The Nexus Games [Chapter 34] A Bunny

Hey peeps!

I've been feeling super sick. The last couple days have just been recovery. Cross your fingers... I'll be tested tomorrow to see if this is covid or not. 

—Chapter 34—

—A Bunny—

Kellan appeared between two oak trees in a vast park.

He stumbled forward, regaining his balance after a few moments, and then swallowed air. The teleportation process was instant, but his body felt the pressure of moving from one location to another long after—the feeling of air being pushed out of the way so he could exist in a space he previously hadn’t was odd.

After a deep breath, Kellan asked, “Can you teleport into solid objects?”

Xiang frowned. “What did I say about discussing my powers?”

The park around them was active with life, and Kellan backed up until he was right beside Xiang. Shouts, gunshots, and the crackle of magical energy created a song of chaos.

And the park had seen better days, even before the fresh bullet holes. The shabby benches were pushed over, the trashcans had been dumped over the grass, and Kellan spotted more than one police-tape murder scene.

He also noticed several elementary school desks, pencils, and chalkboards lying around the area.

It reminded Kellan of the mire and the barbed wire. So many things were merged in one, that the environment had become a freakish amalgamation.

Nearby movement caught Kellan’s attention. Groups of individuals ran between the trees and over the fields of grass, all of them chasing bunnies. At least five teams had entered the park, the numbers on their left hand giving away their participation in the Nexus Games. The illusionary rabbits zipped away from them, fleeing in all directions. Xiang’s magic made them indistinguishable from normal animals.

“Get it!” someone screamed. “It has to have a key!”

“That rabbit is ours!” another person added.

“Grab the other one! Chase it this way!”

And to Kellan’s amusement, all the fake bunnies turned and headed back for the city, abandoning the park altogether. The people chased after, like some sort of Alice in Wonderland metaphor.

An odd detail also stood out to him…

The shadows of the trees—the darkness of far-off alleyways—he could see perfectly in them. It was like light had been shone over everything, flooding the park with illumination. It was his magic, his ability to see through darkness, and Kellan marveled at how much it improved his perception of the world.

Kellan stood next to Xiang, rifle at the ready, waiting until the groups had put some distance between them. When he was certain no one was around—not even the Eyes of the Arbiter—he glanced over at Xiang.

“Well?” he asked. “Can you teleport into solid objects?”

After a long exhale, Xiang tossed her hair over her shoulder. “No.” She strode over the grass and dirty patches until she came to a stone walkway. “If I can’t fit in the space, I can’t travel there.”

“And if I had that magic, I’d be able to zip around?”

She smiled as she brought a hand up to her chin. “There’s an amusing ability in this magic called blink. It allows the mage to occasionally avoid all damage from attacks as you teleport to safety.”

“Interesting.”

“I think it would suit you.”

Kellan half-smiled. “Don’t say that. The defiant part of me wants to pick something else, now.”

“Even your alternate dimension selves are stubborn,” Xiang said with a chuckle. “It must be genetic. Which is why you should definitely learn to blink. It’ll keep you alive in a desperate situation.”

“A good strategist tries to avoid desperate situations.” Kellan thought back to his CO, and how many times he drilled in the importance of making wise decisions. “Ideally, we’d never have to use our last resort plays.”

Xiang’s expression hardened into something neutral. In a quiet voice, she said, “Yes. Your soldier instincts serve you well.” She sighed and then turned her attention to their surroundings. “Let’s search. While everyone else is distracted by my illusions, we should be able to investigate the park without interference.”

Kellan glanced around, wanting to secure their new area, but the bizarre landscape made that difficult. The school desks and bookshelves created barriers, some a few feet high, like they had been dumped out of the bed of a truck into one forgotten pile.

“Sister!”

The shriek of Sen’s voice caused Kellan’s hair to stand on end. He turned and spotted the man-boy hurrying toward them. Sen’s face—round and pudgy, like only a child’s could be—was knitted in concentration. He brushed off his robes as he approached his sister, sticks and leaves caught in the longer parts.

“I have a single temporary puppet, but it’s an observational tool at best.” Sen pointed to the red sky. A small black drone hovered far overhead. “I took control of the machine.” With a huff and a smile, he finished with, “And there bunnies nearby.”

The drone was nothing more than a camera on flying equipment. Kellan had seen plenty at his local Target. Thatwas Sen’s puppet? Kellan was almost disappointed.

Xiang barely acknowledged her brother. She nodded once and walked into the park, her gaze on something in the distance.

As she walked off, Sen turned his gaze up at Kellan. “What have you two been doing?”

“Nothing,” Kellan said. “We fought a yami, I found a prize room, and then we hit an oasis.”

When he listed it out like that, Kellan realized they had already spent a lot of time in the first game. No wonder Xiang’s so anxious.

“A prize room?” Sen’s voice practically left him. His eyes went wide as he moved closer to Kellan. “What did you get? Tell me.”

“I got perfume.” Kellan tapped his backpack. He wouldn’t tell Sen what he actually got—not now, not ever. He fully intended to kill the worms in his body, he just wasn’t sure how and when. “Perfume of the Damned.”

“That’s it?” Sen raked both hands through his hair as he ground his teeth.

“Let me guess.” Kellan sarcastically rubbed his chin. “You wished I had asked for a sword.”

“No. I don’t care about swords, you buffoon! If you find a prize room, and they let you pick your prize, ask for Langarren Clay! Can you remember that? Langarren Clay. Say it with me.”

Kellan held his rifle close and smirked. “What’s that? Play-Doh for adults?”

“Fool—it’s the most magical flesh you’ll ever see!” Sen flailed his arms around, almost like he didn’t know what to do with his pent-up energy. “If I had even a handful of that, I could make someone great! And if I had a little more… I could craft my body back to its former glory.” He glared at Kellan. “Just remember to ask, all right?”

“You’re not going to command me?” Kellan asked, dark and serious.

Sen gritted his teeth. “My Tyranny Worms don’t work on long term commands. They’re more immediate, and physical. I can’t make you think about things days from now.” He turned on his heel, his dirty robes fluttering behind him. “And if you don’t want me to command you, then I suggest you start searching the park! My sister is already ahead of us.”

With no urge to argue, Kellan walked alongside Sen into the junkyard of a park. At a few points, Kellan had to step over bike racks, and even help Sen get over, though the little man wouldn’t acknowledge the assistance.

The shadows and darkness…

Kellan stared at the cold, forgotten corners of the park, amazed by his ability to see everything as though it were bright and sunny. It wasn’t like using night vision goggles, or any of the other tech devices he had used when on assignment. He just saweverything, as though the darkness were more of a color shade than something that obstructed vision.

The park was larger than Kellan had been expecting. By the time he and Sen had caught up with Xiang, they had been walking for nearly five minutes, the distant buzz of Sen’s drone a constant reminder that it was there. They came across an old elementary school building—a one-story disaster with yellow walls, caged windows, and a disgusting cat mascot half-faded on the front sign.

It reminded Kellan of plastic lunch trays and old schoolbooks.

The plants of the park grew around it, practically becoming one with the building. Some of the trees even jutted in through the windows.

Then the ground rumbled.

Kellan steadied his stance, but Sen fell over immediately. Xiang almost fell, but Kellan stepped forward to assist. She took his arm and remained upright, though she refused to look him in the eye.

Once the shaking was over, Xiang stepped away from him. Without commenting on his help, she pointed to the Net above. “It’s shrinking.”

Sure enough, the crimson dome over the city constricted and moved slowly closer. The distant red “walls” didn’t move at breakneck speeds, but it was fast enough to be alarming. Kellan tried to calculate their distance from the Net, but it was too difficult to do properly from his angle.

More than half a mile, at least, he thought. We should be fine for now.

“Check the building,” Xiang said, pointing to the elementary school. “Quickly.”

The nearby area was devoid of life. No animals. No people. Kellan didn’t even see any of the Nexus residences. But he wasn’t going to question her urgency—obviously, Xiang wanted this over and done with as fast as possible.

Kellan jogged over to the building, keeping his movements quick and quiet. When he reached a window, he carefully glanced, making sure to keep ample distance between him and the glass. The last thing he wanted was a surprise attack.

His dark vision allowed him to see into the depths of the elementary school. The remnants of classrooms were scattered across the inside—throughout the halls, closets, and all the rooms. It was as if someone had taken the building and shaken it. An elementary school snow globe.

Kellan moved to the next window, making sure to duck under the previous before moving on. If someone was inside, he didn’t want them to know he was here.

When he glanced into the second office, he spotted something odd.

A bunny.

Black. Watery. Like it was physically made of ink.

That’s it. It has to be. The bunny we’ve been looking for.

Kellan watched with amazement as the creature moved around the ruined classroom with the silence of a corpse. The animal sniffed at the desks and poked its nose into the paperwork on the ground. It didn’t have any features—no eyes or whiskers or even a mouth—it was just an inky puddle in the shape of a rabbit, complete with long ears and a puffy tail.

Kellan shifted his weight to one foot, and the rabbit froze. Before Kellan could fix the situation, the cute little creature dove into the shadows, moving through the darkness just like Kellan could. The rabbit left the classroom in an instant, the shadow zipping under the crack in the closed door.

Animals can have these abilities?

With careful movements, Kellan hurried back to Sen and Xiang. Once in their presence, he pointed to the window. “The rabbit is inside, but—”

“You’re certain?” Sen interjected, his eyes wide.

“—I think I might’ve scared it.” He shook his head. “The rabbit dove into the darkness and moved through it. I’m not even sure if it’s still in the building.”

“No problem.” Sen snapped his little fingers. “We’ll handle this.”

The drone buzzed and flew over the school, hovering at a height too high to really see anything. Kellan glared at the drone, and then turned his attention to Sen. The little kid was waving his hand around, controlling the machine with just his gestures.

“What’re you doing?” Kellan asked. “Where’s your phone? How are we going to see through the camera?”

“I can see what the drone sees,” Sen muttered, his attention never leaving the drone. “That’s one of the benefits of my puppets…”

“You can see through the camera?”

“Yes… Which is how I know that our rabbit has exited out the back door.”

Kellan cursed under his breath. “Is it running?”

Sen’s brow furrowed. “No. It’s just… sitting there. Picking at the grass growing on the side of the wall.”

Determined to get a visual on their target, Kellan hurried around the outside of the building, diving into the shadows as often as he could to hide his own footsteps. The ability to slide through the darkness was a handy tool, and right as he was approaching the back corner of the school, he stopped and glanced at the roof.

It would be easier to spot the rabbit…

Kellan stepped into the shadows, traveled up the side of the building, and then exited on the roof, a smile on his face. Having magic isn’t so bad.

The drone overhead was high enough that the buzz wasn’t irritating, but Kellan still hated it.

With slow steps, Kellan made his way to the edge of the building. When he glanced at the ground, he spotted the inky bunny in an instant. The creature hid in the shadows of the twisted building, nibbling on the grass with its “mouth.” Kellan was still convinced it had nothing, but the ink seemingly absorbed things.

It had a physical body.

Kellan dove into the darkness and exited on the ground, around the corner. He again returned to Xiang and Sen.

“Well?” Sen asked. He motioned to the park around them. “What’re you waiting for? We’re the only ones here. Grab the bunny.”

“I think if I go for it, the thing will escape into the darkness.” Kellan knew from experience that his shadows allowed him to travel in all sorts of different bizarre ways. “But I have a different plan.”

Xiang lifted a perfect eyebrow. “Oh?”

After slinging his backpack off his arm, Kellan knelt and rummaged through the contents. “Trust me. If we work together, this bunny is as good as ours.”