Chap 146: Interferrance

Elder Menrith couldn’t remember the last time she sorted out a matter without verging. It was merely the way to do things of that nature. But the lass knew not how to verge, so the manual way had to be done.

Yes, it was clear that matter was of high concern to the lass. But her ramble so far had led to nothing. Thankfully she did not look like the talkative type. That meant she was only speaking that which was important. 

Saeda broke the silence. “It's strange how when I first came to Primus I never sensed the Vergants walking all over the place.” She opened her eyes to a peak of the tall dark figure passing by and then shut them. “They always have Ether energy right?”

Saeda heard Elder Menrith’s voice as clear as a midnight hawk. 

“Not always. The Vergant soldiers you encounter at our base may have had their excess Ether energy drained before entering the modern world. It is so that they may blend in. Though the ones on administrative tasks and inside the village are the contrary.”

“So what about you, the elders?” Saeda asked. Her monotone changed with the slight increase in volume and speed. “When I first met with Elder Caledor, I felt nothing. That’s what I’m talking about. You elders must have so much energy stored, yet he was practically a foot away from me and I felt nothing—I still don’t.” She blurted, “Not even right now with you.”

“I see,” added Elder Menrith. 

The silence and darkness before Saeda made Elder Menrith’s voice much louder than it should be. It was good too since it helped her to hear past the weird dialect. But her words seemed distant from any emotion as if she really could not relate to her situation. 

“All energy has a place on the energy spectrum. Ether energy lies in the middle as the natural form, while Ultramana and Dark mana are the extremes. Energy, irrespective of its place on the spectrum, should be perceptible to any mortal with extraordinary perception.

“Think of a modern worlder with no perception of energy. When the two come into contact, the modern worlder could not decipher the presence of the energy irrespective of its form or magnitude. It is almost a Null—as if it does not exist. After gaining perception of raw energies—” her volume heightened to a blast “—which is near impossible for a modern worlder.” 

“Huh?” Saeda leaned forward from the unexpected blast. But she couldn’t ponder about Elder Menrith’s emphasized words as she continued to speak in a softer pitch. 

“Think of a young Vergant who has become conscious of energy by learning to verge. To them, raw energy is no longer a Null. Even more, they can decipher energies even in their near negligible magnitudes.”

Elder Menrith sighed. “However, you being a Sentinel and a source of Ether energy in the most compact form, does not align with that notion. It is accurate to say you already know how to decipher energy. Your recall of instances from the past support this.”

“So what does that mean?” asked Saeda, staring intensely into the darkness before her eyes.

“Keep speaking,” replied Elder Menrith. 

All of Saeda’s built-up tension got killed with cold water. She leaned back into the chair.

“Perhaps a focus on more recent events could be more helpful,” said Elder Menrith. 

“Oh, well…Um, let me see. During my time here, my aura-sensing came again during a shopping spree at the mart. That was like three months after being here.” She paused.

Elder Menrith stopped her circular trod around the young one at the thought she had found something. However, the young one began to speak again in her monotone, making her doubt that. 

“What about that moment at the mart? Where was it? Think wholly lacking nothing therein. Delve into the moment as if you are once again there.”

Saeda felt her eyeballs about to spew out from how tight she shut her eyes. She had never tried to focus on something so hard as she did then. She repeated the question but the higher pitch was unconscious.  

“There was nothing unordinary about the place. I got Snickers and we had a good time— except for Tee who didn’t come along.” 

Elder Menrith in her slow trod passed Saeda’s face once more. “Did anything out of the ordinary happen prior to going to that mart?” she asked. 

Before the mart? Golly, there were so many bigger events and their plan to eliminate the Harbingers taking up space in her mind. She admitted she didn’t have much space in her mind. And so for new things to get in, the old things had to get thrown out. But the old things were what she needed at the moment.

“The only other time I can remember after coming to Primus was on our very first Harbinger mission. Yes, the one where we all got slaughtered. But that was a past vision rather than sensing aura.”

“Go on,” Elder Menrith said. 

“Well, I had touched Legion and I…” Her eyelids twitched several times when the colorful heads of hair on bloody corpses went through her mind. But what was that vision again? She nodded after remembering. 

“I think I saw the Vergants Legion killed with the hand I touched before then. But like I said, the Harbingers were so close and I felt no energy from them.” She sighed and opened her eyes to glimpse Elder Menrith once more. 

The elder still walked around her with her arm sleeves connected. She knitted her brows at the thought. Was that lady taking notes? That thought ended with the next statement. 

“Go on. What other times did you use the ability after coming here?”

Saeda shut her eyes to enter deep concentration once more. “That would be the only Harbinger mission that didn’t contribute to my PTSD,” she said. 

She leaned forward from the back of the chair as her memories got really detailed. The mission base disappeared to the bright colors of the new location. Above, there was no wide open blue space to mark the sky. 

Yet there was light bouncing off the clusters of bizarre landscapes floating at different heights. Everything was never-ending upwards and around. No doubt, the end of the grounds she stood on would send her falling onto other lands. It was like a crazy virtual reality video game. 

Saeda stopped marveling at the memory and spoke again. “It was in a strange large world, almost like a video game.”

Elder Menrith blinked at that unfamiliar term. “A video game?”

“That’s not important,” Saeda blurted. “I had taken off my glove to touch the ground, but I felt no energy signature. I got no past visions either.”

Elder Menrith said nothing and Saeda was forced to continue speaking. 

 “We had to split up to search for the fragment since we had no lead. Then out of the blue, I began feeling a strong—it was like a pull on every inch of my body. It was a sensation so strong it almost drowned my other senses. I even stopped breathing for a second.” 

“Your aura-sensing.”

“Yes,” Saeda confirmed. “I told Zod through my telecom and it was his idea that got everyone to follow me. It was the strongest I ever felt in control of my aura-sensing. I was able to lead my teammates to the fragment and then after that to the Harbingers who were holding Tee.”

Elder Menrith passed Saeda’s face once more and noticed the bright smile. She was very fond of that moment. “Can you remember anything else from that quest that could be a concern?”

Saeda’s smile vanished to a round yellow stone with two knitted brows. “Oh, and Tee was away for most of it since she was captured by the Harbingers. Happen to think about it, the closer I got to the Harbingers who were keeping Tee, the more my aura-sensing stopped until it was gone. Thankfully we already confirmed where they were so it was a success.”

Saeda felt when the vibrations from the ground ceased. Elder Menrith had stopped walking from the second mention of Tee. Yes, it was the doomed one. The hybrid. However, before making any assumptions she decided to let Saeda continue speaking. 

Please, go on.”

Again, Saeda hoped the lady had a good memory since she was not taking notes. Or was she using sorcery or something to connect all the dots? She liked the sound of that. It gave her a bump up in her tone.

“Okay. So the other times I remember my aura-sensing working was during separate training when I was mostly alone. The Commander had stopped letting me and my teammates train together for a reason only he knows. So he separated us for more specialized training—oh yes, it was to spark our unique abilities,” she stressed the word unique.

“The very first time was when Kie—the team leader—and I were alone in a white room. I picked up energies all around behind the walls before—” 

She popped her eyes open and gasped. “What if it’s Kie.”

“It may be too early to make that conclusion. Please, continue.”

Saeda hoped Elder Menrith was right. She shut her eyes and leaned back against the chair.

“Apart from those separate training, the last time I used my aura-sensing was during our outing which caused me to wake up in the infirmary. I’m guessing you know about it. Really bad things happened there.”

The silence that came was not the response Saeda hoped for. She continued anyhow. 

“The time my aura-sensing worked while I was there I was by myself. We had split up…”

Saeda made a low-thinking hum. The mention of being separated again made her wonder. She gassed and opened her eyes once more. Her shoulder-length hair flapped into her face from how quickly she turned to see Elder Menrith behind her. 

“What if my teammates are the interference?” 

She darted her eyes from Elder Menrith to something distant… 

“Wait, but when I came back to the mission base from our outing, it was only Zod and Miko there. My aura-sensing worked then right up until Kie and Tee were teleporting. Then I had that headache that knocked me out.” 

She looked at her lap and shrank her eyes. “Maybe it’s not simply my teammates, but the amount of them I’m around—maybe the amount of them I’m around at any time?”

Saeda looked back at the distant curtain. “Wait, but I’m alone right now.” She reached both her hands out to Elder Menrith as she passed her once more. She dropped her hands when she felt nothing. 

“Why?” she asked herself. Was that a sign that all she discovered until then was wrong?

“At the outing, how far away were you?” Elder Menrith asked as she turned away from Saeda. 

“I was almost at the other end of the park. That’s the largest park on Geovalon by the way, so that’s really really far.” She paused. “Are you saying it’s not just being separated but separated by a great distance?” 

Saeda gave Elder Menrith no time to respond. 

“Maybe the distance has to be great. Maybe if I’m super far from at least one of my teammates or all of them, it will work? It worked with me and Kie alone in training. the Commander had teleported my other teammates to only he knows where. But I bet it was nowhere close to Primus. It also worked with me alone at the park far far away at the other end. It worked in both instances when Tee was gone on a Harbinger mission.”

She slapped one hand onto her forehead. 

“I spend so much time around all four of my teammates while I’m here at Primus. When we’re here together, it’s too close. That’s why my aura-sensing hardly works. That must be it.”

Saeda nodded. “Maybe their overbearing amount of Ultramana energy together has a magnitude higher than I’m used to. Maybe that's why it’s a Null. With that amount of compact Ether, I should be sending them all the time.”

She popped her eyes open and gasped. “What if it’s also me?” She stressed the word I as she said, “I am also giving off Ultramana energy. Perhaps my own level of Ultramana energy also connects to the interference? Should I be able to sense my own energy levels?”

Elder Menrith curved to face Saeda once more. “You can compare your energy level with something else. But with nothing to compare it lends no meaning.”

Saeda nodded at the curtain. “Yes, so if at least one of my teammates is far away my aura-sensing works. Is it because the magnitude of energy has decreased to something more bearable? When we’re close by, you could say it’s too much for my aura-sensing so it just shuts off. Just like work overload. If only I decreased the amount…”

Another memory she almost forgot popped into her mind. 

“Oh, I almost forgot this one time too. This was way before even the video game mission. My teammates and I were at a farming district on a Xenosapian hunt. When Tee had gone hundreds of miles back to the surface to face the Leak alone. Oh that’s right, this was a past vision, not my aura-sensing.” The strength returned in her voice and she sat upright. 

“Anyway, I touched Tee’s telecom and saw that she intentionally took it off and dropped it there so she couldn’t get tracked. She wanted us to think she was still underground. That crazy Tee. But I was able to touch her telecom and get a past vision exactly when I wanted it. It still supports my hypothesis.”

She hit her left fist into the palm of her other hand and yelled, “Bazinga!” Her voice echoed along the tall bookshelves on one side of the room.

That word was what her father would yell after fixing an appliance that broke down again. Her smile vanished wondering how her father was doing. The thought of her step-mother made her left lip twitch. That woman… 

Elder Menrith stopped walking and stood behind Saeda. “Your hypothesis suggests all four of your teammates. Perhaps it could be only one of them. Tee, could have something to do with this interference, don’t you think?”

Saeda shuffled to one side of her chair to look back at Elder Menrith. “Huh?”

Elder Menrith looked at the large space between the young Sentinel’s eyes. Make no mistake, that child had no clue. Elder Menrith stepped back at the thought Tee still had not told her teammates about what she was. 

The Huggermugger! 

A vein spiked in Elder Menrith’s neck as if it would burst with the new disturbing revelation. She looked away from Saeda and walked slowly towards a shelf. She concluded if Saeda knew about the hybrid among her that would have been her first hypothesis. Only the clueless would connect it all but that way. She shook her head. What to do with that child? Indeed the Sentinel Tee was stiffnecked. 

Elder Menrith turned around to face Saeda seated in the chair. “Forgive me, but new information forbids me from continuing with this activity. Suffer me not to persist.”

Saeda bolted from her chair. “Oh, okay.” She scratched the back of her head. “Well, I got what I wanted.” She raised her hands and slapped her fist into the palm of the other hand once more. “Now it’s time to test my hypothesis.”

“You are right,” Elder Menrith said. 

Saeda lowered her hands to see the elder. 

“There is interference and you must look within your team.”

Saeda spoke low to her left shoulder. “Yeah, that’s kind of what I just said.” A moment of thinking on how to test her assumption went by, before deciding to ask Elder Menrith. She looked up and was shocked to barely see Elder Menrith in the darkness between two shelves. Wait, was that even her? 

Saeda squinted her eyes to see through the dark. She swore Elder Menrith had left her and she didn’t get to say thanks. What would her father think of her? He sure to hell raised her better. Darnnit!

Elder Menrith stopped walking. The pitch darkness hid her form but all thoughts in her mind were clear. She was not sure whether that Sentinel Tee had anything to do with Saeda’s aura-sensing. No one dared to touch the girl unless for the Balance Seal. 

She admitted there was a block on that girl, the hybrid, before she came to Primus. That was why even they, the elders, did not sense the great danger growing within her. It could also mean Saeda’s extrasensory perception was much stronger than she thought, why she was having some interference while they, the elders, could not feel anything amiss with her internal state. It was so even at that very moment knowing what happened recently in the modern world. 

Indeed, there was a block on the girl. But the question was, who or what put it on her? What creature could have possibly known about her internal state before they, the elders? 

There was so much they didn’t know. But one thing was clear from the Commander’s words. The girl’s dark side was already at a pinnacle, and the worse was coming.