[57] Gauge Symmetry (3)
"Shiina! Keep your eyes open! Pull yourself together!"
"Brother! Sa—save me…!"
Shiina was nowhere near able to calm down. And there was no way the two small children could ford the river with their physical strength. Armin realized he had to do it alone.
'I just need to get us to the Delfons area. From there the river fans out into a delta and the flow will ease. At this speed we'll be there in about twenty minutes.'
Twenty minutes? It felt like an eternity. Could he endure the rapids for twenty minutes with a dazed Shiina?
'Stupid thought. There's no other choice.'
Armin steeled himself. The world before his eyes seemed to twist grotesquely. Broken logs were rushing downstream. He twisted his body with everything he had. Even if muck filled his eyes, even if a massive boulder slammed down, even if sharp wood sliced his skin—he kept moving, counting on the same resolve.
'Just a little more…just a little more!'
He felt Shiina's tiny hand pinch his waist. The helplessness of a fragile life trusting everything to him was bitter, but an even stronger sense of duty sharpened his mind.
After what felt like hell itself, the distant lower reaches came into view. But the path to them was blocked. A fallen tree jammed the channel.
"Shiina, listen carefully. We have to get around that. The only way is to go under the water. I'm going to hold you down. Hold your breath and hang on until I bring you back up. Got it?"
"Brother! I'm scared! I can't do it!"
"You have to. You can do it. Trust me!"
"Brother! O—!"
When they entered where two whirlpools met, the current more than doubled. Taken by surprise, Armin gritted his teeth. With only their heads above water, the flood's debris bore down like monsters.
Armin kicked until his legs cramped. Sharp things slashed his body. He bled steadily and his core temperature dropped, fainting at the edges of consciousness. Still, they reached the jammed tree. Even up close there was no option but to go beneath the water.
"Shiina! Now!"
Armin timed the incoming trunk and, just before impact, pressed down on Shiina's shoulder.
"Now!"
Shiina's scream was swallowed by the water. As he forced her under, the wet log's jagged bark filled his vision. But every nerve was focused on the hand pressing Shiina down. When she passed under the trunk he released his grip.
'Done! It worked!'
Armin let a faint smile cross his face as he watched the log approach. He was glad he'd saved Shiina. Still, he didn't close his eyes.
"Brotherrr!"
He heard, faintly, Shiina's voice as she was swept downstream.
That was where Shiina's story ended. The children lowered their heads in silence.
"They drifted to the Delfons area and were rescued by villagers. Because they'd passed the forested zone there were no hazardous structures, and the unconscious Armin, who'd been swept along, came to where I was. People from the school came and treated him, but the diagnosis was permanent ocular damage. After that, my brother lost his sight."
"I see. They went through all that…."
"My brother personally taught me how to overcome fear. Thanks to him I was able to control my overflow episodes. But he lost his sight. The greatest talent in the school's history…just stopped like that."
Shirone felt his chest tighten. To lose one's sight was almost to lose everything. You couldn't read books; learning magic would be severely hindered. He didn't need to see Armin's face to know how crushed he must have been.
"I heard my brother came here three years ago, so I went to meet him. He said he was developing a painting style that draws with light. That's why I volunteered to be his model."
"I see. We were wrong to jump to conclusions…we shouldn't have assumed an affair."
Assuming their relationship was illicit had been an insult. As the mood darkened, Armin brought out tea and pastries.
"Am I interrupting? Shiina doesn't bring up old times often."
"Brother."
"Let's have some tea first. It's not much, but it has my wife's secret—so it should suit you."
"Ah, thank you. I'll enjoy it."
Shirone and the others accepted the teacups gratefully. Though Armin had become a painter, he had shown magical genius some twenty years earlier. Even if fate had been cruel, these aspiring mages couldn't look down on him.
Back at the canvas, Armin motioned to the seat behind him.
"All right. I need to work. Could you guests wait over there?"
"Ah, yes. Of course."
The three shifted awkwardly with their teacups. When Shiina took her pose on the bed, Neid glanced and asked cautiously,
"Um, sorry to ask, but you're not going to paint her nude, are you?"
Knowing Armin was a painter, they didn't need to pry. But the idea of him painting with Shiina present felt awkward.
"Haha! Even blind, I wouldn't ask my dear sister for that."
"But I heard you wanted her without clothes earlier…?"
"Oh, that was for this." Armin called. "Shiina, could you show them?"
Shiina opened a wardrobe and took out a coat made of silver foil. It reflected so much light it was dazzling. Shirone shaded his eyes with his hand.
"Wow! That's so bright."
"Spirit Zone alone can't let me see things precisely. I coat people and objects with luminescent materials so I can sense the light. In that sense, a foil coat is a very useful tool."
"That's unique. Painting by sensing light."
"Losing my sight let me paint things other artists couldn't. But this will be the last time I paint Shiina. A good patron has appeared and we're moving in a few days. I wanted to capture Shiina's natural feel—the coat dulls that beauty."
Shiina's cheeks colored faintly.
"Brother…you're being ridiculous."
"Haha! So what? In my head you're still that nine-year-old brat."
"Enough. Start already. If Keira comes back you won't get any time to work."
Shirone and the others squirmed with a mingled embarrassment and amusement. They had a sibling-like closeness, though not by blood. Shiina had reacted more strongly than usual to the rumor of an affair—perhaps because she harbored some lingering feelings for Armin.
"All right, I'll begin. It's intuitive painting, so I'll finish earlier than usual."
When Shiina assumed a modest pose, Armin picked up charcoal and began sketching the rough outline. Shirone and the others watching from behind were struck by his skill. Though his motions looked casual, the lines traced Shiina's silhouette perfectly.
"Wow! Amazing."
"Shh."
Iruki put a finger to Neid's lips. Being blind would be a fatal handicap for a painter; Armin must be concentrating intensely.
But Shirone tilted his head. Something was off. Even without luminescents, Armin was reproducing Shiina's fine features on canvas.
'How is this possible? Is the density of the Spirit Zone that high? Even so, this level of detail…'
If the Spirit Zone were dense enough, a synesthetic perception might allow precise depiction—the way a footprint impresses into clay. But even Jonerin Etelazo hadn't reached such a level, as Shirone knew.
The portrait grew more exact. Shiina wore a rare, radiant smile not often seen at school. Armin used a slice of bread like an eraser to perfect that smile on the canvas.
Shirone breathed admiration inwardly. He'd heard that lips were among the hardest things for a painter to capture—the slightest change at the corner of the mouth alters the whole impression.
'I can't believe it. This is impossible.'
No matter how dense the Spirit Zone, a blind painter catching such nuances made no sense. A chill ran down his spine and the portrait's cold aura seemed to deepen.
"Um…Armin."
"Yes?"
Armin tilted his head, still smiling. Shirone hesitated—if he was wrong it would be a grave faux pas.
"But I can't hold it inside. Is it possible that you…"
He couldn't leave the question unsaid. The portrait's eerie chill had burrowed into his bones.
"Can see?"
Armin's smiling hand froze. He calmly set down the charcoal and turned to Shirone.
"Yes. I can see."
Shirone was speechless. He really could see? Then why hadn't Shiina noticed?
Armin, now facing Shirone fully, untied the cloth that had been covering his eyes. Around the wrapped sockets, countless scars scarred the skin.
'He's obviously injured—but how can he see? No—he'd had his eyes covered from the start. Yet he says he can see…what does that mean?'
"You must have a lot of questions. I'll show you personally."
As Armin slowly opened his eyes, Shirone's breath stopped. There were no pupils—only empty sockets filled with bright light.
"Neid, Iruki! Do you see that? Huh?"
Shirone, panicking, slapped Neid's thigh. But the sensation through his hand was strange—solid, as if touching an actual thing. He turned to his friends; they'd been frozen in shock but now their faces registered astonishment.
"This can't be! How—?"
Neid didn't move a muscle. Iruki simply smiled and stared at the canvas. Shirone hurried to check on Shiina; she was the same—frozen, like a wax doll. Confusion swarmed him as Armin approached from behind.
"It's been a long time since I had guests in my room."
"Could it be…this is—?"
"Yes. That's right. It's the spell Stop."
Shirone turned back, dazed. Stop was a spell only possible for mages capable of harnessing light-speed; throughout history, those who reached that level were counted on one hand. In short, they were experiencing an absolute pinnacle of time magic.
"Please sit. Let's talk calmly. We have plenty of time."
"Haha…."
Shirone laughed awkwardly. If time had truly stopped, then time could indeed be said to be infinite.
"To be honest, I was nervous even while painting. I never knew when Shirone-kun would enter this temporal field."
"How did you know I'd sense it?"
Armin pointed to the light in his empty sockets.
"The organ we call an eye receives light and reconstructs it into visual information. But without eyes, I feel the world through light itself. It's a rather horrific experience. Objects perceived by normal people look entirely different to me."
"You mean Ideals."
There is no guarantee human senses reflect truth. A brick could be jelly; fire could be cold; a lover's sweet kiss could be pain.
"Let me introduce myself properly. I am Armin of the Light-Eye. Among those who know me, I'm called the Perennial Contemplator."
"But Armin, you learned magic when you were young…?"
"Yes. It was an unfortunate accident. I left the Olifer school and wandered the world for fifteen years with no destination—a world of nothing but darkness."