Callum opened his eyes. He was in the mist again. But he was surprised to find himself on solid ground. He kicked down a couple of times just to feel it and then glanced around. He had an anxious feeling in his stomach, a need to do something but he couldn't quite seem to grasp what that something was.
"Well, that did not go as well as I might have hoped." It was the voice again, the one that whispered to him in these dreams. But it sounded so much closer. Real now. He spun around like he always did, half-expecting that he would see nothing but mist again. But she was there.
He gasped in surprise. "Catriona?" It was her but it wasn't. The face was right, the frame, everything. But there was a tilt to her head, a look in her eyes that gave her an aura of superiority that Catriona never had. Would never have. She was also wearing a sheer white dress that was giving him glimpses of her body that he found distracting and frankly a little upsetting.
"Catriona?" The doppelganger said. "Your...sister? Is that who I look like to you?" She laughed lightly and shook her head. "Interesting."
"What are you talking about?"
"Well, I am supposed to be your ideal of femininity. The perfect woman."
"Okay." He nodded. "That makes sense." As far as he was concerned, there was no woman better than his sister. He'd said it many times. Catriona was an angel.
"Does it?" The doppelganger's face twisted with bemusement. Callum really didn't like seeing so many new expressions on this face, expressions that the real Catriona would never make. "Sometimes it seems like only the oddest of you humans can commune with me."
'Odd?' If anyone was odd here, it was the mysterious dream woman that was wearing his sister's face. "Who are you?"
"I have no true name but when speaking to you humans, I have decided to go by the name of Venus." Callum stared at her blankly, wondering if he was supposed to recognize the name. Venus sighed. "Which is turning out pointless. I thought it was clever but if nobody gets the reference anymore…" she trailed off, muttering to herself too softly for Callum to hear.
"So what is it that you want from me...Venus?" Callum asked. "Why do you keep bringing me here and asking me weird questions?"
"Weird?" Venus placed her hands on her hips, causing her breasts to jiggle underneath the sheer dress. Callum's jaw clenched painfully. 'Why is she wearing that?!' "I think my questions were pretty basic. You are the strange one. Content picking at rocks day in and day out." She sighed and repeated her earlier complaint. "Always the oddest…" She sighed again. "Anyway, it's not what I want from you, it's what I can do for you. You accessed my power once and it did not go well." 'Did I?' "But like with anything, you need practice. Keep using it. Experimenting. See what you can do. You have a lot of potential, Callum. Don't settle for a pointless life."
Callum blinked. She had thrown a lot at him there. "When did I access your power?" he asked.
She stepped up to him. Callum kept his eyes firmly on her face. She reached up and gently took his head in her hands. "I suppressed some of your memories because I knew you wouldn't be calm if I didn't. You'll know what happened when you wake up. And I think you'll know what to do. Don't panic. Be deliberate. You have time but you can't squander it." Relaxation washed over Callum and he began to drift off. As his mind grew hazy, he heard her say one last thing. "I believe you, Callum. I know you can save her. And yourself."
Callum opened his eyes. He was looking at the same ceiling he'd seen every time he'd woken up his entire life. 'That strange dream again...' But even as he thought about it, the rest of his memories flooded back. They'd taken Catriona. They'd hurt Riley. Urgency flashed through Callum and he sat up. All of his breath left him as his body cried out in pain. He didn't even manage to sit up all the way but was frozen and afraid to move in either direction.
"Callum!" Soft hands gently took him by the back and arm and helped him sit up all the way. He turned his head a fraction and saw the familiar face of Valencia.
"Valencia," he whispered. 'God, even speaking hurts.' "What...what are you...where are…?" His brain seemed a little fuzzy and his voice was rough and cracked. My throat is so dry.
"Easy," she said softly. She held a cup of water to his lips and helped him drink. It hurt but it was also amazingly refreshing.
Feeling a little better now, he managed to ask a full question this time. About the most important subject. "Did...did they take Cat?" Valencia nodded, her face crumpled with sadness. Callum slumped. He'd been hoping that Nita might have done something. "What about Riley? Nita?"
Valencia shook her head. He noticed that her eyes were red and puffy. She looked as beaten up emotionally as he was physically. "Riley came to my house after it all happened and told me what they did. He...he said he was going after them and asked me to take care of you. I tried to stop him but…"
"Nobody could have stopped him," Callum said grimly. Stay alive, Riley. He had always been the cleverest person Callum knew but he wasn't sure how much that counted against the carcha. "What about Nita?"
"I don't know," Valencia answered. "She wasn't here when I got here. You were in your bed, though, with your wounds dressed." Callum touched the bands of cloth wrapped around the majority of his torso. Nita didn't have any reason to try and save Catriona but Callum selfishly hoped she was trying anyway. There was nobody on Ragrun more suited to try and rescue somebody than her. 'Riley's already out there. Nita might be. I need to hurry.' Callum began to try and get to his feet. Valencia grabbed onto him, keeping him down. "What are you doing?!" she cried.
"I have to go. I have to go to her. I have to help them." It was light out, which meant that he'd been unconscious for the entire night. There was no time to waste.
"You can barely move!" Valencia shouted. "How can you possibly help?!" That cut Callum deep but when he looked at Valencia, he saw tears coming down her face and realized that she'd only said it out of concern.
"I have to try," he insisted, trying to shake her off. "She's been with them all night! How can I stay here and let them do...whatever it is they are going to do?!" His voice cracked as he said it and, to his embarrassment, his throat was growing thick and his eyes were hot. 'Don't cry! Not in front of Valencia.'
Valencia threw herself on top of him, carrying him back down into his bedding. "I won't let you! You'll die if you go, Callum. You'll die!" She began sobbing so badly that the rest of her words were lost to him. But he got the message.
The weight of her body was painful but it also was comforting. Warm. He managed to free his arms and reach around her, pulling her into an embrace. She gasped and stiffened at first but then snuggled closer and buried her face into his shoulder. He sobbing eventually trailed away to hiccups and sniffles. "I'll stay with you, Callum," she said, her voice muffled since her face was still pressed against his shoulder. "I'll be your family. I'll do anything. Anything. Just please promise me that you won't die."
"I won't," he said softly. 'But I can't abandon Catriona.' He waited, fighting off his own almost overwhelming desire for sleep until Valencia started breathing deeply against him. He tested the waters by shifting her a hair but the regular breathing of slumber didn't change. Ever so carefully, slowly and gently, he maneuvered her off of him and onto her back beside her. Then he rolled over and pushed himself up to his hands and knees. He winced but clenched his jaw against making a noise. Every one of his limbs was trembling with weakness but he managed to crawl to Valencia and pull his blankets over her. 'Thank you for taking care of me.' As silently as he could, he crawled to his clothing and dressed. Parts of his robe were black from the burns.
Once he was dressed, Callum carefully took the next step. Standing up. He used the wall for a brace but his legs still almost collapsed under him when he straightened into a hunch. After a moment to let his legs get used to things, he made his way out of his house, using the wall for support. Outside, he was horrified to see that it was dusk. He'd slept through the day then, too. 'You fool!' He lashed himself. How could he sleep when his sister and friends were in trouble? He took his first step outside and without anything to lean on and almost fell. The world tilted but he managed to stiffen his spine and lock his knees so he could remain upright. After a few moments, he set off.
He saw a few villagers as he walked but most of them quickly ducked into a sidestreet or back into their homes. He understood. They didn't want to associate with someone who was on the bad side of the carcha. So it was a mild shock when he heard someone call out his name. "Callum!" He turned his head and saw Valencia's father, Seville, jogging toward him. He had a basket hanging off one arm. "Callum!" he repeated as he stopped beside him. "You're up. Thank god."
Callum didn't know what to say to that. He was anxious about being stopped but grateful for Seville's kindness. "It was kind of Valencia to stay by my bedside," he finally managed.
Seville nodded. "She's a good girl. I haven't been able to get her to leave your house since it happened. I've been bringing her food but she's barely been eating and I know she's not sleeping." He shook his head. "I'm so glad to see you are up. I was thinking about dragging Valencia home whether she liked it tonight. It's been four days already."
Callum's world tilted again and he wobbled, almost falling again. Seville quickly put a steadying hand on him. "What?"
Concern dominated Seville's blue eyes. They were the same color as Valencia's, though his thinning hair was brown. "Are you alright, son?"
"What did you say?"
"About Valencia? I just wanted her to have a sound night's sleep in her own bed."
"No." Callum almost shook his head but then thought better of it with how dizzy he was already feeling. "No, I mean, how many days has it been."
"Four," Seville said slowly.
'Four.' Callum turned the word over in his mind, still not quite able to believe it. Hot tears pricked his eyes. You pathetic bastard! You've left your sister in the claws of the carcha for four days! He violently swiped the tears from his eyes and shook Seville off. He began walking again, faster this time. He still felt weaker than he could ever remember but the urgency that motivated him had increased exponentially.
"Son!" Seville shouted after. "I don't think you're in any shape to be walking around."
"I'll be fine," Callum called back. "You just take care of Valencia." Without looking back, Callum strode out of the village. If it had been four days already, that gave him only one real choice. He needed to head for the mines. He passed a few stragglers from the mine who had worked late and managed to placate the couple that asked after his health without stopping. Once he was in the mines, he strapped on one hardhat with a headlamp and grabbed another. Then he made his way down the tunnel he and Riley worked, through the hole he had made the other day and to the mech kneeling in the cavern beyond.
He stared at the big, red demonic looking machine for a moment. 'I wonder if it will even turn on.' Logic suggested that it wouldn't. Callum was beyond logic now though. It would turn on because it was the only chance that Callum had. It had to work. Callum scrambled up the mech and on top of it, just behind the head. Using feel and his headlamp, Callum found a groove near where the hatch was most likely at. He worked his fingers into the groove and pulled. Nothing. He took a few breaths and pulled again with all the power he could put into his drained muscles. Nothing.
Callum let go and sat back on his haunches, fighting back a sob. His fingers hurt like hell but it was frustration prompting his emotion. He was bordering on despair. 'No!' There had to be a reason he found this mech. He had been chipping away at the same spot for weeks until he'd opened a path to it. Something was guiding him. Had it been Venus? 'I should have asked.' Whatever it was, there had to be a reason. There had to be a way. 'If it was Venus...' Callum gripped the hatch again and closed his eyes. He felt for the power that he'd accessed earlier. The power from Venus, apparently. It blossomed in his center and snaked out. As he had feared, hot pain sliced through him along with the tendrils of power. But energy came with them as well. More than he expected. Callum decided that pain was better than weakness at this point.
Just as he was about to try pulling on the hatch again, the mech lit up. Callum was so surprised he almost tumbled off of it. The glow was red, emanating from lines that ran down the mech's arms, legs and torso. Its eyes glowed red as well. The hatch opened with a hiss and this time Callum had to scramble to avoid falling off. Something crawled out of the hatch. It was small, only coming up about knee-high to Callum, but humanoid. 'A child?' Callum cautiously turned his headlamp onto it.
The sight that greeted him was a strange one. The figure his headlamp illuminated was not a child but an adult male human. He was proportionally correct, just about the eighth of the size of a normal adult man. He had dark brown skin and eyes with close cropped black hair and a shadow of a beard. His only clothing was a pair of white trousers that flared at the bottom. He was surprisingly muscular for being so miniature. He said something in a language Callum had never heard.
"What are you saying?" Callum asked. "I don't understand."
"What? You don't speak English, boy?" the miniature man asked in the carcha tongue. "Very strange. What I said was, 'congratulations!'" the small man boomed. His voice was very deep and loud. "You've followed the clues and found me!" He seemed very excited.
"I...what?" Callum blinked. Was he still dreaming? Hallucinating due to the pain?
"The clues! I was told they would be too obscure but I knew that one day a fine young man such as yourself would decipher them and find me. Very impressive! What is your name, young soldier?"
"Callum. But I didn't follow any clues or anything. I just live here."
"Here?!" the miniature human bellowed. "This is a moon! There is nothing here! How could you possibly live here?!" Callum leaned away, unsure why he was being screamed at.
"The...the carcha. They created a false atmosphere so that we could mine the platinum in these mountains…"
"Those villains! Will their greed ever end?!" the man spat. He put a finger just below his lip and squinted his eyes. "But wait, are you telling me that you didn't find me because of my clever clues and tests but because you were...mining?" Callum nodded. The miniature man seemed crestfallen. "All that work…" He bounced back quickly. "Well, no matter! You're here and you've activated Angra Mainyu. Good job, cadet! You've made Russell Jones proud!" Callum stared at him blankly. Some of the miniature human's good cheer faded again. "Russell Jones!" the man repeated. Callum shook his head and the man's shoulders slumped. "Really?"
"Is that your name?"
"Of course it's me!" the tiny man shouted. "Who else would I be?! Who else would be Russell Jones?! You must have heard of me! The Cosmic Leo? Leader of the Black Lions? Master of the God of Chaos?" Callum shook his head slowly. "What...what the hell?! Cosmos!" Callum initially thought that was just an odd curse but was startled with a soothing female voice answered from inside the cockpit of the mech.
"How can I help, Commander Jones?"
"What's going on? How come he doesn't know about me?"
There was a pause and then Cosmos answered, in her soothing monotone, "Speculation: it has been two hundred and forty-five years since Angra Mainyu was transported to this moon. Perhaps your legend has faded."
"The legend of Cosmic Leo and the Black Lions is written across the stars!" Russell shouted back. "It will never fade! But did you say two hundred and forty-five years?! What?!" he screeched. "It was only supposed to take fifty years for me to be found."
"Speculation: perhaps the clues were too hard to follow."
"They weren't! They were just right!"
Callum honestly had no idea what was going on but he was feeling antsy about how long this conversation was taking. "Listen," he interjected. "I'm not completely sure what is going on but I need to borrow this mech. Please let me!" He bowed as best he could in his crouched position.
"Oh?" Russell rubbed his chin again. "That's interesting. What do you need the great God of Chaos for?"
"The God of Chaos is...is the mech?" Russell nodded. "Okay. My sister was taken by the carcha. They almost killed me and my friend. I have to rescue her!"
"Oho! A worthy cause indeed! I think I like you boy. Perhaps you didn't find Angra Mainyu the way I'd planned but maybe you are the right pilot anyway." Relief spread through Callum's body.
"Thank you."
Russell chopped his head forward. "Right. First things first. Get naked!"
Callum slowly blinked but it didn't seem like Russell was joking. "Um. What?"
"Get those clothes off!"
"...why?"
"What do you mean why?" Russell demanded.
"Speculation," Cosmos said. "He may not have been in a mech before. An explanation may be warranted."
"Yes, please!" Callum said.
"Explanation: the cockpit of a mech based on carcha technology uses a specialized fluid to interface with the mech. Specialized suits must be worn as regular clothing can interfere with the connection."
"And you have one of these suits?" Callum sighed in relief. Why hadn't the strange man just asked him to change into the suit.
"Hell no! A real man pilots with his soul and body bare to the world! Get naked, young man!"
"C-cosmos?" Callum asked plaintively.
"Affirmative. We do not have a suit. Functionally, there is no difference between piloting in a suit and piloting without clothing."
Callum's shoulders slumped. 'Really?' He leaned a little closer to Russell and asked softly, "Is Cosmos down in the cockpit?"
"What? No! What?" Russell answered, his voice the same loud tone. "Cosmos is just the name of the program that helps run Angra Mainyu. She's not real." Russell laughed. "You're quite the odd person, young Callum."
'Yeah, I don't think I'm the odd one here,' Callum thought, stripping off his robe and letting it flutter to the ground. He stripped off his short pants next and dropped them to the ground before he realized that he'd just ditched his only clothing. 'Well, I guess I'll worry about it if I'm alive tomorrow.' "Alright, what's next?" he asked.
"Open it up, Cosmos!" Russell commanded. He dived inside the small crack that was already open and then the hatch opened all the way up. Callum peered inside. The cockpit was ovoid and split in half by a thin, transparent barrier. As Cosmos had said, both halves of the ovoid were filled almost to the brim with a liquid that was orange in color, though Callum thought the red lights had a lot to do with that. Russell was sitting on a little ledge just above the liquid. He waved Callum on. "Drop down, cadet." Taking a breath and holding it, Callum slid into the half of the cockpit closest to the front of the mech. The liquid was warm and slightly more viscous than water. Callum bounced up from the bottom and swam to the top where he treaded water with his head above the liquid. "No," Russell said. "Get back down. You need to be completely submerged."
"How will I breathe?"
"Cosmos!" Russell shouted, voice thick with exasperation.
"Explanation," Cosmos said. "The PFC liquid has been calibrated to provide the optimal amount of oxygen to the pilot."
"Huh?"
"You can breathe it, young man. Take a big old breath. It tastes kind of like day old eggs but you get used to it," Russell said.
'I don't even know what fresh eggs taste like.' Callum was nervous but he figured he'd already come this far. He let himself slip under the liquid. 'Okay, you can do this.' It was a mental hurdle just to open his mouth. When he did, liquid rushed in. It did taste funny. A taste he couldn't place. 'Day old eggs, I guess.' It was another hurdle to swallow the liquid but soon enough he didn't have much of a choice. He swallowed. And everything instantly got better. He felt like he was taking deep breaths outside. This is amazing. He looked up and saw Russel pointing at something. Following the gesture he saw two bars connected to the front of the cockpit. Callum drifted forward and grasped them.
He gasped as his vision changed and he found himself looking at the wall of the cavern from a great height. He realized he was seeing through the eyes of the mech. 'Angra Mainyu. That's what Russell called it.' "Can you hear me, cadet?" Russell asked.
"I can." The sound reverberated through the cavern. My voice is now the mech's voice. This is insane.
"Excellent! The good God of Chaos will operate at your thought now. You are him and he is you. Try standing up."
Callum stood and Angra Mainyu stood. It moved with the same ease as he moved his own body. "This-this is amazing!" Callum lifted his hands--the mech's hands-- and looked down at them. "I am Angra Mainyu!"
"Damn fucking straight!" Russell crowed. "You get it, son!" Callum laughed with him. "Let's get out of here. Cosmos! The most efficient exit, if you please."
"Affirmative. Please turn eighty-five degrees east and walk approximately ninety meters," Cosmos commanded.
Callum wasn't sure he could eyeball ninety meters but he figured Cosmos would let him know when to stop. He twisted around easily enough but stumbled a little when he took his first step. The stride of the mech was quite different from his own. Callum took another step and almost fell again. "What are you doing, young man? This is walking! Plain old walking!" Callum was feeling a little embarrassed but now that he was thinking about walking, a motion that was normally automatic, it was even more difficult to walk straight. He stumbled and fell. Luckily the act of falling kicked in his reflexes and he caught himself on his hands.
Callum closed his eyes and took a relieved breath. When he opened them, he would have choked if his lungs hadn't already been full of liquid. There, inches away from one of the mech's hands, was the huddled form of a young woman. Valencia.