Awareness
He was in a narrow tube and crawling. The pipe narrowed in places, making it difficult to move. In the dark, he could only navigate by the walls, which were dotted with strange bumps and depressions, and in places he felt a sticky mass that spread an incredible stench, forcing him to figure out what it could be. The foul air suffocated him, filling his lungs and opening the way to vomit. He stifled his sense of touch by trying to breathe through his mouth. He didn't know how he got here or where he was going, but his instincts told him that he had to crawl forward. Suddenly, the pipe ended in sharp and ragged edges, as if someone had ripped out that part. He began to feel the dark bottomless expanse, which transformed into emptiness. He decided, by all means, to jump into this abyss. Something told him that he was on the right track. I had to take a chance. He slid down, fully extending his body and fell out into the pitch-black darkness. The fall was strange, and there was a certain lightness. He tried to influence his sea of consciousness in an attempt to scan this endless space, but spiritual perception was completely absent and gave reason to understand that his body and spiritual essence had taken the form of an ordinary mortal. He panicked and, in a fit of falling, began to create runes, hoping to revive at least some skill or technique. But it was all in vain. He had already been in a state of falling for quite a long time. Suddenly, the flight into the void slowed down and he noticed a point of light below, which was approaching, taking shape. It was a man. A young bronze giant. He was in the fetal position, and it seemed like he was hibernating or even dead. Just like him, the giant floated in a dark space, and the only difference from everything that surrounded Zuhair was his floating figure, his bright aura, like a bright lighthouse in a black ocean. After taking a closer look at the bronze body, he screamed in surprise. It was Misak. The exclamation of horror and bewilderment provided a motive for the argument to think that Misaka's body had rejected his essence and he, like a stray dog driven away by his former owners, was now a disembodied spirit. Suddenly, the giant opened his eyes and turned to Zuhair, who had stopped falling and was hovering next to the young Lanurian, and spoke. His speech was slow, with a low timbre, spreading around and filling the entire dimension, and therefore it was terrifying, penetrating and penetrating every cell of Zuhair's brain:
— Well, Zuhair? How does my body taste to you?
The bronze giant, having asked his question, began to laugh slowly, opening his incredibly large mouth wider and wider, which grew wider and wider, revealing rows of razor-sharp teeth. With a burning gaze, he looked at Zuhair, who fell into a stupor from such a metamorphosis of Misaka. The surrounding atmosphere was saturated with poisonous spores, as if the ether had changed its purpose, giving not vital energy, but toxic doping, which increased aggression. Suddenly, the phlegmatic laughter was replaced by an angry hiss, spreading a murderous aura around him, seething with bloodlust.
— You devoured my body, suppressed my soul, without even trying to give me a chance to come back! Where is your virtue!? How are you different from the same Khufiyaz or my most beloved uncle!? Answer me!!! Why don't you say something?
Zuhair was in a state of shock from what was happening now. This environment suffocated him, preventing him from using his inner strength. And the current Misak was an integral part of that environment. Without looking around and looking straight into the giant's eyes, he decided to probe his spiritual state once more, while at the same time trying to reason with Misaka, or what he was, and cautiously spoke out in his defense:
— But if it weren't for me, you would have died. Wake up. I am not your enemy!
Misak slowly began to change before my eyes. His bronzed skin began to shimmer with a greenish hue, becoming covered with scaly growths. The changes were so rapid and obvious that Zuhair was horrified to see a huge elastic tail covered with sharp fragments of iridescent crusts slowly begin to protrude from the Misaka. From the tip of the tail, a snake's head slowly appeared, which began to enlarge, taking the form of a gigantic and disproportionately large head. The head, having finally formed, continued the interrupted dialogue, as if Misak himself had moved to the tail:
— You're not my enemy? — the same hissing laugh again, but this time from the mouth of a freshly hatched limb that emerged from the tail. The snake's head licked its endless rows of teeth, with a long and doubled red tongue. And then, with an evil grimace and an already generated reptilian face, Misak continued:
— That's enough! Now I want to taste your soul! What it's like to pretend and hide behind just principles. You took my place, pushing my soul out and pushing it into the dark corners of your mind sea! Pushed away like trash! Feel what it's like to be an unnecessary weed!
Having finished his sentence, Misak rushed at Zuhair with lightning speed with a huge open mouth, in which the second inner row of the same sharp teeth could be seen…
Darkness enveloped Zuhair and he screamed and woke up in a cold sweat. Was it a dream? Where is he? He was still in Misaka's body, as before. The high vaults of the ceiling and the familiar outlines of the laboratory. What was that just now? It had been a long time since he'd had a dream, especially one so vivid and close to reality. He began to reconstruct the chain of previous events in his memory. Yesterday, they, along with Falla and Bilosh, arrived home on the ship of the venerable Cumus, having fought an unequal battle in the airless space. The experts who had come to search for him were prepared to meet even the masters on the divine cadams. It was quite strange and suspicious, which led to disappointing conclusions. The military action was carried out, even though the ship that was the target of the attack was the territory of the head of the Betaros clan, one of Lanu's favorites and who was in good standing with the Azure Palace. But there, in the space of battle, there was secretly a strong expert who was watching from the shadows. And he, too, according to Bilosh, was a representative of the Azure Palace. What does the Azure Palace want from him? It was strange that Zuhair had transformed his soul, a few days before yesterday's events. And was there a connection between these actions? Maybe Arsun was somehow involved in all this? And this whole memory transfer act was played out in order to transfer Zuhair to these guys in masks. A huge number of accumulated questions indicated that everything was not as smooth as it seemed at first glance, and it would not be so easy to untangle this snake's tangle. There was a pattern to the chaos of events. And there was an invisible presence, as if someone's hand was pulling the strings, guiding and creating the whole process. The obsession of this idea did not give peace to the guy's thoughts, making unnecessary confusion. Before leaving back, Arsun only approached Zuhair and gave him as a gift, the very sword with which the guy entered the battle, saying:
— This sword was forged from a rare meteoritic iron, hexohedrite, and was washed in a lava flow on the planet Korsun. And yes, as strange as it may sound, this sword recognized you. By and large, I'm not surprised. You are a worthy son of your father. He held out the sword, adding,
— Take it. Now, this sword is yours.
— Venerable Arsun, I am grateful to you for this gift. But unfortunately, I have nothing that I could give you in return. And I still have a lot of questions that I would like to get answers from you. And about the attack. It wasn't accidental, was it? You know what I mean, right? — Having said that, Zuhair bowed respectfully. But Arsun caught a clear hint of the strangeness of the events that had taken place, and this brash tone of the guy spoke about his doubts about the head of the Betaros clan. But Arsun showed no emotion and replied softly:
— My friend, this is a normal state when there are doubts and questions after such sudden events. And you will soon understand who is a friend and who is an enemy. Our conversation will resume soon. I'll see you at the Five clans meeting in a couple of days and I'll try to answer your questions. Right now, I need to figure out what happened. I urgently need to visit the Azure Palace.
Who was the target of the experts who boarded the ship? Him or Misak? Or maybe both of them? And why did his mutation manifest itself, moreover at such a critical level, despite the different body? Is this possible? Zuhair lost control of his body for a while during the emanation of this ability. The anomaly, which manifested itself exclusively at a time of crisis, required a huge reserve of energy forces, both spiritual and physical. He was very exhausted and spent the whole way back in meditation, replenishing his lost energy. But it was more difficult with Falla. She was injured and was practically unconscious. Bilosh took over her treatment and wrapped the girl in an energy cocoon. The whole way back, the girl spent in this cluster, recovering and bringing her sea of mind into balance. The guy couldn't communicate with the venerable Cumus because of his condition. Now that he was at Cedar's house, he could analyze the past situation and calmly consider his future course of action. To begin with, it was necessary to explore his spiritual state and delve into the essence of the mutational anomaly that easily manifested itself in Misaka's body. Despite the nightmare, Zuhair was still able to rest and replenish his lost energy. He breathed out a sigh of relief and scanned his mind sea. In the last two days, he has raised his level to the sixth cadam. Zuhair carefully moved into the depths of his spiritual consciousness, searching for Misaka's aura. Until now, Misaka's weak and dormant soul had not shown aggression or resistance. It seemed that the poisoned soul of the young Lanurian had come to terms with the current situation, and its presence in the sea of Zuhair's mind was a matter of mutual benefit, at least it seemed so. He suddenly noticed a cluster of dark energy that had not been there before. He wouldn't have noticed her if he hadn't decided to scan his spiritual space carefully right now. The alien energy did not manifest itself in any way, only enveloped the halo of a piece of Misaka's dormant soul. Zuhair carefully released energy threads towards the dark clot, which was slowly moving in a chaotic, swirling current. His spiritual threads began to gently probe this incomprehensible clot. But as soon as one of the threads touched this stream, the amulet on Zuhair's chest vibrated violently. The clot reacted aggressively and violently began to resist the probing from Zuhair. And he, in turn, was not satisfied with the fact that there was a hostile parasite in his sea of consciousness. And this parasitic clot could affect Misaka's residual mind and body. The dark clot began to absorb energy from the sea of Zuhair's consciousness and grow in size. The amulet twitched violently, exuding energy and creating its own vortex around the halo of the guy's flesh. It was unclear what could connect the amulet's core and this abnormal clot. This confrontation of energies caused great concern to Zuhair, who was desperately trying to control the situation. He began to release the energy of the soul force to destroy this clot. But the strength and speed of the dark vortex grew in proportion to the energy that Zuhair channeled to fight for dominance.
— You should absorb this essence, not try to destroy it. — said the Guardian's voice, suddenly appearing out of nowhere. Zuhair was surprised that the Guardian called this energy an entity and asked:
— Why the entity? Aren't you mistaken?
— It is an entity with the initial makings of intelligence. And this essence is a part of you, or rather it is you. Your aggressive manifestation is when your body begins the uncontrolled activation of a mutation. Your old maskhab of the Guardians of the Purifying Fire is unknowingly poisoning its followers and students. But a certain percentage survives. But those who manage to survive inherit an abnormal mutation similar to yours. And if you look at it that way, it's still a gift that needs to be properly disposed of. Now is the time to harness this power and absorb it, otherwise it will consume Misaka's soul first, and then yours. With proper absorption, this power can serve you well. — the Keeper said in a fatherly way, floating in the laboratory space.
— And how is the amulet related to this entity? Why does he give such a reaction? — Zuhair asked, trying to focus on directing the force towards the source of the mutation anomaly.
— In addition to its spy functions, this amulet has a number of other useful properties. He recognized another aura in this substance. And most likely, he also sensed hostility in this aura, since he raised such an alarm. — the Guardian replied in response. He suddenly became interested in the stack of ancient books and manuscripts in the far corner of the laboratory. Zuhair was engrossed in his own thoughts, and these thoughts gave rise to another question.:
— Why did my mutation manifest in Misaka's body? This is strange. How can a physical change or anomaly manifest itself through the spiritual sea? I would understand if the body was mine. But you transferred only my spirit and my sea of consciousness into Misaka's body, but not my physical abilities. I don't understand how this could happen. — Zuhair asked the Curator, who was hovering over an ancient folio and intently reading something. Without waiting for an answer, the guy asked the main question that tormented him.:
— During the ritual conducted by Arsun, I suddenly and unexpectedly found myself in my old body. It was as if I had looked through him into a world I knew. Back to my home world. I found myself on Arat for a few moments. I looked at him with my own eyes, being in my native body, if you know what I mean. It was damaged and wounded, but it seemed to be whole and alive. I was transported back to my body for a short time. And this transfer was quite strange. I felt my body the way I feel Misaka's body now. I felt pain, dizziness, and even cold. All my feelings were transferred back to my old body. I didn't stay there long. It was like I was given a chance to come back. It was like being given the opportunity to feel the difference between two worlds. I wasn't alone there. There was a girl there. She doesn't seem to be from Arata. At least her aura wasn't human. I felt something familiar, even though it was the first time I had seen her. She gave her name as Shisu. She's from the Meru clan, if I'm not mistaken.
— This ritual initially did not inspire my trust. He touched on some aspects of the unexplored territory of the soul and mind. This matter is too subtle and unknown. — The Guardian replied thoughtfully. After a moment, he continued:
— You probably think I had something to do with it. You're wrong. But you're right about one thing. I could have done it. This skill, or, to put it correctly, a gift for an accompanying skill, is available to a few entities, which can be counted on the fingers of only one hand. But it happened. And it happened suddenly, which surprised me. It takes an incredible will and a strong desire to pull this off. And not just desire. Incredible soul power is needed. And if you believe me, I was able to feel that power. Unbridled and filled with the strongest of feelings, which is love. Oddly enough, she's the one who moved you. Unknowingly and unconsciously. Yes, that's her. Shisu…