Today's search didn't yielded any leads, much the same as every other day and it was time for Kirveas to retire. But before that, he'd check to see how Yuga was doing. It was time exhausting training the young man but he wasn’t making any progress in his search so time was one thing he had. Yuga was certainly was an intriguing case, HQ would be interested in him.
He arrives at the danger zone and approaches the barren land. The battle with the creatures was over. In the middle of the zone was Yuga, sitting atop a very tall heap nearly ten meters high, consisting of dead bodies of the insect-like creatures with severed vines in between the corpses. He looked worn out and his breath sounded hoarse. The heap was positioned directly over the spot there was once a hole.
"Impressive as usual." was what Kirveas had to say on Yuga's performance. "Tier seven seems to be beneath you already, we’ll be going up one tier for your next battle.” said Kirveas.
"Hungry... ” moaned Yuga.
"That's expected. You haven’t eaten anything for a day and you don’t know how to fuel yourself with drive energy yet. There's food at the log house."
"Fruits?” Yuga asked.
"Yes” replied Kirveas before vanishing from sight.
Kirveas was always like that, briefly gave instructions then went about his business, never speaking any further. But that made things much simpler.
Yuga jumped down from the heap and landed with a thud. He walked out of the zone, wobbling as he went, so hungry he could barely stand.
Once he’d stepped out of the zone he called out to mimic, “Mimic!” From the tree flew down mimic in the form of a small green bird and landed softly on his shoulder. Together they moved to the log house. It was several miles away, a very long journey when you were on an empty stomach. This was about the third place they’d stayed in since he’d met Kirveas.
After an hour of walking the log house was finally in sight. It was situated in a small unnatural clearing in the middle of a forest, surrounded by a carpet of green grass. The missing trees were probably what went into building it.
Just before getting to the door, Yuga had a sudden thought. “Mimic, what if….. you turned into food?”
Mimic squawked in alarm and flew off his shoulder which made Yuga laugh. But really, what happened when mimic turned into food. Would he be edible? What happened when mimic cut off a piece of himself while in another form? Did he get smaller? Too many questions and not enough food to think.
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A kaleidoscope of flashing images, each one containing a different memory. Thousands of scenes go by in a fraction of a second. Most of them are unfamiliar, he forgets them once they're gone and they return to the deep depths of his mind. But a few he could recognize, memories that had surfaced more recently, though still alien to him.
A vast field of green grass, a curtain of lights, the sounds of melancholic music, a veiled figure, and running. Running with all his might. Why? He couldn't tell. This time the dream progresses further and his destination comes into view. Below the curtain of lights is a city, the last thing Yuga sees before waking up.
That dream again. The same one he'd had after he passed out the first time. It was a little different this time, he'd seen what he was running to. A city but as usual he couldn't recognize it. He couldn't even remember what it looked like anymore, the dream was already fading away.
Yuga lay on hard wooden floor, the familiar floor of the log house they'd been occupying for a while. Compared to the other place he'd first woken up, this one felt much more like a home. It also definitely wasn't Kirveas'. The residents must've fled because of the war.
Yuga could barely remember how he ended up on sleeping the floor. But it was safe to assume he'd eventually passed out from the exhaustion of fighting in the danger zone the whole day.
He sits up, and at the same time something curled at his feet raises its head in response to his movement. A small white animal, covered in thick white fur. It stares at Yuga with beady orange eyes watching for what he'd do next. This creature was actually just mimic transformed.
He gestures to it and it scurries into his laps and he begins petting it gently, running his fingers through its soft fur. Mimic was very fond of him now and he'd oddly gotten used to this shape-shifting creature very quickly. It just felt normal having it around.
Aside Yuga and mimic, there wasn't anyone else in the house. Kirveas wasn't around as usual.
He gently takes mimic off his lap and gets off the floor, walks over to the door on the left leading out the log house, swings it open and steps outside.
The world beyond the house is dark and grey clouds covered the night sky. It was the early hours of the day, just a few hours to day break. The perfect time for a little moving around.
He moves away from the house, into the nearby woods with mimic floating at his side.
On their journey through the woods Yuga finds various colourful things- objects and creatures that mimic would turn into. He does this for a while before growing bored of it and decides to leave the forest. He jumps onto a branch and hops from the branch of one tree to another as he headed for an exit from the forest.
He stops on a tree not far from the forest's edge and scours the area.
Kirveas?
Moving on the ground below just beyond the forest was Kirveas. He had his eyes on the ground, scanning the area like he was searching for something. He would take a few steps, pause, look in every direction then concentrate before moving again.
He does this repeatedly slowly progressing forward with each cycle, and Yuga watches trying to understand what he was doing.
Kirveas makes a sudden pause, breaking his usual pattern of movement. He raises his head and then turns it in Yuga's direction. Yuga catches Kirveas' gaze for a second before he's suddenly sent crashing into the ground.
What was that? And so fast. The moment Yuga had hit the ground he'd immediately begun emitting mal energy for a counter attack. Before his momentum is exhausted he stops his motion by thrusting his hand into the earth and flips to a stand. He's ready to attack the enemy but sees who it is and stops.
"Never attempt to spy on me." said Kirveas standing opposite Yuga.
Yuga lowers his arm and let's the energy dissipate. "Sorry, wasn't really trying to." he says.
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The moment Yuga was attacked, mimic had equally gotten ready for battle but unlike Yuga it didn't stop when it saw Kirveas. A loud roar comes from behind, so powerful it conjures a gust of wind aimed at Kirveas.
Yuga turns around and sees mimic, now transformed into a ferocious beast.
Never seen that one before.
It had changed into a large four legged creature, rivalling a raimeh in size, wider than it was tall and had no tail. Its body was covered in rectangular plates of bio-armour and it's mouth was an elongated snout with sharp, visible teeth. At the joint in each of its limbs, was a long, slim protruding plate two meters long.
Mimic roars for a second time causing Kirveas's hair and clothes to flutter in the wind. Kirveas doesn't even flinch and just keeps his gaze on mimic, waiting for it to act. Yuga runs up to mimic and waves with both hands for it to calm down. It roars for a third time before finally returning to gas form.
Yuga breathes out a sigh. As menacing as mimic looked he doubted it'd be able to take on Kirveas. And Kirveas didn't seem like a very forgiving person.
Seeing that mimic had calmed down Kirveas breaks away his gaze and continues what he'd been doing.
Yuga walks over to Kirveas with mimic tagging along and asks, "What are you looking for?"
Kirveas is silent for a few seconds before replying, "I'm looking for someone."
"Is that why you're here on Lehrone? This isn't your home, right?" asked Yuga.
"Yes." replied Kirveas.
"So where do you come from? Who are you looking for?"
"That's not for you to know."
Ok, so no asking questions about Kirveas.
Yuga remains quiet for a minute before coming up with another question. "If this isn't your home that means there's a way to leave this planet, just like you came. How do I leave Lehrone?"
"I came here via the warp gates but they've all been damaged by the war so you can't leave." answered Kirveas.
"So you can't leave either, we're both stuck here." said Yuga.
"I can leave whenever I want." said Kirveas.
"How?"
"Voyagers are those who traverse the stars, you'll learn eventually." Kirveas said.
They go both go silent again and this time, it's Kirveas who speaks up, "You're a lot more relaxed around me now, are you so confident that I won't at some point be a danger to you?"
"It doesn't really matter if you're dangerous at this point. Sticking with you is the only way to get stronger, so there's no need to think about the risks, I already accepted them. And if something happens, I'll just have to handle it." replied Yuga.
Yuga's reply evokes a light chuckle from Kirveas, something Yuga hadn't really expected to see from him, he always seemed either calm and lackadaisical or silently menacing.
"You'll handle it? I see." said Kirveas. " How is your progress on mal control?"
"See this." said Yuga. He walks a bit further, stretches out his right arm and fires.
Venerable Lance
The technique causes a large explosion. Yuga keeps it to the air so he doesn't damage the surroundings.
"I only remember showing you that once." said Kirveas, sounding a bit surprised. "It's not near the same caliber but impressive."
"What about your memories, do you remember anything now?" Kirveas asks.
"No, but I have dreams. But they're not just dreams they're memories but I don't recognize any of it. I dream about music and a curtain of lights."
"Music and a curtain of lights...." Kirveas echoed.
"Yes."
While they discussed, mimic was hovering very close to Kirveas. It was on his left where his sword was sheathed, it seemed to be interested in it. Kirveas pays it no mind all the while until mimic transforms.
Kirveas stops his searching and picks up the transformed mimic. Mimic had changed into a replica of Kirveas' sword. He pores over the imitation blade from end to end, looking at it from different angles.
He then grasps the handle firmly and swings it in a large arc toward the sky. The power emitted from that one swipe is so immense, it travels all the way to the sky and disperses the clouds, revealing the moon and many stars hanging in the night sky.
Yuga is awestruck by the feat he'd just witnessed. It made him wonder again- how strong did voyagers get? It also made sense why Kirveas had chuckled earlier. Still, he'd take the risk and handle whatever came somehow. And if he didn't, so be it.
"Just what I'd expect from my blade. You really can change into anything." said Kirveas.
He gently drops mimic the blade who changes back into gas form, before vanishing from sight without a warning.
It's still weird when he does that.
Yuga and mimic where left to themselves once again. Yuga and looks at mimic hovering around and gets an idea of something fun to do.
"Ready for a race, mimic?" said Yuga. Mimic responds by transforming into a large purple bird with four, long feather tails and a wing span wider than a person.
"Go." says Yuga and the both of them take off with an incredible burst of speed. They move so fast entire landscapes go by in a second. Mimic was by his side and had no problems with keeping up so he decides to go even faster.
Running was such an incredibly thrilling experience, and even better when you moved at speeds beyond the sound barrier.
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A voyager’s first sail typically occurs from as early as five years old to as late as thirty. read Yuga before snapping the book shut and dropping it on the floor. A research on voyager nature was its name.
"You’re not finishing that either?" asked Kirveas. He sat on a chair next to the chimney across from Yuga who was sitting cross-legged on the floor.
"I’ll get back to it later." replied Yuga.
"And I assume you’ll also be getting back to the ten plus books you left unfinished.” said Kirveas looking at the pile of books behind Yuga, all of which were bookmarked somewhere close to the middle.
"Life is too short to be stuck on one thing." said Yuga.
"A voyager's lifespan is nearly thrice that of a normal human."
"The book mentioned something about that, longer life means more time to do more stuff." said Yuga.
It’d been three weeks since Yuga found himself on this planet and up till now he hadn’t recalled much of anything about himself. Sometimes, he wondered.... What if he never got his memories back? What if he’d live the rest of his days without ever knowing who he was or where he came from? It was a scary thought but sometimes he imagined it wasn’t such a bad thing. Maybe he shouldn’t remember and just live on. There might be things he didn’t want to recall.... But thoughts like this went nowhere, they’d come when or if they did, it was time to for a little fun.
"Mimic!” he called out. Kirveas had said the name was uncreative, which was true but he couldn’t be bothered to think up something better. The creature came flying in the form of a bird. “Let’s do something fun.”
He’d spent the previous day gathering different items he’d have mimic change into. He’d throw one of them and mimic would transform into it and sometimes he’d just point at something. If mimic was too slow to react and change, before the next thing, it was his loss. He threw a book, then pointed at a tree and mimic transformed accordingly. Then he threw a stick, a ball, a blanket then pointed at snow.
As time went on he got faster and faster, upping the tempo but mimic was up to it, never once failing to transform. Yuga had gotten so fast his movements were just a blur and mimic was a kaleidoscope of different objects.
It was time to pull out the trump card. He threw up a fruit, that sported a variety of colours. But mimic didn’t change into it but instead transformed into a large rodent twice the size of a person and swallowed it whole. It eyed Yuga warily and then trodded away. It’d lost interest in the game. Mimic was too sharp, deceiving him wouldn’t be easy but he’d get him some day.
"If you’re done with that, it’s time to leave. We’re moving north to the next danger zone.” Kirveas called out.
"Ok.” said Yuga, dropping all the items he’d gathered.
An hour later they leave the log house and make their way to the danger zone, passing through fields of snow. Mimic hadn’t returned yet but that wasn’t unusual. It left and came back as it pleased. Not long after they leave a blizzard begins.
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"What’s it like on other planets.” asked Yuga. They’d been walking for a while now, through the icy wind and constant pelting from snow and small chunks of ice. They each had one arm up to shield their faces.
"There’s land, water, and maybe a sky.” replied Kirveas.
"And not this much snow hopefully.”
"Lehrone is no stranger to snow but its not this much most of the time. The constant battles are affecting the planet.” said Kirveas.
It felt strange to Yuga that somewhere on the planet, voyagers were battling themselves and probably reshaping entire landscapes as they did. In all the three weeks Yuga had spent on Lehrone, he was yet to encounter any human besides Kirveas let alone another voyager.
As they walked, several irregular shapes, all coloured black came into view. About four of them, not too far from each other. The closer they got the more apparent it became what these figures were. They were people.
Yuga slowed his pace to a halt and crouched down to check on one of the bodies. It was a woman. She was very beautiful. Fair skinned with hair coloured gold like the sun, eyes closed as if she were sleeping soundly. She was dead. Her skin had turned pale and her lips were blue. Her arms were wrapped around something, holding it close to her body, not letting go even in death. But her arms lacked the strength to keep it safe now. It was a child, no more than three years old. It looked just like her.
The woman’s hands were clasped together as if in prayer but whatever god she prayed to hadn’t answered her prayers. She had perished along with her daughter and her hopes in the ruthless blizzard.
Kirveas, noticing Yuga had stopped, stopped as well a little ways ahead and walked back to where the bodies lay. “They’re dead." he said." They must’ve been running away in hopes of finding shelter but the cold wasn’t so kind.”
Yuga said nothing. He got up and moved towards the body at the forefront. He crouched down to it and listened. It was faint but he could hear it, the sound of breathing. He had sensed it before he even got there, Kirveas probably had too. “He’s still breathing” Yuga said softly. It was young boy, looking to be around the age of twelve.
"He’s going to die eventually, it’s a mercy to let him die in peace” said Kirveas flatly.
"Maybe, but I’d only do that if he wanted to. But look, among all these people, even the adults. Among all who got here, he’s the only one still alive, every breath he takes proof that he desperately clings on to life. He’s not ready to go yet.” said Yuga with conviction in his voice.
"When he wakes up, he’ll realize he has no family left. He’s lost everything, there’s nothing left for him live for.”
"Nothing left to live for.....Human beings can be a lot stronger than that. If his will is strong enough, he’ll keep striving till he finds something precious, something that will once again bring meaning to his life. But he’d only be able to do that if he’s alive" said Yuga.
He stretches out his hand towards the boy and tries to heal him with aias energy. Some colour starts to return to his skin but he was still breathing hard.
"You can use aias transmutation?” asked Kirveas.
"I’ve been practicing on my own for a while. But so far it’s about as useful as yours.” said Yuga while facing the boy. He gently picks him up from the ground and hold him in his arms. “I’m heading back.”
"Well that’s on you, I’m moving on. If you keep moving north from here you should be able to find me.” said Kirveas.
Yuga nods then runs off, heading in the direction of the log house, careful not to move too roughly.
He gets to the log house and drops the boy on a bed. He takes off his clothes, and drops them next to the fireplace, they were wet from the snow. Yuga would need to start a fire to dry them.
Yuga wraps the boy in several blankets and went out to gather wood. He gets back, puts up a fire in the chimney and finally sits down, legs crossed, waiting for the boy to wake up.