Collide Gamer

Maria Esmeralda Espinosa took the seat where her father had been seconds prior. She revealed a bit of her smoothly shaven leg for a moment, putting the sandal back on her foot, before the length of her skirt covered it all again. “This is the part where you start explaining yourself,” the Latina stated. “I assume your mouth is for more than kissing too many wives.”

‘No such thing as too many wives,’ John almost said in response. The woman before him was powerful, no doubt about it, attractive as well, and she had a clear attitude. Not a single second passed where she did not muster him with a mixture of calculation and disdain. In other words, she was pressing all the right buttons.

Which was a problem on multiple levels.

“I should finally introduce myself, for propriety,” the Gamer said instead. “I am John Newman, these are Ehtra, Nightingale, Claire, Lyndell and Nahoa.”

“Pleasure to have you invade my home,” Esmeralda drawled.

“Do you like the coffee?” Maria added, not hiding the venom in her tone.

“Yes,” Lyndell responded. She was the only one to drink it. John might have joined her out of politeness, had he been in his real body.

“You!” Ehtra’s voice suddenly cracked through the air. An accusing finger pointed straight at Esmeralda. “I can sense your attempt at deceit. Cease.”

“An attempt at deceit, hmm?” Claire put her hand on the backrest of the couch. A spider skittered its way up from the furniture to the back of her hand. She raised the little thing to her ear and listened. “I see… illusions, maybe? You tried to sneak them out while faking their presence?”

Esmeralda subtly tensed. She was good at hiding what she was thinking, but not good enough. Talent was ultimately just a multiplier on experience, not a substitute for it.

“We ought to clear the air,” Nightingale raised her voice. “We are not here to intimidate you nor do we seek combat. Once we have made our statements, we will leave you to your affairs.”

“Is that so?”

“I gave your father my word, for whatever that may be worth to you.” John folded his hands over his chest. “Let’s start with this: what do you know of the world you have stumbled into?”

“Enough,” Esmeralda asserted.

“Certainly, your capability of avoiding me has proven that much.”

“Oh, spare me the empty compliments, you chicken-breasted mongrel.”

John’s smile dropped. “Your courage is commendable, but you better remember who you’re dealing with. Nahoa, Ehtra, could you two keep a watch on her family for me?” The two maids agreed and left the room. Esmeralda kept glaring at him the entire time.

“There goes your pretense at niceness.”

“I am responding to how I am treated.”

“You invaded my home, you son of a whore!”

“DO NOT!” John shouted, only for Lyndell to put a hand on his shoulder. His forlorn lady gave him a slight, sorrowful smile. It was enough to make him slowly inhale. Rage churned inside, an emotion slowly settling, disturbed suddenly like the mud of a riverbed. “Do not bring up my parents,” he hissed, angry but in control. “They were nothing but kind people. If you wish to insult me, insult me.”

Esmeralda exchanged a glance with her grandmother. Their postures slightly relaxed. Maria crossed her arms. “No one that honours their parents that much can be absolutely bad.”

“You would know that I cared deeply for them if you knew enough,” John responded sarcastically. “So, care to tell me now what pieces you have so I can give you the proper introduction into the Abyss?”

Fingers dancing over the armrest of her armchair, Esmeralda contemplated for a few more seconds, then let out a long sigh. “Alright, fine,” she relented. “About two weeks ago, all of us were struck by some… piercing migraine and then we found that we had magical powers. It was all very confusing at first. Then I was visited by a green-haired woman that said she was called Gaia. She explained to me the Abyss and the foundations of my powers.”

“Interesting,” John commented. “I suppose given the circumstances, Gaia is weighing in more to make sure fewer people have to get smote.”

“What is she?” Esmeralda asked.

“The supreme deity of this world.”

“Blasphemy!” Maria weighed in, while her granddaughter clutched her cross.

“You can hold onto your faith, I am simply presenting the fact of her role in our understanding of the universe. Gaia is the one that dictates the rules that keep the Abyss and the mundane separate. She is the source of Illusion Barriers and of the ill fates that befall those that mess with regular people using magic. Some call her the true goddess of the universe, others do not.” John kept it there, not mentioning what he knew about all of this being, most likely, Gaia’s dream. It wouldn’t have been a productive addition to this conversation. “So, you know the basics of the Abyss. What about Fusion?”

“You are an emperor who has ruled this continent for several thousand years, out to oppress us in the name of fascism,” Esmeralda summarized. “Also, you have more women than brain cells. The Lord does not approve of this faithlessness.”

John was so stunned by the series of accusations that the only sound that escaped his lips was, “Huh?”

Nightingale raised a hand to her lips and chuckled. “Let me pierce these shadows,” the harpy said. “How did you acquire this intel?”

“It came to Theo in a dream,” Esmerelda stated firmly.

‘So that makes one of her brothers the seer,’ John thought.

“He has gotten several figures mixed,” the goddess of the night explained. “In Europe, Romulus has governed his empire for thousands of years. In South America, the Purest Front was, until recently, governed by Mengele. Their new leadership is uncertain. While it can be said that our John has more women than brain cells, his emperorship is recent – as is his own entry into the Abyss.”

“I’m a Latebloomer like you,” John added. “I entered the Abyss in the summer of 2017.”

“Huuuh?” Now it was Esmeralda’s turn to be surprised. “Make up a better lie! You expect me to believe you wrapped 6 women around your fingers in 2 years?”

“It’s closer to 30… no, I do not claim to be moral.”

“Oh, sweet merciful Lord.” Maria put a hand to her chest. “Hide your daughters and wives, Asmodeus has risen from his corner of hell!”

“Yes, yes, I have heard it all.” John waved off. “Let’s stay on topic. You, Esmeralda, are also a Latebloomer. I don’t know why your powers didn’t develop sooner or maybe what happened two weeks ago effectively imbued you with this power.”

“What did happen two weeks ago?” Esmeralda wanted to know.

“The goddess of chaos was betrayed by a man she thought she had broken into complete submission and he gave up his wretched life to scatter his power to as much of mankind as he could to maximize the anarchy in the world.” John made a poignant gesture with his hands. “That one was unusual even for me. You won’t hear sentences like that every day.”

Esmeralda looked at her hands. “Our powers come from… chaos?”

“Technically yes, practically no. What was moved to you was pure magical potential, power in its most arcane form. We verified that multiple times over.” John shook his head. “The point is that you are strong and you aren’t the only ones. Fusion is an empire. If that is so distasteful to you, I will not prevent you from leaving this country and finding somewhere else to carve out your own fortune. I can’t, however, let you exist in ignorance of the nation. You’ll be too powerful to do so.”

The Latina took all of that in. “We’ve been crushed under the boot of this uncaring city for long enough, I won’t be part of some empire next.”

“Well, as I said, it is your-“

“No!” she didn’t even let him finish, instead shooting up from her seat. The look in her eyes was a mixture of various emotions. “I do not believe you, and even if you tell the truth, I won’t have my family pack and leave because of you. I am challenging you to a fight, and if I win, you’ll leave my city alone!”

“I don’t think this is a wise move…” John warned.

Esmeralda was already heading for the door, ripping it open and only stopping to glare over her shoulder. “You’re slower than a snail in a turtle race! Come on, ‘emperor’, we have a fate to settle!”

‘Want me to take care of this, Master creature?’ Ehtra asked mentally.

‘I think I can take one inexperienced Latebloomer, even in this body.’ John rose from his seat. The deck was stacked in his favour anyhow. Observe told him exactly what level she was and, for all of the power she had absorbed in the Great Re-Alignment of the Abyss, she still had to grow into her shoes. At level 300, she would have to surprise him immensely. Something made that much harder when he was already aware what her Innate Ability was.

They stepped out into the empty street. It was not a chilly night. The Californian weather kept the temperatures several degrees over the freezing point. To call it warm would also have been incorrect. It just wasn’t as cold as John expected the end of December to be.

Her family and his harem followed them. Dramatically, Esmeralda raised her hand above her head on the sidewalk. John let the created Illusion Barrier pull him inside.

Admittedly, he had not expected that the feisty Latina would immediately twirl into a spinning kick. The attack caught him by surprise, yet failed to connect. Moments before her shin could crash into his side, he loosened a Blast Ray that blew up the sidewalk beneath Esmeralda’s feet.

‘Violins?’ John thought, a harmoniously shrill sound filling the air. It operated in harmony with the artistic twirls of Esmeralda’s backsteps. Each one left an imprint on the pavement, burning with golden flames.

The strings came to a dramatic stop alongside the motions of the dancer. Esmeralda stood, five steps removed, balancing expertly on her toes in anticipation of her next step. Her hands were raised in a flourish, a pose befitting a pause in a waltz.

“Do you know why they call me the Gamer?” John asked.

“Because you keep toying with the hearts of women?” Esmeralda leapt forwards. She only crossed half of the distance between them, yet her landing impacted him all the same. The ground beneath him was marked by a golden outline. A short-lived warning that this body’s physical Stats could not outpace.

The ground beneath him turned into a pillar, shooting itself and him upwards. It stopped after a few metres. By the laws of momentum, he did not. He was thrown up into the air, just stable enough to see Esmeralda’s dance resume. Accelerating violins gave a musical score to a bombardment of swallows, formed from the rocks and sticks of a nearby garden, fluttering on burning wings towards him and singing in the lovely tunes of a piano.

‘Two should do,’ John thought. The Air Sprites manifested fully just in time. As John had hoped, the summoned creatures looked less goofy when he wasn’t fighting for the laughs. Living tornadoes with eyes made of shining blue light, they whirled around, intercepting the swallows one after another. “Subdue her!” he then gave his second order.

Esmeralda saw the two Sprites coming towards her. The music reached a crescendo. Her steps were so fast now, her red dress was like a red hurricane of its own. Indeed, it expanded until the entirety of the Latina’s form was consumed by it – as were the two Sprites. Pulled into the vortex, they were turned around and around until magical forces tore them apart.

John landed on top of the pillar and waited patiently while Esmeralda slowed back down. She was breathing quicker now, her chest rising and falling in a rhythm that set the pace for the now quiet work of the invisible strings.

“Latebloomer’s Innate Abilities are affected by their personality and preferences. I was, what you could charitably call, a shut-in nerd!” he shouted.

“I hear an implied ‘loser’ in that statement!” Esmeralda added.

‘She does not lose a beat to be sassy.’ A simple gesture accompanied the completion of another spell. The summoned Hero leapt off the pillar and at the Latebloomer. “All I’m saying is that I think that makes you the Dancer!”

“Flattering!” Esmeralda did not get out any further words, too busy dodging the rapid spear thrusts that were now coming her way.

Had the Hero meant to kill her, some of those strikes would have connected. Its order was to distract her and the morality these summons had by their description did the rest. Each stab was aimed at her extremities. Centre mass was much easier to hit, especially when the target continued to dance consistently, turning the ground she retreated across into a myriad of spikes.

“Latebloomers are really quite scary,” John continued their dialogue. “We call my ability a Wish Fulfilment Engine, because it allows me to work towards a payoff. Once the system has determined that I have done the adequate amount of work to deserve something, it will give me the option to take it. There’s limitations to that, just like there’s limitations to you!”

“You have no idea what I do!”

“But I do!”

The Dancer had the same problem as her cousin: she was inexperienced. When the Hero suddenly stopped his assault, she hesitated and that was all the time John needed to suddenly step up to her. He hadn’t just waited on top of the pillar.

“You animate matter through your will.” Reflexively, Esmeralda whirled around, attempting to send him flying again. He had other plans, grabbing one of her hands mid-motion. “One could call it reality manipulation or simple matter control, doesn’t matter much. Fact is that the physical world is yours to change. That wasn’t an illusion earlier, you were just faking sounds. Inept, basic – your powers grow sharper and more powerful when you dance.”

Esmeralda tried to throw him off while maintaining her steps. It didn’t work, John had too much experience dancing with a variety of ladies in a multitude of styles for this to throw him off. The violins around them rose into an angry shrieking. Every step, every twirl they made together was immediately followed by the ground bursting into tar-toothed jaws that would have crunched on him.

Still, John kept pace. He held her by the wrist, ensuring he was part of her dance. She tried to tackle him, but his broad chest was too much for her frame to overwhelm. She wasn’t short, but he was tall and thus she barely reached his chin.

Instinct had him put his hand on Esmeralda’s hip. The music began to change in that moment. He took control of the dance. Angry shrillness was reined into the aggressively pleasing melody of El Tango de Roxanne. Though the music betrayed a difference in thoughts, the dance remained deadly in intention. The ground and the air were moved by their every twirl, leaving the poorly maintained road as a series of impossible spirals. Distorted matter was their stage. Her red dress was their lighting, the fabric glowing from within, flickering like fire with a warmth of the Mediterranean sun.

“Your power has three restrictions,” he told her.

“Oh yeah?” Esmeralda responded in a husky voice.

“It is telegraphed through the light and flame of your soul, burning bright.” John was now fully leading the dance, doing as the taller partner should in a dance. The pace he set was rapid. Even two experts would have stumbled over each other the first time, yet the Gamer and the Dancer moved with shared grace. “It is limited through the breath in your body.” Her nostrils were flaring with every breath now. “And it stops when your mind is distracted.”

Beneath the starlit sky, untouched by the light of the city outside the Illusion Barrier, he lowered Esmeralda. Flexible and trained, she relied not only on his strong hand on her back for balance. A leg wrapped around his waist, holding him tight. Her spine was curved to fit into the bend of his leaned torso. Her head was tilted back, exposing her neck. She stared at him with half-lidded, green eyes.

What did not fit the usual ending pose of the tango was the position of John’s other hand. He had released her wrist. His palm pointed at her head, the silver light of a charging Arc Lance hovering before it. “I would say this is my victory?” he suggested.

Esmeralda grabbed the back of his head and mashed her lips on his.