A/N: This is the updated version of Chapter 7. (7/14/17)
Two Years Ago:
A snowflake fluttered down from the night sky and onto the barrel of my TOR gun, the crystal dissolving into a bead of water on the metal. I watched a second and third follow before returning my gaze to the blackened, empty window in the distance. Distant rumbles and the echoes of cracking metal raged through the air.
I laid on the floor of a burnt-out building, my rifle pointed out the shattered window. The snow started falling faster, harsh white flurries against the backdrop of the dark city ruins.
My position hid me with shadows, so anyone looking in likely wouldn't see me. I also had a complete view of the windows in the building I aimed for. The moment someone stepped into view, I'd fire.
An hour later, not a flicker of movement had appeared in the office building a thousand feet away. The snow had fallen thick, dropping a blanket of cold silence across the block. The System regulated my blood flow, keeping me warm, but I would have to move soon or start freezing.
A shadow moved in one of the windows. I adjusted my aim and trained it on the movement. The System highlighted a blue beam extending from my sights to the shape, but I couldn't see what it was. It was likely a person, but The System couldn't pick out a human silhouette. I watched the shadow shift, waiting for the moment I could get a head shot, but for a full minute, the figure stayed indistinct.
A new flicker caught my attention, one of the shards of glass in the window frame in front of me reflecting movement. I'd been frozen for hours; even now I lay unmoving. The moment I saw it, I kicked my legs and spun myself onto my back. I'd realized I couldn't be the source of the reflection, so it had to be something else. As I twisted, I swung the rifle away from the window and down towards my feet.
The man in the stairwell pulled the trigger and a bullet shattered the cement I'd laid on a moment before. I pointed my rifle, The System correcting my aim like an invisible hand pushing the barrel of my gun, and fired.
A white flash lit the room as a bolt of energy hit the man in the chest. His body stiffened for half a second before buckling, disappearing out of sight as it thumped down the steps. I half stood, darting over to the stairway.
My TOR gun had fired silently, but the man's gun had notified the whole block. I descended the stairs, walking fast enough to move quickly, but not enough to make a sound. I considered snatching the gun from the corpse's knotted grasp, but it looked like a DNA model. If it was, then only persons with registered DNA would be able to use it. If I tried to, the gun would lock up, or potentially trigger a self-destruct security measure.
With the gunshot, I doubted anyone in that office building would be poking their head's out for the next few hours, so I would need to hunt them down.
After weaving back into the rubble of the city, away from the office building before turning right. The streets were filled with snow, but below that, ash covered the road, outlining my footprints in black. Shattered windows set into towering buildings, scorched storefronts, and shadows in the hills of rubble, all watched me like a skull's eye sockets as I passed, rifle held ready.
Most of the city's residents had fled before the Elpedite army arrived, but every few minutes I'd see a blacked arm sticking out from the rubble, snow gathering on the fingers like it would on tree branches. Distant rumbles of Elpedite bombs announced more would join them.
I turned, heading back towards the office building. I hugged the buildings when the way was free of rubble and moved quickly and low to the ground when I couldn't. The night of the horizon lifted to a deep blue, the approaching dawn illuminating my way. I stopped, hiding behind the last corner before the office building. Shouldering my rifle, I removed my pistol from its holster with my left hand and drew my sword with my right. I raised the blade, diagonally in front of me, ready to defend or attack.
Creeping around the corner, I watched the windows. In one of them, shining metal caught the light. An alert flashed in my vison as a white flash shot toward me from the window. My sword snapped up, catching the energy. The material of the hilt and my gloves acted as insulators, protecting me from the lethal bolt.
As the electricity sizzled out, I raised my gun. The System highlighted the person's silhouette, and I shot twice, aiming for their head. The figure fell back into the building, their rifle falling with a distant clatter. My hands held steady, The System tempering the effects of my adrenaline, but my heart thundered in my chest and my breath rattled. I took a moment to scan the rest of the windows and doorways, but they seemed empty.
I entered the nearest doorway, The System tracking every hiss of ash and crunch of snow beneath my feet. The inner hallways of the first floor were mostly untouched. Muted red carpet collected my ashy footprints as I headed for the stairs. Silence filled the first floor, which meant the people were upstairs. I ascended, my eyes locked farthest point up the stairs I could see, my gun aimed there as well.
I arrived at the second floor and peered out of the stairwell. The floor was full of a maze of cubicles, the windows on the far wall were all shattered, letting snowflakes drift in. My eyes flicked over the rims of the partitions as I listened. The muffled trickle of water filled the space, amplified by the silence. Satisfied no one was in the room I looked back to the stairs. I ascended the steps to the third floor.
On the second to last step, the mutter of human voices drift down the stairs. I slowed, making sure my steps were soundless as I neared the landing's doorway. When I reached the doorway I stood with my shoulder pressed to the wall, leaving only a fraction of the room beyond visible.
The corner of another section of cubicles were visible, but not the people speaking. Three voices echoed out of the room, two women and a man, speaking in sharp tones. They sounded like they were in the far right corner of the room, the one I couldn't see. From the corner I could see, The System calculated the dimensions of the rest of the room, and each speaker's approximate position. The voices stayed in the corner. No one was walking. Based on the clarity of the voices, The System estimated one woman faced the room, the other two likely had their backs to the stairs.
I turned, raised my gun, and stepped into the doorway.
As I cleared the doorframe, the group came into view. A woman faced me, her eyes widening as I stepped into her line of sight. On her right stood a man, and on her left a woman. They all bore the blue Yetz uniform, thick jackets with high collars and patches displaying their ranks.
The instant after I entered the room, I pulled the trigger, shooting the first woman. She jerked as blood burst from the back of her head and her eyes turned glassy. The remaining man and woman flinched away from her as she fell. My arm swung the exact amount needed, and I shot the man. The final woman reached for her rifle without even looking up, cringing away from her companions, but barely touched it before I pulled the trigger.
After she fell to the floor, I listened and found their hearts silent. Holding my gun in front of me, I stepped further into the room. The gun used bullets, not silent TOR shots, so anyone left in the building knew I was here. The buzz of machinery and a dim glow drew my attention to a closed door behind the corpses.
It must have been an office, with a glass door, webbed with bullet holes. In the room beyond, the soft light of a computer lit the wall. I stepped over the bodies and gripped the bloodied doorknob. The glass crunched as I pulled the door open, shards tumbling to the carpet.
The thunder of a heartbeat announced the rooms occupant. A uniformed man stood halfway out of his chair when I entered, and we froze as we saw each other, our eyes locking on each other.
"Don't—" He gasped as I shot him. He crumpled to the floor. Behind him waited a glowing screen, filled with a stream of numbers and letters. I stepped over the man to the desk. Lined up on the white surface sat a pile of folded Elpedite uniforms, seven shining computer chips, a cup of water, and a stack of folders. I frowned.
This was supposed to be the control center for the Yetz's drones and communications. The stream of numbers on the screen lined up with that. But the chips and uniforms made no sense. I could figure out why a center for sending out instructions to drones, would have chips and enemy uniforms.
I picked up a chip, frowning as I turned it over. It was the size of my finger nail, flashing silver in the dim light. Setting it back down, I flipped through the papers. I wasn't supposed to linger here. I should kill the computer and flag down the collection team. Then my job would be done. But a flutter of an idea kept me from shrugging my shoulders and leaving.
Tearing through the papers, I scanned them, moving on when I didn't find what I was looking for. After a minute, I flipped the page and a picture of a woman stared up at me. I stopped. The picture was sterile, the woman staring straight into the camera, unsmiling. An ID picture.
Printed under the picture was a serial number. I set down the paper and picked up two chips, angling them in the light until I found tiny serial numbers imprinted in the metal. They were the same format, but not the same numbers. After checking three more chips, I found a match.
Moments later, I had seven folders of profiles open with their matching chips on each one. Four of them were the people laying on the floor behind me. One woman, twenty years old, had blue eyes and black hair. She vaguely resembled me. There was a ghost of myself in the shape of her mouth and nose. Just enough that if someone took a passing glance, they wouldn't notice a difference. Just enough, that if someone glanced from the ID picture to me, I'd pass.
The idea tumbled into a clutter of a plan. Excitement and fear locked my hand in place, hovering over the folder and the chip. This could get Nathaniel and I out, but it could also bring devastating consequences. Except this was the chance I'd been waiting for. If this wasn't a good enough opportunity, then nothing would be. I took a deep breath and beat down the fear, snatching the chip from the desk and shoving it into my boot. I tucked the matching folder under my arm before replacing the rest of the chips and folders as I'd found them.
Satisfied, I leveled my Tor rifle at the computer and fired, frying the Yetz's communications. Somewhere in the east of the city, drones would be setting down, useless on the pavement as the Yetz units dissolved into chaos as they lost contact with each other. The Yetz had already been losing, but with this, the Elpedite army would win in the next few hours. I turned from the shattered screen and stepped over the bodies on my way out. Walking quickly, I exited the building the way I'd come, deciding I'd burn the folder. It would be the safest way to dispose of it; its ashes would look the same as the layer carpeting the city.
I couldn't use my TOR gun, it recorded the amount of shots fired and when. I stepped into the street and reached into my jacket pocket, taking out my lighter. Clicking it on, I held the corner of the folder above the flame, watching it catch. I waited until the fire almost touched my fingertips before letting go, letting the ashes blow away in the wind.
I took a slow breath, accepting what I'd done and steadying my nerves. I took out my screen and clicked it on.
"Alice reporting. Mission successful. Ready for collection team to be deployed to the following location." With a tap I sent out my coordinates and waited for the team to pick me up. I practiced standing still, not fidgeting with my boot, despite the chip digging like a knife in the sole.
Present:
The woman's nails curled around the Ryanban's face, grazing his cheek. The top half of her body leaned out of a swirling void torn in the air behind the man. "You've made yourself comfortable inside my castle, have you not?" she asked.
The Ryanban let out a choked shriek as the woman pulled him back. Syaoran watched them with a cold stare, unmoving. No one else in the room moved either, but Chu,Nyan straightened, her eyes fixed on the Ryanban.
Kiishim's eyes flicked over the Ryanban, catching the light like a blade. "This churl would dictate my actions? I must show my appreciation, slowly."
"N-No! Don't!" he yelled, pushing against her arms. They could have been made of steel for how much they moved.
"It seems we can trust Kiishim-san now," Fai said, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall behind him.
I nodded, envious satisfaction curling through me as I watched the woman. I'd been hungry for that kind of revenge for years. But it was nice to see someone else get theirs.
"Be at ease," the witch said, pulling him into the portal. "Once we arrive in the country of Kiishim, you will be received with the greatest of welcomes by my many sons."
"I don't want to go!" the Ryanban howled.
The woman's onyx eyes flicked to Chu'Nyan. "Are you the one named Chu'Nyan?"
Chu'Nyan's eyes were red, but her tears had stopped. Instead her lips were tight in grim satisfaction. "I am," she said.
Kiishim's eyes softened in sympathy. "Your mother was an excellent Shinban. Her one mistake was to fall for this Ryanban's cowardly trap. She stated that she would polish her skills in battle with me as you grew. She anticipated teaching you and watching you become a shinban more powerful than herself."
Chu'Nyan sucked in a sharp breath and nodded. Her shoulders were set and her hands were fisted into her skirt. She'd be fine. She was still grieving and that was normal. But now she stood on the right path and would move on in time.
"Grow strong," the woman said. "Until your skills may fairly challenge mine."
"I will," Chu'Nyan said. "You can bet on it!"
The woman nodded, the beads in her hair clattering. "Very well. Until that time, farewell, you adorable little worms." The woman waved her free hand, and the void swirled shut, taking the wails of the Ryanban with it.
The moment the portal sealed, Syaoran turned, feather clutched in his hand. He strode to Sakura, standing before her with a kind, determined look, and held out the feather. The feather fluttered across the space between them, glowing bright as it returned to its owner.
Sakura wobbled, her eyes turning glassy, but Syaoran's waiting arms caught her before she could fall. He knelt with her and smiled. "We've returned one more feather."
I scanned the room, and assured all danger had passed, walked over to the nearest villager. "Do you know the rest of these men?" I asked.
The man blinked down at me before glancing around. "Yeah. I mean, I know most of them as acquaintances."
I nodded. "The Ryanban's son is in the hallway back there." I pointed a thumb over my shoulder. "You and a few other guys might want to get him contained before he runs off."
The man's eyes lit with anger. "That sounds like a good idea." He turned to some of the other men. "Hey Eun, Haneul!"
The man and his friends marched into the hallway. I was ready to leave, but a quick glance in Syaoran's direction confirmed he hadn't stood up yet. He held his injured leg at a strange angle. I thought the acid had been the only injury, but a dark bruise ringed his ankle along with the burns. He would need medical attention.
I walked over to Chu'Nyan. "Does this town have a doctor?"
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
After a joyful reunion between the townspeople and the men the Ryanban had kidnapped, a celebration erupted across the streets. The people had heard the Ryanban was gone, and we had to weave our way through the sea of cheering celebrators to get the doctor's house.
I stepped out of the doctor's house onto the street, starting towards Chu'Nyan's house. Across from the doctor's house, Chu'Nyan stood in the center of a crowd of beaming town's people. They'd gravitated to her after hearing how she freed the men with her mirror.
A moment after I passed the cluster of people, a hand tapped my shoulder. I flinched, turning as I stepped away.
A woman stood there, smiling at me. "Excuse me," she said. "I just wanted to thank you. You were one of the warriors who helped defeat the Ryanban, right?"
I blinked, staring at her for a moment. She returned my stare with a genuine smile. Snorting, spinning away from her as her smile shifted to a confused frown. I strode away from her, glowering at the ground. She didn't even know me and she was ready to thank me? It was idiotic. The same kind of mindset the people of Elpedite had: ready to trust whatever they heard and look no further, comfortable in their ignorance. Perhaps this situation was more justified—a corrupt ruler had just been overthrown by strangers uninterested in taking over—but the thanks still felt sour with blind trust. I didn't want thanks from people like that. It was the same way Adrian would wave and smile and everyone would pledge their lives to him. No need to look further or question, just accept what you heard with a smile and life was easy. It didn't matter what was going on in secret, after all. How could a leader that compassionate and charismatic do anything questionable?
I ducked into the closest dark alley and away from the bright streets of celebrating people.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
The snow crunched under my feet as I ran across the snow and ash and into a doorway. Inside, the halls were dark and empty. I darted into a room just as another explosion rattled the building. Forcing my breaths back into a controlled rhythm, I crouched by the doorway and waited, shifting my grip on my sword.
Footsteps thundered down the hall. I tensed. He wouldn't be so stupid—?
The man careened passed me into the room, whipping his gun around as he spun, searching for me. Before he could turn to look back, I lunged forward and swung. When my sword struck him across the back of the neck, blood spattered the floor.
He fell with a thud as I ducked back against the doorway. I swiped a hand across my face, trying to wipe away the dots of blood. I listened, but I couldn't hear anything passed the rumble of explosives.
Stepping toward the body, I hesitated, shuffled, and darted forward, snatching his gun from the tile and jumping back to the doorframe. I checked it over, just a simple pistol, not a TOR gun. No DNA lock. Ten bullets left. I faced the doorway and aimed the gun in front of me, slowly stepping around the corner and revealing the hall. The gun trembled in my grip, and I had to take a long slow breath to steady them.
The moment I registered the explosion, I was thrown to the hall floor. Debris bounced and spun across the ground, dancing in my vision as I tried to orient myself. The tile swung beneath me like a pendulum. I planted both hands on the floor, set my feet, and turned myself over, looking back into the room. A crack of grey sky peeked between the chucks of concrete and twisted steel where the room used to be. The tile still rolled beneath me, but The System overrode my own balance and used the angles of the room to help me up.
My sword and gun were gone. I whirled around, searching the floor for them.
The tiles swam in my vision and my throat felt to tight, like I had to suck in each breath through a straw. Then there was a man barreling down the hall at me, already too close.
He lunged forward. The System flashed a warning on the knife in his hand, aimed for my stomach. I pivoted, slammed my arm against his wrist and broke his grip on the blade. It clattered to the ground between us. The dizziness combined with the sudden block sent me stumbling back.
The man darted forward and grabbed my collar with one hand, and punched me across the face. My head snapped back, cracking against the wall. Or maybe the floor, I couldn't tell anymore. Pain ricocheted inside my skull, blurring my vision and shattering my focus.
The System flashed in my vision, trying to get me to move. I looked up, reorienting myself and seizing the wrist of the hand gripping my collar. I activated The System, setting it to find the best angle to snap the man's wrist. But I hesitated, something held me back.
Wait, wasn't The System already running? The hand fisted in my collar shifted into a hand on my shoulder. I focused the man's face. He glared at me, but the expression was impatient, not murderous. Kurogane.
Reality snapped back into place. I sat against the wall of Chu'Nyan's house, a blanket draped across me. Kurogane gripped my shoulder.
I snatched my hands way from his wrist, canceling The System's order immediately. He raised an eyebrow. "You awake now?"
"Yeah," I said, rubbing my face. "Sorry. Next time you need to wake me up, just say my name or something."
He nodded and stood. "We're ready to leave. You?"
I got to my feet, pulling off the blanket along with the last wisps of the dream. I checked the house and found it empty except for Kurogane and I. "Yes," I said. "Where are the others?"
"Outside, waiting for you," he said. He had his original armor back on, so I assumed everyone had their original clothes back on. I folded the blanket and placed in the closet with the rest of the blankets. I hadn't taken one last night, so someone must have put it on me while I slept. If that hadn't woken me, I'd let myself get too tired.
I exited Chu'Nyan's house and found the others waiting in the yard. Everyone wore their original clothes. Sakura, looking the most awake I'd seen her, with bright eyes and a clear voice, chatted with Chu'Nyan. Fai and Syaoran leaned against the fence, conversing. Fai waved as I stepped out. "Good morning, Alice-san."
I raised a hand in return. "Sorry about the wait. I'm ready to go."
Fai stepped over, waving away my apology. "Don't worry about it. You looked like you needed the rest." He leaned over and whispered, "We didn't tell Chu'Nyan we're leaving, just that we need to do something important outside the town, and she should come."
Nodding, I stepped away and towards the street. "Let's go."
We weaved through the streets of the city. The people we passed smiled and laughed, filling the air with joy. Children who had been absent up until now, played outside, kicking balls and running through our group. Almost everyone waved to Chu'Nyan or us as we passed. If Chu'Nyan became their next leader, I wouldn't be surprised.
By the time we got to the edge of town, several people had started following us, curiosity lighting their faces. We stopped, sharing a silent glance to confirm this was a good spot. Chu'Nyan must have caught something in the look, because she stepped a little closer.
"Thank you," she said. "You really saved us from the Ryanban."
Syaoran raised his hands to protest. "We didn't do that much."
Chu'Nyan shook her head, a determined furrow in her brow. "If you hadn't removed the spell around the castle, the Ryanban would still be terrorizing us. So it really is thanks to you."
Syaoran's shoulders slumped, "No, really. We didn't do . . ." But the fight left Syaoran voice. Syaoran, despite his modesty, must have realized he was partially responsible for the town's liberation.
"We should thank you," Fai said. "The medicinal salve you gave us really worked." I glanced over the faces of my companions, finding their injuries had vanished. The salve Fai mentioned must have been magic. Healing that quickly, without advanced medicine, wasn't possible otherwise.
I ran a quick analysis of my own wounds. The burn on my hand was almost gone, along with the acid injuries. The cut on my leg was doing well. The small amount of muscle damage had been repaired. Now all that was left was a shallow cut in my skin.
"My Omoni made that salve," Chu'Nyan beamed. "I can't do anything nearly as good, but I'm going to try my best! I want to be a shinban that Omoni would be proud of."
I imagined her mother would be proud of her already. I had trouble picturing a parent that wouldn't be. A girl reckless enough to stand against the man who murdered her mother, but strong and wise enough to find peace outside of revenge. She'd taken the right steps and set herself on a path to a better life. I'd never taken those steps, and now I was committed to a much different road.
"You will be," Sakura said, a glowing smile on her face as she gripped Chu'Nyan's hand. "I'm certain of it."
Chu'Nyan's eye glittered at the edges. "Yeah," she said, her voice hoarse.
"Mokona," I said, nodding to the creature. He gave me a little salute and leapt into the air. Wings unfurled from his back as the magic circle bloomed under us.
Fai glanced up at Mokona. "Time to leave?"
"Yep!" Mokona said.
"What the heck?" Chu'Nyan cried, staring at Mokona. She gripped Sakura's arm, glancing from her to Mokona. "Where are you going?"
I gripped Chu'Nyan's shoulders, spinning her around and pushing her from the circle. "Far away."
Chu'Nyan twisted back to face us. "But you just got here!"
Syaoran smiled and gave her a wave. "We have something we have to do. Farewell!"
Chu'Nyan stood with her people behind her and beyond them their town, glowing in the morning light. I took a deep breath as her world spun, the colors folding in on themselves. And then she was gone.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
The ground sunk beneath my feet as I landed, the wet soil almost making me stumble. The others stood around me as we all scanned the area.
Thick mist swirled around us, sucking away any sunlight that bled through the smoky sky. My eyes adjusted, twisting trunks of dark trees looming over us and blocking the dim light. Vines crisscrossed the spaces between the trees, like a mess of wires. A choir of bugs and other small creatures buzzed around us and filled the forest with an organic static. The air swam with humidity, weighting down my clothes and lungs. Waves lapped at a sandy bank to our right, a lake with murky water.
"So," Kurogane said, "where the hell are we now?"
"By a really big lake, I'd say," Fai said, stepping onto the bank. The lake's surface lay almost still, with just the smallest ripples running over its surface.
Syaoran followed. "I can't see any signs of humanity."
Fai looked to Mokona, who stood on Syaoran's head. "Well, Mokona? Do you sense one of Sakura-chan's feathers?"
"Mokona senses a strong power," Mokona said.
"And my brother?" I asked.
"No," Mokona said, "Nathaniel isn't here."
I sighed, but it was partially in relief. I didn't want to think about Nathaniel getting stranded in a world like this. If he'd landed in this world, in the middle of this jungle, his survival would be a struggle. Nathaniel was smart, he might be able to handle it, but he'd lived in the city his whole life. These surroundings would be completely alien to him.
"Where's the power you're sensing?" Syaoran asked.
Mokona pointed to the lake. "There!"
Kurogane glared from Mokona to the waves. "You mean we gotta look underwater?"
"Wait!" Sakura said, clenching her fists, "I should be the one to . . . go . . ." She staggered, then fell forward, her eyes fluttering shut. Kurogane held out a hand, catching her as she fell.
Mokona laughed. "Sakura's fast asleep."
She'd done pretty well these last few hours. She was starting to stay awake longer, and stay more lucid during that time. I faced the lake and pulled off my jacket, the humid air already making me sweat. "We should start searching."
He nodded and took off his cloak. "Right."
I hung my jacket on a nearby branch and glanced around. "Mokona," I said, "We should walk around the lake. That could give you a better idea where in the lake it is."
"Good idea!" Mokona sprang from Syaoran's shoulder to mine.
"I'll start looking," Syaoran said, wading into the lake.
"I'm assuming we're meeting up back here," I said. Fai had propped Sakura up against a tree and given her his coat as a blanket. The small clearing made a decent spot for camp, the trees formed a canopy above us and it was right next to the lake, so I figured this was a good place to stay for now.
"We'll wait here and keep Sakura-chan company." Fai said with a wave.
I nodded, sand shifting under my feet as I started across the bank. "Tell me if you feel like it's getting closer," I told Mokona.
"Okay!" Mokona said.
The sandy beach narrowed and vanished beneath the roots of trees twisted over each other and into the water, forcing me to plan my steps as I picked my way over the uneven footing.
"This world is so cool!" Mokona's ears fluttered every time the chorus of bugs changed, or a bird or some other creature's cry broke through the buzz.
After walking for a while, I paused. We'd gone about half a mile away from our camp, and I wanted to see if we were any closer to the power's source. I started a mental map of the lake. It very roughly resembled a rectangle. Our camp was on the southern, longer side, and right now Mokona and I were on the short, eastern side. "How about here? Does it feel any closer?"
Mokona nodded. "Yeah, it feels a little stronger now!"
"Good." I grabbed a branch to balance myself as I stepped over a snarl of roots.
"I'm sorry Nathaniel isn't here," Mokona said, his voice softer.
I shrugged, careful not to push him off my shoulder. "It's fine. I'm actually glad he's not here. So far away from people, in this wilderness, he wouldn't be able to survive." A little voice whispered that just because he wasn't on this world didn't mean he wasn't on one like it. But I pushed it away. Worrying would do nothing. The best I could do for Nathaniel right now was to focus on the current problem.
"What's Nathaniel like?" Mokona asked.
"Smart. Kind," I smirked and ducked under a branch, "Extremely stubborn,"
"Then Nathaniel will be okay," Mokona said, stating it like a fact.
"Why do you think that?" I asked, pausing.
"If Nathaniel is smart and stubborn, and has someone like Alice looking out for him, he'll be okay." Mokona beamed. I sighed, deciding not to argue his naïve way of thinking. Maybe I wasn't giving my brother enough credit. He was smart, he knew to be suspicious of strangers, and he could be resourceful. A little of my dread evaporated, but just a little.
We continued our trek around the lake. I would regularly check with Mokona to see how close the energy was. On the northern side of the lake, Mokona said the feather felt farther away again. We'd traveled about three-fourths of the way around the lake when Mokona said the energy felt closer again.
I stopped, frowning. "Wait, it's closer?"
Mokona nodded. "Yep."
But that didn't make sense. The lake very roughly resembled a rectangle, and right now we were on one of the shorter sides. On the other short side, Mokona had said it was close too, but on the long end it felt far away. It didn't make sense.
Mokona must have thought so too, as he started frowning. I crossed my arms. "You're sure?"
Mokona nodded. "Yes, Mokona's sure!"
"Then . . . could it be moving? Maybe there are currents in the water?" It was the only thing I could think of, and it would make finding the feather twice as difficult. We'd have to have Mokona with us to find it, and even then it would likely take hours. I sighed. "Let's go tell the others."
When we arrived back at the bank we started from a crackling fire greeted us. Sakura laid against the tree, still asleep, but Fai and Kurogane were gone.
A splash pulled my attention to the lake. Syaoran surfaced with a gasp, treading water.
"Syaoran," I called. He turned, pulling off his goggles.
"Yes?"
"The energy Mokona sensed, I think it's moving around. Have you seen anything?"
"No. But I'm going to keep looking. I'll stay close to shore, though," he said, glancing at Sakura.
"All right. Where did Fai and Kurogane go?"
Syaoran pulled one arm from the water and pointed behind me. "They said they were going to look around and headed that way."
I nodded. "I'm going to find them." I'd been turning a question over in my head since we confronted the Ryanban. He'd claimed he could revive the dead, and I wanted to know if magic made that possible. And though I was almost sure I already knew the answer, I still wanted to ask Fai to verify.
Syaoran waved in confirmation and dived back underwater.
"Do you want to stay here?" I asked Mokona. He nodded and hopped from my shoulder to the ground next to Sakura. Heading the way Syaoran pointed, I found a trail of muddy footprints. I followed the path of footprints up a hill, weaving between the gnarled trees. After a while, I pushed through a curtain of vines and stepped into a clearing. Across it, Fai and Kurogane stood by a ledge on the hill, gazing down at the lake. They turned as the vines fell back into place behind me.
"Ah," Fai said, "have you found it already?"
"Unfortunately, no. I'm pretty sure it's moving in the lake, water currents maybe." I tucked my hands into my pockets as I looked down at the lake. From our position, the barest flicker of our campfire filtered through the trees as it's light reflected off the water.
"Great," Kurogane growled, glaring at the lake.
"Fai," I said, turning to face him, "I wanted to ask you about something the Ryanban said. Can magic bring the dead back to life?"
He blinked, his smile falling. "No," he said. "The Ryanban was desperate. Not matter how strong the magic, the dead cannot be brought back to life."
"All right," I said. I didn't know how I felt about Fai's answer. It wasn't like I'd had any real hope that magic could bring my parents back. But something like disappointment settled on me at his words, though the emotion was muted, a muffled shout heard across a thick wall. Maybe I should have felt something sharper, but during the last several years, the girl I used to be, and her parents, became strangers. The day I'd abandoned my old name behind, I'd abandoned them too. Maybe in a way, it was a good thing my parents couldn't see what became of their children.
But the nonsense of it nagged at me. I frowned. "But I've seen kudan summon into being, and the room of acid the Kiishim created. If that's possible, then why not reassembling a person's body and memories?"
Fai gave me a sad smile. "Because maybe you can reassemble the body, maybe even the memories, but calling back a soul from death is impossible."
My gaze flicked over his solemn expression as my eyebrows drew together. "What's a soul?" The word sounded familiar, but in the last few days a flurry of unfamiliar words had been used. In the case of soul, I'd suspected it meant personality, but that didn't make sense with the way Fai had used it, with such weight.
Fai started, staring at me for a moment before composing himself. "I don't know if you have a different word for it. It's what makes up someone's identity. A close concept might be consciousness. In some religions, it's thought to endure after death."
I shook my head. "That doesn't make sense." How could consciousness persist after death? Death was supposed to be the end of thought, feeling, life. Something important differentiated a soul from consciousness. Maybe a soul was the culmination of all those things. And another new word: religion. I felt like a child, asking the grown-ups about words too big for me to understand.
But I asked anyway. "But consciousness is directly tied to the brain and body. If that's destroyed, how can it continue? And what's religion?"
"What kind of world are you from?" Kurogane asked, staring at me in bafflement.
Fai sighed and crossed his arms, but the gesture was thoughtful, not impatient. "So you've never heard of a soul or religion before?"
"Never."
Fai tilted his head and smiled. "Well there are many religions, most focus on concepts like the creation of life and the universe. But within that they're all very different, even more so as we're traveling through worlds. If you watch and listen, you'll see people mention them."
"All right," I said. I thought I had a rough idea of soul, but apparently I was missing a vital part of the concept. Maybe it was something unique to magical worlds, or something science couldn't discover. I'd try to find the piece I was missing, maybe then magic as a whole might make more sense.
My thoughts broke off as The System flashed in the right half of my vision, directing me to look at the lake. I took a step closer to the ledge to get a better look. "What's that?" I asked. The lake seemed brighter somehow. In its center, a dim glow bloomed among the waves. The light swelled into a soft shimmer, then exploded into a blinding flash.
My hand shot up to cover my eyes as I blinked the spots from my vision.
"What the hell?" Kurogane said.
We glanced at each other before running back down the hill, stumbling our way over roots and under vines. Shoving the last branch aside, I ran out of the wall of trees and back into camp. I glanced at the base of the tree, but Sakura and Mokona were gone.
Before alarm spread, Fai called out. "Over there." Fai jogged to the bank and knelt, Sakura lay splayed out on her stomach in front of him. Mokona stood by Sakura's head, waving a greeting as Kurogane and I joined them. The lake's glow hadn't diminished, it still shone so bright it hurt to look directly at.
From the way Sakura faced the water, and how she lay on her stomach, she must have passed out trying to get to the lake. It was a good thing she hadn't made it to the water, and it was still a wonder she hadn't broken her nose.
"Mokona, where is Syao—" I stopped when I glanced down to find Mokona had vanished. A few yards down the bank, Syaoran stepped out of the lake. A little white blur sped towards him across the sand.
"Mokona?" Syaoran asked, brushing the water from his hair.
Pointing back to us, Mokona stopped. "Sakura is—! Sakura is—!"
Syaoran's eyes grew wide as he caught sight of Sakura and sprinted toward us.
Running back to us, Mokona leapt onto my shoulder with a glowing smile. "Fast asleep!" Syaoran tripped, collapsing to his hands and knees and staring blankly at Mokona.
Mokona laughed. "Did I scare you? Did I scare you? That's one of Mokona's 108 secret techniques! Super dramatic power!"
Syaoran sat up as Fai patted him on the shoulder. "You did look scared. But from here on out, there will be more scares of that sort. Sakura-chan has fallen asleep many times now. Next time, there might be more dire circumstances."
I nodded. "It was a lucky thing she wasn't in the water when it happened."
Syaoran's gaze flicked from me to Sakura to the water before he paled. "Right."
"But," Fai said, "that's why we're finding Sakura-chan's feathers, right? If we're careful, things should be fine." Fai's smile grew brighter. "So let's take this a little easier. We don't have to dwell on the painful moments. We won't be able to forget them, even if we wanted to." He turned to look at Syaoran. "If you were to smile and have fun for a moment or two, I doubt anyone would blame you for it. Some might even be happier for it." Fai looked up at me, his eyes sympathetic. "You, too, Alice-san. I know your circumstances are time-sensitive, but with the difference in the flow of time between worlds, I don't think how long you take will matter."
I stared at him, my mouth tight as I processed his words. The realization that I couldn't control how quickly I got to Nathaniel was at once relieving and terrifying. In one sense, it was almost calming knowing that it was out of my hands. But for the same reason it was terrifying. No matter how quickly I moved, I probably couldn't make a substantial change in how soon I got to Nathaniel. Even if we left right now and got lucky enough to drop into the same world as Nathaniel, it could have been months since he'd seen me. All I could do was hope that the world's flows of time wouldn't get me to him years from now.
Taking a deep breath, I forced myself to accept it, giving Fai a short nod. Agonizing over it would only skew my focus. Syaoran must have taken Fai words seriously as well. He smiled down at Sakura, some of the stress that had fogged his eyes cleared.
Mokona sprang into Syaoran's lap. "When Syaoran smiles, Mokona is so happy!"
Fai grinned and pointed to himself. "As am I of course." He gestured to Kurogane. "And it makes Kuro-pin happy, too."
"Keep me out of this!" Kurogane said, crossing his arms. His voice still held its edge, but his eyes were softer, not as angry.
Sakura mumbled and shifted, drawing our attention back to her. She sat up, rubbing her eyes.
"Are you awake?" Fai asked her as she blinked.
The blank look vanished and she leapt to her feet. "Syaoran-kun!" she cried, spinning toward the lake. "Syaoran-kun's in the lake!" She took two running steps toward the water before Syaoran jumped up and pulled her to a stop by her shoulders.
"I'm right here," he gasped, releasing his grip when she turned to face him.
The worry drained from her face. "Oh, I'm so glad!"
For a moment, her anxiety at the thought of Syaoran taking a swim had me questioning her lucidity. But turning the thought over, the idea of Syaoran swimming in the murky waters of a mysterious world, without anyone nearby, with unknown creatures wandering its depths, hadn't been the best idea.
"Sakura-chan," Fai said once Sakura sat down, "there's no predicting what kind of journey we'll be taking. I'm sure you're worried about retrieving your memories, but let try to make this an enjoyable trip." Fai took a long look at each of us. "It isn't often that people such as ourselves wind up together."
Our eyes flicked over each other. A magician, an archeologist, a princess, a warrior, and a weapon. Each of us, with the exception of Syaoran and Sakura, came from different cultures and worlds. We each had distinct advantages and experience we could use. If worked as a group, we'd be a capable team. Has a group like ours, so diverse, ever been formed before?
When the moment faded, Fai turned to Syaoran. "Was everything okay in the lake?"
"Oh!" Syaoran said, an excited smile growing, "There was a town down there!"
I started, scanning Syaoran's eyes for dilated pupils and listening for an elevated heartbeat. He could have encountered a mind altering chemical in the lake, but finding both normal, I crossed my arms. "Slow down, and explain."
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Syaoran told us about a glass dome he'd found on the bottom of the lake encasing a tiny city. The light that burst from the lake had been a glowing fish. Syaoran said he thought it must have been the town's sun. Worry nagged at me. This fish, that glowed much brighter than any creature I'd seen, seemed to spectacular. If this fish had swallowed Sakura's feather, which would line up with the power source changing places, then getting it could be an issue.
"This fell off it," Syaoran said, holding up a gold scale the size of a plate.
Fai took it and turned it over in his hands. "I see. The people of this world live underwater."
Mokona balanced on Fai's head, leaning forward to get a good look at the scale. "The strong power from before is the same kind of power coming from that scale."
"That means . . ." Syaoran said, frowning.
"There's no feather," I finished, rubbing the bridge of my nose.
Mokona nodded. "Mokona senses no other strong power than this."
"So this world was just a waste of time," Kurogane said, glaring at the scale.
"But it looks like Syaoran-kun had fun," Sakura said, offering Syaoran a soft smile.
Syaoran grinned back at her. "It's always fun when I get to see something wonderful with my own eyes."
"So," I said, "is everyone ready to move on?" A collective glance between us found no one felt the need to stay, so I plucked my jacket from its branch and shrugged it on.
"Ready?" Mokona asked. A round of nods and Mokona bounced into the air, wings unfurling from his back. The iridescent glow from the magic circle at our feet set the fog around us alight, hiding the forest beyond from view. Byeond the glow, the shadows of the trees blurred together, folded away, and we were gone.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Freezing air hit me across the face as snow crunched under my boots. I sucked in a breath, coughing as my lungs adjusted from sweltering humidity to icy cold. As I looked around, my breath ghosted through the air in front of me. Mokona dropped onto my shoulder with a giggle, ears flicking as he looked around.
We stood halfway up a snow-cover hill dotted with pine trees. The moon hung like a coin next to a bank of dark clouds. Fat snowflakes drifted out of the sky, covering anything more than fifteen feet away with a static-like blur. The flurries strangled any sound, leaving the eerie quiet only snow could command.
"It seems this world's colder than the last," Fai said, standing and brushing the snow from his coat.
Kurogane pulled one foot from the snow, glaring at it. "Well, this is great."
Sakura held out her hand, watching with wonder as a snowflake drifted onto her palm. "What is this?" she asked.
"It's snow," I said. "It's what happens when it rains, but it's cold enough for the water to freeze as it falls."
She looked from the melted snowflake in her hand to me. "Do you have snow in your world?"
I shrugged. "Occasionally." There was snow in the cities sometimes. But I usually saw it when I was in the field. I didn't hold the same wonder for it as Sakura did.
Sakura started shivering, but still seemed mesmerized by the snow around her.
The System elevated my heart rate and forced some of my blood vessels to constrict as I peeled off my jacket. It would only work for a short time, being the rough equivalent of a fever, but it would do for now. I held the jacket out to Sakura. "Here."
Sakura held up her hands, shaking her head. "I couldn't. You'll get cold in just a shirt!"
"I'm better off than you are," I said. "The System can keep me warm for a while. But you're already shivering, used to an arid climate, and going to get hypothermia very fast in just that." I nodded to her light desert clothes. She took the coat with a worried frown and pulled it over her shoulders.
Fai took off his overcoat and held it out to Syaoran. "Here, Syaoran-kun, you can borrow mine."
"Thank you." Syaoran took the coat with a nod and pulled in on.
I scanned the distance for a spark of light or any sign of civilization. Down the hill, beyond some of the pines, I thought there had been a flicker of light. Squinting, I walked down the hill until The System focused on the light. A tiny flame, its glow dancing on the corner of building, came into focus, but it was too blurry to see the rest of the building. But there wasn't a tower stretching out of the forest, so it had to be small enough to hide behind the trees.
"Mokona," I said, "is my brother here?"
Mokona tapped his feet. "Hm . . . Oh! I think Nathaniel's here! It feels funny, people are tricky, but I feel something."
I started, hope hitting me in the chest like the recoil of a rifle. "Really? Where?" I held out my hands and Mokona jumped onto my palms.
"There." Mokona pointed ahead and to the right, roughly the direction of the light.
"That's great," Syaoran said with a smile.
"What about a feather, Mokona?" Fai asked. "Can you sense that?"
Mokona blinked, tilted his head and frowned. "No, I don't feel one."
I took a deep breath before turning to the others. I needed to start looking for Nathaniel. "There might be a town we could stop at before the weather gets nasty. But I'll need to go after Nathaniel quickly. I don't know what you all want to do, but if you want to stay behind, I'll return after I've found him."
The others looked at me, then at each other.
"I'd like to help you," Syaoran said, his eyebrows drawn in determination. "You've helped me recover the princess's feathers, so I'd like to help you."
Sakura nodded in agreement. "Me too!"
"Count me in," Fai said. "I don't want to stay in some boring town while you're off having fun. Besides," he grinned, "if I helped Syaoran-kun and not you, that would be favoritism." Fai slung an arm around Kurogane's shoulders. "Kuro-pin can help too."
"Stop it with the names!" Kurogane snarled, shrugging the man off.
I frowned. "If Nathaniel's here, Adrian could be too. He's dangerous, remember."
Fai shrugged. "Looking for feathers has also been dangerous. And this situation is a lot like Syaoran-kun's. You won't move on from this world until you've found your brother, so neither can we. It'll go faster if we work together." He elbowed Kurogane in the ribs with a mischievous grin. "So you're coming right?"
Kurogane glared at Fai, batting his arm away. "Of course I'm coming!"
I nodded, glancing over their faces one more time, waiting for a shadow of reluctance to cross any of their faces. But it didn't appear. They seemed so certain and ready to help, it was strange. It wasn't that I didn't appreciate the help, I did, but this kind of thing was so unfamiliar to me, I felt a little off set.
I turned away, starting down the hill towards the distant light between the trees. But a second later I paused in my steps. "Thanks." I said, over my shoulder before continuing through the snow.