A long silence stretched between Chidi and Lù-Qímiào. Now that her tale had been told, something had shifted. He felt tethered to her, as though they were twin stars born from different skies.
And to think they'd only met that afternoon. What if she hadn't approached him during lunch break with that spark of conversation that lit the fire between them? What if she hadn't followed him into the woods just hours ago?
He would have been long dead. The Robo-Dog would have erased him like the invaders did to his grandfather, the Bearer of the Brace, before passing the Brace to him.
He could almost see it now—his body broken and still on the forest floor, circuitry hissing in the blood-soaked earth, the metallic beast retreating into shadow upon retrieving the mysterious Brace it sought to acquire. No honor in the kill. No warning. Just deletion.
Instead, he was here. Alive. Listening to a girl who had fought like a legend and spoke like a priestess of forgotten truths. His mind was a whirlwind of awe and dread, her revelations carving new corridors into his understanding of the world—and himself.
His thoughts unraveled in spirals until Lù-Qímiào spoke again, breaking the fog.
"The Shinobis are scattered across the earth," she said, her voice low. "Each sworn to guard a fragment of the Panoply: ancient weapons of unspeakable power, once wielded by a celestial warrior who stood between realms. When the warrior fell, the Panoply was scattered, hidden across the world. Each relic bound itself to a bloodline... one piece, one heir."
She paused, letting the weight of her words settle into the solid ground between them like a floating feather slowly dropping.
Chidi leaned in. "And the prophecy?"
"That a girl bearing the Sigil would cross worlds. She'd come to a place not her own: to a continent far from home. There, she'd enter a school where bullets danced like wind... and meet a boy. A boy whose power wasn't trained. Wasn't earned. Just... was. He would be a living node in the great chain of fate."
She paused, voice softening. "The prophecy said I would train him in the Shinobi way. And that together we would find the others."
She turned to him. "So tell me... how do you know about the Panoply?"
"My grandfather," Chidi said slowly. "He used to tell stories. I thought they were just... myths."
"Most myths are truths in exile," she said. "The Panoply is real. Each piece wakes something inside the bearer. Some awaken power. Some, intelligence. Others... memory."
Her gaze dropped to his Brace. "Yours?" she whispered. "It's awakening destiny."
A hush fell again. Even the silence seemed to listen.
Chidi's voice barely rose. "So we're connected. You and I."
"Yes. Not by choice. Not even by fate." She met his gaze. "By design."
"What if I don't want it?" he asked, voice tight, vulnerable.
She sighed gently. "Want has little to do with destiny, Chidi. The real question is... can you bear it?"
Then she reached into her back pocket and pulled out a small bundle wrapped in scorched leather. An old map: its corners frayed, its surface covered in sigils and imprints. She unrolled it slowly.
Under their gaze, the map shimmered: not with ink, but with movement. As their Braces pulsed, so did the map. Paths lit up. Dots flickered to life. One of the brightest dots pulsed right beneath their feet.
Chidi's eyes lit. He remembered the scroll he'd found beneath Grandpa Okechukwu's workshop and how it displayed a similar feature.
"Shortly after my grandfather's death, I discovered a scroll beneath a secret door that does a similar thing like your map?" he said, slow and measured. "Is this some kind of sorcery?"
"It's no sorcery," Lù-Qímiào replied. "It's Ancientech."
"By Ancientech you mean ancient technology?" Chidi further asked.
"Yes! This was drawn centuries ago," she said. "And yet... it knew we'd be here."
"Why me?" Chidi whispered in resignation.
She touched his shoulder, steady and warm. "Why you?" she asked back rhetorically. "Because you don't know who you are yet," she said. "And that's when the most powerful versions of ourselves are born."
~~~
Above, high in the night skies, Mortivore streaked through clouds, black wings cleaving the air as it soared beside a great griffin. The riders, Ikemba and Oboro, were quiet, tension crackling between them like static.
At last, Ikemba broke the silence. "The contract was simple," he said coolly. "Hunt and retrieve one Brace. That was the deal."
Oboro didn't reply. He was waiting for Ikemba to land his point.
Ikemba continued. "The only reason I accepted the job, without a bounty fee, mind you, was because of one detail. Interest. That Brace wasn't just some artifact. It's a sentinel relic. Alive. Ancient. Intelligent. Worth the chase."
Oboro's eyes narrowed. "What are you getting at?"
Ikemba turned his head slightly, dark dreadlocks whipping in the wind. "I want the second Brace."
"No." Oboro's voice was sharp. Final. "That's not going to happen."
Ikemba chuckled: low, ominous. "You misunderstand. This isn't a request. Nor a subject for negotiation. The contract mentioned one Brace. That's yours. But I found the second one. It's mine."
Oboro gritted his teeth. "We retrieve both. The first for my superiors. The second… well, I decide what happens to it."
Ikemba's eyes gleamed. "Then the deal is off."
"You're under contract," Oboro growled. "You don't get to call this off like it's a street bet."
Ikemba tilted his head. "Did you pay me anything for this contract?"
Oboro paused. The answer was no.
Ikemba's smile didn't reach his eyes. "Then we're done here. Get off my griffin," Ikemba commanded.
"What?" They were still gliding high above the earth, clouds swirling beneath them. Oboro blinked, stunned. "You can't be serious."
"You want to bet?" Ikemba said icily.
To prove he meant business, Ikemba tapped his wristband. Mortivore, soaring beside them, responded instantly, eyes glowing red as it locked onto Oboro.
"I've programmed Mortivore to remove you in five seconds if you don't jump off voluntarily," Ikemba said, voice cold as iron. "One…"
Oboro's hand moved instinctively to his belt. His weapon was useless against the might of Mortivore. The Robo-Dog would snipe him out before he could even draw his gun. He knew...
"Two…" Ikemba's voice clicked like a ticking clock.
Mortivore shrieked, wings folding slightly as it readied for a dive.
"Three…"
"All right!" Oboro snapped. "Fine! The second Brace is yours!"
Mortivore relaxed, veering away with a lazy arc.
Ikemba's smile returned, this time genuine. "Glad we could agree."
~~~
Below... in the crypts, the two Braces pulsed softly in harmony.
Chidi stared at the glowing map. "What are these fainter marks? Across oceans, through mountains…"
Lù-Qímiào followed his gaze. "The other artifacts. Each holds a memory of the world before the world. Before language. Before even the stars."
His throat tightened. "And we're meant to... collect them?"
She shook her head. "Not collect. Protect. The Panoply is more than relics: it's a code. A living cipher. When united... it triggers something. Cosmic. The Brace is just the key."
Chidi swallowed hard. "And if someone else gets to them first?"
Lù-Qímiào stood, pulling her cloak close. "Then the world becomes theirs to rewrite. Time. Memory. History. Nothing remains the same."
He looked up at her: this girl who seemed too still to have survived war, too elegant to have spilled blood, too kind to be a weapon.
And yet, she had. And yet, she was.
And for the first time... he wasn't afraid of Mortivore. He was afraid of failing Lù-Qímiào.
She bent down, rolled up the map, and turned to him. "Your turn," she said. "What's your story?"
Chidi hesitated, suddenly unsure. His life seemed... small, beside hers.
"I must warn you that mine doesn't carry the weight yours have," he said with a sheepish grin. "But since you told me yours... I guess I owe you mine. Okay, here goes…"