Chap 145: Something’s Wrong With Me
Saeda stared too long at the darkness between the two tall shelves. Waiting in Elder Caledor’s office usually summoned his presence. But where was he? She thought too soon as she made out a figure approaching from the darkness.
The long yellow ends of his robe and long white beard become visible, confirming it was who she waited for.
“Young Sentinel, thy anxiety waxeth hot,” came the slow speaking voice. “It shineth from a mile away.”
Saeda stood to show respect. Though she understood not one word he said, she was not about wasting time and so spoke the words on her mind.
“Elder Caledor, I think something’s wrong with me. It’s my aura-sensing.”
Elder Caledor became fully lit once the tall bookshelves were behind him. Touched by the light, the fine threadwork on his long yellow robe seemed to glow golden and contrasted with his dull brown skin. He squinted his pale blue eyes at the young Sentinel due to her prior words.
“The Ultramana, albeit mysterious, cast not its unorthodoxy as a defect." He stood beside his high-back chair which met his standing height. "Please, expound. Peradventure I misunderstood your use of words."
Saeda kept her stance and spoke across the wooden table between them. "Elder, sorry but I'm positive my aura-sensing is broken. Ultramana or not, this can’t be normal. Maybe it has something to do with me," her lips trembled. "I don't know what else to think."
"Ah, thy aura-sensing." He stroked his long gray beard and rested on hand on the back of his high chair. "Verily thou speaketh of thy extrasensory perception."
Extrasensory perception. Saeda had heard of that term before. It was connected to psychics and telepathy. In other words, any unexplainable ability that lets you gain information other than through your normal five senses. It seemed accurate enough. She nodded.
He made a low hum as he kept his small eyes on Saeda. Her lifeless countenance contrasted with the great turmoil inside her. It was so striking he surmised it as years of emotional conditioning. Notwithstanding, that issue was something deep and dear to her.
Saeda didn't know what to expect. She already accepted the reality of never finding out the problem or even being called a psycho. Too many people had called her that before, along with witch. But a small part of her was pushing for a resolve. Afterall, you would never know if you don’t ask.
Elder Caledor spoke. "I believe Elder Menrith’s specialization ventures into that which thou seeketh. Surely she would be better fit to assist thou in thy cause. Verily, this matter is dear to you. That much I can decipher. For thy sake, I shall summon her. She is not one for tarrying."
Saeda took one step closer and her thigh bumped into the table. "Really?" she gasped. Life gleamed from her eyes for a split second before getting dull again. "Are you sure she's not busy? Doesn't she have to scan the planet for another fragment or something?”
Elder Caledor stopped stroking his beard and swiftly pulled his hand from the high-back chair. He blinked several times at the lass before interlocking both his hands inside their sleeves. Words came to his mind but they would be too strange for that Sentinel's modern ears. Surely she meant no disrespect to him.
Like Elder Menrith, he too was already occupied with important matters. Perhaps his unfamiliar dialect caused a misunderstanding. He remembered to speak more modern so his enquiring Sentinel would not get puzzled. He spoke with more vigor as if to be heard through a crowd.
“The detection of fragments of the Alpha Seal is now a common occurrence. So much so that our second-hand brothers and sisters are now capable of handling such a task, making us the elders no longer obliged to.
“Overseeing the events of such missions is our main focus of concern. We must record and analyze every aspect of those missions in hopes of finding a resolve to destroy the Alpha Seal. Perhaps, it is like you are at this moment. But please, we elders are equally occupied at all times.”
His eyes glowed blue for a second. Saeda had seen that happen before and knew he did something.
He cleared his throat and added, “I have summoned Elder Menrith. May I assist you with anything in the interim?”
Saeda opened her mouth but shut it once needles began poking the right side of her body. She darted her eyes to the source of the warning.
Purple glowing symbols began to form a circle on the ground. In another second, a dark figure wearing a dark purple cloak stood on top.
Elder Caledor spoke. “Elder Menrith, this young Sentinel requires your knowledge of extrasensory perception. She believes something is amiss with her ability of that nature."
Saeda stared at the elder they called Elder Menrith. The reflective black lips and her lower face were the only things exposed from her cloak. Unlike Elder Caledor’s golden threads, hers were black and seemed to form either design of fancy vines or a confusing mess. It was the first time Saeda took in that much detail from Elder Menrith’s attire.
Several seconds passed and Elder Menrith raised her hands towards her head. Her long black nails seemed to grow from her sleeves as she removed her hood. The darkness on her face receded, revealing her purple eyes fixed on Saeda and opened the widest.
The sight stabbed Saeda’s heart. She stepped back until she hit the chair behind her. Thank goodness the chair had weight to abide by friction. If it was any lighter, it would have turned over with her and that scene would have turned embarrassing real quick.
But was that lady seriously staring at her with her eyes that wide open? What was with her? Creepy! A deep hole carved into her chest at the thought of revealing her whole life to that lady. Was it too late to turn back?
The golden-drop earrings below Elder Menrith’s ears shook with each word and her voice was clear and strong. “Something amiss?” Her voice softened a pinch, “Very well. I shall do all to assist in this cause.”
The soft touch in the lady’s voice made Saeda reconsider.
“Elder Menrith will be with you from now on,” said Elder Caledor. “I shall resume my presence with my work.” He turned to Elder Menrith. “Please remember not to lose her with your words.”
Elder Menrith responded by shrinking her eyes to their normal size. They bowed to each other and Elder Caledor headed towards the darkness of the shelves. Elder Menrith turned to Saeda and interlocked both hands above her tummy so her sleeves seemed to merge into one.
Saeda took well notice of the black-inked tattoos that crowned Elder Menrith’s forehead. They almost matched her dark tone and could have been overlooked.
“Well, speak,” said Elder Menrith in a strong voice that caused Saeda to jump. Her shimmering lips directed all your attention to her every word.
Saeda scratched the back of her neck where her hair ended. She thought hard about where to start. It seemed all the clearly outlined connections she had made on her drawing pad had jumbled into a messy cloud in her head. Why did she leave it behind?
“Um. I-I, um…” stuttered Saeda and her mind went blank. Damn, she hated her life!
“Loss of words, are you?” Elder Menrith made a three-puff chuckle that echoed from her throat. “Fine, let me ask a question. What is amiss with this ability of yours?”
Saeda stood out from the space between the chair and the table and faced Elder Menrith straight. “I can't control. It just works whenever it feels like it. But I think there's a reason for that.” She spoke low as if to whisper. “I think there is some interference.”
“Ah,” said Elder Menrith and moved her eyes slowly toward the table to her left.
Saeda thought Elder Menrith had turned her left ear to her as a signal to start talking. But the slight shake from her hair that shimmered at every section stole her thoughts. Her straight bob hair ended at her shoulders and had a purple sheen. It was clear her hair was not black but a really dark shade of purple. Saeda was convinced the Vergants were obsessed with color matching.
“You seek to discover what the interference is, do you not?”
“Yes,” Saeda blurted.
Elder Menrith looked back at Saeda and said, “Your request is my command. Though this may take a while,” she added breathily.
Saeda nodded and sat back down in the chair. She stared at the table for a while waiting for the lady to sit. When she did not, things got awkward quickly.
“It is not necessary for me to sit,” said Elder Menrith. “Please, speak forth.”
“Ah,” Saeda blurted from the sudden jerk. She grabbed both arms of the chair that began to move to the right. There was not a screech heard nor were their vibrations from the legs rubbing against the floor.
The chair stopped in the wide space in the room and directly faced Elder Menrith. Saeda remembered the first day at Primus when the chairs mysteriously turned to face the hologram projector disguised as a picture frame. She looked down on both sides of the chair wondering if that was tech or magic. She knew that chair didn’t have wheels.
Elder Menrith began a slow trod around Saeda in the new space around her. “Child, why aren’t you speaking?” came the flat voice.
Saeda knew that tone too well. It was a sign of annoyance but not that strong to cause resentment.
“Okay,” she said and shuffled until her back was upright against the chair. She took a deep breath and released it so her shoulders dropped.
The calmness cleared the mess in her mind. She felt that directing all her focus on the thoughts in her mind was crucial. The curtain she stared at blurred as she began to speak.
"It's an issue with my aura-sensing. I've noticed with my other teammates too that our abilities are weak and hard to spark at first. But my aura-sensing is taking so long to control. Weirder, I sparked it before I even knew I was a Sentinel.
"But my aura-sensing, now that I think about it, is two abilities I keep grouping together. I guess it's right to call them extrasensory perception instead of aura-sensing, which refers to one specific thing. But my aura-sensing—the ability I’m here to talk about—allows me to see and feel energy signatures.
“The other ability I connect it with is seeing past visions from touching things. I do also have spontaneous future visions which I also can’t control—but it only tells me bad things are about to happen to other people, so I'm not concerned about it.
"So my other teammates—Tee for example, she had an ability before she came here and has practically mastered it. Heck, she even got another eye ability. Zod is a master of hover-skating due to his telekinesis he had before coming here. Heck, he can now blast energy from his fists. Kie is getting his energy swords under control. Miko has step-teleportation from basically mastering speed. While I'm the girl with the weird ability she came here with and still can't even define what it is exactly. There is definitely something wrong."
She expected to yell those last words but it didn’t happen. But wow, for once she thought she sounded jealous. But was she, or was there a genius cause for concern? Surely it couldn't be because she was lazy. She worked just as hard as her teammates trying to improve their abilities.
Elder Menrith ended the silence.
"I’ve heard you.” She exhaled and it was loud. “Think of the times you used this ability you refer to as aura-sensing. Venture far and wide, including the times prior to Primus. Tap fully into the memory. Try to remember how you felt, what was on your mind, the day prior, the people there… Anything at all. Speak wholly and lacking nothing therein.”
Saeda thought she had her work set out for her. But the lady seemed knowledgeable. She blinked at the curtain and glimpsed back at the dark blur over her right shoulder. Elder Menrith was still in a slow trod around her and was almost in front of her again.
Saeda focused back on the curtain. Elder Menrith's last words repeated in her head. Speak wholly and lacking nothing therein. To do that she needed complete concentration and so she shut her eyes. Through the darkness, distant memories began to take form. Yes, she remembered…
"Before I came to Primus, my aura-sensing only ever happened seconds at a time. I would blink and it would be gone. But I couldn’t count the many times it happened on my hands since it happened quite often. It was way more often than when I was here. So I knew I had it—along with my visions.
“Since my future visions were only bad things and so got me a bad name in my district, I kept my aura-sensing a secret…Well, that was until I came here—what I thought was Primus Mid-Guard.”
"Now about my aura-sensing, the actual ability of sensing auras. I think it’s also connected to my other ability of past visions. You know, from touching things. Um..”
She stepped out of her body for a second. Golly. She had too many abilities she could not control. There was sensing energy signatures, getting past visions from touching things, and then rare future visions of bad things. Or were they one thing? Anyway, she continued…
“My aura-sensing back then showed me energy levels from enhanced Priman soldiers. They had a white glow around them, unlike the regular person. I could also see it on Magna-generators and Toulott Batteries, you know from the Z-Tech energy corp. I guess that would be so since they do basically store compact Ether energy. But as I said, it all happened within an eye blink. It was quick…”
Saeda made a thinking hum. Elder Menrith looked down at Saeda seated in front of her with her eyes closed. If nothing came of that session she would have to verge her. Those modern word terminologies were already getting to her.