Austin experienced a jolt of fear as he felt a door open in the Void, letting thousands of Fungi ships pour in. Sending his consciousness to meet with the Watchers, he implored them to stop the invaders from spreading any further into human space. Once again however the Watchers insisted on keeping their neutrality, stating that the matters of the physical world were none of their concern. Austin was sure that they had the power to save humanity.
Already the Watchers had taught him how to convert the power of his soul into living energy. They had taught him how, in hopes that he would become more like them. But, no matter how many times Austin tried, his existence would always revert back to his spiritual form. It had, however, given him a weapon; each time he tried to convert himself, a wave of heat energy was released, strong enough to incinerate a dozen Fungi warships. The problem was that the Fungi fleet was more than a hundred times larger then what he could destroy, as it took a considerable amount of time for him to recover.
Austin was also learning from the Watchers how to convert energy into matter, which was an even harder trick. When the Watchers had told him it was possible, Austin had immediately hoped he would one day be able to build himself a new body... that belief was soon shattered when he was told that in order to convert energy into matter, he had to be able to picture each and every molecule in his mind while doing it. Considering how complex a single living cell is, Austin did not think he could even build an amoeba for him to inhabit let alone another human body. As it was, the best he had been able to do was create tiny salt statutes of himself which he let float aimlessly in the Void. Still, he hoped to be able to give one to Vard the next time his oath brother entered the Void, just to prove he was still trying to come back.
When he saw that his pleading with the Watchers was once again going nowhere, Austin started to leave when he felt a powerful rush of living energy dart past him.
"What was that?" Austin asked the Watchers. "Was that one of you?"
"No lost one... we don't know what it is. All we know is that its life force is much greater than our own, and that it is scared."
"Is it a creature like you, a Void life form?"
"No... it entered the Void like you did. It came from the physical world," The Watchers replied.
"But it is more powerful than you?"
"Yes... but its power is wild. The creature does not know what it is doing and is too scared to listen to us."
Austin, having a good idea of how powerful the Watchers were, could not help but see an opportunity to help Vard. The Watcher had refused to help humanity but maybe if he helped this new creature Austin might be able to get its aid to help defeat the invaders. "May I try to calm him down?"
"You may, lost one, but be careful. The creature is frightened and might attack."
"The things I do for love," Austin chuckled before following the trail of energy the creature had left behind.
Austin did not know how long he chased the unknown being, only that the creature seemed to be running with no sense of purpose or direction. As he came closer to it, the taint of fear became thick. The creature was not just scared, it was terrified. It did not know where it was, nor did it have any concept of what it was. All it had was a need, a need to find the source of its existence so its questions could be answered.
Eventually Austin began to sense a new emotion from the life form, curiosity. It knew that Austin was following him. At first this had only scared it more but as it examined Austin, it sensed that such a small and weak being could not harm it. Slowly Austin caught up with the creature till it was just outside the reach of his soul. The life form then stopped running and circled around Austin until Austin found himself surrounded by a hollow sphere of energy.
"Hello," Austin sent out, trying to remain as calm as possible.
The life form did not reply verbally. It did send ribbons of energy into the sphere, probing Austin's soul. Then, the life form spoke, sending its thoughts out like a faint whisper. "You are like me. Did you create me?"
"No I didn't create you," Austin replied honestly, taken aback by the near child like tone of the life form's thoughts.
"Do you know what I am, what my purpose is?"
"No, I don't... sorry." As Austin sent out those thoughts, he felt the life form begin to move away, a deep sadness radiating from it. "Don't go," Austin sent out afraid the being would run away again.
"I need to find my creator. I've searched and searched but have not found him."
"Maybe I can help you find your creator... two heads are always better than one," Austin joked.
All at once the creature stopped moving, sending a sharp bolt of energy into Austin. For Austin it felt as if his soul was on fire as the creature probed his memory. When the probe left him, Austin felt weaker than when trying to convert his soul into energy.
"What did you just do?" Austin whispered.
"I did not understand what you meant when you said two heads are better than one." The creature said innocently.
"You could have just asked me," Austin replied as he felt his soul wrapped by a warm much more gentle energy.
"I'm sorry if I hurt you Austin."
"So I guess you learned my name while you were poking around."
"I know everything now... everything in your mind that is," The life form chuckled.
"So I guess there is no point in telling you any of my jokes, you already know the punch lines."
"Yes," the life form said with a childish giggle. "Can you do something for me?"
"Of course... if it is in my power to give it to you."
"Can you give me a name... a human name?"
"If you would like."
"I w ould," The life form said eagerly.
"Well my first boyfriend's name was Will... how does that sound?"
"I like it... I like the emotions it brings out of you."
"Then I will call you Will... or William if you prefer."
"No I like Will."
"Then Will you shall be."
"Thank you Austin," Will replied as Austin felt the energy wrapped around him become warmer. "Now... shall we help your friends?"
"What?"
"Stop the bad things from hurting your people."
"So you know about the Fungi fleet?"
"Yes... it was one of the first things I saw in your mind. It is what's scaring you."
"Do you think you can stop them?"
"I believe I can... if you help me."
"Then we better hurry. Do you know where the gateway to Earth is?"
"Yes... it is where I entered the Void."
"Then we might be able to help each other after all... if you came from Earth then the answer to who created you will be there as well."
"You think that is possible?" Will asked hopefully.
"It's a place to start."
Held tightly by Will, Austin watched as they raced across the Void at an incredible speed. The longer they traveled; Austin began to realize how long he must have been chasing Will, making him start to worry that they would not arrive in time.
Well folks, just sent the third book of the Centurion Series off to the publisher. I should hear back from them in 8-12 weeks so let's keep our fingers crossed. Another story I've been working on, The Children of Mir is going through some heavy revision with the help of some friends. It's been retitled and once it is polished to a gleam it will be sent off to the publisher as well so for any of you who would like to see the rough draft version of what will be a new series, head on over to the yahoo group before I end up having to take it down. As for The Centurion and The Academy books that have been published, they can be found on Amazon for those interested in a good fantasy epic. Take care.
JMH
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/adultwritingworkshop/