Transistor IV

048/365

The spherical rip in reality tugs everything, dragging increasingly larger objects and landscape in as it gains strength.

Seth’s going to destroy everything within his zone in a fit of madness. His instability will turn out to be the end of Isaiah and Sarah if they don’t act fast.

Just before they reach Seth he divides into two. One stepping out of the other still focused on the black hole. This copy is distorted. Somehow different. Subtle deformities. The eyes aren’t quite right. The nose isn’t quite right. It’s a monster. He spreads his arms out and a glowing yellow field of light divides him from Isaiah and Sarah. They stare at each other, as if communicating a telepathic message they both face the field and fire, but nothing happens.

“Can you move us through?” Sarah asks.

“It’s too risky. His transmutations are extremely high caliber,” Isaiah says scanning the energy field. “I don’t understand how most of his designs work. They might be incompatible with mine, going through one another. Our atoms could scatter on the other end. Or worse, they can recompose us incorrectly!” Isaiah says.

“So, what’s the move?” She adjusts hair bun and dress.

“You’ll have to protect your body on the way in while I disrupt the field from out here,” Seth says, “I won’t be able to cross in, but if you can get this field to drop I can help you.”

Isaiah focuses on the energy field. He glows and the field ripples before him spreading further out each time until the field itself moves like the ocean. Sarah crosses to the other side using a protection prayer. Immediately the field is dropped and this monstrosity on the other end grabs Sarah right through the protection prayer.

Sarah puts her palm against his chest as he lifts her by the neck. She fires a blast of holy energy at him and holds it, but he doesn’t flinch. The beam spreads out against his body and flies out to their sides.

“Weave your attacks together!” Ref says. “It might be enough to paralyze him and give you a chance!”

Isaiah aims his hands at Seth’s head and fires.

The blast, like Sarah’s, does seemingly nothing.

“I’ll nuke him!” Isaiah says, running up to Seth and wrapping his arms around Seth’s upper body. Isaiah glows brightly and an explosion swallows the light and turns it red with enraged fire. The blast swallows everything nearby. Somewhere inside the fireball it made Seth dropped Sarah.

Sarah flies out of the fireball propelled by the energy blast.

Isaiah wasn’t fortunate enough to escape too. The blast clears and now he’s held by Seth.

Sarah stands before the church. She begins to pray. It’s a chant and it repeats the same line. “Blessed be weak minds, but harmless remain. Help me control this being in pain!” she says.

Both the original and the copy lose focus and turn to the girl. The black hole vanishes as if it were never there. The copy of Seth fades out of existence and Isaiah is dropped where he stands.

Seth fades out from before Isaiah and appears before Sarah. He backhands her off her feet and into the church.

“If the apostle has entered the church, follow her!” Ref says. Isaiah doesn’t even question his order. He sinks into the ground and pops up by the large church doors. Then again further inside, between Sarah and Seth. He runs right up to Sarah.

“Follow me!” she says. “We need to lead him downstairs! To the dampening field!”

Seth appears before the two of them.

Sarah grabs Isaiah’s hand and then sink away from Seth, showing up behind him, by the stairs down to the chamber.

Seth’s dashing behind them. Moving too quickly and the stairwell being too narrow, he slams right into them and the three go tumbling down into the chamber. They spread out. Sarah runs over to the scripture dampening field and continues to pray.

Seth runs right up to her.

Isaiah falls through the floor, flings out of the wall to the dampening field and then both sink into the floor on the other side of it. Slams right into the wall where Isaiah was held earlier.

Jumping out of the wall with Isaiah, Sarah creates a barrier around the dampening field trapping Seth inside powerless. He immediately passes out.

“Get out of there before the priests regroup!” Ref says.