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TECHNOLOGY EARTH
Currently, inside the highest floor of the Royal Suite of a luxurious hotel, a woman was sitting cross-legged facing the city of lights beneath her feet as she took out a crystal from within her mouth.
Throwing away the empty crystal next, from the small mountain of Red-Crystals beside her, she picked another one.
Then, putting the fresh Red-Crystal inside her mouth like a lollipop, she closed both her eyes before sinking into the process of absorption once more!
‘Huh, how many have I absorbed till now? A few hundred? More than a thousand? I’ve lost count already…’ She wondered to herself.
After having repeatedly consumed crystals, she had long since gone totally numb to the ten percent affliction that remained even after consuming the Resistance Pills.
Every day, someone would deliver a huge bag filled with Red-Crystals to her doorstep while she would consume them the very same day!
And today, after doing nothing but digesting Red-Crystals while being secluded in her private space, just as she sucked all the content inside the crystal beneath her tongue, abruptly, changes were initiated!
Therefore, sensing the transformations occurring, slowly fluttering her eyelashes open, she murmured, “My Trait just went through another qualitative leap… let’s see if it can be done now.”
Subsequently, she blinked once. But when the blink was over, stupefyingly, her irises and pupils had vanished entirely as only the whites of her eyeballs remained.
In a matter of a few seconds, she blinked once again as her eyes returned to their normal state!
Following quickly, droplets of cold sweat filled her forehead while blood seemed to have left her face at once! She also began to pant and breathe with some difficulty.
Hee~ Haa~ Hee! Haa!
“I-I need to meet them at once!” She proclaimed before rushing out of the hotel suite with no hesitation whatsoever.
…
Soon, in a luxurious hall, thirteen people were sitting around a round table with their faces covered in masks. All the seats were the same and only one was of more luxury compared to the rest.
“Liliana Tudor! Why did you request an emergency meeting with all of us included? This better be good! Or even though you are of royal blood, we might regret having sponsored such an irresponsible woman.” One of the seats, the seat of Galahad, scolded while questioning in a deep tone.
“Everyone! Please be rest assured for this matter is of utmost urgency and importance! But before that, please let me thank you all for having supported me with so many Red-Crystals! Thanks to you all, I can somewhat foreshadow again!” The woman, Liliana Tudor, announced while standing on her feet some distance away from the round table.
Indeed, having completely lost her Trait after the appearance of the Rifts, Liliana, aka the Foreshadower, had no way of getting her hands on Red-Crystals since her Trait simply wasn’t the combat type, to begin with. She was totally useless when it came to anything battle-related and that meant most would deem her useless as an Abnormal.
It was only years afterward, just as she was about to nearly despair and give up on using her Trait forever, someone had teleported right beside her and notified her that since she was of royal blood, there was a group willing to patronize her with all the Red-Crystals she will need in return for her services in the future.
And having been presented with such a golden opportunity to utilize her power once more, Liliana didn’t have to think before making a decision. Therefore, she followed that person as she came to learn of the terrifying existence of the ‘Thirteen’!
At first, she just could not believe or comprehend how such a cryptocracy, a shadow government, that could exert absolute power and control from behind the scenes even existed!
Nonetheless, it didn’t take long for her to get used to it as she began her journey of reactivating the use of her Trait!
“Hooo! So you’re saying you can foreshadow again?” The masked man sitting behind the seat of Sir Balin inquired in curiosity.
“Yes, sir! And I have already foreshadowed the cause of me losing my ability before and let me say the result was simply too big for me to keep it to myself. I believe it’s something that is probably related to you as well… no, it’s related to everyone!” Liliana explained in a single breath while color seemed to have left her face. Apparently, the mere thought of what she had seen frightened her.
“Please go on, miss Liliana.” Seeing how oddly startled she looked, the seat of Sir Lancelot which was placed on the right side of the most luxurious seat stated.
“Please call me Lily.” Liliana insisted humbly even in that state.
“Yes, please proceed, miss Lily.”
Phew!
“Alright,” after releasing a deep breath to calm down, Liliana continued, “this time, it could be said my foreshadow was in words, and it is as follows.”
“…” Everyone went unusually quiet, waiting for what was to come since they were fully aware of how crucial Liliana’s foreshadowings could be.
As a matter of fact, the Thirteen had always put a great deal of importance on Liliana’s Trait even before the appearance of the Rifts.
They even knew the history behind her ancestry about how Elizabeth I, the last Tudor monarch, the virgin queen, had utilized this exact Trait in order to bring much glory to her kingdom in the past.
Although they were also aware the virgin queen wasn’t much of a virgin since Liliana Tudor was the opposite proof of that.
“Please listen carefully and don’t interrupt me till I’m over.” With that, she began.
He who has the all-eyes of Argus,
Once faithful dog to Odysseus,
The sin of the bore, swum the river of time
The rebel came in joy, wishing for prime,
The traitor dog, now a thirsty monster
Wounds the time, with every step, disaster!
“…”
Afterward, silence descended upon the hall for some time until Liliana finally opened her mouth again. “That’s all the lines I got.”
“Huh? What do you mean that’s all? What’s that supposed to even mean? Please translate it for us.” From one of the seats, precisely the seat of Sir Balin, an impatient voice was heard.
“Well, as you may know already, my Trait is about foreshadowing. It merely gives me some indications or hints in regard to some unknown matters, meaning even I may never understand the true meaning behind the foreshadows.” Liliana patiently elaborated.
However, it was clear that clarification had made Balin even more frustrated. “Don’t tell me you rushed all of us here at such short notice because of some random mythological gibberish you don’t even know the meaning of, miss Lily?”
Listening to Sir Balin, many of the seats nodded in agreement, they felt the same way in case that was all Liliana had to say.
“Well, one thing I know for sure is that it contains the answer as to why I could no longer use my Trait! However, no. That’s not all, I only said that’s all the lines I got.” Pausing momentarily, she clarified, “I don’t know whether it’s because my Trait has been upgraded to the next level, but while receiving those lines, I could also see some events taking place in the background, and that is the main reason why I’m here.”
“Hooo, go on.” Behind the mask, a very sharp glint passed through Lancelot’s eyes as he awaited the rest of her foresight.
“Yes,” bowing in respect, Liliana opened her mouth again, “while those lines were filling my head, in the background of those lines, amazingly, I felt like I’ve gained a new sense as I witnessed our planet filled with every type of wave as a shapeless monster went wherever it desired in a matter of seconds!”
“It was like the monster had eyes everywhere. It could see whatever it desired. It could gain access to any information he sought. No, in fact, it ‘was’ constantly watching us all at once. It was nigh omnipresent!”
“I believe the first line of my foreshadows, the all-eyes of Argus, was also talking about that thing.”
“And that’s precisely why I asked to meet you all in the most secure location, somewhere that has no piece of technology and no waves to be found anywhere!”
Meanwhile, behind their masks, the eyes of most of the members of thirteen had long gone wide open in utter astonishment while they could feel their hearts trembling in alarm!
They could hardly believe that there was such a creature on their planet, someone that was constantly watching everyone’s movements and information!
The reason why they didn’t question or doubt Liliana’s foresight was that they had long done their research and were confident everything she saw was definitely at least a part of the truth if not the whole!
“…”
“…”
“…”
For a long time after that, a deathly silence overcame the hall as not a single sound could be heard. That was until, finally, someone started talking.
That, however, promptly forced a shiver of incredulity down everyone’s spine as they turned their heads toward the most luxurious seat in the hall since someone that rarely bothered to even open his eyes was finally talking!
‘Ah! When was the last time he said anything? Arthur is talking!’ This notion was quickly passing through all twelve’s minds as the undisturbed yet impactful voice of the source of their gaze reached their ears.
“So, we have a mythological creature on our hands, an Argus.”
Steadily shaking his head in unbreakable serenity, Arthur rejected the idea at once. “Hmm, no, not precisely an Argus, it’s not a mythological creature exactly. This one utilizes technology and the so-called wavelengths to attain access, thus, probably a conscious or controlled Artificial Intelligence.”
“I do not suspect it to be a Trait-user, an Abnormal, since constantly gaining access to all the information in the world at once is unambiguously beyond the current limits of Traits. Beyond the limits of the human brain at this moment.”
After a short period of contemplation, caressing his chin behind the mask, he muttered further, “O, this one’s dangerous. It’s going to be hard.”
“But before we talk any further on the topic, we need to come up with sure-fire methods to avoid his eyes first. Although our hall is far beneath the ground and no waves can reach it, we can never be one hundred percent certain.” The reason why Arthur was addressing the formless Artificial Intelligence as a ‘he’ and not ‘it’ was because Liliana’s foreshadowing had assumed it to be.
With no pause next, Arthur directly jumped to the possible solutions. “We have two ways to escape its eyes and both require the utilization of Traits.”
“First, I heard we’ve recently discovered and hired someone whose Trait is to easily invent new pieces of extremely advanced technology on a whim and that the more Red-Crystals he intakes, the more advanced high-techs that person can invent. Use him to come up with a solution.”
“Second, we just need to nurture some Abnormals who can control and deactivate all wavelengths in a certain radius.” In fact, just as Arthur was claiming, it was indeed possible to nurture Abnormals with certain Traits, the only drawback was that it was an extremely expensive process.
For example, to awaken a Trait that was wavelength-related, they needed to gather and nurture all types of people obsessed with wavelengths or those that were somehow connected to them strongly and just keep feeding them Red-Crystals until they awaken.
The first awakened might be a failure just as might the tenth, however, if they continued awakening these types of people, one was bound to appear at some point!
“We shall do both. Now leave the matter at that and do not talk about it, until we accomplish the two.” Pronouncing his final verdict, he once again became noiseless to the hilt.
Listening to Arthur logically analyze and conclude everything detail by detail and even come up with the possible solutions to solve the issues in a single turn of talking, an unkillable flame of reverence, trust, and admiration flickered within everyone’s gaze silently as they put their fists on their chest and saluted.
“ALL HAIL THE KING!”
“ALL HAIL THE KING!”
“ALL HAIL THE KING!”
…
