Sometimes... Things are more than they appear

Travis could no longer think back to how this all started, it seemed somewhat off a blur from one second to the next, he remember heading into the city to track down a hidden figure fleeing the scene of the creature that had attacked Travis only a few hours earlier, he had pounded down streets, alleys and every little crevice along the way. He had been stopped by a little girl who seemed to know more than she let on and just as quickly as he had stumbled upon her, she had disappeared into the pressing crowds of the city. Thinking to find somewhere back on his original path he crossed the road to an ongoing commotion and in doing so he had stumbled upon a broad daylight attack on other people. Was it a chance encounter or was some strange hand of fate working all around this city?


He knew deep down there was something more to it than suddenly turning up here and so many strange and shocking things manifesting itself before him. Inside the shop, the riot that had sprawled out from within was like something only seen in films. A storm of bugs, to many to not have been somehow put or forced there had wrecked the shop, screams and yells filled his ears, hurting his senses intensely until suddenly one scream above the others had turned his blood cold, if even only for a moment. A woman had screamed, not for herself, the sound betrayed her emotion as clear as a smile might give away happiness and tears would forewarn sadness. It was so thickly accented with fear, fear not for herself but someone she had cared deeply for.


He had learned the woman had lost a friend later after he had taken care of the swarm of bugs that had surrounded them like a winged tornado, biting and stinging all they could in their path. The woman Reina she had been called was taken by a figure Travis had only seconds to have caught a glimpse of his shadow he left as he vanished with his prize. With his sense's Travis got a brief glimpse of the man who had been the kidnapper but the more Travis thought about it, he didn't really seem like an ordinary person. He was much bigger, his mass taking up more space than normal and something else was off with him. Either Travis was mistaken or he had felt like this guy had more than two legs, he moved with movements unnatural humans, speed faster than he could normally have achieved on two legs also further compounded his idea's on the matter.


Today was a weird day, that wasn't even the weirdest part of his day yet to tell it true. The girl who had screamed at the loss of her friend had panick-strickenly ran out hunting her friend, something within Travis had made him follow, was he a fool or a brave man, it was hard to tell, now more than ever. His new friend had not only punched him in the face one moment but next she had fallen to her knee's in some strange moment of weakness or perhaps a flood of emotion from some past event Travis could never have shared with her. There was only pity inside him for her at that moment, he had reached his arms around her and embraced her close. What was going on in his head right then and there he had no idea, he knew women were trouble, all of them only brought their own brand of mischief and misfortune. Yet he had hugged her, they had sat in silence for a time till she no longer sobbed and they parted. Travis let go off her awkwardly, not really sure what was going on but he realised that she had something else on her mind and she hadn't even noticed.


They had pressed on hard after any lead they could find, eventually a break came for them when Travis noticed and endless stream of marching feet, tiny and silent to ordinary sense's. In his head it sounded like the beat of a drum, they marched onwards as if called to war. It was strange, here he was helping some girl he hadn't even learned the name of yet and he was leading her after someone who had kidnapped her friend. He still hadn't found the man he was looking after all of this still to, though part of him had hoped that whoever they were chasing now would know the man or perhaps if he was really lucky he would find it to be the man he was chasing after all this time. Something sparked his memory to earlier on that day, the little girl he had meet, she had said something about the man he was chasing. It chilled his spine and he wondered even more as to what path was he walking down now. His own, or his hunter's?
"He knows about...us"
They had been following the ants for some time, on and on they lead them, till the reached beyond the limit's of the city and suddenly Travis felt his muscle's begin to ease and no longer was he so tense, he no longer had to block out all the noise that would assault his sense's, he felt so free now. He could always hear footsteps, the sound a person's chest made as it moved up and down with each breathe, even the twitching and straining of muscles in the body. People had become so immune to noise they never heard half of the sounds that were in the world. Travis could hear his stomach grumble internally when he was hungry long before the audible grumble would be heard by those around him, he even heard the blinking off eyelash's. How bad it had been at first when every noise he heard was like a stabbing shrill pierce at his nervous system. With time he had learnt to calm every nerve and stop things getting to him so much but now, in the quiet he allowed everything to flow back to its normal level. He could hear his partner's heavy breathing, she seemed fearful now, more so than she had been back inside the city.


He wondered had she ever been in a situation where she had to defend herself, not from a simple bully or a simple mugger. Travis' sensed only malice awaiting them with whoever they found. If that creature earlier had taught him anything, the world wasn't quite so friendly as he had thought only that morning. He flexed his muscles as he followed on and on. He felt like a puppy, being led around by it's master. Strangely she had led him by hand most of the way, he figured she had him pegged as blind and that she had to lead him by hand everywhere, he went with it, at least for the minute it wasn't all bad. Her hand was soft and smooth, his hand in her's didn't seem to be awkward or uncomfortable, at least for now anyways. It soon started raining, the soft pitter patter to the ordinary ear was transformed into a song for Travis. It was like the sky and the ground were doing battle, it was soft still, not harsh like metal on metal or the crunch of bone. It was always in motion, like waves and flows. It was beautiful in it's own way, so unlike what you would hear when you listened to it with your own ears. Travis enjoyed it, knowing only he knew the real majesty of rain. He liked the sound as it dripped off this and that, the splash and even the plop's as it hit more water below. He had little time to enjoy it.


He had followed the trail with his new partner but they had come to a standstill outside iron bars. They had been pulled apart as if by a bear with the sheer force it would of required to bend these bars. The whole that was made to make room for whatever pasted through here was of an unnatural shape and size. It didn't matter he figured, they had come this far, to stop here would be pointless, especially if the kidnapper was to keep his threats against this girl Reina. Travis had a sudden surge of adrenaline course through his body, it sent ripples of pain and pleasure through every muscle, he would of almost screamed but he collected himself as he realised that the feeling was suddenly pushing him forward into the darkness, his hand had already begun to reach for her, she had been talking to him, he could tell that much but there was such an overload of his sense's that he never heard a word she said, there was noises within this tunnel that both exhilarated and frightened him all at once, his blood felt alive and within him an energy was stirring. He couldn't tell what had brought these feelings over him but it was to late, he felt alive again like back when he could see with his own eyes.

"Wait...give me a second." She said, Travis had been pulling her for only a few inches before she froze in her tracks. Clearly she wasn't as interested in what was hiding at the end of this little cavern under the world above. He had forgot that his eyes seen what no one else could, this cave was no doubt dark and full of terrors to normal eyes but to him he could already see small passageways, precipice's, cliff's and even the odd chasm. He wondered more how this person had found a place so helpful for them to hide in. This was no doubt a hideout for whoever they had been tracking, this was his terrain and that meant they would be at a disadvantage no matter what. Though Travis figured they weren't counting on a blind who heard everything coming with force to claim their prize they believed they had stolen. Fayth took to much time to ready herself but Travis was patient and eventually a new sensation took over him. It felt like something new was crawling under his skin, something familiar yet so strange, it felt like.. well like.. his new friend was in his head, how could that be? His mind began to struggle, he couldn't fight her and all the noises in his head at once so his mind went into lock down instantly.

"Just relax and...breathe." He did what he was told but it all felt alien to him, he could feel as if she was gliding through his mind passing through his thoughts, like a flicker of the wind against a candle and suddenly it guttered out and disappeared and he felt at ease but as the peace came to him, he almost jump out of his skin as the woman's voice once more spoke to him, she was trying to be kind and reassuring but it was something unusual to Travis and the little girls warning flashed to mind once more. Someone knows about us... someone knows about me... the little girl.... even this woman I met. He felt much happier when he thought he was more alone in his gifts than right now as he had a woman in his head, a man who had watched as the monster had attacked him and here he was standing in some strange place with more questions than he could ever find answers for. They exchanged their names in complete silence, their minds binded together, though he sense's a little crudely, she wasn't in the deep reach's off his mind and he was thankful for that, your thoughts were your own for a reason, he didn't need her hear of the things he had only learnt of today just yet, he would tell her in his own words in time if he believed she could be trusted with it, right now they had far more pressing concerns as new noises were being picked up by Travis' ears. A familiar noise but not a friendly one.


A thousand voices at once, then suddenly it doubled and then tripled and before long there was more voices than even Travis could separate out in his head. They were surrounding him and Fayth, each one sounded angry, as if they had been riled up by some outside force. Travis could hear them but beside him he could almost feel the tension in his companion, he forgot that he had never told her it was him that had gotten rid of the bugs back when they first appeared when he wasn't sure whether to reveal his powers or not, he had kept silent and now he guessed it was probably time to fill her in, he moved suddenly so he was facing her, even in the darkness he knew she would see and feel him beside her, he closed in tight to her and whispered to her in as soft and soothing kind of voice that he could muster at that point. Leaning in closer and closer, he put his mouth to her ear, each time she breathed it was loud and clear, her heart pumping the blood faster and faster, each breathe pushing her chest in and out, all these things and more he could hear from within her, he felt he could even hear the girlish impulse to scream about ready to burst from her lips but as he had moved close she had seemed to forget the rest of the world and her focus was on him. He could smell her, she was sweet and from his eyes she looked pretty even in this darkness, even with his twisted vision, he breathed only a few words in her ear and then things had changed so fast.

"Close your mind...hands on your ears...pray this works..." He spoke the words soft and careful, he even slowly place his own hands upon her's and together they cupped her ears and blotted out what sound they could as Travis shifted and tensed every muscle in his body, it felt as if he was drawing in all the surroundings as it seemed like there was nothing but the feeling of being trapped in a vacuum as he drew in all the sound around him before shortly let it burst forward from his lips. It was painful to do, his vocal cords rippled and vibrated so hard it felt like they would burst. His stomach shuddered it's disapproval as he used every muscle from foot to head in his expulsion off sound and might. It was focused, twisting it into a shrill high pitched wail of sorts, the bugs were no sooner upon Travis and Fayth than they were assaulted by what Travis had named his power as the "Banshee's Call." The noise he had used to fight the bugs before wasn't going to be powerful enough to pierce every corner, this time he had to use real force, when using sound as a weapon Travis' ears would go completely deaf, during his attacks he was completely blind and deaf but he held onto Fayth tight with her warmth beside him he took comfort, she didn't shake or cower in fear. There was trust for him, however small it had been but it did not matter. He had screeched for what felt like a year and as he stopped he felt weary and tired.


One second he was standing holding Fayth's hands in his own and the next he was on the floor coughing blood. He hit the dirt hard and fast without even noticing it, he landed in a pile of dead insects, he didn't know whether his blast would kill or make them flee but he got the feeling he had maybe slightly over did it as he felt the bugs underneath his weight crunch. He wretched up blood violently at first but shortly it stopped, he figured he had torn a vocal cord or something. It had happened before when he was testing out the strength of his own powers a while back. He would be fine, in a short space of time it would have healed and his powers would work like nothing had even happened to him, it still hurt like hell though. He got back to his feet and soon he was once again able to take in all his surroundings once more. He saw the corpses of all the bugs he had killed, it was an awful sight, he hadn't been aware of just quite how destructive his concussive sonic blast would be, he had meant to hurt them not kill them. He guessed he wouldn't be able to apologise now, usually no one cared when they crushed one little bug but this was more like a killing field. If they were to move forward he was going to have to watch very carefully were he stepped. He wasn't really sure what had happened with since he had let his powers loose, he had felt almost blank until he had regained his feet.


He put his hand out to her as he starred out vaguely with his blank eye's scanning the area around them for were to go next. He studied the area and something seemed to stick out more than the rest, the was one area far off that seemed to have the constant sound of truly distant chattering. It was like things communicating with one another but it was so far off and strained that even with his abilities he couldn't exactly pinpoint it down to the last inch but he could get a vague idea as to what general location they would need to go, in a place with so little in it, there was only one sense he could trust. The noise of life in a lifeless place. It was a long way down, it seemed as if there was caves within caves around here. His enemy clearly had the advantage, he had no doubt they were walking in to a trap, what for he couldn't really guess. Had this new person kidnapped this girl Reina because she was one of "them" to? He had never asked Fayth about her more than he needed to, it was strange, she felt warm and comforting but something within Travis held back and held his tongue. It was to long since he had someone he could talk to... at least properly. He began to make the decent, his hand still held out to Fayth, if she followed him he could no longer tell, there was some new awakened curiosity with him than made him plunge deeper with pure determination.


Travis was a man of conviction and determination, in all his life if he had put his mind to it, it had come to him one way or another. His new found quest for knowledge was his current lust and little but exploring this cave to it's very heart and locating the culprit would slick his lust now. It was cold and damp around them, it had a very earthy and rich smell, not to say it was necessarily pleasant, it was times like this that Travis was glad that his sense of smell had been more less taken from him altogether. In truth he had lost more of himself than his eye's that fateful day but the only thing that anyone ever noticed was his eye's now, one stare at his cold implacable eye's and people no longer looked at him again. They treated him like he was diseased and contagious. Travis began to realise that beneath all this earth and dirt, it was growing colder and the air thicker and harder to breathe in. In truth the dirt filled air seemed to grate against his torn vocal chord sharply, like sand paper on an open wound. Occasionally he would cough and blood would trickle out amongst his spittle. He could feel it but not see it, it was warm and much thicker, he could tell with his vision but there was no colour, just a black canvas with a blue-ish tinted outline to people and the objects around him. Thankfully Fayth wouldn't notice if she was looking on as in the darkness no one would tell the difference between blood or water.


Down and down they delved deeper into this seemingly endless cavern they had stumbled in to, all to follow this mysterious attacker that had started this whole thing. Travis followed the faint noise of chatter to it's place of origin, it had been at least a good 40 to 50 feet below were they had come in, he stopped suddenly in the middle of a far more spacious chamber that opened into a wide space. He crossed to the middle of this new intersection and he could tell something was different, there was a squeak from Fayth, at least he assumed it was her that made the noise as something different had taken his attention, the room they were now standing in the middle off was well lit. Travis couldn't see light no more than he could see the sun or the sky anymore, what gave it away was the sound of the electrical current coursing through the light bulb, a slow droning noise it made, on and on it chirped in his ear, even up above him and quiet as it was, no sound escaped Travis. The light bulb swung from it's ceiling hinge high up above, something had passed by here recently, on it's path it had crashed past the light as it swung back and forward with vigour, each pass it made making it slow until it came to an eventual creeping halt. Travis felt strange, why lead them in darkness for so long to leave a single light on, there was something all wrong with this situation.
"Fayth.... You still there? ...I don't think we are.... alone anymore.... Fayth?"

I'm with Batman...or is it Man-Bat?

Fayth and her companion stood facing the entrance of a tunnel shrouded in darkness as it was hidden underneath a bridge. Water dripped from above as rain had started to fall in Novum Aurora and each droplet entered the flowing river underneath the bridge, which made loud echoing sounds. The stone surfaces underneath the bridge were heavily covered in artist graffiti, some of which were more stylist than others. Despite the invisibility offered by the shadows, the entrance to the tunnel was usually blocked by iron bars. Someone, or something, had effectively bent the bars to create an opening that was larger than the averaged sized person to slip through.

The trail of ants that Fayth and the blind man had found and followed was moving as a single line into the dark tunnel. It was evident that wherever the ants had taken them, they were leading the two to their destination.

“I don’t like this. How on earth can I see?!”, Fayth growled as she glared into the darkness of the tunnel. Her rhetorical question was met by the usual silence of her companion, who was facing her as she turned to look at him. “Oh…yeah. I forgot that you couldn’t see…”

In response, her blind friend took her hand and started heading into the abyss of the tunnel. However, Fayth grounded herself, which made the blind man turn back to her with a questioning expression.

“Wait…give me a second”, Fayth said as she closed her eyes. If they were going into the lair of whatever took Reina, they would need to prepare themselves. Although she was not combat-oriented, her time with Reina had developed her skills at using her powers to communicate and direct her friend, who was much better suited to the field than she was. Similarly, she suspected that the blind man was not as disadvantaged as she had first believed.

As she had found from playing around with her powers, connecting to a mind depended upon the interpersonal bond between her and the person she was linking to. Fayth remembered how easy it was when she connected to Reina due to their established friendship, as well as how difficult it was when she tried linking with strangers. Although she may not know the blind man well, Fayth felt a connection with him may already be forming; a blossoming bond forged from their current situation and recent events.

She found the superficial thoughts of the blind man, and followed them back to his mind. Her own mind brushed lightly across his and she could feel his response, his surprise at her mental presence outside the borders of his own. As a result of this, his mental barriers fortified themselves, as the brief surprise reinforced the will of his mind.

“Just relax and…breathe.”

As deep breaths of air were inhaled and exhaled by the blind man, Fayth felt his mental barriers begin to part ways, and as she willed herself through, she became acutely aware of the tangible force of sounds surrounding her. As she moved through and navigated his mind, Fayth realised that the sounds belonged to the blind man’s perceptions. Loud and powerful waves echoed through his mental domain and it was enough to disorient Fayth, but she strengthened her will and carried on.

Once she was within the eye of his consciousness, Fayth laid a psychic link as she retreated back to her own mind. She slowly opened her eyes and sensed his presence within her mind, just as he was sensing her presence in his mind.

“There. We can communicate this way without needing to speak."

“How…?”

“You may have your talents, but I have my own as well.”

The blind man hesitated for a moment, but seemingly accepted this as he turned and headed into the darkness that awaited them.

“Hey. I never got your name. I’m Fayth.”

“…Travis.”

-

It was like a whole other world as Fayth and Travis walked in complete darkness through the tunnel and deeper into the underground maze where Reina was kept. The air was damp and the walls moist as a large stream of water flowed through the middle of the floor, separating the path into two. An unpleasant odour lingered in the air, which assaulted Fayth’s nose and almost made her throw up when she first encountered it. But what truly disconnected the tunnel from the city was the eerie emptiness and lack of life underground. Fayth’s psychic senses, which were so used to the diverse vitality of people in the city, were acutely aware of the sparse energies around her.

Fayth was fascinated by the psychic realm of Travis’ mind as she was finely attuned to it through their link. She could hear all sorts of things with much more clarity and intensity through the way his mind perceived and processed auditory stimuli. And despite his blindness, a mental representation of their surroundings was constructed by the sounds that he could hear. With each step he took, the sounds bounced back and were received by his ears to shift the mental representation reflecting their movement through the tunnel. As Fayth realised, it similar to the echolocation of bats and how they use sounds to navigate at night.

She was also aware that this may make them alike in a way.

Suddenly, according to Travis’ ears, something was audible straight ahead of them. He stopped and concentrated on it, which Fayth could sense through their connection. They waited in anticipation, and although Fayth heard nothing through her own ears, she was aware that something had appeared on Travis’ sonar radar.

It hit her through her psychic senses, just as recognition of the sounds hit Travis. A swarm of insect, accompanied by that same evil cheeriness that she sensed earlier that day, was rushing towards them. Fayth panicked and began to turn and pull Travis back the way they came, but his strong hand gripped hers tightly to prevent her from escaping. Fayth turned back and found that Travis had not been moved by the oncoming bugs; he stood firm and strong as he mentally readied himself. As she took a quick panicked breath, Fayth fought the instinct to scream as the insects descended all around them and upon them, unleashing their hellish bites by the millions.