บท 21: Awakening, Pt 8
You sneak as quietly and carefully as you can as you head towards the trio of Crags at the western end of Great Mall One. And the closer you get, the more you realize that there are indeed psionic energies in the air.
But it isn't from some psion like yourself - it's coming from one of the Crags. Though the energies are patterned like your own, its alien thoughts are interwoven all throughout. Which means you're unable to see exactly what it's doing with those energies.
Still, you can tell that it's using the basic wavelengths of Temperance, ESP, and Scan. More importantly, you can see just how far it can reach out, which is far inside your own senses. Which makes you think that it's Tiered lower than you, at least in its current state. After all, it's very possible that the Crag is only channeling a portion of its energy.
You stop moving when you're far enough away to observe them, but still out of their reach. Although you settle yourself into a shadow in the corner of a store, Noir decides to keep going. Specifically, she creeps her way into a nearby stairwell up towards the floor above.
A sharp note at the edge of your hearing pierces through your thoughts, interrupting them wholly.
At the same time, the Crags shriek and scream, then chitter angrily. You can practically feel them reeling in what seems like a mix of pain and confusion. They move hastily in small circles as they search around for the source of the sound, but they find nothing. A wave of frustration fills the air around them as the seconds go by.
It strikes you that they search the same spots over and over again, as though they're compelled to do it. There's something about that tone that interrupts their minds, for some reason. Another thought hits you - there isn't a psion like you doing this. You don't feel any Telepathic energies getting injected into the Crags.
You come to the conclusion that this has to be some kind of device making this sound. That note you had heard felt tinny and electronic. But is it some random device in one of the stores doing it? Somehow? Or is it someone doing this on purpose?.
You focus your Scan towards the rest of the Mall, specifically the shops around the Crags. Hopefully, you'll find some indication of what's going on. You find what you're looking for about three floors above you - a pair of human minds in the midst of doing something.
They're right at the edge, so you can hardly tell what those thoughts actually are. But you get splashes of ideas here and there, along with emotions of elation intermixed with fear. Their minds quiet down as the sharp noise ends, as though they're waiting for a reaction.
And they get a reaction - the Crags calm down almost instantly, just like the first time.
When the note rings a third time, you realize that the Crags are definitely being toyed with, if not outright experimented on. A part of you is enraged by that, though you're not entirely sure why. All you know is that it feels cruel to put the bugs in that situation, that predicament.
You decide that you need to get closer. Close enough that you can read their surface thoughts more clearly. You need to know what they're about, and figure out what to do from there.
Both you and Noir coordinate with each other as you sneak upwards and closer to the human targets. It takes you a while, as you want to be sure that you won't get detected by anyone. And if you do, then you'll be far enough away to run if you need to.
As you do so, whoever's toying with the Crags continue to do their thing. They activate their machine - or whatever it is - numerous times in five to ten second intervals. It comes regularly enough that you're now dead certain that they're doing this purposefully. Whether it's for some nefarious reason or fun hardly matters at this point.
That note intensifies the closer you get to it. It doesn't just ring in your ears, but in your mind as well. As though its emitting a frequency that greatly disturbs psions like yourself. And you most definitely want to end it.
Now that you're getting much closer, you can more easily Scan what's on their minds. Their thought patterns seem to be that of adult men. They both share a kind of rigid thought process revolving around cause and effect. Both also hold a kind of curiosity as to their actions. Or rather, the effect they're causing on the Crags below.
But not just that, but they both have this childlike glee at what they're seeing and experiencing. No, wait. They're not amused by what's happening to the Crags. They're amused that they can inflict this onto the Crags.
And it's clear that the more they activate that tone, the more amused they become. You become angrier as a result.
Some part of you wants to balance out this injustice. And you wonder what you could do at all in this situation. You could try to Telepathically connect to the Crags, maybe try to tell them about these two. Somehow.
You're afraid the language barrier would only result in them turning against you, thinking you're the source of the sound. You'd rather not get torn apart, thank you very much.
And what if those people are doing this for a good reason? You imagine someone in the Settlement experimenting on something like this, to help keep Crags from going through the perimeter. Though obviously their methods seem cruel, their end result would be a boon for all you know, right?
Then again, you imagine that people could be doing this for a terrible reason, too. Such as someone using a device like this to cause Crags to attack the settlement. It would allow them to pick through everything without having to fire a shot.
Since you have no idea what their motivations are, you similarly have no idea what to do about it.
What they're doing seems wrong, and you definitely want to do something about that. But what makes you right to interfere in the first place?
Who the hell are you?
You're just a nobody making your way to the other side of the country. What these people are doing, what these Crags are doing, none of it should be your concern. You ought to ignore all this, get back to scavenging, and get out before any of them can notice you.
You've got other things to do with your life, and risking it for some Crags hardly seems like the right thing to do.
And yet here you are, debating it all anyway.
Part of you wishes you could see the future, what would happen if you choose to remove these people from the earth. Or even what would happen if you simply walk away from all this and allow them to their fates.
You desperately want to know which outcome would be better. Or at least, which outcome would be least painful.
And you realize that you can see the future. Just slivers in time just ahead of your present self. Of course, most of those visions are practically useless to you. All they truly do is infuse you with a sense of dissonance, of not quite being in the 'now', of being spread thin over the course of a few seconds.
It certainly helped greatly while in that Living Nexus, but doesn't seem to have any use here. Not as it is, anyway.
But maybe if you could stretch your vision further, beyond just a few moments, then you could possibly see the consequences of whatever choice you make. It dawns on you that you should be practicing this ability more on your own time, not in the middle of what could be a conflict or crisis.
Too late for that, though. Even as you flex outward with your Foresight, you realize that you won't be able to see much. After all, you'll only see your own future and not anyone else's.
You try anyway. You've already gotten this far, so why not keep going?
Time seems to stretch a bit around you, as you push your Cognition further and further out. Reality seems to fight against you and constrain you, as though attempting to keep you when you are.
Your brow furrows and grit your teeth as a result - it takes a great deal of effort to stretch your Foresight outward. Numerous shards of the future pile up around you and squeeze into each other. They merge into each other slowly as they eventually meld into the present, then are diffused into your past.
The strain of it all causes the pain in your head to sharpen more and more, seemingly exponentially. Excruciatingly long seconds pass, and you begin to get glimpses of what's in front of you. More and more slivers pile up, even as you reach further and further out.
For one moment you feel biting rain falling down all over you, soaking your clothing.
And in another moment, you feel something slice your cheek painfully.
The next moment, a flickering shadow creature extends an arm towards you, filling you with dread.
Each flash comes with sharper and sharper spikes of pain, to the point where you're forced to shut down all your psionic energies. You want to scream and shout at the throbbing you feel, but stifle yourself as best you can.
Not that it matters all that much - the psionic Crag shrieks and screams in alarm with incredible ferocity, which easily hides whatever grunts and groans you're making. It's compounded by the fact that the two regular Crags by its side do the exact same thing, because they're linked wholly to each other.
Your sharp headache subsides to a tolerable pounding after a few seconds. As you recover, it dawns on you that the Crags are alarmed by you. Your psionic energies have flared out as a result of your attempt to reach out, and the psionic one knows you're there.
You can feel its Scan and Telepathy reach out in your direction, as though in search of you.
At the same time, all three of them pound on the stone flooring with their chitinous legs, causing it to crack and shatter right at the point of every impact.
You reactivate your Scan and sweep the two people on the same floor as you, just to see if they've moved, or done anything in response. Both appear to be stunned by the sound of the Crags' screaming, and their minds are reeling.
Alarm sweeps through you as you feel the Mall shake slightly around you. When you turn your psionic energies back towards the three Crags, you find that they're climbing the walls upwards. Closer towards you.
You quickly throw Telepathic energies at the psionic Crag in an attempt to stop them. You don't send anything intrusive or painful or contrary, and instead send wavelengths of calm, of giving pause, of caution, of peace.
And you send them over and over repetitively, each time attempting to better conform to their own emotional states, to better communicate. It takes you a few moments, but you eventually align your thought's beats and cadence to their own, which imparts your message to them. At least to some degree.
It's enough for the psionic Crag to slow down, as well stop its ear-piercing shriek. The other two follow suit, though it's clear that they remain alert.
The psionic Crag emits a demanding trill, as though to prod you for answers.
You're not sure exactly how to respond - how exactly can you emote "spying" to them? Is that something they understand as a concept? And if they do, how can you impart that you're not spying on them, but rather on these people near you.
You decide to speak through your emotions.
The Crags appear to hold the same mentality and purpose as the scouts you had sensed earlier. So you easily slip feelings of curiosity and exploration into them. Then you form a ball of anger, but instead of pointing it at the Crags, you direct it towards the two people a dozen or so meters away from you.
You infuse the anger with the memory of the tone.
With it all combined, you hope that the Crags understand what you're doing. That you're spying on people that are doing harm to them.
It takes a moment, but a wave of realization sweeps out from the psionic Crag. It seems to understand what you're attempting to tell it. The bug climbs up a bit further then gets on the second-story walkway before it sidles over slowly.
When it comes in range of the two people - who are by this point exuding waves of fear - another wave of understanding wafts out of the psionic Crag. It seems to be using its Scan to read the two people's minds, and you find yourself helping it.
Much like a kind of translator, you echo what the two feel, but translate it to an emotional wavelength that the Crag better understands.
As you do so, a growing sense of appreciation fills all three Crags. It's an oddly wholesome feeling, and you feel much more connected to the insects than you ever have before.
Then, without warning, the psionic Crag lashes out with a refined Telekinetic attack. It's almost as though it has created pincers with its energies. And it catches one of the people in between those Telekinetic Pincers.
The man screams in absolute pain as he's lifted into the air, caught by an invisible, unbreakable force. At the same time, waves of vengefulness wafts out from the three Crags, all of whom clearly maddened by the sonic tortures they've been subjected to.
Waves of fear and pain and regret emanate from the man held in the pincers, but you feel no empathy for him in the slightest. Instead, you exude a sense of justice - one that the three Crags seem to share.
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