All the Guild’s gates and tunnels were known to Belaphorde. As an official agent, he could move about as he pleased. He found his way out to the Outskirts and began his search for some old acquaintances. The streets of the old city were completely desolate. It was more of a ghost heap than a ghost town after the storms and battles. The military had struck down on any buildings too close to the wall. But the city was not all powerful. The people didn't go away; they concentrated and organised. Kaleido was at war with people who had nowhere to turn to. All these refugees were nothing more than vermin. Belaphorde was glad to be back with the vermin. When they acted inhumanly, it was not out of comforting ignorance. Then again, Belaphorde was ready to admit that it might be him who’s too insane to enjoy nice things. Following along the shadow of the wall, he found the main settlement. The cold night wind whipped and howled as to make him deaf in his helmet. At the heel of the shallow crater were containers and rubble stacked against each other to make the barracks overlooking the warzone of district twelve. People moved freely across the crater, meaning they must have secured part of the wall and zones beyond it. A bit further away from the city, by the old barricades leading up to the scene of the moonscape dungeon, Belaphorde found what he was looking for. A street of hardy buildings that had survived. A block of concrete surrounded by barbed wire. Light seeped through the boarded up windows. Belaphorde stopped with his headlights pointed at the steel doors. Rust gleaming through the thick clouds of dust. Hurried voices could be heard from the inside. Bel waited a minute and then honked a quick salute. The doors creeked open. Two familiar shadowy figures stepped forward. Nondescript except for the unmistakable shape of their cowgirl hats.
“Who in Tarnation are you supposed to be? Show yourself, stranger!”
Belaphorde kicked down the side stand of the bike and walked towards the aunties before removing his helmet.
“It’s been a while. Darlacarla. Hertha.”
The wind settled, and Belaphorde could see their surprised expressions. The two elderly ladies had more scars than last Bel had seen them. The feathers appeared sunken as black ichor coloured their eyes and cheeks.
"Well, I be damned. It’s really you! All decked out and looking better than ever.” Darlacarla said in a sing-song voice. She wanted to hug the boy, but Hertha was more cautious.
“Why are you here, Belaphorde? We used you and sold you out. What possible reason could you have to be here if not as a Kaledian spy or somethin’?”
“You are as sharp as ever, Aunty Hertha. Let me lay your worries to rest. I have two goals. First is to force Kaleido to recognise us as humans and give us shelter. I can’t sit idle by while people are gunned down because the bastards don’t want to pay for our healthcare or whatever twisted logic they use. Secondly, I wish to hunt monsters and become stronger. The Kaiju is coming back. Any day it can appear. We all need to be ready. Any strong Espers I can find along the way to take on this task will be of much help. You happen to be strong Espers, and you have connections with other groups of the Outskirts. I don’t blame you for what you did. As you said, Hertha, “nothing personal.” It’s not so much about doing good as it is having good choices.”
Hertha whiseld. “Right. And how do we trust you?”
“I got a handful of supplies that I want to put to use.” Belaphorde tapped the heavy bag strapped to his bike. “I left more things back in the city. I got a pass from a big guild to go in and out, but it won’t last once someone notices my suspicious behaviour. I can’t make you trust me with my words alone. All I ask is that you accept my help and, in turn, you offer me a place to stay. If you can’t accept that; then I'm at a loss.”
Hertha continued to glare. Times had been tough, to say the least.
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“Come on!” Darlacarla smacked her sister on the back of her head. “Of course we’ll take you in. Hell, you are the most trustworthy boy I’ve ever do have met.” She jumped at Belaphorde and gave him a bear hug. Bel sighed softly and patted her back.
“Thanks Darla. Now let’s get to work. There’s much to be done.”
***
Glitches and static. Waves floating through the air, buzzing against crystal receivers. Her heart is a radio tower. It pumps in morse code. The vascular system has been replaced with ichor coolant. Ava is a ghost. She is the transmitter, the receiver, and the waves. Now and then she makes contact. A blip on the radar. She connects and watches the world through her crystal host. For a while, she is the crystal monster. Moving on electric impulses and following programmed behaviour patterns. If the hums are not in harmony, Ava remembers she is an Esper and takes control. Like a child with a remote-controlled car. A clumsy puppeteer balancing the movements. When Ava becomes a symphony of crystals, her mind splits. She becomes a hundred live-feed surevlince footages displayed on one screen. A collective of compound eyes glittering in a digital disco ball. After a meaningless amount of time, she would collect her pieces and remember that she was Ava. She liked to spend these lucid moments with her one and only companion. Her life partner, Guide, and mortal enemy: Luna. Though these days people only knew her as the big and scary "Knave.”
Ava wakes in the breeze, jumping between nodes of alien consciousness to find the right station. Luna is a submarine in the ocean, and Ava is a satellite searching for her. An impossible game of battleships unless the opponent reveals their location. Without a physical form, Ava can’t get bored waiting. Patience is meaningless when every moment without input is not registered. When the submarine raises up for air, Ava establishes an instant connection. She leaps as a photon off a mirror and into the crystal eye that gives her colour. She moves through the crystal, bouncing off the prismatic mind. The eye shifts it’s gaze; the round shape forms into a white moon overlooking a land of salt and marble ruins. This was Luna’s world. The only phone in existence that could take Ava’s call. Where someone could look at her and speak to her.
“You know, it’s ironic that your name is Luna, but I’m the one that is a moon.” Ava giggled. It tickled when she spoke as electric pulses moved through her. Her ethereal voice echoed through the empty desert.
Luna stood on top of the roof of a mediaeval castle and looked up at the moon. Flakes of salt floated up towards the sky in a reverse snowfall. She cackled. A cold and clattering sound, like tableware being violently shaken back and forth in their drawer.
“You said that the last two times. Haven you finally gotten completely senile?” The words came out shattered and wrong. Her crystal body was not built for speech. She was a three-meter-tall statue of magic clusters with the vague silhouette of a gown and tricone hat. Her face was carved out with a grin of black dimond teeth.
“Did I now?” The moon hummed. “Sorry. I just find our predicament amusing. Look at us. The Knave and the moon.”
“Amusing? That’s what you call this? Go die in your own sludge.” Luna pointed a long clawed finger at the moon and resumed her cackling. The shadows on the moon shifted in a playful swirl.
“Speaking of our predicament, I assume you called me here to discuss the state of our game. You might not believe it, but I have been paying attention. You managed to summon your Kaiju! A stellar move on your end.” Ava praised.
“And it only worked because your precious players are all so humiliatingly incompetent. Trash. Trash. Worthless trash!” Luna waltzed across the marble tiles.
Ava watched the ballerina dance in the snowglobe. “You are cute when you are mean. But let’s not act as if you have already won. The “trash” is still in the fight. I have faith in my city.”
. “You and your sickening faith. I invited you here to give you one last chance to speak your nonsense before I win.” Luna paused, her back turned to Ava, her shadow trailing behind her like a train to her dress. “Do you remember our bet?”
“I remember. It’s one of the things I can’t forget. I promised you would never be alone. That’s why we made this game.”
“Kaleido versus me. A test to see if your lofty ideas of coexistence and love can overcome the wretched poison of the whole Esper-Guide, masters-and-mice systems that plague our lives. This world casted me in the role of a helpless whore. A low-class Guide. Well look at me now! Look at the incompetent worms writhing in the dirt. You are a fool, Ava for ever suggesting that Kaleido could fight back.”
“Kaleido can still win. All the pieces are on the board. All that is left is a little bit of love.” Ava stated with outmost sincerity. “If needed, I can enter the stage myself and stop you with my love this time.”
“Love!? You are a romantic to the end. You know you will die the moment you become aware of your own rotting corpse. One touch and you will finally implode. If you want to try to go and die for these people, then go ahead.” Luna spat out the word “people” with disgust. “As for your pieces, the one key Guide you have bet on is soon going to join me. No ‘love’ will come and save the day. He is like me. The world will destory him in the same way. I’ve made my move and invited you here to declare ‘check!’.”
Ava sighed. The saltflakes swirled in the gentle breeze. “It’s bad luck to celebrate before the finish line. I’m sorry the world was so cold to you. I wish I could hold you in my arms again. But you are kind, and despite how easy it would be for you to take me out, you let me live. There’s still hope. There’s always hope.”