We Cracked a Code

"Guys! The light curtains are back!" Someone ran inside the dining hall and fetched her friends. At those words, a lot of people packed up their food and rushed out to see the phenomena. Even Eann and Puri urged Kanaru to leave with them.

From one of the palace courtyards, the outer court members watched the colorful light curtains weave across the night sky. The moon still soared high, but flashes of red and green rivaled its light. With two things lighting up the eternally night sky, most of Middlemist stepped out to enjoy the show. This was even one of the most fascinating sights for the concubines.

Puri took out her Polaroid camera and took pictures, annoying some of those who stood around her with the flash. However, she and Eann grew excited at the pictures she took. 

Kanaru stared at the light curtains as much as everyone did, but he felt bitter about it. He was hoping to see this with Rodnir, but the man didn't seem keen on being seen with him for real. Wait, Rodnir was not even that man he craved to meet. Kanaru would have to keep that in mind now.

"…maybe he didn't want to sign my book because that wasn't his name…" Kanaru remembered the survival guide when he thought of drawing the light curtains for Covey to imagine. He just remembered how that man refused to sign with Rodnir's name. "But he did sign with their family emblem. Is there anyone else who could sign with that?"

"Oh, it's beautiful…" Kanaru heard how another of the newbie girls murmured next to him. Since they shared the table earlier, he didn't doubt why Joca was standing there. As for her reaction, she looked worried while staring at the light curtains.

She then felt the weight of Kanaru's gaze. With a smile, she hummed, "I read it in an old book before. The light curtains are supposed to be positioned at the northern and southern poles of the planet, but they must have moved when the planet stopped rotating. Those things are caused by solar flares. The stronger the light curtains get, the fiercer the solar flares are…"

Kanaru immediately felt dread in his heart, but he could only hope that Burdett was safe. After all, not all solar flares reached them. If the light curtains were as frequent as the solar flares, that meant a lot had gone by that Burdett didn't feel.

"Is that right?" Henrik responded to Joca's words. He was standing near them, perhaps because they were at the back end of the crowd. The male concubines didn't wish to mix too much with the women, anyway. As for his response, he turned to Joca. "Does that mean when the light curtains blinded the world almost twenty years ago, an extra-strong solar flare hit the planet?"

"…I can't say for sure, but the global temperatures blazed back then. It only got worse after that." Joca only gestured with a hand. "Sadly, my trade doesn't make me study that kind of science. I just hear a lot from my brother who dove into books from the digital age."

Henrik slowly nodded as if acknowledging her lack of certainty. He just watched over the people who cheered for the light curtains. "Look at all these people. They keep asking for the light curtains to appear more frequently without understanding what those are."

At that, Joca chuckled. "Did you readily believe me? I could be lying about the light curtains, you know."

The man just scoffed. "Something did happen twenty years ago, though. Not only the light curtains reacted to it—the temperature, the volcanoes, the rivers… If that was a solar flare comparable to what gave birth to the monsters, then we should be ready."

"You could be saying that these light curtains indicate the rise of the monsters." Joca looked up at the light curtains. "Something so beautiful could be a precursor of something so devastating…?"

"Henrik, look." A male concubine suddenly nudged at their supposed leader. At that signal, Henrik, Joca, and Kanaru turned in the direction where the male concubine gestured. They saw how the Black Smoke Corps rode away, slipping under the distraction of the light curtains. 

The male member continued, "I think monsters will be attacking soon. We should head inside. This might be Middlemist, but this is an island in the middle of the ocean."

Henrik then took a deep breath. He glanced at Joca. "Well, fuck me running. Don't tell anyone we cracked a code. The light curtains have never been that strong for two years now. We could be looking at another breach through the walls."

"The walls have been breached before?" Joca dropped her jaw, but she managed to close her mouth as the males left. She then turned to get everyone inside, but she noticed how Kanaru was only staring at her. "You heard the whole thing, Kanaru. Let's go inside now."

"…yeah, we should." Kanaru nodded and fetched Eann and Puri, along with the others from their table. He could tell Joca and Henrik about the solar flare before he was born, but he didn't want to have a long discussion with them. He would just reserve it when it became relevant again.

However, before they could get Puri to leave with them, the palace sirens blared through the night. It was accompanied by the loud howls coming from outside the imposing walls of the country. Someone questioned the noise, only for the whole country to tremble as if the island shook from the core. Screams competed with the sirens, and people began to evacuate.

Natucha started screaming as if directing them, "Outer court! Come to the central keep! Follow me through the halls and—! Holy shit, what was that?"

Another loud howl came, and waters rushed and spilled into the country. What made things worse was that things started rising from the spilled water. They were hard to see in the dark as they seemed translucent. It didn't help that they had multiple long arms to lash and grab people.

Soon enough, those things jumped around to rush toward the palace. If there were only three or ten, the knights and soldiers might have managed it. However, they came in hundreds, even thousands. All of them were headed toward the palace where the king was.

"Hurry! We have to get to the central keep!" Natucha grabbed Henrik, who felt like running outside and fighting those things. However, her screams couldn't stop others who dared.

The outer court girls ran off their own paths, but Kanaru jumped up and rushed to the front of the running crowd. The winds of his flight pushed them down to the ground, and he chose to glow again to compel everyone to lay their gazes on him.

For the first time, they saw a sun that didn't harm them.