by Kaden Reed
My hands gripped my hair like I could somehow physically force the truth out of the fog that filled most of my head. Sweat beaded on my forehead and ran down my nose to puddle on the floor beneath me. An unwelcome bubble burst in a distant portion of my mind, which told me that I would need to grab a mop and clean that up, so a customer didn’t slip and fall.
Shaking my head at the intrusive thought, something in the corner of my vision, near the door leading outside, caught my attention. When I shifted and peered in that direction, I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. It was just a regular wooden door; in fact it only had the barest amount of ornamentation on it in the form of little purple arrows all pointing towards the center of the door. There weren’t even any windows on that side of the store.
Even though I didn’t see anything amiss, the feeling that I was overlooking something kept nagging at me. Standing up I walked closer, trying to discern what must have grabbed my attention. Examining its wooden surface, I didn’t see anything out of place, so I reached out my hand for the doorknob, intending to open it and look outside. However, when I touched it, I jumped back in surprise when all of the small purple arrows came alive and started crawling towards the center of the door.
When I let go, the arrows froze in their new positions. Not believing what I was seeing, I hesitantly reached out and touched the doorknob again and watched in amazement when the arrows resumed advancing. I began to wonder how my family had gotten enough money to spend on a decoration that was so marvelous.
As my hand rested on the doorknob, the true memories of the last year started to come back in a steady trickle, that quickly gave way to a flood. I was taken back to when Marty and I left our homes here in Dor’s Crossing and moved to Glasden a year ago. The heartfelt goodbyes and the pangs of sorrow at leaving our families, felt as vibrant as when I first experienced them four years ago.
I remembered when Marty and I had our first birthdays in the big city. The longing for our families and friends was fresh enough that the pang of their absence cut like a knife. We were all alone and tried very hard to make those days feel special for each other. The shared hardship and dependency on our mutual friendship brought us even closer together.
Every memory that drifted in, felt as if it happened just yesterday. The emotions that overtook me ranged from the most joyous elation to the deepest sadness of loss and regret.
The exhaustion of working several jobs at a time, trying to save enough to increase our quality of life, settled back into me. My limbs started to feel heavier and my shoulders slumped slightly at the remembered weight.
I smiled in recognition as I remembered our journey through the Compound and the purple arrows on the floor that guided us. When my memories took me to when we finally walked into the room that we would never leave, I looked to the fellow dedicated applicants that stayed in their seats when offered a chance to leave. My heart felt heavy when I realized some of them wouldn’t survive the Trials.
When Eli initiated the massacre, I saw the lines of stress and lost sleep around his eyes that I had overlooked in the terror of the moment. As Shino began to work, I saw that Eli relaxed his gaze and stared at the opposite wall, high enough so not to have to actually see what was taking place below.
I looked around the room in my memory, where I had originally only noticed the butchery of us applicants, I now saw that every wound was placed in a way that had the highest chance of killing quickly. It dawned on me that in a situation with only the possibility of a brutal ending, the perfect execution of those doomed to die was the only mercy that could have been delivered. As if given a gift by the Dungeon when I realized what Shino had done, a memory that wasn’t mine was provided to me.
I saw Shino push himself in training every day, to be the best at what he does. Not in any vain effort to be the perfect killer, it was impressed on me that he was motivated to be the best so those he faced in battle would not suffer. He has fought and died to protect his own, but he didn’t let that change him into be a cruel person. An omnipresent feeling of possessive pride with a hint of love accompanied the memory.
When I tried to think of myself going through the room, killing all the applicants, I shuddered. I couldn’t even imagine how many times I would have to hit someone with a mace or even an axe, until they stopped moving. The way Shino killed Marty and I seemed to be mercifully quick in comparison.
The grace that those two Khanri displayed, in what had to undoubtedly be one of the toughest assignments in the Dungeon, changed the entire outlook on those events. It made my heart break for them.
A beginning of an understanding was shown to me which revealed that being a Khanri meant so much more than I ever thought it was. It wasn’t about being cool or powerful, those were just byproducts from a life that demanded the very most anyone could give. Every Khanri lived a life of sacrifice. They were continuously called to take their turn standing in the gap. To be the shield and weapon that bought all of us peace and prosperity.
As the gifted memory faded from my mind, I shook my head violently at the intense fear that accompanied the last part of the vision. I was momentarily overwhelmed by the impression of unseen hordes pressing into the holes of a wall, with Khanri fighting a desperate battle to keep them at bay. The terror quickly faded, and the memory was lost in the river of thoughts, as they flowed by.
I saw myself being born in this world. Starting as a small knot of pure consciousness then given the gift of a body. The wonder of such a perfect creation still gripped me and made my heart skip at such harmony. I don’t know how I never stopped to consider what a miracle my body was before then.
I blushed ferociously at the remembered interplay between Niko and myself in the arena. Although I couldn’t help but admire the graceful way she held herself, as she advanced on me when I knelt on the ground. I recognized the fierce warrior in the woman. It still stung my pride some when she killed me, but the irrational male side of my mind started grinning like a fool when I counted how many times she said I was cute. I didn’t doubt that she would make it through the Trials and hoped that I would see her again.
As I stood facing the door, absorbing the memories and insights that flooded my consciousness, I heard the door that led upstairs open and shut, followed by the sound of footfalls on the creaking boards of the wooden stairs and floor of the shop. I somehow instinctively knew who it was that stood watching me before I even turned around, “I have all of my memories back now.” My voice sounded unnaturally calm given all of the mind-bending revelations in the last- well I don’t know how long I’ve been standing here.
Marty answered from behind me in the same tone, “I know.”
“I watched you die,” I kept my hand on the door as I turned sideways so I could see him behind me, “is that even really you Marty? Is any of this actually real or is this part of the Trials?”
“This is part of the Trials, but all of this is as real as anything you will find through that door,” he pointed to the door at my side, “Marty might have failed the Trials and be truly dead out there, but here, he is alive. Here he will never be sick, never be hurt and never will die.”
I hesitated at the idea of Marty actually being dead, looking at him as he talked to me right now made the very idea of him being dead, a hard to process reality, “are you giving me a choice? I could either stay here and live in peace or leave and enter that brutal world?”
“This is why you are here in this Trial,” Marty extended his arms out like he was gesturing at this world, “violence doesn’t come naturally to you, like it does to so many others. If you choose to stay here, all the memories that motivated you to become a Khanri will be removed. It will be as if you never desired to be one and you can live your life with your family and friends, in perfect peace, forever. However, if you go through that door, your world will change forever, and you will change along with it. You have to choose Afton.”
I wanted to reject his offer to stay immediately, but a part of
me, that was much louder than I originally gave it credit for, stopped me before I could utter a word in reply. It forced me to really examine what this life was offering me and whether or not I would ever truly be happy if I left this world. If I chose to stay, I would never know that I had anything to regret and I have to admit, my soul does yearn for the brief taste of peace that that thought brought me.
Marty stood still and watched me with no expression on his face as I silently deliberated. Eventually I made my choice. If I was honest with myself, it was the only choice I could have ever made, “does all of this end when I walk through this door? Does this version of reality cease to exist?”
“I could ask you the same thing about the reality you left behind,” he smiled at me as he answered, “if you never go back, then does that mean that reality ceases to exist since you are no longer there?”
When my brain started to hurt from chasing that question into a philosophical loop that had no answer, I rubbed my eyes as they became crossed involuntarily, “fair enough, Akashi. You are Akashi, right? This world is all your creation?” Marty smiled, but just kept looking at me without giving any indications of it being yes or no, “okay this version of Marty is a lot creepier than the Marty I know. You really need to work on that if you plan on fooling the next guy.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Marty replied in the deadpan voice that I’ve heard him use countless times when he was being sarcastic.
“Yeah, that’s better,” I gave Marty a half smile before I turned back to the door and opened it. As it swung inward, a blindingly white round hallway, like a tube, stretched far into the distance, “so all I do is walk through here?”
“Something like that,” the hint of contained laughter in my friend’s voice sounded exactly like him.
“Can you do something for me Akashi?” I called to him as I was working up the courage to step inside.
“What would you have me do?” behind me, Marty asked in response to my question.
“Can you erase all the references to the Crusty nickname from Niko’s memory before she makes it through the Trials?” I smiled at the feeling of intense amusement that washed through my mind, but no affirmation came in response.
“Right, well I guess, here I go,” when I crossed through the threshold of the doorway, my body started being pulled through on its own accord. In panic I realized that I had made a mistake and reached out to grab onto the door jam. My body seemed to stretch into the distance and the gut-wrenching sensation of falling washed through me. As I looked down and saw my feet dangling over the impossibly deep white abyss, I caught a glimpse of an outline of a stylized eye looking up at me from far below before it faded from view.
When I looked up, I was momentarily disoriented when Marty appeared to be walking on the walls of the store, before I realized it was just my orientation and that he was still planted on the floor, “pull me up!”
Marty started laughing at my predicament, “you really need to learn to evaluate your situation Afton!” He was still chuckling as he walked over to me, “you remember when you asked if you just needed to walk through?”
My mind was reeling in panic, “what does that have to do with anything? Pull me in man!”
“Well it has everything to do with it,” he grabbed ahold of one of my hands and peeled it off the door jam.
“What are you doing Marty?” I yelled at him in desperation.
“You let your idea of reality effect your judgement,” he grinned at me as he pulled my other hand from its perch and held me dangling in the middle of the hole as the white hallway became roiling storm clouds that writhed around me.
A deep basso voice rumbled from the white tornado that surrounded me, “you were smart enough to realize that you are in a world that I created, but you never stopped to think that means you are now playing by my rules.”
It was terrifying, staring into my friend’s eyes and having the feeling that something more powerful than I could ever have imagined, was looking back at me.
As if Akashi had planned for that thought to occur to me, my friend’s face smirked. The voice boomed from the storm surrounding me, “now you are learning!” Marty winked at me and then let go of my hands.
As I fell, the voice thundered its final verdict, “you are now mine, Khanri Afton – my Harbinger.”
Screaming in panic, streaks of black and red smoke that spiraled around a thick shaft of brilliant white light shot up from the depths and engulfed me.
Chapter Seven
A New Hand
Vashire, the capital city of Ashon, is a sprawling megalopolis that is home to the Kairos Dungeon. Set on a hill on the northern end of the city, the gilded palace of the Ashonian Emperor can be seen as a glinting beacon in the setting sun for miles around due to the flat countryside. During the day the city’s wide streets are always filled with citizens going about their daily tasks. And at night, the streets and stores are lit with a wide array of colors that sparkle in the midnight air.
- Excerpt from The Three Nations, by Raine Royce, University of Glasden Historian
A primal scream of terror erupted from my throat as I felt my body falling. The sudden unexpected impact of something hard a short moment later, knocked the air out of my lungs and left me gasping in shock. Stunned, I lay motionless for a few moments before I waved my arms around me, searching for the edge of the ledge that I knew I was surely laying on. Finding nothing but solid stone, I tentatively pushed myself off the ground and got to my knees. Blinking my eyes to make sure that they were open, I squinted into the darkness around me, trying to discern anything in my surroundings.
“By the Dungeons, you Kits sure do like to scream. You about done flailing around?”
I flinched away from the voice that came from somewhere to my left, “wh-who is there?”
“Come on now,” the voice sounded amused, “you couldn’t have already forgotten about me. We just met a few hours ago.”
I spoke the first name that popped into my head, “Eli?”
“I must have made an impression. Now, as much as watching you barely contain your panic amuses me, are you ready to learn your first lesson little Kit?”
Figuring that he could see me, I nodded.
“Good! I want you to close your eyes,” he paused until he saw that I was following his directions, “take a few calming breaths and extend your senses into yourself. You have thousands of new magical pathways inside your body. Search for one and when you find it, try to follow it back to your core.”
I breathed deeply several times to try to calm myself down before focusing inward. After sitting in silence for a few minutes, I began to realize that I didn’t have a single clue as to how I was supposed to search within myself, “how can I find what I am looking for?”
“I’m glad you aren’t as dense as you look. Some Kits will sit there forever before asking for help. Those always give the team leaders the worst time,” I flinched slightly at the unexpected sound when he clapped his hands together, “alright, I want you to hold your right hand up and then place it over your heart,” I did as he instructed, “now what do you feel?”
I paused for a few seconds before answering, “I feel my heart beating.”
“Yeah, of course you have a pulse,” he sounded exasperated, “I mean what do you feel.”
I wasn’t sure what he was asking me until I noticed that the hairs on the back of my hand were standing up and a tingling sensation was running down my arm, “I feel energy! A lot of energy…”
“You might not be completely hopeless after all,” Eli sounded amused as he continued, “Akashi places permanent magical pathways into our bodies. It is why a Khanri can channel energy internally while a normal citizen must use tools. Each newborn Kit possesses more magical energy than a hundred chargestones. I know that may sound like a lot to you, but I’ll tell you that some of the eldest Khanri contain enough energy that they are only surpassed in power by the Dungeons themselves.”
I co
uldn’t help myself from interrupting to ask a question, “who are they?”
Eli chuckled dryly, “believe me Kit, you will know them when you meet them. It is impossible not to. Anyways, back to the lesson at hand. Like I told you before, it is a lot by your old life’s standards, but you are at the bottom of the barrel here, so don’t let it go to your head. Everyone you meet will be more powerful than you are, savvy?”
I swallowed dryly before nodding my head again.
“Now back to what I was talking about, follow that sensation throughout your entire body. I want you to feel where every magical channel begins and ends.”
As soon as he finished talking, I was riding the currents of magical energy as it ebbed and flowed from my center to circulate throughout my body before it returned to pool in my core. Communing with the energy within me was the greatest rush of euphoria that I have ever felt. It was amazing.
My revelry was interrupted when Eli called to me, “now open your eyes.”
I hesitantly opened my eyes and saw…nothing. The room was still pitch black.
“You should have seen your face,” Eli said while laughing, “by the Dungeons, I love screwing with you Kits. It never fails, you all are convinced you are special. Then you deflate when you realize you can’t even see in the dark!”
“Aren’t you supposed to be teaching me how to do that? You obviously can,” I muttered somewhat angrily at being laughed at for not knowing what he hasn’t taught me yet.
He chuckled at me, “looks like this Kit might have some fangs. I am not your team leader, but I’ll go ahead and let you know that only certain classes have abilities that let them see in the dark. I don’t know what class you were assigned, so who knows what abilities you will have.”
I was still thinking about his response when the lights in the room flashed into brilliance. Raising my hands up to shield my eyes reflexively, I paused halfway when I noted the absence of any pain that the sudden light shift should have caused me.