Earth
Spectre Base, Canadian Rockies
August 13, 2019
6:03 PDT (09:03 EDT)

As soon as I said begin, my mirror image began sending me seemingly random messages. I closed my eyes and imagined a crystalline shield forming around my mind, completely sealing it off.

I was shocked that it actually worked. I was fully expecting to spend a while trying to form a shield.

“Well done. Your final objective is to fend off attempts by your mirror image to bypass your shield. When you are ready, once again send ‘Begin’ to your mirror image.

[Begin,] I sent.

I didn’t even have a chance to get ready, and my crystalline shield was cracking under the pressure of my mirror image’s assault. I closed my eyes and willed the cracks in my shield to repair themselves. Slowly, but surely, they started to get smaller and smaller.

I’m not sure how long I continued repairing them from my mirror images relentless assault, but eventually it ended, and the voice spoke again.

“Well done. This concludes the Mindspeak training program. You may unplug your phone, and exit the room.”

I did as the voice asked, and immediately contacted Abi.

[Abi, are you there?] I asked.

I didn’t hear anything, but then I realized my shield was still up. I felt her shield covering my own, so I lowered mine and tried sending again.

[Abi?]

[Ah, there you are, Jonathan. Next time you go into a room like that, make sure to let me know, okay? Your mom knew you probably didn’t think about it, so she let me know you were in a training room.]

[My bad. She was right, I didn’t think about it. I’ll keep it in mind going forward. By the way, how do I keep my shield up, while allowing certain messages through, and blocking others?]

[Each person’s mind feels different. As you get used to different minds, you can allow your shield to let messages from some people through, while blocking others. You should be able to feel my mind all around you because of the shield I have around your mind. Focus on that, and then think about your shield allowing my mind through. When you think you’ve got it, raise your shield and I’ll try sending to you.]

[It sounds like a firewall. Alright, give me a minute.]

I did feel her mind all around me. I closed my eyes and reformed my wall, incorporating the feel of her mind into my shield. When I was done, I waited. A few seconds later, her voice came through.

[Jonathan?]

[I can hear you, Abi.]

[Perfect. Well done. If you want to allow anyone else access, just do the same thing.]

[Will do, and thanks. Now I’ve got to find my mom so I can get started on learning how to shapeshift.]

[Why not lower your shield and send to her? Then she can come to you and you can add her mind to your firewall, as you put it.]

[Good idea, thank you.]

I lowered my shield, and then reached out with my mind and tapped on my mom’s shield.

[Done already? I was expecting it to take a bit longer than that.]

[Yup. Thanks for letting Abi know what was going on, by the way. I didn’t think about that at all.]

[I didn’t think you would,] she replied with a laugh. [Alright, wait there. I’ll be there in a few minutes.]

A few minutes later, I saw her coming down the hallway. As she got closer, I was able to easily feel her mind. I closed my eyes and took a few seconds to allow her to bypass my shield. When I was done, I opened my eyes and noticed she was carrying a small pouch with a drawstring to close it.

“What’s in the pouch?” I asked when she got close.

“Remember at breakfast when Gabriel said he’d have some Skill Gems for you and your friends? He broke off when we arrived here to gather them all. Some of the gems will be the same, while others will be suited to your current combat style. These are yours,” she answered, holding out the pouch. “You can go ahead and learn them now. The earlier you learn and start using them, the less time it will take to level them up.”

I loosened the drawstring and my jaw dropped at what I was seeing. I looked up to her. “They’re all tier S Skill Gems? I figured there might be one or two, but wasn’t expecting this many.”

She nodded. “We’re going to give you and your friends every advantage we can. You know that Spectres aren’t infallible, and these will help you at least stand a chance if someone gets past us. You’ll be a lot stronger than other people around your level, but people will be much, much stronger when we leave Earth. Right now, the maximum level a human has reached is three hundred forty-eight. That’s only a little bit higher than the minimum for a Scyftan soldier. The biggest reason for that is that humans have such a short lifespan in comparison to many other species.”

“Oh.”

I looked back into the pouch and picked up a gem.

“What’s 131S?”

“Teleport. At rank one, it will allow you to teleport a maximum of one hundred meters, or three hundred twenty-eight feet, per mana spent. At maximum rank, it will allow you to teleport a maximum of ten thousand meters, or thirty-two thousand eight hundred ten feet, per mana spent. It does carry a five minute cooldown between uses. You and your friends will be expected to utilize it as much as possible to rank it up faster. As you can imagine, it will allow you to put some serious distance between yourself and anyone who might be pursuing you very quickly. You can only teleport somewhere that you have physically been, or can see with the naked eye.”

“Is there any limit on how far someone can teleport, or is it only limited to maximum mana?”

“Mana is the only limit. So if you had enough mana and Teleport was max rank, you could teleport up to the Moon, if you wanted to.”

“That’s insane!” I exclaimed.

“It is, indeed. Go ahead and learn that one and we’ll move on to the next.”

I closed my fist around the Skill Gem and channeled my mana into it, learning the skill. There were another seven Skill Gems in the bag, so it took a bit of time to learn them all, with her giving me a rundown of what each one did. She knew my friends and I still wanted to do dungeons, so there weren’t any Skill Gems that would ruin that for us by making it ridiculously easy. In fact, the Skill Gems that would have the biggest impact, are Legendary Insight, and Legendary Mana Regeneration.

Legendary Insight grants 500% more experience earned while in dungeons, and does not stack with the one I already had. Each of my friends would be given the same perk, which meant that I wouldn’t be getting further and further ahead as we continued to delve into dungeons. It would also allow us to level at a reasonable pace, even with the training we would be doing.

Legendary Mana Regeneration is the big one. It increases my base mana regen by 250 mana per second. My mom explained that this one was given because of my bond with Abi. It would have a noticeable effect while in dungeons, but the biggest thing is how much faster Abi will level because of it. The last time I checked my mana regen, it was at just under 54 mana per second. After learning the perk, that shot up to just under 450 mana per second.

Also included were two different shield spells, Mana Shield, and Spell Shield. The former is a toggleable ability that absorbs damage as long as it can be maintained. At rank one, it costs about one mana for every one damage taken. At maximum rank, it costs one mana for every ten damage taken. Where Mana Shield can block any type of damage, Spell Shield will only block damage from spells. It works a bit differently than Mana Shield as well. Mana Shield blocks a set amount of damage, based off your spell damage. At rank one, it will block five times my spell damage, and at max rank, it will block twenty-five times my spell damage. It does cost a hefty amount of mana, as well as carry a lengthy cooldown with it.

Next up is the Legendary Spellblade perk, which will have an impact on Spell Shield. Legendary Spellblade allows me to cast spells at full power, without having to use a wand or staff. This means that I don’t need to keep a wand or staff on me to be able to cast spells. As the name might suggest, the perk is only in effect when using bladed weapons.

I didn’t have a skill that helps with mobility before now, and that changed as well. I got the tier S skill called Blink. Blink is a rather unique movement skill compared to others, in that it doesn’t have a cooldown. Instead, the mana cost doubles with each use. To reset the mana cost, you need to wait twenty seconds, though that can be reduced as the skill ranks up.

The final skill is the one I’m most excited about. Siphoning Strike is an ability that permanently increases in power whenever something is slain by it. It does very little damage initially, but each monster slain by it adds one, five, or twenty-five damage. Regular dungeon monsters grant one damage, floor bosses grant five damage, and dungeon bosses grant twenty-five damage. It does have the caveat that the strength of the ability will not increase if used on a monster of a lower level. This means that someone can’t repeatedly run low level dungeons to make the skill more powerful.

After I finished learning all the skills and perks, my mom led me to an elevator, where we descended another couple floors. When the doors opened, I was surprised to see lush vegetation, and a cacophony of animal noises.

“This is where young Scyftans come to learn how to shapeshift,” she said, slowly leading me down a hallway to our left. “Here, they’re allowed to shapeshift in complete safety, and away from prying eyes.”

The enclosures were massive. There was one on either side of the hallway. The one on the left looks like many North American forests, with both deciduous and evergreen trees all over. The one on the right, was much more dense and colorful, reminding me of a rainforest. It was also currently raining pretty heavily.

“How big are these enclosures?”

“About five square kilometers, each. There are four of them here. Three of them are designed to resemble biomes on Earth, while the fourth is entirely alien.”

“What do you mean, ‘entirely alien’?”

“Just that. The soil, plants, animals, and even the water were all brought from Scyftan space. There are even a few species of animals that were brought over from Sagittarius.

“That’s awesome. Can I see them?”

She nodded. “We’re going to head over to that enclosure in a few minutes, but I figured you would like to see these two as well. It’s unfortunate that it is raining right now in the rainforest enclosure. When it isn’t, you can see all sorts of animals going about their business. Look over here, though,” she said, directing my attention over to the other enclosure.”

The area near the glass was fairly rocky, with a shallow stream running through it. There was a small grassy area before the forest began. My eyes detected movement, and looking to the edge of the forest, I could see a large bear. It scanned the area before calling out. A few moments later, three cubs followed it out.

“That is Mahtowa and her latest litter.”

“How many has she had?”

“That’s her third. When they’re ready to head out on their own, we release them into the wild. If we didn’t, we would quickly run out of room.”

“What other species are living in that enclosure?”

“There are a bunch of others. Lynxes, deer and rabbits, to name a few. We tried a few different predators, such as wolves and foxes, but they breed too quickly, and are difficult to relocate since both species live in packs. Ultimately, we went with Lynxes because they’re solitary creatures, and they don’t breed too quickly.”

“There aren’t any birds?”

“There are, but only the species that can survive cold temperatures, such as owls. This enclosure has seasons, just like outside. Anything living in the enclosure obviously can’t migrate.”

The bear and her cubs were wading into the shallow water. The mother lowered her head to drink some water. Suddenly, she quickly moved her front paws, swatting at something. She lowered her head into the water and came out with a fish in her jaws. Her cubs quickly surrounded her, trying to get some of the fish before it was gone.

We watched the bears fish for a few more minutes before turning to go to the other two enclosures. As we were walking, she put her forefinger and her thumb in her mouth, proceeding to whistle loudly. Almost immediately, there was a loud popping sound and an animal the size of a medium-sized dog appeared. It reminded me of a Fennec fox, with some noticeable differences. It has a pretty long body, six legs, and two tails that are currently moving in a somewhat hypnotic fashion. It was clearly excited to see my mom, if jumping all over her is any indication.

When it calmed down a bit, she turned to me. “This is a Phenidae named Imuna. Since coming to Earth and seeing foxes, we just refer to the species as the Scyftan fox. They’re one of the most intelligent animals we have ever come across.”

“Did it just teleport?”

“She did. It is one of the Scyftan foxes’ defense mechanisms. When our people first arrived on Nedovis, they were everywhere, and caused a lot of trouble. They’re able to teleport anywhere, and got into our food supplies a lot. People would go to work and come home to find stuff destroyed and things scattered around. It got bad enough that they had to have our food storehouses guarded constantly to stop them from stealing food. Even then, they were able to distract a guard while another fox stole some food.”

“Eventually, a scientist came up with an energy field that prevents a Scyftan fox from teleporting in or out of it. The energy field was built into the walls of newer buildings which made them fox proof. Not all buildings were safe, though. The energy field does allow teleporting within it, so if a fox got within the field, they could teleport inside a building, and then back out.”

“After a time, the technology was perfected, and Scyftan foxes couldn’t get anywhere we didn’t want them to be. That is why Imuna is down here. We incorporated the energy field into this base. She, and other Scyftan foxes, can teleport around it, but they can’t get out of the base.”

“You said one of their defense mechanisms. What is the other?”

“Ah, the other one is sort of a two-parter. You see how her tails are moving rhythmically? She is using them to scan her surroundings. In the wild, a Scyftan fox is always scanning when it is awake. If something comes within range, they’re able to tell exactly where it is, and what their intentions are. If it’s a predator, or someone who might want to harm them, then they teleport to safety. Scyftan foxes live in colonies, and there is always at least one fox that stays up to scan their surroundings.”

“You’ll be learning to shapeshift into a Scyftan fox, though not Imuna. We’re not sure why, but people first learning to shapeshift always have an easier time shapeshifting into a Scyftan fox than anything else. Let’s continue.”

We continued down the hallway. After some more walking, we finally arrived at the last two enclosures. The one to our right was clearly based on Africa. It was a fairly dry enclosure, though had a lot of greenery. I could see all sorts of animals, such as elephants, gazelles, and at least one cheetah. In the middle of the enclosure, was a large watering hole.

To the left, it looked like an ordinary forest on Earth, though a bit more colorful. All the leaves were green and there were a number of flowering plants all over. That was all that could really be seen. It didn’t have a stream running parallel to the glass like the other one did, nor did it have a grassy plain like area.

“It looks like a normal forest,” I commented.

“Nedovis is pretty similar to Earth, in terms of flora. Fauna, on the other hand, is quite different. It is odd that there aren’t any animals visible right now. Usually there is at least one or two.”

We waited for a few minutes and nothing appeared, so we continued on down the long hallway. We talked while she was leading me to wherever we were going. I learned that there was a surprise for me down here, but she wouldn’t tell me what it was, or give me a hint. Occasionally, there was a loud pop signifying Imuna teleporting in or out. The sound was generated by air being rapidly displaced, or rushing to fill a sudden void.

“Are you able to teleport?” I asked her.

“Yes. Why do you ask?”

“If we can both teleport, why are we spending all this time walking? Couldn’t we just teleport down the hall?”

“We could, but this isn’t the best place to get the hang of it. You could end up teleporting into the Scyftan enclosure, and there are a few animals in there that would love to take a bite out of you. Next time you come down here, you can teleport, if you’ve gotten the hang of it by then.”

“What about Blink? That’s just a short distance wherever I’m looking, right?”

“That’s fine. Give it a test.”

I looked at a spot on the ground about twenty feet in front of us an activated Blink. There was a set of pops, and I appeared where I was looking.

“Nice job. Alright, Blink forward, and I’ll catch up with you.”

I wanted to get a feel of the maximum range, so I looked further and further in front of me with each Blink. After about a dozen jumps, I estimated that the range of Blink was about fifty feet. The best thing about it is that I can control how far I want to Blink just by looking where I want to go. I could jump five feet, or fifty feet, which might be pretty useful in combat.

I had to wait between so many jumps. My mom would wait to see how far ahead I got, and then she would teleport the entire distance at once. It was pretty amusing to see Imuna teleport with me whenever I was using Blink. I would activate it, and then she would appear beside me almost immediately.

Before long, we arrived at an intersection. We went right, and then took the second left through a set of doors. On the other side of those doors was a hospital, or it at least seemed like one. There were hospital-like beds, and a number of separated rooms.

“This is the quarantine ward. Animals are kept separate for seventy-two hours before being added to an enclosure, or after being taken out of stasis.”

“Stasis?”

She nodded. “There were quite a few animals that were brought with us when we departed Scyftan space, as well as animals brought since. Many animals don’t have the lifespan that a Scyftan does, so they had to be brought over in stasis. It’s a lot faster nowadays, but stasis is still used so animals don’t become stressed out.”

“So why are we here?”

“For your surprise, of course. Follow me.”

She led me over to a window, so I could see into the room. Inside, was a Scyftan fox that was about half the size of Imuna.

“About six months before your parents died, a Scyftan kit was found on palace grounds while you were playing. It was only a week and a half to two weeks old, and there was no sign of its mother. You took it to your mother, who chose to raise it so that you would have a companion. When she was old enough to move around well enough, she followed you around everywhere. You both got into so much trouble, with her being able to teleport everywhere,” she finished with a chuckle.

“When we left Nedovis, she was put in stasis. The original plan was to remove both of you from stasis when we arrived. The state of Earth at the time, along with the possibility that you might be detected if we took you out of stasis delayed that. When we did finally take you out of stasis, we decided to allow you to have normal interactions with kids your own age. As a result, we had to leave her in stasis until last night. She’ll need to remain in this base for the foreseeable future, but she is yours.”

“Meet Vixa. You can go inside and get to know her. She’ll be helping you learn how to shapeshift.”

I opened the door, and walked inside, closing it behind me. She came running over right away, which was surprising to me. Both of her tails were going absolutely nuts. I sat down on the floor and she jumped on my lap, proceeding to lick my face and cause me to laugh.

“Hi there, Vixa,” I said in a soft voice. “You remember me, huh? I’m a lot bigger than I used to be.”

She gave a little yip and continued licking me. I found her absolutely adorable. She was half the size of Imuna, and was a brilliant snowy white color. I had only seen two Scyftan foxes so far, but I liked her coloring more than I did Imuna’s gray coloring.

There was a little ball in the room and I threw it around for her to catch. I was expecting her to run after it, but she actually teleported in front of the ball, catching it in mid air. She had amazing control. We played for another twenty minutes or so before the door opened again, and my mom and Imuna walked in.

I didn’t know if Vixa and Imuna had met, so I was curious to see their interaction. Vixa immediately ignored me and ran over to Imuna. They were quite affectionate to one another.

“Imuna had a litter of her own when Vixa was discovered on the palace grounds. Your mother brought her to me, to see if Imuna would accept her. She did, and essentially became Vixa’s mother. This is their first time seeing each other since we left Scyftan space.”

“Is that normal coloring for a Scyftan fox? It seems like it would stand out like a sore thumb.”

“Actually, Vixa is the only white Scyftan fox ever recorded. If Nedovis had cold weather they would probably be common, but it is summer all year round, no matter where you go. We originally thought that Vixa’s mother abandoned her because of the color of her fur, but Imuna took care of her without any issues. It seems like it is just a very, very rare mutation.”

‘That’s pretty damn cool,’ I thought to myself. ‘She’s one of a kind.’

She pulled a chair out of nowhere and sat down, then pulled one out for me. She waited until I sat down.

“Now that you’ve met Vixa, I’ll explain how to get started so you can change your form. Close your eyes.”

I did as she asked, and waited for her to continue.

“Next, reach out with your mind and try to sense the mind of Imuna, Vixa and myself. You’ve sensed my mind before, so focus more on Imuna’s and Vixa’s minds. Let me know when you’ve done this, and we’ll continue.”

I reached out like I did when I added Abi and my mom to my shield earlier. I was easily able to sense her mind. I reached out further, and could detect both Imuna’s and Vixa’s minds, though they were fuzzy in comparison to my mom’s. I spent some time trying to make both of them more distinct. After a while, I had all three of them separated, though the minds of the two foxes were just a little fuzzy. I was still easily able to differentiate between them.

“I think I’ve got it. Both of their minds are a little fuzzy, but I can easily differentiate between the three of you.”

“Perfect. Don’t worry about the fuzziness. Now, I want you to reach out further with your mind, towards Vixa. She should draw you in, and will show you how to initiate a scan on your own. Scyftan foxes scan any living thing that comes near them, so they are very good at it. When successful, you’ll immediately know how to transform into a Scyftan fox as well.”

I ignored the other two minds I could sense, and focused solely on Vixa. I reached out further, and after a few seconds, it felt like I was being pulled towards her. When I got closer, she appeared as a perfect copy of her real form. I reached out with my hand to touch her head, and she stepped into it. When we touched, it was like she downloaded information to my mind, like Abi did with the layout and capabilities of the ship.

I immediately learned how to do a number of things. The first two I was expecting based off what my mom explained to me, but the other was a complete surprise. I think she knew I would learn how to do it, though. Scanning is somewhat different than adding someone to your mind shield. You still reach out with your mind, but you scan your surroundings and everything within it. The best way to explain it would probably be a mix of echo location and extrasensory perception.

When Scyftan foxes rhythmically move their tails, they’re essentially sending out rapid pings that let them know what is surrounding them. The pings are around half a second apart, so they can easily tell if something is moving. That allows them to reach out with their minds and scan whatever is moving, to know if they’re safe, or they need to teleport away. When they scan something, they instantly know that thing’s capabilities, and their mental state.

The capabilities part is what is important for a Scyftan. Now when I scan something, I’ll know everything about its body, and its species, allowing me to transform into a version of it. This will be particularly useful in dungeons because I’ll be able to scan monsters and bosses to determine their weak spots, if they have one. For example, I could have scanned Jihm when we fought it yesterday and been able to tell if it had any weak spots. I also probably would’ve been able to shapeshift into a massive sandworm in the future.

So in addition to learning how to scan my surroundings, and scan different species, I also learned how to use the Teleport skill I learned earlier. Scyftan foxes are natural teleporters, and they know how to teleport from birth. Part of the information downloaded when we touched, was that baby Scyftan foxes, or kits, will teleport to their mothers teats and latch on when they’re hungry. I think that would be pretty cool to see.

I left Vixa’s mind and opened my eyes. “Done,” I said, looking over to my mom. “Did you not want me to teleport in the hall because I would learn how to do it now?”

“Partially. There was still a small chance of you teleporting into the Scyftan enclosure by accident, and there are animals in there that could harm you. There is one more thing you need to see. Close your eyes again.”

When she saw that my eyes were closed, she continued.

“Everytime you scan a new creature, it will be added to a sort of database in your mind. Focus on where the information was stored when you scanned Vixa. Close to that, there will be another section that will contain the forms you can shift into.”

I knew exactly where the information was stored, so I navigated around my mind until I came across the database.

“Found it. There are currently three forms I can shapeshift into now, is that right?”

“Yes. In the future, you will need to enter that part of your mind to begin shapeshifting,” she said.

“Cool, thank you.” I said, before turning to Vixa. “Vixa, c’mere!”

She teleported into my lap and licked my chin once more.

“Thanks, girl,” I said, scratching her between the ears with one hand, and petting her back with the other.

She barked and then began purring, enjoying the attention.

“How long does she need to remain in quarantine from other animals?”

“She’ll be able to leave shortly after midnight on Friday. There are a lot of empty rooms available that she can stay in, when you’re not around. Speaking of which, there is no reason you and your friends can’t sleep in the base. Now that you are eighteen, your dad and I are thinking about selling our house and living here again. We bought the house shortly before taking you out of stasis.”

“It definitely would be more convenient, for both me and my friends. I’ll have a chat with them later and then they can bring it up with their parents. Or maybe you and dad can bring it up with their parents when you meet with them on Friday.”

“How about you set Vixa down and try shifting into a Scyftan fox?”

I looked down at Vixa and noticed that her eyes remained closed, even when I stopped petting her.

I looked back up to my mom. “I would, but I think I’ll be stuck here for a little bit. She fell asleep and I don’t want to disturb her. When she wakes up, I’ll give it a shot.”