Crystal Machinations, the title rang through Aion's head, repeating like a constant tick of a clock. Again and again. Persistently and annoyingly, the vague recollections in his head developed into a throbbing headache. Actually, had he had a headache earlier? Shutting his lips tightly, Aion found himself at a loss for when that headache had even started. Perhaps it had been there for a while—lingering behind his numb mind.
"So…um…" Luna spoke up from the long silence. "You went quiet after there was 'nothing strange at all.' I mean, isn't that weird?"
"Do you have something you wish to talk about?"
Luna didn't respond. That's for the best, Aion thought. After all, he needed to organize his thoughts. If he wasn't in a fictional world, what could that mean for him? What could all of this be—a dream? An illusion? Or perhaps some sort of hysteria? Of those choices, a dream was the simplest and most appealing to believe in. The other two both had their own issues. Thus, a dream was his sole choice for now. That was until he had free time to consider it.
"You mentioned this thing called alkali metals earlier," Luna spoke up again.
"What about it?" Aion asked.
"You seem rather knowledgeable to just throw out information like that. So it makes me wonder, how much do you know?" Luna's eyes bore straight into Aion's.
"Uh…isn't that kind of a hard question to answer?"
Additionally, isn't that a weird question to ask? Aion thought to himself.
"I suppose you're right. It's just, you didn't strike me as someone knowledgeable."
"Are you trying to make fun of me?"
Luna let out a surprised noise and said quickly, "No! That's not what I meant at all. It's just…how should I put it…?"
"I don't know, I'm the one who was asked."
"Yeah, I suppose you're right," Luna said with a small laugh at the end. "I guess that someone like you strikes me as just average."
"Average huh?" Aion echoed with a distant smile on his face.
Luna, staring intently at him, didn't show any reaction—leaving her reactionless expression. As the two walked forward through the snow, her gaze didn't break away, causing Aion to glance over at her.
"What?"
"No, it's nothing."
"Is that so?"
"Of course, we both have nothing at all to say."
"So this is just spite?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
Aion sighed. The girl was beautiful—more beautiful than anyone he's seen; however, none of that mattered when she kept droning on. It was aggravating.
"Well, I suppose we each have our own reasons to keep silent about things—I mean, it's not as if we know each other."
Luna clicked her tongue and said, "So you aren't interested?"
"No, and you seriously thought that would work?"
"Yes."
Aion stared in disbelief at the girl, his mouth agape.
"Still, what will it take for you to start talking?"
"Why are you so interested?"
"If I provided that information would you tell me?"
"No, that's a completely imbalanced trade. What the hell is wrong with you?"
"Is it so wrong to want to make a new friend?"
Aion stared directly into her eyes for several long seconds, causing his thoughts to freeze and scatter as he took in the enchanting ruby color; they were magnetizing—like those soul gripping and nostalgic blue eyes—unquestionably distressing. Breaking free, Aion couldn't help but avert his head. To remain facing those eyes was simply too much.
"Friends huh?" Aion whispered, an invisible weight seemed to weigh on those words.
"Is it weird?"
"...No…it's just…what does knowing random passing thoughts I had help us become friends?"
"Friends can share anything, can't they?"
"That's rather misguided."
"No it's not! Friends are there with you at all times and you can share anything with them."
"You're rather adamant on this belief huh?"
"Of course! Just like how my friends can always rely on me, I can always rely on them!" Luna said rather proudly.
Aion made a "hm" sound, deciding to not pursue the topic any further. Such idealistic notions—they weren't fixable. They were mere trifles.
"You're just passing over my offer of friendship like that?" Luna asked with a pout.
"I mean, if you so desire to call us friends, I would oblige."
"What's with that wording?"
"Do you have an issue with it?"
"You were making fun of me weren't you?"
"I only make fun of stupid people."
"That's…"
"I was joking."
Luna laughed awkwardly, and then, as expected, silence set in. What could be said after such a bad attempt at comedy between two people who barely know each other? Ultimately, whatever conversation topics Luna could have dredged from her mind were shattered into tiny, broken pieces of glass that were painful to tread. Such was the nature of the situation—shallow like their newfound relationship.
The two walked in silence. Only the crunch of snow and the whisper of the wind broke the silence. Aion felt his heart calm from the silence; it was comforting—or perhaps the habituated feeling merely reminded him of days from the past. He wasn't quite sure. However, one thing was certain in his mind: he preferred this.
Soon, time passed as the two ventured onward, going from what felt like several minutes, encroaching upon half an hour, and finally treading into an hour. The prolonged silence paired with the tortuously long walk started to get to Aion. He was fine with silence in short spats; after all, something of note would occur and distract him from the difficulties of small talk—leaving him lost. And yet, this walk was much longer than Aion had anticipated, completely destroying his hopes of a short walk to Magna into attempting contact with someone who could help him—leaving him feeling even worse than before.
"How far away is Magna?" Aion, sick of the silence, spoke up.
"Oh, um…" Luna, startled by the sudden initiation of the conversation, took a moment to collect her thoughts. "We have another—"
For some reason Luna stopped for a moment.
"What?"
"If you tell me what you were stopping yourself over earlier I can happily tell you."
"You're still not over that!?" Aion's voice raised in surprise, his volume less than a yell.
"Of course! To solidify our friendship, we must indulge each other in our thoughts."
"You're a God damned freak, I hope you know that."
"You're speaking in nonexistent words again."
"They exist, you just read a defective dictionary."
"Sure~"
"Is it really that big of a deal to tell me how long we have left?"
"Yes."
"Fine, I just got a huge sense of déjà vu."
"Dé…jà vu…?" Luna repeated, a confused expression on her face.
"God damn it," Aion muttered under his breath.
"You're just using your made up words to distract me!" Luna pointed an accusatory finger at Aion's face.
"Déjà vu, it means feeling like you've experienced something before without actually having done so, or something like that."
"Huh…" Luna let out a noise, seemingly surprised that Aion could actually give a definition of the presumably fictitious words.
"Are you that surprised by me giving a definition?"
"Um…no…?" Luna said while glancing away.
"What a poor excuse for a lie."
"Look, I read the dictionary so it's surprising!"
"Why are you so proud of that?"
"Because—" Luna began, placing her hand on her chest with a proud look on her face, "—I'm an intellectual."
"No you're not."
"Hey!"
"No one who calls themself an intellectual over reading a dictionary is an intellectual."
Of course, it's not like he's witnessed that before.
"I'll let you know that I'm very smart for my age."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah!"
"Are people around your age struggling to comprehend basic logic?"
"No!"
"That's surprising."
"You're an incredibly rude individual."
"I'm aware."
"That doesn't make it any better."
"I'm aware."
"..."
"...So are you going to tell me now?"
"Fine…we have about another hour or so."
"Sorry, I think I misheard you, could you repeat that?"
"We have about another hour or so."
"What kind of walk did you go on!?"
"I like my alone time!"
"Four hours of alone time in this cold?"
"Well, technically more since I go further than that shack usually."
"What the hell is wrong with you? Every time I think I've seen how weird you are, you prove me wrong. Only pushing beyond the metric I thought initially."
"Oh yeah, how much time do you spend alone?"
Aion bit his lip and went silent.
"What's with the silence hm? Could it be that you're just as bad?"
"No…" Aion said, refusing to engage with her eyesight.
Luna gave a triumphant smile with a small laugh.
Aion, deciding to stop engaging with the girl, isolated his train of thought on his current situation, waiting for the arrival to Magna.
* * *
As they were approaching civilization, Aion took in the sights around him. The houses were more modern than he expected. He had supposed they would be wooden shacks much like the one he woke up in, instead, the houses looked to have been built within the past forty years.
"This," Luna began, "is Magna."
The similarity to something from his past was striking. Perhaps this dream was pulling from his own memories.
"It's more modern than I thought it'd be," Aion said.
"What? Did you think we lived in wooden shacks or something?"
"...No…"
Luna gave Aion a side eye.
"I think if you wish to contact the outside world, Mr. Dolion or Mayor Magnatium would be the way to go."
"And where would I find them?" Aion asked.
"Mr. Dolion is generally in the museum plus library for Magna. Mayor Magnatium would be rather difficult to contact so I would recommend meeting with Mr. Dolion. If you head straight through this road, make a left, go down, pass the first turn but turn on the right side, or is it the left side? No, it's definitely the right side. And then—"
"Luna!" A loud voice interrupted Luna's less than stellar directions.
A girl with long, black twintails who looked about the same age as Luna was waving with a huge smile.
"Ah, Aria!" Luna smiled in response.
"You're back early," Aria said as she stepped toward Luna, closing the distance between the two. "And here I was expecting to wait another couple hours before I could talk to you."
"Is something the matter?"
"Well…" Aria's smile faded and she said "it's just, Aira was told to come and find you so you can meet with Saint Carter."
"Oh," Luna let out a sound of disappointment.
"So could you go find Aira and report to Saint Carter?"
"Yeah, I can do that."
"Great!" Aria smiled and looked toward Aion's direction. "Hm? Who are you?"
"Ah, I found him on my walk, he was freezing and all alone," Luna said.
"Wow, he must have undertaken quite the journey to get here."
"Yeah, he told me all about the difficulty on the long walk."
"So, what's your name?" Aria looked toward Aion with interest.
"The name's Aion Belial, it's a pleasure to meet you," Aion said politely with a smile.
Luna coughed in response, a brief look of shock on her face.
"Is something the matter, Luna?" Aria asked.
"No, I'm fine," Luna said grinning happily. "Aion is a very nice person, could you show him the way to Mr. Dolion?"
"Alexander huh? I see, I gotcha, I understand," Aria said, eyes closed, while nodding.
"Well, I should get going!" Luna said, "wait, where's Aira right now?"
"She should be at the Magnatium Manor."
Luna gave a brighter smile and said "got it."
Then, Luna dashed off in a hurry, leaving Aion with the new individual Aria.
"So you're Aion huh?" Aria started up a conversation.
"That's me."
"What a peculiar name," she said while twirling into the opposite direction. "Well, let's get going."
Aion obliged and began to follow.
"So, what were you doing out here? I mean, walking all that distance must be difficult."
"Uh," Aion let out a noise of hesitation, unsure of how he should respond. Luna had lied about his origin for some reason, and he wasn't too keen on damaging a relationship over something he didn't have a grasp on. "Well, I…ran away from home…"
Aria stopped walking, turned, and looked into Aion's eyes. The eye contact made Aria's blue eyes all the more apparent. Some foreign, unreadable emotion swam through her eyes.
"Is that so? Well, I suppose I can't judge without knowing the story," Aria replied as she began to walk again.
"I appreciate that."
"Hm~" Aria made a humming noise and said "still, running away from home huh? That's rather interesting. You know, I know someone who ran away from home at one point."
"You did huh?"
Why is she telling me this? Aion thought.
"Yeah, she ran away, shoving everyone away. After that, she was never the same. Perhaps it was because she never resolved anything, or maybe it was because of forcefully bringing her back, anyway, I'm not sure what motivated it. So I suppose I'm just curious about your motive."
"Isn't that a little personal?" Aion asked.
"No need to worry about that, we're friends!"
"Just like that?"
"Is it weird?"
"I…" Aion began but shut his mouth.
"Well, if you don't want to share that's fine. We can spend some more time getting to know each other first. I personally like to hang out with friends doing basically anything. I don't really have any specific interest, anything is fine as long as I'm with friends. How about you?"
"I guess, reading?" Aion said, glancing away.
"Reading? I can't imagine that would be a very fun pastime. I mean, reading about history, the Lunalis faith, or just the dictionary doesn't seem all too thrilling."
"Oh no, I read fiction," Aion said before remembering that Luna didn't even know what the word 'fiction' was.
"Fiction? Never heard of it. Well, I guess to each their own. So," Aria turned toward Aion with an excited expression on her face and asked "what do you think of Luna?"
"Luna?" Aion repeated. He would have to lie since Aria is clearly friends with Luna. "Well, she's nice, I really appreciate her help."
"Yes, she is, isn't she? I definitely think you should get to know her better and befriend her, she could definitely use that."
"Uh, okay," Aion agreed.
"That's great! Luna, she's a really good person. She needs someone in her corner."
"What do you mean by that?" Aion asked, his eyes sharpened.
"Ah, well, you know, she's, um…she's got friends, but no one she can call a best friend, or something like that," Aria answered while shifting a bit.
"I see. I'll help her until I go back home."
"Back home? You're not going to stay for the Winter Solstice? I mean, this is the town Lunalis lived in."
"I might, it just depends on how things go with Alexander."
"That's why you're seeing him?"
"Luna said it was him or Mayor Magnatium, so Alexander was ultimately the better choice."
Aria looked a little puzzled before she smiled and said "well, Alexander is quite something."
"That doesn't mean anything."
Aria laughed and said "yeah, I guess it doesn't. He's just, how do I put this? Pretty different from most of us in Magna. He spends most of his time holed up in that museum while everyone is usually outdoors conversing and working."
Aion looked around and saw that what Aria said was still the case deeper into the town. Several people were constructing some stalls, likely for the festival that Luna and Aria mentioned, while some younger adults were talking here and there.
"Hm?" Aion scanned everywhere again. "Is there a school here?"
"A school? What's that?"
Aion internally sighed and said "a place to learn things like reading and writing."
"Oh! No, not one of those places, they haven't been used for several years at this point."
"Why not? Shouldn't the kids of this town experience that?"
"Ah," Aria seemed to have some realization. "Well, there aren't any kids in this town."
"Huh?" Aion's face twisted in confusion.
That was a completely unbelievable detail for detective fiction. It felt like something that should be in the mystery or horror genre instead.
"Well…" Aria hesitated, a conflicted look on her face as she thought deeply. "It's nothing to worry about. It would just be a long-winded explanation over something boring."
"If you say so."
Of course, it isn't just 'nothing.' Aion knew that for a fact. However, he didn't particularly care enough to pry further into the town's affairs—for such a thing was nothing more than a pointless endeavor.
"And here we are!" Aria showed the building off.
It was rather large, but since it served as both a library and a museum, it made sense. The building looked like one of those public libraries excluding the large glass exterior he often saw back home. The shape was nearly identical from the one back home.
"Well, I'll be off, good luck!" Aria practically bolted out of the place, leaving Aion staring at the structure with a slightly nostalgic look on his face.
Shaking away the feeling, Aion placed his hand on the handle of the large door and pushed it open.