෴Raz෴

෴Midnight෴

෴෴෴ ෴෴෴ ෴෴෴

You’re Not Ready For This

w෴෴෴ ෴෴෴ ෴෴෴

Midnight’s smile turned serious. “I won’t waste time, but just to be clear, there are things you need to know about the Megiror. They aren’t like those dumb animals you killed outside. Aside from the anchor beast, most incursion beasts aren’t especially smart. The Megiror are an odd mix of surprisingly inhuman and alien in their point of view, and yet not so different from us in many ways. Primarily, they’re are a warrior culture, they—”

Raz rubbed at his temples, trying to massage away the headache that no amount of Somatic Restoration seemed able to touch or even find a cause for.

Midnight stopped short and looked at Raz with a piercing gaze. “Hey, are you really up for this?”

Raz shrugged and threw up his hands, a low pulsing anger threatening to spill out into his words and actions. “I don’t know. Am I? The way I feel right now, all the time, I would have called ‘about to have a breakdown’ not so long ago,” he looked around the room, his eyes wide, “Now it’s just my day-to-day stress level,” Raz looked at his hands and flexed each his fingers in turn, deliberately curling his hands into fists before forcing himself to relax. "I think I’m fine, but at any given moment it feels like I could just snap, so who knows?" He gesticulated with a grand sweeping motion. ”Here’s what I know, and I use the word know pretty loosely. My mother is a prisoner of an alien named Mercator, and you didn’t think it was worth mentioning to me. She’s in danger there, and you knew that, and still you didn’t think it was worth mentioning. I won't even try to list all the other things you’ve chosen to keep secret that might have changed things for the better, because we definitely don't have time for that!” he paused in thought, his brows furrowing deep. “Oh, and apparently, you need a heavy hitter to help you take this alien on, because you, widely considered to be the most powerful ability user on the planet, can’t handle one guy!?”

He paused to pull in a breath, and held up a hand when Midnight looked about to reply. “I’m not done. Here’s the tip of a very large iceberg I’ll call ‘things I don’t know that you could have told me’. Why is she there? Why is she in danger?” He paused and threw a hard look at Midnight, “And you know what? I don’t even care. I might be about to snap. I might be just hanging on to my composure by my fingernails. But you’re taking me with you, and one way or another, I’m getting her home safe.”

As soon as he stopped speaking, Raz dropped into slow time to give himself time to think and calm down.

Detailed Scan. Don’t be subtle.

[Scanning, results sorted by range.]

[[[Distributed Consciousness ‘Hex’ detected.

Nodes: One of possibly five? Increase to increase confidence.

Current status: listening, affection, satiety, nurturing, analysis.

Energy: 2%

Energy Gain rate: 1 (per minute)

Estimated HP: 100/100]]]

Hmm, looks like she spawned another aspect. Gotta find time to look at her ability tree. Assuming she’s still ok with that.

[[[Enhanced Consciousness ‘Midnight’ detected.

Current status: Emotional detachment.

Energy: 23%

Energy Gain rate: 5 (per minute)

Energy Usage rate: 2 (per minute)

Estimated HP: 100/100

MHP: 9/10]]]

He was at 8 of 10 earlier. He has a healing, or regeneration ability. I wonder how long it takes to get each of those MHP back? Also damn, how long does it take this guy to recharge?

As though moving in slow motion, Midnight glacially turned and looked at him with a sharp gaze when his scan happened. Raz looked back with a bland expression and a tiny shrug.

What, don't like other people having secrets? Maybe you don’t have a monopoly.

[[[Human consciousness: ‘Dr. Nicollette Stilt/Ivaldison’

Current status: Curiosity

Estimated HP: 99%

Energy: 100%

Energy Gain rate: 1 (per minute)]]]

I wonder what she can do? Having Catalyst energy means she has an ability, right?

[Correct.]

[[[Human consciousness: ‘Brock Ivaldison’

Current status: Pessimistic curiosity.

Estimated HP: 100%

Energy: 41%

Energy Usage rate: 2 (per minute)

Energy Gain rate: 1 (per minute)]]]

Display Brock’s ability analysis in brief.

[Decoding: This information will be available shortly.]

So the raw analysis isn’t decoded until I want it? Upside, I’m not upset about it, it’s sad to say, but not getting irrationally angry feels like a win.

[Decode complete]

[[[Brokkar Ivaldison:

Unlocked tree: Technopathy

Technopathy: The ability to mentally and or physically interact with technology. He has —e̶̜͆ŕ̶̤̈́r̵̪̮͊o̸̗͌ŗ̵̛̍—supported abilities in this tree. These abilities form the central core, or linear build, along with several supporting ‘solid build’ abilities of this type of Technopathy.

Forge: a close range low energy method of manipulating certain types of matter by hand.

Forge 2: as Forge with slightly improved range, slightly greater imparted energy, and additional types of matter.

Forge 3: extends Forge to include all forms of matter, physical contact no longer required.

Insight: Imparts the ability to invent Catalyst energy powered devices. This ability focusses on allowing the user to determine what is possible.

Imbue: The ability to impart Catalyst energy into an object. [Side note: this appears to be functionally similar to your ability Transfuse, except that this is for pushing energy into inanimate objects.]

Inscribe: The ability used to impart from simple to complex functional models of action into created objects.

Collaborate: Allows the user to safely gain assistance from other ability wielders in the creation of unique objects. Unpredictable outcomes, unreplicable.

Reforge: The ability to rework or change an item built by the ability user.

Reforge Other: As Reforge, but for objects not made by the user.

s̸͚̽t̵̙͖͐o̴̧͑̽r̴̫̱̋̒a̵͙̜͋̓g̶̣̳̈͛ȩ̷̦̏ ̶͕̎̏e̶̜͆ŕ̶̤̈́r̵̪̮͊o̸̗͌ŗ̵̛̍ : t̷̊ͅh̵̥̓ī̴̖ś̸̝ ̷̞́á̸̦b̵̦͝ǐ̷̹l̷̩̾i̷̟͛t̶̼̀y̶͖͗ ̸͎͛c̸̩̚a̸͍̚n̷̹͌n̷̬͑ô̴̩t̵̫̎ ̴̻͛b̸̩̽e̵̱̔ ̸̤̿d̸̬͆ê̴̪c̸̞̎o̴̮͑d̵̥̀e̷̹͌d̷̚͜.̶͙̄

Interesting. Any thoughts on why that is?

[I do not know. I am unsure whether this is an indication that the ability cannot be decoded via analysis, or whether we have data corruption.]

I really don’t like either of those possibilities.

[Agreed. Either could be bad.]

In any case, Brock has a lot of abilities, and they’re all supported. I don’t think I’ve seen that on someone else before.

[I would wager that Midnight has more.]

Yeah, I wouldn’t take that bet, I’m sure he does.

Seeing Midnight slowly start to open his mouth to reply, Raz abandoned his inner musing and came out of slow time.

“You are so not ready for this. I wish you weren’t my best option at the moment. A lot of what you just said is wrong. First off, Mercator isn’t ‘some guy’. He’s a monster in more ways than one. Do you know Japanese mythology?” he face palmed. “What am I saying. Of course you do. Ok, picture a Japanese Oni. But it’s got blue skin, white hair, and milky pale horns and claws. You with me?”

Raz nodded, picturing a graceful, almost elfin creature with unusual skin and hair.

Midnight took the nod as a sign to continue. “Good, now get any culturally programmed crap about it being slim or wiry out of your head. The Megiror are killing machines. Mercator is over twelve feet tall. Humanoid, but his proportions are bit more like a great ape than human. Longer arms and torso, slightly shorter legs. His arms are much thicker than your legs, and his legs are thicker than your torso. With no abilities at all, Mercator could take down a polar bear or any other land animal without breaking a sweat. Do you get me?”

Raz swallowed. “I think so. So you’re saying he, or they, are very strong and big.”

Midnight nodded and glanced at Hex for an instant before returning his intense gaze to Raz. “Right, but what you need to realize, is that I’m talking about a typical Megiror with no abilities at all. That means, practically speaking, that a human with a few abilities from a strength and durability chain, will still lose! They’ll lose hard. Just the size and mass difference is a big deal. And Mercator does have abilities. I’ve been trying to figure them all out for a very long time, and still all I know for sure is that he has unrivaled spatial abilities,” Midnight glanced at Hex again. “He can shutdown other spatial ability users with ease, make multiple portals, use spatial vortexes as weapons. All that, and if he gets his hands on you, he’ll rip you in half with ease.”

Raz sat back in his chair and thought about that before replying. The thought of his mother in the hands of something like that.

We need a solid plan. My past plans havent been good enough. Ugh, maybe he’s right. Maybe we do need to know more about how these things think. I can’t afford a plan that relies on luck, or on my enemies being careless or overconfident. This time I ne—

“Oh, and did I mention they eat people?” Midnight interrupted his train of thought, “You’re more right than you know about not having much time. Her safety relies on him not realizing who she is to us. As long as he thinks she’s just a random person, and I’m going to check up on him, she’s as safe as she can be in such a bad place,” he swallowed hard, “which isn’t very safe at all.”

Raz glanced at the others in the room uneasily. “Is there no way to negotiate for her release? This is starting to sound like a hostage situation, and those don’t usually end well.”

“Oh make no mistake, it is a hostage situation. But the second Mercator realizes his hostage has value to us, he’ll kill and eat her. I’ve been delivering an abundance of food to him in the hopes that he keeps his word.”

Raz scratched at his beard. “So you’re feeding the monster, so it doesn’t eat Mom. Why do I have a bad feeling that her being there at all is your fault?”

The quick expression that flashed across Midnight’s face was as good as a confession.

“Yeah. That’s what I thought. Let me guess, it's because of something you kept a secret. You and I are going to have words about this afterwards.” Raz stated with a shake of his head.

The older man sighed. “Fine. Assuming we both make it out, let’s plan on that. But you should know this is—” he looked over at Hex and cut himself off, then awkwardly finished the sentence, “—going to be a tough fight.”

Well that is obviously not what he was planning to say.

“I still need time to rest and refill my energy. You need to get armed. What kinds of weapons can you use? Before you answer, handguns would be pointless, way too weak. A big rifle, .300 win mag or bigger might work, at least until he puts a portal between you and him that just sends the bullet right back at you.”

Hex spoke up. “You said you’ve killed him in the past though.”

Midnight nodded. “I have. But only when I go in full strength, and do it early in the loop. I don’t do it anymore because it makes the Incursions open all the way a lot sooner. As soon as the Megiror champions come in, I might as well leave. I can’t beat them on my own.”

Nicolette jumped in with a question of her own. “What do they want? Why invade a whole other world?“

“Food.” Midnight stated flatly.

She timidly raised her hand.

He looked at her with a wan smile. “Yes?”

Nicolette asked her follow-up question. “For a while now, I’ve been thinking that Catalyst abilities could all but eliminate scarcity. It just doesn’t make sense that they’d do so much work and risk just for food, when we’ve got guys like that GreenThumb guy on Bluetube who can raise crops in a day, and compost the leftovers in an hour. Isn’t there any chance we could make peace with them?”

Eliminate scarcity. Could it be possible?

Midnight sighed. “Look, we don’t need to get into this, but don’t think I haven’t tried to persuade them. I’ve tried a lot of things, and it all comes back to them, wanting to eat us. This is some of that part that is just alien about them. You’re right, they could feed themselves other ways, but they won't. They want to eat us, and probably every other animal on the planet. They like to build out factories that are prison slaughterhouses. Keep people contained and fattening up until time to harvest,” Midnight leaned forward and pinched the bridge of his nose before continuing. “If Mercator is any indication, they have a strong preference, almost a compulsion, for eating other sentient beings. In short, they want to eat us, and when they’ve eaten everything they want, they’ll move on. They might not wipe us out. They might even leave enough for the species to recover. But if they do, it's just so they can show up later and cull us again. You can’t negotiate with something that considers you food.”

Raz looked at the others, his expression betraying his worry, before looking back to Midnight with his best game face. “Ok, I don’t have any heavy rifles, and it sounds like they’re not much good if you can't make a one hit kill. What do you recommend for weaponry?”

Brock spoke up. “I have a rifle you could try.” He got up and fetched the rifle with no barrel. “Vith this rifle, you shoot from one place, und bullet comes from this,” he said, holding up a small metal ring.

Midnight was shaking his head before the smith even got back to them. “That relies on a gate system like your doors, right?”

Brock nodded proudly. “Jah, one gate, stable,” he set the ring down next to Hex and picked up one of the smaller Catalyst pebbles and turned the rifle on. She picked it up and looked at the ring then peered into it.

“Do not do that! It is barrel of gun!” Brock barked at her.

She nodded and set it down on the table facing upward. Then she pushed it as far from her on the table as she could reach.

Brock laughed, “I vill not be shooting it, just reminder.”

Dropping the pebble through the chamber side of the breach, it fell out of the ring sitting on the table.

“Is one way field. Nothing come in from barrel side.” He proclaimed proudly.

Hex smiled. “Ok, that sounds pretty damn cool.”

Midnight looked over at the rifle. “That does look cool. Get that thing on your target and you can’t miss. But, sorry to say, anything that involves any kind of spatial manipulation will probably fail against Mercator. Possibly spectacularly. I don’t even have a way to measure how powerful he is. He’s never revealed more than his spatial chain, and still he’s a powerful opponent.“

Raz tried and almost succeeded in suppressing the surge of irritation at Midnight’s response. “Let’s not get bogged down in what won't work. I assume you didn’t bring up weapons without an idea. What do you suggest?”

Midnight grinned. “You need to go old school. If you can’t control it with your hands or your abilities, you can’t rely on it against the champions.”

Raz looked at his HUD clock, relentlessly counting away the seconds now that he knew his mother’s situation. “You keep mentioning these champions. Do I need to know about that right now?”

Midnight started to answer, then paused. “I—I don’t know. Let’s get you ready to go first, then we can talk. Super short version. The Megiror send in the champions first. I think that if we defeat them all, they leave, or at least, they’ll look for easier prey. I’ve only beaten a couple of them, and I have no idea how many there are.”

Raz nodded and looked to Brock. “Sorry to impose, but do you have anything else I can buy to use as a weapon?”

Brock laughed. “Buy? You cannot afford my weapons.” He said with a haughty tone.

Raz, Hex and Midnight looked at him with disappointment.

Brock held his expression for several seconds before losing his composure to laughter.

“I got you! I got you good! Of course. I vill make for you, what I can. Be varned, making new weapons and armor takes much time. If you vill allow me to show you vhat I have on hand, that vould be much faster.”

He waved them over to the other side of the large open showroom and workshop. The three of them followed him over, leaving Nicolette scrawling arcane mathematical symbols on a board where she’d begun mapping out some kind of formula.

Brock looked at Midnight meaningfully. “How much time vill you need to be ready?”

Midnight’s gaze turned inward for an instant. “Several hours at least.”

Raz scowled at them both. “I thought we were going right away? What’s the hold up?”

Midnight scowled right back. “Mind your business. We’ll go when I’m ready. Just let him show you what he has.” He looked Raz up and down critically. “You literally don't even have shoes. He’ll see that as weakness, even if it’s comfortable for you. The Megiror are like humans that way. We’re predators, and showing weakness to a predator can be a death sentence.”

Raz nodded noncommittally. “What stops him from just slicing us in half with a portal spawned over us?”

Midnight’s expression turned even more serious. “I have to assume the ability doesn’t allow that. He can make portals and move them over you, and then turn them off. He can sort of throw small portals that cut into you like a chainsaw to flesh.”

“How many times have you fought him?” Raz asked as Brock sorted through piles of items.

“I don’t even know anymore. I could remember it, but that would just depress me. Compared to how many times I haven’t fought him, not that many, but enough. That reminds me. We should get you a mask.”

Raz snorted. “Why the hell would I wear a mask? What would that accomplish?”

Midnight bit his lip, clearly uncertain about what he planned to say. “Well, the thing is, the first few times I met him, I had to fight him because he somehow recognized me! I don’t know how, but he knew me, and we were enemies from the start. When I started changing my face, he stopped being hostile right away,” he glanced at the others in the room, then leaned in toward Raz to speak in a low, conspiratorial tone.

“I look at them, and think of how many ancient devils and demons are shown with horns and big teeth. They don’t all look the same, but I can’t help but notice that every culture has myths about evil horned figures of great power. I think they’ve been here before.”