Aurum City
Golden Finch Beach
"Are you sure he isn't going to ditch us again?" Skyler asked.
"He won't," Kael said, putting down two cups of slurry next to the cakes. "You should worry about him seeing that arm. Someone's going to die for it."
Now that Kael mentioned it, his arm was itching once more. He couldn't scratch it through the cast. He began to massage his scalp through his brown locks, creating a distraction.
"Which is why you won't tell him anything," he muttered. Thairon's policy of responding to violence with even greater violence tended to create a mess.
Kael took his seat, gathering the scattered papers together. "My lips are sealed."
Someone opened the door without knocking. A silver-haired man who looked rather young to have that hair walked in.
"Sir, you can't enter here without permission," Kael warned. Some beachgoers tended to just barge in to complain about an ultimately inconsequential woe.
The silver-haired man ignored his words and sat down. He snatched the cup reserved for their older brother and kept glancing at both with a smirk. There was something familiar about him, but neither could say.
"Go on, take your time," he finally spoke. The familiar voice filled the blank.
"Wait, wait, wait." Sky got up from his chair, leaning forward across the table. "Bro? Is that you?"
"Duh," he drawled.
"What the heck happened to you?!" Kael exclaimed. "You look like a different person." The one hundred seventy-five man with brown hair and eyes had left his place to a two-meter-tall hunk with silver hair.
He swirled the half-empty slurry cup. "Just some genetic modifications. I thought the silver looked rather fitting on me."
"And your height? You are taller than me now," Kael said. Between the three, he was always the tallest.
"Again, some genetic modifications along with other sciency stuff."
"Now," Thairon narrowed his eyes, "what happened to your arm?" he asked. Nax was already combing through the hospital records. Sky's latest visit was right after the protest in Belkan.
"I just fell, nothing important." Sky dismissed his concerns.
Thairon's left eye glowed, projecting a recording on the table. A member of the Swift Response Unit was pushing the protesters back and wasn't hesitant in using his baton to do so.
His brother was at the front of the crowd.
"Fell? Really?" Was that the best excuse he could come up with?
Sky sank in his chair. "Please don't do something rash."
"Like breaking every bone in that bastard's body?" he asked. It was nothing less than what that bastard deserved.
"Exactly something like that," Kael muttered.
"Don't worry, no one will know it was me." That cop would definitely pay for this.
"That's not the point," Skyler said, holding his itching arm.
He took a deep breath. "Here, at least let me heal it." He reached across the table. The nanobots could repair that fracture in minutes.
Sky raised his hand halfway.
"I'd love to, but then everyone will call me a liar if I suddenly remove the cast. It's just a fracture anyway."
His wound had small media coverage that the officials were all too willing to discredit. If he removed the cast, it would give them more ammunition against the protests.
"So you are just fine with this?" He waved a hand over the sorry state his brother was in.
"What am I supposed to do?" Sky shrugged with his one good arm. "I would love nothing more than to just go full vigilante on the government, but I am just an ordinary guy."
He reached across the table for the unused fork. He raised it high and brought it down on his hand.
Sky and Kael flinched but did not shout. Two of the tines broke off and launched away from the table. He flexed his hand, showing that there wasn't a wound.
"What the hell?" Kael broke out of the shock first. He took the hand, inspecting it. There wasn't even a scratch. It could have only one meaning.
"You have superpowers?" he asked. This was huge, and it brought a long-dead feeling back to life in his heart.
"Yes."
"Man, unfair," Sky complained. "He had powers, and now you have powers. I am the only ordinary one."
Kael frowned. He did not exactly wish to remember the days he carried a module.
Thairon rolled his eyes. "I can give you two superpowers too."
He could not and would not protect his brothers forever. Teaching them how to do so and giving them the necessary tools was another matter.
"Like what?" he asked, voice wavering. If he could have powers, he could do more than just protest. He could take action.
"The catalog is rather small, but the ones that I can give will blow your minds." Considering the alternative was no powers at all, they had no choice.
"Do you just have durability then?" Kael asked. He knew when it came to Thairon, the extent of that durability would be more than just against cutlery.
"Durability is a side effect of the modifications my body needs to create enough energy for my new form of existence," he explained.
"Which is?"
His bracelet created a small x-ray screen, showing the inside of his skull. A maelstrom of crimson energy danced where his brain should be.
"I am pure energy now; I don't have a brain or a nervous system." He glared at Kael. "I'll make you eat sand if you make a stupid joke."
"Fucking hell," Kael finally swore. What the hell had his brother done? He understood now that they couldn't have comprehended the scope of his work until now.
He chuckled. "What do you guys say? The process will take a couple of weeks, and a couple more for you to get a feeling on how to handle your powers."
A training course would have to be prepared depending on the powers his brothers choose. Otherwise, he might as well give them weapons of mass destruction and set them loose.
"Uh, summer break is in a month. I'll come as soon as it is over," Kael said.
Skyler shifted in his seat. "I'll come with him."
"Before I forget, here." He pulled out two bracelets. Designed to act as wearable devices, they contained everything necessary for daily life and more.
Kael almost knocked his empty cup over while snatching the silver bracelet. "Is this for teleportation?"
Sky took the other one, his brows reaching to his hairline. His little brother had told him about the teleportation, but having it in his hand made it real.
"Yes, just choose a location; Nax will drop you off in the nearest discrete place. It won't work in public places unless there is an emergency." He didn't want public exposure yet, if ever.
Kael grinned, caressing the bracelet. "You are the greatest brother one could ever ask for."
"I know."
There was a knock on the door.
He cleared his throat and allowed the person in. "Come in."
A mature woman with tan skin in a bikini entered the room. She walked to Kael and held her fist out.
"Kael, how is my favorite beach manager doing?" she asked with a light voice.
He leaned forward and bumped fists. "Athel, welcome. Great as always. You?"
"Wonderful, dear," she said. Her eyes fell on Thairon. "And who is this gentleman?"
"My older brother, Thairon," he introduced. The said man did not even glance at the woman.
"You didn't tell me he was so handsome."
Thairon turned his head away. This horny woman sounded troublesome.
His brother was no help either. "Well, he is rather shy."
"I hope he'll be around," she licked her lips.
"Anyway, I just wanted to say hi. I'll leave you three alone now." With those words, she left the room.
Sky began to howl after he was sure the mature lady was out of earshot. Kael was no better.
"First time a woman shows interest in you, and she is a bona fide milf," he said between laughing like a madman.
"You have to admit though, she doesn't look a day over thirty," Sky said, inflaming the laughter.
Thairon finished his slurry and cake in silence.
"If you want, I can arrange something. She is a rather hot catch around here."
"I have a date tomorrow," he said, turning to his other brother. Skyler was still laughing, though it had subsided a bit now.
His finger crackled red with bioelectricity, and his brother's left arm rose out of his control. Skyler stopped laughing, confused, before the renegade hand slapped him across the face. The laughter disappeared, leaving its place to furrowed brows.
"What the?" he said, shaking his hand. "What did you do?"
"I controlled the bioelectricity in your body."
"Cool," he replied, nonplussed by losing control of his limb.
"Bro, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but science experiments don't count as dates."
Kael was not spared the slap either.
Once the catching-up phase was over, he had to explain why he was dodging them for over a year. The parts concerning his slowly decaying body were glossed over. Revealing that he had discovered the Arrival Point and had crossed over into a dying universe had his brothers on the edge of their seats.
It had also helped to distract them.
He gave them the rundown on what genetic modifications he had available. Both had chosen after carefully considering the options. Kael had, unsurprisingly, selected the powers that were the closest to the module he once carried.
Skyler had quickly settled on becoming a vigilante and took the option that offered him the best path.
They had lunch, enjoyed the beach, teased him over his date—they still didn't believe he had one, and he was in no hurry to correct the assumptions—and had dinner.
Athel, the woman with too much free time on her hands, made several appearances. As she was good friends with Kael, he merely said he already had a girlfriend rather than something more blunt.
He went home after that.
—
Glassport
Instead of returning to the lab, he decided to take a break.
A meteor shower would be visible in several spots across the continent. Starfall Hill would not be one of the locations due to the pollution. However, past a certain altitude, he would have the best view.
He laid down on the hoverboard, enjoying the ride. Once it stopped, he sucked in a breath. The multitude of colors set his usually churning mind at ease.
The vastness of the cosmos appeared so clear to him now. Living in one world without the chance to travel among the stars felt almost stifling. One day, a day that was approaching quickly, he would be there to see what existed beyond this star system.
Aliens, most likely, new worlds, faunas, anomalies to examine, and supernovas to witness. The possibilities were endless.
He just had to reach for it.
Purple meteors, composed of sodium, were the first. Blue ones were magnesium, red ones consisted of oxygen and nitrogen, iron-based meteors left yellow streaks, and the glaring orange was created by sodium.
He felt his mind drift off under the clear night sky.
—
Temple of the Gates
"Teleportation, huh? I got the impression that he was beyond a genius, but I did not expect that," she said, caressing her daughter's hair.
She looked at her eyes, a mirror of her own. "And you are going on another date with him."
"He did take me to a rather fancy place," she muttered.
"Uh huh." Yumiko waited in silence for her daughter to speak up.
She pushed herself up, turning to face her mother. "Mom, I don't know him enough to be sure, but that guy might actually be able to close the ruptures permanently."
Yumiko raised the tip of her fingers to her lips to silence the gasp that left her. "That is…"
"Yes. He is also actually a good date." It has been years since she talked about nothing in particular with an individual other than her mother. Military life did not have time for idle chatter.
"As long as you are enjoying yourself." For that was all she wanted for her children: to enjoy the blessing that was life.
Unfortunately, not everyone shared that opinion.
"We are getting ice cream tomorrow," she said. Compared to the excitement of their first date—if it could be called that—eating ice cream was a welcome change.
"While you are there, please tell him that thirty billion aurel is not an amount that anyone would give, not even to charity. They almost summoned me for a statement over whether I am laundering money," she said.
Half the reason the chairman had stayed as long as he had was the sudden donation, which triggered alarms all over the government.
"Thirty billion?" she whistled. That was an amount ninety-nine percent of the population would never ever see in their lives. Yet, he gave it up like nothing.
"What are you going to do with it?" Her mother did not have sole control over the charity due to security reasons, but her voice was always heard.
"The board agreed that we could construct apartment complexes to house tens of thousands of families in need," she said. Thirty billion aurel was more money than the charity had ever handled in its history.
She would make sure it was put to good use.
"I would hope the rest of the rich elite would follow his lead, but I know better than that." Thankfully, her work had no place for the usual rich bastards her mother had to deal with.
"Yes, a pity."
Her mother had to sleep in early, but she was too restless. She climbed to the roof of the main building. From this high up, the meteor shower would be visible.
She lay down, pulling over the blanket, and gazed at the stars. Down here, the space looked so carefree. A place where neither politics, blood ties, nor war could reach her.
The first round of meteors started passing. Streaks of purple, blue, red, orange, and yellow created blurs that blocked her sight of the stars momentarily. They offered a different kind of beauty, the fleeting kind.
There one second, gone the next.
Like her childhood. Mitsuki used to drag her around, so restless, always seeking the next grand adventure. She had found it not long after she attended the military academy.
Fourteen years old, and her relationship with Mitsuki had started to wane faster than the meteors.
Missed birthdays that she could not make up over the phone, unattended holidays that broke her sister's heart, and, of course, house visits that were too short.
Now that she had left to follow her own path and refused to contact her, Tomoe could not even explain the reason behind it all.
Though, it was worth it if she was kept away from the nest of rats that was the capital.