Mom, I'm Bulletproof

Chapter 20.5: The Worst Nightmare

"Not only do I know who you are, but I know you should be," Jhedora said to Amy, while hovering over her. "You should meet a nice man. Buy a house. Have children. No superpowers. No Hollywood. None these strange characters you've surrounded yourself with."

Amy closed her eyes and lowered her head.

"Be normal," Jhedora said, lowering her voice to a whispering hiss. "Be exactly the same as everyone else. Only then will you find happiness."

Amy opened her eyes. "To hell with normal."

Golden light shot out from beneath Jhedora's bandages, but this time she wasn't fast enough. Amy made a fist, flew upward, and struck Jhedora across her mummified face. It felt like punching a paper bag with a little bit of sand inside.

Without a sound, Jhedor fell the floor. Amy floated down and landed next to her. Future Girl and Proscenium, having recovered from their attacks, also approached.

The Ergosphere, meanwhile, stood off to the side. He rolled up his sleeve, revealing an electric device, about the size of a postage stamp, somehow stitched onto the pale skin of his forearm. He tapped at it in frustration.

"Come on, come on," he said. "What did they do to this thing?"

Jhedora stood. Despite having been smacked out of the air by Amy, her painted face didn't show any visible damage.

"I am everywhere," she said. "Do you truly believe this physical alteration will change anything?"

"Yes," Proscenium said. "You brought us here and appeared to us in person because you want to fight us."

"We brought you here because you have been defeated. All that's left now is to study you."

Proscenium made a fist, but Jhedora continued. "Ending this world doesn't have to mean the end for the one called Proscenium. Consider what waits you in the Temple's afterlife. You could leave your theater, make friends, meet a woman, bask in the sunlight. It's not too late."

Jhedora then faced Future Girl. "You could live without your fear. You could be appreciated for your intelligence and your talent. You could be the real you."

Jhedora raised her voice, addressing the Ergosphere, still standing off to the side. "And you? You could finally find the one who cursed you. Your pain could finally end."

The Ergosphere sneered at her. Amy had never seen him so angry.

Jhedora turned her attention back to Amy. "And you, Amy?"

"Don't bother," Amy said. "I like who I am."

She swung another punch at Jhedora. This time Jhedora was too fast, and Amy felt another strike of gold light followed by another surge of stinging pain throughout her body.

She recovered from the pain just long enough to realize that Jhedora's attack had sent her flying through the air. Amy's body smacked against another gold pyramid. The wind knocked out of her for a second, Amy slid downward to the floor. She saw three more bursts of light, followed by Future Girl, Proscenium, and the Ergosphere flying backward as she did.

Amy started to fly back to Jhedora for another attack, but then stopped. She remembered Future Girl's advice – fight smarter.

Keeping low to the floor, Amy flew back to where she first woke up. She passed over the unconscious Temple agents and landed next to Dreamsmith. He still slept, his eyes twitching under his eyelids. He was sweating.

"Sorry, Sam." Amy poked him in his arm, just hard enough to rouse him.

Dreamsmith woke with a jolt, his body shaking. "Oh, God!"

"It's okay." Amy helped him sit up. "I'm here."

He rubbed his eyes. "I was having the worst nightmare. I was trapped in a burning building and couldn't..."

"Fire? You were dreaming about fire?"

He looked at her with his dark brown eyes. "I think so. Maybe."

He stood up, looking still a little groggy from having just woken up. She quickly filled him in on where he was and what was happening.

"Stand back," he said. Amy did, even though she was sure she didn't need to.

Dreamsmith looked around. "Wait, where's my hat?"

Amy shrugged. "Probably at the bottom of the ocean."

"That sucks." Dreamsmith bowed his head and held out his hands in front of him. Amy felt the temperature rising. The floor got hot enough to make the bottoms of her feet uncomfortable, so she had to take to the air.

Orange flames ignited in the air around Dreamsmith. Amy worried that he might burn, but then she saw the fire swirling around him without singeing his clothes, hair, or skin.

Dreamsmith opened his eyes, looking surprised at the flames sparking and crackling all around him.

"What now?" he asked.

"This is the Temple," Amy said. "Burn it down."

Dreamsmith held his arms out in front of him, and the fire followed, flowing out from him at the nearest pyramid. The stream of fire hit the pyramid's surface, burning into it like a white-hot drill of pure heat. The pyramid's surface melted, its liquid gold bubbling and burbling down on to the floor in a steaming, quickly-cooling mess.

As Dreamsmith continued to burn into the pyramid, Amy heard high-pitched screams inside her head. She heard what felt like hundreds of voices yelling "Sinner!" at once all around her. It made her dizzy, and she figured this was the Temple's neural network responding to Dreamsmith's attack.

Amy flew up next to Dreamsmith. "They're not unstoppable. We can take them. Keep it up."

Dreamsmith hurried over to the next pyramid and directed wave after wave of searing hot flame into it. "So much power, and it's all coming from inside me!"

Amy couldn't help herself. She flew right into the flames, feeling the heat rage all around her. She then flew up to Dreamsmith and hugged him, while surrounded by heat that would have instantly burned an ordinary human down to a skeleton.

"What are you doing?" His voice was barely audible among the flames.

"Sinning." She pressed her lips against his. In the heat, she couldn't fully feel the kiss, but the act of it meant everything. She pressed her body against his as their lips met, and he responded by wrapping his fiery arms around her.

Their mouths parted and she pressed her left cheek against his right cheek, saying into his ear, "Burn it all down."

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Next: If I die...