Sunny Changye
Sunny wasn't what you'd expect from Changye. The gigantic bagua platform simply doesn't allow it. Even at the Upper Changye, where the sky's opened, there's still a layer of protection that dims the sky, making Changye a city of eternal dimness and deprived of sunlight.
The sun has long betrayed us. It gives little, enough to sustain our battered world, but never enough to let us feel its warmth again. That big ball of fire had grown quiet.
So it was… disturbing. Like a father that had long abandoned you suddenly appearing on your doorsteps, claiming that he finally cares.
These spots of sun had become somewhat of a beacon. Changye citizens are superstitious. But many of them are simply fools who dared to reach out to these tiny suns and got incinerated.
The OB had every block that had them and refused entry. Causing a riot that made the citizens who had homes in said blocks to cause a bloodbath, thousands who had lost everything because of an Anomaly.
It was a bloody sight and since my apartment was near one of these blocks… I became homeless. Forcing me to take my dimenbag and what little I have back in the office where Boss Kei was cautiously standing behind Sai, using the full-metal doll as a shield. Sai seems amused by it, rather than offended. Boss Kei was… well, she's not exactly doing good with the sudden appearance of the sun - the sweat making her tasteful black bra visible underneath the shirt. Maybe I had stared too because she turned toward me, with a half-annoyed, half-lazy stare before turning her attention to the anomaly that was making her sweat again.
The boss is dazzling when she takes interest in these things. It's one of the many things that draws me into the path she follows. Changye is a place where you find people you agree with, see if they are people worth it, and then ride and die with them.
I stood next to the Boss. Then dared to look at the tiny sun that she was looking at.
"Like moths to a flame."
Boss Kei fishes out a marble from her pocket and flicks it on the tiny sun, the marble easily passing through the tiny sun without a hint of damage.
"Inanimate objects do not activate its defense mechanism. Sai, what's our current take?"
"We're done throwing with what's nearby, Ma'am."
"So you've been throwing things? Have you tried meat yet?"
She held chin and squinted.
"We're going to. We already know it scorches living things. So we don't have to bother throwing someone in that to know they do. Lots of insects around and they were strangely unaffected, I think there was a roach?"
Sai projected footage of said roach flying past the tiny sun without a single damage.
"Anything else?"
"No," Sai squeezed her realskin eyelids. "Most of the insects are untouched."
"Assistant, help me throw some of the slices. Make sure that you get both real and fake."
I went inside the office, got the strips of meat clearly labeled by the Boss. The real meat was near empty, while the fake, factory-grown meat was barely untouched. She also bought this expensive, Upper-Changye product that I'd rather not ask about.
I watched the tiny sun for a moment longer before turning to Kei. The real meat got burned, while the fake one didn't.
"What do you think about it, Boss?"
Kei leaned on her teleforce cane, eyes still fixed on the floating ball of light. She stayed quiet for a few seconds, then let out a long breath.
"They're like anomalies. Not exactly the same, but close enough. I got a theory. That certain Magus rushed so hard he tore through reality itself. Left spots behind. Like holes punched through the bagua. The sun's leaking in through the cracks he made."
She tapped the tip of her cane against the floor.
"Doesn't feel random. Nothing that powerful ever is."
Sai, who had been quietly scanning the anomaly the whole time, turned her head toward us. Her eyes flickered with that uncanny focus she gets when processing data.
"Analysis confirms they are tiny suns. Genuine ones. The difference is that they are trapped in this thin layer of reality. It keeps them stable. Allows them to remain in the area without melting everything around them. Like a pocket that holds them in place."
She paused, then added in that calm, almost polite voice of hers.
"If the Pale Magus truly caused this… then these spots are scars. Not accidents."
Kei gave a small, tired laugh and shook her head.
"Scars that burn people alive when they get too close. Lovely. Just what this city needed. More ways to die."
I looked back at the floating sun. Even from this distance it felt wrong.
"So what now?" I asked.
Kei shrugged, already turning away from the window.
"Now we log it. Record everything we can. Sell the data like always. And stay the hell away from those things unless we want to end up as another crispy corpse on the evening news."
She started walking back toward her desk, voice trailing behind her.
I sat down at my workstation and started logging the information. Tiny suns. Reality scars. Possible leftover damage from the Pale Magus tearing through the sky. I typed it all down like always, neat and clean for the records. But my eyes kept drifting.
Boss Kei was standing near the window, arms crossed, back turned to me. Her hair had grown long now, falling down her back in a messy wave. The white shirt she wore was damp from the heat, sticking slightly to her skin. I could see the line of her neck, the sharp edge of her clavicle, and the black bra peeking out where the top buttons had come loose.
Mai's words kept echoing in my head. For a second I felt juvenile, like some horny kid sneaking glances instead of doing his job. I forced my eyes back to the screen and kept typing.
Then the work phone rang.
Boss Kei picked it up fast. The argument started almost immediately.
"No, we're not sending anyone— Because it's not our lane, that's why… Yes, I'm aware a bigger one appeared… Okinawa? Are you fucking kidding me?"
Her voice got sharper. She paced while listening, free hand clenched tight. After a few more heated exchanges she suddenly threw the phone across the room. It bounced off the wall and clattered onto the floor.
She leaned back against her desk, running a hand through her long hair.
"We have a problem."
I turned in my chair. "What is it?"
Kei exhaled slowly, staring at the ceiling like it personally offended her.
"There's a bigger sun that appeared. In Okinawa."
I frowned. "How is that our problem?"
She gave me a tired look.
"A warp hole appeared. Meaning at the moment, Changye and Okinawa are connected."
I felt the words settle heavy in my chest. A warp hole. Direct connection between two cities separated by an ocean. That wasn't just bad.
That was a very big problem.
I leaned back in my chair and let out a long breath.
"Shit."
A warp hole. Fuck.
I sat there trying to wrap my head around it. If Changye and Okinawa were suddenly connected, that meant there was now a massive tunnel ripped straight through reality between the two places. Not just some small gate or portal but a full-blown passage. The space in-between, the emptiness that should've been ocean and sky and nothing else, was now being forced to hold two cities together like some sick sandwich.
If that hole stayed open too long or got damaged, the pressure would start building. Reality doesn't like being stretched. It would start squeezing everything caught in the middle. The tunnel would collapse inward, crushing whatever was inside like a vice. Ships, planes, whatever poor bastards were flying or sailing between here and there right now would be just gone. Even worse, the distortion could spread. The bagua formations that hold Changye together might start failing. The Fixation could crack. And if the two ends snapped shut… well, everything between Changye and Okinawa would be pulverized into nothing. A whole chunk of the planet just erased because two cities got forcibly linked.
That kind of event doesn't stay local. It ripples. You get reality fractures, anomalies bleeding through, maybe even smaller warp holes popping up all over the place like stress cracks in glass. One big enough hole could destabilize half the land bridge. And if the Pale Magus really was the one who caused it… then this wasn't just an accident. It was the aftermath of something that could break the world again.
I rubbed my face and looked at Boss Kei.
"How the hell are we supposed to help with that?"
Boss Kei gave a bitter laugh and leaned back in her chair.
"We aren't. We care about Anoms. The street-level kind. The kind we can actually do something about without getting turned into red mist. These retards are out of their minds if they think we're qualified to deal with a warp hole between two cities. What, do they want us to poke it with a stick?"
She looked genuinely pissed now, the kind of pissed she gets when people try to drag her into something way above our pay grade.
"Who even recommended us for this?"
Kei didn't even hesitate.
"Matt. That fucking clanker"
I couldn't help it. I cursed under my breath.
"That fucking lich."
Of course it was him. Always playing ten steps ahead, dropping problems on our laps while pretending it's just business. I swear that chrome-plated bastard gets off on dragging us deeper into shit we have no business touching.
Kei just nodded, lighting another cigarette like she was trying to burn the frustration out of her lungs.
"Yeah. Exactly."