“While the voracity of these 'remnant' stories cannot yet be verified, the existence of the demon Teros dates back to the earliest instances of recorded history. This ethereal wraith exists as a blight upon Gaea's children; the seeming manifestation of the planet-mother's own destructive will and he brandishes this will with blatant glee. Known widely simply as 'the destroyer', he has been a burden upon my existence from the moment I became party to the madness that is the restoration of earth.”

Faint sounds – almost echoes – reverberated subtly in the mind of the young man as his blurred vision sharpened into focus. It was the first of his senses to return as he regained consciousness after a lengthily dreamless sleep. His eyes fluttered slightly, blinking as they adjusted to the ambient light intensity of his current location. Oddly enough, his first sight was that of Merricent’s characteristically blue sky. These radiant blues stretched as far as his eyes could see, with just the occasional miss-mash of white and greys dotting the mostly clear skies. The sun shone brightly at the corner of his vision. The sight itself was somewhat relieving, allowing the young man to watch as the sun’s rays refracted off the mostly transparent barrier, creating the various hues and shades of blue above him – like a monochromatic borealis. Such was the effect of the province’s environmental regulation system, or ERS, designed to insulate the city from severe weather and protect its inhabitants from the harsh world that surrounded them. Roun smirked at the sight, which reassured him that he was still within the safety of Merricent, despite nothing else in his surroundings seeming familiar.

To get his bearings, he would need to rely on his other sense. With this revelation, he focused on the echoes, forcing his mind to amplify the faint sounds as his hearing re-engaged.

“Ah, so we’re awake are we?” The strange reverberations sharped into actually discernable words, causing Roun to sit up quickly and turn his head towards the voice.

As he pivoted, the rest of his senses quickly came back to him. Soon the air was filled with the smell of salt, as sea spray floated along on the breeze while the feeling of a hammock beneath his body permeated his sense of touch. Roun’s gaze narrowed at this sensory information, which suggested that he was actually quite far from home. The apartment that he and his brother shared was far more central than his current location, being far enough from the beach that he couldn’t smell or hear it. What was more puzzling was the fact that The Garrison occupied a similar location, being even more central than his own home.

This forced him to focus on the only other thing present that could give him any additional information as to his whereabouts, the odd man that had just addressed him. His eyebrow tipped upwards to denote how puzzled he was as his vision focused on that man, who was sitting in a chair just metres from the hammock that was suspending Roun off the ground. Immediately it became obvious that this man was a channeler; even with his energy signature significantly suppressed it was still rather potent. This made guessing his age an exercise in futility. Needless to say, he looked young – around Roun’s age – but he could have been in his nineties for all Roun knew. What made him stranger was that his attire was nothing like those worn by the ordinary residents of Merricent. While Roun’s clothing was comprised mostly of light fabrics suited to the tropical climate of the small province, this man’s clothing was much more suited to colder climes. His jacket had a fur-lined collar, which matched the cuffs of the comparatively thick coat that he wore. Beneath it, he also wore a turtle-neck shirt and even his pants seemed well insulted.

Roun quickly deduced that he was not a local, and furthermore he could not have been in the island for long because while the temperature regulators of his expansion suit would keep him comfortable, he’d stick out like a sore thumb in the small island province.

Roun’s curiosity now piqued, pushing his analysis of the strange man even further. The next thing that Roun noticed was the man’s olive skin – just slightly lighter than his own – and the two-toned hair that adorned his head. This was quite curious, as this made this stranger rather similar in appearance to the young Itami, but while Roun’s hair was black and gold this man’s hair was black and white. Roun’s gaze narrowed as he took this all in, locking his golden glowing irises with the stranger’s grey eyes before delivering the obvious question.

“Who are you?” He pressed, with his eyebrow tipped upwards as he did.

The target of his question just smiled.

“The name’s Rueben.” The man replied. “Rueben Sol-Itami – I work for your father.”

Roun’s eyes widened at the response, before narrowing once again with suspicion.

“You’re from Genaisa I assume?” He quickly inferred, due to the combination of the stranger’s odd attire and his last name. Rueben simply nodded in reply. “It’d be winter there about now, right?” Roun pressed.

“Yeah, it’d just started snowing when I left the country.” Rueben replied as he leaned back in his chair.

“I see.” So far his story was adding up, but it still didn’t explain exactly where they were, or more importantly why they were there. This forced Roun to press on with his questions. “So, you gonna tell me where exactly we are?” He inquired further, fixing his gaze on the extremely laid-back channeler that sat in front of him.

“My loft – well technically, it’s your father’s loft in the south of the island – Frigaheim parish I think.” Rueben replied somewhat nonchalantly, forcing Roun to once again ask the most expected question.

“Okay, and we’re here why?” Exasperation was building in his voice, much to Rueben’s amusement, but the strange channeler didn’t let on.

“We’re here because this is where I brought you after the incident at The Garrison.” He replied. “I was acting under orders from your brother and with permission from your father.”

“—under orders?” Roun muttered with confusion, his mind racing as he tried to put the pieces together and figure out what exactly was going on.

“Well I suppose ‘orders’ is a bit too stern of a word.” Rueben shook his head, watching as the figurative gears turned in Roun’s. “I was asked to bring you here while Kairi ‘cleaned up your mess’, more specifically.”

“My mess – that asshole – how does he figure that this is still my fault?” Roun growled with annoyance.

“Well, you were the one who manifested the golden flame, which got the Rogues even more interested in you—” Rueben explained. “—and this was after you’d already let that cat out of the bag with your ability to manifest veranos. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Rogues were clamouring to get their hands on you – hook you up to some machines and figure out the source of all of these mysterious abilities of yours.” He chuckled.

Roun’s eyebrow tipped upwards at the revelation before his gaze sharpened and focused in on Rueben once more.

“Getting you out of there for a while was probably the best course of action. Luckily, Kairi was clever enough to do it while the Rogues were still regrouping from Teros’ attack.” Rueben continued.

“That still doesn’t explain how you got mixed up in all of this.” Roun retorted with mounting suspicion of the stranger.

“Your dad and mine go way back. Shin really helped our family out when we first moved to… Genaisa.” Roun’s gaze sharpened as he took note of the pause. “So I’m happy to return the favour in any way that I can. When he told me about Kairi’s call for help, I was on the very next flight to Merricent.” He explained.

“Fair enough, but this still seems pretty drastic considering…” Roun scoffed as he went over everything in his head. “These damn Rogues are just seeming more and more shady, the more I learn about them.”

“Yeah… welcome to the real world, buddy.” Rueben chuckled. “Shady is kind of the name of the game in this place, working in the shadows and dealing under the table seems to be the only way to get things done while keeping the peace.”

Roun’s gaze narrowed once again at Rueben’s strange statement, which set off mental alarms for a number of reasons.

“What?” Rueben’s own eyebrow tipped upward at this point, yet another characteristic that he shared with Roun.

“Nothing.” Roun just shook his head, opting not to interrogate his would-be saviour any further.

So far it was very apparent that this strange channeler from Genaisa knew more than he was letting on, and his odd choice of words only made his cryptic statements even more intriguing. As such, Roun thought it best not to put him on guard with any more questions, instead deciding to change the subject.

“This place seems familiar…” He fished now.

“Hmm.” Rueben pondered the statement briefly. “Actually, I guess it should. It’s one of your dad’s old safe houses after all.” He explained. “He would’ve probably taken you here after the first attack – while he packed up and prepared to leave for Genaisa. I’m pretty sure the zeta-dampers are even the original ones he would’ve used, so the energy signature should be pretty much identical – if you can even remember all of that.”

Rueben watched as Roun’s eyebrow tipped upwards, causing him to chuckle lightly.

“Well, that was about fourteen years ago…” He added.

“Yeah, I was seven.” Roun recalled the memory with vivid detail. “I remember it perfectly.”

“Ah right, that eidetic memory of yours.” Rueben smirked, but once again Roun’s gaze narrowed at his statement.

“How much did Kairi and my dad tell you about me?” He inquired.

“Not much really.” Rueben shrugged. “I only know what was in your file – and not even all of that since I barely got a chance to peruse it on the flight over.”

Roun’s eyebrow shot upwards at the statement. “What file? Why would there be a file on me?”

Rueben just looked confused by the question. “There are personnel files on all Itami Enterprises staff, there’s even one on your dad.” He watched as Roun’s confusion just grew. “—and I’m guessing your dad didn’t tell you any of this.”

Rueben sighed heavily as he realised just how out of the loop this young channeler was.

“So I’m going to go out on a limb and assume that if he hasn’t told you about the company, he hasn’t told you about the haima’sa, the origin of veranos or these new flames of yours?” He continued, causing Roun to shake his head.

“The first time I heard the term haima’sa was when me and Kairi met with Harry Benet – but those two are just as cryptic as you are so I still have no idea what any of this is about.” Roun explained.

“Man, Shin is serious about confidentiality.” Rueben just laughed lightly to himself. “Considering how high your synchronisation is with the guardian spirit, I would have at least figured he’d have talked to you about that.” He shook his head.

“Guardian spirit?” Roun puzzled, his mind snapping back to the dark-skinned, blonde-haired female that he had seen just before the eruption of his gold flames. “You clearly know a lot more about what’s going on than I do.”

Rueben just laughed lightly at the statement. “Yep, that’s pretty obvious at this point. Unfortunately it’s really not my place to share any of this information. Lady Synchros will reveal herself to you when the time is right – and Shin will fill you in on the rest when he sees fit.” He explained. “Until then, you should get some rest and try to keep your channeling to a minimum.”

“I’m fine.” Roun scoffed at the suggestion. “My wounds are healed and my channeling feels like it’s already back to a hundred percent.”

“That’s good to hear… but it’s not what I meant.” Rueben shook his head. “Until I’ve been given the all-clear by your dad, there’s still a good chance that the Rogues are going to be looking for you. So even with the zeta dampers that this place is equipped with, we really shouldn’t be pressing our luck… I’d hate to risk a fight with them so soon after the Teros battle.”

“Right.” Roun rolled his eyes. “So I guess I’m stuck here with you.”

“Don’t sound so enthused, man.” Rueben chuckled lightly, before taking note that Roun was once again squinting. He watched as the youngster turned his attention to the sun and its position in the sky, which had shifted slightly since he awoke.

“What time is it anyway?” Roun questioned at this point, noting that the sun was almost completely overhead.

“About twelve-thirty, I think.” Rueben replied with a shrug. “Why?”

“Great… that mean’s I’ve slept away half of the day.” Roun growled lightly at his predicament, but once again his words only brought a slight smile to Rueben’s face.

“Actually, it’s twelve-thirty on Sunday afternoon, bro.” Roun’s eyes widened in shock at the revelation. “You’ve been unconscious for a full day and a half.”