Convergence: Conflation

Trees blended together in fuzzy afterimages of green and brown. A footstep tapped the branches, tiny vibrations travelling through to their thick trunks; the contact between the sole of the shoe and the tree’s branches was seamlessly inaudible. Rei was moving so fast not even the starlight could keep up with the breakneck momentum that he had garnered. The world around him had become an omnidirectional splotch of color that, ordinarily, was unguidable—a reckless foray through the forestry.

The halifers stored immense amounts of divine, magical energy—an average person would be consumed by the sheer volume, unable to handle the burden of so much power, hence why they only chose to bestow their stored potential to those they deemed worthy. By some strange twist of fate, Rei had found himself tangled up in a complex web of psychological warfare and physically demanding conflict. There was little doubt in his mind that the trials everyone else had faced up to this point would eventually come for him as well. All things considered, if the halifer had chosen him to wield its power, it must have understood his desire to finally lay down a few punches on the devils himself.

Yet, with Mana and Lacia trapped in a dream world and no way to assist them in battle, even if he was successful in helping Millee, there’d be no way to help them after, hence why he’d looped around the forest, aware of a growing devilish aura. It was dense, like a fog on a humid night; it stuck to his skin as sweat beaded his forehead. The deeper into the forest he went, the thicker the aura became, unbearably soupy as the air began to aggregate with deep plumes of atmospheric moisture. His nerves had become sensualized, crushed by the unbearable combination as they shot pain signals into his brain in an infusion of malicious energy.

He was eager to put the halifer’s power on full display, having merged its magical energy with his own. Likewise, the energy itself seemed just as anxious to be taken for a test run, ready to spout from its vast spring of magical potency now stored within Rei’s body. Still, what he’d really wanted was to join Aria and Brendan in Chiipha—a change of scenery from the same smog-filled Earth cities, fertile cradle of life—from grasslands to frightening mountain ranges—and ailing architecture: overgrown homes nestled within the weeds, sun-bleached road signs, and pothole-laden streets and highways.

He’d considered the mostly barren desert that Chiipha was, but it at least was something different. Unfortunately, he knew a leisurely vacation to another world would have to wait. Right now, he needed to focus on the task at hand: helping Millee in her fight. If he lost focus now, he would be putting his own life at stake, and his vast repertoire of knowledge was far more valuable than he’d initially thought—it was useless if he was dead. Regardless, it was time to lock in. It seemed the fight had come to him.

Something, likely a devil, had joined him in the canopies of the trees, banging against the trunks, shaking leaves from their limbs. The soft scuttling sound reminded him of brisk, summer breezes—ones strong enough to push his hair back. Whatever it was, he couldn’t make out its form; they were moving at near-identical speeds, though his pursuer was just far enough back it allowed them to remain equidistant—a purposeful move. He considered it could be a vanguard force, but that didn’t seem right. The devils preferred solo engagements; they didn’t hunt like wolves, nor did they have the numbers for any kind of vanguard front. Considering they were moving at approximately the same speed, he wondered if, whatever it was, would attempt to attack if he slowed down.

He reduced his speed, a subtle move that would allow whatever was behind him to catch up. He’d give them a few minutes to close in, drawing them closer for more effective combat at just the right moment. It was a good opportunity to test the halifer’s powers while keeping the fighting as far from Millee as he could, hoping she’d swoop in for the kill once he’d weakened his assailant enough.

As he continued through the leafy canopies, the air grew thicker. Drops of sweat splattered onto the branches with an inaudible descent. The air wasn’t just uncomfortable—it seemed to be siphoning off his mana, bit by bit. He could try to counter the effect by coating his body with a thin, protective layer, lessening the overall draw, but the siphon seemed to lessen if he increased his distance from the thing behind him—subtle increases and subsequent decreases depending upon proximity. He wanted to maintain his distance from Millee, but he wanted to be close enough that she could easily tag into battle if need be.

“An engagement here would be bad,” he thought. “My own attacks would be underwhelming while an enemy’s would likely hit a lot harder if I don’t figure out how to stop this siphoning—I’m at a clear disadvantage. It’s possible I could create an alternate realm, just me and the thing behind me, but that’s probably not a good idea while it’s still siphoning off of me. I need to get a little closer to Millee, first.”

A large tree leaf to his right had filled with condensation, creating a reflective surface; it was the perfect natural mirror. An, albeit fleeting, image stared back at him through the water-filled mirror, confirming his theory. Whatever was following him had, in fact, caught up and now, he could make out its form: wispy like smoke. It wasn’t hard to figure out the thing was trying to fully manifest itself, arms and legs slowly billowing out from the main wisp.

Rei picked up the pace, trees blending together again like a gaussian blur—splotches of green creating a forested, chromatic world. Eventually, the branches began to thin as he approached a large clearing, starlight filtering through the thick canopy. The closer he got, the greater another mana source became, resonating with his own. Innocence washed over him like a gentle breeze, but he could sense the divine magical energy—Hika had arrived before him.

“A magical convergence point,” he mumbled. “Hika’s mana is offsetting the negative energy behind me which levels the playing field for us. It would seem no one will have an advantage in this battle… Problematic, to say the least…” He recalled what Ethera had told him before he left for Earth again:

“Remember, Rei,” she had warned, “you have gained a tremendous power, but if you allow that power to be stolen, you lose one of the keys between Earth and Chiipha. The battles that will take place on Earth and Chiipha must not overlap. The devils must remain separated as much as possible.”

“Logically speaking, that’s been the strategy for plenty of major battles all throughout history,” he said to himself, still inching closer to the forest clearing, “The idea is to keep your enemy from organizing as much as possible. It’s no different here, but what did she say after that?” He wracked his brain. “There’s a reason why we can’t let the devils converge in a single realm.”

“The power from the halifers will resonate with each other if they sense the hearts of their wielders seek retribution,” Ethera said. “It seems cliché, but it’s a failsafe, if you will, meant to prevent their power from falling into the hands of those who wish harm upon the terrestrial realms—Earth and Chiipha.”

“Explain,” Rei had asked, curious.

“There is no single being, not even me, that does not have regrets—that has not done something they aren’t proud of and knew was inherently wrong. I’ve seen your past, Rei. You will have no trouble finding it, but it’s what’s in your past that will test you,” she said. “The halifer’s power must sense that, and you must be able to overcome that which lingers in your heart. Now that they have been unleashed, that power is susceptible to outside forces, just like regular magic.”

“Ah. Yeah, I’ve got it now.” He broke through the final thicket of trees and into the clearing. “I don’t know why we didn’t notice it beforehand, but each devil gives off its own sort of aura—everything that produces and thus uses any type of energy creates its own field. Humans and devils just have larger fields than most other living things.”

He spotted Hika standing at the edge of the tree line, hands folded over the hilt of a broadsword that shimmered like the stars above. Beside her, a small cube bobbed up and down, riding the movement of the air like a fishing lure in water. It was compact and steely grey, but its surface resembled a labyrinth, a purple glow coursing through the strange object. Without warning, his leyliner suddenly flared to life, flashing a sequence of genetic arrays before landing on a matching array coded into the system—it was Millee’s.

Hika shot him a quick glance as he kicked off from the final branch, turning around in midair. A small fireball grew between the palms of his hands, condensed magical energy spinning faster and faster. It seemed to be storing the kinetic energy it had created, using it to channel an immense attack with just a fraction of the power for a wide area of effect—potential energy into kinetic energy, a catalyst.

“Hika,” he shouted, “we have to allow our magical fields to resonate with each other. If we create a larger magical field, we gain the advantage in this fight. Before that—” He came to an immediate, mid-air stop and sent an uppercut into Kuria’s chin, now having fully manifested. “Figured it was you since you’re the only one that can shapeshift like that.”

Rei shook his wrist, loosening the muscles in his hand. He’d channeled a swell of mana into his fist, sending Kuria into an uncontrolled spiral as she sailed into a nearby tree—a powerful attack that had caught her off guard. The air radiated with heat, leaving a trail of white smoke that arced along the path her spiral had taken. He took the ball of energy he’d been condensing and shot it into the sky, forming a cage of static-blue embers that draped themselves over the clearing like a net.

“Pesky brats,” Kuria sneered, picking herself up. “That won’t happen agai—” A bone-splitting roundhouse kick tore into her jaw, knocking the devil back into the dirt.

Hika’s shadow fell over the devil, cast by the net of flames overhead. “It’s so nice to see you groveling, Kuria,” she said between clenched teeth. “How kind of Rei to put you under my foot, and this one is for Millee!” She drove the broadsword into Kuria’s shoulder, pinning her to the tree.

“That was too easy,” Rei mumbled. “There’s no way we just took control of the fight that easily…”

“Sorry,” Hika shouted up at him, “I know you’re eager to use halifer’s power as well, but I just feel so… good. Knocking her down a little is so euphoric.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “You know, Kuria, I’m really not a big fan of the color white, so I think I’ll stain these shoes red with your blood then use them to—” The devil swiped at her neck, aiming for the jugular. Expecting the attack, Hika knocked her hand away. “That wasn’t very nice,” she said, glaringly. “I wasn’t done talking.”

Hika’s euphoric rage was on full display as she drove the broadsword deeper into Kuria’s shoulder, the tip of the blade visible from the other side of the tree it pinned her to. A loud crackling began to fill the air as the temperature plummeted, clouds of breath repeatedly filling the space between Hika and her foe. Her shoulders heaved with each breath as frost spilled out from beneath her feet, turning each blade of grass into a marvelous, icy blue sculpture. For a moment, they seemed unaffected, ceaselessly swaying to the gentle caress of the night breeze despite their frozen state.

It was only a moment, though—something lost in the temporal prison of the past, but Rei had noticed it, the flicker in time. The only way he could think of describing it was like the sudden on-off sequence of a light switch; if he had blinked, he would have missed it. The frost and temporal flicker weren’t magic, but they weren’t from Kuria, either. He wasn’t sure what it was, but Hika’s rage was deep, a hunger that thirsted for vengeance—for those who had been taken advantage of, for those who had only ever been kind to her.

Something in her snapped as reality broke, a confluence in time; she had inadvertently merged the past and present together for that microsecond of a second, but it was enough. Whereas the grass had originally been frozen in the direction opposite her, their blades now bent toward her.

Kuria’s body lay rigid, frosted over like the surrounding field—even her eyes had been frozen in their sockets, retaining their glimmer of surprise. It wasn’t victory, but it was an opportunity to collect valuable information once she thawed, held on the precipice of permanent erasure from existence. In fact, she didn’t look to thaw anytime soon at all, giving the trio a chance to regroup and find a way into Chiipha to aid Brendan and Aria. The quicker they cleaned the rest of the devils up, the better. They could interrogate Kuria with incriminating questions later, once she was the last devil standing.

Hika’s breath shimmered in the frosty air. “Sorry, Millee, Rei. I’m not really sure what happened, but—” She realized her mistake as soon as the words left her lips.

“You forgot this one can shapeshift!” Millee shouted from the cube.

Rei was already moving, channeling his mana for a finishing blow. Kuria’s shadow was already beginning to slide out from under her frozen body. A quick escape? It was regrettable he would have to finish her; the potential information and insight into Ahzef’s plans for Nertiia’s revival was almost too valuable to pass up, but he couldn’t allow her to escape, and he wasn’t about to let her get a sucker punch or two in.

“If only you could freeze shadows,” he said through clenched teeth as a pixelated blade tore into the frosted soil where the devil’s shadow had been a second earlier. “You’re not even sluggish from the cold…” He swore under his breath.

Even the tiniest illumination could provide enough light for a shadow, and that very shadow was what Rei now found himself chasing as it slithered across the ground like a serpent atop a pond. Until she assumed physical form, her attacks would lack the strength they had in Mana and Aria’s fight, but that didn’t make her any less of a threat. She was fast, so fast that it sent Rei’s heart into a frenzy of adrenaline—he couldn’t catch her. His attacks were homing in on her, just grazing the edges of her shadow, but he couldn’t pin her down. He continued to adjust his aim; he could hit her, but he needed an extra minute to finish his calculations. Judging by the shadow’s speed, the curvature of its movements, and vector direction, he forged a mathematical equation in his mind, inputting each value:

“I can hit her shadow in 47 seconds—the time I need to ensure I can actually hit its midpoint and, uh, kill it off if I do the math correctly… Six feet per second, five and a half feet in length, two feet in width, moving due east at 90 degrees… We’re already thirty feet inside the clearing on the east side… She will have travelled 404 feet in 47 seconds at the current rate, and if this clearing is approximately 150 feet by 200 feet— I don’t have 47 seconds. She’ll be well into the forest at that point and who knows where she’ll be by then.” He swore. “If my math is correct, we have less than 20 seconds to stop her before she exits the clearing, but I’ve blocked anyone and anything from leaving. What is she actually after?”

The stakes were exponentially high; a single slip-up could allow Kuria to escape, slithering across the ground, seeking another shadow to escape into, without a whisper. To make matters worse, Hika had already moved to intercept it, reciting a last-ditch chant to stop the devil. Yet, the shadow wasn’t slowing down nor was it changing direction which meant Kuria did have something else planned after all.

Still, he didn’t like the odds of playing chase, possibly striking Hika or the cube that held Millee in the process. He would have to throw down a frenzy of attacks, overspreading the expanse of the clearing; likewise, the area of effect would be too large for Hika to move out of the way in time. If it took him five seconds to explain his reasoning, that left him with less than fifteen seconds to strike Kuria’s shadow before it reached the clearing’s edge, but he would have to account for the time it would take for Hika to stop the chant and move to safety with Millee—too much time. Her chanting had already peaked in volume; she was close to finishing the spell, likely in less than 20 seconds, but what happened if she missed or it wasn’t strong enough? Was Kuria aiming for Hika and Millee in a final ode to her mission? There were too many variables to try and guess what might or might not happen.

Rei dropped to the ground, choosing to take a different approach, tensing his muscles as he prepared to dash into the fray. In the event the spell was unsuccessful for whatever reason, he would grab Mille and the cube first, then, hopefully, collect Hika along the way. He knew she’d say leave her, but the idea of leaving anyone behind seemed cruel and selfish, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to change her mind, hence why he had to be the wild card—and hope that his plan worked.

“…and I offer all that I am, my solemn duty, to protect what matters most. Consume this soul as consolidation.”

As Hika finished the spell’s chant, brilliant light emanated from her body, whiter than snow—she looked content, almost relieved somehow. Her shoulders had relaxed, and her frosty breath clouds had grown less frequent. The light grew until she was a mere silhouette juxtaposed against the backdrop of white, stripping the surrounding world of its color. A hot wind rushed past Rei’s body as a river of magical energy blew through the clearing. It was as if a cloud of magical phosphorus had been dropped on the forest, transforming the trees into dark outlines—the hot wind had stolen their identities as their branches parted in its wake.

“For f— Are you trying to get yourself killed or something?” Rei shouted. “This isn’t the time for noble sacrifices, you idiot!”

“Watch and you’ll have your answer.”

Rei turned away, shielding his eyes as the light continued to grow, a blinding luminescence. The spell was brilliantly reckless; the halifers had offered them an untold level of power, but at what point did that power run out? Was it an infinite supply? Did the halifers rewrite the existing magic circuitry inside their bodies, making them more susceptible to the natural mana that cycled through the Earth’s ley lines? They knew the risks associated with the devils, combat especially, but Hika’s incredible illumination felt more like a fool’s fallacy than it did anything else. Still, Millee was priority number one right now, and if they allowed anything to happen to her, their efforts would be in vain—incredible or not.

The way Rei saw it, he had two choices: wait until the light dimmed then begin an all-out assault on Kuria, or rush in now, grab the cube, and flee with Millee as Hika took Kuria on herself.

He hated guessing games, preferring science, math, and history as his guides when in doubt. He was a strategist and tactical analyst—guessing wasn’t in his vocabulary; everything had to be precise and, if it wasn’t, he found a way to make it so. If Hika was trying to create an opening for him, he figured his odds of success were better than fifty-fifty. Still, he’d prefer to jump in and bash Kuria around after the light had dimmed enough, ensuring success for Hika, Millee, and himself; the idea of leaving Hika behind left him nauseated, the second of the two options.

Major life and death decisions were foreign concepts to him—he hadn’t been on the frontlines of the battles everyone else had faced up to this point; he’d been able to sit back and support his friends from afar, though that only lasted a couple days at most. Everything had erupted into uncertainty after the hihouyo blast at the Gila border gate, the same time he lost communication with everyone. It had been a stressful two years, wondering if he could have done more to keep Ahzef from splitting the group up and if any of his friends were even still alive, occasionally doubting the leyliner’s suggestion that they were. Not only that, how would he explain his reasoning for leaving Hika behind to save Millee? If the decision wouldn’t go over well with him, it definitely wouldn’t go over well with Lacia, if anyone. His eyes darted between the cube, Hika, and back to the cube again as an ominous thought crossed his mind:

“All three of us could die because of me, because of my indecision.”

Using the same alacrity as before, he rushed into the center of the blazing light. The spell was beginning to strip the remaining color from the world, leaving the trees as paper-thin outlines and the grass just speckled dots stacked on top of each other. He was fighting a losing battle with his eyelids, screaming at him to close his eyes lest he sear them from his head, but he couldn’t close them—not now. He needed to find Hika and Millee’s cube first.

The further he forged, the thicker and hotter the air became. There was no questioning the intensity of the spell Hika had cast, but it was also near-impossible to tell just how wide the spell was and if the light field would ever dim enough for him to see—even just a little. There were always strings attached to such tremendous power, and he hated to think that Hika’s life could, in some way, be the payment for such power. The spell had something to do with the consumption of her soul as payment, but was that just a bluff? What good would come if she had decided to throw her chance at a new life away?

Suddenly, a mangled voice rose from somewhere in front of him. “You shouldn’t have assumed you could kill me after expending every last ounce of mana you had. See, the what-if-scenario here is the very thing I am now laying out before you.”

Two silhouettes juxtaposed the white backdrop before him: one stood upright on a half-formed leg—the other looked as if they had been caught by the first silhouette, a hand wrapped around their neck as the second figure struggled to free themselves.

“That was part of the plan,” Hika’s voice came, but it was raspy. “I knew he was dumb enough to follow me in,” she laughed. “You just lost, stupid devil.”

A gut-wrenching tearing sound made Licht’s blood run cold, but that was his cue. As the light finally dissipated, he found himself standing in front of Hika, but she had been severely wounded as blood poured from a deep gash in her stomach. To make matters worse, Kuria’s body and shadow had seemingly vanished, leaving him to deal with the aftermath and a myriad of questions as to what, exactly, had just happened.

Hika tried to stand, but the pain was too much. He was surprised she could even lift herself up as much as she had, albeit with bent knees, but her condition was deteriorating faster than he could think. He stooped down, allowing her head to rest on his shoulder.

“I’m so glad I met you, Rei. Thank you for offering to show me your world, for trying to give me a place in a world I didn’t belong in. I was afraid, so afraid, I wouldn’t get the chance to see such a beautiful place.”

Words caught in his throat before he found the right ones to say. “Reality is cruel, Hika. I’m so sorry,” he said shaking his head. “We could never have made it this far without you, you know? The only reason any of us are alive right now is because you were always with us.” He pounded his fists into the thawing earth. “If I had just made a decision a second sooner…”

“Don’t be sorry,” she smiled. “Lacia gave me the opportunity to see a world other than my own. Fighting alongside you and spending time with everyone, even if it was short, was so wonderful.” She raised a hand to his cheeks, wiping away the tears that left them wet. “I’m giving you my life, Rei. An aurei’s power can be transferred to anyone or anything, regardless of where it came from.”

With a shaky finger, she drew a small sigil on his cheek, just beneath his left eye. “That sigil will allow you to use my power, but it will also allow you to consume the power of the second halifer.” She exhaled softly. “Please take good care of Lacia, and tell her not to miss me too much, but please take care of yourself, as well.”

“I promise,” he said, hugging her. “Your wound is serious, but I think we can keep the damage to a minimum if we act fast. Surely there’s a universal healing spell, right? At the very least, we have to get you out of here.”

“Do not play with that which you do not understand, Rei,” she warned. “Without a healer, there isn’t much you can do… I… just want to rest awhile and—”

Shadows pooled beneath her, sprouting from the ground as they shot through her body like some kind of medieval spike trap before retreating. Blood spattered the forest, painting the trunks of trees and their leaves a bright red. Small trickles became modest flows of blood, spreading out across the ground—not even the tallest blades of grass could escape the drowning pool of fresh blood.

She grabbed Rei’s arms, burying her face in his shoulder, leaving a whispered secret only his shirt would hear, before relinquishing her hold as she pushed herself away. Her fingers dug canals into the dirt, desperate for the release that death would bring as blood raced into the newfound channels—her fingertips, dripping crimson, glinted in the emerging rays of starlight. A steady hum filled her ears, spots formed in her eyes, and her sense of touch had become diluted with a combination of caked blood and dirt. If she blacked out, death would surely sweep her away not long after. She had played her part in the war, something she was never supposed to embroil herself in to begin with, but how could she not? All she’d ever wanted was to get away from the stifling reprimands of the aurei whenever she ventured too far into the human realms.

Rei’s words sounded miles away as her vision continued to devolve into the inky depths of blackness; she could barely read his lips, tears helping to cloud her remaining sight, but she knew his words were just as kind as they’d always been. After all, the secret she left for him would seek to tell the story she could never tell him or Lacia. Death was a natural part of the human experience, and she understood that, but she still wanted to see more of the human world—experience the highest highs and lowest lows that came from joy and sorrow. As an aurei, she’d been prohibited from venturing beyond their realm aside from her assigned duties with Lacia… and Rei. She embraced death, but she wondered if that very same death was really just the key to another realm, one she could wander without fear of backlash.

The panicked splashing of blood gifted her a final moment of awareness. Salty tears dripped onto her face, enhancing her own melancholy waterworks. Rei had lifted her head off the ground as his tears collided with hers, unbeknownst to him. His eyes were closed, trying to quell the onslaught of guilt, tormenting sorrow, and frustration that had overtaken him. She realized she must have lost consciousness for a minute, judging by the number of tears now falling from his cheeks onto hers.

“Don’t cry for me,” she whispered. “Cry because you helped me live the rest of a life worth living.” She could feel life escape with her words into the open sky, venturing into an endless array of mystery and wonder. “Be with me here when I go,” she pleaded, wrapping her arms around his neck in a weak hug—a final thank you.

Crossing two fingers, she released the seal on Millee’s cube, allowing her to release herself from the confines of the altered space. Several moments later, she emerged from inside, exasperated and out of breath, hands pressed into the cool earth as she attempted to regain her bearings. Raising her head, the gruesome reality of the situation slammed into her like a hot, desert wind: her warning hadn’t come soon enough, allowing Kuria to catch Hika off guard, thus overpowering her. Judging by the grief-stricken expression on Rei’s face, she assumed he’d likely tried to catch the devil’s shadow and failed. She sat still, watching as Hika’s chest grew just as still in the subsequent moments that followed.

Rei lifted his head as he wiped his tears dry. He carried Hika’s lifeless body over to a nearby tree, laying her against the base of the trunk as he said his final goodbyes. Grief filled him with immeasurable sorrow but, at the same time, it spurred something hidden deep inside his heart, a combination of vengeance and courage to face the future that she had opened for him.

“I used to be nobody. At least, until Mana and Brendan picked me up that day. Learning of Lacia’s sudden disappearance seemed strange at first because I’d always thought of myself as useless, unable to bear the burdens of someone else, much less my own. Even now, I can’t shake that lingering feeling, and I still feel like I could have done more to turn the tide of battle—some strategy or crucial piece of information I overlooked. But you and Lacia gave me a sense of purpose for the first time in my life, and Mana was just as kind, always pushing through her struggles. Meeting the three of you, having the chance to fight alongside you, gave me a sense of purpose,” he paused, “but, beyond that, the real purpose you gave me was life. I wasn’t sure of my role in this war and, honestly, it still scares me beyond imagination.”

He took off his hoodie, the soft cotton weave still warm from his body heat. “Yet, having made a friend in you made me feel like I had something to return to once this war was over.” He draped the cottony garment over her body; the white color was softer than snow—a symbol of peace and comfort. “I was so excited to show you the world and teach you about being human, but you’re free to do that yourself, now, I guess. Millee and I have a fight to finish and a war to win, but when we win, we’ll make sure to see you off properly. If there’s a next life, I hope we can find each other again but, for now, I want to say thank you for being that push—that something that made me quit feeling sorry for myself. It’s thanks to you that I’ve figured out my role in this war.” He brushed the dirt from his knees as dawn broke on the distant horizon, warming oranges blazing through the trees. “I’m sorry you didn’t get to see this sunrise.”

The morning songbirds, slowing lull of the whirring cicadas, and scuttering of forest animals in the underbrush filled his senses. There was so much life despite the prominence of death before him, an incomprehensive interplay—a comedy turned tragedy.

Without warning, the sigil Hika had left on his cheek flared to life. Orange hues illuminated the dried blood splattered across his face. The abrupt ripple of a nearby puddle caught his attention, a small leaf captive on the surface of the water. Fishing the leaf out, he stooped down, peering into his reflection atop the water. Unlike the mark Ethera gave to those she deemed worthy of her strength, the mark on Rei’s cheek resembled a small, hollow outline of a sun, its rays arcing across his cheek with a fervent auburn glow. He’d gained the lingering traces of Hika’s aurei mana as well as the power of the halifer she’d been bestowed with, but he didn’t care about power. Right now, he wanted to stomp Kuria and grind the mischievous devil into something finer than dust.

Hika’s voice echoed through his mind. “Now, face your past. I’m afraid the gifting of an aurei’s power comes with a cost, but I know you’re strong. You can do it.”

For a brief moment, Rei found himself elevated to a mysterious other plane where she was waiting, surrounded by a shimmering halo. If he didn’t know better, he would have thought he was somewhere on Earth, but the expansive lycoris field stretched on forever, their white petals the color of the hoodie he’d laid over her body. He wasn’t certain, but he wondered if the wash of calm and new beginning her death had spurred in him was related to the flowers in some way. He was aware white lycoris flowers symbolized the same new beginning that now coursed through his veins, but was the lack of red petals a subtle message not to mourn her and instead embrace the new life he had been given?

“This is the last time I can assist you, so listen carefully, Rei. You have the power of two halifers as well as the blood of an aurei that runs through you. I have no idea what’s going to happen next, or if my death inadvertently created a power of unknown capabilities, but in order to use this new power, you must face the past you have been running from—that is the trial of the halifer, as I’m sure you already know. You must prove your worth to both now.”

“How did we— I—”

“The sigil I placed under your eye— It acts as a carrier for all kinds of magical power and allows the recipient to use any kind of magic they wish, so long as they’ve been exposed to it. In your case, because my blood made contact with your skin, the traces of my aurei lineage that remained were transferred over to you.”

Rei opened his palm, anticipating the presence of both halifer bands. Sure enough, two small, golden bands gleamed in the ethereal light. “What are the stipulations to use this kind of power? What do I have to give?”

“Like I said earlier, you will have to face the past you have been running from—those demons that plague you. You must be honest with yourself and understand that what makes you strong isn’t the power you hold, but the compassion you have for others and the dreams you have always held on to, all for the sake of your friends.” She smiled before her figure dissolved into a golden dust, carried away by a subliminal force. Somehow, he knew this wouldn’t be the last time they saw each other. “Thank you for showing me compassion, all of you, when no one else would.”