Shattered Remnants of a Dream

83. Snake Eyes

Within the arena chamber, Vance stared at the monochrome wall clock that sat within Eden's hands. "Hey...that looks way different from the one I found."

"It's responding to me..." Eden admired the mystical object, watching the hands on its face spin. "What's going to happen when it gets to 13?"

"It'll warp you to the next clock..." Vance whispered in awe. "Just like when Mr. Caskett's clock warped me to Despair."

Eden glanced up at Vance. "We must have been so close to running into each other that night..."

Suddenly, a violent rumble shook the chamber. The two turned and looked to each other, glanced back at Averyl and Madeleine, then listened as even louder sounds of destruction came trickling in from outside.

"Ah..."Averyl gasped. "This may pose a problem..."

Eden looked to Averyl again, but soon averted her gaze to Madeleine, who knelt to the ground beside Vance's uncle, shivering violently.

"What wrong with her?" Vance pointed down to the girl. "What's the..."

Then, he felt it. Two psynergy auras, ferocious and more powerful than anything he'd felt before.

"What the hell..." Vance started to move to the entrance. "What's going on out there?!"

"Wait." Averyl's hand shot out from his cloak and firmly stopped Vance. "Stay here."

"Who is that?!" Vance shouted. "They're so powerful!"

"I've never felt this before..." Madeleine whimpered. "He's never...unleashed himself like this before..."

"Vance," Averyl said hurriedly. "Do you remember the psynergy that came to you during the end of the fight with Saffron?"

"Yeah...what the hell was that?"

"It's a special type of psynergy...a level above the mundane. All Albavitreans have the power to wield it...but we aren't the only ones."

"Woah," Vance gasped, remembering the voids he had made. "So you mean..."

"It gave you the push you needed to awaken your ability..." Averyl went on. "With enough practice and concentration, you'll be able to enter specific dimensions simply by knowing how hard to push, where to strike, and how to cut the threads."

Vance held his hand up, concentrating earnestly, but produced little more than his usual purple glow. "It was amazing for the time I had it, but I guess it'll take me a while to bring it out again."

Averyl nodded. "For now, we need to escape..."

"And how do you suggest we do that?" Vance asked. "Just walk out?"

"No..." Averyl looked over to Eden with a warm smile. "We have the Daughter to lead us, remember?"

*

Rose swam over the puddled streets as she slid Bruce along the road behind the northern end of the tournament complex. Exhausted beyond here means, determination alone carried her forward.

"They'll be able to beat him..." Bruce said, as he tiredly picked his body up and lumbered toward the first crater he and Azuka had made far below the observation tower. "Roufas, Van Kaen, and Grayson...they'll kick that guy's ass before he even knows what hit him."

As he moved closer to the crater, he noticed a ragged, bloody body lying face down in the rubble.

"Ouch." Bruce crept closer to inspect the corpse. "Looks like he got chopped up pretty bad. Musta been one of those committee assholes."