It didn't take long to finish mopping up the beetles and millipedes that had pursued them. Barten was still amazed at just how far he had come in the month that they were training. wouldn’t that make for a scary world? If everyone on earth could get powerful like he did? The combat that he had seen in the past would have been totally different and even more insane. How do you kill a superhuman? They did say that there were options for when someone who served in the International army went rogue. Whatever that answer was, Barten didn’t ever want to encounter it.
They were back on the move. With Crisp up front looking for the best path or cutting a trail when necessary. About midday people started complaining about wanting a break, something to eat and drink. Crisp and a few others set out foraging to see what they could find. But aside from some edible grasses and some berries it wasn’t enough for more than a taste.
“Has anyone see Madison?” Young asked. He taken lead of the group and had been keeping an eye on everyone. “Also, I’m only counting 15. There is someone else that’s missing. Anyone know who?”
“Maybe Haggers?” Dane asked and started looking through the people gathered. “Yeah. I think Haggers. Said something about a bio break some time ago. Didn’t realize that he didn’t come back.”
After several more moments they broke into groups of 3 and started looking around the area. Barten was glad that he had Jamieson with him, but less so when the 3rd member ended up being Dane. “Madison was always a right proper woman. I can’t see her doing anything with Haggers like that. I mean, the guy’s name has hag in it. Women from his stock probably aren’t very good looking at all.”
“Um. No one said anything about the two of them hooking up at all,” Barten said. “Plus I think that they went missing at different times. In addition I don't think that this is a good place for a quickie. Not when there’s potentially hostiles still around.”
“Yeah. But what if they did? And it’s 101 that you leave the group at different times. Otherwise it’s too obvious that you’re hooking up,” Dane said and cocked his head to the side. “Did you hear that?”
“No. All I’ve heard is you chatting,” Barten said with a shrug.
“No, there’s something in the air,” Jamieson said. “I don’t like how it feels.” He pulled his hat tighter and looked around. They had just entered a small thicket of trees where the ground was covered in small leafy bushes. It would have been possible for someone or something to hide in them. Only not the car sized beetles or millipedes that they had been fighting.
Barten looked around, trying to use every point that he had in perception to see what the others were talking about. Nothing came up on his vision at all, hearing too. But then, at the edge of everything that he was able to experience, was something. Like what Jamieson said it felt out of place. And then it was getting stronger. Barten snapped out of his focus and started to speak, “Something’s-” And it arrived.
A screech much like the ones let out by the beetles came. Only there was an added pressure to it. If anything it felt closer to what Barten had felt when the object appeared on the surface. He pushed back against it, stumbled, and somehow managed to prevent himself from blacking out. When he looked around he was in the thicket alone. And he had become separated from the others at some point.
There was a noise of something moving through the bushes. When he looked towards the source Barten found it walking towards him. It was the same all black that the other types had been. Only it was the smallest one. Standing on two feet, with three arms, and one oblong head. The eyes that Barten could see were red, like the light that came off of the object at night.
His hands tightened on his pistol and he leveled it at the type 4 with a snap. A humanoid type. Only before Barten could pull the trigger it was no longer there. Another wave of pressure weighed down on top of Barten from behind. Only it wasn’t physical pressure. His body felt fine and moved as he liked. His thoughts, on the other hand, felt slow. Sluggish and hard to form.
Another screech rang out. This time it wasn’t something like a scream. But a normal level one would use when talking to another. As the sound continued Barten felt a shocking pain in his head where the chip was implanted. It laced through his brain and he started sweating from the heat he could feel building.
“Why do you aim at me?” A voice suddenly came from nowhere, and yet seemed to be coming from everywhere at once. The words were whispered and yelled at the same time. Barten shook his head and looked for the type 4 again. “Why do you aim at me!?” The voice came again, louder than before.
“Why wouldn’t I aim at you? You’ve come here, destroyed my planet. And now are screwing with my mind somehow,” Barten said. Once he started talking he felt that the pressure started to ease up. He noticed something in the side of his vision and when he looked the type 4 was there.
There was a noise that Barten couldn't place. If anything it sounded like the strange creature was humming or otherwise rumbling its voice in its throat. “It is what we do. Sampling. Taking a little of everything. Sending it home for others to investigate. To learn. To become more with. It is our purpose.” Barten shuddered when the created spoke the word purpose. It had a hunger and a viciousness to it that made him feel small. “How can you connect to the system?” The creature asked. At some point it had come closer, seeming to teleport. Barten took a step away as he made sure to keep his pistol in between them.
“What is the system? I don’t know what you mean,” Barten said and shook his head.
The creature looked at him for a moment before it pointed at its head. “The system lives in us all. It lives in you too. But you are not,” instead of a word it felt like the creature had sent a 1000 images at once to him. Barten caught glimpses of another world. Of endless legions of objects. Of endless different types of enemies. Too many to count or make much sense of other than an overwhelming number of them. Of the need for exploration, and conquest. Of the superiority and confidence that they were at the top of the universes. Of the untold number of their race, and the myriad number of levels in their society.
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Barten shook his head. The images that the creature had shown him lingered for a moment. Before they finally started to fade. Somehow this system that the creature spoke of was linked with the chip in his head. Sergeant Myles did say that the tech for the chips had been developed from what they found in the first object.
The creature moved closer while Barten was lost in the images. “All must join us. To become one with our harvest. Or to join us as harvesters. Will you join?”
It took Barten a moment to comprehend what he had been asked. This creature wanted him to become one of them. Something that went around harvesting planets. To take everything and anything for granted. Destroyers of the universe, for their own twisted wants and desires.
“No,” Barten said and then shook his head. “I will never join with you or yours. We are enemies.” He looked for the creature again and raised his pistol. At some point his arms had slackened, and the pistol was pointed at the ground.
Barten searched the trees for that creature. He knew somehow that it was still near. But he froze when he felt a clawed hand on the back of his neck. Just when had it gotten so close? “See our power for yourself!” it said and Barten screamed.
He had gotten used to the heat from the chip while they had talked. But at that moment it felt as if there was a sun within his head. Burning away at his entire being. As the heat faded away Barten felt that he had lost something of himself. Only it didn’t feel like it was a bad thing. He was lighter. As he moved his hand to touch his neck he found that there was a crust of gunk covering his skin. Before he could fully process what had just happened a window appeared in front of him.
—
Welcome to the System, you are one of the first or your race to be fully ascended. A title has been granted. Additional information can be gained by interacting with the status item you wish to learn about. Please use this to help you understand.
—
Barten blinked his eyes several times. But no matter what the window stayed in place and blocked his vision. The moment that he thought about wanting to see beyond the window finally disappeared. “What did you do to me?”
“I granted you our power. The power to take what is rightfully yours. The power to join with the- It had used the word before. The one with the images of what it meant to be part of the creatures collective.
—
A new word has been learned due to psychic interference. Aethergarblind (approximate) is the home world of the harvester people. A group to both fear and avoid.
New quest! Survive the encounter with the Aethergarblind. {ERROR}
—
“See the power you could obtain?” the creature said. Barten tried to find it again. Only every time his eyes caught sight of it, the creature would be gone.
“Why did you change me? Isn’t it a bad idea to give your enemies power?”
There was a choking wheeze that Barten took to be laughter. “An insect can never be more than an insect. Now.” It appeared in front of him. Only arms reach away. “Will. You. Join?”
Barten shook his head. “No. I will stand by with my people and planet.” He aimed his pistol and squeezed a shot off at the type 4.
“No matter. Joining or being made to join are the same!” Barten sensed that the creature had appeared above him. He tried to step back and raise his pistol But it had already been too late by the time that he noticed it. And the creature’s hands landed on his temples. “Submit and become one with me!”
Barten’s world turned over. Image after image assaulted his mind. Pushing against what defenses he could raise. All the while looking for a crack, any weakness, to push in and take over everything that he was. To push it aside and replace it with the creature.
He noticed that he was screaming. The pain was so severe that Barten could not properly sense it. There was a whomping sound of plasma being fired out of a rifle. And suddenly Barten could control his body again. He snapped his pistol towards where the creature was stranding and tried to pull the trigger. Only to find that the object he could feel in his hands wasn’t there. They were empty.
Something came into contact with his side and Barten jumped, pushing against it as he tried to put distance. “Woah, woah. It’s okay now, Barten. It’s me, Jamieson.”
Barten took in a deep and shuddering breath. He slowly let it out and looked at the dead type 4 laying on the ground. At least. He was assuming that it was dead. As that most creatures needed what was inside of their chest to remain alive. And having the contents burned out by plasma would cause issues with that.
“What happened? I mean. I know what happened. It tried to take me over. Make me one of them.”
Jamieson shrugged. “One of them popped up by me. But I just shot it in the face. By the time I double tapped to make sure both you and Dane had gone missing.”
“Did you find him? Maybe it’s already too late.”
“Nah. I got him first. Dane was nearby. He was crying about something or other while looking at one of the humanoids. Killed it and he came around. Same with you really.”
Barten sighed. He closed his eyes and then rubbed at them. A glowing blue light was blinking in the corner of his vision. “It changed me somehow. Made me more like them, connected to this system that it was talking about.”
Jamieson looked at Barten for a moment before he nodded. “I see. Maybe check your status and see if there’s something new there?”
Barten rubbed his arms to try and settle himself. He hadn’t thought of that. Though he kind of suspected that nothing would be the same as it was. “Status.”
—
Kyle Barten
Level 3 Pilot
Titles: Progenitor
Unspent stats: 3
Stats:
Strength: 12
Constitution: 15
Agility: 12
Dexterity: 16
Perception: 16
Psychic Res: 17 (new +7)
Skills
Shooting 1, Piloting 3, Running 2
Unspent skill points: 1
—
“Uh. Wow okay,” Barten said. As he read his new status over and over again, a sense of other worldliness overcame him. “Kind of feels like we’re not in Kansas any more.”
Jamieson laughed. “We never were in Kansas.” Barten swatted at him, shook his head, and then had a laugh himself.