Chapter 16: Betrayal

It only took a few minutes to walk to the edge of the Fount. Bright energy-laden Ether spurted up like water under high pressure from the rift in the ground in front of him. Jake saw what the others could not: the rift between the planes was only about a eighteen inches across, but the stream was nearly quarter of a mile across itself, and shot nearly ten times as high. Jake marveled at the care that must have gone into constructing such a well of power in the mortal plane.

Brent had described how one stepped into the fount and projected one's mind through the flow, and how this allowed one to see certain things that were hidden from the mortal eyes. This was the true power of the Seers- they knew things before they happened, were able to predict outcomes of various strategies... this had made them indispensable to the rest of the Practitioners.

A strange thing happened as Brent was explaining all of this. Seers started to accompany the motley crew on their short walk, some of them frowning at Brent's words, some of them almost gasping in shock at them. At first Jake thought they were offended at Brent's betrayal, but several different times Jake caught a look of what could only be described as wild hope in a Seer's visage before it was quickly muted and a blank expression drawn over once again. This was disturbing. Perhaps there was a danger that existed in seeking this vision. He asked as much.

Brent hesitated. The crowd that had gathered was suddenly holding their breaths. "... Yes." The throng seemed to tense even tighter. "There is a significant period of... extreme disorientation... that follows using the Second Sight. It is why most of us spend as little time in the Fount as possible. It is not pleasant." He looked Jake somberly in the eye. "But if you want to know the truth, there is no quicker or easier or surer way. The Fount allows you to see not only the future, but also the present and the past. What people are thinking, how they feel, the reasons behind their actions. Where things happened, how or why. It is, for a brief time, like being God."

Brent stopped abruptly, his feet mere inches away from the gentle lapping of the luminous liquid. He continued. "I cannot tell you that it is completely safe. Many Seers have gone mad, looking through the ether. Whether they could not handle so much truth, or it was not as they wished to see, or for some other odd reason, no mind returns completely untouched. It must be your conscious decision to enter."

Jake stared at the eruption at the center of the pool. This was the only way. He sighed. "I understand. Thank you for your help. Talamia, a word," he said, gesturing her close. As she drew near, Jake whispered softly in her ear, "Watch over me. This is your sacred duty as my trusted concubine. Trust no one, not even Brent. If something goes sour, get us away from here post haste. Got it?" Talamia nodded solemnly.

"Yes, My Lord. Come back to me safe." She whispered back, then gently kissed his ear. This elicited a smile from Jake, which grew wider at the looks of envy he received.

"Is there anything else I need to know?" He asked Brent.

Brent shook his head. "That's all there is to tell. Good luck."

Jake nodded, took off his shoes and socks, and began to wade towards the center of the Fount. It was slow going, as the ether was considerably thicker than water, but in about ten minutes he was at the edge of the gushing column of liquid, and up to his neck (literally) in ether. Taking a deep breath, he started to step inside when he heard a shriek from the shore line. Talamia! Turning about as fast as he could he was just in time to see Brent hurling a fireball at his concubine.

Rage erupted within Jake. Quickly he concentrated on flying to her rescue, but something strange happened. When he opened a flow to the ether, he felt a sharp twist in the currents about him; before he could even gasp in surprise, an unknown force ripped his feet from under him and sucked him spiraling into the rift. Immediately his will was under heavy assault. The energy crashed against his mind with numbing force again and again, and for the first time in a long while Jake found himself fighting a losing battle. After a brief struggle against the titanic blows battering down his will, he surrendered, and the bright green light mercifully faded to black.

... distortion... time?... moving... slowly, so slowly... forming... <how long? where am i?>... void lacks cohesion, substance, therefore I am not nothing... concepts slowly form...

... sounds... the sloppy sounds of a good, wet fuck. The moans, the gasps, the slapping of skin against skin... brightening... blurring, clearing... <am i dead?> an image of loveliness, Genny <mickey?>, her legs splayed wide, apparently giving to Jake <?> as good as she got, her eyes half closed in ecstasy as Jake <wait, then, who am i?> rammed into her with the full force of the DemiGod he was. And then it was gone...

... Jake's <my> mom, sucking his cock with a gusto that was difficult to believe, given her condition, massaging his <my> balls, moaning in pleasure as she squirmed about on Courtney's face... <what the hell is going on here?> Suddenly, she orgasmed, and bit hard. Jake <me!> roared in rage, and blew his <mine! no, goddammit, no!> mother and sister to smithereens with a blast of power...

<what is going on?> Jake, <me! not jake, me! what the hell is going on?> suddenly aware that someone else is there, slowly turns around. In the shady auras of this half-life, it was easy to see past the skin. Brent. In Jake's body. <of course! why couldn't i see that before?> He smiles. Jake <that's my body, dammit, and i want it back!> heals the blood around his dick and speaks with contemptuous amusement. "I'll bet you're wondering what happened, Jake. Would you like me to tell you?"

<yes, you little fucknut, tell me before i kill you... > "It's like this, Jake- how do you kill an immortal? Answer: you can't. Unless you can nullify that immortality.