Web of Aeons - Chapter 32: Time to Advance

Akari stepped off the lawn and wiped the sweat from her forehead. Two weeks had passed since they’d built her new wrist launchers, and her team had to ramp up their training accordingly.

Displacement had changed all their tactics overnight, and those new tactics took dozens of hours to get right. Moving herself was one thing; Akari just picked a direction, launched a dart, and made the swap. The first few tries had involved some tripping and stumbling, but she’d adapted quickly..

Things were different with teammates, though. You couldn’t just pop people across the battlefield and hope for the best. Displacement left them disorientated for several seconds, and those seconds might mean death in the heat of battle.

To counter this effect, they’d all agreed on a code system. For example, she might tell Zukan to dive, then fire his dart above an opponent’s head. When Zukan emerged from the swap, he would already have his attention and mana aimed downward.

After that, it was just a matter of practice.

Best of all, she didn’t need to see her teammates to swap them. Arturo had built receivers into everyone’s armor, and these served as a beacon for her spacetime Missiles. The beacons worked through walls, but not through Constructs. Mana stopped mana, and this was no exception.

Akari stepped under the covered patio and plopped down in a cushioned chair. She unzipped her bag and pulled out her combat drink—a mix of water, liquid mana, and electrolytes. After taking a good long swallow, she leaned forward and slid out her phone.

One missed message from Elise Moonfire:

Something’s going on, she said in their group chat. My dad just tried to send me out of state, and I had to use my aspect to get away. He said it wasn’t safe here in Koreldon. I’ll be there in twenty minutes. Everyone be careful until then, okay?

“Hey,” Arturo said over her earpiece “No phones during training, captain!”

Akari snorted as she slid the phone back into her bag. Elend had banned phones during training, and Akari had kept the rule going in his absence, calling out her teammates when they got distracted. And by teammates, she meant Arturo. He was the only one with actual friends outside this team. Naturally, he turned the tables on her whenever he got the chance.

“So where’s Moonfire?” Arturo asked. “Still doing her makeup?”

Akari shrugged as she got to her feet. “She should be here any minute now.” She was about to join the others in the yard when Glim appeared in the sliding glass door.

“Hey,” the spirit said in a low voice. “We’ve got a visitor at the front door.”

“Who?” Akari asked. “Elise?” But no . . . that couldn’t be right. Elise always walked around the house when they trained outside. She wouldn’t bother knocking.

Glim shook her head. “It’s Sozen Trengsen.”

“Kalden’s brother? He’s here?” They hadn’t heard from Sozen since that incident after the qualifying rounds last year. Hadn’t he fled the country?

“He wants to see you,” Glim replied. “Both of you. I already let him in.”

“You sure it’s really him?”

Glim gave her a flat look.

Right. Grandmaster-level dream artist. She glanced across the yard and found Kalden talking with Relia and Zukan near a cluster of pine trees. He had his back turned to her, but that didn’t matter. Arturo had also built some knowledge mana transmitters for her and Kalden. This let them hold a mental link across the battlefield. Akari’s device also came with a small battery of Kalden’s mana, so she could instigate the link whenever she wanted.

She channeled her mana into the transmitter, then focused on her mental message to Kalden. ‘Glim says your brother’s here. He wants to see us.’

Kalden spun around, shooting her a curious look from across the yard. Akari just shrugged, then gestured with her chin toward the house.

They stepped into the living room a minute later and found Sozen sitting on the leather sofa. He held a steaming teacup in his right hand, but it was probably dream mana. No way Glim had boiled an actual kettle of water that fast.

Sozen got to his feet when he saw them. As always, he looked like a slightly older version of Kalden, with a thin beard framing his tan face, and his black hair pulled back in a blade artist’s knot. But Akari noticed that her boyfriend was finally catching up in terms of muscle mass.

Kalden froze in the archway. “Sozen,” he said. “I thought you were in hiding.”

“I am,” Sozen replied. “But I’m here on behalf of my patrons.” He gestured to the other sofa opposite him. “Please.”

They settled in, and Sozen did the same. Akari wished she’d brought her combat drink, because her throat felt suddenly dry. Sozen worked for the Solidors—the very people she needed to help her advance. Her training had gone so well these past few weeks. Did that mean she was due for some bad news?

“How have you two been?” Sozen asked.

“Good,” they said in unison.

His lip quirked up at the edge. “Straight to business, then. How close are you to Artisan?”

“I’m right at the threshold,” Kalden said after a brief pause. “I had to put a stopper on my soul a few weeks back.” A stopper was an expensive piece of tech that made a pocket dimension around your soul. Supposedly, it locked a person’s mana count and stopped the soul from advancing on accident.

Akari glanced down at her watch. “A hundred and fifty points to go.”

“Excellent,” Sozen said. “Then we’re just in time.”

Kalden glanced at Akari, then back to his brother. “This visit isn’t a coincidence.”

“It’s not. The Solidors are coming to Koreldon City.” He pulled out a small white card and slid it on the coffee table between them. “They’ll be at this address at eleven o’clock today, and they’ve asked me to escort you there.”

Akari blinked, and then understanding dawned on her. Sozen and his patrons had probably kept a close eye on her progress, counting the days until this moment. “You’re saying . . .”

He nodded once. “It’s time to advance.”