Half in Fire

My eyes slowly widened. My heart seemed about to leap from my chest. I bit my lips. “What…? What do you mean?” I drew my brows together.

Saymon sighed impatiently. “The plan was to bomb Brasil, the Aether Network’s headquarters, like they did to France. That was always our objective. Until…” He gestured toward me. “Maia met you and decided she wanted to do things differently. Some in Une Côte didn’t like the decision.”

An icy current of air enveloped us, announcing sunset.

“Why?” I shook my head, trying to understand.

Was that what Maeva had meant? Was that what changed everything? Little by little, the pieces of that immense puzzle began finding their places.

Lilac and pink light pierced the clouds, spilling over us.

Saymon remained silent and rested his head against the tree trunk.

I lowered my eyes. “Why did she…”

“…ask Hikaru to remove Regnante? Who knows?” His face shone beneath dusk’s colorful shimmer. The light enlivened his fierce features and warmed the gold of his eyes, as though the sun’s fire met the flames burning within them. He seemed older, as though carrying light-cycles of knowledge. As though he stood above every burden.

“What happens now?”

“With the Aether Network? São Paulo?” Saymon shrugged. “Did what I needed to do here. Maeva will handle things from now on. She has plenty of material to weave more chaos and Kemetia’s command as an indirect ally.” He contemplated the landscape. “So we just need to let the fire burn.”

He was right. Whatever its intentions, Kemetia’s command would exploit the Aether Network’s vulnerability and use the available resources to try to destroy it.

Saymon controlled the 3-R. Therefore, he could threaten anyone, including the Society’s members he intended to hunt. Even so, something told me he would preserve those weapons for another purpose. He seemed to prefer playing his own game. And he was a formidable opponent. Perhaps the only one capable of confronting those people.

Saymon picked up a twig and began scratching the earth. He drew strange symbols resembling the black tattoos on his hands. Was he really at ease with a hundred-million contract on his head?

I looked away. Well, if I could control as many androids as he could, perhaps I would be at ease too. To remain so calm, he must believe he had everything under control. All that remained really was to let it burn. What would be born from the ashes?

I watched the marks he drew in the earth. Despite the distraction, I gathered the courage to ask another question. “Saymon, if you…” I closed my eyes.

“If you wanted to protect Maia so badly, why—”

“Tsk.” He clicked his tongue, gestured impatiently, and twisted his face in annoyance. “Who told you? Kiara? Are they ever gonna forget that?”

I held back a little laugh and hugged my knees. “Yes…”

“Maia needed to learn what it was like. If they… if they knew they could manipulate us against each oth—”

“Aki?” Kiara appeared, interrupting him. “Can you come with me?”

Saymon returned to moving the twig.

I stood and brushed the earth from my trousers.

“You…” Before we left, Saymon raised his eyes and gave an ironic smile. “We’re going to Tokyo the day after tomorrow.”

“Go fuck yourself.” Kiara turned her back on him.

Yes. Some things remained the same.

I smiled. “You’re going to Tokyo too?”

She relaxed her fists, clenched until then. “Seems so.”

My heart brightened. Having Kiara nearby would be good. Saymon’s presence still disconcerted me, and the prospect of being alone with him distressed me.

We got into the car.

“Where are we going?”

“You’ll see.” Kiara smiled enigmatically.

I frowned. Eventually accepted it. Certain things definitely remained the same.

After nightfall, Kiara parked among the rocks.

Wind whispered ancient stories through the stones’ crevices. The mountain welcomed us in its ancestral silence, guiding our steps to the top of Brazil, almost three thousand meters above sea level, known as ‘Where You Touch the Sky’.

We kept climbing until we reached the peak.

The thin air mingled with the agitation in my chest. A cold, free gust danced around us, raising goosebumps like a breath from the cosmos.

Then I saw the landscape. And lost my breath.

The full moon and stars poured their silver light over the immensity. Stardust spread across the firmament like golden threads. The sky was open. Pure. Boundless. No noise. No pollution. Only the Corchesweave, whole and infinite, breathing with us.

Kiara smiled. “Beautiful, isn’t it?”

My heart beat unevenly. No words left my lips. The landscape seemed to have carried them all away.

She nudged me. “For you.” Holograms of the Queen of Pentacles shone before me. It was the card Saymon had given Kiara the first time I visited the Matriarch’s Temple.

I frowned and took the object.

“It’s a letter. Pull at the back. You’ll see.” Kiara returned to the car.

She seemed to understand that place’s meaning far more than I’d imagined.

I remained motionless, holding the still-unopened card. My hands trembled.

That landscape awakened a tsunami of emotions.

After wanting to give up so many times, after feeling as though I had died and returned to life hundreds more, what remained of me was a broken body, mind, soul, and spirit.

I had suffered the unthinkable. Witnessed and experienced the deepest disconnection from human feeling. Done what I had once declared I would never do and would carry the aftereffects for the rest of my life. Surpassed my limits. All because I had refused to accept what had happened to Maia. I needed to understand her pain. Needed her to know my love stood above everything. My love for her was greater than everything.

I breathed deeply.

The icy wind enveloped me in an ethereal embrace. The Moon remained above me, a silent witness to my search, my love, and my destiny.

Only my thoughts and I remained.

Maia…

Her name danced in my mind like a prayer.

I turned the card over and pulled at the back. Suddenly, a paper appeared. I unrolled it. My heart thundered in my chest. My throat tightened. Her handwriting.

Akiko,

I can guess what you’ll think of me after everything. I hope, with all my heart, that you understand. I’m uncertain about all my decisions. I wanted to keep you away from this to protect you. Even though I wanted to tell you so many times, I thought of a way for you to learn everything and find answers to your questions.

Now it’s up to your heart to decide what you’ll do.

I want to say…

BIRIRIRIRIII! The sound cracked through the silence.

My shoulders jolted. A warm shiver climbed my spine.

The volume grew progressively louder.

I turned, searching for the source of the noise. Patted my pockets, confused.

The red folding phone vibrated. Kiara must have put it in the trousers before giving them to me.

I opened the device. The pixels were almost extinguished, and numbers glowed faintly on the screen. The prefix was +813. My blood ignited. Tokyo? Strange…

I answered. Brought the phone to my ear.

I heard the voice. “…Aki?” The husky voice traveled through the knots of the universal fabric.

A shiver ran through my entire body.

Wind blew between the rocks. The whole Corchesweave seemed to hold its breath. The Moon remained above. The earth beneath my feet. And my heart overflowed with feeling, like a shining supernova. Reality trembled. An instant that lasted an eternity.

“It’s me.” A whispered breath. “Maia.”