Path to the Apocalypse

Chris slowly made his way back to the barracks, lost in thought as he considered his space. Clearly he hadn't been paying enough attention to it, because just the simple act of trying to connect a rock to it had opened up so many new capabilities! Even now, he could still see what his minions were doing in his space, making a mental note that he'd need to order more snacks, particularly the jerky. He paused for a moment, wondering what would happen if he fed them food made out of the space material. It'd probably be fine as long as they stayed in the space, but the moment they tried to leave… Chris frowned slightly at the idea of the space material ripping out of them as they stepped through the portal. Yeah, that probably wasn't an option, but he'd have to test with a rat just to make sure. He may need to look into getting more rats at some point… Or breeding them? Would the offspring of creatures connected to him be automatically connected or would he have to connect them himself? More things to test.

Chris dismissed the tangent as he turned his focus back to his awareness of his space. The idea that certain senses were available to him, but hidden, bothered him. Though he supposed it made sense, given the fact that his entire ability was hidden from him his whole life. Chris arrived in the courtyard of the barracks, which the squad used for their free training time, along with the rest of the platoon, waving at Beth as she sparred with the other melees, getting an excited wave back as he sat down in the corner and closed his eyes, focusing on his space, wondering what else it was hiding from him.

He started by focusing on the database, checking to make sure he wasn't missing any information or resources that might give him an idea of what to look for next. There wasn't anything else on the information side, but looking at the resources he had available to him, he found a third slot to go along with the material and the mental/spiritual. He focused on the slot, searching for what might be able to fill it, and as he did, yet another awareness began to open up, his minions starting to glow within his space. Unfortunately the glow didn't seem to be present in anything other than his minions and he didn't want to steal anything that might get them stuck in the space, so he mentally assigned yet another rat for experimentation before moving on. He was definitely going to need more rats.

Next, he focused on his material sense, since that seemed the simplest. He didn't really think he'd find anything else there, since what more could he do besides knowing things were there? Still, he gave it a shot, focusing on one of the chairs to see if he could get anything out of it. What did he get out of it? That it was a chair. A chair he knew way too much about n- Chris paused, checking his database and finding that yes, after an intense period of focus, he now knew how to make that chair. So he didn't need to absorb things to learn how to make them, he just needed to focus on them really hard. Neat. Chris examined the chair for a few more moments, seeing if there was anything else he could do with it, but that seemed to be it.

Chris moved on to his next awareness, the one that told him there was something in his space he could form a connection with. Which, now that he was thinking about it, was probably people's mind? Or spirit, maybe? He wasn't sure, but it didn't really matter at the moment, so he put it aside, deciding to just think of them as spirits for now. He'd begun to notice that each aspect of the space seemed to have a push, pull, and focus effect. For the space itself, he could push to separate a section, pull to adjust the dimensions, and focus to create portals. For material, pushing sent it out of the space, pulling absorbed it into the space, and focusing analyzed it. So for spirits, he knew focus created the connection between them and him, so now he needed to figure out what pushing and pulling did.

Since he didn't particularly want to mess with his other, potentially useful, minions, Chris decided to use one of the revived rats, focusing on its spirit as he considered what to start with, before shrugging and giving it a pull. He blinked as a surge of instinct flowed out of the rat's spirit, filling Chris with an intimate sense of how to be a rat. How to scurry around on four legs, make sense of a variety of scents, groom his fur, everything it took to be a rat. It even told him how to use the rat's ability, a minor vision enhancement. He opened his eyes, looking around to see if he could make his vision any better, and… nope.

“What's the use of all this?” Chris muttered. He wasn't a rat and he didn't have the rat's ability, so what was the point of knowing all this? Maybe it had something to do with the push function? He tried giving the spirit a push, but the moment he did, all the instinct he'd just gained was suddenly gone, and instead he felt a need for direction from the spirit, as if it was wondering where it was supposed to go. Chris blinked, hesitating for a moment, before pushing it towards Dyrdek.

Dyrdek froze as the rat’s instinct flowed into him. [Chief?] He called out tentatively.

Chris paused for a moment. He'd never tried talking to his minions through the connection before. He usually just sent them instructions. *Can you hear me?*

[Yes, Chief?] Dyrdek confirmed.

*Oh, cool. Can you do anything with those instincts? Kind of experimenting with some things.* Chris explained, not really expecting much.

Dyrdek frowned. What was he supposed to do with the instincts of a rat? He wasn't a rat! He paused. Maybe the Chief meant the ability? He stared across the space at the cave wyrm, attempting to focus his vision like the instincts told him to, blinking in surprise as the cave wyrm actually became slightly clearer! [Chief, it worked!] Dyrdek exclaimed excitedly. [I used the ability!]

*You did?* Chris asked, surprised. How- then why couldn't he use the ability?!? “Fuck, my ability is a mess.” Chris sighed, rubbing his temple. What was the difference between him and Dyrdek? No matter how he thought about it, he couldn't figure anything out, so he decided to talk to Jacobs about it tomorrow. He'd probably have some ideas.

Moving on, Chris focused on the new, glowy awareness. Like with the spirit, it seemed attached to living things, though strangely, as he focused on the awareness, he noticed that the rats he'd revived didn't glow. He also began to notice differences in the intensity and location of the glow. Dyrdek's glow was the dimmest, and focused in one of his wrist bones, while the kobold's was the brightest, particularly around some organ in her chest. The other goblin wasn't much worse than the kobold, while the cave wyrm wasn't much better than Dyrdek, and the two slimes were firmly in the middle of the spectrum.

Chris focused on Dyrdek's glow, seeing what he could find, and getting a feel of its… frequency? Flavor? Shift? It felt similar to when he focused on materials, closer to an analysis than something he could do with it. He checked the database and sure enough, there was information on how to make Dyrdek's glow. Chris was fairly confident that if he pulled on the glow, it would be absorbed into his space, and pushing it would probably send it outside his space. The only question was what the glow actually was… why did some of his minions have more, and others have less? And why did it concentrate- “Oh, shit, it's ability energy.” Chris muttered, eyes widening as he realized what the glow was. The concentrated parts were the ability cores! Dyrdek’s was dim because he had a weak ability and the kobold's was bright because she had a strong ability! He paused for a moment, before quickly getting to his feet and opening a portal, walking into the space to examine himself with the energy awareness. Yup, no ability energy, just like every Reader he'd ever seen had said. Is that why he couldn't use the rat's ability? Maybe… he continued to study himself, looking for some other explanation, freezing slightly as he realized he didn't appear in his spirit awareness either. That- probably wasn't a good sign, was it?

[Something wrong, Chief?] Dyrdek asked.

Chris sighed. “No, just- confused.” He glanced at the two new sapient minions, deciding he needed a break to rest his mind. “How are you two holding up? Settling in okay?”

[Yes, the food is delicious!] The goblin replied excitedly.

[It's decent.] The kobold agreed noncommittally, clearly downplaying things because she was still bitter over being captured.

Chris rolled his eyes. “Right, well, feel free to make yourselves at home. It isn't much, but I'm not really in a position to get you anything better at the moment, so you'll have to make do.”

The goblin's eyes went wide. [There's better?!?]

Chris nodded. “Much. But again, it's not really available at the moment.”

[When will it be available?] The kobold asked, narrowing her eyes at him.

“That's a good question.” Chris muttered thoughtfully as he considered what it would take to provide better accommodations for his minions. He paused as he realized that anything that didn't need to leave his world could be absorbed and switched around as needed, so all he really needed to leave were his clothes and the snacks. “Everyone stand up for a moment.” Chris ordered, before absorbing everything into his space, just leaving the fridge, freezer, and the dressers alone since they were holding things, though he still analyzed them so he could make more if he needed to. He then remade the dining set and the generator, plugging the fridge and freezer back in before gesturing for them to take a seat again. “Alright, well, I just realized we can make a few improvements right now. Mostly just beds, but hey, it's something.” Chris announced. “I can only make two, but they're king sized, so it shouldn't be an issue. Once I'm done with boot camp I can probably get a toilet, shower, and bath which should help, though I'd need to get water and some more material to work with. Maybe something for walls, so you can have some privacy? Not sure if there's enough space for that, but we'll see.”

The kobold grunted. [Good enough, I suppose.]

Chris raised an eyebrow at her. “You know I can tell when you're putting on an act, right? I get you're still upset that you were kidnapped, but you don't have to pretend modern conveniences aren't better than living in a cave.”

The kobold glared at him for a moment, before looking away and crossing her arms. [Is there anything else you need from us?]

Chris rolled his eyes. “No, I was just checking in. I'll make you beds later tonight, so have fun in the meantime. Oh, wait.” He paused to remake all the games. “Alright, bye.” He waved, opening a portal and heading back to the courtyard.

“Chris, there you are!” Beth called out as he appeared. “It's time for dinner, come on!”

“Is it?” Chris muttered, checking his watch. “Huh, alright, let's go.”

“So… anything happen during your training? It seemed like you were pretty deep in thought back there.” Beth asked as they headed to the cafeteria.

“Yeah, a bit.” Chris sighed. “The new minions finally arrived, so I have another slime, another goblin, a kobold, and a cave wyrm now. I also learned I can absorb material into my space and use it to make things. Also, apparently when my minions die, they come back, but they're stuck in my space. Oh, and I might be able to give my minions each other's abilities, but that one is weird and I'm not quite sure what's going on with it yet.”

Beth blinked. “That- seems like a lot.”

“Yeah, honestly, my head feels a bit stuffed.” Chris agreed. “I think I need some dead brain time.”

“Ooh, we should watch a movie after dinner!” Beth suggested eagerly. “Does that sound good?”

“That sounds perfect.” Chris smiled.

*

Chris spent the rest of the night unwinding with the squad, letting the questions he had about the space simmer in the back of his mind for a while. Then he had a whole day of training to distract him until it was time for his next session with Jacobs. “Ah, good, you're here!” Jacobs greeted him excitedly, waving him over. “Okay, here's what I'm thinking. If your space is preserving your minions, then there must be some value in keeping them around, yes? And you've proven that your connection allows you to take control of your minions bodies, proving that you share a deep mental connection. So my thought is that somehow, you may be able to use your minions as memory banks by sharing knowledge with them!”

“Maybe.” Chris agreed. “But I also figured out I can do something with their abilities. Though I haven't figured out the details yet.”

Jacobs blinked. “You- really?”

“Yeah, Dyrdek managed to use one of the rats’ abilities to enhance his vision, but it didn't work for me, so I'm not sure what's going on.” Chris explained.

“Curious.” Jacobs muttered thoughtfully, narrowing his eyes. “We'll need to visit the ability management office to test how effective it is, but we won't be able to do that today. Let's see if the knowledge sharing works first, alright?”

“Sure.” Chris agreed, opening a portal and calling Dyrdek out. “Any ideas what I should try?”

Jacobs nodded. “Yes, I believe the best test would be language. See if you can give him your understanding of the human language and take his understanding of the goblin language.”

Chris gave him a thumbs up, turning to Dyrdek and focusing on him as he packaged together his understanding of the human language and pushed it at Dyrdek, since that seemed to be how this crap worked. “Get anything?” He asked Dyrdek.

Dyrdek grimaced, rubbing his head. “I'm not sure I enjoy having information shoved into my brain.”

“Outstanding!” Jacobs clapped excitedly. “Did you get his language as well?”

“Haven't tried yet.” Chris shrugged, turning his focus back to Dyrdek, trying to pull out his knowledge of the goblin language. Chris grimaced as a surge of information rushed through the connection, giving him an intense headache. [Fuck, that-] Chris cut off as he realized he was speaking goblin, focusing for a moment to get his brain back in order. “Alright, I'm good.”

“You got it?” Jacobs asked eagerly.

“Yeah, but it wasn't a pleasant experience.” Chris replied. “Having an entire language shoved into your head hurts.”

Jacobs hummed thoughtfully. “I see… not an ability to use carelessly then, but certainly a useful one. Learning a language in an instant! Incredible! Think of all the skills you could collect if you educate your minions!”

Chris frowned. “Wouldn't it be better to just have my minions use the skills?”

Jacobs paused, before coughing awkwardly. “Well, yes, that probably would be more productive. Oh, but once you train a minion to a certain level of proficiency, you can share it with all your minions, letting you create a skilled workforce in an instant!”

“True.” Chris agreed. “Alright, what next?”

“Right, yes, we can't get sidetracked.” Jacobs sighed. “From now on our primary focus will be training your ability to manage your minions, teaching them how to operate both on their own and with your squad. We'll work on their individual capabilities here, and incorporate them into your morning drills to help them integrate with your squad.”

“Got it.” Chris nodded, turning to Dyrdek. “Looks like you're getting some training.”

“I won't let you down, Chief!” Dyrdek declared, excited to finally be useful.

Jacobs hesitated. “Uh, Chris, he- isn't part of the training program.”

Chris blinked. “But he's my minion?”

“Yes, but it's already going to be difficult integrating the three useful minions into your squad. It isn't practical to put in the extra effort for a minion that won't be able to contribute in a significant way.” Jacobs explained.

Chris glanced at Dyrdek as he felt defeat and hopelessness waft off of him. “He can learn how to use a weapon or something, can't he? Hell, I can just give him my knowledge of how to use a weapon.”

Jacobs sighed. “There's just no benefit to using him over your other minions, even with training.”

Chris grimaced. It wasn't that Jacobs was wrong. There was something to be said for accepting what you could and couldn't do in life. A goblin with an essentially non-existent ability wouldn't be all that useful in a Scout squad, and there was a good chance he'd end up getting himself killed. That was just a fact. But Chris couldn't accept simply abandoning the poor little dude. He just wanted so badly to be useful. “How about you help me with the equipment maintenance?” Chris suggested, patting him on the shoulder. “I can give you all the skills you need, so it shouldn't be an issue.”

“That- that'd be great, Chief!” Dyrdek replied, forcing a smile as he struggled to be happy about it. “I'll just- wait in the space then.”

Chris sighed. “You do that, buddy.”

“I'm- sorry?” Jacobs apologized, not sure what else to do in this situation. He hadn't thought he'd have to worry about breaking a dominated goblin's spirit. He wondered what the true nature of Chris's connection with his minions was, suppressing his burning curiosity as the goblin shuffled back through the portal. “We should probably start on the other's training.” He commented after a moment of silence.

“Yeah, alright.” Chris agreed, not really feeling it, but knowing it had to be done. “Who should we start with?”

“Either the kobold or the goblin.” Jacobs replied. “We'll get both of them started, and then work on the cave wyrm, since it will need more hands on direction.”

“Got it.” Chris nodded. “Let's start with… huh, I should probably get their names, shouldn't I? It's kinda rude to just call them the goblin and the kobold.”

Jacobs stared at him for a moment, before shaking his head. “You and your minions have the strangest relationship. Dominators usually view their minions as tools, or possibly slaves, not… friends.”

Chris shrugged. “They're people, aren't they? We can talk, so why can't we be friends?”

Jacobs just blinked and shook his head again. “Let's just get started, alright?”