Rising Shards

Amara never thought she’d spend part of her camping trip chasing after a superhero from the news who’d been dubbed ”Tokickaman,” especially since it happened entirely on a whim, with her unable to sleep and deciding to wander, wondering if she could pick mushrooms. She ended up in this strange, bubbled off city.

At least the blue costume he wore made it easy to not lose him. Aira was ahead of them both, perhaps teleporting when Amara didn’t have them in sight.

”Do you need assistance!” Amara said, reaching out and accidentally grabbing Tokickaman’s cape, which fell off of him.

”Oh gosh, sorry!” Amara said, but the hero was too out of it to even notice. He turned, accidentally revealing his face to her. ”Wait, you’re Tokickaman? Syval?”

Amara barely knew Syval from class, but she did recognize him. There would be time to try and comprehend that later, he and Aira needed help.

When Amara finally caught up to the two, both of them screaming in pain or something distressing. Every few moments, ghostly apparitions appeared over each, like a spirit inside trying to break free. The apparitions were too shrouded to recognize, so Amara assumed this was a power of the devils.

”What did they do to you?” Amara asked. ”What do you need? Can I help?”

Syval fell to his knees, clutching his head. He trembled, muttering to himself. Amara knelt beside him.

”Stay...back...” Syval said.

”What?” Amara said.

”Get...away...” Syval said.

Amara felt something in the air. Like an atmosphere that was about to burst. She barely leapt out of the way in time, instincts saving her as Syval seemingly exploded. She screamed, but as the dust settled, Syval was fine in spite of that. Well, not fine, he looked to be knocked out cold now. The spirit-like figure wasn’t trying to escape him anymore, at least. He didn’t appear to be severely wounded. Amara crept only close enough to verify that before she stepped back, not wanting to experience whatever that power was again.

She turned her attention to Aira, who was thankfully less explosive, but still experiencing some distressing after effects from the devils. It didn’t seem to be related to her teleportation power, it looked like strange, abstract imagery was almost emitting from her along with her ghostly figure wailing.

Amara felt a chill down her spine before she could offer Aira any help, whipping around expecting the devils to be there. It wasn’t them, but another familiar face.

Octa Kathron stood with her arms crossed, her expression unreadable.

”What happened to them?” She asked.

”Why are you here?” Amara asked.

”What happened to them?” Octa asked, her urgent tone rattling Amara.

”I don’t know,” Amara said. ”They were fighting the devils, then they were hit with a strange attack...and...”

Octa Kathron was the one who brought the devils to the school, who had been training and experimenting on them as far as Amara had gathered. Should she be freely admitting they were in a fight? She hadn’t said that she herself was in battle, but the scuff marks on her clothes probably made that obvious.

Octa reached into a bag on her side and pulled out two cylindrical syringes. She quickly got Aira and Syval in their arms with them.

With the medicine administered, the two seemed to relax, whatever they were experiencing prior seemed to stop.

”Did you know what happened to them? Or figure it out, I suppose?” Amara asked. ”Not just that, what did you inject them with?”

Octa stared, her ice cold eyes freezing Amara in place. She had a sudden and very real sense that she was in danger the longer she was alone with Octa. But she wouldn’t back down, even if she started thinking about a drama she watched where a spy broke away from her team to investigate an evil organization, only for the top ruler of the group to end up killing her.

”You’re the one from the beach,” Octa said.

”Y-yes,” Amara said.

Her gaze said, ”Will you continue to stand in my way?” But if she was really thinking that, she kept it to herself.

”They took something from my lab, and foolishly ingested it,” Octa said. ”I surmised as much judging by the symptoms they showcased.”

”Hm,” Amara said. ”What do we do now?”

Amara didn’t exactly want to work with Octa, but she didn’t want to give the impression that she was immediately an enemy.

”You are going back to camp, I’ll take care of these two,” Octa said.

”Are you going to hurt them?” Amara blurted out, immediately regretting it.

Octa’s face remained still. ”Obviously not. I need them to come back to my lab to ensure their safety, and to test them further.”

”I see...” Amara said.

”If any teachers say you’re not supposed to be out when you return, give them my name,” Octa said.

”Why?” Amara asked.

”Because you’re a bystander who stumbled into an aspect of my experiment,” Octa said. ”I take responsibility, and you stay out of trouble.”

”I see,” Amara said.

”It’s time to go. I’ll rescind this offer if you don’t leave now,” Octa said.

Amara wasn’t sure she wanted to leave, it felt like she had unfinished business here. She thought about that beast. The poor creature locked in combat with the devils, who Amara didn’t even know the status of.

Should I mention that to Octa? Maybe it’d be best to not give too much info to her.

Amara left, returning to camp, frantically scribbling in her notepad everything she’d learned that night. There was more to all of this than Octa was letting on, and Amara was determined to uncover it.