The Wanderer - 242 (Patreon)

Chapter 242 – Psionic Telepathy, Existence Exposed

[2009 – October]

Remembering Emma's words as she had explained to me some of her conjectures and imparted as much of her experience with psionic energy manipulation as possible to me, I moved the silver of energy under my direct control towards my unsuspecting prisoner, specifically his head as I tried to surround it with the 'dark' 'foggy' psionic energy.

Doing so, I could immediately feel the man's mental fluctuations. Not in a passive way like I usually was able to through my Extrasensory Perception but in a much more direct way.

I could 'see' his mind as strange as it sounded while my Extrasensory Perception acted through my consciousness that was extended and fused into the strand of psionic energy.

The man's mind seemed like a small point of light in comparison to mine. Magnified by the strength of my perception, it looked like a condensed swirling orb of light, the movements of the flowing light probably signifying his mental activity, his thoughts and emotions to be more exact.

Tentatively pushing a tendril of psionic energy forward, I felt a hint of resistance that stopped me from entering the light orb, denying me access to the man's mind. It seemed like a natural response to intrusion and not a real conditioned or gifted mental shield.

But its defensive prowess was hardly worth mentioning as I sensed that I could penetrate it easily enough.

Doing so with little hesitation, I heard the man voice out a strangled scream as he seized up for a moment before lying still, his vitality flickering as the light sphere that represented his mind just tore open and shattered, even the fragments crumbling into nothingness just seconds later.

Frowning slightly as I reverted the damage that I had done in but a second, I knew that my mental strength and the weight of my consciousness were too strong to simply breach the mind of a human and expect them to survive. And that was even after I had split off just a tiny fraction of my mental strength.

Trying once again after drawing back on my mental strength, leaving just a hundredth behind, I could still easily breach the natural defenses of this mortal mind, the next attempt causing only a few rather severe-looking cracks in the light sphere as it threatened to fall apart at any moment.

But I had succeeded nonetheless and as I spread the silver of dark psionic energy through the damaged mind of the man, I could read his thoughts and emotions like a shadow sensation, his memories just waiting for me to plunder.

Drawing back and restoring the mind of the man once again without really looking through his memories since I had no real interest in them in the first place, I tried to invade his mind for a third time, being less invasive and more subtle this time as I further reduced my mental strength.

Emma could enter the mind of others, manipulate and transform their memories and personalities, and pull back without leaving so much as a trace of herself. She was an absolute master when it came to telepathy, and as tranquil as I was as a person, I desired to surpass her.

Not out of jealousy though, I simply wanted to master everything.

It was an ambition born in part out of my craving for freedom, though I also simply enjoyed mastering any skill, be that an additional language, martial arts, or something as simple as cooking.

I wanted to be good at these things because I had the chance and freedom to do so. This was my ambition as an immortal being, as an adventurer and explorer that had nothing but time at his disposal.

I didn't want to compete, the simple knowledge that I was the best at something was enough for me. I was ambitious for myself, to strive for greater heights for my own improvement.

I didn't care about besting someone, surpassing them was enough.

And so, I didn't hesitate to invade the mind of my prisoner again and again, trying to strengthen my fine control over psionic energy bit by bit and finding ways to improve upon my mental manipulation.

I slowly got the hang of it after dozens and hundreds of tries but I also knew that it was easy to do this with one target while Emma could simultaneously affect the minds of probably hundreds of people when focused, controlling them like puppets.

Sitting in the middle of the lightless prison, I had my eyes closed as my consciousness split into over a hundred fine tendrils while I tried to replicate what I had learned on a larger scale while simultaneously using this chance to test new ways of mental infiltration, memory manipulation, and direct mind control.

I naturally learned at a speed that was even beyond what one might call inhuman or monstrous, all the occupants of the prison serving as my tools to exercise on.

I was a higher being and my talent and potential proved as much as I mastered the skill of telepathy and all its related disciplines at a speed that would certainly horrify anyone that could see me.

The speed of my thoughts was many times greater than that of any human while my mental strength allowed me to split my mind with the greatest of ease, focusing on dozens and hundreds of things at the same time as I experimented with trial and error.

It was as if I lived in a different dimension of time with my perception being enhanced to such a fearful degree, an ethereal barrier forcing the time in this sub-space where the prison was located to follow my internal perception of time by 'shielding' it from the influence of the primary dimension's time.

Five hours passed but for me, it was as if it had been decades of study. I didn't feel older though as my mind had been occupied by a single task, which caused me to almost forget that time existed in the first place.

A normal human would have been driven mad by what I had just done, focusing on a single task for decades without rest or pause. Only the mental strength of a higher being could endure such a thing.

Exhaling, I felt the calm flow of psionic energy around me, and I couldn't help but look at it with a fond smile as if seeing an old friend, my perception of time having returned to its natural state.

And with a casual wave of my hand, I felt the psionic flow turn turbulent as it started to surround me like a dark storm, my consciousness spreading throughout it naturally as I read the mind of every being living in the Darkforce Dimension or connected to it, my invasion traceless and undetected.

Throughout the endless expanse of the Universe there existed livings beings that could endure the corruption of Darkforce themselves or they found technology to do it for them, so while the Darkforce Dimension seemedempty, there were actually millions of livings beings that either lived in it or were connected to it as they borrowed its strength.

With a pseudo-cosmic awareness that was limited to my own realm, I 'saw' them all, felt their thoughts and emotions as they committed acts of horrific violence, or selflessly protected those that needed protection.

I did not interfere as I just watched them for a few long moments, their experiences pearling off my consciousness without any trace before my internal clock signaled to me that it was almost time to return home.

Recollecting my consciousness, I opened my eyes, which had turned into pits of glowing darkness that slowly receded to reveal the deep green that Jean loved so much.

I sighed and smiled lightly as the psionic storm around me dispersed, my overwhelming mental strength reined in again as I slowly rose to my feet.

I moved into the deepest part of the prison, the cells that I passed dispersing into dark mist as the occupants were devoured by my realm, my heart unaffected by their deaths. It took only a few short minutes before I arrived in front of the last cell, an older black-haired male sitting inside it, his arms chained to the wall above his head.

He was Malcolm Concord, Director of The Facility. And as I stared at him, darkness bloomed in my eyes once again, his mind bare before me.

I could see his memories and uncover his secrets, which included the very reason that I had not killed him when I had destroyed the underground base because the one secret that he had always tried to hide the most was the identity and existence of a single 'man' – John Sublime.

I hadn't known if Sublime, one of two sentient bacteria created by the first mutant society roughly two billion years ago, existed in this timeline. It was a rather important question since Sublime had a particular hatred for mutants while fearing them in equal measure since he could not infect them and influence their minds.

Since that was the case, he had been working in the shadows to find a way to wipe out the mutant race in the timeline of Earth-616 if I remembered correctly. Celeste and her sisters had been one of his choices for a weapon, their combined telepathic prowess making him believe that he could eradicate the mutant race through them and adequate technology.

Not to mention that he had stoked humanity's fear and hatred for the mutant race to gain support in this endeavor. There were even speculations of him infecting humankind and using his mental manipulation to cause race division by inciting hatred.

If he had really done that or not I wasn't sure as humanity was capable of racial discrimination by itself just fine, but I still thought that he was a dangerous being since he had been hidden all this time, trying to find new ways to destroy the mutant race.

What I did know, however, was that Sublime existed in my timeline but had not infected all of humankind with his particular brand of hatred. I could only guess that he couldn't do so as he would have done exactly that if he could.

He still had built up his influence and was constantly pushing for breakthroughs in weapons against mutantkind though, the Weapon X Program and all its derivative projects having him as the originator.

Countless mutants had died due to his fear of them in gruesome experiments, and many others had suffered the consequences of his machinations, including Laura and Celeste, as well as Logan.

Malcolm though was the only one in the Facility that knew that Sublime was the true mastermind behind the organisation as he himself was just a puppet installed in his position by the latter, which was the exact knowledge that I hoped to find.

Knowing of Sublime's existence, naturally had me include him on the list of targets that had to die for my vengeful strike against the Facility to finally come to an end. I had to be thorough as I did not want to face any kind of 'surprise comeback', no matter how easily I could resolve such.

I was a Realm Lord, where would my pride be if I missed my target? Sublime had to die now that I knew that he was real, of that there was no doubt.

Looking at Malcolm as I discontinued perusing his mind, I stopped myself from just letting the Darkforce around us devour him.

There was someone that deserved to kill him more than I did, someone that desperately hungered for vengeance, someone that was lost without it.

So I would grant it to her because I loved the quiet she-wolf almost as much as I loved Jean.

[A/N: Some of you might wonder how Elijah could learn telepathy with such ease and that it may seem to overpowered but remember that Captain America as simple Peak Human could learn any martial arts by merely looking at it. Elijah had a superhuman mind that is enhanced by the energy of a whole dimension and more, his learning capabilities are manyfold that of a mortal.

Also, I hope this clear chapters clears up a bit of the loose ends that some of you may have wondered about when it came to the Facility and those behind it.

Also, Sublime is a rather peculiar character in the comics but I personally don't like the whole 'ant-mutant virus'-revelation since that just seems unnecessary to me.

I can fully believe that humanity would react with such hatred to a race of superior beings as it seems logical to me that the ruling class' fear of them being uncontrollable would lead to plenty of propaganda that would cause hate and discrimination. Just looking at America tells me how senseless mass media makes the larger masses. Racism doesn't just 'exist', it is 'created'. And most people buy into it.

In an alternate world with mutants, it wouldn't be that different, which is why I never liked what Marvel did with Sublime, even if he is an interesting character.

Anyway, I hope you all had a nice start into your week and enjoyed the chapters while seeing Elijah in more uncaring way as he acts like a somewhat uncaring deity, using humans as means to end.

Well, objectively speaking he was torturing scientist that did horrific things to mutants of all ages, which some might say is justified while some might disagree. But the point is that Elijah knows his actions are cruel and inhuman, and he would certainly never find excuses for his behaviour by pointing out his 'victim's' past crimes nor would he revel in the pain that he causes.

The simple truth is that he is not a 'nice' guy if he doesn't want to be, which is exactly the point by which he lives by.

PS: I rediscovered an old song from the Chainsmokers to myself featuring Daya, which is called 'Don't Let Me Down'. It's f*cking great and I listened to it writing the last two chapters. Some of you probably remember it and I can only recommend you go and listen to it right now :D

PPS: I also had the best Indian food of my life today, especially the side dish of Garlic Naan with Cheese. If someone had shot me right after my meal, I would have died a happy man, no complaints. Lol.

Either way, sorry for my blabbering but it is kinda late and I am a bit sleep deprived :D Though you may be happy to hear that I made a decision about the coming Vampire Diaries Fanfiction, which I want to keep a secret for now to surprise you when it is time!]