Cyberspace; The Ultimus Collection

Chapter 11, Getting a Grip

"Daniel. Daniel!" Derick repeatedly shouted. At this point he was crouched down besides Daniel in an attempt to comfort him. Daniel was teetering back and forth on the ground, mumbling prophetic nonsense. "Alyson, you wanna-" Derick jerked his head to the side towards the crowd, signaling to Alyson on what to do. 

"Oh, right." Alyson quickly got in between Derick, Daniel, and the crowd, and began very loudly improvising some speech about the guardian tradition. Although it distracted them for a while, the people couldn't be distracted from the wash of fear and anxiety of the three on stage. 

"Daniel, buddy. What's wrong? Come on, talk to me." Derick persisted. 

"I can't do this! I'm going to die! We're all going to die!" Daniel choked. 

"Hey now, come on kid. Don't say that. What did I tell ya? I'll always be here for you to help pick up the pieces remember. Now just take a deep breath and tell me what you saw."

 "I saw God."

"Wait what?" Derick questioned off guard. 

"Or rather a god? I don't know he was some kind of deity. Talking about getting rid of the guardians, making his reality, ruining and corrupting lives?!"

"What else did you see?"

"I saw demons and monsters. He kept showing me these... things. Over and over. More than I think I was supposed to see."

"Okay, I think this is a conversation for somewhere else. If this keeps up, I'm afraid we'll start a panic." Derick whispered to himself. "Alyson, I think it's time we wrapped things up, don't ya think?" Alyson nodded. Derick stood up and picked Daniel up with him. "Come on, let's go get you some breakfast." Derick escorted Daniel off the stage. The two walked over to a quaint little cafe, with Alyson trailing behind. The three sat down at one of the metal tables, and soon a waitress came by.

"What can I get you folks?" She politely asked, not aware of the state that anyone was in.

"Yeah, I'll have a peppermint tea and he'll have... whatever your strongest coffee is and a bagel." Derick said dismissively, gesturing towards Daniel. The waitress marked down the order and walked back inside the cafe. "Alight Daniel, take a deep breath and explain to us exactly what happened." Daniel took the deepest breath of his life, closed his eyes, and tried to relax all of his muscles.

"At first I was with the goddess. She gave me a whole rundown about guardians and what my power was."

"Which is?" Derick asked impatiently.

"Oh yeah, it's creation."

"Creation?" Alyson repeated.

"Seems a little overpowered to me."

"That's what I was thinking, but if these powers do take a toll on your body, then I guess it balances out." Derick shrugged in agreeance. "Anyway, after that she was getting ready to show me my foes and all that. That's when things took a turn."

"How so?"

"I don't think she was completely in control. I think she lost it to someone or something else. My brain got overloaded with all these different people and images. Soon I was met with a different god. This one, not so friendly. He mocked me, mocked us as guardians. He vowed to get rid of us all and make a reality he was meant to have!" 

"Here's your order guys." The waitress seemingly appeared from thin air, giving Daniel a heart attack. She set the food and drinks on the table and walked away like nothing had happened. Derick grabbed his tea. 

"So, then what?" Alyson asked.

"It sounds like he already gave away his whole plan to you, so why are you so scared? I mean, besides the whole meeting an evil god thing." Derick followed up.

"It was his confidence. He acted like this was all just a game. He talked about our intervention like we were just playing along. He talked about the people in his plan like they were game pieces, pawns. He talked so nonchalantly about ruining lives." Daniel took a sip of his coffee, before immediately spitting it out. "Blech! This tastes awful!"

"Well, I imagine it's just a straight black coffee. Eat your bagel to wash out the taste." Derick suggested.

"Yeah, thanks for the worst breakfast a man could eat. The blackest of black coffees and a plain bagel. I'm pretty sure my expired milk and cereal tasted better than this." 

"Just shut up and eat your food." Daniel sulkily ate his bagel. "Did you happen to get any clues on who this deity is?" 

"Not much. I just know that he's made of crystals or something. Oh, and that he said something about change." 

"Doesn't ring any bells for me." Alyson shrugged. Meanwhile Derick's eyes widened. "What about you Derick? Derick?"

"Crysalis..." Derick whispered anxiously.

"What?"

"The crystalline deity. The god of change. I heard some chaos soldiers pray to him once during the war. After we swept through their trench, I found some muddied books about him, a bible of some sorts I assume. I will never forget what I read." Derick shuttered. The air grew cold and tense, despite the warm spring air. Derick's face was devoid of any color. Alyson had never seen him so worked up before. What could Daniel possibly be getting himself into? Before this, Daniel had barely mustered up the ability to go to church, now he's getting directly involved with conflicts between gods?

"Well, we shouldn't focus on such big tasks yet. I think it'd be better for us if we focused on getting Daniel up to speed on everything and taking down our little killer. Then when the time's right and we feel fully prepared we can take on this Crysalis guy." Alyson reasoned. Derick swallowed his fears and wiped a cold sweat from off his face.

"Yeah. Yeah, you're right." 

"Hey, I've got an idea! Why don't you guys go see Sheldon? I'm sure our resident guardian doctor will get our trainee prepped and ready for battle in no time!" Alyson's cheeriness quickly brought ease and comfort towards the other two guardians. 

"That's not half bad. I'll bet a quick visit from the guy will be exactly what we need!"