relaxed his
hands. "Nothing. Just messing with you."
Felix made a face and looked back at the
TV. "Aww, I just missed the best part! You
suck!"
"You suck more."
"Your face sucks."
For a moment, Daniel almost responded
with the expected response drilled into him
by a lifetime spent in the American school
system: your mom sucks.
But he couldn’t say that. Not to Felix.
Daniel snapped his fingers and squinted
hard. "You win this time, Fitzgerald. But I’ll
have my revenge!" Felix laughed and
plopped back on the couch. Crisis averted.
"I’m gonna take a walk, ok?" Daniel said.
Felix shrugged. "Ok. See you."
Daniel locked the front door and went
around the edge of his house. He stopped at
the corner near where a few tall shrubs
shielded him from the road. He tightened his
fist and focused. In a moment, the white
power was back, coating his hand like a
glove. The energy waited patiently, waiting
to be released.
He dropped his hand, then gathered the
power into his feet and jumped. White light
burst under his shoes. He leapt into the air at
least as high as he was tall, then fell onto his
butt and rolled over in the grass. He did it
again, this time grabbing the edge of the roof
with his hands. He pulled himself up and
walked around on the tile. He’d never been
up on the roof of his house.
"Having fun?"
Daniel jumped back, then sighed. Xik
had appeared next to him. "Would you stop
doing that?"
"I enjoy your surprise," Xik said. "It’s the only time I can get something out of you."
Daniel stretched his arms. "So did I just
get a ton of strength from that thing?"
"No, not at all. Killing spawn is like
stomping ants. You’ll have to take out quite a
few to feel a significant difference. This is
mostly all what you had inside yourself."
Daniel looked his pinstriped friend up
and down. "I feel like I could sprint a mile.
And do a hundred pushups."
"Right after absorption, you’ll gain a
boost to your stamina, and heal faster, too,"
Xik explained. "Even without magic, your
normal physical abilities will improve.
You’ll probably find you need much less
sleep, if any at all. The night won’t hinder
you—your eyesight will improve to
compensate."
"Sounds convenient." Daniel punched
his fist into his palm. "So. Three days? Now
that I’m a superhuman, think I can take on that
extractor?"
"Absolutely not. You’re not to touch any
more Vorid, not until it’s come and gone."
"What?! Why the hell not?!"
"Because it would swat you like a fly."
Daniel drew back. That was as stern a tone
as Xik had taken with him. "Your brother
was the exception. One missing spawn will
go unnoticed. More, and you’ll draw
attention that will kill you."
It slowly coalesced inside Daniel’s
brain. "…I wait until the extractor passes
through. Then I go on a spawn killing-spree
to increase my strength. A month later, when
it comes back, I kill it then."
"Indeed. And when you kill that one, a
replacement will come. And if you kill that
one, then more."
"Then what’s stopping them from
annihilating me right now?"
"You have once miniscule, flimsy
advantage," Xik said. "Obscurity."
Daniel thought back to his magic lesson.
"You mean concealing my presence, like you
showed me?"
"That will hide you from any scrying
magic users, yes," Xik said. He waved a
hand. "But that’s not really what I was
getting at. The Vorid forces here are on
autopilot. Earth is rather densely populated,
but it’s in a lonely corner of the multiverse,
which is an extremely big place." Xik made
his frog smile. "The Klide keep their main
forces somewhat locked-up, after all.
Meanwhile, to keep expanding, their war
machine invades elsewhere on their behalf."
"…so I’m not even fighting the Vorid,
I’m fighting their robots? What the hell?"
"It all stems from the same magic, and
so you can absorb it," Xik said. "The spawn are biological. The extractors are machines.
Both are just
hands. "Nothing. Just messing with you."
Felix made a face and looked back at the
TV. "Aww, I just missed the best part! You
suck!"
"You suck more."
"Your face sucks."
For a moment, Daniel almost responded
with the expected response drilled into him
by a lifetime spent in the American school
system: your mom sucks.
But he couldn’t say that. Not to Felix.
Daniel snapped his fingers and squinted
hard. "You win this time, Fitzgerald. But I’ll
have my revenge!" Felix laughed and
plopped back on the couch. Crisis averted.
"I’m gonna take a walk, ok?" Daniel said.
Felix shrugged. "Ok. See you."
Daniel locked the front door and went
around the edge of his house. He stopped at
the corner near where a few tall shrubs
shielded him from the road. He tightened his
fist and focused. In a moment, the white
power was back, coating his hand like a
glove. The energy waited patiently, waiting
to be released.
He dropped his hand, then gathered the
power into his feet and jumped. White light
burst under his shoes. He leapt into the air at
least as high as he was tall, then fell onto his
butt and rolled over in the grass. He did it
again, this time grabbing the edge of the roof
with his hands. He pulled himself up and
walked around on the tile. He’d never been
up on the roof of his house.
"Having fun?"
Daniel jumped back, then sighed. Xik
had appeared next to him. "Would you stop
doing that?"
"I enjoy your surprise," Xik said. "It’s the only time I can get something out of you."
Daniel stretched his arms. "So did I just
get a ton of strength from that thing?"
"No, not at all. Killing spawn is like
stomping ants. You’ll have to take out quite a
few to feel a significant difference. This is
mostly all what you had inside yourself."
Daniel looked his pinstriped friend up
and down. "I feel like I could sprint a mile.
And do a hundred pushups."
"Right after absorption, you’ll gain a
boost to your stamina, and heal faster, too,"
Xik explained. "Even without magic, your
normal physical abilities will improve.
You’ll probably find you need much less
sleep, if any at all. The night won’t hinder
you—your eyesight will improve to
compensate."
"Sounds convenient." Daniel punched
his fist into his palm. "So. Three days? Now
that I’m a superhuman, think I can take on that
extractor?"
"Absolutely not. You’re not to touch any
more Vorid, not until it’s come and gone."
"What?! Why the hell not?!"
"Because it would swat you like a fly."
Daniel drew back. That was as stern a tone
as Xik had taken with him. "Your brother
was the exception. One missing spawn will
go unnoticed. More, and you’ll draw
attention that will kill you."
It slowly coalesced inside Daniel’s
brain. "…I wait until the extractor passes
through. Then I go on a spawn killing-spree
to increase my strength. A month later, when
it comes back, I kill it then."
"Indeed. And when you kill that one, a
replacement will come. And if you kill that
one, then more."
"Then what’s stopping them from
annihilating me right now?"
"You have once miniscule, flimsy
advantage," Xik said. "Obscurity."
Daniel thought back to his magic lesson.
"You mean concealing my presence, like you
showed me?"
"That will hide you from any scrying
magic users, yes," Xik said. He waved a
hand. "But that’s not really what I was
getting at. The Vorid forces here are on
autopilot. Earth is rather densely populated,
but it’s in a lonely corner of the multiverse,
which is an extremely big place." Xik made
his frog smile. "The Klide keep their main
forces somewhat locked-up, after all.
Meanwhile, to keep expanding, their war
machine invades elsewhere on their behalf."
"…so I’m not even fighting the Vorid,
I’m fighting their robots? What the hell?"
"It all stems from the same magic, and
so you can absorb it," Xik said. "The spawn are biological. The extractors are machines.
Both are just
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