Firdaus lay on his bed, twirling a knife absentmindedly. He ignored the dull pain in his chest as he counted his losses. First Vivi and Zacharias, then his mutate research centre, and now a good eighty percent of his soldiers? Those enhanced mutates were really being a huge thorn in his side.
A knock sounded from his door. Ah, housekeeping matters.
“Come in,” he said, setting the knife down on his bedside table. A frail looking woman opened the door and walked towards him nervously.
“Leader, you called for me?”
“Yes, Kareena.” Firdaus said languidly. “The device, has it been completed?”
She nodded, handing over a small object that resembled a speaker. Firdaus took his time to inspect it while Kareena placed her hands behind her back to cover their shaking.
“I have modified it successfully,” she said. “Flipping the dial generates hypnotic sound waves that paralyse mutates similar to how hydras trap their prey.”
“The last time I used this, I was only able to paralyse the Red Clover, who was a human. It failed me when I needed to use it against a mutate.”
“T- that wasn’t actually the case, sir. The old device only had the capacity to paralyse mutates with an orange aura; not even the red ones will be affected for long. But with the new modification this time, it will work even on mutates with a blue aura.”
“Well done.” A slight curve formed on his lips. “You certainly are more competent than the Cha scientists.”
“If there is nothing else, I’ll take my leave-”
“Wait.”
The woman froze in her tracks. That tone of voice never bode well.
“Two weeks ago, Zacharias betrayed us and destroyed our research centre when I was away. Do you know about this?”
Kareena nodded slowly. “Yes. It was unexpected, but-”
“I had an enhanced in the room tied to a chair, and she would have been Vivi’s… slightly inferior replacement if her restraints were not magically opened,” Firdaus continued, his eyes narrowing. “You’re the head engineer and Zacharias’ assistant. Did you know about this?”
“I…” Kareena’s voice wavered as her body trembled slightly. “I didn’t know. He must’ve stolen the wireless keys when I was not noticing.”
“Is that so…” Firdaus muttered. “You know what happens when people lie to me, so let me ask you again.” He grabbed her hand roughly. “Were you involved in the destruction of the research centre?”
“N-no! I would never!” Kareena closed her eyes, shaking her head violently. “I will always be loyal to you! I swear I didn’t know-”
“You lie.”
“L-Leader! I’m not-”
A loud gasp escaped from Kareena’s lips as she opened her eyes to face her leader. His eyes were glowing a greenish yellow as his face contorted in barely contained rage.
“Y-you’re one of the enhanced?!” she shrieked, trying to shake him off, but her body wouldn’t listen to her. Horror and confusion danced in Kareena’s eyes as her hand slowly moved by itself to pick up the knife on the table.
“So you really thought you had a chance at starting a rebellion in my place?” Firdaus whispered in a deadly tone, maintaining his grip on her. “And you couldn’t even spread the word to half the settlement. Naive woman.”
How did he know? We made sure to keep it a secret-
“Nobody keeps secrets around me,” Firdaus’ voice echoed in her head. “Any last words?”
Firdaus could feel every fibre of her being scream in protest against his telepathic control, but it felt like nothing more than a child’s feeble struggles to him. He mercifully returned control to her mouth.
“You cannot hold us forever!” Kareena screamed. “You can kill us; you can control us, but we will never belong to you! You can have my body, but my spirit will never yield!”
Firdaus laughed slightly. Oh the irony of that statement.
“I disagree.”
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The woman screamed in pain silently as her hand moved on its own, stabbing herself repeatedly in the chest. Her mouth hung open, her expression frozen in agony as blood started to soak the ground around her. Kareena’s lifeless body finally toppled to the ground after a few agonising minutes. Firdaus let go of her hand with a disgusted look on his face.
The glow faded away from his eyes as he breathed deeply to stop his brain from spinning from the exertion. He cursed the heavens for granting him such a powerful ability, only to limit his tactile telepathy to work only on humans. If only he was more evolved- No. If only Zacharias was still with him, his control over humanity would be absolute.
But that traitor had defected over to Dietrich’s side, and there was no way to get to him without heavy resistance. Firdaus shuddered at the thought of what Zacharias could do with so many enhanced mutates near him. He had to take action, and he had to do it fast.
A commotion outside his window caught his attention, providing an untimely distraction from his storm of thoughts. Firdaus looked out and pursed his lips in mild annoyance at the man hovering in the air just outside his gates.
----------------------------------------
“You’ve got some nerve coming up to my place unprotected; I could kill you this very instant.”
Firdaus watched Victor warily, who did not seem to mind the gate weapons pointing at him from almost every direction. He was not surprised; this geokinetic man could disable every one of them with nothing more than an eye twitch, but Dietrich clearly had not come to fight.
“I assume you know the old rule: Don’t shoot the messenger.” Victor smiled slightly. “I’m here as a diplomat. Perhaps we can come to some sort of agreement.”
“Now you decide to grace me with your ‘glorious’ hand of friendship? I’m not a child for you to simply placate and pay lip service to,” Firdaus snarled, barely keeping his temper under control. “You’re incredibly naive if you think there’s anything left to negotiate. Leave while you still can.”
“It’s too big, isn’t it?”
Firdaus stopped in his tracks and turned back at Victor.
“It’s too big, right?” Victor repeated himself. “Your settlement is crumbling from within. I’ve just seen it for myself. They’re hungry, tired, and angry. You can’t keep this facade up forever, Firdaus. For the sake of your people, stop your conquest and their suffering.”
“Stop? You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” Firdaus walked up threateningly to him. He unsheathed his sword and pointed it at Victor’s throat. “I’ll stop when you’re dead, Dietrich.”
Victor did not flinch, although his eyes flickered to the sword. “Hasn’t this place seen enough bloodshed already? Look, you’ve won. You have every mutate at your disposal. There is no one powerful enough to challenge you now. Why do you still insist on conquering the rest of us?”
Firdaus’ hand trembled as he fought the urge to simply flick his wrist and be done with this ignorant fool. Maybe that would give him the peace he needed. Or maybe that would give the other enhanced mutates enough cause to drown his settlements after burying it in ash and ice. He sheathed his sword instead.
“My goal has always been to achieve world peace. If it takes bringing the world under my control to achieve it, then so be it,” Firdaus replied calmly. “Those with great power have a great responsibility to keep these sheep in check, lest they throw themselves off a cliff. But it is not my job to save all of them; it is mine to ensure the first one doesn’t leap off first.”
“Then spend your time managing your people. Or find a way to reverse this apocalypse! I’ve pledged to stay neutral; why can’t you just leave us alone? You attacked my place three times!”
“Reverse the mutation wave? So that people can screw the world all over again?” Firdaus laughed. “You’ve gotten soft, Dietrich; you almost sound like you’re begging for your life. And as far as I recall, I’ve only attacked your place once. Are you sure you just don’t have other enemies?”
He put his hands behind his back. “As you said, I’m the most powerful man in the world now. Does it not follow that the weight of the world is now upon my shoulders? Go home, Victor. Take the time to prepare. You’ll need it.”
“Tch.”
Firdaus walked briskly back, barely feeling the whoosh of air as Victor’s feet left the ground. He fiddled with a dial on his gloved palm as he walked along the corridors to the control room, ignoring the hungry stares of his residents. He shut the door behind him and walked over to a large microphone amidst an array of computer equipment.
“I should’ve done this a long time ago,” he muttered to himself. “But you leave me with no choice now.”
Firdaus closed his eyes and breathed heavily. He did not know what he was about to do was going to work, or if his brain would just explode from exertion if he tried. But Victor was right, even if he hated to admit it. There was only one way to ensure his continued reign over his increasingly rebellious people.
At times, he wished controlling them was as easy as controlling mutates. All that was required was a powerful enough enhanced to act as a control beacon, and they would all bow to him. But humans were troublesome creatures who did not function like a hive mind with a singular queen to listen to. Firdaus sighed. Why did he have to get the short end of the stick? He plucked open the panel in his chest and placed a transmitter in it.
The man almost regretted his decision almost immediately as his power threatened to explode from his body. It was too much. The amplification of his power was surely too much for his brain to take. But he was still conscious, and that was all that mattered.
Firdaus stood up slowly, now acutely aware of his tactile telepathy now connected to the waves of sound in the air. An upgrade, albeit painful, but one that he had anticipated. He flipped the dial on his palm and pressed it against the speaker.
A loud humming blasted through the PA speakers scattered around the entire settlement as his eyes began to glow fiercely. Firdaus grunted in exertion but he maintained his grip, projecting his brain waves into the new device on his palm. The settlement residents froze as their telepathic leader’s thoughts, carried by waves of sound, overwrote their own.
Blood dripped from his nose as Firdaus collapsed to the floor in exhaustion, but he laughed slightly. Not only did he manage to enslave the minds of more than a hundred people, he did so by only touching them with sound waves. The room spun around the settlement leader as the sudden influx of all of his residents’ thoughts threatened to overwhelm him, but he fought them down. There would be time for him to get used to his new artificially amplified power.
No more suffering. No more rebellions.
No more complications.