Vol. 3 Chap. 108 Dreaming
Truth spent the morning doing moving cultivation. He had the space now, and just sitting around had never felt right to him. Every few hours he checked the scry- lockdown still in effect. It turned out that people were being allowed out to buy things, but you had a fixed ti of day to do it at, based on your tax ID. And if that ti happened to be three in the morning, too bad for you. The cops were out, and were checking. Had to be playing hell with the economy, but these days, what wasnt?
Around lunchti (theoretical lunchti, there really wasnt anything to eat in the apartnt) the news announced that the lockdown would end at six in the morning the next day. Truth was quietly confident that the old man who lived here would not be back by then. Truth didnt bother to switch on any lights, and kept the running water to a minimum. From the outside, the apartnt appeared to be empty.
Three tis during the day, Truth felt diviners sweep through the apartnt. Each ti, the search was steady and patient. These were diviners who fully accepted that this was their job, and werent going to rush it. Truth was a little vague on the finer details of how divining worked. He was more familiar with how to defeat surveillance than how to do it. It sure seed like this batch was well trained and well equipped. At a guess, Level Three power. Which, for apartnt sweeps that he would have normally expected to be done by Level Ones, was kind of nuts.
They were rare highlights of the day. Each sweep revealed a happy truth- they knew, roughly, what he was up to, they just couldnt counter it effectively. He could practically hear them walking through the logic-
He can use Incisive and it seems he has so ans to make himself invisible or undetectable, so he probably just hides out wherever he wants. Which ans he isnt using a specific safehouse. Which ans we have to look everywhere.
In Harban. Every apartnt and ho in Harban.
Well, what if we locked down the city first?
Search every ho. In Harban.
With diviners. Give them top notch tools, Hell, have Demons or Angels powering the search. Not like we have a budget cap for this.
Every ho. In Harban. In less than forty eight hours.
We will probably have to check a few tis, because he clearly knows how to defeat surveillance.
*Beatings ensue.*
It wasnt dumb, exactly. Just, what else could they do? He was sure they would have those watcher-things posted up in far, far more places than before. Certainly every route out of Harban would be coated in them. Aggressive police sweeps. Aggressive checks of sigils. Constant pressure on the basis that he would have to succeed every ti, but they only had to succeed once. It wasnt dumb, exactly. Just very inefficient, and not very effective.
They must be using him as a hat, he reckoned. This was most likely aid at known agitators. Maybe opposition political forces, or people who would be considered obstacles to the new order when it ca in. That sounded a lot more likely than dumping all this money on just finding him. He would bet there was a specialist team chasing him. All decently high level, with plenty of grunts for leg work.
Waste all the money you want. Waste all the ti you want. Because all those horrible things I did were for this. And you know it. And you cant do anything about it.
It was the one-two combo of terrorism. You had the impact of the atrocity itself, but that was really just the set up for the finisher- the reaction to the atrocity. No sane terrorist thought that a bombing or an assassination would result in instant victory. It was always about provoking a reaction.
Make the much bigger, more powerful target waste their strength and money chasing you down. Make them commit their own atrocities. Make them burn through public support, tear down their moral high ground, strain or destroy alliances, waste their lives. Because they might kill you, but you were on the side of righteousness. Your life, your ti wasnt being wasted. You would live in glory forever, in the Kingdom of God. And soon enough, the unrighteous would eat themselves, collapsing inward as everything that made them strong vanishes.
Truth tried to work in body weight exercises. He opted for speed and muscle isolation as a way to build enough fatigue to do sothing useful. It was eye opening. After the one hundredth one-pinky handstand pushup in a minute, he concluded that this was a losing ga. He needed a Hell of a lot more resistance than his body weight could provide, and if he wanted cardio, it wasnt going to happen in a tiny apartnt.
On the one hand, hooray for body cultivation. On the other hand, he was no more immune to boredom than the apartnts forr occupant. He could feel the walls closing in. Feel boredom as a sort of physical pain, spirling quickly towards depression. The cultivation and ditation helped, but they couldnt do it all on their own.
He would cheerfully kill for a book. The forr occupant wasnt a reader. Because of the sweeps by the diviners, he didnt like having the scry on. Just the empty apartnt. A void in space, deprived of purpose, if not aning.
Truth found himself daydreaming. He tried to imagine his better world, the one he hoped to find sowhere with Etenesh, or perhaps build here. A world where people got food and a house just for being human. What would that be like, he wondered. How would that change things?
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Jobs would definitely change.
What, Im fired? Ok. Guess I'll go ho early then. Hmm. Im thinking of fried chicken for dinner.
When you got right down to it, how many jobs actually needed a human being doing them? With all the advances in demonology and talisman design, not that many, surely. So long as there was magic, food production shouldnt be a problem. Sa with places to live. They might not be very nice, but just having a place no one could take away from you would be huge. No rent to pay. No mortgage. Just yours.
So part of him felt like that couldnt possibly work. Could people sell these apartnts? No, surely, because then you were right back to a few rich bastards owning all the apartnts and renting them out again. So maybe people didnt own them. Soone else, the governnt or soone, owned them. But you still got to live in them for as long as you wanted.
He laughed bitterly. He could feel the wrongness of his thoughts. He was missing so many practical problems, he simply didnt even know where to start. He just knew that people needed a roof. Needed food. Needed doctors when they were sick, needed schools when they were ignorant, needed a way to get around that wasnt just walking everywhere.
Would you still need money in this world? Maybe? He couldnt imagine a world without money, but if you didnt need money for food or clothes or a ho, or school, or a doctor what did you need it for, exactly? Cultivation aids? How would that work? Because if you had enough magic that food and shelter wouldnt be a problem, then you had enough magic to cultivate. And its hard to persuade a person to live small when they are so much bigger than everyone else.
He didnt know. He didnt understand enough to see all the things he wasnt seeing. He just kept pecking at the questions as they ca up. Testing out life in the land of make-believe. Letting the hours slip past.
He slept on the floor again that night. He theoretically could have used the bed or one of the chairs, but sohow, he didnt want to. Like he would soak up so of that drunk old man if he did. It wasnt rational, but so what? He could do as he pleased, and it pleased him to sleep on the floor.
The System (it still thought of itself that way) observed, for only the second ti, Truth dreaming. It was fascinating, in that nothing much seed to happen. It took a close look over at the spark of fire given by Etenesh. It was blazing brightly, but then, it always was. Sothing was happening here. Just not on a level it could perceive.
Truth dread he was back in the mountains of Siphios. He had been promised a small but thoroughly modern house, and thats what was in front of him. Plenty of glazing, a good tile roof, airy rooms with high ceilings and lots of light. Easy to clean tile floors, he noticed with approval, though he would bet cash Etenesh would put down rugs. The sofa was fine. It lacked the color and panache of a gangsters sofa, but it was comfortable enough when he collapsed down on it. Lots of empty bookshelves, just waiting for him to fill them up with paperbacks.
Its a bit basic, but Im prepared to love it, Eteneshs voice ca through the doorway and made Truth spasm off the couch.
Basic? Its the nicest place I have ever lived! He sputtered.
When did you live here? She asked.
In the future. Its part of my compensation. If we dont go off-world, we get a nice little place, very modern, up in the mountains.
So its the nicest place you are going to live. She grinned. Her hair was flying wild and free, pushed back from her face with a brilliant yellow scarf. She looked strong, athletic. Beautiful. So, so beautiful.
You are staring, she said.
I am, He agreed. She snorted and looked away.
Silly man.
You love it.
I do. She nodded, the insecurity sneaking through.
too. I love looking at you and thinking She didnt just choose , she worked hard to catch .
Picked up on that, eh?
How could I not? He laughed. I have been spending a lot of ti in self reflection recently. Trying to figure out the why behind the what.
Any big reveals?
Other than my sadism seems to be bone deep? Nothing worth sharing yet. Im scared, Etenesh. He smiled at her, a fragile, little thing. Not that Ill die on the job. If I do, thats that. Im scared that when I co back to you, you wont smile to see . I wont be the man you love anymore.
She rushed across the room and embraced him, squeezing hard. Just you co back to . Just you co back to . I will smile. I will smile even if my heart is breaking. I promise you, I promise you, I promise you. Just so long as you co back to .
Truth hugged her back, treasuring the warmth of her. Ill do that then. Can I tell you a little secret, my Etenesh?
Anything. Her voice was muffled, her face pressed into his chest.
I think I found a tiny glimpse of it. Im puzzling out what I am seeing, bit by bit, but I think I can finally start to see it.
What?
A human being. I think I can finally see how to live as a human being. Maybe. One day. It will take a lot of thinking and a lot of work.
She snorted, then started laughing.
Like a diet. You will start being human tomorrow. Or possibly Monday.
Yes. Exactly. Truth nodded seriously. You want to start both the week and your new humanity training regi on the best foot.
Of course. Will you be selling informational pamphlets on being human, by any chance? Or perhaps a scry recording for people to watch at ho?
Im not a business guy. Maybe Ill give the work to one of my sibs. Unless you want the work?
I will be otherwise occupied. She grinned up at him, then her grin turned a little fierce. You know this is a dream, right?
I figured it was either that or demons attacking with illusions. This is only my second dream, so Im not sure how this works.
Ignoring that last bit. Let show you sothing very nice about dreams, Mr. dici. Right here on the sofa. She looked up at him with big eyes. You wouldnt take advantage of , would you?
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