Iron Rain Pt. 14

"Digital assistant, I don't understand."

"Surfer can you make an appearance please," Nick asked.

The crystals on the watch flared to life and she could see a silver speck on the horizon coming at her from the west out of the dying sun moving at a terrific speed. It quickly grew to the recognizable shape of a man on a surfboard but his skin shone mirror bright as did the board he rode on. He seemed to cover the vast distance in no time at all and stopped on a dime before the pair.

"Surfer this is Bastet, Bastet this is Silver Surfer," Nick did the introductions.

'A pleasure Lady Bastet,' He said taking her hand and kissing it.

"A pleasure Surfer," she said her voice a little shaky. "What is he?"

"He is a holographic avatar with a crystalline mainframe allowing him to grow and learn just like you and I," Nick explained.

"He can learn, that is amazing and I can feel him how is that possible?"

"That part is complicated, but he is an invaluable friend and confidant."

'Sir is too kind. The Lady Akira is ready whenever you are Milord.'

"Well I have some details to hammer out, how about lunch tomorrow?"

"That would be great, I'll see you then," she said smiling and shaking her head at the impressive sight of the holographic man and his surfboard.

Nick rose and strode naked towards the pier.

"Um Nick forgetting something," Bastet called out to him.

"Nah, I'll get them tomorrow," he said and reaching the pier's edge dove cleanly into the water and began swimming out to the massive yacht anchored off shore.

Each stroke of arm or kick of leg had his fullest attention as he swam back to the Numenor. He needed to see 'her' again and say the goodbye he had been holding onto for all these long months. Surfer suddenly appeared above him and to his left gliding silently like a mirrored ghost.

'Sir, I hate to interrupt you but you are heading out to sea the Numenor is that way,' he said pointing south.

"Thanks Surfer," Nick said with a smile and adjusted course. "I guess I got caught up in my thoughts."

'Shall I stay with you until you reach the ship Milord?'

"Yeah, that might be a good idea."

Nick reached the ship safely and climbed up the anchor's chain and was greeted with a terry cloth robe, a towel and a smile from Akira.

"Welcome aboard Kouryou, I hope you didn't anger the locals," she said hinting at his nakedness and his unusual choice for transportation back to the Numenor.

"Thank you for the warm welcome and no the natives are not restless," he returned her smile. "We need to talk." His smile didn't quite leave his face but it was diminished.

"Where would you like to speak?"

"Fire up the hot tub and crack a bottle of that terribly expensive Ice Wine that mom never got to drink. We are going to have a wake. Contact Kat and tell her to drop everything I need her here and tell her why. I need just a little alone time before we get this party started to celebrate her life."

"Yes Master," Akira said with a smile and a look of relief on her face as she left to do his bidding.

Nick walked down to his cabin and finding it empty locked the door behind him. He stripped off his robe and donned a snow white kimono following the Japanese custom of wearing white at a time of mourning. He moved to his office and sat on the floor and crossed his legs in lotus fashion and closed his eyes.

"Surfer bring up the Petra avatar please," Nick whispered.

'Yes Sir,' he replied. 'It is done.'

Nick opened his eyes and there she stood dressed in her Catholic Schoolgirl costume. He smiled remembered that was one of her favorite role play characters. He felt the tears come and didn't try to fight them as he had so many times since her passing. Nick could taste the salt now as his tears fell onto his lips. Without prompting the avatar knelt down and wiped them away in her fashion.

"Don't cry Nick," Petra said.

"Petra!"

"Surprise," she said smiling her brilliant smile.

"How... who... Jesse you old dog you," Nick was ranting now.

"No, it wasn't Jesse Nick it was James he offered me a way of keeping an eye on you if something should happen to me, the physical me."

"James... now I am really confused. Why would he do that I don't understand?"

"He explained it to me this way," she said. "He had regrets. He was the living breathing avatar of the Eternal Master and did whatever was given him to do but that didn't mean he didn't have reservations or regrets. James wanted you to have an emotional parachute as he called me. If he is falling I want him to have someone who can comfort him if everyone else fails him. His words and not without a certain elegance," she smiled and was silent.

"I owe him one," Nick said softly.

"Yes you do," she said with her typical spunkiness.

"We need to keep your existence a secret for now, I'm not sure Kat would take to your new state of being too well."

"I agree," she said and stopped and eyed Nick suspiciously. "Nick?" she asked with a lilt in her voice. "You haven't asked the all important question and for you that is very unusual."

"All important question, I don't know what you mean," he replied.

"LIAR," she said smiling. "Ask it unless somehow you already know... you do know don't you but how? How do you know what it's like being an avatar?"

"It's a long story," Nick said smiling.

"We have time."

"Okay here goes," he launched into his tale about the Bakaret or soul thief.

Thief of Souls:

Nick looked into the mirror and saw the green eyes staring back and knew something was terribly wrong. Hadn't he seen those same green eyes when he first met Akira? Had the Nephilim tried to stop him even back then by trying to assassinate the one woman who would serve him unfailingly and share their secrets with him? He had never asked Akira about the bouts of missing time since they apparently quit when she joined him aboard the Numenor. Or had they? Then there was the psychic assault by the Nephilim Mary Stone. She who had supposedly core dumped all the stolen souls into him in one cruel moment. And behind it all the primal personality that was Khora Dhaine, the thirteenth child of the Eternal Master and the Great Mother. The literal green eyed monster who had haunted the earth and who preyed upon her own kindred for the weakness of the human soul was not enough to sate her eternal appetite.

Those terrible green eyes and the whispers in the dark that urged him to depths of depravity and cruelty that Nick found at times he could not fight or deny. Her hunger had become his. Nick began to wonder if the missing time that Akira had suffered in Japan was unrelated to Mary Stone's attack on him. Perhaps they were by themselves two separate situations or perhaps one was the first stage of a Nephilim plot to infiltrate the Numenor and the other was an attempt to weaken him enough for whatever had been lurking within Akira to slip into him somehow. There was only one way to find out and his test subject was a woman who sexual bondage and pain were a gift from her adoring Master, Marie Dubois. So he began with simple yet exotic tortures for her to test her mettle. The wearing of vibrators for long hours before fucking her senseless was a good beginning but wanting to escalate things Nick built a playroom on the lowest deck of the ship to keep her screams of pleasure and pain from reaching the others. He learned much about the character and core of the woman who called him Sugah. She wasn't just a woman who enjoyed pain she was a certifiable masochist. He pushed her limits and discovered she was like tempered steel in body and spirit. Give me a hundred like her and he could rule the fucking world he thought. As the voice whispered to hurt her and punish her he not only listened he eagerly lowered his moral choices to a point that she required first aid and a week of bed rest to recuperate from one of their more violent sessions. All the while he never touched another woman aboard the ship for fear of unleashing the monster and being found out. Sadly during this time Cyan Michaels was unavailable to 'play' citing an impossible work schedule and perhaps sensing a change in Nick's personality. Nick still spent hours each day sparring and much to Akira's pleasant surprise his skills both armed and unarmed were growing at a phenomenal rate. He was a little disappointed that he had treat Marie with kid gloves for another few weeks while her cracked rib finished healing. His change of habits did not go unnoticed and it was commented often that the Master was not himself but none dare challenge him not even Akira.

Nick also seemed to flip flop between an almost overbearing personality to a meek and unsure one and it was this that finally caused Akira to say something after a meeting with the Saudi Temporal Master. He asked for her unconditional forgiveness and this both startled her and relieved her. It was his queer mention of time being a factor that most intrigued her though. Was it Project Aries that was so all consuming or something else? Akira cared only that they resumed their intimacy and things returned to a sense of normalcy. But time was running out you see for it wasn't Project Aries that was nearing completion but a way of ridding himself of his spiritual stowaway. His mental defenses were eroding so Nick decided to do the only thing that could be done. He was going to give the damn thing what it wanted most in the world in hopes of it leaving him once and for all. So Nick secretly dug out the crystal growth chamber and setting it to its highest quality settings he let it craft a perfect stone to hold the life force of the dreaded spirit form of Khora Dhaine. Unknown to Nick, James Bell had made his way onto the ship and finding the stone transferred the copied consciousness of one Petra Shaw into it. Nick returned and found the stone gone and having lost valuable time decided he had no choice but to transfer the spirit into the crystal holding Petra and pray she was strong enough to control the terrible personality. That brings us up to the present...

"And so," Nick said looking at the horrified Petra Shaw. "I have no choice."

"YESSSSSSS, give her to me I will devour her!" cried the voice of Khora Dhaine.

"Nick... please don't do this..." Petra begged.

"I... have... no... choice..." Nick said through gritted teeth barely holding back the frenzied spirit.

"NOW," cried the insane wraith of a dead Nephilim.

A sound rose up in the room and the lights actually dimmed a bit as the transfer took place. Nick slumped forward and Petra watched helpless to act or react. Nick managed to lift his head and look at Petra before winking at her.

"How do you feel," Nick asked Petra.

"Um... fine actually," she said trying to figure out what had just happened.

"Good," he said sitting upright and smiling brilliantly. "Excellent job Grim."

"Thank you Master Nick," Grim said appearing out of Nick's shadow as was his want.

"You know you never did explain how you knew what it was to feel like an avatar," Petra said.

"No, I left that little bit out." Nick said. "It was Grim's idea actually."

"Sir is too kind," Grim actually blushed.

"Explain please," Petra said giving her patented 'look'.

"Grim and I traded places," Nick said smiling even broader. "He had mentioned why I didn't take a vacation so I did. Grim used the contact lenses as a receptacle for his consciousness while I slipped out the back door."

"What back door," Petra asked.

"Remember the first pair of contact lenses I had. Do you recall that my body absorbed them merging with my biological mainframe as Surfer described it."

"Kat said something about it to me eventually."

"Well the material that made up the contacts spread out throughout my entire system not just my brain. It was these nanites, microscopic machines, which were responsible for my sudden ability to regenerate and dad's recovery from cancer. But they also acted like a computer's router. Those bouts of sensory overload after my visit to Dunwich was my mind picking up background internet signal. My ability to speak with the avatars silently is another aspect of the same thing. So I projected myself into a safe crystal where I could do the necessary research to find the Bakaret's weakness."

"Where was that," Petra asked.

"The library crystal where Jesse's avatar resides and I spent weeks of real time in there. But for me it was not just weeks but years. It took me, with Jesse's help of course, to find her kryptonite and set things into motion with Grim."

"I was confused by parts of your story," Petra said. "James never took that crystal he had one of his own. You lied to me."

"To both of you, she had to belief that I was going to transfer her into your crystal as a last resort."

"Where did you send her then?"

"Into that crystal I described."

"But you gave her a physical form, are you nuts? Wait what's the catch?"

"I knew you'd catch on," Nick replied grinning like the Cheshire Cat. "She is safely ensconced in a perfect crystal but she isn't alone."

Nick stood up and walked to his desk and picked up a flawless blue white gem that glittered like ice.

"Here is the last resting place of Khora Dhaine, both of them."

"Both," Petra asked. "What do you mean both?"

"Located deep within the Library Crystal was a copy of Khora before she went mad, a woman of outstanding beauty, wisdom and love. I set the two against each other within the glimmering walls of this prison crystal. I alone can access the contents of the crystal and once I receive the signal only then will I peer within and see who has won out."

"I don't know what to say Nick, a part of me thinks you loosed a devil upon an angel and another part of me thinks the devil doesn't stand a chance."

"Let's hope the latter," Nick said opening his safe and setting the prison crystal within.

"What are you going to do now," Petra asked.

"I have a wake to attend," he said looking at her tears creeping back into his eyes.

"Make it a grand one," she said smiling.

"Oh I will..." clank went the safe as it closed and Nick left without another look back at the shimmering avatar that faded like an echo on the wind.