Paul
They stood there panting, exhausted, waiting for the next disaster to drop on their heads like a ton of rubble. Nothing happened, except Lea’s carambole and some Cintamani rolled out the hole Daniel had put in the beast’s gut. Tension dispelled, Cassie landed, Kenta started the long and arduous process of cleaning his hair, and Daniel did his best to keep Rana reclined.
“Stay down!” he said, his voice low but intense.
She squatted with one hand beneath her for balance. Paul didn’t know why Daniel was upset. :I’m getting those Cintamani. It’s my job,: she sent, though she didn’t stand. Weird that she didn’t speak.
“Don’t push yourself,” Daniel insisted. Rana stood.
“Dan, quit bothering Rana,” Kenta said. “Let her do what she wants. Nothing’s stopped her before.”
“But she’s w—” Rana hit Daniel in the side with a slime-covered punch “—ooonded… Ow.”
Kenta looked from one to the other seeing nothing out of the ordinary, rolled his eyes, and shrugged. “I just remembered I don’t care.”
Then Paul reached them, striding at an unhurried pace. He didn’t like the reactions he got running in right away or staying put, as it seemed to screw with the flow of his friends’ interplay. Most of all, he didn’t want this new ability to mess things up.
Daniel turned and sized him up from boots to head. He stood taller than Daniel now. The young angel grinned. “Paul, you look good!”
Kenta gave a mild nod of agreement. “Excellent work.”
Paul allowed Wendi to grab him around the middle from behind one-handed. He even affected surprise as she lifted him and said, “There’s a heft to you now, isn’t there?” She comically feigned having trouble raising him over her head, though he felt confident his weight didn’t bother her in the slightest.
“How did you do that, by the way?” Daniel asked as Wendi set the lantern boy down. “It’s like you knew where Wendi would…”
“Telescopic vision,” Paul lied. Unfortunately, that was literally the best possible fib he could invent. He’d already tried a dozen others equally lame or worse, earning nothing but blank stares or objections from the others. At least they didn’t question him on this.
Pharos’s parting words after her ‘tutorial’ weighed heavy on his mind.
One last thing, Paul. This ability gives you knowledge of the immediate consequences of your actions. Its greatest limitation is a lack of ingenuity. Your creativity will define the extent of your abilities.
Great, more blind spots. That would be a severe limitation indeed. Even with a clear mind, he wasn’t good at lying or making people do what he wanted. Also, he noticed the strangeness of his voice. It sounded tinny, as if coming through a speaker rather than a throat, echoing from inside the suit. This new body was a lot to get used to.
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His strange situational-awareness Claircognizance mirrored Cassie’s Auditions but followed thoughts instead of senses. Paul looked at his gauntlet hand and saw a dozen potential twists, flexes, and movements simultaneously, along with the consequences of each action. He chose one and projected a dozen more starting from the new position. He constantly processed all this information in real-time.
The crazy thing was how his mind mapped this knowledge. He internalized the experience of taking a dozen theoretical steps, giving him a picture of the topology and stability of his surroundings. He could even find hidden pitfalls. Weirder than that, when Wendi touched him, he immediately knew the outcome of every conceivable way he could struggle out of her grasp or wiggle in place—letting him know the toughness, texture, and resilience of Wendi’s skin.
Was this Touch? Was this that elusive sense others had that he’d never fully experienced? It was definitely a kind of tactile response. Was he feeling her?
However, his ability could be twisted into something perverse or evil. If he let his heart and mind drift to darker roads, he could, for example, explore breaking someone’s finger. By imagining touching someone, he’d feel them no matter if he didn’t make physical contact. If he did something unforgivable without executing it in reality, would that be a ‘Taboo’ act? Would he turn into a monster for something he didn’t actually do?
He forced himself to stop considering ability misuse and smothered dozens of malicious, invasive, or cruel scenarios. Though he thought of himself as a peaceful and kind person, keeping the lid on impulses, intentions, and ideas would be a full-time job. A curse of curiosity. Physically distancing himself from others might be helpful.
You’re lucky these powers are useful in battle, Pharos, or I’d trade them right now. Instead, I’ll learn to use them and protect my friends with my own hands. One day, I’ll retrieve my other powers as well. I’ll discover what upset Girandole and make things right.
Rana got their attention. :Everyone gather round to heal the wounded.:
They stood in a circle with each of their healing coins extended and glowing. By sharing the burden, they healed Cassie’s wings faster without exhausting one person’s magic. Cassie stretched her renewed wings with relief.
“Can you fly us?” Rana spoke for the first time in a long while, which Paul found odd but couldn’t place the reason.
Cassie seemed confused. “Sure, but shouldn’t we stay grounded? Rule two?”
Rana shook her head. “We have bigger worries.”
“Come on, look at us,” Kenta said, gesticulating with slobber-wet hair tendrils. “We’re tired, dirty, and plain spent. We need to set camp and get some sleep.” The others agreed with him, but Daniel kept quiet and watched Rana.
“Do you really think mages give up so easily?” she asked them.
“We kicked their butts,” Kenta replied. “They’re not coming back.”
“Do you really think mages that weak are stupid enough to travel the Wilderness alone?” Silence. “Those three were scouts. They’re returning to the main group. We’re talking a dozen mages minimum, all fully equipped with magic weapons, no skimping on beasts, a stronger Mission Leader, and maybe Taotie warriors. We have to put enough worlds behind us that they get lost in the branching paths. Every second counts and the timer started ten minutes ago.”
They looked at each other. Obviously, none of them felt ready for this kind of trouble. Despite that, they’d drag themselves along if they had to.
Then Cassie hiccupped.
They all turned to see her tense up, eyes wide, ears swiveling in all directions. The rhythmic hiccups came steady as an alarm. For a moment, she couldn’t find her voice until the bat girl took a steadying breath and spoke.
“They have a tracker.”