This is Not the World You Know

[Bandit With No Name]

The red sun glared at her in her vision, in her mind. She felt its warmth, its hate. It was the center of her universe; it was her father and her mother. It watched her from the skies of the desert, unblinking, uncaring, unending but for the bitter cold of the night.

“My name is Omni,” the voice said, the silence of death suddenly split. She opened her eyes, finding only a void of blackness around her, a glowing white being grinning at her.

Blinking hard, the bandit slowly brought her hands up in front of her face. They were clean, none of the blood of the fight staining them. “Omni? Seriously? Am I dead?” she asked, her feeble voice echoing into the expanse. “Why... why am I still-”

“This is not the world you know,” the god-like being interrupted her. “This is the Omniverse.”

Perplexed, the bandit’s eyebrows cinched and she looked back and forth. “I… I know what the Omniverse is. I’m from the Omniverse. I’m a native. I mean, I’ve never been exactly here, but-“

“You interest me, so I have made you part of it,” Omni continued, seemingly uninterested or unable to hear her. The woman simply stared at the omniscient being, confusion overtaking her desire to speak.

Omni’s grinning mouth gabbed on, heedless of anything but her presence. “The Omniverse is a place that reflects the wishes of those who are part of it. But! There are rules. I will explain them only once, so listen carefully.”

“Like, are there rules I don’t know yet?” she snapped. “Omni, I don’t think you’re listening to me, but like, seriously, what the fuck is going on?”

The being created shimmering, scintillating sphere of prismatic colors and offered it to the bandit, who reluctantly took it from his hand with a single eyebrow up incredulously. “This is Omnilium.”

The bandit blinked hard. “Motherfucker I know what Omnilium is.”

“It’s what ties the Omniverse together. Without it, you are nothing. With it, anything you desire can be yours.” Finally, the creature said something of interest to her.

Her heart jumped when the possibility fell upon her, and she couldn’t help but to notice her hands were trembling. “Does that mea-“

“But you will need more than this. If you desire it enough, you will find it. You will find that using it comes naturally. Just think of what you desire most.”

A tear welled up in her eye as she tried to force back the wave of emotion that crashed into and over her. “Am I a Prime?” she sobbed, her voice thick. Her face tingled, her heart throbbed.

“You will not be alone in the Omniverse. There are others. Of course, they, too desire Omnilium.”

It felt like her ribs were twisting into themselves, and she clutched at them as she listened with no more witty comebacks to spit back in her savior’s face.

”Do not fear death. For as long as you interest me, you will be reborn.”

With every sentence, Omni released her from another fear, lifted the weight of anger and bitter resentment that she had held towards every Prime she had ever met.

Her body curled into itself as she took choppy, labored gulps of air, streams tumbling from her eyes and into the void around her. Heavy, weighted sobs choked her, her hair tumbling around her as she fell to her knees. She gasped, finally able to take a breath and fill her lungs. Looking up to the creature, the diety, the woman shook her head. “Why?” she asked, “Why me?”

“That’s all you need to know right now. You’ll figure out the rest soon enough. I’ll be watching … and waiting.”

The grinning god smiled gazed down upon her without eyes, his radiance as bright as the sun.

She stared up at him, face wet and breathless.

“Thank you.”

The blackness crashed down as Omni’s brilliance exploded outwards in every direction, whiteness washing out until it became every horizon around her. It was almost impossible to discern the floor from the sky, though she questioned if there truly were such distinctions where she now sat. The dull silence was slowly filled with the sound of water falling into a pool, a gentle mist falling down upon her naked back.

She sat there for a moment, naked and alone amid the field of white, and breathed. When she had the courage, she closed her eyes, cleared her thoughts, and focused. When she was finished, she opened her eyes and stood.

Sand tumbled off of her stained armor and clothing, her mind unable to visualize her clothing without a dense layer of sand. She flexed her hands, the metal of her gauntlets familiar, almost strangely so. She looked down, seeing the small hole in the chest of the white shirt she wore, a long, dark-red stain flowing down from around it. She couldn’t help but smile.

She reached down into her pocket and found a circular, flat tin and pulled it free. Slowly, carefully, she twisted the worn edges of the lid, revealing a thick white grease paint beneath it. Another broad smile washed over her features as she scooped up a thick dollop. She smeared the grease over her face with a few practiced strokes, and once again a bleach-white skull was painted over her features.

Closing and replacing the tin, she took a deep breath and exhaled, her nerves slowly calming themselves. She turned around, only then allowing her curiosity to take over. The rushing water had been falling from the spout of a tall fountain that was situated at the peak of a tall, white statue. A woman in some sort of robes looked up to the sky woefully, her hands bought up to her face, but not quite touching it. The water poured from her eyes and the folds of her robes, lines of green-tinted rust tracing the lines of her tears. Around her feet at the base of the fountain, majestic golden tiles were patterned in complex geometric shapes, a few glimmering coins settled in the pool atop the tiles.

Holding her hand out, the bandit materialized a small glimmering sphere of omnilium. She concentrated and the form flattened out, and its glimmering light slowly died down as it solidified. She grasped the large half-dollar with her index finger and thumb, tilting it back and forth.

She looked back to the weeping woman, wondering who she was or what stories she had. In the end, she was just another woman without a name. The bandit repositioned the half-dollar on her thumb, flicked the coin and watched it and it flip in a tall arc before plunking into the basin, swooping back and forth until it settled.

[Bandit With No Name]

The glowing object flashed, and the light died down around it, slowly revealing the powerful laser rifle she knew so well. The AER9 might not have been the most reliable weapon she’d ever laid eyes on, but this one was modified just the way she liked it. That mostly meant it would shoot harder and break earlier, but she didn’t give a damn. The bandit worked her three-point sling over her shoulder and made sure the long weapon settled comfortably out of the way.

“Alright baby,” she muttered to herself, “just a few more things to go.”

She held her hands out in front of her, energy flowing from her palms and contouring into a long haft. A massive head formed at the tip of the lengthy weapon, thin spikes slowly taking shape from the amorphous blob. Slowly the shining rainbow of colors narrowed their spectrum and congealed, the bandit’s memory working as the blacksmith’s hammer, filling in certain details, shaping the possibilities of the substance into exactly what she desired. Though she couldn’t be sure of exactly how the item worked, she knew that it did. The exterior form, the heft, every aspect which relied upon her senses was immaculate. What magic lay inside, she left up to the omnilium.

The giant hammer was finally completed, the engine block head gurgling as soon as it materialized into completion. Grasping the smooth metal shaft, she twisted the throttle on the neck of the hammer, revving the machine loudly. “That’a boy,” she cooed to the weapon and admired the object’s insanity.

She hefted the hammer a few times, noting its extreme weight. She nodded to herself as the gears turned in her head, her lips pursing. “How the fuck am I gonna carry this thing,” she said flatly, more of a statement of her own thoughts than a true question. “Um,” she said, looking back and forth for some answer to appear out of nothing. “Fuck.”

Closing her eyes, she focused on the omnilium that was still within her, proposing her massive armored truck into the reserves, but quickly shook her head. “Not nearly enough,” she grumbled, instead summoning a package of cigarettes and slapping them on the heel of her palm.

She withdrew one of the cigarettes and planted it between her lips, then took another out, flipped it upside down and put it back inside. Planting the bottom of the hammer on the ground, she leaned in towards the three-pipe exhaust and twisted the throttle, a burst of flames igniting her cigarette. She inhaled deeply, relishing in the knowledge that she could have as many as she wanted without having to beg, borrow or steal another pack.

Throwing the hammer onto her shoulder, she shrugged and marched forward, puffing away. She smirked, recalling her fight with the idiot-king of the bandits she had killed in order to claim her prize. The laser blasts, the shotguns, the wanton destruction. The thought of her truck only made her miss it more, especially after it had been fixed up with a sick-ass crew-served laser gun. Her movement stopped and she gasped, “Oh fuck, Caret.”

Frantically she tossed her cigarette to the side and pushed her hand into her thick dreads, scouring her mind for solutions. “Oh fuck, oh fuck,” she swore, the last memory of her pink-haired companion burning in her mind. She doubted Omni would be so forgiving of another secondary that bit the bullet, and it was possible that she had literally done just that after the bandit was killed. Her tiny, mechanically-inclined friend would have stood even less of a chance against Roland or whatever the hell kind of superhero the red-man had become. “FUCK!” she shouted, now in a near-panic.

An idea snapped into her mind, and she instantly dropped the hammer and shook the adrenaline from her fingers, trying to clear her mind enough to focus. “Ok, I got this…” she murmured, once again a white light filling her hands.

She had only seen the item a few times, mostly in Carrefore where all of the imperial citizens lived. She had held one once, even used it to order take-out from that stupid café they had in the middle of downtown. It wasn’t that complicated, and she sure as hell didn’t need to know how it worked. As far as the Omniverse was concerned, she would ask and it would deliver.

The broad-screened device snapped into reality, smooth exterior seeming strange in her weathered hands. She tapped the bottom of the device, and a large dialpad popped up. She recalled that you needed the number of the place you were trying to contact, but that you could save certain numbers under a list of names. Fumbling through the various screens and applications, she pulled up a half-dozen before the contacts list appeared. Her heart jumped in her chest when she saw a single name, “Pinky”.

Pounding the name with her thumb, the bandit lifted the cell-phone to her ear, and waited. It began to ring, a good sign. Her heart throbbed as the moments ticked by, the ringing continuing again and again. After what seemed like years, it stopped, and she heard Caret’s voice.

“Hey,” is said harshly, and instantly the bandit began to shout.

“Oh thank Omni and all his ass-fucking fucking angels, Caret! I was so worr-“

“I don’t know how you got this number, but I guess you have it, so leave a message I guess,” the answering machine cut her off.

“Damnit!” the bandit roared, hanging up and dialing again. “Come on, come on!” she demanded into the ether, “Pick up your fucking phone, you candy-headed jackass!”

“H-hello?” a soft voice answered.

“Caret?” the bandit snapped back. There was a long pause on the other side of the line, and the bandit spoke again, “Caret, is that you?”

“B-bandit?” the woman whimpered, “Is that you? How can this be you?”

Laughing with relief and joy, the bandit was barely able to contain a shriek of excitement. “You’re alive!” she shouted, “Oh my fucking god you’re alive!”

“Yes! Yes I am you fucking psycho! What happened in there!? I saw you get… shot or something! How are you calling me? You don’t even have a phone you Neanderthal!”

“Caret, oh my god Caret, you are not going to believe it,” the bandit stammered. “Are you safe?” she asked, prefacing the story, “Cause this is some crazy shit and I’ll come get you if I have to.”

“Yeah,” the mechanic enthusiastically affirmed, “yeah, I’m safe. I took the truck and hauled ass.”

“Good work dude,” the bandit said nodding, “Get as far away from that shit-ass town as you can. I’m in the… the Nexus I think is what they call it? The hub outside the Dunes.”

“How did you even get there?” Caret asked, both of the speakers falling into a less manic tone.

“Seriously, you will not believe it,” the bandit raved, “I’m a fucking Prime now.”

Again, a long pause saturated the conversation in tension. “What? You’re a WHAT?”

“A Prime. I’m a FATHER-FUCKING PRIME!” she shouted into the abyss of the Nexus, her voice echoing in the distance.

Caret blubbered out, “How? How the hell are you a Prime? That doesn’t make any sense! Were you always a Prime? I thought tha-“

“Omni, man. He just, BAM, and he took me and now I’m a Prime. I wasn’t before, I couldn’t do any of this shit, and now I’m a frakking PRIME, man. I made all kinds of shit out of nothing, it’s great.”

“I… I can’t believe it. Please don’t let this be some kind of prank. Seriously, I don’t need that in my life.”

The bandit shook her head, even though her partner couldn’t see her. “Nah man, no shit, I’m alive and I’m ready to come pick you up.”

“Well, uh,” Caret trailed off before picking back up, “Hang low for a bit. The Duens are hot as hell right now. The other bandits are still freaking out on the town and I’m positive that Roland and that weirdo are gonna be looking for you. I’m taking the truck back to the Shepherd’s place and keeping my head down for a while.”

“Well, I mean, don’t you want me to come and pull you out of there?” the bandit folded the phone between her ear and shoulder then knelt down and picked up the sledgehammer.

“No, no, just uh, hang out for a bit. I mean, if they spot you headed for me, they’ll track us both down. Just chill out of a bit. A few days. Maybe a few weeks, I don’t know. They aren’t gonna find me in the house, I’ve got all kinds of jammers in the garage. It’s safer if you just stay out there for a while.”

The bandit nodded, understanding. “Yeah, good call. Ok, I think I can do that.” She looked around her, trying to find something of note on the horizon. She squinted, noticing a few large rectangles in the distance. “I can find something to do ‘til I can come grab you.”

Caret’s voice became harsh for a moment, “Yo, and you didn’t find me anything outside of that bandit camp. I got nothing out of that stupid town. You owe me. Go find something worth showing me.”

The bandit laughed and nodded. “Yeah, ok. I do owe you one. I’ll try to rustle something up while I’m in stasis out here.”

“Good,” the mechanic barked. There was a break, and when she spoke again her inflection softened into one of sincerity, “Be safe.”

“You just worry about yourself, Pinky,” the bandit replied in equal sentiment, “I can take care of myself now.”

“Don’t call me that,” Caret shrieked and hung up the phone.

“Alright,” the bandit falsely agreed into the dead line.

She pulled the phone from her ear and closed the application, serenely sliding it into one of the many pouches strapped to her thigh. Sighing heavily, she slipped the sledgehammer over both of her shoulders and rested her hands over it like a yolk.

Eternity stretched before her, empty and clean. There was no more fear, no more pain. She could anything she wanted from here on out. For once in her entire cursed existence, the bandit felt free.