Rising Shards

I squinted at my phone screen. If I knew my mom was gonna bug me with some random crap, I wouldn’t have brought it to the beach. I got a text from her that just read, “Did you see this??????????” Then after a minute of waiting, she sent a link of a city street. I thought it was just a clip of a blue tarp flying around and could not figure out what the hell she wanted me to see. After watching the clip a few times, Mom called me.

“Ma, what is this?” I asked.

“Hello to you too,” Mom said. “It happened in East Valataran yesterday and is all over the news.”

She sent a bunch of links to news articles. Going by the headlines like “PYRE CANI BRAWL IN EAST VALATARAN STREETS,” “NEW BLUE HERO GUY? WHAT THE HECK?”, and “BLUE CAPED FLYING DUDE TAKES DOWN POWERFULE PYRE CANI GANG,” (that last one did have that typo in it), that blue tarp was a cape, and it was some wannabe superhero dude flying around fighting…evil, I guess?

“You sure this isn’t a hoax?” I asked. “I can barely make this guy out.”

“I’ll try to find the clip they’re showing on the news,” Mom said.

The next clip she sent was a lot clearer. The blue tarp was actually a cape that had a masked guy attached to it. A group of tough looking folks were advancing on blue guy, who flew around them and took them out in a few strikes.

“It’s just a Cani that can fly really fast fighting some dudes,” I said. “Big deal? What’s with you?”

“It’s not just a flying Cani, it’s a lesson,” Mom said. “I want you to avoid doing whatever that guy is up to.”

“You saying I can’t take on a Pyre Cani gang?” I asked.

“Quite the opposite, you are tough as nails, but this is Mom’s orders. You may think it’s cool, and it is, but my dear, dumb daughter is gonna get a bunch of broken bones if you try to be a hero in this manner.”

Where was this coming from?

“I’m speaking from experience!” Mom said. “I lost a whole season because the last time a vigilante hero craze went around, Midnight Moon Woman was among them, making the rounds. I tried emulating her, and busted my wrist. Then you know what happened? Midnight Moon Woman breaks the same bone.”

“Are you saying…are you Midnight Moon Woman? Who the hell is Midnight Moon Woman?”

“God, I wish I was her,” Mom said. “Can you imagine the confidence needed to wear an outfit showing that much ass off?"

"I'm hanging up now," I said.

"No, hear me out! I’m saying that even these hero types can break bones. Every couple of years you see a group of powerful folks, Cani or no, do some of this hero business, and I want to jump on it now before this takes off. Stick with the Cani stuff at school.”

“Ma, quit bugging me, I’m on vacation,” I said.

“Fine, but we’re gonna have a talk about this later,” Mom said. “Ask your teachers about it too, but only listen to them if they have the same opinion I do on this matter. They can probably explain the difference between what we do and what they do better.”

I didn’t want to spend the rest of my beach day getting annoyed by my mom. As the sun set over our little beach trip, I rejoined my friends and looked out at the water. I got some mushy soft feelings. With how stupid and inconsistent my school was about letting us out into the world, I wasn't sure when I'd get a chance like this again until summer. I figured the only way I'd be seeing a sunny beach in the middle of winter is if I won a tropical getaway trip.

I looked out at the waves, sitting by Lillia, the Matora sisters, Marmalade, and Michi. Zates and Oaks were busy doing girlfriend business, but they made it through about five minutes of a volleyball game before Oka socially self-destructed by being hot for her girlie, so I was proud of them.

“What was that about?” Ko asked.

“My mom was sending me some clip of some superhero guy?” I said.

“Ohhhh, that blue cape guy?” Kai asked. “Yeah, I heard about that, pretty sick.”

“I don’t really get how it’s any different from what we do,” I said. “How come I don’t get a news report for all the void monsters I fight? Or beating up a giant monster version of Ovie?”

“Maybe cuz we do void stuff in the void,” Ko said.

“So we gotta branch out is what you’re saying,” Kai said, cracking her knuckles. “Alright, let’s move out to East Valataran and knock some heads in.”

“I’ll pass,” I said. I knew there was a lot of fighting out west in the stupidly geographically named East Valataran. Not so much like war from the sound of things, more like a bunch of Cani going nuts with powers? I kinda half paid attention when it came up in class because I hate its name that much. That’s where Tik and her group were from.

“Lillia, what do you think?” Ko asked.

“I would need more information about this new fellow,” Lillia said. “But from what I understand, when a hero fad begins, they get the most attention do to the scale and scope of their deeds. We may accomplish a lot as Cani, but in the grand scheme of things, we’re building a sandcastle while they’re standing atop skyscrapers, metaphorically speaking.”

I squinted, not getting any of this. “So like this hero fad is a for real thing? Like the Infinites movies but like…actual…?”

“They are not typically found in any states in the VCV outside of East Valataran,” Lillia said. “The hero fad is much more common in other countries. Quandary, the nation north of Novu where Rain is from, is a hotbed for this kind of thing.”

“Why doesn’t this make the news more regularly then?” I asked. I kinda hated feeling in the dark about this. What was I, sheltered like Zeta or something?

“Maybe they wanna keep it secret,” Marmalade said. “Or I dunno, it’s a big world, we can’t know everything going on in it.”

“I guess,” I said. This wasn’t the only thing I’d hear about on the beach that day that had me befuddled. Though the next one really rocked me.

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