Rune Seeker

Just like the last time he’d woken up in a bed, the morning started with a groan and a flood of memories cascading into his skull.

“Oh, that smarts,” he muttered, putting his hand to his head and rolling to swing his legs onto the floor. Unlike last time, darkness filled the room, not an ounce of light streaming through the previously sun-filled window.

Right. We’ve entered the half-year night cycle. Eh… we did?

A floundering wave of his hand activated a crystal installed in the wall near his bed, and soft light sprang from the stone ceiling.

Huh, I wonder if my Fallen Reach has the same function.

With enough light to see and his headache leveling off, Hiral grabbed the half-full glass of water from his nightstand and downed the contents in one gulp. It helped, but there was still far too much going on inside his head.

This is way worse than last time. Why…?

He got his answer as his thoughts slowly began to untangle, days, weeks, and months ordering themselves in his memories. It wasn’t the day after he’d talked to Yummi and Fulerik. It was six months later. Six months of building the city—it was well over half-finished—and patrolling the islands.

Despite Dr. Benza’s worries, they hadn’t encountered any unplanned visitors to the islands, and the construction had moved steadily forward. Even the towers were almost done—though the crystals containing the Fallen wouldn’t arrive until the portal opened in another half-year. And… and it wasn’t until today that the towers and their systems were finished enough for the party to look at.

Guess I should get to it. Hiral quickly got up, showered, and then summoned his doubles through Foundational Split.

“Wow, this never gets any easier, does it?” Right asked, hand going to his head as the last six months’ worth of memories flooded in.

“Nope,” Hiral said. “No time to go through it all now, though. We’ve finally got permission to go into the tunnels under the towers. We need to see if the construction down there is like Yummi was saying. If it is, that might be the key to putting one of the Fallen back to sleep.”

“I know, I know,” Right said. “Still, I feel like I’m forgetting something important.”

“If it was that important, I’m sure it would be right up there in the front of our minds,” Hiral said.

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Uh, Hiral,” Left said, “I think there’s something you should…”

Bang, bang, bang. The sharp knocks came on the door, interrupting his double, and Hiral quick-stepped over to open it. “Hey,” he said when he spotted Seena on the other side.

“Hey yourself,” she said, leaning in to give him a kiss on the cheek, then slipping past him and into the room.

He heard her take two steps—and he started to close the door—before they both completely froze. Slowly, ever so slowly, Hiral turned around at the same time Seena did, until their eyes met.

“Yeah, that’s what I was going to try to tell you about,” Left said. “Apparently you two are an item now.”

“Seena… I…” Hiral started, but the door whipped open behind him so hard it bounced off the stone wall, and eight furious red eyes glared at him. Green venom dripped from the twin daggers, and the whole building groaned as gravity multiplied.

“Did you touch my sister!?” Seeyela seethed, stalking forward while Hiral scurried backwards from the woman.

“No! I didn’t touch… Eh…maybe I did?” he started and stopped as the memories came flooding in. As the heat shot up the side of his neck. He looked at his doubles for support, but they were both looking anywhere but at him or Seeyela. “Cowards,” he muttered.

“Sis, stop it,” Seena said, stepping in front of Hiral. “We already went through this. Like, this exact scenario when you found out we were… we were…” She trailed off, then turned around and looked at Hiral. “You did touch me.”

The Fangs of the Lady that’d been halfway in their sheaths came right back out, the green glowing more fiercely than ever.

“Can we not have this conversation right now?” he asked, one eye on each of the dangerous women.

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Seena rubbed the bridge of her nose, and Hiral almost stepped forward to comfort her, his arms starting to raise like he was going to hug her. A small shift of the eight-eyed helmet stopped him cold in his tracks.

“You’re right—now isn’t the time,” she said, lifting her eyes to meet his. Despite the warring emotions on her face, the small quirk of a smile she gave him sent butterflies swooping in his gut.

No, bad stomach!

“We will have to talk about this later, though,” she said. “Tonight? Usual spot?”

“You have a usual spot?” Seeyela said, her voice like the cold wind over a desolate mountain.

“Over by the edge, looking at the Builders’ island,” Yanily said, leaning in front of the door like he was—rightfully—afraid to enter. “What? You thought it was a secret?”

Something about Yanily knowing about their spot—more than them having a spot at all—made Hiral’s face heat even more.

“Yes,” he said. “Usual spot tonight. Sounds good. But, for now, let’s go check out the tunnels. The nice tunnels where we can focus on a completely different topic. A safe topic.”

“The Fallen waking up is a safe topic?” Left asked.

“Much safer than the current one, yes, thank you very much,” Hiral said to his double. Then he turned back to Seeyela, only to find her eight-eyed helm right in front of him. So close, in fact, he literally jumped back a step before he caught himself.

“Uh… sorry.” Seeyela took off her helmet, face flushed beneath it. “And, sorry for overreacting there. I’ve calmed down.”

“That was quick,” Right said, and Hiral scowled at his double for doing anything other than accepting the apology and moving on.

“Took me a minute for my memories and feelings to line up,” she said, taking a step back so she could look at both Hiral and Seena. “I woke up and… and suddenly realized what was going on between you two. I kind of freaked out.”

“Nothing’s going on between us,” Seena said, the words somehow like a thin dagger between Hiral’s ribs.

She’s right, but it still hurts.

“I… I mean…” she stuttered, looking at Hiral like she’d felt the same thing. “We don’t know what’s going on. What’s real and what’s made up by the PIMP. Let us figure it out after we get the important stuff dealt with.”

“The tunnels,” Hiral said.

“Yeah,” Seena agreed.

“It’s fine. You’re a cute couple,” Seeyela said. “Er, I remember you being a cute couple. This is way more confusing than last time.”

“You’re not even kidding,” Yanily said. “I’m pretty sure I’m hosting a card game tonight, and I don’t even know how to play the… Oh… no… whoops. Yeah, I know how to play. Huh. You’re coming, right, Seeyela?”

“Yeah, I’ll be there,” she said without missing a beat. “You still owe me from the last game.”

“Pretty sure you cheated,” Yanily shot right back. “And,” he started more slowly, “if we’re not sure all these memories are real, do I actually owe you anything? It could literally just be your imagination.”

The comment had Hiral looking at Seena—was it just their imaginations?—and by the way she looked at him, she was wondering the same thing.

“Your favorite color is green,” Hiral said. “You’re not a fan of sweets, unless they’re cookies. When you were a kid, you stole all your sister’s underwear and hid them in Nivian’s room.” Seena nodded in time with each statement. “Not our imaginations, then.”

“I guess not…” Seena said.

“Waaaaaait!” Seeyela said. “That was you? I blamed Nivian for years. And he blamed Wule!”

“Towers,” Seena said. “We should be going to the towers. Don’t you think, Hiral? Great, I knew you’d agree with me. Here we are, going.” Having rapid-fired all that, she practically sprinted out of the room.

“Your girlfriend’s in trouble,” Yanily said as Seeyela darted after her sister, a quick bamf and a yelp immediately following.

“She’s going to blame me for saying that out loud.” Hiral groaned, then looked at Yanily. “You’re okay with this? With me and Seena, if it’s… real?”

“She likes you. You make her happy. She’s one of my best friends, so why would I complain about that? Most importantly—you can protect her.”

“She doesn’t need my protection,” Hiral pointed out.

“Not usually, no. But, Hiral, I’ve lost too many friends recently. In fact, I’ve lost almost all my friends since we went down to the surface. Sure, I’d bet my life Nivian and Wule will be fine, but they’re not here. Now…

“Seena may not need your protection, but that doesn’t change the fact that you being around her keeps her safer. I don’t want to lose anybody else. That includes you.” Yanily gently poked Hiral in the chest. “Keep each other safe. I’m tired of hurting.”

With that statement, and before Hiral had a chance to say anything, Yanily turned and strode out of the room.

“Sometimes I forget how much pain he must be in under his easy-going façade,” Left said quietly.

“It’s been a lot,” Right agreed.

“We can’t let anything happen to any of them,” Hiral said to his doubles. “Not to Seena. Not to Yanily. Not to Seeyela.”

“We’re going to need to keep getting stronger,” Right said.

“A lot stronger,” Left said.

“Then that’s what we’ll do,” Hiral said, reaching under the bed and sliding the Emperor’s Greatsword out. “As strong as can be. As we need to be.”

“We won’t let anything stop us,” Right agreed.

“Sis… Sis… stop… that… That tickles,” Seena half-laughed, half-pleaded into the party chat. “Hiral! Hiral, heeeeelp meeeee!”

“Except for maybe Seeyela,” Right amended. “She’s terrifying and she can teleport.”