A Sinner's Eden

Chapter 160 - EVO

***Tirnanog, Mount Aerie***

***Isaac***

“I still don’t believe this is a wise idea,” I hedged as my sisters giggled like the stupid little hussies they were being right now. They both hushed me with quick gestures while we waited for the plan to come to fruition. What we were up to was truly brain-dead, but supposedly entertaining if my sisters were to be believed.

I was sure if we just talked about this rationally, everyone would agree that there were better ways to deal with our boredom. But just like it had taken me some growing up to approach the world more consideredly, my sisters were now going through the same phase. They had yet to come face to face with the possibility of dying for real.

So why was I now hiding with them on one of the ceiling’s support beams for the molerat stable? Instead of telling our mother what we were up to? I began to question my stupidity for going along with this. Actually, why was I even here? There was no way this plan of theirs would end well.

On one side, getting caught by Mom or Dad would get us in a lot of trouble. They told us in no uncertain terms that the molerat stable and the treemonae forest were strictly off-limits.

On the other, my sisters’ little game had the potential for going sideways in all kinds of horrible ways. Wasn’t it better to just be seen as a boring snitch? I really should have run off and told Mom about this, but doing so now and leaving Aurora and Constella alone seemed a little bit late.

Maybe I should fire off a quick message through the UI and hope that Mom would keep it between us. She was almost assuredly already searching. The messenger who required her attention and allowed us to slip away was at most a temporary distraction.

Not caring for my inner lamentations, Aurora lowered the life-sized doll she made out of sewn-together kid’s clothes and pillow stuffing into the molerat pen. She had the handmade doll on two strings so she could puppet it around in a mockery of the real thing.

The idea was to ‘play’ catch with the molerat as if it was some boring, old pet. Maybe even train the beast to let us ride it. Which was most certainly not happening as far as I knew. While the molerats were supposedly tame and widely used as beasts of burden, I had yet to see an adult stupid enough to turn their backs on one of those things. Not to mention riding one of them.

As I watched Aurora, all kinds of bad scenarios went through my head. My secondary personalities had a field day coming up with ever more bad things which could happen. What had Dad called it? Murphy’s Law?

Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.

I winced at the thought of the molerat snatching the puppet and pulling Aurora off the support beam and down into the pen, so I readied myself to grab her by the short bloom of filaments which was visible at her neck. I just began growing in, but I figured it would be enough to hold her. She wouldn’t like it, but it would be better than allowing her to fall into the reach of that monster.

Meanwhile, I used my filaments to anchor myself to the support beam. They were longer than my sister’s because I had a head start in hatching earlier.

Thankfully, it looked like the molerat wasn’t too interested in the offering which was dangled in its pen, but Constella whistled while Aurora twitched the stuffed puppet around to get the molerat’s attention.

The animal hesitated and sniffed the air, unsure of how to deal with this new thing which had entered its home. The creature also looked up at us, clearly aware of our presence. But the moving object proved to be more attention-grabbing in the end.

It took a little tentative probing, and then the creature’s small brain sorted the puppet into the prey/enemy category and the molerat charged forward with a screech.

Aurora tried to pull the pupped back out of reach. She would have been more than fast enough, but none of us had considered the animal’s reach as it lunged upwards, rising onto its hind legs to snatch the upper body of the puppet between its more than large enough jaws.

The entire torso disappeared, leaving only the stuffed trousers with the sewn-on shoes to be shaken around in a wild display of dominance as the molerat tried to incapacitate its perceived prey. The strings were simply ripped out of my sister’s fingers, causing her to call out in pain as her palms were scratched from the strong tug.

Seeing the molerat go at it was nothing new to me. Dad had already shown me live feedings when he gave me a reality check on the dangers of life. Aurora was nonetheless horror-stricken at the quick and abrupt end of all the work she put into making the puppet. Constella was similarly dismayed at how fast the game had gone awry.

Inwardly, I smirked, resisting the temptation of pointing out that I had told them this would happen.

As luck had it, or bad luck in our case, this was the exact moment when Mom walked briskly into the stable, calling for us, “Kids!”

Mom looked into the molerat pen.

The molerat we had been playing with looked back with the puppet’s feet hanging out of its closed maw. It would have been funny if it weren’t for the implications Mom drew. Her expression quickly went from surprise to horror and then rage.

Before I could call out to her, Mom let out a dismayed shriek and disappeared. The gate to the pen exploded in a shower of splinters and Mom appeared next to the molerat in a flash, her hand already raised for an overhead chop, arcs of lightning arching over her entire body.

My mind refused to process what happened next as the hand went down with a thundering flash loud enough to deafen me. It was all too fast to truly process what happened and the discharge of power blinded me. I barely managed to close my eyes to shield myself from the light before a spray of a hot and slightly metallic-smelling liquid hit my face.

Maybe I just blinked at the wrong moment. I wasn’t certain.

Nonetheless, when I opened my eyes again, the molerat below us looked like its front half had been put through an unholy mix between a meat grinder and a spark welder. It was treemonae food now.

But to me, neither the now very dead molerat, nor the gore, nor blood which was now everywhere – including us – was the most terrifying thing about all of this.

No.

The most terrifying thing was Mom who was now glaring up at us with the molerat’s head in one hand, the creature’s jaw creepily unhinged, and my sisters’ torn puppet in the other. I hadn’t even seen her dismantling the damned thing to get to the puppet!

Mom grit her teeth and narrowed her eyes at us, visibly fighting to keep her cool. “Come… down… here.”

“Nah-ah,” Constella replied, now clinging to the support beam as if it were a life raft.

“We are fine.” Aurora squeaked and shook her head, also not too keen to enter the beast’s reach. She turned and whispered to me, “Can we stay up here till Dad comes back and she has cooled down?”

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For my part, I was feeling like my soul was about to leave my body. “We are so dead,” I whispered, already imagining being sent on a second tour with Dad. Those little fools had no idea he would be worse if he had the mind for it.

Mom looked down at the head and the puppet she was still holding, and then she dropped them. Slowly, she smiled up at us in a way which caused a shiver to run down my spine. “I will count to ten. And who isn’t down here by then…”

Her filaments spread out from behind her back, and it only belatedly dawned on me that she had more than enough reach to get to the ceiling twice over if need be.

***Tirnanog, Mount Aerie***

***Magnus***

I hummed, feeling like I was on cloud number nine after Evanne’s rescue. As for integrating her into Aerie society? I felt perfectly fine leaving that headache to Ivonne, Gunnar and Thalia. And her suitor – also not my problem. In fact, I had already decided to only enter the scene well after everything was sorted out. Else I may do something I would come to regret. Like popping off that dude’s head.

Eve would tell me if there was something I could do.

Just the thought of that guy and Evanne partnering up because some prick gave an order made my blood boil. The best outcome in my book would be if it turned out she didn’t like him and we could just feed him to the treemonae.

Lost in my thoughts, I was entirely unprepared when I arrived home and took a look into the living room.

Astra was on the sofa, reading a book while the three kids were sitting in Dogeza style and facing the wall with Math books in front of them. They were silent and utterly concentrated on their work – which was a little bit atypical for them. Normally, they had too much energy for even Astra to contain them. For them to sit still and concentrate so dutifully on schoolwork was… odd.

Also, thanks to their increased mental abilities they should have an easy time doing their assignments quickly and efficiently – unless Astra was upping the game somehow.

I probably shouldn’t ask, but, “Did something happen, dear?”

“Hmm, yes. We are currently cultivating the virtue of patience, so such a thing will never happen again. All of us are reflecting on our errors,” Astra answered cryptically while the kids didn’t even dare to greet me, so concentrated were they on their work.

“Okay then.” I waved at her. “If it is nothing important, I will go and rest. Maybe do some meditation in the garden. I feel a little wiped after successfully rescuing Evanne.”

Astra beamed a smile at me. “That’s so wonderful, dear! I will come right after the kids are done with their homework so we can talk about it. Should we go and see your sister?”

“Uh, how much work do they have to do?” I asked. “Should I even bother to try some meditation? And I don’t think it's necessary. Ivonne is taking care of her right now and she has Hector and Thalia for support. Since I practically abducted her, I feel my presence would be a hindrance at the moment.”

“Oh, then you can take all the time you need. Although, I insist on meeting her as soon as she is situated,” Astra replied and glared at the kids. “The plan is to get the kids at least a month ahead of schedule – and keep them there. And if I ever notice them having too much ‘playtime’ we will increase the work. And then again till the stupid ideas leave those small brains of theirs! Are you drawing doodles again Stella!? Need I remind you little shits that I will double- and cross-check every page once you are done?”

Aurora gasped and quickly turned her pencil around to use the easer in order to get rid of any evidence.

I winced. Sheesh, what did they do? “Then I will be in the garden.”

“Take your time.”

I left the living room and walked over to the estate’s underground cave garden where I found myself a silent spot to train my sub-personalities. It was an exercise Thalia had shown me some time ago to strengthen my mental resolve and gain control over my fighting instincts.

Sitting down in a lotus position, I concentrated on this strange, mental ability of mine. Ever since starting these regular exercises, my self-control issues got a lot better. By now, I was also far beyond the stage of simply tasking random sub-personalities with various problems.

Before this, the best I got was the affirmation that some subconscious part of me was working on a certain problem. Or looking out for something. Then, when the duty was done, the answer simply popped into my head.

But Gaia had hinted a long time ago that there was so much more to this ability. No, all psychic abilities in general since they somehow reached into potential alternative realities. They weren’t mere parts of boring old me, but alternate versions of myself from whom knowledge could be gleamed. No, versions made them sound like actual people, which wasn’t the case. They were more like shards or very rudimentary AIs.

As I sunk into a dream-like state, I mentally ‘called out’ to my sub-personalities, seeking a very specific one. I imagined my sub-personalities like a pool I had to dive into. It was the best I could come up with which worked for me.

According to Thalia, there was no such thing as a guidebook for psychics. Beyond the very basics like meditation and relaxation to get one’s emotions under control, everyone had to find their path. Whatever worked for your brain – worked.

So far, I managed to make easy contact with what I called the scientists, who dwelled close to the surface of this pool. They were sub-personalities who preferred purely mental tasks, like counting or observing something in my environment. It was interesting to contact them and talk about Gaia’s physics lessons. It was a little bit like picking someone else’s brain – only that I was talking with myself.

Although, it wasn’t truly like talking to a real person. It was more like talking to an idiot savant, someone who was extremely good at one single thing at the cost of other competencies. For example, trying to get one of the scientists to help with a social problem was futile. Either I would get an answer which was obviously wrong or no answer at all.

If I told this anyone from good, old, Earth, they would probably accuse me of multiple personality disorder. It was no wonder that Vanya had a small mental breakdown every time she tried to peek into my or Astra’s brain.

My call was quickly answered by the scientists, but what I sought today was much harder to contact, so I dove deeper until I was surrounded by what I called the warriors. Personalities who revelled in the physicality of things and who were responsible for taking actions for me in what came close to reflexes, actions my body took without conscious consideration.

Taking a deep breath, I gave it my all to push even further down, seeking that one sub-personality whom I believed had to teach me something truly important. The one who was responsible for my mental resistance and my mood swings when it came to fighting. The one who bested the psyling, a creature whose mental power was enough to make psychics like Vanya fear it.

As for the concept which worked the best so far, I was seeking the one who sitting at the very bottom of this pool.

And then I reached it. I had been here a few times, but so far I hadn’t gotten any meaningful answers. Whether conversations with my sub-personalities brought any tangible results was a bit like a coin toss. Sometimes they didn’t speak to me at all.

Sitting across from me with closed eyes was, another me. One with countless scars on his face and clad in a grey robe. He was old and had a white goatee, but his body looked like he could wipe the floor with me. It looked like it belonged to one of those Greek gods.

I simply waited, knowing this other me knew exactly why I was here. If it decided there was some deeper truth to be revealed, it would do so. Just like the other sub-personalities had done. Or at least I thought so.

“I am not here to clean up your messes,” the other spoke. “Be gone.”

I winced at his words which seemed to echo all around us and almost made me lose control of the dream state. “I just want to know how you are doing what you are doing.”

“Do you also need to be taught how to breathe?” He opened his eyes and regarded me coldly, calculating, and with a hint of disdain. “For me, there is no such thing as ‘how’. I just do! In my world, those things are natural. Before you master your body, you have to master your mind.”

“Back then, you said you are used to fighting worse things than the psyling. I need that kind of power, or at least to be put on the right path. What kind of mental training do I have to take so I don’t have to give up control to you?”

“There is nothing to be trained if it comes to mental attacks from the kind of creature you speak of. Either your mind burns bright enough to overturn the enemy, or it does not. Like two weights on a scale, there can only be one winner and loser in such a contest. I am just that part of you which represents your innermost flame. Your raw emotions. Your hatred and your anger. Your love and your determination. Wield those emotions against your enemies and there is nothing they can do to deter you. For the only thing they can do to you is to break your will to act.”

“So I have to control my emotions?” I asked. “Like in Dune? Control my fear and all that?”

“No. Do not control that which cannot be controlled. Hate your enemies with every fibre in your heart, love those close to you and despise those who deserve no better. Use your emotions to fuel the fire in your soul. Revel in the fire as it burns brightly, but keep it contained within you or you will be no more than a beast. As long as your flame burns, if someone seeks to touch your mind, they will have to endure the same you endure or flee like prey. And just as you will either succumb to your inner fire or endure it, so will they.”

I blinked, trying to make sense of it, but I was slowly losing touch, drifting back to the surface of my pool until I opened my eyes again, wondering how to interpret the other’s words.