My Childhood Friend Is a Returner (Pilot/Oneshot) (Patreon)

My Childhood Friend Is a Returner

…

“Is Yue here today?”

I already knew the answer, but I still asked to keep up appearances.

“Hm? No. I’m afraid not. She’s spending a lot of time studying at the library nowadays. She barely comes home before nine.”

Or, rather, to keep up the lie and tell Yue if it was unraveling.

“Okay! Thanks, Mrs. Lin!”

Did Yue even think about telling her parents the truth?

“I’ll tell her that you were looking for her, Matt.”

Did she even think about how I felt lying for her?

“It’s okay; I just wanted to say hi since I’ve been busy, too!”

Was the Yue that I knew now even the Yue who was my friend?

“Stay safe, Matt. You can’t be too careful going down there! I don’t want to see you getting hurt.”

Did any of that matter when the Yue was now working to save the world?

“I will, thanks, Mrs. Lin!”

I smiled and waved at the woman who’s fed me more times than my own mother before moving away.

Through bright and bustling streets in the shadow of walls bristling with weapons.

They were going to fall and crash on the city, killing hundreds.

Past stores were filled with new equipment and new weapons along with food.

They were too weak, lacking aetheric technologies currently kept secret, and people were going to die trying to use them. The food will rot within days after the power goes out.

Into a long subway tunnel with the fastest and most timely trains

They were going to become dens of monsters that’ll make any city with them inhospitable. The long and winding tunnels that humanity’s machines can’t reach will become hives that’ll force us out into the wilderness.

I had to stop and take a seat at a park while trying to ignore Yue’s words about how they’d become ritual circles where so many were going to be killed to summon terrible things.

Everything was going to fall.

The next century was going to be horrific, with humanity brought to the brink.

Yue had lived through it and survived, and her memories had been sent back because she had been the oldest of the entire human race at 116.

Not because of incredible talent.

Not because of any great achievement.

But because she managed to live longer than anyone else while fighting for her life.

So that she could go back, reach the right people, and tell them of what was to come.

And, to do that, she needed money, power, and influence.

So, she recruited me to help.

And, if I just kept sitting here, I wouldn’t be able to do that.

So, I got up and moved through the city, while speakers blared that humanity was pushing back the frontier, that we were reclaiming what we lost hundreds of years ago, and that we should look forward to the future.

Walking through it all and hearing everything was tough from just knowing what lay ahead.

It was no wonder that Yue preferred to spend most of her time hunting monsters now.

…

Yue took the proceeds of her kills and spent it on equipment, supplies, and a laptop.

Usually, I found her hard at work at the laptop, but when I entered the rented room, she wasn’t at the desk.

She was packing.

“You’re leaving already?”

“I am.” Yue never smiled anymore. Her eyes were always narrowed, too. Even when we were alone together, she kept doors and windows in the corner of her vision. She kept away from ‘weak’ walls as well. “I’ve done all that can be done right now. So, it’ll be a waste to stay.”

She never spoke so bluntly or with such a low voice before.

Yue was always cheerful and giggled almost all the time.

But that Yue was gone, and the person I looked at now just had her face.

I walked towards the desk and found a binder filled with papers along with dozens of data drives in sealed plastic squares. There was a heat gun on the table. She made them all herself.

“I thought you were going to put everything on the disc for me to print out?”

“I had time, and it was a good chance to review. The data drives are all copies of each other. There are online copies in the accounts I’ve shared with you and three more plastic capsules around the city.” Yue had always been meticulous, but the person before me now was obsessed with making backups and redundancies. It made sense. Too much had been lost because there wasn’t. “Make sure you have extra devices that can read it, and print them out anyway. Seal each book in tough plastic thrice over.”

It took decades to recover, and by then it was too late.

Humanity could only send one soul back to prevent our loss.

“I will.” I told her with a nod, and she looked at me before nodding back. She turned to her packed luggage. “So, will you go east or west?”

If she goes west, we’ll probably never see each other again. Everyone will be cut off from one another, but there are degrees of separation. Going west meant going across the sea to Asia, and east meant the eastern seaboard. In her future, it was in the last quarter of her life before contact was re-established with Japan and Korea’s remnants. It took half a century for the west coast and east coast to reconnect.

And, even if she did go east, she might go to Europe instead.

Because there were people in both Europe and Asia that she only heard stories about, that she only learned about in her final hours, that couldn’t just help.

They could turn the tide in our favor.

She didn’t need to stay here, because I was here.

“East. There’s a ship heading across tomorrow. I’ll board it.” Yue explained, and a faint frown crossed her features. “I’m going to force my parents to come along.”

I almost let out a breath at her words.

“That’s good.” Some of the Yue I knew was still there. She would never leave her parents behind, as she declared she would when I ‘first’ met her weeks ago. “Make them strong, just like you did me. They’ll help.”

“I know.” Yue stated simply and looked away. I knew instantly that she didn’t want to talk about it anymore. Maybe she was wondering about how her parents would feel about her changes or uprooting their lives. What I knew was that she’ll at least have them with her. Her parents. Her family. People she knew since she was born. “You need to stay here, Matthew. I need you to help people here stay alive and even thrive.”

I was just a friend she had since elementary school.

“I know.” It was my turn to nod and push away. I moved towards the weapons on the rack in the room. Most of the rack was empty, but there was a carbine on it along with a sword. Since I could, I did my best to learn how to use both. I wanted to be special, to be strong, and to make something of myself. To yell to the world that I was somebody, even though I lost everyone. “I’ll make sure everything is already here. I’ve got your back, Yue.”

She remembered that and gave it to me.

Now, I was going to be important.

Now, I had purpose.

Now, I could fulfill my dreams thanks to her.

All it cost was my best friend and the person who I wanted to stay with my whole life.

…

Yue’s house was empty when I passed by it the next morning, and our teacher told us that she went abroad with her parents.

The day passed with some questions sent my way, and I answered them.

Her father got a lucrative job offer.

We’re staying in touch.

Here’s her email.

I’ll be okay.

Everyone nodded along and left me alone, and when school ended, I went off to kick everything off.

Before I shared anything, I needed to have power.

The power to choose for myself, to resist those who already had it, and the power to not just be put aside once I shared the information Yue gave me.

To do that, I needed to drink deeply from the Aether.

That’s how most Seekers put it, but Yue put it another way.

Kill monsters and don’t stop until you’re full.

Every single day, until the monsters nearby can’t fill a hundredth of my vital depth after being destroyed.

The apartment Yue leased for an entire year awaited me close to one of the city’s main gates. Inside there were armor, weapons, and supplies. Most of the shelves were empty, but I bought a printer and had it running. The laptop Yue left behind was copying over the data to other storage devices eight at a time.

I let them run, then headed outside.

Seekers broke things into zones via maps. Yue told me to go to where there were the most monsters, and then after clearing that place for the day, go to the next. The techniques to close zones were not yet developed, and that was to our benefit. Many ‘easy’ zones were closed at first in desperation once it happened, leaving Seekers only powerful monsters to fight to gain strength.

I needed to use that to my advantage.

Turning off my tracker, which was spouting warnings nonstop, I headed into the lands beyond the city with supplies and spare weapons.

Yue, thankfully, helped me gain enough strength to do this safely before she left.

Soon enough, I reached my hunting grounds and did as I was taught.

Taking hold of my vitality, I cast it out as a wide net through the area. Anything untouched by Aether was beyond my ability to sense. However, in my mind’s eye, anything that did have Aether gained a silhouette. Trees and animals of our world, which never imbibed upon the Aether spilled by monsters, had thin, almost invisible outlines.

The monsters composed entirely of Aether, meanwhile, became full-bodied outlines within my reach. Yue told me that those with the best senses could spread their vitality throughout whole regions or even project cones outward past the horizon. Some knew how to do it instinctively, while others held it as a secret, but once things fell apart, it became common knowledge.

It was essential not just for avoiding ambushes but also to have as many eyes and ears pointed everywhere for threats to the city.

But that didn’t matter now.

I sent my intent through my power, and the monsters shifted.

Twenty in total rushed towards me. Skittering giant bugs the size of dogs. They had eight legs with sharp claws and large mandibles, and they came my way in a straight line from their last position.

I waited as they came, and when they arrived, they did so as almost one group.

I threw a plastic bottle of water their way, and it came apart as a deluge, and then with an upraised hand, I sent ‘Stuns’ their way. It was a self-defense spell taught to children at an early age. Enough electricity to be generated through vitality that it would give a person a chance to run away from a monster or an assailant.

But it was still electricity, and my foes were doused with water.

The front of the swarm collapsed and fell upon themselves, tripping the rest behind them, whom I struck in turn. I kept firing simple stuns into the group, and they fell twitching onto the floor. Some weren’t doused with water, and they got closer, but stuns still immobilized them.

When the whole group was stopped, I moved forward, and with a raised foot, I crushed their heads one by one. No excess motion. No stomping. Just press my foot against their ovoid head, between their large eyes with hexagonal lenses, and press down.

Each one died and came apart as Aether, and I took it in, filling the well with all that I can capture, before moving forward.

I was lucky as well, and some left their razor-sharp mandibles after they perished.

Until curfew, I’ll find all that I can and kill them all, drink deep from the Aether, and sell all that they leave behind.

Then, repeat for the next five months before testing for the Academy.

Once I’m there, I need to make a name for myself, find the people Yue told me to look for, and anyone else I can find.

To do that, I needed to be strong enough not only to face these monsters but also the people who won’t want me disrupting the current peace.

In all honesty?

She was asking a lot from me, but I knew that I had to make it happen anyway.

Especially when there was someone else I needed to find and train, too.

…

Interlude: Theadora Carter, Aspiring Blademaster

…

July 1st, 2474.

For some, it was the day when all their efforts would bear fruit, and for others, it was the day all that they have done becomes meaningless.

For me and my fellow nobility, it was a chance to take stock of our rivals.

“The New Spiritualists have arrived. Five busloads of faithful. Fifty in each, and over half are worthy of knighthood already even with their vitality suppressed.” Esmerelda reported her observations of the southern entrance of the arena. She wore her house’s colors, green and black, in a dress fit for both formal and marital affairs. “I will keep watch for any following after them. They must be hiding their new saint.”

“Thank you. Renee, how goes the western front?”

“It teems with the Pleb-punks and their entourages. Several arrived during the night and set up tents. Shielded. They even have decoys.” Renee spoke with faint respect and lowered her binoculars. “Any count that I can give would be erroneous, but I caught sight of Coleen Tracy, their so-called Kaiser.”

“If she is here, then so is the rest of the Argent Wheel. Put twenty under their count.”

Renee gave a nod, while I turned to the main gate.

The public gate, which the ‘unaffiliated’ went through.

Or, rather, those from whom we, the Pleb-punks, and the New Spiritualists would seek talent to tip the scales. The quality of recent graduates from independent training centers was rising. Last year’s dominant class in St. Loretta’s Collegium of Seekers was decided by them, for they provided enough quantity and quality to decide who would have the most sway. Some families railed against this fact, but the truth of the matter was evident.

It is those who win over independents who will benefit the most from St. Loretta’s systems.

So, I kept count with a click counter over the tide of bodies moving through the main entrance and kept a loose ‘net’ over the area to sense the weight of their Aether.

Many were just simple flames of blue moving through the darkness in my mind’s eye. Fireplaces. Well structured, controlled, and of decent quality. Good frontline infantry that can wield weapons against those who encroached against humanity once provided discipline and a guiding hand.

Still, there were a few pillars amongst their number. They were those who could become knights or perhaps new nobility. Those I found, photographed, and sent to Father’s people for them to find information upon. If they came from a normal family who sacrificed much to get them the training and equipment they needed, that would be ideal. We would assume their debts, meet with their families, and offer them funds, support, and all that they needed. Though some of our allies would disagree, new nobles were necessary for us to retain our strength.

Not to mention the fact that the Pleb-punks and the New Spiritualists were conducting their own searches and were eager to empower themselves, too.

Those whom we cannot gain will fall to them.

So, we moved now with the intention of securing as many of them as possible—

Suddenly, there was a shift, and all my senses went mute.

I heard nothing, felt nothing, and saw only through my mind’s eye Aether and its sources.

All the flames that I saw before, even the greatest pillars, were all utterly outdone as an inferno in the shape of a building waded through the path towards the public gate.

I had to force myself out of my trained sense for Aether and focus on its source, while my two companions scrambled to my side.

“Who is that? He’s at least as strong as my father!” Esmerelda hissed, partly in fear and partly in awe. I extended my hand towards the telescope we brought and focused it upon the source. I didn’t recognize the bow. He had loose, wavy white hair, an astonished gaze that looked at the whole city as though it were new, and baggy clothes. If not for his power, I would’ve been deceived by his features to think he was some rural boy merely plodding along the road of life. “Lady Carter, the picture?”

I nearly fumbled with the camera, but I managed to take it and send it to Father… and Grandfather after a moment of consideration.

I wrote to them that the boy there, joining our group, was at least as strong as one of the most eminent lords of the land.

While I waited for a reply, Renee suddenly touched my shoulder, breaking courtesy completely, but the panic in her features drew my gaze to her finger pointed at the other entrances.

Our opposing factions were down there on the ground, and they were approaching him already!

I made a choice.

“I will pay for the safety mechanism.” I told the hotel staff with us while drawing my blade. With a flash and just a bit of effort, I went through the latch that kept the window of the room from opening completely with my blade. Summer morning air struck me at full force, but I paid it no heed. There were more important matters to address. I addressed both Renee and Esmeralda while I leaped out and risked a controlled fall. “Come to my aid as soon as you can. The others will come!”

With a controlled descent, I fell towards the public accessway to the stadium. In a few moments, I received warnings and fines about traversing airspace without informing local authorities, but I simply forwarded them to Father.

Soon enough, I reached the bow, who was startled by my arrival and stopped and raised up one hand while the other went to his waist.

“Hold it. I’m not here to fight, but to recruit you.” I told the boy while raising my hands up. My counterparts from the Pleb-punks and the New Spiritualists arrived. The latter lasted longer because he sped through while observing local laws. I had to exchange glances with Coleen Tracy as she snorted and crossed her arms after leaping a block and landing almost beside me. “You have much strength; that is more than apparent, but what lies ahead requires more than that.”

“Indeed, it requires structure and discipline! Not wealth or promises of influence!” Horace arrived in white robes and vestments colored blue. His clothes were of sturdy make, meant to endure even battlefields, and his face was covered in sigils aglow with power. His eyes were already tinted gold and almost aglow. “Please, young one, come with me, and your strength shall save many!”

“Both these two will put you in a neat little box and use you as an asset. Come with me and you’ll lead. Not just follow.” Coleen Tracy wore riding leathers and had the jacket open. Beneath it she wore a corset and nothing else. A smirk played on her face when the boy blushed at the sight of her. “And, there are more than a few ladies that I know who’ll want a piece of you once you’re up there. Me included.”

I scowled and readied myself to speak when suddenly a voice cut through the din of the city.

“Get lost. He’s with me.” My hand went to my sword. Horace almost drew out his tome. Coleen’s hand went to her hammer. Only the boy we all approached seemed to react differently. He looked towards the voice, and relief flooded his features. “Back away on your own, or I’ll make you.”

Instinctively, I searched for his presence to gauge his strength… and instead of finding a flame, I found a shell. A solid, compressed shell of power that hid the person behind it completely. The flames that I was used to seeing were completely reforged into something different, and I knew not whether I looked upon someone stronger or weaker than myself.  I could not gauge his full strength, glean knowledge about his control from how the walls of his power flickered and raged, or even discern what affinities for magic he had based off its hue.

He completely invalidated the most eminent form of gathering information. I knew nothing about him, save for the fact that his control was impeccable.

And that was terrifying enough for me to shut down my sixth sense.

But that did not abate my fears.

He was tall and wore a black jumpsuit with stripes that ran up the sides. His gaze was sharp, and his knees were bent slightly forward. He was swiftly assuming a combat stance, and his hands were covered in scars. Some were pinkish and just healed, but many were old, and they were of an eclectic variety. From the teeth, claws, and spines of monsters. The most terrifying part was that they were all very thin. Almost none of them did more than scratch skin. His palms had both calluses and healed cuts, and I was sure that he could fight with either.

The fact that he did not have large, thick calluses that denoted years of training was a small mercy.

“…If you’re planning on making your own faction, you’re going to need to get through me and my people. We’re not going to play second fiddle.” Coleen spoke up and stepped forward until she was just two paces away from him. Despite her height, which was even augmented by her riding boots, she was more than a full head shorter than the newcomer. “If you’re going to stick it to the monks and the privileged, you’re better off working with us. You’re strong enough to take it all, eventually.”

I gritted my teeth at her words.

But before I could compose a counteroffer, the stranger spoke.

“I don’t need to be given anything. I’ll just take it. All of it.” He grunted and stopped past her with his student in tow. The young man we also rushed to gain for ourselves followed him with awe clear in his features. Horace couldn’t even muster a passage from his holy text, while I was already wondering how the established houses would react to this young man. “Wait for me to come and take it, or rush at me and make my life easier. No matter what, I’m making my own way.”

It was a declaration of war that would either see him buried beneath our combined might or all three of us bowing to him.

I didn’t know what to say, and neither did Coleen have a reply.

However, Horace found his tongue.

“But why? You can join any of us and see yourself elevated. This declaration and the struggle that comes with it may spell your end! If you join one of us, at least that assures you will use your strength for humanity somehow!” Horace was a true believer in his religion. Many of the clergy spoke of mankind’s chance at ascension and how we were now holy, as we could rise beyond our flesh and bodies through Aether. Some just used the idea to further their own ends. Horace truly believed, because he would aim to sway the stranger away from possible destruction so that he could serve humanity. “Please, reconsider!”

Surprisingly, the obstinate man gave the spiritualist a nod.

“I’ll start with your people first. The most blessed by Aether leads it, right?” I blinked at his assertion, and Horace took a step back. This man would take the papacy from the Origin herself? Who was the first to drink Aether and who persisted still after centuries? He would take her role? “Tell her that she has until the end of the year. I’ll take her on.”

With those words, he turned his back upon us and moved forward towards the test, which would announce his strength to the nation.

No.

The entire world.

Despite the ludicrous nature of all his declarations, I felt a change in the air in his wake.

The world was truly going to change because of him, wasn’t it?