The weight upon my eyes loosened. The flesh shutters over my eyes raised. My eyelashes outlined the expanding projection of light.
I was bombarded by a flashing barrage—overwhelmed my vision.
"W-where am I?"
The light dimmed as four black silhouettes—two male, two female—blocked out the rays of light that were overwhelming my senses.
"—finally awake."
The voice sounded female—almost motherly.
"—miko are you alright?"
This voice was masculine and full of energy.
Though muffled, I began to recognise those voices. Kaoru, Aiko, Nozomi, and Mrs Isamu all crouched around me.
"You're in the assembly hall. You're being looked after by the medical team."
It was Mrs Isamu.
rest up now; your fight with that monster wore you out."
It then hit me; memories flushed back. The monstrocities—giant rats, bats, the crab homunculus—were attacking the same people around me in the hall. We were overrun—about to be wiped out, but then I was separated from everyone.
I sprang upright.
"What happened? The creatures—where are they?"
Mrs Isamu crouched down in front of me. We were eye to eye; a familiar memory—one of nostalgia—embraced me. Dad.
"Calm down, Himiko. We're fine."
She stepped to the side, allowing me to see what she was once concealing behind her body. She was pointing at it.
"He came and saved us."
Was it the same being from Rengappon? He looked slightly different; the one I saw in Rengappon was purple—like the crystal—whereas this one was red, and its aura was more chaotic. The two were like two seas, one—the purple one—was a smooth, flowing body of water, tropical and calm; this one was like the crashing waves of a storm, one that could devastate any unfortunate sailor who drifted upon its waves.
Regardless, I was captivated by its presence. It floated in the air, observing its surroundings with the pride of an artist who just completed its magnum opus. I had to try and make contact: who are you? What are you? Are you friend? Or are you foe? Like a whirlpool, these questions orbited my mind.
I lifted myself up subconsciously, entranced by the being, before Mrs Isamu pulled me back down to the surface.
"Himiko, what are you doing?"
Her voice was stern, like a teacher scolding a child for climbing a tree. Yet the cracks in her voice contradicted the authoritarian front she'd built up.
"Dammit, Himiko, can't you just relax for one second at least?"
She grabbed my shoulders again, her hands were shaking—matching her cracking voice—she sounded like she was about to cry.
"Your diligence is commendable, but today you crossed the fine line between bravery and stupidity: charging headfirst into the giant rat, then taking the crab monster head-on, like you've got something to prove. The ends don't justify the means; your body received hit after hit: launched into the air, launched through walls. You need–"
Taking a second to regain composure, she paused before looking me dead in the eyes.
"You need to lie down and let the medical team treat you, or the injuries will become permanent."
The deadpan voice returned—cracks suppressed. I feared what would happen if I disobeyed her orders.
But the entity couldn't escape my mind.
I bit my lip and clenched my fists tight.
"If that being is the same one that saved me in Rengappon, then I want to thank them."
Makoto closed her eyes and shook her head in frustration. One of the main reasons I joined MEI was to find out who those beings are, and I think she knew. She took a deep breath, exhaling a moment later. She re-established eye contact with sympathetic eyes.
"Fine."
She budged.
"I'll try and talk to it, but you need to rest."
That might be the best I was going to get. She had a point: I hadn't felt it from the adrenaline coursing through me during the battle, but now that it had worn off, and my body quickly became a victim to an all-out assault—piercing pain—from just about every corner of my body. Broken ribs, cuts, bruises, muscle tears. My body became heavy.
"Sure. Thank you, Mrs Isamu."
I fought back a wince every time I vocalised vibrations into a word.
"Don't worry about it, just rest."
She raised herself up to her feet. She observed over her shoulder at the entity, who was still scanning the room. Marching stomps navigated her towards it. As her back now faced me, and she was now a short distance away, the agony coursing through me pulled me down to the bed. The heaviness in my eyes returned, and the crushing weight overwhelmed my eyelids, and they succumbed to the temptations of sleep.
I was once again out cold.
A woman in a black suit and tie marched towards me, her black blazer long discarded. Previously hovering in the air, I lowered myself to the ground. It was still jarring that the floor wasn't the only axis I could navigate in anymore. Before, I could only dream about being able to float; now it was effortless—just a simple bodily function.
"hey you."
The woman stopped, 2 meters or so away from me, demanding my attention with one word.
"What are you? Why do you keep appearing in moments like this? Are you human?"
She barraged me with question after question. She sounded foreign; her grasp of English—although broken—was good, but her accent made certain words hard to understand.
"Listen here, sweet cheeks, one question at a time, please."
Her reaction gave birth to a new facial expression: the lovechild of shock and excitement.
"Actually, let me ask a question, what are yous up to?"
She smirked. To her, she must've been talking to a god.
"We are the Ministry of—"
"re-te-te, M. E. I. , I know who you are. I meant, what are you doing here?"
"You know us?"
"You're those guys who wanna fight the aliens, you were all over the news for ages."
She crossed her arms, placing one hand on her chin. She then turned to me, face creased slyly.
"What's your name?"
The words came from lips stretched in a curve across her face. She looked like a mad scientist—engrossed in her research—standing on the precipice of human advancement. I suppose I respect her wishes with an answer.
"My name is To–"
DON'T YOU DARE TELL THEM YOUR NAME.
I screamed—head splitting. She stepped back in fear. I'd quickly become the centre-point of everyone's unanimous attention.
YOU CAN'T TRUST THEM.
THEY WANT TO FIND A WAY TO DESTROY YOU.
Why would they do that? I've saved their lives.
KILL THEM!
What?
KILL THEM!
But they're... Human.
KILL THEM!
KILL THEM!
KILL THEM!
NOOOOOO!
The being retreated, flying through the ceiling; the rain of drywall onto the hardwood floor signalled the end of humanity's first contact with an Aethesium Entity.
Mokoto's body was solidified—base rooted in place, rigid like a statue. She just saw a godlike being suffer what she perceived to be an emotional breakdown, and the implications of that terrified her.
What if he went rogue?
What if he lost his mind?
Could he kill us all?
All the questions that swirled around Makoto's head. She stared up at the hole in the ceiling, towards the sky that was now a clear blue hue.
"He spoke to you?"
Tosin sat at his new desk. It lacked the character of his one back in Rengappon, but he took as much as he could from the previous office—His record player and records—as he could. He leaned over the desk, resting his head on his thumbs—hands locked together through interlocking fingers, index fingers tip to tip in front of his mouth.
"Yes, sir."
Makoto said, sat upright in the seat opposite the desk—legs together, hands resting on top.
"He said he knew who we were–"
"Oh"
He whispered, eyebrows raised. Behind his hands, you could see a smile creeping out from the sides.
"He said we were those guys who wanna fight the aliens and that we were all over the news. He seems to be interested in what we were doing, just as much as we are interested in him."
Makoto continued on, reporting what he said.
"He was about to say his name, it began with a 'T'."
"So he has a name? That's interesting. And what language were you speaking to him in?"
"English, sir."
"Did you try any other?"
"I didn't, but others tried talking to him in neponese and it didn't work, so I just spoke English on a whim—it's the most common language in the world after all."
His eyes narrowed.
"He has a name, and he speaks English. Our human hypothesis might be correct. Was there anything else he said?"
Makoto nodded and swallowed.
"Before he could finish saying his name. He stopped, and then he started screaming and shouting 'no', 'I won't', 'they're human', and things like that, before flying off."
Her hands began to shake on her lap.
"Could it be that he was actively fighting against something—some kind of reaction, or voice in his head?"
He vocalised his thoughts in a voice as calm as a whisper.
"Doesn't that terrify you? What if it loses control of itself?"
Makoto's voice was the opposite; it was tense and unstable.
"Its the reason why we need to find him and try to understand him."
He placed both hands on the desk—crossing his arms—and leaned in.
"Moving on, how did the first operation go?"
I swallowed again and tightly gripped the wool of my suit trousers in my fists.
"In terms of damages. A failure; many agents died, and even more were injured—we faced mutated sewer rodents who seemed to create a home for themselves. It appears that the school was built over a large sewage system, and the rodents living there had mutated. We haven't confirmed whether it was aethesium that mutated them yet, although we have taken samples of the creatures back to the lab for analysis."
Tosin closed his eyes, clenching his fist and biting his lips.
"It seems we need to boost our capabilities; the threats of this world are becoming much more powerful."
"The mission wasn't a complete failure. We managed to find an object which was purely made of aethesium—a crystal of some kind. It was sitting on a nest made of debris. The creatures seemed drawn to it; when one of the creatures was on the verge of death, it dropped everything and crawled straight to the crystal, which leads me to believe that it was aethesium that changed them."
"And where is this crystal now?"
"In the lab. Being analysed by Dr. Entenga's team now."
"That's good. If we can learn its power, we can boost our own firepower. The losses were not in vain; we took a big step forward today."
Makoto smiled at her lap with sad eyes. The two exchanged bows, and Makoto headed out of Tosin's office.
The hospital room was small and quiet. Pale mint-green walls reflect the cold fluorescent light from two long ceiling panels, one of which flickers every few minutes, too subtle for most people to notice but impossible to ignore once you do.
A single window sat on the far side—open—letting a subtle breeze tickle the transparent curtains, causing them to flow like waves. The afternoon sun enveloped the room in a golden triangular beam of light, causing the vinyl flooring to glisten. Underneath the window was a bed. White sheets tucked tightly, cuddling the body of Himiko, who slept soundly in its embrace.
Himiko's black hair was free. It was a rare sight to see it out of the loose bun; it was normally tied in. Her shoulder-length locks spread out behind her head. Her fringe flowed down the side of her forehead, reaching around the side. Her eyes were shut—she looked peaceful. Her skin was painted in a golden glow—in the moment, she looked like an angel. Makoto stood over her, wrapping her hand around Himiko's—her fingers twitching in response.
"Good job, Himiko. Rest up."
She whispered, voice soothing. She turned to a doctor, who was observing Himiko.
"How is she doing?"
"She suffered a few broken ribs and muscle strains. But she's healed very quickly; there was evidence of a recent tear in one of her shoulders, but within just a few hours, it's almost entirely healed."
"She was found with the aethesium crystal; she must've had it on her when she got thrown into the classroom."
"That holds up. She had traces of aethesium radiation particles in her bloodstream. That's helped the healing process a lot. We'll keep her under our care for a while longer in case the situation changes, but she should be out in a couple of days' time."
"Thank you, doctor."
Makoto made her leave. As the door swung open, Aiko, Kaoru, and Nozomi turned to face Makoto as she stepped out.
"Is she ok?"
Aiko rose from her seat.
"She's fine, the crystal she held healed most of her injuries, she'll be fine in a couple of days—she just needs rest."
Makoto gestured them all to come in for a group huddle, the followed suit—the four locked arms around each other's shoulders.
"You all did well. Get some rest. We'll debrief tomorrow."
Blood glistened on the layers of razor-sharp teeth. Aiko felt claustrophobic in the beast's tight grip—arms pinned to her sides. Terrified, she could do nought but scream as the beast's jaws wrapped around her body, before slamming down.
Aiko shot up from under her covers, panting heavily. She lifted her knees up to her chest, wrapping her hands around the back of her head, assuming a ball-like position. She couldn't shake those teeth from her mind.