Overlord

30

Consciousness crawled back into Dig O’Donnell’s brain and he gagged, certain he was going to vomit. He coughed up only bitter bile, and spat it onto the cold rock. When was the last time he ate? As he sucked in his next breath, green and black visions scattered past his mind’s eye, the kaleidoscopic view of a hundred mantics, still hiding in the darkness all around him, and concealed in dozens of other places throughout the network of tunnels and caves.

He tried to remember what had happened, why he had fallen. He recalled the touch of that ancient mind, that all-powerful consciousness. He recalled how it had threatened to burst his brain like a squeezed pimple. With a sob, he pushed the thoughts from his mind, staggered to his feet and stumbled in blind circles. The mantics’ sight flooded him again and that sighing, whispering voice goaded him on. As if drawn by a magnet, he leaned sideways and staggered with the motion lest he fall. Before he knew it, he was running along dark passages, taking turns and forks as if a native to the way.

Diiiiiigggbyyyyyyy…

Diiiiiiiggggbbyyyyyyyyy…

He kept going, down and down and down. And then he emerged into a space that was wide and cold and huge. The rock above his head curved up and away, rising to hundreds of feet above where it gave off am unearthly glow from the vine-like growths and clusters of bright green crystals. And below it, spreading as far as Dig could see, was a sea of glowing green. The Jade Sea. The water itself sparkled, illuminated from within by ethereal light.

This was the place. The presence lived here, that ecstatic being. Seeking to bask in its manifestation, Dig moved to the edge of the water and dipped his finger in. He anticipated the action would lead him to feel closer to the presence, but it didn’t. Frowning, he moved forward, up to his knees in the water, the rock solid beneath his feet. It was cool, but not freezing. He sensed dozens of mantics draw up behind him, saw himself from behind through their eyes.

Then his mind and stomach lurched and he saw himself from inside the water, standing there, the idol hugged still to his chest. From directly below, he saw himself through the eyes of a fish that swam up to his feet, even as he himself watched the fish approach.

He was Digby and he was the fish. He grabbed it, or perhaps it swam into his hands, he didn’t know which and the distinction was irrelevant anyway. He raised the fish, glittering and dripping from the water, and took a bite. He howled as he felt teeth tearing through him, screamed in agony and shuddered in ecstasy simultaneously as tears rolled down his face.

And then the great presence took hold of him, controlled him, and he gave himself to it willingly, gladly, with abandon. He dropped to his knees, the glittering water lapping about his waist, and received the visions of the mighty awareness.