CHAPTER FIFTY TWO
"What are you?"
Ives didn't mince his words, knowing his luck with this sort of things if he wasn't a step ahead dying was all but inevitable.
Selene immediately went on alert seeing Ives behold her with such a lethal expression.
'He looks like he is going to kill me.' Selene thought fearfully.
"Aren't you like me? My daughters told me what you did when you saved them, I also confirmed with the guards." Selene said softly with an almost pleading voice trying to soothe him.
She moved towards him with gentle steps then reached out with her hands and placed his in hers, bringing it to her cheeks and snuggling against it.
Ives' glare softened but still remained alert.
"When did you first realise you could do this?" He questioned her hoping to understand the exact nature of her ability.
"It was about a month ago now, Rhea had just come back. The second she stepped through that door, seeing her everything changed. 'She' woke up, that person... that me after seeing Rhea she just exploded. I never knew I could cry with my girl like that, I didn't even know why I felt so sad. All I knew was that something about that me woke up in this world meaning that place I came from was real. Right?" Selene said then asked.
"Is that all?" Ives wasn't ready to give her more details, even knowing about the order was enough to pull you into their web but he still had to arm her against their operations since she may still wish to return to Valkyren.
"Well. Whenever she does something like this, I stop being myself."
"What you and your daughters are doing is her doing right?"
Selene nodded almost with a look of guilt.
"Do they know?" Ives asked hoping to know at least whether Rhea and Silva at least knew that their mother was using her powers to make them fufill her sexual urges.
Selene nodded, "They were the first people I told."
"Do you do this because you want to?" Ives asked more softer than before.
"Yes. On some level but it more like I want to feel them. Ever since 'she' became part of me I began to feel people, I could look at a wall and know how many people were on the other side and not just that but also what they are feeling. But I could hold their hands and it feels like they not even there, like I am not really holding them. Maybe it's her that feels that way, I don't know why though. I feel her explode out of me and do something to them making them do whatever she wants, something she becomes me. Whenever we have sex, she feels them. I and her become one person." Selene's confession brought more clarity to her situation.
With a simple invocation Ives entered that states that allowed him to manifest where he could perceive everyone's waves.
Surrounding Selene's cloud of excitations was another overlapping entity, it had a physical presence but didn't show up in real life.
It resembled a flowing glossy mass of eyes and subtle facial features hinting at a striking similarity to Selene's.
Ives felt it's excitations and was immediately bomarded with a cascade of unbearable emotions.
'I want to see everyone again.' Ives heard Selene's voice in his mind and immediately understood what it was.
For whatever reason, Selene's longing to see those she loved in her final moments from the world where Ives wasn't present to save her from Marcus re-emerged within Selene not as a full on person but an strong willful longing.
That is why it didn't have any physical form, it was an emotion that can now flood other people's minds with it's own overwhelming desire, overpowering their will and reason.
Since aberrations are singular quantum entities only existing to describe the interaction or presence of any phenomenon and not it's entirety and physical constituents, it can control it's own unqiue internal wavelength and convey it forcefully to others since it was just an emotion.
Something similar to possession.
A simple emotion had evolved into something this terrifying.
"It's just you." Ives told Selene.
"I know Dear but I'm still scared." Selene said and leaned against his chest, their naked bodies pressed against eachother.
"I'll protect you but you don't have to worry. 'She' won't hurt you but you still need to be careful, it isn't her you have to worry about." Ives gave her a cryptic warning.
"You said you would protect me right?" Selene said with a hint of elation in her voice.
Ives rolled his eyes.
'She will milk this.'
"No problem. But we still have to handle this." Ives looked at Aldire who was still waiting patiently on the floor.
"Who is she really? And why does she want to own you so much?" Selene asked with a hint of hostility in her voice.
"She is part of a secret group who call themselves 'the order'. They are basically like the Illuminati but with actual power, they are the reason we are like this and why nothing seems to make sense in this world anymore. I got involved with them but managed to convince them I am dead, her presence here might threaten that." Ives gave a rough explanation.
"Are they the cause of the assassination attempt?"
"Partially. Can you reverse this?" Ives asked.
"Yes. If you want. But let's have fun first, she said a bunch of stuff I want to get her back for." Selene said mischievously.
Ives didn't even bother to sway her, Aldire's unfiltered behaviour had earned her more enemies than allies and he was one of the former.
"What is the order's main goal?" He suddenly questioned Aldire.
"Xion." She blurted out with considerable effort, obviously trying to resist on some level but to weak to overpower an Aberration's influence.
"What is Xion?" Ives asked.
"Elevate...." Aldire's voice trailed off and she suddenly raged at Ives.
"Stop what you doing!.."
Somehow the real Aldire broke through proving that her will to remain an asshole was greater than any mind control.
Ives didn't give her any response simply watching with a detached gaze as she battled the compulsions then with a heartflet plea she entreated him.
"Please I could die!"
Both of them were surprised, a while ago they didn't think it was possible for someone like Aldire to say 'please' now she was oozing it like a washed up cat begging for food scraps.
"Okay. You don't have to tell us..." Ives decided to let her be, if order was really that important the order was bound to put measures in place to make sure none of its members leak crucial information that destroys their plans even if means killing their members.
Aldire suddenly keened over and threw up, Selene rushed to her and held her quickly dispelling the influence of her Aberration.
Aldire looked up at Ives with eyes completely dyed in red, somewhere in her head a blood vessel had ruptured and she could bleed to death within minutes.
"Dear please!" Selene begged Ives to act as she tried to stabilise a fading Aldire.
Ives moved for Selene's sake, his figure blurred, the space around him fluctuated and a flash exploded out of him.
The Bleeding stopped but Aldire passed out.
"You're wonderful!" Selene said almost crying at the fact that this murderous evil woman nearly lost her life.
She knew Aldire as a lifelong friend while Ives knew her as a woman who toyed with lives in a neverending quest for entertainment. Imagining that he nearly fell for her play when she gave him that video to set him against the order, thankfully he didn't need to go on the long route.
He became a variable they couldn't anticipate any longer, he became an Aberration.
Maybe that is why they sent so much force to wipe him out but without knowing the full extent of his capabilities they weren't able to realise that he played them.
Ives felt hate and anger boil inside him thinking about the fact that he was simply a toy brought into the high society just to be enticed into their game. Imagining walking up and down in their congregation oblivious to their silent jeers and gossip unknowningly being a pet monkey kept there to make their lives interesting.
His self importance plummeted to nothing but he wasn't done not by a long shot.
Ives got busy erasing the mess from Aldire and getting fresh clothes for him and Selene then a blanket for Aldire.
He waited with his back to the wall watching Selene cradle Aldire like a child, for all her errancy she had a beautiful soul.
The moon had reached its peak and bled into the room.
Aldire stirred awake in Selene's arms seeing her happy expression and her teary eyes, she became composed.
"You're crying" Aldire pointed out.
"Yeah. Ives saved your life then did everything else." Selene explained with a nervous laugh.
Aldire turned her face to Ives, stood up and looked at Ives. The blanket fell from her body, she didn't seem to be bothered being seen naked.
"Ives… Thank.."
The cold look from Ives interrupted her, she didn't feel comfortable offering a simple apology or gratitude.
She wasn't worthy of that.
Ives scoffed and prepared to leave, Aldire ordered.
"Wait!"
Ives looked back, Aldire moved to Ives took his hands and placed them on her neck.
"Do whatever you wish to me. I will earn my place in your heart..".