The Dream Shifter

Chapter 281

All she knew was that she needed to understand him better. Motioning with her fingers, the metallic pieces broke their pyramid form and returned to her side. "Are you ready to fight?" Silence returned between them. It only made her annoyed, but she kept her temper in check, rather than blasting him. "If you don't say something I'm going to have to attack again."

"No," he answered, as though it explained everything. Haruo gave no further explanation to her.

'What's with him?' She expected more from him, anything, but the simple answer. More things frustrated her. "Eh? Which are you answering?"

"The former."

Shoulders bending into an upside down "U", Ligeia could not help a confused look. Staring at him did not get her any answers, but she did not understand him. "You need time to prepare or something? I don't really like waiting, but I've been bored for years anyway, a couple more minutes won't change things."

"No."

A vein popped up on her forehead. Temper was a difficult thing to control when dealing with Haruo, as she started to learn. She tightened up her fist shaking it in anger. "Can't you say more than two words?!"

"Yes."

Unfortunately, it only made her anger worse. She stretched herself up to the balls of her feet to lean into her yell. "Stop that!" Silence, as though he obeyed her command. She did not like it either. "I didn't mean don't speak! Speak more than a single word!"

"If necessary," he fired back, with surprising speed. He lacked words, details, but seemed to make up for it in response time. Not that he fixed the situation.

"It is necessary! I need to understand!"

"No reason."

"Huh? Sure there is a reason! If I don't understand then the fight can't start!" Ligeia started to realize how out of character he made her. Crossing her arms and trying her hardest to ignore the red embarrassment threatening her face, Ligeia fought to reset the pace of the conversation. "I want to fight you."

"I don't."

"Why?" Things moved into a direction she could handle. It felt like she found what she needed. 'Finally getting somewhere. So it's that he doesn't want to fight, not that he can't. But he's part of the intruders.' Nothing about him made any sense to her. She hoped he gave her some answers.

"No reason."

"That again?" A cycle completed. A pointless cycle of nothing. Nothing still produced something, annoyance. "No reason?! How can you be here and not have a reason! You wouldn't have come here without a reason! You're wanting to do something! So tell me what it is damnit!"

Silence once more. Haruo remained quiet, but not for the reasons that Ligeia assumed. It was something more complicated. His mind turned over on itself. A simple reason held his lips sealed. 'That's the problem. I don't have an answer to the question. I don't know why I came. I don't know why I followed him here. I don't have a reason for it. Nothing that is happening here means anything to me. I'm an outsider with no connection to any of this. So why did I come?'

"Answer me already!" snapped Ligeia. She wanted to attack him again just for being a pain. 'No reason? That's impossible! No one does anything without a reason. He wants to fight, but what's holding him back?' Ligeia thought she figured him out a little. She wanted to end the stalemate. The fight would end if she did not find his trigger. "What is your throat already parched from talking?"

"No."

"Then tell me already! You invade Atlantis with your friends, so you've got a reason to be here. I don't care how small it is. I'm just interested in a fight, it's the only reason I came out here. The promise of something different, something new."

"Sorry."

"I don't care about apologies!" The strips of metal hover around her began to move in a new direction. "I don't care! Just tell me why you came here!"

"I don't have an answer for you," responded Haruo, with the longest span of words in their conversation. He saw the changes in the pieces, but did not do anything. He planned on not doing anything at all. The fight was meaningless for him.

Wrinkling in the bit between her eyebrows, Ligeia's frustration mounted further than before with Haruo. Their fight continued to stall. "After all that, that is what you say! Come on! You can't possibly not have an answer. You're just holding back on me! I want my fight!"

He shook his head at her. "I'm serious." Finished with his conversation, he turned away from Ligeia. He planned to wait as he did before for the fights to end. It did not involve him. "I've no reason to fight you. So I'll take my leave. Sorry."

Responding to her will, the pieces moved quickly out in front of Haruo. They reformed into a pyramid directed at him. "You're not leaving!" Her eyes narrowed as she made her intent clear. "You've got the body of someone that's strong. Don't you want to test that strength to see how it compares?"

Glancing over his shoulder uninterested as ever, Haruo caught sight of Ligeia approaching him. "I don't care about it. Being strong doesn't mean one enjoys fighting."

She felt the honesty of his answer and realized he was always honest. It made him straightforward, annoyingly so. The sound of his voice helped her understand him better. Pieces fell into place for her. "Then how about a battle of answers, Mr. Clueless?"

A bit of curiosity surfaced for Haruo. Such an unexpected replied made him turn around. It caused an ever so slight change in his stone features. "A battle of answers?"

'I've got you now! Finally!' Ligeia smiled to herself. The situation reversed. She controlled the pace. Her fight would finally come to her. "Yes, listening to you I've figured a few things out about you. It would seem you're looking for answers, so this battle will be for your answers! I'll tell you why you've come here, the reason for being here after our fight!" Stretching out her hand, she placed her offer out for Haruo.

'She's figured me out? I've been trying to understand it for days and she says she's already figured it out in a couple of minutes?' Haruo admitted his own curiosity in Ligeia. He felt suspicious of her, but he wanted to know more. It made him step closer to her. The answer to his question was important, very important to him. His decision was too rash and out of character for him. None of it made any sense. Haruo took her hand to accept her offer. "I'm interested in your opinion. I'll grant you your fight in exchange."

"Good! Now I expect a real fight from you!" she reminded, her lips grinned with excitement. "I don't want you losing just to end things faster!"

"I'll give you what you asked for."

The arrangement sealed with a handshake, both parties parted. They took several steps to place a few meters between them. Everything in the atmosphere around them flipped suddenly. Tension mounted and strengthened in the passing seconds. Their eyes locked on to the other never letting them out of their sight.

In preparation for the fight, Ligeia revealed her field to Haruo. Stretching out for meters was nothing but metal plating. Each plate was sharply cut and polished with no right angles. The connecting edges from one plate to the next did not come out the same as some plates had more edges than others. Regardless of shape or size, electronic lights filled in the cracked between them moving away from the center, Ligeia. Some plating even held lights or other designs inside.

Replacing her white Atlantean military uniform was gray turtleneck with an odd shine to it, giving it a very unnatural appearance at the folds of the material. Similarly, her form-fitting pants carried the same unearthly reflection. They appeared as though made from cotton, but it was no cotton, wool or synthetic normally used. Wrapped around her waist in a very useless fashion was a metal belt carried merely as ornamentation rather than function, but considering how tightly the pants clung to her skin a belt was never going to be needed.

Noting accessories, small metal clips seemed attached randomly on the edges of her cloths with no design or order in mind. There were sixteen in count. Rounding it out, a large attachment wrapped around her right arm. A display screen sat on the outer side of her forearm, already displaying numerous bits of information.

Finished with her work, she tightened her eyes focus on Haruo in anticipation. "Now don't disappoint me. I'm looking forward to this. Show me what you have!"

Haruo kept his usual silence while watching her transform. He watched Yuki fight alongside him against Katsu and his g**g. The powers they wielded did not surprise him, but it was the first time he had to confront it. 'They're all so different from each other. You can't have any expectations with them…' Before he observed the others fight, absorbing the details. However, the conclusion was always the same. They used the same base guidelines, but the potential they had varied greatly based on their personalities and preferences. He had little to go on in the fight.

Turning something unknown and small in his hands, Haruo had to commit himself to the battle. Shining out from his palms, light bled through his fingers. When it reached the c****x of intensity, he opened his hands and tossed the contents in front of him. The light expanded and grew in size until forms started to appear.

White semi-transparent wolves materialized from the shining light. If not for the ghost like qualities, the wolves would have passed for the real thing. They even had fur blowing in the soft breeze. However, there was one thing that was off about them. All six of the wolves stood at elbow height to Haruo. One of them paced around Haruo coming to a stop at his left allowing him to rest his arm on its back. The pack surrounded him with a fierce look far more threatening than any blank expression Haruo bore. "I'm ready."

'Spirit animals?' She wondered what sort of power Haruo would have. 'Both things we control, but animals aren't as versatile as mine…' Ligeia uncoiled her arm out to extend it fully. Out from her palm, metal strips materialized floating. Fifty or more of the strips appeared. They quickly moved into sets of ten holding no defined structure at the moment. "I'm ready as well! So let's see what you can do!"

Nodding in agreement, Haruo accepted the start. His wolves began to move and spread out on the hunt. They already started to approach Ligeia in a wide semi-circle. Ravenous looks ready to maul her filled their eyes, contrary to Haruo.

Working in concert, the strips snapped into position forming up a pyramid in three of the sets, while the other two set took no action. An attack was clearly on the way. Ligeia did not even try to hide the fact.

Everything laid in the open for the first strike. The first round began with the intensity already set high. The wolves launched on a trigger for the woman. In the same moment, three wide beams of light burst from the pyramid shapes blinding the field. Haruo and Ligeia's battle began.

Nodding in agreement, Haruo accepted the start. His wolves began to move and spread out on the hunt. They already started to approach Ligeia in a wide semi-circle. Ravenous looks ready to maul her filled their eyes, contrary to Haruo.

Working in concert, the strips snapped into position forming up a pyramid in three of the sets, while the other two sets took no action. An attack was clearly on the way. Ligeia did not even try to hide the fact.

Everything laid in the open for the first strike. The first round began with the intensity already set high. The wolves launched on a trigger for the woman. In the same moment, three wide beams of light burst from the pyramid shapes blinding the field. Haruo and Ligeia's battle began.

Directed at the closest targets, the beams engulfed each wolf. Light wiped them from sight. It did not detour the remaining three wolves charging forward for Ligeia. She stepped back keeping them all in her sights. Darting her eyes around for control, the remaining two groups of metal strips began to move. Quickly jumping into position, they formed a thin transparent wall between her and the animals.

Uninterested in the blockade, two of the wolves joined up attacking one of the walls. Their claws ripped into the barrier producing waves through the material. Cracks formed abruptly as their claws poked through, only moments after colliding. Slashing a few more times along with diving in with their heads destroyed the shield protecting Ligeia.

Surprised her energy shield already collapsed, Ligeia tried to extend her other shield over. Her defense only put a couple of meters between them. 'I misjudged his strength…' Glancing at the screen on her forearm, she stepped to the side. Only seconds delayed the wolves, her second shield fell even faster with all three attacking.

Free to strike, all three wolves leapt at Ligeia, already aiming for different parts of her. Less than a meter separated her from them, when another beam suddenly burst forth covering the animals in familiar light. Only a few centimeters spared Ligeia from her own attack. 'That takes care of his animals!'  Ligeia slid her eyes around to focus on Haruo only to suddenly discover a shadow blocking her light.