Chapter 5: Chapter 5: Essential Information

My “Party”, to borrow a term from video games, and I begin to walk towards the end of the hall we are in. It is a narrow path and looks curiously like the rooms my familiar and I were just in on the last “Level”. As we begin to move I unleash another burst of corruption with a single step and allow the stuff to move ahead of me so that I can have a pair of eyes and ears in the camp before I actually reveal myself.

My companions and I are silent as we stride forward. The sickly energy I wield with increasingly noticeable ease dashes ahead of us and thanks to it I can lay my eyes and ears on the camp without entering it. I begin to study the camp and as I do I feel “perks” that I didn’t know I possessed until my familiar told me about them beginning to affect me since this time I focus on the people in the camp.

The camp is patrolled by a few men and women who are armed to the weapon with assorted weaponry. They casually wield everything from makeshift spears to knives and guns. I study the guards and as I do I begin to learn information about each of them, beginning with their names and their desires. I silently ask my goblin-familiar about this and she telepathically informs me that is an ability which I possess thanks to having “Neo-Sarkic” perks.   

I look at the world through my corruption and smirk as my knowledge of the camp begins to grow. The assorted perks that I wield make me quite adept at passively gathering information, allowing me to piece together someone’s strengths and weaknesses with little more than curious glances.

My corruption is also undetectable to normal humans, at least judging from the lack of reaction to its presence by anyone in the camp and assuming I don’t do anything obviously supernatural with the stuff. That is excellent for me as it allows me to spy on people without fear of reprisal.

I silently communicate what I learn using my assorted perks with all three of my humanoid companions. The trio eagerly listens to me as I reveal the names of the people we are not far from, and my “Chief Recruiter”, the slime-humanoid who is accompanying me, chuckles as I reveal the secretive desires of the people of the camp.

“What an excellent ability, Gustavo…” He mutters via the hivemind that connects the three of us, and the animals I have forcibly recruited and inducted into my faction. The “Desire” perk is an especially powerful and nasty ability in the right hands, and my hands are certainly the right ones.

We reach the end of the hallway and we stop without a single one of us uttering a word. Once we take a few more steps forward we’ll be just out of sight of the people at the very edge of the camp. After hours of being by myself or having only my familiar as my companion, and then minutes of my “Party” being doubled in size, it feels weird to know that we are about to have a real chance to interact with a sizeable number of human beings.

My companions do not turn to look at me but I can sense their mental eyes darting towards me. They clearly want me to take the lead here, which is reasonable since I am the leader of the group… I reach out and grab the hand of my goblin familiar, and as I do I channel the same power which I used to defeat the first canine-like monster I encountered. I do not channel this power offensively but rather to easily transform the goblin into a young-looking white woman dressed in modern, casual clothing.

At the same time I mentally pilot my corruption and the stuff explores the camp a bit more aggressively than it has previously. The sinful substance splits into clumps to give me more eyes and begins to enter the assorted tents that are where the people who call this place home sleep. I can also hear the people in the camp who are speaking, and through them I learn of words like “Entities” and “Liminal Spaces”.

The more I listen in, the more a plan begins to form at the edge of my consciousness, enhanced by the perks I now possess as a manipulative being. My mind has been supercharged by the perks I possess and I can feel the potent effects of the perks in my possession, even in their initial states, as I begin to feel my unconscious self connecting disparate bits of information into a more cohesive whole that will allow me to successfully infiltrate the camp.

Right now I am the sole possessor of any real authority over the hivemind that my minions are all part of. Because of this I am the only creature who can do things like pilot corruption that is outside of the body of a living thing, and only I can do things like project senses into wherever corruption resides, at least for now.

I am also the possessor of all of the collective knowledge known by even the smallest members of the hivemind, and as such I have now gained handy abilities like the mastery of language possessed by the “Chief-Recruiter”. This ability is handy in a place like this, where learning new languages would be difficult at best.

As the corruption seeps into various tents I find one that is very interesting near the edge of the settlement. The tent is a thick red thing and it is one of the few that has any sort of defensive measures in the form of a tiny padlock. It is shoddy but is more defensive than most of the other tents have. My corruption slips under the “locked” door, unphased by mundane protections like that, and within it I can see various injured people who are in assorted states of pain, unconsciousness, and generalized suffering.

I study them for a few moments, learning their names and their desires, even if they happen to be unconscious. As I study them I willfully activate a property of one of my essences, the “Essence of the Healer”, an ability to study living beings with a glance and understand the status of their health, and in doing so I learn about their conditions. I can see how they were injured with ease, and I feel my mind filling with plans that’d allow each of them to recover from their injuries with supernatural ease even using mundane methods and resources available to the people of this community…

“Alright, so here’s the plan.” I say, in my mind. I sense my allies, including my cat companions, turn to face me but only mentally.

“’Chief Recruiter’, from here on out you will be named Marcus, and you will take the lead in this operation. Or at least you’ll be the ‘face’ of our group. I want you to go and tell the guards that you are a wanderer who found a helpful and anomalous ‘Entity’ that seems human but supernaturally heals people, as well as has an array of psychic abilities. Tell them that you have joined with this creature and have been exploring alongside it since you first entered ‘The Backrooms’. Ask them if they need healing, they do so hopefully they’ll have no problem letting us in. I’m fine with them even offering us a test so that they can see my powers.” I tell the creature, causing him to smile.

“Hmm… Alright, I can work with that.” The figure replies, before he steps out ahead of the rest of us and begins to walk towards the camp’s entrance.

“’Mega-Assistant’, your name is Rachel. You will be my assistant and the mouthpiece through which I speak. I do not particularly like speaking anyway, and so you will have a chance to shine. If need be, I’ll make use of my ‘Force Powers’ to ‘Communicate’ with someone, but I’ll be leaving most of the speaking to you.” I tell her, causing her to nod stoically at me.

“Yes master. ‘Rachel’… I suppose that is a fitting name.” She remarks, rather emotionlessly. Nevertheless I can look at her and see that there is a smile at the edge of her lips. I close my eyes and peer into Marcus’s mind so that I can see through his senses.

---

The “Mega-Assistant” confidently walks the quarter of a mile that separates him from the objective of his first mission. As he does there is a smug grin plastered on his face.

Marcus is a confident man. He was brought into existence with all of the knowledge he needs to maximize his skills and with an innate wellspring of experience to call upon, despite being minutes old. He is ready to serve the one who called him into being, who chose to rely on his skills.

When he enters the line of sight of the distant guards of the settlement their eyes narrow as they attempt to make out the figure approaching them. Marcus can easily see them, as he possesses a peak human body and all of the boons that come with that. The man smiles, and as he does his face subtly shifts to become slightly more gentle and approachable.

For the next few minutes Gustavo gets to watch the distant figure approach the guards, and during this time he decides to try and flex his own powers. His senses are powerfully enhanced by his perks, and he can exert his powers through anything that he can sense, even his own corruption. Tents throughout the small settlement are just above his corruption and they often have small objects in them.

The figure keeps his eyes shut and he visualizes an invisible tendril extending out of the corruption. This slim tendril is a simple, powerful visualization of his power, and he extends it until it wraps around a small cup in one of the tents. He grits his teeth and wills the thing up into the air, though not with any ease. The object floats in the empty tent, hovering a few centimeters off the of floor of the tent.

Telekinesis is one of the most basic of the abilities “Force-Users” use with any regularity and at the moment Gustavo finds even this ability a bit taxing, but he is performing it remotely which adds a significant amount of difficulty to this task. The cup he is focused on is a small, light thing and it is perfect for practicing this ability with. When Marcus utters his first words to the guards, the cup is still in the air.

“Good day, gentlemen!” The confident headhunter utters as he reaches a distance of about twenty feet from the figures guarding the entrance to the camp. Two guards look at him curiously and nod, a bit curtly, which causes the man to smile.

“Good day. Do you need something, traveler?” One of the guards, boy clearly younger than Gustavo asks. He is not rude, but he is direct and there is an uncertain look in his eyes. Marcus notices this and sizes him up quite quickly.

“Well, friend, you see I am not here on my behalf. Not exclusively anyway. You see I am part of a quartet of travelers and one of our group is… He’s an entity.” Marcus reveals causing the two guards to grow visibly hostile. Both guards tighten their grips on their weapons and their stances shift defensively. Marcus laughs, purposefully doing so awkwardly to add believability to his reaction.

“Whoa now, while I understand those reactions the truth deserves a chance. My friend is an entity who looks human and has a range of abilities. He is a healer of such strength that even being in his presence can be restorative, and has a number of psychic abilities. We have been wandering from settlement to settlement healing people and just being good Samaritans.” Marcus explains, causing the two guards to look at each other curiously.

“My friends and I understand how difficult this can be to believe. Do you need any healing done? My friend is more than willing to demonstrate his abilities to show you that he’s the real deal.” The “Chief-Recruiter” offers, causing the two guards to stop altogether and for the older of the two to reach into his pocket. He pulls out a walkie-talkie and presses a button on the thing.

“Hey so we got a… situation, at the south entrance. We’ve got a guy over here who claims to be part of a group traveling with an anomalous entity that can heal people.” The man explains, cryptically. Marcus chuckles, as now that he can hear the voices in the camp he is beginning to piece together how ridiculous all of this sounds.

One of Marcus’s abilities is the ability to speak every language fluently. This is a particularly powerful ability in the Backrooms, one that is in many ways as astounding as Gustavo’s ability to heal.

Thanks to this ability Marcus can easily overhear dozens of different conversations and make sense of each of them. This is passively granting him a great deal of knowledge, allowing him to see how Gustavo came up with this plan, since he is passively aware of some of the powers of the corruption that his master controls. As Marcus listens in on conversations throughout the camp, a voice on the other end of the walkie-talkie that one of the guards is holding comes through loud and clear.

“A healer? Shit we could use one of those…” Mutters the voice, clearly considering the offer. Distantly, Gustavo notices that as soon as the words escape the lips of whoever is on the walkie-talkie, a subtle but distinct quiet falls over a part of the camp, before one distant voice whispers to another and the people who overhear the whispers begin to whisper themselves, creating a distinct auditory effect that quickly encompasses the whole camp. By the time the last person has heard a whisper, everyone is aware of the power apparently wielded by someone who is interested in visiting the camp.

Marcus quietly wonders how Gustavo came up with the plan, even though he is aware of the nonspecific answer: “Corruption” powers that allow the wanderer to do a number of remarkable and eerie things.

“Should we have someone brought here to test the guy’s entity?” Asks the boy younger than Gustavo. Several seconds pass with no response before the same voice from before responds.

“Yes. I’ll tell Julieta to have someone brought from the infirmary-tent. Someone with something visible, so we can really test this ‘Entity’ of theirs.” The voice says, almost grumbling but Marcus can easily spot the soft undercurrent of hope in the voice. Marcus smiles excitedly, before making a show of closing his eyes and mouthing something. He knows that Gustavo can see everything he can see, and then some, but this is for the guards not for Gustavo. When he opens his eyes and sees the guards looking at him curiously he laughs brightly.

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“That was for Gustavo. I just told him it’s safe for him and the others to approach.” Marcus offers, mixing feigned sincerity and genuine excitement. This explanation causes the eyes of the guards to widen, and for several moments there is an awkward silence before a distant orb of darkness appears at the edge of the sight line of the mundane guards. Their eyes widen, and Marcus smiles at them.

“Ah, there they are. There’s three of them, Gustavo, Rachel, and Rebecca. My name is Marcus.” Marcus explains, even as the distant trio begins to walk towards the guards and Marcus.

Meanwhile, “Rebecca” is quietly communicating with Gustavo. As she does, she reveals something quite interesting.

“I’ve been absorbing more information master! So, normally essences are much more powerful than individual perks. Essences like the ‘Essence of the Force’ and the ‘Essence of the Healer’ are great examples of this, as both are spectacularly powerful once fully trained. That said, there are exceptions to this rule. As a ‘Corruptive Dominator’ you have the ‘Corrupted Consciousness’ perk which is what is responsible for your hivemind abilities.” She explains, making use of the perk she just mentioned to speak to her master.

“The ‘Essence of the Hivemind’ is actually a bit weaker than the ‘Corrupted Consciousness’ perk, as the ‘Corrupted Consciousness’ perk connects any being who has an iota of corruption to the hivemind even if only partially. The ‘Essence of the Hivemind’ needs you to either get the consent of someone to add it to the hivemind or you need to mentally dominate them before you can add them to the connected web of consciousnesses. You, for all intents and purposes, effectively have that essence.” The goblin-like creature reveals casually.

“Another essence that is in a similar boat, though to a much lesser extent, is the ‘Essence of the Binder’. That one is not one that you effectively possess, but it seems that you may well prove to be an evolved jumper as according to the omniverse you can develop essences organically if you possess abilities that are similar to the essences you seek and use them in ways that mimic the abilities of the essence. By using your corruption to emulate the effects of the binder essence your powers will evolve and grant you the essence in full.” Rebecca, the name given to the goblin-like familiar during the moments in which Marcus was getting his allies a chance to make a first impression, explains.

Gustavo, internally, smiles at this. This is interesting news and both times that Rebecca namedrops an essence a description of it is slyly inserted into his mind. Both essences are incredibly neat and appeal to the same part of him that seeks control. The “Hivemind” essence is, as Rebecca mentioned, a less corrupt form of “Corrupted Consciousness”. The “Binder” essence is a more directly intriguing beast, as it is far more focused on individual abilities than on knowledge and connectivity, though both are closely connected.

Gustavo and his allies reach the guards and Marcus mere moments after Gustavo learns about all of this essence-related information. As he reaches them, he drops the cup and as soon as the thing clatters to the floor of the tent Gustavo feels his ability to use telekinesis greatly increase thanks to a powerful training boosting perk he possesses.

At the same time the figure experiments and grants Rebecca more authority within the hivemind, giving her the ability to see through and even pilot some of the corruption that fills and connects the two of them. Her eyes widen as she feels her senses expanding, and she smiles, but manages to make it look as though she is smiling at one of the guards. The figure looks at her curiously, and lustfully, his dark eyes taking in the shapes of her curves, distracted by her womanly appeal. Her smile turns into a lustful smirk, but she drops it before the man meets her gaze, so he doesn’t notice.

---

The two guards are casually dressed, which makes sense given where we are. One of them is a tall black man and the other one is a short Asian boy. The man is the one who was eyeing Rebecca, and I get it. She is cute, even in her goblin form, and when she’s disguised as a human she’s eye catching.

Personally, Rachel is more my type. She’s a red head, with sizeable but not ridiculous curves and she is a rather quiet type. Rebecca is energetic and fun, but her natural form is that of a goblin and the green skin is something that takes a bit to get used to.

That said, both of the guards are a bit offput by her since she’s wearing a maid’s outfit. It gives her a rather striking appearance, one which is far more distinct at a glance than any of the rest of us are in our far more mundane clothes, though Marcus’s outfit isn’t that mundane either since he’s wearing far more prim and proper clothing than Rebecca or I am.

Marcus is still wearing his shades but he smiles at us as we approach and I nod at him when I get to his side. As I do, I hear a distant figure beginning to approach the group, all while helping someone shuffle towards us. Rachel steps towards the guards and begins to speak.

“Hello. I am Rachel, and I tend to be the one who speaks… for Gustavo. He is not a talkative type, and while he communicates with us he tends to be quieter towards other people.” Rachel explains, even as I continue to gaze at the two men. I am openly studying the two of them, and as I do I quietly attempt to peer into their minds.

This is a complex, subtle usage of one of the energies that exists within me: the Force. At first I do not get anything more than my initial impressions of the two curious individuals, coupled with the knowledge I get from my perks, but after studying the pair for a few moments I begin to sense their emotions.

The black man is cautious, and I can feel him wielding his caution against his excitement to keep the brighter emotion from shining too brightly. The young Asian boy is more curious than anything else. Neither of them have ever encountered or heard of any truly human-like entities, and especially not ones with actual superpowers. I don’t know this as a result of any psychic powers, but rather as a result of overhearing their current conversations with Rachel.

Behind them are a number of people who are watching us, but they suddenly start to part and allow someone to walk past them. I do not look, physically, at them but I allow my corruption to peer at my surroundings. A woman is carrying a surprisingly young child and she walks towards us at a brisk pace.

“Guards! Help me, would you?” The woman, a white lady with gray hair and wrinkles, says calling out to us and causing the two guards in front of me to turn around and dart towards her. She is wearing a clearly handmade apron, but one that fits her surprisingly nicely. The black man grabs the child and begins to walk back towards us, while the Asian boy puts his hands on the shoulder of the woman and helps her stay upright. The crowd that has been watching this moves almost in unison and quickly surrounds us, all eager to see my powers in action.

The child the black man is carrying is a young boy, perhaps as young as ten, covered in nasty looking visibly infected wounds. With just a glance I can tell that the wounds are from a hound, though the source of that knowledge is clearly supernatural and is not something I’d be able to tell without the essence I am placing a lot of faith in.

The boy is not bleeding, but his wounds look painful. The boy is not conscious, which is almost certainly a mercy. The guard marches directly towards me and only stops when he is about a foot away. He silently looks at me, waiting for me to do something, and I can sense many different eyes on us.

I step forward and put one of my hands on the child’s forehead. As soon as I do I begin to glow, which causes the crowd to gasp in delighted shock.

As a possessor of the “Essence of the Healer” I possess a number of supernatural abilities. These abilities are most often focused outward in a range of areas around me and they are an aura with a large range and a personal presence which is much stronger but only covers a range of about a small home around me, with the less personalized powers having less powerful but still noteworthy effects. I also possess a very powerful, far more direct ability that can be used most strongly with touch and directly, immediately heals those I use it on of all sorts of injuries and illnesses, even supernatural ones.

I turn off my less direct powers, for the moment anyway, and I focus on channeling my abilities inward. As I do, I begin to glow more brilliantly and the kid begins to glow as well. This causes some in the crowd to actually cry out, amazed that I seem to be doing something anomalous to the kid. When the kid’s wounds begin to lose some of their ugliness, and then begin to vanish altogether, I smile brightly.

The nasty claw and bite marks that had been sickening the kid vanish more quickly the more of them disappear. As they vanish I begin to feel myself grow a bit fatigued, but I keep at it for just a few more seconds until the very last of the wounds disappears altogether and the kid is fully healed. When he is healed I stop channeling the power so actively, and I smirk brightly.

“Did… It…” I mutter, quietly, even as I feel my own familiarity with my power increase as a result of my actions. I remove my hand from the kid’s forehead, and I take a deep breath as I glance upwards. My companions are looking at me, stunned to see my powers so openly and powerfully on display. The others who were watching this scene are even more amazed.

Julieta glances at the boy and puts her hand on his forehead. She keeps it there for a second, before sighing and smiling at me.

“So it’s true… An entity that can heal people. You are a truly remarkable find, my friend.” She exclaims, clearly processing lots of emotions, even as she pushes her hand towards me. I feign confusion and she chuckles.

“Ah… Right, you ARE an entity. You were fully born and raised in the Backrooms. It makes sense you’d not know about human niceties. I was offering you my hand, as part of a greeting.” She says, even as she pulls her hand back.

“I think anyone here could forgive such unawareness on your part though, given what you can do. Anomalous healing...” She remarks, still astounded by the fact that something here both can and is willing to supernaturally heal people. Her emotions are powerful, and I can both observe the naturally and feel them supernaturally. She isn’t acting, she’s genuinely amazed by what she’s seen.

“But now… I’m incredibly sorry to ask this so abruptly, but can you and your spokeswoman come with me? I have a whole tent filled with people in need of healing. Given your powers and disposition you’re a godsend.” She asks, urgency filling her voice. I glance at Rachel, who is about to speak up only for Julieta to speak again before my “Mega-Assistant” can speak at all.

“We have food, and almond water. Please, if you can heal some of our people we can afford to send out more scouts and thus secure more food, almond water, and continue our big goal.” She explains, cryptically. I don’t have to look at or even speak telepathically Rachel for her to know what to say next.

“Your ‘Big goal’?” Rachel asks, causing Julieta to turn and sigh.

“This is the third biggest outpost of the ‘Cult of the Golden Sword’ on this level. To outsiders we’re little more than treasure hunters, but we’re also trustworthy, reliable, human traders who barter for a range of goods. Sometimes our people, or even just non-hostile wanderers, get hurt. If they get hurt nearby, we tend to scoop them up and try to take care of them. But our big goal, at least on this level, is to find the vault. It’s a sort of… urban legend but one that many of us believe actually exists. Supposedly it’s a gigantic chamber filled with all sorts of supplies, premium goods that never expire.” Julieta tells Rachel.

“We’re getting closer and closer to finding it. I just know we are. But there’s been an influx of injuries and having so many injured people takes up resources. Not only are they mouths that need to be fed, but they are also living people who need to be watched and cared for. If your entity can-“ Julieta says, only for Rachel to glare at her. Julieta blanches and moves to correct herself.

“If ‘Gustavo’ can heal the injured people in our camp… Well, we’d be incredibly grateful. We’re already happy to feed you, as just in healing this one boy you’ve undoubtedly helped improve moral but if you can heal all of the injured and sick we have, well we’d be sure to reward such dedication and goodwill.” Julieta explains, causing me to smile gently. Rachel mimics my facial expression, but the look doesn’t quite reach her eyes.

“Well Gustavo is happy to try. Lead the way.” Rachel replies, dryly. The smile on her face still doesn’t reach her eyes, but Rachel’s response still excites Julieta, who tells the crowd behind her to part so that Rachel, Julieta, and I can enter the camp. The inhabitants of the community obey her with unsurprising speed, and we enter the collection of tents that await just behind her. We are being marched towards the same tent that inspired much of this plan.

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