I couldn't believe this. NEVER had the Circle been broken. Never. We always showed up. If we were sick, we came, said the beginning ritual, said our apology for missing the gathering, then left. The others would understand and continue with the gathering. In the years we had done this, no one had missed a gathering. We faced each other. Silent. Friendship, my brother, spoke first. "This hasn't happened before. Something must have happened to her. She would be here by now." He was referring to Sincerity, the missing link. Knowledge spoke, "Let the Circle never break, and if it does the missing link we will not forsake." he quoted from our code. "We have to find her", my counter part, Light, reminded us, "Friendship is right. Something terrible must have happened, and we need to find out what that is." We all nodded. "Separate searches?" Love suggested. "Meet back here between moon set and sunrise." That was Courage. If anyone was our leader, it was he. Silently, we all nodded. "Do not forget, only look for information. This is probably too big for one person to handle. If you run into trouble, don't be a hero, come back here and wait for the others," Reliability reminded us. Silently, we all nodded our agreement. Then, as one, we turned and walked away from the gathering.
~*~*~
I walked alone, looking for Sincerity. Not for the first time, I wondered why we had given up our names. Once our lives had changed, when we became magic keepers for good, we had decided names were meaningless. So we gave them up. But once in a while I would love to hear someone say, "Hey, that's Hikari Kamiya!" or, at least, "Hey Kari!" That would be nice. But the responsibility we had been given had erased our childhood. Had made us grow up to fast for my taste. And judging from the reaction Takeru, he's more then Hope to me, had when we were told we were no longer children that he didn't like it any more then I did. And judging by the way that others looked at us, they thought this was a cult. No, the Circle is not a cult. It's just what we call ourselves. Once we were no longer digital magic keepers, we had formed this group to keep us together. So we can still help others in times of need. So we can still use out magic. Ever since the magic realm, (more about that later), had been destroyed, we have to be together to use our magic. The crests had long ago disappeared. So we called ourselves the Circle. Our code is simple enough. It means, never break apart. Let the Circle say whole. And if someone disappears, like Sincerity has, look for him or her. Don't abandon that person. So really, it makes a lot of sense. The Circle is easy to be in. No dues, no regular rituals, nothing like any other group, no one else can ever join. At gatherings, we discuss what's been happening. Then we practice our magic. Then we say, "Let the Circle be un-broken", and leave. We say those five words at the beginning and end. Once a year, we say the whole code, on the anniversary of the Circles beginning. Sighing, I wondered what time it was. Looking up, I saw fewer stars were out. That meant it was getting close to moon set, but at least another hour to go. With all my senses alert, I continued walking.