I swear I'll kill you where you stand." Considering the creature wasn't standing and was fighting a retreating battle as it circled the portal, I personally thought he was taking liberties with the language. However, I did learn that he actually wasn't part of the Gildorn military and had driven the monster through the portal. This part I doubted anyone on this side would thank him for.

  His sword work was pretty amazing. Even considering he was being held up by a magical twister this strikes and parries were all artfully conducted. Even so, his opponent was like a conductor, each tentacle limb arcing inward like a whip only to have the sword interpose at the last moment.

  Looking at him closer he appeared less like a cowboy and more like that Zorro fellow Jeremy liked. He had the western hat but also the scarf or mask that was iconic, that covered the upper half of his head. Black shirt, black pants, gloves. It was a bit of coincidence but it did look stylish. I didn't really understand the reason for the mask though. Maybe it was magical armor.

  The glowing appendages were giving off sparks as they beat against the magical weapon. I took another look at the tentacles. Glowing. A lot like how the claws of monster vampire bat 's claws glowed when I fought it.

  "Damn it!" I cried in dismay. I couldn't believe it. This monster had the same variation of the psionic blades that vampire god's avatar did. I had worked hard to develop my swords and two random monsters in a row have the same damn thing. This was not acceptable. "Die!"

  It briefly crossed my mind that perhaps this was some poor hapless dimensional wanderer, innocently traveling from plane to plane that had been attacked by a villain and driven through the portal to some imaginary safety. I entertained the thought for a moment but found I was annoyed enough not to care. How dare this thing steal my trademark attack.

  Diving from the other side, I maneuvered to sandwich the monster between the masked man and myself. While I might not have been as skilled as the movie escapee, I also had two swords and I was fairly confident in my strength.

  This confidence was quickly eroded as my swords shook from the impact of multiple whip-like strikes. They may have been as strong as me. Stealing a glance at 'Zorro' across from me I noted that he didn't have any issued keeping his sword steady. Okay, another blow to my self-esteem. Both the monster and hero were slightly stronger than me. I was okay with that. Really. I just had to fight smarter.

  "Thank you, friend," Zorro called out amiably as he seemed to leisurely fend off the tentacles, all the while striking out at the main body. "Your fellow wizards are enthusiastic but somewhat ineffective unless we can keep this bloodsucking monstrosity in one place."

  "I'm not with the patrol. I am just here to help. How smart is it," I asked as I thought of several plans. Although its mobility was hindered, having two people block someone else's six degrees of freedom was tricky. Frankly, we were only as successful as we were because it didn't seem to want to leave the portal's vicinity.

  "Likely, smarter than you or I," the man stated with a robust laugh. "We were trading witty barbs a moment ago. Your arrival seems to have silenced its tongue. Did you perhaps cast a spell?"

  That was odd. The Silence spell was a fifth-semester spell I hadn't gotten to yet. "No. Not really worth it just to shut it up unless it casts spells."

  "This creature can indeed cast spells," he warned as he struck towards the body again. "We simply haven't driven it to need it yet. I would suggest you make sure it never does so again."

  "What? Hey, guys! You need..." I started to shout at the patrols hovering around us. With my arrival, they had pulled back. Possibly they were unsure if I was here to help or hinder. I didn't get far before the creature's body spun in the air. Suddenly I was face to face with a bloodshot eye the size of a door. It was glaring at me as if it was seething with hatred and rage. "What did I kill your pet dog, Fluffy?"

  "Damn you!" the monster shouted in a deep reverberating voice. It sounded vaguely familiar. "I'll eat your soul."

  "You sound really familiar," I muttered to myself. "I guess after a while death threats all sound the same. Maribel was right."

  "You've crossed me for the last time, worm," the creature's voice echoed out as its ten tentacles coordinated to simultaneously strike at me. I could hear Zorro's angry shout about being ignored and saw it violently shudder from an undefended attack from behind.

  Wow, maybe this thing was angry I was copying his psionic blade thing. In the split second I had I couldn't think of any other reason it would completely ignore a huge threat on its flank to deal with someone who just arrived at the fight.

  Meanwhile, I desperately resisted the massive impact of all the attacks as it pushed my swords almost into my face and I sent me uncontrollably flying sideways. Into the portal.

  Chapter 5

  The world spun around me as I flailed a bit to get my balance. My experience with shapeshifted wings actually worked against me as I tried to increase my air resistance to control my rotation. Since I actually had no wings and arms provided negligible air resistance it resulted in mostly pointless flailing. However, concentrating and simply willing myself to a stop still brought me to a halt. Thinking back on it I suppose I was fortunate not to cut myself as I randomly swung my blades made from massively concentrated energy. I mean, since it's my own energy it wouldn't hurt me, but it could seriously damage my favorite magic clothes. My only set of magic clothes.

  Having gotten myself under control I glanced behind me. My cowboyish companion had finally gotten the space squid's attention. All it had taken was me not being in the same dimension. I was feeling distinctly unwelcome. Frowning at the combat, viewed through the odd halo effect of the portal horizon I couldn't make out the details but it see
med a standoff. It was an odd perspective, less than a hundred feet, yet another dimension. The sense of unreality wasn't helped by the portal's surface cutting off all sound and a good fraction of the electromagnetic spectrum. Then I turn my head and blinked again.

  My sense of unreality didn't go away. In front of me seemed a typical cityscape I could see on any of Jeremy's favorite movies. Over there was an ocean view with a giant statue of a blue mage with a spiky crown, holding a book in one hand and a wand of fireballs in the other, in the middle of firing into the sky. Off to the side, I saw two large matching skyscrapers and in another section of the city was something I swore was the Empire State Building. It could be New York from Jeremy's dimension except for a few artifacts. The first was that Empire State building had been destroyed during the Tinman War. Apparently, the rogue AI's had nothing better to do. The second issue was the mage statue. I had thought it was a bad prop used in the Apeman movie Jeremy insisted I see. I never really understood that scene, but I am pretty sure it doesn't exist. I mean now. If it ever did. Maybe the AI's got it.

  Lastly was the flying man wearing the cape standing in front of me, mostly blocking my view of the ugly statue. He had a blue bodysuit, knee high dark green boots and an odd symbol on his chest. It seemed to be a radiant star with some funky pink slash through it. Wait. That was his skin. Taking a closer look, he did seem kind of beat up. Or rather his clothes did. His skin was untouched but not only did his chest symbol appear to be sliced but his cape was only a burned jagged nub.

  I glanced below us and saw pieces of fabric fluttering down. An ominous feeling gathered in the pit of my stomach. It was strangely familiar. It may possibly have been similar to the feeling I had moments before that idiot Faramond knocked my tooth out. I naturally refreshed my force field.

  "I come in peace," I glanced down at the fluttering remains of his cape. "Really. I can explain."

  "You can explain once you're in custody." His form blurred for a moment and I realized he was in between me and the portal. Then his arm blurred and he had gripped my wrist. Flexing my arm, I was startled to realize that there was absolutely no give. There was no way he was as human as he looked. No human no matter how juiced up could possibly be that much stronger than me.

  "Wait a minute," I protested. "I'm on your side. I just got knocked over here by your tentacle monster. The one you apparently drove over to our dimension."

  "You can explain to the Tribunal." He explained loftily. "You can also explain why you attacked me and what you have done to Diego de la Vega."

  "That was a complete accident," I protested. "I was totally out of control. I mean... wait, who is Diego?"

  "The masked man," another voice replied from the side. My head jerked around. A kilometer in the sky and didn't see someone approach? Looking to my left I saw a floating open-frame vehicle. The 'car' was edging out from behind the event horizon of the portal. It looked a lot like the floaters I saw around Arc on a regular basis, but far louder. I glanced down out the city. Sure enough, they were clogged with old style internal combustion engine cars, that appeared typical of the circa 2000 period. This was getting weird.

  "Ah. The Zorro guy. What year is it," I asked the man riding the floater. His costume was more festive, a combination of red, blue with tiny white stars, and a stylized flag on the chest with a full helmet mask. I was feeling a little left out, maybe I should stick a silly picture on my chest.

  "It's..." the star-spangled man started but was interrupted.

  "None of your concern while you are being detained." The flying man said flatly, shaking me in a steely grip. Okay, Faramond is now second on my most hated list. With his dramatic movement, my attention was brought back to his wrist. Oh, fun, I think I saw that watch in one of the old movies.

  "Hey Siri, what year is it," I said, imitating the voice of the maniac holding me.

  "It is Tuesday, April 3rd 2015," a tiny female voice echoed from his watch.

  "Thanks!" Wow, that worked better than I had thought.

  "Hey, stop that," snapped the man holding me, shaking me again. Although he was immensely strong, he seemed to have mistaken me for a human and the force involved was much less than what would hurt me. That was the first good thing that happened to me since I left my date.

  I concentrated a moment examined their auras. The man in the floater was mostly human. A minor variation that may have exhibited unusual abilities but still basically human. Back in Arc, he would be considered a superhuman. No magic at all. The flying man was a different story. Definitely not human. Or remotely human. One hundred percent alien. However, also nonmagical.

  I stared at him in surprise. I didn't even know it was possible to be that strong and not be supernatural. Did that mean that he couldn't hurt me? Technically I was closer to the Firmament and more 'real' as I had once teased Beth.

  As I was pondering the details of planar metaphysics, I suddenly felt a fluttering in my stomach. Paying slightly more attention to the sensation I grew pale. Those weren't butterflies or nervousness. My anchor rune was reacting to the sudden imbalance of not being in the same dimension as either the main anchor or the child anchors I had been calving off of it. The last time it had happened I had been in combat with Vatapi. I had also been a lot more prepared.

  "I can't explain right now," I hurriedly clarified. "But I have to get to the other side of that portal..."

  "That is not going to happen," the man with the star on his chest said grimly.

  "...or something very very bad is going to happen to both of us..." I trailed off as it became obvious that I was being thoroughly ignored.

  "What is going to happen is that I am going to take you to the Tribunal and we will squeeze every drop of information about your pet demons and how to stop your invasion."

  "But... you just knocked your tentacle beast into our dimension, how would I know..." Good lord. He was just like Faramond. No, it was worse.

  "I don't think he's one of the demon cultists, Starman," the flag-decorated man said. I looked at him in horror. That was possibly the worst hero name I had ever heard. I swore never to complain about being called 'Professor' again.

  "He feels like one of them. That slick feeling of their skin. As if they aren't real. He's one of them, Patriot." My eyes widened again. His name was even worse! Then I realized what he had said. Apparently, he could sense when magical or supernatural creatures had a firm enough connection to the Firmament that they were no longer baseline mortals. Admirable for a non-magical entity, if somewhat racist.

  "Seriously, I need to get back or all hells going to break loose," I noted Patriot's panicked look. "Not literally hell..."

  "See? Let's interrogate him," Starman stated with a tone of vindication. Okay, damage control mode.

  I started to eye the portal and moved a little to the left. I was stopped abruptly by the grip on my wrist. Damn that guy was strong. The dimensional dissonance was building and without the ability to concentrate on it to try to balance it out or to slip to the other side to equalize it, well, it was going to get ugly very fast.

  "Hey Seri, call 911 and send the police and fire department to my house."

  "I don't understand." The polite female voice articulated.

  "Why you little..." Starman growled and shook me again. I was a little disappointed in the failed response from the little AI but on the other hand, the people of this world won't have to worry about an AI revolt for at least another fifty years.

  I teleported towards the portal, at this point the fluctuations of the anchor rune were almost impossible to correct so I ended up further away from the portal than I planned. I had barely started to move forward again when there was a blurring in front of me and Starman floated serenely in front of me.

  "You aren't going anywhere," he stated smugly.

  "You really don't want to be there," hell I didn't want to be here. After all, I was ground zero. "Please move. Oh. Crap."

  A sudden spike in my danger sense allowed me to
jerk to the side. I had a moment of shock and I realized I had been subjected to a supersonic impact. My body felt as if it had been hit by a hammer and was still reverberating from it. The world had suddenly gone silent before my ears healed with a pop. The anchor fragment from the other side of the gate had forcibly reached equilibrium and incidentally delivered a massive kinetic strike.

  Looking down at myself I realized that the left side of my chest, shoulder, and arm was simply gone. I was abruptly soaked in my own blood in an instant before the bleeding stopped and my regeneration started to kick. I morosely noted that this was going to take a few days to get over.

  Looking up, I blinked as I saw through the blurring of the horizon half the tentacle monster's body was missing. I grimaced as I muffled my pain with a brief application of psionic energy. Nice shot.

  Then I realized I was seeing this through a hole the size of a bowling ball in the chest of Starman. I blinked in amazement. I grasped he was now looking down at the opening in his body in startlement too.

  "Shit!" whispered Patriot.

  While he was being amazed that his super buddy had a hole through him, I was agog that the same attack that had vaporized Vatapi and evaporated half of a huge tentacle monster had only made a small hole. The aliens in this universe were downright scary. Of course, him taking one for the team may just be why I wasn't catapulted into the next country like last time.

  "Right, so I'll be taking my leave," I gasped out with my remaining lung. "We can do lunch the next time I'm in town. I'll just head over and take an aspirin."

  I bobbed to the side and darted towards the portal. Then I felt Starman's hand grip my remaining arm.

  "No," he angrily whispered. I have no idea how he did his with a large portion of his chest missing. Aliens are truly alien. "You don't get to do this and then go."