Beyond The Impossible

Nowhere

Kari Zel hits the ground hard. She doesn’t know where she is: the last thing she recalls is her trying to stop Torn from killing Noriko; but it’s hard to think, with how hard the wind is blowing.

She tries to focus. She’s in some kind of city, under the shadow of extremely tall skyscrapers.

-Hello? Is anybody here? – she calls out, hearin

 

Nowhere

Kari Zel hits the ground hard. She doesn’t know where she is: the last thing she recalls is her trying to stop Torn from killing Noriko; but it’s hard to think, with how hard the wind is blowing.

She tries to focus. She’s in some kind of city, under the shadow of extremely tall skyscrapers.

<Hello? Is anybody here?> she calls out, hearing the echo of her own voice.

<Where the Hades am I?> she wonders, creating three duplicates to search the area while she concentrates on the nearest detail… the road. It’s made of paper, countless sheets of paper.

<Yeah, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore> one of the duplicates calls to her attention, pointing at one of the skyscrapers… which now Kari realizes aren’t buildings at all. They’re books.

Millions of books stacked on top of each other. The wind picks up, blowing harder than before and pushing a sheet of paper on Kari’s face. She takes it off, reading the words printed on it.

“You shouldn’t be here”. Then she hears a girl screaming.

<Just when I thought things couldn’t get any weirder> she comments, running towards the scream.

She runs past other buildings. They are all invariably made of books.

The scene is so surreal that when she comes across a group of humans surrounding a young girl who’s kneeling in a corner, she smiles. Finally, something she knows how to handle.

<Isn’t she a little too young for you boys?> she asks. She recognizes them from the clothes they’re wearing and the weapons they’re wielding. Earth humans. Petty criminals.

<You shouldn’t be here> one of them reacts, charging Kari with a pocket knife. A step to the side, a knee to the stomach, and a karate chop to the back of the head. He’s out cold in five seconds.

<Next?> she asks cheerfully.

Five men larger than her, with knifes and brass knuckles, surround her. She’s unarmed.

She doesn’t even need to duplicate to deal with them: not only she’s at least three times stronger and faster than a regular human her size, but thanks to her duplicates she’s studied dozens of Earth martial arts for more than a year… in addition to her own Myridian training. When she’s done mopping the floor with the criminals, she goes for the girl… she figured going personally instead of sending a duplicate may calm her, if she’s not used to Myridians.

The girl is a fetal position, crying. She’s at most twelve years old; her long black hair contrasts with her bright pink clothes.

<It’s going to be alright. They didn’t hurt you, did they?>

<You shouldn’t be here> the young girl says, still crying. Kari gets even closer, holding her hands to take them away from her face… and does a double take. She can’t mistake that face.

<Noriko!?>

<Just a part of her. Are you, like, part of my imagination too?>

<What? No, I’m Kari… Kari Zel, remember me?>

<Of course I do. I know, like, everything… don’t you see?> she asks, pointing at one of the enormous piles of books.

<Where are we, exactly?>

<We’re inside my mind. Well, “our” mind, really. It’s hard to explain but… yeah. Welcome to the brain of Noriko Null, I guess.>

<What!? How is that even possible?>

<Don’t ask me, I’m not the smart one. Did someone break my soul or something?>

<All I know is that the Lord of Demons pulled Abyss out of Noriko’s brain… somehow.>

<I don’t like Abyss. She scares me. Like, a lot> the girl says, shivering.

<So you’re… what, yet another of Noriko’s alternate personalities? How many does she have!?>

<I dunno. But you can’t stay here for long… there’s scary things inside our mind.>

<What, these losers? I can deal with them> Kari boasts, pointing at the unconscious criminals.

<Come to think of it, these aren’t my nightmares. Where did they come from?>

The girl’s question is answered by someone crashing through one of the pile of books. Two red skinned warriors, a male and a female, throw hundreds of blades at each other, shredding untold millions of pages that rain in every direction.

Kari’s priority is to take care of the girl; she carries her on her shoulders and runs away, trying to avoid the gigantic tower of books that’s collapsing like the world’s largest domino effect.

She considers her options… creating a line of duplicates to shuffle away the girl like an impromptu mosh pit, perhaps?… but she doesn’t have to do anything.

<We meet in the weirdest places> Quantum says, releasing a laser beam that burns away the books before they have any chance to do any damage.

<Max!? What the Hades happened!?> Kari asks.

<Wow. Null didn’t tell me you were so cute> the girl says, immediately realizing she spoke out loud and looking very embarrassed by it. She holds Quantum by his arm and squeezes tight.

<You came to rescue me, right? I knew I could count on you!>

<Well this is… I don’t even know who you are> he says, trying to push away the twelve year old.

<Sure you do. My name’s Noriko, but you can call me Eve I guess.>

<Well “Eve”, this isn’t the right time to…> he starts to answer, but he’s cut short by the Demon woman lassoing him with a chain mail and throw him right into a pile of books.

Eve screams, but before the Demon can slice her in half with a sword she’s saved by Torn. They are both wielding a sword in each hand, and they’re fighting ferociously.

<Run away. I’ve never beaten her> he confesses; just to prove his point, the Demon woman stabs him in the chest, then creates an axe that she lodges in his skull, then shoots him point blank with two arrows in each eye. All while smiling maniacally.

Kari tries to stop her, but she’s as outclassed against the Demon as the criminals were against her: she can feel every stab as the Demon quickly disembowels her. Finally the Demon points a three-bladed sword at Eve’s face, still smiling.

<Wait. I know you. You’re Pain, Torn’s sister, right? How do I know you, considering we’ve never met and he’s never told me about you?>

<Who cares! She’s MINE!> another voice calls out.

The buildings are blasted away with the subtlety of a nuclear bomb. Tons upon tons of books fall down, burying everyone in a seemingly endless avalanche of paper.

Her ears still ringing from the deafening noise, Kari’s duplicates pull her out of the sea of paper; the first thing she does is check her wounds, when she finds she has none despite her disembowelment.

<None of this is real, isn’t it?> she asks.

<Really. What was your first clue?>> Quantum asks mockingly.

<I don’t like this, I don’t like this at all. She shouldn’t be here> Eve says, biting her fingernails.

Pain is not alone in her fight. She’s been joined by a dozen Oracles and common Earth criminals, all of which are doing their very best against the latest fighter to show up.

At this point, nobody is surprised by the fact that she looks like Noriko. But her leather jacket is electric blue, like her eyes which are constantly at peak brightness; she also has more muscle than the real one, showing off her abs under a strategically ripped T-shirt.

<Shouldn’t we help?> Kari asks. The blue girl is fighting with a sword made of blue energy, just like Pain is doing with a red sword; between each strike, she’s even fast enough to deflect the bullets fired by the criminal and sidestep the Oracle’s telekinetic blasts.

<Which side?> Quantum says: she’s outmanned, but there’s no doubt she’ll win.

In fact, the blue girl then steps back to summon a different weapon: the sword is quickly replaced by a bazooka. A single shot of electric blue energy vaporizes her enemies.

The blue girl doesn’t stop to celebrate and points her weapon at the only other people still present… Kari, Quantum and Torn. But Eve gets in the way, trying to protect them.

<Wait! You can’t shoot them, Fury!>

<Out of my way, Eve. You know you can’t stop me.>

<Have you ever seen the guys you fought in our nightmares? Where do you think they came from?>

<Don’t know. Don’t care. I just want to shoot stuff.>

<I can take you to Abyss if you want to fight her> Torn intervenes.

“Fury” seems to think about it for a second, then loads the bazooka on her shoulders and shrugs.

<Fine. I just hope she puts up a better fight than your weak nightmares.>

<Okay, how can you possibly know what the heck’s happening!?> Quantum complains.

<I did a Soul Link. You two were caught in the middle> Torn answers.

<She’s not the only one who wants to shoot you. What the f##k are you talking about!?>

<Back in Hell, I linked my soul to Null’s. Abyss is controlling the power of Hell by resonating her soul… she learned it through Noriko, who learned it from me. Since they share the same soul, I thought I could stop her from within. But you interfered, so your souls were linked as well.>

<You mean you can physically enter a person’s soul!?> Kari wonders.

<Not physically. The soul is just the part of consciousness that resonates through the brain.>

Yet another Noriko has showed up. She’s wearing a white business suit and her eyes are completely black with the exception of a white iris, and unlike the others the Vanguard know this one.

<Void. Of course you’re here too> Quantum says, rolling his eyes.

<Think of your brain as a computer and of your soul as its software. Demons can interact through the Blood… unlike you, they are born with a modem. What he calls “Soul Link” establishes a wireless network, allowing your software to interact. A bold strategy, but futile.>

<Why? We just have to find Noriko and put her back in charge> Kari says.

<You underestimate the damage done by forcibly extracting Abyss. We are fragmenting rapidly;  you can see how many alternate personalities have already emerged.>

<Can’t we reboot or something? You’re the genius, how come you haven’t figured out a solution yet?> Quantum presses her, trying to appeal to her pride.

<Again, you underestimate us. Keeping the metaphor, if your brain is just a computer, you know what does that make Null’s brain?>

<A supercomputer?> Kari guesses.

<The Internet. You are asking me to shut down the Internet and rebuild it from scratch.>

<Null might do it. If only we could find her…>

<That’s easy> Fury says, and without missing a beat she shots Torn at point blank range.

The blast throws him against one of the pile of books, which collapses under the sudden explosion of force. Kari and Quantum are similarly unprepared: normally they’d be able to move quickly enough to avoid her attack, but this is all inside Null’s mind. Fury literally attacks them at the speed of thought, taking them completely off-guard: the explosion hits them pretty hard.

<Are you crazy!? These are Null’s friends!>

<Exactly. She will show up to save them.>

<A realistic possibility, but what if you are wrong?>

<At least I get to shoot someone.>

As Noriko’s look-alikes argue, Torn cuts through the pile of paper and helps Quantum and Kari get back on their feet. Much to their astonishment, they’re unarmed.

<Not that I’m complaining, but how are we alive?> Kari asks.

<I assume this is your first mental battle. Just don’t think about anything> Torn suggests.

<I can help you with that> Fury retorts, readying her bazooka again. Void has a completely blank expression, while Eve is biting her nails.

<Please don’t fight! I don’t want anybody to get hurt!>

<As improbable as that sounds, I agree with Fury.>

<Seriously? That has never happened before.>

<That is because you did not exist as an individual until today.>

Watching them argue is surreal, even by today’s standards. Quantum is the first to voice this idea:

<It probably goes without saying, but those alternate personalities are crazy!>

<Oh, you have no idea how crazy we can be> says a voice from the sky, before the ground opens and devours everyone into a gigantic and demonic mouth.