I came to with the pod lid yawning open above me, a cold strip of light slicing my vision. My first breath was a chemical cocktail, ozone, antiseptic, something earthy like wet metal, and under that, the musk of beasts. Voices murmured somewhere nearby. Machinery hummed. Cages rattled.
And then it hit me: emotion.
Not mine. Everyone else’s.
It pressed in like an invisible crowd. Primal anger flared on one side, brittle frustration on the other. Hunger, pain, curiosity, amusement. The place was a kaleidoscope of feeling, and my new brain decided to tune in on all frequencies at once.
Vex was across the room, leaning in toward Vulkred. Her lips were moving, but I wasn’t listening. I could feel her instead, that sharp little spike of amusement cutting through a layer of irritation.
Vulkred was easier. I brushed him and found myself knee -deep in gnawing impatience, the kind that grinds down molars.
And then the floodgates blew.
An avalanche of raw sensation crashed over me: terror, agony, animal rage, confusion. It was so sharp it almost tore me out of my own skin. I shoved myself upright and saw the source.
A Nether beast crouched in a cage across the med bay. Its body was a ruin of muscle and carapace, experimental ports drilled into its spine. I felt its hunger like a spear in my gut, its hate like static behind my eyes.
I slid off the pod and stumbled toward the cage. Its emotions spiked hotter with each step, hostility, and a clear promise to rip me apart if it ever got the chance.
I locked eyes with it. Focused. Breathed.
And then I tried something stupid.
I reached for it. Not with hands, deeper. For one sharp moment, I was it. The creature’s heartbeat slammed in my chest. Its wounds, my own. It’s fear, my fear.
Settle.
It lowered itself to the floor. A slow, twitchy calm. The snarls ebbed into unsteady breaths.
Now for the opposite. I pictured noise, violence. A sound welled up from its chest and spilled out in a hollow, gut-wrenching howl.
I blinked and the beast was still screaming.
Behind me, silence. I turned. Vex and Vulkred were frozen in place, staring like they’d just watched me sprout wings.
“Go on,” I muttered, raising a hand at the beast.
It tilted its head at them and, divines help me, gave a clumsy little wave with its claw.
Arvie’s voice unspooled in my head, laughing. “See their faces? Priceless.”
I dug deeper, trying to root myself fully in the beast’s mind. A mistake.
Suddenly, I was the one in the cage. Pain was my skin, raw and alien. Hunger gnawed at me like fire. I could smell my own blood, taste it on teeth that weren’t mine.
I tore free with a violent gasp, like I’d been drowning.
The beast was cowering now, jammed in a corner, shaking so hard I could feel it in my bones.
“All right, easy,” Vex’s voice cut through. She was at my side, one hand steadying my back.
“I… I was it,” I said, still shaking. “In the cage. Hurt. Hungry. Then…” I made a sharp slicing motion. “I lost it.”
Every other cages erupted in a chain-reaction scream, a choir of terror. Beasts clawing steel.
I clenched my fists. “Enough.” The word cracked like a whip.
Silence.
The med bay froze, human and otherwise.
Arvie hummed, smug with satisfaction. “Oh, look at you. King of the damned. I’m so proud.”
Vulkred and the med techs stared, all of them trying to puzzle out what had just happened. Vex’s eyes, though, they were fixed on me, sharp, searching.
I looked away. Bad idea. She grabbed my arm and pulled me back.
“What exactly is your enhancement?”
I swallowed. “I can feel emotions. Manipulate them. Persuade, dominate… maybe even take control. Possess.”
Her eyebrows climbed like they were escaping.
Vulkred blinked at me, wide-eyed. “Never heard of anything like that.”
Vex’s voice dropped a notch. “Can you possess people?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “Guess it’d be harder than beasts.”
The tidal wave came again, everyone’s emotions trying to blow through me. I shoved it down, tried to wall it off before I drowned in it.
“Where’s Aedan?” I asked, shaking my head.
“Went to find Larek,” Vex said.
“Then we follow.”
I could feel them watching me differently now. Curiosity, sure, but also wariness. They were suddenly self-conscious about their own emotions bleeding out where I could touch them.
I needed to get better at shutting it out, at making it clear I wasn’t prying. But first, business.
We reached Larek’s office and found him with Aedan, locked in a low, clipped exchange. He cut it off the moment he saw us and rose, gesturing at the seats across his desk.
“How do you feel?”
“Fine,” I lied.
Aedan didn’t waste time. “Larek’s decided we’re going to hit Vult Rive and disband them before they regroup.”
“Good,” I said. “And after that? I’m hoping you’ll help regulate the lower city gangs. I’ve got people to protect now. A cult, apparently.”
That earned me a small flicker of something in Larek’s expression, quick as a glitch. “I can spare two droid guards. No more.”
“That’s more than I expected. Thank you.” I nodded. “And my people can help you with the Vult Rive operation. We’re motivated.”
I hesitated, then tried my luck. “One more thing. My rifle. Can I…”
“No,” he said. “Weapons of that caliber are banned until the city stabilizes.”
I didn’t argue. “Understood.”
We left the Directorate together, masks sealing over their faces, as the doors shut behind us. Outside, the fractured dome bled dusk light into the crater, painting the ruins in cold, temple hues, eerie and beautiful at once.
We skirted the edge of the abyss, weapons ready. That’s when I felt it, something primal, waiting, just beyond the fog.
On a whim, I reached out. It wasn’t clean or easy, but after a few moments, I hooked into it: a Nether beast, poised to strike.
A ripple of resistance crawled up my spine as I forced it forward, closer, until it broke through the fog.
It emerged like a nightmare clawing into daylight. Aedan nearly shot it.
“Don’t,” I said.
They held their fire as it trudged closer, each step an act of forced obedience. Now it walked at our side like some grotesque bodyguard.
I didn’t need to read anyone’s emotions to feel their shock. Aedan’s mask couldn’t hide the wide-eyed look of what in the void are you. Vex and Vulkred looked only marginally less rattled.
I let it hang for a moment, then said, “Go.”
The beast slipped back into the fog, gone without a glance.
I turned deadpan to the others. “Satisfied? I’m ready for the mission now.”13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6g9UwEGoE3
That cracked them. Laughter spilled out, raw and unplanned, breaking through the tension as we approached the Breather chamber’s hatch.
Arvie’s voice purred as the door loomed closer. “Look at you. Cult leader, beast whisperer, amateur god, already practicing dominion over the damned. Next you’ll want a throne. Let’s get the cushions ready.”
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