Chapter 226: The Truth Of The World (3)
The alphas got really serious, teaming up and standing in a shape like horns, carefully guarding Kestrel, who was standing with her eyes shut, and Nicole, who had just woken up.
Nicole frowned and said, "This is tough, they hardly show any signs of psychic power, so it’s hard for me to have any psychic impact on them."
The two mutants that looked like humans didn’t seem like much at first glance, but they were incredibly strong. They had easily hurt Olivia, Ren, and Raymond in the short time they met.
Back in the psychic landscape, the mantis Queen didn’t care about the fight going on. She picked up her dress a bit and sat in a sheltered spot, reaching out to play with two butterflies that were hanging around the flowers close by. "They are just two failures, really. No matter how many times I’ve tried to make them have babies, it never worked, which let me down a lot. To me, they are even less cute than these two flying bugs. So, I had to hide them under the ground where I couldn’t see them anymore."
At this moment, Kestrel started to get why humans were kept as prisoners by the mutants.
Even though mutants were really strong and hard to beat, when you think about it, they really relied on humans to live. They needed to live inside humans to keep going. Their babies needed to soak up a lot of psychic power to grow in a steady Polluted Zone.
The Polluted Zone where Kaworu lived was a place where humans hardly ever went because Kaworu didn’t want them there, and even after a really long time, like four hundred years, it hadn’t fully grown.
"So, that’s the reason... this is why humans are kept like animals," Kestrel said quietly to herself, looking down.
The Queen turned to Kestrel and said, "You seem kind of odd. I mean, you are very different."
She spoke in a peaceful and quiet voice, which was common for beings like her, not showing much feeling in her words. "When you arrived, I sensed that you were very similar to us. You come from an old and pure family. You should be a sensible and quiet being, and I believe that once you know what’s really happening, you would quickly understand and be a good friend of mine. But your actions so far seem..."
The Queen paused for a moment, "You act a lot like a regular human, full of feelings. It looks like you have the kind of emotions only humans have."
"Do I?" Kestrel moved her arm and scooted to the edge of the sheltered spot to sit. "I’m really happy to hear that."
"Happy? You feel happy?"
"Yes, happy. A feeling. A feeling that only humans have." Kestrel looked at her. "Do you maybe wish you were like me? "
As the mantis Queen was trying to understand her, Kestrel was also figuring out what the Queen was thinking, getting a slight sense of the Queen’s mixed-up feelings and what she really wanted.
The Queen wasn’t how she seemed, having feelings like being alone and sad. Actually, when she did these things and showed these expressions, her heart didn’t change at all; just like she said, it was only a basic copy of how humans act.
She made Kestrel think of the Queen in the Tower, but at the same time, they were quite different.
Kestrel kind of felt that this small difference might be a chance, not only for her but for everyone else too.
"So, happy, huh?" The Queen murmured, moving her head a little.
"Yes, happiness. It’s a special kind of feeling that only humans have. But I don’t think you would really get it," Kestrel said with a bit of happiness in her voice, like she had finally found the perfect person to show off the cool stuff she had learned after a lot of effort.
She even had a small smile on her face, like this place wasn’t full of danger and wasn’t a tricky mind game where you could get lost forever, like there weren’t super-strong people fighting fiercely outside to keep her safe from the never-ending wave of monsters — it looked like she was totally calm, like she had all the time in the world, happy to just sit here and talk with someone.
Kestrel went on, "I not only understand what happiness is, but I also know about love, sadness, and friendship... These feelings are really complicated, you can’t just figure them out by reading about them. I worked really hard to change from a Kraken, who couldn’t feel or want anything, into someone who can feel all sorts of stuff and want different things. It’s actually really cool."
"Really? Cool?" The mantis sounded kind of puzzled. "I thought having too many feelings was the biggest problem for humans, that getting too upset was what led them to a lot of trouble."
"It might be a problem," said Kestrel. "But it’s also the best thing about humans. These feelings help them understand themselves better, know where they are, and figure out where they want to go. It makes them a person who thinks and acts for themselves. It’s too bad you can’t get it."
"The best thing about humans?" The Queen said softly, thinking to herself.
She had been around for hundreds of years, and she had thought about lots of deep stuff. What Kestrel said had really made her think about her own big questions.
Kestrel kept going, "You keep humans like pets, but there are fewer and fewer of them. You try to act like humans, but you don’t really get them. You need human psychic power, but you are hurting the human soul world. It’s been hard to find really strong betas lately, right? You don’t get why humans are messing things up for themselves. I also kinda don’t get you. Aren’t you seeing that you’re going down a bad path, just like the humans?"
The Queen looked confused for a bit, then she snapped back to reality and started laughing, "Are you trying to control my mind in my psychic landscape?"
"Not at all, I’m just talking about what’s real." Kestrel opened her arms wide, mimicking the Queen’s pose. "Real facts have the best chance of convincing someone. It doesn’t matter where we are, even if this place is full of crazy events and weird sights, the psychic stuff is just psychic. What’s real and true is like the ground we stand on, the air we breathe, the heartbeat in us, and the friends who look out for us — none of these things can be changed by any kind of psychic power. What’s true is real, and nothing psychic can change solid reality."
"You are really different, and super brave too. You’re trying to change my mind and talk deals with me in my real," the Queen said, "I’ve been around for a really long time, and the last time I met a human like you was about four hundred years ago. But it looks like she has changed. Now, she doesn’t seem human to me anymore."
