A New Day

Koharu stepped back from the door as the bell rang, stuffing her hand back into her pocket. She flicked her hair from her face, glancing over her shoulder at the lake.

The choked sunlight sparkled over it, gravmobiles cruising along the bridge arching from one end to the other, purple lights flashing along the sides.

The door decompressed with a hiss, and slid open. Thiago froze as she met his gaze, a toothbrush in his mouth.

“Koharu,” he gurgled. “I… one second.”

He ran inside, then ran back out, patting his mouth with a towel. “What’re you doing here?”

She folded her arms, clearing her throat. Again.

“Ignacio is dead, Thiago,” she said.

His arms dropped to his sides. “What… what?”

She clenched her jaws. “We saved Celeste. He saved Celeste. But it cost him his life.”

He leaned against the doorframe, running his fingers through his hair. “No, man. That,” tears welled in his eyes, “that’s my bro you’re talking about.”

“I’m… sorry,” she said. “But one of the last things he told me to do is find you. He didn’t say what, or why. You got any idea?”

Thiago’s eyes moved to hers. He sniffed, and went back inside the house. He came back out with a holo-pad in his hand, tapping something into it.

“Do you have your visors with you?” he asked.

She reached inside her hood, pulling out a pair and placing them over her eyes, the visors filling with dark pink hexagons.

“What’s the name of the visors?”

“Starforce,” Koharu said, raising an eyebrow.

He kept typing, and the edges of her visors pinged with a notification.

“That’s what he wanted me to find,” he said, shrugging. “I got no clue why, though. Some random address for some random couple.”

She nodded. “Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it,” he said, lowering the pad. “Is Celeste okay?”

Koharu nodded. “Down in the dumps, but she’s okay.”

Thiago nodded. “Does she have anywhere to go?”

“He asked me to take care of her,” she said, shrugging. “But I’ll have to wait and see what she wants to do, if anything.”

Thiago nodded again. “Let me know when the funeral is on.”

She nodded, turning away. “I will.”

“And, Koharu,” Thiago called, leaning out the doorway. “Thanks… for everything you did.”

She clenched her jaws. “Have a good day, Thiago.”

She walked away, shoes clacking against the paved flooring. She opened the notification, accepting the message from Thiago. And froze in her tracks.

Some random address for some random couple.

She placed a hand over her mouth, sinking to her knees. Her throat ached as she held back tears, fingers trembling to her visors and pulling them off. But the tears just ran. Past a certain point, it was like trying to stop blood running from a wound. She hooked an arm over her face, clutching the visor against her chest. And sobbed.

Lady Shidare stepped into the House of Freedom, all eyes turning to her as they always did. Her ornate robe was stitched to perfection. Gold, green, red and white leaves drifting over a black base. The colours of war. The colours of love. The colours of royalty.

She walked along, a pair of golden antlers standing around her neck like a collar. A pair of servants followed her, holding the back of her robe off the floor as she descended the steps to the centre of the ring shaped room. She stood in the middle of the giant purple carpet, turning so the long tail of her robe curled around her feet. Her servants walked away, leaving her to stare each member of the House in the eye. One. By. One.

“Men and women of the house,” she said, holding out her arms. “By now you’ve all heard the story, and enjoyed your passive gossip about it.”

The House seemed to murmur collectively.

“But I’m here to turn your gossip into change,” she said, lowering her arms. “Just twelve hours ago, a young man named Ignacio gave his life to save someone whom he loved.”

She paused as the door she’d walked in through opened again. Kaito stepped inside, pausing to look around. He caught her eye, and gave a stiff nod.

“Someone whom he wanted to protect,” she continued. “And who was it from? Not the Psyonics, or the people of the Ethergeist,” she said, jabbing a finger towards the widows atop the walls of the room. “It was Cypher Corp, whose Citadels and Sanctum we have let stand in our home for too long.”

“What Ignacio did was an act of terror,” a house member said, his stomach bulging beneath his white and black robes.

Shidare glared at him. “Was it an act of terror to save his sister from being kidnapped? Was it an act of terror to first come to us for aid, only to be turned away because we’re too scared of the monster we allowed to grow in our back garden?”

The house member tucked his fat chin down, glancing left and right as he folded his hands.

“Good, I thought not,” she said, turning. “A young man died, and took many of his friends with him to their deaths, because they were sick of letting Cypher Corp take, and break without consequence,” she snapped. “And I hoped that, by now, we all would be sick of them as well.”

A series of agreements rippled through the room.

“We stand by and watch the devil’s work while calling ourselves good people,” Shidare barked, slamming a fist in the air. “And I ask you, House of Freedom, whose freedom do you stand for? The freedom of devils? Or the freedom of our people?”

“Our people!” the house yelled back.

She glanced up at Kaito, and he gave her a thumbs up, leaning against a wall behind the top row of House representatives.

“Then I propose a new form of power between our cities. One that will bring together the Psyonics from various cities, and unite all who want to join in one front against the activities of Cypher Corp, to silence them once and for all.”

The House murmured, but she could make out some agreements. Some nods of approval. It only took a spark to ignite a forest.

“And we shall call this force, Ignis,” she said, her jaws tensing. “To honor the man who started it and to remind all who join that this is just the beginning.”

She glanced back at the door as it opened again. Sora ducked to fit under the rounded frame, having to step in sideways. His cape flowed behind him as he walked to Kaito, shaking his hand before winking at Shidare.

“To initiate this new era,” she said, opening her arms again with a smile. “All tributes to Miraveth from Velin and Thalyssan will be reduced by ten percent, forever.”

That woke the House members up. Some leaned forward in their seats, murmuring and some clapping.