Neverseen's Puppet

Chapter 6: The Meeting

Well this took a lot longer to update than it should have. I've been so busy with school that I couldn't find time.

Where we left off: "You should not exist."

Councillor Terik's POV

Terik recognized the shock, hurt, then fear, that passed over the girl's face. Their world and been experiencing growing pains for a while now, and he worried Emery was not handling it the best. When the Council had caught wind of this new girl's arrival in the Lost Cities, demands for a meeting immediately ensued.

He shifted his weight off of his bad leg and waited for the girl to respond. He supposed he should acknowledge that the girl's name was Camilla.

"I- I don't know what you mean," she stumbled over the words.

"Humans do not simply have elf babies, Miss Romani," Emery replied sharply. Terik shot him a look that he hoped said, take it down a notch. Emery either didn't notice or was ignoring him. He decided to intervene before Emery could scare Camilla anymore.

"Would you mind demonstrating your abilities for us Camilla?" he used her first name hoping she would feel less threatened. She took a deep breath and nodded. For a second nothing happened, then she vanished. She reappeared moments later at the other end of the room.

"Very impressive speed," Ramira said. She had been chosen for this meeting because she and Miss Romani were both Vanishers and they needed a read on just how powerful this child was. "How old are you, Camilla?" she asked, adopting Terik's strategy.

"Fourteen," she replied shortly. Terik took this under consideration. Sophie had been twelve when she came to the Lost Cities, and she had manifested as a telepath when she was five.

"How long have you been able to do that?" he asked. Camilla seemed to debate the pros and cons of answering him. He tossed in a smile to try and reassure her.

"Since I was four," she mumbled after several seconds of hesitation. Terik glanced at Emery, who nodded and opened his thoughts to the other two Councillors.

Well, that's definitely not normal, Ramira echoed what everyone else had already been thinking.

Where did she come from? Terik wondered. Out loud he said, "What about your other ability?"

I have a theory, Emery glanced at Terik and Ramira. Terik raised an eyebrow. Emery's conspiracy theories were highly unlikely at best, and completely unfounded at worst. It was probably a good thing that the public didn't know that.

"You mean the enhancing?" Camilla asked. Terik realized she needed someone else for her to demonstrate. He glanced at Alden, indicating for him to volunteer.

She's got two abilities, she already seems extremely comfortable with our world, AND she's been blocking my attempts to read her mind, Emery transmitted. When you add that all together... he paused for the dramatic effect, you get a member of a rebel group.

Terik resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He didn't have time for Emery's nonsense.

Alden walked over to Camilla and whispered something in her ear. She nodded and grabbed his hand.

The effect was immediate.

Alden's back straightened. He rubbed his temple with his trembling free hand. He pulled away after a moment and blinked as though he had just seen a ghost. Terik waited for Alden to give them a report but realized he was too deep in thought. Miss Romani looked shaken. Obviously, the enhancing had done its job.

"Lord Alden, will you please give us a report?" Ramira requested politely after several seconds of silence. They all looked at him expectantly. He snapped out of whatever daze he was in and looked up.

"Th- that was the biggest surge of energy I've ever felt," Alden said breathlessly. "It's like I've been living my life underwater and I just got my first lungful of air." Camilla ducked her head. Terik would have expected her to be proud. Instead her expression told a story of fear and shame. He looked at her with curiosity, wondering what made her feel that way about her powers. He hoped that she would come to terms with her abilities soon. They would need her assistance in their fight against the Neverseen.

He also was extremely interested in descrying her. Terik was sure the rest of the Council would request him to anyway. If her potential was anywhere near as confusing as Sophie Foster's, he probably wouldn't be able to learn much.

He was about to make the suggestion to Emery but was beaten to it.

"I'm sure Councillor Terik would be willing to do a descrying," Ramira said, radiating sophistication in her "I'm so superior" way. She shot him a stern look. Again he had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. As much as all the Councillors were one big family, some of them were pretty freaking annoying.

"Of course I would," he replied as cordially as he could. He stepped towards Camilla and stretched out his arms to touch her temples. She flinched, drawing back. Terik was surprised; most people were more than eager to be descried. "It's okay, it won't hurt." he assured her. She didn't look convinced, but offered no more resistance as he focused on her energy and let his ability take control.

Decrying someone was... weird. It always varied from person to person, making each experience unique. It usually took a few seconds for the images to start, but once they did, hundreds flooded the edge of his consciousness. Each one called for his attention, but he ignored them. He learned early on that getting too immersed in all the possible futures was dangerous. Drowning in time was not an appealing prospect. Instead he focused on the images closest to him, synthesizing the best possible futures into a warm feeling that he tucked into a mental treasure chest for later.

Now for the second part of his job. He reached through the scenes for the one's at the very back. The worst possibilities. The ones where people go down dark paths. He shivered as he shifted through them, peeling off the layers and layers until he found the worst person that Camilla could become. He didn't stop to study the scene; that was for later. He pulled it back from the wealth of images that clung to him like quicksand and took his fingers from Camilla's temples.

It was rather anticlimactic for the others, Terik supposed, but for him it was always an adventure. He extracted the images from his mental chest and finally examined them. He did the positives first, as always. As he expected, Camilla could be very beneficial to the Council, and the Black Swan. He smiled, and then stopped, because when someone had a high potential for good, they usually also had a great ability to do bad.

He studied the image in is mind, stomach sinking lower and lower and it became evident that he had been fooled.

They all had been.

"You're a member of the Neverseen?"

Well that's it for this chapter. Sorry again for taking so long to update. Comment any suggestions you have! Also is this how you would picture the process of descrying? This is how I imagined it but there's probably more than one right way.
Toodles! 👋🏼