Chapter XVIII: Daylight Massacre (Pt.1)

 It was the afternoon of October 16th, the day after Tymon completed his training. Tymon, Trik, and I were at Avarice's convention looking around.

 We were inside a giant warehouse with four antennae placed around it. According to the signs posted at the entrance and the warnings on the tablets we received when entering the building, the antennae disabled everyone's c-chips to prevent any unauthorized pictures or recordings of Avarice.

 It turned out the convention was a celebration of TekTra's 30th anniversary. Thousands of wealthy men and women came to see many of TekTra's technologies displayed as their most amazing accomplishments throughout the years.

 Behind the podium was a large object hidden under a cloth. I assumed it would be revealed later as their next big breakthrough.

 "I'm not sensing anyone above average here," I said.

 "They're here," Trik stated. "They're within the building, but that's as accurate as my sensors will get."

 Out of nowhere, a voice was heard from the speakers.

 "Thirty years of world-changing breakthroughs...." it spoke.

 I couldn't see the man behind the voice; regardless, I instantly knew not to trust it. The voice was heavy and filled with patience, wisdom, and power.

 Hearing it was all it took to conclude that I couldn't talk this being into stopping anything. The mind behind this voice was methodical; he knew the precise consequences of each of his actions. Killing Tymon and causing the chaos that followed was done intentionally.

 Everyone looked to the podium as footsteps could be heard climbing it.

 "Each year and breakthrough further transformed what began as a ridiculed idea into TekTra, the most innovative and profitable organization on the planet...." Avarice continued as he walked onto the podium.

 He stood over six feet tall, was well-built, and wore a grey suit, black undershirt and shoes, and a golden tie. He had pale skin and black hair that was slicked back, except for the strand that hung over his left eye. Over his right eye was a golden mark shaped like an "S".

 I realized it was his ascension mark. Perhaps that's why he doesn't like pictures.

 "We are here today to celebrate the organization's 30th year of evolution and to introduce the world to something we've been developing for a while now," he announced.

 Avarice waved his arm as the cloth on the item behind him slid off, revealing an empty space. The crowd was silent as they stared confusingly at the open space.

 Then, with a push of a button from a remote device, the presumably empty space began to flicker as a large, high-tech cargo plane was now visible to the audience.

 After revealing some impressive stats on the plane, Avarice says his goal is to have thousands of them dominating the air shipment industry.

 The crowd was now live with anticipations and high expectations. Each was probably thinking of how the plane would further cut costs and save money. Some looked like they had more nefarious plans for the aircraft once they acquired one.

 I had to admit that I wanted one too. Once word gets around, I'm sure the Sadios and Russos will buy one, so they should too. No matter how much it cost, they had to get one. She couldn't let the others surpass them...

 Tymon nudged me.

 "Snap out of it. Use your necklace," he told me.

 I activate a small shield around me.

 Looking around, I saw everyone hungrily investing in the new plane. When I looked down at my tablet, I noticed I'd nearly done it too.

 Avarice was using his power to increase everyone's greed. They each were spending outrageous amounts of money to buy what he was offering.

 I looked up at Avarice and saw his eyes calmly scanning everyone, pleased at what he saw. As his gaze washed over everyone, it stopped when it reached us.

 Then he smirked mischievously as his eyes began to glow golden yellow.

 Suddenly, standing there with everyone made me feel like we were prey before an ancient predator that knew exactly how to manipulate us.

 I used omni-vision and saw weird energy traces leaving everyone's bodies and flowing into Avarice. It didn't look like spirit energy; instead, it was the same odd transparent energy I saw when I met Viraa.

 That must mean it was a type of energy humans couldn't see.

 "Tymon, use omni-vision on the humans, then tell me what you see," I said urgently.

 Tymon's eyes began to glow silver.

 "I don't know what that was just now, but I saw the remainder of some kind of energy enter Avarice," he claimed.

 All of a sudden, Tymon began holding his head like he was in pain. It only lasted for a moment before he said he was okay.

 "Are you sure? What was that," I asked, concerned.

 Before he could answer, my instincts forced me to pay attention to the stage as Avarice's secretary walked onto it. She whispered something into Avarice's ear. She was the same height as me, had short black hair, and wore blue jeans, dark boots, and a tight burgundy shirt. Nothing about her was extraordinary, yet everything about her seemed venomous. She felt more sinister than Tymon did when I first met him.

 On the woman's chest was a partially covered mark like a diamond with two lines reaching across her chest.

  Is that a....

 "She's a Primordial," Trik declared. "Her signature matches the second spirit residue we found. She's Despair."

 When some of the woman's sleeves rose, I spotted three dark rings around one of her wrists. Then, I saw three rings around Avarice's too. They both had three cintracies.

 I wanted to see the woman's name on her ID, so I started to use omni-vision to increase my eyesight.

 Try using it without omni-vision, Viraa said abruptly.

 What do you mean? I asked her.

 You learned how to increase your vision while using omni-vison because you thought that's where the ability came from. Now that you know the truth try to do it without omni-vision. Perhaps you'll notice a difference. Viraa said vaguely.

 Usually, when I use omni-vision, I concentrate on what I want to see then my eyesight adjusts. This time I tried it without omni-vision.

 I focused on the ID displayed on the woman's clothes. It wasn't long before my eyesight zoomed in so I could read the ID clearly.

 Viraa was right. It felt different this way, like it was less strenuous. Perhaps that was because I wasn't using omni-vision on top of it.

 I turned toward Trik and Tymon.

 "Guys, according to her nametag, her name's Verin Dolores. She's not Avarice's secretary; she's his Chief of Staff and apparently their Research Director."

 I stared at Verin as she and Avarice walked off stage. I noticed some similarities in her build and V's.

 It pained me to accuse a friend, but I had a feeling...

 "You think Verin could be V? Maybe that's why she hides her face," I asked them.

 "No," Tymon and Trik said in unison.

 "I would've noticed had she been one," Trik assured.

 "She's definitely human," Tymon added. "But I did notice she had an abnormally high amount of spirit energy. More than you, Alissia."

 That was weird, considering V wasn't from Viraa's bloodline.

 I looked around at the people roaming the warehouse to observe the displayed technologies. I wasn't sure what Avarice took from them, but it seemed to leave them all sick and weak. Yet they continued to invest in projects and technologies.

 Suddenly one by one, they began to fall. I heard screaming as more and more fell to their knees while clutching their chests.

 Before I could approach any of them, chaos ensued, and security had to escort us out of the building, where we stood for hours until the police questioned those who remained.

 We decided it would be best if we didn't point them in the direction of an alien god they couldn't do anything against. But we knew who was responsible.

 It was now evening as I gazed at the empty warehouse.

 "How could they kill so many innocent people like that," I asked in disbelief. The memory of those poor people dying before me replayed in my head. I don't know if it's because of my training, but people dying doesn't traumatize me. But seeing it firsthand still wasn't a good feeling.

 "And to think I believed I could try reasoning with someone like that...."

 "They were concealing their energy, but at least now we know who they are," Trik affirmed.

 "They were concealing it well," Tymon commented. "When I looked at them with omni-vision, I could see they had all of their spirit energy condensed into a small sphere centered in their core. It made it impossible to sense their power or see the nature of their energy."

 After that, we spent another half hour discussing Avarice and Verin as we walked.

 Then the topic changed after Tymon told us about one of the new abilities he's developed.

 He could now sense when someone would die soon. I called it his Death Sense. Viraa said it was a passive ability from being incarnate of death. Like how fish are born with gills to breathe underwater, the Death Primordial possesses the ability to sense death. Each Primordial had some power associated with their incarnate identity. She didn't want us to confuse it with a cintracy.

 Afterward, Trik grew tired of walking (floating) and suggested we go home.

 "I want to take Tymon out to celebrate him completing his training," I said excitedly.

 "Suite yourselves," Trik replied. "I'm going to take a bubble bath. I need to wash all that death off me. Never going to another convention again...."

 He muttered that last part.