Deathstalker 05 - Deathstalker Destiny

subconscious massmind that has learned to exist separately from the individual thoughts and consciousnesses of the millions of espers that give it form. The Mater Mundi arose spontaneously, from the moment of the creation of the first batch of espers in an Imperial lab; created from their fears, their needs, and their darkest desires. Down the many years, it has learned purpose and ambition. It is the naked communal id, the secret dark heart of esper power. In emergencies, it can pull all the espers into one gestalt mind, to serve its will, but it cares nothing for the individual members of that gestalt. Individual esper minds, with their conscience and ethics and morality, mean nothing to the Mater Mundi. Its only real concern is survival, and it knows it can only continue as long as the conscious minds remain unaware of its nature and existence. Sometimes it draws on the massed power of all espers to create superpowerful agents, like me, and you. Most burn out, like moths forced to fly too close to the sun, but you and I survived by being strong enough and crazy enough to separate ourselves from the esper massmind. That's why it has to destroy us, not only because we know the truth, but because we have learned to exist separate from it.
    "It doesn't want competition."
    "But…" Diana's thoughts were whirling wildly. "What about the leaders of the esper underground? If we went to them, told them what we know…"
    "There are no esper leaders! Never have been. They never were anything more than illusions, masks for the Mater Mundi to hide behind as it manipulated the esper
    underground to its own ends."
    "Legion," said Diana softly. "This is just another Legion. An insane gestalt mind, doing what espers really want, in the deepest areas of their subconscious.
    Power over the inferior, destruction of the different, punishment for those who have harmed it… or didn't love it enough. An endless rage, unlimited by remorse or conscience or morality."
    "You begin to understand," said Varnay. "But it has its own goals, quite separate from what any individual or group of espers may think they want. It draws on their powers to sustain and defend itself, just as you and I do.
    Haven't you ever wondered where your heightened powers come from? You live off them, just as I live off those who come here. I am what you may become, in time.
    Unless you find a way to destroy the Mater Mundi without killing the innocent espers who host it."
    "What can I do?" said Diana. "If every esper is potentially my enemy…"
    "Go to New Hope. The Esper Liberation Front. They've formed their own gestalt, deliberate and fully conscious, and have thus separated themselves from the rest of the esper massmind. They are the Mater Mundi's enemy. They may have the answers you seek… or at least a place to hide."
    "I don't like running," said Diana. "And I don't like depending on others. You survived on your own."
    "Don't confuse surviving with living. I continue in this ragged existence only because I lack the strength of will to end it."
    "Then why call me here? Why risk your precious anonymity to tell me the truth about the Mater Mundi?"
    "Because you're different. When I discovered the reality behind the Mater Mundi, my only thought was to hide. Yours was to fight. You've been touched by
    something greater, something powerful, even before the Mater Mundi chose you as its agent."
    "The Ashrai…" said Diana. "The ghosts of Unseeli."
    "You are perhaps the only one who might find some way to fight back against the Mater Mundi, and destroy its power. And then, finally, I'll be free to leave this velvet-lined trap I've made for myself."
    No, said a sudden cold voice in both their minds. Cold as the Snow Queen, cruel as the Wicked Stepmother. I don't think so, little mindworm.
    "It's her!" shrieked Varnay, his great dark eyes almost bulging from his corpse-pale face. "You brought her here!"
    One mind might hide in passion's chaos, but not two, said the monster, the boogeyman, the parent that does not love its young. You betrayed yourselves when you sought to betray me.
    Varnay's panicked shriek became a howl of shock and agony as he burst into flames. His dark rags were swept away in a second, consumed by appalling heat that sent Diana stumbling backward, arms raised to protect her face. Varnay's corpse-pale flesh caught alight, his fat burning like a living candle. His eyes boiled and burst, running down his burning cheeks till they evaporated in the heat.