Location: Unknown, A-class planet, D-zone (green)
Date: April 5 2728 — Standard Earth Calendar (SEC)
Cut, gutted, and bloodied bodies were not the best source of supplies. Not much was left undamaged.
Even the weapon they had was ruined, mostly.
Like those two polearms broken in the middle, with splinters sticking out as if blown from within. Or like the other one, still held in a dead man's grip, its head missing.
Only the battle hammer and the double-edged axe were fairly intact. No, instead they were half-buried in the ground, with their handles sticking to the sky.
A pair of well-made boots, sitting on severed legs above the kneecaps, was standing not that far away, as if patiently waiting for the owner to come back.
He wouldn't, of course. I saw his mutilated body a good five metres away, and he wasn't planning to go anywhere anytime soon.
Neither did he need these black, clearly military-styled boots with metal plates and buckles.
Unfortunately, they weren't my size, not even close. They also lacked any ability to auto-adjust, like any smart clothing would.
It was a problem I hadn't known before, but here I was, and I had to choose from what I had.
I doubted I would find any shoes, though, not with my diminutive complexion, but a girl could wish.
Taking off the roomy bag from one of the corpses—a leather one, and empty—I began to collect anything I deemed worthy.
Such as a pouch on the rope I found around the larger man's neck. It was fairly heavy, and I caught a glimpse of gold and something folded inside it, but left it for later.
I found a few more pouches after that, collecting five in total, when I knew what to look for.
It didn't take me long.
Glancing around, I set the bulky bag on the ground, and the axe clattered against the hammer.
Grimacing, I left it standing and marched toward the wolf I had killed first.
I went for the hunt; I had wanted fresh meat, and wolves were my kill. It would have been a shame to leave it all behind.
I had to take something, at least the cores.
A few slashes, and I gutted it open, splitting apart the chest. I saw the core sitting in the middle, as well as a few more knots I knew nothing about. It was a young wolf, clearly a male, with not much meat to offer on its bones. Even the claws and the fangs were useless to me, with no powers imprinted in them.
I opted for the heart and the kidneys and moved on to the other—the headless one—that was clearly older.
I gutted it too, extracting a bigger core and finding a few more knots, though in different locations. Some of them had to be his ice abilities. Or so I hoped.
And his ribs looked much more promising than the ones before. I took them too.
Packing meat with knots and cores into a smaller bag, I put it over my chest and went back to the one I had left waiting.
My danger sense was getting twitchy, warning me to leave, and so I picked up the pace.
Standing at the edge of the treeline, hidden under invisibility, I looked over the clearing once more—to see if the girl had come around.
She did not.
When I finally stepped under the canopy, I heard the beginning of the feast behind me. The wildlife had come to claim what was left.
Or fight over it.
—
On the way back, I missed Lola more than ever.
Silently slipping between the trees and bushes, I wanted to talk to her, to ask for her opinion, damn, just to hear her take on who the descendants were here.
Resolute or Accord? Or perhaps Gaia?
Not the Meng Xiang Hao, though. None had Asian features—not the girl, and none of the dead ones—but other phenotypes were present in abundance.
Interestingly enough, the dead ones were all men, around their late twenties or early thirties, and only the big guy—the one who pinned the girl down—was the eldest, perhaps in his forties.
Was that why he had a sword? A leader? He certainly was an experienced one.
The girl somehow lucked out, or perhaps played him. She certainly did trick me.
And her transformation, what was it?
Did they all have one, but it faded after their death? Or was she unique at that? Like with regeneration? And a strong one in that.
Did the others have it too, and it wasn't enough? Or did they lack it?
So much information, so many questions—I felt my brain boiling as I tried to put it all together. Or separate what was important and what was not, missing Lola dearly.
Think, Katee. Think.
—
Dropping the bundle inside my boat, I turned to look deep in the forest.
The sound of the battle was reaching me even here, noticeable without enhanced hearing. It was an unusual disturbance in the usually silent forest.
Perhaps too many dead bodies were left behind in the open, with a rich scent of blood.
It showed me The Anomaly from a new angle—the one I would have to account for in the future.
The new knowledge was quite a simple one, though—leave the place of the fight as soon as you could, or fight your way out.
Looking back, I lingered by the shore, perhaps hoping to see that girl again, but she didn't come here, either.
And perhaps that was only for the better. I doubted we would clear our misunderstanding quickly, if ever. She had been so set on fighting me before the wolves came.
Turning away, I pushed the boat into the water and jumped in, easily balancing on the deep-sunk boat.
The haul was heavy, with all the things I had taken from the clearing, and I anticipated all kinds of discoveries I might uncover.
But first, I had to reach my island, and so I settled and began to paddle.
And again, I noticed how easy it was to paddle, even though the boat had become twice as heavy.
I still ignored it, though, filing it for later.
Instead, I paid attention to my surroundings, glancing back at the shore I was leaving behind, just in case.
I saw nothing.
Not while paddling, and not after, when I was hiding my boat between the rocks.
It was becoming quite important to stay hidden or leave no signs of my presence. For all I knew, I might become a target for being here or just being a woman, like a girl had been.
So much unknown.
Opening my hideout and lowering my haul, I looked around once more, searching for any signs of someone's presence.
Hidden or not-so-hidden ones.
I didn't want to be caught off guard, backed against the wall or holed up in my hideout.
In a way, I had to be grateful for the earlier encounter. I not only got some things from it, but also learned that humans were not so peaceful here.
Or unarmed.
But neither was I.
—
Drinking a fresh pot of the collected thunder leaves, I was checking on the haul, rich with a bloody scent.
The smallest, and luckily the least bloodied, jacket was set aside. Still, that didn't mean it fit me. I had already planned to cut away the sleeves and the jacket's bottom.
Not that I felt the need to put it on, or that it would protect me any better from the cold than inner warmth did, but I had to account for the locals.
Otherwise, I might have needed shoes only, but that was exactly what I was missing here.
The boot I held against my own foot was larger than I had hoped, and too big to sit well on me.
Shaking my head, I put aside the boot and moved to the pants I managed to scavenge. They were all made of leather, too, and were supplied with wide belts.
I chose the ones that were less bulky and had an oval belt buckle engraved with a meadow and mountains—it reminded me of the cave. Still, I needed to cut them at the bottom to match my size as well.
Next were the polearm heads. They were of no use to me, but I was curious.
One head had a wide blade, well-made, in my amateurish opinion, but it clearly knew better days. It was chipped, scratched, and whoever owned it before didn't take good care of it.
The other one was a bit different, though. It had two thorns—one facing forward, another at the side and curved—and a sharp, short blade shaped like a classic axe. It was also well-maintained.
But even if I had a new shaft, I didn't know how to use any of them properly.
That left the hammer, the axe and the mysterious pouches, which I left for last.
Taking the axe first, I activated the hex-field, hoping to get the same effect as I had with the claw knife, but that didn't happen.
The hex-field stayed a few inches away from the axe, wrapping around it in a bubble.
And when I swung it at the wall, the axe acted like a stick rather than a battle axe, and the hex-field absorbed all momentum.
No use.
Removing it, I looked over the axe closely. Two big blades facing opposite ways were sharp and well-maintained. The handle was polished, and the leather wrap around it was tarnished by time, but it was still held together.
If not for the ridiculously huge blades, it would have been just a battle axe, similar to one I saw once in a museum.
Setting it aside, I picked up the hammer next and again activated the hex-field.
It reacted differently or, more precisely, did not react at all.
I suspected an aetherium reaction at first, but that wasn't the answer. It didn't break my hex-field, no, it just pushed it aside, refusing to get wrapped up in it.
And again, I didn't know why.
Or how to test it properly for its abilities, or if it had any at all.
Otherwise, it looked like an oversized hammer, about my head size, on a shaft with a loop at the end of the handle.
Fairly used.
Easily putting it aside with one hand—and promising myself to figure out why so soon—I looked at the pouches left for the last.
Taking a few sips of tea, I focused on the pouch with something gold inside, and debated what I would find there.
If Lola were able to reply, I might have placed a bet on what was inside, but…
Sighing, I opened the smallest pouch first, and a small crystal dropped into my palm. There was nothing else inside.
Curious.
The crystal was half the size of my pink, muddy blue in colour, and partially transparent against the light from the entrance.
I had no idea what it was for.
Putting it aside, I opened the next pouch, only to find another, this time a round crystal. It was the size of a small bird's egg. It even looked like one, slightly yellow with brown and blue spots. If not for being transparent, I might have mistaken it for one.
Two more pouches had crystals too, a white one and the greenish one shaped like a small river rock, leaving me more and more baffled.
The crystals were significant in some way, that was obvious, but what they were for…
Holding the last pouch in my hand, I tried to lower my expectations. Perhaps whatever I had seen inside was a crystal, and the folded thing it had was just something to polish it, but…
Shaking off the unexpected timidity, I decisively opened the pouch and dumped its contents on the ground.
No, it wasn't another crystal. Whatever crystal had been there before was pouring out as sand and shiny shards, clearly broken.
Another clue, of unknown origin, but I ignored it in favour of the shiny coin and a piece of folded paper.
I recognised the old form of money—the one that existed centuries ago.
Gently picking the coin up, I flipped it around until I saw what I was looking for.
2720.
A simple number.
But it had more than a simple meaning.
It was the SEC calendar year, just eight years prior.
It also had text in the alphabet I had expected—English or Latin, if I wanted to be precise—and I was able to read it clearly.
One Hundred Crown Coin. The Royal Government of Hope. And a five-spiked crown in the middle.
Flipping the coin, I looked at the other side. It had a profile of a bearded man, signed as His Majesty James Richard II, and another inscription along the top—Sovereign of Hope.
So much to learn. So much to think about.
Lola, I need you.
Tightly holding the coin, as if it might disappear at any moment, I reached for the folded paper—another rare form of information storage from the past.
I only knew what it was because I had seen similar papers before, in my father's office. He even taught me how to read one.
Gently unfolding it, I saw what I had hoped for, but did my best not to think about.
It was a map.
The map of this area—I recognised the shape of the lake I was on.
But my eyes were glued to the spot on it, with a printed name.
Outpost Eleven.
And that changed more than everything.
—
Standing over my hideout entrance, I was looking towards the forest on the other side.
The sun was setting on my right, but that didn't matter to me. No, what mattered most was the direction to the Outpost Eleven.
It was that way.
And even if the map was good enough to judge the scale, I didn't know how long it would take me to get there.
The easiest way was on the boat, but the river that began here would turn away from the path I needed to take.
I wasn't sure if my path through the forest would be that much safer—quite the contrary.
I felt uneasy, even unsettled. As if leaving The Anomaly was something… strange.
And that unsettled me even more.
The Anomaly—it was changing me, and with each day, I was becoming something different, something alien to the simple world beyond this place, or my past.
I was afraid that I had changed too much already, and not being able to talk to Lola didn't help in the slightest.
I wanted to go back to Ateeve, to get her back, but was that reasonable? Or was I just afraid to face the world alone?
Even now, knowing where to go, I still wanted to go back, as if that cave had become my home.
Enough.
Forcefully inhaling, I closed my eyes and focused on the warmth within, on the heartbeat, and looked within myself.
The first thing I had noticed was a pulsing star behind my nose. A simple one-star constellation that had caused so much frustration for me lately.
Leaving it for later, I searched more.
There was another active constellation with a key star between my shoulder blades. It was pulsing in a gentle beat, and smaller stars were responding in sync, located in each joint of my limbs and along the spine.
There was only one way to find out what it was for, and I shut down the energy flow to it.
The weight of my own body, which I had failed to notice before, pressed on my shoulders. My arms, heavy as if filled with lead, were pulling me down to the ground, and my knee trembled, almost failing to hold my weight.
But before gravity pulled me down, it was all gone—washed away with the constellation activating on its own.
The hell was that?
—
Sitting before the stove with meat stew steaming in the pot, I was blindly looking at the wall, lost in thought.
When I disabled the new ability, it reminded me of an experience I had during the Academy—a test in physical adaptation to near-zero gravity.
The lead in my limbs, the pressure on my spine, and trembling legs—it was all the same, but I doubted that the ability had anything to do with the gravity…
No, if it did, I would have noticed. I was sure of that.
I was also sure I didn't have this ability in the morning, when I struggled with my enhanced sense of smell. Nor did I have it later, digging the hideout.
I clearly remembered the weight of stones in my hands. But, I wasn't sure anymore if it had been all the weight. And maybe the heavy lifting played a role in awakening this ability.
Perhaps it activated when I saw the dead bodies, when I had first darted to see if anyone was still alive.
I remembered the air pressure on my face, a blurred reality around me in that moment.
But what really scared me was the fluidity with which it all worked.
I didn't have any adaptation period, or misfired actions, where I overshot a step, or miscalculated the strength.
No, it was as if I always knew how much strength I had to use.
It was unnatural.
It was as if knowledge or instincts were imprinted at the same time as a new ability was acquired, all on their own.
It was really scary, even terrifying.
The moose had other abilities, I was sure of that. Would they activate on their own as well?
For all I knew, I had a fair chance to grow hooves on my feet, with all the time I spent walking barefoot.
Mutations. They were becoming uncontrollable, unpredictable, and I didn't like that, not one bit.
Neither did I like that whenever I tried to disable this new ability or enhanced sense of smell, it just turned back on, as if that were only natural.
Perhaps to moose it was, but I was not the moose. And never wanted to be one.
The memory of that girl's fur-covered arms and clawed hands came to my mind, and I shivered. I didn't want that, and I didn't want to learn how to remove them at will.
And perhaps I had an idea of what to do.
Reaching for my backpack, I pulled it closer and opened it up.
I remembered that I had not been able to use invisibility with aetherium on me before I awoke the hex-field, and I even had to eat the beast's meat to stay warm inside the cave.
And perhaps if I kept enough of it close to my core…
Taking out Lola's necklace, I put it into one of the pouches with a rope long enough to reach my solar plexus.
Not letting myself doubt it, I put it over my head and let the pouch nest under my chest, against the core.
Nothing changed immediately.
I didn't really expect it would. Instead, I turned off the new ability key star again.
Holding my breath and feeling the gravity pull, I waited to see if it would come back.
But it didn't.
Breathing heavily, braced against the floor, I waited and waited. Slowly, moment by moment, I adapted to the change, feeling weak.
It wasn't the same as returning from zero gravity. No, it was as if I never knew how to be without this enhancement.
As if I had to learn to be normal again.
But what truly threw me for a loop was the sudden clarity of my mind.
It was as if a blanket covering my eyes was torn away, and I saw the truth.
If I didn't get out of The Anomaly soon, I would change irrevocably, beyond the point of no return.
Turning into a beast myself. I almost did, nesting under the ground.
I needed Lola, someone outside the influence of The Anomaly, to fucking guide me out, before it was too late.
Lola, where the fuck are you when I need you most?
The sharp pain behind my right ear shook me, and I knew no more, claimed by the darkness.
Lola…