"Have you still not identified the source of that consciousness?"
The man in the black windbreaker spoke through clenched teeth, his hands balled into fists. The Cosmic Limit was supposed to prevent the emergence of such monsters.
Who, in the current age, could sweep across the entire Earth with their consciousness, casually skimming the minds of countless people?
"Sir," an agent replied, "Our field teams are scouring the planet and nearby space. We've observed no new anomalies or significant changes in existing ones.
"We suspect the entity was merely passing by, and its consciousness brushed Earth unintentionally."
The man in the windbreaker, evidently the superior, turned to another agent seated at a nearby computer.
"Contact the Eight Outer Domains. See if they've uncovered anything. They are in the same boat as us if the entity has even an iota of malicious intent against us."
As the agent nodded and began typing, a sharp ring echoed through the room, silencing the activity around them.
The tracking, speculating, calculating, and every action regarding the consciousness paused.
The man in the windbreaker took a steadying breath before picking up the receiver. He recognized the caller immediately—it was Dr. Kirchoff, the renowned scientist.
He alone was half the reason The Human Federation could stand tall and contend with the Anomalies.
"Dr. Kirchoff," he began, "Were you also alerted by that consciousness?"
The aged voice which replied from the other end was calm, without any hint of panic.
"Yes. And let me be clear: the Human Federation has no means of resisting an entity of this scale if it decides to attack us.
"Our precious assets were drained ten years ago in the battle against the Eldritch Entity.
"There's nothing to gain by investigating this further. Halt all operations and redirect the resources to the usual tasks of the Federation.
"We can't use the little resources we have to investigate everything which we come across. Learn to recognize and selectively ignore tasks which will bring no results.
"Do you understand Operative Fredrinn?"
The man digested the words of the scientist, realising the situation was indeed what he spoke about.
There was nothing they could do even if they somehow managed to procure some information on the consciousness.
"Understood, Sir."
"Good."
The line went dead.
Fredrinn slowly placed the receiver back and gave the order to cease all investigations related to the consciousness.
Resources were redirected to routine operations.
Similar scenes took place in the lands of Eight Outer Domains. Some of them even questioned if it was one of the seniors from their specific Outer Domain who made a move.
They were promptly rejected.
Thus, after a short period of chaos, the various bases of powers returned to their own work.
*****
Eryndor withdrew his gaze from the door, deep in thought.
The fragmented memories crammed into his mind had painted a broader picture of Earth's current state.
He now knew the general locations of the Eight Outer Domains and the Human Federation.
The surge of Qi, Mana, Spiritual Energy, and Internal Energy two centuries ago wasn't an isolated event but tied to the rise of the Cosmic Limit and the subsequent invasion of the Outer Domains.
However, the common public remained oblivious to these truths.
Why suppress this knowledge?
He speculated that the information was guarded in highly secure places, inaccessible even to his Cognitive Scrying, which likely had its limits.
The limited people who possessed related knowledge might very well be heavily protected against such scrying.
Eryndor wasn't foolish to believe his Cognitive Scrying could bypass everything.
He already had an inkling that this palace might be in his mind, so, he simply closed his eyes, and focused on heading back into his body.
Indeed, without any delay he was back into his body.
He was back to feeling weak and feeble.
The return to his physical form brought him some ideas about one of his abilities.
His Passive Regeneration was likely dependent on the surrounding energy, which seemed depleted here, explaining his slow recovery.
Else, there was no way his body was only regenerating to this extent.
Nevertheless, he still felt far better than before. At least he wouldn't be dying anytime soon.
Resolving his current situation was still of paramount importance.
He flipped around, resting his knees on the ground and placed his hands on the rod of concrete which he felt was the easiest and most likely to move.
Gathering all the remaining energy he had, he pushed against his hands, yelling with all his strength and mobilizing all the force of telekinesis he could, directing it towards the same rod of concrete.
It moved.
Finally, The rod moved a bit.
But that was it.
It fell back to place as the force acting on it disappeared. Eryndor felt himself losing consciousness as he overexerted himself both physically and mentally.
Just before he felt the darkness consuming him, muffled voices drilled into his ears.
"Captain, there's movement here! Someone might be stuck here!"
"Go ahead Jon, take all the equipment with you. I'll call everyone as soon as possible."
A team was gathered shortly, doing their best to remove all the debris. One of them sent a camera attached by a rod into a small hole.
"Captain, there's indeed someone lying down there."
"Hurry up boys!" The Captain yelled.
In just five minutes they successfully removed all the obstacles and jumped down.
Everyone could see the horrible condition of the man laying face down, hardly better than a skeleton.
The Captain bent at his knee and placed his hand before Eryndor's nose, feeling a hint of hot air on his finger.
"He is alive. Quickly take him out and call the ambulance."
The Captain searched around his body, but couldn't find any phone or electronics.
No wonder no one knew about him being stuck here. If he had contacted anyone, we, or some other team would've rescued him far sooner.
*****
When Eryndor opened his eyes, what greeted him wasn't the fallen structure and dust laden surfaces he had grown accustomed to over the course of months.
It was a clean room with a myriad of medical apparatus. A nurse was filling a syringe by his bed.
Hospital? I am finally out?
"Oh? You're conscious now? Don't worry, you've been rescued and your parents have been called. Don't move around much, your body is still extremely weak.
"You can go back to your normal life after the hospital deems you fit to discharge."
Eryndor nodded silently, his thoughts elsewhere.
Can I really go back to my normal life?
A more pressing question followed.
Do I even want to?
No. There were too many questions to answer.