POV Oldman

I was hurt. Injury wasn’t healing well. I got mixtures that was meant to help me and slept all night but only skin on surface blended together. I felt fire inside laceration. I was enhanced human already, but that was not enough. I asked with what Diana injured me. I thought, that it was done with some kind of lancet as I didn’t see it in her hand. But no, Diana had second muzzle. She was even more inhuman than I thought. I had crips recollecting that attack.

I was bandaged. Also from somewhere got waist belt that people were using in gym. All for purpose that injury wouldn’t open up. Things I wore on top were destroyed and I got some clothes that didn’t really fit me well. I didn’t complained.

We were back in Returned Glory city. Normally I would go and by some stuff, but Huntress was observing base of Beria and we were on standby. Huntress was only one among us, that had sensory radar as ability. So we waited. Then decision to attack was reached. People who were on standby rode with van and parked nearby base building. I and Rook were left in van as weakest. Rest of Devas went to the building as it was normal thing to do. It was around eleven o’clock.

I watched through the window, how people, some of them hurt were living building. I heard loud noises from inside. There was some fight and glass was shattered. I waited patiently. Some screams later everything went silent. And was silent for few minutes. Then Sith called me by phone.

-= We secured building. – He said. – Can you come to us with Rook? We are on third floor.

-= Sure.

-= Is there any police around?

-= No police in sight.

It was shady neighborhood. Police was avoiding it, because even if there were some fights or other violent actions victims didn’t cooperate with police. Police would come with lot of delay as those were hopeless cases there usually.

We went on third floor. We saw some knocked out men and destroyed doors. On third floor Beria was surrounded near his bio-stone. Some Devas had plasma balls in the ready positions. They were waiting for us.

-= Kneel. – Said Huntress to Beria.

He didn’t react to her words. Some plasma balls flew where his head was moment ago and struck wall. He was kneeling.

-= What do you want? – He asked.

-= We want you to say sorry, that you sent spy.

-= Sorry.

-= Say it as you mean it.

-= I’m so sorry. Really sorry.

-= Was it ok? – Huntress asked us.

There were mixed answers, but overall it seemed to be enough. Beria tried to stand up.

-= Don’t stand up just yet. – Said Huntress to Beria.

-= What else do you want?

-= Before we come to visit you, we met Diana. She lives not far from you…

-= I have nothing to do with her.

-= Do not interrupt. – Then she continued. – We couldn’t humble her as we do with you unfortunately. You wronged us, but you apologized. We don’t want situation where Diana would prey upon you. We decided to share one magic ability with you, if you can afford it. That way we can become some kind of unwilling friends. Isn’t it right?

-= You want my [Will resonance] ability. That stops you from kicking my ass, isn’t it? – He smiled with malicious smile.

-= Smart one. If you have counter offer, then say it now.

-= I don’t have another way out. Your offer is good enough. Offer is, that I will learn one magic ability from you for my psychic ability for you in return. Right?

-= No. You won’t produce problems for us or act against us and we won’t pursue revenge for spying on us. On top of that is deal with magic involved.

-= What do you mean by problems?

-= If police will start to search for bio-stones or you will be pointed as terrorist on first pages of news internet portals, we would consider that as problem. And similar things.

-= So you know, that I’m part of radical politically group. I won’t resign from that part of my activity.

-= You can even be boss of biggest mafia on the world as long as you won’t direct headlights on us. Do you understand?

-= Yes. You want me to act from back seat.

-= It’s nice we could get to agreement and understanding. You may stand up.

He stood up. Then there was discussion about learning abilities. He chose lightning ability from lightning, plasma ball and sonic boom. He showed us his illusions of shadows ability. It worked on one person, two with some luck and high stat in defensive [Will resonance] was weakening it. It was poor exchange for us, but Beria knew that too and added, that he would provide us with some intelligence if Diana would make some moves. Vivaldi and Rook were allowed to learn lightning ability there too. It took almost all day till late evening to get things done. In the meantime police came and wrote its report. They didn’t even get inside building. Beria lackeys told them, that they were training to youtube video and some things went south, wrong.

One funny thing was, that after Beria lackeys gather themselves up we were introduced as honored visitors and they acted to us as we were some kind of celebrities. Beria lived in commune, where strength made one right. We showed enough strength.

I was former policeman. I retired, but my policeman instinct told me, that Beria was troublesome one. He wasn’t like Diana, that felt as overwhelming monster. He was one spreading corruption. I knew, that I would have to act against him after Diana was neutralized. For now, I was afraid that he and Diana could make some pact and support each other. That would be terrible. So I didn’t antagonize him. I bid my time.

That didn’t hold me from sending some confidential info to the police after we left city. It wasn’t much, but hopefully enough for them to treat that commune with seriousness.

POV Main

We took Yola to Atroadlike village. There was some development there, that we missed. George or Flash, got to minor completion. It wasn’t smooth as we hosts had it. He had some inner damage during transition. Also it was more magical for him. I thought that bio-stones protected us against backlash, but it could also mean, that without bio-stones we would degrade in magical abilities. Probably that was the case.

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Before we got to village another guy, Tom called Darth, achieved minor completion. It was mean Monday for him as he was in state as hit by bulldozer. We, me and Coal, could feel difference in his magic aura quality. Flash also had this effect. He was up, but tried not to exhaust himself. That didn’t scare away other lightning users. They were using cultivation chamber, just support was lower in numbers so I promised to help.

Before that Yola was introduced. Cultivators were distrustful first. She could be spy or something. Quite fast she was accepted though. She could see their magic signatures but also she had only that magic ability. Her way of training was to focus on magic, when it worked. It meant, that she was moving around helping others.

I asked for big meeting in the evening. Till that moment people seemed to enjoy themselves, as they didn’t know topic of that meeting. So afternoon was joyful. With little exceptions as users without lightning ability were little envious of those that could get to minor completion.

Then evening came. I wasn’t feeling too well. I hoped that this talk would be done much later, but circumstances made it necessary to do it that day. Temporary Elders sat on one side of the room, rest on another.

-= Thank you, that you agreed to hear me out. – I started. – Things, I want to talk about are hard to stomach. I would like to have that conversation much farter in the future, but it is what it is. So, we have Yola today among us. She get that ability, which we call sensory radar. Her version is different. She has more of magic sight than sensory radar. So, she can see magic as additional colorful blur. You all checked it, right?

They checked.

-= So we know at least seven types of magic, if we count magic sight as subtype of sensory radar. We, Devas hosts or Devas for short were hiding some things from you. Quite shameful things. Yeah. – I paused. – There is no more reason to hide it, as Yola can see it.

-= So, what is it? – Asked someone.

-= Well, we have psychic abilities on top of magical abilities. – I said.

-= What?

-= Overpowered.

-= What’s so shameful?

-= Did you manipulate us?

-= Spell it.

There was lot of rush. I waited patiently. I thought, that I looked guilty. And I was. They calmed down.

-= We, Devas, - I spoke again. – have offensive and defensive psychic abilities. Offensive are abilities that are used to manipulate others.

There was silence.

-= As far as I can tell, we three here are using them sparingly. I hope that Yola can confirm that, but I don’t know how exactly her ability works. She told us, that using offensive psychic ability is seen by her as sinister dark aura. Those that use it have that aura lingering on them. Right?

-= Yes. – Said Yola.

-= All Devas seen by Yola had that sinister aura on them. – I stopped talking. I had nothing more to say. I wanted to tell them about sinister aura around bio-stones only after they would arrange things in their heads.

-= So where did you use it? – Asked Darth. He was barely conscious, but he wanted to know.

-= I would like to not talk about it.

-= You started talking, so you should talk to the end. – Added someone and others supported him. I became sacrificial lamb.

-= It won’t be pretty, but I can be honest.

-= So where or when?

-= One of often use is in one of our business. We work in grey area, so sometimes, usually, people with who we want to do that business are indecisive. Then we use that ability to boost our suggestions. It won’t work on convinced, but is good enough when indecisive and money are involved. Other use is personal, so I don’t want to talk about it.

-= Talk, talk.

I had sour face. They should left me with some respect.

-= It’s on you then. – I said.

-= How it’s on us? It’s on you, you did it.

-= You know, that aura we have makes people around us anxious after some time. You have it better because your magic abilities counters it partially somehow. But we are lonely because of it. So, sometimes when we meet some interesting person we use it to make her stay longer with us.

-= Oh my god, you use it to hook girls! – Some girl screamed.

All girls looked offended, even Mouse. Well, boys, there was some understanding.

-= Well, I’m not happy about it. – I defended myself. – It also wouldn’t work if they wasn’t interested in me in the first place. I am also rich and charming for some…

-= You bastard! – I got hit with half eaten sandwich.

There was chaos for short moment. Then Coal started calming down people. I was cursed by some a little. But people calmed down.

-= Yola, what can you say? – Asked someone when people sat down again.

-= I can say, that Nameless and Coal are Devas with least sinister aura on them. Even Mouse have more. – I thought, when did she gather sinister aura. – But really sinister ones were in War-Saw. There was also this monstrosity…

-= Please don’t talk about monstrosity until they digest, what they heard. – I interrupted her.

They almost bursted with chaos again. They talked among themselves. We, Temporary Elders were asked to wait outside for some time. We went to our house.

-= Did you need to tell them? It wasn’t appropriate moment for that. – Asked Mouse.

-= There is never appropriate moment for lot of things, so it’s better to do them right when there is chance to do them. – I believed in what I said.

She stayed silent for a moment after that.

-= If you are rich and charming, why do you need to use [Will resonance]? – She asked.

She got me. If I used [Will resonance] I wasn’t rich or charming enough. Or I just wasn’t self-assure enough.

Coal was silent. I asked, what were his thoughts.

-= I didn’t believe in this project at first. – He said. – But I enjoyed helping you with it lately. What they decide is up to them and depends how they perceive us. We should stay true and agree with whatever verdict.

What could I say. Coal, if someone glued long white beard on him, would resemble some wise philosopher to me. Like, what can you do, when it’s freezing around you – freeze, as koan says in Buddhism.

After some time Flash came for us. We sat down again. He was doing talking.

-= There are some things that have to be stated clearly. – He said. – If you use your psychic powers against Cultivation Humanhood of Mountains intersecting Abyss, you will be expelled. We will check tomorrow how defensive usage looks to Yola. We lost lot of trust to you. You will still be Temporary Elders, but crucial decisions will be made without your presence. We know, that you have some influence on us due to money you are providing, but there are things, that can’t be buy by money. So don’t try to buy us. That’s all for now from me.

He sat down. Darth stood up.

-= Yola said, that she won’t talk about monstrosity, because you asked her not to. We think, that we are ready to hear about it.

I nodded. Yola told her story about sinister whirlpool and its connection to Lily. Then, there was time for my theory.

-= We, Devas, Devas hosts, are linked to some inhuman entities. That way we got access to magic abilities and psychic abilities. Those entities are and aren’t known to humanity. As far as we know they appear and disappear on earth with cyclic regularity. They are animals and they eat flesh, so predators. On that stage that we have, they are unmoving and they need hosts to care for their needs. Once linked host can get lots of perks. Linking seems to be done by psychic ability.

They were listening.

-= We talked about it among Unlimited Devas and Associated Devas. Rest of hosts, beyond Devas, seems to be problematic even without that topic. Hosts agreed, that bio-stones are trying to influence us. It’s two way process perhaps, but they seem to be stronger side. There are some details I can’t tell you. Most of Devas think that they can allow themselves some amount of influence, perhaps hoping that our psychic defenses on which we worked would be enough. Those, that are afraid, that it can be not enough are sitting before you. We are not feeling as being possessed or bewitched. We also get much from our bio-stones, real Devas. Even money we earned had source in bio-stones. Money you got from us. So we see that relation as overall net positive.

I paused, there was no questions.

-= We can’t see, what Yola saw. I trust her. She saw that bio-stone is whirlpool of influence. I could defend myself, that from philosophical point of view all influence looks sinister, but that’s not the point. We are playing risky game and you are humanity chance, if we would lose. I’m too dependent on my bio-stone to change my way of living. I will help you as much as I can, but there will be time, when you will need to stand by yourself. I hoped, that I would tell you these words, when you would be much stronger and more established, but this moment come now. I know, that there will be less trust between us, but maybe it’s healthier that way. That’s all I can say, I think.

-= Why not attack those bio-stones now? – Asked Darth.

-= We, hosts, can’t. We would defend. Also, not all we could get from bio-stones, like minor magic abilities, was explored. There are other things, but we won’t share them.

-= You can’t, but we can. – Pressured Darth.

-= You are too weak. To win against us you would need to have magic abilities weaker but comparable and overwhelming numbers.

-= Or big cannon.

-= Or big cannon aimed with precision.

-= After all you said, - Said Eva alias Annihilation. – only logical conclusion is, that you are or will be our enemies.

-= That’s right. – I said. – Most likely, if nothing unexpected happens, we will become enemies, if only for some time.

-= So, there is hope. – Said Mike alias elemental.

-= Less than five percent chance for happy end and more than ninety five percent for sad ending.

There was moment of silence.

-= I think, it’s enough for today. – Said Coal. – It was stormy evening. We can talk more tomorrow. I can only say, that I was already in serious troubles, when I didn’t saw good exit. There is always chance if you work on it honestly. Better to go to sleep with that thought, than cry in the pillow.

So we went to sleep. We talked. We had our own basket of troubles, if what Yola saw was true.

End of Book I Epicycles.