Chapter 85: Echoes of Oheyo (Part 3)
The wind rustled the leaves overhead.
Kai sat beside the river.
The forest remained silent.
Too silent.
Not dangerous.
Not peaceful either.
Just...
Watching.
Waiting.
Kai picked up a small stone and tossed it into the water.
Plop.
The ripples spread outward.
His thoughts drifted.
Back to the memory.
Back to Alice's office.
Back to Oheyo.
And the next part surfaced.
"We thought we'd finally get answers."
Alice stared out the massive glass window of her office.
The reconstruction of Asphyxia continued outside.
Workers moved through damaged streets.
Mages repaired structures.
Citizens carried supplies.
Life continued.
Inside the room—
Everyone listened.
"We spent nearly half a year traveling."
Alice continued.
"We crossed forests."
"Mountains."
"Trade routes."
"Monster territories."
"And when we finally reached Oheyo..."
She laughed softly.
"It was worth it."
That surprised everyone.
Alice rarely complimented anything.
"It was that impressive?"
Kai asked.
Alice nodded immediately.
"Very."
"No exaggeration."
"No nostalgia."
"No bias."
"It genuinely was that impressive."
Noah leaned forward.
Now interested.
As an engineer—
Anything capable of impressing Alice interested him.
"We entered through the eastern gate."
Alice said.
"The walls alone were larger than anything I'd ever seen."
"There were magical circuits carved directly into the stone."
"Defensive formations."
"Communication networks."
"Automated systems."
"The walls practically maintained themselves."
Eric immediately sat up.
"What?"
Alice pointed.
"Exactly your reaction."
Eric looked offended.
"Of course that's my reaction."
"We thought we'd entered the future."
Alice continued.
"There were towers dedicated entirely to magical research."
"There were schools."
"Dozens of them."
"There were martial arts academies."
"Workshops."
"Factories."
"Libraries."
"Theaters."
"Everything."
Nish raised an eyebrow.
"Factories?"
Alice nodded.
"Actual factories."
"Mass production."
"Assembly lines."
Noah slowly looked horrified.
"You're telling me somebody beat me to industrialization?"
Alice pointed.
"By several centuries."
Noah looked personally attacked.
"At first we just wandered."
Alice admitted.
"Like tourists."
"Brennan wanted answers."
"But even he spent an entire day staring at random buildings."
Raj nodded.
"He wasn't subtle."
The city welcomed them surprisingly well.
Not because they were drifters.
Because Oheyo was already had them.
That revelation shocked the group.
Drifters weren't rare there.
They were almost common.
Out of one hundred people at least one is a Drifter.
"There were people from dozens of worlds."
Alice explained.
"Hundreds probably."
"Different cultures."
"Different technologies."
"Different histories."
Kai frowned.
"Hundreds?"
Alice nodded.
"At least."
"It was the first time we realized just how big everything really was."
Eventually—
The group requested an audience.
With the ruler of Oheyo.
The man known as Vaan.
"We expected a king."
Alice said.
"We expected an emperor."
"We expected somebody grand."
She shrugged.
"What we got was a man drinking tea."
Andre blinked.
"What?"
"Tea."
"That's it?"
"That's it."
The room laughed.
"He welcomed us personally."
Alice continued.
"No guards."
"No threats."
"No arrogance."
"He simply invited us to sit."
"And asked us about our worlds."
Kai listened carefully.
"He already knew we were drifters."
Alice said.
"Of course he did."
"We weren't exactly subtle."
Raj nodded.
"Taai tried fighting a training dummy before we even entered the palace."
"To be fair."
Andre interrupted.
"That sounds fun."
"It wasn't."
Raj replied immediately.
Vaan answered many questions.
At least—
The questions he could answer.
"What are drifters?"
Brennan had asked.
Vaan's answer was simple.
"People displaced from other worlds."
"Why are we here?"
"I don't know."
"Can we go home?"
"I don't know."
Alice sighed.
"He was surprisingly honest."
"He never pretended to know things."
"If he didn't know something."
"He simply said so."
"What did he know then?"
Kai asked.
Alice crossed her arms.
"A lot."
"Just not that."
Vaan explained his theories.
Worlds beyond worlds.
Reality layered upon reality.
Some worlds possessed magic.
Some didn't.
Some were technologically advanced.
Some weren't.
Some barely resembled Earth.
Others looked identical.
"He spent centuries researching it."
Alice said.
"And still couldn't find a definitive answer."
That realization had crushed the group.
At least initially.
Because it meant returning home wasn't as simple as finding a portal.
Or defeating a monster.
Or completing a quest.
Nobody knew how.
Then Vaan said something else.
Something much more important.
"He told us."
Alice said.
"That we wouldn't die from old age."
The room immediately became quiet.
Again.
"We already knew disease didn't affect us."
Alice continued.
"Most drifters notice eventually."
"But hearing it confirmed was..."
She searched for the word.
"Strange."
Immortality.
The dream of countless people.
Yet nobody in the room looked excited.
"That's terrifying."
Kai said.
Alice immediately pointed.
"Correct answer."
"Everyone thinks immortality sounds great."
She continued.
"Until they actually think about it."
Raj nodded.
"Most drifters have an existential crisis at least once."
"Only once?"
Andre asked.
Raj looked at him.
"Per year."
"Ah."
"That makes more sense."
Vaan offered them opportunities.
Not obligations.
Opportunities.
Stay in Oheyo.
Study.
Work.
Train.
Research.
Learn.
Live.
And one by one—
The group chose their paths.
Alice smiled.
"I joined one of the mage towers."
"Obviously."
"Magic was familiar."
"It felt like home."
Taai joined martial arts academies.
And immediately started challenging people.
"He lost."
Alice said.
"A lot."
Andre nodded.
"Good."
Akari and Chocomint focused on studying.
History.
Politics.
Geography.
Cultures.
The world itself.
Raj learned everything.
Literally everything.
Cooking.
Administration.
Bookkeeping.
Information management.
Housekeeping.
Logistics.
Secretarial work.
Kai blinked.
"Why?"
Raj shrugged.
"I didn't know what I wanted."
"So I learned everything."
That somehow made perfect sense.
Then came Brennan.
"What did he do?"
Kai asked.
Alice's expression changed.
Very slightly.
"He stayed with Vaan."
Silence.
"He believed that if answers existed..."
"They'd be found there."
The office remained quiet.
Because everyone already knew.
This story wasn't ending happily.
Not anymore.
"Years passed."
Alice said.
"We met regularly."
"Talked."
"Shared stories."
"Complained."
"Argued."
"Laughed."
For a moment—
She smiled.
A genuine smile.
The kind Kai rarely saw.
"We were happy."
Then the smile disappeared.
"And then Brennan missed a meeting."
Nobody spoke.
"He'd never missed one before."
Alice said.
"Not once."
The atmosphere immediately became heavier.
Kai already knew.
The story was approaching the point where everything changed.
Back in the present—
The river continued flowing.
Kai stared into the water.
The reflection staring back wasn't comforting.
Brennan missed a meeting.
Such a simple sentence.
Such a normal sentence.
Yet somehow—
Kai felt it was the moment everything started falling apart.
The forest around him remained silent.
Waiting.
As if it too wanted to hear the rest of the story.
To Be Continued...