Chapter 401
I looked at the woman with a hint of suspicion as she asked me that. Valerica might trust the woman, but I don’t yet. Hecate seemed to pick up on my suspicion and cleared her throat, once again taking on her ethereal presence.
“I suppose that matters little for the time being. I am sure we will become acquainted soon. Now excuse me while I do what I came here to do.” She said, opening up another small rift before entering through it.
Milanna was watching the whole thing through her window and turned around as Hecate had entered her room. Reaching for her weapon, she raised it and pointed it at the woman in front of her and yelled. “Identify yourself, intruder. You will be neutralised if you fail to comply.”
Hecate simply replied. “Put that Banana down if you aren’t going to eat it and take a seat. You are in serious trouble young lady.” She then took a seat while Milanna grew shocked how a yellow fruit suddenly appeared in her hands where her weapon had just been.
Milanna gulped as she could not tell what just happened and took her seat. “Who are you and what are you doing here?” She asked, causing Hecate to smile. “My name is Hecate dear. I am over one hundred and forty years old and still look the way I do, do you understand the implication of what that means?”
Milanna simply nodded her head. “Good. This might make things easier. You will cease your illegal hold of that young man’s ship and you will do it right after our talk. Understand?” Hecate said, causing Milanna to begin to defend herself.
“Wait, no, I have probable cause to cease the ship. The amount of wealth aboard is abs-” “Child.” Hecate interrupted. “The man had the connections to get me here in less than thirty minutes… Do you want to find out what he might actually do if you piss him off? Do you really want to cause a faction war when we are at the start of a new conflict with the Coalition? Because I know Valerica Hyllus would be more than eager, she seems to have an unusual attachment to the Archon.”
Milanna had a contemplative look on her face, the love for her Princess causing her to think irrationally. On the other hand, if her father found out she caused a dispute… She shuddered and sighed.
“Fine, let the ugly fucker have his way!” She declared before stamping a form and passing it over to Hecate. “Oh Child… Love can make people do stupid things in the name of it, but don’t kid yourself, that young man is quite the looker. And powerful for his age to boot. You did the smart thing here. Though the real smart thing would not to have been an idiot in the first place, dragging me out here for no reason.”
Hecate then stood up and activated her rift once more. Before she could even move through it, a pair of hands reached through and grabbed her, pulling her through. Milanna watched curiously before the purple hair of the Archon Apollo emerged through the rift alongside the rest of his hair as he looked around. “Fascinating.” He said, not even giving her a look before he disappeared though again, the rift closing behind him shortly.
“Child. Be careful. I could have split you in two if I closed my rift in surprise.” Hecate scolded, but it went out one of my ears and right out the other as I mused. “Not teleportation, I didn’t feel my atoms dematerialising as I put my head through… No discernible way to see through the ‘portal’ either so that leaves…”
I looked at the woman before me with genuine surprise. “You can create wormholes on command? That is really impressive. I wish I could do that, it would make my life so much simpler… I still need to understand how space works a bit better for that though, I don’t even know how to bend it yet… Hmm, another thing to add to the list.”
Hecate blinked in surprise. Even down to the mumbling, not caring for those present, She felt like she was looking at a clone of herself. Smart, attractive and gets lost in their work easily. The fact he was able to tell she was bending space to travel between points impressed her to no end, her last set of students had zero clue by the end of their term with her and thought it was simply her unique power.
Hecate smiled, feeling a spark toward the young man and replied. “Well, it is a wormhole, but only on the space level. I cannot create points in time yet. That is my current hurdle. One I cannot pass for all my brilliance.”
I nodded my head in understanding. “Yes, as three dimensional beings, we are currently trapped by the concept of time after all. It’s hard to manipulate it. Though we can take inspiration for how a fourth dimensional being would see this problem. You could simply attempt to access a time when you do have access to this power and all of a sudden you will have it. But then again, that would be paradoxical in our understanding of the universe… I am sure there is a way Psionics could help equalise that paradox, but I’m just guessing here…”
Once more, Hecate blinked in surprise. He had just summed up the lump of her current research in minutes… “Apollo, Valerica told me you are enrolling in the college on Ecumenopolis 7’s moon soon. Is that correct?”
I nodded. “Yeah, next month. Why do you ask?” I asked the curious stranger. “I am simply asking as you have a great grasp on Psionics it seems. I am sure you will thrive in that place of learning. Now, onto the matter at hand. Your ship is no longer seized and you are free to go. I am sure we will meet each other again, Apollo. Take care.”
Hecate passed Apollo the stamped form before opening another of her rifts and passing though. Immediately after she did so, she had to close it as she witnessed Valerica charging at her, trying to get through.
“Let me go and see him! I want to make sure you didn’t put your grubby hands all over him!” Hecate frowned and materialised a piece of wood and whacked her former student on the head with it.
She had no idea why she did that though. It felt like it was what to do all of a sudden… Curious…
“Will you calm down? Apollo is fine and the situation is resolved. I have to say, I was not expecting him when you sent me to deal with your ‘son.’ Honestly, I had no idea what to expect, but not that…”
Valerica grew protective and narrowed her eyes towards her friend and former teacher. She ignored the sudden hit on her head, as it didn’t hurt, and spoke in a slow, cold tone. “What do you mean? You don’t plan on doing anything to my son do you? Because I am not afraid to kick your ass Hecate.”
Hecate tutted and rolled her eyes, realising the implication of her words. “No you pervert, goodness! I am over one hundred years his senior, it would be like fucking a baby. No! I mean, I didn’t expect such a gifted mind. He was incredibly smart, figuring out how my rifts work instantly and-”
“!!!”
“What?” Valerica asked curiously as Hecate’s eyes threatened to fall out of her sockets. “I got distracted by my task! I forgot to ask him about his awakenings! Valerica, did you know! He has undergone at least 4! I have only had five Psionic awakenings after losing the bottleneck of my second! But my last one was a year ago. He is so young! How has he done that!”
Valerica smiled like she had won an award. “Oh yes. I forgot to mention that to you. He actually had a second Psionic awakening not too long ago, under my very roof. He said it was his Pyrokinesis that awakened!”
Hecate reacted faster than even Valerica could react and picked up her much larger friend with her Psionics and brought her right to her face. “Tell me everything about that event! Leave nothing out! I want to know every finite detail from what you can remember from that day!”
If she could figure out how a young man was able to have so many awakenings in such a rapid amount of time. If she could alter his formula into herself… Hecate quivered in pleasure just at the thought!
Valerica smiled at her friend. An excuse to talk about her one and only child! Wait no, that’s not right… Who is she missing? Valerica shook her mind. An excuse to talk about her one and only son! Her friend had made a fatal mistake.
“Well, it started shortly after my Son finally cured my ailment that you had failed to cure yourself…”