Rising Shards

Oka, Kalei, Lillia, Tik, and I watched intently as the vision of my father’s past played out before us. He was at the “choosing ceremony,” where future leaders were picked. While my mother was fidgeting and anxious during the ceremony, my father was stoic and intense.

“He wanted to win this really badly, huh?” I said.

“He did, yes.” Tik said.

“How well did you know him?” Oka asked.

Tik was pensive, but the loud noises from Kitty’s Recreant Protocol opening ceremony could have been stalling her as well. “I…was in contact with his sister much more than him. But we met briefly a few times before I really knew him after his exile. In every encounter, he mentioned wanting to be chosen.”

River Kathron, my father’s sister. My aunt, then. I had pretty much pieced that together, and it wasn’t like Tik was trying to hide that. But hearing it out loud gave me an immediate, desperate longing. I didn’t want River to be like my parents. I wanted just one more family member that wasn’t like them. But River wasn’t at this ceremony, so Tik didn’t bring her up again.

We continued to watch as my father’s younger self remained focused on the stage.

“Your powers are impressive,” Lillia said. “And this is an accurate representation of the past?”

“It’s almost like time travel,” Oka marveled.

“If I have the right tethers, it can be incredibly accurate,” Tik said. “It took a very long time for me to understand my powers, but I’m glad I can use them for this.”

“What’s the farthest back you’ve seen?” Kalei asked. “Like can you go back to ancient times? See the first Cani get here or whatever?”

“The most I can go is a few generations in the past,” Tik said. “Familial tethers weaken the higher you go on a family tree.”

“Ah,” Kalei said. “Still pretty good.”

“Just ‘pretty good’ to make a whole vision of the past so accurately?" I asked, maybe a bit too defensively. "Without any dream crap added in like in the void?”

“Really good would let us speed through this boring part with the speeches,” Kalei said. “While these old dudes are yapping about honor or whatever, who would you pick, this or another Kitty and Penteldtam speech?”

“Kitty and Penteldtam’s speeches are complete nonsense, and a total waste of time,” Oka said. “And I’m watering that down to a milder take on it, given that they’re family, so yeah. But this one…”

“It ends badly.” I said, glad Oka and I were still holding hands. I thought about how this would probably be what it would be like if we went to a horror movie; us tightly holding onto each other like this to get through the scariness. And then most likely Kalei nearby riffing on everything.

“So kinda lose-lose then.” Kalei said.

Finally, the speeches wrapped up, and the names of the chosen were rattled off. As the last name was called, my father started to stand up before he realized his name wasn’t spoken.

“Ha.” Kalei said. “That’s what you get.”

It was maybe too serious an event to laugh at like this, but none of us could help it. Kalei’s commentary did a great deal to lighten the load of seeing my parents’ past. And after everything he put us through, it was kind of nice to see him as the butt of the joke as he stood there, stunned and humiliated that he wasn’t chosen.

“So I bet he snaps here,” Kalei said.

My father stormed away, disoriented as he fled the crowd rushing to cheer at the group of teens that somehow made it to the stage. After more than a few people bumped shoulders with him, he veered to the side, bumping into one of the cables. It was sturdier than I expected, as I gasped the instant he came into contact with it.

“Is this it?” I asked.

Tik squinted, analyzing every second. The distant look had left Dad, all I saw in his eyes was rage now, a terrifying sight. He reared back and kicked at the base of the cord. Over and over. Everyone near him was too focused on cheering to stop him. Finally, the bolts on the base gave way, and the cord flew upward so quickly we could barely process it.

“Called it.” Kalei said.

Then the screams of joy turned to ones of fear. Horrible grinding sounds roared above, the ground shook, and dust covered the view. And with the dust, the vision ended.

“And we’re all still alright?” Tik asked. “If anyone needs a moment, just say the word."

“I couldn’t even see the guy bite it,” Kalei said. “That was pretty tame.”

“I couldn’t either,” I said. It still happened. And we still watched the collapse that caused it, but it wasn’t as bad as I feared. Still… “So that was what happened? Dad kicked the cord and wrecked everything?”

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