The Geekorium

{{% voiceinthedark %}}All Torim were born with great power{{% /voiceinthedark %}}

{{% voiceinthedark %}}But those below hummed with it, exuded it like a bright light from their being.{{% /voiceinthedark %}}

{{% voiceinthedark %}}It may have been an evolutionary trait, or simply that these were the Torim that embraced the power, revelled in it.{{% /voiceinthedark %}}

{{% voiceinthedark %}}The power was similar to that which you posses. It understood all things it touched, and embraced all it understood.{{% /voiceinthedark %}}

{{% voiceinthedark %}}Those who possessed it strongly would not fight when the others cast them down.{{% /voiceinthedark %}}

{{% voiceinthedark %}}“And here they wait”.{{% /voiceinthedark %}}

“I sense disharmony.”

{{% voiceinthedark %}}This is not a world at peace.{{% /voiceinthedark %}}

Rex let his awareness expand, encompassing the planet.

He sensed a rift between two peoples. He couldn’t really see much of a difference, at least not at the deepest levels he could feel them. Pulling back, trying to focus on the conflict, he could see one group were more fearful of the other.

Geographically, the group the others most feared were separated and underground. He sensed a familiar power concentrated there.

“These people call themselves the Torim,” Rex said, realisation dawning, “and those underground… They are the Torim below.”

“How many times have I died?”

“And why is it, that with time and space bending to my will, I still keep forgetting stuff like this?”

{{% voiceinthedark %}}The power of the Torimbalo is not meant to be used by consciousnesses such as yours. The effects can be unpredictable.{{% /voiceinthedark %}}

“So who is the Torimbalo for then?” Rex asked as he wandered around the base of the enormous stone hut.

{{% voiceinthedark %}}It is not a tool for anyone’s use. The power was corrupted and shaped into the Ortrix.{{% /voiceinthedark %}}

“Maybe I can stop that happening,” Rex replied.

{{% voiceinthedark %}}If only.{{% /voiceinthedark %}}

The Other travelled with him.

{{% voiceinthedark %}}What will you do with it when you have followed the Ortrix to it’s source?{{% /voiceinthedark %}}

Rex pondered.

“I suppose I’ll see if it can be destroyed, or use it in some way to take Jones’ power away from him again. If I can’t do that, maybe I can stop it being made in the first place.”

{{% voiceinthedark %}}A sound plan,{{% /voiceinthedark %}} his companion replied, {{% voiceinthedark %}}although perhaps more difficult than you expect.{{% /voiceinthedark %}}

“No doubt. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned since I died, it’s that nothing worthwhile is easy.”

The pair sped on into the past.

{{% timeswap %}} {{% timeline 1 %}}Rex awoke to a stunning headache.{{% /timeline %}} {{% timeline 2 %}}Rex awoke to brilliant darkness.{{% /timeline %}} {{% /timeswap %}}

{{% timeswap %}} {{% timeline 1 %}}It was as if he had woken up after a night at a tavern with The Professor. The world still spun an lurched around him, although the cold steel floor underneath him was perfectly still.{{% /timeline %}} {{% timeline 2 %}}It was as if he were floating in the depths of space yet in the centre of a sun. Coldness, warmth, life and death covered him, wrapped him like a cloak and he gasped for breath and found he had no use for it.{{% /timeline %}} {{% /timeswap %}}

{{% timeswap %}} {{% timeline 1 %}}He remembered nothing, felt as though he might recall something and tried to understand it.{{% /timeline %}} {{% timeline 2 %}}He remembered death, felt as though it might be familiar and tried to understand it.{{% /timeline %}} {{% /timeswap %}}

{{% timeswap %}} {{% timeline 1 %}}He remembered meeting himself, excitement welling up within as they prepared to go after Mondex. His future self had said Mondex was after him, but that was all he could remember.{{% /timeline %}} {{% timeline 2 %}}He remembered running with himself, fighting for his life with Mondex. He and his future self had split up, but when he found Mondex he had been alone.{{% /timeline %}} {{% /timeswap %}}

{{% timeswap %}} {{% timeline 1 %}}What had happened?{{% /timeline %}} {{% timeline 2 %}}He’d been shot!{{% /timeline %}} {{% /timeswap %}}

{{% timeswap %}} {{% timeline 1 %}}Why couldn’t he remember?{{% /timeline %}} {{% timeline 2 %}}That son of a bitch!{{% /timeline %}} {{% /timeswap %}}

{{% timeswap %}} {{% timeline 1 %}}And where in space was he?{{% /timeline %}} {{% timeline 2 %}}Now where was he?{{% /timeline %}} {{% /timeswap %}}

{{% timeswap %}} {{% timeline 1 %}}A voice spoke to him, comfortingly familiar.{{% /timeline %}} {{% timeline 2 %}}A voice spoke to him, oddly familiar.{{% /timeline %}} {{% /timeswap %}}

{{% timeswap %}} {{% timeline 1 %}}“Rex!” exclaimed The Professor, “where in blazes have you been? And why in space are you naked?”{{% /timeline %}} {{% timeline 2 %}}{{% voiceinthedark %}}You have cheated death. This is where your soul resides when you are not visiting the mortal plain.{{% /voiceinthedark %}}{{% /timeline %}} {{% /timeswap %}}

{{% timeswap %}} {{% timeline 1 %}}“Stop shouting man!” pleaded Rex, holding his head in his hands as he sat up. “I haven’t the faintest idea.”{{% /timeline %}} {{% timeline 2 %}}“I have to go back I need me! I mean, future me needs me! And the Princess!”{{% /timeline %}} {{% /timeswap %}}

{{% timeswap %}} {{% timeline 1 %}}“I see you’ve been hit too,” said his old friend, “I’ve just come from what’s left of my lab, and I can’t remember much beyond the night you left for the Shebat game three months ago.”{{% /timeline %}} {{% timeline 2 %}}{{% voiceinthedark %}}You are quite correct, although not for the reasons you think. This is not the last time we will meet, but you are not to know of this. It is not your time.{{% /voiceinthedark %}}{{% /timeline %}} {{% /timeswap %}}

{{% timeswap %}} {{% timeline 1 %}}“Three months!” Rex felt himself go cold and warm and felt his mind on the edge of madness.{{% /timeline %}} {{% timeline 2 %}}Before he could respond, Rex felt himself dragged from within the cold/warm cloak and felt his mind give way to madness and terror.{{% /timeline %}} {{% /timeswap %}}

{{% timeswap %}} {{% timeline 1 %}}“Who did this to us?”{{% /timeline %}} {{% timeline 2 %}}Rex awoke to a stunning headache.{{% /timeline %}} {{% /timeswap %}}

{{% voiceinthedark %}}You understand now, don’t you?{{% /voiceinthedark %}}

Rex did understand. This life after death offered the chance to see the universe as he’d never seen it before. He was beginning to see beyond the surface of things to their very structure. He was astonished to find he was starting to understand it.

If only he could focus.

Rex concentrated and began forming himself again. He struggled for a moment to remember how to start, but it was easier this time once he remembered.

“It’s tough getting your mind to switch back and forth from the real world to here, huh?” suggested Rex.

{{% voiceinthedark %}}Indeed.{{% /voiceinthedark %}}

He was not getting the hang of this.

{{% voiceinthedark %}}I had hoped to help you master your mortal form.{{% /voiceinthedark %}}

They were back in the endless nothingness. The other was a presence once more. Rex’s consciousness recoiled from the memory of death, and the lingering sting of the impact.

{{% voiceinthedark %}}I apologise for causing you distress,{{% /voiceinthedark %}} said the voice, {{% voiceinthedark %}}I sensed you on the cusp of taking control of your form.{{% /voiceinthedark %}}

“Well you misjudged the height of the cliff,” responded Rex, bitterly.

At least his discomfort was gone

The figure before him was a stranger, but someone vaguely familiar. He had thought at first he knew him, or was it a her?

Looking away for a second, he could not recall a single distinguishing feature.

“Who are you?” he asked, looking back.

The other hadn’t changed, still looked the same, but Rex still had trouble recalling him even while staring straight at her.

{{% voiceinthedark %}}“I am no one I remember,”{{% /voiceinthedark %}} came the familiar voice from the unfamiliar source, more resonant and somehow younger - though still ageless.

“You are a very confusing person,” Rex said, turning back to look out over the sea.

Rex turned quickly on his heel

“Aha”

Rex strained to see the other, now he was back in the real world but it was proving tricky. Back in the other realm, the presence was there, like a change in pressure - feel-able if not physical - and somehow natural. Here on the cliff, the cold wind in his hair and sunshine on his face, the constant nearness of his non-physical companion felt unnerving. Rex wondered if this was what it felt like to be haunted.

“Can you stay still so I can finally get a look at you?” he demanded of the other.

{{% voiceinthedark %}}I assure you I am quite still,{{% /voiceinthedark %}} the voice replied, {{% voiceinthedark %}}but I understand your discomfort. Allow me to make myself physical.{{% /voiceinthedark %}}

Rex waited.

A figure solidified before him.

“You’re not who I expected,” said Rex.

While the voice explained, Rex began forming his arms.

“So this Torimbalo is some sort of artefact?” he asked as the voice finished. “Something that imbues power through what? Touch?”

{{% voiceinthedark %}}It is not a physical object, any more than you are now. The power is normally given by another that wields it, but now the power has been taken forcefully.{{% /voiceinthedark %}}

“Jones found a way to steal something that has no physical form?” Rex was impressed despite himself.

{{% voiceinthedark %}}In a manner of speaking. Because of the nature of the power some of it was given to you at the moment you left the physical realm.{{% /voiceinthedark %}}

“When I was vaporised you mean? So Jones is not dead either? What does that mean? You said I have powers, does Jones have powers too? How do I stop him using them?”

Rex’s arms and hands had dissipated with the avalanche of worry that filled his mind.

{{% voiceinthedark %}}Do not be concerned,{{% /voiceinthedark %}} the voice comforted, {{% voiceinthedark %}}we have much time.{{% /voiceinthedark %}}

{{% voiceinthedark %}}Do not be dismayed.{{% /voiceinthedark %}}

The voice was commanding, reassuring.

{{% voiceinthedark %}}Control over the physical takes time, concentration, patience, willpower.{{% /voiceinthedark %}}

Rex willed his hands to appear. Concentrating heavily, he spoke slowly and carefully.

“Tell me more about the Torimbalo,” he asked, still focussed on his hands.

As the voice spoke, he watched his hands, forcing them to remain whole even as he tried to follow the words of the other.

{{% voiceinthedark %}}The Torimbalo was forged a million lifetimes ago, under the surface of an unimportant planet far from here.{{% /voiceinthedark %}}

Rex focused on his hands.

He was startled to see that he could… see… them.

“I have hands!” he exclaimed at the other, but as he thought he watched them blur and slide back into the æther.

{{% voiceinthedark %}}Before you can return to the mortal realm,{{% /voiceinthedark %}} the voice explained, {{% voiceinthedark %}}you must master your physical form.{{% /voiceinthedark %}}

“How?” asked Rex.

{{% voiceinthedark %}}Impose your will on the universe.{{% /voiceinthedark %}}

In the silence, Rex concentrated. He imagined he saw his fingertips, saw sworls of prints. He watched fingernails form, knuckles, and scars from a thousand battles. His hands grew in front of him and he flexed them slightly and felt their strength, their permanence.

{{% voiceinthedark %}}You are learning quickly,{{% /voiceinthedark %}} came the voice after a hundred years of silence.

Rex started.

“Huh?” he grunted as he watched his hands explode into nothingness once more.

Rex felt a sensation he soon identified as “solidifying”.

As the voice spoke and the other became more visible in front of him, he felt something. A warmth, a wholeness starting in the place he would have called his chest.

“Will I be human?” the thought came unbidden.

{{% voiceinthedark %}}Of course you will{{% /voiceinthedark %}}, answered the voice.

{{% voiceinthedark %}}But you will be more. You will have power beyond what you can imagine. Power that many seek.{{% /voiceinthedark %}}

“Jones,” said Rex.

{{% voiceinthedark %}}Yes.{{% /voiceinthedark %}}

The voice was taking shape inside his mind.

Each time it spoke, Rex imagined he saw a dark form slowly growing clearer in front of him.

{{% voiceinthedark %}}The Torimbalo keeps your soul rooted and whole when you die. Over time you will learn to master your new form and will be able to return to the mortal realm.{{% /voiceinthedark %}}

“You mean like a ghost?” Rex asked incredulously.

{{% voiceinthedark %}}I mean more than mortal.{{% /voiceinthedark %}}

“I don’t know what that means,” said Rex, bewildered.

{{% voiceinthedark %}}I am another such as you.{{% /voiceinthedark %}}

The voice spoke in a grave yet comforting manner.

“Is this the afterlife?” asked Rex, not believing it to be possible.

{{% voiceinthedark %}}Not as you are thinking,{{% /voiceinthedark %}} the voice explained.

{{% voiceinthedark %}}You have cheated death, and this is where your soul resides when you are not visiting the mortal plain.{{% /voiceinthedark %}}

“But how…” began Rex, “but how is this possible?”

{{% voiceinthedark %}}The power of the Torimbalo.{{% /voiceinthedark %}}

Rex’s essence whirled and partially dissipated with the shock. He willed himself back together.

“That again?” he wondered.