Chapter 5: Finding who I am

POV: Zac

I'm sure everyone present was well aware of what the Quqe were, but Kizell was clearly a showman, and he wasn't going to miss this chance to milk the moment.

"My dear, dear friends, I'm sure you all have heard of the legends of the Quqe. Mysterious beings appeared in the Castle over 1000 years ago. They claimed to be created by the Castle to prepare its chosen for a coming calamity. Whether this is true remains to be seen, but what can't be denied is their power and loyalty."

He stopped speaking and held his left hand out to his side. A light-blue glow flashed; in its wake, 10 slabs of stone appeared. They floated in two vertical lines. Kizell walked around the floating masks. After pacing around them once he twirled, before holding out both his hands,

"Anyone who possesses one of these masks controls a Quqe, a being with strength equal to some of the most physically powerful races in the Castle while having AOS capabilities rivaling Sages.

What's more, when you wear their masks, you share in their power. As an added benefit, once you form a link with these creatures, the Mask will cleanse you from any impurities or diseases and make you more receptive to Soul Source energies. While also allowing us to understand, speak, and read, all languages save for the language of Rulers."

I listened to Kizell; if I didn't have Omega already, I would be foaming at the mouth to get a mask for myself. His sales pitch also helped to clear a few nagging curiosities I had. I looked at the dormant masks and saw that half of them were utterly smooth—no signs of scratches on them. I saw a single scratch on 3 of them and 2 scratches on the remaining.

"There's 2 of them. Top right, and the middle left. Those are the ones we bid for Devin."

"Understood, Zac," Devin said as Omega looked over at me with a smirk. She then looked over at the Mask to try and see what I was seeing. She shrugged her shoulders with a sigh.

"Let's see if it's real first." She commented, leaning back and her seat, folding her arms.

"The true value of a Quqe is determined by the number of eyes on the Mask. However, while dormant, it's not currently possible to tell how many the Mask possesses. My Dear friends, do not fret, for today I can tell you that we have 2 masks with 2 eyes in this batch. Maybe a couple of you will be lucky enough to grab them."

I smirked as I looked over at Omega; she looked back over at me with a shocked expression on her face. I was happy about being right, but it was a little off-putting that they knew two of the masks were 2 eyes. That meant whoever they had dealings with was capable of killing 2 Senohoi who had 2 eyed masks. It just means I'd have to be more careful.

"Devin, be sure to bid on the other masks; make it convincing. But pull out once things get...dicey." I said nervously to Devin.

"What are you worried about, Zac?" Omega asked me with a smile on her face.

"If I bid on only the two eyes, they might get suspicious."

"You're such Soft Meat," Omega said condescendingly to me.

"The hell does that even mean?" I growled.

"That's the Castle equivalent of, you're a pussy." She giggled.

I blinked a couple of times, not saying a word. I mean, she was right. I didn't know anything about this place, not really. Some people commanded a weird form of magic, and from its sounds, humanoid creatures had physical strength way past that of a human. I could handle myself, but I was a little out of my element here, just a bit. I needed to be careful until I was ready.

"Whatever,"

That was all I could respond with. Kivell motioned his hand, and one of the no-eyed masks floated in front of him. He then said,

"Let's start the bidding at… 50 million credits."

He said with a smile, and immediately the offers began. Someone quickly shot the price up to 200 million. That guy wasn't screwing around, I softly said to Devin,

"If it starts to approach 900mil to hold back on the bidding."

"Understood," Devin responded as he continued to put out his offers, sometimes raising the price by a large margin. It wasn't long before the price reached the trillions, and I just sighed to myself. I wouldn't have been able to buy all of them anyway.

"Sold to room 3 for 2.5trillion credits. Congratulations!" Kivell announced with enthusiasm. Omega, on the other hand, just shook her head.

"There aren't that many people with that kind of money to blow. That idiot might have brought themselves to near poverty."

I looked at the Mask that was just auctioned off and disappeared. A moment later, the entire building began to shake. I looked around in shock,

"An Earthquake?" I asked.

"No… just an idiot realizing she squandered her wealth on a Mask with no eyes." Omega responded, not seeming to be surprised at all. I guess I shouldn't be surprised either. In the hands of an average person, even a Quqe Mask with no eyes was a priceless treasure that could change their lives immediately for the better. However, for those bidding, they were just status symbols. It was disgusting. I clenched my fist and took a breath as I watched Kizell beckon the next Mask. This one had two scratches on it.

"Win this bid, Devin."

"Of course, Zac."

Kizell pondered for a moment as he looked at the Mask. He smirked,

"Let's start the bidding at 40 million credits."

I had a confused look on my face; why did he? Oh, I get it. He wants to keep people guessing and bidding. If he made it too obvious… good, this could work to our advantage. Especially if everyone came to the same conclusion as Omega did. They wouldn't be so quick to blow their money on something that wasn't a sure thing. Although, I'd suspect bidding towards the middle and the last couple of biddings would be high. The 2nd Mask shouldn’t be hard-fought; this one should be an easy get.

"Sold to room 25 for 1.2 trillion Credits." Kizell finally said after what felt like forever. The blue light appeared in the room again, and I held out my hand. The Mask floated into my grip; an Aqua green light moved through my veins as the Mask merged itself with me. The Mask emitted sounds of cracking, and two emerald eyes opened on the Mask. As the eye opened, A formless light of the same color appeared in front of me. It had no tangible form to speak of, and I remembered,

"Omega Male or Female?"

Omega seemed to understand my question and immediately answered.

"This is a Matriarchal Society…" I didn't need to know more than that at the moment. So focused on how I'd want her to look. They were going to be following me around and living with me; it would be easier if…

"Greetings, Master, I am Jtuwinne(Tu-win-ne), my Designation is Gamma 45."

The being that stood before me had a hooded tan jumpsuit that tightly conformed to her athletic build. Black designs were moving over the surface of the jumpsuit. The front of the jumpsuit was unzipped down to her navel, revealing that she wore a plain white crop top. She looked very similar to me apart from those Emerald eyes and hair to match that was styled in an extended pixie cut. Her skin color was a rosy pale, and she had pointed ears. I didn't envision those ears, so maybe I could control a limited amount when it came to their appearances, and most of it was predetermined.

On top of her head rested a pair of goggles. Her voice was sweet and soft, almost the opposite of Omega's, which seemed to vibrate with power and authority. She stood at barely 5'2 and couldn't have weighed more than 105lbs soaking wet. The look in her eyes spoke volumes; it wasn't a blank expression; it was more like she checked out. As if she was looking ahead rather than at present. The look in her eyes quickly changed when I introduced myself,

"Don't call me master; I'm not your master. Call me, Zac. From this moment on, you're going to act as my sister."

A beautiful smile stretched across her face. I guess she wasn't expecting that.

"Alright, it will be interesting having a little brother." She said with a slight giggle. What part of me was little to her? I was at least an entire foot taller; even if she were wearing heels, I'd tower over her.

"Why are you, barefoot?"

"I find feet ware to be restricting." She said bluntly.

"Fair enough." I shrugged my shoulders at the thought. Winne, at this point, gave me a rundown on what she could do. She was skilled in firearms, with a Physical Bent called “The Body of the Hunter” and a Spiritual Bent dealing with wind and air pressure. We wouldn't have time to go into full detail just yet. The Mask pixelated into energy and entered my body, and I turned my attention back toward the bidding. 3 more Masks had been sold during this time, 2 were blank masks, and the other was a 1 eye.

"Good thing, the one we want is next. The final bids keep increasing. This is the one, Devin. Win it."

"Understood," Devin responded. Winne, who had decided to sit on the floor before me, turned to face me.

"You can see the eyes? That's highly unlikely." She said with doubt in her voice.

"He picked you out from the batch, didn't he?" Omega said dismissively to Winne. They quickly shut up and turned her attention back to the auction. Ever since she arrived, she seemed wary of Omega, almost fearful. Omega was an imposing figure; even her just sitting there was menacing.

"Let's start the bidding at 100 million," Kizell spoke, and I immediately was brought back to reality. That wasn't a fun number for me to hear. Time ticked by, and the number multiplied. As we approached 1.5 trillion credits, only then did the budding begin to slow down. Mercifully the bidding stopped at 3.4 trillion. I felt a sharp pain in my heart as I looked at that number appearing in front of me. I had to ask,

"How big of a hit is that, Devin?"

"You have dropped, from top 50 to top 1000 richest individuals," Devin informed me. I sighed deeply, sinking into my seat. It stung a little more than it probably should have. Such a fleeting dream it was.

"We're done for today. Can we just leave now or what?"

"It would be best to leave now, yes," Omega responded with a smile on her face. I nodded,

"After we meet our new sister, we'll head out," I told the two of them as my 3.4 trillion credit slab of rock appeared in front of us. I grabbed the oval stone piece, and I immediately felt an intense pain run down my arm. I grunted as I held on to my right bicep.

"I told you having three is quite the strain. Each Mask you pair yourself with is pairing with the soul of another being. There's a certain pull. One is fine; two is a challenge; 3 is risky. If you pair with another Quqe, the process could rip your soul to shreds." Omega said as I dropped to a knee. The pain started to subside, and the Mask opened its two eyes. Both of them shined with a golden light. I watched the green lights flow through my body, forming veins under my skin.

"By the light, he really can see them." Winne let out a gasp as she saw the two eyes flash open. Her surprised look changed immediately into a scowl. A figure cloaked in golden light appeared, and I already had her image in mind. As the light faded away, a woman no taller than 5'7 stood before me. Her skin tone was just a shade or 2 lighter than my own. She had very long, very wavy Ombre Hair. It started as a deep brown and lightened into an almost golden color at the tips near her waist. She wore a pair of tight-fitting light blue jeans and a white v-neck T-shirt, both serving to display her impressive body. She was, frankly speaking, a knock-out.

She had a light brown and white oversized Zip-up hoodie draped over everything. This Quqe left it mostly unzipped; she was clearly proud of the body being presented. The plain pair of white Tennis-Shoes finished off her slightly relaxed appearance. She didn't seem to take this too seriously either.

"So I'm a woman again, fucking great? I would like to be a male one of these days. I'm already stuck as a Human."

She sounded almost disappointed as she looked down at her breasts and rolled her eyes. She turned her attention over towards me. She put her hands in her pocket with a lazy smile,

"Hello, Master. My Name is Lynoe; my designation is Theta 23." She then gently nodded her head at me respectfully, but she didn't quite have the same aura of obedience as Winne. She seemed much closer to Omega in this regard. I smirked at her,

"No need to call me Master; Zac is fine. So tell me. What is it that you can d~!"

Before I could finish my statement, Jtuwinne burst from where she was sitting and sprang over towards Lynoe. Winne's tiny foot collided with a pulsating wall of vibrations in front of Lynoe. The room wasn't huge, but even in this tight space, Jtuwinnie could ramp up enough speed to produce an intense air pressure that was almost suffocating.

"I knew it! I knew it was you… bitch!"

"Well, hello to you too, little Winne. How ya been, yah?!" Lynoe said with a broad smile on her face. Her hands remained in her pocket.

"You should be more considerate of our new partner, Winne. If I were not vigilant, you would have caused quite the scene." She raised her right hand out of her pocket and flicked her index finger. The pulsating layer of air, burst out knocking back Winne, who landed gracefully on the ground.

"I have 2 spiritual Bents in the Fields of Vibrations and Light, Optics variant. I'm also proficient in hand-to-hand combat." She spoke with confidence.

I looked at Winne, who was still glaring at Lynoe. I didn't exactly understand what she meant by a variant of a Bent, but I could take a few guesses. What I did understand were the vibrations. That kick that Winne sent clearly had a lot of force behind it, but I didn't hear the impact let alone feel the room shake at all. With the power these ladies were packing, that was hard to believe.

"What’s the deal between you two?"

"Our previous partners were less than friendly wi-" Lynoe was cut off as Winne growled,

"She killed my last partner!!!"

Lynoe grimaced a bit at Winne's words.

"I didn't kill anyone."

"You helped!"

"So what?!" Lynoe yelled back at her, that aloof look that she had faded into a frown.

"So the fuck what?! Your dumb-ass partner has no one to blame but herself. She wouldn't stop pushing! Those people my partner got to help him turn on him immediately after; they’re both dead! Just because you had a crush on that selfish little nether-slag doesn't make her special! Screw her… screw you!" Lynoe stared down at Winne, who clenched her fists tightly. In a movement I could not follow with my eyes, she reached into her jumper and pulled out a gun.

It had a very slick design and conformed perfectly into her hand. There were marks across the dark metal that lit up. It wasn't a simple gun; it had something to do with Soul-Source like everything else here. And I could see it! I saw the flow of soul-source flowing into the guns, and that gave rise to the glowing. I rubbed my eyes, but that didn't stop what I was seeing; in fact, it made it worse. I glanced over at Lynoe and witnessed Soul-source swirling around her person. My breathing picked up under no control of my own.

The swirling lights continued to build; everything slowed down as my eyes widened. Winne pulled the trigger, but nothing came out of the gun. But I could see a third force pushing into the weapon. That same force pushed down on Winne's and Lynoe's bodies.

"That's enough… from both of you." I heard Omega's voice fill the room, and it brought me back. I panted uncontrollably. The force Omega exerted on the two of them increased and brought both of them to their knees.

"What happened in your past does not matter. Your old partners are dead. That was just their fate. If it wasn't the fate they were meant for, then it just means they were too incompetent to achieve it, or you were too incompetent to protect them. You have a new charge now. Learn from your mistake and focus on what's in front of you. Understood?!"

"Yes…" Winne and Lynoe responded together. And the force Omega exerted over them was released. The two of them released their own Soul-Source, letting it subside. Winne apologized to me after putting her weapon away, and Lynoe followed soon after.

"It's no biggie; I get it. You guys were close to your last partners. Honestly, that makes me happy." I responded. If they reacted this way for their old partners, then that meant the relationship wasn't superficial. That they had some real love for them. Good, that said, I couldn't trust them completely.

"Ergh…" I dropped to a knee and held my face around my eyes. A sharp pain went through my eyes into my head. As the visions of all this swirling Soul-Source faded away, the pain finally stopped. But I could still see the Soul Source flowing through...everything.

"Zac, what's the matter?" Omega asked me as she stood up out of her set.

"Nothing... Nothing. Just a sudden pain; guess that light show you guys put on gave me a headache, hehe." I tried to laugh it off, as the three of them had confused expressions on their faces. Omega walked over towards me. Crouching down, she grabbed my chin and pulled my head up to face her. She looked me in the eyes.

"I see, your eyes have changed. You are an interesting fellow Zac. You keep on surprising me. Now I understand why I was chosen for you." I jerked my head away from her.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Take a look at yourself." She said to me while pulling out a compact mirror from her pocket, without really explaining anything. I grabbed it from her hand and looked into the mirror.

"What the fuck?!" I whimpered. What the hell was going on with my eyes?! My beautiful Violet pools? My iris was always a weird dark purple, almost black color. But now, the color brightened up immensely. Not only that but my pupils, my pupils were slit vertically, like a snake’s eyes. There was a small gleaming of aqua green light glowing around the edges of my pupils.

"The hell is this?"

"I can tell, but you need to calm down a bit," Omega said as the other two stood behind her, looking at me curiously. Lynoe smirked,

"You think a physical Bent opened up for him?"

"Hard to say, based on what he said, I know of what it could be. But, he's only displayed half of that Physical Bent." Omega responded as the three of them continued to stare at me.

"I don't understand anything you're saying; stop staring at me!!!"

"Calm down; you'll understand soon. Relax, let the Soul-Source you focused into your eyes flow out on its own." Omega tried to coach me through this. I relaxed, just like she said. I could feel the pressure of the Soul-Source in my eyes and slowly let it ebb out on its own. I watched in real-time as my eyes returned to their former glory. The pressure faded away. The flow of Soul-Source I saw through the area had disappeared. I gave the compact back to Omega.

"What the hell was that?"

"It may be best if we discuss this as we make our leave," Winne suggested. She had a point, the auction was almost over, and I wanted to head out before then. Omega helped me up. By help, I mean lifting me off the ground by the arm like a child-snatching a stuffed animal.

"Devin, close out the account and inform them that we are leaving."

"Understood, Zac," Devin responded immediately. Oh, Devin, the only constant in my life, the only thing that made sense at this point. Please, my friend, never change. The door opened, and before long, we began to make our way out. As we left, I spoke through my mind.

"Everyone can hear me, right?" I asked, mentally. I looked at the three of them, and they all nodded their heads affirmatively. Good, that made things convenient for me. As we walked through the narrow hallway once again, I asked.

"So you're going to tell me what that was?"

"Isn't it obvious? You have an incomplete Physical Bent that allows the seeing of Soul-Source in its purest form. Something that is normally impossible without the aid of very High tech equipment."

"Oh cool, will it help me learn this AOS stuff faster?" I asked excitedly.

"Specifically, you? No. You're not from the Castle, to begin with. So your senses would be very intuned to the feeling of Soul Source. So it won't help you much in that regard. But I'm sure you can find other uses for it. Although this could help hide the fact that you’re not from this Castle originally." Omega said very casually. It was a little disappointing that it wouldn't make things any easier for me in terms of learning. But I guess I already had it pretty easy, to begin with. I could see the Soul-Source in its natural state. People used Soul Source for everything; once I understood this stuff more, I'm sure I could find some way to take advantage of it.

"How do I control it?"

"It's a Physical Bent, an incomplete one, but a Physical Bent nonetheless. Just focus some Soul-Source to the location." Winne's voice echoed in my head.

It was that easy, huh? Just focus on Soul-Source? I did as I was instructed. I felt the pressure in my eyes again, and once more, the world became illuminated in Soul-Source. However, it was a bit too bright, too overbearing. The back of my eyes began to hurt once more, as the start of a migraine. I let the Soul Source subside, rubbing my temples in the process. I'd need some time to play around with this. It wasn't long before we were guided to the door, by the same disembodied head, and back into the main room.

"You don't want to play around here for a while?" Lynoe's voice echoed in my mind.

"No, I just wanna go. Omega, you know what's going on with me, right? Spill it." I shouted into my own mind knowing that Omega would hear me. She sighed, without looking back at me, as she continued to walk through the door.

"I'm not 100% certain; we'll need to run some tests once we get back. However, the Bents you possess are extremely rare and belong to 2 of the 11 Ruling Families. That leads me to believe one of two things. Your parents are from these two families, or one of your parents was the by-product of the union of these two families. Regardless of what the answer is, it's clear why you were born where you were."

"What’s the reason?" I asked.

"Those two families hate each other. The very fact that you exist could be enough for them to try and kill you or subjugate you. I've never heard of a child being born like you, or at the very least living this long. Your birth, or the birth of your ancestor, was well hidden. You're a dangerous entity politically." After Omega finished speaking, I went completely silent.

Was this a joke? Did I leave a world that didn't want me to escape to a place that also didn't want me? Are you kidding me? What was the point?! I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I needed to calm myself. The Castle chose me for a reason, right? The people didn't want me here, but the Castle did; I just needed to figure out why. But there was much more I needed to know. While I was still trying to calm myself, the lizard man from before beckons out to me.

He must have seen me go to the back and wanted to try and make a connection. It didn't help that Winne, Omega, and Lynoe surrounded me in a protective triangle formation that was bound to draw attention. I wasn't in the mood for such bullshit, so I chose to ignore him as I made my way to the door. He was persistent and continued to run towards us. I snapped my head in his direction and glared at him. Involuntarily, my serpent eyes flared, and I channeled my soul-source into a gravitational push.

"I'm not looking to make friends; back off!!" I shouted.

I saw a flash of fear in him as our eyes locked. Before he could utter another word, he was jettisoned through the air about 10 meters away, crashing into a table. Omega looked over at the scene only for a moment and then continued to walk forward.

"We'll need to teach you how to get your Soul-Source under control. It's dangerous for you to have those Bents with such little control." She responded as if the incident didn't matter. Once we finally left that place, I let out a sigh of relief. We walked out back into the busy platform. I didn't have a sense of time here yet, but it didn't seem that day or night affected the foot traffic in this place.

“I really feel like hitting something. Any ideas, Omega?” I asked mentally as we moved through the crowd.

"Hey, move it! Move It! Everyone get out of my way, please!" We heard a sweet voice shout out through the crowd up ahead of us before Omega could share her thoughts.

Omega sidestepped the young lady as she ran past her. There wasn't really much room for me to move from my position on this crowded platform. Even though I tried to move out of the way, she still ended up running into me. The collision didn't hurt and didn't seem to slow the girl down much. She simply turned her body to look back at me,

"Watch it, would you?!" She shouted out at me.

She was beautiful. Her skin was golden brown. It was closest to a light-brown, but that skin tone wasn't something you'd ever seen back on earth. She had the visage of an Egyptian goddess. Everything from her ears to her full lips was perfectly in place. Almost unnervingly so. Her voice, even as she shouted at me, was like honey. I would let her yell at me more if it meant I could hear her voice again.

I could feel those sharp eyes staring into my soul. Those dazzling eyes had a light crystal opal coloring. Her wavy, dark auburn hair flowed behind her; it must have been long enough to reach her lower back. The light scent of sweet flowers wafted as she passed. She had to be an angel, right? Angels must be a race here. I didn't get to see much else as her appearance disappeared in the crowd before I could see anything else,

"Ah… yeah… sorry." I fumbled my words almost silently for no one to hear, as she was already long gone. Not long after she had left, another group of people ran past us,

"Where the hell did she go? She couldn't have gotten far. Come on, let's check over there." As they ran off, I stopped in my tracks; Omega stopped and looked at me,

"Zac, no."

"What? I said I wanted to hit something. Let me go hit something."

"It's none of our business; you don't know what that woman has done. Or what those people chasing her can do." Omega responded.

"Yeah, neither do you. But fine, we'll just see what happens and decide from there. Deal?" I asked Omega with a smile on my face.

"Fine… Winne, track the girl, Lynoe, cover us. Zac... I thought you said you weren’t a hero?"

"I’m not. I just think she’s pretty. Let's go." I said excitedly as Winnie took the lead, and Lynoe made a hand motion. Our images and even the sounds of our footsteps would disappear.

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