“I rarely enter the minds of people around me. However, we are in a war situation and I need everyone doing everything right. Cassia must have forgotten that you can’t hide anything from me. Unless you somehow become as powerful as I am. When she arrived on the bridge, explaining how untrustworthy, incompetent, and insubordinate you both were. I could see everything that had transpired.”
“So, you knew it wasn’t our fault?”
“Yes. I did. Though, I still have two concerns: The first being how you would continue to learn, but here you are carrying on your lessons with significant success. I will not put you under Cassia’s tutelage again, however you will have to learn directly from me when time permits. That time is limited, but I am confident you can take what I teach and practice together.”
We both nodded in agreement as he continued, “The second thing, is that I need everyone pulling together. I must ask you to forgive Cassia. She is a good person, but this stressful predicament has affected us all. We are a small group under great pressure.”
“Fine by me,” I said.
“And fine by me, unless she tries anything like that again,” Ember said warily.
“Good, good. Well, I’m impressed with what you have achieved so far. Continue to work together for the rest of the day and we will speak after dinner.”
C3
Mind your own Business
Ember and I continued to practice rejecting each other from our minds when a green light flashed twice in my room. I hadn’t even noticed that there was a light above the door.
“Come on. I’m hungry anyway,” she said, getting up.
“Me too. But why now? What was the green light?”
“Goes off every six hours or so: Wake up times, mealtimes and change of shift. It’s a way to indicate time of day on the ship.”
“So, for us it’s time to eat?”
“Sure is. Come on.”
Ember took me to the canteen where we could choose from a variety of meals. I’m not sure why, but I expected, like, a dinner lady with some big metal trays of lasagne and fries. What I was faced with instead, was a truly amazing machine. The food synthesizer unit, or FSU, as Ember informed me. The food from it looked and smelled amazing. To my devastation, I found out it had no taste. Unless you classed sweet, bitter, or cardboard as tastes.
This would be the first time I’d eaten solid food in nine months, but Ember had assured me it would be okay after the pouches. I dug into the cardboard pork chops and mixed vegetables, which perhaps tasted of water, I couldn’t be sure.
The canteen was full. I imagined almost everyone on board the ship must have been here. There was quite a bit of noise from people talking, but when Ogun came in the whole place fell silent.
“Hello everyone. Time for your daily update,” he said with a big smile. “It appears our evasion of the Fystr has been successful after we took out their Hunter Ship. Providing the situation does not change, we will travel for one more day to reach the supply depot. For those of you who don’t know, the supply depot is a stop-off point for Fystr travelers to refuel and restock. They contain everything from weapons, armor, FSU stock, fuel, and everything in between.” He paused to let those gathered take in what he had said so far.
“It is unclear from our early scans, whether there are any other visitors. While we should hope we will be alone, we must prepare as if we will encounter some resistance. With that in mind, we need everyone to put maximum effort into their training. We must be at our strongest. Good luck everyone.”
When he finished up his address, Ogun came over to us and said, “Okay, you two. Tomorrow, I will spend an hour teaching you telekinesis with an emphasis on basic levitation. I normally wait much longer before teaching levitation, but you two are going to need a crash course. I’m sure you can handle it.
“After that hour with me, I want you to put in every minute until we land, training those abilities in combat. Combined with your mental defenses of course. When you begin, it will seem like an impossible task, but with practice and determination you will excel. I’m sure.
“For the rest of the evening focus on defense. Try to make a wall in your mind to block enemies from entering in the first place.”
“Sure thing, Ogun. We’ll do our best to make sure we're ready,” I said, then for some random reason I don’t even know, I fucking saluted him.
He gave me an odd look, then laughed. “I am sure you will Shaun. See you both tomorrow.” Then he was off to talk to people at another table.
“What was that Shaun? You dick. Why did you salute?” she said, sniggering at me.
I groaned. I hated giving her even more ammo to take the piss. “Come on, I feel like getting back to work.”
Back in my room, I went and sat on the bed. Ember took the chair.
“So, how do you want to begin this?” I asked.
“Jump straight in, I suppose. That’s what you normally do, right?”
“Yeah, true. But I’ve got nothing.”
“Try to enter my head first, I’ll try to form a block against you.”
Nodding in agreement, I did as she said and got into her head, no problem.
“Well, that didn’t work,” she said, and I was expelled a moment later. “I didn’t manage to block you at all.”
“Try me,” I said. Within seconds, she had gotten into my head. I didn’t even try to eject her. “Can you control my body like Cassia did?”
“No. I’ve no idea how it’s done. Your mind is like mine. Like this massive, dark, empty place. Ever since I woke up.”
“I know what you mean. It’s like I’m on the edge of a cliff,” I said.
“Can you see anything when you look in my mind?” she asked me.
“No. Unless, you mean the back of my own eyelids.”
“It would be amazing if you could see something.”
“Like what?”
“I’m not sure. It’s like I can’t see because I don’t know how to open my eyes yet. Might be something to ask Ogun tomorrow.”
I didn’t respond, yet I knew exactly what she meant. There was like a barrier of darkness in my mind that I felt like I should be able to pass through.
A determination rose up in me to cross whatever barrier was there. It was a very strange feeling, like I knew for certain there was something behind the veil of darkness covering my mind.
I focused with all my heart and soul. I wanted to see whatever manifestation of Ember was inside my head. The projection of herself that must be there. I concentrated so hard on seeing her, that I thought I could feel something tear. I don’t know if it was real or imagined, but I’d come this far so I pushed on anyway. What’s the worst that could happen.
Unexpectedly, a blinding light flared in the absolute darkness. A glimpse of Ember in a long corridor appeared. The problem was that the flash of light and vision was heralded by an intense snapping pain in the center of my head. Utter darkness followed, and I couldn’t hear Ember anymore. I couldn’t open my eyes. It felt like I wasn’t even in my body anymore. There was nothing but silence, so absolute that it was deafening. I floated through that space for a completely, indistinguishable amount of time before I heard a voice.
“You have really surpassed yourself, and everything I have managed to achieve so far with the other subjects.”
I spun around and there was Ogun floating behind me. Huge, handsome and ageless.
“Oh, thank god you’re here. I never thought I’d be so happy to see you in my whole life.”
“I can well imagine! It would be all but impossible to get out of this place without guidance.”
“Sounds like the story of my life. I’m good at getting to places, but always needing help to get back.”
“That is not uncommon when you transcend. You’re not alone in this.”
“Transcend?”
“Yes. When you get back to your body, you’re going to find you have access to a whole new level of abilities. This will make everything else you have
to learn, both harder and easier. I have absolutely no idea how you managed to do it, but you have forced open a pathway to your mindscape that should have taken you a decade or so to learn,” he laughed at me and shook his head. “Do you realize that no human, aside from the Fystr, has transcended since the Rebellion Wars? It is a true Fystr skill, normally only attainable through years of training and guidance.”
“No! I had no idea! When I was meditating earlier Cassia spoke of my center. It made no sense. I’d searched in the darkness of my mind and found nothing. But with Ember in my mind, I felt like whatever I was looking for wasn't in that darkness, but beyond it.
“I knew Ember was somewhere, or at least some part of her and I really wanted to see it. I tried really hard, and something ripped. Then, I was thrown into this place.”
“Typical,” Ogun responded, “that Ember would be the catalyst for you. I don’t think I have ever seen such a unique bond between two people in all my five thousand years of life. Of course, you nearly killed yourself in the process.”
“Yeah, I probably should have stopped when I felt the tearing,” I said felling a bit embarrassed.
“Ember has regaled me of your antics in Anatoli. She said that this kind of behavior is normal for you.”
“Did ‘dipshit’, ‘buffoon’, and ‘asshole’, also find their way into her story?”
Ogun laughed, “Very much so. She has a wonderful way with words.”
“That she does. If you don’t mind me asking, why can’t you just teach everyone to transcend straight away, like I just have?”
“Mainly, because human minds are not capable. They would, quite simply break down leaving nothing of the person left. I believe you were able to transcend only because you reached level forty in Anatoli. Still you are quite the anomaly, Shaun Sutherland, and you seem to be a catalyst for events.”
“What do you mean?”
“Nothing, really. It’s not even clear in my mind. My foremost concern at the moment is for Ember. If you have transcended, I have no doubt she will soon follow and make this leap too. Judging by her general personality, and everything I understand of your relationship.”
“Yeah. She’s totally not going to let herself get left behind.”
“This is going to cause an interesting imbalance among the crew. The newest member leapfrogging their own efforts to transcend.”
“You think others will resent us?”
“Oh, absolutely. From my experience, it doesn’t matter how enlightened and powerful we become, jealousy and one-upmanship are a constant. In fact, it probably gets worse. I’m unconcerned with other people's jealousy, and even more so, that you’re now potentially the second most powerful soldier we have in this battle, after me. Yet, you are the most naive and poorly trained.”
“Fuck me, Ogun. I thought we were friends,” I grinned.
“Oh, sorry Shaun. I didn't mean to be disrespectful. I’m giving an honest appraisal of the situation. But we can deal with all that later. For now, your consciousness has been thrown out from your body. Shall we get you back?” He floated over, touched my head, and boom! I was back in my body.
Ogun was sitting right next to me on the bed. It was a bit disconcerting to be honest.
“Okay, Shaun. That should never happen again,” he said as soon as he opened his eyes. "To you, at least. Though, I suspect I’ll be retrieving our Ember soon enough. And a word of warning before I leave, go carefully in those corridors. The doors open pathways to powers, memories and understanding. But also, to your darkest fears. If your instinct tells you not to enter, it is for good reason. There are doors I have never entered in all my long life.”
Ember was looking at me confused. Ogun spoke to her next, “Shaun has now transcended. He has somehow managed to force himself upon a pathway of power of which I’m certain he will drag you on, sooner rather than later.”
“That’s how it normally works,” she said, then turned to me. “You’re at it already? One day out of the game and your gaining powers like it’s nobody’s business. Why are you so ridiculous, Shaun? Just look at you sitting there with that, ‘Who me?’ stupid ass expression on your face. For fuck sake!”
“I will leave you to yourselves,” Ogun said with a smile and left my room.
“Come on, then. What did you do?”
“I don’t know exactly. Let me quickly check something.” I closed my eyes, blocking everything out, focusing on the corridor I’d seen before everything went pop. Instantly, I appeared in the place I’d only glimpsed earlier. A long corridor stretched off into the distance with the occasional door. As eager as I was to explore however, I also wanted to take this journey with Ember.
I concentrated on Ember and entered her mind. To my complete surprise, it worked. It was no longer total darkness either. I could see Ember’s mind and in it was a corridor, just like mine.
“Hey, Shaun. I can feel you in my mind. Care to explain what you’re doing?”
I just knew I could speak, and she’d hear me. I had a compulsion to enter the room in front of me and we all know I’m a tad impulsive, so I did. There was Ember sitting in a chair in the middle of an empty room. I noticed a screen on the wall with various flashing images of me, the ship, Ogun and other things, it didn’t make any sense. I turned back to Ember in the chair, sitting with her eyes closed.
“Open your eyes,” I said.
“What the fuck are you talking about? I have my eyes open.”
“I’m standing in front of you, or rather your mental representative. You're sitting in a chair with your eyes closed.”
“Less of the mumbo jumbo shit, Shaun.”
“It wasn’t mumbo jumbo.” I reached out and took her hand.
“Oh. Wow. That felt weird. What did you do?”
“I can see you inside your mind, like I said. You’re sitting here and I held your hand. You have your eyes closed.”
“That’s actually kinda creepy. I hope you’re not doing anything weird to me.”
“Stop giving me shit and just open your eyes. Try to look at my hand on yours, maybe?”
“It doesn’t feel like a hand on mine though. It just feels tingly inside.”
“Try focusing on that tingly feeling and imagine it’s me holding your hand.”
In her Mindscape, as Ogun had called it, a look of stern concentration came over Ember’s face. Suddenly, her eyes snapped open, but her image started flickering in and out of reality. It was totally surreal and scary as shit for me watching. I held tightly on to her hand and pulled her up into an embrace. I have no idea why, but it felt like the right thing to do. The flickering strengthened to the point that it was a fight to keep hold of her, but there was no damn way I was letting go. After a couple of eternal moments, it abated.
When it finally settled completely, she looked up and smiled. “Wow. That was definitely the most intense experience of my life and I’ve been hooked on heroin!” she laughed. I felt a pang of relief that I didn’t see the pain in her eyes that normally accompanied such a statement.
“I could feel my mind trying to break free of my body. Is that what happened to you?” she asked.
“Yup. My mind did leave my body and I went floating off into nothingness. Ogun thought he’d have to come hunting for you, but this just shows how strong you are. You’ve managed to make this, supposedly impossible, leap and not get lost.”
“’Shut up, Shaun. The only reason I’m here still is because you pulled me through and held onto me.”
I shrugged off her praise, “Well, you’re here now. Shall we wander around your head, or would you prefer mine?”
“I don’t know what might be lurking in here,” she paused, then quickly spoke again, “I do trust you. It’s my crazy head I don’t trust. Promise I’ll let you come over once I gotten used to it myself.” She grinned.
“That’s fine. Come to my house and we’ll root around there.”
Within moments, we both materialized into my mind again. We went to the firs
t door we came across.
“Let’s have a look, then,” I said in my thoughts, and opened the door. The room was my nerve center. Don’t know how I knew that, but I did. There were various bundles of cords and I instinctively knew what each of them would do.
“This is my nerve center,” I said to Ember. “I seem to subconsciously know what each bundle does. Can you tell?”
“Yeah, think I can. Do you fancy going back to your body? And see what happens?”
“Not really.”
She made chicken noises at me.
“I’m the chicken. Mrs. ‘No, we can’t look round my head.’”
“Bit different, Mr. ‘Fucking insensitive’,” she said, angrily.
I instantly felt bad, “Sorry for that. I’ll go back.”
She nodded in acceptance, but just as I began phasing out of my mind, I swear I saw her smirk. Fucking bitch! She’d guilt tripped me.
As soon as I reverted to my normal state, I was wracked with pain in my spine. It stopped suddenly, then my legs went completely dead and I fell to the floor. I pulled myself over to the bed with my arms. My legs came back to life, but my arms lost function. I fell forward, smashing my nose on the bed frame which led to an explosion of pain, blood, and tears. I’d had enough, and we’d proven the point, so I went back into my head.
I appeared right where I wanted, in the nerve center just as Ember was gripping another nerve bundle.
“Enjoying yourself?” I asked.
“Oh, yeah. Massively. Did I kick your ass?”
“Yes, you did. You tyrant. You’ve bust my bloody nose wide open!”
She laughed, but managed to look apologetic at the same time. “Next room?” she asked.
I nodded. We left the nerve center and headed to the next door along the corridor. I approached, and was about to open it, when a sense of dread overwhelmed me. I turned to Ember. “We’re not going in there,” I told her.
Stop being a wimp.”
“Stop bullying me. My head, my decision. And we’re not going in. Next room.”
Condition Evolution 2: A LitRPG / Gamelit Adventure Page 3
