The Sphere of Time

by TIME, S. O.

  “How do we plan to get through all of this?” Kel asks as we head into the park.

  “Follow the civilians.” Cortez answers. “Save as many of them as possible on the way.”

  The shields worked in two ways. The majority of our forces are facing away from the wall where people are passing through, but because there are still many civilians scattered about moving from building to building, the primary shields move forward to try and block incoming attacks while a secondary group of shields move forward to block off the gap left behind. Meanwhile Isao’s forces are roaming in groups of three, attacking nymians from all angles. Though this system seems effective, there are more nymians coming in from different sections of the city as the noise caused inside this park gets louder. Most of the trees and shrubbery that once filled this park have been uprooted, snapped off by attacks or slashes, or completely melted off by the black sludge that poisons the ground. Bodies remain scattered about since no one can stop to carry them out. Everyone’s focus is on evacuating those that still live.

  The wind comes in especially harsh here as the temperature continues to drop, but something about it haunts me. It doesn’t take long to realize it’s the sound coming from it. Amidst the yelling and fighting, there’s an underlying howl that moves through the park—an inhuman, mournful keen as if the voices of those that have fallen are moving along with the wind. As if their unheard last words are flying through the air, carried away, moving in the background of all of the death.

  We hurry through the back of the shields, none of us saying anything. Occasionally Kou and Kel will move in to take out a nymian or two that get too close to the shield wall, however there is always a unit that comes in to intercept as soon as they notice.

  “Guys, I found the frequency that our units in this area are using,” Kel says.

  “Keep the line open so we can get those updates,” Kou says. “Hitori is inside with the others,”

  We watch where the civilians are being taken and it looks like the bunker entrance is under a peace station close to the northern part of the park. The park itself spans about ten large blocks and appears to be enclosed by the wall illusion that the general created. There do seem to be other green users that make illusions of their own, but none on the scale of the wall. We close in at the back of the pack. Only about a fourth of the civilians remain.

  We get about two blocks away from the station when three massive Tears open up in the center of the park. They’re bigger than any I’ve seen, twisting with a sickly energy and crackling with black light. There’s a terrible beat of anticipation, and then over a dozen nymians tumble out, screeching in fear and anger.

  “Guys, listen,” Kel says, holding up their holo as they turn up the volume. “Instructions from the general from the park.”

  “—Repeat. Everyone is to immediately destroy their doses of the serum.”

  My energy lightens at his instructions to get rid of the serum, but as I look out to the park I see they’ve come too late. A second after his order is given, fiery red lights flare around the park.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  T he cumulative explosive outbursts clash with each other in the air, creating several vortexes of blazing light and force. The unstable cyclones either move outside of the park and disintegrate, or merge with others, becoming larger. Any civilians or troops near them are immediately yanked inside or violently cast away, all too abruptly for anyone to scream. Even nymians get caught in the twisting power.

  The entire park now glows intensely red as nymians are taken down by troops. It’s only a matter of time before they lose themselves. The civilians that survived race in front of us as we sprint toward the bunker.

  I hope anyone that’s still alive is able to make it through the nymians and now Isao’s troops. As we approach the bunker, blue users and peace officers stand ready with their shields. People shove forward in their panic to make it into the bunker, causing some to fall. Bringing up the rear, Kou, Kel, and Tramil pull the fallen civilians to their feet, carrying those who were injured in the stampede.

  Right before I enter the shelter, I take another look back. In the short period of time that it took us to make it here, streams of energy blasts are tearing through buildings, trees, signs, and anything else in their paths. There appears to be little to no coordination in the blasts. The trees in the park burn and begin to spread to the buildings outside. Any of the bodies left in the park also begin to burn, either because of the blasts or because of the sludge. As I enter the bunker, a larger, outer shield of blue streaked with red envelops the entrance before the massive gates close.

  Peace officers instruct us to continue moving downward until we reach the hall, assuring everyone there will have food, medical aid, and restrooms to use. As the initial panic subsides, people stop pushing and start walking down in orderly lines. A couple haggard white users tend to those who look the most injured, while those with less serious damage lean on helping shoulders. When we make it into the main bunker, a secondary set of massive doors close behind us and lock. Inside, many people sit down on chairs, others on futons, some on the floor. Some sit in stunned silence, while others call out names, frantically searching through the crowd. Families fortunate enough to have made it out together stand in silence holding each other, tightly embraced. There are a few lone children walking around, crying, calling out for their parents. All around me people's energies roar with anger, longing, fear, and worry. The feelings smother me and it’s not until Kou comes up behind me and places his hand on my shoulder that I snap out of it.

  “Hey man, are you okay?” he asks.

  “You know what…I’m not even sure anymore. I want this to end.”

  “I know. I do, too. Which is why we all need to do our jobs here. C’mon, Hitori is waiting.”

  “Where are the others?”

  “They went to speak to the commanding Sergeant to get further instructions. I told them we were going to get Hitori, Andrew, and Chives before we regrouped.”

  “Where is she?”

  “She’s in the medical bay. Let’s go.”

  I nod, and we weave through the groups of people waiting for medical attention. As we walk, I notice that Kou’s black crystal is active. I don’t know how long it’s been on, but it appears to attract and absorb the darkness of the people in this room. As if it’s all converging into his condenser.

  Some of the off-duty white users join the rest of the medical staff that are left waiting in the line to enter. We pass through the double-door entrance where people are admitted to different smaller rooms inside. The medical bay seems to rival the main lobby in terms of size. I suppose they prepared for the worst when designing these bunkers.

  “Kou! Eiji!”

  We both turn our attention to Hitori, who’s walking out of a room. She runs over to Kou and jumps on him as they hold each other. They share a kiss before they let each other go. Hitori then turns to me and hugs me as I return her embrace.

  “It’s so good to see you’re both okay.”

  “We’re actually pretty jacked up,” Kou says.

  “But you’re alive. And that’s what matters. I’ve seen you both much worse than this. You’ll be alright.”

  “Eiji probably does need more help than I do, though.” Kou says. “I’m more tired than anything, but he’s actually cut up pretty badly.”

  Hitori examines me and nods. “Well, this gives me time to show you something new I’ve learned,” she says as she walks up to me. “I need you to lie down.”

  I nod and slowly make my way down. My legs wobble and I have to hold onto the wall as I descend so I don’t just fall over. Once on the ground, the cold of my blood-soaked clothes and the heaviness of my body sets back in and I immediately feel the urge to close my eyes and sleep.

  “Do as much as you can. We have to get a move on soon,” Kou says.

  “That’s what I wanted to show you. I’ve learned how to focus-heal people—like when you were healed.”
<
br />   “Hitori, that’s amazing!” Kou yells out excitedly. “Wait, I thought it’d take you a year to learn.”

  “The doctor said I’d learn it sooner. I can do this.”

  Hitori hovers her hands over me and closes her eyes. She takes a deep breath and gathers her energy at her hands, similarly to how I would if I was opening a Tear. After a brief moment Hitori opens her eyes and only her hands glow white. I feel her healing energy sprinkling down onto my body, causing me to become warmer. Then, without warning, she presses her hands down onto my stomach and a massive burst of energy flows through me that causes me to arch my back and exhale rapidly. For a moment my body feels extremely bloated, and then the pressure releases. Within seconds, every ache or pain I felt is gone. I sit up slowly and lean against the wall. Hitori falls on her hands from her position and begins breathing more heavily than usual. Her energy dips dramatically, unlike the doctor when she healed Kou. This feels significantly less controlled, reckless, even.

  “Are you alright?” Kou bends down to get Hitori.

  “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” she answers as she gets up. “Just got a little lightheaded, I’ll be fine. More importantly, how are you feeling now, Eiji?”

  This is not the time to cause a scene. I’ll have to talk to Hitori about this later, for her own sake. “I can’t believe how great I feel.” I look over my body, and find that every wound I’d collected is now little more than scars. I climb to my feet and jump in place. Hitori gets up and smiles while Kou grins.

  “Thank you,” I say.

  “No worries. That’s what I’m here for. Saving your lives,” she closes her eyes and gives us a smug smile.

  “Oh-kay, moving on,” Kou exhales. “We have to regroup. Are they going to be okay here if you come with us?”

  “If we don’t succeed in ending this soon, there won’t be any point in me staying. Besides, someone has to keep you boneheads alive.”

  “You’re really still going with that.”

  “Didn’t you miss me?” she continues to smile. Hitori walks up to Kou and they interlock hands before heading toward the double doors. Before we walk out into the main bunker, Hitori gets the attention of one of the white users overseeing the effort and tells them that she’s been reassigned by the active sergeant to accompany us on our next mission. They look our way before nodding at Hitori.

  “I honestly thought they’d try harder to keep you here,” Kou says.

  “Told you. There’s not much for them to protest,” she says.

  We make our way to the deepest section of the bunker, which connects to the others in an underground tunnel where large transport pods wait to be filled and then sent to the mountain. Chives, Andrew, Kel, Tramil, Cortez, and a bunch of peace officers stand facing one of the veterans that defected to our side. Once we’re all there, we wait as the veteran addresses us.

  “I’d like to say that I’m glad to see you all here despite these unimaginable circumstances. I’m sure you’re all still trying to move past the events that unfolded less than twenty years ago, and now you have to deal with them again. I’m sorry to any of you that have lost loved ones, but our time to mourn is yet to come. Right now, it appears Commander Isao is sending in reinforcements to deal with what’s happening in the park.

  “Most of the groups on our side are like ours, made up of peace officers, civilians, and students. We don’t have a lot of firepower, but we do have one group of veterans who will move in for the actual rescue and arrest of the Commander. We, along with the others, have been instructed to create diversions around the Hall of Justice that will further dilute Isao’s troops and give a window for the operation. When the rescue is complete and Isao’s troops are thinned out, we will apprehend Commander Isao at all costs.”

  The veteran uses his holo to move three standard pods over.

  “There will be three teams of three for each pod. Each team will travel up to an inactive bunker location surrounding the Hall. The rest of us will stay here and help, should anything happen as the evacuation continues. The groups are to remain small to stay hidden. You’re free to split the groups up however you like. Once you’re done, get in your pod and instructions will follow. We know the Commander won’t give up without a fight once he knows what’s happening, so let’s get in and out of there as safely as possible.”

  “I guess we know who’s going with who,” Tramil says to Andrew and Cortez.

  “Don’t be jealous,” Kou responds, after which Hitori nudges his shoulder and sighs heavily.

  “Be safe, you guys,” Hitori says.

  They speak amongst themselves and enter the first pod. It doesn’t take long for it to whir into life and move through the tunnels. Hitori and Kou then walk to the next pod as I follow. When we get to it Chives walks up to us and addresses us all.

  “I highly doubt Isao is crazy enough to have you both killed, but watch out for those beasts. They’re still out there.”

  “We’ll be fine. With what we’ve been through, I know we’ll be okay,” Kou answers.

  They shake hands, and Chives walks back to two other peace officers as we all enter the last two pods. We secure ourselves in our seats and the pod activates.

  “Pod assignment number two,” an automated voice begins. “Your destination is the Heinrich Peace Station. The objective is to attack specific points as a diversion. This is to make it appear as if a rescue attempt is in place through this terminal.”

  “We’re really doing this,” Hitori says.

  “The sooner we get the councilmembers, the sooner we can get off this planet to regroup with the others.” Kou replies.

  I can feel both of their energies charge with anxiety. This is our last stand against Isao. No matter what happens, this ends here. For all our sakes, I hope this ends for the better.

  We pass by other terminals as we ride to our designated bunker. Some only have people’s belongings, some look completely destroyed, others look like they’ve never been touched. I wonder how many people were able to make it out. I wonder how many souls Naomi has guided.

  Before my thoughts can grow too dour, our pod stops abruptly and we’re all jolted forward. Kou flips the headlights to a brighter setting and we see that the wall leading to the outside has caved in, blocking the way forward and leaving a giant hole leading outside to the street.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Kou says. We get out of the pod and examine the debris.

  “Do you think you can break through it?” Hitori asks.

  “I’m not sure, but I’ll give it a try.”

  Kou activates his crystal and positions himself in front of the debris while Hitori and I back up. He shifts forward and punches the concrete, his fist alight with a crimson blaze. A large crack appears and snakes its way up to the ceiling—and continues, splintering off pieces of slate and concrete. Our heads crane up as we follow the crack spitting further along the ceiling. Larger pieces begin to break apart and then entire chunks shift and begin to fall.

  “Move!” Kou shouts, and we all sprint through the opening to the street as the ceiling collapses behind us. We make it outside as dust follows and covers us in a gray mist. The entire tunnel appears to have caved in, burying our pod.

  “Fantastic job,” Hitori says mid-cough.

  “It was your idea,” Kou retorts through his own coughing. “We probably should’ve just asked Eiji to open a portal through it.”

  “He couldn’t see the other side, dummy.” Hitori fires back.

  Once the dust settles, it doesn’t take long to figure out what happened. A trail of fire and destroyed buildings lead up to us from the direction of the park we escaped earlier. The fight must have moved north along the same route as Isao’s reinforcements. There’s no immediate fighting at our position, but the flashes of stray energy blasts are visible nearby, and the echoes of nymian shrieks are all too audible. Most of the noise and light comes from ahead—which can only mean nymians and serum filled troops are fighting somewhere between us a
nd our destination at the Hall of Justice.

  “Well, this certainly makes our job a lot harder,” Kou says as he stares off toward the rampage.

  We appear to be on the hillside just off the streets where the fighting is taking place.

  Hitori gets on her holo and makes a call.

  “Hello? What’s going on?” the voice asks. It’s the veteran who gave us our assignment.

  “The tunnel is blocked off, we can’t get through.”

  “What? Show me,” he demands.

  Hitori shows him the hole. “It looks like the fighting from the park has found itself heading north to the Hall. Let the others know. We’re stuck without a pod and we’re going to have to continue on foot,” she says.

  “Something like this would happen.” He sighs forcefully. “I’ll let the others know, but this is still time-sensitive. If Isao’s troops are fighting the nymians off in that direction, they’re getting closer to the Hall. We have to get this done before they get there or the plan is ruined.”

  He signs off and we’re left alone.

  “Fantastic, so now we have to run.” Hitori says.

  “Hey, at least now all that running you did on the mountain wasn’t in vain?” Kou says.

  “Not helping,” she replies as she starts jogging. Kou shrugs and we follow behind.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  F ive minutes later we’ve briefly paused at a decent vantage point on a third story balcony of a restaurant within a mostly undamaged commercial building. Aside from a few knocked-over chairs, the place is remarkably untouched.

  “How long do you think they’ll take to get to the Hall?” Kou asks, peering over the railing at the street where most of the fighting is happening. Our view is partially obscured by buildings and the dust limits how far we can see, but it’s enough of a view to get a general idea of our obstacles.