Apocalypse: Fairy System by Macronomicon (fox in socks read aloud txt) 📕

comes! Jeb thought, barely keeping his presence of mind through the series of ripples travelling through his being. The last stitches were coming undone on their own, and the creature, whatever it was, would soon be free to get the hell off of him.

But we’re not gonna let this go that easily.

Pinning the creature down as best he could with the handle while making sure the rest of the stitches really were gone, Jeb flipped the hook around, sliding the blunt side around the wormlike creature’s midsection.

He released the ring with his right hand, letting it slide down the handle until it was bumping up against the invisible thing he’d trapped against the side of his head. Jeb grabbed the ring with his left hand and began drawing the creature through the ring-hole with his right.

The hook and ring combo began to buck in his hands, shaking violently as some implacable force resisted the transition.

Jeb pulled the whole thing away from his head, the creature effectively trapped between the ring and the hook. He leaned forward, holding the two close to his chest and putting leverage to work, straining with a level of effort reserved for the most stubborn of pickle jars.

The invisible thing continued to thrash, jerking his hands from side to side, seemingly with the weight of a full-grown man thrown into it. Jeb was concerned about the damage the thing might be doing to his fifth-dimensional body that he couldn’t even perceive.

Still, he wanted to see the damn thing with his own eyes, and so he continued to pull, struggling to tug the worm through the ring.

Despite putting all his leverage and strength into it, the creature refused to cross dimensions.

Go figure, Jeb thought, scowling. He only had one thing left to try at this point.

Jeb took a deep breath and funneled out the thickest strand of Myst he could possibly manage, sending it through the ring and seizing everything on the other side and yanking it back through.

Well, he tried.

As soon as the Myst made contact with the center of the ring, a flash of light stabbed into Jeb’s retinas, along with a bloom of heat that singed the tips of his fingers that were fixed around the edge of the Appraiser.

“Gah!” Jeb dropped the burning-hot ring to the floor, rubbing his eyes with his seared left hand.

“Damnit,” Jeb muttered, blinking the tears out of his eyes. At least I got rid of the thing.

“Um, Jeb…” Smartass called his attention, and Jeb glanced at her dim shape. She pointed toward the metal tool in his hand.

Jeb glanced down, trying to see through the afterimage dimming his vision. It actually looked like there was something wrapped around the hook….

“Crap!” Jeb tried to drop the stick, but the snakelike creature recovered first, flashing up the metal rod and onto his forearm. Out of the undamaged periphery of his vision, he could make out green scales and a strange jawless mouth.

The creature reared back, revealing fangs, and Jeb felt a sting on the flesh of his forearm. In panic mode, Jeb tore the creature off and threw it across the room. It hit the back wall and wriggled under his desk.

“Master Kanoth, I don’t feel so good,” Jeb heard himself mutter as he stumbled backwards, his shoulders ramming up against the unpainted wall.

“Jeb, are you okay?” Smartass asked, fluttering up into his face.

Jeb couldn’t manage to find the ability to answer Smartass. He knew he probably could, but there was a strand of thought in his head that didn’t want to do that, and it stood between him and the fairy.

There was no strand of thought preventing him from watching the desk, though. He needed to be ready in case the creature came crawling out.

Gotta be ready.

Why is the room sliding sideways? Oh, right, it’s bedtime in the academy.

Mevar closed his eyes, relaxing into the itchy woolen beds of the academy. Apprentice wizards were denied all but the most basic comforts. ‘To better enhance their studies,’ they said. Mevar thought it was because they were cheap.

Mevar’s fingers scrunched the silk covers.

Wait, silk?

The tiny inconsistency allowed something older and darker to peel away the facade of Mevar, reeling in the darkness.

Nope, nope, nope! Jeb thought, sitting back up with everything he had, organizing and fortifying his thoughts and identity, shoring them up against the strange thoughts and sensations.

Jeb tugged all his thoughts and feelings, all his memory, close to the gaping wound in his mind, choosing his PTSD as the battlefield, so he would feel the strange thoughts approaching a mile away. As painful as it was, it was one of the cores of his identity and it wouldn’t go away from a little Mevar juice.

He ran his thumb over the scar on his palm, focusing his thoughts on The Spike.

Am I dying right now? My chest feels heavy. I promised him. Did Tyler take my place? Do I deserve to die instead?

Chuckling, Jeb dragged his mind into the dark well of PTSD. He’d been here before, after all, but young Mevar had no tolerance for that sort of bullshit, and the invisible strands of the young man’s thoughts were viciously torn apart by the burgeoning weight of Jeb’s damage.

Just one problem.

Tyler was standing outside the door. Jeb’s eyes ached from the strain as he watched the ghost of his past rush to his side, struggling to pull the beam out of Jeb’s chest.

“Jeb! Hold on, man! I’ll get you outta there!”

“Am I gonna die?” Jeb heard himself whisper. He couldn’t move air through his lungs, only the blood-soaked oxygen already in his throat.

“You’re not gonna die, I promise!” Tyler said, grabbing his hand. The blood from the cut on Tyler’s hand mixed with Jeb’s. “I’m gonna get you out of here!”