Author's note. All characters are over 18, as established in earlier Chapters or in "Master of Elements" to which this is a sequel.
The Mind Element Chapter 10
"Now, I will teach knowledge for the liberation of those people who have conquered their passion. The element earth is first, water second, fire third, air fourth, ether fifth and mind (manastattva) is said to be the sixth" Amanaska Yoga treatise
When Randall Ness and Christopher Ward touched the Theia Stone and triggered the release from captivity of the spirit of that being known only as the Creature, it had taken the form of a silvery mist and this, once united, had passed at speed into the body of Colonel Baker. This happened had so fast it had been over before anyone could counter it.
Baker, however, had merely human reactions, albeit highly trained ones, so when he rose to his feet and made for the stone, others had time to respond. It was Sergeant Kelly who saved the day. Despite the local gun control laws, and the pledges given by Ness to Chris, Kelly was carrying a concealed automatic pistol. Realising that there was something very wrong with his leader, he drew it out and pointed it at Baker and challenged him: "Stop there Colonel. Hands above your head and don't move."
With almost super-human speed, Baker's trained reflexes being augmented by the Creature now inhabiting him, the Colonel spun round and knocked the gun aside. Closing with his opponent, Baker seized him by the throat. Kelly was strong and fit, but Baker had not been a Special Forces officer for nothing and he knew how to kill a man quickly and efficiently and he did so now.
And yet Kelly's unintended sacrifice had bought enough time. When Baker turned toward the Theia Stone it was to find the five Mistresses of Elements surrounding it. The Creature who was controlling the Colonel realised that it was going to have to fight them. Until they were dead it could not escape the pocket dimension to which Athena had taken them. In such a contest it was at a disadvantage in this cramped space; it needed more room to fight to full effect.
So Baker turned away from the stone and with a wave of his hand the Creature through him unleashed its own powers. The window and wall facing him disintegrated and Colonel Baker, together with the mental parasite he now carried, fled through it. The Mistresses of Elements were not dismayed by this. To fight in this place would have resulted in the certain deaths of all the ordinary people here, many of them their friends. It was far better for that struggle to occur at a safer difference.
Four of them at once followed the Creature, but Brigit lingered for a moment to pick Chris off the floor. "You ok?" she asked. "We're going to need your help."
"Yes," said Chris, a little unsteadily. "It looks liked I've fucked up again."
"Forget it," said Brigit, "Somehow I knew it was always going to come to this. While that thing lived it was inevitable we were going to have to fight it again; it's what we were born to do. But let's make this the last time. This time it dies."
"To do that we'll have to kill the Colonel as well," Chris realised.
"If it helps, he really isn't a very nice man," said Ness from the floor, where he was just sitting up. "I'll tell you later why he was thrown out of the army."
"Come on Master, there's no time for this. My sisters need us," said Brigit urgently. Chris merely nodded and then the pair hurried out through the gaping hole in the wall.
*****
With the battle moved outside, the others emerged from wherever they had taken shelter, except for Daniel Robinson who was still under the table and had curled up into a ball. Nothing in his life had prepared him for this and he had retreated into denial. The rest left him there since he was in no more immediate danger than they were.
Carter and Marco moved the body of Kelly over against a wall and Sammy found a tablecloth in one of the bureau against a surviving wall, which they used to cover the corpse. Before doing so, Carter checked his pockets and found a wallet. He also took the dead man's pistol.
"Joseph Patrick Kelly", he said looking at the contents of the wallet. "If we survive this, I'll try and find his relatives and tell them he died honourably."
"Yes," agreed Marco. "By distracting Baker from the stone, he may just have saved the world, but no one will ever know."
Carter looked down at the now covered body. "Whatever bad things he did in the past, he was still a soldier. He would have understood sacrifice without reward."
The shock of events had broken previous allegiances. For the people trapped in this situation not knowing whether they would live or die, it ceased to matter to most whether they were employed by Randall Ness or were friends of Christopher Ward. So they mixed and mingled and did their best to cope with the situation in accordance with their personalities.
Marco had just explained, in outline, his theory of dimensional transference of matter to a scientifically interested Dr Gupta and Lucia Torres. When he was done, Lucia had a question that had not occurred to Marco.
"If you are correct," she said, "why are we still alive? The kind of place you describe should be wholly hostile to life - no breathable atmosphere, close to absolute zero temperature, no gravity. By rights we should all be dead a dozen times over."
Fay, hearing his, replied, "It must be the Mistresses of Elements. I expect Queen Kitaka is responsible for the gravity, Queen Brigit for the warmth and Queens Freya and Matsu for the fact we can breathe."
"You mean," said Marco wonderingly, "that they are locked in a life and death struggle out there with that thing and they still have time to think of keeping us alive?"
"Of course they have, that's what heroes do," said Fay, her faith absolute.
"In that case we'd better hope that none of them get killed," said Dr Gupta grimly. "Even one and it could be the end for us."
Carter Jackson and Sammy Meyer stood by a gaping hole in the side of the building where once a large and elegant window had looked out over the gardens of the mansion. The window was so much shattered glass and wood lying outside the room, along with a considerable amount of brickwork. The garden had been replaced by a dimly lit and featureless plain of grey sand or dust.
