Rising Shards

I tried to process the surreal image in front of me. I had seen plenty of strange sights since my fangs came in, but this was a new one.

To my left, a section of the beach was cast under a night sky with millions of stars glistening above. A boat arrived at shore with four shadowy figures on it. As soon as they started to get out of the boat, they dissipated, and looped back, landing at shore again, repeating that over and over.

To my right, two obscured figures were locked in a brutal looking duel, where the only thing that was clear about them was their bloodsabers. They fought under a setting sun. It was as though the world was cut into three sections.

Right in front of me was the beach as it presently was, a bright and sunny day. I was back on the island of Vita Coa, joined only by a few others. Stella was a bit back on the beach, looking understandably distant. As for the others with me…

A few hours earlier I was called into Caya’s office. I braced to hear some really bad news, either about my school life or some family thing. I ended up being partially right. Stella was there, looking stoic. She didn’t have her “Zeta screwed up” expression on, nor did she have her “scary bad times” one. So I couldn’t read this one right away.

“Thank you for joining us, Zeta.” Caya said. “Our guests have requested some time with you and your sister.”

There were two others in the room, making for a bit of a cramped space. The first I recognized; I had actually just met him a bit prior.

“You’re that jacket guy,” I said. “At the carousel.”

“Yeppers.” He said. “Mars Valor, if you forgot.”

“I kinda did…sorry.”

“No worries,” Mars said. He handed me an orange that he got out of his pocket.

“Thanks!” I said. “Er…I just had lunch, so…” I held onto the orange rather awkardly. It felt like my hands were sweaty immediately holding onto it, and I wished I had a fruit bag or something to keep it in. I couldn't just drop it after someone politely gave it to me, right?

The other guest sat next to Stella. She was a middle-aged woman with a cane in hand. I only saw a picture of her in the exhibit at my last visit to the big city, but I remembered her.

“And you’re that detective.” I said.

“Tik Moonheart,” She shook my hand. “I’m a detective from the River & Lyric agency. Apologies that the full trio can’t be here, but our third, Kara, has been very engaged with a recent endeavor.”

I wasn’t entirely sure why two members of some mystery solving team were here.

“And you want to meet with…me…?” I asked.

“And your sister, yes. But I spoke a bit with her already.” Tik said.

“Is everything alright?” I asked Stella. She nodded.

“Well, this isn’t good,” Stella said. “But it’s not…I’m not completely terrified, I suppose.”

My mind raced trying to think of what this could be about.

“Um,” I said. “If you’re thinking I have anything to do with the whole deal with a bunch of void dimensions getting mushed together, that was my ex. Or because my parents did stuff with those daggers and…I really didn’t. Well, I did break that mask called the Starlight Despair that was gonna make Jeans really powerful or something. I…am I drawn to void happenings or something?”

“I’m not here to accuse you of anything, if that’s what you’re asking,” Tik said. “I’m in need of assistance, and I believe the Faleur sisters may be able to aid me in my mission.”

“This isn’t another trick, is it?” I asked. “This isn’t like someone else pretending to be a super detective trying to lure me into the void, right?”

Caya shook her head. “I’m glad you’re not accepting this blindly after last time, but I’ve thoroughly vetted Tik.”

I could’ve done without the jab, but that was one of my biggest blunders, where I followed my parents’ trail into the void only to be captured by them, missing so many signs that things were about to go wrong, my desire to see my family blinding me.

With Caya affirming that this was all on the up and up, our strange party headed into the void together, back to the tropical island called Vita Coa, the locale where my friends and I had defeated Jeans. Tik brought us to one of the beaches, a gorgeous sight. I wished I could be on a beach vacation under better circumstances, because standing on the sand felt like such a nice break from the wintry conditions back home. Tik led me down the beach (her cane had a function to have a wider base to enable easier sand walking for her) close to the water, with Caya, Stella and Mars staying a bit back.

“I must confess that your parents, Arctus and Octa Kathron, are former allies of mine.” Tik said.

“Oh…” I said. I turned nervously to Stella.

“Emphasis on former.” Tik said.

“How do you know them?” I asked. “I’ve been tricked by them before. So I should be. Cautious, right? Not to accuse you of trying to trick me. But…”

“I grew up in the same place as your parents,” Tik said. “We weren’t exactly childhood friends, but I became acquainted with the Kathron family shortly before they began their journey.”

“So do you know what happened to them?” I asked. “How they are now?”

“I do,” Tik said. “Well, I know what’s become of them. But how they got there? I only know bits and pieces. Important pieces are missing from that puzzle. But that’s where you come in.”

Tik held a hand out, and took a deep breath. That’s when the beach and ocean in front of me fractured into three sections, the scenes fading into view like gigantic blocks of a story I didn’t understand.

“So this is…what is this?” I asked.

“My Cani ability allows me to replay past events,” Tik said. “And as a Pyre Cani, that power can be dangerous. In just the sense of using it as a detective, it’s mostly a worthless ability, recreating events of the past that have nothing of note on a grand scale like this. But under the right circumstances, it’s been a vital tool for solving cases. And with you two here, I think my power can be focused for the specific mystery I seek to solve.” She pointed at the images repeating, the group leaving the boat and the duel. “What happened to Arctus Kathron? To Octa? The questions that have cost me many nights of sleep. And as luck would have it, a young Cani girl has led me to some clues.”

“OK, hold on, I’m getting a bit headache-y with all this void and vision-y stuff,” I said. “Can we focus on this?” I gestured to the section of night to my left and the section of sundown to my right. “Are these my parents? You can explain it like I’m stupid, I won’t be mad.”

Tik laughed. “I won’t, because I don’t think you’re stupid in the slightest.” She pointed to the left, of the group arriving on their boat. “That, from what I’ve surmised, is a bit over thirty years ago.” Tik said, pointing to the blurry duel. “And that is a few yers later.”

“And my parents are…those guys?” I asked.

“It’s likely that they are at least one of the participants in each 'scene.'” Tik said.

“Huh…” I said. I didn’t feel as much dread about that as I thought. So at some point, my parents were on a boat that landed on this island, and they got into a sword fight later. Maybe with each other?

“Isn’t it kind of convenient that they were at this particular island?” I asked. “When Tower pulls something like that, people say how cheap it is.”

“This isn’t a show,” Tik said. “And a Cani’s past, even through their bloodline, is strong in places like this. When training grounds for young Cani are bred, they gather info from your memory trials, if you remember.”

I winced. “Kinda…?” She’s so gonna think I’m stupid by the time we’re done. The worst part was I could absolutely remember Caya and Dr. Diast explaining this pretty thoroughly in class, but the info was fuzzy, maybe because I had been slacking on studying.

“So with that in mind, it would make sense if this place had ties to your family’s past. I’m sure your classmates have places with ties to their own in places close to here as void worlds are melded and brought closer.” Tik said.

There was so much about the void I didn’t get. An infinite space of infinite places all mashing into each other, able to be added and torn apart like clay. I felt like I was failing twelve tests at once, which was not a great feeling right before finals.

“The important thing, and my main request,” Tik said. “Is that with your help, the distorted images before us could be made clear. The truth could be revealed, and with it, a chance to protect those we love against the dark forces scheming in the shadows.”