Humanity: Evolve

Zhang Long had long finished tidying his room, tossing the broken remains of a wooden stool into the corner.

It had been shattered during the conflict with the pale faced man from the Hymnist Orc.h.e.s.tra, a religious group which seemed to have an affinity for music.

He sat on his chair, quarterstaff at his side in case someone attacked him again. Although Zhang Long desperately wanted to go outside and have some fresh air, perhaps to visit some new areas of Bastion which he hadn't been before or maybe go back to the pioneer headquarters and look up more spirit beast status screens, reason dictated otherwise.

The former could not be done, if he went out to an uncrowded area then the Hymnist Orc.h.e.s.tra might be able to ambush and surround him, whereas a place like the association headquarters was much safer.

With at least 1 grade three pioneer and a plethora of twos and ones, the religious group would be hard-pressed to single him out there. The only problem was the fact that he would have to leave the headquarters in the evening as the staff there needed rest and there wasn't a night shift in place.

Zhang Long recalled that only jobs such as being a guardsman had a night time rotation, the majority of the city's inhabitants slept at night and woke for day.

By the time he had to leave the association, it would be dark outside and the streets would be almost completely silent.

With this thought, even his own room was unsafe, if not even more dangerous than being in the middle of the streets.

Considering how the pale faced man had managed to appear without anyone noticing- Winter, a grade three spirit beast, included, it wouldn't be hard for "Musicians" of equal or higher rank to do the same.

Escaping from the room would be a much greater challenge than escaping in the middle of an empty street.

'So no matter what I do, I'll never be completely safe.'

He felt a slight pressure on his mind as he weighed up his different options. The setting sun's orange rays descended through his window, highlighting his serious expression.

Zhang Long put his hand into his pocket and took out a green coloured soul stone. It was the size of an eye, with a shape akin to that of an oversized almond.

He squinted at it through the sun's light, contemplating.

'To promote, or not to promote.'

If he chose not to promote, he would be at a major disadvantage. The Hymnist Orc.h.e.s.tra had previously sent someone at the peak of grade two to collect Herman Dynard's journal.

Without a doubt, they'd send someone stronger to finish the pale faced man's job, unless they were stupid.

Considering how much a threat the hidden organisations were to the government, let alone a grade one individual with limited fighting skill, it was impossible for them to be that dumb.

What was more worrying was the fact that the organisation had sent a peak grade two musician to recover the notebook- someone who was already near the top of modern humanity's food chain.

'If I don't use this soul stone, I'll be leaving myself in a situation similar to before, where the pale faced man could almost completely immobilise me with his sound wave attack.'

'Furthermore, I did not kill the pale faced man, he voluntarily committed suicide even though I only planned to capture him.'

'Finally, if the next musicians are just as crazy as the previous one, they'd attempt to kill me on sight.'

Then his mind flashed over the previous events, from the initial meeting to life or death battle.

He recalled the pale faced man activating a strange device, before dying.

Zhang Long guessed that it was some sort of signal which would alert the man's comrades to his death and failure of his mission.

'It definitely won't be able to send complex messages, but even if it could, the Hymnist Orc.h.e.s.tra would have no clue that it was me who has the notebook. The pale faced man simply had too little time to send such a detailed message.'

He tilted his head and leaned back, out of the sun's blinding rays.

'From the Orc.h.e.s.tra's point of view, someone sent to recover Herman Dynard and by extension, his notebook, has died in Bastion.

This means that the person most likely to have interfered with their matters would be from the government-run pioneer's association, a natural enemy to a hidden organisation such as the Hymnist Orc.h.e.s.tra. Furthermore, Bastion also belongs to the government.

This means that one of the first places they'd search would be the pioneer's headquarters. The fact that they are going to infiltrate such a key location would mean that they would have to exercise a lot of caution.

They are after the notebook so that they can stop any information about them to leak out, as well as locate the Autumn Grove.'

He then placed the green soul stone onto his own blue one, activating the spiritual energy and drawing the green soul stone's energy in.

'I need to distance myself from here as far as possible, the Hymnist Orc.h.e.s.tra will without a doubt send grade three musicians in order to contest with our own grade three pioneers.'

Then, the world flashed and the world began to turn dark.

'Winter, guard me.' He said, barely managing to say the words before fainting.

***

Zhang Long hurried alone through the dark street wearing a long grey robe with a hood that covered his face.

He had bought it with his remaining sovereigns, his balance now standing at 100 bronze coins in total.

He had taken a page from the Hymnist Orc.h.e.s.tra's book, tying a thin strip of white cloth around his forehead to cover up his green grade two soul stone.

Winter had been recalled into his soul stone, Zhang Long made maximum effort into making himself unnoticeable and bland.

Zhang Long had put a pair of foam balls into his ears. It was an attempt to prevent the sound attacks of the musicians, however it's effectiveness left him in doubt.

He was headed for the location of the Spring-Autumn Pavilion, the shop which he and Alan had founded.

Of course, it was probably shut tightly, however if his calculations were correct, a place like Woodworth street was probably one of the safer locations to hide.

The religious group would no doubt visit the pioneer headquarters, as well as his previous room.

The pale faced man had most likely sent his location of death to the Hymnist Orc.h.e.s.tra, Zhang Long's inn room.

This meant that if they asked the Pitcher inn's owner, the polite lady whom he'd conversed with before, who had been staying in room 34, they could learn some of his details.

A place on the other side of the city would be very unlikely for the suspect to be hiding, they would probably assume that he worked for the association and go knocking on the latter's doors for protection.

In fact the organisation might misinterpret the whole matter completely.

They might believe that it was the pale faced man who had been staying in room 34 instead of Zhang Long. The man's search for Herman Dynard had been found out and the pale faced man had been assassinated by the pioneer's association. Thus, Zhang Long wouldn't be mentioned anywhere in this story and would be able to escape scott-free.

He could only hope that it would be the second scenario, not the first.

He kept on walking briskly through the dark street, his way only barely lit up by dim street lamps.

'There will definitely be fighting of some sort, as much as I'd like to run, it would attract too much suspicion.'

Then he looked over his shoulder, glancing toward the pioneer headquarters.

If the Hymnist Orc.h.e.s.tra failed in their attempt tonight to retake the journal, they'd no doubt keep an eye on the pioneers, keeping tabs of each individual coming and going.

'Luckily, Alan and I managed to get our shop officially licensed earlier today. We won't need to visit the association for anything, only, it's a shame that I won't be able to go and research any more spirit beasts in the database.'

A sudden relaxing melody began to drift towards him, like the enticing sound of a mermaid's voice to a sailor.

He found that his body had begun to sway and walk towards an alleyway in the side of the street.

Zhang Long panicked, trying to stop his body from moving but failing.

It was as if he were in the passenger seat of a car, all he could do was watch the driver helplessly.

Then, he heard quiet chatter.

'Why are we so far away from the pioneer's headquarters? We sure are being cautious.' A low voice complained.

'Well, this caution is pretty unwarranted, seeing as the big guns are gonna stir up some trouble at the pioneer's headquarters, the target will probably get caught by the master composer himself. Waste of time.' A second one replied, spitting on the ground.

'Hey, we lured another one over, stop playing your music.' The first voice snapped.

The second voice seemed to grunt in annoyance, the attractive music stopping instantly.

Zhang Long now stood within the entrance of the alley, free control of his body had been returned but he didn't make any move to escape.

This was because the two men in front of him hadn't concealed their soul stones, a pair of yellow dots glimmering in the darkness.

He stood silently, his reaction would depend on how the two in front of him acted.

If they were menacing or tried to kill him, he'd run away as fast as possible, not that he'd be able to go very far.

If they acted in a more curious manner, he would be able to confirm that they didn't know he had the journal tucked into the back of his combat trousers.

'I can't run from them, grade three humans ought to possess grade three spirit beasts. Their tamed spirit beasts would no doubt be stronger than Winter- given I'll be able to summon him in time.'

He clutched his quarterstaff slightly harder, feeling slightly nervous.

Another relaxing melody began to play, suddenly, it felt as if he were standing before an oasis of warm water in the middle of a barren desert, the sun's scorching rays punishing his skin.

He wanted to strip n.a.k.e.d and run into the enticing water but he couldn't. He could only endure the boiling temperature and drool at the oasis in longing.

Suddenly, a calm voice drifted into Zhang Long's mind.

'Do you want to swim in the water? Do you want to escape this dreadful heat?'

Without a second thought, he nodded eagerly to the mysterious voice's tempting offer.

'Very good. Just answer my questions truthfully and you can have the entire oasis to yourself!'

Just as the voice was about to ask, Zhang Long felt the desert dissolving away into darkness. The heat on his back and the sun's heat vanished, his back covered in cold sweat.

Within his consciousness, Winter's form glowed yellow, warding off a strange power.

Zhang Long then realised that the entire desert and oasis had been a hallucination.

'I've used a low level sound wave attack this time. The effects are the same as the others that I used on those guys over there, only slightly weaker.'

A cloaked man was talking to his compatriot, playing a violin and nodding toward a pile of sleeping people.

The man who the violin player was talking to nodded.

'Don't worry, I trust your ability completely. The master composer put us together for a reason after all.' He chuckled.

Then he turned to Zhang Long's silent frame, gently pulling down the latter's hood.

He removed the strip of cloth, revealing a green soul stone.

The violin player let out a relieved sigh, weaving his bow familiarly across his violin.

'Truth be told, I don't have enough spiritual energy in the tank to activate my talent anymore. This weaker version is all I can do now, if this grade two was any stronger, I wouldn't have been able to ensnare him so easily.'

The one in front of Zhang Long, whom he noticed had golden notes sewed on the hems of his cloak, nodded with a grin, studying Zhang Long's expressionless face carefully.

After a few uncomfortable minutes, the gold collared man stopped examining him, giving an affirmative glance at his compatriot.

'Are you a member of the pioneer's association?' He asked.

Zhang Long gulped, his mouth dry.

'No.' He replied, desperately trying to keep his face neutral.

'Do you know anything about hidden organisations?'

'No.'

'Do you have a grade three spirit beast?'

'No.'

The man stopped for a moment, before continuing.

'Do you have any relation to the pioneer's association at all?'

Zhang Long was just about to reply with a negative response, before stopping himself.

'These guys are truly cautious, even after all of those different mind controlling attacks, even the questions they are asking are traps.

If I answered no here, then they'd know something was up. Natives aren't able to enter Bastion easily and I don't pass for one at all.

The only way for a modern human to enter Pangaea is to be born here, or to enter over from old Earth- both of which have an almost 100% probability of creating some connections with any sort of organisation.

Since I "don't know anything about hidden organisations" and that I don't pass for a native, I could only have some sort of relationship with the pioneer's association.' His mind whirred.

'Yes' He said, successfully passing the musician's little trick.

The man seemed to nod in satisfaction.

'Fine. The moment the music stops playing, you will fall asleep in this alleyway and forget everything you have seen or heard tonight.'

The words contained a hypnotic quality, Zhang Long felt as if a large invisible hand was grasping his mind, forcing him to bend to it's will.

The yellow glow surrounding Winter's mind within his own became brighter, forcing the invisible hand away.

The man playing the violin stopped abruptly, Zhang Long swayed and fell onto the ground with a "thump".

At this point, he was half acting and half under their control. While Winter had somehow driven both the enchanting tune and the hypnotic words away, remnants of their effects still influenced him somewhat.

His hand still gripped the quarterstaff, but he lay still on the floor, c.h.e.s.t rising and falling in a relaxed manner.

The two musicians stood and observed for a few minutes, before vanishing.

Zhang Long remained on the ground, just in case the musicians were still watching.

It was only until the sound of loud explosions in the background did he quickly get up and get back into shape, tying the cloth strip around his forehead and pulling up his hood.

'It's started.'