CHAPTER 11 – Johnny's Destiny
Johnny dreamed he was back in the endless half white and half black void. This time he found himself sitting in the driver's seat of the prototype. The bad part was he wasn't alone. All around him he could see endless waves of rift eaters running for him.
Johnny began to panic as first turned the prototype on. He quickly put into drive as he drove. He then desperately messed with the onboard terminal to arm the prototype. The vehicle ended up being mounted with all sorts of guns as he fired away. He ran most of the rift eaters over as he went.
Not long after he got a warning from the terminal. The prototype was running low on essence. Soon the prototype came to a stall and died. Johnny was helpless as he sat in the prototype. The rift eaters soon massed all over it. All Johnny could see was black inky bodies with some glowing eyes.
Johnny remained calm at first. He knew the prototype was pretty much indestructible. His calmness was soon gone when he heard a hissing sound. The inky liquid was now beginning to dissolve the windows. Within second the front windshield shattered as he was greeted by claws and fangs.
Johnny was ripped free from the prototype as the rift eaters dragged him away. He tried to fight back but was overpowered by the rift eaters as the pinned him down. He could only look In horror to where they were dragging him. In front of him was the giant rift eater he had beaten. It loomed over him with an inky saliva dripping out before it bit him in the neck. Johnny's dream then began to fade…
Johnny slowly started to come to his senses. His body felt itchy and painful all over.
"Why does this keep happening?" That was all Johnny could hear of Julia's voice.
He slowly began to open his eyes as he moaned. "I felt like I just woken up after having a severe allergic reaction after falling into a cactus bed out of a moving truck." He said with a grunted tone. Trying to cheer up Julia.
"If you ended up dying, our chances of defeating the loathing one would be even greater. Plus, i was getting tired of losing people." She whimpered.
Johnny looked at himself and saw he was covered all over in bandages. He found he was back in another makeshift tent. "Having deja vu all over again." He mumbled to himself with a sigh.
Johnny noticed some other members of the alliance were being treated for various injuries as well. Some were worse off than others as he saw healers attending to other wounded. He realized some have missing limbs.
He gulped out of fear as he asked Julia a question. "What happened to the others?" He pointed to one man with a missing leg.
Julia replied. "When the body is infected with rift eater saliva and isn't treated fast enough. That part of the body is claimed by the void." She answered with a grim tone.
She then turned back to face Johnny. "You were lucky I was able to extract all the poison out of you. You were so close to death." She said with a concerned look and tone.
"At least you don't have to become a cyborg." She said, trying to cheer Johnny up. Johnny raised his brow in confusion at that.
"Those who end up losing body parts to rift eaters that survive. We end up giving them cyborg body parts." She said with a sad tone. "Just about everyone who has fought rift eaters has some sort of cyborg body part." She added.
"My elite guards are mostly cyborgs. "She continued.
"If they had been here when the appearance of the mystic rift eater occurred. The casualties wouldn't have been as high" She sighed in frustration.
"I wasn't expecting any trouble until that mystic rift eater appeared. The fighters here were more for scouting and quick hit and run tactics. They were not really trained to deal with this kind of situation. We lost a lot of good men." She replied with a sad tone.
A voice broke the silence just then. "Ah, Johnny you are awake." Everyone in the tent turned to see the new person. Orion was standing at the entrance to the tent. He walked over towards Julia and Johnny. He stopped just a few meters from them both and spoke again.
"I can definitely see why the Radiant One has chosen you now." Replied Orion in a surprised tone.
"I am also sorry you were attacked by the hoard of rift eaters. I was defending the portal when some of the loathing one minions blew a hole in the wall. A dozen or so escaped. I had others chase after them. By the time they caught up. Julia had beaten the pulp out of them," Orion sighed to Johnny.
"I am terribly sorry that had happened. Anyways, I have already given Julia the details of your assigned mission when you fully recover." He added with a smile.
Johnny wanted to shout at him. Julia just squeezed his arm. "I would like to stay and chat, but I need to report to the counsel of the events that have occurred. Somehow the Loathing One had infiltrated the surrounding area. I'm going to ask for more funding in security." He finished talking in a tired tone.
He then stared back at Julia.
"Oh, before I forget, Julia, take this pouch." He said as he handed her the pouch. After he gave the pouch to her. He bid them farewell and left the tent.
"What was that all about?" Asked Johnny raising his brow.
"I'll explain later." She spoke. "For now, you still need to heal up. So just lie here and get some rest. It should maybe be another day or two before your wounds are completely healed." She added.
"I plan on having my elites guarding you in shifts when they come back. If you don't see me. They have my warden's crest. I am not going to leave you unguarded. After being attacked by a loathing one's follower. Still not sure how they managed to infiltrate the alliance." Julia stated.
"I am going to have you moved to a more secure private spot too" She added.
"For now, drink this. It will help the healing process go faster. Although, it will make you fall asleep to help with recovery." She said as she handed Johnny a potion. Johnny was hesitant to drink the potion, butJulia then reminded him if she wanted to kill him with that potion, she could have done it already. With that remark he drank the potion and dozed off…
Johnny woke up to find himself in a smaller tent this time. He sat up and stretched with a yawn. "Feeling any better?" asked a familiar voice. He sat up and stared over at Julia.
"Quite fine."
"I was mistaken with the healing potion you healed up about a half a day, instead of a three days." She said with a surprised tone.
"If you are well enough to move. There seems to be something strange going on with the prototype." Replied Julia. "Orion looked at it and wasn't sure what to make of the tampered core. He only knows that it wasn't tampered with here. He mentioned it had been meant to be set off in a week." She finished.
Johnny frowned at the news. Someone at Banzai Bangers had to have tampered with it then. I don't know who though. Thought Johnny.
Johnny got up out of the small tent and followed Julia over to the prototype. There were guards from the radiant alliance guarding the prototype. While scientists were getting readings on the prototype. The prototype was glowing with a pulsing dark purple.
One scientist had the hood opened inspecting the plutonium reactor. The scientist was about to take the reactor from the car.
Johnny saw the man trying to pull it apart. He ran over to the man pushing him out of the way and quickly reconnected the reactor. "Are you crazy?! If you take that out the car will blow up the entire area within a massive fireball!" Johnny yelled at the man he had just pushed to the ground. He mentally asked Albert to check the connections to make sure they were in place. Albert responded in a few seconds saying the reactor was secure. Johnny sighed with relief.
Johnny then was tackled by a guard as the guard tried to subdue Johnny. Johnny was fighting back before Julia intervened. She yelled at them to stop. "Enough. I want all you researchers to get away from Johnny's thing." She snapped.
The researcher Johnny had assaulted argued back that he had attacked him. Julia gave him a death stare. She showed them her Warden's mark which made him silent.
"If you have questions about the prototype, you can ask Johnny later. Right now, we need to be left alone here." She continued. The researchers left with a grunt. A few tried to stay behind to watch but Julia gave them a stare. "Do I have to report to Orion to have you guys demoted for interference?" She added with a mocking tone. The researchers got the message and left in a hurry.
"Sorry about that I didn't know who had the scientists tinkering away at the prototype. I will have to report this to Orion when I find out who gave permission… it could have been Orion himself though." She said while letting out a sigh.
"Anyways after the fight with the mystic rift eater. Orion told me to ask about a part of a core that needed your assessment. Something about a core fracture of some kind?" Julia continued to talk to Johnny as they walked to the back of the prototype. The trunk was left open by the fleeing researchers. He stood and looked at the anti-matter and matter core. I was now glowing a dark shade of purple the same as the prototype was glowing. The dimensional drive now was glowing the same color as well. Johnny then went to access the control terminal for the prototype. He asked Albert for assistance as he went to activate the core for a diagnostics check.
Right as Johnny activated the core. The core fragment is his head beginning to glow the same color as the core. Johnny fell onto the ground in pain. He was surrounded by an invisible barrier. Julia was blown out of the way by the sudden appearance of the barrier.
"This isn't good." Julia said as she stood up from the knock back. She quickly called her elites with a communication bracelet she had on her wrist.
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Meanwhile, Johnny was face to face with the rift eater in his mind. He had tried to contact Albert for help, but the beast was blocking his mental connection to Albert. For now Johnny was in his own.
The beast was using the core fragment that was in Johnny's head to keep him immobile. Johnny was scared out of his wits as he tried to break free of his mental prison. The beast glared into Johnny's eyes as it probed his mind of his past. The beast got an a touchy spot on Johnny before it released its search.
The beast then sent Johnny mental images it wanted a rematch with just him. Johnny refused with all his might to fight back. The beast sent Johnny another mental image. The beast had let him know it had probed his mind. It mentally told Johnny it knew all his weaknesses and secrets. It had a mental connection with the Loathing One. The beast let Johnny know it had informed the Loathing One about his crippled brother.
This enraged Johnny as he watched the beast make a mocking laugh at him. The beast pushed even harder on Johnny with some unknown mental force.
Johnny growled with anger. The radiant fragment in his head glowed to a blinding flash as the beast backed in surprise. Johnny was free from his bonds, but not from the mental prison. All Johnny could think about was his brother Jamie. No one messed with him.
Johnny was able to get a radiant weapon that was the shape of a sword from the core fragment in his head. He had tried to turn the weapon into other things besides the sword. It only stayed in that form.
Meanwhile, the beast stood there anxious like a weary predator. It was anticipating his next move. It had lost the mental grip on Johnny. It was beginning to lose power of the mental prison it had created.
Johnny waasnt sure he could beat the beast with just the sword. He may not have been a pro with swords, but he hoped the VR games he played sword fighting would be enough. He ran after the beast as he struck fast. The core fragment in his head glowed as he ran for the beast. The light was so bright, that it blinded the beast.
Johnny dove beneath the beasts belly as struck the sword along it's chest. Inky black liquid began to pour from the long gash against its belly. The beast howled in pain as it knew it was in a losing battle. It tried to rip the sword from Johnny's arm when he swung again.
Johnny was surprised when the sword couldn't be pried from his arm. He kept cutting at the beast more and more until the beast finally submitted. It no longer had any power left. As the mental prison dissolved.
Johnny found himself alone in the dark. He couldn't see anything as he looked around. He did get another feeling that someone was still there. He moved around in his dark mind trying to find the threat. He was startled by another mental vision from the mystic rift eater.
This time it was more of a curiosity than a threat. The beast set Johnny a mental image of thanks for freeing it. Johnny was puzzled. It sent him another mental image the beast had briefly knew what it was in the past.
It thanked Johnny once more by giving him some items. Johnny was given five necklaces made from radiant light. He sent a mental image to the beast of what they were for. It responded that the necklaces would let Julia and the others follow him into the void portals.
It gave him a few more mental talks about that it had fused with the core and it could help him in the coming battles. It needed to kill rift eaters of there essence to power the core. With the last mental conversation the vision faded with Johnny finding himself standing sweating.
Julia was running back to Johnny now with her elites. They were fully armed and looked surprised when they approached. "What happened to the barrier?" She asked in confusion. She then looked at what he was holding in his hands. "Where did you get those necklaces?"
Johnny told her how he was able to beat the beast and break free of the mental prison. He mentioned after defeating the rift eater. It gave him the necklaces to let Julia and others join him in the void portals as a thank you freeing it from the loathing ones influence.
"Well this isn't the first time someone has been possessed by a mystic rift eater." She sighed.
"At least it didn't kill you or take control of your body. I was very surprised you were able to beat with that core fragment though."
Julia looked over at the prototype before sighing. "Guess Orion didn't need to hand me those radiant fragments after all." She then turned back to Johnny smiling.
"I believe I should introduce my elite guard now. Who will also help defend you." She spoke with a smile.