The Covenant Of Timeless Mysteries

(This chapter is undergoing revisions for tone adjustment and pacing)

Chapter 13

Li focused on his sword whilst retaining all other emotions just beyond the brink of unreadable.

He looks around, keeping his eyes below a certain point as he surveys everyone, only to peer back at the dripping source.

Hoku's hand instinctively covers his throat to hide the visible protrusion of his Adam's apple sliding down and then back up.

"Does anyone have a cloth?"

Hoku pretends his attention has been glued to the tainted patch of grass, to avoid answering first that he had merely a compass and a set of foreign attire.

His stomach twinges at how Li treated it like spilled breadcrumbs.

Maybe it came from those things Juno was attacking.

"Nope, Fleur might though."

Or perhaps Li had accidentally injured himself.

"I got nothing."

Though he looks… unscathed.

"What about you?"

Hoku senses that an additional "no" would entice Li to smear it on the person closest to him.

Considering that person is Hoku, he defers from immediately acknowledging him.

"Does the sight of blood revolt you? Or have you suddenly gone deaf?"

If I'm deaf, then clearly you're blind.

Hoku contorts his features a bit, perking the edges of his eyebrows further back to fabricate returning from shock.

The instant he saw Li's own fake grin, his guise felt as though it had been weakened.

All he had done was blink when suddenly Li swung his blade over Hoku's shoulder. The sensation of being aggressively embraced led him to stiffen, instead of retreating from its potent edge.

Now, his shock was genuinely displayed.

"Thank you."

Have I spoken out loud again? What just happened?

"Are you alright?"

"Did he accidentally cut you?"

Both twins spoke at once, one rushing to touch Hoku's right arm and the other standing in front of him, signaling toward someone else.

"Where are your manners, Li? We go over this every time—"

"No, you go over it for useless reasons. Besides, I asked this time—what do those manners entail if the other person is acting like a smartass?"

Hoku had never been called that before.

He feels slightly sorry for Fleur after Li shuts her down. Though with the resistance she had displayed earlier, he expected nothing less than for her to hold her ground.

She stepped away from his arm, curling her fingers into her palms.

Hoku has a moment to glance over at what she and Abel were inspecting.

There was a faint red line across his forearm, and part of his sleeve had been shortened.

Rude bastard.

"Have you considered getting your eyes checked by Juno? Why waste time asking if he approached you with nothing in his grasp? I also don't recall being informed that staying silent is a trait of smartasses like yourself."

Hoku feels the corners of his mouth twitch.

Oh no.

He positions his shoulder forward and lowers his chin toward his collarbone so that he can muffle his unusual desire to laugh.

"Alright, Madam attorney, you were standing behind him, so you didn't see his fa—"

"Knock it off, now."

The man garbed in the black robe, which was quite similar to the one Hoku was wearing, spoke sternly, declining Li's retort.

Now all eyes are on him.

"Fleur, you are not his mother, and Li, you are not nine years old. Either get over this matter or I will treat you both in ways I perceive."

Hoku bites the inside of his upper lip, sneaking a glance at Li before retracting his head in the opposite direction to peer at Fleur.

Li quietly exhales through his nose and turns his back toward his audience.

Shortly following, Fleur prances over to her brother and whispers to Abel.

Her words sound like violent hisses, making the words Hoku found rather funny.

"He called him nine."

He can hear Abel's staunch chuckle, accompanied by their hands colliding through the crisp air as though they had made some sort of profound achievement.

"Juno should be on her way back. Pull yourselves together. She did us all a huge favor today."

Hoku flinches, shuffling over to one side. Mars' presence had somehow slipped past him. He remembers greeting him earlier.

If I am ever given a chance to leave... I wonder if I will forget any of them.

Hopefully, I have fewer names that I need to remember. I just want to go back home.

"Does it count if I say speak of the devil?"

Hoku flickers out of his thoughts, and his spine mellows out as he hastily turns to Mars.

"Juno...?"

How is it he already recognizes her voice?

"What did you do? Snap it out of existence?? This easily marks a new record!" Abel says.

"I used my resources to smash it into the ground. You should've seen it. The bones practically crumbled like puzzle pieces—but its flesh stayed intact."

"Gross, he didn't ask for details," Fleur interjects, replacing the spacious patch of green between them with a narrow sliver of grass.

"Haha, I know—just wanted to grab your response too," Juno snickers, reaching for her hair and ruffling it.

A few thick strands get scrunched between her fingers and remain in an arch even after she retracts.

She shoots Hoku a look and smiles.

"I see you found your way. Finally, decide that exploring isn't gonna save your life?"

Hoku looks down at his boots, feeling a heavy nuisance pulling at certain nerves in his chest. Shame.

"I'm just messing with you, kid. Though please take me seriously when I tell you that there are more things that will be better as mysteries than things that are not."

"Sorry."

Juno nods, assuring him, then turns her head toward something behind them.

"I must talk to someone else for a bit, but you should probably profess your questions after gathering names if you haven't already. You can start with the one lurking behind us!"

"Oh—I see, but—wait—"

Juno hurries down the invisible path Li had gone down.

The twins and Mars had also roved the expanse behind Hoku, their voices throttling as they moved away.

The dry sough of grass growing nearer helps him stumble forward a few steps before the same person who had induced Li and Fleur's restraint begins talking to him.

"She's right. All of our discoveries came with prices, you know? Anything that isn't a mystery to us was never exposed out of intention. You're not supposed to understand this universe, because if you do… you will be reset."

Hoku stops walking and stares in front of him. His eyelids twitch with the contraction of his pupils.

He ponders what his assertion means, and how he's supposed to achieve anything when all of these strangers might be as informed as he is.

Yu-ze's hand folds over his shoulder, warming the bitter sensation of cold blood rushing through Hoku's veins.

Sweat pelts atop his forehead, and a consistent effect ensues within the lines of his palms and fingers.

"Let's shift the subject for now. Surely, you must be somewhat curious about the guests you've been stranded with. I wield limited knowledge of their backgrounds, but if it has to do with names and habits, then my expanse of understanding will go beyond the very minimum."

Hoku swallows, brushing clammy fingertips over the length of his robe.

"What is your name?"

Miraculously, his voice doesn't waver upon forcing the words out of his throat.

"Yu-ze Yong," he replies, vaguely peering over before motioning his hand in front of him to continue walking.

Hoku complies, cringing beneath his regained composure.

These embarrassing habits might end up being the cause of my death.

Yu-ze doesn't talk.

Hoku starts looking around, clueless of what he's hoping to see until Li severs his diversion from the silence.

Li is focused on the sword, gently polishing the green blade with the brown fabric he cut from Hoku's arm.

His uncle would likely consider it a childish gesture, because Hoku had only just met him, but he didn't like Li.

The others are like moths near a flame, longing for a tale from Juno's solo departure.

However, even from afar, Hoku can sense that her demeanor has completely changed.

She looks bored again. Like when Hoku first met her.

Li appears to assume the least interest. Juno Mirai stands closely by his side. It isn't difficult to derive why she would suddenly perform passively despite exhibiting a friendly relationship with the agile twins.

"Does Juno usually stick so close to him?"

Yu-ze remains silent for longer, surely pondering Juno's personal aspects.

"Li is essentially her family."

Naturally, it was not what Hoku had been expecting.

"Are they distant relatives?"

"They aren't related. It's more like a mentor and scholar alliance. She confides in his voice and instructions but has said he's her family. They have roots that no one present, at least, knows the story behind."

Hoku doesn't assume any stranger could mistake their relationship with an absent past.

He only holds knowledge of their names. Although origins should have weaker pertinence, based on the trouble that has ensued—if he values this life, he must establish an impartial trust system.

"Honestly, I thought there was a small chance no one liked him."

Yu-ze chuckles, slowing his pace in front of another tree stump with striking white bark.

"What about yourself?" Hoku asks, looking toward him to make eye contact, but Yu-ze is fixed on the setting across from them.

"What about myself?"

"You mentioned having little information about their pasts, but does that remark also encompass yourself?"

Yu-ze bends his knees and slowly lowers himself next to the tree stump.

He pulls at something stiff under his robe.

Hoku intently avoids looking at it for too long.

'No… it appears too slender to be a sword.'

Yu-ze pats the smooth and ghostly pale surface of the stump.

Hoku is far removed from relenting—he accepts it, generously bowing his head.

"Tell me, Hoku, what specifically are you asking me about?"

His brows furrow.

Did he misunderstand my phrasing?

Before Hoku can attempt to reword his inquiry, Yu-ze's resonant tone is already humming into the entrance of his ears.

"My first and only memories of life outside this sequel are in a white room, with other children. I may be wrong, or confused with an alternate event, but I hold a notion that my final retention in your world ended with the sound of heavy rain and gunfire."

The Memoir Chapter 9

This section's objective is the same as the last. 

Rule 14

Memories are a concept derived from creation. It is impossible to forge memories in the sequel and equally impossible to reserve them from another universe. Any living being with such ability will be targeted by the designated monstrous lifeforms inhabiting the timestream.

Do not speak of a past that has never existed. There is only what remains in your presence.

-The Memoir Chapter 9 end-