Fun Fact: Very little research has been done to research the psychic realm and its influence on certain metas, mostly due to the small pool of human subjects and the blatant clash with current knowledge of arcani studies.
It has been theorised that a full powered psychic type would be akin to a powerful deity, with powers ranging from: astral manipulation, telekinesis, pyrokinesis, hydrokinesis, cryokinesis, electrokinesis, atmokinesis, telepathy, teleportation, clairvoyance, and many more.
~ ~ ~
The dead were buried less than an hour later. Felix and Kleopatra stood around uselessly as pockets of people paid their respects quietly. After all, with less than half of the refugees remaining, there was no crowd for ushers to control. It did not take long for the number of mourning refugees to trickle down, and the Guardians wasted no time heading to the medical bay.
Gaius was already awake, and thankfully, unscathed as well. Felix heaved a sigh of relief while Kleopatra ran towards his bed.
"Gaius. Gaius...?" Felix cooed at him as though he was speaking to a wild horse.
"Tch. No need for that, man." Gaius looked away in embarrassment. "Don't worry, I'm all tapped out."
"You sure about that?" Kleopatra asked worriedly.
The sorcerer looked at his hands. "Yes. There was so much anger in me... So much negative energy. My magic began attuning to that instead and began to corrupt. And whenever something bad happens, it just takes over my body. I knew what was happening to me, but I... I just wanted to keep the power I got. I thought it was the only way I could save those I care about."
Kleopatra reached for his hands.
"But you still have magic within you, right?" Her eyes were wide with concern. "If you're alright now, does that mean that you lost Abaddon's magic?"
"He's back to the old Gaius we know. That's for sure," Felix replied in his stead, his eyes flickering slightly with power. "I don't sense two separate entities anymore. I believe your magic has been re-attuned to your soul. And besides, it was only the corrupted energy that was syphoned out of him."
"Question is, are you emotionally alright?" He pulled up a chair beside the boy. "I know you've just lost a friend right before your eyes."
Tears were welling up in his friend's eyes.
"No," Gaius replied honestly. "The power-up I had was an illusion, but my failures are very real. I couldn't save Parthena. I couldn't save Orion. Hell, I almost couldn't even save myself from the abominations. I'm not strong enough; there's no denying that."
"Not alone, you're not." Kleopatra threw her arms around him, holding the boy tightly. "But you have us."
"Kleo, about you and me..." Gaius began, but she shook her head.
"Not now, Gaius. Not until after we solve this crisis," the girl said with a stoic look that obviously looked forced. "It's better if we put any distractions aside for now."
The silence that followed was deafening, although Gaius looked slightly relieved for some reason. A light clinking dispersed the awkwardness of the situation as the trio turned to the footsteps behind them.
"Is everyone doing alright?" Cybele walked into the medical bay, carrying a tray of biscuits and warm milk. She covered her mouth as the sight of its sleeping occupants greeted her, and she decided to distribute the food at their bedside as quietly as possible.
"Felix, I don't suppose you know what happened to Aglaia?" The Guardian Leader was straight to the point as usual. "Witnesses said she had some sort of... psychotic breakdown?"
Oh gods, where do I even begin?
"Aglaia's telepathy made contact with alternate versions of herself, whose worlds have all apparently perished. They're warning us that our world is next, and our Aglaia has been scared so straight that she's trying to 'save everyone from this destiny' before it happens."
Gaius and Kleopatra were staring at Felix as though he was the one who had a psychotic breakdown instead.
"By the gods, so that's what 'origin point only exists in the future' means..." Cybele's voice was quivering. "I think I know what's happening."
"What is it?" Kleopatra blurted out in confusion.
"Remember when Dad told us that there is a weaker source to this calamity?" Cybele replied. "Well, he also told me that we couldn't do anything back then because this source apparently 'existed only in the future'."
"Wait, so you're saying that Aglaia is the source? And she's somehow travelling back in time to cause this calamity?"
"It's not impossible for her," Felix said darkly. "She's an Omnipath; she can project her consciousness to any point in space and time. Hell, she even contacted other versions of herself."
"The people who received her arcani," Gaius added in. "They were the first few to transform too, right?"
"Now that you mention it, yes." Kleopatra's eyes were getting wider by the second. "The transformation started from her parents. I thought it was weird, since they did not dispense any magic."
"A person's magic is always tied to their own lifeforce." Gaius was sitting up straight now. "If Aglaia is the source of corruption, it makes sense that those who received her arcani would corrupt as well."
"The question is, why would she do that?" Cybele asked, deep in thought. "By doing so, she essentially ties her entire reserve of arcani to the world. If she stops, her arcani depletes itself completely. That's as good as a death sentence."
Felix slumped in his chair, trying to work out which of the swirling thoughts he should deal with first. It was plain impossible. Without good reason, Aglaia would never do something like that. She was just a frightened little girl, that's all. How could they insinuate that she was some kind of Harbinger of Death?
"Deduction aside, how exactly is she causing this crisis?" Felix insisted. "She's just a telepath; it's not like she can warp reality or anything."
Everyone was staring at him grimly now. He gritted his teeth in response. All the pieces had just fallen in place, and there was no denying the painful truth anymore.
Cybele placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Felix. But I think you should accept the truth."
"Because we all know someone who can warp reality."
~ ~ ~
Thin ice cracked beneath the small foot stepping out of the teleportation portal. A wand slipped from the girl's grasp, bouncing off the floor carelessly. She trudged forward against the biting cold as voices continued to murmur in her head.
Aglaia groaned, falling to her knees as the voices began to overwhelm her. She could hear everything. She could feel everything. There was just... so much noise.
"I have to save everyone..." Her teeth chattered against the frigid winds. "So cold... so scared... Why are we all dead?"
Sin. It's because everyone is full of sin.
The freezing ground crashed into her chest as an influx of memories flooded into her. Worlds crumbling to pieces. Families torn apart. Death and war all around her. Cries for help; endless cries for help. And among them all, the same girl stretching out desperately in their last moments.
"End it," The cacophony of identical sounding voices called out to her. "End our suffering. You are our final hope."
Cloudy tears leaked from Aglaia's eyes once more as her mind buckled under the strain of despair. Her eyes were completely black now. She propped herself up, almost zombie-like, and walked towards the bunker ahead.
The faint sounds of voices greeted her as she got closer to the group of people ahead. The girl smiled slightly; they were going to be relieved of all this pain soon.
"Loathsomeness waits and dreams in the deep, and decay spreads over the tottering cities of men," she spoke languidly, taking her time to saunter towards the metas.
She did not know why she said that, nor did she have any idea what it meant. All she knew was that it existed somewhere in the multitude of despaired memories within her, and those voices were crying out in so much pain.
"Well, well, well. Look who came crawling back to us." Isis smirked as she clasped her hands together gleefully. "Seems like the time for moping is over, comrades. It's time we made our comeback."
"All life is destined to end. Oblivion is a beautiful, untainted fabric, and our existence is nothing more than an unsightly blemish on its perfect surface." Aglaia's voice was light, higher even. "Come, beautiful people of this world. Let me relieve the pain of your existence."
"Hey, what's up with that girl?" a meta whispered suspiciously. "She wasn't behaving like that when we caught her."
Isis signalled for her men to approach the girl, while she silently pulled out a set of power nullifiers from the desk behind. The metas powered up, watching her every move carefully, but Aglaia only smiled in response.
They never understood what hit them.
Screams of agony went all around, before the men collapsed one by one with brain fluid leaking from their orifices. Aglaia giggled as the woman before her screamed hysterically, her eyes glowing red as she tried to activate her power.
"Why won't my power work? What is going on?" Isis crashed into the table behind her as she stumbled backwards. "S-stay away from me, you freak!"
"Worry not, dear lady." Aglaia extended a hand to help her up. "All will be over when you join forces with me. Will you be my friend?"
"What the hell? No, you creepy psycho!" The woman lunged towards her, aiming the nullifiers at her wrist.
She collapsed to the ground instead as a strangled gasp escaped her lips.
"I c-can't feel my legs..." Isis whimpered in fear. "I... I can't feel anything. What did you do to me?!"
"Oh sinful lady, why did you do that?" Aglaia smiled sweetly, although her voice was dripping with malice. "You made me sever all your motor functions. You'll never move again."
"You... you paralysed me?" The woman's voice cracked as the reality of her situation began to set in. "I'll kill you! I swear to the gods, you're dead!"
"Not yet. I still need to save everyone. Will you please join me?"
"No! AAARGH!"
"Fool. Had you simply said yes, I would have granted you the kindest of deaths."
Aglaia tilted her head, and the woman's screams of frustration turned into that of pain. She could feel her struggling feebly against her telepathic invasion, but it was nothing to the Tier Five Omnipath. Her mind stretched out, digging roughly into Isis' brain like tendrils and claws. The woman's body spasmed weakly as Aglaia ripped out her higher functions, leaving only the useful ones intertwined with her own mind.
Isis slumped to the floor, braindead.
The girl opened her eyes, and a creepy smile formed on her face. Bones cracked and tendons tore as Isis' body pushed itself up at an unnatural angle. Red covered her lifeless eyes as she raised her hand in tandem with Aglaia. With a loud whoosh of air, the surrounding corpses swelled in size, transforming into grotesque monsters. They lumbered towards the entrance as the girl sat down with a satisfied look on her face. It was working.
"I did it..." she muttered. "I saved them from their horrible destiny."
Aglaia breathed deeply as the voices in her head began to die down. She closed her eyes and focused her mind. It was going to be a long journey back to the start of life. Power burst in her mind as she began projecting her consciousness backwards in time.
I'm gonna save the world. I'm gonna save you, Felix.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK7zWxrBrRF
