Volume 2 – Chapter 13: Through the Broken City

Its shadow cast across the whole world The light would go out, a tidal wave The words it had spoken were thick in the air, heavy With weight. “If you want to be followed, you have no choice” — it reminded me now in a voice that had grown to be more insistent, prodding me off a cliff I had not even realized was there.

Rika was beside me, her hand jittering in mine, but she gripped hard. She had made her decision, and I knew that no matter what was to come, we were doing it together. But the truth — the truth the figure had whispered about — was still miles away, a distant truth I never wanted to confront.

I inhaled deeply, grounding myself as I stared down the man. I was staring into its soulless, calculating eyes, and I felt as if my soul was being penetrated. This flood, this destruction, these rains, this cursing, this endless chaos — it all somehow had something to do with this moment, this being. But how? And why were we here? Why did it say we had no choice?

"What do you want from us?" I finally got out, my voice trembling but steady. The words lay stupid in the field of sound air, a murmur impotent before the heavy force of the atmosphere the figure had cast. But there was no turning back this time.

There was a pause as the figure seemed to consider the weight of my question. Then it answered, dry as a bone. “You’re part of the equation, Kaito. You and Rika. The deluge was no accident. “And the ramifications of decisions made long before you even entered this world.” It dropped its voice to a whisper. “But it’s not just about the flooding. It's about what comes next. The choices you’ve made and the ones still to come. You’re ensnared in something much larger than you know.”

I had attempted to put together the riddle that continued to elude my grasp. “What did it mean that you’re tangled in something larger?” It wasn’t just the flood that was coming for us — it was something else, something much more dangerous.

Rika squeezed my hand and her expression was firm. "We’re trying to survive. We do not need your puzzles. What do we need to do? All you want is for us to fix this!” It was the one voice that could cut through the thick fog of uncertainty:

The being’s mouth curled in what could have been a smile, but whatever comfort such a thing usually brings was all but absent. "Fix it?" it echoing, the word sounding in the air. There’s nothing to fix, Rika. The flood was a sign, a warning of what to follow. To clear the way for something far more sinister. And now you have to decide: Do you go with it or against it.”

My heart skipped a beat. "What does that even mean? Fight it? What is it?" “Please,” I begged, my voice rising, frustration boiling over.

The figure did not answer directly. As a matter of fact, it sidled up to me, its pasty hand still reached toward me, its fingers dancing, it seemed to invite me close. “The flood was the first domino. Only you can decide what comes next,” it intoned. “It’s always been there since you were born, Kaito. You just have to face it."

The air felt cold, the silence pressing down on me like something I could feel. It was as if the ground under my feet was shifting, that reality itself was unsteady. Rika tightened her grip, I knew she was confused, I knew she was trying to be not confused. We were both caught in this net, but I did not know what the next move was.

“I don’t get it,” I said, my voice a thin reed. "What truth? What do we need to do? What does the water bring after the flood?

The figure cocked its head, as if considering my words. “Every sentence that it spoke felt like the hand of an inevitable destiny,” it spoke with such intention that I felt like every sentence it spoke could be the hand of an inevitable fate. "You must confront the truth. It wasn’t just a natural disaster, though. It was the consequence of choices made by others, true, but it was also a kind of test. Where only the worthy are left to survive. Who will slip free from the husk of this world and who will be eaten alive by it. You and Rika are here because you have been chosen to face the next phase. You decide if you get up or if you fall.”

A chill ran down my spine. "Chosen? By who?" I demanded, my mind racing. "Why us? What did we do to deserve this?”

For the briefest of moments, the figure’s eyes thawed. “It was always intended that you would be here, Kaito. You began it when you came into this world. Every deed, every decision, has led them to this moment. And now you shall see the truth of what you’ve created.”

The words resonated in my chest like a heavy weight. Like everything I had, everything I had trusted in the world was being unraveled before my eyes. The flood, the mess, the pain — it wasn’t an accident. It was a consequence. And what followed would be the ultimate test.

"How do we face it?" Rika’s voice has rooted me, all these spirals. “So what are we supposed to do to make it end?”

The figure’s lips peeled apart, its smile reconstituting, but the view was no consolation. "There is no stopping it. You are already 185 days into the world you once knew what a changed world. But you get to choose how to respond. You can welcome the new world that is emerging, or you can fight and defend the remnants of what has passed.

I felt my chest tighten. "What if we choose to fight?" I asked, though I was uncertain that I wanted to know.

This figure's expression hardened, its voice low and foreboding. “Then you’re going to have to live with that decision. A war that you cannot even imagine. But listen to me, Kaito: The flood was just the start. What follows will make the flood look like just a heads-up. And you will either ascend with it or be consumed by it.”

I felt the earth tremor, a pulse of shudders through the middle of my body. There was no escape. No way to go back. The future was unfurling before us, like a bed sheet that forms creases, and we had no choice but to face it. The reality, shrouded in the darkness of obfuscation and dread. And it was up for grabs, if we were willing to take it.

I turned to look at Rika, and for a brief moment saw reflected in her eyes the same dawning awareness that I was starting to wrestle with. She didn’t say anything, but I saw resolve when I looked in her eyes. But we were in this together — whatever this was.

“Let’s face this together,” I finally whispered, breaking the silence. "We’ll figure this out. We don’t have a choice, do we?’

The figure withdrew, its near icy smile unchanged. "No," it whispered. "You don’t. But you already know that, I think.”

And then, it was gone. Dissolving in the dark, the uncertainty of tomorrow weighs heavy.