Space Odyssey: Spectre-Chapter 504: In’ach’ola
The air was heavy with the smell of sulfur and burning flesh. He opened his eyes and looked around to see the same mental mindscape as many times before. But this time the open hills, fields, and various forested areas were covered in fire. The parts of the sky that were visible through the plumes of smoke were painted red.
He could see several bodies and corpses littered throughout the visible range. He took a deep breath then spoke. "What is the point you are trying to make now?" Jace asked as he looked over the golden figure of a Xenar that was standing off to the side.
"That this is your future if you do not start taking this more seriously. The Daemons and Mortellas are coming to the galaxy. You must get stronger." The Xenar pointed out. "You are holding yourself back by working with others. You can get stronger on your own."
"You mean like your kind did." Jace asked with a scoff as the view around them changed back into the arena as he turned his body. "Oh wait, I forgot. Your people were slaughtered."
The Xenar growled then pulled out a blade. The ceremonial blade he had seen many times before. "It appears I need to discipline my descendant once again." Jace flinched but refrained from responding as the Xenar let something slip through the cracks.
Jace held one hand ready and his spectre knife appeared in it. "If you think you can. Now I think tonight was supposed to be when I completed my training with the samurai. But I can hold off, if it means putting you in your place."
"You want to put me in my place? Your ancestor? In his place?" The Xenar asked in ridicule as they circled each other around the circle arena.
Jace grinned as he readied and loosened up his body so he could spring into action in any direction at a moment’s notice. "Ancestor? Don’t lie." Jace’s grin slowly widened. "I have done my due diligence and all the oddities I have been discovering have pointed to the same fact during the missing time when humans first arrived in this system."
The Xenar froze for a moment and Jace could slowly feel the shock come off the Xenar. Emotions that even the bloodline memories of his ancestors did not have. He knew because he could feel them even now watching him. This place, this arena. It was the mental landscape that could only be reached after meditation. But even with his ancestors here he was the only one to truly step in here.
They might have followed the path instinctually but this Xenar led him here. Constantly trying to put him down and subdue Jace with his own memories. But all of it reminded him of the lessons he was taught when he was younger and living in the orphanage. How necessary people thought that it was to manipulate other people with their own thoughts.
"When did I slip up?" The Xenar asked, his golden form starting to peel away to reveal the glossy black chitin that was underneath. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂
Jace shrugged. "Don’t blame yourself. I never truly trusted you so I have been looking into the Xenar as much as possible. I eventually found out that there was no discrepancy between the Xenar ’going extinct’ and humans arriving. The Victorium and human historical records show it happened at the same time."
"Haa... but surely that was the main reason for your suspicion." The Xenar asked as he stretched out his form and his claws became more visible and pronounced.
"Nope, there were just too many things that were out of place." Jace shook his head. "I have been probing you for weeks on questions to see whether you were real or just a figment of my own head." Jace chuckled, "we were even warned so I suppose we have been keeping an eye out just in case."
"Warned?" The Xenar made a clicking noise as its voice went from the pleasant tone toward a more savage growling. "Who could have warned you? I have been in your mind since your mindscape was first created."
"Eh..." Jace shrugged. "You mean since the greater amount of protection that was naturally repelling you has become faint. But I can’t really blame you. I have also been protecting my mind with my own abilities as I have learned how to manipulate them. After all, the way we are speaking through is just a superhighway of electronic signals."
"Mhmmm... You mean the telepath? She does not have nearly enough experience in order to know that she has to protect her mind from long range attacks." The Xenar pointed out as it hunched over and ready itself to spring forward and attack. But Jace could feel its sense of superiority, like it knew it would win the fight.
"No she did not." Jace answered as he closed his eyes and stopped using the mental visual inputs. The Xenar was already moving slowly forward to try and attack him. But he was manipulating Jace’s ancestral bloodline mindscape to make him believe that he had not yet moved. "The astral beast did." He smirked slightly when the Xenar flinched. He took the opportunity to attack.
But not with his blade but with his abilities itself. A surge of electricity hit and ran through the Xenar. Stopping them in their tracks and trapping the Xenar in a cage. Separating it from Jace’s mind. The fight was over before it had even begun.
"Haa... an astral beast. Those creatures do not know how to leave well enough alone." The Xenar scoffed as it probed the cage it was trapped in to try and escape. Deciding after a few attempts that it was not worth it. "We are at a stalemate. You are not strong enough nor have the appropriate abilities to destroy me and I am not able to get to you. What now?"
"Nothing." Jace answered with a shrug. "Your mind returns to the Xenar remnant that is hidden away. I inform my superiors about your existence. Now that we know you exist, we know you are a threat and many mysteries will begin to be unraveled."
"But the galaxy believes something different. They believe the Mortella and Daemons drove us into hiding and near extinction. Hell, even that fool Hoodwink believed he had the right answers to the hidden history. Attempting to-" The Xenar suddenly stopped speaking. "It will not work. No matter what you tell them, the truth will bring a divide between the other races and humans."
"Why? Because humans were the ones to drive you to near extinction before you ran off and hid." Jace scoffed. "Newsflash, humans nearly wiped out another race." Jace chuckled. "I hate to break it to you but that will not come as a surprise. The only benefit of having a horrible reputation is that something like that will not come as a surprise. But what will come as a surprise is probably the fact that the empty years of humanity in this galaxy were because the Xenar were heavily manipulating us. Well up until a certain point." Jace grinned.
"Your ancestors and the others. I do not know how. But they found a way to break away from our control. We thought all humans would be easy to manipulate. But your capacity for evolution and adaptation is on another level." The Xenar growled out wildly.
Jace prepared to eject the Xenar from his mind. It would injure the Xenar for a time but would not kill him. "Any last words Xenar? Maybe even your name?"
There was a ripple of anger. "You are just like your mother..." The Xenar growled out. "So unrepentant and confident. You do not know the fight you are in. The Daemons and Mortella will not be stopped with just a slap on the wrist. You need to be ruthless. You are like those cowards." The Xenar barked out, Jace catching a snippet of information from the Xenar that slipped out. "I am In’ach’ola! I will come for you and I will erase your entire bloodline!"
Jace chuckled, "Why do I have a feeling that this is not the first Hex you have told this too?" Jace waved his hand and In’ach’ola disappeared as he was ejected from Jace’s mind. Being sent back to wherever his real body was hidden away with whatever remained of the Xenar.
After he disappeared the arena began changing as it melted away until all that remained was a field of sand with a set of stairs leading up into darkness. Jace could already tell that they led up to his mental mindscape.
All around the field of sand were the statues of his ancestors. No longer in armor but in various poses that he could only assume when they were most comfortable. He then grinned as he noticed something else. Several black statues of various other ancestors he had not seen before. "Seems I was wrong about one thing." Jace chuckled out as he looked at the statues. "Some of my ancestors did make it to this part."
He walked toward the stairs to exit the mindscape. Already feeling drained. But very entertained that his ancestors’ bloodline mindscape seemed to know how to outsmart the Xenar. Simply because the Hex and Oda both had practice doing so. He glanced at it again before chuckling and leaving the statues of everyone on both sides of his family who were dead. Spotting a single missing statue in the form of his mother. It was clear from the Xenar’s words that she made it this far. But her statue was not here.
Meaning that she was still alive.
