Looking Glass (Darkest Secrets Volume 2)

Part 7 - Butterflies and Prophecy

Holding Corri tight, Lilith floated over the packed crowd where the girl's parents reached out at the sight of her. "My baby!"

Corri smiled at Lilith while her parents thanked the Hero. "Stay safe, Corri."

Orders for safe evacuation came from all directions as the dust settled when a second boom came from the building. Everyone tensed, but nothing happened. As a precaution, Lilith stayed longer than she would have liked. Once she was sure the civilians were safe, and the criminals were still under this mysterious Bavaros' power, Lilith steeled herself for what she'd find in the building.

"Sitrep? Anybody?" She asked into her comm.

"Screwed up inside out and backward." Came a voice from behind her.

Falco appearing randomly didn't phase her anymore. "Where's Gabe?" She asked with more than a bit of iron in her eyes.

"Still holding out."

"Is he...?"

Falco shook his head. "Matter of time. It's Global and her squad."

Lilith's body went numb, and the feeling in her stomach turned from a hunch into an explosion of anguish. "Then why aren't we helping him? We could... we could...." She fell silent.

Falco's pained look agreed with her. There was nothing they could do.

"Come with me, Lil'." Falco reached out a hand.

"Why? What's the point anymore?" Everything could go to hell for all she cared.

"You know that's not true. Let me take you to someone who has something important to tell us. He's helped us already," Falco pointed to the mind-controlled criminals.

Lilith laughed. "You want me to go talk to some ancient telepath while my boyfr- my friend gets pummeled to death?"

Falco made a grossed-out face. "I know how that sounds, but what about a telepath that mind read a vision of something that might help us fix this? Trust me."

"That's even more stupi-" Wait. What if Falco was right?

Her gut wasn't in knots anymore. In fact, what did she feel? Were those butterflies in her stomach? Something told her she should go with Falco. It went against all logic, her emotions, and what her training told her to do.

The feeling defied everything she thought she was. Like the foreboding of Gabriel's impending death, but brighter. This was something she had to hear. "Ok."

Falco scooped her up without another word, and the world blinked by. He moved them into an old tunnel system, through some walls, and set her gently on a pillow by a table with a candle and a large pink crystal. Across from her sat a gaunt, withered man that could only be Bavaros.

"Perfect timing, Falco. Hello, Lilith. Would you care for some tea?"

"What I'd care for is some life-changing information, Mr. Telepath. No offense." Lilith did her best to keep from sounding snarky.

Bavaros' eyes were suddenly so entrancing that Lilith found herself stopping the urge to reach out and refill his cup. The Telepath smiled, and a tight pressure gripped Lilith's head. Her arm began to rise without her consent.

Falco barked, "Bava!"

The urge vanished.

The old man's grin was mostly gums. "No offense taken. But be careful what you ask for, young lady. Now I shall talk, and you shall listen. We are running out of time. Promise me that whatever happens and no matter what I say, you will keep listening."

Only the butterflies in Lilith's stomach stopped her from disintegrating the man and flying out to make a final stand with Gabriel.

Bavaros took her silence for the acceptance it was. "Very well."

"Wait, wait." Said a voice from nearby. "I'm here too."

Bavaros frowned but nodded.

"Quartz?!" Lilith reevaluated the hunk of crystal on the table. "What did they do to you?"

The pink head on the table wiggled around her way. "I am... ok. But... Red Global... is strong. Listen... to Bava... he knows... something special."

That settled it. Lilith set her frown into tight-lipped compliance and looked fiercely at Bavaros, waiting for him to speak.

"Ahem. Well." He sipped his tea. "I am Bavaros the Telepath. Who I am matters little, but know this regardless of what you know of Telepaths, you are ignorant to one thing about us. Like Speedsters moving through objects and becoming invisible, Telepaths have secrets too.

When a Telepath is strong enough and spends enough time around people, they will begin to see the human soul itself. Eventually, we understand our powers all interact through some sort of field and come from within our own souls." Bavaros took a deep breath. "We learned how to harness that."

"But how strong a telepath, and what can you do with souls?" Falco cut in.

Lilith wondered the same things.

"I'm getting there, but by how strong, I mean The Big Five. 

By how to harness souls? Why do you think I can control so many people when normal Telepaths hemorrhage after ten or twelve? There's another use, too. That is what I want to discuss. 

I understand this could be too much to believe, but we use it to reincarnate into our own bodies when we die."

Lilith had heard stranger things.

At the lack of reaction, Bavaros went on. "The most valuable benefit of this skill is that we have knowledge of our past regrets and the future. We could craft whatever life we wanted. Born in full control of our powers, only to make them stronger."

"The Big Five sound almost like gods," Lilith said.

Bavaros nodded. "Almost. We thought we were, too, until around ten cycles back. The timeline we'd known for millennia started to change. At first, we were confused. We searched the world for answers but found nothing. Then one day, the world ended."

Falco burst out. "The world ended?!"

"Yes. There's no other way to describe it. Reality fell apart. Our souls were left without bodies, tethered to the moment we were born. We watched humanity's souls fall back to their births, clueless and unwilling. Our only option was reincarnation - to reprogram our minds and comb the earth over lifetimes, find the answer to free us all from this time loop.

Again and again, we searched to no avail. The only clue was the date and time. After a series of failures, I realized searching on purpose was of no use. I blocked out my memories of the event until the moments prior to the event and followed the course of my life, the way nature intended. Somehow, I got closer and closer to the truth each time.

Over the last cycles, I traced the happening to this location. Things have fallen into place before my lives and before my eyes. This is the moment."

"What changed, in this life, Bava?" Falco asked.

A look of pride took over Bavaros' grimness. He held a hand out to Falco. "Why you did, my boy. You joined the Sentinels - Strike Force Gamma of the Spear, no less. Did an old mobster proud, you did. I've always had an inkling that your real power was being at the perfect place at the perfect time."

"But why the Sentinels? Why Strike Force Gamma?" Even Lilith's whisper carried in the cramped tunnel. Somehow, the butterflies kept her hope fierce and unwavering in the face of destruction.

The old man's pride softened to pity. "Because the moment your captain dies. Reality ends."