Chapter 39

Ivy carefully studied the menu taped to the side of the small shop. Inside it was only big enough for maybe two people. It seemed to have a tropical theme as most of the drinks were served in hollow coconuts, and the barista was always made to wear a tiny, brightly colored bikini. The menu was full of different fruit-flavored smoothies and drinks, along with what Ivy assumed were tropical snacks based on their names. One called a 'fried sugar ball,' a raw donut the size of a baseball, fried until it had been expanded and browned, covered in sugar sprinkles, and filled with cream cheese.

The glass window slid open, and a young woman wearing a bright green bikini leaned her elbows on the windowsill. She had a nonchalant look in her eyes, slowly chewing a piece of gum. She had long dark brown hair that reached shoulder blades; the very tips of her hair were dyed green. On the right strap of her bikini, a name tag read, Sausa.

"What can I make you?"

"I want the Pink Fruit drink in the biggest bowl you have!"

"Alright," she smiled, "Coming right up." She turned around, rummaging through cabinets, and turned on the mixing machines. "So," she called out over the loud whir of one of the appliances. "I haven't seen you around before."

"I was gone on a mission for a few weeks. Also, it's my first time here."

"Oh yeah? When did you get back?"

"Two days ago," Ivy leaned into the window, curiously observing Suasa use all the gadgets in the kitchen.

Sausa glanced over her shoulder, noticing Ivy's interest. She explained to her the basics of what everything did and what went into making the food. She found it amusing how invested Ivy was, her eyes never leaving hers, except the few times when her gaze tended to drift southbound.

"So, what're you doing after this?"

"I have one more class, and then after that, I'm going to the promotion ceremony."

"Ooh," Suasa sounded intrigued, "It's been a while since I've been to one of those. What rank are you gonna be?"

"A second star!" Ivy thought back to earlier that day. Neph had called everyone who was up for a promotion to his office. He would interview each of them one at a time, testing to see if they were ready.

"Next person!" Neph's voice called out as the kid in front of Ivy walked out of the door. It was the first time Ivy had ever been in the oval-shaped building before. She had asked Zoe about it previously, but said they weren't allowed inside without an audience.

"Good luck," Colson said from behind her as she sauntered into the room.

Her footsteps echoed as she walked to the small padded purple chair in front of Neph's desk. In the corner, Lubbock leaned against the wall, a notepad in his hand, though at the time, Ivy didn't know who he was. He wore a bulky suit. It was such a dark shade of purple it almost looked black.

As she sat down, Neph ruffled through some papers on his desk, finding a file labeled 'Ivy.'

"This has been an interesting couple of months, I would say…How is your arm?"

"It's good," Ivy said, holding up her hand, wiggling her fingers.

"Are you making a lot of friends?"

"Some."

"Here you go; this'll get you right." Suasa handed her a coconut the size of a fishbowl—a striped straw was sticking from the top. Inside was a mixture of pink and white swirls. "Some advice from a third star since it seems like you're new…it gets better, don't worry. But yeah, come on by if you need anything, though."

Ivy held her gaze as she took it, "Thank you."

"Yeah, enjoy," Suasa winked.

"Oh, there you are; I was wondering where you've been."

Ivy turned, seeing Herald walking beside her on the cobblestone path. The red and orange October leaves crunched under their feet as they walked. "I just got back!"

"Someone said you got kicked out. Honestly, I kinda missed you," he smiled. "So, where's my hug at?" They walked a little more, and he asked about how her mission went.

Ivy told him about their mission, excluding the parts about energy but mentioning the fact that her arm was blown off.

Herald gave her a bewildered look, "Oh yeah," he said when she mentioned her arm. "I heard people around here saying that you messed your arm up, but I didn't know it was that bad." He glanced down; she still cradled the hollowed coconut drink with both her arms. "Wait, hold up…."

"I had it fixed," Ivy laughed. "The nurse, Terra, reattached it." She held up her recently fixed arm.

"I never knew she could do all that...But truth be told, I'm surprised you all made it...well not you or Colson, but y'know."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm just saying, I'm glad Zoe is good."

Ivy frowned, "Why wouldn't she be?"

Herald paused, "Did you ever hear about the squirrel thing? Did Zoe ever tell you?"

"The 'squirrel incident?' No, I haven't asked and I'm not going to. Zoe seemed like she didn't want me to know, so I don't need to know." 

"She was tricked into eating a dead squirrel." Herald blurted. 

"Wait, what?" Ivy's face scrunched with confusion. 

"I wasn't there, but the story is: a few years ago, Reiza saw a dead squirrel near the soccer fields, and tricked her into eating it. It wasn't cooked or anything. At least a day old too, probably—fur and all." 

"How does someone get tricked into that?"

"Exactly!" He laughed, but seeing her expression, he quickly changed topics, "So where you headed to?"

Ivy took a long sip from the coconut, "I'm going back to the school district. I have one more class before the ceremony."

"Ah, I didn't realize that was tonight."

The ceremony was held in the northern district. The space reminded Ivy of a stereotypical place someone would be married.

The event was set in a rectangular-shaped garden. Rows of chairs led up to a platformed stage at the very end. Vines and trees on either side created a tunnel, making it look like nature's bunker.

Everyone who had earned a promotional ranking for that month was sitting in the very front row. There were about a dozen colonists, all older than the trio by a year or two. Behind them in the stands were their friends and family. They would call by the date of completion, with the promotions closest to the start of each month going first.

Colson, Ivy, and Zoe all had seats next to each other. Ivy wore her usual white jacket with camo shorts. Colson had a black long sleeve buttoned shirt with black jeans. Zoe's mom had purchased for her an entire outfit for the occasion. She had bright gold-toned glitter fabric sandals with a quarter-inch heel height. To compliment that, she was made to wear an ivory silk Charcat and rose print dress that went down to her shins. Since the dress was pocketless, she had nowhere to hold her cards. One of her hands subconsciously twirling her hair, and the other tapping a light rhythm on the chair on which she sat.

As the event's start time got closer to beginning, the garden filled up with people. Zoe's parents, Pearson and Mason, all arrived at a similar time, sitting in their assigned seats. Colson glanced back, seeing Reiza waltz in after Mason.

"Ugh," he rolled his eyes, turning forward in his seat. To his right, Zoe looked very uncomfortable; since she was wearing a dress, she couldn't sit the way she usually felt comfortable.

It took about ten minutes for the remaining attendees to trickle in. In the end, they filled the garden to half its capacity.

The buzz of the crowd died down as Neph stepped onto the stage. Next to him, someone wheeled a large cart with a machine on top. The lights in the trees' branches dimmed as spotlights shined down on the platform.

"Citizen's of Crater," he started. He went on to list the prerequisites for gaining promotions. "In the front row today, we have Crater's youngest, strongest, and brightest. They've worked to be where they are now, overcoming impossible diversity and challenges. Each of them has proven their worth and that they belong. I'm delighted that we have five rookie promotions this month. Quite the improvement from previous quarter.

"It's times like these where I think back and reflect on how blessed we all are to have been born here. Well, most of us. Never forget, we are the only place like this in the world—there's no one else like us. There are other colonies; some legitimate, some not. They walk like us, talk like us. They copy our bylaws, our logos, our currency; they pretend to be us. But they're not us. We are the real ones in all of this. The torch bearers. We are the authentic ones, the fighters, the truth-tellers. We've been here from the beginning. That's us. Never let anyone take that away from you.

"Never let anyone tell us who we are. They say: 'Oh, they're this way. They're whatever,' all the lies and whatnot, and we cut through that with our weapons and knives. We keep true to ourselves."

After a long speech that left Ivy half asleep, Neph started calling them to the stage one by one. For each person who stood on the platform, he read out their accolades and gave a summary of what they did to deserve their promotion. They would run their colony ID through the machine, imprinting a holographic star on the side.

One of them went on a C-rank mission to escort government explorers to ancient ruins in a faraway land.

"The farther you go, the more opportunities will open for you. What you put in is what you will get out."

A group of two was commissioned to lead a group of government-paid citizens across the border of one country to the next, walking through deserts, wading across rivers, and protecting them from bloodthirsty beasts with a taste for human flesh.

"You may have noticed most don't make it past being a triple-star. That isn't by design; the only barrier to entry is hard work. Each of you has the opportunity to do something great with these cards. For most, it's nothing more than a hobby. But to others, the stars are more important than their lives."

A group of four walked on stage. As they did so, Mason and Reiza cheered them on. Their mission was to gather information on a political group based in South America, learn whether or not they were a threat to the South American government, and determine the level of influence over the citizens. They killed the leader—over one hundred and thirty stab wounds.

"When you are outside of Crater's walls, you'll learn the effectiveness of these cards. The special technology inside of which can't be faked or replicated; an object like no other. Be careful who you show these marked cards to; if it is stolen, it will be your job to track it down and find it yourself."

After a few more groups went up, Neph gestured for Zoe, Colson, and Ivy to come to the stage.

Zoe's mother gave Zoe her card before going up. They walked on stage, inserting their IDs into the machine, which whirred and coughed. Neph seemed to have the inherent ability to time each of his speeches as they ended right as the cards were spat out of the device.

Colson took his card, tilting it back and forth, admiring the shimmering stars that reflected in the spotlight. Zoe snatched her card and walked off the stage as quickly as possible.

Ivy lifted the card to her nose, sniffing it, "Why does it smell like that?"

"Come on," Colson mumbled, grabbing her by the arm, "sit your weird-ass down."

Once they had taken their cards, they sat with their respective friends or family members who came to see them. As Colson and Zoe walked back to their families, Ivy moved back to the chair with her nametag and sat down in the front row.

Just as Neph finished his speech, a light so bright it was blinding flew from the trees behind the stage, arcing into the sky. It exploded into a million colors; the sound was enormous, the flash of colors turning night into day for a brief time. Colson felt the force of the explosion rattle his teeth.

Ivy flinched hard, instinctively grabbing onto her right arm and jumping from her chair, a wild look in her eyes. She reached in her pocket for her weapon but remembered she had left it back on her bed in Zoe's dorm room. Another loud mortar went off in the distance. Ivy whirled around, again grabbing her right arm below the elbow. All the talking stopped abruptly as everyone in the garden stared at her.

Ivy looked around the forest. Kiari loomed over her, his hand twisting around a ball of light. Her heart began pounding in her chest as she looked down at her arm. It had been severed below her elbow. Her skin around the wound bubbled as white flecks seared deep into her skin.

Her eyes washed over the crowd. As if a spotlight shined right at her face. She squinted, holding up a hand to block the light. "Mom?" The mumble barely escaped her lips. Ivy looked through the cracks in her fingers, staring at the light. "Mom!" She yelled. She turned and looked as another bright light illuminated the sky, "Mother," she grinned as tears fell down her face. "You're here." Her smile fell as the firework dimmed.

"Uh oh," Mason said.

"Mother," her voice cracked.

"Ivy…" Zoe whispered.

Ivy's eyesight fell as she slumped back in her seat. The light disappeared. "Oh jeez," she mumbled, putting her head in her hands.

Reiza had a knowing grin on her face.

"Oh yikes," Pearson whispered to Colson. "What even was that?"

Colson looked back over his shoulder—past Zoe, past everyone else. Seeing Reiza's face made his blood boil. "Come on, let's move up seats real quick," he said to Pearson.

"Huh? Why?"

"Just come on," Colson said, walking up the rows. Pearson shrugged and followed.

They sat on either side of Ivy. "Oh, hey," she murmured, barely looking up from her hands. With every explosion of light in the sky, she flinched.

"You alright?"

"She was there. I saw her."

"Who? Your mom?"

Several rows behind him, Zoe tried getting to her feet, but her dad pulled her back down.

"I guess so," Ivy sighed, her eyes shifting to the stage. Neph stood on the edge, staring down at her. "Is everyone watching?"

"No. No. They're doing their own thing. Don't worry about them."

"Well then," Neph cleared his throat. "The promotional ceremony event has now concluded. This space will stay open for another few hours; specialty drinks and food will be served in the back. Now that everyone is officially over the rank of one, you can now go to bed anytime you'd like."

Most of the crowd seemed to forget about Ivy and started getting out of their seats to mingle.

"You think she's alright?" Mason said, looking back as Reiza grabbed his arm, dragging him with her.

"She's fine," Reiza said impatiently. "Who cares? Let's go."

He glanced back once more; he caught the eye of Pearson, mouthing the words, "Is she okay?"

Pearson shrugged in return.

Zoe looked around, noticing that her parents were preoccupied talking with others. She reached into her mother's purse, took her card box, and slipped away from their sight.

Ivy looked up, somehow hearing the familiar sound of shuffling cards over the fireworks and the conversations of the party behind them. Zoe moved up the aisle, walking towards her and Colson.

"We could all go somewhere else," Colson suggested once Zoe was next to them.

"Yeah, that'd be nice," Ivy said, getting up from her chair.

"Where are we going?" Zoe asked.

"I dunno," Colson shrugged. "You comin' with us?" He asked Pearson.

"Eh, I'm good. I should probably study or something, but I'll see you around."

"Fair enough," Colson said, following Ivy and Zoe as they walked out of the garden—the pavilion of trees.

Ivy kept walking until the fireworks were only small pops in the background. She turned back; the explosions looked like they created multi-colored stars in the sky before disappearing.

The three were walking and talking, not really paying attention to where they were going until they ended up at Crater's front door—the stone gate. The ordinarily busy export area around them was now completely silent. Only the occasional person would go by, either walking a pet or on a late-night run.

Ivy walked up to the door, placing her hands on it, feeling the cold stone. She pushed slightly. The gate didn't budge. Zoe always hated how the cracks and bumps in the stone made the entrance look like it had a demon's face staring down at her.

Colson looked up at one of the nearby towers—totally empty. "No one is gonna be here at this time. Also, we don't have an access key to go up there."

Ivy glanced around, making sure no one was in the area. "Help me with this," she said, pushing against the door, using all her might.

"You can't be serious," Colson laughed.

"One hundred percent," Ivy said through gritted teeth.

Zoe opened her mouth to say something but was cut off by the slight sound of grinding metal. She squinted at the door hinge, noticing it had shifted ever so slightly.

"Woah," Colson said. He looked around, making sure no one was in the immediate area. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath; a hum could be heard echoing through the small exportation neighborhood when he exhaled. A second later, he opened his eyes, seeing the surrounding area bathed in a green glow.

"Colson," Zoe warned, "I don't know if we should…."

"There's no one around. Plus, if we all push against it with energy, then we surely can crack it open enough."

"That door has to weigh several tons at the bare minimum. There's no way we could—" She stopped herself. 'Well, Ivy did just make it move without energy. Was it my imagination? Maybe I've underestimated how strong energy has made us,' Zoe thought. "We should do this quickly."

"Finally!" Ivy said, taking a deep breath in; a white veil bubbled from her skin as she did so. Surrounding her body.

Zoe followed suit, her aura flowing like water over her skin.

"Alright, push on three," Colson instructed. He set his feet wide, putting his hands on both gate doors. Zoe moved to the right side while Ivy walked to the left.

The drone from all three of their auras synced and harmonized. As they pushed, the entrance squealed and screamed. Sparks flew from the door hinges as they were forcefully pushed open.

They were able to push it open just enough to all slip through.

Zoe flopped to the ground on the opposite side, her face covered in sweat.

"I should've stretched," Colson said, rubbing his arms.

Usually, the outer woods would've been alive with activity. But as they wandered through the forest, Zoe realized how cold it had become.

The trio walked through a particularly scraggly patch of tangled trees and vines. It would've been pitch-black had it not been for their glowing auras lighting their way. Beyond the few feet of vision their energy granted them, it was as if all light was swallowed up by everything around it.

Colson ran his fingers over the trunk of a nearby tree; a massive symbol was cut into it. A triangular shape with three dots in the middle and a line going through them all.

"Has this always been here?" He asked.

"I've never been this far, so I wouldn't know."

They eventually broke through the shrubs and entered a long clearing. It was as if the trees on either side were walls, creating a tunnel leading them forward. They were so deep into the woods that all sounds from Crater were muted.

"Huh," Colson muttered, studying the surrounding area. 'This is kinda what Pearson talks about whenever he goes to the fortune-teller. I wonder…' After a few more minutes of walking, Zoe pointed out something ahead.

"What is that?"

"Stairs?" Ivy squinted.

"We should probably not get too close. I know where we are," Colson said.

Stepping closer, Zoe looked up. Above the winding metal stairs, a small cottage home sat. A small break in the trees above let blue moonlight shine down as if beckoning them forward.

Ivy's eyes were wide with awe. On top of the stairs was a silhouette, staring at the sky and holding what looked to be a notepad and a pen. Before Colson could convince her, Ivy bounded up the stairs, taking them two at a time.

Zoe looked to Colson, "This is Aca's den, right?"

"It's almost exactly how Pearson described it. Wow."

Colson walked to the stairs, tentatively grabbing onto the metal railing. He heard Zoe's cards shuffling nervously behind him as they moved up the steps.

"What are you doing?" Ivy asked, peeking over the woman's shoulder, looking at the notebook. It was a light sketch of the stars above, replacing each ball of light with a unique symbol. One was almost identical to the triangle cut into the tree.

"Drawing," she said, not taking her eyes off the sky. "I had a feeling that I should stay up and wait."

"Oh."

"Yeah," she said, closing the notepad. She waited until both Colson and Zoe reached the top of the staircase. She silently gestured for them all to enter her home.

"You don't seem surprised at our energy," Colson noted once they were all sat around the table.

"It's not too surprising. I'd be more surprised if you couldn't."

Zoe's gaze was unblinking and skeptical. "You're Aca, the fortune teller?"

"That is correct."

"You knew we were coming."

"Somewhat yes. I didn't know it would be you exactly, but I knew three would arrive here tonight."

"How?"

"Future sight based on causality."

"So, why are we here?" Colson interjected.

"I have a warning for each of you."

Hearing the word warning, the three colonists perked up in surprise and a slight hint of worry.

"Nothing bad is gonna happen, right?"

"Uh," Aca mused, looking up, "Maybe 'warning' was too dramatic of a word."

"Okay…"

She got up from her chair, walked to a nearby cabinet, and retrieved a sizeable faded-gold urn. While walking back to the table, she picked up a large kitchen knife. "Don't be alarmed," Aca said. She sat down, taking the blade, making a small incision in her wrist, and used her other hand to squeeze a line of blood into the pot.

A wispy teal-green veil surrounded her; as it did so, the urn glowed red, the blood in its bottom bubbled and evaporated into a smoke, being inhaled by Aca. She closed her eyes, holding the smoke in her lungs for as long as possible.

"Woah, what the—" Colson said, staring at the mouth of the urn. After the smoke was inhaled, a small grey bug-like creature climbed from the vessel, crawling up Aca's arm, plopping itself down on her head, and grabbing onto her hair.

When she opened her eyes again, a bright green color had replaced the whites of her eyes. The thing sitting on top of her head mimicked every one of her movements, or maybe she was mirroring it.

They turned to look to Colson first. Their two voices overlapped, "Boy. Your life branches. You are the freest, only bound by your volition."

Turning to Zoe, they had very little to say. "Girl…the relationship between you and Crater…comparable to a bird and a gilded cage. No matter how big a cage is, it will still limit how high one can soar. But, beware what comes from below."

Lastly, Aca's green eyes shifted to Ivy. The creature on top tilted its head curiously; its cold beady black eyes studied her. "So it starts. Every choice made from this moment must be in service of your goal. Though," she looked at each one, "Entropy is what bounds us all to this reality."

She fell back into her chair; the small beast on her head hopped back into the vessel, dissipating along with Aca's aura. The urn dimmed back to its regular dirty gold coloring.

"Dear lord," Aca coughed, the last bit of smoke exiting her lungs.

"Wait," Zoe considered. "What did you mean by—"

"Listen, I'm gonna have to stop you right there. I tend not to discuss these things after the fact."

"But—"

"Sorry, but it's just something you'll have to figure out on your own. With most fortunes I give, I know just as much as you do. Actually, less."

"Well, that doesn't make any sense," Colson said. To his side, Ivy was peeking into the urn, looking for the little creature. "You give us this vague fortune and then don't even elaborate?"

"I didn't ask for this ability," Aca muttered, getting out of her chair to put the urn away.

"What do we do now?" Ivy asked.

"Before you leave," Aca cautioned, "just know that the advice may not be useful today or even tomorrow; eventually, though…well, you may have forgotten, but fate doesn't."

As they walked through the front door, Aca called out from behind them, "Ivy, hold on one sec."

"Hm?" Ivy turned around. She was beckoned over.

"Both of you can wait outside for a few minutes. I must speak with her in private."

Colson and Zoe exchanged looks but didn't argue.

"We'll be right out here," Zoe said.

When they were both alone, Aca looked at Ivy, really looking at her, studying everything about her.

Ivy pointed above her head, "That guy that was there. How'd'ja do that?"

Aca shrugged, "I've gotten better at controlling it. It's just something I have."

"You didn't have to almost die to get that?"

"Nope."

"Aw man," Ivy grumbled. She looked at her hands, "I had to so I could get this. Everyone else didn't need to do that. Is there something wrong with me?" She wondered aloud.

"If it makes you feel better, it isn't a common thing. I've only seen it once before."

"Seen what?"

"Innate energy. When you're either born with the ability to use your shimmer, or it randomly activates at some point in your life without your knowledge. Though mine is an extreme case—Most with an innate shimmer don't realize it. Outside of here, it's common for people with that to become world-class athletes, 'superheroes,' or people who are very influential. But anyway," Aca said, "I wanted to tell you this personally; I'm not sure exactly what it means." She took a deep breath. "To reach your goal, you must fight. Never take the easy path. Every challenge must be passed. On your adventure, you will encounter danger, darkness, and monsters."

"Monsters? Challenge? What do you mean by that?"

"Call it a fortune teller's hunch."