The Earring

Nova found himself back in his cottage. The tilted teacups were gone. In their place, four miniature versions of Nova's sculptures were resting on the middle of the table. He smiled when he saw them. He then scanned his surroundings.

"I am here by myself." He then looked down at his attire. He was still wearing his ragged clothes. He turned around to find a lavender door. "I guess it's time to clock into work."

He opened the door. When he went inside, his body felt tighter. The scenery of the cozy cottage changed into the Contract Room. He sat down on the chair and raised his arms. He noticed he wasn't wearing his sweater, but his neat lavender satin shirt. This was the outfit he wore when he was in 'work mode'.

He pushed his hands into the open space. In a flash, multiple hologram screens showed up. All of them were fastforwarding Kori's memories. A majority of them contained Arcturus. However, a few screens caught his attention as he grabbed one and pulled it towards himself to get a closer view.

It was a memory that did not contain Arcturus at all. Instead, there were unfamiliar people being shown; most of them had black hair. He knew from Arcturus's memories that he wasn't really associated with black-haired people all that much. He wondered if this could be a memory of Kori before he had met Arcturus, but he had doubted it. He decided to listen carefully to the audio of the memory.

He heard a voice say, "Good morning, Sayaka." He was taken aback. Sayaka was an unfamiliar name and unrelated to Arcturus. He wondered why such a memory was inside Kori.

A strange sense of fascination compelled him to know more. It urged him to find an answer. His mind became overwhelmed with unraveling this mystery. He stood up with the memory in hand. He frantically scanned; he needed to find more of Sayaka's memories. He reached a hand out and soon, he found himself surrounded by memories of Sayaka; it was as if her memories had more in amount than Kori's.

But why does she have more than Kori's? This is Kori's body.

We should look into these memories and learn about this Sayaka person.

Right.

Nova gathered some of Sayaka's memories which turned into feathers. When he sat back down, the feathers floated into the screens, changing the memories from Kori's to Sayaka's. Nova patiently sat down and watched through portions of Sayaka's life.

Sayaka's full name was Sayaka Minami. She was a Laminan born into a family of renowned soldiers. Her life was full of pressure and expectations. She was doing whatever she could to appease her father, but he never acknowledged her. Her life had been her trying to appease him no matter what; she voluntarily joined the military. A chance encounter with her roommate Lillia caused her to realize how much of her life was pointless. Living to appease her family was not 'her'. Getting their approval was not her ideal freedom. In order to seek it out, she deserted the army a day before she had completed training and was going to be assigned to a station. Nova learned that what she had done was illegal and she chose to become a wanted fugitive because of that.

She lived a few years on the run until she met a tragic end. Someone she had trusted in betrayed her and she was captured and killed. Knowing she had such an abrupt end at the age of twenty-one caused Nova to shed a tear. His heart felt as if it was being squeezed. He found it unfair. Sayaka had more to life than meeting a tragic end.

Nova, there is no need to cry.

I can't help it. It's this world that's making me let out my true emotions!

The Spirit World happened to be a place where only true emotions were let out. It allowed Nova and Souhait to be able to distinguish people's souls; it helped them see who had a good, pure soul and who had an evil, malevolent one. These allowed them to know what sort of people potential contractors were and if they were able to form wishes from their hearts. Sayaka's physical body was no longer alive, but her soul was a pure one–a kind one muddled with tragedy.

I'm surprised I'm able to weep for a passing soul. Is it because of the conditions that were met when granting Arcturus's wish? He said souls are alive and Sayaka is an example of that. Before, I wouldn't have agreed with that sentiment.

The way our power works is still surprising. I have had this power for so long yet the things it does and creates still fascinate me.

While weeping, Nova agreed with Souhait. He found Sayaka fascinating, yet one question still lingered: How did Sayaka become a part of Kori? If a human passed away, they would have gone to the Spirit World.

After wiping his tears, Nova shouted for a name, "Polaris!"

A bespectacled man with a caramel shade of blond hair appeared next to him. He wore a suit similar to Nova's but he had a blazer and he did not wear a waistcoat. His elegant and serious demeanor gave him an air of refinement that Nova lacked. While Nova's outfit was a mix of lavender, purple and complementary shades, Polaris wore green shades alongside complementary colors.

"You called for me, my liege?" He had a soft but masculine voice that suited his refined appearance. He placed a hand to his chest and slightly bowed at his master's presence.

"Tell me, is Sayaka Minami abound in the Spirit World?"

"She once was, but she is no longer present."

"How long has she been gone? How long has she been in the Spirit World?"

"Sayaka Minami died on LSP 19-614–six years ago. She was taken away from the Spirit World around ESU 29-617–three years ago."

"And who took her soul?"

"We have no official sources yet, but the council have concluded that it could be the work of the Invader. She has taken yet another soul from our world recently." Nova knew Polaris was telling the truth, as far fetched as his conclusion sounded; this world was unable to let out lies.

He placed a finger under his bottom lip. "That explains the pain I felt when I was awake." He turned to Polaris. "Is there any way to stop the Invader from taking souls?"

"We are still looking into it."

"Come back when you find an answer."

Polaris bowed and then vanished. Nova stared at the hologram screen once more. He fast-forwarded memories after her death. She was in the Spirit World and that was it. There wasn't an image or a scene of how she left the Spirit World. It just ended abruptly.

He felt disdain. He wanted to know more about her, but he knew personal feelings should not coincide with his duties. He then remembered he needed to look into Kori's memories. Perhaps, his questions about Sayaka could be answered if he looked into Kori's memories. He needed answers and he would not stop until he found answers that satisfied him.

With his right hand, he grasped the feathers; they were absorbed into the mark. "Nicely stored," he muttered as he focused back on the hologram screens. Just the thought of wanting to see Kori's memories caused the screens to change from Sayaka's memories to Kori's.

The beginning of Kori's memories started from his creation being completed in a laboratory. He had no thoughts and such and only obeyed commands. After a while, Kori's memories were mainly filled with Arcturus. It was as if he watched a film documentary about a portion of Arcturus's teen years. From what he gathered, Kori had been under Arcturus's care for four years; it started when Arcturus was sixteen. Kori's emotions flourished under Arcturus's care; A part of him felt envious of what he saw. While he had a lifelong companion in Souhait, his budding friendship with Arcturus was miniscule. He wanted to know more about Arcturus–just looking through memories wasn't enough.

Nova saw the transition from Kori being an emotionless, obedient robot to someone with free will. The scene of Kori's end through Kori's own eyes was a lot more gruesome than looking at it through Arcturus's perspective. It also made him cry; his tears surprised him. He had disliked Shifties because of their lack of free will, but he had been misguided. Arcturus had been correct all along. Kori wasn't just a robot; he was a person. He had his thoughts, emotions and will. He chose to sacrifice his life to help his dearest friend. Unlike humans, Kori had a short life, hence the length of his memories was much shorter in comparison to humans.

Shifties, although man-made, were just like people; there were good and bad Shifties just like how there were good and bad people. However, he wasn't sure if the Shifties that had been pursuing him were truly bad; they could have developed a will and still chose to pursue him. He knew to not turn his opinion over completely because of this assumption.

"I guess we have to get used to Shifties now. They're alive."

I wonder how long it would take for us to get completely used to them.

We have all the time in the world.

Hearing Souhait chuckle at Nova's response made Nova smile as well. His words were the truth; they had all the time in the world to sort out their thoughts. Nothing was ever too late for them.

Nova then took some of Kori's memories, which took the form of snowflakes; the way they all had different patterns fascinated him. They amused him; snowflakes were like people. No two snowflakes were identical; the same applied to humans. Snow was never alone, just like people. He gathered four important memories and stored them in his right hand as well.

Nova took a deep breath. He was nervous, but he was ready. The lavender door changed into a sky blue color. "That's the door. What sort of realm could a Shiftie's soul create?"

Let us find out.

"Yeah."

Nova approached the door and opened it.