The forest around me set a good tone for what was the first time I had been able to spend alone for the last few chapters of my life. Sadly my reason for walking through it was not just to look out for, but to actively seek a hoard of monsters. That wasn't even all, the goal was to actively get their attention and have them chase me. For now though I had some time to just appreciate the isolation and environment to think without needing to worry about what others were thinking or doing around, or about me.

This was really only possible because regardless of the hoard I was seeking I was in no danger. At least the 13 of my bodies that were out here weren't. My physical presence was still back in the barracks where, technically speaking, I was still surrounded by at least a dozen other people. My practice with syncing to my shadows gave me the blinders I needed to see just the trees around them and get the break I needed to think. Becoming the center of attention had woken me up from the reactionary life I'd been living the last few days here, and really back on earth for the last year or so. I don't really like to call myself antisocial but I knew my tendencies were to separate myself further and further until I suddenly realized I was entirely alone, even while in the presence of a group of people. It wasn't exactly that I didn't like to talk to people, or at least I didn't feel like that was the case. I definitely enjoyed when I actually wanted to spend time with others. Some had even called me a motor mouth when I was in the mood to talk, but when I wasn't in the mood I was essentially mute.

I'd never really understood why people felt being a loner was such a bad thing, especially if you do intermittently come out of your shell and interact from time to time. These recent changes had given me at least a few reasons why keeping in touch wasn't just for social purposes. Getting input from others had already forced me to test out several things I hadn't even thought of doing before. Granted some were my idea, but were prompted by situations involving others. Of course there were those that were others ideas, and it sounded like that would continue. If they did and went as well as they had so far, I might actually shore up some of the things I felt were holding me back from catching up with my fellow Earthlings. I needed to find a happy medium between doing my own thing and including others in my progression. Definitely didn't want to become the towns next socialite, but also didn't want to miss out on improvements I could be making simply because I wasn't letting others even know what my capabilities, struggles, and plans were.

Though I went back and forth on just how much or little I wanted others involved I couldn't come to a definite answer. It wouldn't hurt to leave a little wiggle room. I'm sure there would be times I'd want more interaction, although I know in general I'd prefer a minimum. This was definitely one of those times where I was surrounded by people but it was all just a little too much and I needed to escape, luckily I now had a perfect vehicle to shut off my senses and tune into somewhere a little less crowded. With the walk through the woods for the last hour, I had reached my fill and turned to other internal distractions as I still wasn't feeling like engaging with anyone else in the room. Pulling back from the shadow I was currently using to appreciate the forest stroll I looked at the now impressive wall of what I'd started calling my security monitors. I could even get a gist of the images each shadow was seeing from this angle so the analogy worked quite well. Well all but the one that had stayed stubbornly opaque since the short return visit on my first night here. I was resentful not having access, more because I just wanted my shadow back than I was actually wanting to talk to Caroline right now. Although at this point one extra shadow wasn't going to change things too much. Refocusing past the distraction of the blacked out 'screen' I took a general view of them and started drawing up the memories of the newest shadows spawning.

There wasn't much to go over. The whole process took approximately a tenth of a second from start to finish. You'd think that creation of an autonomously thinking and acting being would take longer. The compensation was that although it happened incredibly fast it wasn't because there was so little happening. Looking at others I could see a consistent spread of different runes throughout the surface of their ectoplasmic frequency. Some had discernible glows or fluctuations from under the surface indicating further structures. I had even detected some of these structures in the spherical frequency I'd been calling the 'soul' on many individuals. The difference wasn't that I had more structures, but that all of them were singularly focused into a monolithic structure on the back of my head. From a certain angle it looked like I had devil horns coming out. Although it was a bit more like an entire set of horns forming something like a rib cage, or what could possibly be called the most macabre crown ever designed. Meanwhile my soul showed a ring of structures and clear indication of sub surface activity as well.

Playing back the memories reminded me of something although I wasn't sure at first. They showed essentially the same thing in the different frequencies, but with a different detail, and at slightly different timing. The single line of amplitude showed initially what it always did. The image was essentially exactly what you'd see looking at a amplitude visualization while playing an audio file. The main differences would become obvious the longer you looked though. A normal audio file had patterns. Ones I hadn't realized my brain were aware of and tracked, but that were there all the same. They had a weight of sorts to them, rising up with a sound then falling back to a baseline. The 'cosmic string' view was a bit more like a living thing that moved about almost randomly but with patterns of it's own. As I watched the memory play through it seemed like the entirety of the line warped back upon itself in something akin to whiplash and an entirely new line vibrated itself off. I hadn't really thought about what I was expecting but it was about what I would think would happen if I'd actually tried to give it some thought.

The soul frequency showed something similar. Initially the surface inside the ring of runic structures depressed into a deep pit then spun until the opening closed itself off leaving an inverted hole inside the soul which then shot out. It'd initially stopped just a hairs breadth from the rest of the sphere then shot off and looked like it actually broke off from the soul entirely. Looking the memory over several times gave the impression that a nearly imperceptible thread was still connecting the new chunk of soul and the primary. We'd need to examine this more to be certain I wasn't imagining it. Finally there was the ectoplasmic frequency which gave a much more complex view of the entire experience. This is what really reminded me of something. The same small sphere pushed out from my head as in the soul frequency, but this time was surrounded by the horned crown which impressed upon it with a light show that was definitely too complex for me to garner any meaning. During which it shot down the 'tunnel' made by the horns and by the time it collided with the floor it was formed into another ectoplasmic body, this one free of any immediately discernible runic structures. I wanted very much to keep combing through the memories for hours but I just didn't have even the slightest idea what even the most basic functions and capability of runes were. I technically didn't even know if these were runes or something else entirely. Watching the master smith work was definitely my next number one priority. Well after the current issue of trying to bring a wave of monsters down on our head so we could get this over with.

My security monitors came back into focus then I opened my eyes back in the war room. Although I'd already confirmed they didn't call it that I wasn't going to stop myself from using the too well fitting name. I could spend my time focusing on what my shadows were doing but as they could alert me the moment something came up there was no need to. Instead I turned to the conversations at hand trying to glean as much as I could while asking questions or giving input where I felt it could help. Now that I'd had my time alone in my head I was recharged enough to deal with people. Much of the discussion was repeated info from earlier in the day. What the reports were from guard stations around the town, rehashing defensive plans, and postulating on the wave ad infinitum. Although I had been listening when this was discussed earlier I was just a little put out from everything which had prompted me to take a little stay cation in my head. This time around I actually internalized the guestimations we'd made about the coming hoard, where we'd focused our troops, and the way's we'd armed ourselves and planned to use those arms in the coming battle.

Continually I was being reminded my assumptions on how things worked were needing refinement. I'd once felt that tactics although helpful was nowhere near as nuanced as I was learning it could be. The slightest change in planning could result in the difference of losing half the town to not losing a single combatant let alone non combatant. This town had been perfecting their contingencies for generations. They had backup weapons for each possible outcome of the night. Guardsmen and attack groups were arrayed and scheduled to relieve one another throughout. The noncombatants were also trained in numerous support roles to ensure no combatant needed to fill those instead. Everyone but the children were directly involved in protecting the town, and even those still had roles they could fill to help from behind the walls. As far as the town had come in honing their understanding and implementing methods of their own protection they were still clearly a town who had originally been far from the centers of any conflict before the world changed on them. The haphazard organization of their barracks and what they called their guard and attack groups were one such clear indication. There was also the lack of any clear structure in said groups other than the captains. It was as if they'd just pulled a rank they'd heard before and used it for any role with authority in their 'military'. They'd apparently also had a general from time to time but didn't like how centralized it let power become. Which wasn't too surprising with how they seemed to prefer a village counsel instead of a mayor anyway. Well that and they didn't actually have that large of a force to handle in the first place.

I was really sinking my teeth into discussions of how best to defend the city when a warning came through my shadow comms. A quick check showed that three different shadows had come close to the enemy 'front'. this was alarming as they'd been arrayed nearly a mile apart. No wonder they called these hoards and had trouble making any progress if a group this size or larger came at least once a week. I alerted the captains and counselors while my shadows grouped up to begin the race back to town leading our next wave of attack. the earthlings would be facing their first real battle since arriving within the hour.