The Astral soul system

Chapter 255: Questions and secrets

Luckily the test was nothing too invasive. As soon as she confirmed there was nothing wrong, she gave him the option to wait for the others or go.

Before he could make his choice, Zaria came in. She’d grabbed some jeans,a simple shirt and a white jacket .

Elaine even had a spare pair of sneakers lying around.

"Guess it’s my turn"

Sable got up and made her way to the bathroom while Zaria sat down next to Zen.

"Come on up"

Zaria didn’t complain or explain. This was Elaine’s job and they might as well make it easier by complying.

"Hold still"

She said, shining a light into her eye

"Hmm,you too?"

Elaine muttered, looking closely

’what does that mean?’

Zaria quickly explained

"My eyes don’t react to light like most people’s do."

"Is that so? I heard there’s some special training to do that"

She nodded

"Some people are just born different though"

"I see. Anything else you want to tell me, dearie?"

"Well..."

The rest of the check-up went smoothly and she got off to go sit down next to Zen.

Sighing, she looked up

"Do you have any idea what she was talking about?"

"..."

She buried her face in her hands

While in the bath, she remembered what she’d heard that portal say. Something about war, and burning, just like Jade

She hadn’t thought much about it then but Jade’s sudden awakening and ominous warning had flooded her thoughts.

She looked down at what currently looked like a gold chain around her neck but was the monkey’s gift.

The end of the world

He’d said something about that as well. But back then she couldn’t understand him.

Perhaps... she could go back?

Something was happening, and it had something to do with her family. The first place she’d found the symbols which Zen had revealed to be an ancient language which allowed her to speak with one of earth’s old gods was actually her own family home.

She looked at Zen

He was the only other person who knew as much as her about this

Would he come with her?

Sable walked in at that moment

Matching black jersey shirt and pants with blue stripes, and a baseball cap to finish it up.

Without a word, she got onto the bed and waited for Elaine to begin.

"Sorry I don’t have anything more... feminine? I’ve been told that in the military, function trumps fashion "

Sable shrugged

"Don’t worry. I honestly can’t even remember the last time I wore a skirt"

Elaine just smiled and started checking her

Meanwhile, Sable was still struggling with her message

’Chase...chase...no. Find....sun.... something...end"

She groaned. Eventually she’d have to go back. Guessing wasn’t wise if this message was as important as she thought .

Though the school wouldn’t be going back there anytime soon since they tried not to repeat experiences

She could probably come up with some excuse for her parents to let her use one of their portals,or just use public transport, both would require her to leave school.

Shaking her head, she pushed those thoughts aside.

"Hey. What are we gonna do about..."

She gestured towards Jade.

Her strange new abilities were the reason all this had started in the first place.

Zen turned to look at Jade who was actually just sleeping. The system said she was exhausted even though she was unconscious when they dropped her and when they found her. It was almost confirmation of what he suspected, she’d left to another world, but her entire body and not just her soul like he had.

And she’d been busy

Gravity

One of the natural laws of the universe

What goes up must come down

And now... not so much

The initial burst of energy that caused it to go out of control last time had dissipated but things could still go horribly wrong

For one, she still had her portals, he’d checked.

It seemed someone would have to explain to her how she got another ability when that is apparently impossible. Also, how would it even feel.

It wasn’t like this was a soul., the power had become hers. He had no precedent for this.

"Things will go back to normal"

Zaria sighed

"How?"

"By accepting that this is normal for us now"

Zaria paused for a second

"You said us"

"..."

She chuckled,a smile returning to her face

"I guess you’re right. She’ll just have to get used to it, we can’t protect her forever"

Elaine was finally done with Sable and as she backed up, she took off the gloves, putting her hands on her hips

"I have no idea how but none of you have even a scratch, and you came in here like you just got done dealing with the zombie apocalypse.

Sable shuddered

"Please don’t jinx it. There’s a dungeon with undead on the south side of the school and those things creep me out."

’Jynx’

That reminded him of another issue

Jade’s mother.

Perhaps he should pay her father another visit soon

"Well your friend over here’s all good. You could wake her up but i think she should rest a bit longer. Poor thing’s exhausted "

Sable and Zaria exchanged glances, remembering what the dungeon had said about a key being in place,as well as how convenient it was that the entrance reappeared once they took her out of it.

"Well thank you very much but we have to go now. "

Sable said already heading towards the door and dragging Zen with her

"We’ll bring you a thank you gift, promise!"

Zaria said as the door closed behind them.

They quickly left the school and made it to Zaria’s secret garden, being entirely silent the whole way.

Zen tilted his head curiously. He’d have thought they’d stay to keep an eye on her for a bit longer

"We need to talk"

"..."

"What do you think it’s about? That dungeon"

"...why?"

"What happened?"

"I wouldn’t know. You were the one’s there when it happened "

Sable folded her arms

"Well it’s your place. You didn’t think this could happen?"

"..."

"Wait...you didn’t? It’s never happened before?"

He shrugged

"I suspect Jade accidentally triggered something,or rather I did when I placed her there. I knew it used to be a dungeon, but I thought it was harmless"

In hindsight, he should have known if it could send people away,it could possibly also bring things here.

Sable groaned, she felt like pulling out her hair right now.

"Okay,so anything else we need to know"

Zaria looked at him and sighed

"We should tell her"

"What? Tell me what?"

Zaria looked at him, gesturing for him to say something

"I already know he’s not human"

"Yes but-"

"Neither is Jade"

Sable froze

"Oh...so she’s been -"

"She didn’t lie to us"

Zaria quickly interrupted

"Something similar to what happened to you happened to her. It was during the expedition "

Zen said, ripping the bandage off

"So that’s why she smells different, and...feels different. Is she -"

"It doesn’t matter what she is. What matters is she doesn’t know and things are happening "

That seemed to snap Sable out of her thoughts

"What?! How does she not -"

"It was done while she was unconscious. She woke up and everything was normal on the surface,so she has no idea"

Sable gasped.

She took off her baseball cap, running her hand through her hair.

"That is so messed up "

She looked at Zen. There were no need for words

He got the question

He nodded

"Okay,so... how do we tell her?"

Zaria and Zen exchanged looks

"We ARE telling her, right?"

"That may not be the most pressing issue"

"What? What else could be more important

...

...

...

"Gravity?"

Zaria nodded

"Saw it for myself "

"So... she can make things lighter or heavier. I don’t think I’ve ever seen an ability like that before "

"It’s dangerous. And she needs to get it under control."

Zaria said, bringing up the school’s newsletter and a specific article on her watch.

Sable looked at it breifly

"Oh yeah, that explosion and the kid who broke every bone in his body. She did that?"

"Not every, but yes. And by accident"

Sable ran her hand through her hair again.

"Alright, before we go on. Anyone else, have anything to share? We’re all in the same boat here. We already know, Zen isn’t human, same with Jade, and...."

Sable coughed, shaking her head

"Zaria? You have anything to add?"

"Me... Nothing. Looks like I’m the most normal one here"

She mumbled, unconsciously twirling her hair

"Heh, yeah"

Zen took a look at both of them from the side of his eyes but didn’t say anything.

They’d addressed the matter at hand, the rest was up to them

"Well...I need to go"

Zaria said, looking intently at her hair.

"I’ve got things to do"

She said without looking back as she walked out.

Sable sighed as she left then turned to Zen

"Oh, don’t look at me like that. I can tell her whenever I want to "

She said as she started to leave too before suddenly stopping

"Hey"

She looked back

"We’re all gonna be fine, right?"

A pit had been forming in her stomach for a while, and it had increased three sizes after today.

It was like the normal rules their world followed were becoming less... solid. Like things weren’t working the way they were supposed to anymore.

First Zen,then her, and now Jade, and although she wasn’t sure what, she was getting a bad feeling from Zaria and Maximilian.

The rules were beginning to matter less and less, boundaries were slipping into one another and collapsing.

It scared her,bad.

She waited a few seconds but didn’t get an answer.

In the end she just sighed and walked out