134 Anticipation (1/2)

The overseer stayed silent. Yawm clapped his hands, a vicious delight infecting his voice,

“Is it so shocking to see me? Why does it stun you so?”

The overseer gripped his fist. As he did, the air around us cackled like a banshee, turning a shade of emerald. Aura’s of green condensed in the palms of Yawm.

“Now now, stay calm. Otherwise that leash choking your neck might turn into a guillotine.”

The overseer shook in visible rage. Based on the story the overseer told me a while back, Yawm’s race enslaved his own. The bad blood between them ran deep. That hatred simmered right beneath the surface.

The pistons surrounding his electronic armor hissed as he lifted a hand. Off reflex, I stomped my foot, slamming a telekinetic wave into the overseer’s hand. His colossal palm veered right, aiming his attack elsewhere. A sphere of matter disintegrated, erasing a portion of the building. The overseer stared at me. I thundered,

“What the fuck was that? Are you a dumbass?”

The overseer gripped his opened hand back into a fist, staring at it. Schema planted kill switches on overseers. If they attacked anyone in the system, the kill switches eliminated them. With a sentinel’s spear, Yawm was a monster. With an overseer’s armor, Yawm would be unstoppable.

Knowing this, Yawm laughed and clapped his hands,

“And so the Harbinger stopped you alone. Pity. I’d rather you sliced a hole in my chest. As I regenerated the flesh wound, your killswitch would put a piston through your head. Having your life saved by one so young, I’d be ashamed.”

Yawm stepped up, his eye meeting the eye of the overseer, “Quite a predicament you’ve found yourself in, isn’t it? Schema cannot bend or change his rules, not even when eliminating someone like me. Isn’t that right?”

The overseer hissed his words with more venom than a snake,

“Yes. That is correct.”

Yawm nodded, leaning back from the overseer,“Unlike you, I don’t have to submit to that artificial intelligence for the power I wield. The competence I gained, I earned. It is my own.”

The overseer laughed at him,

“What exactly is yours? The runes you gained from Etorhma? Those are no more yours than this chassis is mine. Are you lying to impress the Harbinger, or are you lying to yourself?”

The overseer pointed at the runic inscriptions tracing Yawm’s skin, “You haven’t implemented a basic improvement upon them. A shame. Daniel has already inscribed his own versions of the cipher onto his skin. Quite a feat. He did so without an Old One’s guidance.”

The overseer tapped his chin, “He didn’t need five hundred years to do it either.”

Yawm’s shoulders lowered, and he clasped his hands into fists harder than cannonballs. Yawm breathed deep, letting out a long sigh before loosening his fists.

“My life isn’t in the hands of a cold, unfeeling automation.”

The overseer shook his head, “No. You’re life isn’t in anyone’s hands. Instead, you are hunted by bounty hunters and the horrors that worship the Old Ones. You run, but you can’t escape them, can you?”

The overseer leaned towards Yawm, “No. You are a blight. You will struggle, but you will never learn the cipher you stole. You will be hunted down until you die. You will drag this talented one along with you.”

I stared at Yawm, my stomach sinking. His chest rose and fell, his breath ragged. His face scrunched as he stared the overseer down. Yawm’s anger at me never lasted longer than a passing moment. This rage towards the overseer, it gouged deep into him. Like magma beneath a volcano, Yawm’s wrath boiled under the surface.

Yawm turned his head around, glaring at me. His eyes opened wide. He snatched the glance away, his anger cooling. His hands loosened. His breathing steadied. His shoulders relaxed.

“So I’ll be dragging this one along with me...Who locked him on his world and forced him to fight against me? Who gave him a bounty for surviving a harrowing introduction into his system?”

Yawm nodded, “You’re master gave him a death sentence, and he isn’t even hiding his own hypocrisy. What has Daniel done that deserves death? It it due to surviving his first dungeon, therefore he must be hunted as I am?”

Yawm pointed a finger at his chest, “I served Etorhma. I chose my path.” Yawm pointed towards me, “He never had a choice. You call him the Harbinger, but you know nothing of who he was. I had reason to kill him. His mission was to kill me. I showed him mercy. What more am I to do? Lay down and die as he evolves?”

Yawm stepped away from the overseer, “No. I’ll battle until the flesh is rendered from my bones and my hands are ground to dust. Remember this, dog. I may be the one who is hunted, but I will survive. I’ll find Schema. When I do-”

Yawm’s hatred saturated his words,

“I’ll tear his mind and soul apart.”

Yawm stepped out of the room, his steps thumping the ground. After he left, the overseer and I stared at the exit of the theater. A tense silence passed before I shrugged,

“Damn...this feels like a movie.”

The overseer turned his gaze to me. He shook his head, the electronic wires running down his back waving like hair of metal.

“You are one of my biggest disappointments. You could have been so much more.”

The overseer opened his portal, walking through before I replied. As the portal closed, I stood there, stunned by his response. He understood my situation in detail. He knew I didn’t stand a chance against Yawm.

He expected something ridiculous of me, yet he acted like my failure was some big surprise. Really now? Defeating the eater of worlds was getting messy? Who would have guessed.

Before I wasted my time being frustrated, I used a trick I learned forever ago. I put my hand on my shoulder and ‘brushed’ his comment off. Something about the physical act made it final; why let a dumbass ruin my day anyway? I had important tasks that needed doing anyway.

Other rifts needed clearing.

I paced out of the theater, jogging back up towards Yawm. As I reached him, he kept his gaze facing forward. We walked by each other in silence. Sometimes giving someone space was the best policy. This was one of those times. Once we left the building, I pointed at the next likely rift location. We headed out.