Endgame (Book 3)

Chapter 46

I took in a deep breath, and with it, tried to take in all the energy the rock had.

At first, nothing happened. Everything was still, and Zero had paused mid-laugh to see what was happening.

Slowly, the misty blur energy began to move across the massive surface and into my hand, connecting with something already inside of me. I could feel it pulsing throughout the structure, at first cautious and unsure of whether it should come, but soon flowing quickly and smoothly into me.

It sent a wave of emotion through me as it infiltrated my body. Was that...fear?

Did it have a consciousness?

I should have known. If Di-Men had been a product of experimentation on interdimensional energy and had its own mind, why wouldn't the normal version?

Somehow, it felt familiar. I had felt this presence before when Di-Men, through Jeremiah, had managed to split up Jay into Zero and me.

I had been convinced that was part of Jay. I had never even considered that it could be another entity entirely. Zero had said he and Jay were what had made him possible. So had a little of the untainted Energy X made its way into me?

Faintly, I heard a shout behind me. I couldn't afford to get distracted, so I forced myself to ignore it.

I felt full now. I was rapidly approaching my limit, but couldn't afford to release any more Energy X into the atmosphere- there was no telling what consequences the first wave had caused.

There wasn't too much left, but I could tell there was definitely more than I could handle. The rock had dimmed to a full glow, any remaining energy being drawn from deep inside.

I was faced with a question I couldn't answer: what would happen if I continued to try to absorb energy when I could hold no more?

It looked like I was about to find out.

My own skin had become the same blue glow that inhabited the rock prior to my absorption. There was so much, and I couldn't get rid of it. It was self-replenishing, a fact I had failed to remember before attempting this.

My skin began to itch, the tips of my fingers feelings as if they had been bitten by a hundred ants. The feeling spread everywhere, and became increasingly painful.

It wouldn't let go. I had given it an opening and it had taken it. The interdimensional energy was going to kill me.

As the last of it left the rock, I crumpled.

The structure disintegrated before my eyes. The top flakes away first, and the rest soon followed, turning into dust and blowing away in the wind in just a few seconds.

I felt an indescribable pain that took over everything in my mind. I was dying. A human body wasn't meant to hold so much power, metahuman or not.

My hands clutched the grass and without thought I beat my head into the ground. That was nothing compared to what I was feeling now. I had to end it all now.

"Jay!" a feminine voice yelled nearby. I couldn't muster the willpower to look over.

I could no longer control my muscles. My hands began to shake uncontrollably and my legs lurched under me like I was having a seizure. My arms jangled every which way.

My body reared up and reared face up on the ground. My eyes were closed, but I knew I was fading...

Literally.

When only moments ago I couldn't control my limbs, and before that they were only numb, now I felt them dissipating, dispersing into long blue tendrils of energy that disappeared into empty air.

Engulfed in pain, I could do nothing but wait for it to go away. I eagerly expected it, actually.

Why did I continue to fail so much? What was I going to do right? Just when it seemed like I had finally done something that took me a step forward, it always seemed to take me more steps backward.

Did dying have to hurt so much?

Eventually, everything was gone. Even my clothes had drifted away.

My face was the last part of me to go. My eyes watched the open blue sky, devoid of the clouds that had brought down the unjust lightning which had taken out my abilities and put me in this situation in the first place.

Then, those were gone, too.