Memory Sickness: Astray Part 3

Incoming Call flashes on Kana’s Radial as she opens a window and sits next to Lori. She prompts the audio and answers, “Aiko, is everything alright? We were about to call you to see if we could head over to the orphanage?”

“Everything is fine, I have some new information about the memory sickness Astray. Crimzon is not our Crimzon from this world.”

Kana looks over to see Lori begin to spiral, but before she does Kana nudges at her and encourages her to listen. Kana also fights back the emotions as memories race through.

“Go ahead Aiko, We’re okay.”

“The current conscious of Crimzon now came from another world, when he died in his world. He said he woke up here in the orphanage today, and I am almost certain it may be the Crimzon I knew from my world.”

Lori leans into the display, “Does he recognize you?!”

“No. We never met in person.”

Kana’s eyes drop to a squint, “Oi Aiko, then how do you know if he’s from your world when you never saw him?!”

“Well, I wouldn’t know, and he would never know it was me either because we never saw each other in our world, Kana!” Aiko and Kana make faces embracing their playful hostility,

“No one would ever know either. Both myself and the Crimzon of my world are not in our bodies. Our understanding is that we inhabit the consciousness and essentially become the person’s body here in this world. This is not my face I’m wearing nor is it his on his face.” Aiko makes motions with her hands as she playfully explains her point to Kana.

Defeated, Kana acknowledges the oversight and puts up her hands surrendering. Lori proceeds, “Then how can you be certain its someone you know from your world.”

Aiko begins to describe who the current consciousness of Crimzon is, someone she met online and his mannerisms. She elaborates on the selection of the gear he purchased without knowing anything about this world, he took an educated guess to purchase the equipment to learn it over time. In her world, Crimzon would always hoard material and equipment in their game to make something better in the future, he would always use gear that at times didn’t make sense until he completed his character build. She also explains the last character build that Crimzon made before their last play together he utilized a sword and pistols. Aiko believes that the Crimzon she knew always thought ahead, and that if her insight is correct, then the one that arrived in this world could be her leader of their game clan Sanctum of Nine.

Curious Kana and Lori continue to ask about their world and the clan of Sanctum of Nine. Aiko leaves out no details but asks to keep everything discreet as she has a small percentage, she could be wrong and would like to reveal to Crimzon who she is eventually. Impressed by the stories that Aiko talks about where Crimzon and herself came from, Kana and Lori have a better grasp of who they are. Saddened that the boy they once met could be gone forever, Kana and Lori briefly mourn.

Trying to ease the gloom Aiko expresses her condolences, “I know the both of you had a connection with Crimzon of this world, I arrived sometime after you all met. I do feel sad that someone has left us. However, there is joy even now knowing that he is alive in a way. The way he risked his life for you Lori on that day, he also made it possible to save another life, the Crimzon from my world is now with us when he may have just died.”

Holding back her tears Kana sobs, “That is true. His body survived in stasis long enough for Aiko and Elsa to find them, and he is alive…”

“But he is not our Crimzon, the Crimzon we knew! The one that we would play with as kids. The one we made promises with to grow up together. The one you confessed too!” Lori holds back trying not to get too emotional.

“Lori, we were kids when I gave my confession. But that doesn’t take away the fact that we all could’ve died that day. We must be thankful that he’s alive in a way and if what Aiko says is true about Astray, maybe he could come back. Or maybe this Crimzon is also our Crimzon returning from their world? We’ll never know for certain.”

Lori pauses and gains control other her emotions, “I’m sorry Kana. I lost my father that day, and the constant threats against my mother…I just don’t want to lose anyone like that, violently.”

“I know Lori.” Kana embraces Lori and squeezes tight, “Let’s just give Aiko’s Crimzon a chance! Besides it sounds like there’s more to that day than we may know.”

Aiko nods, “This is true. We don’t know where Crimzon came from before we all met him at the waterfall, and Irin’s body was also found the day the royal guards slayed the chimera. I’ll contact Elsa after this call, and we’ll investigate.”

“Aiko, with what you said earlier about your conscious inhabiting the body, does it feel different? Does it feel like you’re just playing a game?” asks Lori.

“If you’re asking if this feels like a game to me? No. This is very real. The body feels real and feels like normal to me. When I use my skills, however, at times if feels unreal. Like the ability to move as fast as I can almost feels like a video game, but everything like the movements feels so real in time. I don’t know if that makes sense.”

“I see. I guess what is natural for us feels strange to you then.”

“In a way. Everything feels normal, just in the time in which we use our skills it almost doesn’t feel real. I got used to it by now, but at first it didn’t feel natural.”

Kana leans back into the conversation, “So does that mean Crimzon still has to get used to this world?”

Aiko ponders briefly, “Yes. He seems to be doing okay, but I think it’ll take time when he begins using his abilities.”

“Do you know what abilities he has Aiko?” asks Kana as Lori’s curiosity begins to overtake her previous emotions.

“Unfortunately, I do not. He could have different skills now since he came into consciousness here. I’ll see what comes up when he prepares for the Rite this week. I’ll see you both soon, I’ll contact Elsa and fill her in. Bye.” Aiko clicks on the window and the call ends.

Kana looks over to Lori, “Are you okay?”

“Yea, I’ll be okay. I just got emotional. So much happened and I was just hoping that we didn’t lose anyone else.” Lori raises her had to Kana and smiles, “Thank you Kana for your concerns.”

“It’s my job as your personal guard princess. If I can give you some advice, with everything going on with your mother, I think it’s imperative to keep training. You’ll have to accept that you will lose people under you someday, and all you can do is support them until they’re no longer with us. Death is inevitable for everyone.”

Lori nods realizing that Kana is right. She needs to keep training to develop her skills and prepare herself. Her kingdom, her mother Queen Aurora is constantly being targeted for acquisition by Atlas. The kingdom of Aurora recently discovered new minerals that could be a breakthrough for technological advancement. As demand for the mineral dramatically increased, attention to the kingdom has also come under scrutiny. The new mineral has been named Luminous.

The Luminous mineral was recently discovered when drilling within the kingdom began to confirm research that an aquifer existed. The drilling conducted and they came across an underground cavern that was lined with an unknown alloy. Upon discovery of the alloy the aquifer was reached. Researchers were able to harvest Luminous and utilize it to build various equipment, especially in the fields of medicine. The unique property is that in darkness the metal begins to glow and emit light. Other uses recently discovered is that Luminous would be made into a core harnessing the light output for producing energy. The kingdom’s research has not been widely shared as very little is currently known.

Most within the kingdom, the queen included, are preparing for a possible hostile takeover as negotiations have ramped up to acquire Luminous at large quantities. The queen has decided to safeguard Luminous until further testing can be done to ensure that it cannot be harnessed for an extreme weapon of mass destruction. It is only a matter of time until the kingdom is under pressure for this new discovery of Luminous.

“Kana, let’s meet up with Shiori then head over to the orphanage. I think I want to meet Crimzon before the Rite.”

“Oh, something Aiko said piqued your interest?”

“Actually, it’s what you told me just now. Mother and the kingdom are constantly under pressure because of Luminous. I must keep moving forward. So, I have decided that I want to know this Crimzon before he is also gone. I don’t want to lose anyone, but if I can keep them in my heart then they’ll be with me.”

“That sounds like a plan. Maybe I’ll confess my love to him before you do again!”

Lori and Kana continue to poke fun at each other as they make their preparations. Kana understands where Lori comes from. Lori gets attached to people easily and has a natural love for them. When she gets close, Lori wants to protect everyone around her. However, the reality is as Kana warns, death becomes inevitable.