The Night They Remembered
While Caelan sat outside beneath the moon speaking quietly with Luminel, the dojo had settled into the peculiar sort of silence that only appeared after everyone had been too exhausted to continue complaining. Lamps burned low along the wooden walls, their warm light falling across blankets, abandoned boots, half-empty cups of water and Aetherkin who had collapsed wherever they happened to find a comfortable patch of floor. Yuto had fallen asleep first. At eight years old, he had managed to resist exhaustion for all of three minutes after dinner before curling onto his side with Michael tucked firmly against his chest. The little Light-type Aetherkin slept with one wing spread over Yuto's shoulder like a blanket, even in sleep maintaining the protective habit that seemed carved into his nature. Every so often Michael's nose twitched, and Yuto shifted closer without waking.
The others were not so fortunate.
They were tired enough to sleep.
Their minds simply refused.
Renji sat against one wall with Alex resting beside his leg, the little Ice-type wolf already asleep despite having spent several minutes insisting that he was merely "resting his eyes." Daichi sat nearby, glasses removed and carefully folded beside him, which made him look strangely younger despite being the oldest of them. Misaki had Sakura nestled beside her, pink feathers rising and falling with each breath. Airi was absentmindedly stroking the flower atop Flora's head while Shun sat cross-legged with his laptop closed for once, Tesla leaning against him with two arms folded and the other pair loose at his sides.
Nobody said anything for a while.
It was Daichi who finally broke the silence.
"One month."
Airi looked over.
"What?"
"We've been here for a month."
Nobody answered immediately.
They all knew.
They simply had not said it aloud.
Daichi rubbed both hands over his face.
"One month."
Renji stared at the ceiling.
"It feels longer."
"It feels like five years," Airi muttered.
Shun corrected automatically.
"Subjectively, stress can distort the perception of—"
"Shun."
He stopped.
"Right."
Misaki drew one knee against her chest.
A month.
Thirty days of moving because staying still tended to end with something finding them. Thirty days of strange settlements, destroyed roads, monsters, deserts, abandoned machines, pyramids, corrupted Aetherkin and enemies who seemed increasingly capable of killing them.
They had stopped counting the near-death experiences properly somewhere around seven.
Daichi had tried once.
Then he'd reached ten and decided the exercise was not improving anybody's mood.
"We've almost died at least ten times," he said anyway.
Renji looked at him.
"Why would you remind us?"
"Because I'm tired."
"That's not a reason."
"It is tonight."
Airi hugged Flora a little closer.
"We've done nothing except run and fight."
"Sometimes we walk," Shun said.
Everyone looked at him.
He lowered his eyes.
"That was an attempt at humour."
Tesla clicked his mandibles softly.
"It was poor."
"Thank you."
Misaki looked toward the closed door.
Outside, somewhere beyond the walls, Caelan and Luminel were still talking.
"Things got easier after Caelan showed up."
Renji nodded.
There was no denying that.
Crossing terrain became easier when one of your companions could simply lift everyone with wind. Enemies that would once have forced the children into desperate battles suddenly had to consider the problem of a Foundation Establishment cultivator wearing indestructible-looking armour and carrying a lance.
Not every problem disappeared.
Eidon certainly hadn't.
But life had become a little less impossible.
Airi leaned her head against the wall.
"And today was probably the best day we've had since getting here."
Daichi stared at her.
"We were beaten half to death."
"No, we weren't."
"Emotionally, I was."
"You know what I mean."
She looked toward Flora.
"We were tired. We got hit. Everything hurts."
Flora nodded softly.
"Quite a lot."
Airi smiled faintly.
"But nobody was chasing us."
That silenced them.
No alarms.
No collapsing structures.
No army appearing over the horizon.
No need to decide which direction gave them the smallest chance of dying.
They had eaten until they were full.
They had trained somewhere designed to keep them alive.
They had been allowed to stop.
Misaki looked around the dojo.
"We're safe."
The word sounded almost strange.
Renji glanced toward Yuto.
His younger brother slept peacefully, Michael wrapped around him.
"Tonight, at least."
Nobody corrected him.
For now, that was enough.
Then Daichi sighed.
"Elder Kairo said there are still only two ways home."
Shun nodded.
"That we know of."
"Complete whatever we were summoned here to do," Misaki said.
"Or..."
Airi looked down at Flora.
"Apex."
Nobody liked that answer very much.
Elder Kairo had explained it plainly enough. At Apex stage, their partners would possess the kind of power capable of tearing openings through dimensional barriers. Reality itself became something they could force apart if they understood where they were going.
Daichi let out a quiet laugh.
"Simple."
Renji glanced at him.
"Obviously."
"All we have to do is take our partners from Juvenile stage to the point where they can rip holes in reality."
Alex's sleeping ear twitched.
Daichi continued.
"Perfectly reasonable."
Shun stared at the floor.
"Or finish the task we were brought here for."
"Which we still don't completely understand," Misaki said.
"Yes."
Airi's hands tightened around Flora.
"Why us?"
The question had been sitting among them for weeks.
Nobody had really wanted to say it.
Now that it was out, it refused to leave.
Airi looked toward the door.
"If there are people like Caelan out there..."
Renji's expression tightened.
"Exactly."
Caelan was thirteen.
Their age.
And yet he could fly, create hurricanes, fight with a lance, see pieces of the future, bind things with golden chains and stand against enemies that made their partners struggle even after evolution.
He had been trained since childhood.
But that only made the question worse.
Misaki looked down.
"Why summon us?"
Daichi laughed without humour.
"I'm sixteen and the most impressive thing I could do before all this was pass exams without panicking."
"You still panic," Renji said.
"Thank you."
"My pleasure."
Shun pushed his glasses up.
"Maybe strength wasn't the reason."
Renji looked at him.
"It certainly wasn't."
Shun ignored that.
"Luminel said the Grand Archive uses humans as variables. Our bonds change evolutionary possibilities."
Airi looked at Flora.
"So we're here because of them."
"Possibly."
Misaki glanced toward Sakura.
"Or because of something we haven't understood yet."
That thought sat uneasily between them.
After a moment, Renji spoke.
"I miss home."
His voice was quiet enough that everyone looked at him.
Renji almost never volunteered things like that.
He leaned his head back against the wall.
"I miss my father's workshop."
Daichi smiled faintly.
"The one with the motorcycles?"
"And cars."
"You talk about the motorcycles more."
"They're better."
Daichi snorted.
Renji closed his eyes.
"I miss the smell."
Airi stared.
"Oil?"
"Yes."
"That's horrible."
"You wouldn't understand."
"I understand that you need better hobbies."
Renji ignored her.
"My father would be losing his mind if he knew where I was."
His eyes moved toward Yuto.
"His mother too."
The room quieted again.
Yuto did not live with Renji.
Their parents had divorced, and Yuto lived in another city with their mother and grandmother while Renji remained with their father. They saw each other, of course, but not every day.
Renji watched his little brother sleeping.
"I wonder how long it's been for them."
Shun answered gently.
"Not long, if Luminel's time ratio is accurate."
"That's supposed to make me feel better?"
"A little."
"It does."
Misaki smiled faintly.
Airi looked at the ceiling.
"I miss my parents."
Flora rested one leafy hand against hers.
"And my friends."
Misaki nodded.
"Me too."
Daichi looked down at his folded glasses.
"I even miss school."
Everyone stared.
He looked defensive.
"What?"
Renji shook his head.
"We've lost him."
"I didn't say I wanted homework."
"Still suspicious."
That earned a tired laugh.
The laughter faded slowly.
Then Misaki frowned.
"Wait."
Shun looked at her.
"What?"
"You and Airi go to the same school, don't you?"
Airi looked over.
Shun nodded.
"Yes."
Renji raised an eyebrow.
"You didn't know that before coming here?"
"We knew each other by sight," Airi said.
"Not well."
Shun nodded.
Misaki pointed toward herself.
"Haruto and I are from the same school."
Renji looked thoughtful.
"Daichi and I are too."
Daichi nodded.
"Different years."
"Obviously."
Renji glanced toward Yuto.
"Yuto's the odd one out."
Airi smiled.
"He's eight."
"I meant the city."
They looked toward the sleeping boy.
Renji continued.
"He lives with Mum and Grandma now. Different city."
Misaki frowned.
"Now?"
Renji looked at her.
"Yeah."
The word seemed to catch on something.
Shun's head lifted.
"What do you mean, now?"
Renji stared.
"Before our parents split..."
His expression changed.
"We lived somewhere else."
Daichi slowly put his glasses back on.
"Where?"
Renji gave the name of the neighborhood.
Nobody spoke.
Misaki sat straighter.
"Wait."
Airi's face changed.
"No."
Shun was already thinking faster.
"You lived there?"
"When I was little."
"So did I," Misaki said.
Airi looked between them.
"My family lived two streets away from there."
Daichi stared.
"Mine too."
Renji frowned.
"You're joking."
"No."
Shun spoke next.
"For three years."
The room became very still.
Nobody was laughing now.
Misaki looked toward Haruto's empty bedding.
"Haruto lived there."
Airi's eyes widened.
"How do you know?"
"Same school. We've talked about where we used to live."
Renji glanced toward Yuto.
"And Yuto would have been there too."
Before the divorce.
Before Renji and Yuto ended up living in different cities.
Shun's voice dropped.
"So most of us lived in the same area."
"When we were little," Daichi said.
"Before we knew each other."
Nobody liked how that sounded.
Airi hugged her knees.
"That can't be a coincidence."
Shun opened his mouth.
Then closed it again.
Even he apparently understood that announcing probabilities would not help.
Misaki stared at the floor.
Something was tugging at her memory.
Not a memory exactly.
Something softer.
Something blurred around the edges.
A dream.
She frowned.
"Ryu."
Renji looked at her.
"What?"
"I've dreamed about Ryu."
The words sounded foolish the moment she said them.
Nobody laughed.
Misaki continued.
"Not like he is now."
Her brow furrowed.
"Bigger."
Haruto's little orange dragon was only three feet tall.
What she remembered was not.
"I've seen him huge."
Something shifted across Airi's face.
"No."
Misaki looked at her.
Airi's skin had gone pale.
"I've had that dream."
Renji sat upright.
"What dream?"
Airi swallowed.
"A big orange monster."
"Dragon," Misaki corrected automatically.
"Whatever."
"Important distinction."
"Not now, Shun."
Shun fell silent.
Airi stared toward the lamps.
"It was night."
Renji's expression changed.
"Was there fire?"
Everyone looked at him.
He seemed almost annoyed by the memory.
"I thought it was just a nightmare."
Daichi's voice came slowly.
"There was another monster."
The silence deepened.
Misaki's heart began beating faster.
She could almost see it.
Streetlights.
Shouting.
Something enormous moving between buildings.
A child crying.
A much larger form standing where little Ryu should have been.
Sakura stirred beside her but did not wake.
Shun's hands had gone still.
"I remember something falling."
Airi looked at him.
"What?"
"Light."
His voice sounded distant.
"Like... pieces of light."
Renji rubbed his forehead.
"This is insane."
Daichi stared at him.
"Do you remember it?"
A long pause.
Renji nodded.
"Pieces."
Misaki whispered:
"All of us?"
Nobody answered.
Then Airi said:
"Maybe we saw him."
Renji looked toward Haruto's bedding.
"Ryu?"
"His evolution."
The word sent a strange little shock through all of them.
Misaki could see the shape more clearly now.
Not enough to describe.
Just enormous.
Powerful.
Protecting something.
Protecting them.
Shun finally opened his laptop.
Misaki immediately looked at him.
"I'm not researching Caelan."
"I didn't say anything."
"I know the look."
Tesla, half-asleep beside him, clicked approvingly.
Shun ignored both.
He stared at the blank screen.
"If these memories are real, then our first contact with this world wasn't one month ago."
Daichi slowly nodded.
"Years ago."
Airi looked toward Yuto.
"He would've been tiny."
"He was," Renji said.
They all had been.
Young enough that something impossible could happen in front of them and later become a dream.
Young enough that adults might tell them it had never happened.
Young enough to forget.
Misaki hugged Sakura closer.
"Maybe we were connected already."
Shun looked up.
"Or the dimensional barriers had already weakened around us."
Renji frowned.
"Because of a battle?"
They knew that could happen now.
Aetherkin could cross into other universes when sufficiently violent conflicts weakened the barriers between worlds.
Airi whispered:
"Maybe Ryu crossed over."
The idea felt strangely right.
Daichi looked around.
"And somehow all of us were there."
"Before we even knew each other," Misaki said.
Renji shook his head.
"That's the part I don't like."
Airi gave him a tired smile.
"Only that part?"
"Especially that part."
Shun looked toward Haruto's empty place.
"Maybe Elder Kairo didn't choose random children."
Nobody replied.
Yuto shifted in his sleep.
Michael immediately tightened his wing around him.
For a moment the only sounds were their breathing and the faint forest wind outside.
Misaki finally spoke.
"Maybe this world had already started reaching toward us when we were little."
Airi nodded slowly.
"Or we had already reached it."
Daichi looked toward the door where Caelan had disappeared earlier.
"So we're asking why people like Caelan weren't chosen instead of us."
He paused.
"But maybe the answer is that this didn't start when we were chosen."
Renji's eyes narrowed.
"It started years ago."
No one argued.
Somewhere in all their minds lived the same broken image.
A night they could not fully remember.
A monster crossing into their city.
Children gathered in the wrong place at the wrong time.
And Ryu becoming something much, much larger than the little dragon they knew now.
They had called it a dream.
Perhaps they had all been dreaming the same dream.
Or perhaps, long before any of them understood what an Aetherkin was, this world had already found them.