sees a damn city

It was almost like I was seeing the city for the first time. Crocea Mors slipped silently from reflection to reflection, a mercurial figure without a source to be found, hopping between a hundred pieces of steel. Levant found the highest structure in the area and stood at its edge, power expanding through the air currents as they flowed between buildings. Xihai flowed through rivers and pipelines alike even as Vulturnus raced through a glowing web of power lines. Suryasta peered out of fireplaces and candles, furnaces and engines, forming pictures in my mind written in shifting flames, which Ereb walked beneath my feet, matching my stride exactly as he walked on the underside of the street, in the hidden earth.

But even without my Elementals eyes, the city was different now. I felt thousands of emotions bubbling up like air in the sea; ephemeral hopes, seething anger, and hundreds of different flavors of love and fear and despair alike. I felt a sudden shock of a man watching a horror movie, the deep-seated fear of a woman waiting in a hospital, the burning surety of a young man who thought he knew what love was and the quiet certainty of his parents who didn’t need any grandiose displays or proclamations to know what they had. There was the pain of the grieving, the fear of a child huddling in the dark as her parents fought—though that was a fear that had the taste of routine, as did her parent’s anger, sadness, and guilt. There was exhaustion in the back alleys, joy in a nursery, enough dreams to fill the skies, and celebrations gross and subtle.

Things meant to be kept private, locked behind walls and doors—but no wall, physical or mental, were enough to keep me out. Even without trying, even just standing there, I felt them all. I knew them all, even if I dismissed most of what I sensed with no more than a cursory glance, as my passive Empathy kept we aware of the truth of the city and its many people, things I hadn’t even thought about previously.

And then my more physical senses came into play. I picked up every radio signal in the city, every show on the air, and a flood of information from every direction. Though I could focus my Clairvoyance and ESP far better than I could my Empathy, I kept my senses open as I searched for old friends and new enemies alike. I heard everything around me, saw things on levels that most people probably didn’t know existed, smelt traces of things that had happened days or weeks ago, and more.

Once again, I had to give thanks to the Gamer’s Body and Mind, without which I was sure I’d have long since been driven mad by my own powers. My Empathy alone would likely have driven me far away from any city and just attempting to use my other senses the way I did now would likely have probably driven me to my knees. Instead, it had reduced all of that to little more than an occasional agony that I’d quickly gotten used to healing and even that had faded as the power of my skills increased. Remaining constantly aware of my surroundings had become a simple habit to maintain now and I was able to stay calm and focused despite the scope of my senses.

As such, it didn’t take me long to find what I was looking for. It was simply a matter of searched for a person of the right shape, size, and body mass while screening out anyone who didn’t fit. Since my target was a rather distinctive person besides, it didn’t take me long to find him.

“Adam,” I spoke across the distance without moving my mouth, Levant giving form to the words with her own lips as she stood invisibly by my friend.

At the sound of my disembodied voice, he nearly jumped out of his own skin, a hand falling to a weapon as rose and spun around. Seeing nothing, Adam paused for a moment, took a deep breath, and closed his eyes beneath his mask.