NOVEL NEXT Chapter 46: Fighting Fire.
Chapter 46: Fighting Fire.
The first thing I registered was the shining sun. Its glorious rays beating down on Buddy. Passing through the transparent film that made up the visor and warming up my face.
The second thing I registered, was that it was getting very warm, very quickly.
I whirled around. Taking in the brickwork. The five floors stacked on top of each other.
The smoke. All that smoke.
Coming from the windows.
Then my fog got a chance to spread. Bringing in an orchestra of booming thoughts, emotions and impressions.
I felt all of it at once.
The coughing. The wheezing. The tears welling up in the trapped people’s eyes.
They all hit me like a rushing train. Thundering against the insides of my skull, over and over and over. Joining hands with the hangover to make me as miserable as I could possibly be.
I staggered backwards even as I felt another wave of terror coming from within the building. Then I recalled what my mission was and what was at stake.
The rope that was my [Domination] grew taut.
“Stop” I commanded.
My body did so.
Freezing like a statue mid-fall.
‘Go forward.’ I willed. Knowing that my lips had become as paralyzed as the rest of me.
My body did so.
Lurching towards the searing, blackened air with wild abandon.
The pain and the disorientation and the nausea would not stop me. They wouldn’t even slow me down.
Good people didn’t stop helping because they were nauseated or tired. Heroes wouldn’t allow themselves to falter for such petty reasons.
Not when there were lives at stake.
‘Think. You can’t stop the flames. You can’t survive being in there for long. Think, and come up with a plan.’
My eyes scanned my status, as well as Buddy’s own. Noting his [Enhanced Toughness] and the way he could regulate air.
Then, I recalled what I’d seen in Granny Golden’s screen mere moments prior.
The gaze abilities, would not accept more Psy. Whatever they did, it was all passive. The same was not true for the hums. [Hum of Attack], [Hum of Striding], [Hum of Defence], [Hum of Harmony], [Hum of Discord], [Hum of Cleansing] and [Hum of Mist] were trembling on the surface of my lake. Their strings hungry for Psy.
So, I fed them. More than I’d ever fed [Fever] or [Mental Bolt]. More than I’d ever fed [Precognition].
Dozens of points. Then hundreds. Then thousands. Until they were almost bursting with raw power.
It was such a violent tide that I felt the Psy within congealing and becoming solid. Oozing past my very pores and diffusing into the surrounding air like a smoke grenade. Its violet and golden colours radiating out and coating the street and the smoke and the curious onlookers watching helplessly from the sidelines.
I expected an explosive burst of physical might in return for my investment.
I was not disappointed.
It wasn’t anywhere near what Charlie or Boris were capable of. Yet it was sudden and violently sweet.
My shoulder crashed against a heavy wooden door and the impact reduced it to splinters in an instant.
The motion sent a tiny stab of pain through my arm, but otherwise left me unharmed.
Thick layers of ethereal energy were still oozing out of me as I ran. Lighting up the lobby in such a way that the shadows seemed to dance and the fires seemed to laugh.
Level Gained: +500 Maximum Psy. +12 Ability Points.
Ability Evolving: [Hum of Attack] 1 has grown to [Hum of Attack] 2
Ability Evolving: [Hum of Striding] 1 has grown to [Hum of Striding] 2
Ability Evolving: [Hum of Defence] 1 has grown to [Hum of Defence] 2
Ability Evolving: [Hum of Harmony] 1 has grown to [Hum of Harmony] 2
Ability Evolving: [Hum of Cleansing] 1 has grown to [Hum of Cleansing] 2
Ability Evolving: [Unstable Reality] 1 has grown to [Unstable Reality] 2
‘Wha…? I didn’t even use that last… Whatever. Focus Sully. The timeline has changed. Sarcophagus Sully never saw this. He never did any of this. You’re not like him. You can be a hero. You will be a hero. Focus and save these people.’
[Mental Map] was filling out an outline of the building and I noted where the each of the survivors had been trapped. Surprisingly, I felt all my hums going into them as well. Invigorating them with an energy they hadn’t had prior to my arrival.
‘Nice! Now I only have to focus on the worst cases! The rest can leave by themselves!’
I reached for all the signals inside the burning edifice. Using [Message] to reach them.
‘Listen to me! Stay calm and drop to the floor! Crawl along the ground to the nearest door! Do not open it if the handle is warm or if there’s smoke coming from underneath it! Make your way to the fire exits!’
I was sprinting up the stairs by that point. Pushing past the smoking embers to reach the second floor.
That was when the replies started coming in.
‘Huh!?’
‘I’m hearing voices!? I’m hearing voices!’
‘Quiet! My guardian angel’s talking!’
‘Angel? Angel! Save us!’
I briefly considered correcting them, but decided against it. I had no clue what this world was like or if Telepaths were a thing and I didn’t need to waste minutes explaining what I was when every second counted. All that mattered was getting them out safely.
‘I’m giving you power right now! Making you all stronger! Do as I said and make for the fire exits!’
I was nearing one of the offices where three people were trapped, figuring that there must have been some kind of blockage.
‘What’s a fire exit?’ Someone asked amidst the confusion.
The question was so… so ridiculous, that I genuinely wondered if I’d hallucinated it.
No such luck.
One by one, all twenty people began asking that very same thing.
‘Mother(Gnome)ing architects! Every (Gnome)ing time!’
This must have been a world where there weren’t any engineers or government safety inspectors around to rein in their worst impulses.
Jokes aside; whomever had designed this death trap had instantly earned themselves the title of honorary gnome as far as I was concerned. They had better pray the System took me away before I managed to get my hands on their scrawny, pox ridden (Gnome).
That would have to be a concern for later though.
My body finally reached the door and I manipulated my limbs using [Domination] to bypass the hangover’s effects as I arrived. Kicking out with all the force my shell could muster and throwing the door off its hinges.
The three on the floor stared up at me. Wondering if I was a firefighter, an astronaut, or the promised angel.
I picked them up without wasting time on words. Holding them like sacks of potatoes. Instructing survivors on higher floors even as I sprinted back towards the stairs.
‘I, I’m stronger!’
‘I’ve been blessed by the angel!’
‘I’m going to make it!’
‘MOVE!’ I roared into their minds. Calling upon [Team Tactics] so that they understood what I had gleamed from the map and from my general knowledge about fire safety.
It worked wonders.
Folks who had been all but knocked out were crawling with an alacrity humans shouldn’t have had on all fours. Those that had been blinded and disoriented now knew where to go, rushing towards salvation. Making excellent time towards the hallways and the nearest stairwell.
Others… jumped. Out of windows.
Believing that an angel would save them.
…..
And they were right!
The hums may not have been on the level of Enhancer abilities but I was throwing in a lot of Psy every single second that passed. So much so that the sheer amount of energy being pumped through my fog and into them was starting to congeal around them as well. Wrapping them in florescent sheen that only I could sense.
Those guys were probably on par with mid-F-Ranks by the time they jumped. The only ones to break bones were the four that jumped from the ceiling. All the others were, mostly fine. Some scrapes and bruises here or there, but hey! It beats asphyxiation!
It was such a good result that I couldn’t help but giggle. Elated with this new tool at my disposal. With what I was managing to do. This, this was what good people did with their powers.
It was, such a potent rush of validation.
I let my three passengers down outside the building and rushed back in with gusto.
There were only two humans left inside the structure now. Stuck all the way up in the fifth floor.
Both were unconscious as far as I could tell, which meant their lives were in my hands.
‘Sully? I think I’m starting to run out of air. Also, the fire’s really starting to hurt. Those upgrades you gave me helped a lot so far, but I think I’m reaching my limit.’
‘Hold on for just another minute or two Buddy. I’m almost done.’
‘Uh, I can hold on. Its just; you’re going to start feeling the heat now.’
Buddy’s words were punctuated by oppressive onslaught of sweltering air. The charred corpse of the wooden edifice coming apart at the seams and raining bright red embers down on me with every step.
I pushed onwards. Ignoring the impulse to turn back. That sickeningly sweet voice that reminded me about my weakness. That I’d been sleeping for days, that I was still extremely hungover and recovering.
All that mattered were the people.
Borislav could heal me afterwards and Buddy would recover on his own. (Gnome), I could heal him now. Maybe not as well as a Shifter would, but I could do it.
These folks had nothing and no one expect for me. A hero wouldn’t have turned back. A hero wouldn’t even have had the thought.
I kept moving. Up a flight or stairs and then another. Pausing only when the steps gave way under my weight.
“Mother(Gnome)er! Buddy! Turn my gloves into climbing picks!”
Buddy did so.
Meanwhile, I marshalled my Psy. Concentrating so much energy into the lake and the strings within it that the turbulent waters bubbled and sizzled like cooking oil.
The effort brought actual, physical pain. An agony that bit deeper than the lash of the flames.
I poured all of it. All of me. Into the hums.
Level Gained: +500 Maximum Psy. +12 Ability Points.
Ability Evolving: [Hum of Attack] 2 has grown to [Hum of Attack] 3
Ability Evolving: [Hum of Striding] 2 has grown to [Hum of Striding] 3
Ability Evolving: [Hum of Defence] 2 has grown to [Hum of Defence] 3
Ability Evolving: [Unstable Reality] 2 has grown to [Unstable Reality] 3
I glanced at the screens and cursed.
‘What’s with [Unstable Reality]? I didn’t want to use it. I don’t even know what it does. I need more healing dammit. More cleansing.’
My complaints fell on deaf ears.
Worse, my eyes started playing tricks on me. Showing me a field of ash instead of the crumbling building that I knew was surrounding me.
That was when I froze and recalled the description of [Insight].
‘Perceives future scenarios within line of sight at will and at a rate of +1 seconds per ability level.’
I pushed myself further. Faster. Hoisting myself vertically using Buddy’s appendages turned picks.
I felt my arms straining against the weight of my body and the pressure that the torrent of Psy was putting on them.
Each tendon was akin to a branding iron. Only they cooked the flesh from underneath the skin.
I was sweating more Psy than water. The unreal energy now compressing itself into orbs of shining gases and orbiting around me like celestial bodies around a star. They were even brighter within the fog.
Once more lighting the surrounding area and making the shadows dance. It, it almost seemed like they were laughing. Cheering me on.
I had just barely reached the fourth floor when I heard the wall crackling.
“No. No! Don’t give way! Not now! Don’t you dare fall!”
I summoned my ropes. The strongest abilities I had. Looking for something. Anything to save those at the top.
‘Maybe, maybe I can still control them when they’re unconscious…’
It was a longshot, but I was out of options.
‘Get up and throw yourselves out the nearest window!’
Miraculously, the sleeping folks did as I bade them. They stood up like puppets on purple strings and flung themselves out the side of the building.
One of them broke an arm. The other didn’t even sprain their ankle. Their bodies were simply too stuffed with power for anything else.
I sighed. Then laughed.
I summoned [Insight] again. Willing the future to play out before me.
“Buddy, undo the picks. Let me fall.”
‘You got it.’
I dropped like a ton of bricks. Hitting the remains of the stairwell in half a second.
Thankfully, the boards didn’t give way. Exactly as I predicted.
I ran then. Faster than I’d ever run before. Through the crumbling doorway and out onto the streets.
Only then did I allow my body to give out.
I fell on my face. Well, on the layer of Buddy that was covering my face.
The pavement felt, cool. Comforting even.
My fog was starting to lose its focus. Dissipating as normal fog would when exposed to high winds.
I couldn’t make out which signals were coming from people and which were coming from cars. Which ones came from tress planted along the sidewalk and which ones came from dogs on leashes.
All that channeling, all that exertion, had left me exhausted and hurt.
But I was happy.
I was so very happy.
This was what I wanted. What I’d always wanted. To do good. To help others.
Who cares if I tore some ligaments?
I mean, (Gnome). Them being torn might actually turn out to be good practice. I could focus on healing myself. On nothing but that sweet, sweet [Hum of Cleansing]. It and [Cleansing Gaze].
‘Now that I think about it, I still don’t know how that one works. Would suck if it was a passive that only healed others. I mean, it would still be great to have now that I had friends, but it wouldn’t be ideal.’
My head was still swimming. Making me feel like a rat caught inside a washing machine. Sounds and lights and smells melding into each other at the very edges of my perceptions. It was like being drunk, but without the fun or the easy smiles or the confidence.
Those gentle temptations were being replaced by pressure. Pressure on my skull, on my limbs, on my chest. Yeah. Especially on my chest.
It felt like, like an elephant was sitting on top of me all of the sudden. I was getting short of breath, which was weird because Buddy should still be giving me fresh air and we were outside. The pain in my chest started shooting up my limbs and my neck. Stiffening my jaw even as drawing oxygen got harder and herder.
It was a, scalding soreness that suddenly turned chilly. The rapid changes giving me a shock.
I tried to speak, but found myself unable to.
‘Buddy? Is everything ok?’
‘Oh yeah. We’re doing much better now. Well, I’m doing better. You’re having some issues with your heart. I think you might have overdone it with the aura boosts.’
Huh? No (Gnome).
‘Any way you could take care of it?’
‘I’m already taking care of it. You would have passed out if I wasn’t forcing your blood to move.’
‘Thank you, Buddy. You’re the best.’
Buddy purred with appreciation, while I lay there on the pave… actually no. I was being carried now. Carried to a, bed? I couldn’t tell. All the sensations were too confused. Too blurry. And the hangover on top of that.
It made the mere act of thinking a chore.
That vague limbo faded with time. I started feeling my fingers again. Touching the soft fabric that I was laying down on. My hearing returned shortly thereafter, allowing me to make out the words being thrown in my direction.
“Hello? Hello sir? Shit. He’s not answering. Bonnie, hurry up and switch me with. Start doing chest compressions while I try to get the suit off.”
“What if chest compressions don’t work?”
“Well, we’re gonna try anyway, aren’t we? That’s what we get paid for. So shut yer trap and get to compressing his fucking chest.”
“No, I meant, what if we’re doing more harm than good?”
“Breaking some ribs is okay so long as you keep him breathing.”
I heard some more cursing from around the left.
“Where the fuck is the zipper on this thing?”
“No! I meant, what if he’s not human? What if he’s a Martian? Chest compression wouldn’t work on Martians, would they?”
“Shut up Bonnie. You’re way too educated to be believing in aliens. Keep pressing on the fucking man’s chest for fuck’s sake. I did it for twenty minutes. You can handle five until I swap back with you.”
“He’s got a space suit on.” She insisted.
“A human space suit. With human proportions. And he was seen carrying people out of the fire. Which makes him better than some people I could name.”
“Hush! The marshals are gonna hear you!”
“Good! Maybe they’ll remember what my fucking taxes should be paying for! Maybe then, that inbred twerp will have the common decency to quit the job he got due to bribes and nepotism. Maybe someone else can take over the station once he’s gone. Preferably someone with at least two braincells to rub together.”
“I told you to shush! If the mayor hears you…”
“He’ll do what? Open your eyes, Bonnie! His lackwit son crashed the firetruck into a school! A school! Do you have any idea what one of those costs? That’s fool’s idiocies are coming out of your tax dollars! Your and mine! I’ll hold my head up high and say whatever I damn well please!”
“Please…” I groaned. With no small amount of effort. “Please stop yelling.”
The man ceased his rant at once. Holding my head down and keeping me from rising.
“Its okay sir. Its going to be okay. We’re on our way to the hospital. You’re going to be fine.”
“Where is the hospital?”
“The San Gorgosa hospital is in San Gorgosa sir.” My fog started picking up emotions then. Alowing me to see how worried the question had made him.
“Do you, remember San Gorgosa sir?”
“Never heard of it.” I chuckled.
The man and the woman felt a surge of worry, exchanging gazes in silence.
“You’re going to be fine.” Bonnie said in a soothing voice. “You did good work out there. You’re a hero.”
I felt a blush creeping onto my face despite myself.
“You really think so?”
“Sir, we know it. Firefighters still haven’t arrived at the scene after all this time. Those three you got out would be dead if it weren’t for you.”
“Are they?”
“They’re all fine. Minor concussions and smoke inhalation. Like, really minor. It’s a miracle how healthy they were under those circumstances. One of them got up, thanked you and walked off. Refused to come with us. The other two will be going to the hospital alongside you, though, they won’t require nearly as much care.”
That was good.
That was very good.
So good that I broke out into a fit of laughter.
“Sir? Sir! Are you okay!?”
“I’m better than okay.” I told him sincerely. “I saved them from the gnomes. Then I saved them from future Randall and Anezka and now I have a chance to save so many more. I’m a hero.”
“Shit, he’s hallucinating. Try to strap down his arms. Don’t put too much pressure on them, in case there’s broken bones shifting around. I already checked for weapons so we’re good on that front.”
“Got it.”
I was about to assure them I meant no harm, when a screen appeared in front of me.
System Excursion:
Student: Solomon Carter, has completed one starter Excursion.
Objective: Rescue at least 20 individuals from the burning building.
People rescued: 20 / 20
Second starter Excursion will now commence.
Excursion to Earth: TLTL 2012 is underway.
Objective: Help at least one senior until they arrive at the pharmacy.
Seniors assisted: 0 / 1