Interludes
The Door * Merag * Tsukumo Mirai * Ena * Astral-99
I
THE DOOR
Lua lingered at the edge of everything. The other one was starting to get irritated.
"We are running out of time, Lua," The Door reminded them. Lua. What a silly human name it was. The Door was still getting used to using it. But if it didn't use that name, N began acting like a human child in a tantrum, and that was the last thing the Door needed right now.
"I know," Lua said. They shifted uneasily at the edge of the world, the little pocket of violet shades that they had made for themself. It was a pleasant temperature, even the Door had to admit. It wasn't quite keen on returning to its own pocket of the world any time soon. Lua and Yuma had turned this little pocket of dreams into something truly remarkable. If The Door hadn't been aware of what Yuma was, it would have been utterly blown away by what was here.
But it did know what Yuma was, and it did know what the boy was capable of.
Lua's eyes trailed over the distant mountains, lips tightening with sadness.
"It's just...I don't know if I'll ever see this place again," they said, sadly. "I feel as though this may have been...the last time I will be here."
The Door snorted.
"Don't count yourself too lucky. You and I both know that we don't get to tap out of existence at the drop of a hat."
Lua smiled, but it was sad, distant.
"This is the first time that I have wanted to continue existing," they whispered. "I used to long for dormancy, but now…now I dread it."
Their smile faded slowly at the sight of the white and red specks that began crawling across the distant mountains, like tiny stars moving slowly and lazily in orbit. Distortions...even here, they were spreading, like a parasitic disease. This small pocket should have been the last to see them occurring, much less in such corporeal states. The Door found itself tensing up in spite of itself. They were much too far away to be in any danger. But still, just seeing those unnatural things...to see them infesting even this sanctuary...they were certainly running out of time.
Lua let out a heavy sigh. They turned towards The Door. Not for the first time, The Door was shocked at just how tiny Lua truly was. Their head barely reached The Door's chest, their chosen shape slender, tiny, barely thicker than a stick. So small, transparent, fragile, as though they were made of glass. No more than a child in the eyes of one who didn't know better. The Door did know better, and yet N—or Lua, rather—still appeared to it to be just a child. They could have been mistaken for a young denizen of the Astral World.
"We have one last business to take care of," Lua said.
"Is this really what you want to do? You really want to give up your sentience for them?"
"It is what must be done."
The Door's jaw clenched. Lua's mind worked different than its own. They were soft. Kind. The Door wasn't always sure how to be that.
It grated on it, at times.
"Very well...but you know what my price will be."
"The same as always," Lua said, laughing softly. "I will make the contract with you again, old friend. For Yuma's sake. He must have every advantage...everything that we can possibly give him."
The Door nodded. It agreed, of course, but...
Lua's plan bordered on the insane. Would it not be simply easier to let the two Barian Emperors in the abyss die?
Lua held out their hand. Like a child asking for comfort. But no sooner had The Door met their eyes that it knew better—much better. Childlike Lua may look—and even act, at times—but there was an ancientness deep within those pale, glowing eyes. An ancient soul that rivaled even The Door—something deep, old, fathomless, something that still took The Door's breath away every time it caught the barest glimpse of that endless abyss of life and knowledge inside of such a tiny frame.
The Door took Lua's hand, and as one, they turned and stepped into The Door's realm.
Lua let go of The Door's hand then, and started down the path. The Door did not follow—it did not have to. It was already at the end of the path, waiting. Watching. Standing at the beginning and end of all things, as it always had and always would.
Lua stopped at the foot of The Door's true form. Stared up into the harsh, coal red eyes of the dragon's face that leered down at them.
"I have come to accept your contract," Lua whispered. Their voice was small, echoing in the darkness of the abyss.
"You seek the lives of the two that have fallen, the Barian Emperors thrown to the Abyss."
"I do."
"I will preserve them for you. But that which is most precious to you will be taken in return. Do you understand?"
"I understand."
Lua raised their hand, and pressed it to The Door. The Door could feel the warmth there. The life. Spreading out from that palm and sinking into the dark stone that made it.
Lua gasped softly, then. For a moment, they stood perfectly still, hand pressed to The Door. And then, slowly, softly, like a breath inwards, Lua folded in on themself. The body shrank inward, became light, condensing and pulling in until the human shape was completely gone.
Only a small, swirling card remained, its pieces shifting in and out and past each other, like the beating of a heart, two stars circling it like moons around a planet and leaving behind trails of sparkles.
"Lua" was gone.
Only the Code remained.
The Door sighed deeply.
"That which is most precious...your 'self'is that which is most precious to you."
The Door pulled free, then, into its humanoid shape. It cupped the Code in its hands—Lua's heart, beating between its fingers.
"You never wanted to become cold, the way I had...the way many of the gods had...you wanted to remain as much like the humans we birthed as possible. To care for them. To love like they did."
It pressed their forehead briefly to the Code.
"I'll do my best for you, old friend," it whispered.
Then, it spun its hands once, and pulled the thin veil of blue around the Code, sealing it, protecting it.
It released the Code, and the code vanished. Somewhere safe, The Door hoped. Even it did not know where the Code fled when it needed safety...