Deep in the grip of unconsciousness, two disparate minds produced two disparate dreams, melding together in their head to create a menagerie of disjointed images and voices. Seemingly incomprehensible and yet Summer had found that, like all dreams, they still held sway over their emotions. It was often that the mood that determined the start of their day originated from such an incoherent mess. And for today’s emotion…
The black-haired Summer’s eyes flew open, their body shooting bolt upright before they could even properly
feel. Their heart pounded, their body shook, heat and electricity flowing through their being like blood. A thick fog of confusion was settled over their mind, bringing with it
irritation. Not towards anything specific, but more towards the general concept of needing
something to bash around, but not finding anything.
Of course, while the stormy self found agitation in uncertainty, the sunny self was more composed. Shared vision, directed by the tempestuous Summer, danced about their surroundings. Where one was only looking for anything dangerous to hit, the other actually took in their environment, from the white cloth curtains closed around them on all sides, to the dull blue sheets draped over their legs, the absurdly comfortable mattress beneath them, and the strange gown taking the place of their old dress. Their shared eyes stopped, head tilted up, locked onto a glowing white light above them, and though neither of them could hear the other’s thoughts, both of them were, at that moment, thinking
what is
that? At least, for a moment until their eyes started stinging.
“Idiot…” With a harsh whisper, the sun wrested control of their shared body, hair flashing from black back to blonde as they turned their head away from the light source. To which their body froze, their wills contesting for a moment to decide who’d start the day in control.
“Apologies.” The storm growled back, starting a one-sided exchange that made it look like they were talking to themself, which they kind of were. “We were just trying to ascertain what magic was being used.”
“That’s all well and good but-,” The sun started, exasperated...
“Oh hang on.” … but was cut off by the presence of a third voice, sounding from just on the other side of the curtains. “I think they’re awake.” The sunny Summer’s mind froze at this sudden interruption, leaving an opening, which the stormy Summer immediately jumped on, seizing control again. The curtains were suddenly thrown aside, and the split spirit was greeted by two new figures. Two people.
Humans. A shorter one with longer brown hair and a smaller figure, and a taller one with short black hair and a stockier figure. The first humans they’d seen this close since their self-imposed exile. Yet just like the rest of this world, they were just
slightly different than what they were familiar with. Was it the language? The accent? Their strange attire?
“Good morning.” The shorter one greeted politely, stepping forward as, behind them, the taller one disappeared back behind the curtain. “You’ve certainly woken up a lot sooner than we expected, but, well…” They grinned warmly. “That makes things a lot easier.” For a moment, the spirit blinked blankly at them, staring long enough that it could definitely be considered impolite, before finally opening their mouth.
“Y-Yes, erm… We mean...” The stormy Summer stammered, suddenly acutely aware of the fact this was their first time talking to an actual
human in years. “That is to say… Good morning…” To this, the person laughed lightly, lifting one of their arms, which the spirit now noticed was holding a small tablet.
“I’m Dr. Benson. I hope you don’t mind if I take some notes while we chat?” They asked, gesturing at the tablet with a stylus held in the other hand.
“Oh, that’s…” The storm awkwardly averted their eyes, body tensing, genuinely debating whether they should just get up and leave. Before they could make the decision however, the sun, exasperated by their counterpart’s anxiety, took control. “For what purpose, might we ask?” Smiling brightly, the now blonde-haired Summer confidently met their gaze.
“Oh, just some record keeping.” For a moment, the doctor almost seemed a bit surprised by the sudden change in personality and hair color. “In case you ever end up back here.”
“Very well.” Though their tone was warm, their words were curt, not entirely satisfied with the answer they’d been given.
“Alright. Let me start with some basic questions.” Their eyes dropped down to their tablet. If they had noticed Summer’s change in tone, they gave no indication. “Do you have a name?”
“Who doesn’t?” The spirit spoke brusquely, for a moment, their voice not their own. Summer’s eyes widened, the sun caught off-guard by their counterpart’s meddling. They coughed awkwardly, as Dr. Benson shot them an odd look.
“Ahem. You may call us Summer.”
“Uh-huh…” Pursing their lips, the doctor seemed to jot that down on their tablet. “Last name?”
“No, it’s more of a nickna-.” Summer clapped a hand over their mouth, before they could finish that sentence, inwardly irritated. Of course the storm would act up as soon as they weren’t under scrutiny. Dr. Benson raised an eyebrow at them. “Apologies. As it is all we have ever gone by, Summer alone could be considered our full name.”
“I see…” they absently tapped their cheek with the stylus. “So, Summer, do you have a place of residence in Markov?”
“Markov?” Summer tilted their head curiously, their mind wandering for a moment. It was likely that the ‘Markov’ they were referring to was the city they’d collapsed just outside of. Especially since it was the only intact city they’d seen. “This is our first time hearing of it.”
“I guess that explains why you’re not coming up in the system…” The doctor muttered almost under their breath, turning their gaze back to meet the spirit’s. “So then, are you from off-planet? Say, Erde Nona? Mesa Roja? Opealon?”
“That is…” The spirit closed their eyes, taking a moment of deliberation. “Would you happen to be familiar with Heian-kyo?”
“Not in any history or geography textbook I’ve had to study.” Dr. Benson jotted something else down on their tablet.
“Is that so…” Summer mumbled, bringing their hand up and tapping their finger against their lips. The
displacement they’d been feeling was starting to have more tangible roots.
“Well, it’s not the first time someone’s just gone and appeared out of thin air, and it certainly won’t be the last.” As though they were done taking notes for now, their tablet dropped to their side. “That being said, I can’t tell whether you’re the luckiest or unluckiest person to have landed here on Cevanti.”
“We would be more inclined to say the latter.” The spirit smiled ruefully.
“That’s certainly one way to look at it.” They grinned back warmly. “Another way would be, hey, you made it back here alive. Which is more than some can say. I hear you had quite the pack of unmade on your tail too.”
“The unmade, you say?” This time, it wasn’t the sun that spoke in their shared voice.
“Uh-huh.” Dr. Benson gave them an inquisitive stare. “That’s what we figured gave you those injuries. Most people on this side of the barrier are familiar with them, but given you’re a new face… I guess you want a quick rundown?”
“Oh, please do.” A stormy grin adorned the spirit’s face. “It’s always nice to have a name attached to one’s enemies.”
“Uh-huh…” Their stare narrowed, as though the doctor was debating for a moment whether or not telling them would be a good idea at this point. “Well, it’s not like there’s too much to say about it. From what I’ve gathered Cevanti’s just kinda… falling apart at the seams, and the unmade are just here to make things worse. Or so it seems at least. All in all…” They lifted their tablet back up, tapping it seemingly errantly with their stylus. “Bad luck getting sent here in the midst of this all, but at least you didn’t run into anything worse than some unmade zoids. Otherwise your stay here might’ve been longer.”
In response, Summer hummed thoughtfully, turning their gaze down and falling silent. The sun thought back to the night the unmaking had struck, the scream of this world’s,
Cevanti’s, god. Its
Arbiter. A lament that shook their mind to the very core, and kicked off the collapse of a section of the world. There was no doubt in their mind that such a thing would continue, were something not done about it. And while they seriously doubted their ability to actually
do something about it in this place, in this time, they were also not about to let the world just disappear with them on it.
In the other half of their shared mind, the storm thought back to the corrupted automatons they’d fought, and run from, in that same time. The thought that there were other unmade beasts out there, more ferocious than the machines…
sounded incredibly exciting. And if the unmade zoids could be hit, and could be killed, then of course it stood to reason that anything else out there could be too.
“Well, since that’s just about everything…” Dr. Benson spoke after the spirit’s minute of silence, smiling serenely. “Let’s work out a payment plan and get you discharged.”
“Eh?” Reality came crashing down on Summer.
---
A warm, midday sun beamed down on Summer as they stretched, eyes closed, arms reaching as though to touch the sky. They smiled, all their worries disappearing like a morning fog under the sunlight. For a brief, wonderful moment, concepts of ‘medical debt’ and ‘monthly payments’ vanished like the wind. It was as though they were back to their old normal, lying on the grass, no one in sight, and nothing to worry about.
Of course, just as quickly as the wind could vanish, it could also spring back up. The warmth of the sun and the gentle breeze was soured by the knowledge that this brief respite was the most they’d get to experience of this world’s calm pleasures. At least for a while. Taking a deep breath and opening their eyes once again, the black-haired Summer continued forward, deeper into Cevanti’s ruins, and further away from Markov. It hadn’t occurred to them just how loud the megacity was until they were a bit away from it. Had their minds not been made up before on what path to take, the racket likely would have made it up for them. As it was right now, the spirit had been isolated for far too long. Integrating into a civilization such as that…
would take some adjustment.
With a grunt Summer energetically hopped on top of and over a particularly large root in the road, stopping for a moment on the other side to tug at their pants. Their eventual reintroduction into society wasn’t the only thing that’d take some adjustment either. The fashion was…
unfamiliar, to say the least. Tight-fitting black pants,
jeans as they’d called it, and an equally ill-fitting sleeveless black shirt would not usually be their first choice for garb. Had they actually been given a choice. The outfit had been generously donated to them by a member of the medical staff, after all. Something they thankfully didn’t expect remuneration for. The storm scoffed. If they had to go even
further in debt for something they didn’t even need, they swore they’d…
The wind
shifted. Summer’s thoughts stopped in their tracks, freezing up mid-step. Their focus, drawn out of their meaningless introspection, sharpened. The air had become noticeably stifled, and the sun that had at one point been shining down mercilessly now seemed almost…
dimmer. Summer started forward again, slowly at first, on edge. Their gaze passed over the ruins around them, rubble and foliage alike starting to take on a tangible corruption. Memories of not too long ago raced through their head.
Collapsing buildings, corrupted beasts, and the mind-tearing scream of the Arbiter. They paused. This was the correct path, this was the decision they’d made, this was where they’d eagerly come hunting for a fight. So why was the drumming of their heart so loud?
Summer anxiously clenched their fists, and forced themself forward. Anticipation gave way to irritation, as each step further into the oppressive ruins failed to bring anything. No sound, no movement, no action. They scowled, almost hoping something would pop up, knowing that if anything did, they would certainly handle it better than this
nothing. Their patience frayed, their pace quickened, steps coming faster and faster and faster until…
“Perhaps some deep breaths would do us good?” Summer jolted and froze in place, caught off guard by the sunny whisper from their own mouth. The storm clenched their teeth, their shared body almost trembling.
“We need nothing of the sort,” they huffed. Though their tone was harsher, they whispered all the same, as though stuck somewhere between wanting to and not wanting to attract attention.
“Surely it would do us more good than harm?”
“As would
not distracting us.”
“We have already ascertained that there is no-.” In an instant, the storm seized total control, clamping a hand over their shared mouth in an effort to nonverbally say
hey, shut up. Their ears perked up, just in time to hear the faintest sound on the breeze. A voice, distant and vaguely
muffled by the oppressive atmosphere, but a voice nonetheless. They lifted their hand off their mouth, listening as closely as they could to pinpoint the direction it was coming from. Wordlessly, the stormy Summer started in that direction, their counterpart giving no resistance.
Their pace picked up. As far as they could tell, a voice this far out could be one of two possibilities. Either it was someone, or maybe a group, from Markov hunting or scavenging the wilderness. Or it was an unmade or something capable of mimicking human speech, in which case they’d get the fight they were looking for. A second voice, incomprehensible from this distance, joined the mix. Curious as to who, or what, was so far out here in the middle of nowhere, Summer hastily crested a pile of rubble. Concrete chunks clattered and bounced away, disappearing into the undergrowth with a soft rustle. Alerted by the sound, two small forms on the other side of the ruined road turned towards them. Their eyes locked.
Were… were those...
children? Out here? Baffled, the storm completely blanked out, and the sun, after a moment of awkward hesitation, had to take over.
“Good afternoon,” Summer greeted with a smile.
