Rising Shards

Are you so dumb you forgot what you looked like? Ovie thought to herself. Or so vain you just like seeing your face on a wall?

Ovie watched as Laenie stared at a picture on the wall. Six image frames were lined up on a video board. The two stood in the void entry hangar designated for their mission. Wildfire Hearts had vastly more space allocated for void entry than Rising Shards. Three of the frames were filled with an image of Ovie, Aira, and Laenie. The other half were blank. The Exile hadn’t told her how many people she’d need for her mission but going by this she’d need at least three more.

“Are you done admiring yourself?” Ovie asked.

Laenie finally looked away. She was clearly still uncomfortable about all of this, but Ovie admitted she was surprised that she hadn’t spent her entire time at Wildfire Hearts cowering in corners like she did at Rising Shards. Maybe she wasn’t such a bad recruit for the mission after all.

“I want to see them,” Laenie said. “The Exile.”

Ovie had not expected Laenie of all people to bring such a difficult request. Impossible, even.

“You can’t,” Ovie said. One plus side to having their own hangar for this was the ease of spotting anyone trying to listen in. If they were anywhere else, Ovie wouldn’t dare mention the Exile, who infamously kept in contact with a miniscule amount of students. “Or, I can’t just summon them. They kind of just show up.”

“If they’re telling us what we’re doing on this mission, maybe they know where Rem is.” Laenie said.

“If they do, good luck trying to get them to tell you anything about him.” Ovie said.

Laenie turned away from the images and wandered around the hangar. The main jewel of the room was the ship in its center. It looked about the size of a semitruck’s trailer, maybe a bit bigger. Sleek and modern, it was immediately a major upgrade over a dinky pedestal for entry into the void (the room did have a typical void entry pedestal, but even that was much fancier than Rising Shards’ equivalent). Given the nature of their mission, they’d need something that could not only get them in quickly but allow them to travel great distances quickly, especially now that Jeans had merged so many void nodes together, and could be in any of them now.

“Can you drive something like this?” Laenie asked, shivering. It did feel like they were in a freezer.

“No, but,” Ovie said. “It can’t be that different from a minivan in a can, right?” She hoped that somehow Jeans didn’t know what Ovie had done to her. That she’d used her own minivan in a can to ram into Jeans, stopping her from finishing her plan to rule over the Harmony node she’d created, and allowing Faleur and her friends to destroy the Starlight Despair. Ovie had spent a few sleepless nights trying to understand why she did that but couldn’t come to a satisfactory answer. All she could reason was that she had to give everything in bringing Jeans back to redeem herself.

A chill ran down Ovie’s spine. It seemed like Laenie’s wish was about to come true. Laenie flinched at the sensation, as the temperature in the room somehow dropped further, and the lights slowly dimmed.

“What’s…?” Laenie asked.

“Don’t do anything stupid,” Ovie said. “They’re here.”

Laenie began to breathe heavily and looked like she was about to cry—a sight so pathetically familiar to Ovie she almost found her cowering nostalgic. It was also oddly comforting to see that side of Laenie, the weak, scared loser Ovie had spent plenty of time making fun of at Rising Shards, still there under her determination to find her brother.

The shadows grew, swirling around the room, until they rose upward and formed the shape of a person.

The Exile stood between Ovie and Laenie. Their snakelike eyes bore into the two, but they settled more on Laenie, who tried to stand up straight.

“I’m not afraid…of you…” Laenie said, her trembling voice confirming otherwise.

“Why are you here?” Ovie asked, not in the mood for The Exile’s games.

“I was curious about your recruit,” The Exile said, gesturing to Laenie, who flinched.

“It hasn’t been easy finding people, so I don’t need you judging her.” Ovie said. She didn’t know why she was even bothering sticking up for Laenie.

“Aadris is an excellent choice.” The Exile said. “She’s determined. Her goal aligns with yours. She’s powerful.”

As Ovie tried not to look too surprised at Laenie getting praised, the smaller girl raised her right hand.

“Mr…Mrs.? Exile. The Exile.” Laenie said. “I would like to know what this mission is, and if it’ll help me find Rem.”

The Exile nodded. “A fair topic.” They held their hands out to the screens, and a map appeared, replacing the images of faces. There were multiple regions shown, including the island of Vita Coa. Far north of the island, a beacon glowed towards the top of the map. Because it was a map of the void, the places weren’t fixed; even the projected map morphed and changed as time went on.

“Due to the events during Fang Moon Web, Jeanette Dusk has been lost to the void,” The Exile said, glancing at Ovie for a moment. “Due to her status in the school, a rescue attempt was attempted immediately. While we gained some valuable intel about who Dusk is presently with, the students sent to rescue her were captured. Your brother was among them.”

Laenie gasped. That was news to Ovie as well. They knew who Jeans was with? They sent Laenie’s brother after her? And they were captured?

“Who has Rem?” Laenie asked. She was still panicked, but Ovie almost heard a growl in her voice, and had a sudden recollection of Laenie in her Exa beast form throwing her across a field. Was she strong enough to do the same to The Exile if they gave her an answer about her brother she didn’t like?

“A region in the void system that the Harmony node now encompasses has a powerful faction ruling over it. Dusk ended up in their clutches, as did Aadris and his team.” The Exile said.

“A powerful faction…” Laenie said.

“They are known as the Sharai,” The Exile said. “Sharai – shapeshifters, beasts. Like us. They only exist in the void, however. For now.”

Ovie found the Exile’s use of the word ‘us’ interesting. Somehow, they were at least a Cani then, right? Also, the word Sharai was very familiar to her for some reason, but she couldn't place it.

“Your mission is of grave importance outside of rescuing the lost students,” The Exile said. “You’re being entrusted with maintaining the safety and order found here.”

“We have to do something to stop the Sharai?” Laenie asked.

“Astute,” The Exile said. “The Sharai now located in the Harmony node have been steadily spreading out of their homeland. Should their scourge spread to the other regions of the newly melded void node, the situation could escalate. If it isn’t halted quickly, they could spread here.”

“If it’s so important, can’t you send someone more qualified than students to stop them?” Laenie asked.

“No,” The Exile said. “It doesn’t work like that. The mission is safer this way.”

“You don’t want to leave your brother’s rescue to someone else, do you?” Ovie asked.

“That’s true,” Laenie nodded. “So what’s next?”

“You must infiltrate the Sharai system.” The Exile said.

“And how do we do that?” Ovie asked. “Just fly in there?”

“Rem found this place this Dusk is at, can’t we just use what he used?” Laenie asked.

“The path he used—he and his team found a compass that led to the Sharai region.” The Exile said. “You’d need to procure one of your own. Even with the fused void node, the locations are constantly moving. You can’t just fly to them without knowing exactly where it is, and where it will be.”

“What could we use for that?” Laenie asked.

“You will need something that can house powerful Endoran energy.” The Exile said. “I’m sure Ovie knows something that will work there.”

Ovie winced. I sure do. And it’s shattered in pieces in Vita Coa.

“We should get it right now then!” Laenie asked. “We can’t waste any time here.”

The Exile nodded. “Very well. Report back to me once you have it.”

Ovie sighed as The Exile vanished. She knew this mission would force her to confront her mistakes, but she wasn’t prepared so soon to face one.

“So where are we headed?” Laenie asked.

I think I kind of like you better when you’re a coward, Ovie thought to herself. She didn’t like the idea that she was potentially more afraid of what faced her than Laenie was.

“Back to Vita Coa,” Ovie said.