Ceres Chaos [Exosuit Progression]

“Kid, was it really that bad?” Oswa enquired as they panted, taking a break in a cavern near the town gate, while they could hear an angry mob hovering just outside the town gate, searching for Ceres.

“Do you want to try?” Ceres took out a food bag, the mushy flesh already packed inside.

Oswa gulped as he recalled the puking and retching from the town square. He might have eaten quite a fair number of things in his life, but he had never seen such a reaction before. “Never mind, I’ll stick to nutrient paste.”

They resumed their trek back to the grodaw farm. This time, Ceres was outfitted with his personal heavy exosuit, still carrying the empty grodaw container that he originally carried to town. He expected that he would be able to fend off any mawsies that try to harass them.

The journey was going to be at least twelve hours long. However, they didn’t encounter any mawsies for an hour, making Ceres slightly suspicious. At least it was much safer now than previously.

Ceres still wore the black mask inside his helmet as a precaution. Since he was heading back in the direction of the research lab, he may run into enforcers who are searching for him. If they breached the exosuit’s helmet, then the mask would come in handy.

“Can I ask about the origin of the town? And especially about the Chosen.” Ceres asked, finally having the time to ask one of the oldest members of the town, Oswa. He had been holding it off for quite a while now, afraid of antagonizing the townspeople. Now that he felt a lot closer to them, he gave it shot.

“Boy, I don’t like telling old stories… but since you’ve helped us out so much, I’ll only say it once. Long or short?”

“Long version. It’s been bugging me for too long and we got a long trek ahead of us.”

Oswa began to explain the story of the town to Ceres over the next hour, with Ceres becoming increasingly surprised.

The town was originally formed of a single-family, not unlike the Five Families that currently ruled the planet. They had the surname of Chan.

The Chan family was also on the original colony mission. The Five Families were not the only original colonist that survived till today. In the first formative years of the colony, competition and rivalry were rife among the people who had come to Athen in search of a better life or for more resources to exploit.

Rival cities and towns rose up all across the planet as they tried to vie for resources and manpower, touting that they were the best location to be the capital. Every trick in the book was used in order to lure investment and fresh blood to their towns.

The Chan family used to work with the Five Families – they had an implicit alliance and agreement to develop the current city of Athen, New Saint. In fact, the alliance originally had more than 20 families agreeing to it.

However, the cake was only so big. With more than 20 families fighting for a small slice of the cake, eventually, the larger families would start to push the smaller families out, intending to swallow them whole.

This was when Oliver Athen rose up to power, controlling the Athen Family and subsequently the alliance. He reduced the alliance size by slandering and blackmailing other families to either become subservient or exiled. The Chan Family refused to be subservient, hence they were labelled as hostile criminals and had no choice but to flee.

The subterranean town that they lived in was built by the Legions as an emergency shelter against slovesa raids in the past.

Before the star system of Strathon had stabilized, it was considered the border system against the slovesas. Raids were frequent and common, as remnants of the slovesa army tried desperately to reclaim their former territory lost to the Loeric Empire.

It’s been more than a hundred years since the Chan Family had been forced underground. Many other stragglers and criminals had joined them over the years, while most of the current town’s residents were the descendants of the original exiles.

With the high mortality rate in the subterranean environment, the current townspeople could care less about taking revenge for what had been done to them, instead focusing on how to survive.

The original wish of the first generation had been lost. Who cared about ruling the planet when one was already starving in the present?

The first generation also did not wish to impose their will on future generations, but they heavily advocated for one thing – the survival of the family at all costs. It was their inherent belief that eventually they will outlast the Five Families on the surface and rise to claim their rightful place.

This was the reason why the elderly town members were fasting as well – they sincerely believed that for the survival of the town, it was better to allocate more resources to the next generation than them. They had minimal concepts of hoarding or greed.

Those that were greedy or found to be skirting the unspoken rules had been exiled or ostracized, reemphasising that the older generation had to sacrifice for the future survival of the family.

Ceres found this to be extremely remarkable. He was slightly confident that if Zone 17 were to ever fall into such a situation of limited resources, people would naturally help each other, but he did not have the same confidence in the entire city.

Despite the ‘solidarity’ shown through the annual Loeric Day, Ceres had already been made aware of the large divide between the outers and the inners, culminating in the mass riots that he sparked.

He also understood that such riots had already occurred in the past even before he arrived as an orphan on Athen.

Now seeing a brand new ‘class’ being forced into exile underground, the society of Athen did not seem so clear-cut to be just outer and inners anymore.

“Despite what you’ve seen so far, we’re not the only group of humans living at this depth.” Oswa continued explaining.

“Yes, I’ve heard the town chief talk about trading with Rockhold City,” Ceres replied.

“Not them, they are not considered at the same depth as us. They are considered a section above us. What I’m talking about are the other humans that live at the same depth as us and further below. The Chosen.” Oswa shook his head.

“I did not know that they were human. From the way you referenced to them, they sounded more like wildlife than anything else.” Ceres did not remember anyone telling him about such details. He was under the impression that this was the only human group in the vicinity.

“That’s because they are not... exactly functioning humans like us. Not everyone can survive the psychological pressures of the underground, including us. We have had many townspeople from the original generation devolve into mental instability due to the difference in the environment, requiring us to euthanize them, else the town’s security would have been jeopardized.”

“The subterranean is a large place, and many people from above seek refuge in its depths. On a planet scale, we’re definitely not the only human group here – but we are the only civilized ones we have heard of. Sightings of human cannibals tribes known as the Chosen worshipping carved rocks and metals have been common in our expeditions. I myself witnessed a makeshift temple in a cave, where the main object being worshipped was simply a piece of exotic metal from some forgotten ruin.” Oswa recounted his past expeditions.

“Did you find out why the Chosen were worshipping it?” Ceres asked.

“No, it is impossible to communicate with such humans with logic. Some cannibal tribes that have been encountered still retained basic language functions, but to them, we are the food source. There is no reason to talk to food in their minds unless it was to negotiate or barter for what they call ‘holy artefacts. We are forced to wipe out their entire tribe if we come into contact with them. Leaving even a few of them behind may result in them tracking us back to our town. So far, no human group has actively assaulted our town, but our expedition has been ambushed before regularly.”

The subterranean environment was much more brutal than Ceres imagined. When he lived on the outer surface of the planet, he never considered what was underneath his feet. Surprisingly, Ceres found that he innately equated subterranean environments with wealth, having seen the luxurious technology of the inner zones.

He had a slightly bad feeling about the current expedition. If the rate of mawsie appearances were extremely high, the other feral human tribes such as the Chosen must be experiencing the same issue as well. The expedition may very well be at a higher risk of danger than ever before. “Hopefully it’s not something related to my arrival,” Ceres thought to himself.

The journey was long, and Ceres decided to use it to train his new horaothymia mode or H.T. mode for short. He has not figured out the range, method of activation or other limitations. “This is surprisingly like the ‘power of friendship’ that I had previously. Had I been experimented on since the very beginning?”

The thought of someone unknown wreaking havoc in his body from even before the competition made Ceres slightly angry. If obtaining these ‘powers’ meant losing everything and everyone he knew and loved on Athen, he would rather not have the power.

He still did not know how his friends were doing, nor what was the actual state of New Saint.

Ceres tried to recall how the H.T. mode had been activated so far. The first time, it was during the fight in the research lab, where he could clearly see the three Keepers highlighted in a bright red hue. He had been idling in the vat for close to five years according to the instructor.

The second time, it was when he fell into the chasm and managed to see the grodaw through the walls, enabling him to dig through the wall and find the grodaw farm. Before that, he felt intense hunger that seemed to call from every cell of his body.

The third time occurred when he was fighting against Captain Kai, where he could not land a hit on him. He recalled having not slept for a few days in a row, yet he was brimming with fighting spirit.

Ceres thought hard about what the link between all of these was. What was a body parameter that was common between all three times? And could he artificially control the H.T. mode?

Walking through the caverns and tunnels, they had been moving for close to four hours when Ceres suddenly felt the same hunger coming, albeit at a much lower rate.

“Strange, I did not feel the slightest ounce of hunger when I was in the town, but now that I’m outside, the hunger kicks in much faster. I have not exerted my body much either, and I definitely exerted more in the workshop,” Ceres thought to himself.

“Oswa, do you mind if we take a break here?” Ceres asked, wanting to take the opportunity to explore deeper into his hunger state. “I need you to do something for me as well.”

“Sure, let’s set up camp here. We can rest for a few hours. What do you need me to do?” Oswa found a safe cavern away from any lava river, putting down his things.

“I need you to disable my exosuit externally, to prevent me from moving.”

Oswa just stared at him with suspicious eyes, checking Ceres’s exosuit. “What are you trying to do now? Don’t play with me, boy.”

“It’s just a precaution, but I’m counting on you.” Ceres recalled how ‘feral’ he was when he dug through the rocks to reach the grodaw farm, so he was unsure of how his body would react. Hopefully, the heavy exosuit that he wore would be able to hold his body in place or at least limit his movements.

Sitting down on a rock and placing his weapons far away from himself, Ceres nodded at Oswa, who began to reach behind Ceres’s neck and follow his instructions. With the nerval plug disconnected and the power supply disabled, the heavy exosuit whirred down into silence as Ceres sat quietly in his heavy exosuit, only viewing the world through the small slit on his visor.

He could feel a few of his cells calling out for something, but he did not know what. It felt like a yearning, a sort of addiction feeling, but as to what would solve it, he did not know. Ceres closed his eyes and resolved to delve deeper into the hunger, but not before warning Oswa.

Oswa involuntarily shuddered as he recalled how he first met Ceres gorging on a grodaw. He recalled the black-scale armour on Ceres’s hands that suddenly disappeared when Ceres regain consciousness.

Yet Oswa did not do anything, instead continuing to set up camp.

He also trusted Ceres after seeing all that had been done for the town. Regardless, he still held his herding staff at the ready in case he needed to defend himself.

As Ceres felt himself sinking deeper and deeper into his consciousness, the hunger became significantly more pronounced. He could now ‘feel’ every pore on his skin gasping for something, and when he finally opened his eyes – he was in H.T. mode.

He could see small little blobs of blue and grey swarming all around him, and he noticed that the disabled exosuit’s helmet no longer limited his vision as much.

It was as though he had developed x-ray vision, enabling him to see everything that was alive. Even the insects and plants had some sort of colour hue on them.

Many of the blobs were situated far in the distance, but Ceres could instinctively summarize that he did not have infinite range. Otherwise, if he looked all around him, he was bound to see the city of Athen and its billions of humans. “I suspect my range is only up to a kilometre ahead of me, but it needs further testing. I’ll test it out more when I get back to the grodaw farm.”

However, to Ceres, Oswa shined like a lighthouse amidst everything, almost ‘blinding’ Ceres. The light emitted was half red and half pearl white – Ceres assumed it represented hostility and reverence both.

There were much more combinations of colours visible than his human eye could perceive naturally, so he did not have a name for them, but he could instinctively feel what they meant in terms of emotions.

When his eyes landed directly on Oswa, Oswa noticeably flinched and became much warier. For some unknown reason, Oswa felt as though some sort of predator was staring directly at him. He grabbed his herding staff even harder and aimed it at Ceres.

Ceres closed his eyes again slowly and pulled himself out of the hunger state, fooling his body that he was full and not hungry anymore. The cries of his cells felt like they became further and further away as he slowly returned to his normal state.

When he opened his eyes again, he was back in his normal human vision mode and could see Oswa staring at him warily, the herding staff gripped hard at his side and pointed directly at Ceres.

Ceres tried to raise his hand up but realized he could not move in the disabled heavy exosuit.

“Oswa, sorry, I’m okay now. How long was I out?” Ceres asked.

“About five minutes. How many fingers am I holding up on this hand?”

“Six… wait you have six fingers? What the hell?”

“You can thank the staff and family heritage. What’s the name of the guard captain?”

“Kai…? Why are you asking me all of these questions? Is this a citizenship test? I’m not planning to stay forever.” Ceres smiled, but Oswa could not see it through the helmet.

“Last question. What’s the name of your disciple?”

“Disciple? I don’t have one…. You mean Mercer?”

“Male or female?”

“Hey, you said that was the last question... what does this question even mean?”

Oswa finally relaxed, placing the herding staff leaning against a rock while he walked over. “Just protocol in case you were being controlled or possessed or something.” He wasn’t about to take any chances, especially after seeing how feral Ceres could get in the past.

“That happens to people here?” Ceres asked in shock as his heavy exosuit rebooted up upon connection.

“Didn’t I say people become mentally unstable in this sort of environment?”

“I think I can handle it fine.”

“Says the kid who literally buried his face in a grodaw and ate it raw. I think you’re the only one I’ve seen so far doing that. Not even the insane would dare to do it.” Oswa scowled as he began packing up.

“Well, I’ll take that as a compliment.”

Over the next few hours, Ceres practised swapping his vision mode in and out. Once he got the hang of it, it was fairly easy to immediately swap between the vision modes, though he did not know how long he could hold the vision before actually being overwhelmed by the hunger. “Better to activate it intermittently then.”

As they finally trekked back to the grodaw farm over the next few hours, they came near the entrance when Oswa suddenly stopped Ceres. He motioned towards the lights in the house, which were on, along with clear signs of recent habitation that did not belong to them. A series of muddy footsteps could be seen entering the cabin.

Ceres glanced at the floor, seeing bits and pieces of grodaw flesh strewn around the floor and reached for his spiked mace on his back.

“Looks like I’m not the only one eating it raw.”