Psychic Parasite

Chapter 261: A Talk With…
His consciousness moved through the air, passing into a cloud. He couldn’t feel the weight of his body; it was as light as a feather, or even lighter. The smoky clouds were like cotton that was penetrated by the consciousness. To be accurate, his consciousness just fazed through them.

At the next instant, he regained consciousness, having arrived within a large bubble. On the other end of the bubble lay a figure, the appearance etched in the depths of his memory. It was a humanoid figure, bigger than the ones he was used to, way bigger.

Hair that was long, and transparent, possessing suction pod-like mouths on their ends. A face that was a mix between man and monster; now that he took a better look, the parts of a monster on the face resembled that of a Wisdom Parasite.

The figure hovered in the air, only retaining the upper body. Everything under the hips was hazy, with translucent fog that seeped out, forming a thin stream as it fused with the bubble. As the consciousness took a detailed glance, the first time after his transmigration, he noticed many details, details that he had the knowledge of.

’Face having a resemblance to a Wisdom Parasite and hair that are a replica of Rhachis Ancestor Parasite’s. The spikes on the hands should most probably be the resultant of the Tier 4 Skill, Mass Shifter. The faint glow around the fingers resembles the Tier 3 Skill, Mental Calm. Based on the way they are exhibited, the Tier 5 Skill, Warlord Transformation should also have been activated.’

As he pondered, the scene proceeded to a wild thrashing of his form, a murky sphere lodged with spikes and pierced by numerous bangles that jingled in response to his emotions. Emanating from his form was a nauseating stench, the likes of which he had only noticed in Dalna Doppler among his peers. Even then, hers paled in comparison to his current form.

As his form moved, a long, murky trail formed. It was a blob, jiggling its way towards the other party, slow in its movements, exhibiting tremendous hatred. A sigh resounded, involuntarily slowing its actions.

The consciousness heard the familiar dialogue, something he had repeated numerous times to be rid of the murkiness.

”Actions, and their consequences; attachments of the material world; bonds that traverse space and time; pride, ego, happiness, and sadness, they form into layers of restrictions that weigh down your soul, your essence. That…is your Karma. Shedding them leads to enlightenment!” The creepy-haired man spoke in an ethereal voice that reverberated through the bubble. Every sound produced from his uttering shattered some of the bangles that covered his form.

After every bangle broke, his form could move better, and faster. ’Now, onto the terrifying part.’

The consciousness anticipated in impatience as the creepy-haired man continued to speak. The scenery below the bubble blurred, with traces of white soon filling up everything. Traces of black emerged, followed by the colour of violet that changed in luminescence until it became red.

Rifts surrounded the bubble, with all of them displaying the same scene, of a metropolitan city. With heightened concentration, adding to the fact that this was from memory, the consciousness observed the details better.

There was a subtle difference in the rifts; the image of a man in white changed slightly, flickering to and fro, soon becoming unstable. Long, aquiline nose with a sharp nose line, large eyes with long eyelashes that would be the target of a woman’s envy, and a bow-shaped upper lip; the youth glanced around, the sole clear figure in the blurry surroundings.

His deep, dark brown eyes were full of intelligence, a charm accentuated by his sharp jawline. The images displayed through the rifts were of the youth’s movements, the same as a video separated frame by frame.

The youth got into a car, whistling along the way, giving a hi-fi to a couple of strangers who had wanted to pick up their mobile phones. Seeing his chirpy mood and radiant smile, they retracted their expressions of surprise and mild anger, unknowingly smiling, affected by his attitude.

A school girl waved his way before shying away behind her friend. The youth switched on the FM as usual and started his car. It was well past the morning rush hours, but the road was still full of traffic. Before the youth’s car was a lorry, carrying steel rods meant for house construction. Each of them was around 13 metres long and a centimetre in radius. A quarter of their length peeked out over the lorry’s back. The length of the lorry proved insufficient. The part that peeked out bent a little due to its weight, now slightly angled below the horizontal level.

Even the quarter that peeked out was almost equal to the length of his four-seater car. The youth maintained a safe distance, watching the traffic crawl forth. He began to hum the song on the FM, watching the signal turn green.

The lorry before him moved really slow due to the weight it had to carry. Since the traffic prevented him from overtaking it, he could only drive along its pace. It was a crossroad, the junction where the signals were erected.

As the lorry was about to cross, the signal changed to red. As usual, vehicles from the intersecting road began to move three seconds before the signal turned green for them. A middle-aged man—with red eyes and a balding head—on a scooter was distracted, half asleep after finishing his night shift.

He lost control for a second and arrived before the lorry. The lorry driver slammed the brakes with all his might, but the man on the scooter didn’t cooperate, clearly too tired to react. He crashed into the lorry, causing his scooter to tumble and slide under. The man too followed suit, beginning to scream in pain.

”Aargh, my leg! Move back! My leg is stuck!” The consciousness heard a clear voice.

The lorry driver panicked and slammed the reverse gear, beginning to move the truck back. Once he saw the man appear in his view, he slammed the brakes and got down, immediately rushing to his rescue. A leg of the man had been crushed, bleeding copious amounts of blood.

The youth in the car was humming when he heard the shouts. He switched off the FM with a click and glanced to his right, watching a man on a bike shout as he hurried to the scene with the intent to help.

The youth opened the door when the windshield of his car shattered and in came 19 iron rods. Leaking out through the opened gap was a steady flow of blood.

The consciousness shuddered while the creepy-haired man glanced at him, behaving differently from the memory, ”The Law of Inertia…”

The consciousness jerked in response, terrified at seeing a scene, not from his memories. He was horrified when the creepy-haired man looked at him, seemingly alive, ”When the lorry moved back by a metre, the iron rods obtained the same inertia. When the lorry stopped, the windings on the iron rods were insufficient to negate their inertia, resulting in them travelling the distance and impaling you in the car. Their considerable length was another factor that added to your demise. Cost-cutting and mismanagement have always caused accidents.”

The creepy-haired man sighed, speaking in a tone akin to a neighbour intending to engage in chit-chat, ”If you have anything you want to ask, do so now. Atika’s probing caused this portion of my Will to turn unstable. I thought it would be a good opportunity to have a chat with you now.”

Instead of just being in a state of recollection, the blue soul became fully active. Jyorta glanced around, finding all the rifts around had frozen, as if the pause button had been pressed. ”Are there more of your Wills inside me?”

”Shouldn’t it be obvious?” The creepy-haired man laughed, waving his hands once, motioning for Jyorta to stop joking, ”I know you’re smart enough to have guessed it long ago. There is not one or two Wills of me inside you. There are many portions. I also know that you have guessed the reason as to why I placed them. Killing Mother Parasite is a daunting task. Shouldn’t I keep some contingency measures to steer you towards that objective?”

”Why me? I’m just an engineer. Also, shouldn’t Gajara Rahi be enough? None can block her path.” Jyorta said, preventing his logical reasoning from being affected by his emotions.

”I had plenty of my Wills in her, the same as you. But, after she attained Tier 6, she got rid of all my arrangements. Though, she also lost all her ’Soul Corneas’ in the process. But, I am not a Psychic Parasite. Only a Psychic Parasite can contend with another.” He shook his head, letting out another sigh, ”The case will be the same for you. I can only mildly influence you till Tier 5. Once you reach Tier 6, my arrangements wouldn’t work on you.”

On seeing that Jyorta about to ask another question, the creepy-haired man raised his hand, motioning for him to stop, ”As to why I chose you and Gajara Rahi among all the humans, ask her if you can or wait until you unravel my arrangements after attaining Tier 6. You’ll know them then.”

”Fine,” Jyorta gritted his teeth, clenching his fists hard. His blob form in the memory squished around, expressing its anger as his voice rang aloud, ”The relationship between you and Rhachis Ancestor Parasite, what is it? Are you human?”

The creepy-haired man laughed, its form of liveliness beginning to crumble, ”Anything else?”

”Wait!” Jyorta shouted, ”Answer me! At least, tell me more about Psychic Parasites!”

”When you have the strength, destroy my wills, and get all your answers. Until then, you are under my subtle influence.” Before the final traces of his form crumbled, his smug voice echoed, ”As for the Psychic Parasites? Let me tell you something interesting. My Tier 6 Skill is Cause and Effect; whether you wish to or not, the two of you will face Mother Parasite. That, I have ensured.”

His form fully crumbled as a statement reverberated within the bubble, ”The prime ingredient to create a Psychic Parasite is the fusion of a part of my soul and the soul of another that has travelled for at least two centuries in this space-time continuum. Thought, without the effect of my Skill, Cause, and Effect, the laws of the world will annihilate any substance that attempts a time travel. Look around and you’ll understand.”