No… it couldn’t be, could it? After all of that effort, it was his most jaded and apathetic attempt yet that finally hooked something? Only he who is willing to tear his gaze away from the goal on the horizon can look down at his feet to see the next step. Was that how it went? No, that was a bunch of bull.

“Profound Toxin?” he asked out loud, feeling dumb for calling out to a glob of quasi sentient blue poison. “Are you still messing with me? It was funny the first five ti— No, that’s a lie. It sucked. If it’s you then leave me alone already.”

Whatever it was that he was sensing there just out of reach, something nearly imperceptible like being tickled on the tips of your fingers by a mouse’s handkerchief, it did not respond to his words.

He took a trembling breath as shivers ran down his spine. Was this truly what he had been searching for?

Taking a mental step forward, he reached out and scooped up the presence as gently as his mind would let him. Its existence was nowhere near as prominent as that of Profound Toxin. The blue poison was like a cheeky dog sitting on the porch and barking at the mail man, while whatever this was was better compared to a new kitten hiding under a bush in the corner of the garden.

Eik had to consciously hold himself back from celebrating this milestone. Sensing the energy inside one’s own body was the first step. At least that’s what Mikla had told him.

According to the description in the recipe book, for the pain killing drug he would need to activate the dormant properties in the components. Although there were other ways to concoct a pain killer without influencing the multidimensional matter in the ingredients, this was an excellent project for a first timer to practice feeling and manipulating the energies in the body and in the atmosphere.

Finding himself unsure of how to actually proceed from here in practice, Eik tried the first thing that came to his mind and essentially threw the energy into the cauldron with the prepared ingredients, hoping for the best.

Before he could even open his eyes to check the result of the attempt, his face, neck, and hands were splattered with a cool, sticky substance. With a finger he wiped away a wad of goo that would have hit him right in the eye if they hadn’t been closed.

As if battered by a flurry of pressured air, the mix had been spread all over the inside of the cauldron as well as the table and his clothes.

Despite his failure, the grin that now split his face was an image of uncontained glee. He had done it. After three and a half days of no progress he had made it through the first stage.

With a celebratory howl of joy that jolted Mis from a pillowy slumber he ran out the door to find Mikla. Besides assisting Atla, he also had some weekly shifts in a fracture hall where he opened portals for diplomats, officials, and others leaders and important people.

This apparently consisted mostly of hanging out in a small office next to the main room and recording information and destination about any authorized person or group he received or sent anywhere.

The domed white marble building they had arrived through the first time Eik came to the headquarters had been them trying to instill a sense of security, rather than cryptic, blank walls and endless hallways. Not to mention how much more impressive the sight of the sprawling city was.

“Mikla!” he called as he knocked on the door to the office after jogging through the enormous space. There was one open fracture in the far corner of the room, a small group of people gathered around it.

All fracture halls had guards stationed on both sides of any entrance and Eik had stop to have his identity confirmed by a scan before he could enter.

Instead of Mikla, a woman with flowing, silvery hair opened the door. She stared at him for a moment, orange eyes piercing into his. Eik’s hand was still raised, poised to knock a second time. “He’s not here right now. You missed him by a couple of minutes,” she said.

“Oh… uuh, okay, thanks. I’m Eik.” He felt like he should probably get going but for some reason he just stood there.

“My name is Ihasu. From the Ougi clan.”

“I… don’t know what that is,” he said. Why did he say that? What the hell was wrong with him? Aah, the Ougi clan! I’ve been told that’s the best clan around! That’s what you say. Come on, son!

“You don’t know wh—…” Her surprise quickly turned into a fit of laughter. Nice laugh too, he supposed.

He scratched the back of his head nervously as he chuckled along with her. “Is it bigger than the Tokanami family?” Dude… Just stop.

“I—… Well…” she stumbled, tilting her head and shrugging.

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“Cool. Cool, cool,” he drawled. “Do you know the Tokanami family?” Eik knew full well that it was not a good idea to ask questions like these to a total stranger, but he couldn’t help himself. He couldn’t just forget what had happened.

He had spoken with the others about the incident, and they agreed that they had to find out if it was truly over this time or if Atla had embellished Menka’s punishment to soothe the Earthlings. They needed to know. They just hadn’t known how best to find out more. Downtown there were people they had become acquainted with, but up here where someone might actually know something about it, there was nobody to ask. Until now.

“Personally? No. But I’ve heard of them.”

“I heard one of them got arrested. Is that true?”

“Yeah, there was quite the commotion a few days ago. Not sure what it was about though.”

“Did you see it when it happened?” he asked, hopeful.

She arched an eyebrow. “Do you know how large this place is? I was sleeping.”

“R- Right… Do you happen to know what the verdict is?” Considering he’d been involved it wouldn’t be a suspicious thing to ask, right?

“No, of course not.”

Eik laughed nervously. “Right. Of course not. Thanks anyway.”

“Yeah. Anyway, if you’re looking for Mikla, he said he’s taking lunch outside today. He does that often.”

“Do you know where exactly he went? There are quite a few parks and stuff like that around here, you see,” he said with a chuckle.

“Yeah, I think he went to the woods just east of here.”

“Uuh, sorry, but which way is east again?” he asked.

She laughed and directed him down the corridor where he made his way outside into the bright sun. It was only a couple of minutes of walking before he came to the edge of a large wooded area. The trees were tall, reaching up far toward the blue sky.

They weren’t quite pines, but the way the branches grew and the shape of the leaves reminded him on pines. Narrow walkways weaved in between the trunks, numerous people strolling along and enjoying the fresh scents.

Many simple benches, entirely wooden, lined the paths and on one of these is where he found Mikla.

“Mikla, here you are! I’ve been looking for you.”

The fracture specialist looked up, half-eaten sandwich in his hand as he chewed away heartily. “Ei’h” he said with surprise. “Wha’ ar’ you doing here?” — He managed to swallow while he spoke — “How did you find me?”

“Ihasu. She told me where you were,” he muttered.

Mikla narrowed his eyes as he regarded Eik. “Are you blushing?”

“No! Of course not!” Eik blurted. “What are you talking about? You’re crazy, dude!”

“Alright, alright,” Mikla said and raised his hands placatingly. “So what’s up?”

“I did it! I found the multiversal matter!” Eik exclaimed, remembering the glee he had felt earlier.

Mikla’s eyes widened to teacups as his jaw slackened. “Already? You completed your first project?”

“Ah, well, not yet. It kind of… exploded.”

Mikla bobbed his head. “That happens to everyone the first time they have to work delicately. I actually can’t quite believe that you managed to sense it that quickly, and even got it to release violently.”

“Is that good?”

Mikla nodded. “It took me almost a month before I found it, and one more before I was able to touch it well enough to get it to move at all. I’ve only ever heard of one, maybe two, people who have done it as quickly as you, Eik.”

“Oh… wow, that’s…” Eik hesitated mouth opening and closing as he figured out what to say. “Why was I that fast then?” he asked, unable to conceal a grin at the thought of his accomplishment.

Mikla shrugged. “I couldn’t say. It could be any number of reasons, among which simple natural talent is certainly a possibility.”

“Hmm,” he hmm’d. Eik couldn’t help but think back on all the times he’d been forced to metaphorically pull the reigns on Profound Toxin, order it to attack or retreat, not kill his friend.

Truthfully, he’d never heard of anyone else having to wrestle with their ability for control over its behavior. As far as he knew people just kind of… made abilities activate, like pressing a button. A normal ability didn’t usually try to establish itself as the alpha any time things didn’t turn out as violently as it had hoped.

But then again, why wouldn’t it be strange and different. Profound Toxin was a Worldbreaker and it had already proven itself to be so weird that it it had essentially pushed him into an alternative evolutionary path.

Perhaps he had simply been practicing unwittingly for this exact discipline through his troubles with Profound Toxin. But what, then, was Profound Toxin? What was a Worldbreaker? He had asked Atla and she hadn’t known much.

“So, how am I supposed to guide the energy into activating my ingredients? It just explodes.”

Mikla pursed his lips. “What did you do, exactly?”

“Well, I…” He mimicked the act of hurling something into the ground.

“Right…” Mikla drawled. “You’re gonna want to do it more carefully than that.”

“But I don’t know how.”

***

It took another four days before he could reliably establish contact with the multiversal matter. It was like the more he reached out to it, the more comfortable it became with his presence. The first few times he had taken hold of it it had curled up in his spiritual hand like a frightened animal, refusing to move.

Now, after dozens of tries, the energy behaved much more flexibly and would dart around nervously and somewhat obediently. He had managed to release the energy into the mixture without destroying it, but actual activation of the ingredients was still beyond him.

“Damn it,” he muttered with a sigh and leaned back in the chair.

“Are you having problems with that?”

Eik tilted his head backward to look at the door. His eyes widened. “Sonja?” he questioned as he spun in his seat. “Why did you—?”

“I just remembered what that other archer said back at the Great Raid,” she said. Her long hair had been cut short and now hung in a bob. “I can’t remember her name, but she told me to keep my hair away from the bow string.”

“Yeah, I remember.”

“I was in a bad mood back then, but after everything we’ve been through I realized that she was right. Every little advantage counts. So…”

“Well,” Eik said. “It looks good.”

“Thanks. Did you succeed with your project?”

Eik glanced sourly at the cauldron, the drying remnants of his last attempt sticking to the bottom. “Not exactly. And it’s driving me crazy.”

“I haven’t even been able to sense it yet, so I’m not sure you’re in a position to complain.” She gave him a look.

“Sorry for whining,” he laughed.

“Heathy said you asked some woman about Menka Tokanami.”

“Yep.”

“What did she know?” she asked.

“Nothing, really. That the Tokanami family exists and that something happened.”

She held his gaze firmly. “We need to know for certain, Eik.”