The next week and a half passed primarily without incident.
I did not find the map. Neither Radar or I had moved it, and there was no evidence of it being stolen. It was as if it had simply vanished.
I also did not magically acquire any knowledge on the topic of the so-called timelines or Primes.
I had a few theories, sure, but nothing that really made 100% sense.
My life in Beacontown went on as always; comfortable but repetitive. I can't say it was uneventful- because it wasn't -but there were no world-shaking disasters.
Radar seemed glad that I hadn't discovered anything worth acting on, though he wouldn't admit it aloud. Although it had been a good three months since the whole Admin mess, I could tell he wanted to do all he could to avoid anything that even vaguely resembled an adventure.
Lukas was nowhere to be found. I'll admit that I made no effort to actively seek him out, but he didn't visit Beacontown like he usually did. He had a right to avoid me, and I knew that.
Nonetheless, I couldn't help feeling slightly bitter that he was choosing to hold a grudge.
I figured that he was either hard at work on one of his books or spending time with his precious boyfriend. However, this was soon proved wrong.
The day in question was a Wednesday, that dull, in-the-middle day that just begs for something to go wrong. I'd been on my way to the far side of town, when I passed by Stacy and Stampy's dessert shop and had to notice Aiden standing out front, talking to Stacy.
I couldn't guess what they were talking about, but they were both smiling. So at least Aiden was attempting to forge new friendships instead of keeping up the bitter personality I'd always known. Maybe Lukas had a point, and he had changed- but that didn't mean I felt the need to interact with him any more than necessary.
I hoped they wouldn't notice me as I passed, but no such luck. Stacy waved in her usual friendly manner, and I sent a nod of acknowledgment in her direction. Unfortunately, Aiden had seen.
He said a quick goodbye to the YouTuber woman and hurried after me. "Hey, Jess! Hold up!"
I steeled myself and turned around, trying not to sink into a glare this time. "Yeah?"
"Do you know if Lukas is anywhere in town? I haven't seen him for a few days, and I was wondering if he was with you." He asked.
I froze, taken completely by surprise. "What…? N-no, I haven't talked to him in more than a week."
Aiden sighed aggrievedly. "Dammit."
"Is he not at home?" I asked.
He shrugged, looking slightly guilty. "I'm not sure. He was there when I went by a few days ago, but he said he was busy with something and needed to be left alone. I kinda figured he was doing something for you, but I wasn't sure."
He paused. "Actually, now that I think about it, that was more wishful thinking than an actual guess."
I shook my head. "We're…not completely on speaking terms right now." I admitted. "I have no idea where he is or what he might be up to."
"Well…thanks anyways." Aiden said with a slightly tense smile.
We both went our separate ways, though I'd be lying if I said I hadn't spent the rest of the day concerned by Lukas's sudden disappearance.
-
Late that afternoon, nearly the same situation happened in complete reverse. I was leaving the mines near the front of town, and almost walked straight by someone who'd been casually standing near the entrance, clearly waiting for me. I'd been thinking about something else at the time, entirely ignoring my surroundings as I do when I get focused.
I'd barely passed them when they cleared their throat significantly, catching my attention. I whirled around, internally cringing as I met the serious eyes of the blond man standing behind me.
"Lukas! You're, uh…you startled me." I stammered. "Um, Aiden was looking for you. Where've you been this week?"
He didn't immediately reply to that, just shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans and stared at the ground. "Ah…yeah, I'll get to that.
Look, we…we need to talk."
I crossed my arms nonchalantly, trying to keep my body relaxed so as not to seem defensive. "Yeah, probably."
"Not…not just for the most obvious reason. There's, uh…a thing came up, and I think you oughtta…it's all…" He sighed, lifting a hand to rub his forehead.
Oh, great. What happened now? I thought. Aloud, I asked, "So, were it not for this new whatever, you'd continue ignoring me?"
He lifted his head. "Yeah, probably." he said, mimicking what I'd just said to him. I gave him a 'really' look, and he shrugged. "I don't know. Doesn't matter. I'm sorry that I pushed you, alright? I should've just…left the whole thing alone, and I know that."
I could tell there was more on his mind, but he didn't say anything else. This was no surprise- we usually tried to get the apologies out of the way quickly and sort through details once we were on better terms.
"It's not your fault. I kinda freaked out." I replied.I mean, I still stand by quite a bit of what I said, but… "I overreacted."
He nodded once. "Alright. Good. So…with that out of the way…I need your help."
This was more familiar territory. We'd only had a few fights like that before, that involved one of us storming off and not speaking to the other for an indeterminant amount of time, but so far they'd always been resolved by some new problem arising.
"What happened?" I asked calmly. He shuffled his feet, still with his hands in his pockets.
"It's kind of a long story, but I'll try to make it brief. So, a few nights ago- about four or five, I've kinda lost track -I was late returning home from mining when I heard what sounded like fighting. I he-"
"Argument-fighting or swordfighting?" I interrupted.
Lukas shook his head. "Swordfighting, I guess. I'm getting there. I headed towards the noise, and found an unfamiliar woman trying to fight off like, six zombies. She only had an iron sword, and she was cornered, so naturally I ran to help. Between both of us, we manage to kill them all, and that's when I noticed that she's hurt. Like, really hurt. Way more injured than just mob wounds. Before I could ask what happened, she just smiles at me and says, 'Thanks, Lukas'."
He made a dramatic gesture with his hands. "I had never seen her before, and she knew me by name. At first I thought she might've just recognized me from my books, but it was dark, and I wasn't wearing my Order armour. And she not only identified me, she acted like she knew me. It was so weird."
"Huh." I commented quietly. Lukas didn't act like he'd heard me, running a hand through his hair. "Another thing is that even though I'm sure I've never seen her before, she seems…vaguely familiar, in a way I don't know how to describe. It's the strangest thing."
I could tell he was about to get completely sidetracked. "So, she was injured. What happened?" I prompted.
"Right." he said with a nod. "Her knowing my name distracted me for a moment, and I didn't have time to ask about her injuries. She started to ask which way to Beacontown, but suddenly started swaying on her feet and clutching her head. It seemed like she was in a lot of pain, though all she said was that she needed to get to Beacontown."
He paused briefly for breath, then continued. "She was acting really dizzy; she could hardly walk. I figured it'd be better to take her to my house first, since I have first-aid stuff and could at the very least give her a Potion of Healing before pointing her towards town. But we'd only gone a little way before she collapsed. Like, dead unconscious. I managed to get her home, and bandaged the wounds I could see, but something was obviously really wrong.
Since then, she only woke up once, and not really all the way. She asked for water, but was unconscious again before I'd gotten it. Her injuries mostly healed after the first day or so, but she was still practically comatose."
I stayed silent for a moment more, processing this. "If this happened that long ago, why are you only telling me now? What prompted you to finally share this information?" I asked, more than a little sarcastically.
"Well…" Lukas hesitated, reaching up to scratch at the back of his neck. He was still looking at the ground as he said, "She finally woke up, about an hour ago…and the first thing she did was ask to talk to you."
I raised my eyebrows. "Me?"
"Uh…not exactly you, but she, um…" he finally stopped fidgeting, lifting his eyes to mine. "She said she needed to speak with the Prime."
-
The front door to Lukas's house creaked slightly as he shut it behind us. He gestured for me to follow him into the room that I know is usually reserved for crafting and resource storage.
A bed had been placed in the middle of the room, and on it sat an unfamiliar young woman. She had pale brown skin, just slightly lighter than mine, and short, messy dark-brown hair. She wore a light purple top under tan overalls and had a strange leather strap across her chest. The hair in front of her left ear was pulled into a small braid, crisscrossed with a yellow dyed streak.
She'd been drawing in a spiral-bound sketchbook, but looked up as I stepped into the room.
"Oh, good." she commented quietly.
Like Lukas had said, I got the strange feeling that I knew her, despite the fact that nothing about her sparked a distinct memory. I hesitantly extended a hand to her.
"Hi. Um…I'm Jess."
"The Prime." She checked, though something in her confident tone made it sound like she already knew. I nodded.
She looked me over with bright, clever brown eyes, then smiled widely and shook my hand. "Hi. My name's Julia, and I'm you from another dimension."
