Chapter 601 - 601

"I had my suspicions. And this pretty much confirms it. You are one of them. I wonder if you even know what you are. There are a lot of terms for those with powers like yours. Godlings, Masters, Awakened, and Evolved just to name a few."

Matthias slowly walked towards Avery. Each step carrying a rhythmic tone as his boots fell down on the reinforced floor.

Avery's hearts began to pound in his chest as his mind raced.

His thoughts were in disarray, and he still felt ill from the wavelengths of light that had assaulted his senses.

'F*ck! I have to get out of here! I don't know what he's planning.'

It might have been foolish for him to start panicking, but Avery really was not in his right mind.

Using his psionic powers against some sort of technology clearly meant to counter him had left him unable to properly think and unnaturally paranoid.

Something Matthias found out when Avery began swinging around the metal pole in his hands recklessly.

"Whoa there! Fights over! You can calm down now. I just want to talk about a couple of things." Matthias said, obviously attempting to deescalate the situation.

He turned off the specially designed lights so that Avery was no longer suffering from their effects.

Had Avery not used his extrasensory perception; this would have been enough to fully come back to his senses.

Except, in perceiving the full breath of the disorienting light wavelengths that had been devolved specifically to muddle the senses of those like Avery, he had caused some damage to his brain.

"Stay back! I won't be taken!" Avery shouted.

He then called out for Liesel, telling her that they needed to escape.

It was at this point that Matthias and Liesel realized that something was very wrong.

Avery was not the type to lose his composure like this under normal circumstances. Especially when there was hardly any reason to be so wary.

Certainly, Matthias had figured out that he was not a normal human, but it was not like the man had made any overt moves that proved he was a threat.

This unfortunately did not register to Avery in his current state. His thoughts were in disarray and the only thing at the forefront of his mind were worst-case scenarios.

With his vision returning to him, Avery lunged forward and began attacking Matthias with everything he had.

Most people would have folded under such a serious assault. Avery was attacking with enough power and ferocity to demolish even a heavily armored vehicle.

Yet, with even greater ease than before, Matthias batted away all of his attacks.

While Avery might have been striking with immense force, his form and technique was sloppy compared to before.

Another detriment caused by his current mental state.

Quickly Avery started to grow sluggish as his brain was repaired and his heightened paranoia clashed with reality.

Eventually, Matthias disarmed him, and that was when Liesel made her move.

"Avery, everything is fine. You're safe. My great grandfather isn't planning anything against either of us."

Liesel had come up from behind and grabbed Avery in a tight hug.

His first instinct was to break away and push her off him, but the rational part of his mind was already close to reasserting itself.

No part of him considered Liesel to be a threat.

Certainly, she was dangerous to any enemies, but Avery would never consider her as such.

She was his wife. Someone he trusted completely.

Avery closed his eyes and started taking deep breaths to calm himself down.

Now that the damage done to him by the strange lights had mostly been healed, he was wondering why he had reacted the way he had in the first place.

In hindsight, it was clearly illogical to believe that just because Matthias had figured out that he was an Awakened, that the man had some sinister plan for him.

"Sorry, I don't know what came over me. My head is still killing me though." Avery said to let Liesel and Matthias know that he had snapped out of his confusion.

Unfortunately, he was still not up to one hundred percent. Whatever that light was, it had done a real number on him.

Matthias asked if Avery wanted to go to his ship's sickbay, looking a bit guilty about the state that Avery was in.

While he knew that the lights were meant to be effective against those like Avery, he had not expected them to do so much damage.

Though, how could Matthias have known.

Had Avery not attempted to use his extrasensory perception, the lights merely would have made him a bit nauseous and dizzy. Nothing more.

It was only because he had pushed himself too far that Avery had ended up in such an unfortunate state.

"I appreciate the offer, but ill be fine soon. When I get back to my ship, I'll have our doctor check me over."

Avery did not want someone he did not know looking over and examining his body.

He knew that there were plenty of things about him that were not normal, and even if the odds were low that the information might slip, he did not want to take the chance of someone on Matthias' ship spreading sensitive details about him.

'I don't feel like I'm in really bad shape. I was just discombobulated for a bit.'

Considering the few times that Avery had truly pushed his powers beyond their limits and seriously hurt himself, he knew what it was like when he was in truly bad shape.

Right now, his head hurt, but not to the point he felt like it was medical emergency. Just at the level of a bad headache. Plus, he did feel like he was getting better every second.

"If you don't feel the need then that's fine. How about we go take our seats again and relax? There are a few things that I think we need to talk about."

Avery sighed and nodded his head in response.

Although there was a part of him that wanted to avoid this conversation, now that Matthias had figured him out, there really was not any way for him to get out of this.

'There's a good chance he knows some things that I don't. All of this stuff about people with powerful psionic abilities being called Awakened is still new to me. I still have very little information about it, and most of what I do know is all in isolation. There is so much that isn't clear.'

Avery had a few pieces, but nowhere close to the full picture. Something he was hoping to get a bit closer to with any information he could get out of Matthias.

Soon the three of them were back in the hidden room set inside one of the walls of the training grounds.

Not wanting to beat around the bush, Avery spoke up first.

"I'll just come out and confirm that I am whatever an Awakened is. Though, other than that meaning I possess a stronger body and powerful psionic powers, I don't really know the significance of the term. It's also not the only one that you used. Not that I'm familiar with the others."

Matthias just sat there for a moment in silent contemplation.

Avery was trying to keep his emotions in check, but he could not deny that he was feeling nervous. He honestly had no idea what was going to come out of this meeting now.

When he had originally agreed to meet with Matthias, this was far from how he thought things would go.

"I won't claim to be an expert on the subject. Information on those called Awakened is sparse. Even for those looking for it. During my entire life, I've only met a number of individuals that I can say for certain are among the Awakened on both hands. They don't often publicize their status and abilities, for good reasons."

Avery did not need any warnings from Matthias in this regard.

The stories his mother had told him and the chilling fervor he had seen in Layton Sarelett's eyes was all he needed to know what was out there waiting for people like him if the wrong people found out about his powers.

"First, I want to make it clear I don't plan on doing anything against you with this information. It was just curiosity on my part to confirm my suspicions about you. You are my great granddaughter's husband after all. And I'm pleased to see that she already knows this about you. I would have hated to be the one to expose your secret if you were trying to keep it hidden."

There were some veiled meanings in Matthias words that Avery picked up on.

He was clearly happy to see that Avery trusted Liesel enough to reveal to her that he had special psionic powers.

Though his feelings on the matter might have been very different if Avery had been keeping this from her.