Part 1
A week had passed since Kael's meeting with Commander Thorne at the Chronosentinel Order's headquarters. A week that felt strange and surreal. Kael tried to return to his routine as an ordinary high school student—doing homework, arguing with Leo over trivial things, preparing Elara's lunch—but the image of Lyra with her cosmic scythe and Commander Thorne's offer continued to haunt him. He hadn't given an answer yet. How could he, Kaelen Vance, who preferred to spend his free time reading fantasy novels or playing city-simulation games, suddenly be expected to become a savior of the world or something of the sort?
That morning, Kael was walking to school, his mind adrift. Leo, as usual, was rambling on about a new strategy for the popular online game they were playing.
"...and if we use the 'Lunar Eclipse Gambit' formation, we'll definitely break through their defense! Are you even listening, Kael?" Leo nudged him.
"Huh? Oh, yeah, sounds good," Kael replied absentmindedly.
Leo sighed. "What's with you this past week? You're like a wandering ghost. Something wrong?"
"No, nothing's wrong. Just sleep-deprived," Kael lied. He hadn't told Leo, or even Elara, anything about the Order or the Phantasms. It was too big, too dangerous.
As they neared the school gate, Kael's phone vibrated. Not a call, but a short text message. It was from an unknown number, but Kael had a feeling who the sender was.
The message was brief: Old Shopping District. Sector Gamma-7. Immediately. RV.
Rina Volkov.
Kael's heart pounded. "Leo, sorry, something urgent came up. You go on ahead, okay?"
"Huh? What's so urgent this early in the morning? Don't tell me you're skipping school for a secret date?" Leo grinned suspiciously.
"It's not like that! It's just important. I'll explain later," Kael said as he quickly turned around, leaving a curious-looking Leo behind.
The Old Shopping District was a largely abandoned area, a row of quaint old shops that were now just relics of Stellara's past glory before its massive modernization. The atmosphere was somewhat gloomy and deserted. Kael followed the GPS directions from Rina's message, which led him to a small square surrounded by dilapidated buildings.
Rina was already waiting for him, leaning against the wall of a shuttered shop. She was in her school uniform, but her cold, professional aura was still palpable.
"You came," she stated flatly.
"What's going on? Has... has Lyra appeared again?" Kael asked, a hint of anxiety in his voice.
"No. It's another Phantasm. Small scale, 'Echo' class," Rina replied as she started walking. Kael followed. "Its energy was detected a few hours ago. It's not aggressive, but it's causing minor emotional distortions in the citizens nearby. They're reporting sudden, unexplainable feelings of sadness and loneliness."
They arrived in front of an old toy shop whose door was slightly ajar. From within came the sound of a faint, heartbreaking sob, like that of a small child who had lost something precious.
"Commander Thorne decided this could be an opportunity for you to... try," Rina said, glancing at Kael. "There's no pressure. If you don't want to, our team will handle it with standard procedure."
Standard procedure. Kael remembered how Rina had fought Lyra. It was anything but "pacifying."
Kael swallowed hard. The feeling of sadness from inside the shop was faintly beginning to creep into him, making his chest feel a little tight. This must be the effect of the Phantasm.
"What... what do I have to do?" Kael asked, his voice trembling slightly.
"Use your 'Emotional Resonance,' if it truly exists," Rina answered. "Feel. Understand. Maybe… talk to it." There was a note of doubt in Rina's voice, as if she herself wasn't convinced by this method.
Kael took a deep breath. This was insane. But he also remembered Lyra's sorrowful gaze. If there was another way besides destroying them...
"I'll try," Kael said, more to himself than to her.
Rina nodded, then handed Kael a small earpiece. "This is for communication. We'll be monitoring from outside. If the situation worsens, get out immediately."
Part 2
With a racing heart, Kael pushed the toy shop door wider and stepped inside. The interior was dusty and dimly lit, illuminated only by the faint light from a grimy window. Shelves were filled with worn-out antique toys—porcelain dolls with vacant eyes, wooden toy cars with chipped paint, rusted tin robots. The atmosphere of loneliness and abandonment was thick.
The sobbing grew clearer, coming from a back corner of the shop. Kael walked slowly, trying not to make a sound. The feeling of sadness he felt grew stronger, as if a heavy weight was pressing on his chest. This wasn't just a normal emotion; it was something deeper, purer.
In the corner of the room, sitting amidst a pile of decaying toy boxes, was the source of the sound. Not a real child, but a transparent spectral figure vaguely in the shape of a boy about six or seven years old. He was hugging his knees and sobbing bitterly, his body trembling. A faint light emanated from his form. This was an Echo-class Phantasm.
Kael stopped a few steps away from it, not wanting to startle it.
"What's your status, Vance? What do you see?" Rina's voice came through the earpiece.
"I see it. It… it looks like a little boy, crying," Kael replied softly.
"A boy? Our data doesn't show a distinct humanoid form, just a concentration of emotional energy."
Kael ignored Rina for a moment. He focused on the child Phantasm. He tried to feel what the boy was feeling. Overwhelming sadness, a sense of loss, and… fear. The fear of being forgotten.
"Hey," Kael ventured, his voice gentle. "Why are you crying?"
The child Phantasm flinched in surprise. It lifted its head, and Kael could see its transparent face more clearly. Its eyes were large and full of spectral tears. It looked at Kael with a mixture of fear and curiosity.
The boy didn't answer, only sobbed harder.
Kael tried again. "Did you lose something?"
Slowly, the boy nodded.
"What did you lose?" Kael asked.
The boy pointed a transparent hand towards a nearby empty shelf. "My… my playmate… is gone…" his voice was like a whisper on the wind, full of despair.
Kael looked at the empty shelf. There was a rectangular outline in the dust, as if something had rested there for a long time and had only recently been taken.
"Vance, there's an energy fluctuation. Be careful," Rina warned.
Kael felt the wave of sadness from the Phantasm intensify slightly.
"Your playmate?" Kael asked again. "What was it like?"
The boy shook his head. "Don't remember… just… I'm all alone now…" His sobs grew louder. The light from his body began to flicker erratically.
Kael felt an urge to comfort him, just as he would comfort Elara if she were crying. He remembered Commander Thorne's words: Feel. Understand.
He tried to focus on the Phantasm's emotion, not its form or its danger. Loneliness. That was the core of it all. A loneliness so profound it was painful.
"You're not alone," Kael said softly, the words coming out on their own. "I'm here."
The light from the child Phantasm dimmed slightly, its flickering slowing down. It looked at Kael, its spectral tears still streaming.
Kael slowly crouched down, trying to match its height. "Maybe… we can look for it together?"
The boy tilted his transparent head, as if he didn't understand.
"Your playmate. Maybe it's just misplaced somewhere," Kael continued, trying to offer a reassuring smile.
Somehow, Kael felt a slight shift in the Phantasm's aura. The sadness was still there, but the fear had lessened. There was a tiny glimmer of hope.
This was his first step. A hesitant step, but one that somehow felt right.
"Vance, the negative emotional energy readings around you have dropped significantly," Rina's voice sounded again, this time with a note of surprise. "What did you do?"
Kael smiled faintly. "I'm just… helping him find his lost toy."