by Regine Abel
He beamed at me, the corner of his big, almond-shaped black eyes crinkling with mirth.
“I don’t do a whole lot of bashing these days. My new job is far more entertaining; playing with the minds of pretty, little girls.”
I raised a defiant eyebrow. “Is that so?”
“Uh huh. I’m your ESP Trainer. Glad to see you have a sense of humor. You and I will get along just fine.”
Stunned, I gaped at him when he brushed past me and entered my quarters. His black, skin-tight shirt outlined the shape of his small dragon spikes along his shoulders and the slightly bigger ones down the length of his spine. Snapping out of my shock, I hurried after him. At least, he had the courtesy not to enter my bedroom.
“May I put them inside or do you prefer I leave them here?” he asked, standing by the bedroom door.
I hesitated but decided to play it safe. “Here is fine, thank you.”
His lips stretched in a mocking smirk as he complied with my request.
“Enjoy the gifts,” he said turning towards the door.
Raven froze as his eyes caught something on my table, the glow of the ceiling lights reflecting on his golden scaled-eyebrows as he frowned. His sensual lips disappeared into a thin line, and his broad jaw hardened. Following his gaze, I tried to figure out what could have prompted that reaction. There was nothing special on the table except for the welcome package.
The pralines box!
“Well,” he whispered, as if talking to himself, “it seems others have already made their move.”
He turned back to face me, a muscle ticking on his temple, and his square jaw taking a harder line.
“In case you haven’t been told yet, you have a beautiful aura which makes you very appealing to my kind,” Raven said, almost sounding like a mentor instructing a pupil. “Be sure you know what you want before committing to anything. Xian Warriors do not share.”
“I thought you were all super laid back with casual fraternization?” I asked.
“There is playing, and there is claiming.” Raven pointed at the black box of sweets with his chin. “This says he is not playing.”
“He?” I asked, playing dumb.
Raven smirked with an ‘oh, please’ expression. “See you at training tomorrow. And don’t be late.”
Turning on his heels, he left my quarters.
CHAPTER 3
Legion
No matter how many times I’d given death notices to parents, it never got easier. In the thirty-three years since my ascension, I’d communicated hundreds of them, but usually to mothers of Xian Warriors. Zemun’s mother, Lily, a fifty-eight year old Operator at the Coalition HQ, had already lost her Xian mate five years ago during a raid. That her son had now been killed, when he should have been on a safe mission, hinted at a possible vendetta. But the hardest had been Sabrina’s parents.
Only six months ago, we had celebrated her official ‘graduation’ from the Vanguard training program. She had been so proud receiving her Soulcatcher insignia and pairing with her warrior. They had both been twenty-five, the ascension age for a Xian and the psychic maturity age for humans. Hers was the youngest death on record. Speaking to her parents had been devastating. Yet, my mind kept going back to her soulmate, Zemun. I couldn’t begin to imagine what he must have felt, helplessly watching life bleed out of his mate while his soul unraveled.
My throat constricted at the thought of such a fate befalling my Soulcatcher. And yet, it wasn’t Myriam’s face that flashed before my eyes, but Ayana’s. What a beautiful soul she possessed. None had ever called to me as powerfully as hers did. Unlike humans, Xian Warriors had no limits on the distance of our psychic reach. I always skimmed over the souls of the contestants as they entered the chamber, but Ayana’s had ensnared me. I’d never felt this much power over such a long distance. None of the Aspirants had ever managed to read me or sense my presence. Yet, she had dream-walked with me, even felt physical sensations through the illusion.
Hares should have run her test, but I couldn’t let go; her aura had mesmerized me. Without shame or remorse, I’d hijacked his session. I loved the way Ayana’s mind worked, her gentle cynicism, and our playful banter. Despite the darkness weighing me down, thinking of her made me want to smile.
Before I realized it, my feet had led me to the Vanguard’s private transport hub. I didn’t fight the urge to see her. Right now she’d be halfway through her ESP class. Without hesitation, I hopped on the bubble and selected the Training Center as my destination. I focused on the discrete, high-pitched hum of the bubble speeding through the tube to resist the urge of reaching out to her psychically. Ayana didn’t need me interfering with her training. Although improbable, I’d give anything for her to qualify as a Soulcatcher. My Soulcatcher.
She’s Hollow.
That depressing thought had plagued me from the moment our souls touched. I had hoped the hollowness I felt within her while dream-walking was due to distance, but the moment she set foot on Khepri, I’d poked and prodded at her while teasing her. She couldn’t hold my soul, and yet it screamed for her.
As I walked down the hallways of the Training Center, many surprised stares followed me. I repressed a smile, imagining how the Aspirants and my fellow Warriors would have reacted had I obeyed the urge to bring Ayana her luggage myself last night. Raven had had that privilege and, in the process, had seen the gift I had snuck into her welcome package. It disturbed me that so many of the Warriors had responded so strongly to her allure. Hares and Raven, two of my closest friends after Chaos, were among those who intended to court her during her training, and not for play.
They will lose.
I smiled at a group of Aspirants heading towards their martial combat class. The Warriors accompanying them raised mocking eyebrows at me, which I totally ignored. I filed away their names for our sparring sessions later that day.
The ESP class took place in the interior garden of the Center. As I stepped before them, the large doors slid open and the mixed perfume of plants originating from various planets tickled my nose. The gardeners had done a wonderful job of mixing soft and muted colors conducive to meditative states without making the garden look dull or faded. Each Aspirant had been paired with a single Warrior as her mentor. We could afford it as so few candidates made it to the Vanguard HQ. At the Coalition HQ, and even more so at the peripheral outposts, a single mentor would train groups of ten to twenty candidates.
While it bothered me that a man who coveted my woman—soon to be—got to spend so much intimate time traipsing about her mind, Raven was extremely talented and had the best chance of bringing forth Ayana’s latent powers. While I couldn’t find a vessel within her, I had felt something unusual within her void.
Trying not to be too obvious, I didn’t go straight to the beautiful, shimmering lights of Ayana’s aura which glowed with enthralling intensity in the far right corner of the garden. It wasn’t unusual for me to attend training classes as an observer. As ‘the faces’ of the Vanguard, the Aspirants loved when Chaos or I dropped by, even if we didn’t engage them in conversation. I usually seized the opportunity to personally assess their abilities to determine where they would best serve.
I slowly walked the perimeter, stopping for a few minutes near an Aspirant-Warrior pair. Most of them sat on stone benches or chairs, staring at each other as the Warrior taught the basic techniques of controlling their vessels, from how to keep intruders from invading it, to how to reinforce its integrity to prevent leaks. In the upcoming days and weeks, they would learn how to catch, shelter, and then transfer a soul into a new host.
The object of my obsession finally came into view as I followed the path around the bend, past a giant Yojien tree, reminiscent of a willow tree but with pastel pink leaves. Unlike her peers, Ayana sat, crossed-legged, directly on the short grass, her back resting against a tall rock near the pond. Sitting in a similar position, facing my future mate, Raven held her hands in his, his gaze boring into hers.
&
nbsp; The violent surge of jealousy that rose in my gut took me by surprise. Nothing untoward was taking place between them, and yet it finally sank in how deeply Raven would be exploring the psyche of the woman I’d already come to consider as mine, and the dangerous, intimate bond this would form between them.
“Control yourself, brother. You’re broadcasting pretty loudly.”
Raven’s voice echoing through my head startled me. A quick look around the garden confirmed that all the Warriors that had line of sight on me were staring at me with amused expressions.
My scales darkened with embarrassment that I should have projected my jealous outburst so loudly, like a complete novice. Rolling my shoulders to release some tension, I pretended this hadn’t just happened.
“How is she faring?”
Although Raven didn’t turn to look at me, I could almost sense his third eye on me.
“As expected,” he said. “She has no vessel.”
“But…?” I insisted.
“You sensed it, too?”
I hated to be answered by another question, but in this instance I didn’t mind. Raven’s answer confirmed that I hadn’t imagined the anomaly within her.
“Yes. Let me shadow you.”
This technique allowed me to enter his dream-walk without being detected by his partner. I no sooner entered their dream state than Ayana shuddered, her head jerking towards me.
How the fuck…?
“Legion!” she whispered, her eyes widening.
Her aura shifted from the deep purple of the powerful psychic to a bright shade of pink, broadcasting her romantic interest in me to all the Warriors watching us. Raven’s disgruntled look kept me from puffing out my chest even more. I didn’t want to rub it in his face, but knowing she also felt the draw set my blood on fire.
“Ayana,” I said in greeting, loving the feel of her name on my tongue. “How is your training so far?”
She cast a nervous look at Raven who smiled encouragingly at her.
“I’m not sure, to be honest,” she said. To my delight, she removed her hands from Raven’s grasp who seemed to let go with reluctance. Clasping them on her thighs, she heaved a sigh. “As expected, I’m Hollow. Raven thinks there’s something else but we can’t pin it down. He calls it a slippery slime.”
I raised an eyebrow at Raven who shrugged at me, the shadow of a smirk dancing on his lips.
“With your permission, I’d like to see for myself,” I said, stepping onto the grass.
Ayana’s lips parted, but no words came out. She nodded, her breathing suddenly shallow. My pulse picked up as I sat on the grass before her. The scent of star lilies surrounded us. Humans compared it to lilac, but our flower also enhanced psychic perceptions. We hadn’t allowed any birds in the garden since their whistling tended to disrupt concentration. In the ambient stillness, the pounding of my hearts sounded deafening to my ears. I’d never been so strongly affected by a woman before. As I extended my open palms towards her, anticipation of touching her at last had my throat running dry and my abdominal muscles contracting.
Soft and delicate, her hands slipped into mine like they’d always belonged there. Lightning struck, electricity coursing from her fingertips through my entire being. My breath caught while blood rushed to my groin. My skin alternated between hot and cold. Closing my hand over hers, I tried to rein in this whirlwind of emotions. Ayana’s pupils had dilated to the point of almost swallowing her irises. Her aura shimmered in a rainbow of colors with dark pink dominating.
The room faded around me as I let my consciousness flow towards hers. She welcomed me, her essence a warm, luminous, golden sphere. I could glide over it, wrap myself around it, and felt no pushback. But I couldn’t dive deeper; she was keeping me out. Where her vessel should have been, like an ethereal cradle beneath the glowing sphere of her soul, only the void could be found. Yet, a spark appeared from time to time in that empty space.
It took all my willpower to remain focused on the task at hand rather than basking in the feel of her. The intimacy from mind-melding far exceeded any form of sexual contact. Combined with sex, it gave the most mind-blowing experience. I banished that line of thought and pushed psychic energy into the void surrounding her, lying in wait.
“Open yourself to me.”
Her hands tightened around mine as she attempted to comply with my request. The spark vanished almost as quickly as it appeared. I kept prodding at the tightly sealed sphere of her inner self while keeping my eyes peeled for the next spark. Raven was right, the damn thing proved slippery. Every time I reached for it, it slithered away. However, whenever I managed to brush against it, it expanded ever so slightly before blinking out of existence again. I’d never seen such a thing. It turned into the most frustrating cat-and-mouse chase.
“I can feel it and isolate it, but I can’t control it either.”
Ayana’s mind-speak almost kicked me out of our connection. I had forgotten how much it felt like a lover’s caress.
“Don’t try to hold it,” I said, suddenly struck by an idea. “Push psychic energy wherever it is located, but not directly at it.”
I could sense her surprise and confusion at my words, but she didn’t challenge them. Psychic energy flooded a section of her void less than a second before the spark appeared, only for it to burst like an overinflated balloon.
“Oopsie.”
That made me chuckle. I loved her playfulness as much as her cynicism.
“Not so much next time. I won’t try to interact with it. Just push a sliver of power in a steady stream.”
She barely had time to acknowledge my statement before I felt her psychic power building. The spark appeared, stuttered, and heaved, looking uncertain as to whether it wanted to stay or go. It swelled, almost taking on a recognizable shape, then a tremor shook it as it unraveled.
“No!” Ayana mourned out loud.
Raven lurked at the edge of my consciousness, growing both curious and impatient. He didn’t dare shadow me for fear of breaking Ayana’s concentration as she had immediately detected my presence when I had tried earlier. In light of the number of attempts we’d made during the cat-and-mouse phase, a long time had gone by, and the class was either already over or would be any time soon.
“Try again, but this time, Raven will also witness. Do not let his presence disturb you.”
“Okay.”
I invited him to shadow me. The eagerness with which he responded confirmed the extent of his impatience.
“Wow,” he whispered as the next spark spawned.
Its initial size was already bigger than the previous ones, and grew further as Ayana continued pushing power in its general area.
“It’s faltering! Give it more power,” Raven said.
A second later, it shook and collapsed like the previous time.
“Dammit! I was too slow!” Ayana berated herself.
“There was a dissonance right before it collapsed. You should have experienced something similar when a communication is failing due to distance or psychic fatigue.”
“Yes! Thanks, Raven! I know exactly what you mean!”
Ayana’s excitement was contagious, making both mine and Raven’s soar. Although grateful that he’d recognized the pattern so quickly, I kicked myself for not seeing it. Granted, as a trainer for both Soulcatchers and Operators, and therefore frequently exposed to these phenomenon, he had a serious advantage over me. However, I was thirty years older than him and should be the expert mentoring him.
The spark—or rather the spiraling swirl that it had grown into—reappeared. It expanded further to the size of a coin. Ayana caught the dissonance the minute it started and doubled the energy she fed it. The swirl swelled to twice its previous size. It resembled an electric-blue wormhole with sparks of lightning running around the spirals.
“Can you feed it more?” I asked.
“It hurts.”
My hearts leapt in my chest, excitement giving way to concern.
; “Do you need to stop?”
“No. I can maintain this but not enlarge it further. The pressure is making my head hurt.”
“It’s normal,” Raven intervened. “Whatever this does, you’ve significantly grown that psychic muscle. It will need rest before the next burst.”
Indeed, what purpose did it serve?
“I will try to interact with it. At the first hint of pain, tell me immediately, and I will withdraw,” I said.
“Okay.”
Raven buzzed with the same eager energy driving me. Bracing, I pushed my consciousness towards the anomaly. I didn’t know what I had expected would happen, but not this. Excruciating pain ripped through me from the base of my skull and down my spine as my soul was all but torn out of my body. For a split second, I hovered outside my corporeal form, and then, like a ship caught in a gravitational pull, I got sucked into Ayana’s anomaly, only to get spit right back out.
I slammed into my body, our mind-meld severed. Raven grunted and Ayana moaned in pain. Concerned voices rose all around us, but I couldn’t focus on any of them with the room spinning in every direction. I shook my head, willing my environment to settle down. Whatever just happened had hurt Ayana, and I needed to make sure she was okay. Blinking through the haze, I felt a heavy hand land on my shoulder.
Chaos.
My vision cleared at last. Ayana’s fingers massaged her temples while Raven checked up on her.
“Are you all right?” Chaos asked, helping me back to my feet.
“Yes,” I said, despite my knees feeling wobbly.
Before I could ask him what he was doing here, the whispers surrounding us made me realize all the new Aspirants and half the ones in the last stages of their training had gathered around us. Two dozen Warriors also observed the situation.
How long have we been at this?
As if reading my unspoken question, Chaos smirked. “Whatever the three of you have been up to, you all emitted so much psychic energy, I’m surprised the trees haven’t just uprooted and walked out of the garden. Psychic training ended forty-five minutes ago. But I’d especially love to know what that slingshot move you just pulled with your soul was.”