New World, New Rules. (4)

"Mr. Wells, the routine inspection of your eligibility for a work subsidy is already over. The agent in charge will drop by at your room in 5 minutes for your job notification."

As Quin passes by his door, the light of the speaker turns on as it senses his arrival, sending him a recorded notification.

'So here it is, the moment of truth!' Quin shakes his head, trying to amuse himself to get rid of his tension. 'Even if I know that there is a low probability of it being discovered, this still gets on my nerves.'

The anomalies he detected from the bits and pieces of information he receives in everyday gossip as an outsider to the planet's perceived normal phenomena. It allows him to realize that this universe is not as simple as its surface.

He does not know if there is any capability that will allow for the detection of his anomaly. At that point, if he gets discovered, then he can only blame his bad luck.

The objects inside the room moved around, creating a table and a chair, allowing for a venue for what looked like an impromptu interview.

Sitting down waiting for the agent, he started collecting his scattered perception and concentrating all of them inside his consciousness, covering any unusualness. He strives to revert everything into what would a normal human being looks like, even in an immaterial view.

"Excuse me, Mr. Wells, I presume?"

As Quin raises his head in the door's direction, he sees a dignified lady with straight brown hair that goes down to her waist. Wearing a black synthetic coat with red linings. Presents an overall somber impression.

She approaches the open area, allowing Quin to notice her gait, which is measured like a ruler. Stopping just right in front of the desk and putting down a tablet that shows his information. He discerns an unnoticeable tension in her brown eyes, looking like in a flight or fight status, especially after she stared at his violet eyes.

'It seems like she is not just here for the so-called subsidy evaluation. There is more to the accident that I was involved in. Maybe there will be aftershocks that are not finished.' Quin muses while having his eyebrow raised, showing a puzzled look. Disguising himself with a harmless and clueless appearance.

"Allow me to introduce myself."

She sits down and connects both of her hands, staring straight at Quin's face.

"Freelancer's risk assessment evaluation agent or F.R.A.E.A. [Freyja] for short. Our agency and professionals handle any accident and/or anomaly that has a direct relation to the Guild. You can address me as Mary."

While she was introducing herself, the primal energy in the room became active and concentrated on their location, leaving the majority in Quin's position. Passing his body back and forth in what seemed like a crude scanning motion.

'I knew there was something off with this sudden evaluation. Lucky, the way she makes a scanning action is by the use of energy rather than consciousness. This body's energy level still stays as a normal human since I do not know how to gather energy and make it move via resonance. It looks like I am safe.'

As Quin continues to show a clueless appearance, he nods, accepting her statement. While he is busy observing the mechanics of the energy's movement and trying to figure out how it was done,

"Alright, Mary, so what do I need to do?" Quin asks.

Mary crosses her arm and explains his current situation.

"First, we understood you were involved in the accident with no preknowledge of it happening. That allows us to establish your innocence. While this may sound stupid, the protocol just forces us to find out and do so."

Bringing two of her fingers up, she continues as the energy changed frequency and stopped moving while vibrating, trying to search for something that can resonate within his body.

"Second, as per procedure, the Guild expects you to return to your post after the hospital discharges you in seven days."

Her hands clenching into a fist, the energy stays still for an instant. Producing a specific pulse that seems to bounce around the surroundings is looking for something.

"Last, you are required to assist the Guild's investigation of the ongoing chain of the accidents after the screening is over. In return, your information access privilege on the Privacy Act will rise by one level, allowing for previously confidential files to open on a need-to-know basis."

Putting her hands down, she relaxes 'three points' as the energy around the area found no anomaly and scatters into their normal state. Signaling Quin's success in passing her rapid inspection.

"Don't worry; we only need to learn the details of the accident from your memory after you get your procedure done. We do not need you to move with us."

She shows a handsome smile, turning her demeanor elegant, removing the serious and tense cover of her attitude.

'That looks gorgeous!' Being in a momentary daze, recalling the movement of energy and its mechanics, he sighs over man's wisdom.

'Who says you have to control energy for it to move? I should have thought of it. Just bump them lightly into calculated angles and allow them to do the work like falling dominos.' Quin rejoices as he gets inspired by what looked like a showcase of basic techniques.

'Less mental energy consumption and more efficient process. This operation is really elegant. All you need to remember is the starting points rather than controlling the whole thing.'

Getting an epiphany and a ton of new ideas, Quin shows a thankful smile toward Mary, taking her aback and making her misunderstand. She thought he was grateful for informing him of the details of the investigation.

"I understand. So I am now vetted thoroughly?"

Gathering his concentration, he makes it clear to her with a somewhat concerned voice. Making him show a worried look on his face on purpose to hide the other possible intent of his question.

"Yes, we finished all the steps. You can be at ease."

Mary shows a meaningful smile, allowing Quin to sigh in relief outside, only to be alert inside.

While standing up, Mary takes the tablet from the desk and shows a gesture of having her palm on top of her fist, which means nice meeting you in a polite form. Making the scattered energy twirl in agitation one last time, erasing all traces of being used.

'Those gestures are ingenious. Using movement in everyday life as a trigger for the resonance of energy allows for a more discreet action and confidentiality at the same time.'

Quin returns the normal gesture, doing no alarming movement. 'Although, this confirms that there is an evolving system and history behind its creation.' Watching her leave, Quin slowly removes his smile, turning serious.

'Showing that there is a need for confidentiality, it only means there is a danger of getting direct contact with the reality of energy itself.' he walks back and forth beside his bed while pondering over the details he just noticed.

'And the most important thing. It seems like energy users here do not have direct control of their consciousness, unlike me.' Recalling the process of Mary's casting, he has a vague awareness of the fact that the way she resonates is based on the gestures themselves, activating the consciousness with brain waves.

'That's one h*ll of an advantage, being able to manipulate energy in an instant.' Shaking his head, he smiles in sardonically as he reminds himself not to be full of himself since there should be some patch, knowing that this delay is a glaring weakness. Especially in a technological civilization.

'Now, all I have to do is to finish the memory recall procedure, and I'll be able to figure out what is the exact scope of my job.'

Looking outside his window, he observes the moving people on the street and the hovering boards with unique images showing their advertisements. 'It seems like, behind this normal society, there is a behemoth hidden. Something that an advanced technological civilization will erase in most of its population's minds at all costs.'

...

In a room full of receivers of monitoring equipment, people wearing synthetic black coats with red linings covering their casual attire moves around. Reporting to each other unusual discoveries and passing relevant information into sorting. In a backdrop of what looks like a dynamic holographic globe, showing the entire planet with the words P.M.A. Planetary Task Force mission status. Only, it shows an interchanging color spot of blue and red with an increasing tilt towards the color of blood as time passes by.

Meanwhile, a man wearing a black military long jacket with red lines on his shoulder is standing in front of the biggest holographic projection, showing a sandbox of the middle continent. Divided into over ten regions, highlighting the energy concentration per area.

Having his face covered with a pair of lenses while frowning, he crosses his muscular arms as he appears to be caught up in a problem. Thinking of workable solutions apart from a straightforward operation of flattening everything up.

As various staff continue to sort critical information, the globe and the sandbox appearance also change into a more detailed version, forming an information cluster. Showing the source of all his problems, a runaway void energy spreading from space cracks.

He stares in a worried but also anticipative manner, knowing this trouble is not something trivial. Better yet, this is something that is classified as an event that is defined in uniqueness and rareness: a planet's Upheaval.

"Sir. Gray, Agent code name: Mary just sent a report. Would you like to read it?"

As he was lost in thought, he heard the notification from his terminal, allowing him to land his gaze on its screen. Mobilizing it into appearing and having it transfer into his eyeglasses, allowing for the file to hover in front of him using augmented reality for ease of viewing.

"A mutation.. That's just great. Working for the Guild? That's fine, too. All this combination is just a recipe for a disaster. It seems like some rats are getting restless, preparing for the coming winter. Trying to test their place in the current food chain while thinking they are above it."

He shows a sneer, thinking of some organizations forming around the planet, getting ready for the upcoming upheaval. Knowing that these singularities will feel something off, they will clash with each other in search of resources they can hoard for this eventful season.

"While It is unfortunate that they don't know exactly what they are facing. Working honestly for the freelancer's guild would allow them to live in comfort in this situation. Now, they just have to jump and add to the mess."

Shaking his head, he taps the side of his glasses.

"Connect me to Agent #5637."

Scanning the rest of the report, he stops as he confirms the connection.

"Mary, tell me about the mutation. Was it related to the Void energy seed that was missing in the area?"

His countenance turns serious as he asks a question he seemed to be concerned about.

"Sir, I can confirm that there is only one mutation, as stated in the report. As for this subject, 'he' is acting to be vaguely aware of his shift from a bright observer into a dark observer based on his body language and mannerism data. Only, it appears to be partially contaminated with no chance of awakening into a singularity rather than accepting the complete seed."

Hearing the voice straight into his ears, he paces back and forth, weighing.

"So the seed is still out there, huh?" He muses while thinking of the consequences of its random reaction to something.

"Sir, if I may, we can use the mutated as bait. Considering that he was the only one affected by the incident, there is a good probability of him having high compatibility with the seed. We can let him resonate, allowing us to track it down."

As Mary offers her action plan, Gray shakes his head, disagreeing with her approach. Transferring the subject.

"Do you know what is the oldest description of the Void?" Gray asks.

"Yes, Sir, it was said to be only consistent with two words but fully encompasses its behavior," Mary said.

"That's right, now repeat it for me," Gray requests.

Mary pauses for a bit, recalling and then stating it, somewhat unwilling to give up.

"Forever random."

Gray shows a set smile while hearing the familiar words.

"That's right. Planning around anything related to Void is doomed to fail. That is why we can only react passively. Without this property, how can it make itself so hard and yet easy to deal with at the same time?"

He stops in place and has his eyes blur, looking at the globe that is being covered in red spots in a slow but sure manner while being caught in a memory.

"Sir, with all due respect, do we just leave all this alone, like leaving it to fate?"

Gathering his attention, he raises his head with an unreadable face.

"That's right. While I hate that saying, we can only prepare ourselves for the worst, then leave everything to fate."