Raya Marin
I had run here for the sole purpose of comfort. The music club was as it name tells already—is filled with a dozen musical instruments, most crafted in the 12th century in the center of Amour City. Kotos and drums and lyres and trumpets. So much for my desire for music.
My hands brushed through the chords of a koto. It was wooden and looked ancient. I looked around in demand. The room`s walls were covered with musical notes from several different centuries.I first looked at the wall to my left. There was a bald, gray bearded old man with a He was Sir Galahad, a knight of the Last Republic. He forsaken his vows and responsibilities and became what he always wanted: a musician who led the world by inventing the first lyre. To my right was a woman with long ginger hair and an aged yet pretty face. She was Lady Theodora of Amour City, founder of love culture music.
My fingers wandered around the drum before me.
"Cole loves you." I whispered to the instrument.
I picked the drumstick on the floor tom and played with it in my hands, spinning it around my fingers. After a minute of joy, I placed the stick back where it belonged. I then walked right into the center of the clubroom. I closed my eyes shut and inhaled a long, deep breath. My hands both raised up in the air and my right feet in front of my left. My fingers brandished the air around them. I took a breath again, this time it was a short one. My hands flowed with the air in sync. My legs followed each other with a drastic bourn. My fingers flexed around one another, sometimes departing, sometimes intertwining. I put my moves in song as I hummed a Last Republic musical note in my tongue. When I used this dance I felt much more light and liberal. As if the dance responded to my own demands and desires. What a design of love. Dancing without any logical or illogical belief is the purest form of freedom. How fascinating it is to dance with all your will and heart clenching one another.
"How winsome." I whispered between my breaths.
My hands moved in a set while my legs moved diversely. The dance I learned long ago when I was just a bloody girl came to an end when I heard the flicker of awe coming from the outer world around me. At my last breath, my right foot behind my left and then with a pant I opened my eyes with gasp. And there he was, my dear idiot staring right at me with his astonished, piercing golden eyes, and in his hands lie the book that made me escape here. In his face lay the boy who wanted more.
Grey Nirmala
My eyes followed Raya's every movement, and it felt as if time slowed with each step and turn she made. The purple particles swirled around her, dancing in harmony with her motions. Each change in her movements brought a different response from them, when she raised her arm, they rose with her, and when she stepped forward, they bent and shifted. Like a mother showing her cubs what to do.
But her dance wasn't fascinating only because it influenced the particles. It also affected the damn book in my hands. Unlike the particles, which reacted to her every move, the book didn't twist or sway. Instead, with each change in her dance, the eye symbol on the cover became clearer. The eyelids of the symbol would open when Raya's body rose, and close when she lowered herself.
The dance itself was graceful, her expressions captivating. She didn't seem to notice what was happening around her, and seeing the smile on her face made me want to keep it that way. She was elegant and urbane. Soft and gentle. Loveful and lovable.
Minutes passed, and she was still dancing, though I could tell she was nearing the end. Her motions slowed, becoming smaller and more deliberate. For her final pose, she raised both hands to the ceiling, palms facing the light above. Her legs were bent toward me, right front of left. Her waist inclined forward, her head bowed. It was as if she were not dancing anymore, but submitting to someone.
I watched her in quiet admiration. The elegance of her dance played a part, but what truly held me was how the particles seemed to obey her. Finally, she lifted her head and our eyes met.
She straightened abruptly, her face flushing red, and began walking toward me. She looked like a child caught doing something they weren't supposed to, her gaze fixed on the floor.
"...H-how long have you been watching me?"
Her voice was so soft I could barely hear it. Seeing her like this, I almost wanted to laugh, after all, it's not every day you see the girl you like dance like that. But I can`t laugh, not now.
"D-don't you dare laugh, idiot."
She turned her head away and pouted. I held back a grin and took a deep breath, then opened the palm with the rune so she could see it. Raya glanced at it from the corner of her eye.
When she saw the rune, a flash of fear crossed her face, and she quickly scanned the room. I followed her gaze and wasn't surprised at what I saw, every last particle had vanished. I couldn't even remember when they'd disappeared.
"How did you really get that rune?" she asked. "Be honest, please."
The question did not catch me off guard. I took a slow wave of an idea and thought. Preparing to answer, but before I could, she hit me with another. This time I was caught off guard.
"You can see them too, can't you?"
For a moment I froze, unsure how to respond. Mustering a solid sentence was harder than it should be. "The purple particles?"
She nodded. She already had her answer to the second question, but now I needed to explain the first without confusing her. Without daunting.
"Something… I don't know what it was, gave me this book and these runes."
Her gaze darkened as she examined the runes on my palms more closely. "What did it look like? The thing that gave you the runes."
I thought back to the countless minutes I'd spent staring at that being, yet still never fully understanding its form. "Its eyes were whiter than snow, its hair brighter than the sun, and the rest of its body was nothing but absolute darkness."
Raya opened her mouth but paused to think before speaking. "Long blue but translucent hair, violet, lamentable eyes, and a body made entirely of those… …those aetheric particles."
At first, I didn't understand what she meant by "aetheric," but after a moment I realized she was referring to the purple particles. "Aether"… It didn't matter why she called them that. What mattered was how she knew the name.
"Aether?"
A small smile appeared on her lips. "The being I met wrote 'Aether' on a mirror using those particles. I just assumed that's what they were called."
I didn't want to upset her, but honestly, it sounded flimsy. "Aether" could mean anything, the name of the particles, the name of the being, even an element yet to be discovered. Still, at least now we had a shorter, cleaner name to use instead of constantly saying "purple particles."
Raya bit her lip and sat on the drum throne, resting her arms on the toms and lowering her head onto them. "I know calling them 'aether' probably sounds silly to you."
For a split second, I worried I'd spoken my thoughts out loud. Of course, I hadn't, I wouldn't make that kind of mistake.
"How do you know the dance?"
A weird smile curled on her lips.
"I found it in the Great Library of Ion when I was like seven."
"That is a weird discovery." I thought to myself. "Maybe these motes were far more picky than a hummingbird."
"Why did you run out of the classroom?" I asked plainly, my voice was rougher than I intended.
She didn't look at me, instead focusing on the wall behind me, where one of the Last Republic musicians rested.
"When you shouted 'Finally!' I turned around out of curiosity, and the moment I did, everything went utterly dark." Raya`s eyes jumped on top of my head. "Above you appeared two eyes, one violet, the other gold. I ran toward you, called your name, but you didn't hear me. You didn`t want to hear me." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "I was scared, and… well… eventually everything went back to normal, but I needed to be alone, so I came here."
Her words took a moment to sink in. To her, it might have felt like minutes had passed, but from my perspective, only seconds separated my shout from seeing her on the floor.
It was just like the event I had experienced in that alleyway. Time had bent. And then it clicked, perhaps aether could bend time itself. Perhaps I was just imposing it. Maybe.
A very small smile crept onto my face. "Raya, how long did your dance feel to you?"
"What? Why does that matter?"
I didn`t answer her.
She frowned at my silence. "Probably less than a minute. Why?"
My smile widened. Hypothesis confirmed. Every time aether appeared, something unusual happened. Even if I wasn't the cause, I could still see it. Aether could bend time, and I doubted that was its only ability. Those beings could manipulate aether on a dimensional scale. Perhaps it could bend not just time, but space itself… space.
I couldn't prove it yet, but the proof was there. And I knew exactly where to find the answers. I looked down at The Eye of the Void in my hands. The eye on the cover seemed to stare right back at me.
Raya`s fingers wandered around the drum and close after she straightened, her smile softer and warmer than usual, shy yet sweet. She placed her hands on her laps until they went back up and began fidgeting with her silk hair. Her face was a blush.
"Hey, want to hang out after school? Maybe we can figure out what's causing all of this."
I could feel my face heating up.
"Is that supposed to be a date?" I asked teasingly.
Raya bit her cheek and crossed her arms. "Don`t push thy luck, you golden grumpy."
This was as close as she could get to directly asking me out. I nodded, and her face turned to look at me again. The smile returned to her sweet face and grew until it matched the one she always wore, maybe even bigger.
Raya stood up, her smile had fallen instantly from her pretty face. Her eyes danced around the room, around me. Her eyes never set down on one of the walls. Every moron behind us drove her interest.
"Do you remember the lecture they told us about how the five crests overthrow the Last Republic?"
I looked at one of the walls, there was an aged man drawn on it, he had long blonde hair and sparkling brown eyes. His posture was slightly hunched but his face was a sneer. His name was Nero O`Amour.
"How could I forget?" I said as my eyes went back to Raya.
She also returned her gaze. She looked sad and annoyed.
"We`re lucky the Five did not erase them completely. Even those imbeciles know the importance of reform and history."
I clenched my fists then unclenched them. "They are just a bunch of idiots who have gold as their crown."
Raya`s eyes narrowed just for a heartbeat.
"Maybe. Gold is their crown. But red will be their shrouds."
Even if she said it so certainly, I could still hear the fear in her words. The same fear I had encountered in my parents, in the world around us and in an old friend`s voice.
Klein Cylrit
Those purple particles were everywhere and nowhere. They come and vanish like the wind.
I could hardly focus on any class today. My mind kept drifting back to what had happened that morning. Of what was happening.
I walked through the hallway, wandering around like a little kid. There were many students who talked about their daily life. I knew most of them and most of them knew me. I saw a short girl who I helped to carry her books for the next class. I saw a broad boy who sought my help in cleaning the toilets. And I also saw ignorant teachers who wanted my help in organizing the year's lecturer plans.
I walked to the end of the corridor and saw Rain there. We greeted each other with a smile and I continued walking out of the corridor to the central garden. As I expected, many of the students were here, kicking balls and faces. Girls laughing at other girls. I gritted my teeth at the sight of hard words floating in the air. They all were so laden and harsh. At least Lineage City was still standing even when the mud was at its core, somehow.
I passed the trees and entered the opposite corridor. I could feel a gaze on me as I did. A strong one even. I didn`t turn to look back. Walking on this side felt like walking in the alleyways of Lineage City. It is sad to face the truth that all men are not created equal. Especially under the regulation of the Endless Greatness of the Five it has always been the primal truth to be told. Maybe our birth is the best of times and also the worst of times. All humans are created in an equilibrium equation. But when we are convergent at value; we are still divergent at ambitions and influence. No one is who they seem to show us. We only see the side of people they want us to believe. So choosing who wears which face is always a puzzle game that seems to increase its pieces as we continue living. I let out a gloom sigh as I came before the teacher that beckoned me here. She had verdant but violent eyes and long, curly black hair. She had a slim body but a firm demeanor. I stood straight and stiff as Teacher Roxana.
"Oh, hello Klein. Thank you for coming." She looked around with a resentment gaze. "You know how these idiots are. I need thine help in carrying these boxes."
An awkward smile spread across my face as a single drop of sweat fell down from my cheek.
"I-I am sure many other students here could handle these better than I could." I responded while still keeping the respect in my attitude.
Ms. Roxana rolled her eyes with a dismissive gesture and looked at me with a sneer.
"You know better than I that none of these fools would help their beloved teacher." She let out a mocking gasp.
I nodded my head defeatedly and passed the teacher and walked inside the dues club to pick up the two big boxes. I couldn't see my way because of the cardboard boxes in my arms, but carrying them was fairly easy and light. I could sense Ms. Roxana smiling gratefully. She moved out of my road and stepped outside.
"Those should go to the chemistry lab I believe," she said.
"What use would two boxes of photos have in a lab?" I asked genuinely curious of the reason.
Roxana made a very simple excuse:
"Hmhm, I don`t know myself." She patted me from the shoulder and softened her voice. "But I know that one day you`ll be a great man, Klein."
I smiled at her compliment and tried to walk towards the labs without faltering as much as I could.
When I had finally arrived at my destination near the end of the break, there was nearly no one left in the corridor, hell there was no one inside the lab to even guide me for the boxes in my arms. I exhaled an irritated air out of my lungs and placed the two cardboard boxes on top of each other onto the table in the middle of the disorganized laboratory. When I could finally see my way properly I saw my welcoming committee. The purple particles swirled in the air erratically. I took an involuntary step back and my shoulders accidentally hit one of the shelves, almost dropping the chemicals on it. I quickly got a hold of myself and steadied my thoughts. I look around with dread. Almost the entire lab was filled with these motes. The black and white drawings of scientists of the Crest Order were all staring at me. The tools on the tables trembled, the chemicals around me vibrated and a tremor ran down me. As I looked back and saw a pair of eyes staring down at me from the window on the corridor. Right golden and left violet. I quickly ran away from the intense stare to my class. My breaths became heavier. And even when I got to my classroom the gaze of the eyes were still on me. I could feel it. I could sense it from my core. It frightened me. The awful stare was causing an entire calamity inside my blood and bone. My muscles tensed as I leaned on the wall. The laughs of my classmates surged through my ears. Until my ears were clogged with their words I listened to them. One of the girls was talking about how she cheated on her boyfriend. A boy was talking about how he bullied this other small boy. Two of the girls were talking about how rude and arrogant a certain golden eyed was. Their laughs and giggles of the conversations ignited a swell of disgust from the deepest depths of my heart. Those eyes watching me felt etched into my very retina. And these etched into my emotions.
I hadn't yet spoken to Grey; I had wasted my time dealing with other people and left the real matter hanging.
Still, I had seen those purple particles a few more times throughout the day. This day felt like it would never end. And when it actually did, after school I finally found the time to talk to the bastard. When I spotted them, not him. They were standing by the school fence, talking with warm smiles on their faces. The moment Grey noticed me, his smile faded into a frown, but Raya's smile only grew.
"Klein!" Raya called, waving.
Grey, being the jerk he always was, flipped me a finger in a way he thought Raya wouldn't notice. I was used to his behavior by now, so I didn't bother responding for the moment. I had no interest in reciprocating.
The three of us left the school together, walking without any particular destination in mind. None of us dared to speak about anything in particular. Why was I even here?
Grey walked a little ahead of us.
"This guy drives me crazy," I muttered.
Raya, her hands clasped behind her back and her smile wider than usual, tilted her head at me with curiosity."Why? Grey's a lot of fun."
That didn't surprise me. Even if those two hadn't figured it out, everyone at school knew they liked each other. I sighed, ignoring her question, and kept walking.
A few seconds passed till then—Grey uttered something under his breath ahead of us, while Raya kept opening her mouth to speak but then closing it again. When I thought about it, they really did seem like a perfect match. But still the bizarre silence between us continued to linger. Raya and Grey both looked unsure and, and somewhat afraid. The aura that both of them released was complicated and confused. The Sun had vanished from the sky as clouds took its throne on the sky. The dark clouds fell down the world below. Fog had covered the streets of the city. Children here liked playing with the mist that fell onto them. Moms were scolding their babies for not getting lost in the sea of fog. From the corner of my eye I could see Raya smiling at the kids.
"They are innocent," she said. Though slowly her smile shrunk until it could hardly be considered a smile. "How ignorant they are." With her words the lingering of the silence stretched no more. "Those purple particles…" Raya glanced at me. "Grey told me you can see them too."
I nearly tripped at her words. Grey glanced back for a moment before facing forward again. I scratched the back of my neck.
"Uh… yeah. I guess. And I believe you can see them too, which explains why you're so calm about this." I looked away, I could sense fear slowly grabbing my thought, but the worst of it was that, it didn`t let them go. "So can he, well see those particles." I pointed at Grey with the motion of my head.
Raya lowered her gaze and began twirling her bangs between her fingers. "Yeah, we decided to call them 'aether.'"
"Aether?"
She nodded, letting her bangs fall and clasping her hands behind her back again."Cool name, right?"
"Yeah, it is." I looked around the fog. "Maybe a bit too cool."
Raya giggled and ran ahead to join Grey. Aether… Strange name. The only "aether" I knew was supposed to be some kind of a medicine, at least according to my… mother. I wanted to ask her how they`d come up with it, but they were too busy flirting.
We walked like that for a few more minutes until Grey stopped in front of an alley. He stared down on his palms until Raya nudged him with her foot. Grey looked up at Raya and then to the dark street between two tall and damaged and dirty buildings.
"This is where I got my runes." Grey whispered.
Raya and I stepped closer, curiosity piqued, but we saw nothing unusual. Still, I kept walking until I reached the center of the alley. Something had pulled me there. The shadowy space was not so shadowy at all. Perhaps it was an optical illusion, even if I wanted to believe it really was. I saw aether everywhere all at once. Perhaps hundreds, maybe thousands of the particles circled me. I yelped—surprise, shock and fear all ruled over my face. I remembered things I did not live through. I saw events I couldn`t comprehend. And beyond—suddenly, a memory I had never lived flashed in my mind.
My eyes looked around the ruined place. I couldn`t even be sure if they were my eyes. On my right stood a girl with transparent blue hair and violet eyes beside a figure made entirely of shadow. On my left were two others, one with short violet hair, violet eyes, and a transparent body, the other with long pale green hair, golden eyes, and even wings behind her back. I tried to see my own body but it all was a ghostly form of someone floating.
The world around us was chaos, yet I didn't even know where I was. All of us were staring at something ahead, no, someone. Their hair and eyes were split into two colors: the right side violet, the left side gold. Their gaze pierced straight into me, breaking me apart from the inside. Thousands of frenzied thoughts arose in the center of my mind. Then my mind jumped. I was still staring ahead, but now at something above, a figure made entirely of those same purple motes, watching us and smiling.
Another jump. This time, I was looking at Grey. He seemed to be running from someone, but no matter how far he moved, he stayed in the same spot. I tried to call his name, but in that instant I felt something pulling at my soul, like it was consuming itself.
I shut my eyes in fear but I couldn`t and when I tried to close them again, I was back in the alley. Grey was staring at me with boredom, Raya with worry and curiosity."You okay? You've been standing there for almost an hour."
"An… an hour?" I couldn't wrap my head around it.
Raya stepped back in both fear and bewilderment. Grey on the other hand walked closer. His golden eyes pierced through my soul, he was ruining my thoughts with that of a gaze.
"But—"
"Wait." Grey cut me off, a glint in his eyes that told me he knew something. Or he wanted something. "How long did it feel for you? Ten minutes? A second?"
"I don`t know…" I murmured, confusion and dread creeping through my tune. "Maybe a minute or less… I-Maybe more."
Grey froze for a moment. Even Raya seemed to realize what was going on.
"Damn, it really is true." Grey said under her breath. His voice was terrifyingly calm, almost like this was nothing unusual for him. Before I could ask anything, he continued:
"Maybe not just time… maybe you manipulated your own space around us as well."
I had no idea what he meant. "How?"
Grey pointed at me, then at Raya.
"While you were like that, no matter how much Raya moved, no matter how many steps she took, she was always in the same place."
I turned to Raya. She stood in place, her legs shivering. Raya glanced at her feet, her eyes jolted up immediately and stared at. I could see the discomfort in them. Her composure was all messed up. But the worst was not her. When I looked at Grey, I did not see fear or uneasiness. All I saw was a bloody smile on his face. I can't remember a time when he was happier than now.