Chapter 41 — The People Who Remembered Before Them
Haruto remained crouched beneath the faint golden shimmer of the Resonance Linker's barrier, one arm wrapped around Aoi while Ryu pressed close against his other side. His sister's breathing had steadied, but only slightly, and every few seconds her fingers tightened against his shirt as though checking that he was still there. Haruto could hardly blame her. Less than five minutes earlier, a man claiming to work for the government had lifted her by the collar and threatened to break her neck unless Haruto surrendered his Linker and Virtue Sigil. Whoever had fired the shot that saved her might have been an ally, but after Arachne, Eidon and now human beings who smiled before threatening children, Haruto felt he had reached his lifetime allowance of trusting strangers on first impressions.
The smoke drifting through the alley gradually thinned. Sirens wailed several streets away, occasionally drowned by the crash of damaged buildings settling under their own weight. Then footsteps came from the opposite end of the alley. They were measured and unhurried, which Haruto somehow found more concerning than running would have been. A young man emerged from the haze, perhaps in his mid-twenties, with short black hair touched faintly with green where the light caught it, several days of stubble and clothes so ordinary he might have been a university student who had taken a catastrophically wrong shortcut on the way home. His eyes spoiled the illusion. They moved constantly, checking windows, rooftops, Haruto's hands, Aoi's position and the mouths of adjoining alleys in one practiced sweep.
The stranger stopped well outside the barrier and slowly raised both hands. "My name is Kenta Mizuhara," he said. "Interworld Response Task Force. Joint Japan–U.S. operations." He reached into his jacket only after Haruto's eyes followed the movement, produced a government identification badge and set it on the ground rather than approaching with it. Then he removed something else. An old Resonance Linker. Its casing was battered, the screen dark, but there was no mistaking what it was.
Haruto's expression hardened rather than softened. "The last people with government credentials tried to kill my sister."
"Which is why I'm staying over here."
"Anyone can carry a badge."
"Also true."
Kenta took a deliberate step backward.
That, more than the identification, made Haruto listen.
"Don't trust me because I tell you to," Kenta continued. "Actually, after today, don't trust anyone simply because they say they're on your side. Including me."
Ryu's head emerged slightly from Haruto's backpack. "That is surprisingly sensible."
Kenta glanced toward him without surprise. "Ryu, I assume."
Haruto immediately tightened.
Kenta lifted his hands again. "Your group hasn't exactly been invisible to us."
Aoi whispered, "Was it you who shot him?"
Kenta nodded. "Yes."
Haruto studied him for another long moment. Then he lowered the barrier slightly, though he did not dismiss it.
"Who were they?"
Kenta's expression changed.
Not dramatically. Only enough for Haruto to notice the old hurt behind it.
"People I used to know."
"They were bonded humans," Kenta explained once Haruto allowed him closer, though still outside arm's reach. "From the generation before yours."
Haruto stared at the dead Resonance Linker in his hand.
"Luminel told us there were children before the Reset."
"There were."
Kenta looked down at the old device.
"More than most people know. Most didn't survive what happened. Most of our partners didn't either."
Aoi looked toward him. "The Reset?"
Kenta nodded.
Haruto already knew enough to understand what that meant. The Aetherkin world had been destroyed and rebuilt more than once, whole ages ending beneath catastrophes powerful enough to reshape the world. Luminel had survived one of those endings.
Kenta continued, "The last generation fought things far beyond what we were prepared for. The Four Dread Regents were among the worst of them. Some bonded humans resisted. Others decided survival mattered more than loyalty and accepted power, promises, whatever they were offered."
"The two who attacked us," Haruto said.
Kenta's jaw tightened.
"Yes."
"What do they want?"
"Power. Access to the Aetherkin world. Their old partners, if they can find them again."
Haruto frowned.
"Find them?"
"Rebirth complicates everything." Kenta looked at his inactive Linker. "Aetherkin can die and return. Sometimes memories survive. Sometimes they don't. Sometimes the new incarnation resembles the old one exactly. The Reset scattered everything so badly that nobody on our side knew what happened to most of them."
Ryu shifted inside the backpack.
That statement carried uncomfortable relevance after Aoi's story about the dragon from their childhood.
Kenta did not notice.
"The two you met believe their partners may have returned somewhere in the rebuilt world," he continued. "They want a working Linker badly enough to threaten children for one."
Haruto's hand closed over his own.
"And you don't?"
Kenta looked at him.
The answer took slightly too long.
"I wish mine still worked."
That was not the same answer.
Haruto noticed.
Kenta gave a tired smile.
"But I'm not taking yours."
The wind pushed smoke between them.
Haruto asked, "Your partner died?"
"During the old collapse."
Kenta's fingers brushed the dead Linker at his belt.
"I never found any trace afterward."
His voice remained steady, but grief did not need volume.
"We spent years trying to understand what happened. When the world rebuilt, we knew the connection could eventually reopen. Some of us formed the task force. We gathered researchers, military support, information from every incident we could confirm."
Aoi looked toward him. "Nobody believed you?"
Kenta laughed once.
"You try walking into a government office and explaining that another universe creates legendary monsters which occasionally cross into ours."
Ryu poked his head farther out of the bag.
"I'd believe it."
"You're a legendary monster."
"That seems prejudicial."
Haruto almost smiled.
Kenta continued, "Then your childhood incident happened."
Haruto's expression changed.
Kenta looked from him to Aoi.
"Four years ago. The night Stormbeak crossed over."
Aoi went completely still.
"You know about that?"
"It was impossible to hide completely. Not once we knew what evidence to look for."
Haruto remembered Aoi's story: the dragon they had taken care of, the larger form it had evolved into, the flying creature that appeared afterward and the battle that had vanished from almost everyone's memory by morning.
Kenta gestured toward Ryu.
"We didn't know who your childhood partner was. We still don't. But that battle proved the connection was real. It gave us enough evidence to turn an unofficial research group into a funded operation."
Haruto stared.
A childhood memory he barely possessed had helped create an international task force.
That was not information he had expected over breakfast.
Kenta looked toward the damaged skyline.
"Now the barriers are destabilizing again."
"Because of the black hole?" Haruto asked.
"Possibly. We don't have enough information yet."
"The others do."
"Which is why you need to return."
Haruto blinked.
He had expected many things from the conversation.
That had not been one of them.
Kenta stepped closer.
"The people who attacked you want the crossings to become stable. They want unrestricted access between worlds, and they want active bonded humans either controlled or removed from the equation."
Haruto's fingers tightened.
"Then why did Shun tell me not to come back?"
"I don't know what situation your friends are currently in."
For once, Kenta did not pretend to have an answer.
"But if the breach stabilizes completely, this stops being occasional Adults appearing in streets. Stronger Aetherkin come through. Organized ones."
Kenta looked toward the city around them.
"Earth is not ready for an Elite-stage invasion."
Haruto thought of Ironwyrm.
Of Dark Network Eidon.
Of Arachne.
He believed him.
"How do you fight them at all?"
Kenta's expression became grim.
"We've been preparing."
The sky cracked.
A sound like a building being torn in half rolled through the district.
Everyone turned.
Something enormous slammed into the boulevard one block away.
A hulking green figure rose through the dust, nearly three metres tall, broad enough to make an ordinary human look child-sized. Heavy tusks curved from its jaw, layered muscle covered its frame and a brutal club of black mineral rested across one shoulder.
Haruto's Resonance Linker reacted.
BRUTEHORN — ADULT STAGE
Ryu stared.
Kenta sighed.
"Convenient timing."
"Perfect," Kenta said.
Haruto looked at him as though the word had been personally offensive.
Kenta touched the communication device at his collar. "Show him."
Engines answered.
Armored vehicles rolled into the boulevard from both directions, moving with an efficiency that made it clear the area had been evacuated before Haruto even knew the task force existed. Two attack helicopters swept low overhead while soldiers appeared along prepared rooftop positions, heavy rifles already braced against reinforced tripods.
Aoi stared.
"They were waiting?"
"For another breach," Kenta said. "Not specifically this one."
Brutehorn roared and raised its club.
The soldiers did not fire.
Not yet.
They waited.
Haruto understood suddenly that this was not ordinary military deployment. Every weapon had been placed at particular angles. Every firing lane avoided inhabited buildings. Teams communicated in terse, practiced bursts.
Kenta raised two fingers.
"Now."
The first volley struck Brutehorn's knees.
The Adult Aetherkin stumbled.
Not random shooting.
Concentrated fire precisely against joints where its heavy musculature could not fully protect the underlying structure.
Brutehorn roared.
A second barrage hit its shoulders and weapon arm.
The club fell.
Then the helicopters fired.
Two missiles descended almost together.
The explosion swallowed the creature.
Haruto pulled Aoi behind the barrier as the shockwave rolled through the street.
Smoke filled the boulevard.
When it cleared, Brutehorn was down.
Its body began breaking apart into drifting essence.
Haruto stared.
"That fast?"
Kenta nodded.
"Low-end Adult. Known body structure. Prepared weapons. Empty battlefield."
He did not sound triumphant.
"Remove any one of those advantages and the result becomes much uglier."
Ryu watched the fading essence.
"You've studied Aetherkin."
"For years."
Kenta looked toward Haruto.
"We know where many common species are structurally vulnerable. We know which materials resist certain elemental attacks. We know how to evacuate civilians and create kill zones."
His expression darkened.
"None of that means we're ready."
Haruto understood.
"Elite stage."
Kenta nodded.
"Something like the creatures you've been fighting over there appears here, and most conventional responses stop mattering."
Aoi whispered, "And Apex?"
Kenta gave her a look that answered the question without words.
He turned back toward Haruto.
"Come with me."
The café looked as though normal life had left in a hurry. Chairs had been pushed aside, a window was cracked from distant shockwaves and soot darkened part of the sign outside, but the task force had turned the interior into a temporary operations room with remarkable speed. Folding tables held computers and communications equipment where customers should have been eating cake. A soldier behind the counter made hot drinks with the exhausted seriousness of someone who had discovered that civilization depended heavily on caffeine.
Aoi received hot chocolate and a blanket.
Haruto received water.
Ryu received a plate containing several sandwiches and immediately became far more optimistic about international cooperation.
Kenta sat opposite Haruto.
"Now you understand what we can do."
Haruto nodded.
"Against some Adults."
"Exactly."
"How do I get back?"
Kenta leaned forward.
"We think the current breach responds to resonance. Ordinary unstable openings can spit Aetherkin into this world temporarily, which is why Cindermaw and Burrowhorn vanished again. But a bonded Aetherkin undergoing active evolution produces a much stronger cross-world signature."
Haruto looked at Ryu.
Kenta nodded.
"Force Ryu into Adult stage. If our readings are correct, the unstable passage should lock onto both of you and pull the bond back toward the Aetherkin world."
"Should?"
Kenta gave him a tired look.
"Dimensional physics is not yet a field in which I can offer warranties."
Ryu stopped chewing.
"I preferred him when he was shooting people."
Aoi nearly choked on her cocoa.
Haruto looked at Kenta. "And if it doesn't work?"
"Ryu eventually reverts and we try something else."
That was reasonable enough.
Then Kenta picked up a tablet.
"Before you leave, there's something else you should know about your Linker."
Haruto frowned.
"We've been using these things for weeks."
"You've been using the functions the Grand Archive wanted you to discover first."
A projection appeared above the tablet.
A Resonance Linker.
Then a wild Aetherkin.
Golden restraints shot from the device and wrapped around the creature's limbs.
Haruto leaned forward.
"What is that?"
"A secondary binding protocol."
Ryu stopped eating completely.
Kenta continued, "Your Linker is designed primarily around one true partner bond, but it can create limited contracts with additional Aetherkin. Not a partnership like yours and Ryu's. More like enforced containment."
The projection showed the restraints closing.
Marks resembling faint chains remained over the creature afterward.
Haruto frowned.
"That's not exactly friendly."
"No."
Kenta did not attempt to make it sound better than it was.
"But wild Aetherkin are appearing in populated cities, and we currently have very few ways to contain them alive."
A door opened.
Two soldiers entered pushing a reinforced cage.
Inside stood a small green creature with long ears, yellow eyes, sharp teeth and an expression suggesting that cooperation had never been high among its personal virtues. Glowing restraints covered its wrists and ankles.
The Linker identified it.
GRIMKIN — JUVENILE STAGE
Grimkin snarled.
Aoi edged closer to Haruto.
Kenta gestured toward the creature.
"One of the first stable captures."
Haruto looked at the restraint marks.
"You used an active Linker?"
"Borrowed access during testing."
"Whose?"
Kenta did not answer.
Haruto noticed that too.
Kenta held up his tablet.
"I want you to try."
Haruto stared at him.
"Why?"
"Because if you're going back, you should know the device can do more than evolve Ryu."
Haruto looked at Grimkin.
The little creature bared its teeth.
Ryu whispered, "It looks friendly."
Grimkin slammed its forehead against the cage.
Ryu reconsidered.
"Moderately friendly."
Haruto activated the protocol.
The Resonance Linker responded immediately.
Golden chains of energy appeared.
Grimkin lunged.
The chains snapped around its arms.
Then legs.
Then torso.
The creature fought furiously, but each completed restraint stabilized the next until a final loop closed around its neck.
Light pulsed.
The chains faded.
Ghostly markings remained.
Grimkin stopped fighting.
Not peacefully.
But obediently.
Haruto lowered the Linker.
"I don't like that."
Kenta nodded.
"Neither do I."
"Then why use it?"
"Because the alternative may be killing every hostile Aetherkin that crosses over."
That silenced Haruto.
Kenta stood beside Grimkin.
"Give it a command."
Haruto hesitated.
Then said, "Go with Kenta."
Grimkin looked at him.
Its eyes narrowed.
Then it walked toward Kenta.
The obedience was reluctant enough to be obvious.
But it obeyed.
Kenta watched it approach with an expression Haruto could not quite read.
For one moment his hand drifted toward the dead Resonance Linker at his belt.
Longing.
That was the only word for it.
Then the expression disappeared.
"Good."
Haruto looked at him suspiciously.
"You want another partner."
Kenta's hand stopped.
"Everyone who lost one wants another chance."
"That's not what I asked."
Kenta looked at Grimkin.
"No."
His answer was quiet.
"Grimkin isn't my partner."
Something in that distinction mattered to him.
Haruto decided not to push.
Kenta looked toward the active Linker in Haruto's hand.
"You should go."
Aoi understood what that meant before Haruto stood.
Her cup stopped halfway to her mouth.
"Now?"
Haruto looked at her.
"I have to."
Kenta moved toward the door.
"I'll keep an eye on things here."
Haruto's expression sharpened.
"My parents. Aoi."
Kenta nodded.
"They'll be protected."
Haruto stepped closer until they were nearly face-to-face.
"If anything happens to her because of your people..."
His voice remained quiet.
That made it more serious.
"There won't be anywhere you can hide from me."
Grimkin looked between them.
Kenta did not smile.
"Understood."
Haruto turned toward Aoi.
Her eyes were already wet.
Ryu jumped down from the table.
Haruto raised the Resonance Linker.
Golden light spread across the café.
Ryu's small Juvenile body disappeared inside it.
The transformation was immediate and enormous.
His compact orange form expanded into a colossal quadrupedal draconic beast, molten orange-red flesh visible beneath black volcanic armor plating. Lava-like cracks blazed across his body, heavy horns crowned his armored head and enormous claws dug into the floor as heat rolled from him in waves.
Ryu evolved into Rexhorn.
Several soldiers backed away.
Rexhorn looked around.
"This room is significantly smaller now."
Haruto almost laughed.
Then reality answered.
The air above them distorted.
A circular tear appeared, filled with static, shifting colors and impossible depth. Wind exploded outward through the café.
Kenta stared at his instruments.
"It's locking onto the evolution signal."
Rexhorn began to rise.
Haruto felt the pull catch him a moment later.
Aoi ran forward.
"Haruto!"
He turned.
She grabbed his hand.
The dimensional pull grew stronger.
Haruto's feet left the ground.
Aoi held on with both hands.
"No!"
"Aoi—"
"You just came back!"
His throat tightened.
"I know."
"Then stay!"
"I can't."
Her grip began slipping.
Haruto held tighter.
"My friends are still there."
Aoi cried openly now.
"So am I!"
The words hit him harder than he expected.
Haruto's expression softened.
"I know."
The rift pulled again.
Their fingers shifted.
"Aoi, listen to me."
She shook her head.
"I'll come back."
"You don't know that."
"No."
He refused to lie to her.
"But I'll do everything I can."
Her hands slipped farther.
Aoi looked up at him.
"Don't forget me."
Haruto smiled despite the pain in his chest.
"Impossible."
The wind pulled him higher.
Aoi's fingers finally lost his.
"I love you!" she shouted.
Haruto reached toward her even as the rift dragged him away.
"Love you too!"
Rexhorn disappeared into the dimensional tear.
Haruto followed.
The rift snapped shut.
Silence returned to the café.
Aoi remained staring at the empty air where her brother had been.
Kenta approached but did not touch her.
For several seconds she said nothing.
Then she wiped her eyes with the back of one hand.
"He'll come back."
Kenta looked toward the place where the gate had closed.
"I hope so."
Aoi shook her head.
"No."
Her voice steadied.
"He will."
And somewhere beyond the repaired surface of the sky, Haruto Akiyama was already falling back toward a world that had not finished with him yet.