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617 Talking with Haresha

Lennox, Meryl, Lourca, and Madelyne were sent out to infiltrate numerous groups.

The chaos and wars were the perfect time for them to recruit.

They went to smaller Pioneer groups and urged them to join them as the chaos on the upper levels of the Orbital had grown worse, and reports that Render was actively eliminating Pioneer groups that were not affiliated to any.

Lourca and Madelyne used their status as Pioneers to report that they could serve Presider Cecilia.

Irvana was watching above as she stood on the open ground using her Path.

She had seen the passage of Render and dared to stand her ground to test the limits of her power.

Render didn't notice and continued and vanished on the horizon as he returned to the deeper levels of the Orbital.

Irvana could only sigh in relief and began to use her version of the Four Forces Accelerator. Because of the warnings that Dormin gave them, Irvana knew that she could use the normal Four Force Accelerator, and so Lennox crafted one using Hermes's powers.

The wind blew, and Irvana began to fly out. It wasn't as fast as the Four Force Accelerator, but it allowed Irvana to travel in the open with minimal chance of getting detected.

She flew towards the secret place where Rai and Lennox were, and soon, she undid her invisibility.

Suddenly, she felt a strange presence and turned around.

"Relax. It's just me." Meryl chuckled as she emerged from the light.

"You... became light?"

"I've been working on it and just perfected it. But if you could see through it, I have more work to do." Meryl chuckled, and the two went down the cave.

Because of Render's rampage, Rai had to go out and find Lennox to help them escape through teleportation.

The team brought Lourca and Madelyne, who were spreading the gospel and recruiting Pioneers to serve Cecilia.

Many followed as they were terrified of annihilation.

The group managed to find scattered groups, and twenty-two Pioneers and fifty-six Planteds decided to follow.

There would have been more, but Render killed many groups.

Irvana arrived and entered through the hole in the mountain where the Pioneers hid. Rai and Lennox used a combination of opening the path to the Void Realm and Lennox electrocuting many to pull them inside the mountain where they hid.

Needless to say, many of the Pioneers and Planteds nearly died but were resuscitated inside the cave.

Irvana and Meryl appeared before Lennox and the group.

"He's gone. He retreated for some reason. We can leave now." Irvana reported.

Lennox nodded and closed his eyes, and began to establish a link with Seeker.

"Seeker." Lennox only spoke one word fearing that despite his current power to link with Guinevere, his message might be intercepted.

"Still alive, Lennox?" Seeker chuckled.

"I take it it's safe. Yes. We're alive. We escaped by the skin of our teeth. But instead of an army, we only have seventy-nine volunteers. Of course, Cecilia will appear to be our leader. We told them that it was secretly Cecilia who brought the humans in here through some secret alliance with Haresha. They believe Principal Dormin wants Presiders to rise among Pioneers as his new servants. It's a simple lie, but it worked." Lennox explained.

"Alright. We'll send you the coordinates. Have Rai make a jump here so we can bring the entire ship and jump toward your location."

"It's that safe now? Wouldn't it be better to meet at Cecilia's fortress?"

"No. Cecilia already gave the order for the exodus. We have to act fast. Vender's Path was stolen. Although it seems that it isn't permanent, we're all freaking out here. We need to gather. Just tell Rai to make the jump at this location..."

"Vender's power was stolen?" Lennox was surprised, but Seeker didn't answer, and Lennox spoke to Rai.

Rai made a jump and found the shortcut created as Seeker, and the rest opened another door on their end.

Lennox ordered the Pioneers to make room, and several seconds later, a massive ship appeared out of the cave.

The large ship couldn't actually fit inside the cave, and many parts were superimposed on the ground as Jake's power allowed it to pass through.

Cecilia emerged with a makeshift Throne and greeted everyone.

The Pioneers and Planted rejoiced as they saw her.

Lowengren stood next to her and was speaking on her behalf.

Everyone else had gathered inside the body of the girl.

Taking care of the body was Ninalet.

Haresha appeared to be in pain and was twitching now and then.

Lennox saw Vender, and he was unusually quiet.

"We better make haste. And our plans have to change now with this vital information. Can paths be stolen? That's something we all need to prepare for. We might need to find a way to communicate back to Earth and warn everyone." Seeker spoke.

"How will we warn them?"

"We've recorded Vender talking."

"...? And?" Lennox was confused.

"We'll you should hear it." Seeker played the tape.

"You want me to send a message to Earth? Alright. Um... Honey. I hope you guys are ok. I don't think I can say anything more but to assure you that I'm fine. Please keep safe. You and our daughter. I love you both. See you soon."

Lennox trembled as he heard this.

"He's talking... normally!" Lennox was shocked.

"Yes. This is the perfect message. No one will understand it and will think that there is encryption. The full clip features Harker and Lowengren also talking and prompting him. This will assure us that everyone here would waste efforts to decipher it. We've already made plans with Cecilia to use her broadcasting stations to send the ping. We just send it to the moon. Also, there's something you need to look at." Seeker led Lennox over to the girl.

"She's fully healed but not critically injured," Lennox explained.

"Yes. My soul has healed her by a bit. But it would take a lot to heal her."

"How is her soul?"

"It seems alright. But whatever she got, it's real. She can't really speak. She can only open her eyes and mumble a few words every now and then. We tried electrocuting her and burning her to see if she would scream. Either she has an impossibly high pain tolerance that would make put Meng or Ceasar to shame, or she really is incapable of screaming."

"Burning and electrocuting?" Lennox turned to the rest.

"...I protested. Don't look at me." Cliff shrugged.

"Why are you so close to her?" Lennox asked Ninalet.

"I..." Ninalet was caught off guard.

"Same eye color." Seeker answered.

"What?" Ninalet was surprised.

"You two have the same eye color, right? I'm guessing it means something?" Seeker asked.

"Oh? You hid it well." Lourca arrived. She moved closer to observe Ninalet.

Haresha's eyes had no contacts to hide her eyes. It had a faint pink color around the iris.

"A Babelian Descendant." Madelyne added.

"...Yes," Ninalet confessed.

"Is that a bad thing?" Seeker asked.

"More or less. Babelians have fled Aragar and hidden among the stars and planet. We tend to treat them badly because of their heritage. Though some Babelians have vowed to be Presiders, the many wars that led to betrayals made most Pioneers and Planteds view them with great contempt."

"Relax, Ninalet. We may call ourselves Presiders, but we're from Earth. We don't care. Also, you don't have to hide it."

"That sounded very mature, Seeker." Meryl smiled.

"...Yes. Mature. If only you weren't burning and electrocuting this Pioneer. Ah, Seeker. Ever the gentleman when dealing with women." Lennox made a sarcastic remark.

"I had to test it. In any case, we believe that whatever she's struggling with, it's something that goes beyond the three dimensions. So I need you to help her talk."

"...I will send my lightning energy and convert her thoughts into audible data? Is that what you want me to do?" Lennox asked.

"Yup."

"So basically electrocution. I guess we have no choice."

Haresha could hear the discussion and began to weep as her body brought out tears.

"She's crying." Jake pointed out.

"Oh boo hoo. Lennox. Fry her." Seeker ordered.

ZAP!

"YOU MONSTER! MOTHER FRAGMENT! STOP!" The voice of Haresha was heard through the speakers as Haresha began to scream.

"Oh, great! You can talk! Alright, Lennox. You can stop hurting her."

Suddenly, the electric attack vanished, and Haresha's body was no longer in pain, even as Lennox had his hand over her.

"I... can talk?"

"Yes. It's Lennox powers. Neat, huh?"

"You monster! You could have done this without hurting me!"

"Well, I wanted to know whether you were trying your best to talk to us. Now we have proven that you've been trying to but can't." Seeker answered flatly.

"In any case... Your lack of confusion proves that you have been listening to our discussion for a while and know we are Earthlings. So tell me one good reason why we shouldn't kill you?" Seeker asked.

"I'm a Pioneer, and I saw the attack that made that Vender guy like that!" Haresha quickly spoke.

"Just the information we need!" Seeker smiled.

"Cecilia. Get back here." Seeker ordered.

Cecilia moved back while Lowengren brought all the Pioneers and Planteds inside the ship.

"Continue." Seeker ordered Haresha.

"...It's Presider Porrelom. A Presider that I used to serve. He's... very powerful." Haresha began.

"He is?" Cecilia sneered and then laughed.

"She's lying." Cecilia argued.

"Um... If I may..." Ninalet began.

Haresha tried to keep her thoughts in check. She had recognized her when she arrived on the ship. And she plotted to use Ninalet!

"She is probably right. From my experience, Presider Porrelom is very strong."