FATIMA HAD THE second floor of the building above their base of operations prepared for her team. Everyone got a room, except for the guards that were taking turns in manning the halls and taking a nap in their quarters.

After cleaning herself and dressing in comfortable clothes, Asceia, who was alone in her room, decided to lay down her body on the bed and closed her eyes. She opened her mind, trying to reach anyone in the sea that was silent for days. Pouring her full concentration, she found something. A thin thread of voice suddenly emerged from the silence. In the darkness, the image of her Goddess Aesercean appeared. And she noticed something was wrong.

“Goddess Aesercean...”

“Asceia...this is dangerous. Yrevia can listen to us.”

“I know what she’s planning,” she said, ignoring her warning. “She’s been altering human biology using memraes. She’s building an army.”

“You need to stop her...at all cost. She’s going to end our world and this planet just to have her revenge. She is too blinded by anger right now. Be careful and prepare for what will come---”

Then again, her communication with her goddess was cut off. She opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling for a minute. She sighed thinking of what she will do to stop Yrevia. She was too powerful and five steps ahead. Dismantling her plan is next to impossible now that she was the only sercean on this side and fighting against the many. She knew it was not easy, but she was willing to fight.

She took a deep breath and cleared her mind. She was about to drift to sleep when she heard something from outside, surrounding the building. She quickly opened her eyes, only to see that she was in a different place. She got up having no clue of what just occurred. She felt the need to see what was the noise, so she walked slowly to the nearest window, and slightly sweep the curtains just enough for her eyes to peek.

In the darkness, she saw movements. Armed men in black are heading inside the building. And the next thing she knew was the flying gas canisters that were sent for her room. She stepped back and used her arms as a shield against the shards of glass flying after the glass windows were broken to pieces.

“What the fuck is happening...”

Instantly, the room was filled with white smoke. Naturally, the gas doesn’t have any effect on her system, except that it has a weird smell. But it was clouding her vision. She heard suppressed gunshots from all directions. Quickly, she lay down on the floor and pretended she was sleeping. She tried to reach Troy, Fatima, and Marko. But she can’t feel their telepathic connections. She can’t brush the feeling that they might be in danger.

A few seconds later, her focus was shifted to the door that was busted open. With her eyes closed, the only thing she was having to detect the presence of the men that came in were their scent, heavy breaths in the gas masks they were wearing, and their footsteps on the floor.

“Clear out the fog.”

“I have eyes on the target. We’ll bring her out now.”

The moment a glove-covered hand touched and pulled her arm, she extended her barbed stinger. At the same time, she pulled him closer and stabbed his exposed neck. She quickly snatched his gun from the holster and let his body drop on top of her. She felt how the bullets were buried in his body that served as a shield. She also felt the warm blood that flowed out of his bullet wounds that were staining her clothes, wrapping her skin, and spilling to the floor. In return, she shot the three men surrounding her but one of them managed to shoot her on her side.

She pushed the body off of her and stood back up. Using her free hand, she covered her side to apply pressure and slow the bleeding. She just endured the pain. Bringing the gun, she stepped outside the room and was greeted by men. Before they could open fire, she rained them with bullets first. Seconds later, no one was left standing. But before she could take another step, she fell to her knees. Her sight was blurred, she was feeling dizzy, and started breathing hard. She lost control of her body and fell to the floor.

Feeling how her face hit the floor, Asceia gasped and found herself back on her bed again. She was panting and her hands were shaking. She immediately reached for the side of her stomach and felt no wound there, but she can still feel the pain. She stared at the ceiling for a minute, trying to recall what just happened. She ran through it in her mind, scene by scene trying to make sense of it. And then it hit her. She quickly got up and left her room, she went out and looked for Fatima’s room. Before long, she found it not far from hers. She knocked on the door until it opened. She was greeted by Fatima, who was still wearing her corporate dress, with a very tired face.

“What is it?” Fatima rubbed her eyes.

“I think a sercean is in danger,” she telepathically said. “I can’t save him or her without your resources.”

“What do you mean?” Fatima opened the door widely. “Come in.”

“After the experimentation of humans to our brain, our telepathic connections became stronger. It broke this wall and now we’re able to share memories, thoughts, skills, and more. And I just had an episode of it, one of us was attacked and I don’t know where he or she is right now. It felt so real like I was in there,” she explained as she got into her room.

“Can you reach that sercean again?”

“I don’t know...I’ll try.” She closed her eyes and concentrated her mind on searching for any sercean’s consciousness. “I got nothing.” She was frustrated.

“I think I got something to help you. I want to introduce you to something.” She looked at the clock on the wall. “We still got time before the sun rises. Come with me to the lab.”

••°°••

AS THE LIGHT flooded the whole laboratory. Fatima walked to the right side of the room where there was only an empty wall. She went to the edge of it and opened a small box, she pressed a series of numbers and after pressing the last button, the wall shook lightly. The next thing she witnessed was how the wall rose slowly, revealing the set of weapons and devices stored. Fatima went inside the hidden space and took a white helmet.

“This was developed by Troy’s parents. They took interest in studying the telepathy of serceans. According to them, through this, your telepathic abilities will be amplified.”

She nodded and just followed her back to the room where she was once cured.