You will see but not with your eyes.
Just as one of the Cetix’s rammed its head through the door his vision went black. It was complete and inky darkness for a moment. But then a light--softly green and glowing--appeared. So faint and far off.
You see me? Gehenna asked.
The--the green light? He asked. It reminds me of when my dad and I went to the ocean. We were out in the middle of pure liquid darkness. But we had a single green light on the mast.
Yes, the light. She sounded pleased to be described that way. Now, I need you to see past me.
See past you? I can hardly see you!
That was true. The green light looked to be miles away. He squinted and tried to see beyond the green light. With that effort he was suddenly moving. Gliding. Flying towards the green light.
Whoa!!!
He stopped moving just as suddenly as he’d begun.
No, Jace, don’t stop. You were doing great! Gehenna urged. Look for what’s behind me.
He was quite a bit nearer to her now. She wasn’t a pinprick of green fairy dust, but more a globe the size of a basketball. He tilted his head to the side and his whole perspective changed. It was then that he saw what looked like the scattering of sparks from a downed live electrical wire.
I see… something, he told her.
You’re going to connect with that. It’s the Osiris’ system. You connect and you’ll be able to activate Metal Rain, she said.
Osiris is--
The name of a ship, Jace. The ship I’m on.
But Osiris is a human name and--
Yes, as is Gehenna. It will all make sense later. Now, Gehenna instructed and he thought he faintly heard screams but then the void of silence and blackness other than the green light and the sparks returned fully, go to Osiris.
He tried to put one foot in front of the other in order to walk to the wild sparks that snapped and dazzled in the darkness. That was when he realized he had no feet. He had no body.
Of course, you don’t. This is pure mind, Jace. Well… sort of, Gehenna chuckled. All you need to do is imagine moving and you will.
Jace stared at the sparks. He did not move.
Don’t just look at them. Want to be near them. Want to connect, Gehenna said.
He remembered how he had wanted to see beyond the green light. He remembered thinking he needed to be closer and so he had moved. Now he imagined himself right by the sparks.
And he was there.
He reared back as the sparks zapped and buzzed all around him. And were their screams? And thumps? And the shattering of glass? And someone praying? And…
You’re imagining Osiris as a downed electric line, Gehenna mused. That’s actually good and bad. Bad because--
It’s going to electrocute me? Jace laughed uncertainly.
The sparks now were coming off a coiled snake of line. The line ran off into the darkness.
But it isn’t! Well… it is. This time. But you--you will be able to withstand it, Gehenna told him.
It’s just going to hurt like a son of a bitch? He clarified, remembering what she had said earlier.
Yes, unfortunately, but I’m going to do everything I can to shield you, she told him.
