Chapter 7
The burning in his chest was nothing compared to the fact that he had no control over his movements.
Defenseless, Hoku focused on slowing his breathing.
'Did I fall through the ground?'
Even in danger, his mind wandered.
Thinking was something he couldn't stop.
Most panic-stricken people would wonder if they'd survive. His mind, however, searched for logic.
I'm such a damn fool…
At that moment, Hoku forced his mind into a blank space.
"Wander Feᝰ෴yu."
A strong pressure slipped into his ear. The voice was soft but blurred, as though static warped the words.
"Let your mind wander. Dream…"
"You must allow yourself to dream."
Before he could react, the substance poured down his throat. A harsh, excruciating pain struck the left side of his face.
"Not your mouth, idiot! Your eyes! You'll kill yourself if you sleep here!"
The right side of his face was slammed, and Hoku's eyes shot open as pain spread through his body.
The female voice, now clearer and more insistent, pressed into his ears.
Then, two hands abruptly grabbed the sleeves of his clothes, propping him forward.
A warmth rose in his throat, and Hoku began coughing with a frantic expression.
Eventually, he stumbled forward and threw up on the ground.
The figure behind him watched in silence.
Hoku's face was deathly pale, but as his mind cleared, the humiliation of the moment returned a flush to his cheeks.
His left cheek, however, was bruising, a violet ring forming around the reddened imprint of a hand.
The corner of his mouth twitched as the pain settled in, and he pressed his fingers against the inflamed skin.
The young woman closed her eyes, her posture apologetic yet reserved.
"A small bruise is sounder than the pain you would've endured in that dream."
Her voice was deeper than her appearance suggested, yet smooth enough to unmistakably belong to a woman.
Hoku gawked at her with a half-puzzled-half-disgruntled expression.
"What?"
"I'm Juno Mirai, and you?"
'She's surprisingly passive.'
"Hoku."
"I meant your surname."
Hoku glanced at the white rock hanging from a black string around her neck.
"I don't know," he answered.
"You don't know?" she squinted her eyes.
"I was in an accident, so I can't remember," Hoku explained.
"I see. I thought there stood a chance I might recognize you because I remember names better than faces," she says, subtly rocking her shoulders.
Hoku takes it with an initiative to ask a personal question, in hopes he could build a little trust.
"I see, perhaps I could guess, but what's your ethnicity?"
Her mug bore features congruent to his own.
His mother was a foreigner from Japan, and his father was a citizen whose parents were foreigners who migrated from China.
"I was born in China." Juno adjusts something under the black mantle she wore, stepping forward.
Hoku glimpsed lower, realizing what she was wearing.
She left a trim opening in the mantle.
A long silence unexpectedly befell the conversation.
She appeared to be lying in wait for him to catch on to something.
"By the way, why are you dressed like that?" Hoku gestured at her clothes.
A frown pulled at her lips as she appraised him.
"We're both dressed unusually. Haven't you noticed?" Juno responded sharply.
Hoku frowned, momentarily puzzled, then glanced down and understood what she meant.
'How did I not notice the difference in these clothes? More importantly, where the hell am I?'
"Qi Li calls it the Chameleon's Veil. He, along with an early faction from his third sequence in the third 'world,' compiled a list of names for phenomena not recorded in The Memoir. Your erratic appearances disrupt the timestream, which is why The Memoir lacks any record of them. Only the navigator of the stream can perceive and transmit such anomalies."
Hoku's head throbbed. The pain was unmistakably the result of multiple factors, starting with the mental strain that was building relentlessly.
Juno Mirai and Polaris were somehow given the impression that he understood the concepts of an entirely different universe.
Hoku rubbed his temples respiring softly.
Hoku winced as soon as the words left his mouth.
"Who the hell is Qi Li? I can barely make sense of anything you've said."
The silence stretched out uncomfortably.
Hoku stood taller than Juno, but the maturity in her voice and the sharpness of her features made it clear she was likely older. The thought settled over him, and regret followed swiftly, making his earlier words feel all the more foolish.
He relaxed his shoulders and made eye contact with Juno.
Juno Mirai is a beautiful woman with fine strands of black hair reaching near her collarbone, and a peculiar chunk of silver hair flaunting in front of the other strands tucked behind her ear.
Her eyes were pure white encompassing an otherwise heavy pigment of brown. Her eyes made her features appear much brighter.
Her jaw was sharply sculpted and angled at her earlobe, framing feminine traits, such as her delicate lips and long eyelashes.
'If beauty looked cruel she would be the embodiment.'
"Sorry, I didn't mean to sound rude," Hoku corrected himself.
Juno's expression did not seem angry or annoyed.
Rather, the right corner of her mouth slowly curved.
"Your old life ended when you entered the doorway." Hoku's eyes widened. Her tone suddenly turned grim as she continued, "Li is my mentor, but he is also yours. Remember that as we return to the nucleus, and try to keep a lighter image. I understand you're confused, but if anyone will give you proper answers it will be him."
Hoku's throat felt dry as he swallowed.
In the meantime, he walked behind her, staying quiet as he anxiously brooded over her words.
'I will either die here because I have nothing to return to, or I will live long enough to realize that this 'outer universe' only offers more mysteries. From the answers I've received so far, it seems more likely that I will fail both.'
Rule 9
You mustn't dream in certain mantras of the timestream. Doing so will trap your soul in a never-ending spiral towards death. Your senses will become inhibited, but your mind will remain conscious… for eternity.
-The Memoir Chapter 4 end-