“How long have they been going at it?” asked Autumn to Xani, who was unable to take her eyes off the pyramid in the distance. Runes lined the structure, mostly foreign to her, but what was truly enamoring her at that moment about the sight was its perpetual movement.
The pyramid, moved, not only in a slow drift from section to section of the dump, but with a slow rotation that offered Xani the perfect view of any one side of the structure for large strands of time.
“I don’t know, since last night maybe, I don’t know what time it is,” said Xani. Not even taking the time to look at the time held within her Overlay.
“Are you sure I can’t make this easy on you? I have a lot of healing options since I met Rob,” said Autumn. Xani shook her head. Watching as the pyramid pulled scraps of robots from the ground, their bodies turning into liquid metal before ever coming close to the pyramid itself.
On one side of the pyramid was what seemed to be a literal dimensional gateway stood upright; the frame of the magical doorway indented within the center of that side’s face like a work of art brought to life.
Another side of the pyramid was a climbing challenge, the sections of the course carved into the black metal from top to bottom. While the backside was etched with runes from top to bottom, leaving the final sides mural-like surface that displayed a night sky from a time long passed to take Xani’s breath away without fail every time she saw it.
“Did you hear what happened with the stage selection?” Xani ignored Autumn’s question, as she’d answered it almost a dozen times already since the young woman had gotten there. In all reality Xani had wanted Auto to come and check on her, but the needs of his own company had locked him down and he wouldn’t be able to see her for a few days.
“Yeah, we lost to some tech genius in another realm,” said Autumn. A frown creeping onto Arson’s sister’s face until Xani spoke back up.
“Look again, something happened with their stage design, and what they offered the judges they can’t deliver on,” said Xani. Her own eyes never left the flying pyramid in the distance, still lost in the changes the pyramid took on with every blink that passed.
The runes on the side filled with the written magical language might as well have been a teleprompter of never ending words that grew more intricate the longer you gazed upon the surface.
The obvious obstacle course strapped to the opposing side made Xani sentimental, remembering days when Almarine let her study in the dojo she trained Arson and Khalif in secretly.
Seeing what that training may have inspired, watching the gateway she was sure didn’t lead inside the pyramids center change colors consistently, even offering views to separate places, Xani knew she was either quickly headed toward great things, or an early grave. The twinge of pain that came from Autumn worrying over her, trying to administer medicines made her hiss in pain. Xani far from comfortable with being touched, especially in a moment of weakness where she’d rather be impressive in her resilience, than show vulnerability.
“Watch it,” said Xani in annoyance. Autumn merely smiling, while she used an entire plant to wash Xani’s wounds. One of the large leaves filled with enough water to create a bird bath, another of the smaller limbs dipping itself in the water held by its sibling before it wiped at Xani’s damaged right half.
“You could just lay down and make this easy on both of us,” offered Autumn, still not giving up. The yelling between Arson and his mother grew momentarily and Xani wondered if her friend would make it out of the encounter alive.
“How was I supposed to know something like that? Who has sparking technology hidden in their blood like some sort of sparking Hive Titan? Yeah, thanks for telling me that we had those laying around in our backyard, Mom! How about give me a break, I don’t see why people get to act like all of this is normal. Or wait, did Grandma Diana have her mortal daughter fighting monsters at my age, so what was normal for you is automatically normal for me!”
“You don’t know the half of what she was like, nor will you speak about her in any way that isn’t respectful or honorable in my presence, young man. And I’m sorry to tell you this but suck it up, buddy, not every young person’s life is filled with parties and and an easy path toward learning yourself and—“ Arson cut in again, the pressure of what he was feeling, the unfairness of the expectations pressed upon him bled into every word he expressed.
“Parties, what parties, I’m building a sparking stadium, and preparing for one of the hardest fighting tournaments in our realm layer, and in an effort to make that task easier on myself I asked you for help, and even that came with strings, Mom. I’m tired, Troy is gone, my friends probably think I’m losing my mind because of how erratic I’ve been and I just need a moment to breathe before PRO snatches me from everyone I love!”
There was only silence then. Autumn’s face filled with questions that Xani knew that even if she asked them aloud, Xani wouldn’t know how to respond.
Enough time passed without another word being yelled that Xani managed to look away from the flying pyramid and toward the villa entrance at her back, still not having had grown tired of her inspection of the strange creation even after all the time she’d already lost that day.
“Does that mean we have to host the tournament of scions?” The question from Autumn caught Xani off guard, but she still nodded, growing nervous as Arson stormed onto the rooftop.
“Are you okay?” Arson’s normal smile was suppressed, his self-deprecating thoughts about Xani being hurt were enough to cause unsettled tension between them and their friendship. All without the added weight he felt about how his timer ticked ever so close to him potentially disappearing once more to leave his love ones to fend for themselves.
“No, but I will be, little buddy. Don’t worry about it, you know I’m tougher than this,” said Xani with a gesture toward herself an her injuries.
“That doesn’t mean that you should have to prove that to anyone, Xani,” said Arson. Xani smirked, jutting her chin in the direction of the villa in question, the sigh that came from her friend almost enough of an answer.
“She’s worried about who and what I may have came in contact with, as the construction made by my subconscious and all the mana that was being drawn on is something the Ikarus Foundation used on higher realm layers to ensure their civilizations never fell, it is apparently supposed to rebuild any broken Ikarus facilities, as well as test individuals before taking them to training grounds hidden across time and space…”
“No…?”
“I don’t think so. Jade is wondering if she should try the trial herself since it's so rare of a find,” said Arson. He looked away from her and toward the pyramid still moving in the distance.
“I have something you may want, by the way,” said Xani. She pulled Sky from her spacial inventory and smiled as relief passed over his face.
“Thank the maiden, I counted you being alive as blessing enough. I was going to start to search for her tomorrow.”
“No need, found it near to the demon’s corpse as I flew over,” said Xani, not liking how Arson’s smile didn’t touch his eyes even as he nodded to her.
“You going to tell us what’s wrong,” asked Xani. Arson laughed and shrugged.
“I guess I will if you are going to act as if you don’t already know,” said Arson with a gesture back toward the villa.
“I would rather ignore the explosive argument my brother had with his mother, and hear out his perspective on how sparked we are, rather than just assuming so…”
“Yeah, well, it's more fun that way for me, watching you do anything you don’t want to is like movies in the making I swear,” said Xani with a laugh. Autumn came up beside Arson, and after a period of awkwardness between the two, Autumn managed to wrap her arms around her younger brother, Xani for the first time since she’d met the young woman wasn’t offended by the affection toward someone she felt to be her own coveted family member.
Everything is fine, you are fine…
She told herself this like a mantra internally, yet she knew what was wrong. Yet she couldn’t tell him, even more worried that he may leave and never return with every day that passed. An internal battle that Xani was not ashamed of, but adamant was not an ordeal she should make a huge issue of.
“Thank you, Autumn,” said Arson. His sister retreated a few steps and Arson sighed, closing his eyes momentarily.
“Catch me up, please…” Autumn and Xani shared a look, and Xani gestured for her to begin.
“I’ll start with Alexander, you should probably make time for him, it's not good for anyone to have him on their bad side. Invisibility is one thing, but add invincibility and you have another entire problem on your hands.” Said Autumn to start. Arson was unaware that his brother could turn invisible, but glanced at Anastasia who immediately updated his brother's profile in their logs.
“What’s going on? Does he still think I’ve had something to do with your mom disappearing?”
“Yes, and he also has gained reports that our mother’s energy is on you nearly at all times, a detail that even I can’t ignore, little brother.” Arson sighed at his sister’s words and her pleading eyes held a deeper notion that betrayal of any kind would be final, so Arson nodded and started to speak.
“I don’t know if you remember the day we left Raid Corp or not, but the storm I defended myself from before Graveyard arrived, wasn’t normal. I think it was because it may have been an attack that was fueled by your mother's soul energies,” said Arson speaking quickly, slowing down the longer he spoke.
“So she finally went mad enough and lost herself within one of her own storms,” said Autumn, looking away as she processed. Arson didn’t know what his sister’s words meant, but her resolve in the very next moment made him wonder if she’d prepared herself for exactly something similar to what may have occurred.
“Otherwise, everyone else is helping honestly, didn’t think my siblings would ever be able to play nice until you came around, but the common enemy Ash wanted you to be to bring us closer worked, not how she thought it would, but I haven’t had this much fun since I was around Alexander’s age.” Arson was glad to hear his siblings weren’t making things more difficult, but still often worried if all of their goals aligned.
Arson had begun to feel as if it didn’t matter how much good he did in his own realm, it would never be enough to strip the society he lived in of all of its issues. So instead of drowning in poverty, or joining the unrighteous in the use of chains that controlled, Arson settled finally on becoming a beacon, a beacon of potential, able to guide any brave enough down the path that led away from oppression and toward freedom.
“Good, and how did the contest go? Was our design accepted?”
“We won, on a technicality, but we won. Jasmine and Axis are now working night and day to make it as luxurious as possible before the tournament begins in the next few days,” said Xani, her smile larger than ever before.
“Good, but why do I feel as if I’m missing something? You're smiling like you just won a lottery,” asked Arson.
“Oh, because you are, but I don’t even know if I should suggest what I am thinking. You, my gracious leader, are a workaholic and may try and actually pull it off,” said Xani with a glance toward the pyramid floating in a small circular pattern behind her.
“And what exactly would that be?”
“Once upon a time I read a book in Almarine’s library that talked about cores, and how more advanced cores could become living creatures, and even grow to be sentient,” said Xani, smiling at Arson’s eyes widening.
“I believe that the pyramid floating over there is maybe not sentient, but alive, and with the right materials, aka the tree at the center of our coliseum, may be the perfect catalyst to make our very advanced stage... into a very advanced living stage... potentially capable of being independent of a staff, run by AI and one of the most advanced perpetual storm systems I’ve ever seen…”
“You know you shouldn’t have told me that… how do we make it happen?” Arson was so excited that he re-summoned Jaqueline, Jillian and Jane, unaware of how Jaqueline’s new form would affect his sister.
The familiar weight on his shoulders and back gave Arson a comfort he hadn’t felt for days. Only then was he able to correlate the missing sensation had left him stressed. A feeling of defenselessness Arson believed he would never experience eased slightly as he glanced toward Autumn.
You're okay, Arson. You’ve done nothing wrong. If she hates you secretly for what has happened the truth will come out eventually.
“You two are absolutely insane, aren’t you?” asked Autumn, looking between Arson and Xani. His sister completely unaware of the regal construct that sent sensations of love and warmth into his body every time he looked at her.
“Yes, but we don’t use that word, Drive, passion, talent, sure... but slander on our stability will not be acknowledged,” said Xani with a serious face that made Autumn lean back slightly with worry that she’d misspoken, until Xani’s smile returned and Autumn knew her words were purely in jest.
“Well, then, how can I help and where do we begin?”