TF Chapter 7 A Vision From The Past

Once again, I found myself within the same formation, the inner facing triangle, with our palms at the same positions as previously.

I was trying to maintain an unreadable expression for my and Bora's sake. I was pretty sure that if the mask I was currently donning slipped, we might devolve into something else, something nasty, so it was better to act as if I had forgotten about the previous incident or put it behind us.

It has been five hours since my last nap, after which, Celeste had appeared, removing us from our dreamlands.

'Let's get this over with then.'

Once again, my spirit made contact with both of Bora's and Danny boy's, this time, there were no mishaps, causing me to inwardly sigh in relief.

The amalgam of our spirits appeared like a mist within my minds eye, but it also felt denser and heavier. Instinctively, we tried to form a palm, only for it to morph the way we wanted, upon which we all felt some cheerful intent birth within our connected spirits.

As we were moving it around, my vision blurred for a split second after which I got it back, but for some reason, everyone who had been with me within the stone room had vanished.

"What happened?!" I asked out loud in bewilderment. Could they have teleported and left me alone? A sense of unease enveloped me. What had happened?!

I tried to stand up only for my gaze to harden upon looking at one of my thighs. It was transparent...could it be that in have died and become a ghost?! In my bewilderment, I crawled backwards until I crashed into the stone wall, the back of my head transmitting a genuine feeling of pain.

'How can I feel pain?' A new question popped into my mind. Wasn't I a spirit body?

I took in a deep breath and decided to examine my body, finding out that everything was semi-transparent.

"Judging by the location, I am still within the stone house, so what caused the others to vanish, only for I to become a spirit body?"

I wondered out loud even as my gaze roamed the stone room to see whether there was something out of place.

'The light from the molten metal appears brighter, with the stone house probably hotter. But, my spirit body appears not to sense any temperature difference.' I calmed down considerably. There had to be a way out of this and I bet I could find it if I just calmly rationalised my way through.

'I haven't tried to outside, now have I?' I hoped this wasn't a ghost city as that would be scary! It would mean that my life had ended without my knowledge!

I didn't simply step out in all the glory, no no no, I was more cautious than that. I instead peeked out, hiding behind one of the door frames. But, what I saw caused me to drag out my full body.

What I saw was a lively city with all manner of beings walking the streets. I couldn't even begin to describe what I was seeing! All I could reach as a conclusion was that I was looking at aliens! How could this be?!

I was bewildered even as I scrutinized every being...some had only two legs, no arms, just that where they met, there was a horizontal slit that appeared perpetually closed...others had...well, they appeared to be covered in metal, vibrating as if it was breathing...and it wasn't just a single species, but different ones.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

'Why are some covered in metal?'

I moved my gaze to the first alien I had laid eyes on, the one with the legs, whose thighs met at where I assumed was the head. It wasn't clad in metal like the rest, so I decided to follow it. But I first ran a test and found out that none could see me. So, I blatantly followed that alien only to be shocked after just a few seconds.

A stream of molten metal rose up, as if it had an awareness of its own and proceeded to envelop the alien, cooling so fast that my eyes failed to catch the transition! After I blinked, what I saw was just another metal covered alien, the now glittering cold metal somehow showing signs of breathing as if the alien and the metal were one and the same.

'So, this is how they use the streams at the side of the street!' I exclaimed inwardly, managing to notice that many more aliens were using their spirit to extract whatever metal they needed from the molten streams to form armors of their own, though, there were those who appeared inexperienced, or young such that they didn't have metallic armors of their own.

'When is this? Could I have gone back to the past, this city's heyday, or could it be that I am in a virtual projection.' Even as I pondered on this, I enjoyed the breathtaking view of multiple aliens roaming the street in all their glory.

Any life form that would have knocked into me simply passed through as if I didn't exist, allowing me the calm to take in this magnificent spectacle.

"If Musana city was like this during its peak, how far it has fallen in our age!"

I followed the crowd, taking note to document the multiple species within my mind, finding that there were 16 different aliens on the streets. Some appeared young and were moving with their elders, who appeared to be making a beeline for the cathedral like building in the center, which, in my eyes right now was showing all its glory. There were no rust stains I had just seen a few hours ago, no, it was flowing with the same light I had only glimpsed along the gates of the wall surrounding it.

'It looks like they used to learn inside the academy. Why then are we relegated to the stone houses?'

'Could it be that there is something mysterious going on, or could it be that there are certain resources the forgers are trying to monopolise? I must see what's inside!'

I sped up my pace, passing through some slow moving aliens as I made my way to the gates.

My vision blurred at this time only for me to find myself gazing at the ceiling of the stone room.

'I was close!' I clenched my hands even as some familiar faces appeared above me.

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I was never someone with the talent for storytelling, or narration. But I still tried my best to describe what I had seen to my peers and Celeste in the most serious way o could. Though, even as I spoke, I could see that they were hanging onto my every word, a feat surprising to me. I didn't devulge everything, like how I tried to make for the building in the center of the city as Celeste was a forger. If they were hiding something from the masses, she might take measures to make sure that I never got to it.

I was just a beginner in spirit related things. There might be a way that they might block me from reaching that portion of the construction if I ever got another vision.

The moment I finished my narration, Celeste raced out of the stone building as if her butt had caught fire, but not before repeatedly warning us that we should never tell a soul about what I had just narrated.

"It looks like we have finally found something special about you." Bora commented after a few minutes causing my heart to swell a little. At least I wasn't normal, right?

"You being able to view this city during its heyday means that you might have a strong connection to it. Our spiritual connection might have allowed you to amplify that connection." Danny boy tried to rationalise the event.

"You do have to know that I have never been to this city before, right?" I refuted his claims.

"What if its related to your spirit? There must be something special about that, right?" Bora's words had some sense to them. They led me to conjure the memory of how I had vaguely felt that I had dreamed about being in this city during my sleep. Could the two events be related? I wondered.

"We should worry about what Celeste is going to say upon coming back back. If I am not mistaken, she has gone to speak with the higher echelon." I said. The higher levels of authority weren't exactly something I wanted to come into contact with, or for them to notice me. Office me liked to be a ghost to them. It was better if you weren't noticed by such people, whether in a good light or bad light. The outcomes weren't always ideal. Either more work was piled upon you if you showed excellence, or you were the scapegoat should anything happen to the company.

It was very unpleasant having to act like the small man in front of those people, yet you were both merely humans, just that they got to have a higher position than you, or a higher starting point.

I scrounched up my face as I awaited her return. Her words would be the verdict about how I was to go about this situation.