Free Consensus Breaking (The Auran Chronicles Book 2) by M. S. Dobing

catastrophic.’
    ‘How so?’ He looked left and right, not seeing, but sensing a handful of people who were aware of their presence, but hiding out of sight.
    ‘Later.’
    Anna stopped.
    ‘What is it?’
    ‘We have a welcome party.’
    Four of them came out. Four men. Young, around Seb’s age. They weren’t sheol, but their minds were disjointed, almost feral. Bestial urges guided them, focused on Anna.
    ‘They’re not friendly,’ Seb said, channelling Avatari.
    ‘No, Seb, you won’t need that here.’
    ‘But -’
    ‘Trust me.’
    The leader of the men sauntered to a halt in front of them. His eyes were glassy and a smell of dope and booze drifted over the air.
    ‘You don’t belong here.’
    ‘We’re just visiting. We won’t be staying.’
    The man nodded, his drunken movements prolonged, clumsy.
    ‘Then,’ he said, swaying on his feet, ‘you must pay the entrance fee.’
    ‘Sorry?’
    ‘Five hundred quid,’ he said, before the drunken smile became something more sinister as he looked at Anna, ‘or a go on that. ’
    The others laughed. Seb couldn’t take it anymore. These were the kind of scum he used to spend his nights hiding from back in Brightford.
    Not now.
    Not anymore.
    He stepped forwards, past Anna. The leader took a drunken step backwards.
    ‘Oh-oh lads, we’ve got a brave one here. Are you a knight, little boy?’
    ‘Back off.’
    That sinister leer returned. The man reached into his jeans, Seb sensing the intention before the weapon even appeared. The man’s hand came out, a short knife now pointed in Seb’s direction.
    ‘Why don’t you make me?’
    The man took a step forward, followed by his comrades, all high on Dutch courage.
    ‘Stop.’
    It was Anna’s voice, but distorted, deeper. Seb’s shield rippled, something tugging at the Consensus. The lead man stopped in his tracks, all effects of drunkenness vanishing in an instant. His eyes were like saucers; pin-sized pupils locked on the female mage.  Seb glanced back. He couldn’t see whatever the goon was seeing, but she was obviously projecting some kind of illusion. He could sense something going on, but it appeared to him as if Anna was there as normal, albeit with a slight shimmering effect covering her.
    Whatever she was projecting it worked. The lead goon dropped the knife into the mud. He began to whimper, and something wet that wasn’t rain blossomed in his pants. The others looked at him in confusion, unsure of how to act.
    ‘Leave. Now. Do not return.’ Anna’s voice was low in volume but high in menace. The goon managed a single, jerky nod before turning and falling into the mud. He scrambled to his hands and knees before breaking off into a run back into the shadows. The others needed no second invitation and followed suit. Their auras vanished into the darkness.
    ‘Come on,’ Anna said, the strange tone gone now as she trudged forwards.
    ‘What was that?’
    ‘A subtle application of Novo. I use Sentio to read his fears, which was much easier considering how drunk he was. I then placed an image in his mind, one that only he could see.’
    ‘So you appeared to him as whatever it is he feared?’
    ‘It would’ve been more of an overlay, alternating between seeing me, and seeing the thing he feared the most.’
    ‘It worked well.’
    They stopped at the second building on the left. A path of paving stones, cracked all the way, led up to an automated door. Except this one no longer worked. A sign stuck on the front proclaimed, “ It’s fucked. Push. ”
    So they did.
    ‘Each scenario is different, Seb,’ Anna said, stopping in a lobby that stunk of sweat and urine. He felt it as her sense blazed out, scanning upwards into the building.
    ‘How so?’
    She stopped sensing and nodded to a fire door that led to a flight of stairs.
    ‘Subtlety is the key to Novo. The Consensus won’t allow anything overt, nothing that couldn’t happen in the eyes of the Unaware. So you have to use it in ways that