A Bit of Rest for the Wicked

Cain’s eyes snapped open and he sat up with a start. He immediately regretted doing so however, as his numerous wounds reminded him of their presence. Cain took a moment to assess himself before he made any more sudden moves. All limbs present? Check. Good looks still there? Check. Sanity intact? A bit iffy, but he’d mark it down as a check for now.

He breathed a sigh of relief as he looked around the unfamiliar place he was in. He soon realized he knew this place. Based on the number of beds and the curtains drawn between them, this place was the infirmary, although much less populated than it had been the first time he saw it. It was dead silent in the room, so Cain assumed the doctor was out. After about a minute of testing himself to make sure he could move without too much pain, he sat up and got out of bed.

Cain was able to move okay, but he was sore all over and covered in bandages. Thankfully, it didn’t seem like he was as severely injured as he thought—which was a bit odd considering he no longer had wounds in a few places he was certain he got hit. He wondered if some sort of healing magic had been used on him while he was asleep, and to what extent it worked on his glitchy body since Rina’s magic didn’t seem to work on him all that well.

Cain did some careful stretches to try to alleviate some of his body’s fatigue, then stepped out into the center of the room. Sure enough, it seemed like the doctor, or at least someone matching a doctorly description, was out at the moment. Cain found himself wondering when the doctor was in as he scanned the rest of the room. While the doctor wasn’t in the room, the fox-like man was. He was laying down in a bed across the room, a red fur covered arm draped over his eyes. Cain took an instinctive step back when he noticed him, as he wasn’t quite used to the variety of weirdness in Ranael yet.

The man must’ve heard Cain shuffling around, because he moved his arm to take a look at whoever was making the noise he heard. When his eyes met Cain’s, a sharp-toothed grin spread across his face.

“Well, well, if it isn’t the new guy awake at last.” he snickered, “Hope you’re well rested, you’ve been out for nearly two days.”

“Two days?!” Cain yelped, eliciting a groan from the fox man.

“Ugh, try to keep it down, man. I’m dealing with a massive hangover here.”

“Oh, uh, sorry.” Cain apologized, “I’m Cain Igarashi by the way. Just wanted to introduce myself before I left.”

The fox man’s toothy grin returned. “Yep, I’ve heard all about you and your misadventures the other day, Cain. You’re the one who came through the summoning ritual, right? The name’s Finn Redtail, part-time Vanguard member, full-time mischief maker.”

Cain tried to think up a witty remark, but ultimately came up empty-handed.

“If you’re heading out,” Finn continued, “the doc wanted me to tell you she still wants you resting for a few more days. I think she’d prefer if you stayed here so she could monitor you, but personally I’d like to work through this headache without an audience.”

“Gotcha. Nice meeting you, Finn.” Cain said as he started towards the door.

“Do me a favor and get the lights on your way out, would ya? Should be the glyph by the door. Oh, and if you see Rina, let her know you’re still kicking. The girl wouldn’t leave your bedside until the doc made her.” Finn called out after him.

Cain stopped at the small glyph next to the doorway on his way out and carefully reached his hand out towards it. It turned off the lights alright, but not before giving Cain’s hand quite the shock. He swore he heard Finn giggling to himself, but he decided to leave it be and headed to his room. As he left, Cain smiled as he realized that as weird as everything here was, not all of it was trying to kill him.

A short while later, Cain reached his room, walking in and collapsing on the bed. He initially regretted his decision when his body hit the mattress and his soreness made itself known, but his fatigue won out over the soreness he had. Even though he had just woken up from a two day long nap, Cain found himself getting sleepy once more. Likely because he wasn’t fully healed yet, he presumed. A few minutes later, Cain found his eyes getting heavy, and gave in to the allure of sleep.

The next thing he knew, Cain was in the backyard of his old house, the one his family had before they moved. He recognized this scene, his older sister Rachel’s sixteenth birthday party. The one their parents had thrown for her despite her saying she didn’t need one. The last birthday party she had before she disappeared.

Decorations covered the backyard like a holiday display. Relatives, friends, and neighbors sat at the folding tables that Cain’s parents had rented from the local party supply store. At the center of it all, sat Rachel, Cain’s parents, and a younger Cain. Rachel opened gifts, embarrassed to be the center of attention, but happy nonetheless. Kyotaro and Maya eagerly shoved presents into her hands each time she finished opening one until Kyotaro got up to take a work call. Ten year old Cain just sat there eating cake.

Cain circled around behind his sister and himself, trying to understand what was happening. As he faced them, he realized all of the party guests had blank, blurry faces. None of them were recognizable, but they still showed emotion each time Rachel thanked someone for a gift. Between the guests’ nonexistent faces and the surreality of seeing his sister and his younger self, Cain knew this had to be a dream. But if it was a dream, why did it all seem so real? The crunch of the grass under his feet, the smell of the food on a nearby table, and most importantly, his sister’s joy when their father returned from his “work call” in a brand new car just for her. It all made it feel like less of a dream, and more like a memory.

None of the people in this dream had acknowledged Cain’s existence. Even when he touched them or yelled their names, no one batted an eye. It was bittersweet in a way, seeing all these people from years gone by, only to not be able to interact with them. A pleasant calm washed over the yard, despite it all. At least, until Cain noticed his younger self staring at him.

“You shouldn’t be here. These memories are not yours to plunder, Catalyst.” said Cain’s younger reflection, glaring at him with a hateful intensity that a ten year old should not be able to muster.

Cain awoke in a cold sweat. What was that? Who was Rachel? He was an only child—none of that made any sense. And what on Ranael did that kid mean by Catalyst? It felt like he wasn’t speaking to Cain, but through him, which was yet another thing that didn’t make sense. Before Cain could get his thoughts together however, his door swung wide open and Rina waltzed in like she owned the place.

“Cain! You’re awake!”

“Rina you really should at least knock. What if I had been changing or something?” Cain chided her as he stood up, annoyed that she distracted him and that she wasn’t respecting his privacy.

“Oh, what’s the harm in a little peek?” she asked with a mischievous grin.

“Could you say the same if this were the other way around?” Cain questioned, raising an eyebrow.

“You’re no fun.” Rina pouted.

A subtle smile crossed Cain’s lips, satisfied that he’d beaten her at her own game.

“Anyways,” continued Rina. “On to the first order of business.”

Before Cain could ask her what she meant, she tackled him in a short, but meaningful hug. It was impressive how much strength she had in that small frame of hers, because Cain felt like he was getting the stuffing squeezed out of him. Maybe it was just him, but hugging someone you’d only known for a few days seemed a bit out of the ordinary. Or perhaps it wasn’t something reserved only for people who were close in this world. Either way, the firmness of this particular hug made him wonder if maybe he wasn’t the only one who had needed a friend.

After a few moments, Rina released Cain from her deathgrip and looked up at him sternly. “Don’t ever do that again. Do you have any idea how much you scared me when you ran off like that? Imagine how worried I was when I found out you fought a Bottomless by yourself.”

Cain bursted out laughing. He couldn’t help himself, she sounded like his mom the way she was acting. He expected her to scold him for running off by himself and disobeying orders, but nothing like this.

“Don’t laugh! I really was worried!” whined Rina, stomping her foot in a somewhat childish manner.

“Sorry, I’m sorry.” Cain apologized. “That was just unexpected is all.”

She rolled her eyes. “Fine, see if I worry about you again. If you’re so brave and strong then maybe you don’t even need my help.”

“That’s not true at all.” Cain blurted out, his eyes drifting downwards. “To tell you the truth, I didn’t mean to fight that Bottomless. When I ran off, it was because I had seen what those things can do to a person, and I was scared. It terrified me to think of you guys sending me out there and making me risk my life for the sake of other people’s ideals without a second thought. So, I ran and tried to escape, only to end up right back here.”

“Look at me Cain.” commanded Rina, grabbing his face between her palms and making him stare at her. “Do you trust me?”

Rina’s sparkling golden eyes radiated understanding and her soft, scale-lined face emitted warmth like a hearth. It was a difficult question for someone Cain had only known for three and a half days to ask him. He didn’t know her as well as he’d like for a question like that, but she’d been his closest confidant the past few days and hadn’t steered him wrong yet. So, he made a choice, and nodded.

She beamed at him. “I know none of this is an easy adjustment for you, and I can’t claim to know everything that you’re going through, but I at least know that you have nothing to worry about. You said that you trust me. So trust me when I say we’re family here. Nobody is gonna send you out there until they know you’re ready. Or at all if you really don’t want to—there are other ways you can contribute. Val might be a little upset you tried to leave though, so we’ll keep that a secret for now. But don’t forget, I’m here for you if you need me. Just promise you’ll stop worrying so much and take better care of yourself, okay?”

Cain half-smiled back at her, wiping his eyes and stifling a sniffle. “Alright fine, you’ve convinced me. I’m sorry for worrying you Rina, I’ll try to do better in the future.”

He reached down and rustled her hair a bit, causing her to let out a yelp.

“And that was payback for that sudden hug earlier.” He snarked.

“Well if you’re gonna act like that, maybe I won’t tell you about the second order of business. You know, the amazing, mindblowing thing I noticed when watching your fight?” Rina bleated, a light blush dusting her cheeks as she fixed her hair.

Cain’s interest was piqued. Despite his sore body, he quickly knelt down in a jokingly reverent posture. “Oh Mistress Rina Tirrun, greatest scholar in all of Ranael, please forgive this trespass and impart your vast wisdom upon this humble Cain.”

“Now that’s more like it.” she said with a smirk. “I was watching a replay of your battle the other day using a spell of mine called ‘Pastseeker’s Replay’. It has its limits, but it lets me see events that happened to someone or something within a certain timeframe.”

Cain had to admit, regardless of whatever limitations it might have, that sounded like a pretty impressive thing to be able to do. He stayed silent and let her continue her explanation, intrigued at what she might have seen.

“While I was watching,” Rina continued, “I noticed something strange happening to you while you fought. But rather than explain it, I think it’d be easier to just show you.”

She sat down in the chair at Cain’s desk and focused for a few moments before two small motes of light appeared on the tips of her pointer fingers: one of them blue, and the other one yellow. She began drawing a glyph using both fingers simultaneously. In yellow, she drew an arrow pointing to the left and inscribed Cain’s name on top of it. In blue, she drew a complex outline around the arrow that looked somewhat like the face of a clock and wrote the time when Cain had fought the Bottomless below the arrow. When she finished, the glyph flashed and something akin to a video playback appeared within it.

Cain saw himself standing outside the barn in Avcad, facing down the engorged Bottomless. It was kind of unnerving watching his body flicker like static from an outside perspective for the first time. Whatever happened must have happened so fast that he missed it the first time, since Rina circled her hand around the glyph to rewind the playback. Cain looked closer as he saw a small shimmer on his body where one of the Bottomless’s attacks made contact. He squinted his eyes to look closer and saw another, then another. It wasn’t exactly clear what was happening, but considering that each of those spots were near his vitals and that he didn’t remember getting hit in any of those places, he could make an educated guess. The pensive look on his face must have betrayed his thoughts, because Rina dispelled the glyph.

“Let me hear your thoughts before I tell you mine.” Rina directed, an air of excitement in her words.

“It’s kind of hard to tell,” Cain started. “But I think it looks like some of the Bottomless’s attacks are phasing through me. Kind of like when I tried to fight Gunnar or when I tried to grab your hand.”

“Exactly! When we look at your stance, we can clearly tell you were trying to guard your vitals. Then, each hit from the Bottomless that pierces through your guard miraculously misses thanks to your body deciding it wanted to flicker at that exact moment. If I take those two things into account, I can make the hypothesis that…drumroll please!”

Cain played along and patted his knees rhythmically, giving Rina the buildup she wanted.

“Your body is unconsciously in control of your glitchiness!” she blurted out, enraptured by her own theory. “And if your body is capable of controlling it, that means there’s a chance that you could learn how to control it consciously! Not only would this completely solve your issue of phasing through things, but it could completely change the way you fight. It’d open up new avenues for both attack and defense. This is so exciting!”

“That’s great, Rina,” Cain interrupted. “But how do I learn how to control it?”

She froze and a comedic bead of sweat formed on her forehead. “That part, I haven’t quite cracked the code for just yet. But, we’ll figure it out together.”

Rina grinned and put her fist out for another fist bump. Try as he might, Cain couldn’t come up with a reason not to put his faith in her. He obliged her and gave her fist a light tap with his own.

“Good to have you, partner.” he said with a smile.

As Rina went to leave the room, she stopped as she was passing by Cain’s desk. She quickly reached over and grabbed something off of it.

“Before I go, I want you to tell me what this thing is to repay me for messing up my hair.” Rina stated, holding up Cain’s smartphone.

“It’s a phone, something like a long-range communication device.” he replied, laying back down in his bed.

“How does it work?”

“Not too sure on that one. You can take it and try to figure it out if you want, it’s not much use to me with the battery dead anyway. You’ll need to figure out some way to power it with electricity though.” Cain explained with a yawn.

Rina smirked. “Thanks Cain, you know just how to get to a girl’s heart.”

“Yeah, yeah. Shut up and get out of here already.” Cain retorted, rolling his eyes.

Rina opened the door, only to be met with Gunnar’s menacing figure looming in the doorway, his hand raised like he was about to knock. Despite how intimidating he looked, Gunnar seemed surprised that Rina had answered the door.

“Oh, uh, sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt.” he apologized, putting his hands up defensively.

“N-No, Gunnar! I-It’s not like that!” Rina spluttered, her cheeks nearly turning as red as the scales covering her body.

“Oh, well, I just wanted to come by and let Cain know that the debrief for the Avcad mission is starting soon and that he should come so that he can see how we do things. Since you need to be there too, I guess it’s convenient that you’re here.” said Gunnar, a stiff smile forming somewhere in his red and gray beard.

Cain groaned as he got back out of bed. A debrief, huh? It sounded pretty boring, but he couldn’t help but feel a strange tinge of excitement as he realized he was finally being considered part of the team.