"If you want to know what Sofia experienced then I will let you taste it. The real definition of the word FEAR." Adrian stated as his aura changed from red to pitch black.
What is fear?
Fear is a natural, powerful, and primitive human emotion. It involves a universal biochemical response as well as a high individual emotional response. Fear alerts us to the presence of danger or the threat of harm, whether that danger is physical or psychological.
The surroundings suddenly felt heavy, and it felt disgusting as if something creepy is crawling up on their bodies. The feeling that something is near you, but you cannot see. The feeling of uncertainty about things that you do not know. And lastly, the suffocating feeling that your life is in danger.
Jihan and Dustan showed fear using their faces, but the two women screamed as if they are having a nightmare. The look of pure terror is written on the faces of Esme and Patricia. Esme showed great fear to the point that the marbles flew towards different directions and lodged on the walls.
Patricia started to shift her form indefinitely as she could no longer control her ability. Jihan did not scream but the balloon that he held already burst with great noise as even his chi became scattered. Dustan's coin started to get twisted and bended in all sorts of directions until he finally broke it.
"You can stop now!" Sofia stated as he tugged Adrian's shoulder.
"STOP!" Joe stated in a commanding tone.
Adrian adhered to the command and retrieved his aura. The four are suddenly left shocked and full of cold sweat running down on their entire bodies. Adrian carefully assessed all of them and judged that he did not overdo the amount of fear that they felt.
"Did you not overdo it?" Whiz asked as even he felt this creeping fear in his heart despite the ability not aimed towards him.
"They should be fine as long as they do not stress themselves. They should now rest. I will ask Baba to make them something to calm their nerves." Adrian stated as he walked away but the eyes of the four followed Adrian's figure with fear still imprinted on their faces.
"Wh..wha..what was that!?" Esme stated as her body started to become cold, and she started to shiver.
"I never felt something like that before! Even with all the years that I am undercover and have seem many atrocities, I have never seen something so terrifying in my whole life." Patricia added.
The two girls that bickered started to look at each other with appreciation. It is more of a look of sympathy to others that are in the same boat as you. They will once again bicker with each other when they recover from the shock.
"What did you guys even see?" Joe asked as he wanted to comfort the others. He will sternly reprimand Adrian after this seeing that the four might get traumatized.
The four people did not speak up immediately and just looked at each other. Joe and Sofia saw this and understood that the things that they saw must have left a big scar or trauma for them that they do not want to speak. But if they do not share and just kept it in, that trauma will continue to grow bigger until it eats away at their consciousness.
"It is better to share what you guys have seen so that you do not carry the burden by yourselves. We are here to lighten up the load that you are carrying instead of seeing all of you making it heavier and heavier." Sofia stated as she also dealt with persons that experienced their worst fears.
"I saw myself but version of myself that I do not want to become. I saw myself being faceless and could no longer turn back to my original body. As if I erased all of my memories and became nothing but a faceless human." Patricia stated as she once again shuddered just by remembering it.
"I saw myself getting killed by my own family. Being hunted like a dog and torn limb from limb continuously in repeat. That scenario would repeat every time that I die, or they are satisfied." Jihan stated as his heart became heavy upon the realization that it might happen.
"I saw myself alone in a ruined world and that everything I touch turns into dust. I saw myself not being able to control my abilities that it made me a great threat to everyone around me." Esme stated.
The three of them finished their fears and all looked at Dustan as he is the only one remaining. Dustan felt reluctant to actually talk since his would be the worst one of them all. The stares of everyone nudged him to actually talk about his experience and he is glad that he did because the weight on his shoulders lightened once he spoke up.
"I saw myself killing all of you guys as if I was possessed by something. My eyes were glowing red, and I actually reveled in the fact that I bathed in your blood. I know that I am a cold guy sometimes, but I consider all of you as my companions. I would never do something like that as I would rather kill myself than become Depraved." Dustan stated as he steeled his resolve.
"That is fine, Dustan. We know that everyone here is precious to each other. I, myself, treat you as my children." Sofia stated as she hugged each one of them.
"What Adrian showed you is more likely your greatest fears. The fact that all of you did not like what you see and are afraid of it becoming reality is testament to that fact." Joe stated.
"I swear that guy is a sociopath. Are we really going to keep him on the team? He did not even say sorry to all of us." Esme retorted but she was reminded of a fact.
"I might not like you, but I might agree on you on that one." Patricia added while the men stayed quiet.
"I think that you guys have to cut him some slack. Remember that all of four of you experienced your worst fears at the same time. That means that Adrian felt all of your fears combined since he is an empath. He suffered more than you have suffered and that takes great resolve." Sofia reminded everyone of the side effects of what empaths experience when they use their abilities.