Ash leaned back into the hard seat. Whatever had happened deep underground apparently revealed and woke something that appeared sapient. It also left him uncomfortably aware of the faint outlines in the periphery of his vision that allowed him to pull up his profile, a map, or his inventory.
The Captain spoke. “No one knows what’s in these loot boxes, or if they were even real rather than some hallucination from poison or pain. But if it’s true, it’s possible any surviving teams would have the contents of these boxes, and that might give them an unexpected advantage.”
“There’s one last danger that we need to discuss,” the Colonel said. “The U.S. isn’t the only country with Clypsers. And since they appeared along with the Pit, and have already begun displaying power, we expect more and more will arrive to achieve the goals we discussed earlier.”
Ash wondered if they knew the effects of those breathing forms that the old guy had given him to practice.
“How long do you think it will take before everyone decides to play nice and work together?” Ash asked.
“Assuming that ever happens, I don’t think it will be quicker than a few months. The nation-states will want to exhaust all their options at keeping everything for themselves and will only cooperate as a last resort.”
“That’s a lot longer than I expected. If you combine that with the rapid appearance of mythological beings, then far more powerful entities might emerge from hibernation before then.”
“Exactly,” the Colonel responded. “The analysts believe it will require two, possibly three, let’s call them ‘God-level’ events to convince everyone to give up going it alone. The odds of the world surviving one of these events, let alone three, is very small. And those odds became even smaller when the three ‘supers,’ for lack of a better term, appeared and casually dealt with not only our most advanced submarine but moved the Chinese carrier fleet around like rubber ducks in a bathtub. One of them pulled multiple satellites out of orbit, destroying them, by yanking on their energy signals like a rope. And if I had to guess, I think we only witnessed the tip of the iceberg that is their power.”
“Which really means we only have one choice,” Ash said. “Reach the source, evaluate it, and either take it or destroy it. All the other paths don’t give us any chance at survival.”
The Captain smiled, and the Colonel glanced at her before returning his attention to Ash. “The Captain is right to be pleased. You aren’t the brains or the strategy asset for your team, but you’ve quickly arrived at the correct conclusion. Perhaps Sephy saw more in you than a lucky rabbit’s foot.”
Captain Riegel removed two photos from her briefcase and handed Ash the first one. It was a picture taken from high in the air, probably from a satellite. It showed a wide area with two dots in the middle. It took Ash a moment to realize that the two glowing dots came from the farm, and the rest of the picture displayed the surrounding area, including the entirety of Guadalajara.
The Captain answered Ash’s question before he could ask it. “Shortly after the Clyps. When rumors of strange things happening to people began, Sephy had the bright idea to repurpose some energy detection satellites. Originally, they searched for nuclear related activity, but we used them to detect the energy escaping the Pit, as well as anyone affected by it. We traced the flow of energy across the planet and detected a handful of Clypsers in the process. The government has brought most of these people in for observation. The majority have no idea what we’re talking about and feel completely normal.”
Ash immediately thought of the father on the television talking about his missing daughter. “Yeah, I saw that on the news. So much for the land of the free.”
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“Freedom has always had a cost, and not only for those who volunteer,” the Colonel responded.
Ash returned the photo. “Are you saying that Grandpa and I are Clypsers?”
Captain Riegel shook her head. “No, we know you aren’t. Because Sephy loaded years of archived data to use as a baseline against the new information. The picture you just viewed came from last year, not last week.”
Ash looked at his hand, not because he had something to hide, but because he had no idea why his energy would be different. “Honestly, this is news to me. Can you be a little more specific on what type of energy this is?”
Instead of answering, the Captain handed him the second picture. On the left side was a dark outline of a human figure, the entire area around it colored grey and black like a negative. On the right side was a human figure who had multiple bright outlines of differing colors.
“Let me guess,” Ash said. “I’m the guy on the right.”
“Affirmative,” the Captain replied.
“And the type of energy?”
“It varies but most of it exists just outside the boundaries of the visible spectrum. Most people would refer to it as their aura.”
Understanding came to Ash in a rush, and he handed the Captain back her picture.
“What did you just realize?” the Captain asked. “Why do you look upset?”
“I don’t know for sure, but my guess is it’s related to our meditation.” Ash still struggled to hide his embarrassment when talking about it. “In addition to our martial arts training, my grandpa has me do a bunch of new age–”
Ash had almost said ‘nonsense’ but stopped himself, as recent events had proven him mistaken about almost everything. Why would his chakras be any different? He knew they worked, even if he didn’t know how.
“I’m frowning because it brought up memories. I grew up wanting to play football—I guess you’d call it soccer. While the other kids had fun doing just that, I sat in the grove, cross-legged and humming like some Buddhist monk. You don’t see many Buddhist monks in Mexico, so you can imagine what it did to my reputation when everyone else found out.” Ash paused for five seconds and then continued. “Maybe I’m also frowning because I held that bitterness tightly for years, only to find out my grandpa’s assurances that it was critical and important training was true. I didn’t work as hard as I could’ve, and now that I need it, it’s probably too late to improve. So, I guess what I’m saying is, I’m an idiot.”
Captain Riegel put her pictures away and leaned forward. “Tell me about your training.”
Ash shrugged. “It’s not that much different than any new age book you’d pick up. The hand and finger positions, the notes that we hum, all of it is pretty much the same.”
“Something must be different,” the Captain replied. “Our analysis was worldwide, and we only found a few energy signatures like yours, well, much fainter actually, in the Far East.”
Ash considered the tai chi-like movements he practiced three times a day and how the sorcerer, Elder Phoenix, had studied him intently, not recognizing the forms. Elder Phoenix had taught Ash knew forms and breathing techniques to harness what he called ‘Spirit’ to help him form a Core. Could it be that the forms Phoenix didn’t recognize had something to do with his aura?
And if those forms were related, should Ash tell the Captain? Telling her was like telling the government. But they already had pictures of him, and with all the surveillance they’d done from a distance he concluded that he didn’t have secrets anymore. Plus, it took years for even the smallest gains.
“It must be related to the forms I do in the morning, in the afternoon, and at night. It’s like tai chi, and Grandpa is always yelling at me to focus on my chakras. He tells me to focus all the time, so I never considered the forms as special.”
“And the meditation?” the Captain asked.
“Four hours every day. Half an hour per chakra.”
The Colonel also leaned forward. “Do you think it’s your chakras that make you so sensitive to danger?”
Ash knew that for a fact, but a part of him resisted revealing everything. He had worked insanely hard–okay, that was a lie, he had worked a fair amount over a long period of time to get where he was, and he didn’t want to hand over everything he’d learned.
Shrugging, Ash responded. “An entire region of the world uses chakras like a religion, not to mention all the ‘woo-woo’ people in the West. So I don’t know if the answer to my abilities is as straightforward as awakening eight chakras.”
“It’s interesting that you keep mentioning eight chakras, but in the East, only seven exist. What is your eighth one, and where is it?”
Ash pointed up. “The eighth chakra touches the ‘Divine,’ and it resides above the Crown chakra.”
The Captain nodded and clutched her bag tighter. “We’ll be at the rendezvous soon. Thanks for the information, Shamrock.”