"Eat shit, motherfucker!" Niki yelled at Egoneg.  

     Several of Egoneg's faces got angry looks on them, then whoosh, just like that, Egoneg stood right in front of her. Niki didn't even see him move, he moved so quickly. He was a hundred paces away, and suddenly he was right there, in her face. His body didn't look even vaguely human anymore, or much like anything else. One thing it did have was a huge eye as big as Niki's head, and that eye peered at Niki like, why do you want me to crush you so badly? 

     A gap opened up midway down its torso, and Niki realized it was a mouth opening to either speak or take a bite. 

     She gave him no chance to do either. 

     With the very last physical move she was able to make, Niki flicked the marble device with her thumb into Egoneg's "mouth".  

     The result was immediate. 

     Egoneg shrank. 

     His fear-inducing powers were gone. 

     He was, once again, merely Egoneg. 

     Naked. Dirty. Niki saw no bullet holes, though. He looked whole. 

     He also looked puzzled. 

​     What in the hell was he supposed to do now? 

     The last thing Niki saw as she faded into unconsciousness was not a sight but a color, a color that, after the horror the previous half hour had been, was very welcome. 

     It was the color blue. 

​     The Azure had arrived at last.  

                                                       CONTINUE