The township caravan trudges on through long past midnight, passing by a handful of stops and small towns. A part of you is regretful at not being able to loot any place you cross, but another part of you knows to stick with the townsfolk as much as possible. You simply never know what you all might run into.
You do your best to keep aware, while also instructing Nance along the way. It's not too tough with Noir taking point.
Up above you is the pale yellow moon in all its weak, sickly glory. Thankfully it's bright enough to shed some light, though you see some dark clouds encroaching its periphery.
You sense it might rain soon.
That'll certainly make your trek harder, though it's best if they experience some rainfall sooner rather than later. Better they learn how to travel in a storm now, while they're still getting acclimated to life on the road in the first place. There's going to be many more storms down the road for them to deal with, that's for sure.
You glance over at Nance and note that she's down to about a quarter of her psionic energies. She has been spending it Scanning left and right, with the occasional Foresight interspersed in every hour or so. Basically, she's practicing diligently. Probably something you could do more of.
Take it easy, you transmit to her. You wanna pace yourself a bit, especially while we're on the road. Wanna leave yourself enough energy to deal with anything that might pop up. I personally try to only use up about a quarter of my max each day. So maybe you could do something similar.
Oh my, you're right, she replies Telepathically. Guess I got a bit carried away with it and all. Hope nothing comes our way now, 'coz I'd be up a creek…
Well honestly, using up your energies as much as you can also helps. I feel like doing that trains my mind to hold more energy in the first place, if you know what I mean. The times I've emptied myself out, I've always had a larger pool afterwards. Like I instinctively grew it to prevent emptying out in the future.
Like working out. The more you do them pushups, the stronger you get.
Like that, yeah. Anyway, all I'm saying is you oughta keep an eye out on how much energy you've got at all times. If you end up running out… well, just do whatever it takes not to run out.
Nance immediately draws back whatever energy she's holding and cancels a Scan already in process. She then takes a deep breath in as though to reset herself, but the mental fatigue she feels barely budges. Her physical body is also pretty worn at this point, and she slump forward slightly as a result.
You all have been walking for many hours now without much of a break, and can feel the townsfolk's weariness in the air. It feels thick, though not quite overbearing. And from the way the sky looks, with a very slight red tint, it seems like dawn isn't far away.
Up ahead, you see Frank and his team turn down a worn pathway through the trees, then beckon the rest of the caravan to follow. It's slow going, considering that the pathway is just dirt. And although it's wide enough for the horses and carts to get through, it's only just so. Everyone has to go a little bit slower than normal to get through it.
It's otherwise an easy trek despite the darkness all around. It takes only a half hour of trudging on that dirt path until you come to an overgrown clearing in the middle of the forest. The clearing itself is rather small, certainly not large enough for everyone to camp out in it.
Butted up against the far end of the small clearing is what looks to be a hunting shack, which is where Frank and a few others have gathered up. They direct people over to the edges of the clearing itself, and tell them to set up their tents just inside the forest.
They also direct the caravan's protectors, such as Nance and her team, to camp a little bit further out west, to act as a kind of protective buffer. Frank and his team will camp out further east to balance it out. Which leaves the carts and their horses in the clearing itself, which is large enough to hold them.
Though the horses have to be close to the edge of the forest if they want any kind of room to rest. There, their drives secure them to the nearest trees, then water and feed and brush and clean them. Certainly plenty of pats and scratches and words of encouragement are scattered throughout as well.
While everyone sets up their hammocks and tents, you head over to the small shack. The thing is very small, made of wooden planks, and perhaps decades old. The wood itself is more gray than brown, though thankfully none of it is rotten.
Along a wall outside it are a couple of wooden racks, which you presume to be tanning and meat drying racks. There's nothing in them for now to give a hint to their true purpose, sadly. But a quick flip through your bushcrafting book confirms that those are exactly what they are.
There's a pile of chopped wood at the corner of the cabin, just to the right of the door leading in. Hanging on the exterior out front are a few empty leather bags, water bladders, a handful of spears and a couple of bows.
All of them look well-worn, hand-made, and also untouched. It's as though they've been hanging there for years, if not decades. They're probably more decoration now than actual tools.
The inside of the shack itself is rather cozy, if a bit musty. There's a small wooden table with a chair in one corner with one of Frank's team seated on it. Another is sitting on the rickety wooden bed, resting up. He has since loosened his straps and let his pack flop on the bed behind him. He seems to stare a hole into the wall as he catches his breath. Clearly, the man is exhausted.
Frank himself is up over by the old wood stove in the corner to your left, mixing up some kind of stew in a large pot. There's a plate with all kinds of ingredients on a small prep table next to him, cuts of beef, fresh veggies, that sort of thing. There's a second pot nearby half-filled with broth, but sadly there's no place on the stove for it.
Another one in his team walks up to him and says, "Lemme take care of that," to which Frank obliges. He steps back and hands over his ladle without a fuss. When he sees you, he steps over.
"I don't think they like my cooking," he says jokingly.
"We never did," says the one sitting on the bed. "But we appreciate it anyway. Get some rest, we'll take care of the grub."
Frank nods, thanks his team, and the two of you head out.
The smell of the cooking stew follows you, which causes your stomach to grumble slightly. But it's far from ready, so you instead walk out to the clearing to get away from the scent if you can. No good getting your appetite all worked up right now.
Frank follows along with you, though he goes to check the welding on the hitching on each of the carts. He inspects them rather carefully, mostly with his fingers as it's still relatively dark out. He seems to be satisfied with what he finds.
"You figured out your sleeping spot yet?" he asks.
It strikes you that you haven't thought of it yet - your mind has been so focused on Nance and her progress. As well as how the rest of the caravan is coping, mentally. It's an odd feeling, putting others before yourself. You wonder if your psionic powers have anything to do with your rising empathy.
Maybe it just took one bad loss to realize you had one all along. All you had to do was stop ignoring it.
In any case, you like how it feels. Even though it's somewhat uncomfortable and unfamiliar, you resolve to try to do this more often.
"Maybe over there," you say after a brief Scan. "Plenty of space south for me and my cat to rest up at."
"You've a cat?" Frank asks, surprise etched in his voice.
"Yeah, she's patrolling over on the north side right now."
He nods, but slowly for a second, as though he's carefully absorbing the word 'patrolling'.
"Probably hunting, too," you add.
"Alright, well," Frank says after a moment. "Any case, you'd better start getting set up now before it starts coming down."
He points upwards at the darkening clouds which are now mostly covering the brightening dawn sky.
You take his advice and head straight towards the area you've scouted out for yourself. Like the rest of the campsites, it's out in the woods itself. A bit further out, too, to align with the caravan's defensive perimeter.
You take a spot at the southeast, pointed towards the direction you've all come from. Although there's quite a lot of space here like you said, you're mostly concerned about anything that might be following you.
It's best if you face whatever might be there first.
You end up choosing a rocky outcropping to set up your camp at. It looks ideal as a defensive position towards the south, while still being able to see everything that's happening at the rest of the camp northwards.
The first thing you do is set down all your gear, then flip open your bushcraft guide and look at whatever it says about creating a sleeping area.
The guide has a handful of beds to create, but you choose the one that looks as though it's something you could do. There's basically two thin and long logs parallel to each other, and has shorter sticks running perpendicular along the length. Kinda like slats on a bed frame.
On top of it all is a layer of sticks, dry leaves, then clumps of soft moss. You could put your sleeping bag on top of that to make something incredibly comfortable.
You lighten up your load as much as you can, but quickly realize that you need a hatchet to chop down said wood. You distinctly recall thinking about buying one, but putting it off until later. Thanks to the attack and all the other things that have happened since, you've never gotten a chance to go get said hatchet.
Of course, it would be easy to borrow a hatchet from someone in the caravan - they likely have plenty to spare. But you do have your Telekinesis to practice, and could use that to chop down trees instead. You've still got plenty of energy left in the tank, after all.
How hard could it be, right?
You head over to a small cluster of short and thin trees, pick out a handful that's about the same width, then begin to chop the first down. Or at least, you try to.
Your energies mass around you as you channel them into your Telekinesis. Though you've gotten better over time, you're still nowhere near as good as Kaja was. But you hope that by being diligent about it, you'll eventually get there.
Though you consider picking up a rock and chipping it against another to create a sharp edge, you instead take a cue from Noir. You shape the Telekinetic energy itself into a sharp edge, much like an actual axe head.
You then swing that Telekinetic axe into the first tree, about a third of a meter up. It makes a truly satisfying THOK sound on impact, which also causes the tree to vibrate from the hit. More than that, you find that your Telekinetic axe has cut into the wood some. Seeing that brings you some joy.
It takes another half dozen swings before you're able to fell the tree, however. You simply can't seem to push your TK axe fast enough or hard enough to truly bite into the wood. Still, this will do.
As advised by your bushcraft guide, you pick up the felled tree and strip off its thin branches with your survival knife. It takes you a bit of effort to accomplish this, as it's nothing like you've ever done before. The first few attempts result in your knife binding up in the wood and stopping short. A few other times, you gouge too deeply and weaken the wood accidentally. But by the time you're done, you're able to whip your blade quickly and take off whatever branches are left with ease.
You do this a handful more times so you have enough wood for your slats, then chop them up so they're all about the same length. Then you find two larger trees to make up your bed's frame and chop those down as well. Since these are quite a bit thicker, it takes you much longer to do. You find your mind drifting a little, even as you hack away at the trees.
And if your psyche could sweat from this level of manual labor, it would. Swinging an axe is certainly laborious, monotonous work, but somehow also deeply satisfying.
In the end, you have what you need and transport them bundle by bundle over to your campsite. There, you set up your bed frame butted up against the outcropping, then lay down your slats over top. You then place smaller sticks loosely on top of the slats, to make for a kind of springy underlayer. Then you go hunting for leaves and moss to make your bedding. That part doesn't take too long, as there's tons of them all over the forest floor.
Once everything is set, you create four stakes and pound them into the earth at each of the four corners of the bed. Similar to the TK axe, you use your Telekinesis to shape a mallet, and use that to hammer the stakes in.
Once the bed looks more or less done, you start on your lean-to. As before, you use your poncho to make the actual shelter by stretching it flat, but use two similarly-sized sticks to hold it up at an angle. You place it over the bed itself, giving you plenty of shelter. Though you shouldn't have to worry about the sun too much, as the forest's canopy should shield most of it from you.
Still, you prefer things to be cozier than it needs to be.
Now that you're done, you find yourself sweating profusely from the effort. You're even panting a bit out of exertion. It has taken physical and psionic effort, but it feels good. Your mind and body feel similarly tired, and having a nice place to sleep feels like a reward.
You take a quick break to appraise your handiwork thus far… and you're not exactly impressed with what you've done.
The bed is serviceable enough, without a doubt. But it all looks a bit shabby at the edges. Your cuts of wood aren't the most even, your notches aren't all aligned, and your beddings looks a bit lumpy in some sections.
While you're fixing up what you can to make your bed just a little bit better, you hear the patter of rain strike your poncho shelter. The few drops turn to dozens after a few seconds, and when those double you take the rest of your things and stuff them under the shelter, somewhere at the foot of your bed.
You then crawl in feet-first through the only opening left, and settle in as you listen to the rain drumming your poncho. The smells of the forest rises up as it all becomes damp, filling your nose with an indescribable scent. You feel soothed from deep within, and whatever weariness you feel in mind and body seem to dissipate away.
As a result, you fall fast asleep.
Your breath is hot and heavy as you run down the streets. A number of buildings on both sides of you crumble to pieces as they are torn apart by massive crystals piercing through the concrete. Kaja is running at your side, or rather just slightly ahead of you. She's holding your hand and tugging you lightly to ensure that you don't stop running.
And when you glance behind you, you see the shadow creature chasing after you with its translucent purple blade hovering right beside it.
Its menacing determination to chase after you still fills you with fright even after all this time.
It's everything you've seen in your dreams for far too long now. Although admittedly things are a bit different now… Now you're not quite so absorbed in your loss, and a little more focused on that which you have. This dream itself is a massive boon, now that you think about it.
Simply being here allows you to take a better look at everything that's happening around you. Since the dream is more than a dream - it's basically a copy of what's happened in reality, that must mean that everything in it must also be real, right? Since hardly anything changes from what's happened in the past, then anything you observe ought to still be accurate, right?
You turn your eyes back towards the Sweeper, as the Sheriff calls it, and you find that it's a rather accurate name.
You've certainly given these things plenty of thought throughout the past three years, but none more so than since that broadcast of his. Particularly that they were able to kill one, assuming that he was telling the truth.
This implies that the Sweeper has limits. But even if it could kill you in one fell swoop easily, why didn't it? One of the few questions that's been running through your mind all this time is simply - why didn't it cut you down while you were running away? It certainly had more than a few chances to do so.
It's during this dream that you realize why.
The Sweeper was corralling you. Just as it had been corralling that stampede of alien animals at first, then those thousands of crags after. They act as one does with dirt: they gather everything into a pile before sweeping it all aside into some cosmic bin somewhere.
You focus a deep Scan on the Sweeper chasing after you, and immediately sense a depth you simply cannot fathom. It's a bit like staring down into the ocean and seeing the murky depths far below your sight. Not even close.
Although its vast psionic energies flicker around it in waves, the thing itself is like a dark void. You can't sense any thoughts or emotions from it, nothing you can understand anyway. Before you thought it was something like a monotone, but now you realize it's the absence of it.
Though you can't tell what it is, you can certainly see how much energy it's capable of using. While it is a great amount - more than you and Kaja combined - simply the ability to see it is more than enough. It means that perhaps you've got a fighting chance against it.
"Let's try to stop it," you tell Kaja. "I think we can do it."
"Are you nuts?" she tells you, her voice elevated with worry. "We can't fight that thing! We don't even have a gun. All those people who shot at it with their guns - they're dead. Not even dead, just gone, straight up gone! I don't even remember what they looked like, or what they told me! I… I can't let that happen to you…"
"It won't. And we don't need guns. You and me - we're way more dangerous than some dudes with guns."
You pull your hand away from Kaja as you stop, then spin around to face off against the Shadow Sweeper. It slows over two dozen meters in front of you, though it continues to advance. You sense its energies flare outward with overwhelming amounts of Telekinetic power. But it's far from the only power it uses. You can sense it shaping some of its remaining energies into numerous other powers, such as Temperance, ESP, and Telepathy.
However, none are varied, and all use the exact same amount of power as the others. The only one that uses a great amount of energy is its Telekinesis. As it does so, it swings its massive blade horizontally above him, then flings it downward in an attempt to bisect you.
Instead of shutting your eyes, this time you keep them wide open.
The blade stops inches away from you suddenly, as Kaja catches it with her burgeoning Telekinesis. You glance over at her to see her struggling against it, and sense her straining psionically. But she's holding her own. The massive blade shakes and shudders in the air as she fights a slowly losing battle against the Sweeper.
"I don't think I can hold this!" she tells you through gritted teeth.
"Yes you can," you reply. "I know you can."
Your sudden faith in her causes Kaja's heart to skip - it's so visceral that you feel it as well. Her energy surges slightly, allowing her to take better hold of the incoming blade and very nearly halting it to a standstill.
As she wrestles against the Sweeper, you shape your energies into a powerful Surge. You narrow down its cone greatly, practically turning it into a beam large enough to just about engulf the Sweeper whole. You pour heaping amounts of hesitance, doubt, and questioning into the Surge, more than enough to stop dozens of people at a time.
Though its vast void soaks up all your emotions like a sponge, it stops less than a dozen meters away from you. You feel a sudden jolt pulse outward from it, some kind of defensive power. It's powerful enough to shatter your Surge and stop your attack short.
And unfortunately, it keeps its hold on the blade.
You sense it pour a bit more energy into its Telekinesis, causing Kaja to strain significantly more as a result. It scrapes through the air slowly towards you, and you can almost hear it slicing through the wind, like a low, somber hum.
Not that you're worried. Instead, a grin forms on your face as you initiate your Network and join Kaja to it.
Both your energies fill a shared pool, and combined in this way you're almost a match against the Sweeper's. Especially now that you've grown as much as you have. Back then, you had almost nothing to draw from. Then again, it isn't so much about the size of the pool… it's also about how well you can swim in its waters.
You also lend some of your own energies directly to Kaja through the Network, empowering her Telekinesis in the process. Her hold on the blade steadies once again, and halts its slow advance. Firmly.
"What the hell is going on?!" Kaja says close to frantically.
"I know you're just now figuring things out, but trust me when I say we've got psionic powers, okay? And they're awesome." You reply.
"What, you can see the future now or something?"
"Something like that… Just like you can move things with a thought."
"You make it sound so easy!"
"Yeah? Well you're the one who's actually doing it. Now focus!"
You Surge outwards a second time, but this time in a shallow cone directed at Kaja. She finds herself bathed in determination and excitement, exactly as how you're feeling it. Of course, she can't help but be swept up by it.
More than that, she seems somewhat mesmerized by who you suddenly are, who you've become, who you're going to be. There are equal parts pride and happiness and You sense her energies swell again, allowing her to channel just that much more energy through her Telekinesis.
The blade begins to shudder again shortly after, as the two wrestle for control of it.
Kaja now seems ready to actually challenge the Shadow Sweeper now, invigorated by this "future you". Of course, you're far from done yourself. As far as you're concerned, all you've done so far is hit it with a warning shot. It's the next one that's going to actually finish it off.
At least, you hope it does.
You concentrate half of your current energies and form it into a long and fine needle-like spear. Then you shift the energies slightly and focus them into a truly devastating Interrupt. This much power is more than enough to put a complete halt to any person you've met thus far. In fact, you're certain this much would be lethal to absolutely any creature currently living on the planet.
You could perhaps spear through a dozen people and Interrupt them all in one go.
Though it's designed to stop their physical organs from functioning, and thus killing them, you're not sure if it will do the same to the Sweeper. You hope the power translates well to whatever biology the Sweeper has. If anything, you hope to inflict a terrible wound on it - one grievous enough to give Kaja the edge she needs.
You fling your Interrupt straight at the center of that void, stabbing deep within with absolute certainty. Then you push the entire length of it further and further in, despite the Sweeper's attempts to repulse it and push it away.
As you do so, you sense its energies flicker and flutter, as though each power is shutting down and then reactivating over and over. Its energy pool also fluctuates, as though it's switching between settings. It's shallower one moment, then deeper the next, and then everything else in between.
You're horrified to learn that its actual depth is far more than what you've sensed previously, but at least you know you can hurt it. At least, while it's at this 'depth'. You hope that it remains there and doesn't escalate things…
You push in the rest of your Interrupt without hesitation, causing an all-systems blackout from the void itself. It completely vanishes for a moment, but reappears almost immediately after.
Kaja takes this moment to completely envelop her Telekinetic grasp on the blade and wrench it from the Sweeper's grasp. With her arms gesticulating wildly, she swings the massive weapon over your heads, then flings it point-first towards its owner.
"Go for the head!" you cry out.
Kaja raises the blade's trajectory slightly upwards, aiming towards the Sweeper's head rather than its chest. The blade itself whips through the air with extreme speed, but stops mere inches from the creature's head.
The blade wobbles slightly as the Sweeper's Telekinetic energies wrap around it, stopping it in midair just as Kaja had done against it only moments ago.
Looks like it recovered way faster than I thought, you transmit to Kaja through the Network.
Aw hell, she replies.
She says it again the moment the both of you sense the Sweeper slowly pushing the blade back. More than that, its own Telekinesis seems to be taking more and more control of it as the seconds pass. It won't be long until it retakes control, and you realize that it's now or never.
But how? You've used up two thirds of your energy so far, and most of that was from both your attacks!
You can't attack it, not directly anyway. Not unless you wanna wipe yourself out again. No, you've gotta come at it from a completely different way altogether if you're trying to come out of this alive.
Sure it's all just a dream and nothing you do here actually matters. Besides whatever new skills you learn or wisdom you glean, reality will still be the same and nothing will change. Mistakes won't be undone and your past is still the past. Right?
May as well go all-out in here since there's no consequences. If anything, you can practice powers you don't normally get to use. Or, even better, you can craft new powers altogether. Combination powers like Orchestra and Living Nexus and Temporal Acceleration.
You weave your energies into your Foresight, and peer into the numerous shards of the future that lay ahead of you. Most show exactly what you fear - the Sweeper regaining control of the blade. Very few reveal a future where the blade rams straight into its head, causing both entities to dissolve on contact.
You quickly step halfway into one of the rare futures, but instead of funneling the energies of Temperance into yourself, you pass it through to your Telepathy. Then, you transmit it straight to the Sweeper itself, then add that shard to its own.
Since it isn't an aggressive move, it slips in neatly with the other shards the Sweeper is sensing, but vanishes after a moment. It's overwhelmed by the Sweeper's actual fate. But you don't simply drop one shard - you drop another. Or rather, the same, merely a copy. But another nonetheless. And you drop more and more copies into it, allowing your lethal shard to appear and reappear over and over.
The Omen then catches like a fire in the Sweeper's future, widening and spreading across its vast but immediate future. You see all its shards flip over to yours, slowly at first. But it results in an overwhelming cascade by the end.
When all the Sweeper can see are shards of its own dead future, it stops altogether and stands still almost as though it has given up the fight. All its energies recede at the same time, which allows Kaja to ram the blade straight into its head without resistance. As foretold.
The weapon drives in like molasses, however. And where blade meets void, both things seem to melt and bubble and dissipate into smoke. It takes many seconds for Kaja to burn through it all, to completely erase the Sweeper's head.
It also takes the majority of the blade to do, and is basically little more than a large nub at the end. Kaja embeds it into the asphalt with force, even as the Sweeper's body flickers in and out of existence. And then suddenly, it's gone altogether.
Both of you are filled with absolute joy and excitement, and can't help but yell and scream in victory. The two of you immediately hug each other tightly, thankful that neither of you had gotten hurt. Or worse.
Your faces are filled with the widest smiles as your glance turns into gazes. Her eyes catch yours at the same time that yours catch hers, making your heart stop still.
You see her eyes flick down to your mouth, as though begging for a taste. Of course, you share that feeling deeply, especially considering you're intertwined within the Network. You can't help but need her even more now than you ever have. And the same with her.
The both of you lean in towards each other to fulfill that mutual need, your heart now beating a million times a minute.
And then, you wake.
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