Chương 31: The Historian

There was no time to do more than think fast and act quickly. The instant Scarlet brushed against that foreign presence, it moved. She disappeared the last of what she'd been handling into her storage bag on instinct, snatched up her cane, and had barely slipped her jacket over her shoulders before it was at the inner door. There was nowhere to hide, and she doubted something that could lock on to her through walls would fail to find her in the small room anyway.

The being did something that made all the energy in the room flare up for a moment. Then the door swung open. Scarlet was backed up against the wall, her hand clenched around her cane, the other on the strap of her bag. Then the door swung inward. What stood there was not like any creature she had seen before. Not remotely. It was not particularly tall, standing at nearly 4. 8ft or 146cm. It was bipedal, one might even have called it a humanoid.

But to Scarlet it was too obviously its own creature for her to feel accurate calling it a human derivative. The being was covered in immaculate white fur, save for subtle gradients of silver around the ears and shoulders, with a long, elegantly groomed tail flicking behind them in a way that somehow managed to convey both eagerness and refinement. They wore layered robes in rich creams, and browns, and muted golds, embroidered with symbols Scarlet found enchanting, though she did not recognize it.

The person – and it appeared they were a person – carried themselves with the kind of casual, effortless dignity usually reserved for people who had never once questioned whether they belonged, regardless of where they found themselves. The creature looked like a fox. Like an anthropomorphic fox. That tracked; 'Vulpian Empire', 'Earthen Fox'.

Scarlet had been through much bigger revelations just that day, and her exhausted mind was happy to accept a fox person was just a 'thing' now with much less resistance than perhaps it should have. Almost reflexively she threw out an Inspect. Firing the Skill was almost an instinct. [██████ "The Historian" ██████ Tier: 2 Level: 2x] A lance of pain drove directly into her mind. It felt like someone had shoved a spoon through the back of her skull and then begun churning. The pain was overwhelming, and invasive.

Her vision swam. Nausea rolled through her so hard she had to catch herself against the sink to stay upright.

"Oh," the creature said, voice rich and articulate, and slightly lower pitched than Scarlet would've imagined.

"Oh dear, my dear," the creature tutted, then nodded to itself.

"Skill backlash. A truly awful thing. Though a lesson in etiquette that we must all learn for ourselves apparently," they said, more to himself than to her. She wanted to say the creature was male based on the timbre of their voice, but what the heck did she know about fox person physiology? Scarlet stared at him through watering eyes. He tilted his head, studying her back with open fascination.

"Don't you worry. It should go away quickly. The contract capped my power, so the backlash shouldn't be too bad." What? Scarlet swallowed against the nausea, lips thinning as she straightened herself back up. For all their other strangeness, the fox person, The Historian she supposed, had not lied about the pain from the backlash going away quickly. The Historian shook their head, before focusing on her.

If she'd thought the look it had given her before was intense, this one felt like they were trying to peer through her. Their expressions had shifted so many times that for the first time in her life, she was aggrieved her natural empathy wasn't screaming his emotions to her.

"Oh," The Historian breathed, and Scarlet could feel that there was meaning layered into the word.

"Oh my." Scarlet began to feel it. There was a strange pressure around her. It was something she'd sensed before, but hadn't actively registered in her panic. The energy was both foreign and familiar, and decidedly not mana. And it was surrounding her. It was mostly focused on her solar plexus and brain, which didn't reassure her in the slightest. Her brain was important for obvious reasons, and her solar plexus was where she'd discovered her mana heart was.

Not exactly places you want strong foreign energies probing about. She stiffened instantly. It was obvious the energy wasn't doing or getting whatever it wanted. So, the fox person just kept increasing the concentration of energy. That there was enough for her to feel it was proof of that. From what she could tell, the energy wasn't failing at its task due to lack of access.

There was no doubt in Scarlet's mind that if this being had wanted to do something malicious to her with that energy there was nothing she would be able to do. Scarlet couldn't feel anything nefarious going on, but that was hardly reassurance considering that even with all that perception she hadn't felt what the fox person was doing in the first place. Eventually, The Historian stared at her, pouring in more and more energy until they flinched. One hand came up briefly to touch the side of their head.

"Well, that is a nasty little skill," they said after a beat, sounding almost delighted. Scarlet did not respond. His gaze narrowed, not with suspicion, but analytically.

"Where are you from?" he asked. The smile on The Historian's face dimmed for the first time since the conversation began, and his face transformed into something serious and intense.

"Tell me, is it a newly integrated world?" Scarlet just looked at the creature as she sorted through calculations in her mind. That question spiked half a dozen fresh questions and concerns that she couldn't help but catalogue and sort through. However, what struck her more immediately was what she heard when the creature spoke. The actual sounds entering her ears. For a moment she could comprehend a thing the false person was saying.

Her mind had separated the sound of his voice from her understanding of the actual words. Because while she did understand the actual words, they were not in English, nor were they in Mandarin, or Swahili, or any of the other languages she spoke. In fact, this wasn't like any language system she'd brushed upon before. The phonetics were wrong. Entirely alien. Some of the sounds might have even been structurally impossible for human vocal cords to replicate.

Her silence to whatever they'd said last was apparently all the signal the creature needed that she was not entirely present. The Historian's ears twitched. One of the fluffy ones. From on top of their head. Scarlet's day got stranger by the second. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"Yes," The Historian said, stretching the word out as he did.

"I can say with almost 100% certainty that you're probably from a newly integrated world." Scarlet's grip on her cane tightened.

"What would make you say that?" She asked. They barked out something between a laugh and a delighted cough flashing some very sharp teeth. It occurred to her that, to the best of her knowledge, she was isolated with a strange creature of unknowable power. Though all she really needed to know about it was that it was, at this point, was that she wouldn't even be a match for this person. And if nothing else, she was sure of that. She suddenly, intensely, missed Maus.

She didn't worry about any potential repercussions as she took firm control of her emotions. She recognized on some level that she was essentially adjusting the dosages of chemicals flooding her system, that or she was somehow manipulating the parts of her mind and body meant to fire off certain signals. She didn't care. This apparently non-hostile creature could be a terrible threat, but also an incredible potential resource. Scarlet did not lower her guard.

The fox person's gaze traced over her briefly, noting her cane, first, and eyeing the bandages peeking out of her cuff. They tilted their head.

"Do you believe I will hurt you?" They asked, rather pragmatically.

"I believe that we all have a capacity for violence." Scarlet replied, tone even as she went about literally forcing calm.

"True enough for most, I suppose." The Historian tilted back their head and squinted their eyes in thought, as he pulled something from a fold in their robe that it appeared functioned as a pocket. What was in his hands looked like shiny amber and deep brown beads, all strung together in a pattern. One arm went behind his back, while the other came up in front of his chest where he proceeded to rub the crystals with his thumb.

"Armed and injured. Powerful shielding and investigation. Absolutely no decorum, but so much psionic potential, and if I haven't missed my mark, a newly integrated human. How refreshing." He smiled, and it was somehow both smug and genuinely delighted.

"I'm right, aren't I little human." It felt absurd that he called her that while he was shorter than even her, but she still had a firm grasp of her emotions, and the state of forced calm she was now actively maintaining. At Scarlet's continued silence, The Historian frowned a little.

"Well, little human. We won't be able to have any kind of conversation if you won't even speak to me."

"Would you consider allowing me to feel your energy?" Scarlet asked carefully. It had been a calculated risk, asking like that. Thankfully, the outcome paid off. She knew The Historian knew she had tried to do something to it, and she also knew it knew something about what she'd done. She just didn't have the specifics. Her guess proved right when the fox grinned.

"Energy? Is that what you call your psionics?" She knew it. Oh, she knew it, she knew it, she knew it! Vindication! Her empathy and the energy were two different things, and she knew it was different from her mana as well. The energy and the description of her trait were finally beginning to line up in her mind. She wanted to whip out one of her notebooks right now and put a mark next to that theory. Fortunately for her, she could throttle happy feelings just as effectively as the negative ones.

"Little human, do you even realize what you are asking me to do? Yes, you must be from a newly integrated world. With power like yours and no manners about you." Their eyes narrowed.

"Though considering you are from a newly integrated world, I can perhaps understand.

"Alright then. It's not as though you could harm me." The Historian Laughed.

"Okay, human, I shall ease up on my Obscuration for a moment." The way he said the word 'obscuration' landed strangely in Scarlet's ear. While the meaning was transferred to her mind, she somehow knew the word wasn't quite the word. Before she got a chance to ask, the vulpine figure, something had shifted. Suddenly Scarlet could properly feel him. Yes, the creature was male. She hadn't realized she could sense that aspect of a person. She was increasingly convinced this wasn't just her Empathy.

Actively delving into someone's emotions was different than passively scanning them, or the other thing she'd tried to do earlier. This time, when Scarlet's energy touched The Historian, she experienced the cleanest emotional read she had ever received from another sapient being. Curiosity, some vigilance, a lot of fascination and amusement, and something that might have been compassion, though Scarlet couldn't be sure. What she didn't detect was malice, or overt aggression, or predatory intent.

She'd had enough experience with those emotions that she'd know. Her conclusion was that while The Historian didn't feel harmless they also didn't feel immediately dangerous or threatening. She had never had this kind of clarity before. Not with anyone. Perhaps going for a while without interacting with another true sapient being - Maus didn't count - had helped provide clarity through contrast. Or perhaps this creature's emotions were more clear and less muddled than a human being's?

Or perhaps she was getting stronger. The Historian watched her. Scarlet was still, her expressions held in check.

"Thank you," she said. and her expression shift and seemed inordinately pleased with himself.

"Tell you what, I'll leave my shields down for you. It's not as though I truly need them up around here." His expression and emotions both displayed a sense of magnanimity and smug superiority. He waved his hand around vaguely, perhaps to indicate what he meant by 'around here', and only then seemed to remember they were still in the boot room, or whatever the tiny entrance chamber was. Then His gaze drifted over her again, more clinically now.

"You are in dreadful condition," he said. Scarlet exhaled.

"Yes."

"And you feel…" He trailed off, sniffing the air a little bit. Scarlet felt when his energy probed her delicately. Now that she felt it, she doubted she'd ever miss it again.

"You feel incomplete," he finished. Regardless of what he meant by it, the statement landed like a knife. Once more, her firm grip on her emotions prevented her from giving anything away. Then, because apparently The Historian and tact were rarely in proximity, he kept going:"Was it a recent death?" he asked. At this, Scarlett did allow her face to pull into a subtle frown. Thankfully, The Historian took a step back.

"Ah, apologies, apologies. It isn't good of me to pry. But do tell me, how long since your integration?" Wait, wasn't Scarlet supposed to be getting information out of him? She pinched her lips together. He just watched her, his tail swishing in a lazy arc behind him. They both stood in silence for a while, though The Historian's eyes bounced from place to place. Eventually he nodded.

"I think we'd be better served having this conversation in a location more conducive to our, mutual curiosity." Scarlet was still for a second as she did some mental calculations. First, The Historian knew she was curious, and that she wanted his information. To be fair, if he deduced she was newly integrated, then that wasn't exactly hard to put together. However, now he wanted her to leave this room. Leave the space she knew and to go into that space she'd barely been able to feel out.

She didn't even know if she would be in the tower proper or if she'd be able to leave if she followed him. Still, mutual curiosity signified that the creature wasn't opposed to being asked and answering questions and sharing information. If nothing else, she'd always been able to count on her ability to sense people's true emotions, so long as she had access. She wondered if the historian realized just how much about him she could sense now that he'd left himself open.

Of course, that didn't mean much, considering she had none of the finesse he seemed to have when it came to stealth. The Historian stepped back towards the interior doorway, allowing more space between them, as well as leading the way out by example. Scarlet tested her senses outward again. It would appear whatever the fox person had done to ease his own Obscuration had worked for the tower as well. She could feel just how vast the space beyond truly was.

No wonder she had struggled to make sense of anything through the walls. It wasn't that her senses had failed, they were being blocked. The space she now felt beyond was enormous. Far larger than she had assumed. Almost never ending, actually.

"Come on then," he said. It seemed he couldn't sense her use of energy, as long as she wasn't using it on him. Or maybe he did, but because she posed so little threat, he simply had no reaction to it? Either way, Scarlet was immensely confused by what she was feeling. There was a room. Then nothing. It was almost like the world stopped between this room and the next. The door was open, but she could see nothing beyond it.

The Historian stepped through and seemed to simply disappear past the void where a view of the next room should have been. Taking a deep breath and artificially choking any sense of trepidation she might feel, she stepped past the doorway… and into an even tinier room than the first one. This room was entirely dark stone, though it was incredibly dull, grey. The room itself was lit up from below by the light of one of the most beautiful things she'd ever seen.

Patterns were inscribed throughout the floor in an intricate design Scarlet wanted to sink into. She was so busy looking at the beautiful designs, she almost failed to notice The Historian's use of mana. Almost. Her head whipped back around and she stared at him.

"You've teleported before, right? Of course you have. You're in a pocket world," he answered his own questions. Scarlett straightened out, and stared at the bead-rubbing fox-person, wincing when her wounds pinched.

"Teleportation," she mumbled as the lights below them flared.