Molting the Mortal Coil

Their base was located in what looked to be an old quarry. There were many descending levels with a long wide ramp leading down the sides of a massive hole in the ground. It was essentially an artificial canyon and at the bottom of it was what looked to be a scrapyard. There was a great fondness for chain link fence panels and rusty sheet metal in the base. The ruined city showed it had suffered from a complete collapse, an apocalyptic end to a once great society. On the other hand, the Flares’ base was a perfect fit for a popular genre on earth. Everything seemed canted toward rusty metal, sharp edges, chains, and belching flame. The people he saw walking around were just like that first ‘Fisher Punk’ he’d run into. They were garbed in varying amounts of leather, chrome, fur, tattoos, and odd piercings.

Of course, just like the Hexacrats they all wore gas masks. The Hexacrats had many different designs of gas masks, but they all seemed to have large filters and full face coverage with dark lenses. On the other hand, only some of the flares had full masks. Many of them were wearing masks over just their mouth and noses. He could even see some with slits and holes in them. Those people were also not normal looking. Just like when he’d taken the mask off the Fisher Punk, these people had mis-shapen bodies with huge pulsing and writhing veins crawling over them. None of them seemed quite as monstrous as the Punk he battled, but he quickly made a correlation between the level of mutation and the level of their masks.

So, it looks like they -want- to be mutated like that? I guess that’s why that fellow just laughed like a maniac rather than panicking when I tore off his mask.

Since this was likely common knowledge for the Hexacrats, Sage didn’t say anything to the others about it directly. Instead he just casually spoke, “Those freaks with the special masks sure are unusual looking.”

Even Sage was wearing a mask at this point to fit in with the others, and it was actually somewhat comfortable since it drastically reduced the pressure on him from constantly breathing in the poison atmosphere. He’d chosen one with very large lenses and a twin pair of filters. The two large cylinders sitting on either side of his jaw. It was quite heavy for a normal person, but the weight was nothing to him.

After observing these Psychics for a while, Sage began to compile some information about their strengths. He still wasn’t sure if they had any concrete cultivation system, but he did find that for the most part their physical bodies were much weaker than a Qi Cultivator. While they showed off psychic abilities with strength that might rival a cultivator near level 50, their physical bodies were only those of one in the first or second rank. Of course, there were exceptions. The Fisher Punk had mutated to have a very powerful body, and it also seemed Cloud Jaro’s ability made him much stronger and tougher than the others. His shell pack was double the size of the others and he also had a door sized sword strapped to his back. Sage couldn’t help but consider it an odd coincidence.

They spent an hour in hiding, just observing the Flare base from afar to gauge their level of activity. Then they drew back a hundred yards and hid in a small cave to discuss their next actions. Using a few of their convenient devices they set up an airtight wall and filtered the air in the cave. Then they all took off their masks, hanging them around their necks and sitting in a circle as they ate a meal.

Spark Benjam was the first to speak, “It doesn’t look like they’ve discovered the Amethyst. There’s not enough activity for a mine to be set up already.”

“Just because we can’t see activity on the surface doesn’t mean they aren’t working underground already.”

“Hah, the Flares aren’t smart enough to be doing that. Since when do they not just run around like maniacs destroying everything they see?”

Spring Raylyn had cautioned them for prudence, but Cloud Jaro was eager to belittle the Flares. There was a flash of light and Nova Leara slapped Cloud on the back. He let out a yelp that drew their attention, “Don’t let down your guard! We aren’t going to stop when we’re this close, but we have to be ready for anything. Just like Spring said, this could just be an act. Even if we can find the Divine Amethyst’s without being noticed, we can’t let down our guard.”

Aurora Saeva jumped in to agree with Nova, “Nova is right. Even if we find them without being noticed we still have to protect them and establish a safe route without the Flares noticing. This isn’t going to be easy.”

Sage wanted this little venture to go as smoothly as possible so he volunteered some assistance, “Just point out where the Amethyst should be and I’ll lead the way.”

Cloud was immediately wary, “Lead? You’re the newbie, you just stay back and follow our lead.”

Nova pointed a glowing fingertip at Cloud and he immediately flinched. Then she turned to Sage, “You have more sensory powers? Clairvoyance? ESP? Which ones?”

Choosing to stay mysterious he just nodded, “Does it matter? I’m only worried if I use too much power, they’ll sense us watching them.”

With such a bold claim, Cloud wanted to speak up again, but Nova glared at him. She just smiled, “Alright. We’ll let you lead, but keep it low key. If the Flares have some secret method to track us, we can’t get caught unaware. Assume they’re watching us the whole time.”

They took a few hours to rest, recovering their strength to their peak and also waiting for night to fall. According to the group, those with sensory enhancement powers were somewhat rare. The most common ability by far was telekinesis and it came in dozens of different variations. Nova even volunteered information, “Cloud surrounds his whole body in a layer of telekinetic force like a second skin. That’s what makes him so strong and tough.”

Cloud was not happy to have his abilities revealed, especially when this Acumen fellow was being so mysterious about his own. He was about to glare at Nova, but then he felt a cold sweat on his back and kept his eyes forward. Sage wasn’t paying attention to them at this point as he was focusing on doing the job he’d volunteered for. He was only barely acquainted with these people, but they’d been nice enough. Since he could keep them out of trouble and get to the treasure faster, he chose to step up. It was also going to be a good test. He slowly extended his Spiritual Sense, laying it over the group and waiting to see if they noticed it. At the same time, he sent his Twin Soul up into the air to get a bird’s eye view of the area.

Before setting out, he had the group wait in the cave for a bit longer. He told them it was so he could clear the immediate area, but it was actually so he could link to a Warp Worm and send it into the ground. When it was done maturing it was three feet wide and more than thirty feet long, so he didn’t wish for them to see him bringing it out. He’d already incorporated the traits of the giant cockroach into new variants of his bugs, which somewhat weakened them, but it also meant they could survive on this world. With his preparations complete he called the others out.

Most of them didn’t seem to notice anything, but Spring Raylyn started looking around. She rubbed her arms and looked at everyone else, “My skin is crawling. It feels like someone is watching me.”

Sage frowned under his mask. I guess this method isn’t foolproof. He held up his hand, “That’s me. It’s just to make sure nobody sneaks up on us.”

Nova nodded, “Good. We don’t know how many of the Flares are Empaths like Spring.”

With an eye in the sky, ears under the ground, and the help of his Spiritual Sense, Sage barely needed to use his enhanced senses to see the Flares from miles away. As a cultivator his physical body and senses were far stronger than the average psychic. Only those with a specific power could have a chance of competing with him.