The Mantis Synchronicity - Book Five - 7. Chapter 7 - Z'Matri

“A delivery for who?” the guardswoman barked at Z’Matri, who had stopped speaking mid-sentence.

Z’Matri turned around.

“Hey!” the guard shouted, but Z’Matri ignored him.

If every Shift that Z’Matri could feel was like a light to him, the entire world was suddenly cast into all-consuming darkness. He could not feel a single Shift, not even the anomalous one within the Heights. Z’Matri felt utterly alone.

“Hey!!” the guard yelled again. “What’s wrong with you? Who’s the package for?”

Z’Matri staggered away from the gates, and in a flash, his awareness of every Shift returned. He looked back at the angry guard. “I-I’m sorry, just a bit of a dizzy spell.” Z’Matri took a steadying breath before he stepped back into the circle. He moved forwards and every Shift disappeared from his senses again. Something is stopping my power! he thought. “Th-this is for one of the rich folks. I ain’t gotta deliver it myself, was told just to give it to one of you honorable guardsfolk.” Z’Matri slipped the woman the parcel, which was empty, and he rushed away from the gates.

Out of the circle and feeling his powers again, Z’Matri was relieved. The unnerving sensation of his awareness disappearing made him sick. He contemplated what he had experienced as he headed toward the outskirts of the city.

Is it that one Shift? Z’Matri thought. Is the Shift causing the void in my powers? I need to find them and figure out who they are. He paused in his train of thought. But how will I find them if I can’t feel them when I get too close? And what if it’s not the Shift? What if it’s weird tech or something else?

Z’Matri continued to follow the river out of town. He could feel Djaruki, Tisa, and Gawa at the houseboat. He could feel Shifts all over the world, but Z’Matri was only focused on one of them, the lone Shift in the Heights.

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Gawa said to him as he approached.

“Yeah,” Tisa added, “what’s wrong?”

Djaruki barely knew Z’Matri, but she could also tell that he was distant.

He looked back toward the city. “I think it’s the Shift in the Heights,” he mumbled. He was distracted by his own mind.

“What do you mean? What happened?”

Z’Matri answered in a quiet voice. “I entered the circle, and I couldn’t feel anyone. I couldn’t feel you three or any other Shifts. Outside it again, you all came back, but inside the circle, you ain’t there. I think it’s the Shift. It didn’t feel like some sort of technology; I just felt nothing, an absence of my powers. I think it’s the Shift,” he repeated, almost trying to convince himself. “I think this Shift has the ability to turn off our powers.”

The very unique Biological Shift, Gawa, spoke up, “Think if I walk into the circle it’ll turn me into one of you normal-looking people?” She snorted a laugh at the absurd idea.

Djaruki was eager to help, and she asked Z’Matri, “Do you have a plan?”

“I’m working on it,” he replied. “I don’t know, but I want to find that Shift.” He turned to Tisa and Gawa. “Why do you suppose my Shift ain’t associated with your Shifts? And why are they able to be in the Heights.”

“Huh,” Tisa replied, “those are interesting questions.”

“Something we’ll contemplate on the way,” Gawa added.

“On the way?” Djaruki repeated. “On the way where?”

Tisa answered her with a sad smile. “Last night after we arrived yesterday, Gawa and I connected with an underground group of Shifts in the city. They have suffered, and they need our help.”

“We’ve begun doing what we can to aid them,” Gawa continued. “Tisa and I spent the day learning about some powerful leaders that the Shifts are targeting; they’ve done a lot of reconnaissance.”

“The locals are ready for us to attack the villains who run this town.” Tisa went on, “We’re strengthening the Shift rebels and working with an assault team.”

“It’ll be like the group I started back in Teshon City,” Gawa stated. “There are people here who need to be removed from power.”

Djaruki was well aware Tisa and Gawa were talking about killing people, and it made her very uncomfortable. “Are we staying here?” she asked Z’Matri.

“Yeah, I ain’t going with them.” He rubbed his forehead. “I need to think.”

“Do you want to talk with me about what you’re thinking while they’re gone? Maybe we can work it out.”

Tisa spoke up, “We’re heading out. See you two in the morning.”

“Bye, Djaruki,” Gawa added as the two women walked off into the darkness.

Djaruki turned to Z’Matri, but he was not paying any attention to her, and he climbed onto the dark houseboat, leaving Djaruki alone by the table with the books.

Guess I’m sleeping out here tonight, she thought. She took her bedroll out of her travel bag and laid it under the stars. Djaruki did not expect to fall asleep with everything that was spinning through her own head, but she drifted right into unconsciousness. She was startled awake before sunrise.

Tisa and Gawa were back. Each of them was carrying a severed head★