MINAMOTO MANSION — JAPAN
We were all exhausted after everything we had been through in China.
Haruki had already received a preliminary report from Atlas, so when we arrived at the mansion, he didn't ask any unnecessary questions. He showed us where we could rest and told us that we would meet later to organize all the information.
At that moment, resting was the only thing I wanted.
Eleonor and I were walking down one of the hallways when her communicator activated.
—It's Aunt Maeve —she said.
She accepted the call.
A holographic image of our aunt appeared in front of us.
—Finally —Maeve said when she saw us—. Atlas informed me that you had already arrived.
—We just got settled in —Eleonor replied.
Maeve watched us for a few seconds.
—How are you?
—Tired —Eleonor replied—. But we're fine.
—And you, Noah?
—I'm fine, Aunt Maeve. I just need some sleep.
—That's already something.
Maeve looked tired too. It wasn't surprising. Since the war began, almost none of the family leaders had had much time to rest.
—I've already received Atlas's preliminary report —she continued—. I know about the casualties, the wounded, and Iara's attack. I was also informed about the facility and some of the material you found.
Eleonor nodded.
—Then you already know almost everything we can explain for now.
—Almost.
Maeve knew her too well not to notice.
—What's missing?
Eleonor remained silent for a few seconds.
—We found records about the Claimoor and the Kartnod, about their creation.
Aunt Maeve didn't respond.
Eleonor continued:
—The Claimoor were failed experiments.
—Then there's a lot we don't know.
—It seems that way —Eleonor replied—. But Sophie and Elena have all the information. I don't want to give you any conclusions before they have everything ready.
—And there's also the relic?
I instinctively looked at the bracelet.
Aunt Maeve looked at me.
I didn't know how to explain everything I had seen.
The First Bearer.
The other relics.
The claim that the Kartnod were victims.
Everything that happened after finding the bracelet.
At that moment, Eleonor answered her:
—We'll tell you everything tomorrow. Right now, we need to rest.
Maeve nodded.
—All right. I just wanted to make sure you were okay. Mother and the other family leaders agreed to meet tomorrow. I only called because I was very worried about you.
—We're fine, Aunt Maeve —Eleonor repeated.
Maeve looked at us one last time.
—Then get some rest. We'll talk later.
—Good night, Aunt Maeve.
—Good night.
And with that, the call ended.
The hologram disappeared.
Eleonor looked at me and said:
—Go get some rest. You look terrible.
I looked back at her and replied:
—I don't think you're the right person to tell me I look terrible.
—Oh, shut up. Don't start acting superior just because you saved me. Although I have to admit that I couldn't defeat Iara, and if it weren't for you, I'd be dead.
—Stop saying that and go get some rest.
—That's what I was planning to do.
She answered, and we went our separate ways in the hallway.
I entered the room I had been assigned and closed the door.
I sat on the edge of the bed for a moment.
I looked at the bracelet.
The six emblems were still there.
Wolf.
Bear.
Tiger.
Dragon.
Serpent.
Eagle.
Each relic contains a part of my consciousness.
I remembered every word I had heard.
I still didn't know what any of it meant.
And at that moment, I was too tired to try to understand it.
I left the bracelet beside me and lay down.
It didn't take long for me to fall asleep.
I don't know how long I had been asleep when someone knocked on the door.
I woke up and took a few seconds to sit up.
—Noah. It's Sophie. Wake up.
—What's going on? —I asked.
—You need to come to the communications room. Haruki is waiting for us —she said.
—All right. I'll be there in a minute. Just let me get changed.
I followed her through the hallways to one of the communications rooms.
Eleonor, Irina, Elena, and Haruki were already there.
In the center of the room was a holographic system.
Haruki opened a communication window.
Kenji's image appeared floating in the air.
He was still in China.
—I hope you'll forgive me for waking you. I know you must still be tired, but this is extremely important.
—We found something new —he said without wasting any time—. The Atlas specialists found a hidden entrance while they were inspecting the site.
Another holographic display opened, showing the laboratory.
Kenji enlarged the image and pointed to one side.
There was a door in the floor.
Below it was a third chamber.
Irina studied the projection.
—What's down there? —she asked.
—A much older section.
—Elena, I'm sending all the information to your tablet, along with all the data I've collected since you left.
—The analysis indicates that it was built before the laboratory where we found the other records.
—How much earlier? —Haruki asked.
—I still can't determine that —Kenji replied.
He changed the projection.
A partially destroyed circular room appeared.
—We found...
Inside the room were rectangular structures. They resembled racks of internet servers.
—It looks like some kind of storage system —he continued—. It's very well preserved, and we've already managed to recover some fragments.
Several hundred lines appeared on the projection.
Elena began examining them.
—Is it the same writing?
—Partially. Some symbols match the previous records, while others are still impossible for us to interpret.
Sophie looked at the first fragment.
TRANSITION RECORD.
DESTINATION: NEW PLANE...
—Plane? —Eleonor asked.
—That's what the system translated it as —Kenji replied.
He switched to the next record.
LINK STABILITY: THIRTY-ONE PERCENT.
CLOSURE PROCEDURE INITIATED.
FAILURE.
RESIDUAL BREACH... UNSTABLE. VAEL IS LEAKING THROUGH. IT CANNOT BE STOPPED.
Irina stepped closer.
—A dimensional breach?
—What is VAEL supposed to be?
—We don't know —Kenji replied.
—But it mentions a link between planes.
It inevitably reminded me of the Mirror Dimension, but that didn't mean they were the same thing.
Kenji opened another fragment.
FLUCTUATION DETECTED.
CONTINUOUS INTERPLANAR TRANSFER.
CONCENTRATION INCREASING.
IT IS INEVITABLE. VAEL HAS LEAKED INTO THIS PLANE, AND THERE IS NOTHING WE CAN DO.
—The translator doesn't recognize that word —Kenji replied.
—Does it only appear in that record? —Elena asked.
—No —Kenji replied—. In fact, it's mentioned several times.
Several projections appeared around us.
The word appeared repeatedly throughout the different fragments.
VAEL.
In some, it was accompanied by measurements.
In others, it appeared alongside diagrams, as though they had been trying to measure it.
Elena began comparing the records.
—Here it appears again next to "interplanar transfer."
Irina pointed to another fragment.
—And here it looks like they were measuring its concentration.
Kenji enlarged one of the diagrams.
Two separate spaces appeared, divided by what looked like an opening. Several lines ran between them.
—This is the most complete fragment we've recovered.
Haruki studied the projection.
—It looks like something was passing through that opening.
—It does —Kenji replied—. But we still don't know what.
I looked at that word again.
Vael.
I didn't feel anything unusual.
The Mark didn't react.
Neither did the bracelet.
It was simply a word none of us had ever heard before.
—Are there more files? —I asked.
—A lot of them —Kenji replied—. The problem will be translating them. Some use a different data structure from the first ones we found.
Elena continued studying the projections.
—Send me everything you can recover.
—I'm already doing that.
—I want to compare it with the records we recovered.
—For now, we don't need theories. We need to know what those files actually say.
Kenji closed several projections.
Only the most complete fragment remained.
CLOSURE PROCEDURE INITIATED.
FAILURE.
RESIDUAL BREACH.
CONTINUOUS INTERPLANAR TRANSFER.
VAEL.
I read it again.
We had gone to China looking for answers about the Kartnod.
We found them.
But beneath those answers was something even more intriguing.
Something connected to a breach.
To a transfer between planes.
And to a word whose meaning none of us knew.
VAEL.