Depths of Chaos Ch. 09

Depths of Chaos Chapter 9

This story is part of a series. Although it can be read on it's own, parts of the story may make more sense when read in order. I highly recommend reading the story "The Demon" in order to discover the origins of our beloved Kali. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy.

Kali floated comfortably. Small fluffy clouds drifted past. Lazily she looked at them and tried to determine whether they were moving or she was. She didn't feel any significant wind, so likely it was simply the natural convection of the air. Besides, a cautious look around showed no ground to be seen, just endless blue skies. And of course the gentle clouds.

Without gravity or buoyancy, Kali couldn't even figure out which direction should be up or down. While the sensation was vaguely disconcerting, it was also very relaxing. It reminded her of floating on her back in a pool. She reached up, laced her fingers behind her head and closed her eyes. Without sight to interfere it was much easier to imagine, and the discomfort of not knowing the proper orientation vanished.

A gust of hot air whipped across the left side of Kali's waist. She negligently opened an eye to see if she's brushed against something. Both eyes flew open and her body tensed. Unfortunately, she hadn't yet figured out the laws that governed this strange place. No matter how hard she wriggled her body, she couldn't seem to turn and follow the bright red fin that flashed past to disappear behind her. The fin had belonged to something incredibly large, but ruffled as if made of a lightweight, thing fabric.

Maybe it was just the tail of a kite?

It seemed as likely as any other explanation. And the concept certainly fit with the alien surroundings. Although, Kali seemed to be the truly alien element here. The blue emptiness, the clouds, even the fluttering red tail, all seemed to fit together in this endless sky. The more she thought about it the more the clunky, earth-bound, human seemed out of place. She shrugged and returned to trying to contort her body to see behind her.

No amount of twisting worked. Kali pawed at the air, kicked, and arched but her perspective stayed fixed. It was almost as if her eyes pinned the environment in place. If she dropped her head backward, it seemed as if her body moved, and her head remained locked in place. If she moved her eyes the entirety of her body shifted. Without gravity or wind she couldn't even guarantee that wasn't what happened. It was even more disconcerting than the overall sensation.

Kali suddenly realized it wasn't just the sensation of gravity or forces. Those sensations she could equate to touch, but of her remaining senses she only had sight. Where there should have been sound or smell, there was nothing. She began to panic as she realized how utterly disturbing the place was. At the very least the air should have been either warm or cool, but even temperature seemed a foreign curiosity here.

Calm! That was what Kali needed. Simon's suggestion for dealing with her powers seemed appropriate for this situation. What, aside from her accursed powers, could cause something like this? It didn't matter if she had transported herself to a new world, or found a way to delude herself. Wherever she was, she needed to calm down and work at the problem rationally.

Once more, Kali closed her eyes. This time, the tried to summon the demonic memories in an effort to identify the place. Nothing. Either Tral'zla'thor had no knowledge of the place, or the disturbing memories, that weren't her own, were as absent as the rest of her senses. Instead, she used the other lesson that Simon had taught her.

Move with the power.

With eyes open, Kali allowed her mind to wander. The concept was easy enough with so little to focus on. Slowly, clouds began to attract her attention. She imagined shapes in them, even more intricate for their three dimensional nature. And suddenly she realized the cloud shifted to center in her sight. That she didn't know what was behind her meant that she couldn't instantly turn to it. She couldn't even shift directly to her peripheral vision. Instead, she had to turn by degrees, jump from cloud to cloud, in order to look for the strange finned kite.

Halfway around Kali saw a large green shape, fringed on one side by red. She knew she couldn't focus on it, and already it raced towards her. Once more she felt the hot gust, this time trailed across her shoulder blades. She immediately began a reverse track and turned her attention in an attempt to catch even a glimpse of the thing. If she could focus on it for even a moment, that focus would drag her along in its wake. At least that was her hope.

Almost instantly she caught the edge of the flying curiosity at the edge of her sight. Kali sensed, more than saw, the thing double back. Once more the red flag tail began to flutter past, but this time she concentrated on it with all her might.

Kali succeeded, sort of. Clouds began to drift by more quickly, yet the strange tail stayed where it was. She couldn't manage to bring it to the center. She even tried to shift her focus as far forward on it as possible, but it defied her capabilities. Almost as if it mocked her, the strange thing kept behind her. Only an unexplainable sense told her that there was more to this thing, as she continued to cling desperately to it.

Without gravity, or at least a sense of general orientation, the vertigo cause by the increasing spin was entirely mental. Somehow, her mind compensated for the complete lack forces on her inner ear. Although there was no nausea, no headache or dizziness, she grew disoriented much more quickly then she thought possible.

The red tail slipped behind Kali. Momentum was no more a part of this reality than cause and effect. The instant she lost track of the oddity, she ceased to move. After all her lost effort, she screamed in frustration. Although heartened that she could hear her own scream, it sounded somehow flat to her. It only took a moment to realize that was because there was nothing to reflect against, not even ground to cause an echo. But at least it proved her ears still worked. Likely the rest of her senses did as well, there simply was nothing for her to learn from them.

That thought alone terrified her. How could a place exist with nothing to smell, no sounds to hear. The simple fact that she couldn't even gauge the temperature defied logic. That the large form didn't make the slightest noise, as it zipped inches from her, made her realize that legions could be arrayed behind her and she wouldn't know until they made their presence clear.

Tears leaked from Kali's eyes, but she consoled herself with the hope that even Simon would be afraid in this unnatural realm.

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Where the hell is she?

Simon sat and stared at the computer screen in frustration. Different windows overlapped with information about Sorcerers and dragons, but none of it did any good. Sorcerers could do virtually anything, and in far less time than other mystics could accomplish. According to the records, they saw magic at its most fundamental level which allowed them to cast without the complex rituals that most other mystics relied on.

While it made for interesting reading, it meant very little to Simon. Sorcerers were limited in what they could accomplish. Unlike Kali, or the Demons she derived her powers from, they were bound by the laws of the physical reality. If they wanted to fly, for instance, they still needed to buy a ticket for an airplane. It also meant that standard countermagic would be effective against them. He couldn't best the Sorcerer in a magical duel, most certainly, but he should be able to contain a struggle to the purely mundane, where he stood a much greater chance.

The limited information on dragons was as useless as he expected it to be. While there were accounts of meetings and even the occasional reports of necessary altercations, there was nothing about a dragon in possession of a mortal. They didn't need to. Dragons were one of the few Nature spirits which could directly harm a mortal. Where many spirits relied on ill fortune, or latent awareness in order to torment their adversaries, dragons could attack the astral form of a mortal being and cause real, physical, damage.

Simon slammed the laptop shut and threw himself back into the chair. He needed to get out. Sitting around the hotel room in the faint hope that Kali would call, or better still show up, did nothing but frustrate him. He grabbed his leather coat, stuffed the keycard and cell in his pocket and stalked from the room.

He needed guidance. He needed somewhere he could clear his head and think things through logically. Or at least, he needed somewhere he would think less about Kali than about the tag team that threatened the city. He found himself in the garage almost before he realized it, and in his car moments later.

At the crime scene, he sat in this very car. After the frightening realization that he faced a lycanthropic dragon, and used astral projection to survey the crime scene itself. When witnessed from the perspective of the new information, the scene made much more sense. The damage looked so similar in the spirit realm because the dragon was able to do exactly the same thing there that it did to the victim in the physical. The view of the scene also let him know why Lieutenant Michaels had been so upset. The victim had been a cop.

The only thing Simon couldn't figure out was how it bestowed a human the sheer strength. Lycans were stronger than normal humans, to be sure, but even they had nowhere near enough power to literally tear a person apart at the joints, particularly without crushing so much as a single bone. Even with perforated flesh, the human body simply couldn't do it without significant help. He set that issue aside. If any spirit knew of a way, it would be the ageless dragons.

More pieces fell into place. When the Sorcerer failed to summon the demon, he summoned a less powerful, if no less knowledgeable, dragon. Somehow, through means that were as undocumented as the existence of a weredragon, he bound that spirit to a mortal. That part Simon understood, after all, dragons are much to powerful and crafty to remain trapped within an invocation circle, or even crafted wards, for all that long. At this point Simon hoped that the human had been a willing participant, because of the horrors they had seen when the dragon broke loose the Sorcerer's control.

That led to another question; why did the dragon attack those people? Although Simon could understand its rage at being trapped, imprisoned and held against its will in a world other than its own, it still didn't make sense. While dragons had the ability to utterly destroy corporeal beings, they rarely did. They favored tactics which let their enemies' weaknesses tear them apart in a metaphoric sense rather than literal. Or more often, they simply waited patiently for their enemies to die of natural causes. While a lifetime trapped in a mortal shell might be more than even a dragon could bear, six months was negligible.

There were still missing pieces to the puzzle. Unfortunately, chief among them was Kali.

Simon realized he had stopped the car. He had even parked it in the dubious, yet incredibly lucky, street-side spot. A glance over confirmed that he hadn't simply found a fire hydrant, or other no parking zone. He had either been fortunate, or had instinctively reacted to the truly mythological event, and parked the moment he saw the space, regardless of how distant from his destination.

In truth, Simon wasn't entirely certain where he was headed. So far, he had let his body move and react on its own. It clearly had a destination in mind, but he wasn't skilled enough in meditation to contact his subconscious and discover where he was going. Better to keep himself otherwise distracted and find out when the need arose; when he got there.

Okay, so he needed to take stock in what he did know. First, a demon was summoned by frat kids and set loose by a Sorcerer. It proceeded to kill the guys and try to take Kali. Instead she stole its power and its very essence. When the demon ploy failed, the Sorcerer apparently summoned a dragon and stuffed it in a human's body. Then, less than a week ago, the Sorcerer began to try to summon Tral'zla'thor from within an twenty year old girl. In the process, he lost control of the dragon, which snapped and killed someone each time.

Of course that brought up even more unanswered questions, questions Simon hadn't even thought of until that moment.

Why did it take so long for the Sorcerer to attempt to summon the demon? Did something happen that alerted him to Kali's presence, or at least the demon's power?

He couldn't figure out how that could be, except by pure chance. He would never have known about her if not for such an encounter.

The clubs. Every one of the murders had taken place by the clubs. It was possible that the Sorcerer, or the unfortunate dragon, had found her by purest chance, at the clubs one night and recognized her in much the same way he had. If that was the case then it implied their residence was nearby.

Unfortunately, there was a flaw in the logic. The most recent murder occurred almost across the city. In fact, it broke a number of patterns. Beyond the drastic change in location, the original three victims had been female, while the fourth was male. Simon did not like to think about the victims identity when he could help it, even if only in a small way such as their gender. Such concessions saved his sanity. And when all of the careful rules of the universe already worked differently, he needed something to keep his mind from spiraling out of control.

Simon realized he had once more stopped. This time he faced a wall, which implied he had reached his destination. As his eyes panned up the solid brick and rock walls, he began to once more question where his insight came from. In light of his destination, he wasn't comfortable enough to blame his subconscious. As the cathedral loomed above him, he thought about his family's priest, so many years before.

A serene smile crept on to Simon's face. He slowly mounted the steps and entered the cool building. It was time for a very long overdue confession. And maybe a prayer or two for guidance.

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They hovered right behind Kali. Somehow she knew that at least two pairs of eyes watched her, but they hovered just out of sight at all times. She had no idea how long she had been in this place. Without the normal laws of physics there was no more way to gauge that passage of time. It was entirely possible that time had little, or no, meaning here. Dream time; where a moment could take hours, or a day could jump by with a thought.

It certainly felt like a dream.

A roar breached the air and Kali's entire body flinched. It was the first sound she had heard that she hadn't issued. It had the same unnerving, flat, tone to it. But what terrified her was the knowledge, as inexplicable as everything else here, that the source of the rant had charged towards her.

Motion caught her peripheral vision and caused her to look down. The first thing she noticed was not the cause of the motion. Although out of focus directly in front of her, she couldn't help but look at her body. She had been here for hours, and yet she only now realized that she was completely nude.

Then her eyes shifted to identify the large green form inches beneath her feet. Kali now understood why her first reaction had been of a kite. It fluttered back and forth with the breeze as it flew forward. This was an eastern dragon. Many of her classmates were heavily into anime, so she recognized the serpentine form instantly.

It was long and sinuous. The head was a curious mixture of lion and reptile. It had four stubby legs, all held close to its body, and the thin, silken, fin that ruffled down its back and helped to highlight the vertical, spade-like, tail. Somehow, the bright red fin did not clash with the forest green scales that covered the rest of its body.

A moment after the full body of the great wyrm appeared, it became rigid as an arrow and shot, as true, straight ahead. In moments it shrank to virtually nothing. But even at the horizon she could still see it as a vague, dark, dot. It began to flutter almost spastically, its erratic motions visible even from that distance. The second presence, still close behind Kali, began to radiate deep concentration and an almost maniacal pleasure. The dragon once more froze in place, a dot on the horizon once more.

Pain blossomed throughout Kali's body. Her eyes closed instinctively and finally the world went black. She concentrated on the pain with the same intensity she had used to move from cloud to cloud. It wasn't truly intense, simply pervasive. She cringed as she realized what it felt like. Somehow, she had a hangover.

She had never been much of a drinker, but one time she had been convinced to drink heavily by her girlfriends. The next morning she regretted it and vowed never to drink that heavily ever again. Although she hadn't quite kept that vow, in the nature of young adults the world over, she had managed to keep it to a minimum.

Kali's first instinct was to remember the night before. Had she been drinking? No. She'd spent a wonderful night with a dear man. Well, if she discounted the mystical encounter with the Sorcerer. But the two had done no drinking. It was possible the attempt to summon her, or steal her powers, or whatever it was that the Sorcerer had tried, was the ultimate cause of the malady. Demonic memory implied that it was unlikely, but even Tral'zla'thor never ran into a situation like hers. Of course, if he had, he wouldn't have made the mistakes he did.

It only took a moment for the pain to become manageable. Kali's demon memories held methods to suppress, or even direct the pain to someone else. She found that technique morally dubious at best, but it was good to understand that she could. Her eyes flickered back open, but she was no longer in the world of the infinite sky.

The room was small and bare. There was a door along one wall, but beyond that only the mud covered screws broke the monotony of the unfinished drywall panels. Even the gaps between the panels had been left. The ceiling looked like some form of hardened stucco with a single dome light in the center. The only furniture was a single, rather uncomfortable, cot on which Kali lay.

She had no idea where she was, and that made her nervous. Even in the odd times that she woke up somewhere new, like Simon's hotel room, she only suffered slight disorientation. A quick look around and she remembered the explanation. Never before had she found herself so completely clueless.

Kali pulled herself off the cot. Her legs wobbled slightly as she stood but, like the pain, they quickly submitted to her will. Still shaky, she moved to test the door. No light crept around the edges, which piqued her curiosity. Did that mean it was night? Without windows, or some other break in the surroundings, she had nothing to guide her. The lack of windows could mean she was in the center of a building just as easily as it implied some form of cell.

When the knob refused to budge, Kali's heart sank. The door didn't even groan as she tugged. Wherever she was, whoever had her, she was a captive. The featureless knob and bracket stated that it was designed to be locked exclusively from the outside. The interior apparatus was only for instances when safety need be no concern. Did that mean she only had to worry about one person. After all, wouldn't a group be able to forgo the internal system altogether in favor of a second person right outside the door?

Kali released the knob and staggered back over to the cot. A single captor likely meant the Sorcerer had somehow figured out the situation finally. It was possible the policeman who picked her up was the Sorcerer, but she doubted it. The officer was more likely just a stooge. Obviously crooked, he probably meant to keep the police from any leads which would point towards the demon that the Sorcerer controlled.

She kicked her legs up and lay back. At least Kali was still dressed. She'd have been concerned if she found herself in clothes other than the skirt-suit she wore the night before, since it would have meant someone had to have stripped her to change her clothes. She would have worried even more if she found herself as naked as she'd been in the startlingly real dream.

Although, Kali realized, I'm not in that much danger if the Sorcerer does want to try anything.

She wasn't sure she really wanted to contemplate the defense her body had already developed, but it was at least a little comforting to know there was one. Even if it was disturbing.

Kali bolted upright on the cot. Why hadn't she thought of it before? Simon had even instructed her to use the powers. It was supposed to be like some sort of pressure valve; use them or they bottle up and take over! The only question remained, 'how did she want to use them?' The easiest solution would be another transformation. It was an ability she knew she had, and even knew she could control to a degree. This would simply be the first time she shifted into a form other than human, rather than a modification to her normal body.

As she looked around the room for inspiration, she quelled her frustration. How could a different form help her? Her eyes reached the door and she considered the possibilities. She could build up her mass, add muscles, and rip the thing from its hinges. Unfortunately, not only would the sight instantly alert the Sorcerer to her escape, but the sound was liable to attract attention.

If Kali could, she wanted to keep the door intact, even locked. When the Sorcerer came to check up on her, he would discover the room still locked, but her missing. A mystery like that could work well to slow pursuit. And the most practical form sprung to her mind. The form she had spent months in as she tried to adapt to the new powers. The form that seemed most natural to them. She would become amorphous and slip around the cracks like mist.

Kali closed her eyes and concentrated. She didn't know how to envision herself as an amorphous being, so she simply concentrated on the powers themselves. Their chaotic nature brought to mind the brief pictures she remembered as she ran down the alleys and Tral'zla'thor chased her. His body roiled like smoke and constantly shifted. From form to form, reality seemed to hold no grip. That was the power she needed. She needed to be made of pure chaos.

A brief surge of energy raced through her. Kali felt the stir of power and smiled. Her smile faltered as the brief surge washed away. Already tired, and still sore, she collapsed onto the cot. Somehow, she was blocked from the power. For a moment she tried to call up the demonic memory to figure out how that was possible, but she discovered the strange thoughts were silent.

Kali lay on the cot and stared at the ceiling. If the Sorcerer had already stolen her abilities where did that leave her? She didn't know. All she knew was that she was locked in a blank room, alone.

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Simon was calm. If nothing else came of his brief interlude, at least he wouldn't wear himself out with concern over Kali's well-being. Likely, something had come up and she had been unable to contact him. They could sort it out after he dealt with the Sorcerer and its pet weredragon. The only real concern would be if the Sorcerer tried another attack like he had last night. In truth, he might have already, as the latest victim attested to.

The connection wasn't confirmed, but it certainly made sense. The only uncertain factor was the timing. The one murder that they knew happened at about the same time as an attempt at Kali's powers happened almost fifteen minutes before the actual spell. While normally the time difference could be explained by the need to prepare and cast the spell, a Sorcerer shouldn't need those measures. Unless he used them as an added layer of security.

Simon expected that was the case. He certainly wouldn't want to rely on his own personal energy in order to compel or ensnare a demon. The more it struggled, the weaker he would become. He could quickly find himself in a position where he lacked the strength to dismiss the demon. While use of the invocation and wards would require personal energy to set up, they continued to work with little additional energy after the initial expenditure.

Simon looked around and discovered his trail had led him back to the park. It occurred to him that his subconscious liked patterns. Why else would he continue to return to this, the beginning of it all?

Perhaps that was the answer to the six million dollar question! The clubs were nearby. The Sorcerer was likely to suspect Tral'zla'thor had remained in this area after it gained its freedom. If so, he might have sent the dragon to investigate the area. Once the two discovered Kali's aura they began to test the region, in order to find the source of the anomaly. That explained the series of deaths, especially since the media had yet to catch on.

But that also gave new reason for the location of the cop's murder. Likely, he'd managed to discover a lead that brought him to the area where the Sorcerer lived, if not the exact address. The Sorcerer responded to the threat with one of his own, except in this case it was a warning to the police. 'Leave me be because I can get you just as easily.'

Someone was following Simon. He had long since learned to trust his instinct and it screamed that not only was he watched, but actively hounded. A quick glance around revealed no one suspicious. In fact, the only person around was a young woman, jogging not far behind him. Of course, that didn't mean there was no one around. His tail could just as easily reside in the spiritual realm.

He slowly moved over to one of the path-side benches and leaned back, his arms across the back of the bench. He made another quick sweep of the area, but nothing caught his attention. With only a deep breath for preparation, he shifted his sight. A relatively small, serpentine, dragon stood before him, close enough that he couldn't help but flinch. It's mouth opened wide to display a rather vicious set of sharp teeth. Taloned hands uncurled and reached out a moment before it lunged.

Copywrite June 2007, by Deathlynx