The Sphere of Time

by TIME, S. O.

  “Twenty, maybe thirty minutes? If we’re lucky,” Hitori replies. “Though that could change if more portals open.”

  “Eiji, did you get a look at how many serum-users were out there before you entered the bunker?”

  “Honestly, I think I saw at least a dozen lights flare up. But who knows how many of those actually survived that initial fight.”

  “Why is this happening?” Kou whispers.

  As we leave the balcony I notice two drinks on one of the tables—one large glass and one small. A little green robot creature lays on its side beside the small cup, a lone toy forgotten in the escape. It makes me think of Alma. It makes me think about how many lives are riding on the success of the evacuation. We have to get past Isao. I hope the veterans are enough to take him down while we scatter his troops.

  I think about my memories here. I’ve learned little to nothing about myself. About who I really was before Death. Yet I’ve been thinking less about it. Perhaps it’s because of the constant fear of survival, but I think it’s more than that. Despite everything that’s happened here, Eiji has a home. I have Hana, I have Aldrea, I have Kou, and now I even have Hitori. I have memories I can look back to, whether they’re good or bad. But they’re my memories.

  Just then my mask begins to crack, splintering across the side of my face. I dig my fingernails into the cracks and pull, but the pieces, though fractured, won’t budge. For a moment I consider asking the other two for help, but I clamp down on the urge and focus back on the task at hand.

  Unlike the building we’ve just left, most of the ones on this street are on fire. The heat and smoke make it painful to breathe as we try to avoid the main fighting. We’re barely a block down the street when I abruptly stop, shocked by what I see. Hitori hisses in irritation as she bumps into me.

  “What the—that building just vanished!” I hiss back.

  “Green illusions,” Hitori replies impatiently, giving me a light shove. I start moving again, but continue to watch in amazement as a few other large structures appear to blink out of existence, fire and all. Soon after each one vanishes, Isao’s troops drive nymians toward the apparently empty space. The creatures, oblivious, smash full force into walls and flames. In the most successful drive, I watch five nymians charge into a tall apartment complex, which reappears and collapses on them with the help of precision red blasts to the supports. I know we need to reach the Hall before these troops do, but I can’t help but be impressed by their skill.

  Unfortunately for them, as the nymians dwindle, a pair of troops who have clearly used the serum appear on the scene. They blast a couple of nymians—and then turn on their fellow soldiers in their rage.

  We continue to hurry along the other side of the street, concealed somewhat by smoke, but the arrival of the serum troops throws the organized fighting of Isao’s normal troops into chaos. Tripping over rubble, the three of us instinctively pick up our pace, gazes continually darting between the growing fight and our uneven path.

  It feels like we’ll get through unscathed until a building directly ahead of us shudders and then explodes with a deafening boom. We’re far enough away to be spared any direct damage, but the wave of force sends us stumbling back a few steps.

  And then four soldiers, muscles bulging and eyes burning red, stride out of the dust.

  And one of them is looking right at me.

  “Uh, guys,” Kou starts.

  “Run,” Hitori replies, and we turn back the way we came. We enter a full sprint as the first blast makes a crater of the place we’d been standing. In a complete reversal of our previous tactic, we charge into the chaos, dodging headlong into the fray of nymians and troops. A few more blasts graze by us, but the strategy works—the serum troops are distracted by other potential opponents. We continue to sprint past the main fighting, but soon Kou begins to fall back. Hitori never healed him. He must still be exhausted.

  Hitori leads us into a small alley between two buildings before Kou can drop back too far. After a few seconds to catch our breath I peek around the corner to judge our situation. The Hall of Justice is located just a few kilometers in front of us, but there’s an impossible wave of obstacles in our way.

  “We have to find another way through,” Hitori says. “It’ll take too long to loop around the buildings.”

  She waves Kou closer and her hands begin to glow white as she starts to heal the worst of his damage.

  “The only other way is through the suburban living district. Intel said it was lost to nymians,” Kou replies, panting heavily.

  “Then what are we supposed to do?” she replies.

  “I have an idea,” I say. “Lead us to the edge of the housing district.”

  Hitori nods, and after a few more seconds of healing Kou, we move back to a quick jog, heading west of our target location.

  The suburban area is dark compared to the fiery conflagration we left behind, with nothing but low streetlights to show the damage. The nymains overwhelmed this place early.

  “So?” Hitori whispers.

  I point at the rooftops, “Let’s take the higher ground.”

  “We can’t make those jumps. Can you make that many portals?” Hitori answers.

  “We have to try. It’s safer and quicker than the alternative,” I respond.

  “It’s worth a shot,” Kou says.

  I open the first Tear that leads to the roof closest to us. Hitori runs in first before Kou follows. I run in behind them, close the Tear behind me, and open another one up at the edge of the roof we’re on and continue the process.

  Hitori stops us after a few buildings, “Hold on, we’re receiving a transmission from the others.”

  “Where are you?” Cortez asks.

  “We lost our pod and we’re on foot,” Kou answers.

  “I know, but where specifically are you? We’re all ready to start the mission but we need you at your post in order to begin.”

  “We’re a couple of kilometers away, just give us a few minutes.”

  “We’ll hold out as long as we can, but we need to do this now. Be careful.”

  He signs off and the call ends.

  “Damnit!” Kou yells, the sound frighteningly loud in the darkness.

  “Listen, we need to remain quiet, and we need to pull ourselves together,” Hitori says as she puts her hands on Kou’s cheeks so he’s forced to look at her. “We’ll make it. Now let’s go.”

  Kou says nothing but he nods.

  Hitori turns to me. “Right?” she asks.

  “Of course. We can do this,” I reply.

  I open another Tear and we continue jumping through rooftops. Though constantly making new Tears is draining my energy, it’s not as terrible as I thought it would be. It looks like I’ll be able to continue making them until we get across. As we move through rooftops, I do notice a few nymians on the ground that would have more than likely seen us if we’d gone through the streets.

  By the time we reach the bunker entrance where we should’ve arrived by pod, I’m shaking with the effort of making Tears, requiring longer and longer to focus before I can create the portals. After we clamber down from the roof of the last house to the ground level, I sink to my knees while Hitori places a steadying hand on my shoulder.

  Our bunker opens right beside a narrow, man-made lake of crystal-clear water. Hovering lights and fireflies illuminate the lakebed, which is decorated with lovely mosaics of ethereal creatures. A manicured trail meanders around the bank, lush with lilies, reeds, and marsh trees with their long, reaching roots. Over the center of the lake stretches a vast bridge, as wide as two city blocks, holding the Hall of Justice and related buildings—a peace officer station, a civilian registry, and a garden. It would be peaceful, if the sky were not dark with smoke, the reflection of fire dancing in the water’s still surface and appearing to sear the artful creatures decorating the lakebed.

  “Let me contact Cortez,” Hitori says.

  As soon as the words leave her mouth
Cortez shows up on her holo.

  “That was fast,” Kou says.

  “Where are you?” Cortez fires off. “Troops have started leaving posts here and the time to attack is now.”

  “We’re here at the bunker,” Hitori replies hastily.

  “Okay, go—”

  Large explosions break through our conversation—we can hear them nearby and through the holo.

  “Oh no,” Kou whispers, grabbing my arm to haul me to my feet. “What happened?”

  “Get to your station!” Cortez shouts as her transmission cuts out.

  “We have to hurry!” Hitori shouts as we break into a sprint.

  A fire rages through a museum nearby, choking the air with smoke, but we don’t slow despite the burning in our lungs. We make it to our post on the opposite block from the Hall in time to see about a dozen of Isao’s troops making their way to the first explosion. The distraction is working. Everyone’s energy is taut with anxiety, and I feel the incessant throbbing of my heart inside my chest. All of the lights begin to brighten and everything begins to sound much louder.

  “Hitori, show me the target,” Kou says.

  Hitori hands him her holo, the screen displaying a simple blueprint of the area. After a quick look, Kou activates his condenser and readies himself for an energy blast. After taking a few more precious seconds to aim, he fires it off at the designated spot—a large fountain. The marble shatters with a loud crack, and chunks of stone and plaster fly high into the air. And then we wait.

  Ten seconds. Twenty. None of Isao’s forces come out to our area. In fact, the only forces we’ve seen are the ones that left for that initial blast, blocks away.

  “They’re going in,” Hitori says, tense with anxiety as she points to the Hall.

  We watch as a large group of our veteran forces and several dozen shield-wielding peace officers race inside the building.

  “We didn’t pull anyone,” Kou says with frustration. “There might be too many of Isao’s forces inside.”

  “Or they were already pulled out by the initial blasts,” Hitori says, placing a calming hand on Kou’s arm. “We know at least some of the distraction was effective.”

  Another painful few seconds pass before Kou speaks again.

  “It’s too quiet, we should—”

  The world is suddenly nothing but scarlet pain. I blink my eyes and register that I am on the ground. I was in the air a second ago—a blast—

  I think I black out. When I open my eyes again Hitori is shaking my shoulder. Blood trickles from a gash on her forehead and her pale hair is grey with ash.

  “...Eiji. You have to get up.”

  I obey automatically, but the world spins as I sit up. “What happen-”

  I turn in time to throw up on the street rather than into Hitori’s lap.

  “The Hall. It’s gone,” Kou says from behind me, his voice flat. He’s on his feet somehow. A vicious road burn had shredded the skin of his left arm, but he doesn’t seem to notice. “Most of our veterans—our best fighters. They’re gone too.”

  I follow his empty stare to see what was once the Hall of Justice. A massive pile of rubble marks the spot, amid a cloud of heavy dust and ash. Memory slides back, and I replay the massive blast of red energy that destroyed the building and sent the three of us flying. The sheer force of such an explosion—it’s terrifying.

  As we stare at the smoldering ruin, Hitori’s holo crackles to life with an audio message. Simultaneously, the voice rings out from a couple of speakers down the street and echoes from the alert system of a tower three blocks away.

  “Let this be a warning to anyone that tries to get in my way again. I have eyes and ears everywhere. I knew you’d come. I knew where you’d be. I knew what you’d try to do. This next part is for you, Hitori. I know you’re out there. These people can’t protect you. Kou cannot protect you. Come back to me and you will always be safe. Walk away now, Kou, and you’ll live to see another day. If Hitori doesn’t come to me within the hour, I’ll start blasting your precious bunkers and I’ll have something special prepared for the Kurosawa mansion.”

  As the message ends, we notice half a dozen troops heading toward us, all wearing Isao’s colors. As we turn to flee we find ourselves facing six more troops coming from the opposite direction—and three of them are firing off energy blasts. I immediately raise my shield as I step in front of Hitori, but I am a hair too slow to cover Kou. My shield takes a couple of the blasts, but the third slams into Kou. I’m dimly aware of Hitori and me screaming his name in unison as he is launched backwards, right into the first group of troops.

  “RUN!” Kou yells as two of the soldiers grab his arms.

  “I’m not leaving you again!” Hitori screams back as she breaks into a sprint toward him. I glance back at the other soldiers and see them rushing forward, the three red users about to fire another volley. Panic floods my body and I react without thinking. I lunge forward, grab Hitori around the waist and drag us both through a Tear.

  We appear on the bank of the lake, in a dense clump of trees and shrubbery. Hitori is stunned silent for about half a second before she turns and punches me in the arm. Hard.

  “You left Kou!” Hitori demands, disbelieving.

  I can barely believe it myself. What was I thinking, leaving Kou alone with twelve of Isao’s men? Doubt and dread fray my nerves and I prepare to open a Tear back to where we came from when a sudden, massive explosion shudders through the air. We both turn toward the sound and see red light fading—from exactly the place we had just left.

  “Kou,” Hitori breathes, fear blazing from her energy. “Take me back!” she yells.

  “Hitori, it’s not safe.”

  “I said take me back to Kou!”

  Her anger lances through me as I immediately pulse out, wincing through the cacophony of misery as I put every effort into focusing on Kou.

  “Wait, He’s alive!” I spit out, nearly tripping over my words with relief. “I think—I think that blast was him.”

  Hitori looks at me, confused but hopeful. “How could you possibly know that?”

  “Making portals isn’t all I can do. I think—yes, he must have collapsed the ground beneath him. He’s in the tunnels now, ahead of the other soul—uh, soldiers. I’ll explain it later, but you have to trust me. He’s alright.”

  Hitori lets out a breath, but nods. “He’d better be,” she mutters, more to herself.

  “I sensed something else as well. There are still people alive at the Hall,” I say, after sending out a second pulse.

  “What?”

  “I’m sure of it. If we go now we might be able to save them.”

  Hitori looks in the direction of Kou’s blast, but she ultimately turns back to me, expression resolute.

  “Then let’s go.”

  We head back toward the Hall along the edge of the lake, staying on the shaded path to avoid any passing patrols. Once we’re almost beneath the massive bridge, I open a Tear that takes us up, right beside the rubble of the building where fire still rages. The change from the cool air beside the lake is jarring, and I immediately begin to sweat and cough. We pick our way through a small mountain of broken marble, struggling to maintain our balance so that our hands don’t have to touch the hot stones.

  We eventually make it through to a cleared area. As I look around, I realize we’ve reached the epicenter of the explosion. It’s clear here, because Isao’s blast either pushed or obliterated everything around him in a nearly forty-meter radius.

  “There,” Hitori says, her voice muffled by the sash she’s wrapped around her mouth and nose.

  I look where she’s pointing and see a large hatchway open near the epicenter. The hatch itself is utterly gone, and the edges of the opening are melted and warped, but it leads to an intact set of stairs heading down. We cautiously go down the steps to find a clear passageway a couple stories down, lit by flickering emergency lights.

  “Isao must have escaped through this door to
make everyone think he was still inside,” I say.

  Hitori nods, regret and worry clouding her eyes.

  “This is my fault. If I’d just stayed with him…”

  “You’d have a miserable existence. It’s not your fault. Something’s gone terribly wrong inside his head. It’s not something you can blame yourself for.”

  “But every fight we’ve ever had is because of me! This whole war broke out because he sent troops to look for me.”

  “Hitori…”

  “Let’s just find whoever’s here and leave. I don’t want to be here anymore.”

  Hitori keeps her head down and holds her arm as we walk back up the stairs. She says nothing more, but the uneasiness and dread I feel from her energy cuts right through me.

  Once above ground, I pulse out again and am able to pinpoint the energy of two people a few meters away from the edge of the cleared area. I hurry over, clamoring over the rubble with less caution than before as hope flickers in my chest. When I reach the souls, I find a large set of doors, still partially intact, over the spot. I take my jacket off, place it around one edge of the doors, and begin to lift. Despite having my jacket to protect my hands, it doesn’t take long before I feel the residual heat pierce through and burn my skin. I lift as hard as I can and move the door over as it falls with a heavy thud.

  “It’s Cortez and Andrew!” I yell.

  Hitori rushes over and activates her crystal as she kneels beside them. They’re alive, but barely breathing and badly burned. Their energies are fading by the second.

  She launches her instant-heal blast on Cortez before doing it again on Andrew. The improvement is dramatic, but their injuries still require more help. That’s when I notice a considerable dip in Hitori’s energy.

  “Hey, take a breather, don’t overwork yourself,” I say.

  “They still need more, I can push harder,” she replies as she continues healing them.

  I notice blood dripping down her nose and her energy dips even lower, and I feel an anger well up inside of me.

  “Hitori you need to stop!” I find myself yelling.