Conscious, Conscientious

“Now go towards that tree,” instructed Hiroko. “That must be west.”

“Which one?”

“That one. The big one.”

Lammy and Zayza shifted in opposite ways for a moment, until they silently agreed on which tree was the “big one.” Transparent projections of Kotono and Hiroko floated beside their heads, their eyes surveying the vast forest.

After a moment, Kotono sighed hopelessly.

“I don’t think this is the right way, Hiroko,” she said. “That’s the tree with the spot on it.”

“But they all look the same!” Hiroko countered.

“No, that’s the one from an hour ago! See? It has that spot that looks just like the birthmark on my aunt’s—”

“OKAY, OKAY! Please stop bringing that up!”

“Not to be rude…” Lammy interrupted shyly, “but you guys have no idea where we are, do you?”

Kotono and Hiroko glanced at each other.

“Well…I was counting on you two sticking to the main roads,” admitted Hiroko.

“We don’t know anything about those woods,” Kotono bemoaned. “I’m sorry.”

Zayza stopped walking. “It’s alright,” she assured, her voice oddly quick and her face unreadable as she looked around. She started walking in the opposite direction. “Come, Lammy. We’ll make it there.”

Lammy watched as Zayza hurried ahead. He wished he could understand her behavior—it seemed the longer time went on, the less he knew his companion. With the possibility for more danger, they’d continued their rotating sleep schedule at night, so he was still totally uninvolved in Dream World developments. He could only guess how many more memories she’d recovered by now, aside from the few she’d mention here and there.

Lammy jogged for a moment to catch back up, wincing from the soreness, while Hiroko and Kotono’s floating heads followed along steadily.

He could no longer keep track of how many days had passed since their encounter with Raznizu and the crash—at this point, it was all blurring together. They reached the forest with almost nothing left some time ago, lucky enough to happen upon fruit and a stream of water.

Had they not, Lammy was certain they would have starved.

Traveling without their packs from Our Snowy Village, with no food or change in clothes, added nothing but complications and suffering to their long travels. Their spirit had become almost as frail as their aching bodies. Talking became minimal.

Their new main source of support came in the form of Hiroko and Kotono’s much more frequent visits. While the pair’s navigation skills proved utterly useless, their company alone kept Lammy and Zayza moving.

Even this, however, would vanish soon: they were using powerful magic to communicate, but Lammy and Zayza were in Fiction Country now. It was only a matter of time until the magic would fail.

Lammy figured that was why they’d been finding time to reach out as often as possible lately.

That, and the unsettling developments in Lammy and Zayza’s quest.

“Well, we suck at this,” Hiroko admitted, “but good news: we’ve been chipping away, and finally found a few details about that punk Raznizu. He’s not a very public person, so it took some deep research.”

“He’s definitely bad news,” decided Kotono. “I’m sure you already figured that, though.”

Lammy tripped on a root, but Zayza helped him rebalance. “What did you find?” he asked.

“Not much,” explained Hiroko, “just some documents online proving he’s employed by the government from Zayza’s kingdom—”

“Azvaylen,” Zayza uttered. “That’s the kingdom I’m from—where I was a princess. I remember that now.”

Hiroko paused in discomfort. “Yeah…” she said.

Zayza turned to Lammy. “It’s part of a reality high up in the mainland Fantasy Country sky. The earth where Azvaylen rests is also home to several other, much smaller kingdoms, but Azvaylen is dominant.”

“Right…that agreement with your memories,” mentioned Hiroko. “That came back to you, huh?”

Lammy could see the concern in her face. With each passing day, Zayza would bring up more and more small details as her past returned. And Hiroko and Kotono watched on in fear—their hope of breaking the truth to her at the right time was steadily crumbling.

Uneasy about it himself, Lammy tried to steer the conversation back on track. “Is there anything else you learned?” he asked.

“Nothing useful,” said Kotono with a sigh.

“But based on his employment, and his similarity to Najinzu, we can assume he’s a part of the same mission as Fewpar and Najinzu,” concluded Hiroko. “I’m guessing he must be their replacement, since they failed to capture you the first time. So you have to stay away from him at all costs.”

“That’s assuming he survived the crash,” Zayza pointed out.

They all nodded, but Lammy felt queasy. If Raznizu died because of his counterattack, did that make him a murderer? Even if it was to defend himself and Zayza, he couldn’t live with that reality.

Despite everything, he found himself hoping their attacker had survived, and merely retreated.

“Hey kid,” came Hiroko’s voice.

Lammy realized Hiroko was looking squarely at him, her eyes intense and full of hidden wisdom.

“You did what you had to. I get it, trust me,” she assured. “Protecting what matters to you always takes risk.”

An encouraging smile formed on her face.

After a moment, Lammy nodded. Her continued steadfastness impressed him—once again, it seemed she was more than equipped to face a situation like this.

Their seemingly aimless travels continued on, the shadows around growing longer until they gave way to a cloudy sky. Once Hiroko and Kotono were convinced they were generally headed west (based on a river they crossed which supposedly matched their map), they gave up assisting in navigation and focused more on simply keeping an eye on Lammy and Zayza.

Lammy wished they weren’t separated by an entire Country—his weary mind would feel much more at ease if two of the most powerful consciousnesses in the Multiverse were by their side right now.

But soon, he hoped, they would reach Deon and Skrili. If they could just keep pressing forward, salvation was drawing near.

Kotono whispered something to Hiroko. She nodded in response.

“What is it?” wondered Zayza.

“Kotono’s right: you’re both doing great, but at this pace, there’s no way you’re getting to Nightwood Valley before Deon and Skrili finish their training,” shared Hiroko. “So I was right: you’ll have to meet them outside the Conscious Conference.”

“I’ll message Skrili right now!” announced Kotono.

“Make sure you invite them to meet up with us, okay?” Hiroko reminded her. “We can’t have any evidence about Zayza in the TeamTrack.”

“Got it!” A glow appeared on Kotono’s face as she began typing on her device.

“But how will we know where to meet?” asked Lammy.

“We’ve been to this Conscious Conference before. Zayza, too,” said Hiroko. “We have a secret spot on a cliff.”

“I’ll ask my memories for the location, then,” Zayza said decidedly. “They’ll cooperate.”

“Hmm…smart,” Hiroko agreed. “Until then, keep heading west.”

“Although…” continued Zayza. “I’ve had many talks with those memories…with the other half of me. And they’re insisting it’s urgent that I know more about the three murders…about…who was killed. They say it’s dangerous to wait any longer.”

Hiroko and Kotono fell silent.

“I keep refusing to hear it from myself. I’m afraid of myself,” Zayza struggled out. “So…please…can’t you tell me? Why must you put it off?”

Lammy expected Hiroko to speak up again, as she always had when Zayza brought this up. But instead, it was Kotono.

“It’s not that we don’t want to,” she muttered. “We just…can’t afford to break your spirit yet.”

The utter sorrow on Kotono’s face made chills spike through Lammy. It made him wish he could freeze this whole conflict, and never find out.

A deep blue glow emitted from all around Kotono as she fought back tears.

Beside her, Hiroko appeared to be in deep contemplation. “But…maybe we’re wrong,” she said. “Maybe…it’s time you know. But Zayza, you have to understand: no matter what everyone is saying, we know you. We know you’re innocent. So—”

Her words were cut up and muffled, and suddenly the magic image of Hiroko and Kotono flickered several times. The champions seemed to notice it on their end, as well.

“What’s going on?” Zayza pressed, trying to reach out to the projection. She and Lammy stopped walking.

“It’s happening,” realized Hiroko. “The magic can only work so long in another reality until it runs…” her words slurred unnaturally while the image faded in and out again.

“Not already…” pleaded Kotono.

It was as if she was speaking Lammy’s mind. Their only support left right now—the only thing keeping their weak, hurting bodies moving during these endless travels couldn’t vanish now.

He wasn’t ready to try and be strong again.

“Zayza…Skrili and Deon …meet you at the secret spot…” Hiroko promised quickly. “We’ll try to…come see you…and…I promise we’ll tell you—”

The image blinked and faded away.

But suddenly, it popped back in.

“Zayza,” Kotono whispered. “We love you. Stay strong. We love you with all of our—”

With another flash, they were gone. This time, they didn’t reappear.

The hushed sounds of the deep forest replaced their voices. Lammy and Zayza stood quietly for a moment.

They took a step forward—but that was all they managed.

“So there are allies,” came a low, weathered voice from behind.

Lammy’s whole body went stiff and cold. He and Zayza didn’t dare move a muscle—the voice sounded much too close, and assuming it belonged to whom they thought, they would have little chance of breaking away this time.

“No…” Zayza whispered. She couldn’t bring herself to breathe back in after the utterance left her.

Lammy felt her hand touch his wrist.

“Go. It’s me he wants,” she urged softly.

“Actually, it’s best if I take both of you with me,” said Raznizu.

Finally, Lammy and Zayza mustered the courage to turn and face him. His tight clothes appeared slightly torn and burned, but otherwise, he was unscathed. It was as if the crash did nothing to his body.

“How…?” Lammy muttered.

“Healing magic, not unlike the technology utilized in the Consciousness League,” he told them simply. “It’s not quite as powerful in Fiction Country, otherwise I would have caught back up much sooner. I didn’t originally plan to use it on myself.”

Lammy hadn’t expected an actual explanation out of him. Raznizu’s demeanor was far too calm, considering their previous exchanges with each other. But his masked face was stern and jaded.

Just like Najinzu’s, before he seized and tortured Zayza.

Lammy’s heart twisted. Everything in him needed to escape. He felt a familiar warmth increasing in his eyes.

My powers…he recalled. It’s time again.

Zayza’s hand was still on his wrist, and it was trembling. But her touch blanketed his fear with an aura of comfort, keeping the panic from reaching unbearable levels.

I can do this.

“The glowing eyes again…” Raznizu noted, his expression unwavering. “Interesting.”

“LEAVE US ALONE!!” Lammy shouted. With their tree-crowded surroundings, he knew the normal dragon move wouldn’t work here. He’d need to make it smaller, and then perhaps increase its wingspan once they reached the sky.

He braced himself. They only had one shot.

The dragon’s rainbow fur began forming behind Lammy and Zayza.

“I wouldn’t,” said Raznizu plainly.

Then, a white flash blinded Lammy and Zayza, and a crackle practically deafened them. The woods all around lit up with a harsh, blinking white light. Lammy winced, struggling to adjust his eyes. A fence of blazing electricity surrounded them all.

No…not this again! Lammy thought. It was the same multi-knife device Raznizu had used in their first encounter to destroy Lammy’s shield. Only now, it served as a shield, or barrier, of its own. Even above the trees, the lightning streaks met sporadically to create a ceiling.

Raznizu stood before them unmoving, becoming a shadowy silhouette with each flicker of light as he watched them.

There was no escape this time.

Lammy’s forming dragon faded away.

“Now, since you won’t be running away for once,” he said, “it’s about time we talk. Then, you’ll be coming with me.”

“There’s nothing to talk about, attacker,” Zayza said, her voice cutting through the air like a dagger. “We know your motives.”

“I’m afraid you don’t,” denied Raznizu. Then, he lifted his nose to the air. His eyes sharpened. “I understand you’re weary and confused, but there’s not much time before—”

“Actually, it seems there’s no time at all, Raznizu.”

Zayza immediately stumbled several steps backwards. Lammy stayed close. They both recognized that raspy voice immediately.

A figure in black dropped from the branches above and landed just within the electrical fence.

Najinzu stood before them, thin black knives in hand.

Raznizu closed his eyes and sighed. “Brother,” he uttered. “You’re marginally quicker than when we last met.”

“Ha. Marginally?” spat Najinzu. “Meanwhile, you’ve only grown old.”

Just when Lammy was certain he couldn’t feel any more degree of dread, one more figure fell from the trees and touched down beside Najinzu, his arms crossed.

“Zayza, Zayza, Zayza…Oh, how I’ve longed to approach your insufferable soul once more…”

Lammy didn’t even recognize Fewpar until he spoke. He dressed the same, and stood with the same posture, but something was drastically different. His pale blonde hair, usually neat and sensible, was unkempt and uneven. There was a strange darkness in the skin underneath his eyes, and he was endlessly scratching at his neck.

That’s when Lammy noticed it: the black scars. They were just like the ones all over Zayza’s body. The artistic curves and designs crawled up from under his shirt and reached the top of his neck, and the hand scratching them also features its own markings.

Najinzu’s Pain Tolerance Training…Lammy remembered. The torture he gave Zayza so she would withstand pain longer in the Dream World…Fewpar went through that? By his own choice?

Suddenly, he felt nauseous.

“Oh, to see pain and suffering in your eyes again…” Fewpar continued, his usually pointed voice practically slurring in a ramble. “I just want to tear you apart, Zayza…it’s all I’ve been thinking of…since you escaped our grasp…”

Zayza tried to hide the markings on her arms, but she stared back at Fewpar defiantly. Though scarred and cautious, she was stronger than before. Clearly, a part of her Lammy had never seen was surfacing…

Or resurfacing.

“Raznizu, what gives you the audacity to intrude on our mission?” Najinzu demanded. “We have this under control—when were you assigned?!”

Still with his back turned to them, a smile appeared in Raznizu’s eyes. “It seems like you’ve had quite a bit of trouble with these two. It’s my turn, now.”

“You’re mistaken…Zayza is ours,” Fewpar grumbled.

“And the boy now, too,” Najinzu added.

Raznizu casually placed his hands on his hips, the pearly white coffee mug on his belt dangling beside his fingers.

Najinzu took a step forward. His eyes seemed to search for something that wasn’t visible.

“Who…assigned you to this mission?” Najinzu’s scratchy voice pressed slowly. “Elder brother…with whom do your allegiances lie?”

The smile in Raznizu’s black eyes increased. “Now you’re asking the right questions,” he said.

At last, Raznizu whirled around to face Najinzu and Fewpar under the flickering white light, two long, black knives in hand.

“Zayza and the boy are coming with me,” he warned them, “and I will not allow either of you to lay a single hand on them again. Even if it means taking my own brother’s life.”