Beyond the Known

Ren moved like a beast, leaping to his bag and tearing it open, spreading the rough fabric and all its contents on the ground. His hoodie lay alone in the middle. He picked it up like a fragile relic and inspected every corner closely, searching for something.

Haku nudged Lily on the shoulder. Lily was just as speechless as she was.

"Hey, do you think he's gone mad?" the oni whispered, which was more of a slightly quieter tone than an actual whisper.

"It's possible."

"Maybe he's possessed by a phantom. Should I kill him just in case?"

"I'm not deaf! I'm not possessed by anything!" Ren cried out in despair at Haku's very tempting offer.

"Well, of course you're not. Ghosts don't possess people," Lily said, bending down next to the boy and tucking back her long hair, which had fallen forward. "What are you doing?"

"I'm looking for..." He stopped for a moment and, blushing, buried his face even deeper into his asymmetrical hoodie. "My girlfriend."

The two girls' faces simultaneously contorted with disgust.

"If that's a pickup line, you're doing a really bad job."

Still embarrassed and with a pink face, Ren turned and sat cross-legged, preparing to explain the fragment of memory he had seen.

"Are you sure it was a memory? Maybe you were just knocked out by fatigue and saw your strange fetishes."

"Having a girlfriend isn't a strange fetish! And it was real. I can feel it."

Ren's serious tone made Haku silent. She was a little embarrassed by the romance, so she didn't know what to say.

Ren looked at both girls, his face serious as he opened his mouth to speak. "I want to go back."

The words hung in the air between them, heavy and unexpected. Lily's expression didn't change, but Haku's face, usually so full of blunt emotion, went completely blank. For a long moment, the only sound was the rustle of leaves as a breeze passed through the clearing.

Haku finally broke the silence, her disbelief slowly turning to anger as she jumped up and spread her hands. "So all it takes is one woman, and you'd just leave?"

"What's wrong with you? Why do you have to be angry about everything? You should be happy! If I go home, your Master can come back too!"

Haku pursed her red lips; she couldn't argue with that, but she still didn't like it. Ren didn't understand her frustration.

He said "home," but the word felt foreign. He liked being here. He enjoyed the environment, the architecture of the cities, and many mysteries were waiting to be solved. He was at the beginning of mastering magic. And there were the people who made his whole presence there easier. He liked them. Each of them had their own demons, yet they were lovable. He knew his life on Earth wasn't perfect. His sister's shabby room and the poor hygiene were testaments to this. But he had friends and family there who needed him, right? He wanted to know more. More about this world, and about himself.

He tied his hoodie around his waist and, with renewed strength, aimed at a distant tree. He hit it without a problem. The tree fell with a loud thud. The birds resting on it expressed their disapproval with angry flaps of their wings.

It was as if he had found his zen. The magical power inside him calmed down and could be led on a leash like a puppy. The wind picked up, causing his hoodie to fly behind him.

Lily's face brightened, and she started clapping. The strict teacher was gone, replaced by a proud friend.

"Ren, you did it! I knew you could!" She was so relieved that her face completely smoothed out. She looked up at him, her head slightly bowed, as if she was afraid of the next question. "Do you think you could do the mountain? Or would you like to try?"

Ren was flattered by the praise. He nodded determinedly and stepped to the base of the mountain. Lily put her arm around Haku to cheer her up. Haku tried to push the tall girl away, but she held on tight. After a while, she gave up and let Lily drag her around like a rag doll.

Ren stood with his feet shoulder-width apart and exhaled the air he had been holding. He knew he could do it, but he was still a little afraid of failing in front of the girls. He shook his hands and wrapped a piece of white cloth around his right hand. It was thick on his palm and wrist and only thin on his forearm. Lily had taught him how to use a glove earlier. In its absence, he used this to pull the magic in his aching hand together. To make it tighter, he pulled the end with his teeth and turned his attention back to the main factor of his task.

The mountain looked down on him like an intimidating giant, as if it wanted to devour him. He swallowed hard as the pressure grew and his heart beat faster.

Lily placed her hands on his shoulders, pushing them down. He hadn't even noticed he had raised them. Her hair tickled him where it touched him. She ran her fingers along his outstretched arm and covered his eyes. She whispered softly and clearly into his ear, like a magic spell.

"Don't let it intimidate you. Imagine that tree you just hit. Imagination has power."

The girl stepped back.

The power flowing inside him gathered in his stomach. Then, with a tremendous roar, the explosion from his index finger punched a huge hole in the side of the mountain. He fearfully opened his eyes. The ringing in his ears drowned out all other sounds.

The air was filled with a crackling hiss. A wave of heat washed over them, carrying the scent of vaporized rock and ozone. The entrance to the mountain wasn't just a dark hole; it was a big, round, glass-smooth tunnel whose walls glistened from the intense heat of the blast. A bright blue glow lingered in the air, slowly fading to a dull purple sheen.

"I did it!" he turned to the girls with a huge grin on his face that couldn't be wiped off for the life of him. He looked pretty silly, punching the air and hopping on his feet, which made the others laugh; even Haku smiled.

They crawled into the tunnel, Haku in the front, ready for any sudden attack, and Ren in the back, as the weakest link. Which was a bit rude, but he accepted it.

The darkness of the hole swallowed them whole. The air grew still and heavy, smelling of damp earth and something acrid, like burnt metal. The only sound was the scraping of their clothes against the stone walls and the ragged breath of the person in front of them.

They could walk the first few meters, but as the ceiling gradually lowered, they crouched more and more, until they were on all fours. And later on, they crawled on their stomachs, which was nothing for Haku. Even then, it felt like she was still on all fours.

It was a tight fit. Ren's shoulders rubbed uncomfortably against the rock. A familiar sense of panic, like a hand squeezing his throat, began to rise in his chest. He pushed it down, focusing on the faint glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel that led them to the unknown.

Finally, Haku and Lily struggled their way out of the small hole. Ren gave one last pull with his forearm, his head popped out of the hole, and his body fell out. The difference was immediate and jarring. The stale, damp air of the tunnel was replaced by a sharp, clean cold that bit at his exposed skin. He landed in a soft drift, and a deep, muffled silence enveloped them, broken only by the soft crunch of snow under their feet.

The natural landscape looked completely different than on the other side. The blazing sun was gone, replaced by a pale light. The trees stared at them bare, as a white blanket rested on their tops. A few strange-looking, smaller animals scurried across the ground, scratching for food. The whole landscape was covered in snow, making the view majestic.

The strong wind blew Ren's hoodie off his waist, and he went after it without a second thought.

"Ren, wait!"

It was too late.

His hoodie stopped in front of a large animal that roared angrily and stood on two legs. It loomed over the boy with its monstrous size. Ren saw it at the last moment and dodged its sharp claws. The snow on its thick white fur was not visible, and it completely blended into its surroundings. It resembled a bear, but its fur concealed six muscular arms, in addition to the two powerful legs it stood on. It also had a strange lump on the top of its head that was constantly pulsating. With its red eyes, it focused entirely on Ren.