Nathym Cyper, a 15 year old high school student was happily walking home from school. Today was the most prideful he’d felt in a long time. In one hand he was holding a trophy, and under his other arm he was toting a box carrying his winning invention. He couldn’t wait to share this news with his family as he rushed home.

When he got home his mother was putting her shoes on, preparing to head somewhere. He briefly considered waiting until she and the rest of his family were home before sharing the news, but he couldn’t help himself. “Hey mom, I have something important to tell you!” Nathym gave her a bit of a shock as he yelled that suddenly.

“Can it wait until later, Nathym?,” his mother brushed it off. “I’m heading out to meet your father to go to your brother’s game.”

“It’s just, I won first place in the science fair!” Nathym couldn’t contain his excitement.

“That’s great honey. You can tell me all about it when we get back,” His mother said with seemingly little enthusiasm. “This is your brother’s first game since he got promoted to the varsity team, and I don’t want to miss it.”

“Well, could I show you how my invention works real quick?” Nathym insisted. “It will only take a minute. It’s a capture device that will allow hunters to safely trap medium sized monsters with no risks to them!”

“Will you quit it with the jokes, Nathym? I know there’s no way you could make something like that,” his mother spoke down to him condescendingly. “I’ve told you again and again, leave the science stuff to the professionals. I really wish you would focus on something that would be beneficial to your future. Take your brother for example. Kassin is a zoneball prodigy, and there’s quite a good chance he’ll get a full scholarship. Why can’t you be more like him?”

His mother left without saying anything else, leaving Nathym dejected, mulling over those words. He had heard those words countless times since childhood: ‘Why can’t you be more like your brother?’ Kassin was his twin brother, but they were quite different. His brother had always been much more outgoing and social, spending his days with his friends or playing sports. Nathym preferred time alone, either playing games or tinkering with things. He’d always had a passion for science.

When they were younger, the two brothers got along quite well. They would hang out all the time, and enjoy the perks of being twins like pranking others by pretending to be each other. However, that all changed once they got into middle school and Kassin joined the zoneball team. It was soon discovered that he had quite the knack for it, and since then, their parents, especially their mother, had always held him in higher regard.

Nathym didn’t mind their preferential treatment too much, since he enjoyed his space and being out of the spotlight. However, he couldn’t deny that it bothered him at least a little. The division between the brothers increased as Kassin soared in popularity at school. Before long, he was well respected by both his peers and teachers. It wasn’t just his parents who started looking down on Nathym then, it was everyone else too who tried to compare them.

Kassin’s attitude changed over time as well, and he seemed to start holding himself above Nathym. He began to act more rude and selfish, making sure he always got priority in just about everything. Even now in high school, they still shared a room, but Kassin had all but stopped talking to Nathym, and would barely even acknowledge he existed. Nathym still cared about and loved his brother, but there was a small bit of resentment on his end as well.

“Damn it, I’ll prove to them I’m just as good as him,” Nathym grumbled to himself. He grabbed his invention and stormed out of the house. After wandering around for a bit with no direction, he cooled off, but was still determined. He decided that he was going to catch a monster with his invention to show his parents once and for all how capable he was. However, he wasn’t exactly sure where to go now. The hunters and police of his town kept it a very safe place to live, so finding a monster wouldn’t be easy.

Eventually, he just picked a random patch of woods and headed in as deep as he could go. He tried a few different spots, laying his trap and then hiding for a while. As the sun started to set, he realized it was a pointless endeavor and he’d give up at least for today. If he didn’t get back before his parents did, he wouldn’t be able to avoid another lecture. This was when Nathym realized he was irrefutably lost.

I’m suddenly regretting dropping out of those nature exploration courses… Nathym thought to himself as he wandered around. He had ultimately decided to just pick a direction, figuring he’d find a road or some sign of civilization eventually since the woodlands where he lived wasn’t that big, or so he had always assumed. As he walked, he heard rustling off in the distance, and stopped moving. He looked to the clearing up ahead and saw a herd of freer.

Freer are a cross of frogs and deer. Aesthetically, they mostly match that of a buck, but have bent hind legs like a frog, and their rear ends are more smoothed. They also have the long tongues of a frog as well. Their main way for hunting prey is to wrap their tongues around something and pull it towards them while simultaneously leaping in that direction. They then impale their prey on their antlers.

Like regular deer, though, they were semi-domesticated and were more likely to run when confronted or spooked. These are ideal for my trap. Nathym felt like things were turning around. If he was going to be late anyways, he may as well try to succeed after all. A freer would fetch a high price, and that would show his family how successful of a scientist he could be.

Nathym laid the trap, which resembled that of a four pronged star. There was a knob on the side that changed what kind of odor to emit, which was useful for baiting many kinds of animals and monsters. When one came to inspect it, it would detect their heat signature and wrap around the creature and subdue it. He could understand his parent’s skepticism, since it was something that would normally be difficult for a 15 year old to make, but he had put his all into this.

It wasn’t long before three freers headed over in the trap’s direction. They circled around it, and all began sniffing it. However, the more time passed, the more worried Nathym got. What’s going on, the trap should have gone off by now, he started to panic. Is it because there’s multiple of them, so it can’t decide which one to capture? Soon, the machine began to vibrate incessantly, accompanied by a loud hiss. A moment later, there was a puff of smoke followed by silence, signaling the machine's demise.

“Ah that piece of junk, why did it have to break now?! It worked just fine earlier!” For the science show, Nathym had used his own body to demonstrate how it worked since he didn’t think anyone would volunteer. At the sudden realization that he had yelled that out loud, he clapped his hand to his mouth and slunk farther behind the tree he had been creeping from. He had been far too careless, and the three freers that had been stunned by the machine until now were looking in his direction.

A long tongue zoomed over to him, wrapping around his body and pulled him from the tree. The freer that had grabbed him was readying to jump, so in a panic, he closed his eyes. Nathym now found himself lying on the ground, his body aching a bit, but overall he was somehow unharmed. He opened his eyes to see a blade dripping with blood mere inches from him. The tongue that was wrapped around him had been severed, and was now slumped down on the ground.

Holding the blade, which Nathym could now make out as a saber, was a small figure. It was getting darker by the second, so Nathym couldn’t really make out his savior, but what he could see was that in their other hand was a tonfa. Said tonfa was currently clashing with the freer, keeping its antlers at bay. The person pushed the tonfa back with immense force, causing the freer to rear its head. The opening was taken advantage of, and the figure stabbed the freer in the neck with the saber.

The freer started to double over, but looked back towards its attacker. It was met with a strong blow to the back of its neck, cleaving its head off in one stroke. The person didn’t waste a second and dashed over to the other two freers, dispatching them just as easily as the first. Before Nathym could process what had happened, or even say a word of thanks, the person had scampered off towards the rest of the herd that were now starting to flee.

Ahhh, what do I do now? That person saved my life… but I wish they had stayed with me. Nathym curled up into a ball. It was now completely dark, and he was still entirely lost. A few minutes later, the nearby bushes began to rustle, causing Nathym to tense up. He thought about fleeing, but didn’t have the spirit or courage required at the moment. Once the same small figure from before popped out, he only felt slightly more relaxed.

Nathym could hear what sounded like a zipper, which made him think the person must be rummaging through a bag. A flashlight clicked on, and a second later it was flying towards Nathym. He caught it as a second one was turned on for the person to use. Now Nathym could finally get a good look at his savior. Ehhhh… A child?! He was stunned.

The figure before him was a child of no more than 10 or 11. From Nathym’s best guess, it appeared to be a boy, but it was hard to tell. His clothes were ragged, and his head was wrapped entirely in a black scarf with only small slits for the burning light of his green eyes to shine through. The boy slowly walked over to him with a notepad in hand. When he got close, he began to flip through it. Prewritten messages were scribed on each page. Eventually he got to one in particular and held it up. It read, ‘Are you alright?’

“Uhh, yes… I am, thank you,” Nathym replied, still phased by the events that had transpired. “If you hadn’t saved me, I’d be done for. What’s a child doing out here in the first place, though? I should be the one asking if you’re alright.” The boy seemed to ignore these comments and flipped to the next page. ‘Please be more careful in the future.’ He then flipped through a few more. ‘Do you need help getting back to safety?’

Nathym felt that these questions were getting strangely specific to all be written out ahead of time. He had to assume this wasn’t the boy’s first time doing this. “Uh well, about that,” Nathym responded, feeling a bit ashamed. “Once I get back to town I should be fine, but I don’t know exactly what direction it’s in. I don’t suppose you do?”

The boy walked over to him, and put something in Nathym’s hand. It was a small pocket compass. The boy then pointed off in a certain direction, bowed his head, and headed back over to his bag. Anxiety started to fill Nathym at the thought that the boy would be leaving so soon. Given the fact that he was believing this to be a dream more with each passing second, he suspected that he’d never see this boy again.

There had to be some way to get him to stay. Nathym felt he would be fine on his own, though he did still feel a little shaken. He just didn’t want this strange enigma to vanish so soon. “Oh, your weapons!” Nathym blurted as he noticed them sitting next to the boy's bag. Though in the state they were in, it was hard to call them weapons at all.

The blade of the saber was dulled with a few chips missing. It was also slightly rusted. Even if the owner neglected it entirely, it likely wouldn’t end up this bad if it was something newer. This meant it was most likely something that the boy had found; either a discarded piece or lost by its original owner. It was a miracle that it could cut through anything at all, and made it even more impressive and mind-boggling that it could sever a mutated monster’s head in one stroke.

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

The tonfa wasn’t in much better condition. It was made of wood which was thrashed all over. There were bite and claw marks covering almost every inch. It looked like the wood was rotten in spots, and there were several cracks. There was a small metal patch on one part which looked like a quick attempt at a repair. If it was up to Nathym, he’d chuck them in the trash as soon as possible. It seemed almost negligent on his part to let this boy use something that could disintegrate at any moment, potentially endangering his life.

However, Nathym knew there was nothing he could do about it now; not if he stayed like this, making inventions that failed in their most crucial moment. “Someday I’m going to be a great scientist, and if you come find me I’ll make you the best weapon you’ve ever seen!” Nathym declared to the child. “I swear it!” The boy gave him a slight nod, and then sprinted off into the darkness.

Nathym hoped that would at least make the kid remember him, though he knew the declaration was more for his own sake. He had to follow through now, or he wouldn’t be letting only himself down. Nathym shined his flashlight on the compass to get his heading, then trekked through the dark woods with new found determination.

When he got home, his parents were waiting for him. They furiously yelled at him until their voices were hoarse, not letting him get a single word in for himself. Eventually, they sent him off to his room. He was now regretting not having stopped at a convenience store while he was out, hungry from missing dinner.

Waiting for him in his room was his twin brother. Kassin immediately grabbed him and slammed him against the wall. “Get your zjik together!” he yelled at Nathym. “I won’t be letting my chance of getting a scholarship be ruined because my dumbass brother was found dead in a ditch somewhere!” It took awhile for Nathym to fall asleep that night, not because of the yelling, his mind was too preoccupied to be bothered by that. He had more important things to worry about now.

◆◆◆

Four years after that fateful encounter in the woods, Nathym was a college student at one of the various universities in Savant, the hub city of education. There were 38 colleges total in the city, the majority of which focused on a specific field of study. However, there were some that covered a vast array of courses. It was one of these that Nathym was attending as an engineering major. Ideally, he would have been able to go to a school that focused on science, but that wasn’t in the cards for him.

A specialized school would cost a lot of money, and the only degree his parents would foot the bill for was a general education degree. However, he had managed to get a full scholarship to this school instead, allowing him to continue pursuing his dream on his own merit. He was alright with this situation, since it was only a stepping stone for him. His dream was Logyst, the hub city of science and technology. They didn’t have any colleges there to begin with, but did have graduate schools. These schools were notoriously hard to get into, but were free of charge to anyone who was able to gain entry.

Nathym was nearing the end of his second year, meaning that he was spending most of his days in the school’s lab. Engineering students had a bit of a different curriculum than others. The first semester of each year was focused on learning and ended with traditional exams. For the second semester, it was focused on practical application. In lieu of an exam for the second semester, the students are required to develop something using the knowledge they gained from the first. They either have to invent something, or come up with a detailed design if it is not feasibly possible for them to make it on their own.

In the mornings, they had general studies courses and were completely free in the afternoons. Most of them spent their time in the labs in the afternoons since they had dedicated slots reserved for them. However, some students opted to work on their designs elsewhere or at night, and would spend that time at part time jobs or goofing off. Nathym was quite studious, though, and he spent as much time in the lab as he could get.

Today was no different, and Nathym was absorbed in working on his invention. He was especially dedicated recently since he was very close to completion, even though there were several weeks left before the deadline. He was so entranced that it took his peer several calls of his name before she finally got his attention. “Oh hey Cast, what brings you down here?” Nathym asked the girl who was pouting while leaning against his workspace.

“Finally, you paid attention to me!” Cast ranted. “You weren’t answering your phone, so I got impatient. I knew I’d find you down here but you look busy, probably too busy to buy me food. It’s fine, you can just make it up to me another time.”

“Oh sorry, I got wrapped up in this since I’m so close to being done.” Truthfully, Nathym wanted to stay and continue working on it, but he was always pretty weak willed when it came to Cast. “But it’s probably best to finish it up tomorrow anyways, or I’ll be stuck here all night. Thanks for keeping me from overworking. If you give me a few minutes to clean up, I’ll be right with you.”

Once Nathym finished tidying up his station, he and Cast headed out. Cast was an architect major, and the two of them had met in a design course during their first year. They also had almost all of their general studies classes together in the second. They had become fast friends after they had been forced to pair up for a group assignment. It wasn’t long though before they realized how different they were as students.

Cast was an amazing all around student. She did well in all of her courses, but was never at the top for any of them. On the contrary, Nathym excelled in math and science, almost always the first in his class. However, when it came to any other subject, he was just about hopeless. This semester in particular, Art History was going to be his undoing. So, the two came to an agreement. Nathym would take Cast out to eat somewhere on occasion, and in return she would help tutor him.

The two of them walked across campus, chatting away. “So you’re almost done with your invention, right?” Cast asked him. “Can you finally tell me what it is?”

“Well I wanted to wait and make sure it worked before I told anyone about it,” Nathym responded. “But now I just need to adjust the output, and run a few more tests on the fail safes, and then I’m done. So I guess there’s no harm in telling you. It’s a glove that shoots a special electric charge. It’s designed to temporarily paralyze people without hurting them. Hopefully, the police will be able to make use of it in the future to help cut down on accidental injury and death.”

“That’s just like you Nathym, always wanting to keep people from getting hurt,” Cast gave a slight chuckle. “I remember in our first year when you got between those two trying to fight each other. Who would have thought they’d team up and beat you up instead?”

“Yeah, that was a bit of a failure, huh?” Nathym sighed. “A few years ago I was saved by someone whom I’ve really come to admire. I know I’m not strong like them, but I want to do my part to help out. That’s why I want to invent things to give to people like that, so they can be even better at it, and help others in ways I never could. You saw yourself how well I’d do in a fight.”

“Yeah, well, it suits you,” Cast commented on the matter. “You’re too sweet to be getting into fights anyways.”

There was a sudden slap across Nathym’s face as a new woman stepped onto the scene. “How dare you do that to me Kassin?!” the hysterical woman yelled at him. “And now who’s this tramp?! You’re already tricking some other girl, huh?! Yo Draz, you better run away fast, or this bastard will play you too!” The woman stormed off as quickly as she came, and the scene she caused eventually dispersed as onlookers carried on.

“What’s that, the third time?” Cast asked him.

“Eighth, actually,” Nathym corrected her as he rubbed his cheek. “They still come even when you’re not around, but they seem to slap harder when you are.”

“Hehe, sorry,” Cast snickered. “Maybe you should talk to your brother about it, though. You shouldn’t be the one being punished because he’s such a sleeze bag.”

“Nah, it’s fine. I’d rather face a few scorned women than open that relationship again,” Nathym stated.

“You know, I don’t think I’ve ever met the guy,” Cast recounted. “Though I’ve been hearing so many rumors about him lately, I feel like I have.”

“It’s probably because you hang around me so much that people bring it up with you,” Nathym guessed. “Well to ease your mind, he basically looks just like me, but his personality is the complete opposite.” Through some cruel twist of fate, Nathym and Kassin had ended up with scholarships to the same school from entirely unrelated sources. However, since they had enrolled, neither of them had spoken to the other.

Instead of going back home during the summer like Kassin, Nathym stayed and worked a part time job, as was offered to all students. So besides the occasional passing by encounter, he really hadn’t seen his brother. They lived in separate dorm buildings as well, so it really was uncommon to run into him. The only downside was the occasional slap and people talking behind his back. It was nothing Nathym couldn’t bear until he graduated, then he would never have to see his brother again.

After they made it off of campus, Nathym and Cast went and had a nice meal at a fast-food restaurant. Then as usual, they headed back to Nathym’s dorm room to study. Since it was nearing the end of the semester, though, they had been goofing off more than usual. Nathym only had regular tests in his general studies classes rather than final exams so the stress wasn’t too high.

Eventually, it came time for Cast to head off, which was always a struggle. For reasons Nathym could never figure out, she never seemed to want to leave and always looked for some excuse to stay longer. Nathym didn’t really mind her staying late, but he enjoyed having a bit of time to himself to unwind for the day. So, there would always be a breaking point where he’d have to get serious and basically throw her out.

The next day, Nathym arrived at the lab later than he would have liked. One of his professors had stopped him in the hallway and asked for his help with class prep. Since Nathym was almost done with his invention, and it would only take him a few hours, he didn’t mind, but still wanted to get it done as quickly as possible.

“Yo, Nathym,” one of his labmates greeted him. “Didn’t think I’d see you here today. Your date over already? That must be a new record dude!”

“Huh? What are you talking about?” Nathym questioned him.

“You and that Cast chick who’s always coming to see you,” he explained. “I saw you leading her by the hand like 15 minutes ago towards the dorms. Never took you for the aggressive type, but hey, good on you. Don’t tell me she dumped you already.”

“Uhh, no, that’s... “ Nathym stammered. His mind suddenly started racing, and it became hard to concentrate. Before he could stop himself, he had grabbed his invention, and rushed out of the room.

Nathym raced towards the dorms as fast as he could. Kassin, why are you doing this?! was the only thing he could think on the way there. He checked his pockets as he ran, his dorm key was missing. This confirmed his suspicions about where they’d be, but didn’t know how it had been taken from him. When he got to his door, he prayed that it would be unlocked, and thankfully it was. He burst in, and found Cast pinned to the floor with Kassin on top of her.

“Nathym, help!” Cast screamed to him. Nathym could deduce what had happened. Kassin had invited her back to Nathym’s dorm room while pretending to be him, and somewhere during this time she had discovered who he was.

“Oh, he won’t be helping you,” Kassin smirked. “He’s a weak little piece of zjik who’s never been able to do anything right. How you could fall for a loser like him is beyond me.” Nathym was confused, it was the first he had heard of anything like that. Kassin laughed at him. “Look at that dumb face. You didn’t even know, did you? All I had to do was say a few sweet lines to her and she was all over me, but when she found out it was me, she tried to run away.”

“Dammit Kassin, get off of her!” Nathym yelled.

“Oh, I don’t think I’ll be doing that,” Kassin remarked. “You don’t deserve a fine girl like this. I’ll show you how a real man does things. Now you just sit there and watch and maybe you’ll learn something.”

“Kassin, I’m warning you, let her go!” Nathym threatened him as he put on his glove. Kassin didn’t even look his way, instead he slowly moved his head downwards, trying to kiss Cast as she struggled. Damn it brother, why did you have to push me this far? I hope one day you can forgive me. Nathym steadied his gloved hand with his free one as he pointed two fingers at Kassin. He pushed his thumb down onto the extended fingers and a glowing light shot forward.

The light hit Kassin and swirled around his whole body. A second later, Kassin fully collapsed onto Cast. “Oh thank you so much Nathym,” Cast began to cry. “Now help me get him off of me, will you?”

“Sure, and then we’ll call the police,” Nathym said as he removed the glove. He started walking over to help her but was stopped in his tracks by a foul odor. It was at this time that Kassin’s body started to smoke and Cast screeched at the realization. What happened next was fuzzy in Nathym’s memory, after the copper light flashed in his eyes.