Chapter 25 #2
“Before we had even caught up with each other in the maze, Steele had been attacked. I was coming through the next gate, and I invited him to come in with me,” she explained, giving Steele a smirk.
“He didn’t come very quickly and didn’t look like he was that interested.
I just shrugged and carried on, but something didn’t feel right.
So I turned around and went back and checked on him, finding him down and out. ”
“Unconscious?” Terk asked.
“Yes, he was on the ground, out cold,” Cyan described. “I managed to get him awake and on his feet. Then I didn’t waste any time and basically just got him out of there. I drove to the closest hotel so he could heal.” Then she quickly told Terk what she had done to get Steele healthy again.
Terk listened intently. “And was anybody else involved in that?”
“Not that we knew of or could have seen,” she replied.
“I mean, it was hard to see anything in the forest because, while lots of space and open areas exist, there are also lots of trees and brush.” She looked outside the nearby window and pointed.
“I suspect it’s a copy of one of the wooded areas here because the Beacon would naturally build on what is already in existence. ”
Steele added, “I had an odd sense of not being alone. Of someone else there, but, in all this time, neither of us heard or saw anything.”
“Except that laughter,” she pointed out with a shiver, turning to explain that sinister detail.
“That’s disconcerting,” Terk noted.
Steele asked him, “Then the question becomes, is somebody capable of coming in and out of that simulation? Is somebody capable of having tricked your Beacon?” Steele watched the shadow cross Terk’s face. He obviously didn’t like the thought of that, but then neither did they.
Terk stared off in the distance, as the energy heightened around them. “You bring up some very interesting points,” he replied. “Now, the question is, if anybody else saw you guys, if it was an attack—”
“What do you mean, if ?” she asked pointedly.
He waved a hand and stated, “Psychic attacks can appear physical.”
“I’ve never seen such a thing,” she stated. “A psychic attack, yes, but not in a physical form.” She frowned and turned to Steele. “Although I was physically drained after we were both attacked, and you healed me.”
“And you healed me when I was attacked, both times.”
“And why were you attacked, Cyan?” Terk asked, puzzled. “An attack on Steele here maybe makes sense but why you?”
“No clue, but it happened when we came through the maze the second time. I can only assume that because I was with him, I was considered dangerous,” she suggested, with a sigh.
“Considering both Steele and I have abilities, getting attacked and brought down is something we’re struggling with.
Our egos have taken a big hit. Someone got under not one of our guards but both.
At one point, we wondered if you had set up some testing system for people, in order to see if they had enough abilities to work with you,” she shared, with half a smile.
He gave her a puzzled expression. “That’s not what this is about.
It’s not a grading system to see if everyone makes the grade.
Abilities are so diverse that I can’t imagine the logistics of testing all those abilities and what that would even look like,” he shared.
“The most important question right now is, are you guys in need of medical treatment?” he asked, turning to look at Steele.
Steele shook his head. “No, I think we’re both okay. Both of us are decent healers,” he noted. “So, from that perspective, we’ve come out of this okay.”
“This scenario could potentially imply that this was done to challenge you, though I don’t want to say it was testing you in a bigger way but more to see what your abilities were.”
“Or they just wanted to hinder us,” she pointed out, “because it’s not as if we were dropped and somebody took us out. We were dropped, and they let us heal. So, I don’t know that it even was somebody or something .” She just sighed and added, “I don’t know what to think.”
“It could be Brent in the flesh, but his skills need to be up to par to Terk’s here.
Or… it’s the Beacon. I personally would feel better to think your Beacon got the drop on me than to think Brent did.
As Cyan said, I don’t know what to think.
” Steele kind of agreed with her on that one.
He looked over at Terk and added, “Either way, something is going on in that simulated forest of yours.”
Terk immediately nodded. “We’re taking a trip out there tonight to do a bit of work and to see just what we’re looking at.”
Steele said, “I would come with you,…” Terk shot him a surprised look, but Steele continued. “Yet I don’t think the Beacon will let me anywhere close to you.”
Terk smiled. “No, possibly not. If I can get the Beacon to let you be a part of it, I will. But you appear to be the one causing the distress to the Beacon.”
“That’s really not something I thought I would ever hear anybody say,” he muttered, shaking his head.
Terk smiled. “Things have changed tremendously in our world.”
Cyan spoke up. “The Beacon’s energy is getting stronger, and it’s becoming more… alive ,” she pointed out. “Is that from the inputted energy of your tweaks?” she asked.
Terk turned, a strange look in his gaze, and replied, “That is one way to look at it.”
“I’m not sure there’s any other way,” she stated, “especially when you consider what’s happening around you. Are you even safe from the Beacon?”
He nodded. “Absolutely, because it comes from a position of love. That’s the trick, of course. It doesn’t see you two as coming from a position of love.”
“Which for me is so incredibly insulting,” she declared.
“I know,” Terk said, wincing slightly, “and I’m not here to insult you or to tell you it’s a load of crock or anything else. I’m just sharing, from the Beacon’s parameters, you have been found wanting.”
“You know,” she declared, turning to look at Steele, “if you could figure out where Brent’s energy is, that would probably be enough to make the Beacon understand that we’re not here to hurt anybody.”
Steele frowned. “And how do you suggest we do that?”
“It appears to be piggybacked into your energy, so you’re the best person to settle up whatever is going on in your space.” When he glared at her, she smiled and added, “I know it’s no consolation, but I can’t see anything in your energy.”
“And that’s not because you can’t,” Terk pointed out. “From your perspective, his energy is now your energy, which is also the same reason why both of you cannot enter the castle. You cannot be separated. You are now effectively one set of energy, and the Beacon knows that.”
“Terk, I said it before, and I mean it even more so now. That Beacon of yours is a bit of a bitch,” Steele repeated.
Terk smiled. “Probably no shock there,” he said, “as it was built to protect.”
“But it wasn’t though, was it?” Steele asked, looking around at the visual and physical copy of Terk’s world that they were in. “Protection is a defensive stance. This is very proactive. The Beacon has taken on a new job—all on its own.”
“Yes, that is very true,” Terk acknowledged.
“It morphed into being a protector. We kept tweaking it, improving it. Part of that meant making a lot of changes. So, what we started with is not at all what we ended up with. And that’s okay,” he declared.
“However, it does mean that whatever is going on is something we didn’t see coming.
But just because we weren’t expecting it doesn’t mean it’s wrong.
It just means that we have a few more tweaks to do. ”
Steele could sense what was coming. It just needed to be stated out loud.
Terk took a deep breath. “And, from what I’m seeing right now, although it’s not a result you particularly like, it does appear to be a result that shows us the Beacon is working.”
“Yeah, it’s awesome ,” Steele quipped drily.
“I am stuck in an alternate vision with another healer, maybe trapped by your energy Beacon that’s changing and adapting as we speak.
That’s just great .” Steele chuckled. “Oh, and, not to forget to mention, I’ve been found wanting, as I’m supposedly carrying energy of an enemy from my past.”
“And yet how do you know it’s from your past?” Terk asked.
Cyan interrupted, “It would be hot and easily seen if it were recent. This is fully integrated into his energetic system and has likely been there many years. We also don’t know if Brent’s abilities have accelerated as well and could have done something to keep himself hidden all this time.”
“So, the Beacon is doing exactly what it’s meant to do.
” Terk smiled at them both. “Which is very good news. It also means that Brent’s energy needs to be rousted out of Steele’s because, now that the two of you are connected, it can also hurt Cyan here.
So kicking out Brent’s energy must be a delicate operation. ”
Steele froze at that. As the truth went, that one had not really settled in his brain yet.
Still, since they were connected,… then, yes, this energy, if it could hurt him, it could also hurt her.
And anyone else connected to the two of them.
And that literally meant Terk and his family.
So, yes, the Beacon, as much as Steele hated to admit it, was doing exactly what it was supposed to do.
He stood up, shaking his head. “I’ll just take a walk outside and cool off. A lot is going on in my head.”
Cyan said, “You shouldn’t be alone out there.”
“It’s fine. I just need to think things through.”
“Go easy,” she replied, a gentle smile on her face.
“It’s not just the Beacon you have to worry about now.
” Steele turned to her, waiting. She shrugged.
“I highly suspect that, if Brent’s hook into your energy were dormant energy, the Beacon wouldn’t have cared.
But, if this dormant energy has been triggered in some way, is now active, potentially causing harm, or even looking to cause harm, then the Beacon sensed it.
Hence why you’re under lockdown. So just be aware that whatever you might see out there, or whatever you might unexpectedly come across, it could be something you really don’t want to find. ”
“I didn’t want to find any of this,” he snapped, staring at her. He held up a hand forestalling the words that were ready to tumble out of her mouth. “I know you’re not trying to upset me, but I have to step outside and take a breath.”
With that, he walked over to the door, and it opened without his even having to do anything. He groaned but stepped outside, then called out, “Nice world we all live in.”
And the door closed firmly behind him.