Planet Earth 13

Bessama, the Lady of the Forest

As the current carried her raft towards the man from the sky, Bessama struggled to maintain a confident, composed demeanor. She had not seen another person for a long time, so the strangeness of the situation magnified her mixed emotions. Part of her had longed for human contact for years, but there were reasons for her self-imposed isolation. Men were a threat to her forest, they would burn the trees and mass-slaughter the wildlife. She had lost several homes due to the will of men to dominate their environment.

This man, however, gave Bessama a different impression than most men. She could sense even from across the water that he had been in many different lands, each one leaving a mark in his aura. In his visage she saw the conflict between the innocence of a good man and his knowledge of the harshness of reality; like one who tries to find goodness in the world but whose experiences contradict its presence. Additionally, she felt another presence that seemed to weigh on his soul, as if he were enslaved by some sort of oppressive entity.

As she stepped onto the island, she was able to collect more information about the stranger. He emanated confidence and respect. She sensed many different kinds of pain. She was beginning to like the man already. His demeanor was kind, he was physically fit, and he was incredibly handsome compared to other men she had met; but it was the mystery surrounding him that attracted her to the island.

While she approached him, she saw the amazement on his face. He seemed so harmless, she wondered if she should even make him sleep while she studied his mind. For a moment, she thought he might even be willing to let her do her process. She changed her mind, however, realizing how strange of a request that would be for someone who did not have her abilities. Though she was reluctant to do such a thing against his will, she decided she must sedate him to make sure he was not a danger to her home.

All Bessama had to do was think about the man falling asleep to make it happen. While he lay on the ground, she approached and placed her hand on the back of his head at the base of his skull. Closing her eyes, she entered his consciousness to discover his true nature.

Though it had been years since she had done this to a human, she remembered her process and commenced it promptly. She had to hurry before his sleeping awareness caught on to her presence. She tried to access the memories that defined him, but he had repressed them for his own sake. Usually she could overpower a person's memory repression anyways but his mind was too powerful. She could only gather flashing images of varying content, but the most essential memories eluded her. She did, however, see several visions of different people. They called him by a few names, the most common being "Ragan", "Agent Zero Four Two Zero", "Citizen", and "Traveler". She observed that many of these people loved and admired the man, and she felt the love that he held towards each of them.

She also saw flashes of violence being both inflicted upon him and by him. Attached to these memories was a crippling shame like a shadow across his soul. She knew that attempting to delve into these memories would force him to revisit them in his own thoughts, so she chose to move on to more important information, like why he was here.

She sensed danger in his intentions, but not danger from him, rather like he was trying to warn of danger. Analyzing this more, she saw an image of a tall man wearing a royal purple silk suit. His physical form resembled that of Ragan, but he was a totally different person. As she gazed into this man's face, it looked like a great evil was trying to claw its way out from the confines of his body. His expression was one of pure aggression. He wore an abundance of ornaments and jewelry on his body and clothes that expressed supremacy. She knew immediately that this man was both malicious and powerful.

To gain more insight into the evil man in Ragan's thoughts, she tried to force her way into his memories to see if they had ever interacted in person. She was able to uncover a vision of the man from Ragan's perspective. He wore the same suit from the initial image as he relentlessly beat a small man in a white uniform. She felt Ragan's overwhelming urge to intervene, then the despair of realizing that he could do nothing and the man was not going to stop until his helpless victim slowly died. This painful memory woke the man from Bessama's spell and his consciousness instinctively expelled her immediately.