Worlds Apart

Chapter 9

L I G H T

Sep. 09 2020 01:50 JST

Aokigahara Forest, Yamanashi, Japan

The girl stifled a yawn, failing miserably at hiding her exhaustion. She blearily watched the Guardians sweep the forest, beams of pale blue light flitting through trees, illuminating nothing but foliage, bark, dirt, and the occasional web. Twigs snapped and leaves crunched under the man's feet as he approached her.

"Miss Jaykio," he addressed her. "We'll have to check the nearby settlement. There's no sign of anything here that could have caused the red beams."

The voice of one of the other Guardians floated over to her. "... miss this. If Alondra hadn't accidentally opened it, we'd be dead." From the looks on all their faces, every single one of them was thinking the same thing: if it had reached black, there would be no one else to blame but them.

Riona sighed. But why did they have to be so loud? It was horrible enough being here in the middle of the night. She glanced up at the sky, mostly blocked out by the trees. No moonlight either. It was almost like today was designed to be miserable.

"...Miss? Are you alright?" She glanced back down. The middle-aged man in front of her was the General of the Eastern Guardians, a very distinguished position, but she was too tired and too disturbed to recall his name.

"Fine," she replied flatly, her voice not betraying her growing unease. "Let's get this over with."

She shouldn't be so nonchalant about a Level 4 security breach, she knew that, especially since it hadn't happened for decades. But there were too many restless souls here, scratching at her and wailing, whispering in her ears and begging for her to listen, to give them a chance to speak so that they could finally rest in peace, free from their torturous afterlife. They wouldn't let her think, wouldn't let the severity of the situation settle, so here she was, detached and drained when she and all her people were on the verge of catastrophe. Just yesterday, they had been okay, removed from the rest of the world, basking in their hard-earned serenity. And now their entire civilisation could be wiped virtually overnight. And they didn't even know why.

Riona trudged after General Homare — so that was his name — nearly tripping over the twisted roots protruding from the ground. She didn't know why it had to be her. Her mother was a Guardian, not her. She sighed for the millionth time that night. She didn't want to be here, she wanted to be back in bed.

Lights blinked into existence ahead of them, twinkling through the dark trees. She slowed down as they approached the first few houses. The General knocked on the door to the closest one just as Riona's phone buzzed. She shot him an apologetic look, then moved away to pick up the call. It was her mother.

"Riona, we need you to come back home. Now." It didn't sound like good news. But what else could have gone wrong? Weren't all three already red beamed? A block of lead formed in her stomach. Unless...

"Why?"

"We'll tell you once you're back. Just give the phone to Homare, I'll get you permission to leave."

"No. Tell me what's wrong first."

"Honey, please, not now." Mom sounded more tired than scared.

"Just tell me, please." Riona felt desperation seeping into her voice. "I'm not going anywhere without a reason."

She heard her mother exhale heavily. "Néal's gone. They said they were going to be at Dao's for the week. They never went there. Now, go back home, Riona."

Riona didn't reply. She watched the girl lurking behind the elderly woman the General was talking to.

"Néal's missing?"

The girl flinched at the words.

"Yes, I know it's sudden, honey. That's why we need you to be back here, safe."

Riona met her dark, guilt-ridden eyes evenly. She knew what she had to do. "Sure, Mom. I'll be home soon."

‡   ‡   ‡

Sep. 09 2020 07:02 CET

Room #04, The Port Inn

Daisha stared incredulously at the printed sheets Ulberg had handed them. She knew she vowed to look at things at face value going forward — or else she would just drive herself insane — but it looked like it was going to be harder than that. She rubbed her temples, re-reading the file for the receptionist.

She had thought it strange when he gave her a Norwegian name, despite looking like he was from South-east Asia. At the time, she reasoned he could be of mixed descent. But she also recalled thinking the same thing when she first met Ulberg, except he seemed to be from the Middle East, if she had to guess. And yet this profile claimed Eirik Løkken was born and raised here, and had purely Scandinavian roots.

Daisha switched it out with Ulberg's. It was the same. These profiles were faked, they had to be. Either that, or her skills of deduction had degraded. She scoffed to herself. Impossible. So they were forged, but for what reason, she was still unaware.

She glanced over at Owen, hoping to see his usual grin of satisfaction — a sign that he was having some luck, unlike her. But reality disappointed yet again. He looked as befuddled as Daisha felt.

"They don't match, do they?"

Owen's sandy-brown head jerked away from the papers he was leaning uncomfortably over. He gave her a helpless smile. "Nope." He picked them up, stacking them against his knee. "There's people from all over — the Middle East, Asia, Europe... though just a few from each. But all of them might not be lying. Some look like locals."

"Maybe," she hummed absentmindedly. Why couldn't they give their true origins? The first answer that came to her mind was illegal immigration, but the confidence with which they supplied this list didn't fit that theory: they would be trying to hide it if they weren't legal.

"Weirdest part is they're all working in the same place," Owen continued. " I mean, I get it, people want to show they're diverse and all, but for hotel staff? And why would they all come to a town that's not even on the map?"

He was right, it was strange. And that meant someone would have noticed, like Elin. Daisha hated relying on her so much, but Elin seemed to be the inquisitive type; she would have asked Ulberg about it at some point, wouldn't she?

"The police already checked this stuff, right?" Owen piped up. "Maybe they'd have some idea about this."

Daisha blinked in surprise. "Of course!" Her shoulders slumped in relief. "Oh, thank God, I did not want to ask her."

Owen just stared up at her, baffled. "Huh?"