“Anyone hungry?” she asked.

  The creature reminded me of a squirrel but with six little dragonfly-style wings.

  “No, thanks,” I said, trying not to cringe.

  To my surprise, Megha shrugged and said, “I’ll try it if you say it’s good.”

  “Not really,” Kinara admitted. “But it does the job.”

  Megha grinned, shaking her head. “If you find something here you love, hook me up.”

  “Deal.”

  We proceeded to the edge of the cliff closest to the pyramid and froze. An opening was letting ships fly out, but inside there were more vessels and cloaked figures. It was a second, smaller opening that really had my attention. From there, smaller craft, like hoverbikes, were emerging with beings that were like lesser versions of the hunters.

  “There,” I said, indicating the spot, and making sure to click my tongue again, in case there was any chance of getting caught off guard.

  “I see it,” Jericho replied, and nodded. “Agreed.”

  “I can fly us over,” Jalee said.

  “We need to get in with minimal attention our way,” Steph replied. “Better not to be seen.”

  “You have a better option?”

  “Chirop can glide us over,” Milrae noted. “Since she doesn’t glow and flicker when flying, she shouldn’t draw too much attention.”

  “And I might be able to help in that regard,” Megha said, hands out with a slight glow. As she moved them, Steph and Jericho took up positions around her, to block the light from being seen, I imagined. A beat later, she had summoned a strange, flying beast seemingly from another world. The creature reminded me of a caterpillar with the face of a mutated owl, massive wings in two sets on its sides. And of course, she had her hands buried into its semi-transparent head.

  “Should be able to hold the rest of us,” Megha said.

  I nodded in approval and went to Kinara. “I’ll stick with my gal.”

  She kissed me on the cheek, but said, “Foolish choice, riding that thing would’ve been epic.”

  “Eh.”

  We crouched low, waiting until those hoverbikes were out of the way, then went for it. I let Kinara grab me from behind, and we shot out, flying over the gap between the cliff and the opening. The others flew close by; I glanced over and could see Milrae standing with skeletal wings spread, looking like she was surfing on that strange flying beast.

  “Trouble,” Kinara muttered.

  I looked back to see that the doors were closing. At our current trajectory, we weren’t going to make it. Then strange, glowing runes appeared floating in the air near the door. They moved toward the door, creating vibrating energy and keeping the doors open. Jericho stood behind Megha, holding onto her with one hand, his staff raised with the other. Clearly, these were more of his runes, his magic.

  Kinara and I went gliding in first, with no sign of those who had ridden out, luckily. But as the others came in behind us, the glow from them lit up the face of a female local. She stared at us in horror with purple eyes the size of baseballs, her armor like those who had ridden out—minimal but resembling the hunters. Some sort of lower warriors, or maybe slaves, I imagined.

  I summoned my sword, and demanded, “Who are you?”

  No sooner had the words left my lips than Milrae was past me, slamming a fist into one of those eyes. The impact was enough to cause a splatter and crunch, then a thud as the body hit the ground.

  “Shit,” I said, turning away as she shook the gook from her fist. “You didn’t have to do that.”

  “Wrong,” she countered.

  Jalee stepped up next to her, kicking the body. “I have to agree with Milkshake. This is enemy territory, buddy. No room for doubt here.”

  “Buddy?” I turned in protest to Suiko, but even she took their side.

  “Can’t help you,” Suiko said. “Shogunai.”

  “Oooh, I know that one!” Steph said, grinning. “Means something like, ‘It can’t be helped,’ yeah?”

  “That’s right.”

  I shook my head, giving that corpse one last look of pity, then said, “Fine, but wouldn’t it help to try and question them at least?”

  “Maybe,” Jericho chimed in. “And I have a transmutation power that helps with that, if necessary.”

  “Like magic that works as a language translator?” I asked.

  “It does a bit more than that, but yes.”

  “Great. If we get another chance, let’s at least try my way before breaking their heads open.”

  They mumbled agreement, and I turned to assess our situation. We were in a small room, one with more hoverbikes lining the wall, and two passages leading off from the far end of the room. It had walls like metal crocodile skin, and three screens with buttons and switches near them.

  I was about to suggest we check out the screens when two more of the baseball-eyed creatures entered.

  “Get us one,” I said, but they instantly shot back, one slamming a section of the wall so that metal walls swung shut between us.

  Milrae was there in a quick dash, shoving her fist into the wall so it dented inward but did no good. Alarms blared, and I cursed, turning to look for options. The screens were lit up, and I had a thought.

  “Can you shut this place down?” I asked Jalee.

  “I can certainly try.”

  “Wait!” Jericho protested, but she was already at the screens, sending blasts of lightning into them. It worked, at least in terms of the alarms shutting off. It also left us in complete darkness, other than from my sword and Jericho’s, which both sent a warm glow through the room. Then, after a moment, one last blast of sparks from the equipment.

  “You said something?” Jalee asked him.

  He grunted, pointing at the equipment with his sword. “I think we could’ve used that, but… not worth mentioning now. Instead…” He walked up to the closed wall, placed a hand against it, and whispered his magic. It mutated, taking a different shape so a whole corner lifted.

  A blast shot our way through the opening, but Jalee countered the shot with lightning. We all stood there until it stopped, and we heard a thud. One down at least, maybe that meant the other could be used for questioning.

  “Suiko,” I muttered.

  “On it,” she replied and went through, Basty slipping through the opening as well, while I stood there and held up a hand to tell the others to wait. A scream sounded, then Suiko pulled at me without words, so I ducked down and slid through the opening. There she was, in terrifying ghost form, with Basty there as a dark nightmare at her side.

  The local was scrambling back, already up against the wall, pissing and shitting himself.

  “Overkill,” I said, disgusted, and held up my sword, demanding, “Where are we?”

  The local couldn’t take his eyes away from the horrifying sights, so I said, “Suiko, Basty, mind checking the hall ahead to ensure we’re safe?”

  Without protest, they went, while the others joined me. The local let out a whimper, then slowly turned his bulbous eyes to take us in.

  “Where are we?” Jericho repeated my question, but the response that came wasn’t in any language I could understand. It was guttural, mixed with panic.

  Jericho nodded, then turned to me and said, “He calls the world Niristal. And can’t understand where we came from.”

  Megha stepped past us and slid a hand into the man’s brain, causing him to stare in horror, then drool and look like he was a vegetable. When she stepped back, he went unconscious.

  “I got more,” she said with a wink at Jericho.

  “It’s not a contest,” he replied.

  “But if it were, I’d have just won. Niristal, yes, and he’s a slave to the people they call Nirists. Those are the ones in robes, but there are others who are a social class above them. I didn’t get any visions of them but imagine they’re either the hunters or that queen you mentioned, or both, fall into this category.”

  “You got all that from sliding your hand into his brain?” I asked, impressed and grossed out.

  Megha shrugged. “That, and more—the item we’re after, for example. It’s not in this building, but I know where it is and how to get there. There’s an underground passage. It’s guarded, but of course, we wouldn’t have expected less.”

  “Down, you say?” Jericho asked, then knelt and placed a hand on the floor. As we watched, the metal shifted, stone and other elements moving as well, forming an opening and stairs. The metal that moved formed a protective shell, so that even as it might have opened us up to problems on other floors, it protected us as well. Shouts sounded, the clanging of weapons and shots fired telling us the enemy was trying to breakthrough.

  “That won’t hold long,” Steph said, already following Jericho down. “Best hurry.”

  My team and I shared a look, impressed, then quickly moved to follow them down.

  13

  It wasn’t until the third floor down—by my guess—that a section of the metal wall gave way to the attackers. They piled in from above, but even as we ran and shot back attacks at them, sections of the walls below started to give way.

  Jericho paused to reinforce one section of the wall, then faltered, Megha catching him. Apparently, the magic use took its toll.

  Steph told us to move aside, then turned and thrust out her hands so a wave of fire moved up the stairs. Enemies screamed, their fiery glow giving the whole stairwell a creepy glimmer. Next, her knights appeared, darting down the rest of the way to ensure we were clear ahead. Suiko and Basty sent other would-be attackers screaming as holes broke, while the rest of us worked to stay alive and reach the bottom.

  We hit the ground floor to find the knights in battle against a rolling turret. Only one remained, now on its back and slamming his sword into the top. Jalee helped him out, short-circuiting the bot, and we ran past it as it fell to one side, letting loose a barrage of bullets on anyone following.

  “I’m sorry,” I said to Steph.

  “The knights?” she shook her head. “They’ll be fine.”

  “Glad to hear it.” We came to a section that dipped down into the opening of what might have been a tunnel for a train, though it lacked tracks. Instead, it had round white circles and a gleaming yellow line of light that connected them all. Around it was dirt and stone, and standing at the entrance was a figure I recognized—the queen.

  She faced us, her white mask fixed, green light there as before. When Jalee attempted a blast, it simply went past her and hit one of the white loops, sparking.

  “You’re not really here,” I said, stepping toward her.

  “Not in the exact spot you see me, no,” she replied, her voice sounding tinny through whatever means she was using to project herself. “On this planet, however? I am. It seems my boys succeeded in their mission, at least in part.”

  “And the part they didn’t succeed at?” Jericho asked.

  “Shall be dealt with shortly.”

  “Don’t waste time with her,” Steph said, already moving past, investigating the loops. “Megha, when you were in that thing’s head, did you see how this thing works?”

  “Unfortunately, no,” Megha replied.

  “Ahem,” the queen said. “Maybe you can tell me what business a human of Earth has among the monsters? On their own world, no less.”

  “What’s your name?” I asked.

  “It won’t do you any good.”

  “Still.”

  “Listen, your Highness,” I said, with a hint of sarcasm, “these are my friends. These are my friends, and we’re here to tell you to leave them alone.”

  She stood still, quiet until finally asking, “And if I were to ask you whether Earth is planning a move into their world? I must warn you, it’s our territory. We don’t need to go to war over that planet, but we will.”

  I had to wonder if someone on Earth was aware of all this otherworldly shit, and if so, who? Then again, we knew STP was somewhat involved, and if they’d sent us here, at least some were in league with her. Or maybe playing her both ways?

  “As far as I know, that’s not a concern,” I explained, deciding to take a stance. “Plus, I gotta warn you, Earth is off-limits. If you come after us, we’ll have an issue.”

  Despite the white mask, I sensed amusement from her.

  “She’s stalling,” Suiko said at my side, and I had no doubt she was right. Bracing, I half-expected to find the attack hitting us right there, but it seemed they hadn’t caught up yet.

  The queen might have been expecting it, too, because she suddenly grunted in annoyance and vanished.

  “If we go this way, they’ll know we’re coming,” Jericho noted.

  “True, but do we have any other options?” I asked.

  “It’s here or above ground. Either way, they know where we’re going, but up there they have all that firepower.”

  “He’s right, and those ships are out there, waiting,” Suiko said.

  Kinara clicked her tongue and winced. “More coming our way ahead.”

  I followed suit, sensing at least ten of them. Steph sent a fire blast before calling on her knights. A second later Jericho was moving forward with a massive claw of ice shooting out to attack those we couldn’t see, and we followed. Honestly, I felt a bit inadequate compared to him and his magic, but knew I’d get there eventually. I was already improving and leveling up, after all. Megha suddenly had two lizard-like monsters, one hand in each of their heads, and she rode them like skis, advancing.

  “Come on, we’re not going to let them have all the fun,” I growled, sword in hand and running ahead.

  Jalee let out a crackle of lightning that brought down two scurrying rat-like monsters. My senses picked out another to my right. He must have sneaked past Jericho and his group, but after my sword was done with him, he wouldn’t be doing any more of that.

  Kinara disappeared into the dark corners of the tunnel, and Milrae motioned me to follow her. We charged forward, finding corpses in Jericho’s wake, and pushed through the tunnel past stragglers, and now others that had started to come from the rear. If we weren’t so badass, we were likely to get trapped down here.

  “Over here,” Steph called out, and we saw her knights were pushing through a side tunnel, one that led up into one of the nearby hills. One that, from this angle, I now saw was covered with jagged outposts—perhaps the whole hill wasn’t a hill at all, but an oddly shaped building? Either way, we followed, going through what reminded me of a greenhouse, with its partially covered walkway, windows on one side, tree roots growing down over the others like a Cambodian temple.

  Seeing those roots gave me courage. This was my zone. Indeed, as a ship landed nearby and another sent an egg-shaped pod that deployed over a dozen alien soldiers, I decided to test my abilities. Without even slowing, I gauged the location of the enemies with my bat sense, then sent the roots out to subdue the enemy.

  “While I’m at it, care to leave them in puddles of piss, Basty?” I asked and felt him jump off me. Their shouts and cries sounded a second later, and Suiko was at my side, floating along and laughing.

  “That’s funny?” I asked, reaching a staircase up and following closely behind Milrae.

  “I was just imagining if Basty misunderstood and thought you meant to make them think they were drowning in literal puddles of piss. That would be quite terrifying.”

  “Shit,” I muttered, shaking my head.

  “That, too!”

  This time, imagining a bunch of alien soldiers suddenly thinking they were dying by attacks of piss and shit, I had to laugh as well.

  “Sword,” Milrae hissed, and she summoned it, cutting to spray blood along the wall, dropping a corpse. I leaped over it, noting Kinara as she slid into an opening, Jericho there and motioning us to hurry.

  “I used my transmutation power,” he said, as I slowed to let Basty catch up. “This should get us out of their crosshairs.”

  “Good thinking,” I replied, then all of us were in, the wall closing behind, and we listened to the attacks and explosions. It went silent, aside from scattered shouts of confusion.

  We waited a bit, then he turned and led the way, guiding us upward until his magic wasn’t needed. The stairs gave way to a ledge, where he set more protective runes.

  “This magic of yours,” I said, watching in amazement. “Does it have any limits?”

  He chuckled. “You’re getting pretty powerful yourself, my man. I read your abilities, and can see you’ll learn more, too.”

  “But nothing like all this magic stuff you’re doing.”

  “Who knows? I’ve always had this transmutation magic, but the rest of it I’m learning from a book that I was able to scan into my system.” He chuckled. “That makes it sound like I’m an android or something—I assure you, I’m not.”

  “As cool as that would be…”

  “Indeed. Nah, it’s the transmutation magic, morphing reality to ways that work best for me. Why carry around the book, when I can create a floating, lightweight, and invisible-to-all-others version?”

  “Sounds badass.”

  He gave me a corny wink, then gestured for us to keep on. A fighter plane flew past outside, while we scooted along that ledge, staying hidden to the best of our ability. At one point I heard Jericho muttering, and turned to see him talking to himself. At my curious look, he grinned and said, “Concealment spell. One I’m working on.”

  I nodded and kept on, following Megha to a place where we were looking down at a room with pods on one side, a long table with chairs in the middle, and a circular, metal device on one side. It had a metal arch, reminding me of Stargate.

  Megha held up a finger to her mouth for silence, then motioned for us to come forward and look down. We did and found ourselves staring.

  There was the enemy queen, standing near the flickering image of the headhunter, the latter one not being there at all, but like a hologram. The queen wasn’t raising her voice but seemed to be berating the other hunter.

  “Can you tell what they’re saying?” I asked.

  Jericho nodded, holding up a hand for patience. Then he nodded, and translated, “Get back to it. If you don’t pull that world together, you’ll be back here cleaning asses with your tongue.”