Infinity, Part 2
Borshua region, Kingdom of Acros.
Shirone, trudging along a rough mountain path, suddenly stopped.
"Huff! Huff!"
Nade, panting with his tongue lolling like a dog as he climbed, planted a hand on the ground and looked back.
"What's up? You worn out?"
"It's gone."
"Huh?"
Iruki, who'd been leading, turned around and dropped onto his butt with a thud.
"Take a breather. What happened?"
"One of the simultaneous incidents disappeared. Or maybe I'm the one who can't sense it anymore."
"Where?"
"Imir's mind. More precisely, the presence that was caught in Geffin's Hand of God vanished at that moment."
"Geffin?"
It wasn't an actual griffin, but explaining it in detail would take too long.
"Anyway, the signal cut off. It means the quantum signal isn't entangled with me here."
Nade cocked his head.
"How's that possible? Quantum signals transcend time and space. How do you block them?"
"There isn't a way—at least not in this universe. The only possibility is…" Shirone rested his chin on his hand. "The me who exists in Imir's mind and the me who exists now have become completely different people."
Nade went pale.
"You don't mean—he's dead…"
"No. That can't be. The me here is alive and fine."
His friends could tell, indirectly, that Shirone's life was still linked to the other him.
Iruki said, "If he's not dead, maybe some kind of level-up happened? But you're the Infinite mage."
"Even if that were the case, the quantum signal would be in superposition. Then the—" Shirone trailed off.
"Outside the universe."
If information from outside the universe had combined in Imir's mind, even the Ultima system could be cut off.
'What happened?' He wanted to check right away, but the Shirone inside Imir's mind didn't seem inclined to do so.
"It won't change anything. Let's proceed as planned. When that side's mission is finished, we'll find out."
Iruki shook himself and the three resumed the steep trail.
"This is killing me. I don't even know where we are. Aren't we wasting time?"
Iruki tapped his temple. "According to my mental map, no demon army passed this way. Of course the road's rough."
They reached the summit as the sun set. The three of them grimaced and gagged.
"Ugh!"
A horrific stench hung in the air.
"Looks like the smell's trapped in a bowl of mountains. The air itself is different. What on earth…"
Iruki peered down the slope, but the valley was shrouded in clouds so dense even the moon was hidden.
"Let's go."
The descent was faster. Following Iruki's internal map, they reached mid-mountain.
"What is this…"
They came upon the fence of a small village of roughly a hundred households.
A sign at the village entrance was shattered; dried blood made any writing unreadable.
"Let's go in."
Only the creak of wind-tossed shutters disturbed the silence. A body lay sprawled on the road.
"Hoo!"
Crawling maggots covered the corpse; it had decomposed to the point even wild animals would ignore it.
Iruki picked up a branch and prodded the body. "Bludgeoned in the head."
"Demons?"
"Too far from any route for that, and the buildings are too intact to be demon work."
"Then maybe it's a side effect of Emotion Sickness…"
Shirone shook his head. "Not impossible, but Emotion Sickness would spread southwest from Tormia. This is northeast—exactly the opposite side of the infection route."
Iruki tossed the branch aside. "Let's look around. There could be survivors."
The closer they got to the village center, the more corpses they found. Each one had been struck in the head with a blunt instrument.
"Shirone, over here."
Nade pointed to a wall where, in blood, someone had scrawled, "I am king."
Beneath the writing slumped a man's corpse, wrists severed, sitting as if in a defeated pose.
"Shirone, do you know him?"
"No. It's been twenty-two years; I can't ID him by face. If we at least had a name—"
Nade rifled through the man's clothes. "There's something." He pulled out a letter and checked it. "Can you read it?"
"Yeah. Shirone, light."
Nade stepped closer and Shirone and Iruki squeezed in on either side. Together they read.
- My love, something's wrong. I can't stand this anxiety. That woman—yes, the one who never reveals her name. She claims she has no name—but ever since she came, everything's gone mad.
Nade's whisper brushed Shirone's ear as he read on.
- Remember, dear, while we were born and raised in this village, did we ever meet anyone from outside? That wicked woman deceived the village chief with sly words and ruined everything. And in the end… she even took our child as a sacrifice.
At that moment Shirone's gaze snapped to the man's severed wrists with a chill.
- I must confess something. When I was young, I once met someone from outside the village. I hurt my leg gathering herbs and got lost; he saved me by the wondrous power of the god Yor. He taught me the heart of love.
Iruki thought, 'A member of the Yor order. Met while on missionary work?'
- I've kept it secret because… you know how afraid the villagers are of outsiders. But I know. This world is filled with the god's love.
'They fear the outside,' Shirone thought, his eyes darkening.
- That woman! Vicious, ferocious witch! A demon! I'm terrified the villagers would believe her. Yes! It's like they're dreaming—the whole village seems awake but dreaming.
'Some kind of hypnosis?' That would be the easiest explanation, but Shirone felt something was missing.
'No, it's not that.'
- I'm going to follow the village chief to the god's sanctuary. Maybe I can wake the people from their dream. Only I can do this.
The woman continued on the next line.
- I'm tired of fighting you. It's the villagers who are mad, not me. Look at our newborn son. Take Reas and run. If you don't believe me, we'll lose our boy.
Nade read the name at the end. "My wife, Ravika."
Shirone pulled up Omega's record in his five-dimensional cube library.
'There are quite a few.'
Many women named Ravika existed across the universe; some belonged to other civilizations. But among species capable of crossing the speed-of-light barrier, only the Terraforce existed.
'Individually it's different…but for this region and year, there's exactly one match.'
Only information up to age seven came up, so her current age would likely be twenty-nine.
"This is Kashiram Village. Settled two hundred and thirty years ago by war refugees. They've lived isolated and self-sufficient for a long time," Iruki said.
"The number of corpses is small compared to the number of buildings. Looks like many went to that so-called god's sanctuary mentioned in the letter."
Nade rose into the air and pointed ahead. "Shirone, Iruki. Go that way."
They followed where Nade flew and found a completely collapsed building.
It was the largest structure; the materials were charred black as if fire had consumed them.
"Village hall. Why would they burn it?" Shirone cast Hand of God and the massive luminous hand gripped the building.
When he lifted a chunk, the hall's horrific interior was revealed.
Charred bodies lay with gaping mouths, limbs twisted.
"A fight happened here."
Setting the debris down, Shirone inspected a stone wall that had fallen near the stage.
"The building must've collapsed in the blaze. Maybe something didn't burn."
With his Hand of God he lifted a plank-built barricade.
On the left was a message from the village chief.
- Worship. I, messenger of the god, declare: by burning the place of return you may enter the god's sanctuary.
On the right was an announcement.
- The village hall will be burned at 5 PM. Attendance is mandatory. Those with excuses or who won't attend will be punished by the god. Do not bring food; there will be a rite to atone everyone's sins with the blood of a pure child.
Nade said, "The wording is…normal, but the meaning is monstrous."
"They called it madness," Shirone said. "Anyway, let's find this so-called sanctuary." The village, decorated with both murder victims and suicides, tested their nerves.
Shirone reached a cluster of storehouses and looked past the mill.
"There are signs of an explosion."
Beneath the cliff lay a huge heap of stones.
"They sealed the entrance."
It was puzzling what force had blasted the entrance closed, given their two-hundred-year isolation.
Iruki said, "Judging by the state of the corpses, it's been at least three weeks. Whatever happened, it's already over."
"We'll see when we go in."
Hand of God moved a large boulder, creating a gap a person could squeeze through.
Inside, stalactites jutted along a winding, narrow path.
"Hello? Anyone there?"
Only Nade's voice echoed back; no answer came.
After some time, Iruki crawled through the tight opening and asked, "Why would they seal the entrance? It's not even wide enough to get out through."
"Maybe to prevent escape?"
"But the village chief went in, too. And forbidding food at the assembly nags at me."
They could guess many things, but nothing would be certain without checking.
A sound came from deeper in the tunnel.
*Krk. Krk.*
"Shh."
Nade signaled and Shirone dimmed the brightness of his Shining magic.
'Infrared vision.'
Activating Miracle Stream peeled back the darkness into a pale green sight for them.
'What the—'
Three people, crouched like rats, had their faces buried in the bellies of dead bodies, gnawing at something.
"Give me the fingers."
Their tone was so calm it sounded to the three like, "Hey, pass the salt."
"Chup chup. Chup chup."
No matter how they tried to look away, the sound replayed in their heads. Nade finally lost it.
"What are you doing here?" When the three around the corpse lifted their heads, their eyes flashed in the infrared view.
"Who's there? Who—"
They couldn't see Shirone's group.
"Speak up! What are you doing—locking the villagers in this cave and—"
"Ahhh! It's a demon! Demon!"
Unlike their invisibility, their speed at fleeing was remarkable.
"They know the terrain. Chase them?" Nade asked as he began to gather magic, but Shirone shook his head.
"No. Let's inspect this first."
The corpse was horribly mutilated; flesh had been almost stripped away.
"I feel like I'm going to vomit."
Unlike Nade, Iruki stayed composed.
"At least they had food. Kept like this, they could last over three weeks. The problem is why." The three of them stared into the cave's depths, cold fury taking hold of their eyes.