"You know, you could at least acknowledge our existence every now and again." The Seeking Drake prompted. His masculine body turning into a feminine one once more, before he started jabbing a slender finger at his target.

"Couldn't hurt."

The echo did not even look his way.

Instead, he pretended to be enthralled by all the luxury stored within the armored car.

"Wow!" He said with far too much enthusiasm. "They have a cooler filled with all kinds of stuff!"

"Don't bother." The man on the driver's seat snapped with some hints of annoyance.

"All the good stuff's been taken. On account of you being so young and all. You can forget about the rum and vodka at least."

He paused to take out a flask from his thick leather jacket and then swallowed a large, long gulp. His throat working as he brought the flask higher and higher.

"Whew. That's the stuff." He belched. "Almost enough to make me forget what kind of killing machine I have behind me."

"My grandson is not a killing machine." Grandpa Gus interjected. His tone professional, though carrying a hint of venom.

"Sure he's not Gus. Other heroes are just nervous to meet him is all. Him disemboweling an A-Rank in half a second has nothing to do with the kind of reception management has planned for him. No sir. The other young'uns at the compound are just chomping at the bit to meet him."

The Seeking Drake groaned. Then he turned to the rest of us.

"How much longer must we suffer this drivel Sully!?" He roared. In a way that sounded cute with his female human form, but who would have most of the Labyrinth fainting if they'd known it was him saying it.

"I think I might actually start considering suicide if I have to put up with this any longer! I don't even have the option to laugh at your torment anymore! He…"

He pointed to the echo.

"He's just so damn happy now! Nothing I say gets to him! I even threatened to kill your friend Henry and wear his skin for a year before revealing my true identity and this younger you didn't even flinch! He's a monster I tell you!"

Frigid Bloodline, still in human form, raised a hand and opened his mouth as if to say something. But no words left his mouth and he ended up shaking his head in disbelief instead.

Mercy interjected and said something rude, but I wasn't paying attention to them. To any of them.

Instead, I was paying attention to the newly emerging ripples in the sky. A small, waving pattern where a cloud had once been.

"Mercy." I spoke softly. Trying to keep my voice steady without any Shifter powers to draw upon. "Are you feeling that?"

"Feeling what?" She sighed. "I can't even read these Intruder's minds properly Sully. I don't know what it is you want me to…"

"Be quiet." The Seeking Drake snapped. His voice flat and cold. Devoid of any emotion it might have had a second ago.

He had dropped the pretense, which let me know he had felt it too.

"Telepath powers? Or your old instincts?" I asked.

"The latter." He responded. His face growing new feelers tipped with eyes.

"We are in danger."

That made Mercy and Frigid stop too.

"I am in danger. Real danger." He licked his lips. "I had not felt like this since Lady Agony chased me through the Labyrinth. Her and others summoning their Veiled Princes to tear reality apart."

He licked his lips again and I saw that his tongue had split into three. All ending in stingers.

"What is going on, Sully?"

"This isn't really the past." I said with a definitive edge. Before then looking at the echo.

"And that is not really me. It carries my emotions and is sort of a copy, but it is still not the original. He only has my powers because of where we are. Here, in the vortex that used to house one of the cornerstones of the System. Time and reality are somewhat confused, in that both of us cannot have powers at the same time since each of us could go our separate ways. But this place is not one that was meant to be found. By anyone. This isn't supposed to happen."

I gulped.

"The System was held together here. By my power and that of others. Both those who have been born and those yet to be born. It has existed like this before I was even born. And no one but us have managed to find a way in. It was impossible to get near while my side was still tied. And now…now the guardians are scattered. The ones I started to find at the edges of my Domain when I started preparing for the confrontation with Hazimon. The Flat Ones."

"Flat Ones?" Frigid asked.

"I only call them that because of how they looked to my senses. It was as if they'd… I don't know. Crawled out of a flat surface without gaining a proper 3-d shape. As if they'd slipped out from a System window."

"I have never seen such a thing." Mercy interrupted. "In fact, until we shared our memories, I had never even considered they existed. Are we speaking of some advanced version of Intruders?"

"Well, if you'd like to simplify it, sure."

Her eyes widened.

"Oh. I see. They are Intruders directly empowered by several Divines. The ones holding the System together."

I looked at them.

They looked back at me.

Not a word was said after that, but all three turned to glance at the happy, humming figure of the echo.

I looked up at the cloud again. Noticing how the rippling had gone.

"They are gone for now, as I said. But that doesn't mean they'll be gone forever. We should leave before any one of them think to return and investigate."

"You don't need to tell me twice." The Drake huffed. Now relaxing once more before turning on the echo himself.

"Hey, Young Sully. I know you heard everything we just said. You should let loose a lot of Psy at once into the air. If you do that, we'll be gone forever and you don't need to think about any of us, ever again. You already know you're a Shifter and an Enhancer, why not indulge me in this one request?"

The echo paused and relayed the message to the past version of grandpa and his new companion.

"Fuck no." The large man hissed.

"Absolutely not." Grandpa followed up. "I don't know what Psy is, but if they mean the energy that powers Esper abilities, then releasing a bunch of it into the air when we don't know what your powers can do is tantamount to attempted murder. In that you might be fine afterwards, but the people around you might suffer severe lacerations and penetrative trauma."

"Just like your last victim."

"Shut up Roy. My grandson has no victims. If anything, Edward got what was coming to him for being so unimaginably stupid. I mean, who goes around charging at a new Esper without at least probing him with a few attacks first?"

"Hey. I'm not denying Eddy's an idiot." Roy said while putting his arms up. "That fact's not up for debate anymore at least.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

He took another swig of his canteen.

The sky above rippled some more.

A gust of wind carrying a couple of garbage bags outside the car froze solid and then stopped altogether.

We all looked at each other again.

"Okay kid, listen up. Think to yourself, has there been a single Rift opening since you started seeing me? Anywhere in the world? You don't think them suddenly stopping is even a little bit suspicious?"

The echo ignored him.

Roy continued.

"But anyways. Eddy can think about his mistakes from his therapist's couch. That don't matter none to the rest of us. What we need to worry about is murder-machine Junior back there loosing control again and spearfishing someone who won't make it past a few seconds."

"My grandson is not a murder machine."

"Sure thing Gus. Whatever you say."

Roy then addressed the echo. All while keeping his eyes on the road.

"Listen up murder kid. I don't know much about the specifics of powers. Not an Esper myself you see. I have no idea what those four fellas in your head are telling you or how they have anything to do with your particular gifts. Powers are weird like that sometimes. You just have to live with it. But I will keep in mind that, by your own admission, the first one was telling you to do drugs and set things on fire before you met the others. Now, that sounds like a fun time in Kabul if you ask me, but not everyone is built like me. So you should probably not listen to what they're saying without at least thinking it through a bit."

He took a third swig. Deeper than the others.

Then, after draining the canteen, he put it back in his leather jacket and pulled out a second one.

"But nevermind that. Name's Roy kid. Advanced tutor for the elite Enhancers in North America and sometimes Asia. Or wherever the bigwigs send me after renting me out for a few months. Point is. I don't do complicated. I do simple. And there is nothing more simple than Enhancer training. No matter what those brain-dead morons back at the lab think."

Frigid Bloodline clacked his mandibles angrily.

Mercy scoffed.

"Wow Sully. You humans really are the very picture of humility." She said.

"Indeed." Frigid agreed. "I know we might be trapped here while Intruders beyond the tenth Tier gather above us, but at least we can spend some valuable time making friends with an expert on par with the Dragon."

"Now that's a bit unfair." I countered. "I actually know this guy too. He was dying in a hospital bed in Texas from liver failure when I gave my people powers back in Hong Kong. Sure he might not be the humblest man out there, but he made an honest living in his later years and he did train a lot of Enhancers in how to best utilize their gifts. For someone without access to the System, that's impressive."

"So, you're saying he knows what he's talking about?" The Seeking Drake pressed.

"Oh goodness no." I clarified. "He's a bodybuilder and a former soldier, so he's good at training his body and killing things efficiently, but that's about it. I would never compare him to the Dragon."

The echo then did something completely unexpected. He listened to us in silence for once and relayed our words to Roy once more.

The man stopped himself before taking his fifth swig.

"Oh? Is that what the voices in your head are saying about me?" He chuckled. "Damn. And I never revealed any of that to ya kid. You might actually be a Telepath on top of being a…"

"I'm not a Telepath." The echo cut him off.

"Then how did you know I was a vet?" Roy pressed him. "You must have known, because that voice in your head knew and the voice isn't real. Not like you're actually possessed by a quartet of actual ghosts."

He chuckled.

"Most people don't know this too, but predicting the future is something some Telepaths can do."

Grandpa Gus clicked his tongue.

"Could you please stop divulging state secrets in front of my grandson Roy?"

"Maybe. If I was sober."

"Keep this up and I'll get the call to shoot you one of these days."

Roy laughed.

"Go right ahead! Your precious monster grandson here went and predicted I'd die in hospital bed from liver failure!"

"You don't need to be a Telepath to predict that." Grandpa snapped again. "I mean, my goodness man. Your breath feels like a punch to the face. How much liquor have you had today?"

"I'm not a Telepath." The echo insisted. "Stop saying that."

"Of course you're not a Telepath." Roy agreed. "And I'm not into busty cat-girls wearing string bikinis. Don't believe the allegations son. Always keep true to your truth."

"You sick fuck. Stop talking to my grandson."

"Big words coming from the guy who shot up all those protesters."

"Wait what?" The echo asked suddenly.

"Nevermind that Sully." Roy burped. Backing up his seat before pulling his legs up on the dashboard. His thick cowboy boots landing with a thud.

"Now here's the trick to being in-tune with your Enhancer side Sully. Listen up because I'm only going to have to say this a hundred more times in the future to get it through your thick skull. No offense to you of course. I just know this from experience."

He took yet another swig.

"What you need to do is only care about yourself."

"As long as the exercise is happening." Grandpa Gus interjected.

"Yeah. What he said. Don't actually turn into a selfish prick during your normal life. What you need to do is concentrate on your body. Any part of your body. Pay it your full attention and keep that attention on it. Blocking out anything and everything else. Then spread that attention to other parts of your body. Imagine it as being lathered in butter."

"Why butter?"

"Don't ask. Anyway, imagine warm butter all over you. Spreading through your skin. Then imagine it getting hotter and hotter inside your skin. Inside your veins. Inside your heart. Swirl it around and then stop listening to the world around you. Stop listening to the air and the sound of puppies on the street. Stop listening to the cars around us and stop smelling the alcohol in my mouth. Stoop minding the nice leather seats and stop looking outside the windows. Nothing matters but you. Nothing matters but your body. Nothing matters but the butter spreading and moving around and…"

The echo had stopped listening to him.

Following the instructions given to him almost to the letter.

He closed himself off from us. From the car. From his senses. From the outside world and the universe.

And although he was a foreign, false thing made of Psy and memories, I connected with him and saw what he saw. Felt what he felt.

There was the lake. Black and lightless. As it had ever been. Only now it was all around us. Since we were, of course, still in Pandemonium.

The echo felt this, but… but he just assumed it was part of the exercise.

Roy was still going on and on about how much effort it took and about how all his students needed months to even begin to get it right and how they would be practicing with all kinds of robots and Rift spawn.

The echo heard none of it. I barely heard the speech. So enthralled were we Savants over the spectacle.

The lake began to churn around him. The echo's mind conjuring a layer of Psy that repelled the unreality. Focusing only on himself.

The power gathered into his body, into his heart and the waters began to beat against him with renewed ferocity.

The echo didn't feel the pressure. The echo didn't feel anything. And so all that potential stopped resisting him and followed his flow instead.

The echo saw a star inside himself and bade it grow in power. The reflections of light catching the waters leaking into him. He saw himself in his mind's eye and in the image, he was not the perfect superhuman muscle-man that Shifter had made him. He was… me. Before I entered the Labyrinth.

I felt my mind catching fire, along with his and felt the fire spreading to my own body. My cells melting like steel within a forge. I felt myself dripping, boiling, burning away the impurities which I had not noticed before.

I saw a glimpse of the Dragon, of how he carried himself at all times, and knew this must be some fragment of him. Of the way he trained. This must have been the talent he shared with me, however small.

The spark had blossomed into a supernova and it was still growing hotter. Out of control.

I tried to scream and the waters around the lake began to boil with me.

For an instant, the echo disappeared and I was powerful again. Whole again. Yet I did not dare stop. As stupid as the advice had been, it led me somewhere and I would be dammed if I let this opportunity slip away.

I felt the chaos of Pandemonium all around me. Engulfing my mind and spirit.

I felt all that raw, untapped power crashing against the borders of the lake.

I let it all in and allowed it to merge, if only to raise the amount of pressure trying to crush me. The intensity of the flames trying to temper me.

I wasn't sure if my eyes were closed, but it did not matter. Not even [Omniscience] was allowed in here.

There was a beat. The beat of a heart. And I saw lines stretching from the star to the borders of my body. There was another beat, and I saw those lines turning into a single circle that pulsed outwards. Swallowing more of the power before drawing it inwards, though never leaving my body.

There was a slow, drawn-out moan. A cry that felt as if a tension was being purged. A cry of someone whose eyes had been opened in a new way. A strange way.

I saw my own Psy, but not as a complete, overwhelming tide that carried thoughts back to me, or as an organ that changed me, or as a flame that shone upon me.

I felt like a diamond containing a star. Utterly solid and utterly aware of myself.

Unfeeling. Unchanging. Immutable.

And then I felt weak all over again, before the process started once again.

When at last the waters receded, I was a specter again. Separated from the echo.

The others staring at me in amazement and disbelief.

"No fucking way." Frigid started.

Then he gathered himself before staring at Roy's back.

"It would appear as if I have underestimated you humans. If all of you are this scary, I cannot imagine how the Dragon thought antagonizing you was a good idea."

I looked down at my hands. So did the echo.

Pain apparent in his eyes.

He knew.

He had been made to see me. All of me.

Without anything else staining my colors.

He actually started crying again, and while Roy and Grandpa turned to face him, reality wobbled once more.

And the Drake popped out of our side and unto theirs.

They all stopped to stare at him. While the stunned Drake stared back.

Then, his feminine mouth spread into a wide smile. One that slowly moved to reach the corners of his eyes.

"No." The remaining three of us gasped.

"No." The echo moaned. Now fully aware of who the Seeking Drake was.

"Holy crap! Who's the hottie?" Roy managed between drunken belches.

The Seeking Drake looked down at himself. Then at them.

His smile widened.

Then he turned around and kicked the armored car's door open. Launching himself out onto the street. Chuckling evilly to himself the whole way.

"You mark my words Sully Carter! You'll regret making a fool out of me! Nyahahaha!"

"Catch him!" The echo screamed.

"Catch him!" I roared after him.

"Our powers don't work! What are we supposed to…"

And then Frigid Bloodline stopped. His body slowly crumbling to dust in the span of a single blink. In his place, was a single piece of paper. Or, some membrane that looked like paper.

Turning sideways to face me and Mercy. A crudely drawn eye staring back at us.

I stopped, and gazed upwards.

At how the false sky had split itself open before us. The wounds raining strips of paper down unto the false, forgotten world.

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