Chapter 48: Sneak Peak

2 years later, in the basement of Shry's home, on a soothing Saturday evening.
Kanum and Shelt were both working hard, positioned in different stations, keeping the other company whilst they worked on finalizing their current project.
Kanum, like always, was sitting, facing the west of the basement, surrounded by a mess, as dozens of failed Node-engraved components stacked around him into several mountains like a valley. However, though it looked messy, these parts were actually neatly segmented into piles, separated by material, as most of them are capable of being recycled. 
While Shelt, on the north side of the basement, not too far from Kanum, worked on integrating new science with old science, the physical aspects of the project they're working on. 
Both of them were deeply immersed in their own specialized field, not the best at it, but with their combined intellect and their deep trust in one another, they were able to achieve numerous feats in the department, though they may not be acknowledged since the technology they're working on is very niche.
...
After working quietly on their project for hours since getting back from a fun morning with their son, Shry, Kanum suddenly said something out loud unprompted, surprising his wife.
"It's about time we redecorate the house"
Hearing Kanum's question, Shelt's hands stayed completely steady, frozen in the air, indicating his surprise.
"No, not this week; we need to finish V2..." Shelt responded in a seemingly unbothered voice.
"We need to; we can't just break the promise. We have to keep it going!" Kanum argued, stopping what he was doing to emphasize his seriousness. 
After the party, Shelt and Kanum were left feeling quite inadequate as parents. 
Despite being beyond dedicated to their research in order to solve their son's disability, while doing so, they failed at parenting by diving too deep into that obsession, which led to them inadvertently neglecting their only son.
So, by the end of that day, they ended up making a promise to each other, working together to keep each other in check, promising to do something with their son at least 2 times a week, with no exception to this rule. Alongside that, an additional rule was placed upon Kanum, a promise to himself to keep his decorating tradition going from before Shry Resonance day.
"But, we're almost done; we just need half of tomorrow..." Shelt defended, her voice sounding audibly hesitant with each word she uttered.
"We don't have to rush; all we intended to do in the first place was for our son to have access to Grade 1 abilities, so it's not important that he gets Grade 2" Kanum tried comforting his wife, justifying that a 10-hour difference wouldn't matter.
Although Kanum meant to comfort his wife, his words accidentally brought up a thought Shelt had been having recently, which immediately brought her mood down a notch.
(His friends are already at grade 4 level; some are even in grade 5...)
"Yeah..." Shelt casually responded with a hidden heaviness in his voice.
Even though Shelt did a very convincing job of hiding her true feeling, Kanum was able to sense the oddity in his wife's voice. 
So, being his energetic self, Kanum's solution to circumvent Shelt's troubled mind was to continue talking, blabbering on about some random stuff, hoping that something would stick.
"Anyways, have you seen our son's recent invention? They're amazing." Kanum asked Shelt despite already knowing the answer, since they're almost always together when not at work.
Out of sheer luck, Kanum landed on the perfect subject immediately, while having no idea about his wife's inner thoughts.
"Heheh, yeah, he has improved a lot." Shelt giggled, giving a short but sweet answer before continuing after a second.
"At this point it might be possible for them to create a grade 3 level disk... Maybe..."
Suddenly, a thought popped into Shelt's mind, a groundbreaking idea that could potentially lay the groundwork for the v3 gauntlet, Silver Lining.
Quickly dropping everything she was doing, Shelt pulled Kanum from his work without saying anything and placed him across the workbench in the middle of the room before going to the other side, like many of their previous brainstorming sessions.
"Umm, what's going on?" Kanum asked, with confusion audible in his voice, not expecting his normally composed wife to do something he can only describe as his, Kanum's, shenanigans. 
"V3 and beyond might be possible," Shelt went straight to the point.
Immediately after that, Shelt didn't waste any time; she quickly gathered some papers and stationery, frantically jotting down her thoughts while explaining her ideas as they popped into her head. 
Quickly afterward, Kanum also realized the potential of this idea and repeated after his wife's action, taking advantage while the momentum from this idea was still fresh in their minds, as sparks of ideas continuously flew.
...
While his parents were going crazy with their sudden stroke of inspiration, Shry was upstairs in his room.
Shry's room hasn't changed at all since he was 7, though some of the decorations have to be replaced due to aging. However, the decorations that he and his father put up on his resonance day still remain the exact same. 
A room filled with festive energy all throughout the year, providing Shry with an extra dose of energy each day; a memory that kept the love for his parents unwavering, and proof of his parents's love for him.
"You guys are coming back in 2 days, right?" Shry asked with an undertone of secrecy hidden in his voice.
Shry sat on his bed with his phone held up to the same level as his face, deliberately facing toward the window, instinctively pointing the camera away from what he was hiding even though it wasn't on.
In front of Shry, away from the front camera, were dozens of plushies as well as dozens of odd trinkets that look like they either came out of an antique store or the lab of a mad scientist.
"Yeah, we bought back a bunch of souvenirs as well" Ren's confident voice came through the speakers of Shry's phone.
...
On the other side of the phone
Three people sat in an armored vehicle, going at 100 mph, absurdly fast for any armored vehicle to go. But, with the implementation of new science, nowadays, it wouldn't be impossible to make a terrain vehicle fly as long as the driver has a Node Canister.
"At this pace, we might even arrive a day early!" Rekka in the backseat added, but her voice didn't make it through the phone.
*Cruuuuk cru Bumm bum bum* the sound of their speeding, dinosaur-like vehicle, crushing the ground below it, drowned out most noises.
"At our pace, we are going to arrive back a day earlier than expected," Ren relayed Rekka's words into his phone, agreeing with her statement.
*Oh shoot, really!* Shry said in somewhat of a panic, unintentionally causing the siblings who were calling him to become suspicious.
With a suspicious look, Ren wished that Shry had turned on his camera so he could look at his facial expressions, but unfortunately for him, he'll have to try a different method to draw out his suspicion.
Silence began to linger after that, and tired of this silence, Rekka raised her lips, ready to speak, but before she could, she was stopped by her brother, gesturing for her to stay silent for his plan.
As Ren planned and Rekka waited with anticipation, the silence grew, becoming heavier and heavier, only affecting Shry while the siblings observed with amusement.
After spending 2 years at the edge of the world, learning and training, Ren had finally built up the confidence to portray himself as the ideal self he had always wanted to become, someone who's fearless and confident, and even more importantly, someone that his past self can stand behind, blocking whatever horrors lie in wait.
Hey! You guys are still at the edge of the world, right? Can I see? Shry expertly weaved past the dangling question.
"Hmm... Maybe," Ren answered ambiguously, but internally, he was seriously thinking about doing it.
"Haze, can we stop or slow down for a moment? I want to show Shry the scenery here." As part of his change, Ren had stopped addressing Haze formally, as he talked to the person who was supposed to be his superior with great familiarity.
Having spent so much time with Haze over the past 2 years, Haze had slowly become like family to both Ren and Rekka, like an older brother or a guardian.
"Haaah... Sure, but it'll make us 2 hours late," sighing, Haze explained the consequences of stopping.
Because the edge of the world encompasses such a wide area, even though the musicians who live here or came for an expedition, like Ren and Company, can easily create roads, expending that much energy to build roads here is pointless, since they're constantly on the move.
And, in a vehicle like the one Ren, Rekka, and Haze are in, it'll take a long time for them to accelerate to the speed they were going at since they are driving on rough ground.
"We're fine with that," Ren and Rekka simultaneously said, their voices fusing together.
(I should've expected this when they decided to call him), Haze thought as he quietly began the stopping process.
With practiced ease, Haze went through a number of steps, expertly disengaging each car component one by one, from lowering the speed and disengaging the elasticity of the springs to one final trick that required a personal touch: ejecting his Node into a finger-sized receptacle located at the side of the steering wheel.
*BRU BRU BRu bruuuk-* the car rumbled, making a lot of sound as it came to a halt.
The car shook and croaked as a gust of wind blew out of the car, acting as something similar to an airbag whilst pelting dust into the air, creating a cloud of dust that shrouded the car and hid it for almost a whole minute before it settled.
"Alright, get out; we'll be leaving in 10 minutes at most," Haze said, opening his door first.
*Your voices are much clearer now. Hi, Mr. Clover* Shry's voice rang through Ren's phone, casually greeting Haze after hearing his voice, acting like there wasn't just a cacophony of disastrous noises coming through Ren's phone.
"Hey Shry," Haze greeted back before he got out of the car, stretching his body to alleviate the stress from driving for so long.
From the morning till now, the evening, Haze hadn't stopped driving until now as to not ruin the momentum that took them close to an hour to fully achieve. So, when he found an excuse, he had already unconsciously agreed to it the moment he vaguely heard Shry's request.
Quickly, the siblings followed, acting in different ways in accordance with their personalities. Rekka first looked around to gauge where they were, while Ren immediately went straight to work, spotting the landmark that marked the edge of the world.
"Can you see it, Shry?" Ren asked, pointing his phone at said landmark after turning on the video call option.
Watching through the camera feed from Ren's end, Shry saw something incomprehensible. 
A black void-like wall stretching infinitely into the sky and debatably infinite side, spanning around their world like a ring.
The scene would have been terrifying to those who saw it for the first time. Even if they had seen the edge through photos and even videos before, it can't be compared to watching it live or being there themselves.
That's because all these characteristics belong to the widely known natural disaster named the Slette. 
When Ren and Rekka first arrived here, due to their deep and unfortunate connection with the Slette, it took them almost half a year to stop shaking whenever they saw it, and even now, whenever they look at it, they still can't get rid of this deeply rooted fear. 
Sometimes, though, their minds will even play tricks on them, making them think that the infinite, black, void-like wall was actually closing in.
However, this was just an illusion, something more akin to mass hysteria, as it is not just Ren and Rekka that were affected by this.
Research had even been done to disprove this, but even after so, sometimes, some people still swear that they could see it move.
*Woahhhh...* This is more amazing than I thought!
It really does span all around the world!
Shry's baffled and intrigued voice sounded from Ren's phone, sending a shiver down Rekka's spine, as she felt disturbed that someone could find this place anything other than disturbing.
Ren also shared the same sentiment, but he's more open-minded, so his reaction was much more tame, though it did not quell his discomfort.
"Haaa huu." Taking a deep breath, Ren steeled himself to give Shry a tour of this wretched scenery.
"As you can see, that black wall marks the end of our world, and if you look closely below it, you can see the village we lived in for the past 2 years."
Ren pointed the camera slightly downward, zooming in as much as his phone would allow him to.
Although a bit blurry, Shry could make out the vague shape of buildings. 
Despite calling it a village, what Shry saw wasn't just a small settlement. In fact, what he saw looked more like a whole city, adorned with its own glimmers as the taller buildings reflected the light of the sun.
"Woahhhhh, I thought you guys were just going to live in a tent or some tacky building made from dirt" Shry spoke out his thoughts, amusing Ren and eventually Rekka with his misconception.
"Of course not, we have better statuses than that." Rekka said smugly as she joined the conversation. 
While Shry and Rekka were going back and forth on their living conditions, Haze, done with stretching and refreshing himself, walked to where the siblings were and just so happened to hear Shry's question, accompanied by the siblings's dignified expressions. 
Suddenly, an odd feeling welled up inside of Haze, suddenly getting the urge to wipe those expressions off of their faces.