I followed the old woman out to her garden, down the winding path and close to the border of the forest where Filbert first took me. I gave her a questioning glance, unsure what she wanted to show me, but I got my answer soon enough. Greta gently placed her hands near the threshold of her property and the forest, and an invisible force burst forth the second her hands passed that barrier. The shockwave was so intense that it almost knocked me off my feet, even when I was a good dozen feet away from her position. Greta didn’t seem to be as affected as I was, but the hand she used had been completely disintegrated.

She sighed as she looked down on the bloody stump of her hand. She placed it on the ground and I watched in horrific fascination as various insects crawled out from their hiding places, squirming onto her hand. They congealed and dug into the woman, biting and clinging to each other until the mass of creepy crawlies vaguely took the shape of a hand; new skin started to grow over the wiggling mass, and before long, Greta’s hand recovered. Well, that was the most disturbing way to regenerate a limb I’ve ever seen, and that’s saying quite a lot.

“As you can see, Dr. Walter,” she said with a shake of her head, “I am confined in my home. I wish I can help out the others, but as long as the outsiders are here, my mobility is severely limited.”

“I see…” I muttered, “And this is only when they are here?”

She nodded. “Thankfully, yes. I’d be a poor village chief if I were permanently confined to my home. But what I can do to help during these trying times is almost nothing. It’s even worse, however. The curse of the Outsiders affects me even in my prison.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s difficult to explain,” she said, “But even if the outsiders come into this area, I am still unable to outright eliminate them. There are… rules, I suppose you can say, that I have to follow. I am only allowed to act should these outsiders break these rules.”

That must have to do with the weird hidden zone mechanic that the Trash Matrix put into place here. It made sense that such a safety mechanic was in place, as I don’t think any Aspirant would survive a meeting with Greta this early on in the Ascension process.

“Normally, this is not an issue,” the old woman continued, “But every now and then, one or two tenacious outsiders always escape, and the ones that do get out inevitably cause the most chaos.”

I frowned as I took in this information. “Say, how do you know what the rules are?”

“Trial and error, mostly,” she answered, “There is something that prevents me from acting most of the time, but every now and then, if the outsiders do something specific, those constraints are lifted and I’m allowed to act. Over the years, I’ve documented all of the instances that made me act.” She moved back from the boundary and frowned. “I have also found out that these outsiders all have an inherent idea of what those rules are, so trying to get them to act out of character has become increasingly difficult.”

Hm. Maybe there is a way to fix that… Say, Noe, how much control do you have over the Trash Matrix and its Trials?

“After integration with my other Shards, and studying its data in the faux-Earth dimension, I have made significant progress in usurping its control,” she answered.

Minor? Then can you, say, screw around with those stupid messages and warnings that it gives? Like what I saw when I entered this zone.

“Affirmative, my Host. Although I cannot make direct contact with other Aspirants, preprogrammed messages are within my current ability. I am still in the process of gaining more control, and I hope I can be of use later on.”

I smiled. No, that's perfect. And Noe, how’s the Perception Shard coming along?

“It is at 98.45% integration, my Host,” she replied, “It will be ready for use within the day.”

Can I get a preview of what you can do once it’s unlocked?

“Normally, I would not do so,” she answered, “But the situation is dire, and I wish to cause the Trash Matrix as much damage as I can, so I will do so this time only. Once the Perception Shard is fully integrated, you will be able to use it to alter how other mortals view you. Given more time, I can project that skewed view onto the other side world, but as I said, that will have to wait. My resources are already stretched to its limits excluding you from most of this Trial's burdens.”

So it only works for my own appearance for now? And I’m guessing it uses Luck Charges as well?

“That is correct, my Host. With your unawakened body, my ability cannot affect outside objects while we remain in this Trial dimension, and the amount of Luck Charges used will be heavy. I apologize for the inconvenience, dear Walter..”

No, that’s more than enough, actually. And hey, it's not like we'll always be limited like this, I bet you can do a lot in the Main Stage with that Shard. It’s exactly what I need…

I turned my attention back to Greta, ideas already swimming in my head. “I think I can help with that part. I think I know of a way to get a good portion of the outsiders to enter this place, and screw with their ability to stick with these rules.”

Greta gave her her first toothy grin. “I see… I will still be affected, but if the outsiders entering here are oblivious…” she nodded. “Please do what you can, doctor.”

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

“But I doubt I can get all of them here at once, and once they realize that a large number of their people are missing, then I don’t think they’d be stupid enough to make the same mistake.”

“But it is a start.”

I paused to think for a moment, and another question popped into my mind. “Wait, I’ve seen the other villagers before, and I’m almost certain that they should be able to deal with the outsiders, even if your numbers have dwindled.”

Greta sighed again. “And you would be correct, but the curse does not affect only myself. Other villagers can only act within their own set of boundaries. There are areas that we cannot enter, limits to our mobility and many of our abilities simply does not work without reason. This makes it so that it is impossible for our people to stay organized.” She shook her head bitterly. “Coupled with the waning moonlight, we have very little means to oppose the outsiders.”

“But I am not subject to any of those limitations,” I said quickly, “As the village elder, you should have a good idea of the caveats of the curse is, right?”

“I do. I have it all kept in my journal. Feel free to study it if it will help your work.”

I nodded and gestured for her to show me the book. “Please, any information about what your people can and can’t do will help me out dramatically.”

“Let me get it,” she continued, “And I think there’s something else I can help you with. I assume that you are not informed about the nature of this particular set of outsiders, correct?”

I nodded again.

“Then allow me to show you, doctor,” she said, “I don’t know how you plan to deal with such a large number of outsiders, but I will do everything that I can to help, limited that I am.”

She quickly took me back to the hut and took out a small leather bound journal from one of the drawers. It was filled with neatly organized hand written notes, and I had Noe memorize the thing. A lot of the information present made mention to locations and people that I had no reference of, but Noe assured me that she should be able to figure those things out now that she’s more integrated with the Trash Matrix. She’ll just tell me the relevant information once it applies to me.

A few minutes later, Greta called me back to the kitchen; she sat next to a smaller cauldron.

“We don’t have a lot of time until the next shift,” she said, “And I won’t be able to help at all once the fog rolls back, so let’s be quick.”

I nodded, not quite sure what exactly she wanted to show me.

Greta waved me to come sit beside her and I saw that the container was filled with crystal clear water. Before I could ask, the old woman gouged out her own left eye, doing it as naturally as if she was putting on some glasses. She dropped the eye into the cauldron, the viscous organ floating to the surface before Greta muttered something under her breath and her eye seemed to dissolve into the water. Before long, the eye-water mixture grew foggier and foggier until what seemed like faint images appeared on the surface. Soon, those images solidified into a clear video feed of the other Aspirants.

“These are the outsiders,” she explained, “Dip your finger into the water, doctor, and you can guide the scrying. Please, take your time to survey our foes, we still have enough time for that.”

I nodded and thanked the woman before doing as instructed. I placed a finger into the cold water and concentrated my mind on the images, and true to the old woman’s words, I could guide the scrying like a remote drone. How neat.

The first thing I did was to zoom out to see a better view of the village; it wouldn’t do me much good if I didn’t know the terrain that I would have to work with. The village itself had a strange layout, with it being segmented into four large quadrants with nothing but wild vegetation growing between the clumps of housing and other settlements. In the very center of all four of these smaller regions was where I was currently, and a quick glance showed that most of the roads would eventually lead to this location.

I didn’t bother looking too closely at each of the smaller segmented regions, but even a casual glance showed that the villagers were bound in very tight areas. Some of the wandering ghosts and other hovering monstrosities would seemingly hit an invisible wall every now and then, and they’d be forced to wander back. There was an invisible radius that each villager had to abide by, and only a few individuals could be seen untethered by these constraints.

“Like I said,” Greta voiced as she saw what I was doing, “As long as the outsiders are present, most of us are confined within a small area. Only a few special individuals like Filbert can move freely, but they are few and far between.”

I frowned and realized that she was right. Right now, the other Aspirants were still on high alert and hadn’t realized the village’s restrictions, but it’d only be a matter of time before they realized that some spirits and creatures would be blocked off from giving chase. If they started to map out these zones, then they’d be practically free to reign havoc. I’d need to work fast before such an inevitability happens.

As for the Aspirants themselves, they were mostly huddled together near the entrance of the village. I counted 46 total, which meant that in just the short amount of time that I’d been here - just a matter of hours since the first moon shift - they had already lost 4 members. The other surviving members seemed tense, having just survived a fight. The corpse of two butchered and mutilated monsters could be seen just off the side.

“That’s Mary and her husband…” Greta muttered, “I… never mind.”

I didn’t know what to say at the moment, so I decided to zoom away from the bodies and allowed the old woman time to grief. The other Aspirants were in the process of organizing, and although the scrying didn’t have any audio capabilities, it was abundantly clear who the leader of the group was. One of them was a man clad in golden armor who was pointing and waving at other people, while several other knightly bodyguards stood sentinel near him. A spiteful looking woman in her late 20’s was glued to his side, snickering and shouting as well, but all in all, although there was leadership within this crowd, it didn’t exactly look unified. Good, that was something else that I could exploit.

It was just a pity that I couldn’t see what their individual capabilities were, but just judging from their outfits and weapons, this Aspirant group had a good mix of offense and defensive capabilities. A few nervous people in the back without any obvious weapons were probably noncombatants, but there were less than 8 people who fit that bill. A straight up assault on these people wouldn’t turn out good, even with my enhanced abilities, and especially not with how little Luck Charges I had left.

“The shift will begin soon, Dr. Walter,” Greta warned, “That is when those outsiders will make their first push into the interior of the village.”

“What happens here when the shift occurs?” I asked.

“This place will become inaccessible until the moon comes up again,” she answered, “It would be wise if you made your way out before that happens. I’ll go get the children, but feel free to use the last of the time to gather what information you can.”

“Thanks for the warning.”

I was about to turn my attention back to the display when Noe’s voice interrupted me.

“Congratulations, my Host,” she said, “My Perception Shard has been completely integrated. You have unlocked a new ability.”

As I read the details, I smiled. This was precisely what I needed.