Fall of the Spectrum

Chapter Twenty-Two

"Let me go! Help!"

Phenex woke with a start, the sound of Gwen's frantic screams still echoing in his head.

It was just a dream.

He swung his legs over the side of the bed, elbows resting on his knees as he ran both hands over his face. It certainly hadn't felt like a dream. He'd had countless dreams—and nightmares—over the course of his lifetime, many of which had felt real upon waking. Many of which had contained snippets of the tragedies he'd witnessed or experienced—or those of others whose minds his had touched.

And this wasn't one of them. This was something else. More real, if such a thing were possible. There was something about the way it still jangled his nerves that made him believe it was more than just the garden-variety nightmare, more than just a traumatic memory.

"Help!"

He was on his feet in a second, eyes darting every which way until he realized it was her voice again. Gwen's. But that wasn't possible. He was awake now, and she was...

"Telepathy." He whispered it, as if afraid to disturb the surrounding silence. Not even the sound of Jev's snores could be heard anymore, the satyr presumably having shifted into a more breathing-friendly position through the night.

The question was, why had he heard Gwen calling for help? She'd never communicated this way before, so how—?

The artifacts. One of them must have given her the ability, but which—?

It doesn't matter, he scolded himself, pushing all speculation aside. Gwen's in trouble.

And if Gwen was in trouble, then it stood to reason that Forneus probably was, too. He had to find them, had to help her...but how? He didn't even know where she was! She and Forneus could be on a mission on the other side of the universe, for all he knew.

It was at that moment that images began playing through his mind, startling him. At first, the images were vague, shifting from Earth as it could be seen from outer space, to a panoramic view of the continents surrounded by vast oceans. These images gave way to others; sharper, growing closer, until finally, they zeroed in on Japan.

All right, that's a start. But where—?

The question had barely formed when he was met with a vision of the Shikoku region, outlined just as it would have been on a tourist map. He experienced only a flicker of impatience before the image grew larger, showing the four prefectures, and then shifting to one in particular.

Kochi.

"Please..."

"I'm coming, Gwen," he said, hands curling into fists at his sides. "I don't know if you can hear me, but I'm coming. Just hang on."

One last image flickered through his mind, so vivid he could have been standing in front of it. A modest building with a wing-tipped roof, surrounded by potted plants and wooden frames strung with prayer cards on either side of the temple's front steps. To the right stood a large, five-tier pagoda-styled building in vibrant red, complete with gleaming shingles and paper lanterns beneath each of its awnings.

I know this place. Chikurin-ji Temple.

Hermes and the others would just have to go on recruiting the denizens of Mythos on their own. Right now Gwen and Forneus needed him.

Closing his eyes, Phenex held the vision of the temple in his mind. Grateful that teleportation was viable out of Mythos, if not between its continents, he willed what reserves of energy he had into transferring from one realm to the other. Once he had a fix on the coordinates—a subtle, tugging sensation starting in the tips of his fingers and toes—he released the power in a burst of golden light.