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29.48% Scions of Gaea / Chapter 23: Sojourner, Pt 1

Chapter 23: Sojourner, Pt 1

It takes you a day and a half to go through Great Mall One and pick through whatever's left in the stores, whatever others have deemed useless to them. Their loss, of course. You don't really run into anyone else much, except that same Crag trio. Or they could be a different trio, you have no idea. Either way, they seem to treat you with some measure of respect and give you your space.

And of course, you do the same for them.

Although you do scour the entire place for anything and everything useful, you decide to only take a few things. After all, you want to stay light on your feet as much as you can for as long as you can.

Of course, you find a good amount of provisions - snacks and protein bars and bottles of water. The usual. You also pick up a couple of sundries and swap out your clothes for more breathable activewear. That's going to be crucial going forward.

On a similar note, you also pick up a lightweight waterproof poncho, which you quickly swap out with your current one. Thing is, it had begun to rain halfway through looting the mall, and this has made you realize that you don't have anything that's water resistant, except maybe your bags.

And perhaps getting drenched while traveling would be awful. Your old poncho could never give that protection, so the choice to replace it has been monumentally easy.

The new one is still light enough to allow the wind to cool you, though it's far less breathable overall. You suppose you could always sling one side over the opposite shoulder on extremely hot days, like gunslingers like to do in westerns. That oughta keep you cooler than not.

One other thing you pick up is a sleeping bag. It's lightly padded, somewhat breathable, but incredibly compact and great for all temperatures. Can squeeze it down, stuff it into its bag, and stow it away wherever you need. Though it isn't the most comfortable thing in the world, it's better than nothing at all.

Most crucially however, you've replaced your small backpack with an actual hiking pack. This thing is much roomier and its straps are much more comfortable. You're able to strap your sleeping bag to its bottom side, allowing Noir more space to curl up atop it.

Better still, it comes with a 2 liter water bladder!

You fill it up with as much bottled water as you can find, then run its hose down one of the straps. You give it a test sip to make sure everything works. You can't help but grin at this find. This is a huge quality of life improvement - being able to carry more water without being too burdened by its weight is a serious blessing.

Now that you've got everything you could need, at least that you can think, you take a break and glance outside. And it's still raining. It's been going on more than half a day at this point, and you're not sure if it'll stop anytime soon.

Since the sun is lowering down into the horizon and the sky darkens more and more, you can't help but feel antsy about getting back on the road.

"I think I'm gonna take a quick shower," you declare. "You up for one, too?"

Noir stops licking her paw for a moment and gives you a cat-like side eye.

I'll pass, she tells you.

"You sure?" you reply. "I mean, that sun sure is hot, and who knows how long this rain'll last. This shower could be a luxury."

Or it might rain every few days like normal.

"We don't know that for sure. Besides, you're starting to stink."

Could say the same about you, you know!

"S'why I'm taking a shower."

You can sense Noir sigh psionically, followed by a sense of reluctant agreement. She then takes a few trepidatious steps out there, but then starts to enjoy the rain. She circles around a bit, as though to get the most coverage, at least until her short fur is matted down and damp.

You can't help but chuckle at her - there's nothing more hilariously pathetic looking than a soaking-wet black cat.

What're you laughing at? she thinks as she trots back in.

"Sorry," you reply as you stifle a laugh. "You kinda look like a mangy, stray cat right now."

Mhm. Laugh it up. It's your turn to look like a mess.

You give one last chuckle, then strip down to nothing. You make a quick scan of the area around you and find absolutely no-one, which is enough for you to brave the outside in the nude.

Whatever modesty you feel seems to wash away as you feel the droplets hit you. The way the rain pelts you is incredibly soothing, the feeling of grime and dried sweat washing away even more so. And because the rain itself is warm, you become extremely relaxed.

This is perhaps the most luxurious thing you've ever experienced in your entire life.

You run your fingers through your hair and lightly scrub your scalp, even as water washes over you. A part of you wishes this moment could never end. Experiencing an eternity in a warm shower would be some version of heaven for you.

You head back inside once you're done with your shower and dry yourself with whatever cloth is piled up here. Mostly just cotton shirts and pants on the shelves or strewn about. Although you pat your body down until it's pretty much dry, you keep your hair relatively damp.

For whatever reason, you like the way wet hair feels.

And once you're dry enough, you put everything back on and get ready to go. Noir climbs up your body, then settles into her spot behind your head, on top of your hiking pack, and nestled inside the poncho's hood.

Oh, how roomy! she says.

Once she's settled herself into a ball, you place your conical hat on your head and tighten its leather cords under your chin.

"Ready to go?" you ask.

Let's go for it, Noir replies.

You then take a step out into the rain and immediately feel the raindrops drum your hat and smack your poncho. Although you're confident about the poncho's ability to resist water, you're not so sure about your hat. Sure, it's made of tightly-woven laminated bamboo strips, but there are plenty of tiny gaps just where the strips weave into each other.

As you travel, however, you're pleasantly surprised at how much it resists the rain. Absolutely nothing leaks through. In fact, it's so good at channeling water that you can watch it drip down along the edge in front of you.

You can feel more of it dripping down behind you onto your back, considering how it's angled. But it still comes down on all sides. You can even feel water trickle down onto your shoulders as you walk.

The hat is amazing for both heat and rain, and you're 100% glad that you found it in that apartment you had been staying at.

You adjust how it sits on your head and retighten its fit as you trudge on in the rain.

Which doesn't stop. And in fact, it only strengthens even more as you travel. Hours go by in the dead of night, as the rain turns into a torrent. Water begins to gather up and wash outward down the streets and into the gutters.

Even when you make it to the highway at the edge of the city's suburbs - that too is awash with a thin layer of water. It certainly washes away down the sides and further down into earthen channels on both sides. But there's so much rain and so much water that even the voluminous, ever-present drains are overwhelmed by it all.

Although your shoes aren't quite submerged in the water, you fear at some point they will be all but useless. The rain seems to be unrelenting, far more than usual.

Most times it rains, it only does so for a few hours before stopping. But this rain hasn't stopped for some time now, and judging by how intense it is at the moment, it doesn't seem like it'll be stopping anytime soon.

It's here that you realize the shortcomings of your poncho - it simply isn't long enough. Everything beneath your knees is thoroughly soaked. Your pants get heavier and heavier as they carry more and more moisture in between the threads.

Even though your hiking shoes are somewhat waterproof, it doesn't stop water from flowing down your legs and thoroughly soaking your socks. They squelch with every step, which frustrates you deeply. Not that there's anything you can do at this point.

But at least everything else is relatively dry. Plus it isn't oppressively hot. You'd rather have soaked socks than suffer direct sunlight any day.

Despite your feet feeling miserable, you try to keep your head high. This is just the first of many experiences just like this, and you try to convince yourself not to get bogged down in the negative. There's no point in feeling bad just because you're uncomfortable right now.

Besides, you've been through far, far worse. This is nothing in comparison.

Knowing that, you may as well pull yourself together, push through the worst, and simply move forward. As you've noted, there will be times when you'd rather be soaking wet. In fact, you fear that there will be entire days of oppressive heat, and you'll long for days just like this.

So you decide to try to celebrate what you can about this storm.

You reach out with a cupped palm and catch a bit of rain in it. Once you have plenty, you reach up and wipe your face with the water. It feels incredibly nice, and washes away a bit of the sweat you've gathered up since you started walking.

I've been thinking, Noir projects in an attempt to start a conversation. I think you're more of a Disciple than a Novice.

"Do you now?" you reply. "What makes you think that?"

Well I've been doing the math, the ones you assigned all the psionic powers. And then I compared them to the Ranking list you made.

"And I come up to a Disciple? You sure about that?"

Yep. You're actually midway through Disciple. I'm about at the beginning of Disciple. I counted. Three times.

"Sure, but that chart's incomplete. I don't know all the powers along the psionic scale. I'm assuming what I do know is the very, very basics."

Well, I think you've got Connection pretty well covered, yeah? I mean, your powers range from just yourself all the way to influencing everyone around you, yeah?

You run through your mental notes as Noir asks. You've had tons of time to think about what you had gone through in that Living Nexus, and having performed that Battle Hymn.

"Alright, fine," you say. "At the bottom is Surge. After that is Scan. Then Telepathy, and then Network."

There's a fifth one on top of that, right? Noir asks.

"Yeah, haven't quite figured out what it is. I thought at first it's that Living Nexus thing, but that's actually a mix of different power categories. Connection and Cognition at the same time. So it can't be part of Connection by itself."

Well I've got a theory. If all the powers in Connection are about, well, connecting with others, then the last power has to be being able to connect with everyone and everything.

"...That makes a lot of sense."

So the fifth power in Connection is Omnipresence.

You purse your lips in thought and consider Noir's suggestion, then nod in agreement a second later. After all, what could possibly be more powerful than being connected to absolutely everyone and everything on the planet? There's literally nothing else past that to connect to.

Logically speaking, that means every power category has the same thing. Meaning that the fifth Cognition power is Omnividence.

"Being able to see everything," you add.

Yep. And that means that Control's highest power would be Omnipotence.

"Being able to control everything…"

You shiver at the thought. The idea that someone or something out there could be powerful enough to control everything in the world. Or know everything that's going on inside it… Even a person able to connect to everyone in the world would be way too much.

And what would it mean if someone or something masters all three? Everyone and everything would be their puppets and playthings.

You quickly shake away the thought, unable to go any further with it. Earth is already a hell, and there's no need for it to get worse.

It only dawns on you after a few seconds that Noir is still chatting away.

So we can be absolutely sure that each category only has five powers each, and we're splitting each power up into five levels of strength. So we sorta know the absolute total, in terms of numbers. Judging from what you've assigned each one, you're a Disciple.

"Why did you even bring this up?" you ask.

Because it won't do you any good to think you're constantly a newbie. You're not. You've got powers and abilities that most can't even dream of, and you really oughta start thinking of yourself as capable.

You sigh as you nod again. Noir's right. Even if both of you are completely off with your categories and ranking and powers and tiers, you're not just some scrub. Maybe you were when this all first happened, sure, but you've grown much more than that since.

You really do have to look at yourself more realistically and understand your own growth. Not just how you've grown in the past, but how you wish to grow in the future. This world is going to attempt to kill you in every possible way, the same way that it has already killed most.

The way it has already killed Kaja.

"It's gonna be a long way to Master, much less Scion," you say after a moment. "I might be alright in Connection, but I barely know much more about Cognition and Control."

Maybe, sure, Noir replies. How about you just worry about getting to Adept next, then you can think about going further.

Your mind mulls it all over as you continue your journey, as you take one step further with every moment that passes.


Chapter 24: Sojourner, Pt 2

You and Noir continue on your trek westward under cover of night despite the unrelenting rain. It falls without cessation, to the point where hours turns to days, slowly intensifying as you walk.

Despite it all, you still find the time to rest and eat and loot during the day. There are plenty enough homes and rest stops and gasoline stations along the way, even if they're a few kilometers apart. Each of them have had more than enough to keep you going further and further.

Of course, they do start to thin out even more as the days pass and you have a mind to begin hoarding more food and water should you come across them. In fact, you'll have to start considering carrying canned food, even though they're heavy.

But that's honestly a problem for future you to deal with.

Right now you're mostly concerned with this rain. It has been raining so hard for so long that it begins to gather up around your feet to the point that the waterline is up to your ankles. What if this doesn't stop, and the future is filled with rain and water and flooding.

Though the highway is sloped and angled in a way that the excess rainwater flows down the sides into earthen ditches and drains, all of them are overwhelmed. None have been designed for this much water.

By this point, you've all but left the city and its suburbs and are now encroaching on the countryside. Out here is mostly forest and farmland among rolling hills. Anywhere that dips between the hills or exists in the valleys seems to be somewhat flooded.

Even any overgrown farmland you pass is unable to deal with that much water, and every untended crop seems to be flooded. You're unsure if that's good for the plants or not. Likely not.

Any buildings you come across on the sides of the highway that aren't elevated most certainly have their first floors flooded. Nothing too extreme, but enough to disallow you from sleeping on the floors. In fact, you were forced to sleep in an elevated alcove at the last rest area you had stopped at - one of the few spots you could sleep in at all.

Not that you particularly mind having to hunt for locations like that to rest your head - each one has offered a sense of security you wouldn't otherwise get sleeping on the ground.

Perhaps one of the truly good things about all this rain is simply that you haven't come across anyone or anything these past few days. Not just little critters and animals and Crags, but people too. You haven't seen a single soul in days, not since the rains started.

The only humans you've come across these past few days have long since died, whose bodies have turned into desiccated corpses. Or piles of bones whose meat have long since been gnawed off.

Sure, Noir hasn't been able to hunt, but that also means nothing has been able to hunt you either. That's certainly a blessing in its own way, perhaps making up part of the silver lining around this vast storm cloud.

Despite the lack of predators, you do come across the occasional psionic wound, just like the ones created by that shadow creature long ago. You can sense their depth in the psionic currents around you, and through your Third Eye.

Each one unnerves you greatly.

It's almost like the wounds themselves have been there since the beginning of time, but also have been freshly made, as though those deaths happened moments ago. Or are still happening right now. Each one is like a timeless gravestone, forever reminding you of your own mortality, of your own possible erasure from everything that exists.

You veer from them whenever they appear on your path, not just because they feel wholly unnatural to you. Fearsome, even. But also because you don't want to run into any shadow creatures that are still lingering, or still on the hunt.

The traumas from your constant nightmares prevents you from even considering going up against one ever again.

You pass another car that has long since been abandoned on the highway, and can't help but glance at the seats inside. In the back seat is a bulging backpack along with a few other indiscernible things, though there clearly isn't anyone inside. Not even a corpse. Whoever owned this car back then has long since abandoned it.

You tug on one of the door handles, and the car opens up easily. You quickly hop into its back seat with glee, happy to be out of the rain for a little while.

The inside of the car smells stuffy and stale, and maybe slightly rank. But you don't let that fact bother you too much. Instead, you reach over to the overstuffed backpack and open it up.

There isn't too much in there - a flashlight with dead batteries, a change of clothes, and some random sundries. None of it is exciting in the least, but you're still glad to go through the motions of looting. Again, a brief respite from the rain is certainly welcome.

Noir hops down for a moment and stretches out next to the backpack as you loot a couple packs of trail mix and stuff it into your messenger bag.

Enjoying yourself? she asks

"Haven't gone through a single container in days," you reply jokingly. "Was starting to get the shakes."

You then open up one of the trail mix packages and nibble on a few nuts. They taste a bit stale, but certainly haven't gone rancid. You can thank the sealed packaging for that. You consider offering some to Noir, but realize that everything in the mix is toxic to her.

Nuts and raisins are a definite no-no.

Instead, you grab one of your oatmeal bars and offer some of that to her. You can sense every part of her sigh, even though she chomps down what she can. She doesn't have much choice, honestly. It's not the best food for her, certainly. But right now it's the only food she can have.

She most certainly hasn't been able to hunt these past few days, and has instead dipped into your food. Though she isn't shy telling you how awful these bars taste to her, she doesn't exactly have a choice.

In any case, the fact that you're both eating your provisions really highlights the fact that you need a better source of food for the future. And you'll have to plan for any future rainstorms like this, in case you can't hunt for days.

Even if you did go out and hunt for food, you doubt either of you will find much. You're sure that absolutely everything out there is cooped up in their hiding spots, away from the relentless rain. Or otherwise flooded in them.

You think that maybe you ought to learn how to start living off the land instead, so the two of you can definitely have plenty to eat…

"Hey, can you teach me how to hunt?" you ask Noir.

What? Why? she asks.

"I mean, I can't live off packaged food forever," you reply. "Neither of us can. At some point it's all gonna run out, along with places to find them in. So I'll have to figure out how to hunt and whatnot to get food. Probably gotta forage a bunch, too."

Can't help you with the foraging thing, but alright sure. I'll teach you how to hunt. Not right now though, obviously.

You nod and look out the windows. It's pouring out there. Not that you expect it to stop anytime soon.

Once the two of you eat and rest a bit, Noir takes her place back behind your head, and you step back out into the rain. You find, thankfully, that it has lessened to some degree. And it lessens even more as you continue to trudge on.

It takes another few hours before the rain turns into a light drizzle, then stops altogether.

You hang your hat behind your back and glance up at the sky, but can't really tell exactly how cloudy it is or isn't. It's too dark to tell.

But you can see a few stars here and there, thankfully. And the more they appear, the more it tells you that the sky above you seems to be clearing up. It's another few hours of travel before dawn breaks and the sky lightens enough for you to see just how overcast it still is.

The water in the canals and drains lower enough that the flooded highway ebbs and recedes, allowing you to walk unhindered once again. A sense of relief washes over both you and Noir, who hops down to walk alongside you.

The two of you are far from the only ones to be glad of the rains coming to an end.

Your Scan and your Telepathy tells you that all manner of animals and critters out there feels similarly and are poking their heads out. Whoever has survived the long rains and flooding come out of their nests and burrows and hovels and caves, no doubt in search of something to eat. Or maybe just to stretch their legs.

You also sense some Crags emerge from their tunnels, some of whom feel like scouts. The rest feel like they're likely hunters or scavengers - they come with a sense of need, and of hunger.

It occurs to you that their thought patterns and emotions are like those of the Crags in the city and its suburbs, and you can't help but wonder if their hive extends all the way out here. Just how far does their dominion stretch?

They remind you wholly of ants and their colonies, who are the actual true masters of the Earth. Humanity might think they're its masters, but it actually belongs to the ants. Or at least, it has always belonged to them.

You had read somewhere that they are everywhere, and in every continent. In fact, there are so many of them that their combined mass greatly overshadows people. Well, when people were at their absolute peak, anyway.

Since you've gained Scan and Telepathy, you realize that you've been able to sense ants. You simply didn't know they were ants, and it has taken you a great deal of thought and attention to come to the realization.

Each and every one of them creates small Bursts of thought, so tiny you can't even read them. But combined with their colony's Network, all those Bursts fuse to become a note, a tone, a ring.

It's like a thin buzzing at the edge of your hearing, similar to that high tone when sitting still in a quiet room. A bit like tinnitus, except the sound isn't coming from your ears - it's the buzzing of the trillions of ants all around you.

You shudder as you make the comparison between them and the Crags. If they're anything like ants, then their domains no doubt stretch further out than you might realize. Worse, if they're like ants, then these Crags very likely have opposing hives.

Ants are an incredibly warlike species. Entire colonies vie for dominance over the others, and with ruthless perseverance. They will literally wipe out "enemy" ant colonies through concerted, systematic invasions just to take over their territory.

You can't help but imagine millions of Crags destroying each other in a brutal battle, as they vie for domination. The image disturbs you greatly, and you hope to never experience such a thing in your life.

A trio of Crag Scouts somewhere in the forested area to your right greet you. Or at least the psionic one does, and you do the same in return. This certainly confirms that the city's hive is the same as the hive out here, or at the very least, linked.

Their overall domain is most definitely large, and you have to wonder exactly how many of them are there beneath the ground.

Although you and the Crags jointly revel in the storm lifting, the rising heat reminds all parties that you can't stay out here for too long. They immediately set out to work, and you get back on your path down the highway, forever headed west.

About time that rainstorm ended, thinks Noir. I can finally get to hunting again, and not have to deal with your gross food. No offense.

"None taken," you respond. "Doubt I could handle your food either, to be honest."

Hey, don't knock it until you try it.

"I'll pass on the raw meat thing."

Wait 'til you're too hungry to care. Then try to tell me that. Anyway, we really oughta find a place to stop for the day. It's gonna get hot soon, at least once that sun gets back up high in the sky.

"I'm with you. But I think we can keep going for a while. It oughta take a couple hours for the water to fully sink away or evaporate, and that should keep things cooler than not for a bit while longer."

Sure, but there aren't exactly a whole lotta options out here. We really oughta spend time trying to find a place to rest rather than hoping to stumble on one along the way.

You throw a thumb behind your shoulder, pointing behind you. Not that Noir sees - she's walking a few meters ahead of you.

"Saw a sign a while back," you reply. "Should be a service station a dozen kilometers away. We can stop there. You can look for vermin to kill and eat and whatever. I'm sure there's plenty. For now, let's just enjoy the dawn, alright?"


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