Mask of Humanity

The torches crackled to life and found Nicolai sitting there, his body unmoving after hours.

His eyes slowly opened and a smile crept over his face, a deep, satisfying thrum rolling through him as his newest Node clicked into place, complete. A worm of Oma emerged from his Heart’s Node to link up with the freshly created one.

Now there were two little rivers moving out from his heart’s Node, one to the Node in his right lung, one to the Node in his left. Both new creations were as perfect as he could make them. He found an Oma crystal and began drinking its energy, topping himself up while his Soul Sense crept out, checking the surrounding area now he could spare some attention.

Main door still locked. Everyone still in their rooms. As he rose and shook his body he found himself tired, mentally drained, but not exhausted. He would make it through this day without issue. He drank deeply from the green water bottle, the wakeful water quickly rejuvenating him.

He spent some time monitoring the expenditure of energy from his heart’s Node. One of the unfinished Nodes took roughly his full passive regeneration, meaning if he’d only formed one new Node his Oma would have stayed roughly even, neither increasing nor decreasing. But the second one used up the same amount of Oma, leading to his Major Node’s Oma continually ticking down at the same rate as it normally would have recharged.

This was a slow rate, and he estimated it would take hours for his Node to completely empty. So long as he kept crystals on himself and ensured he kept his Node topped off, he would be fine.

The sensation of the two nascent Node’s in his lungs, slowly stabilising and finalising, made him smile. The fact that he was increasing his capabilities as much as he could satisfied him. He might have built another one, or two, but for the state of his Oma crystals.

Building two new Nodes had used up a lot of them, more than he’d expected. He’d felt himself to have a great haul of crystals after his continuous collecting and hoarding, plus looting more in the mines and receiving dozens from completed challenges.

But that night he had used up almost half of his total stock, and he suspected that the finalisation process may end up using at least a third of what was left. His rough maths suggested to him that he literally couldn’t afford to build a third Node, at least not yet.

He needed more crystals, and he intended to get them. The big question now was; how long would it take for the Nodes to finish? He tapped his Mark.

User Interface 376 | User #53,217

- Cultivation

Major Realm: Foundation

Minor Realm: 1

Progress to next Tier: 0%

Total Nodes: 1 Major, 2 Minor

Available unconstructed Nodes: 0 Major, 3 Minor

- Nodes in progress;

Right Lung (Finalising: 1%)

Left Lung (Finalising: 1%)

Completed Nodes;

Heart (Flawless) (100/100)

It had taken him a few hours to complete the Node in his left lung, but the right remained at 1%. As was often the case with the UI, it only showed whole numbers so he didn’t know how much progress had actually been made, and there were also no handy details such as “estimated time to completion: this much.” He’d have to keep track of their progress over time himself, to work out the rate of finalisation.

After checking his Nodes over, he turned his mind to his routine. He hadn’t slept but even so, it was morning, and his mind wanted to do what it was used to doing. Relieving himself, stretches, exercises, stretches, practising with his weapons. Then the new additions; practising moving Oma within his body, practising moving his Soul Sense in new ways, a short practise shaping the Arts of his various Imbued and the Blue Hornet to keep the skills fresh in his mind, and anything else he could think of.

The routine had grown from a quick thirty minutes to over an hour, and that day it had an extra thirty minutes tacked on when he disassembled and cleaned both the sniper and his shotguns. The act was calming to him, relaxing in a the way only menial tasks which one has performed thousands of times are.

As he moved through it all his Soul Sense swam through the rooms outside, observing the others.

They rose with varying speed to meet the new day. Old Ben was up pretty much immediately, heading out to settle down in the open area before the main door. John and Cait lay curled together, enjoying one another’s company for a time before rising to join him. There was a brief moment of uncertainty between them, then they left the room together, an announcement which only old Ben (and Nicolai) saw.

The old man wasn’t surprised, which told Nicolai that old Ben was quite observant. Sara woke and shook Katie awake and the two of them left to join the others shortly after John and Cait. Karl and Elena had apparently returned to their own rooms after their tryst, with both of them rising at around the same time, leaving their rooms, and meeting one another’s gazes with awkward furtiveness. Nicolai felt an odd mingling of regret and desire and just general contradictory human weirdness from both of them.

Perro and Azure both took quite some time to rise, before joining the others in the open area.

Jo and Beth remained in their room and he felt Jo’s unwillingness to face the judgements of those outside, while Beth was afraid of coming into contact with him, plus protective of her sister. Her Soul Sense had observed his warily as he tracked the others, the two of them co-existing alone in this realm which none of the others had access to.

The previous argument between the two sisters had left no signs that it had ever happened, not even some lingering unhappiness. Nicolai felt this quick forgiving of one another was understandable. A lot had changed for the pair in the last day. The sudden influx of people into their home and their Contract with Nicolai. People were always quicker to forgive one another in the face of something more serious.

Nicolai tracked all of them throughout his routine, and part of him considered it pointless but another part maintained the observation, taking notes, learning.

He equipped himself and left his room just as he felt them starting to consider knocking on his door to see where he was.

They were all gathered in the main area, sitting on chairs and furniture and the floor, chatting and listening to the radio which was set to Channel Two.

They’d been listening to it for some time, Nicolai with them via his Soul Sense’s method of hearing. Maxine had just started talking about Soul Traps, an area he was very interested in. He had been ever since the revelation that there was another out there who knew about them.

If he could find out who had shared the information before they were able to give proper details, he might be able to take out his competitor and thus maintain the role he’d initially sought, that of the castle’s sole Soul Trap salesman.

‘They seem to be made by making carvings on something, something that’s a good shape for catching stuff. The boy who told me about them said the one they’d found was made from a helmet, and it was made by a human.’

Nicolai slowed as he stepped towards the others, some of whom glanced up at him, but most remained focused on the radio.

‘If you can get your hands on one, you don’t need to kill people for Seeds! You simply power it with Oma crystals, and can then scoop up the souls of the dead, those little blue wisps that come out of them. The group who told me about them said they would be willing to share their Soul Trap, to try and work out how it had been made and begin distributing it to others. They even said that the guy who gave it to them had completed his Seed! Do you know what that means?’ Maxine laughed.

Nicolai frowned. This was all starting to sound worrying familiar.

Maxine continued. ‘That means Vikrum was full of crud, just like I always said! And, there’s no need for anyone to fight! We should all work together, against the undead. Whoever shared this information, I’d like to thank you again, from the bottom of my heart.’

‘That’s us!’ laughed Azure, grinning and jostling Perro.

‘You spoke to Maxine?’ Nicolai had arrived, and he loomed. ‘You told her about the Soul Trap? About me?’

They all twisted to stare at him, an undercurrent of unease running through the room. A tension Nicolai knew he was not helping, but at that moment he did not care. They fucking told her. Something stirred within him. His hands clenched. They exposed me.

‘Of course we did,’ said the stupid old man, rising from where he’d sat. ‘It’s obvious how important the Soul Trap is. The whole reason everyone out there has been killing one another is because you’re all obsessed with finishing your Seeds.’ He scowled. ‘When what we should be doing, just like she says, is working together.’

‘That’s right,’ said John, nodding. ‘It’s the first step, it—‘

‘When did you tell her?’ interrupted Nicolai. He started walking, pacing aimlessly, running a hand over the hilt of his rapier and beginning to charge it, noting where everyone was sat or stood. How bad was this?

‘Yesterday,’ said John. ‘After we thought you’d abandoned us.’

‘I didn’t—‘ Nicolai’s teeth grit and he let out a strained laugh. ‘How much did you tell her?’

‘Is this an interrogation?’ Karl smirked at him. Actually smirked at him. ‘I don’t know what you’re so bothered about. So what if we told her?’

Nicolai kept his face blank as he observed the hungry shadows thickening around Karl. Maxine was still talking.

‘Word is the Chosen are having some big problems. Internal strife.’ Maxine chuckled. ‘Vikrum was always saying that only one Seed could be completed, that it had to be him. That no one else could do it so everyone ought to hand their Seeds over. I imagine all those people who gave him their Seed aren’t too happy, just right now!’

Nicolai blinked. Ah. That was the reason for the Chosen’s recent trouble. The Chosen leader he’d killed had said as much. It seemed that the group telling Maxine about his Soul Trap had caused some unintentional benefits. His pacing slowed, his body relaxing, and he took a few slow breaths. His Mask was pulsing in tones of warning, had been, he gathered, for some time.

No need to get upset, he told himself, his internal eye drawn to what was happening within him, the subtle creep of the darkness, slipping from its cage. The Mask aided him as he caught at it and shoved it back, doing his best to relax. But how much did they tell her, tell everyone, about me? The thought of his exposure made it rise a little, again, and he looked away from the group, face twisting, teeth gritting, as he fought it back into the cage.

When Nicolai turned back to them his face was tightly controlled, a friendly smile plastered over it. Cool and calm, that’s me. ‘I just want to know. How much did you tell her about me? Is what she said just now all of it? Just that I gave you a Soul Trap, that I’d completed my Seed?’

John shrugged, glancing at Perro. ‘Was there anything else?’

‘Uh.’ Perro squeaked when Nicolai’s gaze snapped onto him. ‘No, that was it. Just about Nicolai making the Soul Trap and what it does, and that he finished his Seed with it.’

‘You told her my name?’ he snarled.

‘N-no! I just called you, uh, someone we met.’

Nicolai’s Mask reacted, turning the dimmer switch on his features, dulling the edge his stare had developed. For whatever reason, it liked Perro, the worried youth.

He smiled. ‘No worries, then.’ The darkness was gone, faded. He was fully in control once more. He looked to John. ‘In the future, you will let me know if there are any plans to talk to people on the radio.’

‘Good,’ broke in Ben. ‘In that case… did you make the Soul Trap? The scores on the metal look recent. Do you know how to make them? If you do, can you teach me how to make them? Such information should be shared.’

Nicolai raised a hand, ignoring the old man, eyes on John. ‘This is very important to me,’ he said. ‘You should have spoken to me first before mentioning me on the radio.’

John frowned. ‘Like I said, it was back when we thought you’d left us.’ He shrugged.

Nicolai’s stare turned icy.

John blinked, wavering. ‘If it hadn’t been for that, we’d have said something.’

The stare reached sub-zero temperatures.

‘And in the future, we’ll check with you first,’ said John at last, looking away, and Nicolai’s Soul Sense, surrounding the man, told him that John was being honest.

‘Okay,’ said Nicolai, smile back on his face as he turned to old Ben, considering the old man’s request. Now he knew there was not another Soul-Trap-making-individual out there, that Maxine had been talking about him the whole time, he was able to pivot back to his original Soul Trap plan.

If he wanted to sell Soul Traps, he’d need more of them. They weren’t difficult to make, not now he understood how it worked and was used to drawing the shapes, but it still took time. Nicolai would much prefer that wasn’t his time and so was entirely amenable to the old man’s request.

‘I did make it. I’ll teach you on one condition. For every two Soul Traps you make, I want one. Furthermore, we will not be sharing this with Maxine, either, at least not yet.’

‘What?’ Old Ben appeared confused. ‘Why?’

‘I intend to sell them.’

Ben didn’t look happy about that, his face darkening. ‘No, what? That’s… you’re not getting this at all! This is about helping people, not making… making money! That’s what we’re trying to get away from!’

‘What we’re trying to get away from?’ Nicolai echoed, confused.

‘Capitalism!’ seethed the old man. ‘The rot that ruined humanity, that turned Earth into a trash can full of miserable slaves and murderous oligarchs! Ultra-Modern feudalism! Where the rich do—‘

Ben was interrupted by a braying laugh, Karl slapping at his leg. ‘Capitalism, old man, is the reason you didn’t die in your forties, scrubbing around in the dirt, rotten teeth dropping out your mouth. Capitalism is what brought humanity out of the dark ages!’

‘Out of the dark into an age of what?’ Elena snorted. ‘It’s all just greed. Shall we fight over this new world until we’ve burned it to ashes in nuclear fire, too?’

‘Exactly,’ said Ben quickly, leaning forward, eyes wide and fists tight with passion. ‘Look at what became of Earth. Of our home. This is our chance to do better.’ He looked to Karl, entreating. ‘We can take the good, without the bad. We need to learn from the mess that became of Earth, and strive to—‘

‘Why’s any of that our responsibility?’ interrupted Azure. ‘I didn’t do anything.’

‘It’s everyone’s responsibility,’ growled Old Ben. ‘Who can honestly say they were happy with our society? Isn’t that why you all chose to come here, why you accepted the invitation? The only people who would want to stay will be those who gained, those at the very top.’

‘And why wouldn’t they? They worked to get there,’ said a sneering Karl. ‘That’s what it’s all about!’

‘Yeah,’ Azure chimed in, grinning. ‘Karl’s right. You just need to work hard, cancel those subscriptions, save up, and of course, be born a trillionaire, and then you too can be a trillionaire.’ She smirked, and the nods Karl had been giving her turned into an irritated frown.

‘Shut up,’ Karl snapped, ‘you—‘

‘Don’t tell my daughter to shut up,’ said John, reanimating from his pensive observation to turn a glare onto Karl.

‘I’ll tell—‘

A new voice rang out, silencing all of them. ‘The greed and wickedness of humanity brought the nuclear fire down upon us, and it was a lesson. But instead of learning from it we have grown worse.’ It was Sara, her eyes shining. ‘This is our judgement, don’t you see it? He has made His displeasure known! Heaven itself is watching us, weighing us. You must all repent. Prostrate yourselves before the Almighty, admit your failures, your weaknesses, beg for His forgiveness, and He will accept you back into His fold—‘

Whatever she said next was drowned by a wave of angry cries that all surged and crashed into a confusing mass. Nicolai almost joined in, for the first time seeing reason to contribute to the argument.

God would not accept humanity back into the fold. Nicolai knew this, because of the Vision. God hated them, all of them, but God hated Nicolai most of all.