Zone stared at the clouds and saw that they slowly formed to resemble the gathering urban legends.
"I'm not alone anymore", he murmured.
He shuddered at the memory that this thought rekindled.
"More than 300 kilometers per hour."
He did not ask the question but people who ride these kinds of bikes must have heard this question a lot.
"I know how fast it is. I was just admiring the paint job."
It's true. The Hayabusa GSX 1300R is an impressive machine.
A beast.
This one is fully customized with a kickass paint job to match its reputation: a black stallion surrounded by electric tendrils.
"Sure, you are, buddy." The owner smiled knowingly.
He wanted to touch it. He wanted to ride it...no, he wanted to race against it.
Zone kicked his bike stand and alighted from his bicycle. He is on one of the errands Alasan likes to send him to. He knows he has to get back as soon as he can but the beast in front of him called to him.
"I don't think so."
Again, the owner read his mind. Zone is beginning to feel a little itch building at the back of his ears.
And feet.
"I just wanted a better look, sir. I mean no harm."
"Harm is thinking you can ever have something like this between your legs."
"Excuse me?"
"I can't blame you for dreaming but you wouldn't know how it feels to be in control of a monster like this. Not in your life, son."
He did know. Once upon a time. He rode a monster far stronger and faster than this.
The ground around Zone's feet became alive with a low electric field. Tiny pebbles rose a little from the ground.
He calmed himself.
"Of course, boss. You know it. Did you ever manage to push it to its limit?"
"Wouldn't you like to know." The asshole laughed as he adjusted his helmet.
The smell of burnt rubber mingled with the pleasant early morning scent of grass and trees.
Zone wrinkled his nose and stared at the image of the asshole getting smaller in the horizon.
He smelled the promise of a good day, looked at the blue sky and rode his bicycle.
His eyes had an electric glint as he fixed them on the road stretching as far as he could see.
If anyone was watching the exchange in front of that small roadside cafeteria, they would have been startled that the young man with the bicycle suddenly disappeared as soon as he put his foot on the pedal.
200 meters. The Hayabusa is taking it easy.
The driver must have seen something in his side view mirror. Someone is gaining on him...and fast.
He twisted the throttle harder.
The needle shot to 300 kph.
The Hayabusa surged like a rearing stallion. Like the monster it tried to emulate.
It started to pull away from the pursuer.
The driver grinned nastily.
Then without any warning, the other rider kept abreast of him.
310 kph!
"In your dreams, son!" Zone shouted and left the Hayabusa in the dust.
If Zone had the time to see it, it would have made his morning better when the Hayabusa owner's jaw came unhinged.
"You are late...and what is that infernal smell?" Alasan quickly managed to wipe the smile off his face.
He looked at his tires and saw that they were all but ruined.
Melted is more like it.
He sighed and dragged the bike to follow his master.
"Stop racing, you moron. These things are not designed to withstand the stress you put them to," Alasan pointed at the still smoking tires.
"Says the speed freak who taught me," Zone muttered.
"I used proper tools, you buffoon!" Alasan showed him a horseshoe adorned with Baybayin markings.
"You know I can't use those," Zone complained.
"Someday, I will take you to a proper shoemaker," Alasan assured him.
"Not horseshoe, I hope."
The look Alasan gave him could wither grass. He did not dare talk back.
Alasan picked him up when Vince turned the key. He was pulled across the sky by the glowing hair he held and he would have certainly died had the owner of the hair not come and rescue him.
He thought his shaking would never stop.
The coffee helped a little but the countenance before him did scant for his nerves. The Tikbalang is not the most pleasant to look at, given the circumstances.
Alasan told him something about a higher calling or a more powerful force compelling him but Zone never did understand any of it.
For a while, he went where the Tikbalang took him. He never rode him again but for some reason, when he held the glowing hair, he could run almost as fast as him. He got tired faster though so they had to stop frequently in those first few months.
They went to see the one called Tinaw.
He looked just like Tarayon or Lemmeng. He is one of the Walkers. Alasan told him he was a chief or THE chief.
From what he could understand from their conversation, the world changed when Vince turned the key.
Not just the land but time, as well. Time stopped running the way it should. Some parts became slower or faster than the others.
It made his head hurt trying to figure that out but Alasan assured him that it was so.
Due to that fact, communication between the Walkers was now near impossible. Tinaw asked Alasan a favor which the latter readily agreed.
So for the last two years, he and Alasan were couriers for the Guardians of History, carrying messages across the land, back to the future and forward to the past.
In those trips, Zone saw all of them trudging one land and timescape to the other. He felt pity and longing for his friends.
He wanted to stop but Alasan told him they were just passing through. Always passing through.
Grace was, is and will be tied to her tree. He missed her the most.
He even saw Ora as a prisoner. Vince is now much older and looked like an MMA fighter.
John stared at the sky for a long time. Now he is on the move.
He did not see Ash, though and only caught a glimpse of Ice climbing a white mountain.
In between his training sessions with the Tikbalang, he wanted to go and see them.
"There will be time for that," was the only answer.
There was a time he defied him and went to where he last saw all of them. To the back gate of Cradle.
There were signs of battle but he did not see anyone. He did see the broken blade of the Kampilan still stuck on the keyhole.
When he attempted to touch it, the world turned black and the sword started absorbing him. He backed away so fast and vowed not to tell anyone.
Not even his master.
"Pay attention!" Alasan kicked him lightly.
Training.
Again.
"Hold my hair. Open all the paths to the center of the universe. Do not travel towards your destination but towards the center. From there, you can access every reality that ever existed and by going there, you can go to any point in reality faster."
He groaned. This was always the hardest part. Not the pain on his limbs or the strain on his mind. To go to the center of the universe, he has to die. Or at least allow himself to enter near death status. Unconnected.
Untethered.
The world then turns into obscure symbols glowing blue and by gathering these symbols into his mind, he finds himself able to leap across worlds.
When he returned, Alasan had to nurse him back to health for weeks. His body heals in a matter of days but he would not function normally for weeks.
It's because he always returns raving mad.
"Is there another way, Alasan?" he asked one day.
"I have always travelled that way. I have not considered that there is another way."
"There must be. Because you are stronger, you did not consider it. I, however, am desperate to know if there is a way for me not to return with my mind torn like that."
"You come back stronger every time. You will come to endure it, trust me."
"Why is it that when we travel within the same timeline, we do not use that method?" Zone asked.
"Because cardinal points are consistent along the same plane. Travelling from one end to the other will always be direct but time doesn't flow in a linear way. You have to always find its origin."
"Fine. I get it."
"Do you, now?"
"Erh...someday," Zone grinned sheepishly.
"Attaboy."
Those two years were marked with extreme ups and downs for Zone but he gradually became stronger.
He met all the walkers that ever existed. He learned countless truths that he was never equipped to handle.
Still he went on. Because now he understood one simple thing.
They had to fix the world.