The Dream Sanctum: The Eternal World (11 page)

“I will do my best. By my honor that rude
woman will not bother you.”

With that, Hercules took to the air and soared
off in a heroic pose, quickly vanishing from sight.

“That interaction with Hercules was
refreshingly short,” Kwin mused. “I have to hand it to you, Resona, you really
did pick the best man for the job. I have no doubts about his ability to do
this completely on his own.”

“Are we getting started?” Lindsay asked
keenly.

“Absolutely!” Resona said. “Echo and I
organized everything, all we need to do is get moving.” She walked over to a
nearby bench and stood upon it, then clapped her hands. The chatter in the square
quieted quickly as all eyes turned to her. “All right everyone, please get into
your groups and make sure all your group members are with you. Once you’ve got
everyone, move out and search the cities on your lists, and make sure to do
them in order! If you find the person we’re looking for, do not let them out of
your sight; send post to myself or Echo to let us know and we’ll work from
there. Also, if anyone along the way asks what you’re up to, feel free to
recruit them. We need everyone we can get.”

The crowds started to shift as people divided
themselves into different groups. Kai noticed that one person from each group
had a paper listing a few different cities and towns. There was also a
startlingly accurate sketch of his own face on every paper. As everyone grouped
up, he saw people throwing him curious glances from all directions.

“When you’ve finished searching what’s on your
list, meet back here and do not continue searching. The bigger cities will
require more people in each group, so that will be our second phase. Any
questions?”

Everyone shook their heads.

“Okay then, every – oh, wait! I almost
forgot.” Resona stepped down, and before Kai realized what was happening, she
dragged him back to the bench where she pulled him up on it for all to see.
“You’re looking for someone who looks very much like this! Make sure you
remember; we don’t want to miss him.”

For what seemed like an eternity, all eyes
were upon Kai, and he immediately started to feel extremely uncomfortable. The
crowd seemed to be studying him; some of the people stared intently while
others muttered amongst themselves. He wasn’t sure if he should say anything or
not, but he had no idea where he would even start.

Luckily for him, Resona took the crowd’s
attention a moment later, and Kai gratefully stepped down and retreated back to
his friends.

“All right everyone, let’s move! We’ve got an
entire world to search,” Resona called.

The crowd dispersed immediately. Some dreamers
moved off towards the teleporter while those who could fly took to the air and
headed in all directions. Resona, looking quite satisfied, walked back over to
Kai and the others. Echo followed, giving Resona a quick tap on the shoulder.

“Oh right, are you leaving with your group?”
Resona asked, and Echo nodded. “Great! Don’t worry, I picked out fun people for
you to go with. You’ll do great. See you soon!” Resona stood on tiptoe to give
Echo a quick kiss on the cheek, and the girl departed, jogging over to meet her
group.

“Does she talk?” Alastor asked amusedly, watching
Echo depart.

“You have no idea,” Resona answered, rolling
her eyes. “If we’re not around strangers, I can’t get her to stop.”

“Are you all right, Kai?” Kwin asked, noticing
Kai’s troubled expression. Kai nodded hurriedly.

“Yeah, I just wasn’t expecting… how do you put
up with that?” he asked quietly.

“It’s something I wanted, so it was easier to
get used to. You may get used to it over time, you may not,” Kwin explained.
“Anyway, we should get moving.”

“Where to, short stuff?” Alastor asked
cheerily.

“You, Ella and Lindsay have a special
assignment,” Kwin said. “The three of you will be going beyond the borders to
see the Shuski. I’d like to understand how their islands are faring, if they
even still exist. I thought they might be more comfortable if they saw familiar
faces. Please hurry. You have a long flight ahead of you.”

Kai held back a smile at their expressions.
Alastor looked overjoyed, Lindsay rolled her eyes and Ella looked completely
confused. They took flight immediately, heading off in the direction of the
shores of Golden Capital.

“You, Resona and I will be starting our search
a little closer to home,” Kwin continued, turning to face Kai. “We’re going to
search the very smallest towns and villages in the Sanctum and work our way up
from there.”

“Why there?” Kai asked. “It’ll be that much
harder to find someone if we start looking where there are hardly any people
around.”

“The primary reason is to throw off Semyaza.
Even if she eventually figures out what we’re doing, she’ll probably start by
looking in the biggest cities. The more time she spends looking for us, the
more time everyone else has to continue searching unopposed.”

“That was partly my idea!” Resona exclaimed
happily, and Kwin nodded.

“Let’s move.”

Two hours later, the weary trio stopped for a
break outside yet another tiny village. They were all starting to look the same
to Kai; he hadn’t even heard of most of them, and they were almost all composed
of the same wooden and stucco buildings. The people weren’t any more
interesting, and by now Kai was beginning to feel genuinely uncomfortable.

The only breaks in their search came when a
Sanctum courier came up to Resona to give her an update on the search. Every
time it was the same: there was no sign of the seeker. Resona occasionally gave
directions and crossed out locations on her map. Kai tried to avoid looking at
the map as she crossed off each area; their entire search operation had yet to
cover a fraction of the world, and Kai was starting to feel hopeless.

The only good news was that Semyaza didn’t
appear to be on to them yet. Every half an hour a courier would arrive from
Hercules, informing Kwin that his efforts to distract the angel were going
well.

When the latest courier departed after delivering
news about Semyaza, Resona looked gleeful, but her smile fell when she saw
Kwin’s stoic expression.

“Aren’t you happy? Hercules seems to be doing
a good job,” Resona asked.

“You must understand, he has made himself a
career of being obnoxious. As far as I’m concerned, he is simply performing his
primary function,” Kwin sniffed. “I also don’t want to think about the
possibility that Hercules is doing anything well, as that means he will expect
me to compliment him. I shudder at the thought.”

Kai snorted. He had to admit he was pleased
with Hercules’ progress, but he also wasn’t surprised. Resona had definitely
chosen well.

They fell into a comfortable silence. By that
time they had seemed to reach the unspoken conclusion that there was no
particular need to hurry, and they were all quite relieved to take a break
before heading to another nearly empty village.

“How are you faring, Kai?” Kwin asked as a few
more minutes passed by. “You look unhappy.”

“Oh, no, I’m fine,” Kai replied hurriedly. “I
just… I’m starting to realize how big a search this is. Honestly I don’t know
how you manage to keep up your motivation.”

“It is difficult sometimes,” Kwin sighed,
staring at the ground. “Sometimes I’ve felt close to giving up. But I love this
world, and I love the people in it. I would do anything in my power to preserve
the Sanctum and keep it a safe place for everyone. I feel a certain
responsibility to do so, but the rest is simply my passion.”

 
“I
don’t blame you. I know I love this place, but not quite as much as you. I
mean, you were in here for almost a year without leaving.”

“There was a time when I wanted to stay in
this world because I was frightened of the alternative, but now it is so much
more than that,” Kwin went on. “I fall asleep and I see miracles. I see a
thousand adventures written and a million more still to come. I look around,
and… I see home.”

Kai didn’t know how to reply. He knew he
treasured the world, but his love paled in comparison to Kwin’s. And yet he
still understood how she felt and why she felt so driven to succeed. It wasn’t
just about her and her desire to enjoy the world. It was something much bigger
than that. If there were anyone who should be charged with protecting the
world, he thought, it should be her. Semyaza may have been part of the world
and a messenger of the Creators themselves, but she was nothing compared to
Kwin.

He stood up and held out his hand to her.

“Let’s keep going, what do you say?”

Kwin smiled and took his hand.

“Sounds like a plan. Let’s head back to Aqua;
the search groups should be finishing up their rounds and we’ll need to
coordinate our next moves.”

“I think I’ll need to have a talk with group
leaders and tell them remember to send in reports, I got a lot less than I was
expecting,” Resona commented irritably.

By now it was getting late into the evening,
and the sky was dark and a thick fog was rolling in. Kai wasn’t even thinking
about waking up any time soon, but guessed that it must have been at least
eight in the morning. Luckily he and Kwin knew their way, and pretty soon Kai
spotted lights in the distance.

As Aqua Capital came into sight, Kai noticed
that the square was full of people. He hadn’t expected everyone to get back
from every corner of the world so quickly, but he had to admit that he had started
to lose track of time. But seeing everyone there put his mind at ease; it meant
that everyone was fine, and that there was a greater chance they might have
some good news.

As they landed, however, Kai could tell
something wasn’t right. Immediately upon touching down, no fewer than a dozen
group leaders came over to Resona, looking immensely relieved.

“You’re okay!” one girl said thankfully.
“Where did you go?”

“We were on our route, just like I explained.
Why? Did you think I wasn’t okay?” Resona asked, looking completely confused.

“None of us got any responses from you when we
filed our reports, so we were worried something happened to you.”

“I replied to every message I got, I don’t…”
Resona trailed off.

Before she could continue, Alastor, Ella and Lindsay
landed and jogged over to them. Their expressions didn’t help Kai feel any
better. In addition, all three of them were soaking wet.

“Hey guys. I take it you didn’t get our
messages,” Alastor said, drying himself off in an instant. The other two quickly
followed suit.

“We did not. It would appear as though the
Sanctum’s mail service is starting to fail,” Kwin answered. “I suspect that may
be Semyaza’s doing somehow.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure. That’s not the only
thing going wrong,” Alastor replied. “Teleporters are going down too. We would
have been here sooner if not for that. Right now it seems like the capital
cities are the only ones left with functioning teleporters, and that doesn’t
mean much since there’s only one capital city left.”

“It sounds like the last of the Sanctum’s
transportation and communication structures are failing for sure, then,” Kwin
said.

“I guess that means the airship won’t be going
anywhere any time soon,” Lindsay commented.

“Indeed,” Kwin sighed. “I suppose we should be
thankful it lasted as long as–”

Kwin broke off suddenly, a look of dread
passing over her face. She looked around quickly, as though expecting to find
something horrifying behind her, but the square was calm.

“What’s wrong?” Kai asked quietly, worried at
seeing such a blatant display of fear.

“I… I have a suspicion, and only a suspicion,
but I suddenly feel it critically imperative to evacuate the city as soon as
possible.” At everyone’s questioning looks, she continued, “The Sanctum’s
transportation system is failing, and eighty-thousand tons of it is currently
floating right above our heads.”

Kai felt his heart drop. He instinctively
looked up, but couldn’t see anything through the fog. For Kai, that only made
things worse. He knew the massive ship was up there, but the fact that no one
could see it made things all the more troubling.

The others’ expressions turned fearful as they
realized what Kwin was saying, and they too looked skyward. As this realization
caught up to them, Kwin tugged Resona’s sleeve.

“We need to evacuate the city, and we’re going
to need all the help we can get to spread the word as quickly as possible.
Notify all your group leaders and have them move through the city and cover as
much ground as possible.” As Resona nodded and ran off, Kwin turned to Alastor.
“We need eyes on the ship at all times. Ideas?”

“I’ll fly up and keep an eye on it. First sign
of trouble I’ll give a holler. Ella, you want to come help me babysit a giant
boat?”

“You bet I do,” Ella said earnestly.

As though to remind them how short on time
they were, an ominous groan echoed from above. Kai instinctively stepped back,
frantically searching the clouds above, but he could still see nothing.