"Arthur!"
Karen burst through the doors to find Arthur crying. The boy's gaze landed on her, only to end up crying harder.
"A-Aunt Karen…!"
Karen quickly closed the distance and drew him into her embrace, her battle armour retracting. Seeing him cry the way he did broke her heart deeply.
"I'm here, Arthur. I haven't gone anywhere." She apologised as she rocked Arthur back and forth. "I was right outside."
"W-Where's mom?" Arthur hiccupped, grabbing onto Karen's arms.
He had woken up to sunlight streaming into his room through the curtains. His first thoughts were of his parents. When he found no one around, he got frightened and cried.
His caretakers would have already been by his bed when he woke up, his mother joining soon after. Today had been different, and Arthur did not understand why.
He vaguely recalled the explosions the night before, which frightened him further.
Karen grimaced at Arthur's question. Her eyes welled with tears, but the tears never fell. Instead of lying to the boy, she stayed quiet, silently offering a comforting embrace for Arthur to let his feelings out.
"I want to see mom…"
Arthur demanded once more, hiccuping in the process. At this point, tears no longer flowed. He had almost exhausted himself crying, his eyes growing heavy. Sleep beckoned to him once more.
"Aren't you hungry? Your Aunt Karen is quite the cook, you know."
Karen asked after a while, hoping the boy would indulge her. When Arthur did not respond, she looked at his face and realised he had fallen asleep once more. With a soft sigh, she lowered Arthur from her embrace.
And this time, she decided to stay close and got comfortable beside the boy. A yawn here and drowsy eyes there eventually pushed her into dreamland. Karen was just as exhausted as Arthur, if not more.
Arthur was the first to wake up after another two hours of sleep.
Seeing her aunt close by put him at ease. He sat up and looked around, expecting to see his mother or father.
There was no one.
His separation anxiety grew, but Arthur didn't want to cry. It would be rude to wake his aunt while she slept. Careful of his movements, he climbed out of bed and went out.
"Mom? Dad? Aunt Cassie?"
Arthur called, his voice echoing ominously. There was no one around, no rush of footsteps, no nothing. The place was too quiet. And his caretaker was nowhere to be seen.
The hallway looked familiar, but smaller than he remembered. Picking his usual direction, he walked down the hallway, approaching his parents' bedroom. But he hit a dead end.
"Where's their bedroom?"
Confused, Arthur decided to check the other rooms. And no matter the room he chose, he always found them empty or filled with massive black cases.
No one was around.
"Where's everyone?"
He somehow found his way out of the base, stepping into a small courtyard.
"Whoa… That's a big forest!"
For a brief moment, Arthur was mesmerised by the scene, smiling for the first time since leaving his home world. Stretching as far as his eyes could see was a forest the size he had never seen before.
He approached the reinforced glass wall and gawked in wonder. What he didn't realise was that the glass wall was actually a one-way glass dome, allowing only those inside to see the other side, while everyone or anything else would see mountains.
Back in his bedroom, Karen had woken up, almost having a heart attack when she didn't see Arthur. She rushed to the adjoining washroom, finding no one.
"Arthur!"
She swept the base in seconds, her anxiety growing the longer Arthur was not in her sight. When she found him in the courtyard, relief washed over her like a dopamine rush.
Karen was about to rush to him when she suddenly thought it wise to let the boy enjoy the scene. This was going to be their home for a while.
She could not stop him from exploring. Suppressing the boy's natural curiosity would harm his development. And the quicker he adapted, the better.
Seeing Arthur smile brought a smile to her face.
'Arthur, darling.' She thought affectionately. 'I don't know why the universe made you a Dimensional Shifter, but I believe you will be different from the ones who came before you.'
When her thoughts got to Arthur's parents, her expression turned sombre, 'Hard times are ahead of you, little Art. I'll do my very best to be everything you need me to be. I just hope I'll be enough.'
Karen approached the glass dome and stood beside the gawking Arthur.
Sensing her presence, Arthur excitedly looked at her and gestured to the valley below, "Aunt Karen! Have you ever seen a forest this big before?!"
"Many times, Arthur." She looked at him with a warm smile. "It's a beautiful sight to behold."
"Yeah!" Arthur grinned and looked again. "Let's go down there and explore! There could be tons of monsters!"
"Hold your horses, hotshot," Karen chuckled modestly. "You just woke up. You haven't cleaned up yet. Not to mention, you haven't had your breakfast."
"Ah, I forgot!" Arthur slapped his forehead for forgetting something so basic and rushed towards the base. "What are you waiting for, Aunt Karen? Let's go! Mom and Dad might be on their way!"
Without waiting for a reply, he disappeared into the base.
Behind, Karen smiled as tears fell. Seeing Arthur so full of life brought her immense joy. But it also carved a deep wound in her heart. How was she going to tell the boy he might never see his parents again?
She dreaded imagining what would become of him when he turned old enough to realise the truth. She took several moments to compose herself before going after Arthur.
At the back of her mind were still the questions she wanted answers to.
'This evening…'
Karen decided with a determined look on her face. With her resolve hardened, she joined Arthur in getting him ready for the day. Come what may, she was determined to protect Arthur till the very end.