In a brightly lit room, a man with abyss-black hair and dark amethyst eyes that reflected only a small glimmer of the brightness stood, holding one small sheet of metal with engravings in each of his hands.
The room was a basement, a crudely made one with numerous obvious signs that point to it being created in a rush by an amateur architect.
Some walls were slanted, though thankfully covered with numerous neat and symmetrical metal, which at least gave it some consistency despite unsympathetic room.
However, even though some parts of the room had higher ceilings than the rest, the floor was perfectly balanced, the core component that's keeping this basement together
"Dang it, this one is faulty..." The black-haired man complained in an indifferent voice as he finished examining the intricately engraved metal sheet on his left hand.
The engravings were extremely tiny and intricate, that one could barely perceive them with the naked eye.
(Haaah, this is the 10th one that failed...) The black haired man sighed internally, bitter at another failure, grossing over weeks of isolating himself in the basement lab as soon as he got off work.
Quickly moving on, the black-haired man let go of the first engraved metal sheet, putting it down on a wooden table close by, so he can properly dispose of it later.
With a diminishing mood, the black haired man, lifted up the remaining metal sheet on his other hand and thoroughly scrutinized it, analyzing it closely with his impeccable eyesight.
"Hmmm... THIS MIGHT WORK!" The black-haired man, baffled shocked by what he saw but, did a second check, confirming what he saw before screaming out loud, announcing his triumph.
Slightly shaky, the black-haired man gently placed the successfully engraved metal sheet onto a pillow, and after that, in order to further secure it, the black-haired man swiped the air and manifested 6 black petals in-between his fingers.
"I'm not risking it" the black haired man muttered to himself silently
One by one, the black petals slowly disappeared, and after each one, a gravity-defying transparent black barrier appeared around the engraved metal sheet. The first barrier appeared below the pillow, and before the other barriers locked in place, that single barrier lifted up about 5 centimeters before the other barriers entrapped it within seconds.
"Perfect, now all we need is to assemble it. Good job, Kanum," a woman's voice came from above, coming from a crimson-haired woman who was walking down to the basement.
"YUP! I'm finally getting used to node engraving at this level of intricacy," Kanum said in a tired but excited voice.
After that brief spark of excitement, Kanum looked extremely tired, though he didn't have eye bags. Node engraving at that level takes a large toll on someone, as they have to expend a colossal amount of concentration and energy.
The best way to describe how it felt to do Node engraving, is that it's like constantly threading 2 or more needles at a time.
"Go get some rest; we'll do the assembling tomorrow," Shelt said as she warmly assisted her husband up the stairs.
*BZZ BZZ... BZZ BZZ* Shelt's phone began buzzing.
Feeling the vibrations, Shelt, at the speed of light, picked up her phone within milliseconds without dropping Kanum.
"do you need me to pick you up?" Shelt immediately asks without looking at who's calling.
*Hi, Mom! I'm going out to dinner with Rekka and Ren, their superior* Shry explained, his excited voice somehow shining through the speaker and lighting up the room.
*Do you and Dad want to come as well?* Shry continued.
"Did you ask them if we could come first?" Shelt quickly asked, familiar with her son's personality
*Emmm... No...* Shry admitted, his words drifting further and further as the truth came out.
"It's fine; you can call us anytime, and we'll also be waiting here when you get here." Shelt comforted her son.
"YUP! And we'll be free real soon too, so get ready for next week; we're finally going to have fun!" Kanum accidentally yelled into his wife's ears, forgetting where he was, as his love for his son took over
*REALLY! I look forward to it!* An audible bounce appeared in Shry's voice as he became more and more excited.
"Alright, make sure to stay safe, okay?" Shelt said in a happy tone, as she decided to end their call soon so their son could go have fun without being bothered.
Kanum's body began to shift as he excitedly pushed forward, almost knocking both him and his wife over.
"Yup, stay safe" Kanum joined in.
*Okay!* Shry responded before waiting for his parents to hang up.
...
"You know Mr. Haze would've allowed it, right?" Rekka said after Shry hung up his phone.
"Huh!? Why didn't you tell me that earlier?" Shry whined.
Defeated, Shry slumped back into the car seat and took a look around, before his eyes landed on his backpack.
"You were on the phone, and I'm also busy." Rekka rebuked as she continued with the business she was all so busy with.
During this entire time, even after close to half an hour had elapsed, the concoction that Rekka had been sucking on for so long, isn't even half finished.
"What have you been drinking? It looks... um, interesting..." Curious, Ren turned his body to look at Shry and Rekka, who were sitting in the backseat,
"Oh yeah, Ren! I have this thing; it might help you get better...?" Shry said cheerfully, but his voice slowly lowered as he began to question his own idea.
In his right hand, Shry held a familiar bottle with swirly designs.
When Rekka got off work to meet up with Shry, she realized that she forgot to give her brother Shry's gift, and seeing that she still had time to kill, she went to the VANISH headquarters laboratory and got it tested.
To her surprise, when the results came back, the potion Shry brought was actually legit. Even the researchers were surprised, because they couldn't believe that an item like that was found by a child in some dingie market.
A miracle concoction only made by highly skilled and fated scientists that have the resonance paths and corresponding abilities to accommodate its creation. Something that could easily be traded for a car or two, sold to a kid from some random van.
"...is that... safe?" Ren asked worriedly, having received dozens of weird items similar to this from his cousin before.
...
Shry had watched Ren mature rapidly. When Ren was still in the hospital, Shry still saw him as someone that shared his interests since they were just a couple of years apart, but after a year, it was like Ren's mentality had grown from a 14-year-old to a 19-year-old young adult.
So after seeing that Ren had grown out of the usual presents he brings him, Shry decided to change the type of presents he gives... Unfortunately or fortunately for Ren, Shry's next theme of gifts were lines upon lines of mysterious items.
"No need to worry about that; I already got it looked at." Rekka responded to Ren in Shry's place, reassuring Ren that it is safe.
Hilariously, after hearing Rekka's statement, Shry himself dawned a surprised face just like Ren, as he suspected and was even sure that the potion was a scam.
"Really...?" Ren couldn't help but question, while at the same time, his hand instinctively reached out for it.
Suddenly, before Ren's hand even came close to the bottle, an adult hand reached out and gently slapped Ren's hand away.
"Hold up, that potion won't help you, and I can't let you drink it before I confirm it myself," Haze said without looking away from the road.
"Besides, shouldn't little Shry be the one that consumes it? You guys have plenty of resources." Haze added.
Hearing that, Shry sucked in his upper lip, and acted slightly koi but also grateful at the same time. He then looked side to side and saw his cousins faces, which now added an emotion to how he's feeling currently: amused by their guilt.
"Em... It wouldn't work on me... and I don't want to get hurt from drinking." Shry denied Haze's offer, his face holding back smile as he held back his laughter.
"Uh... why?" Haze became slightly alarmed by Shry's answer.
"I dunno..." Shry said in a funny voice as he shrugged his shoulders, unconsciously taking the opportunity to lighten the mood.
*...* everyone went quiet the moment Shry said that, some in astonishment while one in confusion.
"There's a lottttt to explain," Rekka broke the silence, exaggerating her words.
"We'll explain it when we get to the restaurant," Ren added.
Responsibly slowing down the car, Haze briefly looked away from the road and glanced at Ren, catching his expression before refocusing on the road as he sped up the car to his normal speed, finally nodded and accepted the siblings answer.
"Oh yeah! What restaurant are we going to, because I have some ideas..." Shry asked, interrupted the before the silence grew, implying that he had some suggestions, unable to contain his devious smile.
At that moment, dozens of odd and obscure restaurants circled through Shry's mind as he began mentally selecting some of them to suggest despite not getting an answer to his question yet.
"We're going to an outdoor barbeque restaurant with personal grills," Haze answered, smiling as he thought back to the last time he went here, almost drooling at the image of the food they'll soon be having.
Immediately after hearing that, Shry's face turned slightly disappointed. Eternally, he really wanted to see his cousins reactions to whatever odd restaurant he brought them to, he was also excited to see how Haze would react as well, since he would've been the first adult Shry would successfully lure to some weird place if their dinner hadn't been planned out beforehand.
(Hmm... Why does that place sound so familiar) Shry thought to himself a pang of familiarity surge through his body.
Shry continued to be disappointed, but then, a sudden flash of a memory flickered before his eyes before he remembered an experience he had with his parents, specifically one with the same environment Haze had described.
"Wait! Is the barbeque place called Ber... Ber something?" Shry scratched his head as he tried to remember the name of the restaurant.
"It's Bergrilla; does that sound familiar to you?" Haze announced the name of the restaurant, hoping to jog Shry's memory.
"YEAH, THAT'S IT!" Shry's eyes brightened as he cheered.
After that, the crew just chatted about some random things, taking about 5 minutes before they made it to their destination.
A red building with a farmhouse aesthetic and clear wear and tear, mainly from the smoke billowing from the grills in front of the building
...
"So... Shry can't use Node at all!?" Haze expressed his surprise.
It took a while for the 4 of them to bring up the topic about Shry's condition, but after getting a flow going, this topic naturally came up first as a conversational piece.
Most of the explaining was done by Rekka and Ren, with some inputs from Shry now and again. And with each reveal, you can see Haze's expressions visibly get more and more surprised.
"Technically, I can use Natural Node," Shry added, casually dropping a information bomb on Haze.
Without changing his facial expression, Haze briefly showed a face similar to the face of someone who saw a ghost. But then Haze's face took another drastic change just seconds later, changing to one of contemplation, with thousands of thoughts running through his mind.
"What do you mean by that?" Haze questioned, looking at Ren and Rekka to gauge their reaction.
To his surprise, the two siblings looked just as shocked as him after Shry muttered that statement.
As the silence began to grow, Shry also glanced at Ren and Rekka, and now it was his turn to be surprised.
Somehow throughout the 2, almost 3 years after the discovery of Shry's ability, without acknowledging it, they had been dancing around the topic this whole time, filling in the blanks without the actual truth.
"It's honestly pretty hard to demonstrate it, but I have just the perfect conduit to show it off!" Shry stated, getting excited.
With that said, Shry quickly reached into his pocket and pulled out a penny-sized disk with physical engravings strewn across its whole body.
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