System Break

Mist rose from the pool and hung in the air. The new pod system skipped my visits to the pool, and I wondered if the new portal was the connected to my new pod. Because now I had two portals on the walls surrounding the pool.

The shape of the room was spherical. I was swimming in a giant ball half filled with water. Air didn't matter because I didn't breathe. It was me; I was here but I wasn't in a physical body. Was that water I was feeling?  Was I warm or was it all in my imagination?

My lump wasn't dead. I was almost sure of it. I was pulled back here because I ran my qi low and my lump was unconscious. But rather than end back in my pod, like I did when I slept and logged out, I was here, and I didn't know why.

I swam across the surface to inspect the new portal. I'd never used it consciously - but if my guess was right - I used it every time I used my new pod. Unless it was just a coincidence. It appeared here only after I got the new pod and that was all the evidence I had.

My hand touched the new portal and it was firm. I pushed against it. Normally it felt like the surface of water with more resistance. But this portal was rubbery, and its surface did not break when pressured.

I felt I had waited long enough. Time to swim to the bottom of the pool and get back in my forest monster lump. But I hesitated because I felt something strange. I sensed a far off voice and when it called to me.

The sensation which swept through me was reminiscent of Demon Bird.

"Demon Bird," I called, and the sound echoed throughout the chamber. Was he alive somewhere? Was he like me?

I closed my eyes; it didn't make a difference, but it helped me focus. "Demon Bird," I whispered and reached out to him.

His words reached me, but they were soft. "I'm lost," he said. 

"Are you in a pool? Can you come to my voice?"

"I'm in a nest," the voice said, and I saw it in my mind. We were connected again. The nest was made up of bones and the shape of a huge bowl. I chuckled, my subconscious created a pool and his - a massive bone graveyard. It could have been worse, at least it wasn't a sphere full of rotting internal organs.

"Search for the light," I said. "Fly through it."

"I cannot," he said. "I am a man here."

Now I was confused. 

I recalled the conversation with the shaman and Gisael. The guardians had killed an alpha tester like me - while I was away at the mine - and buried his lump. Days later Demon Bird was born; I was called by the forest to find him and either kill or raise him.

The last clue was the shaman, he said that Demon Bird was made from the same material as me. But …

"Were you a man?" I asked.

"I am Demon Bird. That is all I am, but I am stuck in this body."

"Do you remember a life other than as a bird? Did you have another life?"

Confusion and pain came through our connection as he struggled with the concept. "There is something, but I can't remember."

"Is there a light? Or a portal?" I shared images of mine through our re-connection.

Above the nest there was a portal and below it was a light. "Go through the light if you want to be Demon Bird again."

"What is the portal?"

"I'm not sure what happens if you go through it. You might become the man you once were, or you could be lost. I don't know."

"I will be Demon Bird again," he said. 

"Come to me when you can," I said. "I really missed you and your help."

"Will I live?"

"I'll come to you if we can't connect. I will save you if I can."

I waited until he crawled through his light and then I swam to mine. 

.

My mouth opened and I breathed in. She was bent over me and I copped an eye full of cleavage. 

"Protector!" Carney exclaimed. "I was so worried."

"Don't worry," I said and raised myself onto my elbows. "I've got many tricks and can't be killed easily."

She stood and pursed her lips. "I will not worry next time." She wiped her eyes on her sleeves to hide the evidence of her concern.

A feeling of exhilaration swept through me as my connection with Demon Bird blossomed once again. "Welcome back," I told him.

"I fly," he said. "I'm hungry. I will search for the dead before I come to you."

In my minds eye I showed him were Gisael and I killed since leaving the mines.

"Are they still attacking?" I asked. The sounds of battle continued, and I looked left and right along the ramparts. 

I saw the captain shouting orders and swinging his sword at another breach. 

"They still have poles?" I asked and wondered where they got them all from.

She peered over the parapet. "I have no idea what they do. Are you going to fight again? I think you should rest; you've done enough, and we can fight too."

I watched the orks for a while. They had stopped whipping the ferals into a frenzy but watched the defence intently without taking part themselves.

"They were testing us," I said.

"Who? The orks?"

"Yes. They're sacrificing the ferals and assessing our capabilities." I gripped the parapet and Carney put a hand on mine. 

"We shocked them last night," she said.

"They'll be in for a shock when my friends arrive. They just sacrificed their meat shield."

"How many friends?" she asked.

"Enough to take these bastards down."

"Do you have a wife?" she asked.

I laughed. "Why do you ask?"

She removed her hand from mine. "No reason."

I chuckled. "It is not like that with us. When a Svartalfar likes another we just have sex. There are parents but no such thing as man and wife."

She looked doubtful. "So a woman can have a child with one man and have sex with any others she liked?"

"Sure," I said and wondered how we got into this conversation in the middle of a battle. I picked two cores from my pack and squeezed them down my throat.

Before I jumped to re-join the battle I said, "We can have sex after the battle is won if you like." I did not wait for her answer or the flush of her cheeks. I ran down the wall and began to smash feral heads. I picked up an axe and used it to chop the poles with one hand and I struck with qi with the other.

Demon Bird was alive and flying to me.

Gisael and the others were on their way.

I laughed and killed like a mad man while the orks watched. I showed them speed of a demon, strength of a troll and my regenerative powers. They could assess all they wanted  because when the Svartalfar arrived they were in for a nasty surprise.