Mask of Humanity

He hadn’t been at his practice for long, less than a minute, but already Nicolai had drained the two Oma crystals and his Node was guttering, almost out of Oma.

Regretfully, he returned to the ground and recalled his rapier. He cancelled the shield then breathed in the Oma that was released. He moved to end the Searchlight ring’s Art, but at the last moment he paused.

The pale light it released filled the room, and something had caught his eye, glittering in that light. Nicolai stepped towards it, squinting, curious. He saw a chunk of stone in the wall, of no note or importance other than that the light made it glitter strangely. A secret?

Nicolai dismissed the light, staring thoughtfully at the spot on the wall. He turned away and stepped over to where he’d placed all of his things, sheathed the rapier then dressed himself in his clothes and armour before strapping his daggers and the sheathed rapier to himself.

‘Something here,’ he said to Kleos, glancing at the head while tilting his own to indicate the spot.

‘Oh?’ Kleos blinked at him, looking as though it were emerging from deep thought. It didn’t seem the head had noticed the shimmer. Perhaps only he could see the secrets the ring revealed. Nicolai eyed the head. While he’d been floating about, he’d caught sight of it in the corners of his eyes. It had been staring at him, an odd expression on its face. Maybe shock, or worry, or concern. What had it been thinking about? Good things, I hope. He smiled at the head and it smiled back at him.

Nicolai moved closer to the wall, until he stood almost up against it, and he pressed his cloud of Soul Sense out and it poured into the cracks between the stone until he felt every millimetre of it as though he was pressing himself against it, then he focused on the one which had shimmered. It was loose. His Soul Sense moved around it, deeper into the stone. There was something in there, a cavity which his Soul Sense flowed into and filled, finding a contraption within. He followed it through the wall and found a little rod, one that would be moved when he pulled on the rock.

‘Secret entrance, I think,’ he murmured toward Kleos. He pushed his Soul Sense against the stone, hunting for a way into the room he believed was on the other side, looking to investigate, but found no route for his Soul Sense. Frowning, Nicolai pressed harder, the weight of his Soul Sense squeezing against the stone before him. He took another step closer and raised his hand, holding it against the wall, pushing with Soul Sense.

Then, with a sudden breaking sensation, an odd pain and a lessening of his Soul Sense, he was through. His Soul Sense had formed a kind of bridge through the stone where he touched, and now he passed easily through that spot. However, he’d actually lost some Soul Sense, not just that used to form the bridge but also… permanently? It was weaker, less, and he felt an odd pulling inside of him, from his Soul.

Simultaneously, his Node pulsed, hungry, empty, aching. Nicolai’s mind moved through his body and into the Node.

There he saw it still absorbing the faint wisps of energy, flowing in with each breath of air Nicolai took, and turning this into Oma. But the process was slow, and there was no Oma at all in the centre. As soon as the Oma was formed it was whisked away, drawn immediately out of his Node.

Nicolai followed it, and saw that he was taking it, his Soul. The energy was absorbed and then… it was restoring his lost Soul Sense. The impression he gained was that his Soul had been slightly damaged, and he had a moment of clarity, then. His Soul Sense was an extension of his Soul, and it was only at full strength if his Soul was at full strength.

Nicolai nodded slowly. Pushing through the wall, forming the bridge, was the cause of that slight injury. Now, his Soul was restoring itself with Oma, or at least trying to. But it needed more than his Node could give at the moment, since he’d emptied it with his practise and its rate of natural restoration was slow.

Maintaining his Soul Sense which had pushed through the wall, Nicolai began stepping backwards, keeping his hand out. His Soul Sense formed a tendril between him and the wall, stretching. It stretched far enough that he was able to step over to his target; his bags of Oma crystals.

He retrieved one and looked it over thoughtfully. As soon as he held the Oma crystal he could feel it, just as he felt the Imbued items. It was a little orb of bright energy. His Node pulsed, hungry, and without any conscious direction from Nicolai, he felt it reach out through him in some manner, all the way to the Oma crystal.

Oma was pulled from the crystal, forming a stream that wound through the flesh of his arm, into his chest. Nicolai had already engaged in this process before, when practising with his Imbued earlier, but then his excitement over doing so had caused him to perform the act without thought. Now, he observed carefully, taking note of the sensations of each part of the process, seeking to fully understand what was happening.

The Oma coming into him from the crystal moved slower than the Oma he sent out from his Node to fuel Imbued. Quite a bit slower, a snake winding through him. Focusing, he added his will, his Soul, to the efforts of his Node, tugging at the Oma. It sped up a little, reaching his Node.

The Oma flowed in and Nicolai observed inside of the Node as it did so. This Oma felt different. It wasn’t his Oma, and, other than pulling it towards his Node, he struggled to control it. However, as soon as it reached the strange black twist in the centre, it passed through this twist and came out the other side changed. Then, it was his Oma. As soon as it emerged it was then pulled out of the Node, absorbed into his Soul which he felt rapidly restoring what it had lost.

Nicolai performed a couple of tests in this moment. He attempted to draw the Oma into his hand and then directly into his Pegasi ring, but found doing so impossible. When coming into him, it only moved towards his Node. Until it had passed through the black twist, he was unable to properly make use of it. All he could do was speed up or slow down its passage through his body. If he didn’t focus his Soul and attention on the Oma, it moved quite slowly. So long as he did focus, it moved more quickly. Something to practise, and make unthinking.

The Oma crystal crumbled away after a few moments, but his Soul took longer to repair itself. The Oma now half-way filled his Node, and a small amount of it was continuously drawn out to restore his Soul. He attempted to send more Oma to his Soul to speed up the process but his Soul wouldn’t take it and he was forced to simply return the Oma to his Node. It seemed his Soul restored itself at a set rate and he didn’t see any way to speed it up, at least for now.

He drew more crystals from the pouch, absorbing the Oma within them. He was able to draw on multiple at once, but he found that there wasn’t much point. When drawing on two, the speed at which he could pull the Oma from each crystal was halved, so ultimately he gained the same amount of Oma. This told him that there was a limit to how much external Oma he could pull into himself in a given moment, the only factor affecting it was whether or not he sped it up by focusing his Soul.

He nibbled on one, eating a piece of the crystal, opting to sate his prior curiosity. He observed it with his inner-vision as it moved through him into his stomach, then he pulled on it, able to absorb the energy just as he had from the Nodes in his hand. It came a little slower, and seemed a little harder to pull on, than it had when in his hand.

Once his Node was filled, and some time later, his Soul restored, Nicolai strapped a pouch with a dozen of the crystals to his belt. That done he stepped toward the wall, to which he’d been maintaining his Soul Sense connection.

Physically closer, bridge established, and Soul restored, Nicolai was able to send a tendril of Soul Sense through the wall. He looked into a dark room with his Soul Sense’s vision, then sent the tendril around, feeling at it.

The room felt like old air, old darkness, and old secrets. It was small, only the size of a broom closet, and there was a worn wooden chest on the ground. His tendril slunk down and he felt around the chest, found his way through cracks. There was another contraption inside, a clever little setup whereby someone had affixed a spring into a tube, put a sharp metal dart inside, and with a series of levers and rods made it so when someone opened the chest, the dart would fire out at them.

The spring felt weak and tired to his Soul Sense. The dart was rusty and its venomous coating had evaporated long ago to leave only traces; unlikely to harm him even if he stabbed himself with it.

Below this, there was a sheaf of what had perhaps been paper, now just crumbled pieces of fibre. Next to this was a rotten pouch containing a few Oma crystals, and beside it was a rough, round stone about the size of his fist.

The stone felt strange. Biological? When his Soul Sense tried to move deeper into it he felt a resistance, a stubborn little wall that held him at bay.

Nicolai retracted his Soul Sense then tugged on the loose part of the wall. The brick emerged with some effort and he heard a clunk in the wall. He stepped back as the entire thing loosened, opening very slightly. Nicolai pulled on the edge of the wall and it hinged open, musty air and dust washing over him, the interior revealed to his eyes. He held his breath as the dust cloud dissipated. It looked just as he’d known it would, the chest down on the ground. Nicolai knelt, leaned to the side, then popped the clasps and opened the chest.

There came a weak snapping sound and the metal dart popped out then fell straight onto the ground.

He retrieved the Oma crystals, eight in total which he added to his pouch, then the little stone. Now it was in his hand he was able to bear down on it more easily with his Soul Sense, and he pressed harder against the barrier. As he did so, he felt a kind of sharpness, his Soul Sense fraying where he pushed. He was making progress but it was harming his Soul Sense, much as when he’d forced his way through the wall, except the effect was stronger.

Nicolai retracted his Soul Sense, eyeing the stone uncertainly. This was definitely… something.

Moving across the room he returned to Kleos, proffering the little stone. ‘Any idea what this is?’ he asked.

Kleos stared at it. ‘A stone?’ the head said uncertainly, peering at him suspiciously as if suspecting him of asking a trick question.

‘There’s something inside. I tried to push my Soul Sense in and encountered a barrier. It feels…’ Nicolai chewed his lip. ‘Alive.’

Kleos eyes widened. ‘That’s a Symbiote!’ hissed the head.

‘What? Really?’ Nicolai glanced at Kleos, an uncertain grin on his face. He looked back at the stone. ‘Doesn’t look like the others,’ he muttered, rolling it in his hands.

‘No, not the shell. What’s inside. Some Symbiotes are capable of hibernation. Whatever it was, it formed that shell and went to sleep. Not all Symbiotes can do it. It might be valuable.’ Kleos looked up to meet Nicolai’s gaze. ‘If you want to try and break through, you need to be ready. It’ll be very hungry, and you’ve nothing to feed it with but Oma. On top of that, you’ll have to seize control of it. It will resist you, that’s what you’re feeling when you try to press inside. You’ll need to break its resistance and seize control of it. That won’t help its state, either, with it being so weak after hibernating. Probably worth trying to feed it, first; if it’ll eat. Symbiotes awakening from hibernation are apt to die, especially if a Cultivator immediately tries to take control of them.’

‘How should I prepare?’ asked Nicolai.

‘Ideally you’d work out the type of Symbiote in there and find its preferred food. But, I doubt we have anything here that will work. So, if you want to do it now, you’ll need to fill your Node up and be ready to give Oma to it. That will require you to send it out of your body to surround the Symbiote and release your ownership of the Oma so it can take it. If it eats, then it might be okay. If you’re lucky, it’ll then work its way out of its shell by itself. Once it’s done so, and it’s looking healthier, you can try to seize control. Might be easy, might be hard. Some Symbiotes put up a big fight, some barely try. You’ll want some time, some peace and quiet. Could take hours to take control of it.

‘But all of that is a route likely to end in failure. It’s trying to crack it open and revive it using just Oma and hope, which is all you have right now. If you want to increase your odds of getting it out alive, you need to find out what it will eat. That’ll require carefully examining it—a tricky business, especially for one such as you—and getting a sense for what it wants, then going and finding that food, and ideally some materials to help you remove the shell and keep it alive while you feed it; if it has to chew its way out itself, it’s much more likely to die.’

Nicolai was smiling as Kleos finished, thinking on some of the head’s words. Let alone one such as you. He had quite a strong impression that Kleos thought of him as a kind of weird primate which was grasping at the tools of a more advanced race, and that as such Kleos felt it important to explain everything as clearly as possible lest Nicolai do something idiotic. Like a monkey dazzled and shocked after turning a flashlight on, liable to accidentally break it out of terrified confusion. Not entirely inaccurate. He did find all this magic, this Cultivation, dazzling and shocking.

Nicolai pondered. Kleos had made good points and he didn’t think it would be wise to immediately try and wrest the Symbiote from its shell. He already had the Blue Hornet, after all, which he’d yet to even break in; something he would very much like to do. He also wanted to try and do some real Cultivating, build a new Node. Anything else? Oh. The others. He probably ought to return. It had been hours since he left them and—

That was when Nicolai heard the first gunshot.