23. Stop

‘Attack!’ I mentally hollered, and that is what they did.

The Basher landed on one of the ant’s eyes and started pounding on it. The Surfers grabbed its antennae and started pulling and twisting. The Belcher was already pressure loaded, so he let loose with a massive roar. Octa and the Granny Godmother weren’t combat creations, so they stayed out of the way.

All of that was wonderful, but I think the soul creation that had the most effect was my Flasher. He flew up to the ant’s other eye, and instead of letting out one giant flash, he started strobing. He was fast, bright, and it seemed to bother the heck out of my ankle biter.

He stopped whipping his head back and forth, and instead, backed up, dragging us with him. He held his head high and to the side, like he was doing everything he could to get away from the flashing light.

That moment of relative inaction let Annabeth gather herself and cast some magic of her own.

“STOP!”

She sounded like the Voice of God, spoken through the earth itself, and obedience was mandatory.

The red-eye holding my leg froze, as did the other two looking on, which was a relief as it looked like they were gathering themselves to jump on us again. Her command even hit me, and I had to push myself to shake it off.

‘Annabeth didn’t use her voice,’ my Analytical Side noted. ‘I think she used her whole body to generate the sound.’

That was fascinating stuff, but our lives were in danger. I could think about that later.

Meanwhile, the rope holding us together unraveled and Annabeth staggered to her feet. She seemed almost as dizzy as I was. She promptly fell over, but she still managed to toss one end of the rope at the ant. It slithered around the ant’s head like it was a snake and then cinched tight.

Annabeth got back on her feet and reeled herself the short distance to the warrior ant. Then she summoned her shillelaghs and started bashing the heck out of it.

The ant was still stunned by her command, so it just stood there and let her knock its head around. Its chitin was so tough that her blows didn’t seem to do much damage, but at least it released my leg.

I tried to get to my feet, but the vertigo from being tossed around like that was too much and I threw up. That got Annabeth started, and she paused her bashing to throw up too. Then I threw up again, and Annabeth followed suit.

The ground seemed to heave, like I was on a stormy sea. I tried to pull myself together, but it was too strong.

‘Tea!’ I called. ‘I need help!’

‘I’m on it,’ he replied, ‘but it”s going to take a couple minutes before you feel better.’

‘I don’t have a minute!’ I hollered back. ‘These ants are going to unfreeze at any moment. I need to be ready to fight now.’

Annabeth stopped puking and went back to pounding on the ant. This time she wasn’t riding backpack, so I could see her magic settling into the ground. Her frantic blows turned into Earth Blows, and that finally gave her the leverage she needed to do some damage. The warrior’s chitin finally cracked a bit, and Annabeth switched over to a short sword. She drove her weapon into the crack, and that knocked the ant out of its stupor.

The red-eye went wild and tried to maul her while Annabeth hung onto her sword and tried to drive it even deeper into its head. This entire battle could quickly go sideways again if the ant got in a good bite.

I couldn’t get to my feet, but at least I’d stopped revisiting breakfast. Since I couldn’t walk, I crawled into battle. At least the moss felt soft, and it wasn’t long before I made it to the ant who’d humbled me so badly. I’d been feeling pretty confident until it had whipped me around like a frat boy snapping a towel.

I reached up and grabbed one mandible. I held on with my left hand as I used the Spikes in my right hand to Saber-Saw off the other mandible.

‘Try to grab me now!’ I thought victoriously, before realizing I’d almost cut off my left hand. My world was still spinning and tilting like crazy so my aim was terrible. Note to self, don’t cut anywhere near my own body!

I was thinking about crawling around to the ant’s neck when I realized my Surfers weren’t the only soul creations working on the antenna. They were holding it taut so my Flying Miner could get in some good blows at its base. There was a faint snap as the antenna came free, and suddenly, the warrior went buck-wild. It tossed its head so hard it threw Annabeth through the air as it reared back and stamped down with its front feet. One of them landed on me, but I was surprised to find it didn’t seem to hit that hard.

The ant was very good at grounding himself and lifting things up, but he wasn’t heavy enough to come down with a massive amount of force. Meanwhile, Annabeth didn’t fly very far, as she’d been smart and tied herself to the ant. That magic rope was certainly coming in handy.

Annabeth hauled herself back to the warrior, grounded herself, and began smashing its head again. I crawled to the side, around its head, and had just made it to its neck when the Miner chopped through its other antenna.

Now the warrior started staggering, like it was dizzy too. Annabeth gave a mighty blow, and the ant collapsed. It wasn’t dead yet, but its neck was finally in reach and I cut right through it.

I breathed a sigh of relief. One down, two more to go. The ant disappeared as Annabeth Bank Stamped it. Then she grabbed my Super Suit and hauled me up.

“On your feet!” she commanded. “This is no time for lying down. I can’t see well enough to truly fight, and you have the only weapon that seems to take them down quickly.”

She sounded pissed off. Like mama-gonna-take-a-switch-to-your-ass kind of angry.

“All this work, all this training, and I can’t take care of a few monsters,” she grumbled.

I was going to say something complimentary, but I felt my stomach heaving again, so I clamped my mouth shut and stayed quiet.

I’m sure we looked like quite the pair as we staggered our way over to the second warrior. We made it work, though. I provided the direction, and Annabeth kept me from falling over. We sure didn’t feel like a powerful House team, though.

I thought about sending over the Flasher and my antenna team, but both warriors were still frozen from Annabeth’s command, and I didn’t want to wake them up. Instead, we staggered to the side. I lined up my shot, and I took off its head in one swipe.

Two down. Only one left.

I thought the last one might be as simple to handle, but it finally shrugged off Annabeth’s influence and attacked. It wasn’t moving as quickly as the other two, but it was still dangerous.

Once again, Annabeth snake-wrapped the magic rope around the ant’s head and started bashing away. She quickly grounded herself in the earth and used her stability to really knock it around. She seemed to be “Boom” bashing it at a whole new level, and it wasn’t long before its skull started to crack.

Meanwhile, I duplicated my Flasher, and both of them started strobing the warrior’s eyes. I also duplicated my Miner, and soon both of its antennae were under attack.

I managed to stay on my feet, although I staggered around like a drunken fool. I aimed for its neck but ended up grabbing one of its legs. I held on and then climbed hand over hand to get to its body. Only a few minutes ago its hairy legs had grossed me out, but now I was hanging on to one like it was a lifeline.

I hauled myself over to its body just as both antennae came off, and it went berserk. Annabeth smacked it down, though, and I went all Wolverine on it. A few moments later, it was vanquished.

I gratefully sank to the ground and lay on the soft moss as Annabeth took care of claiming the red-eye. In the excitement of the moment, I’d forgotten just how much I’d been hurt. But it was all coming back to me now. My ankle was throbbing, and my spine felt like I’d been tortured by a sadistic chiropractor.

My Bank Crystal was still automatically sending images, so Annabeth used that and her echolocation to orient herself. She staggered over and gratefully sank down beside me.

“So…” I said, trying to sound nonchalant. “That didn’t go so well.”

Annabeth laughed, and it had a slight edge of hysteria. “You can say that again.”

“That didn’t go so well,” I repeated playfully. She snorted and elbowed me gently. At least she appreciated my attempt at humor.

“It’s so frustrating,” she growled. “Their skin is like armor. I feel like I’m bashing on a car.”

“Blindfolded and bashing on a car,” I agreed.

“After being spun around first,” she added. “It’s like I’m playing a messed up version of battle pi?ata.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “It’s your birthday. It’s your birthday,” I sang. I attempted to do a little shoulder wiggle to help sell it, but my spine wasn’t ready for that yet.

“I wonder how the other teams are doing against these monsters. Do you think they are having as hard a time as we are?”

“I don’t know,” Annabeth said thoughtfully. “The mages that are relying on weapons like us are probably struggling. The ones that have special Path attacks are probably doing better.”

“Speaking of special attacks,” I said, “what was with that command? You froze everyone, including me.”

“I don’t know,” she replied. “I’ve never done anything like that before. I was just scared and overwhelmed, and I wanted everyone to stop for a moment.”

“Well, they certainly did that!” I grinned. “You were awesome!”

“Thanks!” she grinned back. “It certainly felt awesome.”

Her grin faded. “It took a lot out of me, though. I don’t think I can do that all the time. And I don’t even know how I made it happen.”

Our little worker ant shuffled up to us and peered down the tunnel. Then she looked at us and peered back down the tunnel again. Bermuda had trained me enough in non-verbal communication to know I needed to look-over-there.

Actually, I didn’t even have to look. I could hear the sounds of ant feet heading our way.

“More enemies are coming,” I groaned. “I don’t feel ready for them yet.”

“Me either,” Annabeth groaned too. “But we better get ready. So, what is our strategy?”

I thought quickly.

“Neither one of us is in any condition to run or dodge, and that hasn’t worked that well anyway. So let”s ground ourselves in the earth, fight defensively, and slowly wear them down.”

Annabeth staggered to her feet, and I tried to follow. The vertigo was still intense, and the ground felt like it was wildly tilting under me.

“Maybe we should tie ourselves back to back,” Annabeth suggested. “I can help keep you upright, and I’ll know exactly where I am in relation to your images.”

“That sounds good to me,” I agreed, and Annabeth made it happen. She talked to the rope, and it quickly tied a loose fitting harness between us. It gave both of us enough room to move our arms and fight, but we could still support each other and feel where the other one was. This magic rope was turning out to be a very versatile tool.

‘That still isn’t good enough,’ my Analytical Side noted as the ground tilted hard and I almost fell over. Annabeth kept me upright, but he was correct. I couldn’t fight like this.

‘How much longer?’ I asked Tea quickly.

‘It should start tapering off in about two minutes,’ he replied.

I didn’t have two minutes. The red-eyes would swarm both of us before then. I could see them heading our way, and there were at least four of them. That was sucky news. We were in worse shape than before, and we’d barely handled three of them last time. I needed to get myself together, and I needed to do it now.

‘Use the earth,’ my Analytical Side suggested quickly. ‘You can’t depend on your physical senses, so let your magic sight be your compass. The actual earth isn’t moving at all. It’s only your perception that”s messed up.’

That was an excellent idea. My magic sight was the root cause of my vertigo. Maybe it could be the solution too.

I flung out my senses and Connected to everything around me. I felt the curve of the moss as it followed the slope of the tunnel. I felt the stone and minerals all around me. I felt the faint breeze in the air as our friendly ant quickly put some distance between us. Our red-eyed enemies came within range, and I felt them too.

My body wanted to lean again, but this time I grounded myself in everything around me and stayed firm. The first red-eye charged, and I pulled the power of the surrounding rock into me.

Rock does not bend.

Rock does not fall.

Rock is the fortress against which others break.

My enemies could pound against me in waves, but I would stand firm.

I felt Annabeth anchoring herself behind me. We were as ready as we could get.

When the first ant reached us, I Spike-punched it so hard it actually stepped backward. Then the other ants arrived, and my world became a flurry of chomping mandibles and grasping feet.

Instead of four—there were seven—and they quickly surrounded us.

This time we fought defensively, and our punches and blows flew thick and fast. We kept the red-eyes at bay and managed to do some damage at the same time.

As the battle raged on, I was aware of just how precarious our situation was. They were attacking too quickly and from too many directions for me to use my Saber-Saw ability. I had to stick with the stopping power of my Spike-punches.

Annabeth was in the same predicament. Her shillelaghs were hurting them, but it wasn’t enough to take them out.

‘Flashers,’ my Analytical Side commanded, and I felt like slapping myself on the forehead. Duh!

‘Distract the red-eyes,’ I commanded after quickly duplicating several of them. Their strobing flashes worked well, and the overwhelming number of attacks tapered off.

Annabeth used the diminished intensity to try to trigger her magic again.

“Stop!” she commanded with force and authority, but it didn’t work. “Stop!” she yelled over and over again, but to the ants, it was just noise.

Meanwhile, I started working on a new attack of my own. I duplicated several Flying Miners and turned them loose on the warrior in front of me.

‘Attack its neck,’ I directed. ‘See if you can take its head off.’

My Miners had carved a path through stone for me. Surely they could mine through some chitin.

Meanwhile, I realized I had another problem. My body was seizing up.

My back and my leg had been hurting, but it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle. I’d been injured much worse than this in the past, and I’d kept going. At least that’s what I’d told myself when we’d started fighting.

That had worked for a while, but now the pain was growing quickly. I’d hoped that the enhancements from my Marks would have been enough to completely overcome what had happened to my spine. Now, it was feeling like it had been enough to get me started, but it might not be enough to finish the fight.

I couldn’t stop, though. If I didn’t keep fighting, we were going to get torn apart. Annabeth was an amazing partner, but she couldn’t handle this on her own.

The only thing I could do was push more of my awareness into my Connections and my magical senses and hope my Miners could come through for me. The pain kept rising, and I began fearing that I was doing long-lasting harm to my back.

The spine is the foundation to everything. It anchors the movement between the legs and the shoulders. It’s the conduit for the power I was pulling from the earth. It was the anchor behind my blows. If my spine went out, I’d lose the stopping power of my punches. My arms would flail around like wet noodles and have just as much effect.

‘I’m sorry, but we can’t get through the chitin on its neck,’ my lead Miner reported back regretfully. ‘The problem is that unlike stone, their chitin isn’t completely solid. Instead, it”s slightly springy, so our pickaxes are bouncing off and not doing a lot of damage.’

Well, damn.

Damn. Damn. Damn.

I’d really hoped my Miners would make like the French revolution and chop off some heads.

‘Keep trying and see if you can find something that works,’ I suggested. ‘Maybe have everyone hit at the same time. That should really stress the chitin, and you might get through.’

Suddenly, I had a thought. Annabeth’s short swords had a terrible time damaging the ant’s foreheads, but she hadn’t had any problems cutting through the legs trying to drag her off my back.

‘Try mining through their legs,’ I commanded. ‘If that doesn’t work, try testing every part of them. They have to have a weakness somewhere.’

Annabeth was still yelling “Stop!” but then I had an idea for her too.

‘I don’t think you used your voice last time,’ I messaged her. ‘Try being silent and see if you can force out the sound another way.’

I also sent her my impression of the last time her command had worked.

The pain kept climbing, and it was getting harder and harder to move. I just wanted to lie down and cry, it hurt so bad. I retreated even more into my Connections, and something curious happened.

I started viewing myself outside of my body.

No, that wasn’t quite right. I was viewing myself as more than my body.

I wasn’t just muscle, bones, blood, and skin. I wasn’t just my regular feeling, sight, and sound.

Instead, I was becoming the entirety of what I could sense all around me. I was becoming this ball of spirit that encompassed stone and moss and humans and ants. It was like I was a ghost, forty feet in diameter, and the human part of me was my core.

It was completely different from anything I’d experienced before. Yet, somehow, it felt natural too.

The best part was that I could still feel the pain and the vertigo, but it didn’t control me. Instead, I controlled my body like I was a puppet master.

I wasn’t fighting at my normal level of expertise, but fortunately, my Flashers were distracting the enemy enough that I didn’t have to.

‘Tea!’ I called. ‘Can you fix my back?’

‘Not while you’re moving around like this,’ he replied. ‘Everything I do to help just gets torn apart. You need to win this fight quickly and lie down for several minutes.’

If only it were that easy.

Meanwhile, Annabeth got my message and stopped shouting. Instead, she fought with silent intensity and concentration. There was an emotional weight to her blows, and I could feel her magic rolling through our connection. She was working on her breakthrough, but it hadn’t happened yet.

The Flying Miners tried striking my main enemy”s neck at the same time with their pickaxes, but that didn’t seem to help. So they abandoned that and hurried down to try one of its legs. That’s where they finally had some success.

I guess the chitin there was more fragile, or just more brittle, but this time their attacks landed, and it only took a moment for the bottom quarter of its leg to shatter and fall off. Finally, something had worked out. That was great timing because I was slowing down even more. I had about less than a minute of fighting left in me. Then, no matter how much I tried to play puppet master, my body was going to collapse.

The Miners took off the furry part of three legs on one side, and that made an immediate difference in our fight. The red-eye could no longer lunge at me. Instead, its three good legs unbalanced it so much it almost rolled over. It tried to recover and ended up veering off to the right and slamming into the tunnel wall.

‘Unbalance the ants!’ I called in relief to my soul creations. ‘Flashers, you strobe on one side, and Miners, you take off their legs on the other. Together you can drive these things in circles!’

I was just about to message an update to Annabeth when I heard a sound like a muffled shotgun behind me. I couldn’t believe my magic sight as the entire back half of Annabeth’s red-eye exploded.

She’d hit it with her shillelagh, just like normal, but somehow she’d blasted it apart.

“Jason!” she hollered in excitement. “I think I’ve got it!”

It wanted to holler back in pure joy, but I was finding it hard to breathe. I’d been fighting three ants at once, and even with one out of the fight, I still had two to deal with.

“Hang on,” she replied. “Let me try it again.”

We were down to five ants, three on me and two on Annabeth, as a fresh enemy stepped into the gap created by the lopsided wall-banger. I would have cried in frustration, but at least I now knew what to do. I held them off while I created even more Flying Miners, and it wasn’t long before two more of my attackers were lurching in circles and running into the tunnel walls.

Meanwhile, Annabeth kept pounding on her two opponents. I could see her magic lining up to do something, but nothing happened for several blows. Then, her magic snapped into perfect alignment and she blew out another red-eye.

This time I saw what happened, and it was truly an amazing act of sonic magic. When her shillelagh hit the ant”s armored forehead, its red aura fought with Annabeth’s aura for control over that tiny section. Since Annabeth was a powerful mage, she won, and that let her cast magic through her weapon and directly into its skull.

She cast a cone shaped pulse that started inside the ant’s reinforced chitin and traveled down its body. It bounced down the length of the ant, shaking its exoskeleton the whole way. This time, its flexible chitin worked against it. Instead of losing power, the pulse seemed to gain energy, and by the time it hit the last segment of the ant, it couldn’t be contained. The wave of sound shook the final bell-shaped segment of the ant and blew it apart.

The ant collapsed, and I thought that it surely had to be dead. Its rear two legs fell flat, but somehow its other four legs kicked and tried to keep going. Whatever this red magic was, it was treating these ants like zombies. It wanted them to destroy anything and everything in front of them regardless of how badly they were hurt. Fortunately, the red-eye only lasted a few more seconds before its cursed existence ended.

Annabeth now faced only one ant, which must have felt like a walk in the park. Meanwhile, the Miners lopsided my remaining ant, and I felt a sense of relief wash over me. I was still connected to Annabeth by the magical rope, so I concentrated on it and asked it to release us. With a few swift movements, the rope untied itself, and I could finally feel the soft moss beneath me. I carefully reclined onto my back and felt the tension melt away.