Hao Xuan followed a rough path through the overgrown trees that had invaded every inch of the land. There was barely enough space for him to stand so even moving forward at a steady pace was made a tricky chore.
The whispers still continued to ring out in the back of his mind, like a worm tunneling deeper and deeper into his psyche even though he was trying his best to ignore them.
It had been an hour and a half now since Hao Xuan had been moving through the woods with a deep frown plastered semi-permanently on his forehead. He had to change directions several times whenever there was either something blocking his way or the trees just created too much of a hurdle to be crossed without making some excessive noise.
And he had started noticing a pattern in whispers now.
Hao Xuan came to a slow stop near a 1-2 meter wide crack in the ground. There was already some foliage growing all along its length so it wasn't recent. Some large and small prints and beast tracks could be seen in and around it.
"It's really here..." Hao Xuan mumbled, astonished to quite a great degree at what he had discovered by complete accident.
*Beep*
"So it is confirmed then, what you heard in the whisper was accurate," Baracus couldn't help but chime in at this important juncture.
Hao Xuan nodded somewhat absentmindedly, "Yeah...it really is," he looked at his hands in disbelief, waving them left and right randomly, "So am I like a radio or something then? I can probably use them to track places and events right? Like the ruins one of the whispers was talking about."
"That seems to be quite an appropriate analogy. Would you like me to summarize what we have discovered so far?"
Hao Xuan nodded once again, putting his hands back down, "Go ahead."
"Affirmative."
"Creating datalog entry, codenamed 'The Human Radi-"
"What?! No no, name it something else!"
"Transmission receiver...?"
"NO! Something cool like..."The Whistleblower" or something."
"I am unable to comprehend the concept of cool."
"Oh for god sakes, just call it "The Overseer" for now. I don't even know if it's permanent or not."
"Fine. Datalog Entry: The Overseer," Baracus answered with a hint of annoyance and stipulated the main points they had discovered in the last hour or so.
"Following the changes caused by the understanding of the Chaos Laws, you started hearing the "whispers". At first, they were believed to be simple auditory hallucinations caused by the instability between the energy and spiritual centers within your body but that does not seem to be the case anymore."
"If your theory is correct, you have been listening to the voices and even thoughts that have been left behind on this plane by other beings."
"But they are not altogether random and there does appear to be a vague pattern to them. If what you say is accurat-"
"It is," Hao Xuan cut in, confirming Baracus's statement.
"Please do not interrupt," Baracus reprimanded calmly in his usual robotic and monotonous voice before continuing, "IF what you say is accurate and holds any value whatsoever, then only when the emotions are at either end of the emotional spectrum, including but not limited to extreme distress, suffering, torment, glee, exultation, etc they are able to be picked up."
Hao Xuan agreed half-heartedly, "Yeah that sounds about right but...we still don't know how that is possible."
"Not entirely, no. A previous research conducted by Progenitor on the abyss and the presence of the "veil" suggested something that could help explain why this is so."
"Oh, what is it?" Hao Xuan asked enthusiastically.
"The research is incomplete as of yet and does not have any-"
"Yeah yeah spare me the forewarnings, just get to it," Hao Xuan waved his hand in annoyance, not realizing Baracus could not even see it.
"Alright," although still hesitant, Baracus decided to explain the details anyway.
"Progenitor conducted a study on the supernatural effects of the veil, the abyss, and their connection with the other worlds. Due to his own lack of ability, he was not able to finish this project but a few conclusions can be drawn from the gathered data."
"1. The veil is an extradimensional anomaly that supposedly connects each of the worlds to the Abyss."
"2. The veil can be accessed from any location, given certain conditions are first satisfied."
"3. Every word spoken out loud, every act of rumination is somehow "absorbed" by the veil. Entities residing within the veil can consume them for power."
"4. Time flows differently within the abyss and in turn, the veil. Past, present and the future can often times coexist, making for extreme complications."
"He concluded that some particular individuals that were more in tune with the veil, i.e have an extreme variation within their 'soul frequency', could pick up these 'absorbed' thoughts and words at any point in time."
Hao Xuan's smile quickly vanished, "Wait, so these whispers could very well be from the future too then?"
"Yes, but that is highly unlikely. Your soul is not strong enough to be able to pick up such messages."
"Oh..." Hao Xuan was a little disappointed hearing that.
"And what about these 'entities' that feed on these thoughts and emotions or words or whatever?"
"The entities include, but not limited to, what most carbon-based lifeforms call Gods, Demons, evil spirits, and a plethora of other powerful races. Although Progenitor was not able to confirm this in his lifetime, he believed that these entities draw power from the veil."
Hao Xuan's eyes narrowed to slits as a whole new proverbial world of possibilities was opened to him.
"Does that mean what I think it means....?" his mind started racing, inferring a great number of things.
As Hao Xuan made plans to use this newfound ability to help him solve his current dilemma, he did not consider that if he could see through the veil to the other side, then the ones inhabiting that horrid place could also peer back at him.