“Tess, do you know anything about Drides?” Milla asked as soon as the group of six stepped back inside her home.

  “The young man in charge of the pretorians? Why?”

  “He was the one waiting for us,” Garder replied. “You wouldn’t believe what he proposed to us.”

  “Proposed to you? Are you… friends all of a sudden?”

  “What were we supposed to do?” Verim asked. “Shin, Wendell and I already saw a taste of his power. We couldn’t have fought him. All we could do was listen to some far-out idea and come back to talk about it.”

  “That man…” Tess murmured. “I don’t exactly know what he can do, but whenever some new rumor comes out about him, it sends shivers down spines. He isn’t natural. He’s supposed to have no equal.”

  “He claims he’s from Earth,” Shin stated.

  “I’ve heard such murmurs before. But other than the fact that he can kill people by looking at them and tear open portals to the Fragmented world, we don’t know much about him.”

  “Well, get this…” Garder spoke up. “The guy wants us to help him kill the Original. The person who pretty much made Aurra what it is.”

  “I… I see.”

  “Even if that were possible, what do you think would happen?”

  “I honestly couldn’t say. We don’t know the full extent of what the Original changed about this world. Those that believe in his existence can’t even agree on what he did. Some say he did nothing at all.”

  “Drides claims that it’ll bring peace, end judgment, and destroy the haze,” Simon explained. “But how would he even know that?”

  “Regardless, Tess, we just came back to say that we’ll be leaving for a bit, for somewhere safe—to discuss this,” Milla replied. “For now, I want you to take the others and go to your own safe place. We don’t know what Drides does. That’s why we shouldn’t be here together for a while.”

  “I understand. I hope that you’ll make the right decision, whatever it may be. I’m sorry that I couldn’t be of more help…”

  “What’s going on?” Rayna asked at an open bedroom door. “We’re not going to see my parents, are we?”

  Milla went over to her, knelt, and spoke softly, “We just have one last thing to do first. We’ll be back soon, and then we can see your parents.”

  “Oh… Okay, Milla. It’s okay. I can wait.”

  “Thank you for being so patient.”

  “Did we decide if we discuss this with Rivia first?” Verim asked.

  “I don’t think it’d do us much good,” Shin replied. “He’d probably just be against it no matter what, and I doubt he knows anything we don’t about the Original. I don’t think we should waste the time, personally.”

  “I agree with Shin,” Wendell said. “We can’t always rely on others. I think this is a moment for personal judgment.”

  “So long as we think it over,” Milla replied. “Okay. Well, let’s go.”

  “Let’s transition to Earth at City O,” Shin suggested. “It’d be sunset and sunrise over there, respectfully. And we’d be closer to Simon’s place. Your parents’ house is in Canada, right?”

  “Near Toronto,” he replied.

  “Good. Thanks for everything, Tess. See you again shortly.”

  “I’ll look forward to it. Just be sure to hurry back—the City could finish clearing out any day now.”

  “You got it.”

  They exchanged further brief farewells before heading off once again in a carriage of light. After reappearing on a quiet O street at sunset, Milla cut open a tear leading to a rural Maine forest. After stepping through, she again prepared the demirriage to complete their transworld journey.

  “This is close to where Rayna was found,” Shin commented.

  “Sure is nice out here, isn’t it?” Milla replied.

  “Bet they didn’t expect the datastone to turn into a baby,” Verim added. “We were actually worried she’d revert back upon entering Aurra.”

  “Do you think Rayna is Earthen or Aurrian?” Wendell mused.

  “Dunno. Guess what would determine it, was if she were alive in any sense in her previous form. Regardless, she’s quite a kid.”

  “Sure is,” Simon replied. “Kind of makes me want to have one of my own. Hey—Garder, you okay?”

  They turned to see him leaning against a tree as if in pain. He breathed deeply and slowly, and seemed to be lost in thought.

  “Garder?” Milla murmured. “Is it just your body? Still can’t walk on your own yet?”

  “No, it’s different…”

  “Maybe the exposure to the demirriage screwed up his alchemagi flow,” Verim suggested. “Isn’t it fragile right now or something?”

  “The carriage was fine…” he huffed and stood up again. “It was coming back to Earth. As soon as I stepped out from Aurra, I felt some kind of tremor go through my body… It was weird, but I think I’m fine now. I’ll just take it easy at Simon’s house. I know I still need rest.”

  “Are you? We can bring you back to Tess’ if you’re not up for—”

  “No, Milla. I’m coming with you guys. We have to stick together.”

  “Okay, Garder. I won’t ask again. Simon, take us there.”

  “You got it.”

  He and the others slipped inside, and after a quick jolt of energy, the carriage appeared in the middle of an empty stone driveway. Simon’s family’s house was a large, white modern home surrounded on all sides by trees. It rested in a suburb of Toronto, which could be seen in the distance, its famous observation tower lingering above the downtown area.

  “Nice house,” Verim commented.

  “Thanks. It’s still the only place I call home. Guess I’m not someone who wants to settle down yet.”

  “How often do you visit?” Milla asked.

  “Usually just on the holidays. I spend most of my time around the world. Or more recently, the other world. Come on in.”

  He showed them inside, and any conversation they wanted to have was immediately put to the side; his house was simply too interesting and told so many things about his character, that his visitors had to spend some time acquainting themselves with the residence.

  From the photographs on the walls, they could tell that Simon was someone who looked up to his parents, and they respected him in return. Between the kitchen and large living room were an Oxford diploma and a certificate congratulating him for his pilot’s license. Elsewhere were framed pictures, most of which were in black and white and depicted the lives of poor urban people, parts of Africa, or were portraits of his extended family.

  “Look around all you want. I’ll be right over in the computer room over there.” He pointed to a door in the corner. “I’m sure I’ve got a lot of email to go through and such… Feels like I haven’t been on Earth forever.”

  “Simon’s such a cool guy,” Verim commented he looked over photographs with Milla and Garder. “And, geez, has this world changed since I was here last. This house almost looks Aurrian, City B mostly.”

  “This bond between an Earthen and Aurrians… still feels strange,” Milla replied. “But Simon has helped us a lot. I’m glad he’s with us.”

  Over on a couch in the lounge area of the living room, Wendell and Shin looked through a coffee table’s books and magazines. Whereas Wendell was always up to date on Earth affairs, it took time for news to reach Shin. On her visits, she took every chance she got to catch up.

  “Sometimes it’s hard to believe how quickly Earth changes,” Shin said as she shuffled through the magazines. “Aurra’s been mostly the same for centuries. We just kind of reconfigured everything for the population boom, and that’s been the focus since. Then suddenly Rivia comes along with his rebellion after an evil maniac is elected to take over Milla’s line.”

  “It’s all too fast for a man my age,” Wendell sighed. “You miss a week out here, it feels like you have to start over again. Still, I think that at the moment, there aren’t as many worldwide troubles here as on Aurra.”

  “Hm. That might just be personal opinion.”

  Simon came back out after some time with a batch of photographs in his hands. With everyone gathered in the lounge area for their discussion, he began by handing out his prints for the group to look over.

  “Warm and fresh,” he said as he took his seat. “All taken from Aurra. I’ll keep them locked up and hidden, of course. Your world still fascinates me. I feel like I still know so little about it.”

  Garder yawned from his chair. “We have time. Ask away.”

  “Oh, trust me, I’ve been thinking up questions since our visit to C. Um, let’s begin with rebirth. Before your babies had to have a spirit transfer to become fully alive, what happened when you came to Aurra?”

  “We’re all too young to recall an age that old,” Shin replied. “I mean, none of us were there. It’s still a very old system, first used in an ancient Aurra, but we think not so old that the Original One started it.”

  “When Aurra was young, it had nine Cities across the world, each pretty small,” Milla continued. “There were only three tiers, as well. Good, fair, and bad, basically. None of those original nine Cities really remain, save for the original J, I guess you could say. J was the first City built when the old tier system evolved, and we know what happened to it. City F stands over the ancient, first capital of Aurra, but it looks nothing like it used to.”

  “And history books state that when your judgement in Hold was complete, you were ‘remade’ on Aurra at about half your Earth death age. If that’s true, then Aurrian lives used to be much shorter than Earth ones. There might have been fewer newsouls, and once Aurrians started being actually reborn, newsouls could have become much more common.”

  “And what does this spiritual infusion concept mean for Earth?”

  “Depends when the spirit enters the body,” Verim replied. “And no one is sure when that happens. Could be a few months into pregnancy, could be at the very end. Either way, it’s not like you’ll remember any of it.”

  “But who dictates all this?”

  “Can’t be sure. The Administration is very old, but we know little about them. We don’t even know how one gets assigned into Aurra’s subsystem. It’s a completely separate world divided by a veil of secrecy.”

  “And once you’re in Aurra, you can get assigned different jobs… But you don’t have to work at all, right?”

  “No, but you’re expected to do something,” Milla said. “Technically, all you need in Aurra is a sunsphere protecting you and access to a living space and food and clothing synthids. Pretty much every job is one meant to benefit the community. Wendell is in a special unit, while Garder and I are independent military. We don’t work under the Guard; we’re used more for diplomacy and resolving conflicts peacefully. Until recently, our swords were just for show really, since we didn’t have the ability to attack anyone.”

  “Come to think of it…” Simon looked down at Milla’s blade. “I’ve never seen you even draw your sword.”

  “I guess that doesn’t surprise me. Vectors typically don’t have a need for one. That’s not to say I’m not capable. Back to the jobs, here are pretty much all of them… The military classes are Knight, Alchemagist, Rifleman or Archer, and Specialist. Jeryn was an alchemagist, and knights that excel in alchemagi and get to level three are vanguards, like Garder. Similarly, alchemagists that can wield a sword efficiently become sentinels, though it’s a rare class. Then there are specialists, who are also rare, and are of a class Wendell falls into. It covers a wide variety of titles, including spies and infiltrators. Am I boring you yet?”

  “Not at all. I’ve been wanting to learn this stuff for a while now.”

  “If you’re in a military class, then you’re also part of a subclass. If you’re not military, then these are just known as ‘attributes,’ or things you’re proficient at. This includes animalect, synthesizer, tracker, searcher, tailor, cook, scientist, architect, all matter of political study, and illegal fields like eraser and breaker. Synthesizers either process raw synthids or can use them proficiently without wasting too much of their alchemagi reserves, and of course animalects practice communication with animals.”

  “I’d be a tracker, and Wendell is a searcher,” Verim added. “I seek people down in a conventional sense, while Wendell is better at reading and finding someone’s inner being. It’s his kind that help reunite loved ones.”

  “Scientist is pretty much anyone that furthers research in Aurra, while tailors and cooks use synthids to make clothing and food. That might not sound as important, but both are highly respected positions made up of people who take the jobs seriously. Tess is a master architect—she’s in charge of new City I buildings and maintains datastone records, while her subordinates fix and update lesser areas of the City. And as erasers, Vadaka and Bired are capable of wiping entire lifetimes from someone’s memory.”

  “The best ones can make it so not even judges can detect eradicated lifetimes,” Shin replied. “It should be obvious why the practice is highly illegal and sought out.”

  “And aside from any number of other illicit things you can do in Aurra, breakers are perhaps the most… interesting group of specialists.”

  “And what do they do?” Simon asked.

  “They’re the kind of people that I would fascinate,” Verim stated.

  “Breakers seek out ways to bypass Aurrian law,” Milla explained. “They find loopholes in the inscribed, broadcasted rules our minds obey. It doesn’t always involve finding a way around providence, but even basic bypasses can be dozens of actions deep. These people need incredible resolve and cunning intelligence. A few of them are even employed by the Guard to find these overlooked action chains so that they can be fixed.”

  Simon murmured, “Huh. They’re like hackers, but for real life.”

  “And that’s pretty much it,” Shin concluded. “There are a whole bunch of other minor positions and more stemming off the major ones, but there’s a quick rundown. Sometimes you’re born naturally talented in a specific field, and sometimes you carry a talent with you through lifetimes.”

  “In my case, I only ever had one job before joining the military with Milla,” Garder said. “Bet you couldn’t guess what it was.”

  Simon tried, “Um, I don’t know… Cook?”

  “I wish. Close, though. Nope, I was a tailor my previous two visits to Aurra. Guess this was a step up, huh?”

  “I can’t picture that, Garder.”

  “Well, don’t mock it. Synthesizing good clothes that fit is a difficult task. I never really had a style sense, though, so I didn’t climb the ranks.”

  “Right… Aurrian clothing is um, interesting.”

  “What? Don’t think much of it?” Garder laughed. “Yeah, it takes time to get used to every time you come back. But hey, you’d look even stranger in Aurra with Earth clothing. The whole fantastical, overblown fashion sense started millennia ago, and it’s not going away anytime soon. Since clothing can be more complex in Aurra what with it being synthesized and all, I guess tailors just go all out with their work.”

  “Yeah, but what’s with the little bit of armor on your right shoulder? That’s not going to protect you against anything.”

  “Unless you’ve got heavy, bulky armor infused with alchemagi sealant, metal isn’t going to protect you from much of anything anyway. These little plates are just a status symbol. Except for the large Guard brigades, mobility is more important for us freelancers anyway.”

  “My last question—for now—is about the haze… What, exactly, is it? I know it can be affected by human emotion on Earth… but why?”

  “Still one of Aurra’s biggest mysteries,” Milla replied. “We like to think we can explain the emotional component, but maybe the relationship is the reverse; the worse it is here, the worse Earthens feel. Anyway…

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

  “Scientists have been trying to figure it out for as long as it’s been here. Opinions and ‘facts’ come and go. When it comes down to it, all we know about it is that it exists, it behaves like a gas, it can’t penetrate airtight chambers, and it destroys anything organic on contact. Sunspheres burn it up regardless if their light is visible or not, as they generate a force that permeates everything. And you, Simon—you got your own haze protection. Your Earth body emits something that destroys it.”

  “Whatever it is, it’s bad,” Garder added. “We’d be much better without it. The one good thing about it is that it retains heat, so it actually helps keep us warm during periods when the Aurrian sun is weaker.”

  “Why don’t they put sunspheres everywhere, across the globe?”

  “Why do you think? Aurra is just as political as Earth. And right now, the council is happy with twenty-six Cities—one of ‘em underground with no central sphere. The system ‘works’; it keeps people in their place.”

  “That, and a City-supporting sphere that covers fifty million people over a large radius requires over eight hundred human spirits to operate,” Wendell added. “Quite the price tag. And these spheres can’t just be synthesized. Some haven’t even been replaced in a thousand years. Some people like the rest provided by hibernating and providing life to millions, but a millennia of nothingness is a long time to conceptualize.”

  “And all of this brings us to the Original,” Shin said. “Supposedly, he didn’t create the haze, but now Drides claims that he opened the way for its existence. There’s no evidence that killing the Original would reverse the first laws, its laws, and even if that did happen, that the haze would vanish. Given everything, aside from alchemagi—something we think he did create, the haze is the biggest thing that separates Aurra from Earth.”

  “Milla or Garder, one of you said that when you are judged, you’re given a top rank, but you may not necessarily go to that City because you may need to fill a transfer in a City struggling with its quota. But you’re free to immigrate to that top rank when you’re eighteen. Am I right?”

  “Yeah,” Garder replied. “I said that, and I mentioned that it’s like being put into coach when you got a first-class ticket, if I remember. But why are you bringing this up?”

  “Because I just had a thought about Drides…”

  “What is it?”

  “He’s from Earth. I can believe that. But he’s a pretorian. He had to have the implants to make him as such. The problem is… Well, the problem is, pretorian implants can’t be given to Earthens… Right?”

  Everyone looked at Simon, not knowing what to say at first.

  “That… that is true, Simon,” Milla replied. “I don’t know why I didn’t remember that earlier. But how do you know about that?”

  “There’s a kind of incompatibility. Vlad told me about it when I was training. We didn’t have a lot of time for discussion, but he did divulge some information he thought would be useful. I learned about implants, which allow their users to bypass suppression waves. Earthens can’t have them installed. They’d fail because of our subtle biological differences. This reminded me of Verim’s case a bit, and I developed something of a theory about him. Completely unfounded, but you may want to hear it.”

  Garder smiled. “You’re smart—hit us.”

  Verim looked over intently as Simon began, “I think these implants were originally copied from existing genetics, from a certain few people who could break providence, or weren’t affected by other broadcasted laws. These implants are completely biological, organic. It’s like putting a gland in the brain or spinal cord that tunes into the suppression field and obeys it. Somehow, Verim may have the natural ability to defy the field completely.”

  “Do you… think so?” he murmured.

  “Have you ever tried to self-destruct in Aurra?”

  “Of course not. That’d be the end.”

  “Obviously. But could you?”

  “I’ve never really thought about it…”

  “Do think about it. The majority of what the suppression device does is making sure you can’t kill Guardsmen, politicians, or other people. And you’re a nice guy who has probably never attacked a non-Guard.”

  Garder opened his mouth to say something, but Verim replied too quickly, “Yeah, but why me? There’s nothing special about me. I was just born this way, a long time ago. I was still young when I realized that… something was different about me, that I hadn’t felt in past lives.”

  “Fascinating, but where are you going with this?” Garder asked.

  “What I’m saying is that unless Drides is a very unique case or has an origin unlike any other Aurrian, he should not be a pretorian if his claims of his Earth birth are true. This isn’t even a question of power. It just goes against basic Aurrian physiology. Unless his implant is one of a kind.”

  “But what if he really just was extremely powerful?”

  “Powerful enough to defy Aurra itself? Are there people like that?”

  “What if he defied death?” Wendell questioned.

  “What… what do you mean?” Shin wondered.

  “This is not a mystic question; I’m not saying he could use witchcraft or some such nonsense. What I’m asking is, what if he went to Hold, but somehow… didn’t go to Aurra afterwards? Or arrived in Aurra… differently? With enough power, would it be possible to escape Hold?”

  “Palar did, but that was because he was in our kingdom and had access to a device that recreates you near your birth spot.”

  “What would it take to escape the main portion of Hold? Tens of thousands of years of using it, and it’s never been done once? The system can’t be that perfect,” Simon continued.

  “That’s a good point…” Milla replied. “I think we should research this. Finding a judge who might’ve been in Hold when Drides might’ve been there would be a good start. But Osk is the only former judge I know, and he’s far too old to have been there if and when Drides arrived.”

  “So Drides could be some freak of nature,” Garder said. “And we can figure that out just by the fact that he’s a pretorian from Earth.”

  “That’s about all we can theorize,” Shin concluded. “Now what about the Original? Let’s clarify what he, she or it is exactly.”

  “The first human to have self-awareness, at least to the point of realizing Aurra’s potential,” Garder stated. “That’s how I see it, anyway.”

  “But is that enough? We think rats, dolphins, and elephants are all self-aware. They don’t have an Aurrian civilization, or practice alchemagi.”

  “They’re still just animals,” Verim replied. “Humans are… well, I guess we’re just the sapient species of this world. Aliens out in the universe probably have their own versions of Aurra for all we know.”

  “Sure, but how did the Original One set itself apart from everyone else? Why did he realize that he could shape Aurra’s laws?”

  “We’ll probably never be sure,” Milla replied. “Though personally, I have this image of an intelligent human standing among their tribesmen and enemy alike in an early Aurra, all confused about where they were. Maybe they tried and perhaps succeeded at continuing their Earth lives. I think the Original was simply the first person to realize just where they were—the opposite side. They probably couldn’t quite comprehend it, but they knew. And once they began to explore Aurra, they soon realized that for some reason, they could play with it. As if it were one big dream.”

  Garder added, “And then he set a bunch of laws into place and disappeared, or ruled over his fellow Aurrians until he died. But there are ancients who were alive back then. The Five in the fragmented place even have their original bodies from that time. Speaking of which… I really hope they’ll be released from their prisons when Rivia comes. Over ten thousand years in the same, withered husk… that must be terrible.”

  “No one’s ever seriously tried to claim to be the Original—if they could even recall it to begin with—but could it be possible that he’s among us?” Wendell questioned. “And would they ever risk revealing themselves?”

  “But then the judges would have to protect him whenever he came to Hold, and as they’re constantly cycled in and out, someone would have to stay there to inform every new judge about the need to hide the Original each time he visited. It’d be a massive conspiracy, and those don’t work.”

  “So maybe Drides was right…” Verim muttered. “Maybe the first shaper of Aurra really did disappear into something unexplainable, and now he knows where he is and how to find him.”

  “And that just doesn’t seem possible.”

  “No, it doesn’t. But how many other things have we seen which should’ve been impossible so far?”

  “I still don’t know about any of this…” Garder sighed. “But there is one thing about this proposal. It’s a chance, however small, that the haze could disappear. That’s good enough for me. I think we should play nice with him and see what happens. We might not have a chance in a fight against him, but we certainly can run away if things get bad.”

  “But, explain this: if this guy is so powerful, how about he just goes and does it himself?” Shin replied.

  “Maybe he could. But if we do work together, I think Drides really would respect that,” Milla said. “He said he isn’t with the others. Maybe we can even make him fight with us, or end this war before it really explodes.”

  “Hm…” Wendell huffed and stroked Scud’s chin. “The young man could do anything to us for all we know. He might just be trapping us.”

  “Every decision carries risk,” Garder moaned, now weary of the conversation. “You know what, screw it. I’m tired of running around in the dark. Let’s just see what this guy has to show us and see what happens.”

  They had run out of talking points. Milla, the last one to be handed Simon’s photos, quietly looked through them. Most were of City C, but there were two pictures that he had somehow managed to get off during the fight with the demon. A few others were on the spot portraits of her, Garder, Lechi, Shin, and Verim, all taken earlier in their journey.

  “These are great,” Milla said as she gave them back to him. “You have a real eye, and I know shooting in Aurra’s dull light isn’t always easy.”

  “Thanks, Milla. So… how about we just relax for now, and I’ll fix dinner in a bit. You all can stay overnight, by the way. We have the beds.”

  “Good host.” Garder yawned and stretched. “I could really go for a hot shower right now, though. I still kind of hurt all over.”

  “Down at the end of the hall.”

  “Thanks, Earth dude.”

  “Try not to stink it up,” Milla asked.

  “Yeah, yeah…”

  “If you’re on Earth long enough, does it seem like you could leave Aurra behind?” Simon wondered. “Basically, what feels more natural?”

  “Earth does. Definitely,” Milla replied. “Suppose it’s because we evolved here and the sun is the way it should be. Aurra always seems like a long, fantastical, anachronistic dream you have between lives.”

  “I wonder what would happen if we all just forgot about Aurra and stayed here…”

  “I think about it all the time,” Shin said. “But eventually, you go back to Aurra no matter what, and with it easier to shape and manipulate, I’ve always kind of felt obliged to help protect it.”

  “You probably have a unique view on Aurra,” Milla added. “Just wait until you’re born into it the first time. Then you’ll understand how important it is to us, no matter how strange it can be sometimes.”

  “Milla…” Simon murmured. “When did you enter Aurra the first time? You’re the oldest here, so I wanted to get an idea of your age.”

  “Twenty-two lifetimes ago…” she replied quietly. “Even when you can recall, after such a long universal life, you forget things. But I remember the first time I stepped out into an Aurrian City from my first home there. Way, way back in 136, after living somewhere in the Roman Empire. And there are plenty of Aurrians who would consider that young, too.”

  “It’s hard to conceive someone being around that long.”

  “Well, it’s not so bad.” Milla smiled. “You get a break from your memories every other time you’re up and about.”

  “Simon, you haven’t really told us what all you can do yet,” Garder mentioned over a fancy dinner. “You should tell us, right? So that we know what you can do tomorrow. We have no idea what to expect, so we should at least know what to expect from ourselves.”

  “Well, first of all, like I said, Vlad and Kerchief taught me solar spells specifically. I could and should learn other alignments, but I think I’ll benefit you more if I can provide a rare kind of support to you guys.”

  Shin replied, “That’s what solar’s been, historically. Support spells.”

  “Right, because the alignment lacks real power. After all, it’s just light. But by bending it, I can make everyone somewhat invisible. I can also magnify it if there’s enough of it around, and turn it into a beam of burning light. Or I can set up a diffusion field that blocks all manner of alchemagi. And of course, blinding people is always easy to do.”

  “Powerful solars use UV light as a weapon,” Milla noted. “The main advantage being that it’s invisible and very damaging.”

  “I’ve heard about that, but I’m not at that level yet.”

  “What about elemental transportation?” Garder asked. “I know you can do that.”

  “Right. It’s just as fast as demirriage travel, since carriage tech is based on it. But the range is small since it drains your reserves. Good thing about it is that it’s near instant, and you can go anywhere light touches.”

  “What’s that like?”

  “You can stop and look around, and when you want to move, you do so in an instant, like teleporting. It’s really a rush.”

  “Only vector and lightning travel come close to matching that speed,” Wendell noted. “Watairre is next up, I believe.”

  “And we have an advantage in that we can travel through air and water,” Garder said. “I wish… Kamsa had time to teach me how.”

  “We’ll get justice,” Simon assured. “For her creation, and her loss.”

  “The only thing we can do for her is to find the cloning facility and destroy it. I swear I’ll see it through, no matter how long it takes to find.”

  “I’m a bit jealous,” Milla said, trying to change the subject a little. “Aside from Wendell, I’m the only one here that isn’t a level three now.”

  “Ah, we both know your stone will activate really soon. You’re still pretty much the strongest one of us right now, alchemagi wise.”

  “Vector is that strong, huh?” Simon replied.

  “It is,” Shin said. “Only another vector can combat it effectively. Lightning can tear apart the energized atoms easily, as could a very strong air technique. Other than that, vector cuts through anything when the user has time to charge the lines. Milla would’ve been Breen’s worst nightmare.”

  “There are only three pretorians now,” Verim stated. “Could we take them on, maybe finish them off? And if Drides actually joined us…”

  “If he joined us, then the only pretorian left in my eye is Trinqit,” Garder said, masking some anger. “I promised Kamsa I wouldn’t kill Viveri. And personally, I don’t think he’s as dangerous as the others, anyway.”

  “Don’t be fooled,” Shin replied. “Drides isn’t going to ‘join’ us by any means. He’s just going to use us and throw us away. Sometimes even enemies ally one another to reach a single goal.”

  “And it doesn’t remove the fact that we are, indeed, still currently enemies,” Wendell added. “Until Drides kills Lontonkon, stops the war, and then shakes our hands with a smile, we can’t begin to trust him.”

  “But we’re doing this, right?” Garder asked and finished his meal.

  “We will,” Shin replied. “So long as we stay one step ahead of him the entire time. We can’t give him a chance, even after an apparent victory.”

  “Agreed,” Milla said. “Just be careful, observant, and let him act first. He’s the one with the plan. It’s true that no matter how this ends, this is probably the only chance we’ve got to meet the Original. Hard to say no to discovering Aurra’s oldest secret, whatever the circumstance.”

  “That’s how I feel, too,” Garder said. “Maybe he can’t even move anymore. Or maybe he’s unimaginably powerful. Whatever he is, I think it’s a discovery worth dying over. It could change everything on Aurra.”

  “And with all that said, great dinner, Simon,” Verim replied.

  “Y-yeah… no problem. I’m glad you liked it.”

  Later that night, while most of them were sleeping, Simon was still wide-awake back in the living room. He wanted the time he had to take in the feeling of being home again, but also to make sure that his abilities were as good as they could be for the time being.

  By his side, he had his bag of different kinds of lights, each with a fresh set of batteries inside. He played around with them, observing how quickly certain kinds of light reacted to his manipulation, how bright they could get, and how much potential they possibly had in combat.

  He could bend the rays, flatten them and spread them, gather them into a sphere, fire them outward in bursts, or expand the light so that it covered the room in a dull glow. Nearby was a burning log crackling in the fireplace; another source of light he toyed with.

  “Can’t sleep?” Milla’s voice came from behind him. “Me neither.”

  “Hey,” Simon greeted her without turning around. “I was about to turn in. I just wanted to soak in another typical night at home.”

  “You have a lot of lights there.”

  “Yeah. They’re like the only weapons I have, really. Though it’d be hard to use them that way. They hardly emit enough illumination.”

  Milla went around and took a seat on the far end of the couch, where she watched the quieting fire. “Hm, I do miss N a little myself.”

  “When did you and Garder enter the academy again?”

  “When we were eight.”

  “That seems such a young age.”

  “You can enter at five. It’s perfectly normal; children are obviously going to typically be more intelligent in our world, what with recollection. And since they’re almost entirely free of harm, they have more freedom.”

  “And you never knew your parents?”

  “Nope. We were raised like surrogate children, by the City, in a childcare center. It’s perfectly standard practice, unless you’re a newsoul surrogate birth who lived less than twenty years in your Earth life. In other words, Temki would’ve been given foster parents. We could’ve still asked for a pair, but I know I didn’t need any, and he just didn’t want any.”

  “Still so much to learn…” Simon sighed and put his lights away.

  “You don’t need to worry about most of it until you ‘go’ there.”

  “You know how curiosity is. You always want to learn more.”

  “So… what’s your life been like so far, Simon?”

  “Oh, you know… Single child, raised in a semi-wealthy family. My parents asked that I try my hardest at everything, whatever it might be I chose to pursue. It’s a relationship more of respect than closeness. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. I call my dad ‘Sir.’ That sums it up.”

  “You’ve already succeeded in life. An Oxford education, a pilot’s license, a want to help others.”

  “Yeah? Think I’ll be judged fairly?”

  “Don’t go through everyday worrying about being judged. Just be true to yourself and chase after what you find important. It’d be a secret to an Earthen, but the truth is, that’s what judges like to see the most.”

  “I just worry that when that day finally comes—and I assure you, I want to live a long, full life—but when that day comes, they’ll punish me for all this. I mean, I’m violating something by interacting with Aurrians.”

  “We’ll make sure you’re treated fairly. I don’t know how, but we’ll find a way. By then, Hold and Aurra could be very different, whether or not we’re the ones to see to it. And you’re part of that change.”

  Simon nodded, and the two became still. They watched the fire for a few minutes before Milla reached for the pouch she kept at her side.

  “Let me show you something,” she said and took out a small book.

  She scooted a bit closer to Simon where the light was stronger and showed him the first small black and white photograph.

  “You don’t have your photo taken a lot in Aurra. They’re mostly for identification and big events. Here’s me when I entered the academy.”

  Simon looked at the photograph of Milla as a child. She appeared to be very sure of herself with a smile on her freckled face.

  “You had freckles, huh?” Simon chuckled.

  “Yeah, I was kind of… cute,” she sighed. “Previous Aurra lifetime, I was also a knight, so I had done all of this before and would’ve graduated quickly—had it not been for Garder. They really keep siblings together in Aurra. I mean, in every instance, until adulthood; has to do with everyone getting equal treatment, new experiences. And this meant that I spent most of my time at the academy tutoring him. Here, look at this one.”

  She flipped the page to a photo of them both. Milla kept her smile, while Garder, his messy hair covering a bored expression, slouched next to her. Still, he also managed a grin, and they seemed happy for the most part.

  “They took ‘entering party’ photos for their archives so they know who signed up together.”

  “You both look pretty carefree.”

  “Yes, well… We both had tragic Earth lives that were fresh on our minds. You can’t fully blame yourself, of course. You don’t know who you really are on Earth, and if you get a lousy upbringing, it can hurt you later on. Garder’s never told you about the first half of his current life, has he?”

  “No. Not that I ever asked.”

  “He was killed in a motorcycle accident a few weeks before he was going to be married.”

  “Oh, that’s terrible…”

  “He also left behind a brother and mother. He wasn’t much older than you. But compared to me, he had it easy. I was the wife of a rising dictator. We caused great suffering, and our executions were earned.”

  “Milla… I’m really sorry. How… did you even get past that?”

  “I’m still not sure. But we pulled through and let go of the bad memories—another thing that can impress a judge later on.”

  Milla turned the page to the next photograph, showing her and Garder graduating from the academy.

  “He looks really happy in that one,” Simon noticed.

  “He should be. He came close to being held back a year. It isn’t that he’s a screw up or he doesn’t have his heart in it; he just doesn’t try as hard as he can all of the time.”

  “But you can’t say he doesn’t have determination.”

  Milla put the small book away. “A lot of Aurrians are determined. Everyone wants something to change. It’s been that way for a long time. But we’re ruled by a single government, unlike Earth. So, when something does happen, everyone feels it. But what we’re doing tomorrow… The end result is a complete unknown. This could be reckless.”

  “Could be. But it’s not like it could destroy Aurra, could it? Even if the Original put so many laws in place that would be reversed if he were to be destroyed, Aurra shouldn’t go down with him… right? It’d just stabilize itself again. Maybe be reset completely. What do you think could happen?”

  “Anything. Everything. Nothing at all. I don’t know. But I do believe that he exists somewhere, and if I were him, I would’ve wanted to let go for thousands of years now. He might be in unimaginable pain and torment. We could be giving him a mercy he’s sought out for millennia.”

  “Or… he could actually revel in being alive and commanding or just watching over every single Aurrian. He might not want to die at all, and if he doesn’t, do we have the right to try to defy that?”

  “Yeah… We’ll just have to see what he is and what he’s like. Drides wouldn’t know for certain, either. He just seems to have found a way to find him.”

  “We’d better get some sleep. Sounds like a long day tomorrow.”

  “A bit of an understatement. But thanks for talking with me. I never thought I’d get an Earthen perspective, as an Aurrian.”

  “Um, no problem. And vice versa. Well, you know what I mean.”

  Milla chuckled, stood, gave Simon a farewell pat on the shoulder, and returned to her guest room. With his Aurrian friends all throughout his house, he fell asleep on the couch a few minutes after the fire died out.

  Being in a familiar place had never felt so strange.