Dream Drive Ch. 10

Let me out it hurts it hurts please let me out LET ME OUT LET ME OUT IT HURTS LET ME OUT

Jackson's neck was almost pierced by an incoming spear. He ducked away from a thrust. Another attack from his blind spot sliced his ankle. A second later, attacks were coming from all sides. He pushed himself into a Double Power Spin.

Where before there was resistance, now there was none. When he ended his spin, Jackson almost thought he hadn't hit anyone. Men were standing around him, staring at him, weapons still clenched in their hands.

Their bodies began to fall apart. The top halves of them slid off their waists, spilling blood and viscera into the mud. Another man at the edge of Jackson's attack range was screaming, clutching a hand that had no fingers. Another was missing his arms entirely.

Jackson gripped his halberd and stepped forward. He didn't need to use essence with this thing. It had an axe on the end. Unlike a spear, it was designed for sweep attacks.

Jackson let out a War Cry, stunning the men in front of him. His Strength let him wield the seven-foot steel pole like it was made of Styrofoam. He sliced through a half dozen men in an instant. More essence flooded him.

He continued forward like that, sweeping his weapon from side to side, letting out a War Cry now and again to keep them freaked out and off-balance. He noticed that it had less effect after the first few times, but the sheer volume of it strained the ears of whoever was close.

Jackson's kill count ticked upward at a scary pace. He hacked his way through the line so fast that at times he was jogging, stepping over fresh bodies as he swung.

The more he killed, the less it bothered him. It was almost like he really was in a video game. Here he was, swinging a huge polearm around like a baseball bat, mowing down dozens of foes. It let him mentally distance himself from the death, and from the voice that lingered in the axe.

It was still screaming, but it remained a faint echo unless he paid attention to it. If he did, it shouted in his ears. But even then, it mixed with the screams and shouts of the men around him.

Four black-armored halberdiers arranged themselves against him. Jackson hesitated for a moment, then rushed them before they could execute whatever they had coordinated. He used his combination spin again, just in case.

Purple lightning flickered at Jackson's left. Caught in the middle of his ability, he wasn't able to change direction or stop himself. The bolt of energy struck him straight on, taking his health down to only 67 points.

The essence forced Jackson to follow through on his attack. The blade of his halberd smashed through two of the elites, but two of them ducked away in time.

Jackson backpedaled before he was stabbed. He scanned the line of soldiers around him, looking for the mage, but he was hidden somewhere in the ranks. They noticed my weak point and used it against me. This isn't a fucking game.

Jackson was surrounded, but they weren't attacking. Maybe their mage was preparing himself. Jackson checked his essence – he'd built back up to 1300. He hoisted his halberd with one hand, ready to swing if need be, then drew runes to heal himself. When the spell was ready, he pushed his essence into it.

His health bar jumped to 107, then began to fill up rapidly. The soldiers around him tensed, thinking it was a magical attack. They can't see my health bar. They don't think I've been injured, so why would I heal myself? Jackson lowered his head and made the fiercest expression he could, pretending he was sizing up his targets. No one dared get closer. Suckers.

A few seconds passed in relative peace. Jackson cut the healing spell before his essence dropped below 1100, with his health at 204. Immediately, he turned and swung at one of the elites. Caught unprepared, the soldier was bisected.

Jackson brought his halberd up, then dropped it in a Crescent Sweep, aiming for the remaining enemy. The man stepped back comfortably out of range, holding his halberd defensively across his chest. A moment later, his right arm fell to the ground, neatly dissected at the shoulder.

Crescent Sweep was always unpredictable. It extended the reach of Jackson's weapon beyond what it seemed, and this weapon was completely deadly. Jackson thrust forward, impaling the handless soldier, then ended the fight by drawing back out while twisting the blade.

LET ME OUT HURTS IT HURTS HURTS I HATE YOU I HATE YOU LET ME OUT I HATE YOU

Jackson winced and grabbed at his head. The voice gained in volume, battering at his mind, reaching at him from the halberd with angry half-rotted fingers. He saw his mother screaming at him, her hand reaching to hit him.

Another lightning bolt exploded at Jackson's feet. He was thrown into the air. The halberd fell from his hands. Jackson spun helplessly in midair, then hit the ground on his stomach.

He was up again in a flash. Extra Strength helped out. The voice was gone, and the migraine it had induced was gone with it.

Jackson glanced into the bunched soldiers. He had a vague idea of where the spell came from. He eyed the halberd at his feet. He was done with that thing, but he still needed a new weapon. He didn't have any skills with his bare hands.

Deciding one more brief stint wouldn't kill him, Jackson snatched up the halberd, then used his Spear Toss, hoping it would translate into another pole weapon. The essence obeyed his command, wrapping around his hand and guiding his throw. He heard one last faint echo as the halberd left his hands.

Please help me please

The weapon rocketed into the crowd of troops. It skewered three men and gashed a fourth. Jackson ran after it, grabbing a spear from the hands of the first man. Back to basics.

Lightning flickered. Jackson felt the spell coming and leapt into the air, boosting himself away with his Strength. The spell vaporized one of the corpses he'd just made, throwing ash and snow into the air. That was a panicked attack. I'm getting warmer.

Jackson doubled-back toward the bunched soldiers hiding the mage, unleashing a War Cry. They stubbornly held together and kept their grip on their weapons. They were more afraid of the mage than they were of him. That was saying something.

A yellow flash made Jackson tense up. It drove a hole into the crowd, flickering and darting. A severed head went flying. Jackson checked his minimap. Rachel's indicator blinked at the center of a field of red dots.

"We're good!" Rachel shouted, her voice somewhere inside the masses.

Jackson shot another War Cry to help her escape, then tore into the soldiers in front of him with a Triple Thrust. He chained a second, then a third, taking advantage of the fact that they were confused by Rachel's arrival and packed too tightly.

He watched the look on their faces turn from fear at his aggressiveness into expectation that their mage would save them again. And then that dissolved into a hard and wild panic when no lightning was forthcoming. Jackson's final triple thrust was met with a brown alert screen from Isis.

Multithrust:
Thrust your weapon multiple times in quick succession, leaving afterimages that confuse and disorient the target.

- Essence Cost: 35
- Level: 1
- Progress: 25.6%

Rachel burst free in a spray of blood and light and flashing swords. Jackson held up on testing out his new combination attack as she came to a stop next to him. The soldiers behind her broke and ran, totally cowed without their magical support.

She raised her hand, palm out, a smile on her face, the mud and mess forgotten. "Dude, I'm fucking rolling in the essence right now!"

Jackson gave her a high-five. "Nice job. See any other mages?"

"As a matter of fact, I was doing a headcount with the Indians."

"People-Under-The-Mountain," Jackson corrected.

"Yeah, like I'm gonna say all that," Rachel said. "The Indians and me count four mages dead so far before now. This one makes five. That's all Hale has – except for him."

Jackson stepped on the chest of the man he'd stabbed last and pulled his spear free. "Then I feel good about this." Jackson stepped away from her, facing the line of warriors at the top of the hill. He activated War Cry. "WARRIORS OF SHAKHAN! CHARGE! TO ME!"

A rallying shout went down the line in response to Jackson's echoing voice. The warriors surged forward. Their momentum and their height combined to smash into the lines of the iron men.

The soldiers were broken and crushed where Jackson and Rachel had attacked; the tribesmen filled the gap, and in a few moments, their army had been split in two and flanked. Fighting on multiple fronts cut down the advantage of their shields.

"How was that?" Jackson asked.

"Not bad," Rachel said. "For a noob."

"Who're you calling noob?"

"Just remember you'd be nothing without me," Rachel said. She frowned. "We still need Hale. That bastard's around here somewhere. I'm going to gouge his fucking eyes out."

"What's with you and this Hale guy?" Jackson asked. "Is he the leader of this army?"

"Yeah," Rachel said. "I arrived in Isis in his keep. He threw this magic collar on me, basically enslaved me."

"Shit," Jackson said. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"He gave me an order that I couldn't tell anyone," Rachel said. "If I tried, the thing would shoot me with so much pain it'd knock me out."

"That's fucked up," Jackson said.

"He's a fucked up guy," Rachel said. She glanced around for a moment, gauging their position. They were at the center of the warriors, a zone of respite from the front lines. She lowered her voice and stepped closer to him. "I started as his experiment, and then he came up with all this nutty stuff about training me into his perfect queen."

Jackson folded his arms and nodded. "So that's where all the sex references come from. Gotcha."

Rachel punched him in the arm. "It's not fucking funny."

Jackson rubbed his shoulder. He was annoyed that the blow had taken off 2 points of his health, but being in overflow sped up his regeneration anyway, so it was back in a few seconds. "Sorry, sorry."

"I was dragged out here along with the army. We were working with one of the Indians to set you guys up for the attack."

"Boonta," Jackson said. He spat onto the ground. "That piece of shit. I should have killed him when he attacked Chaki."

"Anyway," Rachel said, "Hale sent me to the ruins to find that cube thing. He knows things we don't – about Isis, about this world, whatever the fuck is going on with Emil Mohammed."

Jackson nodded along. "How else would he know to send you to the ruins in the first place?"

"Exactly," Rachel said. "So we need to find the dick and make him talk."

Jackson looked over the lines. The warriors had surrounded the two halves of Hale's army on three sides. "You take the left, I'll take the right. Message me if you find him."

"Message?"

"You can send me an in-game message with the party options," Jackson said. "Check the menu. And whatever you do, don't touch those black halberds. They're cursed with something nasty."

"Don't worry," Rachel said. She started away. "I'm better with swords anyway."

Jackson took off. The warriors had gotten between him and the enemy soldiers. He bent his legs, then jumped and used Lunge at the same time. White light propelled him up and over their heads. Jackson led with his spear as he came down, driving through the back of a soldier's neck and landing on top of him.

Immediately, he activated Double Power Spin. As he turned into the attack, Jackson felt something in the essence. It was a sort of vibration, skimming along his hands where he gripped his weapon. He turned through the attack, smashing away everyone nearby.

Tribesmen burst through the iron men at the weak point Jackson had opened in their lines. They quickly filled in the clearing and used the momentum to drive deep, further fracturing the enemy. Jackson stood firm in the press and looked at the new alert in front of him.

Shockwave Lunge:
Leap high into the air, then land with an explosion of essence that stuns foes.
- Essence Cost: 100
- Level: 1
- Progress: 13.4%

Jackson grinned, waved away the window, then looked for a target. A group of iron men were trying to rally together, piecing back together the line as they gave ground. Jackson ran toward them, gauging the distance, then used his new technique.

Essence and his own strength launched him into the air. In a normal Lunge, it faded as he flew down, but this time, the light increased in intensity, turning him into a human meteor as he fell back to earth. He slammed his weapon into one of the soldiers, stabbing him through the neck. The essence erupted out from him in every direction, tossing men up like ragdolls. From the essence that jumped back into Jackson's bar, a few of them died.

One man stood against the wave, resisting its effects – a black halberdier. Jackson's spear was rammed into the ground. He wrenched it free, but not quickly enough. The halberd was thrust in at his stomach.

Jackson reflexively made a War Cry, focusing it directly on the one soldier. His feet faltered, and he lost a hold of his halberd. Not wanting to take chances with the stronger enemy, Jackson used a Cyclone Thrust, rending a hole in the man's waist that nearly split him in half. Jackson's spear shattered into wooden splinters from the impact, unable to withstand the repeated battering of essence-charged techniques.

Cyclonic Shockwave:
Sound and essence combine into a cone of force projected out from the user, stunning and knocking away multiple enemies. More effective at close range.
Essence Cost: 70
Level: 1
Progress: 28.1%

A fat grin sat on Jackson's face after he read the latest alert. So far, his Combinations had only combined his spear powers. This was the first one that combined an attack with his weapon into something that didn't require a weapon at all – War Cry. He envisioned all his abilities with a cyclone effect, strengthening them into crowd-pulverizing blasts of energy.

Jackson's eyes flicked up to his essence bar. His new abilities were expensive – instead of building up essence, he'd only held steady. He couldn't get too carried away or he'd lose the Spirit Surge bonus.

Jackson picked through the fallen soldiers and found a new spear. He merged with the line of warriors. Things had dissolved to the point that the iron men were no longer one unit, but fractured into large pockets of resistance. Jackson used his abilities to skip between the holdouts and crushed their defenses, allowing the warriors to push in behind him and clean up the rest.

Without a mage, they were powerless to stop his assaults. The only thing that gave him trouble was the halberdiers, but even they weren't a match for Jackson's raw strength. The soldiers started breaking when they saw him coming, swarming away from his spear, but they were surrounded by the enemy. There was nowhere to go.

He started collecting essence to the point that it was being wasted, bleeding away before he could spend it. Jackson kept his Attributes window open in a corner of his vision. After every exchange, he trickled Essence into his Spirit statistic, steadily building his overall capacity while keeping himself in overflow. When this battle ended he was going to do some serious upgrading.

Jackson grunted and twisted his spear through another halberdier. The man fell, grasping at the wound with gauntleted hands. Jackson used a quick Power Thrust to finish him off, then shunted another 20 essence into Spirit.

Jackson glanced around for another target. He was surrounded by allies. He couldn't see any more iron men. It felt like only seconds had passed since he'd last seen Rachel.

He looked down at himself. Snow and mud lined the wrinkles of his clothes. Blood covered his hands, the shaft of his spear. It shined bright against his skin. His spine shivered.

He was strong. Really, really strong. But the power came with a horrible price.

"Jackson! Jackson!!" He glanced up. Vuntha was shouldering through the warriors, trying to get to him. "We need you!"

Jackson pushed through the line to Vuntha. They were jostled and shoved, as much from sheer numbers as from warriors shouting and cheering at Jackson. He grabbed Vuntha and put their heads together. "What's going on?!"

"Part of the iron men broke away, those elite fighters," Vuntha said. "They're headed for the mountain!"

For a moment, Jackson had the fleeting feeling of something tugging at his stomach, a passing phantom of the feeling that had drawn him to the mountain.

It suddenly made sense. The iron men had collapsed so quickly because they didn't throw in everything they had. This was a distraction to keep the tribes busy while they made a dash for the real prize – whatever power that was inside the mountain.

Jackson could have slapped himself. He just used the same kind of misdirection when he fought the hunter, a simple feint to outwit an enemy focused too much on one thing. He himself just recognized how important it was to keep Dis sealed up. And here he was, caught with his pants down, busy crunching through grunts and patting himself on the back for collecting a lot of essence.

"Shit!" Jackson took off running. He barreled through the men around him, trying not to hit them too hard as he pushed his way out of the thick of the line and back out onto the top of the hill. Vuntha sprinted behind him.

Jackson reached the top of the hill. A black mass of elites was marching double-time around the edge of the tent city. They were already halfway to the entrance to the mountain.

A rumbling sound stopped him from going forward immediately. A heavy cavalry unit was coming back over the plains, flanking the tribesmen and stopping them from pursuing the elites. They might have won the battle on foot, but without magic, their own horsemen had been defeated.

There was no way he could outrun a horse without a huge investment in Agility – and maybe not even then. "Shit!" he shouted again. "They're going to beat us back!"

"Jackson!" He and Vuntha turned to see Chaki and Rachel running toward them up the hill. "What's going on? We should be helping fend off their riders!"

"We've got bigger problems," Jackson said, pointing. "Hale's going for the mountain."

"Is that bad?" Chaki asked.

"That's the focal point for the first quest in Isis," Rachel said. "It's obvious there's some serious shit in there. Pull your head out of your ass and get in the game."

"I don't spend my days playing games," Chaki said.

"Then maybe you ought to step off and take Jackson at his word every once in a while," Rachel said. "Especially concerning shit you don't understand."

"I understand Isis perfectly well."

"Could have fooled me."

Chaki fixed Rachel with a glare. Rachel planted her hands on her hips and lifted her chin, daring her to respond.

Jackson stepped between them. "The hell is wrong with you two?! We need to get down there, now!"

Rachel let her arms drop. Chaki frowned, but she ended the staring contest, looking at Jackson instead. "You're glowing with power, Jackson," Chaki said. "Can't you use essence to do it?"

"I get a power boost from staying that way," Jackson said. "I don't want to spend anything, not yet."

"No abilities?" Rachel said.

"Nothing that makes me move fast. And my Agility is..."

"I get it," Rachel said. "It'd be a waste right now."

Jackson nodded. "Exactly."

"An enchantment," Chaki said. "I could grant you speed – but I don't have essence."

Jackson searched through his jacket pockets. Buried in accumulated sweat and grime were two gemstones and the hefty essence crystal he'd gotten from killing the rattok mage. "I was saving these, but I think this qualifies as a rainy day. This enough?"