Chapter 7
For a while after that, even the metallic ringing had ceased. Then, through the silence, Hoku heard an indistinct female voice—"…hear me? Wake up."
Something cold splashed across his lashes and over his mouth. He spluttered before he was properly awake.
"Your eyes. Keep them open, you fool. Don't drift again."
A sharp sting struck his left cheek.
Hoku's eyes flew open instantly. Bare branches swam above him. A face leaned over his in a blur, and then both his sleeves were seized, and he was jerked upright.
Bile rose in his throat, and he hurled himself over onto one hand and retched until nothing came up but bitterness.
The stranger standing behind him remained silent.
By the time it passed, his sight had steadied. Both cheeks burned. One throbbed worse than the other, and a welt was already rising.
A corner of his mouth twitched as the pain settled in, and he pressed his fingers against the inflamed skin.
The young woman closed her eyes, her posture apologetic yet reserved.
"A small bruise is sounder than the pain you would've endured in that dream."
"...What?"
"I'm Juno Mirai, and you?"
'She's surprisingly passive.'
"Hoku."
"I meant your surname."
Hoku glanced at the white rock hanging from a black string around her neck.
"I don't know," he answered.
"You don't know?" she squinted her eyes.
"I was in an accident, so I can't remember," Hoku explained.
"I see. I thought there stood a chance I might recognize you because I remember names better than faces," she says, subtly rocking her shoulders.
"I see, perhaps I could guess, but what's your ethnicity?"
Hoku's mother had been Japanese, while his father was a local whose parents had migrated from China.
The maturity in her voice and the defined cast of her features made it evident that she was older than Hoku had first assumed. Fine black hair fell to just above her collarbone. Among the strands tucked behind her ear ran a peculiar lock of silver. Her irises were an inky black, giving the rest of her face a colder cast.
"I was born in China." Juno adjusted the black mantle at her shoulders and stepped forward.
Only then did Hoku glance lower. Beneath it, a plain cross-collared robe fell in straight lines from her shoulders, belted simply at the waist.
"By the way, why are you dressed like that?" Hoku gestured at her clothes.
A frown pulled at her lips as she appraised him.
"We're both dressed unusually. Haven't you noticed?"
Hoku frowned, puzzled for a moment, then glanced down at his own clothes.
"Who—whose are—"
"Zhou Li calls it the Chameleon's Veil. He, along with an early faction from his third sequence in the third 'world,' compiled a list of names for phenomena not recorded in The Memoir. Your erratic appearances disrupt the timestream, which is why The Memoir lacks any record of them. Only the navigator of the stream can perceive and transmit such anomalies."
Hoku pressed fingers to his temples. "Please... slow down a little, I can barely make sense of anything you're saying."
"Your old life ended the moment you stepped through that doorway."
Hoku's eyes widened slightly.
She looked at him and continued, "Li is my mentor, and he is yours as well. Keep that in mind. Once we return to the nucleus, we try to present a lighter image. I know you're confused, but if anyone can give you a proper answer, it will be him."
Hoku's throat felt dry as he swallowed.
There was nothing for him to return to. If he died here, that would be the end of it. If he lived, it would likely only be long enough for him to realize that this "outer universe" offered even more mysteries. From the answers he had received so far, he seemed more likely to fail at both.
Rule 9
You mustn't dream in certain mantras of the timestream. Doing so will trap your soul in a never-ending spiral towards death. Your senses will become inhibited, but your mind will remain conscious… for eternity.
-The Memoir Chapter 4 end-