A Brief Moment of Insanity Ch. 05

"You did that on purpose, to upset my friend," I grimaced.

"Of course I did, my people feed off of pain or what you might call negative emotions. It is our bread and butter. Just as your companion feeds off of sex. You must have fed her well, very well indeed."

I began to get to my feet when the tailor fixed me with a wicked stare. The psychic strike came without warning and almost overwhelmed me. I pushed her out of my mind and reciprocated. The lance of mind fire hit her between her eyes and sent her reeling. The tailor lowered her head in defeat and apologized. I stood up and began leaving.

"Stop... please," she cried out. "If you leave my shop without a gift the others will shun my business. I cannot afford that."

"I don't think a suit is going to cut it," I growled. "Attacking a customer is very bad etiquette."

"Wait, I have something, something very rare and belonged to my pet before she entered my service."

"Before you enslaved her," I snapped.

"Yes... yes... before I enslaved her. I will give them to you but please don't leave without it." Her voice carried a fear that bordered on panic.

"Can you free her?" I asked and she shook her head. "Very well, let me see what you have."

The tailor left and got the items herself. She returned carrying a dark wooden box which she set on the floor at me feet. I opened the box and there was clothing as well as a curious black cylinder. I woke Jeannie up and had her scan the cylinder. Groggily the A.I. came online and reached out to the strange device. It took her a few minutes to determine its function.

'It is some form of psychic amplifier. The technology is brilliant. It utilizes pandimensional properties to allow it to be carried with greater ease. It is dead. It is still functional but links with a living mind to power it and provide functionality.'

'What about the garments? Is there anything dangerous about them?' I asked and she scanned those as well. I was not in a trusting mood.

'The robes are benign and have some wickedly cool engineering involved in their construction. They are basically light weight body armor. There also appears to be some form of self-contained atmosphere involved as well. That function is activated by pulling up the hood.'

I smiled and picked up the cylinder. I held it up and that's when it woke up. A blazing circuit board like design flared to life on the exterior of the device and a cold metallic presence filled my mind. Jeannie started to lash out when I stopped her. I wanted to know what it was looking for. Jeannie knew my thoughts and told me what the cylinder was doing.

'It is scanning your brain and general anatomy. I suspect you are not in its data base.' Jeannie giggled.

'Probably not,' I thought back at her.

The presence faded and two words flared into my thoughts, candidate accepted. What the hell did that even mean? I had done it again hadn't I? The circuit design faded but didn't disappear. I wonder what it does. A surge of power coursed through the cylinder as it transformed itself into a gleaming metallic staff. It was six feet in length and a far more intricate circuit design decorated the exterior. The top was crowned with three metallic blades and hovering above and between those blades a glowing oval cut gemstone. A cold black flame erupted from the staff engulfing the stone. The once transparent glass-like stone was gone and in its place a faceted piece of flawless jet.

'The Ebony Flame...?' I asked thinking of the words the crazed Nephilim had whispered to him.

'I grant you the Ebony Flame,' she had said to me.

I had no clue at the time what it meant but now here it was ablaze at the end of the staff. I stared at the swirling black conflagration. I pondered the chance of this being a coincidence and instantly ruled it out. If Odin hadn't made an appearance I might have placed a small chance of happenstance. But there was no way I just happened to wake up in the Maze, run into Quickening and Precious and just happen to have the All Father drop by for a friendly chat.

With a thought the staff returned to its smaller form. I took off the robe that the Fae had gotten for me and began slipping on the garments inside the box. I put on the silky smooth pants and they fit perfectly, as did the soft tabi boots, shirt and hooded duster. The last item was a silver belt with six pouches attached to it. One look in the tailor's mirror and I knew it was a uniform of some sort. The black and silver theme was evident as was the almost military style cut of the clothing.

I wiggled my toes still getting used to the boots with the separated big toe. It made for very nice utilitarian footwear. The next thing I did was to go through the contents of the pouches and found one contained coins I had seen being used in the Maze. Another one held what appeared to uncut gemstones. Two were empty and the last two were filled with strange tokens crafted of various materials and of various shapes. Some of the tokens were round; others were square, triangular and even pentagonal. They were etched, stamped and printed with alien characters that I had never seen before. Their purpose was as enigmatic as the forces surrounding my life. It was time to go.

"I need to get the hell out of here," I said and Quickening nodded.

Epilogue:

Odin watched the chessboard closely and smiled when his white pawn changed sides and turned red. He reached down and placed the piece in its proper place. He didn't know what Loki was up to but while they were still allied he feared little chance of treachery from her. He reached out his thoughts to the arachnid posing as a tailor.

'Well done weaver spawn, you have played your part perfectly,' Odin said.

'Praise indeed from the All Father,' she replied. 'Is there anything else you require of me?'

'Yes, get rid of that thing before you leave the maze,' he replied.

'Easily done,' the tailor said summoning the former Technomancer and plucking the slaver device from her head. The once famed Farseer fell dead instantly. 'There you are, if there isn't anything else I have many things to do.'

Odin broke the mental contact and stared once more at the board. He lifted up his eye patch and nervously rubbed the empty eye socket. It was the black pawn that concerned the All Father. It was about to be elevated in rank and then, oh yes, then things would truly become interesting. The Sicarius was once more in play. Would the black pawn change sides the way Warren had or would he continue to serve his dark masters?

The blue king was continuing with his goals and while he didn't agree with his manners he did appreciate his passion. Though passion can blind one to threats in your peripheral vision, he hoped Nick paused long enough to look around. He rubbed his hands together and laughed.

"Finally, things are getting interesting." Odin said aloud. "Ravens... Wolves... it is time to go to war!"