“I must say I’m getting to be quite fond of these space couches,” Warden said staring at the blank green screen adorned with horizontal lines. “The television channels on the other hand I could probably do without. It’s still better than British television though.” The room that they were in was a white room that looked like it was used for breaks with a bunch of relatively comfy furniture surrounding what would possibly pass for a TV if you gave the human race a few hundred years and then wiped them all out in an apocalypse.

“Communications are still down,” Wendy pointed out. “I asked Choir,” she admitted after a while. “I wanted so badly to catch up with some of the programmes. Apparently N-Doors are completely unable to be used for that purpose. I don’t really understand the science though.”

“I get it vaguely,” Warden admitted shifting over find a more comfortable position in the couch. “Apparently there are power requirements for keeping it open too long and a cooldown before it can be used again. There were some vaguely ominous words like dimensional collapse and space-time folding that would require me to do some intensive reading that right now I just cannot be bothered to do.”

“Choir’s been really eager to get us going again,” Wendy said taking another bite of the battered strips of unidentified meat that she had brought back. “We have that meeting with the bank that you’ve been putting off.”

“An appointment was not required,” Warden said. “We still have two days till our credit becomes due and missing a payment date, despite what Choir is urging is not the worst thing in the world. What are they going to do? Repossess Coldreach?”

“Admittedly none of our creditors would ever be able to do that, but may still rely on them to get this place fixed up,” the voice of blue gull announced that at least one-third of the Angel was listening. “Besides getting the communicator up and running there are more places broken then there are fixed. It wouldn’t be incorrect to describe Coldreach as one foot in the grave at this point.”

“Was this place ever alive?” Surge said popping back into the room drawing gazes. “I’ve just been weeding out the ghosts. It looks like the Kingdom is slowly starting to stabalize.”

“That’s bad isn’t it,” Warden said continuing to relax.

“Well if I still can’t get hold of Kur soon then I’m going to have to do raids by myself,” Surge said walking up to Warden before pulling out another one of his tools. “Hey turn onto your side please,” he said waiting patiently as the patient did so before he placed the device into his ear, probing the orifice in a manner that was shallow but uncomfortable. “Alright all the swelling has gone down. You’re good to use psionics again… is what I would say if you hadn’t already been using them against my explicit instructions.”

“I have superpowers now, sue me,” Warden said turning to lie on his back again. “Hey Choir now that I’ve got doctor’s permission can you tell me how I can train my psionics?” The trio of Angels had been quiet, browbeaten into withholding information by the Necromancer while he was resting up.

“By accumulating Psionic Energy,” blue gull stated. “You’re in the first step called awakening. You have to continue to build up energy until the shell in your consciousness cracks and you enter the Formless Idea step. It is the easiest step in that it relies only on accumulation and it is a ubiquitous initial step.”

“And the way to accumulate is by exercising my precognition,” Warden said checking his status.

Reginald Strauss

Warden of Coldreach

Race: Human

Threat Class: 0

Combat Strength: 13

Strength: Below Average

Speed: Average

Durability: Extremely High

Power: High

Affinity

Psi-16.63

Mag-N/A

Chi-N/A

Current Skills Mastery:

Novice Precognition

Implanted Augments:

Black Bones

Current Benefits: None

Current Curses: None

His untrained precognition had turned to novice precognition, his combat strength had risen to 13 but his Psi had soared up by over ten points. Still he had no idea what those numbers were and he still remained firmly at a class zero. As for combat strength he had no idea of how it worked or was measured.

“That’s pretty much correct,” blue gull said. “By using it, by putting stress on it, by truly, truly flexing it you can rapidly increase the level of energy.”

“Psionic Enhancers may possibly help but we have only three left,” Surge pointed out flopping down on one of the nearby ottomans. “And I’m not really in favour of overuse.”

“By my estimate you should require about ten times the energy you currently possess in order to crack the shell,” blue gull admitted. “The fastest and most reliable way is probably simply to continue using your Precognition when possible.”

“Okay I will,” Warden answered two seconds in the future the moment he activated his precognition. There was an immediate feeling of double vision and he followed that future vision with all the certainty of a person performing an action he 100% knew that he could do. He closed his eyes two seconds in the future and then followed the excellent idea of future Warden and did the same.

“So are we going to the bank?” he heard Wendy ask after a while breaking his rest.

“No,” present Warden said before the future collapsed sending a brief spike of pain in his head before a hazier future appeared. For a few seconds he just lay there as the future coalesced into a defined image once more giving him that sense of double vision. What was that? Did he change the future just by speaking up earlier? Would he feel that brief flash of pain every time he tried to do something different than what he had predicted? That could be inconvenient.

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“We’re not going to the bank today,” Warden said. “We’ll do it tomorrow. I still have to recover from the stress that Choir’s destinations instil in me.”

“Yes, Boss,” Wendy agreed immediately.

“As your doctor I second that decision.” Surge said.

The trio sat in silence as Warden slowly practiced his precognition. There were several kinks in the skill. For one while it didn’t seem to have a defined limit it did drain him mentally as long as he kept using it and he was forced to drop it and just relax for a few minutes.

“I am sorry,” blue gull admitted after a while. “I really do not want you to die. I can admit to being reckless. The only thing that I can offer is that I would be no less reckless with my own life, for what little that means. I have a… a strong feeling that we have little time before calamity strikes us all.”

“Far be it for me to question the instincts of an Angel but what does ‘little time left’ actually mean?” Surge asked. “My mother still refers to the day she raised me as just a little while ago when I’m over one hundred years old and I’m sure that Angels live just as long as Necromancers.”

“I wish I knew,” the Angel said causing silence to descend over the group.

“Wait you’re over one hundred,” Warden said opening his eyes to stare at the youthful-looking Necromancer.

“Ancient for a human, barely out of the crib for a Necromancer,” Surge said without changing inflection. “While you’re probably far too young to think about this, life extension treatment is really very easy. That is, if you abandoned your death wish.”

“I have,” Warden said closing his eyes once more. “I’ve had a certain manic energy for the past few days. I suppose it was as a consequence of avoiding my execution.” You could have heard a pin drop in the room as he finished speaking.

“You were going to be executed,” Wendy whispered.

“Yeah for treason,” Warden said casually. “My country and I had diverging priorities.”

“Coldreach has basic morality requirements so if you were selected then your priority was probably the ethically correct one,” blue gull said.

“I know it was,” Warden said. “Believe me; I have had my fill of patriotism. I think I need to get a replacement coat.” The sudden change in conversation topic was so sudden and seemed to catch the others off guard.

“A new coat,” Wendy repeated.

“I used to have such a cool trench coat,” Warden said. “I lost it though. I wonder if I can find a space replacement. I think I’m going to look for one. Does the place where we bank have a market?”

“Accumulation Finance does have an attached market,” blue gull said. “It is a place for rare minerals, creatures, wonders and technology to be appraised, certified and sold by the bank. I’m sure that you can go clothes shopping there.”

“That sounds wonderful,” Warden said two seconds in the future.

“That sounds great,” the present Warden said.

Once more that broken feeling came across and he supressed the feeling of pain. The future dissolved into a blurry mess before a less clear future emerged from... He focused all his attention onto that spot where it emerged. No the future was always there, his mind just blocked it out as the brain was forced to do. Like the eye could only focus on one specific point leaving the rest of the surroundings a blur; only one future could be observed before a sense of danger assailed him.

For a brief instant another future coalesced from the darkness giving him a sense of triple vision before a familiar throbbing headache told him he pushed it too far and he dropped his precognition causing the familiar feeling of tiredness that was normally attained after finally relaxing after a mentally stimulating task. Maybe as he practiced more or built up more energy he would be able to watch more futures or look further in the future.

“Hey Choir,” Warden said. “Is it possible to learn other Tricks?”

“Once you reach the Formless Idea step you should be able to learn a total of two other Tricks,” blue gull said. “Three is the maximum tricks that are naturally developed. I also believe that you don’t get any tougher during the Formless Idea step.”

“Is it worth learning magic or chi as well?” Warden asked. “Wouldn’t that make me tougher than just focusing on one?”

“It’s viable until a certain point but eventually the paths all diverge,” Surge pointed out. “Or at least that’s what my mother told me when she advised me to learn only one.”

“Fantastic,” Warden said resolving not to branch out in that situation. “That’s less work for me.” He closed his eyes feeling the future two seconds ahead and trying to make it go further back with no positive result.

“Any requests for dinner,” Wendy said assuming her role as the sole chef in Coldreach. She was the only one with any experience. While Warden could cook he had no experience with the space ingredients that Coldreach possessed and in the entire time he had been there he hadn’t seen Surge even eat. Wendy seemed to eat the most and as long as she dialled down any of the condiments her food, at least, wouldn’t kill him.

“I’ll take the mild, thank you,” Warden said as Surge just shook his head. Choir wasn’t offered again and so the secretary left the room leaving Warden and Surge to lounge. “Now that she’s gone can you tell me who attacked Wendy,” Warden said. “I’m almost certain that the two of you have figured it out by now.”

“I highly doubt that your bodyguard would have too badly of an adverse reaction in the first place, boss,” Surge said. “But that’s quite a leap of logic to assume that we would have a name for the target.”

“It’s just a hunch, don’t put too much stock in my powers of prophecy yet,” Warden said. “But not one that I think is wrong?” There was a pause before Choir spoke up.

“Vorple the Slayer,” blue gull stated dispassionately. “The species is Maatiin. Estimated threat class is four; number of direct kills is over seventeen million, a deadly swordsman and an immensely powerful Psion that has caused the extermination of several empires. He was a former prisoner of Coldreach that escaped from the high-security wing when everything fell to pieces.”

“Then Wendy got immensely lucky,” Warden said. “Hey Surge, could you beat him?”

“Not a Death-damned chance,” the Necromancer surgeon replied immediately.

“Then we run if we see him,” Warden said decisively. “I suppose Wendy got very lucky.”

“We seem mostly to be surviving on luck,” Surge said. “Well I’m off to go and exterminate some more undead and try to kill the creature in the bath house again. I’ll see you tomorrow. As your doctor I’m recommending a good night’s sleep.” He stood up from his ottoman stretching before he stalked out of the door but not before giving one last wave.

“Guess it’s just the two of us, huh Choir,” Warden said.

“Indeed,” blue gull said as the silence filled the room. “Hey, whatever sins you committed. I can tell you were still one of the good ones.” Warden’s eyes shot open before he turned to look at the speaker’s through which the Angel’s tone came.

“Sometimes being a good one is not good enough,” Warden admitted without a blank look on his face. “I’m sorry,” he said pinching his nose. “I know you’re trying to help me but I am well aware of what I did…or what I didn’t do. You’re not going to go as far as to say something like inaction isn’t a sin; are you?”

“Acedia is,” blue gull admitted. “There are even demons of acedia,” he said chuckling. “Although most people see them as a trivial danger compared to those of pride, wrath or greed.” His tone seemed to voice no opinion on the subject. “And speaking of demons of greed, we still need to get you prepared on the etiquette for your bank meeting tomorrow.” The casual tone that he used caused a short pause before the words processed in his brain.

“Wait you aren’t saying that the bank is run by greed demons,” Warden said before he caught himself. “Actually you know what, that makes complete sense. I retract any objections.”

“And that is why we need the etiquette,” blue gull said before giving a short breakdown of the do’s and don’ts, to which Warden was partly listening before Wendy arrived with the food and his attention dropped even further.